Another mission
The General observed the two with his cold gaze, analysing their expressions before making decisions.
He wasn't expecting success. But he also wasn't ready to see such a great division.
He hadn't given the amulet to Sara on purpose, aiming to test Vera's stubbornness and the other woman's capabilities at the same time. He had been disappointed in both cases.
One of them was a source of constant trouble with her ideals and rules. She wouldn't do anything against her ethics even if it cpuld benefit the agency and - by consequence - the whole world.
The other was incompetent. However, she had no reservations about using an amulet to keep control over a colleague. She was merciless and ambitious, and he liked ambitious women. They were easy to manipulate.
As for the total lack of any aspirations of the first one, he had no words. Someone like her should have cared less about those creatures, but she didn't want the agency to collect them... She had messed-up ethics.
General Blasi wasn't sure how to move. The witches were a headache he needed to solve if he wanted to have a peaceful time.
«I've received a request,» he said. «A private customer. You two will go and solve it.»
«Sure,» Sara replied, smiling. Vera didn't move a muscle.
«This time, you can't fail. Am I clear? Your statistics will be updated after the mission, so it would cause you both to lose one rank if you failed for the second time in a row.»
«Yes, General. We will definitely succeed,» Sara exclaimed, relieved she was getting away with what happened on the Duomo terraces.
Vera, on the other side, had a terrible feeling. Where were they going, suddenly? For a private customer? What for?
Since when did the agency offer services like that?
«This time, I shall ensure you two agree on the plan. I can't allow another creature to disappear. You two will both write the report when you return, so beware of any lie. Am I clear?»
«Clear,» Sara repeated, but Vera said no word.
She was still wondering what kind of mission that was. She hadn't ever gone to a customer's request. Maybe just because she was an agent to use only for dangerous situations. She had a hundred missions in her contract, so they wouldn't waste it on hunting ghosts.
«What is the situation?» she asked. Collecting information before departing would have sped up the investigations.
«A family has a summer villa in a rural village in Austria. However, when they went there for a vacation, they started witnessing strange occurrences. Things would be moved without their involvement, and they started hearing weird sounds at night. Not to mention the kids being scratched when waking up. Small scratches, almost unnoticeable. That's when they decided to move back to the city and never return again. However, they seem to need the house back. So, they asked for our help.»
«Why now?»
«That's their personal matter, Agent Bogdan.»
«It might become relevant later. Has anyone stepped in the house lately? Have they witnessed the same events again?»
«Not yet. They say they want an agent with them when returning. Your mission is to check if everything is all right. If it's not, solve it. Then, when the family can pacifically live in the villa, come back here and write the reports.»
«So, we don't need to catch the creature, do we?»
«Are you capable of catching ghosts?»
«Not at all. I can dispel them, at most.»
«See? It would be pointless to ask you to bring them back. Just free the house and allow the family to live happily.»
«I'll do what's possible, General. But I need to meet with them. Sometimes, the creatures react to people's auras, characters, and destiny. It might be related to the family, not to mention the chance the ghost is from their family. I would like to talk with them before going there.»
«Okay,» he said, leaning back.
Ambitionless? Definitely. Cold and absent-minded? Often.
However, Vera Bodgan had a great sense of her cases. She knew what to ask and how to move without needing guidance. He had prepared everything for the two witches to reach the family in Vienna before travelling to the villa.
He wasn't expecting the request, but he had been a detective once. He also had his own sense of crime and mystery.
That young woman was a great agent, he had to admit it. Even if undisciplined, she could do her job and get things done. She was an asset the agency wouldn't have renounced. Not unless they got more in return.
«After this mission, you can have a vacation on your own,» he said. «If everything proceeds as planned, I'll give you two weeks off. Both of you.»
The light in Vera's eyes confirmed his expectations. At the word vacation, her face lit up. However, it also made him curious. Where would she go? What for?
Was she going to travel to her home village, like every time she was on holiday? He had checked her passport, and she had visited half of Europe during her missions. However, the only place she would visit alone and more than once was home.
Was she going to visit that woman? Not that it concerned him, all in all. Her grandmother lived in a small village in the mountains with her chickens and pets.
The agency kept tabs on Vera's visits because it was dangerous to leave her alone. She had very few vacations for that same reason: not to visit the woman who initiated her to magic and taught her the base of her art.
«I won't fail,» she murmured.
«We - we won't fail,» Sara corrected her thought. She smiled at the General, but he was too busy analysing Vera to notice.