He turned around and shuffled away.
Well, that wasn’t dire or anything.
“Are you going to follow me so I can show you to the exit, or are you going to stand there looking like a great lump of clay? If it’s the second, you won’t last long. Things roam these shelves looking for an easy target like you to consume.”
I looked down at the book in my arms. “What do you want me to do with the book?”
“Bring it with you,” he snapped. Under his breath, he mumbled, “It’s not like it’d stay put anyway.”
Pretending I hadn’t heard that second part, I hurried after him, book in tow. Staying off the dinner menu worked well for my long term goals. The sooner I could put this place behind me the better. I never wanted to be this deep in the bookstore again.
He was mostly silent as he led me through the maze-like stacks of books. In contrast to the wide open rooms I’d wandered through before, he led me through hallway after small hallway of claustrophobia inducing spaces.
“Tell me about the other shopkeeper,” he said abruptly. He sounded grim. Like he expected me to tell him the world was ending soon.
Seeing no harm in telling him about the creepy man I’d met, I said, “He had curly brown hair, brown eyes.”
“Not that, you half-wit. I don’t care what he looked like. Tell me what he said.”
I pulled a face behind him.
“I can see you.”
I paused, giving him a suspicious look. He hadn’t turned, so unless he had eyes in the back of his head, I doubted that. Unless he was another mind reader.
I visualized burning the book in my hands, frowning when it pulsed with warmth against my fingers. If warmth was capable of giving off a feeling, this would have felt like indignation. I put that thought aside.
The old man failed to respond to my visualization, which meant he probably was not a mind reader. Good. Those guys always unsettled me. I don’t like anybody knowing my most private thoughts. It’s like having a peeping tom with x-ray vision spying on you in your most intimate moments.
The old man stopped and fixed a cranky stare on me.
“Right.” What had the other man said? “He wanted to sell me a book.”
“What kind of book?”
I debated how much to tell him. Couldn’t hurt now. I was already in enough trouble. “A rundown of all the supernaturals and an insider’s guide to the politics between the different factions.”
He harrumphed again. “You wouldn’t need such a thing if you would simply allow a clan to claim you. They would teach you everything you need to know.”
Or only what they wanted me to know.
“Yes, yes. I’ve already been over this with the vampires. I don’t need to go over it with a grumpy bookseller too.”
He snorted. “Cocky and arrogant. What’s wrong? Afraid of losing control of your life?”
I gave his back a searching look, not liking how closely he’d guessed my motivations. Even Liam hadn’t hit the nail on the head so aptly.
Liam was a vampire I’d met last fall. The first vampire I’d met. Well, if you didn’t count the bastard who turned me. I didn’t. I tended to call him Jackass in my head. Liam was also the vampire who said he would teach me a little more about this world, and more importantly, a little more about what it meant to be vampire.
I hadn’t heard much from him since that promise, which had led me to breaking into a restricted bookstore trying to bluff my way towards obtaining more knowledge.
“Sure, I guess you could say that.” There was no point in denying it.
He gave me a gap toothed smile. “Good for you. Maybe you’re smarter than you look.”
We turned a corner and suddenly we were back in the cavern I started in. The man’s head swiveled as he took in the expanse of books.
He cackled. “I haven’t seen this section in a while.”
