Disclaimer. I don't own Charmed or any of the characters. Pity.
A word before we begin; First, this story is set around the end of series six. Barbas is free, Phoebe has lost her active powers, The Charmed Ones don't know Gideon's plans yet and Chris is alive. Speaking of Chris, I don't know whether he reads comics or not but I needed to put it in somewhere, seeing as a lot of this story was inspired by a HellboystoryI was reading at the time. The story Chris is reading is Goodbye, Mister Todd from the Right Hand of Doom collection. Most of the mythology I have mentioned is based on actual myths.
Old Legends
The Halliwell Family Book of Shadows contained some of the best information about the various spells and demons that existed in the world. For example, the section about Vampires not only detailed the traditional Dracula myth and the flashy types you find on TV, but also there was information about the Nosferatu, Chupacabra, Dhampyr, every type you could imagine. The difference between Moroii and Stigoi could be found if you knew where to look. However, near the end of this particular section there is a single paragraph, barely more than a few lines that tell of an old superstition. A vampire's equivalent of a folk tale, if you like. It is about a beast so great and powerful that it 'eats the sun and the moon and is able to cause eclipses'. There's not much else about it, not even a name. Some legends are undeservedly forgotten, none are undeservedly remembered.
-
Phoebe Halliwell sat by the kitchen table and ran through her mental checklist before beginning. Coffee, phone off the hook, laptop, earmuffs, Paige away making sure that P3 survived Piper being away, Chris off doing whatever it was he did when he disappeared, Piper, Leo and baby Wyatt all safe at the Magic School and absolutely no demons to worry about. Nothing on heaven or earth was going to stop her from finishing her advice column today. She opened her email account to start with the letters she had sent herself from the office. Workmen were in rewiring the newspaper offices and the distractions were getting a little too much for her tastes. She read the first letter in peace, enjoying the coffee as she thought about what to say in reply. The sound of orbing was too loud even through the earmuffs.
"What is the big idea? I've been calling for the past half an hour!" It was Paige, and she sounded grouchy. Phoebe tried pretending that the earmuffs really did work.
"Phoebe!" Paige stormed over to her and yanked then offending items from Phoebe's head.
"Hey! What are you doing?" Phoebe protested.
"My car broke down. And I have been trying to call you from the garage but I couldn't get through"
"Why didn't you try the office?" Phoebe tried pathetically
"I did! They told me you had taken your work home!" Paige was livid
"Well, what do you need a car for anyway? You can orb"
"That's not the point!" Her sister stormed as she put the phone back on the hook.
Phoebe could tell she was losing. And to think, all that she had wanted was to write her column in peace.
-
Somebody else was looking to work in peace at the exact same moment. Ames Edams was trying to read a book on Romanian folklore. His eyes stopped on a page that contained an interesting story. It was about an old woman who had woken up at midnight, thought it was morning and had gone to church. She had been surprised to find it full of people she didn't recognise. A strange minister went up to the pulpit and began to preach, and little by little the woman realised that all of the people around her were dead. Terrified, she tried to sneak out that way she had came, but the dead knew her for what she was and she barely escaped with her life. Ames sighed and threw the book away. He knew that particular tale to be Norwegian, not Romanian. He rubbed his eyes in a tired manner and pulled another book towards him. At that moment another man appeared beside him, pretty much the same way that Paige had appeared beside Phoebe earlier. The only difference was that the man blinked instead of orbed.
"More books. Ames, I don't see the point in all this. All these books" The Warlock sat down across the table from Ames.
"I don't expect that you would. I always did think that warlocks were too impatient for their own good" Ames continued reading. The Warlock sniffed loudly, clearly insulted.
"Like you Darklighters are so superior. Without your crossbows you are useless"
"And what, may I ask, makes you so special?" Ames didn't even look at him.
"I stole a power from a demon" The Warlock leaned forward, opening the palm of one hand. An athame materialised in his grip.
"Conjuring, not that uncommon" Ames sounded nonplussed.
"I could steal any power from any demon. Just name me one and I'll have its power by the end of the day" The Warlock stabbed the blade into the desk where it stood upright
"How impressive" Ames said dryly. The Warlock snorted.
"I'd like to see a Darklighter do better. I could steal your powers right now, but I don't want to damage any of your precious books. What are you looking for anyway? If that thing is nearly half as powerful as you said then it's going to take a lot more than you or me to control it"
"Oh good, you do have a brain after all. There will be a way to control it; I just haven't found it yet. I see you doing nothing to help"
The Warlock picked up one of the books and started flipping through it idly.
