Legacy: Pieces of Eight

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Five: A Dicey Plan

Chris ducked inside of the Connelly Manor with his brother, peering around to see if there was anybody nearby. The area was completely deserted, to his relief, but it also came with the suspicion that there was something going on around the place. "Okay, all clear," he said quietly as Wyatt came inside behind him and the brothers headed through the hallways to find out where everybody was at.

"Did you notice anything going on?" Chris glanced sideways at Wyatt, who had a perturbed look on his face. "I mean, earlier . . . there was definitely some weird vibes going on, right? That wasn't just me." Wyatt was looking disturbed as he looked towards him. "You noticed it, right? I mean, that was definitely strange . . ."

Almost instantly, Chris's thoughts jumped to Bobby and Susan, there in Magic School with him clinging to her like a kid needing his big sister. Had Wyatt figured out the secret that he and Susan were hiding from everybody else? he thought. If he had, there was no way that he could keep it from his brother. He and Susan had made an agreement that if someone asked about it, then they weren't gonna lie about it.

"Listen, Wy . . . the whole thing about Susan is—" he began, but stopped when Wyatt looked up at him, a confused look crossing his face as Chris said the words.

"Susan? What are you talking about?" he asked, bewildered. "I was talking about Brandon and Brooke." Chris frowned slightly at him, wracking his brains to the apartment. "There was something going on with them earlier, Chris, I could see it." He scowled. "I knew I should've have left him alone in the bedroom with her."

Chris shook his head, his shoulders relaxing now that they were moving away from the tenser subject. "Wyatt, I really don't think that Brooke would do something like that," he assured his brother.

"She did it once, remember?" Wyatt muttered angrily. "To Susan's brother, while they were engaged." He shook his head. "Maybe I'm overreacting, but if she did it once, then she might very well do it again. Leopards don't change their dots."

"Spots," Chris corrected automatically and Wyatt glanced at him. "The expression is 'leopards don't change their spots.'" His brother rolled his eyes as he heaved a sigh.

"The point is that if she it once, then she could very well do it again. I mean, it wouldn't be the first time that a witch has gone after their Whitelighter," he mumbled, looking downcast.

"You really like her, don't you?" Chris remarked, shaking his head. "Wy, if you like her so much, then you know what you have to do, right?"

"What's that?"

"Trust her," Chris pointed out. Wyatt made a face. "There's absolutely no point in a relationship without trust. I mean, it was hard for Susan to put trust in a relationship when I met her, but she was in a really vulnerable state then. She still is, as a matter of fact, even though it's not as bad as it was."

Wyatt made a face at him and shook his head. "So, basically, all you've got for me is that I should shove aside the sinking feeling that I've got that something's going on and just trust Brooke to do the right thing?" he demanded and Chris nodded. "And if that doesn't work?"

"Well, then . . . do the other thing that makes relationships work," Chris replied with a grin. "Talk to her. Now shut up, I can hear something up there," he added, nodding ahead of them. Wyatt shut up as they headed into a balcony, overlook on entourage of demons, Peter Connelly, and the woman that Susan said was his wife Deidre. And they were all standing around a table that had six amulets on it, each glowing a different colour.

"Good, they've still got one amulets to get," Wyatt whispered as he looked down at them. "Which means that the last guardian might still be alive."

But Chris was starting to get a funny feeling as he peered down at the party below them. Something wasn't right, he thought as his eye caught a familiar girl walking through the crowd. A girl who they'd seen dead less than an hour ago at Magic School.

"Candace," Wyatt breathed.

"Just someone that looks like her," Chris murmured as he watched her step onto the platform, her long blonde hair sweeping her shoulders as she gave a smirk towards Peter and pulled something out of her pocket.

"Here it is, Master," she said, handing it over to Peter. "The last amulets . . . those stupid witches never knew what hit them. They still have no idea how close we are."

Peter smiled with amusement. "Very good, my dear, very good," he said as he took the amulet. "It is time."

Wyatt released a swearword under his breath as Chris's eyes widened, realising what was about to happen. "We have to stop them," he whispered just as Deidre's eyes lifted up and met Chris's. Her mouth opened slightly in surprise and she cast a quick glance around as she moved away from the group, getting as close to the balcony as she could.

"Get out of here, the both of you," she breathed, without moving her lips, but making sure that they heard her. "There's nothing you can do here right now. You stay here, you die." Chris's blood froze at her words. "Believe me, there maybe be a way to stop him, but not this. There's too many demons here even without an unvanquishable demon being resurrected. Leave here and get yourselves out."

"And risk letting lose a demon that's only goal is to end humanity?" Chris hissed at her. She made no movement. "Do you even care anymore?"

"I care," she whispered, "more than you know, but now is not the time, Christopher Halliwell. Not now . . . but soon." She looked at him now, pleading in her eyes. "The time is not yet. Your destinies will all become revealed very soon and this is not it. You can stop him, all five of you. But—"

"What's going on over there, woman?" Peter had noticed her absence and his gaze travelled up to find the two brothers hiding on the balcony and his smile broadened and he chuckled. "Well, what do you know? We seem to have two unexpected guests, ladies and gentlemen," he announced. "Get them. I want them to have the box seats for this."

