Chaos just smiled and tucked my hair behind my ear.
“Just because I’m a god doesn’t mean I can’t do that. It’ll mean more that way. I’ll be over there reading more about werewolf sex. I think if you stick with your cards, you’ll see we are meant to be together.”
He just disappeared, leaving me with my mouth wide open. My eyes went to the Lover’s on my deck again. What I should have been doing was grilling this god who could see all possibilities at once over what kind of shit was going to go down since someone made it a point to pull him from the aether.
Instead, I stared at the Lover’s and wondered exactly what kind of shit I’d gotten myself into this time.
Chapter 9
Gabriel
I
kept staring down at the tarot cards trying to figure out what they meant. Something huge was about to happen in my life. I have never drawn that many Major Arcana cards before, and I had The Lovers in this draw. I also drew the Five of Swords, which meant something bad was coming my way.
My family taught me tarot reading, and they taught me at my magical high school, but it wasn’t like I could afford some fancy college, and they weren’t exactly offering me scholarships either. I swear, one of your relatives goes to the dark side five hundred years ago, and the magical community shunned that entire line forever. I worked my fucking ass off, and I should have had a free ride at any college of my choice, but when witches and warlocks went bad, they went really bad.
There was only one in my line that went dark, but the deal he made with the demon made a considerable impression on many people. My entire family was magical outcasts. My parents had to work fucking human jobs because no one would hire them for the skills that came to them naturally.
I wasn’t doing that. I wasn’t slumming it with humans when I knew I had specific skills. My family grimoire was packed with useful spells, and not all of them were tainted by that deal with a demon. Sure, there was some dank, dark magic there, but even dark magic had its uses.
I was now the magical community’s dirty little secret. I was a freelancer and a popular one. They wouldn’t put me on the official payroll, and I couldn’t be seen entering their big, fancy businesses. Except they had no problem meeting with me in dirty pubs and wiring money to my bank account off the books when they needed a job done, they didn’t want to be tied back to them.
Yeah, they all might shun my family to the world because of one relative centuries ago, but I knew the dirty secrets they were keeping just in the past few years. I knew who was cursing who in the background, who was stealing, who was manipulating territory wars so they could come out ahead. It was total shit. They villainized my family because of one deal, and the only reason they still had respect was that they hadn’t gotten caught.
I used to have all these plans of exposing them. I’d air out every single dirty secret in the magical community, but what would it accomplish? If I ever settled down and had children, they’d go through the exact same shit I did. Just because I got a bunch of people in trouble didn’t mean it would change anyone’s opinions about my family.
So, for now, I took their money and got rich.
I was between jobs and reading my tarot cards. Every witch and warlock worth their salt did frequent readings. I was in a hotel room in Moscow, getting ready to fly back home after a job. This particular deck was significant. It meant something, and I needed help.
My family wouldn’t know about this. It was just a given now that none of us would go to college, so the coven took charge and taught us everything they knew. If I couldn’t figure out what this reading meant, they wouldn’t either.
None of these bitches I’d done jobs for would give me the time of day helping me either. I was going to have to change my flight and take a huge chance. There was one place with massive amounts of knowledge that was open to everyone if you could pass their test.
None of my family even bothered applying for a library card at the Library of the Profane, but I needed to. The process of getting a card was pretty famous. It involved blood, and there was no way to cheat.
It was worth a try. I had nothing to lose if I got denied. The Five of Swords was no joke when you drew The Lovers and that many Major Arcana.
I was going to apply for a library card. I needed access to some of the books on Tarot cards in the library. Hopefully, the fucking library itself wouldn’t hold one relative five hundred years ago against me.
Chapter 10
Chaos
I
certainly, enjoyed this century. People had come a very long way, and in some ways they had seriously regressed. I wasn’t just reading books and trying to come up with my new name. I was watching patrons in my witch’s library.
Computers and cell phones were marvelous inventions. There were no computers in the library itself, but Ripley had one. The cell phones were supposed to be put on silent in the library. Ripley was absolutely adorable in her fury if one went off despite the rules. I offered to turn them into rodents because it made her so angry, but she seemed satisfied with just kicking them out.
Still, I’d seen them on their phones. Ripley wanted things as quiet as possible in her library, so you had to whisper, or she’d give you this look. I understood the no talking thing, but some people just sat there staring at the device in their hands like they’d been put in a trance, even with all the beautiful books here and the amazing architecture.
I could read books way faster than anyone on this planet. The writers of these books must have been confused about how wolves had sex because there were so many variations about what a werewolf cock could do. I was getting confused. I still hoped Ripley would invite one to our bed when we were married so I could experience it myself.
I was a god, but I was good at sharing. If Ripley wanted to sample the wolf, too, it would please me to watch.
I was spread out on one of the reading couches surrounded by books. Ripley hadn’t taken me out of this library yet, but honestly, I didn’t mind. Her familiar hopped on the table and glared at me with his bright green eyes. I loved all animals except cats.
I was there when animals were created. They were all given a purpose except the cats. Cats killed for fun and were so aloof. I never understood why people revered them next to gods. And in this century, you couldn’t go anywhere on the computer without seeing a photo of someone’s cat. I thought they were cute at first, and I liked their independent spirit, but they always seemed to hate me, and if I tried to domesticate one, they took joy in destroying my things.
I looked up from the book in my lap and glared at this black cat. If he was a familiar and allowed in this library, he was surely a tame cat. I wouldn’t say I liked the way he was looking at me.
Another thing I enjoyed about this century was iced coffee and Oreo cookies. It wasn’t just the regular Oreos that were good either. They made different flavors, or they made them double stuffed. It was quite brilliant. Food wasn’t allowed in the library, but Ripley allowed me my coffee and Oreos.
I considered that a huge win because she was a stickler about every other rule in the library. I got it. She took pride in this place, and she had every right to. I admired that about her. She also knew I could just wave my hand and disappear any mess if I made one. I never did, but I cleaned up all the same.