A/Note: Really sorry for the unannounced hiatus. A thousand and three hundred things came up that maliciously prevented me from posting chapters that have been done since summer. Hopefully you readers can find time to read this rather lengthy chapter and won't hold grudges by withholding comments.
Chapter 19- The Boy Who Cried Demon
May 24th, 2007
Paige kneeled over in the foyer to pick up the white fire truck from the floor along with Peter's blanket as she managed to keep the phone balanced on her shoulder. "It was really painful, Glen. I was lucky that Samantha came out in orbs otherwise I don't think I would've survived it." The Witchlighter freely walked around the foyer to set the blanket and toy down on the wicker bench with carrying only the weight of her own.
"Alright, so I recognize that Sarah was your mother's name, but how did you pick Samantha?" Glen asked on the other end. Although Glen was married now to his wife Jessica, his and Paige's friendship never waned despite her bringing his fiancee at the time to the Underworld. There were many parts of Paige's life that he knew better than her own husband did.
"Well, since we named Sarah after my adoptive mother, we named Samantha after Henry's who meant a great deal to him as well," Paige explained, walking out the foyer to make her way to the kitchen. "I wish I could've met her, but she's assumably up in heaven above with my parents talking about how I'm too wild for her son."
Glen laughed on the other end and said, "You are a bit of a wild child, but you gotta tame yourself a little bit with three kids. How's little Peter doing?"
"He's fine. I do think he feels as if he's not getting as much attention, which is true, but we kinda have to give newborn baby girls a little more attention," Paige defended. "This is the first time I'm working with babies of my own and this is the first time Henry is working babies at all. He's a natural though."
She entered the kitchen where she moved over to the microwave and pressed the proper button to open the door. Inside were two bottles of milk that were sitting in there for a couple of minutes after having been warmed up.
"So when do you think that you and Jessica are going to shake up the sheets a bit to get a little creation of your own?" Paige playfully asked as she took out both bottles, set them on the counter and closed the microwave door.
"Considering that Jessica and I barely live in our own home, probably not," Glen joked.
Paige squirted a small portion of the first bottle on her pale skin and confirmed the temperature was just right. "Was that your attempt to make me a jealous woman for refusing to take up that weekend offer to hike with you and blondie?" Paige repeated the procedure with the second bottle as she chuckled.
"Jessica was actually really looking forward to getting to know you better, especially after having such a great time with you at your anniversary dinner," Glen commented. He sighed and said, "Look, Paige, I gotta kinda cut this short. Jessica will be home from her folks' soon and I didn't exactly clean our bedroom as I promised I would."
Paige laughed, "I see the tables have turned. I used to be the 'socks in the sink' kind of girl whereas you were the 'socks in the drawer' kind of guy."
Glen laughed, "Yeah, well, I get lazy every now and then and after I saw your great house I would have to say that you changed as well. I hope to talk to you sometime soon and congrats again. Email me pictures of the girls soon and with Peter. Keep me updated with what the little guy is up too."
"I will, Glen. Call me soon. Bye," Paige concluded, hanging up the cordless and putting it on the counter. She grabbed the two bottles of milk and walked out the kitchen. It felt strange to have this feel so natural to her, but she was an aunt for a few years so it made this whole process easier.
Paige and the twins had been home for a day and the newborn baby girls were already settled. Henry returned to work as he couldn't afford to ignore his parolees, but Billie was around to help her with Peter and the twins.
The Witchlighter made her way upstairs and entered the children's bedroom and saw one four foot wide crib with a three foot length. Both Paige and Henry had decided to buy the large white crib to be shared by the twins since there was no need for separate cribs and with the extra money, they purchased a bed for Peter in the room.
The room was sky blue with several friendly white cloud illustrations on the wall with black eyes and smiles imprinted in the clouds. Around the clouds were many yellow stars that generally wouldn't show at the time of day depicted on the walls, but this was only for a child's entertainment. In the corner of the room were several toys for Peter and other small toys for the twins when they got at least a couple months old.
Peter was sitting on his bed with his coloring book as the twins were fixated on the mobile spinning above the crib with the cycle of four animal dolls; a giraffe, elephant, duck, and a dolphin. A gentle jingle accompanied the animals as the eyes of the twin followed.
Billie was in the corner of the room with a shirt tied in a knot to expose her stomach as she leafed through the Book of Shadows. She glanced up at Paige and saw the bottles, "Feeding time?"
"It sure is," Paige answered, turning to Peter and smiling at him. She moved over to the crib and looked down at the twins. In a cute voice she said, "Hi, my little angels!" She grinned and asked Billie, "What are you up to with the Book?"
"Considering I'm Sarah's godmother, I'm just researching how to call upon fairy guards to protect her and her sister before you get a Wiccaning going on and I spoke with Phoebe and she's cool with me handling all this fairy guard business. She admitted it wasn't an area of expertise for her anyway," Billie explained, still flipping through the magically aged pages. "When are you going to have that Wiccaning, by the way?"
"Soon," Paige answered, reaching into the crib to pick up Samantha after setting aside the milk next to the changing table. "But as you tell me, my girls handled themselves against Nomed. They might not need a Wiccaning to protect them." Paige looked back at her daughters, "Right you don't need Mommy to protect you, my little Witchlighters?"
"When do you think they're powers are going to kick in?" Billie asked.
"Deys gonna gets powars?" Peter asked, looking up from his coloring book. "How doos I gets powars?"
Paige bit her lip as she gently cradled Samantha, swaying her back and forth. She turned to Billie and said, "Can you get Sarah and feed her the bottle?"
"Sure," Billie nodded, putting the Book of Shadows on the seat she sat on as she moved over to pick up Sarah.
Paige turned to Peter and said, "Sweetie, we went over this. You're not going to get powers because you're not a witch."
"Cans you gives me powars? I want some!" Peter pleaded, tossing his coloring book on the bed and getting to his feet.
"It doesn't work like that, Peter," Paige sadly informed him. "You and Henny aren't supposed to have powers."
"It not fair!" Peter shouted, tottering out of the room.
Paige turned to Billie and continued to bounce Samantha, "I think the terrible twos are coming in early by about five months. I'm going to have to have Henry have a little one-on-one session on what it is to be a mortal." She took a deep breath and asked, "When's the next time you're meeting with Cameron?"
"I told him I would have to catch up with him in a week or so. I want to make sure that everything is going okay in the house with the kids and such," Billie explained. "All time isn't going to waste though as I've been researching some things about sorcery and I'm learning a lot. I just haven't found anything on how to embrace my inner sorceress if there is in fact an inner sorceress to embrace."
"Well, I'm no longer packing twins, so I'll go to the Heavens soon," Paige pouted. "The bad side about doing that is that the Elders are probably going to assign me overtime for my lack of activity. The lovely downside of being the Witchlighter." She gazed at the daughter in her arms and kissed her on the forehead for no apparent reason.
Paige sat down and grabbed Samantha's bottle, putting the rubber teat in-between the girl's lips where she instantly began to suck the milk. The mother turned back to Billie and said, "I'll give Peter about five minutes to himself and I'll call Henry after the girls are fed."
"Sounds good," Billie replied, already in the process of feeding Sarah.
(X)
Nomed sat in his lair and his minion approached him with a stone bowl. The upper level demon's face was scarred and looked very ghastly with his death white skin. Across his cheeks were nasty gashes that looked even more frightening when matched with the violet stained eyes.
"Nomed, are you positive?" The minion asked as he handed the bowl to his master. "It's already ruined your appearance."
"I'm not entering beauty pageants! I'm simply trying to eliminate two very dangerous forces of Good that have it in their power to defeat demons in a couple of decades. Those two were very powerful, but they didn't have the power to destroy me," Nomed explained.
"And that is because you are an upper level demon right now," the minion explained, watching Nomed drink his concoction again. "If it wasn't for the potion, I would think that they would've had the power to destroy you." He took the bowl from Nomed and moved back to his table where all his potion tools were stationed.
