"She was going to throw a fireball at him?"
"You're missing the point. He was ready to kill her too—"
"Yeah… but he isn't the one needing protection here," Piper retorted. "Besides, he was probably just defending himself—"
Leo laughed. "Honey, Chris rarely ever does something just to defend himself."
"Leo, I can't believe you're laughing at this! A dark-lighter-demon-chick was going to kill your son!"
"And my son was going to kill her right back," Leo pointed out for the millionth time. "My point is that they really got off on the wrong foot—"
"I'll say!" Piper mumbled. "So where are they now?"
"He said he'll meet us here for dinner. They apparently needed to stop by Phoebe's place again to get some more clothes for her. The only thing she has to wear right now are her goth-style black demon-robes and a pair of very baggy jeans and sweatshirt that your distant uncle gave me for Christmas."
"Oh, those jeans and sweatshirt?" Piper grimaced. "That can't be good…"
Leo nodded. "It wasn't. Thank God Phoebe had some clothes in her size before she went for her interview or else the editor would've probably sent her to the home-less shelter."
"Why didn't you give her something else to wear or ask me for some clothes?"
"I didn't have any other clothes at the school—and the only reason I had your uncle's gift was because I had buried it in my closet long ago, never wanting to lay my eyes on them. I didn't have enough time to come back here and ask you for something because I was sure she would either try to run away or find Chris and Wyatt and try to blow them up again."
"Hmm…" Piper shook her head slightly. "So much for doing her a favor, huh? Oh, by the way, did the Elders find out anything about Paige—"
"Yes, and it's very good news," Leo replied, smiling. "Apparently, Paige went down there herself—it's a plan to get this demon that's been killing all these witches around the world and she wanted to take it up with him—"
Piper shook her head, knowing it couldn't be true. "She would check with us first, Leo, she wouldn't go galavanting after demons without informing us first."
"Yes, well, I got to talk to her personally, hon. She's fine, and she says it's all part of the plan. She's perfectly capable—"
"Leo, you utter one more word about she being able to take care of herself and I swear I'll blow you up!" Piper warned quite seriously. "She's my sister. My little sister! No matter how confident she is about this 'plan' of hers, I can't let her do this! It's too dangerous."
"I know it's dangerous, Piper, and she knows that too."
"Good, because I need you to orb me to wherever the hell she is—"
"But she's well beyond old enough to take care of herself, Piper. This is something she has to do for her charges."
Piper, getting quite irritated with her husband, froze him with a flick of her wrists. "And this is something I have to do for my sister."
She stormed out of the stuffy kitchens of The Halliwell Dining Hall and into the crowd of customers outside. After searching around quickly for the table where her sister now sat, laughing at something her husband said, she froze the rest of the restaurant and approached Phoebe. "Pheobes, we need to go get Paige."
Phoebe blinked several times, looking around her at the frozen room. Wyatt and she shared a look, both of them sighing simultaneously. "Mom, what are you doing?"
"We need to go get Paige—she's in the Underworld—"
"I know that," Phoebe interrupted.
"And she thinks she's got this plan or something to vanquish a demon, but we have to go help her—it's too dangerous."
"Piper," Phoebe sighed, trying to reason with her sister. "She knows what she's doing. She's smart enough to know what she's doing."
Piper frowned, looking from her sister to her son. "W-What is going on here?"
Phoebe looked at Wyatt, then back at her. "What do you mean?"
"What I mean is that you're acting all weird—both of you and Leo and—"
"We're not acting weird," Phoebe replied. "We just think Paige is old enough to not be over-protected by her big sister—"
"She's never old enough to not be protected by her big sister! She might be in a lot of danger, Phobe—"
"She can take care of it, Piper," Phoebe sighed. "Honey, we all love you and we all know you just want to protect us but—"
"We're old enough to take care of ourselves, Mom," Wyatt finished for his aunt. "Aunt Paige will be fine, trust me."
Piper looked at them both, knowing they were right. Good God, was she always overreacting nowadays? Did everybody see it but her? She blinked. No, of course not! Paige was her sister! God… this was just getting way too confushing—
"Piper, did you just freeze me?" Leo asked her, coming up from behind her.
