The Newcomer
Chapter 3
Falin walked down the stairs leading into the main room of p³, wishing he had his sword in a crowd with so many people. Prue had insisted that he dye his hair and 'trim' his ears, the dye with real dye, the ears with illusion.
'I'm nervous. Very nervous,' he whispered to Phoebe.
'Relax,' she answered simply. He felt like a dork knowing his hair was brown, of all colours.
Phoebe ordered a drink at the bar for Falin (who was told to say it meant the wise one in some obscure Polynesian dialect). He liked the taste of it, and because of the fact that he was a bit angry that the bottle was empty when it was, he realized it was a strange dilute form of alcohol.
Phoebe then remembered that he shouldn't dance the way she taught him here. So she told him about the dancing and socializing etiquette. Piper was out dancing with Leo, who had a holiday of sorts, and Prue was flirting with a tall dark handsome stranger who had graduated from Harvard.
Falin had lost his accent and was talking to Phoebe about tigers when she spotted a girl eyeing off Falin.
'That girl over there fancies you, I think,' she said.
He turned around and she quickly averted her gaze, but not fast enough, Falin noticed her.
'Go on, ask her to dance,' Phoebe urged.
'If you insist,' Falin mumbled and he stood and walked over to the blonde who had averted her gaze. And she had nearly fallen off her chair when he asked her to dance. So they moved to the dance floor and, as you usually do, they started to dance and talk.
Falin began to tire so he bought them each a beer, which she accepted, and they began to dance again. Her name was Denise, and was, of all things, a zoologist. They talked about animals, mainly tigers, due to Falin's growing interest in them and he found out quite a bit about them.
Prue was having a great time with Blake the guy from Harvard, and he also turned out to be a photographer.
Piper was still dancing with Leo; Leo hoping that this holiday wouldn't be interrupted, and a guy was chatting up Phoebe whom she used to have a crush on in high school.
'This is a favourite of mine,' said Denise as guitar introduction began.
'What is it?' Falin asked her.
'Iris, by the Goo Goo Dolls,' she said. 'Have you heard of it? It's fairly recent,' she added, seeing the blank look on his face.
'No. I'm not exactly…with the times,' he replied, trying desperately to cover his extreme ignorance.
She said nothing.
Halfway through the song, Falin felt something twitch in his brain. Something that…
Falin jumped to his side as the creature fell from the ceiling. It stood where it had landed and rose and fell with heavy breaths. It looked like some kind of a humanoid lizard, hunched, green and scaly. Its four claws were as long as its hand. The lizard looked around, and Falin knew who it was looking for.
The charmed ones.
Falin tackled it full in the chest and with his enormous strength went flying into a nearby wall, almost shattering the brick. The lizard kicked Falin off it, and Falin fell back, rolling over to the bar. He grabbed a discarded beer bottle by the neck and shattered it on the table, making a makeshift dagger. By this time, people were running out in a state of panic, Phoebe trying to calm them down, and Prue trying to get away from Blake, and Piper still reacting to what had just happened.
Falin took up a fencing position, the bottle in hand, and feinted the bottle left and right, not moving his feet. Finally he striked and the demon palmed the attack away and counter-attacked. Falin tilted his head just in time, as the long black claws snaked out beside Falin's ear.
Piper put up her hands and the fight ended, the Lizard stopping.
'What the hell was that?' Piper exclaimed. Leo looked at the frozen body and rubbed his chin.
'I have no idea. It could be anything. Many demons use reptiles as their minions.'
'Great, so this was helpful,' Phoebe groaned.
'Well, perhaps you could cast a search spell, or something,' Falin suggested.
'Good thinking,' said Prue. 'I'll get home and look at the book of shadows for something. Falin, you…'
Prue was cut short by the crashing of Falin's body to the ground, the moving Lizard upon him. Phoebe was there, and kicked it full in the face. The lizard, stunned by the blow, was thrown off Falin. Falin got up and put his hands up, ready to fight the demon hand-to-hand. The lizard attacked downwards, and blocked the attack with his forearm. He span and sent the broken bottle, still in his hand, into the lizard's unprotected belly. Instead of bleeding, like Falin was used to, the Lizard just disappeared.
'There goes the search spell,' Falin said.
'What are we going to say to the crowds?' Prue said anxiously.
'I have an idea,' Falin said as he ran up the stairs to the crowd outside.
'Fear not,' he shouted to the waiting crowd outside. 'I am a master magician and illusionist, as I shall demonstrate!'
'And with that, he produced a dove in his hand, which flew off into the night sky and disappeared when it was out of sight.
Much to Leo, Falin, Piper, and Prue's relief, the crowd bought it, and everyone left, satisfied with the excuse. Piper was seething at Falin when she realized the damage caused to the wall the lizard and Falin had bashed into, but she kept quiet (Falin had, after all, saved their lives).
Everything was fine. The only injury was a small scratch on Falin's shoulder that Prue noticed, but she said nothing. Little did they know that this small scratch would be the cause of all their problems.
* * * * * * * *
Falin sat at the table in the kitchen, with a hangover from hell, a glass of milk in hand.
Phoebe walked in, said hello, saw the massive open wound on Falin's right shoulder, and nearly puked. Falin didn't notice, until she tapped him on the other shoulder. When he saw the wound his eyes widened, and he woke up very quickly.
Leo was immediately reading up on the lizard demon, Prue and Piper were checking the book of shadows for some kind of remedy for the wound, and Phoebe was with Falin, keeping the bandages clean. To stop her from feeling wheezy when she changed the bandage, he used an illusion.
But the wound still kept fresh and a scab didn't appear. He couldn't go to a doctor, as his body was very different to a human's internally.
But Falin kept getting weaker and weaker, the wound now spreading over most of his arm and under his neck, like a half made human.
Leo returned with some bad news.
At the rate of his decline, he would die in three days…