I'm telling this from two different point of views, from Gabriel's and from Piper's, so I'll just be telling you which is which so you don't get too confused.
Gabriel
My name is Gabriel. I have brown hair and, most of the time, cloudy grey eyes. I've been twenty-six for five hundred and forty-six years. I'm a vampire.
But not just a vampire. Before I was given the dark blood of immortality, my mother was a witch and my father was a wizard. They gave me their powers when they died, two nights before I was taken out of the light.
For over five hundred years now, I've roamed the world, helping those in need with my witchcraft and slaying evildoers with the thirst that drives me. I can be a great gift or a great nuisance.
I have been occupying the city of San Francisco, California, for over a decade now. But others of my kind, the covens, have started to become wholly aware of the fact that I wander without a superior to answer to. They've started to come for me.
For weeks I was in hiding; knowing both of their reasons for wanting to kill me. The first was too obvious: I wasn't in a coven and I apparently had 'no reason to live'. But the second took me more that a week to figure out, precious time I didn't have to squander on thought.
As I am also a witch, I developed a potion that would allow me to remain in the light, as long as I was indoors from the hours of eleven in the morning to one in the afternoon. The sun is it's strongest during those hours, and I could not concoct a potion strong enough to dull the flammability of my vampiric blood for those hours of heat. If I were exposed during those hours, I would be a walking cinder.
They wanted to destroy the potion; they thought that not one of our kind deserved to walk in the light. They wanted me to 'suffer in darkness and shadow' just like they did.
I wasn't about to let them try.
So I ran from my hiding place to the one place in San Francisco that I had heard tell from dozens of other witches was the safest place in the world. The house of the Charmed Ones.
Piper"Phoebe!" Piper Halliwell yelled to her sister from the outside of her room. "Phoebe, open the door!"
"What's the matter, sis?" Paige, her youngest sister, asked as she walked up the stairs.
"Well, I wanted to talk to you and Phoebe and Leo about something," Piper sighed. "But I can't because someone won't open her door!" she yelled at Phoebe's door.
"Want me to get her?" Paige asked.
"Please," Piper said. "And when you do, meet me downstairs in the living room."
"Will do," Paige said before she orbed into her older sister's room.
Piper walked back downstairs and grabbed her husband, Leo, by the arm as he walked through the kitchen.
"What –?"
"No questions, just walk with me," Piper said as she pulled him into the living room. Paige and Phoebe were already there.
"What were you doing in there?" Piper asked Phoebe as she and Leo sat down.
"Listening to music," Phoebe said. "Sorry."
"That's fine," Piper said.
"Now that we're all here, what exactly do you have to tell us?" Paige asked, running a hand through her curly red hair.
"There was a body found this morning on our front lawn," Piper said quietly.
"What, like a dead body?" Phoebe asked, sitting up and alert.
"Yeah," Piper said. "I brought it to the police and they brought it to the coroner's office, and it turns out…"
"What?" Leo asked.
"It's body was drained," Piper said.
"Drained…?" Paige asked.
"Of all its blood," Piper said. "The blood didn't sink to the lowest point in the body because there was no blood left to sink. And there's something else, something supernatural."
"What, bite marks?" Phoebe asked sarcastically.
"Yes," Piper said. "There were two bite marks on its neck. There's only one thing that it could be."
"A vampire?" Phoebe asked. "It couldn't be, we killed them all, remember?"
"No, you didn't," Leo said.
"Do you know something we don't, honey?" Piper asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, you might have wiped out a clan, but you didn't kill them all," Leo replied.
"Explain," Paige said.
"See, you wiped out ones that were old. But they evolved, just like every species on this planet evolves. And the stronger ones won," Leo said. "They're different now."
"How different?" Piper asked.
"Well, before, they could turn into bats, right? Well, now they can't. They have more powers. They can nearly fly, talk to each other with their minds. They have strength that surpasses any human's. They can kill a human with their mind."
"Well, this is great!" Piper said. "More vampires to deal with."
"No, see, you don't understand. They've changed mentally as well. They don't think like the older ones did. They respect humans; some even love them. Most only kill the evildoer. They're more controlled now. Only a few rogue ones still hunt recklessly," Leo explained.
"I guess that's a plus," Paige said as the phone rang.
