Stuck in the Library (open)

"To understand your enemy you first have to know more about them~ It is not something as simple as going out at nights on a rampage and killing anything that looks suspicious to you!" and on and on continued the words of Melody's boss as he scolded her for killing two robbers in the process of chasing a vampire out. Although the mission was not a failure and her targets sinners it was not anything to praise her for (or reward her for, that's why she's in the Church to begin with). "I don't have any doubts in your skills but we can't allow our agents to be this careless. There's a Library in the city you're staying, before you can take on more missions you will do a thoroughly research about Vampires, Werewolves and our history with them. We'll speak again once you're done with it." 

At this point, completing a task that was not even a mission or that wouldn't give her any sort of valuable reward annoyed her a lot. There was no real reason for her to care if her targets are monsters or not but the Church didn't seem to share the feelings. "The faster I get done with this the better... I guess" Or so Melody thought while arriving early in the morning to the Library gates.

A few steps forward past the stairs before the main door left a suspicious feeling in Melody's mind. "Am I too early?..." She thought while holding on the door but weirdly enough, it was not locked "Mmmm, I guess I'm just over thinking it". Without further delay, Melody walked inside only to perceive that strange feeling again. There was nobody there and you could easily tell by the quietness of it, sure she was way early from the time that the Library usually open its doors but why wouldn't the doors be locked then? "A robber? or could have they simply forgot about it?" Whichever the case Melody wouldn't be taken by surprise, she took out the daggers hidden in her sleeves and proceeded to move with caution inside the place. The odds being against her as the sunlight through the windows hitting her body would form a visible large shadow that could give away her position, not only this but her footsteps being the only ones heard in the desolated place were loud enough too.

Melody ignored these odds and continued to walk slowly through the first floor, her guard always up and constant thoughts in her mind that if it was a robber they would have been gone by then. Continuing on it didn't seem like there was anyone else in the Library but her, she only had one last place to look at and it was a rather dark place, it seemed cool and perfect for those kind of readers who'd love to be drown in their thoughts all day. For her surprise, the moment she reached the area she saw him. A man holding a book and reading it with passion.

"..." A robber would have been at least more amusing to deal with but in her eyes, just a bookworm hungry for knowledge. She sighed and lowered her guard, making her presence noted if it was not clear for him yet that he was not alone "If you can't wait for it to open you could always use the internet or go to some café you know? Not that I mind your business but barging in to read will get you in problems... Actually, it'd be better to just wait outside so you don't look like a total creep to others." With that said, Melody gained her cool back and looked away. She didn't get any bad feelings from the person in front of her but she didn't want to socialize with him much either.

Yup, definitely a bookworm but at least he seemed to be polite enough about Melody's approach on him. At first, she didn't care to answer to his first question. She was there to read but not because she wanted to, she had to, still there was something about that guy that kept bugging her head. "Why didn't he react to my weapons? Isn't he scared of them? Any other person would have mistaken me for a robber or a murderer... something's not right here..." and on and on the thoughts on his actions kept flooding her head. It only became worse as she clearly noticed his constant glance on her neck, would it been a pervert staring at her chest she would have felt more at ease (after possibly cursing him off) but this was rather odd. Once again, Melody held her guard up just to be sure about him.

His calm reactions and the way he used his words gave but a few choices for Melody. He was either very dangerous and the situation would become way worse than just the conversation they were having... or... she was simply overthinking things out and she was merely going to mess things up for herself more than they were.

Melody sighed while dropping her guard and spinning the daggers on her hands, she then saved them in her sleeves and crossed her arms while looking back at him with a more calm face. "I'm probably not even gonna get payed for this..." She mumbled but it was probably loud enough for him to hear. She then turned her face to the side where she came from. "Work made me come here, I don't really like this place but that's just all that you need to know" Melody closed her eyes and continued talking to him with a polite, yet low voice "Doctor eh? An irony compared to what I do... but that's not really important right now" She smiled while thinking about the amount of people and monsters she has killed until now. She then opened her eyes and her serious expression came back to her, his gaze on her neck was still bothering but it was of no importance to her anymore, she didn't want to look at him in the face either.

"I have no more business here, I'm leaving before I get caught up in a misunderstanding with you. I don't want more problems on my back"  Melody then proceeded to slowly walk away from him towards the exit door. She was not going to leave just yet, she would just stay outside sitting on the stairs until the library was officially "open".

