Once again, thanks to -O-charmed-freak-O- and LoveAngel 1705 for the reviews. It's your interest in the story that keeps me motivated to write.
Chapter 4: Seeing Double
"Demons!" shouted Paige in order to get the attention of her two sisters.
Both Piper and Phoebe had their backs turned towards the fireballs that were now heading in their direction. Unfortunately, before Phoebe could react, one of the fireballs skimmed the side of her arm.
"Ouch!" she exclaimed. She threw herself to the floor to avoid making contact with anymore.
At the same time, Piper and Paige were engaged in warding off the attempts being made against their own lives.
"Fireball!" Paige had called and instantly she sent it flying back in the demon's direction. He flamed up and evaporated on impact leaving a loud wail in his wake.
Meanwhile, Piper lifted her hands to try and freeze the two remaining demons and the fireball aimed directly at her head. However, instead of freezing them by putting them into a state of temporal stasis, the fireball and two remaining demons turned to solid ice. Then, they proceeded to shatter and fall to the floor in tiny bits and pieces.
"Whoa there!" Piper exclaimed in shock, lifting her two hands to take a closer look at them.
Phoebe looked to where the remaining pieces, of what used to be demon flesh, lay sprawled all over the floor. Her hand was covering the burnt area on her arm where the fireball had made contact a few short moments ago.
"Ew!" she commented. "That's going to be one gross clean up."
Then, both Phoebe and Paige turned their attention back to Piper, questioning looks plastered across their faces. Paige placed her hands on both sides of her hips and went in for an interrogation.
"Okay, Missy, give it up?"
"What?" declared Piper, in a high pitched tone, feigning that she was just as shocked as they both were with what had happened.
"Uh, what's with the ice making? That's what. Did your powers grow again and you forgot to tell us?" Paige continued on in a teasing manner.
Phoebe laughed and added, "Yeah, that sure gives new meaning to your power and what it means to freeze someone. I guess they didn't like the cold."
Piper just rolled her eyes and laughed. Paige followed suit as Piper proceeded to explain.
"No, one minute I was trying to freeze and the next thing I knew I was ... " she was dramatically waving her hands around in the air when Paige interrupted her with some more playful banter.
"Making ice cubes?" she finished for her.
Phoebe laughed in response to Paige's barb. But Piper came back with a retort of her own in her own naturally sarcastic style.
"Hey, you looking for your own time out in the freezer section, Missy Paige?"
"Well, lucky for me, you can't freeze good witches," Paige nonchalantly voiced back.
All three sisters laughed and made their way into the kitchen.
"Yeah, well unfortunately for me, this isn't a freezer burn on my arm," interjected Phoebe, holding her arm. "Damn, I forgot how much that can hurt. Think you can help a sister out here?" she asked Paige.
"Ha, see! I wasn't over reacting about my shoulder," Piper teased, pointing at her sisters.
Paige used her energy to heal her sister's arm.
"And good as new," cracked Piper, waving her arm.
"Okay, but time to get serious," Paige interjected.
Phoebe went to pull a glass from the cupboard to get something to drink as Piper made her way to the refrigerator to get started on dinner.
"Yeah, but before dive into demon territory yet again, I think there's something I should tell you guys first. I was going to wait but seeing as how were back on the demonic radar again like every other five minutes," Piper sarcastically remarked as she closed the refrigerator door.
"Yeah, that six months was fun while it lasted," sighed Paige.
Piper made her way over to the counter top, placing down the packaged food items she had retrieved.
"So, you were saying?" inquired Phoebe.
Piper turned around to face her sisters and placed her hands on top of the the kitchen island. She gathered her thoughts before continuing on. Realizing she had their full attention, she sighed and began to break the news.
"Well, Leo and I paid a trip to the doctor's today."
"Is everything okay, sweetie?" Phoebe asked with concern, as she placed her glass on the table and looked to her sister with worry in her eyes.
"No, it's nothing bad. It's just that we're ... I'm kind of pregnant that's all." She turned around to grab a butcher knife and a head of lettuce for a salad and began slicing.
