CHAPTER FIVE

Luke was the first to recover from the shock. He hurried to the telephone on Devon's nightstand and dialed 911.

"He wouldn't have..." Adam whispered. "He couldn't have done this... He wasn't suicidal..."

The corpse in the tub sort of suggests otherwise, Dylan thought, but he kept the thought to himself. Something was off about this suicide, and he could feel it, but with the emotions of everyone else flying around so wildly, he was unable to figure out what it was that seemed wrong.

"I can't believe this is happening," Vynn said. "Adam's right. Devon was never suicidal. He swore he'd never kill himself. He promised."

"Promised?" Dylan asked. "How did the topic come up?"

"Vynn's mom dated Devon's father for a while, until she killed herself," Adam said, since Vynn remained silent. "Seeing what it did to his father and to Vynn, Devon swore he'd never be that selfish."

What if this wasn't a suicide after all? Dylan wondered. For the sake of sparing Vynn, Luke, and Adam from having to think about that, Dylan did not ask aloud, but he had to consider the possibility.

~*~

The afternoon after her birthday, Aideen sat in her father's den sobbing hysterically. She had finally been unable to rage away her pain. Her father's death was sinking in more than it ever had before.

"Why? Why did it have to be you?" Aideen demanded. "You were the best father I could have asked for. Why didn't you listen to me? Why did you ignore Courtney's warning? Why didn't you take me with you? You shouldn't be dead! I hate you for dying, Dad! Do you hear me? I hate you!"

The rage she was trying to build within herself could not make her forget her pain this time. Aideen started crying harder.

"I'm sorry, Dad," she whispered. "I'm sorry I said I hate you, because I don't. I'm sorry I'm angry with you, because I shouldn't be, since you're dead and all. I'm sorry I couldn't save you." She pulled her knees to her chest and pressed her face against them.

Suddenly, a book fell open at Aideen's feet. Aideen was startled. She looked at the book and read what was on the page. It was one of her father's favorite poems.

Aideen stopped crying and hugged the book against her body. She knew her father had tried to leave her a message with this poem, but that only made it harder to accept that he was gone.

Death was normally nothing for her, as she always came back, but this death seemed to be unending, and she was not ready to accept that. Aideen needed her father. She was mature, but in so many ways, she was still a child, and she was lost without her father. She had always had him, had even taken him for granted, and now, he was gone. She had been unable to save him. She had failed him. She could never forgive herself for that.

~*~

The death of a celebrity, especially a young celebrity, always warranted a lot of media attention, but when it was a suicide, it seemed to demand even more. Every news channel was covering Devon Kennedy's suicide, and every network had their own "experts" with their own opinions. Each newscaster had his or her own theory as to what would make such a talented young man who appeared to have everything going for him take his own life. Dylan didn't buy any of them, and neither did the band members that Devon had left behind.

"It's so unfair," Vynn sobbed.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Adam asked.

"Well, for one, the police just told me that we can't leave town for a while," a short, balding man with glasses said as he joined Dylan, Vynn, Adam, and Luke in Luke's hotel room.

"What? Why the hell not?" Adam demanded.

"They're investigating his death thoroughly."

"It was a suicide. There's not much of a case there," Luke argued.

"They believe that, due to the fact that he was famous, it may have been something more."

"That's ridiculous," Adam said. "What, do they think that someone else slit his wrists or something?"

"Actually, they're not ruling that out," the man replied.

"No way," Luke said. "Who would do something like that?"

"I'm sure they're just covering their bases, Luke."

"Devon didn't have any enemies," Adam said. "I mean, aside from the occasional supernatural bad guy... But no one in Salem knew him well enough to know that he'd be a threat to them. Well, except for Dylan, anyway."

"Dylan? Who's Dylan?" The man asked.

"Uh... Hi," Dylan replied awkwardly. "I'm Dylan."

"Dylan's cool, Barry," Vynn said. "He's the guy I was telling you about. You know, the talented one?"

"Oh... Yeah, okay. Fine," Barry replied. He shook Dylan's hand. "I'm Barry Carson. I'm the manager of Serpent's Kiss. So, Dylan, why exactly do you know about Devon's abilities?"

"Well, there were some issues at the party," Adam began.

"What kind of issues?" Barry asked.

"It got crashed by half of the supernatural bad guys on the East Coast."

"Whose party was this again?"

"Aideen and Courtney Phillips," Vynn replied.

"Now I know why their names were so familiar... They're Benny Phillips' daughters."

"You knew Benny?" Dylan asked.

"We met once or twice, yes," Barry replied.

"Barry's the director of the Unit in California," Vynn explained.

"Yeah, he knows most of the really respected good guys," Adam added.

