After he'd taken care of the half-demon witch, Ezra, the Time-changer demon, still disguised as the Old West town sheriff, JD Dunne, blinked back to the same spot in the Old West that he'd left. None of the peacekeepers, the 'Magnificent Seven', had missed him as he blinked back to just seconds after he'd blinked away to kill the present-day half-demon witch.
Realizing that he no longer needed to ambush the time-traveling witches, as the present-day witch Chris Larabee had disappeared, and he'd killed the half-demon witch, Ezra, the Time-changer demon used his mind-control power to make the Old West peacekeepers head back to town.
The peacekeepers were standing around chatting when the demon's mind-control power suddenly took effect.
"We're wasting our time here," stated Wilmington. "No-one's watching the town while we're out here, y' know." He began to shuffle his feet about; anxious to get back and make sure that Four Corners wasn't being overrun by criminals while there was no one to protect it.
"I heartily concur, Mr. Wilmington," agreed Ezra. "There are more important tasks we should be performing."
"Let's get back to town, boys," decided Chris, glaring at JD for wasting their time.
"Sorry, Chris," apologized the demon disguised as JD. "Buck, let's go to the saloon."
"Best idea you've had all day, Kid," said Buck, walking to his horse that was waiting patiently nearby.
Then, the men quickly mounted their horses and rode back to town.
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After the peacekeepers had arrived back in town and separated, the witch Josiah appeared in a back-alley in Four Corners. It was as though the time-travel spell knew to transport the user to a secluded place where they wouldn't risk exposing their magic to non-magical humans. Then the witch walked toward the church where he somehow knew his ancestor would be. Once there, he had no choice but to tie the real peacekeeper Josiah up with some rope that he conjured up with a spell, promising that it was only being done for the greater good. The real peacekeeper Josiah didn't seem too surprised to see a man who looked exactly the same as him except for the clothes and very noticeable scar on his face. The ex-preacher was open to almost anything being possible, due to his belief in miracles and strange phenomena. He'd seen some strange things in his time that had taught him there were more strange things around than people knew about.
Josiah didn't know that being in the same time as his ancestor had given him the magic power to sense where his peacekeeper ancestor was. All the prophesied witches would magically sense their peacekeeper ancestors if they were in the same time as them.
Years before peacekeeper JD's wedding, a very powerful female witch had blessed all seven of the peacekeepers with a small amount of magic (although inactive for those seven) and created the prophecy of "The Charmed Seven." The peacekeepers didn't learn of the prophecy until they died and went to Heaven. As Nathan Jackson became a Whitelighter and was therefore allowed to spend a lot of time on Earth, his family's future generations didn't inherit his magic. Instead, all of the magic for his family line went to him when he became a Whitelighter.
Then Josiah the witch left the church, having swapped clothes with his ancestor after realizing that it would look suspicious if the Old West Josiah suddenly had different clothes on. Fortunately, he didn't notice that his ancestor was missing a facial scar, or he'd have glamoured to replicate the peacekeeper more closely. Then he wouldn't have given away to Chris and Nathan in the Underworld that he wasn't the real peacekeeper Sanchez.
"Mr. Sanchez," greeted a southern voice that Josiah didn't recognize. "By gracing this thoroughfare with your presence, I would postulate that your labors have been completed for the time being."
Josiah couldn't stop the chuckle from escaping him, as he faced the man he now knew was "Ezra Standish." Using long words in speech and using more words than necessary must be a family trait passed down through the Standish line.
Standish turned away, disgusted that his older friend was laughing at him. It wasn't something Sanchez usually did unless it was something Ezra or the others found amusing as well. Then Ezra walked to the saloon to join the other peacekeepers. He was trying to ignore the loud laughter coming from his older friend behind him.
Composing himself, Josiah realized that he'd better make a start on the vanquishing potion if he was to have a chance at vanquishing the demon. If he didn't do it soon, the demon might wipe him out as well. Then there would only be Chris left there to vanquish the demon (he had no idea that Chris was at that moment in the Underworld.) Taking a copy of the potion ingredients out of his pocket, Josiah felt glad that Ezra had telepathically told his father how to vanquish the demon as well as giving him a time-travel spell.
After briefly wondering where his brother Chris was, Josiah began to look around for the ingredients he needed. The witch was feeling quite confident that he would be able to complete the potion quite quickly with his prior knowledge of the Old West that he'd learnt from library books.
Josiah had loved reading ever since he'd started reading at the library of the monk-run boarding school where his cruel and widowed father had sent him. When Josiah was a teenager, the Potters, his adoptive parents, had enrolled him in the local high school where'd he'd learnt some basic information about the Old West in American History. Desiring to learn more details of the interesting US time-period, Josiah had started researching it in the local library.
Josiah couldn't help feeling thirsty upon walking near the building that Ezra had disappeared into for a drink. Perhaps he would find out where Chris was while he was in the building. The sign above the batwing doors said "Saloon." Then he was met by the Old West Buck and JD who were just exiting the building.
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Upon arriving outside of Four Corners, Chris the witch was relieved to find that there were no witnesses to his sudden appearance. He had quickly figured out that the demon must have surprised Ezra while the boy was alone and distracted by Chris's disappearance. He hated to think what the demon had done to his younger brother - demons were very brutal creatures. Fortunately, the warlocks had made their screen go blank so no-one had witnessed what happened to the half-demon witch after the Time-changer demon captured him.
