Title: Revelations of the Ultimate Kind
Rating: T (Teen) ... for some mild language and mild violence
Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed. It is strictly the property of Constance Burge, Aaron Spelling, Brad Kern, the WB Network and any other affiliates. This fan-fiction borrows the use of characters, storyline concepts, and themes associated with the show and is strictly being used for entertainment purposes only. No financial profit is being made.
(Edited: See added disclaimer content in Chapter 29 of story 1/12/08).
Summary: This story is a continuation from season 8 (a sort of season 9) and it picks up six months after the Ultimate Battle with Billie and Christy.
While moving on with their lives in the wake of the Ultimate Battle, Piper, Phoebe, and Paige come to learn some shocking truths regarding their oldest sister, Prue, and their destiny as the Charmed Ones. Billie struggles to overcome the loss of her parents and deals with the guilt left behind after having to kill her sister. However, she also encounters some shocking discoveries about herself, discoveries that connect her to the very people she betrayed during the Ultimate Battle - The Charmed Ones.
In the wake of many secrets and revelations along the way, the sisters struggle to pursue their true calling as a hidden prophecy is unearthed and an unexpected evil, once thought to be dead, resurfaces to eliminate the Charmed Ones and their progeny for good. What does this mean for the future?
Hi. I just wanted to leave a quick introduction.
My pen-name is PrueAndyForever and I've been on this site for some time. I've read some wonderful fictions here and have left some feedback but I never quite gathered up the courage to try one on my own, lol. So here I am giving it a shot for the very first time. All feedback is welcome, good or bad, just as long as criticism is for constructive purposes. Thanks.
Prologue
Salem, Massachusetts October 31, 2006
A moderately sized home sat back against the beautiful landscape that was Salem. The small sign advertising its sale stood in the front yard and could be viewed by passersby who were coming and going from each direction.
It was another typical fall day. The temperature was cool and the windy autumn breeze continued to shuffle all of the scattered leaves across the paved drive-way and onto the manicured lawn. While the evening sun was preparing to set, children of all ages were dressed up in their costumes. They walked up and down the streets and giggled with glee as they engaged in the age old tradition of trick-or-treating.
However, inside of the home, a different story was playing itself out.
A woman with beautiful hair the color of a raven, and brown sugar highlights which stood out to an observer under a bright sun, sat back on a rocking chair with one leg pulled up to her chin. She appeared to be somewhere in her thirties and was clearly in deep contemplative thought. Earlier, she had felt so exhausted, completely drained, and had tried getting the much needed rest her body so desperately craved, only to encounter another restless attempt at sleep. Sleepless nights had been reoccurring in the days leading up to Halloween.
So, after another long and uneventful day, she had only meant to come home, kick her shoes off by the front door, and then head straight to the kitchen. She had only meant to put that white kettle on the stove, grab her cup of hot chamomile tea with a splash of honey and then retreat barefoot to the bedroom - her bedroom. She especially loved the feel of the soft carpet underneath her feet. There she would cozy up on the bed with a good book, sipping on the hot liquid, and with any luck whatsoever, would doze off into a peaceful slumber. After all, it was the routine, at least it had become her routine for the past year.
No such luck, though.
The tossing and the turning only gave birth to frustration and before she could stop herself, she had wandered down the hallway only to find herself standing in front of the other door. She stared at it for what felt like hours until, finally, her hand slowly reached for the door knob.
The rocking chair was in the middle of a child's bedroom. The mood was quite somber and the woman now sitting there just sought peace of mind. Using her hand, she pushed her long flowing locks of hair, hair falling down her back in waves, further away from her face. The back and forth rocking motion from the chair was brought to a halt.
She sighed.
In the other hand, she clutched a tiny brown teddy bear. Surrounding her in every direction, were framed photographs of a beautiful blond-haired little girl adorning the walls. The child's bright blue eyes appeared to shine with radiant life but to the anguished mother they appeared to be crying out for help.
Marie Holloway shut her eyes.
She refused to cry about it again. So she swallowed over the growing lump in her throat and fought away the onslaught of tears that were threatening to spill.
