"You all stare but you'll never see, there's
something inside me…" Corey sang onstage at the San Francisco Ozzfest show. It
was Slipknot's opening song, Purity, a song about a girl who was
kidnapped and buried alive. Quite an odd topic for a song, but that was how
Corey wrote. But the fans seemed to love it, they were singing along, moshing
and cheering for Slipknot. Joey knocked out the rhythms on his drums alongside
the rest of the band and grinned through his mask. It was always a great high,
just being up onstage. Of course, Corey had it worse in their new suits. He had
to move around a lot more. And he always head-banged.
Suddenly there was a huge gust of wind, Corey was
almost knocked over from the force of the wind. But he was caught by the wall
he was thrown into. Raine gasped from the wings where she'd been watching.
Something greenish blue whipped onto the stage, like a tornado. It was a blur
of colour and noise. It almost hit Craig, who screamed and dashed out of the
way before he was sucked into the vacuum-like creature. Raine knew that
green-blue blur. It stopped spinning and slowly, as the dust settled, began to
take on the form of a man. Or, not quite a man, but a very tall, humanoid
creature. It was about seven feet tall, with green-blue skin and long jet black
hair. He stood in the middle of the stage and roared at Joey who sat paralysed
below his towering form. Joey sat still as a rabbit on his drum stool, gaping
open mouthed at the thing. He couldn't hear anything but the screaming winds
which the creature seemed to be made of.
"Joey! Get out of there! Run!" Corey screamed
frantically at him, not wanted to go closer to the creature, but fearing for
his friend's life. "Joey! Dude! Fuck! Run!" he screamed.
"Joey!" Raine shrieked as she rushed forward.
"No! Raine! Come back here!" Corey screamed,
reaching out to grab her, but not fast enough. She'd run out to the middle of
the stage, the tiny, 5'3" girl glaring up at the huge thing with eyes black as
pools of ink.
"Tanarus!" she screamed. "That's enough! Stop that
right now!" she demanded. Corey half expected her to stamp her foot like a
child throwing a tantrum.
"Kalika?" asked a deep voice. It seemed to resonate
from the air itself. The voice was everywhere all at once and seemed to be coming
from every direction.
"Tanarus, you big bully, leave him alone!" she
scolded. Corey watched in horror and amazement as the creature swung around
into another tornado, but Raine held her ground. The creature stopped spinning
once again, and looked like a regular man. He had longish dark hair that fell
in his eyes, he looked young and was built. He had muscular arms and his tight
shirt accentuated the muscles in his chest and stomach. His eyes were still
pools of ink, but softer somehow.
"Kalika?" he asked, confused. This time, his voice
sounded a lot more normal to Corey.
Joey still sat, dazed, behind Raine, who blocked
the creature's path to him.
"Yes, in a sense, it's me, Tanarus. Now tell me,
why are you here?" she asked quietly.
"Not looking for you, that's for sure. The witches,
the Charmed Ones are here somewhere," he answered. "I have to find them, they
killed my brother."
"That's no reason. Go away, they can kill you, I
swear. I've met them. They're smart girls, don't underestimate witches. Especially
not the Charmed Ones. For your own good, stay away," she shook her head.
"You seem to know a lot about these witches," he
said suspiciously.
"What's your point?"
"With your knowledge, we could kill them. I want to
know why you're here and why you want me to leave. Are you trying to kill the
Charmed Ones yourself so you can go back to the council after all these years
and beg for forgiveness for deserting?" he demanded.
"No, I'm not trying to kill the witches. I saw them
the other night, and I would have killed them then if I wanted to. You know me,
Kali Ma. That's not why I'm here. And if you ever took the time to find out
about humans you'd know I'm one, too," Raine glared angrily at him.
"You're – huh?" he asked confusedly. "What are you
doing here Kalika? Just tell me!"
"I'm on a tour! I'm a musician for your
information, Tanarus! I have a band and friends and a fiancé. I have a life."
"A life?" he scratched his head. "So you won't help
me kill the witches? I mean, you seem to know so much about them. You could
help me avenge my brother."
"No," she shook her head firmly. "Go away, don't
hurt these innocents."
