Gate With Death
The Manor front door flew open as Piper unlocked it, her luscious brown locks swinging from shoulder to shoulder as she looked around the hallway and living room. "It's okay, sweetie…" She softly assured Lorna, who was balanced on her hip, sucking on her thumb with a fearful expression on her young face, clearly distressed, "Alright, it's clear! In, in, in!" She ordered, ushering people from outside into the house. "We don't have that much time, so move it."
Phoebe gently guided their innocent into the Halliwell ancestral home; she was a young woman with curly blonde-brown hair, her blue eyes wide with fear as she too looked around the house. Her luminous purple skirt was covered in large marks of dirt, along with the cream knitted cardigan that was singed at the sleeves and on the chest. "We gonna be safe, it's alright, trust me." Phoebe whispered to the woman as she guided her in, calming her in the same way Piper was doing for Lorna.
"We don't have much time. He's clearly planning something or he would have just attacked us in the car." Aidan said hurriedly, his face and hands covered in small cuts and bleeding welts, while his clothes were in even worse a state than his sisters in law's innocent. "You guys should go and check the book for a quick fix, something that'll buy us some time."
"He's right." Annabelle said breathlessly, pushing past him to get into the house before pulling on the elemental's jacket and dragging into the house so she could close over the door with a slam. The blonde was in a similar state of Aidan, covered from head to toe in dirt, dust, and wounds. "Diam's not gonna stop coming after her until she's dead. Of course, he'll force her to use her power first."
Piper stormed into the main foyer, throwing her keys down on the marble top table, "I gotta get Lorna outta here. Leo!" She shouted towards the heavens, "Leo, move it! Lorna's in danger!" She bellowed even louder, the fear and urgency clear in her voice.
A channel of orbs fell from the ceiling, culminating into a column of bright, twinkling lights that took on the form of Leo Wyatt immediately, "What is it?" He asked, knowing that something was wrong for his wife to have called in such an aggressive manner, "What happened to you guys?" He asked, looking at Aidan and Annabelle, "Do you need healed?"
"They're just superficial wounds, Leo. Nothing that's gonna kill us." Aidan assured the elder, "Although I could have done without that last throw he did to us… This guy's really strong." He spoke to Annabelle, raising the back of his hand to his mouth and blowing away some of the dirt that was in his wounds.
The mercenary nodded, "You haven't seen anything yet, you try being thrown through a pair of steel elevator doors then falling to the bottom of the shaft. Just be glad the worse thing that can happen in here is being thrown through a wall."
Piper suddenly let out a high pitched whistle to cut through the casual conversation, "We don't have time for this! Here…" She lifted Lorna from her lip, handing her to Leo, "Get her to safety. Now." She ordered darkly, prompting her husband to vanish in a cloud of orbs that shot through the ceiling quicker than usual. "C'mon, let's go check the book." She said to Phoebe, not waiting for an answer before she began to climb the steps.
"We'll be as quick as we can. Just stay calm." Phoebe said to the trio left in the foyer, "I'm either saying that to convince you, or to convince myself, I'll leave you guys to decide on that while I fret upstairs." She babbled, before racing up the stairs as fast as she could after her older sister.
Charlene, the innocent, shook her head vigorously, not understanding why this was happening to her and why her life was in danger, "I don't get it. I haven't used my power in months and I haven't fought a demon in even longer. Why is this guy coming after me? What the hell does he want?" She shrieked, taking deep breaths to try and suppress her panic.
"What's your power?" Annabelle asked, knowing that a being like Diam wasn't stupid enough to just go after a random witch. He went after Charlene for a reason, and it had to be her power.
"Um… I can conjure pretty powerful magical fields, protecting the person in them from even the strongest of magic. It's just about useless in the offensive department, but it's got me out of a few situations unscathed." Charlene quickly replied, rubbing her arms nervously.
"Well, then if this guy can copy powers, then you're going to have to use it on him for him to get it. You should probably create one around yourself if he does get here. You'll be safe that way." Aidan advised, patting her on the shoulder before realizing that his had was bleeding onto her cardigan.
Charlene shook her head, "No, it only protects me from magic; he could just stick his hand through it and strangle me to death…"
Before Aidan or Annabelle could reply, the Manor doors suddenly exploded with an ear pounding explosion, sending a mixture of wood and glass flying into the hallway and making the three of them turn away to avoid any injury to their eyes, When they turned back around, a blur flew from the doorway, knocking Aidan and Annabelle to the floor and leaving Charlene defenseless.
Diam grinned at the witch menacingly, "You got away from me the first time, but not now." He raised his hand, a low humming noise breaking through the air as a sphere of powerful rippling energy pulsed in his hand. "Make a shield around me, and I'll let you live…" He growled, his face growing darker when Charlene shook her head defiantly, "No? Well, alright then!"
"No!" Annabelle shouted, pouncing to her feet and running at Charlene, shoving the witch into the dining room just before the energy flew from Diam's hand. The attack hit the mercenary hard in the stomach, hurling her through the air and throwing her through the wall that separated the sunroom and living room, destroying half of the obstruction as Annabelle flew through the wood, landing on the other side within a pile of debris with blood seeping from her head.
Aidan leapt to a standing position, running into the fight and wheeling back his hand to conjure an icicle that would hopefully distract Diam long enough for Piper and Phoebe to come down the stairs with a solution. Unfortunately, the evil being had created another energy pulse immediately after the first, beating Aidan in speed and blasting him with the same force he had to Annabelle. The elemental flew through the other side of the wall, falling next to the blonde mercenary as he bled heavily from his ear and nose.
