till death do us part

“I take it you weren’t a fan of my joke.”

“I don’t do jokes.” 

“I’ll bring them by soon, then, monsieur librarian.  I will warn you that some may be in French, though.”

“i’m sure the foreign language department would have a field day.”

“Please tell me you got the cops lookin’ in on this.”

“No that won’t be necessary. Then half the town would be behind bars.”

“Wow, you’re giving me too much credit. I didn’t think I could bring down the library all by myself.” 

“Well when you put a bunch of individuals together it eventually adds up. So you technically only get part of the credit. ”

“Donations?”  Mimi brightened, a wide grin curling her lips.  “I have some books that I never look at, if you want them.  They were my sister’s, but she moved away some months ago, so they’ve just been collecting dust.”

“It would be greatly appreciated.”

“Is it really that bad? I was just coming to return mine so that’s one less book.”

“Unfortunately it is, but overdue books are nothing new. That’s good to hear, was it a good book?”

“I think everyone else in town is better at returning books than me,” Mack said, hands holding the counter’s edge as the man looked at all his overdue books. “Work keeps me busy.”

“At least you get around to returning them eventually.” he sighed scanning the books in front of him. “I get it, things like this can easily slip your mind. What do you do if I may ask?”

“Yeah, that would be her. Not sure how she finds it fun. What do you do for fun Mr Bell?” 

“Sometimes a book holds the greatest adventure. In my free time I like to do crossword puzzles, so I guess that’s what I do for fun. Something tells me you have different ideas of fun.”

Mimi shrugged, leaning forward to prop her elbows on the counter.  “Non, don’t bother.  It was years ago, anyway, I think back when I first moved here.  If I didn’t return it back then, it is probably long gone by now.  My apologies.”

“Luckily for you I think the only way to get this list to shrink is to forgive these overdue books. Some of them have been missing for ten or more years. I guess i’ll have to take donations to replenish the stock.”

Edward didn’t look away from the newspaper until the man addressed him, though he’d noted his presence before then.

“Thank you.” He nodded taking the empty seat. So this was the guy who owned the bar. The information that he got from his source also mentioned the man was the one who organized all of this. He had to be a supernatural creature, but that wasn’t very clear at the moment. 

A soft chuckle slipped through her lips, realizing that his words rang true for her. Whatever time she wasn’t spending chasing after her sister, or turning on the full moon, Lauren was spending her time in the library, nose pressed into yet another book. Her gaze followed him, watching as he moved to retrieve a few books before returning to her. Hands reached out, taking hold of the books as her gaze fell upon them. A hand slid down the spine of one, taking in the title as she listened to the man, “Thank you.” She spoke with a smile on her lips, before she hesitated. Delusional? If only he really knew what lurked in the shadows. “Do you think people actually believe in this stuff? Like, do they think vampires lurk in the shadows or something?”

The next words out of his mouth had to be chosen carefully. It was unlike him to hold a conversation about the subject at hand without an ulterior motive, but he took a shine to her which he rarely did. Something in him liked to think maybe she was a hunter on the rise trying to find out everything she could. Alec was a smart man however, so she could also be one of them. “I suppose so. Most of the books that you are reading are authored by those very fanatics. It makes for a good read.”

“It was never really enforced.  Or at least, so I’ve heard - I think I rented maybe…one book here before?  Come to think of it I don’t know if I ever returned it, though…oops.”

“I guess I see why they got rid of the old guy. I could check if you really wanted to know?“

“Not a fan of reading or studying really, now my sister on the other hand, big fan.” 

“It’s not everyone's thing, but I find a lot of people coming in here for the quiet. I think I know who you’re talking about. She is somehow here more than I am at times.”

The extent of his interest went unnoticed by the young woman, elbows propped up on the table as her attention focused on the man instead of the book before her, “You know, I’m not really sure. I think I might have watched a movie one time about old lore, and it kind of just fascinated me.” The lie fell smoothly from her lips, though she found a great disliking for it. “Really? Yeah, I would like that.”

“That usually get’s most people, but only the true fans spend all their free time reading up on it.” Alec moved towards the back corner of one of the shelves as he looked for a specific book. It was one he had personally added to the collection. It was labeled under fiction, of course it was anything but. He grabbed a few more books to add to the mix before heading back to the young woman. “These two compare and contrast different lore and how they came to be. This one here is a personal favorite of mine. It’s in the perspective as if these creatures were real. Interesting. Completely delusional, but still interesting.” 

Even In Arcadia | Alec & Edward

This was it. Although not having been in the town for much tie, he had heard through whispers about this place. Mostly bad things, but maybe that’s exactly what he was looking for. On the outside it looked like the run of the mill bar, however he knew from experience that most of the time that wan’t the case. 

“Nah, you’ll never catch me in the library unless I have to be there, I’ve lived here a few years now and I don’t think I’ve been passed the lobby.”

“Oh I see. Are you not a fan of libraries then?