A Charmed Story - Part Three:
Double Demons
Chapter 6

Everything was a mess inside the big cave, where they were kept locked. Some of the newcomers were crying, others had fainted and most of them were disoriented.
There were many kids, even babies... All the witches were there. And it sounded like the Tower of Babel.
Paige pressed the girls instinctively against her chest, and muttered: "Don't worry, everything's gonna be fine..."
Derrick joined them and looked very shocked but determined: "Well, here we have all the power we needed... Maybe we can try again!"
Paige shook her head, disappointed: "Derrick, we can try, if you like... But we have been trying for several hours, and it didn't work. If whoever did this, brought us all here... Don't you think he or she already took into account the fact that we could join our powers? I guess this person or creature took measures for this."
Nicki nodded, agreeing with her: "And if we give that hope to these people, and then we fail... they'll go mad, you know? Just imagine the fear, if so many witches together can't fight this..."
Derrick clenched his fists: "But we need to do something..."

°°°°°°°°°°

"So... What's the following step?" Eridon asked.
The woman in grey turned her kind before, but now icy eyes, to the Elder.
"Now..." the woman went on, "we'll gather all the lost Mestizos in the world, those who have lived out there without even knowing who they were, how much power they possessed..."
The two men at her sides, as if they knew what she was going to order next, stood up and disappeared in the middle of a greyish cloud. One went to the jail of demons, the other to the jail of witches.
"The ones hidden in the school will stop all this," Eridon said.
"Then you'll have to stop them first," the woman answered coldly.
"But you said no casualties! We agreed that we wouldn't hurt those inside the magic school, if they didn't get out!"
"Change of plans... They're getting to us, I can feel it..."
"I cannot kill them..." Eridon said sadly. The young whitelighter, John, stepped back scared, but unnoticed.
"Of course..." the woman rolled her eyes, "you're an Elder... Elders cannot kill because they're good! That's what this is about! No good, no evil..."
Eridon turned pale: "Wait... You cannot change us, can you?" The woman smirked.
"You cannot change any of us, we're not mestizos..." he went on, stepping backwards and looking at Belthazor. "This was a trap!"
The woman stood up slowly, smiling...
The Elder gasped for air: "You used us just to help you gather all the witches and demons... You tricked us out! All this time!"
The woman raised her hand, slowly... John and the other whitelighters were scared.
"I had to..." she said, "I would have liked you to go there and bring the Charmed Ones and all the other witches with them, to me... But you spoilt it too soon." Strangely enough, none of them could react, as they saw how the woman blew Eridon up.
"You were imperfect..."
At that very moment, the darklighters threw some arrows against her, but she just laughed, and redirected them, killing their owners instead.
At the same time, she tried to blow Belthazor up, but the source was too quick and disappeared in the middle of flames.
John and his two friends started to orb away. However, as he disappeared escaping by little, he saw how his two friends orbs exploded in thousands of small blue and white particles.
The woman smiled: "Those two would not be able to fight the incoming force. Nor them, neither the Charmed Ones." Once she gathered all the Mestizos, or Double Demos as those bugs dared to call them, nobody would defeat them.

