"Raine?" Joey said as he sat down on the curb
beside her.
Raine didn't even look up, she just kept sobbing
into her hands. "Joey, I was so stupid! So stupid to believe Johnny, and to
come here. Why did I do it?" she sniffed.
"I don't know why. But maybe it was a good thing.
Now you know he still has his…er…problem. And you can help him," Joey said,
putting his arm around his friend. "Don't worry, everything will turn out ok."
"No, I don't want to help him. If he won't help
himself, I can't help him. And everything won't be ok. This is so stupid! I
just want to go back to the bus, leave this place and not come back for a long
time. I want to go home, Joey. I want to go back to Toronto. I want to go back
to Canada," she sobbed into his shoulder.
"Shhh, you will. The tour will be heading up there
in a few months, you can see your family for a whole week between performance
schedules!" he comforted her.
"No, I really want to go home right now," she shook
her head, flinging her short cropped, wild raven black hair around.
"But you know you can't," he answered.
"I know. But I still want to."
"Hey," Paige came up to them and sat on Raine's
other side. "I never got to ask what your names are. It seems my sisters know
you, but I don't."
"Maybe it's better that you don't," Raine quipped.
"I'm Joey," Joey offered. "Joey Jordison."
"Hi Joey. What's your girlfriend's name? I heard
Piper and Phoebe call her Kalika, but I heard you call her something
different," Paige said, her sweet, melodic voice ringing music in his ears. She
had a girly voice, high, but soft.
"This is Raine, but she's not my girlfriend. She's
engaged to someone else," Joey chuckled.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Raine? What was that back there?
What happened?" Paige asked.
"It's a really long story," Raine began to reply.
"We have time," Paige assured her.
"Yea, and I want to know, too. I saw something,
Raine, and I want to know what that was," Joey added.
"Fine. Your name is Paige?" she asked.
"How did you know?" Paige asked, she'd never heard
Phoebe or Piper mention her name aloud.
"I'll explain," Raine sighed. "It started the last
time I came here. It was years after I escaped the high council and performed a
special ritual a friend taught me. I used to be a demon. Yea, Kalika was my
name. Kali Ma, Dark Mother. It was the name of a deity of a goddess. She was
the queen of darkness, so to speak. So I have psychic abilities, and vast
magical powers. Your sisters could never have vanquished me when I was strong.
I could have killed them. I was one of the highest powers. But I changed. I
used to think of humans as toys to play with, so that they wouldn't become real
to me. But I let one become real. And that was all it took. I didn't want to be
a demon anymore, it's actually quite boring after a few hundred years. Same old
thing everyday. And I never got to do my own thing, I got to do it with my
style, but never did I get to choose my missions. I was ordered around like
some servant. So I escaped, like I heard Balthazor did, but I went the extra
step. See, I think he couldn't bear to live without his powers, so he just went
into hiding. But they can always find rogue demons. I made sure they wouldn't
be able to find me, I gave up my demon life. So I became human, mortal. I
didn't care, I still don't. Even as a human, I'm living the high life as a rock
star. But I think something may have gone wrong, my powers didn't fully
disappear. They diminished in strength. Where I would have been able to hold a
huge ball of energy, like you saw in the club, I can't anymore without draining
my own energy fields. I converted your sister's explosion, though. And turned
it into her old freezing power. That was why we didn't blow up," Raine sniffed
and laughed a little. "I can't do as much as I used to with my powers, and
besides, I've been laying it low for a while. I've been trying my best not to
shimmer from place to place like I did when I first realized I still had my
powers. Shimmering and blinking catch a lot of attention from the people who
are still trying to find me. They might see me and recognize my face, but when
they don't sense any magical powers or aura surrounding me, they think maybe
it's just a coincidence. And besides, I'm never found in the same place twice.
Because of my new career I'm all over the world."
"So, what happened the last time you came?" Paige
asked.
