Chapter 1

Bret got to his feet and headed out to the family room, where Melody was sitting on a chair waiting for him.

"Ready?" He asked her as she glanced up at Bret

"Yes, I am." She said getting up and following him out the door to his van and got inside slamming the van door as hard as she could. Bret started the van and pulled out of the garage. He looked over at his sister, who was unusually quiet.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Nothing really, I just sometimes get the impression Rikki doesn't like me much, that's all." She
said in a depressed tone of voice. Bret eyed her like she'd just lost all her common sense.

"What!" He exclaimed almost laughing at her crazy notion, almost. Bret abruptly could see in her beautiful eyes that she had meant every word she had said to him. The tears slid down her face, as she stared at her favorite brother. 

"You can't really say I'm wrong, can you?" She asked as she searched Bret's eyes for the truth.

" I thought so." She whispered as Bret pulled into the school parking lot.

"He loves you, Melody, but he has trouble expressing his emotions. " Bret said as she looked away and started to leave his van, until he grabbed her arm and made her turn back around to face him.

"What is it, Melody?" Bret asked as she turned back around like he wanted her to, so she'd be forced to look in his eyes.

"What?" She asked in a tiny tone of voice.

"Do you believe me?" Bret asked.

"Yes, I suppose so." She said softly hugging him, before she left and met up with her best friend Kelly.
Melody found Kelly at her locker talking with several boys, which wasn't one bit unusual for Kelly either. Kelly looked up at Melody and smiled impishly.

"Got to go, guys." She said to them as they left her locker. 

"Hey girlfriend, how are you?" Kelly asked.

"Fine, any normal guys around this year?" Melody asked.

"There are some very interesting guys around." Kelly said as she motioned toward Kaine and Ryan heading for their homeroom. "They're new and they're in our homeroom." She replied. Melody liked the looks of both, but she looked constantly at Kaine as he walked into the classroom.

"Let's get into class." Melody said as Kelly followed her into the classroom. Ryan glanced up and dropped his books, as he saw Melody. Something in his spirit told him, Melody was the one they needed. But he had to be certain, before he voiced his opinions to his brother Kaine. He later found out her name was Melody Prescott and her friend was Kelly Elder. He could tell Kaine seemed mesmerized by her bewitching beauty. But now he had to see, if she was strong and agile to fend off the powers of hell as well.

Ryan made it a practice to see exactly what she was doing in all her classes. He also found out, she was a regular on the gymnastics team and learned she was the best on the team. Ryan was pretty sure he had found the girl in his visions to help them fight Satan's evil forces in this town. Now, he'd have to talk to her to find out the truth.

She was doing cart wheels in the gym and ran and jumped up on the uneven parallel bars and started swinging around. When Ryan and Kaine approached her, both brothers couldn't take their eyes off her.

"Excuse me, are you Melody Prescott?" Ryan asked.

"Yes." She said as she dismounted doing a crazy spin landing on her feet.

"Nice." Kaine said grinning at her.

"Thanks; you two are new here, huh?" She asked.

"Yeah, how'd you know that?" Kaine asked.

"I make it my business to know." She said as she jumped backwards onto the bars once more showing off her skills and talents. She was breathtaking and so graceful on the bars and both brothers were struck with awe by her agility and quickness.

"You're amazing! "Kaine exclaimed.

"Thanks." She said as a broad smile crossed her lips. Ryan had watched in silence, as his brother chatted with her about everything under the sun.

"So, you've basically done this for a long time, I take it?" Kaine asked as Melody grinned.

"Yep, it's fun and relaxing to do flips and all this jumping and swinging." Melody said as Ryan approached her then he needed to get serious.

"Melody, do you believe in God?" Ryan asked bluntly getting to the point. Melody eyed Ryan strangely, but answered him nonetheless.

"Of course I do. I just can't talk about God too much around my brothers; they don't like to hear about him." Melody said as both brothers eyed her oddly.

"Why is that, Melody?" Kaine asked finally after a long period of silence.

"Our parents were killed in a terrible car crash and they blame God for the crash. See, they use to blame themselves, but now they all of a sudden say God is to blame for it. I've tried to tell them, that it's not God's fault or their fault. They won't listen to me, when I say it's the Devil's fault." She replied as she flopped down on the mat and stared off into space for a minute and started to talk once more.

"I miss my brothers. They use to be so different before the accident. They loved me and we were a family, but now it's like they are distant and so secretive around me. They have so many secrets and such weird friends that hang around. And now, I've been having such inexplicable dreams lately." Melody said as Ryan watched her and suddenly a smile broke out across his face.

"What kind of dreams?" Ryan asked.

