Outside of Chinook, Library at the Manor, Mid October

    For the second time tonight Annik was completely gobsmacked by the room she had just walked into. Downstairs it had been the foyer that had stunned her stupid with it's beauty. This time it was the library and all the wonderful books. It wasn't the decor, which was beautiful. Or the architecture, which was stunning. It wasn't the hardwood walls, floor and shelves. Or the antiques displayed around the room. It wasn't the marble busts and statues artfully placed among the shelves of books. It was the books. The glorious, wonderful books.

    Everywhere that Annik's gaze stopped there were books. All types of books. Hard cover, soft cover, old and new, books of all types and sizes. Annik had been in many different libraries. Libraries of many different sizes in her travels around the USA. After all, the first thing that Annik did when they came to a new town was get  a library card. But never in her wildest dream did she think that anyone actually had a private collection like the one she saw now. This was the most wondrous room that Annik had ever seen in her life.

     Libraries, in general, were Annik's idea of heaven. She knew that her biggest weakness and one true love was reading and books. So much so that one of Annik's earliest, and fondest, memories was of her mother getting Annik her first library card. Annik had always thought that a library like this only happened in books and movies. If she had known that it was real, it would have been her only dream. But never in her wildest fantasies had Annik thought that rooms like this were possible. Well outside of a royal palace or some such. Annik had always fantasized that a palace, like Buckingham, might have a library like this one but nowhere else. The wealth of books before her almost blinded Annik to even Nic. All she could see was all of the wonderful, beautiful books.

    After what had seemed to be forever but was probably only a couple of heartbeats Annik finally saw the room the books were in. Ten feet above the beautiful parquet hardwood floor, was a brass walkway that ran most of the way around the room.  The walkway even extended over the double doors that led from the hallway into the library. A spiral staircase on Annik's right led up to the walkway. Annik had only ever seen walkways like that movies that showed libraries from old world universities or palaces.

     Only the area over the French doors that led outside to a sitting porch was free of books on their shelves. That wall was dedicated to art work instead of books. Even Annik who knew nothing of art could tell that the paintings were masterpieces. Along with the paintings were busts and statues made of marble. Like the paintings they were clearly antiques and probably belonged in a museum somewhere. Everything in the room was just so beautiful but none of it compared to the wealth of books that greeted Annik's wondering eyes.

    Annik wanted to pinch herself to see if she was dreaming. How in God's name had she ended up in such a wonderful place. The two story floor to ceiling shelves were inset into dark maple walls that were polished to a high gloss. A highly polished brass railing that ran above and below both levels of shelving matched the walkway. A ladder that rolled along on the rails so that people could reach the books that were out of reach on the upper shelves. It actually took a few minutes for Annik to really register what else was there. Like all true  bibliophiles she was far too caught up in her first love, books. knickknacks as well as the busts were placed artistically on some of the shelves mixed in and around the books. For the most part the shelves were dedicated to books, books and more books.

       On one wall under the walkway was a huge fireplace instead of books. The fireplace looked big enough to burn whole trees at a time, rather than mere logs. The fireplace was framed in some highly polished black stone. That is probably marble Annik decided. The mantle over it was a creamy white and how wonderful, more books. Directly in front of the fireplace were two leather wing-back chairs that looked antique to Annik. In between the wing-backs was a dark stained table. Off to one side was a large desk that was ornately carved on the sides. The desk was close enough to the fire, that anyone sitting there was warmed, but didn't block the heat from the rest of the room. Who ever designed this room knew what they were doing, Annik thought to herself.

The beautifully carved dark wood desk faced the elephant in the room. The one of these things is not like the others. The massively built dark brown Naugahyde couches and chairs didn't fit the rest of the room at all. The mismatched furniture looked comfortable but wasn't ornate or even nice looking. They were all worn from use and more than a little beat up. The legs of the ugly furniture defined sturdy. The nightmares were  stained in many places with enough nicks and cuts to make you wonder if they did double duty as a shield for knife fights. It was hard to imagine that any one with even the slightest sense of design would put those in any room at all, much less one that was as nice as they one they were actually in. After all the mismatched set of dorm room rejects was an insult to the room they were in.

      Along the left wall, almost at the center, thick, deep red drapes framed French doors. Were those drapes actually velvet? Annik wondered to herself as she took in the room. Wow, Annik thought after she had wondered over to feel them. They are velvet. How the heck did I manage to get to be in a room like this. The more Annik looked around the more of the room she saw. Mostly though she just saw the books. All of her life Annik had dreamed about having her own library, one like this one. Hell, she had dreamed about just being in a room like this. She had read about them, seen them on T.V. or in movies. But Annik had never believed that she would actually walk into one. Never believed that  rooms like this were real.

