Charmed: Heritage - 111 – Phoenix Witch

[StoryGirl83]

Jul 11, 2016 14:33:03 GMT -5 Chrisaholic said:

Oha, that was close for Chris but unfortunately, someone had to see it! At least, as half Elder Chris can summon a whitelighter. Interesting power, by the way. How would Piper react to this news? His family completely. Not good! Wonder what will happen now.

Piper would not be happy to hear that something had happened to her son. I think she does find out, so you'll see her response.

---

Chapter Ten – The Assassin’s Lair

Vera’s basement was a frightening place. Some people had animal heads mounted on the walls of their den or some other room. Vera had human heads mounted on the walls of her basement. It was somehow soothing to her to see the evidence of her many successes. Since there was no space to contain the heads of all her victims, she chose only the most important and then magically severed their heads from their bodies.

Dark lights swirled around and formed into Vera as she returned home, annoyed at the temporary setback. She walked over to the sink and grabbed the towel off the rack, then over to the refrigerator and pulled open the freezer. Ignoring all the magical elements that were of no use to her purpose, she made a pouch out of the towel and started stacking ice cubes in it. When it was full she held her make shift ice pack against the growing bump on her head.

“I hate witches,” she mumbled under her breath, “but I certainly never thought one would get the drop on me with a frying pan.”

“Don’t be surprised,” a voice from the shadows recommended. A man with dark blond hair walked out of the shadows, revealing Steve Kessler, a warlock waging slow, deliberate war on the two Halliwell brothers. “Many have tried to beat them and their family. Many have failed.”

“You again,” Vera scowled at him. “Look. I took your commission. I will get it done.”

“Not if you get distracted.”

She chose to ignore him. “I didn’t catch your name.”

“I didn’t give it,” Steve replied. “I hired you to do a job and you are handling it quite ineptly. Never let yourself get distracted.”

“I prefer to only kill my target. No money in killing anyone else. Exposing magic to mortals just doesn’t appeal, so the only other option is to kill them and you just aren’t paying me enough for that.”

“If you have to kill a mortal to keep from being exposed, let me know and I’ll pay you more. Just get the job done.” Steve looked her in the eye. “You do that and I will reward you beyond what I promised. Just get it done.”

Vera glared back at him. “I always get the job done. And this time I’ll even throw in something for free. I feel like it’s time to add a new head to my wall.”

Steve looked over the myriad heads on her wall. “And what head is that?”

“The head of the only Phoenix who ever dared try to assassinate the assassin.”

[Chrisaholic]

So, Vera is also hired. Wonder how her plan now goes on. Attacking Wyatt or Chris once again. Curious here!

[StoryGirl83]

Jul 12, 2016 9:16:07 GMT -5 Chrisaholic said:

So, Vera is also hired. Wonder how her plan now goes on. Attacking Wyatt or Chris once again. Curious here!

Yep. Vera doesn't particularly see the point in killing for no gain. She is strictly a mercenary killer.

---

Chapter Eleven – Explanations and Decisions

Chris had somehow managed to tape gauze on his side under his torn shirt. Then he had cleaned up the area around the wound. He knew technically he was supposed to clean it first, but he figured it didn’t matter, since the gauze was basically a disguise. Or more accurately, a lie, but he kept trying to ignore that. He didn’t know Ty that well, but he had the impression that if this guy was told his secret, he wasn’t going to take it well.

He surveyed the blood spilled on the ground, his blood, and sighed. Personal gain. Personal gain. No magical cleanup. He heaved in a sigh and went looking for the mop.

He had cleaned up most of the blood when the door swung open and in walked Emily. “You okay?”

Chris looked up surprised. “I thought I told Ty to keep everyone else out.”

Emily shrugged. “Becky has him occupied. She is more than a little worried. I sneaked back. I wanted to see how you were.” She looked at the blood still on his shirt. “How’d you get cut up?”

“A knife.”

“Accident?”

Chris shook his head. “Look, I’d rather not talk about it,” he told her when she opened her mouth to ask. He stared at her for several seconds. “Since your back here, want to help me clean up.”

“If this wasn’t an accident, then assuming you aren’t suicidal, someone did this. Doesn’t that make this a crime scene?”

Doesn’t just about every time my family fights a demon, warlock, or whatever mean they have disturbed a crime scene? Chris sighed. On the other hand since we are fighting against the magical, don’t we kind of qualify as the magical police? So doesn’t that make this my crime scene? He looked over at Emily. Her bright eyes looking back to him where rather unnerving. “I’m the only one hurt. I will fine. Don’t press it.” Probably doesn’t make it my crime scene, but none of it is anything I can explain to her.

She frowned and looked around. “And how do I know that?”

“What?” Chris looked at her confused.

“How do I know that you were the only one hurt?”

Chris scowled. “Look, I was attacked. I was sliced at with a knife that was intended not to injure me, but to end me. I’m not saying I didn’t fight back. I . . . Look, nothing I did to the intruder is going to cause lasting harm.”

“And what did you do?”

Chris heaved in a deep breath, then another. “I hit the intruder with a pan.”

Emily blinked and looked at him, surprise in her eyes. “You did what?”

“It was the only thing I could get my hands on,” he informed her, indignant.

“Those things can cause a lot of damage.”

“So can knives.”

She looked at him and looked around. “You really should let the police handle this.”

Chris shook his head. “If you are going to argue with me, then you are going to need to leave.”

“The intruder could come back, and you don’t know what they were after,” she argued worried. “If they were trying to steal something.”

“She was after me,” Chris snapped without thinking. Realizing what he said, his eyes widened.

Emily stared at him for several long seconds. “But why? Why would someone want you dead?”

Chris didn’t say anything.

“Chris, answer me.”

Still he said nothing.

“Chris, answer me. Why doesn’t someone want you dead?”

“I don’t know,” he finally insisted. “It makes no sense.” I’m just me. I’m not mom or one of her sisters. I’m not Wy. I’m just me. I’m insignificant.

“You don’t know?” After he shook his head, she added, “You have to go to the police.”

“No, I don’t,” Chris informed her. “I won’t. And neither will you.”

“Why not?”

“You saw nothing, and anything you say will be hearsay unless I back you up. I won’t.”

She stared at him, a little stunned. It was almost a minute before anyone said anything. They both knew whoever spoke next lost.

“All right.”

“What?”

“Let’s get this place cleaned up.”

Chris starred at her, stunned. “I don’t understand.”

“I’m helping you.” She paused, considering her next words carefully. “I don’t know why, but something says I should, so you’d better be in the right here.”

Without waiting for his response Emily went off in search of cleaning supplies.

[Chrisaholic]

At least, one of his colleagues believes him and helps Chris to get not questioned by the police. Family reaction missing!

[StoryGirl83]

Jul 13, 2016 12:50:16 GMT -5 Chrisaholic said:

At least, one of his colleagues believes him and helps Chris to get not questioned by the police. Family reaction missing!

She's not sure what to think of the situation, but she's decided to trust him that he knows what he's doing.

---

Chapter Twelve – Speed Dial

Dr. Darrin came into Wyatt’s room to find it well overloaded with guests. “Everyone out. It’s time to do those tests.”

Bianca’s eyes held panic. “What if . . ?”

“Don’t worry,” Wyatt told her. “I know what to look for now.”

“You won’t be able to. . .” Piper’s voice trailed off as she caught Dr. Darrin given them a confused look.

“I’ll be fine.” He turned his head to look at Dr. Darrin. “Still no movement that I can tell of, but I need you to promise me two things before I can convince them to leave.”

“I can’t make any promises, and if they don’t leave, I’ll call security.”

“You don’t want to do that. Just make these promises and they will leave.” Wyatt gave his mom a look of affection. “They are just worried about me.”

“No promises.”

“They aren’t that hard,” Wyatt assured him.

“I’m listening.”

“I want you to promise that no matter what you are doing you don’t put me out. I need to be conscious.”

“This could be very painful now that you are getting the feeling back in your legs,” Dr. Darrin informed him. “It may not be, but the potential is there.”

Wyatt nodded. “I realize that. All the same I need to be fully conscious or else I need someone from my family allowed in the room.”

“Is that the other promise?”

“No, the other promise is that you have to personally conduct any test that involves touching me.”

“Those are generally conducted by the nurses.”

Wyatt heaved in a deep breath. “On the ground to the left of my bed is a needle with some sort of serum. I don’t know what it is, but I can pretty much guarantee that if you test it you will find the contents to be something that would kill someone if they were injected with it. Right now I am very apprehensive about letting anyone I don’t know anywhere near me.”

Dr. Darrin walked around the bed and looked at the needle lying unmoving on the ground. “Where did that come from?”

“I really couldn’t say, but unless you give me both of those promises I am going to just have to refuse treatment, completely.”

“That’s a bit extreme. If something we are doing could actually allow you to walk again . . .”

“Then, it is already doing whatever it is that will get me there. This morning I could feel nothing. Now, I have almost complete feeling back. I can’t move, but I can feel. That’s an incredible amount of progress in a small amount of time. I know that it is. I also know someone tried to kill me and that’s not a good feeling. I just don’t want to give that person another chance.”

Dr. Darrin looked at the determined face of his patient and around the room at Leo and Piper, then at the Holbrookes. He sighed as he and turned back to Leo and Piper. “I will call you up if we need him to go under.”

“And the other?”

Dr. Darrin was silent as he looked at those in the room. “Don’t touch that syringe. The police will want to look at it.”

“Police?” Piper gasped.

“Mrs. Halliwell, your son said someone attacked him,” Dr. Darrin reminded her. “I’m obligated to call the police.”

“That is your choice I suppose,” Wyatt admitted, not liking it, “but I’d rather not deal with them, again.”

“Someone tried to kill you once,” Dr. Darrin reminded him. “That’s why you are here. Now, you say someone tried, again.”

Wyatt sighed. “Fine, but not until you get your tests over.”

