Page 24 of Chaos
“Do you have to wallop me when you do that? I almost ended up face first in this potion. It only takes one drop. It would have been catastrophic for me to end up with that much on my face.”
Right. Humans and supernaturals were just so breakable next to me. I thought I remembered just the right amount to touch people without breaking their entire body, but clearly, I was rusty. I didn’t want to hurt the cat. He meant a lot to Ripley, and I would admit enjoying having him around.
“I’m sorry, Felix. Sometimes, I forget my own strength. Do you need any help?”
“It’s done. I just need to bottle it up. Can you go let Ripley know it’s done and see if she needs any help?”
I could definitely do that. Things were going to get intense soon. I’d hardly started walking down the staircase to the first floor when I saw a vampire trying to rush me. To most people, they couldn’t be seen when they were using their enhanced speed, but I could easily see them as if they were a human out for a lazy jog.
This was the same vampire I left outside the library because he wasn’t tainted by demons. I knew he wasn’t up to no good, but I also knew my witch would have a thing about running in her library. I used my own unnatural speed to meet him on the second story and snatch him out the air by his neck. His fangs were out, and he looked totally shocked he was now dangling by my fist.
“No running in the library!” I barked.
He was gasping for air and clawing at my hand. Ripley finally caught up with us. She glared at both of us like I was the one in the wrong here. I was going to need to learn my witch’s triggers about what was and wasn’t acceptable in this library because I thought I had just done her a favor.
“Reyson, put him down, please. Balthazar, what the fuck was that?”
I set the vampire on his feet and glared at him. I allowed no one to upset my witch. The vampire gasped and rubbed his throat. He was looking at me instead of Ripley.
“What are you? I’veneversmelled blood like yours before, and I’m fighting the urge to kneel to you.”
“I’m the g—”
Ripley cut me off.
“Remember when I said I think you are a part of this, and I need your help? I asked you to hear me out, not run all over my library like a bat out of hell.”
I placed my hand on his forehead and scanned for all possibilities. Ripley was right. His future was tied to Ripley’s and mine. Now, I was glad I hadn’t thrown him down the stairs. Whatever all those demon touched people had been doing outside the library or why, out of all my family, they chose to bring me back, this vampire was a part of it somehow.
“He’s part of the possibilities now,” I said, releasing him.
“Someone had better start explaining, or I’m getting the fuck out of here. I’ll find another way to deal with my curse.”
“Long story short, some people involved with demons tricked me into doing some necromancy and restoring the primordial god Chaos back to his vessel. This is him, and he prefers to be called Reyson. Something big is coming, and I think the magic in the library is trying to tell me you’re meant to help.”
That was new. Ripley must have had a revelation when taking his blood for the library card.
“What makes you think a cursed vampire is going to be any help?”
“I know it sounds fucked up, but the library seldom gives anyone access to every section here. It was rare when it gave it to me and I’ve never seen it since in the entire five years I’ve been a librarian here. It started with a Hellhound and started getting more frequent after Reyson came back. Reyson can tell by touching you, but I really think the library is trying to tell me something by handing out all-access library cards.
“Think about it. You’re a vampire here to break a curse. Almost every other vampire would have been given access to the vampire and fiction sections, and I would have helped you break the curse. A lot of the books here are sentient, and so is the library itself. The library won’t approve you if you intend to use the contents here to cause harm. There are also other safeguards in place like restricting which sections people have access to in case you change your mind and get corrupted later.
“When you give your blood as the library card, the library knows if you are asking for something you shouldn’t. It’ll revoke your library card and remove you from the library. Itshouldhave done that with Hettie unless the library thought Reyson should be here. I ran her blood, and it said they cleared her for necromancy. I was pissed she tricked me, but now I think it was never a trick. Those people may have wanted Reyson for something, but it was never in the cards for them. Now, he’s on our side. He’s part of the team.”
I’d take that for now. I wasn’t just helping because I could see Ripley was my match. I had caused some wars in my time because we needed it to restore balance. This fight that was coming was unnatural. It wasn’t meant to happen. Many people thought I reveled in all forms of chaos no matter who caused it, but it wasn’t my purpose.
Sure, I totally loved causing it when it was needed, but it didn’t need to happen all the time. I didn’t just cause chaos. I punished the wicked who did it without my blessing.
Based on the number of people outside the library, many evil people needed to die.
Chapter 22
Ripley
M
y working theory that the library wanted Reyson here and was trying to help me by giving our all-access passes to certain people held true somehow because Reyson could just touch someone and confirm it. He was becoming pretty handy to have around, even if he could be a horrible library guest, and he annoyed Felix.
