I've been thinking, maybe Amenti should have a brother who feeds on hate? I'm a bit unsure about this idea, so if anyone likes it please let me know. If Amenti drained all the love from a couple/person, all that's be left is hate. If the hate is gone, that leaves nothing. The two would be a deadly combination, but I don't know if anyone would like this. Let me know about any thoughts on a demon like that, along with any suggestions for the girls' powers; I think they desperately need an upgrade or two. Especially Paige.

Chapter 21:

Phoebe brought Joseph into the manor. Piper, upon hearing the door open, came running out into the foyer. "Phoebe, what happened? Did you find him?" she yelled. Piper stopped when she saw Phoebe with Joseph. "Who's he?" Piper asked.

"This is Joseph, and yes I found Amenti. He was attacking Joseph," Phoebe replied.

"What? Why?" Piper asked.

"I don't know, but I told Joseph he could stay here until we deal with Amenti," Phoebe said. Upon seeing Piper's expression, she quickly added "You wouldn't want the poor kid to be killed by Amenti, would you?"

Piper relented and agreed to let Joseph stay. She turned to Joseph and asked "Are you hungry?"

Joseph shook his head, seemingly too shocked to speak. "Okay..." Piper said.

Joseph opened his mouth and asked "Can I lay down somewhere? I'm really tired."

"Of course you can," Phoebe said. "Here, come with me. You can rest in my bed if you want."

Joseph nodded and quietly thanked Phoebe. Phoebe led him upstairs to her room and let him lay down on her bed. She told him that if he needed anything just to yell and either she or her sister would get him whatever he needed. Once Phoebe left, Joseph got up. He started searching around for anything Amenti could use against her. He found a diary hidden under the pillow (so cliché), and a shopping list. The list said Advil, so Joseph figured Amenti might be able to use it for something. But the real prize came in the diary. With it Amenti had access to an almost unlimited amount of emotional ammo. Joseph heard footsteps, so he quickly hid the diary on his person and crawled back into Phoebe's bed. He closed his eyes and pretended to sleep. He had time; he could try and get something from Piper and Paige later.

Phoebe came down the stairs. "Okay, he's resting. What do we do now?"

"We can't really do anything other than wait for Cole, Paige, or Leo," Piper said.

"Did you check the Book?" Phoebe asked.

"Yeah, and it's like Cole said; nothing," Piper replied.

"So all we can do is wait? I am not okay with this!" Phoebe said.

"Yeah, I don't really like it either, Pheebs, but unfortunately we don't have a choice. We can't just attack him; our strongest potion did nothing," Piper said.

"Not true, it hurt him. It didn't vanquish him, but I think if you continually blew him up and I kept throwing these potions at him, we might be able to get him," Phoebe said.

"Yeah, or he'll kill us. We're going to wait. Maybe talking to Joseph will help you calm down," Piper said. "Try and see if he knows anything about what happened, and if he can guess as to why Amenti was after him in the first place."

Phoebe agreed and went upstairs to her room. She opened the door and saw Joseph laying in her bed, asleep. She shook him gently to wake him up. Joseph's eyes opened, and he looked at Phoebe. "Hey," Phoebe said. "Can I talk to you?"

Joseph nodded his head. "Do you know why that man was after you?" Phoebe asked.

Joseph shook his head. "Are you sure? Can you think of any reason that he would want to hurt you?"

Joseph seemed to think. Phoebe thought he looked a bit nervous, but when he opened his mouth he spoke normally. "He said something about me being a 'loveless coward' and how I deserved to burn in a pit of fire and brimstone. He even threatened to take me to one if he missed the first shot. Then he threw that energy ball at me," Joseph said. Phoebe's mind didn't register the fact that Joseph knew what an energy ball was.

"Oh, you poor thing! Is there anything else at all that you can tell me? We're going to try to help the police find this horrible man," Phoebe asked. Joseph seemed to think then shook his head. "Okay, try and rest. Tell someone if you need anything," Phoebe said as she left.

Joseph waited a minute and, once he was certain that she was downstairs, sneaked out of Phoebe's bedroom and into Paige's. Amenti had shown him a map of the manor and where everyone slept. How Amenti knew where the sisters slept was beyond him.

Joseph looked around Paige's room and tried to find something that he could use against her. Joseph found success under Paige's pillow. He found a diary hidden under her pillow, much like Paige's older sister. Joseph hid the diary with Phoebe's and carefully put everything back where it was. Joseph then left Paige's room and walked into a tall, muscular man. Joseph looked up at the man, who asked "Who are you?"

