Hanging Up The Cloak - A Charmed Roleplay

[Jad]

Piper stood there with her hands on her hips scowling at Paige for a few moments; she seemed pissed. Piper walked over to the athame and grabbed it away from Paige's face and said, "What? are you crazy bringing a demon into my house!?"

Piper took the athame and walked over to the demon and held it to his throat. With a flick of her wrist, she unfroze the dmons head and spoke, "Ok, out with it, what are you doing here?"

[Astral Alex]

The demon struggled, attempting to move free of Piper's grasp.

"Who are you?!" Piper yelled, as Paige watched intrigued.

The demon turned to Piper and uttered a slurring, hiss. Paige then stepped forward and ushered Piper to release the demon.

"Crystals, circle!"

As the demon looked around, taking in his freedom, he began to flame out. As the flames licked his body, five crystals orbed in around him, ceasing the flames that were encasing his body.

"Why did you attack me?!" Paige cried, glaring at the demon and making her way to the Book of Shadows which sat on it's usual plinth.

"Paige, why are you here so late anyway?" Piper said, sighing. Being woken from her sleep had evidently angered her.

"Just bear with me Piper." Paige said, as she flicked through the pages of the ancient tome.

Eventually, she found what she was looking for,

"Got him! He's a Devlor."

[SARI-SINISTER!]

"Come on now Henry... Just taste it..." Henry was frustrated. His little boy wasn't wanting to eat. Henry knew that Paige usually fed the child, so he probably missed his mommy. Henry turned to the girls to see what they were doing. Tamara was eating a bowl of cereal, and Kat seemed to be eating some bread and dipping it in her cereal bowl.

"Dada, look!" Kat said, smiling widely. Bread was against her teeth, usually people did this with and orange slice or a lemon slice. Not Kat, she was a crazy one just like her mother. Henry chuckled a little.

"You're supposed to eat that Kat..." Henry said softly, and Kat stopped smiling to chew it up. Little Henry was still refusing to eat. "Do you want your mommy to feed you buddy?" He said nudging the side of little Henry's cheek, a little bit. Little Henry put on a sad face, as his father dropped his head. Henry had no idea when Paige would be back. Hopefully, she would be back soon.

"Tamara, give me the bowl I'll put it in the sink!" Henry said to Tamara, who was getting up to put it away.

"No, I do it!" She said as Henry started to get up. The bowl dropped to the floor in a shatter.

"Damn it," Henry spoke under his voice, "Paige, please hurry the hell up!" The broom and dustpan sat in the corner, as Henry reached for them. Slowly, he swept the mess up as little Henry began to cry. Kat looked at little Henry, and turned her head sideways. Tamara did the same as Kat. Henry threw away the shattered bowl, and went over to little Henry. He picked him up into his arms, and rocked him slowly.

Little Henry was not going to eat unless Paige fed him.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Coop felt a sudden pain. Something must be happening to one of his charges. He listened closely, but heard nothing. "Uh, what are your sisters' up to?" He asked cautiously.

He didn't want to seem to concerned, then Phoebe would worry. Something wasn't right though. This was the first time in a long time, that Coop was feeling something wrong with the sisters'.

"Did Arianna go back to sleep?" Coop spoke, walking towards Phoebe. He put his hands on her arms, and rubbed her arms softly. He did this often, it was sort of a comfort move for him. A demon was involved, he could feel it.

[Jad]

"Where is he? Why are you hunting my clan?" The demon questioned Paige and Piper.

"What!" Piper exclaimed, "I don't know what you're talking about. This is my house and your invasion woke me up."

Piper sighed deeply, "What is he talking about? What have you gotten us into this time, Paige?"

Piper calmed just a little and continued, "So, what are the devlor?"

[Astral Echo]

Phoebe sighed as Coop mentioned his sisters. "I know Paige was out tracking down some demon I came across in the Book this morning. But she hung up on me just before you arrived home." Phoebe told him, as he took her arms into his hands, rubbing them comfortingly.

I do love this fool. Phoebe thought to herself, looking deeply into Coop's eyes lovingly.

Phoebe relaxed her neck as Coop asked about Arianna. "She did mention something about monsters. I know she knows about the demons, she must know having seen her fair few of them over the years but the way she said monsters was more out of fear. We didn't raise her to fear demons, did we?" Phoebe asked, pulling in her husband for a long embrace.

[SARI-SINISTER!]

