I hope you enjoy this chapter. Thanks for all you people who reviewed and those who added me to one of their list things. I appreciate it. Sorry about the wait for this chapter. I got a little stuck on it but I should be alright now.
Chapter 9- Vampires and Demons
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The electricity sparked down the walls, crackling menacingly as it moved swiftly towards Chris. The crimson colour eerily reminiscent to blood. Chris didn't even have time to blink before it hit him. There was no time to move, no warning. Consequently, Chris got hit head on. Nothing could of prepared him for it…who new such power could come from such a little, innocent looking girl?
He screamed.
It hurt so much. Like his mind was being ripped out of his body. Tiny red hot knifes stabbing him everywhere. Not just any knifes though… poison knifes. Or those ones with a jagged edges. Or perhaps the ones with a separate blade. The knifes were twisting as they cut at him, as they burned his skin. He didn't register falling to the floor and he didn't notice himself curling up in a ball as he tried to get rid of the pain. He shook uncontrollably and clenched his fists, knuckles turning white, before finally the pain stopped. Still shaking he tried to even out his breathing. No other sound was heard except for a quiet giggling. Looking up he saw the girl still on the balcony, her pale face lit up in a bright smile, eyes sparkling and was met with a surge of vicious anger.
"You think this is funny?" he asked incredulously, wincing as his voice came out rough and scratchy. Probably from screaming, he thought angrily.
"Why of course silly!" the girl said still giggling. "Why would it not be?"
Chris then realised, again, that he was in deep trouble. Right now, he was stuck in a cave with no way out with only a crazy, homicidal girl for company. What fun. Now, how to escape …he could of hit himself in the head. Orbing! God he was a idiot! All he had to do was orb out and he would be on his merry little way. Feeling distinctly better he attempted to orb. Attempted being the key word. As soon as he disappeared he felt the stabbing pain of hitting what felt like a brick wall. Reforming on the floor, he realised with dread that it wasn't going to be that easy.
"Wow! Bright lights. You're funny. Didn't you know that there are wards on this place? No flaming, shimmering, orbing or transportation of any kind allowed! It ruins my fun. People always try to run. It makes it more exciting when they are trapped." the child seemed genuinely upset that he had tried to leave. However, that didn't keep the insanity out of her voice. In fact it emphasised it.
"Sorry, but I don't think I will be staying around here that long." Chris replied, trying to ignore the rapidly increasing feeling of hysteria in his stomach. He did not want to die. He had to escape.
"Oh…but I don't want you to go. I'm having fun. You can't leave now. Why does everyone always want to leave?" the child pouted and her eyes widened slightly, the silver in them becoming more pronounced, even in the dim light.
"Because your crazy …and you like attack people with electricity." Chris couldn't resist shouting.
"Yeah everyone always says that too…but its fun. And I like to have fun." a dreamy smile came to the girls face as she fiddled with her white dress and kicked her legs back and forth. Chris realised he had to keep her talking before she decided to electrocute him again.
"How do you do it?" he asked reluctantly, instantly regretting the question he had chosen to ask. Of all the things…
"How do I do what?" her metallic like eyes focused on him and he swallowed before answering.
"How do you electrocute people?"
"No ones ever asked me that before! They always ask me boring things. " her eyes lit up excitedly and she continued. "Well, I put my hands either side of me on the rock and the I power up an energy ball and send a constant stream of energy into the rock. I can't direct where I want it to go but it always hits my target." she moved her hands into their previous positions either side of her as she spoke, not noticing a nervous expression flash across Chris's face. She looked at him again, giving him a sly, dangerous smile.
"Do you want a demonstration?"
Before he had a chance to answer, the red electricity sparked once more down the walls, like a snake slithering towards its prey. The last thing Chris heard before his world dissolved into pain was the little girl singing cheerfully.
Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream.
If you see a crocodile,
Don't forget to scream.
Except it wasn't a crocodile Chris saw, it was red electricity snaking agilely towards him.
He closed his eyes.
----
"You don't have to do this."