Diam turned towards Charlene, pleased with the damage that he had wrought on the two people now dying on the floor. He raised his hand, preparing to finish off the witch in the same way that he had to Aidan and Annabelle, before a white glow slowly consumed him. The evil being frowned, looking at his hands as his entire body shone before turning into a sphere of light that flew out the doorway and out of the Manor.
Piper and Phoebe raced down the stairs, immediately taking in the scene, "Looks like the purging evil spell worked!" Phoebe said brightly, following her sister down into the foyer where Charlene stood, still in shock over what she had just witnessed, and where Aidan and Annabelle were lying in the debris, "Oh my God…"
"Leo! Leo!" Piper called out, kneeling down in front of the dying pair and looking up when her husband appeared within a column of bright orbs that deposited both him and Lorna into the house, "Hurry!" The eldest Charmed One urged, standing up and taking the redheaded toddler from the elder's grasp, leading her away from the blood.
Leo knelt down and held his hands over the two victims. Strong golden glows were blasted from each hand as his healing power began to take effect. The blood that they had lost was now trickling back into their wounds, before the wounds themselves closed up. Even the original injuries they had had before Diam's entrance were healed. The glow stopped, and a groan from Annabelle calmed everyone's fears.
"Whoa…" She breathed, struggling to get herself into a sitting position. The blonde looked around at what she was sitting in; frowning when she realized that it was the wreckage from the wall. "Okay, ow!" Annabelle exclaimed, "What the hell happened?" She asked loudly, holding the back of her head where she had been bleeding from.
"Oh… Nothing, just the usual brink of death kinda thing." Piper droned, gently bouncing Lorna up and down as she whimpered into her shoulder, her psychic powers picking up the tension in the room and making her feel uncomfortable. "You sure you guys are alright? That can be a pretty rough blow, trust me." She said darkly, remembering all too well that Prue had died from similar injuries.
Aidan cracked his neck as he sat up, wincing slightly, "Yeah, fine, a little sore though…" He said lowly, pushing down on the ground as he stood up, holding out his hand and helping Annabelle to her feet, both of them still feeling slightly stiff from their recoveries. "I wonder where he got that power from. It certainly wasn't one of us."
"No, but it was the one from the male witch he went after a couple of days ago. He had the power to create strong concussive blasts like the ones that hit us." Annabelle confirmed, turning to Piper and Phoebe, "I thought you guys said that you had safeguarded him, and that you had set him up with a crystal alarm." She accused the two witches with her eyebrows raised.
"We did!" Phoebe protested, "We cloaked him, gave him potions, spells… Not to mention a way to contact us. It would take a serious level of magic to even find him after all that mojo we cast on him!" She argued, before her expression softened and she looked to the floor, "Although nothing we've seen has suggested that Diam doesn't possess a serious level of magic…"
"Poor Rory…" Piper said sadly, thinking of the witch that they had helped out a few days ago, "I wonder what actually happ-," She cut herself off when a white hot glow erupted from her jacket pocket. Swinging Lorna around to her other hip, the eldest Charmed One shoved her hand in, pulling it out with a glowing magic crystal that was shining fiercely, making her turn her head away from the light.
A swirl of bright lights began to conjure themselves in the foyer. They were weak, fading in and out as if they were struggling to sustain their own being. They suddenly fell of the floor with a thud, revealing that a severely injured man had been in their centre the entire time. His body was covered in cuts; his clothes were torn and laden with thick layers of dirt and dust. He let out a small choked cough, before falling unconscious, a glowing crystal rolling out of his limp hand and falling to the floor, losing its light as it left his palm.
Phoebe's jaw dropped at the sight of their previous innocent, Rory, "So… Are we still wondering what happened to him?"
A soft smile played on Paige's lips as she felt the gentle breeze in her face, her dark hair blowing softly in the wind as she closed her eyes, taking in the faint sounds of the bustling island from so far up. Through all the sounds of the traffic, the people, and the general noise of the city, the witchlighter focused on the most peaceful sound that reached her ears. She could hear the ocean that was all around her, sloshing gently and lapping around the harbour. It was one of the most pleasant sounds she had ever heard.
"Hey." Pamela greeted as she came down the hallway, looking out the living room to see that her aunt was standing out on the balcony. The witch looked at her watch, her eyebrows going up when she saw the time, "Okay, who the hell gets up at six thirty in the morning when they're on vacation? You should be in bed resting your legs after all the walking we did yesterday… I don't think I've ever shopped so much in my life!" She went over the kitchen, grabbing a coffee cup from the cupboard above the counter and smiling when she saw the pot was full, "Fabulous…" She murmured, pouring herself a cup and taking a sip, "Okay, if I talk to myself for much longer, you're going to be verging on rude status."
Paige sniggered, pursing her lips, "Oh, sorry… I can see why you wanted to leave San Francisco. This city is beautiful; I could spend the rest of my life on this balcony right here." She laid her hands on the railing, smiling, "So, what have you got planned for me today?" The witchlighter asked brightly, turning to her niece and folding her arms.
"Um… I'm not gonna be here for most of the morning, I've got a lecture at eight a.m. which I'm basically late for already." She frowned at Paige's amused look, "Hey, don't laugh, you wouldn't believe what a nightmare it is to actually get around in this damn city in the morning and in the evening. Sweetie, just be lucky your time here isn't ruled by that exact thing: time." Pamela advised, grabbing her coat from the back of the couch, "But there's a nice little breakfast place across the street if you want to stretch your legs with the twins when they wake up."