"I'm fighting someone or something that has no face." She replied as Ryan grinned even more and decided to tell her about his visions as well and get her to join in their fight for good.

"I'm going to explain something to you and it may sound a little strange at first, but the fact that you're having the dreams too, explains it." Ryan said.

"Explains what?" Melody asked.

"My brother and I fight the forces of hell, but it's getting stronger and we need another person to help in our struggle to stop the evil from spreading." He said as Melody eyed him like he was crazy. Melody started to laugh unexpectedly and Ryan glanced at Kaine, who just shook his head, as he watched Ryan kneel in front of her.

"I am serious here, Melody." Ryan said. Melody tried to be serious, but somehow Ryan wasn't making a real big impression with this fighting the evil in the town issue.

"When you say forces of hell, what do you mean exactly?" She asked.

"Exactly that demons and people who are evil like devil worshipers." Ryan explained. Melody started to get up, when she stared out into space and trembled as her eyes widened and she started to fall to her knees.

"Grab her!" Ryan shouted at Kaine.

"What's wrong with her?" Kaine asked.

"I'm not sure." Ryan said as he looked into Melody's eyes. "It's like she's in a trance." Ryan said as he touched her face lightly." Melody, can you hear me?" Ryan said. Melody glanced up and frowned.

"What is it?" Kaine asked her.

"The dream I have at night, it just happened now and I am wide awake." She mumbled holding her head.

"It's not a dream, it's a vision." Ryan said." There's a difference."

"Well I don't want it, it hurts my head." Melody mumbled. Ryan stayed knelt in front of her and stared her in the eyes.

"Melody, you have been given a gift now, you have no choice." Ryan replied.

"What do you mean a gift?" She cried. "Why is this thing a gift when it makes my head split and gives me the wigs. " She replied.

"Then what is it?" Kaine asked.

"It's a curse!" She exclaimed. Ryan shook his head in dismay as he sighed and glanced back at her.

"It's not a curse, this is your destiny just accept this, Melody." Ryan said. Melody looked away from Ryan with tears in her eyes, when Ryan lifted her face back to make her look into his eyes. He saw the mixed emotions in flooding in her eyes, he smiled sadly at her.

"Melody, this is real, it's not a game. These people are real and the demons are real and they are deadly." Kaine said making sure she understood all the risks of her new duty working with them. Melody glanced up at Kaine and she was both flattered that they wanted her, but scared as well. She had no idea what she was getting into.

"I understand; I'll take it seriously." Melody said as Ryan and Kaine smiled at her as she glanced up at the clock on the wall. 

"Oh wow, my brother will be waiting out front for me; he picks me up everyday from school. I got to go now." She replied as she hugged Ryan and Kaine and scurried to grab her duffel bag and get moving to meet her brother, who was parked out front waiting very impatiently for her to come out of the school. 

Melody came running out of the school and saw Bret's van parked out front and she could see by the look on his face. He wasn't very happy about being kept waiting at all and let her know out it immediately.

"Where were you?" Bret demanded.

"I was in the gym and two guys came in and were talking to me, I lost all track of time." Melody said as Bret eyed her strangely when she said that.

"Boys, you were distracted by boys, Melody?" Bret asked." Why am I not surprised?" He remarked sourly. Melody lowered her eyes and frowned about how mean both her brothers have now become toward her.

"I'm sorry." Was all she could say as Bret glanced over and narrowed his eyes at her.

"You know, if you had been working on your Gymnastics or had been with a teacher I wouldn't have minded so much. But when you tell me, that you were talking with guys, Melody, it's quite annoying." Bret said as he pulled into their driveway. Melody saw Rikki outside waiting for them and she quickly got out of Bret's van and hugged Rikki and went inside the house.

"Your late getting back was she in trouble of any kind?" Rikki asked as he waited for Bret's answer.

"No, she was flirting with boys in the gym and wasting time." Bret replied in an infuriated tone of voice.

"I see, best we go have a little talk with her right now about the rules once more." Rikki said as he and Bret turned and went into the house and headed up the stairs toward their sister's bedroom. Melody was on her bed talking to Kelly on the phone, when Rikki and Bret came into her bedroom without knocking first. Melody sat up and stared at her brothers, especially when Rikki walked up and grabbed the phone from his sister's hand and slammed it down.

"Rikki, what is you're problem?" She demanded as he glared at her menacingly.

"You are!" He shouted at her. "You made Bret wait for you, while you flirted with boys, are you nuts?" Rikki demanded of her. Melody could feel tears welling up in her eyes and willed them not to fall, which would cause another fight to arise from Rikki who hated tears. He never use to be that way, but now he let his emotions stay bottled up and any pain festered in his heart.