It was much easier to subdue the pain and that aching in her chest if she just didn't have to look at the photos. All of the pictures had been shot with such loving care by the photographer and that was because she, herself, had taken them.
Out of the nowhere, the sound of a cat meowing and then pouncing on her lap caused her to jump involuntarily. The small teddy bear fell to the floor.
"Kit!" she exclaimed.
The cat meowed at her again.
"You scared me, girl, don't do that!" she scolded in a gentle manner as she began petting the black feline.
Marie looked towards the bedroom door, noticing that it was slightly ajar.
"How did you get in here, anyway, I thought I closed that door? Huh?"
Kit purred.
Marie felt a chill pass through her, causing goosebumps to break out over her arms. She turned her attention towards the window.
"Must be a draft."
She kissed the cat, still holding onto her as she got up.
After approaching the window, she could definitely feel the breeze. The cat jumped out of her arms, gliding across the floor with the elegance of a pedigreed aristocrat. Marie smiled, the cat could be finicky and they had only ended up with her because it seemed as if the previous owner of the home had been the one to leave her behind. The cat was always hanging around the yard.
Even though she was wearing a lightweight turquoise button down sweater over her silk blouse, she still brought her arms up around her body to ward off the impending chill and began rubbing her hands over her arms. Marie actually hated the cold and preferred the warmer climate in spite of the fact that she had lived on the East Coast her entire life. She had such a hard time adjusting to the shifts in colder weather during the fall and winter months. As she shut the window and latched the lock, she couldn't help but take notice of all the small children and their parents interacting as they enjoyed Halloween together.
The sight of the children brought the memories flooding back, pulling her into a past she was powerless to fix.
Molly.
Her daughter.
One year ago Molly Holloway had vanished. Halloween had been a special day for the child because it was also her birthday. Last year she had turned three.
After a small party celebration and collecting lots of candy, she had put her daughter to bed only to find her missing the next morning. She could still remember the sweet smell of lavender, from the bath given that night, while bending over to give Molly her good-night kisses.
(Memory)
"Momma, it tickles," the little girl had laughed when her mother's longer hair brushed against her face during the affectionate onslaught.
Marie had smiled down at her small daughter. "Love you, sweet girl! Do you know how much?"
Molly nodded. She spread her arms wide. "To the moon."
"And back," they finished together.
"I want the story again," Molly pleaded, clutching the small brown teddy bear to her chest. "Please?" she begged.
Marie sighed. She was so tired from the events of the day but gave in. "Okay."
"Yay!" the child clapped her hands. She sat up and anxiously waited.
Marie took her hand and moved a stray piece of hair away from her daughter's face. "Well, once upon a time, in a far away land, there lived three very little girls.
"Like me!" Molly smiled.
Marie smiled back. "Just like you, baby, yes" she nodded. "And these three little girls were all alone in the world. They only had each other until one day they found a big magical book ...
Marie finished the story and then tucked her daughter into bed. She moved to leave the bedroom, turning off the light switch found on the wall near the door.
"What about daddy?"
"Daddy will be in to say goodnight," Marie had promised on the way out.
(Memory Ends)
Marie smiled at the memory but then quickly turned sullen again. Today was her daughter's fourth birthday and she wasn't here to celebrate it.
Daddy hadn't made it in that night to say goodnight. Unfortunately, that had become a source of contention for awhile because Marie kept dwelling on the slim possibility that if he had, maybe he would have seen something? Prevented something? Of course in retrospect, those thoughts were completely irrational. Acknowledging that fact didn't help to prevent some of the emotional distance that had sprung up in her marriage over the past year, though.
Michael Holloway.
For as long as she could remember, her husband had always been her rock. Now there were times when they just felt like these complete strangers to one other. Intimate moments were present but came and went. Still, her husband was the only constant left in her lonely life. Losing that too almost seemed unfathomable.
The couple felt like they had known each other their entire lives. There was a familiarity when they had settled into their life together, She almost felt as if they had actually been together in another lifetime. Of course, the pair hadn't known each other beyond the time they had met and then married and Marie didn't even know if she believed in the concept of past lives. That was just the only way she knew how to compare the connection, or rather the pull, she felt inside the relationship.
