DISCLAIMER: I don't own Charmed or it's characters, and I most assuredly don't own Jack the Ripper. This story, the plot, and the characters I created (like Andrea Nicols) are mine. If you wish to post this story or use a character please contact me by clicking my name above.
Andrea Nicols stroked the frame of the photograph lovingly. She gazed at the photo of her boyfriend - her late boyfriend. Jack, she thought. I miss you so much. He had been killed three days earlier in a car crash. The death had come as a horrible shock to the teenage Nicols; she and Jack had been deeply in love and even talking about marriage when they graduated high school. Andrea had spent the past days not eating, not sleeping, but desperately searching for a way to find closure. To tell her boyfriend one last time that she loved him.
She glanced at the piece of paper in front of her. This is the way, she thought. This will bring you back to me just for a little while. Just so I can say once more that I love you. Then I'll send you back.
Andrea set the paper in front of her on the table and smoothed it out. She looked at the ingredients for the spell. Sage, rose, and half a dozen other things. All here, she thought. She looked at the words for the spell one more time. A warning at the bottom of the page caught Andrea's eye.
WARNING: This is a dangerous spell. Do NOT attempt lightly. You MUST have a crystal clear picture of who you want brought back! If you were to make a mistake, the consequences could be severe!
Okay, Andrea thought. I know Jack like I know the back of my hand. I'll be all right. She began to say the spell. She finished and focused her mind on her boyfriend. Jack...
Red smoke filled the room. A foul smelling odor reached Andrea's nose. Foul smelling? What had she done wrong?
With a flash of light the smoke cleared and a man stood leering before her. Black hair, black eyes, black clothes. The only thing about him that wasn't dark was his skin. It was a pale as milk, and gave his face a dead look. Andrea looked at him in terror. He stared back with eyes devoid of any emotion. His soul had obviously long since left him.
Voice shaking, Andrea stated the obvious. "You're not Jack."
Hands on his hips, he threw back his head and laughed.
Suddenly Andrea realized what she had done wrong. She hadn't said Jack's last name! Merciful Heaven, what manner of demon had she brought back? She shuddered at his laugh; it tingled her spine and caused her to shake in terror. "You're not Jack" she repeated.
He stopped laughing. "Oh, but I am" he said, letting the words drip off his tongue. "I may not be your boyfriend, but I am Jack. Say, you look vaguely familiar. Are you related to 'Polly' Nicols?"
"I think that was my great great grandmother's name." Why did he wantto know that?
The man laughed. "How perfect. How utterly perfect."
"Who are you?"
"I'm disappointed you don't know. I said I'm Jack."
He pulled out a knife and advanced toward Andrea, who - to her horror - found herself cornered.
He looked down at the cowering girl. "Recognize me now?" he taunted. "It's been a good hundred and ten years, but I'm still Jack."
* * * Across town Phoebe Halliwell tossed and turned in her sleep, trying desperately to shake off the dream she was having.
Foggy streets. People in clothing not of her own era walking around. Many drunk. Some not. Men looking for - well entertainment to put it delicately. Phoebe was lost. She felt she should be looking for something - or was it someone? What is the name of that street? Osborn? Okay, she thought, remember that. As she passed the street a tingle ran up her spine. There was evil nearby. Was there an innocent she needed to protect? Shivering in the early morning hours she walked on. The tingling grew more intense as she approached another road. Buck's Row. Shaking violently now in terror she approached with caution. She could see a woman's body lying on the ground. Did she need help? Not without misgivings, Phoebe approached. What she saw would stay with her forever. From the looks of it, the woman was way beyond help.
Phoebe woke up screaming.
* * * Prue woke up to the sound of one of her sisters screaming. It was a sound of terror she would never forget. She ran out the door, colliding with Piper who had run out of her own room. Hair wild and eyes wide, they looked at each other for a brief second and ran for Phoebe's room.
Phoebe was sitting up in bed, hands holding the bedclothes in a death grip, face white as a ghost. Prue and Piper ran to her. Prue took ahold of her shoulders and shook her, trying to bring her back to reality. Finally after what seemed an eternity to her frightened sisters Phoebe quit screaming and collapsed in tears, sobbing on Prue's shoulders.
