Chapter two, Demonic Revelations

Simone sat in the garden reading a book her mother had leant her. Connor and Murphy were out getting some grocery shopping, her aunt Piper was at P3 doing stocking and her mother was working. The guys had been here for a couple of weeks now and Simone was getting used to them being around. The demons haven't shown themselves yet, and Chris was still working on who the anthem belonged to. But Simone grew more cautious every day. If no demons popped in it must mean they are either planning an attack or the whole underworld is vanquished. Seeing as the last thing wouldn't have happened without their knowing they were probably planning an attack. Which was what Simone was worried about. Lucy walked into the garden carrying 2 cups of hot steamy coffee and sat on the other chair. "Thanks." Simone said laying her book on the ground and taking the coffee. "Listen I am worried about not being attacked." Simone said looking at her sister with a frown on her face. "First of all, stop frowning or you'll get premature wrinkles, secondly why worry? I think it's nice to have a break for once." "I don't know Lucy..."

In front of the girls a warlock shimmered in Simone dropped her cup and froze him. "Fuck!!" Simone yelled jumping up. "What? You froze him didn't you?" Lucy asked looking at her sister. "Hot coffee, over hand and legs!" Simone said yelling and cursing. "Well we'll let Chris fix that in a moment, you got your wish though." Lucy said pointing at the warlock. "Crystals!" Simone said out loud ignoring her sister's remark. In a poof of pink smoke the crystals appeared in Simone's hands. She put them round the warlock and unfroze him. He tried to walk forward but was thrown back by the force field of the crystals. "Hello?" Simone heard Murphy's voice coming from inside. "Oh fuck!" She saw him and Connor both walking up to them. Simone threw her hands up without thinking, freezing him and Connor in their tracks. "Ah boyfriend?" The warlock asked with a grin on his face. "NO! He is so not my boyfriend! Besides what's it to you?" Simone asked blushing and frowning at the warlock. "Who the hell are you any way?" Lucy asked crossing her arms. "I am the all mighty Kandrake," he said with a booming voice "Or you can call me Steve." He continued in an annoyingly British accent. The girls both laughed. "Let me guess, you thought you'd come and kill the charmed ones daughters?" "As a matter of fact no, I did send u a messenger but you vanquished his sorry ass. OH! Note to self, must get better crew." Steve said crossing his arms thoughtfully turning his eyes upwards. "Right... Look we don't have time for this so please tell me what it is you wanted so we can vanquish you and get on with our lives." Simone said looking at Murphy. He froze on such a cute moment. "I wanted to strike a deal..." Steve paused dramatically looking from Simone to Lucy, until he saw Lucy's impatient face. "The source is reorganizing the underworld and planning an attack on not only you two, but the charmed ones as well. I want to help you get rid of them." "What's the catch?" Lucy asked looking at him. Steve smiled. "I take the throne and we will go back to the way we were. Good versus evil." Simone looked at Lucy. She concentrated on her sister's mind. 'I don't trust him.' Simone telepathically told Lucy so Steve wouldn't hear her. Lucy concentrated on Steve. His emotions filled her mind, fear, hope.... But no deceiving thoughts. "He's not lying." Lucy said out loud. "Off course I am not bloody lying to you! You've got me trapped in a freaking cage for god's sake." Lucy nodded understandingly. Simone looked at him. "If you double cross us..." "Then you may vanquish me at will." Steve said taking a little bow. Simone looked for a moment longer. "Crystal!" She said and just like before one of the crystals disappeared and reappeared in her hand in a poof of pink smoke. "Nice trick." Steve said grinning while he cautiously stepped out of the cage. "We will meet here tomorrow for more details on what is going on and how we will fix it." Simone said frowning. She just didn't trust him and she needed to discuss this with her aunts and mother, and off course her sister. "Right, will do pet." He gave a small wave and shimmered away.

