Chapter 1

Ron pearly sat at his computer on his 100 acres of land, reading from his digital copy of Demonology written by King James I in 1599. Ron believed he was directly related to the English monarch, and it was his duty to rid Salem of its devil spawn again in 2020. It also helped his sadistic nature. He lived to hurt people, and following his ancestors' writings allowed him to justify the killings.

He glanced across to his other four monitors looking at the petrified women on them. He had three shackled standing up in their isolation cells, being bombarded with load noise and strobing lights keeping them awake. Sleep deprivation was the only thing allowed at first in the early days of witch-hunting in England. Ron liked to soften his devil spawn up a little at first three to four days before he started their interrogation. Sarah Good, his latest woman, was tied to the dunking chair, waiting for her examination after a stay in her isolation cell. He searched his victims from head to toe for their devils' marks. Unfortunately for her, any skin blemish would sign her death warrant.

He smiled to himself, closed the house door, reset the alarm and started walking towards the barn to begin his king's bidding.

Opening the derelict looking door, he stepped into an immaculate interior of a modern purpose-built building. He had designed the building to hold and interrogate his victims, and after the signed confession, he could carry out their execution by hanging or burning at the stake. Being an engineer, he had also modernised some medieval torture devices. He believed he always gave his victims the chance to prove their innocence, but as in medieval times, proving your innocence cost you your life. He slowly walked to his latest victim Sarah Good. She had attracted his attention by dancing with her new puppy talking to him. Ron considered this her familiar, her way to communicate with the devil, making her the devils handmaiden.

He opened Mary Green's isolation cell and removed her to the wooden rack in the middle of his interrogation room. Mary had been with him for four days. Mary had been imprisoned in her isolation cell for the duration, bombarded with loud music and strobe lights keeping her awake. Mary was exhausted and unable to give any resistance once released from her manacles. She was secured to the rack by her wrist and ankles. The wires pulled taught stretching out her arms and legs. Pleased with the results, he proceeded to secure Sarah Good in the vacant isolation cell. Once happy, her manacles were secure. He attached the devil's fork device to her chest and positioned the sharp prongs just touching her chin. He had designed them to push the prongs up into her chin when she lowered her chin by 1cm, waking her instantly. After all, she was not going to sleep for the next three days.

Returning to Mary, he smiled; this was his favourite bit, making them confess so they could repent for their sins.

"CONFESS!" He yelled at Mary activating the thumb screws attached to her toes and fingers. He had designed these to work separately on individual fingers or toes by crushing or his favourite feature heated needles inserted. "Arghh! Stop, please stop. I've done nothing!" Screamed Mary

"CONFESS! You danced with the devil, CONFESS YOU SPAWN OF SATAN!" He yells into her ear

"Confess, and the pain will stop. Just tell me you are a witch, and your pain stops." Ron tells her, knowing he needs to calm his sadistic streak first, meaning hours more pain for Mary

"STOP! I ...Witch." Mary manages to speak through the extraordinary pain she is suffering from her crushed toes and fingers. Smiling, he released one hand and had her sign her confession the best she could and, unbeknownst to Mary, her death warrant. Re-securing her wrist to the shackle, he smiled and pressed a button on his remote control activating all the thumb and toe screws at once

"Nooo! Aghhh..." Mary thankfully passed out due to the severe pain. Ron turns the thumb and toe screws off after breaking and crushing every toe and finger she had. Mary would never be able to use her feet and hands properly ever again.

Mary woke strapped to a metal body shaped stand with her arms slightly away from her sides. He secured her head so she could only look straight ahead. Ron walked into view dressed as an old 1500 British judge.

"Mary Green, you have confessed to being a witch, by King James I warrant you are sentenced to death. You will be burnt at the stake. May God have mercy on your soul." Ron read from his warrant. Ron moved out of sight and wheeled a metal contraption in front of Mary and then brought the other half and locked the two sections around Mary.

"NO, NO! Please don't I have a husband and two children." Screamed Mary as she recognised the gas burners attached to the metal framework.

"I'm saving your family from you." Smiled Ron "you will never corrupt young children, WITCH."

Turning the extraction fan above Mary, he closed the room sealed door and walked to the observation window. Opening an app on his phone aptly named Witch Roaster, he pressed the big red button. All 24 gas burners ignited around Mary. He calmly watched her struggle against her bonds futility and could see her mouth move while she screamed; luckily, her burn room was fully soundproofed, so he couldn't listen to her dying screams or smell the putrid fat Odour associated with burning bodies.

After fifteen minutes, he turned the burners off and increased the speed of the extraction fans to try and remove the hideous fat smell. He prepared the death warrant and recording of her confession and execution to be attached to the body. He would dump her body later tonight to allow her proper burial. She had atoned for her sins.

Closing the door to his barn, he set the alarm and happily walked back to his house for a well-deserved beer...

