by Flynn, Mac
He laughed. "Yeah, and I've locked myself out of them more times than I care to admit."
"These must need some fancy keys," I commented. Smooth, Leslie, real smooth.
"Yeah, but there's a locksmith in town who does a good job with molds," he told me. There was my angle.
"Are you interested in locks, Mr. Veer?" I wondered.
"Jonathon."
"Huh?"
"In my own home my name's Jonathon. It's only Mr. Veer out there." He waved his hand at a window.
"Oh, well, do you like locks, Jonathon?" I rephrased.
"Only if they have some sort of historical value," he replied. "But would you like that cocoa or a tour of the house?"
"The tour." I could check out the house without him being suspicious.
Veer smiled and led me toward the left room. "Great. Follow me and I'll try not to be too boring."
Chapter 12
He was too boring, or at least more boring than my non-historical mind could handle. I managed to tune him out after he started to delve into the intricate workings of the baseboard wood cuts. My eyes were on the doors, and I found that it was a paradise for doorknob aficionados. Like every old house none of them were the same. We were on the second floor when I stopped in front of a large door with a very unusual lock. It was square.
"Something interest you?" he teasingly asked me. I jumped and snapped my head up.
"Oh, I was just looking at the, um, the doorknob."
He smirked. "You have seem to have a fascination with locks and knobs. Is it a hobby?"
"Oh, yeah, I just love the intricacies of the knobby things," I replied.
Veer chuckled. "Knobby things. I've never heard it spoken quite like that."
I sheepishly shrugged. "I don't really like using technical terms."
"Well, as a lover of doorknobs you must be in heaven."
"Yes, it's quite a maze of knobs. Do you have keys to all of them?"
"Most of them, but others I had to make the acquaintance of the local locksmith," he told me. "He's a jolly fellow, isn't he?"
"Yes, he's pretty chatty when-" My eyes widened and I shut my trap, but the damage was done.
Veer leaned his shoulder against the nearby wall and smiled at me. "You've been following my trail for quite some time," he commented. I backed up, but he followed me. The temperature in the hall suddenly felt warmer, and the shadows along the walls were longer. I should have been scared, but I felt a strange peace wash over me. Like I was where I belonged, and yet I'd never been here before. "Was there something you wanted to ask me?"
"I-um-I just wanted to say-um, say thank you for helping me out the other night," I stuttered. My back hit the wall and he gently set one of his hands beside my head. I was trapped, but not afraid. He leaned in so close our noses almost brushed each other. A shudder ran through me. I tried to hide it, but he saw it. I had the feeling he saw everything I did. It was strange to think that and not be frightened, but the attention was erotic.
"Is that it?" he whispered. His lips brushed against mine and a small gasp escaped me. I could barely think, but I could feel, and right now I felt like kissing him.
I leaned forward and pressed my lips against his. His arms wrapped around me and pressed me against his hard chest. It felt wonderful to be held so passionately by this handsome man. A thrill ran through me that was deeper than anything I'd experienced with the creature. It made me wish I could trade the book for the man, but that couldn't be. Neither could this relationship.
I pushed away from him with my cheeks tainted with blush and my chest heaving. "We. . .we can't," I told him.
He smiled. "Don't you believe in love at first kiss?" he teased.
"Yes, but, well, I don't know you and you don't know me," I protested.
"Do kindred souls need time to know they were meant to be with each other?" he countered.
"I-I don't know, but I need to go," I replied. I turned away. That was the hardest thing I ever had to do in my life. He caught my wrist in a gentle hold. I could hear pain and disappointment in his voice.
"I know this sounds strange, but don't you care for me at all?" he asked me.
"I. . .I don't know," I replied. "We just met a couple of days ago, and you're a teacher."
His hand shook and he dropped his hold. I glanced over my shoulder and saw his sorrow in his eyes. I don't know why I was so moved by it. Maybe because it was the same loneliness I'd felt before I discovered the book. "I. . .I had a great time with you showing me your house."
