Salutations! Welcome to the first chapter of 'The Bookworm and the Beast' I hope you enjoy the story. I will hopefully be updating every two to three weeks as this semester is going to be very homework heavy so I won't be able to do my usual every week schedule. This story takes place in the same world as my story 'The Riddle of Love' but it is unnecessary to read that story to read this one.

Thank you for reading and as a blanket disclaimer: I don't own DC.

"No, no. I can't do it anymore. I've know what that thing is for and I won't finish it!"

"You have made a deal with the devil, no going back on it now."

"But—that thing! The whole city would be destroyed! I have friends and all the citizens I can't put them in that—"

"You seem to be forgetting, about your daughter…how is she these days? She has not seen you since you moved to Gotham. I am sure you would both love if I brought you together again."

"No! You leave her out of this! I'll do it! I'll do it! Just leave her alone!"

"Morning Mr. Baker!" Isabel said waving at the plump man who sold delicious cream filled donuts from his street stall outside his grocery store.

"Morning Isabel sure you won't have one?" He wafted a scrumscious smelling Bismarck towards her.

"Tempting but I'm on my diet, only one a week."

"Diet!" He exclaimed, "You're as thin as a rake!"

"An unhealthy diet is still unhealthy, Mr. Baker, I'll see you later!" Isabel waved goodbye. It was the same routine every morning, Mr. Baker just didn't see how she could be on a diet, but a life of fast food and sugary donuts just wasn't for her after seeing what the fattening food had done to her father's heart there was no way she was going down that path with her damning genetics. Mr. Baker would be surprised though to know that she actually wasn't that thin, she was just tall. At five foot nine and only 130 pounds it wasn't surprising she looked like a stick but was of a perfectly healthy size according to the BMI.

"Oi! Isabel!" Isabel turned towards the voice. Great it was him.

"What do you want Gus?" She asked as he ran over to her.

"Hey, where are you going?" He asked with a disgustingly cocky smile.

"Work. Same as every day."

"My girlfriend would never have to work so hard, I always provide for my little ladies." Gus stepped in front of her cutting off her path. "You know, you don't have to go to work today."

"Yes, I do Gus, why don't you go back to your girlfriends, I'm sure they're all missing you." Isabel side stepped him and tried to walk away but Gus caught her by the wrist.

"Ah, come on baby, I can give you the time of my life if you let me."

"Gus," Isabel sighed, "the only reason you want me is because I keep ignoring you. Now go away, I'd rather date the scarecrows in the fields." Gus dropped her hand with a snarl and stormed away. He'd be back though; they played this game every day.

That seemed to be Isabel's life, whether it was Mr. Baker tempting her with a Bismarck or Gus crudely flirting with her, her life was the same every day. Nothing exciting ever happened in the small town in the center of the American mid-west where she lived, let alone, to her. Nothing. It was just her and the books at the library.

The rest of Isabel's walk to the library, as it often was, was uneventful. She said hello to several more people and had a short conversation with Mrs. Flannery who was going all the way to Gotham City tomorrow to see her sister-in-law. It was half past nine when she walked up the steps of the old library and unlocked the doors. She locked the doors behind her because the library didn't open until ten. Isabel made her way into the mechanical room that double as her office and flicked on the building's lights.

Built in the early 1900's the library was old and with the modern inventions of laptops and Kindles the library hadn't had money for the renovations it sorely needed. They barely had any money for books, Isabel couldn't remember that last time she went book shopping for the library; it must have been last year, right after Mr. Donald had retired and left her in charge. If Gus really cared for her he'd give some money to the library for repairs and renovations.

Ever since he'd moved into back town two years ago he flirted with her nearly every day—if you could call his rude remarks flirting. He was the star quarter back during their high school years and had gone to play for Gotham State then on to some professional team where he sustained a knee injury that prevented him from playing again. Gus had returned and since then had enjoyed lording his professional football career, and all money, over them. He loved pretending to be a sportsman but he just liked to show off his gun and sword collection to the girls. For some reason though he just couldn't settle for the buxom blondes and chased after her.

