Chapter 6. – New Magic Friends

Benny's Report, Day 77
Benny sat late at night in the sewers under the manor on Prescott Street with a cup of hot tea. He was reading reports from his agents. The latest developments in the Halliwell household were very interesting and Benny wanted desperately to discuss them with his client. Unfortunately Mr. Ledin was on business abroad and couldn't be reached until after Christmas.

Benny stopped reading, rubbed his one eye and yawned – he was getting too old for this kind of gig. The dangerous stakeouts and the constant stress… it was such a lonely, ungrateful job, far away from home. Maybe it was time for him to retire. His wife most certainly thought so.

But then his eye caught the reports lying on the desk and Benny knew why he never would be able to quit - his undying, almost overwhelming fascination of the human nature. Humans were such illogical, fantastic creatures – capable of marvelous bravery, extreme cowardice, unbelievable cruelty and tender, heartbreaking love. Benny couldn't help marvel at their complexity and their foolish fighting spirit. The Halliwell sisters were in many ways a perfect example of this and Benny kind of loved them for it.

Piper looked tiredly through the window. It was past midnight and a thick fog enveloped the city outside. In her hand she held The Last Urn of Moth. It was a small vase made of some kind obsidian material with tribal inscriptions on the sides that made it look old and powerful. Piper could feel the urn's ancient magic seeping through her fingers.

She smiled; The Last Urn of Moth was finally hers – it had taken Piper two weeks to track it down. She had to go to some very strange forums on the Internet to find it. Eventually she came in contact with a Dark Witch from Ukraine who was willing to sell her the urn. The price was disgustingly high but Piper felt it was worth it. The small urn was the final ingredient in the first installment of The Mouyawan Protection Spell – the most effective protection spell Piper had ever encountered. If she were able to perform the four installments of the spell correctly, it would solve all her problems with The Ripper Demons. And it was all thanks to her new friend Esmeralda.

It all started two weeks ago when Piper got a phone call from Esmeralda. Her friend had asked her to come over with a desperate urgency in her voice…

… Piper left her two sons in Paige's care and hurried over to Esmeralda's place across town. She had suspected that Esmeralda was in some kind of trouble for a long time and she really wanted to help the young mother whatever her problem was.

When Piper had arrived at Esmeralda's place, the door stood open and she could hear strange sounds coming from the apartment. As she entered the living room, Piper couldn't believe her eyes; the whole place was a war zone - everything was destroyed. In the middle of the room were Esmeralda's two children, Justin and Emilia, oblivious of what went on around them. They sat in a glowing pentagram written on the floor that powered some kind of force field. Two demons walked cautiously around the force field, poking it with pieces of furniture.

Esmeralda was struggling with a third demon in the corner of the room.

"Piper, look out!"

Esmeralda's warning made Piper swirl around, just to see the two demons coming at her with fireballs forming in their hands. Before she could even think, she had raised her hands and exploded the demons. Esmeralda and the demon she was wrestling stopped fighting and looked at Piper with bewilderment. Both of them were more than surprised at the turn of events. Everyone (not the kids) in the room stood absolutely still for a second and a half, until Esmeralda pushed the third demon away from her with great force. The demon fell onto the force field and dissolved into flames.

"What? How?" Piper couldn't believe her eyes– she had never seen a force field that could destroy demons.

Esmeralda looked as shocked as Piper.
"How did you… what did you… ? Piper you just EXPLODED that… that guy!"

"Guy? That 'guy' was a demon Esmeralda! What is going on?"

"What going on? I… you… you… ". Esmeralda was hyperventilating; she had a huge gash over her left eyebrow and looked alarmingly pale. Piper needed to calm Esmeralda down before her friend went into shock.

"You're hurt. Let me help you." Piper helped Esmeralda from the floor.

"It's just a gash, I'm fine… ooops!" Piper caught Esmeralda under the arms just before the young woman's legs buckled.

"You're far from fine. Let me take care of your head wound and see to your kids while you rest for a while. After that we can talk about what happened."

