The Neighbors
-The Dream Sequences-
"V, help us," a voice screamed and Laveda ran out of the spare bedroom of the Halliwell manor to the stairs. "Hurry, please. Save us." It was coming from the main floor.
With that Laveda sped down the stairs. She was running down the stairs and had gotten to the last few when she slipped in something warm and wet which caused her to fall to the bottom of the steps.
She hit her head and looked up to see what she'd slipped in. Covering the bottom stairs she saw bright red blood. She looked down at the floor and saw blood was covering all of the floor.
Then all six sisters walked into the room, all of them looking just as they had when they died.
"You let us die," Talbot stated. Her hair was matted with blood on top of her head, it was dripping from her mouth as she spoke and it was coming from her stomach staining the loose sky blue top. "You sat there and watched as I died and did nothing about it."
"I tried," Laveda yelled. "I tried to save you. You were too far gone, too far injured."
"You also lied to me," Talbot yelled. "You promised to always protect Vera. You told me, while I was dying, that you would never let anything bad happen to my daughter. Look at her now. She's dead. I think that was something bad, don't you?"
"I didn't… I tried… I really did… Ebony… She was too fast, too far away," Laveda said, trying to get the words out.
"What, because I killed your niece you killed me. You should have let me run you through with my blade, saved us all the time," Ebony said with a laugh and Laveda turned to look at her sister who was in the same manner, blood soaked and cold.
"Please, just stop," Laveda whispered as the blood began to rise as her sisters got closer.
"Don't forget about me," Sadira, the second oldest, called as she walked into sight. Her chest was blood soaked from where Ebony's blade had entered her. Her stomach was hidden slightly by the baggy sweatshirt but still, it protruded enough for someone to tell she'd died pregnant. "You and Christopher sent me on that mission. You knew I was pregnant… You knew that Ebony would be there but let me go. Then you let my two still living children die."
"I didn't know Ebony would be there. If I had I would have never sent you. It was suppose to be safe and your kids… My nephews… Callaghan got an infection that I could prevent and we didn't learn till it was too late. Xander, he was my fault. I should have protected him during the attack on the camp. I lost track of him and it was my fault. I will admit that one was but Callaghan I couldn't change or prevent," Laveda screamed at her sister.
"They were three and five when they died – children, toddlers. How can you make excuses," Sadira screamed at her. Her bright blue eyes shone through the messy blonde hair that hung in front of her eyes. "How dare you?"
"What about me," another voice said. It was fresh in her memory – this sister having only died two and a half years prior to this. Laveda turned to see her sister, Ran, tears in her eyes, pain in her heart. "I fought in this war valiantly for five years. Five years I gave to you and this cause. I had offers of marriage that I rejected for you. I could have been married, been a mother but I wasn't. You never even buried me. You left me."
"I'm sorry," Laveda whispered, her voice dry and raspy from all these emotions. "I wanted to bury you but demons were coming. We didn't have time to collect our dead. I've always regretted leaving you there."
"What about me? You knew I hated magic. You knew I wouldn't fight back if attacked yet you left me alone," the fifth child and the final sister yelled. Her body was torn into, parts of her missing. Her organs were spilling out of her.
"Please, I was a kid. I was fourteen… I couldn't have done anything, made you do anything you didn't want to," Laveda yelled. "I tried to convince you that you needed to stick with us but you refused. Its not my fault."
Laveda woke up to somebody physically shaking her. She opened her eyes and found Chris looking at her confused. "Sorry," she whispered. "Just a nightmare… did I wake anyone?"
"No, it was a quiet nightmare. I knew because I sensed your pain," he stated before crawling into bed next to her, fully dressed. A sheet was between them even as he held her but she felt better. "Go back to sleep, I'm here." She did just that.
--
Twenty year old Wyatt Halliwell sat in his office doing paperwork when there was a knock at the door. He grumbled under his breath before telling the person to enter. Looking up he wasn't surprised to see Ebony in the doorway.
She probably wanted to sleep with him again, the two of them having a sexual relationship going on which had started about five months ago.
"Ebony, I'm not in the mood for a fuck, even if you are a good fuck," Wyatt began but was cut off by her interrupting him which was very out of character for her.
"Wyatt, I'm not here to get laid," he heard her say and he looked up – noting how terrified she looked.
"Then why…" he began but she cut him off.
"I'm pregnant," she stated and he froze. The implications were huge.
"Are you sure?" he asked, his mouth feeling dry. He wasn't in love with Ebony and she knew it. They were just sleeping together for the sex. He'd been careful. He also knew she wasn't having a relationship with anyone at the time – emotional or sexual – that didn't involve him.
"I took five tests and I went to a witch doctor who confirmed it magically," she stated and he saw her fear. "I'm not a mothering type. I'm the torture, torment, kill type person. I can't be a mother."
For the first time in years Wyatt found himself having to comfort someone other than himself. It was strange. He eventually got her settled and convinced her to keep the baby, telling her he'd take it since he was the father.
Nine months later he got a call from one of Ebony's temporary guard telling him she'd gone into labor. He rushed down the steps, his heart pounding and adrenaline pulsing.
He was about to become a father. He was about to have a child of his own. When he arrived in the medical wing he found the nurses trying to offer Ebony a pink little blanket but she refused to even look at the child let alone hold it. He took the child in his arms.