“They can talk to you after the tests, but I’m calling them as soon as I leave this room.” He turned to look at Lawrence and Bianca. “I’m sorry, but you are going to have to stay until the police talk to you.”

“Why?” The question came from Ashlyn. She looked at him from her mother’s arms. “I want butterflies.”

Confused, Dr. Darrin looked at her. “Butterflies?”

“We had planned to see a movie about butterflies,” Lawrence explained. “Our plans were changed. I’m afraid the change was lost on my daughter.” He held out his hand. “Lawrence Holbrooke, if that interests you to know. This is my wife, Bianca, and our daughter Ashlyn. I figure if the police are going to be interviewing us I should let you know who you are dealing with.”

Dr. Darrin frowned. “I don’t understand. What do you mean who I am dealing with?”

Lawrence smiled. “You’ll see.” He pulled out his cell phone. “Fill free to use this to call the police, hit eight pound to get the chief of police’s direct line . . . wait, that’s for Oakland. Nine pound for San Francisco. I should warn you, they will be wondering what you did with me, whichever one you call.”

Dr. Darrin stared at the phone. “Why do you have the chief of police for two cities on speed dial?”

“Five cities between my cell phone and my wife’s.”

“But why?”

“Well, two of them are my brothers, one’s a cousin, and the two on my wife’s cell were in her sorority in college.” Lawrence chuckled. “You should see some of the other numbers she has on speed dial.”

Dr. Darrin relaxed slightly. “So if I called the San Francisco police chief?”

“That’s my baby brother, Sheldon Holbrooke, though he’s only acting chief. The real chief is on leave.” When Dr. Darrin made no move to take the offered cell phone Lawrence shrugged. “Have it your way.” He punched in some numbers and everyone watched with varied emotions, from curiosity to annoyance, as he waited for the phone to be answered. And when it was no one heard the other side of the conversation as he only said, “Sheldon, it’s me.” He listened for several seconds making some sound that sounded like affirmation and then, “I will see you shortly.” He chuckled. “Right, Memorial. Yes, a hospital. No, we are all fine. No, I saw nothing, but yes it is official business.” He sighed. “Yes or no.” He nodded. “Good. Wyatt Halliwell’s room.” He listened another moment and then snorted. “What kind of question is that? Of course she is.” He smiled, “See you soon,” and hung up.

Lawrence looked at the curious eyes around him. The first ones to hit him were those of his daughter.

Ashlyn’s eyes were wide. “Uncle Shelly coming?”

Lawrence laughed. “Yes, Ashlyn, Uncle Sheldon is coming.”

[Chrisaholic]

Wow, what a family Lawrence has. All police chief or in another higher position, really cool in that case.

[StoryGirl83]

Jul 13, 2016 15:28:12 GMT -5 Chrisaholic said:

Wow, what a family Lawrence has. All police chief or in another higher position, really cool in that case.

I have a lot of fun with this family. So far this is the only one to include the Holbrookes (other than a flashback in one episode), but I definitely have plans for them for later and eventually you'll get to meet the brother that's not in this next chapter.

---

Chapter Thirteen – Bianca’s Latest Project

It was clear to everyone that Dr. Darrin was still not comfortable with Lawrence’s connection to the chief of police, even if it was the acting chief of police. He left the room after eliciting everyone’s promise not to leave.

“First he says go, now he says stay,” Lawrence said, slightly amused.

“Where exactly does he think we are going to go?” Bianca asked. “We came here for a reason.”

Piper exhaled and eyed her, still weary. She decided to find something to focus on besides Bianca. “Mr. Holbrooke?”

“Lawrence.”

“Right. What does your brother know about magic?”

He smiled. “Well, not as much as I do, but enough. He will make sure that nothing comes of the magical aspects of this.”

“You mean like the fact that my son’s attacker shimmered out of here?” Piper snapped annoyed.

Lawrence took no offence. He’d heard it before. “Like that.”

“And how does he expect to do that?” Piper wanted to know.

“By avoiding the subject mostly,” Bianca retorted. “But you should see Mason on the subject. It’s downright hilarious.”

“Brandon does all right though,” Lawrence reminded her.

“Uncle Brandy!” Ashlyn exclaimed.

“I can’t seem to get her to say my brothers’ names right,” Lawrence commented.

“Actually she means me,” a voice said from the door.

Lawrence turned around startled and looked at the man standing there. “Brandon? What are on earth brings you here?”

“Well, I was visiting a friend and I get this phone call from Sheldon,” Brandon Holbrooke informed his younger brother, “rather odd call it was, too.” He looked around the room. "So tell me, little brother, why did you call Sheldon?”

Lawrence exhaled slowly. He waved a hand in Wyatt’s direction. “Bianca’s latest project.”

Brandon’s reaction was more apprehensive that those simple words seemed to deem. He turned worried eyes at his sister-in-law. “Not Nina was it?”

Bianca shook her head. “Vera.”

He gulped. “Be careful.”

“Don’t I always?” She inquired.

“No,” came the immediate response of both Holbrooke brothers.

“Vera doesn’t play around,” Brandon warned. “I still have the scars to prove it.”

“I’m well aware of that,” Bianca reminded him.

“What happened?” Wyatt asked from his bed.

Brandon snorted. “Let’s just say that Bianca’s introduction to our family came just in the nick of time.”

“And that Brandon is a hothead,” Lawrence added earning a playful slap from his brother.

“I had it well in hand.”

“She had a knife to your neck,” Lawrence returned. “Just be glad the bounty was lifted or else you would be in constant fear of your life.”

“My life? What about yours? You were the one with the bounty on his head.” Brandon turned to address them. “My little brother here doesn’t have a job. He invests money and uses the returns to be a philanthropist. That annoyed some people on the side of evil. They decided they wanted him dead.”

“And Bianca saved me,” Lawrence finished, “and you. Thank you, but I doubt they need a recap on our lives. We aren’t the ones in danger here.”

Behind him the door swung open and Dr. Darrin entered leading a young, dark haired man in his thirties. He was wearing the uniform of the San Francisco Police Department. He smiled at Dr. Darrin. “Thank you for the help. My partner will be here shortly. We had trouble parking.”

When Dr. Darrin had left the room Sheldon Holbrooke looked at his two older brothers. “All we need is Mason and we have a family reunion,” he chuckled.

“You know fair well that Mason avoids anything magical,” Brandon commented.

“Yes, yes,” Sheldon agreed. “Can’t believe you beat me here.”

“I was in the hospital.”

“Huh. Okay, well, I wasn’t kidding about Tim being up soon and the guy has no sense of humor, so explaining away magic to him is near about impossible.” Sheldon looked at Bianca. “Who did this? And what did they do anyway?”

“Vera,” Bianca replied without hesitation. As Sheldon shuddered she added, “There is a bounty out for the guy on the bed and his brother.” With a look at Wyatt she asked, “Younger?”

Wyatt didn’t answer, so she just shrugged it off. “No matter. The bounty was posted yesterday, but I didn’t find out until this afternoon. She tried to inject him with something shortly after I arrived in the room. It’s on the ground.”

“Gloved?” Sheldon asked as he looked down at the syringe.

“Naturally.”

“I suppose that would have been too easy.”

“And I suppose you think a jail would have held her.”

“It would have if you bound her powers.”

“And where would Nina have been then?”

“Safe,” Brandon submitted.

“Who is Nina?” Piper asked, eyeing them suspiciously.

The three brothers looked at each other. It was Lawrence who answered first. “The reason our brother avoids magic.”

“Vera’s daughter,” Brandon added.

“Mason’s fiancée,” Sheldon put in.

“She’s someone who wants to change,” Bianca informed her. “We grew up together, but our lives were very different. Honestly I cannot approve of Mason’s relationship with her as things stand now, especially since she’s still very much magical and he detests all things thus and because she’s still in the ‘business’. That alone is enough to make me weary of the relationship.”

“Do I need to actually say anything?” Wyatt asked, watching the interchange with amusement.

Sheldon had the decency to look embarrassed. “Sorry, are you saying you actually want me to investigate a magical problem?”

“You’re here,” Wyatt reasoned. “I’m pretty sure it isn’t for a reunion. And even if it is, your partner will be here shortly and you need a legitimate reason for being here. I am that reason. A woman came in here and tried to kill me. I’ve never seen her before. And honestly I don’t know the reason why she wanted me dead.” He gave the older two Holbrooke brothers a look. “And don’t say because there was a bounty on my head. I only have your word on that, so I don’t know that.” He looked back at Sheldon. “I admit that chances are this will go down as an unsolved mystery, but are you denying you have to deal with it, or at least pretend to?”

Sheldon shook his head. “Sorry, I am used to Bianca having any living victims not wanting to even talk about it. Not that it’s Bianca’s fault, but an assassin that disappears in the blink of an eye . . . most people convince themselves that they are crazy.”

“Blink of an eye, huh?” Wyatt held out his hand and blinked his own eyes. Blue orbs surrounded Sheldon’s badge off his jacket and the badge reappeared in his hand. “I think I can handle the blink of an eye.”

Sheldon gave a low whistle. “Boy do you know how to pick them, Bianca. Since I don’t have to worry about that, why don’t we dispense of formalities. Bianca, hand them over.” He held out his hand as his sister-in-law glared at him. He smiled as she started reaching into her pockets pulling out knives of various sizes.

Wyatt’s eyes grew wide at the sheer number of them.

Sheldon just waited. When she stopped, he bobbed his hand up and down. “Bianca, really. I want all of them. Tim will be here any minute.”

Bianca gave him a look and walked over to where Ashlyn toddled around the room. She pulled out the chopsticks holding a small Pollyanna in a bun on the back of her daughter’s head. She handed them to Sheldon.

Sheldon gaped at her. “Great. Teaching the toddler how to throw knives is really responsible parenting.”

“Must we go through this every time we meet, Sheldon?”

