AN- In the Valhalla episode, the producers used the j spelling for Fredja. As someone who grew up with the norse legends told by my grandparents, I will be using the y spelling which is Freya. I hope this clears up any confusion and enjoy chapter 3.
Chapter 3
"Hey," came a voice from the staircase. Julie looked up from her Intro to Government book from the couch and saw Lydia. The girl tossed her glossy black hair over her shoulder before she sat on the couch with Julie. "Do you mind if I borrow your leather jacket tonight?"
"I thought you had plans with Penny?" Julie questioned as she highlighted the sentence she had been reading.
"I do, but we're going to leave as soon as she gets back from dropping her car off in the shop." Julie looked up at Lydia alarmed.
"Is she…"
"Oh she's fine. Her check engine light went off this morning and she's dropping it off right now."
"Katarina's bringing her home?"
"No Katarina's class got cancelled so she left campus early to go run errands. Penny's calling a taxi to bring her home."
"Why didn't she tell me earlier ? I could have borrowed Kyle's car and driven her back here."
"Are you kidding?" Lydia asked Julie. "She was afraid you would have blown up the engine after this morning."Julie sighed and slammed her book shut.
"I would've helped her even if she overstepped the boundaries."
"Do you really think she did?" Lydia asked with a snide look.
"You don't?!" Julie exclaimed. Lydia continued to stare and Julie took a breath to regain her composer. "She had no right."
"She had every right," the Gypsy countered as Julie got off the couch. "Do you really think it's okay for someone of your status in the magical community? I wish you would get it through your head that he's part demon and you're a daughter of the Charmed…" Julie held up a hand.
"You need to remember I'm from the Daniel's line not theirs! Just because I was raised by one of them does not mean I have to be the perfect." Lydia stood.
"You don't have to be perfect Julie. You do have to expect some criticism for someone from your line of to be dating a demon."
"His mother was a witch!" Julie screamed. "What part of that don't you get?" Lydia opened her mouth to reply, but stopped when they saw orbs. Angela and Penny appeared in the living room. Angela grabbed her purse from the table before leaving the same way she came in.
"Hey," Penny greeted Julie. "Lydia and I are going to the new Collin Perkins movie tonight. Angela said she couldn't but if you and Katarina wanted to come…"
"Busy," Julie said as she grabbed her text book. "The jacket is hanging in the closest. I'll be in my room."
"Not our room?" Penny questioned. Julie gave the girl a look before she went to the stairs. Julie turned when she felt a hand took hers and saw Penny wearing a concerned look. "Can we please talk about last night and this morning?" Julie shook her head.
"Still too soon Penny-boo." Penny let go, but she wore a look of concern. Julie tried to ignore Penny, but she felt Penny watch her go up the stairs. Julie went up two flights of stairs before she reached the attic. It was a little smaller then the Halliwell attic, but it was still a large attic. It contained two tables (one was used for scrying while the other was used for potion making), a loveseat couch, a shelving unit for non cooking herbs as well as other potion making items, a five-shelf book case that held the five residents collective spellbook collection, and a shelving unit that held all there other magical items. Julie opened the door next to the window and went inside the cupboard. She then tossed her book on the floor before she collapsed onto the twin size bed gazing out of the window. Despite the room being a small one, it had the best view in the entire house. It didn't match Valhalla's, but it was good enough. After a minute of self pity Julie got off her bed and changed into a sweat-suit. She then made her way to the basement (carefully avoiding her housemates) and turned on the lights before she crept down the stairs. Julie checked to make sure Katarina wasn't in her room before sure turned on the stereo and looked around the basement.
The basement was huge compared to the Attic. Like the Attic, the basement had a small bedroom off to the side as well as a bathroom. The basement was fully equipped with exercise equipment, but it also served as a training area to the entire house even though Katarina and Julie were usually the only ones who used it. The floor was fully matted for sparing or combat drills (and sometimes in Julie's case a gymnastic routine) with different punching bags. There were also two chest under the stereo. One chest held sparring equipment in it and the other was a locked chest that contained weapons in it. She went to the one with the equipment and pulled out a roll of gauze to wrap her knuckles with. Julie then went to the heavy bag and began to work off her anger.
