Chapter 2 - A New Charge
Piper opened the front door and trudged in, she was tired and annoyed. She was annoyed because she was in later than she normally was; her assistant manager had called in sick so she had to stay the whole night which also resulted in her being tired, she had called and apologised to Leo who had understood and told her to be safe. Piper smiled as she locked the front door, Leo was so understanding when it came to P3 as it was her amazing project she started when Prue was alive. She made her way to the kitchen to get a glass of water before going to bed, as she was sipping the cold refreshing water her thoughts turned to the last month, they had had a funeral for Billie's parents and sister and then she had told Billie she was living here from now on because she didn't want her to feel alone. She frowned knowing that Billie was out tonight she had seen her in P3 when she came to ask permission, it was the first time it had happened but it also meant that Billie was getting over things and becoming her normal self again which made Piper pleased. She washed the glass out and made her way to bed, before she could start walking up the stairs a blue light filled the room and she turned to see Paige orbing in, she immediately saw the worry on her sisters face "Paige what's that matter?"
Paige stood there for a second trying the get her breath back "okay you know that funny tingling feeling I've been getting well tonight it got worse so eventually I followed it and it turns out it was a charge but I need help Piper" Paige came to stand in front of her looking awfully anxious.
Piper became concerned quickly "what with Paige?" the concern leaking into her voice; she couldn't think of any reason why she would need help with a charge unless she was being attacked.
Paige threw her hands in the air animatedly as she spoke, "well when I followed the sensation to my charge, I found her fighting a demon but it's a high level demon and I couldn't get to her and I don't even know if she has powers or even know her name. So I came to you for help."
Piper felt happy that her sister came to her for help still; it showed that she was still needed by her sisters, Piper put her hand out and Paige got the idea. They ended up in an alleyway; they could see the girl being forced to lean against a wall, the demon looked fairly human and he was standing too close to her like Paige had said to do anything. Paige started to rush over but Piper held her back when Paige gave her a look Piper explained her actions "he'll kill her if we get any closer," Paige nodded in understanding.
The demon lashed his fist out and struck the girl but she didn't retaliate in the slightest and Piper wasn't sure if she actually had any active powers. The sisters got a good look at the witch in front of them, she had an unusual Ash blonde hair colour, her hair was layered and down to her shoulders, she was slim but they could clearly see some muscle from the tight top she was wearing, she was about 5'5. The other unusual thing about her is that she had Heterochromia; she had one blue eye and one green eye. The force of the hit made the teen look their way and her eyes widened slightly "look out." Before either sister can move Piper was struck over the head by a demon and unceremoniously dropped to the floor unconscious, Paige had more reaction time so she was only struck on the back but it was still enough to send her to the ground. The Whitelighter turned onto her back just in time to see an energy ball being thrown at the two of them, before it gets too close it dissipated, Paige turned slightly to see her charge using a power, ice vapour was coming out of her hands and by the look on the teenagers face Paige could safely assume that she didn't know she had the power and apparently neither did the demon pinning her to the wall because he quickly flamed out. The demon who had flung the energy ball obviously wasn't pleased because he pulled out an Athame, the girl lunged at the demon and Paige was about to shout at her to stop but her words died on her lips when her charge shifted into an animal directly above her.
The shifted teenager landed on top of the armed demon, without much delay the animal sunk its deadly teeth into the demons neck and with a growl it ripped the screaming demons head clean off. Paige watched the demon get vanquished easily and couldn't quite believe her eyes. She looked up at the animal in fascination; the animal stood in front of her was a lion, a lioness her mind remarked, its fur was almost identical to the teens hair colour only it was slightly whiter. The lion's head rotated to the entrance of the alleyway to face a few lower level demons, she came to stand over the still fallen Piper and Paige; the lion leant down slightly in a protective stance whilst growling fiercely at the newly arrived demons, she seemed reluctant to move too far away from the sisters with Piper still unconscious. One approached and using her new found power she froze the demon in mid step causing him to fall forwards and shatter, she snarled in satisfaction.
Piper started to come back to the land of the conscious in time to hear a shattering sound; turning her head towards the noise she saw a few demons approaching on them, not waiting to think she quickly pulled her hands up and blasted them, Paige turned her head to see Piper awake and smiled at her and her smile was returned. Piper's smile quickly fell from her face when she saw a female lion standing over her, Paige expected her to scream out or something but she never would have guessed that Piper would take it calmly; Piper turned so she was led on her back and to get a better look at the lion who was looking towards the entrance as if it was expecting more demons, "Paige why is there a lion stood over us?"