There were other similarities. She nor Michael had any siblings; their respective parents were deceased. They had no extended family. Nobody else to lean on for any type of support, support very much needed during the past year. There weren't any other family members who could attest to the fact that they were good parents who would never harm their own child. The small circle of friends who were supposed to be there eventually shunned them after drawing the conclusion that associating with the Holloways wasn't exactly in their best interests.
However, in spite of all the isolation the last year brought on, Marie still possessed a calm. This calm reassured her that whatever Michael and she went through, good or bad, they would stick through it together. Knowing this was the only thing that offered her any kind of solace throughout the chaos of the previous year.
Law Enforcement only met dead ends. During the entire investigation, there hadn't been any signs of forced entry into the home, no evidence of an intruder, and there were no signs of a struggle. The following morning there was only an empty bed and a missing child. What had happened to her? This question plagued everybody when police were unable to turn up an explanation. It was even more difficult for Michael Holloway to keep at bay since he was already a detective himself and it was his natural instinct to want to jump in and help.
Unfortunately, in the following months, life had turned sour. When no evidence turned up, no arrest, nor an intruder, all suspicion turned to the Holloways. However, without any evidence, nor a body, no official charges were ever filed against them. But that didn't make the interrogations any less invasive or painful to endure. The once peaceful town that Marie had been so mysteriously drawn to now held nothing but hostile stares and wayward glances from neighbors and co-workers alike.
Marie used to stop inside of a small shop that housed herbal remedies for natural healing; it sold healing crystals, books, and other assortments and accessories that the town associated with the occult. Of course, prior to the incident involving her daughter, Marie came and went as often as she wanted to without much fuss or any attention paid to her. However, now, especially during one day in particular that followed her daughter's disappearance, she exited the small store and encountered two older women from the town who just glared at her. She continued to walk past them trying her hardest to ignore the heavy feelings of scrutinizing that accosted her.
(Memory)
"She's a witch, I tell you," one of the old ladies could be heard saying to the other. "She shops in that store everyday. Who knows what she did with that poor little girl."
"Yes, the poor child. Made her disappear. Probably sacrificed the poor thing," came the response from the second woman.
Marie kept walking, closing her eyes and clenching both fists at her sides, so tempted to just turn around and give the two women a piece of her mind. She resisted the urge and picked up her pace; she didn't need anymore trouble in this damn town.
(Memory Ends)
Marie shivered against those unpleasant memories. As she closed the shade on the window, she sighed and reflected on the upcoming move.
This place was starting to hold too many bad memories so maybe moving away was going to be for the best?
Honestly, it had came to her as no surprise when her husband had accepted the new position with the New York City Police Department. The job transfer required relocation and the offer felt like a subtle way of asking them to get out of town because they were no longer welcome there. However, the open feelings of hostility aside, which was more than reason enough to accept the transfer, the couple was more than willing to move away because it was a chance at a fresh start for the both of them. So they had proceeded to put their house on the market and were now preparing for the big move.
Marie twisted her wedding band around her finger. Her thoughts briefly reflected on how she met her husband five years ago. Michael had been working as a deputy, promoted to detective three years later, while she, herself, had worked as an assistant to a free-lance photographer for a local magazine. She really loved photography, and being around it, so she had put up with her job, even though it hadn't paid her very much in the beginning. Photography had been a hobby of Marie's for as long as she could remember. After her marriage, and then the birth of Molly, she had opted to stay at home and raise their daughter.
As Marie walked over and sat on the small bed that hadn't been slept in for a year, she placed the teddy bear back against the pillow and stared at it. This stuffed animal had been Molly's favorite. After she had gotten it, her precious little angel had refused to sleep without it. It had been a gift from her daddy. More of the memories began to invade her thoughts but she knew she had no time to become enveloped within her emotions again. She knew she felt tired but they also needed to finish all the packing and be on time for the move. The movers would be here and she had been putting off even touching this room.
She sighed while looking around at everything. It was like time had stopped in here and she was having a very hard time bringing herself to strip away the last remnants to Molly that were left. But she knew everything needed to be packed up soon. Somewhere along the way, Marie had convinced herself that keeping her room completely intact would offer some type of assurance that her daughter would return home safely.
