The Gemini Chronicles Chapter 4
Series: AMTBR
Title: The Gemini Chronicles
Summary: Torchwood and UNIT deal with aliens. So does the Gemini team... but they also deal with demons. Witches, ex-demons, genetically-altered humans, they all can find a home here.
Primary fandoms: Charmed, Whoniverse
Primary universe: S2U
Chapter 4 - Those High School Days: “Thank you for your powers,” the man said as he pulled the athame from the woman’s body. God, he loved the rush of power; a more potent high by far than that of the drugs mortals took. And, of course, far more addictive. He was as much a junkie for the power as any drug addict. And some small part of him regretted that.
It hadn’t always been this way. Once, before magic was an addiction, it had been fun. It had brought him friends, three great friends. But they had abandoned him. One forsook the magic that had always scared her, retreating into the mundane world of mortals. Another had followed his family’s wish that he walk in both worlds. The third had left in a storm of fury, her mind bent on revenge for all she’d lost. But he no longer needed them. He had loved them, one more than the others, but that was past. Power was his only friend, his lover and all he would ever need from life. But he wanted vengeance. It would be the powers of his false friends he took next.
~ ~ ~
When Cole came in the next morning, he was surprised to find Paula wasn’t alone. Her companion was a tall blond man with mischievous hazel eyes who grinned when he saw Cole. “Cole Turner, right?” he asked, holding out his hand. “Caleb Carnahan.”
“Caleb’s an old friend from Magic School and his uncle works for UNIT,” Paula explained.
“You’re going to need that bigger car soon,” Cole commented. He shook Caleb’s hand and said, “Nice to meet you.”
“Now we’re all here,” Paula said, “I think we’ve got a case. Someone’s killing witches, and I’d guess it’s a warlock or black witch. I’ve got some crime scene photos, and it looks like a power-stealing kill.” She reached into a folder and took out the photos of a brunette in her mid-40s with a rune carved into her forehead.
“Black witch,” Cole said immediately. “Warlocks don’t need the ritual to steal powers; it’s part of their power.”
“Damn,” Caleb said, whistling. Then, to Paula, “He’s good.”
“Hmm,” the redhead replied, studying another photo. “OK, so, black witch. The question is, how do we track him?”
“Check for imprints at the crime scene?” Caleb suggested. Cole frowned. Imprints? He was even more confused by Paula’s reaction. She looked down at her hands, biting her lip and looking painfully uncomfortable.
“I guess we’ll have to,” she said reluctantly.
“OK, what are you two talking about?” Cole cut in, exasperated.
“My other power,” Paula said after a pause. “I’m a tactile psionic. I pick up psychic imprints from the things I touch, and when I touch people, I go so deep in their minds I can’t get out. Hence the gloves.”
“Didn’t you wonder why she had them?” Caleb asked.
“Not really,” Cole admitted. “I figured I’d find out eventually, and I was right, wasn’t I?”
~ ~ ~
Paula orbed with Caleb into the dead woman’s apartment, Cole shimmering in a second later. Paula walked over to the chalk outline of the body drawn on the floor. Pulling off a glove, she touched the space inside the lines with a fingertip, hoping the lessened contact would weaken the strength of her readings.It didn’t, of course. She knew it wouldn’t - she’d tried it before - but she couldn’t help it.
The woman’s name was Julia Easton. She was 43 and had a 12-year-old son and a 15-year-old daughter at Magic School. She was a widow. Which meant her kids were now orphans, the part of Paula’s mind that was still her realized.
She’d seen her attacker head-on. The eyes were black as he chanted some spell in what Paula knew to be Latin, but as he raised the athame... Julia’s last second in perfect clarity: her killer’s face, strands of brown hair falling into steel-gray eyes, a voice with a Southern drawl as he said “Good night,” and a grin that may have once been endearing but was now sickening.
Paula pulled her hand back on a choked cry. “Oh God. Oh God.” It wasn’t the vision that filled her with horror. She’d seen far worse, both in visions and reality. It was the killer’s identity that was so hard to take, the face that she knew would haunt her for years to come.
“Caleb... It’s Ryan.”
~ ~ ~
“Ryan Hadley went to Magic School with us, the summer program,” Paula explained when they got back. “He, Caleb and I were part of this sort of... mini-clique there.”
