Mr. Forehead pulled her through the door. Paige glanced behind her. Leo and the rest of their group were on their way. But just as the door swung shut, Mr. Forehead wrenched his hand from hers.
She spun to look at him, feeling a rush of panic make her face go hot. But instead of confronting a demon with his eye on her thoracic region, she saw . . . Josh Skilling? It was! Josh Skilling, her very first, and very lamest, Kiss.com date. Not to mention, Phoebe's ex.
And here was the weird part. Josh had gone all commando on her. He'd been the one who'd ripped Mr. Forehead away from her side. Now he was tossing the hapless player across P3's parking lot with more strength than a skinny guy like him should have possessed.
“Josh?” Paige gasped. “What are you doing here?”
“Rescuing you, that's what,” Josh said, staring at Paige with fiery eyes. Before she could make a sound, he grabbed her arm. Then he whisked her toward the corner of the building. Paige tried to wrench away from him, but his fingers dug into her flesh like talons. Paige glanced over her shoulder just before Josh pulled her around the corner. The club door was just beginning to inch open. Which meant her sisters hadn't seen a thing. And now, they wouldn't be able to see her, either!
Paige opened her mouth, ready to unleash the loudest scream she could muster. But Josh clamped his hand over her mouth.
“What's wrong, Paige?” Josh said. Then his face split into an incredulous smile.
“Wait a minute,” he said. “Don't tell me you're scared of me? Sid . . . he is the guy you should be screaming about.”
Paige batted Josh's hand away from her face. Luckily he unwrapped his fingers from her arm, too. Paige wondered if he'd left a bruise.
“Sid?” Paige breathed. She peered at Josh in confusion. He knew Mr. Forehead by name? “You know him?”
“That guy is such trouble,” Josh said. “Not a gentleman at all, let me tell you. I'm surprised you haven't caught wind of his reputation.”
“Been too busy . . . on the Internet, I guess,” Paige said weakly.
“And I'm glad of that,” Josh said. “You know Paige, I really liked you when we went out the other night.”
“You did?” Paige said. Josh was acting almost normal now. He even seemed a little sweet.
But as she peered into his eyes, she realized—something was off. His stare was too intense. Too focused. Despite his warm words, his voice was remote. The natural friendliness of the other night had disappeared.
“I did, Paige,” Josh said. “In fact, I'm glad I ran into you. And not so I could rescue you from that skank, Sid.”
“Why else?” Paige said apprehensively. She leaned back against the clammy brick wall of P3's alley. Her eyes shifted away from Josh's just for an instant. She was really, really hoping to see Phoebe, Piper, or the guys emerging from the darkness. But they were nowhere to be seen.
“Because,” Josh said, leaning in. His voice got deeper, almost robotic. And his face began to change too, darkening into a sinister glower. Paige could feel his breath—hot and fetid—gust onto her face. “You've got my heart.”
Paige glanced down and saw Josh's hand, reaching toward her chest. His arm was shaking, as if infused with some sort of electricity. And as his fingertips brushed the bare skin above the low-cut bodice of her dress, his nails instantly grew into glinting talons. In fact, his entire hand transformed into a metallic, clawlike, lethal weapon.
Paige recoiled, pressing herself back into the wall. Her mouth flew open and she tried to scream. But she felt as if her lungs had collapsed. She had no air to breathe, much less scream.
Paige felt one, silvery nail pierce her skin. Heat shot into her chest with a searing rush and a rivulet of blood spilled onto her skin.
And at last pain broke Paige's silence.
“AAAAIIIGGGH!” she shrieked, trying to squirm away from Josh's mutated, menacing hand. She grabbed his robotic wrist and tried to push it away, but he was like a pillar of stone. He wasn't budging.
Instead he pressed on, gouging another knifelike claw into her chest. Paige screamed again, then choked out a terrified sob.
“Pipeeeeeeer!” she yelled. “Phooooeeeee—”
“Hi-yah!”
Before Paige even saw her coming, Phoebe's foot connected with Josh's head. He crashed to the ground, leaving a long gash on Paige's arm as he fell.
Phoebe had launched into him with such a powerful roundhouse kick that her feet flew out from under her as well. She landed on top of Josh with a painful thud.
