Thanks future cop, I'm glad, that you like it and I promise to go on, so there's already the next chapter!
47. Chapter
After Prue made sure, that Danny was alright after everything what had happened to him, she turned back to the lake. Meanwhile Belva had arrived on the stage again and gave commanding instructions to her disciples, while she tried to shake out her wet cape. "She won't give up." Prue realized and sighed. "And if she puts her plan into action, it'll be all over."
Cole followed her eyes, but at the moment he was more interested in his son than what happened on the lake. A low wind sprang up and although it was a mild night, he felt shivery in his wet clothes. He looked at Danny and was worried, he didn't wear a lot of clothes thanks to Belva's sacrifice ritual. "We should bring Danny back to the car, Prue." He said firmly. "Otherwise he could get a pneumonia."
But it seemed as if Prue didn't listen. Unlike Cole she wasn't cold. The situation didn't allow her to think about her comfort. But it made her shudder to think of the result, if Belva managed to conjure up Ayida. She stood on the edge of the lake, folded her arms and looked what was going on on the lake. "Where are Zadie and Amy? I hope they'll find us."
"Prue!" Cole tried to get her attention, because obviously she had her mind on other things.
"Hm?" she turned around reluctantly and walked back to them. "We are Halliwells and we aren't so oversensitive." She informed Cole. "Why can't you warm him up somehow?" She asked thoughtfully, when she suddenly heard some noise.
Amy, Zadie and Josh appeared stumbling from the wood nearby the lake. When Amy saw them at the lakeshore, she ran at them and forgot all her anger. "Prue, Cole. I'm so glad to see you alive." She screamed and embraced them wildly. "But why are you so wet?"
"An unmeant bath." Cole explained and looked at her asking. "Do you have anything to keep Danny warm?"
Amy nodded. She took off her cardigan and wrapped Danny up in it. "Hello my dear." She said smiling. "I'm so glad, that you are alright."
Meanwhile Zadie stepped at the shores of the lake and looked sadly at the scenery in front of her. "Oh my God, she'll really do it." She whispered.
Prue nodded. "Yes and I don't know, how we can stop her."
As if she had heard them, Belva suddenly turned around and looked at the lakeshores. She gave a sneer laugh and shook her head. "Well, what do you know! My traitorous sister turned up, too, to see my victory with her own eyes." she explained confidently. She raised her arms and a transparent wall surrounded the stage. "I won't have another interruption, but I don't want to spoil you the pleasure to watch it."
"Belva, you can't do that, you can't destroy everything." Zadie tried to convince her, but Belva just made a dismissive gesture.
"You'll see, what I can do." She explained firmly. "And before my grand show will start, you'll be busy. I have something to take your attention away from my preparations."
Suddenly numerous vultare demons appeared along the lakeshore and rushed at them obediently.
"That's all I needed." Prue said rather annoyed, while she began to vanquish the first demon. Then she turned around to Cole and smiled. "But it'll keep us warm."
Cole shook his head and grinned. "You are right, I'll regard it as warm-up exercises." He announced resolutely and threw an energy ball at the Vultare, running at him fearlessly, as if they could expect anything else than their deaths.
Zadie also didn't want to be behind the others and bent down to pick up a knife from the ground to go for a demon.
Josh watched everything in disbelief, but when one of the strange figures came closer, he stepped back horrified. Thereby he stumbled over a root and fell on the ground, so that he hit his head on a rock.
Immediately Amy was beside him. "Josh!" she let out in concern, when she saw blood on his temple. "Is everything alright?"
"Ouch!" Josh put his hand on his head and sat up carefully. "It could be worse." He said and stared at the others, who were fighting the strange figures masterly. Unlike him, he thought, he was falling on the ground. Some hero he was. This way, he couldn't make an impression on Amy and she already watched him sceptically. "Feel free to tell me, I'm really bad."
Amy frowned until she understood, what he was getting at. "No, of course not." She said immediately.
Josh wanted to shake his head, but it would just hurt him, so he didn't do it. "I stumbled back and fell down." He reminded her and although he felt as if he was watching a movie, he wondered angrily, why the others were able to fight against these creatures, while he was incompetent. "Who are they?" He asked in disbelief.
"Demons." Amy explained in a low voice and ran her fingers through his hair carefully. "Vicious creatures without a heart." She sighed and looked at him doubtfully. But what was she waiting for, there wouldn't be the right moment. "Josh." She started and tried to get his attention.
