AUTHOR'S NOTE: this is my first try at fan fiction and feed back (good or bad) is welcome.
DISCLAIMER: These characters are not mine (except for Jared) I am simply borrowing the others.
The pounding of footsteps against the sidewalk bounced off the alley walls and echoed through the black night. A lone figure ran frantically down the empty alley, panting heavily. When his tired form reached a chain link fence, he brought his frantic pace to a stop.
The moon cast a pale glow upon the figures ghastly features. The grizzly features could only depict the creature as a demon. His tough skin was covered in strange markings. His fangs hung down past his chin, a blanket of fur covered his back.
A rustling behind the fence caused the demon's head to jerk up. His breathing was still heavy, and his yellow eyes darted wildly to find the source of the noise. The rustling came again from the darkened corner. Finally, a fat, grey rat emerged and scampered away into the darkness.
As the demon let out a sigh of relief, a shadow cast itself over him. The demon turned around and let out a strangled cry as a large sword penetrated his chest and sliced the demon's form in two. A menacing laugh echoed through the night as the body fell to pieces and vanished.
* * * Phoebe bounced downstairs and made her way into the kitchen. There, Prue, Piper, and Leo greeted her. Prue sat reading the morning paper, drinking a steaming of coffee while Leo and Piper talked to each other.
"Good morning!" Phoebe chirped as she made her way to the cupboard and pulled out a box of cereal.
"Morning." Prue stated without even looking up from her paper.
"Morning Pheebs. How'd you sleep?" Piper inquired as Phoebe sat down.
Phoebe shoved a spoonful of cereal in her mouth and gave a shrug of her shoulders. When she managed to swallow enough to talk, she gave a better answer, "Okay I guess. I had this weird dream about this guy running down an alley. I never saw his face, but I did see him get ripped in half." Phoebe again shrugged her shoulders and shoved another spoonful of cereal in her mouth.
Piper looked up at Leo, "Do you know what that means? I mean, do you think it could be a premonition or something?"
"I'm not sure. It could have just been a dream, people do have those you know." Leo responded with a sly smirk. Piper playfully smacked him on the arm.
Leo laughed a little and then looked up, "Well sorry to up and leave, but they need me." He explained although there was no need. With a quick kiss to Piper and a small wave, he orbed out.
"So, what are everyone's plans for today?" Piper questioned her two sisters.
"I have to go photograph the manager of some new store, something about it being the newest, hottest, style for business." Prue informed her sisters.
"Oh really?" Phoebe said with a smirk, "Sounds like fun. What about you Piper?"
Piper sighed and took a moment to think. "I think I need to head down to the club. I have to interview some guy for a bartender position." Piper looked over at her younger sister, "What about you?"
Phoebe sat munching away, "I don't know, I guess I just have to see if anything comes up."
"Well, let us know if something does pop up. I have to get going." She got to her feet and called out an "I love you," as she head out the door.
"I guess I should head down to that store. Want to come along?" Prue asked Phoebe who shook her head. Prue's jaw dropped, "Oh my God. Are you feeling okay? Maybe we should get this on record, Phoebe Halliwell does not want to go shopping." Prue said mockingly.
"Oh, shut up." Phoebe responded with a light shove. Prue left laughing. As she got onto her car, she didn't notice the shadow making its way into the Manor.
Phoebe heard the door shut. Thinking that Prue had forgotten something and was coming back, Phoebe made her way to the door. What greeted her there was not Prue.
Standing before her was the large, twisted figure of a demon. Its back was hunched and spikes lined its spine. The lower jaw jutted out and was lined with sharp teeth.
The demon snarled but made no attempt to advance on Phoebe, so Phoebe took the situation into her own hands. With a short yell, she launched her foot into its stomach. The demon grunted and stumbled back.
Prue walked into the house, "Pheebs, I forgot the address…" She called out. Just then, Phoebe flew at her and landed in a heap at her feet. The demon slowly walked after her.
"Oh!" Prue exclaimed as she threw the demon into a wall. "Pheebs, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I think so." Phoebe said, struggling to get to her feet. "What do we do about this thing? Should we call Piper?"
"Wait!" The demon exclaimed. "I don't want to hurt you. I need your help."
Phoebe laughed out loud at this, "So you come in here attacking me? Way to get on my good side." She spat.
"As I recall," it said calmly, "it was you who attacked me." The demon slowly rose to his feet. "Now, will you hear me out?"
* * * Piper was just finishing up the interview when the phone rang. "Just a minute." She told the young man as she went to answer it.
"Hello?"
"Piper, it's me." Prue said into the receiver. "Um, we kinda need you to come home."
"Why?"
"Uh, we have a little demon problem." Prue explained.
Piper let out a sigh, "Okay, I'll be there as soon as I can." With that, she hung up the phone, "We never get a day off." She muttered to herself.
* * * Piper's jeep screeched to a halt in the driveway. Piper jumped out and ran to the front door. There, Prue and Phoebe, who held an ice pack to her head, greeted her.
"Wh-what happened? Are you okay Pheebs?" Piper asked confused.
"I'm fine." Phoebe said, trying to calm down her sister. "Now, we need you to meet someone." Phoebe and Prue parted to reveal the large demon.
"Whoa!" Piper exclaimed, "What the hell is that?"
"Piper calm down. This is Jared, he needs our help." Prue explained. Before she finished, Leo orbed in.
"You guys, we have a problem." He stated.
"We know." Phoebe answered as Leo observed Jared. "Care to fill in the blanks?"
