DISCLAIMER: All "Charmed" characters belong to Aaron Spelling Productions and Constance M. Burge.
AUTHOR'S NOTE (Melanie): I've made it so Dan has let the past go and remained friends with the Halliwells as well as made friends with Leo. Dan has volunteered to go along and drive the motor home for them. Andy was asked to come with them to relax and enjoy his vacation, even if it is with his ex-girlfriend Prue, because they have remained friends as well. Phoebe on the other hand is more than just friends with Dan, they seem to really LIKE each other, they have been known to tease each other a lot.
AUTHOR'S NOTE (Andrew): This started off as an interactive fan fic started by Melanie, but sadly it only got as far as Chapter 2, which I did. It seemed a shame to let a good idea go to waste so I asked Melanie if she'd like to co-write. Instead she asked me to finish it. This is the result. Hope you enjoy it. Feedback always appreciated.
Chapter 1
One dark and rainy night, the Halliwells and their boyfriends were driving down the highway in their newly bought motor home somewhere in the United States where they were planning to start their vacations together.
Prue and Phoebe were playing cards and Phoebe was doing very poorly in trying to win at gin rummy. Leo and Bane were fast asleep, which Phoebe couldn't believe for one second that they could sleep through this awful storm. Dan was still awake. 'Boy he'd better be still awake, after all, he's the one who's driving this rig,' Phoebe thought.
Piper was planning their attack in the state of Massachusetts. And finally, there was Andy; the dunderhead was reading those stupid tabloid magazines.
"Andy, do you mind? Stop reading that garbage. You know we hate those magazines. They're all full of lies," Phoebe told him.
"I'm only looking at the pictures," Andy said.
Suddenly they heard a loud bang. The motor home started rocking back and forth as Bane and Leo fell out of their bunks. Luckily they were on the bottom bunks.
"What the heck happened? What did we do hit a building or something?" Prue asked.
They started pulling off of the road and they all looked out the windows to see what was the matter. They didn't see anything wrong until they all got off and walked to the other side of the motor home. They had flattened two tires.
"Oh, just great! Just what we need now," Piper groaned.
Suddenly it started pouring down rain and lightning crossed the dark barren sky.
"Oh, perfect! Just perfect! Now we're standing in the pouring rain with two flat tires," Piper grumbled.
"Boy, it sure was a good thing we stopped in front of this house. Hey! The lights are on, that's a sign that someone is home," Andy said happily.
"Good! Maybe we could use their phone to call a tow truck and get the motor home back on its tires again," Phoebe said.
They started up the long walkway to the house when a streak of lightning struck down way too close to them. Then they heard a tremendous boom. They all stopped and looked behind them. A big oak tree had fallen on their motor home and smashed it right in the middle.
"Well, that takes care of our transportation," Dan said.
As they got to the door they were about to ring the doorbell when the door slowly opened, but nobody had opened it. They stuck their heads in to see if anybody was home.
"Hello! Is anybody home?" Andy yelled.
"Shhhhh. Not so loud, you want to wake up everybody in the neighbourhood," Phoebe told him.
"I'll go back to the motor home and get our things, what's left of it, that is," Bane said.
As they walked through the door and into the hallway the door slammed shut behind them.
"I'm sure that was just the wind that shut the door," Piper said nervously.
They suddenly felt a cold draft blowing in from the windows that were apparently wide open, but strangely, there were bars on the window. They could see that there wasn't much furniture. Bane came in with their stuff and dropped everything and went over and started to make a fire so they could keep warm. They all sat in front of the fire except for Leo who went exploring to find some blankets and hopefully a phone, too. Prue, Piper and Phoebe sat together and talked for a while and played cards. Andy, as usual, was sitting in a chair reading those stupid magazines again.
