to wreak mayhem with her already traumatized system.
“Everything is a joke with that moron,” she seethed, talking to the air. “I could’ve been killed! But then again, he’d probably laugh his head off if I got pounced to death.”
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Her body ached from being thrown around the room and kicked repeatedly. Punks! As soon as she could get Penny out of there without injuring the mutt further, they would be off. This library was just too crazy for her.
Penny lay on her side, half awake. When Poe sat down to face the dog on the sofa, she whined. The area where her tongue had been was still swollen and the cut fresh, but because of her healing doggy saliva, Penny was happily on the mend. Poe exhaled on the dog’s face. Penny seemed to find the warm breath comforting and gave a little sigh.
“Poor ratty dog.”
With Penny safely dozing, Poe went into the bathroom with an old Time magazine in hand and did her business. She was one those people who could read or think on the porcelain throne until their legs turned numb. Her sister Sirena had taught her well. She did her best thinking that way.
When she came out a cool forty minutes later, Sainvire was looking out the Spanish-style window, patiently waiting for her. Oddly, the vampire wasn’t affected in the slightest by the weak sunlight that struggled to emerge in the downpour. This revelation disturbed her strongly.
Instead of blushing at being caught using the commode for almost an hour, Poe pursed her lips and looked up at the ceiling. She was sick of feeling embarrassed. She’d already done her job as the freak gladiator of the day.
“What?” she asked the vampire who turned around to face her. He was wearing the same outfit as yesterday, black t-shirt and dark slacks.
“Just wanted to give you these,” he said as he pointed to the bed. There lay an Uzi, an axe, three Glock pistols in holsters, and her favorite James Bond 153
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gun, a Walther PPK – the weapons she’d left at the gym.
Poe didn’t even thank him. She just took the holsters and slipped them around her shoulders. The smaller one she strapped to her ankle. The Uzi and axe she threw on the bed. She demanded the time.
“Five-thirty,” Sainvire answered in a calm voice, following Poe’s every move with his unnerving eyes.
The girl has the right to be mad, he thought. Joseph was a prankster who didn’t know where to draw the line. His friend certainly overdid it with the sparring demonstration that afternoon. Since he had allowed the spectacle to continue, he blamed himself for the carnage.
Like those at the gym, he couldn’t keep his eyes off Poe and her unscrupulous fighting skills. The combat was the closest thing to television he’d seen in years. A small person brought down three skilled fighters. The girl was intriguing him more and more.
“What time is dinner?” Poe asked hungry again after her vampire-slinging excursion.
“There’s food around the clock. If you wish to have dinner, you can go now.”
Not wanting to appear like a hog, Poe covered herself. “Habib, Janice, and the other chefs promised to make something really good in my honor tonight. I don’t want them to think I’m rude by showing up late.”
She hurried out the room before Sainvire could say anything further. She smiled at the fact that she wasn’t stuttering anymore.
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CHAPTER 6–SKY’S BLEEDING DEAD
POE MADE UP HER mind. The cafeteria, with an exposed kitchen at the head of the buffet tables, was her favorite place in the library.
“Here’s hummus flavored slightly with garlic and coriander. This dish is garlic okra,” Habib described, pushing his black-rimmed glasses up his nose to magnify his eyeballs five times their size. “This is–”
“And here’s a terrific eggplant and tahini dip called baba ghanoush, Poe,” Janice interrupted, putting a ladle full of each dish on Poe’s tray. The deep age lines on her face glistened from her cooking efforts.
“Please try the Ethiopian lentil soup, Spinach adobo, tofu spaghetti, avocado and olive salad, and freshly made pita bread that I whipped up in your honor.”
“Hey, where’s the meat?” a fifty-something man with a limp complained. The buffet line wasn’t moving at all and the trays bearing veggie dishes didn’t appeal to his palate.
“Yeah,” another butted in. “Weren’t we going to have ribs today?”
The complaints fell on deaf ears.
“Okay, Janice. Quit showing off. My turn now,”
Ray said, shooing everyone with his get-outta-my-way gut. You mentioned you like pad