Coop looked at Phoebe oddly. Ari had seen a few demons', this much was true. Never would she fear them though. Something has to be up.

"No we didn't, are you sure nothing was in her room?" Coop started to get a little worried. He almost lost Phoebe multiple times, and he would not get into that with his daughters'. He turned away from Phoebe, and began to sneak into Arianna's room.

He peaked inside, and saw nothing. Except Arianna, wide awake on her bed. She seemed to be speaking to something. She was staring towards her closet door. Coop listened in as the little girl spoke. "I know, but I can't hurt them mister. They are my parents." Ari was silent for a few instances, as if waiting for a response.

"If you ask me again to kill them, I will not trust you anymore!" The little girl grew silent, and suddenly flew backwards into her bed as if choking on something. Coop shoved the door open.

"Get the hell away from her!" Tears came into his eyes, as Arianna was momentarily fine. Coop had never cursed like that, in front of Arianna that is. He ran over to the little girl, and wrapped his arms around her. "You're gonna be okay, don't listen to the monsters' Ari. They are mean, you are in control!"

[Astral Echo]

Phoebe burst into the room behind her husband, looking around to try and find the demon after her daughter. Taken back as Coop cursed at the invisible force, holding their tight in his arms, Phoebe turned to the cupboard where Arianna had been staring.

"Being of the dark, show yourself now to me. Shadows and darkness that cloaks evil from mine eye, reveal to us what you hide." Phoebe chanted, causing the demon to be revealed before Coop and Phoebe.

The demon was tall, bald headed and rough looking. His bright red eyes sparkled and his sharp claws hung down by his side. Arianna buried her head into Coop's chest as Phoebe levitated in the air and kicked the demon square in the chest sending him crashing through the cupboard doors.

This awoke Allegra with a fright, causing her to cry. Phoebe became torn by the demon and her sobbing child but her decision was made for her as the demon vanished in a tornado of black smoke. Phoebe ran to her two year old daughter and picked her up out of her crib. "It's okay, sweetie, Mommy's here." Phoebe cooed, trying to settle a distressed Allegra.

"Is she okay?" Phoebe asked her husband as she knelt down and took her eldest daughters hand.

[SARI-SINISTER!]

Coop hid Arianna as Phoebe took the demon out for now. Everything seemed to be going in slow motion. The demon revealed, Phoebe levitating, the demon crashing to his fall, the demon disappearing, and allegra crying. Arianna breathed a little heavy for a few moments, but Coop calmed her slowly.

"Yeah, I think she's okay now. Sweetie, you're fine. Nothing can hurt you!" Coop said brushing her hair, as Arianna felt like crying.

"But what if he comes back for me daddy!" She cried a little, and shoved her face against her father again.

"One of us, if not both, will be here at all times! He won't get you sweetheart!" Coop was overly pissed, and knew that if he ever got his hands on that son of a bitch... It would be the last thing that demon would do. Coop clung to his daughter. She began to calm down again.

[Astral Alex]

"What? Really? Okay, I'll come orb you here now." Paige flipped down her cellphone as Piper and Leo poured over the Devlor page in the Book of Shadows. The Devlor himself was still trapped in the crystal cage.

"The book says they're half-human, half-dragon, immune to fire and heat and have the powers to manipulate fire into fireballs and powerful pyrokinetic blasts." Leo read out, in a slow, meaningful voice.

"Leo, it's one in the morning, what's that in English?" Paige said, massaging her forehead and shuffling in her Ugg boots.

"Basically, they are part dragon, part human and are resistant to fire and heat themselves and can conjure fireballs and blasts of fire, like Phoebe use too when she was pregnant with the Source."

Piper scanned the book once more:

"Devlor's are a clan of demons, often ruled by a powerful master, the only way to vanquish the Devlor's is to vanquish the master, by opposing his elemental powers."

Paige stared at Piper confused, Piper didn't understand the excerpt either. With a shrug of her shoulders, Paige then orbed out; orbing in minutes later with Phoebe at her side.

"I told you I didn't want to go looking for that Shadow Demon, Phoebe! I understand that Ari has been seeing things again, but I honestly don't believe the Shadow Demon has anything to do with it?" Paige said exasperatedly, the sound of her voice reaching Piper and Leo before the sight of them did.

Paige and Phoebe materialized and Phoebe jumped back in surprise at the sight of the trapped Devlor.