As soon as he left Simone turned to Lucy. "I don't trust him. I am sure he will turn on us the second he has what he wants." Simone said her arms crossed. "I don't know he seemed sincere enough to me." Lucy turned to look into the room where Connor and Murphy still stood frozen. "Aaaw look at them!" Lucy said "Yeah they freeze cute don't they?" Simone answered smiling at Murphy's frozen body. "Let's sit back down on the chairs and pretend to talk when I unfreeze them, or they'll get suspicious." Simone said looking at her burned hand. It was red and blistering. They sat down and Simone flicked her hand. "FUCK!" Simone yelled again. "What is it?" Murphy asked putting down the groceries, surprised by his own reaction. "Are you okay?" Murphy said looking at Simone who was still covered with coffee. "No I spilled my coffee." Simone pouted and catched herself doing it. "Come on; let's put some cold water on it." Murphy said taking Simone to the kitchen. He put her hand under the streaming cold water still holding onto her. "Thank you." Simone said softly while he took care of her hand. 'God he smelled good, does he always smell that good?' Simone thought while looking at him. "Not a problem at all Simone." Murphy said looking right into her eyes. 'Did her eyes just sparkle?' he thought smiling an inner smile. Simone took a risk, something she never did before. "Do you... want to come to P3 with me tonight? I can't work but I can sit and drink, I would love to get to know the real you." Simone said smiling slightly. Murphy smiled back. "What you see is what you get, but... I would love to go there tonight." He answered getting the first aid kit.

Lucy and Connor sat in the garden talking about anything and everything. Connor kept throwing looks at Lucy. He had liked her since the first time he saw her, but he never had the guts to ask her out.

Lucy noticed Connor throwing looks at her. She didn't want to admit it to herself or her sister but she was growing quite fond of Connor. Too bad it could never work. Simone was right, if they heard about them being witches they would freak.

"Lucy, I wanted to ask you if you uhm... wanted to go out with me." Connor asked looking at her while lying on the chair. Lucy was taken aback by this fact and blushed. "Go out?" "Yes, on a date out." Connor said sitting up. "I... I... Can I get back to you on that?" Lucy asked not waiting for an answer when she got up and left the garden, leaving Connor alone wondering what went wrong. "Simone I..." Lucy stopped dead in her tracks when she got hit by a wave of emotions coming from both Murphy and Simone.

"Never mind." Lucy turned round and walked back into the garden. If her sister could risk dating, Lucy could as well. Images had streamed into her mind when the emotions hit her and Lucy just knew Simone had taken the risk. And Murphy would accept, if he didn't do it already. "Connor? I would love to go on a date with you." Lucy said walking into the garden.

Later that evening Simone and Lucy were both getting ready for their date. "Lucy can you come and help me?" Simone yelled as she tried to put on her pants but couldn't. Her hand hurt like hell and even though Murphy did a great job on bandaging it she couldn't use her hand to button her pants up. Lucy walked in and smiled. "Why don't you call Chris and ask him to heal it?" "Because they have both seen my burn and it would be kind of strange if I all of a sudden have no marks any more wouldn't it? Would you please button my pants up?" Lucy did as Simone asked and fixed her hair while she was there. Lucy was done any way and waiting for Connor and Murphy to come and fetch them. A knock on the door made both girls look up with a smile. "Coming!" Lucy said before turning to her sister. "Ok how do I look?" "Good! How do I look?" "Great! Let's go." "Lucy? Are we doing the right thing?" Simone asked having seconds thoughts. "How about we just have a good time and see how it goes?" Simone nodded at those words and walked out.

"Where are we going?" Lucy asked Connor as she started her car. "How about desert? As we had a fabulous dinner earlier." Lucy blushed "Thanks, well we could go for some coffee at Starbucks and then to P3?" Lucy suggested driving off. "Sure, I would love to try a frappachino." Connor said grinning.

Simone and Murphy arrived at P3, fairly early so it wasn't that busy yet. "Hey you two!" Piper said cheerful at the sight of them. "Hi," Murphy said then turned to Simone "I need to go to the men's room, I will be right back." Simone nodded and turned back to Piper who looked at her hand. "What did you do?" "Spilled coffee, evil warlock who wants to strike a deal so we need to talk to you tonight." "Where's Lucy?" "On a date with Connor." Simone said smiling. "And you and Murphy..." Piper said looking at her niece. "We're on a date too yes; I know you're happy about it, between you and me... so am I." Piper laughed. "And why didn't you ask Chris to heal that?" "Because Murphy saw it... he bandaged it." Simone said looking at her hand. "Oh so it's a momentum?" Piper said looking at her. Simone gave Piper a look. "What?" Piper said looking innocent. Murphy came back and joined the pair of them. "You want to go sit in the VIP area?" Murphy asked taking a drink Piper handed him. "Yeah sure." Simone walked off with out a backwards glance towards Piper.