"Okay. What about Jordann? Doesn't she need to get up for class or anything?" Paige asked cautiously, jumping a little when Pamela let out a loud but short laugh.
"Oh, please. Her first class isn't until two. You'll be lucky if she surfaces before one… lucky bitch." She grabbed her keys from the counter and swung her bag over her head, letting it hang off her shoulder securely, "Okay, I will be back later, so we'll go lunch or something, and hopefully talk about the marital issues you're having with Aquaman…" She smirked.
Paige rolled her eyes and turned back to the view, "Alright, fine."
"Perfect! I'll be back around one-ish, so you be ready. Living in New York isn't all just sleeping in until the middle of the afternoon… unless you're Jordann." Pamela growled to herself as she went out the door, shooting her aunt a supportive smile for exiting the apartment.
"You said he wouldn't find me! You said I was safe, and then he finds me, takes my power, and kicks the crap outta me!" Rory shouted, glowering at Piper who stood in front of him, nervously rolling her hands around in one another. The male witch made a step towards the Charmed One, only for the five crystals surrounding him to flare up with an angry white glow and repel him from the force field. Rory gritted his teeth in pain, "… And now you're holding me against my will!" He argued, looking around at the crystals, "And crystals aren't supposed to trap the ones they're protecting, what the hell are these?"
"Sorry, Ror." Piper said sympathetically, "But these days, we can't leave anything up to chance. These crystals keep you in, and keep everyone else out…" She stepped towards the barrier to prove her point, being repelled immediately by the wavering cage of energy and falling back a few steps, "See?" She asked rhetorically shaking off the residual buzz from colliding with the cage, "If you hadn't tried to run out the door and get yourself killed, we wouldn't have had to resort to doing this."
Rory glared at the witch on the other side of the force field, before turning to Charlene, who was sitting on the couch that was within the perimeter of the crystals, "You should get out of here while you can, you know. Trusting these guys is just going to get you killed even faster."
"Hey, okay, you know what? You're about one bad jibe away from getting a sleeping potion hurled at you, so unless you have anything nice or relevant to say, cram it." She spat, turning towards Phoebe who was thumbing through the book, "I'm start to regret the fact that Leo healed you so much that you woke up…" Piper growled, before giving her sister an odd look, "I thought you said you weren't wearing maternity clothes for this pregnancy."
Phoebe looked down; putting her thumb under the elastic of her pants and stretching them a little before letting them go. A nervous smile crossed her face as she refused to look at her sister, "That was until one of the buttons on my pants popped off in a meeting yesterday…"
The eldest Charmed One's eyes widened with shock as she tried to suppress her laughter, "Wow, how embarrassing!"
"Yeah, but I think Elise was more angry than amused when the button flew off and hit her in the eye." Phoebe said quietly, her face going red at the very memory of what had happened the previous day, "So, have we got a plan here or what? I mean, Diam is either going to go after another witch or come after these guys. We need to be prepared." She stated, clasping her hands over the Book of Shadows.
Piper folded her arms, shrugging, "Well, we could make some potions that replicate our powers so we aren't forced into using them and giving them to him, but carrying potions like that is a pretty big hazard. One spark and they would go up…" She trailed off, looking down at the floor, "I think that's the limit to what we can do, well, without Paige of course."
Phoebe cringed a little, thinking that her younger sister was better off where she was, "Um… Why don't we just call her in if it's absolutely necessary? We can handle this for now, there's no need to bother her. Although we should probably get Aidan and Annabelle if Diam strikes again, they're the ones who fought him off this morning."
"Look who we found out at the front porch. We nearly decked him by accident." Aidan said darkly as he entered, turning to the attic door and watching as Brennan entered with Annabelle. The mutant was holding onto his left arm, rolling his shoulder and wincing a little as he glared at the blonde woman standing next to him.
"Did you have to twist my arm so hard?" He asked, glowering at the mercenary, who merely rolled her eyes in response.
"Oh please, if I had really wanted to hurt you, you would have known all about it." She said with a roll of her eyes, patting him on the other shoulder and walking towards the book, "You might want to comfort your husband about the fatal injury I inflicted upon him, he only has the rest of his natural life to live." She said sarcastically, making Phoebe purse her lips and she tried to suppress her laughter.
"Aw… baby, I'm sorry. I just got caught up in all of this and I forgot you were coming back today." She said in a soft voice, wrapping her arms around his neck and placing a kiss on his lips before hugging him fully, "I called Connor's preschool and asked if they could keep him until three. It'll give us time to get everything sorted out."
"What get sorted out? Does this have anything to do with why I was pinned to the ground when I just tried to ring the doorbell?" Brennan asked, keeping his hands around Phoebe's arms and into her eyes, "What's going on?" He asked, looking up and addressing the room.
Before anyone could answer his question, a column of bright white and blue lights descended from the ceiling, culminating in the room and leaving Leo in their place. He stepped out of the residual aura of light his orbs left at a fast pace, "We gotta move, another witch is about to come under attack, and we don't have a lot of time." He said urgently, not evening noticing Brennan's return.
"Why? What did the Elders tell you? And how do they know another witch is under attack?" Piper asked, folding her arms and preparing to listen intently. She didn't want to waste time when an innocent's life was in danger.