Isabel shook her head ridding mind of the thoughts of that repulsive man. Dropping her bag and light jacket she made her way to the front desk and turned on the computer. It would take several minutes for the computer to warm up enough for her to log on so she set about collecting the books that had been dropped off over the night. There were only three books: one on flowers that Mrs. Flannery had borrowed, a Romance from Mrs. Baker, and the third "The Kingdom" novel returned by Davy Johnson, the only high-schooler to still borrow books that weren't for assignments. Isabel checked them back in, three returned out of nine.

She scoffed, only six now, six she remembered when she was in school and the library was always out of the good books. Well that was mainly because of her but still any summer entertainment that wasn't vandalism or under-age drinking for the children of the town was in the library. But oh, how do times change. Laptops, TVs, MP3 players, and even electronic books had made good old fashioned libraries near obsolete. No one appreciated the plethora of information libraries held anymore.

"A shame," She muttered leaving the desk to put the books back on their appropriate shelves. Isabel didn't need to look at the codes on the books to know where they went she knew this library like it was her home. It nearly was in fact. If home was quantified by the number of hours a person spent in a place then the library would be almost tied to her house. As a child, and even now as an adult, Isabel pretty much lived in the library. She would sit amongst the musty shelves her head stuck in a book every day after school and during the summer.

Before she went back to the desk Isabel picked out several books to read during that day. Her fingers trailed along the books as she passed them trying to find ones she hadn't read in a while. "Morality in the Industrial Age", "Neither Here nor There", and ah this was one of her favorites. She pulled down a well-worn book and added to the pile in her arms. It was a romance novel written like a fairytale, it even had a Prince and an evil wizard. When she had been younger she had always dreamed about being whisked away to a magical place by a handsome prince after he rescued her to keep her safe in his castle; but that was nearly half her lifetime ago. Time wears on and now at the ripe age of 34 Isabel had given up finding a prince, hell at the age of 34 she'd given up hope of finding a pauper that cared for her.

In all her years no man had ever been able to capture her attention like her books had. Perhaps it had been because she always had her head stuck in a book but she had never even noticed any men who tried to vie for her attention. Tallest in her class of 200 until 10th grade Isabel had always kept her head down as to not draw the stares of her classmates. Tall, thin, pale with inky black hair her Slavic heritage stood out against the Scandinavian of her town.

Isabel set the books down on the desk and logged on to the computer. A machine whirred and hissed as it processed the information. She didn't even know why she bother with the old computer anymore so few books were checked out she didn't need to use the computer's check-out system, the only thing she did use it for was playing games of solitaire and mine-sweep every so often.

It was nearing 10 o'clock now so Isabel unlocked the doors then sat back down and picked up her book. Two hours passed in complete silence allowing Isabel to get completely wrapped up in her book meaning that when the door to the library creaked open Isabel gasped in shock and nearly fell out of her chair.

"Oh. Sorry I didn't mean to scare you."

"No, no, it's okay; I just don't get a lot of people coming…" Isabel trailed off as she looked at the man. Isabel didn't know him. Isabel may keep her head down but in this small mid-western town everybody knew everybody. "Are you lost?"

"I do not think so. This is the Walberg Library, correct?"

"Yeah," Isabel looked the man over again. He was tall, thin, rather scruffy looking, and Isabel had no clue why an outsider would be at her library. "Can I help you with something?"

"Yes, I'm looking for a Mr. Warren?"

"Oh!" Isabel cried, bending over the calendar on her desk, "you're Mr. Irving." She stood and went around the desk holding out her hand. "I'm Isabel Warren. I'm sorry I forgot that today was today."

"Perfectly alright," Mr. Irving took her hand and shook it once.

"Shall we then," Isabel asked gesturing with her hand. Mr. Irving nodded and Isabel led him through the library. "When you showed interest in the books I took them off display and put them in the backroom." She opened the door and walked through turning on the light as she did. The first thing in the room was an ancient heater that had been broken for the past two years just another sign of the library's money troubles but with Mr. Irving here that would hopefully change.

"There we are," Isabel said pointing to the books piled neatly on top of a table by the holiday decorations. "A few of the bindings in the right pile were damaged but I mended them as best I could."

Mr. Irving picked up one of the books and ran his finger along the spine. "Well done," he said in a dry tone. He set down the old book and picked up another flipping gently through its pages. "And what are the conditions of the pages?"