"Oh, cool," Dylan replied. "I actually work for Salem's Unit."

"I see. And what's your gift?" Barry asked curiously.

"Empathy and healing, but not together."

"Empathy's a rough gift to have," Barry said.

"Yeah, it's not fun. Luckily, I have strong shields and blocks."

"Good for you. I've seen far too many empaths nearly die because of their gift."

"What do you do, Barry? I mean, you must be strong at something, to be the Director of one of the Units."

"I'm a telepath," Barry replied proudly.

"Yeah, which is why he always knows if we're lying to him," Adam added with a smirk.

"So you read minds whenever you want to?" Dylan asked.

"Yes. It comes in handy sometimes," Barry admitted.

Dylan was suddenly not sure that he liked Barry. He seemed like a nice guy, but at the same time, Dylan knew very few telepaths that actually used their abilities recreationally who were not bad guys. Even Jade nearly always refused to use hers, and it was her strongest gift.

"So, we're stuck in Salem?" Adam asked.

"Until they rule out homicide, yes," Barry replied. "I'm sorry, guys. I know this is hard enough on all of you without having you stuck in a strange town."

A strange town, Dylan thought with his blocks up high so Barry couldn't listen in on his thoughts. He may have meant that in reference to it being unfamiliar territory, but if he's really in charge of one of the Units, I bet he knows just how strange Salem really is.

"Are you alright, Barry?" Vynn asked.

"I'm fine, sweetheart. What about you? I mean, I know you were never officially step-siblings, but you were always very close to Devon," Barry said.

"I'll be okay... It's just hard, you know?"

"Yes, I understand." Barry patted Vynn's shoulder in a comforting manner before saying, "I'd better go handle the press. They're all over this."

"Are wild rumors flying yet?" Adam asked.

"Of course. The more respectable programs are trying to handle this with sympathy and concern for the countless teenagers who will no doubt suddenly think suicide is cool and try to be copycats. The tabloids, however, are already talking about drugs being the cause."

"Devon never used drugs," Vynn said firmly. "He was straight edge."

"Well, we know that, but the media doesn't care. They love a scandal. They're going to exploit this for all they can, and I want you all to try to prepare yourselves for that."

"Prepare ourselves for the media taking our friend's suicide and turning it into a circus," Adam said bitterly. "Yeah, Barry, that'll be really easy. It's like riding a bicycle. You never forget."

"Shut up, Adam," Luke said in warning.

"It's not like this is the first time you and I have found ourselves in this situation, Luke," Adam replied.

"What do you mean?" Dylan asked.

"Well, Luke and I used to be in another band. See, we met in college, and we were in a band that was much less popular than Serpent's Kiss. The bass guitarist jumped off of a bridge the day after we signed our record contract."

"Wow," Dylan said. "Why'd he do it?"

"He didn't leave a note. We still don't know why he did it. The local media swore up and down that it was drugs, but then the autopsy turned up absolutely no trace of any narcotics in his system."

"That's terrible."

"Yeah, well, so's life."

"Adam, stop it," Barry said. "You can't let this break you."

"Isn't it sort of unusual that whenever you, Luke, and I work together, someone kills themselves, Barry?" Adam asked.

"Barry was your manager then, too?" Dylan asked.

"Yes, I was," Barry replied. "This happened in California."

"You know, most people that run a branch of the Unit don't have time to manage a band, too," Dylan said. "How do you do it?"

"Barry's a body splitter," Vynn explained. "He can be in more than once place at a time."

"That's got to come in handy."

"Well, I love the supernatural, but I love music even more," Barry replied.

"You sound like me," Dylan said, suddenly liking Barry a little bit better.

"Now, as I said, I need to handle the media before they get wind of the fact that the police are investigating the possibility of foul play," Barry said. "Otherwise, who knows what they'll be saying next?" He walked out of the room.

"I can't believe you went there, man," Luke said to Adam. "You know Barry's sensitive about what happened to Matthew."

"I'm sorry," Adam replied. "I just sort of blurted it out without thinking. It's rough, you know? It's like we're back there again."

"Why is he sensitive about Matthew's death?" Dylan asked.

"Matthew was his only child," Vynn replied. "And now, he lost his nephew, too."

"Wait, Devon was Barry's nephew?" Dylan asked. "That's kind of an odd coincidence."

"Well, Depression is genetic," Luke said. "Maybe his family just has bad genes."

"Devon wasn't depressed," Adam said.

"Obviously, he was."

"What if the police are on to something? What if someone really did kill him?"

"That's unlikely. I mean, how would they have pulled it off? He would have struggled. There would have been signs."

"Someone could have tranced him," Vynn said softly.

"Devon isn't- wasn't a vampire. It's not like he had a sire."

