A Charmed Story - Part Eleven:
Enemy In My Mind
Chapter 9

Michael sighed and sat down on the steps to the main building of the "Elder-land". He felt a little dizzy since he came up there. Everything was so bright... he felt more like hovering around then actually standing on his own feet.
Jeremiah and his wife were still discussing. Michael and the students had stepped a little aside, no one of them wanted to get into the middle of the two.
"Excuse me, Mr..." one of the students said suddenly.
"Call me Mike."
"Ok... Mike... I think... I think this is not good, we're losing too much time!" the young girl explained her thoughts.
He looked at her and sighed. "Suzi, right?" He had heard the others call her that. She nodded. "Well Suzi," he went on, "there is nothing else we can do. We're here to talk, and that's what my wife is doing..."
"But Chris could already be..." She didn't end her sentence, but Michael understood it anyway. He felt the same. In this place, they had no idea what was going on in their world, they even weren't sure how much time had passed since they got up there. He sighed again and then smiled at the girl: "Don't worry... He's fine, I'm sure... They would know if he wouldn't..." The girl nodded and then turned back to her friends.
Michael looked around. He understood now, why Chris said once, that this would be the most boring place in all the magical places which exist. Even those bottled plants couldn't help much to change that. It was boring... deadly boring...
With another sigh he stood up and went over to Silas. He stood a little aside the others, who were still discussing.
"Hey..." he said to him, "how is it going?"
Silas smiled at him. He liked Michael and actually he thought it was really brave of them to come up there. "Well... you see it, they are still discussing," he said and shrugged.
At that moment bluish orbing lights appeared and Leo materialised next to them.
"Michael?" he asked completely shocked in surprised. Then he saw Angela and then the kids. "What... What's going on here?" This was surely not what he had expected when he had talked to them before.
"Oh, Leo!" Jeremiah said smirking. "Maybe you can tell your son's friends and students how much trouble they cursed, by coming up here."
"We only want to help Chris," Angela replied. "And I swear to you, those kids WILL expose magic if those Cleaners harm him in any way."
"If the Cleaners take Chris you won't even remember him," Jeremiah replied.
"But we need Chris, you know that," Leo added, immediately joining the woman's side. Then he rose his hands: "But first... I need to talk to the Cleaners, because actually we have some new information... We know now what's going on... And Chris and Julian, they wanna talk to them, on neutral ground, so to say. So can you help me to talk to them?"

& & & & &

Paige orbed to the manor. After Drew had given them the book with that weird spell, they had discussed things a lot. And after Elenia had returned to them, they had decided to give it a try. So now they needed to contact Julian.
"Found something?" Piper asked full of hope.
"Yes and no," Paige replied and then explained the others what they wanted to do. "At least we should give it a try. If Julian thinks it's save and if he can get Veenosh's blood, we could make a simple vanquishing potion," she ended her report.
Cole frowned. He didn't like that idea. He didn't like it because it put Chris and Belthazor, and also the others who were with Julian, in danger. But he kept silent, because he hadn't any other idea, and he knew time was working against them.
Piper sighed, then she looked at her brother in law. "What do you think about that?" she asked. The spell was weird, without any sense.
Cole just looked at her. It still felt weird that she asked him for his opinion, after their past, and he still wasn't completely comfortable with his role as a witch of the Halliwell-Clan. He sighed: "Honestly, I don't know... but I have no better idea either..."
"Ok, let's try it," the oldest Charmed One said finally. Cole nodded, took the book and went over to Phoebe's computer.