"Yes I do."
"No Chris you don't! What good will come of it?"
"Bianca…you know why and you know what it will do and soon …you will be the only one who knows."
"There must be another way."
"This is my choice, my secret and I will just have to live with it. Things will be better this way."
"No they won't! Its not just your secret. There are others who's secret it is too."
Disbelief.
"Yes but its my fault. I started it. I was 'the primary factor in its creation'. Do you not remember? It was my ability to be stubborn that caused it to happen. Its. My. Fault. I can live with it but I know people who can't and I can't do my job unless I have their trust. Its going to be hard anyway, when they know who I am. The people here will never trust me if they know the truth. The lie is necessary."
"Chris. Its not your fault okay its his! He started this. Not you. Anyway, I don't see why you can't just travel back to the past straight away. It'll get you away from him and would be easier if you just-"
"No. We must do whatever we can in the future. In case we don't succeed or the plan goes wrong. The people here don't deserve to be left without hope."
"Ok. What are we going to do. Where are we going to go? Wyatt would never let you stay hidden for long. The people you save will be hunted and killed."
"No they won't be found. In all his glory, Wyatt hasn't conquered everywhere there is one place yet to fall. However, I don't think it will ever fall. Not anytime soon anyway. Wyatt is not invincible. In fact I don't think he even knows the power of this place. I only found out through chance. It has stood for thousands of years without falling to any enemy. All I need to do is a little spell and everything will be fine."
"What 'place' are you talking about?"
"The Great Wall of China."
Conviction.
"What? That's impossible. You can't hide people in the Great Wall of China Chris! Have you lost your mind?"
"No and yes, I can. I can hide them there and Wyatt will never find them. He thinks he's all powerful, I'll show him."
Anger.
"Chris…you'll never be allowed too escape from him you know that right?"
Silence. Then.
"I know. That's why I'm doing this. I have to stop him. Its time I played my part in this war."
"Played…your part? Chris what are you going to do?"
"What I should of done the moment I discovered Wyatt's plans. I can't sit back and watch him destroy the world Bianca. Not again. I can't. I just can't. He's hurt so many people. He's hurt me! He needs to be stopped."
"At what price? You've given up so much for him already. Why must you sacrifice more? What will it do to you…to us? I can't lose you and I can't watch you destroy yourself."
"I…I can't be selfish Bianca. I will do whatever I have to too save him…but I will never, ever give up you."
Silence.
"Victor will be pleased to see you."
"Yeah…"
Sadness.
----
That didn't prevent the electricity from hitting him. There was no way to escape it. It pushed its way through the whole cave. It was like a wave, unstoppable, overwhelming and unconquerable. Unconquerable. He knew that in Latin. Invictus. It was also the name of a poem. That's how he knew, as he had had to study it in school when he was younger. He had been so bored. Unconquerable. Such a strange concept. Was it good or evil? It could fit both quite easily. However, what did it mean to be unconquerable? Surely everything, no matter how strong, must one day fall? That's what he had believed when he was fighting Wyatt but had he ever fallen? No. Wyatt had never even faltered.
It was then that he realised he was screaming again and that pain was dancing through his blood and pounding on his skull. It was then he realised that the child was giggling once more, before suddenly then pain stopped and the sharp ache accompanying the throb from the wound on his head was receding. He unclenched his fists, numbly registering the nail marks on his palms.
"I wish you would stop doing that." Chris managed to whisper through his dry throat. Screaming was not good for a persons health.
"Really? Well I won't." the girl smiled down at him from her perch. Still, Chris decided to go back to his earlier tactic of keeping her talking. However this time he wouldn't be so stupid, as to ask such a idiotic question as before.
"Do you own any books?" the Angel of Destiny had sent him here on his request to find one so she must own at least one.
"Only one. But its my favourite!" was the exited reply he received from the girl. "Its got lots of stories in it. Though my mother used to call them legends…whatever that means."
