Page 44 of A Spark of Something (A Librarian’s Guide to Witchery #1)

N oble stopped just before reaching his road. Glancing at Ollie and seeing he was still asleep, he pulled his phone out and checked his security. Nothing was tripped. No alarms, no wires, nothing. He hesitated for a moment before slipping it back into his pocket and turning down his private drive.

He pulled around the back, instead of parking where he normally did. Ollie woke with a start the minute he opened the man’s door. The little witch winced, taking a shuddered breath before looking up at him.

“Sorry, you must be a light sleeper.”

“I’m really not. The pain isn’t allowing me to go fully under, I think.”

“I have some pain pills. They're expired, but they should still help. Again, it's best not to ask. I’d have brought them with me but I didn’t think about it as I ran out the door.” Noble wrinkled his nose and made a mental note to start keeping them in his medic pack. “Let me get you settled inside. I’ll grab those, you can take them and another antibiotic, and then sleep some more while I finally take care of the fucker in my trunk.”

“I…” Ollie hesitated.

He smiled gently. “What is it?”

“I want to watch,” the man blurted out.

Noble’s brow rose at that. “Are you sure?”

“I…” Ollie’s bottom lip wobbled. “I feel like I need to. I-I mean—” The man hiccuped as tears started to fill his eyes. “I was scared… I think I n-need to make sure he’s really g-gone.” Ollie sniffled as he tried to wipe the tears away with his good hand. “God, that sounds ho-horrible to say.”

Noble started to carefully brush the man’s tears away. “No one would consider that horrible. The man tried to kill you.”

“I know, b-but…” Ollie trailed off, his face pinching as he started to sob.

The expression was probably in part due to the pain of his injuries…but also the emotions the man was experiencing. His little witch was…too kind. And it was starting to worry him. Because the world he’d been born into was not. Not that he was saying the human one was. But in the witch world, the supernatural one, being this kind and forgiving could be detrimental.

Could Noble really walk away, when the time came, knowing this? Knowing how easily someone could get to him and use this nature of his against him. Or was he now just trying to make excuses in order to never leave?

Shaking his head, he smiled as he carefully scooped the man up.

“I’ll get you settled outside, with more meds, so you can watch. But if it gets to be too much, tell me so I can take you inside.”

Ollie nodded against his chest.

Ollie stared into the large lit stone firepit as he sat in a nicely padded wooden chair. The pit was set in a clearing, a short distance away behind Noble’s house. And with the sun fully up now, it felt slightly odd to be sitting there.

The wind was perfect at least, with no smoke hitting him in the face. Though Noble had given him a mask to wear for the smell, so he had that on just in case it shifted.

He’d been there for about twenty minutes, and the pain pills Noble had given him were kicking in nicely. Pain pills he was not going to question, just as the man had asked. So currently, Ollie was feeling both better and worse, as he didn't have as much pain, but he was still sitting there waiting for a body to be thrown into the fire.

At the sound of footsteps behind him, Ollie stiffened, more out of dread than anticipation. But as Noble walked past, dumping something large into the pit, the air whooshed out of him when he realized it was the rug from the house.

Noble’s face when he turned and walked past him again was expressionless, as if he had no worries or concerns, or he just felt nothing about what he was doing. Which should concern Ollie. It really should. Honestly, all of this should concern him. But wouldn’t he be a hypocrite if it did? The body was his body. Well, not his body, but he was the reason there was a body.

Which is why, after all this, Ollie wouldn’t ask questions…and he definitely would not poke about for information. What he was going to do was shove down his inquisitive nature, and let it go. Pushing it far, far from his mind.

The footsteps returned. The steps were oddly light, the same as before, even though when Noble passed this time, he had the body resting on his right shoulder, only holding onto it with one arm.

Wrapped in a blanket, all that showed was the top of the dead man’s head. But when Noble, seemingly without much effort, flipped it into the pit, as the body landed with a thud, he saw a flash of William’s face for just a moment before the fire blocked his view.

The man’s eyes were wide, shocked, just as they had been before he collapsed, but now they were also…chillingly empty.

Swallowing hard, Ollie looked at Noble when he took the chair next to his.

“You’re—” He swallowed again, tasting bile in his throat. “You’re really strong.” A nervous laugh slipped out. “How much can you lift? I’d think a d-dead body would b-be hard to carry, because it’s dead weight. A-at least, that’s what the bo-books I’ve read said. I mean, many of those books were just romances, but plenty were non-fiction about m-murder.”

