FIVE

Leo was gone longer than the sisters would have thought. Even
Phoebe and Paige were beginning to get worried. Eventually, however,
Leo orbed back into the manor.

"Did you find her?" demanded Piper no sooner than Leo had orbed
in.

"Yes," said Leo, "but it's worse than we thought."

"What do you mean?" asked Paige.

"It doesn't matter," insisted Piper. "She's there and we have
the power stripping potion. All we have to do is have you two orb us
in, use the potion, and free Prue. That's all that's important."

"Hang on a second," said Leo. "Paige, did the Book of Shadows
tell you how many zombies a mambo usually creates?"

"Only a couple," said Paige. "Usually they use them to create
fear in their followers. The power to create them is extremely
powerful and they don't normally create more than two or three at a
time. Why do you ask?"

"Because this woman has dozens of them," said Leo. "She lives
on some sort of ranch and apparently is using them to run the place.
She can't be any normal mambo if she can create so many. And as far
as I could tell, that's all that's on that ranch. She doesn't have
any followers."

"That's impossible," said Phoebe. "A mambo is like a priest or
minister. They always have followers. It's part of where they get
their power from."

"Enough talk," said Piper. "Let's just go get Prue. Whatever
this mambo is she's no match for the Power of Three."

"Piper, we can't just go charging in there," said Phoebe. "Not
until we know more about this voodoo priestess. We've come up against
some pretty powerful demons before. Just because she's mortal doesn't
mean she's going to be a pushover."

"So we just forget about Prue?" asked Piper angrily. "We forget
what this woman has done to her? Let her go on for God knows how long
as a zombie?"

"In the first place," said Leo, "it isn't Prue. It's just her
body. Prue; the thing that made her Prue; is gone. Her body is
nothing more than a shell. Second, no one is suggesting we just give
up. All we're suggesting is that we learn a little bit more about
what we're getting into."

"Third," said Phoebe, "you need to calm down. You're letting
your emotions run away from you. We need you level headed for this.
While she may not be a demon, this mambo may be powerful. We have to
be ready for her."

"Okay," said Piper calming herself. "Find out what you can
about his mambo. But don't take too long. Prue isn't going to spend
one more second with her than she absolutely has to."

"We're agreed on that," said Leo. "Phoebe, why don't you go to
the library and see what you can find out about mambos'."

"I have an idea," said Paige. "I'll go to my office and use the
Internet connection on my computer to see what I can find out. I can
probably learn a lot more about it from the Internet than Phoebe can
in the library."

"Good idea," said Leo. "Piper and I will wait her until you
return with what you've learned."

"Orb there," said Piper. "You can orb Phoebe to the library
then orb to your office. I'm sure you can orb into a secluded
location. It won't take as long that way."

"Piper," said Leo, "I don't think it's a good idea if . . .."

"Either she orbs them or I'm going out to that ranch right now,"
said Piper. "I agreed to wait until you get more information, but I'm
not going to wait around here forever. Paige can orb them there
faster than she can drive. Those are my terms."

"I'll be careful," Paige promised Leo. "I'll make sure no one
sees us orb in. I promise."

"Okay," said Leo, "just make sure you are careful."

Paige orbed Phoebe and herself out and Leo turned to Piper.

"What's with you?" asked Leo. "You're acting crazy. You didn't
even act like this when Prue died. Even when you fought the Source,
you kept your head. Now, you're ready to go charging off into an
unknown situation to face unknown dangers. You always used to be the
one who argued about learning as much as you could before confronting
demons and warlocks."

"I don't know," said Piper. "I just can't sit here knowing Prue
is with that woman. We've fought all kinds of evil creatures but none
of them have done anything like this. It's just driving me crazy
knowing that Prue is being used to help evil."

"I know," said Leo. "I don't like it any more than you do. But
we have to know as much as we can about this situation. The more we
know, the better prepared we'll be."

"I know," said Piper, laying her head on Leo's chest. "I'll try
to stay calm. But this mambo or whatever she is isn't going to get
away with this. She's going to pay for what she did to Prue."

"You can't kill her," said Leo. "You know that. She's not a
demon. She's a mortal. You can strip her powers from her, but that's
all. You'll have to leave any punishment up to the authorities."