Lucy and Connor walked round in a park with their coffees when they found a bench to sit on. Connor looked at Lucy from the side. "Nice coffee." Connor said not knowing what to say to her. "Yeah I love Starbucks. Don't you have anything like that in Ireland?" Connor smiled "No, we usually just drink beer or whiskey. Actually I think I have never drunk as little as I did in the last couple of weeks. Your aunt is really strict." Now Lucy smiled. "Yes they all are. That's why Simone and I like to get plastered every once in a while." Lucy grinned at the thought about the last time Simone and Lucy got drunk and their mother found them swaggering through the house. "Why are you smiling like that?" Connor asked intrigued by her smile. She should smile more often. "The last time, Simone and I were very drunk and couldn't really walk without holding on to each other and my mother found us. She had a complete fit!" "And you're laughing because..." Connor asked not really getting the point. "We like to do the opposite of what they do. Where they are good girls, Simone and I like to be bad girls." "Oh really? How bad would you be?" "Honey you haven't seen anything yet." Lucy's cheeks turned red. She called him honey, what the hell will he think?

Connor smiled again "I wouldn't mind seeing that." He said moving a bit closer to her. Lucy shivered slightly; Connor had such a weird effect on her. When ever he came close she just shivered, not because she's scared but because she feels him close and is afraid to kiss him.

Connor looked at her and smiled. He knows it's not a good plan to start something with Lucy, but he just wants to kiss her. But the destiny he and Murphy have makes it all to complicated.

Leo stood watching Connor and Lucy in the distance. Nobody could see him, he made himself invisible. He opened his arms and while concentrating on the both of them, pushed them closer together.

Connor found himself really close to Lucy. 'I shouldn't...' he thought. Lucy felt Connor's emotions; she felt the same way. She couldn't kiss him... but she wanted to. Connor raised his hand to the side of her face and leaned in a bit more. Lucy felt his lips on hers as she softly kissed her. After a couple of moments their kiss became intense as both Connor and Lucy put everything they felt into their kiss.

Leo smiled for a job well done as he orbed to P3's stockroom and surprised Piper from behind. "GOD! I could've blown you up." Piper said clutching her heart when Leo appeared in front of her. "Yeah but I'm already dead so it doesn't really matter. It does hurt though. How are things going?" "Simone and Murphy are on a date." Piper said excitedly. "I know, Connor and Lucy kissed." "How do you know?" Piper asked puzzled. "I went to see what they were doing." "What? Are you a peeping Elder now?" Piper asked looking at him with a stern look on her face. "Piper they need some persuading. Besides I let them act on their own, I merely... brought them together." Leo put his arms round Piper.

Simone sat next to Murphy closer then they usually sat. He was talking about his life before he came to San Francisco. Off course Murphy didn't mention the fact that he kills people who are evil. It would scare her off, Murphy thought taking a sip from his drink. Simone was thinking about the warlock Steve, about what he said about Murphy. 'Is that your boyfriend?' Simone had immediately said no, but she would love to have said yes. She longed for someone to hold her and love her in a way not her mother or her Aunts could love and hold her.

"And how about your father?" Murphy asked after telling Simone his father had died. "Mine died as well." "Oh really?" Murphy looked sympathetic "How did he die?" Simone thought back to the story's her mother told. How her father had gone mad with love and how she and her sisters had vanquished him. "Of a heart attack." Simone answered almost automatically. Off course she couldn't tell him how her father really died. She hadn't even gotten to know her father. Only what her mother wrote in the book of shadows about him. Along with photo's from a photo booth. Murphy looked at her his head leaning on his arm. "It sucks doesn't it? I mean, I had just met my father after so many years and he dies. You didn't even meet your father." Murphy said looking at her. "Yeah well I am over that now. I am quite happy being with the people who are here. I never was short on love." "Me neither." Murphy said thinking about his brother. "And I am glad I met you." He added before he wouldn't have the guts to say it. "Me too." Simone smiled brightly at him.

Leo was watching the two of them from a distance, again with a smile on his face. Just like before he opened his arms and pushed them a bit closer together.

Simone found herself close to Murphy. 'Did I move or did he?' Simone thought frowning slightly for a moment. "I need to tell you something." Murphy said looking straight into her eyes. "What is that?" Simone asked looking back at him. "I think I might be falling for you." Murphy said feeling his cheeks turn red. Simone looked at him in surprise; no man had ever said those words to her. Simone just smiled at Murphy before leaning in to kiss him. Murphy's heart jumped. She was kissing him! He put his arm round her and pulled her even closer.

The next morning Simone woke up thinking about that kiss. Shaking the feeling she got from it off her, she got out of bed and pulled on a robe. "It just can't happen." Simone said trying to convince herself. "It is not going to happen, it cannot happen." She went on while opening the door to the hallway.

