Read Online Dating for Demons by Serena Robar - Free Book Online Page A

Hunter asked, making me jump.
    “I’m not sure. Just keep your eyes open for more of the text I showed you. I think we might find something in the back room. Follow me.”
    I led him to the back of the library, to the locked doors, and tried my key on one. The door swung open easily. Yay me! Inside were two copy machines, extra paper and office supplies. Clearly I’d found the supply room.
    “Oops.” We backed out and I went to the other door. I used the key, but this time it didn’t turn. I tried again and it still didn’t turn. Now what?
    “I think you need both the card and the key, like this,” Hunter took the card from my pocket and swiped the side of the lock, then tried turning the key and voilà, it opened.
    “How’d you know to do that?”
    “I’m not just another pretty face, you know,”
    “Clearly,” I agreed and we entered the second room.
    This room had a vault-like quality: several pages of text were framed behind glass that was wired to an alarm system of some kind.
    “Over there.” I pointed out one particular frame that seemed familiar. Hunter investigated.
    “You have that one already,” he concluded after looking it over.
    “I do? But it looks like this has more text.” I pulled out the sheet of paper that held the Prophesy.
    “This is an etching, see? This paper was actually put on the stone or wood where the original message was carved and then someone sketched over the paper to pick up the engraving.”
    “Show me.” I peered over his shoulder.
    He traced the symbols with his finger and I checked them against the paper in my hand. All the symbols matched. The only difference was the size of the document.
    “So these are the exact same? There’re no symbols that have been transposed or copied incorrectly?” I gave him the paper to double check.
    “No, everything looks the same.” He handed it back to me and my heart felt tighter. That just left a translation error. Part of me had hoped someone wrote down the original symbols incorrectly, which would have changed the meaning of the text, but it looked like the symbols were perfectly transcribed. Crap!
    “You look like someone just ran over your cat.”
    “I don’t have a cat, I’m a dog person,” I replied, not willing to comment on the meaning of his statement.
    “Smart girl,” he replied but I didn’t ask what he meant; I was too bummed about our discovery.
    Hunter walked around the room and stopped in front of another frame. He seemed frozen in place so I went to investigate his find.
    It was an artful symbol, not like the others I was now familiar with. The sweeping shape wrapped around angular lines was very pretty and yet haunting at the same time. I flipped over my Prophesy page and quickly sketched the symbol.
    “What is it, do you think?” I asked Hunter, who didn’t respond.
    He’d gone very pale and I was worried he’d fall over where he stood. I reached up to steady him when he grabbed my wrist in a painful grasp.
    “Is this some sort of joke?” he hissed at me, his color returning.
    I looked at the wall and then at him in confusion. “What are you talking about? What does it say?”
    He released me suddenly and backed out of the room. I rubbed my wrist, taking one last look at the picture that had so upset him. He obviously knew what it meant and I doubted he was going to share that knowledge with me. What could it possibly say and why would Hunter react so strongly to it?
    I left the room, careful to see that it locked behind us. I checked my watch and realized we should probably wrap things up. I found Hunter two aisles down, reading the titles of books on the shelves.
    “What kind of place is this?” he asked me, not bothering to turn around when he spoke.
    “What do you mean?” I hedged. I couldn’t really tell him it was a vampire library but I should have thought the titles of the books here might give it away.
    “This book is called You Can’t Go Home Again: Rebuilding After the Change