Page 63 of Anarchy
Reyson tore Dorian’s necklace off and stalked over to me like a cat. Then, he fell to one knee and presented it to me like some knight.
“This man hurt you, my witch. He assaulted your library with noxious gasses and had a witch corrupt the spirits. You deserve your vengeance. You should be the one to destroy the portrait.”
How did he manage to just be so fucking perfect? He could have easily destroyed Dorian, and I would have happily watched, but he acknowledged that even though he was a god and I was a witch, I needed this too.
“Wait a minute,” Ravyn said, snatching the necklace out of my hands. “Dorian likes to use witches. If this necklace is the only thing keeping him young and pretty, it’s probably cursed up the ass.”
Good thinking. I wouldn’t put it past this fucker. Ravyn and I went out of town for spring break at the academy and ended up somewhere with flying attack cockroaches. You couldn’t just throw a shoe at them like civilized cockroaches. Even flinging magic at them didn’t kill them, then you had to pay for the damage to the wall. They’d fly at your face trying to attack you with roach cooties and get stuck in your hair until you could get them for good. Dorian was a flying cockroach, and I was never going back to Florida.
I was good at breaking curses, but I wasn’t at the same level as my twin sister. We both knew our limits and looked to the other if one of us was stronger at something than the other.
“Do we need wonder twin powers to break them?” I asked.
“I could break them, but honestly, I’ve heard so much about the two of you and your abilities. I’d love to see you in action,” Lilith said.
Ravyn just puffed up. We were both humble when we needed to be, but we weren’t above showing off at what we were good at. My twin nearly lost her shit when Professor Krauss singled her out for independent study, and she worked her ass off to learn everything she knew. Our creator just complimented her andaskedher to show off, so she would be over the top with his.
Ravyn held the locket in her hands and let her magic seep into it. I was guessing whatever curses were placed on it were only activated if we opened it since Dorian wore it around his neck. Ravyn was good at this. I’d seen her do it countless times, and it always impressed me. Killian peered over her shoulder. Their magic was just as in tune as mine and Felix’s was.
“He certainly found a witch who was thorough and had knowledge of a lot of forbidden killing curses,” Killian said.
Reyson walked over and punched Dorian in the face.
“That wouldn’t have killed me, but you said nothing when I handed it to my witch. That was foolish.”
Reyson waved his hand. Suddenly, Dorian was completely clean and no longer a little stinky. He was dressed to the nines and looked like he usually did in his selfies. Reyson had also conjured a big ass mirror right in front of him.
“I made you beautiful again. Ravyn is perfectly capable of disabling those curses, and then my witch will destroy your painting. So you can sit and watch yourself age while you think about what you did.”
Dorian started thrashing and shrieking again. Dorian was a creature I just didn’t understand. He wasn’t scared of dying. He was still begging for someone just to kill him. The idea of sitting there and watching himself grow old scared him more than that. I was cute. Everyone usually told me that. I had a whole magical skincare routine to make sure I stayed cute as long as possible. I also knew damned well there was beauty in wrinkles and gray hair too.
Ravyn waved her hand and sealed Dorian’s lips shut. He turned purple as he continued trying to make that awful shrieking noise.
“He’s such a fuckingwhiner.I can’t think with him doing that. If he acted like that and asked me to curse some stupid locket, I’d curse him instead. So anyway, we’re going to have to wonder twin this shit because it’s overkill on this thing.”
I grabbed Ravyn’s hand so she could share my magic. I felt my magic swell as it joined with hers. I could have easily kept holding my twin sister’s hand and made a mess of Dorian Gray once the locket was destroyed, but that was exactly what he wanted. I liked Reyson and Talvath’s idea better. I was still pissed about being gassed and put in a cage.
Ravyn and I were Gemini twins, so we were uber effective and powerful when we combined our magic. Ravyn was right that whoever cursed the locket putwaytoo many killing curses on it because when we destroyed the curses, the locket was done. It sprung open, and the painting inside caught fire. Ravyn dropped it when the metal started melting.
“Andthatis how you break curses, bitches,” Ravyn said, bumping me in the chest.
Okay, that was a little bit of overkill, and she didn’t need to assault my boobs to make her point. Lilith clapped her hands in glee.
“I do love my witches, but we still need to take care of Akul. I don’t want him in my house any longer than needed. We don’t have time to sit here and watch Dorian slowly age. Since they made the locket with magic that came from me, I’m going to speed up the process a bit.”
Felix jumped behind Dorian and grabbed his head when he attempted to look away from the mirror. I knew Reyson was mad. We all were, but I knew exactly what Felix was feeling. He was with me when I was taken. Even if he hadn’t gone outside to scout, he would have been just as helpless as I was when the gas hit.
Dorian needed me alive, but he understood friendship about as much as he knew how to locate the clitoris. He would have had Felix killed after the gas hit because he just couldn’t understand that even though Reyson and Felix didn’t have a sexual relationship, Reyson still cared about him just as much as he did me. His vengeance would have been just as severe if Felix had been killed.
Felix blamed himself for me getting taken, but he couldn’t have stopped it. I was still pretty pissed about it, but I was certain it wassupposedto happen this way. I was supposed to be brought to Hell against my will because it would mean my people came too. Reyson could fix their sun, Balthazar was an impartial hacker Lilith could trust, and Lucifer and Gabriel needed to meet. This was all needed to free the Hellhounds.
Felix had a death grip on Dorian’s head so that he couldn’t look away. When he realized Dorian was trying to clamp his eyes shut, he pried them open with his fingers. Dorian Gray was getting older right before our eyes and having this whole existential crisis about it. Ravyn hadn’t unglued his mouth, but it was plastered all over his tear-stained face.
Even if I couldn’t hear him, he was being a whiny little bitch. How long did he have to prepare for this? He went out of his way to make a deal with a demon. Dorian Gray thought he was this special little snowflake who would do what literally countless people had tried and failed at. I’m not sure how he thought he would get out of his deal when his superpower was being forever pretty.
Dorian looked to be about ninety years old now, and he wasn’t handling life well. He’d probably be dying of old age soon, but Reyson wouldn’t let him slip off quietly. He flung his hand out, and Dorian’s entire body went rigid on the chair. Don’t ask me what kind of magic that was, but I could literallyseeDorian’s skeleton glowing underneath his skin.
Felix took a big step back, but he didn’t move in time. Dorian Gray exploded in what looked like a massive cloud of pink glitter. Felix was coated in it. Reyson did that on purpose. He totally did. He smirked at Balthazar and held out his fist for a bump. Balthazar snorted with laughter and bumped it back.
