Charmed: The New Power Of Three
By Julien Gregg
Chapter Twelve:
Exposure Shock Part One


© Copyright 2006 Julien Gregg
All rights reserved.
No part of this story may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the author.  This story is almost all fiction.  Almost all of the characters depicted in this story exist exclusively in the imagination of the author.  Any resemblance to an actual person, living or dead, is, sometimes purely coincidental. This story is based on the television show, Charmed, and although the family name and a similar book of shadows appear in this story, there are no characters from the show in the story. They may be named, but they will never be portrayed.

Charmed is owned by Spelling Entertainment and Warner Brother's Television. Certain spell text is borrowed from the television show. However, since no money is being made by this tale, I don't feel horrible about borrowing anything.


Smoke wafted through the kitchen as Drake threw a fireball at the demon that was attacking them. This was the fifth demon attack in the week that followed their rescue of Damon. None of the demons that had attacked them were members of The Kin, though. None had their mark. They all looked alike in some ways, but there were no clan marks on them that the cousins could see. Luckily so far, Ash hadn't come after them. They were sure he would want revenge for being vanquished.

He would probably attack them when they least expected it. With all of the demons shimmering in to attack them, they thought it would have been the perfect time for Ash to try to get his revenge. How else could he expect to find them distracted? It made no sense. Constantly looking over their shoulder and being afraid that Ash was each demon that shimmered in over the week was making Drake and Damon very edgy and cranky.

"You all right?" Drake asked, turning to face his cousin. The cut on his arm was bleeding pretty steadily.

"I'm fine," said Damon, covering the cut with his other hand. "Its just a scratch. Jason can heal it when he gets here later."

"Where is Jason?"

"We're not his only charges," revealed Damon. "He told me yesterday that the Elders were assigning him two more witches to look after."

"Figures," Drake said sarcastically. He was down on all angelic beings after Aaron had been taken. He didn't trust any of them anymore. "Leaving us unprotected like this is really a great way for them to show that they're looking after us."

"Getting cynical?" asked Damon, smirking at him.

"No, I'm just tired of demons attacking every day," replied Drake.

"This isn't the way I wanted to start my day," said Damon as he grabbed the broom and began to sweep up the ashes left by the vanquished demon. "This has got to stop."

"Its like every demon in the underworld is attacking us every other day," said Drake as he sat back down at the breakfast bar. "I don't know how we can stop them. I haven't seen even one clan mark on any of them, so I can't look in the book to find out who they are."

"I know," sighed Damon as he emptied the dust pan in the trash can. "They'll eventually learn not to attack us in the manor, I'm sure. They keep getting vanquished. Surely whoever is sending them realizes that none of them ever return."

"I think we know who's sending them," said Drake as he sat back down at the breakfast bar to finish his coffee. Fighting demons was becoming so ordinary that going right back to what they were doing before the demon attacked happened without thought. "Ash is sending them. I don't understand how he came back. We vanquished him."

"Well he's back," said Damon thoughtfully. "The same way that Dax is a demon again."

"Let's not go there again," sighed Drake.

Damon had been trying to talk about vanquishing Dax and Ash since they'd come back from the underworld. Seeing Dax as a demon again was a shock for each of them, but it was worse for Drake. He knew that Dax wanted to be good. He just didn't understand why he would go back to being a demon. There had to be something going on. Something strange was happening. Vanquished demons weren't supposed to come back.

"We have to at least discuss it, Drake," insisted Damon. "If he's a demon again, he'll come after us eventually."

"What makes you think that he will come after us?" Drake demanded, turning to face his cousin. "He didn't try to kill us once he figured out that I was his brother the last time he was a demon. Why would that change? We can always turn him again."

"Turn him again?" Damon scoffed. "It worked so well the first time."

"What exactly are you trying to say, Damon?" Drake demanded angrily, getting to his feet.

"You know damned well what I'm saying, Drake," replied Damon. "Dax had to want to become a demon again for it have actually happened. Think about it. He's evil. How else . . ."

"Dax isn't evil," sighed Drake. They'd argued about this for a week. He was getting tired of it. "He vowed to kill any demon that even tried to attack us . . ."

"That was before we turned him, Drake," reminded Damon for the seventh time that week. "He probably feels very different about us now. I'm telling you we should vanquish him before he comes to kill us."

"I don't need this from you," spat Drake coldly. "I have enough on my mind, thank you very much. I don't need to deal with my cousins trying to vanquish my brother while I'm scared to death for my lover. You know you really can be insensitive, Damon. The entire world doesn't revolve around you and your suspicions. Just leave me the fuck alone about Dax."

He abandoned his coffee and walked out of the room, leaving Damon to stare at him slack mouthed. Damon couldn't believe he'd blown up like that. Sure, he was under strain worrying about Aaron, but Dax was a demon. He had to have wanted to become a demon again for it to have happened.

* * *

Dean and David were sitting on the edge of Dean's bed, talking about their own relationship. They were both happy to know that the other even thought they had a relationship. Dean hadn't felt this way about anyone in a very long time. He couldn't believe it was happening really. All he knew was that he wanted to be with David.

"You know it will be hard to really focus on a relationship with everything that's going on," said Dean. "I mean demons attack us just about every day now."

"All I know is that I'm just happy to know we have a relationship," said David, looking deeply into Dean's eyes. "I've been hoping, Dean. You have to know that I'm falling in love with you."

Those words made Dean's heart swell with happiness. To hear them finally after he'd been arguing with himself over how he felt about David finally solved that problem for him. He knew now that it was love that he felt for David. It wasn't just attraction, though there was plenty of that. David was a gorgeous man. He smiled softly as he moved his head closer to David's. The two slowly brought their lips together.