Esmeralda thought about Piper's offer for a second:
"Ok. I just have to dismantle the force field first."

With Piper's help Esmeralda stood in front of the force field. The young woman said something that was cloaked to Piper's ears and the force field disappeared. The pentagram glowed for ten more seconds before it faded into the floor.

Piper fed and put the little ones to bed before she dressed the young woman's wound. She gave her a cup of tea with soothing herbs that she found in the remains of the kitchen. Finally they settled down in what was left of Esmeralda's sofa

"So Esmeralda, would you mind telling me why you were attacked by demons and where you learned to make force fields that can vanquish demons?"

Esmeralda sipped on the hot tea. She looked exhausted and sad.
"First of all Piper, it wasn't my intention to put you in any kind of danger. The demons came after I had made my phone call to you. I just called you to have someone to talk to, that's all… and then they showed up. I never wanted you to get involved in my problems."

"Well, here I am and since I'm got a little bit 'involved' in your problem already - you might as 'involve' me furtherWho knows, maybe I can help you in some way?"

"Well, if you tell me how you were able to explode that demon with your mere hands. What are you Piper?"

Piper took a deep breath - she decided she could trust Esmeralda. "I am a witch. I am also a Charmed One."

"You're a Charmed One! Wow! I always knew that there was something special about you but never in my wildest imagination…"

"What are you Esmeralda?"

"I am a Bruha. That means witch in my country."

"So we're both witches… "

"For some reason I always felt we had something in common… I couldn't put my finger on it." Esmeralda gave Piper a smile.

"Funny you should say that because I felt the same way too." Piper smiled back.

They looked at each other and then they started to giggle at the absurdity of the whole situation. Piper felt a weight lift from her shoulders; apart from her family, she never had someone to share her secrets with. It felt good.

"Sooo, who were those ugly guys and what do they want with you?"

A shadow fell over Esmeralda's beautiful face.
"They work for my husband, Justin and Emilia's father. He… he is a Maltese Demon. "

"You're married to a demon?"

Esmeralda looked away, ashamed.
"I was young and madly in love. He was handsome, powerful and very… seductive. Before I knew it I was his young witch bride at this huge, fantastic wedding. We were so in love and I thought I was in heaven. Everything changed completely after I had Justin, our son – he became cruel and demonic… He wanted to raise Justin to be next Leader of The Underworld. When he said that he was going to marry our daughter, Emilia, to a Dark Lord I decided to run away with my children, to protect them. I've been on the run ever since."

Piper was moved to tears by Esmeralda's horrible story. She took her new friend's hand and gave it a squeeze.

"He must have found out where I was somehow. Now we have to move again and I don't have anywhere to go." Esmeralda started to cry. Piper hugged her tightly.

"We figure something out. You're not in this alone anymore, ok?"

"Will… will you help me?"

"Lets say that I can relate to your story a little bit. I know how it feels when someone is trying to harm your kids."

"But you're a Charmed One. Aren't you protected by whitelighters and The Elders?"

Piper gave her a dark look.
"The Elders are the threat."

"Oh!"

"Well… plus every moron in The Underworld who wants to use my kids for their own purposes. Right now there is this Ripper Demon family who tries to kidnap Wyatt and Chris so that they can adopt them."

"That's awful! How do you cope?"

"I try to be the strongest, meanest witch on Earth, so maybe one day all demons decide that it isn't worth attacking my family; because they know they will get their asses kicked."

"I wish I could be more like you Piper."

"No you don't. I'm not as though as I sound; I'm scared out of my wits every day. I have actually no idea how I made it this far without having a total nervous breakdown."

They sat in silence for a while, digesting each other's story. Piper felt fatigue setting in after her adrenaline rush during the demon attack.

"What kind of force field is that you are using Esmeralda? I have never seen anything like it."

Esmeralda gave her a proud smile.

"It's an old Mayan protection spell from my country. I have improved it a little bit so it fits the standards of today. It's called The Mouyawan Protection Spell."

