Books And Covers Thereof (1.23)

Kitty decides to follow Kiplin into the room, rubbing her arm nervously as she does so.  Annie, of course, quickly follows, as does Mindy.

Haruka and Diana follow in behind, blocking the exit from the room.  Kitty turns and looks at them, gulping.

“Don’t worry,” whispers Mindy.  It’s not comforting.

The room is dark.  A flat screen television hangs on a corner wall, presently featuring a news reporter prattering on at about insipid, repetitive romantic gossip pertaining to Annie’s parents’ harems’.  At the end of the room is what Kitty suspects is a one-way mirror overlooking the ballroom’s floor.

On a couch overlooking this floor, the figure of a man - Kitty’s pretty sure it’s a man, anyway, from earlier comments - sits, a bottle of an alcoholic beverage clutched in his hand.  The top of his head is outlined by a small mask that appears to represent the upper half of a green lizard snout.  A thick but well-maintained mass of black hair hair flows down to his shoulders.  The lower half of his face is clean-shaved, his light olive skin covered in understated but slightly pale makeup, common among the upper class males of the city.  Kitty spots a light shade of lipstick on his mouth.

His head turns to Kiplin, then the rest.  He sits, up, looking around.  His eyes meet Mindy’s, and he sighs.  “Hello, Mindy.”  His voice is tired, unenthusiastic.

“Heeeeeeey, Dante!” says Mindy, waving, her orange nails and lipstick glowing slightly in the darkness.  “I see we came in the same costume.”

There’s another sigh.  Dante glances at each of the girls in turn.

“Annie, hello,” he says abruptly.  Annie opens her mouth, and shuts it, looking at Kitty with confusion.

“Did you know him?”

“No...” says Annie underneath the shark mask, clearly trying to force herself to remember.

“You probably don’t remember me, but I’d know you anywhere.  How are you?”

“Um...Good.”

“Life treating you well?”

“Um...”

Dante suddenly reaches out, takes Annie’s hand, and gently pats it.  “I know we didn’t know each other well, but I am sorry about your loss.  It must be hard on your brothers and parents.  I wish I could have been there to commiserate, but alas...”

“I...Um...Um...” Annie’s voice suddenly drops to a tone with which Kitty is unaccustomed.  It’s shaky and unconfident.  She awkwardly twists her hand out of his grip, taking a step back and rubbing her arm.  Kitty hears a quiet sniffling.

“Annie’s, what’s...”  Kitty begins, but she’s interrupted as Annie suddenly slaps open the shark mask.

“It’s all right,” she pleads.  “Nothing you need to worry about.”

“Did something happen?  I...”

“It was a really long time ago, okay?  It’s not important!  I don’t even know why he would know or care.”

“Annie...”

“Sorry, just wanted to say it, didn’t know if I’d get another chance,” interrupts Dante.  “And you’re...” Dante shuts his eyes, snapping his fingers a few times.  “Ah, yes!  The Librarian.  Your sister is a lovely woman, by the way.  I’m not her type, of course, but still.  Very genuine.  A little cranky.  Don’t get the names, though.”

“Er, my mother and grandmother were both really uninventive with names...Um.  Speaking of, the reason why I’m here...”

“And who are you?” Dante asks, turning to Officer Kiplin.

Kiplin abruptly sticks an arm out.  “Officer Aoife Kiplin, Lord Ilucis.”

“Aoife, eh?  That’s a good name, if a bit unusual.”  He shakes her hand with both of his.  There’s a definite difference in hand sizes.

“It’s Irish, lad.”

“Ah, of course.  I’m sorry if I seem a little subdued, it’s been a long day and I...”  Dante looks back at Diana and Haruka, and shrugs.  “Was not expecting company.”

“We figured,” says Kitty.

“What did you need to talk to me about?”

“Erm...”  Kitty clears her throat.  “You have an overdue library book,” she says, quickly.  “Two weeks ago, you checked out a book called the Zoinomicon, and, um...I would...Appreciate it if you would...Return it...Immediately...”

“...Zoinomicon, Zoinomicon...Hm...I don’t recall heading down to the library two weeks ago.”  he taps his chin.  “Hmm...Don’t even recall the last time I went to the library...I have quite a large collection of my own...Hmm...No, I’m afraid I don’t remember checking out a book from the Library.”

