Charmed: The Return
Disclaimer: See Chapter One
Chapter Three: Demonic Coincidence
Christopher Halliwell pulled into a parking spot at the San Francisco Medical Examiners Office. He looked at his watch and saw that he was twenty-minutes late. His staff meeting had run longer than it should have. He grabbed his messenger bag and walked towards the entrance of the building.
He dressed casually for work. He wore a navy blue polo and khaki pants. Depending on his own caseload, he would wear scrubs. He entered the front hallway and flashed his ID to the secretary and headed down the personnel corridor. He passed the five pathologist offices, reserved for the five medical examiners. He rounded the corner into the forensic lab division. He passed labs for documents, fingerprints, DNA, trace and other specialties. In the back of that particular division were three large offices. One for the odontologist, or forensic dentist, one for the entomologist and one for himself. On his door was a plaque: Christopher P. Halliwell PhD, Forensic Anthropologist
He went into his office and sat down. He turned on his PC and waited for it to load. He checked his voicemails: only two. One from Wyatt, asking for him to get Milk, and one from a reporter wanting to do a story on him.
He shifted through the files on his desk. Two were from an open investigation he was working on, and the others on cases that were closed and needed to be reviewed for court. There was a yellow form requesting his help on a case. There are three forms you need to file for assists on a case. A yellow one for an anthropologist, blue for odontologist, and pink for entomologist.
He groaned as he typed in his ID and password on his computer. He made a chiming sound and all was well.
"Dr. Halliwell, you're asked to go to Dr. Peters' office." a secretary spoke over his intercom. He picked up the receiver and spoke into it, "I'll be right there, Thank you."
Dr. Alex Peters was a forty something chief pathologist, who was known for his politics. To him his job was not about the case but the politics of being in a position of power. Something about being appointed by the governor fed his power trip. His office had a view of the Golden Gate Bridge, and was the most envied office in the building. Chris' looked over an abandoned warehouse.
"Alex?" Chris said as he knocked on the door.
"Ah, Halliwell. We missed you this morning, I assume you were at the university?"
"Yes. Term starts in one week's time, so we had to get our classes sorted out. How's the case load?" he took a seat in one of the chairs in front of Peters' desk.
"A suicide out of Santa Costa, two victims of a drive-by, one natural causes with requested autopsy by the vic's son, and a floater from the bay."
"Am I to assume that the form on my desk be for the floater?" Chris asked.
"Yes. Jane's the pathologist, confer with her as to what she wants done. Also, I just recieved word, I guess a set of remains was found over on Hudson Boulevard. You were requested." He handed Chris a pink message slip.
"Thank you. Who's the inspector?"
"Cassie Abridge." Chris nodded and left the office to gather his gear. It was going to be a long day. Cassie Abridge, pronounced Abe-ridge, was one of the toughest inspectors out there. She had an attitude like brass knuckles and the proverbial balls to go with them. She started off as a traffic cop but made her way to Homicide in a period of one and half years. It took Chris longer to get his Masters.
The drive to the scene was uneventful. The rain caused road slicks and for a moment, he thought he would have to pull over, park and orb if he ever wanted to get there at a decent time. But he finally got there. He could see swarms of photographers and news reporters standing with umbrellas, the rain not affecting how they do their job. Chris took a deep breath and headed towards the crowd.
Since becoming the active forensic anthropologist for San Francisco and surrounding areas, three months ago, he had appeared in the paper various times. Usually called the Bone Doctor, a name he hated. He was dressed in a navy blue jumpsuit, with Anthrop. on the back symbolizing his department. He grabbed a bag, resembling that of a doctor's bag and his camera and headed towards the white house.
"Abridge." he spoke to the detective, who was covering herself under a blue umbrella. The tall, blonde haired blue eyed woman turned and saw him walking towards her.
"Hey, Doc. You're getting wet." she smiled and held her umbrella over him.
"Thanks. So what do we got?"
"Decomposing DB. You can get in there when the ME finishes." she said.
Chris gave her a weird look. "If it's an anthropology case, why is an ME in there?"
"Original call was for a female victim, Kelly Sanders, twenty-five. Upon searching the house, we came across the corpse, so I had you called."
"So we have a fresh one and a not so fresh one?"
"Yeah. It's gross in there. One of my uniforms had to go outside and vomit, the smell is intense."
"Great. Okay, which ME is in there?"
"Doctor Gellar." Jada Gellar was the first female Medical Examiner in San Francisco. She started here in the city ten years ago, she was in her late forties and had the skin of a twenty-something. Tall and intelligent with sharp African American features. She did the autopsies for Chris' parents and family, five years ago.
"Okay, I'm going in." Chris said and went into the house. The smell of decomposing flesh was nothing new to him. The smell was putrid and sweet. No matter how many decomps you get, the smell still gets to you. Don't Be Sick, he told himself.
He walked into the living room and saw the black woman on her knees bending over the body.
"Hey, Chris. Interesting turn of events we got here. Dead and Deader." she said as she jotted a note on her clipboard.
"You can say that again, Jada. What's the COD on this one?" Chris asked as he looked over the victim.
"Right now, I can not find any physical indications. I'll know more with autopsy. But look at this." She said, and Chris got down on one knee and looked at where her finger was pointed.
"The enamel on her teeth is completely torn."
