The Second History Lesson.

"Dark was coming in early already, and with it arrived a gloomy slanting rain. i find this the most appealing kind of autumn evening, not the most dismal, so i felt only a faint shiver of premonition when my hands, searching for ten minutes reading fell casually on the antique volume i had been avoiding. i had left it tucked among less disturbing items on my desk. i sat down there and opened the book. immediately i became aware of something very strange. a smell rose from its pages that was not merely the delicate scent of aging paper and cracked velum. it was a wreak of decay. a terrible sickening odor. a smell of old meat or corrupted flesh. the little volume seemed alive in my hands, yet it smelled of death."

this passage helps characterize Professor Rossi. it shows that he is not a fearful man, but calm and collected for the most part. the book is a symbol for Dracula and the undead. the scent of decay that is described is the same stench that i would think she come from the undead because they are hundreds of years old, far past simply slight decay.
My questions are...
How could this book smell of decay?
why was he not more scared?
why did he try to hide the book?
what does he mean by "seemed alive"?
something bad is about to happen, isn't it?