Chapter/Scene 3 - The Underworld; the plot begins to thicken.
"What
is it now?" a shadowy figured asked Rhett. "Have you been
able to find a weakness to the Charmed Ones?"
"No, sir,
it's much bigger than that," he replied.
"Well, get on
with it. What have you got for me?"
"Today while I was
following the sister Phoebe around... I .. he was there," Rhett
stammered over the words, as if in disbelief.
"Who was there?
Spit it out already!" The demon growled from the shadows and a
fire ball appeared.
"Belthazar! Belthazar was there!"
The
fireball vanished. "Belthazar? Impossible! He's been dead for a
long time."
"I saw him. The witch, she-she was shocked
to see him, as well, but it was most certainly him."
"It's
not possible Rabio, this must be just your imagination running away
with you again," the demon paused. "I didn't hire you to be
scouting innocents that look like Belthazar, I hired you to find and
destroy the Charmed Ones, how hard can it be to find one vulnerable
point? Now, we'll have no more of this Belthazar nonsense lurking
around the Underworld, is that understood!"
"Yes, Lord
Haide, it's understood," Rabio replied, irritated.
"Now,
how close are you to getting me a weakness from the Charmed
Ones?"
"Before Belth- I mean.. that is.. before a human
came about I had been rather close to pulling the sister, Phoebe,
into my shadow world. She was about to take my hand when the Bel-the
human.. interrupted us."
"Are you trying to tell me this
'human' was our old friend Belthazar?"
"Lord Haide, it
was Belthazar... I can't explain how it was him, but it was. In his
human form," Rabio bowed his head.
"There's more you
wish to say. Continue," Lord Haide leaned forward and played
with a fireball, tossing it back and forth in his hands.
"I
think maybe Belthazar was protecting the witch from being pulled into
the Shadow world. Afterall, she was his heart's content before he'd
been vanquished, was she not?"
"So this Belthazar might
atually be real.. but in what form. He was once the demonic soldier
of fortune and had become a greater power.. the Source, from the
hallow... and after that.. he was neither Source nor Belthazar but a
greater being of evil than even I, and what is he now, if not simply
Belthazar or simply a human,"
"Sir?"
"I
need you to shadow him for awhile... become close to him, let him
know you. It would help if you went undercover at the old firm he use
to work at. Afterall, the more demons in the district of court
justice, the better. It's a shame that our honorable judge was
vanquished some years ago.. you should consider taking his place, if
not taking Belthazar's as a court ADA," Lord Haide stood up now.
"We can't risk him finding us out before we are done with this
mission. It is a retrieval mission, Rabio, I expect no deaths in it.
Shadow him, gain his trust, find out exactly who and what he is.. and
if he's harmless, go after the witch."
"Yes sir, I'll do
that sir," Rabio kneeled down as Lord Haide came up beside him.
"What if the witch gets suspicious of my knowing
Belthazar?"
"Then pull her into the Shadow world, with,
or without, the information on Belthazar's status. You will take the
sisters out, or fail and die."
"May I request assitance
on this mission, my lord?"
"And who exactly, Rabio, were
you planning on using?"
"I was hoping that maybe I could
take Absalom with me, his power of transmogrification could come in
handy in the face of suspicion, even is his
invisibility."
"Absalom..." Lord Haide paused to
contemplate allowing his best bounty hunter go. "Granted, but,
Rabio.. if he is vanquished, you shall follow."
"Yes, my
lord, I understand."
"Very well..." the Lord Haide
waved his hand. "Absalom. Come to me."
In shimmered the
bounty hunter, Absalom. Athame in his hand and an amulet around his
neck. "You called, Lord Haide?"
"Yes. I want you to
assist Rabio as best as you can. The mission, my bounty hunter, is a
information retrival. I want you to make sure Rabio isn't found out,
and yourself either. He will be shadowing a man whom is believed to
be Belthazar's human form. It's said that he may be protecting the
Charmed witch, Phoebe."
"Belthazar, sir?" Absalom
raised an eyebrow in question.
"Yes. But I want no word of
this mission, or of Belthazar's living status spread around the
Underworld, do I make myself clear?"
"Yes Lord Haide,
very clear," he replied.
"Good."
"When do
we start?" Absalom turned to Rabio.
"Right now."
Lord
Haide backed into the shadows and disappeared. "Summon me again
when you have furthered in your mission."
