The Life and Times Part 1: Magic in the air Chapter 7
"To expostulate why day is day, night night, and time is time, |
Tempus, the Source of all Evil, stood in his Coronation chamber surrounded by minions, guards, red robed lore masters, dark robbed demon's of the upper hierarchy. Tempus never a foolish demon, had gained some wisdom on his ascension to the throne of the Source. He had learnt that rulers must be seen to rule, he had also learnt that nothing should be discussed in these throne room conferences that he had not already decided upon, understood the consequences and concluded what the advantages were to him and therefore all evil.
"So" he said scornfully "you truly believe
this warlock …king " he sneered "seeks to rival the ascension of
anointed source, by stealing witches powers." "It would not be the first time, that a pretender has
tried to gain ascendency by taking the Charmed One's powers " said a small
upper level demon respectfully and safely hidden behind its hood. Tempus swung
his gaze at the demon who fearfully bowed "Warlocks are not known for
their wisdom or respect of the rightful order." The demon whimpered. "It would seem that the powers of the Charmed Ones are
not enough to rule evil." Tempus said." Even those beings, who
temporarily acquired their powers were not strong enough to lead." And
every minion in the Chamber remembered the fate and madness of the Old
Source." The true path to power and glory is to confront one's destiny
" said Tempus "And the destiny for those who chose a destiny to oppose
me is to die" he added. He glanced at the trembling minions and knew some
were seriously contemplating their destinies. "The time for confronting nemesis has passed "
said Tempus grandly " the time for nemesis is gone, so I see no wisdom in
creating a legend for the Charmed Ones which propagates them as a foe worthy and
equal to the anointed Source. The last source grew weak " Tempus continued
with a cultivated sneer:"and became vulnerable to less worthy foes. Leave
the Charmed Ones to warlocks " he told the minions " leave them to
their small games and small foes, and illusions of great magic" he noted
with satisfaction that demons around nodded. One demon finally said in a whimpering tone. "The
Charmed Ones" it snivelled " did defeat the Triad and our brethrens of
the Brotherhood and so many of our brothers in the Great Immolation." And
it shuddered with not a little fear because it had been told to ask these
questions with a promised reward but Tempus was not above retribution should the
scenario not go the way he decreed. "The Charmed Ones were only able to defeat these great
demons because they use demon power, the traitor Belthezor and Belthezor,
whatever else he was " said Tempus with a feigned amusement "was a
great power. He once had a chance to be the Source to lead demons. The Charmed
Ones could only do it with the power of Belthezor." Tempus could afford to elevate long gone demons to the
status of mythological hero when it suited him to illustrate the it was only
through traitors that good had the power to defeat evil. Especially as every
demon knew that Tempus had a policy of no forgiveness. At a hint, a belief, a
glimpse of treason, Tempus had taken to frying demons, and quite a few who were
not traitors just to stress the point. "Belthezor no longer exists so the Charmed Ones have no
access to his power. Leave the Charmed Ones, they are not a worthy foe."
repeated Tempus as the minions admired his wisdom. " Although" added
Tempus "if they take upon themselves to annihilate some our lesser
compatriots who seek to advance themselves. Warlocks" sneered Tempus
"we won't complain." The demons nodded. "My Lord " said one of the red
robed lore masters "one more thing " Tempus acknowledged it "Where do we go, what
do we do then to propagate evil?" it smirked making it clear the question
was set up. "Africa" replied Tempus, knowing full well he did
not appear quite as wise as he hoped and promising retribution on lore masters
when the chance arrived "Africa was the source of life of the earth realm" said Tempus "it can be the source of annihilation of good and the
supremacy of evil in the realm. We use the treasures of Africa and evil will be
rewarded." Tempus not as satisfied with the session as he hoped
shimmered to his private chamber, where a shivering minion told him the demon
was waiting. "You showed great wisdom in council Lord" a dark
robed demon wearing the insignia of the brotherhood intoned as it knelt
to Tempus. "I have noted your work " sad Tempus". "The wisdom of our lamented Raynor " said the
demon who had risen to Raynor's place. It stood up " was that the best way to
win the mortal realm is to take over their businesses, to twist their finances,
to convince them that their existence depends on.. financial domination not
their.. humanity and take control of the mechanisms of that domination. My rat
brothers work well. You have noted my lord," it told Tempus who inclined
his head. "The infiltrations in control of mortal finance markets, and that
the mortal decisions on dealing with poverty, disease and war are all driven by
how their response effects those markets. Mortals who believe their existence
and well being depends on those financial institutions will sell their souls to
those who control them," said the leader of the Brotherhood " As many
have done already." "I note you do very well," Tempus told him.