"What? Since when did you care about humans?" he
sneered.
"Since I loved one. Since I became one."
"You – you went through with that ritual?" he
wanted to know more. He wanted the whole story, and Raine simply didn't want
him to know and didn't want to explain.
"Just – just go away!" she said.
Joey watched on as she moved her hands around in
circles in front of her, he watched fascinated as a glowing purplish-blue ball
began to form in her hands. She raised it above her head threateningly, drawing
energy from all around her into the ball, making it grow larger. It started
about the size of a tennis ball, in two seconds it had grown to the size of a
basketball. It rolled and spun in the air above her hand without touching her
skin. A few seconds later it had grown to the size of a beach ball. Tanarus
eyed the orb uncertainly.
"But if you're human, how can you still have your
old powers?" he asked, still confused.
"Something went wrong," Raine replied through her
gritted teeth.
"Joey! What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Corey
screamed, finally remembering his best friend was still in the line of fire of
the thing. Joey's head snapped to the side to see Corey going nuts in the wings
and the head of security starting to try to pull him away to the safety of the
tour bus. Joey didn't know what to do, he didn't want to leave Raine all alone.
"Joey, go! Go with Corey!" Raine shouted over her
shoulder. "Tanarus, listen to me! Leave me alone! And leave the witches alone!
They'll kill you, I swear!"
"Kalika, you have to help me! No one else will!" he
pleaded.
"That's because no one wants to mess with these
witches for some stupid avengement mission made up by you!" she screamed. "Now
if you don't go away, I'll be forced to throw this energy orb at you!" she
threatened furiously. Why didn't anyone ever listen to her?!
"Ok! Ok, I'm going! Just don't come crying to me
later for help," he grumbled as he shimmered out.
"You bet I won't!" she snapped at his wavering form
before he disappeared completely. Raine relaxed and let the orb go out, then
slumped to her knees on the stage. The fans were more than slightly confused,
wondering whether or not it was part of the show. Raine heard the roar of the
crowd just before she passed out on the stage.
~*Meanwhile*~
"Ooh! This is not working!" Phoebe complained
frustratedly as another of her spells fizzled. This had never happened before, all
her spells worked! She stamped around the living room in circles around the
coffee table. She had the book of shadows open in front of her on the table and
kept looking down at it to see if she was doing everything right.
"Maybe something went wrong," Piper shrugged.
"Try summoning him again," Paige suggested.
"I already tried that five times with five
different spells!" Phoebe threw up her hands.
"Leo?!" Piper called as she looked up at the
ceiling. "Leo!" she called again.
"Leo!" Phoebe joined in her call. "LEO!" she
shouted impatiently.
"You rang?" a voice asked from the doorway.
"Oh!" Paige jumped as she turned to face him.
"Jeez, would you not do that?" she grumbled. "I still can't quite get used to
you orbing in all the time."
Piper slipped her arms around his waist and kissed
him gently.
"Sorry," he smiled. "So, you called me?"
"Yea, we can't get our summons through to this
demon…thing…whatever," Phoebe pushed her hair back from her face as she spoke.
"What do you think Phoebe's doing wrong?" Piper
asked.
"Hey, it's not me. It's the spells. Maybe you two
aren't working hard enough for them to work," Phoebe snapped.
"Hey, calm down. It's not you. It's the demon.
Tanarus has this special power that he uses to deflect summons. So you can't
summon him in here. Why would you want to do that in here anyway?" he asked,
looking around the living room.
"Well, our plan is to summon him into this circle
of candles and herbs on the floor so we can trap him," Piper spoke up.
"I see," Leo shook his head. "Well, that's not
going to work. This guy works on his own turf. You have to wait for him to show
up. But there is another way you can do it," he thought aloud.
"And that would be…?" Paige asked, prompting an
answer.
"Well, there is a demon named Kalika who can
make him appear when and where she wants to," Leo replied. "But…"
"But we killed her," Phoebe finished for him.
"Great! This is just wonderful!"
"Aren't you forgetting something?" Paige asked.
