Legacy: Pilot

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Three: Demon Attack

Susan was fuming as she left the apartment, taking all of her will not to slam it shut. Tears were threatening to spill down her cheeks as she headed out into San Francisco, not caring where she was going or if she was going to come back. Right now, she didn't want to be anywhere near Brooke Kathryn Murphy.

How dare she? she thought as she stalked down the street, ignoring the angry looks that she got from a few of the bystander as she didn't bother getting out of their way. How dare she say something when it's barely been three months since Ryan died? I know she didn't really mean it, but it still hurt. And how can she possibly be moving on so fast? Was it true, then, what he told me the night that he died? That she'd had an affair with what's-his-name from the football team? That she was going to break up with him and return the engagement ring that he gave to her?

She had no answers at the moment and the only thing she could do was go back and ask Brooke about that. Ryan had told her that they were breaking up, but she didn't want to believe it, because she loved Brooke as she would a sister, but now she was starting to face facts. What if it was true?

"I'm sorry, Ry," she whispered, burying her face into her hands as she sank onto a park bench, tears starting to roll down her face. "I'm so sorry I didn't believe you. I just . . . I couldn't."

Sobs emerged from her and she curled up onto the bench, her shoulders shaking. She knew that people were passing by her and whispering, but she didn't care. All she wanted right now was to let out the emotions that she'd be hiding since March. Let out all the fear, frustration, pain, anger, and anguish that she'd be holding in.

It seemed like forever until the tears finally stopped coming. Susan sniffled and lifted her head. Dusk was starting to fall and she was in a new city with no way to get home. Angry or not, she had no intention of spending her first night in a new city on a park bench.

Just as she stood up and was about to turn around to go home, she felt rather than heard someone approach her. She stopped, instincts on high alert as she stood still, trying to figure out who—or better yet, what—was behind her.

She didn't have to wait long. No sooner had she froze, a knife was suddenly pressed against the base of her throat. "Don't move, witch," a slithering voice hissed. Susan felt her throat constrict as she felt the cool metal against it. "Just surrender and I'll make this quick."

"Sorry," Susan replied, keeping her fear under control. "I'm fresh out of white flags."

Plunging deep inside herself, into the depths of her power, Susan summoned up the powers of the weather, her fingertips starting to crackle with electricity.

Not hesitating, she managed to scramble out of the way just as an energy ball came flying out of the demon's hands. It barely missed her and just barely. She smelled the scent of burnt hair as it whizzed by, hitting a car that was parked nearby. The car jolted and the alarm went off, alerting everyone in the area that something was not right.

The demon cursed and glanced at Susan, who had lightning at hand, ready to dispose of him. "You've won this first round, but I'll be back," he growled at her. Without wasting a minute, he shimmered out, leaving Susan alone in the park.

Quick as she could, Susan hurried out, not wanting to be caught there with the car alarm blaring—jeez, those things were loud and annoying—probably bringing with it about a dozen spectators. It was only when she was about two blocks away did she slow down to a walk, staring down at her hands again.

There hadn't been a demon attack since her mother and brother had been killed. She had wondered why they had, but guessed that they'd just been biding their time. And now they'd followed her here to California.

Susan was a witch, like her brother was and like her father. Her mother had half-Whitelighter, the daughter of a Whitelighter and his charge. She, too, was a Whitelighter and had charges, one of them her best friend, a witch, and the other Susan and Ryan's father, also a witch. But he had turned evil, she claimed, some dark force consumed him, forcing him down the path of demons. He worked for them now, as did his wife, who had once upon a time been Celandine's best friend.

One would think that after that, Celandine would give up on the Craft altogether, but on the contrary. She taught her children everything she knew about magic and helped them control their powers. Susan developed the power of weather manipulation and precognition. Ryan had been a conjuror and could turn invisible. Together, they had fought demons, joined eventually by Brooke, the daughter of a witch and a nymph. Brooke's unlikely heritage had gained her the ability to control the earth element and telepathy.

And it was like that for almost three years, until just recently. When Ryan died, the demons stopped attacking for some reason. Susan had thought that with one of their trio gone, they would attack more frequently, hoping to eliminate them as well.

But this demon was the first that had attacked in the three months that Ryan had been gone. Not only that, but he said that he would be back. Which meant that the war was about to continue.

Susan sighed as she looked towards the horizon, her blue eyes narrowing with determination. "I am the daughter of Celandine, sister of Ryan, and heir of Agatha Cromwell," she said quietly. "You can try if you want, but I'm not going to give up. Your kind are not getting me."

Even as she climbed the steps to her apartment, Susan felt the sense that she was being watched. She glanced around though, still sensing someone, but climbed the stairs. If they were going to attack, then they would eventually. Soon or later, anyway.

Moments later, the door to apartment 4B opened and Susan Dawson walked inside, the door shutting behind her.

--

Brandon James leaned against the tree outside of the apartment building which was his new charge's home, watching her stop, turn, her eyes scanning around him. Holding his breath, Brandon wondered if she had sensed him watching her. He hadn't anticipated her meeting him this early.

But to his immense relief, Susan turned back and completed her journey up the stairs and vanished into her apartment. Releasing a sigh of relief, Brandon glanced both ways and orbed out back to his own place.