[Astral Echo]

OOC: I'll fill in the gaps then shall I? Try and make a little more conversation before orbing in and grabbing me, please.

Phoebe moved her with Allegra in her arms, he sat down next to Coop and kissed him on the cheek. "Maybe you should stay in here and sleep with Ari tonight, I'll take the girls into our room." Phoebe told Coop while patting Allegra's back to try and stop her crying. "Maybe if we get some sleep, we can think about tracking down this son of a..." Phoebe said before stopping her self from swearing in front of the children.

"You know what I mean. Perhaps we'll be thinking a little more clearly then." She continued.

Before Phoebe could even stand, a flurry of orbs appeared in front of their eyes and Paige materialized in the centre of the room. She looks around at the mess. "What the hell happened here!?" Paige exclaimed.

"You really don't wanna know!" Phoebe replied shaking her head. "But more to the point, what are you doing here so late?"

"No time to explain, we need you at the Manor!" Paige exclaimed extending her arm to Phoebe.

"Paige, we've been attacked by some kind of Shadow Demon. I can't just leave Coop and girls alone." Phoebe said, lying Allegra down on Arianna's bed. She stood and tried ushering Paige out of the room.

"Coop's a big boy, he can handle it I'm sure." Paige replied, grabbing Phoebe by the hand and orbing them both out of the room, to the Manor.

Appearing in the Manor, Phoebe looked around furiously. How dare she! Phoebe thought to herself angrily.

"I told you I didn't want to go looking for that Shadow Demon, Phoebe! I understand that Ari has been seeing things again, but I honestly don't believe the Shadow Demon has anything to do with it?" Paige said exasperatedly, the sound of her voice reaching Piper and Leo before the sight of them did.

"I didn't exactly go looking for it, Paige. It found us!" Phoebe replied angrily.

[Astral Alex]

"What happened? Did you take him out?" Leo asked, walking over from Piper's side to check Phoebe, she had a small cut on her forehead.

"Guys! I don't think you've realised, we have a dragon, human, demon thing still here?!" Paige said, pointing angrily towards the Devlor, that was still attempting to break out of the crystal cage.

Leo turned away from Phoebe, after examining her wound.

"Paige, I think you need to calm down."

"No Leo! I'm tired, I have left my husband and kids at home so I could come over here and demon-fight, I thought this was meant to be over? Five years ago to this very day, we were promised that it was the end? But is it, I don't think so? So we have to use his 'opposing element' or something to vanquish this dude, what does that mean?"

[Jad]

Piper looked at Phoebe then at Paige, "A little out of practice hey Paige. You didn't need to get Phoebe we could just as well compared notes over the phone."

Piper smirked and looked over at the demon in the cage, "So, what's your story, do you know who's house you flamed into?"

"No!" replied the devlor demon, "But you are not powerful enough to fight our clan no matter how strong a witches you are, even with whitelighter help," The demon looks over at Paige.

"Fine," Piper responds, "But we do not have your clan mate, so that tells me that you were misled magically. I assume that you tracked your clan mate here magically."

"Well," the demon takes some time to think, "If what you are telling me is true, someone else made one of our clan mates disappear again. A couple of nights ago. one of our clan mates disappeared off the clan radar and hasn't been heard of since. He liked to hang around the tenderloin and take in the night life there, but that is the last place he was known to be."

"Ok," Piper said taking it all in, "So, it appears that we have two different mysteries right now, What misled this devlor into the manor and why is a Shadow demon trying to influence Ari? My biggest concern is whether or not more Shadow demons are trying to influence any of the other children, any thoughts ladies?"

[Astral Echo]

Phoebe observed the conversation between Piper and the demon, Devlor. Then Piper turned and asked her and Paige what they think. What do I think? I'm just so tired, I don't know what I think! Phoebe thought to herself, looking between the demon and then her two sisters. "I was going to leave this until the morning but now I'm here, I guess we can try and sort it out." Phoebe told them, sure she was worried about Arianna, but they had taken care of the immediate danger and getting a wink of sleep seemed a little more important right now.

"All I know is that some demon had been spying on her. Then when Coop and I were out of the room, he asked her to kill us." She told them. "It almost reminds minds me of Billie and Christy's situation." She continued. "I'm more concerned that he may come back again and if he's cloaked, we may not even know he's there."

[Astral Alex]

Paige scowled at Phoebe, it was times like these that she felt like an outsider from her sisters. The independent one that was never appreciated.

