Chapter Six
"You stupid witches let him get away!" the fierce woman burst out, surprising both Wyatt and Chris with her sudden exclamation. From her past actions, they'd expected her to attack them, after killing Mr. Jameson, but it didn't seem like that was what she intended. In fact, she seemed genuinely distraught as she looked around, as if she expected to find who she was looking for right standing behind her.
"So, wait... you're not evil?" Chris asked, very confused. The woman had abruptly changed emotions on them, and now she was acting like they had done something wrong, when they'd only saved their neighbor from dying a rather painful death.
"Of course I'm not," she said, exasperated, pushing her strawberry blond hair back brusquely. She seemed accustomed to answering the question, and seemed to know why she would appear so. "I'm a good witch, and I've been tracking this spirit for over two years. This was the first time I've gotten so close, and I would have gotten him too," she paused and glared back at Chris and Wyatt, "if you two hadn't gotten in the way! Seriously, what were you guys thinking?"
"Whoa, hey," Wyatt protested, holding up his hands. He was starting to feel very much like his mother was scolding him for doing something he shouldn't have done, and yet, he'd only acted the way his Halliwell instinct had demanded: protecting the innocent, as he was always supposed to do. He refused to feel guilty over doing something that was in his very blood. "We had no idea that Mr. Jameson was possessed by a spirit or something. He just popped out of nowhere before you tried to kill him."
The woman sighed, frustrated. "Well, I wasn't going to stop and explain that Mr. What's-His-Face was possessed before I got the spirit, was I? He would have gotten away!" The woman stopped, fingering her dagger. "I was so close," she muttered to herself, "so close!" She seemed to be extremely upset over losing a simple spirit. In fact, Wyatt could almost see tears in the corners of her eyes. He wondered why this was so important to her, as it was obvious that she'd let everything go in the pursuit of this spirit. Her appearance was a disaster, and the way she handled her dagger was strange, almost too fond of it, as if she'd gotten accustomed to having the weapon in her hand at all times. It was definitely not a habit one gained in a short period of time, and Wyatt believed her when she said that she'd been searching for this spirit over a couple of years.
"Look, it's not that bad. You can scry for the spirit and find him again," Chris said, still frustrated by the way the woman seemed intent on blaming them for the loss of whoever she was looking for. He also hadn't taken kindly to her holding a knife to Wyatt's neck while demanding the life of the man lying on the ground.
The woman turned her piercing eyes towards the younger Halliwell. "It doesn't work that way! I can't find him through magical means until he's possessing somebody, which he isn't, right now… unless…" the woman suddenly paused and darted up to Wyatt, holding his chin firmly in her hands and peering into his eyes. Wyatt instinctively launched up his energy shield, but before it hit the woman, she walked over to Chris and grabbed his hair roughly, staring into his eyes. Green irises glinted innocently back at her. "Nope, you're clean," she said, releasing the young man's brown hair.
Chris winced, feeling several places on his scalp where hairs used to be. He rubbed at his head, trying to flatten his hair. "What was that for? I thought we'd already established that we were all part of the same side!" He noticed Wyatt grinning at him, and he sighed. He ran his fingers through his brown locks, feeling how a few of the strands had stood up haphazardly, making him look rather ridiculous.
"Malachi possesses people very discreetly. The only way to tell is through looking at a person's eyes," the woman explained, pointing at her own eyes. "For some reason, his spirit turns the irises of the possessed silver, making it easy to recognize him." She sighed. "He's just been switching so quickly that it's hard to keep up." She tucked her blade back into her pocket reluctantly, knowing that there was no more reason to have it on hand.
"Malachi? Is that the spirit's name?" Wyatt asked, turning to look at Chris. Now that the ghostly essence had a name, they would be able to find it in the Book of Shadows. Their book had hundreds of different beings described within its pages, so it might have the elusive spirit the woman was looking for. Chris seemed to be thinking the same thing as Wyatt, and he nodded slightly, still watching the woman warily. He still wasn't quite sure whether he trusted her or not.
