A/N: Hey everyone. I know it's been awhile since I've posted a new story. And I know I have several unfinished stories, lol. But I found this on an old disc from like 2 years ago, thought it was awesome, and decided to start posting it. I have Chapters 1 and 2 done, and 3 halfway there. I have a lot of schoolwork though, and a lot for to do for my College's newspaper, so be patient with me as far as posting goes beyond the completed chapters. I also don't remember where I was going with this, so I'm just going to go with the flow and see where it leads.
Okay, so the usual. I don't own Charmed. But I DO own Krista and her storyline.
Hope everyone enjoys and please review!
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"Krista, come wash your hands, please! Dinner's almost ready!"
"Okay, mom," Krista replied, only half listening. She reluctantly turned the television off and walked into the kitchen. She washed and dried her hands, then helped her mom bring the food to the table.
They sat. Sarah Braxton glanced at her daughter before doling out the food: roast beef, mashed potatoes, corn, and buttered rolls. They were quiet as they ate. Krista mostly picked at her food.
"Eat your dinner before it gets cold," Sarah said firmly, but kindly.
Krista continued to push her food around with her fork. "This was daddy's favorite meal."
Sarah paused, her fork poised halfway to her mouth. She lowered it back down and placed the fork on her plate.
"Sweetie-" Sarah paused. "Your father wouldn't want you to starve yourself over him. It's been six months. You need to – well, not move on, you'll never move on. But you need to keep living. He'd want you to be happy."
Krista shrugged slightly, feeling tears prickle in her eyes. She stared fixedly at her plate so her mom wouldn't see the tears.
"Please eat, honey,' Sarah begged. Krista hadn't properly eaten since her father had died. She was loosing so much weight it was scary. She had been really skinny to begin with, and she looked worse now.
"Today is exactly six months," Krista pointed out. "He died May twenty-eighth. It's November twenty-eighth today."
"I know," Sarah said softly. "I know it is." She sipped her water and put it down. "Why don't you go lay down?"
Krista didn't bother to argue. She left the kitchen and went to her room down the hall (The house only had one floor. It was all she and her mom could afford now that they didn't have her father's pay check to help them. The insurance money from his death had all gone to bills.) She closed and locked her door, turned out the light, closed the blinds, and fell onto her bed.
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Krista gasped as she awoke to strange sounds coming from her mother's bedroom. It sounded like strange voices and whispered threats, by the sounds of the angry voices.
"She's not here," Krista heard her mother say sharply. "My daughter isn't home. She's with a friend. Now get out of my house!"
The words were slightly muffled, as both her door and her mother's door were closed, but Krista heard it all the same. Softly, she padded across her room in her bare feet and inched her door open. Her mother's door wasn't completely closed, as Krista had assumed. It was opened a crack, enough for Krista to see her mother being held by two large beasts, and a third standing before her.
Sarah must have seen Krista as well, because her look became panicked as their eyes met, then Sarah looked away.
"Do you think we came just for her, Sarah?" the beast standing before her asked, smirking. Krista couldn't see his face, but his voice sent chills up her spine.
Sarah didn't even bother to struggle. She stared straight at the beast of a man standing before her. She barely even blinked. "Nothing you do or say will make me give it to you. Besides, I don't have it. It's hidden very well and you'll never find it."
The beast man sighed. "Sarah, darling, why must you be so difficult? Hand it over and I'll spare your life and the life of your daughter."
Sarah swallowed. Even if she wasn't showing it, Krista knew she was scared.
"How many times do I have to tell you that she isn't here? And I don't have it."
The beast man sighed in an aggravated way.
Sarah took that moment to look at Krista with a panicked, Run! expression, before looking quickly back at the beat man.
Krista couldn't move, both from fear and panic. Plus, there was no way she was leaving her mom.
"Very well, Sarah. If you refuse to cooperate then-" The beast man held something that glinted silver from the light of the moon, the only light on in the whole house.
Sarah seemed to stiffen, and she fought her captors for a millisecond, but Krista knew her mom would rather die than lose her only child Still, she had only just lost her father. Her mother was all she had left and tears spilled into her eyes, but she knew she couldn't help. She'd be killed, too.
