A/N: I have sort of abandoned this story for some time. I just felt like updating. Maybe if I get reviews I'll update more often (wink wink)!
Disclaimer: I DON'T own Charmed, just Gabriel and Rafferty.
Chapter Seven
Before Rafferty managed to get out another word, Cole flung an energy ball at him. Rafferty managed to shimmer to another location, successfully dodging the ball.
"Stupid witches. Just give me what I came for." He spat menacingly.
"Go to hell." Phoebe retorted, walking towards the children defensively. "You're not leaving with these kids." Piper and Paige exchanged worried glances. They were obviously not ready to die for two children they believed to be demons. Piper walked towards Phoebe, grabbing her arm and urging her back, away from the danger. Phoebe glared angrily at her sisters before whispering, "I'm helping them with or without your help." She shrugged free of Piper's grasp and placed an arm on Gabe's shoulder. Gabe looked at her in surprise; he had never had anybody defend him before.
"How sweet." Rafferty smirked, watching Phoebe push Gabe behind her, out of Rafferty's immediate grasp. Piper sighed and reluctantly stepped up next to Phoebe. Phoebe turned to her and smiled gratefully. "Corinne, Gabriel, come with me now and I won't hurt your new friends." Rafferty said solemnly, obviously not wanting to start a fight with the notorious Charmed ones. Gabe remained silent and lowered his gaze to the floor.
"We're not going back." Cori replied indignantly.
"Fine." Rafferty said, manufacturing a blue orb in his hand and hurling it at Cole and Paige, who stood a few feet back from Piper, Phoebe, and the kids. The two were knocked to the floor. Piper stepped forward and attempted to blow Rafferty up but he seemed to be immune.
"Cole, energy ball, now!" Phoebe shouted, looking back at Cole who had quickly risen from the floor. Cole rapidly produced an orb of energy and thrust it towards Rafferty. Before any of the witches could react, Rafferty mentally pulled Cori in front of him. The energy ball tore into her body, throwing her limply to the floor. Rafferty stood, cockily smiling.
"Oops." He smirked in Cole's direction. He turned his gaze to Gabe who had kneeled next to a seemingly lifeless Cori. "I'll see you later." He winked at Gabe and shimmered out, just missing another energy ball that Cole had flung. Leo ran over to Cori and placed his hands over her body, but nothing happened.
"Leo stop messing around." Phoebe said when the usual healing light failed to appear.
"I'm not fooling around." Leo said through his teeth, trying to remain quiet so Gabe wouldn't hear. "I can't heal her. She must be a demon, or evil."
"It couldn't be a spell?" Phoebe asked, kneeling next to Cori's body and stroking her hair adoringly.
"I don't think so." Leo whispered sullenly. Leo rose from the floor and went to make sure Piper was unharmed.
"She's not evil." Gabe urged, his eyes wet with tears. "She can't be evil." Gabe leaned against the warehouse wall, staring at Cori's now colorless face. Phoebe remained silent; she didn't know what to say.
"Pheebs." Piper whispered, placing a hand on her sister's shoulder. "Can I talk to you?" Phoebe followed Piper over to a small circle Leo, Cole, and Paige had formed. "What are we going to do about demon child number two over there?" Piper asked, once she and Phoebe had reached the others.
"He's not a demon." Phoebe urged, placing her hands wearily on her head. "He's a just a little boy who lost someone important to him." She continued.
"Pheebs, no offense but you thought that girl was just an innocent little girl and she turned out to be evil. What are the chances that he's innocent? They grew up the same way and in the same house. We just can't chance it." Paige said.
"What do you want to do with him then Paige? You want to kill him?" Phoebe asked angrily.
"That's not what I meant--" Paige started.
"What did you mean then?" Phoebe turned away from Paige and faced the rest of the group. "Before we label him as evil or a demon we need to be sure he's not innocent. That's what we do isn't it? Protect the innocent?" Phoebe looked from Leo to Piper, hoping for a response.
