"Well, I can't find anything in the Book of Shadows about gargoyles," said Phoebe coming down the stairs.
"No, you wouldn't," said Leo. "Like I said the last one was vanquished several centuries ago. No one knew that an egg had survived."
"And we let that slime just walk out of here with it," said Piper. "How could I have been so stupid?"
"It's not your fault," said Leo. "Shapers' are extremely low-level demons. They aren't even considered demons by other demons. Like I told you they have a rudimentary form of telepathy. They can't directly influence other creatures but they can implant suggestions in someone's mind. That's probably what this one did."
"But we just gave into him," insisted Paige. "How could such a low level demon get us to do that?"
"He told you exactly what you needed to hear," said Leo. "He told you that the gargoyles were a great threat and needed to be destroyed immediately. That, coupled with the egg beginning to hatch and his subliminal suggestions was apparently enough to get you to drop your guard just enough for him to get out with it."
"I can't believer we were duped so easily," said Piper.
"I probably won't happen again," said Leo. "Now that you know who and what he is you'll be on your guard. That will be enough to prevent him implanting any subliminal suggestions again."
"So," said Phoebe, "what did you learn about these gargoyle thingies?"
"Part of what Toushell told you is true," said Leo. "In the hands of a mortal the eggs remain dormant. But when exposed to a powerful enough magic they will hatch. From what you've told me it sounds like the one you had has begun to hatch all ready."
"And when it hatches it's going to think Toushell is its mother?" Paige asked.
"Essentially," said Leo. "And with his telepathic ability Toushell will be able to implant suggestions in it that will allow him to control it. The Elders seem to think he plans to grow a new race of gargoyles to take over the underworld."
"So this isn't technically our problem, right?" Phoebe asked. "I mean if he's going after demons that's not something that should concern us."
"Except that gargoyles feed on human blood," said Leo. "Toushell is going to need to feed his gargoyle. For that he's going to need humans. Innocents. That does make if your problem."
"I see your point," said Piper. "So, how do we vanquish these gargoyles? If there's nothing in the Book of Shadows on them we're going to need some more information. What do the Elders know about these things?"
"The last one was vanquished about eight hundred years ago," said Leo. "Originally there were only about six known to exist. When they attacked the underworld they caused a lot of damage. Most of them were destroyed only when dozens of high-level demons overwhelmed them. But the demons were also destroyed in the process. It took a lot of power to destroy them."
"Most?" questioned Paige. "What about the rest?"
"One escaped the destruction," said Leo. "It came to the mortal plane to hide out so to speak. The demons pretty much ignored that one since it wasn't a threat to their domain. So it was up to the forces of good to get rid of it."
"What happened?" Piper asked.
"It did a lot of damage initially," said Leo. "It moved around with impunity. It killed hundreds of people. Finally the Pope declared all out war on the gargoyle. He sent all of his knights to find the creature and dispose of it."
"Eight hundred years ago?" questioned Paige. "That would have been about the time as the Great Crusades. Are you saying the Crusades were to get rid of this gargoyle?"
"Partially," said Leo. "And to seek out anyone who might be helping it. The Pope felt that the gargoyle couldn't have done all the damage it did unless someone was helping it. You've seen pictures of them. They look like the stereotypical demon. So it was believed they were demons. And the Pope felt that this demon must have had followers helping it."
"You said it was vanquished," said Piper. "How did they do that?"
"I don't know," said Leo. "Neither do the Elders. A lot of witches and other magical beings for good died fighting it. Nothing seemed to stop it. They were able to hurt it some but it always regenerated any damage it sustained."
"Okay," said Phoebe, "so who finally got rid of this thing?"
"Believe it or not," said Leo, "it was a Catholic priest who finally figured out a way to vanquish it. But he would never say how he did it. Not long after it was discovered that he was insane. All that is known is that he had a small house hastily built, then he lured the gargoyle to the house, and after that the gargoyle was never seen again. The Elders did an extensive search for it but it was gone."
"Maybe it went into hiding," suggested Piper.
"No," said Leo. "It couldn't have gone for very long without the blood it needs to survive. Since there were no reports of it attacking anyone else the priest must have vanquished it. And if it had gone back to the underworld the demonic hierarchy would have quickly descended on it to destroy it."
"Okay," said Phoebe, "so we have an unstoppable demon about to hatch and no one knows how to vanquish it. What do we do?"
"The only thing we know," Leo said, "is a cryptic message the priest kept saying about how he vanquished. He kept saying something about going beyond eternity."
"Going beyond eternity?" Paige questioned. "What does that mean?"
"No one knows," said Leo. "All the priest would say is he had to go beyond eternity to vanquish the demon. And he insisted he should become Pope because he was the only one able to stop the demon. He spent the rest of his life in an insane asylum."