Paige sat up and started to pat the lions neck when her hand caught up with a necklace, she found the charm and found that it was dog tags, she flipped them over so she could read what was written, "Ashlee J. Bayn, it's my charge she can shape-shift and she kinda saved us by making an energy ball go poof with some sort of ice vapour, Ashlee I'm Paige and this is my sister Piper," the lion shifted its back legs so it could sit in between them, it nudged Paige's shoulder and then turned to Piper and nudged her forehead, "I think she wants us to get off of the floor." Paige remarked as she stood up, Piper sat up and took Paige's offered hands. Piper wobbled on her feet slightly so Ashlee got up and stood behind her to help support her until she could stand on her own. Piper smiled down at the shifted teenager, she ran her hand through the fur on her head and was pleasantly surprised when the big cat leant up into the touch and Ashlee started to purr, Piper chuckled at her actions. Ashlee's tail bumped into Paige's leg in a silent sort of encouragement, so Paige joined in by stroking the big cat's neck again. Ashlee's purr vibrated through her whole body, "I don't think she's ever had this done before" Paige commented whilst stroking through the soft fur, she didn't want to stop stroking her because she enjoyed it and Ashlee seemed to enjoy it very much, Piper shook her head to say that she thought the same too. A few minute went by before Paige spoke up again "shouldn't you shift back Ashlee?" the large cat just shrugged its shoulders obviously not paying too much attention because of the attention being lavished upon her, "does that mean you don't care?" Paige was confused by the shrug; she was even more confused when the she shook her head because she thought that she would want to be human again.
Piper spoke up when Ashlee remained a lion "you won't or can't change back?" Paige gave her older sister a strange look, she tried to ignore it but when Paige continued to look at her incredulously she had to ask "What?" she was confused as to why Paige kept looking at her like that.
"Way to give a multiple choice question to her when she can't talk Piper" Paige's reply was thick with sarcasm; Ashlee decided to answer before they got off track, she tapped her tail twice against Paige's leg, "what?" Paige turned her attention once again to Ashlee but didn't figure out what she was doing so Ashlee did it again and when Paige failed to comprehend what she was doing she decided to try Piper who she nudged in the hip twice, "why does she keep doing things twice?" Paige asked Piper who looked thoughtful; she believed her sister had the answers.
"Twice, I gave her two options won't and can't so doing things twice means she's saying that its option two, she can't change back," Piper answered Paige whilst turning her attention back to the stuck teenager, Ashlee nodded proving her theory correct, "did you have a bag with you?" Ashlee nodded, "why don't you go get it?" Ashlee faltered slightly but nodded and walked off to get her bag. Piper turned to Paige "we can't take her home to her parents like that; what are we going to do to help her change back?" Piper asked her youngest sister.
Paige thought for a second then shrugged, "there's gotta be something in the book of shadows about how to change a shape-shifter back to their original form" she couldn't come up with anything better than that. Ashlee walked back over to the sisters with her bag hanging from her mouth; Paige took it from her and put it over her shoulder, "Well I guess it's back to the manor for us" Ashlee shook her head blatantly not liking the plan "where else ya gonna like that Ashlee, you're kinda noticeable as a lion" Ashlee huffed but sat next to Paige who put her hand on the large cats shoulder, she then grabbed her sisters hand before orbing back to the manor.
Once there they all situated in the living room they started to wonder what they were going to do with Ashlee, she was after all a large greyish white lion, "well if you're going to remain a lion you can't stay inside tonight you'll freak out Leo and the boys in the morning" Piper spoke softly so she didn't get the wrong idea that she was mad or upset at her. Ashlee stood up and closed her eyes in concentration, the sisters watched in amazement as with some clear effort Ashlee changed into a regular house cat, she opened her eyes and started to pant hard showing the amount of effort that took, "well okay that's one way to sort that problem out, why don't we all go to bed and sort this out in the morning, Ashlee do you need a blanket or something or are you quite happy to sleep on one of the chairs," Ashlee jumped up onto the sofa and she stretched out, once she was laying comfortable she quickly fell asleep.
Paige chuckled lowly as not to wake the sleeping cat, "well that was simple I guess she's fine for now. I won't be able to come around till about noon is that okay?" Piper nodded at Paige to show it was fine; Paige kissed her cheek "Night Piper."
Piper smiled at her "G'night Paige" Paige quickly orbed away leaving Piper on her own, she stole one last glance at Ashlee before making her way to bed like she had planed an hour or so before.
\Silver-Eternal-Dragon/
