by Joy Demorra
“Lead the way,” Ursula whispered. She fell into step behind him as the vampire led them through the twists and turns of the darkened corridors with Nathan bringing up the rear.
“I should have known you’d know your way around here after dark,” Nathan muttered, hunkering down when Vlad motioned them to stop. The faint bobbing light of a quartz lantern made itself known, accompanied by the echo of footsteps in the distance.
“Some people like to misspend their youth gambling and whoring. I used to sneak in here and read.”
“What about the opium den?” Nathan countered.
Vlad flashed him a toothy smile. “I never said I didn’t do both.”
Once the light had passed, the trio moved on. Eventually they reached a set of thick double doors, the word Librarium inlaid into the arch stone above it in gold foil. If Nathan had thought Vlad’s collection of books back home on Eyrie was impressive, it was nothing compared to what the Ingleton Royal College possessed. “Whoa,” Nathan breathed in a daze as he stared at the thousands and thousands of books that lined the shelves. He tipped his head back, trying to see where the shelves ended, but the books just kept going, vanishing up into the darkness of the rafters.
Even Ursula seemed impressed. “That’s a lot of books,” she said with a nod of approval. “We should come back here.”
“I’ll happily oblige another time,” Vlad said over his shoulder as he continued to lead them through the maze of knowledge and up a spiral staircase. At the top, a large gate separated them from the collection of books that lay beyond. “But for now, let’s find what we came here for.”
“Agreed. How are we going to get past that?” Nathan asked, nodding toward the gate and the ominous padlock on the front. It looked like solid iron, and from the way Ursula was avoiding it, he had to guess her magic wouldn’t work on it. It might even hurt her.
Vlad looked around, his eyes pausing on Ursula’s avoidance before quirking an eyebrow at Nathan. “Oh please.” He stepped toward it and braced his hands on the shackle. “When has iron ever stopped a vampire?”
He heaved, grunting softly. And then the metal in his hands gave, bending the lock out of shape in an impressive display of supernatural strength Nathan hadn’t known him capable of. It was entirely and inappropriately attractive, and Nathan filed it away for later.
Holding the gate open, Vlad gestured Ursula forward with a courtly bow. “After you.”
“Why thank you,” Ursula replied, giving the vampire a pat on the cheek as she passed. “Such a gentleman.”
“Not if I can help it.” Vlad said, smiling toothily at her.
Nathan frowned, wondering why he felt nothing more than a fanciful twist in his stomach at watching the vampire flirt so openly with his fangs. He knew Vlad was a flirtatious soul by nature. While it had never bothered him before and it didn’t bother him now, there was something else that niggled. It wasn’t jealousy, he knew that much. Instead what bothered him was just how much he was enjoying watching Vlad and Ursula flirt. He wanted to watch them flirt. He wanted to watch Ursula touch Vlad. He wanted to watch the vampire preen under the attention. He wanted to watch Vlad kiss Ursula. The vampire’s fangs nibbling at her lips, her hands in his hair tugging him into just the right position. Nathan wanted to see it. He wanted it so badly it made his heart ache. A deep, unrelenting longing burrowing into his chest and lodging there with an intensity that was as startling as it was arousing.
It was a new sensation, and one he’d examine more later. When he wasn’t supposed to be focusing on saving the world.
Shaking off his amorous imaginings, Nathan stepped through the gate after Vlad and Ursula. The air on the other side of the gate felt different, like the crackle of energy in the atmosphere before a storm. Nathan felt the hair rise on the back of his neck. “There’s magic in here.”
“Of course, there is,” Vlad said, handing them each a quartz crystal lamp. The crystals thrummed to life in his hands. “We’re in a library. But if you mean these books in particular? Yes, there are some interesting tomes in here. If you see something chained down, don’t touch it. It’s sealed for a reason.”
“Duly noted.” Ursula pushed her hood back and shook her hair out. “So, where do we start?”
“Good question,” Vlad said, turning to face the endless rows of forbidden texts. “I have no idea.”
*
Several hours and far too many discarded books later, Vlad sat on the cold, hard floor and pressed a hand to his eyes. He prided himself on being a fast reader. He could often devour several books in a single evening if the mood was on him. But apparently, even he was approaching his limit.