& & & & &

"Anything new?" Belthazor asked, when he entered the room with the computers.
"Not yet," the demonic-witch replied while he stared at the screen where the pictures of his cameras kept changing. The source sighed and sat down next to him.
"Is he ok?" Julian asked after a moment. He didn't mean to react the way he did... it was just... he just couldn't help it.
"Yeah I guess he understands now," the demon replied.
"That's good, because I didn't mean..."
"I know," Belthazor interrupted him smiling.
Julian nodded. Then he looked at his friend and noticed the weird look on his face. "What's bothering you?" he asked.
"Nothing... it's just..." he smiled, "it's just that Cole was right about him. In his time Chris had to grow up so fast but still... in some points he feels like a child. And it's weird to see him like that, especially when you take into account that he's the new king Arthur."
Julian chuckled about that comment. "Maybe that's why he was chosen for the job," he said, when a new e-mail arrived.
They read it carefully. It contained the plan of the sisters, the spell and the description of the spell from that book. Julian swallowed.
"You don't have to do that, if you don't want to," Belthazor said.
"I know," Julian replied standing up and grabbing a few things from a shelf, "but that's the only way to help you... and him."
Belthazor nodded: "But we shouldn't hurry too much, we should think through this first."
Julian cleaned one of the tables and placed five candles on it: "I don't think we should waste too much time. My demonic powers allow me to cast a spell like this without putting myself into too much danger, and we need the blood of that demon..." He placed a feather in the middle of the table. Then he looked at Belthazor again.
The source nodded and said: "Your decision. But doesn't your spell also prevent YOU from using magic?"
The demonic witch shook his head grinning: "It's only blocking powers as such, not spells... Just in case we need to defend ourselves." Belthazor rose an eyebrow, then nodded.
Julian sighed looking at the table again, and then he cast the spell.
"ecaps siht fo srewop krad eht gnillac
noissesbo ym fo tcejbo eht fo ypoc a ekam
gnieb taht fo noisrev dezis-llams a em evig
ecart on evael snoitca ym fo"
A small vortex appeared between the candles, rising the feather from the table. Then Julian whispered: "Veenosh, Veenosh, Veenosh."
With a tiny explosion the feather and the vortex disappeared. All that remained on the table were the candles and a small seemingly living object not much larger than a cockroach.
Julian couldn't help but chuckle. "I guess that spell went very wrong," he said grinning. But when he turned around to his friend, Belthazor sat, sunk down in the chair, holding his head with a painful expression on his face.
"Belthazor?" Julian asked. "What's wrong?" But the source just started groaning in pain.

& & & & &

At the same time Chris lied on the bed next to his wife, staring at the ceiling of the cave.
Bianca caressed his belly softly, looking at his worried face. "He'll find a way, I'm sure," she whispered to him. She didn't want to wake up the kids who were still sleeping.
"I know," Chris said, "but still I hate it to just lie around like this."
"But there is nothing you can do at the moment. And I'm sure, they won't let you down."
"I know," he replied, turning his head to his wife and caressing her cheek. "I know, but still I don't like it to be so..."
"So depending?" Bianca asked knowing him very well.
He sighed: "Yeah... I guess so... Stupid, huh?"
"No... no, it's not... You've been on your own, half of your life. I can imagine that it's hart to accept your situation now. But that's what you have to do... because you can't change it."
Chris nodded: "I know."
They both kept silent for a while. But then Chris started messaging his temples.
"What's wrong?" Bianca asked.
Chris frowned: "I don't know, I..."
He couldn't say more, because a wave of huge pain hit him. His vision got blurred and all he could do was scream. At the same time Wyatt woke up and rose his forcefield around himself and Hope, unnoticed by the others.
"OH MY GOD!!" Bianca screamed when she saw the eyes of her husband turn darker. He had sat up still screaming. Acting on instinct, she grabbed his hands and held them strongly down, so that he wouldn't hurt anyone. "Please, honey," she whispered to his ear, while he was still screaming and swearing, "please honey stay calm... please don't leave me... you're save..."
But then suddenly it stopped. Chris fell back onto the bed. Breathing fast and heavily, he stared at the ceiling.
"Baby, are you ok?" Bianca sobbed, still holding his hands.
Chris nodded slowly: "I... guess so..."
"What the hell was that?" the Phoenix asked.
Chris shook his head. He had no idea. But then he suddenly jumped up. "BELTHAZOR!" he yelled and ran out of the room.
At the same moment, Wyatt put his forcefield down. He was crying, which Bianca now noticed. Thanks God Hope was still sleeping. Bianca took the little boy into her arms and hold him tightly. "Shhh... don't worry," she whispered to him, "everything will be fine."

& & & & &

At the same time in a dark cave in the depth of the underworld an ugly looking demon shook his head. He had felt weird a moment, as if his mind was split in two... but then it was gone again. He grumbled and swore. Then bend over his bowl and again tired to get hold of his prey's mind.

