Free Shrouded in Darkness (Shrouded Series) by H. D. Thomson Page A

all, that’s what she, herself, pointed out so eloquently the other day. Frustrated, he watched her fling the newspaper on her desk and stride from the room.
    Times like now, he questioned her relationship with John. Granted, they could both be obstinate, but he’d always considered her brother mild-mannered—so far off the scale from Margot. At work, John had been the cool, collected, calm one. He’d been dubbed Clark Kent, the alter ego of Superman.
    From day one, the name had stuck. The resemblance had been uncanny between the character and John. John had found the idea amusing, and played along, by exchanging his old wire rimmed eyeglasses for a pair of ugly, thick black framed ones. The joke had gone so far, that on his birthday, Jake and the others had a fake, but very authentic looking drivers license made for John under the name of Clark Kent.
    Jake smiled at the memory. John had kept that thing in his wallet and would breeze into their department and flash it around when someone would get stumped in reading X-ray results or a glaring error would show itself in the Miracell model. “Not to worry,” he’d say, “I’ll get to the bottom of this. I have super powers.”
    According to Johnny there’d been a deep bond between him and his sister, closer than most siblings. He had often confided to Jake about Margot. Nothing in any great detail. More of his hopes and worries. He’d been very proud of her accomplishment with the tough time she’d had with her parents. Jake knew, though, when she’d left her husband and lost her job at her law firm that same year, John had worried. But he’d never explained, and Jake had never learned the reasons why. Maybe now, in hindsight, he should have.
    Jake moved over to one wall lined with books, where he was deeper in shadow. He glanced over at the shelves and realized he was in the paranormal section. The Encyclopedia of Death caught his attention. Not exactly reading material he wanted to get into. It came too close to home. The book beside it wasn’t much better. The Vampire Book: An Encyclopedia of the Undead. He slipped it from the shelf and quickly leafed through the pages.
    Topics ranged from movies and books to mythology, psychological perspectives and sexuality of vampires. He re-shelved it, and pulled out another alongside it. This was far more interesting. Vampire Myths. Opening the book, he glanced at the index. Case studies of people claiming to be vampires, historically on up to the present day. These were individuals from across the globe, India, Japan, the United States and Canada. According to the introduction, it was a scientific study, conducted by several reputable and renowned doctors. He didn’t recognize any of the names. How accurate or authentic was anyone’s guess.
    “What do you have there?”
    He snapped the book closed and shoved it back in the shelf. He cleared his throat. “Nothing. Just looking at what you have here.” Glancing over, he saw the half-empty glass of red wine in her hand. Again, he told himself forcibly, it wasn’t his business. “It looks like you have an extensive collection.”
    She smiled, a gentle curve of her full lips. The first smile he’d seen of genuine pleasure. “It’s taken me almost two years to get this far. Compared to many, it’s pretty modest.”
    “How did you get into something like this?”
    “By accident. I was looking for an out-of-print book I’d loved as a child, because I wanted to give it as a gift to a friend’s daughter. I stumbled across it on the Internet. Pretty soon, people where asking me to find this book and that. It just snowballed from there, and now it’s starting to take a different turn. The whole book industry is drastically changing, and I’m scrambling into the future of electronic formats.”
    “Why such a drastic change from being a corporate lawyer?”
    Her smile didn’t look so genuine now.
    “I’d like to know.” He trailed a finger along the edge of a