They didn’t take many steps before they reached their destination; in fact, the municipal library was located in one of the main squares of Korotsk, the “Historical Square”, as well as the first to have ever been built. The entire neighborhood showed the weight of the years through wooden buildings and poorly paved streets. Other buildings, however, were nothing more than a pile of rubble never rebuilt, left at the mercy of the elements.

  The library was a majestic place, full of rooms and knowledge and not even ten lifetimes would have been enough to read all the books in it. Aria regularly set foot there at least once a week to collect and buy new books. She didn’t really like reading inside the library, she found the place too dark and dusty for her tastes, so she had never had the chance to talk to the staff inside.

  “Why here?” she asked as they took a small sandy road that dirtied her boots.

  “The librarian was a hunter in the past and can give us a hand.”

  “Do you think we can find the symbol in one of the books?”

  “I hope so. If the vampire was trying to send us a message, it wouldn’t make sense that we couldn’t decipher it.”

  “Wouldn’t it be better to warn Sonia and the others first?”

  “No.” she said bluntly, “What would it look like if we told them we found the symbol but we don’t know what it is? Our job is to provide Sonia with answers and that’s what we’re going to do.”

  Aria was more puzzled than convinced and Liza’s words made her doubt even more about going into the library. She wasn’t sure if that symbol was a message or not and it certainly wouldn’t be in the books. How could she know? Because from what they’d told her, when Korotsk won the battle fourty years ago, the government burned every book that mentioned vampires, vampirism, or any other form of occultism present. Of course, a symbol drawn by a vampire had a high chance of having been cited by one of the books in question, books that were now just ashes.

  “You look doubtful,” Liza told her, “but trust me, we hunters are not clueless.” she smiled.

  Once inside, but not before climbing the twenty wooden steps that led to the front door, the girls were able to warm themselves with a small stove on which was hanging a sign that said “do not touch.” From there they had two choices, the right corridor or the left corridor. The library, in fact, extended lengthwise and the two arms offered collections of different types of books.

  Aria had always liked the right arm better because it contained children's books and school books, but to her disappointment Liza decided to go left.

  Silence was the master. He didn’t say a word, and anyone who dared to speak would be called directly by the librarian, an elderly, slightly bent gentleman who was standing at his desk in the center of the room, from where he could see the entire section thanks to his raised position. There were only a few groups of students, while most were occasional visitors looking for books to borrow.

  The two girls then approached the librarian, who was reading a tome.

  “Tomá?.” the huntress called to him.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me!” he said, his voice grave and his words softly.

  “How are you?”

  “All is well, now that I see you, my dear Liza. Life goes on as usual here.”

  They kept their voices low so as not to disturb. Aria had to get very close to hear, placing both hands on the desk. She noticed that it was full of dust and that just the movement of her fingers could bring a bright color back to the dull wood.

  “And who are you?”

  “A newcomer.”

  “Nice to meet you, Aria.” she bowed slightly.

  “A noble?” the librarian asked, looking at Liza.

  “H- how did you know?” lately, for Aria, it seemed as if everyone knew about her social position. It was starting to bother her.

  “Bowling is only for you nobles.” Tomá? chuckled, then coughed. Given his age, making too much effort was not advisable.

  Stolen story; please report.

  “Do you need a book? The new collections on ancient knights just arrived. I’m reading one right now and it looks really interesting.”

  “No, Tomas, even though it fascinates me, we need to access the Section.”

  When Liza said that word, the librarian’s gaze became more serious. He narrowed his eyes and paused for thought, then unlocked the bottom drawer of the desk with the master keys to take out another key, bigger and rustier than all the others.

  “Follow me.”

  The librarian led them to a small wooden door that led to the back. Entrance was forbidden to non-authorized persons and the old gentleman began to unlock a complex system of locks to continue their journey. They climbed up to the second floor thanks to a narrow and damp spiral staircase. Some wooden planks had given way and others were broken. If Aria didn’t hate dust, that place must have been her definition of hell. Plus, it was dark and to see a little they had to resort to a makeshift lamp that was inside a closet.