"I was here with just John. It was when the two of
us were together. You know." Paige nodded her understanding. "He pulled the
same stunt he did tonight. He took out his antifreeze and took a shot. That
time I didn't stop him, though. But Prue did. Or at least she tried to. She
tried to throw the needle out of his hand, but that backfired because she
didn't aim quite right and the needle ended up hitting someone else. John
emptied it into the poor kid and he was killed. John takes major doses of the
stuff, he needs a lot to get high. So the kid died from an overdose of heroin. Prue,
Piper and Phoebe weren't happy with that, but I was so mad at Johnny that I
sent an energy orb at him, just like tonight, and they were apparently tracking
a demon or something with the same ability as me, so they thought I was it. I
decided to have pity on the poor demon, since I might know her, so I played to
their games. I baited the witches and let them think they'd cleverly trapped me
in a park somewhere. I let them throw their stupid potion at me and chant their
silly rhymes and spells and disappeared in a puff of smoke with lots of screaming.
Of course that drained me for weeks, but at least the whole thing was over
with. In a nutshell, that's what happened the first and last time I saw your sisters,"
Raine finished.
"But I don't get it. If they threw the potion at
you and had the correct spells to chant and the power of three, why are you
still here?" Paige asked, confused.
"Jeez, girl! Were you listening to me at all? I'm
an EX-demon. I'm not a demon anymore. I may still have demon powers, but I'm
not a demon. You can't vanquish a non-demon. It just doesn't make sense! You
can't vanquish something that's not magical. I'm just a normal, mortal girl. I'm
just any other person," Raine exclaimed. "Now would you all just leave me
alone?!"
"Hey, hey, calm down," Joey said, hugging her tight
to his chest. Raine was like his little sister, and he felt he had to protect
her, like a good big brother would. Raine sobbed and broke down in tears again,
soaking his shirt. Joey sighed and wished he had a change of clothes in the
van. Or at least one of Corey or Mick's shirts to borrow.
"Hey! Let me go!" Johnny protested indignantly as
he was picked up by the collar of his shirt by a big security guard and marched
up the stairs to the front doors. He was taken outside to the sidewalk and
deposited there. Piper and Phoebe following close behind him and the guard.
Raine looked up at the disturbance. "John," she
snarled.
"Hey baby," he grinned, cocky as ever. "We leaving
now?" he asked.
"We?" Joey asked.
"You can walk for all I care," Raine spat. "You're
not welcome to ride back with us."
"Well how am I supposed to get home?" he demanded.
"Hitch!" Joey growled. "I'm not letting you in my
van, after what you did to Raine."
"Good," Phoebe said primly. "I wouldn't want him
around either, just to tell you. Come on, Paige. Let's go."
"Wait. I think Raine can help us catch Tanarus,"
Paige stopped her sisters from leaving.
"What?" Piper asked incredulously. "No way, Paige."
"I think she can, though. You guys don't even know
who she is and why she wasn't vanquished," Paige argued.
"And I suppose you do?" Piper asked.
"Yes, she does," Raine replied wearily. "I told her
the whole story. Look, I'm really not who you think I am. When we first met, I
told you my name was Kalika. That wasn't exactly true. But it was for the
purpose I served. Kalika was my demon name. But I'm not a demon anymore. You
have never known me as a demon."
"But we vanquished you," Phoebe answered.
"That's not entirely true. I let you think you
vanquished me. Because I wasn't sure who it was you were chasing. And I think
she might have been a friend at one point. She hasn't shown up again, has she?"
Raine asked.
"No, she hasn't," Piper said as she tucked a strand
of her long brown hair behind one ear. "So what are you saying?"
"That I just led you off her trail. I'm an
ex-demon. I still somehow have powers, probably because the ritual I performed
to take away my demonic side was a little more than just amateur, so something
must have gone wrong. Not to mention it was not pleasant. Anyway, you can't vanquish
a non-demon. And I assure you, if I had been a demon, and you'd met me when I
was at full power, you wouldn't have stood a chance."
"Who's to say?" Phoebe challenged. "We are the
Charmed Ones."
"That may be. But you wouldn't have been strong
enough, even with the power of three. And your white lighter, let's just say he's
not exactly adequate to protect you properly. I watched him work with you
three, it was incredibly beginner," Raine noted.
"Well, I think Raine could help us. I mean, she's
totally good, right? But she's got these great powers, plus she can even
shimmer and whatever. So what do you say?" Paige asked her sisters.
"No."
"No."
"No," Raine shook her head. "I'm not getting mixed
up with witches' affairs. I don't care who you are or what greater good you're
doing this for. I'm not using my powers at all, for good or evil. I just wished
the stupid ritual had worked properly and rid me of everything. Besides, I have
shows to put on for fans, and the tour buses are leaving tomorrow."