Dan wanted Phoebe to come with him to explore the house. They went upstairs and looked around. He went to look through the bedrooms. There must have been about six bedrooms. Phoebe walked into one and couldn't find the lights to turn on. When Phoebe finally found the light switch, they wouldn't turn on. She started feeling a little nervous so she left to find Leo. Phoebe walked into another bedroom and squinted her eyes because there was a little stream of light coming through the window. She could barely make out a closet door, or a bathroom. She wasn't sure what it was. When she opened the door slowly, Dan came barrelling out and nearly giving her a heart attack.
"Dan! You jerk!" she said as she pounded his chest, "You nearly gave me a heart attack. One of these days you're really going to get it, you know that!" Phoebe yelled at him holding her chest.
"I'm sorry. I was only trying to have a little fun," Dan said, with puppy dog eyes.
He put his arm around her and started kissing her ear and slowly worked his way down her neck, and then back up to her ears. Phoebe quivered as he took her over to the bed and laid her down as they passionately kissed one another. He slowly moved his hand to her face and touched her so gently. Phoebe was in such ecstasy she felt tingling all over as she began unbuttoning his shirt and pulled his shirt over his shoulders, showing his bulging arm muscles. Phoebe began slowly kissing his chest muscles when all of a sudden Prue walked in and turned on the lights. They both fell out of the bed and quickly jumped to their feet as they quickly picked up their clothes, but it was too late, Prue already knew what they were up to and she started smiling.
"Yeah, I can see what you two were exploring up here. That's not what you were supposed to explore, but you were exploring alright. Okay you two, knock it off now," Prue said smiling.
"How did you turn on the lights? They didn't turn on when I tried it. How did you do that?" Phoebe asked.
"I just threw the switch on. Gee Phoebe, you didn't know how to do that." Prue said.
"The only switch I could turn on was Dan apparently," Phoebe says as she laughs.
"Well, you two lovebirds need to come downstairs. It looks like no one lives here, so it's totally deserted. So, we get to stay the night in the dreary house," Prue tells them as she starts closing the door and snickering.
Phoebe turns to Dan and looks up at him and puts her arms around him and gives him another deep longing kiss. Then she breaks from him and says, "So, what do you want to do, go downstairs or stay up here.... in the bedroom and....you know.... do something else."
Chapter 2
Dan thought about it for a moment. But only a moment. Then he swept Phoebe up into his arms, picking her up as if she were as light as a feather. Then leaning his head forward he kissed her hungrily. Breaking the kiss he answered her question, "Something else."
* * * Downstairs, Leo returned to the front room, having come up empty on his exploration. The house was completely cleared out, no food, and no blankets. The power was on but the fuses were missing from all but the lighting circuit. The rest of the utilities - water, gas, and phones were off, not that there was any phone to use even if it hadn't been disconnected.
"Well," said Piper, "At least we all got our sleeping bags so we won't be too cold."
"Yeah," chimed in Bane, "Believe me we're sitting pretty. I've had it a lot worse in the past, when the cops were after me."
Andy looked up from the tabloid magazine that he was reading, the cop in him surfacing, "Huh!" he snorted, "The most discomfort Mr. Criminal Mastermind ever had was having to do his pedicure himself. You're the worst of type of criminal, Bane. Getting others to take the rap while you rake in the money."
"Ex-Criminal Mastermind," Bane reminded Andy, "I've done my time and I'm going straight."
"Cut it out, before I freeze you both," intervened Piper, before the two mens' comments turned into a real argument. "We've lost our motor home, and we're miles from anywhere stuck in a place out of the Amityville Horror. As a cop and an ex-criminal, you must be used to dealing with the unexpected. So why don't you figure us a way out of this?"
Andy and Bane stood up, snapping to attention and saluting Piper, "Yes Ma'am."
Leo giggled at Bane and Andy's antics earning a cold stare off his girlfriend. The men were saved from any possible revenge attack by Prue's return from seeking Phoebe and Dan
"Find 'em?" Bane asked.
Prue grinned, "Oh, I found them. They were---exploring."
The others grinned. They knew exactly what Prue meant.
"So what are we going to do?" Bane asked.