"Hello?" Piper said, answering it.
"Piper? It's Darren."
"Oh, hey there. What's up?"
"Well, it turns out that the body you brought in this morning was the body of a convicted murderer who had just been bailed out," Darren explained.
"What?" Piper said. "A convicted murderer?"
"Yeah," Darren said. "How the hell did you end up with a dead convict on your front lawn?"
"I have no clue, Darren."
"Well, call me back when you do have a clue, please," Darren said. "I can't say nothing all day."
"Will do." Piper hung up the phone and stared at Leo, then Phoebe, and then Paige. "That was Darren. The dead guy on the lawn was a convict."
"See," Leo said.
"But still, it seems kind of fishy. I mean, how would a vampire know the difference between an innocent and an evildoer?" Paige asked.
"They can look into the mind of their victim. They can see every crime a person has ever committed," Leo replied.
"Oh," Paige said. "Well, doesn't that kinda put them on our side, even a little?"
"Possibly," Leo said. "I doubt they would really want to help humans, though."
GabrielWhen I had heard of the body found on the Halliwell's front lawn, I knew that the place was being watched. It was a sign to stay away. The others knew that I was headed for their house.
So I backed off for a few days, strategizing. Could I go there during the day? Possibly, but it would come with a hell of a lot of explaining.
Whatever the case was, at the moment, I was hungry. So I headed over to the P-3, a club owned by one of the Halliwell sisters. I thought I would weed out the evil there for a few nights, do the place some justice. Turns out I got more than I bargained for.
I had spotted a drug dealer heading into the club and started luring him into the alley I was watching from. I couldn't sense anyone else, human or immortal. I walked towards him, easing him with my mind and telling him that nothing terrible would befall him ever again, and that all his sins would be forgiven in the kingdom of heaven. I was three feet away from him when I heard three very distinct heartbeats.
Freezing the man (freezing was my main power given to me by my father), I turned around and saw all three of them, watching in almost utter horror.
The first one I saw was tall, with short black hair and brown eyes. The second: shorter, yet still tall enough, with short red hair and bluish-green eyes. And the third: the owner of the club, with long brown hair and brown eyes. Phoebe, Paige, and Piper Halliwell.
I half-smiled and winked at them before unfreezing the man and sinking my fangs into his neck. The rush of blood felt so good: warm and sweet. It was like getting high for humans, only thousands of times that and not deadly (at least not to me). An ecstasy washed over me; I could feel my skin warming slowly as I drew each succulent drop of blood out of him. I felt his heart finally stop and took what little I could before pouring a little lighter fluid on him and dropping a match. I watched his body burn and scattered the ashes.
When I turned around, they were all still there, watching me in disgust. I walked towards them and could see them as they backed up; Piper tried to freeze me, but it didn't work.
"Blow her up!" Paige yelled as I got closer; I loved terrifying mortals. It gave me such an adrenaline rush.
I took one more step before willing myself to the roof above. I watched in delight as they looked around franticly, asking each other if they'd seen where I'd gone.
"We'll see each other again soon enough," I said so quietly no mortal or immortal could have heard me.
Piper"That was gross," Paige said as they walked back into the house a few hours later.
"Tell me about it," Phoebe said. "Did you see the look she gave us before she killed him? It was like she wanted us to enjoy it or something."
"Yeah, but I get the feeling that she isn't the one that left the body on our lawn," Piper said.
"Why do you think that?" Paige asked.
"Well, did you see what she did after she was finished with him? She burnt him and scattered the ashes. She was getting rid of any evidence," Piper said. "So I don't think she would have left a body on our front lawn."
"How did she do that, though?" Paige said.
"Poured lighter fluid on him and dropped a match, hun," Phoebe said.
"No, didn't you see what she did before? She froze him," Paige said, wide-eyed. "Like how you freeze people, Piper."
"Leo!" Piper yelled.
"Yeah?" Leo said, orbing into the kitchen.
"We saw a vampire tonight. We had to watch it feed," Piper said. "And it froze its victim and winked before she unfroze him and killed him."
"She froze the guy?" Leo asked.
"Like how Piper freezes people," Phoebe said.
"Interesting," Leo said. "I can check with the Elders, see if they know anything about it."
