Page 4 of Chaos
“Are you going to have a librarian meltdown, Ripley?”Felix asked.
“Do you see this shit? I could forgive not putting them back since Dorian has been here everyday reading, but defiling the book by folding the page to mark his place? What kind of savage does that?”
“Can you ban him over that?”
“Only if his name wasn’t Dorian Gray. Half the board is female, and Silvaria loves that book about him. Clearly, he didn’t fuck any of them, or they wouldn’t still be kissing his ass.”
“Some people wouldn’t know good sex if it had a nine-inch cock that vibrated. It’s like they haven’t experienced it with someone who knows what they are doing. That witch who helped make him immortal went back for seconds, and I just feel sorry for her if it’s as bad as you constantly complain about.”
“What do you know about good sex? You’re a cat, and your penis has barbs on it.”
“I haven’t always been a cat, Ripley. I had a perfectly nice penis I knew how to use before I died and was reborn as your familiar.”
Well, that answered the question about his British accent. Totally real and totally hot. I was glad Felix appeared to me because I didn’t just like hearing him speak. He was pretty fucking amazing and snarky as fuck.
“I hope your life isn’t shitty being attached to me.”
“You keep things interesting, even if you have horrible taste in men. Look at you. One man you fucked and the other you wanted to fuck made a mess in this basement and assaulted your books.”
“But Ididn’tgo there with Bram.”
“Hush, Ripley. We both know you would have if you hadn’t come down here and seen this.”
Felix was right. He knew me better than I knew myself. Bram was sexy as fuck, and I eventually would have given in. Until I saw him misbehave in my library. That was an instant turn off. I officially wasn’t fucking Bram for good this time.
“Why do you think they are both interested in primordial gods?”
“I think Bram is interested because Dorian is. Dorian’s payment to the demon has to be coming due soon. He may have gotten a witch to do all the work for him, but I doubt she agreed to pay the price.”
I started smoothing out all the dog ears and putting bookmarks on the pages.
“It would get Dorian out of the library, but I really don’t want a Hellhound collecting payment for a demon here. It’ll be noisy and make a mess.”
“You’re a ruthless bitch who is super anal about your librarian duties.”
“You know how hard I worked to get this job. My parents are so proud I ended up here, and Ravyn ended up at the Museum. If we were triplets and one of us ended up teaching at the Academy, we’d be dominating the Profane world.”
“You’re also not the humblest person on the planet.”
“Hey! Ravyn and I were tied at graduating from the top of our class at the Academy of the Profane and look at where we are working now. We’ve earned some bragging rights.”
“Go to bed, Ripley. We aren’t going to figure this out tonight. Give me more time to watch them. Maybe Bram has already taken care of Dorian, and they will both be out of your hair tomorrow.”
No. Bram couldn’t do anything to Dorian without his painting. And he hadn’t tried to ask me to look at it yet. Children weren’t allowed in the Library of the Profane for a reason. I did not need some fucked up adult games going on here.
Chapter 4
Ripley
D
orian and Bram disappeared from my library after that night. I didn’t know if Bram got his payment without Dorian’s painting, but I wasn’t questioning it. I highly doubted Dorian was gone. I went into the vault his painting was in, and there he was. All the ugliness of the years he had lived were still there in the paint. I only knew the basics of the deal he made, and they fictionalized most of the book about him, but I knew if Bram were here for Dorian, he would have destroyed the painting.
I was starting to think it was just a crazy conspiracy theory that Bram was here for Dorian. Dorian was a hedonist. He probably had it in his head he wanted to look at gods and got bored. For all I knew, he was in another country, partying it up. I didn’t take Bram for a Dorian Gray fanboy, but I also didn’t know the first thing about Hellhounds.
My life went back to normal. My library went back to its regularly scheduled program. I helped a vampire clan look up laws to settle a territorial dispute that involved digging up some ancient maps. Some werewolves came in looking for a cure to aconite poisoning. That was common, and I knew where the books for that were.
I approved and denied several new members. My regulars came in like they always did. It had been several months, and I hadn’t seen hide nor hair of Dorian or Bram. Honestly, I was a little grateful.