EJ

Emily stood next to JJ, watching with amusement the sight of Morgan swaying his hips and singing to himself while he made his morning coffee. He had been super happy, according to Garcia, as he was now in a relationship with a mystery woman. He had neither confirmed nor denied this to his friends. The permanent smile on his face and he's out of character singing and dancing was a giveaway even to non-profilers. JJ was determined to find out the identity of the lucky lady she was going to discuss over dinner tonight.

"You seem happy this morning, partner," Emily told Morgan looking to see if he was going to give anything away to her.

"Yeah, I found myself a good woman, and I have never been happier. Stop profiling me, and I'm not ready to introduce her to the team. I don't know if she will ever be ready for the Spanish Inquisition from Garcia. I'm in love, Em." Morgan smiled at her

"It's good to see you happy, Derek, but Garcia will not let it go; you know what she's like when she has her teeth into something." JJ smiled, patting him on the back when he left to return to his office.

Emily smirked at JJ, watching Morgan return to his office. "He loves her? Interesting, I'm even more determined to find out who the lucky lady is to take him off the market. Women must have wept when he became a single ladies man. Garcia must be envious. I feel sorry if that women's credit rating if she hurts her Derek." Emily laughed

EJ

That evening Emily was sat opposite JJ at a new high-end Chinese Restaurant in D.C. JJ was passing across in her chopsticks a piece of beef when she suddenly paused halfway across to Emily's mouth.

"Batteries run out, sweetheart?" Emily asked her wife

"Erm, what sorry?." JJ asked, still not looking at her.

"Jennifer, I am sat naked in my seat playing with myself. Would you like to give me a hand?" Emily asked her wife

"You what?" JJ turned and looked at her wife, confused, her face pale "I'm sorry, Em, but I've just seen something I wish I had not. I need to bleach my brain and see a shrink for the remainder of my life." She indicated a particular table for her to look at. "be warned!"

Emily followed her wife's finger and found Morgan kissing a female companion at his table. They split apart, and Emily caught sight of his companion's face. " OH...MY...GOD!" Emily brought her hand to her mouth while JJ drained her wine glass and refilled it.

"STRAUSS!" They both announced in shock.

Before JJ turns her head back to look at Emily at the table, Morgan's eyes lock on hers, and he seems shocked. He quickly talked to Strauss and motioned towards the two girls. Morgan stands up and offers Strauss his hand. Strauss and Morgan walked hand in hand over to Emily and JJ.

" Hi, I didn't expect to see you both here tonight. I want to introduce you to the love of my life Erin." Morgan announced, leaning down and passionately kissing her.

"Ma'am." Both ladies reply

"Erin, please, after all, we're going to be seeing each other a lot outside of work." Smiled Erin

Emily bows her head and decides to be a better person for her partner. "Erin, why don't you and Derek join Jennifer and me for dessert and a drink. I'm glad You make Derek happy. He's been happier than I've seen him in a long time." Smiled Emily

"You hurt him in any way, and I'll make you pay. I meant to tell you at this juncture in time." JJ smiled using her best media smile.

Erin smiled at both Emily and JJ. "Thank you for not making a big deal out of it for Derek. He's been terrified at how you all would take him seeing me. I love him with all my heart. I don't know how it started; it seemed to happen. I have never been happier, especially since neither of you has run for the hills. Jennifer, Emily, could you keep this between us just for a little while longer until we are ready to tell everyone." She asked

Both Emily and JJ nodded at the request. "Yes, Ma... sorry Erin, we can respect your request. Might I suggest you both not leave it too long? It will be a shock, but they will accept it in time for Morgan. But you have a lot of burnt bridges to mend." Emily smiled

After an hour, they parted company and returned home. JJ grabbed Emily and pulled her up to their bedroom, and pushed her onto the bed.

"I need you to make me forget the last few hours, babe. I feel like I'm in an episode of the twilight zone. Derek loves Strauss, and she loves him. Oh my god, Garcia is going to kill her digitally." JJ tells Emily ripping her clothes off.

They spend until their alarm clocks go off for work, forgetting the previous night's discovery.

EJ

Ron had deposited Mary's charred body into his large wheeled tool chest with her signed confession and her video of her execution. He loaded the tool chest onto his van and drove down to the public park on gallows hill, believed to be where they hung the witches from the 1692-1693 witch trials. He felt it was his royal duty to leave the confessed executed women's bodies here for discovery. They had atoned for their sins and deserved a Christian burial. He found a site that felt right. He tipped his tool chest over and pulled out Mary's body, and arranged her carefully, placing her signed confession and execution video under the body. Satisfied, he collected everything and loaded it back in his van air returned home.

Five hours later, four teenagers played soccer when one kick sent the ball into the long grass. One unlucky member of the group ran into the long grass to collect the ball. He bent down to pick the ball up and came face to face with the burnt body of Mary Green. He was violently sick next to her body. After emptying his stomach contents onto the grass, he reached for the paper trapped under her body to wipe his mouth. He noticed the words witch and execution and just dropped them on the floor. Being a modern-day teenager, she reported the body she had discovered on Facebook first and a video of the charred body on Instagram before phoning the Salem police department.