Since her daughter's disappearance last fall, Marie had been experiencing deja vu. Molly's vanishing had triggered feelings of separation and isolation. She felt out of place in her own life, like she was experiencing her own identity crisis? She wanted to be doing more than she was doing and not only that, but felt that she should be doing more.
Kit jumped up on the bedspread.
"I know. I miss her too," Marie cooed, petting the cat again.
Kit purred loudly and Marie's sorrow quickly turned to determination.
"But I promise we're going to get her back, okay?" she continued her one way conversation with the black cat. "We have to."
Marie refused to give up hope. She turned to that inner strength that was starting to take root inside her again. She didn't know where such inner strength came from; however, it would pop up every so often.
Before exiting the room for good, Marie turned around and took one final glance at everything before she closed the door on part of the past.
Time to get those boxes.
X
Underworld
The sound of a door unlocking and then opening could be heard.
Deep in the Underworld abyss, a dark cloaked figure entered the room and paced the space within. Two demonic guards on duty had entered the chamber with him but kept their gaze lowered to the ground.
The child was gone.
The ornate pentagram design on the center of the robe signified that this cloaked figure was a Triad. Or rather, he was the sole remaining survivor of the Triad. But in this moment, he felt extreme anger.
Where was the child?
The Triad wasn't alone. A young woman had also accompanied him to the chamber that she herself was once held captive inside. It had been part of the bigger plan and the child had been relocated to here following her own departure. She stood watching the lone Triad member from a safe distance.
"Damn you!" he suddenly seethed, his anger boiling to life at the revelation. "How is it possible for you to have failed yet again?" he spat with such venom.
Both the demonic guardsmen immediately pointed to each other before it dawned on them the accusation was not directed at either one of them. Instead, he was addressing the young woman with him.
"You've let her escape!" the Triad turned to face off with the young woman.
At the accusation, the young woman strode over to the remaining Triad with as much confidence as she could muster. Her icy brown stare was ablaze with fury and her golden shade of hair pulled back in a pony tail swung against her back.
The guards cowered.
"Excuse me?" she demanded, gritting her teeth. "It's not my fault she got away."
"YOU were charged to keep watch!"
The guards watched on with faces as hardened as the rock cavern that surrounded them.
"She was obviously able to use the magic!" the young woman spat with contempt, as if what had happened should have been obvious. "After Billie vanquished me, how was I supposed to know I'd lose the powers? I was never told the powers could be restored to the childl!" she fired back heatedly.
"Yes, but if YOU had been watching like you should have been watching we could have stopped this!" he roared in anger.
"No!" she refuted. "You should have just killed her! We didn't need her anymore."
The Triad member glared at the young woman and immediately brought an energy ball to life in the palm of his hand. She had already turned her back to him but still sensed his intentions.
"Go ahead," she snorted. "Vanquish me if you must," she almost sounded bored by the prospect. "It won't be permanent but you already know that. I'll just resurrect sooner or later. Only the Ultimate Power can destroy me!" she sneered.
The Triad member stood confidently, fiery eyes intact, not backing down, and his demeanor just dared her to say something further to set him off. He so desperately wished to be able to take her out permanently but he knew she was correct.
For months, Lana masqueraded as Christy Jenkins but she was really a part of them. She was the daughter of a Triad, part demon, which meant that their deaths were never permanent because they were part of an unvanquishable breed of demons. First they would resurrect in spirit form and then complete the transformation back into their physical bodies. The Ultimate Power was the only threat that stood in their way and he was about to make sure the Charmed Ones never got a hold of it. Their only remaining advantage appeared to be that the Charmed Ones were under the mistaken belief that they had already eliminated the threat pertaining to this new power-base. However little did they realize, the other Triad members would eventually be back again, just like Lana, and they would start with their plans all over again.
"Killing the child was not an option. Without her, there would have been no conduit for the powers. You already failed with the Charmed Ones so you mean to tell me you couldn't even handle keeping watch over a small child since your return?"
"I didn't fail! Dumain failed!" she argued. "I did what I was told to do. Dumain underestimated Billie and the Charmed Ones, not me! Besides, I wasn't the one charged with guarding this chamber," she shifted her narrowed eyes at the two guards.