"That's possibly true, but the fact that I kept drinking the potion is proof that I should keep it going," Nomed said, taking a shallow breath. "I'll need to find a way to distract the Witchlighter from her twins though if I'm to make an attack."
The minion made his best efforts to think of a plan to impress his master. Once he thought of a possibility he took a couple of steps closer to Nomed, "Perhaps you can use the son she's adopted as a tool in some form."
Nomed grinned, "I like that. For over a year, I studied the Charmed Ones with the intention to have them destroy the Triad. I knew they were on the edge of returning and I had to make sure they were defeated. They were going to come back with more and more power..." the demon growled and clawed his nails against the stone throne he sat on. The power gave him enough strength to leave terrifying scrapes against the stone which expressed his anger.
"I've heard stories of the troubles the apprentices of Triads had to endure," the minion commented. "I could never survive it."
"Certainly not," Nomed stated. "I no longer wish to discuss that, but I do have to say that using young Peter is a rather brilliant plan. I made a note about the Charmed Ones using the inspiration of a demon to defeat a mortal enemy and I believe we can use the same inspiration here. We can tap into the power of the Demon of Fear and use him to scare the boy. By giving him some frights to cry to Paige with, she'll be torn between where to provide her attention."
"By using the inspiration of Barbas, you are aware that you are in fact calling his power, aren't you? This might give him enough power to eventually escape purgatory," the minion warned.
"And so what? Barbas doesn't attack demons. He goes for witches. We can only benefit from him," Nomed defended, rising from his throne.
"Yes, but Barbas' mentality has grown corrupt over the years. He has the ulterior motives of gaining power and acting in accordance to vengeance as opposed to just preying on people's fears," the minion commented.
"Who cares?!" Nomed shouted. "Barbas isn't my concern, calling upon his power to scare the little boy is. I'm going to go and find proper materials for the ritual I have in mind." In a burst of flames mixed with rings of purple lightning, Nomed vanished.
(X)
Henry sat at his desk in his office going through a spreadsheet of past criminal activity from the latest parolee he'd been charged with supervising. Spread across his desk were several other records and sheets to be filed, along with a mug of black coffee to keep himself awake. Having twins screaming through the night was taking a toll on both parents, Billie, and even Peter.
The mortal returned to his spreadsheet and saw that his new parolee was turning eighteen in five weeks so he'd be able to let him go with one last warning before having to resort to an actual arrest. The phone rang and Henry checked the caller I.D to see that it was coming from his house. Without wasting another second, he picked the phone up from the receiver and put it to his ear. "Hello?"
"Hey, Henry, it's me," Paige responded on the other line.
"Is everything alright?"
"The twins are fine, but Peter needs to have a chat with his father; that's you. He had a little outburst earlier about not having powers at the mention of the twins getting theirs," Paige explained.
"The girls showed signs of powers?" Henry asked, both thrilled and frightened.
"No, they didn't. Billie and I were just chatting about them eventually coming into their powers and Peter was listening and he now wants some of his own," Paige said, taking a deep breath. "It's too bad I can't just give him powers."
"He's not meant to have powers," Henry commented. "Neither was I. I learned that when I tried to kill you on your birthday."
"Not the fondest of memories, but I remember that. I'm just calling you to let you know the type of talk you're in for when you get home," Paige said. "Get back to work though so you can come home early and see your kids."
Henry grinned, rolling up the sleeves of his brown dress shirt as he balanced the phone on his shoulder. "Yeah, I'm dying to see them. But, yeah, I do have some things going on here so I have to get back to that."
"Alright, just keep me posted on when you're coming home. Bye," Paige said.
"Bye." Henry said back, placing the phone on the receiver. He took a deep breath as he thought about his foster son and the troubles he must be going through. This urged him to work faster.
(X)
Paige walked into her bedroom and scanned the room for Peter. She had already sensed he was in this room with the bond they shared, but she couldn't figure out if he was hiding under the pillows on her bed or under the bed itself. She wryly smiled, "Come out, come out, wherever you are."
She walked over to the bed and picked up the pillows from the bed and her foster son wasn't underneath them. She placed her hands on her hips and tapped her foot, knowing that Peter might see it. "If you're not up here, you must be..." She quickly dropped down to the floor and saw that Peter was hiding underneath the bed. Their eyes met and she gently asked, "Can you please come out from under there, Peter?"
"No!" A defiant Peter responded. "I no wants too."
"Peter, we have to talk about this. Just please come out," Paige gently requested. She held out her hand under the bed, hoping Peter would take it. She saw he was just staring at her hand and tempted, "Maybe if we had cookies?"
"I no wants cookies!" Peter shouted.
"Peter, if you don't want to come out, that's alright for now, but calm down," Paige warned, not having to use that tone often with him. "Do you mind if we talk about it here?"
"Fine," the boy accepted.
"Okay. So what are you mad at?" Paige asked, wanting him to voice it.
"My sistahs gets powars and I don'ts. I wants some of my own," Peter sadly said. "It not fair, it not fair!"
"Not everyone needs powers to be special. Henny doesn't have powers or Uncle Leo and you find them very fun and caring," Paige said. "Leo teaches young kids with magic and he doesn't even need powers of his own to have them look up to him."
"But still..." Peter whined. "Magic is cool and I want to fly aways like you."
"Magic isn't only cool though, Peter. It can be very hard and it makes you take time away from your family," Paige explained. "I love you, I love Henny, and I love your sisters and magic will often want me to go help other people instead of playing with you guys. Do you understand that?"
"I would help persons if I had powars," Peter commented, his voice gently quivering.
"I'm sure you would, sweetie, but there's nothing I can really do about it," Paige sadly informed. The sound of both twins crying along with Billie calling for Paige made the Witchlighter's head jolt back, sending her brown hair flying behind her shoulders. She quickly looked back under the bed and said, "Peter, I got to go see what's going on with your sisters, but when I come back, you need to come out."
Peter watched as Paige's face vanished from sight as she rose to her full height and watched her feet as she walked away. The thought came to mind that his foster sisters were now getting all the attention as he was left alone under a bed.
(X)
Paige entered the children's room and saw Billie bouncing Samantha as Paige reached into the crib to sweep up Sarah. She rhythmically bounced her daughter and said to Billie, "They just ate, I wonder what they're crying about."
"Beats me," Billie said, continuing to rock Samantha. "This is really taking time from me researching fairy guards."
"You scared me though when you called for me. I thought a demon attacked or something," Paige admitted.
"Don't be so paranoid, they're fine," Billie stated.
Both twins began to settle down and Paige grinned at her daughter. "I know every mother says so, but I think my daughters are the cutest." She turned to Samantha and maintained her grin. "And I get to experience twice the cuteness."
"No kidding," Billie said. "I would feel inferior to you if I had a child that had to beat your girls' good looks."
"Don't you go thinking about having a kid anytime soon. We got enough people in this house and then with Christy possibly coming, we're lacking enough room as it is," Paige said. "Speaking of, how are you holding up with knowing she's most likely out there and you're forced to sit back and wait to tap into some power?"
"Roughly put, but as crummy as possible," Billie said. "I just want to at least know if she's safe or not. I do feel a little less guilty for killing her though, I have to admit."
"Good, because that is a burden you shouldn't have been carrying in the first place. I just hope that when she blew up, she lost the memories of her evil ways because if she's still evil... Well, you know," Paige said, turning down to the floor at the thought.
"I don't have it in me to vanquish her for good. I don't think I would have it in me to attack her," Billie replied, noticing that Samantha was falling asleep. "If we were to go at it, Jenkins versus Jenkins, she would be the victor by forfeit."
Paige gently swayed Sarah back and forth and gently brushed the little amount of light brown hair on her head, "Billie, if you forfeit, you die. I guarantee you, when we find out where she is, I will be there right beside you and there is no way I would let her kill you. Maybe we can come up with something to help her see the light, as lame as that sounds."
