Demons in the Library Read online

  Trying not to sniff too overtly, Liberty gave a smile in their direction, which she suspected was more of a grimace, and hurried off in the opposite direction. Was she going to bump into that nauseating couple every damn day?

  She had been toying with the idea of phoning Dirk again, but the encounter with her ex decided her. Daily life was challenging enough without having to wonder about when and if demons were going to attack.

  As soon as she was far enough away from Joel and Model-Face, she punched the keys of her cell phone, and left a voice message for Dirk.

  Then she hoisted her backpack into place once more, and made her way to her seminar on Gender in the Nineteenth Century.

  Afterward, fired up from arguing with a wimpy classmate who tried to maintain that Emily Bronte was not a feminist, Liberty was glad to see that Dirk had sent a text message suggesting they meet up at Granules once more.

  This time, he was waiting for her at a table inside, out of the wind. And she insisted on buying the coffees.

  “So,” he said, as she sat down, “how were the nightmares?”

  She smiled wryly. “Extensive and colorful. How were yours?”

  “Oh, I’m down to every second night or so,” he said cheerfully.

  “Well, that’s something to look forward to.”

  There was a small pause, and then they spoke simultaneously.

  “I have so many questions…”

  “You must have questions…?”

  Liberty laughed, and said, “Yeah, I have many questions. The first one is: Are these demons confined to the campus main library? They don’t wander around and follow you home, do they?”

  “Thank God, no, they haven’t followed me home,” Dirk said. “And yeah, they seem to be confined to the library. Inside, and a very small area outside the library. I can’t figure out where they live, but it doesn’t seem to be among humans.”

  “Okay, good. And what does Brett have to do with all this? How many people know about the demons?”

  “As far as we know, very few people know. And that’s probably for the best. You can imagine the hysteria that might develop.”

  Liberty nodded.

  “Brett knows because he’s an old friend of mine,” Dirk continued. “He’s the first person I told, because I honestly thought I was losing my mind and I trusted him. But as it turns out, Prof Trelawney – do you know him? – had been talking to his PhD students about people who’ve reported supernatural encounters in the town. So Brett took me to chat to the Prof and, long story short, the three of us all know. Four, with you.”

  “I know who Prof Trelawney is, yes, though he hasn’t taught me since I was in first year. He’s retired, right?”

  “Yes, he retired last year.”

  Before he could continue, Liberty blurted out, “It’s five, actually. Five people who know. I told my friend Maxine.”

  Dirk pulled an ‘Oh dear’ face.

  “No, it’s fine. She’s completely trustworthy. And she’s very smart.”

  “Okay,” said Dirk dubiously. “She kind of has to be trustworthy. Because this is…”

  “I’d trust her with my life,” Liberty interrupted him. She felt irritated again. Surely she had as much right as Dirk to tell a trusted friend that she had seen some sort of monster?

  “Okay,” Dirk said again. “So, it’s the five of us who know. Well, I don’t know if you and Maxine want to come tomorrow night, but on Wednesday nights I normally get together with Brett and Prof Trelawney to talk about all this stuff.” As he said the last three words, he glanced around him.

  Mollified that Dirk had for once made a suggestion instead of issuing an instruction, Liberty agreed. “Where do you meet?”

  “At Prof Trelawney’s house. I’ve already told him I’d ask you. We normally each bring something to eat. And it’s kind of reassuring to talk about these things with other people.”

  “Yeah, it’s such a completely weird situation,” said Liberty, instantly feeling like she’d made the understatement of the year.

  “It is bizarre. I don’t know what I’d do without Brett and the Prof. It’s also scary, you know?”

  Before Liberty could reply, he was getting up to go. “Sorry, gotta be somewhere,” he said. “I’ll text you the details about tomorrow, okay?”

  “Sure, bye.” Taken aback at abrupt departure, Liberty gave him a wave before turning her attention to her coffee. What a strange mixture Dirk was: honest, vulnerable, and painfully annoying – and with such a brusque way about him sometimes.