Larabee headed toward town, dressed in a cowboy outfit he'd magically created. That way he didn't look like his ancestor so wouldn't raise any suspicions with his arrival in town.
As he walked into a fairly quiet town street, he was greeted by a brown-haired man he'd never seen before. The man looked about fifty years old.
"Hey, Son," the man greeted in a warm tone, "haven't seen you around here before."
Chris smiled. "That's 'cause I'm new to these parts," he said in what he hoped sounded like the man's accent.
"The name's James, James Cheshire. Where you from, Son?" It wasn't often that teenage boys were alone in a town where guns were allowed in the open, and he hoped the boy wasn't on the run from the law.
Chris wondered where he should say he was from as he had no idea where 'James' was from, so couldn't say his town. "I'm sorry, Sir, but I have to be going. It was good to meet you." Walking quickly away, Chris hoped James wouldn't get suspicious when he hadn't answered the innocent question.
James shook his head. "Kids these days - they ain't got no manners." He hoped that his daughter would find a husband who was more refined than the blond had seemed.
Chris heard the muttered remark and smiled - if the man thought that, he couldn't be suspicious of his hurried exit. Then Chris headed for the building with the sign "Saloon," hoping he might be able to find out where his brother Josiah was.
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Josiah had kept up the pretense that he was friends with the peacekeepers Buck and JD, and had entered the saloon with them. He'd sat at a table with the two and had gradually learned that the two men got along like best friends, despite that Buck was more than a few years older than JD. Unfortunately, to keep in character he had to drink a few strong alcoholic drinks, luckily not too strong for his taste. He hoped the alcohol in his system wouldn't affect his powers like it sometimes did.
When an elegantly dressed young woman with long and straight dark-brown hair had exited the saloon, Buck had gone after her, shouting back that he'd see both his friends later. JD had asked Josiah the time, and the disguised witch had then found out the time from the ancient time-piece he had inside his jacket.
Josiah remembered then that the time-piece was one of the things needed for the vanquishing potion, and had left the saloon upon remembering that his brothers' lives were still at stake, and he'd better get back to making the vanquishing potion. Time was ticking away, and it would be too easy to be so caught up with the events of the Old West that he'd forget why he was really there.
Another spot of luck occurred when Josiah saw the sign on the second floor of a building for the local healer. He remembered reading that healers and doctors of that time frequently made herbal remedies for the sick. Hopefully, Josiah would find an herb from that time there - another of the vanquishing potion ingredients.
The Time-changer demon, disguised as JD Dunne, followed a fair distance behind Sanchez. The oldest peacekeeper was his next intended victim. The demon had just injured the original Ezra Standish, preferring to save the time it took to kill someone for an ancestor whose descendant was still actually living. He knew how powerful and experienced with magic Josiah was, so was going after his ancestor for an easy way to wipe out the witch descendant.
As the demon followed behind Josiah Sanchez, he couldn't sense that it was really the witch Josiah glamoured into his Old West ancestor, so was unaware that he would more than meet his match if he tangled with that Sanchez. As he'd killed two of the telekinetic's brothers, it meant that Josiah would be very angry if faced with the demon, and his extreme anger mixed with his newly acquired demonic powers would make his telekinesis more harmful than usual.
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After the half-demon witch Ezra had been killed, he'd been magically transported to the Heavens, where he was warmly welcomed by a group of male and female Whitelighters of varying ages. He'd been told where to go next and had continued forward alone.
A Whitelighter girl of about fourteen, with long straight blonde hair that hung down her back, and wearing a long white dress with matching shoulder straps, approached the boy. Then she gently wrapped her arms around him. "Welcome, Ezra," she said in a soft, Irish voice, after stepping back from the boy.
"Is this Heaven?" asked the boy nervously, not speaking too loud because he didn't want to disturb the serenity of the white emptiness he was in - he couldn't see much except for white space everywhere.
From the first time Gloria Potter had shown Ezra how pleasant it felt to be embraced, he had always enjoyed the warm feeling it bought to him when he was hugged. He was hoping he might receive further embraces from the Whitelighter girl, as he really needed comforting after what had recently happened to him.
After having such a terrifying experience at the hands of the Time-changer demon, Ezra was glad it was finally over although he was sad at the prospect of not seeing his family until they joined him after they died. Knowing that there were no witches in the past to fix it then, he felt that there was no hope of them ever changing events so that he was bought back to life.
Ezra was bought out of his thoughts by the girl. "Yes, this is part of Heaven, but this place is where Whitelighters and Elders work - not quite where you were expecting to arrive."
A man with short blond hair and a short thin beard, who looked to be in either his thirties or forties, and wearing long white robes, stepped toward the girl and boy. "Katherine, you must watch your words more carefully." The man also had an Irish accent, meaning he might be related to the young Whitelighter.
"Sorry, Father - it is difficult to know what is permissible for us to say to the boy, as there is so much that is not allowed to be spoken," explained Katherine politely. "Ezra, you are here because we believe that there is still hope for your family's future. You must accompany us and then you shall see whom you need to help. As you are the one with the telepathic power, you will be able to use it to help them from here."
The group of Whitelighters turned and walked away, so Ezra followed after them, knowing he could trust the Whitelighters who were only ever aligned with the side of good and would never cause him any harm.
To be continued...