"You do that," Piper said. Leo orbed out and they headed up to the attic.
"Why are we looking in the book?" Paige said. "Leo said they evolved; the evolved version wouldn't be in there."
"I know," Piper said. "I'm looking to see if any supernatural beings can have powers that others of their kind don't."
"Do you think that's possible?" Phoebe asked. "I mean, what if it just looked like she froze the guy and he was really just standing there?"
"Are you siding with it, now?" Piper asked.
"No, I'm just saying that we may be making a mountain out of a molehill, that's all," Phoebe said.
"We might have a problem," Leo said as he orbed back in.
"Why?" Paige asked.
"That vampire is also a witch," Leo answered.
"What?" all three of them said at once.
"Better believe it," the vampire said from the door.
Gabriel
I had willed myself into the Halliwell manor. I could smell them in the attic; hear them talking about me. And I could also hear a dozen coven members out on the street, guarding the house.
I walked up the stairs, hearing their whitelighter say, "We might have a problem."
"Why?" I heard Paige ask. I stepped into the doorway, waiting.
"That vampire is also a witch."
"What?" I loved hearing the shock in their voices.
"Better believe it."
The looks on their faces delighted me as I saw them turn stare past Leo at me. It tickled me and made me feel honored to be feared by the most powerful of witches. I laughed.
"Please, don't be so frightened," I said, casually walking into the attic.
"That was kinda gross, what you did earlier," Paige said.
"You have to stop caring about things being gross when you become a vampire," I said. "Have to have a strong stomach."
"Did you leave that convict on our lawn?" Phoebe asked.
"You heard Piper," I said. "I don't leave any evidence. But I know who did it."
"Who?" Piper asked. "Because I'm being asked a hell of a lot of questions right now."
"Well, not the exact one, but one of the coven members did it to warn me," I said. "They've been watching the street for weeks now. They didn't want me coming to see you because they want to destroy me."
"And why is that?" Leo asked.
"Because I'm also a witch, like you said," I replied. "And I made a potion that allows me to walk in the light."
"So why would they want to kill you?" Phoebe asked.
"You're full of questions," I sighed. I hated questions. "Why would you think they want to kill me?"
"Because you have something they don't, and they don't think it's fair," Paige said quietly.
"This one's smart," I said, pointing at her. "Yes, they want to destroy my potion and make me live in darkness again. They want me to suffer as they suffer. I don't think of living in the darkness as suffering; eventually I'll get bored of living in the light and I'll destroy the potion myself. But for now, in this day and age, who wouldn't want to live in the light?"
"So why don't you just tell them that?" Piper asked.
"Because they want to harm me. They don't care for explanations. This coven is run by a particularly deranged vampire. He wasn't quite right in the head when he was made. So he doesn't care," I explained. As I looked around at them, I noticed Piper eyeing me rather strangely. "Something wrong?"
"There's something different about you from when we saw you earlier," she said. "You're eyes, they've changed."
"Oh, yes. When we feed, our eyes become red with blood. I don't know why it happens; my maker never explained it to me," I clarified.
"How did you score being a witch and a vampire?" Phoebe asked.
"My parents were witches. They gave me all their powers before they died. My father had a gift to freeze things momentarily and I inherited that from him," I explained.
"But you must have been a vampire already by the time they died," Leo said.
"No, they were killed by a band of vagabond warlocks two days before I was made into a vampire. I went to them at the hospital before they passed, and they gave me their powers in a bottle. I drank the powers down and took them in," I said. "That mixed with the vampiric blood makes me rather powerful."
"Can we trust you?" Piper asked.
"I would say that you could trust me more than you could trust most other preternatural beings, especially the ones guarding your house. But it's your personal judgement that you believe, not me," I said.
"When were you made?" Phoebe said.
"Why do you ask?"
"Well, you sure as hell don't speak like people these days do, that's for sure," she said.
"If you must know, I'll just explain everything. It'll be easier and you can write it all down in your book if you wish," I said.
"I was made in fourteen fifty-seven, in Alexandria, Egypt. But I wasn't Egyptian, and neither was the one who made me. I was studying there with my brother and learning how to read the old Greek texts.