But Josh was still staring at the Vultare, whose number decimated quickly, when Cole vanquished three of them with only one energy ball. "What is he doing?" Josh asked and pointed on Cole.
"They'll vanquish them, before they can hurt us." Amy informed him, while she stared at Josh all the time and tried to pluck up courage. "I have to tell you something, it's rather important."
Josh turned around at least and watched her curiously. "Okay, fire away." She could tell him everything now, nothing could shock him anymore.
"A demon has killed Adam." She began quickly, before she could change her mind. "Your father had nothing to do with it. He was just somewhere around there. Nobody would have believed what had happened." She looked at him imploring, while Josh tried to understand her words. "I'm so sorry, I didn't want to hurt anyone. Please forgive me."
Josh looked at her uncomprehendingly. "I don't understand." He said, although he could imagine, what she was getting at, but he refused to accept it. Amy wouldn't do anything to hurt someone, she would never let someone suffer, just for her own sake.
"Your father hasn't killed Adam, I haven't seen him." Amy explained in a sad voice. "I swear, if I knew, that I'd cause your family such a lot of worry, I would have never done it."
Josh nodded, he knew that she would never harm anyone knowingly. He shook his head and looked up, thereby he saw Cole and he knew it. "It was the plan of your great lawyer, wasn't it?" Josh stood up angrily and looked at Cole, coming up to them.
Prue, Zadie and Cole had finally vanquished all demons and Cole came for Danny. Amy was just taking care of his son, but actually he didn't want to be separated from him for only one minute. Surprised he noticed Josh's black look. "What's wrong?"
"You thought that it's a wonderful idea to wrongly accuse my father of killing an innocent, didn't you?" That was just like these lawyer bastards, he hated them. They always thought, that they could get away with everything. "Street people, nobody cares about them, just the person you wanted."
Cole picked up Danny and gave Josh an annoyed look. "Yes, or would you prefer to see Amy in prison for the rest of her life?" He wanted to know.
Josh looked at Amy, that question caught him off his guard. But would she have been sent into prison? No, nobody would have found her guilty of a murder or was he wrong? Josh doubted, but he wouldn't make it so easy for him. "She would have been acquitted." He said firmly.
Amy shook her head. "I couldn't tell them, that it was a demon, nobody would have believed me." She said in a low voice. "Probably they'd have thought that I ought to be certified."
"Josh!" Cole turned to the young man again. "Once in his life your father did you a favour, accept it."
"Well I'd say, it wasn't voluntary." Josh said derisively. "And even if, he would have done Amy a favour and not..." Before he said the last word, he looked at Amy and prefered to stop it, before he'd say something wrong. Because perhaps this idiot wasn't completely wrong. Josh looked down thoughtfully, when he suddenly saw a pink bunny in front of his nose.
Danny was all smiles and held his trophy out to Josh, as if it should be a peace offer.
"Thanks." Josh took the wet bunny and looked from Danny, beaming at him, to Amy. "I told you, that he likes me." He explained with a halting smile.
"Great, then we've settled everything." Cole said and looked to his son. "And we really have other problems."
Together they walked back to the edge of the lake and watched what was happening in front of them. The rhythm of the drums and the singing had started again and the white dressed people began to move in the rhythm of the beats.
But before Belva stepped back into the circle, she turned around to the little group on the edge of the lake once again. "Oh, you are already ready." She noticed in surprise. "Well, I'm glad, that I'm rid of these disgusting creatures at least. But nevertheless you won't expect a Thank you. But in return you can watch my ceremony. A lot of people would pay a fortune for this pleasure."
"Belva stop it. It's not too late." Zadie tried it again. "Don't let it destroy our family."
"Do you talk about this old legend, Zadie?" Belva wanted to know and laughed. She looked around pointed. "Well I don't see one of Wingrove's daughters, as far as I know, they even aren't in town tonight."
"Are you absolutely sure about that?" Zadie asked in a calm voice.
Belva shrugged her shoulders, rather unimpressed. "Don't worry. Wingrove's daughters are helpless creatures. They are unable to get at me. You know it, Zadie. The Loa are wrong, there is nobody, who can do this job."
"Oh, there is someone." Zadie sighed softly and looked at Amy, who gave her a horrified look.
"Which legend?" She whispered, although actually she didn't want to know it. Wingrove's daughters, oh God, she was one of them. "What are you getting at?"
