The Witch's Secret
By: Michelle M. Anderson
Dedicated to Suzanne, whom I pray one day will understand why I had to say good-bye.
"Freeze him! Piper freeze him!" Phoebe screamed at the top of her lungs. As they chased the man he ran between some hedges, but he was still in plane sight. "Are you deaf? Freeze the man! Now!"
Piper threw out her hands and he froze in place as she ran around the corner of the house. The horrible creature, though completely human looking, had a very young and attractive appearance.
"No need to be personal Phoebe! There's only so fast that I can act. And did you forget that I have to be able to see him first?"
"Sorry, I didn't mean to insult you."
Why did all the good-looking guys turn out to be demonic? Ever since the Charmed Ones had discovered their magical powers it seemed like almost every demon or warlock in the underworld was trying to find a way into the girls' lives.
All three of the magical sisters had had a boyfriend some time or another that wasn't of normal mortal makings. There was Piper and Jeremy, then Prue and Mitchell, and now there was Phoebe and Cole, but that was a story all of its own. It just seemed like bad luck with demonic guys wasn't something that the girls had invented. Patty, the Charmed Ones' mother, had even had her own fling a few years before the first Halliwell girl, Prue, was born, at least that is what Grams had told them a few years earlier. And now there was another evil entity, trying to fight his way into the witches' already hectic lives, luckily this one didn't get too far.
He had shown up at the front door with a box in his hand looking as innocent as could be. According to what he told Phoebe, the package had supposedly been delivered to the wrong house, but when Phoebe reached over to take the box from his arms she touched his hand, and she vividly saw him standing over a body of a woman. Besides him there was also another woman standing next to him with a look of pleasure on her face, and on the floor beside to the body there was a knife, a warlock's sacrificial knife.
When he realized that she had discovered him through a vision he panicked, after all the powers of the infamous Charmed Ones were widely known in the world of good as well as evil. He dashed down the stairs that lie outside the Halliwell Manor's front door, stumbling on the last few steps, but ultimately being able to remain standing.
As he started to run across the steep front yard the three sisters dashed out the front door to follow him after Phoebe's insistence. They had to be extremely careful and not do too much in broad daylight, but luckily the warlock ran between the Halliwell Manor and the neighboring large Victorian house. The bushes formed a natural boundary and he could not be seen from any of the other houses or from the street.
Thanks to Piper though the warlock was now a statue, froze in time in a rather strange crouching position ahead of the most powerful witches of all time.
"Who is he?" Piper asked as she stepped closer.
"A warlock, I assume." Phoebe answered trying to remember the events that she had seen in her vision a few minutes earlier. She hadn't had time to really analyze the premonition yet, but she knew the feeling of evil and she had just felt it.
"Well, lets vanquish him!" Prue energetically ordered as she walked up next to her sisters.
"And how do you plan to do that on this short of notice. It isn't like we have the Book of Shadows in our pant's pocket," Piper pointed out.
"At least that is what he seemed to be," Phoebe added finishing her unsure thought.
"And what gave you that idea?" Piper inquired.
"A vision. What else would it be?"
"Well, we better hurry and do something, no matter what it is. He will only stay that way for so long."
"I know," Piper responded with an irritation in her voice. The limitation of her power was something that seemed to irritate her a lot, and she hated it when her sisters brought it up.
A spark of brilliance appeared in Phoebe's eyes and she couldn't contain her excitement. "I have a new spell," she blurted out. "I just wrote it. Should I try it?" Phoebe's new love was writing spells, and she had become quite good at it.
"I don't see why not," Piper answered.
"You just better hurry. Time is running out, quickly."
The girls joined hands forming a familiar circle around the warlock that was in front of them and prepared to listen and repeat what their sister said. Prue and Piper waited, expecting Phoebe to pull a piece of paper out of her pants pocket any moment, but instead she just began to chant.
Of goodness lost
And power sought
A time to kill
And a time to still
The knowledge taken
And love ones forsaken
Denounce your way
In our time's today
The dust from the ground swirled wildly around his feet. As he unfroze his evil expression twisted into a smirk as if he thought he had won the battle, and he removed his hand from his suit jacket. As he threw his closed hand downward toward the ground he opened his fingers, and a red glass bottle fell and broke upon the dirt around his feet. From the bottle a gray smoke appeared that slowly filled the air encompassing the warlock. When the smoke finally let up it was clear that the man had vanished.
Prue and Piper stood, open mouth, looking at Phoebe.
"That was some vanquishing spell, Phoebe. How exactly did you come up with it?" Piper spoke up.
"Ahhh--well--um--that was the strange part. I sort of thought it up in a dream, or at least I heard it in a dream last night."
"You did what? Do you realize that the warlock probably just used the power of the Charmed Ones to do something that had to be evil." Prue looked mad as she talked to Phoebe in a punishing manor.
"Strike that. There's no probably about it. He did just use your power to so something we will regret."
"Phoebe, if you just heard it in a dream, how did you know it so well?" Piper asked, trying to sidetrack Prue's motherly scolding.
"It's been repeating in my head all day, over and over and over. I thought that if I heard it one more time I would scream!"
