by Kelly Ethan
“I’m always here if you need to download the craziness that is Point Muse. Plus, Chief Hottie is after you.” Lila pointed out the window as the police officer stomped his way into the bakery.
Chief pain in the bottom. Xandie grimaced and shoveled the last of her butter puff in her mouth. He wasn’t ruining her taste of heaven in a puff.
“I hear you were in a vehicular accident and you had a meeting with a dead person. Congrats on a day well done.” Braun collapsed onto Lila’s abandoned chair and glared straight at Xandie. “What do you do for an encore?”
“Drink my hot chocolate in peace?”
“Why did you meet with Louise Maker?”
She moved her drink out of throwing reach. Food and drink this good shouldn’t be wasted on a painful law enforcement officer. “Let’s be clear. She called me to schedule a meeting. I turned up, and you were already there. In fact, I have a pile of witnesses with rainbow-dyed hair who’ll swear I never entered the building. Check the hairdressers if you need statements.”
He shuddered. “My momma cuts my hair. Those old women would eat me alive if I stepped in there. I’ll take your word for it.”
“Any idea what happened to the woman? She wouldn’t explain what she wanted to discuss. Just that it was important.”
“The coroner decides cause of death. When did she call you?”
“Around ten last night.” The woman had been pushy and a tad anxious, but otherwise harmless. Surely the death was accidental? “Did she trip and hit her head or have a heart attack?”
Braun shook his head. “I can’t say much, but it doesn’t look like an accident and someone overheard her at the Inn bar talking up a big deal. I’m assuming she thought you’d sell Sera’s house to her.”
What? “Terms of the will. I stay in the place for three months before I can sell, and I haven’t decided I want to, anyway. I’ve only been here twenty-four hours.” She played with her drink. “If it wasn’t an accident, and she was excited about a nonexistent sale, it wasn’t suicide. Someone killed her?”
“Look,” he leaned forward on his elbows and lowered his voice, “it’ll get around town, anyway. We found her electrocuted. The coffee pot had intentionally frayed cords; she’d only just bought the pot. Maker filled it up and water must have got on the cord or she had wet hands. Who knows? But we found burn marks on both hands and a contusion on the side of her head. We hoped her appointment book might give us more insight, but since you’ve an alibi, obviously not. We’ve no clue why she was even there. The mayor’s secretary warned her not to use the points until they installed the new safety circuits.”
“Secretary?”
“Irene Cummings. She’s the mayor’s sister and personal assistant. Cummings owns the deceased’s office building.” He pushed himself away from the table. “Be careful and take things easy while you slide into town life. Point Muse isn’t for the weak of heart.” He nodded to Lila and swung out without a backward glance.
“Am I a suspect?” Xandie appealed to Lila as she sidled up. First Zach Braun made fun of her and now interrogation. She had no clue what to think of him.
“Honey, you’re what we’d call a person of interest. In fact, everyone in town’s curious. We’re waiting to see your next move.”
Xandie dropped her head to the table and contemplated the worn tabletop. “Hopefully it isn’t another dead body.” Weren’t small towns supposed to be peaceful? There might be more to Sera leaving her the estate than just a plain old inheritance.
“Time will tell, sweetie. Time will tell.”
Three
“Listen to the cat she says.” Xandie held Theo up to her face and scrunched her nose. “I’m listening. Speak, revered feline.” Theo mewled and licked her nose. Xandie giggled and set him down on the floor. “This whole town is crazy. She wants me to go into the library and speak to my dead great-aunt and listen to a cat. Funny, she seemed nice and sane before that comment.”
Shrugging, she tightened her fingers around the key to the library door. “This time the key will work, and no funny business will happen. I will not see a body or the ghost of Sera.” When Xandie was younger, she remembered her aunt swore the library was alive. It chose the information to give and who to enter. When Xandie napped in the large chairs, sometimes it seemed as if the library talked to her, whispering stories of the supernatural world and its inhabitants.