"As I said, my parents had died two days earlier. They had always loved Egypt more than our beloved Italy, and wished to be buried beneath the sands. We did as they wished and buried them in two coffins in the desert. We returned to Alexandria to continue our studies. I was being watched the whole time.
"I had been watched back in Rome, when I was studying at the University of Padua, in secret, as women weren't allowed to be educated in those days. And I was watched while I was visiting cousins in Venice. And the whole time, I could feel it, like a splinter driving me mad.
"So on the second day after my parent's death, at nine o'clock in the evening, my servant came to my bedroom door and told me that someone had come calling for me. I had them sent up to the room, which was foolish. But I did it anyway.
"This man that had come calling; I could tell straight away that he wasn't human. His skin was too pale and had an eerie glow to it; it was too perfect. His eyes glimmered unnaturally. He was beautiful.
"He advanced on me, telling me silently that his name was David and that he had been watching me for years. He said that he had come for me.
"Naturally I was scared, but I remained sitting on the edge of the bed like it was normal for a man who I didn't know to be coming that close to me. He kissed my neck and made me a vampire. That was five hundred and forty-six years ago."
I stopped. I didn't know how much they wanted to hear, or how much I should tell them. They seemed interested, but I could tell something wasn't right.
"What's really important is how where you made?" Leo asked.
"Oh, that's all you wanted to know?" I said. "You should have asked earlier."
"Well, do tell," Piper said, holding a pen and paper in her hand.
"He took all of my blood save a few last drops, and then fed me his vampiric blood. Then he took the blood back and then I took it from him again, and then I was a vampire," I said. "That's about it."
"So…he took your blood, you took his blood, he took your blood, you took his blood?" Paige asked. "Seems a little too easy."
"Some things are just that simple," I said. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to get some shut-eye in before I come with you guys tomorrow. Mind if I sleep in the cellar?"
"Wait, who said you were coming with us anywhere tomorrow?" Phoebe said.
"What, you guys think the police will believe whatever bullshit story you come up with about that body?" I asked.
"And you have a better plan?" Piper asked.
"Most definitely," I said, smiling.
PiperPiper didn't like the plan one bit, but it was the only choice they had.
"So, remind me again what you're going to say to them?" she asked as they left the house.
"All right. I'm going to tell them that I hit the man in the neck with a board that happened to have two nails in it, and that would explain the marks. And then, since I'm a homicidal maniac, I pumped the blood out and dumped it in the ocean," Gabriel explained. "Easy enough for you to comprehend?"
"So we'll just have to tell Darren – "
"Absolutely nothing," Gabriel said. "If you tell your police friend, then when I bail, they're going to think you had something to do with it. And we don't want that to happen, do we?"
Phoebe shook her head and led them all out to the car. "I'll drive," she said as Gabriel got into the front.
"Step on it, Phoebe," she said. "We only have two hours before ten."
"And that's a problem because?" Piper asked as they pulled out.
"Because the potion isn't strong enough to deaden the flammability of my blood enough to withstand the hours of ten through one," Gabriel explained. "So I'll explain quickly, you guys get out, and I'll escape."
"How exactly do you plan on escaping?" Paige asked. "I mean, somebody's bound to notice if you just bend the bars on the cell and run out the door."
"I have ways, Paige," Gabriel said quietly.
Piper sighed as they pulled into the police station. They had been there too many times for her liking, and many of the officers already had several suspicions about what they were.
"Piper," Darren said quietly. "Did you find who did it?"
"Yeah," Piper said. "We brought her in ourselves."
Darren looked over Piper's shoulder to see Paige and Phoebe tightly holding what looked like an extremely pale young woman. Her hair was caked with mud (as was part of the costume that she had designed) and her clothes were torn in several places. She appeared to be drunk.
"Where'd you find her?" Darren asked.
"In the backyard, burning stuff," Paige said as she gripped Gabriel's arm tight.
"Well, how'd she do it?" Darren asked.
"I hit the man in the neck with a board that had two very long, very sharp nails pounded into it," Gabriel whispered.
"Really?" Darren said. "So how do you explain the fact that there was no blood whatsoever in this man?"
"I pumped it out myself and dumped it into the bay," Gabriel hissed. "If he was a murderer then why should you care?"
"How did – "
"We told her, Darren," Piper said.