"I do feel as if I'm getting closer though, Paige. Something inside me, something that I can't identify tells me that I'm close to finding her. Maybe it's that inner sorceress that Cameron keeps ranting about," Billie assumed. She noticed Samantha was fully asleep now and she gently placed her in the crib.
"Maybe he's right," Paige said, moving over to Billie and handing her Sarah. "I won't delay this any further and I'll go up to the Heavens right now and see if the Elders know anything. One twin is down, Peter is keeping to himself under the bed, and I trust that you can take care of Sarah. Just call me if anything goes wrong."
"Of course," Billie replied, smiling down at Sarah. "Do you mind if I call Cameron over to give him the news?"
"I don't mind. It's been a while since I last saw him anyway," Paige commented. "I will have to see him when I get back though." She folded her arms and vanished in a series of orbs that shaped themselves around the curves of her body.
"Cameron," Billie called, slightly above a whisper.
Quicker than usual, a long stream of black particles appeared into the room and quickly spun around to form the shape of the familiar mercenary. The particles came together and Cameron appeared with his hand out and he quickly generated an energy ball.
"Whoa, whoa!" Billie said, taking a couple of steps back. "What's going on?"
Cameron scanned the room and clapped his free hand into the energy ball, throwing the energy away. "I thought you were in trouble. Especially since you whispered, I thought you were hiding out from a pack of demons or something."
"No demons in here. Just two cute babies," Billie commented. "I just wanted to let you know that Paige just went to go speak with her bosses about this sorceress thing."
Cameron leaned back against the wall, slightly still on edge. "That's something, although I doubt the Elders will be of any use. Are they ever?"
"Yeah, I'm not really popular with working with them, but the sisters have told me some stories. There was this one time that..."
"Demon!" Peter cried out from the other room, cutting off Billie.
Billie's hazel eyes widened as Cameron's grays showed him the doorway and he ran out. He charged to where he heard Peter and saw the one year old running out of his foster parents' bedroom. Cameron ran past him and into the room where he didn't see anyone, let alone a demon. He continued to look around and began to mentally scan the room for an extra presence or some sign that a demon possibly teleported away. "Nothing," he muttered.
The blond mercenary exited the bedroom and made his way back into the children's room where he leaned against the archway, "No one was there." He looked down at Peter who was hugging Billie's leg and asked him, "Are you sure a demon was there?"
"Yes," Peter replied, aggressively nodding his head up and down.
"Why would you question him?" Billie asked, placing Sarah into the crib next to her now crying sister. Billie crouched down and looked at Peter in his brown eyes, "Are you okay, sweetie?"
"The demon was scary," Peter said.
"Can you describe him?" Cameron asked.
"Cameron! What are you doing?" Billie questioned, hugging Peter and glaring at the mercenary.
"I just wanna know so I can start tracking him down," Cameron lied. He walked closed to Billie with folded arms. "I scanned the room and I didn't sense anyone."
"Maybe they shimmered away," Billie guessed, rubbing Peter's hair around.
"I don't think I would be accusing a one year old if I didn't have the power in me to eliminate that option, thank you very much," Cameron replied and looked down at Peter. "I think someone is crying 'Demon'." He grinned and looked at the twins, "It would make sense, wouldn't it?"
Billie continued to hug Peter, but gently turned to him as she pondered the possibility of him lying.
(X)
Paige stood across from Sandra in the eternally misty Heavens and the Elder was in her usual white robe with the brilliant gold pattern falling down the center. The white folded collar showed clearly as Sandra rose her neck to assume her natural pose of a high head. "Interesting attire, Paige."
The Witchlighter looked down at her white sleeveless shirt along with matching slippers. Although this was ordinary for someone in their own home, Paige figured that Sandra was targeting the black pajamas with the patterns of white ducks all around. "What can I say? I'm a mother and I make sacrifices for my children, even if that means sacrificing the opportunity to wear something nice to please Peter."
"Speaking of, I wish you personal congratulations on the birth of your twins," Sandra said with a grin.
"Thanks. Before I jump into what I orbed here for, I have a question. Why is it that only daughter came out in a ball of orbs while I had to nearly die pushing the first one out?" Paige asked, bearing the thought on her mind since the birth.
Sandra pondered for a second and said, "It might possibly be because of some encoding of magic. It's possible that since these girls came from a mortal along with a mother who is both witch and Whitelighter, there were too many factors in deciding what powers they would hold. I would presume that maybe magic thought it best to split the powers."
"That doesn't sound very fair to them," Paige said. "I would think they'd be stronger since they were born on the first day of the Gemini. Get it? Sign of the Twins, I had twins... You following?"
"You may be correct, Paige, but it was just an idea I thought I would entertain you with. Now what is it that brings you here?" Sandra asked.
"I need you to tell me what you know on anything that can relate to Billie possibly becoming a sorceress," Paige stated. "This all ties in with finding her sister so I need to help her out."
"Do you really think you should venture out to find Christy? Are you personally content with Billie's decision or would you personally prefer Christy lost, Paige?" Sandra asked, maintaining her stance of a high head and hands that were folded under her robe.
"Billie wants her sister back and I wouldn't deny her that. Do you know something that I don't?" Paige asked. "Be honest."
"We are under the knowledge that Billie has been working with a member of the Phoenix coven to help her find answers. The High Priestess, Annabelle Hawke, has been sending her best members around to help Billie obtain these answers to the best of their ability since they hold no ties with any profound power. We Elders on the other hands are informed of destinies from the Angels themselves and I can confirm that Billie is in fact more than a witch," Sandra explained.
"So how do I help her out? How do I guide her to become a sorceress?" Paige eagerly asked.
"Doesn't this strike you that Billie is to become a sorceress? I would think you would have other questions as opposed to helping your charge automatically embrace this culture with the knowledge of sorcerous powers coursing through her veins," Sandra admitted, concerned. "I think it is too blame on a possible misconception of the risks of being a sorceress."
"Sorry, I kinda spent my Charmed years vanquishing a greater ratio of demons than sorceresses," Paige quipped. "Could you give me the cliff-notes of what I should know? I'm in a rush as I left my three children with a witch and an assassin."
"Sorceresses can be led to evil easily because of the tools they must use for sorcery. Finding benign sorceresses, or sorcerers for that matter, in this age is extremely rare because a call for magic of all sorts is strong for them. Having this magic inside of them is also what produces a stronger being. In Billie's case, this is what made her strong enough to be labeled as an Ultimate Power. It's no doubt that the sorceress within her granted her this ability to grow with until a point where she would eventually grow into far more than a witch," Sandra explained, knowing she was reaching out to Paige. "Billie has a history of being influenced by her sister. Imagine the dangers of Billie falling under the same trap, but stronger and possibly beyond recovery once she craves black magic."
"So by helping Billie find Christy who may still be evil, I might actually be reuniting a powerful duo with more black magic on their side?" Paige rhetorically asked. "See, I have an issue with that theory because I believe Billie has changed. She's wiser than before, she's learned from her mistakes, and she would rather die than team up with an evil Christy."
"Paige, this will be your call. I won't deny you the information you seek because of my views on the matter, but I do ask that you give this some thought before handing over the information to Billie. If these two come together, they could be unstoppable," Sandra informed, fearing that Billie might fall under Christy's influence once again, but for good this time.
"I know how powerful they are. They vanquished a demon who was supposed to be unvanquishable, but imagine if we had that power on our side. We could do so much good," Paige defended.
"Two sides to every story, Paige. I just hope that you have it within you to possibly show Christy the nature of a good witch, but I assure you, it will be some time before we can grant her a Whitelighter or even assign you to her. She still has to withstand some fault for her actions and we can't trust giving her a Whitelighter after her connection with the Triad for so long," the Elder explained. "It'd be terrible if Evil had some source of information on the activity that happens up here."
