Hey, a bonus chapter!! (I couldn't wait a whole week to add another). Enjoy!!

Thanks so much to NeptuneCharm47, lizardmomma, and patricia02052 for the lovely reviews. They are very much appreciated!!

Patricia02052 I have no idea if Odin was an Elder (I never really paid attention to their names :P ) After the chapter where they cut off Piper's hair I went searching the internet for a name for each demon and happened to stumble upon Loki and Odin, who were actually mythical gods. It was really cool that Loki had happened to cut the hair off of a woman in the write-up I read about him, so the names really fit these two demons. I'm really happy with how that worked out.

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Loki and Odin ran hectically around the cave gathering their things. Piper watched silently from the darkened corner she was sitting in. She'd never seen them look so terrified before.

"Hurry and grab the witch," Loki snapped as he gathered the various objects he considered important.

Odin rushed over to Piper and pulled her up by her arm. Piper had no chance to refuse. Odin had a steady grip on her arm and she was being pulled faster than she could keep up.

Within seconds they were in a new location. Odin tossed Piper aside and began helping Loki conceal their new hideaway with various charms and spells.

Something about the new cave was different. Piper could feel a breeze of fresh air coming from somewhere. The cave wasn't hot and muggy as all of the others had been and she could faintly hear wind brushing through the leaves of trees. They were no longer in the Underworld. They were somewhere above ground.

When the demons were satisfied that no one would be able to sense where their new hideaway was, they approached Piper.

"This is it, witch," Loki warned. "No more playing around. You don't eat until we have your powers. So now you have a tough decision to make: die or give up your powers."

Piper glared at Loki and crossed her arms smugly.

"Fine," Loki grumbled. "We'll do it your way. You won't last long. In a few days you're going to be begging us to take your powers."

Piper turned away from the two demons and began searching the cave for fresh water. She could hear Loki and Odin in a deep, whispered conversation. Without looking obvious, she moved closer to hear what they were discussing.

"He's going to find us and kill us," Odin whispered. "It's just a matter of time. We need the witch's powers to get rid of him."

"We have time," Loki hissed. "She'll give us her powers soon enough and we'll be set. The cloak we have on this cave should hold up until then."

"You just had to get that stupid Astral Projection power, didn't you?" Odin retorted. "You knew they'd come after you. It didn't even work!"

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Piper refused to give in to Loki's demands. She would not give up her powers for any reason. She'd already gone ten days without food. The demons would ask her every day if she was ready to give up her powers, but she had decided a long time ago that she would rather die than intentionally cause the end of the Charmed Ones. The loss of her power would evidently mean giving up her sisters' powers as well.

Loki stood over her angrily, furious that she once again refused to give him her powers. Both of his hands were balled tightly into fists at his sides. He turned away and walked heatedly over to Odin.

"Why do you keep putting yourself through this?" Odin hissed. "Just kill her already!"

"No!" Loki roared. "She will give them to me. I just need more time!"

They were interrupted by a low rumbling. Piper sat in the dark and watched as Loki and Odin tried to find the source of the sound.

In an instant, a dozen demons blinked and shimmered into the cave with the intent to kill Loki and Odin for killing one of their comrades. Fire balls and energy balls began flying from one end of the cave to another. Demons dropped to the rock floor and disintegrated into piles of ash. Odin was the first to be vanquished by the army of demons. He let out an angry scream as his body erupted in flames and turned to dust. Odin tried to escape, but was cornered by three other demons.

Piper watched from her corner. The demons hadn't noticed her and she wanted to keep it that way. She stayed as still as she could and watched as Odin massacred by the crowd of demons. When both shape-shifters were nothing but piles of ash on the ground, the swarm of demons disappeared from the cave one by one, taking the athame Loki used to steal powers with them.

Piper sat alone in the silence. She didn't dare move. Part of her was telling her that Loki and Odin had just created another illusion while the other part of her was telling her she needed to find something to eat and soon.

Using the cave wall to steady herself, Piper pulled herself to her feet. Having eaten nothing in over a week had left her body feeling weak. It took all of her energy to walk toward the cool breeze and out of the cave.

She leaned back against the entrance of the cave to rest for a moment and to see if Odin and Loki would come stop her. When neither of them came, she began walking aimlessly through the thick forest of trees. She had no idea where she was or what she was walking toward, but she had no choice but to wander in hopes of finding food and water.

When she had started walking the sky was bright and the air was warm. As she made her way through the forest, the sun started to descend and the air became cool. When she finally reached a clearing the sun had almost completely set.

She found herself looking down a steep slope at a busy interstate. Not wanting to draw attention to herself, she continued walking within the concealment of the trees along the interstate. She soon began recognizing the area. She and her sisters had traveled many times along the Redwood Highway on their trips to Sausalito. Within a few hours she would be on the Golden Gate Bridge and in the vicinity of food and clean water.

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Daryl drove slowly through the darkened streets of San Francisco. The windshield wipers moved quickly across the glass in a steady rhythm, pushing the fallen rain aside to clear Daryl's view. His partner, Jared, was tapping a quick rhythm on the dash of the squad car. His whole body moved in time with the beat.

Daryl rolled his eyes and turned onto an empty street. It was a slow night for crime, which was great, of course, but it meant Daryl and Jared had to drive around aimlessly with nothing to do.

Jared leaned back in his seat and rummaged through the glove compartment, searching for something that could occupy him for some length of time.

"I hate night shifts," Jared groaned finally after finding nothing of interest in the glove compartment. "I'm bored out of my mind."

Daryl nodded silently in agreement. He slowed the car and squinted at something outside. "Who the hell would be out this late on a night like this?" he asked.

