Prologue

Christopher Wyatt Halliwell was having a horrible day. Screw that, he was having a horrible week, which was a tremendous surprise given that he'd been chasing demons, killing dark-lighters and saving Innocents for the past twenty-five years of his life. After all, he helped save his brother Wyatt from the most dangerous of all evils when he was barely one year old. That counts for something, doesn't it?

Right now, nothing was counting. The past week had been riddled with far too many notorious monsters to count and they all seemed to be attacking them at the same time—

"Chris, watch out!"

He orbed out in a shower of sparkling blue and white lights, waiting for the fireball to strike the wall before reappearing in the middle of his living room. Ducking to avoid another fireball—fromyet another demon—he rolled behind the couch to where his brother was taking cover. They winced as they heard something shattering, knowing that it was probably another antique flower-vase or something that unfortunately had gotten caught in the cross-fire and had shattered into a thousand, irreparable pieces. Wyatt looked up at him.

"We'll take them one at a time—" he whispered.

"No, there are too many. We'll have to find a new hiding place after we vanquish each one and soon, we'll destroy the whole frickin' house!"

"Chris," Wyatt began warningly, knowing that his brother's bad moods plus the reoccurring demon-attacks would not result in any good. Sure enough, before he could utter another word, Chris had stood up, clear in the sight of the demons.

"Hey, pizza-face!" He called out to the one closest to the couch—a quite disgusting creature with red and black pock marks riddling its face. Soon as he uttered the words, he sent an energy ball shooting across the room and straight into the demon's chest, causing it to burst into flames. Wyatt groaned, wondering why the hell he had to get stuck with his brother' stupidity and why the hell he had to end up cleaning up after his brother's stupidity. He orbed quickly and landed two feet behind another demon—this one painted pure black all over except for the silver rings that seemed to fill any and all possible piercing spots on his body. He grabbed him from behind and cleanly twisted his neck, breaking each and every bone just as Chris blew up another one which had been about to throw a fireball at them.

"Wyatt, duck-duck-goose!"

He fell to the floor immediately just as an energy ball whirled past his head and hit a demon behind him. The creature roared in pain as its body burst into flames. Wyatt saw a pair of clawed feet running across the room, straight at the couch and sent a fireball at them, landing the fifth demon and vanquishing it.

Once all of the commotion died down, Wyatt straightened, still crouching on the floor with one arm over a bent knee. "Quack quack?"

Chris shrugged. "I found that the term 'duck-duck-goose' seems to confuse the demons, makes them hesitate."

"Oh, Mom's going to be so happy her nursery rhyme is being put to use!" Wyatt scoffed, rising to his feet.

"It's not a nursery rhyme," Chris replied, slightly irritated. "It's a children's game—"

"And that's so much better, right?"

Chris turned on him, hand open at his side, ready to fling an energy ball at him but he was suddenly interrupted by a warm voice floating down the stairs off to their side.

"All that noise could only mean one thing!"

Piper Halliwell definitely knew when to interrupt something, especially after a good demon attack. Having had three sisters before—two of them younger than her—two sons, five nieces and one nephew, she was far better at handling emotions and issues better than anybody else, even her husband, Leo Wyatt, who was practically a born pacifist and her sister, Phoebe Halliwell, who was an advice columnist. Yes, she definitely prided herself over raising eight children without losing any of them to magical tantrums and God knew there was nothing worse than an angry child with powers.

"Mom!" Wyatt grinned, walking forward to hug his mother who was a good foot shorter than him.

"Were you boys having fun kicking some demon-ass?"

"I wouldn't exactly call it 'fun' if it's the tenth time I had to do it in a weak!" Chris replied, giving Piper a hug.

"Mmm… been there, done that," Piper nodded with a soft sigh that was both sad and disgusted at the same time. "To put it mildly, let's say your aunts and I had to deal with the Lazarus demon… times ten all in one day!"

Chris scowled. He would take the Lazarus demon any time now, especially since it only resurrected with more power every time it was killed until it was buried in a cemetery. Even Lazarus demon times ten was fine with him but this was like Lazarus demon to the infinity right now.

"Did Dad find out what's going on with these crazy demon attacks?" Wyatt asked her as she walked around the room, inspecting the damage that the battle had done to its furnishing with a wrinkled nose.

"No, but he better have found some sort of furniture-repairing spell because I am at my wit's end here!" Piper muttered, looking at the shattered glass. "I don't get it—your grandma was a witch, her mother was a witch and her mother and her mother all the way back to Melinda Warren from the seventeenth century! You'd think they'd have come up with some spell to fix broken glass and burnt wood after getting attacked by demons so many times. It's not like demons were any more congenial or considerate back then—" she stopped and looked up thoughtfully. "Were they?"

