An Accidental Vampire in San Francisco

by schumacherjennifer39

Techno vamp Xander from an An Accidental Vampire in Sunnydale moves with Cordelia and her parents to San Francisco and soon discover they live next door to the Charmed Ones as his magical ability grows.

1. Chapter 1

Problems with my original account under Jennifer Schumacher, I'm transferring this story over to this account so I can complete it. All my other stories are still on that account.

Chapter 1

A/N Xander and his potential magical ability is hinted at several times over the course of the show but never explored and like his abusive upbringing is used as a source of jokes. 'librum incendiare' being a great example. He causally says burn book and it catches fire. Without trying. And Giles says in an exasperated tone of voice 'Xander, don't speak Latin in front of the books' as though he's said this to him several times already. A discussion board recently held a spirited discussion about how Xander has a natural, effortless talent for Magic, whereas Willow constantly messes up spells and gets power boosts by stealing them and becomes addicted twice. They speculated on what the in universe explanation might be as to why Giles would discourage Xander from learning Magic and encourage Willow to learn, even with all of her mistakes, often painful to the people around her and in the end all they could come up with was the line from Doppleganger where they think Willow has been vamped and Xander sadly says she was a better person than him and Giles says, much, much better and Xander looks crushed by the casual and sincerely believed comment.

It reminds me of the fans who claim he's entitled, that he expects women to just jump in bed with him and like the people who claim he's misogynistic and controlling, I've got to wonder, have any of you ever read a dictionary? Because the definition of the words don't match Xander Harris. I've been rewatching the show as I write these stories and I see the same thing I did when I first watched the show nearly more then 25 years ago, (God, I feel old) Xander expects to get hit, he doesn't expect anything else. And he does, constantly. Emotionally mostly, but still hit.

Several people have encouraged me to write a Xander does Magic story and this one is going to be one of two Xander does Magic stories (the Executioner story will involve his new mystical ability, necromancy, but only in relation to finding vampires and such). This one will involve him using the Magic of the Buffy universe in a blended world that includes Charmed, the original, because I haven't seen the reboot. Yet.

And yes, he's also a techno vamp and that will play a big part in the story. Story picks up a month after the last one ended which is a couple weeks after they, maybe, destroyed the Mayor.

######

Xander pulled up in front of the abandoned looking building and glared at it. "How the Hell can there be two of these places? Okay, Sunnydale I can understand, it's the vamp version of an all you can eat buffet and Los Angeles too. According to Wesley, it's got genuinely evil lawyers, not just jokes. But San Francisco? How the Hell does this gorgeous city have demon bars? How can there be enough demons for anyone to manage a business slinging drinks for them? I just hope to Hell there's no vampires too, because that would just piss me off and then I might just have to do something about them. Which would then piss off Cordy, sometimes a fun activity, sometimes not." He got out of the car and walked into the place Willy had recommended, Harry's Bar, as the place to get regular blood delivery set up. He ignored the demons and went to the bar. The bartender eyed him.

"Something I can do for you?" He asked.

"Willy, in Sunnydale, recommended you. Are you like his brother or his cousin or something, because you sure do look like him?"

"Brother, you must be Xander, he said you'd be stopping by. He didn't say why through."

"You got an office, somewhere we can talk?"

"Sure, give me a minute. Merle!" He yelled at a demon sitting at one of the tables. "Watch the bar for me, I've got business to deal with."

"Sure, man." The demon got up and moved behind the bar and Harry motioned Xander to follow him into the back office.

"So, how can I help you?"

"I need to arrange regular blood deliveries to my home, daily. Expired or about to be expired blood is fine. Also, I want on your client list, heads up if you hear about demon or vampire attacks, unless of course, they're also clients of yours. I don't expect you to betray client confidentiality. A snitch can't risk upset clients. It's a real fast way to get dead. And don't ask me any questions, because I won't answer them."

"Fine, none of that's a problem. Just an address and I can get delivery set up starting tomorrow."

"1331 Prescott Street." Harry looked up sharply and blinked.

"Something?" Xander asked, noting the look.

"Um, the neighborhood is known in the supernatural community."

"Great, please tell me I won't continue to be a demon magnet."

Harry chuckled and said. "In that neighborhood? Yep."

"Crap. I can't escape it. I'm doomed, my girlfriend is going to kill me when she finds out." He banged his head on Harry's desk and Harry said, somewhat sympathetically.

"At least it's not as bad as the Hellmouth. Willy keeps me up to date on the death count in that town. I much prefer San Francisco."

"I hope you're right, I really do. Because I've been here less then a day and I'm already regretting choosing this city for us to start over in."

"Well, maybe it'll grow on you."

"Here's hoping not literally."

Chapter 2

Prue Halliwell hung up her cell phone and turned to her sisters, Piper and Phoebe and their friend, Dee. "I'm sorry that was my boss at the auction house, apparently I have to work even on a Saturday. Something just came in that she wants me to appraise. Dee, could you apologize to David for me? Give him my love, okay."

"I will, he'll be sorry you missed the rest of his birthday party, but he knows there's a present from you on the table, that'll help."

Prue smirked. "I'm sure it will." She headed down the path toward where her car was parked, not noticing the young boy, David, run into the bushes and trees on a path that would run right passed her. Not until she spotted a demon reach out and grab David. She reacted instinctively and reached towards him only to get a surprise as he and the demon were forcibly separated and hung in midair. She channeled her power through her eyes, she'd never channeled it through her hands before. She didn't see a man watching the whole scene, a man who was also a reporter. She was so startled by her own actions that she lost control of the Magic and both the demon and David fell to the ground. The demon was up and moving before she could react and grabbed David and ran away. She recovered and ran after them.

Only for the demon to stop and open a hole in the ground and jump down in to it, carrying David.

Prue stopped, horrified that she couldn't save her friend's son from a demon. She did the only thing she could do, she called the police and reported a kidnapping and went back to tell her friend, who broke down crying as Prue told her all she saw was someone grab David and run, which she also told the police when they arrived. She told her sisters though, that the demon had swirling eyes.

"I could have stopped it." She confessed to Piper. "I was just so startled."

"It's not your fault, Prue." Piper insisted. "It's the first time you've channeled your power through your hands, your power's growing, we were warned it would happen, we just didn't know when."

"Why now? Just as David gets snatched by a demon of all things?"

"He's not the first one." Phoebe said, returning to her sisters. "I was just talking to one of the Inspectors, he said another child was taken yesterday, same area."

"A demon who steals kids, can it get any worse?" Prue groaned.

"Uh, yeah. Actually it can." Phoebe answered. "It happened before, the Inspector said 20 years ago two other kids disappeared from this park."

"Were they ever found? Alive?" Piper asked hopefully.

"He didn't know, he didn't have any details, just that he'd heard it had happened before. They'll investigate whether it's connected."

"It's a demon, they're not going to find anything." Prue said grimly.

"No, but we can." Phoebe reminded her. "The Book of Shadows should have an entry identifying the demon, provided our ancestors encountered it. Which hopefully will help us find David."

"Then let's get going." Prue said determinedly. "The sooner we know, the sooner we can save him. I'm not losing any child to a demon if I can help it!"

Prue's phone rang and she grimaced. "I forgot about the appraisal."

"You go, Piper and I'll take care of it."

"I'll be home as soon as I can." Prue promised and once again headed to her car, unaware of a man watching her. Piper and Phoebe said their goodbyes to their friend and promised to keep David in their prayers and headed for Piper's car. Once home they immediately went to the attic and began paging through the Book of Shadows, looking for something that matched Prue's description.

Down in the sewers David and another boy were locked in a cage. David tried screaming for help but one of the demons grabbed him and held a hand in front of his face and a blue light shone out of it. Slowly David's eyes went white. "I can't see! Why can't I see? I want my mom! Mom!" The demons ignored him.

Back at Halliwell Manor Piper continued to leaf through the Book of Shadows at the kitchen counter and Phoebe began using her laptop to research the kidnapping from twenty years ago.

"Nothing." Piper slammed the book shut and went to the cupboard and began pulling ingredients for supper out.

"Nothing with the swirling eyes Prue said she saw?"

"No, I found demons with no eyes, demons with four eyes, but no swirling eyes. Have you found anything?"

"I found references to the kidnapping 20 years ago. Two boys taken from the same area of the park that David was taken from and one of them was never seen again."

"Oh. Great." Piper looked sick, imagining the possibilities.

"But one of them was found, his name is Brent Miller, he was found roaming the streets. He was fine, except for one thing. He was blind."

"Blind?" Piper said, hurting for the boy.

"He told the authorities sewer monsters stole his eyes, they thought he caught a parasite that damaged his eyes."

"We can't tell Dee her son might be blind. I don't know how to handle this."

"I'm going to see if i can track down this Brent Miller, maybe he remembers something that could help us."

"I hope you're right. I'm going to take Dee a care package, I have to do something, I can't just sit around worrying about her and about David and feeling helpless."

"Piper, we're going to find him, we just have to stay optimistic."

"I hope you're right."

Phoebe began by looking up all the Brent Millers listed in online phone books, looking for one about the right age, hoping he still lived in San Francisco.

Meanwhile the reporter had tracked down Prue at the auction house. He was about to make a nuisance of himself.

Chapter 3

"Please tell me you're joking." Cordelia glared at Xander who shrugged.

"I wish I could but Harry was sure, something attracts demons to this street."

"Something like a Hellmouth?"

"Probably not a very big one or San Francisco would have more problems. On the other hand, maybe it's got a proportional amount of problems, the population is like twenty times what Sunnydale's is. And it's possible the people are sheep here too."

"I hope not, Xander, I want to be able to tell my parents about all of this. I want us to be together properly."

"Techno vamp version of married?"

"Essentially. Don't get me wrong, it's great that you managed to find a duplex and can rent one half and my parents and I can rent the other half. As long as I officially live at home and never again tell Daddy that I'm spending the night with you, he's okay with us dating because I'm over 18, but you look 25 or so and that's how old you are legally thanks to Willow's knowledge of computers. But you're actually 18, same as me and I'd like to be able to tell him that so he doesn't worry that you're taking advantage of me. If San Francisco makes people sheeplike, that's going to be really hard to do!"

"On the other hand, if there really is something in this neighborhood that attracts demons they may end up getting the knowledge of that shoved into their faces when we're least prepared."

"Don't tempt Murphy. The asshole follows us around, you know that." Cordelia grumbled, curling into his side on his couch and letting him wrap an arm around her.

"And I'm a known demon magnet, he probably gets a lot of belly laughs from the crap that happens to me."

"Hyena possession, soldier possession, fish boy, techno vamp."

"Frankencordy."

"Fine, I'm not immune to Murphy's stupid games. When do you start your new job?"

"Monday. I've got the weekend and then Monday. Thank gods, there's a garage both here and at my job, I can avoid sunlight. I'll pack a small cooler for lunch and tuck a blood bag into the bottom, just in case I get into a situation and need it. Better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it."

"What will you be doing?"

"Mostly moving inventory, but it sounds like a cool place to work."

"What's the place called?"

"Buckland's Auction House, there was a recent scandal that caused some problems. Apparently someone killed the owner and pretended to be them for awhile, then disappeared. Rumor has it they looted some stuff, as well as proceeds from sales. They need to move a lot of inventory to keep the place from being shut down."

"If you do well, they'll probably keep you. Being stronger than a normal human will help with that."

"And after work, I can practice my Magic, tomorrow I'm going to put protection spells around this place, it'll help if there is something that causes sheeplike behavior and Wards. Vampires can't get in unless invited but demons, they're hard to keep out, every single one of them needs a different Ward and so far I only know a few. I'll make the place as safe as I can, I promise."

"Good, I need to get registered for classes for this fall, I'll do that online tomorrow. Let's just veg tonight."

Xander kissed the top of her head and picked up the remote. "Anything you want, my Queen."

She smiled and rested her head on his shoulder. He might be a demon magnet and they apparently lived on a street demons were attracted to, but right now, they were just a young couple in love and happy. And if a demon dared to interrupt them they'd get the sharp edge of Cordelia's tongue verbally shredding them, something she was good at.

At Buckland's Auction House a man stepped into Prue Halliwell's office. "Prue Halliwell?"

Prue glanced up. "Yes?"

"Hi, Eric Lehman, Bay Area Weekly, Alternative Press. Have you heard of us?"

"No."

"Listen, I was hoping you might be willing to help me with s story I'm working on."

"On the auction business?"

"No, actually, on Magic."

"Magic, why would you come to me?"

"Maybe because I saw you levitate two people in the park with just a wave of your hand. I'll take that as a 'no comment'. So what are you, anyway? Some kind of David Copperfield, Lance Burton, freak of nature? " He laughed.

"I don't know what you're talking about, I'd like for you to leave before I call security."

"Well, tough, get over it. I had my police sources check you out. It's interesting how your name keeps popping up in all these unsolved murder cases, don't you think?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Maybe nothing. But if I wrote an article on it, it might look like something. Does your boss subscribe to my paper?"

"Don't threaten me." Prue warned him.

"What are you gonna do? Make me fly into the wall?" He laughed again. "Come on." He knocked a glass bowl on the floor. "How clumsy of me. I bet that took a lot of self-control, huh? Not to use your powers."

"You're a real credit to your profession."

"You know, that kid saw what I saw too." Prue picked up the phone. "Cops get him, he's all the corroborating evidence I need." He pressed the hang up button on her phone and smirked arrogantly at her.

"Prue, be smart. Work with me. I'm gonna break this story one way or the other. And when I do, I can either make you sound like Wonder Woman or the devil incarnate. Okay? Think about it." He left, Prue's eyes boring into his back as she restrained her Magic. Damn it, this was the last thing they needed.

A/N Some dialog from prior page and current page taken from Charmed wiki transcript.

Chapter 4

A housekeeper led Phoebe into the living room of the apartment of Brent Miller, hopefully the same Brent Miller who'd been kidnapped by demons twenty years. Bad for him, maybe good as a way to save David.

"Mr. Miller will be in shortly." She informed Phoebe, before exiting the room, presumably to let Mr. Miller know he had company.

"Wow, what a view," Phoebe commented aloud. "and I can smell the ocean."

"And hear the traffic." A voice said behind her. Phoebe turned to see an attractive man about Prue's age being guided by a seeing eye dog.

"Brent Miller?" She clarified.

"So I've been told." He smiled pleasantly.

"My name is Phoebe Halliwell."

"Phoebe, let me introduce you to Helmeth." He patted the dog on his head.

"He's beautiful, so's your place."

"Thank you, so how can I help you, Phoebe?"

"I need to talk to you about when you were kidnapped as a child." She got right to the point.

"I'm sorry, I'm not comfortable talking about that."

"But I have to, it's happening again. In the last two days two little boys have been kidnapped from the same park you were. By the same monsters."

"You believe me about the monsters?"

"I've seen things too and one of those little boys is the son of a friend. We need information, real information, that could help us find him."

"There were two of them. I mean, terrifying creatures, really. They dragged me into a storm drain to a junction of some kind. They…held me down, I remember blue sparks hitting my face. My eyes felt like they were on fire and, uh, that was the last thing I ever saw."

"Why do you think they took your eyesight?"

"I don't know, but I do remember hearing them say something about auras."

"Thank you, I'm sorry if I upset you."

"If you can do something to help those boys, than it's worth it."

Phoebe returned to the Manor and told Piper what she'd learned. Piper began paging through the Book of Shadows, murmuring. "Auras, auras, I know I saw something about auras in here. Here it is, Grimlocks, underground demons who roam from city to city, killing powerful forces of good by seeing the unique auras that surround them."

"Which they can see by stealing the sight of innocent children." Phoebe read over her shoulder. "The stolen eyesight will last only twenty-four hours but only if the children are alive. Which means we have less than fourteen hours. There's a vanquishing potion specific to them."

"Then let's get started on making it up, once we find them, we can deal with them."

Prue opened the front door and the girls looked up, Phoebe noticed she looked upset. "Something wrong, Prue?"

"A reporter saw me use my powers in the park and he's threatening to write an article about it." She answered.

"Does he have any proof?" Piper asked. "Did he catch you on camera?"

"No, he just said he saw me use my powers."

"Than it's your word against his." Phoebe tried to reassure her.

"We don't have time for this, Prue, we IDed the demons." Piper told her. "But we need Schisandra root to make the potion. Can you go get some?"

"Sure, I'll be back as soon as I can."

"And I need to talk to Brent again." Phoebe said. "These particular demons live in the sewers and there's miles of them. I'm going to see if Brent can give us a starting point."

As Prue and Phoebe were heading out, two Inspectors with the San Francisco Police Department were discussing a new case.

"Medical examiner." Darryl Morris said as Andy Trudeau, his partner, handed him a cup of coffee "Thanks. Sent this over. It's Jerry Cartwright. A saint. Donated millions to the city's anti-drug program." He handed the file to Andy, who read through it and glanced up.

"M. E's calling it murder?"

"Unless we can tell him otherwise. He's listing the C.O.D as a strangulation. The problem is the man died in the middle of a crowd of people and nobody saw anyone lay a hand on him."

Eric Lohman walked up as Darryl got up to return the file. "Any Trudeau?"

"I know who you are, what do you want?"

"Prue Halliwell, any thoughts?"

"No, get out."

"I saw her use her powers at the park, just wish I'd had my camera."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"She said that too, you guys rehearse it?"

"No, get out." He repeated.

"Fine, I'll just switch my story to a police cover up. Just remember I gave you a chance to work with me." He smirked and left, as Darryl returned.

"What was that about?"

"Reporter, you're going to have to handle the strangulation case yourself, I'm assigning myself to the kidnapping. I need to talk to someone."

Darryl nodded, assuming the reporter had let something slip, either accidentally or on purpose to get a reaction and now Andy had a lead. Andy headed out to talk to his friends, the Halliwell sisters.

While Phoebe was having a vision of Brent as a small boy and the demons that took him after touching his arm.

"When you were taken, were you wearing a sweatshirt, jeans and high tops?"

"Yes, I was. How did you know?"

"And when you escaped, were you running through water in a tunnel?"

"Yes, are you a psychic?"

"Something like that." She admitted.

"That's how you've seen monsters. Phoebe, be careful, if these monsters are interested in the auras of good people and you find monsters, you're probably someone they'd be interested in."

"I won't go after them alone, I promise. I have to go, we're running out of time." She hurried back to the Manor hoping Prue had the ingredients for the vanquishing potion because they really were running out of time.

Chapter 5

"I had a vision when I touched Brent's arm." Phoebe told her Piper as soon as she arrived back. "And before that he remembered the sound of a generator and cable cars from where he was being held. He used a braille map to locate a juncture in the sewers near a power plant and cable cars and it's not far from the park."

