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He nodded at the werewolves behind me. “They give you trouble? If bring trouble to Scholar, you leave there.”
That was an odd warning. “I will happily leave my troubles here.” I gave him a cool smile and then he blinked rapidly and straightened up.
“You Librarian,” He said it like a title, the way people said, ‘the Scholar.’ “Need help?”
He was a little too eager, his toothy smile giving me all kinds of shivers.
“If you could direct me to the elevator, I would be very grateful.”
“Yes.” He left his post to follow me into the long and high-ceilinged hall, gesturing me to the right where an elevator cage was surrounded by an elaborate metal staircase that I’d pass a dozen times as I ascended.
It was only thirty feet or so from the front door to the elevator, but it stretched out longer and longer while I clung to Pansy’s dead weight and plodded steadily forward. I stumbled on nothing as a bolt of pain went through my knee. Was that from my once-in-a-lifetime skateboard ride or tripping over Pansy?
“Need me carry?” the ogre growled, giving me unpleasant shivers as I tried to straighten up.
“No, thank you. Next time I wander around in Song, I’m bringing a less fat dog.”
“I eat its legs,” he said with a grin.
That smile. Shudder. I shook my head and continued across the black stone floor veined with red. If the Scholar saw me down here, he’d probably ignore me, because he was a professional, and this was a business building, even if everyone in the place was staring at me like I was the first skyscraper they’d ever seen. It was probably the dog, or the scent that wafted off me. I should say, scents. Between the bags of rotten trash and the sulphur vomit, I wasn’t a bouquet of roses. Lucky members of the darkness had such excellent senses.
“Wait a minute! You can’t just leave without paying for my board. I don’t care if you’re some musician. My mom will kill me if I tell her my board’s ruined because some Sing idiot took it for a joyride.”
I stopped walking five feet from the elevator. Did I really have to deal with this today? No time like the present. What a stupid saying. I mean, when was time except in the present?
I turned around to face the werewolf puppy, who was trying to stand up to me and shrink from the ogre at the same time. It was an awkward pose, to be sure.
“I’ll get you a replacement, but not today. Come to the library in a few days, and I’ll have something for you. Here, write down the kind I destroyed so I can get the right one.” I handed him a pen and held out my arm so he could write on it.
He stared at me, eyes bulging, mouth slack. “You’re the Librarian?” He said it exactly how the Ogre said it.
“I’m a librarian upstairs, one of many. Write down what you need. I don’t have paper on me, and in a few minutes, I’m going to drop Pansy or my arms are going to fall off, so make it quick.”
“That won’t be necessary.” The Scholar’s voice slid between us like a river of decadent chocolate. I didn’t even like chocolate, but I was already drowning. No, that was my stench that was drowning me, and it was certainly nothing like chocolate.
The werewolf puppy went stock still and started sweating. I watched sweat beat up on his forehead and roll down into his thick eyebrows, paralyzed in fear.
I sighed heavily. “I’ll just get you whatever Gabby thinks will work. Come to the library on Wednesday, and I’ll have it ready for you.” I turned back towards the elevator, only to find my way blocked by a vampire with the bluest eyes I’d ever seen.
“Miss Morell, you’re injured,” he said in a low voice as he brushed my cheek with the back of his fingers.
I started at that touch as he gazed at me with the most dizzying eyes, so blue, so black, so confusing when I was sick and tired of confusion. “Considering that Sing almost fell on me, I’m barely scratched. If you’ll excuse me, I have a bed to sleep in for a year.”
I tried to go around him, but he only fell in beside me. “You should be warned that coming into Song with fresh wounds is more than slightly dangerous.”
“Get the door for me, would you? My hands are full.”
He opened the elevator’s gate, letting me in before he stepped in after me.
I frowned at him. “It’s probably too heavy for both of us and my fat dog.”
He smiled, flashing a pair of delicate fangs. “You require a capable escort to keep you from the bloodthirsty monsters who would rip you apart. You willingly descended into the under city. Should I take that as a sign that your heart has softened towards my kind?”
I frowned down at Pansy, whose legs were dangling down to my knees as he slid lower and lower, but continued snoring obliviously. “Why would my heart be softened towards bloodthirsty monsters who… Oh bother.” I shoved Pansy at him, and he managed to cuddle the beast up against his chest instead of dropping him while I shook out my trembling arms. “If you’re going to stalk me, you might as well be useful. That dog wants to get me killed, and smelly. I smell terrible, don’t I? I’m going to have to soak in baking soda for hours, but who has time for that when they’re sleeping for a year in their bed?”
“You could sleep and bathe at the same time?” he offered, still looking down at the dog in his arms as if it were a puzzle. He was probably wondering how you’d suck blood out of a fire-breathing beast with all that fur.
“I’m not that coordinated. No, I’ll have to sleep, then bathe, then wash all my sheets. I hope the scent comes out.”