"It's seems extremely efficient."

"It is! No demon has been able to penetrate it so far."

"Do you think you could teach me to do that spell?"

"Yes of course. But I must warn you; the ingredients are very specific and the preparations quite time consuming."

"That's no problem. You know what… I make you a deal: if you help me with your protection spell, I will fix you a new safe house - now that this place is wrecked by your husband's minions."

Esmeralda's eyes light up.
"You can?"

"One of my club managers has a little cabin northwest of the city. If you are interested I think I might be able to persuade him to rent it to you."

"That's sounds wonderful! Oh, Piper, thank you so much!" Esmeralda's eyes welled up again and she gave Piper a bone-crushing hug.

"Ugh! No problem. That's what friends are for, right?"

… That was two weeks ago. Esmeralda and her kids moved to the cabin outside town and they seemed to settle down just fine. Piper went to see them together with Wyatt and Chris, every second day. She and Esmeralda had a great time exchanging potions and spells while their kids played in the sun. Esmeralda kept her part of the deal and helped Piper make The Mouyawan Protection Spell.

Piper was so grateful to have a friend, who in her own way shared her fear and troubles.

She turned to the bubbling potion in the cauldron. It pulsated with a bluish light. Piper went through Esmeralda's notes once more before she took the cauldron from the fire and poured the content into the small urn. The first installment of the spell was complete.

The second installment of The Mouyawan Protection Spell was a little bit creepier – she had to bury the urn together with a dead murderer's hand on a cemetery during full moon. She was a little nervous about that - this was Piper's first dabbling with Dark Arts after all.

Phoebe sat by the huge window in Emilio's bedroom – it was in the middle of the night and a thick fog blurred city lights outside. Phoebe paid no attention to the beautiful view; instead her eyes darted between her sleeping lover in the bed and the potion she held in her hand. She replayed the conversation she had with Emilio earlier that night…

… Phoebe and Emilio had been "writing a book" passionately for a whole month.

She tried to be at home as little as possible after her big fight with Piper. Phoebe had more or less been living at Emilio's flat ever since. She went to premieres and parties with her new boy toy, living the glamorous life. It was good for her career; she got publicity and new interesting offers were dropping in by the minute. Sooner or later she and Emilio really had to start writing that damn book for real.

All the time Phoebe had this awful feeling of guilt somewhere in the back of her mind. She didn't want to think about it but she felt terrible for fighting with Piper. She knew both of her sisters needed her right now but Phoebe just couldn't bring herself to go home and fight demons, the devil and his grandma anymore. The magic life felt so dark and depressing with all the sacrifices they constantly had to endure. It had slowly been eating away the light within her and the secrecy made Phoebe feel disconnected from the rest of the world

"Now you are doing it again." Emilio's masculine voice awoke Phoebe from her thoughts.

"What?" She looked at him; he was lying naked beside her in the bed. God, he was beautiful! He looked like a cross between Gael García Bernal and a young Alain Delon. Emilio gave her a warm smile and drew her to him with his strong arms.

"You look like you have the world on your shoulders. I have been noticing that look on you a lot lately. Something you want to talk about?"

"Nah. I'm just thinking about my sisters… we had this fight some time ago you know, and things haven't been especially good at home ever since."

"I know, you told me about the fight. But from what I gather, thing haven't been peachy in your family for a long time."

"Well, yeah… " Phoebe suddenly felt like crying. She didn't want bawl in front of her lover because that would make her look messy. "I just feel so bad about everything! I didn't mean to say all those things to Piper, even though everything I said was right. I HATE hurting her and I HATE when she is hurting me! And then she hurt Paige even more and that was so awful!" Phoebe started to sob, wetting Emilio's bare, manly chest with her tears.

"Oh honey! Come here!" He held her in his arms and stroked her hair while she wept. When Phoebe finally stopped was her nose running and her face a red, bloated mess. She didn't feel especially sexy but Emilio was looking at her lovingly. "Feel better? "

"A little… I'm just so tired of it all you know. It never stops!" Phoebe hiccupped.