Melody stared at Rikki; he was like a total stranger to her now and the same with Bret. She needed to get out of the house and be alone and try to sort things out, but she knew her two brothers all too well. They'd never let her go out, when they were chewing her out and trying to prove a point.

"They were nice and they needed to talk to me, because they said I am special and was chosen to help them." She said as she realized she let her little secret slip, she hadn't wanted to tell them yet. They gawked at her like she had two heads or something.

"You were chosen, yeah right." Bret said laughing at her." What in the world were you chosen for?" He asked her laughing.

"Forget it, I was only kidding." She said as Rikki approached her fast and took her by surprise by not wanting to drop the subject.

"Just what did you mean by you were chosen?" Rikki demanded grabbing her arm slightly. Melody pulled away and glared at Rikki, but deep in her heart she was afraid of him. He wasn't the Rikki she knew and loved any longer. But a stranger and this Rikki became violent and not nice at all.

"I told you I was just kidding, Rikki." She cried as the doorbell rang all of a sudden and she sighed a sigh of relief.

"This conversation isn't over, Melody." Rikki snarled as he and Bret left Melody's bedroom and went downstairs to answer the front door. Rikki opened the door and found their two friends CC and Bobby on the porch and let them inside the house.

"Come into the kitchen, guys." Rikki said as he and Bret ushered them into the kitchen to talk about what else, but Melody. They all sat down on chairs and drank some soda, while Rikki and Bret began to talk about Melody and explained everything that had happened.

"What is she talking about they said she was chosen?" Bobby asked.

"Yeah chosen for what?" CC asked.

"That's what we'd like to know." Bret said.

"Do you think its trouble?" CC asked firmly as no one seemed to notice leaving the house quietly to go see her friend Kelly.

"Let's go have a little chat with her." Bobby said as they got up and headed for Melody's bedroom and were enraged when she was gone. Bret knew automatically where she was headed and told Rikki.

"She headed for Kelly's." Was all Bret said and the four guys hurried to Bret's van and went after her. Melody was sitting on Kelly's sofa and telling her everything about what had happened, since she had met Ryan and Kaine.

"So, my best friend is going be a superhero, that's too cool." Kelly said.

"Yeah right, super hero." Melody whispered as tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Melody, what's wrong?" Kelly asked.

"Rikki and Bret, God I wish I knew why they are so ungodly mean to me." Melody cried as Kelly went over to her best friend and hugged her. Kelly felt so bad for Melody; she knew exactly what Melody meant. She had seen it too many times the way they yelled at her and snapped at her like she was trash and it made her blood boil.

"It'll work out, girlfriend, you'll see." Kelly said as suddenly they both heard banging at Kelly's front door and Melody knew automatically it was Bret and Rikki coming for her.

"Let us in, Kelly, we know she's in there!" Rikki yelled. " Open up or I'll break this damn door down and drag her out myself, kicking and screaming, if need be." Rikki snarled. Kelly hurried to open the door then and let them in and when Rikki and Melody's eyes met the tension filled the room instantly. She got up off the sofa and walked over toward her brothers and their two friends and was greeted with a smack across her face by Rikki.

"Don't ever leave the house, until you've got our okay, do I make myself totally clear?" Rikki demanded.

"You bet I do, your words are quite clear Rikki." Melody snapped as she walked passed them and their friends and went inside Bret's van. Rikki turned toward Kelly and glared at her.

"Next time, don't encourage her to disobey us or you'll be in trouble with us as well." Rikki replied bitterly as Kelly glared at them.

"She's a human being with feelings, Rikki; you use to have a heart once too." Kelly said as Bret and Rikki muttered something Kelly didn't hear and then left her house. Melody watched her brothers get in front and CC and Bobby get in back with her. They were all talking to one another and Melody refused to join in the conversation as a result. She was furious and felt humiliated that they had dragged her out of her best friend's house. Out of the blue, she looked up feeling Bret's eyes watching her and she glanced up to find him glaring at her and she winced like he had hit her.

"I didn't do anything wrong, I just went to see my friend. Last time I checked that wasn't a crime or did the rules change yet again?" She asked in a sarcastic tone of voice.

"You're grounded for a week." Rikki simply said.

"He's right no going anywhere after school, understand" Bret replied.

"That's not fair, I didn't do anything wrong!" She exclaimed as Rikki slammed on the brakes and turned around to face her.

"You've got three weeks now, let's see, want to try for six weeks keep pestering me" Rikki growled.

Melody quickly quieted down and behaved after that, because she sensed Rikki wasn't playing anymore. He was really angry with her now and his anger scared her to the core of her being.

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