It didn't take long for Raj to close his eyes and drift off to "sleep". Most folks, if they looked at him, would think him a corpse laying there; he lay so still and didn't draw a single breath. His heart hadn't beat in hundreds of years. Oh, he could breathe if he forced himself to ... but he hadn't in so long that it hurt to do so. His body didn't need it so he just didn't do it. As the sun rose and the city came alive, the night life crept away and vanished. Raj was simply waiting for it to return where he could prowl the streets again when the sun had disappeared once more.
Moving up to her bedroom, Cassandra quickly shrugged off her nightgown and pulled on her fitted jogging outfit; a plain baby doll t-shirt beneath a zipped jacket, mirror to the jogging pants that hugged each and every curve. Pulling on thick socks and tennis shoes, she glanced over at the television she had flicked on to catch the temperature as she tied the laces of her shoes. Seeing that she didn't need another jacket, she reached for her iPod before heading back downstairs and out the door, fitting the earplugs into place. She slipped the small sliver of music into her pocket before locking up with her key and started down the tree-lined street as the night sky grew even lighter.
Her feet seemed to move in time with the beat of the music blaring into her ears from the iPod Nano. It helped keep her mind on her work out even when her muscles started screaming that she had done enough. She always ran this trail twice ... to Barnes & Noble, then back home then to the store again for a total of fifteen miles and then the walk home to cool off for another five. It helped clear her mind for the day ahead and the rigors of her job. She was already on her second pass back to Barnes & Noble and she was looking forward to her cup of coffee.
She ran beautifully actually ... her motions were graceful as they were in everything she did. And she had speed but to start off with, she just wanted to limber up her muscles and get her breathing down before she pushed her body into a major workout. She ran more towards the city ... she liked to end her run at the local bookstore where she would always browse the new releases and end with a cup of coffee before walking back to her apartment for her cool down and hit the shower before work. Luckily, this Barnes & Noble opened early and gave her license to do just that.
Nijel was in the supernatural and witchcraft section of the store, as usual. He found himself here a lot. He was probably the only person who bought from this section and one of Barnes and Noble's best customer. It was here, the library or any number of other places he could get his hands on information. He was good at what he did. He kept people alive. That was his job; find out all you can to keep your people alive. He thumbed through the titles on the shelf, muttering to himself.
His fingers paused on a cover ... one he hadn't seen before. The title was in Saxon runes and he grabbed it and pulled it from the shelf to look at it, flipping the cover open to look it over. It was a chronology of vampire bloodlines. What the heck was it doing in Barnes and Noble? He flipped back to the front to see if there was any printing information. There was none; no author, no copyright, no publisher. Nijel's brow furrowed. "This is odd," he muttered to himself.
Nijel had several chronologies on hand back in his own personal library. Had he missed this one or was it new? He flipped to the back pages and scanned the ancient writing. No, this one was out of date; he had a newer one. With a sigh of relief he tucked it back onto the shelf and deftly pushed it out of sight. It didn't need to be seen by eyes that didn't know what they were looking at. Again he continued to thumb through the titles until a young woman approached him
"Nijel! Look!"
The watcher's eyes snapped to his self-proclaimed assistant as she pointed to a picture of some demon or another and he arched a brow at her. 'Whatever is this for?'
She just grinned. "No reason ... I just thought it was cool. Don't you?"
Nijel grunted and rolled his eyes. "You need to learn to stay on task, dear."
The girl seemed to deflate some and closed the book. "Oh, okay Nijel. Sorry."
Nijel sighed and turned to look at the girl. He didn't want to hurt her feelings but she was so ... flighty. "Hope, why don't you go get a coffee and work on that study material?" He dug into his pocket and handed her his wallet.
The girl seemed overjoyed and grinned. "Yes sir! Will do." She grinned as Nigel turned his back and grabbed the pile of books they'd gathered on the table.
Cassandra pulled to a stop at the front of Barnes & Noble, drawing in deep breaths as her hands rested on her hips. Turning her face upwards to the sun rising over the horizon, she drank in the fresh air gratefully before turning her gaze to the now unlocked doors and smiled. Forcing her feet to walk forward again, her breathing tried to regulate as she entered the building. The smell of leather and freshly printed paper mingle with the aromas of Starbuck's coffee as they floated in the air, tickling her senses. She moved towards the escalator and stepped onto it so that it would take her upstairs to the coffee house first ... she needed some caffeine desperately.
Stepping off the escalator, she moved with sure steps on long legs towards the coffee house tucked into the southern corner of the upstairs store. The girl behind the counter noticed her immediately and smiled. "Cass ... good morning. Your usual?" Cassandra smiled and nodded, pulling the earplugs from her iPod out of her ears and tucked them into her jacket pocket along with the thin player.
"Yes ... that would be great Nicki, thanks" and took a moment to draw in a few more deep breaths as she waited for her latte to be done. Glancing around at the sparse shoppers out this early in the morning, she took the outstretched latte from Nicki and paid the girl before moving to take a seat near the window looking out onto the city. Sipping slowly, she took a moment to enjoy her latte before roaming through the aisles of books. She would have taken it with her but the proprietors didn't really want drinks roaming around the books and she couldn't blame them but she would have liked to keep moving. The best thing was to try and make it through her cup quickly so she could peruse the new releases before she had to head back. The sun was coming up quickly now and she had to be heading back soon to prepare for the work day ahead with a sigh. God, she needed a change in life.
A young girl, no more than twenty or so stumbled as she passed by Cass's table. The armful of books she had held in her arms suddenly flopped to the ground. The smaller books skittered and the bigger ones just fell with a big noticeable boom that resounded deafeningly, or seemingly so, through the quiet bookstore. The girl look startled "Oh wow wow wow! Jeez, I'm so sorry miss." She leaned down and started to pick up her mess, gathering the books once more and setting them on a table opposite Cassie's.
Cassandra smiled gently, setting her cup down and bent to retrieve a book that had slid near her foot. Handing it out towards the girl, her jaded eyes sparkled some as she spoke, "No worries ... you didn't do anything to disrupt me. You okay?" she asked, genuine concern etched in her brows as she looked at the girl.
The girl reached and took the book she offered "Thanks, yeah ... I'm fine." She pulled her reading glasses from her face to better see the woman and smiled. As she grasped the book she paused and spoke softly, "Whoa ..." Her eyes widened and she took the book, adding it to her pile.
Cassandra's eyebrows furrowed some as she saw the look on the girl's face, releasing the book to her hand "What?" Her hand involuntarily lifted to her face, wondering if she actually looked bad enough to comment on or if she had something on her face.