"You are our only hope, my dear. You are destined by the Loa to defeat her." Zadie explained plainly, before she turned back to her sister. "Belva, stop it, you can..." Zadie began, but suddenly she put her hand on her throat.
"Quiet!" Belva shouted angrily and stared at her sister. She held a puppet made of straw in her hand and started to strangle it. "You won't disturb my ritual once again." She explained, while Zadie fell down and breathed noisily. Belva pulled her hands down and looked at the others dangerously. "Let that be a lesson to you." She turned around and the drums and singing grew louder.
"I don't understand, why should I be able to do anything?" Amy wondered, while she walked up and down on the shores of the lake and watched to the stage.
Zadie put her hands on her throat. She could breathe again, but when she started to talk just croaking sounds were coming out of her mouth.
"Are you alright?" Prue asked. She had stepped beside Zadie and helped her to stand up.
Zadie nodded and pointed at her throat.
"She can't talk." Josh realized and bent forward to pick up a long stick from the ground. He gave it to Zadie. "You can write something on the ground."
Zadie gave him a thankful pat on the back and started to write a word into the sand.
"Loa!" Amy read and looked at Zadie asking. "What do you mean?"
"The Loa are her Gods." Prue explained. "She wants you to conjure them for help."
Zadie nodded in agreement, while Amy shook her head unbelievingly. "But how? I even don't know, who they are."
"You'll have to try." Cole said and noticed that the dances on the stage were getting more and more ecstatically. Belva was spinning around wildly and strange words were coming out of her mouth louder and louder.
Ancient unknown sounds filled the air and Amy shuddered. She didn't want to be involved in this, everybody looked at her full of expectations and she had no idea, what to do. She looked up, there was a sudden silence, only a monotonous drumbeat sounded. Belva paced slowly to the altar. Only now the group on the lakeshore made out a white dressed figure, who had put her head on the silver bowl.
"That's Isabell." Cole recognized her, when he saw the blood on her right leg, but he couldn't believe it.
"Oh my God, Belva will sacrifice her." Prue realized and was shocked. The young woman didn't budge, it seemed as if she was in a daze, because she even didn't try to escape. Belva dipped her left hand into a cup and lifted Isabell's head with her right hand. Then she painted a cross on her checks and her forehead.
"We'll have to help her, we can't allow that." Prue explained and threw a heavy branch into Belva's direction. But it bounced off the transparent wall and fell into the dark water. "We'll have to do something." Prue snapped at the others.
For her sake, Cole threw an energy ball against the wall, but as he had expected, nothing could come through it. The energy ball ended up in the water, without causing any damage.
All the time Zadie just looked at Amy, who was on the verge of tears, she couldn't stand this pressure. "What do you demand from me?" She asked desperately. "I haven't the slightest idea, what to do."
Josh stepped beside her and put his arm around her shoulder. "Nobody will be able to force you to do anything, you don't want. I'll make sure of that." He said courageously.
"Great, then Ayida will destroy our world soon." Cole said sarcastically, while he watched what happened on the lake.
Belva raised the ritual knife and cast her spectators a triumphant look. Then she put the knife to Isabell's throat and cut it quickly. Blood was running into the bowl and was finally dripping into the cup beneath. "Now you are united again." Belva proclaimed and raised her hands. A thunderclap sounded and everybody could feel the vibration of the ground even on the edge of the lake.
Meanwhile Amy had crouched down with closed eyes. She didn't want to see anything, what was happening and she didn't want to be responsible for it.
"Amy." Prue kneeled down beside her. "Try to concentrate. Close your eyes and let it happen. You'll know what to do." She stood up again and took Josh's arm. "Come on, we should let her alone."
Josh looked at Prue reluctantly, he didn't want to let Amy alone. Josh was undecided and stayed where he was, when a wild yell from the lake attracted his attention.
Belva was standing on the middle of the stage. She held the golden cup in her hands over her head and it was shimmering in the torchlight. Five women in white dresses stepped closer and took each other by the hands. The drums and the singing grew louder again and the women began to revolve around Belva, who conjured up Ayida. Finally she held the cup on her mouth, before she started to drink the blood. Slowly she put the cup down and turned around to a basket standing beside her on the ground. She opened it and took out a two meter long white python. Belva held it into the air with outstretched arms, then she put it down again to kiss it onto the head, where her lips left a bloody mark.
