Repost: Charmed: The Secrets Of Wolf Lake (Chapter

[mcharmed21]

Author: MilesG29

A/N I do not own Charmed, but wish I did. :-) Enjoy the story thus far........

Chapter 1

“Okay, if anyone has one more suitcase, they are carrying it to Wolf Lake,” Piper Halliwell called as she walked through the stained-glass front door of the manor. “There is ----- and I repeat, there is no more room in the SUV.”<br> Paige Matthews, Piper’s half-sister, came bounding down the stairs. In her hand was a small suitcase. “Just one more. It’s my make-up and stuff.”<br> Piper stared at Paige for a moment, then sighed and rolled her eyes good-naturedly. “Put it in the car. Where is Phoebe?”<br> “Where has she been for the past two weeks?” Paige groused.
“Jason called again?” Piper asked. “That’s the fourth time this week.”<br> “Tell me about it.” Paige remarked. “She needs this vacation more then you or I do. If only to escape Jason’s phone calls.” She cupped her hands around her mouth. “Phoebe! Say good-bye and get your ass down here!”<br> Piper giggled. “How very diplomatic of you, Miss Matthews.”<br> “At this rate, we’ll never get to Wolf Lake by this afternoon.” Paige flopped down on a chair. “I am so looking forward to getting away for two weeks.”<br> Piper frowned. “I’m still not sure about leaving Wyatt at the Magic School the whole entire time we’re gone.”<br> “Why? Both Leo and Chris are within calling distance if any demon tried to get to Wyatt. Not to mention, so are we.” She looked upward towards the ceiling. “Phoebe!”<br> “I’m coming, I’m coming,” came Phoebe Halliwell’s voice from the second floor. A moment later she joined her sisters. “I was talking to Jason.”<br> Paige squinted her eyes. “Oh really? I never would have guessed it.”<br> Sensing an argument about to erupt, Piper quickly stepped between the two women. “So how is Jason?”<br> “Missing me,” Phoebe replied, grabbing her coat from the coat rack. “And I miss him. A lot.”<br> “But I thought he didn’t want anything to do with you because you’re a witch,” Paige spoke up. She reached for her coat and tossed Piper’s hers.
Heading for the door, Phoebe answered, “I really think that he is coming to terms with that aspect of our relationship.”<br> “A relationship that Jason wanted to put on hold until he could handle it,” Piper pointed out. “After all, he was the one who was surprised at finding out you were a witch and flew off to Hong Kong.”<br> Phoebe stopped on the front porch. She turned to Paige and Piper. “I know. Remember, I was there when it happened. I’m just saying that I think he understands why I couldn’t tell him. Oh!” She turned and rushed back through the front door just as Paige was closing it. “I almost forgot the morning paper. I want to read it on the way to Wolf Lake.” With that, she disappeared back inside the house.
“Am I the only one who thinks this thing with Jason is a totally wrong?” Paige asked.
“I don’t know,” Piper answered. “I don’t want Phoebe hurt any more then she already has been, but she is a grown woman. It’s none of our business. This is between Phoebe and Jason.”<br> Paige looked as if she wanted to say something, but thought better of it. Having only learned that she had sister nearly five years ago, there were still times when she wanted to assert herself and offer an opinion. This wasn’t one of those times. It was bad enough to still be adjusting to the fact that she, Piper, and Phoebe were the Charmed Ones, the most powerful witches ever known. Paige, who was also half whitelighter, had the ability to orb from place to place, as well as orb objects with her mind and voice. Piper, the oldest, had the power to freeze time and speed up time, something that wasn’t in any demons interest to want to experience. Phoebe’s power was the ability to see the past, present, and future. With in the last year or so, each of the women's powers had started to grow. Piper now had the power to manipulate time to a degree, while Paige could orb objects at great distances. Phoebe’s power of premonition has grown to include empathy, as well as the ability to call a vision on command. Together, as well as on their own, they had fought scores of demons and saved innocents with their powers.
A scream from inside the house caused Paige and Piper to share a quick look of understanding, and they both rushed inside. Phoebe was leaning on a high-back chair, breathing heavily, her face terror-stricken. Her eyes wide with fright, she cringed and regarded her sisters with a look of fear, almost as if they were going to harm her. Gripped tight in her hand was the morning edition of The San Francisco Examiner.
“What happened?” Piper asked, glancing around. It was an unwritten rule in the Halliwell manor that nobody screamed unless there was a demon attack. She grabbed Phoebe’s heaving shoulders. “Calm down and tell us what happened.” Paige came in from the kitchen with a glass of water. It took a few minutes before Phoebe was able to talk. Her voice was still shaky, but she seemed calmer now.
“I came in here and picked up the paper from kitchen table,” Phoebe started, then took a long drink of water. “Just as I touched the paper, I had a premonition. Or, at least I think it was a premonition.”<br> “What exactly did you see, Pheebs?” Piper asked. When it came to Phoebe’s passive but equally important power, she had learned early on to let her sister take her time in talking about it.
“All I saw were flashes, just bits and pieces.” She closed her eyes tight, as if willing the premonition to come again or go away. “I was in a car, possibly the backseat, staring at a dark road. There was a bright moon.”<br> “Was it our car?” Piper asked. So much for a magic-free vacation.
“I don’t know. It could have been. Something ran in front of the car. It was a man, or it could have been an animal. It was covered in hair, but walking upright on two legs. It was as….”<br> “What?” Paige yelped. “An animal walking on two legs? Impossible.”<br> “Paige,” Piper said, glancing at the youngest member of the trio. “You’re a witch and have seen just about everything that is strange, and you’re surprised that an animal walks
on two legs?”<br> Paige shrugged. “It just sounds to, oh, I don’t know, a little far-fetched.”<br> “But I had the vision for a reason,” Phoebe remarked.
“True,” Paige conceded. “Go on.”<br> Phoebe swallowed. “Who’s ever car it was, we were just driving along this dark, secluded road. The thing came out of now where. The driver swerved, but there was a loud thud and the car slammed to a stop. The next thing I saw was this thing looking at me through the window. The eyes, they were red, almost glowing. Suddenly, it stood up, raised its face toward the sky and howled. Then it rushed off and disappeared into the woods.” Phoebe paused, then added, “I think what I saw was a werewolf.”<br>

