The long awaited evening had arrived. Everything had gone according to schedule and the library was buzzing with excitement for the masquerade. No good news had come through regarding the stolen manuscripts or who had taken them, but there was still plenty of hope stemming from Alena and her colleagues that they would be recovered. In the meantime, everyone decided to put their worries aside and focus on the exhibition.

As the night fell upon Baker Street, Alena was busy getting ready for the event. Finishing her shower and drying her hair, she managed to put her long brunette hair into a beautiful side bun. From there she applied her makeup and put on her jewelry, her necklace of choice was the pearl necklace Sherlock gave her. She couldn't dream of wearing any other one with this dress, especially now that she knew what her feelings for him were. With the hour for her to meet up with him and John growing near, Alena slipped into her beautiful gown. Looking in the mirror she still found it astounding that it fit so perfectly. It hugged her torso and hips before flaring out and reaching the floor. The dress even had a bit of a train in the back. The previous night when she had tried it on for the first time, she couldn't understand how Sherlock knew her exact measurements, but then she told herself that he always noticed every detail about anything and everyone. Of course he could figure out her size. With her clutch and mask in hand, she slipped on her heels, grabbed her jacket and headed out of her flat. As she prepared to descend the staircase she heard voices conversing at the bottom by the door. Standing at the top of the stairs she saw Mrs. Hudson, John and Sherlock. All of them stopped when they saw her.

As Alena slowly descended the staircase, John and Mrs. Hudson were completely spellbound by her beauty. Sherlock didn't seem quite as amazed as them, but his eyes didn't blink as she came closer. Standing at the bottom of the stairs, Alena smiled and greeted them.

"My word, Alena," John began. "You look beautiful."

Mrs. Hudson was absolutely beaming the way she smiled. "I couldn't agree more! That dress is perfect on you!"

"I believe what John said was an understatement," Sherlock said. "You are much more than beautiful. You are gorgeous."

Alena smiled and blushed when he said that. "Thank you, and thank you so much for the gown. It really is perfect for the masquerade."

Sherlock smiled. "And perfect for you. Shall we?"

Sherlock helped Alena slip on her jacket before the three of them left and got into a taxi to head over to the library. Emily would have joined them but since she lived closer to the library she decided to just meet up with them there. Upon arriving at the library, the staff and guests were already beginning to arrive. The instrumental music Alena decided to have play during the festivities was already playing, the books were in their display cases looking elegant as they were truly the guests of honor, the section of floor they cleared to become a dance floor already had a few couples dancing to the music, everything seemed to be going as planned. Better.

From behind her mask Alena looked around at all the people in attendance, noticing how everyone looked wonderful in their evening attire and fancy masks. Smiling to herself, she could not have asked for a better masquerade for the exhibit. It was exactly like she envisioned in her mind. Even Mr. Skilling seemed to be in a pleasant mood, enjoying the event as it continued. While Sherlock had gone off elsewhere, Alena made final checks with Emily to ensure everything was going as they planned. Of course having Emily by her side was short lived as she finally managed to slip away with John onto the dance floor. Alena watched her two friends dancing, feeling so glad that they were together and very happy. Miranda seemed to be in wonderful spirits that evening seeing how successful the opening of the exhibition was going.

"I must say Alena," Miranda began. "This exhibit is incredible. Everyone is having a great time, and the books look wonderful in their displays. You did an excellent job."

"Thank you, Miranda. I'm so glad it worked out as well as it did."

Just as the music changed to a slow, rather romantic song, Alena found Sherlock right at her side. For a moment she found herself being the one who was spellbound. He wore a black mask similar to her own, and he wore a very nice black suit. No other color could be found on him, but Alena wouldn't have noticed. All she noticed was how handsome he looked and it set her heart racing.

"May I have this dance, Alena?" he asked in that rich, baritone voice.

His words made her shiver a little, making her melt a little. "I would love to, Sherlock," she replied.

Taking her hand in his, he escorted her onto the dance floor before slipping his other arm around her and pulling her close to him. Slowly they began to dance, becoming part of the sea of couples dancing as well. Alena could hardly believe that she was really dancing with him. Until that moment she had only dreamt at night and during the day of being able to have this wonderful experience. The feeling of having her body close to his own this way made her feel safe...content...exactly where she wanted to be. Her eyes fixated only on his own as they looked right back into her own, completely unwilling to look anywhere else.

"I never knew you could dance," she said after noticing his near expertise of the dance.

Sherlock smiled a little. "There are many things you don't know about me, Alena. This is one of those things you now know."

