A Vision of Crows

Chapter 3 - The Witch Hunter

"Answer my questions!"

"Pops, please, I'm tired! I'll answer you in the morning!"

"Remus, this is important! If you don't tell me where they are this exact moment, they'll get away!"

"Pops, I've had a really difficult day. Please, just leave me alone."

Tylek Cole sighed, sitting back down in his desk chair, where he sat across from his son, Remus. Earlier that day, Remus had had an encounter with a witch. He had been driving home with his girlfriend when he got pulled over by a policeman for speeding. While he was outside the car speaking with the policeman, the girl suddenly took off with the car, heading off to who-knows-where. The car was located hours later in a lake. The girl had disappeared, but it was clear what she was. What made it clear about what the girl truly was the car's condition, for even though it was half-way submerged in water, the roof of the car was in flames, so much so that the firemen had difficulty putting out the fire. The police were unable to identify the witch's identity due to both her having kept her face hidden and Remus's own noncompliance. He was most likely still in shock about the destruction of his car and the truth about the girlfriend he had been so madly in love with for the past few months.

Tylek shook his head, then looked at Remus. "Son," he said, "You are aware of what my job is, correct?"

Remus did not respond, so he continued, "My job is to track and hunt down these no good, scummy- "

"Alice is not a piece of scum!" yelled Remus, slamming his hands on Tylek's desk, who merely stared at him with a slight feeling of disappointment. "Remus," he said, "Please don't make things harder than they already are."

Remus stared back at him, with an expression that Tylek had seem many times before, on many other faces. Denial. But with those people, he had been able to wrangle out the truth using other methods, methods that he did not have the heart to use on his own son.

Just as Tylek opened his mouth, the door swung wide open. Standing in the doorway was Tylek's younger son, Elian. Elian was a nervous and shy eight-year-old boy, with large, blue, doe-like eyes just like his mother's, and a mop of mousey brown hair on his head. He looked at the ground, more nervous than usual now that he had both his father and older brother staring right at him. With a frail voice, he stammered, "M...Mama says dinner is ready. She...she said that she won't...won't take no... for an answer."

Embarrassed, he quickly ran off. As they watched him go, Tylek turned back to Remus and spoke, startling him, "Go, we'll discuss this later." Remus nodded slowly and left, leaving Tylek alone in his office.

He wanted to get to the bottom of this case, no matter what it took. Witches do not reveal themselves easily, especially in the presence of the pol. She must have been protecting someone. But who?, he mused to himself. It wouldn't take too long to figure it out, but by the time he did, they would have already fled, which could make things very difficult.

No worries, though, he thought. I'll track down this rat's nest, and catch them all. Those witches, they can run all they want, but I'll hunt them down, one-by-one. Soon, I will get my revenge, and make every single one of those rats pay. Every single one...

A cruel smile spread on his face. He got from his desk, and exited his office.