The Power of One - Chapter 5

The Conversion

Alex: “Yeah I know. Luke just told me.”

Luke: “So what are you gonna do?” – He looks at one then the other, directing the question at both of them. –

Alex: “Well, there’s nothing much we can do. You yourself said that there’s no way of fighting The Seers tonic.”

Jackie: “Well what were to happen if we vanquish The Seer?”

Luke: “Nothing much. If it were a spell, that would work, but it’s a poison already running in his blood. The only thing you can do is let him know you’re there for him.”

Alex: An idea came to Alex. He remembered something he had said about the vampires earlier that day. – “Luke…will we have to…vanquish Michael?”

He didn’t say anything. I mean, what could he say? The painful truth was that, yes, they eventually would have to vanquish Michael. But how could Luke tell them that? So, he sighs deeply and looks down to the floor. He hears Jackie whisper a ‘no’ to herself and he looks up at her face. She stares back at him in such a way that he decides to leave. He orbs to the white-lighter’s plane, leaving Alex and Jackie sitting there. When he lands, he curses himself and stands beside a wall, tears streaming down his face.

-------------------- Michael: “Goodbye, mom.”

He blows out one of the candles after getting a goodbye from his mother. After she’s gone, Michael goes downstairs to where Alex and Jackie are sitting. He walks around the couch they are both sitting in and takes a seat opposite them.

Michael: “Luke told you, didn’t he?”

No answer. No nothing. All there was was silence. About a minute later, Alex reaches behind his neck and takes of his chain, the one with the crucifix, and throws it to Michael, telling him to put it on. Before the chain has a chance to hit Michael, Alex freezes it in the air. Afraid to touch it, he reaches for it slowly then grabs it quickly. Half scared his neck will ignite and half worried that even this will not help him, he undoes the hook and puts on the chain.

Michael: “So…what do we do now?”

Alex: “We keep on living, vanquishing demons as they come. We just keep on going.”

Jackie: “Alex, we can’t just ignore it and hope nothing happens.”

Alex: “So then what do we do? What else can we do?” – Nobody says anything, proving his point. He goes upstairs into his room and falls on his bed. –

The next morning, things went as usual. Jackie made breakfast before going off to find work. Alex couldn’t stay for breakfast because he was already late for work. And Michael stayed by himself…probably until the middle of the day. For a few minutes there, it all seemed normal. But when no one was around and Mike was alone, the worry and all the other feelings that turning evil brought up came back.

A week later, Jackie returned home early from her ever-going job search. She had encountered a demon at the place she went to apply and left her interview with the excuse that something had come up. She got home, called Alex telling him to come home, and ran upstairs with Michael to check the Book Of Shadows for information on the demon. It turned out to be a banshee.

Jackie: “Just a vanquishing spell. All we have to do now is find it.”

Using the scrying crystal, they found the banshee in a warehouse. Luke, who wasn’t around as much, orbed them there. The banshee was in the middle of a kill. Her talons were at a woman’s throat as she fed from the woman’s pain. They cornered the banshee. She let the woman fall to the floor and Luke orbed her to the manor. The banshee gave off a loud screech that stopped them from doing anything. She went to Jackie and put her talons to her throat and slowly raised her up. As Jackie screamed, the banshee fed; almost as if she breathed in Jackie’s pain. Michael yelled at the banshee to stop, not really thinking it would have much of an effect. But it did. The banshee looked at Michael while slowly putting Jackie down. Jackie fell on her knees holding her hands on her neck trying to stop the blood and pain. Smoke covered the banshee and she left.

Alex: “LUKE!!”

A few seconds later, Jackie was on the floor unconscious. When Luke arrived it looked as if she had stopped breathing only to be breathing lightly.

Michael: “Can you go on?”

Jackie: “Yeah…I can go on.”

Using the crystal, they scribed again for the demon and found her in the nearby park. She half moon was attacking a man. After feeding from his pain the man became surrounded by fire and turned to ashes. After cornering the banshee and freezing her, they vanquished her.