"What?" exclaimed Phoebe. "Well, honey, that's great news!"
Phoebe was all smiles at the prospect of being an aunt again. Hopefully, one day soon, she would be a mom to her very own little girl. However, neither of them noticed the solemn expression that crossed Paige's face at the news.
Paige covered up her slight frown as quickly as she could. She didn't want Piper, or Phoebe for that matter, to think that she was unhappy about the news or that she was being unsupportive. In truth, it had nothing to do with them. Personally, it was just a sore subject for her right now. Information she hadn't shared with her sisters.
"Piper, that's awesome!" Paige responded right after Phoebe.
Phoebe made her way up to Piper to offer her a supportive hug. As she did so, she noticed the solemn expression on Piper's face instead of the one that had graced Paige's just a few short seconds ago. They broke apart from the hug and Phoebe gently rubbed her back in a comforting manner.
"Honey, what's the matter? You seem kind of upset about it? You don't want to be pregnant?"
Piper shook her head. "No, it's not that. It's just that for so long our lives have revolved around fighting demons and using our magic to serve the greater good. And now that we finally had a break, a real break," she stressed, "I was hoping that we wouldn't have to put another child through what Wyatt and Chris have already had to go through. I mean, is that too much to ask for?"
Phoebe sighed as Paige just continued to listen. "No, sweetie, I guess not. But that's just part of who we are. It's a part of who they are and I don't think there's any other way around that do you? I mean, I think we found that out the hard way when we tried to fake our deaths." She tried to express this with as much understanding as possible. "Besides, the demons never promised they'd never come after us again. They just said the Underworld would take time to reorganize itself."
"Yeah. That and the little fact that they were still demons," Paige added. "Which means, they lie." Paige got up from the table to offer her big sister a hug. "Listen, honey, don't worry. It's all going to work out. You have Leo. You have me and Phoebe. And there's Billie for some extra added fire power if needed."
"Yup, and we won't let anything happen to you or the wh'ittle one," Phoebe brought her head down to Piper's stomach using her best baby dribble impersonation.
Oh brother, here we go again, thought Piper as she smirked and rolled her eyes at her sister's open display. Then, both sisters proceeded to squash their sister in a giant bear hug.
"Hey, the pregnant woman needs room to breathe!" she squeaked.
"Hey, does this mean the baby is the new ice freezer in the family?" Paige wondered aloud as they all broke apart. At the same time, they were interrupted by what sounded like the front door of the manor closing. "Who's that?" she asked.
"It could be Leo," offered Piper.
All three sisters made their way to the front of the house.
"He went over to Dad's to spend some time with the boys. We asked him to keep a watch on them for awhile until we figure out some more regarding this whole Triad and Ultimate Power situation. And especially with demons attacking us in the manor again. I'd like to expose them to as little as possible right now."
"Oh, so you told him what's going on?" inquired Paige.
"Not in so many words. But Victor's been around long enough now to know there's a big problem that we need to deal with. Plus, add in the fact that Leo doesn't have his powers anymore. Which means I'd definitely like to try and keep him out of the line of fire as much as possible. I don't want to risk losing him again," Piper explained as they made their way into the foyer to make out Billie just in time.
"Right." Paige remarked.
"Billie?" exclaimed Piper. "Did you just get back?"
She walked up to meet her and the other two sisters followed.
Billie wore a face covered with worry and concern. She didn't know how the sisters would react to her news so she left Christy waiting back home. But she wanted to be completely honest with them so here she was, willing and ready. Besides, maybe they could help her get to the bottom of the whole situation.
"How did it go, sweetie?" asked Phoebe. "I'm sorry I couldn't make it but it's just that there's a lot that's been going on around here lately."
"Yeah, it's no problem," Billie responded in a hurry. "But I really need to talk to you guys about something. It's really important!" she stressed. Then she noticed the pile of what appeared like shattered glass spread across the floor. "Hey, what's that?" she asked, suddenly distracted. Squinting her eyes to get a better look, she added, "Hey, I think it's melting!"
