Chapter 2
Algernon was in his office, which he had outfitted to be a sort of bedroom. Well, the "outfitting" mainly consisted of a cheap air mattress in the corner of the room, but better that than the floor.
He was sitting in the seat at his desk, reading. The Napoleon of Notting Hill, by Gilbert Keith Chesterton. One thing that was a bit different from Algernon's other books was that Algernon had done something to the book that he would not do to any other – he had put whiteout on a line. The book in question begins with this line
The human race, to which so many of my readers belong, has been playing at children's games from beginning, and will probably do it till the end, which is a nuisance for the few people who grow up.
"To which so many of my readers belong." That was the offending article. Algernon thought has he had outted it, Yes, mister Chesterton, rub it in, why doncha?
And "children's games." He hadn't removed that line, but it, too, struck a sad cord with him. Ahh, yes, to be a kid, without worrying about vampires or whatever the hell other hocus-pocus was outside the library. In any case, now he could have some relief from that by reading about the idiot who became king.
There was a knock on the door. It startled Algernon. Hadn't he locked the doors to the library? He got out of his seat to the door and opened it. Nobody there. He then looked to the front doors of the library. They seemed unopened. He made his way over there, to check them. Still locked.
"Good evening, vamps," said a voice behind him. He jumped, startled.
Three gruff-looking young men were behind him, two right next to him and one at his desk, sorting through the return books.
"It was a dark and stormy night – you mean somebody actually wrote that line?" he asked, picking up Paul Clifford from the stack.
"Along with 'the great unwashed' and 'the pen is mightier than the sword.'" Algernon said. "What do you want? And who are you?"
"Just your friendly neighborhood werewolves dropping by for a visit." The nearest one said. "There a problem with that?" he asked, inching closer.
Algernon's heart was beating wildly from the nervousness, but he tried to look unflappable. "The library's closed." He said. "Come back tomorrow if you want to talk."
"Oh?" one of the werewolves said, also boxing him in. "Why, so your unsuspecting flock can protect you from the big bad wolves?"
The one sitting on the desk let out a high-pitched laugh. The other two turned to look at him, as though annoyed.
"Look, I don't know why you're here." Algernon said, nearly backed against the door. "Do I know you or something?"
"You know," one of the werewolves said to the other, ignoring him "he doesn't look like the other vampires. A lot uglier."
"Must not have any luck with the ladies."
"I said-" Algernon started.
"Shut it!" the werewolf snarled, grabbing him by the scruff of his collar, lifting him, and pinning him to the door. "You know, I could rip your head off right here if I wanted to. And you know what? I kind of do what to rip your head off. Got any reasons why I shouldn't?"
"B-because that would be murder." Algernon stammered.
Stunned silence. Then, laughter. They dropped him.
"Oh man." The other werewolf said. "The bloodsucking bastard doesn't want us to kill him because 'that would be murder.' What a joke."
"Actually, he's completely right." Said another voice, from outside. Algernon looked and saw that another man had shown up. He was tall like the others (well, other two. That one werewolf at the desk seemed like he was the runt of the pack), but he had a much neater air around him, as opposed to the gruff werewolves.
"Now, tell me exactly why you're harassing this vampire?" he asked.
"Just having some fun." One of the werewolves said. "Full moon out and we wanted to have ourselves a good time."
"Yeah," his friend said. "You know how the Moon Fever gets."
"Death threats are not the way this pack operates." The man said.
"Who said anything about threats?"
"Open the door, please." The man outside said.
Cautiously (why be cautious? You either let him in or not, you don't "cautiously" let someone in), he got up and opened the door, letting the man in. "Thank you." He said, walking in.
"The way that you three are acting is not doing anything to help our relations with the vampires." He said.
"Nothing would help that. They all want us dead."
"Well, maybe if you didn't go around attacking frail old librarians they wouldn't want us all dead then, would they?" he asked, barking the word "dead." "I expect my underlings to follow the rules, and running off 'hunting' isn't going to do us any good. Trust me when I say that our Alpha doesn't share your views on how to deal with vampires who aren't causing us trouble." He turned to Algernon, who had backed into a corner. "And you certainly aren't causing us trouble, are you?" he asked, in an almost threatening tone.
"No…" Algernon said quietly.
"You see?" the man said. "Now, all of you, go back with the pack. And I better not hear about any rough-housing."
The three walked off, slouching, before turning back to Algernon. "Hope that wasn't too much of a nuisance." He said, as-a-matter-of-factly.
"They were going to kill me." Algernon said, sitting down against the wall. "That's quite a nuisance."
"Fair enough." He said. "My name is Nathan Hale."
"Figures you're not a cat." Algernon muttered.
"Excuse me?" Nathan asked.
"Nothing."
"I'm very sorry for the way my subordinates acted. If they cause trouble, whether on-duty or not, I get in trouble with it." He shook his head, laughing. "Chain of command and all that. Combined our shaky-at-best relations with the vampires and our own politics within the pack, things get real complicated. You know how it is."
"Not really." Algernon said. "I don't pay attention to politics."
"Huh. Don't get out much, do you?"
"Not really." Algernon said. "Truth be told, I haven't left this library in eleven years."
Nathan was a little stuck for a response for that. "I… see." He said. "Good evening, then." And with that, he left, letting the door shut with a very relieving 'click.'