Raquel quickly shut the glass window with a loud thud. It was cold and Raquel only wore her usual thin shirt with a pair of black pants. The whispering winds that blew daringly through the whole city was accompanied by rolling masses of dark grey clouds. It spoke of a terrible storm coming their way.

“How strange,” Raquel mused to herself, one of her palm placed wide open on the cold window glass. It was such a sudden change. She remembered waking up to the usual golden rays of warm sunshine wrapping around her that morning. But now, only a few hours later, the whole sky has taken such a drastic change. The whole city –that which she could see through the window- seemed abandoned and silent.

Now that she thought about it, things had started to turn somewhat spooky ever since she found this weird library in a small, empty alleyway. For one, it was quite an unusual place to find a library in, and two, she had never even heard of a place like this existing in Magnolia. Yet, the massive structure that laid in front of her was definitely difficult to miss. She should have listened to the warning bells in her head. Inside a library that stretched far where her eyes cannot reach, with no one inside but a very odd looking black cat; Raquel should have left as soon as she stepped in. There was no librarian, no other living soul. Only the cat sat self-importantly on top of a large ornate wooden counter and licked its paws ominously just as her eyes landed on it. It seemed as if he was waiting there just for her.

But she ignored it all because of the excitement that came from finding a new place to read. Ever since reawakening from her long slumber, she had quickly taken a liking to this hobby of reading and sometimes –when she had time- crafting. Also because she is a vampire, quiet and dark places like this became one of her favorite to pass time in. Besides, things seldom bothered her. In fact, creatures as well as people often avoided her. There was only a handful of things that could truly scare Raquel off, and an eerie looking cat was not one of them.

So instead of walking out the same door she came in from, Raquel easily ignored the cat and went upstairs, picking up several books along the way. There was some classics, some theories on magic, and quite a lot of stuff on vampires. Two weeks after waking up, she was still learning more and more things about being a vampire. There was only so much that Kaiser could teach her, Besides, the brunette crash mage had gotten quite busy again and soon after their initial encounter, left for Blue Pegasus. Raquel knew none of the details, but rumors said they might find a potential ally in them. Strange again was the fact that Raquel felt absolutely uncomfortable for the whole day after hearing about it. Something about Blue Pegasus gave her several flashbacks that faded out as soon as they appeared, leaving her unable to link any of it up with anything.

Sigh

Just thinking about it gave her a head ache. Raquel went back to her seat behind a dark wooden table, running her fingers over the worn out page that spoke of vampires’ wings.

All sorts of disturbing noises reached her before the girl. As soon as the very first squeak of the floorboard was heard, Raquel’s attention jolted towards the stairs where nothing but rows of bookshelves and clouding darkness extending to god knows where stared back within the bosom of an eerie stillness. She quickly understood that someone was in the library with her, but only sensed them when they took their first step up the dusty and aged carpeted staircase.

Perhaps it was the librarian, she surmised, settling herself back on the rickety chair and willing her unchained thoughts from flying to all sorts of grim places. No one told her this, but Raquel really had an uncanny talent in imagining the worst, a trait she believed came from her original self.

Anyhow, she felt particularly curious about the climbing shadow that threw its blurry ink onto the books. Her eyes stood fixed to the spot between the wooden handrails, between the two carved head of eagles. How odd... They didn’t look like a librarian. It was a short girl with features looking so pale and ghostly that, for a startling moment, Raquel thought she was haunted by some evil spirits or curse. It also passed through her mind that the girl herself could be a spirit. Yet, that was unlikely since Raquel could effortlessly feel the flow of blood pounding in her veins.

She swooned at the thought of blood; she hadn’t fed on anything for a month. Not since that unappetizing encounter with that group of bandits. Feeling the familiar sensation of fangs growing between her teeth, the water mage quickly clasped a hand to her mouth and forced her thoughts to go away.

