AUTHORS NOTE: While this is a complete story, it's a sequel to my fan fiction "The Bargain". Enjoy! I don't know how Charmed's timeline goes. For the stories' purposes, "The Bargain" can be considered as happening after the episode "Is There A Woogy In The House?" but before "Blind Sided" and this one is set (mainly) 3 months later, which I'm taking as after the end of Season 1 "Deja Vu All Over Again." As it's only my second attempt at a fan fiction, any criticism good or bad would be appreciated.
DISCLAIMER: Based on the Spelling Productions television show, Charmed, created by Constance M. Burge. All Charmed characters are the property of Spelling Productions, with the exception of the characters of "Paul", "David" and "Daniel" which are mine. Andrew Nevill 1999.
Prologue
"What happened?" asked the tall blond man, groggily.
Daniel, who was across the room treating his twin brother's injuries, turned to face his warlock stepbrother, "I don't know for sure Paul. One moment you were standing there, reciting some spell," Daniel pointed to a space between two candlesticks both with large lit candles in them. "And those girls were in the circle," said Daniel indicating a magic circle drawn on the floor, which Paul was currently standing in. "The next thing I know is they're outside the circle, and you're in it and this green energy bolt comes out of you, hits the floor between the candlesticks, and shoots through the roof!"
Horror etched itself on Paul's face. He snapped his fingers. Nothing happened. Desperately he tried twice more but instead of teleporting across the room, Paul stayed firmly in the circle. "No!" he cried, "They've taken my powers! Give me your teleporting ring."
"I can't" replied Daniel, "After they'd, did you say taken your powers?" Paul nodded. Daniel continued, "Well, the youngest told me to give her the rings, she'd heard us talking about them, and I did. I mean she looked ready to kill me, then the eldest, that Prue, used her stuff to throw them into the Bay." Paul cursed vehemently.
Daniel thought for a moment and then said "Paul, What you said about despising mortals. You best get over it, because now you are one."
"I was thinking of that."
"Yeah? Well think on this. There's never been any love lost between you and David," said Daniel indicating his twin, "and after you slammed him in to a wall tonight, he's going to like you even less. When he finds out that you're a, what did you say, "powerless mediocre mortal", he's gonna kill ya. And I won't be able to stop him. In fact, I don't think I'd even try. But you're still my brother and I don't want your death on my conscience so if you're smart you'll go far away and pray David doesn't find you." With that Daniel turned away from Paul and continued to tend to his twin.
Paul turned on his heel and started to walk away. As he walked, he vowed he'd not stay a mortal for long. He'd be a warlock again and get his revenge. To be a warlock all he needed was to steal a witch's powers. He'd start by taking the powers of those who'd taken his. The Halliwells.
Three Months Later
Piper was in the kitchen, cooking. As she was between jobs, since leaving Quake, she liked to keep her hand in. Phoebe was at yet another interview and Prue was in a hurry. She ran into the kitchen, pushing the door hard. Piper shouted "Prue" She waved her hands, freezing time.
Prue looked questioningly at her sister, "What?"
"I'm baking a souffl‚. If that door slams, it'll fall flat and be ruined," replied Piper testily, as she crossed the room and closed the door gently. "The only thing worse than that is turning up the oven too high."
"Why? What happens then?"
"It explodes! And the oven takes a week to clean. The extra heat makes it rise too fast, " explained Piper smiling, now she was happy that her creation wouldn't be ruined. "Anyway why are you in such a rush? You're not late."
"We've had a robbery."
"At Bucklands?" asked Piper in disbelief, who knew how tight security, was at the auction house.
"No, the Docks. Someone got on board the ship bringing in our latest shipment, clubbed the crewman on watch and crowbarred open the crate with our shipment in it. This shipment was one I negotiated for so Claire wants me down there because I should know what's been taken."
"Best get going then," Piper told her sister, "Drive carefully."
"I always do," replied Prue as she went out the door.
* * * The docks were crawling with police, who were interviewing the various members of the crew in order to piece together what happened.
"Hiya Prue," said a familiar voice. "How are you?"
Prue turned. It was Morris. "Oh hi Darryl. Coping. Yourself?" said Prue, wishing that she'd bumped into anyone except Andy ex-partner.
"The same. Coping. I keep expecting him to walk in and sit down at our desk," said Morris uncomfortably. He changed the subject. "Sorry. I understand this was your shipment."
"Well I negotiated for it so I suppose that makes it mine. Anyway how did they get into it? I'd have thought it was in the hold."
"Bought up on deck seeing as how it was going to be offloaded this morning. Care to take a look and tell us what's gone?"
