"Go away! Get away from me!" Cassandra yelled as loud as she could. The monsters moved in to grab her. She yelped and flailed around. Then she screamed at the top of her lungs.
"Cassie! It's okay now Cassie, it's a dream!" a voice said from far away. Her eyes slowly opened and her father was staring down at her intently. His intense green eyes were filled with concern.
"Daddy, oh Daddy! I want Mommy now!" she cried. He watched his daughter cry and a pang of guilt and pain filled him. He knew that Cassandra's mother, his wife, was not going to be with them again. Gently, Wyatt Halliwell rocked his grieving daughter.
"Shh now baby, I'm here now. You're going to be just fine," he murmured, partly trying to convince himself.
"Daddy, the monster that made Mommy go away, he was in my dream and he wanted to take me and my brothers! I tried to be a good big sister just like you and mommy said.but he was so scary!" she yammered. Wyatt kissed his daughter's head and laid her back onto her pillow.
"The monster is gone. I took care of him baby girl. You just keep being a good big sister and help Daddy out. Now go back to sleep and when you wake up, Nana Paige will be here to play with you and your brothers," he said wearily, trying not to remember the night the love of his life was brutally killed. Cassandra obediently closed her eyes. Wyatt didn't go back to bed right away. He slowly wandered the halls of the large manor that had housed his Mother and her sisters for so many years. Pictures of his wife and kids were all over the walls, haunting him. Her smiling eyes followed him wherever he turned. He stopped at the biggest picture in the hall and sighed. Rebecca, his wife, was smiling tiredly holding his youngest son Shamus on the day he was born. She was surrounded by his other children. Cassie and his twin three year-old boys were beaming and proudly sitting around their little brother. Wyatt himself was standing a little farther back from the hospital bed, contently watching his family smile for the camera. It was hard to imagine that a little more than a year later he would be raising his four children alone. He stumbled slowly and sleepily back towards his bedroom. A shriek sounded from the twins' room. He ran as fast as he could and burst through the door. Skyler and Ash were hugging each other close.
"Daddy! He was here! A bad bad man!" Ash said through tears. The window was wide open and the breeze flowed around Wyatt.
"What did he look like?" Wyatt asked, sitting on the bed. Ash and Skyler shrugged simultaneously.
"He was really bad though Daddy," Skyler promised. Wyatt looked around the room and examined it for traces of the demon. A scorch mark darkened the far wall and the glass from the broken window littered the pale blue carpet. Wyatt sighed and swung his boys into each arm.
"Let's go sleep in Daddy's room. If fact, lets go get Cassandra and we can all sleep in Daddy's room!" he said, trying to sound excited, not terrified. Ash and Sky hooted with laughter and tore off to get their sister.
"Yay Cassie! Cassie!" Ash yelled loudly. Wyatt looked carefully around his boys' room.
"I know you're still here," he whispered. A moment passed and nothing happened.
"What are you going to do if I show myself?" a deep voice responded. Wyatt took a deep breath.
"I'm going to rip you to shreds for coming near my children," he replied bluntly. He could here shuffling from around him.
"I wasn't trying to hurt them. I was tracking a demon named Garatos, he came after them and I followed him here. I saved them!" the voice persisted.
"My sons said nothing of two men in the room. Just one scary demon," Wyatt spoke, trying to determine where the source of the voice was.
"I am invisible, they couldn't see me. That's the only way I can stop Garatos," he said slowly.
"Why should I trust you?" Wyatt challenged. Cassandra, Ash and Skyler ran through the door.
"Daddy! We're going to make a big bed with all of our blankets beside Shamus's crib in your room okay?" Skyler asked happily.
"Sure, just don't wake up Shamus," he said, wanting his children to leave as soon as possible. When his kids had left he faced the direction the voice was coming from.
"You can trust me. We were almost family," the voice said deeply.
"Who are you?!" Wyatt asked angrily. A man appeared in the corner of the room. His black hair was sticking in many directions and his blue eyes were as cold as ice. He was unshaven and looked tired and disheveled.
"I was supposed to be your uncle, many moons ago," he said slowly.
"All of my Uncles are alive and still with my Aunts!" Wyatt challenged. The man laughed sleepily and shook his head.
"I go way back before her current husband. My name is Cole and I know where you can find you wife" he stated. A pain struck Wyatt and his stomach jumped.
"My wife is dead," he said sadly.
"That may be. But everyone dies now and then Wyatt. It doesn't mean they don't come back. I can find your wife. But only if you help me out," he said mischievously.

TO BE CONTINUED..