Thanks Charmed-Snow, hope you'll like the next chapter.

43. Chapter

Cole bundled the obstinated Josh into the car, while Zadie watched her destroyed study. "All my things." She said sighing and shook her head, everything was so depressing.

Prue stopped in the door frame, but she didn't know, how she could encourage her. Her own sister had turned Zadie into a zombie and now she wanted to destroy her home. There were no words of comfort.

Zadie took a deep breath and tried to compose herself. "It's not much help to lament." She explained firmly and went to the overturned table. "We have to stop Belva." She looked around searching and picked up a book. "Perhaps it'll help us." She said and walked to the door in a very self-confident manner.

Prue stepped aside and followed Zadie into the garden. They got into the car and left the quarter, while Zadie didn't look back once.

When they finally arrived in front of their house, Cole got off and pushed Josh along to the house. Prue opened the door and they entered the hall. Everything was calm, they just heard some noises from the first floor.

"Amy?" Prue shouted and looked upstairs.

"Yes, I'm coming." They heard Amy's voice. "I decided to begin to clean the house a little bit." She explained. "Because otherwise Mrs. Jennings will get a heart attack, if she sees this mess."

"Okay." Prue said and waited in the hall for Amy, while Cole pushed Josh into the living room. Zadie followed them and sat down on the sofa with exhaustion.

When Amy finally came downstairs, Prue looked at her searching. "Is everything alright with you?"

"Yes." Amy nodded and asked in concern. "But what's happened to you? Is Danny alright? Did you find him?"

Prue shook her head sadly. "No, but we'll find him, I promise you." She explained resolutely.

They entered the living room and Amy stopped in disbelief. "What is he after?" She asked grimly, when she saw Josh in the middle of the room. "I'm through with him."

"We caught him spying in Zadie's house." Cole told her and gave Josh a blank look.

"I didn't spy. How many times to I have to tell you again and again?" Josh asked angrily. "I passed by by chance and the door stood open."

"Oh yes, but unfortunately nobody will buy that." Cole informed him in a voice cold as ice.

"I'd like to know what's really happened." Amy changed the subject and ignored Josh completely.

"Zadie picked up Danny at Judy's and then she took him to Belva." Prue explained.

Josh gave a laugh and pointed at Zadie. "Oh yes! You have to pin the blame on me, although she is the culprit!"

"She is a zombie, she had no choice." Prue informed him angrily. "Unlike you!"

"But I didn't do anything." Josh said shaking his head. "Please, believe me."

"And who told Belva, where she could find Danny?" Cole asked with a black look. "You were the only person, who could tell her about it."

"But I don't know anyone named Belva. Who is it?" Josh looked at Amy desperately, but she avoided his eyes.

"Zadie's sister." Prue explained finally and looked at him searching. "Does the penny drop now?"

"Listen, I don't know this woman and I've no idea, where your son is." Josh explained again. "So let me just go."

"And then you'll run straightaway to Belva, to tell her that we are free again. No way!" Prue told him firmly.

Cole nodded. "You won't go anywhere." He told him as composed as possible.

"Well, then I'll stay here. I couldn't care less." Josh sat down on the armchair, apparently rather composed.

But Cole pulled him up again. "Oh, no! You'll tell me where my son and Belva are! Right away!" Cole hissed at him in a cold voice. "Otherwise I can't make any guarantees that you'll leave this house alive." He let him go and looked at him expectantly, but Josh just shrugged his shoulders in defense.

"Belva would have never told the boy." Zadie finally said. "She doesn't trust anyone."

"But he must be able to contact her somehow." Prue supposed and looked at Josh angrily. "Come on, out with it, what's the problem?"

"I don't know anything of rubbish." Josh explained desperately. "What do you want from me? Shall I think something up?"

Prue shook her head sceptically. "Then tell me, why did you leave Amy standing there this morning?" She asked. "You don't expect me to believe that it's a problem for you, that she was accused for murder, do you?"

"Yes I do." Josh said hesitatingly and looked down.