"But you won't come back?" he guessed.
I gave him an encouraging smile. "Maybe I will, just not yet." I looked away. I couldn't take those lonely eyes.
"You never told me why you really came here," he reminded me.
I shrugged. "Just some trouble at the library. We're missing a book and I thought you might be able to help us find it. You know, with your experience in the Forbidden Collection."
"A book is missing?" There was a strain in his voice that forced me to look back at him. His eyes were no longer soft and deep. They were cold and calculating.
"Yes. It hasn't been missing for very long."
"Do you know the title?"
"No, the record is missing from the database." I looked him over with a careful eye. "Maybe you'd know how that would happen."
He shrugged and leaned against the wall. "The library's system is poorly secured. Any low-level hacker could go in there and change all the titles to the Karma Sutra."
"Oh, well, sorry for wasting your time then."
"Wait a moment. By some strange coincidence I'm also missing a book. I mislaid it on campus, and can't remember where I last saw it," he told me. "Perhaps you could keep your eyes out for it?"
"What's it look like?"
"It has a dark cover without lettering, and the title page on the inside reads "The Art of Gardening and Its Practical Applications. The rest of the contents you can probably guess."
"I'll keep my eyes out for it and let you know if I find it," I promised. I glanced at my bare wrist and gasped. "Would you look at the time! I'm going to be late for work!" I smiled up at him and took a long step backwards. "It was great seeing you again, and thanks for the riveting tour of your house. I learned a lot about-well, about a lot of things." Namely how to fall for a guy I shouldn't be falling for.
"I hope you come back soon." He was serious.
I smiled and gave a nod. "I'll try." I hoped I was serious.
I left Jonathon's house in a daze. My mind swirled around that lovely kiss. I couldn't forget that feeling of elation as his lips touched mine.
There was only one way to deal with this, and that was with distraction. And the best distractions were school and work. I didn't exactly lie when I told him I needed to get ready for work. It was more like a stretching of space and time. This was my rare early day at the library because Marvin demanded one day a week where he had an afternoon to study, so we switched places. I went from two until eight, and he had the five to ten shift. Before my exciting adventures in library assisting began I still needed to go to a few classes.
I got back to my apartment and picked up my bag. My eyes wandered over to the closed bedroom door and I could just imagine the book sitting there on the book waiting for me. I shuddered. The feeling wasn't entirely unpleasant. Before I knew what I was doing, I'd walked over and opened the door. I found the book laying flat on the bed. It was its innocent self, or was it?
I wanted to turn away and go to class, but my eyes were glued to the book. My feet stepped forward and I stood by the side of the bed staring at the flesh-bound thing. There were no golden letters or light, but I could feel the power radiating off it. Its hold over me was growing more powerful. I couldn't stop it, and half of me didn't want to. That carnal half wanted to succumb to the lustful seductions. It wanted to be wrapped forever in those golden tendrils, to feel those smooth bodies running over mine. My body warmed to the pleasurable thoughts, and my pulse quickened, but so
me of the magic was gone.
I recalled Jonathon and the kiss, and I felt a higher sense of lust. He was real. This book was a creature, a thing of magic. It could hold me, but I couldn't hold it. It could seduce me, but it couldn't grow old with me. It could take me to new heights of pleasure, but part of the pleasure was giving back. I couldn't give back with this thing.
However, that didn't mean I still wasn't in its power. I didn't want to take it, I knew the risks. If Hamish or Marvin caught me with it then I'd be in big trouble. Unfortunately, this wasn't my choice. The thing ordered me to take it, and I found myself stuffing the book into my bag. I screamed at myself to drop the bag and run. Maybe toss it on the stove and light it on fire. But I did none of that. Instead I slung it over my shoulder and went to class.
A few minutes later I parked my car into the college free lot way out in the middle of nowhere. It was so far out in the nosebleed section that I was surprised I didn't find a body drained of blood. My feet clacked along the tough, cracked pavement as I hurried my way to my first class. That's when my oh-so-wonderful day got better when the two stooges arrived. Justin and Austin were just as ugly as ever, and the scowls on their faces didn't improve their looks.
