CHAPTER ONE

The scream of grief that echoed through the cemetery was one which rivaled even the most powerful of banshees. Rikki Henley smiled to herself as she watched the woman weep for her husband whose life Rikki had taken to increase her own power.

He deserved it, she thought. That much was true. He'd been one of the worst men to work in the group home where she was raised. Rikki had merely ensured that karma found its way to him.

"Rikki," a voice said softly. "It's time."

She turned around to see an average-looking man in a black suit who easily blended in with the mourners. His eyes and his energy told her who he really was.

"Judas," she said.

"You are finally ready," Judas told her. "Come with me."

Rikki followed him out of the cemetery. When they were far enough away from the fools who mourned a monster, she paused. "Where are we going?" She asked.

"We will head to Sleepy Hollow first. Your followers there will help you prepare for your return to Salem."

"I have been preparing for over a year, Judas," she pointed out in annoyance. "Ever since that fool betrayed me for the imposter, I have been rebuilding my strength. I broke his binding spell three months ago. Why must I continue to wait?"

"Patience, my darling," Judas replied. "You are ready to take the throne, however, your followers must accompany you. This time, the battle will not be quite so simple. The warrior has been training your half-sister since he bound you. They have been preparing for your inevitable return. All of the players in this game have grown stronger and wiser. I assure you, once you gather your supporters, you will head straight into Salem."

"Do I still have support in Salem? Did any of my followers survive?"

"Oh yes, Rikki. You have many supporters in Salem. The warlocks are not keen to allow Cierra to lead them. Your followers have been plotting in secret and awaiting your return."

She nodded. "I just need to get a few things from the house," she said.

"Of course. Gather what you need from your sanctuary, and then I shall transport us to your grandmother's house."

Rikki slipped inside the building that only she could enter. Her mother had been murdered in the beautiful Brooklyn house when Rikki was only three years old. She'd replaced the bloodstained carpet when she returned as a teenager, but she still knew the horrors which had taken place there.

She headed straight into the basement. Her mother's sacred space held many things that Rikki treasured, but the only thing she'd decided to take was her mother's obsidian athame. It had been passed down through the Henley warlocks for generations, and it rightfully belonged to Rikki now. She held it in her hands for a moment, finding strength in the energy of the ritual tool, before slipping it into her bag.

Rikki packed up the few belongings she had. She'd returned to the Brooklyn house after her defeat because she didn't know where else to go. The house in Sleepy Hollow was not an option, because if she returned there without her powers, the warlocks would turn on her. With her magic bound, she had no access to her powers, and that meant she was vulnerable. After running away from foster care at thirteen and discovering her magick, Rikki had vowed never to be vulnerable or weak again.

It had taken a lot of time and work to rebuild her strength. Now that she was finally ready to return to Salem, she had only two things in mind; taking the throne as the Vitti descendant and destroying Chad and Cierra once and for all.

~*~

The winds were howling as a storm moved in over the water. Chad Ko shuddered as rain began pouring out of nowhere.

"Ugh! My hair!" He protested. He'd been having such a perfect hair day, and now this stupid storm had ruined it.

"Where did this storm come from?" Kelly Lodge asked in shock as she pulled out a red umbrella. She shielded both herself and Chad from the freak storm. Chad was about to complain that the red clashed with his outfit when he suddenly heard something odd.

"Do you hear that, Kel?" He asked in confusion.

"Hear what?" Kelly replied.

"The humming... It's like someone's humming beneath the water. You don't hear anything?"

"Chad... No one's humming," Kelly insisted. She looked at him with concern in her eyes.

Chad was pretty concerned himself. "I'm fairly certain I haven't lost my mind yet," he said, "which makes me wonder why I'm the only one hearing her..." The melody was both beautiful and incredibly sad. Part of him wanted to listen to it all day, but a more rational part sensed a threat. "Kelly, I think we should get out of here," he decided.

Kelly was naturally inquisitive. She was both a fiction writer and a journalist, and she usually couldn't resist investigating a good mystery, but she seemed to sense the urgency in Chad's voice. "Alright," she agreed. "Let's go back to my place. We can plan the next meeting."

Bishop High School's chapter of the Erica Vitti Society had been incredibly successful so far that year. Chad and Kelly were the first president and vice president in the school's history to retain all twelve members the club had started with for nearly the entire year. This was largely due to the fact that Chad ran things differently than his predecessors. He was very proud of what they'd accomplished so far. If they made it a few more weeks, they'd be the only chapter to survive in tact in the club's history.

