Page 9 of Midnight Kiss
“So, be bad for once and keep it. Maybe it will help you write your story,” Morgan said. “Live a little, Em.”
“I’ll consider it.”
Morgan laughed. “I’m going to make a cup of coffee. Do you want some?”
“It’s past ten.”
“Exactly. You’re going to need it if you’re going to stay up all night studying your creepy vampire journal.”
I rolled my eyes heavenward, but the thought had already taken hold of my mind. What if I did keep it? Nobody knew I’d taken it. Sure, there were cameras in the library, but it wasn’t like they would be looking for the book. It hadn’t even been cataloged yet.
I could surely keep it for a couple of days, just until I’d done some research. And then I’d take it back.
My fingers traced the rough spine, the edges of the leather that encased those words. Secrets waiting for me to uncover them. It’s just the ravings of a madman. It doesn’t make any of this real.
But the longer I held the book, the more I didn’t want to let it go.
4
ALEXANDER
Iwatched her from between the stacks of books, from the dark corners, using my ability to blend in to my surroundings to my advantage, and every second I spent in the library, surrounded by the soft whispers of turned pages, made the sense of urgency worse.
Something was wrong with this girl.
This woman.
I had lived for centuries now, more time than most mortals could fathom, watching the passing of the ages, but this target fascinated me in an unhealthy fashion.
She was beautiful, yes, but there were plenty of beautiful women in the world. It wasn’t her external beauty that intrigued me.
“Jen, it was the weirdest thing,” she said, turning to a friend who leaned against her desk, arms folded. “It was like I had a waking nightmare or something.”
“You know, that was probably what it was,” Jen replied, the beads in her braids clicking together as she turned her head and waved to another one of the librarians. “I’ve heard about those before. When you get super exhausted and then you wind up seeing stuff. Maybe it was sleep paralysis.”
“I don’t know if that’s possible,” Emily said.
Emily. The name wound its greedy little fingers around my dead, cold heart. Emily. Why was she so fascinating? Why did she trust this person she worked with?
The women continued speaking to one another, but the words hazed, blocked out by the consistent hum and throb that had started up in my ears as I stared at her. The book was nowhere in sight.
She hadn’t brought it with her. She didn’t appear to have it on her person. But perhaps, she had hidden it somewhere? At her apartment? In her desk?
The book was the target, not the girl. Not really. She was fodder, according to the U.C. If she died, it would be regrettable, but there were always casualties in war, and this was for the greater good.
“—alls I’m saying is that men can’t just drop out of the ceiling.”
My attention snapped back to their conversation. The woman was distracting me now, with the way she moved, the soft smiles she gave her friend that were full of kindness.
Emily gnawed on her full bottom lip. “I—I know that. But I swear it happened.”
The Jen woman gave Emily a piteous smile and patted her on the arm. “Listen, you’re probably just stressed. The world isn’t what it used to be. Times are tough.”
“Yeah.”
“Thanks for covering for me last night,” Jen said. “I appreciate that more than you know.”
“Any time, Jen. I just want you to be happy.”