Joseph swallowed. There was something about this man that reminded Joseph of Amenti and the Source, or any other demon more powerful than he for that matter. Joseph answered and said "I'm Joseph."

"Why are you here, and what are you doing in that bedroom?" the man asked.

"I was attacked by some guy, I think Phoebe said his name was Amenti or something. Phoebe said I could rest in her room, but I had to go to the bathroom. I thought this was the bathroom, but it isn't," Joseph said.

"Clearly. Take care not to wander into another wrong room; and by the way, the bathroom is the second door on the left down that way," the man said, pointing down the hall. Joseph hurried down the hall and, after seeing that the man was still watching him, went into the bathroom. He waited an appropriate amount of time before flushing the toilet, turning the faucet on and back off, then leaving and returning to Phoebe's room. Joseph decided to wait for at least a few hours before going through Piper's things.

Phoebe had already told Piper what Joseph had told her. She and Piper had been able to accomplish next to nothing afterwords until Leo Orbed back in. "Leo!" Piper yelled. "What did the Elders say?"

"Hi, Piper. It's not good, I'm afraid. According to the Elders," Leo began in his standard "I'm setting up a story the Elders told me, be prepared" voice, "Amenti is a demon who feeds on love, like you said. He finds the love couples feel and drains it until the two are at each others' throats with hatred. Every time he feeds, he grows in power. This power does slowly fade a little over time, but Amenti is always given enough time to build up enough power that he can't be threatened by any demon other than the Source himself. If he's after you guys, he's probably been promised freedom from his imprisonment."

"Cole told us that much already, or at least we guessed at that much after what Cole told us," Phoebe said.

"There's more," Leo said. "The reason he was banished was because the Source was afraid that if he had enough time he could consolidate enough power to overpower and overthrow the Source single-handedly. If you can guess at how much power that would take, then you can see why we should be afraid of him."

"Great. Now what do we do?" Piper asked.

"The Elders did mention a way of ensuring that he doesn't come back for at least a while," Leo said.

"What is it?" Piper asked.

"They said that if his Love Pool were destroyed, he would lose a lot of his power and would be vulnerable to a Power of Three spell. He would come back, eventually, but without his love pool the Elders don't think he'd come back in you lifetimes," Leo said.

"His Love Pool? What is his Love Pool?" Piper asked.

"It's a pool that he has in his lair. It creates these potions that affect love. It also serves as a last resort power source for him and as a kind of accelerator for his return," Leo explained.

"Okay, so we destroy that, vanquish Amenti with a Power of Three spell, and then we get back to Christmas," Phoebe said.

Cole and Paige chose that moment to Shimmer in. Paige looked nauseous. "Well, I learned that the Source specifically told Amenti to kill you by Christmas, so if he doesn't before then he failed and is either dead or holed back up in his lair. You could always just bide your time until then, you know, go into hiding," Cole suggested while Paige tried not to puke.

"Absolutely not. We are not hiding from some demon just because he's semi unvanquishable. We will stop him, or at least delay him for however long we can," Piper said.

Paige finally regained control of her stomach. "That's what I told Cole when he suggested it to me," Paige said.

"Look, I just don't want Phoebe to die. Please," Cole directed his words to Phoebe, "don't go after him. Just wait until after Christmas and don't risk your life. I don't know what I'd do if you were to die, and Amenti is powerful enough that fighting him could easily lead to you death," Cole pleaded.

Phoebe looked at Cole lovingly. "I won't die, I promise," Phoebe whispered to Cole. "But you have to let us try. I could never live with myself knowing that I could have stopped him but hid away instead. I have to try; we have to try." Phoebe kissed Cole to show him that she meant every word she said.

After Phoebe and Cole broke apart, Paige asked "Should we ask Jerome anything now?"

"No, no, we can deal with Amenti without him. Let him think or whatever," Piper said. Paige relented.

"When do we go after him?" Phoebe asked.

"Do you have a spell?" Piper asked.

Phoebe nodded her head. "Then we go now," Piper said.

Author's Note:

This chapter was also very Jerome-lite. Don't worry; he'll be back in the next couple of chapters. If anyone has any ideas about anything, please let me know. Especially if the idea is about some new powers for the sisters, especially Paige. Like I said before, the poor girl has one Wiccan power, and even it isn't really full Wiccan. Any more Wiccan powers for her would be very much appreciated. Any thoughts on the Amenti's brother idea would also be appreciated.