°°°°°°°°°°

Odin had turned white as the snow: "They already caught all of them. They'll probably have the demons too."
"Do you know about the Mestizos, Odin?" Leo asked, worriedly.
The Elder nodded: "They needed that evil and good joined and worked together. That was the only way to find all the Mestizos, all the Double Demons... But it seems this has already happened. Now it's only a question of time..."
"What do we do, then?" Chris asked, his heart beating strongly.
"Run, hide... It doesn't matter. This is the end of the world as we know it. And in the new one... I'm afraid there's no space for any of us," he stated in a grave tone.
Phoebe hugged Tom instinctively, and Cole held Wyatt on his arms. All the others were so scared and helpless that they didn't know what to say. Bianca's eyes filled with tears, and Chris ran over and sat down by her hugging her tightly.
"But there must be a way..." he whispered. There's a future, I know that..." But he didn't really know, he didn't know if Wyatt had returned to any future at all, after all. With Belthazor as the source, something that he himself DID, the future could have changed that much.
Suddenly something crossed his mind: The first riddle reads something like: 'Killing a Double Demon is as easy as cleaning a shirt dirty with grass and ice-cream...' He frowned: 'What if after all, it was a real clue?'
At that moment, the room was filled with white and blue orbs.
"John!" Odin exclaimed, "we thought you had disappeared!"
The boy's face was covered with tears.
"What happened?" Leo asked and went over to him. John was just shaking his head.
"John," Leo said and put his hand on his shoulder, "Where have you been?"
John took a deep breath: "I know you will kill me for what I have done."
The others frowned fearing that they knew already what he was about to say.
John swallowed and went on: "It was all Eridon's fault. It was his idea I thought. He told us to act like he ordered, just to make the world a better place, and... And I was so stupid to believe in him."
Odin sighed: "Don't worry, he was blinding us all." Chris was surprised by those mild words of the Elder. He had known him as a strict and hard person, not that... sympathetic. "Go on," Odin ordered.
"John swallowed again, then went on: "Eridon took us to that circle... There were demons and darkligthers, too... And the Source... And those people in grey."
"People in grey?" Piper asked.
John nodded and went on: "They were the leaders of all that. They want to find those who are not evil, nor good. They want them to rule the world so there's no fighting anymore."
Piper and Chris sighed remembering the words that evil Wyatt had used so many times. They knew that this would never work. 'Cause there could never be good without evil. There must be always both sides.
"At first, that sounded good to me. You know, I lost two of my charges in the last months and... I really wanted this to end..." John went on, "... but then things changed. The people in grey killed Eridon and the darklighters, and the other two whitelighters who were with me. I'm not sure, but I think that... me and the Source are the only ones who escaped that field of horror down there. I'm not sure, but... it think the people in grey want to rule the world and they want to use those who are not good nor evil... And I helped them..." He shook his head again: "Odin, please, end my existence... I deserve it... I have no right to go on."
The witches were surprised by his last words. How could he give up his life that way?.
"No," Odin said, "you're here... you have been tricked like everyone else here, but finally you are on the right side... And we need you now... We need every little power we have."
John sighed.
Chris sat still next to his love, watching her.
Bianca felt terrible. She was helpless, damn, she was also bearing one of those double-demons inside: The child of a witch and a Phoenix, from a good and an evil source. She started to cry again and lay her head on his shoulder.
Chris was surprised, nearly shocked. The whole day since that shit had began, she had been hiding something from him and now she was crying on his shoulder, but still he wasn't able to help her. He sighed and kissed her: "Don't worry honey, everything will be alright. I swear!"
She looked at him with a sad smile. She knew that her problems were less important at that moment, and she knew that Chris had to help the others, that he had to rescue the world again... So she calmed down trying to be strong for him, just as long as he was near.
"O.k., we need a plan, now," Piper said.
Chris saw her smile, kissed her again thinking that she was feeling a bit better and went over to the others.
There was still something he had to do: "Piper, you remember that little anecdote you wanted to tell?" His mother frowned, and then nodded. "How did it go on?"
"Chris, what..." Odin wanted to say that there was no time for that, but Chris stopped him with a movement of his hand.
Piper frowned, but then she told: "Well... Grandma was really angry, but... well... she took a mix of soda and salt for the grass and some washing-up liquid and detergent for the ice-cream, mixed it together on the shirt and put it all into the washing machine..."
Chris smiled while his father, the other Elder, Phoebe, Tom, and the whitelighter were looking at him wondering.
Then Phoebe started to smile, too. "Vanquish a mix of two demons is as easy as cleaning a shirt which is dirty from grass and ice-cream," she said now nearly laughing.
Chris laughed too: "Yeah, we tried the Belthazor potion and the spell for the source, but we never combined them!"
Now also Leo and Tom began to laugh, but Piper couldn't understand yet: "Could you explain that to me?"
"To me too, please." Odin added.
Leo smiled and explained the thing about the riddle. And he was sure that it would not only help to vanquish Belthazor, it would also help them to solve the other problem.
"Your son is a genius," Odin remarked.
"I know," Piper said smiling.
"Now, you," Leo turned to John again, "where are the witches, do you know that?"
"He shook his head: "Not exactly. I only know that they were trapped in a hidden cave, where magic doesn't work. Same as the demons. And also the other creatures. The grey people created a cave especially for every kind." The Elders nodded.
"But I think Steve isn't there," Tom added.
Leo looked at him, then to the others: "Yeah, we had a little contact, a few minutes before you arrived, Odin."
"What have you seen?" Phoebe asked.
"Ruins," he answered, "no other creature, just ruins."

