Chapter 9
Sitting on the floor in his small closet, tears trailing down his face, Ollie curled up into a ball as the sound of heavy footsteps grew closer. There was light on the other side of the door, but none seemed to penetrate the darkness he sat trapped in as he waited for the monster to find him.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Ollie flinched with each thud.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
How could such an even, steady pace sound so threatening? But then, why would they be in a hurry? Ollie was trapped.
He wheezed as he tried to draw in a full breath, his heart ticking away faster when he failed.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t breathe! Whimpering, he clawed at his throat as it seemed to close off. He tried to will it to work as it should, but it wouldn’t. It was like the darkness surrounding him was choking him along with the weight of his fear.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Closer—wheeze—they were getting closer! Breathe, he had to breathe!
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
But then the thuds stopped, a shadow now blocking part of the light at the bottom of the door. Ollie choked back a whimper, his fear gripped onto him tightly, and his stomach twisted as acid tried to bubble up.
Seconds ticked by, with him getting more and more lightheaded before he stopped breathing altogether, while the shadow remained right there outside his door.
Ollie glanced up at the sound of the doorknob turning, but let out a frightened scream when, between one blink and the next, the door opened and this huge, shadowy figure was on him, with Ollie fighting to get free—
He thrashed around, screaming as he tried to get away from the monster holding him.
“Ollie!”
“NO!” he cried.
“Ollie, stop! It’s me, Noble!”
He froze at the words, tears trailing down his face, as his sleep-fogged brain finally recognized the voice, and realized where he was. Which was in bed with Noble, after directing cleaners all Saturday as they deep-cleaned the library.
Whimpering, he now clung to the body he’d been trying to previously get away from, as he began to sob, while the man held him in his arms more firmly.
“It was just a bad dream. It’s okay, Baby, it’s okay.”
“I-it’s not!” Ollie sobbed. “It’s s-so st-stupid.”
“Was it about Mikael?”
“Y-yes? No?” he huffed.
Noble gently ran his hand over his curls. “What was it about, Baby?”
Ollie’s breath stuttered before he managed to say, “Shadows…”
“Shadows?”
“Th-there—” He cut himself off with a frustrated growl when he stuttered again, and took a few deep breaths to calm down before trying to explain.
“I was…trapped, it was hard to breathe, there were footsteps, and then the shadow figure found me. How does it even make sense? Like, Mikael was the one that hurt me, not some random, dumb shadowy creature! My monster had a face! I don’t understand why I’m jumping at shadows now, and freaking out on people for no reason. ”
“Baby, you were forced to run away from him. You were terrified that he, at any moment, could come up behind you and grab you. And when you got away, you then hid in a closet, worried he would find you.”
“He would have if it wasn’t for Red. Mikael, he…
He opened the door… He opened the door and stood inches away from me, and then he closed it and walked away.
Then Red left me in there to go fight him, and I think he left me there knowing, or at least believing, he wouldn’t be coming back.
That he was g-going to d-die.” Ollie whimpered as more tears broke free.
“But he didn’t die, Ollie. You saved him.” Noble sighed and pulled back gently, brushing away a few tears as his heart ached at the man’s pain, before pressing a kiss to his forehead.
The witch took a stuttered breath, his tears starting to slow. “I almost didn’t.”
He had to stop himself from looking away at the trust he saw in the witch’s wide gray-blue eyes.
Ollie was looking at him as if Noble was everything, when he really was just like the monster in his dream, just like the monster Mikael had been.
Noble had been part of the very organization, and was the exact thing, that was driving the man’s nightmares and fear.
He was a witch hunter…a former one, he may be, but the stain remained.
Taking a deep breath, Noble softly rasped, “But you did. And…I think it makes perfect sense why your fear is focused on the unknown, or rather, a shadowy being.”
“Why?”
“Because Mikael is dead. He can’t hurt you anymore. But he isn’t the only witch hunter out there.”
Ollie heaved out a sigh, finally no longer crying. “They are unknown…and thus, shadows?”
“Yes.”
“I hate being afraid of the unknown. I usually just…research anytime something scares me. It doesn’t always help, in fact, sometimes it makes it worse, but other times, just understanding whatever it is can at least get rid of the unreasonable fears.
I can’t really do that this time, because there are no books that I know of.
“Maybe my grimoire can help, if it ever feels like being helpful? Though, I’m not sure if knowing about witch hunters will make me fear them less, considering they all want me dead regardless. But maybe it will make me feel less helpless?”
Not all want you dead…he thought. He knew Ollie learning more about witch hunters would endanger his secret, and thus, limit his time with the witch, but the more the man knew, the safer he would be. And as selfish as Noble was, he couldn’t find it in himself to discourage the man.
“It’s…possible? Maybe try to ask it tomorrow?”
Ollie let out another little sigh as he snuggled against his chest. He was silent for a few moments before asking, “Noble…do you…ever get afraid? You always seem so…put together.”
If ‘put together’ meant he was a semi well-adjusted, former serial killer with a slight penchant for violence, and almost zero personal hobbies, then yes, he was put together.
