There was a small bookshop that was placed between a gadget store and a clothing store. Actually, the bookshop was there before the gadget or the clothing store, but nobody really paid any mind until there were more localized businesses in the area. Rumors spread around that this bookshop was terrifying. Mysterious things happened there, people vanished, books flew off of shelves at random, and some people even say that book characters will come to life. Though, that only kept a few people away, there were still customers that came in daily. College students found the bookstore great for cheap textbooks, and others took advantage of being able to order any books that weren’t held at the shop for a cheap price.

The bookstore wasn’t all that big, and it was actually quite cramped when walking through the bookshelves. There was only a wide enough space in between the shelves to allow one person to slip through. The portion that wasn’t so cramped was the area next to the large window that allowed anyone to peek inside the bookstore. The window also had the name of the bookshop, ‘Black’s Books’ written on it in golden letters. There was a table placed in front of the window that displayed the new books that had just come in, along with a few signs for sales that were going on within the shop. Next to the table were two very comfortable chairs where people could sit and enjoy a book for a while, if they could handle the atmosphere of the shop.

The owner of the bookstore, Benjamin Black, wasn’t exactly a normal person. As far as everyone that walked into the shop was concerned, he was actually quite odd. The man didn’t seem to make friends with anyone and almost seemed to discourage people from walking into the bookstore in the first place. The tall, lanky man sat behind the counter everyday from open to close. The only time he moved was to kick out people who were being too noisy or to organize the bookshelves and clean up the shop a bit. Otherwise, the man was behind the counter reading his books, only getting up when it was closing time to lock the doors, turn the lights off, and head up the stairs behind the counter that lead to a two bedroom apartment ant Benjamin had all to himself.

Benjamin wasn't much of a happy person, actually he had a habit of glaring at almost everyone at least once during the day. He was doing just that. In front of his face was one of the books from the shop that he was in the middle of reading, but his sharp, green eyes weren't even on the page anymore. Instead, his eyes were on a customer that was wandering around the shop. It wasn't like the customer was actually doing anything to deserve to be glared at, nor did the customer even notice that they had attracted some unwanted attention. It wasn't like Benjamin even meant to be glaring at the customer, the man was just there to buy a book that he obviously wanted to find all on his own. It was more like Benjamin just had this tendency to glare at people when he was in deep thought.

"Sir?" A young voice came from behind the book.

Benjamin quickly came back to the real world and looked back at his book. He sat the book down and was met with a young child placing a picture book on the counter. Benjamin looked around for the parent for this child and noticed one trailing behind, not paying much attention to the child up front. "Sir, can I buy this book?" The young girl asked. The store owner looked at the small picture book and then glanced at the back of the book for the price. He wasn't really sure this child even had money on her, but he didn't really care if she did or not. it wasn't an expensive book and it wasn't like he couldn't just pay for the book himself. He did get enough money coming in from the college text books he sold cheap, and from his regular customers that came in every week to see if there's anything good to read.

"Here, why don't you just take it?" Benjamin slid the book back to the young girl, "But, only this one. All the others you have to pay for." The young girl grinned and nodded as she skipped back over to her mother with her new book. Explaining how she didn't have to pay for it at all. The store owner ran a hand through his shaggy black hair that was probably just getting a bit too long as it was starting to get into his eyes. He looked around the small quiet shop, seeing if there was anything wrong with the place. Most of the space was taken up by shelves that had such a particular organization to it so everyone could find what they were looking for rather easily. Benjamin hated it when someone messed with his organization, for many reasons but his main reason was finding the books easily himself.

Books ... more books ... and, what do you know, more books. It smells like nothing but dust and paper in here ... While browsing through the narrow, winding path of book aisles , Levi considered how he had gotten to this point in his life. After years of college, police academy, and three full years being surrounded by the over-inflated egos of law enforcement officers, he was finally promoted to detective. As a half-joke, half-punishment, his first case just happened to be locating a missing detective.

The 'boys' thought Levi to be a joke since the moment he stepped through the double doors to the academy. His lithe frame, sleek rectangular specticles, and loosely gelled hair to tame the wild curls apparently gave off a wave of 'geek' - it was almost like middle and high school all over again, only this time full of nothing but jocks. The surprise at not having his head shoved down a toilet astonished him at first. A few months after starting the academy, his classmates quickly picked up on his intelligence - and the use thereof - but were blow away by his athletic ability. To their surprise, he had been on cross country. His slender frame was well-toned hidden under the slacks and button-up.

