CHAPTER TWO

School felt strangely alien that year to Melissa Morgan. She had been enrolled in Bishop High School earlier the previous year, after surviving several years in Catholic school. She went to class more often than her unofficial boyfriend Arnie, but not as often as she should. That may have been part of the reason. Then, there was the fact that Spencer was dead and wouldn't be coming back. On top of that, Cierra Denton, the resident genius and bookworm of the Silver Society, who had always been a guaranteed sight in the hallways of Bishop, had made up the work she'd missed after getting kidnapped a few months earlier and had graduated. That was one less person Melissa would get to see in school.

Arnie, Aideen, Jesse Rodriguez, and Dylan Messina were all scheduled to graduate that year. Things were changing. Melissa and Jade were juniors, and Beth and Randy were sophomores, although they were both taking advanced classes and may very well graduate early if they kept it up. Alex, Melissa's legal guardian, had graduated from high school before even coming to Salem, and Cassandra Jones, the final member of the Silver Society, had graduated two years before. It was strange how old Melissa was beginning to feel.

Junior year was supposed to be all about planning for college. Melissa didn't even know if she wanted to go to college, let alone what to major in or where to go. She suspected that Arnie would not go, considering his dislike of sitting though classes, and she couldn't stand the thought of being away from him, so she would need to stay close to Salem if she did go. If Arnie decided to go to school, it would probably be to follow Aideen, and Melissa was confident that Aideen would never leave Salem. She enjoyed living there too much.

"I wonder if other superheroes have to worry about going to college," Melissa mused aloud. She somehow doubted it. Cassandra never discussed if whether she was a college student or not, but then again, she didn't discuss anything about her personal life except how much her long lost brother Josh annoyed her. Alex had some sort of degree or another, and Cierra was enrolled, of course, in the best local college there was in Salem, but Melissa wasn't sure if any of the other Silver Society members were planning to go to school, or if they would choose to leave Salem in order to pursue that goal. The thought made her nervous. With Spencer's death, they were already a member short. What would happen if the rest of them scattered? They were stronger together.

"You think too much," Jade said, making Melissa squeak and jump in surprise.

"I didn't see you guys come over," Melissa replied.

"We just got here," Beth explained.

"Hi, Melissa," Randy added. "Where's Jesse?"

Jesse, who lived with Melissa because Alex was also his guardian, sometimes had a habit of not leaving her side. He was overprotective of her and treated her like his sister. "He's in the principal's office," Melissa replied with a sheepish grin.

"Damn, that boy starts early!" Aideen said as she, Arnie, and Dylan joined them. Jesse was Aideen's ex-boyfriend. Melissa immediately ran into Arnie's waiting arms and kissed him.

"You know how our favorite puppy gets," Dylan replied. "Does anyone have a newspaper? He needs a good whack on the nose." Jesse was a lycanthrope, and although he was technically a polywere, his wolf was his most dominant beast.

"What did Stupid do, anyway?" Aideen asked.

"He got into a fight," Melissa replied.

"Classes haven't even started yet. Who did he find to fight with?" Arnie asked.

"Melvin Ming."

"That scrawny kid? Why waste his time?"

"Actually..." Melissa sighed. It had not been a good morning. Jesse had walked her to school, since Arnie wasn't coming by to drive her, and they had run into Melvin Ming, previously the biggest geek in the new senior class. "Melvin grew fangs over the summer, and apparently he thinks that makes him untouchable. He started taunting us, talking about 'look at the witch bitch and the furball,' and he was being really loud. I don't even think it was the fact that he blew Jesse's cover, but the fact that he called me a bitch that made Jesse snap. Before I could calm him down, he had Melvin on the ground. Melvin is lucky that he still has a pulse. If the principal hadn't broken it up, I think Jesse would have changed form and mauled him."

Aideen sighed. "Arnie, are you up to modifying memories so we can let Jesse start his year without a fight?" She asked.

"Sure, I don't mind," Arnie replied. "It's always good to sharpen my skills. Practice keeps them strong. Besides, the principal's mind is really easy to modify. I've done it tons of times."

Melissa wondered just how many times Arnie had actually done this to the principal before, but she decided not to ask. Instead, she kissed him again. "Sorry I didn't bring you to school today," Arnie said to her. "I barely brought myself."

"Same here," Jade said to him. "I'm tempted to join your ditching club."

