EIGHT

"Looks like our friend is back," said Prue.

The figure didn't move. It stood in the entryway looking at them.

"What do you want?" Piper asked.

"Er müssen sein strapazieren," said the figure. "Er müssen spendieren sein Verbrechen.."

"What did he say?" Phoebe asked.

"He said 'he must be punished'," said Cole. "'He must pay for his crimes'."

"We intend to make him pay," said Prue.

"Sie müssen nicht Bestand ihm ausführen Gerechtigkeit."

"He said 'you must not let him escape justice'," said Cole.

"We don't plan to," said Piper. "We intend to vanquish him just as soon as we can."

"Die Geist über arg schirmt ihm."

"'The spirit of evil protects him'," Cole translated.

"This is ridiculous," said Phoebe. "Let the language that we hear to our ears now be clear. We should be able to understand him now."

"The spirit of evil protects him," said the ghost.

"We know that," said Prue. "We just found out about him. We plan to vanquish him as soon as we can. He'll pay for what he did to you."

"Not only me," said the spirit. "To all those who suffered at his hand. For the evil which he perpetrated in the camp."

"What's your name?" Cole asked.

"In life I was Abraham Garrow. I was a simple merchant. But I had the misfortune to be born a Jew. A sin for which the Nazis punished all who crossed their path with death. You are demon. You are like him."

"No," said Phoebe, "he's not like Sperrle. He's helping us to vanquish Sperrle."

"Our spirits cannot rest as long as he lives," said Garrow. "Until he pays for his crimes we are forced to wander the Earth. The blood of the innocent cries out from the land for justice."

"You'll have it," said Leo. "As soon as they figure out how to vanquish him they will."

"You are our only hope," said Garrow. "Only you can give us the rest we deserve."

"We will," said Phoebe. "We promise you that as soon as we can we'll vanquish the demon."

Garrow just stared at them for a moment. Then silently he faded from the manor.

"Well, I guess we now know what the ghost wants," said Prue. "It wants justice for what Sperrle did to the victims in World War II."

"I recognized the clothes," said Cole. "They were the clothes that victims in the concentration camps were forced to wear. I guess the atrocities Sperrle committed won't let them rest until he pays for them."

"And they can't do anything about it," said Leo. "They're expecting the girls to stop him for them."

"Well, that's exactly what we're going to do," said Prue. "Just as soon as we figure out how to do it. So we'd better get busy."

Prue headed for the attic while Piper and Leo went into the kitchen. Phoebe sat down on the sofa with a pad and pen. Cole headed for Phoebe's room saying he wanted to check on something and that he'd be back down as soon as he found what he was looking for.

"Well," said Prue coming into the kitchen, "there's nothing in the book about exorcism. That's kind of odd considering that traditionally possession has been a major attribute of demons."

"That was ended a long time ago," said Cole.

"Why?" Piper asked.

"It's a long story," said Cole. "Let's just say that the demon hierarchy decided it wasn't as valuable a tool to them as it once had been. What did you find out about Kernian?"

"Well, like you said, he's one of the senior demons," said Prue. "Or at least he was until he was vanquished by the Source. Looks like everyone thought this thing had been vanquished. Unfortunately there wasn't a vanquishing potion or spell for him in the book."

"Well, I found out some things," said Cole. "Abraham Garrow ran a clock shop in Germany before World War II. When the Nazis began to take over he was arrested. He eventually ended up in Auschwitz Concentration Camp. He was gassed to death in 1944."

"How horrible," said Piper. "I can't even imagine what it must have been like in one of those camps."

"And most of the prisoners were there simply for being born a Jew, or being Catholic, or something like that," said Leo. "It's been estimated that as many as six million people died in those camps."

"Well, apparently Sperrle enjoyed throwing the switch personally," said Cole. "It's estimated that he was personally responsible for over a thousand deaths that way. And that's not counting the ones who were murdered by someone else on his orders."

"If anyone deserves to be vanquished it's Sperrle," said Prue.

"And you can't do it," said Leo.

"What do you mean we can't do it?" Piper asked. "That's what we do. Vanquish evil."

"No, you vanquish demons," said Leo. "But you can't vanquish a human, you know that. That's what the authorities are for."

"Leo, brother-in-law," said Prue, "by now no one will believe who he really is. If we don't do something about him he'll never pay for what he did."

"You can vanquish the demon," said Cole. "That's what you're supposed to do. But you can't pass judgment on a human. If you kill Sperrle it will be nothing short of murder, no matter what he might have done in the past."

"Cole, you can't be serious," said Piper. "Sperrle is pure evil. If we just let him get away with what he's done Garrow and those like him will be forced to wander the Earth forever."

"You can't be worried about that," said Leo. "You're only concern is Kernian. Once you've vanquished him your work is done. If you kill Sperrle there's no telling what the repercussions might be."

"Leo's right," said Cole. "I don't like it any more than you do but Sperrle is just a human. Most of what happened during World War II was done by people possessed by demons. If you kill Sperrle for what he did back then you'll be punishing him for what Kernian actually did. Like Leo says, it will be nothing but murder."

"So we can vanquish Kernian but we can't do anything to punish Sperrle?" Phoebe asked.

"I'm afraid not," said Leo. "You'll just have to trust that he will be punished one day."

"That's not much comfort," said Prue.

"At least we can take care of Kernian," said Prue. "Without him, Sperrle would probably be nothing. I guess we'll just have to settle for the demon."

"We still have to figure out a way to vanquish Kernian," said Piper. "And before we can do that we have to exorcise him from Sperrle."

"Got that covered," said Phoebe, holding up a piece of paper. "I figured the only way to get him out of Sperrle was with a Power of Three spell. So I wrote a dispossession spell."

"Good thinking, baby sister," said Prue. "Now let's se if we can figure out a way to vanquish Kernian for good."