A swirl of lights appeared in the dim classroom as Darryl, Sheila, Darcy and even Maman Sin appeared in front of Kendra.

"Kendra, what happened?" Sheila asked her little sister with concern. "Did Zen get handsy?"

Maman Sin frowned and clucked her tongue. "I knew it, child! I knew it! That man is bad news! I could sense it the moment he came to the door…"

The Slayer shook her head and raised her hand to calm their nerves. "No, everything on the date is fine. It's the other thing. Demon attack!" He pointed to the window. "Look!"

Darcy rushed over to the window as did the others. They watched as Zen and a group of strangers wielding weapons were fending off Tulpa and Nabryn Demons. "Kendra wasn't kidding! They're going to get killed. We got to help them!"

"That's a large group," noted Maman Sin who reached into her bag she brought with her. "Luckily, I brought vanquishing potions."

"We're ready for them," Sheila noted. Turning to her husband, she instructed him. "Honey, orb us over there!"

"On it," Darryl answered. "Everyone hold hands."

The Young family clasped each other's hands as the White Lighter slipped an arm around his wife. "Get ready for teleporting." Lights surrounded them, blinding them as the classroom around them changed to appearing outside the campus courtyard where the streetlights illuminated the path to where the battle was occurring.

Kendra, still holding her sharp stick, began to race over to the battle, before Maman Sin pulled her arm back. "I can help them," she told her grandmother. However, Maman warned her. "No, child. Let your sisters go first. You're not as powerful as them. We'll assist when the time is right." Kendra protested. "But…"

Maman glared. "Listen to me. Allow your sisters to go in first." Kendra reluctantly agreed and stood back.

"Stay here," Sheila told the youngest. "You'll be safer here."

Watching helplessly, the Slayer observed her older siblings and Darryl running into the battle. Kendra quickly addressed the old woman. "I'm the Slayer, Maman. You know what I can do. Why won't you let me help them?"

Once again, Maman lifted her hand for reassurance. "I know, Kendra, but there is a reason why those demons suddenly appeared here to attack you. They must sense something threatening about you. We can't expose you right now until we learn their true motives. Please be patient." Comprehending her grandmother's words, she simply forced herself to watch the fight unfold.

Through the faint street lights, the Chosen One examined the battlefield. From the right of the perimeter, she saw her date, Zen, wielding his weapon, an old battle axe, as a Tupla Demon struck at him from the side. A sharp claw swiped but thankfully he blocked it with his weapon as he slashed at its arm and luckily drew blood causing the Tupla scream in pain. On the opposite end, Zen's companions, a male of Indian descent and a Latina, brandished their own weapons as they faced their own enemies. The male, holding a fancy scimitar, and the woman, a cutlass, as they dispose of their Tupla opponents with a stab to the heart to one and disembowelment to the other. Both demonesses burst into a pile of flames and finally ashes.

Immersed in their battles, they failed to see the quills of a pair of Nabryn Demons who roared as they emitted balls of fire at the trio.

"Look out!" Darcy screamed at the combatants. They turned around in fear as the flames came close. Thankfully, the middle sister opened up her hands to freeze the pair of fireballs before turning to her older sister. "Sheila now!"

The eldest understood and nodded. Using her telekinetic power, she combined the two flames into one and launched them back at one of the Nabryn demons with her mind. The large fireball struck the creature down, igniting it, and causing it to explode into ash. However, this left the other surviving one to attack as it released another ball of flame at both Sheila and Darcy.

At this point, Darryl stepped in, grabbed both ladies by the arms and orbed. The fireball passed through the transparent White Lighter lights, struck a stalking Tupla and disintegrated the attacking demoness. Darryl orbed the two women back to the same place. However, this left the other Nabryn Demon ready for another attack.

"I've got this!" Dr. Blakely as she pushed past the Charmed Ones and aimed her crossbow. She shot two arrows into both eyes causing the Nabyrn to be blinded, preventing it from attacking further. "That should buy some time!" She told the two older Young sisters. Across the way, Maman gestured to an impatient Kendra. "It's time." She told her. Handing her a few potion vials, she shoved a piece of paper in her hand.

"What's this?" She asked, quickly scanning the note. "A poem?"

"A spell, child!" Maman Sin corrected her. "Throw the potion at the Nabryn and say the spell to vanquish it!" Kendra nodded as they raced toward their family and friends. Still writhing in pain, the Nabryn Demon roared in anguish. Remembering Maman's advice, she threw the glass vial as the potion shattered spilling across the quills of the monster. She then pulled out the paper to recite the spell.


For the greater good

We bless thy name

Banish thee foul demon

Back to whence you came!