He shook his head. “You know better than to enter a hospital with weapons.”

“I know better than to enter without them if I want my innocents to live,” Bianca shot back as a fair haired man enter the room.

“What did I miss?” Sheldon’s partner asked.

Wyatt looked at his parents about ready to burst. Barely controlling himself he turned to look at the man. “Hello, I am Wyatt Halliwell. I believe you are here to interview me.”

[Chrisaholic]

Nice interaction between the brothers and all. I don't know if I should pity Bianca's family or the Halliwells. Actually both, I guess. lol

[StoryGirl83]

Jul 14, 2016 9:06:38 GMT -5 Chrisaholic said:

Nice interaction between the brothers and all. I don't know if I should pity Bianca's family or the Halliwells. Actually both, I guess. lol

Thank you. They are so much fun to write.

---

Chapter Fourteen – Closing Early

Chris looked down at the kitchen floor, somehow never more proud of a clean floor than he was in that moment. He turned to Emily with a smile. “Thank you.”

“Glad to help,” she replied. “Are you going to tell me where all that blood came from?”

“Me,” Chris replied, “but you knew that. When someone wants you dead, they tend to try and draw blood.”

Emily grimaced. “Good point. How’s your side?”

“Better.” A lot better thanks to Mikelle.

“Well, that’s good. Any idea how they got in? Or rather she. You did say she?”

Chris sighed and said nothing.

Thankfully the door to the kitchen swung open and Ty entered, keeping the silence from lasting long. “We’re done in . . . whoa. This sure looks . . . different.” He looked around at the clean floor. “Everything all right?”

“Peachy,” Emily replied eyeing Chris with question in her eyes.

Chris nodded, more in acknowledgement than anything else.

“Since you had me tell them that we were closing early, well Chelsea wants to know if she should call her husband.”

Chris nodded. “If he drove her here, then yes. How soon can you guys have this place cleaned and ready to leave?”

“Well, normally I’d say being understaffed was going to be a problem, but frankly we haven’t been that busy tonight, so it should take all that long.” Ty stood very still for a moment and then asked, “What did your mom say when you told her we were closing early?”

“She didn’t say anything because I haven’t told her yet.”

“Shouldn’t you get her approval, as owner, to close early?”

Chris dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out his cell. “It was close early or tell my mom that I couldn’t stay here, so she had to leave my hospitalized brother to come finish out the shift.” He held out the phone. “You want to tell her that, because I already thought of my alternatives. I already know Callie will say no and I already know that even if she said she’d come in she still wouldn’t accept the responsibility of being in charge, even for a few hours. I already know Drinka would say yes and I already know that Drinka would want to avoid the kitchen like the plague. She barely meets the requirements for being able to cook that my mom put on this place. There is a reason she stays at the hostess stand. People love Drinka. They would not love her cooking.” He shoves the phone into Ty’s hand. “So make that call if you want, because I’m not telling my mom to come in.”

“Clearly she needs to find more people for management,” Emily mumbled under her breath.

Chris grinned. “Clearly. Last December she had I think three people quit for various reasons. Two of them were in management. She’s not found people to replace them yet.”

“She found you.”

Chris snorted. “Not really. More like she cultivated me. Mom’s been training me to help her in the kitchen since she learned that I didn’t burn water, which by the way I think I cheated on.”

Emily laughed. “How do you cheat on boiling water?”

“Who said my brother was boiling water when he burned it?” As Chris recalled Wyatt was playing with some sort of firepower that Chris hadn’t seen since when he burned the water, the pan it was in, and half the stove. That, of course, was before magic had stopped, so Chris had been very young when it happened.

“If not boiling water, what was he doing?”

Chris shook his head. “I couldn’t really say. I believe I was two at the time.” He shook his head, unused to talking so much about himself, especially around the unmagical. “Ty, would you please go tell Chelsea that she can call her husband and tell everyone else to get cleaned up out there. Emily, would you help me get the dishes and everything in here cleaned.”

Emily nodded. “No problem.”

Ty frowned for a second and then held out Chris’ phone. “You might want this back.”

Chris chuckled a little. “Yeah, probably so.”

“Call your mom. She needs to know,” Ty exhaled slowly, “about what happened in here if nothing else. She’s a mom. They don’t like secrets.”

Chris shook his head with a laugh and took the phone back. “Don’t I know it.” As Ty headed out of the room he opened his phone. Instead of dialing he simply said, “Wyatt.”

Emily watched him with raised eyebrows and headed over to the sink to get started on those dishes.

Chris held the phone to his ear waiting, but to his surprise it was Piper who answered. “Chris?”

“Mom?”

Emily chuckled.

Chris glanced at her, having momentarily forgetting that she was in the room. “Yeah, it’s me. How come you have Wy’s phone?”

“Your brother is with the doctor having some tests done.”

“Tests?” Chris asked worried.

“Apparently he’s regained feeling in his legs.” There was a hint of excitement and an edge of nervousness mixed together in her voice.

“He did? That’s great, Mom. Now, what aren’t you telling me.”

“Nothing to worry about.”

“Really, because when I tell you that it never works. Why would you think it would work with me?”

“Because it wouldn’t matter. I can’t talk about it.”

Chris groaned. “Well, I will be there soon.”

“You will not,” Piper insisted. “You will stay right where you are, where it’s safe.”

“Cause it’s so safe here,” Chris retorted. “No, I already closed the restaurant, or had Ty do it I guess. We don’t have too terribly much to do here and then I’m sending everyone home.”

“Why would you close my restaurant down early?” Piper asked, slightly annoyed. “Do that and you will gain me a reputation for . . .”

“I was bleeding, Mom.” Chris glanced at Emily and slipped into his mom’s office. “I was bleeding really badly. I had to call a whitelighter to heal me.”

“My word,” Piper breathed into the phone. “Not you, too.”

“Mom, she would have come back. And I couldn’t risk someone ending up in the middle of that. Ty almost was. As was I had to use my powers to keep him out of the room. And I have a gauze pad on a no longer existent wound. And I cleaned up the blood by hand so Ty wouldn’t grow suspicious when he wondered where it went so fast. I’m wearing a bloody shirt with a gaping hole in it where I was struck by one of your kitchen knives. I couldn’t not close. Ty saw enough that I had to talk him out of calling the police or the ambulance.”

Chris groaned. “This day’s just a mess.”

Piper looked across the room at Bianca who was talking to her husband. “You’re telling me. Are you going to be okay, Chris?”

“Yeah, for now, but I had to close down for the night.”

Piper sighed and nodded. “Yes.”

“I will get over there as soon as I can. I want to stop by the manor first and check the book.”

“We already know what you are looking for.”

“Bianca,” Chris realized. “That’s what she meant about Wyatt and me being targeted. I’ll come straight there then.”

“Be careful.”

“I will,” Chris assured her before he closed his phone. He left the office and found Emily standing by the sink, drying a plate, her eyes on him. “I just talked to my mom.”

“So I gathered. Somehow I don’t think you meant to.”

“No,” Chris agreed with a laugh. “I called my brother’s cell. Apparently he’s getting some tests done.”

“Not bad news I hope.”

“No, good. He’s getting better.”

Emily grinned. “Well, that’s wonderful.”

Chris nodded.

“You were so worried earlier.”

“It showed?”

She nodded. “Glad to hear that everything is getting better.”

“So am I.” So am I.

[Chrisaholic]

So Piper knows now and she's certainly not happy with closing her restaurant but in the end she understands. Hehe, poor Chris and all his memories from before! At least, there's hope for Wyatt when he got a feeling in his legs back!

[StoryGirl83]

Jul 14, 2016 16:05:10 GMT -5 Chrisaholic said:

So Piper knows now and she's certainly not happy with closing her restaurant but in the end she understands. Hehe, poor Chris and all his memories from before! At least, there's hope for Wyatt when he got a feeling in his legs back!

Yeah, she didn't like it, but she certainly wouldn't want to put innocents at risk (or her sons if she can help it), so this was what they had to do.

---

Chapter Fifteen – Good-Bye and Good Luck

Wyatt was rolled into the hospital room after over thirty minutes of tests. He was barefoot and grinning. “Hey, Mom, look. My toes move!”

Piper’s eyes widened and she quickly moved to her sons side and to her delight, they did indeed move. “Did they find out what’s happening?”

Wyatt shook his head. “Still looking for results.” He cast a smile at the aide pushing his wheel chair. “Thanks a bunch. Remind me never to be hospitalized, again.”

The young man grinned at him as he helped Wyatt get back onto the hospital bed. He just grinned more as Wyatt tried to avoid the help. “Can’t say that I blame you, of course, with all that poking and prodding, and all the nurses flirting with you. If Celeste ever gave me that look she gave you. . .”

Wyatt groaned. “Would you tone it down, Hailer? My mom’s here.”

Rick Hailer gave Piper a little nod. “Always a pleasure, Mrs. Halliwell.” Then, he winked at her.

“And my dad,” Wyatt added with rolled eyes.

Rick saluted Leo. “Hello, Mr. Wyatt.”

“Hello, Rick,” Leo greeted, remembering having met the young man the past summer.

“I’ll see you later, Wyatt,” Rick said before leaving the room.

“And so will we,” Sheldon announced.

“What?” his partner, Tim McGuire, looked at him startled. “But we aren’t . . .”

“We’ve collected what we needed and talked to most of the witnesses.”

“Most?”

“One of them had to leave,” Sheldon informed him. “I have her name and we’ll try and catch up with her, but I doubt there is much she can add.” He sighed. “Unless she has a name or something to give us. Now, let’s go.” He looked at his brothers and shook his head. “Try to stay out of trouble, Big Brothers.”

Ashlyn toddled over to Wyatt’s bed. “Toes?”

Wyatt looked at her. “What?”

“Wiggle,” she added.

He stared at her. “You want me to wiggle my toes?”

She nodded.

Tim glanced at Sheldon. “Okay, I’m leaving now.”