Everyone turned to look at the watery mass of ex-demon.
"Uh demon cube?" Piper stammered out as she turned to look at Paige with a big smile plastered across her face. "But Paige was on her way to clean that up, weren't you Paige?"
Paige glared at her and then rolled her eyes before responding. "Yeah, I guess I was!" she declared before heading back to the kitchen closet to collect a mop.
"Okay, so what did you need to tell us?" asked Phoebe, turning her attention back to Billie and her announcement before the distraction. She and Piper waited patiently for her response.
Billie took a deep breath and responded. "It's Christy. She's back!"
X
Central Park (New York City)
She took a stroll down the pathway in the infamous Central Park.
The busy hustle of the traffic could be heard in the distance. She felt she really needed the fresh air because the clutter gathering around the new apartment from the move was grating on her nerves. The movers had just finished delivering the remainder of their belongings and boxes were spread everywhere so she figured that maybe a quick walk through the park could help clear her head a bit. Her husband had reported to his new job today.
During her walk, the amusement park section came into view. She watched as the big carousel spun around while a number of children were excitedly running around close by. One woman and her children caught her attention. The woman stood behind a baby stroller with two small children at her side but she appeared flustered while struggling to keep the kids in line, balancing the baby in one arm, and pushing the stroller. The mother had just handed the two children something to eat but the little girl appeared to be in the beginning stages of a temper tantrum. The woman began to leave and Marie was about to walk away too when she suddenly noticed the distracted mother had left her purse behind. Rushing forward, she grabbed it and called out.
"Um, excuse me?" she shouted, while running to catch up with the woman a few feet ahead of her. "Wait!"
The other woman stopped and turned around to locate the source of the yelling.
"Sorry," Marie caught her breath after catching up to her. "Here, you left this behind and something tells me you'll be needing it."
After looking down and catching sight of her purse, the grateful woman brought her hand up to her chest and let out a giant sigh of relief.
"Oh my god! Thank you so much!" she exclaimed. "Kids, you know?" The woman looked directly into the face of the other woman, her eyes widening with instantaneous recognition. "Prue?" she managed to get out past her shock.
Marie stood silent, a look of confusion spreading across her face. Prue? "I'm sorry?" she finally questioned back. "Uh, no. Marie. Marie Holloway." She smiled warmly, extending her hand for the introduction.
"Shelia," the other woman reciprocated as they shook hands. "Shelia Morris," she smiled uneasily, continuing to study the other woman's face.
"Nice to meet you," Marie nodded. Morris? Hmm, the name did kind of have a familiar ring to it. However, the woman had clearly mistaken her for someone else. Yet sill, an odd feeling of Deja vu overtook her. Was it possible she did know this woman from somewhere? Did this woman really know her?
Sheila continued to stare, feeling absolutely awestruck. She couldn't help it. She had heard the expression before that 'everyone out there has a twin,' but this was way beyond eerie. This woman actually looked like she was the identical twin of Prue Halliwell. Shaking her head once, she broke herself out of her stupor. "I'm so sorry. I don't mean to be rude and stare," she apologized, trying to recover from her reaction she was sure the other woman had picked up on, "but you look exactly like someone we used to know," Shelia Morris explained. "I mean, a lot," she stressed.
"No, it's fine, don't worry about it," Marie tried to brush it off. Shaking off the strange encounter, she knelt down to reach eye level with the two children. The little girl made her think of her own daughter. "Hi there. And what are your names?" she asked the children in a motherly fashion.
"Darryl Junior," the little boy exclaimed proudly. "She's my sister and her name is Marissa."
"Really?" Marie smiled. "I like those names."
"Thanks!" replied little Darryl. "We do too!"
Marie and Shelia shared a light laugh. Shelia was still very curious about the woman standing with her. Darryl would freak if he saw her, she couldn't help but think to herself.
"So I guess you must know what it's like then. How many do you have?" Shelia asked. She watched the woman's face take on a look of sadness. "Oh I'm sorry," she apologized again. "Was it something I said?" she voiced her concern.