He winced, and somehow, while the stuttering stopped, his next words came out even faster in his desperate need to not sound insane.

“Not that I’ve read a lot of books about murder. I mean, I have read about murder, but just, you know, what’s in the library. Which I suppose is considered a lot. And I also have listened to some podcasts about murder. But I don’t have a fascination with murder per se. Ha—anyway, you are strong. Oh, aren’t you going to wear a mask too?”

Noble, looking slightly amazed or shocked, chuckled. “Uh, thank you? And no, I’ll be fine without a mask.”

Ollie groaned, covering his face with his uninjured hand. “Yeah, nice reminder for you that I’m awkward.”

Noble smiled. “You aren’t awkward, you just tend to ramble when you are nervous. And while I don’t like you being nervous with me, I do like to hear you talk.”

“Thank you,” he said shyly, smiling.

His smile dropped away as he looked towards the pit and saw the outline of the body in the fire.

William Parker was dead. Which meant, he couldn’t hurt him, or anyone else, ever again. It was…a good thing. This was a good thing. Which made him feeling bad about the man’s death stupid.

Come on, Ollie, the man tried to kill you!? Why feel bad at all for someone who deserved to die?! he thought with an exasperated huff.

Ollie started to gnaw on his bottom lip as he continued to stare into the flickering flames.

Maybe…the problem wasn’t that he felt bad about the man’s death…but that he felt bad for being happy that the man was dead?

Yes, that was it. Ollie was… Ollie was happy. He was…

Ollie swallowed down more bile. He was happy that it wasn’t him dead, and it felt… awful that he was. Happiness shouldn’t feel this bad!

Tears sprang in his eyes as he started glaring at the outline in the flames. This was William’s fault. He wouldn’t be dealing with any of this if this man hadn’t—ugh! Ollie wanted him to burn. He wanted the flames to burn so hot that there was nothing left of the bastard except ash, so that he, and everyone else, would NEVER have to see this horrid man again.

Ollie’s heart started to beat faster as the thoughts went round and round in his head, his anger growing… But then, just as he wanted…the flames grew too. Eyes widening, Ollie’s heart started to race in fear instead of anger the moment the flames changed color. The burning bright white at the center of the flames spread, swallowing up the yellows and reds of the fire as the outline turned blue. The rug, the blanket, the body…none of it was visible any longer.

“Ollie,” Noble said with a deep rasp.

He glanced over, his eyes still wide, and found the man looking pensive.

“I-I…” He swallowed, his gaze flicking back to the ever-rising flames.

“Baby, look at me.”

And he did.

Noble smiled. “It’s fine, I promise. Magic can be complicated, but sometimes it’s as simple as having a thought or a want. I know you didn’t mean to, and you may think you don’t know how, but I do need you to pull it back before we burn more than we want to.”

Once again, Ollie’s gaze snapped back to the fire, a tremble of fear rocking through him as he noticed that the flames had spread further and were now pressing on the stone frame of the pit.

“Stop!” he cried in horror, just as the heat cracked one of the stones in two.

And then just like that, the fire went out, smoke billowing up in its place.

With sweat dripping down his face, Ollie took a shaky breath as he watched it slowly clear. When they could finally see inside…all that remained was a badly charred skeleton. The rug and the blanket were nothing but ash.

Noble stood up, but as he did, the skeleton disintegrated, becoming one with the rest.

“I…” The man let out a weary chuckle. “Well, that does make things easier.”

Things were not fine. Development wise, this was beyond concerning, and had now moved into the alarming stage. Ollie shouldn’t be able to do this much this quickly. Sure, something like this would usually take a simple thought, but it would really only work if the witch was older, experienced, and powerful. This was far above the level of someone who had just discovered what they were.

Something was off here. Not even just that he could do all of this, but his magical strength when dealing with fire and the dead?! There was nothing normal about that combination.

Taking a deep breath, Noble pushed back his questions and worries, and crouched in front of Ollie. Even though he could only see his eyes, it was enough to know that the man was scared.

“Hey,” he said softly with a smile as he carefully removed the man’s mask. “It’s fine.”

“I d-didn’t m-mean to.”

“I know. Come on, it’s been a long, long night, and morning. Why don’t you leave a message for Jahla, and your cat, telling them that you are okay and safe? And then I’ll help you clean up more, and get you settled in bed, hmm?”

Sagging a bit in his seat, his little witch slowly nodded while looking incredibly tired. Noble had to say, he was right there alongside him in that aspect.