“And Gwyn, don’t forget her,” Caleb said in a deadened voice.
“She wants to be forgotten,” Paula said, remembering her dark-haired friend with the lilting accent, whose last magical act had been the brewing of a potion that let her leave their world forever.
“I’m not sure I understand,” Cole said, frowning. “So this guy, the one who’s killing people, is a good witch? Or rather, a good witch gone bad? A Magic School trained witch? What happened?”
“I don’t know,” Paula replied, shaking her head. “I left after Diana died, and then... well, I can’t say what happened after that.”
“I decided to go into the Marines, so I left,” Caleb said. “Gwyn had already gone, and we left Ryan alone. He must’ve gone crazy after I last saw him. I know when I left he was... getting more and more into magic. It wasn’t like you,” he said, looking at Paula, “always studying the origins of magic, learning the nature of it. He wanted more power, he wanted to be the strongest witch alive.”
“God,” Paula said, understanding. “And he became addicted.” Hadn’t she come close to addiction, to being hooked on the power she had? Hadn’t she loved the power trip she got from killing those demons with no more than a thought? Yes. So she understood what must have happened to her old friend. Which didn’t mean she condoned it. But vanquishing one of her best friends was a challenge she hadn’t anticipated.
“What now?” Caleb asked.
“We have to stop him,” Cole said as if it were simple. For him it was. He didn’t know Ryan. He couldn’t remember the boy with the sparkling gray eyes and the grin that made half the girls in the school melt. He had never seen the intense young witch who always wanted to know more, to try everything, to dare to do the spells that the teachers said he couldn’t handle yet. He didn’t know, couldn’t know what this felt like. To have seen her old friend coldly killing a woman, to be that woman, if only for a second... This was why she hardly ever discussed her second power; people didn’t understand what it meant, really meant. And she knew she wouldn’t sleep tonight.
“Maybe we could just strip his powers?” Caleb said hopefully. Paula and Cole just looked at him, and he sighed. He was a soldier, after all, he knew he was deluding himself. “No, I didn’t think so,” he muttered, dropping his gaze. “So, what, we just shoot him, is that it? ‘Cause I’ve got a Glock on me, if that’s what you two want.”
“You’re making it sound like an execution,” Cole commented.
“Isn’t it?” Caleb shot back.
“No, it’s not, exactly,” Paula said. “It’s a vanquish.”
“With a gun,” Caleb said flatly.
“You’re the one who suggested a gun,” Cole pointed out.
“And what would you suggest? A well-aimed energy ball, demon-boy?”
“Whoa, OK, that’s it!” Paula snapped, jumping between the two men. Cole’s eyes had flashed, but he’d restrained himself, probably realizing that Caleb wasn’t sincere, just angry and upset. “OK, stop it, both of you. Cole, you’re right and we both know it. Ryan... we have to stop him. Caleb, don’t take out your feelings on the rest of us. I hate this too, understand?”
He glared at her for a moment, before closing his eyes and turning away from the other two. “You don’t get it, Red,” he said, using the old nickname for her. “I was the last one to leave, I saw that he was getting obsessed. I should have done something!”
“You couldn’t have known what would happen, Cal,” she said, also reverting to an old nickname. “None of us could. Back then... if anyone was going to go round the twist, people would’ve expected it to be me. Remember?” She certainly did, the fury that had made her not care what she did to who, how she’d gone down to the Underworld killing every demon that crossed her path, until she killed the one who’d taken the only mother she’d ever known - until she’d killed an upper-level demon with an active power. That was when the Source’s messenger had made her an offer, and part of her had wanted to take it. But she hadn’t, because... No, she couldn’t think about that now.
Cole wanted to ask what had happened - why would Paula have been the one they exepcted to go crazy? - but didn’t think now was the time to ask. Neither witch seemed particularly forthcoming right now, not that he blamed them. This situation was a painful one for them, that much was clear. But there was something he wasn’t sure they’d considered yet. “Could he be trying to draw you two out? Maybe he’s after you, for revenge. You said you left him, sort of. And if that’s the case, maybe you should be telling this Gwyn to watch out as well.”
“If he can find her, it’s more than I’ve managed,” Paula said harshly. “Besides, she doesn’t have anything to take. She bound her powers years ago.” She didn’t want to think about Gwyn, not when Ryan was the problem. Dealing with one friend’s betrayal was enough.