"Where's your teacher to protect you, teacher's pet?" Austin sneered.
I stepped back and my eyes flitted over their shoulders to the jungle of major buildings. That was freedom, and these two asses stood in my way. "Don't you have anybody else to bother?" I snapped at the pair.
"Not until we're done with ya," Justin spoke up.
Austin turned to his buddy and glared at him. "Shut up, you idiot. I'm talking here." He turned his cruel eyes back on me, and I saw his dark intentions written in those eyes. This wasn't just their usual harassment. They were serious about roughing me up, but an anger burned inside of me. After experiencing that kiss with Jonathon I didn't want another guy, or even creature, touch me. Not yet, maybe not ever, but certainly not with these thugs. "Now what are we going to do about you, huh? You've been a lot of trouble for us without any reward. What say you give that to us right now?"
"Um, no." I did the last thing any of the three of us expected. I jumped forward and thrust my knee into Austin's crotch. He crumbled like the sack of crap he was and Justin stood there gaping like a fish. I didn't spare him my wrath. He made the acquaintance of my other knee and joined his friend on the ground. I didn't stick around to ask if they wanted help up, but hurried down the walk and out of their grasps.
Chapter 13
I made it through my classes, but with one eye over my shoulder. The asses would make another try at me, but I'd be ready. My last class finished a few minutes until two and I hurried over to the library to avoid the two stooges. I rushed through the doors and stumbled over to the desk, out of breath and almost out of time. Hamish was at the front desk and she hurried over to me. She looked me over for signs of trouble. "Are you all right? You act as though someone's chasing you," she
"Sorry, just thought. . .I'd be late. . .if I didn't run here," I gasped.
"Perhaps next time a quiet but late entrance will do," she scolded me. I nodded my head, and strode past her and into the back room. Now I had a new problem. My changed body. I had to think of an excuse fast or Hamish would-
"Leslie, is something wrong with you?" a voice spoke up. I whirled around to find her standing behind me.
I chuckled and crossed my arms over my ample chest. "Um, no. I'm fine. Why do you ask?"
She looked me up and down. "Because you look different. Very different. Are you on drugs?"
I rolled my eyes. "I'm not on anything. It's just I'm-" An idea hit me, and a smile slipped onto my lips. "Actually, I am on something. I went to see a doctor yesterday about my-well, my problems, and he gave me steroids."
She raised an eyebrow. "And you started these when?"
I shrugged. "Last night?"
"And it's already affected you this much?" she wondered.
"Um, yeah." I nervously chuckled. "I guess these things just affect me pretty fast."
Hamish frowned, but her shoulders drooped and she sighed. "All right, but let's hope you don't get any bigger. You're about to pop out of those clothes as it is."
"Um, yeah. I'd hate to have to buy some new clothes," I replied.
Hamish left me alone and I got to the long, boring work. Everything was uneventful until Marvin arrived at five. He walked through the front doors wearing a hazmat suit and a grim expression. At least, it looked grim beneath the heavy helmet. I leaned over the front desk where I was stationed and tried not to laugh. "Nuclear winter already? I thought that wasn't for a couple of months," I quipped.
His voice came through like he stood in an echo chamber. "Very funny," he replied. The rubber pant legs rubbed against each other and he squelched over to me. "If you must know, tonight is the night I go down into the basement and I wanted to be prepared for anything." My eyes lit up. He needed to go down there to find the card catalog and learn the name of the missing book. I was interested in learning it, too.
"I'm pretty sure the basement was built to protect people from a fallout, not contain one in there," I told him. "Besides, I don't think Hamish will-"
"Mr. Murphy, what in the world are you doing in that outrageous getup?" Hamish spoke up behind me. I snorted and stepped aside to watch the explanation.
"I wanted to be prepared for anything in the basement," he explained to her.
"I'm afraid you forgot to prepare for one problem," she replied.
