Page 53 of A Spark of Something (A Librarian’s Guide to Witchery #1)

H umming happily, Noble briefly glanced towards the small present that sat in his passenger seat as he pulled into the parking lot of the Cross Heritage Private Library, but the sound died in his throat when he spotted the doors of the library wide open.

Slamming his car into park, Noble threw his seat belt off and jumped out, hearing screams before he’d even made it inside.

Noble ran as fast as he could, following the noise up… But what he stumbled upon, his brain refused to make sense of it at first. There were three people in the room, amongst the broken tables, chairs, and lamps. The mess appeared to have been shoved out of the way to create an open space at the center of the room.

All of that barely registered as he stared at Ollie, Noble on the edge of panic at spotting his little witch engulfed in flames. But even as his heart raced, and his fear skyrocketed, the fact that Ollie wasn’t the one screaming had him freezing in place in the doorway, instead of running to fetch water.

Not only was Ollie not the one screaming, he looked…well, not fine. Right cheek red and swollen, Ollie’s lips were cracked and bloody, and there was a smear of dried blood on his chin. If that wasn’t bad enough, a dark bruise, that was too familiar to him to be from anything other than a hand, was forming around the witch’s neck.

But injuries aside, he wasn’t making a sound as the flames remained. He was just standing there, with tears trailing down his face. A face that was etched with a rage that seemed to burn as hot as the fire around him. So, Ollie was not okay, but he was definitely not experiencing ‘on fire’ pain.

Noble’s gaze flicked to the source of the screams, which had now turned into a high-pitched keening. Mikael was frantic in his efforts to put the flames out around him. Oddly, they appeared to be playing with him. The fire would randomly pull back enough to breed a hint of hope, only for them to flare up stronger and higher. Even though Mikael was constantly moving, he could see that the man had other injuries aside from the growing number of burns.

Noble looked to the last man in the room, as the stranger let out a groan of pain and struggled to his feet.

“Please… Ollie…”

He winced as he recognized the voice. His worry for the man he now realized was Red spread when the familiar began violently coughing, expelling blood with each pain-filled cough.

“Please, Ollie. He’s—” Red wheezed, “—not worth it. Ollie… OLLIE, YOU HAVE TO STOP!”

The familiar took one more step forward, but then fell to his knees with a wet gasp, before collapsing completely.

Red’s fall had an almost instant effect on Ollie. His little witch began to loudly sob as the fires on him grew, along with the spark of hatred and rage in his eyes. The fire around Mikael answered that burning hatred, and the man’s screams ramped up as the flames lost interest in their game and finally engulfed his entire body.

Although he was still a distance away, Noble could feel the intense heat of the fires…yet as bright and high as they were, neither spread from their source. The building oddly remained mostly untouched, like there was a barrier protecting it. The only things Noble saw being charred by the flames was Mikael, and…the floor directly beneath Ollie’s feet. The spot underneath his witch was completely black.

Noble watched, hesitating for a few seconds more, before he realized he couldn’t just stand there. While he would love to watch Mikael burn to death—a gruesome death well deserved—and one he would relish every second of…he couldn’t. Mikael couldn’t die like this. He couldn’t let Ollie do this.

Slowly, Noble walked into the room. Approaching from the side, he held his hands up in front of him, just in case whatever state of mind Ollie was in saw him as a threat.

“Ollie?” he called out.

He wasn't sure if the man would hear him, as he hadn’t even reacted to Red’s voice, but he did. His little witch’s gaze snapped to him, a clear threat in his angry gray-blue eyes.

“Ollie, you have to stop.”

His expression was unchanged as the man hissed, “No.”

“You don’t want to do this.”

Ollie tilted his head at that, a flicker of uncertainty flashing in his eyes, before quickly disappearing. “I do…”

He smiled, taking a few steps closer. “No… No, baby, you don’t. And you don’t have to.” Noble moved closer still when the flames lessened at his words. “Baby, let me do it. Let me kill him for you. I already have blood on my hands. And for you, I will add as much as I need to.” He stepped even closer. “Let me do it, you don’t want this.”

Ollie, who was only two steps away at most, stared at him now, his eyes were wide and looking so very lost. The flames around him seemed hesitant and dimmer, while the ones eating at Mikael had pulled back, even if they were still lit.

“Don’t do this, baby. You know what I’m saying is the truth. This isn’t you, Ollie…” He swallowed. “This anger isn’t you. You aren’t this burning rage around you. You are Oliver ‘Ollie’ Wisteria Cross… The librarian who is kind, sweet, slightly eccentric, and who loves wearing adorable outfits so he can spread his kindness while reading books to teach children about the world they live in. You are not a killer.”

And Ollie wouldn’t be, as long as Noble could prevent it. That day may come, but…it was not today. And Mikael was not going to be his first.

“This is not you,” he rasped one last time, before lunging forward to wrap his arms around the Ollie, praying he wasn’t about to be engulfed by the still present flames. And...he wasn’t, because the moment his arms touched his witch, the fire went out.

