Chapter 6: Present Time
When Leo walked into the manor he knew there was something wrong. Years of being a whitelighter and being with the Charmed Ones had honed his instincts however being mortal he knew that there was nothing he could do. He didn't want to call for his son or Paige or Junior for the fear of this being a trap.
He walked in and took of his jacket he was not surprised when a demon shimmered in behind him. He refused to acknowledge the demon that was there and walked towards the living room where he somehow knew whoever had infuriated the manor would be.
When he walked in he stopped and used up all his life experience to hold in his surprise. There in the arm chair was a young man who looked to be around twenty. He was sitting in what appeared to be a relaxed pose as he was sitting sideways in the arm chair with his legs thrown over one side and his back in the corner between the back and he armrest.
A whole bunch of other demons were casually standing around the room at strategic positions eyeing Leo and the exits as well as their leader who must have been the one lounging in the chair.
Leo to his dismay noted that Phoebe and her two daughters were also sitting on the couch watching the happenings so he wasn't the first one to walk into what apparently was a trap.
What was actually shocking was that the man in the armchair had the Book of Shadows on his lap and he was flipping through it like it was a normal occurrence. Leo wasn't sure what to think, was he not evil? Or was he evil and that he had found a way around the evil cannot touch the book clause?
Leo however noted that the young man was nothing but relaxed, Leo knew that he was tense and there was a whole bunch of other emotions just under the surface of the face that looked to be relaxed and not caring.
Leo suddenly had a thought that the show of confidence was more for them then the demons who eyed their leader with a devotion that Leo had never seen. They looked ready to pounce on anyone who would look at their leader the wrong way.
At that moment the young man lifted his eyes of the Book of Shadows to look directly into Leo's eyes. Leo for a moment thought that he saw fear in those eyes – why would this man be afraid of the only member of the Halliwell household that did not have any powers? Then the eyes froze over and became hard.
"Leo Wyatt," he said and Leo almost felt the room the freeze over with the amount of hate that was directed his way. "It is so nice of you to join us as we wait for the rest of the family. I would ask that you take a seat as we wait but since you have never chosen to show an inkling of kindness towards me you can just wait standing up."
Shown him kindness? Leo had never seen this guy in his life, who did he think he was?
"I have no idea who you are, and if I have ever wronged you in any way it was done without my knowledge and we can sort it out without involving my family," he said starting to get angry. Out of the corner of his eye he saw that Phoebe was furiously shaking her head and Leo realized too late to shut his mouth.
Phoebe must have been getting a read of the man to warn Leo.
"Yes Dad," the man informed him throwing Phoebe a look, "you should listen to Aunt Phoebe she knows what she is talking about."
Leo for a moment was stuck dumb. Did this guy just refer to him as 'Dad?' he must be insane.
Leo couldn't help himself, "look here," he started taking a step towards the man quite angry that this guy would even consider calling him that name.
For a moment he saw the eyes of the guy crack and his hand shake and an incredible power surge went through the whole room for an instant before it was brought under control however ever single demon had took a step towards Leo with the intent to kill.
The man held up a hand and they fell back in place. "You were saying?" he said in a voice that said that he didn't care but his eyes said otherwise.
Leo had no idea why but suddenly he had the urge to ask for this man's forgiveness. He wanted to fall to his knees and beg and beg and beg until his voice was no more. He had no idea where these feelings were coming from, why would he beg for forgiveness from a man who had set up a trap for them. He took a deep breath and pushed the feelings back inside and after searching for what he was going to say went on.
"I am sure that I have never laid eyes on you before today. I am sure that I am not your farther or in any way related to you. So you have no right of calling me anything except perhaps Professor Wyatt," he tried to keep his voice steady but an onslaught of feelings were warning him to be quiet - he was missing something but what?
At that moment there was a commotion from upstairs and there were a lot of bangs and a surprised shout. No one in the living room moved and Leo was reluctant to cut eye contact with this familiar stranger in the fear of losing something precious.
However as Paige and all her children were ushered down the stairs he broke eye contact to look them over. Paige seemed to have a gush on her head, one of the twins was holding her arm and it looked like Junior was dazed. The demons and warlocks that had them pushed them all into chairs and disappeared up the stairs or wherever they were hiding in wait for the other members of the family.
Leo had no idea why everyone was joining them and it was like the man read his mind and answered his question.
"You see dear Aunt Phoebe here is helping me out by sending out a call to the other members of the family, it is no way in distress just asking the others to show up in the manor today sometime. I wish they would hurry up but that would take the surprise out of the whole element. Although I hope they are all here before Mummy shows up," he finished.
"You're crazy," was the only thing Leo could think to say.