Emilio looked at her bewildered. "What honey?"

"Everything! Life! All the responsibility… all the pain!"

"I can't say that I know what you are talking about right now Phoebe darling, but it sounds like you need a break from it all. Like a BIG break!"

She sniffled. "You could say that…"

"Have you never thought about escaping it all? And never look back?"

"You know what Emilio… it's all I ever think about."

"I know how it feels. I have two very dominant sisters too."

"You have?"

"Yep. They used to push me around all the time. Until one day I put my foot down and told them it was time for them to start living their own life and stop living through mine."

"You did?"

"I had to. But they wouldn't accept it so I had to take some very drastic measures to make them understand that I was serious."

"What did you do?"

Emilio looked uncomfortable. "This will sound a little crazy… "

"No it won't! Trust me, I will never think anything you're saying is crazy. I'm very open-minded. Tell me!"

"Ok, here it goes: I was a witch, Phoebe. I belonged to this long line of witches. As the youngest male member of our family, I had to follow my sister's orders; that was the tradition in my family. Every little whim or crazy decision they might have, I had to obey." Emilio looked at her. "Now you are looking at me like I'm crazy."

Phoebe just stared at him.

"Phoebe, please say something!"

"S-so… so you're saying you're a… a witch?"

"I was a witch. And don't look at me like that! I knew you wouldn't believe me!" He looked hurt and got up out of bed.

"Emilio, don't get mad…!" Phoebe tried to get hold of him but he backed away from her while he angrily was putting on his clothes.

"This was a mistake… I shouldn't have told you!"

"Emilio, stop it! I do believe you! Now, come back here so that we can talk."

He stopped in his tracks. "You believe me?"

"Yes! And for your information, I'm a witch too. A Charmed One actually, who happens to be stripped of her powers by The Council for the moment." This time it was Emilio who disbelievingly stared at Phoebe.

"You're a Charmed One? You?"

"Yep. It's a loooong story." Phoebe felt uncomfortable under his stare. "Now, it's you who look like you think I'm crazy."

Emilio was by her side in a second. "I'm sorry, it wasn't my intention! Oh honey, the pressure you must have been living under!" He took her in his arms and Phoebe felt herself relax in his embrace. They settled on the bed.

"So tell me what kind of drastic measures did you have to take to get your sisters off your back?"

"I made a power stripping potion."

"You stripped your own powers!" Phoebe couldn't believe his words.

"It was the best thing I ever done! You could say that my life started after drinking that potion."

"What did your sisters say?"

"They were very disappointed in me at first. But after a while they let me know that they also were tired of the magic lifestyle. As soon as we all gave up magic the demons stopped attacking us. Now we are just a regular family who see each other at Christmas and other family gatherings."

"That… that sounds wonderful!"

"I know… the best thing that ever happened to my family. I have some left of the potion if you want to use it."

"I… I don't know if I… "

Before Phoebe could give him an understandable answer, Emilio opened a drawer beside the bed and handed her a small bottle. "Do whatever you want with it. Just remember that you are the master of you own destiny Phoebe."

… The little bottle with the power-stripping potion weighed heavy in Phoebe's hand. The potion was in many ways the answer to all her prayers but at the same time she wished that she never had gotten it in the first place.

She felt so extremely conflicted; One part of her wanted to down the potion on the spot, another part of her wanted to throw the potion as far away from her as possible.

To be able to have this choice, this option, was supposed make her life easier. It didn't make it easier at all.

Paige was unable to sleep. She was lying in her bed, staring at the ceiling, while her thoughts were racing around in her head. Thanks to a brutally honest talk with Jenny during lunch Paige couldn't make heads or tails of her life anymore. It was a feeling that bordered on panic.

Still, anything was better than falling asleep…

… Paige looked tiredly at the copy machine while it was moving back and forth, copying some notes for the next meeting. Everything was just a blur; she hadn't slept well since the incident at the mall. Paige dreamt of him every night. The nightmares woke her up all sweaty and crying, sometimes as much as four or five times in one night. They were slowly draining Paige of all her energy.

