Feral Bonds

Chapter 35

The vampire from before recognized Natania immediately when she entered the bargaining room. A scowl formed on his lips, but he waved Natania inside and they settled back into the same corner as before.

"What are you seeking?" The child-bodied vampire spun in his stool, looking utterly impatient.

"I'm looking for a book, a leather bound tome with a sun symbol on it. It was taken from a family killed by Stefan Duvall years ago. The one who hired him was a witch."

The vampire hissed. "The Collector." He said the word like a title.

Natania narrowed her eyes. "You know who it is."

"That information is worth more than your debt, more than all the blood in your scrawny little body."

Natania gave him a pointed look. "You're calling me scrawny? You're stuck in a ten year old's body." He hissed with rage and Natania rolled her eyes. "You owe me information, so you have to give me something." Since he wouldn't talk about the Collector, she would ask about the book. At least they could find out what her parents were killed for. "Where or what is the book?"

"It was used and returned to where it belongs." The vampire smiled, showing sharp fangs. "They don't talk to the beast bound."

"Where?" Natania growled.

"Where all books belong," he said, like she was stupid. "The library. The Hall of Fate."

She'd never heard of it before, but the boy refused to give Natania any more information without more blood. She didn't trust him not to overdo it again, so she left with the information she had, figuring Vincent would be able to answer the rest of her questions. She wondered why Gretchen's family had been in possession of a book that apparently belonged to the supernatural community. Gretchen was a normal human, as far as she could tell, there was no trace of magic on her scent.

It was possible her parents, or one of them, had been a necromancer, which tended to skip generations, or a seer, which didn't pass on. It would explain how Gretchen knew so much about their community. She pushed that thought away for another day.

She borrowed a phone and called Vincent in one of the booths of silence.

"Hello?" Ray answered the phone after a couple rings.

"Shouldn't you be dead by now?" Natania complained. "Give me Vincent."

"Always a pleasure, Natania," Ray practically purred in her ear and Natania flinched away from the phone.

A moment later, Vincent's familiar voice was on the line. "Yes, little wolf?"

"What is the Hall of Fate?" she asked, opting to dive right into it. Vincent didn't die in the daylight, but it could still exhaust him to stay awake too long.

"It's a library of sorts, run by a coven of native supernaturals." She knew that meant the human variety, seers, witches, sorcerers, necromancers. "They don't welcome any of the created."

"What about humans?" Natania asked.

Vincent sounded amused. "Your human could probably enter. If she passed the trial."

"What does that mean? And where is it?"

"Go and find out," he said, with a laugh. "It's said that if you pass the library's trial, you will receive the information you seek the most. After that, you can gain access to the library itself. But you could not enter." He gave her the coordinates, not that far from the city. Natania committed it to memory.

"Thank you." If the trial would tell Gretchen what she needed, they might not even need the library. That was the best outcome.

"My pleasure. Anything else?"