Post by StoryGirl83 on Nov 10, 2011 22:52:01 GMT -5
Chapter Three – Dev’s Clueless Daddy
Steve Kessler appeared in his bedroom in the blink of an eye. For once he had no idea what was going on. He generally made it his business to know what was going on in the underworld. This time he could learn very little. The younger demons and underworld dwellers didn’t even seem to know anything and those older and presumably wiser, didn’t see the point in dealing with someone who wasn’t even close to hitting the half century mark.
All he knew for sure was that it was more deadly than anything he had ever tried. In fact in his schemes so far, no one had died except those he’d sent to go against the Halliwells. It was almost enough to bring a warlock to tears.
There was also the question of the missing Charmed One. While Steve desperately wished he’d had something to do with it, he was as clueless as everyone else seemed to be. If any demons knew what was going on there, they sure weren’t showing it, and wouldn’t they be bragging about bagging a Charmed One. It was rather a heady accomplishment. Only one demon had successfully done that before and not only was that demon long gone, but the formerly dead Charmed One was now alive and kicking.
He had learned that her husband was pretty much on his death bed and that her brother-in-law, the father of the two witches who’d been outwitting him for months now, was also sick. And that meant they would die. While he relished the thought that two Charmed Ones would lose their husbands, he’d prefer that he did it. It would be infinitely more pleasurable to know he had personally caused them pain.
He headed into the hall and heard the sound of crying. He followed the sound until he reached his daughter’s room. Devia lay on her bed sobbing into her pillow. He pushed the door open and walked over to her bedside. She didn’t seem to notice him, so he sat down next to her and put his hand on her shoulder. “Do you want to tell me what’s wrong?”
Her sobbing stopped long enough for it to register that her dad was there and then Devia just cried harder. She buried her head in her pillow and just shook.
Steve stared down at her, completely at a loss as to what to do. How could he help her if she wouldn’t tell him what was wrong? And so for several minutes he just sat there.
It took almost twenty minutes of complete silence other than Devia’s sobs before she lifted her head. She looked at her dad and sniffed. “Can you fix it, Daddy?”
Steve looked at her. He had no idea how to answer.
Apparently it didn’t matter, for Devia made the next move. She flung herself at him and hugged his torso. “Daddy, I don’t want them to die.”
That did not sound at all promising. “They? Who do you mean, Dev?”
“Maya and Sandy,” she sniffed out. “They caught the witch’s fever.”
“The what?” Steve looked at his daughter startled. “What are you talking about?”
“The witch’s fever,” she repeated as if he was an idiot. “You know, the disease that’s been killing everybody around Salem, Massachusetts, the home of the witch trials. Don’t you know anything, Daddy?”
Apparently, he had missed quite a bit while he was checking out the underworld. Witch’s fever? What kind of name was that?
“You’ll make it better, right, Daddy?” she pressed.
Steve sighed. Even if he had the slightest idea how to cure this “witch’s fever”, he wouldn’t. If the price to pay was his daughter’s temporary unhappiness, he’d have to pay it. He’d never wanted her to play with those nonmagical girls anyway.
“Daddy?”
Steve just sighed, again.
Devia looked up at him. “You’ll help them, won’t you?”
“I’m sorry, Dev,” he whispered. “I don’t know what is behind this and I have no idea how to cure anyone who has it.”
“But . . . but . . .” She stared up at him, stammering. “There has to be!”
He shook his head. “No one seemed to think so.”
With a wail she buried her head in his chest. “I don’t want them to die, Daddy!”