Read Online The Sunlight Slayings by Kevin Emerson - Free Book Online

the ways a bit,” Celia offered to Dean.
    Dean’s face fell. “It’s cool. I’m just gonna take off. Catch ya later, Oliver?”
    â€œOkay,” Oliver replied guiltily. “Meet me before school tomorrow, maybe?”
    â€œSure.” Dean stalked off.
    Oliver and Bane headed across the loading dock and through a heavy metal door. Moments later they emerged on the silent ground floor of the library, in the children’s section. They crossed among low bookshelves and around tiny tables. Bane took a moment to grab a stuffed bear from one of the tables, behead it, and place it back on the chair with its head in its hands. Sometimes Oliver couldn’t believe they were even brothers.
    Streetlight angled in, making diamond patterns on the floor. Their footsteps echoed in the cavernous space. There were three elevators along a wall, with a fourth around a corner. Oliver and Bane walked to the middle elevator, marked #2, and pressed the down button.
    A loud ding echoed in the empty space, and the elevator doors slid open. They entered and pressed the button for the bottom floor, P. The elevator lowered. The door slid open again, revealing the concrete parking garage, but this was not where Oliver and Bane were headed. As the doors fully opened, Oliver began counting to himself in a whisper:
    â€œOne—” he said, then pressed the P button again, even though they were already on that floor. “One, two—” he counted, then pressed it again. “One, two, three, four—” He pressed it a third time. The elevator’s chime rang three times, and the door slid closed. Though there were no more floors listed on the panel, the elevator began to lower.
    It hummed downward for a long moment, then slid to a stop. The doors opened.
    â€œAhh. Welcome, Nocturnes.” Before them, a wiry old vampire man dressed in a crisp tuxedo stood behind a high mahogany desk. The desk curved out from the wall of a long room.
    â€œHi,” Oliver replied to the Librarian, not surprised that he knew them. As soon as Oliver had entered the code in the elevator, their force signatures would have been scanned and their identities verified.
    The Librarian slipped out from behind his desk. “Right this way.” He led them down the center of the room, its floor covered in burgundy carpet. The walls were also paneled in well-polished mahogany and lit warmly by swirling magmalight lanterns. At the end of the room was a set of black curtains. Classical music played softly. There were a few other vampires in the room, standing at small tables along the walls.
    â€œMay I assist you with your search?” The Librarian asked, stopping and motioning Oliver and Bane to a free table.
    â€œNo thanks,” Oliver said quickly.
    Bane slouched against the wall, his music blaring, as Oliver stepped up to the small table. In the center was a silver gooseneck stand with a copper microphone at its end. A small speaker was inset in the table beside it. Oliver twisted the cone toward him, then spoke into it: “Zombie raising,” he said softly.
    â€œEighteen,” the pleasant female voice of the Catalog whispered from the speaker.
    Oliver spoke again, lowering his voice and glancing quickly around: “Scourge of Selket.”
    â€œSix,” the Catalog replied.
    â€œOrani,” said Oliver.
    â€œThirty-four,” whispered the Catalog.
    Oliver looked around again. Bane had discovered an attractive girl across the room. Oliver made one more request, his quietest yet: “The Nexia Gate.”
    The Librarian glanced in his direction.
    â€œTwenty-two,” the Catalog whispered.
    Oliver started toward the curtains He saw that Bane had succeeded in catching the eye of the girl and was now leaning against the wall trying to look completely uninterested.
    â€œPlease take a long time,” he called sarcastically, waving Oliver away.
    Oliver turned, glad that Bane wouldn’t