Piper told Grams what had happened. Grams was silent - thoughtful - for a while before she spoke.

"Mal has been gaining power for quite some time. He was banished by the Source a few years ago, and has been plotting to overtake him ever since. We knew he'd find you here, Portia, but we'd never imagined he could find you so quickly, or attack so soon."

"OK, so how do we vanquish him?" asked Phoebe.

"There's no known vanquishing spell. No one's seen him since he was banished." Patty said.

"That would explain why he's not in the Book of Shadows." Piper reasoned.

The doorbell rang.

'That's probably Dad.' Portia thought. "I'll get it." she said, feeling a sudden need to get out of the attic. Though she had accepted her destiny, talking about demons - especially this demon - made her nervous.

Portia went downstairs and opened the door. She stepped aside to let in the uniformed policeman that was standing on the porch come inside.

"Are the Halliwell sisters home?" he asked, looking at her suspiciously.

"Hey, guys, there's a cop at the door!" she yelled up the stairs.

Prue appeared at the top of the staircase. "Hi, Darryl," she said, "What's up?"

"Can I talk to you?" he asked, glancing back at Portia. He led Prue into the sun room. "A girl was attacked this morning walking down a sidestreet. Scorth marks on the the street and curb, looks like something demonic. And that innocent you've got in there, looks a lot like the girl who was attacked. That look on your face tells me something is seriously wrong here, Prue, what the hell is going on?"

"Um, Darryl, that girl isn't exactly an innocent..." she began, biting her lip. "Portia, sweetie, can you come here?" Portia came, and Prue put her arms around her. "Darryl, this is my baby sister, Portia. Honey, this is our friend, Darryl Morris. He knows about what - who - we are. We... help him sometimes."

"Hi." Portia said slowly.

"Uh... hi." Darryl replied, glancing at Prue.

And akward silence. Prue broke it.

"Darryl, that girl, is she allright?"

"She's in the hospital being treated for minor burns, but other than that, yeah. She was lucky."

"Can we see her?" Prue asked.

"Yeah, sure. I'll take you tomorrow." He started moving toward the door. "I've gotta run. See you tomorow. Oh, and nice meeting you, Portia."