Note #1: Sorry for the delay, guys! You know how real life can be... The Easter holidays are close, now, and I'll try to catch up on my writing then. Also, Fanfiction.net was behaving really weird for the last couple of days: I had chapter 3 ready since Sunday, but I just couldn't upload it until today.
Note #2: My stories are also posted among Jolynn's Charming Tales, on www.charmedweb.com; you can always look for new chapters there.
"A sigil?" Phoebe said.
"Exactly," Leo said, nodding.
They were in the attic now; Paige had just closed the Book of Shadows, after searching vainly for information on vengeance demons, when Leo orbed back with the information provided by the Elders.
"It's like a magical signature," he explained, "an unique code that identifies each vengeance demon."
"So," Cole said, "if we know that demoness' sigil, we can summon her?"
He grimaced as Ben tapped the top of his head with great enthusiasm. It hadn't been easy to convince the toddler to stay in one of the grown ups' arms instead of on the floor, exploring the attic. They never let him be on his own here -- too many dangerous things for curious little hands to grab -- and that only increased Ben's fascination over it. He had protested and squirmed until Cole took him from Phoebe's arms and put him on his shoulders, where he now sat happily, bouncing up and down and occasionally smashing daddy's head.
"According to the Elders, yes," Leo said.
"But how do we find out her sigil?" Piper asked, placing her hands on her hips. "She didn't exactly leave a business card."
"That, they don't know," Leo said. "I'm sorry," he added, shrugging at their disappointed expressions. "Most of what they know about vengeance demons is stuff Cole has already told us."
"You know," Cole said, pensively, "the Elders may not know her sigil, but I bet other vengeance demons do. Or at least have the means to find out."
"Cole, I don't see how that helps," Phoebe said, giving him a skeptical look. "Why would a demon provide the information that would help us go after one of their peers?"
"As I said before, vengeance demons aren't like other demons," Cole retorted. "They don't have the same instinctive aversion to good doers, because they don't see themselves as evil doers, but as magical creatures with magical jobs. And since vengeance demons can only use their powers against the one they were sent after, the worst thing she can do is say no."
"I still don't... spider web, spider web!" -- Phoebe pointed at a web that hung from the ceiling right above Cole's head, and to which Ben was reaching out.
Cole quickly moved away from it, much to Ben's disappointment, and Phoebe took the toddler from his arms, saying with feign sternness:
"No more riding on daddy's shoulders for you, mister."
Ben's shirt had risen up with the movement, revealing a chubby belly that just begged to be tickled, and Phoebe squeezed it gently, making Ben squeal and laugh. She gave him a sound kiss and said:
"Now, be a good boy and let mommy and daddy work, okay?"
"'Kay!" Ben chirped, giggling as they rubbed noses.
Phoebe shifted Ben to her hip, and was amused to see him start fiddling his fingers and humming what seemed to be his very own version of "Itsy-Bitsy Spider". Ben was a good boy who usually tried to do as his mommy and daddy said but, being only thirteen months old, his attention span was very short, and he often managed to stay quiet for no more than ten minutes before starting to fuss again. Phoebe sighed and smiled affectionately at him: raising that lively, curious little boy of hers would have been some task even under normal circumstances, but in a house where demons and warlocks dropped by unannounced, magic potions boiled on the stove, mommy and daddy fought with swords in the basement while Auntie Paige practiced her spells in the attic, it was an exercise of creativity, resourcefulness and patience.
She and Cole were only waiting for Ben's powers to start developing in order to bind them, but that didn't mean that they intended to keep him in the dark about his heritage and his destiny. They wanted him to learn about magic as a part of his life, and so they made sure he was around while his family was writing spells, making potions, scrying for evil and discussing strategies. Not that leaving him out would've been easy, anyway: Ben could usually sense when something important was going on, and he protested vehemently against being left behind.
"I still don't see why she would help," she began again, sobering as she turned back to Cole. "I mean, even if she doesn't loathe us because we're good, why would she bother helping us?"
"We're not talking about a random vengeance demon here, are we?" Leo said, giving Cole a curious look. "You have someone in mind. Someone whose sigil you know," he added, his eyebrows shooting up as comprehension sank in.
Cole scratched his head, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.
"Well, yes," he said. The others gave him inquisitive looks and he added, shrugging: "There's this demoness... she used to be, hum, friends with my mother."
Leo grunted, clearly not thrilled with the idea of asking a demon for help, and Cole let out a slightly impatient sigh.
"It's safe," Cole insisted. "Besides, am I wrong or is this the closest thing to a plan we currently have?"
Leo sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He knew it was true; they were going to give Cole's plan a shot, if not for any other reason than for the lack of a better one. But that didn't mean he was comfortable with it. Sure, he trusted Cole's judgment, and he knew that his brother in law would die before wittingly putting his family in danger. But Leo had been in the business of counseling and guiding witches for a long time now, and he found it utterly unsettling that this charge of his had been around for a lot more time than he had, dwelling in worlds he had never been, and dealing with creatures he didn't even know existed. He was supposed to give advice, but how could he, when his charge knew more about the creatures they were facing than he, the Whitelighter, did?