"Well, we've all been pulling our abilities together, trying to stretch our third eye into the future and to help you guys out down here, and a few seconds ago, we were hit with the vision of a young witch, around Pam's age, her name's Eva and she's in danger." He quickly explained, "We also support your theory that Diam is up to something and these attacks aren't random."
The eldest Charmed One gave her husband a suspicious look, "Since when were you so… eldery?" She asked with a hint of resentment in her voice, "'We've' been doing this… 'we've' been doing that… What's the matter with you?" Piper asked with a frown, rather unnerved by his behaviour.
"It's nothing, it just requires all elders to pull together to get such strong visions… And since I am an elder, I add to their collective strength. It's like with you and your sisters with the Power of Three, each of you add to the collective power. Is it wrong that we're trying to help?" Leo said with unexpected vigour, clearly offended by his wife's actions.
Phoebe, seeing that this was going to turn into a situation, turned around from Brennan, putting an arm around his back as he put one around her shoulder, "So!" She suddenly boomed, making both Rory and Charlene jump from their sitting positions, "Do you know where this girl is or do we need to find her for you? Because we'll need something to scry with." She informed her brother in law, causing him to put his hand into his jacket pocket.
"This belongs to Eva. Her whitelighter gave it to me for you guys to use with the crystal." He informed them, bringing out a simple silver bracelet and holding it up to the light, "Whitelighters have personal effects from charges that are more of a target for demons, so they can be tracked down in an event like this." Leo said, looking towards Annabelle, "Which reminds me, I have to give you something."
"Later." She said flatly, giving him a look before going back to the Book of Shadows.
"Speaking of her whitelighter…" Aidan spoke up, folding his arms, "Why can't he track her down by himself? I mean, she's not in any immediate danger right now, and I'm assuming she hasn't been taken down to the Underworld, so why can't he just sense her and orb her to safety?" He lowered himself into an old armchair, bending forward slightly and listening to what was being said.
Leo looked down at the bracelet in his hands, his face going red with embarrassment, "Well… She's sorta… Well, Eva's a difficult person. She didn't want a whitelighter so she's cloaked herself from our radar. The last whitelighter she had was forced into giving up; after she blew him up so many times with potions that she seemed to carry around with her…"
Phoebe snorted with laughter, "Wow, I'm liking this Eva chick already…"
"We'll get right on it." Annabelle said, walking over to the elder and taking the bracelet from his hands, walking towards the map on the table and picking up the amethyst, beginning to scry for the witch, "Anything else we should know? Like, what her powers are for starters." She asked, not looking up from the map.
The elder shrugged, "Her whitelighter is busy dealing with a another charge, so we can't contact him for any information, and we don't have anything on her because she's cloaked from us, so you guys are just going to have to do this on your own." He clasped his hands in front of them, taking in a breath, "I should probably go back up and see if I can help add to the collective strength." He stared into Piper's eyes, "See you later…" He breathed, before vanishing in a swirl of twinkling orbs that shot through the ceiling.
"What the hell crawled up his ass and exploded?" Piper spat, spinning around to Annabelle who was concentrating on the map in front of her, "You've known him for longer than us, has he ever acted like this before?" She asked quickly almost babbling for an answer.
The mercenary shook her head, "Oh no, I'm not getting involved in your marital issues. The third person is always the one that gets it in the end, and it never ends well…" She said, her brown eyes following the crystal intently as it spun across the map, making Piper wonder how she wasn't beginning to feel dizzy.
Her train of thought was interrupted by a buzzing noise and a loud curse. She turned her head, glowering at Rory, who had once again tried to escape from the crystal cage, "Hey! There is a two year old girl in this house, you swear that loudly again and Diam will be the least of your problems, you hear me?" She growled.
The male witch shook his head, mumbling lowly under his breath before flopping into the couch next to Charlene, "You know, you should really try and calm down. We're under the protection of the Charmed Ones, can you think of anyone that would keep us safer?" Charlene asked him, earning a defiant grunt in response.
"You see, that's the kind of faith we need you to have in us!" Phoebe said, pointing rudely to Rory, "Nothing is going to happen to you, we won't let it!" She protested, leaning against Brennan's chest and looking up at him, smiling, "So, how do I look? Big?" She asked with a smirk, stepping back so he could see her properly.
Brennan smiled, moving back towards her and hooking an arm around her waist and laying his other hand on her stomach. "You look beautiful." He said sincerely, kissing her deeply and bringing his hand up to her cheek, "It looks like pregnancy agrees with you." The mutant commented, still grinning, "I wish we could take Connor out of preschool and go to lunch or something."
"Hate to break up the love fest." Annabelle said drolly, cutting through the soft atmosphere immediately with her harsh tone as her hard brown eyes look up from the map. She had stopped spinning the crystal, as it had landed on a location. The mercenary locked eyes with everyone who was looking towards her, "I've found Eva…"
"Thank you." Pamela said politely to the waitress as she set down a pair of frothy cappuccinos in front of her and her aunt. "Um… Could you maybe bring over a couple bowls of ice cream for the kids?" She asked with a slight cringe, knowing that most of the restaurants she went to didn't usually cater to kids. She was pleased when the women broke out into a smile and nodded, "Ah, thank you." She turned back to the twins who were currently getting their faces wiped down by their mother, "I can't believe they actually sat still for an hour."