"Sure"
Morris escorted Prue through the phalanx of cops and onto the ship. Prue took one look at the contents of the crate and knew what was gone. "The Sceptre."
"Sceptre?" questioned Morris
"The Sceptre of Kumesh", explained Prue, "It's a golden sceptre set with a huge uncut ruby. It was the highlight of the shipment."
"Specifics?" asked Morris writing quickly
Prue thought for a moment "As I said, a sceptre so we're talking a staff of pure gold about 2ft high with a oval setting on the top. The setting contains a ruby about the size of a tennis ball. What's so unusual about it is it's uncut. Unlike most gemstones, this one doesn't sparkle or glitter or catch the light like people expect them to. It's possibly the largest uncut ruby in existence."
"Value?"
"The ruby alone is considered priceless. With the sceptre, I couldn't put a price on it."
Morris looked thoughtful, "Who knew Bucklands were getting the Sceptre?"
"It was all in the papers. It isn't everyday Bucklands manages to acquire a priceless 6th century artifact. Claire made sure we got all the publicity we could out of it."
"I don't get it," mused Morris, indicating the shipment, "The MO indicates an opportunistic theft. There's loads of rings and jewelry, which he could fence, but from what you're saying, you could never rid of that. What did you say it was called?"
"The Sceptre of Kumesh. And you're right. You couldn't fence it. Unless it's a professional job made to look amateur. I mean I can see why they hit the ship. Less security. They've have had a much tougher job cracking Buckland's security," reasoned Prue.
Morris smiled, "You trying to steal my job? The most you'll get is to be my new partner. Oh God, Prue! I'm sorry."
"No, I'm OK," replied Prue.
"You sure?" Prue nodded. "OK, Thanks for the help. I better try and solve this. See ya around Prue. If you need anything."
"I'll call," replied Prue.
* * * Back at home, that evening, after enjoying a delicious meal finished off with a divine custard souffle, both Piper and Phoebe were eager to learn about Prue's day.
"So what got stolen? Anything valuable," asked Phoebe getting straight to the subject both her and Piper were most interested in.
"Only a priceless, pure gold sceptre, set with a huge uncut ruby," replied Prue, sipping her pina colada.
Her sisters whistled in amazement.
"You'd have liked it Phoebe, it has a weird legend attached to it," said Prue.
"Oh, it summons the Woggyman and hordes of warlocks to destroy witches?" quipped Piper.
Phoebe scowled at her sister. She grabbed a cushion off the sofa and with unerring aim threw it at Piper. It should have hit her except that Piper froze time and moved out of the way before restarting time, with a huge grin on her face. It was wiped off seconds later when the cushion hit her anyway.
"Cheat!" accused Prue, who'd made sure the cushion hit her sister.
"Can't blame me for trying," said Piper, "Anyway you mentioned a legend?"
"Yeah, come on Prue, tell us," demanded Phoebe.
"It's called the Sceptre of Kumesh," began Prue, "It's a sceptre from 6th Century BC Babylon. The legend runs it belonged to a Babylonian king called"
"Kumesh" interrupted Piper and Phoebe.
"Kumesh," confirmed Prue, as she continued, "Anyway, in those days there were a lot of rivals for the throne. Most kings reigned for less than two years before getting assassinated."
"I think I can guess," interrupted Phoebe again, "This guy didn't right?"
Prue scowled at Phoebe and with a flick of her finger sent a cushion flying to hit her youngest sister, "If you want to hear the story," said Prue in her best mummy- talking-to-naughty-daughter voice, "you must stop interrupting."
Piper and Phoebe looked at each other, and each threw a cushion. The cushions flew straight towards Prue before doubling back and hitting their respective throwers. "Now who's cheating?" asked Piper.
Prue smiled, and continued, "Anyway this Kumesh, as Pheebs guessed, reigned for longer than two years. A lot longer. More like two hundred. The legends say it was because of the Sceptre. It extended his life and protected him. Some versions say that he used it to kill his rivals before they could kill him, taking their life to extend his own."
"Nice story," commented Piper, "But totally unbelievable!"
"Oh I don't know," said Phoebe, with a grin "About as believable as the story where the youngest sister goes to an interview and gets the job."
"You got a job?" asked Prue, "Now THAT'S unbelievable!"
* * * After they'd stopped teasing her, Prue and Piper congratulated their younger sister and insisted they went out the next day to celebrate. Besides, Piper said, they'd not gone out anywhere together and had some serious fun, since Andy's death and the last thing he'd want was for them to mope around the house forever. All they'd been lacking was an excuse and Phoebe's success was the perfect one.