“Good,” Sheldon agreed. “We have papers to file.”

“Bye, Uncle Shelly,” Ashlyn called cheerfully as Sheldon and his partner headed out the door.

“Bye, Ashy girl,” Sheldon returned as Tim made a break for it.

“Ashlyn,” she protested.

He winked at her. “Uncle Sheldon.”

“Uncle Shelly,” she returned stubbornly.

“Give it up,” Brandon suggested. “You will always be Uncle Shelly, just like I will always be Uncle Brandy and Mason will always be Uncle Macy. Almost makes a guy want to marry to make Lawrence into Uncle Laurie or something. Almost.”

Sheldon shook his head amused. “Yeah, well one of these days.” He smiled and headed out the door.

Out of sight out of mind seemed to apply as the moment the door closed Ashlyn turned her attention back to Wyatt. “Toes.”

Wyatt moved obligingly so that his feet dangled from the bed. It was clear that his arms were doing all the work, but when Ashlyn giggled in delight it also became clear that the nerves in his legs were working, because his toes did indeed wiggle as they had when he entered the room.

“Well, this ought to make for an interesting explanation,” Chris commented from where he stood in the doorway. He had changed into clean clothes and was looking at the small crowd gathered around his brother.

“I think that’s my clue to get going,” Brandon commented. He gave his younger brother a bear hug and swung his niece up into his arms. “Behave yourself, Sweetheart.”

Ashlyn planted a kiss on his cheek. “Love Uncle Brandy.”

“You’d better,” he replied, not bothering to correct her. He never did. He kissed her back and set her down. Turning to his sister-in-law he suggested, “Be careful will you. I like seeing my brother this happy.”

From the doorway, Chris stared at Bianca, once more unsettled by the sight of her. He walked over to where his parents were standing. As Brandon asked, having received some sort of reply from Bianca, Chris turned to his mom. “So what can you tell me?”

Piper glanced sideways at Bianca. “Well, for starters I’m not sure who is more uncomfortable in this room, me with Bianca or her with me.”

“I’m going with me,” Chris replied in a low voice, “but I’m dealing with it. I never really considered what might have happened to her these last few months, but this is awkward in the extreme and she has no idea.”

Piper’s response was interrupted by, “Toes!”

Chris gave his mom a look. “What on earth is going on?”

“Wyatt can move his toes,” she replied. “Apparently little Ashlyn finds this funny.”

“It’s not just that,” Leo added. “She finds it interesting. Most adults would not listen to that command from a toddler. She’s enjoying the power.”

“Enough of that,” Lawrence said scooping up Ashlyn. “Mr. Halliwell needs to rest.”

“Awe, Daddy,” Ashlyn protested as she wiggled around to look at Wyatt. “Bye, Mr. Wyatt.”

Leo looked up surprised.

Wyatt laughed. “I think she means me, Dad.”

Ashlyn looked over at Leo. “You’re Mr. Wyatt?”

Leo nodded. “I am.”

“Okay,” Ashlyn decided taking that in. “Bye, Mr. Wyatt.”

“Good bye, Ashlyn,” Leo returned.

Lawrence stopped next to Bianca. “Will you be home tonight, Sweetheart? He seems well guarded. They both do.”

Bianca looked at Wyatt and his family. “I don’t know. I’ll call you later if I’m staying.” She leaned over and placed a kiss on her daughter’s forehead. “I love you both.”

“I love you, too,” Lawrence returned as he gave her a quick kiss. “Be careful.”

Chris gulped, staring at them.

Wyatt raised an eyebrow at his brother. He kept noticing little things that made him wonder what exactly his brother knew of this family. He watched Lawrence carrying Ashlyn follow the path of his two brothers and head home. He turned to look at his brother and missed Dr. Darrin reentering the room.

He didn’t miss Dr. Darrin’s next words. “I just talked to officer Holbrooke and he doesn’t think police protection is warranted, but he did suggest that someone stay the night here, just in case.”

Bianca eyed him. “I see.”

“And who are you?” Dr. Darrin asked, having not really taken much notice of her earlier.

“Mr. Halliwell’s bodyguard if he agrees,” she announced, “but so far no luck there.”

Dr. Darrin looked around the room, stopping on Wyatt. “She can stay here to watch you if that is what you wish, but I don’t want more than one person staying the night. I realize you are improving, but you are still in bad shape and you don’t need people keeping you awake all night.”

Wyatt looked around, trying to decide how to respond. Finally, he looked up at Dr. Darrin. “Why don’t you give us a few minutes to talk? If only one person can stay, I know I am going to have a time of it talking it down to only that.”

Dr. Darrin nodded. “You still have about half an hour until visiting hours are up. I’ll be back then.”

“Thank you.” Wyatt didn’t wait for him to leave, but instead turned to the four people left in the room. “I’ll make this easy.”

Piper raised her eyebrows as the door closed behind Dr. Darrin. “And how is it easy? You are still injured and she may well come back.”

Wyatt slowly unbent his leg. “At this rate I may be back to my usual self by morning. As I told Chris this morning, I still have my powers. I can protect myself if I am expecting an attack. I want Chris to stay.”

“Are you crazy?” Bianca asked, startled. “That’s just asking for an attack.”

Wyatt nodded. “Probably. Chris, you were attacked, right?”

Chris nodded. “She got a knife pretty deep in me.”

“And you are fine now.”

“I called Mikelle.”

Wyatt nodded. “So she thinks you are injured.”

“I doubt it,” Bianca informed them. “Vera knows about witches and whitelighters. She will expect that Chris got a whitelighter to heal him. I assume Mikelle is your family whitelighter.”

Wyatt and Chris looked at each other and then at their parents. Chris was trying hard not to laugh.

Piper sighed. “My husband was our family’s whitelighter. The only other whitelighter this family has ever had was . . . well, he wasn’t our whitelighter for his ability to heal us.”

Bianca looked at her curious. “Interesting. I’ve never heard of a whitelighter who couldn’t heal, but I suppose that is true that they aren’t just there to heal their charges. Being a Phoenix I do not have one. They rather prefer to ignore my kind, even if there is the rare occasion when we aren’t evil.” She nods suddenly. “Yes, I suppose this can work, but I want you to have my number so you can call me if something goes wrong. I don’t like leaving one of her targets unguarded, but I suppose you do seem to be a rather unusual case.”

“Would someone give her my cell phone so she can put her phone number in there?”

Chris backed off and picked the phone off the table where it had been lain after its last use. He handed it to Wyatt.

Wyatt raised his eyebrows and shrugged. He held it out to Bianca.

Bianca took it and punched something into it. As her pocket began to ring, she hung it up and handed it back to Wyatt. “That should suffice for now. Call me if she returns. And be careful.”

“I’m always careful,” Wyatt protested.

Bianca looked at the family in front of her and shook her head smiling. “Somehow I doubt that.” Looking at Piper she said, “I don’t know what caused you to attack my mother, but I’m sure your son is important to you, just as my daughter is important to me and I am important to my mother. Don’t let him do anything stupid. I hate for this to work and for his life to be spared and then him to get himself killed a few weeks, a month down the line.”

“Leave my son to me, both of them.”

“Mom!” Chris protested.

“I don’t understand,” Bianca commented looking at them oddly.

“Don’t try,” Chris suggested. “We’ll call if we see her.”

She nodded and headed out the door.

Chris turned to his parents. “She’s not the same person, Mom. Intellectually I know that.”

“Bianca tried to kill you,” Piper reminded him.

He shook his head. “No. No, she didn’t. She was misguided, but she was trying to save me. She thought she knew what she was doing. She was wrong, but she didn’t try to kill me and when she realized it, she tried to help me get back. That woman who just walked out that door wasn’t her. She just looks like her. I’m having a hard enough time keeping that in mind on my own without you making it that much harder. And I’m not that person either, but his memories are mixed up with mine, so those emotions are there. Please, Mom.”

[Chrisaholic]

How quickly can a little child be entertained and that with wiggling toes!! Anyway, so the Halliwell bros are together again and might need some help of Bianca later on. Good that Chris told Piper to differ between "old" and new version of the same people before. Great, now I have a headache again. lol

[StoryGirl83]

Jul 15, 2016 8:52:18 GMT -5 Chrisaholic said:

How quickly can a little child be entertained and that with wiggling toes!! Anyway, so the Halliwell bros are together again and might need some help of Bianca later on. Good that Chris told Piper to differ between "old" and new version of the same people before. Great, now I have a headache again. lol

Considering Chris' own situation, that's a pretty big deal to him, knowing the difference between old and new. This next chapter is pretty much a lot of flashbacks, Chris thinking of the old timeline and knowing Bianca there.

---

Chapter Sixteen – When I Knew Them

1st Flashback

2nd Flashback

3rd Flashback

4th Flashback

It had been almost an hour since Piper and Leo had said good bye. Chris hadn’t said much since Piper had agreed to try and not bring up Bianca’s past. He’d said good-bye to his parents, but that was about it. Now, he was sitting in a chair next to the window looking out.

“You know when I asked you to stay, I kind of figured I would have more of a conversation going on than this,” Wyatt commented. “Care to explain what exactly is going on?”

Chris turned around and looked at him. He sighed. “I’m sure you have guessed by now that I knew Bianca in the other time line.”

Wyatt nodded. “It was rather evident. So what happened?”

“I loved her,” Chris said, looking anywhere but at his brother.

Wyatt blinked in surprise. That wasn’t at all what he expected. “Okay, so what happened? How did you even know someone like her? Did she help you fight another Phoenix or something?”

“Not exactly,” Chris scoffed.

“Then what?”

Chris stood and started pacing the room. After several long minutes he looked over at his brother. “I was sixteen when I first met Bianca and it was pretty much hate at first sight.”

---

Chris shut the door behind him. He was done with school and all things that had to do with it. It was bad enough that he’d lost his mother to death, but now he had to deal with his older brother completely going crazy. This was not worth it.