"… Paige, did you hear any word I just said?" Paige looked up and found Jenny standing above her with a concerned look.

"What?"

"I'm sorry to butt in like this but are you ok?"

Paige gave Jenny a tired smile.
"What do you mean? I'm fine." That last sentence came out a little too quick so it more or less underlined the fact that Paige wasn't fine.

"I know it's not any of my business but these last two weeks you have seemed to be a little bit off."

"If you not happy with the way I work…"

"No, no that's not what I meant at all! What I'm trying to say is that you seem a little bit under the weather. As a matter of fact I would say you have been 'under under the weather'."

"Sorry Jenny, I have been having trouble sleeping, that's all." Paige rubbed her red, sore eyes.

"You don't have to say you're sorry! I just want you to know that if you need help or a shoulder to cry on - I'm here, ok?"

"Thanks." Paige gave her a brave smile and tried to suppress the tears that were threatening to fall. Jenny was such a great friend.

"So, you know… if you need anything; just ask." Jenny gave her an encouraging smile and a comforting hand on her shoulder. Paige gave in – she really needed someone to talk to

"Do you know how to fix a restraining order?"

"Has someone threatened you?" Jenny looked worriedly at her.

"Someone… this person… I thought he was in prison but he must have gotten out somehow… and now I don't know what to do!"

"That's awful! So has he contacted or threatened you in some way?"

"No… yes… he saw me at the mall and started to scream at me. He was drunk so it didn't really make any sense. But I know it's just a matter of time until he finds me again."

"Who is he? What does he want with you?"

Paige started to shake, she had never told anyone about her past. She took a deep breath but couldn't bring herself to tell Jenny her story. "I don't know if I'm strong enough to talk about it yet." She gave Jenny a weak smile.

"You take your time Paige. But I think it's important that you eventually talk to someone about it. Have you told your sisters?"

"No."

"No?"

"I can't… it's complicated."

"Why?"

"It's so hard to talk about it and… I don't want to bother them with all my stuff. We have enough problems as it is."

"But they are your sisters! I'm sure that they want you to confide in them."

"Remember when I told you that things haven't been so good at home lately. That I might not be their real sister after all… " The tears that had been the verge of falling down her face since the beginning of the conversation were now coming down with the force of The Niagara Falls. Paige began to cry.

"Ooh honey! I didn't know it was that bad." Jenny sat down beside Paige and hugged her. "There, there. Just let it all come out."

"I thought I finally had found my place in the world and instead it turned out to be nothing but a cruel joke." Paige sobbed even harder and Jenny continued to hug her until Paige had calmed down a little bit.

"But how is that possible? What does your sisters say about it?"

Paige blew her nose and tried to dress the weird atmosphere at home in suitable words.
"The problem is that they don't really say anything. We don't talk about it at all. Everyone just tries to get as far away from me as possible. Well, when they don't need me that is." Paige couldn't help sound a little bit bitter when she said the last sentence.

"When they need The Power of Three, you mean."

There was a half minute long silence after Jenny's last statement. Paige just stared at her boss.

"HOW did you know that?"

Jenny gave Paige a mischievous look.
"I'm not entirely stupid you know. Plus the fact that you and your sisters are quite famous in the magic world."

"But… but… "

"Besides, I'm a little magic myself; I'm half witch, half Avatar."

"So, you're… "

"… A half-breed just like you."

"Wow, Avatar! You must be really powerful."

"Not really. Avatars generally earn their powers so I was born without any magical powers at all, to my parent's great disappointment. They were actually so disappointed that they gave me away."

"That's terrible!"

"Nah! If they did that they must really suck as parents, right?"

Paige didn't know what to answer so she let Jenny continue her story.

"Anyway… my foster family, who were all witches, hoped my powers would manifest later on as I grew up. While they were waiting they were training me hard in magical stuff. Very hard."

"That's sounds though."

