A wave of panic spread across Jordan's face. If they knew who he was, that meant that they were in great danger. He had already risked everything to go back in time to save them. The last thing he needed was for them to insist on helping him. They had no idea of the threat they faced. It was the same threat that had managed to kill them in the future. Jordan refused to let the future repeat itself, especially in the past. Without warning, his body covered itself in blue and white lights and he began to glimmer away from his family.
"Freeze him!" Matthew yelled to Wesley.
"It won't work," Wesley replied. "He's family. You do something!"
"Like what?" Matthew asked.
James, not knowing anything else to do, called on his telekinetic powers. He made a "come here" gesture with his hand and the group of lights immediately attracted themselves to him, as if pulled by a magnet. The blue and white lights disappeared as Jordan fell back onto the couch, shaking his head vigorously. He looked at James, who returned an emotionless expression. Turning around, he looked at Matthew and Wesley, who only looked on in disbelief.
"What the hell was that?" Wesley asked.
"I just did the first thing I could think to do," James said.
"I always hated when you did that," Jordan said, standing up and brushing himself off.
"Look," James said, standing up beside Jordan, "you had to have come here for a reason, and I'm guessing that that reason probably involves the three of us, so you need to tell us exactly what's going on."
"You're safe here," Matthew assured him. "We just want to help."
An uncomfortable silence followed while Jordan tried to rationalize why he shouldn't get them involved in this. If he came here to right a wrong and failed, then what other choice did he have than to let them help? He decided to tell them.
"My name is Jordan White," Jordan finally said. "I came back into time to stop something from happening."
"Why didn't you tell us this from the beginning?" Matthew asked. "You would've saved us a lot of trouble."
"Because I didn't want anyone to know anything about this," Jordan answered sheepishly.
"But that doesn't make any sense," James said. "You could've come to us."
"You just don't understand!" Jordan shouted, eliciting a visibly annoyed look from Wesley.
"He's obviously got your stubbornness," Wesley muttered to James.
"Why don't you help us try and understand," James said in a quieter voice, still trying to come to terms with the fact that this was his future son.
"In my time," Jordan began uneasily, "something terrible happened. When I started going to high school, I got involved with this girl who turned out to be not so good."
"What do you mean?" James asked.
"Well," Jordan answered, "I found out she was evil."
"Hmph," Wesley said, looking to James. "Looks like the apple doesn't fall too far from the forbidden tree."
"Don't start," James shot back angrily.
"Ha," Jordan smirked. "Just like when I was little. Dad and Uncle Wes never got along."
"Save that for another time," Matthew said, keeping focus. "This girlfriend of yours, she wouldn't happen to be the child of an Akum, would she?"
"Yeah," Jordan said. "Her name is Sarah Walker. Turns out she only wanted to use me to get to my family."
"Wait," Wesley interrupted. "I mean, surely she couldn't have been as bad as you making if sound. Weren't we able to stop it, my brothers and me, I mean?"
"No," Jordan said painfully, tears forming in his eyes, "there wasn't anyone left to stop her."
James, Matthew, and Wesley all caught each others' eyes, each brother thinking the same thing. They finally realized why Jordan wanted to keep them out of this whole ordeal. He had already gone through the traumatic experience of losing his family once. To have to relive that would be unthinkable. Still, they couldn't help but to feel overwhelmed by the fact that they would eventually be killed by demons, and much earlier than they expected at that. It made them feel powerless, helpless, and slightly afraid. James noticed the pained look in Jordan's eyes and put his hand on his future son's shoulder.
"I know this is hard," James urged, "but try and tell us."
"Before I realized what was happening," Jordan began after taking a long pause, "it was too late. She used her powers on me and all I could do was think about her."
"Her power of seduction," Benjamin said.
"Right," Jordan continued slowly. "She's evil, but she was able to use good magic, and she used a spell that cloaked her power from y'all. That's how she got so close. She was even able to fool the Book into thinking she wasn't evil."
"Is that possible?" Wesley asked Matthew.
"I don't know," Matthew shrugged, "I guess."
"There was a fight," Jordan continued, "but with her powers she took advantage of everyone. She tricked me into helping her. We made a deflection replicating potion that let her deflect your powers. It's all kind of a blur, but when I could think clearly again…"
"You mean to tell me that she took us all out?" Wesley asked.
"Yes," Jordan said. "The only reason I didn't die was because she cared enough to spare me. She said that I could never compete with her alone anyway, so it didn't matter whether or not I was alive."
"That's mean," Wesley said.
"So you used that opportunity to come back to the past?" Matthew asked. "I mean present, or…well you know what I mean."
"It was just by luck," Jordan said. "I tried to stop her with my powers, but they just weren't strong enough."
"What are your powers?" James asked.
"I don't know the exact name," Jordan said, "but it's kind of like telekinetic waves. I call them sonic booms. They come from your side…dad."
"Oh," James said. He felt strange being called 'dad,' especially by someone who only looked a few years younger than him.
"I can also glimmer," Jordan said, "but it's a work in progress."
"I second that one," Wesley said. "I can't do it on my own at all."
"Really?" Jordan asked in disbelief. "In the future, who do you think taught me how to do it?"
"Who," Wesley asked, "me?"
"Of course, Uncle Wes," Jordan said, smiling. "You're so cool about it, too. You even do these awesome tricks where…"
"Excuse me!" Matthew called out. "We can reminisce later."
"Sorry," Jordan said. "I guess I got caught up with being back here with my family."
"Speaking of family," James said, "do you have any siblings?"
"Or cousins?" Wesley added.
"Or aunts?" Matthew added curiously, quickly losing focus.
"I don't think he can tell you that," Benjamin said. "Too much knowledge is a dangerous thing. Anyway, what were you hoping to do by coming back to this time?"
"Right," Matthew said. "We're trying to save our future asses here."
"The only reason any of this happened," Jordan explained while pointing to Benjamin, "was because of you! You're responsible for everything!"
"Are you saying…" Matthew began.
"This Sarah," Benjamin concluded, putting all the pieces together, "is my daughter?"
"Which means that Shelina must've already conceived," Wesley said.
"The spell that brought me back here brought me too late," Jordan said. "I thought that if I came back early enough to kill Benjamin Keating, then everything would be okay."
"Hold on," James said, standing up and raising his voice. "You're saying that you came back here to kill a person, a good person!?"
"It's the only way," Jordan claimed.
"Not necessarily," Benjamin said. "Killing me would only have prolonged it, not prevented it. I hate to disappoint you."
"Well this all makes sense now," Matthew said. "Our only problem now is to find Shelina and vanquish her."
"That's not so easy," Benjamin said. "You need some of her blood to make a vanquishing potion. Besides that, once an Akum conceives, they become even more powerful because they're able to channel the powers of their unborn children. The good news is that they gestate for years, I believe it's about three years."
"Three years!?" James and Wesley cried in unison.
"So," Matthew thought aloud, "we need to find Shelina, get some of her blood, make a vanquishing potion, and vanquish her. Is that all, Benjamin?"
"As far as I know," Benjamin replied.
"Good," Wesley said, looking closely at the page in the Book on Akum warlocks, "because there are a lot of things that we need, and a lot of preparation."