[mcharmed21]

Chapter 2

Piper closed the Book Of Shadows with a slam and heaved a deep sigh. “Except for the Wendigo, there isn’t anything in here about werewolves.” She flopped back on the sofa and rubbed to eyes.
Phoebe, seated on the other sofa, was glued to the screen of her laptop computer, intently clicking the keys. “But we vanquished the Wendigo years ago. Remember?”<br> Piper nodded silently, recalling those few days in what seemed ages ago. It hadn’t too long after she, Phoebe, and Prue had received their powers. Piper had been attacked by a creature called a wendigo, a non-human who killed people in love and the good-hearted, and ate their hearts. Prue and Phoebe had been able to destroy the wendigo and prevent it from killing Andy Trudeau and thus saving Piper from becoming a wendigo forever.
“What’s a wendigo?” Paige asked, coming in from the kitchen carrying a tray of coffee and three cups.
Quickly, Phoebe caught her brother-in-law up to speed, adding, “We thought we had vanquished the wendigo, but it appears that we may haven’t. There could still be one or more running around out there.”<br> Piper got up and went to sit next to Phoebe. “Not something I care to think about now, thank you,” Piper remarked. Looking over her sister’s shoulder, she indicated the computer screen. “There’s a buttload of stuff about werewolves, mostly myths and legends.”<br> “Most tales of the supernatural are based on myths and legends,” Paige pointed out.
Phoebe nodded. “There is a lot of sites that talk in detail about what we see on television and at the movies now.”<br> Paige gestured with her coffee cup. “Sort of the man-turns-into-werewolf-at-the-full-moon-kill-a-werewolf-with-silver-bullet-tyoe stuff?”<br> Phoebe nodded. “Basically. I was meant to have that premonition for a reason.” She glanced at Piper, who had been remaining silent far too long. “So here’s what I think. Either we have an honest to God werewolf on our hands, or else there’s another wendigo.” Piper looked at Phoebe, then over to Paige then back to Phoebe. Then all three looked upwards toward the ceiling and shouted:
“Leo!”
A second later, Piper’s husband appeared in a swirl of blue and white lights. “What’s up?” He sat down on the arm of the sofa and put an arm around her shoulders. He laid a kiss on the top of her head.
“Where are Wyatt and Chris?” Piper asked quickly.
“At the Magic School.” Leo looked around, sensing something wasn’t right. “What’s going on?”<br> “Phoebe had a premonition.” Paige offered. “She saw a werewolf.”<br> “Or a wendigo,” Phoebe piped in. “I’m not sure. What do you know about werewolves, Leo?”<br> “Not much,” replied the whitelighter. “Lycanthrops aren’t necessarily good or evil. Most are victims of circumstances, such as being born into an existing bloodline, or by being attacked by one.”
“Lycan-whata?” Paige asked.
“Lycanthropy,” Phoebe replied. She manipulated a few keys on the laptop and a web site popped on the screen, showing a terrifying face of a werewolf. “It says here that lycanthropy is a psychiatric state of being, in which the person believes he or she is a werewolf. Lycanthropy dates back centuries. Their actual origins have been lost over time. In ancient times, some cultures saw being a lycanthrope as a gift or some kind of blessing from the Gods. During the Middle Ages, a person suspected of being a lycanthrope, or werewolf, was burned alive.”<br> Paige shuddered. “Way harsh, if you ask me.”<br> “What actually did you see, Phoebe?” Leo asked.
Phoebe retold her premonition again, in much the same way as she had told Piper and Paige.
“Doesn’t sound like a wendigo,” Leo replied, standing up. “But I better go check with the Elders.” He disappeared in a swath of swirling lights. Paige looked at her watch. It’s after ten, so what’s say we get started. Is there anything more we can do here?”<br> Phoebe powered down her laptop and closed the screen. “No. Leo’s gone to talk with the Elders and we’ve pretty much have some idea what’s going on. I say let’s head out and try to enjoy our vacation.”<br> “Wolf Lake,” Paige murmured.
“What?” Phoebe asked.
Paige shook her head. “I said ‘Wolf Lake’. Sounds too coincidental that that is where we are going for vacation.”<br> Phoebe chuckled. “Paige, how many times do we have to remind you that there are no such things as coincidences in the Halliwell family. For use, things happen for a reason.”<br> Piper sighed. “I wish you hadn’t set that, Pheebs. This will probably turn out to be a vacation that we’ll never forget.”<br>