"Right," Darren said. "Well, I should care because you just committed a murder yourself."
"Right," Gabriel said in a drunken voice.
"Come on, we'll put her in a cell until we can get her to a trial," Darren said, leading the girls over to the other end of the station. He unlocked an empty cell and Phoebe and Paige threw Gabriel down onto the cement floor.
"Well, we'd better get going," Piper said. "Leo needs us back at home."
"Right," Darren said. "Well, I'll call you if anything fishy happens, okay?"
"You do that," Phoebe said, patting Darren on the shoulder as they left.
GabrielPhoebe and Paige threw me down onto the cement floor rather hard, bruising my knee.
Girls, that was harsh!
Paige stared at me, wide-eyed, as Darren spoke briefly with Piper. I winked at her and then they left.
"You're one sick puppy," he said, shaking his head.
"Thank you," I growled.
I sat down on the ragged cot, running my hands through my mucky hair. I was going to spend hours in the shower when I woke up from my rest.
I paced, snapped my fingers together, anything to make the time pass quicker. I even grabbed the steel cup on the table and began running it across the bars just to annoy the officers around me.
"Darren!" I yelled out. He came walking slowly over to me.
"What?" he asked.
"What time is it?" I asked.
"Quarter to ten," Darren sighed.
"My time is up," I said, and, tickled with glee at the look on his face, disappeared and landed in the Halliwell's kitchen next to Paige, scaring her and making her drop her coffee cup.
"Jesus Christ!" she yelled as the cup shattered to the floor.
"Surprise," I said. "I'll fix that." I looked at the cup and Paige watched in amazement as it put itself back together. The coffee was gone, though.
"Thanks," she said.
"You're welcome," I said. "I need somewhere dark to sleep until one. Can I use the cellar?"
"Yeah, I'll take you down there," Paige said, putting her fixed coffee mug on the counter and leading me down to the basement.
"Where are you two going?" Piper asked us.
"The basement," I said. "I need to sleep."
"Whatever," Piper said, shrugging. "Just don't touch anything!"
I smiled as we walked down the wooden stairs. I looked around and was glad to see that there were no windows and several closets.
"What, no coffins?" I asked sarcastically as I opened one of the closets and stood in it.
"Sorry, we're not a vampire hotel," Paige said. "See you when you wake up."
"Yeah," I yawned. She shut the doors and I fell asleep in the cool darkness as ten o'clock rolled around.
Piper"I just don't trust her!" Piper yelled.
"She seems all right to me," Phoebe said.
"It isn't like she's going to drink our blood or anything, Piper," Paige said.
"But what if she does? I mean, what if when she wakes up she's so hungry that she can't wait long enough to hunt and decides to kill one of us instead?" Piper rambled.
"I don't think that's going to happen," Leo said, orbing in.
"And why is that?" Piper asked.
"Well, the Elders say that Gabriel's parents were very strong witches when they were alive and they taught her everything good," he said.
"What about the demonic part of her? The vampiric side?" Piper asked. "Did they say anything about that?"
"Well, they've been watching her for a while and they noticed that she only kills evildoers," Leo shrugged.
"Evildoers," Piper said doubtfully.
"Yeah," Leo said.
"Does anyone else in this house think that she's just the tiniest bit untrustworthy?" Piper asked.
"Not really," Phoebe said.
"No," Paige said, rubbing the back of her neck with her hand.
"Fine," Piper said. "But if any of us get attacked by one of her blood sucking pals, she's gone, you understand?"
"I don't think that's going to happen until night, though," Leo said.
"Still," Piper said. "What I said goes, all right?"
"Yes, honey," Leo said, hugging his wife.
"What time is it, anyway?" Paige asked.
"Eleven," Leo said. "She still has three hours of sleep to go."
"God, what are we going to do until she wakes up?"
"Make a potion," Piper said.
"To do what? Kill her?" Phoebe asked.
"In case she turns on us," Piper said. "Like I said, she's gone if it happens."
Piper, I'm not waking up until night. I'm too tired to rise.
"What?" Piper asked, looking around for the voice that had spoken to her and her alone.
Hun, I'm still asleep. But I'm too tired to wake up, so don't expect me to rise until six o'clock this evening.
"Right," Piper said, nodding her head.