He should have been focusing on furthering that success, but as he entered Kelly's house, Chad couldn't stop thinking about the haunting melody coming from the sea, or the sudden storm, or the sense of dread that something catastrophic was about to come to Salem.

~*~

Things had been remarkably calm lately. It had been nearly a year since the devil worshippers were run out of Salem, Massachusetts once again, and the only issues that had come through since were minor. Still, the Silver Society held meetings and touched base, making sure that Salem remained safe.

As a storm raged outside, Alexander Paxton had a feeling the quiet was about to end. He studied the others for a moment and wondered if they sensed it, too.

Cierra Denton, his girlfriend, sat beside him on one of the couches. She looked worried, and he knew the clairvoyant could feel something coming.

As always, Melissa Morgan sat in Arnie Gelman's lap. Both looked like they didn't have a care in the world. Aideen Phillips and Evan Blackwell sat beside them. Aideen was leaning on Evan's shoulder. She looked fairly relaxed, but Evan was just tense enough that Alex knew he also sensed that something was wrong.

Cassandra Jones stood in her usual spot in the corner, watching over everyone and ready for battle. She looked especially focused that day, and Alex suspected that Salem's top slayer was well aware that something wasn't right.

Jesse Rodriguez was sitting in front of the television beside Dylan Messina, who was strumming his guitar. Neither one seemed especially bothered. Since Jesse was a lycanthrope, Alex hoped that meant that he was imagining the threat, but he knew that probably wasn't the case.

Beth Ashford and Jade Collins sat on the floor in front of the couch. Beth was studying, which wasn't abnormal lately. She was on track to graduate a year early and she'd been working hard to ensure that happened. Jade was staring off into space, and Alex wondered what she was thinking about.

He moved off of the couch and offered Jade his hand. She took it and allowed him to guide her into the kitchen. "Are you okay, Kid?" He asked. Alex called all of the Silver Society members "kid" affectionately, although several of them were legal adults now. He tried not to call Cassandra that because it annoyed her, but Jade never minded because she was actually his soul's daughter.

"Something's wrong," Jade mumbled. "I can hear something, but I'm not sure what it is... If I try to focus on it, my head starts to hurt."

Jade was a powerful telepath, so whatever she was hearing was probably important. "Don't hurt yourself," Alex advised. "When you're meant to hear it clearly, you will."

Suddenly, Jade clutched her head in pain and dropped to her knees. "Jade! What's wrong?" Alex asked in alarm as he knelt beside her.

Aideen let out a cry of pain from the living room. "Deenie, what's going on?" Arnie asked.

Alex helped Jade to her feet and led her into the living room. Aideen was doubled over in pain. Evan was rubbing her back and trying to soothe her as everyone watched her in concern.

"That sound..." Aideen mumbled.

"What sound?" Melissa asked in confusion.

"The screaming... It's going right through me," Aideen explained as Evan helped her sit up straight.

"Screaming?" Dylan repeated. "Who's screaming?"

"The banshee," Jade said softly. "That was a banshee."

"A banshee? Like the women who scream before they kill people?" Jesse asked.

"They herald death," Cierra corrected him automatically. "They don't cause it. According to legends, when you hear a banshee's cry, someone you love is going to die."

"Jade, are you sure it was a banshee?" Beth asked in concern.

"I've heard one before," Jade replied softly.

"You mean when Spencer died?" Dylan asked gently.

"No," Jade replied. "The night before River died, I heard a banshee's cry. I only understood what it was after Cecily sacrificed him." Jade had grown up in one of New York's devil worshipping cults. River had been her best friend and the father of her son, Joey. While Jade was in labor, the cult had sacrificed River. She tried not to talk about that, especially since Lucifer had briefly resurrected River under his control and Jade had been forced to kill him.

"Why would you and Aideen both hear one now?" Melissa asked. "Are Corey and Evan in danger?"

"I'm not easy to kill," Evan pointed out.

"Neither is Corey," Cassandra said. She frowned before asking, "Where the hell is Randy?"

"Football practice must have run late again," Beth said, but her concern was clear on her face.

"We should look for him," Alex suggested.

Before anyone could reply, a scream echoed through the house. Cassandra was the first to run outside. The others quickly followed.

Several demons were in the street. A woman was shrieking at the top of her lungs as they surrounded her. Three bodies were already on the ground, torn to pieces.

