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The girl seemed invisible in the shadows of the rain swept sidewalks, and only the sharp click-click-click of her heels against the concrete revealed she was there at all. The silken raven hair and ass-tugging black skirt transformed her into the night?s sister as she sought the storefront shadows and the comfort offered there. Others were out tonight who dressed as she did, but their bodies belonged to the men who could afford to purchase them. She was not like these women.
With movements barely suggesting motion she drew nearer the neon sign that flashed ?Ambrosia? in pulsating crimson light while bleeding its color upon the rain-slicked sidewalk. Torn by forces that raged within the remnant of what used to be her soul, the girl moved in terse stop/starts toward the neon like a starving animal that has discovered a feast in the den of its enemy. But her thirst had become a hot bile in her throat, and she suffered an even stronger hunger. Thirst she could easily satisfy. The hunger was another matter.
Music pulsated below the street from the basement cavern, a throbbing yet beautiful riot of dissonance that seemed to invite the night?s shadows to enter and feel welcome. She needed the embrace of the darkness within this subterranean world, to lose herself in its symphony of chaos. And she needed to satisfy the aching hunger of a creature so utterly alone.
The girl descended the winding staircase into a blackness of which the only indication of light were the velvet shadows that danced upon the walls like phantoms. They undulated and embraced in silhouettes, washed over by a tidal wave of noise that seemed to come from inside her head. She wanted more than anything to melt into the darkness among the dancing apparitions, to be part of them, to belong.
The young woman felt the music, not with her ears, but with her flesh. Standing alone among the dark figures she swayed with the sounds of violins gone mad, lost in a swirling whirlpool of full volume sensation and warm desire. She hugged herself, in her blood feeling her body enveloped in the arms of a phantom lover as dark as the wall shadows, a lover who desired her and promised to protect her forever.
In that moment she felt an emotion that was more thoroughly alien than anything she had experienced in many months. She touched her long fingers to her lips to be certain it was there.
?You?re smiling,? a soft voice whispered close enough to her ear that she could feel a cold breath. ?That must be good, of course. But you are smiling alone, and that must be bad.?
The stranger startled her, and she turned to see who had spoken, surprised to find that her eyes had adjusted so quickly to the darkness that she could see him almost clearly. Tall and pale with eyes of coal, handsome in a way not entirely masculine, he took her hand into his as if it were bone china. Although his touch was cold, she felt no desire to pull away.
?I don?t know why I was smiling,? she admitted. ?I suppose I just like this kind of music, although I?ve never really heard anything like it before.?
?Sometimes it is best to follow one?s instincts,? he explained, and placed his arm around her waist.
The girl silently agreed. She followed her instincts - and the stranger - from the cluster of gyrating bodies as if she had fully understood this was what the man had expected of her. He led her to a small table still holding her hand, and despite the coldness of his touch she felt a flush of warmth, the same dizzying sensation she had felt upon first hearing the music. The man said nothing for several minutes, as if he were content just to stare at her. In a room filled with such ruckus, she heard only his silence.
?I?m Luna,? she finally said.
He smiled. ?Luna. Yes, I like that. It reminds me of the moon.? In some better lit place such words might have sounded ridiculous. Perhaps tomorrow they would. But this was tonight and she did not care about the words because he was with her now and she was not alone
?It isn?t my real name,? she added. ?I chose it recently because it seemed ... well, a whole lot more appropriate than Caroline. Tomorrow I may be someone else.?
?Names are unimportant. But should names be required, you may call me Andreas. Tomorrow I shall still be Andreas.?
The girl smiled. ?It?s difficult to explain, but I feel like I no longer know who I am ... or what I may become.?
?Then you are going through some sort of change??
?Yes.?
?I see.?
He asked nothing more, as though there were no need for questions, only explanations. ?We each have our secrets, Luna. And our secrets always find the darkness, just as you have found this place. But you have shared a secret with me, so may I share one with you? Do you see that woman?s portrait on the wall above the bar??
Excepting the shadow people on the wall, the darkness on the far side of the room did not make it easy to see very much of anything. But the girl had no difficulty making out the portrait because it was so familiar. The woman in the painting was dressed in black, and she stared at the patrons of Ambrosia wearing the smile that had beguiled her admirers for centuries.
?The Mona Lisa,? the girl replied. ?Yes, I was wondering about that. It isn?t the sort of thing you usually find in a place like this, is it?? This time she reached for his hand and held his fingers to her lips, surprised at her own sudden forwardness. ?So tell me, Andreas. What is this secret you would like to share with me??
He moved closer to her so that their faces almost touched, and clasping both her hands together inside his, whispered, ?That painting is real, Luna. The one in the Louvre is a fake, switched with the one you see here many years ago. And, I am among the few men who know what is the secret behind that famous and beautiful smile, just as I know what is behind yours.?
