The police were apparently used to seeing this sight, because they seemed nearly unfazed as they dealt with documenting Mikyung's lifeless body and the wreckage of the house. Minji felt as if she herself were disconnected from her own body, just watching herself go through the motions in a calm and collected manner, while her mind and heart were screaming in pain. She may not have always seen eye to eye with the woman, but it seemed as if throughout her entire life, she knew that she would always have her mother to fall back on. Now...

Now, she didn't want to think about it. She gave herself a shake and continued to answer the policeman's questions, though from the way several of them dropped off before he could finish the sentence told her that he was in on the know. He knew about the coven, he knew about the thing hunting witches, and he knew why Minji was there. And at that thought, her shoulders squared and she raised her chin ever so slightly. She would get to the bottom of this, and catch whoever was doing this - and make them pay.

Finally they had Minji leave so that they could clean the crime scene, and she was all too relieved to do so, as long as they left the battle area intact for her to investigate. She released her poor familiar from her earlier command and he bounded off to who knew where in the house, and she evacuated the premises. Leaving her car in it's spot in front of the house, she walked instead, allowing the cooling evening air to clear her mind. She needed to see this from a cold standpoint so that she could truly investigate, but she wasn't quite able to get over the fact that it was her mother who was now being moved to the morgue. Now she went to the park nearby where she had spent countless hours as a child and teenager, even having her first kiss in the shade of the playground, and sat on one of the benches there to think.

If only she had thought to bring a notebook to write in. Well, she could compromise. Minji pulled her cell phone from the pocket of her shorts and opened a new note, ready to jot down her thoughts on it. If she could get them lined out, anyway. It took several tries for her to even bring the horrible scene to mind, and with it came the emotion that she feared would accompany it. Pushing aside the feelings, she cast a quick spell to separate her mind from her heart, and then to lock her heart into a temporary box. She would deal with it tonight when she was alone in her mother's house.

Now, as for what she had noticed in the house itself. The broken furniture and broken window said there had been a major fight, likely starting at the entryway and progressing back toward the kitchen. Which would make sense, seeing as most witches found their most useful spell components to be stocked in almost any kitchen. So if it came from the door, then it wasn't likely a vampire: it would have had to be invited in. And her mother was no fool, she would never have invited one inside her home, and so unless there were some way or reason that one had been able to enter, it was no vampire. 

She jotted that down in her memo, then saved and thought some more. The smell of sulfur in the air said something unearthly had been hurt by a spell of her mother's during their fight. What kind of a spell would bring up the scent of sulfur, though? No, the better questions was, what kind of entity would give off the scent of sulfur? Minji knew that her mother hadn't cast a fire spell, because of the lack of burn marks or scent in the home. So sulfur... she cast her mind back to the grimoire that her mother had taught Minji from, starting as a young girl who couldn't even yet read. There were a multitude of beings that would give off a sulfuric scent when injured, though most of them from fire unless they were an especially powerful creature. Then sulfur might come to play if salt had been used against them as a weapon, and so Minji marked down in her notes to check for her mother's salt jar. If she had been using it as a weapon, then that cut down on the types of creatures that this might be.

But something that wanted a witch's heart... now that was a different matter. There were very few entities out there who would bother with that kind of symbolicism, and most of them were extinct. She made a note to go through the grimoire and narrow down what the culprit might be based on the few facts she had, but she couldn't stop her mind from coming back to the obvious suspect:

Vampires.

Her mother wasn't a fool, she was right in that, but what if she had been glamoured into inviting the creature in? Salt was used as a weapon against vampires, they gave off a sulfuric scent when they burned, and they did very much covet witch hearts: they were a source of power in that one witches heart could sustain a vampire for several years without having to kill again. So they were a tempting target for those few vampires who didn't enjoy hunting humans once a week for a meal, but Minji didn't think many of those would have been up for a fight against as powerful a witch as Mikyung.

With a sigh of frustration, of how her mind kept leading in circles, she saved her notes and closed the app, then looked up around the shaded park. It was only about an hour to sunset now, but if she hurried then she would be able to get some takeout to eat before she headed back to the house. Then again, she could just have it delivered. She decided on the latter and stood slowly, releasing the spell that had separated head and heart with a slow release of her own breath. The pain that came slamming back in was like a wave that threatened to knock her down, but she stood against it and it ebbed, allowing her to take control of her grief. If there was anything Mikyung had taught her, it was to be firm in the face of pain.

She made the walk back to the house slowly, purposefully meandering and truly looking at her surroundings. It had been four years since she had taken this walk, and while that wasn't too long a stretch of time, she still could see the changes all about her. Those neighbors there had added a basketball net to their front drive, and these ones who had decorated their home to look like a traditional Korean house. That was likely for the benefit of tourists, Minji knew, and the thought brought a small smile to her face. Things had stayed the same, too, and it was with fond memories that Minji moved through her old neighborhood. It was nice to be back in town, even if it was for such dreadful times.

Her arrival back at the house was unannounced, and only one police car was still there, the officer who had questioned her sitting in the driver's seat with the door open. He spotted Minji coming back and stood, coming to meet her as she entered the yard from the side gate. "Miss Kim," he started, tugging his hat into his hands and practically wringing it with his obvious concern, "Do you have somewhere you can stay tonight? It's not safe for.... um... such as you, to be here, I mean-" he faltered, but Minji smiled as gently as she could and placed a hand on his arm.

"I'll be alright, Officer. Thank you for your concern, but I have things to attend to here at the house and I am not going to run away." Even if she might want to, she thought as the idea of staying alone all night in the house made her insides quail. She wasn't going to get to the bottom of this by being a coward, though. She saw the Officer off with more assurances of no, she was not going to go stay somewhere else, no thanks, she didn't need an officer here with her. Then she cast her separating spell once again and re-entered the house.

The first thing she noticed now was the fact that the blood was gone, and that was a relief to her. Maybe she could pretend her mother was merely missing and not dead, and that would make all of this easier.

It took several moments to find her mother's salt jar, and she was right, it had definitely been used in the fight. It lay broken, salt spilled all about the glass, just beyond reach of the table where her mother had lain. It had likely been in her hand when she had been flung to the tabletop, and Minji cringed despite the disconnect from her emotions. That had to be a hard impact to be able to break the wooden table like that, and she shook her head as she thought of the strength that meant the creature they were dealing with had. Not only strength, though; she could see scratches on the surface of the table that indicated that the killer had claws.

Once again it pointed to vampires, as