Standing abruptly, she walked out of the office, going out to her car and leaning against it. She needed some air. Why did it have to be Ryan? And what the hell had happened to the teenage boy she’d known to make him evil? How had the careless flirt become a cold-hearted killer?
She was so lost in thought that she didn’t even sense anyone’s approach. She didn’t know she had a watcher until he threw a potion at her. The bottle exploded at her feet, purple smoke enveloping her. Paula recognized the potion, but it was too late to do anything about it.
Ryan stepped forward, picking up the unconscious redhead. His revenge was starting, and he could already taste its sweetness.
~ ~ ~
“She should’ve been back by now,” Caleb said, frowning. Cole glanced at him.
“You know her better than I do,” he replied. They went to see where she was, and saw nothing but a broken glass bottle near her car. Caleb picked up a shard and frowned at the sight of purple liquid staining his fingers. “Oh shit,” he said.
“What’s that?” Cole asked, coming over for a closer look.
“Basically magical chloroform.”
“Great.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
~ ~ ~
When Paula came to, she was chained to a wall. “What the hell?”
“Hello, Paula.”
She turned her head and saw him. “Ryan.”
“Been a while, hasn’t it? And look what’s happened. You’re playing a female Sam Spade, and I’m the most powerful black witch alive.”
“And you’re proud of that?” she spat, glaring at him.
“Why not? I’ve worked for it.”
“Killed for it, you mean.”
“Of course. But that’s the easy bit. I had to study and train too, Red.” The nickname from his lips was like a slap.
“Don’t call me that.”
“Why not?”
“You’re acting like my friend, and you’re not. Not anymore.”
“Oh, I know that. After all, you left me. You know, what I don’t understand is why you’re not a black witch yourself. We all thought you’d go that way, you know.”
“I saw the price of evil, and decided I didn’t want to pay it.”
“Price? What price? I’ve paid nothing!”
“Haven’t you?” Gold eyes locked on gray, and it was the gray ones that shifted away. He couldn’t hold her gaze, and he resented that. He was in charge here, she was tied up, and he still couldn’t look her in the eye. Because some part of him knew she was right.
~ ~ ~
“OK, so if this Ryan took her, where would he take her?” Cole pressed, for the fifth time.
“I don’t know!” Caleb snapped, throwing up his hands. “I haven’t seen Ryan in years, and he’s insane. How should I know?”
“Because you have to! Because if you don’t, your friend is going to die!” Cole exploded, losing his patience. Caleb gave him a sharp look.
“You like her, don’t you?”
“She’s my friend. Of course I like her. And this isn’t important right now.”
“That’s not what I meant. I think she likes you too, just so you know. But you’re right.” Caleb sighed, closing his eyes. “I don’t know where he’d take her, but I can scry for them.”
He got out a map of the city and a scrying crystal. Then he tied the crystal’s string to one of Paula’s athames and got to work. The crystal circled but did not land. Caleb focused harder. Scrying was not his best skill, but he could do this. If that annoying movement at the corners of his vision didn’t distract him.
“Could you stop that pacing? It’s driving me crazy!”
Cole paused in his movements, glancing over at the irritated blond. “Sure.” He leaned against the wall. “By the way, the crystal just landed.”
Caleb looked down. “Great. Can you shimmer us over?”
“Yeah.”
~ ~ ~
“Not that I’m not grateful for the rescue attempt, but does the word ‘bait’ mean anything to you?” Paula asked dryly twenty minutes later. Caleb and Cole glared at her.
“I didn’t think he was that good,” Caleb admitted ruefully.
When he and Cole had arrived, they’d immediately been hit with a dose of the same purple potion Ryan had used on Paula. They’d woken up later to find themselves chained to the wall next to Paula. Ryan was nowhere to be seen, but the altar with its implements of dark magic was worrying.
When he came back in, Caleb couldn’t keep his mouth shut. “What the hell are you playing at, Ryan?”
“Caleb, Caleb, Caleb. You never did learn to control that temper, did you? I guess not. Pity,” Ryan mocked, his voice cold. “I’m not playing at anything, for your information. I’m very serious about what I’m doing.”
“And that is?” Cole cut in.
“Taking your powers,” Ryan said simply.
“All at once? You can’t do that,” Paula said, alarmed not only because of the threat but because that should be impossible.
