And, we're back with chapter 6. What happened with Chris and Alyssa? I dunno. Lol. Very quick note, thanks to dungeons and dragons for the basis for my demon. I changed and added but the name and basis of it is from dungeons and dragons.
Celice stared into the crowd of cheering people as the last measures of the song faded out. She'd done it. She'd sung to humans and kept her inner siren at bay. The announcer came back up on stage smiling. "Ladies and gentlemen that was Celice with her rendition of 'Where do I Belong'. Give her a big hand. Fabulous Celice, thank you." The highly unattractive announcer smiled down to her and put his hand on her shoulder. She shrugged him off and went back towards her table. Spike was standing and smiling. She jumped up and hugged him tightly, his height allowing her feet to dangle as he hugged her back. "I did it. Spike, I really did it. It's all thanks to you." She pulled her head around to look into his eyes. "Yes love, you did it. You did it all on your own. What do you say I go and grab us one more round, then we can get back to the manor to tell the others?" He set her down gently and lightly hugged her again before turning to walk towards the bar.
Back at the manor, Chris and Alyssa were on the floor of the sun room. Alyssa couldn't believe she had just vanquished the one warlock she feared. She couldn't help fearing him. He'd made her a witch. After years of joining in their persecution he'd forced her to join them. She had stopped her silent crying. She felt like a huge burden had been lifted. All of the hate, anger, and pain she felt had just been released. Chris was checking for wounds. He found nothing but her heavy breathing and what would be a bruise tomorrow on her side. "At least you're not hurt. Why the hell didn't you call me? Did you feel the need to attempt suicide or something?" "I needed to handle him myself and I did. No reason to get pissy." She looked at him and saw that he was a little worried. He looked like he'd already lost more than he could handle. "Chris, I'm sorry if I scared you but that was something I had to do on my own. Where were you anyway? I thought you'd have heard the crashing and come storming in." "I was watching this unfold. You didn't ask for me so I didn't think I should just jump in. If things went too far I would have had to put in my two cents. I was there when he arrived so I think you know what my next question is going to be." He looked at her with hard eyes. Eyes that held no emotion or feeling. Eyes that were somewhat intimidating. "That warlock is the reason I'm a witch. When I was about 23 he cursed me to wield a witch's power. My family was always against witches. My father was usually the one that condemned them to burn at the stake. He never gave them the option to repent. I followed in his beliefs. When my mother was charged I was the one that condemned her. That warlock was a stranger to Salem. When I testified against my own mother he thought that I would be his perfect bride. A partner in evil forever. His plan was to curse me with power. That power would force me to flee Salem and in turn cause rage and possibly a loss of sanity. He hoped that I would take vengeance on witches thinking that they were the cause of all of my troubles. I would become a warlock myself and he would come and take me to grow stronger and teach me all I needed to know. Unfortunately, I knew he was the one that had cursed me when I woke up during the process. I couldn't control my powers so I was forced to flee. My father found me packing. When he asked why all I could say was that I was my mother's child. He understood and let me go. I don't think he could have sentenced his only child to death. After about two years in the woods I have begun to get control of my powers. I even learned to hide them. I wanted so badly for them to just go away but it never happened. With the curse came immortality so that I would be his forever. When that didn't work he hunted me down as the predator does his prey. When he found me I tried my best to fight but it was no use.
"Celice was nearby and heard the fight. She came to my rescue. Needless to say he was no match for a siren's power. He was entranced as most are so he had to get out before he was killed. Celice has stuck by my side ever since. We've gone from town to town across the country helping out where we could. Any and all on the good side didn't like the thought of a demon and a witch in league together. About 1995 I was finally allowed a whitelighter. He didn't like Celice at first but grew to appreciate her and even trust her. He couldn't help her but if she ever called he would come. We still haven't figured out how that worked. Leo was there until the Great War with Wyatt when he was killed. He's the one that told us to find the charmed ones if things got too bad." Chris' face turned from inquisitive to shock at the mention of a whitelighter named Leo. He always knew that his father had other charges but never thought one would have come looking for help from his family. Alyssa saw Chris' eyes grow wide. "Did you know him?" Chris looked at her and stood slowly. He legs were a little stiff from his position on the floor. He just looked on Alyssa as if she just told him she'd killed his puppy. "Leo was my father. He was never any good at it though. I just can't believe he never mentioned you before." "He never mentioned you so I guess that makes us even. Now that you know my story, do you still want to help us?" Chris walked to the window and stared into the darkness. He didn't know what to think anymore. She wasn't a real witch. She had been cursed and forced to become what she feared most at the time. Now that he knew where she had come from, a lot of questions were answered. Of course he would still help her. It wasn't like she was evil and out to kill him. She was a witch in need. That wasn't a question. She and Celice had done nothing wrong. There were other feelings in question here. "You haven't done anything wrong Alyssa. You and Celice are still part of the group and you still need help. After all, that's what we do right?" He turned and smiled at her. In his eyes, she was beautiful. She was standing now, her hair was a little tasseled from the fight but the care written on her face enthralled him. He looked at her with thoughts still racing through his head. Since Bianca he hadn't felt anything for another woman. He wanted her. He wanted her to stay with him in the manor. He wanted her to be his. Something in his head told him to keep away for now. Not that he ever listened to the voice in his head that was supposed to be a conscience. He took a small step towards her.
