Villain of My Heart (A Librarian’s Guide to Witchery #2)

Prologue - Just a Dream

Jahla Greene stared on, her brain trying to make sense of what she was seeing, as she heard muffled voices that she was struggling to understand. What she could see was odd.

While Jahla was almost certain she was looking into a room of some kind, it was as if she was viewing it through a very dirty fishbowl.

Everything was out of focus, and the edges were oddly stretched and distorted.

Through the blur and stretch, she could see there were at least two people in the room and they were looking down into. ..was that a crib?

Jahla frowned at the oddness of the person’s words when the first clear line reached her ears.

“Look at what we made. Look at those appendages. Just perfect!” the man practically cooed. His voice was a bit higher and soft, yet, for some reason, it brought forward the feeling of pages being lightly turned, creating this smooth, fluttering, pleasing to the ear sound.

“They are, aren’t they?” the second man, whose voice was deeper yet just as smooth, drawled. Just as the first man did, his tone brought a feeling, but this time it was more sharp, like the sound of fire flickering and cracking. “But then they should be. As he is our creation.”

Appendages? Creation?

“He is!” The first person giggled. “Ahh, the wonders he could bring. A shifting of tides is coming, with endless possibilities—”

Jahla frowned when the sound cut out, and for several minutes, she missed whatever was being said, before it came back again.

“Regardless of what is to come, it will be a bloody fun time.” The second man chuckled.

The first leaned over and wrapped an arm around the other man as he said, “But of course, my Little Flicker of Light. And just look at him, he looks just like—”

“Neither of you, as he is mine,” a woman’s voice cut in.

The third voice oddly vibrated around her, as if she were inside the woman’s body, looking out. No, it was more like she was standing behind one of her eyes, observing as the woman stayed back and watched the two men.

The man with the voice that reminded her of fire tutted. “Now, now, don’t be jealous, just because you won’t be around.”

“Oliver is ours as much as he is yours.” The first man hmphed.

Oliver?

The woman ignored the two men, and Jahla’s head spun as the person whose perspective she was now sure she was viewing the scene through began to move.

Her first view into the crib was crystal clear, the blur receding just as the woman looked down.

Jahla couldn’t help but stare wide-eyed at the small and pale, curly-haired, red-headed baby, as the woman wistfully and almost sadly said, “Ollie, he’ll go by Ollie. ”

Her alarm blared loudly, and Jahla woke with a gasp.

She stared wide-eyed at her ceiling, as the last words spoken, along with the image of the baby from her dream, stuck with her clearly, even though she was awake.

In fact, the entire dream stayed in focus in her mind, unlike any other ever had, as if forgetting even a single detail wasn’t a possibility.

Swallowing hard, on realizing she was shaking a bit, Jahla took a deep, calming breath. Rubbing her face, she groaned. “What the fuck was that?” she wondered aloud, before giving her head a shake and snapping, “Nope!”

She was not going there! She was not going to look deeper into whatever the fuck that was.

Jahla did not care who the hell those men were, or why the baby called Oliver looked exactly like the baby in the photos she’d seen in Ollie’s apartment, because it was all nonsense.

Or rather, because it seemed like a bad idea.

Stretching, Jahla got out of bed. Snagging her phone off her nightstand as she went, she shut the alarm off and headed into the bathroom to take a shower. And to hopefully shake off the last remnants of the weird dream she’d had.

Starting her shower, she checked her phone as she waited for the water to heat up, hesitating when she spotted two mass text messages from the Cross Heritage Private Library.

The first was from the public text line, but the second was from the private faculty one.

Knowing the faculty text would be more detailed, she checked that first.

CHPL FACULTY UPDATES

Emergency Library Closing Notice! Do not come in.

Due to an unfortunate incident last night that resulted in fire damage, the Cross Heritage Private Library will be closed to the public and staff from October 21st to October 23rd.

As the damage has yet to be assessed, please keep an eye out for future notices in the days to come, and be prepared for more possible days off.

Regardless, for days missed, staff will be fully compensated. Please, do not come in.

Jahla had gone from concerned to alarmed as soon as she read the words ‘fire damage’.

Quickly checking the other text from the public line, she found it to be similar, just excluding the mention of fire damage and the staff-related things.

She then checked her email, knowing they would have sent notice there as well.

Her hope of there being more details in the faculty email was quickly dashed when she found the exact same message inside.

“Fire damage?” she rasped in disbelief. She stared at her phone for a brief moment, hesitating before cursing, “Fuck it!”

If Ollie thought she would stay away after reading that, he had another thing coming. The redhead should have known her better than that. Which also brought up the question of why the hell Ollie hadn’t called her last night when it happened?

Jahla was about to set her phone on the sink and get ready when it started to ring, her eyes widening when Elias Ashford’s name came across the screen.

Taking a deep breath, she answered the call. “Ye—”

Elias’s full blown panicked ramblings cut her off, his British accent coming in thick.

“I need a clear, detailed explanation as to what happened, because Ollie is not answering his phone, nor is he answering the library landline. And I know you know, because he tells you everything. Why would he tell his Assistant Director about a FIRE in the library. I mean, I’m just the one who deals with most of the bloody paperwork! ”

Well, fuck... Ollie not answering his phone was never a good sign, but it could just mean he’d lost it somewhere or had forgotten to charge it.

Her best friend not answering the library landline, however, was worth panicking over, as there was literally a phone on every librarian’s desk, in his office, not to mention, multiple in his living quarters.

Jahla took another deep breath and hesitated as she tried to think over what possibly could have happened.

Realizing Ollie may need her help if whatever happened was witch-related, she did the only thing she could…

she lied. “I’m there now. We are dealing with the situation, just give us a day or two to figure things out. ”

“You’re there?! Let me talk to Ollie! Or maybe I should just come in?”

She cringed at the idea. Whatever was going on, Ollie was likely stressed, and Elias turning up would just add to it.

“No, no, stay home. Ollie is busy at the moment and can’t come to the phone. But like I said, give us a few days to sort things out. You will know what happened soon enough.”

The man let out a frustrated huff. “Fine, fine! Just let me know as soon as you can. Bye!”

Jahla sighed as soon as Elias hung up. She stared blankly for a moment before trying Ollie’s phone.

“Fuck,” she swore when it went straight to voicemail. Tossing her phone on the sink, she rushed to get ready, because the sooner she could leave the better.