Prue gave him a surprised look. Well, obviously this was a lie, but did that mean inevitable, that he had told the truth before? "You know, that you aren't a very good liar, don't you?" She asked thoughtfully

"That's nothing new to me!" He said calmly. "Perhaps you believe crimes are nothing unusual to me, but that's wrong. I never come up against the law, I have nothing to do with the police."

"But I didn't do anything wrong, too." Amy explained angrily and looked at him hurted. "I'm not guilty, even the charge against me was dropped."

Josh only shrugged his shoulders, but didn't look at her.

"Idiot! What do you think? I mean everything was hard for me, yet." She informed him, but Josh still didn't look at her. "I really don't need anyone calling me a criminal to feel bad."

Josh cast a quick glance at her. "I never said anything like that. I just think that we don't suit one another." He made clear.

Amy was speechless. "So I'm not good enough for you?" She could only say and closed her eyes to hold back her tears. "That isn't fair from you." She'd really like to forget everything around her, eliminate the whole world. She couldn't understand, why he was able to hurt her so much.

Prue looked at Josh angrily. "Congratulations!" She hissed at him for Amy's sake. "You really did a good job!" blickte

"Oh my God, I didn't want to hurt her, that's the last thing I wanted." Josh explained and looked at Amy sadly. "It didn't mean, that you aren't good enough for me, no I'm not good enough for you."

Amy opened her eyes and looked at him unbelievingly. "Because you are so law-abiding?"

"No because, damn it!" He looked down and ran nervously his fingers through his hair. Then he looked up again. "I didn't want you to find out, because ... well I'm so sorry."

Prue looked at him forcefully. "Come on, out with it."

Josh took a deep breath and explained plainly. "My father is ... was ... Alan Miller."

"What?" Amy gave him a blank look, while Josh avoided her eyes and looked at Cole.

"What are you getting at? That doesn't mean anything to me." Cole said. He was confused and looked at Prue asking, but she also shrugged her shoulders.

"Great, you want to give me a hard time." Josh murmured and looked at Amy again. "He's to blame that you had to suffer." He explained and when he noticed, that they still didn't understand, he added sighing. "He was the murderer of the priest."

"Oh." Amy let out in surprise. "Do you mean, your father was the demon?" She asked after some hesitation. Oh no, if she had just killed his father?

"Demon?" Josh gave a sad laugh. "Yes, probably you could call him a demon." He said ironically.

"So you are something like Cole?" Amy wondered and didn't know how to deal with this information.

"No Amy, I think he wanted to tell us something else." Cole said calmly and shook his head in disbelief. "He means the man form the morgue."

"What?" Prue looked away from Josh and gave Cole an angry look. "I knew it. I told you that we should think about his relatives."

Cole shrugged his shoulders cooly. "How was I to know that such a guy still had some relatives."

Amy slowly understood, about whom Josh was talking. She took an angry look at Cole. "He means the man, I had to remember, doesn't he?" She asked in a low voice and turned to Josh again, who still looked on the ground sadly.

"I never chose him to be my father." He explained depressed. "He already caused me a lot of trouble and I knew that, ... I mean, if you knew about it ..." He shrugged his shoulders and gave Amy an embarrassed smile. "It would be over and I didn't want to wait and see it happen."

Amy walked at him shaking her head. "But Josh he was ..." But she couldn't go on, because Cole bared her way and stopped her.

"No Amy, don't do it." He said in a silent, but forceful voice. He didn't trust Josh, yet.

Amy looked at him in amazement, before she turned to Prue seeking for help, but Prue just shook her head a little. Probably they were right, Amy thought. Nevertheless she went to Josh standing in the living room restlessly. It gave her a very uneasy feeling to lie to Josh, but what should she say? A demon had killed Adam, should she tell Josh about it and would he believe it? Okay, his reaction to the zombies was rather cool, but wouldn't he think that she had deceived justice to get free, as he had always expected?

She looked at him sceptically, but finally she took his hand to leave the room. "Please excuse us." She said and led Josh into the room next.