°°°°°°°°°°

Steve looked at her. "What?"
She didn't answer, but pointed at him.
"You mean me? Mestizos? What do you mean? I don't understand." He was breathing heavily. "Where am I?"
The angel stood up and looked at the ruins, sadly. Then she turned and Steve recognised her face.
He didn't see only Nicki in her face, but his mother. 'What? Mom?'
She didn't open her mouth, but he heard her as if she was saying it: "You know it... Steven!"
'What?'
"Think, son, think." Now the angel turned completely into his mother. The rope around Steve loosened a little bit.
"Mom? Is that you?"
"It's all in your mind, you know the answers..."
'Mom? In my mind? What? Cut the cryptic crap!' he thought confused but then calmed down.
The angel, his mom, was standing giving her back to him, looking down at the village.
'In my mind... in my mind.' He closed his eyes and let go. He saw images in his head. Scenes from his life. He and Tom, growing up, discovering their powers. He saw the moments when they had to tell them, and the way his mom had looked at him. The same way like the faked Nicki had looked at him.
He opened his eyes and looked at her. "What did you do to my mom?" he cried scared, not understanding the pictures.
She turned her head, ran to him and hit him hard in the chest. She put her hands over his heart, squeezing it and looking deep into his eyes.
He tried to catch some breath.
"Think!"
Suddenly his head exploded. He heard so many voices, saw so many images; his whole life was being played like a movie before his eyes. Then he understood.
He smiled at her as he said the words: "Thanks mom."
The ropes disappeared and he fell on the floor. His mom smiled and disappeared.
Steve looked at the ruins and then laughed. "In my mind... Yeah totally," he said then, thinking about his house. The scenery in front of him changed... into his house.
"It's all in my head. I needed to find the answers and she helped me."
He laughed, happy that he hadn't been caught by a crazy angel. Short time before he saw the green light and could ask what it was, he screamed relieved: "Yeah!"

°°°°°°°°°°

Paige's head flew around. "Did you hear that?"
Nicki's voice was sarcastic. "You mean the moaning, crying and screaming here? Yeah."
"No... That was Steven!"
"What?"
Nicki, Paige and Veronica listened carefully, searching for Steven's voice.
"Where the fuck am I!" They heard his puzzled voice.
"Steve? STEVE!" Nicki cried out.
"Nicki?"
"Over here. Wait I'll get you."
"Is that a promise?" he asked in full notice of the ambiguity. Short after that he felt a smack on his head and said: "Hey Nicki, nice to see you too." Then he felt her arms around him.
"Shut up!" She led him to the others.
"What are you doing here? I thought you were in the magic school?" Paige asked worried. "Yeah, I was but... well, it's a long story. Where am I now?"
"We're trapped. It seems that all the witches of the world are trapped here."
"You got to be kidding me."
"No, we tried to pull out powers but it didn't work."
°°°°°°°°°°

The Elder frowned: "Ruins? Can you show me that, please?"
Everyone looked at them. Tom grabbed the hands of the Elder and tried to send him the pictures.
"You know where it is?" Leo asked impatient.
"It looks like... yeah an ancient village of another world."
"What!" everyone shouted out loud. "He's in another world?"
"No. This world doesn't exist anymore. It was destroyed by the double demons long time ago. I guess we saw the last moments, before it was swallowed and destroyed by so much power... He can't be there. Besides, it was the place where the angels, the ancient and what you would call 'real' angels lived. They are all dead." Tom listened carefully.
"Someone is tricking us, is that what you mean?" Leo asked Odin.
"I'm not sure. What happened to the boy?" Leo gave him a short version of everything.

°°°°°°°°°°

Meanwhile in the cave, Steve was focusing on sending his information to Tom, but it was nearly impossible. He needed more power.
"Paige... Mrs. Matthews. Could you and Nicki please give me your hands? I need power."
"For what? We told you..."
"Just do it please... I have to contact Tom."
"You have to? Well, ok."
"Wait, how much do you need?" Nicki asked. "We've got lots of powers here so maybe we all should grab our hands... at least more than three."
Some witches, who weren't as shocked as others, helped them. Steve concentrated again and it worked.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Arrghh..." Tom held his head. He felt a great pain, because they had never exchanged so much information at once.
Leo prevented him from falling: "Tom? Is that Steve?"
Suddenly everything stopped.
"Yeah... wait..." He sat down. "He's... with the others. Trapped."
"What about the angel?" Leo asked.
"It was his mom...He doesn't know how she did it, but it was her." Odin widened his eyes. "She helped him to understand, to realise that we both... we're also Mestizos."
The whole group was silent, unsure about what to say about that revelation. So he went on: "Our moms, he thinks, they're the witches. They both had... have a relationship with an 'evil' opposite. We're offspring of a mixture between good and evil. That's why we have these powers, this connection." Everyone listened shocked. Especially Bianca.
"His mom, well, she caught him, I don't know why and where, but she did it and then...I don't understand, but she was a sort of a projection of his subconscious which told him about our origin..."
"Wait, I don't understand you. His mom was here, pretending to be Nicki, then she caught him and then his subconscious told him everything?"
"Well. No. His mom broke into his mind, somehow and showed him everything he had to know. We don't know where she is now...I don't understand it myself, neither does Steve...He thinks she's just hiding somewhere, hiding before something... I don't get that clearly..."