"Perhaps," was the enigmatic reply, "however as we were discussing before we were so rudely interrupted, I carry your disgusting genes, not by choice mind you so I have every right to call you anything I want, not that you have ever earned the right to be called 'father' but just the fact you don't think I can means that I can," he finished giving him a smile that said that he was not only sane… he really thought that he was Leo's son and he was sure of it.
Everyone in the living room kept their mount shuts and Leo gave Phoebe a look. Phoebe was looking at him asking for forgiveness with her eyes and Leo knew that whatever this guy was doing to Phoebe's powers to lure the rest of the family into the manor was not her fault.
He decided to keep his mouth shut about not being this man's father for the time being, he was crazy enough as it is.
Another commotion this time at the foyer of the manor and Paige's husband Henry and Phoebe's youngest daughter had joined them in the wait.
Leo thought that if the trap was for the whole family then they were waiting for Phoebe's husband Coop, Piper and their son. He hoped that the latter would realize that he was walking into a trap however it was not likely.
In the meantime the man in the arm chair had presumed looking through the Book of Shadows. He stopped when he came to a page and there was a slight frown on his face.
"This information is wrong…" he muttered before holding out his hand, one of the warlocks moved forward to conjure a pen to hand him.
The man crossed something out of the book and started to write in the margins.
"Hey stop that!" came the exclamation from Prue who had a devotion to the book.
The man raised his eyes to look at her and casually added, "your information on Manticore Demons is wrong," he said like it was the most normal thing in the world.
"It's our book, you are not even supposed to be able to touch it," she said getting worked up.
The man's aura suddenly became colder than before and they all felt the hate that was directed at Prue. If looks could kill Prue would have been a pile of ashes on the floor.
"The Book of Shadows belongs to the Halliwell family so that means it is as much as mine as it is yours," he added in icy tones.
A hand reached up and grabbed Prue as she got off the couch and all the demons in the room this time made a move towards her. Prue turned around to face her mother who was shaking her head at her daughter and there were tears running down her face. Just what was she getting of the man? Was he really family? Had Leo somehow had a son and not known about it?
Something shocking happened that had many of the members of the Halliwell family in the living room be quiet out of fear. The man was back to looking through the book like the silent conversation that was taking place was not any of his concern, he suddenly gave a shout of delight.
"Hiro, there is information on Incan Demons in this book!" he exclaimed and before they knew what was happening he placed his hand flat onto the Book of Shadows muttered words that they had never heard before and they actually felt the magic circulate the room. The writing that was in the book of shadows moved off the page onto the man's arm. They watched frightened as the words went up the man's arm to disappeared into his t-shirt to appear on his neck and travel through all the way into his eyes. Once they reached his eyes they seemed to be sucked up through into them and the man breathed a deep breath like he had a drink of something good and his eyes seemed to be completely black for a second before clearing.
When Leo glanced at the book he noted that the page was completely blank as it had never been written on, everyone in the living room was quiet as they were now officially weirded out.
It wasn't long before Leo's son had fallen into the trap. It had taken quite bit of trouble and noise from the sound of it for the demons to take him. However after fifteen minutes of fighting the noise died down and the demons dragged him in unconscious and dumped him on the floor behind to the couch.
Nothing was said when Junior got up to look him over. Junior cast his eyes on to the man who was unmoved by the happenings but they all saw him nod his head giving Junior the go head. Junior held out his arms and the familiar golden glow appeared. However he would not wake up even when the glow died down.
"We threw a sleeping potion at him," explained one of the demons that was still in the room. "It should wear off in half hour or so."
With that Junior moved back to the armchair he was sitting on. No one said a word, all their attempts at conversation were stopped by a growl of a demon and the man who was looking through the Book of Shadows didn't seem answer any of their questions such as 'What do you want?' and its various forms. So all they could do was wait.
Leo had a forbidding feeling, they were the most powerful source for good in the world. It looked like they had gotten cocky believing they can overcome anything however their time might be up as it looked like these demons had them under control.
Phoebe and Patty, her middle child, seemed to have some spell over them that did not allow them to speak. Without Phoebe there was no power of three, without Patty there was no power of six. They were in trouble.
When Coop showed up right into the middle of the room he was hit with an energy ball and as he crushed a commotion broke out as everyone got up to act and suddenly there was chaos as the Halliwell family geared up for one last assault.
"Stop!" screamed someone and everyone froze.
Phoebe was looking down a long sword and no one had noticed that the guy had stood up and none had seen where he had produced the sword.
Suddenly Leo was reminded of 'Excalibur' and was glad that they had listened to his wife years ago and moved the sword 'up there' for safe keeping.
"Sit down!" said the man pushing Phoebe back onto the couch with the tip of the sword.
That was the moment that Piper walked into the living room.
"What the hell is going on here?" she asked taking in the room.
"Hello Mother," said the maniac in a calm and sarcastic tone, he had caught them all in his web.
The stage was set, the heroes and the villains were all present. Now all they needed was the script.
