Chapter 2

Officer Allison Masters has been on the force for five years and would be considered a homegrown police officer. She’s seen her share of dead bodies so this would be just another day at the office for her or so she thought. She pulls up to the house looking around at the wooded area across the street. She looks through her rear view mirror seeing the other officer pull up. “What’s up?” Officer Adams says as he closes the door of his patrol unit. “What’s going on Adams?” Ally looks over at him and smiles. Officer Adams looks at the house they parked in front of and laughingly says “So do you really think these kids saw a dead body?” Officer Masters walks past him and up to the front door “Who knows!” as she rings the doorbell. After about 30 minutes of listening to the two boys tell their stories and the frantic concerns of the mother, both officers leave the house and make their way to the wooded area to look around.

The two officers make their way through the wooded area and past the brush where the boys said they had gone through, coming to the creek bed. The officers begin walking along the bed and looking around. “I don’t see anything”, Officer Adams whines. “Those kids were playing, thought they saw something and got scared” he looks at Ally hoping she was going to tell him “Let’s go” but instead he watches as she slides her fingers together and uses them as a cover over her eyes, squinting looking further down the creek bed. “Look” she points “there’s something down there” and the closer they get Ally realizes the more the atmosphere seems to change around them as if death himself has come to visit these woods. Officer Masters can see something crouched on the ground and cautiously moves closer. “Hello” she calls out but no answer. They get to the lump and Benjamin looks around as Ally bends down and pulls the lump back so she can get a better look. She gasps in disbelief at what she’s seeing. She gets up quickly and backs up into Officer Adams “Oh my god” she shouts as she puts her hand to her mouth. “What” Officer Adams looks over and in his own disbelief can not believe the site. It is a woman, her eyes white as snow and wide open almost frozen in place and her skin is pale white. The front of her blouse had been ripped open and to the officer’s shock there was blood everywhere and a hole in her chest which made him feel a little squeamish. “What the hell?” he looks at Officer Masters, “There’s a hole in her chest!” Ally pushes down the button on her hand held and takes a deep breath calming herself before she speaks “P62”. A voice over the speaker comes back “P62?”. Ally cautiously looks around the wooded area as she responds “We have a confirmed 901”. The dispatcher in her own disbelief replies in more of a question rather than a statement, “Copy confirming 901?” Ally is scared at what she is witnessing but unfortunately for the dispatcher she comes off a bit annoyed. Probably from being in the same area as this creepy body replies “Yes confirmed 901! The hole in her chest where her heart was confirms it for me” and there’s silence over the radio for several minutes before the dispatcher finally answers “10-4 P62”.

Chloe can’t believe what she just heard, a dead body with a hole in her chest! James Wyler Sergeant-On-Duty walks through the dispatch door with purpose in his eyes “What the hell did P62 just say?” Chloe looks up at him still shocked herself replaying Ally’s words in her mind “A dead body and I think she’s literally missing her heart”. “What the fuck” Sergeant Wyler puts his hand on his head “I’m heading out there” call in one of the detectives for crime scene. “10-4 Sarge” Chloe says as Sergeant Wyler heads out of the building to the parking lot. “What the hell is going on in this town”. He sighs as he gets into his patrol unit “I hate Halloween” and heads to the crime scene.

Marcus Danvers walks up to the wooded area and notices caution tape strung across every bush out there letting everyone know something bad has happened. He speaks to the officer keeping watch flashing his FBI Badge and watches as that officer strollers down to the makeshift command center. This is the part of the job that Agent Danvers hates the most. Walking into a new department and trying to explain what it is he does for the FBI. He was called in because a female was found in the area and her death was similar to the ones from the last town he was in and just as gruesome as they were. Stabbed in the chest and her heart removed from her body. Skin turned pale white and the eyes glossed over a white color like she had a bad case of cataracts. Agent Danvers remembers the pictures of the women thinking it was like their souls had been sucked out of their bodies. This was his type of case, something unexplained and why he was hired by the FBI. His experience and skills were unmatched by anyone so far.