"You'll recognize the area of the sewers?" Piper asked as they put together the vanquishing potion, which still needed the Shishandra root that Prue had gone out for.

"Yes, burned into my memory like all my visions." She assured her.

"Good, then we stand a chance of finding the boys before the demons kill them." Piper said anxiously. She wasn't yet the steady, near unflappable witch she'd grow into. But she was on her way.

Back in the sewers David tried to comfort the other little boy he now knew was locked in this cage with him. "Don't worry, it's going to be okay, my Mom's got a friend who's got powers and she saw the monster take me. She tried to stop him, she'll find us, I know she will."

"Shut up!" One of the demons yelled at him. Frightened, David scrunched back. Being brave was hard, he felt the other boy shake and put his hand on his arm and squeezed slightly. He whispered. "I know she will." It was easier when there was someone else with you.

"Phoebe, there was a story on the radio earlier about a guy being strangled in broad daylight and no one seeing anything." Prue told her sister, when Phoebe called to find out if Prue had the Shishandra root and found out she'd been called back to Buckland's again by her boss.

"It's got to be the Grimlocks." Phoebe said. "That's how they kill, right?"

"I've got to go, Phoebe. I'll be home soon." As Andy Trudeau stepped into her office. "Andy, hi, what are you doing here?"

"Working on the kidnappings."

"I already told the police everything I could."

"But not everything you know. Eric Lohman stopped by to talk to me.

"Yeah, well, he's a reporter trying to make a name for himself. Can't believe anything he says."

"Normally I don't. This time I do. We've been down this road too many times, Prue. I know you're hiding something. I have my suspicions about what it is. But I've had to accept the fact that you can't tell me or you don't want to tell me. Either way, it's not just me anymore. Lohman's on to you, at least he thinks he is and he's not gonna let it go. Prue, if you don't level with me, I can't help you control this." All but pleading with her to let him help her, a girl he'd known since they were children themselves and loved once upon a time.

"Andy, I'm not sure if it's better for you to know or not know."

"I remember a time when we could tell each other anything. There's nothing Lohman won't do to get this story. Watch your back." He warned as he moved towards the door.

"Andy. Thanks." Prue smiled sadly at the retreating back of the first man she'd ever loved, back when they'd been teenagers, wanting to face the world together. He glanced back and nodded.

Prue headed out to get the final ingredient for the vanquishing potion and from there returned to the Manor, where the sisters quickly finished making the potion. They were leaving the house when they saw a baby stroller roll out into the middle of the street. They weren't the only ones that saw it. Piper panicked at the thought of a baby being hit by an oncoming car and snapped her hands forward and froze the stroller and car.

"Where's the mother?!" Phoebe yelped, as the three raced out to the street. Only to find there was no baby in the stroller.

"What the Hell?" Piper swore. They looked around and spotted a man crouched in the bushes watching them, frozen as well.

"Lohman!" Prue hissed angrily. "Quick, back to the porch, let him think we didn't see it. We don't have rime for this! The Grimlocks are going to kill those kids!"

They hurried back to the porch and the scene unfroze as they causally headed to Prue's car, pretending not to see the stroller continue to roll down the street, not knowing Lohman had a camera discreetly aimed at the stroller in the hopes of catching Prue using her powers.

Or that Xander had seen and heard the whole thing and hadn't been frozen, like Lohman. "What do you want to bet Grimlocks are demons?" He muttered. "And the reason this street's known in the supernatural community is because there's witches in the neighborhood." He headed for his car. "And I can't not try to help." He followed the girls and the guy who'd been spying on them, at a distance. They ended up at a park and the three girls parked and headed toward a sewer tunnel entrance. "Of course they're in the sewer." Xander mutter. "It's where everything nasty goes, after all. I'm so going to get yelled at by Cordy." He parked and followed, stopping near a tree and saw the man who'd been spying on the witches approach them. "And he's not helping the situation. We're going to have to do something about that."

Chapter 6

Xander saw the guy who'd been spying on the girls pull out a camera and brag about having what he considered to be proof of their powers. 'Idiot,' he thought, 'doesn't he realize it can be dismissed as camera trickery nowadays. Screw this, those girls are trying to save kids!' Moving fast, Xander came up behind the human and using the edge of his hand delivered a hard chop to the brachial nerve in his neck, he dropped like a rock. Xander looked at the stunned girls. 'No, women,' He realized. 'technically they're all older than me. And hot.'

"Hi, we can talk later, go save those kids. I'll deal with the idiot." He told the stunned women.

"Oh, you bet we will." The oldest glared at him, he tried his innocent, little boy smile on her. 'Damn, didn't work.' As the glare intensified. "But we don't have time for this." Prue wondered how he know about the boys and just who the Hell he was. The three hurried toward the sewer entrance and Xander dropped into a crouch by the stunned man.

"Kids in danger qualifies as an emergency, which means I can invoke our rules."

"Rules?" The man muttered, rubbing his painful neck as Xander reached out with his mental abilities and delivered instructions to the man.

"You will forget everything you know about those women, everything. You will never again speak to them." He pushed the order into the man's mind and knew the moment the mind complied with the order and all knowledge regarding the women disappeared. "Go home and live your life." The man got up and walked away, forgetting his camera, which Xander picked up. He pulled the tape out of it and the ribbon from the tape. A murmured incantation melted the ribbon and he tossed the now ruined remains in a nearby trashcan. 'Thank you city initiatives to keep the city clean.' he headed for the sewer tunnel entrance. You never know if back up might be needed.

"Who is he? And why is he helping us?" Prue asked as the three sisters hurried through the sewers.

"I don't know, but he's cute." Phoebe said.

"Phoebe, now is not the time!" Piper admonished her.

"Oh, like you didn't notice."

"Not the point and I kinda, sorta might have a boyfriend, remember or at least a guy who's interested in a fourth date, anyway."

"Doesn't mean you can't notice another guy. I guarantee he noticed we're hot."

"Pipe down you two." Prue grumbled. "Do you want the demons to know we're coming?"

"Ah, we need a light." Phoebe said. Piper turned on a flashlight. "What? Someone has to think about these things." She told Phoebe.

"Okay, Brent said he remembered a big area with pipes." Phoebe continued. "Oh, wait, there's a pipe junction. That way." They kept walking. "So, I guess this isn't a good time to ask how it went with Josh and the talk?"

"Yes, now is not a good time." Piper answered shortly.

As the sisters made their way through the sewers and Xander followed their scents, both cursing and being grateful for the nanites amplifying that ability, Andy Trudeau was talking to Brent Miller.

"My housekeeper said you wanted to talk to me, Inspector, is it about the kidnappings?"

"Maybe, has a Prue Halliwell been to see you?"

"No, but a Phoebe Halliwell has."

"Really?" Andy's curiosity was growing, whatever Prue was into involved Phoebe and probably Piper as well.

"If it helps you, I think I know where you can find them."

"It would, yes." Andy agreed and was surprised to hear the girls were heading into the sewers. 'What would make them go into the sewers?" He wondered, as he headed for the entrance Brent told him they were using to enter the sewers.

"That sign," Phoebe pointed at. "I saw that in the vision I had of Brent when he escaped, we're going the right way."

"Good, hopefully we'll find them soon." Prue said. A rat suddenly ran across Piper's foot, which caused her to jump back and teeter at the edge of a down section of the sewer tunnel and than fall into it

"Piper!" Phoebe yelled and was terrified when there was no response.

"Phoebe, calm down." Prue ordered and centered herself, usually her power worked like a force shove, but hopefully she could get enough control over it to raise Piper up out of the hole she'd fallen into. She held her hands over the hole and concentrated, gently grasping her sister and lifting her up and out of the hole and laying her on the floor, where Phoebe immediately began checking her.

"She's alive." She breathed, relieved. "But she's out cold."

"Than you need to stay here and guard her, Phoebe. Between the two of us I'm the only one with an active power, but you're the one who does martial arts and kickboxing. I've got the potion and my powers as a back up, you keep her safe."

"I can help too." A male voice said and the man from earlier stepped into the light of Piper's dropped flashlight. "My name is Xander Harris, I just moved in next door to you guys. I was warned the neighborhood was known in the supernatural community, but no one mentioned witches."

Prue and Phoebe stared at him.

"Kids in danger?" He reminded them. "I assure you I can hold my own against demons."

"Fine," Prue conceded. "but if you do anything I don't like, you'll be the one knocked out."

"Agreed." Xander nodded and fell into step beside her as the two moved in silence down the sewer tunnel. It wasn't long before they ran into the Grimlocks. Two of them. One of which reached out with his hand and a bright light appeared around Xander's throat that began to squeeze closed and Xander clawed at it as his aura was being used to strangle him. Prue flung out her hand and the Grimlock went flying. She threw the potion at the other one and it dissolved, screaming.

"Damn it!" Prue exclaimed. "We were only expecting one!"

"My turn." Xander said in a gravely voice, his voice box having been injured by the strangling. He raised his hand, fingers slightly bent and spoke a single word in Latin. "Incendiary!" A ball of white yellow fire appeared in the palm of his hand and he shoved it toward the Grimlock that had been strangling him. First the clothing it was wearing was engulfed in the mystical flame and than it's flesh began to burn. "Incendiary!" Xander increased the draw of Magic and poured it into the mystical flame as the Grimlock was reduced to a charred mess. "Any chance he can come back from that?" Xander asked, feeling exhausted and his neck hurt. The nanites were hard at work and he could feel hunger gnawing at his belly.

"Not as far as I know." Prue said, staring at him. " But the vanquishing potion was the only way we knew of to kill Grimlocks."

"That's what that kind of demon is called? I'll have to make note of it and maybe I can get a copy of that vanquishing potion from you. My girlfriend doesn't do Magic and I'd like it if she had more options for defending herself."

"Yeah, uh, Grimlocks, they steal the sight of innocent children and use it to see a person's aura and strangle them to death with it."

"Creepy, let's find the kids, that wore me out and now I'm hungry and that's not a good thing."

"Because the demon smells like barbeque?"

"That too." Xander moved down the tunnel, the job wasn't done until the kids were safe in their parents arms. He just hoped he could hold on.

Chapter 7

A/N I've juggled the Charmed episodes slightly, the Scoobies graduated mid May and it's currently mid June in this story. The 'Out of Sight' episode occurred the May of the same year they graduated, I'm moving everything forward a month and a half for Charmed to match things between the two shows. Which means this is before they learn other kinds of Magic exist in canon. They find out about practitioners, which Xander is in this story, later in canon.

######

"How did you do that?" Prue asked as the two of them moved deeper into the sewer tunnel looking for the missing boys.

"Magic." Xander answered.

"That was a spell to replicate a power, but I've never seen anything like that."

"How long have you practiced Magic?" He asked, not sure why she didn't understand.

"We don't, we have powers. We were born with them, but they were bound when we were children to keep us safe from a very powerful warlock. The binding released after our Grams died.

"Oh, you're natural born witches." Xander said as he understood. "I'm a practitioner witch."

"What's the difference?"

"A practitioner witch uses energy inherent to the Earth and shapes it with will and intent into the desired result. I have to draw the Magic, the energy to me. You were born with a form of Magic, of energy, inside you. A practitioner witch's Magic can be passed on to a child and eventually becomes inherent. That would be your power, that tends to shape in very specific ways."

"I'm telekinetic, Piper can freeze things and Phoebe gets premonitions and visions. That's what you mean by specific ways."

"Yes. Practitioners can find some shaping of Magic to be easier than others, fire is one of those that's easier for me. But I'm still fairly new to it, I've known Magic exists for two and half years but I didn't start practicing until last fall. A couple of childhood friends were practicing and then I met another version of myself when one of those friends had a spell misfire. He told me I had a large, natural potential to practice Magic and warned me to very careful because it most definitely is not a toy."

"Personal gain." Prue nodded. "You use it for the wrong reasons or in the wrong way and it can bite you in the ass."

"Oh, trust me, I'm well aware of that fact. The first time I ever willingly participated in a spell my reasons involved revenge. It most definitely bit me in the ass. Wait, I hear something!"

Prue couldn't hear anything and wondered if he was changing the subject and then he took off running down the tunnel and she hurried after him. She pulled up short when she saw the two boys in a cage. David.

"Prue!" He yelled when he saw her, the Grimlock's death having restored his sight. "I knew you'd come! Did you use your power?"

"Oh, boy." She heard Xander mutter. "Is him knowing going to be a problem for you? Because erasing a kid's memories does not constitute an emergency as far as I'm concerned."

"You can do that?" She asked, surprised.

"Yes, but it's the biggest rule I live by where my abilities are concerned, emergencies only. So unless him knowing endangers a life, I'm not doing anything to his memory." Xander said firmly. "But we do need to get them out of here, I'm down to fumes and that's not a good thing. I need to get home before I crash."

"Alright, I'll talk to David about keeping things quiet." She raised her hand to open the door of the cage using her power and Xander stopped her.

"That won't help." He told her. "And I can get that door opened without it."

"How?" She asked.

"Like this." He reached out and yanked the door open. "They didn't bother to lock it. Probably thought the kids were too scared to try to get out and being blind would just add to that." He looked at the two boys. "Those bad guys in the ugly clown costumes didn't realize you're not scaredy cats, you're big kids and you were probably just waiting for them to turn around like the idiots they were so you could escape, huh?" He grinned at the two boys, who looked at each other and than by unspoken mutual agreement decided they hadn't actually been afraid, they were just waiting for a chance to escape. Prue was smirking, obviously he knew how little boys thought.

"Come on, boys, let's get you home to your parents."

"And me to my girlfriend, who's going to be a tad annoyed with me."

Prue laughed, yeah, because she'd take one look at him and know he'd pushed himself too far and that would make her worry. This was something Prue understood.

The two herded the boys out and ran into an awake and recovering Piper and a relieved Phoebe. They'd gotten to the boys in time, that made the worry and fear worth it.

Chapter 8

Xander hated the fact that fire was so easy for him to work because it meant as a techno vamp, he also had to put a personal shield around himself before he used the fire spell. He hadn't known any other way of dealing with the Grimlock. Back in Sunnydale he'd gotten used to using shotguns against vamps, the most common demon they encountered. But now he'd used Magic to shield himself and fire to destroy the Grimlock, on top of him being injured. He was in desperate need of blood because the nanites were working overtime to repair the damage to his throat and try to bolster his weary body. 'I need to start carrying a cooler with blood in it every time I leave the house.' He thought. 'God, Piper hit her head when she fell and I can smell the blood, this is what Angel meant by temptation. I am not a demon! I am not a monster! I can control myself! We'll be out of the tunnels soon and then I can go home and let Cordy fuss over me. Which will of course include a dope slap and a chewing out, but I should have been concerned that I might need to use Magic to deal with any demons we encountered and what that would do to me and thought to grab some blood before I left. Well, lesson learned and oh thank the gods, there's the entrance! Yes, almost out of here!'

Murphy giggled as a man appeared.

"Andy," Prue said. "what are you doing here?"

"Brent Miller told me where you were. So you found the boys. And a friend." He eyed Xander.

"Hi, I'm Xander Harris, I just moved in next door to the sisters with my girlfriend. Some reporter guy was following them and I followed him and when he started hassling them, I got him to leave them alone. He won't be a problem anymore."

"Is he still in one piece?" Andy asked dryly.

"I didn't draw a single drop of blood." Xander assured him. "But he got the message that if he decides to stalk women, someone else is going to take exception to that and discourage that type of behavior. Trust me, I'm the nice one, if he'd run into my girlfriend there might have been some blood, metaphorically at least."

"You think you're girlfriend is mean?" Phoebe asked, suddenly realizing something she'd missed earlier, Xander's eyes were an odd color. 'Colored contacts?' She thought.

"Her self proclaimed title was the Bitch Queen of Sunnydale High and she ruled with an iron fist. Until she publicly decided to dump her popularity so she could date me. At the time I was the self proclaimed King of the Nerds, Geeks and Cretins. And I'm still a scifi geek. Listen, I've got to get going, I'm wiped and I really need to get home before my girlfriend sends out a search party. I'll see you all later."

"I'm going to need an official statement from you." The man Prue had identified as Andy, said.

"Why?" Xander asked.

"I'm an Inspector with the San Francisco PD."

"Oh, okay. Um, I'll get the address of the station from one of the sisters and come down later. Really have to go, excuse me. Oh and boys," he looked at the two boys. "The scary clown guys may not have realized how brave you are, but the rest of us can see it. Go hug your moms, they missed you." Xander hurried to his car, he had to go now.

"Xander Harris." Andy said thoughtfully. "Sunnydale High School." He made a note to run a check on him, his cop instincts were telling him there was something there. In the meantime, two little boys needed to be reunited with their mothers and he needed to get a statement from the girls. He had no idea how he was going to write up this report.

Xander drove as fast and as carefully as he could, it would be damned ironic to get into a car accident, given that the woman in the book Anyanka had used as her inspiration in making him a techno vamp had become a immortal because she'd gotten into a car accident. The sun wasn't helping and his gut started cramping, never again would he leave the house without a blood bag, he vowed as he pulled into the garage and was out of the car and racing for the house and a desperately needed blood bag. He scrambled for the small fridge he'd bought to keep it in and slammed it into his teeth, first one, then another and a third before the cramping began to ease.

Too damn close.

Chapter 9

"Putting together a 'Welcome to the neighborhood' basket for the new neighbors?" Prue asked with raised eyebrows the next morning.

"Yes." Phoebe smiled her own version of an innocent smile, which didn't affect Prue at all, she knew her sister too well. "It's the normal thing to do."

"It's the normal thing for Piper to do, it's not the normal thing for you to do." Prue pointed out as she pulled a cup out of the cupboard and poured herself a cup of coffee.

"Well, it isn't normal for our new neighbor to turn out to also be a witch." Phoebe pointed out as she continued to put together the basket. "One who seems to know quite a bit about Magic from what you said. Having another witch around could be useful. So being on his good side is a good idea."

"That isn't why you're the one putting together the welcome basket."

"Yes, it is." Phoebe insisted. "Turns out we have two sets of new neighbors, the duplex next door has been rented by two couples, a married couple in their mid forties and Xander and his girlfriend in the other half. They all moved in just a few days ago. Piper's taking the welcome basket to the older couple, I'm going to take this one to Xander and his girlfriend. She sounds interesting. The Bitch Queen of Baker High would never have given up her popularity for a guy. And she made my life miserable for years."

"That's because you were an '80's punk and she was a fashion plate. Still isn't the reason why you're the one making and taking the basket over personally. Sure, you're curious and you want to meet her, but that's not why you're the one taking it over."

"Oh? Than tell me why I'm taking the basket over personally, great Kreskin?" Phoebe asked sarcastically.

"Because he's cute and hot. Six foot I'd guess and with great shoulders. You want to ogle."