Piper looked at her watch. It was almost a quarter to seven in the evening, and the sun was starting to set. Boy, no wonder she knew it so well.
"I even wrote it down thinking that it would help get it out of my mind. It sure is hard to study for my finals that are coming up with a incantation running through your brain twenty-four seven."
Piper face began to turn red as she struggled to keep from laughing. "You were studying. That would be a first," Piper joked. "Since when do you study?"
"Where?" Prue interrupted her sister's teasing.
"Where what?" Phoebe asked a bit confused.
"Where did you write it down?"
"Oh, Ahhh---In the--Ahhh--In the Book of Shadows."
"You did what!" Prue and Piper could barely believe their ears.
"Last time I checked that's what its for," Phoebe did have a point.
"Last time I checked it was for good spells," Piper corrected her.
"Are you telling me that you wrote an evil spell in the Book of Shadows?" Prue couldn't believe her ears, though it was something she sort of expected from Phoebe.
"Without asking us?" Piper reprimanded.
"Since when do I need to ask permission to write in my book?"
"Since when is the Book of Shadows just yours?" Prue responded.
"I didn't say that."
"I hate to start disagreeing with you but--" Prue continued
"--Never stopped you before," Phoebe broke in expressing her aggregation.
"Don't change the subject!" Piper yelled
"I said, 'since when is the Book of Shadows just yours."
"I remember. And I said 'I didn't say that."
Prue's eyes became raged with anger. "Yes you did."
"Well, that isn't exactly what I meant."
"So what did you mean," Piper joined in.
"I meant that I thought that all three of us could add to it when we wanted and in the way that we wanted without getting permission."
"And what gave you that impression?"
"No other witch had to get permission to use the book from their sisters, so why should I?"
"I see your point," Piper finally accepted.
Prue stood silent with the anger that had been brewing in her slowly subsiding.
"Does anyone else think that that he made it too easy? I mean that he just ran himself into an obvious hiding area and then--stopped. It almost seemed like he was waiting for us to catch up with him." Phoebe thought about the man that she had supposedly vanquished. What had he thrown on the ground? What had just happened?
"I know. I was thinking the same thing." Piper regretfully agreed.
"We should have known that he was up to something," Prue added. "He could have just blinked and been gone from harms way, but he stayed."
"Are we becoming so self confidant that we ignore the obvious? If we keep this up we aren't going to be doing any good. All we are going to do is make things worse if we aren't more careful," Prue scolded as she reprimanded her sisters and herself.
The girls turned around and headed back toward the front door of their Victorian home.
"Coast looks clear. Looks like we escaped the eyes of the mortal world again." Piper was right. The Charmed Ones were lucky that they had never been seen using their magical powers by anyone who could do damage with that knowledge. In other words, for the time being there secret was safe.
"Well, at least one thing went right today." Prue knew that whatever had just taken place was the beginning of a very long, evil battle.
* * *
The priestess Carissa sat in her chamber moping. She had been waiting hours for her unreliable bother to show up, but as usual he hadn't. In her hands were two bottles, one red and one blue. Her plan was to use them to destroy the Charmed Ones. The short tempter that she had was driving her crazy. She wanted to destroy everything in site, but that was a power that only her brother possessed.
Finally he showed up, standing in front of her feet.
"Where have you been?" she screamed.
"Observing the enemy, like you told me to."
She wanted so much to attack now, but she wasn't ready. She had been planning to make her ultimate attack on the Charmed Ones for years now, and she had finally finished the potions she needed, but she lacked one important ingredient for her plan to succeed--the most important ingredient--a man. Not just any man would do though. He had to be a man who was evil, and he had to have powers to prove it. But there was one more thing; he had to be devoted to her and only to her.
"You knew that I wanted you here two hours ago."
"Yes, but when it comes to time travel, what difference does two hours make?"
"My sanity!" she replied.
Inside of her, her anger grew and grew, until she knew that she must act fast. For months now she had been planning to use her twin brother Kevin, but she felt that something had gone wrong. She didn't trust him--he seemed to be sympathetic to the victim of his sister's plan, but Carissa decided that it didn't matter. She knew that her time was running out, if she waited too much longer her plan wouldn't succeed. Still, she feared that he would tell some higher power of her plan to destroy the Charmed Ones.
"More like your trust in me. Right!"
Carissa suspected that her bother was becoming weak in his demonic ways, and that he may try to aide his former friends. Carissa and Kevin both use to be on the side of protecting the innocent, just like the Charmed Sisters, but Carissa's attitude toward good and evil had changed a long time ago and so had her devotion.
"Don't forget these witches you want to destroy were your friends," Kevin tried to persuade his sister.
"I know exactly who they are, and nothing you say is going to change my plans!"
For so long she had fought to protect those she lived side by side with. She gave up everything to live by the creed that her ancestors had been sworn to. For generations her family, which was mostly females, had given their lives for the cause of ending demonic evil in the world, and never gave a second thought to what she was doing and never would have, but she had one desire that was stronger than protecting the innocent. She desperately wanted a family with children to raise the way she had been.