"All mold free, a few books have dog-eared pages but there is no real damage to any of them."

"Excellent. I would like to look them over if you don't mind."

"Of course, of course, I'll just be back at the desk if you need me." Isabel left the door open behind her and as she made her way slowly back to the front of the library she crossed her fingers. It looked as though Mr. Irving was indeed interested in purchasing the first edition novels that had sat useless in preservation cases near the rear of the library untouched ever since she could remember.

Back at her desk Isabel looked at herself in the dark screen of the computer's standby mode. She dusted off her blue peasant skirt and adjusted her white blouse undoing the top couple of buttons as she had read in a psychology book that men were more likely to buy from a sexual appealing woman and read as well that showing skin was sexually appealing. Isabel quickly considered putting her up but decided to leave the long black locks streaming down her back. She pinched her cheeks and bit her lips bring colour to their paleness. There, now she was ready to make a deal.

Mr. Irving's footsteps could be heard walking along the worn carpeted aisles. Isabel leaned against her desk in what she conceived to be a flattering position. As Mr. Irving turned the corner he stopped at the sight of her and furrowed his eyebrows.

"Are you alright?" He asked looking over her odd position.

"Of course," Isabel stood up correctly slightly embarrassed. "What did you think about the books?"

"They are wonderful; you did an excellent job in repairing them. I'll take them all."

Isabel beamed. "Oh thank you Mr. Irving!"

"Please call me Stephen."

"Stephen, should we talk price then?"

"Of course," Mr. Irving—Stephen ran a hand through his slightly shaggy hair, "perhaps, since after twelve, we could grab lunch and talk?"

A real blush crossed Isabel's cheeks. "Sure, that sounds great. I'll just lock up then and…yeah."

Stephen's smile was slightly crooked and Isabel blushed even deeper. She nearly tripped while hurrying to the back office to grab her bag deciding to forgo her jacket as the late summer air had warmed up considerably. Isabel also grabbed her handmade sign that said 'Out to Lunch' in large yellow letters and in small parentheses underneath '(though I doubt anyone will read this)'. Smiling she rejoined Stephen by the desk.

"The diner down the street has a lovely lunch menu."

"Sounds excellent." As they left Isabel locked the doors and hung the sign on the nail haphazardly pounded in.

"'I doubt anyone will read this'?"

"Just a little joke, the library doesn't get many visitors outside of the school year. So I put up that on the sign to see if anyone would see and comment. It's been on there six years and no one has said anything." Stephen hmm-ed but didn't say anything.

The walk to the diner was quick and they were seated even quicker. The diner was the last family owned restaurant in town and like the library was sorely in need of renovations to update the 1980's equipment and 1970's décor.

"What can I get for you Ms. Warren and…"

"Stephen Irving," Isabel provided.

"Stephen," a large smile split across the waitress Carol's face. "Our specials this afternoon are the Half-way Home Burger and the Turkey Salad. Would you like a moment to decide?"

"Yes," Stephen said picking up the menu in front of him.

"Alrighty then," Carol said her grin becoming even wider. As she left she winked at Isabel and as she crossed the diner Isabel saw Carol take out her phone and start texting.

"What is the Half-way Home Burger?" Stephen asked her over the top of his menu.

"It's so good it will take you half-way home to Heaven." Isabel responded almost at once as she, and everyone else who ate at there, knew the restaurant's description by heart. "It's their specialty: a cheese burger with three different kinds of cheese, bacon, kosher pickles, onions, and secret sauce, which is really just a type of homemade ketchup."

"Kosher pickles and bacon on the same burger? That's not very, well, kosher." Stephen said with a smile.

"I know. It is really good though."

"It sounds like it will take you half way to Heaven by giving you a heart attack." Isabel smiled awkwardly and returned to looking at her menu. It took Stephen several more minutes to decide during which a group of Carol's friends had arrived and had taken the table across the diner from them, the one that had a perfect sight their own.

"Carol." Isabel said waving the waitress over from talking with her friends.

"Ready to order?"

"Yes, I'll have a Turkey Salad."

"And I'll have the Grilled Chicken Sandwich."

"And anything to drink?