Prue stroked her sister's hair like she did when they were kids and Phoebe or Piper had a nightmare. But never in all the years had any one of them screamed like that. This was no child's nightmare. Whatever she had dreamed, it had been bad. Very bad.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"Nightmare.. foggy street... dead woman" Phoebe managed to choke out between sobs. She took a deep breath, turned green, and gagged. Piper quickly got the trash can and Phoebe got sick in that. Piper then left the room, got a glass of water and handed it to Phoebe who took it gratefully.
Phoebe managed to take a few sips and soon she was able to coherently tell her sisters what she had seen in her dream. By the time she was done Prue was swallowing hard and Piper had turned the same shade of green as Phoebe had not two minutes earlier.
Piper shuddered. "No wonder you woke up screaming. Thank heaven it was a dream.. wasn't it?"
"No" whispered Phoebe. "I mean, yes I was asleep, but I think it was more of a vision. It was so clear, and I can still," she gulped, "still see everything plain as day."
"Was it past or future?" Prue asked.
"Past" Phoebe said. "Definitely past. The clothing was old fashioned. Not sure exactly when this was, but it was definitely past. And it wasn't San Francisco."
"Where was it then?" Piper asked.
"I'm not sure, but I did see two street names. Osborn and Buck's Row. Buck's Row was where" she paused. "Where I saw her."
"Osborn and Buck's Row" Prue muttered, eyebrows knotted as she ran the names through her mind. "Don't know them. Do you Piper?"
Piper shook her head.
"I doubt we can find out where two streets are located in one night" Prue said. "It should probably wait until morning.
"I don't think I'm going to be able to sleep" Phoebe said. "I'll look around on the Internet and see if I can find out anything. You guys go back to bed."
Kit patted into the room. She looked up at the sisters and gave a faint 'meow'. Sensing Phoebe's distress, she jumped up on the bed, lay down beside her and purred.
Phoebe smiled. "See? Kit can keep me company."
"Okay" Prue said. "Are you sure you're going to be all right?"
"Sure. I'll feel better after I know why I saw what I did."
Prue and Piper nodded, heading out of the room. Phoebe stood up, holding Kit in her arms and went to hook up the laptop. It was going to be a long night.
* * * Darryl Morris sometimes wished he'd never become a policeman. This was one of those times. The poor family - or rather the parents - had come home to find their daughter's bedroom in a shambles and blood over several items. No body though. Considering the condition of the room he didn't want to think about it.
"Excuse me." One of the young officers had come up to him.
"Yes?"
"We found this note in the girl's room."
Darryl took the note and read it:
'You should have told her how Polly died.'
J. R.
"Where are the parents, Loed?"
"The mother's been sitting at the kitchen table since we came. I believe her husband went out there a few minutes ago to be with her."
"Okay. I'm going to take this note out to them and see if they know what it means."
Darryl walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. The wife was indeed sitting at the kitchen table. Her eyes were red and her hands were shaking so badly that she could barely hold the coffee cup. Her husband stood just behind her, hands on her shoulders. He looked like he'd aged ten years in just a few minutes.
"Excuse me Mr. and Mrs. Nicols" Darryl said. "We think we might have found something."
They looked up and Darryl could see the pain in their eyes. "What is it?" the man asked.
"Well, I'm not sure. Can you tell me who Polly is?"
"What?" the man was confused.
Darryl showed him the note.
Mr. Nicols leaned forward to read the note. When he saw the words on it he turned ashen. "Polly Nicols was my great grandmother. Andrea only knew her name, not how she died. It's not something we talk about." He swallowed. "Andrea didn't know it, but Polly Nicols - or Mary Ann, which was her real name - was the first victim of Jack the Ripper."
That was exactly what Morris did not want to hear. He silently cursed, hoping this case was not someone trying to emulate the Ripper. If it was, they were all in trouble.
Darryl's beeper went off. He looked down at it; it was urgent. "May I use your phone?"
Mr. Nicols nodded. "Sure the phone's over there." He gestured toward the kitchen counter.
