Comment: Hope you have been enjoying the story so far, I know I have.
I have reloaded Chapter one, hopefully fixing the formatting problem, x fingers.
Things are about to get very interesting for Prue in the next chapter, stay tuned !
Tuesday
The Manor Tuesday morning.
As Matt had predicted, the Manor was surrounded by News reporters, both Newspaper, TV and radio, not only local but state wide early in the morning. Fortunately the prepared story that Inspectors Cortez and Darryl had worked out with the sisters, Leo and Cole, stood up to the many questions thrown at them.
Describing seeing dimly lit animals who had then come through the windows, being chased up the stairs, then hearing the police breaking down the front door, firing shots that scared the animals off took only minutes. As the only pictures were of broken windows (bordered up) and that no one from the Manor would co operate by posing for pictures, meant that there was not much to go on.
Most of the press had more luck interviewing the other residents of the street, some who described not only seeing large and impossible animals, but added other stories about what happened at 1329 Prescott St. Those reporters not local and therefore not familiar with previous incidents, generally gave up at this point and moved on. The anniversary of the Golden Gate bomb attack provided more news and better sound bites.
The few who remained, found that both the sisters, Leo, Cole and the police would no longer co operate and instead insisted on their privacy. Apart from a couple of die hards, most had left within the hour.
At least this allowed the Insurance investigators to do their job and the builders to start repairs. As Prue had commented, at least this time, someone else was paying the bills. Darryl had arrived and after having talked to the insurance assessors, had rejoined the sisters and Cole somewhat grumpily for lunch. Inspector Cortez had tasked him with questioning everyone again to see if any additional information was forth coming. As he had arranged with Sheila to have lunch with her, one the few opportunities that had been available recently, having to cancel at such short notice had upset his wife and him.
Sheila (Tuesday, just after lunch)
Jumper and Starbright were given the job of sending another message to the humans who had now badly hurt the pack twice. Since Jumper in his human form was trusted by the human police officer who had been at the witches home during the attack, he was in a perfect position to hurt them in return. Firstfang sent Jumper and his mate Starbright to extract revenge.
As the door bell rang, Sheila wondered who was calling. The boys should still be at school and she knew Darryl would be late home. Looking carefully through the the door's peep hole, she recognised James and an unknown woman in a nurses uniform standing in the corridor.
As she unlocked and opened the door to let them in, she asked James why he was visiting. Stating that he had come to see Darryl, he showed considerable anger when he learned that Darryl was not expected to return for some time.
As the nurse wandered into her apartment, Sheila found herself backing away from James as he became increasingly agitated. He turned to the nurse and and said one word "distraction". The nurse smiled and picked up the remote for the TV. Turning it on, she then increased the volume until it was at maximum. Briefly Sheila considered taking the remote by force and turning the TV off but one look at the woman who had now dropped the remote and had now moved between her and the phone made her realise that she could not go near her. Something about how she both looked and stood, made it impossible for Sheila to force herself to approach either of them
"Leave now" Sheila said with some force to James who just looked at her. As she continued to back away from them, she reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone. Moving faster than any human had a right too, James stepped forward and with a swipe of his hand, sent the phone flying across the room to shatter against the wall.
Both Jumper and Starbright had little time as humans would come to investigate the noise, if nothing else to complain. Even if the male was not present, killing the wife would at least gain them some revenge, a small token of what they would do in the future to those who had hurt the pack.
Sheila retreated back into the kitchen and grabbed a large carving knife. As she watched in horror, both James and the nurse began to change into something that not even her worst nightmare had ever come up with. Realising that she was trapped, Sheila's terror grew as the Wolfen began to close in.
Back at the Manor, Darryl wondered about the previous nights attack by the Wolfen on the sisters, he couldn't help but wonder what would come next. "How did they find out where you live?" he asked. None present could answer that question and Darryl's next question made it even more worrying. "What else do they know?" he asked.
As Phoebe reached over to reassure Darryl, a premonition slammed into her mind. She watched as an unknown man and women, began to shed their clothes as they changed into Wolfen. Slowly and carefully, they hunted a terrified woman across the apartment until she was trapped in the kitchen. A horrified Phoebe recognised Darryl's apartment, that the woman was Sheila and that she had no way to escape. The large carving knife she was waving at the two Wolfen would be totally ineffective.