The local news media arrived not long after the police had taped the crime scene off. The two detectives assigned the Gallows hill murders. Detectives Mark Winston and Emily Trent passed under the crime scene tape and knelt beside the body. The crime scene techs had bagged the execution letter complete with vomit smears in a bag and the memory stick containing the execution/murder video.

"The smell of burnt fat makes me feel sick. I can't imagine the actual smell when it's happening. Where-ever it must be isolated or have a fantastic air extraction system. Like those in the gas chambers back in the corp." Mark Winston told his partner. They had both been Marines before they joined Salem's police department.

"Yeah, it might be well ventilated; the smell of the three women he has burnt to death must have penetrated the walls and floor. I don't think car air fresheners and scrubbing would get rid of that heinous odour easily. We need to find it, partner." Emily Trent told her partner

"She makes five. I think the chief needs to call in the feds now." Mark tells his partner, looking at the execution letter. "We will try and get you some justice Mary Green." He tells his partner.

"Come on time to break the bad news to her husband and kids. I hate being the harbinger of horrible news. Can we toss for it?" She asked

"Sorry, partner all yours," Mark answered

EJ

Penelope Garcia hastily crosses the bullpen on the way to Hotch's office, files in hand. Knocking on his door, he waves her in

"Sir, we have a request from Salem, Massachusetts. They have had five murders over the past three months. Three burnt to death, and two hung. They were all found with these." Garcia handed over copies of the letters found with each body.

"Witches, Oh my god, this is going to be a press nightmare. Briefing room ten minutes."

Garcia rounded up the team and took them to the round table room. Hotch walked in and nodded to Garcia to start the briefing

"Well, this one is classified as spooky, my little crime fighters. We have five deceased women and three missing women in Salem, Massachusetts. Yes, the witches holiday destination to avoid. Two women were hung and three burnt to death, all show signs of torture, all found with signed confessions that they were witches. The witchfinder general signed each note." Garcia briefed the team, " all bodies were found in a public park in gallows hill."

Reid looked up " Gallows hill is believed to be where they hung the witches convicted during the Salem witch trials. Even though at least 1000 documents still exist, they couldn't pinpoint the exact position of the hangings until using ground-penetrating radar. A witch's confession could only be accepted during torture. Salem witch trials where Jun 1691- May 1693." Reid was happy they all listened to his little speech.

Garcia pressed play on the remote, Mary Green's screaming and burning body filled the primary wall monitor. The team watched the horrific video in full to see if they could gather any useful information the Salem police might have missed.

"My God, what a horrible way to die. That burn rig he is using looks bespoke. We might be able to trace the manufacture?" JJ throws her idea out to the group

"How's the choosing the victims? It's not by age, race or eye colour. Nothing overlaps between victims apart from gender. Does he believe they are witches?" Morgan asked the group

Emily flicks through the files and is zoned out until she gets a slap on her shoulder from JJ

"Mh, what was that for Jennifer?" A miffed Emily asked her wife

JJ laughed. "Em, you were unresponsive. You zoned out again." Smirked JJ

"Sorry, one victim had water in her lungs, and the two hanging victims didn't have their necks broken. They were slowly strangled at the end of the rope. If I'm correct [she smirked], that is exactly how they were executed, usually from a tree or a low gallows, no drop to break their neck. Viola Cann had water in her lungs, a test to see if a witch was called swim the witch or dunk the witch. They would tie the woman to a chair on a long pole and repeatedly dunk her until she confessed or usually drowned. In the swimming test, the woman was bound and thrown into a river or pond. If she floated, she was guilty and executed as a witch. If she drowned, she was innocent. A lose/lose proposition. You are screwed either way. I suppose drowning is the better option out of the three. This UnSub thinks he is hunting witches." Emily tells the group

"That could be a problem during the witch trials. Many accused men, women and even children were innocent. It was an easy way to even scores or get rid of love rivals etc... All confessions were under torture. I think we all would confess if our fingers were being crushed in thumbscrews or get it to stop even though you know it meant your death. If the UnSub has had a mental break, anything could make him convinced the woman is a witch. We need to get him stopped soon, Hotch, or he will not stop killing." Reid told the group

"Wheels up in 30," Hotch told everyone leaving the room.

EJ

Ron pearly sat watching the news report of the discovery of a body by some teenagers playing soccer. He smiled to himself, listening to the warning from the news anchor about the horrific pictures about to be shown. To his delight, the charred corpse of Mary Green in ultra HD appeared on his TV. He became sexually aroused by the mention of witches. He decided to send copies of the five executions to the local tv station. He smiled, thinking he could become famous and possibly rich, ridding the states of her devil's spawn. He placed his hand on the case holding his copy of demonology, and smiled he could become a king. He glances at the monitors smiling at the women locked in his cells, thinking about his following interrogation method. Dunk her. He smirked as he walked towards his bedroom for the night.

AN: Some facts are correct concerning Salem and the witch trials. But I have changed some for my story as it is fiction.