She smiled back. "Well you dance very well."

"As do you."

Heart beating wildly as they continued to dance, Alena desired nothing more than to kiss him and to show him just how much she truly loved him.

"Thank you for coming tonight," she told him. "It means a lot that you could be here."

"You really think I would miss this opportunity after all of the hard work you put into this exhibit?"

She shrugged a bit. "Well with this case I was worried that you might have to decline my invitation."

His lips formed a smirk. "Who said I'm not on the case as we speak?"

Her eyebrows drew themselves together. "What do you mean?"

"Something of interest has come to my attention, and I think you will have your answer tonight as to who the culprit behind your stolen manuscripts is."

Alena's eyes widened in surprise as her heart sank a little, disappointed that the magical moment had been shattered. But she knew that the manuscripts were a priority and she wanted them found as well.

"What can I do?" she asked, eager to help him.

Without warning, Sherlock suddenly dipped her deeply. Alena gasped at the suddenness of the dance move, but what stunned her more was how flush their bodies were, and how close their faces were. If he was trying to cast a spell upon her, he was doing a damn good job for at that moment she knew she couldn't deny him anything. Still holding her in this manner, Sherlock spoke quietly so only she could hear.

"Can you get me back into the Rare Books room?" he asked.

"Now?"

"We cannot waste much time. If my deduction is correct, we have to move fast."

Before she could speak again, Sherlock swiftly rose and brought Alena against him. His arm tightly wound around her. Mere centimeters separated their noses.

"Can you do this?" he whispered.

Her body shivered at the richness of his deep voice, making her melt more than before. If he didn't know that he had this effect on her, he was a fool. Looking into his eyes, trying to hide her desires from his all seeing ones, she tried to find the words to respond.

"Yes."

Sherlock released her and took her hand. "Then let's move quickly."

Removing their masks, they slipped out of the exhibition room. Alena tried to get her mind out of the swirling fog that had rapidly descended upon it. Slowly walking down the dark hallway leading to the Rare Books room she forced herself to focus on the task at hand, hoping that it would be quick and they could go back to the masquerade. Arriving outside the door, Sherlock suddenly stopped before Alena could key in the code. Looking at the translucent glass on the door, they both noticed that something was definitely amiss.

"Why are the lights on?" Alena demanded quietly. "No one should be in there! The rest of the library is shut down for the evening!"

Sherlock's grip on her hand tightened a bit. "Someone is working quite late."

Just after he said that, the lights began shutting off. Sherlock immediately rushed over to the next doorframe and pulling Alena with him. Listening carefully they both heard the door open and footsteps leading out of the room. Sherlock brought Alena between himself and the door behind them, his arms tightly wound around her body, crushing her against his body. She looked up at him in surprise, unsure of what he was doing. He brought his mouth to her ear.

"Follow my lead," he whispered.

Before she could even ask what that meant, Sherlock brought his mouth down upon her own in a deep, almost violently passionate kiss. Alena's eyes widened in shock, she wanted to demand an explanation, but she could barely move. As he planted more of these kisses on her lips, Alena understood as the footsteps became louder. She refused to fight him and began kissing him back with equal intensity. Partly to do as Sherlock said...the rest because she wanted to. The latter outweighed the first. Alena managed to wrap her arms around Sherlock, clutching him to her as they kissed. Although this was apparently his clever way of not being caught, Alena still couldn't help but soak in the sensation of Sherlock's arms around her and his lips locking with her own. She was greedy for this, and in a moment she would willingly tell him everything in her heart, which was racing so fast she feared it would burst.

All too soon that brief, wonderful experience ended. Alena suddenly came to when she no longer felt Sherlock holding her, his kisses had halted. Almost losing her balance upon realizing her loss, she had to lean back against the door to take a moment to catch her breath and stop the world from spinning.

"Alena, he's gone!" Sherlock told her. "We need to get inside!"

Snapping back to the present moment she found Sherlock waiting somewhat impatiently outside the Rare Book room. Gathering what remained of her strength she walked over to the door and punched in the five digit pass code to open the door. Gaining entrance to the room, the two cautiously walked in and turned on the lights. Looking around Sherlock noticed something very peculiar, something Alena noticed right away. There in three of the what should be empty cases, were manuscripts!

Alena walked over to them, completely at a loss for words. "Wha-how?-I don't understand...they're back."

Sherlock's eyes narrowed at them. "I wouldn't be too sure," he said walking over to one of the computers in the room that was left on.

Pulling up the library's website, he managed to pull up images of the very items which had been stolen. Looking them over quickly, he walked back to Alena's side and pointed to them.