"Absolutely not!" Beth replied firmly "You're going to class and that's final."

"You know, Beth, I'm the older one here," Jade pointed out.

"And I'm your friend and I'm not going to let you waste your potential. You have too much of it."

"You sound like my mom," Aideen said with a laugh. "She's always telling me stuff like that, how I have so much potential and I'm wasting it. That's usually when I tell her that I lent my potential to Courtney since she's using enough for both of us anyway and walk away."

"Damn, Deenie," Arnie replied with a laugh.

"What? My sister is a cheerleader, the most popular girl in school, and she's in, like, every club ever invented except the unpopular ones. She's also taking college classes on top of her regular ones."

"Are you jealous?" Dylan asked, genuinely curious.

"Not a chance," Aideen replied with a grin. "I just hate the way my mother expects me to be Miss Perfect. That's Court's job, and she's good at it. I'm the slacker when it comes to school, but I get good grades... I just don't always go to class. And I'm the sporty one, the slayer... The pierced one, to my mother's great horror. If she knew about the tattoo on Courtney's-"

"Excuse me, but that's private!" Courtney Phillips interrupted her. She was blushing a brilliant shade of magenta.

"Not to half of the senior boys," Aideen teased her.

"You suck, Deenie," Courtney informed her matter-of-factly.

"Hey, Courtney," Beth said pleasantly, steering the conversation away from the subject of Courtney's tattoo and her habit of dating a new boy every week.

"Hey, everyone," Courtney said as her usual bright smile returned to her face. "Where's Jesse?"

"Principal's office," Randy replied.

"Wow, that was quick."

"I'm working on it," Arnie said. "He'll be out in about ten seconds."

"Hey, what about Melvin? Is he okay after what Jesse did?" Beth asked suddenly.

"He's fine. Once he recovered, he got up and walked away, hissing about me being a witch again," Melissa said. "I don't get what the big deal is. I thought that the vampires and witches in Salem basically got along."

"Well, they tolerate each other," Aideen replied. "I mean, by nature vampires, witches, lycanthropes, warlocks, and devil worshippers all get pretty territorial. They just tend to behave because, aside from the warlocks, no one matches the numbers of the witches. The vampires come close, though, and territory wars do break out once in a while."

"Do you think there's one coming?" Courtney asked, suddenly very concerned.

Aideen shrugged. "It's possible," she admitted, "but I don't see why there would be one now. Nothing major has happened to upset the balance between them lately. I mean, at least not as far as I know. Maybe I'd better look into it. Anyway, if Melvin bothers you again, just turn him over to me, Melissa. I'll show him what happens when people piss me off."

"Thanks, Deenie," Melissa replied.

Jesse joined them, looking annoyed. "Hey," he said. "What did you do, Arnie? The principal is talking to himself and doodling."

"I saved your butt and he always acts like that when I'm through with him," Arnie replied. "Try not to get into any more fights today, alright?"

"Yeah, I'll try. Are you okay, Melissa?"

"I'm fine, like I told you earlier," Melissa replied. "I have a thick skin. I can handle myself."

"A man should never talk to a woman like that."

"And a werewolf should never bare his teeth in public." She playfully whacked his nose. "Be more careful."

"Hey guys!" A voice called as a tiny figure came running toward them. Tommi West smiled up at Bishop's remaining members of the Silver Society. She had become an unofficial member of the Silver Society when she and Jesse had nearly been killed by the teenage members of Bishop's Erica Vitti Society the previous year. The "club" was a training ground for young warlocks, a fact they didn't tell the new members until they were already in too deep to get out. 

"Hey Tommi," Jesse greeted her, hoping his friends would not tell her what he had done. He picked her up and nuzzled her before putting her back on her feet.

"You got taller. No fair," Tommi protested. "You already had too much height on me."

"Don't worry, Tommi," Aideen said. "I'm sure you can still knock him down to your height with very little effort."

"Does anyone else feel weird without Cierra here annoying everyone with her infamous first day cheerfulness?" Dylan asked. "I miss her."

"If you want to see her, just come over to our place," Jesse replied. "She spends all of her free time there with Alex, anyway."

"They're really cute together," Beth said. Alex and Cierra had started dating shortly after she was rescued from Ezekiel.