"Phoebe's right." Leo interjected finally. "If he does turn out to be a demon...well, we'll deal with that then." Paige sighed defiantly, obviously not agreeing with Leo's decision. Phoebe smiled and walked back over to Gabe who had not moved from his original position on the wall.
"So, I have a question to ask you." Phoebe began. Gabe looked up from the floor and glanced pitifully at Phoebe. "You need a safe place to stay and we've got a spare room..."
"You want me to stay with you?" Gabe asked surprised. "You're not afraid I'll kill you in your sleep or poison your water?" Gabe asked almost sarcastically.
"I'll chance it." Phoebe smiled. She placed a hand on Gabe's shoulders and led him over to the others. They orbed/shimmered out of the warehouse and within seconds were back in the comfort of the manor.
* * *
Once in the manor, Cole shimmered out, probably to the penthouse.
"You have a really nice house." Gabe said quietly as he followed Phoebe and Piper to the attic. They hoped to find something in the Book of Shadows about their current predicament. "It's really...homey."
"Where did you live before?" Phoebe asked curiously, pushing open the attic door.
"A house, I guess, it wasn't like this though." Gabe replied, gazing around the rather cluttered attic. Phoebe smiled as she silently approached the Book of Shadows. For a while, she flipped through the pages, not really sure of what she was looking for. Piper entered and exited the attic sporadically while Gabe sat on the floor, flipping through a book he found on the attic floor. Paige, however, still discontented about allowing Gabe, a possible demon, in the house, remained alone in the kitchen, brewing simple vanquishing potion after simple vanquishing potion. After a bit longer, Phoebe slammed the book closed and rubbed her eyes tiresomely.
"I'm going to get some food from the kitchen. Are you hungry?" Phoebe asked, rising from the floor.
"No thank you." Gabe said, briefly looking up from his book. Phoebe smiled at him once more before exiting the attic and heading to the kitchen.
"So how's little demon boy doing?" Paige asked when she saw Phoebe enter the kitchen.
"Why do hate him so much Paige?" Phoebe asked, opening the refrigerator and pulling out a bottle of water.
"I don't hate him Phoebe, I just don't think it's very wise to bring a possible demon into the house. He and that Rafferty dude could be in cahoots. They could have planned this from the beginning." Paige urged.
"Why would they do that? To get into our house? Steal some family photos, maybe a book or two?" Phoebe questioned sarcastically.
"Hmmm...I wonder what a demon might want from our house?" Paige asked, equally as sarcastic as her sister. "Maybe the Book of Shadows?" Phoebe stopped drinking and set the bottle forcefully on the counter.
"I left him alone in the attic." Phoebe confessed. Paige sighed and ran up the stairs to the attic. Once both sisters had reached the doorway they were relieved to see Gabe still seated on the floor. Phoebe smirked as she brushed passed Paige. Phoebe went back to the window where she had previously been studying the Book, but the Book of Shadows was gone. She looked towards Gabe. The Book of Shadows was open in front of him. He flipped through the pages with ease. Good, thought Phoebe, definitely not an evil demon.
"Hey!" Paige shouted at Gabe as she entered the attic. Gabe shut the book, obviously startled by Paige's loud outburst. "I told you..." Paige said forcefully to Phoebe as she walked towards Gabe and grabbed the book off the floor.
"Sorry, I just wanted to see what it was. I recognized the picture on the front and--" Gabe stated apologetically before being cut off by Piper who had abruptly entered the attic.
"What picture? This one?" Piper asked, pointing to the familiar Halliwell symbol on the cover of the Book. Gabe nodded while nervously fidgeting on the floor. He suspected they were angry and would make him leave the house, he knew that if that happened Rafferty would find him very quickly. "Where have you seen it before?"
"On my arm." He replied simply. The witches exchanged confused glances before calling for Leo.
"We'll be right back." Phoebe said to Gabe, smiling. She then followed her sisters down to the second floor. Within seconds Leo had orbed into the manor.
"Leo, what's going on?" Paige asked impatiently. "Why does some child demon have our symbol on his arm?"