"Kalika still kinda lives. Her name is Raine Kale. And she's in town this
weekend with the Ozzfest tour. We saw her last night, remember?" Paige shook
her head, her sisters just didn't seem to want to believe they hadn't
vanquished her. She wasn't sure why, but they just didn't want to believe that
Raine could be an ex-demon.
"Right," Leo said sarcastically as he eyed Paige.
"And how do you know that?"
"Because I talked to her. She told me the whole
story. She tricked you guys and made you believe you vanquished her. But she's
still here, and I think she could help us."
"She said she wouldn't," Piper disagreed. "She told
us she didn't want to help us or get mixed up in our affairs. So how do you
propose we get her to make this thing appear?" she raised her perfectly plucked
eyebrows at her sister.
"Simple!" Phoebe exclaimed. "We go see the show!
She'll be performing, right?"
"Yea! But we don't have tickets," Paige frowned.
"Haven't you ever been to a rock concert?" Phoebe
laughed. "There's ALWAYS people standing around outside trying to sell off
extra tickets. We'll be able to get three. And then Leo can orb inside the
park."
Leo nodded, "That just might work."
"No, no I do not want to see some stupid rock
concert! Phoebe, can't we just go backstage or something?" Piper whined.
"No, it's major security. There are lots of bands
that would get mobbed or something, those fans are violent. They're going to
have maximum security," Paige shook her head.
"Besides, it'll be a good show! Linkin Park are
going to be there! Ooohoo!" Phoebe rubbed her hands together. "Sexy rock star
here I come!" she giggled.
"Phoe-be!" Piper frowned at her younger sister.
"What? Can I help it if Chester Bennington is hot?"
Phoebe grinned.
"No way! Mike Shinoda!" Paige grinned back. "Mike's
the best!" she giggled.
"You two are crazy! How am I supposed to deal with
you two nutcases at this concert?!" Piper complained. "Just Phoebe was enough
when Prue was around. Now you too, Paige?"
"Hehehehe! But Urban Violet are awesome, too!"
Paige countered. "That's Raine's band. There's five of them, her, Amanda
Winters, Monica Lau, Sam Tan and Drea MacDonald! They're sooooo cool."
"We are there to find this demon girl and bring her
back to summon this other stupid demon who's been killing innocents for no good
reason!" Piper scolded.
"Girls, hey, get a grip. This is business only,"
Leo warned. "I have to go now," he leaned down to kiss Piper before he orbed
out again, in the middle of their kiss, as usual.
~*~
Piper, Phoebe and Paige arrived half an hour later at
the park where Ozzfest was being held. They could hear the hellish sounds of
Marilyn Manson blaring out of the main speakers, mixed with the sounds of other
various bands. Phoebe easily found three tickets off random people hanging
around the main entrance, still hoping to sell the tickets for inflated prices.
"Phoebe, I don't really think paying $90 for a
stupid ticket is worth it!" Piper exclaimed when Phoebe exchanged the money
with a teenage guy.
"Well it's either this or waiting around for
Tanarus to come back!" Phoebe snapped. "Besides, it's only $25 more than the
regular price."
"$25?!" Piper exclaimed. "That's really too much!"
"Well, no one's going to sell for less! Now, we
have three tickets, let's go in!" Phoebe jumped up and down excitedly.
Luckily for them, when they got in, Marilyn Manson
was just finishing up and Black Sabbath was coming onstage.
"Oh, would those guys just die?" Piper quipped.
"Hey! Black Sabbath kicks royal ass!" a guy near
them said indignantly.
"Ok! Let's go check out some of the side stages!"
Piper squeaked as she looked the large metalhead up and down. Paige quickly took
her sisters' hands and pulled them over to a side stage where New Found Glory
were playing.
"Punk, yuck," Piper made a face. "How much more do
I have to endure?"
"It's just Black Sabbath's hour, and then Urban
Violet will be up," Phoebe informed her.
"A whole hour?" Piper moaned.
"And then Urban Violet and then LINKIN PARK!" Paige
squealed. Piper couldn't believe how embarrassingly stupid her sisters were
acting! Squealing over rock bands like high school girls? What was getting into
them?!