& & & & &

Chris ran into the working-room seeking for the others. When he entered, still breathing heavily, he saw how Belthazor climbed back onto a chair.
"What... happened?" Chris asked.
Julian shrugged and pointed at the table where some candles lied next to something which looked like a squished cockroach: "We just created one part of the vanquishing potion for Veenosh. Sorry for the little trouble. I had never thought that this small thing could be so powerful..." Then he added with a smirk: "Sadly the big version isn't so easy to kill..."
"But how could that affect us? ... your spell?" Belthazor asked tiredly.
Julian shrugged: "I don't know, I guess the black magic weakened the power of the protection spell..."
"Maybe we should add another one, just to make sure," Chris suggested. Julian and Belthazor both nodded.

& & & & &

Darryl sat on his office chair, bent over the table which was a total mess of papers and pens, and pictures and maps... The police station was very dark. Only some men had stayed for the guard and had not been very surprised to see inspector Morris, who was used to work following an extremely weird schedule. Thus, no one would disturb him as he tried to find out something that could help his friends, though this time Chris seemed to be in real trouble.
After a while of searching and focusing his tired eyes on the small typed letters of the reports, Darryl grumbled, hitting the table and leaning against the back of his chair. There was nothing to do. Chris had exposed his powers, how the hell was he supposed to hide that? To change that??
The journalists kept the Halliwells imprisoned in their own house, and that if they didn't break in and start asking questions; neighbours spread the rumors very fast, as well as news on TV and the radio; and the FBI will surly spent night and day working to find Chris and probably take him away from his family and... Who knew how they would try to use him to their own benefit.
Darryl rubbed his temples, wearily, and sighed... Then he looked again at the map on the wall, where he had made a mark on the spots where the robberies had taken place. There was nothing interesting about them. The names of the streets were not related in any way; the names of the victims had nothing to do with each other, and were different in aspect and social class... The spots must have been chosen randomly... One here, another one there...
Darryl shook his head. They were simple robberies. Magic ones, or demonic, but it was clear that the robbers had no second intention. Unless it was exposing magic!!
Suddenly, he stopped breathless... What if that was the reason?? What if what they intended was actually exposing it?? Could that have something to do with Chris after all?? Darryl stood up and went away from the map, narrowing his eyes slightly. There must have been something there. Again, he felt all of a sudden his breath cut off. He was stupid, oh he was. He really was.
Of course there was a ritual in all the robberies. All of them joint by a line, had the shape of an arrow, of the sharp extreme of one. And the arrow was pointing at an old factory... Maybe the head quarters of some demon, or an entrance to the Underworld??
Darryl took all the papers and the map and left immediately the station to go and see the sisters. He had something and he was sure he could help the sisters with this... Somehow.
He had not noticed something else, however. The arrow could also be a big, huge V.