“Things aren’t always as they seem. And the truth is, I was terrified when I drove up and spotted the doors of the library wide open, and heard the screaming. Just as I was terrified when you called me that night you were injured, and I could hear you were obviously not okay.”
“Were you scared when Mikael came that first time?”
Noble hesitated before admitting, with a mix of lies, “Yes. Because I had realized what you were, and had learned, from past interactions with the bastard, what he was.”
“Jahla figured you probably knew what he was. Which, I guess, is why you warned me to stay away from him.”
“I’m sorry, Baby. I should have told you after you admitted to me that you were a witch; I just didn’t want to scare you. And I didn’t think he had realized what you were.”
“You telling me wouldn’t really have changed anything. He did just sort of show up,” Ollie said with a yawn.
Noble wasn’t so sure about that. He couldn’t help but wonder if the man would have opened the door without checking first, if he had told him. But instead of pointing that out, he just murmured, “Let’s go back to sleep; it’s still early.”
Ollie grunted and snuggled closer still.
As her gaze flicked around the barely visible room, Jahla’s heart pounded away in her head, seeming to pulse with the feathered darkness at the edges of her vision, as her breathing increased. As dark as the room was, she saw enough, and none of it was anything she had ever wanted to see again.
As much as Jahla wanted to close her eyes, she knew it wouldn’t do a damn thing.
The thick coppery smell burning through her sinuses would never allow her to hide and pretend she wasn’t there.
But that was how it always had been; covering one sense had never been enough.
Not with what was littering the floor like discarded trash.
All around her were bodies—bloodied bodies.
Bodies that were twisted and broken at impossible angles, with those whose faces were still intact holding the horrors of their last moments.
But too many didn’t have faces at all, as if they’d been scraped off, their features removed in some sick and twisted game.
On hearing a noise behind her, she spun, her startled yelp catching in her throat as she stumbled away from the person who was right behind her, someone she hadn’t expected to see.Standing there at over six feet tall, was Noble.
But this Noble was different, he looked younger.
He had no lines on his face, and his curly brown hair lacked any sort of gray.
Not to mention, it was ponytail-long, and he had some major sideburns, the sides not faded like his hair was now.
His clothing, on the other hand, was outdated.
He was wearing scuffed up work boots, looser and slightly ill-fitting brown trouser-like pants, a thicker off-white button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and what she’d describe as a brown waistcoat, just based on the era it likely came from.
More than the oddities of his looks and clothing, his expression was one she had never seen on the man’s face before—pure hatred and violence. The emotions seemed to be outlined and supported by the blood staining the man’s hands and clothes.
When Noble’s burning gaze narrowed pointedly at her, she—
The sound of her alarm ringing had Jahla jerking awake with a gasp. Her heart was speeding away, just as it had been in her dream, so she took a shuddered breath and just laid there, trying to calm her breathing as her alarm continued to go off.
“A dream…it was—” She took another deep breath. “—just a dream.”
But what if…it wasn’t? No, well, logically, that dream had been vastly different than the first weird one. Less of a fishbowl looking out experience, for sure, yet...why did Jahla have this feeling that they weren’t different at all, and were in fact both visions of some kind?
Oh, right, because her best friend was now a witch, but she wasn’t, so like, they had to be just dreams!
Okay, so she could now see ghosts. At least, Jahla knew for a fact she could see the singular ghost that floated around Ollie’s library, but that didn’t make her a witch. Just idiotic enough to continue to stick by her redheaded friend who happened to be one.
Besides, no one in her family was a witch…
as far as she knew. Though they were certainly deadly enough without being one.
Not that she was even in contact to ask them, for very good mob-related reasons.
Not that calling her dad up and being like, ‘hey, any witches in the family?’ would have been a good idea.
It definitely wouldn’t blow over well with the highly religious, if slightly hypocritical mafia boss…
Speaking of dead bodies, and the possibly not-a-dream, Noble had now dealt with a total of two corpses while in Ollie’s proximity, one being someone he’d ended himself.
And through all of it, the man had seemed, not only unshaken, but completely unfazed by pretty much every single thing that had happened with Ollie so far, witch-related and more.
It raised all sorts of red flags, and worse…he knew Mikael. And it wasn’t some bodyguard mob-related reason. No, Jahla was sure it was more than that. Noble knew what Mikael was, and in Jahla’s mind, now that she thought about it…
Well, there was really only one reason he would know, wasn’t there? Ah, fuck… Fuck, fuckidy, fucking, fuck…
Snagging her still blaring phone off her dresser with a groan, she killed the alarm, her brow raising on reading the short text from Ollie.
OLLIE
Come watch me train!
Train what exactly, and how? Well, it was definitely nothing athletic-related, as it was Ollie, and her friend avoided any exercise that didn’t involve running around the library like the plague. So, witch-related, for sure…
She hesitated for a moment before deciding that she was going to dumbly let her damn curiosity guide her…again.
Jahla sighed. What even were these choices she was making? She had officially become dumb enough to follow her equally as dumb white friend into the scary unknown apparently…