"Okay, apparently a warlock released a demon called Alastor. Alastor is a cruel demon also known as the executioner. Now, it was supposed to kill who the warlock said, but as far as I know, the spell was said wrong and now Alastor is going around killing any demon he has a grudge against." Leo explained. He then turned to the demon that was standing next to the sisters, "You were the next on his list. Phoebe, your dream, it was of a demon being killed."
"Good old premonitions." She retorted.
"So how do we get rid of this executioner thing?" Piper questioned.
"There should be a spell in the Book of Shadows." Leo offered.
"Yes, but how do we get him here?" Prue asked.
"He'll come after you." Leo said pointing to Jared, "He wants you next."
"Well aren't I just the loved one." Jared grunted.
"Well, off to the Book of Shadows." Piper announced.
* * * The group stood around in the attic as Phoebe examined the book.
Piper finally turned to Jared and asked the question that was on everyone's mind. "So, what did you do to piss this guy off. I mean no offense, but Jared isn't really a demonic name."
Jared let a small smile cross his twisted features. "I used to be human once. I had made demonology a big part of my life. One of my best friends fell ill, I wasn't thinking too clearly and made a deal with Alastor." He took a moment and stared off into space. "I sold him my soul in exchange for my friends life. Never trust a demon. My friend died and I became Alastor's minion." Jared shook his head and let out a slight laugh.
"I finally got fed up with him. My friend had died, I felt that I owed him nothing. I rebelled, ran. Someone managed to lock him up and I was safe, until now. Now, I am his number one priority because I double crossed him." Jared sighed, "What can you do?"
"I'm sorry." Piper offered sympathetically.
"I got it!" exclaimed Phoebe excitedly.
"Good for you." said a menacing from behind Piper.
Before Piper could turn around and freeze the demon, it grabbed her arms and pulled her away from the others. "I'm not fond of people trying to freeze me." He said irritated. "Now, hand over Jared and I'll let her go."
Jared slowly started to make his way to them, "Just don't hurt her." He pleaded.
"I won't, now come on." The executioner urged.
"No! Jared, don't do it." Piper pleaded with him, only causing Alastor to tighten his grip on her. "Jared don't."
When Jared stopped and turned back to face Prue, Phoebe, and Leo. Alastor let out a frustrated yell and a sickening crunch echoed through the attic as he crushed Pipers arm in his hands.
When Piper yelped in pain and fell to the floor, both Leo and Jared rushed the executioner. They grabbed Piper and pulled her back to her sisters. When they were out of the way, Prue sent the executioner flying into the wall where his head solidly connected, knocking him out.
"Oh my God, Piper are you okay?" Phoebe asked kneeling down next to her sister, who was holding her arm and grimacing painfully.
"I think so, I think it's broken though." Piper managed to say through clenched teeth.
"Don't move it." Prue stated concerned. "Leo, can you do something?"
"Yes, I can." Leo said. No one noticed the movement behind Leo as his hands began to glow. Before Leo could place his hands on Piper, Alastor backhanded Leo and sent him flying across the room. In a mass rage he picked up Prue before she could throw him again and threw her into Phoebe, knocking them both unconscious. Slowly, he raised his sword over Piper's head. Piper squeezed her eyes shut, bracing herself for the impact, but it never came. When she opened her eyes, she saw Jared standing over her, a sword protruding from his back.
Frantically she crawled for the book and began to recite the spell.
"Executioner you will no longer be,
Disappear from our home,
With this spell I send you,
To a time and place unknown."Alastor's eyes grew wide as he realized what happened. "NO!" He shouted, but it was too late, he began to smoke and exploded into nothing.
Piper ran over to Jared as he fell to the ground. "Jared, you saved my life. I wish there was something I could do." She stated helplessly as tears began to form in her eyes and roll down her cheeks.
Prue and Phoebe began to awaken and looked up to see their sister clutching a dying Jared in her arms. They went over to Leo who also seemed to be stirring and walked up behind Piper.
"Don't cry." Jared whispered when he looked up at Piper. "I'm not scared to die. I'm actually happy. My soul is finally free, I can move on now. Thank you." He whispered his last words as his eyes closed and he disappeared.
Piper broke down crying and Leo kneeled down next to her and cradled her. He looked up at Prue and Phoebe for an answer, but they hadn't seen what had happened either. Both of them kneeled down and held their crying sister, trying to figure out what had happened.
* * * The next night, Piper was working at the club while Stroke 9 played. Her arm was bandaged in a cast, yet, it didn't stop her from working. She was busy making drinks when Prue, Phoebe, and Leo approached the bar.
"Hey, how's it going?" Phoebe asked as she sat down.
"It's going okay, as long as I take the pain killers." Piper said with a smile.
"So care to tell us what happened?" Prue asked curiously.
"I guess. The executioner guy knocked you guys out and right as he was about to kill me, Jared jumped in the way, I recited the spell and then Jared thanked me for freeing his soul." Piper said quietly. Prue leaned across the bar and gave her a hug.
Just then, Darryl approached them. "Hi ladies, Leo, How are you?"
"We're fine Darryl." Prue responded, "What brings you here?"
"What, a guy can't just come to a club for the music and the people?" He asked with a smile, "Care to dance Prue?" Prue smiled and accepted his hand.
"Hey Piper, who's the new hottie?" Phoebe asked, staring at the new bartender.
"Oh, that's Jeff. Why don't you go talk to him, his break is in a few minutes, maybe he'll ask you to dance?" Piper suggested and watched as Phoebe made her way over to him.
"Want to dance?" Leo asked offering his hand.
"I thought that you would never ask." Piper smiled and they made their way to the dance floor, Phoebe and Jeff joined them a little while later. And they all danced the night away.