Darryl walked over and made the phone call. The girl's body had been found. He had to ask about the condition of the body. He wished he hadn't. The officer on the other end simply told him to come over; it couldn't be described accurately over the phone.
* * * When Darryl got to the field beside St. Peter's Chapel he could see the officers milling around. A disturbing number of them were coming back from the bushes. This is not good Morris thought.
Darryl walked over and looked at the unfortunate teenager's body. He then turned around and did something he'd never done while on a case before. He walked over to the bushes and promptly lost his breakfast.
* * * When Piper came down to breakfast she saw Phoebe sitting in a chair by the kitchen table, sound asleep with her head on the table, the laptop beside her.
Prue had apparently already been up and gone to work; there were dirty dishes in the sink. Piper got herself some cereal and poured some coffee.
Phoebe stirred slowly. She sat up.
Piper looked at her. "Morning Pheebs. Did you find anything last night?"
Phoebe made a face. "No, except that the clothing is from around the late 1800s. Piper, I feel like I'm missing something important and I don't know what it is. Maybe if I could pin down the location it might help."
Piper nodded. "Maybe, but it is next to impossible to locate where your vision was, especially when Osborn and Buck's Row may have changed names."
"Don't remind me. There has to be a clue I'm missing, but what is it?"
They wandered into the living room and turned on the television. Five minutes into the program there was a special report. Phoebe leaned forward, eyes wide.
A teenager - a girl - had been brutally murdered. Slashed. Mutilated. Phoebe gulped. Was it significant that she'd dreamt what she did and just the next morning a young girl was dead? Stupid question, of course it was. But why had she had a vision of the past? Phoebe reached for the remote to turn up the volume and suddenly her world went black and white.
Foggy streets. People in clothing not of her own era walking around. Many drunk. Some not. Men looking for - entertainment to put it mildly. Phoebe was lost. She felt she should be looking for something - or was it someone? What is the name of this place? Spitalfield Market? Okay, she thought. Remember that. As she passed it a tingle ran up her spine; there was evil nearby. Was there an innocent she needed to protect? Shivering in the early morning hours she walked on. The tingle grew as she approached another spot. Number 29 Hanbury Street. Shivering violently now in terror she walked around back. She saw a woman lying on the ground. Did she need help? Not without misgivings, Phoebe approached. What she saw would stay with her forever. From the look of it the woman was way beyond help.
Phoebe snapped out of the vision. She cast one glance toward Piper. Then her eyes rolled back in her head and she fainted.
* * * Piper had frozen when she saw Phoebe having a vision. She prayed it wasn't like the one Phoebe had had the night before, but when she saw her sister faint she knew it was.
"Phoebe!" Piper screamed. Panicked, she took hold of her sister and, like Prue the previous night, shook her. When Phoebe's eyes finally opened, she was pale as a ghost.
"Foggy street .. dead woman" was all she got out at first.
"Oh, no. Not again" Piper said, worried. What did all this mean? "Same vision?" she asked.
Phoebe nodded. "Almost. Different places though. Spitalsfield market and 29 Hanbury Street. Different woman too."
Piper shuddered. "We should call Prue and tell her what's going on. Who knows? Maybe she will recognize these names."
"I hope so. I sure don't and the longer this goes on, the worse it's probably going to get." Phoebe reached for the phone.
* * * That night..
He stood looking at the Golden Gate Bridge and breathing in the night air. Wonderful night. One down, four more to go. Then his salute to the glory days of old London would be finished and he could go to it here in San Francisco. He silently wondered if the police would catch on to the significance of where he left the bodies. He doubted it. He was smart. He'd outwitted police before. Why should now be different?
It was time. He turned around and looked at the city. He took a deep breath, luxuriating in the feeling alive again. Alive! He was alive and back at it. He stroked the knife at his hip. It felt good to be back at work. He walked away from the bridge. Somewhere in San Francisco was his next victim. Soon another woman's life would end. Exhilarated, he grinned and laughed. The night was young and his knife was ready. It was time...
* * * Next day...
