Heaven can't wait
Chapter 9
Piper, Leo and Paige just entered the house without knocking as Paige had been living there for a few weeks now, but the sounds coming from upstairs told them that they might have considered announcing themselves…
The laughter was definitely of a certain quality, and they all realized that the masters of the house had taken advantage of their alone time to somewhat catch up…
Piper grimaced and turned to Leo:
"Should we?"
Leo smiled, amused:
"I'm sure that Phoebe wouldn't mind considering there is a warlock involved here…"
Piper:
"I'm not so sure," she replied, moving toward the stairs nevertheless.
When she knocked on the bedroom door, the laughs ceased immediately, although it took them a few seconds before they answered. Piper grimaced again, embarrassed. A very irritated Phoebe opened the door as she was just finishing tightening up her bathrobe.
"Yes," she asked rather harshly…
Piper looked back in the bedroom in spite of herself, where Cole had barely had time to put some pants on.
"Huh, we got a situation…" she said quickly.
Phoebe frowned, obviously not too happy:
"You don't say?"
Piper turned back to her:
"Oh come on Phoebe, I wouldn't have… well if I didn't have a good reason…"
Phoebe looked back in turn and seeing the same as Piper, she took her arm and pulled her toward the stairs:
"Ok," she added emphatically, "what is the matter?"
"It's Paige… The warlock that was after her a couple weeks ago is back…"
Phoebe exclaimed, looking around as if she thought that he was going to appear right this minute.
"Where?"
"We don't know exactly… She saw him when she was out, but he didn't follow her home fortunately."
Cole had heard, and intervened:
"Are you sure?"
Piper continued for both of them:
"Well no, not really, but we didn't see him. So if he is around, he's hiding well…"
Cole:
"I think that I should check it out anyway."
He was about to flash out when Phoebe called to him:
"Hey sweetie, maybe you should put something on first?"
He looked down in embarrassment:
"Oh right…"
Piper smiled teasingly:
"Not on my account," she said looking up and down, to which Phoebe reacted by hitting her lightly on the shoulder.
"Hey!" She said but couldn't help smiling too.
For an instant Cole looked at both of them as if he was wondering if he should turn his back on them, then he smiled too and went to the bedroom.
Phoebe lingered a moment more and Piper had to call to her again:
"Come on sis, you're married now, he will still be here tonight."
Phoebe turned to follow her but added with still a little point of irritation:
"It's not every day that we are alone in the house you know, and today was going to be the first since…"
Piper:
"You mean since you…"
Phoebe:
"Yeah! I guess it will have to wait…"
Piper suddenly remembered to ask:
"Where is Jason?"
Phoebe:
"Paul came around a little while ago and offered to bring the baby on a long walk."
Piper:
"Ok, ok, I'm sorry now, you happy?"
Phoebe:
"Not quite happy, but with a little luck…soon."
Piper laughed a little but by then, they were coming in the living room and dropped the subject.
Paige seemed lost in thoughts and Phoebe wondered about it:
"Hey, still worried about the warlock?"
Actually Paige had been thinking of the young man, Matthew, and she almost blushed when she realized that her sister noticed her vague expression. She babbled:
"Huh, yes that's it…"
Phoebe looked at her curiously but couldn't figure what seemed to be the reason for her embarrassment. She promised herself to question her further once they had resolved the problem at hand. Hardly enough, she wasn't very worried about the new threat. They had faced such terrible demons in the last 2 years that a warlock really seemed insignificant at the moment. She almost laughed at the thought, considering that in their first few years as witches, warlocks had been a serious threat. Yet, it was too easy to dismiss any of them as not dangerous, and she was decided to give it as much consideration as she did any other evil agent. There was also the fact that all of this was so new to her half-sister and that she still only had the whitelighter power to rely on. "Maybe," she thought, " this new situation will unlock her witch powers as well?"
The fact that she had not developed a power as of yet was a subject of worries for both Phoebe and Piper, who were convinced that in spite of the absence of attacks that they enjoyed now, demons were bound to come knocking any time…
Neither of them wanted to push her too hard though, as they knew how difficult it already was for her to adapt to her new life.
