"So did you actually get round to any study yet?"
"Scuse me! What do you think all this, then?" Jess indignantly held out the notepad to show Stefan who took it and flicked through, nodding at the bits he could read. "So I understand the Medicis now and what they did and the timeline, which is amazing."
"Good, so what next?"
"The Borgias" Stefan bristled as they stepped out of the lift at the mention of the name. Jess looked at Damon warily.
"Our father once considered betraying the Medicis by making Stefan available as a suitor for Lucrezia, the daughter of the Pope. He came to his senses when her brother Juan was found floating in the Tiber."
"Wow."
"I'd say it was a close call, but then Katherine came along that Summer and the rest, they say is history." Not knowing what to say exactly, she tried to thing of something to change the subject as Stefan unlocked the car with a click. "Weren't they patrons of Titian? I read somewhere his brother was a painter as well."
"Oh yes, his brother's work is very, very good. I suspect a good few art galleries have what they think is a Titian, but is actually a Vecellio, either Francseco or Marco. Both were excellent painters on their own right," Damon explained.
The conversation continued in the car until they got to the library. They had parked in a space opposite the original entrance, tucked away in the corner of the square, the wooden double doors with panes of glass in the only clue that this wasn't a Gentlemen's club like most of the other buildings. Damon reached in his pocket and pulled a key out which surprised Jess and evidently Stefan when she glanced at him.
Damon went in first to turn the alarm off, he was gone before Jess could even blink. Stefan seemed amused and motioned for Jess to go in first, she walked through the door, stopped and said "wow!" softly. He followed her as she wandered over to the shelves, awestruck by the beauty of the place and the sheer amount of books. "Just think, they'll let you borrow any book in the library. First edition of one of Pepys diaries? You can take it home and read it" she said softly.
Feeling her excitement and emotions building up, Stefan was eager to avoid any tears. "Come on, let's go find Damon."
"Yeah. I don't know how I expected him to get in here, but I didn't expect him to have an actual key."
Stefan laughed, "me neither." They found him in the reading room, perched on a corner of a desk, reading a book.
"This place is amazing!" enthused Jess.
"Thought you'd like it."
"Who did you have to kill to get the key?" He laughed and Stefan glared at Jess for asking such an inappropriate question.
"The head librarian," he grinned at his brother and Jess laughed. "The history books are downstairs in the stacks, but if you want a bit of light reading then this is the section for you. How about Sense and Sensibility?"
"Not my cup of tea thanks," she grimaced. Stefan was browsing the titles on the ground with interest, while Damon was on the walkway above, Jess was also looking on the ground floor. "How about Bram Stoker? The master of the vampire story."
Stefan snorted with amusement.
"I prefer Anne Rice. Unless there's any L.J. Smith up there?"
"Round one to Jess!" Stefan laughed.
"Didn't I bring you here for study?" Damon's voice suddenly had a sharp edge to it, she grimaced at Stefan who shrugged a shoulder as if to say I've no idea.
"I'm going, I'm going!" she held her hands up in exasperation and wandered in the direction Damon was pointing until she found the stairs down.
"That was uncalled for," Stefan said to his brother.
"I brought her here to study, we don't have much time, remember?"
"And I thought you were meant to be tutoring her, yet here you are looking at the novels." They stared at each other for a minute, neither backing down.
"Excellent point as usual, if you'll excuse me." Damon practically shoved Stefan out of the way and went after Jess. Five minutes later, with a headache already starting from the worrying silence in the library, he followed his brother hoping that he wouldn't be left with an emotional girl on his hands.
When he got down to the stacks, all was quiet. A little too quiet, as a minute later Jess screamed, he was there in a second, Jess was flat against one of the shelves with her heart pounding, terrified. Damon on the other hand was standing partially hidden amongst the shelves laughing, and by the time Stefan realised what had happened, Jess let out a seemingly never ending stream of swear words directed at his brother.
"I 'aint afraid of no ghosts," he laughed mockingly at her.
At least she was smiling now, trying to calm herself down. "He jumped out at me from behind the shelves," she explained to a bemused Stefan. Jess peeled herself away from the shelf, but was knocked forward slightly when the shelf swung out at her. Damon stopped laughing and Stefan grabbed Jess and pulled her towards them. When nothing emerged, Damom went to look and a minute later a light came on behind the shelf.