He pulled out his pocket watch. The hour was fast approaching the twilight before dawn. But they still had a while before the library opened to its regular patrons to keep looking. And if they didn’t find what they were looking for? Well, Vlad wasn’t sure. But he supposed there was always the next night. And the next. For however long they had.
“Find anything?” Ursula asked as she emerged from behind a row of books. She was carrying two heavy volumes pressed to her chest, the quartz lamp swinging from the loop of her belt.
Vlad looked at the book propped in his lap. “No, not yet. Though I have found some interesting information about which fungi work best at creating deadly neurotoxins, so that’s fun.”
“Always a plus.” Ursula settled down beside him with a soft groan. Vlad could agree with the sentiment. His back hurt, his hips ached, and his eyes burned. He could only imagine what it was like for a mortal, witch or not.
He glanced down a row of books at Nathan, watching his chest rise and fall as the werewolf dozed in the corner. It never ceased to amaze Vlad how easily the werewolf managed to fall asleep. He supposed that it was part of his recovery; his body was still mending itself from the ordeal of the last year. But there was also an element of discipline behind it that Vlad had never been able to master, not even when he’d desperately needed to.
Nathan had once joked he could stand sleeping up with one eye open. Vlad didn’t doubt it.
Ursula followed his gaze. “You should rest too. You haven’t stopped all night.”
“Oh, you know what they say,” he replied with a quicksilver grin. “No rest for the wicked. What about you, did you get enough sleep?”
Ursula yawned widely, covering her mouth with her sleeve. “No, but it’ll do for now. I’ll sleep properly once we’ve found a cure and the Ancestral Trees are restored.”
It was a feat that would take decades, if not centuries, to complete. But Vlad kept that thought to himself. Mortals seldom liked to be reminded of their own impermanence. He didn’t dare mention what might happen if they couldn’t find anything. The mere thought was enough to send a shiver down his spine.
“Well, let’s just focus on finding what we’re looking for first. Then we can fit in a quick catnap between saving the world as we know it and having a panic attack under a table,” he said, smiling when she huffed softly.
“Sounds good,” she murmured. Her head listed lazily to the side despite her earlier words.
A comfortable silence fell between them, so Vlad turned his attention back to the book in his lap. He had to force himself to concentrate, yet it was getting harder by the minute.
After a while Ursula said, “Thank you. For doing this. I was skeptical when Nathan told me about you, but I see why he trusts you.”
Vlad inclined his head. “You’re welcome. And I’m glad; although if you could perhaps divulge the details as to what exactly he sees in me, that might be helpful.”
She laughed low in her chest as she turned golden eyes toward him. It might have been his imagination, but they seemed to glow brighter in the dark. “You’re clever and kind, Vlad Blutstein. Not at all like your namesake.”
Freezing, Vlad felt icy fingers creep around his heart. He turned silent, querying eyes toward her. Hardly anyone ever made the connection between him and his grandfather anymore.
&
nbsp; Her mouth twitched to the side. “Not many Blutsteins left in the world,” she said. “And even fewer vampires who would try to lay claim to the legacy of Uladzimir Von Blutstein. Unless it was already theirs.”
Vlad held her gaze for a moment before lowering his head with a snort. “Would you believe that dropping the ‘Von’ helped most people forget?” he asked rhetorically. Sighing, Vlad shook his head. “Nathan made it sound like our history isn’t even recounted anymore.”
“It’s not.” Ursula shrugged and stretched her legs out in front of her. Vlad’s eyes lingered on the shapely length of her calf, traveling up toward her thighs before he realized what he was doing and averted his gaze back to the page. It detailed the many ways in which the harmless-looking deathcap fungus could be used as a poison, but it still felt less deadly than the woman sitting beside him. The witch lifted her hands above her head until her back cracked. “But you’re not the only one who reads, mister vampire.”
“Yes, I suppose you do a lot of research, in your line of work.” There were so many questions he wanted to ask her, but he settled for just one. “What’s it like, tending to the last raw sources of magic in the world?”