Andy had finally put away his tabloid magazine. "Oh come on!" he replied, "We're in a creepy house sitting round a campfire. There's only one thing we can do."
Prue groaned, "Oh no, not scary stories round the fire."
"Why not?" Leo asked, "It sounds fun. I never got to do it"
Bane joined in the persuading, "And you ladies have seen so much scary stuff, what could we come up with that could possibly scare you."
Piper grinned, "You've got a point. I think I've got a story that will scare you big tough men. It's a story that proves that the female of the species really is deadlier than the male."
Prue smiled too, "Go on then Piper,"
They sat cross-legged around the campfire. There was an expectant hush and Piper began, "I call this story, She's A Man Baby, A Man."
She never got to tell the story. From upstairs there came a piercing terrified scream.
* * * Dan carried Phoebe over to the bed and gently dropped her onto the mattress. Phoebe reached up, wrapping her arms around Dan's neck pulling him down. His lips met hers, and they began to kiss passionately.
Still kissing, Dan and Phoebe sat up and Dan started to pull her halter-top over her head. Then gently he caressed her, his probing fingers exploring every nook and cranny of her body.
Through the window, barred but open like every other in the house, came a shaft of moonlight. It shined on the dusty, cobwebbed mirror of the bedroom's only other piece of furniture, a dilapidated old oak dressing table that looked as if it could be from the turn of the century, the 19th century.
Phoebe, seeing the sudden light, instinctively tracked it to the mirror, where illuminated by the beam of moonlight, a blurred image could just be made out in the grimy but still reflective surface. It lingered for a moment and was gone.
"Phoebe. Something up?" Dan asked sensing her distraction.
"No" But she was lying. Some instinct, some feeling inside her insisted that something was out of place, somehow wrong. Trying to put it to the back of her mind Phoebe redoubled the passion of her kisses.
Dan rolled, so that now he was lying on the bed with Phoebe above him. As they rolled the youngest Halliwell, caught another glimpse of that blurry image in the mirror. As Dan completed the rollover, she glanced to the opposite end of the room.
Advancing toward the bed that held Dan and Phoebe was a young girl of maybe nine or ten, dressed from head to toe in white. Her long blonde hair was held back by a white ribbon, and she was wearing a white dress that reached to her ankles. On her feet she wore white socks and white leather shoes with a white painted metal buckle.
Yet that wasn't the strangest about her. The girl was almost transparent and Phoebe realized she was a ghost.
Phoebe screamed in terror. But, not because she'd seen a ghost. As a witch it was part of her powers. Both she and her sisters had seen more than one. But this ghost was different. It was the eyes. They were somehow old and did not fit with the innocent face of a child. Phoebe felt their cold, blue, merciless, hate-filled gaze boring into her as the figure advanced on her. In the ghost's hand, looking not transparent but all too real, was a dagger, its long double-edged razor sharp blaze, gleaming in the moonlight as the child's raised hand swept down, the dagger aimed to strike through Phoebe's back, into her heart.
Chapter 3
As Phoebe screamed, Dan looked up and saw the menacing figure. He rolled again, carrying Phoebe and himself away from the knife, which just missed Dan, off the bed and onto the floor.
Footsteps thundered up the stairs and Prue, Piper and the men entered the room at a run. The ghost turned to face the new arrivals, advancing toward them. Piper gestured but the white-garbed figure continued to move towards them. "Prue, Our powers don't affect it," Piper told her sister. "Take the knife from it."
Taking her middle sibling's counsel, Prue gestured, but instead of trying to throw the advancing figure back, the eldest Halliwell, snatched the knife from its grasp. The weapon sped across the room, flying between Bane and Andy. The cop and the ex-crime lord both swore as they felt the wind of its passing.
Prue smiled as she heard their identical curses. It seemed what they said about detectives needing to think like a criminal was right.
"What the hell was that?" asked Andy, after he'd recovered.
"A ghost, I reckon," mused Leo
"But we saw him," objected Bane. "Mortals can't usually see spirits."