"I refuse to answer that on the grounds that it may incriminate me." Phoebe said airily as she picked up the basket and left the house via the entrance off the kitchen. That it happened to be the side of the house nearest their new neighbors was purely coincidence, I'm sure. Prue grinned and sipped her coffee as she read the morning paper, which had an article about the boys being found safely after good samaritans discovered them. The article didn't mention how they found them. It did make her curious about Lohman though. Xander had been adamant about not using his abilities on David because it didn't constitute an emergency. Lohman delaying saving the boys might have qualified as an emergency. No, scratch that, it did. The Grimlocks killed the kids who's eyesight they stole when they were no longer useful. Brent was only alive because he managed to escape. Prue was a bit conflicted, saving the boys was paramount, but Magic used on a mind? The fact that Xander had taken the time to craft rules regarding the use of his abilities and worked to follow them was comforting. It meant he was being careful, not reckless.

But she was going to research ways of protecting one's mind from Magics, her name wasn't just Prudence, it was also her nature and her sisters were her responsibility, she was the Head of the Charmed Ones after all. Reluctant witch she might be, but reluctant sister she was not.

Phoebe climbed the short rise of steps to the side door of the side of the duplex Xander and his girlfriend lived in, she was about to knock when she heard his voice.

"Laugh it up, Wes, yes I discovered demons within days of leaving Sunnydale, demon central and even worse discovered our new home is right next door to a place demons are aware that witches live in. I'm still a demon magnet."

When she didn't hear a reply she realized he was on the phone with someone. Maybe now wasn't a good time.

"They were something called Grimlocks, never came across them in the Chronicles. From what Prue said, they steal the eyesight of children so they can see auras and use the aura to strangle someone. One of them tried to strangle me and Cordy said there was a report yesterday of a local philanthropist who apparently was strangled in a crowd of people who saw nothing. Guess the Grimlocks got someone before we managed to destroy them." A pause as he listened. "No, it doesn't get any easier knowing we can't save everyone. Believe me I learned that lesson the day after I learned the supernatural existed when the closest thing to a brother I ever had turned to dust in front of me, after I stopped him from attacking Cordy. And yes, I know it wasn't him anymore, just something wearing his face as a mask."

Phoebe was horrified, at least when a demon had tried to trick them by looking like their father, they'd had the comfort of knowing he was still alive and unharmed. To lose a friend and have something looking like him go after someone you knew, that you cared about, on top of it? That was a nightmare introduction to the supernatural. She returned home, she'd try again later, trying to be neighbourly after hearing that would just be plain awkward.

So would ogling him.

######

A/N Reference to the Bitch Queen of Baker High is from an episode where Phoebe attends her High School reunion and accidentally reverts to her teenage persona while retaining her powers. She casts a simple, but effective spell on her High School's version of the Bitch Queen.

'I'd rather be rich, than a bitch' and turned her into a dog. Lol.

Protections are an area that the Charmed Ones excelled at. Something only needed to happen to them once usually and then they'd figure out a way to keep it from happening again, if possible. Some times it wasn't, but they still tried.

Chapter 10

"I finished the research you asked me to do on Xander Harris." Morris took the seat at his desk and handed the file to his partner. "Has he come in to make his statement yet?"

"No and I can't finish my report until he does. Give me the highlights." Andy requested as he opened the file and began skimming it.

"Xander Harris of Sunnydale, California, born Alexander Harris December 21, 1980."

Andy looked up sharply. "That would make him 18."

"Is that a problem?"

"He's in his mid twenties."

"That would be a problem." Daryl agreed. "Especially given some interesting info I found out about Alexander Harris. The police in Sunnydale have a file on him, suspected in numerous trespassing and breaking and entering cases, as well as arson and vandalism. Never questioned in regards to any of it and never any evidence linking him to any of it, but plenty of suspicion. And as of mid November of last fall, living in abandoned buildings in Sunnydale, but never rousted."

"Why not? A teenage kid living alone on the streets and they were aware of it, but not trying to help him?"

"Sunnydale apparently has bigger problems than one kid involved in small time crime. They have a serious LA gang spillover problem. Multiple homicides and gangs that want to scare the population and I mean scare. Reports of barbeque fork injuries to the neck that bleed out and the gangs using dogs to kill people. This Harris kid may have been a possible recruit or just trying to survive. His parents do have records, long ones, domestic abuse and drunk and disorderly mostly, but that kid spent a good chunk of his childhood in the hospital too and the parents were never investigated."

"A runaway." Andy concluded. "But that doesn't explain the Xander Harris I met yesterday, he's in his mid twenties, not 18."

"It might, if he's not Xander Harris. His parents never filed a missing person's report on him, but his High School has something I've never seen or heard of before, their paper has an obituary column. As of November of last year, Alexander Harris is listed as deceased. His classmates thought he was dead. I found a license issued a few days later to Alexander Harris, date of birth, December 21, 1973. Seven years older."

"Mid twenties, son of a bitch, someone killed the kid and took his identity. And is living next door to Prue and her sisters. When I told him I was an Inspector with San Francisco's PD and needed a statement from him, he said he had to go but he'd come down to the station and make one. Prue told me he helped save those kids."

"So how does someone go from killing a kid to saving them? Unless he didn't kill Xander Harris, but found him dead and decided to use his info as a way out of whatever situation he was in. Bottom line, that's identity theft and he may be running from other crimes."

"We need to go talk to him. Now, because he may have already skipped town." He stood and Daryl followed as the two Inspectors headed out to find answers to their questions. "Anything else of interest?" Andy asked, as they climbed into his car.

"Quite a bit actually, Xander Harris, the younger, had been questioned by the police in Sunnydale, but not for anything he ever did. Twice a friend of his was accused of murder, charges dropped both times. The first time involved a girl, a mutual friend, who's throat had been slit. One Buffy Summers was found kneeling next to the body, holding her hand. The officers on scene attempted to arrest her, but she managed to get out of the cuffs and ran. One officer shot at her. Her father is a lawyer, the charges were dropped. The victim bled out, but Miss Summers didn't have a drop on her and no weapon was found, either in the vacinity or on her. The father threatened a lawsuit."

"Shooting at her went way beyond, they bungled that badly. And the other?"

"She kicked her mother's boyfriend down the stairs and his neck snapped. She admitted it, she was freaked, she said he attacked her, the police were sceptical. Then four marriage certificates, no divorce decrees and four preserved bodies of women where found in his basement. No charges were filed against Summers, the case was dropped."

"Like a molton rock, I bet. I understand why someone would want to get out of a town with problems like that, but identity theft is a long way to go to accomplish it. This guy was into something and I want to know what it is and I'm afraid it's personal, Daryl." He confessed to his partner.

"You think I don't realize that? It's Prue, man and her sisters. You grew up with them and I know you and Prue were recently trying to see if you could try again and it fizzled, but she and they still matter to you. Let me do the talking and don't do or say anything, okay? We'll figure out what this guy's up to and we'll do it without giving IA a reason to look at us."

"Thanks, Daryl." Andy said quietly, as he parked in front of the house next door to the Halliwell's. The two men got out and walked up to the front door and knocked.

Chapter 11

Xander opened the front door to find the Inspector, Prue's friend and another man he didn't recognize, standing there.

"Inspector? I'm sorry, I thought you were going to wait for me to come down to the station." He was puzzled, but not worried.

"That was before our background check on Xander Harris discovered a few interesting things." The second man said, pulling out his badge. "Inspector Daryl Morris, can we come in? We'd like to ask you some questions." The young man did something unusual, he stepped aside and motioned them in. Something most people would consider rude.

"We can talk in the living room, you'll save me from another chewing out from my girlfriend or at least delay it. I wasn't in great shape when I got home yesterday. I've got a blood condition and didn't take supplies with me, so she's not very happy with me because I was inconsiderate and worried her. Got to admit, she's got a point, just because it hasn't come up before doesn't mean I shouldn't have thought of it." He led them into the living room where they found a girl about 18 sitting on the couch, which surprised the two men. "Inspectors, this is my girlfriend, Cordelia Chase, Cordy, Prue's friend, Andy and his partner, Daryl Morris." He indicated which was which and invited them to sit, which they declined, before taking a seat himself by his girlfriend. "So what did you want to ask me?"

"Who you are?" Daryl answered. "Because our background check on Xander Harris of Sunnydale shows he's 18 and dead."

"Crap." Xander and Cordelia chorused. "Genuinely competent cops." Xander moaned. "Instead of corrupt jackasses."

"You don't have a great opinion of cops." Daryl observed.

"Yeah, well, we're from Sunnydale. The Mayor ran his own gang and the Chief knew it. Sunnydale's currently having elections to get a new Mayor, who hopefully isn't corrupt, after the last one disappeared." Xander answered.

"Explains your attitude toward cops, not why you've got the ID and birthdate of a teenage boy who's dead."

"Xander Harris isn't dead." Cordelia told them. "And he's also Xander Harris, the birthdate is just a coincidence." She tried to explain, cursing herself for not coming up with a different way to explain Xander's disappearance. "He just wanted to get away from his parents, that's all."

"So you want us to believe a second Alexander Harris, who also calls himself Xander, by the way, just appeared in Sunnydale at the same time another Alexander Harris with the same birthdate was reported dead in Sunnydale." Daryl said sceptically. "And you expect us to just buy that? Miss Chase, you appear to be the same age as the other Xander Harris, which means you went to school with him."

"And he mentioned you yesterday as his girlfriend." Andy interjected. "He said you dropped your popularity to date him. You know both Xander Harris'. How did a High School student meet the current Xander Harris? Just days after your classmate seems to have disappeared? You don't see how a coincidence like that makes us suspicious?"

"And inclined to keep asking questions." Daryl continued. "Look, if you're in trouble, we can try to help you. The police in Sunnydale had a file on Xander Harris, trespassing, breaking and entering, that kind of thing. Just work with us and give us straight answers and we can help you."

Xander rubbed the back of his neck and looked worried, cops digging into their lives could find out a lot and could stumble across the supernatural in the process. "Cordy," he said carefully. "do you think this qualifies as an emergency?" The Inspectors looked concerned, wondering what he meant and began to wonder if they'd missed something.

Cordelia also looked concerned. "You said Prue knows him, we can't, not without talking to her first. She needs to weigh in on a decision like that."

"What does Prue have to do with anything?" Andy asked and began to wonder about something else, Lohman had claimed Prue had powers and Andy knew she was hiding something, something she was afraid to let him get caught up in. Were these two involved in the same thing? He was startled as Xander's strange colored eyes seemed to take on a glow as he spoke.

"Inspector Morris, don't move." Andy jumped as Daryl went perfectly still.

"What did you do to him?" He demanded.

"I won't hurt him." Xander assured him, looking sad. "But we need to talk to Prue and her sisters, because you're their friend and they won't like it if we did anything to you, even if it's something that protects us and by extension, people we love. I am Alexander Harris, the same Alexander Harris reported dead in Sunnydale. Let's go see the sisters, Inspector and see if they're willing to let us tell you the truth or not." Andy put his hand on his gun.

"Please, Inspector, neither of you are in any danger." Xander told him. "Just give us a chance to talk to the sisters and decide on a course of action. I could do this to you too, but I'm not, because of your friendship with Prue. I'm trying not to just react impulsively, people's lives could at least be affected, if not in actual danger. We have to be careful, just give us a chance. That's all I'm asking." Andy kept his hand on his gun and wondered if he could trust them. Prue, though, he did trust her, so maybe.

"Alright, one chance and only because of Prue."

Chapter 12

Andy Trudeau knocked on the side door of the Halliwell's home and glanced warily at the couple standing beside him and his blank faced partner and friend and hoped he was finally going to get answers to his questions, because ever since Prue had come back into his life he'd had questions and now he had more. Phoebe opened the door.

"Andy, hi. What's up?" She asked.

"We need to talk to you guys." Xander answered. "The Inspectors did a background check on me and found out some things that have led to questions. Questions that might constitute an emergency, the kind that involves my rules. Did Prue mention those to you?"

Phoebe looked worried. "Yeah, she did and I understand you're being careful. Why ask us though?"

"He's your friend, I know how I'd feel if you guys did something that involved one of my friends and didn't tell me. I need advice and you guys are the best people to ask because it involves you too."

"I have plenty of questions where you girls are concerned too." Andy told Phoebe. "And I'm sure you're aware of that fact. Prue and I had a conversation about that just yesterday. What are you guys hiding and what does it have to with a dead 18 year old kid?!"

"What kid?" Phoebe asked.

"I told you, Inspector, he's not dead!" Cordelia exclaimed. "He's just changed and that's part of the explanation."

"Come in." Phoebe said and noticed the couple cringe. "What?" She asked.

"Never, ever invite anyone in." Xander told her. "They may not be themselves tomorrow and then they have an open invitation into your home."

"Oh. Crap." She understood it probably had something to do with Magic and made a note to ask them later. "Alright, I'll remember, let's go in the conservatory." Yelling for her sisters as she went.

"What's up with Daryl?" Piper asked when she saw him.

"I'm controlling him." Xander answered. "And trying to decide if I shouldn't just do something more because he and your friend are asking questions that could lead to them learning things that could endanger people, including themselves."

"Yesterday, Prue, you told me you didn't know if it was better that I know or not and now he seems to be wondering the same thing. What is it better that I might or might not know?"

Prue looked conflicted, the last time she'd tried to talk to him about this it hadn't ended well. She'd cast a truth spell on him to see how he'd react and he hadn't wanted to continue dating her because he saw enough bad things in his job as a cop, adding demons and Magic hadn't been something he could deal with. Would it work out differently this time? She made her decision. This time it involved other people. "Magic is real." She answered.

"You're going to claim what he's done to Daryl is Magic?" He asked. "Some kind of trick?"

"No, Magic." Xander answered. "She's talking about powers and spells, that kind of Magic. It's real, good and bad. I'm Alexander Harris and I'm 18 years old." Startling the sisters. "I only look 25 because someone else did something with Magic and screwed my life over in the process. And there's no reversing it." He sat down on one of the couches. "Because Murphy's a fucking asshole who likes to screw with my life." Cordelia carded her fingers through his hair and looked at the Inspector. "Believe or not, your choice. But I swear if your actions endanger people, Xander's not the one you'll have to worry about, I am. He doesn't want to use his abilities to control people or erase memories and it freaks him out that those are abilities he just has. Spells and stuff are choices for him, the ability to wipe your mind, that's not a choice." The sisters thought that meant he also had natural power, like they did and practiced Magic so he didn't have to rely on such…questionable abilities. They could sympathize, he knew demons existed, just like they did and couldn't not try to help. So he found another way.

"Andy, you and I have already had this conversation." Prue informed him. "I'm not the one who decided we shouldn't date anymore, you are. I proved to you Magic is real. You saw proof that demons are real and you told me, you saw enough with human evil in your job, you didn't want to deal with supernatural evil either. I don't have a choice, supernatural evil comes looking for me. I let you go, but I thought if you didn't know about it, you might be happier, so I cast a spell that let you forget. I'm sorry, I understand why Xander is conflicted, because we really don't have the right to do that. It's why he made rules for when and how he does use his abilities. Emergencies only, if lives can be saved or protected and it's a good rule to live by." She waved her hand and he rose up in the air, staring wide eyed at her. "Now you can decide for yourself, do you agree to allow Xander to make you forget or do you accept? We fight demons, Andy, real demons and stop them from hurting people."

"Supernatural cops." Xander stated, remembering his counterpart calling Buffy and Anita Blake, the Vampire Executioner, that. "The public will panic if they find out, but sometimes individuals can handle knowing about it. Can you?" He asked, as Prue gently set Andy back on his feet.

Chapter 13

"And Daryl? What are you going to do about him?" Andy asked, looking at his still blank faced partner.

"I'm controlling his actions, Inspector, but he's hearing and seeing everything that's happening. He can decide for himself." Xander answered and released control over Daryl, who carefully took a seat himself.

"Magic and demons?" He asked, proving he had heard and seen everything.

"I bet you have cases you can't solve, that raise weird questions." Xander said. "That's because some of them were committed by demons, not humans. Humans usually, unless they're insane, have a choice in their actions, a conscience or a soul. Demons don't, at least most of them don't. And many of them feed on humans in one capacity or another. Torture is also a favorite hobby of many of them."

"The trespassing and breaking and entering the police in Sunnydale suspect you of?" Daryl asked.

"Investigating demon activity and dealing with the demons in question. No evidence that the police could use because demons don't decompose the way humans do." The sisters were nodding, nothing he'd said contradicted anything they knew.

"Weird?" Andy asked. "Like a man who was strangled in broad daylight while surrounded by people who saw nothing."

"Grimlocks." Prue answered. "They steal the eyesight of innocent children and use it to see the aura of a person and use it to strangle a human. When the child is no longer of use to them, they kill them. The boys we saved yesterday, they were taken by Grimlocks. If we hadn't found them, if we hadn't stopped them, the boys would have been killed. Their use only lasts for about 24 hours, we were down to less then twelve hours when we finally found them. Xander helped us destroy them and we saved the boys together."

"And Lohman?" Andy asked. "You said you got him to leave the girls alone, how?"

"He was delaying the girls, in order to get proof of their powers, to broadcast it to the world. I ordered him to forget everything he knew about them, everything he'd seen and learned about them and then I ordered him to go home and live his life. It's only in emergencies that I'm willing to use these abilities and the lives of children were on the line, I had to act. I'd never have been able to live with myself I hadn't." This was a sentiment all of the adults and Cordelia could understand.

"And if we decide we can't accept what you've told us?" Daryl asked. "If we don't want to know or if we threaten to expose you ourselves?"

"If you don't want to know, then we won't force you to know, I'll erase the knowledge and you go on your way." Xander answered. "And if you're a threat to people I care about, well that just means I'll have a clean conscience when I erase the information because it protects lives, the lives of people who are trying to protect other people."

"And if we decide we can live with knowing or don't want you messing with our minds, since you said it's our choice," Andy said. "how do you make sure we don't go out and blab it?"

Xander sighed. "You could give me permission to periodically scan you to see if you've betrayed us or intend to betray us, but I really don't want to be doing that. I don't want to be messing with people's minds, I never asked for these abilities and I can't get rid of them but I can block you from broadcasting your thoughts into my head and I can use rules to guide just when or if it's ever worthwhile to use them. The very first rule, only in emergencies or if it saves lives to use them."

"Like a gun." Daryl said thoughtfully. "We have to decide if a situation we're in makes it necessary to use our guns, if doing so might save other lives. You called them supernatural cops, your powers are your version of guns and you have to know when to use them or not."

