DISCLAIMER:

I own nothing. All rights remain with ABC Studios, CBS Television Studios and The Mark Gordon Company. Neither I, nor this story, are affiliated with above mentioned companies or any of their associates or subsidiaries, nor do I receive any monetary compensation from the publication of this narrative.

A/N: Willow Creek, ME is town of my own creating any semblance to an existing town is pure coincidence, I have never been to Maine (but the pictures I've seen are pretty) and I mean no offense. I also want to thank ladymatsudai for answering my questions about Maine.

As always, please review, I love reading them.

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Witch Hunt

Chapter 1: Witch Hunt

The crisp October breeze gusts for several minutes, forcing people to snuggle deeper into their coats and quicken their pace to their destination. The gust slows to a gently breeze causing the autumn colored leaves to make soft scratching noises as they tumble carelessly across the sleeping landscape. The fresh, clean scent of snow is carried on the air despite the clear sky and weatherman's predictions to the contrary.

She always did love the snow. She would gripe and complain with the rest of the world, but secretly she was a giddy as a child. To her world always looks so pure and clean beneath a thick, glistening blank of snow. Her favorite childhood memories are of snow forts and snowball fights with her brothers. They would run around in the snow for hours, finally scampering into the house with bright red noses and cheeks. Mommy would wrap them in thick warm blankets by the fire and daddy would make hot chocolate with the little colored marshmallows they loved so much. But tonight she doesn't care about snow as she lies amidst the dried leaves in a small circle of stones. Her thin white gown and bare feet provides no protection from the cold, but she doesn't care. Her dark eyes up at the near full moon, a brown seven day candle securely in her hands cast a faint flickering light. Her short auburn locks flutter in the night, and tangle in her eyelashes, but tonight she doesn't care. They'll find her in the morning…her eyes still staring up at the October sky.

"Her name is Ashley Bradford." JJ says, bringing up an image of a 23 year old woman in a thing gauze gown and bare feet. Her short auburn hair is windblown and littered with leaves and small twigs as she lay in a small circle of rocks with an extinguished seven day candle at her head. A second seven day candle is at her feet, a third to her left and fourth to her right and in her hands she seems to be holding a fifth seven day candle. Her eyes are open and staring up at the sky. The group began flipping through the files JJ had handed then earlier.

"She was reported missing by her roommate on September 5th and found by a group of hikers two days ago just outside Willow Creek, Maine." JJ continues.

"It says here a note was recovered from her mouth. 'Keeper of the gate, master of all fate. Accept this offering, know this prayer'." Reid reads, his mind racing to find some literary match.

"Yes, this is the second body they found like this. This is Kimberly Webster; she was reported missing on September 20th when she failed to report to work. The locals are asking for help." An image of Kimberly came up on the screen. A young black woman in early twenties wearing the same gown and surrounded by the same pile of rocks and candles is on the screen.

"These girls are showing no sign of physical abuse, or ligature marks." Emily Prentiss points out.

"And no sign of rape." Morgan adds. "These bodies look as if they're laid out for some sort of ritual. Was a note found on Kimberly?" Morgan asks.

"The same note. Any literary correlation?" Prentiss asks, looking to Reid and Rossi.

"None that I'm coming up with. It says in the coroner's report that Ashley Bradford died of Anaphylactic Shock; it seems she has a recorded allergy to peanuts. But I don't see a report for the other victim." Reid admits.

"Yeah the family is refusing to allow an autopsy, stating it violates their religious beliefs. They're holding things up with a court battle."

"I'm not seeing a time of death." Prentiss notes.

"Both girls were embalmed that makes it extremely difficult for the coroner to get an accurate time of death." Rossi

"So what does this say about the unsub?" Hotch asks.

"Organized, methodical, patient. These women were kidnapped back in September and it's now October." Morgan points out.

"We also can't over look the occult overtures with these. They look too neat for your standard cult, this is something else." Rossi adds.

"These women look as if they were taken care of, well fed, clean. That kind of care indicates a woman." JJ says.

"But the bodies were found several miles from a road, that's a lot of strength, and that's a man."

"Two unsubs." Rossi voices.

"Wheels up in thirty minutes." Hotch says, gathering his papers and leading the way out of the small room.

..~~~**~~~..

"Sheriff Jedidah Williams is the one who requested our assistance. He's out of his element and knows it. The town is small with a population of 1,500 and a police force of 20 officers. The last murder was 40 years ago. It's also a 2 hour drive from the nearest airport." JJ reports.

There was a collective groan from most of the passengers.

"I noticed the sheriff seemed especially adamant that we take this case. Did he mention why?" Reid asks.

"He said there is a pagan living in Willow Creek and he fears for her safety."

"Is she a suspect?" Morgan asks.

"No, she has a solid alibi for the dates of the disappearances."

"We should still talk with her. Morgan, Reid I'd like you two to speak with her." Hotch says.

"Do we have any information on her?" Morgan asks.

"No, but I can call the Sheriff and have him put together a file on her." JJ says, as she pulls out her cell phone and begins dialing the phone number.