  They found themselves in a closet, narrow and dark. Cobwebs hung from the ceiling into the air and the only window there was fogged up. A draft of air made an eerie sound and wherever you stepped, you could be startled by the creaking of wood.

  Aria sneezed twice.

  “It must be the dust.” she said.

  “No one has been in here for years. There hasn’t been any need. But, you know, even though I’m old, these ears still hear well. Voices travel, much more than you can imagine.”

  “There was an attack last night.” Liza explained.

  “That’s what they said.”

  “We’re looking for a symbol the vampire left. It’s a tree wrapped in a circle with a star above it, does that ring a bell?”

  The librarian thought about it for a moment and then shook his head.

  “Unfortunately not, but I hope you find the answers. Now I’ll leave you alone, if you need me you know where to find me.”

  Inside the room there were several shelves containing books that, given the wear, must have been many years old.

  Full of curiosity she began to read the titles of those strange books kept hidden from the public.

  And there was a reason.

  “Liza… it’s not possible.”

  “Did you really think that all the books were destroyed?” asked the huntress as she blocked the door with a tile to prevent anyone from entering unheard, “Over the years, Tomá? has managed to save many books and now he is their custodian. Hunters can come here to consult the archives and it’s a perfect place to do research, like the one we have to do.”

  “Does this mean we have to read all these books?”

  Liza shrugged, “Just browsing through them is enough.”

  “But it will take us a week!” exclaimed Aria, looking at the shelves again. There must have been enough books to fill her room.

  “Then we’d better start right away.”

  They divided up the shelves. Aria got the ones near the window while Liza got the damp ones that over time had become home to spiders and other insects.

  The hours passed quickly and, while Liza leafed through a book and put it back in its place, then took another book, Aria had found a manual on supernatural creatures, complete with descriptions and drawings. The section on ghouls was the most detailed and after all, the doctor who wrote the manual claimed to have had one at home who acted as a butler.

  There was also a lot of information on vampires and much of it Aria already knew thanks to Anton. In the books, however, there was a chapter that talked about vampire families. The manual mentioned a few names but the girl had never heard of them. The families had a creator that is the first member of the nucleus to have contracted vampirism. Then, the vampire would vampirize all the other members to create a lineage.

  Anyone who was bitten by these vampires would rightfully enter the family and so over the centuries powerful families were born who ruled over the others. The description stopped right during the war years, where it was written that most of the families had been destroyed and the few survivors had left the region.

  In addition to vampires, there were also pixies, fairies, gnomes, shadows and even werewolves, but little or nothing was known about all these creatures and many parts were missing. The book itself

  warned readers that some of these creatures could be nothing more than legends.

  “Have you ever met a werewolf?” Aria asked Liza.

  “No. And no one else that I know of. It’s probably just a legend.”

  “It says here that werewolves are the natural enemies of vampires and that the latter fear them.”

  “It could be.”

  “If werewolves really existed… we could use them against vampires.”

  “Then we’d find ourselves fighting them too!” Liza’s words were as cold as the night.

  Aria lowered her gaze, putting the book back in its place, “It could have been a possibility…”

  “That’s okay, Aria, don’t worry. We hunters hate everything that isn’t natural, remember that. There are no good guys, only bad guys.” the girl’s gaze turned to the window, “It’s better to continue tomorrow, it’s already dark outside.”

  Aria nodded and, together, they headed towards the library exit.

  “Tomorrow we’ll continue our research, same time. Remember, since I saw you were slow in reading all the descriptions… those aren’t important now, the most important thing is to look for that symbol, otherwise it would really take us a week… actually, two.”

  Aria nodded and went back to her house where, once she opened the door and stepped inside, welcomed by the warmth of the stove, she noticed that she was not alone. In the hall there were two gentlemen who were talking to Madame Doroteya. They were dressed in blue coats with shiny black buttons. A hat of the same color and freshly polished boots. Their bearing and their size could match that of her father.

  Who were they? What did they want? Had they perhaps discovered that she had become a huntress?

  “Aria, you have arrived, I will be with you right away.” the governess came closer to hug her under the stern gaze of the two gentlemen. Once the hug was completed, she whispered something in her ear.

  “These gentlemen have come to talk to your father, but they have not said who they are.”