Warning: A few minor swearwords are used in this chapter.
Charles Wilmington sat on the front steps of an office building in a town near Denver. He was there to vanquish a warlock who had been causing a lot of trouble in that area recently. This warlock seemed to be harmless though - instead of killing witches, he preferred to just make them chase him, and then he'd disappear when they had almost caught up with him. The only witches in Denver were the Potters and Charles Wilmington, so the Denver-residing warlock didn't have much choice of who to make chase him. As warlocks didn't like appearing in public places - which would risk exposure of their magic - they would only go after a witch they sensed if it was in a fairly private place. The area outside the building was deserted, so hopefully the warlock would soon appear there, and Charles could try to vanquish him. It seemed that the Potters had given up trying to vanquish the warlock as it took them away from their true calling of protecting innocents and vanquishing harmful evil beings.
"Charles," addressed Andrew, as he orbed in next to his charge. "Why don't you let Terrence deal with HIM? That witch's powers are stronger than yours, so he stands more chance of vanquishing the annoying warlock."
"Terrence is too busy saving innocents and looking after his family, and besides, I'm not going to stand back and let a half-Whitelighter vanquish a warlock and get all the credit for something I could've done myself. I will vanquish the warlock - just wait and see."
"I don't understand why you resent Terrence so much - he's just trying to help innocents and look after his family like you are."
Charles spat at the ground in disgust. "Mr. Goody Two Shoes: father and husband of the year, every year; obeys just about every witch and Whitelighter rule; and vanquishes more demons than me every damn month."
Andrew didn't like the hate he could sense coming from his charge - Charles really hated Terrence a lot. "Mr. Potter is a good man - HELL, he's a good man, witch AND half-Whitelighter. I don't want you knocking him for all the damn good work he's done. Besides, it's wrong to compete with other witches - that distracts you from your true goal of helping people."
Charles' only response was to point out one of Andrew's flaws. "Watch your language, buddy. I'm sure you ain't meant to use the 'H' or 'D' words, 'specially not about half-Whitelighters."
The Whitelighter fought back against his charge's remark. "You know your son learns a lot of his words from you - do you really want him growing up to say such improper words as 'ain't'?"
An exasperated sigh was Andrew's only answer, as Charles stood up and decided to give up on catching the pest warlock. It seemed like the warlock didn't want to play that evening, and Charles had to get home soon or he'd miss one of his favorite Westerns on TV.
CH7P - CH7P - CH7P - CH7P - CH7P - CH7P - CH7P
After school, Buck and Olivia waited at the gates for Buck's mom; the boy was eager for Olivia to join him and his dad to watch the Western that night.
"Do you really think she'll let me come over tonight?" asked Buck's friend, as she played with the long brown hair that hung down her back in a ponytail.
"Sure, my mom's the coolest," replied Buck, with a grin.
Then Bianca arrived on the road outside the gates; she was five minutes late as usual. She preferred to collect the boy from school as she could ask him about his day on the drive home that way. "Hey, have you got a new friend?" she called, through the front passenger side's open window.
"Mom, this is 'Livia, she's new here today."
"Hi, Olivia." Bianca smiled kindly at the girl - she was really pretty, and tidier looking than the last girl Buck had introduced to her.
"Hi, Ma'am," said Olivia politely, curtseying as she spoke.
The woman kept a straight face, not wanting to offend the girl by laughing at her manners.
"Mom, can 'Livia come and watch the cowboys tonight?"
'If Charles gets home in time,' thought Bianca, remembering her husband's phone-call earlier saying he might be a bit late that evening because something important had come up at the last minute. Then the woman answered her son; "Sure, but she'll need to ask her parents first." Turning to the little girl, she asked her, "I take it you're waiting for them?"
"No, I'm going home on my own, Mrs. Wilmington." Receiving a shocked look from Bianca, she decided to alter her story slightly to avoid arousing suspicion. "On the bus of course - one of our neighbor's boys goes home that way so I can travel with him."
It struck Bianca how well spoken the girl was - she'd be a good influence on Buck if the two's friendship was encouraged. "Maybe it's best you come another night, so you can ask your parents first."
"But, Mo-om," whined Buck, "what if there's no more cowboy movies on for a-ges?"
Olivia did some quick thinking - she really wanted to go to Buck's house that night and check how safe the place was for the destined witch. "Mom and Dad don't get home until after the bus gets to my stop, so I can just play in the house while I wait for them. We'll get to your house before they get home, then I can call them from there before they start worrying."
Bianca looked a bit suspicious then - was this girl really telling the truth? She couldn't imagine her and Charles both working and leaving Buck alone in the house until they arrived home - not while he was so young. "They let you stay home alone?"
"It's not for too long, I've been staying home alone since I was five."
"Okay, you can come home with us, and we'll phone your parents as soon as we get in. You do have their number don't you?" If Olivia didn't they'd have to look through the phone directory for it.
"Sure, it's on my key-ring so if I lose it, whoever finds it can call us," answered the little girl. Pretending to be a little girl wasn't as easy as she thought - she didn't realize how dependent young children were in the modern world. It was a good job the Elders had elected two Whitelighters to live in a house with Olivia and pose as her parents, or her story would fall apart at the seams.
CH7P - CH7P - CH7P - CH7P - CH7P - CH7P - CH7P
"Potter!" shouted Charles, as he saw Terrence Potter in the distance with his oldest adopted son, Josiah. Charles was now in Terrence Potter's neighborhood, eager to talk to the man about something - despite not being fond of the other witch.
The Witch, also half-Whitelighter, turned and saw the man he was least expecting to see. "Charles, what are you doing here?" Terrence wasn't keen on Charles Wilmington and he'd never seen the other male witch in that area before. Charles' methods for protecting innocents and vanquishing magical enemies were dangerous at times, and the man also broke magical rules that were in place for good reasons.
"I've decided to give you the job of vanquishing that pesky warlock - he don't even want to play games with me, so maybe you'll have more luck."
"That's very kind of you. Let's go and scry for him, Josiah." Terrence would be glad to rid the area of the pest warlock - even if it did take up precious time that could be used more productively. Things were a bit quiet recently though, so there was some time spare to finally vanquish the annoying enemy.
"Why not; there's nothing I'd rather do than hunt down that pest and put an end to him," agreed Josiah with a grin. He loved vanquishing evil - he always felt a great sense of satisfaction afterwards. Although Josiah was still in school, he was pretty free in the evenings to be a witch along with his father. Gloria Potter didn't join them as she didn't like fighting without an active power; so she just helped by telling them about her premonitions. Besides that, someone had to stay home to look after the eight years old son, Chris.
Wilmington senior stood smiling, as Terrence and Josiah orbed back home - he hoped the demon gave them the run-around and wasn't as easy to vanquish as the cocky Terrence and Josiah thought.
"Charles? Your son's going to be really disappointed if you miss the start of the movie," warned Andrew, as he orbed in behind his charge and made him jump when he spoke.
"You almost gave me a heart-attack, don't do that," said Charles angrily. "I can only go home if there's no evil lurking except Mr. Pest Warlock." No-one knew that warlock's name so Charles had decided to christen him "Pest Warlock".
The Whitelighter laughed falsely at his charge's name for the warlock. "That's pretty funny. I can't sense any damn evil anywhere - not even him strangely enough; so maybe he's finally decided to leave this place alone. Let's get you home before your son thinks you've forgotten about the movie."
Charles moved to stand beside his Whitelighter and lightly rested his right hand on Andrew's left shoulder before they orbed to the alley near the Wilmington house. As Buck no longer knew about real magic, anything magical had to be kept a secret from him.
To be continued...