He decided to ignore her answer. She had a book so it must be the one he was after. Why would he of been sent here if it wasn't? She was probably just too crazy to notice and had made up some weird opinion. He hoped. Oh well. Time to change the subject.
"Who are you?"
"Well I'm me of course! What a silly question." she looked at him disapprovingly as she said this, as if he should of asked her a better question. "Honestly, who else would I be? You can't change who you are no matter how hard you try. Anyway, I'll always be me and I will always be good at what I do."
Sensing the conversation becoming to close to a undesired subject, Chris tried to steer her thoughts away from violence in the hopes that it would buy him some much needed time. "I meant, do you have a name?"
"Of course I do." the giggling was back. " My name is Nephele and I am a Vampire."
"A Vampire." Chris stated disbelievingly. " You do know that the vampire queen was killed along with her clan? Right?"
"Of course I do but that doesn't mean that I am not a vampire. She was not the only leader of vampires around." For the first time, Chris could detect a hint of snobbery in her usually neutral voice and found himself curious . Initially, he had thought that she wasn't a vampire as they were all dead but now he found himself starting to doubt that. She certainly had the violent nature of a Vampire.
"All the vampires are dead. They were all killed."
"Not all of them." a sinister, lofty smile was placed across the child's lips and he found himself doubting whether this really was a child at all.
"What do you mean?" he asked warily.
"Did you really believe that all the Vampires were dead just because one queen had died? Were you really naïve enough to think that there were not more of our noble kind? The time of the Vampires has not yet ended. We are an ancient race but we still hold sway in the Underworld. Just as they fear the …Werewolves" she spat out the name like a curse. " so do other demons fear us."
"Why?" Chris whispered.
"Why? Because we have mastered something that they only dream off. Because no demon is immortal and no demon can be almost invincible…but us Vampires are. As long as we have blood., we live."
"That doesn't make you worth fearing." Chris muttered quietly.
"Oh but it does. At least according to demonic aristocracy. We are a feared race and by law none can harm or otherwise anger us. The Werewolves aren't so lucky and instead are hated as well as feared, while we are needed in demonic society they are not." The little girl was no longer displaying the persona of a child, instead a darker personality was shining through, overshadowing the innocent if slightly insane demeanour.
"What makes you more special than Werewolves and what do you mean by demonic aristocracy?" Nephele's words had only confused him even more than he was already but, nonetheless, he was glad she wasn't electrocuting him. That was not fun.
"So ignorant to the ways of the Underworld. Even here there is a sort of government, if you'd call it that. There is a upper class and a lower class. Even a prison." Nephele replied, her words patronising and mocking.
"What?" he was too stunned to notice her tone. The Underworld had a prison? A government? He had never even suspected that it was more than a bunch of caves. Though now when he thought about it, it did make sense. He knew he had never seen any of these places though, and when Wyatt took over everything had been moved above ground. It was clear now that some sort of governing system had to of been in place before Wyatt came along and declared himself ruler but he had never known. He needed to do some research on these places, he didn't like not knowing about something. To think, all this time, he had been operating on the basis that the Underworld had no government or ruling system…he needed information.
"You never suspected a demonic civilisation, did you? We are more than just a bunch a caves. There are other, more comfortable areas that exist here." Nephele then dissolved back to her previous state and let giggles echo of the cave walls and the insanity to overtake her eyes. "I am bored now though. Talking is no fun anymore. We must have excitement!."
"Uh oh." Chris said, unconsciously taking a few steps backwards as he knew what was coming. He knew he couldn't of avoided it for long but he could at least of thought of a plan. But no. He had no idea how to stop the wave that was sure to come. His mind tried vainly to come up with possible things he could do. Possible weak points in Nephele's deadly attack. Something. Anything. That he could exploit and us to his advantage. But no idea came. No sudden epiphany presented itself. And Chris was left feeling very much in trouble.
"Such a depressing way to die." he whispered mournfully. "It would have been nice to of kicked the bucket in my sleep but no, fate had to be cruel." but no matter what he said. Chris wasn't giving up.
