Legacy: Dark Forces Rising

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Two: Alley Wanderings

All it took for Susan to start shoving Brandon James out of the apartment was for him to tell him that he had been sent by the Elders to guide her. Blood was thundering in her ears as she placed her hands on her hips, glaring at him.

"Look, I do not care how many charges you've successfully guided," she warned him. "I don't care if you're the top angel Up There, but I do not want or need a Whitelighter, hear me? And more importantly, I'm not going to have one, barring a piano or an equally heavy object falling onto my head and knocking me senseless. Besides, Whitelighters do not need Whitelighters."

"Except you're only one-forth Whitelighter," Brandon responded, giving her a cocky grin. She resisted the urge to swat him and settled for only glaring at him angrily. "Ha! Got you there."

"Whatever," Susan scoffed. "Just go up to your bosses and tell them that I'm not going to have some annoying Whitelighter following me around. Go away and go bother some of your other charges and leave me alone!"

"No need for that," Brandon said lightly. "The Elders gave me the pleasure of your company alone." Susan stared at him, completely confused. "You're my only charge, Susie. So you're stuck with me."

Susan really wanted to hit him now. "Okay, first of all," she warned him. "Do not call me Susie." That was a name that only one person had been allowed to call her and that was Ryan. "Two, I am not stuck with you, Whitelighter boy. You are getting out of my apartment and out of my life. Because I do not want or need you." An amused look crossed his eyes, but other than that he did not show any sign of hearing her temper. "Are you listening to me?"

"Uh . . . you don't want me hanging around you?" Brandon responded, grinning wildly. Susan glared at him, but a little surprised that he wasn't even remotely intimidated by her temper. People were usually surprised that she could lose it and how badly she did. It usually scared them a little bit. "Yeah, I got that part. It's too bad for you, though. I'm not going anywhere."

"Oh, no?" Susan smiled pleasantly and his smile vanished. "Let's see about that."

Summoning up the powers of the weather, she conjured up massive winds and pushed him towards the door. Brooke opened up the door for him as Susan pushed him out of the apartment without the slightly feeling of guilt.

"Get out," she warned him as Brandon got to his feet, looking at her with . . . something. She just could put her finger on what.

"If you need me," he said softly. "Call me. I'll be able to hear your call no matter where I am." Susan shook her head as he orbed out, leaving her alone on the balcony.

"Who was that?"

Susan froze when she heard Chris's voice coming from the hallway. She whirled around, coming face-to-face with him. He was looking at the spot where Brandon had vanished curiously before looking at her.

"Uh . . . apparently, my new Whitelighter," she answered quickly, looking anywhere but at him. "Listen, I got some things—"

"Actually, I was kind of hoping you might be able to help me with something," Chris explained. Susan stopped, looking back at him. "Can we talk inside? It's kind of that talk that we can't talk about in front of the neighbours," he explained, giving her a quick look. That look was all that it took for Susan to know what he wanted to talk about.

Inwardly, Susan relaxed; he didn't want to talk about the kiss, he wanted to talk about demonic stuff. She moved aside and let him inside, noticing the paper that he was carrying.

"Have you seen the newspaper lately?" Chris asked once they were inside. She shook her head and he handed her the clipping. Unfolding it, she read the article on the poisoned students. "Wy and I think that it might be demonic. Usually when it's one of those unsolved mysteries, it's demonic. Not all the time, but more often than not—"

"No, you're right," Susan agreed once she had finished reading. "I definitely think that it's demonic. If it were just the poisoning, then I might disagree, but their friends and family said that they were acting . . . like a different person before they died. It was like they were possessed or something. Not to mention, there's this part about them getting high fevers and shaking before they died."

Chris nodded just as Brooke headed into the kitchen, looking surprised to see the younger Halliwell standing there. "Oh! Hi, Chris. What's going on?" she asked, glancing at Susan.

"Demon activity," Susan piped up before Chris could respond. She folded up the newspaper clipping as she looked up at him. "Okay, well, did you want me to go check it out?"

"I was kind of hoping that we might be able to go investigate together," Chris admitted. "Wyatt's got be at work right now and it's probably not a good idea to go through this alone. At least not until we know what we're dealing with, anyway."

"I think that's a great idea," Brooke said immediately. If looks could kill, then Brooke Murphy would be dead right now due to the look that Susan shot her.

Fortunately, however, people don't die from death looks and Brooke continued on without being intimidated by Susan's glare. "You know, you've been working too hard this week, Sue, trying to get this place into shape and starting that new job at the bookstore. Just go out and help out some innocents. It's your day off, anyway. Now, don't worry about a thing," she added with a huge smile, picking up Susan's bag and jacket, shoving it into her hands. "I will sacrifice myself and go to the grocery store and get the things we need." She plucked the list off of the table. "You two have fun and stay out of trouble."