Her disciples screamed and Belva wrapped the huge snake around her shoulders. She began to move in the rhythm of the drumbeats, her first steps were slowly but in time she went into a trance and her moves were getting wilder. When she was completely in trance, Belva opened her mouth and they could hear a loud sibilant.
'Ayida' Zadie wrote into the sand. The Voodoo Goddess had taken possession of her sister and Zadie didn't know, who should rescue them even now. She looked at Amy again, but it was obvious, that the young girl didn't know what to do. Zadie sighed loudly, she didn't want to know, what was going on with her sister, but Cole, Prue and Josh followed the horror, which was taking place on the lake.
Belva stepped beside the two snake statues and brought them into life with a plain gesture. They reared up and with sibilant sounds their long tongues sprayed a green poison over the wall made of glass. It reached some trees in a high arc and the poison destroyed everything, what it hit.
A tree broke beside Amy and she jumped up horrified. She was shocked and watched how the snakes started to spray more poison around. The small group searched for a place to hide, while Amy walked to the edge of the lake courageously. Another tree fell into the water, right in front of her and Amy snorted with rage. How could this bitch dare to destroy all the wonderful old trees! Birds were disturbed in their sleep and fluttered around and a bird's nest was swimming on the lake. The helpless birds were cheeping, but their parents couldn't help them.
When Amy saw the bird's nest, she finally had enough of it. The grounds belonged to her family and she'd be damned if she just watched the snakes destroying all the landscape. If she was able to put an end to this, great she'd do it. The tree was lying on the surface of the water now and gave her the opportunity to get to the platform. She climbed onto it bravely and balanced to the middle of the lake.
Prue and Cole wanted to follow Amy, but Zadie stopped them. She shook her head and pointed to the toxic rain, falling on the ground here and there. Every place, where the green liquid fell down, was scorched immediately, but it missed Amy. When she reached the transparent wall, she stopped angrily. "Stop this useless campaign of destruction." She shouted at Belva, who watched her in amusement.
"Well little girl, what do you want from me?" She asked in a voice, which wasn't her own.
"I'm a descendant of the Wingroves." Amy said fearlessly. "And I won't let your disgusting snakes destroy my plantation."
Belva laughed nastily and her eyes were glowing yellow. "Oh where did they find you?" She asked in a sneering voice and sized her up. "Go away, you can't take a Goddess like me on." She told her arrogantly and sent her snakes into Amy's direction.
Furiously Amy closed her eyes and spread out her arms. Words, that she didn't know and had never heard before, were coming out of her mouth, and suddenly a wind sprang up and began to storm against the wall. The storm got more and more powerful and the first stones loosened. They whirled in the air and although they were transparent, they were incredible heavy. They stopped the snakes and in time they covered all the platform, which started to sink.
When there was no wall anymore, which could stop Amy from going on, she walked to the platform in the middle of the lake. The snakes were lying dead under the transparent stones and the figures in white dresses had jumped into the water and tried to escape this mess.
Just Belva remained unimpressed and was still standing in the middle of the stage, staring at Amy. "You won't destroy me, you aren't powerful enough." She announced.
"But you've seen, what I'm able to do." Amy explained fearlessly and raised her arms up to the sky.
Belva took the snake from her shoulders and started to walk towards Amy in wavy lines. She moved like a snake and all the time she hissed spells in a threatening sound in its ears. When she was standing in front of Amy, she held the snake out to her, so that it could show it's spiky teeth.
nahm sich die Schlange von den Schultern und begann in schlangenartigen Bewegungen auf Amy zuzugehen. Dabei zischte sie der Schlange die ganze Zeit einen bedrohlich klingenden Zauberspruch ins Ohr. Als sie nur noch einen Meter von Amy entfernt war, streckte sie die Schlage aus und diese zeigte Amy ihre spitzen Zähne.
But Amy wasn't impressed, she raised her arms in a fast movement and a thunderbolt turned up in the sky. It came down on Belva with a thundering bang. She screamed wildly and fell down on her knees. She started to burn immediately and although she writhed in pain, it didn't help her. Belva screamed again and Amy stepped back in horror. She couldn't see Belva suffering, with another gesture she ran her arm over the water. A huge whirlpool turned up and began to swallow up everything slowly.
