Chapter Four

For a few seconds, everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. The car was still headed towards the man in the middle of the road. Melinda was still lying on the sidewalk. More of the tourists were screaming.

As the car got even closer, Melinda closed her eyes. She didn't want to see what was about to happen. She didn't want to have to face the man getting injured or killed, and all because she had to hurt her ankle and trip over in that exact moment. She had pushed the man into the street, and anything that happened next was all her fault.

Instead of the thump she expected, the sound of screeching filled her ears. Surprised, Melinda opened her eyes again, despite not wanting to see the scene before her, and she noticed that instead of the man lying in the street, there were tire marks around him. He was standing up, his hand on his chest, breathing heavily. Obviously he was quite relieved.

Melinda looked further up the street and noticed the car that had jerked away from running the man over. It was still driving quickly, and as Melinda watched, it crashed into another car. Both cars came to an abrupt halt, their hoods mashed together and smoke rising from the dents. Melinda's mouth opened in shock. One of the drivers appeared to be unconscious, and the other was struggling to get out of his car.

There was a lot of screaming. A lot of people were horrified at what had happened.

As the man who'd fallen into the road stepped back onto the sidewalk, his group instantly surrounded him. They were concerned about him, trying to see if he was ok. He brushed the questions off.

Meanwhile, Melinda began to stand up from her position on the sidewalk. Carefully, she settled into a sitting position, noticing how both of her hands had deep scrapes on them, and how her knees felt as if she'd scratched them under the thick material of her jeans. She was not in good shape. She wasn't as bad off as the men who'd crashed, or the man she'd knocked into the street, but she was still not in good shape.

An elderly woman, part of the tourist group, noticed Melinda starting to stand up. Coming over to the young girl, she began to yell at her, wagging her finger angrily. Unfortunately, she was yelling in some other language, and Melinda only spoke English. She was able to get the gist of it anyway. No doubt it had to do with knocking people into the street and almost accidentally killing the man.

Melinda couldn't really blame the old woman, though. She had nearly managed to get the guy killed. It had been an accident, but had the driver not turned away at the last moment, the tourist would have been roadkill.

The woman continued screaming at Melinda, who was struggling to stand. The other tourists had noticed by now and had joined in. The only one who wasn't speaking was the man who'd fallen into the road. He appeared too stunned and shocked to be able to say anything.

Melinda reddened with shame. She hadn't meant to cause what had happened, but she'd done it anyway. All the people yelling and screaming at her had a right to be angry. She'd already caused a major accident, after all.

Melinda tore her eyes away from the furious group of tourists and glanced over at the two cars with the men inside them. One of the drivers had already exited his vehicle. Other than a bump on his head, he appeared to be fine. The other wasn't so lucky. He was stuck inside his Ford, and some people were struggling to open the door. Melinda wanted to help, but she knew she would be unable to. Not only were there too many people standing around who might notice her doing something magical, but she wasn't sure whether she trusted herself to do anything after having caused a major accident.

People kept screaming, and Melinda felt tears beginning to brim from her eyes. She finally managed to stand all the way up, further infuriating the group of tourists that was accusing her of attempted murder. Guiltily, she bowed her head towards them, mumbling, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to do it."

The tourists didn't understand, or didn't want to understand. All they did was increase the volume of their shrieking.

Finally, Melinda could take it no more. She began to run. She went back the way she'd come, keeping her eyes peeled for a location where she could just orb and get out of there. The screams of the people seemed to be following her, blaming her for the accident.

You did this, they were saying to her. It's all your fault. That man in the car might be dead. The man in the street could have been killed. You nearly murdered two people.

Melinda covered her ears and continued running. She hadn't meant to do it! It had all been an accident, a terrible mistake.

Her ankle was screaming in pain at the fast movement, but Melinda didn't care. What was a hurt ankle when two people might have died because of her?

Finally, she spotted a deserted street. Melinda stepped into it and leaned against a wall, breathing heavily and trying to keep herself from sobbing. Glancing at her reflection in a nearby window, she noticed how her face seemed much paler now, and how her eyes were wide and haunted. Were those the eyes of a murderer?

She began to cry. She couldn't help it. All the horror from the past few minutes was catching up to her and she had to let it out somehow. Melinda sobbed, sitting on the sidewalk, her back against a filthy wall. Nobody was there to witness her misery, and nobody would have particularly cared. She had done a horrible thing today after all.

Her tears began to stop flowing down her face, and Melinda felt much more relaxed than when she'd started. She was still horrified at what had nearly happened, but she'd decided it had been an accident. She couldn't have helped it. She hadn't meant to hurt anybody, though. She'd just wanted to catch herself.

Standing up, Melinda dusted herself off. She looked around the street very carefully before she opened herself up to her orbing abilities. It was a part of her that made her feel tingly and light. She knew everybody had different methods of orbing. Hers was the desire to become lighter than a feather.

It was hard to orb at the moment, though, since she felt very heavy. Guilt and shame were weighing her down, as well as the knowledge that it could have turned out much worse than it had.

Finally, she was able to disappear in a mess of bright orbs. They began to travel over the city, heading to the Halliwell Manor.

-)-(-

Donovan smiled as he reappeared. His plan was going very well. Already the witch had nearly killed a couple of people, all because of her terrible luck. She'd been devastated. Donovan had been able to feel her emotions: the dark anxiety inside of her fed the demonic side of his being. It was delicious.

Now, all he had to do was keep tracking the witch and whisper nasty words into her ears. Eventually, he would be able to convince her to do something particularly bad, as he'd done many times before.

Donovan was skilled at the subtle art of suggestion. Not too many darklighters practiced it anymore, preferring to use crossbows and poisoned arrows. The arrows were effective, but there was something about convincing someone to eventually commit suicide that gave Donovan shivers down his spine. It was a talent he had, and one that was quite unappreciated nowadays. If Donovan had his way, most future whitelighters would be destroyed that way.

The last guy he'd worked on, though, he'd promised to let die in a more… explosive way. He'd gotten the man to walk into a demon-infested alley. It would have worked too, if it hadn't been for the little witch. But it was no matter. The man was still carrying his bad luck around. He'd eventually give in. As to the witch, she was quite a prize. Already Donovan was realizing that this was no ordinary witch. She could orb, for one thing. Not too many witches could do that. In fact, the only ones who could were mostly of the Halliwell family. That had to mean the girl belonged to the notorious demon-killers. If Donovan could bring one of them down, he'd be honored by all the future darklighter generations!

With a grim smile on his face, Donovan allowed himself to vanish in a mixture of dark orbs, following the young girl who had disappeared only moments before. He had a witch to kill.

(A/N) *more dramatic music* I just love ending on cliffies, or almost cliffies, or moments filled with tension, and stuff that just keeps you on the edge of your seat. Don't blame me, it's just my writing style, and I have to admit, I kind of love it!

As usual, thanks to everyone who added this to their Alerts and/or Faves. You guys made me so happy, especially now that I'm really trying to make sense of a lot of things. Super special thanks to my reviewers: M. Joseph Day, joy, and Fanycharmed. You guys rock!

And, since you guys haven't found the eyes, I'm just going to say this... the more reviews I get, the higher chance of seeing one of the brothers in the next chapter! Not that I'm trying to bribe you or anything, but... ok, so maybe I'm trying to do that, but, I like reviews! Can you blame me, really? See you next week!