Chapter 3

“So who’s up for something to eat?” Phoebe asked several hours later as she navigated the SUV north along Highway 1. They had already stopped for gas in Fort Bragg and road signs were appearing letting motorists know that the famous scenic coast highway would be ending at the junction of Highway 101.
“I am!” Paiged called from the backseat, where she was reading a Wiccan book of spells.
“Me, too,” Piper chimed in.
“There’s a burger place over there. Any objections?” Paige made a face that Phoebe couldn’t see, but she could sense the feelings coming from her little sister. “Don’t worry, Paige, a burger, fries, and a soft drink won’t prevent you from wearing that silky nightgown Richard bought you for your birthday.”<br> “Phoebe!” Paige yelped. She swatted her sister’s shoulder playfully. “Don’t do that! I hate it when you do that, sense my thoughts, especially personal ones pertaining to my husband.” She laughed, though, telling Phoebe she wasn’t really mad. They pulled up to the drive-thru speaker and ordered. Minutes later, they were sitting at a picnic table at a nearby park, eating their lunch. When they were finished, Phoebe asked if either Piper or Paige wanted to drive.
“You go ahead,” Piper said distractedly, climbing into the passenger seat. Paige hopped into the back.
Soon they were back on the main highway. Phoebe glanced over at her older sister for the umpteenth time. Since leave the park, Piper had taken to just staring out the window at the passing scenery.
“Why so quiet, Piper?” Phoebe ventured.
“Just thinking, that’s all,” Piper answered.
“You are still worried about leaving Wyatt and Chris at the Magic School, are you?”<br> “I’ve not been gone more then a day or two since Chris was born,” Piper answered. “I know we’re only an orb away, but it still feels, well, weird to be leaving them behind while we go gallivanting around the countryside.”<br> “I woldn’t call if gallivanting around. We’re trying to have normal lives,” Phoebe answered. “You and Leo have two great little boys. They’ll be fine. Merrick is watching over them like a hawk, as wewll as Richard and Leo. So don’t worry.”<br> “I know,” Piper moaned. “But ever since the new Source took to power over the underworld several years ago, our “normal lives” have been a little dicey. Not to mention the bounty the Source put on the heads of the Charmed Ones and their offspring. I just can’t help feeling something isn’t right. You have to admit, Pheebs, that demonic attacks have been way down these past few months.”<br> “She’s right,” Paige piped up.
“The better to take advantage of this time to get away,” Phoebe intoned. “Rejuvenate our bodies, our souls, and our minds.”
By now they had reached the junction of Highway 1 and 101 and turned north.
“Just so long as we come back with our bodies, our souls, and our minds,” Piper added.
“So you think my premonition was some kind of pre-emptive warning of a possible demonic attack?” Phoebe asked. She turned a quick look towards Piper. “By a demonic bounty hunter?”<br> “Could be,” Piper conceded. “It wouldn’t be the first time.”<br> “So who is the innocent we’re supposed to save?” Phoebe asked. “The werewolf?”<br> Paige leaned forward, resting her arms on the back of the seats. “That would be my guess,” she said. “Remember what Leo said? That most werewolves were victims of circumstances. Maybe the one Phoebe saw in her vision is someone who was attacked. That would make he or she out innocent.”<br> Piper shook her head. “Not necessarily. Leo also said that lycanthropes were also born into a bloodline. What if whoever Pheobe saw is trying to break that bloodline?”<br> A silence fell over the vehicle as each woman mulled over this thought and their own, personal thoughts. It wasn’t long before Phoebe pointed out a road sign announcing the turn off for Wolf Lake. She took the turn from the paved highway onto a narrow, asphalt road. Moments later, she was driving along a dark tunnel created by towering redwoods and ponderosas. It had already started getting dark, but the trees made it seem more so.
“Just headlights to see by,” Phoebe muttered. “Just like in my premonition.”<br>