The girl felt her mouth twitch into a smile at his seriousness. His statement was absurd, of course, and he could not have intended her to take him seriously. And yet his eyes were those of a man who knew a great many secrets.
?Thank you, Andreas,? she said, allowing her lips to curl into the full bloom of a smile without laughter. ?It has been some time since a smile has come to my face, but you have managed to coax it out.?
?You have a beautiful smile,? he said. ?Yet you keep it hidden.?
?I find few reasons to display it, Andreas. As you have said, there have been changes in me, and there are secrets I have preferred to keep. The Mona Lisa?s smile is probably a whole lot less complicated than mine.?
?Perhaps we can discover this for ourselves,? he suggested.
He shifted in his seat and studied the girl?s delicate face from varying angles as if he were examining the brush strokes and soft shadings detailed upon a canvas. Touching the girl?s cheekbone he leaned back, satisfied with his assessment.
?A woman?s smile reveals very little about her joy, yet so much about her sorrow. In yours I see the loneliness of a woman forced to walk the streets by night alone and afraid. I see a hunger for love that cannot be satisfied. And I see thirst that only blood might quench... ?
Andreas? words struck her as if he had given the girl a cold slap. He had torn the girl?s mask from her face and she felt naked before him, grateful for the darkness that concealed her from his stare, yet realizing the darkness did not matter because he could see through it just as he had seen through the smile that had exposed her. She might have cried, but she was as incapable of tears as she had been of laughter.
Andreas? dark eyes refused to release hers, and his words now came in fierce stabs that pierced her heart. ?Luna, long ago I also walked those streets. I know what it is like to quench my thirst with stray dogs and cats, or a random derelict whose blood tastes like piss. I have slept in the sewers by day so that I might feed by night. I too have experienced the agony of the lost lover whose kiss had condemned me to hell. And, like you, I once believed that the immortality of the undead was merely the exchange of one grave for another.?
The girl did not know whether to flee from the man in that same instant - to run screaming as she pushed her way through the dark lumps of couples inside this place and to disappear among the shadows of the street lamps - or to follow the pale stranger in worshipful silence wherever he led her into eternity.
?You see very much in a woman?s face,? she said.
?All women have the Mona Lisa in their smiles, Luna.?
?Then tell me, Andreas. Do all women have the vampire in their smiles as well??
He held her face in his hands and lightly kissed her mouth.
?Only the most beautiful women. Let me show you.? He took her hand and walked with her to where the painting hung in its dark corner.
?Some say the wife of Francesco del Gioconda, the Mona Lisa, is the most beautiful woman in the world, Luna. If you will allow me to share another secret with you, I think you will see that we have much in common, and there is no need to play at foolish games. You see, I was alive when Leonardo da Vinci painted La Gioconda in 1505. The woman you see in this painting was my first lover, my only lover, ... that is, while I lived. Look at the painting, Luna, look closely at the real Mona Lisa, examine her smile, and tell me what you see.?
The girl studied the painting carefully but saw nothing different about the woman seated before the mountainous landscape of Florence. She wanted so much to believe the words Andreas had spoken, to see something - anything - in the heavily shaded portrait. But the Mona Lisa?s hands still lay folded upon her lap, her lips remained shut just as they had always been for almost five centuries. And her secrets remained sealed behind the same mysterious enigmatic smile.
?I?m sorry, Andreas. But I don?t see any--?
?Look more closely, damn you!? Andreas shouted. ?See her with the eyes of the person you have become, Luna! See the woman?s smile through the same eyes that have seen into the darkness of the night!?
For a moment it seemed the woman?s eyes in the portrait shifted toward her, as if imploring the girl to see. Luna moved closer to the painting and examined the smiling face, studying every brushstroke of the lines of the aloof yet seductive mouth that curved so delicately where the beautiful Florentine woman?s lips met ...
... and suddenly she did see. She saw the woman?s lips part. She saw the mouth slowly open while the smile remained. And she saw the secret of centuries past that lay hidden behind the most mysterious smile in the history of the world.
... She saw fangs !
The music had stopped and the silence of a grave spread over the room. It seemed that every person in the place was looking at her. They had stepped close to the bar behind her to watch. She turned to them and spoke.
?I see ... I do see ... !?
Andreas was the first to applaud, and in the next moment the room filled with the thunderous sounds of hands clapping in approval.
Luna turned to Andreas and smiled, a smile punctuated by the curved teeth that had slowly elongated in each corner of her mouth and protruded over her lower lip.
?You are one of us now,? he said as he took the girl into his arms, whispering to her so that only she could hear ?... and you will never again have to smile alone,?
In the darkness of the night and surrounded by the applauding coterie of others like herself, the girl held fast to her new lover. Her smiling young face looked remarkably like the face of the beautiful woman whose portrait hung veiled in the shadows ?