When she married, at the age of twenty-two, she looked forward to the family that she knew she was destined to have. Her husband, Chris, knew nothing of her after hours activities, because she thought it best to not involve him in the affairs that he could not be part of. But she knew she had to protect him from what he had no knowledge of.
When they married she created a special charm for him, an unbreakable necklace, which kept the evil that tracked Carissa from finding and attacking him. She gave it to him on their honeymoon and he promised never to take it off.
It was a tradition in the world of witchcraft to give charms to love ones that did not have powers to protect themselves from evil. It worked perfectly, until he decided to have it copied to give to his wife as an anniversary present. After he took it to the jewelers with a promise date of the copy the next day he returned home where he waited alone for his wife to return. It didn't take long for a demon to attack the unprotected man, but luckily, Carissa soon returned home, and was able to vanquish the creature.
Sadly, soon after that the trouble began. He did not understand the importance of her secret, and he refused to stay with someone he couldn't trust. He was frightened of the woman he had once loved, and knew that a life together would no longer be possible. Chris packed his things less than a week later and left the home and family that he and Carissa had created together.
"I'm leaving this evil house, and don't you dare come after me!"
Carissa didn't. She knew that it would make things worse than they already were. She never blamed him, though she didn't care for him in the same way. Who she did blame for the brake up were the powers of good that had condemned her with this gift that she now saw as a curse. She also blamed other witches that lived before her and passed the traits and the powers down the family line, and she swore from that day on she would make sure that no other person would have to feel the anguish that she was enduring.
The first witch she claimed vengeance on was a good friend of hers named Tina. She thought that if she did her deeds out of the sight of others she would be able to continue using her magic, but she was wrong and caught by her Whitelighter while standing over the body, and her twin brother Kevin, who had not participated in the brutal attack, showed up just in time for it to look like he was also involved. But Kevin wasn't guilty, and he had spent the last few years despising his sister for turning him into an evil monster.
Carissa had spent the years since her condemnation killing witches and those who helped them. She had even obtained a bow from a Darklighter so that she could kill the very people who helped the ones that she despised. Through it all she worked intensely on her plan. Through her destructive demonic actions she had gained the massive powers of the other witches that she had killed, but Kevin refused to be involved in such actions and was still virtually powerless. Thanks to her new role in life the task of killing witches was extremely easy. She lived in the underworld with full freedom to invade the world above in just the blink of her eyes and escape just as easily.
When she had reached the age of accountability, she 'accidentally' found a spell that activated her powers. Through those powers she had made her strong, but she was extremely outraged that she wouldn't be able to pass those powers through her bloodline. The only traits that she had now were anger, revenge, and a short temper, and because of those traits she was determined to end what had caused her suffering.
Lately though, she had spent all of her energy working on how to end this battle that she had inside her now-evil soul and her hatred for what had happened to her life. The best way out, she thought, is to destroy the most powerful witches of all times, and in the process gain something that she had always longed to have. But she knew in doing so that she would have to be prepared, extremely prepared.
Though demons used to be her biggest threat, the Charmed Ones were her biggest meanness, and they were also a huge threat and to every other member of darkness, whether it was demon or a warlock. These three witches had foiled her plans many times. It seemed like every time she was about to succeed they would show up to stop her, and she wanted it to stop. So many others had tried to get rid of the Charmed Ones, some had been extremely powerful demons, but they had all failed. Still, she knew her plan would ultimately prevail. With them out of the way she would be able to attack the weaker covens much easier than she could now using the powers she gained from the Charmed Ones, but more importantly she would have their Book of Shadows!
The witches that Carissa desired had great powers, and those powers were intensified because of the Book of Shadows. The Book of Shadows contained the greatest secrets and spells that had ever been written, and it had a life all of its own. That life protected itself from evil entities, and had been the reason why it simply couldn't be stolen. The lives of its witches had to be taken in order for someone to take the book, and if she had the book Carissa knew her power would be unbeatable.
She understood what needed to be done. Somehow their power had to be ended or stripped. The aid that they gave to the world through working against evil was enormous, and it had to end. The problem was that Carissa was not strong enough herself to cause the end of the Charmed Ones, but she knew that her brother was.
One option she thought of was to simply take their lives. "Simple!" she laughed out loud with a voice that evil had taken over just like her body and soul. "It will be anything but simple!"
In fact that same task had caused the death of numerous entities, but if she could do it she could have all of their power for her own personal use and wouldn't be confined by the rules that govern witches powers. There was another option, one that would take more planning, but in the end would grant her desires.
There was a secret that made some witches so strong. Actually, it wasn't a secret to those who were involved. The power that Carissa desired came from the family bloodline, and that was what she needed to capture. I need a member of the Halliwell Family, or someone born of it, to continue that greatness she conspired.
But there was another factor. Carissa knew of that fact. It was why her older sister never became a witch. She refused the art. Though Carissa had originally fought the power that she knew was hers to claim, when the time came she willingly recited the words of the spell that activated her powers.
