Dusk

XXXI

"This is the public library, anyone in capital may enter," Alessandro said the next morning as he opened the door to show Everest the floor to ceiling bookshelves. Thousands upon thousands of books just sitting on the long shelves.

Immediately he was in awe at the sight, momentarily blinded by its beauty, the smell is radiated and silence inside of the room. He took a few steps in to admire the scenery. Nearly overwhelmed by the sights of them he tried to hide his amazement. Alessandro cleared his throat once to make Everest continue to follow him.

A few minutes later and he abruptly stopped in front of large double doors, standing beside them were two large guards. His white eyes staring deep into his gray as he tried reading them. Knowing this, Everest made sure his stare was unreadable. "Why won't you let me figure you out?"

"Because my mind is the only thing that's truly mine."

"Very well," he adjusted his stance to portray his power.

"You could always ask," he snarkily replied making the two guards step towards him. Neither of their movements went unnoticed by him although he kept Alessandro's intense stare.

"And you could always lie," he nodded to signal for the guards to open the doors to reveal a much smaller room. Inside stood four more guards. The bookshelves were much shorter and held large, ancient books. Their spines looking incredibly fragile as they leaned against one another for support.

In the middle sat a large desk and behind it an older man, his skin wrinkling. He looked as if he'd die right before Everest's eyes. He reminded him of the aged books surrounding them. The way he moved as he stood was so delicate. "My king." He bowed and nodded at Everest when he stood up.

"You have no need to address me as such Cornelius."

A large grin forming on his face at Alessandro's kindness. "Ah just in case you needed the extra oomph in front of this boy," he extended his rather short arm outwards towards Everest, "Cornelius Farth."

"Everest." He shook it firmly, noticing the coolness of his hand and the lack of heart beats in the room, "you're a-"

"Old fart?" He pretended to look appalled at his harshness, "oh, vampire? Yeah! Only took Alessandro here a few years to turn me. He never fully trusts anyone. Took me about 76 years to earn that trust and then BAM! I was turned at a young 92." He gave a wide grin.

"Why did you wait so long?" Everest looked utterly confused and sounded appalled.

Alessandro kept his gaze on Cornelius, "I had to ensure he had enough time to live a human life since I did not get the chance to do so."

"What he means is he wanted me to have kids," Cornelius scoffed, "and I didn't."

The tall, powerful man firmly patted his back, "and after all that convincing he's now my closest friend and holds the most prestigious title here in the capital."

"The most prestigious title is yours, my king."

They both chuckled like wealthy, powerful men as Everest stood in the middle of the room looking miserable yet angry as usual. "What's with the kid?" Cornelius asked.

"He's here temporarily and offered his services towards the Dhampir research. That's
precisely why I escorted him here. There's more to the curse than we originally perceived, it's much more complex than the journal described."

"Well it was all just theories and hearsay you know," Cornelius waved as he turned to the shelf to find the book, "how is the dhampir? Strong?"

"She proves as mysterious as we anticipated. Her speed is impressive. That's why we need to start logging this in detail now and try to uncover previous cases."