51. Come To Play
O llie skipped down the front stairs of the library as the doorbell chimed. A doorbell that was rarely ever used as they were only closed on a Sunday. The other days they were usually open by the time the mail came.
As he reached the door, he quickly turned off the alarm and unlocked it, but when he opened it, it was not Noble on the other side. Ollie tried to close it again the minute he realized who it was…but he wasn’t strong enough.
The doors of the library slammed into him, Ollie stumbling back as Mikael shoved them both wide open.
Stepping away slowly, his heart started to race at the shark-like smile on the man’s face. Mikael’s eyes seemed to shine as his gaze lazily scanned over him. “Hello there, my witchy librarian. I’ve come to play.”
He…knew… The man knew, which meant…
Ollie bolted, and the laughter that followed was beyond mocking.
“Run! Run, little witch. Hide, scurry, make it fun for me!” The man said, but all too soon he heard footsteps following behind him.
Ollie ran up, as he wasn’t sure where else to go. All the emergency doors were locked from the night before, and the elevators were off. It was Sunday, so everything was locked. He’d never unlock any of it in time.
But it didn’t really matter, as he was not a fast runner, and the man was too close for him to possibly lose him. Heart pounding away, Ollie desperately grabbed onto his taser, dropping the cap as he continued to run.
He had just stepped foot onto the third floor, wheezing as he went, when a yelped cry was forced out of him. Something hit his back hard, toppling him to the ground. It was only as he fell, and rolled in desperation, to at least see the man coming, that he realized Mikael had just punched him in the back.
The witch hunter was still standing there, with his fist outstretched, and that same smile on his face as before.
Scrambling to his feet, he ignored the pain and ran, but he didn’t get far this time. Only making it a few feet before going down again. A heavy weight slamming into his back, Ollie screamed as he fell. He struggled fiercely, bucking, and uselessly kicking the ground as he tried to get out from underneath Mikael. That was when the man began to turn him over.
Ollie wasn’t strong enough to stop it. Still, he fought, jamming the taser into the man’s neck as he was flipped over. But even though he heard the zap, and saw the man flinch, he knew when that vicious smile stayed in place, it had done nothing.
“No!” he screamed when the man managed to grab both of his wrists in an unforgiving grip, despite his attempts to evade.
Ollie cried out in pain as Mikael slammed his hands down, first once, and then twice, until the taser flew from his hold. Tightness spread through his chest, alongside the unadulterated fear of finding himself pinned.
A startled yelp slipped past his lips, his head violently forced left the moment the man backhanded him.
Ollie stared wide-eyed across the library in shock, while throbbing pain bloomed across the right side of his face, and blood pooled in his mouth. But when Mikael started to laugh, and the promise of things that were far worse than mere death was clear to hear, Ollie began to fight again. Pulling in the man’s hold, he tried desperately to shift his legs out from underneath the bastard. Perhaps more uselessly, he screamed as loud as he could, though his mind was too panicked to form actual words, as tears pooled in his eyes and blood trailed from his mouth.
Mikael hit him again, and the second blow was worse than the first. His screams cut off as blood sprayed from his mouth across the floor. With tears streaming down his face, he looked back at the man and spat. When the bloody gob hit the hunter’s cheek, the man roared in anger.
The blow that came next was even worse than before, as were all the ones that followed. Helpless, Ollie once again screamed. His breathing and voice grew hoarse with each new hit.
But then the sound was cut off, the hand that had been abusing him now wrapped around his throat. The air he’d barely been taking in before was now blocked entirely, and Ollie could only soundlessly cry as whatever hope he had left started to die.
Mikael suddenly bellowed. And as if he’d been kicked in the nuts, the hunter released his hands and throat so that he could grab at his crotch, his face red.
Taking in desperate gasps of air, with all his might, Ollie dragged himself out from under Mikael and scrambled back.
On seeing Annabel floating there, looking barely visible, but fearful, he weakly croaked, “Thank you,” before running away, stumbling a bit as he did.
Ollie sprinted into the maze-like rooms of the library, instead of going back towards his living quarters. He wouldn’t have made it to them, and it was too much of a straight shot.
But if he could just lock himself inside one of the rooms, he could call for help. And then what? Tell them a witch hunter was trying to kill him?
His scream of fear was muffled as a hand quickly clamped over his mouth, at the same time an arm wrapped around him, pinning his arms. Feeling the press of a man’s chest to his back, Ollie fought against the arm around him that felt like an unbreakable iron bar.
Tears trailed down his face in despair as he was dragged into the room he’d just passed. But when the person pulled him into a dark supply closet, the urge to fight started to leave him as confusion took hold. Ollie stopped struggling completely once the door closed and he found himself staring into these oddly familiar glowing yellow eyes.
The glow seemed to grow until it lit up the face of the stranger they belonged to. Or was it a stranger…?
Tall, with a lean, muscular body, the stranger was pale, with short black hair, and was wearing a black button-down and black pants. With high cheekbones, a pert upturned nose, and a chin that came down into a delicate point, the man’s beauty was rather statuesque, dignified even. But while he didn’t know the features, the stranger’s eyes were large and yellow, his pupils vertical slits, just like a…cat’s. Was this…Red?
The man that he thought may be his familiar, quickly pressed a finger to his own lips, his eyes growing intense with warning.
“WITCH, WITCH, GET OUT HERE, YOU PANSY ASS BITCH! You’ve earned yourself a painful death!”
Ollie flinched at the yelling, his eyes flooding with new tears as the sound of stomping footsteps grew closer. His trembling ramped up, and he tried his best to hold still, but then the door opened…
He would have screamed, but just as his fear began to force the sound out, he realized the witch hunter couldn't see them.
Mikael stared into the closet for only a moment before slamming it shut, his stomping footsteps fading away.
Ollie sagged against the man, barely managing to hold back his sob as the stranger slowly pulled his hand away from his mouth.
“Red?” he asked, his voice barely an audible whisper.
The man, who was apparently his cat, nodded.
Swallowing down another sob, he hugged him tight, and beyond belief, Red hugged him back.
“Stay here. Send a message to Noble, tell him what is happening,” Red said just as softly as Ollie had spoken, while his hand caressed his curls. “Until I return, or Noble arrives, do not come out, no matter what you hear. Lock it behind me.”
He nodded, and then he found himself alone again after the door shut behind his very human-looking cat.
With tears trailing down his face, he used his keys to lock the door, praying to whoever was above that things would be okay.
Ollie pulled out his phone, intending to call or text for help, but found the screen broken… Tapping it, he pressed the buttons on the side, trying to turn it on, but…it wouldn’t…
Ollie’s hand clenched around the useless brick as he suppressed the urge to scream, while self-disgust filled his head.
More than the phone, he was the one who was fucking useless… If he had just stopped delaying…stopped denying what he was…he’d probably know how to fix it. No, Ollie probably would have been able to do more than just run and hide like a coward.