"We'll get there when that time comes," Paige said. "I gotta run this with Billie though and I promise you, there will be no hasty decisions."
"Paige?!" Billie's voice echoed through the heavenly halls.
"Speak of the sorceress," Paige shrugged her shoulders and quickly nodded at Sandra. "Thanks again." She orbed away.
(X)
Paige orbed into her children's room where she was welcomed by two crying twins, Billie holding Peter, and the glare of a Phoenix. "What's going on?"
"Peter saw a demon in your bedroom," Billie answered, rubbing the little boy's back.
"Or Peter says so at least," Cameron commented, raising his eyebrows at Paige.
"I'm sorry, but you don't know me well enough to come into my home and tell me my child is crying wolf," Paige stated, her cheeks flushing as she moved over to Billie. She requested Peter with open arms and soon had the little boy clinging onto her. "Any idea why the twins are crying?"
"Just got scared I think with the yelling," Billie guessed. "Why do you think a demon was here?"
"What I want to know is why is he after Peter. He's just a boy," Paige commented, setting Peter down on the floor and lowering herself to eye level. "Did the demon say anything to you, Peter?"
"No," Peter answered, staring at the floor.
"At least you're okay," Paige said, rising back to her feet. "I'm going to go and check the Book of Shadows and see if there is anything useful that can help me track a demon."
"I'm useful and I can track demons," Cameron informed, raising his hand. "The only problem would be that there was no demon to track. I tried sensing if they vanished because I was coming and nothing. I didn't even get a little whiff of detection."
Although Paige wanted to defend her foster son, she wanted to absorb some of what Cameron was saying. "I don't want to say anyone is lying, but I think since this is a magical problem, I'm entitled to use some magic to help me figure out what's going on here." She looked at her daughters, "After I tend to the twins."
Paige moved over to the crib and reached in for Samantha as Billie reached in for Sarah. Cameron stared at Peter and already sensed that Peter didn't see a demon. The mercenary also reached some dim thought in Peter's mind which involved lying again to get more attention.
(X)
Nomed appeared in his lair in an assortment of black fireworks and violet flames. The fireworks were letting off loud cracks of energy as the flames created a great brushing sound. The sound alone caught the attention of his minion, but the demon spoke in a manner that was louder than his arrival, "I found a way to tap into Barbas' power. I had to bruise up a couple of sorcerers to get the information, but I was successful."
"What do you need of me?" The minion asked, moving over to his wide selection of items.
"Three black candles from the West of the Underworld to create a triangle of fear and it must be ignited by me," Nomed instructed, watching his minion collect three black candles. "They also said that it works best if I use traditional things in which people fear, such as spiders. I'll need enough to fill the space in-between the candles."
The minion set down the candles on the ground, equidistant from each other. He went into an old cupboard where there were imp ears spoiling in filthy water, large tongues wrapped inside plastic, clear boxes of black widows inside, as well as other tonics and potions. He pulled out two boxes of black widows and he opened them inside the triangle of candles.
The minion smiled at his little pets, showing off his slimy black teeth, and he traced his skinny finger around the triangle. He instructed, "Keep to these lines..." He removed his hand and the venomous black widows with red markings on their backs began to walk around the triangle in a cycle.
"This should do," Nomed said, holding up his index finger and shot off a flickering violet flame. The flame made contact on the wick and the violet flame began to dance around. The upper level demon repeated the process for the other two candles and kneeled before it. He closed his eyes as he searched for the power of astral projection within him and grinned when he found it amongst his vast abilities. "I simply project myself in here now and the power of fear will play to my needs."
Nomed remained silent as he left his body, but the strength the demon gained kept him balanced on his one knee. The astral projection appeared within the triangle in a great red glow and the projection remained silent for the moment as the demon smiled. "Peter, Peter, Peter..."
(X)
In her altar room, Paige flipped the pages of her Book of Shadows as Peter sat in a chair looking through his coloring book. Paige looked up at Cameron who was staring at Peter. She rolled her eyes and saw Billie enter.
"The twins are protected and sleeping," Billie breathed out, brushing her bangs to the side. "While we have this moment of peace, think you can fill me in on what the Elders told you?"
Paige didn't look back up from the Book as she passed the entries of Grimlocks, the Water Demon, Podero Maximo, and said, "We're going to have to have a little chat about that later." She continued to leaf and said through gritted teeth, "I can't find anything."
"Why do we have to wait?" Cameron asked.
"Because a demon appeared to my son," Paige reminded, slamming the midnight blue tome closed in frustration. "Once that's been dealt with, we can discuss what I found out over tea and biscuits." She walked around the podium and said, "I'm going to check on the girls quickly and then I'll write up a spell of my own."
As Paige began to walk out, a projection of Nomed appeared only to Peter in a red flash. The ghastly looking demon growled softly, gaining Peter's attention. Peter shouted and his fear of the demon before him made Nomed's projection even stronger. His violet eyes resonated a powerful glow as the growl increased in volume and sounded more like a monster of some sort. Nomed's nails expanded into blade-like claws that were coming straight for Peter.
Peter fell out of his chair in fear and shouted again, not noticing Paige, Cameron, and Billie looking down on him. "Demon! Demon!" He began to crawl away until he was swooped up by Paige. He clung onto her neck and buried his head into her shoulder.
"Peter, there's no demon," she told him, bouncing him and scanning the room.
Cameron continued to look around the room and tried to find an unseen force of magic. When he couldn't, he turned to Billie and said, "Told you. As soon as she mentioned the twins, he said he saw a demon."
"It could just be some fright or paranoia," Billie defended.
"I agree," Paige said, bouncing Peter. "Don't worry, sweetie, I got you. No one's going to touch you."
A new sound broke into the house and they heard what sounded like a powerful wind whistling accompanied with a tinkling sound in the depths of the gale. Everyone looked at each other confused and Cameron took lead.
"I'll go check it out," he informed, walking out of the altar room. The mercenary was also pleased to get away from the crying twins and the boy who was either really paranoid or a liar.
He walked through the hallway and turned into the children's room where a young man with chestnut brown hair stood there in a black leather vest with a gray shirt underneath. He stood beside the twins and he then turned towards Cameron and quickly reached for the dagger in the pocket of his gray jeans. "You?" The young man asked, glaring at the mercenary opposed from him with his brown eyes.
"Yeah. Me. Now who the hell are you?" Cameron held out his hands and in a pale yellow glow, his sai dagger conjured into his hand to defend himself.
Paige walked into the room with a potion in hand. She stared at the visitor and switched to Cameron. "Wait..." she walked ahead of Cameron and stopped. "He's not a demon."
Peter from the future nodded and revealed his boyish grin. It was a grin he seemed to have adopted from Henry and Peter said, "Hey, Mom."
Paige dropped the potion which nearly reached the floor and could've easily taken her life. Her life was saved by the impressive reflexes of the Phoenix and he handed it back to her. Paige thanked him with a nod and she turned back to her future foster son. "Peter?"
Peter nodded and said, "We can get more into this later, Mom, but a demon is coming here any second now." The armed mortal looked down at the crib where he saw his sisters sleeping. He looked back and forth around the room, awaiting his opponent.
"Who's coming to attack Peter?" Paige asked, concerned.
"You'll know soon, let's just get the girls out of here," Peter suggested, about to reach in when he heard a disturbed crack of lightning fall under the sounds of roaring flames. Everyone turned their attention to the corner of the room where Nomed appeared.
The demon was stunned to see three people in the room, excluding his targets.
"You?! I thought you died!" Paige shouted, lifting her arm to send him flying.
Nomed was quicker as he unleashed an orange energy ball before Paige could even utter his name. The energy ball crashed into the Witchlighter and sent her flying out of the room. The demon turned around to see Peter charge him with his knife and quickly lifted his hand to telekinetically toss Peter over the twins' crib and into the cushioning landing of toys.
