“I don’t. I’m sorry. Come here and get ready to hold my hand.”
I placed the black onyx over the heart of the corpse. I sliced my palm with the athame and squeezed my blood over the stone. I held out my hand to her.
“Chant with me. Silenis Demonim. I’ll be channeling you, and you’ll strengthen me if you chant with me.”
We chanted together, my voice rising in pitch and breath as Hettie’s remained the same. It was like she wasn’t even trying. My blood sizzled on the onyx stone as golden threads wrapped around the body. That wasn’t normal. The ropes were usually blue. I wanted to stop this, but I knew better than anyone you just didn’t stop in the middle of a necromancy spell, or you’d create a revenant. This was not her ancient dead uncle Seth. I was going to murder this hedge witch and ban her from my library.
The golden threads wrapped around the mummy and exploded in a flash of light. It flung me all the way across the atrium and slammed against the wall. I shook my head to clear it just in time to see the mummy rise from the box.
He tore the bindings from his body. He was glorious. He was at least seven feet tall with golden bronze skin and long black hair. He was ripped with muscle, and his silver eyes landed on me.
“Who calls me, little witch? I must make you my wife at once.”
Oh, shit. That was definitely not Uncle Seth.
Chapter 6
Chaos
W
hat a perfect specimen of witch. She had black hair that fell to her shoulders in a mess of curls and bright blue eyes. She was covered in tattoos and leather. Exactly my kind of witch. She figured out how to return me to my mortal coil. Oh, I was going to have so much fun as soon as I married her and bedded her.
She glared at the insignificant little hedge witch who was blasted back when I rose again and flipped her the middle finger.
“That is not your Uncle Seth. You’d better find some honesty quickly, or I won’t just ban you from my library. I’ll curse the shit out of you.”
Oh, she was the perfect bride.
There must have been some trickery involved in raising me, but deception was everything when it came to me. She wouldn’t have been able to do it unless she was powerful. I scratched my chin. Technically, the little hedge witch didn’t totally lie to her.
“There was a time I was known as Seth. Or Set if you like. I’m not her uncle, though. My spawn would be much more powerful.”
“Oh, shut up!” she yelled. Now, I was the recipient of her middle finger.
Yes, this was definitely my new wife. No one else would dare. How charming. We could remake the entire universe. The little hedge witch was stammering and thought she had some claim over me.
“It was me who raised you. I command you to come with me.”
I snapped my fingers and turned her into a cockroach. Her voice irritated me, and she was not the one responsible for bringing me back. This magnificent vision in leather who just stomped on my new pet cockroach was. I don’t do favors.
“Who the fuck are you?” my witch demanded.
I strode over to her so that I pressed my chest against hers. She was a tall, slim woman, but nowhere near my great height. She wasn’t backing down from me either, even after she saw what I did to that hedge witch. I knew things had invariably changed since I last occupied a body and walked the Earth, but one thing never changed. People recognized my power and cowered. Except her. Magnificent.
“I’ve been known by many names, little witch. Who are you?”
I was dying to know her name, and I honestly hadn’t decided what I preferred to be called this time around. I quickly learned something about humans and supernatural beings as they started evolving. Always pick your name, or they would stick you with a shitty one. I was one of the first things created when this universe was born, and some civilizations had given me some elementary ass names.
“Ripley Bell. You’re in my library, so you’re going to tell me who you are and why I was tricked into raising you. That hedge witch lied and said you were her Uncle Seth.”
“The Egyptians called me Seth. Talented people. Maybe we can go there on our honeymoon, and I’ll show you anything still related to me.”
She jammed her finger into my chest and tried to shove me away.
“I am not marrying you. You have a fat head and won’t tell me who you are.”
I growled and started walking until I pressed her back against the wall. I caged her in with my arms and took in her scent—incense and books—so perfect and so mine.
“I am Chaos, Ripley Bell, and you will be my queen. Only a powerful witch could have brought me back to my old body, and frankly, you’re beautiful. We will wed and have many sons.”
She placed her hands on my chest and tried to shove me away, but I wasn’t going anywhere. Why was she fighting this? When I was on Earth before, I just had to nod my head, and women fell into my bed. Did this have something to do with the fact that she thought my head wasn’t proportional to my body? My physical form was perfection, but I could shrink it if it pleased her.
“Well, Chaos, it doesn’t work like that anymore. They allow women to have opinions about who they marry. Men have to work for it now instead of having women sold to them like property for them to abuse. I’m not marrying anyone unless I love them, and I don’t know you!”
Oh. Well, that part was simple. I might be chaos, but most people loved me. I’d just romance her. As soon as I woke, I understood things would be different.
“What century is this? I’ve been off playing in the aether and not caring about this world since people were unkind enough to entomb my vessel. I’m sure it’s been long enough to forgive them. I mean, you were kind enough to bring my body back.”
“It’s the twenty-first century, and they tricked me into bringing you back. Two men I don’t trust were showing a lot of interest in primordial gods, and one of them has a history of getting witches to do his bidding. Why any self-respecting witch would give him the time of day after having him in their bed is beyond me, but someone wanted you back to use you for something.”
The twenty-first century? Wow. I’d been off in the aether for a long time. Gods could pout like children when we wanted to. I could have come back at any time, but it was an affront to my person that supernaturals and humans worked together to entomb me because they lacked the understanding the chaos was a part of life. I wasn’t even the one that caused their stupid war, but sure, everyone wanted to blame me when the shit hits the fan.
I just tossed my hair over my shoulder and laughed. I wasn’t the only one to abandon Earth for the aether. Our disinterest in this planet had turned people so ignorant.
“I was created well before this planet, Ripley Bell. There’s not a single creation on this planet with the ability to do that. Though I would afford you the luxury of the illusion you could as my wife.”
“We are not getting married, buddy.”
This witch was so amusing. I loved that she denied me right to my face. It was refreshing.
I’d taken plenty of lovers, but I never took a wife before, not even among my fellow gods. Goddesses were just so high maintenance, and I never met any other woman I wanted to claim before.
Ripley Bell was a challenge, and I loved it. She was powerful enough to pull me from the aether and restore my vessel. My god mojo seemed totally lost on her. She wasn’t falling at my feet like literally every other woman on this planet I’d bedded before. In fact, I got the feeling she was whole heartedly annoyed at this entire situation.