Officers Masters and Adams have begun to rope off the area with their crime scene tape. Making sure no one can get through and contaminate the scene. Sergeant Wyler makes it to the location as he walks to the edge of the wooded area he has a strange feeling he’s being watched. He looks around but doesn’t see anyone out of the ordinary, just a uniformed cop walking in his direction. The cop tells Sergeant Wyler an FBI Agent Danvers is at the edge of the woods wanting to see the person in charge. Sergeant Wyler walks over to where the FBI Agent is standing giving him a once over and reaches out his hand, “I’m Sergeant Wyler I guess you can say I’m in charge of this mess” . Agent Danvers greets him and shows him his badge and Sergeant Wyler pulls up the caution tape and motions for Agent Danvers to follow him. Both men walk down the brush and come to the creek bed as they hear voices they start walking toward the direction of the sounds. Sergeant Wyler see’s Masters and Adams standing around but the look on their faces are apparent that something terrible has happened. Ally hears movement behind her and turns to see her sergeant and an unknown man dressed in a suit coming up the creek bed path. She starts walking toward Sergeant Wyler, her face as white as a sheet. “Sarge’’ she greets him and Sergeant Wyler introduces Agent Danvers to both cops. Ally greets Agent Danvers cautiously and turns back to Sergeant Wyler, “you’re not going to believe this” she walks both men over to the body. “Other than the hole in her chest I can’t really see any other trauma” the coroner says, “But I can’t explain the pale skin or white eyes.”. Wyler looks the body over, pulling the cloak away to see the gaping hole carved out in her chest. “It looks like the assailant used some type of sharp object to cut her heart out….Instant death” Agent Danvers decides not to say anything at that moment about the body but then notices a cup on the ground just beyond where they are standing. And then a bowl and he motions in that direction to Sergeant Wyler as he yells “What the hell are those” as he starts walking toward the items. Adams and Wyler follow him through the brush and up the hill and they see the rest of the items all over the ground. “It looks like there was a fight or something” Adams says as he looks around. Wyler carefully walks over to the tree stump and see’s the blood on the side of the trunk and soaked into the ground next to it. Agent Danvers looks over at Wyler, “I think we found were she was killed” and Wyler shakes his head in agreement as he looks at the bloody mess in front of him. Sergeant Wyler turns to Officer Adams and tells him to call in all the detectives they’re going to need them to do this second area crime scene.

Agent Danvers takes off his suit jacket and rolls up his sleeves. I’ll help him and Sgt. Wyler starts looking around at this second crime scene, placing numbered placards everywhere. Danvers comes across a bag, looking inside discovers this must be the victim’s purse or bag. Her personal items were inside. Wallet with money and credit cards still inside. He finds her driver’s license, Piper Davis, 20 years old and a student. He sighs, just a child barely an adult. Wyler comes over and Danvers hands him the wallet and license but continues to look through the bag. He pulls out the folded paper, a flier from the night before for an All Hallow’s Eve Event at the local cemetery. He hands that over to Wyler looking at him, “We need to check this out and Wyler looks it over and at Danvers, “Really”. “Yes”, Danvers continued. The way she was killed and this flier from the night before, it can’t be a coincidence. Wyler looks at Danvers for a second thinking to himself there’s more to this situation then he is being told. Why does he feel like there’s something Danvers is holding on to? Wyler looks the flier over again, “Well the event coordinator is listed on here let’s start by giving her a call”.

After leaving several messages and not receiving a call back from Sasha Cromwell, the events coordinator, Danvers decides to head to Flagstaff to speak with her personally. Danvers can’t shake the feeling that this has something to do with the murders from Seattle. Like it’s all connected somehow. Wyler decides to tag along hoping to get some insight into this murder and maybe press Danvers for more info. The drive from Coolidge to Flagstaff was pretty uneventful. Marcus spent most of the time dodging questions from Sgt. Wyler. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to share but rather how does he explain all this to a normal man who doesn’t even know what he’s getting himself into by going to a New Moon Ritual event. They finally make it to Flagstaff and decide to head to the hotel first to check in and drop their bags off and then go to the Ritual Event to speak with Sasha Cromwell. They go to the address listed on the flier. It’s an old warehouse that was remodeled to be used as a rental space. Pretty good size too, lots of room for individual rituals and a huge space in the middle where the main ritual would take place. Danvers finds a staff member and asks to speak with Mrs. Cromwell. The staff member walks them over to a table setup with literature and a sign-in section. “Mrs. Cromwell”, the employee calls out. A petite, red headed, 40ish something female turns around and smiles, “Yes:. The employee advises, “These gentlemen are here to see you”. Sasha, knowing full well that they are cops and why they are at her door, plays her part well, “Merry Meet gentlemen”, she extends her hand out to shake each one of theirs. “How can I help you?”, she turns and begins walking away. The two men follow behind trying to keep up with her. “Mrs. Cromwell”, Sgt. Wyler begins by pulling out a picture of the victim, “Do you recognize this person? Sasha stops and turns around just long enough to take a scan of the picture real quick, “No, Sorry she doesn’t look familiar to me” and begins walking again. Sgt. Wyler continues, “We believe she was at your event in Sedona two nights ago”. Sash stops to talk to an employee, “Make sure the canopies are all secure. I don’t want one of them flying across the room and knocking someone out”.