This is not going to go well, Chris thought as demons charged after him and Wyatt.

--

Brooke moved her hand over her eyes tiredly as she flipped through the books at Magic School, shaking her head as she found yet another entry on the Avenger that didn't really tell her anything different than they already knew. Slamming it shut, Brooke blushed as a few students that were in the vicinity stared at her. "Sorry," she whispered, seizing another book.

"Not finding anything?" Brandon appeared next to her and she jumped, nearly falling out of her chair. When she recovered, she glared at him and he grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you like that. I thought you heard me."

"No, I didn't," Brooke grumbled as she ran her fingers through her hair as she flipped through the books. "I don't know what Susan expects me to find. I mean, this guy is basically invincible. Nobody could take this guy down the last time that he was released. Why should this time be any different?"

"Well, because we have something this time that they didn't back then," Brandon answered.

"Yeah? What might that be?"

Brandon smiled reassuringly at her. "You," he replied. Brooke blushed and he smiled. "And Susan and Chris and Wyatt. The four of you can take this thing, can take whatever is thrown at you guys. And Bobby . . . well, with you guys helping him, I think he's gonna do pretty well. How's he doing, anyway?" he added as he cast a glance over at the sleeping Bobby on the sofa that was in the library.

"He's still a little shocked," Brooke admitted. "And I can kind of see where he's coming from. We see dead demons all the time, but it's not the same as when you see a human being like that. Dead and cold and mutilated. It's completely different," she whispered as she looked back down at the book. She couldn't ignore the look that Brandon was fixing her with, filled with longing and affection and passion that she hadn't felt in a long time. Not since . . . well, not since Ryan.

She was starting to grow to care a lot about Wyatt, she really was, but there was something missing that had been in her relationship with Ryan. It was something that she couldn't explain, but it was missing with Wyatt. Brooke wished it was there, wished that she could figure out what it was so she could propel it into their relationship, but . . . well, she was starting to get the feeling that it wasn't something that could be propelled. It was either there or it wasn't.

"Brooke? You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, flipping through the books again. "If you count us being at a loss with a demon that can . . . oh, here's something new," she complained, finding an entry on the Avenger. "He can apparently turn you into ashes with a single touch. Oh, this is getting way too complicated. I need a break," she said, standing up.

"I'll keep looking," Brandon told her as he sat down. "Go get yourself a drink or something."

Brooke sighed as she left the library and Brandon watched her go, the longing in his heart continuing to grow as the one woman he had ever truly loved disappeared. He shook his head as he looked down at the book, not really seeing it as he was too absorbed in his thoughts.

"You still love her, don't you?" Brandon glanced up at Bobby as the young witch sat up, looking straight at him worriedly. "Brooke. You're still in love with her."

"It's not exactly easy to fall in and out of love, especially considering the circumstances," Brandon admitted as he draw another book towards him, looking through it to find anything on the Avenger that would be even remotely helpful. "Are you okay?"

"I'll live," Bobby mumbled, shaking his head to clear it. "Uh . . . where's everybody else?" His eyes scanned the library, as though expecting Susan, Chris, and Wyatt to pop out of nowhere.

"Susan's checking out a source and Wyatt and Chris are down at the Manor doing recon, see how far they are to getting all eight of the amulets," Brandon answered. "If you're okay, you wanna come help me do some research, find any new information on this guy?"

"Thought it all said the same thing," Bobby said with a grin, telling Brandon that he'd been awake for most of the conversation with Brooke. Still, he stood up and joined him at the table, looking through some books. "Okay, if this guy gets assembled, then what? How are we gonna kill a guy that's not supposed to be killed?"

"I don't know," Brandon sighed. "Magic apparently only feeds it, so using our powers on him, I'd say that's a big no-no. And no weapon can kill him, so swords . . . crossbows . . . stakes . . . that's all out too. Hopefully somebody's gonna find something out, because we're running out of ammunition and we're running out of time."

Bobby shook his head as he flipped through the book before he frowned at the words. "No weapon forged can kill him," he mumbled and a look cross his face, something that Brandon noticed.

"What? What'd you figure out?"

"Wait a minute . . . the Oracles said that, too, that no weapon forged could kill him," he said slowly, a look of comprehension and relief crossing his face. Brandon didn't understand; why would he be relieved at the fact that this guy was unkillable?
"So what? We're happy because we're gonna die?"

"No, the Oracles made a point of saying that," Bobby told him. "Which means that there's something about that . . . in that time. They said 'no weapon forged in that time can kill him' . . . what about in this time? Some weapon that they didn't have back then? Would that kill him?"

Brandon stared at him. "Actually, that might be worth a shot. But what weapon is gonna be strong enough to take this guy down? I don't exactly have a lot of experience in modern day weapons."

"A rocket launcher," Bobby answered with a shrug. Brandon shook his head. "And I know where we can get one. Come on, we need to go now if we're gonna do this, because you and I both know that Susan's gonna say no when she hears this plan."

"We've got bigger problems," Brooke announced, appearing in the doorway. She looked panicked. "I just got a call from Susan. The Avenger's being resurrected as we speak . . . and Chris and Wyatt are headed into a trap. What's the plan?" she asked, looking between them.