As the first girl left, I was slightly disappointed, but it was no real loss. A bit of company might be welcome, but I could effectively work on my research until I could finally go home. All that stood in the way of it was boredom, combined with hunger and exhaustion, striking me when I'm weak. Some company to speak to would have been welcome to deal with that, even if it was a bit of a temptation to have all that blood right in front of me when I was quite hungry. Still, I was above my base urges. I was perfectly in control of myself.

As much as anyone can be. Which is quite little.


Shoving away the unwanted jab from my resident nature spirit, I thumb through the book, careful to leave no trace, no unfortunately torn page or creased corner. I wanted to be as unnoticed as I could be as the day began in earnest, and I'd have to wait out the sun. Just as I'd gotten to a very interesting part, noting the variance in some key electrolytic minerals, I heard footsteps. Turning up to smile as there had been too little time to take serious efforts to hide, I greet the newcomer. "How do you do?"

The elf that appeared before me was rather less out of place than the human had been, funnily enough. But she still seemed the kind of person better suited to running though the city and enjoying the day than staying holed up in the library. I was admittedly taken off guard by her request to read next to me. It was a pleasant suprise, however, so I recover easily. "But of course. I'd be happy to." This was looking up. Unfortunately, there was something different about her. More...vital. More alive. I shook my head. Now was not the time to lose myself to hunger. Self-imposed restrictions and barriers shunted down. He would not be a monster. He would not treat people as food unless his life depended on it. He was better than that. "What are you reading today? I'm sure mine isn't interesting at all. Schoolwork." I smile back at the bright face. "Don't worry about distracting me, my brain needs a break every now and then."

Just then, I'm surprised once again. The human woman came back into the room, sat down, and was quickly buried in a book. "I'm very glad you decided to join us, Miss. It's always nice to have company when something that should be fun treads a bit too close to work." I make no mention of her somewhat suspicious habits...it was very likely she knew about my nature and didn't take too kindly to it. Oh well. With that, he quiets down, ready to talk with them, or allow the quiet of the library to make a return.

The people Melody have encountered today seemed pretty normal for her... Or so one could think if she didn't take the time to carefully analyze both of them while sitting in the same table with them. An elf was sitting next to her, there was no doubt of that. Her manners, the way she spoke and even the way she was expressing herself were very nice unlike other humans she have met before... Maybe even herself. If Melody's master was next to her he would be probably freaking out and yelling at her to dispose of the elf right away, today was not the case and there was no need to start a fight nor spill blood for no real reason.

After hearing the elf's words, Melody felt a bit happy inside. She smiled towards her and dropped her book on the table.

"Please, forgive me. I didn't mean to scare you nor give you the wrong idea-" She then took the dagger hidden in her right sleeve with her right hand and stabbed the book as hard as she could "You see, it is not what it looks like-" Melody again held onto her dagger and stabbed the book once more "I don't really like books at all and I would be perfectly fine doing something else but I have to 'pretend' I'm reading or something for my 'own sake' so, don't be scared alright?" Finished Melody after stabbing the book one last time. She then saved her weapon back in place and crossed her arms, this time looking at the guy in front of her.

"I hope I'm not scaring you either, You really don't seem to be like a normal person to me but whatever you are or whoever you are it is non of my concern nor my business" Melody sighed and cooled down a bit "Just don't mind me here, I might as well just take a nap or something. I don't want to ruin your fun in here~" With that said, Melody leaned her arms down on the table and laid her face against them to use them as pillows. She didn't care about being friends with them but it would be very rude to intrude into their business. For the time being, Melody would just stay there quietly and wait for the right time to leave.

The man across from me seemed quite nice enough, and I was about to continue my conversation with him when the woman pulled a knife out of nowhere and began to stab the book she was reading....repeatedly. It took all I had not to jump out of my seat at the drawing of a weapon, that was not something I was ready for, and the fact she was stabbing a book about elves made the situation all the more uncomfortable as I watched much like anyone who is faced with a train wreck would, unable to look away. Something about the blade however stuck out to me, it didn't seem to reflect the same way as steel, and it was whiter than steel normally was. It was a silvered knife, that was for sure. That meant the girl was definitely a member of some organization that hunted undead, and likely the church given her book had been on rather unsettling material for my kind, which narrowed the possibilities. Not many things hunted mystic kind in general, let alone something as peaceful as my mother's race. It could only be them, and I felt the need to put some distance between myself and the girl.