But an hour later, Piper found herself with the
rest of the crowd squeezed between Phoebe and another girl on her left in the
middle of the crowd of screaming fans awaited Urban Violet's entry to the
stage. A second later, there was a puff of smoke that blanketed the whole
stage, and a deep voice boomed over the crowd.
"Urban Violet rapes the stage." Then the voice
laughed evilly and the smoke settled around a band of five teens.
"How's everybody doing today?" Raine screamed into
her microphone. The crowd roared back.
"I can't hear you!" the blonde drummer seated
behind her screamed into her mic.
"Anybody get sun stroke yet?" a short Asian girl beside
Raine asked with a grin. "How was the rest of the main show? You guys liked
Slipknot?" she continued. The crowd roared their approval.
"Let's get on with the show!" the only guy in the
band laughed as he began to strum out his bass line. Piper thought he looked
stupid. He had long black hair in the front, practically covering his face, and
spikes in the back. The rest of the band started up into a song and the fans
sang along.
Piper, Phoebe and Paige watched the hour-long
performance until the end. Piper hadn't realized how relieved she'd be when
Raine announced the last song and swigged down the last of her water. The
constant screaming and noise was driving her nuts!
"Woo! That was a great set! We hope to see you guys
at our autograph tent later today! But for now, here's LINKIN PARK!" she
screamed the last words before six guys ran out onstage and she ran offstage
with the rest of her band.
"Great! Now, let's go find them at their autograph
tent!" Piper said and attempted to drag Phoebe and Paige away from the crush of
the crowd.
"Piper! It's Mike! It's Linkin Park! We have
to stay for their show!" Paige argued.
"Hey, remember what Leo said, this is business
only! You can drool over them later!" Piper snapped as she dragged Phoebe away
from the stage where they'd ended up crushed against the metal safety rails.
They pushed their way along the rails until they got to the end where they
could then turn and ask a security guard for the location of the Urban Violet autograph
tent.
"It's been set up by a local radio station, so it
should be over on the east side of the park," the security guard told them, not
very helpfully.
"Ok, thanks," Piper sighed as she turned to leave.
"Hey, do you know Chester Bennington?" Phoebe
eagerly asked the guard. "Have you ever met Linkin Park?"
"No, miss, I was just hired for this venue. I don't
travel with the tour. If you want to find people who really know the bands you
have to go to the backstage security. They're the only ones not hired on
location," he answered gruffly.
Phoebe's face fell, but she thanked the guard
anyway and followed Piper and Paige towards the direction they thought might be
east.
"Aha! There it is!" Paige pointed when she saw the
male bassist of the band leaning against a blue van parked behind a canvas
topped "tent" talking to a fan. The three rushed forward to the almost
mile-long line to the front!
"Excuse me," Phoebe said as she pushed past a
couple people on her way to the front. People in line gave her dirty looks but
didn't really say anything. Phoebe made her way up to the bassist and tapped
him on the shoulder. "Hi, I'm here to talk to Raine. I kind of know her from a
couple of nights ago when she was at my sister's club. I have something really,
really important to ask her."
"I'm sorry, you'll have to get in line like
everybody else," he shook his head.
"No, really, I don't want an autograph, I just have
to ask her something," she persisted.
"I already said, no matter what, you have to go to
the end of the line and wait your turn to talk to the band. Sorry," he
shrugged. "Those are the rules set by security, I can't do anything about it."
Phoebe growled, "Fine. Thanks anyway."
The three turned and left.
"Now what do we do?" Piper asked.
"Can we go back to the stage, please?" Paige
begged. "I really, really wanna see Mike!"
"No! We have to find some way of getting to Raine!"
Piper said firmly.
"I know, I'll go invisible and just walk right past
the security and stuff. Then I'll reappear behind her," Paige said as she
started to waver in front of Piper's eyes.
"No! That will call too much attention!" Piper
argued.
"Well, then I'll reappear on the other side of the
van or under the table or something," she shrugged.
"Just don't get caught," Phoebe said as Paige
disappeared.
"I won't," they heard her say from exactly where
she'd been standing two seconds before, except that they couldn't see her.
Piper and Phoebe stood around looking nervous while
Paige went off to get Raine.