“Hey, Halliwell,” a boy yelled down the hall. “I heard what your brother did. Heard he’s been expelled.”

Chris turned and glared at him. “If you heard what my brother did, then you heard he deserved it.” He advanced toward the boy, a look of malice growing on his face. “You know I don’t much care to stay in school either. And frankly I don’t care if I get expelled either.”

The other boy gulped and backed up.

“My mom is dead. I haven’t seen my dad much since she died, two years ago. And now my brother’s insane!” He started cracking his knuckles and the boy started running. Chris snorted and started toward the exit. “I said my brother was insane, not me.”

---

It took about half an hour to walk to a place down town where he knew he could find people looking for a fight. And they wouldn’t expect a gangly, too thin teen to put up much of a fight. Since Wyatt had already gotten magic good and exposed, no point in not using some, right. It wasn’t as if he planned to get anyone killed and they would deserve the fight or they would be attacking a seemingly unarmed sixteen-year-old.

It didn’t take long before Chris found himself under attack, but not quite in the way he had imagined. A knife was to his throat before he even knew another person was close by. “Give your money and I might let you live.”

Chris snorted. “I don’t keep money on me. What kind of old movies have you been watching?” He orbed the knife into hand and spun around. “I’ve never used a knife before and I’m not in a good mood.” He threw the knife as far down the alley as he could. “You aren’t going to be getting any money out of me, alive or dead, so forget about it. The way I see it, you have two choices.”

The would-be-mugger looked at Chris as if he was crazy. He appeared to be debating his chances of taking Chris without his knife. Apparently deciding his chances were still good, or maybe that he just wanted to fight, he jab Chris in the gut.

Chris went down hard. Even though it pained him to get up he pushed himself to his feet and heaved in a breath of air. A maniacal grin grew on Chris face as he faced the other boy. His fist shot out.

The other boy caught it and slammed his own fist at Chris.

Chris leaned out of the way and pulled the boy down by his shirt collar. They rolled around on the ground throwing punches at each other and trying to dodge the other’s fists. It wasn’t the most effective way to fight, but Chris didn’t want effective. He wanted to fight. When the other boy pulled away, Chris let him.

The other boy stood and brushed himself off. He thingyed his head and frowned at Chris. “Why didn’t you run?”

Chris snorted and shrugged. “Did that look like I needed to run? And why should I, anyway? I came out fine, didn’t I?”

“But you didn’t know you would,” the other boy commented.

“Maybe not,” Chris admitted, “but I knew I’d come out alive, so I really didn’t care much.”

The other boy backed away a step. “You didn’t know I wouldn’t have killed you. You couldn’t have known.”

Chris looked at him surprised. “You’re right, I didn’t know that.”

The other boy’s eyes widened. “Oh. Oh!” He groaned. “I didn’t mean that. Of course I would have . . .”

“Forget it,” Chris ordered him. “I’m not going to believe you at this point.”

The boy moaned. “If I get a reputation for letting people go without getting their money . . . ooooh!”

“Calm down,” Chris looked at the other boy uncomfortably. “No one is going to mention this meeting.”

“So you say,” the other boy argued, “but they have ways of learning these things and pretty soon it will be everywhere.”

About halfway through, Chris quit paying any attention to what the other boy was saying. He saw an athemé sailing toward the air toward them and he just reacted. He grabbed the boy and pulled him down, hard to the ground. The athemé sailed over their heads and hit a box behind them.

The boy looked up and saw the athemé sticking into the box. He moaned. “They all ready know.”

“Ridiculous,” Chris argued as he looked beyond the boy into the alleyway. A young woman looked down the alley at him, malice in her eyes. She was dressed in black leather and had another athemé ready to through. Chris eyed her for only a moment before he made a decision. “Do you believe in magic?” he asked the boy.

“No,” came the confused reply.

“You’re about to,” Chris informed him as he pulled out the athemé and orbed them both out of there.

---

When they reappeared the other boy stared around the surroundings. Then he stared at Chris. “Where are we? Who are you?”

“Where we are is in the sitting room of my family’s home,” Chris informed him as he plopped onto the couch. “No one lives here anymore, though my aunt sometimes uses it for entertaining.”

The other boy didn’t seem very reassured as he glared at Chris.

“Fine,” Chris relented. “I’m Chris. Look, I’m not sure which of us that . . . knife was meant for, but I wasn’t about to just leave you alone there to find out.”

There was silence as the other boy just stared at him. “And you got us here, how?”

“Like I said. Magic.”

More silence followed and then the boy started laughing. “You had me going there for a minute. Magic, indeed.”

Chris shook his head and rolled his eyes. “Right. Believe what you like, I guess.”

“I’m Brian,” the boy informed him. “I have no idea how we got here, but I saw that knife. I imagine you probably saved my life, so thank you. I’ll be leaving now.”

Chris waved a hand in the direction of the front door. “The exit’s that way, but be warned, I don’t really don’t know who was the target there, so I’d advise you to be careful.”

Brian Heitzman looked at him, trying to see something that might or might not have been there. After what seemed like several minutes of silence Brian sighed. “I’m on the death list if this gets out anyway, so how do we find out who that knife was meant for?”

“We find the assassin,” Chris informed him. “Or if you prefer, I find the assassin.”

Brian mentally flashed over the events of the last several minutes and made a decision of his own. “I’m coming with you.”

---

“I don’t get it,” Wyatt commented. “That had nothing to do with Bianca Holbrooke.”

“No?” Chris shrugged. “It was how I was first introduced to her. She tried to kill someone and I saved him. At that point in time my exposure to her was limited. I got to know more about Brian than I did her, but it’s amazing what time can do.”

“I don’t think time heals someone trying to kill you,” Wyatt replied wryly.

“It wasn’t just time,” Chris admitted as he paced the room. “I got her off his trail by getting the bounty removed, but it wasn’t until years later that any of us got to know her better.” He stopped and looked at his older brother. “I’m not sure if I should tell you more.”

Wyatt scowled at him. “And why is that?”

“Because the next person to have contact with Bianca was Amber,” Chris informed him.

Wyatt heaved in a breath. “Just tell me. I have to start accepting that she’s gone one of these days, but I chose not to make that day today.”

Chris nodded.

“So how did you get from protecting someone she was trying to kill to being in love with her?”

“It’s not as if you jump directly from one to another you know,” Chris retorted.

Wyatt just smiled and waited.

---

Time had not been good to what was left of the Halliwell family. Wyatt had completely disassociated himself from his aunt and his brother barely having anything to do with his grandfather. Only Leo was deemed worthy of his attention and sometimes it seemed that this was only to prove he had more importance to his father than Chris did. As tactics went it was rather effective. Chris had seen Wyatt more recently than he had Leo and even that had been more than six months since.

Victor was there for both his youngest daughter and his younger grandson, but that was always enough for an eighteen-year-old more than ready prove himself. Chris had said good bye to his grandfather and ran across town to the house of his friend Genevieve Lawson. It was funny how easily he’d gotten used to not using magic over the past sixteen months since his brother had learned how to monitor magical usage. It had been almost fourteen months since he had orbed anywhere, longer still since he’d used his other powers. He still could use potions, of course, but spells he was careful about, since they too could be monitored if one looked carefully at just the right moment. The difference was they could only be tracked if you caught them in progress.

He wrapped on the door and waited. It opened without a word and Miles Lawson, Gen’s brother appeared at the door. “You again,” Miles said with a shake of his head. “Gen’s in the basement.”

“Right. Thanks.”

“Uh huh, just don’t bother me. You guys got noisy last time you met.”

“Who’s here?”

“The gypsy and the street kid.”

Chris chuckled, wondering what Brian would think of the description. Kali would be proud of being called a gypsy. She always was. That left Amber, because really, who else was there?

As if thinking of her conjured her up a hand rested on his shoulder and Chris turned around. “Hi, Amber.”

Dark waves of hair were pulled back into a ponytail, something unusual for her and dark smudges of dirt rested on her cheeks. “Hi, Chris. When we get down there, we need to talk.” She smiled up at Miles. “Hi, Miles.”

Miles looked at her suspiciously and moved out of the way. “Just be quiet down there. I have work to do.”

Amber chuckled and walked into the house followed by Chris. When they got downstairs Kali Nicolae was dancing circles around Brian with a piece of paper in her hand.

“Would you stop that?” Brian begged.

It was then that Kali spotted Chris and Amber. She grinned and stopped moving other than to wave at them.

“Hey, Chris. Welcome.”

“What about me?” Amber teased.

“Long time, no see,” Kali returned with a grin.

“I’ve been busy,” Amber admitted, “but I have something to share. Where’s Gen?”

“Gen is right behind you,” Genevieve announced as she walked down the stairs and between Chris and Amber with a tray of snacks. “So what’s this you have to share? Something useful?”

“Someone who needs our help,” Amber replied. “Apparently she ran into Chris a few years ago and he impressed her as . . . how did she put it . . . undauntable.”

“Hardly,” Chris retorted as he got off of the stairs and turned to look at her.

“Well, she seemed to think so. Seems when you first met Brian you faced down a major gang network to get him off their hit list.”

Brian gulped at that, remembering his first few encounters with Chris. “I’d have to say that I agree with her. Who is she?”

“I’ll get to that,” Amber said with a shrug. “She said she ran into someone who wanted her to do things even she won’t agree to. And from what I understand she’ll do some rather questionable things and some things that aren’t even questionable, just wrong.”

“We’re helping the bad guys, now?”Brian grimaced.

“Not a chance, Amber,” Genevieve protested. “We are trying to help stop evil, not aid it.”

“And if evil can be turned to aid us, turned to good?” Amber asked softly.

Genevieve shook her head. “Look I know how you feel about that?”

“Do you?” Amber asked, softly. “Do you really?”

“Yes. I do, Amber. I know what it’s like to love someone who is absolutely wrong for you.”

