Just a quick note to say in case anyone's wondering - the title 'Hell's Kitchen' isn't meant to rip-off Marco Pierre White's program, it's just a play on how Charmed episode's always have these cute puns for the titles XD Just so you know - I didn't want to anger anyone :3

Hell's Kitchen

Chapter One

'Chris!'

'Chris! Get down here!'

An array of voices floated up the stairs and into Chris' bedroom, where he lay under his duvet, fast asleep. He mumbled incoherently, and turned over, oblivious to the calls of his family.

'Chris!' Piper finally burst into his room, her long hair flying, 'get up now!'

'Huh?' Chris shot up in bed, his hair scuffed. He blinked sleepily through the dim light to where his mother stood, a scowl darkening her features. 'Washappening?' he mumbled, tempted to lie down again.

'Don't' Piper snapped as he lowered himself back under the duvet, 'I want you to come downstairs and explain why the kitchen is in the state it is in. Now' she added as an after-thought

'Kitchen?' Chris was still half-asleep.

'Yup' Piper raised her eyebrows, then spun around and marched back downstairs.

Chris rolled his eyes and threw back the warm covers. Mumbling, he got out of bed, and padded out of his room, down the corridor, and descended the twisting staircase, where Phoebe leaned against the banisters.

'Oh, you're in trouble' she told him, raising her neatly plucked eyebrows, and following him into the kitchen.

'Well?' Piper stood in the middle of the kitchen – or at least, what should have been the kitchen, if it was not for the broken cabinets, the water-flooded floors, the walls, covered in what looked suspiciously like blood, and the torrents of grey smoke, apparently rising from nowhere, and clouding the room in a thick smoke-screen.

Paige and Phoebe walked across the room to join their sister, and fixed him with accusing glares.

'What?' he threw open his hands, 'I didn't do anything! Mom!' He turned to Piper incredulously, but she, fuming – not unlike the dark smoke around them – clearly was not in the mood.

'No, Chris. You were the last one in here'

'Oh what, so just because I was last seen in here, means I did this? So what, did we all forget demons can materialise here?'

'He does have a point' Paige twisted her mouth in an apologetic grimace, 'sorry Piper' she shrugged,

'Thank you' Chris gestured to his aunt, 'anyway, how would I do this?

'Oh I don't know, maybe you were mixing potions again?' Piper glared at him, 'I thought we told you to leave the potions to us?'

'And I thought I told you I didn't do this!' He raised his voice, and Phoebe raised her hands to intercept.

'Okay, okay' she breathed, 'let's just...calm down. Piper' she turned to her sister, 'calm. Now, I think first we should probably clean this up, and argue later, yes?'

'Fine' Piper threw open her hands in exasperation, 'but I'm not doing it'

'Okay' Phoebe paused, 'but err...'

'What?' Paige asked suspiciously, 'late for a certain lunch date?'

'Lunch?' Piper looked at Phoebe, then at the clock - which hung somewhat lopsided on the blackened wall, 'at ten in the morning?'

'So it's a brunch' Phoebe waved them off, 'and it's with Paul – I really really think he could be the one'

'The one?' Piper raised her eyebrows,

'Yeah' Phoebe grinned, slowly moving out of the kitchen and into the hallway, 'you know, the one that I marry, have little babies with – the babies in my vision'

'Okay, that wasn't even babies plural' Paige interjected, 'you just saw yourself pregnant'

'Yeah' Piper nodded, 'plus, Phoebe it's not healthy to keep rushing at guys with that kind of future in mind – you'll just set yourself up for disappointment, and you don't want that'

'Yeah, and I don't wanna be late, either, so...' Phoebe gave a shrug, shot a grin at her sisters and, grabbing her bag, she left.

'Okay' Chris clapped his hands together, 'so now that we've decided that this wasn't me, can I go back to bed? Only I feel a little underdressed' he gestured to his pyjamas and socks

'Er, no, mister' Piper stopped him, 'we didn't decide anything and it's ten in the morning - don't you wanna get up and, you know, do some demon searching?'

'Nah, not really' he shrugged,

'What's this?' Paige grinned, 'you are having time-off from hunting demons? Are you feeling alright?'