Once outside of the academy, having actually made a friend or two, he was mostly set to computer work - when sent to a scene, they sat him down in front of the computer to go through. The muscle work was left up to the beefier guys. If they'd had sense, he might have been attracted to some of them. Alas, He ran his finger along a spine as that thought came into his mind. Honestly, he felt like he couldn't be himself around them anyway - aside from being interested in males, he also was a bit more cheerful, but not some much on the flamboyant side. So, to keep himself from being discovered, he was more reserved than natural.

Being undercover though, I get to be myself, He smiled as he pulled a random book from the shelf. Travel Ireland the title simply said. Feigning interest, he flipped absently and scanned pages of emerald coastlines and long, rolling hills. He closed the book easily and slid it back into its crammed space gently. After turning to view the shelf directly behind him, then he meandered on down further.

Really, he'd liked books. Stereotypically, as well. He felt at peace as he browsed though the tightly spaced store. That's another thing that separated him from his fellows, and possibly how he ended up here - aside from the bizarre reports about the place. As the light trickled in through the spaces between the shelves in the center, dust dancing all around as it did where books lived, he thought the place quaint. Much more comforting than the large chain stores that were filled with pretentious coffee drinkers. Of course, Levi himself enjoyed coffee, but ... there was another type of bookstore go-ers. A glance at the owner through the shelves as he had pushed the book towards the child made him wonder if he was one of those. In truth, he'd much rather be around that type of pretentious than the ego-mania of his usual surroundings.

As the child tottered off towards her mother, Levi made his way towards the front. Pausing here and there to glance at a title that caught his attention. Once he'd reached the front, he placed one of those books on the counter, not entirely paying attention to which one he'd grabbed. He glanced at it as he slid it forward, seeing the title as The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks. A chick book, he knew, thanks to his sister. Inwardly, he grimaced, but he put on a pleasant smile as he spoke to the man behind the counter. "Good afternoon."

Benjamin was just about to go back to his book when the next customer walked forward and sat the book down. "Afternoon," He replied to the man as he placed his book down once again. Gladly, there weren't that many people around today, and after this customer was on his way he could go back to his own reading. Though there was quiet a bit more he needed to worry about than just the customers interrupting his reading time. He had to worry about the fact that in a matter of moments the people in this shop could all be in complete danger and none of them knew that. He had to stay alert no matter what time of day it was and getting distracted by the customers that walked in was something that he wasn't so happy about. Not to mention, he didn't exactly like having to interact with so many people in a day. If he had been allowed to do what he had previously planned to do, there wouldn't even be a bookstore around. He didn't have a choice though, the landlord had specifically asked for someone to take control of the shop and keep it running. If there weren't the strange happenings that were going on with this shop, Benjamin wouldn't even be around it.

The store owner took the book and flipped to the back of it to see the price. "It's seven dollars," Benjamin muttered as he pressed in the amount on the cash register. "Will that be cash or credit?"

The impartial, dry manner of the clerk as he simply went through the motions of his job did not seem that out of the ordinary, Levi thought as he reached for his own wallet. "Cash," He answered as he flipped the leather case open and flicked through the bills slowly, purposefully. The hard part was to come up with a way to not seem suspicious while getting information. From his lack of desire to leave the chair and attempt friendly banter with his customer, this type of guy didn't seem like one to give much information on his own, so perhaps some idle non-local customer curiosity would work. Without making eye contact, studying his bills, he asked, "Does your store get much business? It seems slow."

"It depends on the time of year," Benjamin muttered. "This is normal." He wasn't going to go into detail about what times the store was busy and during what time it wasn't. The store regularly had a few customers come around each day, some people would take this as a place to come after school to sit around quietly and read or do their homework before heading home. The store got particularly busy when the semesters for the college students were starting and ending, and during the winter the shop was a little more busy. Benjamin would even sell hot chocolate to the customers that were staying in the bookstore to read in the quiet bookstore. Benjamin had kept track of when things were going to get busy, so he could stay stocked on the books that needed to be ordered. He even made sure that he kept track of movies based off of books, and made sure that he had more of that particular book in stock when the movie got a lot of attention. He did try to make the customers that did come in satisfied, or at least get the book that they are looking for.

As the gentleman answered, Levi finally pulled out a twenty. He had exact change, but he needed a reason to linger. The answer he'd received didn't give him a lot to go on, so he had to think quickly. An idea struck him quickly as he recalled little things about the store - the tight space, stubborn dust, customer relations, and fact that the owner never left that chair the entire time Levi had been in the store. Changing tactics, he shuffled a bit as he handed over the cash. "Well, I was asking because I think it might help you to have an assistant. To deal with little annoying tasks, I mean." He perked up, adding quickly with a smile. "And I'm actually looking for a job at the moment."