The kiss began as a test on both of their parts to see where the other stood. Once they realized that they both felt the same way, the kiss deepened until David's arms were around Dean, and Dean was almost in David's lap. They were both moaning as the kiss became more and more intense. When bright white light surrounded both of them, they though it was the effect of the love they shared. It wasn't until three people appeared in the room that they realized that it was more.

"Dads," said Xander breathlessly. "What happened? Someone just killed the future."

"What are you talking about?" David asked as he and Dean sprung apart.

"Who are these two?" Dean asked at the same time, looking at the two dark haired young men standing beside Xander.

"We don't have time for a long explanation, Dad," said Xander. "These are my brothers. Your other sons." He looked at the young man on his right saying, "This is Matthew."

"And I'm Tory," said the other. "I can't believe we're actually here!"

Dean and David stared at the two young men in total shock. It barely registered that Xander had said something about someone killing the future. They were both shocked to learn that they had three sons instead of one in the future. The two young men looked like a cross between both Dean and David. They were both so happy and proud to see them standing in front of them.

"We don't have time for you to stare, Dads," said Xander impatiently. "I told you that our future is ruined. We have to figure out what happened and fix it fast."

"What are you talking about?" Dean asked, focusing on Xander as David took his hand. "Nothing's happened that would kill the future."

"You don't get it," said Xander. "We came back, hoping that we'd arrive before whatever it was that changed everything before our eyes."

"What exactly changed before your eyes?" David asked, looking at all three of his sons.

"Well you guys aren't there anymore for one thing," said Matthew.

"Uncle Damon and Drake aren't there, either," said Tory.

"In the future, we're the charmed ones, because you and our uncles are all dead," said Xander, making Dean's blood run cold.

* * *

Drake found Damon still in the kitchen. He felt horrible about the way he'd walked out on him. He couldn't leave it like that. Sure, he was upset about Aaron and Dax, but that was no reason to take it out on Damon. He just had to make him understand that he was not going to vanquish his brother. The power of three was the only thing that could vanquish Dax, and Drake refused to take part in it, so the power of three just wasn't available for that purpose.

"Drake, I owe you an apology," Damon said as soon as Drake walked into the kitchen. "I didn't think about how you were feeling, and I shouldn't have . . ."

"Its all right, Damon," said Drake, sitting down beside him. "I shouldn't have snapped at you like I did, either. I just need you to understand that I'm not vanquishing Dax. Something strange is going on, and I think we should find out what it is before we do anything rash where Dax is concerned."

"Then let's focus on Ash," compromised Damon. "How do you think he came back?"

"I don't know, but I bet it has something to do with how Dax became a demon again," replied Drake. "Damon, we vanquished the demon in Dax. We vanquished Ash, and according the book, vanquished demons are supposedly gone for good. Something had to have been done to bring Ash back and make Dax a demon again. We just have to find out what it was."

"Miss me?" said Ash's voice as he shimmered into the kitchen. "I believe I owe you witches a little something." He formed energy balls in both of his hands and threw them at them.

Damon and Drake were off of their stools at the same time. Damon rose his hands and froze both energy balls as Drake threw lightning at Ash. Ash side-stepped the lightning and threw another energy ball as Drake this time. Drake shimmered just before the energy ball could touch him and threw one of his own back at Ash.

Ash's eyes widened in shock as he saw the energy ball form in Drake's hand, but he dodged it without blinking after Drake threw it. He threw two more energy balls at them, and Damon froze them again. The problem was, the other two he'd frozen weren't frozen anymore. They sailed across the kitchen, shattering windows as they made contact.

"Dean," the two cousins screamed at the same time as more energy balls sailed at them.

As they did everything they could to dodge them, two more demons shimmered into the kitchen and began to throw energy balls at them. Ronan and the pasty demon with red horns and white eyes had joined Ash in attacking them. The had to figure out how to even their odds a bit.

Damon was filled with hope when he saw an icy wind come blowing into the kitchen straight at the white eyed pasty demon. Then he was shocked to see Xander and two strange young men come running into the kitchen with Dean and David right behind them. Each of them were using their powers to fight the trio of demons.

The cousins and David all stopped in their tracks when Matthew threw his head back and screamed in a high pitched voice. All three of the demons covered their ears and shimmered out as Matthew screamed. They shimmered right back in when he stopped, though, and they threw energy balls at him.

The cousins were confused for a moment when Xander and his two companions all disappeared. David only smiled at this display, and Drake hissed as he jumped when an icy wind came out of nowhere beside him. Xander reappeared beside him, blowing an ice kiss at Ronan. The other two young men reappeared on the other side of Damon. The younger one threw his head back and screamed again as his other companion threw fire at the pasty demon and Ash with both of his hands.

Dean and David rushed to Drake and Damon's sides in the confusion, and the cousins joined hands. They chanted over and over again, "The power of three will set us free."

Matthew ran out of breath, and as soon as he was silent all three demons threw energy balls at the same time. When the three energy balls collided, all seven of the witches were rocked off their feet as the house literally exploded around them. They were surrounded by fire and debris that was flying all over the place.

When Drake rose up on his elbows, the first thing he noticed was people. Neighbors all up and down the street had come out of their houses when they heard the explosion. They were all standing around in the street, pointing at the demons standing amidst the rubble that had been Halliwell Manor.

"Dad!" cried Xander as he got to his feet not even noticing the people in the street. The first sirens of the police and fire engines could be heard in the distance.

The cousins got to their feet and looked at each other in horror. Everyone was watching them. Then, as everyone watched, the demons shimmered out. The people gasped. Some shouted while others stood silent as they watched the spectacle before them. Dean, Drake and Damon looked at each other in fear as they realized that they'd just been exposed. It was then that they noticed the first news van pull around the corner.


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