She snorted. “I should be a writer with that kind of imagination.” But she still placed an ear against the door, listening for any weird and wacky voices. All she heard was the damn cat sniggering behind her back.
“Right, ignore me.” She pushed the key into the lock and turned it. The movement was smooth, ending with a gratifying click, the sticky lock from move-in day a thing of the past. The door swung open, and she stumbled into the receiving room. “Sera always said you had to receive the visitors first to make sure they were right for the library. She’d either let them in or get the information herself.”
Funny, no one had been in here for a while and she’d locked the door, so where did all the dust go? She swiped her hand over the small table that sat in the middle of the room…clean. Disturbed, Xandie backed away and turned to the internal door. Solid as a bank vault. She thumped her hand against it. Heavy dark wood greeted her touch. It would require an army to take the door out.
Xandie gasped as the portal swung open with no effort on her part. After a few breaths to settle the wild thumping of her heart, she leaned forward to take a quick peek. When she’d peered through the windows yesterday, everything had looked unloved and dusty. Now the shelves and tables gleamed, not a speck of dirt in sight.
Not knowing what to expect, she took a few cautious steps into the room, Theo curling around her feet and purring as she did. Light from the beautiful big picture window sparkled and reflected off the polished tables placed around the room. At least, those parts not covered in papers and books. A lovely carved desk placed in the center of the room had a large high-backed chair next to it. This too hosted a stack of paperwork and discarded books. “Looks like a throne for a librarian queen, doesn’t it, Theo?” He mewled an agreement and jumped up to groom himself. “Or a king, I guess.” Snickering, Xandie traced a hand over the gold-embossed spine of the nearest book. She shivered and leaned over and sniffed. Nothing like the musty smell of knowledge. She laughed at herself. What could be better than walking into your own floor-to-ceiling library. Not to mention, one whole wall dedicated to ancient scrolls.
“Father would love this place if it wasn’t in Point Muse.” She made a note to call him when she finished her inventory of the library. He’d left messages for the last twenty-four hours since she’d arrived, and she was currently dodging him. Xandie tired of his lectures of what she should do and selling Sera’s house was top of the list for her father. Top of her list, though, was putting things away and cleaning up. It looked like a tornado had whirled through the library. “A librarian’s job is never finished, hey, mouser?” Xandie smiled at Theo and rubbed her hands in glee. Time to get to it.
She peered at the shelves and tried to find an order to how Sera shelved her books. Neither Library of Congress nor Dewey decimal system were used. Instead, she’d grouped everything according to her own classification. “Simple, I guess. Shifters in one group, bears/berserkers, cat, croc, rabbit, hyena, nagual and assorted other groups.” Xandie quirked an eyebrow. Shifters? She scanned another shelf. This one was animals turning into humans, next one was varieties of vampires. Vampire, dhampir, draugr, byronic vampires, penangglan, strigoi and nachzeher. “Say what?”
Xandie strode to the other side of the room and ran her fingers along another shelf. “Species of fairies. Ashray, avaoln, ballyblog, banshee, brownie, changeling, clurichaun.” She squatted down and read the bottom shelves. “Lists of demons who have visited the earthly plane. Abaddon, abraxas, ahriman, aim, amdusisa, amon.” She stood and drifted around in a circle. Every book here was about supernatural creatures and occurre
nces. Who would be interested in that kind of reference material?
Theo mewled and pawed at the papers on the desk. Rushing to stop him damaging anything precious, Xandie accidentally bumped a scroll off the desk. She picked it up and unrolled it, her curiosity getting the better of her. At first the lettering looked like ancient Greek, but the words jumbled and reformed into English. She closed her eyes for a moment, opened them again. Yep still English. But she’d have sworn they were in another language to start with. This scroll was an account of the sacking and burning of the Great Library of Alexandria by the demonic roman, Julius Caesar. Authored by an unnamed librarian. “Demonic?” Xandie queried Theo, surprised when he hissed and his fur stood on end. “Okay, you aren’t a fan of Julius Caesar.” She rolled the scroll up and continued to shelve books and scrolls away according to their content.