“Watch me.” Ryan walked up to each of them, cutting them and letting their blood fall into a black chalice he held. Then he took the chalice back to the altar, chanting over it in Latin. He poured some sort of potion into the chalice and it fizzed and smoked. Smiling cruelly, he lifted it to his lips and drank.
Paula gasped at the sudden pull of Ryan’s magic, a gasp echoed by Cole and Caleb on either side of her. God, it hurt! Her vision doubled and went blurry, her tongue blad as she bit it to keep from screaming. Damn it, she wouldn’t give him that!
But someone was screaming. It took her a second to realize that it was Ryan, his eyes burning red now. He screamed and kept screaming, and Paula noticed that the pain was lessening, that her strength was returning somewhat. She watched, feeling an odd detachment as her earlier statement was proven true - he couldn’t handle the power he’d tried to take in.
The red glow spread from his eyes until his whole body shone a searing red. And then, with one final scream, he was gone. No body, no ashes, just a scorch mark on the floor. And the chains rattled, the enchantments on them gone with the death of their maker. Which meant she could orb out, and Cole could shimmer. A quick spell had Caleb free as well, and a few well-aimed energy balls from Cole destroyed what was left of Ryan’s tools. They left after that; there was nothing else to do.
~ ~ ~
The sky was red at sunset. Paula leaned against the railing on the small bridge, set over a decorative brook in a park. She watched the crimson sky, trying not to think. But she couldn’t help it. She never had been able to help it.
Ryan was part of her thoughts. The boy she remembered, the man he’d become. And so was Gwyn, that childhood companion, the girl who’d taught her what having a best friend meant, who had walked away from all they’d shared. Paula had never forgiven her. How could she forgive that? But how could she not? More than anything, Paula advocated taking your own path in life, doing what you felt was right and letting rules, destiny, and everything else go hang. Gwyn had made her choice, it was what she wanted. Paula had done no more and no less. And... so had Ryan. In the end, good or evil, they had all done exactly as they wanted. And, she supposed, in the end they would all pay, as Ryan had.
There was something else on her mind, though, something she didn’t really want to acknowledge. But it was becoming harder and harder to ignore. Caleb, she suspected, had already noticed, and he’d only been around a day. But then, he knew her too well. Which was both a blessing and a curse.
“You OK?” She turned when she heard Cole’s voice. She really had been preoccupied, as she hadn’t sensed him coming.
“Yeah,” she said, drumming up a smile. He didn’t look convinced.
“It’s all right to not be, you know. You lost a friend today.”
She shook her head. “I lost him a long time ago. And that was at least partially my doing.”
“You’re not to blame for what happened,” he disagreed.
“I didn’t say I was. I just said that it wasn’t just Ryan who left our... our circle, I guess you could call it. Or our coven, whatever.”
“It sounded like you all did, in your own ways.”
“Yeah, I guess we did.” She smiled sadly. “It was all so simple. A, a charmed circle. Not Charmed, with a capital ‘C’, just... We had a grace period, somehow. Four very different people, four very different backgrounds. The only thing we had in common was magic. But that was enough, for a while. And then it wasn’t.”
“Sometimes there can be more than that and it isn’t enough.” He put a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t beat yourself up. You can’t see the future, you didn’t know what was going to happen.”
“No, but I can see people, I can see into them, in a way. But, I guess you’re right, really.” They lapsed into a companionable silence, one that Cole didn’t want to break - it was an unusually peaceful moment for him, after all - but he had to.
“Caleb seems to think I’ve got a thing for you.”
The comment was random, and yet Paula wasn’t surprised. “Does he?” she asked mildly.
“Yeah. He also seems to think you might have a thing for me.”
“Fascinating.”
“I guess you were right about that assumptions thing,” he pressed, not entirely sure what it was he wanted to hear, but knowing that her responses thus far were leaving him frustrated.
“Maybe,” she murmured, not looking at him. Cole frowned, and then walked away, not wanting to deal with this right now.
Paula continued to watch the sunset. Apparently Caleb hadn’t lost the habit of being irritatingly forthright. And, unfortunately, she thought, he wasn’t exactly off the mark. But then, he usually wasn’t. She wasn’t entirely sure what, if anything, she was going to do about it, but she imagined she’d know soon enough. This kind of thing had a tendency to play out, one way or another.