"Exactly and if we don't use them responsibly, then we're no better than the demons we vanquish." Prue told him. "Worse, because we do have a choice, a conscience, a soul. So, our jobs aren't that different, Andy, we investigate, we determine suspects and stop them from hurting others. Most of the humans you arrest, they go to jail. There's no jail for demons or rehabilitation for them. They kill until a force of good stops them."

"And we recently had an opportunity to get rid of our powers." Piper told him. "But the beings in question would have used them to kill people and whether we have powers or not, we know what's out there, we'd probably end up trying to fight it anyway."

"A lot of humans do." Xander said. "Find out I mean and figure out a way to fight, others help and support people who fight. And others turn away and refuse to help."

"Will you give us some time to think about things, make up our minds?" Andy asked.

"I trust you, Andy." Prue said. "I'm willing."

"Me too." Phoebe piped up and Piper nodded.

Xander looked at Cordelia who glared at the two men. "You better not betray their trust, because our lives are on the line here too. You get one chance, don't waste it!"

The two men quietly left to discuss the conversation and make a decision and Phoebe turned to Xander and asked him why they shouldn't invite a person into their home.

"Because vampires are real too and if you've invited a human into your home and they become one then they can get into your home too."

"Oh. Crap."

Chapter 14

A/N There are differences in regards to the vampires in Buffy and Charmed. This chapter will explain them.

######

"Come upstairs with us." Prue said, heading for the stairs. "We're going to check the Book of Shadows and see if our ancestors ever encountered them, if not we'll be making our first contribution to the Book."

"Book of Shadows?" Xander asked.

"A Chronicle of all the demons, Magic and spells our ancestors encountered or created." She answered.

"In one book?" Cordelia asked. "The Watchers Chronicles encompass hundreds, maybe more, books listing demons, Magic and spells."

"The Watchers Chronicles?" Piper asked.

"The collection of books we used for our research." Xander told her. "Put together by the Watchers Council, a group of humans, some normal, some Magic users, who've spent centuries researching and fighting demons." Xander explained.

"Something else we'll have to add to the Book if it's not in there." Piper decided. "But it's nice to know we're not the only people dealing with supernatural crap."

"Here," Prue led them over to a book on a pedestal. "This is the Book of Shadows."

"Wow." Xander said, gently touching it. "That's big and old."

"It was started by our ancestor, Melinda Warren." Phoebe said. "She was the first witch of our family to have active powers. She was burned at the stake as a witch, she allowed herself to die to save her daughter, also known as Prudence." She glanced at her sister.

"That's awful." Cordelia said. "But brave." She paged through the book looking for vampires and found something. "Xander, we've got a problem." She said, reading the entry.

"I'll say." He agreed.

"What?" Prue asked.

"This information doesn't match what we know and we know vampires, our hometown was built over a dimensional rift that leads to an actual Hell, it leaks energy that attracts them. They're the biggest number of demons we dealt with in Sunnydale, by far. Only a few were anything else."

"If this information is also accurate," Cordelia said. "then there's another kind of vampire out there and we were never told about it. And crap, neither were Buffy and Faith!"

"Do you have your cellphone, Cordy? I need to talk to Wes." She fished it out of her pocket and handed it to him as she read the entry again.

'Vampires, under the command of a queen, mostly female, turned with a bite, capable of shape shifting into a bat form and morphing their feet and hang upside down like a bat. Kill the queen and all members of her clan die with her because they're connected to her, unless they haven't yet tasted human blood, in which case they revert to human form. Distantly related to Seeker demons.' "Very different. Wesley better have answers."

"Wesley," Xander said, as soon as the Watcher picked up the line. "what do you know about another kind of vampire? And I'm putting you on speaker because there are other witches here and they don't know there's another kind."

"I'm aware of another kind, Xander." Wesley explained. "But there are very big differences between them and the vampires we deal with. The ones we deal with are dead bodies possessed by an incorporeal demon. They crave blood and can sense Slayers. Slayers exist to fight these kind of vampires and can sense them in return. The other kind are actual, fully formed demons, they convert or change a human body to make them like them, they don't take over a dead body. They're not attracted to Hellmouth energy either, the chances of Buffy or Faith encountering them are rare."

"They should know just in case, Wesley, especially since Buffy is going to college in Illinois, the chances of encountering other demons increases off the Hellmouth."

"You're right, it never occured to me because they're rare and normally our group didn't research a demon unless we encountered them. I'll let them know today."

"Hey, Wes, you think you could have a set of the Chronicles sent to us? We can compare notes with the sisters and increase both of our knowledge bases at the same time."

"That's a good idea, I'll arrange a set of the Chronicles to be sent to you immediately. I checked the Chronicles and couldn't find anything on Grimlocks, which means the Watchers Council has never encountered them."

"Thanks, Wes and you should see the Halliwell's Book of Shadows, it's amazing."

"Did you say the Halliwell's?" Wesley asked, shocked. "The Halliwell's are the witches you're working with?!"

"Yes," Xander said warily. "is there a problem?"

"Only you, Xander, could meet and befriend the most powerful witches on the planet. The prophecied Charmed Ones. Weird, given your propensity for defying prophecies, especially given how successful you've been at it." Wesley laughed as he hung up the phone and Xander and Cordelia stared at the Halliwell sisters, who were staring right back at them.

"What's a Slayer?" Phoebe asked.

"A human enhanced by Magic to be able to sense vampires and made strong enough to fight them." Xander answered. "Created unnecessarily by humans thousands of years ago, the Watchers Council, in addition to fighting demons, find and train Potentials, humans marked by the Magic, who might be activated to be the next one. Always female and always young, we've known three."

"Something else to add to the Book." Phoebe decided. "So, tell us about these prophecies you've broken."

Chapter 15

Xander answered the knock on his front door that came later that night and found the two Inspectors on his doorstep again. "It's late, I'm tired and tomorrow is the first day at my new job, I'd very much like to get a good night's sleep, gentleman. If you've come to shoot me, arrest me or expose me, can it wait until after work tomorrow?"

"We want to ask you some more questions, actually." Andy said. "We've been talking for hours trying to make up our minds. Yours and Prue's demonstrations were pretty convincing, it's just, what do we now? How do we deal with this information? How do we live our lives with this knowledge?"

"Believe it or not, I've asked myself questions like that. It's actually reassuring that you're asking them, because people usually try to rationalize it away." Xander motioned them in.

"Why do you do that?" Daryl asked, as the two men entered. "Why did you tell Phoebe people invited in might not be the same people the next day?"

"Because vampires also exist, two kinds actually and one of them can use an invitation issued to the human to bypass the threshold of your home. Their favorite prey is children and teenagers."

"The more I hear, the worse it seems. Wait, the report from Sunnydale said the gangs are trying to scare people by killing people with barbeque forks." Andy exclaimed.

"Code for a vampire attack, the bite doesn't actually look like a barbeque fork. Sunnydale has a different kind of organized crime. A high concentration of vampires call the place home, don't worry, there are people working to fix that. But, like I said earlier, panicky humans, so things are kept quiet to avoid panic."

"By faking reports?"

"The Mayor ran one of the gangs himself, he did something to make the people rather sheeplike, as in willing to believe anything that came out of City Hall. Hopefully the changes being made, including a new Mayor, will help fix that too."

"You left, but you still know about it and you're still trying to fight." Darryl stated. "Why not stay there and fight?"

"You could say I'm in the supernatural version of Witness Protection." Xander answered. "The Magic that caused me to look older then I am, made me a potential problem for the vampires in Sunnydale. There was every possibility that they'd come after me and the people I care about to destroy me and the perceived threat. So Cordy and I convinced her parents to move and we all came here to San Francisco, they live next door. They don't yet know about all of this and we're working up to telling them."

"Your version of Witness Protection sucks." Daryl said bluntly.

"We had no real idea how to do it." Xander admitted. "It didn't occur to anyone that leaving Sunnydale might be a necessity, so I kept my name and my birthdate and just changed the year. Back there no one really cared, plus corrupt cops. How exactly should I do it?"

"You need a different name." Andy told him. "Last name anyway, on all of your official records and your fingerprints sealed. Sunnydale PD only suspected you committed crimes, they never questioned or arrested and certainly never convicted you, of any crime. You can have your last name legally changed."

"And my fingerprints?"

"The report from Sunnydale didn't include fingerprints because they never printed you." Daryl informed him. "But that doesn't mean they didn't collect prints at the sites they suspected you'd been at. You might want to look into a Magic and I can't believe I just said that, way to hide or change your fingerprints."

"I'll start researching it after work. It's a good idea. So, what are you guys going to do about knowing about the supernatural? Do you want to forget, ignore it or find a way to help? There really aren't any other options, that I'm aware of."

"Especially if some of our cases actually involve demons in some way." Andy agreed. "We have to think about that, forgetting means we don't know that and cases go unsolved, that we could have a satisfactory conclusion for if we could determine demons were involved. But how do we determine demons were involved?"

"If you run across something weird you can ask us or the sisters and we could figure out if demons were involved and what to do about it." Xander suggested.

"You know, that's not a bad idea." Daryl said. "And it might help your situation as well. We could bring you in as a Confidential Informant, that would let us both help and keep an eye on each other. Because face it, trust is going to take awhile, for both you and us."

"You're not wrong." Xander agreed. "You guys trust the sisters because you know them. You don't know me and I don't know you. And it's a way I can help. Let me talk to Cordy and see what she thinks. The sisters trust you and they and we are working to trust each other as well. I mean we just met yesterday, but hey, we fought demons together. That tends to give you a good idea about a person's character. The sisters care about each other and willingly risked themselves against a formerly unknown demon to save kids. That goes a long way toward trust in my book."

"I'm betting it does for the girls too." Andy nodded. "Like if we worked a case with out of town cops. The way they handled it would determine how much trust we were willing to give them."

"The sisters are like supernatural cops." Xander agrees. "That's an apt comparison."

"Which makes you a supernatural cop too."

"Well it beats the prison guard my career assessment test said was I suited for." Xander said dryly.

"At least that puts you on the right side of the bars."

Chapter 16

Xander groaned as his alarm went off the next morning and quickly shut it off. Cordelia was not a morning person, but ever since the Halloween he'd been a soldier version of himself he'd felt a near compulsion to always get up early. Besides, today he started his new job at Buckland's Auction House and he didn't want to be late. He got up and started getting ready, he was making breakfast when Cordelia wandered out of the bedroom.

"That smells good." She took a deep smell of the sausage that was frying in a pan on the stove. Xander ate a lot of meat, it, along with iron supplements, seem to help keep him at a two blood bag a day habit. He'd had to have three on average when he'd been working part time jobs and living in an abandoned house in Sunnydale. Cordelia made sure he had plenty of meat in the house.

"Thanks, it's making my mouth water. So, we took the night to sleep on the Inspectors offer, what do you think?"

"I think it makes sense and for the reasons they said, you can keep an eye on each other and get a bead on demon activity."

"Confidential Informants also get paid, so it's another source of income." Xander added. "I mean, I can get financial aid to cover my college expenses and take classes online, you won't be able to get financial aid until next year because they look at last years tax returns and you were a dependent of rich parents last year."

"Hence why I'm attending a state community college that allows California residents, under certain circumstances, to attend free." Cordelia agreed. "This year I won't be listed as a dependent on my no longer rich parents tax return and thanks to the Dynasty Trust, I have my own income, which helps with my expenses and my share of rent. But it also means, next year I can transfer to a four year college and get financial aid myself."

"And Willow is working her version of Magic on the computer and working to get my last name legally changed." Xander dished up a plate for Cordelia, who took it to the table and then dished up his own and followed her. "Which she agreed to do after chewing me out for forgetting the time difference between here and Georgia. Oz says hi."

"Which is probably the only word he said." Cordelia grinned as she dug into her pancakes and sausage. "Willow's a babbler and Oz redefines monosyllabic."

"And you get wordy when you're pissed and I get crude." He grinned at her. "So, what are you planning on doing today?"

"Spend some time with Mom and Dad and then get to know the neighbors some more. I like the sisters, they're real and I think they might make good friends. I'm registered for the fall classes, but it's only June, so I've got a couple months to kill and Phoebe doesn't work either, right now anyway and we can hang out together."

"So, that settles our plans." Xander loaded his plate in the dishwasher. "But, I had another thought, the fact that the Inspectors saw, believe and remember everything that we talked about, both at the Halliwell's and here, suggests San Francisco probably doesn't have a version of what the Mayor did to make people sheeplike in Sunnydale, which means whatever it is, is probably wearing off on your parents. There's a possibility they could start remembering things on their own, regardless, if we're going to go forward with our plans to make you a techno vamp and eventually offer them the opportunity as well, then we need to keep an eye on them and make plans for a discussion with them. You heard Prue, demons come looking for them and Harry said this street's known in the supernatural community. Sooner or later your parents are going to see something and we need to be prepared for how to deal with it."

Cordelia nodded solemnly. "I know them and I'm the one at home right now, I should be able to recognize if they do start to remember. You better get going, you don't want to be late, especially on your first day."

"No, I don't." He agreed, pulling the cooler he'd packed the night before out of the 'fridge. He gave her a kiss and then smirked.

"What?" She asked.

"This." He said. "This feels nice, cosy, like cuddling on the couch with you watching tv. It's what grown up couples in love do. Kiss each other goodbye on their way to work and wish each other a good day."

"It's buying meat to keep my man content." Cordelia teased. "You're right, it's little things that make and keep a relationship going, well that and talking so fears and doubts don't spill over and cause pain and misery. Have a good day at work, dear."

"Go back to Doofus, dear is freaky." Xander kissed her again and headed for the garage, tucking the cooler down in front of the passenger seat and heading off to his first day at the new job, where he found another surprise waiting for him.

"Do you ever feel like you're a chess piece being moved around a board?" Xander asked Prue after their now mutual boss, Clair Pryce, introduced them and told Prue to show him the ropes and left.

"All the time lately." She answered. "So, you're a demon magnet and witch and you move to a new city to escape demons, but continue to practice Magic, end up in a house next door to witches who fight demons and get hired to work at the same place one of the witches has also recently been hired to work at. Where my sisters and I vanquished warlocks who wanted to steal our powers."

"Murphy must just bust a gut over us."

Chapter 17

After spending some time with her parents, Cordelia headed over to Halliwell Manor to see if Phoebe was home and found that she was. She was also working on a mystery.

"I played hooky this morning from housework." She confessed to Cordelia. "And did something I've never done before, went on a tour of Alcatraz with my friend Marianne."

"So what's a gloomy former prison on an island surrounded by shark infested waters like?" Cordelia asked, accepting a cup of coffee from Phoebe.

"It had a ghost that I think managed to escape today."

"Let me guess, by possessing someone?" Cordelia asked, taking a seat at the kitchen table where Phoebe's laptop was open.

"Actually, yes. How'd you know?"

"Please, I grew up in Sunnydale too, just like Xander. We dealt with a pair of ghosts who use to be a teacher and a student she got involved with. It didn't end well. She broke up with him and he accidentally shot her because he was so upset and then shot himself. They'd possess people and play out their deaths over and over trying to find a resolution. It included manifesting a gun each time."

"But instead of finding closure, someone kept getting killed?" Phoebe guessed.

"Exactly, until one of them, the student, James, possessed our friend Buffy and the teacher possessed a vampire. Rather a clever idea on her part actually. The vampire still got shot because the scene still played out, but being already dead, but animated because of the demon, she was able to manipulate the body enough to stop James from killing himself again and taking Buffy with him. She was also able to tell him she forgave him, which helped them both move on."

"Well, I'm not sure, but I saw at least one ghost, a guy and a female something that I don't think was actually a ghost. She was dressed in some sort of robes and killed the tour guide somehow just by waving her hand and the ghost climbed into his body. I had no idea how to deal with the situation, so I came home to try to figure out who the guy was in real life. And the Book of Shadows has a spell for vanquishing a ghost but it can only be said by another ghost."

"That's a very unuseful spell." Cordelia commented. "So what are you doing now?"

"Trying to figure out who the ghost is by researching all the former inmates and neglecting housework, the neglecting housework will get me yelled at by Prue."

"Being yelled at for not doing your chores is a mom thing, isn't it?"

"Well, Prue's always been more than just a big sister. A demon killed our mother when I was only a few years old. Prue helped our Grams take care of us."

"That's rough." Cordelia said sympathetically. "My mother is chronically ill with Epstein Barr and my Dad and I worry we're going to lose her. Hey, maybe, I can help you. I'm not a witch, no interest in it, but I did help in our attempt to banish the ghosts from the school. Which fizzled because James was a very angry ghost and we could have only used it if the ghost you saw was still haunting Alcatraz instead of roaming around doing whatever the ghost of a convicted killer thinks is fun hijinks. But I could do your chores so you don't get in trouble while you try to figure out who he is. Because what are the odds that the ghost of a convicted killer isn't going to do something that absolutely ruins someone's day?"

"Sadly, I have to agree that is a distinct possiblity." Phoebe agreed. "Which means I'm going to take you up on your offer. I just hope you still want to be friends afterwards because Prue and Piper left a list of things that need doing."

"Are they at work?"

"Prue is, Piper left for a convention in Honolulu this morning and I can happily report that for the first time ever, I managed to trigger a premonition on purpose this morning. I'm starting to get a little bit of control over my power."

"Good for you." Cordelia sighed as she filled the sink with water to wash the dishes stacked in the sink. "Xander's mental abilities freak him the Hell out, especially the ability to control someone. He only learned to control them so he wasn't using them accidentally. But his abilities are really different from you guy's and could go so wrong, so easily."

"I understand, when the binding on our powers first broke, we were seriously freaked for quite awhile. I adjusted fastest, maybe because I don't have an active power, visions and premonitions don't hurt people, they give us a chance to stop people from being hurt. That's a good feeling. Prue accidentally nearly strangling her ex fiance when he pissed her off by taking credit for her work with their boss before she even understood she had power, freak inducing."

"She should have nailed him between the uprights, it's what I'd do." Cordelia grinned and Phoebe laughed.

"Why do you think I'm studying martial arts? Besides the fact that it's a good way to actively protect myself, it scares the crap out of guys when they realize a 5'3" woman can kick their butts."

"Tell me about it, our friend Buffy is about your size and she can seriously kick ass. You think maybe you could show me a few things? Xander would like for me to have options for being able to protect myself and that's a sentiment I can get behind. I could teach you how to shoot a gun and handle a crossbow in return, both work real well on vampires."

"Piper would freak if I learn how to use a gun. So, yes, I agree."

"You like being the little sister, don't you?"

"Mostly, in the torment of my older sisters way." Phoebe grinned at her new friend and decided this was a Bitch Queen who might just turn out to be a good friend.