"Yes, that is his name, Malachi. He used to be a very powerful warlock, and before he died, he cast a spell that would make his spirit live on. He was eventually killed, but that only released his soul and allowed him to be free and live on to possess other powerful beings," she said. "Over the past few years, he's gone through many bodies, and the only way to get rid of him is with this knife." The woman patted the hilt of her dagger, which was still sticking out of her pocket. "I made it myself, especially for him," she said fondly, "as soon as you stick it into the body holding his spirit, he will finally die."
Wyatt tried to ignore the way in which she seemed to be too in love with her dagger, and not mind killing innocent people, and instead suggested, "You should come with us and look in the Book of Shadows. We might find some way to find him a lot quicker in there."
"I'm sorry, we?" the woman asked, one eyebrow raised. "What makes you think that you guys would be able to help me kill this spirit? I've been tracking him for years, I know everything about him, and even I haven't been able to get him yet. What makes you think that you will be able to?"
"We're the sons of one of the Charmed Ones," Wyatt said, affronted by the fact that this woman, whoever she was, assumed that they were weak witches. They weren't, and Wyatt, for some reason, felt eager to prove his power and vanquishing ability to her.
The woman seemed shocked, and she took a step back to look both of the brothers up and down. "You're the Twice-Blessed?" she asked, surprised. There was a tone in her voice that implied that she didn't quite believe the blond man. She then turned towards Chris, who had a slightly darker gleam in his eye. "You're his brother? Huh… somehow I thought you guys would look more…" the woman hesitated, not seeming to want to finish the sentence.
"Yes, I'm the Twice-Blessed," Wyatt muttered. That declaration hadn't quite gone the way he'd hoped. He'd assumed that their reputation would be enough to prove to this woman that they were powerful enough, but she still seemed to doubt them. "And we have the Book of Shadows back at the Manor, so maybe that could be of some help."
"Well, no wonder Malachi's after you," she murmured, eyeing both the young men carefully, seeming to evaluate them once more. Then, she thought for a moment, seeming to be debating with herself. She then shrugged, as if telling herself 'why not?', and nodded. "Yeah, sure. It can't hurt," she said, looking behind Chris at the car where they'd been previously sticking the bags into. "I'm Jennifer, by the way," she added, not actually looking at any of the Charmed boys as she spoke.
"I'm Wyatt, and this is Chris," the older man replied, gesturing at his younger brother as he spoke. He was still rather bothered by the fact that Jennifer didn't seem to be impressed with the Charmed reputation, but was pleased by the knowledge of her name. It didn't seem to fit her, but it was nice to know what it was anyway. "We should hurry back home," he commented, glancing at his watch. Piper would be expecting them, and Wyatt was grateful to know that their 'Halloween decoration family fun-athon' would be postponed until further notice.
"Um, before we go," Chris uttered quietly, "we should probably do something about him." He pointed at Mr. Jameson, who was still lying on the ground, not having moved ever since having been healed. Poor Mr. Jameson was probably going to be very confused when he woke up, but Chris wanted to make sure that all of them were gone by that time, so he would have no chance to ask questions. For all he would know, he'd just had a really strange dream.
(A/N) Hello everybody! So now we have a name to give to the strange woman who keeps popping up every other chapter: Jennifer. And, what do you guys think of her? Is she really crazy, or just super determined? Thoughts! Oh, and why is finding the spirit so important to her? Where did it go, anyway? Why is Wyatt so insulted? And why are the shopping bags being so annoying? The answers to all these questions and more in the next chapter, which will be out next week! Pretty exciting, huh?
Oh, and I wanted, as usual, to thank all the people who added this to their Alerts or Favorites, but especially to my reviewers. I had a really crappy week, and every time I noticed that somebody had reviewed my story, it boosted my spirits! So thank you to: DarcieBiffo, Fanycharmed, Guest, onlysemiclueless, NoseInANovel, and Everything-Mike-Ross. You awesome people made me so happy this week, and this story is happy too!
Speaking of which, please please review! Fanycharmed brought up last time that there is such a pesky little thing as free will. Which means that I can't keep using magic or hypnotism to get you guys to review. And just when I'd gotten help from PJ too! Oh well, I am simply reduced to begging... Please please please review? I'm begging you! I'm down on my knees! I have cookies! And no, that might have rhymed, but it's not a spell... or is it? *evil laughter* See you next week, and until then, enjoy!