THREE

Phoebe came into the manor and laid her books on the entryway table. She pulled a set of papers out of one of the books and walked into the living room. Cole was sitting on the sofa reading the paper.

"Hey, sweetie," said Cole. "How did school go?"

"I got a 100 on my history paper," said Phoebe beaming from ear to ear. "And a lot of it was the information you gave me on Sperrle. My professor said I had one of the most complete papers he'd ever seen."

"Glad I could be of help," said Cole as Phoebe sat down next to him. "It's nice to know some good came out of that time."

"Hey," said Piper coming in the front door with Leo, "I see you're home all ready. How was school?"

"I got a 100," said Phoebe, holding up the paper. "Thanks to Cole."

"Great," said Leo. "That should help your GPA some."

"More than some," said Phoebe. "I never cared much for history. Well, outside the family history, anyway. Piper, is that the mail you have there?"

"Yes," said Piper. "I guess you forgot to get it when you came in."

"Yeah," said Phoebe. "I was so excited about the paper I guess I forgot about it. Anything interesting in it?"

"Mostly bills," said Piper, looking through the envelopes. "And a couple of flyers for local elections. I don't know why they keep sending these things out. I think most people all ready know who they're going to vote for. Do they really think these flyers are actually going to . . . ."

Her voice stopped in mid-sentence as she looked at one of the flyers that had come in the mail.

"Piper, what is it?" Phoebe asked. "You look like you just saw a ghost."

"Kind of," said Piper, showing the others the flyer. "Now I remember where I've seen that Sperrle before. He's running for reelection to the city council."

They all stared in amazement at the picture of the councilman on the flyer. It was identical to the picture of Sperrle that Phoebe had downloaded off the Internet.

"Piper, this simply isn't possible," said Cole. "I'll admit he does look like Sperrle. But like I said the other day, Sperrle would be in his eighties or nineties by now even if he was still alive. And I'm pretty sure he was executed in the late 1960s. This guy can't be more than thirty or so. And his name is Richard Simms."

"But he looks exactly like Sperrle," insisted Piper. "Other than identical twins I don't know of any two people who look that much alike. You did say that demons were involved. Are you sure this Sperrle wasn't a demon? That would explain why he doesn't look any older than he did back then."

"No, he wasn't," said Cole. "Sperrle was quite human. He was simply inhabited by a demon who would have dispossessed him once his assignment was finished."

"Then how do you explain that he looks exactly like Sperrle?" Piper asked.

"Coincidence," said Cole.

"Cole's right," said Leo. "If Sperrle was human it couldn't be him. And like Cole said, he was caught and executed in the 60s."

"I don't know," said Piper. "It just seems odd that he was involved with demons and this Councilman Simms looks exactly like him."

"Just coincidence," said Phoebe, "just like Cole and Leo said. Just forget about it, Piper. It's not a big deal."

"I guess you're right," said Piper. "It's just that they look so much alike. It's hard to believe they're two different people."

"I've run into lots of people who look like someone else in my life," said Cole. "Who knows? Maybe Simms is distantly related to Sperrle. Many Nazi's had relatives that weren't involved with the Nazi's at all. I'm sure that some of them have descendents that have no idea who their ancestors were."

"I need to start dinner anyway," said Piper. "Prue said she's going to be late tonight so I guess it's just the four of us."

"Great," said Phoebe. "Cole and I will be upstairs. Just give us a holler when it's ready."

"Upstairs again," said Piper as Cole and Phoebe headed up the stairs. "Some times I think they'd like it if we just delivered their meals up there for them."

"Well, they don't get to spend that much time together," said Leo, putting his arms around Piper. "Besides, it gives us some time alone, too."

"Oh, I hadn't thought of that," said Piper. "And you do have a point."

Phoebe woke up and lay staring at the ceiling in her bedroom. It was still dark out. She sat up in bed and looked at the clock next to the bed. It read 4:01 a.m. Why did she wake up? She normally slept all through the night, especially when Cole was there. She didn't have to worry about him moving around trying to avoid bounty hunters. Short of a demon attack she should have slept through the entire night.

She looked around the room. Even with the light off there was still a fair amount of light in the room. The nearly full moon hung in the sky overhead illuminating much of the Earth below. The light from the moon filtered into the room illuminating much of it but also leaving much of it in shadows.

As she looked around the room she stopped short. In the corner on the opposite side of the room was what appeared to be a figure. It was hard to see the figure clearly in the half-shadows of the room. But it appeared to be a man barely 5'4" in height. He wore what appeared to be stripped pajamas that seemed to be dirty and ripped. He himself appeared to be filthy and unshaven. He stood pointing at the bed where Phoebe and Cole lay.