Piper scoffed, turning around to look at him. "No, honey, of course not!" She replied sarcastically. "It was the Angel of Destiny!"
Leo quirked an eyebrow at her, then put his arm around her shoulders. "Paige will be fine. I won't let anything happen to her and the Elders have her on their radar at all times. If anything goes wrong—"
"You'll tell me," Piper reminded him. "I can't have you hiding these things from me, Leo."
Leo nodded, grinning. "You will be the first person to know."
Piper smiled, then sighed again. "I gotta run into the kitchens quickly."
"Uh, Mom, before you go—" Wyatt looked at Coop who was frozen still halfway through laughing at something he had said.
"Oh, right!" Piper flicked her wrists and the restaurant returned to life again, the usual bustle and hustle back. "I'll be barely three seconds, just need to make sure Petre is not mixing in any more wine into the risotto than needed."
"Come quick." Leo leaned down and kissed her, smiling, then let her return to the bustling kitchens of the restaurant, slightly relieved himself to be out of the heat of the large stoves and ovens. The restaurant was set in dim, romantic-lighting with electric candles lining the walls and illuminating the individual tables. Outside, the street was in its usual hustle and bustle with the city lights sparkling among the noisy cabs and pedestrians, but inside, the room was complimented by soft music being played by a young man who had apparently been taking piano lessons for twenty-four years. Leo sighed, wondering for probably the thousandth time about how Piper managed to establish such an amazing place all those years ago… her dream restaurant.
He turned back to Phoebe, Wyatt and Coop—who had finished his laugh and stopped suddenly, slightly confused at why Piper had appeared suddenly. "Wait, did she just—"
"So!" Leo said loudly, grinning. "How's it going?
"Perfectly fine," Phoebe sighed.
"But we don't want to say anything about it," Wyatt added. "Don't want to jinx it, do we?"
Suddenly, two angry voices chirped up behind them. "She was being nice!"
"She was being suspicious! What did you expect me to think?"
"That she was being nice! After all, you should be glad that your new boss is trying to be congenial—"
Wyatt turned to Leo with a half-hearted smile on his face. "What did I tell ya?" He turned around and waved towards Chris and Daphne as they made their way quite loudly through the restaurant, drawing several suspicious looks from the other occupants.
"She was practically pushing me out of the room—she wanted to get you alone. Why? So she could kill you!"
"She asked you for a cup of coffee! That's your job now, Chris, you better get used to it! And she wanted me alone so she could ask me about my past experience in the field without you interrupting every other word."
"I just wanted to make sure you got your story right. If I hadn't stopped you at one point, you would've almost told her your dad was a frickin' demon!"
"Watch your tongue!"
They both came to a stop right next to the table, not bothering to aknowledge that everybody was staring at them.
"You're a bloody demon and you're telling me to watch my tongue?" Chris snapped back, somehow managing to keep his voice low so that no one beyond their table could hear him.
"Oh, that's so stereotypical! Besides, I wasn't telling you to mind your language, I was telling you to stop insulting my dad!"
"He is a demon!"
"So?" She hissed.
"Okay, I'm back!" Piper grinned, coming to a stop beside Chris and Daphne. She frowned at them, realizing that they had a spat going. "Hi—what's going on here?"
Finally, Chris and Daphne both stopped arguing and turned to Piper, surprised to be interrupted.
"Oh, hi, Mom," Chris greeted her, shaking his head slightly to clear it.
"Hi, Chris and…"
"This is Daphne, our new Innocent—"
"You say that as if it's a laughable notion," Daphne scoffed at him. Then she turned back to Piper and smiled, "Hi, Mrs. Halliwell."
Piper frowned, looking from Daphne to Chris, then back to Daphne. "Um… hi." Finding that she had nothing else to fill the awkward silence with, she added, "You can call me Piper."
Chris rolled his eyes at Daphne and fell into the chair next to Wyatt.
Piper blinked at her younger son, shared an awkward look with the rest of her family, then turned back to Daphne, smiling politely. "It's nice to have you with us for dinner. Why don't you sit over there next to Phoebe?"
