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He walked back to the section she’d just left, scanned the shelf, and pulled out a honking big textbook. “Here you go.”

Entrepreneurship: Building a Business, Student Edition.

“This is a good one.”

She took it from him and tried to excuse herself, but she wasn’t getting out of it that easily.

“Hey, maybe we can—”

“I’m so sorry, but you really don’t—”

“You are so pretty,” he blurted. “I know every nook and cranny of this building, even the secret archives.”

Toni sighed, trying to ignore the tinge of pleasure the compliment gave her. After all, being called pretty wasn’t the worst thing in the world. Even if it was from a guy who looked like he could still be in high school and apparently lived in the library.

“I appreciate that,” she said. “But I’m coming off a really bad relationship, two of them actually, and one ended just this morning. So if there’s anyone in this whole building less eager to go on a date, it’s me. But thanks for the book.”

She’d stunned him into silence. Toni waved as she walked away, looking for a place to sit down with her new find. She couldn’t take it home. Besides, she had nothing to do that night anyway.

Wait. She needed a drink. And dinner.

And so it was she found herself sitting cross-legged in an armchair, a diet soda in one hand, a mini-bag of popcorn in the other, reading the first textbook she’d touched since high school. So this was what it felt like to be a college student? It wasn’t as dreadful as she’d expect, but it also wasn’t for her.

Toni would not be going to college. She also wouldn’t be wallowing in her own self-pity any longer. It wouldn’t do any good anyway. Sure, she didn’t want to be a doctor, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t adopt her parents’ work ethic and ambition. Like Alessandra, they had nerves of steel. Sometimes she wondered if her parents had been human.

She smiled.

Maybe they were vampires.

Taking a deep breath, followed by a swig of soda, Toni focused on the task ahead of her.

She suspected it would be a long night.