"I didn't want to tell you about it, there are already too many people knowing about it." Josh started to explain and walked up and down nervously. Then he suddenly stopped behind an armchair. He leaned his arm on the back rest and looked at Amy unhappily. "He was disgusting and I was always glad, when he was gone." He explained plainly and it was obvious, that the meaning of 'gone' was prison. "I didn't even know, that he got free again. Luckily he gave up to see us anymore."

"Oh Josh!" Amy let out understanding, she had to restrain herself, otherwise she would tell him the truth. "How did you find out about it?"

Josh shrugged his shoulders. "I read about it in the paper." He explained coldly and looked at her sighing. "I know you'll be shocked to hear, that I was even relieved to hear, that he's dead."

"No, I'm not. I can understand you very well." Amy told him. "But you could have told me about it. I mean, you aren't responsible for anything."

Josh shook his head. "You had to suffer because of him. You can't shrug it off. You'll never forget it." He told her totally convinced.

"I will." Amy said firmly and got closer to him. "And perhaps it wasn't really your father."

Josh smiled. "You are so nice. But I know his brutality, especially when he was drunken, he could be extremely violent. Well you could rather say, it's a miracle, that he wasn't accused for murder earlier." He told her seemingly composed. "And besides you've identified him."

"Well, not really, I was rather confused. It's possible, that I was wrong." She explained unhappily.

"You don't have to lie Amy." Josh said. He was impressed, that she didn't reproach him, but tried to make it easy for him.

Amy sighed, how could she make it clear to him. "I'm so sorry." She could only say.

Josh looked at her in disbelief. "You of all people say this to me? I mean he has..."

Amy put her finger on his mouth. "It isn't your fault." She whispered and wished that she could say the same about herself.

Josh kissed her fingers and said in surprise. "You don't care?"

Amy shook her head. "No it doesn't matter." She explained and flung her arms around his neck to pull him closer.

Josh didn't wait to be told twice. Why should he allow his father, this bastard, to spoil this. Josh had locked him out of his life a long time ago and he wouldn't let him into it after his death. He touched Amy's lips with determination and Amy had no objections. Even if she felt lousy, because she couldn't tell him the truth, she couldn't resist Josh's kisses.

Nobody could deny, that Josh was very good in kissing. He knew exactly what to do, where he had to touch her to drive her mad. Carefully she came up off him and watched him sceptically. "You have already had a lot of girlfriends, haven't you?" She asked thoughtfully.

Josh looked at her in amazement. "What gives you that idea?"

Amy shrugged her shoulders. "Well." She said and noticed, that she went red. "You're a great kisser."

Josh grinned, he was perfectly content about her compliment. "Well obviously I'm a natural." He explained firmly.

"Oh, really?" Amy asked and gave him a sceptical look. "But that's no answer to my question."

"Hm!" Josh looked at her thoughtfully. "But the deciding factor is, that I want to kiss you, only you."

With a content smile on her face Amy did it to please him.

After Josh and Amy had left the living room, Prue looked after them sceptically. "That's all we needed. Hopefully Amy won't tell him, that we just foist the murder on his father." She said angrily. "He won't accept that a demon was the murderer, especially if he has nothing to do with Belva."

"So what! I still don't trust him." Cole explained and watched to the door thoughtfully.

"Me, too." Prue confessed, before she looked at Cole angrily. "But I thought so as much. I knew that there must be a catch to the affair with the dead man somewhere. I should have stopped you from doing it."

Cole shrugged his shoulders. "We had no choice and this man was a criminal. And a crime more or less, doesn't count." He explained calmly.

Prue gave him a surprised look. "It doesn't bother you in the slightest?" She wanted to know.

Cole shook his head. "No, it doesn't make any difference with someone like this guy. And Josh will be able to deal with it." He said firmly. "I can tell you from my own experience, that I couldn't care less, if my mother killed a witch or an innocent more or less."

