The Shadow's Son by Nicole R. Taylor Page B

else to go on." Tristan turned to the woman who sat there and said, "Hello."
    The librarian looked up from the desk and smiled. She seemed rather young to be stuck in the library all day. Late twenties, perhaps, long red hair and pale skin that was dusted with freckles. She pushed her glasses up onto the bridge of her nose and said, "How may I help you?"
    Tristan leant forwards on the desk and winked at her. "If you don't mind, could you find everythin' you can on one Victoria Dowling, born in Wiltshire in the mid to late 1700s. She died around 1788."
    The librarian frowned and shook her head. Finally, she smiled brightly at the vampire and nodded, "Of course. I might be some time, sir. Do you want to wait or come back?"
    Aya gave him a look. "We will wait," he told her and she hurried off into some dark recess of the library to do their compelled bidding.
    "What are you really hopin' to find, Arrow?"
    "Victoria was a witch. It has to be something to do with it , I know it . Perhaps we can find a living relative, a name that I remember, a story, a picture, a grave site . Anything. Witches are secretive, but that doesn't mean I can't find what they're hiding."
    Tristan sat in one of the chairs at a free table and kicked his feet up, much to the annoyance of a woman sitting across the way. "And what do you think she has to do with your boyfriend's blood? It wasn't like she was anythin' special."
    "I have a feeling, Tristan," she whispered, sitting beside him. "Zac's blood is potent to me, to my abilities. It has something to do with those parts of me. I know it."
    "You never told me where you came from," he said carefully. "I know you're a hybrid, Arrow. But with what? Sometimes you scare the hell out of me."
    "I'm not at liberty to discuss such things," she said absently.
    "But Zac knows all of it, doesn't he?"
    "That was a matter of consequence. He is bound to secrecy as much as I."
    "You gave him your blood." Tristan was shaking his head.
    "It seems I don't give you enough credit, Tristan. You've become more observant in the past six hundred years. Congratulations."
    "Of course," he shrugged. "Hangin' out with the bad guys makes observation a necessity."
    Sighing, Aya didn't bother answering. She didn't have the patience to argue with him, especially since he was in such a cocky mood. Instead, she let her eyes wander the reading room, taking in the stacks, where shelves upon shelves of books stretched up three floors, the edges of each lined with thick glass. Watching the humans who sat at the tables around them, she regarded what each were reading. Most seemed to be students, some had piles of medical texts, while others had old looking books on ancient cultures.
    One man caught her attention, though. He didn't seem to be doing anything. Taking in his rumpled appearance, she frowned. He looked like he hadn't slept in days, his messy brown hair looked greasy, there was several days of stubble on his chin and his eyes were dull. Looking at the books he was studying, she tilted her head to the side to read the titles more clearly. Witchcraft in the Middle Ages, Celtic Myth and one that made her eyes narrow, Wales and Witchcraft 1542.
    1542 was the year she assisted a woman in northern Wales who had been harassed by a witch who'd given herself to evil. That woman, the witch who had been pure, she was one of Gabby's ancestors and the witch that had written the summoning spell that had woken her all those years later in Ashburton. The spell that Gabby and Zac had cast. She wondered what the book was about and what exactly it told about that time.
    She caught the gaze of the man, who automatically glanced back to his work. Looking him over, curiously, she didn't detect anything out of the ordinary. If he knew who they were, he would have taken the first opportunity to leave. Most people would. He was still there fifteen minutes later working, and it was obvious he was in for the long haul.
    Tristan raised an eyebrow at her and