Post by StoryGirl83 on Nov 10, 2011 0:32:04 GMT -5
Chapter Twenty-Three – Relaxation and Another Infected
Leo hung up the phone and turned to look at the expectant faces of his wife and her sisters. “That was Ava.”
“We know,” Piper retorted.
“Is the boy going to be all right?” Paige asked.
“She thinks so,” Leo informed her. “Apparently she met two of his brothers when they showed up worried about him. She’s a little disconcerted by the experience. One of the boys was perfectly polite, just worried. The other one was rather rude and demanded she allow him to help.”
“With the surgery?” Prue asked, giving him a look of disbelief. “I find it hard to believe they wouldn’t have gone to him first if he could do that.”
Leo shook his head. “He wanted to donate blood.”
“Unbelievable,” Prue commented. “What do you know about this demon, Piper?”
“Not a lot,” Piper admitted, “but I do know that the girl with him didn’t freeze when Chris got me to freeze The Manor patrons yesterday, and neither did another boy with them. The other two with them did. Both, according to Wyatt, were part darklighter.”
Prue looked at her startled. “How does a darklighter even get away with claiming to be good?”
“Allegedly by being born one,” Piper informed her. “I haven’t exactly had time to research the subject. I heard all of this last night. Wyatt called before he went to bed last night.”
“Speaking of Wyatt, how did he sound when he called earlier?” Paige asked.
“Like he was hiding something from me,” Piper decided, looking a little annoyed at the reminder. “Sometimes I think those boys think they are the parent instead of the other way around.”
Prue laughed at that. “It must be your parenting skills, because Melinda acts the same way, and she does it without magic.”
Paige joined her in laughing. “I think it’s a kid thing. Hank’s been acting pretty weird and every time I try to talk to him, he just claims up. One time we sat there for almost an hour in complete silence. Haven’t either of your girls done that?”
Prue had the grace to look chagrin. “Pat’s got something she’s been writing for weeks that she won’t let anyone see. And of course there are all those phone calls to your kids you now tell me are about magic.”
“Everything seems to have ended well,” Piper commented. “Wyatt’s safe and Chris has his powers back. Even those two . . . whatever they are . . . are doing all right.”
“Glad to hear it,” Toby’s voice announced from the doorway. When all eyes had turned to stare at him, he offered them an innocent grin. “Sorry to startle you. I couldn’t get anywhere near either of them without freaking out a whole bunch of people. I decided that since you were the ones who recommended the doctor to Brianna, you would be able to contact her and let me know how Max is doing. Apparently, I don’t need you to do that.”
“And that’s the only reason you are here?”
He shook his head. “Not really.” He made a face and looked rather embarrassed as he admitted, “I kind of need a dose of that antidote you made.”
The other four took an automatic step back.
“I found out that the third demon, the one that Max and Brianna didn’t take care of, was a minor mid level demon,” Toby informed them. “I thought I could deal with him on my own . . . and I could. Problem is, apparently if you have demon blood it’s not necessary to touch someone who’s infected to get infected yourself. So all three of the demons behind the attack on your older son’s work are gone and they won’t be hurting anyone else.”
“You didn’t think to ask them why they chose to use something that could infect them more easily than anyone else did you?” Piper asked, bitterly.
“Actually, I did,’ he returned, annoyed. “He wouldn’t answer, but I did gather from what he said and what he didn’t say, that it wasn’t his idea.”
Piper groaned. “Whose?”
He shook his head. “That I don’t know. Do you have any more of that antidote, Ma’am? I’d be very much obliged if you would help me out.”
She nodded. “Yes, I’ve got some upstairs. Did he say anything useful?”
Toby shook his head, again. “Mostly words that weren’t even words, or at least not in any language I can understand. Admittedly I’m only fluent in about four, but two of those are demonic, so there was a chance.”
Piper chuckled as she led the way up the attic. “One of those other languages wouldn’t be Latin would it?”
He looked at her surprised. “No. English and Spanish, actually. CT’s dad taught us. And I guess I’m not technically fluent in Spanish, but I can hold my own in a conversation, so fairly fluent.”
“Your grasp of the English language leaves something to be desired, too,” Piper told him as she opened the door to the attic. She turned around and waved her arms at him, freezing him on the stairs. That done she headed into the attic and grabbed a potion bottle containing a portion of the potion she had made earlier. He might be good like he claimed, but she didn’t know him and he wasn’t going into her attic. After she had closed the door behind her, she waved her hands and he unfroze.
Toby frowned and looked at her. “You could have just told me to wait for you in the room with your sisters and your husband.”
“This was easier,” she informed him. “How far away do I have to stand?”
“You don’t have any demon blood, so you will be fine unless you touch me,” he announced. He held out his hand.
Piper handed him the potion. “I couldn’t get it to smell any better. Sorry.”
Toby shrugged as he uncorked the potion bottle. He ignored the smell and only slightly grimaced as the taste of it hit his tongue moments later. And when the green bubbles began their way down his body, he just smiled as he corked the empty bottle. He handed it back to Piper as the green smoke exited his body. “Thank you. We’ll keep an ear out for news on who might have put them up to this. If we hear anything,” he shrugged. “I guess I can’t promise we’ll tell you, but if we don’t we will have a very good reason.”
It never occurred to him that one of his friends might all ready know who was behind these attacks. After all these were the people closest to him; they wouldn’t hide something like that from him.