'Ha-ha' he rolled his eyes, 'I just...figured I'd give the hunting a break for a bit, seeing as how I apparently can't be trusted' he rolled his eyes at the kitchen

'Hmm, well people tend to give reasons why they should be trusted' Piper said, 'blowing up the kitchen is not one'

'Saving Wyatt is' Chris pointed out, 'and staying up 'till two in the morning last night trying to ID that demon Phoebe saw in her premonition is. And-'

'Yeah yeah' Piper waved her hand, 'save the speech, just, clean this up will you?'

Wha-?' he gaped as she patted his shoulder and strode out, leaving Paige standing rather awkwardly in the middle of the room.

'Sorry' she shrugged at Chris, 'but you know Piper. Hey, anything on Phoebe's demon?'

Chris sighed, then ran a hand through his hair, 'no. The closest I could find to it was that weird spider-demon thing, and boy, I hope we don't have to face that again'

'Yeah me too' she agreed, biting her lip.

'You, erm, wanna help here or...' he gestured to the smouldering kitchen

'Hmm...Not really' she shot him a grin, 'but you have fun, I'm going to try and calm the beast' she grinned again

'You know, calling Piper 'the beast' probably isn't the best word – in this house she actually could be possessed'

'True, but I doubt a beast would freak out about her son wrecking the kitchen.' She left, and Chris blew out his cheeks in annoyance

'Right' he spoke aloud, rolling up the sleeves of his pyjamas 'this will be fun'.

*Two hours later*

'Hey son' a ringing noise filled the air, and a bright blue light lit up the glinting table tops and walls.

'Jeez!' Chris jumped at the arrival of Leo, 'knock first will you?' He dumped the wet cloth back into the bucket of soapy water, and sat back onto the floor, surveying his work.

'Nice' Leo observed, 'Piper make you clean up again?'

'Oh, not just clean up' Chris twisted to look at his father, 'she made me fix the cabinets, mop up the water and blood and stuff, re-paint some of the walls, and finish off the washing up the plates from dinner last night – which by the way, I didn't even partake in'

'Well, well done'

'Thanks' Chris rolled his eyes.

'Want some help?' Leo offered

'Nah – I'm done now. Thanks' He scrambled up and tipped the dirty water down the sink – ignoring the clanking of old pipes as they strained under the amount of liquid, 'where you been?'

'Oh, you know...out and about' Leo shoved his hands in his pockets, and crossed the kitchen to stand next to Chris. Chris surveyed him for a moment.

'Elders call you up again huh?'

Leo gave a start, 'I'm that easy to read?'

Chris shrugged, 'just don't tell Mom, you know she'll freak if she hears you've been up there again –after you promised-'

'I know, I know' Leo waved his words away, 'they just wanted to check up on us. You know, see how the whole trying-to-stop-a-son-going-evil-thing was going. Saying that, I left Wyatt with Victor – I wanted to give Piper and me some time off'

'Time off doing what?' Chris frowned, and then paused, holding up a hand, 'Actually, I don't want to know. That's a scorch mark' he added as Leo frowned in the direction of the tabletop

'Yeah, so what happened here anyway?' Leo strode over to the mark, running his hand along the wood as if waiting for a premonition. Chris enlightened him instead.

'Well, the sisters think I did it' he told him, 'but, to me...it looked demonic'

'Demonic?' Leo looked up sharply, 'in what way? I mean, besides the scorch mark,'

'What, the Elders didn't say anything?' Chris frowned

'I don't think housework really concerns them'

'Yeah, but this wasn't any old housework, dad. There was blood. Like splattered blood right up this wall...and smoke - smoke without a source...it was weird'

'And the sisters just left you to clean this up?' Leo peered round the kitchen door to the conservatory where Piper and Paige were talking in low voices

'They just think I exploded another potion' Chris shrugged again, 'besides, they have enough to worry about – what with Wyatt, and now Phoebe's demon. I think we should leave this to ourselves.'

'Blood and smoke...' Leo mused, 'sounds like a battlefield'

'That's what I thought' Chris said quietly, 'but a battle of what – and by who?'

'Whom' Leo corrected, 'I could go back up to the Elders?'

'No.' Chris said sharply. 'You promised Mom you'd have a break from them – she thinks you're drifting way away from the family, and she wouldn't be wrong' He fixed Leo with a dark stare, but Leo waved a hand,

'Chris, this could be the only way to find out what happened – and you did kind of wash away the evidence'

'Oh' Chris looked dismayed at the sink, where a few soapy bubbles still meekly lay, 'my bad.'

