Don't own it

Chapter 4: The Sons' First Demon Attack

Mel jerked her head to the side. Standing before her and Tyler were two warlocks. After actively fighting evil for three years and watching her family before that, she could tell the difference between warlocks and demons without waiting to see how they would try to kill her. Mel narrowed her eyes and pushed Tyler off of her. Flicking her hands, the two warlocks froze. Mel and Tyler both scrambled to their feet.

"How- how the hell did you do that?" Tyler gasped. Even as he said it he moved in front of the young woman who had quickly become important to him. He had an urge to protect her, even though she had grown up with this life and could handle it better.

Mel noticed the movement and smiled to herself. The protectiveness was something she was used to; her brothers always acted the same way. With her brothers, she felt safe but also annoyed because they wouldn't let her stand on her own. It was different with Tyler though, somehow. She felt safe and comforted, glad to have him there with her. And her stomach was still fluttering from them almost kissing. She wished that they hadn't been interrupted; it wasn't often one of her brothers weren't around and she wasn't sure when she would be able to have a chance to be alone with Tyler again any time soon. "I inherited my mom's power, remember? I can freeze people and time." Mel felt a tingling coming from the place within her body where she drew her power from and the warlocks moved sluggishly. "Not good. Not good!"

"What? What's wrong?"

"They're fighting through my freezes," she flicked her hands and kept flicking them. The two warlocks unfroze quicker and quicker.

"What do we do? Do you want me to Use?"

"No, don't Use. Just…run!" With that, Mel grabbed a nearby serving platter and threw it at them. Tyler grabbed her hand and they ran out into the hallway, meeting the three other boys on the stairs. "Upstairs. Go, go!" Running past them, spurred on by cries of rage coming from the kitchen, she grabbed Caleb's hand as she and Tyler flew past, dragging him up the stairs. Reid and Pogue pounded up the stairs behind them. "The attic," she gasped. "I need the book!"

The five of them burst into the attic. "Bar the door," Mel told the boys as she flipped hurriedly through the Book of Secrets, her family legacy. "Where is it? C'mon, where is it?" she searched the book. "Why hasn't this thing been indexed? Dammit!"

"What are you looking for?" Pogue half yelled as he put a bookcase in front of the door.

"A spell to vanquish warlocks! I know there's one in here. Where is it?" she searched desperately. Mel narrowed her eyes again; her instincts were screaming at her. "Get away from the door!" she yelled. "Get away from the door, NOW!"

Tyler stepped away from the door, toward Mel. "What's-" The door burst open, breaking off at the hinges. The stuff in front of it went flying across the room and Pogue, Caleb and Reid flung themselves on the floor to avoid being hit by any of it.

"Telekinesis, stolen from a witch most likely," Mel interrupted. She flicked her hands again but it didn't work of course. Glancing to her left, Mel saw blessed crystals. She grabbed them and threw them to the four sons. "Put the crystals in a circle around them." The Sons did as they were told and the warlocks were trapped in a cage. One reached out and got shocked. He rubbed his hand as he and the other glared at the five teens. "It's a cage; they can't get out of it."

Caleb breathed a sigh of relief and the Sons walked over to Mel who had her elbows resting on the book, her head in her hands. Tyler reached her first. Putting a hand on her back, he asked her if she was okay.

Mel let out a shuddering breath and Tyler pulled her into a hug. Resting her head on his chest, she said "Yeah, I'll be fine. It's just not often someone can work through my freezes and I can't vanquish without a spell, potion, or my brothers. My power, as of right now, is pretty much for defense." Mel straightened her body. "Right, now let's find out who our friends are." Mel walked over to them and told the warlocks to start talking, not really expecting it to work and it didn't. So Melinda grabbed some nearby powder and tossed a pinch of it at the cage. There was an explosion and a flash of light. When it cleared, the caged warlocks were smoking ever so slightly. "Will you talk now or do I need to throw more?" They still didn't say anything and Mel made to throw more of the gray powder.

Reid nudged Tyler. "Dude, she's kinda scary right now." Tyler glared at Reid and the blonde smirked in return.

"Wait! Wait, we'll talk. I am Zahn and this is Morton. We are warlocks and have been charged to kill any Halliwell and Son of Ipswich that we were able to," one of the warlocks said.

"Who are you working for?"

"The future ruler of the Underworld and the bringer of your death, witch. He has magics the like we've never seen before. He and his army will destroy your family and the Sons.

Caleb spoke up. "How do you know of me and my brothers?"

"He knows many things and has shared with us what he wished. And he has personal connections with you and your…brothers. If the situation had been different, you yourself would have called him brother."

"Chase," Caleb said, not as a question but as a statement.

The Sons and Melinda surrounded the book to talk. "Of course it's Chase. It's not like we can have a normal life for more than a couple of weeks!"