“Who are you?” She finally asked, her voice purposefully made louder to be heard over the sound of grumbling thunder and rain outside. She stood up from her seat and taking a couple of steps towards the listless girl. “Are you someone working in this library? It’s beautiful but I can’t tell if something like this had existed here before,” She carelessly spoke of the question that had been haunting her, letting it out after turning it in her head for hours. It didn’t occur to her that she may have asked the question to someone who stumbled into the building just like her.

“Oh?” Raquel threw her head to the side, eyes following the fleeing petite figure pushing herself between a couple of bookshelves. ‘Oh my…this is quite funny. Do I look that scary?’, a corner of her lips lifted up in a smirk, watching the shivering, pale girl. That was quite an attempt at hiding herself. Too bad it didn’t work and Raquel wanted to say she wasn’t doing a good job at it. Even as the swirling darkness wrapped its veil around the girl and turned her invisible to mortal eyes, Raquel was too special for it to have any effect on her. In fact, she saw the girl’s ghostly visage as clear as the day. She looked scared.

Raquel realized that she should approach her new companion as she would to a frightened cat. So she stood rooted to her spot next to the wooden desk, both her hands placed on it in a way that she leaned back towards it. “Mary,” The young vampire tested the name in her lips. It was quite a common name but the person it belonged to in this particular case looked really interesting. Raquel didn’t know why the young girl looked so afraid of her. She had done nothing but stand up and ask her a few questions. Perhaps she is the sort that gets scared too easily. Or maybe she had mistaken Raquel to someone or something else. At least she now knew this girl wasn’t the librarian –although that realization didn’t sit right with her for some reason. There was this bad feeling clawing at the back of her mind.

But pushing the uncertainty aside, Raquel decided to put the young one at ease. She pushed herself away from the desk and walked back towards the window, putting some more distance between the two of them. She could see the shorter girl getting hold of her nerves and growing bolder by the minute. So the skillful mage drew a disarming smile on to her red lips and –surprisingly- displaying a strong quality of patience that even Raquel never knew she had.

But as Mary lifted a shaky finger towards her small tower of books and asked if she believed in ghost stories, Raquel almost threw her head back and laughed as if the world was burning around her. She swallowed it down with a small chuckle for the sake of her company and placed a hand on the open pages of the book. “Well, these days, I have come to believe in many things. Why? Do you like ghost stories?” She asked, still keeping her place next to the window so that the frightened girl could approach her instead. “Why don’t you come closer and take a seat? I doubt you’re comfortable between all the dust on those old shelves. This place could really use some maintenance. Such a beautiful place but so poorly managed”

Raquel thought she made progress. The girl, although still very unsure and frightened, was starting to get closer and bit bolder. At least she was starting to speak more than just a few trembling words. But the vampire’s belief came crashing down when Mary slid down the chair under the table. “Oh dear…” Raquel sighed. She looked towards the book and blanked out. ‘How do I get her to feel comfortable? What do I do,’ Raquel pondered for a long time, letting the noise of thunder and rain and Mary’s heavy breathing settle in between them. She wasn’t used to taking care of people, didn’t know how to be delicate or sensitive but if she were to put herself in Mary’s place…

Raquel slowly pulled away from the window and walked towards the desk before sitting down on the floor in front of the shivering girl. She crossed her legs over one another and settled her hands on her lap. “My name is Raquel. You can call me Raq if you’d like to,” She spoke slowly, as if coaxing a small child. “Vampire stories are…quite fascinating, don’t you think? There are so many legends about them that you can hardly tell if any of them are real.”

Supported by her knees, Raquel grabbed onto a side of the desk with one hand and reached over with her other to pat around the surface and find an opened book, the same book she was reading just moments ago. Offering it to Mary, she sat back down and scooted a little bit closer, praying to whatever God that the little girl wouldn’t get spooked and run away from her again.

“This book is all about vampire physiology. It’s crazy, isn’t it that books like this exist when no mortal had never truly met a vampire before. They’re widely known to be nothing more than children’s tales, stories that scare the kids to bed, yet books like this suggest they exist. What do you think?” Raquel asked with a red glint in her eyes. She wouldn’t tell Mary that she is a vampire, not unless she wanted the poor thing to faint right here and now, but it was still a fun topic to talk about. Besides, Raquel wanted to know what others thought of her kind, that if they would ever accept something like her.