    Wandering over to one of the shelves Annik was momentarily disappointed that the books weren't in English. Of course the books weren't in English, Nic obviously spoke it  but clearly it wasn't his first language. Annik quickly realized however that there were many different languages represented on those shelves, including English. It was all so amazing, so mind blowing that it was hard to take in. Was she dreaming? Annik pinched herself surreptitiously, nope she was definitely awake.

    "Oh, I could live my whole life here." Annik breathed the words reverently, as if speaking to loudly might frighten the room away.

     The quiet chuckle behind Annik's was the clue to her that she had spoken out loud. Turning on her heel to face Niculai, the smile on Annik's face was so big her cheeks hurt. Idly Annik wondered if her face was going to be stuck that way. Not that she cared, the room was just so beautiful. Not just the books, but the whole room and everything in it.  Well, except that seating arrangement Annik decided. That looked more like it belonged in a frat house, that had been condemned. Not that she had ever seen one of those before, at least in real life. No those couches and recliners didn't belong in this room anymore then garbage belonged in a church. Turning to face Niculai again, Annik was shaking her head at the decor version of fashion disaster. 

    "Yeah, they really don't fit the room but my Siblings need to sit somewhere. And they really hate the froufrou chairs," Nic said with a small smile on his face.  "Still I love reading so this is one of my favorite rooms in the house. Even with the froufrou chairs and those nightmares." Nic gestured towards the brown, stained and nicked frat house rejects as he said the last.

    Nic held out his hand palm up to Annik, asking not demanding that she take it. He he stood, waiting patiently, to see what she decided. He looked like he would stand there, hand held out to her forever. If that was how long it took her to decide. There was no impatience in his face or demeanor, no demand either. Just calm acceptance of whatever she felt comfortable with. Nic clearly wasn't going to push her or demand that she touch him. That final bit, the acceptance of whatever she decided is what got her to trust him. What convinced Annik to place her palm on his.

    "Come, sit down," he said when Annik placed her hand in his. "We have things to discuss. The books will be here when we are done, I promise." Annik could hear the humor and, was that fondness in his voice when he said the last?

    Why would Nic feel any fondness towards her, They had just met after all. Nic didn't know her from Eve. The humor Annik could understand. She must have looked pretty funny. What with her jaw all dropped and the stunned expression on her face. But fondness? it just didn't make sense to Annik, not in the slightest. It was all just too weird.

    Annik was hyper aware of the feel of Nic's palm in hers. His hand engulfed hers. Making Annik feel like she actually was the child that she was often mistaken for. But of course his hand was larger than her. The man was huge, not fat though. Just really tall, with broad shoulders, long legs and a trim waist. Nic's touch almost made it hard to breath, what was going on? Oh yeah Nic wanted to talk to me about something. But damn it was hard to think while he was holding her hand so gently.

    Annik was all tangled up in her head so she didn't think as she was led over to the two wing-back chairs in front of the fireplace. The chairs deep red pattern on tan was a perfect compliment to the rest of the room. Annik wondered if she was so focused on the inconsequential so she wouldn't be so freaked out. Probably she decided, it was fairly common after all. Nonetheless she really hoped that Nic would keep holding her hand. And what do you know, he did. Seating her into one of the comfortable chairs, he took the other and kept hold of her hand.

    For the first time Annik looked directly into his eyes and almost wished she hadn't. His eyes were a beautiful deep amber. A color that she had never seen on a Human before. All she knew was that with his long lashes and amber color, Nic's eyes were the most captivating thing that she had ever seen. They held her captive, Completely absorbing her into them until they were all she could see.

    All night long Annik had been watching Niculai. Not staring at him, no. She had been watching him out of the corner of her eye. Keeping him in sight as he worked to help Bree cook her a meal. Watching the graceful way his powerful body had moved around the kitchen. How his sure hands had worked at what were obviously unusual activities, at least for him. Bree had joked that for someone whose job involved knives he was singularly bad at chopping veggies. They had both laughed at that point and Annik had seen how much they cared for each other. And boy wasn't she glad that she knew they were brother and sister. Otherwise Annik was fairly certain that she would have been absolutely green with jealousy. Not a look that worked for anyone she figured. 