Marvin was horrified. "What's that?" he asked her.
"The ridicule." Hamish pointed behind him, and he turned to see the patrons were snickering and pointing at him.
He looked back to us and shrugged. "I get that without the suit," he pointed out.
"Well, I don't want you in that getup, in the library or in the basement, so get it off and get to work," Hamish ordered him.
Marvin grumbled, but strode past us and into the back room. Hamish left to shelve some books, so when Marvin came back sans suit he found me alone. The guy's face was so long it dragged along the floor. He slid onto the stool beside me and slipped his upper body over the front desk. He'd been doing that a lot lately. "I'm doomed," he moaned.
I rolled my eyes. "I'm pretty sure you won't die from being down there for a while," I replied.
He planted his face down on the top and shook his head. "My allergies combined with the dust from the basement will do me in." He turned his head so he could look at me. "Promise me a burial beside the science building. It was like a second home to me." I had no doubt.
I wanted to laugh, but kept a straight, if twitchy, face. Besides, a brilliant idea came to mind that would satisfy his chore and my curiosity. "If it's that dangerous to you, why don't I go down there instead?" I suggested.
He shot up and clasped my hands in his. "You mean that? You'd do that for me?"
I tried to pull my hands free, but he had a good grasp for a skinny nerd. "Only if you let me go right now," I replied. He released me and I slid off the stool. "You watch the front, and I if I don't come back in half an hour send in a rescue party."
"It might be needed. The card catalog was placed in the farthest corner behind the old shelves," he told me.
I cringed. "Are there a lot of lights down there?"
"Enough so you won't trip, but I doubt anyone knows how many of the bulbs still work," he replied. This was looking more and more like a suicide mission.
"And what exactly am I supposed to be looking for in the catalog?" I wondered.
Marvin fumbled in his shirt pocket and pulled out a slip of paper. He handed the paper to me and I saw there were two names on it. "There are two catalogs for the Forbidden Collection. One is in alphabetical and the other is for subject. You want to find the subject one and look between those two books. That's the book that's missing."
I remembered the missing entry on the computer. "And if there isn't a card there?"
He shrugged. "Then we'll never know
what was stolen."
"All right, I'll be back in ten. I hope."
I strode into the back and stopped in front of the basement door. I'd never even seen the thing opened, much less gone down there. I took a deep breath, opened the heavy wooden door, and glanced down a short flight of narrow stairs. A light switch was on the wall to my right, and when I flicked it on most of the shadows vanished. I crept down the stairs with one hand firmly on the railing and one on the slip of paper.
At the bottom of the stairs the room opened up into a chasm of darkness. Another switch was on my right, and I flicked that one. Long fluorescent lights flickered on to reveal a mess of tall bookshelves and dusty computer monitors. Most of the lights worked and I had no trouble seeing my way, it was just the path that bothered me. There were shadows everywhere, and the basement was very deep at fifty yards.
I passed through the old sentinels of bookshelves and the cyclopean eyes of the computer monitors to the rear of the basement. The computers were replaced with large, old wooden desks. Bookshelves gave way to stacked chairs. It was like going from one creepy garden to another, complete with long shadows and imaginary sounds. Now I knew why Marvin didn't want to go down here. It wasn't because of his allergies, it was because he would have had a heart attack from fear.
My own heart thumped loudly in my chest, and I was relieved when I spotted the old, wooden card catalog with its countless small drawers. I hurried to it and looked over the worn, penciled names. Then there it was. The Collection drawers. One was labeled Subject, and I eagerly opened the drawer. My fingers flitted through the titles, but I was distracted by noises over my shoulder. I looked back, but the sound vanished. A creeping sensation of fear swept over me. Even though the basement was cool I wiped some sweat off my forehead.
I looked back to the cards and was elated when I found one of the names. The next card proved to be what I was looking for, and what I expected. I pulled out the worn card and held it between two pinched, shaking fingers. My hushed whisper echoed through the large room. "Darkness Residing In the Heart of Man," I read aloud.