No Witnesses
On the road, from Ohio to Michigan.
"So where to next?" asked Damon as he leaned out the window of the clunky 2005 Toyota Corolla.
"Well... We're going to a friend's place, he'll be able to interrogate this Immortal guy," said Aira as she held up Robert's bloody brain, squished inside a small glass jar.
Damon sighed, "and how long do we have to listen to these kids scream?"
"Help us! Help us!"
"Mommyyyyy!"
Damon tried to relax his head on the uncomfortable window sill, as two kids screamed and cried in the back seats of their car.
Their names were Mindy and Charlie
Mindy was five and Charlie was eleven, and they were the children of the two Witch Parents they just killed and captured.
"We'll drop em off at a nearby gas station or something. We don't want the cops on our tails. But we don't wanna be killing kids or else we'll be the villains," said Aria in a very convincing sensible tone.
Damon turned in bewilderment, "are you saying we're not the villains? Cause I definitely think we're the villains here?"
Aria turned with the same look he had, "wait wait wait... Have you been thinking this whole time that we were the villains?"
"Of course. I literally just killed an innocent mother right in front of her kids. Then we sliced open the dad and put his brain in a jar, right in front of his kids. Right in front of his kids... And now your saying we should drop them off at a random gas station in the middle of nowhere? Don't you think that's at least a little bit like... Villains?"
"Well, no... The mother was using Satan's powers. And this guy's an Immortal. That immediately makes them villains, and our enemies."
Damon smacked his head against the dashboard. Everything coming out of Aria's mouth was an extreme contradiction.
"So... No-no-no. Listen to yourself for a sec Aria. You just explained us. You have a contract with Satan and I'm literally immortal. We're the same as the parents. You're saying that we're evil."
Aria tossed the bottled-up father to Damon, "but we're killing them, so that makes us good. It's like when a virus is used against another virus to kill it. So in the end, we're making the world a better place."
"Wha..." He couldn't wrap his head around Aria's warped sense of heroism, "but like... They were literally... They were just living peaceful- You know what... Fuck it... I've done worse... We're the heroes, and they're the villains."
"Thank you! Finally, we've come to an agreement."
---
After half an hour of driving, they reached a random gas station off the side of the highway.
"Ok kids, out now!" demanded Aria as she popped open the two side doors.
The kids sat screaming, crying. Aria turned back around with a gun pointed at their heads.
"If you don't get out, I will kill you."
They slowly got out of the car and walked to one of the dirty gas pumps. The tears rolling down their eyes. Charlie held his sister close, his face filled with anger.
"Damon, roll down the window."
He rolled down his window as Aria spoke through it.
"Here's a piece of advice kids. Try to find a car without scratches on it when you hitchhike. That means the person cares for things. So you'll be less likely to be kidnapped."
Aria started up the car as Damon leaned his head out the window.
"In twenty years from now, I don't mind you two taking your revenge out on us. We're pretty bad people, so no hard feelings..."
Suddenly Aria pressed on the gas and they took off in blazing speed.
The two kids, Mindy and Charlie, were now alone, lost, without a family, in a random gas station, somewhere in the US.
They looked all around them. No cars in sight. Nobody in sight.
"Brother...?" cried Mindy.
"It's ok... I'll... Take... I'll take care of you... Since I'm your older brother..."
He pulled up his sleeve, the mark of the cloud. The mark of a summoner. A Summoner Witch.
"I'll get revenge for mom and dad. I promise you, Mindy... Cause I'm your older brother..."
---
Two days later. In the city of Detroit. A man with dyed red hair, wearing a short beenie and an apron talked on the phone as a woman entered his book shop.
She immediately walked up to the front desk, placing a book on the table.
"I'd like to return this book," she said with her long blonde hair that flowed over her green bloodied-up tracksuit.
The man in the apron looked up at the woman, her face covered in squirts of red. Her right hand holding a blood-covered book, the other holding a dripping machete.
"Sorry I don't take returns," he said calmly while placing his phone on mute.
"You don't take returns?" she asked back.
"Yup. Now take your machete out of my book shop, you're driving the customers away, plus I'm on the phone with a friend."
She placed her machete on the counter. Her face tired and confused.
"I was told to come here? To return this book?" She tapped the book fiercely, "is this book not good enough?"
The red-headed man looked at the book, he looked at the woman, her face emitting rays of stupidity.
"Fine fine," he excepted, picking up the book and tossing it into the trashbin.
The woman stood stunned and confused, "why did you throw it out?!"
"The pages are all covered in blood, it was ruined. But you went through the trouble of getting it, so I'll just let you in for free." He pointed to a door in the back of the book shop, "just wait in the back. I'll be there shortly. And clean yourself up in the shower. Your hair is filthy."
The woman walked to the back of the book shop. She walked past the staring faces. Her slender figure contrasted by her disgusting bloody green tracksuit.
Back at the counter.
"Sorry, where were we?" asked the red-headed man on the phone. "You're coming at twelve. That's in an hour? I just got another customer... You'll be fine working with them...? No? Really? She's probably after the spot in the Immortal Horses like you... Is she a spy? No no, she's genuine, I think."
---
Aria hung up on the phone. She looked at the street signs. She turned back to Damon.
"Where we going now?!" he asked as he walked across the empty streets of Detroit.
His loose, old man suit flapping in the soft flat winds.
Aria walked next to him, her fully pitch-black suit, her black gloves, her singular white tie.
"We're going to a book store, to meet a friend of mine named Marcus. He's a nice serious guy like you, so you'll get along. Just don't touch his shit, or else he won't help us."
They turned a corner.
"What's this Marcus guy do?" asked Damon.
"He's a Dealer, a Broker, anything in-between. Kinda like a double agent of sorts. He works for the Immortal Horses and a bunch of other Witch Families. He's a big deal in the underground. But he's also my inside guy."
"So this guy'll give us information on our next target?" asked Damon as he swayed back and forth, bored out of his mind.
"Well, we're not doing that type of stuff anymore, it was a one-time thing. Instead, we're gonna infiltrate them. It's a lot better than going from place to place, killing willy nilly. Plus we'll get to fight the big boys. Marcus will help us to get into the Immortal Horses, and the price for it was this Immortal man."
She swung the bloody brain jar back and forth.
"So basically this guy has all the information we need, and he also knows that we want to kill all Immortals, right?" he asked.
"Yeah. But he has another customer right now, so don't bring that shit up until later. And definitely don't talk about killing the Immortal Horses. We're gonna pretend to be in love with them."
She looked at Damon's sad lonely bored to hell face. She quickly spun around smacking him across the cheek.
"And get that look back in shape," she said slapping him again. "You look like your dead inside."
"Well, I am."
"But don't let them see it. You gotta act... Act happy! Try to smile!"
Damon pretended to smile, but it came out wonky and crooked.
"Uppp...! Higher, up more."
He raised his lips to the top of his mouth.
"Better but try to... You know what. forget it. I'll do the acting, and you'll be my immortal moody sidekick."
"Sure, sure... Did you just call me a sidekick?"