“This isn’t about someone who’s wrong for me, because he’s not. And I can’t believe he’s beyond redemption.”

Genevieve just shook her head. “And that is where we will never agree.”

Chris frowned as he looked at the two girls confused. “What on earth are you talking about?”

“Amber dated a warlock,” Gen informed him.

“He’s not a warlock,” Amber protested.

“He might as well be. Once a witch has killed, that’s it.”

“Witches kill all the time.”

“Knock it off!” Chris ordered. “Is this going to cause problems for us later on, Amber?”

“No.”

“Probably,” Gen countered.

Chris groaned. “Fine, we will discuss it, but later. Tell us about this evil being that wants our help, Amber.”

“She’s a witch.”

“Impossible,” Gen argued. “Witches are good.”

“It’s not impossible and she is a witch,” Amber informed her. “She’s a special kind of witch. They are called Phoenix, an elite family of witches from the early days of America. Probably they have been around longer, but they aren’t noted before then. Like many, witches and ‘suspicious’ human alike, they were burned, but they rose from the ashes like the mythical bird, hence the name. They have no love for normal humans or really normal witches either, but they are not so far gone that some of them cannot be returned to good, and I think she might be saved from that life.”

---

“As you can imagine neither Brian not I were very happy when we learned Amber’s unlikely innocent was the assassin that had tried to kill him two years previous,” Chris said with a chuckle. He was now sitting on the chair next to the bed.

Wyatt sat on the edge of the bed. He was swinging his legs back and forth, happy for even that movement. “I imagine not. That’s still a long way from being in love with her.”

“Very true,” Chris agreed. “We met with her and Brian ranted at Amber, telling her she was insane to try and help this monster. He hadn’t actually seen her before, but he figured it out from the conversation between her and myself.”

---

Chris stared ahead in shock. “That’s her?”

Amber nodded. “Yes, that’s her.”

“You have any idea what she did?”

Amber nodded. “Actually she told me all about that, said she figured she should put all the cards on the table.”

“What did she do?” Kali asked coming up behind them.

“You don’t want to know,” Chris forestalled anything Amber might have said.

“She tried to kill me,” Brian answered instead. “Right? That’s what you don’t want said. That’s the assassin they hired.”

Chris didn’t say anything and Kali frowned. She looked at the other three, Gen having stayed behind. “Amber, is that it?”

“She won’t answer,” Brian snarled when no answer was forthcoming. “She wants us to help that monster, don’t you, Amber. Are you insane?!”

Amber shook her head. “Says the guy who held Chris at knife point.”

“Yeah, real good, deflect this to me over the guy who came looking for a fight. I wouldn’t have hurt him and you know it.”

“Yes, I do,” Amber replied. “And that’s because I now know you. It’s because I heard that story almost a year after I met you. The problem here is that all of us have heard of the other person in that story. We’ve heard of her, but not one of us knows her. Do you know she would have killed you?”

“She tried,” Brian argued.

“And failed. Her aim is good. I saw her practicing.”

“She didn’t count on Chris.”

“She should have walked away when she saw Chris,” Amber informed him. “Phoenix don’t care for witnesses. They generally don’t kill beyond their bounty, no gain in that. Had she killed you, she would have needed to kill him, too, and she knew that before she took aim. It’s curious, don’t you think.”

“Not really. She’s a monster.”

“Then leave, because I intend to help her.”

“Why does she need our help anyway?”

“Because He sees us as a threat, and has ordered the deaths of all of the young,” an angry voice informed them.

They all looked up to see Bianca Donchi standing before them. “I’m not a mother myself, but I know others who have small children. I’m not going to watch those little ones be slaughtered because someone sees them as a threat. What came before now is irrelevant. I was only doing my job. It’s what I know. It’s how I live. You may not like it . . .”

“You bet your life I don’t like it,” Brian returned. “You tried to kill me.”

“That is over,” Bianca replied with a shrug. “There is no bounty on your life.” She looked over the group. “Or either of these girls. As for him,” she nodded at Chris, “anyone facing off against him does so at penalty of their own life, so only an idiot would try it.”

Chris looked at her surprised. “You mean to tell me my brother ordered the deaths of countless Phoenix children, but I’m protected?”

“Precisely,” she replied with an irrelevant shrug. “Who’d have thought a monster would have a heart.” The last comment was directed at Brian.

---

“Monster, huh?” Wyatt teased, giving his brother a shove.

“You don’t think so?” Chris returned. “You wanted to hear this.”

Wyatt nodded. “It’s not me. And this isn’t about me, anyway. It’s about you. It’s about understanding why you responded to that woman’s presence the way you did.”

Chris sighed. “Yeah, well. She has no idea what kind of history I have with her, so this doesn’t go beyond the two of us.”

“I am curious about these other people,” Wyatt commented, looking closely at Chris. “Amber and Kali I know of course, but who are Brian and the Lawson siblings?”

“Brian is someone I worked with at Centennial. He started in January, so while I have years of experience around him, he’s a complete stranger, really. I didn’t even recognize him until my last day there and it was what he said, not how he looked that caught my attention.” Chris chuckled. “I guess his relationship with his girlfriend was not to be, because he lost her to her ex in both time lines.”

“And the other two?”

“Well, I haven’t met Miles Lawson in this time line, and I only met Gen briefly, so I really don’t know.” Chris sighed and stood, starting pacing again. “Honestly for their sake, I hope they never see me, again. In the other time line it got both Brian and Gen killed for being my friends. And Miles was dead before that, though I’m not really sure why he was killed.”

“So what happened from there?”

“I went to the source, and that conversation isn’t worth repeating,” Chris scoffed.

“You don’t want to tell me what I said?”

“Not particularly,” Chris agreed with a grimace. “It grew into a fight, but your refusal to kill me, at least then, was something I was able to exploit. It’s not like I was willing or able to kill you either, but what you saw as weakness I saw as strength. I was there to save lives and you planned to end them.”

“And did I?”

“Yes.”

Wyatt’s eyes closed and he was very quiet. When he finally opened them he looked his little brother in the eye, “I’m sorry.”

“It turned all of the Phoenix against you, not that you cared much.” Chris sighed. “We saved some of them. There was this one little girl, about Hope’s age. She didn’t make it herself, but she protected her two younger siblings and five other Phoenix children. The eight children had been with a babysitter, a Phoenix, and the baby-sitter was killed, but seven of those children survived. If I only could have healed, I could have saved her life, but she was too far gone for anything else to have saved her.” Chris smiled a little. “I imagine she’s probably alive and well in this time line. She’d be around fourteen or fifteen now if she is.”

“Perhaps you can look her up sometime,” Wyatt suggested.

“Perhaps I can,” Chris agreed.

“So I still don’t see how this got to you two being in love.”

Chris smiled slightly. “Well, like I said, after what happened the Phoenix all turned against you. Some openly, some not as openly. Bianca decided her best chance was to pretend to side with you, but work with me and my friends. We honestly didn’t have much of a plan. Well, other than Amber. She had lots of plans. We had no idea how much was going on in her head. Honestly, I have no idea how I got surrounded with so many people who openly associated with you, the evil dictator of the world as it were.”

Wyatt shook his head, trying not to laugh. “Hard to imagine, but what do you mean who openly associated with me. Clearly you didn’t if it had been over six months prior to that since you had seen me.”

“Well, we have Amber, who was absolutely convinced you could be saved, more than any of us, I think. And she loved you, hard to do when referring to someone like you were then. And then there’s Kali. Think about that . . . Kali. She wasn’t all that much different from what you know.”

Wyatt smiled at that. “Yes, Kali would cling to even remembrances of good and insist that I could become that once more.”

“You don’t know the others, not Brian, Gen, or anyone who joined us after that, but they didn’t know you either. They saw you as evil first and my brother second. Bianca did too, but like I said, she chose to pretend to aid you and so her association with you was well known, while her’s with me was not. For a long time she didn’t meet with any of the others, things were still difficult between her and Brian for the longest time anyway. She met with me and we became friends.

---

“I don’t have a whole lot of time, so don’t interrupt,” Bianca announced as she entered the garden.

Chris looked up, amused. “Hello to you to.”

“Your brother doesn’t know I’m gone, Chris, so let me talk.”

“Talk then,” Chris replied, trying to look attentive, but that was difficult when one was sporting two days growth on one’s chin and one hadn’t slept in almost forty-eight hours.

“There is an attack planned on a factory in Bangkok. I know you don’t exactly speak the language, but the rumor is that there is a future whitelighter working there and if there is one thing your brother wants to make sure doesn’t happen is the return of the elders. For some reason he sees them as a really huge threat. I’m not sure how one future whitelighter translates to the return of the elders, but he intends to see this man dead. I also don’t understand how killing someone who when they die will become a whitelighter will help this plan, but no one questions his orders.”

When Bianca took in a deep breath, Chris took that as assent to talk. “Bangkok isn’t exactly small. Can you be any more specific?”

She shook her head. “’Fraid not. What I can tell you is he isn’t a native.” She glanced down at her watch. “I have to get going. Find him and protect him.”

Chris nodded. “We’ll do our best. Thanks.”

She smiled. “Glad to help.”

---

“And then she left,” Chris informed him, “as she always did. Not a whole lot of talking you can do under the circumstances, but with time comes knowledge if you let it and neither of us was really too worried about letting the other learn anything.”

“Did you save the future whitelighter?”

Chris smiled at that. “Actually we did. We saved all of them. It was a really good feeling.”

Wyatt smiled back. “I’m glad to hear it. So what happened next?”

“You realized that Bianca might be useful in getting me back, which for some reason, you wanted.”

“You’re my little brother. Of course I wanted it.”

“And yet, by then we were polar opposites.”

“It wouldn’t matter,” Wyatt informed him. “You were still my brother. I may not be the same person I was in that time line, but I can’t imagine that would change even if I was a cold blooded killer.”