"Exactly!" Piper agreed quickly. "Besides, Paige,
with you, we don't need any outside help, right?" she patted her younger sister's
shoulder. It still felt a little odd to her to be the oldest sibling.
"Exactly," Raine agreed. "Now, Joey, let's go. And
I promise you three that we will NOT be back. I swore it to myself already."
She looked around and realized John was gone. She assumed he'd gotten a head
start on his walk back to the park where the Ozzfest stages had stood and where
he'd parked his car when he arrived.
Joey and Raine went out to the parking lot and
found the van. It was easily the largest vehicle on the tarmac and so stuck out
like a sore thumb. But of course it had to be pretty big to fit all nine of the
Slipknot guys and their road manager as well as a driver.
Joey climbed in the driver's side and let out a
yelp when he noticed the man sitting in the front passenger seat beside him.
Raine cried out in surprise, too, when she opened the door and saw John lying
prone in the van.
"John!" she exclaimed. She was just about to ask
what the hell he was doing in the van, when she saw his face, slack and
relaxed, and his rolled up sleeve with the tourniquet still clenched in his
teeth to hold it tight around his arm. She didn't see the needle anywhere, but
knew it was in the van somewhere. "DAMMIT!" she cursed angrily. She threw open
the sliding side door of the van and climbed in. "Joey, drive," she commanded.
Joey nodded wordlessly and started the engine. They drove out of the parking
lot and into the empty street opposite the club. Raine crouched by John, making
sure he didn't pass out on the car ride.
"Where are we going?" Joey asked as they reached
the first intersection.
"The hotel he's staying at with Robby and Mike. It's
just fifteen minutes from here."
"Ok, and that would be…?" Joey asked.
"The Hyatt Regency right up this street."
"Aight."
They arrived at the hotel and buzzed Robby. He
sounded sleepy but said he'd meet them down in the lobby in a few minutes. Joey
helped Raine lay John out on a couch in the lobby, under the watchful,
disdainful eye of the man at the desk.
"Hey Raine. Sup?" Robby asked as he came out of the
elevator. "Oh, shit, don't tell me. John's taken his shot for tonight and it
was in a rather unexpected place?" he sighed.
"Yea," Joey nodded. "That about sums it up well. I'd
say a REALLY unexpected and stupid place. Like my van."
"Let's get him upstairs," Robby ran his fingers
through his long red hair and helped Joey heave John up. "Johnny, buddy, you
gotta help us here. You're really too big for Joey and me, we're pretty small
you know."
"Hey, speak for yourself," Joey quipped, forever
sensitive about his height. Or lack of it anyway. Joey and Robby didn't seem to
have that much difference in height. But John definitely did compared to them.
"Whatever. Come on John, work with us here, pick up
those goddamn feet of yours and move," Robby demanded.
John grunted and dragged his feet along with the help
of Robby, Joey and Raine. They made it to the elevators on the other side of the
lobby and Raine pressed the button for the fifth floor. Luckily the guys' suite
was just two doors down from the elevator, so they didn't have far to go.
"Eck, ok, let's not carry him any farther. His
fault for getting stoned. Help me dump him on the couch, Joe," Robby said as
they sidestepped the now unconscious John over to the couch and literally threw
him down.
"Jeez that lump is heavy," Joey panted.
"You think that was hard, try dragging him up the
stairs of his own home, alone, while Mike's whining and trying to search John's
pockets for more stuff," Robby replied ruefully. He ran his fingers through his
hair again. "I appreciate what you guys did, bringing him here. You seriously
should have left him in a gutter or something," he frowned. "He'd deserve it.
Especially after what he's done to Mike, getting him addicted and everything.
John deserves to learn a lesson. But I guess this time he had it easy, since he
wasn't with me. I'll deal with him in the morning," Robby sighed. "I guess I'll
see you guys later."
He walked Joey and Raine to the door of the suite.
Before they left, Raine leaned forward to catch Robby in a tight hug.
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
"You have nothing to apologize for," he said
gruffly.
Before he closed the door, Joey saw Raine turn to
look back, and the look passed between the two was enough to break his heart. The
expressions of pain and grief, they'd practically lost their best friends. But
not to death, to drugs. That was worse, in his opinion. Joey didn't know how
Robby could live with John and Mike. With both of them addicted to heroin. He
knew he'd never be able to do it.