Total pages in book: 51
Estimated words: 47359 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 237(@200wpm)___ 189(@250wpm)___ 158(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 47359 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 237(@200wpm)___ 189(@250wpm)___ 158(@300wpm)
To her surprise and delight, she discovered that brass plates marked the topic for each shelf. She got busy reading each one, keeping in mind that she didn’t think she would come across one marked vampires.
After the lower shelves revealed nothing, she climbed the sturdy library ladder that ran along a brass rod. It was when she moved slowly along to the middle of the wall of shelves that a brass plate caught her eye...Unearthly Creatures.
She couldn’t help but smile and think that it was no little coincidence it should bear the title of the book she was connected with. She reached out and ran a finger along the spine of each book while perusing the titles. One immediately jumped out at her...The Life of a Vampire.
The embossed cover had faded with time and the edges were worn. She searched for the date of publication and her eyes widened when she found it...1875. There was no author’s name, only edited by Samuel Bidford and it had been published by Bidford & Sons, Willington, NY.
She opened it and read the brief Forward.
You might ask why a reputable publishing house would dare publish such nonsense... The Life of a Vampire. It is the belief of this publisher that any work that provides insight or reveals truths should not only be published, but widely read. Vampires, you say, though, I say no mythical creature should be ignored. Has each such creature sprung from only the imagination or is there a small kernel of truth to each?
We, as a rationale society, cannot scoff at unearthly creatures as if they are nothing but myths if we wish to protect ourselves against evil. We must examine the improbable and ascertain for ourselves if such strange phenomenon exists.
This is why I chose to publish The Life of a Vampire, for you to judge for yourself and reach your own conclusions. Naturally, the author remains anonymous for obvious reasons, though I must say that he appeared nothing more than an average man to me. What he wrote, however, will leave you wondering.
Lara eagerly, though with a bit of trepidation, turned the page.
I am a vampire.
She drew a quick breath. Those were the exact words Michael had said to her shortly after meeting him.
Believe what I say or not, it is your choice, though know this...vampires do exist.
She shut the book, her stomach muscles tightening nervously. Had she just gotten the answer she was searching for? Did vampires truly exist? But how had they kept their existence secret for so long? And if she believed Michael, then she would also have to believe that people could be cursed.
This was becoming much more complicated than she would have ever thought. She had written several blogs on curses after investigating some incidents her readers had written her about, but none had proved valid. All had to do with old beliefs dying hard combined with all too malleable people.
No one was truly capable of cursing another person, and yet...
Lara propped the book on a shelf and continued perusing the section. There were more books on the subject than she could possibly read while here. She would definitely have to be selective, and so she began glancing through the titles that caught her interest. Some she returned to the shelf, their content too common to the myth. Others proved interesting and those she added to her pile, while others were just comical and gave her a good laugh.
As far as sexual appetites went, after a quick perusal of the books and combined with the research she had previously done on the Internet, research seemed to agree with what Michael had said about vampires’ sexual appetites being ravenous. But then most normal guys were as well, so to her there was no difference. There was nothing that set vampires apart from human males...except of course for the bite on the neck.
It was another thing she couldn’t wrap her head around. How could someone draining your blood be sexy? Then how did she explain her attraction to Michael? Vampire or not, he was a man, a good-looking man—no—a gorgeous hunk of a man. The kind women dream about but are completely out of the average woman’s league. Handsome and hunky goes with gorgeous and slim.
She was not gorgeous and slim, attractive and shapely, was even stretching it a little, and yet he had commented on her natural beauty, but exactly what he had meant by natural, she wasn’t quite sure. She wasn’t one for much make up, since to her, her pale complexion—when made up—looked like the painted face of a corpse. She usually wore a bare hint of blush and rose-colored lipstick with a bit of glimmer. If she wanted to highlight her eyes, she added massacre, though that wasn’t very often. So, what was there about her that interested Michael Valaine?