Page 20 of Anarchy
“I don’t think demons run two for one specials, Felix. It was either magical powers and a brief life or immortality and a longer amount of time to figure out how to screw Hell out of the deal. Of course, we already know Dorian is good at manipulating supernaturals.”
“He’s still a vain plonker who is shitty in bed, and I hope all of you rough him up when you go grab him.”
“We will,” Reyson said, joining us on the sectional.
It was pretty early in the morning, and everyone would wake soon. Unfortunately, Dorian hadn’t gone to bed yet. He was still talking to his henchmen.
“If those men don’t leave, you might have to fight off some demon touched bodyguards,” Felix said.
“That’s expected and child’s play for me. So just stay behind me until I get rid of them.”
That was so fucking sexy. I was a scrappy little bastard who could handle myself in a fight just fine, but I’d happily hide behind the big sexy god and let him protect me from evil things. I didn’t always get to play the damsel in distress, but I always wanted to.
After that, I’d really like to break Dorian Gray’s nose.
15
Gabriel
Icouldn’t do a damned thing about what people thought about my family, but I could bring some karma down on Dorian Gray. We still didn’t have a demon to hand him off to once we grabbed him, but that gave me a little time alone with him to let him know how much I didn’t like him.
Felix and Balthazar stayed up all night watching the camera. They honestly could have slept. Nothing really happened until the rest of us woke up, and now they were both hopped up on caffeine. Felix was just a little jumpy, and we were leaving him here with Ripley. Balthazar was about to douse himself in glitter, sprout wings, and fly out of here. We really didn’t need a jumpy vampire on our team.
I realized I had made an error in my judgment. Balthazar had done this kind of thing before, and he wasn’t remotely impaired. He was still paying attention to the cameras when we weren’t and getting ready to leave.
“Possible problem, my dudes. They all just disappeared into Dorian’s bedroom closet. That can only be a closet door. We all know Dorian is shit in bed, but he has a reputation with the ladies. Dorian Gray is not even remotely in the closet with other men. This is bad, right?”
“If Dorian Gray is making sex tapes and hiding relics on his ceiling fan, he’s probably keeping the shit he doesn’t want people to see in his walk-in closet,” Ripley said. “If one of those men asked for the ability to portal from a demon, they wouldn’t go in the closet to do it. Everyone from the party is gone. He doesn’t know we are watching his cameras. I’m sure he’s aware he’s got an agent tailing him now. He thinks he’s safe in his penthouse.”
“Well, they aren’t coming out, so they are probably up to something nasty,” Balthazar said.
“It’s time to go,” Reyson said. “Grab onto me and stay behind me until I can deal with the fiends in the closet.”
Witches and warlocks had been trying to figure out how to create magical doors to step anywhere in the world. No one had ever managed it. So I thought it was pretty damned cool I would get to experience it with Reyson until I actually did it.
I didn’t remember being in the Aether in a previous life like Reyson and Felix, but I think we briefly went there. My body went freezing cold, and blackness and a million stars surrounded me. It was over instantly, and I was in Dorian’s bedroom, but I needed five minutes to get my bearings. Fucking Balthazar wasn’t even fazed. He was bouncing behind Reyson, ready to get this show on the road.
Reyson stalked over to the closet and kicked the door in. The walk-in closet was massive… and empty. So, where the fuck did they go? Balthazar stomped into the closet and looked around.
“That’s not possible. I was watching the camera feed the entire time. They never came out!”
Reyson kicked a costume dummy with a tacky jeweled tuxedo hanging from it so hard across the closet, it shattered a wall-to-ceiling mirror in the back that took up the entire wall. Lilith bless Reyson and his little god tantrums because there was our answer. There was a hidden door behind the mirror.
Dorian had certainly done his homework protecting that door. It was made of thick steel and had a fingerprint scanner to open it. He’d tried to ward against every supernatural creature in existence, and some of this shit didn’t even work.
The aconite would cause a rash to a shifter but wouldn’t be fatal unless it was ingested. It wouldn’t keep an ambitious shifter out. I was sure the demons had ways to get around the sigils. The protection sigil and salt on the ground in front of the door wouldn’t keep an angry spirit out. They could make a draft stronger and disturb the salt. A powerful witch or warlock could burn the sigils off meant for us.
“Garlic?” Balthazar shrieked. “He knows about the supernatural enough to get them to do his bidding, and he thinks hanging garlic from the door is going to keep a vampire out? I’m offended on behalf of all vampires. When we eat food instead of blood, we wantallthe flavors. I don’t know a single vampire that doesn’t triple the garlic in any recipe they cook. I ate a whole jar of garlic stuffed olives once without even realizing it until it was empty. I should bite him and make it hurt.”
I wasn’t even a vampire, and I was a little offended by the garlic. That had never been a thing and was a subject of mockery that humans even thought it worked. Vampires were decadent creatures by nature. Every single one I had ever met was just as particular about their regular food as they were the blood they drank. But we didn’t really have time to get offended by the fact that Dorian Gray was an idiot.
I waved my hand and burnt everything off the door, including the garlic.
“Don’t think about the evil garlic. We need to be figuring out how to get through that door. It’s not going to unlock without Dorian’s fingerprint, and I doubt all the sigils are the only protection on the door. Blood locks aren’t the only security systems witches offer. If youreallywant to make sure someone doesn’t steal your shit, you can get a safe made with enchanted steel and the blood lock. They made the vaults in the bank where they arrested everyone with it, and I’m guessing this door is too.”
“Enough of this nonsense. Every time I run the possibilities when I have us splitting up, it gives me a bad feeling. I need to get back to my witch, and an enchanted door isn’t going to stop me.”
I expected Reyson to try kicking it or punching the damned thing. If anyone was going to be able to get through thick, enchanted steel, it was going to be a god. Instead, Reyson just hollered at it. He roared at the damned door so hard, all Dorian’s clothes fell on the floor, and I think my brain rattled around in my skull a bit.