"So," she began out loud, "what happened exactly?"
Paige tried to concentrate on the problem:
"Well not all that much actually, except…"
She looked at Leo who didn't know yet of her little mistake.
Phoebe insisted when she saw her hesitation.
"Except?"
Leo somehow sensed that she wanted to talk to her sisters alone and found a pretext to go out of the room. He would know soon enough what had happened…
Cole had been looking around and seen nothing, so he went to find Paul. Now that their little afternoon had been cut short, he knew that he would feel better if the baby was home…
He found him on his way back to the house, and asked him if he had seen anything out of the ordinary as he checked on Jason.
"Not really…Any particular reason why you asked?"
Cole:
"Oh well, you know the warlock that was after Paige?"
Paul strained to remember:
"Gandel wasn't it? So what about him?"
Cole:
"Paige just saw him in town this afternoon… I'm guessing that he will stay away for now. Eventually though, I think that they should go after him and end this threat. Besides if he found her, maybe he also knows about Phoebe and Piper…"
Paul:
"That wouldn't do if he reported to an upper demon about it."
"My point exactly. The girls are not ready for more attacks yet. Paige is still too new at it. If we could keep the secret a little longer, it would be a great help. As long as the source thinks that the charmed ones are no longer a threat, he won't be as hell-bent on destroying the two who are left. Or at least that is what I'm hoping."
Paul acquiesced:
"I have to agree with that… Then maybe we should go after him ourselves…"
Cole seemed to hesitate at this:
"Maybe…"
Paul:
"What?"
"Well Phoebe thinks that Paige might need a little initiation to fire so to speak, and it might just be the right one to do this. From what I have heard of this warlock, he has his use to the underworld, but he is mostly more ambitious than truly powerful…"
Paul frowned and replied as they were walking back:
"Still, he might have gotten some help… There are no guaranties that he is working alone…"
Cole:
"He always wanted to climb in the ranks… A partner might not be a good idea for him…"
Paul:
"Still, would you know where to find him?"
Cole:
"No clue; I have been out of the loop for quite some time…"
Paul suddenly seemed to remember something:
"Speaking of quite some time… I kind of thought that you would be busy for the rest of the afternoon…"
The amused smile made Cole squirm, but he still answered:
"Let's just say that the quiet time didn't last long enough and leave it at that…"
Paul almost laughed, but resisted:
"I see… Well any time that you need a little supernatural babysitting… I rather enjoyed this time with your boy."
Cole couldn't help bringing up the subject:
"Well then I'm glad that I didn't have to…"
Paul:
"Kill me? Don't worry, I don't hold it against you. After all I asked for it…"
Cole gave him a twisted grin before answering:
"Too true!"
Phoebe was watching Paige after she finished relating her part of the story, and she couldn't help smiling:
"So," she said, turning to Piper, "I'm not the only one who can screw up…"
Piper grimaced at her sister:
"Oh come on Phoebe, she is miserable enough as it is…"
Paige:
"You know that I'm really sorry about that, but what else could I do?"
Phoebe:
"All jokes aside, nothing really. Don't worry, from what you told me, you and Piper have covered your tracks nicely, and I'm sure also that he won't dare tell anyone about this…"
As she was saying this, she couldn't help noticing that the vague expression had returned on her sister's face, and she began to understand that Matthew might very well be the cause of it.
"So what did he look like?" she asked lightly.
Again, Paige was pulled out of her distracting thoughts and seemed lost as to what Phoebe had meant.
"The man, the young man you brought home?"
Paige:
"Oh him… well he looked…fine…"
Phoebe:
"Ha, ha!"
Paige protested at the obvious allusion:
"No really, I barely noticed…"
Phoebe bent toward her and put her hand on her shoulder, intent on reassuring her, when two successive premonitions hit her:
"The first one showed a little boy being torn from his mother and magically moved by one that blinked to an alley. The second one, was of Cole's father, attacked by a darklighter, or at least she assumed that he was, not being able to see him as she was, but she did see the arrow entering her father in law distinctly."