"They're fakes," he announced.

"How do you know?"

"If you look at the original scans of these manuscripts and compare them, they look exactly alike. Except for one imperfection, there are inconsistencies with a couple letters in the way they were penned. Someone is trying to convince you that your precious stolen items were returned, but they are in fact worthless fakes."

Alena looked carefully to compare, only to find that Sherlock was right. "Dear God...but why?"

"Only the thief could answer that one," he said before gesturing to the two empty cases. "And I think we will have that answer."

Behind them they heard the door open and in stepped a man with a file folder, one whom Sherlock was not surprised to see at all. Alena, on the other hand, was stunned.

"Mr. Skilling?"

Mr. Skilling smirked a little. "Well Miss Van Buren, seems that you managed to get the great Sherlock Holmes on the case in order to foil my plan."

"Conrad Skilling," Sherlock began. "A convicted book thief. You were caught twenty years ago and sent to prison. Six years later, you were released and began all over again. This time you had people working with you, doing the dirty work for you while you remained at home perfectly safe from being caught. Your alibi was solid, but you still managed to get what you wanted. Heaven knows how much you've managed to get away with after the stolen items magically reappear. How many fakes did you have to prepare?"

"So many I have lost count," he said smiling. "Thankfully those libraries are too stupid to recognize elaborate fakes. I managed to find brilliant people to help me with that part. I was warned that you would probably see through the false manuscripts. Did you see it in the books on display?"

"Indeed I did."

Alena looked to Sherlock for an explanation. "You mean...the Gothic books are fakes too?"

"Yes. It was all part of his game. A man like him would never part with valuable books."

Skilling chuckled. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, Miss Van Buren. I'm afraid I've been having much too much fun with this. I would have given you these replicated documents and everything would have been pleasant. But now it seems that you have put me in a very difficult position."

Upon finishing those words, Skilling pulled out a hand gun and aimed it at the two. Alena's heart began racing again, completely unsure of what to do. Skilling approached them slowly.

"Now, I'm going to ensure that neither of you talk. You can either come quietly, or we can do this the hard way. It's your decision."

Just when he stepped close enough to them, Sherlock quickly kicked the gun out of Skilling's hand and tackled him. As the two men fought, Sherlock looked to Alena who was in shock.

"Run, Alena! Get out of here, now!" he exclaimed.

For a split second she stayed in place, wanting to help him, but she obeyed and ran out of the room to get help. Running down the hall, her heels clapping against the floor, she suddenly found two strange men who saw her and began running toward her. Knowing they had to be Skilling's men, she darted into the nearest doorway to her which led into the main part of the library which was completely dark. Running into the stacks of books, she hid within them until she was certain that she was no longer being followed. Taking a few moments to get her lungs filled with air again, she finally walked out of her hiding place and looked for another way to get back to the exhibit room safely.

"Wonderful exhibit, isn't it?" a masculine voice said.

Gasping in surprise, Alena jumped and turned to find a man she did not recognize. He was well dressed in a very nice suit, but the smile on his face was seemingly insincere. Alena felt shivers run through her body, feeling nervous about this man who stood a few feet away from her.

"Yes...isn't it?" she replied.

He grinned even more. "Exactly how you planned it," he said. "Every detail perfectly executed, all for your dream night...Alena Van Buren."

Alena's brow furrowed a little. "How...do you know my name?"

"I know a lot of things. More than you could possibly imagine. I know your love of books, Gothic ones especially. I know your past, how you came to London to escape it all, and I definitely know of your relationship to Sherlock Holmes."

Hearing this stranger say these things made her very nervous. "How do you know these things?"

"I've been watching, and I've done my homework to find out about you. That's how this whole evening came together. Conrad was so eager to get those manuscripts that he turned to me for help, everything worked out perfectly. You, you and Sherlock played the game so well."

"Who the HELL are you?" Alena screamed.

His smile became the ugliest smirk she had ever seen in her life. Alena had no clue who this man was, but if he was in on this whole thing with Skilling, he had to be dangerous.

"My name," he began. "Is Jim Moriarty."

Hey everyone! I managed to get this chapter done faster than expected and thought it would be best not to make all of you wait. It's shorter than I originally intended, but I still think it turned out better than what I planned before. I know, I've left you on an awful cliffhanger, but I will do my best to get the next chapter written quickly and posted! I really, really hope that this case was a good one and I hope that you guys are enjoying it! I promised it would get intense! Thank you so much for the comments and the favorites and follows, you guys have no idea how much it makes my day!