FOUR

Piper checked her list one last time. It seemed she had everything on it. They were getting low on potion ingredients and with Phoebe's news of a spirit in the manor she had decided it was a good time to restock. Although she wasn't sure what good that would do. Most potions wouldn't affect a spirit.

But it never hurt to be prepared. Besides spirits and ghosts, there were also demons to contend with. And potions did work against demons. She checked her list again and decided she had everything on it she would need. It shouldn't take long to get what she needed and then get back home. Then she could head to the club and get it ready to open.

As she turned to head for the entryway she stopped cold. Standing in the doorway to the kitchen was a figure that appeared exactly has Phoebe had described the spirit in her room the night before. It appeared to be a short, older man, dressed in torn and dirty prison clothes. It appeared to be ancient but for some reason Piper felt that the figure was not as old as it appeared.

It was doing nothing; simply standing in the doorway looking at her. She sensed no malevolence from the figure. In fact, just as Phoebe had described, it appeared to be a pathetic wretch. In the light of day Piper could also see scars on the figure's arms, hands, and face. As if it had been tortured mercilessly in life.

"Who are you?" Piper demanded. "What do you want?"

"Sie müssen ihn aufhören," replied the figure. "Erlauben Sie ihm nicht, wieder zu ermorden."

Suddenly the figure simply faded from sight, just as it had in Phoebe's room the night before. Piper reached for her cell phone to call her sisters.

"And you say it didn't try to do anything?" Prue asked.

"Nothing," Piper. "It just said something and then left."

"What did it say?" Cole asked.

"I don't know," said Piper. "It sounded like German. I didn't understand a word of it."

"Can you repeat it?" Cole asked.

"Something like 'see musen in afhorn'," said Piper.

"Sie müssen ihn aufhören," said Cole.

"Yeah, that was it," said Piper. "Do you know what it means?"

"Roughly translated," said Cole, "it means 'you must stop him'. Is that all it said?"

"No," said Piper. "It also said something like 'erlawben see im nicht weeder zu ermoden."

"Erlauben Sie ihm nicht, wieder zu ermorden," said Cole. "It means 'do not allow him to murder again'. Is that all it said?"

"Yeah, that was about it," said Piper.

"Who is he?" Prue asked.

"The spirit didn't say," said Piper. "But I agree with Phoebe now. I don't think it came here to hurt us. It sounded more like it was asking for our help."

"Well if it is a spirit," said Cole, "it would probably know that you're witches. Maybe there's something it wants you to do. Something it can't do itself."

"That makes sense," said Cole. "Spirits hang around to complete some task left uncompleted while they were alive. Maybe this spirit can't move on until that task is completed and it sees you as the best way to complete it."

"So why not just tell us what it wants?" Phoebe asked. "Why all the riddles? The least it could do is tell us who this 'he' is. How are we supposed to know who or what it wants?"

"It may not be able to communicate that," said Leo. "It can take a long time for a spirit to even learn how to communicate with the living. And this one seems to be speaking German. If it doesn't speak English that would make it harder for it to communicate with the living."

"So how do we find out?" Prue asked. "We still have no idea who or what this spirit is. Which means we have no way to summon it and ask it."

"You said it was wearing dirty prison clothes," said Cole. "Any idea what prison?"

"No," said Piper. "I did notice it had numbers on the shirt. But they were faded and dirty. It was very hard to read them."

"They were the stripped clothes," said Phoebe. "The kind you see in old prison movies from the 40s and 50s."

"Could they have been from an earlier time?" Cole asked. "Say from the 20s or 30s?"

"I guess," said Phoebe. "I don't really know that much about prison clothes. Why?"

"Many prisons used to use clothes like that," said Cole. "So that prisoners would stick out in public if they escaped. Even today most prisons use some kind of special clothing identifying them as prisoners."

"They did resemble the clothes worn by chain gang prisoners in some of the old movies," said Piper. "That much I did recognize."

"Cole, what are you thinking?" Leo asked.

"Leo, you remember what happened just after World War II?" questioned Cole. "The news reports about the prison camps in German. The concentration camps."

"Of course," said Leo. "I think everyone remembers those. It was almost inconceivable that something like that could happen then."

"Do you remember the clothes the prisoners in those camps used to wear?" Cole asked.

"Stripped uniforms," said Leo, recognition in his voice. "Just like the type Piper and Phoebe described."

"Exactly," said Cole. "And Piper and Phoebe both said they spoke German. I think it's conceivable that this spirit is a prisoner from one of those camps."

"From World War II?" questioned. "But that was sixty years ago. Why wait until now to appear to someone?"

"I don't know," said Cole. "But in light of this I think maybe we should take another look at the city councilman. I don't think it's coincidence that this spirit has appeared just after we discover someone who looks remarkably like Sperrle."

"But you said Sperrle was human," said Phoebe. "Even if he was alive he'd be much older than Simms is."

"Yes, I did, " said Cole. "And I could have been wrong. Or there could be some other explanation for why he hasn't aged all these years. But like I said, I don't think it's coincidence that the two have appeared together. And I think we need to look into it.

"Sperrle was a sadistic murderer. He enjoyed killing people simply for the pleasure of killing. If Simms is Sperrle then it's possible he could still be up to his old tricks. And if he has demonic help then the authorities won't be able to stop him."

"Wouldn't that be because of the demon?" Phoebe asked. "You did say that Kernian and his subordinates possessed humans. Couldn't it be that the humans were just innocents and the atrocities were committed by the demons?"

"Unlikely," said Cole. "The demons would have chosen humans that were predisposed to that kind of behavior anyway. To prevent anyone from becoming suspicious of them. If someone should suddenly change personalities and become cruel and sadistic when they weren't before it could have aroused suspicions in the people who knew them. So they would have chosen humans who were all ready known for that kind of behavior."

"Cole's right," said Leo. "Possessing humans isn't easy, even for demons. That's why they normally try to possess only people who are weak. Alcoholics, drug addicts, that sort. And if humans are all ready evil it would also make them more susceptible to possession. If the demons possessed humans they would be humans who were all ready predisposed to evil."

"There have always been rumors that Hitler was actually insane," said Cole. "And there was a history if insanity in his family. In fact, some of his close relatives were insane or at least had mental problems. If he was insane it would have made it that much easier for a demon to possess him. And his henchmen."

"Okay," said Prue, "so it looks like this might all be demon related. So, where do we start?"

"First," said Cole, "we need to learn as much about Councilman Simms as we can. Especially about his childhood and any relatives he might have had that were mentally or emotionally disturbed. Then we can go from there. Our first order of business is to determine if Simms is actually Sperrle."

"And if he is?" Phoebe asked.

"Then we have to discover which demon is helping him," said Cole. "So that we can vanquish the demon and stop it from carrying out whatever plan it has."