Coven
Piper directed Bane and Dylan down the stairs to the basement. All three carried armloads
of blankets, pillows, and toiletries. After much discussion, they'd decided that the "guys"
would bunk down in here, while Poppy took the room that had used to belong to Grams.
In the morning, Bane would go to a hotel until he could find an apartment. Leo had
located a battered but usable cot. Dylan simply asked for a sleeping bag. "That'll be
enough," he assured the Halliwells. "I'm used to it, I go camping all the time. "
Bane hadn't heard of the 'Free House'.
Neither had Darryl. Phoebe had gone to
the library to look for any recent newspaper articles or
references to Wilkes.
Bane looked around.
"I know it's not much,but--"
He laughed softly. "Piper, I've been living in a cell that was eight feet across
for years. This is
plenty."
" 'K. Come on back up if you need anything else." Piper set her load down.
Leo was waiting for her in the kitchen. "It's almost midnight,
Piper," he said. "You
need your sleep."
"No argument on that score." She let him pull her along as he started
toward their
room.
The phone rang. Irritated, Piper snatched the cordless unit off the stand. "Hello?"
"Piper, it's me," Phoebe said. "Inspector
Cortez just called...."
"Oh, not again!"
"No. Not again. Darryl gave him the number. I think he
was right to."
"Why, what's going on?:"
" The Inspector told me only some of it. There are .....there have been murders that look
to Cortez as though they were done supernaturally. From what he's said, it sounds
like there's a good possibility they were killed by some kind of demonic predator, like
the Wendigo or vampires.He wants to know will you or I meet with him."
"Now?"
"Cortez said tomorrow,
morning. One detail he gave me is, the deaths all
occurred at night. I said we'd call him back. He sounds-- he's scared, Piper. He
promised he'll meet us alone, anywhere we want, and no surveillance or tricks."
"Oohhh, that does not sound good."
"How do you want to handle it? "
Piper thought quickly . " Have him meet us at Starbucks over on Twentieth
Street. Eight o'clock. I don't want him at the Manor. Particularly now. If need be,
we can go somewhere more private from there."
"Gotcha."
Piper felt a pair of muscular, work-roughened hands grip her shoulders. She and
Leo orbed into their room, sans telephone. "Hey!" she protested.
"You think being at gunpoint once a day isn't sufficient?"
Piper furrowed her brow . "You don't think we should talk with him?"
"Not alone. Take Bane with you. He's the most devious of this bunch, and
used to
outthinking cops.. Cortez won't be able to con him, if the Inspector is playing games
with you again. Tomorrow," he added flatly.
* * *
Cara stared up at the sign over the doors. It said San Francisco Memorial Hospital.
She'd gotten into San Francisco, finally. It was almost two
in the morning.
She'd asked the driver for directions to a safe motel. However, on her way
there
she'd felt....something wrong. Magic that had a 'feel' to it like nails scraping over
a chalkboard. She didn't recognize it; all she could sense clearly was that sense
of -- of distortion, and the general direction it was coming from. Her uneasiness
became too great for her to ignore. She began to follow the "scent". Here was
where the trail ended, by the doors that led into the Emergency Room.
The parking lot was mostly deserted. A single ambulance was parked by the
entrance. Cara didn't see anybody.
She walked past the ambulance, angling toward the building. Where did it go? I
know I felt it here--
Glass sprayed wildly in all directions as a man wearing an EMT jacket was tossed
through the ambulance windshield.
The sense of presence, of hatred like acid burning her skin, flooded over her.
Cara ran to where the man lay. "Don't move!" she called. She could see dozens of
small and not-so-small cuts on his bare skin. His right cheek and ear were shredded,
gory. She crouched beside him, yanking off her scarf. The laceration across his
throat was the most serious. It had missed the jugular...barely. She folded the
cashmere into a rough square, pressing it against his neck.
From above them, something snarled. The sound echoed through the lot.
Cara's head jerked up.
A humanoid figure was standing on the hood. Two others peered through the
broken
windshield. Blood and....oh Hecate, was that flesh? dripped from mouths filled with
fangs. Grey-skinned, bloodshot eyes, hands that ended in clawed fingers...
That last detail triggered a memory. What was it--yes-- uh oh.
Ghouls. Demons, eaters of human flesh. Don't care if the victim is alive or
dead. She grabbed the man's arm. Pulled him into a standing position. "Ok, look,
we need to get inside. Now."
They half-ran , half-limped toward the building.
Cara felt a rush of air at her back. She let go of the EMT and dodged to the
left,
narrowly avoiding the ghoul that had lunged at her.
"What the hell is wrong with them?" The man stared at the three demons.
"You want me to explain that now?! Run!" Cara screamed at him.
He bolted. Cara recited the words of a spell she'd memorized, speaking so
rapidly she slurred some of the words. She hoped the Greater Powers would be willing
to cut her some slack; she had bigger worries than correct etiquette at the moment.
A shimmering in the air, like heat haze, surrounded the ghouls. They stopped their advance.
"C'mon, " Cara taunted. "Come on, you suckers, what are you,
scared of little me?"
The lead ghoul rushed at her. He struck the "mist".. and was engulfed
in white-hot
flames.
His mouth opened in a silent scream. Cara snickered. That's what you get for
thinking with your stomach...
The body dropped to the pavement, smoking, skin charred and blackened.
She threw a glance at the ghouls that remained imprisoned.
Going to have to vanquish them too,
she thought. I can't let them go. They'd attack anyone who came out---hell,
the way they look, they might go inside after the patients...
A clawed hand wrapped around her ankle, jerking her off her feet. She fell.
The ghoul's eyes blazed as it dragged her closer. Horrified, Cara saw that the burns
she'd inflicted were no longer blackened, but reddish-- and then fading to pink and
blistered..... You've got to be kidding me!! She dug her fingers into the soft
earth, grasping at anything she could reach to keep from
being drawn any further.
"What's going on over there?" someone yelled.
She heard footsteps, and more yelling. The ghoul's hand was locked on her
ankle. Cara had about three seconds to act before the hospital employees
got so close the ghouls would go after them. She couldn't hold the burning ward
up indefinitely. Nor was it doing her much good.
She made a quick prayer to anyone who might be listening, and "slid out", taking
the ghouls with her.
The two who had been hanging back swarmed over her. Cara cried out as teeth
sank into her leg, her arm, her face....
Across town, Leo woke up, gasping in mingled shock and pain. "Cara.....oh God-!"
He stumbled out of bed. Before Piper could ask him what was wrong, he orbed.
He reappeared a scant second later, holding a strange girl, both of them covered in
her blood.
"Piper, get Paige-- I can't do this alone, it's too much. Hurry. Up."
Piper left the room at a dead run.