A few hours later Xandie stretched her back and moaned. For such a small space, who would have thought it contained so much information and could get in such a mess? Theo licked himself, slept and hissed at anything to do with Julius Caesar while she worked. At least the room was clean again. She’d gone back to the basics of library work and shelved, back in touch with her roots. To be honest, the work was damn interesting too. She’d had no clue how many species of shifter and venomous sentient plants there were. That’s if she believed in the supernatural. Xandie frowned for a moment. But the words written were plausible and backed up by multiple sources. And a large part of her screamed Sera wasn’t crazy, and this was her life now.
There was even a shelf for Templar Knights who’d fought for and against different supernatural groups. She’d found a scroll on the Knights Sanguis, a violent splinter offshoot of the Templars. The knights of Pure Blood had sworn to track down impure humans and creatures and slaughter them to protect pure human bloodlines. Xandie shook her head and placed the scroll back on the shelf. There’d even been knights attached to Hitler. That’s why the information was so interesting because it was fact based. Maybe Sera’s tales of Point Muse weren’t crazy.
The library was all-quiet except for the light snoring of Theo in the great chair. So when the phone rang from the welcome room, Xandie jerked in shock and bumped a shelf, dodging the avalanche of books that toppled. She growled at the small pile of books and moved to answer the phone. This was the first time she’d heard a phone ring in the house at all. “Yes?”
An officious female voice replied. “Miss Alexandra Meyers?”
“Xandie. How can I help you?”
“This is Irene Cummings, calling for Mayor Nigel Cummings. He’d like to arrange lunch up at the Inn with you to talk about the anniversary celebrations on Friday.”
“That’s only twenty-four hours away.” Anniversary? What did it have to do with her?
“Yes, he will inform you of your requirements. Meet him at the Inn by twelve thirty promptly.” The woman hung up without waiting for an answer.
Xandie stared at the phone. Officious or what? She peeped at her watch. She still had a little while before she needed to get ready for her first social outing in Point Muse. At least she had the time to fix the mess she’d knocked over. She dropped the phone and walked back to the books, shelving them away. This section was all about disappearances in and around Point Muse. She stopped for a moment and picked up a ledger. Flicking it open, she scanned a page. “Wow.” There were a surprising number of names on the list, spanning over a hundred years. One name shocked the pants off her. Her mother, Miranda Meyers. It listed the date she disappeared, the circumstances and her connection to Point Muse and to the Harrows through birth. “Harrow? That’s Lila’s last name.” Her mom had a link to Point Muse she had no clue about. Her father always insisted her mom had no family.
She needed to call him, but right now she had to get ready. Xandie dropped the book on the big desk, intending to come back and study it later. As she did a slip of paper fell out.
“Great. More surprises.” But this time Theo meowed and nudged it toward her. “Fine for you, mouser. But I better not find a secret twin sister.” Xandie opened it and realized it was a letter. She read it aloud to Theo.
Dearest Xandie,
I’m guessing right about now you’re cursing me for keeping secrets from you. You should. If it had been up to me, you’d have known your heritage from the beginning. But your father never believed and was stubborn enough to ignore everything right under his nose.
Our family line is a long and proud one. We can date our line back to Demetrius of Phaleron. The scholar who founded the Great Library of Alexandria. Our family has always been librarians, scribes and scholars. Anything to do with books and knowledge, our family was in the thick of it. We served the Great Library in whatever function it required. People came from all over the world to consult the Library. But little did the known world realize what hid within. There has always been another world within the human one. The world I tried to tell you in stories and fairy tales. A world that had bear shifters and werewolves, fairies and demons. It exists, and the hidden core function of the Great library has always contained knowledge of the supernatural world and its inhabitants.