The power imbued demon made his way for the crib when he felt three energy balls plow into his chest, knocking him back.
"You forgot me," Cameron said, taunting the demon before him as he twirled his sai and generated another energy ball. He quickly fired it off and charged Nomed at the same time.
It was difficult to find a way to defend himself for both, so Nomed deflected the energy and attempted to take down the Phoenix with it. Cameron rolled past it and as he rose back up, he drilled his sai upwards through Nomed's leg, staining his dagger with black and red blood. Still below the waist, Cameron conjured his twin sai dagger and stabbed Nomed in the chest with it.
Nomed roared in pain as his flesh was weak from the potion overdose, but his power within made up for that. His body began to glow in a harsh violet tone that even concerned the mercenary. After resonating its glow over Cameron's body, the cultivating power finally released a blast around a short perimeter of Nomed. It was enough to send the mercenary flying over the crib like Peter and he telekinetically removed the sai daggers out of him.
As Peter was getting up, he saw Cameron seconds away from crashing into him and was forced to accept his fate. The blond collided into Peter and knocked him back down to the floor. Peter pushed him off with a hurt arm, "Get off of me!" He saw Nomed take a few more steps to his baby sisters and reached down for his knife. Upon grabbing it, it didn't stay there long as Peter hurled it over the crib at his target.
With no special gesture, Nomed glared at the incoming dagger and telekinetically threw it into a wall. "Who are you?" The demon didn't seem to want his answer as he unleashed a sizzling fireball of normal color. Peter split on the floor and dodged it with style, then proceeded with pushing himself back up and charging the demon with vast powers with only his strength and determination.
As Peter jumped through the air for one of his standard tackles to pin down his opponent, Nomed threw up his hand and entombed the young mortal in a cage of silvery light and suspended him in air. The demon smirked at Peter's agonized screams and telekinetically slammed him into the wall, denting it. Peter's screams were now silenced. Nomed proceeded with walking over to the crib.
The twins had already been crying from all the commotion, but once they saw the ghastly demon standing over them, they were beyond frighten. Samantha happened to roll into Sarah and their bodies joined as one, also connecting them by magic, as they both found the power within themselves to orb away from the danger.
"What?!" Nomed shouted. He looked around to see where they could have gone and held no sign. What he did find was a beyond angry Phoenix glaring him down.
Through gritted teeth, Cameron's fierce grey eyes never left the demon. Without a word, he fired off two neon blue energy balls from his palm which continued to collide into the demon's chest, showing little effect as he adjusted. The Phoenix didn't care as he continued to rage his magical assault to relieve himself of the fury. Sparks continued to explode off of Nomed's chest as a result of all the energy balls.
Nomed raised his arm to attack until Billie came into the room with Paige's potion. Without alerting him of her presence, the witch hurled the potion at him and his body was consumed in flames. She grinned as he roared in pain and vanished from sight. She turned to Cameron and said, "I recall watching him die a couple of days ago."
The sweaty mercenary took a couple of breaths and waved a disregarding hand as he panted from the excitement of it all. "Tend to Paige and her son, I gotta go find the twins."
"Paige is out cold, but Peter is safe in a crystal cage," Billie replied, unaware of the future presence in the home. "Where did the twins go? I'm going to go scry..." she turned on her heel and stopped when Cameron called her back.
"Wait. I can track down their orb trails, you tend to future Peter here," Cameron instructed, pointing down at the knocked out mortal. "I'll be back shortly." His particles disassembled and he soared around in a twister-like fashion before flying through the walls to track down the twins' orb trail before it became too faint to sense.
This left Billie to tend to a scared child and his future copy, as well as an unconscious Paige.
(X)
As Henry continued to work through the ordinary process of paperwork, he hadn't expected what happened moments ago. He was surprised by the arrival of his twins on his desk, having to immediately shut the door to better his chances of his coworkers not hearing them. He let them rest their backs on his leather jacket as he used his method of tickling their stomachs to soothe them, although they were too young to feel the full effects of tickling. This was just a familiar method their father used on them and both this and his presence calmed them down.
The mortal wanted to reach for his phone to call Paige, but didn't want to make Sarah think he left her side. His other option was to call out for Paige through shouting, but he was still paranoid someone heard the children crying and were preparing to enter the office at any second. A loud buzzing noise put him off though and he looked all around the room to see where it was coming from.
Black particles spun around the room after coming from the ceiling and formed the mercenary, still panting. He looked at the twins and said, "There they go."
All bets were off with the children crying now. The protective father stood to his feet and ran to the front of the table, blocking them. "Whoever the hell you are, don't think I can't take you just because you're a demon."
Cameron fought back the tempting urge to roll his eyes at the mortal, but he instead breathed, "I'm no demon, nor do I need to be to get your kids away from you." He wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his palm and said, "I'm Cameron, it's likely you've heard of me. I just came to make sure they were safe since they fled because of the brawl going on at your house."
"What brawl?" Henry asked, stepping closer to Cameron after trusting him by name. "Is Paige okay? What about Peter?"
"One Peter is knocked out whereas the other is safe," Cameron replied, slightly playing with Henry with the understanding he had no way to know about future Peter coming yet. "Your son's come from the future for God knows what reason, but what do you intend on doing? You going to sit here and work or am I taking you home?"
The mortal didn't know what to say on Peter coming from the future. This was the second time over the past couple of days where a child of his appeared from a time unfamiliar to him. Henry picked up Sarah and asked Cameron, "Mind getting Sam?"
"Yeah, I don't really do children, especially babies. So don't get too upset if I drop her," Cameron warned, walking over to Samantha.
"Forget it," Henry said, making his best efforts to adjust to balancing Sarah on one arm while still holding her head. He skillfully lifted Samantha and balanced her back on the other arm, also palming her head. He held them close to his chest and asked, "Is your teleporting thing like orbing?"
"Hardly," Cameron replied, holding Henry's shoulders as they all exploded into a huge twister of black particles which eventually thinned down, flying out of the office.
(X)
As Paige began to regain conscious, she felt someone stroking her hair and she opened her eyes to see Henry standing over her. She grinned and whispered, "Hey." She looked around her bedroom, leading to the thought she was on her bed. She saw young Peter resting on the edge of the bed, seemingly waiting for her to wake up. "Hey, buddy."
"Paigey, yous okay?" Peter asked, scared for his foster mother.
"I'm fine, Petey." Paige pushed herself up and slowly rested against the backboard of the bed after feeling a sharp pain in her stomach. She looked down to find a bandage tapped down to her abdomen. The Witchlighter whistled and looked up at her husband, "Yeah, that hurt a lot. Where are the girls?"
"Billie and Cameron are watching them in their room," Henry answered. "Do you need anything? Something to drink?"
"I need to go vanquish this demon and make sure he stays dead," Paige announced, slowly shifting her legs off of the bed. You stay here with Peter and set crystals around the room like I showed you. I don't want any demons making any plays for you guys." Paige stood up and slowly walked out of the room, holding her bandage in place. She walked down the hall and entered the children's room where she saw Billie hovering over the crib alone. "Where's Cameron?"
"He's in the altar room with older Peter looking through the Book of Shadows," Billie informed after turning around. She looked down at the bandage and asked, "How are you feeling? You were laid out when I saw you."
"Yeah, let's just hope demons don't get their hands on those energy balls. Things could get ugly," Paige commented. "Can you do me a favor of bringing the girls into the room with Henry? And make sure Henry sets the crystal because we know how he likes to be very bravado." She walked out and proceeded into the next room where she saw Peter flipping through the Book of Shadows and Cameron cleaning one of his daggers with a white rag to wipe away Nomed's blood.
Peter looked up and he breathed, "Thank God, you're okay." He walked around from the podium and grinned, "It's not as if I could tell if I messed something up with your life because my existence obviously don't trail back to you, no offense, but I was just starting to freak out."