Prue shook her head and turned to Zadie again. "But unfortunately that doesn't help us along, we still have no idea, where Belva and Danny are."

Zadie nodded. "If we only knew, what she'd like to do next." She explained sighing.

"Oh, Belva was kind enough to inform us about her plans." Cole said ironically. "She'll sacrifice my son to the Goddess Ayida, so that she'll cause fear and terror over the world."

"Ayida?" Zadie put her hand in front of her mouth. "No, that's forbidden, nobody conjures up Ayida. She is a part of Damballah, our most powerful god. He's the epitome of goodness. He gives us blessing, he rescues us when we run into difficulties. We need him and she would destroy him with this action."

Cole shrugged his shoulders calmly. "But it seems that's the whole point."

Zadie shook her head in disbelief and couldn't say anything.

"Do you have an idea, where she could hold her ritual?" Prue tried to bring her back to reality.

Zadie took her book and started to leaf through it. "I don't know a ceremony to conjure up only Ayida, that would do harm to Damballah and nobody, who has his head on straight would want that." She explained and looked up. "When a Voodoo priest conjures up the Loa-Petro, that means the dark Goddesses, then the Loa usually claims a blood sacrifice."

"Danny." Prue let out, while Cole didn't say a word.

Zadie nodded and looked at Cole. "But he won't be an acceptable sacrifice for a Voodoo Goddness." She explained calmly.

Doubtfully Cole looked back at Zadie, he didn't know how he should take these news. How could she dare to give to understand, that his son wouldn't be got enough for anything. "What are you getting at?"

Zadie nearly grimaced, when she heard the undertone in Cole's question. But she couldn't bring herself to smile. "I gave you something not long ago. Something you should keep safe."

Cole gave her a surprised look, but then a thought flashed across his mind and he knew, what she wanted to say. "Danny's curl."

"Exactly!" Zadie nodded in satisfaction and looked at Prue. "In Voodoo we believe, that a child needs all it's hair, before it may die." She explained her. "And therefore no Loa would accept your son as his sacrifice."

"But will it prevent Belva from killing him?" Prue asked sceptically.

Zadie shrugged her shoulders. "She'll try it, but you should trust the power of Voodoo." She explained calmly and sighed. "But if Belva managed to destroy Damballah, then it would be possible, that the Gods of Voodoo could withdraw into their own world and won't be able to hear our calling anymore."

"Therefore we have to stop her, before it's too late." Prue stated resolutely. "Okay, how does such a Voodoo ritual look like?" she asked and looked at Zadie.

"We say prayers and sing while such a ritual to conjure up a Loa and to ask him for help. Then the sacrifice will be killed by cutting his throat in Loa's honour." Zadie explained calmly, but she felt an icy coldness coming from Cole and Prue. Therefore she tried to justify her religion. "You need a sacrifice to conjure up a Loa and to put him in a gracious mood. The holier the sacrifice is the sooner you'll be in the Loa's good graces. But you don't need a blood sacrifice, normally the Rada Goddesses don't claim it. They accept a fetish or food as well."

Prue nodded. "We understand, but Belva will do it."

"Yes." Zadie admitted. "I suppose Belva will dance a ceremonial dance, while she'll drink sacrificial blood to go into a deeper trance." Zadie speculated. "When people are in trance, the Gods and ghosts come to them. They ride them and take possession of them. Actually the human just serves the Loa as a wrapper, he takes up the character and ability of the superior creature. Belva would be as powerful as Ayida and if she'd like to destroy the world, nobody could stop her."

"I promise you, it won't happen." Cole told her calmly, he even didn't want to imagine this scenery, he would never let it happen.

Zadie looked at him sadly, she had some doubts about it. She sighed and said. "It'll happen when it's dark, at midnight, I suppose."

"Then we still have some time." Prue thought in relief. Danny would be safe until midnight, Belva wouldn't hurt him before. "We should just find out as fast as possible, where they are."

"Belva plans to conjure up a part of Damballah, therefore she'll try to do it near a lake or a pond, because it's sacred to Damballah." Zadie supposed. "But unfortunately I can't tell you more."