They'd spent the day out on the town, browsing the mall; with Phoebe buying some "clothes essential to her job". As usual she put them on Prue's credit card, with another promise to pay her back. They'd gone the park and just chilled out, with an ice cream before taking in a movie, and then to a great restaurant for dinner and finally a cocktail bar for a few drinks.
They finally arrived home about 9pm having had a great time. All three sisters were laughing and joking as they pulled in to the driveway.
"And that bit when she crept up behind him." Phoebe stopped mid sentence, as she saw the house. The front door was wide open and the lights were on. The sisters quickly got out the car and went into the house. Their first thought was to check the attic. They thundered up the stairs, into the attic. To their great relief, the Book of Shadows was on its lectern in the centre of the attic where it always was.
Now she was sure their most valuable possession was safe, Prue calmed down and went into practical mode.
"Phoebe, call the cops. Piper and I'll take a look around to see what's been taken."
Phoebe nodded and went downstairs to use the phone while Piper and Prue surveyed the house. Morris arrived five minutes later.
"I was on my way here; we've got a lead on the robbery, so I told Control I'd handle your burglary. What's been taken?"
"That's just it," answered Prue, "As far as we can tell, nothing."
Morris examined the front door. "Well I'd say it's been forced with a crowbar, and the way the woods splintered, it took him some effort. Why go to all that trouble if you're not going to steal anything?" He looked at Prue. "This doesn't add up, just like the other one. Why is it you three always seem to be involved in these cases?"
The sisters looked at each other, "Luck," suggested Phoebe.
"Yeah, right," Morris replied sardonically, "I'll go ask the neighbours if they saw anything."
As he turned to go, Prue asked, "Darryl, the docks, you said you'd found something?"
"Yeah," confirmed Morris, "A dockworker said this tall blonde guy had been hanging around the docks the day of the robbery. He asked the dockworker which boat had the antiques on it." With that Morris went to see if the Halliwells' neighbours had seen anything.
A thoughtful Morris returned from his interviews with their neighbours. "No-one saw much he said, except that Mrs Leiderman did see a tall blonde man, knock at your door, around 2pm, but you didn't answer."
"We were out all day," replied Piper.
"I like this less and less," mused Morris, "We can place a tall blonde male at the scene of two crimes that don't make any sense, and surprise surprise, you're somehow connected to both of them. You haven't annoyed anyone lately have you?"
"No-one that's alive," said Phoebe without thinking. Both of sisters scowled at her and Morris looked at her quizzically. "Joke!" explained Phoebe.
No one smiled. Morris turned to go saying, "If I come up with anything, I'll call. Meanwhile, if you spot anything is missing call me, and watch your back, especially for tall blondes."
When he was gone, Prue turned on Phoebe, "All the stupid things you could say, and you come out with "no-one that's alive."
"Calm down Prue," said Phoebe testily, "I don't think he's going to arrest us just because I've made one of my dumb remarks."
"Yeah, but we have to be careful," said Piper, the calming voice of reason.
"OK Sis, I'm sorry," apologized Phoebe.
"He had a point. We quote annoy unquote a lot of people. Any of them still able to come after us," asked Prue thoughtfully.
"Well as we mostly, fry or disintegrate them," replied Phoebe flippantly, "I'd say no. Anyway we'd remember killing a tall blonde warlock." Phoebe noticed that Piper seemed to be bothered, "Hey Piper, what's up?"
"I've an idea who it is," answered Piper, "There was a tall blonde haired warlock. And we didn't kill him, although you wanted to. Remember?" she asked her younger sister.
Phoebe suddenly looked very uncomfortable; she didn't care to remember that particular adventure. "But he's got no powers. We switched places so he lost his power instead of us.
"So! You don't need powers to be dangerous," recalled Prue, "You remember Max, the bad guys there weren't warlocks and that didn't make them any easier to take down."
"OK," conceded Phoebe, before continuing, "So, we have an idea who's after us, we know he probably stole the Sceptre, we're sure he broke into our house," she summarized, ticking the points off on her fingers, "Question now is what does it all add up to?"
Piper yawned, "It's late," she said, "My brain's shutting down, we'll all think better in the morning."
Expressing their agreement, Prue and Phoebe joined their sister and went upstairs to bed.
* * * They found out what had been taken the next morning.
"Phoebe, have you borrowed my hairbrush?" shouted Prue.
"No, In fact I was about to ask you the same thing," Phoebe yelled back.
"Mine's gone too," Piper shouted.
