Appearances: Touching Evil, Hunting Fear, Chill of Fear, Blood Sins, Blood Ties, Curse of Salem

NOAH BISHOP—FBI SPECIAL CRIMES UNIT CHIEF

Tall, wide-shouldered, athletic; night-black hair with a striking widow’s peak as well as a streak of pure white at his left temple; pale gray eyes like tarnished silver. A twisted scar down his left cheek is barely noticeable unless he’s tense or otherwise disturbed.

Job: Special Agent, Unit Chief, profiler, pilot, sharpshooter, and highly trained and skilled in several martial arts. Plus has mastered a number of esoteric skills often useful in his work such as lockpicking and a facility with computers close to that of professional hackers.

Adept: An exceptionally powerful telepath, an ability that has evolved, he also shares with his wife, Miranda, a strong precognitive ability, the deep emotional link between them making them, together, far exceed the limits of the scale developed by the FBI to measure psychic abilities. Also possesses an “ancillary” ability of enhanced senses (hearing, sight, scent), which he has trained other agents to use as well, something they informally refer to as “spider senses.” Whether present in the flesh or not, Bishop virtually always knows what’s going on with his agents in the field, somehow maintaining what seem to be psychic links with almost all of his agents, connected without in any way being intrusive, something that has also evolved over time. With some of them in certain situations he can actually communicate telepathically, something that has proven highly useful more than once.

Appearances: Stealing Shadows, Hiding in the Shadows, Out of the Shadows, Touching Evil, Whisper of Evil, Sense of Evil, Hunting Fear, Chill of Fear, Sleeping with Fear, Blood Dreams, Blood Sins, Blood Ties, Haven, Hostage, Haunted, Fear the Dark, Wait for Dark, Hold Back the Dark, Hidden Salem, Curse of Salem

MIRANDA BISHOP—FBI SPECIAL CRIMES UNIT

Tall, athletic, yet with centerfold curves; black hair and electric blue eyes. Possesses the sort of rare beauty that turns heads wherever she goes despite the fact that she does nothing to play up her looks.

Job: Special Agent, profiler, black belt in karate, sharpshooter.

Adept: Miranda is a telepath and a seer, remarkably powerful, and possesses unusual control, particularly with a highly developed shield capable of protecting herself psychically, a shield she’s able to extend beyond herself to protect others. Shares abilities with her husband, due to their intense emotional connection, and together they far exceed the scale developed by the SCU to measure psychic abilities.

Appearances: Out of the Shadows, Touching Evil, Whisper of Evil, Sense of Evil, Hunting Fear, Chill of Fear, Blood Dreams, Blood Sins, Blood Ties, Hostage, Haunted, Fear the Dark, Wait for Dark, Hold Back the Dark, Hidden Salem, Curse of Salem

FINN DEVERELL—CHIEF DEPUTY, SALEM SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT

Age thirty-two, six feet tall, blond hair, blue eyes. The Deverells are one of the original five families that founded Salem, town leaders, and each owns and operates one of the major businesses that keep Salem not only viable but flourishing. In the case of the Deverells, the family business is twofold, with Finn running Salem’s one newspaper and a Deverell aunt in charge of the huge paper mill that produces not only the sort of paper people use every day, but also beautiful, specialized paper that is still made by hand using tools older than the town. Employing workers skilled in operating the machinery to produce ordinary paper as well as dozens highly skilled in producing the specialized paper, the Deverells pay very well, offer generous benefits and bonuses, and are considered one of the best families to work for. Like each of the other families, the Deverells tend to have, in every generation, at least one family member with a psychic ability, usually empathic. Finn is an empath.