“Maybe,” Chris said hesitantly, uncertain.

Wyatt didn’t press it. “So you said, I thought Bianca might be useful. How’s that?”

“You thought you got her to spy on me,” Chris told him. “That allowed her to spend more time with us. I fell in love and so did she. Shortly before I went to the past I asked her to marry me and she accepted.”

“And now she’s married to someone else,” Wyatt commented watching Chris face.

Chris nodded. “And now she is. And he doesn’t know me. But you’re right. She’s not the same person. It’s like comparing Alanna and Jani. They may look alike, but they certainly aren’t the same person.”

Wyatt nodded. “Yeah, I guess that’s a pretty good comparison.”

“Thanks.”

Wyatt looked at him surprised. “For what?”

“Listening.” Chris sblack personed slightly. “I guess I needed that. I still am not prepared to tell you everything, but it felt good to talk about her, about what happened. And Mom sure wouldn’t have been good ears for that. Dad maybe, but not Mom.”

“Why’s that?”

Chris shook his head. “That story is for another day, when I’m ready.” He glanced at the clock in the wall. “You know what, it’s getting late, so why don’t we try and get some sleep.”

Wyatt nodded. “Sounds good to me.” He used his arms and what mobility he had gained in his legs to push himself up onto the bed and under the covers. “Good night, Chris.”

[Chrisaholic]

Ah sweet, brotherly talk and bonding again!! At least, some of Chris' burden has been lifted while talking with Wyatt. Hopefully there's no attack.

[StoryGirl83]

Jul 15, 2016 16:00:15 GMT -5 Chrisaholic said:

Ah sweet, brotherly talk and bonding again!! At least, some of Chris' burden has been lifted while talking with Wyatt. Hopefully there's no attack.

There actually is another attack, just not on the same people. Vera has a new tactic to try and no one's off limits.

---

Chapter Seventeen – Vera’s Next Move

“Story, Mommy,” Ashlyn requested looking up sweetly.

Bianca smiled and shook her head. “Sorry, sweetheart, but three’s the limit for tonight. You want more and you get ready faster.”

“Want a story,” Ashlyn replied again stubbornly.

Bianca clucked her tongue and picked her up. “Not tonight. Bed time.” She carried her toward the kitchen and stuck her head in. “Really, Lawrence. Eating this late isn’t good for you.”

“We didn’t have much of a chance to eat at The Manor,” Lawrence reminded her, “since we left so soon after our food arrived. I was just putting it away, though, so quit worrying. I will starve, but my metabolism or whatever is the problem with eating late won’t suffer.”

Bianca snorted. “Right. Come with me to tuck her in?”

Lawrence closed the refrigerator. “Of course.”

As her daddy came out of the kitchen, Ashlyn leaned out of her mommy’s arms and grabbed at him. “Daddy! Story!”

Lawrence laughed. “I believe you already got your stories for the night.”

Ashlyn blew out a breath glared at him. “Story.”

Lawrence took her from Bianca and swung her around. “Nope. Off to bed.” He carried her off to her bedroom, Bianca behind him. He put Ashlyn onto her bed and tucked her in.

Ashlyn reached up her hand and grabbed his shirt before he could unbend. “Story?”

Lawrence turned to look at his wife who just shook her head, smiling. “Is she this persistent when I’m not home?”

Bianca shook her head. “Not usually. She seems to think Daddy will give in.”

“Story?” Ashlyn repeated, looking up hopefully.

“Sorry, sweetie. Bed time.” Lawrence leaned down and gave his daughter a kiss.

“Night, Daddy,” Ashlyn replied, giving up. “Kiss, Mommy?”

Bianca laughed as she learned down and gave her daughter a kiss. “I love you, Ashlyn.”

“Love, Mommy,” Ashlyn returned and added, “Love, Daddy.”

“Yes, I do,” Lawrence replied. “I love my Ashlyn.”

After bidding their daughter goodnight, Lawrence and Bianca headed to their own bedroom. Bianca dug into her purse and pulled out her cell phone. Lawrence looked at her curiously.

“I agreed to leave only if they call if something goes wrong,” she explained. “No use in that if I don’t have my phone out.”

Lawrence nodded, having dealt with many different types of people through his wife and spent many nights sleepless wondering if she was coming home. Having seen for himself what had happened when Vera attacked he had a feeling these brothers could handle her, but if it made his wife feel better to keep the line open he had no objections.

---

A little over an hour later a scream filled the ears of Lawrence and Bianca, causing both to bolt upright. “Ashlyn!” Bianca exclaimed as she looked at her husband in horror.

Paying no attention to what Lawrence was doing, Bianca climbed out of bed and blinked her eyes. When she reopened them she was in Ashlyn’s room staring across it to where Vera stood holding her screaming, kicking daughter captive.

Vera offered Bianca a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Well, Bianca. It seems we are at an impasse.”

“Easily fixed,” Bianca returned. “Our daughters are not part of this.”

“That’s hardly true considering my daughter’s connection to your husband’s family.”

“I’m not responsible for that.”

“It matters not,” Vera returned. “I will give you back your daughter, unharmed. Just stay out of my way. When those witches are dead Ashlyn is free. I see you anywhere near them again and Ashlyn is dead. Am I understood?”

Bianca gulped. “Leave her out of this.”

Vera sneered. “Hardly.” And then she blinked, taking Ashlyn with her to places unknown.

Lawrence ran into the room, seconds later. His eyes darted around the room before he looked at his wife. He gathered her into his arms without a word and let her cry.

After several minutes she finally was able to form words. “All I can think is I should have allowed my mom to get that ability for her.”

Lawrence stared at her confused. “I don’t understand.”

“Did you know that the ability to blink is actually a rare ability?”

Lawrence frowned. “But it seems so common.”

She nodded. “That’s because warlocks have found a way to pass it on to their offspring even when they didn’t come by it naturally. Deep magic, powerful spells. Occasionally a warlock will be born with it naturally, but that is even more rare than a witch being born with it, because it’s associated with good magic.” A sound that was a mixture between a laugh and a sob escaped her lips. “Funny really since everyone who thinks of it associates it with warlocks.”

“I still don’t understand,” Lawrence informed her. “What has this to do with Ashlyn? She can’t blink like you can.”

“That’s because my ability isn’t natural and I refused to allow my mother to cast the spell that would have passed it on to Ashlyn.” She sucked in a breath. “And I was right to, but right now I still wish I hadn’t refused her.”

“But why did you refuse if it is only a spell.”

She looked at him. “Because it costs a life. To steal a power, a life must almost always be lost. Occasionally there are ways around that, but not often and warlocks don’t care about that. And while Phoenix are a breed apart, they are still, when it comes down to it, only witches or warlocks.” She heaved in a heavy in another breath. “But no more of that. We have to do something to stop her. We cannot just let her keep Ashlyn.”

“So it was Vera?”

Bianca nodded. “Yes.”

“Did she say what she wanted?”

“For me to step aside and let her kill the Halliwell brothers and I cannot. I can’t, Lawrence.”

He nodded, his eyes sad. “I know. So what do we do now?”

“We call them. We tell them what happened and we go from there.”

[Chrisaholic]

Oha, that was really unexpected! Ashlyn as leverage against the Halliwell bros and Bianca must decide. Not good. Let's see how the boys react to this news.

[StoryGirl83]

Jul 16, 2016 9:36:39 GMT -5 Chrisaholic said:

Oha, that was really unexpected! Ashlyn as leverage against the Halliwell bros and Bianca must decide. Not good. Let's see how the boys react to this news.

Vera's quite fed up with Bianca and in this next chapter you will see an example of exactly why she is so fed up with her.

---

Chapter Eighteen – The Joys of Scrying

Flashback

Chris closed his phone and turned to look solemnly at his brother. “The bounty on us must be huge,” he commented as he sat down on the edge of the bed. “Vera is taking steps to keep Bianca out of this battle.”

Wyatt frowned at him. “I take that to mean Bianca was on the other line.”

Chris nodded. “Vera kidnapped her daughter.”

Wyatt’s frown grew. “What are we going to do? Did she say?”

“I got the idea that she’s not sure we should do anything, but she’s also not willing to let Vera win and she believes us capable.”

Wyatt raised an eyebrow. “And will she let us rescue her daughter.”

“She’ll let us try,” Chris confirmed. “She’s not that confident in us.”

“Do we know where Vera might have her?”

Chris shook his head.

Wyatt sighed. “So we need to find that out. Scrying?”

“Makes sense,” Chris agreed. “But how? Ashlyn’s not a demon and neither is Vera.”

“But they are both witches, aren’t they?” Wyatt returned. “Or Ashlyn is and Vera’s a warlock. At least that’s how I understood the explanations I heard.”

Chris nodded slowly. “I suppose that’s true.”

“So we can scry for them,” Wyatt argued. “I am sure we can scry for witches if we something of theirs. To be honest I’m not sure it even matters what someone is so long as you have something of theirs to scry with.”

Chris looked at him, unsure. “I suppose, maybe. But I’m pretty sure you’re right about witches though.” He sighed. “Which means we need something of Ashlyn’s, because it doesn’t matter where Vera is and I don’t know if we could get something of her’s anyway.”

“So we need to go to the Holbrookes.”

Chris frowned at his older brother. He looked at various machines monitoring him. “No, I suspect we don’t need to do anything. You leave here and the doctors will come.”

Wyatt scowled. “I’m fairly certain I could get around normally. My legs seem to be working right again.”

Chris shook his head. “No can do.”

“Are you going to be okay with going to her house?”

Chris scowled at him. “I’ll be fine. I don’t have much choice. That little girl needs our help.” Before Wyatt could argue anymore Chris orbed out.

---

Chris reappeared in the front room of the Holbrooke’s house. Lawrence looked at him startled and then watched in utter fascination.

Chris raised an eyebrow at him. “You’d think he’d never seen a whitelighter orbing before.”