"It was nice meeting you. Your fun to talk to. I'm almost sad to see you go but then again…the best game I play is watching people die." Nephele's childlike voice danced around the large cave. Bouncing of the walls and creating a eerie echo. The almost feral smile not suiting her innocent face and the glint in her sliver eyes betrayed the light colour.
"I don't have any intention of dying." Chris hissed, even though he had no plan. Uh…life or death situations were so difficult to avoid. At least for him. Other people seemed to be able to go through their entire lives without having a life or death situation. Why him?
"But you are going to die. There is no way to escape." Nephele started to hum to herself after she had spoken.
"Look, I don't usually follow the 'there is no escape rule' Nephele. So if you could just pause in your little kill Chris plan I'd be grateful. If however you decide to go through with it I may have to kill you." Chris was getting seriously annoyed. He didn't care whether she wanted him to escape or not. He was so she would just have to deal with it and move on. Well, move on to wherever demons go after they die. He knew there was no way she was letting him leave without a fight.
"You can't harm me. Its illegal. You'd get in trouble." Nephele smiled again pausing for a second in her humming to speak those words. Chris rolled his green eyes.
"That's another rule I do not follow. Anyway, I'm no demon. I don't follow the law down here. Or have you already forgotten how little I knew about demonic civilisation? I'm immune to demonic law. They can't touch me."
"You won't get a chance to kill me. Vampires are powerful. Incredibly powerful. Or did you not know that?" Nephele mocked, confident in her abilities. Again she had abandoned her earlier persona.
"Yeah, I know of your power but …you may be good. But I'm better." Chris spat back. Okay, so he was bluffing. He had no clue whether he would be able to beat her or not but he had to say something. Anyway, if he got her angry maybe she would make a mistake. Not likely but it could happen.
"We'll see." as her expression darkened, he began to wonder if angering her was such a good idea. Oh well, if he was going to die, he may as well irritate someone while he was doing it.
"Yes, we will see." he whispered.
In once swift motion, Nephele had planted both hands either side of her and electricity was crackling about her palms. The crimson matched blood perfectly and danced around her like a snake ready to strike. Deadly and swift. She looked up from her lap to his face, her hair framing her youthful features in a kind of black halo. Silver eyes dark with malice she spoke coldly.
"Any last words?"
Chris sighed at how cliché it all was before he spoke his answer which he was sure she didn't want to hear. Smiling blankly he said nonchalantly.
"No." and shrugged casually.
"Fine." Nephele whispered as she released the electric wave.
The crimson blast of energy swept towards him, and for the first time in his life Chris wished he had a personal shield. Wyatt had one but he didn't and now he was really at a disadvantage. Stupid powers that be, why couldn't he get a power like that. Not that he didn't appreciate his power, on the contrary he loved it, but Wyatt had all the big defensive and offensive ones. His eyes widened slightly and a small smile appeared on his face. What he needed was a shield. A way to block out the red electricity. He doesn't have a shield.
So he would just have to make one.
He briefly wondered whether what he was about to do would actually work but then he decided that if it didn't than he really didn't have anything to lose. So he decided to just go with it. He imagined the electricity was like a wave, a proper wave not just some energy wave thing he meant actual water. All he needed to do was use his telekinesis to create like a bubble around him so the energy would just zoom round him and miss him out. Like a rock in the middle of a lake. If it all worked he should end up fine and electrocuted free.
So when the wave swept towards him, he summoned up as much of his telekinetic power as he could and wrapped it around himself. He closed his eyes so that he could concentrate better, it was difficult holding all the power in place and he knew that this one blast of energy could kill him. He felt something batter his magic and had to stifle a gasp and a wince. It hurt, it felt like some one was battering his mind with a onslaught of power that was steadily increasing in strength. The positive thing was that he wasn't dying of electric shock so he supposed he was a little bit lucky. He felt his concentration slip and quickly put all his mental power into maintaining his shield type thing. Slowly, he realised he somehow had to get her to stop and so he decided to take a look at what was going on.
He opened his eyes.