Chapter 18

Since Xander's new job involved manual labor and moving inventory and an auction was being planned in the next couple of days, Xander was currently moving inventory and setting up for it. He could hear Clair, his new boss and Prue talking not far away discussing the upcoming auction and a few other things.

"In all honesty, Prue, if it weren't for you, I'm not sure the auction house would've been able to stave off bankruptcy." Clair admitted.

"Thank you."

"No, don't thank me yet. Now, I have tolerated your unexplained absences and the endless family emergencies but no more. Buyers interested in purchasing Buckland's will be visiting in the next two days and it's important that we make a big impression. It's important that you make a big impression if you expect to keep your job. Do I make myself clear?"

"Perfectly." Cursing the way demons kept interrupting her life.

Xander wondered if there was a reason he'd gotten this job, someone out there pulling strings and if so, maybe it was to continue to help. He'd helped Buffy and Faith, Slayers, maybe now he could help the Charmed Ones and how freaky was it that he'd ended up living next door to people that were the subject of another prophecy? He picked up a pretty blue painted bedside antique table and carried it into the auction room and carefully set it into place, the thing looked really fragile, he noted absently and went to move the next piece.

While Xander was starting his new job and Cordelia was helping Phoebe and the two of them were beginning a friendship, Daryl and Andy were going through their police files, looking for weird ones to show Xander.

"Some of the files seem to be missing." Daryl informed Andy after going through the filing cabinet a second time.

"That's weird, not many people have access to the files, I wonder what happened to them and whether they're some of the weird ones?"

"If they are, does that mean someone else knows that and is either investigating themselves or trying to cover something up?"

"Neither are possibilities that fill me with glee, we have no idea what the motive of someone else investigating might be and someone trying to cover up the weird might be willing to go a long way to do that depending on their own reasons for wanting to do that. But we do have several weird cases we can have Xander look at and see if there's any information he can find."

"I've got to admit I'm still struggling with this." Daryl admitted. "My Grandma was religious and believed, but that was faith, not evidence in front of her, kinda thing."

"I know what you mean, part of me just wants to forget, but ignorance may be bliss, but it's dangerous too. Xander's right about the public in general not being able to handle knowing any of this, but if it was known, we could have police officers dedicated to openly investigating. Instead we have to do end runs around our own people and wonder if someone else is doing that too."

Another Inspector approached their desks and the two men glanced up.

"Blakely," Andy addressed the female Inspector. "we don't usually see you in this part of the building, something up?"

"I've got a freaky case and word is you guys have had a few freaky cases of your own. I got a guy who was stabbed thirteen times in a pattern on his chest, knife left at the scene." She showed him a picture with a very clear print on it.

"Something weird about the print?" Andy asked.

"It didn't show up under dusting powder, it showed up under fluorescent light. Crime scene techs have no idea what to make of it. Fluorescent light could make something show up on skin, but it shouldn't on metal, unless it's blood. Any thoughts?"

"Not off the top of my head." Andy admitted, wondering if Xander or the sisters did. "Maybe it's a Hollywood special effects type thing, a way to make you chase your tail."

"Whether it is or not, I still have to run it down just in case it is something significant. Thanks for trying, if you think of anything else, let me know, okay?"

"Sure, no problem." Andy agreed.

"It gets even weirder though," Blakely told them. "we managed to match the print, it's for a serial killer that was executed 36 years ago at Alcatraz, Jackson Ward."

"A dead guy's prints on a murder weapon for a very recent murder." Daryl commented. "Someone is making you chase your tail."

"And when I catch them, I'm going to explain in detail that I don't appreciate that." She gave a cold, confident smile that made the two men shiver before heading back to her own desk.

"Okay, I'm wondering if ghosts are a thing." Daryl said.

"You're not the only one." Andy agreed. "We should ask Xander what he knows about ghosts."

"He said he was starting his new job today." Daryl reminded him.

"He called this morning and accepted our offer to be a CI." Andy told him. "I forgot to mention it, he gave me his work number, in case we needed to talk to him, he's planning on getting a cell phone." He found his note with Xander's info on it and dialed the number.

"Buckland's Auction House." Startling Andy into nearly dropped the phone, then he decided talking to Xander in person might be better.

"His new job is at Buckland's." He told Daryl.

"Isn't that where Prue's new job is?"

"Yes."

"Weird."

"You're telling me. I'm going to go see him."

"I'll continue going through the files."

Andy nodded and headed out, wondering how much more weird he was going to be dealing with now that he knew Magic was real.

Chapter 19

"Excuse me," Andy addressed an older woman he recognized as Prue's boss, although he didn't think he'd ever gotten her name.

"Inspector," she said. "here to consult with Prue again?"

"No, actually I'm looking for Alexander Harris, he's a new consultant who's a self taught expert on the occult." He quickly improvised.

"Hmm, I was unaware of that. He's moving inventory for an auction. I'll take you to him."

"I appreciate that, ma'am. Thank you."

"Clair, please. This way, Inspector." She led Andy down to one of the larger auction rooms and he saw Xander setting a painting on a stand. Then pausing to study it for a moment, before shrugging and moving towards another one.

"There he is." Clair said. "Will this take long, Inspector? We are setting up for an auction that's scheduled in two days."

"It shouldn't, no. I just need to ask him some questions and see if he can do some research for us."

"Very well. The guard will escort you out when you've completed your business. Please, don't be offended, we're responsible for millions of dollars in inventory after all." She spoke coolly. Yeah, there was a reason Prue thought this woman was a bitch and it wasn't just because she'd forced Prue to host a dinner at her house with a threat to her new job hanging over her head. Andy simply nodded and headed towards Xander.

"Inspector." Xander said, without looking up. "So what can I help you with?"

"How'd you know?"

"Excellent hearing, I wouldn't call myself an expert on anything except Twinkies. I had a date once with a girl I managed to impress by stuffing an entire one in my mouth, she promptly did the same. Of course that was before she tried to mummify me with a kiss."

"You're not joking, are you?"

"No, unfortunately. It wasn't like she had a choice, she was sacrificed and imprisoned alive as an offering to a god and then accidentally freed. She didn't want to be locked up again, but because of what had been done to her, couldn't sustain her life without draining someone else's."

"What happened to her?"

"She couldn't quite make herself do it. She mummified in front of me and crumbled into dust. She never asked for any of it and if I could have saved her, I would have. So, in an obvious change of subject, what can I help you with, Inspector?"

"Andy and you can tell me about ghosts, because we may have a case that came in today that involves one."

"How so?" Xander asked, curious.

"A guy was murdered with a knife, stabbed 13 times in a pattern and the knife left at the scene. Regular dusting didn't reveal a print, but fluorescent light did, which shouldn't be possible because while fluorescence can make something on skin visible, it can't on metal, unless blood's involved."

"Under normal circumstances, you're probably right, but ghosts operate under a different set of rules. They're capable of possessing someone else's body and working through them, but they're also capable of a version of telekinesis that allows them to move things. Some are trapped in a sort of time loop, repeating actions over and over again, trying to figure out a way out. There are ways of banishing them, we dealt with a pair about a year or so ago. We couldn't finish the banishing ritual because one of them was enraged and he managed to drive us out. He was eventually able to find the closure he needed to move on. They can do a hell of a lot, including manifesting solid objects. Mostly, you need to figure out what this ghost's objective is, why did it kill this person? Because it might not stop at one, then you find it and you banish it. I can call a friend and have him text Cordy with the details on something that might work, but a lot of it depends on just how much control it has over it's abilities."

"You sound like an expert." Andy assured him. "I'll see what I can find out about the victim and how they might be connected to the ghost. Then we worry about banishing it."

"I'll call Wes and get him to send it, Cordy can gather any ingredients we need. Anything else I can help you with?"

"Something weird about the painting you were looking at when I came in? It seemed to bother you."

"It shows a half naked woman being murdered, I have no idea why anyone thinks that qualifies as art, let alone art valued at over twenty thousand dollars."

Andy blinked. "Neither do I, that's disturbing."

"You see my point." Xander agreed.

"Well, thanks for the info and I'll talk to you later." Andy headed for the guard, who escorted him out, trying to get his mind back on the case and wondering once again, just how much weird he was going to be dealing with now that he knew Magic was real.

Chapter 20

"Blakeley stopped by again while you were gone." Daryl told Andy as he took his seat at his desk. "She got called out to another murder scene, same m.o. stabbed 13 times in the chest in a pattern. Did Xander know anything about ghosts?"

"Quite a bit actually, he's going to see about getting a banishing thing going and gave me a run down on the things a ghost can do. Including telekinesis and manifesting solid objects. Beyond that, standard investigation stuff, figure out why it might be interested in this or now these, victims in particular, which will help find it."

"He did call them supernatural cops and Prue agreed our jobs are a lot alike. It's the end game that's different, instead of arresting, they have to destroy the perpetrator. I'm getting why, how do we incarcerate a ghost?"

"And I thought wrapping my head around demons and Magic being real was already a pain, I'm barely ready to acknowledge them and now a ghost. So let's do what we do, investigate. Who are the victims?"

"Already on it, the first victim was the son of a former District Attorney who died awhile back and the new one is Judge Renault."

"The son of a D.A. and currently sitting Judge both murdered and a fingerprint that links to an executed serial killer." Andy grimaced. "I don't think you have to be a cop to connect those dots, Jackson's going after people responsible for stopping him the first time around. And he's willing to accept substitutes."

"More people than a D.A. and a Judge were responsible for stopping him." Daryl pointed out grimly. "The cops who investigated, the techs who gathered evidence. He was executed, which also means the executioner. It could be a long list of potential victims."

"And no idea which one he'll go after next. We can't even warn them because they won't believe us."

"Is this what the sisters have to deal with?" Daryl wondered. "Trying to protect people from demons, when people don't want to believe demons actually exist or worse, are trying to kill them? It must be so frustrating."

"That's pretty much what I'm feeling right now, that and helpless." Andy agreed. "I wonder if it's possible to track a ghost magically? Something to ask the sisters. I'll go over after work and fill them in, maybe between them and Xander they can figure something out."

"If they can, it could save a lot of lives." Daryl agreed. "Too bad you didn't think of it when you were talking to Xander earlier. The work day ends in a couple hours, let's finish going through the files and you can take those over at the same time."

Andy nodded and pulled a file of an unsolved case towards him and began looking for more weird. It was going to be a long couple of hours, maybe Blakeley would have a new lead when she got back that would help.

Cordelia pulled up in front of the Manor as she returned from picking up Prue's dry cleaning just as her phone signaled a text coming in. She waited until she was in the house and had handed the suit to Phoebe before pulling her phone out and checking the message. Her eyebrows shot up. "Why is Wesley sending me information on a banishing ritual for a ghost?" She exclaimed.

Phoebe looked surprised and then glum. "Because we're too late, the ghost has done something that probably attracted the attention of the police, which means Andy or Daryl went to ask Xander questions and he's trying to find a way to deal with the ghost."

"Too late." Cordelia's lips twisted. "Someone's dead, I knew it was a possibility. Ghost of a serial killer, but to know. That's different."

"It means we lost another innocent."

"We can't save everyone, we've been learning that lesson for a long time." Cordelia nodded. "But it still kicks us in the teeth when it happens."

Phoebe squared her small shoulders. "Let's see if we've got the ingredients for that ritual and go from there. Prue will be home soon and we're going to need her help anyway, she's the one with the active power, not me."

"Xander too, they can fight the ghost if necessary, while we do the ritual." Cordelia followed Phoebe up to the attic and they began checking the sisters' supplies.

"How are we going to banish a ghost when we don't know where it is?" Cordelia asked. "Is there something in your Book about tracking ghosts?"

"Only if we have something that they left ectoplasm on. That's a ghost's equivalent of skin, which is individual to each ghost according to the Book." Phoebe answered. "If we had that, we could track them easily."

"The cops might, but wouldn't know it." Cordelia said. "Anything the ghost touched could have something left on it. You should call Andy and see if he can check if the ghost left something at the scene.

"Good idea." Phoebe went to call Andy while Cordelia continued checking and gathering ingredients. Phoebe returned about ten minutes later.

"We were right, two victims so far." Phoebe said grimly. "And a knife left at the first scene with a weird fingerprint that might be the ghost's."

"I hope that's enough to track him. You guys have all the ingredients on Wesley's list. Now we just need that knife and than we can deal with the serial killer ghost."

"Let's get everything ready, it'll save time later." The two friends grimly began preparing the ritual, hoping they could stop the ghost before he killed a third time.

Xander left work a few minutes before Prue, he hadn't seen her after Andy had come by, so he hadn't had a chance to fill her in on the potential ghost problem, he hoped the ghost hadn't killed again but wasn't optimistic.

The Hellmouth taught harsh lessons, one of the biggest, always be prepared for the worst.

And another was that it can always get worse.

Chapter 21

Prue pulled up to the Manor and had an uneasy feeling in her gut, Andy's car was parked in front of the house. It had hardly been a day since he'd found out Magic was real. Why was he here now? Well, she wasn't going to get an answer just sitting here, she headed in and found more than Andy, Xander and Cordelia were also here. "What's going on?" She asked.

"Serial killer ghost escaped from Alcatraz and is killing people." Phoebe told her.

"We got a banishing ritual from our friend Wesley." Xander informed her.

"Because you have a totally useless vanquishing spell in the Book of Shadows." Cordelia said bluntly. "You have to be a ghost yourself to use it."

"And I brought the murder weapon from the first scene." Andy added. "Because the ghost left a fingerprint on it."

"And we're going to use it to track the ghost and then banish it." Phoebe finished.

"Why would a ghost leave a fingerprint on a weapon?" Prue asked. "That doesn't make any sense. Leaving the weapon, I can understand, they can manifest a new one, but why be careless enough to leave a fingerprint?"

"Andy," Xander said, feeling dread. "where was the fingerprint found on the murder weapon?"

"On the blade, not the handle." Andy realized. "Shit, the print was left deliberately. But why? It was an accident that it was found at all, wasn't it? I mean, fluorescent light is used to find blood traces or things on skin, not weird finger prints. There was no blood on the knife in the picture." He realized. "Damn it, I missed it. The knife found at the scene wasn't the murder weapon! The victim was stabbed 13 times, there would be blood everywhere, but especially on the murder weapon. So why the Hell leave a weapon that the investigating officer isn't going to link to a ghost?"

"How did you find out about the case?" Cordelia asked.

"Apparently Daryl and I have gotten a bit of a reputation for catching freaky cases lately. Blakeley, the officer assigned to this case, wanted to pick our brains on the weird print. Daryl and I later speculated that it might be a ghost doing the killing because the print linked to Jackson Ward, executed serial killer. It was an obvious jump after just finding out Magic and demons are real."

"Chess pieces on a chess board." Xander said, reminding Prue of the conversation this morning when they discovered their new jobs were at the same place. "Son of a bitch, someone set things up, they knew that officer would ask you and you'd ask 'experts'." Some what sarcastically. "We need answers, we can't banish the ghost right away, we need to question it."

"How are we going to do that?" Phoebe asked.

"We were going to track it down." Xander said. "Let's summon it's ghostly ass instead. Phoebe, we need salt for a quick containment circle. Andy, let's move the furniture in here out of the way." The two men began moving the couches in the conservatory out of the way as Phoebe hurried to find salt in the kitchen.

"You can summon a ghost?" Prue asked.

"Never tried it and never heard of anyone trying it, at least not like this." Xander answered. "A medium can call a spirit in a seance and demons can be summoned. I'll modify a spirit summons for a seance and make it specific to Jackson Ward. That hopefully will work." As Phoebe handed him a container of salt and he used it to make a circle around the knife with the finger print on it.

"Salt?" Andy asked.

"Magic involves symbolism, Andy." Xander told him. "Things imbued with meaning. Salt is pure, of the Earth, which connects it to the gods, which gives spiritual oomph as well. It'll hold for awhile."

He sat down for a moment and wrote out the summoning spell and began reworking it. "Alright, I think I have something that will work. Places everyone, if it works, things will start happening fast. And Andy, guns work on a lot of things, but ghosts aren't one of them and they can redirect bullets with their version of telekinesis."

"Gun stays holstered, got it."

Phoebe and Cordelia each took a position and Phoebe handed Prue and Andy a copy of the banishing spell and a candle and lighter.

"I don't have any powers." Andy protested. "I'm not a witch."

"Neither am I." Cordelia told him. "Prue and Phoebe will supply the power, we can help by supporting them. Magic involves symbolism, like Xander said. And the ritual requires four people."

"Okay, I guess." Andy reluctantly took the piece of paper and the candle and lighter she handed him as Xander began the chant to summon Jackson Ward for questioning.

'Jackson Ward, restless soul not at peace,

where you wander without release,

because you haven't been forgiven.

Now I'm opening the gate

you passed through when you met your fate;

I command you, through the veil,

to answer my summons without fail!'

An image began to form within the circle of salt. A man in his late forties with a scarred face appeared.

"That's him!" Phoebe yelped.

"He sure does look like the picture you found." Cordelia agreed.

"Ah, you interrupted me." The ghost of Jackson Ward complained. "I was about to kill another one. Oh well, nice to see you again, little witch." He waved at Phoebe. "Did you enjoy your tour of Alcatraz?" He started laughing. "Man, are you in for it now."

######

A/N Summoning spell from Lands Beyond wiki, modified by author.

Chapter 22

"Why?" Andy immediately began questioning the ghost, he was a cop, interrogations were second nature to him. "Are you after Phoebe? Did you set us up to get to her? If so, why not just go after her when you saw her before?"

"I have no interest in her. My freedom was arranged by someone else. She wants a witch's soul, but she can only get it when they're dead." Jackson answered, smirking at Phoebe. "More specifically, when they die by their own hand."

"The vanquishing spell in your Book of Shadows," Cordelia exclaimed. "requires another ghost to say it. In order for one of you to say it, you have to be a ghost, which means letting yourself die, at least temporarily. It is a set up and it's aimed at you guys!"

"Who is she?" Andy demanded, as enraged over someone going after a girl he loved as a sister or Prue, a woman he just plain loved, as Xander would have been over someone going after Willow, the sister of his heart or Cordelia, the owner of his heart. "Who is it that wants the soul of a witch?"

"I don't know what her name is and frankly, I don't care. Don't even know if she has one."

"A demon?" Xander asked. "Which one?"

"Not telling, you'll find out soon enough, she's right behind me."

"Banish him now!" Xander called out. "If there's a demon incoming we need to be focused on her!"

"Light the candles," Cordelia called out. "and recite the spell!"

"No, I'm not done!" Jackson yelled as he went transparent and then wispy like mist and then ceased to be, just as a woman in fancy robes appeared.

"Not the way I expected you to deal with him." She said, clearly annoyed and then her eyes landed on Xander and narrowed. "Alexander Harris, you do like to throw a wrench in carefully laid plans, don't you?"

