"My liege, I urge you to reconsider." The Seer took a seat by Dominic's side.
"You think they are stronger than me?" Dominic questioned, "They are three new witches who haven't even learnt to control their powers and I am the Source."
"Then send another demon to finish them off, a warlock perhaps. You are the Source, you are too important to risk in this manner."
"Another demon?" Dominic spat, "This is my destiny you are handing to another!"
The Seer bowed her head, "My liege, these witches have reconstituted the power of three, they are together on the nexus. Two of your cousins are twice blessed, they are naturally strong. Please, before you attempt this, send another to test them."
Dominic thought on what the Seer said, it made sense to test them before he moved in for the kill. A test could provide useful information about his cousins, but he would not be denied his destiny.
"Very well Seer, I will send another to test them. But be sure that the kill will remain mine."
Two demons shimmered before Dominic, once they saw him standing in front of them, they fell to their knees before him.
"You summoned us?" One of the demons asked, his head still bowed low.
"Yes. I have a task for you." The demons raised themselves from the floor and waited for Dominic to continue. "The task is top secret, no-one is to know about this. Is that understood?"
"Yes sire," The demons nodded.
"The warren line continues," Dominic returned to his throne as the demons exchanged glances. It had been the biggest story in the underworld, how after decades of fighting, the Charmed Ones had vanquished the last Source, and then they had vanished. The New Source had finally found and vanquished the Charmed Ones, and ended the warren line.
"The Charmed Ones?" One of the demons questioned, uncomfortable with where the conversation was going. It was well known that to go up against the Charmed Ones was suicide.
"The Charmed Ones are dead." The demons breathed a sigh of relief. "But their line continues."
"Sire?" One of the demons questioned, "We do not understand."
"There is another generation." Dominic informed, "The power of three has been reconstituted in their children."
The demons nervously exchanged glances.
"Your task is to bring these young witches to me. They are new to their powers and should not present you with much trouble." Dominic sighed, "Do not kill them, the kill is mine!"
The demons nodded and returned to their knees in front of Dominic's throne. They remained on their knees as they shimmered out.
"Wyatt?" Pia walked into the attic to find her older cousin perched on top of a dusty old trunk, the book of shadows on his lap. He was flicking through the pages, searching for something.
He stopped as Pia took a seat next to him on the trunk, he looked at her, "Nothing!" He said finally.
"Nothing?" Pia asked, "What were you looking for?"
"Well I figured that since there was a spell in here that started all this, there must be a spell in here to reverse it."
"And there isn't?"
"No, there's nothing." Wyatt shoved the book from his lap and it fell to the floor with a thud. "I don't want to be some sort of freak!"
"We're not freaks, we're…"
"Don't say it!" Wyatt interrupted, "Don't say that word!" He stood up and kicked the book across the room, "I don't want this, I don't want it! Take it back!" He yelled at the book.
Pia stood up and hugged Wyatt, he held on to her and buried his face in her hair. He was breathing hard, and Pia wondered if he was sobbing, she held him tightly, trying her best to comfort him.
Chris watched as the milk poured into his coffee and set itself down without spilling a drop. He was getting more and more used to his power, he finally had some sort of control over it.
Despite Wyatt deciding that none of them should use their powers until they found out more about them, like where they came from and why they had them, Chris decided to practice it, find out what he could move and what he couldn't.
He'd secretly been moving anything and everything he could get away with, without anyone noticing. Every time he made a cup of coffee he'd use his powers to move the coffee jug, the milk, stir in the sugar. The fist couple of times, the coffee had spilt down the counter, and he had smashed several cups, but he had finally managed to control his powers and made the perfect coffee.
He understood that Wyatt was cautious of their abilities, none of them knew how or why they had been given these powers, but the thought of being some kind of superhero excited Chris.
He motioned and sent the milk gliding towards the fridge.
"Wyatt would be pissed if he caught you doing that!" Chris jumped as Pia snuck up behind him. The milk carton that was floating through the air crashed to the floor spilling milk everywhere. Pia giggled.
"Did you have to?" Chris asked as he began clearing up the milk, "Where is Mr Misery anyway?"
"He's in the attic looking through the Book of Shadows," Pia stole a sip of coffee from Chris's cup.
"So he's coming to terms with it then?"
