*~*~*~*~* Chapter 3 *~*~*~*~*

Giles rolled over in his sleep, squirming in the bed, and then he woke with a start as he heard a scream within the house. He thought that it was maybe Joanne dreaming, but he thought it best to check. He pulled himself from the bed and went to the door. He shivered as he reached for the handle and tried to pull the door open but it wouldn't budge. He heard something smashing, but he couldn't tell where it came from. He pulled on the handle again but it was still locked.

He started pushing his shoulder against the door and it suddenly gave way.

He crashed out onto the corridor and pulled himself to his feet.

He scrambled down the corridor and went into Joanne's room, finding it empty, and no sign of a struggle. Just then he heard footsteps coming towards the room and he turned to go back out into the corridor,

"Joanne?" he called, but she entered the room catching him off guard and he stepped back a couple of steps,

"Rupert," Giles stopped breathing as he heard his grandmother's voice come from Joanne's lips,

"Your father's dead. He died last night in an accident. Mr. Travers just came to tell us. Maybe you should go comfort your mother, she's in her room." Giles started to breathe again as Joanne moved out of the room. He tried to follow her, but the door slammed shut in his face, and when he tried the handle again it was locked. He could hear crying now, coming down the corridor into his room. His mother sobbing, and he tried even harder to pull the door open, but it wouldn't budge.

Joanne's form made its way down the hall going into another room, which was dark and cluttered with various books and objects that were Magical. Suddenly Joanne felt herself parting in two and her physical form was thrown backwards into the wall and she felt something leaving her as it began to chant. Joanne's head ached from where it had banged off the wall, but she shimmied up it and tried to make her way round to the door. But some invisible force pushed her back down,

"You will bring back my son. You have watcher's blood in you even though you know not of it. You were brought to the council for a reason and that reason alone will bring back my son."

Joanne was suddenly brought to her feet rapidly and pinned against the wall by an invisible force that she could no longer fight,

"I needed you here, and I was losing hope of you coming, but I knew you would come for my grandson. So he was the bait, and now for being a part of this he will be rewarded as I shall be bringing my son and his father back for another chance to prove himself."

The woman started to chant in Latin and Joanne tried to wriggle free of the grip that held her but it was just too tight,

"I call thee Osirus, god of the underworld, I inflict on another what was inflicted on my son with the hope that you may take one for the other."

Joanne felt herself being cut open like finger nails being raked across her only they were sharper. They cut deep into her stomach and face, and she wanted to scream, but she couldn't. The pain was overwhelming and she could feel the blood running down her back and face. Her eyes leaked and she struggled to stay focused, the storm outside roared in satisfaction then it seemed to come inside as fingers and teeth continued to bite and scratch at her,

"I implore thee Osirus, take the worthy child and bring back my son."

Thunder clapped overhead as lightening bolts struck the roof and the windows smashed. Joanne felt herself travelling towards the window, and she tried to put her feet down to stop herself, she tried to reach out but the effort was too great. Soon enough she hovered in the bay window, looking down at the garden below.

Giles heard the rain lashing against the roof as thunder sounded, and lightening struck a tree in the garden. He went to the window and watched a branch fall from it hitting the drive, and covering most of it. He grabbed the coat rack that stood in the room and rammed it against the door, trying to break it open. He pushed in with the coat rack and tried to kick it down, which succeed in removing it from its hinges. Giles broke out into the corridor and looked up and down calling for Joanne. Flashes were coming from underneath his grandmother's door to her room. He had never got into the room because it had always been locked and no one had ever found the key too it. He now presumed that the key was buried with his grandmother, but he could hear something coming from within the room and he presumed Joanne was in there. Only she wasn't alone. He was sure he had heard his grandmother's voice come form the lips of Joanne and he knew she would never play a trick like that.

'This was no trick.' He thought as thunder clapped loudly overhead again and he heard glass smash as lightening flashed. He headed towards his grandmother's room and reached for the door handle, but as his fingers touched it the door flew open and Giles felt himself being pulled into the room,

"Rupert, so glad you could join us for the ceremony."

He could hear his grandmother's voice but it wasn't coming from the lips of Joanne, in was right beside him, and he could see Joanne hovering outside the window. He started to move towards her,

"Joanne -" he called,

"Move another step and I drop her Rupert. Now you wouldn't want that on your conscious would you? The fact that you had killed a young innocent person."

The door opened behind him and Giles turned.

"Shame that it's already happened twice, aye Ripper."