"Mom," Chris sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Right, right," Piper replied, snapping back to attention. "Demon attacks… crazy… by the hundreds."

"Try thousands," Wyatt replied.

"Or, better yet, try infinity!" Chris amended.

"Now that, young man, is an exaggeration," Piper said with a stern finger in her younger son's direction. "Besides, I'm sure there's some sort of explanation for it. Why don't you go ask your dad?"

"He banned Chris and me from the school," Wyatt told her with a sigh towards Chris. "After Chris barged into his Creatures of the Magical Community class on Monday and refused to leave until he got answers…"

"Hey, that was the frickin' banshee-slash-wendigo attack day, I was this close to applying to a mental institution!" Chris replied indignantly.

"Banshees don't attack male witches," Piper frowned.

"No, but Bendishees do! This thing was seven feet tall and delightfully ugly and it brought sisters too! Or is it brothers? Or both? Are Wendigos all male?"

"Chris!" Wyatt snapped, rubbing his forehead.

"Why don't you go ask Cathryn, she was probably talking to Leo at school this morning, he might have told her something," Piper told them, carefully picking up the shattered glass from the vase and placing it all back on the mahogany stand it had once stood on.

"Can't, she's in the Underworld."

Piper looked at Wyatt with a quirked eyebrow.

"Well, I can't sense her. I can only assume that she and that boyfriend of hers are taking a hike through Satan's Pit for their honeymoon!" Wyatt said sarcastically. "That boy bothers me, are you sure we should be allowing Cathryn to see him?"

"He's a nice enough boy, Wyatt," Piper reasoned carefully. "Just a little… adventurous. Besides, your cousin is old enough to make decisions for herself—"

"She's sixteen, Mom, hardly 'old enough'. Besides, when I skipped school to be with my girlfriend, I don't remember you being so considerate towards me." Wyatt replied.

"Cathryn doesn't have classes right now, she's only taking them in the evenings. And when you were sixteen, you were running around with a Siren, not a future white-lighter, remember?"

"Oh-ho!" Chris laughed. "Swish swish! What was her name, Wyatt, Selena? The chick with the huge—"

"Chris…" Piper said in a warning voice.

Chris immediately shut his mouth. "Sorry."

"My point is, we all learn through our mistakes, especially in the magical world, and Cathryn needs to learn through hers," Piper explained, piling the last of the glass on the stand and patting her hands clean. She then placed them on her hips and turned to her sons. "You learned through yours—give her a chance to do the same."

"I just don't trust him," Wyatt muttered grudgingly.

Piper smiled. Annoying as it was sometimes to see all the kids fighting with each other about who went out with whom and who tried to find and kill whom, she knew it was all because they loved each other and that was far more comforting to know than not. She could overlook the fights… sometimes.

"Okay, back to the point. Mom, can you call Dad?" Chris asked.

"Why don't you call him yourself?" Piper replied, turning away to go into the kitchen.

"Because he won't answer, and you know it," Chris said following her.

"And I wonder whose fault that is," Wyatt muttered behind him before receiving a nasty glare from his brother.

"Just call him, please?"

Piper sighed and turned her face up to the ceiling slightly. "Leo?" When there was no reply for a long time, she called again. "Leo… Chris needs you."

It just so happened that her husband was about to respond to her second call and halfway shimmered into the kitchen when he heard the rest of the second sentence and decided to go right back to his class at the Magical School. His wife did not like that very much.

"Leo! Get your butt down here!"

"What is it?" Leo sighed, finally appearing in front of his family. He turned to Chris and stared at him expectantly.

"Dad, what are you wearing?" Wyatt asked him, staring at the bright tropical shorts and white tee-shirt his father was wearing. To top it off, he had a straw hat set jauntily upon his muddy blonde hair finishing the perfect picture of… an embarrassing father.

"It's professor-party day," Leo replied, waving off the matter. "Why did you call me?"

"Honey, next time it's a 'professor-party day', try not to party so much, okay?" Piper interrupted, staring at the abominable shorts. "It turns out to be more of an eyesore."

Leo turned to his wife with a sly smile. "You want to see an eyesore?"

Piper giggled very childishly, swiveling on one foot like a love-struck girl. "Why not?"

"Okay, too much romance!" Chris interrupted them as Wyatt snickered behind him. "Something your kids do not need to see!"