Red power crackled all around him but he was safe. There was no energy in the space he stood in. instead flowing either side of him was the crimson wave meant for him, the colour reflecting in the irises of his green eyes. He looked up and saw Nephele looking down at him in hatred. Anger lined her youthful face, showing her displeasure at his ability to avoid her deadly attack. She lifted her hands gracefully from either side of her and placed them in her lap. Watching coldly as the red energy faded. Chris warily dispersed his shield thing. He couldn't keep it up forever. It was draining.
"So…you can fight of my attacks."
"Looks that way." Chris whispered.
"Not for long though. Not for long." Nephele had, if possible, gained a deadlier look in her eyes than before. The metallic colour swirled with anger.
"What are you going to do…Vamp out at me." against his better judgement Chris had decided to go for the sarcastic, biting retort. Damn.
" Yes."
Without even sparing a glance towards Chris's incredulous face she closed her eyes. Standing up she balanced perfectly on the balcony stone rail. Nails lengthened and sharpened, growing out of her hands in less than a second, they looked razorblade sharp but oddly manoeuvrable. Her body grew stronger, losing its childlike weakness, and instead having an animalistic strength that he knew was far greater than his own. Her teeth elongated even more, if possible and her pale skin seemed to glow. An aura of power shone around her as she opened her now red eyes.
What is it with her and red?
"You are the first in over four thousand years to see my true form." she whispered, but in a different voice, dark and foreboding.
"I feel so privileged." Chris retorted.
"You should be, especially as it's the last thing you will see before you die." she said coldly as she launched herself off of the balcony and into the sky with a inhumanly strong jump. The strange thing was, she actually stayed there, hovering, completely at home in the air. No wings or anything keeping her up. This wasn't good. Definitely, not good. He thought Vampires could only fly when they were in their bat form. In that form they were also pretty easy to kill. Apparently not.
"How are you doing that?" Chris asked warily, letting surprise leak into his voice. He was actually genuinely curious.
"How am I flying? Is that what you mean? I don't need to be a bat to fly around. This is my true form. Nothing else is needed to lift me into the air. All my powers are available to me." she replied with a superior tone, like she was better than him because of it.
Chris glared at her. Why does everyone have to have so many powers? Is there a competition or something? "Having so many powers you don't even know what they all are doesn't prove anything! And so what if flying is one of those powers. Everyone, including you has a weakness."
Nephele just raised a eyebrow elegantly. "Have I hit a nerve? You seem bitter. Maybe its because your weakness is your lack of power."
"I'm over it." Chris said slowly. So what if he was a little bitter? That came from having a older brother who has basically every power in existence. "Power isn't everything."
"Oh really? Power is everything. Without power nobody achieves anything. Without power a person is nothing. Without power-"
"Oh spare me. I have heard the power speech too many times to be bothered to listen anymore. Power is this, power is that. I get it, I really do. I just don't agree with it. Power is not everything. Maybe to you…but that doesn't count for much." Chris interrupted. Wyatt had tried to convince him of this many times and it had never worked. Ever. That, in itself, had proven that power isn't everything. Wyatt had all the power, but he had failed to convince his little brother that he was right. That made Chris feel immensely smug.
"How naïve you are." Nephele whispered, red eyes dark.
"I am not naïve. You have no idea…" Chris said surprised. He didn't think anyone, except Wyatt, had ever called him naïve. Shows how much Vampires know.
"No. I don't. Anyway, we have talked for far to long. I have better things to do. "
"Like what? Wait for another unsuspecting victim to come along so you can pretend to be a child and then electrocute them?" Chris said sarcastically.
"Nope, I have to go hunting. I'm hungry. I missed lunch today."
"Okay…before you, y'know, kill me. I want to ask you a question. Where is the book you have?" Chris asked, hoping she would answer his question and not just kill him straight away. He did not want to have to look around in this cave for one book after he had got rid of the Vampire. It could, quite possible, take forever. He didn't have forever.
"Oh! You mean my favourite one? Its right here." Nephele said happily, as a book materialised on the balcony. Damn, conjuring, another power. How many does she need?