Silently, Aurora Geffy joined them. She was very close to Jade and Beth and often practiced magick with them. "Hey, the gang's all here," Randy said as he noticed her arrival. He immediately regretted his words, as Arnie and Jade's faces both fell slightly. "Well, sort of..." he mumbled.

The warning bell rang and saved Randy from further explaining himself. Everyone headed off to their respective classes. After examining Jade and Beth's schedules, Aurora said, "We all have first and fourth period together, plus lunch."

"English and history, right?" Jade asked, not looking. She knew Beth was in advanced classes for both of those subjects.

"Exactly," Aurora replied. "So, let's head to English." She didn't bother to ask how Jade was doing. One reason that Jade liked Aurora so much was the fact that she never asked questions with obvious answers, and she also rarely pried.

Next to the two gothic girls, trendy, blonde-haired Beth looked out of place, but she never felt that way with them. When the popular girls had not known how to help her through the discovery that her parents were warlocks who had tried to kill her, it had been Aurora and Jade who kept her sane. That was why Beth tried so hard to help Jade now. She owed her that much. Besides, she hated seeing any of her friends in pain.

Let's hope this years goes better for us, Beth thought. She couldn't imagine how it could possibly be any worse than the previous school year had been.

~*~

Arnie was barely aware of what was being said in his classes. His usual non-stop witty insults went unsaid as he sat numbly through each period. He filled out the paperwork. He met and greeted the teachers. He listened to course outlines that promised to be much more exciting than the classes ever turned out to be. He usually cracked a smirk at the attendance policy conversation, but not today. Nothing made him smile today.

It wasn't until fifth period that he paid attention to anything. She walked into the room, her long brown hair pulled into a ponytail, and sat at the desk in front of the classroom. Arnie stared at her. She had eyes the same light brown shade as his own and her smile made him smile back. He couldn't help it. Something about this woman made him happy.

Got a crush on the teacher? Dylan asked telepathically from across the room. He grinned at Arnie.

No, Arnie replied. It's not that, it's just... She's... Magickal. Don't you see it, Dyl?

Not so much. I mean, yeah, she feels psychic, but a lot of the staff here are.

Not psychic, Arnie insisted. Magick. There's a difference.

If you say so, man, Dylan replied with a shrug.

"Good afternoon, class," she said, still smiling brightly. "I'm Miss Keller. I'm really glad to meet you all. Welcome to senior English." She passed out the cards which would ultimately be placed in the attendance book according to where everyone sat.

"I know some teachers demand that students go by their given names in class, but I'm sure some of you have nicknames that you prefer. As long as it's not a four letter word or a double entendre, feel free to write your nicknames on the cards," Miss Keller continued. She smirked as she said the last part, and a few of the students laughed.

Arnie filled out his personal information as neatly as he could. He refused to write his name as "Arnold" no matter what his teachers wanted, but he was glad that Miss Keller would have no problem with that. He was surprised to realize that he did not want to upset her, even with something so minor.

It wasn't until he reached the part of the card that was reserved for the name and number of a parent that Arnie paused. Normally, Arnie refused to put any information down in that section. Although Carly and Tommy were now officially his guardians and he did love them, they weren't his parents, and the card didn't say "or guardian." He wanted to fill everything out, but he still could not bring himself to write Carly or Tommy's information down. Shaking his head, he skipped ahead to the next part.

The end of the card brought relief. He was finished, and he would not have to repeat the process until the following period. Miss Keller came around to collect the cards. When she reached Arnie, she glanced at his name as she had with all of the other students. Unlike with the others, she froze as she read his name.

"Are you alright, Miss Keller?" Arnie asked in concern.

She recovered quickly and flashed him a warm smile. "Yes, Arnie, I'm fine. I just recognized your name and it caught me by surprise," she replied.

"Why's that?" He asked curiously.

She blushed a bit and seemed to be debating internally whether or not she should tell him the truth. Finally, she said, "I knew your parents, a very long time ago. You were just barely born the last time I saw them. I left Salem to live in Boston for a while right after that. I only came back this year."

Arnie sank down in his chair slightly. "Oh," was all he managed to say.

Are you okay, man? Dylan asked as soon as Miss Keller had moved on to the next desk.

What do you think? Arnie shot back. I really didn't need the reminder.

She probably doesn't know, Arnie, Dylan pointed out. She said she's been gone for years.

I'm not mad at her... I'm mad at the world.

