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leaned against the front desk and beamed a smile that Charity did not return. She turned her suspicious eyes on Kyle, and he adjusted his coat again to be sure she wouldn't catch a glimpse of his gun like Jackie had, though he doubted this woman would fear it.
    "Hello Jackie, what can I help you with?"
    "Um, this is my friend Kyle."
    He tried smiling at Charity when both women looked at him during his introduction. "Hello ma’am."
    She smiled back, a forceful little thing that made everyone involved uncomfortable. "What can I get the two of you?"
    Jackie looked away, and Kyle realized he'd forgotten to make up a story with her in case anyone asked about him.
    "Um, look, he has a brother who was bit."
    Charity tensed. "By what?"
    "A vampire."
    Her body and eyes melted, and when she looked at him he got a splash of both sympathy and pity. The ice princess of the library left the building. "Oh, I'm so sorry. How is he? He hasn’t turned, has he?"
    Kyle managed a sad expression because he actually did have a brother whom he hadn't seen since his curse, and wouldn’t see until it was lifted. "He seems sad, doesn't like the situation at all. As for turning, we’re not completely sure."
    Charity gave them her full attention. She leaned against her desk and kept as much eye contact with the two of them as possible. Kyle was pleased with this.
    Jackie cleared her throat. "The thing is, Kyle and his brother didn't know about any of this," She motioned towards the entire library with her hand, as if that signified the paranormal world in general. "And he's having trouble adjusting."
    Charity nodded. "It usually is a rude awakening for people who don't know about our way of life. I guess you found this city because someone told you where to go?"
    Kyle nodded. "Yeah, I found another vampire in a bar and he told me about this place. It was hard to find."
    Charity nodded again. "Yes, you won't find this city on any map or GPS. So, when was he bitten?"
    "About five months ago." Kyle replied.
    Again her eyes became suspicious. She crossed her arms. "And has he been drinking since then?"
    "I guess you mean blood. Well, he's been trying not to, he doesn't want to hurt anyone." Kyle was fully aware of Jackie’s eyes piercing him while he fed her librarian friend bits and pieces of truth with the lies.
    Charity shook her head, and he was shocked at the anger he saw in her eyes. "I'm sorry, but if he has the urge then he’s a vampire, and it's stupidity like that, that makes ferals."
    He tensed, annoyance flooding him at her tone. "Excuse me?"
    She raised her hands. "Look, I have nothing against responsible vampires, but the irresponsible ones need to all be locked away. It's the irresponsible ones who are careless when they bite people, and vampires don't even need to feed from people that much nowadays anyway."
    Kyle saw Jackie shaking her head and covering her eyes out of his peripheral vision. "And why would that be?" He asked.
    She held up her fingers, tapping them off. "For starters, this city has enough stores selling enough blood that vampires who live near it only need to buy it to quench their thirst, right?"
    He nodded, but only because he figured that if he disagreed with her there’d be Hell to pay.
    Jackie looked at her friend. "Charity, maybe you shouldn't be getting into this."
    "No, really, and secondly, even if some vampires prefer to drink from people, because it tastes better or whatever, they all know that if they leave their fangs in too long you can create another vampire. If that happens to someone like your brother who doesn't know what's going on and doesn't want to feed because he thinks it'll hurt people then, that creates more ferals. Ferals who feed to kill and need to be put down."
    Kyle couldn't believe what he was hearing. Is that what happened to those people he fought off in the alley? Someone turned them into vampires and in their confusion they didn't feed until they went crazy?
    Like a punch in the gut,