Still that was something to worry about in the future. When the time was appropriate a spell could be made, and she could force the child to recite it. In the present Carissa had other concerns. The life that she desired, the power that she craved, and the love that she longed to have. Though love was a trait that was absent from darkness, it was a part of the human life that Carissa was accustomed to, and she had never been able to deal with life without it.
"My destiny lies in the place where the Charmed Ones don't," she declared with an evil smile on her face. "And only I can make that destiny come true."
And in the past, Carissa thought, the Charmed Ones are not a threat, not yet anyway. It's a place where their powers won't hinder my plans. My future awaits me in the past.
* * *
As the smoke that had engulfed him disappeared Kevin stood looking at the Victorian house.
"It worked!" the warlock celebrated out loud. "I just wonder what time I ended up in."
Kevin crept up next to the side of the house to make sure the cost was clear. Once he was sure that it was clear he ran down the lawn and onto the sidewalk of the house it seemed he had just left.
A flying object came headed toward him, and out of instinct his arms shot toward it. Suddenly there was a burst of feathers going everywhere. "Oh, it was just a bird," he said once he realized what he had done. As he looked around to see if anyone had seen his power he started to fill guilty for the life he had just taken. "I can't take any chances, though." He quickly forgot the incident and continued toward the house that he had been assigned to conquer.
"Come on Mom. Leave me alone. Let me have a life." A sweet voice was clearly heard from the walkway coming from the old Victorian house. A young slender lady with light brown hair walked through the door. Her body was beyond beautiful. Her high cheekbones and luscious red lips were full of fury, but quickly turned into a welcoming smile as she caught sight of the impending visitor.
"Hello. May I help you?" the young lady asked as the not so gentleman walked up the sidewalk to the front door.
"Well, I'm new in the neighborhood and I was just wanting to get to know a few of my neighbors."
"Nice to meet you. My name is Patty, and this is Penny - my mother," she introduced while pointed to the lady that was standing in the door jam. It was clear that the two women had been disagreeing about something.
"Kevin, nice to meet you too."
* * *
When Piper had been called to duty, she and Leo had been having a good morning get together in Piper's bedroom. Piper had promised to be back in a few minutes with two steaming hot cups of coffee, but it had been over an hour. Boy, that's a switch; usually it was Leo that did the disappearing act.
Leo had heard the doorbell ring, and assumed that it was a visitor for Piper, so he sat waiting patiently. Eventually though, his patience turned to boredom and he decided to find a book to read from Piper's collection of literature.
In the far corner of her room stood an antique looking bookshelf. One by one he inspected the titles and a few of the newer ones that seemed interesting he turned over and read the back cover. Finally, he decided that he and Piper didn't quite agree on what makes a good novel.
As he replaced the last book that was in his hand he noticed a book that he had not looked at. There was no title on the side, but it was beautifully decorated. Out of curiosity he pulled the book out of its hiding place.
Immediately he realized that the book was hollow, and it contained something inside. As he opened it he expected to find secret ingredients that the Charmed Ones used in their potions or a key to a lockbox or something, but instead he found another book.
This book also had no title, and like the hollow book it was contained within, it was magnificently decorated with gold lines and circular shapes.
"Hmmm?" he wondered as he opened the book about half way through. It was hand printed and was dated.
Leo thought back to when he was married before World War II and remembered the diary that his wife wrote in every night. It resembled this book quite remarkably, though the handwriting was much different.
"Should I do a little investigational reading?" Leo thought. "Why not. She's my wife, and what is hers is mine and what is mine is hers." Still the thought of reading Pipers personal thoughts extremely bothered him. "Of course she is a Charmed One, and I am responsible for the well-being of the Charmed Ones. So, if there is something wrong that she is scared to tell me about than this is a good way to find out." It was the only way he could rationalize this extreme type of invasion of privacy.
Leo quickly put the hollow book back on the shelf where he found it, hoping that Piper wouldn't see that it had been bothered. He knew that he had to go somewhere he wouldn't be caught so easily, so he stood up and orbed into the attic. Hopefully they won't need to look in the Book of Shadows for a while.
He flipped open the diary cover and started to do a little pleasure reading, but he soon realized that he was only getting part of the story. Maybe I should see if Phoebe and Prue have their own journals too, but I think I will do a little more reading first.
September 23, 1998
Dear Diary,
I don't know what to do. Phoebe told me two weeks ago that she was leaving New York and moving back to San Francisco. I just don't know how to break the news to Prue. The two of them left in such bad terms that all I can see ahead in their future is fighting, and mine too I guess. Maybe some miracles will occur that will let us form a family. All I know is that I am going to need some magic if I want those two to act decent to each other. Well, at least there will be something interesting in our boring lives when she comes home.
Grams' heath isn't doing much better. It goes further and further downhill each day, and she refuses to rest like the doctor has ordered. She's stubborn and that is all there is to it. I guess she's just like the rest of us.
Grams is still trying to get me to quit my job at the bank and become a chief. She's right though, I do love to cook and bake. I just don't know though. It is such a risky business, and at least right now I have health benefits. I really can't afford to quit and find a new job right now. Grams' hospital bills are overwhelming, and they have to be paid.
Maybe I can pursue my dream later on, hopefully anyway.