"Whoa, I may not have given birth to you, but you sure have inherited my rambling gene." She grinned, "Look at you, Peter. All grown up, but I can't help but ask if I've screwed you up in anyway? Let me know now so I can fix that."
"No, you're fine, Mom," Peter informed. "You did well with me and my sisters." He mournfully looked down and fought back a guilty face, "Dad did well too." He turned around to move back to the Book before Paige could inspect his face any further.
"It's so strange hearing you say 'Mom' and 'Dad', considering you're in a rather amusing Paigey and Henny stage, that I never really thought would let up," Paige admitted, folding her arms over her chest. "Then again, it's strange to see you standing before me trying to fight a demon."
"Yeah, well, apparently it's part of my destiny to help destroy this demon. Sam and Sarah did their part and apparently I have to do mine tonight," Peter explained, flipping through the Book of Shadows. "When do you plan on indexing this thing? It's so strange to not be able to find a spell because of a designated color or a potion under another."
Paige let out a light chuckle, "I index my Book? It would make sense considering it's not part Piper's so she can't go ripping them all out. Please tell me I at least use something more than just plastic labels." She slowly walked over to Peter and stood beside him, instantly noticing he was taller than she initially thought.
"Yeah, you color code it in the corner. You'll come around to it," Peter informed. "Now, although you apparently enchanted a page in the Book to inform me to come here today, you didn't tell me how I'm supposed to do it. Any ideas?"
"Not at all," Paige answered. "I was too busy giving birth to the twins to battle him the first time around and too busy seeing stars and chirping birds to fight him this time. How is it that he keeps surviving everything?"
Cameron finally looked up from cleaning his sai and said, "He's harboring a lot of power. Power that isn't even his own. I'm sure that he's been adding to his own abilities with others, especially judging by the way he looked."
"Yeah, he did kinda have a zombie thing going on, didn't he?" Paige commented. "Should we try some mass potion attack? Maybe if we all hit him with one, it'll be enough to vanquish him. I would really like to do this without having to call Piper and Phoebe."
"I think you should bring some ordinary potions," Cameron suggested, cooly walking over to the table and picking up a purple potion. He eyed it and said, "This should do once I'm done with him."
"How are we even going to find him?" Peter asked, retrieving his dagger from the floor. "If you got a way, I'm game."
Cameron smirked as he handed the potion to Paige, "I can follow his scent." The mercenary proudly tapped the blood stained sai dagger dangling from his leather belt.
(X)
The minion tended to Nomed's wounds with a cold rag, "Nomed, those powers inside are making your body weaker. I ask that you allow me to build some potion to reverse the effects. Your body can become whole again."
"And I will be weak again!" Nomed spat, his violet eyes burning with rage. He quickly lifted his arm and smacked the minion with great force, throwing him through the air until he abruptly slammed into the solid walls. The minion fell to the dirty ground face first and Nomed walked over to him. He bent over and firmly ordered, "I'm running low on my current batch. You are to make more so I can replenish my strength."
Nomed growled, frustrated that his plans were prevented by that mercenary, witch, and other visitor. "Wait..." the demon almost chuckled. "I thought he looked familiar, even if it was in the slightest. That was the boy from the future. It would make sense since the twins challenged me a couple of days ago. But still! I had been building more power in my days of recovery and he was just a mortal! I suppose I'll have to kill the boy as well..." Nomed realized that his minion was probably too injured to pay him the attention he was seeking, but he continued to voice his anger. "I'll need to collect demons to assist me in my warfare."
The upper level demon turned on his heel and walked up the stone steps to vacate the lair. As he passed through the silent tunnel, two different noises began to fill the silence. While one was a serene jingling, the other was a violent humming. The sounds were soon accompanied with orbs and particles which were flying through the cave towards him. He growled at the sight.
The orbs reached the ground and grew in size, forming both Paige and Peter. The particles spun around in an immediate fashion and Cameron materialized. Paige was producing cocky grins as the two men glared at the demon.
"Your impatience will be your downfall," Nomed threatened, producing the same black fireball with golden currents charging around that he used on Sarah days earlier. "How'd you find this place?"
"You stained my knife with your blood," Cameron answer, shrugging his shoulders and tilting his head to the side. "Don't leave a trace for a Phoenix to follow you. That was your downfall." Before Nomed could utter another word, Cameron quickly fired an energy ball to collide with Nomed's attack.
The neon blue energy ball came too fast for Nomed to react and it made contact with his deadly sphere of energy. The explosion threw him into the wall, scarring his face further upon contact. He slid down from the floor and snarled at his opponents, firing off deadly bolts of high voltage violet energy.
Paige took ahold of Peter's arm and motioned him down to dodge the attack, allowing it to fly over their heads and strike a hole into the rocky wall. With an impressive cartwheel, Cameron propelled himself over the energy bolt and heard it crash behind him.
Furious, Nomed hovered off of the ground and landed on his feet. He stretched out his arms and allowed several pulses of orange energy shoot from his chest.
Paige kept a firm hold on Peter as the two vanished in orbs, rematerializing behind Nomed. "Nomed!" Paige both alerted him of where she was, as well as forced him into a cloud of orbs. With a quick swipe of her arm, she lifted him into the ceiling. She grinned at her work as she heard Nomed groan from the pain, added with the pain of crashing down to the ground. "You're not looking too shabby, Nomed." The Witchlighter pulled out her potion and walked closer to him, "Anyone who comes after my children, aren't going to survive too long. You meet your end here."
Nomed looked up from the ground after hearing the threat and quickly launched an energy ball into Paige.
Peter turned to his foster mother as she bounced off of her feet and flat on her back. The potion rolled out of her hand as she groaned in pain. "Mom!" Peter shouted, viciously turning to Nomed and ran at him with his dagger.
The demon rose to his feet, hearing the oncoming steps of both Cameron and Peter. He noticed they were both armed with weapons and decided to play it their way. Tapping into his vast powers, he conjured a long sword with a stone black handle and blood red blade. He twirled it over his head before striking down to first defend himself from Cameron. The mercenary's sai daggers clanged against the freshly conjured sword and he continued to strike it in hopes of distracting him for Peter to attack.
Unlike Nomed, Cameron was skilled with his weapon and wasn't just wielding his blades in hopes to even the odds. The mercenary continued to press forward with his striking attempts, succeeding in forcing Nomed into a defensive position.
Peter quickly came behind as he realized Nomed currently was in no position to make any attempts with his sword was better off without it. He twirled the dagger around before plunging it into Nomed's neck, immediately setting off a ripple of sonic eruptions inside the demon.
The mortal from the future grinned at the success of his enchanted dagger. He would be sure to compliment Samantha on succeeding in a witchly enchantment when he returned to his time. "Back up!" He shouted to Cameron, already taking steps back to avoid what he was expecting.
Cameron jogged back, but not too far. He knew he was capable enough to particle out in the case a rapid vanquish flew his way, but if it didn't follow, he had to be close to execute his plan.
Nomed's eyes glowed a harsh gray as the brutal winds of the Underworld seemed to enter the cave to witness a vanquish. The wind flapped Peter's short bangs past his forehead as the young man stared at the demon. Nomed roared in pain, holding his chest as the sonic waves continued to strike him from the inside, allowing some of the sonic waves to whisper out. Nomed intensely closed his fists, feeling his nails dig into his palms, as he tapped into his power to attempt to get rid of it.
"What's going on?!" Peter shouted over the winds, turning to Cameron. "Why isn't it working?"
"It's your knife, how am I supposed to know?" Cameron asked, glaring at Nomed. "So is he supposed to blow or what?"
"He's supposed to!" Peter shouted, noticing that Nomed was fighting against the effects.
