I rose with the sun the next morning. Vacation or no, my body clock refused to allow me to sleep in. It’s a Beautiful Day was playing on the radio in my kitchen and I was dancing along to it while pouring cereal into a bowl.

My scrapes had scabbed over some, and aside from a burning tightness when I moved my bendy parts, I was feeling fine. Contrary to what I might have believed about myself before yesterday, I wasn't scared, freaked out or even feeling a little bit crazy. Mostly, I just felt incredibly glad to be alive.

And curious.

Very, very curious.

I was choosing not to think about the near miss with the two men. While psychologists might not agree with that tactic, what mattered was that, in the end, I’d prevailed and the man responsible for the pain of others would never cause harm again. That was what I was choosing to focus on. Surely, it was healthier to focus on that instead of what might've been if he hadn't come along.

My savior was still on my mind and I didn't bother to try and shake him. Instead, I replayed every moment that we'd been together and wondered random things about him. What it would sound like if he laughed. How old he was. Whether he had participated in any of the world wars and if he knew how to use the Internet. What a life he must have had, provided, of course, that he hadn't been turned like, maybe, last year.

Somehow, I doubted that, though. But having read one of the Twilight books and viewing exactly three episodes of True Blood, I was hardly an expert.

Carrying my cereal to the counter, I sank into one of my kitchen stools, my cereal crunching as I had my breakfast. The guy stayed on my mind while I showered and dressed and while I'd planned on fixing some things around the house today, when the washer nearly came off as I tried to fix a leaky sink, I knew it was a lost cause.

My teacher brain kept drifting to research. Now that I knew vampires existed and that there was at least one running around my very own town, I had to know more. I couldn't help it, it was like my brain was stuck on one word.

Research. Research. Research.

I considered firing up my laptop and scouring the web for information, but that wasn't going to cut it this time. It was off to the library for my sorry behind, that was the only thing that would satisfy me today.

Grabbing my keys from the half-moon table by my front door, I locked up and sped to my beat-up blue Jeep. It was entirely possible that she was going to break down on the way to the library, but I loved her and I wouldn't give up on her until she gave up on me.

There wasn't a cloud in the sky as I drove, but it was freezing outside and I blasted the heat in the Jeep. The sun and cheery blue sky gave the illusion of a hot, summer’s day, but that was definitely not the case.

As random questions that I would kill to ask my vampire kept crashing into my mind, I wondered if he was still asleep, and whether he was able to go out in the sun. It wasn't that I thought he sparkled in it or anything, but from my limited knowledge about vampires, the going out in sunlight thing and the no garlic thing seemed to be a common no-no.

The parking lot of the library was relatively empty when I arrived and I pulled into a spot right outside the doors. Rubbing my hands together and blowing on them, I steeled myself for the short, but icy, walk up the steps and through the wide, double wooden doors that led into the place where I would hopefully find answers to some of my questions.

I breathed in deeply when I stepped foot inside the library, loving the smell of its old books, wood polish and mildew. Tiny particles of dust floated in the air as sunlight filtered in through stained glass windows and my footfalls were quiet as I padded through the cavernous space on the old carpet beneath my feet.

Man, I loved this place. It sounded silly, even in my head, but there was a definite surge of excited energy that rushed through my body as I searched for the correct section just at the thought of the knowledge I was about to amass.

I finally found a row titled Mythology and decided that it was as good a place as any to start. Carrying two books to a desk with a classic green and gold lamp sitting on top of it, I set the books down and went to ask the librarian where I might look for more.

"I know this is going to sound strange, but would you mind helping me find some information about vampires?" I asked the girl when I reached her desk.

Her hand stilled over the mouse connected to the ancient computer she was busy working on and a friendly smile spread on her lips. "It's not that strange, really. Last week, someone asked me about the anatomy of Martians."

Eyebrows shooting up, my chin dipped. "Are you serious?"

"Yup," her lips popped on the P, "trust me, you asking for books on vampires is by far not the strangest thing I've heard."

She rounded the desk and motioned me in the opposite direction from where I'd come, surprisingly, leading me to a section on town history. "You don't have to tell me, but it might help if I knew why you were researching vampires. Our town actually has a rich history of the vampire lore, but if your research isn't based in history, we probably shouldn't start here."

"I'm… A teacher." At least that was true, even if I wasn't about to teach a bunch of kids about creatures who looked human and survived on blood. A slight shudder ran down my spine at the thought, but the guy last night hadn't hurt me, or drained me, for that matter, so there had to be more to it. "You know kids, they're always asking questions…"

She didn't question my vague answer, only smiled, nodded and motioned me to a shelf on my left. "Well, they'll probably find our history pretty interesting then."

"Why is that?" I asked curiously. "And why haven't I heard about this before?"

She shrugged. "Not many people believe in that stuff. It’s sort of fringe, you know? Our schools strip out all the cool, paranormal stuff, but the true story is buried in these tomes." Starting to pull ancient-looking hardcover books from the shelf, she looked over her shoulder at me. "Where's your desk?"

I gestured to the other side of the library. "I am all the way over there at Mythology. Let's rather just use that one."

Pointing to the desk closest to us, I took some of the books from her and carried them over. The library was practically empty, so I didn't see any need to carry the books back and forth. We weren’t keeping anyone from having space to sit.