Everyone seemed to think this was an excellent idea since the empty chair next to Phoebe was the farthest away from Chris. Daphne scowled slightly, knowing perfectly well what everyone was thinking, and walked over to Phoebe's side.
"Honey, weren't Cathryn and Jennyfer also going to join us?" Coop asked her as Piper dropped down next to Leo with a wide smile towards Chris.
"Jennyfer got hung up—her roommate was having some problems with her boyfriend, so she said that she'd rather stay back and help her. And Cathryn…" Phoebe took a deep breath, knowing that there would soon be an outbrake at their table, "…has a date with Damien."
"What!" Wyatt and Coop jumped together.
"Phoebe, you're still letting her see this boy?"
"You told me you wouldn't let her, Aunt Phoebe!"
"Yes, I know, but—"
"But what? He's going to get her killed if you don't—"
"Oh, no! I am not letting that fool do any such thing to my daughter!"
"Guys, I think Phoebe knows what she's doing—" Piper tried to interrupt.
"It sure doesn't seem like it," Wyatt scoffed.
Chris frowned, suddenly aware of the imminent danger Cathryn was in. He cleared his throat, surprised that it took him so long to realize this. "Um, Aunt Phoebe, it probably isn't a good idea to let the two of them hang together still, especially if they go back to the Underworld—"
"Oh, not you too, Chris!" Phoebe groaned.
"I'm just saying that because I'm sure there are a lot of demons looking for them already—they wouldn't take two witches messing up their home very lightly, you know."
"I know, Chris!" Phoebe replied. "Besides, they're not going to the Underworld anymore, Cathryn promised she wouldn't go even if he offered. They're just at the movies two blocks down you guys!" She turned to Wyatt and Coop. "Would you two like to go check? Or are you willing to take my word for it?"
Both men looked at each other, somewhat satisfied that she was just at the movies at least. Coop turned back to Phoebe, just to confirm, "Just at the movies, right?"
"Coop," Phoebe replied with a sugary smile. "You don't need to tell me how to take care of her daughter especially after you were irresponsible enough not to tell me when she was running around the Underworld to begin with!"
Coop nodded, immediately turning away from his angry wife. "Okay… I was just wondering."
"Okay!" Piper chirped up, trying desperately to change the subject. "Let's order, shall we?"
"Um… Chris, can I have a word with you, please?"
Everybody turned to Daphne unanimously, surprised at how polite her words had actually sounded… especially directed towards Chris. After all, it was only seconds ago that they seemed to want to murder each other on the spot…
Chris frowned at her. "Um… sure?"
Daphne smiled back, ignoring the rest of the Halliwell-family and stood up. "You can order for me, Piper. After all, it is your restaurant so you probably know what's good, right?"
Piper nodded, not very sure if she trusted this girl and her son alone together… given that they really didn't seem to like each other. "Of course, Daphne."
She turned to her husband the second Chris and Daphne left the table, heading towards the small bar in the corner of the restaurant. "Are we trusting this girl?"
Leo rolled his eyes. "Yes, we're trusting her, Piper. What we don't trust is them together."
Coop scoffed. "What do you think they'll do, jump together and have sex or something?"
Wyatt laughed nervously. "That is the farthest thing from my mind. If I were you," he said looking at Leo, "I'd follow them and make sure he doesn't kill our innocent."
"And that she doesn't kill our son," Piper pointed out.
"They are not going to kill each other," Leo replied to the entire table. Hopefully…
Chris was frowning all the way from the table to the bar, quite uncertain where this was leading. Daphne finally stopped, far away from the family's hearing-range and took a deep breath.
Five whole seconds passed before Chris, tired of waiting for her to speak, said, "What?"
"You were right," Daphne blurted out. "The demons are after Cathryn and Damien."
"What?" Chris whispered.
"Satan's Pit is my dad's 'land', if you can call it that. When your cousin and her boyfriend started trespassing, the demons came to him, demanding that he do something. Chris…" Daphne leaned forward, looking around nervously, "before I left, I heard him talking to a group of demons. He told them that he wanted 'those witches' to think twice before messing with him. I'm surprised they didn't catch her this morning—"
"Wait—they? Who they?" Chris asked her.