Excusing myself from the table and grabbing my things, I said, "I must excuse myself for a moment, I need to use the powder room, and I might as well find the books I was looking for while I do so. I shall be back momentarily." While I had mnaged to keep a mildly calm expression, it would have likely been obvious I was more than a bit flustered, hopefully it would not reflect on me too poorly. I went and used the powder room, mostly to wash my face and calm myself down before going to find the tomes I was looking for, quickly finding what was necessary before making my way back to the table and sitting next to the student. "I do hope I did not offend you by leaving you alone for too long. Ah, where are my Manners, I seem to have forgotten to introduce myself. I am Arwen Drake, and it is a pleasure to meet you," I said, giving him a bright smile before continuing on, "You truly must take care of yourself better, it would not do for you to stay up like this too often and end up working yourself to death. You do look rather pale now that I am a bit closer, are you sure you are alright?" And thats when it hit me. He was not breathing. I hadn't noticed when I was sitting across the table from him, but his chest was not rising and falling like that of a normal human, and that combined with the relative pallor of his skin, which would not normally be too unusual for a more fair skinned individual, drew me to my conclusion. Of course, perhaps he was just well exercised and didn't need to breath too often and I was getting a tad bit ahead of myself, but my curiosity would not let me not ask.

However, with a member at the church there I had to be a bit discreet, so I took out a piece of paper and quickly wrote a note on it asking Are you perchance a vampire good sir? I do not have anything against your kind, but I felt the need to ask after noticing a few things. Do not worry, I promise not to tell anyone if you do not want me to. With that, I put it in one of the tomes I brought, one on fire spirits to reference some things with, as a bookmark so he would naturally open it to that page. "Here, I think this book would be of interest to you, good sir. I bookmarked a page with a few notes to help out a beginner written on the bookmark if you would care to take a break from what you are doing to read something different. I have found that switching topics temporarily helps me return to what I was doing later with a fresh perspective. Who knows, maybe it will help you reach a breakthrough??" I said, smiling as I told a little white lie and felt horrible about it, however I didn't want to possibly expose what he was to the probable church agent who was seated across from us.

Seeing the elf leave, I shrug my shoulders. "Alright. See you soon." Her long and drawn out process of excusing herself seemed to elicit a response from anyone schooled in basic manners, and I was rather fine with giving it. It seemed unnecessary for an informal event like this, but it was what it was. Meanwhile, it was highly obvious that Melody wasn't actually going to sleep. He didn't need supernatural abilities to tell that she was giving him shifty glances. However, it didn't matter in all likelihood. If she was a threat to him, she likely wouldn't strike in the library where they were. And if she was just anxious for some reason, there wouldn't be harm at all. 

Soon enough, Arwen, as she introduced herself, returns. It was likely she just needed some time to collect herself after Melody's rather awkward display. "It's good to meet you as well, Arwen. My name is Kursten, and I'm quite pleased to make your acquaintance." My good humor was strained when she began to fuss over him. Over something that, while if true would be unhealthy, was not out of the ordinary or uncommon among humans. As it was, she was attacking something that was directly related to my vampiric nature, and I was not comfortable with her waltzing upon something I wanted to keep hidden while I was unfortunately out and about. "Please, I'm quite fine." I say, smiling and waving a hand in dismissal. "I'll be able to sleep more once my dissertation is complete, I assure you." My smile returns, and I'm about to say something to the effect of "I appreciate your concern," but her expression tells him that the charade was meaningless.

Passing him a book, I read the note, before nodding. "Thank you, that means a lot. I appreciate it." If she finds her action confirmed by the words I said, so be it. I wouldn't risk the chance that Melody would find out more from some kind of surreptitious back and forth. However, it seemed like that was for naught. She was squinting and passing her eyes around towards me and Arwen, as if trying to confirm something. As she stands up and begins an accusation, it takes a significant amount of restraint not to tackle her to the ground then and there. However...the conversation went somewhere I could have never expected.

"...What?"

The fact she carelessly identified him as a vampire should have bothered him more. But it just...didn't. His mind was more preoccupied with that ridiculous flight of fancy the girl spoke of. Furthermore, she was absolutely unafraid as well. He was asleep and this was some kind of dream. That was the only thing that made sense right now.