She jumped as she was coming out of the vision, distressed to the extreme by what she had seen.
Piper:
"Phoebe what's wrong?"
Phoebe took a few deep breaths, then she turned to her:
"I think that we got work to do. When it rains, it pours…"
Paige:
"What do you mean?"
Phoebe:
"I just got two premonitions for the price of one, and I have the feeling that both of them will happen at about the same time…"
She didn't lose time organizing them:
"You and Paige," she told Piper, "should go to this alley," which she described. "A young boy has been or will be abducted by a warlock, I have no idea why, so don't ask…"
Piper saw that the other premonition was more personal:
"What else did you see?"
Phoebe:
"Cole's father, being attacked not far from here…"
She got up quickly, intent on finding Cole right away, while Piper turned to Paige:
"Let's go…"
Paige was overwhelmed not only by the rapidity at which things had changed, but also by the way her sisters were dealing with it.
Piper told her more insistently:
"Paige come on…"
The girl just thought then that it was best to go with the flow; she'd figure them out soon enough, or so she hoped.
Cole had his hand on the doorknob, when the door opened and he found himself in front of his wife, her expression extremely tense. At first he joked:
"Hey, I wasn't gone that long, don't get upset…"
However, his smile was short live as he saw that she was not responding to his humor.
"Come on," she said instead, "we got to go now!"
Cole was taken aback and didn't move at first as she was already going down the driveway:
"Where?"
Phoebe turned impatiently toward him:
"I'll tell you on the way; Paul, can you watch Jason a little longer," she finally thought to ask the wizard, who was just as surprised as Cole.
"Of course…"
Cole looked back at him, shrugging, and then started after her, just as Piper and Paige were running out of the house in turn with Leo in tow. They took the direction of the manor without a word. Watching all this agitation gave Paul a bad feeling.
Piper and Paige had elected to drive to the alley, as Paige's control over her orbing was still very shaky. They climbed into the truck without exchanging a word, both of them just as tense as Phoebe had been. Paige mostly was anxious about what was to come. It was the first time that she truly had to protect an innocent, and they didn't benefit from the power of three to do so…
Not knowing what the boy looked like, or when the abduction would actually take place, Piper had chosen the alley, giving them a better chance to catch the warlock when he arrived.
Piper had worries of her own. She liked Paige well enough, as far as she knew her, but it still wasn't Prue. She wasn't all too sure that her new sister was up to the task. And yet, she knew that the only way for them to know for sure was to have her helping. She still would have been more comfortable as well if Phoebe had been with them… For a moment, she considered going back to find her. After all, Cole probably could have taken care of the other problem on his own. She dismissed it quickly though; time was of the essence, and at least Leo was there to help. She speeded up, for fear of being too late for whatever the warlock or demon had in mind for the poor boy…
Coleridge was just coming back from visiting one of his charges and for once, intent on taking advantage of the sunny afternoon, he was walking to his son's house. The thought immediately brought a smile to his lips. Who would have imagined only a year before that something like that would happen? His son, lost for over a hundred years to evil, was now living with his wife and their beautiful baby boy. Of course, it couldn't yet be considered as a "normal" life per say, but still it was much more than he had hoped for. Suddenly his train of thought was interrupted by a malaise, one that was unfortunately very familiar and unpleasant. He could feel a darklighter in close proximity. He was just about to orb, when the arrow hit him in the back. He never saw his attacker before falling to the ground in excruciating pain. He tried to turn toward him but the pain paralyzed him. He could still feel him, but somehow the darklighter seemed only to be observing from afar. It puzzled Coleridge, who had expected him to come finish the job…
Cole was now ahead of Phoebe. After she filled him in breathlessly on what she had seen, he had almost left her behind but she assured him that his father was only 5 minutes away. At that moment, an intense pain stopped him short, and Phoebe almost knocked him to the ground, as she bumped into him.
"What?" She asked anxiously when she noticed his contorted face.
He closed his eyes trying to catch his breath and turned to her painfully:
"I don't know, it's like fire coursing through my veins…"
A thought struck both of them at the same time and, forgetting the pain he started back, running even faster…