“He's the demon!” Paige screamed. “Watch out!”
Phoebe quickly rolled off of Josh, then pushed herself into a reverse handspring. She landed on her feet, in full kung-fu fighting stance. At the same time, Josh stumbled to his feet too. He lashed out at Phoebe with his talons, but she ducked the strike easily.
Then Paige saw Phoebe's eyes travel to Josh's face. She blanched. Her fists fell to her sides and her mouth popped open.
“Josh?” she squeaked.
“Josh?” Cole bellowed. “Josh, the ‘friend’? This guy is suddenly everywhere you go!”
“And he's also a demon!” Piper said, stepping forward with gritted teeth. She raised her arms and reared back. Paige knew what was coming next. With one flick of her fingers, Piper was going to blow Josh to smithereens. The first time Paige had seen Piper do this, she'd completely freaked. I mean, who else has a big sister who'd make you tea and cookies one moment, then explode villains the next?
Not that Paige was complaining now.
She squeezed her eyes shut and braced herself for the boom.
But what she heard instead was Phoebe, calling out, “No! Wait!”
Paige's eyes flew open as she saw Piper hesitate and glare at Phoebe.
“What the—” Piper said.
And that was the only window Josh needed. While Piper stared at her sister, the demon spun on his heel and fled. Within seconds he'd ducked into a shadow and rounded a corner. Piper took off after him, pounding the pavement impressively in her high heels and leather pants. But as she hit the end of the alley and turned to the right, her shoulders slumped.
Josh had gotten away.
Piper turned and stalked back down the alley, glaring at her sister.
“‘No, wait?’” she spat through gritted teeth. “You just cost us our demon, Phoebe. And you may have cost another innocent her life!”
chapter
5
Phoebe watched her sister stalk down the alley, glaring at her with venom. Phoebe hadn't seen Piper this mad since she used Piper's favorite whisk to highlight her hair.
“What were you thinking?!” Piper demanded, coming to a halt in front of Phoebe and crossing her arms over her chest.
“Yeah, he was our guy,” Paige said. “And I've got the bloody welts to prove it. Um, Leo, could I get some healing over here?”
Phoebe felt tears well up in her eyes as she looked at her little sister's super-pale skin. Two horrible-looking puncture wounds in her chest were oozing blood, and a gash on her bicep looked raw and ugly. Leo ran up to Paige and placed his hands on her wounds. A white glow emanated from his palms and in a moment, the blood melted away. Paige's skin was flawless once again.
Which could not be said for Phoebe's relationship with Cole. Not after she'd just saved the life of her sorry ex. If Cole had been angry with Phoebe, she could have handled it. But by the clench in his jaw and the hooded look that shadowed his blue eyes, she could tell he was worse than mad. He was hurt. And confused.
“Phoebe,” he said in a low, stiff voice. “Do you want to explain to me what just happened?”
“I do,” Phoebe said. Then her voice stopped in her throat. She bit her lip, and started to talk. Then she paused again and put her finger to her chin.
“Okay, here's the thing,” she finally choked out. “I stopped Piper because . . .”
Phoebe trailed off and stared helplessly at her family. Why had she saved Josh Skilling—a.k.a., heartsucking demon from hell—fr
om being vanquished? She didn't like him. She didn't even know him anymore! And, she had to face it, she'd had boyfriends turn into demons in the past. She'd had no problem turning them into little poofs of smoke.
So why had she made an exception for Josh?
“I guess I just . . . you know, blast from the past and all,” Phoebe yammered. “It just caught me off guard.”
“Uh-huh,” Cole said. “Okay, Phoebe. Whatever you say.”
“Cole . . .” Phoebe began, but then she stopped herself. What could she say? The deed was done. And she didn't even know what it meant, other than . . . maybe she really wasn't bride material! She watched Cole wander away, knowing that his perfect posture and squared shoulders were only masking his hurt pride.
Sighing, Phoebe turned back to her sisters. Paige was skimming her fingers over her phantom wounds. Then she shook her head in confusion.
“Wait a minute,” she sputtered. “I'm just finding it a little hard to believe that Josh Skilling, thirty-year-old software designer and Kiss.com subscriber, is also a demon!”