Ollie let out a wail of despair, and began to sob again as he fell against his chest. “Red—ah!” he wailed. “RED!”

“Shhhh.” He held him tight, and for the first time in over a century, tears started to prick at the corner of his eyes. “Shhh, he will be fine. He will heal,” Noble lied. The truth was…he wasn’t so sure about that.

As strong as Red hinted that he was, and at one time probably was, Noble was starting to think that being bound for so many years had weakened the familiar. He doubted Mikael would have beaten him otherwise.

At the sound of shoes squeaking, he spun around, releasing Ollie as he did. Grabbing onto the hand that was coming towards him with a knife, with his other, he latched onto the back of Mikael’s head and slammed it down, bringing up his knee as he did. The witch hunter shouted when his knee connected with his face.

The man’s moans of pain ramped up the moment Noble used his hold on Mikael to spin him around, the burned flesh beneath his grip tearing. The sickening sound was just as loud as the snap that could be heard when he broke the man’s wrist while forcefully bending him over to immobilize him.

As Mikael dropped the knife with a scream, he met Ollie’s shocked, tear-filled gaze, the man still sobbing.

“Ollie, take Red and go upstairs.”

“I-I…” The little witch hesitated.

“As much as I don’t mind doing this for you, I don’t want you to watch.”

Ollie whimpered, his little sobs now heartbreaking, but…he did as he asked. It took a while, but eventually, the man helped Red to his feet, and the two stumbled their way out of the room.

Mikael spat a gob of blood onto the floor. “Traitor!”

Noble threw his head back on a dark laugh. “Oh, Mikael. The only thing I’m doing is paying betrayal with betrayal. Lies with lies. But no worries, I’ll let you fight back.”

He released his hold. Mikael stumbled forward a few steps, before managing to straighten up, and turn around to face him. The hunter stared, looking shocked for a moment, before a smug grin slipped onto his face. The smile was a bluff, and not a very good one. Mikael knew he was fucked.

“You’re a fool,” Mikael hissed.

“What? Do you think I did that out of honor? Ha—no. Don’t worry, there was no pity or morals involved. You’ll be happy to know that I did it so I could have fun killing you. I was a fool, no doubt, for ever believing all of the bullshit I was told. But then, so were you, Unstable Pawn .” He smirked. “Did you really think you were sent here for a case?”

“Shut up,” the man growled.

“No, I really want to know. What made you believe them when they told you they were pairing us, of all people, together?”

“SHUT UP!”

“Mikael, they lied to you,” Noble chimed with a taunting laugh. “You weren’t sent here for a case. You were sent here so I could kill you.”

“LIES!!”

“It doesn’t really matter to me if you believe me or not.” He felt his mouth twist in a familiar cruel and knowing smile. “You won’t live long enough to find out.”

Mikael pulled another knife out of his sleeve, and attacked with a deafening roar. But more than the obvious stab wounds from Red’s claws, it was the burns that hindered him the most. Mikael stumbled each time he took a swipe at him, and the hand that was holding the knife was unstable and shaking. He was almost too easy to avoid.

“Stop playing around!” Mikael screamed angrily as Noble once again moved just out of reach.

“I thought you liked playing with your prey, Mikael. Isn’t that one of your favorite pastimes?” he mocked, before taking his first swing, slamming his fist into the man’s jaw.

The witch hunter stumbled back, but stayed upright, likely by sheer stubbornness.

Growling, Mikael once again tried to attack, with Noble striking him after easily avoiding it. As his only want at the moment was that the damage be greater than what Mikael had dared to inflict on Ollie, he kept hitting until the man’s face was so swollen and bleeding that he could barely see.

And then Noble took aim at the man’s body. Uncaring when his fists, pants, and shoes came away covered with burnt flesh, his sick smile spreading as his assault inflicted sheer agony on Mikael.

Slamming his fist into the man’s gut again and again, Mikael finally went down. The hunter collapsed like deadweight onto the floor, wheezing loudly as blood and spittle trickled from his mouth.

Noble eyed the bastard smugly while he lazily picked up one of the knives the man had dropped.

“I hope you have fun in Hell, you rotten bastard. If there is one, that is.” He tsked at the thought and crouched down by Mikael’s side. “If there is…I suppose, regretfully, I’ll see you again one day.”

“Don’t you see—” The man let out a ragged gasp. “—what he is? What he will bring?! He will…” Mikael wheezed. “He will destroy us all!”

“Hah, as he should , ” Noble said with a dark chuckle, before he slammed the knife into the top of the witch hunter’s skull.

As Mikael finally died, Noble felt nothing beyond…satisfaction. He’d enjoyed himself. Which probably meant he’d never be able to completely walk away from this.

“Probably how they got me in the first place,” he mused aloud. An already dark soul taking an even darker path wasn’t all that surprising.