Chapter 22 #2
It was similar to the first, but had gone from menacing and looming to horrifying and gruesome.
The bound person was no longer whole, but had been cut into thirteen pieces.
Blood, intestines, and so much more spilled out, as the chains remained, holding down the remaining pieces.
Two for the arms, one for the neck and head, one for the torso, one for the hip area, two for the thighs, two for the knees and the rest of the legs, and two for the ankles and feet.
It was more than a cut, the witch had been shredded.
The long, jagged strikes were like that of an animal, having sliced and clawed through each section, speckling blood everywhere.
In fact, if the illustration of a head wasn’t still visible, he’d likely just think they were chewed pieces of animal… meat…
Swallowing hard again as bile tried to rush up his throat, Ollie took a deep breath before slowly reading the single line underneath.
“‘As the hunter gains, the witch they stole from is torn apart, their very soul shattered and often left to…linger behind…for eternity… N-never to become w-whole again…’”
Ollie licked his lips, sweat forming on his brow as he continued to stare, as other words he’d read aloud floated to the surface.
As a tear finally broke free, he softly rasped, “‘If on the morrow, my words are not written, death has found me, and with it, my comfort is forever denied.’...‘In the morrow, my words will not be written, death has found me, and with it, my comfort forever denied.’... Oh, God…”
Ollie gagged, choking back tears, as he struggled to take a shuddered breath.
He stared at the page for a moment longer before it became too much.
Slamming the book closed, he focused on breathing, desperately trying to shove back the rising fear and panic.
But the thoughts still came, as the clarity refused to be ignored.
A fragment… Annabel was a fragment of a soul!
She was a fragment because a witch hunter had shattered her!
And the reason she hadn’t wanted me to try to see her Death Mark was because her death had moved far beyond gruesome, and was in fact the result of the shredding of her very being, heart and soul…
With shaky hands, he ran them over the small book. “Annabel…was shattered…so a hunter could become stronger…” Ollie trailed off with a frown.
How…how had Noble been able to beat—well, duh, it wasn’t like Mikael had exactly been in great shape by the time Noble got to him. The man had been stabbed multiple times by Red, and not to mention, severely burned, and…possibly partly rotted…
Okay, he wasn’t entirely sure about that last part. Either way, stronger or not, it didn’t matter when you were that injured and against someone who knew how to fight and defend himself like Noble did.
Taking a calming breath, he glanced around.
Meow!
Even though Ollie jumped at the high-pitched sound, he felt relief hit him at the appearance of a distraction. “Pumpkin, come to daddy, my cutie baby!”
Noble smirked when he found Ollie teasing the ghost kitten with a cat toy, which happened to be a stuffed fish attached to a stick with a string. The witch hurriedly hid the toy behind his back as Noble mused, “Busy at work, I see.”
Ollie stared at him, feigning innocence for a moment, before giggling.
“Well, I’ll have you know, I was working and reading up until about ten minutes ago, after failing to make the mirror again.
Oh, also, I made a request for Irene’s cold case files with the local Police Department, so we will, at some point in the future—three to five business days—know what the police found out. ”
“Oh? What were you reading about? And I suppose three to five business days is better than nothing.”
“Witch hunters. And all of it was horrible and somewhat nightmare-inducing, but, um, yeah! Learn anything new about Georgie Babs?”
While an almost instant wave of panic and guilt at the mention of hunters hit him, Noble feigned a neutral smile as he said with certainty, “The man is for sure hiding something. He knows more than he claims, and I’m thinking he possibly even knows where she died, or is buried.”
Ollie frowned. “Are you sure?”
“I watched him repeatedly talk himself out of going somewhere, so yeah, pretty sure.”
His little witch sighed. “I just find it so hard to believe he’s involved. He’s always been so kind to me, and almost everyone, aside from Rowden…”
In Noble’s opinion, the man got points in his favor for that last part. He couldn’t help but think that maybe Georgie Babs was in fact a kind man…who had possibly made a horrible mistake.
“The question is…how was he involved? I think you are right that he likely didn’t do it, yet…maybe he knows who killed her, or perhaps he witnessed it?”
The witch pursed his lips, tilting his head. “Then…why didn’t he say anything?”
“That is the question, isn’t it? My guess is either fear…or…he knew the person who did it…”
Ollie’s eyes widened. “Do you think it was his father?”
“Why else would an otherwise kind person stay quiet after watching someone they thought was a good person be murdered? Did you know his father?”
“I did…but Marlow Babs died about ten years back… While I would say he was more contained and closed off than Georgie, he didn’t seem like a murderer to me.”
Noble held back the urge to say that Ollie possibly wasn’t the best judge of character, even if it was true. He couldn’t exactly admit that Noble himself was one of the bad characters Ollie was misjudging.