°°°°°°°°°°

Suddenly a grey cloud formed in the cave where the witches were held, and the connection broke.
Steve gasped for air and fell down on the floor, and Nicki looked at him terrified: "Are you ok?"
"Yeah... My head aches, that's all..." he mumbled.
At that very moment silence involved them all. There was a man standing in the middle, smiling kindly at them.
"Who the hell are you?" Paige cried, standing up and walking to him, but a magical barrier stopped her.
"She wants some of you to come with me..." he said in a very low soft and beautiful voice; then, he waved his hand, and a golden aura surrounded many of the people inside the cave. These, who had been scared before, turned to look at one another, disoriented; but then, they smiled, and nodded. However, although Steve was also brightening with this golden light, his expression was grave.
"What's this...?" Sarah asked, terrified.
"Steve?" this time it was Paige that asked him.
Steve whispered: "They have seen the future. All these people. They're just like me..." he explained in a low voice. "I need to go."
"What?" Nicki exclaimed, seeing how all those 'chosen' ones followed the man in grey. "No way! What the hell is all this about?"
Steve smiled weakly: "I need to go. They don't understand, but I do. Please, trust me. I'm one of them, if I don't go now... We'll have a problem."
At that moment, the man in grey turned, grinning kindly: "Don't be afraid. You're blessed. It is high time for our destiny to be fulfilled. Come with me."
Steve nodded. Then he turned to the girls, and Derrick. "I have to go. Trust me," he whispered. Then he stood up and followed the others.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Ok..." Chris said, feeling at a loss after this turning of the screw. "So... that faked Nicki wasn't evil. I guess she pretended to be Nicki because it was the best way to get to Steve. But why?"
"Maybe because he's the key to save us all?" Cole suggested, who had been listening to them in silent, as he stroked Wyatts hair.
Tom shrugged, still too feeble: "He's one of them, of these Double Demons... But he has seen the truth, or part of it. So have I... This might help you to stop all this foolish stuff."
"But there's something I don't understand..." Piper intervened, "if he's now with the others... How did they get to him? I mean, it seems that every single witch and mestizo, and probably demon has been kidnapped, except us. Because we're here, that must be the reason... But Steve was here, wasn't he?"
Tom shook his head: "What I saw was his mind, but I think he was taken somewhere else..."
"His own mother put him in danger?" Leo asked, who had been searching in the book for some kind of spell to vanquish the enemy.
"She..." Tom started to say.
"No..." Chris said, "she just took him from the magic school so that he was caught too, not to endanger him, but to put the mole on the enemy side. He's now like a double agent, you know what I mean?" He made a short break and looked to Bianca, who stared at him. "... so that we could have some help from the very core of the problem."
Everyone kept in silence.
Finally, Leo broke out: "If that's so, he's in danger and he needs us to hurry, anyway."
Odin nodded: "The only thing I see clear is that one part of the potion should be made of the poison used in the darklighters' arrows, but that potion would only work on half Elders and half whitelighters, together with the potion we need for each kind of demon..." he sighed.
Piper turned to him. "So you mean we need to make a different potion for each mestizo?" she asked, worriedly.
John who had been aside all the time, shook his head, shocked: "No! Don't forget this... It's the leaders we need to vanquish. Only them. The others... are just like your boy, Steve, or Tom himself. I mean, I knew many of them, for sure... What you need to do first is preventing all the mestizos, who didn't even know who they were, from turning. And vanquish only the leaders!"
"But still... Who are the leaders, and of what kind?" asked Phoebe, tiredly.
John grinned happily: "II think I can help you with that."
Bianca rose while the others were talking. Chris turned around to her again: "Are you o.k.?"
She nodded, but he knew that that was a lie. "I just want to walk around a little, sweetie," she explained.
"But you'll go not alone. I..."
"No," she said, "you'll be needed here!" Chris sighed, he knew she was right, but...
"I'll go with her," Cole said and rose, too. He walked over to them and offered her his arm.
She smiled.
"Thanks, uncle," Chris said and followed them with his eyes while they were leaving.