"Not likely," Pia shook her head, her russet hair falling in her disappointed eyes. "He was looking for some sort of reversal spell."
Chris groaned, all his life he'd wished he was special, something to set himself apart from the crowd, but all his life he'd been nothing more than average. He was average height, average weight, he'd never been the sport star Wyatt was, and he'd never achieved the grades Pia had. His one chance of being special, and Wyatt was trying to mess it up.
"Cant he just accept it?" Chris asked, mopping up the milk, "Don't you think it's exciting?"
"Well yeah, but it's scary too." Pia shrugged, "I can understand why Wyatt wants out, I mean have you had a look at the book of shadows yet?"
Chris shook his head, "No, I haven't had the chance yet. Why?"
"You haven't seen the pages and pages of entries about warlocks and demons then. Each page is a new face and a new nightmare, each name is the name of someone out to kill us." Pia shuddered, "There are things out there, evil things that want us dead because of these powers. Wyatt's just scared that he can't protect us from it all."
"I don't need to be protected, I can look after myself." Chris moaned as he sat back down and regarded his half empty cup of coffee.
Pia jolted sharply, falling off of the stool she was perched on. Chris rushed to her side on the floor.
"Are you ok?"
Pia moaned as her head started thumping, her vision clouded and she closed her eyes, her hands holding her forehead as it banged.
Pia jerked once more as the pain in her head subsided and she could open her eyes again. She looked up at Chris who was cradling her in his arms.
Once he made sure Pia was ok, Chris called up the stairs to Wyatt.
Wyatt made his way into the kitchen and saw his cousin sitting on the floor.
"Are you ok?" He asked, lifting her to her feet, "What happened?"
"I had another one of those vision things" Pia moaned, her head was still thumping.
"Was it of mom again?" Chris asked.
"No, this was different, I think it was of the future, there were these things which just appeared from nowhere."
"Sounds like a job for the book of shadows." Chris said as he raced up stairs to fetch the big green book.
Chris saw the book of shadows laying on the attic floor, he picked it up, surprised again at how heavy it was. He admired the gold lettering and the traced the gold symbol on the front with his finger. He hadn't been able to get close to the book since they had discovered that they were witches, Wyatt had taken up a kind of sentry duty with it, and seemed almost scared to let Chris close to it, as if he would release another evil from its pages.
Chris brought the book downstairs to Pia, if her vision was anything like that last one, chances were good that Pia would be able to describe the thing in her vision, Wyatt and Pia had described the book as being like a rogues gallery of things that went bump in the night.
Pia flicked through the pages, on every page a face glared back at her, each one more disfigured than the last. A few pages, she discovered, had spells on them, protection spells, enchantment spells, a few pages looked like something out of an old style cook book, with recipes, but the ingredients were definitely not for baking cakes with.
As she flicked through each fantastic page, she was confronted with a familiar face glowering at her from the parchment page.
"Here!" She cried, "That's it, that's what I saw! Two of them!"
Wyatt peeked over her shoulder and gazed down at the face of the demon.
"Tracer demons," Pia read, "Are lower level demons, used as mercenaries. They have the ability to track prey across dimensions, are impossible to escape."
"Terrific," Wyatt scowled, "Is there anything in there on how to kill them before they kill us?"
Pia flipped back and forth through the pages, shaking her head, "It doesn't look like it."
Chris whistled, "So these Tracer Demons are mercenaries, professional killing demons. They're after us and there's no spell or potion to get rid of them. Is there actually anything useful in that book?"
"Is there anything else you can tell us about what you saw?" Wyatt asked, "You never know what could help us kill these demons."
Pia looked around at the clock, "The only thing I can tell you is that we are running out of time, they'll be here any second."
"Where do they appear?" Chris asked.
"The conservatory." Pia said, "They come in fast."
"Do we have a plan?" Chris asked Wyatt, eagerly. Wyatt grimly shook his head.
Pia gasped as the demons from her vision shimmered into the conservatory. They smirked as they began firing energy balls. Furniture exploded on impact, Windows smashed, debris covered the manor floor.
Pia dove for cover behind the old dining table, flipping it on its side to create a barrier. Wyatt brought his arms up, protecting his head and instinctively freezing the room. The demons stood statue like, energy balls halted in mid air.