“It's always hard to believe, honey,” Piper said, giving Cole a quick glance. Luckily he was out of earshot. “We've all swapped spit with demons along the way.”
“Ex-cuse me, but I did not swap spit with Josh Skilling!” Paige protested.
This time it was Phoebe Piper was eyeballing. Phoebe rolled her eyes and said, “Okay, can we stop with the discussing of Josh Skilling's bodily fluids and move on to his manicure? Those were some pretty killer claws!”
“Yeah, definitely demonic, I'd say,” Piper said.
“Well, there's one way to find out for sure,” Phoebe said. “We have to find Josh.”
“Naturally,” Cole interjected sarcastically. Phoebe looked up in surprise. Cole had rejoined the group, but he was clearly still seething.
“Cole,” Phoebe said, “I'm sorry I made that stupid mistake. And we definitely need to talk about it. But right now innocents are at stake.”
“I know,” Cole said, and Phoebe was sure she saw his eyes soften, just a little. “Go. I'll be back at the Manor if you need me.”
“I do, you know,” Phoebe said tremulously. “Need you.”
Cole looked at his feet quickly. Then he nodded brusquely and walked away.
“Why don't you go with him?” Piper said to Leo. “You go have some guy time. The Power of Three can take it from here.”
“All right,” Leo said, giving Piper a quick peck and glancing at Phoebe. “Maybe I'll, uh, give one of those relationship quizzes another chance.”
“Hel-lo,” Phoebe blurted. “I can hear you! It was just a stupid mistake. It doesn't mean Cole and I are in trouble.”
“Uh, we better hit it,” Piper said, widening her eyes at Leo. “Be ready to orb in if we need you, okay?”
“You got it,” Leo said, before turning to trot after Cole.
Phoebe and her sisters headed for the SUV.
“Well, where should we look for demonic Josh?” Paige said. “Is there some after hours club for boogeymen in this burg?”
“Paige, we live in San Francisco,” Piper said. “There are no demon bars. My guess is Josh has probably gotten himself off the streets.”
Then she gave Phoebe a meaningful look.
“All right, all right, I do know where his apartment is,” Phoebe said, rolling her eyes.
Paige stifled a laugh as she crawled into the backseat.
“Ah-ah-ah,” Phoebe said, turning to glare at her from the front seat. “Need I bring up your last beau, Lung Chow? We've all made some less-than-savvy dating choices, haven't we?”
“Touché,” Paige said, though her lips were still quivering with laughter.
“Piper,” Phoebe said, turning around to glare through the windshield. “Just drive. I'll tell you where to go.”
Fifteen minutes later the Halliwells were parked on the street outside a funky old apartment building. Phoebe peered out the window and saw a light on in Josh's apartment, a second floor studio around the back.
“Well, if he does indeed still live here,” Phoebe said, “it looks like he's home.”
“And there's a back stairwell,” Piper noted as she followed Phoebe's gaze. “Perfect. Let's move.”
The sisters tiptoed down a walkway beside the building, then slowly climbed the ramshackled wooden fire escape to Josh's door. When they reached the landing, Phoebe peeked inside.
“I see him,” she whispered. She was looking into a brightly lit kitchen. Directly beyond the kitchen, through a large, open doorway, was the living room. The lights were off in the living room, but in the shadows Phoebe could just make out Josh. She couldn't tell what he was doing—all she could see was his back.
Then Phoebe caught her breath. She saw a flash of silver glint in the light of the kitchen. Then she heard a muffled scream.
“It looks like Josh has found some other company for the evening,” Piper cried.
“Stand back,” Phoebe barked at her sisters. Then she balled her fists beneath her chin, spun around quickly, and used the momentum to slam her foot into Josh's kitchen door. She felt the door splinter beneath her heel with a satisfying cracking noise.
Piper thrust her hands through the rough hole in the door and flicked her fingers.
Instantly Josh and his terrified prey froze. All sounds that might have been rattling around the apartment—the humming of the refrigerator, the drip of a leaky faucet, or the hiss of a radiator—halted as well. The witches plunged into the eerily quiet apartment.