Ursula was silent for a moment, her eyes gazing at something far beyond the rows of books in front of them. After several long moments, she said, “Tiring.”
A sound on his left caught his attention; Vlad looked around in time to see Nathan vanishing into a row of books. Probably going to relieve himself.
“Welp.” Pushing himself upright on numb legs, Vlad snapped the unfortunately useless tome in his lap shut. “Time for another book. Want anything while I’m up?”
“A new head.” Ursula scrubbed wearily at her eyes. She only managed to succeed in smearing the remnants of her smudged makeup even further, but Vlad didn’t comment. The kohl around his eyes was probably down at his cheekbones by now.
He dusted the seat of his trousers off. “I’ll let you know if I find one. You’ll hear me screaming, on account of having just found a head in the library.”
Ursula chuckled and gave him a wry look.
Vlad ambled off, slipping between the rows of books. As he passed a gap in the shelves, he thought caught a trickle of sound. It reminded him of Nathan’s footfalls when he was trying to sneak out of the room without waking Vlad. The werewolf must be nearby. He was just about to turn down a row marked ‘N’—maybe if he was lucky he’d find an answer under noxious—when a firm hand gripped him around the waist and twirled him off his feet. “What the—” he said, more startled than scared. Vlad’s back connected with a stack of books; his toes curled as Nathan pressed up against him. “Well, hello to you too,” he murmured, wrapping his arms around the werewolf’s neck.
“I have missed you so much,” the other man rumbled, nuzzling his forehead against Vlad’s and holding him there. “I’m sorry about all of this. If I’d known anyone else to turn to…”
Vlad cupped the side of Nathan’s cheek and forced Nathan to meet his eye. He returned the affectionate caress with one of his own. “It’s all right. Thank you for trusting me with this. I know it can’t have been easy…”
“It’s the easiest thing in the world,” Nathan replied, staring directly into whatever remained of Vlad’s tarnished soul and making Vlad’s heart flutter. The werewolf opened his mouth again, then dropped his gaze to the floor. “Vlad, there’s… I’m sorry we lied when we first showed up. I just, I couldn’t… I can’t…”
“It’s all right. I understand. There are some things that have to be kept secret in this world. I can’t imagine many people know about her,” Vlad said, stroking a hand over the werewolf’s cheek as his fingers caressed the fading scars.
Nathan laughed, a harsh bark of a sound. Shaking his head, he rolled his eyes up to the ceiling. “You have no idea.”
“I do have one stipulation, though.”
“Oh?”
“In the future, if you ever decide to bring another attractive blonde along, try to make it for something less dire and more fun.”
Nathan snorted, clearly amused. He leaned closer, and Vlad welcomed the simplicity of the embrace. He’d worried that their time apart would make Nathan realize what a poor life choice he was making in Vlad. The vampire had braced for it and began putting the façade into place, preparing himself to laugh and smile and agree that it had been fun while it lasted. But what he hadn’t prepared for was the overwhelming relief that washed over him as he realized he’d been wrong.
Placing a chaste kiss to his forehead, Vlad gave the werewolf a gentle pat on the back and said, “Come on. Let’s get back before your little witchling comes looking for us.”
“She’s not mine,” Nathan countered, but he complied anyway, backing out of Vlad’s personal space.
Vlad was just about to step away from the bookshelf, when he felt the books behind him shift. He froze.“Oh dear. We may have a small avalanche on our hands. ” He reached around, awkwardly trying to brace them. “See, this is why you don’t fuck in libraries. Thrilling as it sounds, you’re liable to end up crushed.”
Chuckling, Nathan helped to rectify the situation. “I’ll keep that in mind,” he said as he attempted to catch the books that fell when Vlad slipped free. Nathan was very nearly successful in catching all of them, save for a heavy leather tome that toppled to the floor with a resounding thud.
They both stilled, listening for any sign that someone was about to come running. When no one came, Vlad sighed with relief and stooped to pick it up. “Right, let’s see which priceless volume we’ve damaged. Necrotic Flora for Black Thumbs: Imperial Edition. Huh, I used to own this one,” Vlad said, flipping through the pages with interest. “No idea where it went.”
