(A/N):
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Jojo followed the spirit's gaze toward the window, his attention shifting away from the old pocket watch for the first time since the strange reaction had begun.
Outside, beyond the glass, the evening had settled over Forks in its usual quiet manner, with the trees standing almost motionless beneath the fading light.
At first, Jojo couldn't see anything unusual.
Then his eyes adjusted, and he noticed a crow perched on one of the branches of a large tree several metres from the mansion.
The bird was looking directly at him.
Its feathers were completely black, absorbing what little light remained around it, while its eyes carried an unusual reddish colour that immediately caught Jojo's attention.
It wasn't moving, wasn't making any sound and wasn't behaving like a normal bird that had simply noticed someone standing near a window.
It was sitting perfectly still, staring at him with an almost unsettling concentration.
Jojo slowly rose from his chair.
The spirit inside the watch continued watching the crow as well, and that was enough to make Jojo even more cautious.
He walked toward the window without taking his eyes off the bird, his footsteps quiet against the floor.
When he reached the window, he unlocked it and pushed it open.
Cold evening air entered the room.
The crow didn't move.
Jojo leaned slightly against the window frame and studied it carefully.
Normally, a wild bird would have reacted to the sudden opening of a window.
It might have flown away, tilted its head or at least shifted its position.
This one did none of those things.
Instead, its gaze became even more intense.
For several seconds, Jojo simply stared back.
"What are you?" he muttered.
The crow remained silent.
Jojo activated his supernatural sight.
Immediately, the world changed.
He could see the spiritual traces surrounding the trees, the faint residual energy left behind by people who had walked through the property, and even the tiny spiritual impressions carried by insects hidden beneath the leaves.
Every living creature left something behind. It didn't matter whether it was a human being, a vampire, a werewolf, a spirit or something as insignificant as an insect.
Everyone had something.
Every creature carried its own history.
Every soul accumulated something through existence.
And when Jojo looked at the crow, he expected to see the same thing.
Instead, he saw nothing.
Jojo's eyebrows slowly drew together.
He increased the intensity of his sight.
Still nothing.
No spiritual stains.
No traces of negative energy.
No sins.
Not even the faintest residue.
Jojo's expression changed from caution to genuine curiosity.
"That shouldn't be possible."
He had spent enough time dealing with supernatural creatures to know that even animals weren't truly innocent in the way humans liked to imagine.
Animals killed to survive, fought over territory, attacked other creatures and sometimes behaved violently without hesitation.
Their actions might not carry the same moral weight as human actions, but they still left spiritual impressions.
Yet this crow had none.
It wasn't hiding them.
There simply weren't any.
Jojo looked at the bird again.
The crow tilted its head slightly.
It almost seemed curious about him.
"You're not normal."
The bird blinked once.
That was the first movement it had made.
Jojo's eyes narrowed.
He slowly extended his hand toward the open window, not attempting to touch the bird, merely testing its reaction.
The crow watched his hand.
Then it looked directly into his eyes.
Jojo stopped.
For some reason, he suddenly felt as though he was being examined rather than observing the animal.
It was an uncomfortable sensation, especially because he couldn't determine what the crow was looking for.
Behind him, the spirit inside the pocket watch moved toward the edge of its spiritual prison again.
Jojo glanced back at him.
The man's expression had changed.
He looked frightened.
Jojo turned toward the crow once more.
"You know this thing, don't you?"
The spirit did not answer, but his reaction was enough.
Jojo's gaze returned to the bird.
The crow remained completely still.
No fear. No aggression.
No supernatural aura that Jojo could identify.
Nothing.
And somehow, that absence was more suspicious than any demonic presence could have been.
Jojo rested one hand against the window frame and continued staring at it.
"For the first time," he murmured,
"I can't tell what I'm looking at."
The crow suddenly spread its wings.
Jojo's body tensed.
But instead of flying away, the bird merely shifted its position on the branch and settled again, still watching him.
A faint smile appeared on Jojo's face.
"Fine."
He folded his arms.
"You're curious about me."
The crow stared back.
Jojo's smile widened slightly.
"I'm curious about you too."
Neither moved.
For several moments, Jojo and the impossible crow simply watched one another from opposite sides of the open window, while behind Jojo, the trapped spirit remained silent inside the old pocket watch.
For several long seconds, nothing happened. Jojo remained at the open window, one hand resting against the frame while the strange crow continued to stare at him from the branch outside.
