TWO

"Your just lucky those things don't travel in pairs," said Leo that night

at supper. "If there had been another one of them you might not have been so

lucky."

"Slashers don't work well together," said Cole. "Like I told Piper, they

aren't very bright. They see other Slashers as competition. But they are among

the most powerful of the lower level demons. They rarely fail an assignment."

"They've never come up against Piper's explosive power before," said

Phoebe. "There aren't that many low level demons that can withstand that."

"Why would the Source send a demon into the manor?" questioned Paige. "He

must know this is where we're the strongest. And sending a low level demon

doesn't make any sense. Doesn't he realize that something that low level would

be an easy target for us."

"It was probably a calculated risk," said Cole. "Slashers usually just

shimmer in and attack. He might have thought it could succeed with the element

of surprise. Like I said, it attacked before I knew it was really there. The

only thing that saved me was that odor it emits just before it attacks."

"Well, it's still in the living room," said Phoebe. "It's not very strong

but it's definitely there. We may have to have the place fumigated."

"It won't last long," said Cole. "It should dissipate by morning. Just

open a window to air the place out."

"Okay," said Piper. "In the mean time we had better be on our guard. The

Source isn't the type to give up easily. If he tried once he's bound to try

again. One of us should always be here for the next few days just in case...."

Her sentence went unfinished as a demon suddenly shimmered into the

entryway. It turned toward the kitchen and began to make its way to the

kitchen. Upon seeing the demon Piper brought her hands up and exploded the

creature. Almost instantly the demon reformed.

It stood about average height for a human. It was wearing a leather vest

and knee-length pants with no footwear. Its skin was a glistening black and it

had green tribal markings similar to the ones Belthazor had worn. Small horns

sprouted from its head forming a ring around its forehead. It raised a serrated

athame as it advanced on Cole.

"Leo, get Cole out of here," screamed Phoebe as the girls rose from the

table and took up defensive positions between Cole and the demon.

Leo took Cole's arm and orbed him out as Phoebe kicked out striking the

demon on the wrist knocking the athame from its grasp. The demon struck out

with its now empty hand sending Phoebe crashing across the kitchen. Paige

called to the athame and it instantly orbed into her hand. She cast the knife

at the demon striking it in the arm.

The demon howled in agony as it wrenched the athame from its shoulder. It

turned on Paige striking out at her with the dagger. Paige simply orbed out and

the dagger passed harmlessly through her orb. As Paige orbed out of the

kitchen, Leo and Cole suddenly orbed back into the kitchen.

"Hey," screamed Cole at the demon, "I'm the one you want. Leave them out

of it."

"Gladly, Belthazor," the demon cried out. "Your betrayal of the Source

will be punished. And you will die as the traitor you are."

The demon turned and advanced on Cole. As it did Cole reached onto the

table and picked up the saltshaker. The demon raised the athame intent on

striking Cole down as he quickly unscrewed the cap to the shaker. Just before

the demon could strike with the dagger Cole flicked his wrist throwing the

contents of the shaker in the demons' face. The demon screamed in agony as it

suddenly burst into flames and was vanquished.

"That was Sona," Cole explained. "He belonged to a group of demons that

calls itself the Order of Tallock. They're a group of medium level demons that

serve as sort of mercenaries for higher level demons."

"And that one was serving the Source," said Leo.

"Apparently," said Cole. "Which means the Source is recruiting higher

level demons to send against me. He must really be angry about my betraying

him. Since I lost my powers I'm not a threat to him. But why would he come

after me now, after so much time of ignoring me?"

"Can you blame him?" Phoebe asked. "You were supposed to destroy us but

instead you vanquished his Triad."

"Well, maybe he'll get the hint now," said Piper. "We've vanquished two

of his demons in one day. Maybe he'll learn now he can't mess with us."

"Not likely," said Cole. "It's more likely that he'll regroup. He wants

me dead and apparently won't rest until I am."

"How did you vanquish that thing?" Phoebe asked. "You don't have any

powers."

"Salt," said Cole, holding up the empty shaker. "The Order of Tallock

aren't your typical types of demons. Many are immune to vanquishing potions and

spells but they each have a different weakness. Sona's was salt. I was just

lucky I recognized him in time."

"Cole never told me what he was going to do," said Leo. "He just insisted

that he could stop the demon with a minimum of fuss. I decided to take a risk

since that thing seemed resistant to your powers."

"Well, good thing you did," said Paige. "Not even that athame seemed to

do much good against it."

"As I was saying before I was interrupted," said Piper, "let's stay on our

toes. Our vanquished friend over there proves that a demon can attack at any

time."

"Good idea," said Phoebe. "I'll take first turn at guard duty. Come on,

Cole. Let's go discuss methods of protection."

"There they go," said Paige as Cole and Phoebe went upstairs. "They sure

seem to spend a lot of time upstairs since Cole lost his powers."

Piper just smiled as she began to clear the dinner dishes from the table.