Page 40 of Greed

“You stay away from Minetta!” I pointed my finger at my brother as I took a threatening step in his direction.

“The gentleman doth protest too much, methinks.”

“Don’t you quote that shit to me, you white-winged prick. You stay away from Minetta. I mean it, she doesn’t need the likes of you screwing with her head. We both know you’re not actually interested. If you’re sniffing around her, then you plan on hurting her or using her as a pawn in one of your games.”

“So, your version of screwing with her head would be acceptable? Fucking thousands of girls before her eyes and, in the end, throwing her away like yesterday’s trash would be considered okay? That emotional and brain fuck is fine? Interesting brother. How you blur the line of what is right and wrong for yourself is intriguing, to say the least.”

“I don’t care what you think of me, but I’m warning you, you stay away from her.” Michael raised his hands and made a mocking face like he was scared. “I guess I’ve been told then by the big bad Mammon. Too bad I don’t answer to you and am free to do what I want. Besides, do you really think she will want anything to do with you after what she saw? Be real, brother. That one is never going to want someone like you. I win again. See you around. I have to plan the big night, and I want to make sure it’s one she’ll never forget.”

Michael sauntered out, and I couldn’t stop my chest from heaving with a potent mix of mad fury, jealousy, and the need to have Minetta for my own. Micheal thought he’d won. He did this. He somehow knew I was interested in the girl and then manipulated it so that I wouldn’t have a chance.

“Not exactly Heavenly,” I yelled toward the ceiling. “You fucking hypocritical angel!”

Michael didn’t take a shit or wipe his angelic ass without running it past my Father, so if he was here fucking with me, it was with my Father’s blessing. That’s a fantastic family dynamic right there.

It didn’t matter, Michael may have won round one, but if he thought I would give up that easily, he didn’t know me as well as he thought. I don’t lose. I never lose. The girl would be mine.

Minetta walked out of the mall with her shopping bag. She purchased a simple black dress and a few new shirts and pants for work.

As she walked down the street toward the parking garage, she looked at the time and knew she needed to get home to Toby. She stopped walking, her eyes staring at the old building across the way. Jogging across the crosswalk, she ran up the front steps, unable to help herself. It was like the building was holding all the secrets, and the answers she wanted were inside.

Sprinting up the stairs, she pulled open the large doors and stepped into the library.

“Oh my,” she whispered as she stared at the countless rows. There was a little kiosk-type area, and she made her way over to the computer.

Her fingers sat on the keyboard as she thought about what to type. Finally, the words demons, mythical creatures, folklore, and dementia were her search words. The sound of the mouse clicking on search echoed in her ears.

What was she doing? This was crazy. She’s lost count of how many times she’d either said those words or thought them over the last couple of weeks. The little spinning wheel stopped, and there they were, hundreds of different choices.

“Oh boy.” She quickly jotted down the aisle and rows and was off. She got turned around twice but, in the end, found what she wanted in the furthest back corner of the second level. She ran her finger across the spines, her eyes taking in all the titles on a topic that she’d never even thought about until a couple of weeks ago.

Demons, Devils and the Differences Between Them

How to know if you are being hunted by a Demon

From the beginning until now. A complete breakdown of human history and the angels and demons that walk among us.

There were way too many to choose from, so she stepped back and stared a little dumbfounded. She was short on time, so she decided that she’d just start at the beginning of the aisle, and if they didn’t have what she was looking for, she’d return them and simply continue to work her way through them all. Reaching up on her tiptoes, she was barely able to reach the start of the section. Her hand wrapped around the first spine, and as she pulled it down, a sound came from behind her.

Jumping, she spun, book in hand, but no one was there. Her heart was pounding hard as she bent to look through the shelving at the next row. Nothing moved as her eyes scanned the space. Then she peeked around the corner of the long shelf. The narrow aisle way was shadowed but empty. The dark was just the dark.

Shaking her head, she grabbed the next two books that were more like encyclopedias, they were so large. The strange sound happened again, and the hair stood up on the nape of her neck as a shiver raced up her spine. She didn’t move. She barely took a breath as she listened for the noise that sounded like the raptors made in the Jurassic Park film.

If there was a fucking dinosaur in the library she really didn’t want to know, that would be it. She’d throw in the white towel on her sanity. Licking her lips, she looked up at the large old lights that hummed and dimmed for a moment. “Nope, I’m done,” she said and took off.

It’s just an old building, nothing more.

She told herself as she jogged down to the lower level, where she took a deep breath as the fear that had kindled upstairs vanished. Making her final stop, she found the medical section and grabbed the book, Diseases of the Mind, from the shelf. Adding it to her stack, she made her way to the front counter.

“This is an interesting combination,” the woman behind the counter said as she placed the load down. The woman looked exactly the way you’d picture a librarian. Grayed hair pulled up into a slick bun on her head that reminded her of Penny—glasses with a little chain that wrapped around her neck and a simple dress with a warm-looking cardigan over the top.

“Yes, I’m doing some research,” she said and smiled.

“I see. Well, if you’re looking for information on dark lore, then you need this book.” The librarian walked over to the returned shelf and pulled out another book. “You’re in luck. It was just returned.”

“Is this a popular topic?” She was intrigued to know that not only had there been hundreds of books written on the topic, but people were reading about it now. Was she not the only one that experienced something strange and wanted answers?

“Oh, my goodness, yes, people have always been fascinated with the unexplainable. Other than our romance section, it is the most popular section we loan out.”