Black Moon Rising (DarkLife Saga) by Ronnie Massey

unknown, meant eliminating the known from the equation.  I headed for the fourth lower level and the library that was housed there.  I’d tried the electronic route and came up with zilch, now it was time to go old school.
    As I browsed the towering shelves of books, it struck me that Irulan would never believe I willingly went to a library.  Sometimes it got to me that she thought I was void of the desire for anything intellectual.  Just because I wasn’t overly fond of reading that didn’t mean I lacked the ability to comprehend.  I had a brain in my head.
    I scanned row after row and shelf after shelf until I finally found what I was looking for.  It was a hand written account of different Extra species.
    The tome was compiled over five hundred years ago.  Hopefully I would run across a description that would match my unknown killer.  I carefully pulled the heavy, leather book down and found an empty cubby.
    I opened the hand-bound book and gingerly flipped one of the handwritten pages.  Wow, there was no index.  I settled in for the long haul and started reading.
    I’m not sure how long I sat there with my head stuck in that book.  I was surprisingly intrigued by the wealth of information it contained.  There were even pages concerning different types of Fae that are often found on our plane.
    There were pages for pixies, elves, Pant heras and Lupines.  There was an entire section devoted the Sidhe, but not a single description came close to what I was looking for.
    I read for hours, scanning pages two and three times to make sure I didn’t miss a thing.  I read for so long that words began to run together and looked like one big blob of squiggly lines.  This wasn’t working.
    By the time I drug myself out of the library, I was pretty certain my entire morning had been a bust.  I called Irulan to check in and make sure everything was okay with David.  We hadn’t heard a single thing from Thomas, so we weren't sure what to make of the situation.  Sitting with my hands tied behind my back was killing me but, Valerian assured me he was on top of everything.
    I walked down the wide corridors heading toward the wing that was devoted to our department, so deep in my head that I didn’t notice all the strange looks from passersby.
    What finally caught my attention was the set of arms that wrapped themselves around me.  I recoiled from the intrusion, jerking my head away from the red hair that was thrust under my nose.  Mike.  I disentangled the lifeborn from my person and debated whether or not I was going to draw on him.
    “Ms. Trumaine,” he coughed.  “I can't tell you how glad I am to see you're alright.”  I felt a cloud of nervous curiosity surrounding me; my eyes shot past him.  Every person in the hallway within one hundred feet in either direction had stopped to watch our exchange.
    I groaned and shoved my hands into my jacket.  “I’m fine, Mike. Thank you for asking.”
    The little man was beaming.  “No problem.  We were all worried about you when we heard you got caught out yesterday.”  He shoved his heavy , black-framed glasses back on his nose and frowned. “To be honest, Ms. Trumaine, we didn’t expect you back to work for a couple of weeks…you know the sun damage and all.”
    I nodded my head and scanned the growing number of bodies.  I haven’t exactly been advertising my newfound powers to people outside of my immediate family and Thade, powers that included an amplified healing factor.  I didn’t want to draw any unwanted attention.  Coming in today was doing the exact opposite.
    Everyone was expecting a sun damaged Valeria to be home staying away from the light to give her body time to heal.  Nope, I was out walking around in a hallway lit with the afternoon sun and about thirty witnesses.  So much for keeping a low profile.
    Thank God that most of the day staff was human.  I hated to do it, but I was going to have to glamour them.  I dropped my