She nodded and followed me after selecting a few more books. We each took our padded seats, grabbed a book, and got stuck in.

About 20 minutes later, I was starting to see what she meant about our town having a long history of the vampires. Blowing out a low whistle, I turned to face her. "Wow. You weren't kidding. This is incredible."

A bright smile touched her lips as she nodded enthusiastically. "I know, right. It's actually kind of cool looking into all of this again. Thank you for saving me from a day of mind-numbing cataloguing and inventorying our new stuff."

"No problem," I said, staring down at the thick page in front of me, the book so old that its edges were yellowing. It was only the second page of the book I was currently browsing through, but I was already enthralled.

The words on it read like a novel. If the book was to be believed, our humble town had been founded by a coven of vampires back in the 1700s. There had been five families, or, uh, covens who were being hunted by a paranormal being in a land far away. Toward the end of the first chapter, I learned that the coven that had founded our town had moved across the country, away from the infighting and the hunter, to settle here. The book had glossed over some things, but said enough that I couldn't put it down.

There were a few pages of photographs between the chapters, black-and-whites that showed first only five men, dressed in period clothing and scowling at the camera.

The women in the next picture were all gorgeous, their dresses wide with puffy sleeves and their hair carefully swept up into elaborate dos. It was borderline unbelievable to think that they dressed like that on a daily basis back then, they probably would have been appalled at the clothing we wore nowadays.

Although, maybe not would have been. Maybe they were. After all, if the information in the book was correct, they were vampires and might very well still be alive.

How’s that for unbelievable!

I studied the pictures like I was going to be tested on them, trying to see if I recognized anyone that I might have seen around town.

I didn't.

Until I turned the page again, that was, and found myself staring into the face of a man who was handsome beyond compare. The same man who had saved me last night. The same face I'd been captivated by on my porch when he walked me home. The face that had filled my dreams last night.

I almost couldn't believe that it was him, a part of me wondered if I'd pictured him so many times since last night that my mind was inserting him into a picture of a man who only bore a slight resemblance. Pulling out my iPhone from the pocket of my jeans, I opened my magnifying glass app and held it over the page. My heart started hammering in recognition, my palms suddenly clammy.

"Holy crap," I muttered. It wasn't my imagination, it was him.

My vampire. Okay, maybe he wasn't mine exactly, but it was him. He was standing in the background of the picture, talking to some other men, while a group of people I couldn’t be bothered with posed for the photograph.

The librarian lifted her eyes from the book she was busy studying and looked over at me. "Find something interesting?"

"Yeah…" I breathed, then cleared my throat and tried to keep my voice even. "This is all just really overwhelming, I can't believe that I never knew of any of this before."

"Don't blame yourself, it's not really something that gets advertised." Her expression turned contemplative before she continued. "Though maybe it should be. It might be good for tourism, what with vampires and whatnot being such a popular topic at the moment."

"True," I agreed, but tourism was the last thing on my mind. I was trying hard to keep from letting out an excited squeak and flipping out. If I'd thought that I had questions for him before, I had about 2000 more now.

The date below the picture said that it had been taken in the early 1800s, but the guy didn't look a day younger than he had last night. Un – freaking – believable.

The life you must have lived… The things he must have seen… I couldn't even begin to wrap my head around it.

I had to find him. It took tremendous effort not to jump up and bolt from the library immediately, perhaps run around town and banging down doors until I found him, but I managed.

Glancing at my phone like I was checking the time, I rose from my seat and rubbed my eyes. "I'd better get going. Thank you for your help. This was really enlightening."

"No problem. Any time. Enjoy the rest of your day,” the librarian said, closing the book she'd been reading and carrying it to a storage shelf nearby. I quickly helped her with the rest of the books, then rushed to my car.

My mind was just about spinning from my burning curiosity. This was some real Edward and Bella shit right here. I didn't know how, but I had to track this guy down. I wanted to pick his brain more than anything. My teacher brain had more questions than I could keep up with.

First, I needed a plan.

That's entirely up to you.

His parting words when I questioned if I would ever see him again echoed in my head. I still didn't know what he'd meant by that, but presumably it meant that there was some way that I could get hold of him.

Coming up with hair-brained schemes was more Melanie's thing than mine, so I grabbed my phone and tapped out a quick text.

Come over around five? We need to set a trap for a vampire. I'll explain later.

I started the Jeep to get the heat going, but waited for her response before I started driving home. My phone buzzed with her answer less than a minute later.

Uh… Sure thing. Vacation freedom getting to you already?

Rolling my eyes, I fired off my reply and repeated my request and then off in the direction of my house, practically shaking with excitement.

I tapped my thumbs on my steering wheel and wondered how exactly one trapped a vampire.

Maybe trapped wasn't the right word.

I wanted to lure him and then trap him, perhaps for the next two decades or so until he'd answered all my questions.

And what else do you want to do to him, Starling? a little voice inside me piped up with a sultry chuckle.

My cheeks flamed as I gripped the wheel tighter.

This was research. Curiosity with a dash of hero worship in the mix, that was all.

But even as I told myself that over and over, something deep inside me knew I was a liar. Knew that, if I managed to catch my vampire? Everything would change.