Leo gave a small shrug, and a tiny blue light appeared next to him, 'check the Book of Shadows' he said as another blue light appeared.

'Dad' Chris groaned, 'seriously, Mom is gunna freak when she finds out you orbed up there'

'Well, she's not going to find out, is she?' Leo grinned. Chris gave an exasperated sigh, before watching as his father was engulfed in blue light then disappeared.

'It's fine' Chris said grumpily to the thin air 'it's not like I wanted a day off hunting demons or anything'. He gave a scowl, before shoving the empty bucket in a cupboard, and traipsing slowly back out of the kitchen, and up the stairs, taking care to avoid his mother and aunt. Once in his room he quickly got changed, dragged his fingers through his hair, and shrugged into a hoodie. He surveyed his appearance in the narrow mirror.

His eyes remained cold. Where his father's were a warm olive colour, Chris' resembled cool gems – striking and narrowed. His brow was shadowed, and the pure darkness reminded him painfully of his brother.

He turned away sharply, trying to cast his mind away from Wyatt. There was time – he could still save his brother from going evil. Yet as he ran a hand through his hair, left the room and headed up the creaking stairs to the attic, something told him that fighting demons was only going to get harder.

These suspicions were confirmed as he peeled back the cover of the Book of Shadows, and flicked through it. He had inspected these pages last night, and had found that after turning back and forth through the script, his mind had begun to memorise the pages. So many demons, with so many deadly powers, even those they had vanquished had an annoying tendency to return. He narrowed his eyes in thought. If he was going to protect Wyatt, then this torrent of demons needed to stop. But there was no way such a thing would happen, and, sighing, he came to the conclusion, that perhaps it was best to just focus on the demon at present.

Casting his mind back, whilst tapping a finger against the faded page, he tried to remember the Book saying anything about demons waging battle in a kitchen. He bit his lip in humour. Obviously, nothing sprung to mind.

But then, as his eyes fell to the page, the sight of the curving handwriting sparked something in his memory. Taking a small intake of breath, he quickly thumbed to the back of the Book, and sure enough, there, in his great-grandmother's handwriting was the page he had been looking for:

The Proeliators – demons who wage battles in a place of power, not just to gain power over other demons, but also to gain the power of the place they fight in. Earliest records of Proeliators speak of fearsome warriors who capture other demons, mortals and even whitelighters, to force into battle. It is considered of great honour for Proeliators to win in battle, and they stop at nothing trying to do so. Every month the Proeliators will set up their arena in a place of power, and it is there they will battle with other demons and such like. The arenas of the Proeliators are usually identified by smoke with no source – caused by the distraction technique they use when fighting. Potions are usually useless against Proeliators – because of their protective shields, and to date there is no known vanquishing spell. It is recommended for one to just stay away from the Proeliators arena, and wait for their battle to pass.

'Oh great' Chris sighed, turning down the corner of the page to show to Leo later, 'that's the best advice you've got, Grams? Stay away?' He rolled his eyes and began to ponder over the information.

It was very possible these were the demons that had caused the kitchen to look like a bomb site. The smoke, the blood – all the signs pointed to a battlefield – even the place of power the Book spoke of.

Chris knew, for many years demons had been trying to take over the Nexus which currently resided in their basement. None had been strong enough to handle its power, but that didn't stop them trying.

It made sense now that these Proeliators were fighting, as the Book said, not to just gain favour and respect in the Underworld, but also to take in the power of the Nexus. Chris gave a derisive snort. Demons never learnt.

How was it though, that none of his family had heard a battle going on in the night? He felt sure he would have noticed demons ripping apart their kitchen, and night was the only time they could have come – he was, as Piper had assured him, the last person in the kitchen, and she was obviously the first in the morning, so how did they miss such a thing? And how did the Elders not know anything about it? Or if they did, they were not saying anything.

Shutting the Book, and inhaling an accidental breath of dust that rose from the sudden compression of old pages - resulting in a small coughing fit - he walked over to the window and looked down on the street below.

For almost midday, it was surprisingly quiet. The street lay lazily sprawled as usual – the odd car dotted about the driveways, each house set far apart from its neighbour – which Chris supposed was a good thing, in his family's case – for all the explosions and crashes the neighbours must wonder what goes on inside – and, despite the sun's height in the sky, the only movement below was that of a black cat, who sat, very still, on the side of the road.