" It will take time " said the demon who used to be the Time
Lord," but that is an advantage in itself." The leader of the Brotherhood bowed and shimmered. Tempus
rubbed his hands together and allowed a grim smile "Evil advances..well"
he said to himself and felt for a second his evil core sated before the craving
for more returned. The next night, quite late Phoebe and Paige and Piper were
in the attic reading through the Book of Shadows on warlock activity. Leo,
trying to read Plato in Ancient Greek because he thought the nuances were more
easily understood in the original language, sat in the sofa in case they wanted
any advice or interpretation. Phoebe and Paige had already decided this was a
useless exercise because they had to yell at him three times just to get him to
take his nose out of the book. Cole was putting the children to bed as ordered
by Piper. The whitelighter Casper-not orbed in and somewhat patiently
waited for the Charmed Ones to acknowledge him. "What" said Piper looking up " Did you find
anything about these non-existent warlock attacks? " she demanded. "They appear random" replied Casper-not carefully
"There are some things we need to discuss " the whitelighter said very
seriously " the Elders have asked me to bring these things to you." "Okay " said Phoebe brightly. She was sitting
herself on her favourite stool, while Paige sat on the sofa near Leo, making a
somewhat threatening circle of three around the whitelighter who chose to ignore
it. Leo very carefully put his book down and watched the whitelighter. The whitelighter looked at the witches carefully, tactfully
patiently. Piper found herself thinking about darklighters. Paige started
thinking about her last meeting with the supreme commander of the Community
service who called her to his office to explain the error of her ways. "After you problems with Count Fleischer " the
whitelighter explained carefully, the Elders, after some discussion thought that
we needed some information about this warlock to understand what was happening.
We..they" he said carefully "arranged for some witches, in New York to
summon it and ask it some questions about certain things." "Good" said Paige crossing her arms. "They
had no problems calling it." "It had no warning this time" the whitelighter
answered severely. "It had no warning last time" Piper insisted,
defiantly looking at him. " Firstly " the whitelighter told them
carefully ignoring the comment" with some encouragement, this Count Fleischer claimed it
was able to resist the summons from you because it was warned you were about to
summon it. It was adamant that the information was received from here." "That's ridiculous" said Paige "we just
summoned it." "I wouldn't know what you did," said the
whitelighter patiently, carefully " You didn't discuss it with me or any
other whitelighter." "Why on earth would we warn it when we were summoning
it " said Paige. "I cannot think of a reason " said the
whitelighter.. He then took a deep breath " we are also able to discover
that this Count Fleischer is the brother of the warlock Willem that the witch
Clarissa mentioned she saw." "Oh " said Phoebe. "The warlock indicated that he and his brother had
some ambitions to rival the new source." The whitelighter said. Piper started flicking the Book of Shadows. "Not much
about it" she said. "Hasn't stolen powers for centuries. Warlocks
often have ambitions" Piper added. "It means nothing. Having ambitions
doesn't mean having power to match." "The warlocks believed they could do it by acquiring
some source like demonic powers, apparently" the whitelighter told the
witches watching their responses carefully. . "Really " said Piper " he was lying. How
many demons are there that have source like powers. It something they get for
being the source. " "Exactly " said the whitelighter, fractionally
impatient. "According to Count Fleischer before he died, his brother had
located the demon Belthezor, the ex-source, still alive." "Shit " muttered Paige not quite under her
breath. "Making it up to impress the brethren" said Piper
"promise of source like power is always good for a takeover bid in the
underworld." "We know this " said the whitelighter still very
careful " but it appears a power that Count Fleischer..had
acquired and shared with his brother was the ability to recognise the
mortal form of demons. And Willem recognised Belthezor somewhere." "How would he have known Belthezor?" asked Leo in
a flat neutral voice. "Worked with him extensively in his pre source days
apparently " Casper-not answered somewhat shortly, feeling that Leo's term
as the Charmed Ones whitelighter was not wholly without responsibility for the
present difficulties the Elders were having with the witches. "How did Count Fleischer die?" Piper stalling for
time while Phoebe clutched the side of her stool. "Did the witches kill
it?" "Evil imploded it before it could divulge anything
else" the whitelighter said. "Like they did Troxus" said Phoebe finding her
voice. "Perhaps " said Piper. "I have to ask you " the whitelighter said
turning to Phoebe " are you sure you vanquished Belthezor?" He looked
at her bland face smile not quite reaching his eyes. "I'm only asking. I'm
not accusing you " he told Phoebe. "You know," interrupted Cole making them all
jump. He stood at the attic door, leaning against the jamb, smiling without it
reaching his eyes. "When the police say 'I'm not accusing you.' that is
when I advise clients, particularly innocent clients, to start yelling for a
good lawyer." "Know any good lawyers," Phoebe said her eyes
meeting Cole's, her lips shaking tremulously. The smile reached his eyes, the special one he saved for
her. "By co-incidence I just happen to know one" he said coming into
the attic. "This is damned ridiculous" Piper said lifting
her hands and freezing the whitelighter "what do we tell them?" "Tell them the story, you've always told them"
said Leo quietly. "Working with Willem and Count Fleischer, another
