"Michael!!" the door banged at the front. 

"s.h.i.+t," the witcher cursed, it appeared that it was one of the neighbors who had come to visit this person. 

"Michael? You in there? Are you at the back?" came the woman's voice. Their orders had been clear to turn the humans to half-witches. If needed he would have to kill the woman but he could sense the footsteps on the ground. There were people walking nearby which would make it difficult to kill her. To make it worse, the black witcher heard another voice along with hers. 

"Did he go out to the woods?" came the other voice. 

"Don't think so..."

In a hurry to not be caught, the black witcher left the body as it was, leaving the chair back inside quickly and disappearing from the scene quickly. In less than a few seconds, two loud screams echoed through the village after sighting the dead man. 

Even though some days pa.s.sed by, the body continued to sit there at the back of the house. As it didn't appear to look like a normal death, the magistrate had invited doctors to look at the dead body but no one could conclude what happened with the man, the way he looked right now. The report had been sent to the council but it was pa.s.sed on to the higher-ups. 

Finally, the day arrived where Councilman Lionel's team came to inspect the scene. The witchers who were hidden in the houses, peered through the windows to look at the four council members. Strangely there was a woman with them. By this time, most of the humans were in the process of being converted to half-witches while some of them had completed the process whilst the witches waited for them to break down as the man did. It wasn't confirmed if the potion which was being injected would work the same on every individual being. 

Most of them were mum and they stayed inside their houses. 

One of the councilmen asked, "Is it me or is it just quieter than the norm?"

The blond man who was walking in the front agreed, "It is quiet," His red eyes moving to pick the way some of the village folks peeked out of the doors, "It is why we are here. Have there been any recent attacks in here, Heuren?" he asked his fellow councilman.

Heuren, looked down at his little notes which he carried along with him on what background check he had made after collecting the necessary information, "The village hasn't experienced any recent witch attacks. Not in the last two months at least," he explained, "It's strange."

As the four of the council members walked, who had come to look at the body after they receive the case in their hands, one of the black witches peered through the gap of the curtains from inside the house. Staring at them. They had somehow got the doctors who had arrived out of this village by spells, and some who left on their own unable to conclude with what happened. With the dead man who was found behind the house, no one dared to touch him or move him from there. 

It wasn't just because he looked as if he would crumble to dust but also because they feared what happened. If it was an ill omen which would pa.s.s on to them. The woman who was with them turned suddenly to look at the witch who had been peering at them. Her eyes holding the councilwoman's gaze as she continued to walk past the house. 

They couldn't do much with the magistrate as they needed him to act as one of the normal beings before they would convert him. The magistrate arrived in time to greet them who was a scrawny looking man,

"Duke Leonard! It is good to have you here, finally."

"Your village looks dead, Mr. Fleek," said Leonard directly without holding back what he had to say. Vivian stared at Leonard from behind wondering how others worked with him. A little out of tact without sugar-coating things, his words were often blunt when spoken. 

"It has been like this for some time now. Come this way please," the man guided them around the deserted town, "There has been an increase in death for the past few weeks."

"Did you report it to the council?" asked Lenoard walking next to Mr. Fleek.

Mr. Fleek nodded his head, his hands holding each other close to him as he showed his hand towards the house in front of them, "I did, but we got the report canceled."

"Duke Leonard," interrupted Heuren who stood behind them, "The death has been caused due to the unknown anomaly. Some of the doctors came here to check but were sent away." 

When Leonard gave the magistrate a look, the man quickly went to reply back, "There was a plague sire. An infection that broke down and infected some of the men and their families but it went away within two weeks, therefore, the council rejected it from being pa.s.sed to the higher council. But that was a long time ago." 

"Where is the body?" 

"It is behind the house. This way please," the magistrate guided them towards it. 

When they reached the spot, the caught sight of the body sitting upright with its eyes and mouth open. The body looked as if it had been sucked dry out of the air and water. 

"He looks toasted in this cold weather," another councilman commented looking down at the body. 

Councilman Leonard stepped forward, squatting down to crouch himself in front of the dead man he observed the color of the eyes. The body looked delicate as if a gust of strong wind could blow the body out into tiny dust particles. He then picked its hand that laid on one side of the body to check the nails that had turned black. 

Dropping the hand, councilman Leonard said, "Mr. Fleek, it looks like you have a black witch living in this village of yours." 

"Black witch?" the magistrate repeated his words, "We don't have any black witches here. This village has been clean out of it as if we hang the mistletoe leaves in the four directions," the man explained seeing the Duke stand up who seemed hardly interested in what he was telling. He turned to his other councilmen to say,

"Dutan. Heuren. Go check everyone who resides in this village for the presence of a black witch," he ordered them to have the men leave and follow the order. He then called, the councilman woman, "Vivian, go check the house," he gave her a look and the woman understood what she had to do. 

The black witches who stood inside the houses realized that this was another group they had to get hold of. Either by sending them away from here or turning them to one of them.