    Annik was confused about how Nic made her feel. There was a stirring in her that she didn't understand. All Annik knew was that she had never felt anything like it before. Was this what attraction was? Was this what everyone was always going on about? Annik had never been attracted to anyone before. For a long time she had thought that maybe it was girls that she was interested in. But there had never been any attraction there either. Annik had started to wonder if maybe she was asexual. Not that there was anything wrong with that. No, was just that her mother had always said she would know what she wanted when she was older. Annik had always wondered how much older she would need to be. She was almost twenty-five for Christ's sake. Considering what she was feeling now?  Annik knew what her mother had meant. It wasn't so much an age thing, all she had needed was the right person. Question answered, good to know. Although if she ever had kids, I will so just tell them that it will happen when the right person comes along, Annik vowed to herself. This you'll find out when you get older stuff was for the birds.

    How had this happened, Annik wondered to herself. I just met the guy and now I can't stop looking at him. Sure he was the most handsome man she had ever seen. And yeah, his voice made parts of her that she hadn't known existed quiver. Not to mention that he had rescued her from being kidnapped by the stinkiest crook on the planet. But even with all of that how could she feel so strongly about a total stranger. It was all too confusing, she'd think about it all later. Right now she needed to concentrate on whatever Nic was going to talk to her about. There was also how long she was going to stay and where she would go afterwards to decide as well. To many more pressing things to worry about than why she wanted the man in front of her to touch her.

     Nic had literally just opened his mouth to speak when Annik heard a sound that she knew all to well. Th soft scratching at the door could only be one thing. Wiket wanted into the room right meow, thank you very much. Annik looked at the door and then back to Nic. The confused look on his face was priceless and almost made her laugh. Annik had no clue if Nic wanted the cat in this room with all these books. After all just because Annik knew the cat was fine around books didn't mean Nic did. Annik was very clear however about what would happen if she didn't let the cat in. The yowling would be enough to wake the dead. Everyone in the house? mansion? whatever was going to know that Wiket was unhappy about something.  And probably come running to see who was killing a cat. Annik figured she should let him decide, after all it was his home, not hers. And if he didn't want Wiket in the room than she was going to suggest that they talk somewhere the cat was allowed to be.

    "That's Wiket asking to come in. You remember, the stowaway cat?" Annik said "She's good around books. Just so you know, but if we don't let her in she's going to make enough noise to be heard in Canada."

    Annik waited for him to make the decision about letting the cat in. She was now seated on the edge of her seat. Ready to jump up and open the way in for her four-legged stowaway. Nic was clearly confused about the question she had asked him. Annik was wondering if she had somehow spoken a language other then English. Which would be a really good trick since she didn't speak any other languages.

    "Why wouldn't I want Wiket to come in?" Nic asked, still confused. When Nic started to stand up Annik beat him to it.

    "Well you have a lot of books in here many of which I'm sure are collectors items. and some cats do claw at books. Although Wiket isn't one of them."

    Annik rushed to speak holding her hands out to keep him where he was. She answered him while  walking across the room to let the cat in. When Annik opened things up for Wiket, the cat wound her way around Annik's ankles before heading over to greet Nic The purr that Wiket let out was a loud sound in the quiet library. The only other sound was the crackling of the fire. As soon as Annik was seated back where she had been, Wiket jumped into her lap and made herself comfortable. Clearly planning to stay for the long haul.

    "I have to ask you a couple of questions before we get started if that's okay?" Niculai said in a gentle voice.

    "Sure."

    "Do you have anyone waiting for you? There was no one else at your place when we were there but someone else's clothes were there."

    "What does that have to do with anything." Annik's voice was both confused and slightly annoyed. He had looked around enough to see her mothers clothes? What the fuck.

    "I just want to know if we need to go and rescue anyone else. The people who tried to kidnap you probably know where you live. I just need to know if there is anyone else at risk." Nic said apologetically.

    Well didn't she feel like a jerk now. Here this guy not only rescues her but is willing to go and get anyone else that might be at risk? How could he be so nice and she had snapped at him for it. And damn, she didn't want to think about her mom much less talk about her. She was going to have to if only long enough to explain to Nic why there were another persons clothes without the person. Annik had to clear her throat, repeatedly, to get the lump that had suddenly formed out of the way so she could speak.

    "Those clothes belonged to my mother. she was killed in a hit and run accident a month ago. so no. There is no one waiting for me and there is no one else that you need to go get."

    Annik focused on the fire. The flames were almost hypnotic and gave her something to look at. Suddenly Annik didn't want to look at Nic. All she could do was blink rapidly to keep from crying and pet the loudly purring cat.

    "I am so sorry for your loss." Nic put his hand on his chest and gave a small bow from where he sat.