"Just water." Isabel and Stephen said at the same time. Carol smirked and the group of teenage girls across the diner giggled.

"Okay coming right up."

"So what's up with her?" Stephen asked putting his menu back in it holder near the window.

"Well you know...small town, new face, recluse librarian having lunch with said new face. There's not much to do here so people gossip."

"I see so they believe that we are…" Stephen gestured between the two of them with his pointer finger.

"Most likely."

"You say there is not much to do here but I saw that your library was remarkably well stocked—"

"Haha!" Isabel laughed loudly and quickly covered her mouth to muffle the sound. "Sorry, but these girls going to the library outside of school!? You have to be kidding me."

"I'm sorry I didn't realize your library was in such dire straits."

Isabel stopped laughing. "Well that's why I'm selling the books, if I can use the money to get some new equipment, new books then maybe it can survive for another few years."

"And after that?"

"I'll think of something to keep it going for a few more years."

"You are very dedicated to that library."

"Well it was my whole childhood and it is my life now, I can't see my life without it."

"Perhaps we should start discussing prices then?"

"Naturally."

Isabel and Stephen began naming prices it was surprisingly easy to come to an agreement as Stephen kept naming figures that were much higher than Isabel expected. It seemed odd how comfortable Stephen was throwing out high numbers but then again he seemed like a man who valued the written word and perhaps her story of the struggle library had opened his heart and wallet. The negotiations were over and the check written before their food even arrived. With nothing much else to do they turned their conversation to what Isabel knew best: books.

"I've always thought Lovecraft was always a much better horror writer than King. Sure King has much more variety, and more books, but Lovecraft's turn of phrase and use imagery without ever giving us a clear image is much more thrilling." Isabel said taking a sip of her water.

"Agreed but do you know why?"

"Why?"

"Yes, why, why is Lovecraft with his half formed figures scarier than King?"

Isabel was quite for second. She never really thought about it, horror wasn't her preferred genre. "Because…because as Lovecraft said "the most powerful emotion man has is fear and the fear of the unknown is the most powerful fear of all". Lovecraft's oddly shaped demented creatures, unseen wraiths, and impossible to conquer scenarios leave readers with their deepest held fear and a feeling of hopelessness."

Stephen smiled and took a large bite of his salad. "Very good, very, very good."

"The salad or my answer?"

Stephen smirked he looked pleased but somehow the pleasure never reached his ice blue eyes. "Both."

"Well that's excellent to hear," Carol said popping out of nowhere. "So, Stephen, Ms. Warren can I interest you in any desert? We have a lovely chocolate cake serves two…"

"I'm fine," Stephen said, "Isabel?"

"I'm good too."

"Alrighty I'll just bring the bill then."

"Thank you, Carol." When Carol returned with the receipt instead of placing it down on the table she handed it to Stephen. He looked at it with a slightly raised eyebrow. Isabel tut-ed and snatched bill from Carol's hand.

"As much as you love gossip, do not make assumptions," she said dismissively reaching for her wallet.

"And for the conversation, my treat." Stephen said taking the bill from Isabel.

"Now see here Mr. Irving just because my library is in trouble doesn't mean I need help paying my way in the world."

"Can't a man pay for the lunch of a beautiful woman?" Isabel could feel her face flame red and Carol squealed. Taking advantage of Isabel's flustered state he whipped out his card and hand the bill and the plastic to Carol who scampered away with it grinning.

Unable to get her burning face under control Isabel stood quickly. "Excuse me." She muttered and ran into the bathroom. Once inside Isabel splashed cold water on her face.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid." She scolded as she rubbed her cheeks vigorously. "You'll never see him again, Isabel, get a grip. He's just being nice." Isabel sighed and dried her face. The redness had gone down as she was ready to face Ste—Mr. Irving again. As she opened the bathroom door she heard a soft "oh" and the scurrying of feet. Isabel rolled her eyes when she saw Carol cleaning the table next to the bathroom far too haphazardly.

She made her way back to the table but Mr. Irving wasn't there. "Where did Mr. Irving go?" Isabel asked the girls who had been watching them.

"He just stepped outside to make a call." One said.

"Thank you." Isabel gathered her purse from the table and stepped outside looking for Mr. Irving.