"I dunno, the Shadow Demon I fought before, he seemed, strong. I only managed to knock him back before orbing out, he could change from being a spiritual form to a corporeal in seconds, it was creepy. But what would they want with the kids? I know they're powerful, but they must have some sort of goal? And, this Devlor guy," Paige said, waving her hand towards the encased demon once more, "Why are we even trusting him? He is a demon, and he tried to kill me."

Leo interjected before Paige could continue:

"Paige, he's lost, he didn't mean to come here, maybe we should just give him the benefit of the doubt? Maybe our main priority should be protecting the kids?"

Paige sighed and stared at her sisters, they stared back at her.

"I suppose, what, so you're saying we just let him go?"

"He's another days problem." Leo suggested, turning towards the Devlor, who was eyeing the sisters with great interest.

"Fine," Paige began, just as Piper and Phoebe opened their mouths to speak.

[Astral Echo]

Phoebe listened as Leo suggested letting the demon go. "What? Wait a minute? Were just gonna let this guy go now? This isn't like letting some thief off the hook, this is a demon were talking about!" Phoebe exclaimed.

"How can you even suggest letting a demon go. I'm not keen on getting all messy either but we can't just let a killer back onto the streets." Phoebe told them.

[Astral Alex]

The demon growled at Phoebe's point, realising his chance of freedom was flawed. In a desperate attempt to break the cage, he fired short blasts of fire at the cage. Paige noticed that the velocity of the cage was fading,

"Guys, I think we better decide this quickly, he is overpowering the cage!" Paige cried as she slowly backed away as sparks began to emanate off the cage.

[Jad]

"Are you two nuts, playing insight the demon in my house. I'd just got him calmed down and the two of you set him off again. I didn't say that we should just let him go, but we have no reason to vanquish him. He hasn't killed anyone yet. I was thinking of banishing him to the pit for a hundred and one years or something. Yes, he did invade my house and attack Paige, so that should mot go unpunsihed."

Piper continues ranting while glaring at the demon, "The North wind blows to stop our foes."

A cold wind blows around the attic centered on the demon in its cage. The cold wind freezes the cage and makes the fire bounce off the cage and back on to the demon strengthening the cage again.

"There, that should hold you," Piper said to the demon, "So guys, now we know that cold winds counter thier powers and if done right could vanquish him, but do we really want a war with the devlor clan, really!"

Piper's last statement didn't quite say it, but it implied that she for one would like to not escalate a confrontation with the devlor clan.

The demon stopped trying to get out of its cage, so Piper felt confident enough to speak with her sisters again, "We've dealt with Shadow Demons before and they always have an agenda that is more than just one thing, so I propose we get throught this night, and then seriously consider that all your families have extend visit time here at the manor. It will be easier to portect the children in one place rather than three."

[Astral Echo]

Piper did make sense, was now the time to cause unrest in the Underworld, with all that was going on in their lives both magically and nonmagically, did they really want to add another situation to the plate!?

"Piper does make a valid point. But I'm still not going to stand back and let you two release him." Phoebe told them. Piper then suggested moving back into the Manor.

"Coop and I are basically sharing our room with the three girls as it is at the moment, so I suppose it's no different than staying here." Phoebe replied, reaching to get her cell phone from her pocket. "You guys sort this out and I'll call Coop." She added.

Phoebe walked towards the attic door as she pressed her cell phone to ear, waiting for Coop to answer the landline phone.

[Astral Alex]

Paige watched as Phoebe paced to the tone of the dialling tone.

"Won't it be a bit cramped Piper? I mean, the girls take up a lot of room as it is, and with little Henry, I just, I don't know."

"You'll be safer here Paige, besides, it could be fun? The kids could bond a little and maybe you three could remember that you were sisters before you were witches?" Leo quipped, ever the wise one.

[Jad]

Piper sighed, "We can make arangements now, but I think, we'll be safe till morning."

Just as she finished her statement another Devlor demon flamed in right next to the cage and removed one of the crystals by hand. Before any of the charmed Ones could respond, they both flamed out.

"Oh great, as if we didn't have enough trouble?" PIper said sarcastically, "The demon singed the floor with his magic, Paige. Maybe there is enough residual magic ther for you to scry for him. I'm going to sit here and try and come up with a vanquishing potion for the Devlor just in case."

Piper got a note pad, sat on a couch and started to scribble in it. Her head scrunched in thought as she was way out of practice for this.