"And they're not usually able to hold objects, let alone use them," pointed out Piper. "Which leaves Andy's question. What was that?"
While the sisters, Bane, Andy and Leo were talking. Phoebe and Dan untangled themselves and made it to their feet. Phoebe started walking across the room to the knife, which was embedded in the wall Although she'd only seen it briefly, it'd been up close and personal enough that she'd been able to get a quite a good look. Somehow it seemed familiar.
Phoebe grasped the hilt of the knife, and pulled it from the wall. As it slid free, her eyes closed and her body jolted and stiffened, as she was overcome by a premonition. Usually, they were brief, lasting only moments but not this time. Still in the grip of a vision her tense body, the knife still held in Phoebe's hand, fell almost vertically toward the floor
"Phoebe". Dan shouted as he raced across the room, knowing he wouldn't make it. At his cry all eyes turned to the stricken sister. Prue gestured, holding her sister in mid fall, long enough allow Dan and Leo to grab her, and lower her gently to the floor.
Her breathing was shallow, and she looked peaceful enough, almost as if she were dreaming. Only the fact that her body was tense all over, rather than relaxed gave the lie to the illusion. Then Phoebe, still caught in the premonition spoke, but it wasn't her voice. It was the voice of a young girl. "I can't. Don't make me" came the fearful high voice, as the prone Phoebe shook her head as if trying to say no. "Don't like the cellar"
Prue and Piper looked at each other. Phoebe herself had said that once, but when and why?
The premonition continued as Phoebe tossed and turned, occasionally muttering something in that small child's voice that the assembled group couldn't make out. She looked for all the world as if she were just having a nightmare. But this was more than that. Her sisters and their male companions could only look on helplessly as Phoebe's torment continued.
"No!" The voice was plaintive. "Please, don't make me do this," pleaded Phoebe in that childlike tone. "I don't want to hurt them." Whatever the child didn't want to do, it seemed they were forced to as Phoebe became more and more agitated.
Then Andy saw the knife in Phoebe's hand, gripped so tightly that her knuckles were white. "It's that thing!" exclaimed the detective pointing at the weapon in the youngest sister's grasp. He crossed to her, intent on releasing the knife from her fingers.
"Andy. No!" shouted Piper as he bent down and took her wrist.
Andy looked up puzzled. "Piper, this is your sister."
Piper explained. "We don't how her visions work. If you take the knife you may make Pheebs crash out the premonition. God knows what that could do to her"
Dan turned to his former girlfriend, "We just have to watch this."
Prue nodded, "It's all we can do."
Then Phoebe's movements ceased and she lay stock-still. Her voice when it came was a child's scream, filled with terror and agony. "Mommy, you're hurting me. Stop it. Mommy. Please. Stop. Mommy, It hurts. Mo…." The scream ended abruptly as a new voice spoke, male - low, deep and charged with evil. "You're daughter is mine. Forever!"
Prue and Piper looked at each other. They recognised that voice.
Phoebe sat up with a start. She glanced down at the dagger in her hand, dropping it as if it were burning her. In a shaky voice, but a voice that was hers, she said two words, confirming her sisters' fears.
"The Woogyman"
Chapter 4
"The Woogyman?" asked Leo. "But you vanquished it."
"Twice" confirmed Piper
"So how can this be a demon you've already kicked butt on?" questioned Bane
Phoebe's voice was quiet, but it rang in the room like a hammer striking an anvil. "Whoever said there was only one Woogyman?" In the same soft voice, the youngest Halliwell told exactly had occurred in her harrowing vision.
"Her name was Marie Wilson, and she lived right here, in this house. Her mother was a witch. But something else lived in the house. Down in the cellar. And it tricked Marie into going down and it possessed her."
"At first it just made her rebellious and naughty, but as time went by the evil done through her escalated. Until, one night her sister brought her boyfriend back to the house. Marie, the woogyman, went into her room, this room, where they were kissing on that bed, " Phoebe pointed, indicating the bed that she and Dan had occupied. "And then she stabbed her sister through the heart."