Sarah swallowed again, but held her head high. She silently willed Krista to leave, to look away. She couldn't stand the thought of her daughter witnessing the murder of her mother, as she had already witnessed the murder of her father.
The beast man lifted the dagger. His henchmen held Sarah's arms behind her back tightly. Sarah remained still, trying not to wince and praying she died quickly and painlessly. Krista held her breath, trying not to scream or give away her presence.
Then, in the blink of an eye, it was over.
Sarah crumbled to the floor as the beasts let her go. The leader cleaned his blade on the bed sheets.
"Let's go."
"But sir, the girl?"
Beast man stared at his companion. "Another time. I believe Sarah was telling the truth. I can't feel the girl's presence here. Besides, we have more important things to deal with. Let's go." He disappeared and his henchman followed.
Krista waited several minutes to be sure they were gone before running to her mom's side.
"Mommy?" Krista whimpered softly, touching her mom's face. "Please-" But nothing. Krista stood, sobbing quietly. She turned and ran back to her room where she threw on her shoes and grabbed her beloved necklace that her father had given her when she was little. She clasped it around her neck. Her digital clock glowed 9:05 at night as she climbed out her window and ran like hell.
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San Francisco was huge, and Krista had gone only twelve blocks when she had to catch her breath. The streets were pretty quiet for a Friday night and the darkness enveloped her.
Just as she was about to continue running to who knows where, a noise startled her into hiding. From behind a bush, she watched two men appear. They looked similar to the ones who had attacked and killed her mom.
"We've searched half the city. That girl is not here," one said.
"I think we should report back," the other said.
They nodded to each other and disappeared.
Krista gulped. She had to hide until morning. She needed to rest. A building loomed maybe ten feet from her. A line of people went out the door. She'd never make it in the entrance, she decided, so she ran around back to an alley. An entrance led inside. She tugged the door open and snuck in.
The hall she entered was empty. Doors led off either side of the main hall. She tried two and both were locked. The third was a bathroom. The last one was an office. She shut the door behind her and looked around.
Posters lined the walls. The desk was cluttered in papers. A bag sat on the chair behind the desk. Two more chairs were placed on the other side of the desk. Two filing cabinets sat in the back left corner, and a computer sat, turned on, on the desk.
The light was on, so Krista kept it that way. She sat down in the chair behind the desk and sighed with relief. She felt safer being in here where, if anyone tried to harm her, she could run to the main room of the building where the sounds of music, people, shuffling feet, and glasses chinking floated.
On the desk, Krista noticed, sat pictures of whom she assumed was the friends of the owner, maybe family, and somewhere in the mix, the owner herself. Or maybe the owner was a man and these people were his sisters or daughters or something. Either way, seeing the smiling faces made her feel safe and comforted, but then she remembered her very dead mother and the fact that she had no family left at all now.
"Oh, mom," Krista cried, tears running down her face. She clutched the ruby gem, encased in gold that hung on the gold chain around her neck.
"Let's go in to my office. It's more private."
Krista jumped. There were voices outside the door.
"And we need a plan," another voice said in agreement.
"We had a plan," yet a third voice said. "But it backfired."
"All work and no play is the life we live," one of the voices sighed.
All three were female, Krista realized. She had nowhere to hide and quickly ducked under the desk and prayed for a miracle to happen.
" Leo said they were ancient creatures," one of the girls said. "They're in the Book, but it doesn't say how to vanquish them. The Elders don't even know much about them and the Book is pretty vague."
"I never thought they'd attack at us P3, though," another girl said. "It's pretty, well, packed."
"They don't care about hurting Innocents. But I see your point," another said.
Krista gulped. She could see their feet moving from the break between the bottom of the desk and the floor and she only hoped they'd leave or, at the least, not come behind the desk and discover her.
"So what's plan B?" someone asked.
Well," another replied, moving out of Krista's line of vision.
Krista's heart beat against her ribcage.
"First, we need to scry for them and then-"
The chair moved, exposing Krista. She closed her eyes tight, fear gripping her entire body.
"What the hell-??"