"Go check on Paige, I got this!" Cameron shouted, dematerializing his sai daggers as he sprinted towards Nomed. He knew this was going to be a risk considering how powerful Nomed was, but he had to protect them. Before Nomed could fully rise back to full stance, he thrust his right arm into Nomed's back, phasing through his body and canceling all his magic from the inside. Blue lights continued to run up his arm before he finally succeeding in canceling the magic. Both the demon and Phoenix fell to the floor, weak.
Peter rushed to Cameron's side after seeing Paige was breathing. He dropped to his knees and asked Cameron, "Are you alright? What happened?"
Cameron pressed his palm against his forehead and breathed, "Too... much... dark magic. It was... overwhelming." This was the weakest Cameron had been in a long time, drained of most of his energy after temporarily disempowering Nomed.
"It's alright, you'll be fine," Peter assured. "I can't promise the same for Nomed." He turned around and didn't see the demon on the ground, only his dagger and his mother who was rising up.
(X)
Nomed's invisibility began to die down as he finished crawling into his lair. His body flickered and he let out a cough. He whispered to his minion, "More power..." He weakly dragged himself down the stone steps and looked up at his minion. "I need... more."
The minion sped to him and asked, "What happened?"
"There's a... Phoenix out there. He... cancelled most of my magic..." Nomed coughed tainted black blood onto the minion's muddy boots. "I had enough to get away." He pointed to the cauldron with a now scrawny finger. After his magic was put on pause from the inside, it took a great toll on his body as he had been depending on it to survive for so long. His features were far worst from when he held all of his abilities.
"Hold still," the minion advised, rushing to the cauldron. In a small ladle, he cautioned his steps to make sure none of his potion spilled as he lowered himself down on both knees. He moved the ladle to Nomed's chapped lips and fed it to him like a father to a child.
Nomed violently coughed and clutched at his throat, "What's happening?" He felt a powerful sensation rising from inside him as he vomited all the powers he had consumed. The blast of golden, white, and gray lights floated in the air above him as his violet eyes returned to normal. "What did you do?!"
"You had to be stopped. I fed you a potion to banish the abilities from your unwilling host," the minion admitted. "Your crave for power would've eventually matched that against the Hollow's and I couldn't be responsible for that." With a gentle wave, he telekinetically tossed the powers out of the lair. "You were close to succeeding, but you were only going to bring outraged witches to endanger my life as I'm sure you'd have been willing to sacrifice me." He grinned and some of the black slime on his rotten teeth began to trickle to his bottom lip. "I don't intend to die for you."
Peter ran into the lair after seeing the lights pass by him and he held his dagger up. He looked up at the minion and held his arm back to throw it, but the minion shimmered from sight. The mortal jogged down the steps and held the dagger to Nomed's neck, staring into his now visible eyes. "It looks as if we're at an even playing field now." He pressed the cold blade closer to the powerless demon's neck and grinned.
"Kill me then..." Nomed whispered, able to find the ability to speak easier without the power storage. "Do you have it in you to kill me knowing I'm currently weaker than you? Almost the equivalence of a mortal?"
"Let's just say that I don't take well to your kind," Peter growled, plunging the knife into Nomed's neck. He glared as Nomed's eyes nearly bulged out from the shock and remained open as he died. The mortal looked down as Nomed wasn't erupting in flames, showing that there wasn't even enough power left in him to carry him to the Wasteland. He didn't think much of it as he slid his dagger out of Nomed's neck and rose to full height, eyeing the lair, completely unaware that Paige had been watching him all along.
(X)
Ten minutes after leaving the Underworld, Paige orbed back into the children's room. She saw Billie standing across from the twins who were just watching the mobile spin around. In the blonde's hands was a sheet of paper with Billie's handwriting all over it. "Alright, I'm back."
Billie turned around and looked at Paige's abdomen, "Great. I see you got someone to heal you."
"Yeah, I got my fans Up There. Now whatcha got there?" Paige asked, placing her palms on her waist.
"I finally managed to set everything up for the magical fairy guards," Billie answered, waving the sheet around. "Once I conjure them, they'll act more as spirits that help protect them through their lives until they hit their teen years. Then their magic will be recycled for someone else who needs protection."
"Thanks for the recap," Paige said, moving closer to read the paper over Billie's shoulders. "I never got to do it with Wyatt since once we had the Wiccaning, we couldn't do it anymore since that's apparently the ultimate blessing. I guess this just helps ensure the girls will be okay."
"I'm sure they will be, especially with the way they orbed away from danger today," Billie commented, then turning to the paper. "Alright, here we go." With one hand on the crib, Billie instantly formed a connection with the girls which was required for the summoning.
I call upon spiritual guards requesting you to accept,
I present to you, Sarah and Samantha Matthews, watch them through their ways,
And please protect.
Out of thin air, two glows of green and blue appeared hovering over Samantha and Sarah. The glows formed into fairies in dresses of their respective colors with curly blonde hair. Like the twin girls, these fairies were identical in features and they giggled at the twin girls. Sarah's blue-gowned fairy glided down and poked her nose before turning to Billie and nodding, showing her acceptance as Sarah as her charge for years. Samantha's spiritual guard aggressively nodded as well.
"Thanks so much," Billie said, as both she, Paige, and the twins watched the fairies vanish in similar glows to when they came. "Now that we got that done, mind if I ask you about this sorceress stuff now?"
"Sure," Paige replied, gently pulling Billie by the arm and sitting down with her on Peter's bed. Off her look she shrugged her shoulders, "Yeah, I know, we'll get some more chairs in here. Now, I spoke with them and they were actually advising me to make a decision on whether or not to help you find Christy with your magic."
"Therefore confirming I am growing into a sorceress, but why wouldn't they want me to find Christy?" Billie asked.
"They're concerned that if you reunite with Christy and she finds something to sway you back to her side, assuming she's still bonkers, then you two would be undeniably a great threat to us," Paige answered, resting a consoling hand on Billie's. "I defended you though. I expressed how you've changed for the better, but there is something that concerns me. Although you've grown into a better witch this year, being a sorceress is different. They said you would have an allure to all magic and would even use dark ingredients which can eventually set you on that path. Whether you would want to or not, it's not even my place to say you can assure that you won't touch these ingredients."
Billie stood up and looked out the window with folded arms, "I'm not evil, Paige. I was stupid in choice making last year and I'm big enough to admit that, but why are they making their doubts bigger than they should be? I've read about sorcerers and sorceresses and they're really defined when it comes to their craft. I'm surprised I didn't see it sooner; I came into my powers rather quickly after not having them for decades, I have a huge interest in potions and made myself more than familiar with rare ingredients, not to mention all the extensive knowledge I was really eager to learn in my time at Magic School."
"You're also young, Billie. After I accepted being a witch, I was pretty damn eager to learn some things as well," Paige explained. "I don't think it's so easy to identify a coming sorceress, but I think you just need to be really careful in staying away from sticky, dark, Underworld garbage when it comes to potions and rituals. If you're not interested at putting any risk to anyone, let me know so we can find a way to prevent this from happening, but otherwise, I still need to know so we can figure out how to help you embrace the nature further enough so you can track Christy."
Billie remained silent as she continued to gaze into the night past the window. After a few more seconds she said in a tone above a whisper, "I think I wanna take time to think about this."
"Alright, sweetie," Paige replied, rising from her bed. "I don't mean to put any pressure on you, but don't take too much time as we gotta figure this out before you accidentally tap into it when you didn't want to. Go see Cameron and talk about it." Before she left the room, Paige tapped on the door and said, "Also thank him for being there for us all today. It was a really nice gesture of him, especially considering he's part of the race that tried to kill me a few years back."
(X)
Already in mid-conversation in his bedroom, Henry sat across from young Peter as future Peter stood by the doorway. Young Peter was sitting against the backboard of the bed with a pillow behind him for support as he hugged his legs and shamefully stared at the covers. "I'm sowy I lies 'bout deh demon. It just dat my sistahs was getting all deh love."