Piper
By: Michelle M. Anderson
Dedicated to Suzanne, whom I pray one day will understand why I had to say good-bye.
"Freeze him! Piper freeze him!" Phoebe screamed at the top of her lungs. As they chased the man he ran between some hedges, but he was still in plane sight. "Are you deaf? Freeze the man! Now!"
Piper threw out her hands and he froze in place as she ran around the corner of the house. The horrible creature, though completely human looking, had a very young and attractive appearance.
"No need to be personal Phoebe! There's only so fast that I can act. And did you forget that I have to be able to see him first?"
"Sorry, I didn't mean to insult you."
Why did all the good-looking guys turn out to be demonic? Ever since the Charmed Ones had discovered their magical powers it seemed like almost every demon or warlock in the underworld was trying to find a way into the girls' lives.
All three of the magical sisters had had a boyfriend some time or another that wasn't of normal mortal makings. There was Piper and Jeremy, then Prue and Mitchell, and now there was Phoebe and Cole, but that was a story all of its own. It just seemed like bad luck with demonic guys wasn't something that the girls had invented. Patty, the Charmed Ones' mother, had even had her own fling a few years before the first Halliwell girl, Prue, was born, at least that is what Grams had told them a few years earlier. And now there was another evil entity, trying to fight his way into the witches' already hectic lives, luckily this one didn't get too far.
He had shown up at the front door with a box in his hand looking as innocent as could be. According to what he told Phoebe, the package had supposedly been delivered to the wrong house, but when Phoebe reached over to take the box from his arms she touched his hand, and she vividly saw him standing over a body of a woman. Besides him there was also another woman standing next to him with a look of pleasure on her face, and on the floor beside to the body there was a knife, a warlock's sacrificial knife.
When he realized that she had discovered him through a vision he panicked, after all the powers of the infamous Charmed Ones were widely known in the world of good as well as evil. He dashed down the stairs that lie outside the Halliwell Manor's front door, stumbling on the last few steps, but ultimately being able to remain standing.
As he started to run across the steep front yard the three sisters dashed out the front door to follow him after Phoebe's insistence. They had to be extremely careful and not do too much in broad daylight, but luckily the warlock ran between the Halliwell Manor and the neighboring large Victorian house. The bushes formed a natural boundary and he could not be seen from any of the other houses or from the street.
Thanks to Piper though the warlock was now a statue, froze in time in a rather strange crouching position ahead of the most powerful witches of all time.
"Who is he?" Piper asked as she stepped closer.
"A warlock, I assume." Phoebe answered trying to remember the events that she had seen in her vision a few minutes earlier. She hadn't had time to really analyze the premonition yet, but she knew the feeling of evil and she had just felt it.
"Well, lets vanquish him!" Prue energetically ordered as she walked up next to her sisters.
"And how do you plan to do that on this short of notice. It isn't like we have the Book of Shadows in our pant's pocket," Piper pointed out.
"At least that is what he seemed to be," Phoebe added finishing her unsure thought.
"And what gave you that idea?" Piper inquired.
"A vision. What else would it be?"
"Well, we better hurry and do something, no matter what it is. He will only stay that way for so long."
"I know," Piper responded with an irritation in her voice. The limitation of her power was something that seemed to irritate her a lot, and she hated it when her sisters brought it up.
A spark of brilliance appeared in Phoebe's eyes and she couldn't contain her excitement. "I have a new spell," she blurted out. "I just wrote it. Should I try it?" Phoebe's new love was writing spells, and she had become quite good at it.
"I don't see why not," Piper answered.
"You just better hurry. Time is running out, quickly."
The girls joined hands forming a familiar circle around the warlock that was in front of them and prepared to listen and repeat what their sister said. Prue and Piper waited, expecting Phoebe to pull a piece of paper out of her pants pocket any moment, but instead she just began to chant.
Of goodness lost
And power sought
A time to kill
And a time to still
The knowledge taken
And love ones forsaken
Denounce your way
In our time's today
The dust from the ground swirled wildly around his feet. As he unfroze his evil expression twisted into a smirk as if he thought he had won the battle, and he removed his hand from his suit jacket. As he threw his closed hand downward toward the ground he opened his fingers, and a red glass bottle fell and broke upon the dirt around his feet. From the bottle a gray smoke appeared that slowly filled the air encompassing the warlock. When the smoke finally let up it was clear that the man had vanished.
Prue and Piper stood, open mouth, looking at Phoebe.
"That was some vanquishing spell, Phoebe. How exactly did you come up with it?" Piper spoke up.
"Ahhh--well--um--that was the strange part. I sort of thought it up in a dream, or at least I heard it in a dream last night."
"You did what? Do you realize that the warlock probably just used the power of the Charmed Ones to do something that had to be evil." Prue looked mad as she talked to Phoebe in a punishing manor.
"Strike that. There's no probably about it. He did just use your power to so something we will regret."
"Phoebe, if you just heard it in a dream, how did you know it so well?" Piper asked, trying to sidetrack Prue's motherly scolding.
"It's been repeating in my head all day, over and over and over. I thought that if I heard it one more time I would scream!"