..~~~**~~~..

"Sheriff Williams, I'm Supervisory Special Agent Aaron Hotchner, is there someplace you'd like us to set up?" Hotch asks as he extends his hand to trim elderly man.

"Thank you for coming out so quickly, we cleared out a small room in the back it's not much but it's all I have really. At least the coffee is fresh." He said with a friendly smile.

"I'm sure it'll be fine, thank you." Hotch says as he team continues to lug their bags past him and towards the room the Sheriff was pointing to.

"I got your team set up at the Hanson's summer home; they're out of town for the winter and said we could use the house. It's about 20 minutes north from here, nice place. I got some people over there now getting it set up; it should be ready in a couple of hours."

Hotch was about to say something when the door to the small sheriff's office flew open and young slender red came storming in, catching the attention of everyone in the office, including the BAU. Her red hair pulled up into a French Braid which disappeared into her coat, her brown eyes blazing with fury.

"This isn't funny!" She shouts, slamming a crumpled sheet of paper onto the Deputy's desk. "Two weeks! Every night there's something, what are you doing about it?" she demands.

"Madison…" Deputy Whitney sooths as he stands up. "There's not much that we can do."

"There's an inverted pentagram painted on my front door!" she shouts, pointing in the general direction of her home "That's vandalism and that is illegal! They left another note! 'Burn the Witch'!" she insists, thrusting the crumpled paper at the deputy's chest."

"We will look into it." The deputy promises, taking the threatening letter from her.

"Just like the crank calls 4 months ago? You looked into that so well I had to disconnect my LAN line."

"We are a small force…"

"In a town with virtually no crime! Do something!" she says in exasperation, her face softening from anger to desperate frustration.

"We will, I promise." Whitney promises, still in a calm voice. "But we need you to fill out some forms." He continues leading the irate red head towards the chair opposite the Deputy's desk.

"What is that about?" Hotch asks in a quiet tone, turning to join his team.

"Madison Wilcox came to town about a year and a half ago, she's our resident witch…of sorts, and some of the locals don't appreciate her religious views. She gets her more than fair share of hate mail and dirty looks." The sheriff answers in an equally low tone. "She's a sweet girl, makes a mean pumpkin pie but since these bodies have been found, she been harassed a lot more than usual." The Sheriff sighs and glances over at this deputy who seems to have everything under control. "I did what you asked and put everything together I have on her." He adds, passing a manila folder to Hotch. "Whenever you and your team are ready, I can take you to the crime scene."

"We'll do all we can to get this solved as quickly as possible, but we are going to need to speak with her." Hotch promises.

"What was that all about?" Morgan asks, watching Hotch close the door.

"That would be Madison Wilcox." Hotch says, watching Rossi pin the pictures of the two victims to the large corkboard Ashley Bradford, followed by Kimberly Webster.

"The coroner sent a fax; they were able to determine that Ashley died before Kimberly." JJ says, in response to Hotch's puzzled expression. "Fortunately the press hasn't gotten wind of this yet, and I'm working to keep it that way. I was just about to pay a visit to the local newspaper." JJ says.

"Good job."

Reid stands next to Rossi and places two push pins into the map, indicating where the women were found. And two more pins to indicate where the victims lived, neither were residence of Willow Creek.

"Rossi work with Prentiss on victimology. Everyone else with me, we're going to look at the scene."

"What about…uh…" Reid starts.

"She's filling out paperwork regarding some vandalism she'll be here for a while." Hotch reports.

"It's just over here." The sheriff says. They left the hike trail about 10 minutes ago and were heading towards some thick brush towards a small area taped off with yellow crime scene tape.

"This is an isolated area…definitely difficult to get to." Reid points out, stumbling over out grown tree root.

"No kidding." Morgan agrees

"Our unsub must be in shape in order to carry a body this far." Hotch adds.

"Unsub?" the sheriff asks.

"Unknown Subject." Morgan answers before Reid can not only answer, but go into a 3 minute explanation as to why they use the phrase 'unsub'.

"No one would just stumble across this area." Hotch notes, watching Reid slip on a pair of gloves and crouch down by the circle of stones for a closer look.

"What's that mean?" the sheriff asks, knowing he's not going to like the answer.

"It means there's a good chance that out unsub is a local." Morgan answers, looking around, taking in the remote surroundings.

"You sure?"

"Either a current resident or someone who grew up here." Hotch clarifies.

"Uh…guys…" Reid calls out, noticing something beneath the leaves and dirt.

"What is it?" Morgan asks.

"I'm not sure…" Reid says carefully clearing away the debris to reveal a large wooden plaque covered in strange symbols.

"How did this get missed? The sheriff asks as he watches Reid carefully pry the object out of the ground.

"It looks like it was partially buried in the ground and then covered with dirt and debris to hide it. Reid says turning the piece over to discover more glyphs and runes on the other side. "I don't think we were meant to find this." Reid says, completely puzzeled by the piece in his hands.

"We need to visit the other site…see if there's something" Hotch says.