"Maybe it's scared of fire. Most vampires are" he said proudly. For the first time, Ames looked straight at the Warlock. An idea forming in his mind
"Are you saying use its fear to control it?" he asked. The Warlock's face grew pale. There was only one demon that could do that.
"You don't mean Barbas, do you?"
"Who else could do it?"
"No. I'm not going to Barbas. He's too powerful" said The Warlock. A thin smile found its way into Ames' face. He stood up and walked around the table.
"But you just finished telling me about how you could steal any demon's powers" he said
"You would have to be insane to even think about trying anything against someone as strong as he is!" Ames leaned forwards and whispered in his ear.
"Not scared, are you? If you are then I think I'd be better off doing this deal with him, don't you think?"
What the Warlock thought was never going to be found out. Ames had pulled the athame from the desk. The Warlock burned. Afterwards Ames looked at the athame. It was one designed to take powers from its victims. He didn't really have any use for the Warlock's blinking ability, but the conjuring power had actually been rather good.
-
Chris had decided to spend some time at Magic School. For as long as he had been in the past he had been dedicated to his mission to save his brother Wyatt. Now that it looked like he had succeeded he was a little unsure of what to do next. Finding a way to return to his own time was proving harder than he had thought, and Leo had suggested that he take a well earned break for a little while and let someone else worry for a change. The crèche had been having a little trouble with a young fire starter who had set fire to the room when he couldn't get the toy he wanted. Deciding to take his father's advice, Chris had offered to look after his brother while the repairs were done. He was sat with Wyatt on a chair, reading a story.
"Well, the things made of ectoplasm" Chris read, "And ectoplasm is mostly fluid from the medium's body. This things so damn big it sucked your boss dry. Lucky for us there wasn't enough juice in him for this thing to form completely…"
"Chris! What are you reading to your brother?" Piper shouted across the room at him. Chris hadn't even noticed her come in.
"It's just a comic book" Chris protested. Wyatt gurgled as Piper took the offending item from her son's hands.
"A comic book about demons" Piper flicked through a few pages. "Look at this, there are people blowing up in this and you consider it suitable reading for a child"
"But you blow demons up all the time" Chris argued
"That is different. I don't tell stories about it" Chris knew when he was beaten. Piper continued to flick through.
"I thought it would be educational" Chris muttered.
"Educational? It's a comic book. It's not real. I've never seen anything called a..." she picked a page at random "…a Vârcolac in the Book of Shadows"
Chris didn't argue. Piper was clearly unhappy about this. Even Wyatt was quieter than usual. Chris had a feeling that he wasn't going to see that particular comic again any time soon.
-
Paige's car was going to be in the garage until the end of the week. In the end Phoebe gave up trying to argue and gave her sister her car to use till then. Now she really needed to get her column wrote. She had just finished giving Paige her car keys when the phone rang. She picked it up, clearly annoyed
"Yes" she snapped angrily, only for her voice to soften instantly.
"Oh Donna! Hello, I wasn't shouting at you. I thought that it was my sister calling…" Piper was at Magic School, wasn't she? And Paige had just gone out the door. Phoebe realised just how stupid she had been. Donna was the new assistant editor at the paper, and everyone knew that she had her eye on the top chair.
"The article? I'm writing it right now. Well, obviously not Right now, I'm talking to you right now, but it is getting written, don't you worry" Phoebe babbled. Donna had a gift. She could reduce even the most calm and collected person in existence to a gibbering wreck. When stuck for inspiration Phoebe had entertained a daydream about what would happen if she locked Donna in a room with the various demons she had fought over the years. So far she had reduced warlocks to tears, convinced Smoker Demons to switch to nicotine patches, made Banshees lose their voices and even make the Horsemen of the Apocalypse promise to play nice. However, the Demon of Fear had left Phoebe stumped. She couldn't decide who that would be crueller on. As Donna continued her speech about punctuality an inner Phoebe suddenly became aware that her deadline had just been halved.
"I'll be expecting you work on my desk by this evening, unless that's too hard for you?" Donna's silky tones drifted down the phone line. Phoebe waited till Donna hung up, and then groaned loudly. Halved was being generous. Phoebe hadn't had to have that article written for another two days. First Paige, then Donna, why was everyone so impatient today? Clearly, something had to be done.