"Please," said Brannick backing away, "I don't want any trouble."
"Should have thought about that before you trespassed on our turf," said the leader of the men. "Now we got to teach you a lesson."
"Leave us alone," said Phoebe. "This isn't your turf. It belongs to someone else."
"What have we got here?" questioned the man. "Seems we got us a hero. Lady, this has been out turf for a long time. And we're going to deal with anyone that trespasses on it. Meaning you and your friend there."
Phoebe suddenly kicked out knocking the knife out of the mans' hand. She took up a defensive stance between Brannick and the man.
"You have no idea who you're messing with," Phoebe said deliberately. "Now I suggest you just turn around and get out of here while you still can."
"You're a brave one," said the man reaching behind him. He pulled out a pistol. "But you're the one who don't know who she's messing with."
"Leave her alone," said Brannick, moving toward the man.
Suddenly one of the men stepped up and stabbed Brannick in the stomach. Brannick fell to his knees holding his stomach. Blood was pouring freely from the wound.
"Toss him inside the house," said the man with the gun. "He won't last long with a wound like that. Then we'll take care of our witness here."
Two of the men grabbed Brannick roughly and tossed him inside the open door. Then they closed the door and pushed a wheelbarrow full of dirt in front of it effectively blocking the door closed.
Phoebe looked around. Six against one were not very good odds. And these guys meant business. The man with the gun was right. Brannick couldn't survive long without medical attention. If he died these men would be guilty of murder. And it was a safe bet they wouldn't want any witnesses around to help send them to prison.
"Leo," said Phoebe, "I could use a little help right now."
"What?" questioned the man with the gun. "You got someone else around here? Jake, Mac, search the place. Take care of anyone else you find. The rest of us can take care of one girl."
Two of the men turned and headed around the side of the house. The four left began to move toward Phoebe. Cautiously she backed away from them as she thought about what she could do next.
Suddenly Leo orbed in next to him. He looked around confused when he saw the men. The four men were likewise startled by Leo's appearance.
"What's going on?" demanded the man with the gun. "How'd you do that? What are you?"
"He's a friend of mine," said Phoebe. "And he can do a lot more than that. You'd better get out of here before he gets angry."
"It's a trick," said the man with the gun. "I don't know how you got here but you don't scare me. We ain't leaving no witnesses. I guess we'll have to do this the fast way."
He raised the pistol and shot Leo in the shoulder. Leo went down almost immediately, blood pouring from the wound. Phoebe dropped next to him trying to staunch the bleeding. Almost immediately the bleeding stopped and Leo's healing power took over. Within seconds the wound was completely healed leaving no sign that Leo had been shot. He stood up and faced the man with the gun.
"Now that wasn't very friendly," said Leo looking at the man.
"That ain't possible," said the man.
"Oh, you'd be surprised what he's capable of," said Phoebe. "Now I think you'd better get out of here before he looses his temper."
Suddenly they all heard what sounded like a muffled growl. Phoebe became very nervous. It was the same growl she had heard in her premonition. The one uttered by the green demon.
Just as suddenly the wall of the house exploded. Everyone raised their arms to protect themselves from the flying debris. As they watched the green demon Phoebe had seen in her premonition stepped through the wall. I flexed its muscles and growled loudly, just as it had in Phoebe's vision.
The man with the gun turned and faced the demon with terror in his eyes. He raised the pistol at the demon. The demon just growled and snatched the gun from his hand. Everyone watched in stunned amazement as the demon simply crushed the pistol into a useless mass of metal.
The demon then reached out and grabbed the man by the front of his shirt. The demon raised the man and threw him more than twenty feet away. Two of the men moved in to attack the demon. It simply struck out at them knocking them both several feet away.
"That's it," said Phoebe. "That's the demon from my premonition."
"I'd better get you out of here," said Leo, reaching out to take Phoebe's arm.
Before he could take hold of Phoebe the demon reached out and grabbed Leo's hand. It threw Leo several feet away, sending him crashing into the partially destroyed wall. Leo slumped to the ground partially stunned.
Suddenly the demon turned on Phoebe. With almost no effort at all the demon picked up Phoebe and slung her over its shoulder like a limp rag doll. Leo stood up, his head clearing, as the demon looked around, growled once more, and then jumped. Leo was shocked to watch the demon jump farther than should have been humanly, or even demonly, possible.
Leo shook his head. He was still groggy from being thrown against the wall. He knew he would need help with this demon. The type of help only Piper and Paige could provide. He concentrated and found he could still sense Phoebe. For the moment she appeared unharmed but the demon was still moving. Leo looked around and saw several people standing on the street staring at him.
Cautiously Leo moved inside the house. David Brannick was nowhere to be seen. But Brannick was not important at the moment. Obscured from the street beyond, Leo orbed out of the house for the manor.