Title: The Gemini Chronicles
Summary: Torchwood and UNIT deal with aliens. So does the Gemini team... but they also deal with demons. Witches, ex-demons, genetically-altered humans, they all can find a home here.
Primary fandoms: Charmed, Whoniverse
Primary universe: S2U
Chapter 4 - Those High School Days: “Thank you for your powers,” the man said as he pulled the athame from the woman’s body. God, he loved the rush of power; a more potent high by far than that of the drugs mortals took. And, of course, far more addictive. He was as much a junkie for the power as any drug addict. And some small part of him regretted that.
It hadn’t always been this way. Once, before magic was an addiction, it had been fun. It had brought him friends, three great friends. But they had abandoned him. One forsook the magic that had always scared her, retreating into the mundane world of mortals. Another had followed his family’s wish that he walk in both worlds. The third had left in a storm of fury, her mind bent on revenge for all she’d lost. But he no longer needed them. He had loved them, one more than the others, but that was past. Power was his only friend, his lover and all he would ever need from life. But he wanted vengeance. It would be the powers of his false friends he took next.
~ ~ ~
When Cole came in the next morning, he was surprised to find Paula wasn’t alone. Her companion was a tall blond man with mischievous hazel eyes who grinned when he saw Cole. “Cole Turner, right?” he asked, holding out his hand. “Caleb Carnahan.”
“Caleb’s an old friend from Magic School and his uncle works for UNIT,” Paula explained.
“You’re going to need that bigger car soon,” Cole commented. He shook Caleb’s hand and said, “Nice to meet you.”
“Now we’re all here,” Paula said, “I think we’ve got a case. Someone’s killing witches, and I’d guess it’s a warlock or black witch. I’ve got some crime scene photos, and it looks like a power-stealing kill.” She reached into a folder and took out the photos of a brunette in her mid-40s with a rune carved into her forehead.
“Black witch,” Cole said immediately. “Warlocks don’t need the ritual to steal powers; it’s part of their power.”
“Damn,” Caleb said, whistling. Then, to Paula, “He’s good.”
“Hmm,” the redhead replied, studying another photo. “OK, so, black witch. The question is, how do we track him?”
“Check for imprints at the crime scene?” Caleb suggested. Cole frowned. Imprints? He was even more confused by Paula’s reaction. She looked down at her hands, biting her lip and looking painfully uncomfortable.
“I guess we’ll have to,” she said reluctantly.
“OK, what are you two talking about?” Cole cut in, exasperated.
“My other power,” Paula said after a pause. “I’m a tactile psionic. I pick up psychic imprints from the things I touch, and when I touch people, I go so deep in their minds I can’t get out. Hence the gloves.”
“Didn’t you wonder why she had them?” Caleb asked.
“Not really,” Cole admitted. “I figured I’d find out eventually, and I was right, wasn’t I?”
~ ~ ~
Paula orbed with Caleb into the dead woman’s apartment, Cole shimmering in a second later. Paula walked over to the chalk outline of the body drawn on the floor. Pulling off a glove, she touched the space inside the lines with a fingertip, hoping the lessened contact would weaken the strength of her readings.It didn’t, of course. She knew it wouldn’t - she’d tried it before - but she couldn’t help it.
The woman’s name was Julia Easton. She was 43 and had a 12-year-old son and a 15-year-old daughter at Magic School. She was a widow. Which meant her kids were now orphans, the part of Paula’s mind that was still her realized.
She’d seen her attacker head-on. The eyes were black as he chanted some spell in what Paula knew to be Latin, but as he raised the athame... Julia’s last second in perfect clarity: her killer’s face, strands of brown hair falling into steel-gray eyes, a voice with a Southern drawl as he said “Good night,” and a grin that may have once been endearing but was now sickening.
Paula pulled her hand back on a choked cry. “Oh God. Oh God.” It wasn’t the vision that filled her with horror. She’d seen far worse, both in visions and reality. It was the killer’s identity that was so hard to take, the face that she knew would haunt her for years to come.
“Caleb... It’s Ryan.”
~ ~ ~
“Ryan Hadley went to Magic School with us, the summer program,” Paula explained when they got back. “He, Caleb and I were part of this sort of... mini-clique there.”
“And Gwyn, don’t forget her,” Caleb said in a deadened voice.