Prue woke up bleary eyed. None of the Halliwells had slept very well the night before, especially Phoebe. Prue was worried about her sister; Phoebe seemed tortured by her visions, the latest one forcing her to see the bodies of two women. The first hadn't been as badly mutilated as the other three. But once again, the youngest Halliwell had gotten the laptop out and spent the night trying to find the place names she had seen, that latest being Fairclough Street, Dutfield's Yard, and a square defined by Mitre Street, King Street, Duke Street and Aldgate. Prue shook her head and went downstairs to see if Phoebe had found out anything.
* * * Piper and Phoebe were sitting at the kitchen table, trying everything they could think of to locate the place names Phoebe had seen.
"Anything?" Prue asked as she came in.
"Well, we're not sure" Piper said. "Whenever we type in one of the street names in Yahoo to look for it alot of sites come up. But most of them have one thing in common."
"What's that?"
"The websites are mostly about things in and around London" Phoebe said. "Right now, I'm printing a city map so we can mark off the sites."
The printer hummed and spit out the map.
The three sisters looked over the map, marking spots from Phoebe's visions. Some weren't found, but as they may have changed names the finding of the majority of the sites was what was important. They soon noticed a pattern.
"They're all near the East End" Prue said. "What's in the East End?"
"I don't know" Piper said. "Hey, Heather might know something. She's probably been to London." Piper took the phone and called. When Heather answered the phone she was quickly told what was going on. Piper could hear Heather's uneasy breathing as she described Phoebe's visions.
"Tell me the streets" Heather said, a catch in her voice that Piper couldn't decipher.
Piper did so. When she finished she heard a thud from the other end. "Heather? Heather, are you all right?"
"I'm fine" came a strained voice. "I just fell into a chair. Yes, I recognize the names. They're streets in the Whitechappel district."
Piper turned and relayed the information. She almost missed what Heather said next.
"And I know who the women are, or were."
"What?" Piper looked at Prue and Phoebe. "She says she knows who the women were."
Prue and Phoebe looked at each other. "How? She couldn't possibly have known them" Prue said.
"Who were they?" Piper asked.
Heather's voice was strained, tense. "Mary Ann Nicols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, and Katherine Eddowes. By the way, tell Phoebe to thank her lucky stars she didn't see the body of Mary Kelly."
Piper relayed the names, and Heather's comment. "Who are they?" she asked Heather.
"They are the victims of Jack the Ripper."
Jack the Ripper. A name that sent chills up the spine of a person. A name that evoked disgust and terror. Piper turned pale and sank into a chair that an alarmed Prue had moved up behind her.
"Thanks, Heather" Piper whispered. "We'll call if we need anything else." She hung up, shell shocked. Could it honestly be.. NO! It had to be a copycat! It was that; it had to be that. The alternative was too horrible to contemplate..
"Piper?" Phoebe asked. "You okay? What did Heather say?"
Piper told them.
They sat in silence for several minutes. Finally Prue spoke.
"So what do we do now?"
* * * Darryl Morris was at his second murder scene at the same site in just two days. He had come prepared this time. He hadn't eaten any breakfast.
It had been a good move; this body had been as badly mutilated as the first. The young woman had been identified, thanks to the name tag on her shirt. Melissa Chapman. Why is that ringing a bell? Morris thought.
Morris looked up, contemplating. He considered the fact that this girl would never see a day like this again. Never see the sun glinting off the white paint of St. Peter's Chapel. Wait a minute... white.. chapel... Whitechappel! First Nicols... then Chapman! Oh boy...
"Inspector Morris" called a voice. "We found something."
"What is it?"
"There was a CD under the body."
"Under?"
The young man nodded, still slightly green around the gills. "This is it." He showed it to Morris.
It was the soundtrack to a musical. The musical's name? Yours truly, Jack the Ripper
* * * Elizabeth "Liz" Stride set her books on the cafeteria table with a thud. She slid into the seat across from her friend, Heather MacBeth. "Remind me when I go home to kill my parents for naming me Elizabeth" she complained.
Heather looked up from her book. "Why? What happened?"
Liz made a face. "You know I'm taking a class in true crime?"
"Yes."
"Well today we were discussing Jack the Ripper and guess who has two new nicknames?"