°°°°°°°°°°

A soon as Bianca and Cole were out of sight, Bianca started to ran to her room. Cole was surprised for a moment, but then he followed her. He followed her to her room, to the toilette... were she was vomiting.
"Damn!" he yelled and ran out again.
Short time later he heard the flushing and returned to the room. "Are you o.k.?" he asked while Bianca sat down on the sofa.
She nodded and added: "Don't tell him."
"Girl, even if I would know what this is all about, I wouldn't tell him anything as long as you tell me to do so."
"Thanks," she said smiling weakly.
They kept silent for a moment, while Bianca was sobbing a little.
"Would you tell me what's going on?" Cole asked then softly.
At that moment, all those things seemed to her as if they didn't matter anymore. The whole world was going to be messed up, and she was still afraid of the little child inside her.
"I'm pregnant," she sobbed.
Cole was looking at her with eyes and mouth wide open: "That's fantastic, that's wonderful!"
"No, it is not, because I'm not allowed to. I have made a deal with the other Phoenixes. They let me stay with Chris as long as there is no offspring... If I don't keep to that deal they will kill my kid and also my little self," she answered with fear, with anger, with tears, but on the other hand unnaturally calm.
Cole sat down next to her, and hugged her.
"Hey, your man is a great man... He was able to save the soul of a damned demon, so I'm sure he's able to save you!"
Bianca smiled weakly: "Thanks, uncle."

°°°°°°°°°°

Steve and the others were standing in the dark room, where the big round table was. Everyone looked confused but somehow happy. They saw the bright future. Their future, their destiny, which was to be something bigger than everything.
The only person in this room frowning and looking unhappy was Steve.
The man who had brought them there, stepped next to him. "What is wrong? You don't have to be afraid. You're part of something bigger now." He smiled.
Steve, who didn't want to 'get caught', suddenly smiled and said: "I know we are, but I'm just a little confused."
"Yeah." The man grinned kindly and caressed his hair. "You're important, you're special. You'll discover everything in good time. All in good time."
Our double-agent nodded then turned as he heard a female voice at the back of the room.
"Welcome. I'm glad to see so many of you."

°°°°°°°°°°

Leo and Piper were gone to one of the laboratories to start making the potions. Odin and John had orbed up there, and Tom was again trying to contact Steve, while Phoebe took care of Wyatt and Chris paced through the room.
When Odin and John orbed back, they both looked up.
"Have you got it?" Phoebe asked.
Odin sighed: "No."
"NO?" Tom yelled. He was yelling at an Elder, but at that moment he didn't care about that. "Your whitelighter told us that two of them are from witches and demons, that means we need a potion to kill a witch, WHICH YOU SAID YOU HAVE!"
"I'm sorry. Enya had it, but she hid it after someone, maybe Gideon, wanted to steal it," Odin explained.
"And were is it now?" Phoebe asked.
Odin sighed, while John explained: "Its hidden in the Fields of Hope, a magic place where no magic from outside is allowed. Every kind of magic that does not belong to that place, good or evil, will be destroyed if it crosses the border."
"That means?" Tom asked.
"That means only those who are innocent humans can go there," Odin explained.
Chris was listening to all that very strained. Now he took a step forward: "Bind my powers and I'll go."
"What?" Tom yelled.
Odin looked at the far too young Elder with surprise. "You can do this right?" Chris asked him. "You can bind my powers completely, just till I'm back, with the potion." Odin nodded.
"And how will you get there, and back?" Tom asked afraid of another friend disappearing.
"I will orb him there," John explained, "It's a save place like the school or the council. You don't have to worry. They can't catch him there."
"But you shouldn't go alone," Phoebe remarked.
Chris looked at her pledgingly: "We need every power that is left, we can't bind..."
"Cole will go with you," she said interrupting him. Chris sighed. Then Phoebe turned to Odin: "Bind his powers, I'll go and take Cole." Then she walked out the room.


(Chapter 6 written by Belén, Chrissy.W.x and Dark Angel)