Despite how close the two girls were, Penny had always been jealous of how close Julie was to Chris. All of the Halliwell children (especially Melinda) actually were jealous of Julie and Chris' relationship. Chris picked on everyone as a way to deal with his parents' comparison of him to Wyatt and his parents coming down on him harder than they did with Wyatt or Melinda. His parents didn't do it on purpose, but from an early age Chris realized he wasn't like his brother and Melinda got away with more since she was the youngest as well as the only girl in the family. As a result, he teased his cousins and Julie about anything he could think of. Unlike the Halliwell children, Julie wouldn't put up with it and put Chris in his place on more than one occasion with her own words. In Chris' eyes, the ability to put him in his place made Julie way cooler than his cousins or siblings. As the two got older the two became closer friends. After Julie returned from her summer trip to Valhalla in order to grieve her mother death, the two became inseparable even though Wyatt and Julie became friends. Whether Chris was sitting in the bleachers waiting for her to get done with her practice or going to the mall Fridays nights to check out the latest cds and make fun of Wyatt as well as the other popular High School kids, Chris and Julie spent every waking moment together. That was until the six months Chris dated Sara who only dated him due to the girl's jealousy of Julie.
Their relationship took a further toll when Julie started to date Alex (the high school quarter back) near the end of her Freshman year of High School. Chris had always been the one to get in a fight if a guy would make a sexual or rude remark about Julie, but when Julie was with Alex, Chris would always fight with Alex. The cause of the fight was not always due to Chris being jealous. There had been a few fights where Chris had confronted Alex about kissing another girl or starting rumors about Julie when the two had a disagreement. Julie broke up with Alex near before her sophomore year and her relationship with Chris became a romantic one after he broke up with Sara. Chris was the first guy Julie had ever thought about having sex with as well as the first and only guy to ever see Julie cry. Although the couple had never announced their relationship to the family, Julie felt that Penny had always known just how close Julie had gotten to Chris especially since Melinda would complain to Prue and Malinda when Chris was with Julie. Despite only saying it behind Julie's back, Melinda and Prue blamed Julie for Chris leaving which Penny had never denied. It was part of the reason Julie stayed in Valhalla.
"Your left lead is crap," Katarina said as she made her way down the stair. Julie jumped at the sound of the girl's voice and tried to make it seem that she meant to jump embarrassed that she had not been aware of her surroundings.
"My mind isn't concerned with technique at the moment," Julie replied as she threw a cross-gab-hook combination. Katarina tossed her book bag to her bedroom door and went into the bathroom. She reappeared after she grabbed a hair tie. She then pulled her hair into a ponytail before she went over to the punching bag and held it in place for Julie. Julie nodded in appreciation and returned her attention to the punching bag.
"You and Penny need to learn that when you fight, you put everyone on edge," Katrina told Julie after a minute of silence. "I know it's because you two grew up like sisters, but it's not good for the atmosphere of the house and can hinder everyone's ability to keep a level head during a vanquish." One of the things Julie loved about Katarina was the girl's honesty. If Julie needed to know something, she knew Katarina wouldn't sugarcoat it.
"I didn't want to talk about it at breakfast because we were in public," Julie reminded Katarina as she did a roundhouse kick. The kick came close to Katarina, but she ducked out of the way instead of letting go. "And for the record I'm not asking anyone to take any sides. This is between me and Penny and the two of us will fix it just like we've fixed every other fight since we were able to crawl."
"Then you better fix it fast because the lines have been drawn. Why do you think her and Lydia went to the movies tonight instead of having all of us go out tomorrow night." Julie's punches got harder and Katarina let go hoping it would knock into Julie.
"They invited me to go tonight so maybe it's just because they want to go to the beach tomorrow." The punching bag was swinging from side to side and Katarina caught one of Julie's punches that missed the bag. Katarina then put her other hand on Julie's shoulder and looked into the witch's eye.
"She loves you," Katarina whispered. "You two just fight like sisters because you are sister. You being upset at her hurts just as much as her betraying your trust hurts you." Julie sighed in frustration, but grinned at Katarina after a minute.
"You better not let anybody hear you," Julie warned as she shook Katarina off. Katarina let go without a fight. "The other girls might think you're getting soft." Katarina shook her head but wore a smile.
"Who's going to tell them, you? Even if you said something they would never believe you." Julie smiled at the platinum blonde girl. Julie was the only one who took the time to see past the coldhearted Valkyrie façade when the girls were in middle school and was the only one who Katarina let her guard down now that they were older. It was a relationship that Julie didn't think was possible when the girls first met due to Katrina jealousy of Julie for being accepted in Valhalla. The day the pair found themselves in Leo's office for fighting was the day the two learned that they were similar. Both were strong-willed girls who put their guard on for the world in order to hide their hurt for their abandonment issues and whose main goal in life was to live a life that would make their Mothers proud. It was purely coincidence that the two were trained in the Valkyrie ways…a coincidence that brought them closer even when Julie left Magic School for High School.
"I don't think any of them realize there's a loving caring person beneath that kick-ass witch…"
"Valkyrie," Katarina corrected with a grin as she put her hands on her hips. "But yes I do kick ass." Julie shook her head and laughed, but stopped when her lack of ass kicking that afternoon came back to her. She still had to deal with the creature that threw a potion at her and had to retrieve her backpack along with her knife. "Julie what's wrong?" Julie looked at Katarina and chewed her lip as an idea came to her.
