Chosen Chapter 14: Past and Present Danger
Part 5
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In the past, Violet and the twins were standing in an alley across the street from the twins' childhood home. It was starting to get dark. Aside from an old lady walking her dog, the street was empty. They were observing the house in case something happened, but so far, it had been quiet. Violet knew the demons would attack soon, she had seen it in her premonition. Nick, who had been impatiently pacing around the alley, kicked against a dumpster, startling her.
"You nearly gave me a heart attack." Violet said.
"Sorry, I just can't stand this waiting around." Nick replied. "You said the demons would attack soon, right?"
"My premonitions don't give me an exact time." Violet said.
"Can't we just warn her?" Nathan asked.
"That would change the past." Violet said. "We have no idea what will happen if we do that."
"So we should just watch her die?" Nick asked.
"I know this must be hard, but we just need to remember we came here to find out what happened." Violet replied. "Not to change anything."
"Fine, I get it." Nick remarked.
"I've been thinking about this a lot." Nathan said. "There has to be more to it than just a random demon attack. Why would a demon attack our mom and let us live?"
"You know, I always thought our father killed our mom." Nick said. "He is a warlock after all. I figured he stole her powers and abandoned us."
"I often wondered the same thing." Nathan replied.
"I'm tired of waiting." Nick suddenly said. "I'm going to get answers."
Nick started heading toward the house, but Nathan stopped him. "You can't." He said. "Violet is right, we came to watch, not to change the past."
"Nathan, our lives sucked growing up." Nick said. "Why wouldn't we change it?"
"We have no idea what it will do to our present." Violet replied. "You know the butterfly effect? Any little change could have a huge impact on the future."
"Well, by that logic, maybe you already changed the future by talking to our mom." Nathan said.
"What? No…" Violet said hesitantly. "She doesn't know who I am. I haven't changed anything, right?"
"How can you be sure?" Nick asked.
"I'm not." Violet replied reluctantly.
"So if the future has already been changed, then what's stopping us from changing it further?" Nick asked.
"You don't fix a mistake by making more mistakes." Violet said. "Look, I would give anything to meet my biological parents, but I wouldn't want to give up the life I had. I love my adoptive parents and my friends. If I changed the past, I might have never met Arthur. If you do this, you might never meet Duncan, or Billie."
"Well, the difference is, you had parents growing up." Nathan said. "And you did a lot of good with your friends. All we did was make mistakes."
"No, you didn't." Violet said.
"Yeah, we did." Nathan said. "All the crimes we committed, working with Bacarra, getting captured in Vegas? We did more harm than good."
"We can't just sit back and do nothing, Violet." Nick argued. "You would do the same if it was your mother."
"I… maybe you're right." Violet said hesitantly.
"You could sneak us in if you freeze time." Nathan said. "We'll just wait and see what happens."
"I'm not sure about this." Violet replied.
"We can't wait around any longer." Nick said impatiently. "You have to decide now."
Violet started to pace around and she tried to decide what to do. All of this was getting out of hand. She wished Billie or Duncan were there, since they would know what to do. She knew that messing with the past was dangerous, but she also knew the twins were right. If her mom was about to get killed, she could not wait around either, so it was unfair to ask it of them. Her friends weren't here. She needed to decide for herself. Frustrated with her dilemma, she threw up her hands and froze the entire street.
"Let's hurry." Violet said against her better judgement.
Violet and the twins quickly ran across the street and snuck into the garden of house. They entered through the back door and made their way through the kitchen. When they entered the living room, they saw Erin standing frozen by the window, peeking outside, while the toddler versions of the twins were sleeping in a crib next to her.
"She was watching us." Nathan said as he looked at his mom. "She knew we were there."
"See, you already changed the past." Nick remarked.
"I can't keep the street frozen for long." Violet replied. "We need a place to hide."
"Over here." Nathan said as he walked to a double door with windows on the other side of the room. "I think this was a study."
Violet and Nick followed him and entered the study. They closed the door behind them and kneeled next the windows, allowing them to peek into the living room without being seen. Violet flicked her hand and restarted time. In the other room, Erin started pacing.
"Where is he when I need him?" Erin remarked.
At that moment, a warlock with short brown hair appeared in the blink of an eye. "Right here, babe." He said. "Missed me?"