“She wants to be forgotten,” Paula said, remembering her dark-haired friend with the lilting accent, whose last magical act had been the brewing of a potion that let her leave their world forever.
“I’m not sure I understand,” Cole said, frowning. “So this guy, the one who’s killing people, is a good witch? Or rather, a good witch gone bad? A Magic School trained witch? What happened?”
“I don’t know,” Paula replied, shaking her head. “I left after Diana died, and then... well, I can’t say what happened after that.”
“I decided to go into the Marines, so I left,” Caleb said. “Gwyn had already gone, and we left Ryan alone. He must’ve gone crazy after I last saw him. I know when I left he was... getting more and more into magic. It wasn’t like you,” he said, looking at Paula, “always studying the origins of magic, learning the nature of it. He wanted more power, he wanted to be the strongest witch alive.”
“God,” Paula said, understanding. “And he became addicted.” Hadn’t she come close to addiction, to being hooked on the power she had? Hadn’t she loved the power trip she got from killing those demons with no more than a thought? Yes. So she understood what must have happened to her old friend. Which didn’t mean she condoned it. But vanquishing one of her best friends was a challenge she hadn’t anticipated.
“What now?” Caleb asked.
“We have to stop him,” Cole said as if it were simple. For him it was. He didn’t know Ryan. He couldn’t remember the boy with the sparkling gray eyes and the grin that made half the girls in the school melt. He had never seen the intense young witch who always wanted to know more, to try everything, to dare to do the spells that the teachers said he couldn’t handle yet. He didn’t know, couldn’t know what this felt like. To have seen her old friend coldly killing a woman, to be that woman, if only for a second... This was why she hardly ever discussed her second power; people didn’t understand what it meant, really meant. And she knew she wouldn’t sleep tonight.
“Maybe we could just strip his powers?” Caleb said hopefully. Paula and Cole just looked at him, and he sighed. He was a soldier, after all, he knew he was deluding himself. “No, I didn’t think so,” he muttered, dropping his gaze. “So, what, we just shoot him, is that it? ‘Cause I’ve got a Glock on me, if that’s what you two want.”
“You’re making it sound like an execution,” Cole commented.
“Isn’t it?” Caleb shot back.
“No, it’s not, exactly,” Paula said. “It’s a vanquish.”
“With a gun,” Caleb said flatly.
“You’re the one who suggested a gun,” Cole pointed out.
“And what would you suggest? A well-aimed energy ball, demon-boy?”
“Whoa, OK, that’s it!” Paula snapped, jumping between the two men. Cole’s eyes had flashed, but he’d restrained himself, probably realizing that Caleb wasn’t sincere, just angry and upset. “OK, stop it, both of you. Cole, you’re right and we both know it. Ryan... we have to stop him. Caleb, don’t take out your feelings on the rest of us. I hate this too, understand?”
He glared at her for a moment, before closing his eyes and turning away from the other two. “You don’t get it, Red,” he said, using the old nickname for her. “I was the last one to leave, I saw that he was getting obsessed. I should have done something!”
“You couldn’t have known what would happen, Cal,” she said, also reverting to an old nickname. “None of us could. Back then... if anyone was going to go round the twist, people would’ve expected it to be me. Remember?” She certainly did, the fury that had made her not care what she did to who, how she’d gone down to the Underworld killing every demon that crossed her path, until she killed the one who’d taken the only mother she’d ever known - until she’d killed an upper-level demon with an active power. That was when the Source’s messenger had made her an offer, and part of her had wanted to take it. But she hadn’t, because... No, she couldn’t think about that now.
Cole wanted to ask what had happened - why would Paula have been the one they exepcted to go crazy? - but didn’t think now was the time to ask. Neither witch seemed particularly forthcoming right now, not that he blamed them. This situation was a painful one for them, that much was clear. But there was something he wasn’t sure they’d considered yet. “Could he be trying to draw you two out? Maybe he’s after you, for revenge. You said you left him, sort of. And if that’s the case, maybe you should be telling this Gwyn to watch out as well.”
“If he can find her, it’s more than I’ve managed,” Paula said harshly. “Besides, she doesn’t have anything to take. She bound her powers years ago.” She didn’t want to think about Gwyn, not when Ryan was the problem. Dealing with one friend’s betrayal was enough.