"Her mother finally realised Marie was possessed and performed a spell to destroy the evil and release her daughter. But the spell went dreadfully wrong. Marie was killed, but the Woggyman retained hold of her spirit. It killed Marie's mother."
Phoebe looked up into everyone's eyes as they listened to the tragic tale. "And that's where my vision ended, but the story doesn't end there. Marie's spirit is bound to the place she was killed, this house, and with it the Woggyman. Prue, Piper and I know from the last time, evil wants to spread. So patiently he's waited for someone else to come along. But the story of what happened in the house got around and no one would come near this place except to put bars on the windows so no one could get in. Until now."
Phoebe stopped speaking. Silence filled the room as the group took in what Phoebe had just told them. Finally the ever-practical Piper spoke. "Seems like we need to talk about this. It'd be easier over a flask of tea. Pheebs looks like she needs it. Let's go downstairs."
Downstairs, they gathered around the fire and Piper dug out the flask and some mugs and poured everyone a cup of the steaming hot liquid. Bane donated the contents of his hip flask to those who felt they needed a drink that was more fortifying than tea.
Chugging down his tea with a shot of whiskey, Bane started the discussion, "So he's gonna be after one of us?"
"Yeah," answered Prue, "Then he'll try and turn everyone else evil. It's what happened before."
"Before?" asked Andy.
"Remember when you threw down on our neighbour, and you never knew why?" Piper reminded him. "That was why."
"I say we get out of here," suggested Dan
Prue nodded. "I agree. We've been up against the Woogyman and it took everything we had to put him back."
"No!" contradicted Andy. "Prue, you once told me everything happens for a reason. I believe we got stuck here for a reason. For the Charmed Ones to release Marie Wilson."
Leo turned to Andy, a grin playing on his features. "Hey, you after my job."
Andy laughed, before retorting, "Nah! I hear Whitelighter pay sucks."
The group laughed before once more returning to the matter at hand. Prue looked at her sisters, "Well?"
"Prue, I've been through this," argued an impassioned Phoebe. "Once when it happened to me, and again when I had that premonition. Marie is trapped in it for eternity. We can't leave her."
"We're the Charmed Ones," sighed Piper resignedly. "Andy and Pheebs are right. We can't walk away."
Prue nodded accepting her sisters' decision. "Guys, if you stay, you're gonna be in this with us. You're our friends, and it'd kill us if anything happened to you. If you wanna get out go now."
The guys looked at each other then Bane spoke for all of them, "We wouldn't be very good friends if we didn't back you in a tight like this. We're staying."
"First time, the felon's said something I agree with," joked Andy.
"Ex felon," came the predictable protest
"So what's the plan?" asked Leo.
"It wants someone else," answered Phoebe. "We give it someone."
Dan asked the million-dollar question. "Who?"
Prue and Piper already knew the answer as Phoebe replied, "Someone with a dark side. Someone it'll like better than the spirit of an innocent nine year old. Someone like me."
Chapter 5
"You've got to be crazy!" yelled Bane. "How will you vanquish it if it's got you."
"The same way I did before," answered Phoebe, calmly, seriously.
Leo had heard the story of the first encounter with the shadow demon. "Phoebe, that was more luck by design. You may not be able to," he warned
Phoebe met Leo's eyes, staring into them steadily. "I know," came the sober reply. Turning to Andy she asked, "You carrying?"
Andy nodded, "Yeah but…"
"Good. 'Cause if this all goes wrong, you'll have to shoot me to save yourselves."
Prue smiled at her youngest sister, "You sure about this Pheebs. You know what could happen. We could probably think another plan."
"Prue, we've been up against this before. Magic doesn't work on it. This is the only way. If it all goes bad, at least Marie will finally find peace."
Prue and Piper grabbed their sibling into a three-way hug. Then all the guys gathered round and hugged the sisters turning the whole affair into a massive group hug. Finally after breaking it up, Phoebe emerged from the centre of the group and asked, "Where's the cellar?"