Marie shook her head. "No, not at all," she denied. There was a brief pause and she then she quickly cleared her throat. "No kids."
"Sorry, I just assumed. You seem so natural with them," remarked Shelia in an attempt to clear the air.
Marie just smiled back. "Yeah, uh, I used to babysit a lot in high school so ... " she lied to cover up her uneasy reaction.
Shelia decided not to pry or press the issue any further because, quite frankly, she had just met this woman and it was really none of her business. Besides, maybe she was reading into something that wasn't there. Must be all those years I've spent married to a cop, thought Shelia.
"I really do have to get going though," came Marie's next hasty reply. "Again, it was nice to meet you." She retreated and as she left, Shelia just stared after her at the same time she went to grab for her cell phone.
"Mommy, who was that woman?" came little Darryl's question.
"I'm not sure yet, baby," came his mother's distracted reply. While she was attempting to dial a number, her cell phone rang in at the same time. The caller ID registered as her husband's number. Good, just the person I wanted to speak with, she thought. She answered. "Darryl?"
"Shelia?" came her husband's response.
"You're never going to believe who I thought I saw today!" came both of their simultaneous responses over the phone.
X
"Billie, are you out of your mind?" came Piper's agitated response. "She could be a demon. What if she had killed you?"
"Yeah, why didn't you come to us right away?" inquired Paige.
Billie and the sisters were all sitting in the living room. They had listened to Billie's tale of how Christy had reappeared out of nowhere in their parents home, claiming to be her real sister. And how she had never seen nor met Billie since the abduction. Then, Billie had offered up her theory about a shape shifting demon that could have taken her sister's place and that, instead, that's who she had found and killed earlier this year.
Billie tried to defend herself.
"Look, I was just looking out for you guys, okay? After what I did earlier this year, I just didn't want to put you guys in any more danger without being sure. Besides, she's been staying with me at my house for a week and nothing remotely weird has happened. I don't think she has any powers at all!"
At this point, Phoebe jumped into the conversation. She tried to address the issue by remaining as sensitive as possible but logical at the same time.
"Okay, Billie, but you do know this can still be a trap, right? I mean, what if it really was your sister that you vanquished six months ago? What if the girl that's with you right now is a demon? Just because you haven't seen any evidence of powers yet doesn't mean she's not hiding them. It's a possibility you have to consider, sweetie."
"Yeah, and not to bring up a sore spot or anything," added Paige "but it's not like the demonic world doesn't know you killed your sister. What better way to play on your vulnerabilities than to use Christy to break you down? Or some form of her anyway."
Feeling frustrated, Billie sighed. She closed her eyes and brought her hands to her face. "I know all this. Believe me, I've considered it all and know it's possible. That's why I took some time to figure out if she was telling the truth or not. And I'm not sure so that's why I'm here now. For your help."
Piper shook her head still feeling frustrated by the whole situation. "Billie, you still should have told us. You never should have tried to handle it alone without consulting us first. Especially when a revelation like this involves us."
"Piper, I'm not going to screw up again, I swear!" Billie protested. "Can't you at least try and trust me a little bit?"
She felt horrible about everything that happened between them and she had no intentions of ever turning on the sisters again. Billie had made that one promise to herself and she wanted the sisters to be able to trust her again but Piper just didn't want to give her a break.
"Billie, this has nothing to do with trust!" denied Piper. "This is about experience and we've been around a little bit longer to know right away when something isn't right!"
"Look, I get that I'm not as experienced as you guys otherwise I wouldn't be here now asking for help. But I'm not a total idiot either and I think I can handle this!" Billie argued back.
The discussion was quickly turning into a heated debate between Piper and Billie. Phoebe and Paige picked up on it and tensed up at the prospect of another argument involving Billie. Phoebe was momentarily taken back in time to when she and Prue would argue in similar fashion. Then she continued to watch the ongoing debate play out. Paige, shaking her head back and forth in the process, looked to Phoebe for some type of rescue. Apparently, Paige didn't want to get in the middle of the argument anymore than Phoebe did. So they both exchanged looks and did their best to stay out of it.
