A Shade of Halloween Book 1

Chapter Five

"Just a little sneak peek won't hurt anyone."

Selena was trying desperately to win the war between her curiosity and her rationality. Tough as it was, she wrote word after word until her paper was complete. With a satisfied grin on her face, she pushed the other texts aside and turned the cover of the "Selena Ryder" book open.

There was a drawing of a girl she believed to be the Selena Ryder from 1881 on the first page. Her hair was parted in the middle and fell past her shoulders just like hers. The drawing was a pencil sketch in black and white and there was no way of telling the true color of the girl's hair. The first thought that came to Selena's mind was why this Selena from 1881 had her hair parted in the middle just like her hair on most days. She dismissed the thought almost immediately because more than a half of the female population of the United States parted their hair in the middle – at least sometimes. Selena looked at the other facial features of the drawing but nothing else stood out to her. She couldn't tell the color of her eyes, skin, or anything else for that matter.

Selena turned the page over and began reading the text. It turned out to be relevant to her research assignment. The early twentieth century experienced a great belief in the supernatural, with Vampires, Werewolves, Witches and Warlocks taking center stage. She scribbled a few more paragraphs in my research paper, detailing the new pieces of information this book revealed.

The more pages she read, the more intrigued she was. There was something about this Selena girl that tugged at her curious side. One part of the text stood out her me more than the others I had read.

"Selena returned from her secret visit to the scholar at Markland. Unknown to her, the Serafino clan had attacked her home. Her best friend, Alexander Orwell had paid the price in her absence. A single s***h to his throat had been the defining blow. She knew it was only a cover. The Serafino clan of bloodsuckers had drained every ounce of blood he once had..."

The brisk movement of a shadow behind her caused Selena to make a startled jump. Her eyes caught sight of the window and she realized how dark it had gotten outside. Fear crawled slowly under her skin. She turned her neck sharply in all directions, scanning the area for anyone else who might still be in the library with her.

There was no one.