Heather snickered. "Long Liz?"
Liz nodded. "That and the other one, which I like even less. Ripper Girl."
Heather laughed. "Sounds like a bad cheerleader."
Liz grinned despite herself. "It does, doesn't it? Speaking of nicknames, guess what they are calling my boyfriend and his twin sister?"
Heather thought a minute. "Mark and Crystal Eddowes. Don't tell me, the double event?"
"That's it. What a wonderful way to be known - as the people who have the same names as infamous murder victims."
"Speaking of murder, did you hear about that one that occurred yesterday?" Heather asked.
"It's two now, actually" said a guy passing their table. "They found another this morning."
Heather looked worried. "What was her name?" she asked.
"Melissa something" the guy replied.
"Was it Chapman?" Heather asked, dreading the answer.
"Yeah, that's it. Chapman. Well," he continued. "Got to go. See you in math class Liz." He shifted his backpack onto his shoulders and walked off.
Liz watched him go and turned back to Heather. "Heather what's wrong?" she asked, startled by the change in her friend.
Heather had gone ghost white. "Liz promise me something, will you? Promise me until this guy is stopped you'll be careful."
Liz was confused. "Why? I mean, of course I will, but why more than normal?"
"The first victim was Andrea Nicols."
"So?"
"You don't get it? First Nicols, then Chapman.."
"And next should be Stride and Eddowes, right?"
Heather nodded. "Liz, thanks to your name you could be a target. I don't mean to scare you, but if the name pattern is followed, well.."
Liz shuddered. "I get it. I'll tell Crystal to be careful too. In fact," she said, pulling out a cellphone, "I'll call her now." She dialed the number and waited. "That's odd. No answer. I'll try later. Heather? Heather are you in?" she asked waving her hand in front of her friend's face.
Heather shook her head to clear her thoughts. "Yeah, I'm here. Liz have you ever seen that guy two tables behind us. He keeps looking over here."
Liz turned. "No, but he sat in on the crime class today. Probably nobody important. So," she changed the subject, "how goes the social life?"
Heather made a face and the conversation continued, but she was only partially there. The other part of her mind was on the situation and on the man who had been behind them. Who was he?
* * * It had amused him immensely to sit in on that class and hear himself discussed in such detail. Who he had killed, who he might be. Why the lack of evidence. He had had to contain his laughter at the irony of it all. Here, they were speculating on who he might have been when all the time he sat in their midst.
It had been a productive hour. He'd found his next victim. Elizabeth Stride. It was almost too perfect; fate must be with him. He didn't know she knew Crystal Eddowes, but it didn't really matter. He'd kidnapped Crystal early that morning. Hadn't killed her yet though. No, that wouldn't do. Can't kill in the wrong order. He stood up to go. Tonight he would get Elizabeth. Tonight would be his second 'double event'.
* * * "Phoebe are you sure this isn't just a copycat murderer?" Piper asked. They were in the attic looking through the Book of Shadows.
"Positive. That's why I saw a vision of the past, to connect the events. Otherwise I would just have seen a vision of the present murders. Trust me on this Piper."
Piper shivered, wrapping her arms around her. "I do trust you, but I'm creeped out thinking that THE Jack the Ripper is running around San Francisco."
Prue looked up from the Book. "Even with all the demon's and warlocks we've seen we ought not to forget that humans - and in this case I use the term very loosely - can be evil and sadistic too."
"I guess they can. Is there anything in there that we can use?" Piper asked.
"I think I found something. It's a little complicated though. There's alot we need. Candles, rose, sage, a bunch of other things." Prue looked at her watch. "I know a store, but it closes in an hour. I'll get my car and go get this stuff."
Phoebe also glanced at her watch. "Better hurry; it'll be dark soon."
Piper echoed the urgency. "And the night is his home. If we can't stop it tonight more young women are going to die."
* * * Mark Eddowes looked at the phone. Why hadn't his sister called? She was supposed to call him at work an hour ago. She'd never been late before. Where was she?
He decided to call her himself. He picked up the phone and dialed the number.
"Hello?"
"Liz? What are you doing there? Is Crystal there too?"