"It was! I grew up thinking my whole worth as a human being depended on how powerful witch I was. Nothing else mattered to them."

"You sound bitter. I'm sure they loved you no matter what."

"Not really. They never once gave me an encouraging word or told me that they loved me. I was just an investment for them, someone who would secure their magical status."

"They are still your family. Sometimes people have a hard time expressing their feelings… "

"Who are you making excuses for Paige? My family or your own?"

Paige felt as if she had been slapped

Jenny who didn't seem to notice how bad her story affected her friend, continued:
"One day I realized the futile in trying to prove myself to them. So I told them to go fuck themselves and left."

"It must have very been hard." Paige couldn't see herself telling Piper and Phoebe to fuck off.

"No, strangely enough it was much, much easier than I thought it would be."

"But they were your family!"

"Please Paige! Family doesn't have to be the one you were born into, or grew up with by default. That is such a narrow and unfortunate definition of the word. Family is something you have to create for yourself, something you have to constantly work on. If your sisters aren't capable of working on their relationship with you – why do they deserve to be your family? Why do you stay with them if you feel that they are only using you?"

That was another slap in the face. Paige felt obligated to defend her relationship with her sisters.
"Because I love them! And sometimes, on rare occasions I feel that the feeling is almost mutual – that maybe one day they care about me as much as I care about them."

"Don't you think that you deserve more than that?"

"Yes… no… I don't know!" Paige crumbled. She was far too tired and far too heartbroken to have this kind of honest conversation with anybody.

"All I'm saying Paige is; if you don't trust them with your problems what kind of sisters are they? Why do you feel that you have to stay with them?" Jenny's brutal questions were one by one drilling inescapable holes in Paige's fragile existence with the Halliwell sisters.

"The truth is that I don't know if I can leave them. When I learned that I was half-sister to the Halliwells and a witch, I gave up everything to fit into their world. If I'm not a Charmed One anymore… what am I?" Paige looked desperately at Jenny who gave her a sad smile.

"Oh Paige! Only you can answer that question and you better figure it out soon because I can see that it's eating you up."

… Paige woke up with a muffled scream. She had fallen asleep while thinking about her conversation with Jenny. Back in reality Paige tried to gain control of herself; she was out of breath and her face was wet; she had been crying in her sleep. Again.

Slowly, like a film played in her head she began to remember her nightmare. This one had been different from the dream that had been haunting her every night for the last two weeks – of him chasing her around in the mall, screaming at her, calling her names and finally catching up to kill her.

In this dream it wasn't him following her at the mall, it was Piper. It was her sister who called her a whore and in the end tried to kill her. The feeling of pure horror and total betrayal was still lingering in her mind. This dream was much, much worse.

Benny looked up from the reports he as saw his junior agent Björn coming in.

Björn was a reliable, intelligent, young agent with an easy-going charm. Benny liked him. They had worked together a couple of times before and Benny felt a fatherly affection for the younger agent.

"I just read the reports. You all have done a very good work, even Agneta "

"Thank you sir." Björn beamed with pride. Benny's praise was rare and always just.

He filled a mug with hot tea and sat down by the table. Björn obviously had something on his heart: "She is playing with fire you know. A dead man's hand in a grave yard during full moon… that's can be very dangerous."

Benny was suddenly very concerned:
"Are you worried about her Björn?"

Björn looked repulsed at the idea.
"No!"

"Because if you are developing any kind of feelings or sympathy for your target I have to relieve you from duty. You know the procedure."

"No, no! I am not! Believe me, I'm not!"

"Björn, it would be highly understandable… You wouldn't be the first one to do so on a mission."

"Please sir! I promise you that I'm 100 professional!"

Benny looked Björn in the eye. The young agent looked like Benny was about to give him a death sentence.
"Very well, then we don't need to worry, do we?"

"Absolutely not sir!" Björn looked very relieved.

But Benny was worried. And he wondered to himself if he just made a very big mistake.

To be continued in "Chapter 7. - A Funeral For Paige"...