With that, Arnie shot his blocks up and fell back into his previous state. Staring blankly at the clock on the wall, he silently begged for time to move quicker, but it seemed to start moving backward instead.

~*~

Annabella Liggman sat directly in the center of the circle she had cast in the woods. Her long black hair was disheveled, her clothes filthy, and her eyes bloodshot from sobbing for hours and a lack of sleep. That was how Johnny Winston found her while he was walking through the woods on his lunch break.

"Annabella?" He called cautiously. "Are you alright?"

She looked at Johnny in confusion for a moment before recognition appeared in her eyes. "They're dead, Johnny, I just know it!" She shrieked as she broke the circle and ran to him, flinging her arms around his broad shoulders.

"Slow down," Johnny said gently, stroking her back in as soothing a manner as he could. "Who's dead?"

"My children! They've been missing for three nights. I tried to cast a spell to find them and I saw... I saw..." Her voice broke as she began sobbing again.

"What did you see, Bella?" Johnny coaxed her.

"Graves... Shallow graves. There was so much blood... They're close. They're somewhere in these woods. This is witch territory. How dare they bury them here? What were they even doing here?"

"Try not to panic, Bella. They may still be alive. We won't know until we find some solid evidence."

"Stop thinking like a lawyer and think like a witch, Johnny. They're dead!" As she finally gave into the reality of her words, Annabella went limp and sobbed in Johnny's arms.

Johnny knew that she was right, of course. Being not only one of Salem's strongest witches but also one of its strongest precognitive psychics, he could sense the truth in Annabella's words. Her children were dead, and someone had murdered them in witch territory.

"Did you see any details?" He asked. He had to know the facts before action could be taken.

"No. It must have been warlocks. Who else would have the audacity to attack young witches in witch territory?"

"We can't assume that, but it's possible, of course."

"I have to find them... I owe them that much." Annabella tried to pull herself together, a mark of what a strong woman she was. She focused on the task at hand, no longer allowing her emotions to control her.

"Which way?" Johnny asked.

"North," she replied softly.

"Let's go." They began walking in silence. Soon enough, they sensed the energy of Annabella's children and followed it off the path into a deeper, overgrown part of the woods. About two hundred feet in, they found three shallow graves.

"No," Annabella whispered. "Please, no. Please be breathing... For the love of the Gods..."

Johnny did the only thing he could so. He began to dig up the graves with his bare hands. Let Skip curse at him for tainting evidence later, but he couldn't leave the graves covered if there was any chance that the children were still breathing. It was a slim chance, but he had to take it.

The graves were shallow enough that it only took about a minute to uncover the first child. Morganna Liggman's golden hair lay beneath her, her smile peaceful. The four-year-old looked like she was sleeping, but Johnny knew from the pale color of her skin that he was too late to save her.

Forcing himself to dig up the next grave, Johnny braced himself for what he would find. It didn't help. Blaze Liggman had clearly put up more of a fight than his little sister. His red hair, a reflection of his pyrokinetic talents, was too dark because it was matted with blood. His nails had blood under them and, if the police were lucky, they might find the skin of his killer. Blaze's green eyes were open and stared accusingly back at Johnny, who finally had to look away from what remained of the once active and strong fourteen-year-old slayer.

Already positive that the last grave would not contain a breathing child, Johnny dug up the earth anyway. Raven, the eldest of the Liggman children at sixteen, was in the worst shape of the three. Her throat had been torn out and her white blouse was covered in dried blood. Just like Blaze, her eyes were open. A section of the long black hair she shared with her mother had been ripped off of her skull, exposing bloody flesh.

Johnny had to detach from all of his emotions to keep from gagging or crying. He wasn't sure which urge was stronger. Annabella lost her composure completely as she held her youngest daughter's corpse in her arms. She began shrieking, nothing more than a banshee in her madness and grief, as Johnny tried to soothe her. There were no words.

"Who? Who would do this to my babies?" She demanded.

"I don't know," Johnny replied. It didn't look like the work of warlocks. They weren't usually this messy. Devil worshippers would never have crossed the witches in their territory. That left vampires or lycanthropes, and while the state of Raven's body could have been the result of a lycanthrope attack, he would bet money that it had been a vampire. "I'm going to call the Unit."

Giving Annabella space to mourn, Johnny walked far enough away to be out of earshot but remained close enough to watch her. He used telepathy to call Skip Burke.