  The following night, she and Maxine climbed out of a taxi into the street where Professor Trelawney lived. It was close to campus, but neither she nor Maxine fancied walking in the dark.

  It was a frosty, glittering night. The professor’s house looked old, modest and welcoming, with light streaming from its windows.

  “Do you know Professor Trelawney?” Maxine asked her as they made their way through his gate.

  “He taught me in first year, but he’s retired now. He seemed really nice, with this old-fashioned courtesy about him. Why do you sound nervous?” she hissed teasingly. “You’re never nervous!”

  “Well, excuse me if meeting up with a bunch of strangers to talk about the demons you’ve all been seeing makes me a little edgy,” Maxine hissed back.

  Giggling at the absurdity of it all, Liberty pressed the doorbell. Within seconds, they were drawn into the warmth and light of the house, welcomed by Professor Trelawney.

  “Call me Prof T – it’s so much easier to say,” he told them after the initial greetings were over. He was shortish, but stocky, with glasses and flyaway gray hair that was a little too long.

  As he led the way into the living room, Liberty noticed that his green sweater was unraveling slightly at the back. She tried to signal to Maxine that she thought he was the very essence of a retired professor, but Maxine, stalking ahead in her high heels, wasn’t paying any attention to Liberty.

  Brett and Dirk were already there. After introductions, Liberty indicated the bag she was carrying. “I’ve brought a veg lasagna,” she said. “It’s shop-bought, sorry. I don’t cook much.”

  “No need to apologize. It looks wonderful. Let me put it in the kitchen,” said the professor.

  “And I’ve brought whiskey,” Maxine announced.

  “Great minds think alike!” said Brett, indicating the glass of whiskey next to him.

  The students settled into the cozy, slightly battered chairs of the living room. Looking round the room, Liberty thought that it reminded her of the living room in her parents’ house. It had a similar dark carpet, a fireplace with a mantelpiece, and heavy drapes over the windows. Disconcertingly, though, where her parents had a collage of family photographs, Prof Trelawney had a wooden display case of knives, daggers and short swords.

  When Prof T had returned from the kitchen, he said, “I think I’ll light a fire now. Then perhaps, if you don’t mind repeating yourself, Dirk, you could tell the details of your first demon sighting to Liberty and Maxine?”

  “Okay,” said Dirk. Clearing his throat, he began. “It was my 21st birthday, and I was a bit hung over from my party the night before. I had a big assignment due, though, so decided I’d better go to the campus library. It was a Sunday, so not many people were around. I was in the Humanities section, not the Law library for once.”

  He paused. At the same moment, Prof T’s fire burst into life with a comforting roar and crackle. Liberty found her gaze drawn to the leaping flames as Dirk continued.

  “So I was wandering around the shelves, looking for some useful books, as you do, when I saw this guy ahead of me. At first I thought – the way he was lurching slightly as he walked, and looked a little hunched, and his skin looked leathery – I thought he was probably very old. But then he turned around, and…”

  Dirk paused again and swallowed.

  “His face was dreadful. Liberty’s ‘lizard-man’ description is a good one. He so clearly wasn’t human. Becau
se I was hung over, and my head wasn’t clear at all, I didn’t react very quickly or obviously. I simply turned right in between the stacks and walked off in a hurry.”

  “Did he come after you?” Maxine asked, unable to contain herself.

  “No, he did absolutely nothing other than turn around and look at me.”

  “So he might not have realized that you saw his demonic appearance?” Liberty wanted to know.

  “That’s what we’re hoping,” Dirk said, indicating himself, Brett and Prof T.

  “It’s safer if they have no idea that we’ve spotted them,” Prof T pointed out.

  “Tell them about the other times you’ve spotted them,” Brett urged Dirk.

  “Other times?” Maxine breathed. She was looking appalled, Liberty noticed.

  “Oh yeah – I had two more very brief glimpses. One was of two together, walking outside the library, in the plaza. I didn’t watch them for long enough to figure out what they were doing, which I regret now, obviously. They seemed to be heading into the library.