With no time to call Leo, who had orbed up there to consult with the Elders, she turned to grab Paige. As Phoebe sent her vision into Paige's mind, Paige reeled from its impact. Phoebe said, "Quickly, you have to orb to Sheila and bring her back or they will kill her".
Knowing that Leo could not be recalled in time as Sheila had only seconds, Paige did not hesitate. As Darryl heard what Phoebe said, he first realised that his wife was in danger and that Paige was the only one who could save her.
As a now terrified Sheila backed into the kitchen's corner, hoping desperately that the carving knife that was wobbling all over the place would prove enough of a deterrent. The phone was out of reach and the loud TV would prevent her screams from being heard.
As Paige orbed in behind Sheila, she wrapped her arms around Sheila's waist and immediately tried to orb back to the Manor.
Sheila, now in a blind panic, failed to recognise Paige and reacted by blindly stabbing behind her with the knife, hitting Paige underneath her right arm and penetrating deeply.
Once again Paige appeared above the hallway floor, and fell with Sheila, almost a meter to the floor. As they hit the floor, Sheila rolled away from Paige and pulled the knife out.
Paige landed hard and rolled over as the pain from the knife wound hit her. Within seconds she was coughing up blood as the knife had penetrated deep enough to puncture her lung. As Piper frantically called for Leo, Prue placed her hand over the wound to prevent air from being sucked in and collapsing the lung. As Paige's right lung began to fill with blood, she found it increasingly difficult to breathe and her face grew whiter.
A highly relieved Darryl began to calm his hysterical wife, finally getting her calm enough to carefully take the knife from her. As she started to regain her composure, she realised that she had stabbed Paige. Still shaking from her near miss with the Wolfen and from orbing for the first time, she tried to reach Paige, only to be held back by her husband. Frantic that she may have killed Paige, Sheila found herself fighting her husband as reaching Paige and apologising was suddenly the most important thing to do. She only stopped when Leo appeared from the kitchen and placed his hands over the stab wound. She watched with fascination and relief as a white light spread from Leo's hands and the wound closed. Paige regained the colour in her face and gradually began to breathe normally again.
Finally Paige was able to get to her feet and she immediately walked over to embrace Sheila. "Its all right, you're safe and I'am OK" Paige said. Darryl let his wife go as she clung to Paige.
Once they realised what had happened, Darryl frantically called Inspector Cortez on his cell phone. It took only seconds for Cortez to understand the implications of what had happened and the danger they all were now in. First he sent a police car to the school, to pick up Darryl and Sheila's two children and escort them to a protected safe house on the out skirts of the city. Another car was sent to pick up his family, who were also taken to the safe house.
The other officers on the squad, were also warned, most taking precautions similar to both Cortez and Darryl.
After considering sending a SWAT team to Darryl's apartment, he changed his mind when he realised that if they did encounter the Wolfen, the SWAT team, would almost certainly take heavy casualties as they had no idea what they were getting themselves into.
Finally he made sure that an urgent message was dispatched to all regarding the private investigator they knew as James. He was now a dangerous individual who was involved in the park murders and that he was not to be approached under any circumstances. Any sighting was to be communicated to dispatch without delay.
What followed was a nervous wait until the safety of their children was confirmed. Both Sheila and Darryl were extremely grateful for what the sisters had done for them, but they were also well aware that because of their association with the sisters, they were also being hunted.
Sheila and Darryl spend some time discussing what they should do and after making several phone calls, decided that Sheila would take the two boys and visit her relations in Florida. This should keep them safe so long as their location was not disclosed. Darryl would join Cortez and several other officers to work out of the safe house.
After thanking the sisters and apologising to Paige yet again, a tearful Sheila joined Darryl and left to pick up their children from the safe house and head for Florida. Accompanied by Piper and Leo, they first stopped at their apartment to pick up some clothes. There they discovered the message left by the Wolfen. A series of parallel rips in their sofa's and chairs, put there by claws being dragged though the fabric.
As the Morris's left for the safe house, escorted by two police cars, Leo and Piper orbed back to the manor. As the afternoon wore on, Matt's imminent arrival began to wear more and more on Prue's nerves.
Phoebe convinced both Cole and Leo that they should leave to give Prue some privacy however Piper and Paige refused. Sisters stayed together through thick and thin, especially when there was the possibility of a marriage proposal. Leo orbed out with Cole to spend the afternoon at a local bar to unwind after Piper promised she would call for them when the time was right.