"Hey, what are you doing tonight?" Katrina waved her hand so the basement door closed.
"If you're going to ask me to babysit Wyatt again I'm busy," Katrina stated plainly. Katrina was the only person outside of Wyatt's council who knew Julie's position since Julie had request Katrina's help in protecting him when Julie thought he could use extra protection. Usually Katrina didn't have a problem with it unless it was one on one bodyguard type protection when she had to make it seem like she was just a friend of his. Katrina had almost pulled a knife on Wyatt the last time she had guard duty when he said the reason Freya had denied his training was because she was on her period. Since then Julie had tried to keep the two away from one another.
"That wasn't what I was thinking," Julie assured her with a smile. "How would you like to go out and possibly kick some ass?" Katrina grinned.
"Sounds like the perfect Friday night to me."
XXXXX
"Explain to me why I'm here," Katarina requested Julie an hour later as they walked the streets of Los Angeles. The two were dressed identical in jeans, leather boots, black jackets, black hair wigs, and black sun glasses even though it was night. "If you're just getting your backpack you should be able to project in and out."
"Because I don't know if my bag was left there or if I have to search for it and the knife," Julie answered as an older couple stared at them. "Besides I have no idea if that guy was demonical or magical and if he is either he may be waiting for me or take my stuff to scry for me." Julie looked at Katarina. "I'd rather have some backup in case I need it." Katarina snorted.
"Your potions, knife, and Valkyrie training are enough of a backup." Julie smiled at Katrina's complement before she checked her pants pocket to make sure her potions were there and looked at her right boot to see her knife in it. The knife had the Daniel's crest on it and belonged to her mother who found it after her parents died. The crest was said to contain power in it, but Julie had not been able to call upon that power thus far in her life.
"But they're not trained to notice when someone is watching or trained to track." They turned down another alley and Julie stopped Katarina. "This is where I ditched my bag. The alley ahead on the left is where the demon attacked." Katarina nodded and continued to the other alley as Julie jumped in the dumpster. Katarina positioned herself so she was able to see Julie and scan the attack site.
"The demon didn't leave many ashes," Katarina reported as she scanned the alley. She squatted down to be eye level to the ground. "He did leave some sort of necklace. There's an indent of a pendant in the ashes that was probably picked up by your new blonde friend, but he didn't leave any footprints. Either he cleaned them or he doesn't leave footprints." Katarina then stood and held out her hand. The knife Julie had used earlier flew into her hand. "Is this mine?"
"I called for knife and that's what I got so get over it," Julie informed Katarina as she found her bag. "And keep an eye out, would you? My potions didn't even scratch the demon but the blonde's vanquished it." Katarina scanned the area as Julie climbed out of the dumpster. Julie then checked he backpack to ensure that everything was there. When she saw something was missing she dumped her backpack. Katarina came over when she noticed Julie's stuff on the floor.
"What is it?" Katarina asked.
"My agenda isn't here," Julie confessed as she put everything back in the bag. She then kicked the dumpster. Katarina walked toward the dumpster and climbed in to look for it.
"What was in it besides your homework assignments? Did you have your contact information?" Julie shook her head in frustration.
"No the contact info was for my P.O. box that's listed under an alias at the Post Office. I wrote down some notes from an article I found in the library yesterday in my agenda since I didn't have any other paper. It had to do with the murder sprees around the time Mom was killed." Katarina searched Julie's face.
"You think this might not have been an accident?"
"I don't know what to believe." Julie felt the hairs on her arms start to stand and she drew a knife from her boot. "Expect for the fact that we were being followed after all." Katarina flipped out of the dumpster after she pulled out her own knife from her boot and landed behind Julie so they were back to back. The two then used their Valkyrie training to scan and listen to their surroundings.
"I don't see anything," Katarina confessed after a moment as she took off her glasses to look around.
"Something's here," Julie assured the other girl as she took off her glasses as well. "Angel!" A few seconds later there was a ball of light.
"What have I told about that nickname?!" Angela demanded.
"Orb now explain later," Julie promised. At that moment a vile broke at their feet and a bright light filled the alley. The three girls were blinded and Julie felt something hit her shoulder. When she was able to see again she saw the platinum blonde guy from earlier.
"Got you now," he said as he raised his hand to levitate a broken piece of wood with a sharp edge.
"Wait!" a familiar male voice called out. Julie looked at the speaker and was greeted by a pair of blue-gray eyes. Before a word was spoken, Angela and Katarina appeared next to her. Katarina grabbed her hand and the three of them disappeared away from Julie's past.