"No she's not. Mark, I'm worried. I haven't been able to reach her all day so I came over to see if she was sick. She's not here and ..." Liz trailed off. He heard her suck in her breath. Then came a frightened whisper.
"Who are you?"
Mark heard nothing. Then came the most terrible sound he could ever imagine from the other end of a phone. His girlfriend was screaming.
"NO! Leave me alone! Help me! Mark! Mark!" Then another scream and a crash.
He clutched the phone in terror. "Liz! What's happening? Liz!!"
Nothing. The phone was dead.
"Mark?"
He turned around to see a pale faced Heather Macbeth. She'd heard everything. "Call the police" she said. I'm going to talk to someone else who might be able to help."
In a flash she was gone and Mark picked up the phone.
* * * Prue walked into the living room to find Piper and Phoebe waiting.
"Did you get everything?" Piper asked.
"Yes. It's all here." She stopped speaking when a thud came from the kitchen.
The three walked cautiously into the kitchen to find a dazed Heather picking herself up off the floor.
"I have GOT to work on my landing" she said.
Piper helped her up. "Is something wrong?"
Heather nodded. "Emergency. A friend of mine and probably her boyfriend's twin sister have disappeared. I think he wants them to be the next victims."
"What makes you think that?" Prue asked.
"Their names. Elizabeth Stride and Crystal Eddowes."
"Not good" commented Phoebe. "Do you have any idea where they might be?"
"I drove by the area around St. Peter's Chapel today, and I did see a warehouse two blocks away. The police have probably checked it out, but.."
"But he's eluded police before."
"Exactly. Do you need my help for anything?"
"Not for the spell" Prue said. "It needs the power of three, but you can help us with transportation."
"Transportation?"
"When you first came here you transported not only yourself but your cat as well, which you were holding onto at the time. You might be able to blink us with you if we held your hands."
"I guess there's no harm in trying."
"Okay, I've got everything we need for the spell in this bag and I wrote the spell on a sheet of paper so we're set to go."
"Ready for takeoff" Phoebe said.
Heather laughed. Piper took her right hand, Prue her left and Phoebe stood behind her, holding onto both of Heather's arms.
"Here goes nothing" Heather said. She took a deep breath and blinked...
* * * Darryl Morris was on the phone with a very upset young man. He had just described a phone call with his girlfriend who had apparently been attacked. Poor kid, his sister was missing too.
"What are their names?"
The young man's voice was shaking. "My sister is Crystal Eddowes. My girlfriend is Elizabeth Stride. Please, you have to help them!"
Stride and Eddowes? Not good. Bad. Very, very bad. "Listen, umm, what is your name?"
"Mark Eddowes."
"Okay, Mark. I'm going to give the phone to someone who will take your statement. He will get someone over to talk to you. I'm going to work on looking for Ms. Eddowes and Ms. Stride."
Morris handed the phone over to a young officer and waved over another. Quickly he explained what he wanted him to do - get men over to the area around St. Peter's Chapel. Grabbing his coat he headed out himself.
He had a hunch. There was a warehouse two blocks from the chapel. Yes, it had been checked out, but it was the only empty place near the chapel. And if he was right maybe he could save the life of two young girls. If he was correct maybe two more deaths could be stopped. The double event would be prevented - as it hadn't been 110 years before.
* * * Thud! Prue, Piper, Phoebe, and Heather landed on the ground and fell, tangling in a heap.
"Sorry" Heather said as she picked herself up. She extended a hand to help the others up. "I've been working on it, but my 'arrivals' are rarely ever smooth. I didn't break anything did I?"
Prue looked in the bag. "Nope. Everything's fine. Where are we?"
"Right across from the warehouse" Heather said pointing to a cavernous old building across the street.
"How do we know if they're in there?" Piper asked.
Heather drew something out of the small backpack she was wearing. "I was hoping Phoebe could help us with that by calling a premonition." She handed the object to Phoebe.
"A CD?"
"With what has got to be the strangest subject ever for a musical on it."
Phoebe raised an eyebrow. "Yours truly, Jack the Ripper? That's creepy." She took the CD and as she touched it her world went black and white.