Piper looked at her watch. It was almost a quarter to seven in the evening, and the sun was starting to set. Boy, no wonder she knew it so well.
"I even wrote it down thinking that it would help get it out of my mind. It sure is hard to study for my finals that are coming up with a incantation running through your brain twenty-four seven."
Piper face began to turn red as she struggled to keep from laughing. "You were studying. That would be a first," Piper joked. "Since when do you study?"
"Where?" Prue interrupted her sister's teasing.
"Where what?" Phoebe asked a bit confused.
"Where did you write it down?"
"Oh, Ahhh---In the--Ahhh--In the Book of Shadows."
"You did what!" Prue and Piper could barely believe their ears.
"Last time I checked that's what its for," Phoebe did have a point.
"Last time I checked it was for good spells," Piper corrected her.
"Are you telling me that you wrote an evil spell in the Book of Shadows?" Prue couldn't believe her ears, though it was something she sort of expected from Phoebe.
"Without asking us?" Piper reprimanded.
"Since when do I need to ask permission to write in my book?"
"Since when is the Book of Shadows just yours?" Prue responded.
"I didn't say that."
"I hate to start disagreeing with you but--" Prue continued
"--Never stopped you before," Phoebe broke in expressing her aggregation.
"Don't change the subject!" Piper yelled
"I said, 'since when is the Book of Shadows just yours."
"I remember. And I said 'I didn't say that."
Prue's eyes became raged with anger. "Yes you did."
"Well, that isn't exactly what I meant."
"So what did you mean," Piper joined in.
"I meant that I thought that all three of us could add to it when we wanted and in the way that we wanted without getting permission."
"And what gave you that impression?"
"No other witch had to get permission to use the book from their sisters, so why should I?"
"I see your point," Piper finally accepted.
Prue stood silent with the anger that had been brewing in her slowly subsiding.
"Does anyone else think that that he made it too easy? I mean that he just ran himself into an obvious hiding area and then--stopped. It almost seemed like he was waiting for us to catch up with him." Phoebe thought about the man that she had supposedly vanquished. What had he thrown on the ground? What had just happened?
"I know. I was thinking the same thing." Piper regretfully agreed.
"We should have known that he was up to something," Prue added. "He could have just blinked and been gone from harms way, but he stayed."
"Are we becoming so self confidant that we ignore the obvious? If we keep this up we aren't going to be doing any good. All we are going to do is make things worse if we aren't more careful," Prue scolded as she reprimanded her sisters and herself.
The girls turned around and headed back toward the front door of their Victorian home.
"Coast looks clear. Looks like we escaped the eyes of the mortal world again." Piper was right. The Charmed Ones were lucky that they had never been seen using their magical powers by anyone who could do damage with that knowledge. In other words, for the time being there secret was safe.
"Well, at least one thing went right today." Prue knew that whatever had just taken place was the beginning of a very long, evil battle.
* * *
The priestess Carissa sat in her chamber moping. She had been waiting hours for her unreliable bother to show up, but as usual he hadn't. In her hands were two bottles, one red and one blue. Her plan was to use them to destroy the Charmed Ones. The short tempter that she had was driving her crazy. She wanted to destroy everything in site, but that was a power that only her brother possessed.
Finally he showed up, standing in front of her feet.
"Where have you been?" she screamed.
"Observing the enemy, like you told me to."
She wanted so much to attack now, but she wasn't ready. She had been planning to make her ultimate attack on the Charmed Ones for years now, and she had finally finished the potions she needed, but she lacked one important ingredient for her plan to succeed--the most important ingredient--a man. Not just any man would do though. He had to be a man who was evil, and he had to have powers to prove it. But there was one more thing; he had to be devoted to her and only to her.
"You knew that I wanted you here two hours ago."
"Yes, but when it comes to time travel, what difference does two hours make?"
"My sanity!" she replied.
Inside of her, her anger grew and grew, until she knew that she must act fast. For months now she had been planning to use her twin brother Kevin, but she felt that something had gone wrong. She didn't trust him--he seemed to be sympathetic to the victim of his sister's plan, but Carissa decided that it didn't matter. She knew that her time was running out, if she waited too much longer her plan wouldn't succeed. Still, she feared that he would tell some higher power of her plan to destroy the Charmed Ones.
"More like your trust in me. Right!"
Carissa suspected that her bother was becoming weak in his demonic ways, and that he may try to aide his former friends. Carissa and Kevin both use to be on the side of protecting the innocent, just like the Charmed Sisters, but Carissa's attitude toward good and evil had changed a long time ago and so had her devotion.
"Don't forget these witches you want to destroy were your friends," Kevin tried to persuade his sister.
"I know exactly who they are, and nothing you say is going to change my plans!"
For so long she had fought to protect those she lived side by side with. She gave up everything to live by the creed that her ancestors had been sworn to. For generations her family, which was mostly females, had given their lives for the cause of ending demonic evil in the world, and never gave a second thought to what she was doing and never would have, but she had one desire that was stronger than protecting the innocent. She desperately wanted a family with children to raise the way she had been.