& & & & &

Cole leaned back and closed his eyes after he had sent out the message. He had a bad feeling about all this and that disturbed him in the worst way.
"They'll be fine," Paige said to him, smiling. Cole felt caught but then he nodded thankful.
Paige sighed, then she turned to Kyle who was sitting next to her on the sofa: "If you want I can take you home... I mean... without them noticing."
The officer shook his head energetically: "They already know that I'm here... AND... I would never leave you... not in a situation like this."
Paige closed her eyes and pressed her forehead against his: "I'm sorry that we put you in this situation... I hope you don't lose your job because of us."
"I won't," Kyle replied and kissed her nose.
Cole shook his head. He couldn't bear so much love at the moment, through of course, he was happy for them. So he stood up and went to the hall. "I'm going to check if the FBI left any damage..." he said and climbed up the stairs.
Kyle followed him with his eyes, but Paige forced him to look back at her. "Hey... I meant what I said," she said to him. "I don't want you to give up your life... not for me."
Kyle smiled widely: "Paige..." He sighed. "I can't give up my life, because without you there is no life... not really."
The witch-whitelighter couldn't believe her ears. This very moment, his eyes were beaming at her full of deep and endless love, and that felt amazing. This was real, true... He loved her so much... And if the butterflies in her stomach meant anything, then she did, too. Actually Paige was sure she had never felt like that before. She wanted to add something, wanted to let him now that she felt the same way, but that moment Piper returned from the kitchen.
"Tea is ready," she announced and put the plate on the table.
"Thanks," Kyle said and took a cup with the hot liquid.
Piper nodded and sat down on the other side of the table. Then she asked: "Do you think Christopher is safe at the school? I mean, if that demon can also affect Wyatt..."
"That's why Phoebe stays there with him and Steve," Paige explained. "Phoebe is checking him all the time and if something is going on, Steve will put up his forcefield to protect them. But actually I don't think that anything will happen... Christopher's powers are still too weak."
"Let's hope so..." Kyle muttered and hold her even closer. Piper just nodded and sipped her tea.
They kept silent for a long time. A few minutes later Cole returned, announcing that the FBI was very careful and didn't leave any destruction in the rooms, just some chaos since they searched through everything. Then he sat down next to Piper and stared into the nothing like the others. They all felt helpless, unable to do anything.
Finally the doorbell rang.
Cole sighed and stood up: "I go..."
The others followed him with their eyes. They could hear the reporters out there as soon as the door was opened. They heard Cole yelling something not very polite and seconds later the door slammed shut. Piper sighed. They all expected him to return alone. The more surprised they were when he entered together with ...
"Darryl?!" Paige exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
Kyle had jumped up: "If the FBI saw you then..."
"They did," Darryl interrupted his friend. "But don't worry... I've found something which you need to see..."
"Really?" Piper asked. "What is it."
"It's about the robberies, which they want to blame Chris for, too," he said and was about to pull out some papers. But then he startled shocked when someone shimmered in behind him. "Wha... Don't do that again... ok... I hate that!" he exclaimed directed at Julian.
Kyle chuckled which gained him a surprised look by his colleague and friend. 'Seems that boy is more used to this than I am,' he thought amazed.
"Here," Julian said, not paying attention to the detective, and gave Piper a vial with the remainings of that mini-demon, "that's all I can get with this spell."
"Thanks," Piper said and then, having a closer look she added, "what is that? A cockroach?"
"Kind of," Julian answered, "this was a mini-version of Veenosh, but not less evil than the real one."
The oldest Charmed One looked disgusted, then she went over to the kitchen and ordered her sister to follow her. So the four men were left behind.
"How are they?" Cole asked looking at the demonic with.
"Fine..." Julian answered shortly. He wasn't in the mood for huge explanations. Cole nodded.
Meanwhile Darryl had sat down next to Kyle. "Are you alright?" he asked.
His friend nodded: "Yeah... I'm fine."
Darryl nodded, then he took out his papers: "So... this is what I found. I..."
Again he was interrupted when bluish orbing lights filled the room.
"Hey," Leo said, quickly checking who was there. "Where are the sisters?"
"Potion-making. Kitchen!" answered Cole.
Leo nodded. Then he turned to Julian. "We need Chris," he explained, "the Elders arranged that the Cleaners will be up there in two minutes so when he wants to..."
"No," Julian said, calmly, "that's impossible. He can't leave the cave now. It's to risky. When Veenosh attacks him, he could hurt someone, even up there... You know what he's capable of."
Leo sighed. Then he nodded. "But I won't be able to get them down and when Chris wants..."
"I could talk to them, I'm fair-minded..." Julian offered, "the only problem is that you would have to take me up there..."

