"Leo, that's crazy," said Phoebe. "Look at him? He's sitting right on the sofa. Of course he exists."
"I know how it sounds," said Leo. "But it's true. I'm looking right at him and I can't sense him either."
"Which means he's not human," said Prue.
"What do you mean you can't sense me?" asked John. "This is all a bit confusing to me."
"Confusing to you?" asked Piper. "Leo, what does that mean? If you can't sense him, does that make him a demon or what?"
"No," said Leo. "Even if he was a demon, I'd be able to sense that. At least I'd be able to sense the evil. Something. But there's just nothing there for me to sense. As I said, it's as if he doesn't exist, even though he clearly does. Which means this involves something magical and you can't let anyone find out about it."
"Okay, Mr. Jonathon Smith or whatever you real name is," said Prue, "you'd better start giving us some straight answers. Who...what are you? And why are those demons after you? And don't give us any of that crap about you don't know because I don't believe you."
"I don't know what to tell you," said John. "I've never even seen a demon before. I have no idea why they would be interested in..."
Before he could finish, two demons suddenly appeared behind Leo in the entryway.
"Leo, watch out," screamed Piper.
"Why?" Leo asked, turning to see what she was pointing at.
Two demons identical to the ones the sisters had fought only a while before stood in the entryway behind Leo. One of them raised a glass sphere and pointed it at Leo. Before any of the sisters could move, a beam of energy shot from the demons hand encasing him in the same energy field that had nearly encased Prue.
Prue reached out with her telekinetic power and cast the glass sphere from the demons hand. It bounced on the floor and began to roll toward the kitchen. Just as quickly, the second demon raised a similar sphere and a beam of energy shot out from its hand encasing Prue in a field of energy.
Piper raised her hands intent on freezing both demons. The first demon, however, had turned to retrieve its sphere and disappeared into the kitchen before Piper could activate her power. The second demon froze instantly, its hand still outstretched. Piper hurriedly moved toward the kitchen to stop the other demon.
"Piper, watch out," cried Phoebe.
Piper turned and too late saw the first demon now standing in front of the fireplace. As she turned to freeze it, a beam of energy shot from its hand encasing her in an energy field. Piper's power simply impacted with the inside of the energy cocoon and dissipated away.
Phoebe didn't hesitate. She attacked the demon with all the skills her martial arts afforded. She performed a roundhouse kick, striking the demon along the side of its head. But instead of being knocked back, the demon simply turned and looked at her. Phoebe stared at the demon, pain shooting up her leg.
"Not good," she said, as she limped away from the demon.
John moved over and placed himself between Phoebe and the demon.
"Don't harm them," he pleaded. "It's me you're after. Leave them alone and I'll go with you freely."
"No, John, you can't," Phoebe said. "They probably want to kill you. We'll figure a way out of this, I promise you."
Phoebe looked over and saw Prue, Piper, and Leo struggling against the energy fields encasing them. Leo attempted to orb out of the prison, but seemed unable to penetrate the barrier. Suddenly Prue appeared next to the frozen demon and grabbed the sphere out of his hand.
"Okay, big boy," she said, brandishing the sphere as if it were a weapon, "let's see how you do against your own magic."
"It won't work, I'm afraid," said a voice behind her.
She turned to see what appeared to be a human standing only a few feet away.
"Those spheres cannot be utilized by you," said the man. "I'm afraid they are only able to be properly operated by their rightful possessor."
"Who are you?" demanded Prue, still brandishing the sphere.
"That is a bit hard to explain," said the man. "Let's just say that these, what you call demons, belong to me, so to speak. And we've come for the man you know as John Smith."