When she married, at the age of twenty-two, she looked forward to the family that she knew she was destined to have. Her husband, Chris, knew nothing of her after hours activities, because she thought it best to not involve him in the affairs that he could not be part of. But she knew she had to protect him from what he had no knowledge of.
When they married she created a special charm for him, an unbreakable necklace, which kept the evil that tracked Carissa from finding and attacking him. She gave it to him on their honeymoon and he promised never to take it off.
It was a tradition in the world of witchcraft to give charms to love ones that did not have powers to protect themselves from evil. It worked perfectly, until he decided to have it copied to give to his wife as an anniversary present. After he took it to the jewelers with a promise date of the copy the next day he returned home where he waited alone for his wife to return. It didn't take long for a demon to attack the unprotected man, but luckily, Carissa soon returned home, and was able to vanquish the creature.
Sadly, soon after that the trouble began. He did not understand the importance of her secret, and he refused to stay with someone he couldn't trust. He was frightened of the woman he had once loved, and knew that a life together would no longer be possible. Chris packed his things less than a week later and left the home and family that he and Carissa had created together.
"I'm leaving this evil house, and don't you dare come after me!"
Carissa didn't. She knew that it would make things worse than they already were. She never blamed him, though she didn't care for him in the same way. Who she did blame for the brake up were the powers of good that had condemned her with this gift that she now saw as a curse. She also blamed other witches that lived before her and passed the traits and the powers down the family line, and she swore from that day on she would make sure that no other person would have to feel the anguish that she was enduring.
The first witch she claimed vengeance on was a good friend of hers named Tina. She thought that if she did her deeds out of the sight of others she would be able to continue using her magic, but she was wrong and caught by her Whitelighter while standing over the body, and her twin brother Kevin, who had not participated in the brutal attack, showed up just in time for it to look like he was also involved. But Kevin wasn't guilty, and he had spent the last few years despising his sister for turning him into an evil monster.
Carissa had spent the years since her condemnation killing witches and those who helped them. She had even obtained a bow from a Darklighter so that she could kill the very people who helped the ones that she despised. Through it all she worked intensely on her plan. Through her destructive demonic actions she had gained the massive powers of the other witches that she had killed, but Kevin refused to be involved in such actions and was still virtually powerless. Thanks to her new role in life the task of killing witches was extremely easy. She lived in the underworld with full freedom to invade the world above in just the blink of her eyes and escape just as easily.
When she had reached the age of accountability, she 'accidentally' found a spell that activated her powers. Through those powers she had made her strong, but she was extremely outraged that she wouldn't be able to pass those powers through her bloodline. The only traits that she had now were anger, revenge, and a short temper, and because of those traits she was determined to end what had caused her suffering.
Lately though, she had spent all of her energy working on how to end this battle that she had inside her now-evil soul and her hatred for what had happened to her life. The best way out, she thought, is to destroy the most powerful witches of all times, and in the process gain something that she had always longed to have. But she knew in doing so that she would have to be prepared, extremely prepared.
Though demons used to be her biggest threat, the Charmed Ones were her biggest meanness, and they were also a huge threat and to every other member of darkness, whether it was demon or a warlock. These three witches had foiled her plans many times. It seemed like every time she was about to succeed they would show up to stop her, and she wanted it to stop. So many others had tried to get rid of the Charmed Ones, some had been extremely powerful demons, but they had all failed. Still, she knew her plan would ultimately prevail. With them out of the way she would be able to attack the weaker covens much easier than she could now using the powers she gained from the Charmed Ones, but more importantly she would have their Book of Shadows!
The witches that Carissa desired had great powers, and those powers were intensified because of the Book of Shadows. The Book of Shadows contained the greatest secrets and spells that had ever been written, and it had a life all of its own. That life protected itself from evil entities, and had been the reason why it simply couldn't be stolen. The lives of its witches had to be taken in order for someone to take the book, and if she had the book Carissa knew her power would be unbeatable.
She understood what needed to be done. Somehow their power had to be ended or stripped. The aid that they gave to the world through working against evil was enormous, and it had to end. The problem was that Carissa was not strong enough herself to cause the end of the Charmed Ones, but she knew that her brother was.
One option she thought of was to simply take their lives. "Simple!" she laughed out loud with a voice that evil had taken over just like her body and soul. "It will be anything but simple!"
In fact that same task had caused the death of numerous entities, but if she could do it she could have all of their power for her own personal use and wouldn't be confined by the rules that govern witches powers. There was another option, one that would take more planning, but in the end would grant her desires.
There was a secret that made some witches so strong. Actually, it wasn't a secret to those who were involved. The power that Carissa desired came from the family bloodline, and that was what she needed to capture. I need a member of the Halliwell Family, or someone born of it, to continue that greatness she conspired.
But there was another factor. Carissa knew of that fact. It was why her older sister never became a witch. She refused the art. Though Carissa had originally fought the power that she knew was hers to claim, when the time came she willingly recited the words of the spell that activated her powers.