They headed downstairs, hair unbrushed. After Prue grabbed her usual coffee, the conference began. "Looks like we found out what he took," said Prue. "I don't get it. What the hell does he want with our hairbrushes? It doesn't make any sense. Darryl's right. Why does this weird stuff always happen to us?"
"Goes with the territory, I guess," smiled Prue, "We're the Charmed Ones. We protect the innocent, vanquish demons and warlocks and have weird stuff happen to us on an almost daily basis."
Piper laughed, and then looked at Phoebe, who was deep in thought. "Pheebs."
Piper jumped, startled out of her reverie, "Huh."
"Care to join the discussion," teased Prue.
"Oh sorry, I was just thinking. I know why he stole the hairbrushes," explained Phoebe, "You know I was into this occult stuff, even before we were witches, and I've read a lot of books about it. Anyway, point is that if you have something that belongs to someone, a piece of their clothing, drop of blood, their hair, you can do spells on them. In fact it's magic so old, it barely counts as magic anymore."
"What sort of spells?" asked Prue quietly.
"Well, the classic is the wax doll, that's wearing or got something belonging to the victim in it, you stick in a pin and the victim feels the pain, but that's small fry. If you're good enough and know all the rituals you can control people."
Prue and Piper looked at each other horrified, "So what you're saying," asked Prue, "Is that this guy, if he knows all the right spells and stuff, can make us do what he wants?"
Phoebe just nodded.
"What are the chances of that?" asked Piper
Prue thought for a moment, "He was a warlock, even though we took his power, he'd still have the knowledge. If he knows enough to steal our hairbrushes, he probably knows all the spells he needs."
"We've got to find him and fast, before he uses whatever spell he's mixing up on us," said Piper.
"How?" demanded Prue, "You having premonitions as well, nowadays, because unless you are, we don't have a clue where he is!"
"Yes we do," replied Piper. She held up a matchbook. I found this in my room. He must have dropped it on the floor. It's got an address on. A warehouse down on the Docks.
"I don't like it! Too easy!", said Prue, shaking her head, "Clues don't just pop up. Life isn't like that. That sort of stuff only happens in the movies. It's a trap!"
"So now you're having premonitions?" countered Piper.
"No, It's just too convenient. You remember this guy. He was smart. He wasn't dumb enough to drop a matchbook giving us his address."
"Not that smart! We beat him, remember?"
For once, Phoebe found herself in what was usually Piper's position and didn't like it one bit. "Look, I agree it probably is a trap," Piper, started to say something, but Phoebe carried on, "But I reckon we have to check it out. If it's a trap we'll spring it and throw it right back at that damned ex-warlock. We've walked into traps before and we're still standing here. arguing."
"I hate it when our younger sister talks more sense than us," Prue told Piper.
"Especially when she's right," agreed Piper, as she got the keys to the Jeep.
* * * They pulled up outside a warehouse on the Docks. The sisters climbed out of the Jeep and walked towards the entrance. Prue tried the door. It was unlocked. She took a deep breath, "Ready?" she asked.
Piper and Phoebe nodded. Prue opened the door and the three sisters entered the warehouse. They'd barely stepped inside when they heard the door shut and a second later the locked clicked.
"I can't believe I netted the Charmed Ones so easily."
The Halliwells turned. Standing by the door was a tall blonde man, the warlock whose powers of teleportation they'd taken. He started walking towards them. Prue waved a hand, to throw him across the warehouse but nothing happened. Prue looked at Piper who attempted to freeze time but Paul just kept on walking.
"Your powers have no effect on me," explained Paul, "I've mixed up a little spell that makes me invulnerable to a witch's power." He smiled, "Quite an easy little spell actually, take two crushed nettle leaves, sage, and rosemary and boil in pure water to which you add the hair of the witch or witches you wish to be invulnerable to. Strain the water. Drink it down. Et voila"
"What do you want," asked Prue,
"What I wanted the first time. Your powers. They'll do nicely to replace my own. Seems fair. You took mine so I'll take yours."
"Don't see any magic circles or candlesticks," observed Piper, "And it's nowhere near midnight."
"Oh I've something better than that. Heard of the Sceptre of Kumesh?"
"So you did steal it," said Prue.
"Guilty," grinned Paul, "You probably know the legend?" Prue just nodded as Paul continued, "Well, it's true, the ruby in the Sceptre isn't a ruby. It's a piece of brimstone, straight from hell." The ex-warlock suddenly laughed, "Sucks the life-force out its victims and gives it to whoever holds it. But the best part is that if you use on it a witch it not only takes their life-force," gloated Paul, "it takes their powers. Your powers and your deaths all in one." Paul had walked over to Phoebe and was standing by her. "But first on a more personal note, I owe you for a run-in with a baseball bat!" He swung his fist and slammed it viciously into Phoebe's jaw, knocking her to the floor. Paul turned and walked into a small office to get the Sceptre.