  “And the last time was of one of them jumping off the roof. He made quite a sight, with his wings outstretched. So that’s how I know that they wear those long trench coats to cover up their wings. And,” he said, turning to Libby, “that’s how I know that their wings make that kind of deep, fluttering noise you described to me.”

  “Mm,” said Liberty, trying to sound politely intrigued. But so great was her panic at Dirk’s words that it came out as a squeak.

  “And nobody else saw what you saw?” Maxine wanted to know.

  Dirk shook his head. “No-one else reacted in the slightest to this really dramatic sight of a giant, bat-like semi-human leaping off a building and landing gently on the ground below.” His hands made a swooping motion.

  No-one said anything.

  “Whiskey for everyone,” said Prof T. No-one protested at the large splashes he poured for each person.

  “Now, Liberty, Dirk briefly told me about your experience,” said Prof T, sitting down again, and reaching for a notebook and pen. “But why don’t you tell us all again, since we’re all here?”

  So Liberty told her story again, while Prof Trelawney jotted down a few notes.

  Reviewing his notes when she’d finished, he said, “So you noticed a fluttering sound, and saw a tall white man with brown hair and glasses, in roughly the same area of the main campus library as Dirk first spotted a demon.

  “Whereas you,” he said, indicating Dirk, “have heard the fluttering, but none of the demons you saw had glasses or hair, correct?”

  “Correct. There were tall, though.”

  “I wonder if putting up a covert webcam somewhere would help us?” Brett asked. “It would be interesting to try, though we don’t know whether Dirk and Liberty could see demons via a camera.”

  “Good point,” said Professor T. “We might not have to use our own camera. The library does have some security cameras, as far as I know.”

  “We could invent a class project that involved viewing the footage,” Dirk suggested.

  “Guys, guys!” Maxine sounded desperate. “Do we know what these creatures want? Are they dangerous? What are they doing on our campus? And where else are they lurking?”

  Instinctively, Liberty reached out and laid a reassuring hand on her friend’s arm. Maxine’s alarm was almost palpable.

  “We don’t know much,” Dirk began. “But Prof T has done research and… You explain, Prof T.”

  “Right – well, to make a long story short, this isn’t the first time these demons have been seen in this town. I’ve gone through archives and found many documents that haven’t seen the light of day for about a hundred years. They’re fascinating, and they do teach us a few things.”

  He began ticking off points on his fingers.

  “We know these creatures have been here before; that they are interested in taking over our resources, especially the farms lying just outside the town borders; and they kill anyone who gets too close or whom they perceive as a threat.”

  “Woah,” said Liberty, before she could stop herself.

  “That’s what they seem to have done in the past,” said Prof T. “We can only surmise that the ones you two have spotted are capable of the same violence and greed.”

  Again, there was a small silence in the room.

  “Let’s heat up the food,” Prof T suggested. “Then we can talk about possible strategies for the future while we eat.”

  Brett and Dirk had brought hot dogs. (“Hot dogs?” Maxi mouthed incredulously to Liberty.) They wolfed them down, after which Liberty noticed they helped themselves generously to the veg lasagna.

  When everyone had full plates, and the fire had been stoked, Brett addressed Liberty. “Has Dirk explained why we have to keep this so secret?”

  “No, he hasn’t. I was wondering.”

  “Well,” said Dirk, chewing vigorously, “it’s because Prof T’s research showed that people panic, violence erupts, and the demons go crazy defending themselves, which all ends with a lot of…” Here he paused and swallowed. “… Dead bodies in the streets,” he finished.

  “Hm!” said Liberty, as though Dirk had just announced that the dollar had strengthened against the yen.

  The others smiled at Liberty’s response – all except Maxine. She looked as though she wanted to bolt from the room.

  “Yes, well, that’s the worst case scenario,” said Professor T. “We’re doing all we can to avoid any such distress.”

  Liberty wanted to laugh at his idea of ‘distress’.