"You can handle it?" Piper raised her voice, intent on throwing back a retort. "Well, you know what? My sister Prue thought that she could handle everything too and guess where that got her? She's dead! And you're taking the same annoying risks with your life that she did with hers!"
"Piper?" Phoebe finally jumped in coming to Billie's rescue.
While she agreed that Billie made a mistake by not coming to them right away, Piper's outburst went a little overboard. Especially, defiling the memory of their dead sister in order to make a point. After all, Billie did have a point of her own because she wasn't completely powerless or defenseless. Also, the truth was that there would be times that she would need to know how to fend for herself because the sisters wouldn't always be there to assist in every situation. Besides, the only thing that mattered this time around was that she came to them before it was too late.
Piper looked at her sister but already realized that she went too far especially after she saw the stunned expression on Billie's face. The poor girl looked at a loss for words. She attempted an apology.
"Billie, I'm sorry. That was out of line. You never knew Prue and it's certainly not your fault what happened to her. It's just that with everything that's been going on around here lately, especially with the news that the Triad will be back, we really need to know that we can count on you a hundred percent. And that means letting us know things and coming to us right away so we can look into it."
Billie nodded. Her interest was perked, though.
Prue. So, another sister? Another Charmed One?
In all her time that she had known the sisters, it was a name Billie heard mentioned maybe once or twice, but nothing more was ever brought up or said about her. A few times, because her curiosity had gotten the better of her, she had been tempted to ask who Prue was and what had happened. And now she knew the answer. However, she was also glad she never bothered to bring the subject up because apparently whatever happened was still a very sore subject for Piper. So she decided to let the insult pass. After all, she knew what it felt like to lose a sister and she wasn't one to hold grudges. Suddenly, it made a lot of sense to Billie why Piper had reacted the way she did regarding the news about Christy. First, they find out that the Triad's still not dead and then Christy is mysteriously resurrected? Hm, she had to admit that she was starting to have more doubts.
"Forget about it," Billie responded. "But did you just say the Triad? I thought you already got rid of those guys?"
"Well, we thought so too but apparently not because according to another demon source they're unvanquishable. That and there's still one member left that we knew nothing about," answered Phoebe.
"And that's only part of the problem. Apparently, the only way they can be vanquished is through the Ultimate Power which also still exists out there somewhere," added Piper.
"Which up until now, we thought had been you and Christy," concluded Paige.
"But it's not?" asked Billie. Suddenly, she felt confused.
How did she vanquish the Noxen Demon this year if she wasn't a part of the Ultimate Power that she had been told she was? He had been unvanquishable and now he was gone. Unless, maybe he wasn't really gone?
"Well, we're not exactly sure about anything right now. The demon wasn't exactly too forthcoming with the information on the Ultimate Power front. I guess the only real way to find out is to start with this girl claiming to be your real sister. If she and her story turn out to be the real deal, we can help protect her, work with her to open and explore her abilities, and go from there," advised Piper. "Maybe you and your sister are the real Ultimate Power but they just didn't want us to know Christy was still alive."
"Sounds like an evil plan to me," commented Paige. "Besides it would make sense for the Nauscas demon to lie to us if the real Christy was still alive this whole time. Maybe they've just been waiting for her powers to show up but they never did?"
"Which could support Billie's theory and explain why they might have used a shape shifting demon in her place. To lure Billie to their side while waiting for the real Christy's powers to show up," suggested Piper. "And I'm going to take it a step further and venture a guess that's why that little girl was needed."
"True," Phoebe nodded. "That would actually make a lot of sense. No shape shifter would have had the kind of power that was used against us."
"Right," nodded Paige. "The little girl is a witch and the shapeshifter would have needed to look like a witch. So they needed powers in order to convince Billie that was really her sister."
"Wait, what little girl?" asked Billie when she heard that particular piece of information revealed. However, the sisters were too focused on their own speculations to even notice that she had asked them the question.