"The demons he summoned. There must be about ten of them and their only mission is to get to your cousin—"
Chris sighed, pulling his hand through his hair, unable to believe what he was hearing. "Why didn't you tell me this before?" He demanded heatedly.
"I was going to this morning at Phoebe's when I found out that it was her daughter who was passing through Satan's Pit. But when she told Wyatt that there was no way she'd let Cathryn hang out with Damien anymore, I thought that it didn't matter anymore since she probably wouldn't go down there by herself anymore," Daphne explained. "But now that they seem to be 'back together…" She looked at him for a moment, unable to believe that she was actually saying this—she didn't even know her, for goodness' sake! "I'm just a little concerned, I guess."
Chris closed his eyes for a moment, contemplating the information he had just received. "We need to get to the movie theatres."
"Do you think they'll attack them there?" Daphne whispered.
"I don't know, you tell me," Chris replied, crossing his arms in front of him.
Daphne thought about it for a moment, biting her lip, then nodded. "They'll do anything to please my father."
Chris nodded back slowly. "Then we need to go." He turned towards the back-exit but she stopped him.
"Aren't you going to tell your aunt or your brother or anything?"
"Wyatt's pissed enough as he is," Chris replied. "And Aunt Phoebe doesn't need to feel like Cathryn dissapointed her—"
"But she didn't do anything," Daphne pointed out.
"No, she didn't. But the moment a demon attacks, Aunt Phoebe will feel that it's her fault and that Daphne shouldn't have been hanging around with Damien. We need to get to her before they attack and get her home where she'll be safe and away from that bloody boy."
"It's not his fault, Chris."
He frowned at her. "Are you sure you're a demon?"
She blinked, surprised that he asked the question. "What do you mean?"
"Demons usually don't give a damn what happens to anybody else, much less worry about and defend a kid who they don't even know," Chris replied, staring at her with a lifted eyebrow.
"I may be a demon," Daphne replied with a soft sneer, "but I was raised by a Seer who—"
When she stopped suddenly, Chris said, "Who what?"
Daphne looked at him, slightly irritated. "We don't have time for this," she stated, crossing her arms and mirroring his stance. "Think you can keep up, Orb-boy?"
With that, she shimmered out of the restaurant, grinning mischeviously. Chris jumped back, looking around quickly to make sure no one had seen her. When he didn't see anyone looking surprised, dazed or confused, he quickly slipped out of the back door and orbed after her, cursing.
He reappeared in the back of a dark theater, illuminated only by the light from the large screen on which a young girl was running through the woods, trying to escape the clutches of the mad kidnapper who was armed with a gun and a bow and arrows. Chris scoffed. A gun… and a bow and arrows? What was wrong with story-writers these days?
He spotted Daphne as she quietly walked down the aisles between the three rows of seats, trying to spot Cathryn and Damien. Chris shook his head at her slightly and took up the aisle that she wasn't walking down, also trying to find the young couple. After several moments of pacing and re-pacing, they both met at the back again.
"I didn't see her, did you?" Daphne asked him.
Chris shook his head. "Let's go check the other theatres also."
Ten minutes later, after checking the entire place, Chris orbed into the room that Daphne had been checking, his heart pounding slightly with anxiety. "Did you find her?"
Daphne shook her head. "You don't think…"
"God!" Chris slapped his forehead. "I don't know why I didn't do it before—I can just try to sense where she is!"
Daphne grinned slightly. "The true idiot shines through," she muttered. Chris ignored her and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath…
He opened his eyes again, blinking.
"What? You can't sense her?"
"No—I mean, yes, I can," Chris confirmed in a low voice. "She's at home."
"Oh, thank God," Daphne sighed.
"Hmm… I don't think she ever left," Chris replied, also feeling the relief sweep over him. She was at home… calm and rested. That would mean that she's also probably safe. Suddenly, he frowned. No… she wasn't calm and she wasn't safe— "We gotta go!"
Seconds later, they both reappeared in Cathryn's bedroom. "Duck!" Chris yelled, pulling Daphne down with him as he crouched to the floor. A fireball rushed over his head and hit the mirror on the far wall. There was a scream, then another fireball went crashing into the bed, sending a clean hole through it.