The crummy little apartment he had rented was worth a lot less than what he was paying it for and had only a bed and a small kitchen in it. The door barely even locked, which was only a bonus to burglars. Not that he had anything worth stealing.

"She doesn't look like she needs much help to me," he grumbled towards the ceiling, sitting up straight. Almost immediately, he heard the annoying jingling in his ears and winced. "Okay, okay! I get it. Jeez."

Obviously, They were just as worried as he was about the demon attack earlier that evening. If demons had tracked her to California, which was the same state that Peter Connelly was in, then they were probably doing it on his orders. It was the only reason that they had gone after the twins in Wisconsin. Susan and Ryan weren't altogether powerful on their own, but together . . . their powers joined together were almost as powerful as the Charmed Ones. The fact that they had an empathic link probably helped matters a little.

But now that Ryan was dead, then they shouldn't be going after her at all, not unless Peter wanted her out of the way completely.

Still, she'd met Chris and Wyatt Halliwell. Once they found out that the two girls were witches—and once Susan and Brooke found out that they were that Halliwell—then he didn't think that even Peter would be thick enough to go after them. Not whilst they were under the protection of the Halliwells.

Of course, when investigating the mind of demons, never go to Brandon James for advice. Because he was usually, in fact almost always, wrong about what the demons did or didn't do.

Which meant that they would be attacking Susan again. Soon.

--

Brooke looked up, almost relieved, as she heard the door open and Susan walked in, looking harassed and even worried. "Oh, there you are!" she exclaimed, her eyes flickering over Susan, whose hair was dishevelled and there was a hint of something red on the neck of her shirt. "I was so worried about you, where have you been?" Brooke suddenly realised what was on her shirt. "Hang on . . . is that blood?"

"Demon attacked," Susan said shortly as she walked past Brooke to her bedroom. Brooke followed her, her ears ringing as Susan walked straight into her room, which was surprisingly unpacked, considering they'd only arrived six hours ago and she'd been missing for two.

Walking over to the desk, Susan pulled out the chair and yanked open the drawer, revealing a large, leather-bound green book that looked ancient. Susan pulled it out, sitting down onto her bed with it.

"A demon attacked?" Brooke repeated, not at all sure that she had understood. She bit her lip. "But they haven't attacked in months . . . I thought they finally got tired of us, when . . ." She thought it better not to finish that sentence.

Susan lifted her head. "Brooke, I can't talk to you right now, okay? I have to find out who this demon was before he comes back again." She turned back to the Book of Shadows in her hands, flipping through the old pages.

Feeling as though she'd reached out and struck her, Brooke knew that she'd deserved it. "I'm sorry, okay?" she whispered. Suddenly, Chris's idea about treating Susan to an ice cream didn't seem like such a good idea at the moment. "I didn't mean it."

"Did you cheat on him?"

Brooke froze as Susan spoke the words, feeling shock rise through her. Had Ryan told her . . . about what she'd done? She'd felt so guilty about it, but it was back when she and Ryan had been having some problems. It seemed so stupid now, the fights between them. Just silly stuff, like what colours they were going to have for the wedding and how many people to invite. Normal, silly stuff that every couple argued over.

She didn't even know why she started sleeping with Landon, just that she had. If she'd known what was going to happen, then she never would have done it. Even if Ryan were still alive, she wished that she wouldn't have done it. It was the wrong way to deal with their problems and only ended in them breaking up on Ryan's death day.

Brooke had never told Susan about it because she had been having enough problems without dumping her own into her lap. But it had never occurred to her that she might have known. How could she not? After all, Susan was Ryan's twin. They told each other everything.

"What?" she whispered.

"Did you?" Susan asked, looking up at her. Brooke couldn't read the look in her eyes, but something made her unable to look directly at Susan.

"Did he tell you?" Brooke swallowed slightly, forcing herself to look back at the witch. "Did Ryan tell you?"

"What do you think?" Susan asked coldly. She looked back at the Book, totally ignoring Brooke. Then she jumped to her feet, blue eyes blazing.

"I can't believe I actually defended you, Brooke! You know what, I told him that it couldn't be true because you were a decent, warm-hearted person! The one day that I should've listened to him, believed him, I didn't because of you! And now you're going after our next door neighbour three months—three months—after my brother died! How dare you! I can't believe that you can even look at me after what you did!" Brooke whimpered as lightning struck outside, a sign that Susan's temper was out of hand. She was usually such serenely-tempered, but there were times when she really lost it. This was one of those times. Ryan was the only one who could calm her down in this state. Everyone else just had to wait for her temper to burn out. "How can you even go after some guy after what you did to my brother?!"

"I was not the one making the moves!" Brooke shot back, defensive. Susan stared at her. "Okay, I was not the only one making the moves." She sat down into a chair, suppressing a sigh.

"How can you move on so fast?" Susan whispered. Even though she wasn't yelling, her tone said everything.

"Because he would want me to be happy, despite what I did," Brooke whispered, holding back tears. "He would want both of us to be happy. You know that and I know that. I could wait three months or three years and that fact isn't going to change. But the point is that for whatever reason, fate may be pointing me down this path." She shrugged. "Just like it's pointing you down Chris's."

"Don't turn this onto me, Brooke," Susan warned her. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"It means you should take a chance," Brooke answered, standing up and leaving her room before Susan could reply.