Henry turned to his future son and asked him, "Do you remember feeling like this?"
Older Peter nodded and took a couple steps closer. "Well, not at this particular age, but I kinda grow an inferiority complex with the girls. No powers and all." He grinned and commented, "I make do though. Check me out, I kicked some serious butt today after getting my butt kicked around. There's pros and cons to being a mortal slayer."
Henry stared at older Peter, still finding it bizarre that although this was his son, they shared no resemblance. It was clear Peter didn't come directly from him, but this was always something he had a concern for since taking Peter in; watching his only son grow up to look nothing like him, making him feel slightly empty in that area of father fulfillment. "Any idea on what I should say?"
"Just see where it takes you," older Peter replied, tucking his hand into his pocket. "You might surprise yourself."
Henry repositioned himself on the bed and eyed Peter, "Look, Pete, you just gotta understand that your sisters are babies. Me and Paigey have to take more care of them at the moment because they aren't capable of doing it themselves. We have to feed them, we have to dress them, we have to put them to sleep and those are all things you know how to do on your own because you're a big boy."
Older Peter truthfully didn't give Henry advice as it had been a while since he heard his foster father speak to him, scold him, or anything, so he figured he'd experience that again, even if it was directed at his younger self. This was also a particular conversation he wanted to relive.
"But... dey also has powars! How come I can'ts have powars?" Young Peter asked, proving older Peter's statement on the inferiority complex.
"We just aren't meant to play those parts. Your Paigey has allowed us to be a part of her world of magic, but magic isn't who we are. Your Paigey is also really special. She taught me about destiny and I didn't really believe in that before," Henry admitted, grinning at his foster son. "Do you know what destiny is?"
Young Peter nodded his head side to side, "No."
"Well, I think of it like this. Destiny is a place in time where we find out who we are and what our purpose is in life. We'll learn that we are destined to do a certain job and by doing so, we'll be helping people. Paigey's destiny revolves around using magic to make the world a better place, but I like to think that my destiny revolves around helping people without magic. I do think having powers would be cool, but if it's not part of our plans that destiny has for us, there's no need for them. We can do this our own way," the mortal continued to grin as he turned to future Peter. "I would think that doing it the regular way is still pretty promising." He turned back to young Peter and asked, "Do you kinda get where I'm going with this?"
"Yes, Henny," Peter stated, scratching his head. "I still think it would be really cool to has powars."
"I bet," Henry joked. "You also have to promise me that you won't lie about demons again. Demons aren't anything to joke about and Paigey told you already that she took care of the demon you weren't lying about. Just always be honest with us. Okay, buddy?" Henry held out his hand with his palm facing up.
"Okay," Peter promised, giving his foster father a descending low five.
Paige stepped in after listening to the conversation from outside the room and smiled. "So are we punishing him or what?"
Henry turned to Paige and said, "Not this time."
"Fine by me, but let's get this guy safe and home," Paige announced, patting older Peter on his back. "Go say bye to Peter." She grinned at her future foster son as he moved closer to younger Peter.
Older Peter approached his one year old self and just brushed his hair around, "Just be good, alright? Things turn out pretty well for the most part." He quickly looked at Henry before leaving the room, no longer making any eye contact.
Paige and Henry briefly looked at each other before Paige went off to follow him for his sendoff.
(X)
Paige stood across from Peter in the foyer as he leaned against the staircase railing. As Henry began to descend the stairs, he saw the two and turned to Peter, "Alright, I just put you to bed."
"Very funny," Peter replied, feeling his foster father pat his back as he moved over to Paige. "I guess it's time for you to send me back then." He nervously patted his gray jeans, positive that he couldn't reveal his father's death without risking someone else's death. He had to be quiet, but the son in him was screaming out to change the future.
"Before I do, I'm a little confused. Your sisters paid us a visit three days ago and now you're paying us a visit. I know about this whole Book of Shadows bit, but does this mean I have to write it anytime soon?" Paige asked, wanting to get it right.
"I'm pretty sure you just enchanted it. I think you enchanted it to inform us on certain days because we are more than familiar with the Book and we never once saw those notes until the pages started flipping and your handwriting ran across the page," Peter answered.
"Why didn't I tell you myself?" Paige asked about her future self. Off his silence, she said, "Ah, future knowledge! Yeah, I know, but you can't blame me for trying, although I am assuming the very worst now." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a sheet of paper.
"Ready to go back to boast to your sisters, Pete? You were the one that killed the demon after all," Henry joked, smiling. "Powerless at that."
Peter bowed his head down, finding it difficult to face his father and even accept the compliment. "I actually kinda learn that even when you are powerless, you can be way more. You'll be around to watch me grow into who I am now, don't worry about it."
Paige grinned, "I now know how Piper really felt about Chris coming back in time to save the future. You know how much me and Henry love you and your sisters already and if I lost any of you, I'd be the meanest witch around. It's not something I would have the strength to move on from. So what I'm saying is..." she walked over to him, hugging him with a tight embrace. She soon released and stared into his brown eyes, "I look forward to meeting you in the future you helped save."
She moved to the side as Henry came along and shook his foster son's hand before pulling him into a hug, patting him on the back. "Thanks, son."
Peter felt the need to cry and the son in him was almost forcing the warning of Henry's death on his lips. "Thanks, Mom and Dad."
Paige grinned and said, "See you in about twenty years, Peter." She unfolded the sheet and chanted the words to send him home:
Son who came here to protect the Mitchell-Matthews line,
Being rewarded with the blessing of returning to your safe time.
Peter felt the sensation of a warm glow run across his body as he was carried through time and space in the form of spheres of white lights.
"We do well, Paige," Henry complimented their parenting as he wrapped an arm around Paige's shoulders.
"I just can't help but question whether or not we're doing the right thing by apparently raising him as Peter the Demon Slayer.," Paige quipped, but was serious. After seeing him ruthlessly kill a defenseless demon made Paige question whether or not involving him in a world of demons had a toll on his mentality.
"What do you mean?" Henry asked, looking at her.
She shook her head, "Forget it. Let's just go give Billie a break and put our kids to bed."
The two began to ascend the stairs, but Paige would keep her concerns to herself for some time.
(X)
Present in his own time now, Peter stood across his twin sisters as he placed the dagger he killed Nomed with on the table in the altar room.
"Well? Don't leave us in suspense, Peter!" Sarah exclaimed, curious about his visit. "Did you kill Nomed and request for him to stay dead this time?" She cocked her head to the side, allowing her light brown hair to fall off of her shoulder.
"Nomed's dead. It was just nice seeing that Dad wasn't," Peter said, moving over to the Book of Shadows to avoid eye contact.
"It must've been tougher on you than it was for us," Samantha said. "Considering..."
"I know," Peter cut her off. "I know." He opened the Book of Shadows before a wind forced itself against the pages, eventually landing on the page where the twins and Peter got the message to go back in time. In Paige's handwriting in black, a message began to write itself across the page and Peter read aloud, "Thank you for protecting the future. Love, Mom."
"I wonder if this was supposed to be some meaning for our existence," Samantha speculated. "Although it wouldn't make much sense to be born to simply make sure that we can be born, but... forget it, I'm only going to confuse myself."
"Dad told me about destiny and how it's just us doing something great," Peter recounted. "I think keeping our family sane and protecting each other is just that. I doubt our destinies are fulfilled, but this won't ever go without notice."
Peter reflected back on when he was one and how he remembered seeing his older sisters come from the future, as well as seeing himself the first day his father taught him about destiny, although he wasn't aware that was his future self. The talk about destiny always stuck with him though and his father's teachings always would.
End of Chapter.
A/Note: Once again, I apologize for the few month hiatus. If you bare with me, you'll have the other chapters lined up released sooner and ten more chapters until the series finale. I hope a couple of you can at least review the chapter with a couple of comments to encourage me to update a bit more.