Leo and Piper orbed into the kitchen at Shelley's house. At almost the same instant, Chris and Phoebe orbed into the living room. As they finished their orbs, Paige orbed into the hallway between the two rooms. They had all agreed this was their best option. If there were a trap waiting for them, orbing in at different locations might help take Shelley by surprise.
The house was dark and cold. Dust covered most of the furnishings. All the windows were covered in the same heavy drapes. Lit candles had been placed round each room to provide some light. Piper noticed dirty dishes in the sink and an unfinished meal on the kitchen table.
"Whoever he is," said Piper, "he wasn't here long ago. This meal is still fairly fresh. That's odd. No meat."
"What?" Leo asked.
"There's no meat in that meal," said Piper, looking over the dishes in the sink. "In fact, it doesn't look like there was meat in any of these meals. Just fruits and vegetables. Some pasta. But no meat. Isn't it a little odd to have a vegetarian demon?"
"That does seem odd," Paige said, looking around. "It doesn't look like anyone is home."
"Maybe he's upstairs," Chris offered.
"He seems to read a lot," Phoebe said, looking through several crates of books. "Everything from textbooks to sci-fi to romance novels. A vegetarian demon that reads romance novels?"
Suddenly they all heard a sound from what appeared to be a closet door underneath the stairs.
"What was that?" Paige whispered.
"Everyone be ready," said Piper, moving to the closet.
Cautiously she reached out and took hold of the handle on the door. She looked around to see if everyone was ready. Satisfied they were, she opened the door to the closet and stepped back from it.
The inside of the closet seemed to almost completely empty. The only contents was what appeared to be an eight-year-old girl with blonde hair sitting quietly in the back. Piper moved up to the girl and led her out of the closet.
"Don't be afraid, honey," Piper said. "We're not going to hurt you. We're here to take you home."
"The big man told me to be quiet," said the girl. "He said I would be safe in there."
"I'm sure he did," Piper said, handing the little girl over to Phoebe. "We'll make sure you get home safely to your mommy and daddy. I'm sure they're worried about you."
"No," screamed a voice from the top of the stairs.
Everyone turned to see who had screamed. At the top of the stairs stood one of the largest creatures any of them had ever seen. It was nearly eight feet tall and looked very much like a human. Except that its skin was a dull yellowish color. It was dressed in very old clothes that hadn't been in style for many decades.
"You'll ruin everything," bellowed the creature. "Get away from her."
The creature charged down the stairs toward the group. Its speed was unbelievable. As it cleared the bottom of the stairs it turned on the group. Piper was the closest to it and she instinctively brought her hands up for protection. Before the creature could reach her it exploded from Piper's explosive power and vanished.
"Scratch one demon," Paige said.
"Oh, if only it were that easy," said a voice behind Phoebe.
Standing behind Phoebe was a man dressed casually. His hair was a sandy blonde and he wore a goatee. He pushed Phoebe away and grabbed the little girl. Piper brought her hands up in a protective manner.
"Ah, ah," said the man, picking the little girl up. "Wouldn't want this pretty little thing to get hurt, now would we?"
"What's going on?" Paige asked.
"Just like witches to stick your noses in where they don't belong," said the man. "Tell Victor I'll trade the girl. He has twenty-four hours to decide."
Without another word the man suddenly blinked and was gone from the house taking the girl with him.
"Warlock," Phoebe gasped.
"Trade?" Chris questioned. "Trade her for what? Piper blew this Victor up. How is he supposed to trade for anything?"
"Maybe that monster wasn't this Victor Shelley," suggested Paige. "Maybe it was some sort of bodyguard or something."
"Right now we have a warlock to find," Piper said. "He's got the little girl. If we don't find her fast, there's no telling..."
Pipers' statement went unfinished as the creature she had blown up only moments before suddenly reformed in front of her. Everyone stood looking at the creature as it looked around the room.
"The girl?" questioned the creature. "She's gone. You let him take her. You foolish witches. I could have protected her. Now he has her and there's no way to stop him."
"Okay, hold on a second," Piper said. "You were protecting the girl?"
"Of course," roared the creature in anger. "He couldn't use her as long as I was protecting her. Now there's nothing to stop him. As long as he's got her there's nothing anyone can do to stop him from getting what he came for."
"And just what would that be?" Paige asked.
"Me," answered the creature very deliberately.