"Cole," Phoebe whispered, shaking him.

"Hmm," Cole responded, obviously still asleep.

:"Cole, wake up."

"What?" questioned Cole, coming awake.

"Dämon," said the figure standing in the corner. Then, silently, the figure simply faded from sight.

"What is it?" asked, sitting up in the bed. He looked around the room but saw nothing out of place.

"It was right over there," said Phoebe, "in the corner. I think it was a ghost."

"Ghost?" questioned Cole, getting out of the bed and walking over to the corner. He looked around but found nothing. "There's nothing here. Are you sure you saw it? Maybe it was a dream."

"It wasn't a dream. I saw it. It looked like a very short man wearing dirty and ripped pajamas. He said something. Damon."

"Damon? That's German for demon."

"He was pointing at the bed when he said it."

"Well, whomever or whatever it was is gone now. Do you think it was dangerous?"

"I don't know," said Phoebe thoughtfully. "I got the distinct impression it wanted something but I don't know what it was."

"Maybe we should wake the others," suggested Cole.

"No, no, I don't think that will be necessary. If it wanted to do anything it could have done it while we were asleep. No sense in waking the others unless there's some sign of danger. I think it can wait until the morning."

"Okay," said Cole. "But if you see it again don't take any chances. It might be a ghost but then again it might be a demon."

"Don't worry, I won't take any chances," said Phoebe.

As they settled back into bed to go back to sleep Phoebe thought about the figure she had seen. It seemed pathetic. Although it looked to be a full grown man it seemed more like a child. Phoebe couldn't help but wonder what it wanted.

"A ghost?" questioned Prue the next morning in the kitchen. "Why didn't you wake us up?"

"It didn't seem to be a threat," said Phoebe. "It just looked like it was standing in the room watching us."

"Did it say anything?" Piper asked.

"Phoebe said it said the 'Dämon'," said Cole. "It's German for demon."

"Maybe it came here for Cole," suggested Leo.

"I don't know why," said Cole. "I don't know any ghosts."

"This isn't funny," said Prue. "If there's a ghost in the manor it must be here for a reason. And it appears it's here for Cole."

"Then why did it leave?" Phoebe asked. "It's almost like it recognized Cole was a demon and then left. If it was here for him why wouldn't it stay around?"

"I don't know," said Prue. "But we can't take any chances. Was there anything familiar about this ghost?"

"Not really," said Phoebe. "It kind of looked like some kind of prisoner. The pajamas looked like those kind you see in the old prison movies. And it was very gaunt. Like it had been starved or something."

"Maybe it's a spirit that died in prison," suggested Piper. "But why come here? And why now? There aren't any prisons near the manor."

"It could be something else that's drawn it here," said Cole. "Spirits normally inhabit a specific area. But some spirits wander the Earth. It might be one of those kind."

"But what does it want?" Piper asked.

"There's one way to find out," said Prue. "We could summon it. Ask it flat out what it wants."

"To do that we'd have to know who it was," said Phoebe. "Like I said, I have no idea who it was. I didn't recognize him."

"I don't think we have to worry about that too much longer," said Leo. "If it wants something it will probably be back. All we have to do is wait until it shows up again and ask it."

"Isn't that dangerous?" Piper asked. "What if it wants to kill us?"

"Like Phoebe said," said Cole, "if it wanted to hurt us it could have done that last night. I think Leo is right. Whoever or whatever it is will probably be back. And when it does we can find out what it wants then."

"I don't like sitting around doing nothing," said Prue. "If it's a demon it could be dangerous to just sit around and do nothing."

"A demon wouldn't have simply stood by and waited," said Cole. "We were asleep. It could have killed us before we even had a chance to defend ourselves. No, I think Leo's right. This spirit will be back and when it comes back we'll probably find out what it wants then."

"Okay," said Prue. "But if it shows up again, Phoebe, you're to come get us, I don't care what time it is."

"Understood," said Phoebe. "Now, I need to be getting to school. I'll see you when I get home."

"I'll go with you," said Cole. "Just in case this thing shows up again."

"Take care of her," said Piper. "She's our baby sister and we don't want anything to happen to her."

"I'll protect her with my life," said Cole. "You have nothing to worry about. She'll be perfectly safe with me."

Prue and Piper just watched as Phoebe and Cole left the kitchen heading for the upstairs. Neither liked the fact that Phoebe might be out there with a ghost following her.