Mel half-smiled. "You sounded like my mom just then, Caleb. Always wishing for a normal life. Anyway, that was too easy. They must be planning something; otherwise they wouldn't have told us all that."

"Right now I don't care. I want this done. The next time we meet Chase, I'm killing him." Caleb said this with a steely determination and no one doubted him.

"We're behind you, Cay. You know that," Pogue said. Tyler and Reid nodded.

"That's good and all and I do believe you Caleb but if Chase is trying to reunite the Underworld, he may be more than we can handle. My family has a tendency of dying when facing the Source of all evil. I-" Mel broke off and turned sharply. "Down!" she yelled and was hit by an energy ball. The warlock who had spoken had kicked one of the crystals, breaking the circle. "Wyatt!" she yelled out. "Wyatt, Chris, we need you!"

No orbs came and the five teens ran out of the attic. Racing down the stairs, Caleb mind spoke with his brothers. "I'm going to Use to vanquish him. Pogue, help me. Tyler, Reid get Melinda out of here. And whatever you do, Reid, do not Use! You can't risk it. On my count. One, two, three." Caleb and Pogue stopped on the stairs and their eyes bled black. Mel looked at them in alarm.

"What are you doing? You're not supposed to Use!" Reid and Tyler grabbed a hold of her and continued down the stairs.

"Caleb knows what he's doing," Tyler said. "And Pogue's backing him."

The two older Sons sent energy waves out to the warlocks, weakening them. While Pogue kept the energy going into them, Caleb sent watery looking energy balls into the chest of each warlock. They exploded on contact and the Sons released the Power. "You okay, Pogue?"

"Yeah, you?'

"Yeah, but we shouldn't Use for awhile, just in case." They walked into the living room and met up with their brothers and Mel. Mel and Tyler were sitting on the couch, Tyler examining her shoulder where the energy ball had hit her. Reid was standing at the window, watching them. He looked at his brothers when they came in. "Everything finished?"

Caleb and Pogue nodded. "Yeah, they're gone."

Mel winced when Tyler touched the wound. "You really shouldn't have Used. You guys said last night you're close to addiction and even though we just met, I don't want to see you guys get hurt."

Before she could rant more, Tyler interrupted her. "This burn looks pretty bad. Should you go to the hospital?"

Mel craned her neck to look at it. "No, it looks worse than it actually is. I should probably put some salve on it though. Umm…there should be some in the bathroom." She went to stand up but Tyler held her down.

"No, one of the guys can go get it." He sent a look to Caleb and Pogue.

Pogue caught on first. "Yeah, I'll go get it." He nudged Caleb, who got what he was saying.

"And me and Reid can put the towels away and then we can start cleaning the mess we made in the kitchen"

"I think putting towels away can be handled by one person Caleb and I don't really feel like cleaning," Reid walked lazily over to the chair by the couch and sat down.

"Just come on." Caleb shoved some towels into Reid's arms and the three of them left the living room. Once they reached the bathroom, they decided to hang out in there for awhile before going to the kitchen to give Tyler and Melinda some privacy. Well, Caleb and Pogue decided and stopped Reid from leaving.

Mel and Tyler sat in silence for a bit and then Mel broke it. "That was kind of obvious."

"My brothers aren't really ones for tact." He brushed a hand gently over the burn on her shoulder. "Are you sure this will be okay with just some salve on it?"

"Yeah, I'll get Wyatt to heal it when he gets here."

"Okay. Then I think there's something we were in the middle of before we got interrupted." Tyler cupped Mel's cheek in his hand and she willingly turned her face toward him. He brushed his lips over hers, gently. Shifting so she was facing him, Mel reached up and wound her arms around his neck and kissed him back. Mel felt him smiling slightly against her lips and she laughed. Pulling back a little bit, she grinned at him. Tyler ran his fingers over her cheek and leaned in again.

So absorbed were they in kissing each other, they didn't notice the blue white orbs materializing in front of them. Mel could hear someone clearing their throat and she pulled back again. "Oh, Aunt Paige, you scared me. I thought you were Wyatt."

Paige smiled at her niece. "Lucky for you, I'm not either of your brothers. They heard you calling but they were busy with their charge. So they asked if I could help. But I'm kinda thinking you don't really need any help if the lip action I saw is anything to go by." Paige raised her eyebrow at the two teens in front of her.

Tyler blushed and Mel shrugged her shoulders. "Actually, we did need help but Caleb and Pogue ended up taking care of it. There were two warlocks, badly attempting to kill us. But they worked through my freezes and I couldn't find the vanquishing spell in the book. That's why I called for Wyatt or Chris."

"So, you're all okay then." Mel nodded.

"Actually, no," Tyler said. "Mel's hurt. She got hit with a…well I'm not really sure what it was."