Paige's eyebrows rose as she nodded, "I know, it's a miracle. Now, let's not jinx it by talking about it too much. You hear that, girls? Pam's getting you some ice cream!" She said with an exaggerated smile that Pamela could easily see through. Her aunt was still reeling from the way she had left San Francisco. She may have been here, but her heart certainly wasn't.
"All gode!" Melinda grinned as Paige finished wiping the toddler's mouth with a napkin. "Ad dow, ice cweam!" She said with a delighted squeal, taking her sister's hand and shaking it vigorously with excitement, "Ice cweam, ice cweam, ice cweam!" She continued to squeal joyously, until Paige gently laid a finger over her lips, signing for her to be quiet.
"Dank you, Pam." Emma grinned mischievously, making Pamela slightly suspicious. Her little cousins never expressed gratitude for anything like this, and especially along with a smile that meant she was up to something. The witch made a mental note to keep an eye on her little cousin before grabbing a packet of sugar and pouring it into her coffee.
"So, you wanna tell me the real reason for you fleeing to the other side of country? I mean, sure, the five new pairs of shoes and the snapshots of the Statue of Liberty are great and all, but we both know that's not why you're here." She raised a questioning eyebrow, "C'mon, talk to me. I got eyes to see, a mouth to speak, and ears to listen." She tapped Paige's hand playfully. "What's your problem with the marine mammal this time?"
Paige let out a snort of laughter, "Do you know haven't called him by his actual name ever since I've been here?"
"That's because when I mentioned his name when you first got off the plane, you got all teary and distant, and God knows that wouldn't have been fun to drag around when shopping." Pamela said flatly, folding her arms and setting them down on the table, "Was it something that you really had to cross America to get away from?" She asked softly.
The witchlighter let out an angry sigh, smiling tightly at the waitress as she set down the small bowls of ice cream at the twins' places at the table, "Thank you…" She murmured politely, before her face returned to its expression confusion, "I don't know… At first, I was angry at him for not trusting me and getting all pissy at the very mention of Hades… But now I don't know where I stand." She admitted.
"Did you ever think that he didn't not trust you? You've certainly never given him reason not to, unless there's a sordid affair that I don't have all the scandal on yet…" Pamela smirked, taking a sip of her coffee.
"What else could it be?" The youngest Charmed One breathed, clearly at a loss.
Her niece shrugged in response, "Well… I don't know. Jealousy? I mean, first of all, you sleep with Hades while you're still with him. Even if you were evil, you still cheated on him. Then after he left, Hades was still on your mind, probably even more so than Aidan when I think about it." She offered an explanation, before her eyes shifted to something on the empty table next to them, where the bill tray was sitting with a ten dollar bill tip. Suddenly, the money vanished in a slosh of glass-like water, disappearing from the tray in a splash, and reappearing in Emma's hand. Pamela's eyes widened with surprise and she nearly dropped her coffee cup.
"Yeah, but I wasn't thinking about Hades romantically. If anything, I was repulsed and dreading the thought of having his children, although it turned out they weren't so bad after all…" Paige trailed off, shaking the notion out of her head, "Are you alright?" She asked, seeing that Pamela was now coughing a little.
"Me? Oh, yeah, fine. The coffee just went down the wrong way, that's all." She said with a smile, "Go on," She urged, making a subtle glance towards her cousins' laps, to see they were laden with coins and dollar bills. She tried to maintain a calm composure, until she noticed a batch of coins vanish in a puddle of water on the table in front of them, landing into the twins' laps.
"… So maybe I'm just blowing all of this out of proportion." Paige sighed. Pamela realized that she hadn't even been listening to her aunt. "I mean, I miss him, and the girls need him, so maybe I should just go back." The youngest Charmed One smiled to herself, "Thanks, Pam. For letting me stay and for the advice… I'll be out of your hair tomorrow." She said, looking a lot more content that she had since she had first arrived.
"No problem." Pamela replied airily, before her ears twitched at the sound of the waiters talking a few feet away from her.
"Is it me, or are people just not tipping today?"
"I know! The lunchtime rush is usually where the big money is made, but the most I got was when I found a dollar on the floor."
"Wow, that's sad."
"Yeah, I'm hoping that table with the two women and the twin girls will pay out. The younger looking one's pretty good looking."
"Yeah, she's got a great ass too!"
Pamela's eye twitched slightly with anger. She didn't take kindly to comments like that, but she didn't want to be caught with the thieving children. She calmly set down her coffee cup and smiled at her aunt, "Glad I could help." She murmured shakily, "Um… We should probably go going now." The witch advised with a forced smile.
"Um… Alright, just give me a little time to freshen up." Paige replied, grabbing her purse and getting up to go the bathroom.
Pamela watched until her aunt had disappeared from sighed, before suddenly lowering her head down to her cousins' eye level. "Put it back. Now." She hissed under her breath just loud enough for the two of them to hear her.
"What?" Melinda and Emma asked innocently in unison.
"You know what!" She seethed, "If you don't put that money back, I will tell your Mom and she will bind both of your powers, and if she doesn't, I will. Stealing is wrong!" She pointed to both of the girls.
Emma pouted and frowned deeply at her eldest cousin before looking down at her lap and glaring darkly at the mound of money on her lap. It was all swept up in a large torrent of sparkling water that burst in the toddler's lap, not leaving a trace of it even being there. Small splashes of water ignited around the restaurant, returning the money to its rightful places. "Dere!" She said angrily, folding her arms.