"Oh no," Dylan mumbled. "Not her."

Alex understood his reaction. Ruby Vasco, the unluckiest mortal in Salem with the healthiest set of lungs, was the source of the screams. For someone with no ties to the supernatural, Ruby tended to end up in the middle of things pretty often. Her response was usually to scream as loud as she could until someone sedated her or, if Shooter Berkely was around, zapped her with just enough energy to knock her unconscious. Her memory had to be modified entirely too often.

"I've got the screamer," Jade said. She slipped into her mind, pulling sleep to the front of her thoughts. Ruby immediately fell unconscious.

Randy Schwartz showed up just in time to catch Ruby before she hit the street. "Sorry I'm late," he said as he gently set Ruby down in the grass. "I was working on a last minute extra credit assignment and lost track of time."

Like Beth, Randy had been working hard all year in the hopes of graduating early. He was doing well, and it looked like both of the youngest Silver Society members would leave Bishop High School at the same time as their remaining friends.

"Your timing's perfect," Alex replied.

"Aw, you know the way to his perfectionist heart, Alex," Arnie joked. Everyone knew that Randy tried extremely hard to be perfect at all times.

"Battle now, sarcasm later," Cassandra scolded him.

"I'm multitasking," Arnie replied with a smirk as he destroyed a demon.

Everyone used their skills to battle the demons. Jade, Melissa, Cierra, and Alex focused on using spells to banish them. Arnie and Aideen took turns smiting them. Evan shot at them with special bullets made to destroy demonic energy. Dylan, Jesse, Cassandra, and Randy physically battled against them, using special weapons to weaken or destroy them. Beth was stuck in empathic mode, so she was trying her best to work banishing magick with Jade and the others. 

One of the demons grabbed Randy by his throat. It was clear the demon was crushing Randy's windpipe. Beth suddenly morphed into Warrior Goddess Mode and split the atoms of that demon and the others which remained simultaneously.

"Damn, Beth," Melissa said with a laugh. "With you around, the rest of us could have just sat this fight out."

"Are you okay?" Beth asked Randy, kneeling beside him and blushing slightly at Melissa's compliment.

Randy rubbed his throat as he struggled to breathe. He couldn't reply. "I've got him," Dylan said. He knelt on Randy's other side and immediately began healing him.

"Thanks, Beth," Randy said softly once he recovered.

"How about thanking the guy that just healed you?" Dylan teased him.

"Right. Thanks, man. I feel a lot better now," Randy added quickly.

"So, the demons are gone, Ruby's unconscious, and we have three unidentified corpses to deal with," Jesse said. "That sounds like a lot of paperwork."

"Not it!" Aideen declared.

Cassandra examined the corpses. "They're witches," she said. "I recognize them. Someone needs to tell Annabella and Johnny."

"I'll do it," Aideen volunteered. "Death is hard on both of them. They might as well hear the news from a Reaper."

"I'll call the Unit and handle the paperwork," Cierra offered.

"I'm so glad you work at the Unit officially now," Aideen said with a laugh. "We never have to worry about who'll write up the reports anymore."

As Cassandra started to stand up, she suddenly ran toward the grass and began to vomit. "Cassandra!" Alex said in concern. He raced to her side.

"Are you okay, Cass?" Arnie asked. "I've never seen you get sick at the sight of dead bodies before."

"It's not the bodies," Cassandra said as she wiped her mouth. "I think I'm coming down with the flu or something."

"You never get sick," Aideen said in concern. "Even germs fear you."

"Come on, Cassandra," Alex said. "Let's get you inside." He led her back toward the house.

Cassandra headed to the bathroom to clean herself up. Alex couldn't help but worry about her, but he knew if he hovered, she'd get offended. He went back outside to the others.

Randy picked Ruby up in his arms. "Do you mind if I put her on the couch?" He asked. "It seems rude to leave her in the grass. I'll dry her off first."

"Go ahead. Grab a blanket and cover her, too," Alex replied. He headed toward Aideen and Jade. "You both heard the banshee," he said. "Whose death do you think she was heralding?"

Aideen sighed. "Honestly, I'm not sure if it was any one specific person, Alex," she admitted. "The scream was so powerful... Too powerful for just one death."

"Was it about the three dead witches?"

"No," Jade said in a tone that sent a chill down Alex's spine. "It wasn't a couple of people's deaths, Alex... It was everyone's."