"Energy ball," Mel said. "He must have stolen it from a whitelighter or something. It was hard to tell. Anyway, it's not a bad burn but I'd rather not wait for it to heal on its own because it is kinda painful. Do you think you could heal it?"

"Sure, sweetie. Besides, your mom would probably blow me up if I left her baby girl in pain." Mel made a face at her aunt and then leaned over so her shoulder was closer to Paige. Putting her hand over the burn, Paige summoned her healing power and a gold light came out of her hand and washed over Mel's shoulder. Tyler watched the wound disappear from her shoulder in astonishment. That's a pretty neat power, he thought. And would have really helped after our ascensions. "How's that?" Paige asked.

Mel rotated her shoulder, her hand still in Tyler's. "Yeah, that feels better. Thanks Aunt Paige." Mel stood up. "I guess I should go put on a shirt huh?" Mel grabbed the sweatshirt she had been wearing and lifted it so they could see the burn hole in the shoulder. She had taken it off, leaving her in a black tank top when Tyler was examining her shoulder. "Good thing I wasn't attached to this sweatshirt." Tyler let go of her hand and Mel walked over to the bathroom and told the other Sons they could come out now. As they came out, she ran up stairs to put on another shirt.

Paige motioned for the other Sons to join Tyler and her in the living room. "Actually, we were going to clean up the kitchen. There was an…accident earlier and we sort of flooded it."

"That can wait. Just don't tell Piper I said that, otherwise she might vanquish me, sister or not. I'd like to talk about something with Tyler and want you guys here too. So, you guys met your first demons, in this case warlocks. What did you think?"

Caleb spoke up first. "I can't really speak for my brothers, but honestly, I was a little scared. With Chase, we knew what we were facing. We have the same powers, even if he is stronger. But this…We didn't know what to expect. I wasn't sure that we would be able to vanquish them, using our Powers. It's good to know that we can."

"The warlocks knew who we were," Reid said. He brushed his gloved hand through his hair. "And they said Chase was trying to become the Source. Did you and your sisters know this was happening?"

Paige let out a breath. "Don't worry about being scared. The first couple of months I found out I was a witch I had no idea what I was doing. And I messed up. A lot. It'll happen but you'll learn. My sisters and I and even our children will help teach you and we will do the best we can to fix your addictions. As for knowing about Chase Collins trying to become the Source, yes we knew. The Elders told us before you came here. We wanted to keep it from you until we know for sure. We've dealt with the Source before though, so we will survive this. Satisfied?" The Sons nodded. It was reassuring to know that Paige had messed up and been scared when she first learned of this magical world. The Sons hadn't known anything about demons or warlocks before this.

"Now then, Tyler."

"Yes, Ms. Matthews?"

"Paige, please. You seem like a nice boy and Mel likes you. I'm sure you know her brothers are a little over-protective, especially when it comes to boys. They've scared off any guy that liked Mel. Don't let them do the same to you. Talk to them; show them that you really care for Mel and they'll support you. I'm sure too that they've given you this warning, but if you hurt her, well you'll be sorry."

Tyler smiled. "Thanks, Paige."

"You're welcome sweetie. And Reid?" The blonde Son looked at the youngest Charmed One. "Billie is a good friend of mine and I love her daughter like my own. She also happens to be a charge of mine too. Don't hurt her." Paige rolled her eyes. "Also, don't let her hurt you."

Reid scoffed. Like any girl could get close enough to hurt him. Paige smiled; she could tell he was thinking he could never be hurt by a girl. You'll learn, she thought. "Okay, let's go see what you guys did to Piper's domain." Getting up, the Sons followed Paige to the kitchen. She looked around the room and then glanced at the Sons. "I'm telling Piper you're not allowed to do the laundry anymore. Well, I don't feel like cleaning this the long way, so we'll take a short cut. Pay attention, this spell is pretty handy and I see no reason why you four shouldn't be able to cast spells. Let the object of objection become but a dream as I cause the seen to be unseen."

The boys looked in amazement as the kitchen returned to its former clean state. "That's a pretty cool spell," Reid said.

"You'll be amazed by what magic can do. Just be careful of personal gain spells and the consequences."

"Like that didn't have personal gain written all over it, Aunt Paige," Mel said as she walked into the kitchen. She had a light blue shirt on now that said Bewitching and was wearing a pair of dark blue jeans.

"Hey, I and the boys stay alive and Piper doesn't have a heart attack from the state of her kitchen." Mel laughed. "Mel, what don't you show the boys some more harmless spells? I already showed them the vanishing spell. Maybe you could summon Grams or Prue."

"Follow me boys. Back to the attic." They followed Mel out of kitchen, Tyler stopping for a second as Paige put a hand on his arm to stop him.

"Remember, just talk to Wyatt and Chris about Mel." Tyler nodded and left the kitchen, following his friends up the stairs. Paige smirked. "This is going to be interesting." She orbed out.