Standing abruptly, she walked out of the office, going out to her car and leaning against it. She needed some air. Why did it have to be Ryan? And what the hell had happened to the teenage boy she’d known to make him evil? How had the careless flirt become a cold-hearted killer?
She was so lost in thought that she didn’t even sense anyone’s approach. She didn’t know she had a watcher until he threw a potion at her. The bottle exploded at her feet, purple smoke enveloping her. Paula recognized the potion, but it was too late to do anything about it.
Ryan stepped forward, picking up the unconscious redhead. His revenge was starting, and he could already taste its sweetness.
~ ~ ~
“She should’ve been back by now,” Caleb said, frowning. Cole glanced at him.
“You know her better than I do,” he replied. They went to see where she was, and saw nothing but a broken glass bottle near her car. Caleb picked up a shard and frowned at the sight of purple liquid staining his fingers. “Oh shit,” he said.
“What’s that?” Cole asked, coming over for a closer look.
“Basically magical chloroform.”
“Great.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
~ ~ ~
When Paula came to, she was chained to a wall. “What the hell?”
“Hello, Paula.”
She turned her head and saw him. “Ryan.”
“Been a while, hasn’t it? And look what’s happened. You’re playing a female Sam Spade, and I’m the most powerful black witch alive.”
“And you’re proud of that?” she spat, glaring at him.
“Why not? I’ve worked for it.”
“Killed for it, you mean.”
“Of course. But that’s the easy bit. I had to study and train too, Red.” The nickname from his lips was like a slap.
“Don’t call me that.”
“Why not?”
“You’re acting like my friend, and you’re not. Not anymore.”
“Oh, I know that. After all, you left me. You know, what I don’t understand is why you’re not a black witch yourself. We all thought you’d go that way, you know.”
“I saw the price of evil, and decided I didn’t want to pay it.”
“Price? What price? I’ve paid nothing!”
“Haven’t you?” Gold eyes locked on gray, and it was the gray ones that shifted away. He couldn’t hold her gaze, and he resented that. He was in charge here, she was tied up, and he still couldn’t look her in the eye. Because some part of him knew she was right.
~ ~ ~
“OK, so if this Ryan took her, where would he take her?” Cole pressed, for the fifth time.
“I don’t know!” Caleb snapped, throwing up his hands. “I haven’t seen Ryan in years, and he’s insane. How should I know?”
“Because you have to! Because if you don’t, your friend is going to die!” Cole exploded, losing his patience. Caleb gave him a sharp look.
“You like her, don’t you?”
“She’s my friend. Of course I like her. And this isn’t important right now.”
“That’s not what I meant. I think she likes you too, just so you know. But you’re right.” Caleb sighed, closing his eyes. “I don’t know where he’d take her, but I can scry for them.”
He got out a map of the city and a scrying crystal. Then he tied the crystal’s string to one of Paula’s athames and got to work. The crystal circled but did not land. Caleb focused harder. Scrying was not his best skill, but he could do this. If that annoying movement at the corners of his vision didn’t distract him.
“Could you stop that pacing? It’s driving me crazy!”
Cole paused in his movements, glancing over at the irritated blond. “Sure.” He leaned against the wall. “By the way, the crystal just landed.”
Caleb looked down. “Great. Can you shimmer us over?”
“Yeah.”
~ ~ ~
“Not that I’m not grateful for the rescue attempt, but does the word ‘bait’ mean anything to you?” Paula asked dryly twenty minutes later. Caleb and Cole glared at her.
“I didn’t think he was that good,” Caleb admitted ruefully.
When he and Cole had arrived, they’d immediately been hit with a dose of the same purple potion Ryan had used on Paula. They’d woken up later to find themselves chained to the wall next to Paula. Ryan was nowhere to be seen, but the altar with its implements of dark magic was worrying.
When he came back in, Caleb couldn’t keep his mouth shut. “What the hell are you playing at, Ryan?”
“Caleb, Caleb, Caleb. You never did learn to control that temper, did you? I guess not. Pity,” Ryan mocked, his voice cold. “I’m not playing at anything, for your information. I’m very serious about what I’m doing.”
“And that is?” Cole cut in.
“Taking your powers,” Ryan said simply.
“All at once? You can’t do that,” Paula said, alarmed not only because of the threat but because that should be impossible.