Jared peered out of the windshield to see what Daryl was looking at. A small figure was walking slowly and slightly unbalanced through the rain. As they moved closer they could make out the figure of a small woman wearing a tattered dress. Her feet were bare and her hair was clinging to her shoulders from the rain. She looked back for a second before moving off of the sidewalk to hide in the shadows.

"She looks really familiar," said Jared. Daryl could tell he was trying to figure out where he had seen the girl before.

Daryl pulled the car to the side of the street and continued to follow the woman. Jared opened the window so that they could speak to her once they were close enough. The woman stopped and began walking back the way she had come.

"Oh, my god," Daryl gasped as he caught a better glimpse of the woman. He pulled the stick into "park" and got out of the car. Jared frowned and followed his partner.

"Morris, what the hell are you doing?" Jared hissed, not wanting to get the girls attention.

"Piper?" Daryl asked as he walked toward the woman. She began walking faster, trying to get away from the two men.

"Halliwell?" Jared panted. He was jogging to keep up with Daryl. "From the posters?"

Daryl sped up and grabbed hold of Piper's wrists. She cried out and tried to pull away. Daryl grabbed her other wrist so that she was facing him. She was smaller and paler than he remembered, but it was definitely Piper. She continued to pull away, but was no match for Daryl. She dropped to her knees and stared at the pavement. Daryl knelt beside her and pushed her hair away from her face.

"What happened to you?" he asked softly. Piper glared up at him and pulled her hands away. Daryl looked her over, noticing how sickly she looked. "Let's get you into the car where it's warm." He pulled her to her feet and gently led her over to the squad car, keeping her upright as she struggled to walk. With some persuasion he got her into the back seat of the squad car.

"Is it her?" Jared whispered. Daryl nodded and walked over to the driver's side door. His heart was pounding loudly within his chest. He was excited, anxious, and concerned all at once. He looked through the back window at Piper and examined her features. He knew it was her, but he was terrified that maybe he was wrong. How could she appear out of nowhere after nearly three years?

The two men crawled into the car and buckled themselves in. Jared adjusted the heat to help Piper warm up. Daryl adjusted his rearview mirror so that he could clearly see her. Now that she had a chance to sit down he could see how bad her condition was. She was shaking uncontrollably and looked like she was about to pass out.

"Piper, when was the last time you ate something?" Daryl asked.

"There's a convenience store up the block," Jared suggested.

Daryl pulled into the parking lot of the convenience store and ran inside to get a sport's drink for Piper. He sat back in the car, cracked open the bottle and passed it back to Piper.

She stared at him for a few seconds with uncertainty before grabbing the bottle chugging its contents. She couldn't remember the last time she'd had something to drink and didn't know when she would have another opportunity, so she drank it as fast as she could. She wiped her mouth with her arm and passed the bottle back to Daryl. Jared raised one eyebrow and tried not to smile as Daryl stared at the empty bottle in disbelief.

Daryl set the bottle in the cup holder beside him and headed for the hospital that Sheila worked at.

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Sheila led Piper into a small bedroom with a twin bed and a dresser. Piper crawled onto the bed and leaned back against the wall. She had had a bath and she was wearing a white, long sleeve under a pink t-shirt with matching pants that Sheila had given her.

Sheila sent one of the nurses to get Piper something to eat and stood in the corridor with Daryl.

"How is she?" Daryl asked softly. He looked over at Piper and watched as she brushed her hair.

"Half-starved," replied Sheila. "We're going to try to get some food in her. Other than that there wasn't too much bruising, so it doesn't look like she was abused."

"I still need to call Prue and Phoebe," said Daryl. "I just want to make sure everything's ok before they get here." Sheila nodded in agreement.

A nurse walked passed them with a tray of food and set it on the bed next to Piper. Piper stared at the nurse and waited for her to leave before devouring the food in front of her. Sheila quickly stepped in and tried to talk Piper into slowing down.

Piper stopped eating and stared down at her plate. Sheila knelt next to Piper and tried to push Piper's hair behind her ears. She could tell from Piper's face that something was wrong. Piper pushed Sheila's hand away and breathed heavily.

Sheila quickly grabbed the garbage bucket from beside the bed and handed it to Piper. Piper grabbed the bucket and proceeded to vomit until her stomach was empty again. Sheila gently rubbed Piper's back and pulled her hair away from her face.

"What did you do to me?" Piper gasped breathlessly.

"Nothing," replied Sheila, slightly caught of guard by Piper's accusation. "You haven't eaten in a long time. You have to take it slow." She handed Piper a tissue to wipe her mouth and took the bucket.

"Can you watch her for a moment?" Sheila asked as she walked passed Daryl. He nodded and entered the room. Piper looked up at him angrily.

"Still hungry?" Daryl asked sarcastically with a slight smile. Piper rolled her eyes and leaned back against the wall. Daryl passed her a glass of water from the dresser next to the bed. Piper took it begrudgingly and slowly took a few sips.

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Phoebe and Prue raced into the hospital and over to the information desk.

"Piper Halliwell, please," Phoebe gasped. "Where is she?"

The receptionist smiled and quickly checked her computer. "Ninth floor," she replied sweetly. "Room 912."

Prue grabbed Phoebe's and pulled her toward the elevator as she thanked the receptionist. They stepped into the elevator, pushed the "9" button repetitively and waited impatiently for the elevator to begin its slow ascent to the ninth floor. Without fail, the elevator ended up stopping at each floor to pick up more people.

Upon reaching their floor, the girls rushed out of the elevator and stopped short when they read the sign above the main door. Prue was the first to walk toward the door and enter.

"This has got to be a mistake," Phoebe mumbled as she followed Prue into the Psychiatric Ward.

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More next Thursday!!!