THREE

"Okay, okay, enough all ready," said Piper, putting the potion away, "we aren't going to hurt you. We just want some information."

"It wasn't my doing," pleaded the demon. "I was only doing as I was ordered. I had nothing to do with the human I replaced. I was only doing as I was told."

"Okay, we understand that," said Paige. "We aren't here about that. We need some information and we thought you could help us."

"You don't want to kill me?" questioned the woman. "You aren't here to vanquish me?"

"Not today, sweetheart," said Piper. "We want to know about three doppelgangers who were impersonating us. We want to know who was behind it."

"Impersonating you?" questioned the doppelganger. "Who are you?"

"You don't know who we are but you thought we were here to vanquish you?" Phoebe questioned. "That doesn't make any sense."

"You had the vanquishing potion," said the doppelganger. "I just assumed . . . ."

"What's your name?" Paige asked.

"Zyoff," said the doppelganger.

"Well, Zyoff," said Piper, "we're the Charmed Ones. And recently three of your friends impersonated us. We vanquished them but we need to know who was behind it."

"I don't know," said Zyoff. "They weren't my friends. I was very young when they were chosen. Three, no four, older females. Chosen by a man in dark gray robes. A very old human male."

"Four?" questioned Phoebe. "He picked four females? But there were only three of them impersonating us."

"He initially only took three," said Zyoff. "About three years later he returned for another female. I never did learn why he wanted the females. Only that he was very particular about which ones he wanted."

"When did he come for these females?" Paige asked.

"About six or seven years ago," said Zyoff. "I remember it was about the same time that I heard that the Underworld was having trouble with you, the Charmed Ones."

"Wait a minute," Phoebe said. "You mean that just after we got our powers this mystery man came here and chose three female doppelgangers?"

"I guess so," said Zyoff. "All I know is that Kannor said that the Charmed Ones had finally come. He said the man needed three females. He chose the ones he wanted and they left. I never saw the females again."

"Kannor?" questioned Piper.

"Kannor is one of the leaders of our clan," said Zyoff. "He was vanquished several years later."

"And this man in the robes came back three years later for another female?" questioned Paige.

"Yes," said Zyoff. "The man came back and said that one of the females had died and he needed another one. That's all I know."

"Piper," said Phoebe, "he came back three years later. About the same time Prue died."

"Yeah, that little fact didn't escape my attention," said Piper. "But how did three or four doppelgangers gain the ability to use our powers? And who is this mysterious man in dark gray robes? I'll bet if we find him we'll find who's behind all this."

"Do you have any idea who the man in dark robes is?" Paige asked Zyoff.

"No, no idea at all," said Zyoff. "We weren't told his name. Only that he needed the females for some kind of experiment. And he paid dearly for them. You said if I told you what I know you'd let me go. I've told you everything I know."

"Okay, we keep our word," said Piper. "But we don't want to see you around here again. If we do we'll use the vanquishing potion. So you'd better move on to something else while we're feeling generous."

"But I can't," said Zyoff. "This is my assignment. It's my first assignment. If I fail at this I'll be punished. Ad what am I going to tell David? He won't understand."

"David?" questioned Phoebe.

"David Post, my boyfriend," said Zyoff.

"You're boyfriend?" questioned Piper. "You have a boyfriend?"

"Well, yes," said Zyoff. "I was supposed to act like a normal human. Normal human's have boyfriends so I got a boyfriend."

"And his name is David Post," said Paige.

"Yes," said Zyoff. "We've been seeing each other for a few weeks now. He has no idea what I am and he's never going to understand if I just disappear. I can't tell him right now because he works nights at the hospital and he's asleep right now."

"Not my problem, lady," said Piper. "If you don't disappear today you won't be around later, got it?"

"Y . . . yes," said Zyoff. "I got it."

"Good," said Piper. "Now, we have to track down a man in gray robes. So toddle off now and go do whatever it is doppelgangers do."

Zyoff hurriedly unlocked the door and rushed out of it.

"Well, at least we have something," said Paige. "A man in gray robes. How many men in gray robes could there be?"

"Oh, just every male demon in the Underworld, that's all," said Piper. "It's strange though."

"What is?" Phoebe asked.

"David Post," said Piper. "When I was in the hospital with Arroyo fever the tech who drew my blood was named David Post."

"Well now that's odd," said Paige. "Remember when I was in the hospital from the vampire attack? He was the same one who drew my blood. Real nice kid, too."

"Okay, let's get home," said Phoebe. "We need to talk to Leo. I don't think it's a coincidence that you had blood drawn by the same guy and we just had demons able to use our powers. Maybe Leo can help us figure out what's going on."

Paige immediately orbed them all back to the manor