Leo turned back to him, frowning. "What? Professor Tilwinkle is wearing a grass skirt and a coconut bra—that's what I meant."

"Oh…" Piper scowled, clearly disappointed.

"Mom!"

"Sorry, sorry… demons attacking, I keep forgetting. Alzheimer's a la Piper." Piper turned around and set the coffee-pot, realizing that several people in the room needed it right now, not just her.

"I can fix that for you," Leo told her, looking slightly concerned.

"Dad, she's not serious," Wyatt stated.

"Hello! Demon problem," Chris cried out, throwing up his arms in frustration.

"Oh, yes, I've been meaning to talk to you about that," Leo told him, walking around the kitchen counter to take a seat at the dining table. Chris and Wyatt followed.

"You've got news?"

"Hopefully on how the hell to stop them?"

"Actually… not really," Leo replied, wincing. "It's more…"

His sons and wife waited for him to continue but he just sighed and started over. "It's more of a mission for you guys, to tell the truth. It turns out that the Head Elders are… making them attack you."

"Making them? What is this, a frickin' test?" Chris said, enraged.

"Chris, relax!" Piper said to him patiently. "Honey, are they testing them? Didn't they already do that seven years ago?"

"It's not a test," Leo replied. "You see, there's this person who's the child of a dark-lighter and a demon—"

"Whoa! How did that happen?" Wyatt interrupted.

"Tell me about it," Leo nodded. "Ever since Piper and I got married, cross-magical marriages have been popping up everywhere."

"Trend-setters, are we?" Piper grinned.

"But this is the worst possible combination of them all," Leo explained. "When we got married, it was just a matter of conflicting duties. The Elders weren't sure we'd be able to do our jobs properly and manage a personal, married life. But this—a dark-lighter and a demon—is basically the evil combination possible. It's not a matter of duty; it's a matter of danger. A person with that kind of powers—dark-lighter and demon—is the exact opposite of what Chris and Wyatt are, what Paige is and somewhat of what her children are. A person with that lineage has the power to destroy both the witches and white-lighters—power beyond anything you can imagine! Not to mention that this one's also been raised by a Seer—you do the math!"

"Funny, I never really liked math," Wyatt sighed.

"So what's this got to do with us?" Chris asked.

"Other than that this demon-lighter can kick your butts—both of yours, quite easily once its powers are acquired? Well, the thing here is that it—sorry, she—hasn't exactly chosen her side yet."

"She?" Chris scoffed. "It's a girl."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Piper turned on her son.

"Nothing! I just meant that Dad made her sound like the reincarnation of Hell, so I was just expecting an ugly creature of some sort."

"She could still be ugly," Wyatt shrugged.

"This is not a matter to joke about, you guys," Leo sighed. "She needs protection. If her father, the Nemritzar Demon gets to her, there is no knowing what her powers can accelerate to. The Seer who has been raising her has seen the future and it is not good. That is why she is sending the girl to us to protect."

"How do we know it's not a trap?" Wyatt wondered.

"Because the Seer is putting herself in perilous danger by handing her over to us. The Nemritzar Demon is almost sure to kill her the moment he finds out but she says she cannot let such great evil take over. She fears it would be too great of a shift in the Balance."

"Honey, remember the last time we aided a Seer because she apparently didn't want the 'Balance to shift'," Piper reminded him reproachfully. "Remember how that turned out?"

"But this is different. The Elders have also sensed the danger and they've agreed that we must protect her."

"And the demons think she's here already?"

"Well, somehow the information leaked out that the children of the Charmed Ones are protecting her and the demons have been attacking ever since… obviously. The Elders are not bothering to clear it up because they know you can take them."

"Oh, so now we have to suffer for all the demons we've killed for them in the past?" Chris scoffed.

"Well, we can take them," Wyatt shrugged.

"Whose side are you on?"

"Chris, I know the demons have been a hindrance to you both—they have been for all of us. But we really need to do this for the Good of the world."

"Yeah, yeah… when do we start?" Chris groaned, knowing there was nothing he could do the moment his father started talking about the 'Good of the world'.

Leo grinned. "Right now, actually. I was supposed to talk to you this evening but I suppose you can begin right now. They are keeping her at the Magical School where there's enough magic to protect her for now."

"Great, shall we go?" Wyatt asked cheerfully.

"I guess," Chris replied.

"Wait—you—" But they had already orbed out. Leo sighed and lifted himself off his chair and turned to his wife with a warm smile.

"Coffee?" Piper asked sweetly offering him a cup.

"Yeah, thanks," he said, taking it from her with another heavy sigh.

"All right, spill. What didn't you tell them?"

