Legacy: Ghost of the Past
by Lady Dawson
Chapter Two: A Visiting Elder
Brandon James groaned slightly as he lay on the couch where he had been for two days. After the experience down in Peter Connelly's torture chambers, he wasn't keen on getting up any time soon. He still felt like he was going to pass out every time that he so much as sat up. It was incredible how bad the after-effects were, even when they were healed by a Whitelighter. Once he was able to stand up, he made a mental note to go over and thank Paige.
Susan walked into the room, French-braiding her hair as she sat down on the chair opposite of him. "So," she said pleasantly with a smile at him, "how's the patient this morning?"
"Is that a real question?" Brandon retorted, half-considering throwing a pillow at her, but the exhaustion pretty much threw that thought out the window. "I'm better than yesterday, but I still can't sit up without the room spinning around." He sighed, then noticed her nice clothes. "Hey, where are you going off to?"
"Um, Chris's mom invited me to a book signing," Susan answered. "So Brooke is going to stay here and take care of you while Wyatt and Chris are out investigating some demon."
"Great," Brandon muttered, leaning his head back against the pillows. "Well, you look nice."
"Thank you," Susan told him as she stood up. "Now, I know Brooke's cooking skills are less than adequate, so there's a batch of stew on the stove, all she has to do is heat it back up." She shook her head. "Of course, knowing Brooke, she'll probably screw that up, too. Just . . . don't kill each other, please?" she requested.
"Kill her?" Brandon echoed, looking at her incredulously. "One, I'm a Whitelighter and I'm supposed to be a pacifist. Two, I can barely sit up on my own, let alone kill Brooke."
Susan smiled faintly. "Okay, good point," she conceded. "All right, then I'll see you guys later." She was halfway out the door when Brooke came out, already with her jacket on and her purse on her shoulder. "Hold it right there, missy, where do you think you're going?"
"I've got some stuff to take care of," Brooke said lightly. She quickly hurried out the door before Susan could stop her. "Okay, bye, and I'll see you at dinner tonight!"
"Brooke!" Susan yelled, looking furious, but the nymph-witch was already gone. "Oh! That is so like her," she grumbled, slamming the door shut. "Now, what am I going to do? I can't go out and leave you here by yourself."
"I'll be fine," Brandon told her, though he seriously doubted it. "Just go, have a good time." She hesitated. "I'm fine, Susan, seriously, go. Nothing's going to happen."
"No, I can't just leave you here by yourself," Susan said just as orbing lights appeared in the room and she turned around, startled, as they formed into an Elder. "And that just completely changes everything. Bye, Brandon."
"Susan, wait," the Elder, Curtis, said, stopping her. "Please, let me speak. This cannot continue."
She turned on her heel towards him, her blue eyes blazing with anger and fury. Brandon shivered slightly as he felt the power in her gaze and sensed her uttermost fury as she stood there. "Oh, you want to talk?" she asked coldly, tossing her purse onto the chair as she walked towards him. "Sure, let's talk. What could we possibly have to talk about?"
"Okay, will you just listen to him, please?" Brandon interjected. She glared at him. "He might actually have something important to say."
"Listen, Whitelighter-boy, if you want to continue to be on my good side and hang around here, then I would suggest you be on my side," Susan told him, not sparing him any sympathy.
Brandon sighed. "Susie, I am on your side. I just really think that you should listen to him, at least for right now." She only stared at him unblinking, not masking her cold fury. "It's what your brother would want," he said softly. "He would not want you to hold a grudge against anybody, especially if there may be innocents in danger."
Susan sighed, running a hand through her hair as she glanced sideways towards the Elder. Brandon inwardly cheered. He'd got her! "Fine," she said shortly. "Five minutes, that's all I'm willing to give you and it starts now."
"It's more than fair, Susan," Curtis said with a gentle smile at her as she sat down on the chair, folding her arms across her chest.
She glared at him icily. "It's Miss Dawson," she told him, making her meaning clear. Under no circumstances did she want to be informal with any of the Elders.
He nodded. "Miss Dawson, we have felt a great shift in the balance between good and evil," he explained. "Something that could very well affect the future and tip the balance of power, perhaps irreversibly, in the favour of evil. And we—the other Elders and I—we believe that it may be directly involved with Peter Connelly." Susan made some movement at this. "I believe that you know him, don't you?"
"No," she answered. "Well, yes, I mean, I've heard of him. He's been sending some demons after us, but I've never actually met the man." Brandon noticed that she didn't mention that she knew his son. Which was probably a good thing; if the Elders knew about Bobby, there was a good chance that evil might find out about it. And if Bobby was found out, then it could put him in very real danger.
Even though she didn't know about Bobby, she still cared about him, Brandon knew. And somewhere, however unconsciously, she knew the truth about him. She knew, deep down, that he was her younger half-brother. Of course, it would probably take some time—and some pushing—for her to realise this truth.