Sparks of fire ignited across the quills of the Nabryn. It roared further in pain as the flames surrounded its body and exploded into a ball of ash and smoke that became absorbed back into the ground. Noticing the Nabryn demon now gone, she turned to her sisters who addressed Zen and his allies still evading the Tuplas.

It would be Zen who successfully removed the head of one of the Tulpas with his battle axe as it burst into flame and ash while his other two allies struggled fending off the last four villains who proved much more elusive. Rushing to attack their targets, the last quartet of demons ran at the trio as Maman signaled to Darcy to use her additional powers.

Noticing one of the Tuplas attacking the Latina warrior, Darcy focused all her energies into speeding up the molecules of the demoness until it finally exploded into a ball of fiery ash. Next came the other one as it attacked the Indian gentleman, Sheila stepped up, blinked her eyes at the enemy and waved her hand. An unseen force scooped the Tupla in the air and slammed it back on to the ground, giving the Indian warrior time to use his scimitar and sever the demoness's head from its body and vanquishing it into a pile of soot and blackened dirt.

"Thanks," the Indian warrior saluted Sheila.

"Don't mention it," the eldest Charmed sister nodded back.

This now left Zen to square off with the pair of Tupla Demons. Steadying his battle axe, he prepared himself but Maman decided that this was the right time to intervene. Lifting her arms, she released a gust of wind from her power and tossed both demonesses to opposite sides of each other. Dazed from Maman's attack, the Slayer made her move as she tossed one of the potions on to the ground, smashing it, and again recited the same spell.


For the greater good

We bless thy name

Banish thee foul demon

Back to whence you came!


Smoke twirled around the pair of Tuplas as each one burst into flames before eroding into a pile of ash. Blackened mist funneled back into the ground, leaving nothing left but small remnants of dirt.

Lowering their weapons, Zen and his allies looked up at Kendra and her family with awe and curiosity as a small faint illumination shone down across his handsome face from the streetlight. There was something dangerously attractive about his courage and virility and internally the Slayer noticed it. She began to blush.

"Is everyone okay?" Darryl asked the group now staring awkwardly at each other with questions and wonderment.

"Yeah," answered the Indian gentleman, putting his scimitar by his side. "I didn't realize the demons who tried to attack us would do so in public."

The Latina jumped in, squeezing her cutlass tight in hand.. "Demons can never be trusted. They never have a reason."

"I beg to differ, Monica," added Zen. "There has to be a motive or an agenda for everything they do." His eyes then shifted to Kendra and grinned wickedly. "Especially if my date is a Charmed One."

The Slayer said nothing as she looked at her sisters and her family in surprise that their secret had been revealed. It would be Sheila who would speak up. "How do you know about us?"

"I can answer that."

Dr. Eden Blakely walked into the conversation, carrying her crossbow, and addressed everyone. She lowered her weapon so that no one felt threatened. "Hello, Charmed Ones, I'm Dr. Eden Blakely." Her face then went to Kendra. "And hello again, Kendra. I wish we were introduced under better circumstances but demons making an appearance on Earth are never a good sign."

Maman Sin then folded her arms and took in the university advisor. "You still haven't answered the question. How do you know about my family being the Charmed Ones?"

Dr. Blakely smiled. "Of course, I know all about you. Your family is a legend among the magical community. I also know, Madame Sineya, that your family is well respected as bocors and shamans back in Jamaica. Your magic has helped people, the innocent and the good." She knelt down in front of the grandmother. "I bid you welcome and it is an honor to meet you."

Maman politely smiled but kept her guard. "You still haven't told us who you are. You have knowledge of demons and weapons to fight them. What manner of warriors are you?"

"We're soldiers," answered Zen. "Very elite warriors, you can say."

"Who are you then?" Kendra asked him.

Dr. Blakely stepped in. "We are the Guardian Order of the Apostles."


Before the explanation of the Guardian Order of the Apostles, Dr. Blakely led the Charmed Ones and her soldiers to another part of the campus. Walking a few steps, they landed at the front of the art building where the college's gallery was located. Unlocking the back entrance and disarming the alarm, she turned on part of the lights and escorted everyone inside. Admiring the students' art that adorned the walls and the room, she moved to a replica of a large Pharaoh tomb.

Darcy scratched her head. "Are we here to admire a student sculpture or are you going to explain everything?"

"Patience, my dear Ms. Young," replied Dr. Blakely. "All the information we need is downstairs."

"Downstairs?" Sheila flinched. "This is a one story building."

Zen and his fellow warriors looked at each other and giggled. Kendra noticed it and wondered about their secret joke. Pressing a lever of the Egyptian statue, the object moved revealing a set of lit stairs going down underneath the structure.

"A secret passage," Darcy noted. "Cool."