"But why snatch the little girl's powers? I mean, if Christy's power is part of the Ultimate Power they needed all along?" asked Phoebe. "That little girl is new to her powers, she couldn't possibly be that powerful. Why did the Triad think that power could destroy us and better yet, how did it almost destroy us?" she cringed.
"Well, they probably figured they would at least have Billie. Christy's powers not showing up was probably some fluke they weren't counting on and they took a chance with a demon in her place. But who cares why they thought it. It almost worked," Piper pointed out again, referring to what could have been their demise.
"So then the real Christy has still been alive in the Underworld this whole time? And they just let her go now? That doesn't feel right to me," Phoebe shook her head.
"Maybe. But if it really is the real Christy, at least this time we'll have them both on our side," added Paige, happy to contribute to what they believed they likely figured out.
"We'll probably have to work with her for a long time before she and Billie would be ready to go up against the Triad and vanquish them for good," Phoebe added. "Are we up for that chore?"
"Hey, guys, hello! What little girl?" Billie interjected again. She really was curious; however, once again her question went ignored.
"Well, I really don't see any other choice, do you?" asked Piper. "We'll have to make time to do it. Especially if we want the Triad gone for good."
"We still have to work on tracking down where Molly came from. Hopefully the parents are still alive and we can return her home safe and sound," added Paige.
Billie just rolled her eyes. It annoyed her when the sisters would sometimes act like she wasn't even in the room with them. However, she felt a twinge of guilt by not telling the sisters about her possible unknown origins because something didn't make sense here. She could feel it and while she hated to admit it, her gut was telling her that the Nauscas demon had been telling the truth. She and Christy were not the real Ultimate Power. Especially if Christy was just a mortal, which she strongly suspected. So, darn, she was probably going to have to tell them sooner than she would have liked. Maybe she could start with Phoebe but first they needed to find out if this girl was in fact the real Christy.
"Hello?" Billie shouted this time around. "You guys do realize I'm still in the room, right?" She looked at each one of the sisters for confirmation.
"Oh, sorry, what did you say?" mocked Piper.
In response, Billie just rolled her eyes again. "I was just asking about the little girl!" she clarified.
"Oh, well, she's this young witch we believe a Triad member had kidnapped. But she escaped. A Nauscas demon was tracking her down," explained Phoebe.
"Yeah, and I conveniently happen to be her new social worker so I'm trying to track down the parents," added Paige.
"Wait, Nauscas demon. I think I remember reading about that demon in the book," Billie remarked. "Don't they go after witches that are still children or something like that and try to steal their powers?"
"Well, they don't have to be children but they usually are. The Nauscas demons track down any witches that are new to their powers which, in turn, makes them more vulnerable," Piper finished.
"Oh! So, you think the Triad kidnapped her so they could steal her powers for a shape-shifter pretending to be Christy?" asked Billie.
"Well, yeah, that's the running theory. For now," confirmed Paige.
"Okay, everything is just speculation until we find out if the real Christy is still alive. And whether there ever was a shape-shifter demon to begin with. Remember, Christy may still be dead because you vanquished her, Billie. And this woman claiming to be your sister can very well be a demon. Are you sure you're prepared for this?" Piper addressed Billie.
"Yes, absolutely," Billie assured her.
Piper sighed. "Well, let's get to it then. Where is she?"
"I left her at the house until I cleared all of this with you first," answered Billie.
"Alright. Well, Paige, why don't you and Billie go orb and pick her up? Bring her back here and Phoebe and I will get started on trying to find a way to track down this last Triad before we have to deal with all of them."
"And we'll prepare some potions for back up. Just in case," added Phoebe.
And with that said, Billie and Paige left the manor while Piper and Phoebe made their way to the attic determined to find more answers.
X
Inside one of the many high-rises found in the city, Darryl and Shelia Morris stepped off of the elevator and onto the seventh floor. They were slowly making their way down the long corridor looking for apartment 733. Both were clad in their dress attire since they were prepared to go out for dinner. Their children had been left at home with a babysitter for the evening.