Then the young woman's gaze returned to the life size energy ball that was just begging to be released from the Triad's hand. His face was beet red with the anger he no doubt felt and in that instant, he turned and hurled the powerful energy ball at the two guards. With no time to react, their wails were the last thing to be heard as they exploded into nothing.
"Now careful, Lana," the Triad warned her. "Your own arrogance can be your undoing. Clearly, you see how Dumain's over-zealousness sealed his fate."
It wasn't supposed to end up this way. The Ultimate Battle that went down six months ago should have been the final battle to end all battles. Dumain, Lana, and the rest of the Triad? How could they all have failed so miserably?
A year ago, he had practically handed over the power that was necessary to defeat the Charmed Ones once and for all. The combined power coming from Billie Jenkins, plus the little girl he had kidnapped, should have made Lana, who was posing as Christy, and Billie an unstoppable pair. He could almost taste the success in his mouth, the ultimate destruction of the Charmed Ones - it was the whole reason he had recruited the Dogon to kidnap the child last year on All Hallows Eve. They had needed to tap into the child's magic on this special day because she hadn't come into her abilities yet and without the power from All Hallows Eve assisting him, her magic would have remained undetectable. But they had failed to defeat the Charmed Ones and now the child was also gone from his grasp. The remaining Triad member felt his impatience growing once again.
"I had Billie where I wanted her," Lana sighed. "But that stupid Cupid ruined everything. Him and that stupid ring of his," her voice trailed off with irritation, as she remembered the day she traveled back in time with Dumain to warn the Triad about the failed plan to use the Hollow.
Dumain had successfully gotten a hold of Cupid's ring but it was too late and only after Piper had used it first to change the past.
"Lana?" the Triad interrupted to make his point clear. "You still would have died with or without the stupid Cupid and his ring. Billie was the one who projected them back in time to you and to Dumain - not the Cupid or his ring."
"Minor details," she rolled her eyes.
"She traded sides!" he reminded her. "You didn't have her at all!"
Lana grew silent.
"But you do make a point," he conceded. "We could have been successful and had two of the sisters out of the way the first time around if that Cupid's ring hadn't changed history," he reflected with no ounce of regret for the sisters. "That was the closest the Underworld has ever come to eliminating the Charmed Ones for good."
The Triad member knew with the Charmed Ones eliminated as a viable threat, they could have shifted their concentration onto the Twice-Blessed Generation. Right now, they were so few in numbers but with the future just looming around the corner, there would be many more.
The entire Underworld was in utter chaos with the quickly spreading news that the Triad had been vanquished once and for all and this left the remaining Triad member on high alert. Demons of all types were vying for power and making plays for it. It would be a long time before the Underworld was completely re-organized again. That was why he needed to remain in hiding until the time was right but he planned to use the situation to his advantage.
"If the Charmed Ones ever find out the truth about the Ultimate Power, it will be the end for you. As it will be for the rest of us," he added. "We need to figure out a way to make sure the Ultimate Power never comes to be," he began making alternate plans. "And we need to be able to take it first."
"And how do you plan on accomplishing that?" Lana interrogated. "Billie's not the Ultimate Power."
"Yes, I know that," the Triad rolled his eyes at her. "But the Charmed Ones still believe it and that's all that matters." He moved to leave the chamber with Lana following behind.
"I'm fairly confident not even the Elders or their whitelighters should interfere and stop us on this," he shared in condescension. "I can say with certainty that they don't want the Ultimate Power coming into play anymore than we do."
"You can't know that for sure!" Lana challenged. "Especially if they figure out we're going after that same power for ourselves."
"So we get to the power before they know what's happening," he rebutted. "But Billie's no longer an option in getting to the Charmed Ones," he concluded.
"I wouldn't discount Billie's use just yet," Lana refuted. "We may still be able to use her to our advantage."
"No!" the Triad's thunderous rejection left no room for argument. "We're going to have to settle for taking out one of the sisters ourselves." An insidious smirk settled over the Triad's lips. "I know just the one!" He released what sounded like evil laughter. "Then we'll take care of the remaining sisters one at a time."