& & & & &

"I want to go home, Anca..." Wyatt whined as he pulled the pocket of the young woman's jeans.
"Hush, Wyatt... It's gonna be soon, but now you wanna be a god kid," she said, at the same time as she tried to soothe little Hope, who was weeping softly. Besides, she was attentive to Chris. He was talking to Belthazor who didn't seem to be very receptive at the moment.
"I just wanna know if you got any plan... We kill Veenosh, right? Or they do it. But I am still stuck here, because if I go out, the Cleaners will... well, they will 'clean me'!" the young witch said walking behind the red demon who was pacing around the whole lair.
Belthazor grumbled annoyed. "First, why did you bring them here!?" he asked, stopping suddenly and pointing at the kids and Bianca with one hand while with the other, he rubbed his temples. "They cry, and if they cry, I can't think!"
Chris rolled his eyes and sighed. "They're just kids and they were tired of staying in that room! Just listen." He took his huge arm, surprised himself of that action. "I need help here, ok? I hate asking for help, and let alone asking a demon; and let alone asking the source! But I am here and you want me to leave as much as I do, so... Any idea?"
Belthazor turned and glared at him, seizing his arm strongly: "Now, you listen. I am on it. And we talked about this before."
Chris stared at him between scared and angry. He winced slightly because the strength with which he was holding his arm was also hurting him.
"I know you hate inactivity as much as I do, too, but we're gonna find a solution." Then he softened his grip, and tried to smile when he realised the look in Chris's and above all, in little Wyatt's eyes. "After all, Chris... I don't think they really wanna make you disappear. You saved the future from an evil that would have made the balance incline to one of the sides. They owe you, even they DO know that. And Julian will make sure that they don't forget about this..." Chris frowned.
"What..." Bianca stepped towards them, too. But Belthazor looked at the baby again, angrily, and she stopped. "What do you mean??"
"I mean... They might just want to scare him to death, so that he can find a way to reverse what he did, or maybe they want to make a point, show that they are the highest power or something, because I doubt they really wanna make him vanish. Why would they give him time, otherwise?? Sure there are some who don't trust him, but the majority won't be that stupid."
Chris sighed, understanding what he meant, but still frustrated: "Great... But still, we need to find a way to reverse that, don't we??"
Belthazor nodded, pensive, and then glared at Hope, who was starting to cry louder. Wyatt sucked his thumb, very serious, still grabbing Bianca's jeans. "But I still need peace around me to be able to think."
Bianca sighed, and turned back: "Ok, I will go back to the cell with the kids." And she left, leaving the two of them alone and pensive.

& & & & &

As soon as Leo orbed with Julian back to the Elders, the demonic witch looked around amazed. Then they spotted a huge group of people who were cornering two men in white suite.
Julian couldn't help smiling. "So that's why it didn't bother you to take me with you..." he said to Leo, pointing at the human couple and the student-witches, "how did they get up here?" Leo just shrugged.
"WE WILL NOT LET YOU GET HIM!" Angela yelled at that moment, pricking one of the Cleaners in his chest.
"You can't change it..." he responded unimpressed.
"But... after all he did to save this world... Hell, he's the owner of Excalibur, you can't erase him!" Michael tried to argue, while the students in his back looked kind of angry.
The other Cleaner smirked: "We can... Yes, he's the owner of the sword, but so is Christopher... And yes he saved the world, but still we could let him die short after that... and you wouldn't even notice..."
Michael rose his hands in frustration, running out of ideas. Slowly he began to realise that this discussion was pointless. Angela, on the other hand, lost her temper with the Cleaner's last statement. With a yell of frustration and anger, she punched the Cleaner on his nose!
The students and also Julian started to laugh while the Cleaners nose started to bleed. The Elders who stood around, like Odin, Silas, Elenia, Jeremiah, Yuri and Lyta, just looked at the scene without showing any kind of reaction. Yes, they all were pacifistic from deep down inside. But they also could get angry, and at the moment they all were more than that. Chris was one of their own, even if they needed a while to realise it. And Silas was really happy that Angela beat that Cleaner, because all rules forbade him to do it on his own. So they all just stood there and watched, always ready to protect the mortals if necessary.
"OK! ENOUGH!" Leo shouted and went over to them, followed by a still chuckling Julian.
The Cleaner rose his eyes to met those of the Elder, but said nothing.
Leo went on: "We're not here to fight, we're here to talk... Because we think that there IS a way out of this."
Now the Cleaners turned to them with interest.
Julian felt uncomfortable. He didn't like those guys, he never did. But when Leo turned to him, he knew it was his time to speak. "Well..." he started moving his hand through his hair, "Chris isn't responsible for all that, he..."
"Of course he is! So, as I said, this is..." The Cleaner had interrupted the demonic witch but was then interrupted on his own, by a furious Angela.
"You better listen to them carefully, if you don't want me to punch you again," she hissed.
"What I wanted to say," Julian went on, "Chris is the victim of an attack by a demon called Veenosh - I'm sure you heard of him. He's trying to control his mind, and that's not only a danger for Chris but also for all the Halliwells, he's after... And if he gets them all killed, the balance could be disturbed seriously..."
Leo was impressed by the words of that demonic witch and he was actually wondering if what he said was true... Was his family in danger?
One of the Cleaners narrowed his eyes and said: "So... we're listening..."
Julian sighed. "We already have a potion to vanquish the demon. What we need now, is to find out where he's hiding." Julian made a break looking from on to the other. Then he went on: "The only way, to find out where he is, is to track him down while he is manipulating someone... Therefore we want to let Chris... well... maybe... more than likely... expose magic again, because that surely will happen, when Veenosh is controlling him."
The Cleaners kept silent and so did Julian. Now Silas went closer and rose to speak: "They are right, that's the only option we have."
One of the Cleaners turned to Leo: "But still we'll erase him after that..."
Now Leo smirked: "I don't think so... Because, if you don't guarantee us, to do your job and clean this mess without harm him in any kind of way, my son will stay where he is right now, and you'll never be able to find him..."
The Cleaners looked at each other then they turned to Julian, Silas and Leo again. "We have to discuss that," one of them said, "wait here." And with that they vanished.