“Somehow that doesn’t surprise me,” Nathan replied wryly.
“What, that I had a book about necrotic flora, or that I lost it?”
“Both.” Nathan chuckled, giving him a sidelong glance. “You forget, I’ve seen the inside of your room.”
“Trust me,” Vlad said as he flipped through the pages, “I have most assuredly not forgotten your time spent in my tower. Huh, there’s even a section on fungi. Strange, I don’t remember…” he trailed off, his eyes growing wide as he gripped Nathan’s arm reflexively. “Nathan, I need you to promise you’ll reprimand me very firmly later on for what I’m about to do.”
The werewolf frowned at him, puzzled. “Okay. Why? What are you about to do?”
Vlad grinned. “I’m about to be very loud in a library! We found it!” His voice echoed through the cavernous space.
Ursula came running, the light from the quartz lamp at her belt swaying violently. “What? You did?! Show me!”
Vlad showed her the book, pointing to the relevant passage. “See, here: ‘Morti morbosum, not to be mistaken for dibotryon morbosum, more commonly known as Black Knot’!” He resisted the urge to do a jig at almost being right. “‘Morti morbosum is a rare species of pathogenic fungus. It is a subspecies of the demonic parasitus vitae family and feeds almost exclusively on magical entities. It is rarely found outside the Wastes, but has been—’”
“‘—known to crop up from time to time in regions of high magical energy,’” Ursula finished for him, grasping the book with both hands and holding onto it like a lifeline. “‘Once infection takes hold, there is little remedy save for the removal of the infected limbs…’” she trailed off, shoulders sagging in defeat. “‘Or the death of the host.’”
“What does that say?” Nathan asked, pointing over Vlad’s shoulder at a tiny annotation in the footnotes.
All three of them were crowded around the book, and Vlad shivered at the warmth of both their bodies against his.
“‘Anecdotal accounts survive, detailing the use of tamed sunlight as a remedy for this affliction.’”
“Tamed sunlight?” Nathan wrinkled his nose. “What does that even mean? How can you tame the sun?”
Ursula bit her lower lip. “I’m not sure. It sounds like old magic.”<
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“It does,” Vlad agreed, turning his gaze up to the ceiling, wondering where they’d even begin to research something like that. His eye caught on a cracked quartz lamp embedded in the roof. It sparked and fizzled, the light bleeding out of it. He froze, unwilling to even blink in case it dislodged the thought forming in his head. “Unless… Nathan, do you still have that sample?”
“It’s in my coat pocket,” the werewolf said, automatically patting himself down before noticing he wasn’t wearing his coat. “I left it by the door. Why, what are you thinking?”
“Not sure yet!” the vampire called back, rushing for where Nathan had discarded his red coat in a crumpled heap on the floor. Rummaging through the pockets, he pulled out the glass jar and eyed the oozing black contents intently. “Hello again.” He held it carefully between thumb and forefinger as the quivering mass sought to make contact with his skin through the glass.
“What are you doing?” Ursula asked from behind him. She was still holding the book, her finger in the relevant page.
Vlad cleared the nearest desk with a dramatic wave of his hand. There weren’t many books on it, but it was the spirit of the thing. “We’re going to try a little light experiment,” Vlad said, setting the jar down at the center of the table. “Excuse me.” His fingers grazed the curve of Ursula’s hip as he unhooked the quartz crystal lamp from her belt. “Nathan, hand me those other lamps, would you?”
Ursula scoffed. “Please don’t tell me you believe in the cleansing power of crystals?”
“Of course not.” Vlad spluttered with laughter as he arranged the lamps in a triangular formation around the jar. “I’m going to burn the shit out of the fungus. If I can trick the plants in my hothouse into thinking it’s summer in the tropics, in theory I can do the same here.”
“It can’t be as simple as this.” Nathan glanced between the witch and vampire. “Surely it’s not as simple as ‘kill it with light’?”
“Sometimes, the simplest solutions are the best for a reason,” Vlad replied, placing the last crystal down carefully and taking a hasty step back. “And sometimes all you can hope to do is make the darkness a little brighter.”