little secret you never bothered to tell Cole " Paige asked sarcastically. "I never worked with them," Cole said "or
don't you believe me." "He's telling the truth" said Phoebe who could
tell through their connected auras when Cole lied. "Okay " said Paige. "Lucky Phoebe can tell isn't it " Cole snarked at
Paige. " You won't take my word, even..now." "You keep secrets" said Paige. "Who doesn't?" said Cole. "Cole" said Leo "What are you going to tell
your whitelighter?" he asked the witches. Cole walked over and stood behind Phoebe "In my
experience, a little bit of passionate truth does wonders for making beings
believe a less than truthful version " he volunteered "Unless you want
to tell him the whole truth " he said. "I believe the guardian would have some problems with
that," Leo said quietly. "He would" Cole replied just as quiet. "Unfreeze him Piper " Phoebe said. Piper unfroze Casper not who immediately focused on Cole in
a different position. "Piper froze you while we discussed it" Phoebe
explained as she reached up to touch Cole's hands gripping her shoulder. "I
can only tell you the same story I have always told you " she said to the
whitelighter. "Does your husband need to be here?" Casper asked
almost embarrassed. "Yes" said Phoebe "I need him here. I want
him here" she added. "You know the story. I met Belthezor in mortal
form, and fell in love with him. He tried, he really tried to leave evil for
me." "It can't be done, a demon is what it is born "
said Casper-not almost gently. . "I know" said Phoebe "he was part human and
he tried and he failed. The demon brotherhood dragged him back and he killed a
witch. I went to the underworld to try and 'save' him and I guess at some level;
" she noticed Cole's hand tighten, "he did love me because he saved
me, helped me escape. You know what happened, you know it cost my sister Prue
her life." Caper-not nodded. Leo looked at the floor while Piper and
Paige did not take their eyes off their sister's face. Phoebe continued "He ran, as I understand it, and the
source hunted him. At some point his powers were destroyed and he fell into the
hands of the old cow the Seer. I never did understand exactly what she did but
she used the Hollow to possess his powerless form with the powers, the essence
of the Old Source. " Phoebe put a hand up to touch Cole's face. "I'd
met Cole around the time I met Belthezor and he was there for me when Belthezor
went" she whispered "he asked me to marry him just before we disposed
of the demon form of the old Source. Thought we'd vanquished him. The Source,
Belthezor," she swallowed "took over Cole, it was one of his powers,
he did it to one of Paige's clients, and one of Paige's boyfriends and you know
the rest. He turned me evil, he used me and at one level." Cole's hand
became a vice on her shoulder "He loved me:" she whispered. "And
I " she looked at her sisters "we vanquished him." "I see " said Casper-not almost sympathetically,
almost as if to give Phoebe time to recover, because whitelighters were rarely
interested in discussing magic with non magic mortals he turned to Cole
"Can you remember anything of the takeover?" "Yes" said Cole " I can remember feeling
angry, and frightened and helpless and …guilty, and very relieved when the
girls vanquished Belthezor " he said. "Are you sure you vanquished him that last time?"
persisted the whitelighter. "You know as well as I do how the Elders celebrated,
they felt it, they knew it was destiny. 'Up there'." Leo insisted. "I, we, the Elders know the Old Source was vanquished
for good" said Casper-not and he did not pretend to be patient " Are
you sure Belthezor was vanquished?" he repeated. "Everything evil died that day," Paige said
quietly. "Then why do you think Count Fleischer thought
Belthezor was alive?" the whitelighter asked. "He lied. Never knew Belthezor, wants to convince his
followers he has access to source like powers" Cole said facetiously as the
whitelighter looked at him, clearly not welcoming mortal input. "A witch from the Netherlands confirmed he was telling
the truth" the whitelighter contradicted " A demon called Rastus,
before he was vanquished, recalled working with Belthezor, liasing between him
and warlocks including Willem. We have searched for information on Willem where
we could find it. Usually secondary sources" Casper-not explained.
"You are telling me everything about Belthezor?" the whitelighter said
to Phoebe. "Of course I'm not" Phoebe declared angrily, eyes
flashing "what do want me to tell, you, what it was like to fuck the devil,
how much..the passion, how much he tempted me, how my soul craved to be his
mate, his partner. To be complete with him. How much I cried when I..we
vanquished him. What it felt like to know I was carrying his child. " she
stopped her fingers wrapped like talons around Cole's hands on her shoulder,
head thrown back defiant. "I'm sorry you had to hear that " said
Casper-not, uncomfortable addressing Cole, while Piper snorted in disgust
"we all have to do things we would.. prefer not to in the course of the
battle. I had to ask her." "I know," said Cole. Quietly, gently. Casper-not nodded "I'll go and talk to the Elders
" he said and orbed. "Bloody chauvinistic god damned whitelighter"
screeched Paige " Phoebe's your wife not your property " Paige snapped
at Cole. "Don't act like you have own her." "I don't think I do" said Cole wryly. Phoebe
stuck her tongue out. Leo spun at Cole "You're damned lucky that
whitelighter is so good. He only believed that because he is so
….decent." "I know he believed it" Cole nodded "I felt
his aura." "What the hell are your powers?" Paige demanded
of Cole who ignored her. "And are you sure you didn't work with those
bloody warlocks" she pushed. The smile reached Cole's his eyes " I don't recall
working with either Willem or Count Fleischer" he said " I do recall
working with Rastus. I don't like warlocks," Cole added.