Back at the club, the 'one more drink' for Celice and Spike had turned into 5. They had gotten caught up in telling their life stories and seeing how both had to go over about two centuries it was taking a little while. "You know love, for someone about one hundred years older than myself, you don't look a day past one hundred twenty." He flinched as she playfully hit his shoulder. "You know Spike, we really should be getting back. Who knows what could have happened while we were gone." Spike smiled at her mischievously. "Really then. Well, I supposed we should just get on home and interrupt anything thing they might be up to." He looked at her over the brim of his vodka filled glass. She smiled back. He noticed there was a fire in her eyes. He hadn't seen eyes like that since Buffy. He agreed that they should head home but he didn't want to. He had no thought that Chris and Alyssa were doing anything 'private'. He just wanted to stay where he was and keep talking to his new friend. Celice could tell he just wanted to keep talking but something inside kept pulling her to get back to the manor as fast as she could. Over the years she had learned to listen to that little nagging feeling. She'd focused her demon senses to help those in need rather than plot massacres or start wars. "Spike, you ever get the feeling that you should be somewhere else even if you don't want to, you just have to?" He set he glass on the table and leaned forward. "Do you get premonitions love?" "No, just the feeling I should be somewhere as soon as possible. Alyssa and I took a blood oath to always stand side by side and fight. Ever since I've been getting that feeling. I really think we should get back to the manor." Spike reluctantly stood and took her hand. He paid the tab and they left.
At the manor Chris was standing in front of Alyssa. They were gazing into each others eyes as if trying to see their soul. Her heart skipped a beat when he took one step closer. He never looked away or even blinked. She wished that she could read his mind at that very moment so that she would know what was coming. Both of them knew where this was going. He touched her chin and gently pulled her towards him. He leaned down and gently touched his lips to hers. She felt light headed for a brief second before closing her eyes and kissing him back. As they kissed a little more feverishly she felt a jolt course through her body and saw a horrifying image in her mind. She saw Cole in flames. He was crying. She could feel it. She could feel the pain and the heat as if they were her own. Then she saw Chris standing there. He had that same hard look she'd seen earlier. She knew he had thrown the potion and he had just vanquished Cole. She opened her eyes and realized that she was no longer kissing Chris. He was standing in front of her with his hands on her shoulders. She saw his lips moving but heard no sound. She was really dizzy. His face was writhed with concern. The sound slowly became audible as her head continued to spin. "Alyssa? Alyssa? Are you okay? What's wrong?" She put her hand to her forehead and tried to steady herself. "I'm not sure what happened. One minute I'm kissing you the next I see you vanquishing Cole. I felt everything. The fire, the pain, even you." "Do you think it was a premonition?" "For your sake I hope not. Nobody vanquishes another family member with out written consent from the rest of us."
He could tell she didn't understand what had just happened. It couldn't have been a premonition because she's not a true witch. Premonitions are gifts and she defiantly did not fit the criteria. What's worse is she saw him doing something that would defiantly put a damper on his relationship with everyone. Maybe it was a fake. Maybe the demons out to get her and Celice were trying to separate them all. There had to be an explanation.
Thoughts raced through Alyssa's mind. Why would Chris vanquish Cole? How the hell did she just get a premonition? What the fuck was going on? She watched Chris as he reviewed all of the information in his head. He looked just as stunned as she was. She already had some suspicions of him. She couldn't help it. He was usually quiet and kept to himself unless they were in the attic working on a spell. When you've been looking for bad things as long as she has, you learn to be cautious. She had rationalized it as just the way he was but that premonition brought back the question of whether or not Chris was really on their side. She shook the thought from her mind. Chris would never betray them. They were a family and he wouldn't let anything stand in the way of that. He'd lost one family already.
