Chapter Six
Hex let out a yawn and stretched his arms and legs out across the bed. The sheets were twisted around him, which was usual as he was told he was a restless sleeper. He yanked and pulled
until he was free to swing his legs across onto the floor.
He leaned on his knees for a moment, his head falling forward as a great sigh escaped his mouth. Last nights events rose unbidden in his memory.
That god awful 'moment' with Emla followed by the horrible, sinking feeling of clarity when he was able to put a name to the unwanted sensations that had come over him.
The Soulmate Principle.
He flopped back onto his back with a groan.
It wasn't supposed to exist. It was meant to be an urban myth. Now it seemed to be a suburban reality. And Emla? Of all people.
Then of course, his thoughts turned to the other woman of his life. The woman his life had once revolved around.
Iris.
He had never treated her like he had last night. He winced painfully at the memory. She had seemed worried, then confused and finally, extremely angry. It was an angry he'd seen a glimpse of a few times in the last few years.
But it had never been directed at him.
There had always been unspoken lines between them. Lines that were silently acknowledged and respected by both of them. She didn't ask about the other girls, or activities he meaninglessly indulged in on the side.
He didn't ask her to love him.
Hex knew that he had practically picked up the line and thrown it round his neck, strangling himself and every last hope of any further relationship with Iris Auroch.
He pulled himself up and reluctantly went to his feet. Under the hot spray of the shower he wondered how his life had been turned upside down and inside out in less than a day and what the hell he was going to do with it now.
He shut the faucet off abruptly as the sound of his phone beeped through the bathroom door. Holding a towel loosely around his waist he bent down to retrieve his cellphone from his bedstand.
It flashed, informing him he had just received a text message. The number was unlisted.
Hex frowned and pushed the 'open' button.
"Don't you think we should talk about last night? Emla."
"I can't believe you think the library is going to cheer me up."
Colt Auroch smiled amusedly at his sister, giving her a light push on her shoulder as she stood in front of the building, disbelief and disgust mingled across her face. "Come on, it's not that bad. Just go through the doors and you'll be fine."
"But I've never been through the doors," Iris protested. "I don't want to go through the doors. I don't need to know what's on the other side of those doors."
Colt pushed her a little harder this time.
"Beyond those doors are books, sister dear." He managed to nudge her forward a step. "Just books. Those big scary things with paper inside and chapters and….wait for it….words."
Iris scowled. "I do have a basic understanding of a book thank you, brother darling. I do however lack understanding as to why we want to enter a building that holds thousands of them. Besides," she wrinkled her nose. "Books smell, and from what I've heard, libraries tend to smell also."
Colt couldn't really argue with her there. The few libraries he had been to had indeed all possessed the old, mellowing smell of age and dust. As did the majority of librarians that had worked in them.
Nevertheless they were going to have to inhale that overpowering aroma if he was to get what he wanted.
Using both his hands this time, on either shoulder, he marched her purposely through the doors and into the library.
He glanced around for a moment, gathering his thoughts while beside him Iris began looking slightly annoyed.
"So they were right," she confirmed, her nose wrinkling. "It does smell."
Colt rolled his eyes. "Come on, this way."
He headed for the stairs and began bounding up them two at a time. He could hear the faint sound of Iris' footsteps behind him. They didn't stop until they had reached the third floor.
"Ok, this is where I found the information that led me to that house," he said quietly as his sister fell into step beside him. "There's some books here, in the Night World section that hinted of the Book of Vlath and its origin. Mind you, it took me six months or so to unravel the rest of the puzzle but it all pretty much started here."
"So we're starting again," Iris summed up emotionlessly. "Fantastic."
"You could try to be a tad more positive," Colt scowled. "We're not starting again. We're retracing." He rounded the corner to a darker set of aisles. Iris walked behind him as the walkway had suddenly narrowed so only one person could walk along it at a time.
He turned down another set of aisles and rounded a sharp corner until he came to an area of the library that appeared to be cut off and remote from the rest of it. The books here looked older. The smell, Iris noted, seemed stronger.
Colt nodded at a girl seated at a desk in the corner. Her face was lit by a single lamp as she bent over a book, her finger tracing lines across the page as her mouth moved wordlessly. She glanced up at them as they passed but seemed uninterested.
"Here it was." Colt came to a stop.
Iris stopped beside him. "Was?"
Colt's eyes searched frantically along the shelf, his fingers ran along the spines of books that were tattered and bent. He ran a hand through his hair and scowled, muttering a few swear words under his breath.
"It's not here." He said.
Iris raised her brows. "Hmm. Yes, I'd gathered that." She looked around. "So where else would it be? Someone might have borrowed it. This is a library after all."
Colt glared. "Yes it is a library. This area is a restricted library. The books don't go out. They don't leave this building."
Iris shrugged. "So a library has rules. Who would have thought?"
Colt threw her a withering look that she merely tilted her head and smiled at. She followed with a sigh as he walked purposefully towards the girl at the desk.
"These books are held here by Night World law," he stated angrily. ""They aren't supposed to leave this room. They contain spells that make it impossible for them to leave this room." He leaned forward over the desk, his hands resting on either side of the girls open book. "Why is there a book missing?"
The girl leaned back in her chair. She was a witch. She looked slightly worried at the evident threat Colt was presenting and slowly moved her hands off the desk.
"Are you talking about the Black Diary by any chance?"
There was a deep silence.
Iris leaned over to catch the expression on her brother's face. This seemed to be getting interesting.
"Yes," he answered through gritted teeth. "I am. Where – is – it?"
The witch shifted uncomfortably. "It was taken," she replied, her eyes growing wider as Colt's fingers tightened on the desk edge. "I…uh…I mean someone took it." She swallowed, her voice taking on a slight tremor. "They had Council permission," she stammered. "I don't –"
"Who took it?" Colt's voice was harsh, low and threatening. Iris didn't have to crane her neck to see the look she knew would be in his eye.
The girl pushed her chair back slightly. "I can't say," she managed. She was cowering down now, sinking lower in her chair. Iris moved forward beside her brother, adding to the menacing air that had crept into the room. The girl's eyes darted to her for a fraction. "I…wait…" she fumbled with a bracelet on her wrist and lent down, her eyes not leaving the two vampires before her.
Iris heard a slight 'click' sound and the girl pulled out a card. She slid it across the desk towards Colt. "Here," she whispered.
Colt took one look at the card and let out an explosive "F!"
He stormed out of the room without another word.
Iris paused long enough to let her eyes travel across the card. They came to rest on a single name.
Declan Strartus.
She threw a final withering glance over her shoulder at the witch who was now pushing back into the bookshelf behind, as if willing herself to disappear into it.
She sighted her brother's furious stalk through the aisles and quickened her step to catch up with him.
'The library's an interesting place after all,' she mused thoughtfully.
Hey, I know it's been a long, long time since I've written on fanfic. Life and all that seemed to get in the way. I just reread this story and decided I still liked it hence the effort to continue it. Please r/r, I may need the inspiration to keep it going!
