Page 3 of Disabling Relics for Dummies
Ravyn was perfect. I mean, she had her flaws. We all did. Hers just meshed well with mine. They paired us up for a reason. It was an honor to be called as a witch’s familiar, but I would admit to having a lot of reservations at first. It had been a long time since I walked the Earth. I didn’t know what things were like anymore. I didn’t know what people were like.
I loved this century. I loved that Ravyn could study what she wanted, wear what she wanted, and give her opinions when no one really asked her. The humans would have burned her alive back in my day, and the supernatural community wasn’t much better when it came to the treatment of women.
Not only did Ravyn not have to live by the rules of my day, but neither did I. I hadn’t really thought about that until Reyson came into the picture. This was my second chance, and I didn’t intend to do a damned thing the same.
I wasn’t going to dress in stupid clothes I hated that were uncomfortable because that’s what they expected of a warlock of my station. I followed all the stifling rules of the aristocracy the last time I was alive because there weren’t really any other options. I had those now.
There were also rules about who you could fall in love with. Most of the time, rich men sold their daughters to richer men for land, titles, and money, and everyone just went with that. Divorce was an option for men by the time I was born, but not for any woman who was being mistreated.
I already knew who I wanted. She was gorgeous, brilliant, and fate already paired us together. I would never press her, but I saw how she stared at me when she thought I didn’t notice. I understood why she hadn’t said anything, even though she always did when she was into someone.
His name was Valentine, and his stupid mutton chops were about to come back into Ravyn’s life. Ravyn liked a pretty face, but she got bored fast if the only topic a person could talk about was themselves. That was all that plonker did, but he traveled around the world digging up dangerous relics, so there was an entertaining spin to it.
He broke her heart, and she entered into a committed relationship with her vibrator after that. She ran wingman for Ripley when they went out, but she shut anyone down who approached her. Iknewwhat I’d be up against as soon as Reyson offered to give me my body back.
Then, fucking Valentine called that Gertrude Von Stein signed and contract with him to come back, and now she was a redhead.
I wasn’t going to stoop to his level. I wasn’t going to kick the door in with this big show of machismo, telling her exactly what she wanted to hear, and then disappearing like he did. I had scruples.
But I was enjoying her hands in my hair as she put the green streaks in it. She put a cap over my hair, and now we were just waiting.
“Do you think it’s too much to paint my fingernails?” I asked.
Was it? It was unheard of back in my time, but men did it now. I wasn’t ready for makeup and glitter like Balthazar. I didn’t know if I’d ever be ready for that. But Iwasopen-minded and trying to figure out where I fit into this new century. I wanted to paint my fingernails.
“Say no more,” Ravyn said, pulling a box off her dresser. “I wouldn’t be caught dead in pink nail polish, so all of these are black, blue, green, or purple. Let’s do a manicure. What color?”
Was it creepy that I even paid attention to her nail polish when I was a bat? I used to sit on her shoulder while Ravyn did her nails, and we chatted and gossiped. I’d admire her manicure when she was finished, and Idefinitelyhad a favorite.
“The green one that is so dark, it’s practically black.”
Ravyn nodded and waved at me.
“Just like our souls. I love it. The longer you leave that dye on, the better. Give me your hands.”
Before she could even touch me, and she’d been avoiding doing that until I asked her to do my hair, her cell phone rang. No one from work called her on the weekend. It was usually Ripley or one of her friends. She glanced at it but didn’t answer.
“You should get that.”
“It’s that wolf turd, Valentine, and it’s my day off.”
That was… new. When he first left, she used to stare at her phone and jump every time it rang, hoping it was him. She picked up right away when he called to say he was coming back. She said some nasty things about him when he left, but not since she knew he was returning.
“What was that about?” I asked.
Before she could answer, the phone started ringing again. I knew it was him without asking. Ravyn had been at his beck and call before. I imagined most of the women he took up with were. Valentine didn’t like being ignored. She just glared at her phone and rolled her eyes. I gave her a look to answer it. The longer she ignored it, the more he was going to call. Then she was just going to get cranky.
“Can I help you?”
She took the phone away from her ear and put it on speaker where I could hear. That was also new. Ravyn’s conversations with Valentine were always private, and I left the room when they were together. This witch was up to something. I loved it.
“We had some problems on the ship coming over. We were in the middle of the ocean when all the instruments on the ship just stopped working, and the wind stopped.”
“I swear to shit, Valentine, if you bringanotherghost into my museum, I’m going to murder you.”
Wedid notneed more ghosts on these grounds. Especially not from deranged coven members that were definitely not witches, but everyone thought they were. We only found out the Cult of the Aether Sisters weren’t dark witches when we were in Hell, and Lilith told us they weren’t her creation. Some of the ghosts that were already here were miserable assholes.
“I didn’t. Doctor Key has been a tremendous asset. He’s the world’s leading expert on the cult. He did the rites, and he could get the ship running again. Doctor Key is a powerful warlock.”