"Yes, we've been talking about that," Curtis said as he paced back and forth across the room. "And after this incident—" He gestured towards Brandon, lying helplessly on the couch. "We believe that Peter Connelly is the new ruler of the Underworld. Not only that, but he is gaining support."
"Would that explain the sudden tipping of the scales?" Brandon wanted to know as he attempted to sit up. Susan got up and helped him, pushing the pillows so that he could lean against them comfortably. "Thanks."
"Sure," she said quietly as she looked towards the Elder, who was watching them with quiet sorrow. If Susan noticed this, she didn't comment on it. "Would that explain it?"
"Possibly, but I don't think that's entirely it," Curtis answered. "You see, Peter is a fallen witch, but he could very well take control of the Underworld, but he would have to have the Grimoire in order to do that." Brandon let out a low whistle in understanding.
"The Grimoire?" Susan whispered to him, her expression slightly confused as she regarded the Elder warily.
"Evil Book of Shadows," he responded just as quietly. She nodded, leaning back in her chair. "But I don't get why he would need that. Even without the power that the Source had, Peter is still pretty powerful, maybe even more so than he was."
"But he could be stopped," Curtis replied. "The Charmed Ones managed to vanquish the Source three times and sealed away the Grimoire so no one else could be crowned the new ruler of the Underworld."
"But an ancient evil came and made him in complete control when he saw how the Underworld had been thrown into chaos," Brandon added. "The demon that captured me over at the Connelly place told me. Apparently, he was the one who crowned the original Source."
"And I believe that he views you as a threat, Miss Dawson," Curtis said. "You and the Halliwell brothers as well as Miss Murphy. And I believe that is the reason why he is after the Grimoire. To find some way to break the circle that the four of you have formed."
Susan's face was reserved as she surveyed him. "How?" she asked, her voice quiet. For the moment, at least, she was going to work with him. "How could do something like that?"
Curtis looked at her. "I don't know."
Brandon looked towards Susan, noting the tight look that had crossed her face. "Maybe you should go get Chris and Wyatt, see if we can stop Connelly before he gets to the Grimoire," he told her. "We can catch Brooke up on the details later."
But Susan didn't even seem to hear him; she was staring at the Elder with distrust in her eyes. "If you're so eager to work with me," she said softly, "then why did you guys send that assassin after Ryan and me? When we were only thirteen, might I add?"
Curtis sighed, taking a seat across from her. "Miss Dawson, that was an error caused by some of us—"
"An error? Is that what you call it?" Susan stood up, rage filling through her face again. "That's not what I call it. I call it a stupid mistake caused by fear and insanity. Fear that was provoked by no valid reason, might I add? You screwed up, you know that? And now you're going to have to pay the price for that mistake."
"I am in complete agreement with you, Miss Dawson," Curtis told her. "But you must not forget that I was the one who warned you what was going to happen. As you said, you were only thirteen, just a child. And had I not, there was a good chance you might not have stood a chance against the assassin."
Susan scowled. "Don't think for a second that I consider myself to be in your debt," she threatened him.
"Of course not," he assured her. "You have no reason to be in my debt because of what my colleagues did, Miss Dawson. I was merely pointing out that not all of us agreed with what happened. And you cannot condemn all of us because of the mistake that a few made."
"A few that nearly cost Ryan and I our lives," Susan muttered under her breath. She could feel Brandon's gaze on her and silently cursed him. Every time that he looked at her like that, whenever she mentioned Ryan, she could almost see her brother looking out from Brandon's eyes. She didn't know what it meant, but she knew she would find out eventually. "Just because our father went down the wrong path."
"It was wrong what they did," Curtis told her gently, "but are you going to let innocents die because of it?"
Susan sighed; she hated it whenever one of Them made sense. It only made things worse. She looked at Curtis. "If you or any of your colleagues come near me when I'm alone," she warned him, "then I promise you that will be the last thing that any of you do. If you have to talk to me, then you do it when there's somebody with me."
"Agreed," Curtis said with a relieved sigh.
"Then how are we going to find this Grimoire?" Susan asked him. Curtis smiled slightly.
--
"Chris?" Susan called, entering the Halliwells' apartment. "Wyatt! Where are you guys?" Almost instantly, Chris came out of the kitchen, followed by Wyatt. Both of them were looking worried as they looked towards her.
"Sue, what's going on?" Chris asked her. "What's wrong?"
"Peter Connelly is after the Grimoire," she told them. Both brothers stared at her, then at each other.
"I'll go call Mom," Wyatt said, heading back into the kitchen to grab the telephone.
"We'll go make some potions," Chris said as he and Susan followed him into the kitchen, starting on the brews.