Before Susan could stop her, the witch-nymph was out of the door and left the two witchlighters by themselves, standing uncomfortably.

"So, uh . . . ready?" Chris asked. Susan sighed, pulled on her jacket and headed after him out the door.

"Do you even have the slightest idea of what we're looking for?" Susan wanted to know. "Or even where?"

"No and yes," Chris answered. "No, I don't know what demon it is that's behind this and yes, I happen to have an idea of where. They were all found in the back alleys near the university, so I'm hoping that if we head there, we'll be able to track down the demons."

"Here's hoping," Susan sighed as they piled into Chris's car. She looked out the window as the streets of San Francisco whizzed by, but she kept stealing glancing towards the dark haired witchlighter that was navigating expertly through the streets. And her thoughts never strayed from him.

--

Chris wished that he could keep his mind on the demons instead of the witch who was with him as he parked the car and headed towards the alley that the innocents were found dead in, Susan right behind him. It wasn't the best plan, considering that they were demon hunting.

"So, this is it," Chris said as they walked through the alley. "This is where they were found out."

"Innocents and alleys," Susan remarked, shaking her head dryly. She gave him a small smile. "Don't they ever learn?"

That caused him to laugh and he nodded. "Yeah, tell me about it," he said lightly as they walked further into the alley. Without warning, Susan suddenly stopped, her blue eyes narrowing slightly.

"Susan?" he asked, turning to look at her. She held up a hand to stop him from talking. He knew that she had the power of precognition and could sense things before they happened, which is why he cast a careful glance around them. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea . . .

Just as he was about to tell Susan that they should probably get out of the alley, a fireball came flying out of nowhere and Chris grabbed Susan, pulling her against him as he flung them against the wall, out of danger.

"Who are you two?" A demon had appeared out of nowhere, glaring at the two witchlighters.

Either these guys really don't know who we are, Chris thought tiredly, or they're getting stupider all the time. But instead of telling the demon this, he responded with his grip still on Susan, "Why don't you try telling us who you are first?"

"Nice try." The demon smirked. "I'll have your names and then we'll have some nice surprises for you, before we have you join us."

"Dawn," Susan spoke up. The demon looked at her. "My name is Dawn Summers."

"Smart girl," the demon said lightly. "You'd do well to take after your little girlfriend or she'll be going first, boy."

"Did you just call me 'boy'?" Chris said incredulously. Susan suppressed a smile as he looked at her, an amused look on his face. "Perry Matthews."

The demon sniffed. "Well, Miss Summers and Mr. Matthews, we'll have a nice surprise for you today." His eyes flashed as a small handgun appeared in his hand and he fired.

But instead of the explosion that both witchlighters were expecting, it only emitted a soft puff of energy and four small needles fired towards them. Caught of guard, Chris was thrown to the side by Susan as she dived out of the way, grabbing her arm as one of the needles managed to make contact with her hand.

She cursed as she yanked it out, using a lightning bolt to demolish the gun that was in the demon's hands. He looked horrified as he stared at them. "Witches!" he hissed.

Before Chris could blow him away, the demon shimmered away and Chris hurried over to Susan.

"I'm okay," she reassured him, rubbing her hand carefully. Chris frowned, not really believing her. "Really, I'm fine. It just feels a little bit weird, is all." She flexed her hand, staring at it. With a sigh, Chris grabbed her arm, bending down to pick up one of the needles, careful to make sure that it didn't touch his bare skin.

"No, you're not," he told her. "We're going home and we're gonna have Wyatt heal you. Then we're gonna see what's in this thing."

Susan nodded miserably as he steered her towards the car. Just as he opened the door for her and helped her into the car, he added, "Oh, and one more thing . . ." She looked at him, curiosity in her eyes. "Dawn Summers?" he asked with a small smile.

She grinned broadly for the first time since last week and laughed. "It was the first name that came to mind," she replied. Chris rolled his eyes as he shut the door, heading over to the driver's side to climb in himself.

Neither witchlighter noticed just as they were leaving, a certain Whitelighter was watching them from the alley.

Brandon sighed as he watched them go. "Oh, Susan, you can't stay out of trouble, can you?" he whispered, looking back to where the demon had vanished to.

Without waiting for the demon to reappear to attack him, Brandon disappeared in a swirl of orbs.

AN: If anybody can tell me what is so funny about Susan's alias, then I will reward you with a new chapter!