Leo looked at her for a while and rolled his eyes. There was no way he could hide anything from her. "Female dark-lighters have the same power as male dark-lighters… they can seduce the opposite gender. That's how they get their victims, obviously."

"Wow… and you think…?"

"Yes," Leo replied, nodding. "I tried to tell the Elders but they didn't think anyone else was powerful enough to suppress her in her early stages if she did decide to turn. Who better to protect and perhaps go against a dark-lighter-demon than white-lighter-witches?"

"That's why the others haven't been assigned this mission," Piper reflected.

"Yes, or else any of the other kids could have protected her too."

"Well, what about Paige? She's half white-lighter and half witch, right? Wouldn't the girl be safer with Paige than with Chris and Wyatt?"

"Paige's powers are very great, but she's not as powerful as Chris and Wyatt put together. They're young and they've still got all their magic left for them to use. Besides, uh… Paige is missing."

Piper blinked. "What?"

Leo nodded. "She went missing a weak ago…"

"Around the same time the Seer came to you guys?"

"Uh-huh!"

Piper watched him through narrow eyes. "Are they stupid enough to think this is a coincidence and when the hell were you going to tell me?"

"I barely had any time—I was in the Underworld almost all of this past week trying to sense her but I can't. And, yes, they do think it's a coincidence."

"What? Do they have poop for brains?"

"Shh… we can hear you when we wish to, you know?"

"I don't care!" Piper replied. "The moment you folk start acting stupid, I'll tell you you're acting stupid—Leo! This is ridiculous! We need to find her."

"Piper, relax. She's a powerful witch, she can take care of herself and some of us are trying to find her. Bailun doesn't think it's coincidence either and he and Helga have been helping me search for her."

"Oh, no no! When something like this happens, you come to the Charmed Ones, Goddammit! I can't believe you've been hiding this from me and before you start giving me that 'I had no time' crap… don't!" Piper walked into the living room purposefully ignoring Leo's objections. She picked up her purse from the coat-hook and rummaged through it for her cell-phone.

"Piper, honey, what are you doing?"

"I'm calling Phoebe."

Leo gently took her cell phone from her and put it back in her purse. "Piper, we are looking for her. There's no need to bother Phoebe right now. Besides… she kind of… already knows."

Piper froze and turned to glare at her husband. "You told her? You told her and not me?"

"I didn't want to worry you," Leo sighed. "And she thought I shouldn't also. We have everything under control, believe me. We've got an alert out for her among our spies in the Underworld and Harry is out searching for her even as we speak."

"Harry's twenty years old! You're trusting the life of my sister to a young boy?"

"Harry is Paige's son, Piper. Besides, you know he's very powerful himself."

Piper looked away and sighed. "Yes, I know. I just… wish you had told me before." She looked up. "I'm just worried, you know. Do Chris and Wyatt even know about this dark-lighter power?"

"Apparently, she hasn't exactly… mastered them yet, she says. She promised she wouldn't use them and I know that you are worried, and believe me, Harry is powerful and so are Chris and Wyatt—"

"They're all kids! What if Harry gets in trouble, or Chris or Wyatt—"

"And if all else rings false for your ears," Leo talked over her, slowly pulling her into his arms, "remember that Paige is one of the Charmed Ones. She can definitely take care of herself. She's been demon-fighting far longer than any of us have so far."

Piper sighed, placing her cheek against his shoulder. "You better be right."

(0)

"I'm always right," Paige told the demon with a confident smile, crossing her arms before her. She watched him walk slowly toward the cage he had trapped her in. "As you seem to have forgotten, I'm a Charmed One."

"Yeah, yeah, the legendary Charmed Ones," the demon sneered, his scarred face twisting unpleasantly. "I heard ya'll gave up on yer po'rs and went back ta' yer sissy little human lives."

"Boy, you in for a big surprise," Paige chuckled. She opened her palm, creating an energy ball and sent it out of the cage towards him. Unfortunately, a sparkle of magic later, the energy ball began bouncing around in the cage, reflected off the walls until she finally caught it again in her hand with a slight squeal and extinguished it.

The demon was laughing. "Stupid witch! Can't remember the cage ye got trapped in all those years back?"

Paige's eyes widened in shock. Now that she looked at it, she did recognize it—it was the Seer's cage that her sisters and she had gotten trapped in over thirty years ago so they could be offered as sacrifices to make the Seer the Source of all evil. Immediately, she thought of that spell she had used…

"Uh-uh-uh!" The demon chuckled. "I knew ye'd think about that magic-calling spell. See, this cage is special—yes, it was made by that stupid Seer who died way back when, but I added some… modifications to it so that no magic can come out of it… and no magic can get in. Other than the active powers ye have, ye can't even use any magic in there and believe me, if ye start usin' yer active powers in there…" the demon leaned in, his twisted dread locks falling over his greasy face, "that'd be your own funeral!"