Get a homicide team to the woods, he said. I'll send you the exact location.

What's going on? Skip, the head of Salem's Supernatural Phenomenon Investigational Unit, asked.

The Liggman children were murdered. It's pretty bad, and I think it was a vampire.

Skip cursed. I'll assemble a team immediately. Does Annabella know?

She had a vision. She told me they were dead, and she was with me when we found them.

Should I send someone for her?

I'll call one of the witches to come get her.

Alright. I'll see you soon.

Johnny sighed. Who could he possibly call to comfort someone in this situation? Annabella's husband had been killed in a car wreck when she was pregnant with her youngest daughter, and now she had lost her children as well. He could call the coven's High Priest, Luigi Osinini, who was skilled in helping people through grief and trauma, but that might not be good enough this time.

"I'd better call her sister," Johnny decided aloud.

Annabella's twin sister, Augustina, was another high ranking witch. Their mother had once been the second highest ranking witch in all of Massachusetts and the girls had inherited their ranks from her. No one would dare to call either unskilled however, and they deserved their positions. Their older sister, Ambrosia, was the High Priestess of the coven.

After sending the details as gently as he could to Augustina, Johnny rejoined Annabella. She refused to release Morganna's body, rocking her back and forth in her arms and humming softly as if she could revive the child with a lullaby.

Skip arrived a few minutes later. He had only recently gone back to work at the Unit after his partner's untimely death at the hands of a vicious and nearly unstoppable serial killer. His sister, Susie, stood by his side as was usual these days. Skip refused to take a new partner, so Susie had begun picking up the slack unofficially. Shooter Berkely and Tammy Meadows followed Skip and Susie.

"I hate this job," Shooter mumbled as he looked at the bodies. "They're just kids for God's sake..."

"You completely tainted any evidence there may have been, Johnny," Skip said with disapproval. "You know better."

"I do know better, but if there was any chance of the kids being alive... Well, I had no choice," Johnny replied.

Skip shook his head. "You're right, I guess."

Johnny was relieved that Skip didn't argue further. Instead, he examined the corpses, although he kept his distance from Morganna rather than trying to pry her from Annabella's arms. "There are fang marks in the two younger ones' necks," he said. "The marks in the older one's neck are consistent with fangs tearing out someone's throat. I'd say you're right about it being vampires, Johnny."

"One vampire," Shooter corrected. "There is only one energy signature here that doesn't belong to the kids or any of us."

"One vampire did that much damage in one shot?" Tammy asked. "That's impressive. I mean, the little one, sure. It's pretty obvious from her serene expression that he tranced her... But the boy was a slayer and he put up a fight, and the older girl looks like she fought pretty hard, too. She was pretty far along with her magickal training. You would think she could have taken him down with a spell."

"He caught them by surprise," Susie said as she connected to the imprints of energy that had been left on the scene. "The boy was the last to die. He wasn't in this part of the woods, so I guess he must have wandered off. The older girl tried everything she could to protect her sister, but the vampire left her no time to really fight. He killed her the way he did so that she wouldn't be able to stop him. By the time the boy showed up, the girls were dead."

"Those poor kids," Tammy said, shaking her head. "They never had a chance."

"No, they didn't. This guy's energy feels old... I think he might be immortal. I'm going to take a guess and say he's Uanie, not undead," Shooter replied. "Regardless, he was too strong for them."

Skip looked at Shooter. "Can I have a little help with Annabella?" He asked.

Shooter nodded. He knelt beside Annabella and sent the calmest energy he could create toward her. "I'm so sorry, Annabella," he said gently. "I need you to let go of her now so we can find out who did this. Can you do that for me?"

Completely numb, Annabella nodded, releasing Morganna's corpse. Shooter helped her stand up and led her a few feet away so his team could examine the youngest victim.

"How many people are we putting on this?" Susie asked Skip.    

"Let's keep it to the four of us for now," Skip replied. "We don't want word getting out about what happened. We've got three witch children who were murdered in their territory by a vampire... That's likely to start a lot of problems we do not want. Let's keep this under wraps for as long as possible. We'll find the vampire who did this and handle it."

Susie nodded, trying to remain composed even as she listened to Annabella sob for her murdered children.

We'll catch this guy, Susie silently promised the Universe. This monster's going to pay for what he's done.