Lana still had her own idea formulating.
"But that will only accomplish getting the sisters off of our backs," she argued. "That doesn't stop the next generation from coming after us. They're going to possess Charmed power too."
They reached a magically protected cavern that allowed entry only to the Triad. Lana stopped and was allowed in only with his permission. He waved her in with an air of annoyance. A misty energy field disintegrated until she made it through before springing back to life again. Anybody else passing by would only spot miles of what appeared to be a wall made out of rock.
"Yes, I know," the Triad member acknowledged her concern. "But one threat at a time my dear, Lana. Not all of the Twice-Blessed Generation exists yet and the ones that already do aren't even at their full potential. We still have time to stop them. It's the sisters we need to be concerned with first and foremost," he stressed.
"Maybe," she relented. "But I still want to go back and see Billie. I have an idea that should work."
The Triad member couldn't refrain from rolling his eyes at what he considered to be an absurd suggestion. They no longer held the element of surprise as it pertained to using Billie. Lana caught his reaction but she didn't let it phase her.
"With all due respect, Billie thinks she's killed you," the Triad stated what was obvious. "She's already proven her loyalty to the Charmed Ones by projecting them back in time to you, Dumain, and the rest of the Triad. Do you honestly believe she's going to keep your 'miraculous' resurrection a secret from them? NO! I fail to see how that's to our advantage!" he spat.
"But she wouldn't have to keep it a secret," Lana refuted, losing patience. "As far as Billie knows, I'm her sister. She believes that together we make up the Ultimate Power. So then I can go back and convince her that 'our' power somehow saved me. She'll want to believe that I can still be saved. She won't be able to help seeing me as the sister she lost, one not infected by evil anymore," Lana argued. "Or I'll think of something else but, either way, I may be able to gain her trust back!"
Billie.
The Charmed Ones were still alive and that was bad enough; however, Billie was yet another reason the Triad member was in such an uproar. With Billie's power back in the hands of the greater good, he considered her just as much a threat as the Charmed Ones. The debate on what to do about the situation played out inside his mind because he fully acknowledged Billie would pose as a big threat in the future.
Dumain was an idiot. The Triad member still didn't understand why he wasted precious time in hiring the Dogon to kidnap Billie's powerless sister, Christy Jenkins. Why had Dumain and the rest of the Triad waited for so long? Why wait and lure Billie to her kidnapped sister instead of just taking Billie herself? Then, Billie would have developed her powers in the Underworld and been on Team Evil from the very beginning.
Dumain. This particular demon had one goal in mind before his own vanquish. Which was to capture the Ultimate Power and destroy the Charmed Ones in exchange for being initiated as a new Triad member. It hadn't been a bad plan but he definitely miscalculated his advantage.
It had been revealed to the collective that, for many centuries, Dumain had quite frequently used a time leaper throughout his demonic existence, in order to help him locate any rival power bases in time which he could either acquire, work to exploit, or just use to his own advantage. The time leaper had apparently located the Jenkins. Henceforth, Dumain planted himself in the lives of the young Jenkins sisters, disguising himself as their imaginary friend.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Triad had orchestrated a plan to hire a Dogon demon who would snatch the oldest sister, Christy, on All Hallows Eve, so that this would lure Billie into the Underworld many years later. Dumain believed Billie to be the Ultimate Power who could one day destroy the prophesied Charmed Ones and their progeny. However, when drawing his conclusions about Billie, Dumain had been close to the truth while actually missing the mark.
Dumain had also been the first demon to successfully breach an apothecary of good magic and steal an ancient scroll. He always kept himself hidden within the shadows, allowing other demons to credit themselves with stealing it, in order to keep his identity a secret. The particular scroll in question was believed to prophesy the coming of a Twice-Blessed Child. Many centuries later, Wyatt Matthew Halliwell was not only born but he was born to a Charmed One and a former White-lighter. Around the time of his birth, Dumain had used two demons for hire, a male and female demon, to snatch baby Wyatt after he was born. Ultimately, the plan did fail when he didn't get a hold of Wyatt or his power.