"Thanks." he replied before, with a slight curl of his fingers, attempting to crush her heart. Attempting. There was that word again. Instead of doing what it was supposed to do, his power just glanced of her, like she wasn't there.
"Its not going to be that easy." Nephele said before she dived. Yes, dived. Down from her position in the sky down towards him. He ducked and rolled, avoiding her sharp nails, and when he stood again she was in the air once more.
"So…how do I kill you? Holy water, a silver stake, or perhaps a couple of crosses?"
"No, though something sharp might help." Nephele said, annoyance creeping into her tone along with her attempt at humour.
"Sorry. Don't have anything like that." though he knew he did. "I'll just have to be content with dying then won't I?" Not likely. " I wish I had some kind of weapon. Oh what will I do." My knife.
Nephele didn't seem to appreciate nor understand his sarcasm for she looked at him suspiciously. Then, however, a look of comprehension overcame her face and she said "Your not going to die easily are you?"
He smiled and replied "Nope."
She smirked darkly and hissed " I like a challenge."
And again, like before, she jumped.
---
"What's he going to say?"
"Who? Victor."
"Yes. He's not going to like this."
"He's not going to know."
"What? Your not going to tell him?"
"No. Never."
"…it'll hurt him Chris."
"Not as much as the truth would Bianca."
"Snap out of it. Stop being so stupid. You don't need to go round hiding stuff. Its okay. Its over. If you just tell them the-"
"No! I don't want them to know. I don't want anyone to know. It'll effect my-"
"Yes, I know it will effect the mission. That's not all is it. Come on, you can't lie to me. I know you. You want revenge. Don't you? And you don't want them to suspect you of being able to go renegade, so your going to cover up all the reasons for you wanting revenge on Wyatt."
"Yes, I do. I want revenge."
"Your not going to-"
"No. No way in hell. I would never kill him. He's my brother. What I am going to do though is destroy his empire as much as possible while I am still in the future. Maybe he'll see sense…No. No its too late. But I can save him before he turns. That'll be enough."
"Chris your not making sense."
"He hurt me Bianca. I'm his brother. He says I betrayed him but truly? He betrayed me. And he doesn't care. He doesn't care anymore. His emotions have been so twisted by evil that…he doesn't know how to care. He thinks he does but he doesn't. I just don't know what he will or won't do anymore and I can't help be feel like I've failed him somehow. That I could of done something to stop him turning out like… This. Why did he turn evil Bianca? Why?"
"I don't know. But if anyone can find out, you can. You can save him Chris. I know you can."
"Do you think he's worth saving? I'm asking your opinion."
"If his good self is anything like you, then yes. He is worth saving."
"Good."
"Don't forget Chris. Don't forget what happened."
"I have to."
---
In a graceful parody of falling she, once again, dived. It seemed, to Chris, that time slowed. She seemed to fall so slowly and every detail was more pronounced and emphasised. From the bloodthirsty, red of her eyes, to the soft innocent white of her dress. Even to the chilling sharpness of her nails and the slight curving smile on her lips. Though it happened in slow motion, Chris still didn't have enough time to react, and only realised how fast Nephele was when she clawed her nails across his cheek. Simultaneously, she knocked him of his feet onto the floor. Stupid superhuman strength.
She landed gracefully on the floor a few paces away from him, her bloodstained hands casually at her sides. Chris gingerly wiped some of the blood of his cheek, wincing at how deep the cuts were. That would take some explaining when he got it healed he thought as he stared at the blood on his hands. He looked up quickly to see Nephele staring at her hands like he had been, obviously entranced by the crimson liquid on her fingers. Her eyes then snapped up to look at him.
"Maybe I won't have to go hunting after all." she whispered, sounding strangely distant.
"No. You are not drinking my blood. No way." he shouted as he realised what she wanted to do, even though he knew it wouldn't make a difference.
"Why not? It'll keep me alive. It'll more than keep me alive…" she seemed confused, glancing down at her hand then back up at him. "Why do you have Halliwell blood in you?"