"Thank you." Pamela retorted with the same of amount of sarcasm, before finishing off the rest of her coffee and standing up as Paige came towards her, flicking her hair away from her shoulders and making it flow down her back as she smiled, "Okay, are we ready to go? I would like to get a little shopping done before I leave." She grinned.
"Sure." She turned around to the two waiters that she had overheard earlier, "S'cuse me, can we get the bill?"
The two of them a glance and a smirk, before one of them walked towards the four of them, "Certainly." He said with a sickly smile, turning on his heel and heading towards the bar to collect the bill, before Pamela politely tapped him on the shoulder, causing him to turn back around.
"I may as well give you your tip right now. The next time you want to compliment on a girl's ass, at least make the effort to make sure that she's out of earshot. Moron." She spat, glaring at the waiter as his face turned scarlet, before he turned around and scurried towards the till, ignoring his sniggering friend. Pamela turned back around to her aunt, who gave her a perplexed look, "Really, don't ask…"
Eva sighed as she continued to stack books onto the shelf. She had a look at the cover and gave it a contemptuous stare. It was entitled "Are You Too Fat?" these kind of books made her feel ill, and not because of the nauseating picture of greasy meat on the cover. It was because they were the kind of books that planted little obsessions inside people's heads, making them think that they have a problem when they don't. She continued to stock the shelf, all the while glaring at the copy upon copy of this grotesque book.
"Okay, Gil, I'm done stacking those self-help books, I'm going on my…" She trailed off, looking around with shock at the usual bustling book shop. The entire place seemed to have, for lack of a better term, frozen. Every customer was halted in their movements, whether it be reaching for a book on a shelf, handing over money to the employee behind the counter, or just walking around the shop. Time seemed to have just… stopped. "Hello?" She called out timidly, turning around and nearly jumping out of her skin when she was faced with four people at the bottom of the isle. "Who are you?" She asked, trying to stay strong and cursing her useless power at the same time.
Piper raised her hands calmly, "It's alright, we're the good guys. My name's Piper, and…" The eldest Charmed One turned to Annabelle, Aidan, and Brennan, trying to think of a way to explain the three of them, "… They're something that can't be covered in one sentence." She explained flatly with dull eyes.
"Did you freeze everyone?" Eva asked with a perplexed look, cocking her head slightly.
"Yeah, I'm a witch like you. It's one of my powers." Piper quickly explained, walking towards her, "Listen, I've love to say and chat about powers, but we really need to get you to safety, there's a-,"
She didn't even get to finish her sentence, as the set of book shelves next to them suddenly exploded in a fashion which was identical to the way Piper would have used her power. The eldest Charmed One tackled Eva to floor to avoid any of wood shafts from flying into her and injuring her severely. The two were buried underneath a pile of shattered oak, but Piper could see out just enough to spot a black boot amidst the rubble. Diam.
Piper dove to her feet, the wood that had landed on her back flying everywhere she stood up and threw out her hands, blasting the being back with an explosion of fiery sparks that ignited against his chest and throwing him back against one of the many shelves, causing a lot of books to topple from their places and onto the floor. "Beat you to it." She sneered, calmly clasping her hands together and putting them under her chin.
"Not for long," he growled, his mouth twisting into a grin as he activated the telekinesis he had copied from Paige and threw his arm across his chest, hurling Piper back into the bookcase closest to her and making it topple as she was thrown into it. She landed on top, her form twisted uncomfortably in the wrecked set of shelves.
"Alright, I've had enough of this…" Brennan growled, bringing up both of his hands and igniting sizzling electrical energy into each hand.
"Brennan, no!" Annabelle ordered, but it was too late, the tesla coils flew from the mutant's hands, illuminating the poorly lit bookshop in a bright, flashing, blue light as the lightning pummeled Diam's chest, send an electric shock through his body causing all his muscles to tense up as he did.
The being's leather biker's jacket sizzled and smoked from the abuse, "Thanks…" He growled, before hurl his hands outwards towards Brennan and throwing one large tesla coil from the collective energy in his hands. The electricity hit the mutant so quickly that he didn't even have time to activate his third power and erect a shield. It threw him across the store, throwing him against the back wall before he fell to the ground hard.
"Aidan, get Eva outta here." Annabelle ordered, wheeling back her arm before launching a neon blue energy ball from her palm that collided with Diam's chest, not having much effect. "Go! I'll keep him busy!" She urged, repeating the process once more and hurling another energy ball into the evil being's chest, still not having much effect as she silently willed Piper to get up.
Realizing that this would be their only chance to get the innocent to safety, Aidan ran to the recovering woman underneath the bookcase debris, gently putting his hand on her shoulder and disappearing in a torrent of water that left no trace of moisture or anything to suggest that it had even been there.
Annabelle gritted her teeth as another energy ball flew from her palm, zipping towards Diam before he suddenly vanished in a blur, letting then sphere fly through where he was stood and incinerate a bookshelf behind it, reducing it to a pile of fried paper and fire within a second. "What the hell…?" She breathed, confused as to why the being has fled when, in all their other battles, he had shown that he could beat them all.
"Okay, that hurt a little." Piper groaned as she sat up, holding the back of her head and cringing, "Remind me to tell Paige that she really does have kick ass powers the next time I see her…" She growled, getting to her feet, but wobbling slightly and feeling a little disorientated.
"Yeah, well, looks like Diam got another power." Annabelle sighed, gesturing towards Brennan who was just coming around from his electrical assault, "It's a good thing electricity already runs through his body. A shock like that would have killed a normal person, maybe even a witch at a push."