& & & & &

"Did he talk to you?" Bianca asked when her husband returned to Julian's room. She was sitting on the bed, breastfeeding Hope, while Wyatt had found the popcorn and was now eating it happily.
Chris sighed and sat down next to her, caressing his little girl's cheek. She was so cute when she was drinking. No, she was more than that, she was an amazing wonder. Then he looked up to look at his wife. "He said, Julian had an idea, but hasn't told him all yet. And he'll talk to the Cleaners himself, since it could be to risky if I go there... Anyway, if they agree it's still me playing the freaked-out Elder again as we discussed before."
"Nothing new?" Bianca asked.
Chris shook his head and sighed. Then he leaned over to her and kissed her softly. "They will find a way... I'm sure..."
"Yeah... are you really sure?"
The Elder-witch nodded: "Yeah... because I'm sure this is not like it's supposed to end... I'm sure there is more in life for you and me..."
Bianca smiled: "That sounds good to me..."
He nodded. He wasn't so sure at all, but she was right. He had no other chance than believing in Belthazor and Julian in this case. And he still knew what the Oracle had showed him a few months ago... 'There has to be a way out of this,' he thought.
"When you're doing that," Bianca said all of a sudden, "I mean... go out there and play the bait... Then I'm coming with you!"
"What?" Chris asked unbelieving. "No... you can't... who shall take care of Hope and Wyatt when you come with me?"
She sighed. He had a point there. But still... "Well, then I'll bring them home before," she suggested.
Chris thought about that for a moment. Then he agreed. He was sure he would feel better when he wouldn't be alone. And he knew that she wouldn't let him hurt her, after all she was a Phoenix. So finally he nodded.
Then they both turned to watch Wyatt again, who was still eating and playing with the popcorn.
"Jesus, Wyatt... if mom finds out you're eating so much of this sweet stuff, she's going to ground both of us for the rest of our lives..."
Wyatt chuckled, turning to Chris: "Won't tell her."
The Elder-witch nodded: "Alright... So we have our first brotherly super secret." Then he stood up smiling, and went over to him, picking him to his arms.
Wyatt thought about his big brother's words for a moment. Then he nodded and pointed at himself. "Super secret 's safe with Wyatt," he declared, making the others smile at him.

& & & & &

Darryl sighed. He had shown his papers and the map to the Halliwells and was now leaning back on the sofa while Paige and Piper were still bent over all that stuff frowning. They had returned from the kitchen as soon as Kyle had told them about the new discoveries.
"You really think it could be there? Where that robber is hiding?" Paige asked. She had a weird feeling in her stomach about that.
Darryl shrugged. "It's the only thing I could find... but after all what happened today I don't think we should waste a chance."
Piper moved her finger over the map, along the imaginary line of the robberies, from left to right, and then back to the left. "I think I need another coffee," she said then.
"Me too," Cole agreed.
Kyle nodded: "I get us some..." Then he rose and walked to the kitchen, but when he was about to cross the room he suddenly stopped. "WAIT!" he exclaimed.
"What's wrong?" Paige asked worried.
Kyle pointed at the map: "Look... look at that from this side... this isn't an arrow... that's a 'V'... like in..."
"...Veenosh." Piper ended his sentence. Kyle nodded.
"Could it be, that this was all part of his plan?" Paige asked.

(Chapter 9 written by Chrissy.W.x and Belén)