"You've got it wrong. I don't." he whispered.
"Yes. You do. Your blood. You're a Halliwell of the next generation. There is no mistaking the blood in your veins." her eyes were alight with her realisation. "If I drink your blood, I will not have to feed again for one hundred years and my powers will grow immensely." Nephele smirked again and Chris knew she was not just going to let this opportunity pass her by.
"You are not getting any of my blood." Chris hissed firmly.
"You won't be needing it."
"Yes I will. I am not going to die. So go and bother someone else you bloodsucker. I will not let you steal my blood." he whispered quietly.
"You don't have a choice. Even a Halliwell is no match for a vampire of my caliber." she was confident, perhaps too confident, in her belief that she had won.
"Arrogant much." Chris mocked, annoyed by her superior tone of voice. "I don't think you should be getting so overconfident."
"If our positions were reversed I would agree with you. But, unfortunately, for you anyway, they are not." she shot back, applying the same mocking tone to her voice that Chris had used. "I've won."
Chris was silent for a moment before he realised he had had enough and challenged "Whatever. Come and get me. If you can."
When she jumped, Chris didn't move as he didn't have the time to go anywhere, and as she bit down into his neck, he was already pulling out his knife. Faltering for a moment as the pain hit him, he almost dropped the athame but he managed to keep hold of it. Gripping the hilt tightly in his hand, he manoeuvred it so that it was level with her heart, he couldn't see her face but he spoke anyway.
"Thanks for the book."
He felt her stiffen in surprise but before even she could react he plunged the athame deep into her heart before pulling it back out again. It was stained with black, thick blood. Nephele fell backwards onto her back clutching at her chest were she had been stabbed but there was nothing she could do and with a blood curdling scream she exploded into thousands of tiny flakes of ashes. Chris realised he was bleeding quite heavily but at least the Vampire hadn't been able to bite that deep. Another thing he would have to explain. Wait… no. He was not telling them he had been bitten by a Vampire. Victor would be furious and the sisters would never let him out of the house again. No he would hide it. He did possess a minor healing potion. Nothing like a white lighters powers but it would do.
Standing up, he placed a hand on his neck to keep pressure on it, slipping the knife back into his pocket. He didn't think it was deep enough to be fatal and he certainly wasn't going to turn into a Vampire but it didn't hurt to be safe. Glancing up to the balcony, he summoned the book Nephele had conjured with telekinesis. It flew into his waiting hand and absently he glanced at the title.
Demonic Tales of The Past.
It was a book. On legends as Nephele had said.
He stood there for a minute or so, just staring at the book, before he decided to flip through the pages, hoping it was just a disguise for the real book. The one he wanted. No such luck, it was all demonic versions of King Arthur and other such legends. Hell, there was even the story of the Source in there. He snapped the book shut, fingers clenching around the book. There was no way, that after all he had gone through, that this book in no way helped him understand what was wrong with him and how to get better. Damn that angel of destiny. It was supposed to of sent him to the book about illnesses, not stupid demonic fairy tales!
He glanced at the book again and scowling, went to orb out of the cave but to his intense surprise he was sent sprawling back onto the floor.
No way.
The wards were still up.
He was trapped.
In a cave, with the wrong book and no foreseeable way out.
Things just keep getting better and better.
---
Gideon, once again, had decided to go and see The Illusion. The last time they talked he had been confused by what he had said but he was determined to get back in control. This was his plan and he was going to make sure it got done the way he wanted. Talking to his counterpart in the other world, had cleared a lot of things up and the necessary adjustments to the plan had been made. Now he had to make sure The Illusion knew what was going on. He didn't want it to be messed up because of him. Of course, as usual, the strange demon had been expecting him. Standing by a table supporting a cauldron, with a bloodstained knife laying next to it, he had greeted him when he entered his lair.
"What brings you here Gideon?"
"I have made some adjustments to my plan." Gideon promptly replied.
"Adjustments?" The Illusion sounded slightly absent as if deep in thought.