“Watch me.” Ryan walked up to each of them, cutting them and letting their blood fall into a black chalice he held. Then he took the chalice back to the altar, chanting over it in Latin. He poured some sort of potion into the chalice and it fizzed and smoked. Smiling cruelly, he lifted it to his lips and drank.
Paula gasped at the sudden pull of Ryan’s magic, a gasp echoed by Cole and Caleb on either side of her. God, it hurt! Her vision doubled and went blurry, her tongue blad as she bit it to keep from screaming. Damn it, she wouldn’t give him that!
But someone was screaming. It took her a second to realize that it was Ryan, his eyes burning red now. He screamed and kept screaming, and Paula noticed that the pain was lessening, that her strength was returning somewhat. She watched, feeling an odd detachment as her earlier statement was proven true - he couldn’t handle the power he’d tried to take in.
The red glow spread from his eyes until his whole body shone a searing red. And then, with one final scream, he was gone. No body, no ashes, just a scorch mark on the floor. And the chains rattled, the enchantments on them gone with the death of their maker. Which meant she could orb out, and Cole could shimmer. A quick spell had Caleb free as well, and a few well-aimed energy balls from Cole destroyed what was left of Ryan’s tools. They left after that; there was nothing else to do.
~ ~ ~
The sky was red at sunset. Paula leaned against the railing on the small bridge, set over a decorative brook in a park. She watched the crimson sky, trying not to think. But she couldn’t help it. She never had been able to help it.
Ryan was part of her thoughts. The boy she remembered, the man he’d become. And so was Gwyn, that childhood companion, the girl who’d taught her what having a best friend meant, who had walked away from all they’d shared. Paula had never forgiven her. How could she forgive that? But how could she not? More than anything, Paula advocated taking your own path in life, doing what you felt was right and letting rules, destiny, and everything else go hang. Gwyn had made her choice, it was what she wanted. Paula had done no more and no less. And... so had Ryan. In the end, good or evil, they had all done exactly as they wanted. And, she supposed, in the end they would all pay, as Ryan had.
There was something else on her mind, though, something she didn’t really want to acknowledge. But it was becoming harder and harder to ignore. Caleb, she suspected, had already noticed, and he’d only been around a day. But then, he knew her too well. Which was both a blessing and a curse.
“You OK?” She turned when she heard Cole’s voice. She really had been preoccupied, as she hadn’t sensed him coming.
“Yeah,” she said, drumming up a smile. He didn’t look convinced.
“It’s all right to not be, you know. You lost a friend today.”
She shook her head. “I lost him a long time ago. And that was at least partially my doing.”
“You’re not to blame for what happened,” he disagreed.
“I didn’t say I was. I just said that it wasn’t just Ryan who left our... our circle, I guess you could call it. Or our coven, whatever.”
“It sounded like you all did, in your own ways.”
“Yeah, I guess we did.” She smiled sadly. “It was all so simple. A, a charmed circle. Not Charmed, with a capital ‘C’, just... We had a grace period, somehow. Four very different people, four very different backgrounds. The only thing we had in common was magic. But that was enough, for a while. And then it wasn’t.”
“Sometimes there can be more than that and it isn’t enough.” He put a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t beat yourself up. You can’t see the future, you didn’t know what was going to happen.”
“No, but I can see people, I can see into them, in a way. But, I guess you’re right, really.” They lapsed into a companionable silence, one that Cole didn’t want to break - it was an unusually peaceful moment for him, after all - but he had to.
“Caleb seems to think I’ve got a thing for you.”
The comment was random, and yet Paula wasn’t surprised. “Does he?” she asked mildly.
“Yeah. He also seems to think you might have a thing for me.”
“Fascinating.”
“I guess you were right about that assumptions thing,” he pressed, not entirely sure what it was he wanted to hear, but knowing that her responses thus far were leaving him frustrated.
“Maybe,” she murmured, not looking at him. Cole frowned, and then walked away, not wanting to deal with this right now.
Paula continued to watch the sunset. Apparently Caleb hadn’t lost the habit of being irritatingly forthright. And, unfortunately, she thought, he wasn’t exactly off the mark. But then, he usually wasn’t. She wasn’t entirely sure what, if anything, she was going to do about it, but she imagined she’d know soon enough. This kind of thing had a tendency to play out, one way or another.