The library hid her core in plain sight. Shelves of human knowledge camouflaging its real treasures. But with treasure comes treasure hunters. The library is a sentient. The how of her making is lost to the ages and Demetrius always refused to answer on the process. But the Library chooses who accessed her and what information to share.
One such treasure seeker came calling but was refused entrance. Unknown to other humans, an old demonic entity possessed the man. He became obsessed with gaining entrance to all supernatural knowledge to destroy his enemies. This man sacked Alexandria and burned the library. His name was Julius Caesar, and the demon within named Amon. The library knew this and took action to preserve herself. As long as our line is still alive in the outside world, she could tie herself to our energy and give away her physical form.
We directed the information allowed to us by the library. While the demon attacked the library a young man of our line was studying within. The library transformed Theon into the avatar or guardian. A bridge between our line and the library. A guide. Although he can be annoying. The necklace you are hopefully wearing proclaims you a librarian of the great library. The library and Theo will show you how everything works.
Above all, watch out for the demon Amon. He still craves access although he can be a charming bugger when he wants to be and oddly honorable. But still watch for him. Be on guard. Other people and organizations would love to control the library and will stop at nothing to achieve that. Pure blood is an evil obsession and will bring down the world. If the library falls, so do the people who depend on it.
I love you, sweetie, and wish I could be there to see you, but the library has warned me someone is hunting me. I write this letter to prepare you.
Stay safe.
Sera.
Either her aunt was insane or the weird and wacky supernatural creatures she spun a tale about lived.
And what did Sera mean about open her ears and eyes? A stray whisper of noise behind Xandie caught her attention. She spun, but nothing was there, not even Theo the cat who’d wandered off. She concentrated again on the letter. She had a feeling the library, and her inheritance, weren’t the windfalls she’d thought them to be.
This time the whispers became louder from another corner of the library. Xandie froze and faced the noises that were now green lights that flickered and glowed. They scooted over every inch of space, every shelf, every book, every scroll. Even dancing over Xandie herself, tickling her with little green glowing touches. The lights centered on her necklace, growing until they formed a green lace pattern around her neck and shoulders. Around Sera’s necklace. The link between the library and her family. The glow faded, but the whispers grew. She heard them now, whispering of strange mysteries and people. Whispering its knowledge to her. She winced as the noise grew louder and louder. Now chanting one word over and over.
&n
bsp; Blood.
Blood.
Blood.
“Enough,” Xandie yelled, hands over her ears as she backed up against the door. “My ears can’t handle the noise. One at a time.” The whispers withdrew until one lingered and whispered once more.
Blood.
She sagged back against the door. “Way to blow my ordinary mind.” Everything was true, and the library was alive and that meant someone might be after it. What had the library meant about blood? Did it mean Sera’s death wasn’t an accident? Or was it talking about something else? Frustrated, Xandie let herself out of the library, hands shaking. Too many unanswered questions bubbled in her mind.
Her little world had exploded into a universe of unknown. She checked her watch, but everything had to wait. Because as of now, she was late for the mayor’s meeting and judging by the past few hours, it might end up an interesting lunch.
Mayweather Inn was the place to have secret meetings or an illicit tryst. Xandie rested Sera’s old silver bike against the side of the building and drank in the Inn. Victorian style with sweeping lines and white gables. Round columns soared into the air, and a pretty picket fence and a sweet-smelling rose trellis completed the picture.
Xandie swept up the stairs like a debutante going to the ball…in her jeans. She tugged at them self-consciously as she entered the formal entranceway. She’d ditched her formal library wear as soon as she left Andrews College and her father. An ageing lady with pink cheeks and a frilly nineteen fifties style skirt and top greeted her.
“You must be Xandie. It’s good to meet you.” The woman drew Xandie in for a stale perfume hug.
“Ah, great. Thank you.” Xandie had no clue who the woman was, but she didn’t think the woman had been a friend of her great-aunt’s. The coiffed housewife image wouldn’t have appealed to Sera, but who knew what her great-aunt liked? Sera had been a woman of contradictions.