Eye of the Storm (The Charmed) (11 page)

“The spell was the worst of its kind, the walking death.” There was a collective gasp through the room.

“Every time I tried to leave, I would be overcome with the urge to drink and not just a little, the whole bottle. Once all the liquor was gone in the house I thought it would stop but it didn’t. I would pour water from the tap and once it reached my lips, it had turned to alcohol. Bottles would appear overnight in the cupboard, bottles in the freezer, and a few by my bedside. I couldn’t get away from them. I had a few days in the beginning where I could actually remember waking up and showering but once I figured what was happening, the spell would hit me again and I would end up passed out. I don’t even know how Harley was cared for in those few first years. I’m amazed she’s even alive.” He wiped his eyes.

“So how did we get to the house burning down?” Jaden interjected.

“Harley must have been cleaning because I found a photo album sitting out. There was a picture on the floor, I guess it slipped out when she was moving things around. It was the picture that bound the spell. When I woke the next day the picture was gone. Harley, I assumed, had taken it past the threshold and broke the spell. I was so worried she would bring it back into the house that I lit a fire right there in the kitchen. I was worried Ted and Emily would put the spell on her next. Who knows if that was the only picture that held the spell, there may have been backups? That is why I burned the house down. Harley, I couldn’t have you lose your life, too. I was barely older than you when I was given the spell and just couldn’t….” His voice cracked. “It was my last effort to save you.” He cried then.

Harley was at a loss for words as she began crying silently and put her face in her hands. Her father went over and sat next to her, cradling her head on his shoulder. “All this time and all I had to do was get a picture out of there? You would have been a normal dad?”

“It was a bad spell Harley, the worst kind. There was no way you could have known.” He gave a weak smile to her. He looked up at Jaden, “Where’s your father?”

“He’s out of town.”

“Okay. Do you mind if we crash here for a while?”

“Absolutely. You can have dad’s room until he gets back. Harley can bunk with Kayla, there’s two beds in there. Are you feeling alright? You’re looking a little green.”

“I haven’t had a drink in a few hours, I’ll start to detox soon. It isn’t going to be pretty.”

C
hase approached the cabin cautiously. His anger had grown in the mile it took to get back.

Tom was sitting out front of the cabin in what looked to be a homemade chair out of branches. He smiled at Chase. “There you are, we’ve been so worried about you.”

Chase stopped a hundred feet from Tom. Dark clouds began moving over them, the wind picked up, Tom’s smile faltered.

“Chase, are you feeling alright?”

Chase lowered his eyes in a glare, “Never better, Tom.”

Tom paled. He stood carefully so as not to make any sudden movements in front of Chase.

“Stay where you are, Tom. If you take one foot toward me, I’ll destroy you.”

“You have to understand, I did this for everyone who is with someone not Charmed. I did this for Madeleine and I.”

“You hurt Lyla! You made me a portal for syphoning power out of me! How is that better?”

“Sometimes sacrificing one for the better of the whole is…”

“Sacrificing? You’re no better than the monsters that created these rules! You may have lived this life of crime with someone not Charmed but that was your decision. Nothing I have can change that!”

Tom drew himself up to full height and glowered at Chase. “You’re wrong! That power is already surging through me, once Lyla’s and your power is stripped from both of you I will take down the powers that be!” Tom pushed his sleeves up and displayed the marks that should have been on Chase’s arm. Tom threw a bolt of energy toward Chase intending to knock him down but Chase, being younger and quicker sidestepped it and hurled a force so large, it hit Tom, throwing him into the house. While Tom lay unconscious, Chase ran toward the house just as the front door opened. Madeleine was helping Lyla outside, one arm draped over her.

“Take her and run, get out of here!” Madeleine urged.

Chase picked Lyla up in his arms and began walking toward the edge of the forest where he had come from. A large rumbling sound stopped him in his tracks, he turned around and saw Tom, black eyes, veins popping out on his face, charging them. Chase set Lyla down but she collapsed. He bent down to see if she was breathing and she was, but barely. He drew a shield around her and turned to face Tom.

“What have you done to her?!!” Chase threw a force at Tom again, this time it didn’t faze him. He stopped a few feet from Chase and smiled. It was a cold evil smile, one you get just before death.

“I know a little about Occlumency, I know I can take the power that radiates out of her, and center it for my own use. Did you ever wonder how your own powers were magnified, Chase? She’s a conduit. Anyone who is within a few feet of her can harness it if they know how. Most Charmed won’t know. A benefit of my being so old and frustrated is you can find charms and spells to fit your needs, and a need I have right now is to take all of her power and destroy the higher-ups who created the rules for being pure!”

“There are other ways, Tom.” Chase, recognizing the danger Lyla and he were in, lowered his voice to a calming tone, not wanting to antagonize him.

This only angered Tom. “There is no other way!” He hurled a fire bolt toward Chase who dove out of the way. Chase shot energy toward Tom who stepped directly into its path and absorbed it. He gave a low moan and shuddered.

Chase stood up and walked slowly toward Tom. “Tom, think of Madeleine, think of the life you’ve built together. That’s what Lyla and I want, to be together.”