She walked into the kitchen where Lucy sat drinking her coffee, another steaming mug stood ready for Simone like it did every morning along with a piece of newspaper. "Morning." Simone grunted as she sat down opposite Lucy. "Good morning, Connor and Murphy went out for the day." Simone winched at the mention of Murphy's name. "Good because I don't want them around if Steve shows up." "Right if he does. Just to be sure I looked him up in the Book of Shadows and made a vanquishing potion as a ... safety belt so to speak." Lucy held up a vial. "Good because I still don't trust him." As if on cure Steve shimmered into their kitchen. "Hello girls, my partners, my..." "Yeah, yeah, yeah get on with it." Simone said raising her mug to her lips. "Right, here's what I found out." Steve sat himself down and again paused dramatically. "The source has wound up all the demons who he thinks is worthy enough to fight you. This also includes Barbas demon of fear, Grecto demon of Illusion, and some other high level demons." "Oh that's just great isn't it?" Lucy said looking over to Simone. "Well we still need to discuss this with our mother and aunts, and we need to come with a plan." Simone said looking back at her. "Well I have a plan." "Which is?" Lucy asked looking at Steve's mischievously grin. "We kill the source." "Oh great plan! But how do you suppose we get by his guards and other demons. And we don't even know when the first attack will take place do we?" Simone stood up getting herself some more coffee. "Okay, it's a stupid plan but still more then you two have!" Steve defended himself. "I do have a plan which is, no planning until we discussed this with our aunts and mother." Simone said pouring the hot black liquid into her cup. "We will meet again tomorrow Steve, and while you're gone, try to find out when they will attack." Lucy said her eyes not parting from Simone. "Right will do." Steve shimmered out again. "We could surprise the source with an attack." Lucy said still looking into her sister's eyes. "Come off it Lucy, it's the source we're talking about. Not some demon, the source and we have never taken him on, but our aunts and mother have... twice."

That night Simone and Lucy went to Paige's house with Piper and Phoebe. They sat in the parlour drinking some coffee while looking through the book of shadows which Paige had conjured. "Well one thing is sure. The demon of fear, not a good thing." Phoebe said thinking back to her encounters with Barbas. "Well the demon of illusion isn't all that either and god knows who else he will set up for this fight." Piper said throwing her hands up in frustration. "I thought we had heard enough from the source after we vanquished evil Cole!" Simone and Lucy's heads snapped to Paige. "Oops?" "What do you mean?" Lucy asked looking from one to the other. "Was dad the source?" Simone asked looking at her mother. "Thanks Paige! Yes your father was the source. That's why you have all these demonic powers as well." "Why didn't you ever tell us that? I mean a demon I can live with but the source? The source of all evil?" Simone was surprised and shocked over this new information and so was Lucy, for the first time neither of them knew what to say. "That's why you two could handle all the attacks without the power of three. You have charmed blood and evil mixed together. And as you both were brought up and choose to fight for good, the window of opportunity closed, but the powers stayed." Paige explained putting the book down onto the table. She felt some what guilty of telling the girls all this. "Which means, if you two work together your strength will be equal to that of the source." Phoebe said sitting down in between her daughters. "So we just go with Steve's plan?" Lucy asked looking confused. "No we wait for the demons to attack." Piper said firmly. "I don't want you two to go look for trouble. God knows it always finds us."

When they got home Simone and Lucy were still thinking it all over. They both couldn't believe their family had lied to them about their father. They should've told them. Lucy got into her room as Simone walked inside hers closing the door behind her. On an automatic pilot she took of her clothes and put on her pyjama's and got in bed. The last thought on her mind was her father being the source of all evil.

The next day Simone and Lucy told Steve what they were about to do. "What! You can't wait around for them to come, you won't be prepared!" Steve said furiously.