Chris yawned. He debated going downstairs and just telling Piper and Paige about the so-called Proeliators, but he didn't want to trouble them, and felt certain they would just call him neurotic if he declared there were demons waging war in the kitchen. He shrugged and turned away from the window. He and Leo – once Leo came back - could plan how to get rid of the demons - or at the very least try to observe them fighting first hand.

As if on cue, Piper's voice met his ears

'Leo!' came her somewhat angry tones, 'Leo!'

Chris grimaced. If Piper needed Leo, but Leo was up with the Elders – which Piper had made very clear she was not happy about – then Chris would have to cover for his father. He hated lying, but as he knew, sometimes, it was for the best. And so, as Piper strode into the attic, he turned to face her with a completely innocent expression – his eyes wide, as if she had caught him off guard, thinking about something totally unimportant.

'Leo?' Piper shouted even louder. Chris clapped his hands to his ears,

'Yeah, he's not here' he looked up at her, an eyebrow raised,

'Well where is he?' she asked, her voice lilting with desperation, 'Paige needs him. She's hearing that jingly jangly stuff again' she waved her hands around her head to demonstrate her point.

'Yeah, okay' Chris said, nodding, 'but he's not here so...'

'What were you looking at?' Piper's eyes suddenly fell upon the Book – where the corner of the page he had turned down was poking out rather inconspicuously.

'Oh, nothing' he tried to scramble as gracefully as he could to the Book, but Piper – who was the closest – got there first

'Proly...Proeliat...Huh?' She glanced up at Chris, who forced a shrug

'Dunno' he lied, 'guess Phoebe or someone was doing some reading'

To his relief, Piper gave a shrug, 'Are you sure you don't know where Leo is? It's just Paige is freaking out, and it's driving me nuts'

'Uh huh' Chris bit his lip, consenting more with the last statement rather than her former, 'I mean, no, I don't know where he is...Shopping?'

Piper gave a bark of laughter, 'Yeah, like Leo shops'

'Well I don't know, maybe he's at the park' Chris snapped, 'the point is, I don't know, so...Maybe I could help Paige? – I am half-whitelighter after all'

'No...' Piper said 'No, Leo's been doing this longer than you have, besides, didn't you want a break from demon hunting and all things magic?'

'Right' he nodded slowly, 'I can't be trusted - I remember'

'Oh, Chris' Piper tugged at her hair in thought, 'it's not that we don't trust you, it's just...we need LEO!' Her voice rose to a shout, and Chris flinched again at the noise.

'Okay, you know what?' Chris held up his hands, 'he's gone up to the Elders, okay? He...went to ask them about Phoebe's demon – she was getting real stressed out about it, and I couldn't find anything in the Book so...'

'He what?' she squeaked, 'But I asked him not too!'

'I know' Chris rushed, 'but you know, Phoebe was very stressed about it'

'Really?' Piper started – more, Chris felt, out fear that she had been neglecting her sisterly duties, than out of fear of being deceived, 'I mean, she didn't seem very stressed out this morning...well unless you count her date with Paul'

'Well, she was, so...' he trailed off lamely, and gave a shrug, 'I thought you'd be madder'

'Well, I am, Chris, I am but...It's not that I don't mind Leo asking them for help, it's just...we don't need them. We'll find the demon ourselves. Besides, even if the Elders did say anything about the demon, it would be some cryptic mumbo-jumbo, as always,' the venom in her voice made Chris flinch, but he was saved any more venting as a ringing sound finally filled the air, and Leo appeared. Chris widened his eyes at him, and Leo nodded – Chris didn't want Piper to know that Leo had not been asking the Elders about Phoebe's demon, but about the Proeliators – if that's what they turned out to be.

'So?' Piper tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, 'did they say anything about Phoebe's demon?'

Leo eyes flickered for a moment, and Chris felt sure Leo was going to tell Piper the truth, but then his father shrugged.

'Not really'

'Of course they didn't' Piper snorted, 'come on, Paige needs you' she grabbed Leo's arm and began leading him out of the attic.

'Speak to you later' Leo twisted around and mouthed to Chris, before Piper led him downstairs.

'Oh sure' Chris muttered to himself, slowly nodding, 'I'll just wait here' He rolled his eyes and slumped against the wall, sliding down it to sprawl on the floor, long legs stretched out in front of him. He closed his eyes against the tinted glare of sunlight that seeped through the painted glass windows, and began to wait.