“Everything is for Madeleine, everything I do is for her.”

A voice broke the energy in the air. “Tom.”

Tom turned around, his white hair was sticking up in spikes, his eyes turning blood shot around black pupils, his hands in a fist.

“If you love me, you won’t do this. The power has made you mad. Let it go.” Her tone was soothing.

“No. I need more.” He said the angry words but his posture relaxed. Chase walked carefully to where Lyla lay. He removed the energy from around her. He bent down and touched her face she looked up at him smiling. “Chase I….” She drew a breath in and screamed.

Tom looked over at her and drew the rest of Lyla’s life force from her. She closed her eyes and exhaled her last breath. Her body fell back onto the ground crumpled and drained.

“Lyla!” Chase picked her up in his arms, burying his face in her hair. He knew he would be dying shortly after since one could not live without the other. He lay her gently on the ground and stood up. If he was going to go mad, it might as well be now. Chase pointed at the house, waved his left hand and the entire house was reduced to dust. He spun his hand around and swirled the dust into a cyclone pointing it toward Tom. The cyclone enveloped him but he pushed his hands out making it disperse into a million different directions. Chase hurled fire and nearby trees at Tom who just deflected them. The sneer on his face showed the madness creeping out of every pore.

Chase couldn’t be stopped. He had to kill Tom. Now that Lyla was dead there was no hope left for him. Chase pursued Tom relentlessly. He raised his hand and reduced Tom’s car to metal dust. He lit it on fire with another wave of his hand and hurled it toward him.

Tom dodged out of the way a little slower, making his right leg catch fire. Tom waved his right hand and a pack of ice crystals formed on his leg putting the fire out. He stood up, hurling rocks, boulders, branches, trees at Chase who deflected them all gracefully. His years as an athlete showed. Chase glanced over at Lyla, his shoulders slumped, Tom noticed the falter in Chase and he leaned back, his sneer breaking into an evil grin as he lunged a tractor toward him.

Madeleine rushed to Chase and pushed him out of the way but was struck down by the tractor. Her body pinned and breaking under its weight, she died seconds later. Tom, shock on his face, came forward. He pushed at the tractor but it wouldn’t move. All the energy and power he sucked out of Lyla had vanished. “Madeleine!” He cried and screamed, trying in vain to get the large object off her.

Chase stood up and raised the tractor with the wave of a hand and walked toward them. Tom picked up Madeleine’s crumpled body and lay her on his lap. Blood was pouring out of her chest in a large pool. Tom was crying hysterically. “I’m so sorry! Madeleine, I’m so sorry! I just wanted us to be together. Madeleine!”

Chase felt bad for her, she had been kind to them. Tom had gambled and lost, paying the biggest price for his hunger for power. Is that what this curse did? Make people power hungry? Chase cursed his existence and walked to his own dead wife. He felt numb. Lyla lay motionless, the wind picked up and moved the dust from the cabin up over the mountain. People, the Charmed would sense the destruction of a safe house and would come to investigate. He knelt down next to Lyla and stroked her hair. Lyla’s eyes opened, she took a deep breath and looked up at Chase.

“Lyla? How?” Tears came to his eyes he picked her up and cradled her in his arms. Chase looked over at Tom and Madeleine. The hair on his arms stood on end. Tom had ended his life. He lay draped over Madeleine’s body with a stick protruding through his chest. Chase had no idea how he had managed it and frankly, didn’t care. Lyla had been given back her life force by the one who took it, now it was time to run. They would be held liable for their death if anyone found out they had been here. He helped her up and together they walked out of the clearing into the dense forest to freedom.

“Sir, a safe house has been destroyed.” Troy Tavares sat at his desk looking at the computer screen. He looked up at his assistant, a scrappy kid straight out of high school called Anthony. He nodded in affirmation. He had felt it. Safe houses were like a religious symbol in the Charmed world. Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee were his areas. Too much, if you asked him. Most of the safe keepers had two states, he had four thanks to his stronger abilities with sensing energy spikes. It was a curse that got him in this department in the first place. He had wanted to be a baseball player but the higher ups had different plans for him.

Troy hit enter on his keyboard, the talk all over the Charmed sites were frantic just before it went off the grid. Troy scrolled down on one page until he saw a word that made his blood run cold. Occlumency. He wondered if the rumors were true, that a couple in Florida had the marks. His only job was to keep safe houses from being discovered and invisible from the outside world, that didn’t include these rumors unless the couple was involved, then he could justify researching it. He had to see the safe house that was destroyed first, he would go from there. He pressed a button on his desk phone. “Marge, I need a car and a hotel. I’m headed to Tennessee.”

J
ames McGillicuddy holed up in Jaden’s father’s room. He was going through withdrawal something fierce and it was painful. Brendan was nowhere around and Harley was grateful. If his parents were like this, who’s to say Brendan wouldn’t turn out the same? Harley knew the answer, he wouldn’t. But it made her feel better that he might, especially since she hadn’t seen him in days. Kayla helped take care of Harley’s dad and Jaden cooked. On the third day since they had moved into Jaden’s house, the front door opened.