"Huh?" Xander said, clueless. "How the Hell do you know who I am?"

"Please, the Hellmouth is as favorite a vacation spot for Soul Collectors as it is for vampires. And you have a reputation."

"I do? What kind of reputation?" He asked warily.

"Distain for prophecy, but it's also well known that you challenged Angelus and he backed down from you, long before becoming a witch. From the force of your will alone. The only human to ever challenge Angelus and survive, one of the most vicious vampires ever, a Master, backed down from a child."

"Hey! I was seventeen, not a child!" Xander protested.

"And let's not forget, just recently you personally wiped out the vampire cult that worshipped the demon Balthazar."

"His goons attacked a girl I consider a sister, they had it coming." Xander said coldly, glaring at the Soul Collector.

"I have a question of my own, young witch, what's the Slayer's White Knight doing off the Hellmouth? And who would be interested in knowing this tidbit of juicy info?"

Prue decided they had enough answers and flung out her hand only to see something she'd only seen once before, when the Guardian of a cursed urn barely flinched from the force of her power. Crap, someone immune to her power, not good, at all!

"Not even the Power of Three is strong enough to vanquish a Soul Collector." The evil being informed Prue, she turned back toward Xander, she seemed rather fascinated by him. "You are a yummy one." She murmured. "A fairly unique soul. Touched by not one, but two higher powers. Defied prophecy successfully, nicely done on destroying the apocalypse Judge and the embodiment of Olivican, by the way. Giant snake demon with near godlike powers and a handful of humans took him down. Yes, quite a few demons would be interested in knowing you're in San Francisco."

"And if I left San Francisco, would people be safe?" Xander asked.

"Once I leave here, we'll have your scent. Wherever you go, someone will find you. Like the Charmed Ones or the Slayer, someone with a reputation is worth pursuing."

"Thank you for letting me know." Xander said politely. "One further question, can a Soul Collector vanquish another Soul Collector?"

"Well, yes. We compete over souls all the time. If you think you can convince another Soul Collector to come after me, good luck with that."

"I don't need another Soul Collector, just the willingness to use my own abilities." He answered. "Don't move!"

The Soul Collector froze in place as Xander controlled her. Her eyes looked confused as she tried to understand and then panicked as she realized she really couldn't move.

'Evil being in my sight,

Vanquish thyself with all thy might!

The panicked look increased as the Soul Collector raised her own hand and phased it into her own chest, before pulling something formless, that looked like dark smoke, out of herself. Her body crumbled and dissolved away, leaving nothing behind.

"I think I need to look into a spell that hides my identity." Xander said. "So demons can't recognize me. And when the Hell did I manage to get a reputation?! I'm not a Slayer or a Charmed One, I'm just a guy trying to help!"

"She called you yummy, Xander." Cordelia told him, pushing down her own fear. "I'm adding her to the list of evil beings that have hit on you."

"You've got a list?!" He exclaimed. "There haven't been that many!"

"Ms. French, mantis demon that wanted you to fertilize her eggs before eating your head, Drusilla, crazy vampire Seer that got a crush and called you kitten. Faith."

"Faith's not evil." He protested.

"The skanky wardrobe, innuendos and grabbing your butt in front of me could be interpreted otherwise."

######

A/N Original spell created by author.

Chapter 23

"You went to Alcatraz?" Prue asked Phoebe.

"With Marianne, I needed a break."

"From what?" Prue asked. "You don't work."

"Largely your attitude, actually."

"My attitude, what attitude?"

"That I'm lazy because I don't currently have a job. You and Piper expect me to take care of the house and run your errands for you and if you paid someone to do that, they'd be earning quite a bit of money. But because I'm your sister, I'm expected to work for free. And you're constantly throwing it in my face that I don't have a job. Well, excuse me, but I've only been back in San Francisco for a few months and I've become a witch and fought demons in that time. You find it hard to manage a job and fight demons, do you have any idea how hard it is to manage this house, fight demons and job hunt? Not easy, I'll tell you that, especially when you add in running errands for you and Piper 'just because I'm home all day.' Like you think I'm sitting around all day watching soaps and eating bonbons. I needed a break, Prue and it was only for a couple of hours anyway."

"Having helped her work through the list you guys left while researching the ghost, I can tell you, she's not lying." Cordelia told Prue. "And it's making me appreciate and miss Lupe all the more. And she had it worse since we had a ten bedroom house for her to take care of, on top of taking care of me. No wonder Daddy paid her a fortune, she earned it. Oh, by the way, your household account is almost out of money, the only thing we didn't get done is the grocery shopping because there wasn't enough money in the account."

Prue sighed. "I'm sorry about my attitude, Phoebe. I hadn't realized there was all that much to running the house."

"That's because Grams used to do it and when she died Piper did it." Phoebe pointed out. "You've never had to run the house, so you have no idea what's involved. Laundry has to be done every day, vacuuming and dishes and cleaning the bathrooms and the kitchen and the windows. I hate cleaning the windows!"

"You've made your point." Prue said. "And I've apologized. I'll go do the grocery shopping and make sure the household account is topped off tomorrow. Are you planning to keep trying to find a job?"

"Actually no, I've decided on college instead. Cordelia and I were talking and she and Xander are both taking classes starting this fall, him online and her in class. I'm going to sign up for online and even though I hate washing the windows, someone has to run the house, so I'll just keep doing it."

"Well, it's a plan and actually I think it's a good one. Finally, you're starting to think about your future."

"Funny, Prue, saying that to a girl who gets visions and premonitions." Phoebe glared at her.

"So," Andy, who was well used to the sisters fighting, turned to Xander. "you have a reputation among demons."

"I have no freaking clue how." Xander protested. "Buffy and Faith are the Slayers, Buffy had a prophecy that was about her. The sisters have a prophecy that's about them and they're the most powerful witches on the planet. I'm just a guy trying to help!"

"You're the reason there's two Slayers for the first time in history." Cordelia pointed out. "Because you defied that prophecy about Buffy. You're the one that came up with the idea on how to fight the apocalypse Judge and you've participated in more then one save the world battle. And let's not forget Angelus and Balthazar. For a guy just trying to help the big name people, you've accomplished a hell of a lot in two and half years."

"That's how long you've been doing this?" Andy asked. "And despite how old you look, you're actually only 18 years old?"

"Yes." Xander nodded. "It's not like I'm the youngest one, Buffy was fifteen when she activated. Faith wasn't much older. And like I told you when I filled you in on vampires, children and teenagers are favored prey."

"The Grimlocks take kids." Prue reminded Andy. "And steal their eyesight so they can kill good people, when the kids are no longer of use, they kill the kids."

"Demons have two preferences when it comes to kids." Cordelia added. "Kill or corrupt. Most prefer killing and in the case of vampires, that often includes torture. Now you see why we fight."

"Because they just keep coming." Prue said sadly. "Whether it's demons or human criminals, whether you're an Inspector or a supernatural cop, there's never an end to them."

"Yeah, I'm starting to get that." Andy nodded. "I guess when you told me before I didn't understand the similarities between our work, but I'm starting to. You want to go somewhere and get some coffee and talk? Because I miss you." He confessed.

"Andy, I could die tomorrow fighting a demon." Prue pointed out.

"And I could die chasing down a murderer. People involved with cops have to deal with that knowledge all the time, Prue. We can't let fear dictate our lives."

"Especially since demons that feed on fear are an actual thing." Xander muttered. "Don't give them more fuel." He advised.

Prue sighed. "I miss you too, alright, come grocery shopping with me and we can talk while doing that."

Andy smiled and followed her out the door.

"Hey!" Cordelia realized. "They left us to clean up the mess!"

"Story of my life lately." Phoebe muttered, as she gathered up the ritual ingredients and Xander began moving the furniture back in place. "Has he really been hit on by demons?"

Xander groaned as Cordelia began telling her new friend about 'Xander's greatest hits.'

Chapter 24

Inspector Andy Trudeau was in a good mood as he headed to work the next day. He'd seen first hand what Prue's work was and it was a good job and not that different than his own. She'd explained some of her family's history, how her family had been fighting demons for generations, which reminded him that like himself, a lot of cops came from cop families. But the best part was that Prue had agreed to a date, they were trying again. He didn't think anything could puncture his good mood. He should have remembered Murphy found cops entertaining too.

"Inspector Morris?" Daryl looked up as he heard his name called and saw someone that, like Lohman, qualified as an annoyance.

"Rodriguez, what brings an IA rat to my desk today?"

"Questions about your partner." The Hispanic officer answered, ignoring the rat comment.

"If you want to talk to Inspector Trudeau, than talk to him yourself. I have nothing to say."

"Working with us is the easiest way of getting through an investigation, Inspector Morris."

"You don't do investigation, Rodriguez, you tear apart the lives and careers of good officers in the hope of finding a tiny speck of dirt you can turn into a mountain. I'm not going to help you destroy my partner."

"Up until recently he was on the fast track to Captain and now he seems have decided to specialize in the freaky deaky. Any idea why?"

"He isn't specializing in anything, he just works the cases we're assigned."

"And occasionally assigns himself to a case and quite a few cases you two have been assigned lately have gone unsolved."

"Rodriguez, if you knew anything about real police work, you'd know that no case is solved in an hour, like on tv. We have one of the highest solved and conviction rates in this precinct. I'd put our record up against anyone's. Now, if you're done trying to bad mouth my partner, I've got work to do."

"I think there's a string worth tugging here." Rodriguez told him. "And I'm going to keep tugging until I get what I want."

"Yeah, another good cop ruined. Get a life, Rodriguez and stop trying to ruin others."

With a final glare, Rodriguez turned away and left. Andy arrived not long after and took his seat, Daryl noticed his good mood immediately and asked about it.

"That matter that came up yesterday has been dealt with." Knowing Daryl would understand he was talking about the ghost. "Our new CI has an interesting history, I'll fill you in later and Prue and I are trying again."

"I hate to ruin your good mood, but I think I know where the missing files from yesterday went."

"Where?" Andy asked warily, there weren't a lot of people that had access to those files outside the cops themselves, just the Captain and -.

"IA, specifically Rodriguez. He tried to ask me some questions. Remember when Blakely commented that word was we'd caught some freaky cases? Apparently Rodriguez thinks that's reason enough to poke into our business. You assigning yourself occasionally, like with the kidnappings this past weekend, for instance, seems to be something he thinks is concerning."

"That led to finding the kidnapped boys. My report said a CI gave me some info. Lohman kinda did."

'Which translates as you kinda fudged your report. It's the kinda thing Rodriguez could use to nail you on. Heads up, he's coming back."

Andy glanced over and saw the IA Inspector coming through the door and leaned back in his chair and waited for him to come to him.

"Inspector Trudeau, I need to have a word with you." Rodriguez informed him.

"What about?" Andy asked, eyeing the IA rat with disdain. Not all IA Investigators were a menace, some genuinely just wanted to weed out bad cops. Rodriguez enjoyed tearing apart lives and careers, it was fun for him. Hence why no one had any respect for him.

"You checked out the knife found at a crime scene yesterday. Not one of your crime scenes, I might add, but definitely a freaky one. You mind explaining why?"

"My Captain could ask me that question." Andy answered. "You really don't have the grounds to, but I'll tell you anyway. I took it to a CI, to see if he had a clue what could have made the weird print on the knife. Unfortunately, he couldn't tell me anything pertinent about whatever made the print. But if he had been able to, it would have helped Blakely work the case."

"Who's the CI?"

"We're done, not even IA has the right to ask about CI's, unless you think an actual crime has been committed. If you think a crime has been committed, take my hardware, otherwise get out of my face."

Rodriguez glared at him. "I will find out what you're hiding, Trudeau. I've never failed."

"There's a first time for everything, Rodriguez, as the expression goes."

"I think you're covering for someone or something, Trudeau. I'm going to find out what it is. This isn't over."

"It is for now. I have real police work to do." Andy pulled a file towards himself and opened it, pointedly ignoring the IA Investigator glaring at him, before the cop abruptly turned on his heel and stomped out.

"He's going to be trouble." Daryl murmured.

"Too bad he's not a demon the girls or Xander could vanquish."

Too bad, indeed.

Chapter 25

The next week was quiet for both the sisters and the young couple that lived next door to them. Xander's job at the auction house was going well and Prue was teaching him how to appraise and evaluate items that came in for auction. The buyers that had been expressing interest moved to begin purchasing the business, Piper returned from her business convention and Prue and Andy enjoyed a date as they worked on reestablishing their relationship.

And on the other side of the country a former boyfriend of Piper's, Leo Wyatt, struggled to help a woman being stalked.

A woman walked fast to her car but kept looking over her shoulder. A car horn beeped, startling her and she dropped her groceries. She bent to pick the stuff up but found a jar had broken and cut herself.

"Ow, damn it!" As if it was just one too many frustrations.

"It's all right, Daisy." Leo said gently.

"Oh, Leo, thank God it's you. I have been so scared."

"You just have to stay strong a little longer and then you'll be safe."

"He's out there, Leo. He's going to find me. I've seen what he can do, his powers." Leo held her hand and a white light shone from his own hand as he healed it. "How did you do that? Who are you people?"

"Please trust me, Daisy. I'll explain soon. We don't have time right now."

"Why me, Leo? I don't understand."

"You have a very special future ahead of you. That's why I want you to go to San Francisco. I have powerful friends who can help you."

"What if Alec finds me first?"

"He won't be able to find you, I've made you invisible to him."

"Hello, Leo." A voice said, startling them both as black light appeared and the form of an attractive man was revealed.

"Hello, Leo." He repeated. "I've been looking all over for you. Figured you could only be here for one reason. Where are you, Daisy? I know you're close by."

"It's okay, Daisy. He can't see you. Don't say a word, just leave."

"Don't listen to him, sweetie, don't do it." Alec protested

Daisy didn't answer, just ran.

"She's already gone, Alec."

"I love her, Leo. Much like you love your little witch. What's her name? Piper?"

"Darklighters aren't capable of love, Alec, you're literally all about hate."

"This one is. I love Daisy and you are keeping me from her. It's only a couple of days ago all I had to do was think about her and bang! I'd be there with her. Then suddenly she vanishes from my radar. Cloaked by a whitelighter. By you." Alec snarled.

"Then if you know I'm the one that cloaked her, then you also know that you won't find her as long as I live."

"Yes, well, I have a solution for that." He smirked as he manifested a crossbow and shot Leo, just as Leo disappeared in a glow of lights of his own, white lights, as opposed to Alec's black ones.

"A relaxing weekend in a condo on a beach in Cabo is just what we need." Prue insisted as she and Phoebe carried their suitcases down the stairs. "Andy knows our secret and is okay with it, there hasn't been any demon attacks in a week and if there are, I think Xander can handle it."

"He was part of a group that took down a 60 foot demon snake." Phoebe said dryly. "He can handle a demon or two. No, what I'm objecting to is the fact that you're wearing your bikini already, that you're planning to wear it on the plane."

"It's a time saver, the moment we hit the condo, I plan to be on the beach getting golden brown. And he said the demon snake was more like 40 feet."

"Doesn't change the fact that it's bigger and more powerful than anything we've taken on. And you're making me look frumpy, it's practically a sign of the apocalypse." Phoebe complained.

"Look at it this way, soon you'll be surrounded by buff, tanned men with limited verbal skills, while I'm simply sunning myself on the beach."

"Now, I feel better." Phoebe agreed. "Piper and I won't have to share the male attention three ways. Increases my chances of a little excitement of the male persuasion." Phoebe grinned cheerfully.

"You may end up getting all of it." Prue said gloomily. "Piper isn't planning on attracting any attention, she's planning to spend the whole weekend under a beach umbrella, reading."

"What?! Why?" Phoebe exclaimed, dismayed. "She's not seeing Joss anymore, he took a job offer in San Diego, she's guy free."

"Yeah, but she's also had a string of bad luck. Let's recap. Jeremy the warlock who tried to kill us and steal our powers, a geographically undesirable handyman with a great butt and a ghost. This is more of a sucking void."

A sudden crash from upstairs had them both tensing and looking up as Piper screamed. They hit the stairs at the same time, running and burst into the attic to find a surprise.

Leo Wyatt, geographically undesirable handyman, holding a bloody shoulder with an arrow sticking out of it lying on the floor with Piper bent over him.

"What the Hell?!" Prue exclaimed.

"He just appeared out of nowhere in a bunch of white lights!" Piper exclaimed herself. "Since when does my old boyfriend have power?! And what kind of power? What are you, Leo?" She demanded.

"I'm a whitelighter. And I need help."

######

A/N Some dialog taken from Charmed wiki, episode 'Love Hurts.'

Reference to a ghost is one from an earlier episode who came to the Charmed Ones for help in solving his murder, so he could move on. He liked Piper but being a ghost, not a great prospect for a relationship.

Chapter 26

Leo had passed out before he could say anything else and the girls had sprung into action, with Prue issuing orders.

"Phoebe, check the Book of Shadows, see if anything about whitelighters is in there. I'm going to call and cancel our flight and get Xander and Cordelia over here, if we've got trouble incoming, they can help. Piper, get the first aid kit and pack gauze around the arrow until I can get it out." Everyone scrambled to follow their assignments and about ten minutes later Prue returned to the attic with Xander and Cordelia in tow,

"Flight's canceled." She told her sisters and knelt beside Piper who was holding gauze around the arrow as Prue had instructed.

"I've never heard of whitelighters." Xander said. "But I can call Wesley and see if the Watchers Council knows anything."

"Do it." Prue ordered. "Piper, when I tell you, pull the gauze away." Piper nodded. "Now!" Prue ordered and Piper pulled back as Prue grasped the arrow with her power and pushed. It moved through Leo's shoulder and embedded itself in the wall several feet away. Xander winched. "I'm thinking it's a good thing he's unconscious right now." As he pulled out his new cell phone and called Wesley. Piper held the gauze over the bleeding wound again.

"Wesley?" Xander said as soon as he heard the man's voice. "Have you ever heard of a whitelighter?"

"Rumors, stories, nothing concrete. Why?" He asked.

"Because a guy just appeared in the girls' attic in a bunch of literal white lights claiming to be a whitelighter and he's been injured."

"Oh, dear. The stories say they're some sort of higher power akin to guardian angels. They're rarely seen which is why there's not much more than rumors or stories about them. Nor is there much known about what they do. Xander, be careful. Whatever they are, they're powerful. But bear in mind what we learned in regards to the Powers who felt they had some say in the supernatural world. Balance. If a whitelighter is a higher power, they may be balanced by an equal, but lower power."

"Which just might be why our visitor is injured. Thanks, Wes, talk to you later." He hung up and filled the girls in on the conversation.

