Leila gazed through the shelves with interest. There were many books and she wondered what kind of books there would be in Hell. A whole shelf was dedicated to books written by scholars.
"Even in Hell they exist I see," she said to herself.
She took out one curious about the subject; it read 'decreasing population of witches.' Leila was even more intrigued now as she heard of it from Luke and Lucie, it was also the reason she came to Hell in the first place. She kept the book in her hands and looked around again. This time it was the fiction section. As she skimmed through the shelf, she realized that most were thrillers, which was expected. She took out 'The last day'. Her eyes grew wide when she saw the sticker on the cover. 'Based on a true story,' it said. Curious about this story she turned the book around to read the blurb.
'She was a witch and he was a vampire. They fell in love. They lived happily ever after until that day came. The vampire had other intentions. He didn't love her, he loved her blood. He could feel the blood boil inside of her. The smell of her blood made him go crazy. He had made her fall in love with him and waited. He had waited an eternity for her to grow more. Gain more blood cells and mature the blood in her. With age, her blood would simply taste better just like fine wine. Today, he felt that it was the day. Her blood had never smelled better. He had decided to finally get a taste of his lover. Will the witch let herself get taken away that easily?'
'I wonder if the book was written by the witch or the vampire?' Leila thought as if it was based on a true story it would be highly possible one died and how can you write when you are dead.
The story was intriguing but that sticker she saw earlier gave her chills. She took out another book to once again see that sticker. Scared, she took out another book. The 'based on a true story' sticker had appeared on every fiction book she took.
"Are you looking for something in particular, Milady?" said the man approaching.
"No, no, I just thought that this is a not-so-fiction section," she said putting back the books.
He laughed, "Yes, most of these books are based on true stories but, what is true and what isn't?" he said confusing her even more.
Leila had turned her head around to face him. Immediately, she was entranced by his beauty. His hair was silky and blond. His skin was as pale as snow. His eyes were as blue as the sea.
"I don't think we've met before. Have you come recently here?" he said with a voice as smooth as whiskey.
"Yes, I'm new here. My name is Leila."
"Leila? Your name means the night in Arabic."
"Yes, that's right."
"I am Demain, the owner of this bookstore. I am happy to meet you." His charms had overwhelmed Leila.
"Same here," she wasn't too quick to answer as she was lost in his swooning eyes. He smiled at her knowing all too well that he was mesmerizing.
"You must have realized by now that I am a vampire and you are?" he asked.
"I'm a witch," Leila quickly answered this time. When he heard the word witch, Demian licked his lips.
"I see," he said turning around her. Leila nervously stood there thinking of a way to end this conversation and go out of the bookstore.
"Tell me something about vampires, I don't know much." Leila had thought it would take her off of his mind as he looked like a prideful person who loved to educate other people.
It worked as he stopped turning and began to speak while pacing back and forth. "Sure, they say we vampires in Hell are descendants of vampires in Europe. You probably don't know what Europe is. Let me educate you. Europe is a place where vampires rule. They have complete control over their people. And all of their people eventually become their meals. Women throw themselves at them as they enjoy being bitten by them."
Leila had almost laughed out loud but kept it under. If only Demian knew of the reality of Europe. She had the urge to educate him herself but that would reveal her identity and put her in danger.
"Fascinating," she said before letting him ramble on about how powerful and respected vampires are. He barely looked at Leila when he spoke. He moved his hands a lot and only looked up. She took this as an opportunity and slowly walked out of the bookstore. She walked back in the same direction she had come from in order to find Lucie and Luke. There they were, patiently waiting for her.
"I was quick this time, wasn't I?" she told them.
"Surprisingly," said Luke as Lucie simply stood there with arms crossed.
"We're going back," she had finally said as she walked ahead. Leila with caution followed with the still cheerful Luke by her side.
They had all returned to the apartment. The door opened to a heated Kieran.
"What took you so long?" he said furrowing every part of his face.
"Web novels?" she muttered omitting the creepy bookstore part.
"I'm not even going to ask?" Kieran rolled his eyes and simply let her in.
"We're going to go now, I think we did our part," said Lucie.
"Yeah, it was fun. Let's do it again," added Luke. Leila gave him a small smile that soon disappeared when it was met by Lucie's cold gaze.
"Yeah, yeah..." Kieran lazily said. "You wish," he muttered in an inaudible voice.
The door closed by itself as the two walked back to the elevator.
Leila who was so delighted earlier looked down. She had something on her mind. Coming back to this quiet place made her think deeply again like she always did. Kieran had realized it when he looked back.
"Did something happen?" he asked. "I thought you'd come back happier."
"I just feel bad about something." Leila looked at the floor and played with her fingers.
"About what?"
"I think Lucie hates me."
"I doubt it but why do you think that?"
"They left me alone for a second and I went to a web café to read web novels. Apparently, they searched for me everywhere and were scared for me."
"So that's what happened."
"Lucie looked mad at me, earlier too. I broke her trust."
"She was just worried about you. She wouldn't be mad at you for that. She understands you for acting the way you did. You're new and you didn't go out much."
"You think so?"
"Yes, she's wiser than her brother."
"I can see that." They both laughed at her comment.
"And I can see why she was mad. You shouldn't go off alone."
"And you shouldn't have lied."
"When did I ever lie?"
"You said that there wasn't any laptop or internet." Kieran looked at her with a grin. "I couldn't help going in there, I missed the internet."
"So what happened in there?"
"Nothing, I just met Connor and I read a great web novel. I didn't know Hell had such great writers."
"You met Connor?"
"Luke already told me to be careful with him."
"Good."
"Good? Are you worried about me?" She said quickly with batting eyelashes.
"No, I'm worried about him," he teasingly replied.
"You're not good at lying," she said as she plopped herself on the couch. "So, where were we with the training?"
"Did you learn anything from that educational outing?"
"I learned," she started as she crossed her legs and crossed her hands on a knee, "that Hell has handsome men and flaming hot web novels." Kieran faced palmed himself and sat on the sofa across from her.
"Who do you include in these handsome men?" he asked with slight expectations.
"The prince, Connor and I guess Luke isn't too bad," she had almost added Demain but his personality took away his charms and Kieran wasn't supposed to know.
"Right the prince, I've never seen his face properly." Kieran couldn't believe that a human which came not too long ago, had already done something he never did.
"The prince is very handsome. He looks cold and dark. Everything about him just pierces you, his jaw and his eyes. His eyes are beautiful." Leila was reminiscing about the time she was with the prince.
"You shouldn't think that way. His eyes, they're not beautiful, they are dangerous. He can kill with those eyes." Kieran had wanted to warn her as she was fantasizing too much.
"Anybody can be dangerous, even me," she retorted.
He did not respond, he couldn't. His expression could not be described. He was figuring out things. Leila was much more mysterious than he thought. No matter how much you pealed, new sides just kept appearing. There was no end to the peeling.
"Just read the books and come see me if you have questions. You're not ready for the practice yet so I don't see the need to be present." Kieran roughly said before getting up.
"But-"
"Just do as I say or go elsewhere if you want." He entered his office and shut the door loudly.
Leila was lost. His behaviour suddenly changed and she was left alone in the living room with tons of unread books.
"Looks like I have no choice," she said to herself before picking up a book. It was the 'forbidden spells' book.
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