"Congratulations my dear! You've discovered a hidden passage of some sort!" he called out. She walked behind the bookcase, staring fearfully at the ceiling.
"There's no ghosts in there, if that's what you're scared of," murmured Stefan behind her.
"I'm more worried about the spiders," she confessed.
Stefan harrumphed. "You're in a secret passage with two vampires, in the middle of the night. No one knows you're here and you're scared of spiders?!" Damon laughed, Jess felt embarrassed and didn't say anymore until they came across a small room with more bookshelves and a few very old looking books in various states. Stefan picked one up, he handed it to Damon who's eyes widened.
"What?" Jess asked.
"Did you know that Shakespeare is supposed to have plagiarized Hamlet? There was a book originally called Ur-Hamlet and was by an author called Thomas Kyd" Stefan was watching her reaction intently.
"No! I thought he plagiarized Marlow?! So he plagiarized both Kyd and Marlow?" Damon handed her the book, the dim light above was casting shadows so she took it into the light and examined it hesitantly. It was a large book and the spine was well worn but you could just about make out Kyd on it.
"The book in your hands has been missing for over 500 years." That got the desired reaction, her jaw dropped and she handed the book back to Stefan quickly before she dropped it from shock. "Oh my.. wow!" was all she could say.
"What about the rest?" asked Stefan. Jess picked one up and walked back into the light, this one was newer but in a fairly bad state. "
Meanderings of Memories by.. I think it says Nightlark?"
Stefan came over and took it gently from her, "another lost book, you see the Latin inscription inside? It translates as 'why did my tears please you no more, my Philomela?' Philomela is the Latin for Nightingale." He explained.
"Grief! Someone really did a job on him, didn't they."
Damon chuckled, "she has a point. That's one book that can stay lost."
"Philistines" Stefan sighed good naturedly.
"Someones' journal here," called Damon, "Lady Mary someone." Jess pricked up her ears and walked over. "What's the date? Can you make out anything else?"
"There's an M and the date is 1714. Who is it?"
"Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, she was a member of the court of George the first. She did satirical court poems that were circulated when she was ill with smallpox, but after she died her journals from the time she was married were burnt by her daughter because she was scared of scandal. Or so someone was led to believe.." Jess took the book over to the dim light and started trying to read it.
"We should make sure these books get to a conservator, they need restoring and we need to be going. It's two in the morning and tomorrow's going to be a long day," Stefan said as he held his hand out for the book. She sighed and somewhat reluctantly gave it back to him.
"What is your question by the way?" asked Damon.
"You don't have to answer that!" called Stefan.
"I can influence you," he walked closer to her but Jess stood her ground. She could feel Stefan hovering close besides her just in case.
"Okay," She grinned at Damon who returned it. "My question for you actually Stefan." Stefan looked surprised. "Do all of these books have to go upstairs? No one knows they're here."
Damon started laughing as his brother frowned at the very idea of stealing a book from a library, even one that they didn't even know was there. "Yes they do, now out." Jess sighed and walked out of the room with Stefan following her. "Elena's going to wonder where I got to and you need sleep."
"Get her in the car, I need to lock up" Damon commanded his brother.
The early morning air was chilly compared to the close atmosphere of the library. "If all conventions are like this, then I need to go to them more often" she yawned, making Stefan laugh as he opened the door for her to get in the back. "You and me both. I'm sorry you didn't get any studying done."
"Don't be. I'm not." He frowned at her. "I was meant to be taking a break from studying for the next couple of days and just have some fun. Not that I'm complaining about having a personal tutor who's had some first hand experience, mind you."
"I should hope not," said Damon as he sat down in the car.
"Have fun though?" Stefan grinned at her.
"Absolutely."
"It's a shame you didn't get to learn too much tonight though," Stefan looked at her in the rearview mirror as she grinned back at him.
"Oh I did though. I understand the Medicis and the Borgias and their patronage of the arts a lot better than I did and I've learnt to be very careful about what I say to Damon in case he jumps out at me again." Even Stefan had to laugh at that one.
Back at the hotel, Damon walked her to her room, where he kissed her hand which made her blush. "Thank you so much again, for everything."
"It was my pleasure my dear. I enjoyed it as well, you know and I'm looking forward to answering your question tomorrow." He gave her a knowing smile and walked back to the lift.
Jess was surprised that Holly was so sound asleep, that the light didn't bother her. But she got changed for bed and once she switched the light out she slept like a log.