"Well I guess this explains why he's geographically undesirable." Phoebe commented as she paged through the Book. "I found something!" She exclaimed. "Darklighters, former humans granted power, they exist to spread hate. They often work as mercenaries for other demons. They teleport using black lights called orbs. They kill whitelighters and good witches, as well as future whitelighters. They kill in two ways, with the Touch of Death, literally touching a mortal and causing death and with poison coated arrows. The poison is specifically engineered to kill whitelighters."

"Leo said he's a whitelighter." Piper looked scared. "And he arrived with an arrow in him, he's been poisoned! Is there a cure?"

"There's nothing listed." Phoebe said regretfully. "But the next page is about whitelighters. They teleport too, using white lights and can heal with a touch. Basically the opposite of darklighters."

"Opposites, balance, same thing." Xander muttered. "I say we take that arrow to Andy and see if he can have the poison analyzed. Probably a long shot because it's probably at least partly mystical, but still worth a shot."

"That's a good idea." Prue agreed, she used her power to pull it from the wall. Cordelia grabbed a cloth and wrapped it around it.

"I'll do it." She said. "You guys might need to protect him if the darklighter manages to follow him here."

"Be careful." Xander told her. "We don't know if they bother to reclaim arrows. He could come looking for it."

"I'll keep my gun handy." She assured him. "At the very least it'll make him think twice." She headed out as Xander turned back to the sisters.

"What kind of protections do you girls have on the house?" He asked.

"There's no protection spells listed in the Book of Shadows." Prue replied. "I've been trying to research protection Magic's, but haven't gotten very far."

"Okay, I know a few, I can put them up for you. Unfortunately, most Wards only guard against a specific type of demon, you have to create a new Ward for every demon. I also know a Sanctuary Ward, it prevents violence from happening within the Ward. It doesn't however, protect from violence initiated from outside the Ward."

"It's better than nothing." Prue said. "I want to see the spells before you cast them and then I'll help you with casting them."

"You have the emotional investment in the house." Xander nodded. "It'll add to the protection. I'll go get my supplies and write out copies of each Ward. That way you can add them to your Book."

"Strange that Grams and Mom never thought about protections." Phoebe said. "Or our ancestors apparently."

"In Grams' and Mom's case they usually went looking for demons, it was only occasionally that the demons came looking for them." Prue reminded her. "Probably the same with our ancestors. Us being the Charmed Ones makes demons come looking for us."

"That reputation thing the Soul Collector mentioned when she threatened Xander." Phoebe nodded. "Just knowing we exist is enough reason for them to come after us. Crap."

"Sums it up." Piper agreed grimly, continuing to hold the gauze over Leo's wound and praying they could find a way to help him.

Chapter 27

Daryl looked at his partner after Cordelia had left after handing him the cloth wrapped arrow and explained their concerns about it.

"Demons, Magic, ghosts and now some sort of magical version of a guardian angel. Possibly poisoned by its opposite number. And before it got shoved in our faces it all happened around us, were we blind or something?"

"Humans can rationalize anything, we didn't see it, because we didn't want to. And now we see it because we refuse to not see it. Because Xander's given us answers on three case files in the last week since we found out about all this. Because those answers will be able to give some people a little closure, to move on with their lives."

"And that arrow will have Rodriguez breathing down your neck. You didn't tell Cordelia that."

"Because Rodriguez is my problem and because, like them, I can't not try to help. It's in my nature."

"Mine too, go see if you can get them some answers." Andy nodded and headed for the lab. Cordelia was right that it was a long shot, but a long shot was better than no shot at all.

Cordelia headed back to the Manor, feeling something she really hated feeling, helpless. Someone Piper cared about was hurt, possibly dying, right in front of her and there was so little anyone could do to help and everyone was already doing it. She had no doubt Xander was working to protect the house and the sisters and Prue would be helping him. What could she do to help? There had to be something. Than she realized, her strengths lay in practicalities, there was something she could do to help, at least for a little while.

Once back at the Manor, she gathered blankets and pillows from one of the bedrooms and brought them to the attic. Piper murmured her thanks as the two of them spread one on the floor and with Phoebe's help, moved Leo on to it, before laying the other over him and tucking a pillow behind his head. "He'll be a little more comfortable anyway." Phoebe tried to comfort Piper.

"This is the handyman/slash boyfriend Phoebe mentioned?" Cordelia asked. "The one who just up and left without an explanation?"

"Yes." Piper confirmed. "Maybe I have one now, whatever his real work is or this darklighter that's after him. Either could be why he left."

"Has he said anything since I left?"

"No, he's still out." Piper said, her eyes wet with unshed tears. "He must be in so much pain and there's so little I can do to help!"

"I know the feeling." Cordelia assured her. "Aside from Xander and Prue, none of us have much to do right now. Having something to do would make me feel less helpless."

"Same here." Phoebe agreed. Leo groaned and came to.

"Piper." He gasped.

"I'm here, Leo." She assured him. "You're going to be okay, we'll figure this out and you'll be just fine. And then I'll yell at you for keeping this from me."

"There's a woman, her name is Daisy. You have to help her. She's one of my charges, my job was to prepare her, she's destined to be a whitelighter and darklighter named Alec found her, his intention was to seduce her away from her path, but he fell in love with her and she loved him back, until she saw him kill and realized he's evil. Now she's running from him. I managed to orb her to San Francisco, but the poison. I can't protect her, find her please. Help her." He passed out again.

"Great," Cordelia said sarcastically. "no idea on where in San Francisco he's hidden her so you can find her and protect her."

"I need to touch something of hers in order to get a vision of her." Phoebe grumbled.

"Xander would need something of hers to do a locator spell." Cordelia told the girls. "He's never done one but we both know they exist. There has to be a way to find her. We just have to think of it."

"I'll let Prue and Xander know what Leo said." Phoebe headed for the door. "Maybe they can think of something. They both seem to be idea people."

Cordelia nodded. "Piper, I'm going to go make some sandwiches and grab some bottled water. You need to keep your strength up so you can protect him if that darklighter comes after him."

"If he does, I'll vanquish him. Somehow." Piper snarled. "There has to be a way to help Leo. I'm going to go through the Book myself, at least it's something for me to do."

Cordelia patted her on the shoulder and headed downstairs. Barely a week since she'd met these girls and she already felt like they were friends and that wasn't easy for her, she'd become friends with the Scoobies by default. Because she wanted to date Xander and because she wanted to help, in some way.

Piper laid the Book on the floor by Leo and began paging through it looking for something, some spell that could save a guy that she'd thought she was falling in love with before he'd disappeared from her life. Those feelings hadn't gone away just because he had. She stopped at a page with a spell that made her stop and think. Whitelighters had the power to heal others, but apparently not themselves or maybe just the poison. But maybe she could heal him, this spell might make it possible. Mind made up. Piper recited the spell aloud.

'What's mine is yours, what's yours is mine, let our powers cross the line,

I offer up my gift to share, switch the powers through the air.'

Oops.

Chapter 28

Prue was in the middle of helping Xander cast the Sanctuary Ward spell and hadn't that been a surprise when he told her he first learned about it from a human who ran a bar, a bar! for demon's. A place where they could drink yak bile and cow blood spritzers and play kitten poker. Which was poker using kittens instead of chips. Which the winners usually ate. Demons were weird. She was helping cast it when she suddenly felt dizzy and nearly collapsed. If it wasn't for Xander, she would have, as he caught her and lowered her onto a nearby couch. She bent over trying to get her head to stop spinning and wondered what the Hell was going on.

"Prue? What's wrong?" He asked. "Did the Magic backlash on you?"

"I don't know, something happened and now my head is spinning. Has that ever happened to you when you cast that spell?'

"No, I've cast it several times, on all my friends places and I've never had a problem, neither have they. Buffy and Faith, their abilities were created by Magic, but they're not magical themselves. Amy is, but she channels Hecate and she hasn't had any problems. I hope you're not coming down with something."

"Me either, I'm feeling better. What about the spell?"

"It's set, if he pops in and tries anything violent, the spell will knock him unconscious. Which will make it a whole lot easier to deal with him. Come on, let's go check on Piper and Leo." He helped her to her feet and the two of them made their way up the stairs to the attic were Piper was swearing a blue streak.

"Piper? What's wrong?" Prue asked, wondering if Leo had gotten worse.

"It's not working!"

"What's not working?" Prue asked.

"The damn spell, it's not working!"

"You cast a spell? What kind of spell?" Xander asked.

"Leo woke up for a minute or so. He managed to tell us there's a woman he's trying to protect from a darklighter, he managed to get her to San Francisco, but passed out again before he could tell us where he hid her, before he came here. I was looking through the Book trying to find a spell that might help us find her or something that could help Leo and I found a spell. Whitelighters can heal, but apparently not themselves, just others."

"What does the spell do?" Prue asked.

"It's a power switching spell, don't worry there's a reversal spell too. I switched mine and Leo's powers, which means I should be able to heal him. But it's not working!" She swore again and slammed her hand angrily on the floor by where she was sitting.

"Um, Piper," Xander said carefully. "don't take this the wrong way, but I think you forgot to take into account the fact that there's other people with powers in the house and the spell might not have been limited to just you and Leo."

"Like the truth spell I cast." Prue realized. "I thought it would just affect Andy, but it affected all of us who were in the house. We couldn't not tell each other the truth for 24 hours. So, you might not have Leo's powers, you might have mine or Phoebe's or Xander's."

"Oh, not mine." Xander said. "I don't have natural powers like you girls do, I have to draw Magic from outside myself. Right now I'm limited in the amount I can draw, but with time my limit will grow."

The two girls looked at him oddly. "Xander, we've seen you use your powers." Prue reminded. "What else do you call controlling Daryl or the Soul Collector?"

"Oh, I guess I haven't gotten around to explaining it. I told you Magic is why I look older than I actually I am. Well the Magic that did this to me remade my brain. I don't have powers, I have abilities, because my brain was rewired. I'm not a natural born witch like you guys are, so no powers to switch."

"Wow." Prue said. "When you said you'd been screwed over, you meant it. Rewiring your brain and now you can control people. No wonder it freaks you out. Magic is natural, of the world. What's been done to you, it's given you something that isn't natural."

"Exactly." Xander nodded. "So Piper, you might have Leo's power and just have to figure out how to use it. But you might have Prue's or Phoebe's too."

"And we might have each other's." Prue realized. "Four people with power and we could have ended up with any one of them. Okay." She waved her hand at the broom leaning against the wall and when nothing happened she squinted her eyes. "Well, that answers that question." She was getting upset, her power was her power, damnit!

"So that leaves Leo's healing power, Piper's freezing power or Phoebe's premonitions/visions." Xander listed them off. "Phoebe's premonitions just happen, she still learning to control those and needs to touch something to get a vision. Try touching something, both of you." Both girls followed his suggestion and Prue gasped as she saw something.

"Okay, looks like I've got Phoebe's power because I just saw Piper casting the spell."

"So, that leaves Piper and Phoebe to figure out how to work what they've got. Leo won't be able to do anything until he's healed anyway." Xander concluded as Cordelia and Phoebe arrived with the sandwiches Cordelia had prepared.

And that's when Murphy decided he'd like to try to lighten the atmosphere with a giggle. Only he was the only one laughing as Cordelia fumbled one of the plates she was trying to carry and it started to fall. With a cry, she reached for it in the vain hope of catching it.

Which is when it froze and hung in mid air in front of five startled people.

Chapter 29

"Piper, your power's growing!" Phoebe's exclaimed as she grabbed the frozen plate of sandwiches out of the air and set it on a nearby table.

"Uh, no that wasn't me."

Phoebe looked puzzled. "But you freeze things, that's your power."

"I cast a spell to trade my power for Leo's temporarily so I could heal him. I didn't realize it would affect other people. I haven't been able to do anything so I don't know what power I got. Prue had a vision when she touched the blanket of me casting the spell."

"I get visions, that's my power. You're telling me Prue has my power?! Then who froze the plate if it wasn't you or Prue, because I sure as Hell didn't do it."

"Cordelia," Xander said, gently taking his girlfriend's arm and leading her to the couch. "Cordelia's the one who was moving her hands when the plate froze."

"But I don't have powers." She protested.

"That you know of." He said. "The girls didn't know they had power until their powers were unbound. Either your powers were bound or they were dormant. It's entirely possible the spell activated them, whatever they are."

"So right now I can freeze things, but we don't know what my actual power is suppose to be? Are you sure I have power? Maybe it was really Phoebe and she just didn't realize it."

"Oh, no it wasn't me." Phoebe insisted. "I wasn't trying to do anything, but let's find out for sure." She waved her hand and a book shot across the room. "Okay, whoever has Leo's power, heal him and reverse this because I want my power back!"

"Same here." Prue muttered. "Is a vision always burned in living color in your mind?" She asked Phoebe.

"Yes, every detail."

"That's disturbing."

"You get used it."

"I don't want to get used to it. Well, at least we don't have to worry about getting Xander's abilities." She explained to Phoebe about Xander's rewired brain and Phoebe was wide eye.

"Okay, your fear makes a lot more sense now. And someone did this to you?"

"A vengeance demon granted a wish a friend made accidentally. She had no idea it would actually happen, it was just an idea thrown out in the middle of an argument. But vengeance demons, like most demons, like to make misery. And so my life was turned upside down. Adjusting has not been easy."

"If I have actually got power of my own." Cordelia said. "Then I'm in the same boat, but that begs the question. If my powers were bound, do my parents know? And if they know, why haven't they said anything?"

"We didn't find out about our powers until after our Grams died." Prue said. "But she was trying to keep us safe from a very powerful warlock, binding our powers made that possible. Maybe your parents are trying to keep you safe from something too."

"And we've got to remember the effect what the Mayor did in Sunnydale had on people." Xander pointed out. "It's entirely possible they don't remember, but with the effect hopefully wearing off, they will. It's barely been a week and a half since we left Sunnydale and we have no idea how long it will take for the effect to wear off or even if the memories will come back."

"And what about our plans for our future, Xander? What effect might me having powers have on our plans?"

"One thing it doesn't change is how we feel about each other. Nothing will change that." He swore. "Whatever it is, we'll face it together, I promise."

"So that just leaves Leo's power unaccounted for." Prue said. "Since the spell switched our powers Leo must have Cordelia's and Piper has Leo's.

"But I can't make it work!" Piper exclaimed. "How do I make it work?"

"Emotions." Prue said thoughtfully. "When we first got our powers, it took emotions to trigger them. Anger for me, fear for you." She reminded Piper. "What emotion might you be able to use to trigger Leo's power?"

"Love." Phoebe said.

"What?!" Piper exclaimed. "What do you mean, love?!"

"Darklighters exist to spread hate. Remember what Xander said about opposites? A whitelighter is the opposite of a darklighter, therefore love might trigger their power. At least until they get control over it. Love for humanity in general. But love regardless."

"Than to save Leo's life," Xander summed up. "you have to let yourself feel love, either in general or more specifically, for him."

"I, I don't know how I feel!"

"Then talk it out." Cordelia suggested. "Before he left, what were you feeling?"

"Attraction, caring, hope for more."

"And then he left with no explanation." Phoebe told her. "What did you feel then?"

"Angry and hurt, I'm still angry. But I missed him too."

"Could you love him?" Prue asked. "Given the chance?"

Piper's hands began to glow. "I guess I can." She answered, as she reached out and let the glow shine on Leo's wound. It healed within seconds, healed by the power of love.

"Okay! Now do the reversal spell and give me back my power!"

######

A/N Since I have always maintained that Cordelia's visions were naturally occuring and forcibly activated on Angel, something which I'm not the only fanfiction writer to believe since I've read several other people's stories that posit the same idea, I like to explore what that potential might be within the framework of a given universe. Doyle and Cordelia were the only psychics on the show to experience pain as a result of the use of their powers. Lorne didn't, Cassie Newton in Sunnydale didn't, Drusilla didn't, either as a human or a vampire and the psychics that worked for Wolfram and Hart didn't. And the Jasmine arc ended with them finding out that Jasmine had been manipulating them for years.

Chapter 30

Once healed Leo was able to regain consciousness and Piper recited the reversal spell. Prue happily made the broom dance and Piper froze it, to Cordelia's relief. Although that still left the question of what powers she might have herself. But first they had to deal with Alec and protect Daisy.

"I left her at a motel." Leo explained. "I needed to talk to you girls before just springing her on to you and I've cloaked her from Alec's sensing ability.

"Talk to us, you mean about how you have powers but never managed to tell us about them." Piper glared at him.

"You weren't supposed to find out." Leo answered. "You were just supposed to be another assignment and most of our charges never find out we're whitelighters while we're guiding them. All we're supposed to do is offer advice, guidance. Free will means you make choice's for yourself. I was just supposed to help you get through the first few months of having powers. I wasn't supposed to get involved with you. It's forbidden actually."

"Like a teacher being involved with a student or a doctor with a patient?" Xander asked.

"To a certain extent, yes. But there's the fact that we're both powerful beings and some fear what the joining of so much power might result in."

"So you just took off, left." Piper muttered.

"Before I was ordered to. Sooner or later my bosses would have realized I'd developed feelings for you and that would not have gone over well."

"You two are going to need to sit down and have this out." Cordelia said. "But right now there's a scared woman out there being stalked and that's going to have to be the priority right now."

"You're right." Leo agreed. "I'm sorry, I forgot to ask your name.

"Cordelia Chase and he's my boyfriend, Xander Harris."

"Cordelia Chase and Xander Harris?" Leo asked, looking startled. "Of Sunnydale?"

"Uh, yeah." Xander answered. "Please don't tell me I've got a reputation with you guys too!"

"The Scooby Gang is notorious, but you broke a prophecy out the Pergamon Codex, rewrote Buffy Summers Destiny. And a lot of other people were affected as a result."

"Your bosses wouldn't happen to be those so called Powers, would they? Obsessed with balance and insisting what's been done to me can't be changed?"

"No, they're a totally separate group and we rarely interact. Unfortunately, they're also more powerful than we are."

"Crap." Xander muttered. "I swear if I ever meet them -."

"Woman to save, rant later." Cordelia reminded him. "How do we kill a darklighter? Because he's obsessed and he's not going to stop coming after her."

"I honestly don't know how to kill a darklighter." Leo confessed. "Whitelighters are pacifists. Witches defending themselves have been able to kill darklighters, I know that."

"The girls' powers aren't lethal in and of themselves." Xander said. "But Piper can freeze a demon and Prue can shove something through it's chest. Stake, vampire, used to be how we did it until I introduced shotguns to the group. A vanquishing spell might be a better idea."

"We'll keep the vampire killing method in reserve." Prue said. "I like the vanquishing idea myself."

"While we work on a vanquishing spell," Piper said. "Leo, you should go get Daisy. Xander put a Sanctuary Ward on the house to prevent violence in the house. If this darklighter shows up here and tries something, he'll be knocked unconscious."

