Chapter 1
Ripley
W
hat the fuck was Dorian Gray doing in my library? I don’t mean that in an oh, look. It’s Dorian Gray, the prettiest man alive. I mean, Dorian Gray convinced the Library of the Profane board to house his stupid painting instead of putting it where it would be secure in the Museum of the Profane. They also gave him a library card, even if he wasn’t even remotely supernatural.
That little deal with a demon for the painting that kept him pretty and gave him immortality? He didn’t even do the work for it. He couldn’t. Word was, he seduced a witch to summon the demon, and she was the one who brokered the deal.
Dorian Gray seduced me too. I let him. He was just so pretty and famous. I wanted bragging rights for fucking him, but after I went there, I’d never tell a soul. Unless I was starting a hashtag #doriangrayisshitinbed. I’ll bet that shit would go viral because I can’t be the only one who went there and got disappointed.
Not only was he a shitty lay, but he also stole a spell out of my grimoire on the way out. It wasn’t even a good one, but it was one his vain ass was capable of doing. It was an eye cream one of my ancestors developed that was supposed to reduce fine lines.
He waltzed up to my desk like I’d never get that forty-five minutes of my life back, and he’d stolen from me.
“Hi, Ripley,” he said, trying to charm me.
Did he think I wanted seconds? Would anyone after that? I had serious questions about what self-respecting witch would broker a deal with a demon for him, given what a selfish lover he was. He never went for the clit even once, like his cock was a magical vibrator and just being near my vagina was enough. I was so embarrassed I ever went there.
“Hi, Dorian. Wow, your eyes look great today.”
If it were up to me, I’d boot him out of my library and ban him. The board just adored him because that book written about him was still being taught in schools. They gave him, of all people, a library card.
The Library of the Profane was the biggest supernatural library in the world. We had books on everything you could imagine. Some of the books here contained dangerous magic, and some books were sentient. There was this magical vetting process before they allowed people to get a library card. Fuck, my vetting process to be the librarian here had been intense. I actually had to fight people for it magically, and people died trying to get this job.
The only books in the Library of the Profane Dorian could even use as a human would be our extensive erotica section. Werewolf porn was super popular, and the board eventually brought it in because rich people with library cards donated more money with it on the shelves. I would admit to being into it too, but I’d read some fucked up shit with shifter dick.
Dorian fluttered his eyelashes like a teenaged girl and didn’t have the gall to comment on the fact that he stole from me.
“Thank you. Do you have a section on primordial gods?”
I indicated the bowl on my desk. I already knew what it was going to say, but it was protocol. Dorian sighed and picked up the athame. He pricked his finger and let his blood drip into the bowl. Blue script rose from the bowl, and I pretended to read it.
“You’re cleared for that section. It’s in the basement. I don’t need to tell you we do not allow those books to leave the library, and if any pages are missing, you’ll be banned. There’s a copy machine on the second floor. Copies are fifty cents a page.”
I would not put it past him to rip out a page of any of the ancient tomes on the various gods since he defiled my grimoire by tearing a page out.
“Thanks, Ripley.”
My familiar, Felix, jumped onto the table and head-butted my hand. Felix was an all-black, American shorthair that appeared to me when I was sixteen. He spoke with a very British accent. I never knew if he was just faking the accent to sound posher, but I’d never ask or correct him. Felix might be a cat, but he had one of those Alan Rickman voices that could sound sexy reading the phone book, and I dug the accent. Sue me.
“Do you want me to go down there and watch him?”
“You don’t want to take a nap like when he was tearing pages out my grimoire?”
“I might be a familiar, but I’m still a cat. I require a lot of sleep. You were in bed too, might I add.”
“Preparing to kick him out of my apartment when he came back from the bathroom.”
“Is it out of your system now? You should have learned your lesson about the pretty ones when you were at the Academy of the Profane. Do I need to remind you about Tony?”
I groaned.
“Please don’t. I want him out of my library. I don’t trust him. That painting needs to be with my sister at the Museum of the Profane. What does he want with this library, and why is he researching gods? Go watch him so I can figure out how to get him banned.”
“I don’t trust him either, for the exact same reasons. He’s up to something. I’ll find out.”
I scratched Felix behind his ears.
“Thanks, Felix.”
The Library of the Profane was my sanctuary. I’d always been a book nerd, and I fought hard for this job. I had apartments inside the library that were pretty plush. I knew every single regular and their reading preferences, no matter how bizarre.
I didn’t trust most people that made deals with demons, even if it was for vain purposes like Dorian. I’d summoned demons for information only, and I helped other people in the library if they had that level of clearance. Every sane person who dealt with demons knew they were just as tricky as the Fae when it came to deals. Sure, they’d give you precisely what you wanted, and they’d let you have it for a good long time.
Except payment would eventually come due, and you’d always lose. I didn’t want Dorian Gray anywhere near my library when a demon came to collect what was owed.
Chapter 2
Ripley
M
inerva Krauss was my advanced curses professor at the Academy of the Profane. She was a hard ass and refused to give me an A on a single one of my papers, no matter how long and hard I worked on it. Still, I fucking adored this woman. She was a super talented witch who had written a ton of books in the Library of the Profane both on cursing people and breaking curses.
She was also super into the werewolf porn.
“Ripley, dear. Is it in yet?”
“Yes, and I saved you a copy. I had a chance to read it last night, and you are going to love it. I won’t spoil it for you, but the pack dynamics are amazing in this one.”
Yeah, I’d bonded with my old curses teacher about a book series we both liked, and she was a lot friendlier to me now than when I was at the Academy. I also didn’t peg her for being into this kind of fiction because she was this prim older lady who always had tea and stale cookies out during her office hours, and her collar was always buttoned all the way up.
“We’ll have to have tea in the alcove and discuss it when I’m finished, dear.”
I slid the book out and handed it to her. I’d love to be picking her brain about all the books she’d written on curses, but I didn’t mind discussing werewolf erotica with her either.
She was honestly one of the most brilliant professors I’d ever taken classes with, and I totally fangirled when I saw I was in her class.