Plain Fear: Forgiven: A Novel Read Online Free Page A

button-down shirt, the fabric of which was a funny pattern and too bold for Samuel’s tastes.
    “Yes.” Samuel cleared his throat. “I’m looking for Julie Redding. She’s a librarian here. She, uh, usually works on Wednesday nights.”
    The man nodded. “You must be Samuel.”
    How would this man know his name? Hope sparked inside him. Had Julie spoken of him? “I am.”
    “Julie said you’d be coming by.” The man adjusted his thick glasses, pushing them along the bridge of his nose with his forefinger. “I’ve got a stack of books earmarked for you.”
    A pinprick of disappointment stabbed Samuel, but he was grateful she’d remembered and kept her word. “Thank you.”
    “Sure, come on back this way and I’ll get those books for you.” The man turned away and meandered through the bookshelves, leading Samuel back the way he’d come, toward the reference desk. He shifted one shoulder downward and looked back, gazing at Samuel over the dark rim of his glasses. Something in that shadowy look reminded Samuel of someone…but he couldn’t place the features with a name.
    “Have we met before?” Samuel asked.
    The man turned away and shuffled along. “Don’t think so.”
    “You look familiar is all.”
    The man walked around to the other side of the counter, keeping head and gaze downcast. “If you come to the library often, then I expect you’ve seen me here.”
    “That’s probably it.” Samuel watched the odd man search the shelves and carts for a stack of books with Samuel’s name on them. “Could have sworn I put them here.” He tilted his head as if he had a tic, then squatted down, his knees popping, and hunted below the desk and through a couple cabinets. Despite his ungainly movements, he had broad shoulders and a solid build. “They could be in the back.” He took off, walking with an odd gait, gesturing with his hand. “Come on, you can help me look. If you don’t mind.”
    Samuel figured the poor guy needed help all right.
    The man opened the door, holding it with a foot. “Appreciate the help. Don’t want this to take all night, now do we?” He waited for Samuel to step over the threshold before releasing the door. “Julie said nice things about you.”
    Heat prickled the tips of Samuel’s ears as he entered the “Librarians Only” area where he glimpsed carts stuffed with books, a door marked Restroom , and a container of toilet paper and cleaning supplies lining one wall. How could he ask about Julie without giving away his own interest? “Have you worked with her…Julie a long time?”
    “Not too long, no.”
    “And what’s your name?” Samuel asked. “So I can tell Julie the next time I see her how helpful you were tonight.”
    The man grinned. Behind the dark rim of his glasses and thick lenses, his even darker gaze glittered. “I’m Brydon.”

Chapter Four
    From a place between places, Jacob Fisher glared at the vampire standing too close to his younger brother, Samuel.
    Brydon . Jacob should have left him for dead in New Orleans. After all he’d done to help the ungrateful vampire! The traitor. Now Brydon wanted to kill Jacob’s younger brother. The blood didn’t have to advertise his intentions; Jacob simply knew. What else did a vampire want? For there was no other reason a vamp would hang around a human. It was their way. Another way to pass the endless time. Another game. Another meal.
    Smiling like a shark inviting a fish to dinner, Brydon forced the door to the back room of the library closed. It was a restricted room, out of sight from any patron or anyone who might intervene. Brydon was now alone with Samuel. All alone.
    Except for Jacob. But neither Brydon with those black eyes or Samuel with his weak human ones could see into the other world. Would that prove to be an advantage? Or a disadvantage? The lights in this area were dimmed. Farther ahead, where the room hooked left, a fluorescent light twitched and buzzed. Samuel perused the book