“No, that would be a bad thing”, a man comes into the tent. Sasha looks over her shoulder at her most trusted and good friend, Elijah as he comes to her side. “What’s going on”, he says to her as he looks the two men up and down. “Apparently someone was murdered the other night after leaving our All Hallow’s Eve event”, She responds, “and Agent Danvers and Sgt. Wyler, " she continues pointing their way as she tries to remember their names, “are inquiring about that night. But as I informed them I don’t recognize the young lady.”

Sgt. Wyler takes out the picture again showing it to Elijah, “Do you recognize the young lady?”. Elijah takes the picture in his hand looking at it intently, “How sad, she is very pretty but no I don’t recognize her”. He hands the picture back to Sgt. Wyler, “Sorry”, he says in a sad tone but turning over to look at Sasha, “The main area needs your inspection before we can move on.”

Wyler leaves and heads back to his hotel room but Danvers decides to stay a little while longer. Walking around the event area again paying closer attention to the people and what’s going on. That’s when he spots a group of ladies around a small fire pit. Each has their own supplies; paper, pen, clipboard, water, candles, and herbs. Without even realizing it he has been watching this female just ahead of him, conduct her ritual. She is sitting cross legged on the floor with her eyes closed most likely in some type of meditation. After about ten minutes she takes in a large breath and as she lets out that breath opens her eyes and he can’t help but stare at these beautiful, deep brown eyes. For a moment they just stare at each other almost like time has stood still. The female suddenly blinks and the trance is lost. Another female calls to her and her attention is diverted.

Ariana noticed this guy just watching her every move. She’s not sure how to feel about it but she’s in the middle of her New Moon Ritual so she turns her attention to the items in front of her. She looks forward to each month’s New Moon because it’s another chance to share her intentions and what she hopes to accomplish for the new month. She looks over at her friend Olivia and smiles at her, “Are you ready?”. Olivia nods her head excited to be doing this ritual with her new witch friend. They met a few months ago at another event and they hit it off from the get go. She watches as Ariana picks up her clipboard with the pen and paper attached, turns around to look at her and begins explaining, “When I do a New Moon Ritual I always set my intentions for the new month”. Olivia watches her with curiosity. She’s never watched another witch do a ritual so when Ariana invited her to participate with her during her New Moon Ritual of course she said “Yes”.

She watches her friend as she takes the pen and paper and begins writing down everything she would like to accomplish for November. Ariana then folds the paper in half three times. Holding it in her hand once again closes her eyes but this time she meditates on her intentions. Visualizing each one coming true and opening her heart and mind, letting each desire’s light dissolve into her skin. Feeling, as one by one, her desires become enveloped with her body and she can see in her mind’s eye as the light from each one disappears into her body. She takes a deep breath in and as it’s released she can feel the energy rise in herself. And at that moment she knows it is time for the ritual to begin. She picks up her sage bundle and lights it letting the smoke become thick. She waves it around herself and her surrounding area, clearing it of all negative energy. She can feel the sensation begin. It’s like this electrified power that forms in the tips of her toes and slowly moves up her body energizing her as it moves forward. She begins with a chanting to cleans her body of any negative energy or feelings.

“In hunc fumum dimittam

Omnes vires quae non serviunt

Omnes negativity qui circumdant

Et omnis metus qui finibus

-So Mote Est Be”

Ariana places her glass of water so it faces North and then places the white candle just in front of it and lights it. She once again closes her eyes and begins thinking about her intentions that she wrote down. Mentally reciting them in her mind, one by one. Once she has finished she takes a book of matches and creates a small fire in her mini cauldron. She then takes the paper she wrote her intentions on and places it into the mini cauldron watching as it burns and the smoke begins to rise and slowly waves across the air. It glides to the open door and slides to the outside waving into the wind as it spreads across the night sky and takes her desires into the world. She finishes her ritual and cleans up her space not realizing that Agent Danvers was still there watching her intently. Olivia walks over to her excited about everything that has occurred. “This was so great Ariana”, she says through her smiling face. “I could feel the energy. It’s like the atmosphere is energized.