"Are you sure this is such a good idea?" Shelia hissed to her husband while walking beside him. "What on earth are we even supposed to say? Hey, you two are dead ringers for two dead people we used to know. So we thought we'd waltz on by around eight at night just to let you know? Darryl, we'll sound crazy."
Darryl just rolled his eyes. "Give it a rest, Shelia. We'll think of something to say but I need to see this for myself. There's no way that two people identical to two dead people we knew happen to show up here at the same exact time? And they are married to each other? Sorry, but I'm a cop and that's even too much of a coincidence for me!"
An older looking man passed by them on the way down the hall and they flashed him a smile. When they reached the apartment door they were looking for, Darryl proceeded to knock. When the door opened, he was greeted by a woman. A woman he thought he would never see again, at least not in this lifetime. There she stood before him in a long-sleeved yellow shirt with a matching pair of night pants. Her long wavy hair flowed over her shoulders and down her back.
"Hi. Can I help you?" came her question.
It took a few moments before Darryl finally pulled himself together enough so he could respond. He couldn't help but stare and quickly covered up. "Oh, wow," he immediately began to play off. "I think we might have the wrong apartment," he laughed. "We're looking for our friends, the McCallister's. They just moved in here and I thought we had the right apartment number ..." he trailed off as he made it appear like he was searching his coat and pant pockets for something with the correct address on it.
As Darryl played his part, Shelia quickly jumped in with a rescue. "Hey, have we met somewhere before?" quirking her eyebrows in concentration to make it look convincing. "You look very familiar?"
Darryl looked back up and over to his wife as she grabbed the young woman's attention.
"Uh ..." the woman began to shake her head.
"Oh wait, I remember, it was in the park," she exclaimed, faking a surprised reaction. "I left my purse behind, and you gave it back to me. Was it Maureen, no, Marie right?" she squinted her eyes.
The woman visibly relaxed. "Oh, right. The purse. Sheila?" she remembered.
"Yes," she replied, while giving her husband a side way glance. Her body language was silently expressing to him it was time to find a way to leave now that he had seen what he needed to see.
However, just as Darryl was about to attempt a way out of the conversation, a man's voice could be heard traveling up to the front of the apartment. He suddenly came into view. Shelia couldn't believe it. This man looked exactly like Darryl's old partner, Andy Trudeau. He was a bit older, of course, was sporting a facial goatee matching his hair, but it was definitely him. She was struck speechless.
"Who's at the door?" he had inquired.
"Wrong apartment," Marie answered, turning around, but he already recognized the man standing there.
"Captain Morris?" he cut in, now standing beside his wife at the front door. "Is there something ..."
"Not here about the job. And I promise, nothing's wrong," Daryl jumped in to put their minds at ease. "This is purely coincidental," he covered up. "Didn't even realize you lived in the same building."
Marie cut in. "I think they're looking for their friends who live in the building too ... so wait," she began pointing between the two men, "you already know each other too?" She turned back to address Darryl again.
Michael nodded. "Yeah, Darryl's my boss," he explained.
Darryl felt a chill run through him. He had to admit it was eerie looking at the two of them standing together side by side. "Yeah, sorry to disturb you." He turned to address his wife. "And, honey, I think I lost that number so we're going to have to go check on that apartment number again."
"Sorry we can't help you with that," offered Michael. "We just moved in and don't really know anybody ourselves," he smiled. "And we'd invite you in but as you can see there's really nowhere to sit down," he chuckled, waving back at his apartment.
Both Darryl and Sheila could make out piles of boxes through the doorway.
"The joys of moving," Michael Holloway smiled.
Darryl and Shelia both smiled. "We remember fondly," Sheila supplied.
"Thanks anyway but we wouldn't want to be any later for that dinner date than we already are," replied Darryl. "So, hon, we better get going." Shelia smiled back at her husband. "See you at work, Michael."