"After you," Dr. Blakely pointed the way. Darryl went in first, followed by his wife, then Darcy, and Maman Sin. Kendra went down soon after with Zen and his fellow warriors coming right behind her.

A series of concrete tunnels placed with lights across the walls greeted them as the university advisor directed the Charmed Ones down one corridor that veered to the left and ended toward a large opening at the end. They came across a large room filled with computer equipment, cameras, weapons on the wall and even a table that contained books, herbs, and bottles.

"Welcome to our headquarters, Charmed Ones!" Dr. Blakely introduced them to their operations.

"Are you some sort of spy agency?" Sheila asked the group's leader. "Or do you work for the government?" The eldest sibling soaked in the facility. "Is this even legal?"

Dr. Blakely laughed. "To answer all your questions, the answer is no. We're a covert operation that doesn't exist or answer to any nation or specialized group."

Darcy walked over to one of the cameras on the computer. She noticed some of the streets being viewed around the city. "Do you have cameras everywhere? Can you see everything?"

"Most," said the Order's Latina soldier. She pressed a button on the keyboard to showcase a drone camera flying around the campus. "We can hack into most systems but we have to be careful because some governments can detect when there is an outside source trying to invade their system."

"Monica is our computer and tech expert," informed Dr. Blakely. "She's great at knowing how electronic systems work within the network."

"She's our experienced hacker." The Indian warrior smiled proudly. "The rest of us do the heavy lifting on our secret missions."

"Kind of like a Black Ops thing," Darryl remarked. "Your setup is quite impressive."

Not impressed was Maman Sin who folded her arms in disapproval. "You still haven't explained who you are and how you know about demons or even us!"

Zen added to the conversation. "Perhaps, we should start from the beginning." Walking over to a counter, he pulled a large map and placed it on the table. Everyone gathered to look at it. "This is an ancient map of the Near East and covers the time of Nazarene during the First Century A D."

Kendra remembered her studies. "Anno Domini and the period of the Christian Lord and Savior and his crucifixion, death, and resurrection." She paused. "I know Biblical history as do many of us. Why does this matter?"

The Indian spoke up. "The Messiah had Twelve Apostles, twelve followers, that were loyal to him to the very end and spread his teachings. They followed him throughout the land and even dined with him, sharing the same goblet at times."

Darcy rolled her eyes, not impressed. "Yeah, yeah, we know the stories. Judas betrayed him and he was sold out to the Romans and killed."

"What if," began the Latina soldier named Monica, "the Holy Savior foresaw his death at the hands of his biggest betrayer and prophesied that demons would one day escape to Earth to destroy humanity? What if the Messiah continually mixed a part of his holy blood in his followers' drinks to help create a race of holy, immortal soldiers to help fight against this evil?"

Sheila cocked her head confused. "Are you saying the Apostles were holy demon fighters?"

Zen laughed at her statement. "Not quite but their bloodline was." He elaborated further. "Understand that the Savior's followers were merely mortal men. They had faults and weaknesses, particularly when it came to the female variety. They spawned children who would carry the Messiah's bloodline and gifts which would be passed on to their descendants and their future generation."

It began to make sense. Zen and his friends' special skill set and their knowledge of demons. Kendra concluded her theory and interjected by addressing the warriors. "You carry the bloodline of the holy Apostles. You're demon hunters."

"Correct!" Dr. Blakely clapped her hands proudly. "We are descendants of the Savior's followers who carry the sacred bloodline!"

Still confused, Kendra had questions. "What are your special abilities?"

Zen grinned at the Slayer and continued. "Immortality is the main one. Those that carry the Apostle bloodline become ageless. They're also quick to heal and have the skill set to battle demons."

"However," corrected Dr. Blakely. "We are still human. The Apostle bloodline might gift us our abilities but we're prone to mortal weaknesses like being killed by guns, blades, decapitation, and blood loss. Even demons can kill us with magic."

"But I see you use magic," Maman Sin pointed to the table of mystical objects. "You have to have some knowledge of the arts."

"We do," Dr. Blakely hesitated. "But we are not blessed with natural magic like the Charmed Ones." She nodded to the Young family. "We used basic potion mixing to create salves and ointments for healing and to anoint our weapons with mystical mixtures to aid us in demonic battles. Casting spells and conjuring objects is not a feat we're able to do."

Monica added to the information. "But that doesn't mean we don't consult fellow seers and fortune tellers. We've known about your family line for quite some time but, out of respect, we've remained out of the way out of the Charmed Ones in order for them to fulfill their destiny to help the greater good. We both have a different path to follow."

Sheila smiled. "And we appreciate that." Her mind then focused on another pressing inquiry. "You mentioned earlier about being immortal. Exactly how old are any of you?"