Bianca looked at her husband thoughtfully. “You know, I don’t think he has.”

“Really?” Chris looked at them surprised. “Seriously?”

Bianca smiled weakly. “Well, Phoenixes don’t have whitelighters, so it’s not something that comes up much.”

“Oh.”

“But why are you here?” Bianca looked at him concerned. “If Vera finds out, you are putting Ashlyn in danger.”

“My wife is trying to help you and your brother,” Lawrence added, “and I realize you don’t think you need it, but she will do as she promised. She will kill Ashlyn if she finds out you are here.”

“And that’s why I’m not staying,” Chris informed them. “I’m only staying long enough to ask you for something of Ashlyn’s to scry with.”

Lawrence frowned and looked at Bianca. “What is he talking about?”

Chris raised an eyebrow. “He doesn’t know what scrying is either.”

“It’s never really been needed in what I do,” Bianca shot back. “What makes you think you can scry for my daughter?”

“My brother.”

“Huh?”

“He’s convinced that it will work and he made a good case for it, so I’m inclined to agree with him.”

“What do you need then?”

“Something of Ashlyn’s, something close to her,” Chris said thinking. “A toy, a piece of jewelry, if she wears any, an article of clothing, even a lock of hair.”

Bianca nodded and ran out of the room leaving the two men alone.

Chris looked, uncomfortably, at the man who, in a sense, had replaced him. “So how long have you and Bianca known each other?”

A small smile curled onto Lawrence’s face in remembrance.

---

It really was beginning to look like he was going to die. Lawrence glanced over at his oldest brother, Brandon. “Get out of here, Brandon. It’s me she seems to want.”

Brandon shook his head hard and swung the piece of metal piping he had found at the intruder. “I’ve seen enough movies to know if you see the killer’s face they are going to kill you. If I’m going to die anyway, I’d rather die trying to keep you alive.”

The woman, Vera they later learned, easily avoided Brandon’s blow and threw a knife at him. Then she side stepped some falling boxes and took aim at Lawrence.

The knife was headed straight for him, but before he could duck out of the way another woman appeared in front of him and grabbed the knife. “Are you really ready to make this into a fight, Vera?” the younger woman asked.

Vera stepped back and grabbed Brandon by the hair. She yanked him to her and put a knife to his neck. It was only then that she fixed her gaze of the newcomer. With her free hand Vera swiped her black hair out of the way and glared at her. “Truly? Again? Don’t you have anything better to do, traitor?”

“Traitor am I?” she asked looking at her amused. “We’re witches, Vera. Seems to me I’m not the one who’s a traitor.”

“Witches?” Brandon mouthed at his brother.

Lawrence shrugged.

“And I don’t see what could possibly be better than saving a life. Can you?”

“Don’t get in the way of my bounty, Bianca.”

Bianca waved a paper about. “You mean this bounty? It’s been canceled. I would have been here sooner, but it took a while to determine what he wanted and how to get it. You still want to fight this battle?”

Vera scowled. “You will regret this, Bianca. I don’t like losing money.” With that she blinked and disappeared.

Bianca turned to the two brothers. “I’m sorry about that. Unfortunately one of you made some enemies that decided they wanted him dead. I think I’ve dealt with that, but I can’t guarantee he won’t try, again.”

“But how did you know she was trying to kill Lawrence?” Brandon asked looking relieved. “And what did you mean about being a witch?”

Bianca smiled. “I had hoped that you missed that part, but I guess it would difficult to miss how I arrived or how she left, so I guess it doesn’t matter. I’m Bianca and yes, I am a witch.”

---

“About six years, I guess,” Lawrence told Chris as Bianca returned to the room.

Bianca walked up to them and held out a small doll blanket. “Ashlyn got a doll this last Christmas, but the only thing she ever played with was this blanket. For some reason she simply adored it, so you’d better return it.”

Chris nodded as he took the blanket from her. “I will.” He looked at Lawrence. “I will get your daughter back.” And then he orbed out.

---

Chris reformed in his parents’ attic, the home of the Book of Shadows. Right now, though, it was not going to be of much use. He could recite what little it said on Phoenix without much thought, could probably write additional information if he was so inclined, and probably should. He hadn’t though and now was not the time for that.

He put the little doll blanket on a table that had been set up for making potions and went in search of a map. After finding one he spread it out on the table next to the blanket and went after a scrying crystal. This proved to be slightly more difficult, but in the end it took only a matter of a few minutes to find all the things he needed.

As Chris picked up the blanket and hung the crystal by a string from the same hand he heard the door to the attic open and looked around startled. He breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of his dad.

“I thought we left you at the hospital,” Leo commented, gently.

Chris nodded. “We got a call from Bianca. Vera went after her daughter.”

Leo frowned. “I see.” Motioning toward the scrying crystal, he asked, “Is this to find her?”

Chris nodded. “She’s just a little girl. She’s not part of this and she shouldn’t be.”

“Being a child never stopped evil when the child was magical,” Leo reminded him. “Sometimes not even when the child wasn’t magical. There was a warlock who went after a pregnant co-worker of Prue’s to get at the baby. And a ghost who tried to kill an infant. Neither child was magical. None of their doing.” Leo shrugged. “Well, perhaps the first one was the baby’s doing since the warlock was a time traveler.”

Chris chuckled. “A little much of that in the magical community, isn’t there.”

“A little much of that in this family,” Leo returned. “I should probably head back downstairs. Your mother is waiting for me.”

“Tell her I said, ‘hi’. I know she’ll ask.”

Leo smiled. “She will. We’ve been talking ever since we got home.”

Chris raised an eyebrow and looked curious at his dad. “About what?”

“Different things.”

“You mentioned it for a reason.”

Leo nodded. “I have been considering something for several weeks and I wanted to run it past your mom.”

“What’s that?”

“I am seriously considering going back to school in the fall,” Leo informed him. “I didn’t get very far as a youth, but I think I should return.”

“Go back to school?” Chris looked at him startled. “No offense, Dad, but you are, what, one hundred?”

“One hundred and three,” Leo replied without hesitation. “Or I will be in a couple of months. I don’t look that old, nor do I feel it. I admit that I am a bit old for medical school . . .”

“Medical school,” Chris looked at him stunned. “You are going back to become a doctor?”

Leo nodded. “I believe I am. It will take several years, even if I take extra classes, and even if I was as old as I look, I’d still be older than probably everyone else in school, but I am being drawn toward it. I will let you know when I am certain, but I think that this is something I need to do.”

Chris stared at him for several seconds, but before he could react anymore he was jerked as the crystal found its home. He looked down at the map. He stared for several seconds and chuckled. “Salem. Great.” He looked up at Leo. “Dad, do we have any maps of Salem, Massachusetts? I need to scry for Ashlyn there.”

Leo nodded and headed for the shelves. “Think about what I said.”

Chris nodded, but under his breath he mumbled, “I’m thinking of quitting my one class and my dad wants to take on a full load.” He watched his dad over by the bookshelf. “Well, at least he has a goal in sight. I never had that.”

[Chrisaholic]

Wow, shocking!! Leo going back to Medical school whereas his youngest son thinks about quitting. At least, one of them knows what they're doing. And Salem? Cliché, eh?

[StoryGirl83]

Jul 16, 2016 16:23:27 GMT -5 Chrisaholic said:

Wow, shocking!! Leo going back to Medical school whereas his youngest son thinks about quitting. At least, one of them knows what they're doing. And Salem? Cliché, eh?

Cliche, maybe. Mine. No. That's from the show and honestly. It's historically, inacurate, because witches weren't burned there, but Charmed seems to have had a special place where witches were burned, real witches (I guess) and no one recorded it. But Salem, I'm pretty sure that's from Charmed not me.

---

Chapter Nineteen – Bored and Alone

Wyatt wished that he had asked someone to bring him something to read. Even a list of incoming items for exhibits would have been welcome. He was that bored. He smirked. Actually, that might be kind of interesting if it were the right kind of exhibits.

He looked at the various monitoring devises attached to him. By that point they were supercilious. The only way his stats were going to drop was if Vera returned and got the drop on him, something he decidedly didn’t intend to happen.

Deciding he was tired of being confined to bed, Wyatt climbed out of the covers and sat on the edge of the bed. Careful of the monitoring devises he slid off the bed and onto the floor.

It felt good to feel the floor under his bare toes. It was so nice to be able to put his weight onto his legs and move across the floor under his own power, even if it was only a few steps due to all the machines attached to him. Come morning he was going to plead with the staff to remove them.

Having nowhere to go and no space to maneuver he returned to the bed and sat down. As he sat there trying to decide if he should contact the nurse staff now about removing the monitoring devises he heard a sound behind him. Not sure of the source, he still raised his shield. After all, any human entering from the direction of the window was unlikely to be welcome.

He heard the sizzle of something hitting his shield as he turned around to face Vera. “Back, again?”

“All alone, I see,” Vera commented as she eyed his shield. “You know that’s not very smart.”

“I can handle you.”

“Can you?” Her eyes were stead on him, unblinking. “I think you only have that one trick, your little shield and without it, you are powerless.”

“You think so?”

She smirked and reached into her pocked and pulled out a vial, throwing it.

Wyatt blinked and orbed the vials away. With a swipe of his hand he moved the chairs against the wall out of the way.

“Interesting.” Vera reached into her other pocket.

Before she could pull anything out Wyatt used his arm to slam her into the wall where one of the chairs had been. No point in drawing questions with broken furniture if possible.

Vera shook her head and pushed herself up, swiping dust off her clothes. She stared at him intently and scowled. “You have to sleep sometime.” And then she blinked out.

Wyatt heaved in a sigh, but he didn’t drop his shield. Another minute or two and he would have to, but until then he didn’t want to be caught unaware. And he knew she would return.

[Chrisaholic]

So Vera attacked again but Wyatt was prepared. If she's after both brothers, why only attack when they're alone? Just wondering here!!