Page 38 of B Negative

“I’m a modern vampire. I do my research with search engines, not dusty tomes.

“Right, well, I don’t suppose there’s a librarian on duty, is there?” I asked the guards.

Tweedle Dee and Dum didn’t answer. They only shared a puzzled glance before continuing to survey the areas for threats.

Okay.

“And I’m guessing neither of you two know your way around a book, so we’re on our own,” I said, mostly to myself.

The one on my left pointed to his left. “Reference. Fiction,” he said flatly, aiming his arm straight ahead. “Historical is that way.” His thumb jerked toward the right.

“Thank you.” I patted his arm and the three of us headed off to the history section.

As I casually perused the titles, I figured I’d better start at the beginning and searched for the biggest, oldest, dustiest tome I could find.

After B, Sunny, and I wandered the entire historical section, which was roughly the size of an entire city block, I found what I was looking for on the very top shelf of a bookcase in the very corner of the section.

Completely off the main path and out of the way and about four feet beyond my grasp.

I could jump and snag it easily, but the book hardly seemed like it would survive. It looked more like an artifact held together with mummy spells and pyramid magic. I wasn’t risking accidentally destroying one of Titus’s belongings.

I nodded to the guard at the end of the stack. “Mind giving me a boost?”

The vampire glanced at his partner, shrugged, and came to my aid. He lifted me by the waist high enough that I could pull the book down with both hands.

The book and I got settled at a nearby table with thick curved legs and a dark, nearly black finish polished to a gleam. The chair was just substantial, seemingly carved out of a single giant oak.

I felt ridiculous sitting in the high-backed chair that was more throne than anything else, but I got past that when I carefully opened the cover and a cloud of dust poofed out of the pages.

I coughed, waving my hand side to side in front of me to clear the air of ancient book dust before glancing up to check on Sunny and B and thumbing through the pages.

I scanned, or rather, tried to scan each page, but the words blurred together, letters flipping themselves around.

I blinked a few times, rubbed at my eyes, and tried again, this time using my finger to trace along the sentence. Still, the letters danced on the page.

I wasn’t meant to read this beast of a book.

Could it be spelled? Titus certainly wasn’t shy about using witches for his own purposes.

I selected another book at random to test the theory, and sure enough, the letters stayed exactly where they should. I cast a wary glance at the dusty tome whose secrets it didn’t want me to know, checked B and Sunny’s position once again, and got back to the book I could actually read. Mate Bonds and Rituals Throughout The Ages.

I skimmed the foreword, glancing over the list of the author’s credentials and expertise and scanned the chapter headings. But before I’d decided where to start, Tweedle Dee hovered over me, switching off the meager desk lamp. “We need to go.”

I reached for the lamp switch. “I’m just getting started.”

“Now,” he growled and tugged me up by the wrist.

“Hey!”

“Unhand her!” Sunny cried from the stack.

“Quiet!” the guard whispered, and scooped me into his arms faster than I could react. With Sunny and B hot on his heels, we blurred through the stacks so fast even my vamp stomach complained. Jeez, were all the vamps here super fast?

When we were out of the library, we didn’t head toward the elevator, like I expected. The guard carried me all the way to the other end of the hall where the emergency stairs were.

He paused half a second, communicating with just his expression to the other guard.

Up or down.

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