"You don't have to be someone's sire to trance them," Dylan pointed out. "Any vamp who's strong enough can do it."

Adam sighed. "I almost hope that it was a murder," he said. "I hate to think that Devon actually did this to himself."

"Me, too," Vynn replied. "You're empathic, Dylan. Did he feel depressed to you?"

"No," Dylan admitted. "Nervous, and like he was very preoccupied, but not depressed."

"People who are going to take their own life tend to be preoccupied," Luke said. "Could that have been what you picked up on?"

"It's possible."

"You don't think that's it, do you?" Vynn asked.

"No," Dylan said. For some reason, he couldn't lie to Vynn, and even if he could have, he wouldn't have done it then. She needed someone to be honest with her. She needed closure. "I don't think that Devon had any intention of killing himself last night, so either he got triggered after we left, or someone else killed him and made it look like a suicide."

Skip Burke gently knocked on the door before entering the room with his partner, Joanna Levy. "Skip? Jo?" Dylan asked. "What are you guys doing here?"

"The officers investigating the case found out this band played at the party last night. Considering what happened there, Tobias thought there might be a connection between the two," Skip replied. "He called us in for our special skill set."

"You can tell them who you are," Dylan said. "They're all psychics and their manager is in charge of California's Unit."

"Oh, well, in that case, I'm Skip Burke, and this is my partner, Joanna Levy. We're from Salem's Unit, and we're officially investigating this case."

"Hi," Luke said, shaking Skip's hand and then Joanna's. "I'm Luke. That's Vynn and Adam. If there's anything that we can do to help you guys figure out, once and for all, if it was murder or not, we'll do it."

"Well, we appreciate your cooperation," Joanna said. "Dylan, how did you end up here?"

"Vynn and I had a date last night," Dylan replied a little bit awkwardly. "When we came back, we found out about Devon, and I stayed with her. I figured she could use the moral support."

"Yes, and I appreciate it," Vynn added. She leaned against Dylan. Her emotions were so raw he could feel them without even trying to. He wrapped his arms protectively around her and refused to let her go for several seconds.

"Did Devon have any enemies?" Skip asked.

Luke, Adam, and Vynn repeated the same basic information to Skip and Joanna that they had already told Dylan.

Dylan, where the hell are you? Alex telepathically asked.

This is a bad time, Alex, Dylan replied. What's wrong?

You were supposed to be at my house by now, remember? For the meeting?

Oh, man, I forgot! Look, I really can't leave Vynn right now. She's not doing so well.

Yeah, I saw what happened on the news. I didn't know you were so close to Vynn.

We bonded, I guess. She needs me, Alex. Can I skip this one?

Alright, but call me later so I can fill you in, okay?

Cool. I'll do that. Thanks.

No problem. I'm sure she could use an empath right now.

Dylan was relieved that Alex was letting him off the hook. He wasn't ready to leave Vynn yet. She was still so shaken up. He leaned in closer to her and let her rest her head on his shoulder.

~*~

Alex was figuring out if every issue had been covered yet. They had discussed the party crashers, Timmy, and the strange coincidence of the suicide of one of the members of Serpent's Kiss. As he was debating if they had missed anything, he noticed Arnie poking Melissa in the ribs and Melissa squealing.

"No!" Melissa shouted. "Don't you dare tickle me, Arnie!"

"Come on, Missa, you know you love it," Arnie teased her.

Alex saw a very subtle change in Jade before she began hyperventilating. "Stop it! Just leave me alone!" She shouted suddenly.

"What's wrong with her?" Arnie asked, immediately turning very serious. "That's not empathy."

"No... She's having a flashback," Spencer said softly as he looked at her in concern. Although he had never witnessed Jade slip into a flashback before, he somehow understood what was happening.

"Crap... What can we do to help?"

"I'll pull her out of it," Alex said.

"No, let me," Spencer replied. "I don't think she'd handle a father figure right now. I can almost see what she's going through. I feel it... It shouldn't be you, Alex."

"Good call then," Alex decided. "Go ahead. Aideen, ground him."

"No problem," Aideen replied. She held Spencer's hand while Spencer went into Jade's memory with her.

Jade was struggling against her father, desperately trying to get away from him. He threw her onto her back and attacked her.

Spencer wrapped his arms around Jade and tried to pull her out of the flashback. Jade was stuck in the moment. She couldn't feel him.

"Jade," he called. "Jade, I'm here. It's Spencer, honey. Feel me, Jade. Feel me and I can pull you back. It's over. He's dead, Jade. This isn't actually happening to you now. Come on, Jade, feel me..."

Suddenly, Jade could sense Spencer. It took her out of the moment. She hadn't known Spencer when she was thirteen, yet here he was. This wasn't really happening now. It was just a memory. She would be alright, if she just let Spencer pull her back.