"Cathryn!" Chris yelled, jumping towards his cousin as she scrambled out from underneath the bed, trying to run towards the connected bathroom. He jumped up and sent an energy ball towards the demon standing next to the windows. The demon ducked out of the way and raised his hand, ready to strike at Cathryn again when Daphne cried out.
"Stop!"
The demon turned to her, eyes wide. "Daphne? What are you—"
Before he finished the sentence, a fireball and an energy ball hit him at the same time, sending his body into a burst of flames and blue electricity. He screamed in pain, curling into himself, then vanished leaving nothing but ashes and gray smoke behind. Chris stared at the ashes, panting, then turned around and ran into the bathroom. "Cathryn?"
"Chris!" Cathryn gasped from where she had fallen next to the sink. "Oh, my God, good thing you came!"
"She's bleeding," Daphne gasped, walking in behind him.
Cathryn looked down at her leg where a large gash was spouting out blood. Her eyes widened. "Oh, my God, I am!"
"It's okay," Chris replied firmly, dropping down on his knees next to her. "I've got it." He let his hands hover over the cut, focusing on the wound. Soon, they began to glow and the blood began to fade until her leg was restored to its normal self.
Cathryn sighed. "T-Thank you," she stuttered, gulping. "Thank you so much! If you hadn't come—"
Chris grinned at her. "Hey, no problem, cuz." He stood up and gave her his hand, helping her to her feet also. She grinned back, pulling her disheveled hair off her face.
"Good thing you were looking out for me," Cathryn told him. Then she narrowed her eyes, still smiling slightly. "Why were you looking out for me, by the way? You can only sense if I'm in danger if you're trying to sense me in the first place."
"I was just trying to make sure you were okay," Chris shrugged.
Daphne cleared her throat loudly, glaring at him when he turned around. "And she helped," he added grudgingly.
Cathryn looked from Chris to Daphne, then shook her head. She walked forward, stretching her hand towards Daphne. "Hi, I'm Cathryn. Who are you?"
"I'm Daphne," she replied.
"O…kay," Cathryn nodded, still unsure of who she was. She turned to Chris questioningly.
"She's no one of concern," Chris waved off. He ignored Daphne's objection and continued, "Do you have any idea who that demon was, by any chance?"
"No," Cathryn replied, shrugging. "I was just reading a book since Damien didn't show up—"
"He didn't?" Chris interrupted. He looked at Daphne, frowning, then turned back to Cathryn. "Why not?"
"He stood me up, Chris," Cathryn scoffed. "There is no 'why not' to it!"
Chris turned back to Daphne who slowly shook her head at him. Cathryn looked from Chris to Daphne, confused. "What's going on here?"
"Why don't we go downstairs?" Daphne suggested with a large smile on her face. "Cathryn, would you mind supplying us with a bit of coffee? I think we all need it after that demon-attack."
Cathryn shrugged, still suspicious but deciding to let it slide. "Sure, why not?" She walked out of the bathroom, wincing at the new state of her room, then walked out of the door, deciding that she'll deal with it later. Daphne turned to Chris as they followed her, dropping her voice to a minimum. "I have a bad feeling about this, Chris. First, an a guy doesn't show up for his date and a demon shows up at the girl's trying to kill her?"
He nodded. "I know what you mean."
"How much do you want to bet that they already got him?"
Chris stopped at the door—which also had a sizely hole in it—and turned to her, feeling like punching something… "I can bet a lot on that," he replied honestly. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then opened them again, shaking his head slightly. "I can't sense him anywhere. We need to find him."
Daphne shook her head. "If they already have him, he's far beyond our reach, I can tell you that. We need to make sure Cathryn is safe first."
Chris sighed and turned to look at the disasterous bedroom. The pieces from the mirror now lay on the ground, showing him a thousand little reflections of them in the pieces. He looked at the fallen lamp that had shattered and now had a bit of blood glistening on the shade—Cathryn's blood—and the bed that was still smoking at the hole in the hole off to the side of the mattress form the fireball the demon had thrown. Suddenly, he frowned. "Look at that hole."
Daphne turned to the bed. "I'm looking," she replied uncertainly. "But I don't see anything…"
"Cathryn was on the opposite side of that hole underneath that bed—as far away as she could be from it, in fact."