A sudden chill caught Raquel by surprise when the light in Mary’s eyes went out. It wasn’t from fright or fear, but purely from the blank look on an otherwise meek and timid girl. She didn’t think the topic on vampires’ existence would garner such a reaction from Mary. It made her wonder why. That was such an unusual expression on her pale face. But Raquel quickly caught herself before she gave anything away. She schooled her face into a natural smile and nodded. Her initial guess was that Mary was simply scared of vampires but the more she explained, the more confused Raquel became.

Grim Reapers? Were those even a thing? Of course, ever since her run in with Kaiser after that bloodsucking bastard that turned her, Raquel has started believing in the existence of races or monsters that humans otherwise thought to be nothing but horrible stories. She now knew not to underestimate what this vast universe was capable of nurturing. However, grim reapers were a different story altogether. She was quite sure they didn’t exist. A body of power that chained dead souls into afterlife, she would hate to meet one.

But by the end of Mary’s explanation, Raquel was sitting cross legged with a hand propped over one knee to support her head. “Immortality, huh,” She hadn’t thought of that yet. The fact that she was also something that no death could claim had never rested as heavily upon her shoulders as it did now. “I don’t think of death as a gift, it claims so many that are undeserving. But…immortality isn’t one either,” her voice sounded almost sad at the end. “I would feel quite sorry for the vampires that has to live forever, don’t you think?” she smiled mysteriously but said nothing more. It was suddenly important for her to change the subject. But before she could say anything, there was a violent sound coming from downstairs of something crashing and falling.

“What’s that…” Her head whipped to the side, once again fixed between the eagle heads. There was a light that which looked like it came from a lamp being thrown onto the dark bookshelves. As rain and thunder hardened outside, Raquel felt something grim crawling up her spine. Why…why couldn’t she sense the existence of whoever that is…?

“Ouch,” Raquel winced a bit when she heard the clear sound of Mary’s head hitting the desk. She reflexively moved to help the poor woman out but instead noticed that she was already starting to crawl out and stand up. Raquel followed, a hand placed on top of Mary’s head in an attempt to comfort the girl. ‘Is she ok…’ Raquel wanted to voice her concern out and ask but the sound of footsteps was getting louder and louder by the minute. The light that was steadily climbing the shelves got eclipsed by a shadow of something long and the meow of a cat could be heard in the background.

The Daeva frowned, putting herself in front of Mary as if she was trying to protect her. It wasn’t that Raquel was always this kind, but that Mary had, at some point between their conversation, grown on her and whatever that was climbing towards them did not seem normal. She was a hundred percent sure that it wasn’t human. She could sense and feel nothing. But as if the situation was not spooky enough, the thunderstorm behind them suddenly threw a flash of lightning towards the library and despite the windows being shut, it blew out the fire burning inside a small lamp Raquel took with her earlier to read. Now aside from the ominous ball of light coming up the stairs and the occasionally flickering lightning, the whole room was completely dark.

“Welcome, young ladies, to my library,” A masculine voice was heard and Raquel turned back to see the poised figure of a man. He had a head full of gray hair falling straight behind his shoulders and wore robes of white layered on top of more white. There was a thin, ornate sash going around his waist in the color of navy blue with patterns of sun and moon on it. He held a book in one hand and a lamp in the other. “You must forgive me for not greeting you earlier,” He continued with a hollow look in his eyes but a harmless smile on his lips. “I was…quite busy, you see. But I bet you have already met my dear companion?” His head coked towards a tiny mass of black perched on top of his shoulder. It was the cat that she saw earlier. “Again, let me welcome you two to savor my humble collection of books,” He dropped his head in a bow as he said so. But something cold was climbing up Raquel’s spine. As harmless and amicable as he seemed, she clearly felt put off by his aura. She cautiously returned his bow but said nothing, choosing to remain silent and see what his motive is.