Leo pointed silently. Phoebe took a deep breath, turned and walked from the room.
* * * Phoebe stood in the cellar. In the middle of the room was a swirling black mass. The shadow demon that Phoebe knew as the Woggyman. She could the evil radiating off it. From nowhere, the ghost of Marie Wilson appeared standing in front of the youngest Halliwell "Why are you here?" she asked in the demon's voice.
"I saw what you did to her. I saw that you want to escape. So let's trade. Me for her"
"You would offer yourself to me in exchange for her release, a girl you never knew, will never know?"
"Yes"
The darkness crept toward her, and it took all of Phoebe's willpower not to turn and run. This was the critical moment. She reckoned she'd have maybe thirty seconds to a minute before he gained complete control. Given a bit of luck she could say the incantation that freed her the first time and then everyone would be safe.
The shadow surrounded her, engulfed her. Phoebe felt it enter her, felt it's power coursing through her seductively. "No," she thought. "Fight it." Exerting her will she began, "I am light…"
She felt the Woogyman scream in her mind, "No" The mist around her thickened as the Woggyman fought to possess her. Phoebe fought back, "I am one…" There was a pause before she finished, "You cannot fight." The voice that completed the line was not Phoebe's; it was deep, low and menacing. It was the voice of the shadow.
* * * Phoebe walked into the front room where the rest of the group was gathered. They looked up. "Phoebe?" asked Piper.
Phoebe smiled evilly. In her hand a knife appeared, identical to the one she'd touched in the bedroom. "What do you think?" Then laughing she continued, "Choices, choices. I don't need to take all of you, which means I can kill some of you." She advanced toward the group, turning the knife in her hand, as if fascinated by the play of light on the blade.
Andy looked at Prue. Prue closed her eyes, hating the decision she was about to make. Opening them, she met Andy's gaze and nodded. Andy pulled his gun, flicked off the safety, pulled back the slide and raised the weapon, aiming at Phoebe.
"No!" Dan shouted, as he ran between Andy and Phoebe blocking the detective's shot.
As Dan ran toward her, Phoebe raised the knife, then drove it out to stab the ex-baseball player. But Dan's reactions were still as good as when he'd played the majors. He grabbed her wrist; Phoebe struggled but was no match for Dan's strength.
Still holding her arm, Dan stared into Phoebe's dark eyes, the mischievous glint they always carried extinguished. "Phoebe I know you're there. You can fight this." Gently he continued, "Come back to me, please. I love you."
He lowered his head toward her and forced his mouth onto hers, kissing her deeply, all the time locking his gaze with hers. Phoebe tried to break away, but Dan held on, continuing the kiss. Suddenly, Phoebe's cold hard eyes softened, and a mischievous glint arose in them. Then Phoebe stopped fighting and started to kiss him back. The knife dropped from her fingers and her arms crept around Dan's neck.
Then Phoebe heard a low and evil voice call her name. Breaking the kiss she turned to see a huge churning maelstrom, black and evil writhing it's way across the room towards her as the Woogyman came to reclaim what it had lost. Dan gripped her hand and Phoebe smiled.
"I am light.
I am one too strong to fight
Return to dark where shadows dwell
You cannot have this Halliwell
Go away and leave my sight
Take with you this endless night."Globes of golden light surrounded the shadow creature, then the whole room was bathed in a pure white light. "Noooooo!" roared the Woggyman then abruptly its protestation was cut off and the demon was finally vanquished.
Then Leo shouted, "Look." He pointed out of a window. Everyone in the room turned and stared in wonder. It was dawn. The sun came up above the horizon, and the darkness faded, the black sky becoming tinged with orange, which turned to red and yellow.
They watched the sunrise, then kicked out the fire and left the house on the hill, walking along the road to reach the nearest town. As they walked, Phoebe looked back and waved. For just a moment, a figure appeared in one of the windows of the old deserted house. It was a little girl, with blonde hair, dressed all in white. Raising her hand she waved back before fading away as if she'd never been.