"We will be if you can find out which demon will attack and when they will do it." Lucy said her arms crossed. "And keep it down will you? Connor and Murphy are our guests here and they don't know about us!" Simone said in a soft voice. "Simone?" Murphy's voice sounded in the hallway and was coming closer; before they knew it he was facing them in the sunroom. "Who's that?" he asked walking up to them. Steve stood opening and closing his mouth, Lucy was trying to think of an answer when Simone spoke. "No one. He's no one. A distant cousin of my aunt's nephew twice removed. Lovely singing voice, though." Murphy looked at her with a look of confusion on his face, Simone knew what he felt, and she was confusing herself with that answer. She shook of that feeling. "What did you want to ask?" Simone put her hand on his shoulder guiding him into the hallway, away from Lucy and Steve. "Well I wanted to know if you wanted to go out with me again, I had a lot of fun last time." "I don't think we should." Simone answered looking at her feet. "Why? I mean, we had fun didn't we?" "It's complicated." Simone said looking at him. When she locked eyes with Murphy she saw disappointment in the depth of his eyes. "Let me think it over okay?" Simone saw the glint of disappointment disappear and replaced by hope. "Okay, well I am going to pick Connor up, he went to get some shopping but bought more then he can carry. Can I borrow your car?" "Sure, here are my keys." She watched Murphy walk out of the door and turned back to the hallway where Lucy and Steve sat silently waiting for her. "He asked you out." Lucy said smiling. "Why did you say no?" Steve asked looking at her. "Get your demonic nose out of my business! And you too!" She said snapping at them both. "What do you care any way?" Simone asked looking at Steve. "Well as a distant cousin once removed." "Twice removed." Lucy corrected laughing. "Oh yes, well any way I don't know what came over me. I will find out about the demons and contact you when I do." "Thanks." Lucy said before he shimmered out. "Back to the Murphy conversation." Lucy said turning to her sister. "I don't want to hear about it!" Simone walked through the sunroom into the kitchen and pulled out a box of cookies. Then walked over to the kettle and boiled water for tea. "But if he wants to go out with you, why don't you go?" Lucy continued ignoring her sister's remark. "Because I don't want anything happening to him because of our Wicca thing." Simone said gloomily. "Yeah you're probably right." Lucy said looking out of the window. "But they are so cute! And romantic and... good kissers." "Okay, you're talking about Connor right? Because you're trailing off and I so hope you haven't kissed them both." Simone poured hot water into the cups. "Oh sorry yeah I meant Connor."

"Right, any ways let me handle Murphy, you just handle... Connor." Simone said smiling slightly.

Steve shimmered in breathing heavy. "Dark lighter coming in." He shimmered right out again. Simone looked at Lucy and seconds later a dark lighter appeared in black orbs. "Oh please." Simone and Lucy said at the same time. They both stuck out their hand, in Lucy's a fire ball appeared and in Simone's an energy ball. Electricity shot from her finger tops into the ball. They threw it at the dark lighter who was vanquished in an instance. Steve shimmered back in. "Sorry about cutting it close there." He said whipping sweat from his forehead. "That's okay; neither of us are vulnerable to the dark lighters poisonous arrows." Lucy walked past him opening the fridge to get three bottle's of water. "They must have thought that Aunt Paige would be here." Simone said taking the bottle from her. "Well we must be careful. The next demon will be harder to fight. The next one is the Demon of illusion, my source told me." "Great we will be prepared then. Let us know when he will attack." Simone said walking out. "When you least expect it." Steve said before shimmering out, "So be on guard." Those words echoed through the kitchen while he was in mid-shimmer. Lucy followed Simone who was on her way to the attic. She reached the book of shadows and flipped through the pages. "Here's what it says. His goal is to create violence in Society. He spreads violence and prays on people that are already open to it. He can release fictional characters from movie's which can only be vanquished the same way they get killed in the movies." Simone finished looking up at the Attic door where Phoebe stood. "Yes and trust me when I tell you it's pretty scary. We vanquished one of them when Prue was still alive." She said walking over to the book.

"It has a vanquishing spell. We just don't know when he will attack." Lucy said reading on. "You have to watch the news for strange behaviour and when you go out. Do people get more violent then normally." Phoebe said giving a few pointers. "If they do they are under the influence of the demon of illusion. Then we could scry for evil."

"We will keep our eyes and ears open then." Simone said looking from one to the other. "On a more fun note, I heard you two had a date last night?" Phoebe said smiling and sitting down on a stuffy sofa. "Yes we did!" Lucy smiled brightly as she sat down next to her. Simone stood by the book. She didn't know what to do about the date and Murphy. "And?" Phoebe urged her daughters to share. "Well we kissed." Lucy said dreamily. "Oh honey!" Phoebe hugged Lucy and looked at Simone. "What about you and Murphy?" "We kissed as well, but it was the first and last time." "Why?" Phoebe asked standing up and walking over to her. "I am surprised you even need to ask that mom! You know better then anybody that dating someone non magical just isn't done. They wouldn't be able to protect themselves." Phoebe looked at Simone. "What about your grandmother? She married someone non magical, and he is still alive." The memory of her own mother stung Phoebe. But it was true.

Murphy had picked Connor up and drove back home. Connor was reading the newspaper for any evil that might turn up. "A man whose identity has not been confirmed by the San Francisco police," Connor read out loud. "Has not been captured after he shot the waiter in a drive by restaurant." "We must keep an eye out then. We need to find out who that man is." Murphy said taking a turn. "We must keep a low profile as well. We can't risk them finding us."