Jade and Spencer opened their eyes at the same time. Jade tried to hold back her tears, but she failed. She hated herself as she started sobbing, unable to calm her breathing down despite her mind understanding that she was safe.

"It's okay, Jade," Spencer said gently. "It's over." He held her gently and tried to calm her down. Jade could only sob and gasp for breath in response.

No one was entirely sure what to do. They had never seen Jade become hysterical before, and most of the Silver Society members were in too much shock to help her.

Beth's eyes were open wide with concern. She was the only one that had seen Jade slip into a flashback before. She sat down on Jade's other side and wrapped her arms around her the way that Spencer had.

"Shhh, sweetie," Beth whispered. "They can't hurt you now."

Of the rest of the Silver Society members, it was Melissa that reacted first. She sat down in front of Jade and looked into her eyes. "You're safe now, Jade," she said.

Jade stared into Melissa's eyes and seemed to calm down significantly. She pulled herself free from Spencer and Beth and stood up. Melissa stood with her and took her hand.

"Come on," Melissa said. "You need some air." She led Jade outside. No one else dared to say anything.

"Gods, she's really been through hell," Randy said when Jade and Melissa were out of earshot.

"Yes," Alex replied, "she has." He shook his head. "I knew what she went through. The scroll warned me that she was a cult kid, but to see it... To see her actually flash back on it..." He did not have words for what he was feeling. He looked like he was torn between hitting a blind rage and crying.

"Her dad was a real bastard," Jesse growled.

"Easy, Puppy," Aideen said soothingly, petting Jesse's head to calm his rage. One thing that never failed to set Jesse off was a man hurting a woman. The fact that Aideen shared his rage didn't matter. They didn't need Jesse's wolf going over the edge.

Outside, Jade and Melissa sat on the stairs that led to Alex's house. "You've been through this," Jade said after several minutes of silence.

Melissa wanted to deny it, but she knew that Jade needed to know that she was not alone. "Yes," she replied. "I have."

"You're not a cult kid, but you were hurt, a lot."

"Yeah. I understand flashbacks, Jade. I get them all the time. What triggered it?"

"I don't know. One second, we were all just joking around, and the next, I was thirteen years old again."

"Ick. I never want to be thirteen again. Talk about Hell on Earth!"

"I think it was Arnie's wording with you... The whole you know you love it bit. I know Arnie would never hurt you and was just playing around, but my father used to say things like that to me to excuse his abuse..." She sighed, embarrassed and still shaky. "I hate this. I hate knowing that I'll never be able to just live my life like a normal person. I mean, I can't even live it like a normal psychic. Once a cult kid, always a cult kid, and it's like, no matter what I do, I can't ever fully escape it. I may not be in the cult anymore, but I can't get away from my memories. It isn't fair."

"You're right, it's not fair. It totally sucks," Melissa agreed. "I wish I could tell you it will get better, but I don't know if it will and I don't believe in lying just to make someone feel better."

"Thanks for that. I appreciate honesty," Jade replied.

"Are you okay now?" Melissa asked.

Jade shrugged. "I guess. I mean, I know I'll be fine, but I hate the idea of going back in there... They saw it. All of them saw this part of me that I work so hard to hide and keep buried, and I don't know if I can handle that. I can't handle seeing pity in their eyes, or horror, or disgust... And..."

"And part of you is afraid they'll look at you differently now that they've seen it," Melissa guessed.

"Exactly," Jade replied.

"It's okay, Jade. You're not alone."

"Thanks, Melissa. Really."

"Anytime. Are you ready to face your fear?"

Jade nodded. "As ready as I'll ever be, anyway."

"That's good enough. Come on." Melissa helped Jade stand up and they walked back into the house.

"Is everything okay?" Beth asked.

"Yeah," Jade replied. "I'm alright now."

"So, Jade, we were just discussing an interesting possibility," Arnie said. "Would you mind if we let Deenie resurrect your parents so we can kill them?"

Jade cracked a smile at that. "Thanks, but they aren't worth the energy or the time," she replied.

She searched the eyes of the members of the Silver Society, and using the ability she rarely used, she went into a couple of their minds. She had to know if they were reacting poorly.   

All that was on Spencer's mind was concern for her. Alex was fighting the urge to hold her and never let her out of his sight again. Normally, that would have annoyed or even frightened Jade, but she understood that her soul was extremely close to Alex's, and this sort of reaction was normal for a father that had learned that his child had been hurt. Cierra was tempted to hug her. No one was disgusted with her for what had happened. No one thought less of her. Most importantly of all, their feelings came from true concern, and not just from pity. Nothing important had changed.

This is home, Jade thought. These people really are my family.