"Yes, I have decided to have a slight pause in my plan. Right now the Charmed Ones are on their guard expecting a attack, before I take the child I must introduce myself to them while they aren't so defensive. For a few weeks all attack from the wolves, you and me must stop if we are to attain our goal." Gideon said commandingly, with the briskness of a Elder.
"Indeed, you are right. However, I fail to see where the Whitelighter comes into your plans." The Illusion demon whispered almost silently, still lost in thought.
"I see no point in explaining the part about him. He isn't anything to do with-" But Gideon didn't get to finish his undoubtedly detailed answer.
"He has everything to do with it!" in less than a second the demon had turned round and was staring Gideon in the face. Coal black eyes glared angrily and power crackled about the room in intense waves. The sentence was roared loudly and The Illusions previously carefree and slightly absent attitude had been replaced by that of a fierce and angry demon.
"Don't you see? You have to meld your plans around him. He is here because your plans have succeeded therefore whatever you did was the right thing to do. You were able to distract the Charmed Ones. They're not the problem. He is. The only danger is him discovering what you are doing and stopping you. If he wasn't here then you would succeed. To achieve your goal you need to get him out of the way. Distract him. Target him. Do whatever you have to do." the Illusion demon hissed.
"Are you saying that he is the only one who could foil my plans?" Gideon asked seriously.
"Yes, the only one on Earth." The Illusion confirmed confidently, slightly amused that Gideon hadn't realised it.
"I must kill him immediately." Gideon whispered dangerously, obviously already thinking of ways to do so.
"No. leave him to me." The Illusion seemed oddly anxious as he whispered this. The sound cold and quiet. "Just leave him to me."
"Do you have a plan?" Gideon asked, raising a eyebrow. This wasn't like The Illusion. He never took a personal interest in people and was always impartial. Wanting most of all to lay traps and mess with peoples emotions and minds until he got bored.
"Yes, its already in place. These next few weeks it will be subtly working in the background. I'm sure you'll like the results." The Illusion replied, a hint of excitement and smugness in his voice.
"What are you going to do and how do you know it'll work?" Gideon asked curiously.
"I'm going to hit him were it hurts hardest. You see recently I came across something very interesting and now I now one of Chris's secrets. Perhaps, the biggest one." The Illusion replied cryptically.
"What do you know?" Gideon asked slowly.
"I know that he is Piper Halliwell and Leo Wyatt's youngest son." The Illusion replied equally as slowly, relishing every word.
"What?" Gideon whispered angrily.
"Yes, another son. Though I don't think your going to have to kill this one. Though, you never know do you?" the Illusion smirked, happy to of completely thrown Gideon.
"How?"
"How did I find out?" The Illusion demon turned around for a moment, seemingly picking something up, and turned back to Gideon with a knife in his hand. A knife covered in dried blood. "Is that what you want to know?"
"Yes."
"Well, when you threw your knife a Chris the other day and lost it, I thought it would only be right for me to…retrieve it. So, I strolled into the Charmed Ones house and located the missing knife and brought it back here. Then, I started to get curious and I made a potion to reveal the identity of the person who's blood is on the knife. Look what popped up. Christopher Perry Halliwell. It also listed the parents names too, which is how I know who his mom and dad are. It makes sense really. Poor Chris coming back to save his older brother." The Illusion seemed to take deep enjoyment out of naming the steps he had gone through to obtain Chris's identity.
"Then you-"
"Yes, I used his blood to discover who he was. After all, even the most well kept secrets can be discovered from just one drop of this liquid."
The athame glinted innocently in his hands, the blood only hiding half of the shining metal.
Yes, just one drop.
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Phew, its done! Wow I really had trouble with this one. Writers block twice. I knew what I wanted to do but I just couldn't write it. I hope everyone had a nice Christmas. I was going to have this finished by Christmas day but…I had to write my sisters Christmas present. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed it. I will try to get the next chapter writtern faster than this one. Nephele's character changed a lot but…meh I felt like it. Read and review.