Luisa Lemke

This morning the doorbell rang at 6:00. Mom and Dad went down to the police station at 5 to talk with the cops who are trying to organize some kind of search and rescue thing... I'm staying out of it in case I crack and tell them all about what I saw. I went and answered the door (which I really shouldn't have done, but I was really tired and I didn't think anything of it.)

A woman stood there. She wore a big hat that completely covered her head, so I couldn't tell what color her hair was or even see her eyes. She seemed to be in her mid- 50s, but that's just a guess. She wore a tight-fitting red shirt and black pants, and they didn't look too bad on her. In her hand she held a small steno notebook.

"May I come in?" she asked. I was instantly awake.

"I don't think so," I said. "Who are you?"

"Luisa Lemke. I'm a reporter for the... uh... Salt Lake Times. I wanted to ask you a few questions about the disappearance of your brother?"

"I don't think so," I said again. "We've already spoken to people from your paper. Leave us alone, please."

I started to close the door, but she threw out a hand and held it open. I stared quite rudely at her hand for what must have been thirty seconds; it was extremely wrinkled and dotted with liver spots. It looked like the hand of a ninety-five year old lady, not this curvaceous woman who stood on my front porch.

"Where were you when little Jakob disappeared?" she asked after a minute.

"We were at Pa's Steakhouse," I said, too stunned not to answer.

"When did you notice he was gone?"

"About fifteen minutes after he'd been missing."

"Did you follow his trail into the woods?"

"How did you know he went into the woods?" I asked. The cops have been trying to keep that tidbit out of the papers, and so far I'd thought they had succeeded.

"I know. Did you follow his trail?"

"N-no," I stuttered.

"Thank you, that will be all," she said and turned away. For a second I was sure I saw a glint of red in the shadow that hung over her face, but then she was gone. She sprinted down the street much faster than she should have been able to.

I'm thinking now that she was one of the witches I saw, and they suspected I was there. Whatever the case, she definitely wasn't a reporter. She dropped her notebook in the driveway, after all... I don't think any self-respecting reporter would leave that behind. It was blank.

Has anyone else run into the Coven of the Black Crow? (Oh, in case you're wondering how I know their name... I have no idea. It just seems like the right thing to call them, after what came out of the Gate of Hell. It just fits.) Have they taken anyone else's family members?

What can I do to kill a witch?