[mcharmed21]

Chapter 4

The road had quickly become a series of twists and turns, and now, after about a half hour of navigating it, Phoebe was wondering if perhaps she hadn’t taken a wrong turn from the main highway. She slowed to take a sharp turn when she suddenly slammed on the brakes and yanking the wheel to the right to avoid hitting the hulking form illuminated in the headlights.
“What the---!” Piper exclaimed as she was shoved forward in her seat.
“Phoebe! Look out!” Paige cried in alarm from the backseat.
Standing in the middle of the road and smack in the path of the SUV, was a towering figure covered in black hair. It raised its arm in an effort to protect itself from the impending collision. There was a sickening thud and the vehicle came to rest in the ditch.
“Is everyone okay?” Piper asked. For an answer, Paige screamed. Phoebe and Piper turned to see the creature staring through the window from the ground. It then raised itself up to a standing position and emitted a screeching howl, then it disappeared into the woods on the other side of the road. The girls sat in stunned silence. It was several minutes before anyone said anything. Phoebe was the first to speak. “Any questions?” It came out half-jokingly. “I mean about my premonition? I already know the answer to the question we all are thinking. That was a werewolf.” She opened her door and climbed out. Paige and Piper followed. They stood in front of the SUV and surveyed the situation.
“Now what?” Phoebe asked.
“Piper,” Paige said, turning to her sister. “Rewind time during the past 15 minutes.”<br>Raising her hand, Piper closed her eyes and concentrated on the power she needed to accomplish Paige’s request. She flicked her wrists several times. Almost instantly, as if reality was suddenly slit in two, and they were in some sort of dimentional movie theatre, the sisters were witnessing the events from fifteen minutes in the past. Even though they were still standing in the middle of the deserted road, and the SUV was still visible in their reality, they watched the other reality as the events unfolded from an alternate point of view. Somewhere off in the distance, there was the sounds of gunshots.
“Look!” Phoebe whispered urgently, pointing to the hilltop above the SUV. “Up there!”<br>Sure enough, perched at the top of the small hill, stood a tall, shadowy figure. Knowing it was the werewolf, they watched fascinated. The creature crouched and sprang forward. In what seemed like slow motion, it glided silently through the air, landing near the bottom in the soft dirt with a grunt and stumbling. Suddenly, headlights were visible coming around the curve. “That’s us,” Paige commented. The creature stepped into the road and the girls’ knew what happened next, although seeing from this point of view was nevertheless riveting. The SUV screeched its tires in an effort to maintain control and avoid hitting the creature, whose entire being was visible for a split second in the glare of the headlights. The werewolf’s body was covered in course black hair and its snout was long and narrow, and was curled in a snarl, revealing sharp white teeth. As the three sisters watched, they saw the creature raise an arm just as the SUV’s front driver side fender hit it, sending it backwards and onto its back. It rose to a crouching position, staring at the backseat window. They heard Paige scream, saw the creature rise to full heighth and let out an ear-splitting howl. They watched in stunned silence as it raced off into the woods on the other side of the road.
“So we did hit it,” Phoebe affirmed. “But apparently not bad enough to hurt him.”<br>“What makes you think it’s a ‘him’?” Piper asked.
Phoebe shrugged. “I was generalizing.”<br>“And what was with those gunshots?” Paige inquired.
“Hey! You three!” The voice boomed from atop of the hillside in the exact same spot where the creature had been minutes before. There was a series of grunts and groans as the Charmed Ones watched a group of three or four men slide their way down the dirt hillside. Four guys dressed in black clothing and carrying rifles stepped up to them. It wasn’t hard to figure out who had fired the gunshots. “What are you doing here?” The man who asked the question was tall and swarthy-looking in the vehicle headlights. He had a dark busy beard, dark eyes and a prominent scowl.
“We’re on our way to Wolf Lake Bed and Breakfast,” Piper replied, taking an instant dislike to this man. There was something about him she didn’t trust. And I’ve only known him, oh, about two seconds, she thought silently to herself, casting a quick look at Phoebe and Paige. Just cool it, Piper.
The man chuckled. “Well, I hope you brought plenty of books or those Hollywood tabloids to read,” he said. “Because you’re going to be only ones staying there!”<br>“Why do you say that?” Paige asked.
The man glared at the Charmed Ones for a moment. “You saw that creature, didn’t you?”<br>“We aren’t certain exactly what we saw,” Phoebe said cautiously. “Whatever it was, it’s gone now.”
The man, apparently the leader of the group, grinned, revealing shiny white teeth. He gazed off into the distance, locking his eyes on the same spot where the creature had disappeared into the woods. “For now,” he said, barely above whisper.