Charmed Ones:

“The piercing cry that feeds on pain,
and leaves more sorrow than a gain,
shall now be heard by one who seeks,
to stop the havoc that it wreaks”

And it was gone, surrounded by fire and into the ‘graveyard’, the place where all vanquished demons go, waiting for a new Source to revive them. Alex walked over to where the ashes fell and found a charm similar to the triquetra, putting it in his pocket without Michael or Jackie seeing him. Luke orbed them back to the manor. Alex went into the attic to research the charm and discovered it was the tri-creasant.
The Tri- Creasant
The tri-creasant is a group of witches dedicated to the destruction of first and second level demons. Respected by the elders for their achievements over The Dark Priest, Pegrince, and the demon, Melchior, The Tri-Creasant witches are prophesized to be the ruling power in the thirtieth Century. He put the book away and the charm in the trunk and went to sleep. And that’s how things went. Every so often there would be a new demon that they would vanquish. Days turned into weeks, weeks into months. Luke was seen more often, now that it was getting closer. It had been a good six months after the poison was inflicted. And Michael could feel the evil already there, trying to take him over. Jackie had found a job with flexible hours and due to a fire at where she worked, they had given them all a pay-leave until the floor she worked in was up and running again. Alex was promoted after helping out on a case social services had been working on and also had flexible hours. After all these months, their powers had expanded. Jackie had the power of controlled deflection in addition to the premonitions, Alex had the exploding power in addition to the power to freeze, and Michael had pyrogenism, or the ability to create fire, in addition to the power of external orbing. What had Luke worried was that the power to create fire was a power that only upper-level demons had. It was a Sunday evening. Michael felt the pull of evil stronger still. Deep down he knew that it would be a matter of days before it consumes him all and that if they were going to vanquish The Source, it would have to be today. Michael: “Alex we have to finish this now, before I can’t control it anymore. We have to go vanquish The Source.” Alex: “Michael’s right. We got to do this. It’s now or never.” The three went upstairs to the Book of Shadows to find something on vanquishing The Source but couldn’t find anything. Michael, keeping his distance from the book to avoid being hit by lightning, extended his hand at the book. Michael: “Source vanquishing spell.” The book began to flip its pages, but went from cover to cover finding nothing. In his hands, though, appeared a piece of old paper. On it was the spell used to vanquish the first source, used by the Haliwell sisters so long ago. Jackie: “They must have left it here.” Alex: “Better for us. You think that you can change it around to include some from our bloodline?” Michael: “Yeah. Just give me a sec.” –He scratched out the second line of the spell that had the names of some of the ancestors of the Haliwell sisters and put in four of their own. – “Ok. Got it. So how do we get there?” Luke: “I know where it is. Just follow me.” The four orbed down to the underworld, in search of The Source of all Evil and the three known as the Dark Charmed Ones. When they landed, they were in a passageway. They walked silently to the end of the corridor and saw a guard standing there. Two guards actually. Michael: “I got this.” – He pulled his hand back and then threw it forward. A stream of fire hit the guard and he exploded. – They continued walking only to be met by more challenges. After vanquishing a few more guards, they found the entrance to The Source’s chamber. They were about to open it when The Seer shimmered in front of them. The Seer: “Michael. You come to destroy your liege?” Michael:“He isn’t my liege. Now get out of my way.” – He threw fire at her but she didn’t die. The fire had no effect on her. – The Seer: “Feels good, doesn’t it? To be more exact, feels evil, free, and powerful. If you would give in, it’ll feel a whole lot better. You’ll have more power than you can believe.” Alex: “Michael, don’t listen to her. Keep fighting.” The Seer: “Why should you? It’s eventually going to get you. You might as well give into it. With that extra power, defeating The Source will be