Pia looked at the gruesome demons, wrinkling her nose, "They're uglier in the flesh."
"Nice one Wyatt," Chris breathed, "What do we do now?"
"I don't know," Wyatt said, "But whatever we do, we better do it soon, they won't stay frozen forever!"
"If they are lower level demons, I never want to come face to face with an upper level one!" Pia exclaimed.
"Pia, get the book of shadows, there has to be something in there!" Chris shouted, before Pia could pick up the book, the energy ball hurtled across the room, exploding the clock, the demons were not frozen anymore.
The Tracer demons moved towards the three, cornering them behind the table.
"Do something Chris!" Wyatt shrieked.
Chris motioned several times, sending an assortment of objects flying across the room, seemingly random, all missing the demons. The demons laughed.
"Wyatt!" Chris shrieked, "Now would be a good time to freeze the room again,"
"I don't know how I did it!" Wyatt cried, bringing his hands up again, trying use his power, "Its not working!"
Chris tackled one of the demons to the floor, punching and kicking. The demon was too powerful, he pushed Chris and sent him crashing into the sofa in the living room.
Furious, and bleeding, Chris felt the power building inside him, he resisted the urge to explode and focused his powers onto the demon lurching towards Pia, he used all his energy to send the demon flying headfirst into the brick wall behind him, knocking him unconscious.
The last demon hesitated, regarding his unconscious ally. He looked towards Chris, and sent an energy ball soaring into the sofa, narrowly missing Chris.
The demon approached Pia as Wyatt tried to tackle him from the side, the demon laughed as he shoved Wyatt, who skidded towards Chris. The demon grabbed hold of Pia.
The demon hesitated as bright blue and white lights circled the room, merging, transforming into the shape of a man.
The man took form and ran towards the last standing demon, sending shots of electricity at the demon.
"Pia, run!" The man screamed, as he continued to shoot the demon with the white electricity. Pia didn't need to be told again, she fled towards Chris and Wyatt, who stood stunned, watching the stranger attack the demon.
The demon crumpled onto the floor, barely conscious, the man ceased fire.
"Tell your Source," he said, "that these kids are under my protection. If he wants to come after them, he'll have to come through me first."
The demon shimmered out, the man turned to the unconscious form on the floor, the other demon. He motioned and bright white lights circled the demon, as the lights subsided the demon was gone.
"Who are you?" Pia asked as she looked at the blonde man standing in their living room, "What are you? And how do you know my name?"
The man smiled softly, and looked past Pia to Wyatt and Chris. "Are you guys ok?" He asked.
He caught sight of Chris's bleeding wound, and held his hand over the cut. A golden glow emanated from the strangers hand, the wound sealed itself, with not so much as a scar.
Chris looked down at the healed wound, the skin still warm from the golden glow. He looked back up at the man leaning over him, the familiar smile flooding Chris with memories.
Chris gaped at the man, it just wasn't possible. "It can't be." He murmured, "How?"
Wyatt stared at the man in front of him, his mouth gaping open. It couldn't be, it had been at least fifteen years, and the man standing in the front room hadn't aged a day. It wasn't possible.
The man with the sandy blonde hair looked at the two boys, "I'm sure you must have a million questions," he said.
"We do," Pia continued, annoyed that he seemed to be ignoring her, "And the first three are who are you? What are you? And how do you know my name?"
The man looked at Pia and smiled, he knew she'd grow into a strong woman, with the Warren blood running through her veins, there would have been no doubt that she'd inherit the strength, and courage, and fantastic cheek bones, but he was taken aback by how much she looked like Paige. She really couldn't be anyone other than Paige's daughter
"I'm sorry," he said to Pia, "I'm a white-lighter; it's kind of like a guardian angel for witches."
"That explains what you are," Pia crossed her arms, "But who are you?"
"Dad." Wyatt said simply, still gaping at the man standing in front of him. He felt the anger rising inside him, the man that had left his mother all those years ago, left him to be the man of the house at ten years old, left him to pick up the pieces of his family. He wasn't just a name on the bottom of a birthday card anymore, a face from a faded old photograph, he was in the flesh, so to speak, standing in front of him.
Leo watched the full range of emotions flow through the three youngsters in front of him, "You must have a million questions," he repeated, "I'll try to answer them as best as I can, but I'm not sure I have all the answers."