The Triad member was also currently aware that upon careful examination of the prophecy one would discover that its content actually revealed the destiny of an entire Twice-Blessed Generation, not just one child. It was said to reveal a new generation that would flourish through the Charmed line. Unfortunately for Dumain, he had screwed up in the translation during his blind quest to seize power.
I won't repeat his mistakes, the Triad member thought.
This made him reflect on how he had become a Triad himself. A year ago, he had located the young child with similar abilities to Wyatt, had successfully stripped her powers away during a ritual, and then offered them to Dumain and the Triad for 'Christy' (aka. Lana) to borrow. In exchange, he was to be immediately initiated as a Triad member. After the initiation, he patiently waited in the background for the demise of the Charmed Ones to pass. Now, he stood in control of making that happen and he vowed he would be successful. For this reason alone, the Triad member was willing to at least consider Lana's proposition.
"But even if you can convince Billie, what's to stop the Charmed Ones from vanquishing you once they find out you're still alive? They won't be as apt to buy your resurrection story as easily as Billie may."
"Not right away," she agreed. "But that's where Billie comes into play."
"How so?" he pushed. He would not accept failure this time around.
"Billie and the sisters may be witches but, more importantly, they're human, right? Mortals!" Lana stressed. "Which means, at some point, their human emotion always gets in the way. Human emotion can be swayed, manipulated. That will be their downfall again. I'll pretend that I was being used all along or that it really wasn't me. They won't try and vanquish me unless they're absolutely sure about what happened."
"How can you be so sure of that?" the doubt was written all over the Triad member's face.
"Look, she's lost her sister. And her parents. So why wouldn't she want to believe there's still a chance that her long lost sister can still be saved? If I can pull that small glimmer of hope out of her, I could work to exploit it. I'll work on making Billie vulnerable by creating doubt within her, while you do what needs to be done with the Charmed Ones from here," Lana argued back.
The remaining Triad turned away from her, carefully considering her proposal before agreeing to it.
"So be it!" he finally yielded.
Then the Triad member approached her and was standing only inches from within her face before issuing his final warning. Lana stood there with an air of cockiness and arrogant pride spilling off of her.
"Do not fail again!" he ordered.
"I won't," she rolled her eyes and turned to leave.
"But Lana!"
Lana stopped in her tracks.
"If Billie or the Charmed Ones do find out that you're not the real Christy, that you never were, then you're on your own. Don't ever think about double-crossing me and miscalculate that in doing so, you will somehow be sparing yourself. Because, well, let's just say that the Ultimate Power won't be the only thing you'll have to worry about coming after you," came his threat. "Do I make myself clear?"
Lana wasn't even intimidated. "Oh, crystal clear," she mocked. "How would they even find out? Unless you plan on exposing me to them?" she plastered on a smile full of fakeness.
"Go!" he ordered. He grew tired of dealing with her.
"But I'm going to need those powers again," she demanded before leaving. "You have to find that little girl so we can take them back. I'll definitely need them to shield me from Billie so that I still pass for a witch. I can't exactly access my demonic powers in front of her, or any of them, without sending up a red flag."
"I am well aware. But let me handle that," replied the Triad member. His mind was racing with all possible scenarios on how he could accomplish that particular task. "I know just the demon to track the child down," he settled on with ease.
The Triad was about to leave and Lana was about to shimmer out from the Underworld. She stopped herself as a sudden thought struck her.
"Gideon?" she finally addressed the Triad by his real name.
"What?" he gave her a sideways glance.
"I'm just curious about something since I never asked. What else will you be getting out of doing this?" she inquired. "You're already a Triad."
The former Elder, turned demon, stopped abruptly in his tracks. With his back turned to her and a far off gleam in his eyes he responded in an even tone.
"Revenge!"
To Be Continued: Hehe. Okay, so this is the set-up to the rest of the story. Basically, for anyone who missed it, I've just revealed that the Christy we saw from season 8 was not the real Christy at all. For the purposes of my story, I've given you her real identity, which is Lana. More about Lana and her 'history' will pop up later on in other chapters. Knowing that fact is important/key, just so you don't get confused while reading, because there will be times that Lana still gets referenced as 'Christy.' The real Christy's fate will be revealed too.