"Punishment for what?" demanded Piper. "Grave robbing? Raising
the dead? I'm no lawyer, but I'm pretty sure there's no law against
raising the dead."

"Just remember," said Leo, "you can't go out there thinking
about revenge. This is about Prue, not about you. Promise me you
won't do anything you don't have to do."

"I promise," said Piper. "But we are getting Prue back whatever
we have to do. I won't do anything that isn't necessary. But I won't
hold back, either. We're getting Prue back, whatever it takes."

"Fair enough," said Leo. "Come on. Let's go make some coffee.
I have a feeling it's going to be a while before Paige and Phoebe get
back even considering that Paige is orbing them."

* * *

"Well, the library didn't tell me much more than we already
knew," said Phoebe after Paige had orbed the two of them back. "There
was a lot of history on voodoo and their rituals and spells and such.
And it talked about their gods and spirits. But nothing that would do
us any good."

"Too bad," said Leo. "Paige, did you find out anything?"

"I think so," said Paige. "Some years ago there was a mambo in
New Orleans named Santerra. She had come over from Haiti before that.
She was a very powerful priestess. In fact, she was so powerful that
even the other mambo's in Haiti became afraid of her."

"Why?" asked Leo.

"It seemed she had this idea that they should spread their
religion everywhere," said Paige. "Not matter what it took. Even if
it meant destroying those who opposed them."

"You mean she wants to take over the world?" asked Piper.
"That's crazy. You can't force people to believe in something. They
have to do it voluntarily."

"That's what the other mambo's were saying," said Paige. "But
she saw it differently. She was so outspoken about it that the others
felt she would bring them trouble they didn't need. So they drove her
out of Haiti. She ended up in New Orleans where she stayed for
several years. Then, suddenly, with no explanation, she just moved
away. No one knew where she was until we saw her here."

"Are you sure it's her?" asked Leo.

Paige pulled a sheet of paper out of her pocket and spread it
out on the kitchen table. It was obviously a photograph that Paige
had printed up on her printer at work. It showed a picture of the
same black woman that Paige and Phoebe had seen outside the cafe.

"That's her," said Paige. "I found this picture on a website
about voodoo priestesses in New Orleans. She was a powerful priestess
when she was in New Orleans and ran a shop where she sold potions and
spells to tourists. She still has the store but it's run by someone
else."

"That's her," said Phoebe. "The same woman we saw with Prue."

"Just how powerful is she?" asked Leo.

"According to what I found," said Paige, "she's one of the most
powerful. The last known sighting of her was some eleven years ago,
just before she left New Orleans. From what I found out, the longer
they practice their art, the stronger they get. She's pretty strong,
but I don't think she'd be a match for us. Not without something to
augment her power anyway."

"Okay," said Piper. "We've found out what we wanted to know.
Can we now please go get Prue? I'm been very patient. But my
patience is running out."

"I guess we don't have any reason not to," said Phoebe. "I want
to get Prue out, too. If this Santerra isn't as powerful as we are,
it should be easy enough to get Prue out. Especially with the power-
stripping potion."

"Okay," said Leo, "I guess you're right. But let's take this
one step at a time. You may be more powerful than she is, but there's
not telling what surprises she may have in store for us."

"Great," said Piper, standing up. "Let's get going. I want to
get this over with right now."

"We'll orb in on the outskirts of the ranch," said Leo. "That
way we shouldn't set off any alarms she might have set around."

"Let's go," said Piper.

The others looked at each other. There was really nothing
keeping them from saving Prue now. But none of them were sure how
Piper would react once they got there. They were afraid of what she
might do once she came face to face with Prue. And the woman who had
usurped her body to further her evil ends.

To be continued . . .

Be sure not to miss Part 2: Miscalculations. When Leo and the
Charmed Ones get to the ranch to confront Santerra, they find someone
much more powerful than they expected. With the aid of a magical
stone, her powers are magnified to an unbelievable level. Can even
the Power of Three stand up against Santerra and all of her power?

If you've enjoyed this story, you can find more "Charmed"
stories at my website, www.geocities.com/killeenmale/ . You can also
post your own "Charmed" stories if you like to write fan fiction.