"If you're sure about this," he finally said, unwillingly.
"I'm not sure it'll work," Cole admitted, while walking towards an old desk on top of which rested a notepad and a pencil. "But I'm sure it can't make things any worse."
Piper placed her hand on Leo's arm and squeezed it gently. She knew how disturbing this was for him, and even if she was willing to try Cole's idea, she offered her husband a sympathetic smile and cuddled up with him as he put one arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him.
"What's this?" Phoebe said, peering at the notepad and at the runic symbols Cole was writing on it.
"An idiom that was already dead when your ancestor Melinda Warren was born," he told her as he tore the page out of the notepad and handed it to her.
While Leo was with the Elders, Piper had gathered a few ingredients that she thought might be useful, and Phoebe had worked on a spell to summon the vengeance demon. Now Phoebe handed Ben back to Cole, accepted the piece of paper from him and took another one, containing the summoning spell, from the back pocket of her jeans.
"Do you think we'll need the Power of Three?" she asked Cole.
"Quite on the contrary," Cole said. "Each vengeance demon has an... area of expertise, and this one avenges women who were wronged by their men. She might be suspicious if she hears more than one voice chanting."
"Okay, I'll do it, then," Phoebe said. "Leo, would you take Ben downstairs?"
"Actually, I don't think that will be necessary," Cole said, whilst letting Leo take Ben from his arms.
"Excuse me?" -- Phoebe gave him a surprised look.
"I told you," he explained, "the powers of a vengeance demon won't work unless she's granting someone a wish. Even the one who's after me won't harm any of you until you try to stop her from getting to me."
Phoebe looked from him to Ben, unsure. They did their best to spare the toddler from the ugliest aspects of the magic world: so far he had witnessed only a couple of vanquishes that didn't seem to have made a quite a bad impression on him. Actually, the one time he had seem Piper blow up a demon he had clapped his hands in delight and asked for more. He didn't seem to see any difference between an ugly demon with long dirty claws being turned into ashes by one of mommy's fire balls and Daffy Duck being hit in the head by an anvil, and Phoebe doubted he understood that, unlike Daffy Duck, the demon wouldn't be alive and kicking on the next episode.
"Are you sure?" she asked, while reaching out to stop Ben as he raised his foot and leaned down to try and get rid of his shoe.
"Absolutely," Cole said.
He gently fondled Ben's hair and added:
"You know I don't take chances with this little guy."
"I know," Phoebe sighed. "Still, Leo, stay to the back, okay?"
"I will," Leo said. "Come on, tiger," he playfully said to Ben. "Let's watch as your mommy summons a demon."
Ben perked up as he heard the magic word: demon! That usually meant that mommy was going to make fire balls, Aunt Piper was going to explode things and Aunt Paige was going to do the funny blue sparkling thing. Unfortunately, he never got to see much of it, because either daddy or Uncle Leo always left the room with him, but even that could be fun when it was Uncle Leo's turn to take him out of the room.
"O'b?" he asked, giving Leo a hopeful look.
Leo hesitated. Sometimes he orbed around the house with his little nephew just for fun. It was totally against the rules, but Ben loved it so much, he just couldn't say no.
"Well... maybe later," he said. "If you're a good boy now and stay really, really quiet until the demon is gone. Can you do that? Can you be a good boy for Uncle Leo?"
Ben nodded his head vigorously, and Leo smiled.
"That's the spirit. Now, remember: very quiet."
"Shhhh!" -- Ben mindfully placed his index finger over his mouth.
"Exactly," Leo said, chuckling.
Phoebe smiled at her baby boy and started lighting the candles around the pentagram that she had drawn on the floor while Leo was with the Elders, and Paige took a bowl containing saffron thistles and placed it on the center of the pentagram. Phoebe then placed the piece of paper containing the sigil among the thistles, lighted a match and set them on fire. As the soft scent of saffron began to rise along with the smoke, she read the spell to summon Anyanka, patroness of scorned women.
The air flickered inside the pentagram, and the candles burnt stronger. Then, as the air settled again, all the candles burnt out, one by one. When the last candle burnt out, a short, olive skinned woman appeared on the center of the pentagram in a puff of white smoke.
"Hi!" Ben cheerfully greeted, and Leo quickly shushed him, taking one step back and giving the newcomer a nervous apologizing smile.
She gave him a cold look before turning her attention back to Phoebe:
"You called me."
"Yes, but..."
"And what are those people" -- she motioned towards the others -- "doing here? Especially the men? I only grant wishes for women."
"I, uh... Cole?" -- Phoebe elbowed him, a hint of impatience in her voice. The idea of summoning a vengeance demon had been his, why was he letting her deal with the woman?
"You're not Anyanka," Cole finally said, giving the demoness an intrigued look.
The demoness glared at him, clearly annoyed by his addressing her.
"I don't see how my name is any of your business, mister. I only work for women." -- she squinted her eyes, giving him a suspicious look -- "You're not...?"
"No!" Cole and Phoebe both said at the same time.
"Wait a minute! Is he your man?" the demoness asked Phoebe, pointing at Cole.