  “In case you’re wondering what I’m doing here,” said Brett, “I’m helping Prof with his research. It’s amazing what you can find out when you tell people it’s for your PhD. I’ve changed my PhD topic to look at accounts of demon-spotting in this town – though I have to pretend it’s all myth, of course.”

  Liberty was thinking how sweet and awkward he was when Maxine spoke up.

  “I’m not studying demons, as you probably know,” she told the group. “But I’ll give you all the support I can. I’m not going to let a bunch of damn lizards win this fight!”

  Grinning at her friend, Liberty joined in Dirk and Brett’s applause. She knew Maxine would be feisty, despite her fear, and was sure that if Prof T weren’t there, Maxine would have said something much stronger than ‘damn’.

  “That’s the spirit!” said Professor T, looking delighted. “So, what next?”

  “Brett’s idea about viewing footage of the library is a good one, I think,” said Dirk.

  “Yes,” Liberty agreed. “It would give us a better idea of what we’re dealing with. Could Brett gain access to the security cameras? And maybe make us a copy of the footage?”

  Brett nodded. “I think that would be fairly easy. I can say something about needing to do it for research – I used to work part-time as a librarian, so some of the librarians know me and probably won’t object.”

  “Excellent,” said Dirk. “So will you bring a copy back here – maybe next week? – and Liberty and I can look at it?”

  “Shouldn’t it be sooner?” Liberty murmured.

  Maxine supported her. “Yeah, guys, could you do that in the next day or two, rather?”

  Prof Trelawney spoke up. “I have to agree. Why don’t you try to get access to that footage tomorrow or the next day, Brett? You’d all be welcome to come back here and view it any time.”

  Liberty opened her mouth to suggest they meet at someone else’s place, but then shut it again. It occurred to her that it might be difficult for Prof T to travel about at night.

  “I’ll do my best,” said Brett. “Liberty and Maxine – if you give me your cell numbers, I’ll text you about meeting again.”

  After that, the evening wound down.

  “It’ll be interesting to see what the cameras pick up,” Liberty said to Dirk, as they cleared away plates and glasses.

  “Yeah, it will. I won’t be too surprised if the demons can’t be filmed. But
, let’s hope.” He shrugged.

  Liberty fervently hoped they could be filmed. It would make things so much easier.

  Looking around at the bright and welcoming scene in front of her – Maxine laughing at something Brett said, the fire crackling, Prof T smiling benignly as Dirk said goodbye to him – Liberty felt a shiver of fear travel up her spine. What was being set in motion here? Would they all survive to look back on this evening?

  CHAPTER THREE

  It was less than 48 hours later that Liberty’s phone buzzed with a message from Brett.

  “Sorry guys, I know this is Friday night and all, but I have something to show you,” he texted the group. “Prof T’s house for post-supper drink tonight at 8?”

  Liberty was working at the pharmacy, this time her shift ended early enough that she had only enough time to grab a burger with Maxine after her shift before catching a taxi to Prof T’s house.

  “I might never walk around this town at night again,” Maxine said as they waited for their taxi.

  “Me neither,” said Liberty. She also suspected that the previous few days had killed her attraction to all things dark and Gothic. She loved her bright, sunlight-splashed apartment with a new fervor now. To her, it seemed to be the very opposite of a demon’s hang-out – whatever that might be.

  After arriving at Prof T’s gate, Liberty said, “Well, this is going to be an interesting Friday night.”

  “I’d rather have a slightly less interesting Friday night, to be honest,” said Maxine. She had postponed a date to be there, for which Liberty was grateful.

  Again, Brett and Dirk had arrived slightly earlier. Brett was busy linking his laptop to Prof T’s big-screen TV when they walked in.

  “Whiskey for the viewing?” Prof T offered. Again, nobody refused.

  “Have you seen the footage already, Brett?” Liberty asked.

  “No, I only managed to get my hands on it this afternoon,” Brett said, struggling with a USB port. “Oh, I’m trying to insert the USB upside down, like a fool. Now it should work.”