Title: Run Of The Mill
Author: Wicked R
Disclaimers: characters and the universe belongs to the WB.
Rating: PG.
Genre: Angst/Romance.
Summary/Set: The Source frees several murderers from a prison and it's up to the charmed ones to catch them before they become demons. Season 4, not long before Cole becomes fully human.
Pairing: Cole/Phoebe, Leo/Piper.
Phoebe woke up to Cole moving around next to her in the bed that became referred to as theirs' in her room at the manor, "what are you doing?" She asked slightly annoyed. The bed was quite narrow for the two of them and she still didn't get used to not having it all to herself, pleasant it was to cuddle into him when falling asleep.
"Sorry to wake you," Cole sat up, reaching for his trousers, "I'll just shimmer away, you sleep."
""What?" Phoebe asked, suddenly awake, "something wrong?"
"Nothing. I can't sleep. It's okay," he did as he said he would, leaving Phoebe to her thoughts, now not very likely to fall asleep right away herself. This was the third time in just a week the same sort of thing happened and he always blamed it on insomnia. He denied having bad dreams, although she could see for herself how restless he was when asleep, annoying the heck out of Phoebe, who wasn't at her best when she didn't get all her forty winks. Despite her tiredness, she started analysing the situation. Cole gave different reasons for not being able to sleep when she asked him the next day each time, a sore stomach at first, a throbbing headache next and she was wondering what his next explanation will be. But she was most curious about the real reason. He'll have to tell her tomorrow, no more excuses, she'll make a scene and blackmail him with trust issues if he doesn't. And with making that decision, she went back to sleep.
-------------------
"Demons on the loose!" Piper greeted her at the bottom of the stairs the next morning, "not to mention potential demons! And openly at that! News says dozens of killers disappeared from Alcatraz overnight. No doors have been unlocked, no vehicles have been proved to have been used. The only thing guards saw on security cameras were images of inmates becoming fuzzy and vanish."
"My guess is that the Source is desperate to find other demons that dare to cross us for his sake, so he's recruiting new bodies. It also makes sense, because they are skilled predators and they know their way around this world than any demon, well, apart from Cole of course."
"We need to put everybody back to prison before they acquire any powers," Piper urged for action, "could you send Cole to find out where they are?"
"I could," her sister nodded slightly, "if I knew where he was. He left last night without much pro and so. I'm worried about him. He seems tired most of the time. I dunno, he's either sick, just having trouble sleeping, or he's hiding something from us. Either way, I don't like it."
"Demons don't get sick easily, Phoebe," Leo assured her.
"Well, you know that, I know that, he knows I know that, yet he is complaining of not feeling well. He knows he's telling me a see through lie if it's not true. You know I thought, not that we're trying to make him more human, we're actually weakening him and he's becoming susceptible to all sorts of…"
"We'll think about that when we can," Piper took charge, "now Leo needs to go down instead of Cole in that case, Phoebe, you speak to Daryl, try to find out how many people are missing and who. I'll make some potions with Paige in case these murderers are guarded."
"Off to the rescue of serial killers, huh?" Paige followed her older sister into the kitchen, still mesmerised by the witchness of it all.
"They are technically humans, Paige," Piper justified, "and most importantly, we don't want vicious demon numbers increased with them," she opened her lower cupboards to take out the pots used for potions as opposed to cooking.
"Whatever you say, sis…what are we making? And how do you imagine this whole thing? We couldn't transport everybody back to prison one by one, not even with Cole's help, all that without being caught on tape."
"We'll deal with that when we come to…" She tilted her head in amused disbelief as a frail looking, bleak eyed man blurred in, looked around, then went away the way he came before Piper could have an attempt at blowing him up.
"What was that?" Paige marvelled.
"He must've wanted to check on something for a certain plan he has. Smart, but not that smart. Tell Phoebe to let Daryl know not to look for that one. He wasn't salvable…"
"What you gonna do?"
"Summon him now that I know some of his characteristics and blow him up that way. These new demons, not very knowledgeable, Source just wants to have some shots in the dark…"
"Well, yes, and no," Leo orbed in, "I found out some of them are still down there. The bad news is, we can't go anywhere near, cause they are with the Source. He pissed off most other demons so he teaches and gives some minuscule powers to the new recruits himself. And the really bad news is, that most of them have already been released to enjoy their new lives."
"That's good news Leo, cause then we hunt!" Piper shouted enthusiastically, eyes sparkling.
"Are you sure that's a…"
"Leo, I can't end up a fury anymore, so let's get on it!"
"Well, that's one way of getting the world rid of serial killers…" Paige sighed.
tbc
