Bewitched (Ichabad Crane x Reader)

Chapter 3- Murder Last Night

It's a quiet night and Jonathan is looking out of the wooden bunker window watching the forest, his face full of fear. A thick fog creeps from the woods and goes to each torch that is along the forest line and snuffs out each flame. Johnathan readies his rifle and pulls the safety off. 

"Come out, devil." He whispers. 

Sheep runs out of the forest as if they are running away from someone or something. Johnathan hears a horse's footsteps getting closer and closer, and throughout the town, you can hear a shot from the rifle firing.

 ~~~

Jonathan flees through the forest, glancing back terrified, and following him is a huge black horse getting closer to him. The rider's gloved hand draws his sword and when they pass03 Jonathan, he cuts off his head.

Johnathan's body tumbles to the ground and his head hits the ground behind it.

~~~

In the Early Morning, Ichabod and Y/n wait outside the Livery Stable, Ichabod holding his bag, and Killian brings out two horses. One being black with gray and the other being fully black.

"His name's Gunpowder and her name is Shadow." Killian introduces the two horses.

"They should do just fine, Mr. Killian. Thank you" Ichabod says patting Gunpowder's rear, making dust fly off. Y/n walks towards Shadow and pets her mussel making the horse nudge her with affection. "Aren't you lovely." Y/n whispers to the horse.

"Good luck, sirs. If you need help, you call my name." Killian says smiling at the two.

"Much appreciated." Ichabod says and Y/n nods. 

Close to the stable is a small house with a plaque saying: "Elizabeth Killian, Midwife." Mrs. Killian is helping a pregnant woman out the door and handing her a bunch of herbs.

"Now, don't you worry about a thing. Everything's going to be just fine." The pregnant woman leaves and Mrs. Killian turns to the fields. "Thomas! Inside!"

Thomas runs to Killian and he lift him to give him a kiss before letting the kid back down. "Run along for your breakfast. Kiss your mother once for you and twice for me."

Off in the distance, a gunshot is heard. A man on a horse shouts and waves his rifle around. "Murder! The horseman's killed again!"

Killian runs into the stable to get a horse for himself and Ichabod and Y/n get on their horses, Ichabod having more trouble than Y/n.

"All right, Gunpowder, we're off. Come on." Once Ichabod got on Gunpowder, the horse started walking, but in the wrong way. Y/n and Shadow look at the two in amusement and think about helping them, but decide against it.

Killian got on his horse and started going into the forest. Y/n follows him and Ichabod is able to turn Gunpowder around and follows the two.

"Good horsey."

~~~

A group of men surround Johnathan's body, one of the men moves his arms into a rest position.

"Mr. Miller, ride back for the coffin cart." Baltus says.

"Yes, sir." Miller walks away. Baltus looks at the men around, "The rest of you keep a sharp lookout."

Killian walks with his rifle in hand and stands not far from the group. Y/n arrives and right behind her is Ichabod. "It's all right. We're here now." 

The two get off their horses and walk towards the body. Everyone looks at them and both of them try to calm down. Y/n since it is the first time seeing what they talked about and Ichabod since it is different than what he is used to.

"The fourth victim, Jonathan Masbath." The Doctor says.

Ichabod looks at the body and tries to calm down. "And the head?" He questions still trying not to get sick. Y/n pats his back trying to help him.

"Taken." Philipse answers.

"Taken." Ichabod repeats. "Interesting. Very Interesting." Ichabod starts walking around while Y/n stays at the same spot.

"What is?" Baltus questions.

"In headless corpse cases of this sort, the head is removed to prevent identification of the body." Ichabod walks till he is next to Baltus.

"But we know this was Jonathan Masbath." Baltus informs.

"Precisely. So why was the head removed?"

"Why?" Baltus questions.

"Right." Ichabod says not understanding that Baltus was waiting for an answer and not adding to the explanation.

Ichabod walks till he is faced to faced with Doctor Lancaster. "You have moved the body?" Ichabod questions, already knowing the answer.

"I did." 

"You must never move the body!" Ichabod says furious.

"Why not?" Doctor Lancaster questions.

"Because." That is what Ichabod can only say since he too doesn't know why. Y/n shakes her head with a grin on her face since she knows how Ichabod takes his work to heart.

Ichabod walks back to the body to leave his bag on the floor when he notices hoofprints on the ground. He taps Y/n on the shoulder and nods to the prints on the ground, making her kneel to the ground and pull out her journal, and Ichabod takes wide steps following the trail. He stops and turns back to the body.

"The stride is gigantic. The attacker rode Masbath down..." Ichabod starts galloping back to the way he came. "...turned his horse... came back. Came back to claim the head." He walks to his bag just as Y/n stands up after finishing writing what she sees and what Ichabod said.

Ichabod kneels and pulls up a stand that holds different bottles with powders and liquids. He picks up a bottle and sprinkles the powder on the ground above the throat. It starts sizzling and smoke appears making Y/n write it down.

"Yes. There's a chemical reaction. It shows there was a powerful singular thrust to the neck." Ichabod explains. He goes back to his bag and takes out odd glasses making his eyes look huge and ties them around his head. Y/n laughs, but tries to cover it with a cough when the men look at her.

Ichabod leans closer and uses a tweezer-like tool to lift a part of a neck. He sees a beetle walk out making him freak out and leap up. Y/n sees this and walks to his side to try to calm him down, which she does.

"Interesting." He says as he tries to recover.

"What is it?" Baltus asks.

"The wound was cauterized in the very instant, as though the blade itself were red hot. And yet, no blistering, no scorched flesh." He looked at the men who all looked worried.

"The Devil's fire." Philipse says grabbing the cross he has by his pocket. Ichabod turns around also looking worried and Y/n closes her book with confusion.

~~~