"Hardly." Erin replied. "The witch bothered me. I don't want her to use our kids to get to you."
"What do you know about her?" the warlock asked.
"Not much, she pretended to be a neighbor to get a premonition off me." Erin replied. "I figured she was after you."
"You did the right thing calling me." The warlock said. "I'll take care of it."
"Are you even going to ask how your sons are doing?" Erin asked as she crossed her arms.
"What, they're fine, right?" the warlock replied with a shrug. "They're sleeping."
"They're your sons too, Jeremy." Erin said. "Take some responsibility."
"Look, I do my part. I stop by to check on them and make sure my enemies don't find them." Jeremy replied. "Don't expect me to be a doting dad. I never wanted this."
"No, you were just after my powers." Erin replied. "That's why you started dating me, seduced me so I'd sleep with you."
"And then you had to go and get pregnant." Jeremy remarked.
"So why didn't you just kill me and get it over with?" Erin asked.
"I might be evil, but I wouldn't kill the mother of my own sons." Jeremy replied. "It's because of them that you're still alive."
"That's a lie and you know it." Erin said. "I know you care about me, Jeremy. I can feel it."
"Don't fool yourself." Jeremy snapped at her. "And I didn't seduce you. You wanted me to get back at your family. Bringing home a warlock to piss them off. You were begging for it."
Erin raised her hand and tried to slap him, though Jeremy grabbed her hand before she could and pulled her in to kiss her. Erin resisted at first, but then gave in to him.
"Damn they're screwed up." Nick whispered. "No wonder I only remember fighting."
"Shut up." Nathan whispered back.
After coming to her senses, Erin pulled away from Jeremy and checked on the sleeping toddlers. "So what are you doing to do?" She asked.
"I'm going to take care of that witch and then I'm out of here." Jeremy replied. "Don't wait up."
Jeremy headed to the door, though before he could open it, three demons appeared though shimmering. The one in front looked like a young man with wavy dark brown hair and a goatee, dressed in a black suit.
"Oh, a witch is the least of your problems." The demon said.
The demon held out a hand, sending Jeremy flying across the room with an energy blast. The other two demons formed fireballs. Erin screamed and threw up her hand, firing a dart of light at the demons. The first one ducked and it hit one of the others, vanquishing him. The noise caused the toddlers to wake up and start crying. The first demon flung his hand and sent Erin crashing into the wall with an energy blast.
"We have to do something!" Nathan called out.
Nathan jumped up and opened the doors of the study. The demons turned to them and the second demon threw his fireball. Violet quickly raised her hand to freeze it. At the same time, Jeremy got up and grabbed an athame from his jacket. He threw it at the demon, vanquishing him as it pierced his chest.
"This is unexpected." The first demon said. "I wasn't expecting a crowd."
"Who the hell are you people?" Jeremy asked.
"The name is Nomed." The demon said. "I work for a higher power interested in your children. I have no idea who these people are."
"We're here to stop you." Nick said.
"Amusing." Nomed replied as he waved his hand and sent Violet and the twins flying back into the study with another energy blast. He then turned to Jeremy. "I'm giving you a choice, warlock. My bosses are only interested in your kids. Leave and no harm will come to them or you."
"Are you kidding me?" Jeremy asked.
"Oh, we're all evil here." Nomed replied with a smirk. "Don't pretend you actually care."
"Jeremy, please." Erin begged as she crawled up. "Don't let him hurt our sons."
"Be quiet, you." Nomed replied.
Nomed formed an Energy Ball and threw it at Erin. She was struck in the chest and killed instantly. She fell to the floor with her eyes widened in shock. The twins screamed in anger when they saw her fall down and charged at Nomed. He raised both his hands and threw two more Energy Balls. Violet screamed as she tried to freeze time but it was too late. The twins were both struck with an Energy Ball and fell to the ground.
"Your choice." Nomed said as he turned to Jeremy.
"Screw this, I'm out of here." Jeremy said as he disappeared in a blink.
"Guess that just leaves you, witch." Nomed remarked as he turned to Violet. "And I'm very curious to hear what you are doing here."
Nomed smiled as he walked toward Violet with an Energy Ball in his hand. Before he could reach her, a column of purple orbs appeared in front of her, materializing into a middle-aged man in a black robe. Nomed quickly stepped back and his Energy Ball sizzled out.
