Page 23 of Anarchy
“This whole place reeks of bad demon smell. Bram and Talvathdid notsmell this bad. Dorian’s demon contact lives here.”
“Well, they aren’t here now, and I doubt they will get their security deposit back,” Gabriel said. “Those hardwood floors are probably original to this building and have been meticulously kept up. Rent in this place isn’t cheap, and those floors are probably a selling point. They defaced the shit out of them painting those demonic symbols.”
“We need to get to the librarynow.Demons and Hellhounds can realm travel. They can come and go from Hell to Earth, where Lilith has barred the rest of her siblings from visiting. It would make sense they have a sigil to travel anywhere once they are here too. I had a bad feeling about splitting up. We should have moved in on himmuchsooner. Dorian thinks he needs a god to get out of this mess. He’s probably gone straight to the library.”
“Shit,” Balthazar hissed. “There wasnothingon any of his devices about secret passages and contacting his demon friends to come to his cocaine orgies.”
“This isn’t your fault, Balthazar. You aren’t going to find something that isn’t there. Grab onto me. If they haven’t gone to the library, I’m not sure where else they would have gone.”
As soon as their hands were on me, I made sure we all made it back to the library as fast as possible. Ripley wasn’t at her desk and Felix was missing. In fact, the library was completely empty, and that was unusual. My eyes started watering as soon as I got my bearings.
“There’s only one heartbeat in here, and it smells like the gas canisters human cops like to use when they get a bug up their ass to bust a supernatural rave.”
My nails dug into my palm. This was my fault. Iknewsplitting up was a bad idea. Our plan should have been flawless, but I was old enough to know better. We all knew Dorian Gray managed to get demonic help at the expense of everyone in Hell. This one vain human had caused so much trouble, and now someone I cared about was missing from this library.
“The heartbeat is in the lobby,” Balthazar said.
We all went running. There was a strange odor in the lobby, and my eyes and nose wouldn’t stop running. I saw Felix’s black cat at the back of the lobby lying there with white foam coming out of his mouth. Ripley was gone. I’d lost my witch. I’d deal with that later. I wasn’t losing Felix too.
I scooped him up and carried him back to Ripley’s desk, where the air was a little more pleasant. Whatever had happened here had been fast. Ripley had proudly given us a tour of the entire library when we got our library cards and an invitation to stay with her.
Felix had changed and gone outside for something. He’d barely made it through the pet door before he was disabled. It was fast. If Ripley had been in trouble, Felix would have changed back and fought to protect her. He didn’t even get that chance.
I laid my hands over Felix and tried to heal whatever damage that weapon had done to him. I had serious questions about the weapons human law enforcement used to break up parties.
Felix started mutating as his body tried to make the change. He was still disoriented, and it took him a few minutes.
“What took you so long, and how did you lose him? Someone graffitied the building with a dead shifter to keep people away, then Dorian snuck in and gassed the place. He took Ripley.”
We needed to reevaluate everything we thought we knew, and we needed to find Dorian. He went out of his way to have Ripley raise me. He’d been promising everyone a god could get them out of their deals.
What in fuck did he want with my witch?
18
Felix
We were all a right sight. Every last one of us thought this was our fault, but none of us were mind readers and could predict Dorian’s every movement. Fuck, I was blaming myself super hard. Dorian must have been lurking around the library, and I didn’t see him because I was focused on the dead shifter parts all over the wall.
When I was on the other side of the building, he made his move to get back in through the front door. I realized as soon as my head was through. I didn’t know what that gas did to humans or why it was even legal to use, but my eyes started burning, and I could barely breathe. I fought as hard as I could to shift into a human again and blast him with any magic that would disable him, but I couldn’t manage it.
I could see Ripley on the floor and Dorian moving towards her in a gas mask, but I blacked out before I could shift and help her.
The Library of the Profane was now an active crime scene. Balthazar called Kaine as soon as I told them about the mutilated shifter outside. Kaine had agents on that and was interviewing me about Ripley’s abduction. After he found out why our group separated, he was furious.
“Seriously? I told you not to blow my investigation, Balthazar!”
“You wouldn’t have found out about the secret passage in his apartment or that it leads to a second apartment with his demon ass buddy without us!”
“And that’s why none of you are currently in handcuffs and a cell. I have agents at his penthouse. You made a massive mess, but he didn’t bring your librarian back there.”
“Get the shit out of my way right now! Ripley was my sister. If you don’t move, I’ll curse you so hard, you’ll regret ever seeing my face!”
I had called Ravyn from Ripley’s desk phone to let her know they had attacked the library. Ravyn didn’t run the museum by herself like Ripley did. She ran most of it, but other employees were there to help her since they locked her away with dangerous objects a lot. I was glad she was here.
“Let her through, Kaine. That’s Ripley’s twin.”
All Kaine did was let out a little growl and throw some stink eye in that direction, and everyone parted to let her through. Killian was on her heels, and she looked stressed out.