"That's odd. Teeth enamel is stronger than a femur. When you're done posting her, send me the right molar, and the left to Newman." Eric Newman was the forensic dentist.
"Will do. Okay, I'm going to transport her now. I'll be posting her around 3:30, in suite 4, if you want to stop by."
"Will do. Thanks Jada. Now I believe I have a corpse with my name on it." Chris nodded at her and pursued farther into the house.
Once in the basement, the smell intensified and he saw it. A rotting corpse on the floor of the basement. He scanned the room. The basement was not furnished. The floor was dirt and wet, probably from a broken pipe. There was an officer in blue standing near the body. He had a mask on his face to keep the smell out. Chris peeled on a pair of latex gloves and started to take pictures.
"We don't have an ID." a voice said to Chris' back as he snapped a picture of the head.
"Good afternoon, Cassie." Chris said without looking up.
"Halliwell. What can you tell me?" her voice cold and hard as nails.
"From what I can gather, the body has been here for about one month. Face is completely bloated and skin has started to recede. Gender is female." Chris said as he made a note on a clipboard.
"What's that?" she asked pointing to the wall.
"I don't know." Chris said looking confused and perplexed as he stood up and brushed dirt from his knees. He walked closer, Abridge following tightly. When they got the wall, she flashed her flashlight over the marking. And in red blood the word, Jekyll, was illuminated.
And Chris silently screamed.
The rain was heavy all day. Cursing, Rachel Halliwell made her way into the Manor. Her wet heels clicking as she closed the front door. She placed her breifcase and purse on the entrance table as she pulled off her raincoat and hung it up. She adjusted her blazer and walked into the living room and let out a small muffle.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I scare you?" a man asked. He was tall, about Wyatt's height, and had green eyes and red hair. His arms were buff and fully exposed as well as covered in tattoos.
"You must be one of Ali's friends." Rachel said quickly.
"Yes, the name's Jerome Wallace. And you are?" he was polite, she gave him that.
"Rachel Dean. Ali's cousin. Where is she by the way?" her eyes eying him as if he were a demon.
"In the shower." Rachel nodded, grabbed her purse and headed upstairs. As she walked up the stairs, she could hear Ali in the shower. She rolled her eyes. She showers while she has house guests sitting in their living room. Well at least she's showering, she told herself.
She turned around and started to go towards her room when she heard a gentle curse coming from the attic. Her curiosity heightened, she headed up the attic stairs.
When she entered the attic, she saw Chris flipping through the Book of Shadows. An angry and confused look on his face.
"Did you know, Ali has one of her friends downstairs. Alone." she asked Chris.
"Yeah, we'll talk to her about that later." he said without taking his eyes off the book.
"Mind, telling me what you're looking for?" she asked as she stood next to him and peered over his shoulder.
"Remember when we first met back up and were attacked?" She nodded yes and he continued, "one of the demons said the name Jekyll, and when I was at a crime scene today, the name Jekyll was written on the wall in blood."
"So you think Jekyll has something to do with your case?"
"Yes. It's no coincidence. But I can't find him in the Book."
"Well, if he's demon, he has to be in there." Rachel said.
"Yeah, but I can't find it, anywhere." Chris said in a defeated demeanor.
"Here, let me take over for a while." Chris nodded his agreement and Rachel continued flipping through the Book.
An exhausted Chris laid down on the couch. He closed his eyes and slowly let his mind return to the scene. The bodies, the forensics, his work. Everything was as it should have been. It should have been a simple case: ID and cause of death. He tries to not get emotionally involved, but it never works. He always finds a way to connect with the victims. And then demons appear on the scene. It wasn't supposed to be like this. Demons were to stay at home, not cross into the work place.
He was jolted awake when Rachel spoke, "Found him!"
Chris got up and stood behind the Book with her.
"Jekyll. This demon is direct spawn of the demoness, Janelle, and the Source of All Evil. He was born in the early part of the seventeenth century and has terrorized witches and mortals since. His known powers are telekinesis, shimmering, shape shifting, and voice mogrification. No witch has ever been able to successfully harm or vanquish him. There is also no known way to vanquish, Jekyll. Only one Warren witch has fought him to live and tell the tale, Prudence Wentworth. Her account tells us that Jekyll is a no more than a demon with a bad attitude. Arrogant and smart, he can attack a witch with little ease. A word to all witches, Stay Away." Rachel read to her cousin.
"So basically it tells us, we're screwed."
"No not entirely. If he is spawn of the Source, we should be able to vanquish him with the Source vanquishing spell. Mom and our aunts did it, we should be able to too."
"Rachel, he can kill witches easily."
"And we're the children of the Charmed Ones. We can take this son of bitch."
"For someone who was against fighting demons again, you sure are fast to say we can kill him."
"I've learned that the hardest thing we have to do is to continue our destiny. It would be worth nothing if we just turn a cold shoulder. Not to mention, if he killed your victim, he needs to go down."
"I'll call Wyatt and Rose. You call Sam. Hopefully we can catch Ali before she leaves."
"Alright, Chris. Let's do this." Rachel said as she closed the Book and headed out of the attic, Chris following behind. He whispered to himself, "Help us, Mom."
Here's Chapter Three. I hope you all enjoyed. I apologize for the lengthy time in updates. I apologize. I know this chapter was heavy on Chris' job, but every now and then, a chapter will take the time to introduce us into the working lives of the witches. Review please!