AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m sure they’ll turn up eventually,” she said with an irritated shrug. “We posted signs stating that they were closed, but some people think that they’re exempt from the rules. Some people go wherever they want, whether they’re authorized or not.”
“I can help.”
“Of course you can help, if they hire you back. I know how much you love to be useful, meddling in every department like that’s your job.”
I didn’t say anything after that. She was clearly as stressed out as everyone else, even if she covered it up with a smile and power heels.
I got more and more nervous as we walked down the hall lined with offices. My stomach tangled with knots so excruciating, I thought I might throw up as we neared the end.
“Maybe this is a bad idea,” I whispered, pressing my still buzzing fingers to my stomach. What I needed was a quick hug from the Scholar, because nothing said safety like dragons and vampires.
“You’re here. Might as well get it over with, and everyone is waiting for you.”
Everyone was half as many people as there had been the last time I was there. The woman, Mrs. Pineapple, the one who had held council on my firing squad was there, but she was in the middle of the side seats looking embarrassed and not meeting my eyes, not that I wanted to gaze into her eyes and feel the sweeping humiliation and embarrassment of my last time here.
The group sitting on the end from the doors was entirely new, and one of them was the Junior Senator of Texas, otherwise known as Cross the Assassin of the Holy Order of the House of Mercy. He was my lawyer when I admitted needing a lawyer, but when did that happen? Tax season. I had his email and had sent my tax documents to him from the library for the last five years, and every year he did them for me, even though most lawyers didn’t do that for their clients. I was special. Still, him coming all this way and showing his handsome face in the same place as me was dangerous to the real person he was as well as who I used to be.
“Please come in,” a man who reminded me a lot of Horace before he turned into a vampire said, seated in the center of the far end. Apparently, he was now in charge.
I’d stayed in the doorway, but at his words, Jessica gave me a push forward and closed the doors behind her.
“Go on,” she said, giving me another push. “Don’t be scared.”
When I looked back at her, she was smiling, mocking, generally annoying.
I cleared my throat and straightened up. I was not scared. I was terrified. Still, they’d already ripped me from the library and I’d survived, so I could survive this, whatever it was.
“I have other things to do today, so if you could make it quick, I’d appreciate it.” I gave my lawyer a small nod that he returned with glimmering eyes filled with mischief. I hated when Cross looked like that. There was either a slimy lizard in my bed coming, or a basket filled with my favorite fruit, and you’d never know which until it was too late.
The older respectable gentleman said, “Of course, Miss Morell. Forgive us for the intrusion, but we need to implore you to reconsider working with us here at the Library of Antiquities.”
My heart pounded as I stared at him, for a moment speechless as he voiced my deepest desires, well, the desires that weren’t entangled with a dragon. “What position are you offering to me? I don’t have a library of magic degree or a degree on anything else, to be perfectly frank. The job I currently have comes with benefits.” Hopefully, this guy wasn’t a dragon who could tell when I was lying. “I’m not interested in working hard to clean up this mess, only to be sundered again. I didn’t enjoy that.” My voice was tight and slightly angry at the end. Was I angry? Yes! Look at my library, what they let happen to it once they threw me away. And that was besides my own feelings, of which I had many, building up on top of all the injustices I’d received at the hands of Mother Mercy. A person could only take so much, and maybe I was a little bit of a demon.
He cleared his throat. “May I explain first? The position is unique, like you. Sixty years ago, the board of directors was organized after the last general librarian retired.”
Cross elbowed him hard.
“That is, he was murdered. It isn’t a job that doesn’t come with some risk, but I think that with your alliances and experience, you are the ideal candidate, actually the only candidate. The library has to choose the Librarian, you see, and it has chosen you, as demonstrated by its behavior once you were, er, most unfortunately, rendered. Horace appealed to me before his unfortunate turning, asking for you to be considered in the position which has been vacant since the board was formed, but I was away on some business and didn’t see it until I got back a few weeks ago.”
“Who are you?” I demanded, while my heart raced and stomach churned. He was offering me a job of that magnitude? Impossible. I must have misunderstood. The board wouldn’t ever give me that much power without the proper accreditation.
“I’m Robert Clovsky, the former Chairman’s brother, the Vice president of the board, and chair in case of his absence. I was brought back from a very delicate matter in Greece involving… never mind about that, but the library has certain benefactors who were very concerned with the way that the Library of Antiquities was being run, and about your treatment in particular.”
The hair on my neck pricked up. “What benefactors, Mr. Clovsky?”
He smiled soothingly. “Please, call me Robert. This is Singsong City, a place that celebrates diversity in all its kinds. I’m not ashamed to admit that there are many vampires with interests in the Library, financial and otherwise.” He cleared his throat and adjusted his neck tie.
I had to get this straight. “Vampires convinced you in Greece to come back here and fix the library?”
“The situation, not just the library. If their cause wasn’t just, I would have refused them, but their outrage at having the Librarian rendered was completely understandable. I am also outraged on your behalf, Miss Morell,” he assured me, looking terribly sincere.
“Call me Libby,” I said flatly. Had the Scholar actually gone to Greece to threaten the vice chair of the board to get me my job back? It’s almost like he wanted me to be happy more than he wanted me safely ensconced in his lab.
My heart swelled before I shuddered and shook off the impossible thought, refocusing on the man on the end who was here because he was terrorized by vampires. A library shouldn’t be run that way, but who could stand up to the fiercely terrifying creatures? Certainly not me. A dragon could probably do it, but I wasn’t giving the Scholar my job, so I’d have to figure out how to manage.
Cross probably had some ideas. He was very good at managing people. I shot him a look, because what was his part in this debacle? Had the vampires come after him as well?
“What are the benefits?” I asked.
