Morganville (Justin Bieber)

Chapter 16

Like always, time slipped away; when I looked up next, it was night outside the windows, and the crowd in the coffee shop had switched over from studious to chatty. Eve was busy at the bar, talking and smiling and generally being about as cheerful as a goth chick could be.

She went quiet though, when Brandon slouched in from the back of he room and took his accustomed seat at the table in the darkest corner. Oliver bright him some kind of drink - god I hoped it wasn't blood - and sat down to have some intense and quiet conversation. I tried to look like I wasn't there. Me and Eve exchanged a few glances between customers at the bar.

Putting together the book, I had learnt during the long research marathon, was work for experts, not seventeen year old wannabes. I could put something together, but to my vast disappointment - anybody with an eye for rare books could spot a fake pretty easily, unless it was expertly done. I suspected that my leather working and book binding skills needed work.

All of which brought me back to square one, Justin gets bitten. Not acceptable. A line in one of the dozens of windows I'd had open caught my eye.

Nearly anything can be created for the movies, including reproductions of ancient books, because the reproduction only had to fool one of the senses: vision

I didn't have time - or cash - to get some Hollywood prop house to make a book for me, but it gave me an idea. A really good idea. Or a really bad one, if it didn't work. I didn't need the book. I just needed a picture.

By the time midnight rolled around - and the Common Grounds ushered the last caffeine addict out into the night - I was reasonably sure I could pull it off, and I was too tired to care if I couldn't. I packed up the laptop, and leant my head on my hand, watching while Eve cleaned up cups and glasses, loaded the dishwasher, chatted with Oliver and deliberately ignored the dark shadow sitting in the corner.

Brandon hadn't taken off after his walking snacks. Instead, he kept sitting here, nursing a fresh cup of whatever it was he was drinking, smiling that cruel, weird little smile at Eve, then me, then Eve.

Oliver, drying ceramic cups, had been watching the watcher. "Brandon" be said, and tossed the towel across his shoulder as he began slotting cups into their pull racks. "Closing time"

"You didn't even call the last round, old man". Brandon said, and turned to smile on Oliver. Where it died fast, after a moment of silence. Brandon stood up to stalk away.

"Wait" Oliver said, very quietly. "Cup"

Brandon looked at him in utter disbelief, then picked up the cup - disposable paper - and dumped it in the trash can. First time he'd bused his own table in a few dozen years, I guessed. If ever. I hid a nervous grin, because he didn't seem like the kind of guy who'd appreciate my sense of humour.

"Anything else?" Brandon asked acidly. Not as if he actually cared.

"Actually, yes. If you wouldn't mind, I'd like the ladies to leave first" he said.

Even in the shadows, I saw the gleam of sharp teeth when Brandon silently opened his mouth - flashing his fangs. Showing off. Oliver didn't seem impressed.

"If you wouldn't mind" he repeated. Brandon shrugged and leant against the wall, arms folded. He was wearing a black leather jacket that drank in light, a black knit shirt, dark jeans. Dressed to kill.

"I'll wait" he said. "But they don't need to worry about me, old man. The boy made me deal. I'll stick to it"

"Thats what I'm worried about" Oliver said. "Eve, Ana, get home safe. Go"

Eve slammed the door on the dishwasher and turned it on; she grabbed her purse from behind the counter and ducked out to take my hand and pull me toward the door. She flipped the front sign from OPEN to CLOSED and unlocked the door to let me out. She locked it behind us with a set of keys, then hustled me quickly to the car, which sat in the warm glow of the street light. The street looked deserted; wind whipped trash and dust into clattering ghosts, and the blinking red stoplights danced and swayed along. Eve unlocked he car in record time, and both of us slammed down the locks once we were inside. Eve started up the caddy and motored away from the curb.