"So?" Daphne asked him.
"So…" Chris replied, walking over to the bed slowly. He leaned down, looking through the hole and saw the black scorch-mark on the wood below, then looked at the other end of the bed, several feet away. "Why would he aim here when she was over there?"
"He has bad eyes, what are you saying?"
Chris shook his head, standing up again. "No…" he told her in a low voice. He looked at her, feeling his heart pound slightly. His eyes wandered to the mirror again. He walked past her, staring at the mirror, then turned around to look at the windows, the spot where the demon had been standing. Then, he turned to the door, narrowed eyes on the hole in the wood. "This guy was either blind—and I'm doubting your father would send a blind demon after Cathryn—or he… was not even aiming for her."
Daphne watched him as he looked around the room, lost in his own thoughts. "Chris, I have no idea what you're saying. What do you mean he wasn't aiming for her?"
Chris turned to her suddenly. "His mission wasn't to kill her, it was to capture her and scare the living hell out of her in the process. If he indeed has been sent by your father, he doesn't want her dead."
"Wha--?" Daphne bit her lip. "Why would he want to just capture her?"
Suddenly, there was a crash from downstairs. Chris whirled around, staring at the door, horrified.
Cathryn ducked the demon's kick and rolled across the kitchen floor, standing up next to the counter which had a boiling pot of water in the coffee-maker. She pulled out it, wincing as a bit splashed onto her hand and threw all of the water directly into the ugly demon's face.
The demon screamed, clawing at her own face with long, brown nails that reminded her of a bird's feet. Cathryn grabbed the opportunity to run from the kitchen. She tried to turn on the lights as she passed the switch but after failing to do anything but hit her foot into the sofa, she cried out and stumbled ahead, deciding that the lights weren't worth her life. As she covered behind the couch, though, she realized that it probably would've been a better idea to turn on the lights in case the demon decided to shimmer right in behind her—
With a peircing scream, she grabbed the hand that had suddenly dropped onto her shoulder from behind and whirled the person around, sending the crashing to the ground on their bottom.
And then she realized that it had just been Daphne.
"Oh, no! What have I done? Daphne?" She leaned down next to her as she moaned at the immense pain now shooting through her head which she had hit on the couch.
There was a sudden commosion from behind. Cathryn whirled around and ran back towards the kitchen. Before she got there, though, an energy ball flew out from the entrance and hit a painting hanging on the wall all the way across the room. She gasped and flattened herself against the wall, listening to more grunting and growling coming from the kitchen. A second later, Chris came flying out and hit the wall where the painting had once been hanging, then fell on top of the desk directly below and broke it cleanly in two. Cathryn took a deep breath and walked into the kitchen, ready to use all her knowledge of martial arts that she had been learning from her mother since she had been seven.
"Who are you and what do you want?" She demanded the she-demon who had her back turned to her, facing the refrigerator.
As she turned around, Cathryn watched her entire appearance change within seconds—her nasty gray dreadlocks turned to shoulder-length brown hair, her narrow and scarred face took on a far more pleasant appearance, turning round and soft with twinkling brown eyes and a small nose, and she visibly grew much shorter, shrinking from her original 6'4" to Cathryn's height of 5'5". Before she knew it, Cathryn was looking at a replica of herself down to the last faded freckle on her nose.
"I want you," the demon whispered, sounding eerily like Catherine herself. Then, she raised her hand and gave her wrist a slight flick.
Suddenly, an energy ball came firing out of nowhere, engulfing her in a ball of electricity. She looked around herself, her mind in a complete haze as she tired to figure out what happened. Then, seconds later, she disappeared from the kitchen.
But I'm Cathryn… Chris… Daphne…
Daphne ran into the room, panting. She spotted Cathryn next to the fridge and sighed, leaning over the island at the center of the kitchen as she tried to gather her breath. "Are you all right?"
She nodded back, staring at the spot where the demon had been standing before Daphne knocked her out. "I'm fine," she replied. Then, she turned around, looking at the mirror next to the door leading into the dining room. The face of a fifteen-year old girl stared back at her. With a sneer, she said, "I'm perfectly fine."
