Legacy: Lovers Lane

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Two: Blast from the Past

With a deep sigh, Wyatt Halliwell stepped out of the clinic from catching a few extra hours before his classes started, tossing his uniform into the backseat as he backed up into the San Francisco traffic. If he was lucky—and by lucky, he meant extraordinarily lucky—then he might be able to make it before his name was called.

Navigating his way through traffic, Wyatt noted that there was a black car following him, the windows tinted, so he couldn't see who it was that was in the car. Pulling into the next lane so he could let them pass, Wyatt frowned as they simply copied his movements, not letting him out of their sight for an instant.

"Okay, I so do not have time for this," he grumbled as he turned onto the school drive, pulling into one of the parking lots. The car was still following him as he ducked behind his car, waiting for them to pass. To his surprise, he saw them park in the visitors parking and a well-dressed business man stepped out, slipping off a pair of sunglasses as he did so. Another man, just as well dressed, climbed out as well, looking at the driver carefully.

Their voices were too low for Wyatt to catch any of what they were staying, but he could tell that they were demons, even from that far away. The only question was, what did they want?

Rather than sit around and wait for them to attack when he was least expecting it, Wyatt launched forward, managing to tackle the driver, pinning him down on the hood of the car. His partner jumped forward, but the demon Wyatt had pinned waved his hand back, stopping him from doing anything. "Can I help you with something?"

"Yeah," Wyatt said flatly. "You can tell me why you were following me. In about ten seconds," he added, "because I'm slowly losing my patience and I don't have that much to begin with. Plus, I'm supposed to be in class right now, so I would talk fast."

"Following you? I don't—"

Wyatt pushed him further down on the car and the demon gasped in surprise, grabbing at his hands to lessen the air shortage. "I'm sorry, I think I forgot to mention, you only get one lie card. That was yours."

"You Wyatt Halliwell?" the demon asked finally. Wyatt nodded shortly, eyeing him suspiciously. Either this guy didn't know who he was or he clearly needed to up his rep in the Underworld. But either way, he obviously didn't work for Connelly. Those guys knew them by sight by now. "You're dating that other witch Susan Dawson?"

"That's my brother's girlfriend," Wyatt growled, yanking him up, but not letting go of his grip on him. "What do you want with her?"

"Us?" The demon chuckled dangerously. "We don't want anything with her. It's the Master that has business with an old friend of hers. And seeing that he's unwilling to cooperate, we're forced to having to resort to involving those he cares about. Which unfortunately is only one person."

Wyatt shook his head in bewilderment. "What are you talking about? Who's this Master guy?"

"Tell the girl that Tristan Hale would like to clear up some unfinished business and that if she doesn't cooperate, then he will have no choice but to harm those around her. Also kindly mention that it would be an awful shame if the ground around her dear brother would get awful crowded." Wyatt's eyes narrowed; he didn't know who Tristan Hale was or what his business was with Susan, but threatening his girl and brother? Not to mention Susan, who was becoming like a sister to him? That was when they crossed the line.

"I'll get the message to her," Wyatt assured him dangerously. "Can you get a message back to this Hale guy?" The demon nodded, though looked nervous. "Good." Wyatt slammed him back down onto the hood, making the glass shatter. "Tell him that if he or any of his come near my family, Susan, Brooke, or anybody connected to us, then he's gonna have to answer to me. I don't care what his business is with Susan, if he even so much harms one hair on her head, then he's gonna have three very upset witches to deal with. And none of us are going to take this lightly," he added, releasing him. "Now get out of here before I remind myself that it doesn't take two to deliver a message."

Not that he would vanquish them, considering it was broad daylight and anybody could see. But they didn't call his bluff; instead, they jumped back into the car and drove so fast that their tires squealed.

Wyatt took a deep breath, shaking his head as he checked his watch. He was already late by now. Susan, if he could remember right, had her painting class right now and she wouldn't be pleased if he interrupted that. Not to mention, he didn't even know where it was.

Making a mental note to track either her or Chris down later, Wyatt grabbed his bag before heading towards his biology class.

Class had already started by the time that he had arrived and the teacher frowned at him as he slipped through the door, taking the first seat that he saw available. "Nice of you to join us, Mr. Halliwell," he said sternly before moving on to the next point in the lecture.

Wyatt winced slightly, but just opened up his notebook to a clean page and started briskly to take notes just as he noticed that there was someone standing outside the door, watching him. But by the time that he looked up to get a closer look, the person had already disappeared.

Shaking his head to clear it of the headache that was forming behind his eyes, Wyatt decided that he should have just stayed in bed today. Late for class, disappearing stalkers, two demons who were working for some guy who had a vendetta with his brother's girlfriend? Wyatt was sure that he didn't want to tempt fate by asking what was going to happen next. Because with their luck, they would find something that was clearly an illustration of their bad sense of humour.

--

Brooke groaned as she stepped out of the shower, blow drying her hair as fast as she could before swooping off to her bedroom to get dressed. At this rate, there was no point in even going to class, but if she didn't make it to her English class, then Susan would know about it, since they had the same lecture, and she'd never hear the end of it.

"Hey."

Letting out a shriek, Brooke whirled around to find Brandon James standing in the doorway, a little smile on the corners of his lips as he watched her scramble to get ready.