"Mm." Prue said thoughtfully, something strange occurred to her and she didn't know what she should think about it. "I've seen a snake statue made of wood, when I was in Belva's cellar. What do you think, could she use it for her ceremony?"

Zadie nodded. "Yes the Loa love fetishes and the snake is the symbol for Damballah and therefore of course for Ayida, too. And if the statue is holy, it'll be even easier for Belva to conjure up Ayida."

Prue nodded. "I don't know if it's important, but well ..." She started not really sure, if she should go on. "When I was with fever, I had a feverish dream."

Zadie gave her an encouraging look. "Tell us more about it, Prue. You can often see the truth in feverish dreams."

Prue gave a short laugh. "Of course." She said and looked at Cole, who watched her rather interested. "Okay, I dreamt of a snake and she was looking exactly like the statue made of wood." She started.

Cole looked at her in surprise. "Do you mean the snake, which swallowed me up, because you didn't open the door for me?" He wanted to know.

"Exactly!" Prue shook her head. "Why do you remember such an unimportant matter?"

Cole shrugged his shoulders. "Well it sounded rather interesting." He explained.

Prue shook her head smiling slightly and added. "First the snake has eaten Cole, before it went back to it's nest . This was in the ruin of the Maison of Wingrove's plantation." She explained. "I wanted to follow the snake, but I didn't get on and finally David Morgan appeared. He held Danny on his arms and told me, that the snake would still be hungry." She looked at Zadie asking. "Do you think this dream means anything?"

Zadie nodded. "It won't do any harm in taking a close look around there, will it?"

Prue gave a satisfied grin. "No, and Belva is in for it now."

"You can bet your bottom dollar on that." Cole agreed.

They looked at each other very confident of their victory, but Zadie had her doubts. She looked at Prue and Cole sadly. "You shouldn't be too confident of your victory. Belva is strong, if she had found a way to conjure up Ayida with which she vanquishes Damballah, nobody would be able to stop her, not even the Gods." Zadie tried to slow down their optimism."Perhaps you'll manage to rescue the boy, but Belva is able to replace him by another sacrifice."

"Oh, you shouldn't be so sure about it." Prue told her with a sneering smile. "We'll stop her! I already had more powerful opponents and a lot of them were called invincible, but nevertheless I managed to vanquish them."

Zadie shook her head. "Belva is very powerful, Prue." She explained firmly. "She always was powerful, but when she turned me into a zombie, she also got my powers and I fear now she's really invincible."

"Nobody is invincible." Prue stated firmly. "We'll oppose her and we'll defeat her, I promise you."

"Mm!" Cole gave Zadie a sceptical look, there was still something, she didn't want to give away. "You withhold something from us, don't you?"

Zadie sighed. "There is a legend." She hesitated.

But Cole didn't wait. "You talk abut the curse, that the women in Wingrove's family will become murderers, don't you?" he asked sneering. "We have already heard about it."

Zadie looked at him with surprise. "Oh, Edward Wingrove has really told you about it?"

Cole shrugged his shoulders. "He had no choice." he explained calmly.

Zadie nodded. "That's great, then I don't have to tell you everything. But Wingrove couldn't tell you the whole story." She said. "My ancestors were slaves on Wingrove's plantation. Originally they came from Africa, exactly from the present Benin. They were powerful Voodoo priestesses, nevertheless they were caught and deported on a slaves ship. They came to this place and of course the planters forbid their slaves to preserve their customs and sacred rites. The slaves kept them alive in secret, but slowly but surely they fell into oblivion."

"Okay and what happened next?" Cole asked impatiently, he wasn't really interested in Zadie's family story. They had to go to the plantation as soon as possible, they had to rescue Danny.

"One of my ancestors, Lilette, took advantage of Voodoo again. She became the planter's lover and made him fulfill all her wishes. But Lilette wanted more and she never thought about the other people. She only thought about herself, her own good. She wanted to become the lady of the house and the current lady was in her way. Therefore she conjured up the Gods again and put a curse on the planter's wife."

