Page 21 of Anarchy
It was worthy of a banshee shriek when they were using it as a weapon. Even a banshee wouldn’t have done a thing to that door using their voice, even though they could kill with it.
Holy fuck. The door disintegrated into steel shavings because Reyson was mad at it. Remind me never to piss him off. He didn’t flex his god chops often. Sometimes, it was easy to forget he helped create the universe.
When Reyson wasn’t conjuring modern junk food or things to impress Ripley, he was fuckingterrifying.
Balthazar was the king of not being able to read the room. He let out a little shriek and smacked Reyson on the ass. He seemed to do that a lot now that he had Reyson’s permission.
“That was sexy as fuck. Let’s go snatch the human who thinks fuckinggarlicwill stop a vampire and get back to the library. I dislike bad vibes that have any of us in danger.”
If I had done that to Reyson, he probably would have done me like he did that door. Balthazar just had this way of being completely inappropriate. Ripley and Reyson ate it up, and I would admit to being amused at his boldness. Reyson was furious, and I certainly wouldn’t have gone there with him at this moment.
Reyson just grunted.
“Get behind me. This ends now.”
16
Ripley
Ibelieved Reyson when he said something bad would happen if we split, but I thought I’d be safe in the library with Felix. We both knew how to fight, and the Library of the Profane had its own magical security system. I knew some of the spirits were corrupt, but there was still plenty on our side.
Even without Reyson barging in with possibilities and telling me I needed to claim them, I would have noticed the library giving out that many all-access library cards in that short amount of time. Every one of them had different skills that came in handy for the battles we won so far.
If a fucking god said not to split the dream team up, you should always listen. But, unfortunately, we kind of didn’t have a choice with my job, and it shouldn’t really take long for the guys to kill the men in Dorian’s closet and zap him back here.
Except something wasn’t right. Every day, when I opened the library, regulars were waiting to be let in. Some people had retired from their jobs and spent the day at the library, keeping their brains active by researching anything they wanted.
I knew every last one of them. They were waiting for me to unlock the door no matter what the weather was. Unfortunately, none of them were sitting on the benches outside the library when I unlocked the front doors, and I was getting ominous vibes from the cloudy sky.
I didn’t like it.
Felix had a chair pulled up to my desk and cocked an eyebrow at me when no one followed me in. He’d been patrolling this library in feline form since I got my library card when I was a student at the academy. He was a constant at the library since I got hired.
The regulars knew he was my familiar, but they’d always stop to scratch his head, and they’d sometimes bring him cat treats. Of course, Felix couldn’t thank them in anything but head butts and purrs before, but he liked them just as much as I did.
“Something is fucked up, Ripley. I can understand one of them being sick enough not to be here, but not all of them.”
“Stay alert, Felix. They come even when they aren’t feeling well. The only time they stay away is if they are contagious. Reyson had a bad feeling about this, and I don’t think he felt much better about you staying behind. He knows I can handle myself in a fight and that I learned a good bit of that from you, but something clearly isn’t right.”
“I know, Ripley. Reyson and the others should be back by now. Gabriel can kill a revenant, and Balthazar has his vampire speed and strength. Reyson can probably just think Dorian’s henchmen dead. It should have been over by now.”
“Should I text Balthazar? He always has his phone on him.”
“I wouldn’t. If they aren’t back yet, it means something went wrong, and they don’t need to be distracted. They can handle anyone in that closet. We’re all taking Reyson’s warning seriously, especially Reyson. They will get back here as soon as they are able.”
“It’s not just the regulars, Felix. No one else has come in either, and that’s unusual. The Academy of the Profane has a library since not all the students are approved for library cards here, and some don’t bother, but those who do have library cards are in here researching for class. There’s always some harried academy student in here by now who waited until the last minute to write their research paper.”
“That’s because you and Ravyn graduated, and they can’t try to bribe you into writing it for them.”
“We could have made bank if we didn’t have ethics and a healthy fear of getting kicked out.”
“Did you see anything when you unlocked the front doors?”
“I just looked at the benches and saw they were empty. The sky looks creepy today. It didn’t look like a storm, it looked like a really fucking bad omen. Shit, that’s probably why none of the witches are here. I didn’t want to be out in that either.”
“Well, I’m going to do a lap around the building. A bad omen would get more people in here for tarot card readings and researching what was coming.”
“I get why you need to, but I don’t want you out there, Felix.”