The silence between them had become almost unnatural, especially with the trapped spirit inside the pocket watch watching the bird with obvious fear.
Jojo was beginning to wonder whether the creature would simply remain there all night when the crow finally moved.
Its beak opened.
"Jojo."
The voice that came from the bird was deep, masculine and surprisingly calm.
Jojo froze.
His hand slipped slightly from the window frame as he stared at the crow in complete disbelief.
For perhaps the first time in a very long time, the supernatural hunter had absolutely no immediate response to what was happening in front of him.
The crow continued looking directly at him.
"I have been observing you for some time."
Jojo blinked once and then twice.
"You... talk?"
The crow tilted its head.
"Yes."
Jojo stared at it for another moment before slowly looking toward the pocket watch on the table, almost as though he expected the trapped spirit to somehow explain what was happening.
The spirit merely stood there, equally silent and apparently just as stunned by the conversation.
Jojo eventually looked back at the bird.
"A talking crow."
The crow remained completely expressionless.
"Yes."
Jojo rubbed his forehead.
"Of course."
He had dealt with demons, spirits, cursed objects, vampires, werewolves, witches, ancient supernatural entities and things that had existed long before human civilization.
Yet somehow, a crow speaking to him in a deep male voice had managed to catch him completely off guard.
The bird finally spread its wings slightly before settling back onto the branch.
"My name is not important to you," it said.
"You may simply call me a servant of Death."
Jojo's expression immediately became serious.
"A servant of Death?"
"Yes."
The crow's red eyes seemed to become darker as it continued.
"I serve the Death of this world. I am one of those entrusted with maintaining the passage between life and death. When a living being reaches the end of its appointed time, I am among those who guide its soul away from the world of the living and toward whatever awaits beyond it."
Jojo said nothing.
The explanation was so absurd that his mind needed several seconds to process it, yet there was something about the crow's presence that made him take every word seriously.
"You escort souls?"
"That is one of my duties."
Jojo looked at the bird from head to toe, although there wasn't much to examine beyond black feathers, red eyes and an unsettling stillness.
"So you're basically a supernatural undertaker?"
The crow remained silent.
Jojo's lips twitched slightly.
"Sorry. Probably not the most respectful description."
"It is an acceptable description."
Jojo raised an eyebrow.
That response somehow made the entire situation even stranger.
The crow then looked past him toward the old pocket watch.
"I came because of the soul bound to that object."
Jojo's expression immediately hardened.
The trapped spirit seemed to recoil at the sound of the crow's voice.
"You know him?"
"I know of him."
Jojo glanced toward the watch before returning his attention to the crow.
"Then tell me how to free him."
The crow remained silent for a moment.
"He is not supposed to be here."
Jojo's eyes narrowed.
"What does that mean?"
"The dead are meant to continue their journey. His soul was prevented from doing so when his connection to that object was created. The binding has existed for far too long."
Jojo slowly folded his arms.
"So you came to collect him?"
"No."
That answer caught Jojo's attention.
The crow looked directly into his eyes.
"I came because something has interfered with the natural order of his death."
Jojo's curiosity deepened.
"And you don't know how to fix it?"
"I know how to guide a soul that has reached its natural end. I do not destroy bindings created by forces outside my authority."
Jojo glanced toward the watch again.
"So we're dealing with something that even Death doesn't control."
The crow gave a slow nod.
"Yes."
For once, Jojo didn't have a sarcastic response ready.
He looked at the impossible bird sitting peacefully outside his window and realized that the encounter had begun with him wondering why a crow had no sins.
Now he was standing there speaking to a servant of Death who had apparently come looking for a soul trapped inside an ancient watch.
Jojo exhaled slowly.
"Just when I thought my evening couldn't get any stranger."
The crow's head tilted slightly.
"You have not yet asked why I was watching you."
Jojo's eyes narrowed.
"Fair point."
The bird stared at him.
"I was curious."
Jojo gave the crow a suspicious look.
"And what exactly does Death find interesting about me?"
The crow did not answer immediately.
Instead, its red eyes remained fixed on Jojo with that same strange curiosity that had unsettled him from the beginning.
Finally, it spoke.
"You are not supposed to exist in the way that you do."
Jojo's expression slowly changed.
The room suddenly felt much colder.
And for the first time since the crow had spoken, Jojo realized that perhaps the creature hadn't come to his mansion because of the cursed watch at all.
The watch may have simply been the reason that brought them together.
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(Author's POV)
(A/N):
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