They heard what sounded like someone's feet touching the floor after shimmering. Both turned battle alert to see Celice and Spike, each wearing a very distinctive look of "huh?". "Okay you two, what's got you so jumpy," Celice asked while looking around at the wrecked sunroom. Chris and Alyssa relaxed and before either could speak Cole shimmered in on the floor. He was bleeding from his side and looked to be almost in tears. All four ran to see what had happened. Alyssa ran to the kitchen for bandages, Celice turned him over and set his head in her lap, and Chris and Spike tore off his shirt for a better view of the damage. It looked as if something had cut him from navel to hip with large talons. Alyssa ran up and slid on her knees stopping next to Chris and began rinsing with the warm water and no longer white towel. Spike had seen this before. Never on a demon but defiantly seen it. He had met up with a human somewhere in Colorado that had been attacked like this the only problem was that a few months later that human had disintegrated from the inside out. "Cole, what did this?" Cole looked at Spike. He wanted to say it but he knew that if he did they'd all go looking for it. He couldn't let them fall into that trap. He decided to just give a description knowing they'd never be able to figure it out.
"I'm not sure. It was huge. Teeth that were like fangs and talons for fingers. That's what it caught me with. It was taller than me and equally as wide. It had this grayish skin that was cracked and you could see blue veins covering it's body. I think it was talking but I couldn't understand. It was like this Latin or something. I was caught off guard." They all tried to think of what demons fit that description. Alyssa didn't have the slightest idea because she never thought about what they were called. She only worried about killing them before they got her or someone she cared about. Chris couldn't think of anything either. All he knew were the demons in the book or the ones his mom and aunts talked about. Spike had come in contact with a lot of demons in his day but the only one remotely fitting that description was Skip and he was long dead. Plus Skip spoke very clear English. Celice knew what it was. She knew very well what had done this and she knew that Cole was lying when he said that he didn't know. Every real demon knew what this was. It was something that didn't feel for good or evil. Most demons heard of it as a bedtime story. A sort of boogieman, if you will. She knew as all sirens knew. That demon was the reason for their very existence. She also knew why Cole didn't want them to know about it. That would be suicide.
After patching up Cole as best they could they carried him to the couch to lie down. When he was positioned comfortably they headed up the stairs to begin the search for what could have done this. To take down a demon as powerful as Balthazar meant they were looking for something that would prove a real battle. When Chris Alyssa and Spike were surely out of ear-shot Celice went over to Cole and sat next to him. "Shouldn't you be helping them look for whatever did this?" "Cole, you know damn good and well they'll never figure it out, or did you forget about me being a siren?" Cole closed his eyes. Damn, he did forget she was a siren. She knew. "Celice you can't tell them. They'll try and find it then they'll….." "I know that Cole," she snapped sharply. "do you think I'm a fucking idiot. They can't fight Araumycos. They would be killed, or worse, end up like you. You know there's nothing we can do about this. Unless you know where to find a Phoenix. Seeing how they're extinct I'm thinking that's a no." Cole looked at her and could see the worry on her face. Why did he have to give a description? Why couldn't he have just said something got him from behind? "Celice, I'll be fine. I've got at least a year before anything starts to happen." "No Cole, you don't have a year. You'll be lucky to have a couple months. It got you too deep. How did you find Araumycos?" "Raynar summoned it. I don't know how but he did. They were working together. When he picked up latin I have no clue but I'm guessing that's why Araumycos trusted him." "We can defeat him if we try Cole. You and I both know we're gonna have to otherwise we'll have one very big problem on our hands." "He can't be defeated Celice. If he could the first sirens would have done it when they had the chance." "They couldn't because they didn't have the power to destroy him. None would help. All they could do was put him to sleep. They needed someone or something with the power to destroy him. Nothing had that kind of power then but now it can be done."
Cole looked at her knowingly. He know that there would be no stopping them if they wanted to take on Araumycos but if they were killed, he would never forgive himself. Somehow he felt like a father to the four of them. Strange as it sounded, he liked that feeling. "Celice, promise me you won't tell them about Araumycos. Then swear you won't go after him." She looked away. Tears came to her eyes but never fell. How could he ask that? He was dying and didn't want them to do anything about it. What's worse is he wanted her to pretend she didn't know what was happening. He reached out and touched her shoulder. When she looked into his eyes she saw that he was really asking her this. She nodded and half smiled to him. "I promise. I'll keep it from them and if they ever find out I'll do what I can to keep them from going after him." Cole smiled at her and laid his head back down. He closed his eyes and tried to sleep. Rest was just what he needed right now. Celice stood and walked to the stairs. When she saw Spike standing there she almost lost her breath. "So, keeping secrets now are we?" "Spike, it's not like that. How much did you hear?" "Just the bit about you doing your best to stop us from going after the demon that got Cole." She opened her mouth to speak but he stopped her. "No, no pet, after all, you promise." He pushed past her and walked out the door.