"Where's Aidan?" Piper asked, noticing that the elemental had seemed to vanish, along with their innocent.
"I told to get the hell outta here with the innocent. He should be back at the Manor forming a game plan." Annabelle replied, turning towards Brennan as he walked towards them, walking stiffly from electrical charge his body has suffered from, "Sorry, we forgot to tell you that you really shouldn't use your powers on this guy. He copies them and uses them against you." She said sympathetically.
"And you didn't think that information would have been useful before all this happened?" He said bitterly, giving his body a shake to try and return its flexibility, "We should probably head back. Having those three innocents in the house could be a little dangerous." He advised.
Piper let out a sigh, putting her hands on her hips, "And of course, it would have to be my house."
A swarm of particles buzzed and swirled around in the attic, wavering for a slight second as they all stopped in their tracks before coming together and forming Piper, Annabelle, and Brennan. The three of them looked around, their suspicions raised when they saw Paige sitting with Phoebe, who had an icepack to her head, while Pamela watched over the two with her arms folded. "What's going on?" Piper asked, stumbling slightly when Brennan brushed past her to aid his wife.
"I came up here and found Auntie Pheebs on the floor, and when Dad and Uncle Aidan didn't come, I called for Auntie Paige." Wyatt quickly explained from his stance behind the sofa. He laid a hand on his aunt's shoulder, making her turn around, "Do you want anything, Aunt Phoebe?"
Phoebe smiled and put her hand on his, "No, sweetie, I'm alright. But thank you. Calling your Auntie Paige, it was the right thing to do…" She said with a reassuring smile, "Actually, could you go and get me a glass of water, please?" She asked with a hopeful glance, knowing that they should talk about what happened when Wyatt wasn't in the room.
"Okay."
"Oh my God!" Piper suddenly exclaimed, putting her hands to her face, "Lorna! Lorna was downstairs having her nap. Wyatt!" She shouted after her son as he disappeared down the stairs, "Go and check on your little sister! And where is your brother?" Piper called out, frowning when she realized that she had just referred to Lorna as Wyatt's sibling.
"They're both fine, Mom. Chris took her downstairs with him to finish off the rest of the brownies that are in the refrigerator!" Wyatt called back, going downstairs to get a glass of water for his aunt.
"Okay, what the hell happened? And where are all of our innocents?" Piper asked her younger sister in a high pitched voice, gesturing to the burn marks where the crystals had once sat around the two witches, "And what happened to the cage? Did he just charge through it or something? And what-,"
"Piper! Listen to me!" Phoebe urged, wincing a little as she pressed the icepack harder against her head, "I had transported the innocents them to a safe place with a spell. Diam was never after them… It's been Aidan all this time. As soon as he came back from getting Eva to safety, Diam flew in here, hit him with a concussion blast, and took him outta here. It all happened so fast…" Phoebe she said quietly, before her breathing began to quicken, "Whoa… Whoa!" She gasped, as her mind was suddenly pummeled with images that were more vivid than anything she had ever experienced…
Diam stood on a large elevated platform in the centre of a dark chamber, the only dim light coming from weak torches hung on the wall. He was staring at a massive set of iron doors that had intricate carvings of various magical symbols that were meant to protect and to bind. The rock face around the doors had also been carved out; elaborate designs above the iron monstrosities giving the whole crypt-like structure a sense of foreboding. He turned around, smirking. "At long last… I can return…"
Aidan was brought towards them by two cloaked figures. From what Phoebe could see, it was if the cloaks were animated to act like living beings, as she couldn't see anything underneath them, and that Aidan was being held by invisible forces that were coming out of the empty sleeve. The two beings tore his shirt off, the buttons flying everywhere and exposing the elemental's bare chest as he fought against the two creatures that were folding him in place.
"I've waited centuries for this…" Diam growled, bringing out an athame from his back and advancing on Aidan. "And now it's finally happening." Quickly and expertly, he made shallow cuts in the man's chest, making Aidan grit his teeth in pain as blood began to pour from the five straight cuts, making a pentagram. "Sorry, but this part has to go in a little deeper." Diam said with a sick smile, before pushing the athame into the elemental's chest once more slashing horizontally across the top point of the pentagram. Aidan let out a roar of pain as even more blood poured from his body, making him lose his balance and fall to his knees. Diam made two small cuts at the left side of the top line, making an arrow that sat through the highest point of the pentagram.
Bright blue energy suddenly erupted from the symbol etched into Aidan's chest, making him scream with rage and pain as streams of aquamarine light flew from each point of the pentagram, and the end of the arrow. The various streams shifted and coiled, almost dancing in the air before plowing into the symbols on the iron gate. Each protection rune glowed at the energy hit it, before there was an echoing groan and the gate began to creak open. A blinding white light came through from the crack in the two doors, illuminating Diam's grinning face.
"Finally…"
Phoebe came out of her vision with a gasp, and was surprised when Paige let out a similar noise. The witchlighter's hand had been on her sister's leg when the vision had hit. Had she somehow intercepted it and managed to see it too? "Wow…" The middle Charmed One breathed, "That was certainly new…"
"What do you mean?" Piper asked with a frown.
"I think it was… monition. As in, it was happening while I was seeing it… It was way too vivid to be of the future, premonitions are always a little unclear because the event hasn't happened yet, but this one…" She trailed off, trying to think, and was startled when Paige leapt off the sofa.