“But,” insists Kitty, wishing Pamela was here.  “You, um...You...THere’s a record,” pleads Kitty.  “It’s written down.  It says you...Checked it out...”

Dante watches Kitty for a moment.  He sighs.  “Floor 12 by the VIP elevator.  It’ll take you right to my private room.  Feel free to take a look around, but go alone, and try to put everything back where you found it, okay?  And don’t tell anyone.  It’s probably in my room up the stairs, if it’s anywhere.  Three floors down and on the left.”

“Can’t I go with her?” asks Annie.

“No, I’d rather not.  Sorry.”

“I’ll be fine, Annie,” says Kitty quickly.  “It’s just a hotel room.”

“Can I g-” begins Mindy.

“Absolutely not.”

***

Kitty steps out of the elevator into a dark room, dark shapes illuminated only by the window to the blue sky outside. She can see couches, chairs, a television, lamps...She turns and flips the light on.

She looks out at the room.

She flips the lights off.

“Okay, Kitty, you probably just imagined it...” she murmurs.

She turns the light on again.

She looks around at the massive, lovingly decorated, and presently strangely trashed apartment.  Pictures frames lay broken on the floor.  Chairs have been overturned.  The only area that appears to be relatively untouched are a set of stairs in back, leading up to the second floor.  ...Or perhaps technically Floor 13..

Someone has written MOTHER LOVES YOU in big, red (hopefully just painted!) letters on the side wall.

The elevator door shuts behind Kitty, and she listens with mounting horror as the elevator leaves, moving to another floor far away.

There are stairs in the corner.

There is pretty much no other choice, well, aside from hiding in the bathroom.

Kitty moves up the stairs.  The upper floor, Kitty quickly realizes, probably didn’t always belong to Dante.  it appears to be a normal hotel hallway converted into a single massive apartment.

She opens the third door and walks into...a small but very comfortable looking apartment, which she quickly realizes is now a large bedroom.  A big, comfy looking, luxurious bed dominates the room.  There’s...A medium sized bathroom, small kitchen, and small living room off of side doors.  This is really too much for anyone.

Nevertheless, Kitty begins to move about the room, trying to hide her terror and looking through the drawers.  No books...She keeps finding underwear and other clothes, some of them...Obviously belonging to women, Kitty assumes, unless Dante has decided to wear bras.

Something on the top of the drawer catches her eyes.  She looks up.

There are two picture frames standing up.  One picture features...The bartender that took an interest in Kitty earlier, standing next to a short, pale woman wearing a police form.  Her facial features are very similar to the bartender’s and her hair appears to be tied up in a bun behind her.  Neither one of them looks particularly happy to have the photo taken.

The second, though...Kitty doesn’t recognize them.  Two identical twins, strawberry blonde hair, one arm around each other.  One of them looks extremely happy and cheerful, and the other...Still looks happy, but more subdued.  They...look like Annie, around the face and skin tone, though they both clearly haven’t tanned as much.  They appear to be teenagers.

And right next to that is a ring on a ring holder.  Curious, Kitty picks it up and looks at it closely.

The ring looks like red and white serpents, entwined with one another, biting their own tails.  A marriage ring of the Dragon tribe, symbolizing the union of two families.

A ring Kitty has seen before.

“Told you not to trust her, mon ami.”

Kitty twists around.

There’s the French woman, sitting on the bed, cross legged.  She’s taken off the skull mask, which is presently lying on the bed.  She smiles warmly.

“Um...No, you just said she was crazy,” says Kitty.

“Did I?  Oh, well.  You shouldn’t trust her.  Crazy, though.  Everyone’s pretty crazy.”

“I’m definitely...Very confused.  In a number of ways.  Erm.”  Kitty gulps, shakily putting the ring back down.  “Errr...”

“You look tired.”

“I do?”  says Kitty, backing up and glancing towards the door on the other side of the room.

“You should rest.”

“I, um...I don’t feel like resting.  I...”  Kitty glances at the door again.  “I should go.  And keep looking.”

The woman smiles again.

“Sleep.”

Kitty couldn't remember anything after that.