Linda clicked the switch, turning off all the lights behind her. The emergency lights illuminating the shelves lining each wall, their contents lined up side by side like so many soldiers.
?I?ll see you all in the morning. Behave yourselves.? She said, her own brand of humor bringing a smile to her face. She glanced at all the books one last time before the glass door closed and she slid the key home clicking it confidently as she closed up for the night.
Her headlights lit up the library briefly before she backed out of her space and drove away. As the car lights cleared out and the first sign of moonlight filtered through the windows a faint blue glow sprung up in the corner of a bookshelf. If you were there to witness such a sight you would notice a slight tingling sound echo around you as they woke up from their daily slumber.
?Alright, up and at em!? Chief said as he stretched his aura around him, feeling out the books nearby. ?We have plenty to do before morning, so let's get cracking.?
?Sounds good boss,? a pink sprite said off to his right. ?I?ll get started on Locating books.?
?And I?ll clean!? Said a teal light bouncing up and down.
?You don?t need to announce what each of you are doing,? Chief replied, ?I know you know what needs to be done. Off we go!? He shot off into the library whizzing between shelves getting stock of what was here and what had been checked out today.
A teal light bobbed along picking up dust and debris from today, tucking it away into the space where sprites hide during the day, a small tinkle accompanying the dirt as it disappears. It floated past the kids reading area, stopping to jump on the bean bag chairs and have some fun for a while. The quiet clicking of a zipper stopped it mid bounce as it watched the bean bag chair it was jumping on slowly open at the seams.
?Shadow! There?s a shadow attacking!? The teal sprite shot away like a gunshot to go warn the others.
The sprites gathered at the cry of warning to face down the threat to their domain, but arrival at the reading area was met with confusion and worry. ?Where is the shadow?? A red sprite asked angrily rounding on his teal companion.
?Settle down,? Chief said, bobbling up to the two sprites. ?You know they wouldn?t have raised the alarm if there was no cause for concern.?
?I know, sorry Chief.?
?It?s alright, my child. We are all worried about another shadow attack with so few of us to defend.?
A clatter of books caused the sprites to scatter in alarm as they looked behind them. A small child stood there, mouth agape staring at the floating lights.
?What are you??
Chief floated up to the child, ?You can see us??
?Of course I can see you, you?re floating balls of light in a dark library.?
Chief chuckled, the sound like snowfall around the child, ?Of course. Not many humans can see us, only children who haven?t lost their spark. That is a rare thing indeed, these days.?
?My name is Tim,? the child said, reaching out a hand.
?And I?m Chief, these are my sprites. We are the caretakers of this library.?
?I thought the librarians took care of the library?? Tim asked, looking around.
?They take care of the physical space it inhabits, but we make sure the incorporeal space is kept safe.? Chief explained.
?Incorporeal? What does that mean??
?Incorporeal means the space that is next to the physical, it?s the space that gives libraries that safe, welcoming feeling to those who need it. A lot of people also call the incorporeal side the spiritual side.?
?Oh, like religion??
?Kind of like that, yes.? Chief said, pride tingeing his voice at Tim?s curiosity. ?What are you doing here so late Tim??
?I had to get away, my mom got really angry again so I wanted to leave before she started throwing more stuff at me, I?ve always liked it here so I thought I would be safe.?
Chief?s light dimmed at Tim?s words, his spirit feeling the pain that was radiating off Tim. ?It?s OK Tim. You can stay with us at least until morning, but then you should talk with the librarian. She can get you some help. OK??
?Are you sure? Mom always said that I can?t go to anyone, no one would believe me if I did since she is so important.?
?I?m positive. Linda is a kind soul and would be more than happy to help you. I tell you what, you help my sprites tonight to keep busy. It will be morning before you know it!?
?OK!? Tim said gripping the pick backpack that was slung over his shoulder. ?What can I help with??
Chief said, ?You can help Locate the books.?
The pink sprite slipped past the others and said, ?that?s with me! Come along Tim! It?s probably one of the most important jobs we have here.?
The sprites slowly dispersed each going their own way to continue their vital tasks. Tim followed the pink sprite as they picked up book after book and slid them into different spots of the shelves.
?What are we doing?? Tim asked, taking out one of the newly placed books and glancing at it.
?We are Locating books. We make sure each book goes to where it needs to be to find the person it?s supposed to find.?
?But this book doesn?t go here, the organization sticker says it?s non-fiction, why is it in the science fiction section??
?That?s because the person who needs to read this will find it here rather than over there. Sometimes a book knows who needs it the most, so they ask us to move them to where they will be found,? the pink sprite responded, hefting another book from the shelf.
?Wow, that?s amazing.? Tim said, placing the book back in its spot. He saw one of the books glow a faint pink light on a lower shelf and picked it up. 1000 Leagues Under the Sea. ?Wow, my dad used to read this to me before he had to go.? A tear slid from Tim?s eye. ?I miss him.?