"What?" Phoebe asked.
"She isn't going to wake up until six," Piper said.
"Damn," Paige said. "Now we have to wait forever."
"You sound so disappointed about it," Piper said.
"She's cool," Paige said.
"Oh yes, remember when you almost turned into one of those things?" Piper said.
"Yeah, but not the evolved kind," Paige said.
Piper smiled and headed up to the attic to mix a potion to kill Gabriel in case anything went wrong.
GabrielThat night I woke up and the house was silent. I couldn't hear a heartbeat anywhere. At first I thought they were all dead, but I would have smelled the decay of their bodies; I would have smelled their blood. They were out of the house at night, with a rogue vampire living in their basement.
I climbed out of the closet and went up to the kitchen, where I found a note from Paige.
"'Went out to buy some more ingredients for potions. Be back soon,'" I read aloud to myself. "You won't be back soon if they're out there."
I looked out the window and saw several coven members talking at the corner, pointing to the window and the house. They knew I was there and they knew I was alone.
Bon voyage, boys, I said noiselessly as I willed myself near Paige and the others. I didn't want to be seen, so I landed on the rooftop of an apartment building and watched them walk across the street.
I heard a loud thundering, like the sound of a thousand horses' hooves hitting the ground in a stampede. There was another one around us. He was old. He was watching Piper with a keen eye.
I scanned the area, trying to weed him out among the mortals, but he was masking his appearance. He seemed familiar, but I couldn't be too sure who it was and what he wanted.
Then I saw him. Short dark brown hair and blue eyes. Out of a crowd of mortals wearing anything from leather to spandex, I saw him, in his blue jeans and violet shirt covered with a brown leather jacket. I saw Dorian for the first time in four hundred years.
Paige, Phoebe!
They paused and turned around and looked up at the roof to see me and waved.
Get Piper out of here; she's in danger.
They rushed over to Piper, but Dorian already had her in his grip. He was bending her neck over already.
I jumped off the roof, soaring over to them and pulling Piper away seconds before Dorian would have pierced her neck.
"Gabriel," he sighed, smiling.
"Dorian," I said, nodding.
"It's been a long time," he hissed.
"It's been four hundred years, yes," I said. "I wouldn't call that very long, though. Not for someone to betray you and leave you for dead."
"Oh,
please, Gabriel," he said. "That's ancient
history. You don't still hold a grudge, do you?"
"I hold a grudge towards a
person who should have died long ago," I said. "But have you changed? You were
just about to kill an innocent, you realize that, correct?"
"Gabriel, what's going on?" Piper asked. "Who is that?"
"An old enemy," I said. "Get back, you three. Stay away."
"An innocent? She's killed more people in one month than I kill in a month," Dorian said.
"Kills demons and monsters, Dorian," Gabriel. "You were about to kill a Charmed One."
"Ooh, a Charmed One," Dorian said, mocking me. "If she kills demons and monsters, why aren't we dead?"
"Because she trusts me," I said. "But I don't know if I even trust you now, Dorian. You left me for dead in the sun all those years ago. And I thought you loved me."
"I did love you," Dorian said. "And I didn't leave you for dead. I couldn't get out there to save you because I was being forced back into my crypt."
"Oh, that's it, I forgot!" I yelled. "Being forced by who, Dorian? The fear of losing your own skin to save the one you loved?"
"Yes, the one I loved," Dorian said. "The one I still love."
I froze. I hadn't seen Dorian in over four hundred years and he still loved me? Surely he must have had dozens of other loves.
"I did, and not one of them compared to you," Dorian said.
"Okay, should we be leaving now?" Paige said. "This looks like it could get ugly."
"Paige," I said. "When you get back to the manor, there are several bottles on the counter of a silvery liquid. I want you to destroy them."
"Why?" Paige said. "I thought you want to live in the sun like a mortal."
"I think I want to go back," I said, smiling at Dorian. "Thank you for your hospitality, you three. Do as I said, Paige," I said, staring at her. "Destroy it all. Every last drop, and tell the others watching your house that you've done so."
PiperPiper smiled as she watched Gabriel and her friend walking through the throng together, arm in arm, chatting like the night would go on forever.
"You think we'll ever see her again?" Phoebe asked.
"I hope so," Piper said.