"Hello Ura," he stated, having gone through Ebony's mother's belongings and especially her name book.
"Ura, the heart," Ebony said and he nodded. "It fits," she tells him. "I think we finally found something that has a softening affect on the great lord Wyatt."
"I am just a man after all," he whispers while looking at his precious little girl. Her eyes open and he sees blue eyes staring back at him. It was perfect.
Wyatt opened his eyes and blinked back tears. It had been a while since he dreamt of his daughter. He stood up and padded barefooted out to the main hall. He didn't even put on clothes so all he wore was a pair of dark gray boxers. Two doors down the hall he opened a door.
Inside he found a room with two mint green walls, two white walls. The door was emerald green and the softest carpeting he'd been able to find. On the inside door there was pink painted there, showing it was in fact a girls room.
He looked around. He'd taught his daughter to walk in here, taught her to talk. At a year and a half she'd died. No one knew she was allergic to strawberries and she had an allergic reaction. It killed her.
The twice blessed ruler of the world couldn't protect his daughter from something as simple as an allergic reaction. It had to be a cruel joke. He shook his head before heading back to his room. He had an early meeting in the morning and needed his sleep.
--
Chris stood there in the living room. It was his birthday today. He wasn't feeling up to it. He just wanted to sit around and mope.
The day before he had fought with Laveda and she hadn't spoke to him since then.
"Come on bro, there are other fish in the sea. Whatever chick is bothering you today, get over her," Wyatt said as he plopped down on the couch next to Chris. Chris sent a glare at his big brother.
"Its Vida," Chris said and Wyatt pinched his lips at that.
"Ah, sucks for you then. Come on Chris, don't let some woman get you down. It's your birthday," Wyatt said.
"Some Woman, so glad to know how I rank to you," a familiar voice said before a hand reached out and slapped Wyatt in the back of the head.
"Nice of you to join us V," he said before moving out of her reach as her hand tried to slap him. He smiled as his mom came in carrying a cake. "I'm sorry about being a jerk."
Laveda smiled at him. "Its okay Chris," she told him and he smiled at her. Her eyes got wide as an idea came to Chris's mind. "Oh no."
With that she began to sprint off up the stairs. He was hot on her tail. As they got to his bedroom door he grabbed her and they fell to the ground laughing. Somehow she managed to manipulate it so he landed on bottom. Maybe it was him trying to protect her from the fall. He wasn't sure.
After a moment the laughing stopped and they looked at each other. She began to bend forward as if to kiss him and he held his breath. His heart began to pound when there was a bang downstairs and a couple screams.
It disturbed them and the duo was instantly on their feet moving down the stairs. He came in to find his mom lying on the ground, blood pooling around her. Wyatt was fighting off a demon on his own but it was too strong.
They recognized it as a breed of demon known only as the immortals. They were original beings – a demon that couldn't be vanquished.
Chris was pissed off. This was his birthday. He held out his hands and began to strike at the demon with his lightning. Laveda stood next to him and held out her hand. Her own Lightning began to strike the demon.
The demon screamed out in pain and exploded, vanquished. She looked at him and he looked at her. All he could think was – how the hell did we do that?
--
"What do you think?" Chris asked Pandora as he pulled a little jewelry box out of the top drawer of his desk.
"Who's it for, first," Pandora said and Chris looked at her puzzled. Pandora took that to mean it was for her – the phoenix girlfriend. "Bianca, got ya. She won't like it."
Chris's eyes got wide before he looked at it.
"Why?" Chris asked when Laveda walked in. She spotted the ring instantly.
"Oh, wow, that is so beautiful," Laveda said as she looked at the ring in the box. "So, when are you going to pop the question?"
"Before the mission," Chris told them as Vera came to sit next to Pandora. The two teens shared a look before going back to their relatives. "I'm thinking at the park."
"Really, aren't you afraid you'll be discovered? Wyatt's always sending probes into that area," Laveda warned and Chris brushed them off. Chris was too reckless when it came to that girlfriend of his.
"We'll be fine," Chris stated as if it was nothing.
"Chris," Laveda began before she turned away. "Oh, forget it. Do whatever the hell you want. You get attacked by a probe don't come whinning to me." With that she walked out leaving Chris in shock.
He followed behind calling after her. Pandora grabbed the ring in her thirteen, nearly fourteen year old hand.
"This, will not do," Pandora told her best friend who nodded in agreement.
"We really must get those two together. I know a lust potion that might work," Vera said and they both started laughing as soon as those words were out.
"Counterproductive," Pandora said and Vera arched a brow at her.
"Since when do you use words like counterproductive?" Vera asked. Pandora smiled at her friend.
"Well, since I've been eavesdropping on Chris's meetings, that's since when," Pandora told Vera who shook her head.
"And they say I'm a bad influence," Vera said sarcastically. Pandora laughed knowing it was true.
--
"No," an unfamiliar yet strangely familiar female yelled as Chris was stabbed in the side by an invisible force.
"You are going to pay for that," a curly haired blonde man yelled. The man was dressed in darkness and was holding baby Wyatt in his arms protectively. The female ran to Chris's side.
She had blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She had the Clay Eyes.
Eleven year old Talbot Clay woke up from another precognitive dream. Her pulse was pounding from fear. Something was going to happen. She shrugged it off, planning on telling someone about the dream in the morning.
Of course, Airheaded Talbot would forget to tell someone about the dream.