"It's nice to know that some things never change," he commented, folding his arms across his chest. "Susan yell at you for still being in bed when she came in here earlier?" he queried, his eyebrows knitting together when he talked about his . . . charge. Brooke couldn't even let herself think about the other word.

"Yeah, a little bit. She's been acting a little bit peculiar the past couple of weeks. Do you think she knows?"

Brandon sighed. "She knows something, though I'm not sure exactly she knows what we're up to. Of course, I'm not entirely sure what we're doing either, anyway. Because I don't feel right about putting Susan in the middle of this, which she is ultimately stuck in, considering her position."

Brooke sighed. "I know, I feel horrible about it, but . . . you know, if you just told her, then I'm sure that she would be a lot more understanding," she said hopefully. Brandon just gave her a look and she sighed. "You can't blame a girl for trying. I just don't like lying to her about this. It's not fair. You know that's what she'd say."

"I know. 'You can watch over me and know that I'm okay, but I can look at a perfect stranger and not know that it's you, so I'm forced to wonder if you're okay,'" Brandon said smoothly, pulling off a perfect imitation of Susan's voice. "She can't know who I am, Brooke. If she does . . . it'll be a lot harder for her. She already has enough to deal with."

"Yeah, especially since Connelly's been after and she's been worried sick about Bobby still living there," she mused. "Brandon, we really need to talk sometime, because . . . we need to figure something out."

Just as Brandon opened his mouth to say something, the phone rang in the hallway, causing both of them to jump and Brooke's hand went to her forehead as she walked out, picking up the cordless. "Hello, Dawson/Murphy residence," she said as she tried to brush out her hair at the same time. There was silence on the other end. "Hello, is somebody there?"

"Hi, can I please speak with Susan?" a male voice said on the other end. Brooke frowned slightly; that voice sounded familiar, but she couldn't place it. Maybe it was an old friend from Wisconsin . . .

"Sorry, she headed off to school a little while ago. But I'll be happy to tell her that you called. Who is this, anyway?" she asked as she opened the drawer, pulling out a piece of paper and a pen, prepared to take a name and number for Susan.

"Uh . . . this is Ethan Hale," the guy on the other end said hesitantly. "Just tell her that . . . she might be in big trouble and to lay low for a few days. And . . . not to go up any dark alleys." Brooke frowned at the cryptic message, but didn't question it.

"Okay, is there a number I can take, so she can call you back?" Brooke asked when she finished writing down the message. This guy was definitely a little weird, she thought.

"She knows my number," Ethan replied softly. "She'll know how to get in touch with me if she needs to. Just give that message." He let out a deep sigh that sounded mournful. "She'll know exactly what it means."

Brooke opened her mouth to ask more, but only received a dial tone in response. Staring at the phone, she replaced it back in the receiver before turning to Brandon. "What is it with Susan and strange guys?" she asked dryly.

"Who was that?"

"Just some guy asking for Susan, giving her some warning that she might be in danger," Brooke answered with a shrug. Brandon looked worried, but didn't pursue the subject. "Anyway, I need to get to class before I miss my second one."

"Want a ride?" Brandon offered, holding out his hand to her. Brooke's eyes lit up at the offer and she eagerly took his hand. It was much better than driving, she thought happily as she was carried up by white lights, heading towards the college, safely in the empty girls' room.

"Okay, see, you do this every time. I'm starting to think that you just orb me someplace so you can take a look in the girls' bathroom," she complained. Brandon laughed.

"No, it's just the safest place to land, besides the janitor's closet and there's not nearly enough room in there." He hesitated, but then moved closer, pressing his lips against Brooke's and she kissed him back, marvelling in the feeling, but also feeling guilty about betraying Wyatt and Susan like this. "I'll see you later. Call me if you need a ride home."

Brooke watched as he vanished in a series of white lights before she hitched her bag higher on her shoulder before heading out of the bathroom. But just as she exited the bathroom, a girl with long blonde hair stepped out of one of the stalls, a small smirk on her face at what she had just witnessed.

"Oh, this is going to get interesting," Cassandra Hale said, a triumphant smile on her face as she shimmered away to report the news of what she'd seen. He was going to be pleased by this particular piece of information.

Ever so pleased.

--

Susan sighed as she walked through the campus during the hour break that she had between the two classes she had in the morning and the one she had in the afternoon, heading towards the lunchroom to buy something to eat, but halfway there, she had the particular feeling that she was being followed.

Glancing over her shoulder, she couldn't see anybody that was tailing her, but she couldn't dismiss her warnings; after all, having some precognition ability, it would be futile to ignore it. And she'd had warnings like this before and they'd often times saved her life.

Slipping through one of the Fine Arts buildings, Susan hurried up the stairs before tugging on an unused classroom, exasperation filling through her when she found it was locked.

Concentrating hard, Susan conjured lightning in her hands, blasting open the door and slipping inside just as someone was climbing up the stairs, slowly and carefully. Susan's senses tingled slightly; there was something familiar about the way he was trailing her. Almost as if she had been trailed by this person before.

Not that demons were particularly people. Except for the few that had decided to live their life in peace and try and make amends. Susan pushed that thought out of her mind; she couldn't think about him right now.

Just when the person stopped right in front of the door, she swung it open, knocking him down to the ground and she rushed out, a potion already in hand and about to throw it when the guy's face was thrown into light.

"Ethan!" she gasped, staring down at her ex-boyfriend, who looked up at her with an expression of guilt and delight.