Still that was something to worry about in the future. When the time was appropriate a spell could be made, and she could force the child to recite it. In the present Carissa had other concerns. The life that she desired, the power that she craved, and the love that she longed to have. Though love was a trait that was absent from darkness, it was a part of the human life that Carissa was accustomed to, and she had never been able to deal with life without it.
"My destiny lies in the place where the Charmed Ones don't," she declared with an evil smile on her face. "And only I can make that destiny come true."
And in the past, Carissa thought, the Charmed Ones are not a threat, not yet anyway. It's a place where their powers won't hinder my plans. My future awaits me in the past.
* * *
As the smoke that had engulfed him disappeared Kevin stood looking at the Victorian house.
"It worked!" the warlock celebrated out loud. "I just wonder what time I ended up in."
Kevin crept up next to the side of the house to make sure the cost was clear. Once he was sure that it was clear he ran down the lawn and onto the sidewalk of the house it seemed he had just left.
A flying object came headed toward him, and out of instinct his arms shot toward it. Suddenly there was a burst of feathers going everywhere. "Oh, it was just a bird," he said once he realized what he had done. As he looked around to see if anyone had seen his power he started to fill guilty for the life he had just taken. "I can't take any chances, though." He quickly forgot the incident and continued toward the house that he had been assigned to conquer.
"Come on Mom. Leave me alone. Let me have a life." A sweet voice was clearly heard from the walkway coming from the old Victorian house. A young slender lady with light brown hair walked through the door. Her body was beyond beautiful. Her high cheekbones and luscious red lips were full of fury, but quickly turned into a welcoming smile as she caught sight of the impending visitor.
"Hello. May I help you?" the young lady asked as the not so gentleman walked up the sidewalk to the front door.
"Well, I'm new in the neighborhood and I was just wanting to get to know a few of my neighbors."
"Nice to meet you. My name is Patty, and this is Penny - my mother," she introduced while pointed to the lady that was standing in the door jam. It was clear that the two women had been disagreeing about something.
"Kevin, nice to meet you too."
* * *
When Piper had been called to duty, she and Leo had been having a good morning get together in Piper's bedroom. Piper had promised to be back in a few minutes with two steaming hot cups of coffee, but it had been over an hour. Boy, that's a switch; usually it was Leo that did the disappearing act.
Leo had heard the doorbell ring, and assumed that it was a visitor for Piper, so he sat waiting patiently. Eventually though, his patience turned to boredom and he decided to find a book to read from Piper's collection of literature.
In the far corner of her room stood an antique looking bookshelf. One by one he inspected the titles and a few of the newer ones that seemed interesting he turned over and read the back cover. Finally, he decided that he and Piper didn't quite agree on what makes a good novel.
As he replaced the last book that was in his hand he noticed a book that he had not looked at. There was no title on the side, but it was beautifully decorated. Out of curiosity he pulled the book out of its hiding place.
Immediately he realized that the book was hollow, and it contained something inside. As he opened it he expected to find secret ingredients that the Charmed Ones used in their potions or a key to a lockbox or something, but instead he found another book.
This book also had no title, and like the hollow book it was contained within, it was magnificently decorated with gold lines and circular shapes.
"Hmmm?" he wondered as he opened the book about half way through. It was hand printed and was dated.
Leo thought back to when he was married before World War II and remembered the diary that his wife wrote in every night. It resembled this book quite remarkably, though the handwriting was much different.
"Should I do a little investigational reading?" Leo thought. "Why not. She's my wife, and what is hers is mine and what is mine is hers." Still the thought of reading Pipers personal thoughts extremely bothered him. "Of course she is a Charmed One, and I am responsible for the well-being of the Charmed Ones. So, if there is something wrong that she is scared to tell me about than this is a good way to find out." It was the only way he could rationalize this extreme type of invasion of privacy.
Leo quickly put the hollow book back on the shelf where he found it, hoping that Piper wouldn't see that it had been bothered. He knew that he had to go somewhere he wouldn't be caught so easily, so he stood up and orbed into the attic. Hopefully they won't need to look in the Book of Shadows for a while.
He flipped open the diary cover and started to do a little pleasure reading, but he soon realized that he was only getting part of the story. Maybe I should see if Phoebe and Prue have their own journals too, but I think I will do a little more reading first.
September 23, 1998
Dear Diary,
I don't know what to do. Phoebe told me two weeks ago that she was leaving New York and moving back to San Francisco. I just don't know how to break the news to Prue. The two of them left in such bad terms that all I can see ahead in their future is fighting, and mine too I guess. Maybe some miracles will occur that will let us form a family. All I know is that I am going to need some magic if I want those two to act decent to each other. Well, at least there will be something interesting in our boring lives when she comes home.
Grams' heath isn't doing much better. It goes further and further downhill each day, and she refuses to rest like the doctor has ordered. She's stubborn and that is all there is to it. I guess she's just like the rest of us.
Grams is still trying to get me to quit my job at the bank and become a chief. She's right though, I do love to cook and bake. I just don't know though. It is such a risky business, and at least right now I have health benefits. I really can't afford to quit and find a new job right now. Grams' hospital bills are overwhelming, and they have to be paid.
Maybe I can pursue my dream later on, hopefully anyway.
Piper