"He's not a demon!" Phoebe urged once again.
"You both need to calm down." Piper said, her older sister instincts kicking in. She turned her attention to her husband. "So what did the Elders say, if anything?"
"They know who is he and what he is too I guess, but they said you need to figure it out on your own." Leo responded.
"Do you know?" Phoebe asked suspiciously. Leo looked quickly at the floor before responding.
"If I do know, it doesn't matter, I can't help you figure it out." Before the witches could question Leo any further, Cole shimmered in. Phoebe looked away from him, still hurt by his distrust in her beliefs.
"In the Underworld Rafferty's gathering more demons, he's going to try and kill you again." He spat out before anyone could acknowledge his arrival.
"Should have figured." Paige muttered. Just then, Gabe emerged from the attic and walked slowly down the stairs. Cole was the first to notice him.
"He's still here, shouldn't he be off at...at...little demon school?" Cole whispered to the others.
"He's not a demon." Phoebe whispered angrily back at Cole before walking over to Gabe.
"Don't mention the demon thing around her, she's a little touchy." Paige warned Cole.
"Why? It's his fault Rafferty wants to kill you, he just wants to get to him." Cole replied pointing to Gabe. Meanwhile, Gabe had mentioned to Phoebe that his hunger was growing so the two had headed down the stairs to the kitchen. Piper, still with the others on the second floor, suddenly recalled the conversation they had been having before Cole appeared.
"At least tell us if he's demonic or not." Piper pleaded to her husband.
"He knows?" Cole asked, motioning to Leo.
"Yeah but he won't tell us anything." Paige retorted with attitude.
"I can't, I have to heed the word of the Elders." Leo stated, knowing full well that the sisters and Cole knew of his White lighter responsibility. "But," He began, drawing on their anticipation, "he's not evil."
"Well we already knew that." Piper said, clearly exasperated.
*Meanwhile in the kitchen*
"Who's the tall guy?" Gabe asked as he bit into the sandwich Phoebe had prepared for him.
"That's Cole." She answered hoping he wouldn't delve deeper into the mystery that was their relationship.
"He doesn't really like me, none of them do."
"They're just...nervous. We have to be careful about who we let into the house because of the--"
"The book, right? That big book?" Gabe guessed.
"Yeah, it's a very special book that belongs to this family. It's been passed down for years. If a demon ever got it, who knows what would happen." Just as she finished that sentence, Cole walked into the kitchen. He glanced quickly yet suspiciously over at Gabe before grabbing a bottle of water out of the refrigerator. "How are they doing up there?" Phoebe asked, trying to release a little of the tension that had arisen in the room.
"Arguing with Leo, he won't say anything and it's driving Piper crazy."
"Won't say anything about what?" Gabe asked curiously and quietly, he was quite a bit intimidated by Cole.
"About you, actually." Phoebe answered.
"Me? What does he know about me?"
"Apparently everything." Phoebe responded, grabbing the now empty plate from in front of Gabe.
"Well, I could tell you about me if you want."
"We need an impartial third party to do the telling. We need to know the truth, not some skewed version of reality." Cole answered harshly, taking a sip from the bottle. Phoebe instinctively elbowed him in the gut.
"You think I'd lie." Gabe stated intuitively.
"I don't." Phoebe said honestly. Cole, not wanting to answer the question, left to join Piper, Paige, and Leo once again.
"Are you two married?" Gabe asked innocently, taking a bite of his sandwich.
"No we are not." Phoebe answered starkly.
"You seem to have a...a connection." Gabe offered.
"We have a very complicated history." Phoebe smiled falsely and took a drink of water. Gabe, unsatisfied with her answer went back to his food. "How long have you had the symbol on your arm?" Phoebe asked, resting her head on her hands.
"Forever I guess. It's always been here." Gabe rolled up his shirtsleeve and plain, as day was the Halliwell symbol. "What do you think it means?"
"I don't know." Phoebe replied. "But I'm going to find out." Phoebe smiled at Gabe mysteriously and headed towards the attic to find Leo.
