The Librarian
Over time, Eleftheria's literary demands for her research had gotten more and more obscure. Eventually the university library could not supply Ryan with what he was looking for anymore. This led to Ellie seeking out an actual occult society for him to visit. It's amazing what you can find if you live in a big enough city. She had somehow gotten Ryan fast-tracked into a full membership. This gave him access to a surprisingly large secret library and their research reached new levels.
Better yet, the library was located in an underground cavern. Most of the walls were carved in a Gothic style but a few sections kept their natural rock look. Ryan had been very impressed the first time he saw the whole thing. It was like a movie set.
Out of sorts with her surroundings was the head librarian. She did wear mostly black but other than that she didn't look like an occultist, to Ryan. She was a tiny woman, as short as Lizzy, but even more petite. She was young, gorgeous, and very, very blonde. Bright snow white. To Ryan, she looked more like a saleswoman at a perfume counter or a women's clothing boutique. Maybe a goth one, though. Definitely not a librarian, occult or otherwise, except that she handled her job with great care and dedication. She did wear glasses and she seemed a bit shy and mousy, but that didn't negate the blondness, or the beauty.
A pocket-sized demonology barbie,
evil Ryan would have thought.
The first time Ryan met her he was too distracted by the library itself to be nervous. Plus, having a harem had done a lot for his self esteem. He was practically half evil-Ryan now. Who knows, he could have been charming, but with the curse and all, he didn't really get to do much dating. He shook her hand, with his gloves on of course. She didn't ask, but Ryan told her he had some burns anyway. The girl seemed intrigued. It hadn't occurred to Ryan that in the occult world having burns on your hands carried different connotations than in normal life. Usually, people assumed he was clumsy in the kitchen. Who knew what she imagined.
Ryan visited the library often, over the next few months. They got to talking. Her name was Erica. It was mostly normal small talk, sometimes occult small talk. Ryan didn't even realize he was flirting. He had some knowledge of occult topics by now. Most of the books were the kind you could not check out so Ryan spent hours at a time there. It was his only free time, a relaxing break from the endless fucking.
Sometimes when he was reading he could see Erica hovering or stealing peeks from between the shelves. She always blushed and squirmed when he caught her looking. One time, she asked him about the gloves again. Ryan told her he was mostly okay now but had just gotten used to wearing them. "They're good for the books, too, right?" he said.
What Ryan didn't realize was that Erica could keep track of what he was reading about. Eventually, she started to form her own ideas on the subject matter of his research. First, she skimmed some of the books he had read, and then all of them. She casually asked what he was into but he told her nothing, only that he was doing some kind of research with a partner. Most of his books were old Mesopotamian stuff so Erica started to look into that on her own time, too.
One hot summer night Ryan came around again. He had been wearing suits when he first started, like most new members, but was now dressed more casually. He was wearing black jeans and a short leather jacket, and carried a motorcycle helmet on his elbow. His hair was disheveled, as always, and his body was tight and trimmed.
He must do a lot of exercise. Very sexy,
Erica thought. There was an ease to the way he carried himself. He looked like someone who should be arrogant but wasn't, at least not in an asshole kind of way. He was mostly just neutral toward her.
"Good evening, Erica, how are you?"
"Ha. Same old, same old."
"Is the Nabu-Tammuz treatise still on the table? I don't think I'm finished with it yet."
"It should be where you left it."
"Nice. See you around. Might I say, you are looking very beautiful today."
Before she could answer, he turned away.
Typical. Does he even know he's doing it?
she thought. Erica was peeved by how well the nonchalance was working on her.
Ryan seemed oblivious.
Sometimes people with newfound confidence can be dismissive by accident.
In the occult world, newfound confidence was especially alluring, and it was definitely Erica's favorite flavor. She'd always been attracted to moderately bad boys, but usually from afar. Ryan might have just defined her new weakness: the unintentional-bad-boy book-nerd.
Erica almost swallowed her own tongue when she saw it. She felt like she couldn't breathe. Ryan had stopped before rounding the corner, and had stretched as high as he could, with a big yawn. Erica had seen his tattoo. The glimpse had been quick and by the time she recovered Ryan was gone. But the tattoo had looked very much like an actual ancient curse.
Erica's stomach twisted with fear and excitement as she peeked around the corner. There he was, sitting in the same chair as always.
The tattoo must be fake, a real tattoo but a fake curse,
Erica thought.
It did make sense, however. Someone with a curse like that would wear gloves. It could all be a pretentious affectation, but Ryan was so sincere in his efforts, genuinely interested in finding answers.
Could he really be affected by actual magic?
Erica had a lifelong love of the occult but she'd never witnessed anything undeniably supernatural. If Ryan was for real it would be her first, and maybe only, chance to talk to someone involved with the real thing.
He noticed her again. The tingles almost made her piss her skirts.
Come on girl. For once, you can do this, it's now or never,
she thought. Erica forced herself to move, slowly at first, but then she couldn't stop. "Hey Ryan, I noticed your tattoo. It's a Sumerian design, right, or is it Greek? Can I see it? I think it looks really nice."
"Um... Sure, I guess, just don't touch it."
"Why?" Butterflies ripped through her stomach.
"Uh, because, it's sore, from the, uh, gym?"
Oh my god, this looks real,
she thought. Ryan got up and raised his jacket and shirt. The tattoo looked perfectly authentic. "Nice," she said, and made a hasty escape.
Ryan almost got the sense that the girl might be interested in him. He let the idea go later, though. He wasn't used to women being interested in him, at least not hot ones like Erica. Ryan's harem at home was an exception, of course, but they were a huge exception in everything else, too. Ryan also later considered the sense of showing the tattoo to Erica at all. But since nothing came of it, he soon forgot about the whole incident.