Benjamin took the twenty, and pressed the button the register that opened up the drawer. He started grabbing the change, mouthing the numbers as he counted it out, to make sure that the register was correct with how much money was owed. Though, it wasn't too hard to do the math for something this simple, he still double checked the math out of habit. He handed over the money, and for the first time making eye contact with the customer, "No, thank you. I don't have the money to hire an assistant nor am I interested in hiring one." He pushed the book on the counter back towards the customer and then grabbed his own book and went back to reading his own book. He couldn't afford another person to be walking around the place, for more reasons than just not having the money to pay them. He wasn't going to risk someone getting themselves hurt because of the bookstore's habit of summoning weird creatures that could easily harm anyone in sight. He also was quite sure that he wasn't supposed to be showing people that he was a magician, though he wasn't quite sure about the rules with that. The council never really explained all the rules to him before sticking him in this job.

As the book was slid across the counter, Levi looked down at it and blinked. The dismissal was not surprising, nor how quickly the man turned back to his previous activity without missing a beat. Determination at the fact that he had to do well on his first case made him reconsider his approach. He placed a palm on his newly purchased book as he simultaneously pushed his glasses upward onto the bridge of his nose. This man before him did not seem to like interacting with customers, which is something Levi could use to his advantage. He turned, his hand still atop his book, and glanced around to see if there were any customers lingering, showing signs of that desperate attempt to ask for help without actually asking. Luck was on he side as he spotted a woman in a polka dot dress with matching pink cardigan, one hand fidgeting with a thin silver chain about her neck and the other crossed at her middle to rest on her hip. Her idly wandering eye caught his and she smiled, Bingo. He let his hand slide off of the book as he approached her, leaving it sitting on the desk. The clerk probably wouldn't even notice. "Hello there," Levi said pleasantly. "Can I help you find anything in particular?" The woman's relief washed over her face as her hand fell from her chain, "Yes, thank you. This store is so cluttered, it's a little overwhelming. Not that it's a bad thing! I actually like being surrounded by books. But it makes it hard to find the right one when there are so many choices." Levi chuckled at her immediate need to defend her words, a person that wanted to please all does that without thinking in those light, friendly but nervous tones. "I understand exactly what you need. How can I help?" The two chattered about books, the friend she was buying a books for, the type of things that particular friend liked to read, and he guided her around to the areas which he'd been perusing earlier while he thought of a way to approach the clerk. "Ah ha! This is perfect. She'll love it. Thank you ever so much - I couldn't have done it without you," She finally said as she clutched the book she'd finally decided on after serious debate to her chest. "I'm glad the owner finally got good help in here. I spent hours last time I came, and I don't think I settled on anything. Anywho, I'll go pay for this. Thanks again!" As she turned to go upon his nod and smile, he followed behind her at a distance. If what she said was true, and she had spent hours here last time and left without buying anything, then perhaps this less than fifteen minute selection would show the store owner that he was useful. Perhaps he would sway a little, since he didn't seem to enjoy the customers as typical of one who runs a business. Not entirely confident in the change of mind, Levi wanted to be ready to jump in with more evidence of his skill if need be - he was already going to suggest an apprenticeship, which implied room and board as the form of payment.

Benjamin did not even notice that the man had never left the store and instead decided to stay to prove his worth. The man was already engulfed in the book that he had been reading before customers even started to come around. He didn't really notice anything going on around him when he was reading anyway. He used books as his way to stop himself from constantly worrying about things going terribly wrong and everyone in this bookstore at the moment being killed by some unknown monster roaming around. The only things that could actually get him to stop reading was when there was a customer close to him and he could feel their presence or when he could feel the presence of another being that was not welcome. The presence of unwelcomed beings gave off quite a stronger aura than normal humans, considering the beings were usually magically summoned by something. He could easily just keep tabs on everything he needed without having to worry about it, but it still made the man worry even more about things. Everything could easily go wrong at any moment, with someone simply discovering that magic exists or Benjamin not stepping into action quick enough leaving someone to get attacked by some beast. These were the things that made Benjamin go on edge and when he continued to think about them, he would just be in a worse mood to his customers than he already was.

The owner took notice of the girl coming up ready to buy a book. He sat his book down and went about the usual of checking the back for the price and telling her how much it costs before plugging the price into the cash register. As he did so, he saw the man behind that should have left a while ago. The store owner glared at the man before looking back down at the register and accepting the cast of the lady and handing back the change. As soon as the customer was gone, Benjamin stood from his chair, "What are you still doing here? I told you I'm not interested in hiring."