"What are we waiting for? Aidan's in trouble!" She exclaimed, grabbing Piper's hand and preparing to orb out, before the eldest Charmed One shook her hand out of her younger sister's grasp.
"Hold it! I know you saw what Phoebe saw and all, but you don't even know where he is. You want to just orb randomly all over the Underworld? Because lemme tell you, that is not a good plan!" Piper urged, shaking her hand out and away from Paige.
"I know where he is!" She spat back, looking down at the floor, "I don't know what it is… But I can sense him and I can tell he's hurt and dying… I think his soul is calling to me…" She said softly, before retaining her tough composure, "Look, you guys can either come with me, or I'm going alone." She said with determination, looking at Piper and Pamela. "What's it going to be?"
Paige, Piper, Pamela, and Annabelle appeared in the cavern within a mixture of orbs and particles. Immediately, the two cloaked beings flew at the foursome in an eerie fashion, hurling themselves artfully into the air and landing in front of them. Pamela reacted quickly throwing out her hands and blasting the creature back, causing him to fly into the bumpy wall of the cave. "Get to Aidan." She said simply, walking towards her enemy calmly while Annabelle fiercely with the second being.
Piper and Paige ran up the small flight of steps to the podium where Aidan lay on the ground, blood still flowing from the wounds on his chest. "Aidan… Hold on…" Paige whispered, laying a hand on his shoulder and squeezing it gently before putting both palms across his chest, letting a golden glow wash over his wounds and begin to heal him.
"Where did Diam go in the vision?" Piper asked, squinting her eyes at the blinding white light that was coming from the opened gates. She knew the being wouldn't have gone far, especially after what she had heard about Phoebe's premonition. Paige looked up and nodded to the doors, before going back to healing her husband, "Alright…" The eldest Charmed One growled, getting to her feet and running towards the white light.
"Piper, come back!" Paige screamed over the noise of the battle Pamela and Annabelle were waging behind her. It was too late, her older sister had vanished into the light, leaving to trace of her even being there in the first place. The light blasting from her hands suddenly stopped. Paige frowned, seeing that there was still a blatantly visible scar left on Aidan's chest.
His eyes flickered open and he frowned at who he saw kneeling over him. The elemental smiled, raising his hand to Paige's cheek and stroking it delicately, "Hey…" He breathed, still in a certain amount of pain from the scarring on his chest. "I missed you…"
Paige let out a small laugh and a smile as she took his hand in hers, "Hey... You too…"
Annabelle fought like it was an exquisite dance. She artfully dodged her enemy's seemingly non-existent fists, bending, twisting, ducking, jumping, she moved with such a grace that no human could harness. She hit away the being's flying fist with her forearm, blocking the punch and suddenly falling to the floor, sweeping her leg around her attacker's shins and causing him to fall to the floor with a thud that made a lot of noise for a creature was seemed not to even be there. With a casual flick of her wrist, Annabelle threw an energy ball from her palm. The projectile collided with whatever was underneath cloak, causing her enemy to combust in a shower of fiery red sparks and leave an empty black cloak behind.
Pamela ran up the wall slightly, jumping from it and launching her foot at the creature's head, causing him to topple to the floor and be at her mercy, before it suddenly up against her, tackling the witch to the floor. "Get off, you walking fashion disaster!" She growled, squinting her eyes and telekinetically throwing him into the air so he landed behind Paige, who was still tending to Aidan. The cloaked figure got to its feet, suddenly flying at the youngest Charmed One with unimaginable stealth, "Paige! Behind you!" Pamela bellowed, hoping that her aunt would be able to stop the attacker in time.
Paige turned around, and, without even squinting or making a gesture, telekinetically threw her enemy in the opposite direction, hurling him across the floor and causing him to skid along the dusty ground before his invisible head smacked off the cave wall. The witchlighter sat in momentary shock at the advancement of power she had just displayed, before she was brought back to her senses by the flash of neon blue from an energy ball flying from Annabelle's hand and plowing into the demon, reducing him to a smoldering cloak within a matter of seconds.
"How the hell did you do that?" Pamela asked as she jumped up to the elevated platform, "I mean, I didn't you squint your eyes, did you?" She asked, folding her arms and expressing her jealousy for her aunt's power advancement.
"Why are you surprised at this?" Annabelle asked, sincerely confused, "The actual meaning of telekinesis is to move things with your mind, not by squinting eyes or making gestures. It's the natural course for her powers to take. And besides, what are you complaining about? Your power is a lot more advanced than hers." She pointed out, before looking around the cavern. "Where's Piper?"
As if to answer her question, a stream of glowing orbs fell through the ceiling, hitting the floor and taking on the form of Piper. The eldest Charmed One gave a quick scan of her surroundings, before realizing where she was. Slowly, the iron doors began to close with a creak, "NO! Leo!" She screamed, running towards the doors just as they completely shut, slamming her head off the iron and falling to the ground. Piper sat on the ground, stunned for a few moments, before jumping to her feet and throwing her hands at the door, explosion after explosion bouncing harmlessly off the gates, not even leaving a scratch or a scorch mark.
"Piper, what's wrong?" Pamela asked timidly.
Piper sniffed as she lowered her hands, giving up on trying to blow up the gateway. She turned around to the group, tears rolling down her cheeks as her bottom lip began to quiver. A sign that she was barely holding it together. She took a deep breath, trying to compose herself a just a few seconds to talk coherently, "Leo's dead…"