"Yes, but..."
"And you summoned me knowingly to him?" -- the demoness raised her eyebrows -- "That's unusual."
"This is not what you're thinking," Phoebe quickly said. "I don't want vengeance against my husband."
"Then why did you make me waste my time coming here?" the demoness snapped, scowling.
"She didn't summon you," Cole insisted. "She summoned Anyanka."
"She summoned a demoness that grants vengeance wishes for scorned women," the demoness hissed. "And that's what I am. Now, if my services aren't needed..."
She made a flourish gesture with her right hand, intending to leave, but Cole quickly asked:
"Does D'Hoffryn know you've stolen Anyanka's sigil?"
As he had expected, that made her stop mid vanish and glare at him.
"D'Hoffryn gave it to me," she said, coldly. "The position was vacant: Anyanka is no longer a vengeance demon."
"Why not?" Cole asked, surprised.
"Now, why would I tell you?" she asked, impatiently.
"I, uh..." -- Cole sighed and ran his hand through his hair -- "Look," he said, conciliatory, "Anyanka and I go way back. I need to talk to her, and that's why we summoned her today... or at least I thought we were summoning her."
"Too bad," the demoness snorted. "Because Anyanka can't be summoned anymore. Unless you know how to summon humans."
"Humans??"
"She's human now. Stupid girl had her power center destroyed and lost her powers."
"She lost her..." Cole exhaled loudly, shocked. "Wow," he uttered in a low voice.
"So, now, if you'll excuse me..." the demoness started again.
"Wait!" Cole exclaimed, and she gave him an annoyed look.
"Do you know where she lives now?" he asked.
She gave him an incredulous look.
"You don't really think I'll tell you, do you?"
"Well, then..." -- Cole scratched his head -- "Would you give her a message? Ask her to give me a call?"
Leo nearly choked at that and Phoebe's eyes opened as wide as possible, but Cole pursued:
"Tell her that, uh, Belthazor needs to talk to her, and leave it to her choice whether to call me or not. Would you do that?"
"Cole, what are you doing?" Phoebe whispered between clenched teeth, tugging on the sleeve of his jacket.
"She's a demoness, not a telemarketer," Cole whispered back at her, without taking his eyes off the vengeance demon. "I don't think giving her our phone number will make things any worse."
The demoness watched him with a doubtful expression for a long moment. Finally, she sighed heavily and asked:
"Alright, what's the number?"
As Cole reached out for the notepad again, Piper broke in:
"Write the number of the manor."
He gave her a surprised look and she proceeded:
"You're not moving out before the, hum, situation is dealt with."
Cole gave Leo an interrogative look and the Whitelighter nodded.
"Piper is right," he said. "This is not the time for us to split forces. So, if you must give her a phone number..." he sighed, leaving the sentence hanging, and motioning for Cole to go ahead.
Cole wrote down the phone number, tore the page out of the notepad and handed it to the demoness, who took it and shoved it into the folds of her dress without giving it a second look.
"Is that all?" she asked, with unconcealed impatience.
"Can you tell her that it's urgent?" Cole asked.
"Humans!..." the demoness snorted, rolling her eyes. "Everything's urgent for you!"
Then, before he could reply, she was gone in another puff of smoke.
For a moment, they all just stared at the spot where she had just stood, unsure. Finally, Paige said:
"Now, what?"
"Well..." Cole sighed. "Now, we wait, I guess. I'm afraid that was my best shot," he added, shrugging.
"There must be something else we can do," Piper said, frowning, "besides waiting for some ex-demon to come to our help. No offense," she quickly added.
"None taken," Cole said. "But right now, I can't think of anything else."
"Well," Paige said, while picking up the candles from the floor, "even if this Anyanka girl knows the sigil of the demoness who's after you, and is willing to cooperate, we still need a plan. I mean, it's not like we can just go, hey, nice necklace, can I take a closer look at it? oops! it's gone!"
"Besides," Phoebe reasoned, taking the bowl containing the burnt thistles and handing it to Piper, "the vengeance demon might come back for you before we even have a chance to summon her. We must be prepared for that, too."
"Let's talk about that in the kitchen, then, shall we?" Piper said, while she received the bowl from Phoebe's hands. "It's almost noon, I should be making lunch now."
"Honey, if you'd rather order something..." Leo started, but she dismissed the idea with a wave of her hand.
"Nah, you know I think better when I'm cooking," she said with a smile.
Piper and Paige left the attic, but as Leo prepared to follow them, Ben tugged on his jacked.
"O'b," he said, firmly. He had been a good boy, and he had remained -- almost -- quiet, just like they had told him to, and now it was time for Uncle Leo to live up to his part of the bargain. One thing that Uncle Leo didn't seem to learn was that little boys had excellent memories when it came to the promises grown ups made to them.
"Just to the living room," Leo said, giving Phoebe and Cole a sheepish smile.
Phoebe smiled back at him and nodded. She caught sight of Ben's bare feet just a second before he and Leo disappeared in a swirl of blue lights.
"How he does it, I don't know..." she muttered while she and Cole picked up the discarded shoes from the attic's floor.