Michael had spent several hours in Phoebe's room since arriving at the manor. The girls and Leo had spent the time discussing ways Michael might use to end the war in the underworld. Nothing seemed to be viable. Fortunately Phoebe didn't have any more premonitions and no demons appeared either to attack them or looking for Malevant.
The letter that had prompted Phoebe's premonition was from a woman whose sister worked in a restaurant. The sister took her daughter to work with her because she couldn't afford a babysitter. The woman was asking Phoebe for some suggestions on how to help her sister.
"Well, I guess the woman was the little girls' aunt," said Phoebe. "That would explain the premonition."
"I guess," said Piper. "It's lucky you found that letter when you did. You did say there were other letters still in your office. If you hadn't brought that letter home with you that little girl might have been killed."
"Hey," said Paige who had been sitting at the desk thinking, "what about if Malevant vanquishes the leaders of the factions? That might put an end to this war."
"Probably not," said Leo. "Their lieutenants would just step in and take over. And from what Michael has told us that wouldn't stop the war. It would just change the leadership. The lieutenants would probably just keep the war going so that one of them could end up as the Source."
"Well, it was just a thought," said Paige. "Besides could even Michael take out five demons of that level? Remember when we first met Michael? He needed our help to stop those high level demons from working together."
"That's right," said Phoebe. "Maybe we could help him? Michael might not be powerful enough to take on five upper level demons but with a Power of Three spell we should be able to vanquish them. We could also vanquish their lieutenants. That would leave lower lever demons in charge. They might think twice before continuing this war."
"That's a pretty tall order," said Leo. "You're talking about taking out at least ten high level demons. I doubt they're just going to stand by and let you vanquish them. And demonic leaders usually have attendants and bodyguards. You'd have to deal with them, too. Especially with the baby now I think that's just too much for your guys to take on just now."
"And if we wait until a more convenient time," said Piper, "it might be too late. The war will have spread to the mortal realm and magic will have been exposed. Sounds like we're between the proverbial rock and hard place."
"Maybe not," said Michael coming into the kitchen where the others were sitting. "I considered many options just like you've been doing from the sounds of it. Most of them weren't very good. They all seemed to have flaws in them or were too risky."
"That's what we've been finding out," said Paige. "Every idea we come up with either involves vanquishing the entire underworld or having them turn on us instead of each other. Neither idea is very appealing."
"That's the same thing I've been coming up with," said Michael. "The problem is that many of the new leaders of the hierarchy have actually moved to different domains since you vanquished the Source the first time. Not all of those moves have been welcomed. Even some of the demonic leaders aren't happy with the domains they've been given control of. Many feel they would be better suited in a different domain.""
"Moves?" questioned Phoebe.
"Yes," said Michael. "As demonic leaders are vanquished or dethroned, as it were, their successors often entice demons from other domains to join them. This can lead to a lot of bad feelings among demons, as I'm sure you're aware."
"What are these domains you keep mentioning?" Paige asked.
"Well," said Michael, "for the most part, demonic leaders are responsible for certain areas. For example, Malator's domain is for those humans who were thoroughly evil in their lives. Serial killers, mass murderers, those types. Cartrack is responsible for teaching demonic children to use their powers properly and to act appropriately in their place in the demonic hierarchy. Every domain has a specific high level demon that's responsible for it."
"I see," said Piper. "Sort of like a department in a department store."
"Exactly," said Michael. "In the underworld they're called domains. And demons routinely move from one domain to another. Especially as high level demons are replaced for one reason or another. Some times those moves are voluntary. Quite often, they aren't. And that's what causes a lot of strife in the underworld. It's also what causes the demons to fight amongst themselves and not cooperate fully against good."
"Lucky for us they do," said Leo. "It gives us an edge over them."
"That's right," said Michael. "It also helps me as Malevant to cause strife and friction between different factions keeping them stirred up so they don't work well together."
"You implied you had found a solution when you came in," said Piper.
"Possibly," said Michael. "Do you remember when we first met?"
"How could I forget?" questioned Piper. "You had come up with this elaborate plan to do away with some high level demons that were planning to work together. As I recall, you even arranged for several demon attacks on us to implement that plan."
"For which I explained and apologized several times," said Michael.
"I know," said Piper. "I'm not holding it against you. I understand what you did and why you did it. I only mentioned it because you asked."
"Fine, fine," said Michael. "I think I might have found a solution to our problem. But it's going to take some planning and some work. And I'm going to need your help to pull it off. If it works, it should end this war once and for all."
"And if it doesn't?" asked Phoebe.
"That's the risky part," said Michael. "If we fail, we could find ourselves facing a dozen high level demons all at the same time. My secret as Malevant will most likely be exposed and we could find ourselves in a sort of mini war of our own."
"Okay," said Piper. "What is this plan of yours?"
"First," said Michael, "Phoebe will need to prepare a special Power of Three spell. I'll help you with it so that it will work properly. Next, we have to find a neutral location that the demons will agree to. Then comes the fun part. We have to get all the demonic leaders of each faction together in the same room. I can handle that. It's your roles that will be the most dangerous."
"We're listening," said Piper. "The way things are going this war is going to expose us all anyway. Whatever you have planned couldn't be more dangerous than that."
"Okay," said Michael. "Here's my plan."