Dr. Blakely snickered as she answered the question. "I'm the oldest of the Order and was one of the first to be recruited. To remain anonymous, we've changed our names and identities throughout history. I was born from the time of Nazareth when I was Enya and my family bore witness to the death and resurrection of the Savior."

Darcy's eyes widened. "You're that old? Wow! You must use a really good plastic surgeon!"

Eden giggled as she touched her face. "Thanks. It's due to good genes and a good moisturizer." Kendra shifted her gaze to Zen. "And you? Exactly, how old are you?"

Zen hesitated before speaking. "From what I remember, the mid 1100's during the ruling of Genghis Khan. I served as a slave during the Mongol empire of Asia Minor."

"Holy shit!" Darcy remarked. "You're that old? What was your name back then?"

Zen shrugged. "Honestly, I've forgotten. It's been so long and, as Dr. Blakely pointed out, we've assumed new identities, so the many names I've used I've now deleted from memory."

Kendra bit her lip. Her date and crush is an ancient older man? This gave off very groomer vibes considering that she is actually a teenager in the body of an adult woman. Oh crap! I made out with a pervy grandpa! She wanted to wash out her mouth but her mind wandered toward his chiseled face, pillowy lips, well-built body and firm buttocks…What the hell is wrong with me?

"Kendra, you okay?" Darcy whispered to her little sister. "I know this is a shock to find out your date is an immortal warrior."

"I'm still taking it all in," she lied.

"I feel ya, sistah!" Her sibling replied. "Just play it cool!"

Maman broke their conversation and pointed to the other pair of soldiers. "What's their story?"

Monica went first. "13th century Spain. I was the daughter of Spanish nobility, the Beltres. I currently chose Monica Marino in this life." She pointed to her fellow Indian soldier. "This is Sanjay Mukerjee…"

"Who was born during the 18th century," Sanjay finished her statement. "I was a servant during the time of the Tipu Sultan before the Order found me."

"Each of us are descendants of the Apostles and carry the holy bloodline of immortality," continued Dr. Blakely. "When the Order was established, we recruited numerous soldiers who carry the genetic code to help fight the demons that have invaded the Earth. For a time, we had a hundred warriors under our employ, gathering resources, training them to survive and protecting the world from the impending evil. However, the demons grew more powerful and killed our numbers off. We four are what remains of the Order."

Maman Sin shook her head. "That doesn't make any sense. If the Apostle bloodline has spread out into the world with their descendants, how is it that more are not being born?"

"Over time, the bloodline becomes diluted," Zen commented. "Only a select few in the lineage are blessed with the holy gifts, meaning it is a rare ability. When our mystical resources detect the possibility of a future Order member being born, we do everything to research, locate, observe them, and help them realize their potential before they receive their gifts and get them to join our Order. There have been a few born in this century but they resulted in them dying in battle." His eyes shifted to the Slayer. "We believed your sister, Kendra, might be a potential Order member after her recent car accident. We didn't realize she survived because she was a Charmed One."

Kendra's mouth dropped. The truth finally comes out. Zen did not ask her out because he liked her. He was sizing her up as a possible Order recruit. He was using her. Her anger boiled as she punched him. "Asshole!"

Zen covered his nose with both hands that now was seeping with blood. "Ow! I think you broke my nose!"

"Good," the Slayer folded her arms. "I don't appreciate the deception! You're lucky I didn't kick out your nuts!"

"You go girl!" Darcy cheered her baby sister. She scowled at Zen. "I knew you were too good to be true!"

"Listen please," Dr. Blakely defended. "We apologize for all the lies but we were desperate. Obviously, there is a great evil coming for all of us and we need to work together to defeat it. We didn't realize your sister was a Charmed One and thought recruiting her as part of the Order would add another warrior for our line. If you know anything that can help us, we can work together on eradicating this…"

Maman Sin raised her hands to stop her. "I think we've heard quite enough. I'm happy to hear that there are immortal warriors on the side of good but your methods are cruel and unkind. One of your soldiers hurt my granddaughter and I do not appreciate that. We can deal with this potential threat ourselves as we have done many times over, thank you very much." Her voice was stern. Yet, it was Sheila who tried to be the voice of reason.

"Dr. Blakely, we need some time to process," said the eldest sibling. "We'll reach out if we reconsider." She signaled her husband who had all the sisters and Maman Sin to hold hands. "Thank you for your time."

Seizing the moment, Zen, still covering his bloody nose, attempted to apologize to the Chosen One. "Kendra, I'm sorry. I…"

The Slayer responded with a middle finger as Darryl orbed everyone out of the secret facility and back to the manor.