Piper helped her sister up off the floor. As she did so, Phoebe had a premonition; she gripped Piper's hand so tightly it hurt. When the vision passed, Piper freed her hand and shook it to get some life back in it.
Phoebe looked puzzled. "What's up? What did you see?" asked Prue
"The most stupid premonition ever," replied a confused Phoebe, "I saw the past, but I don't get it. It was just you and Piper talking about souffles. She was telling you not to slam the door and then..."
"I've got it," exclaimed Piper triumphantly, "After that I said if you turn up the temperature too high they explode. That's what we have to do!" Seeing her sister's blank looks she continued, "What we do is we don't just let that ruby or whatever it is take our powers, we give it them."
"What?" demanded both Piper and Phoebe together.
"Listen, we have to force into that thing as much power as we can, so much that it can't take it and explodes. Just like a souffl‚ with the oven too high. And with a bit of luck it'll take Blondie with it."
"One thing," asked Phoebe, "We've never tried using our powers that way. Can we do it?"
"We have to try."
* * * Paul came out of the office, carrying a long wooden box. He stood about two feet away from the Halliwells and placed it on the floor. Bending down. He flicked the catches and lifted something out of the box. He turned to face the sisters. In his hand was an object Prue recognized immediately, even though she'd only seen it in photographs. The Sceptre of Kumesh. Its simplicity was breathtaking. It had no jewels mounted on it or elaborate workings, merely a simple two foot long staff of pure gold crowned by an oval shaped setting with a rayed sun motif, the only concession to decoration, worked into it and in the setting, a huge red stone. Not the bright sparking red of a cut ruby but dull and somehow, malevolent.
Paul pointed the Sceptre at the sisters. Immediately they felt a force, pulling at them, as if trying to wrench them inside out. Fighting their every instinct to pull back, Prue, Piper and Phoebe pushed, willing their powers to flow out of them. The stone in the Sceptre glowed and Paul closed his eyes, his face a rictus of ecstasy as felt the power channel into his being.
The sisters bent their will, trying to force more power into the Sceptre but the stone just continued to glow steadily, despite their efforts. Through gritted teeth, Piper said, "It's not enough!"
Unconsciously, the sisters moved their hands toward each other. As their hands touched, the Power of Three unleashed itself, stronger than they'd ever felt it before, its shocking force bringing the Sisters Three to their knees, almost making them lose their tentative grasp on each others hands, but Piper feeling her sisters' fingers slipping through her own, seized them, clutching her sisters' hands immovably in her own. The stone began to glow ever more brightly, its intensity increasing exponentially. Paul's expression gradually became one of pain. He opened his eyes and looked at the sisters.
"What are you doing?"
"You wanted our powers," answered Prue, "You've got them! More than you ever wished for!"
The sisters pushed a final time, forcing all of the awesome power they possessed into the incandescent stone. Paul screamed in agony. The stone was now so sated with power, it and the Sceptre; along it's entire length, glowed white, like metal heated beyond its melting point. Suddenly, the power flowing into the Sceptre became more than it could handle, and the Sceptre disintegrated in a flash of blinding white light that utterly consumed both it and Paul into nothing. As the stone was destroyed, it surrendered the power it had taken, slamming it back into the Charmed Ones with a force that hurled the three sisters across the room, like a hurricane tearing up a tree, knocking them unconscious.
Piper was the first to recover; she checked her sisters and saw they were both starting to come around.
"Did we whoop his ass?" asked Phoebe groggily as Piper helped her up.
"We sure did" Piper answered her sister.
"Oh, my head!" exclaimed Prue as she got up. She looked round, "We beat him?"
Piper nodded her head, "Yeah, we beat him. One more thing to cross off the Things to Do list"
The sisters smiled at Pipers joke, then a thought struck Prue. She frowned, "You know we came out without eating. Let's have breakfast."
Piper looked at her watch, "Actually, how about lunch?"
"Sounds good to me," Phoebe replied, "I saw a nice looking diner on our way here. Let's check it out."
The warehouse's doors were still locked but couldn't resist Prue's power. The sisters got into Piper's jeep and drove to the diner. They selected a table and sat down. A waitress came over to them. The sisters ordered a main meal but Phoebe fancied a desert as well.
"What's the desert special," she asked the waitress.
"Raspberry Souffle."