Paige looked frantically around the spare apartment for something that could be used to fight off the demon. But it was a total bachelor pad with nothing but a cheap dinette set, a foam-stuffed couch, mini-blinds on the windows, not even a dishtowel hanging on the refrigerator door.
Then she glanced down at the leather trench coat she'd thrown over her slinky dress in the car. She ripped off its belt and tossed it triumphantly to Phoebe. Phoebe and Piper positioned themselves on either side of Josh, ready to grab his hands. And Paige wrapped her arms around Josh's “date”—a beautiful woman who couldn't have been more than twenty-one. Her blue eyes were horrified—bulging and watery.
They were ready.
Paige nodded at Piper, who used another flick of her fingers to unfreeze Josh and the girl. The minute Josh started moving, Phoebe and Piper pounced on him. Phoebe grabbed the hand with the glinting claws and wrenched it behind his back, yanking his shoulder joint painfully.
Meanwhile Paige pulled the innocent away from Josh with an awkward jerking motion that sent both of them tumbling to the floor. The girl looked at the bizarre scene that had unfolded while she was frozen and burst into tearful screams.
“You're okay,” Paige told her. “You just need to get out of here. Now!”
The girl didn't need to be told twice. She stumbled to her feet and bolted through the splintered door.
While the innocent's footsteps echoed down the back stairs, Piper and Phoebe pulled Josh into the kitchen, shoved him into a straight-back chair, and wrapped Paige's belt around his chest. In two shakes he was bound, but not—unfortunately—gagged.
“Unleash me,” Josh sputtered, glaring at Phoebe. “You'll be sorry, should you not. Sorrier even than the rest of them.”
“What are you talking about, Josh?” Phoebe spat, leaning into Josh's face. “I want an explanation. That was my sister you were trying to murder back there at P3.”
“Your sister?” Josh spat back. “Who are you?” Phoebe pulled back in shock. Was it possible that Josh didn't recognize her?
Something isn't right, here, Phoebe thought. Either that or Josh the Demon is trying to psyche me out. Well it isn't going to work. Not a second time around.
“Maybe this will remind you who I am, Josh,” she said. Then she reared back and threw a punch that connected neatly with Josh's cheekbone. The strength she'd built up during all her workouts with Cole really paid off. Josh's head whipped to the side like a pinwheel.
“U
h-oh,” Paige said as Josh's head wobbled for a moment, then sagged limply. “I don't think we're going to get any explanation out of Josh now. You knocked him out cold, Phoebe. You kung-fu queen.”
“And that will make it all the easier to vanquish his cowardly butt,” Piper announced. She reared back, ready to blow Josh up. But before she could make the lethal motion, a gooey substance began oozing out of his ear.
“Okay, what's that?” Piper asked, her hands still poised next to her ears.
Phoebe stared at the silvery, gelatinous goo dripping down the side of Josh's face. It wasn't gray matter—even she couldn't have done that kind of damage with one punch. And it certainly wasn't blood.
As the sisters stared, the silvery trickle turned into a gush. It spilled off Josh's shoulder but before it hit the kitchen linoleum, the rivulet veered upward. It shot into the middle of the room. Then the silver gush began to expand.
“This is definitely not what I expected,” Paige said, staring in fascination as the goo began to elongate and hollow out. It continued to grow until it became a giant tube of some sort. At the end of the tube, a giant mouth began to take shape, complete with rubbery, mushy lips.
And then, as if the tube had unleashed a giant sneeze, the sisters were buffeted by a hot blast of air.
“I guess this is some sort of demonic weapon,” Phoebe called over the loud rush of wind.
The surge of air didn't stop. In fact it grew stronger every second, speeding up and spinning around itself like a tiny tornado. All the while the wind made a horrendous, screeching howl.
“What are you waiting for?” Paige screamed to Piper, her hair whipping around her cheeks. “Zap him before that . . . thing gets any bigger!”
“But we don't know what that thing is!” Piper yelled back. “All we know is that this demon spewed it out. Kill the demon and we might be stuck with something even worse.”
“When did you get so logical?” Phoebe shrieked at Piper.
“When I became the oldest Charmed One,” Piper yelled back, locking sad, panicked eyes with Phoebe for a brief instant. Then they turned back to the silvery blob taking shape before them.
Date with Death Page 5