“Fuck,” Raquel barely held inside a string of curse words. The shill voice of her strange companion rang like a loud gong insider her ears. ‘Ah ah I should have expected that,’ the tired vampire sighed. Even though she stood right in front of her as a shield, Mary was still scared. It made her wonder, what got her to become like that? Some sort of past trauma? She would have to find some time later in order to ask. Looking at the cowering and trembling figure, the young mage sighed again and patted the hand that held onto her shirt. As a sign of reassurance she even stepped closer to Mary before facing the other with a cold gaze.

Towards a presence that read as neither human nor ghost, Raquel was incredibly puzzled. She couldn’t shake off this feeling of suspicion whenever her eyes laid on him. Their confrontation was starting to look more and more like an overused scene out of some crappy fantasy novel. Under the flash of lightning and thundering noises outside, their little stare down settled into a stalemate with both sides holding their tongue in silence. Their eyes captured every single movement of each other. His seemingly harmless smile seemed to indicate he was waiting for a response, but Raquel felt very cautious. Even so, she knew it was silly to waste time like this.

‘I have to find out his intentions,’ the water mage thought. But she had barely opened her mouth to ask of this man’s true identity when a small voice stunned the two immortal beings into silence. ‘Are you single’…Raquel whipped her head back to look at Mary.

“Pf-pfft!” If her good manners held back the laughter before, nothing stopped Raquel once she confirmed the source of that voice. "BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH" Small beads of tears appeared at either corner of her eyes as Raquel laughed hysterically with her head thrown back in a way that it shook her whole body. Even the well-dressed librarian was visibly struggling with a look of absolute bewilderment on his face. With a finger curling gracefully in front of his lips, he too, after a moment, began to chuckle silently to himself while the cat paused mid-scratch to stare at the hunched woman as if it had seen some weird creature.

She wasn’t laughing at Mary. No, it was the entire situation that appeared funnier to her rather than the bold question of the usually timid woman.

“Haha, how cute,” the man broke the silence first. “What an interesting combination of visitors I have, indeed,” his voice carried a faint sense of ambiguity as his eyes shined mirthfully. Raquel, too, was speechless for a long time. With a crooked smile that looked almost bewitching, she brought her lips closer to Mary’s ears and whispered, “You know that thing despite his appearance is most likely older than the both of us combined, right?”

Raquel’s expressions went from amusement to horror and disgust in the span of a very few seconds as she listened to Mary. Really, this one was a strange one indeed. So unexpected, too. The young vampire found herself overwriting quite a lot of previous notions about her. This one was just as crazy as any of them. She should have sensed it from the time they discussed about vampires and the undead, Mary has a weird fetish with death and anything related. What a freaky realization. It felt creepy the more and more she dwelled on it. Besides, when Raquel took a clearer look at the cowering woman as they stood side by side, she discovered how much of a height difference they had. She initially thought her to be both the tallest and oldest but that seemed like not the case. It was just difficult to tell in the beginning.

“Uh, not to dampen your moment or anything, Mary, but that guy is probably already dead,” her lips twisted in a weird smile as she said so, as if she didn’t know whether that piece of information would do good or not. Her feet voluntarily moved away and she took a couple of steps away from her. The librarian looked equally confused and disturbed as his golden hollow eyes visibly twitched. He tried to hide his shock with a cough and went back to donning the previous dignified look he had.

“It’s Bethron, my lady. If my guests do not mind, may I ask the two of you for a favor?” His voice mellowed out once more. With a wave of his hands he gestured down the stairs. “But would you like to have some tea with me first?” With a tilt of his head and as if he was confident they wouldn’t say no, he began to head downstairs first, leaving the two women alone once again. Raquel, however, didn’t miss the look on his cat’s eyes.

“Hmm,” She contemplated the situation at hand. It was strange and the storm outside was picking up unnaturally fast as if to say the choice to leave was not an option. “Let’s go down and see what he wants. Maybe you two can hit it off really close over some tea,” She teased, chuckling as her feet moved towards the stairs.