easier.” Jackie: “No Michael. Don’t give in to it.” His head was in internal battle, part of him urging him to give in and take all that extra power, and the other part telling him to keep fighting. That second part use to be much louder to him than it was then. And he felt it grow weaker all the time. From her back pocket, Jackie took out the vial that had the Seer Vanquishing Potion in it. Michael: “All right. Fine. I’ll go with you.” The Seer: “Wise choice. Follow me.” When The Seer turned around Jackie through the potion at the floor next to her feet. There was a loud spark and The Seer was surrounded by fire. She began to decay slowly, every second that past she grew older until she fell to the floor as a pile of bones. Then a blue light surrounded them and the bones became ash. Michael: “That was to close. I think if we didn’t vanquish her, I would have gone.” Alex: “But you didn’t. And you won’t. Hopefully the toxin will wear off if we destroy The Source.” They entered the chamber and found it empty. Jackie:“They’re here. I could feel it.” Michael: “Well if he’s here, the vanquish will work even if we can’t see him, right?” Alex: “Yeah except now he knows we’re going to vanquish him. Keep your voice down.” Across the room, two pillars of fire appeared. When the fire died down, Phoebe Haliwell and The Source, or Cole Turner, stood there. Cole: “So you’re here to vanquish me, are you? Too bad that requires the power of three.” Michael: “We have the power of three. I don’t belong to you yet.” Cole: “Oh but you will. At 11:59, five minutes from now, you’ll breathe your last breath as a good witch, because at midnight the toxin would have consumed you all. And then… you will belong to me.” Michael: “I’ll kill myself first.” He threw fire at The Source and at Phoebe. She threw some of her own to stop the stream coming towards her. Cole put his hand up and the fire redirected itself and hit a wall. Paige and Piper, Phoebe’s sisters, appeared standing next to them. Paige raised her hand and brought it down in a quick motion. Lightning struck the ground where Alex and Jackie were standing. Piper put her hands on the floor and ice began to form moving forward until it met Alex’s foot. They became surrounded by ice, which kept rising. When they were at his knees, he used his powers to speed up the molecules of the ice, causing it to melt and give way. Piper swung her hand at Jackie, throwing a couple of ice energy at her. She absorbed them and redirected them at Phoebe. She levitated and from the air threw more fire. Michael shimmered out of the way, also a power only used by warlocks. He reappeared next to the wall with a sword. He threw it forward in an orbed form and it pierced through Cole, injuring him pretty badly. He pulled the sword out of him and dropped it to the ground. Paige went over to him, and used her powers to heal the wound. Michael swung his hand again at Piper and sent her flying to the wall behind her, knocking her unconscious. With all four of them either distracted or hurt, Alex and Jackie went to Michael so that they could use the spell to vanquish The Source and the sisters. Michael took the paper out of his pocket. Alex: “We have about a minute to do this.” Jackie: “So lets do it then, before time runs out.” Alex:“Prudence, Patricia, Penelope, Melinda” Jackie: “Althea, Andrea, Connor and Zane” Michael: “Haliwell and Rowe stand beside us” – It happened. – All Three: “Help rid these evils through suffering and pain.” An immense light surrounded Cole. He pulled Phoebe down to him and kissed her saying, “I’ll love you forever.” The light seemed to compress on him and he exploded. Phoebe stayed there kneeling. But she wasn’t crying. Even though they did love each other, she could not cry for him. Paige threw some more lightning, which Jackie caught and threw back. Phoebe got up and threw fire at Michael. He held his hand in front of him and the fire deflected and hit a wall, another ability only used by upper level demons. Jackie: “Why didn’t it worked? The spell should have vanquished them all.” Alex looked at Michael and saw the darkness in his eyes, felt the darkness surrounding him. Alex: “Because it wasn’t a power of three spell.” Jackie: “What?” Phoebe looked at Michael and saw the fire in his eyes. Phoebe: “Your brother turned during the spell.” Jackie: “What do you mean?” Alex: “Exactly how you heard it. Michael is a warlock; a Dark Charmed One.”