"Amy, come here." Prue shouted from the shores, but Amy didn't move, she didn't try to escape. She was standing there in a state of ecstasy and it seemed as if she didn't notice Prue. She acted as if she was in trance, completely fascinated that she had been able to use the powers of nature.
Prue stood aghast and looked at Cole, then she ran to the tree. Josh followed her and Cole handed Danny over to Zadie reluctantly. But she stopped him. "What?" He wanted to know angrily.
Zadie looked at him begging and wrote a word into the sand.
'Puppet' Cole frowned, when he remembered the puppet made of straw, Belva had strangled. "I'll try." He promised Zadie, before he followed Prue, who had already climbed on the trunk, while Josh waited impatiently behind her, watching Amy all the time.
When Cole reached them, he detained Prue. "Stay here, Prue. I'll settle it." He explained resolutely.
Prue opened her mouth to contradict, but then she shut it again and nodded. She jumped down the tree and stopped Josh. "Get her out of danger, okay!" She urged Cole.
"No problem at all." Cole hurried to climb along the tree to the platform in the middle of the lake, which had started to go round wildly. He jumped on it with a large leap and arrived beside Amy, who had stopped dead on her tracks and stared at the burning Belva.
"Amy!" Cole tried to bring her back to reality, when he noticed the straw puppet beside Belva, the one Zadie had asked him for. As if by magic it hadn't caught fire yet, but laid on the ground, which began to break away. Cole reached out for the puppet with one hand, while he tried to reach Amy, standing rooted to the spot, with his other hand at the same time. When he finally managed to get hold of both, he saw that Belva would catch up in the maelstrom of the water within the next second. Everything else would follow her immediately.
Cole didn't think twice, he didn't think about another thunder stone lying around somewhere or how the accuracy of his destination was at the moment. He just shimmered them away from this inferno.
When Cole and Amy disappeared, Josh's heart missed a beat. "Where are they?" He asked horrified, but when he looked around, Amy and Cole appeared right behind him. "Amy!" He let out and embraced her in relief.
They turned back to the lake and saw, that all the platform was disappearing in the depth of the water. Nothing was left. The storm died down, the water was calmly again and the lake laid in front of them peacefully and idyllically, as if nothing had happened.
But Amy was still overwhelmed "I don't know, how everything could happen." She said and looked at Cole. "And you've saved my life once again."
Cole shrugged his shoulders. "That was the very least you could expect, after you defeated Belva."
Amy looked around. Everywhere, where the toxic substance of the snakes had fallen onto the ground, everything was destroyed, but luckily she had managed to stop the snakes early enough, before they could have caused even more damage. "The nature obeyed me." Amy said and shook her head. "It was an incredible feeling."
"The Loa have supported you." Zadie explained. She stepped to them, holding Danny on her arms and held her hands towards Cole. "The puppet." she said calmly.
Prue cast a surprised look at her. "Why..."
"Why I'm not dead?" Zadie asked and smiled softly. "Well, when Belva had strangled the puppet, I knew it. If I had been an entire Zombie, she wouldn't have had an influence over me by the puppet. So she couldn't bring herself to turn me into an entire Zombie." She explained firmly, she wanted to believe it. Although she supposed, that Belva had only called her back too early, so that she had had no chance to take her soul away from her body. "She had just managed to freeze my soul and my consciousness, so that I had no access to it. That's the reason, why I felt and acted like a Zombie. Finally she had me under her control, I was a tool in her hands."
"But now you are alive again?" Prue wanted to know, still rather confused.
Zadie nodded. "Yes. Her power left me, when she died. I got my Voodoo powers back and they were able to heal my soul."
Cole picked up his son and gave her the puppet. "And why did you want the puppet at all costs?"
Carefully Zadie took the puppet and examined it thoughtfully. "Belva has turned it into me, if it had been destroyed, it would have been my destiny, too." Zadie explained and tried to take the iron chain away from the puppet's neck with a simple spell, but it didn't work. She looked up, completely shocked. "They are gone, my Voodoo powers are gone. I needed it to save my soul." She found out sadly. "That's my punishment."
"Don't worry, we have a chestnut tree in the garden." Cole and Prue said at the same time.
Zadie gave a confused look. "What are you getting at?" She wondered, but then she shook her head and raised her hands. "No, you'll tell me on our way home. I've enough of this place."
Zadie was right, nobody wanted to stay here any longer. With a last look on the peaceful lake, they set off to the cars to leave the plantation once and for all.