"Good idea. On both counts actually." Leo orbed out and returned a few minutes later with a pretty woman about Prue's age and once introductions were complete, Phoebe took her to the kitchen to get her something to eat.

"I think I've got something." Prue said, showing the others the spell she'd come up with.

"Let's find him and try it." Phoebe agreed after reading it.

"How are we going to find him?" Piper asked.

"He's looking for Daisy." Xander said. "And Leo's got her cloaked. Let's have one of the girls glamour into Daisy's appearance and we magically duplicate her essence, we draw Alec into a trap. Leo and I will be nearby as back up."

"Sounds like a plan." Prue agreed. "I'll be the one glamoring. There's a spell in the Book of Shadows on how to do it."

"I'll keep Daisy company." Cordelia said. "And after you're done vanquishing the sorry creep, we can get started on solving the mystery of my powers."

"We'll figure it out, Cordy, I promise." Xander assured her. "Where's a good place we can set up this ambush anyway?"

"Buckland's is closed right now." Prue said. "And the garage is empty and big."

"That should work." Xander agreed. "Alright, Leo, start orbing, as my Queen said, we've got a sorry creep to vanquish."

Which they managed to do with surprisingly little effort. Apparently, being ambushed never occured to him.

Chapter 31

"So, we need to talk." Leo said, uneasily. As a whitelighter he helped others deal with their emotional states, he counseled and advised. He meditated on his own emotional state, he rarely discussed it. But this was an important conversation between him and Piper, but it wasn't going to be an easy one for either of them. "You have every right to be angry at me." Acknowledging and accepting her emotional state, see he could use the tools of his work to handle this conversation.

"Thank you for the permission." She glared at him, he gulped, not what he meant, but he could understand why it might be interpreted that way. And Piper could really glare, probably a good thing she couldn't channel her power through her eyes like Prue could or he'd be a statue right now.

"I just meant, I understand why you're angry, I left without talking to you. But talking would have meant telling you something I wasn't cleared to discuss with you, me being a whitelighter and what that means. Some of our charges are told, but it depends on the situation and in your situation, my bosses didn't what you to know."

"Why not? Why does it matter if we know or not?" Piper demanded.

"Because you needed to depend on yourselves, not me. I was just supposed to provide encouragement, help you through the initial Bonding of the Power of Three and because the assignment was temporary. I just never expected to fall in love with you. I've been a whitelighter for decades, Piper, I've never loved a charge before."

"So you love me? What does that mean for us? Can we be together?" She asked hopefully.

"Only if I give up my power, my place as a whitelighter and become human again. The rules exist for a reason, Piper and I can understand why there's a fear of a being with too much power being created by two powerful beings."

"We're the most powerful witches on the planet, if it was another witch, would they be as afraid?"

"Possibly, the unknown frightens a lot of people."

"So again I ask, what does that mean for us? Are you willing to give up your power so we can be together or do I have to give up mine so we can be together?"

"You giving up your power, however voluntarily, would mean no more Charmed Ones, no more Power of Three."

"No more demons hunting us down. But my sisters would still have their powers and a need to stop demons from hurting people. And I'd be forced to watch them go out and fight without me, without my power to help them fight. If one of them was hurt or worse, killed because I wasn't there to help, I'd never be able to forgive myself. And don't remind me that right next door to us is a witch/demon hunter. Watching my sisters backs is my responsibility, not his! So if I can't give up my powers so we can be together, then I have no right to ask you to give up yours so we can be together. You've spent decades helping people, people like us, you must be good at it. You must like it."

"All I ever wanted was to help people. I was studying to be a doctor when WWII started and I dropped out to become a medic, I died trying to help people and was offered the chance to keep helping. To help innocents."

"Innocents come first." Piper agreed stoically. "It's a lesson we've been learning for months now and it hurts when we lose one. It would be selfish of me to ask you to give up your life's work, your power, just so we could be together. So, unless your bosses decide to let us be together without giving up our powers, we can't be together, can we? Because it feels selfish to let others be hurt or be killed while we're being happy."

"I want to say, of course they will let us be together, but I know they won't. And I can't ask you to give up your power or stand by while your sisters fight demons without you either. And we deserve to be happy too, but I'm afraid worrying about the people we'd ordinarily be helping while trying to be happy, will drag us down with guilt."

"Will you say goodbye this time?" Piper felt tears threaten to fall, there was nothing he said that she could refute. "Will you ever come back?"

"I can't predict the future, Piper, I go where my bosses send me, so it's possible. Would saying goodbye help you move on?"

"Move on, find someone else to love, you mean. It might, because when you didn't say goodbye before, I was still thinking of you while trying to date someone else and that wasn't fair to him. Which is why I stopped dating him, because I was thinking about you. You still have a hold on me."

Leo gently kissed her and gave her what she needed to move on. "Goodbye, Piper. Please try to be happy, you deserve to be." He orbed away as Piper broke down crying and the thin walls alerted her sisters, who came running.

"He said goodbye this time." She told them, after filling them in on the conversation. They couldn't find any reason to vilify Leo and they could even understand his bosses fears. But that didn't stop them from hurting over Piper's pain. "I feel like I'm dying, it hurts so much." She sobbed as they held her and tried not to curse a universe that made happy endings so hard.

######

A/N Don't flame me please, Leo and Piper are an OTP and will be together, but this is where they parted for awhile on the show, but I thought there was far less of a conversation exploring their reasons why than there should have been so I gave them the chance to expand the discussion in this chapter.

These emotional scenes can be hard to write, I never quite feel I manage to get it right.

Chapter 32

A/N So Cordelia's power, some of you may have already realized where I'm going for an in universe explanation. Hold that thought because it's not quite what you might think. ;)

######

"So, powers." Xander decided to start the conversation with Cordelia almost as soon as they arrived back at their place after defeating the darklighter.

"Yeah, apparently. Are you sure?"

"The spell wouldn't have affected you if you didn't. I don't have naturally occuring powers, just a capacity to eventually work a lot of Magic. Like exercising a muscle. That's why the spell didn't affect me, because I have abilities, not powers. But it did affect you, which means, you do have powers. Either bound for some reason, like the sisters were or dormant, which means they'll go active at some point and the spell may have effected either possibility. Which means we have items on a to do list."

"Figure out what my powers are specifically." Cordelia began to list the items on this to do list, practically was a strength of hers after all. "Then we figure out what triggers them and how to control them. Figure out if they were bound and if so why, or if they were dormant. Talk to my parents and find out just what they do know and why they kept it from me and if it has anything to do with what the Mayor did to make people in Sunnydale sheep like. Which could also help us determine if that effect is wearing off on them. And whether having these powers, whatever they are, might affect our plans to make me a techno vamp. Because I firmly believe we're life mates and I know we want to be together."

"Agreed most especially on that last point." Xander nodded. "To start with I can do a diagnostic spell, if your powers were bound there may be traces of the Magic used still on you. A binding stays until it's released, which means the Magic has to be strong to hold for potentially years. This soon after the potential release of a binding, especially given the strength needed for the binding, there should be traces of the Magic. If nothing shows up, than it's most likely the powers were dormant. Not all natural born witches are born with their power active and activation can be triggered by a number of different things, from emotions to puberty to maturity."

"Or by Magic used to make it happen."

"Yes and that's not always a good thing, there's a reason dormant power activates in whatever manner they're supposed to activate. If it's maturity, for instance, as in physical maturity, physically you've nearly completed growing, your brain on the other hand, still has a few years to go. "

"So if my powers are similar to Phoebe's for instance and they were dormant, then my brain might not be ready for them."

"It's a possibility." Xander confirmed. "As for whether your powers might survive being made a techno vamp, I have absolutely no clue, but I'm going to err on the side of, maybe. After all, the process to make you a techno vamp involves rewiring your brain, if your power is like Phoebe's and involves your brain, the nanites could destroy whatever makes it possible or even amp it up. Both are possibilities to be considered."

"Okay, let's start with the diagnostic and go from there." Cordelia decided and Xander agreeing, did so.

"Nothing." He said. "No sign of Magic, which means your powers were dormant, hopefully the spell didn't cause damage when they activated."

"We'll deal with that possibility after we talk to my parents." Cordelia decided. "Because I need answers and they're the ones with those answers."

"Then let's go see them now." Xander took her hand in his, it was his turn to support her through a difficult time. She held tight as the two headed over to her parents side of the duplex and not bothering to knock, Cordelia just pushed her way in and demanded an answer to her first question.

"Okay, you guys have a huge secret about me that you've been keeping from me. It involves me, which means I deserve to know! So spill already!" Yeah, Tact Girl strikes again.

Her parents looked at each other and seemed to communicate with subtle eye movement and eyebrow twitches before turning back to look at their daughter.

"How did you figure out there's a secret?" Margaret Chase asked her daughter.

"Magic." Cordelia retorted. "Now tell me what the secret is!"

"I'm betting the walls on this duplex are fairly thin in some way." Charles Chase commented. "Because we've been discussing why we didn't discuss it with you sooner, because we planned to do it years ago and for the life of us, we can't figure out why we didn't. I get the feeling lately that I've forgotten some things and I don't know how or what it is, but this seems to be one of those things."

"What, Daddy? Please, just tell me already!"

"You're adopted, honey. We chose to be your parents, we were given an amazing gift, you."

"Adopted?! I didn't see that coming!"

"We were told that your birth parents loved you very much, but felt they had no choice but to give you up. You were left with a nun at a church right here in San Francisco actually. Along with a gift from your mother, we've kept that gift safe for you. We were told she had one request, that your name include the letter P. Which is why your name is Cordelia Pearl Chase."

"Pearl?" Xander asked, how did he not know his girlfriend's middle name was Pearl, he'd known her since they were 5 and she knew his middle name was -.

"Shut up, LaVelle!" Yeah, that.

Margaret went to their bedroom and returned with a box, which she opened and removed a vacuum sealed baby blanket. "We were told your mother embroidered this herself. It's the gift she left for you."

Xander and Cordelia both stared at the embroidered symbol they could see through the plastic. A very familiar symbol given it was emblazoned on the front of the Halliwell Book of Shadows.

A triquetra.

Chapter 33

A/N So there you have it, Cordelia being connected to the Halliwell's as my in universe explanation for her power. It was the basis of another Buffy/Charmed crossover I did that seems to have been erased somehow from my account. I am not using the same premise in this story as I did in that one. But there's also a problem with Cordelia being Paige and that's their ages. Cordelia's date of birth is never established on Buffy, on Angel two different dates of birth are given and they're months apart, but the big problem is that Paige's date of birth is established in canon, she was born in 1977, which would make her three years older than Cordelia. Which does not excluded Cordelia as being related to the Halliwell's, there are any number of ways that's possible as earlier generations were not only children, as their mother was, Patty does refer to an aunt in 'That '70s Episode,' named Phoebe and she may be a Halliwell. But there is also the possibility that Paige was never born for one reason or another and we don't know how long Patty and Sam were together. In canon though, she died in 1978, but again, other realities, other choices. In this story I've already established that she's dead, but not when she died. And there's one further possibility, Charmed has established a magical means of time travel. Any of these are possibilities for how Cordelia could be connected to the Halliwell's. That she is connected to them is a given for the purposes of this story and being she's not Paige and Prue's not dead, Cordelia's powers will eventually be what they were in Angel, premonitions, healing and light as a weapon. All of which is possible in a Charmed universe as well.

Cordelia cautiously touched the plastic wrapped blanket. "Xander…"

"I see it."

"See what?" Charles asked.

"That symbol has meaning in several belief systems from pagan to Christianity. But the thing that's wierding us out, is that it has meaning specifically for our new neighbors and has for generations of their family. And you said Cordelia is originally from San Francisco. Coincidences like that make my back teeth itch. Especially since earlier this week, I also found out that my new job is at the same place the oldest sister next door's new job also is. Chess pieces on a chess board. What if it's not a coincidence and someone is quietly trying to bring Cordelia and her birth family together?"

"Why not do it openly?" Charles asked.

"I have no idea why someone would go to these lengths, let alone do it quietly. The girls are still dealing with the loss of their grandmother and the inheritance she left them right now. Dropping a potential unknown sister into their lap is going to be damn difficult to deal with."

"If Cordelia is related to them," Charles said thoughtfully. "she may have a claim on that inheritance and someone may be using her to create an opportunity to get their hands on the inheritance too."

Xander and Cordelia looked at each other as they, unlike Charles, understood the 'inheritance' was the Charmed Legacy. How would a fourth sister affect the prophecy of the Charmed Ones?!

"We have to investigate this." Xander said. "We don't actually know Cordelia's related to them and they may not know a potential unknown sister exists. So we need to trace Cordelia's adoption first. Do you know where the nun she was left with and the church she was left at are? That nun may have answers that could help us figure this mystery out."

"A local church known as The Cathedral and the nun was named Sister Agnes." Charles answered. He was curious too and he wanted answers, he didn't like the idea of someone manipulating his family and he was still a little suspicious of her boyfriend, Xander Harris. Why did he feel like he'd forgotten something about Xander too?

"I'll call Andy and see if he can track them down." Xander decided.

"Andy?" Margaret asked.

"Inspector Andy Trudeau with the San Francisco police, he's dating Prue, the oldest sister next door and has been picking my brains about the occult, which I know quite a bit about. He should be able to find something we can investigate further. Eventually though we're going to have to talk to the sisters, but for now, we Investigate as much as we can ourselves. No use upsetting them if it turns out there's no connection whatsoever to them."

"Can I take the blanket with me?" Cordelia asked, still touching it through the plastic, trying to feel a connection to the parents that gave her up, maybe if she touched it directly?

"Your mother wanted you to have it." Margaret smiled gently at her.

"You're my mother." Cordelia murmured. "She's the woman who gave birth to me, until I know the reason why she gave me up, I only have one mother and one father." She picked up the box. "And that's not going to change anytime soon." She kissed her father on his cheek and one arm hugged her mother.

"Come on, Pearl, we've got a mystery to solve." Xander headed for the door.

"Right behind you, Lavelle." Cordelia followed him, clutching the box with the carefully sealed baby blanket in it in her arms.

Two could play that game, it was commonly called Mutually Assured Destruction.

Chapter 34

"That was Xander." Andy hung up the phone. "Cordelia may be at the center of a mystery of her own."

"How so?" Daryl asked.

"She just found out she has a dormant magical power that may now be active and that she's adopted."

"She's a witch too and didn't know it?"

"There's more, she was originally from San Francisco. Her adoptive parents said she was left by her birth parents with a nun named Agnes at the Cathedral."

"That big gothic church with the gargoyles on it? Isn't it like a San Francisco landmark?"

"I'm not sure, but Xander wants me to track down the nun and help Cordelia get some answers. And he's suspicious, the coincidences are adding up."

"He and Prue got a new job at the same place, Buckland's Auction House." Daryl started listing the coincidences. "They moved next door to Prue and her sisters, witches. In San Francisco."

"Once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, three times is enemy action or someone pulling strings in some way. I agree with Xander, there's a mystery. I'm going to try to find the nun and go with them to talk to her."

"Rodriguez is still sniffing around." Daryl warned. "He's already called you on the arrow and doesn't believe your explanation."

"He also can't prove a neighbor who knows I'm a cop wasn't who brought it in. But I do admit he's causing problems. Other cops are avoiding us because they don't want to catch his attention. I can't blame them, he's ruined lives."

"And he wants to ruin yours. If it was just about the unsolved freaky cases, he'd be going after both of us. He's got you in his cross hairs. I'll watch your back as best I can, but he's got an agenda and until we know what it is, neither you nor your job are safe."

"Thanks, I'm going to call it a day, I'll track the nun down from home, it's an off the books Investigation anyway. No use giving Rodriguez more fuel."

"See you tomorrow." Daryl agreed. And he was wondering who might be pulling the strings in the mystery surrounding Cordelia?

Once he arrived home Andy started his Investigation with a simple phone call to the Cathedral, where he learned that Sister Agnes was still affiliated with the church and did indeed remember a newborn baby being left with her.

"But it's not something I'm willing to discuss with you, Inspector. It's private information meant for that child if she ever cares to track down her birth family."

"She does actually, I was just confirming your existence and the story of her abandonment that her adoptive parents gave her before she comes to speak with you herself."

"She wasn't abandoned Inspector, it tore her parents up to leave her and if there'd been a way to keep her I'm absolutely certain they would have. If she wishes to speak to me, I'm at the Cathedral, all she has to do is come here and I will speak with her."

"I'll let her know, thank you, Sister." Andy hung up the phone and wondered what would drive a couple that loved their child to give her up? Especially anonymously. He called Xander to fill him in and offered to pick him and Cordelia up, since he knew where the Cathedral was and bring them to meet Sister Agnes. After consulting with Cordelia, Xander agreed.

The two were waiting on the front porch on their side of the duplex and Cordelia had a blue piece of cloth clutched in her arms, which she explained was a baby blanket that her birth mother had supposedly made and left with her.

"It's a good idea bringing it with." He told her as she climbed into the front seat and Xander into the back. "If Sister Agnes remembers it, it can help confirm to her that you're the child that was left in her care."

"I mainly don't want to let it out of my sight." She confessed. "I'm trying to feel close to them, my birth parents. To understand why they left me, not that I'm not grateful for the parents I have, because I love them and they love me, but the story they told me, tells me my birth parents loved me too."

"That's what Sister Agnes insists too, that they loved you." Andy told her. They pulled up in front of the Cathedral.

"Gargoyles." Xander murmured softly. "They wanted you to be safe."

"Gargoyles have meaning in Magic?" Andy asked.

"Gargoyles are living beings, Andy, that freeze into stone in their dormant state. They warn of approaching evil. The Cathedral is extremely well protected from evil."

"They're alive? Do they fight evil?"

"If necessary, but they mostly warn about it. There was a reason the Cathedral was chosen as the place to leave Cordelia. Her birth parents were afraid of something, I want to know what it is."

"So do I." Cordelia pushed open her car door and Xander followed her. Taking her hand in his as Andy trailed behind marveling at all the new things he learned in the last week since discovering Magic as real. The three entered the Cathedral and made their way down the aisle toward an older woman in an old fashioned wimple that some nuns still wore. She looked up as they approached and then her eyes fell on the blanket in Cordelia's arms and widened as she saw the symbol embroidered on it.

"Oh my dear, it is you." She smiled at Cordelia. "I wondered if I'd live long enough to tell you the story."

"About my birth parents?" Cordelia asked. "About why they left me?"

"They wanted you to be safe, to be loved and they were very afraid they couldn't keep you safe themselves."

"Do you know who they were?"

"They were angels who arrived in a swirl of white lights."