As the two couples parted ways, Darryl and Shelia waited to speak until the door of the Holloway residence closed and they were down the hall.
"So what now?" asked Shelia.
"Well, it was enough to convince me. I want to do another background check, a deeper one, and if things don't add up right, it's time for a little cross-country call to the sisters," he decided.
The couple proceeded to exit the building for their evening out as Darryl briefly reflected on the same older gentleman who had just passed by them in the hall again.
X
The sisters sat huddled in a circle, each pulling together ingredients for a potion mix, while Billie sat with Christy across the attic. They had been observing her closely ever since she had arrived about an hour ago.
"Well, she seems harmless enough," commented Phoebe in a low whisper.
"Yeah, well, looks can be deceiving," Piper replied back looking over her shoulder. "And until we know for sure, we keep a close watch and remain suspicious."
"And she barely said anything when we got back there," added Paige. "It was like trying to pull teeth getting her to talk about anything."
"And that's not much different than the Christy Billie brought back before," replied Piper.
"I know and doesn't all this just seem a little too convenient? First the Triad. Now Christy?" Paige offered up.
Phoebe observed the scene with interest. Billie was talking and smiling along with Christy. Christy seemed to be comfortable within her sister's presence and a few times she could have sworn she heard her laugh. However, while the scene looked touching on the outside, it brought a slight frown to Phoebe's face. Billie appeared relaxed, too relaxed, which meant one thing. She was probably letting her guard down which could prove dangerous in the end. It was the one thing she and her sisters had feared. Billie was vulnerable right now whether she wanted to admit it or not.
Paige was watching her sister and picked up on what she was thinking. "They sure are cozy over there, aren't they?" she muttered to Phoebe.
Piper turned her head back around to watch with her other two sisters.
"Yeah, well, for Billie's sake let's just hope that really is Christy. She may appear strong on the outside but I doubt she could handle having to kill her sister twice," Phoebe reflected.
The sisters returned to what they were doing. All of a sudden, a draft could be felt. Piper looked up and around to see if she could locate the source.
"Hey, did you just feel that?" she asked the other two sisters.
"Feel what?" asked Paige.
Phoebe looked at her other two sisters. "I don't feel anything. Wait!" she exclaimed. "I can feel it now, what is that a breeze?"
"I don't know but I don't like it," Piper responded as she pulled herself up from the chair. Phoebe and Paige did the same thing, each looking around for anything amiss.
Suddenly, before their eyes, a bright flash flickered throughout the attic, temporarily blinding them and sending them to the floor.
"Billie?" Phoebe had shouted out.
At the same time, Billie had thrown her sister to the floor. Christy, in return, had let out a scream. "We're okay!" she had shouted back.
However, everything wasn't okay. When everyone regained use of their sight a few moments later, they could see a young woman standing in the middle of the attic. All eyes turned to Christy and then back to the woman. Because standing there before them was a woman identical to Christy. She remained in position with a smirk plastered across her face, alluding confidence.
"It's a shape-shifter!" yelled Billie.
"We know Billie, we got it!" Phoebe yelled back.
All three sisters released potion bottles aimed at the demon. Then, all of a sudden, they got the shock of their lives. The woman used her hand to deflect the vials which in turn flew back toward the Charmed Ones, exploding, and sending them all flying off their feet. The three sisters hit the ground with a loud thud. Billie, witnessing the whole disaster, panicked when she saw the woman turn in her direction. She stepped in front of her sister to protect her and lifted her hand to send the woman flying. However, the end result was the same for Billie as it had been for the sisters. The demon deflected her power sending her flying backwards and crashing into the attic wall. The impact was so hard it left Billie unconscious.
"Now, what I came for," the female demon stated.
The demon approached the young woman huddled into a ball near the corner. The woman didn't fight nor resist when the demon proceeded to touch and shimmer out with her. Piper, still on the floor, rolled over in time to see the demon shimmering out with Christy.
"Ah, damn it!" she exclaimed.
To Be Continued: dun dun dun dun. Lol, just kidding. I'll be back with another update in a few days.