"An Elder." He said fearfully as he shimmered away.
"We have to leave." The Elder said as he turned to Violet.
Violet looked up at the Elder in tears. She had no idea what to do or say. She turn to look at the twins, who were lying motionless on the floor a few feet away from her. This all had to be some horrible mistake or a nightmare. This couldn't be real. How could this have happened? The Elder raised his hands in a waving motion, causing Violet, the crying toddlers and the Elder himself to all disappear in columns of orbs.
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In the present, Billie and the others stepped out of the elevator and entered a laboratory. Billie was amazed by the machines and equipment surrounding them, thinking all of it had to cost millions. She looked ahead and saw several magical beings imprisoned in glass cells. She saw a Nymph and some Leprechauns, along with some demons and other magical beings. It was horrible to see them like this, as if they were guinea pigs. She even felt a little bad for the demons.
In the middle of the lab, a young guy with glasses was sitting behind a computer while drinking an energy drink. He looked like a frat boy and was playing a video game. Annoyed, Billie waved her hand and caused his chair to spin around.
"What the hell?" The guy called out as his energy drink fell. He kneeled to pick it up and only then noticed the intruders in front of him. "Oh, this is bad."
"Definitely." Billie replied.
The guy turned and crawled to the computer, where Billie noticed a big red alarm button. When he reached for it, Billie held out her hand and telekinetically pulled him back across the floor. The guy cowered and rolled up in a fetal positon.
"Please don't hurt me!" The guy called out.
"Why shouldn't we?" Billie asked. "You're experimenting on innocent beings."
"I didn't have a choice!" the guy replied. "When the mayor brings you here to be part of a top secret research team, you can't really refuse."
"You always have a choice, Ramsey." Murphy said.
"Agent Murphy?" The guy asked with a frown. "Why are you here? Working with them? This is really confusing."
"I thought you were supposed to be a smart guy, Ramsey." Murphy said. "You know this is wrong. The mayor is obsessed."
"You don't need to tell me." Ramsey said as he crawled up. "She has me working 24-7. I'm basically a prisoner here."
"A prisoner with video games and probably a big paycheck." Duncan remarked.
"Yeah." Ramsey admitted. "But since this is all top secret, I'm not allowed to leave the building. Even if I tried to quit, she wouldn't let me."
"Enough with the pity party." Billie said as she waved her hand and telekinetically pushed Ramsey back into his chair. "You're going to help us destroy the virus."
"I… I can't." Ramsey said nervously. "The mayor."
"The mayor is not your problem right now." Billie replied. "We are."
"So here is what you're going to do, Ramsey." Murphy said as he turned his chair around and pointed at the computer. "First you're going to erase all digital files on the virus, then you're going to point us to the virus itself so we can destroy it safely."
"We'll go check on the subjects." Duncan said.
As agent Murphy put Ramsey to work behind the computer, Billie and Duncan headed to the containment cells to check on the magical beings. They all looked in pretty bad shape and Billie realized they were probably infected with prototypes of the virus to test its effects.
"Look what we have here." A voice said.
Billie headed to the cell from which she heard the voice and looked inside. A bald demon with a trimmed beard was standing in front of her. Although she had never met him, the Charmed Ones had described him to her, the demon who escaped with the virus years earlier.
"Margoyle." Billie said.
"You know me?" Margoyle asked. "Wait, you're the witch who worked with the Charmed Ones. The one infected with the original virus."
"Yeah, and you're the idiot who got captured by the government, landing us in the exact same mess all over again." Billie replied. "What was the big plan, exactly?"
"I wanted to harness the power of the virus without the side-effects like dying a horrible death." Margoyle replied. "For that, I needed equipment."
"Well, too bad." Billie replied. "We're going to destroy the virus once and for all."
"Wouldn't count on it." Margoyle said. "I've been waiting for the chance to escape. You just gave me the perfect opportunity by taking out the guards."
Margoyle formed a huge Energy Ball in his hands, bigger than any Billie had ever seen before. She quickly stepped back as he threw it at the glass cell, causing it to shatter. A shockwave of electricity surged through the lab, knocking Billie and the others off their feet. Billie struggled to maintain consciousness as she saw Margoyle step out of his cell. However, instead of killing them, the demon walked past her, headed straight for the the virus.
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