She was in a room with one young woman to her right, one to her left. She could see the stair landing outside the open door. Apparently the room was to the right of the staircase. Suddenly a man appeared in the doorway. He wasn't particularly tall, about five foot eight, but his manner made him seem larger than life. Black clothes, and black eyes - who's soul had obviously long since left...
The vision ended and Phoebe drew in a sharp breath, eyes wide. "He's inside all right. Upstairs and to the right."
"Let's go then" Piper said.
"Wait" Prue cautioned. "He'll hear us coming."
"Okay, then how do we get in silently?" Heather asked.
Prue looked at her.
"Uh, guys? You saw how we landed here, right? I think a huge thud would definitely alert him."
"You can do it" Prue said. "Just concentrate."
"Okay, here goes nothing" Heather said as the Halliwell sisters once more took ahold of her hands and shoulders.
* * * This time they landed quietly, just at the top of the stairs. They didn't need to be told which room the women were in; the just followed the screams.
Prue reached the doorway first. She paused in horror at the sight of the two terrified girls. Their eyes went wide when they saw her and undisguised hope flashed across their faces.
The figure towering over the girls turned in surprise and glared at the four intruders. He started toward them.
"Piper!" Prue cried. "Now!"
Piper threw up her hands and froze the room. Phoebe took the herbal mixture from Prue and sprinkled it in a circle around the still figure of the Ripper. Prue placed candles on the edges of the circle and quickly lit them. They stepped back to join hands with Piper just and he unfroze.
The Ripper stepped forward, but was unable to cross the outside the circle created by the herbs. Hatred flashed across his face and then confusion as the sisters began to recite the spell.
Human Evil, be no more!
Go from here unto Oblivion's Door!
Hear the spell of the Power of Three
Never again to exist, never again to be!Suddenly seven shadowy phantoms appeared in the corners of the room. Five older women and two young teenagers. They began to repeat the spell with the sisters. The Ripper looked at them in shock. "It can't be!" he cried. "I killed you!"
A powerful wind began to blow. The candle flames, instead of dying, began to grow and each reached out to the next until they formed a solid wall of fire and light. A shaft of light extended from this wall and reached out to the knife in the Ripper's hand. Grabbing it, the light drew back and embedded the knife in the chest of the Ripper. He looked down in shock.
"Nice touch. Turn my own knife against me. Interesting." Then he began to shake in pain.
The light enveloped the blade and extended on into the body of Jack the Ripper. His shaking became more violent as the light destroyed him from the inside out. Finally, with a burst of light Jack the Ripper exploded into dust. The window burst open and the wind rushed out past the six women, scattering what was left of the Ripper into eternal nothingness.
Five of the ghosts faded, but one of the older women, holding the hand of a young lady stepped forward.
Andrea Nicols, Phoebe thought. Then she realized she'd seen four of the five elder women before. She recalled the Ripper's words. I killed you... That must mean..
The woman nodded as if she could read Phoebe's mind. "Yes, it's us" she said. "You have brought us peace. Thank you for that." Then the two of them faded out before the astonished eyes of Heather and the Halliwells.
Heather immediately rushed over to her friends and began to untie them. They were shaking with fright, and tears were beginning to stream down their faces as they hugged her in gratitude.
"Um, Prue?" came a voice from behind the Halliwell sisters. They whirled around.
"Is this the secret you were keeping from Andy?"
Prue looked at the visitor in surprise. "Morris!"
* * * Two days later..
The three Halliwell sisters sat in the living room, talking about what had happened. They had used a spell to erase the memories of Morris, Crystal and Liz. In the case of the two girls, however, they remembered everything up to their attacker briefly leaving the room. Liz and Crystal simply thought he hadn't come back.
"You know" Phoebe commented. "We've seen ghosts, warlocks, Lords of War and more, but there was one good thing about this guy" she said with a mischievous grin on her face.
"What?" Prue asked.
"Piper wasn't dating him" Phoebe teased.
"Hey!!"
Piper picked up a pillow and tossed it at her sister. Phoebe caught it and threw it back, laughing. Soon an all out pillow fight was underway.