?Where did he have to go?? the pink sprite asked, shelving its book in another row.
?I?m not sure, I just woke up one morning and Mom said he left us in the night.? Tim wiped his tear away and dried his hand on his jacket. ?How do you know which book needs to go where??
The pink sprite floated back through the shelf of books weaving back and forth, ?well, it?s kind of my superpower I can just see when a book is out of place and can help it get where it needs to be. Like the book you?re holding.?
Tim glanced down at the book again noticing a faint pink line floating away across the library from the book. ?Oh wow, I think I can see it!? He raced over to the shelf and slid the book home. A feeling of satisfaction washed over his soul and he swore he could hear a whispered ?thanks?.
He looked around at the library and at the sprites flitting about moving books from one area to the next. As he peered into the darkness he saw faint flickers of pink highlight more and more books on the shelves.
?Wow, there are a lot that need moving How do you guys do them all in one night?? Tim asked excitedly, moving to the next glow closest to him.
Pink sighed sadly, ?We can?t. There just aren?t enough sprites left in the world to do what we need to. Libraries are slowly dying out we think. There are less and less kids coming in with the spark of creativity to keep us going.?
?What do you mean? Can?t you just make more of you??
?We don?t know how,? the pink sprite responded slowly, picking up another book. ?We have been here since the library was opened, but we have far less sprites now then we did than.?
Tim sat down against the wall, ?that?s really sad. How do sprites die??
The pink sprite responded, ?We feed off of that curiosity and wonderment that all children possess. The more that come in here with that the stronger we are. Sadly it seems like not many kids come in here any more.?
Tim felt the hairs on his neck stand on end and he looked around again, ?I?m sorry. Maybe when I leave in the morning I can help with that!?
The sprite lit a little brighter, ?That would be wonderful!? The sprite turned back to Tim just in time to notice a dark smudge race across the wall he was sitting against. ?Look out!? The sprite pushed Tim away just as a dark claw sliced through where he would have been, catching the pink sprite along its edge. ?Shadow!?
Tim turned and grabbed the sprite as he watched a dark creature rise up off the floor. The saw streaks of light as the other sprites raced to his location and battered themselves against the thing.
?What is going on?? Tim cried, holding his friend close to his chest.
Chief stopped near Tim, ?That is a shadow. It?s partly to blame for the loss of thirst for knowledge we are seeing this day Tim. How are they?? He floated to Tim?s hands and gently pulled them apart, the faint pink glow slowly getting dimmer.
Tim looked down and saw his friend laying there. He looked closer and saw a black streak making its way over the bright sphere. ?Are they going to be ok??
?I?m not sure,? Chief said, bobbing about. ?Did they get his by the Shadow??
?I think so, I think they got scratched when they shoved me out of the way,? Tim?s tears where flowing again, his heart breaking for his new friend.
He looked up at the other sprites shoving into the Shadow, each hit making it shrink more and more. Its claws flashed out trying to catch the elusive sprites but seeming to just miss each time. Tim gasped as a red sprite seemed to just barely maneuver around another claw slash and bounce off the things head. It finally shrank to a small mound of darkness rather than the intimidating force it had been earlier and as it winked out of existence, Time felt a weight disappear from his hands.
He looked down at his friend and couldn?t see anything but a few pinkish twinkles in his palm. He looked to Chief, ?Where did they go??
?They passed on. But don?t fret Tim, they gave their being living up to the foremost code of the sprites. ?To protect all wonder and inquisitiveness?. I could not be more proud of their sacrifice.?
The other sprites gathered around Chief and Tim and a slow powerful tune rang out from the walls of the library. The notes striking Tim and seeming to penetrate to his very soul, filling him with pride, love, and sorrow. He also felt hope stir there, sparking along the very edges of his being. He wiped the tears from his eyes as he felt his friend, just beyond the veil. He bent down and grabbed his backpack and noticed the first rays of sunlight peeking through the windows. The crunch of tires on asphalt let him know the librarians had returned and he looked around. Chief and the others had already disappeared to their homes, awaiting the next night to continue their mission. He walked to the front door to talk with the librarian and to go home.
Suns set and suns rose, each day bringing more posters and pamphlets from Tim to the library. The children began to flood in each day finding books just in the right spot for their curious eyes, their love of learning never seeming to wane.
Chief floated behind Linda one night while she stared at the newspaper. ?That poor little soul,? she said wiping her eyes. ?I hope they find who did this.?
Chief followed her to the door as she closed up for the night. He returned to the stacks and announced ?Alright everyone, let?s get to it!?
A new pink sprite came into view, ?I?ll start Locating the books!? They zoomed off to help the next day?s children explore vast new worlds.
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