Zadie sighed. "But Lilette made a fault. The lady of the house went insane and killed her husband, before she set off for Lilette. On her way she murdered everybody she met and finally she even killed Lilette's son. Her madness made her powerful and even Lilette couldn't stop her. Out of rage, Lilette conjured up the Loa, but instead of a dark Petro-God, Ayizan appeared, the most powerful protector against black magic. She ordered Lilette to stop it right now. She already had cursed havoc and now she would be punished. If she used Voodoo for bad again, the Loa would give the lady of the house so much power, that she would be able to destroy Lilette and all her family. Lilette agreed reluctantly and turned away from Voodoo."

Zadie looked at Cole and Prue. "But the good Loa knew, that one of Lilette's descendants could conjure up an overkill of power again. Therefore they took precautions against it. They have determined that if one of Lilette's descendants used Voodoo only for her own purpose, so that evil could bring disaster on the world again, there would be a daughter in the family of the former owner of the plantation, who would have the power to prevent it. She would be able to vanquish Lilette's family for good."

Cole frowned, when he suddenly understood, what Zadie wanted to say. "You mean one of Wingrove's daughters could stop Belva, don't you?"

Zadie nodded. "Yes, that's the reason, why my family let the legend take it's course. They thought that Lilette had put a curse on Wingrove's family, that the women would kill their husbands and become unscrupulous murderers. As a result the Wingroves brought their daughters to my ancestors, when they were babies. My ancestors could see, if one of them would become a powerful witch, who isable to destroy my family." Zadie cast a regretful look at Prue and Cole. "Unfortunately I can assure you, that whether Vivian nor Charlotte are able to do it. They would have no chance against Belva and she knows it."

Cole and Prue looked at each other. "But there is something she doesn't know." He explained with a content smile. "Wingrove has another daughter."

Reluctantly Amy stepped back and looked at Josh for a long time. "We have to go back." She said with regret.

Josh raised an eyebrow. "Why? I didn't plan to go back to them." He looked into the direction of the living room. "This guy is crazy."

Amy shook her head. "Cole's son disappeared and we don't know, where he is. So you should understand his reaction." she defended him. "We think that Danny is in danger and Cole thought that you are involved in it."

"So someone kidnapped the boy?" Josh asked in disbelief. "But why? Is it a question of money?"

Amy sighed. "No, unfortunately not. It's more complicated." Josh looked at her asking. "It's more revenge than greed for money." She explained thoughtfully. "The district attorney, who died on the square in front of the court house is Belva's son. And now his mother wants to take revenge."

"Oh!" Josh frowned, now he could understand Cole's behaviour much better. "Damn it!" He let out.

Amy nodded. "You can say that again. As if Danny is to blame for it." She sighed. "Come on, lets go back." She took his hand and together they walked back into the hall.

Amy could hear, that the other three were still talking in the living room. When she heard Wingrove's name, she stopped in the door frame. But she had never expected, what she would hear next.

"Amy is Edward Wingrove's illegitimate daughter." Cole just told Zadie.

"What?" Amy let out with horror.

Cole and Prue looked over to the door, where Amy stood and stared at them with her mouth wide open. "Say it again." She urged Cole in a trembling voice.

"Amy, come inside and sit down first." Prue suggested, but Amy didn't listen.

She kept standing in the door frame stubbornly and gaped at Cole. "I want a clear answer, is Edward Wingrove my father?"

Cole nodded. "Yes, he is."

"But how do you know? Or wait ..." Amy was beside herself. "Since when do you know and why did nobody tell me about it? I thought you are my friends."

"We thought it'll be better for you, if you don't know." Prue tried to explained calmly. "You haven't had an easy time of it."

Amy snorted with rage. "Oh I see, but you just made it worse." She stared at them angrily. "I trusted you." Without another word she turned around and rushed to the door.

"Amy wait!" Josh followed her, while the others were paralyzed and couldn't budge.