Paige growled at him.

"Yes, yes… all ye can do is just… sit there, just sit there, Paige. Enjoy the show!" The demon turned away, laughing and stretching his arms out as though he was the most powerful creature in the world. If he had that much power, he'd get himself some better clothes than the torn rags he was wearing now, Paige thought bitterly.

She looked up at the cave-like ceiling of the Underworld. "Piper… Phoebe… where are you?"

(0)

"Right here, my love!"

"Coop!" Phoebe groaned. She picked up her empty coffee mug and threw it at her husband who caught it quickly. "Where have you been?"

"Uh… doing my job?" Coop questioned, unsure if he was actually supposed to answer the question. "What's wrong?"

Phoebe motioned at the river of mail flowing over her desk. "This! This is what's wrong! That idiot assistant of mine has no clue how to deal with fan mail and he decided to send everything through!"

"Well, throw it away," Coop replied with a soft shrug as he walked around the desk and placed the coffee mug on top of the pile of mail like an odd little monument on the moon or something. "What happened to Elissa, by the way, your old assistant?"

"Uh, you went and found her a boyfriend, that's what happened!" Phoebe replied hotly. "I swear, you're getting rid of every single one of my assistants one by one and it's getting harder and harder to find a decent one. I hate being married to a Cupid."

"No, you don't… you love it," Coop replied, leaning down.

Phoebe pouted at him, then smiled. "I do hate you," she sighed, then kissed him. Truth was, she loved it more than anything, and not just the small things like the amazingly blissful kisses that never seemed to get old or how she remains to look about thirty-five when her sisters were getting the hints of white hair all through their head, but also the fact that she could not be happier with anyone else than the man she found.

"Hmm…" Coop sighed, stroking her cheek. "How you remain to be so vexing after all these years is beyond me."

"I was about to say the same thing to you. Aren't Cupids supposed to be all sweet and sugar with less than a hint of mischief?"

"You're asking me that now, after twenty-one years of marriage?"

"Wow, it's been twenty-one already?" Phoebe frowned.

"Yes… in fact…" Coop waved his hand through the air, creating a ripple of red stars that turned into a box of chocolates before her eyes. "Happy anniversary."

"It's not for a whole week, baby," Phoebe grinned.

"I know, but this is our engagement anniversary, right?"

"Hmm…" Phoebe shrugged. She picked the box of chocolates from mid-air and opened it. There was nothing more soothing or sexy than chocolate on the planet. Whoever said that diamonds were a girl's best friend was completely wrong. Chocolate far outshined diamonds. Cupids were even better.

"Unfortunately," Coop sighed, backing away slightly, "I can't linger."

"What?"

"I've got a big mission… very important."

"Oh, who is it?" Phoebe asked, placing the chocolates down and turning back to her computer to continue her work on the last chapter of the novel she had been writing… the last chapter which she had been working on for seven months now.

"I… can't tell you."

Phoebe looked up at him suspiciously. "You can't tell me? When have you not been able to tell me who your misguided hearts are?"

Coop shrugged uncomfortably, a sheepish smile on his face as he slowly kept backing away from her, already planning his escape. "I'm gonna have to start sometime, right? Okay, I'll see you at dinner, sweetie, bye!"

"Coop!"

"Please don't call me back," Coop cried out as he disappeared in a flash of white light that receded into a hovering red heart, then faded off completely. Phoebe stared after the heart, vexed beyond imagination.

"Now we have secrets?" Phoebe yelled out, knowing he wouldn't hear her, but having the satisfaction of yelling at her husband anyway.

"Did you call, Ms. Halliwell?"

Phoebe turned to the shock of read hair poking into her room. The young man whom it belonged to stared at her with eyes magnified beyond proportions by his thick glasses.

"David," Phoebe grinned. "Could you do me a small favor and just… throw all this mail away?"

David looked at the mail on her desk. "But they're all fan mails, Mrs. H."

"Yes, I know, but—" Phoebe froze, then sighed, knowing that it would be much easier to just do it by herself. "Never mind, David."

David nodded with a huge smile, then disappeared from her door. Phoebe stared after him, then looked at the spot where her husband had been standing seconds ago, scowling. "I need a new job. Better yet, I need a new life!"