A/N There are not enough words to apologize, I never meant to leave for so long, but I just couldn't think of another word to write. I hope that at least one of you, readers, is still interested in this story. I went through many fandoms in this years, but Charmed has never truly left me. I WILL finish this story, hopefully not long from now since I am again inspired. Again, so sorry, even more because it's a short chapter, but I know exactly how this is going to end, I just have to get us there.

Chapter 10

Leo placed Chris on the couch and tried to heal him again. It was not working. Lily had stopped crying at some point and simply looked at her father sadly, she was still held secure in Freiya's arms.

It was getting dark and Wyatt had fallen asleep so Piper took him to his bedroom and returned almost immediately. Even with Chris unconscious she though she should keep an eye on him, just in case.

"Why isn't it working?" Phoebe was getting frustrated. Half an hour had passed and there were no signs of improvement. She stopped pacing the living room and sat on the couch, next to the unconscious witchlighter. She trusted her sisters, but Piper was not a her most reasonable. Neither was Leo for that matter.

"I think he is just tired, it's not a physical injury, otherwise it would have healed by now". Leo was not terribly upset, he had tried to heal Chris so he couldn't feel guilty, and if the young man was unable of orbing away when the Elders came for him then all the better.

Still there could be complications, mainly the queen Valkyrie who kept hovering over him like a hawk. He couldn't understand that, they were only supposed to care about Ragnarok, not the doings of one whitelighter and his daughter!

"I will take Christopher and Lilian back with me." Freiya had finally regained her composture and apparently the demanding tone followed soon after. "Your witches have more pressing concerns."

"That is not going to happen." Phoebe sighed, the Charmed matriarch had returned. "I still need an explanation!"

"She is right Piper" Leo added regretfully.

"What?!"

"The day of Herid, it's what I've been trying to tell you." Leo had clearly gone into Elder mode, previous anger temporarily forgotten. "It is a celebration the demons have every ten years to commemorate the destruction of a powerful coven of witches."

"I'm not minimizing or anything, but witches die all of the time. What's so important about that coven?" Paige asked, both intrigued and relieved at the change of topic.

"That coven disappeared over a hundred years ago, and at the time they were the most powerful witches alive, like the Charmed Ones are now. So every celebration the demons kidnap seven witches to be sacrificed, because there seven witches in the coven." Leo realised that he had their attention. "It is very bad, if the ritual is completed then the demon that killed those witches will rise for one night."

"Only one night?" Piper expected something more dramatic, the previous demons certainly had bigger masterplans.

"Piper those witches were as powerful as you and your sisters, if he rises, even if it is for one night he would come for you! The ritual must be stopped before that happens, four witches was already killed!"

"And you didn't think to say something sooner!" Piper had found a new target for her anger, so she didn't notice Chris opening his eyes, in fact nobody but Freiya did. So she very subtly got close to him and signaled for Paige to move away. The youngest Charmed One had one second of conflict, loyalty to her family and guilt at Chris' state fighting for predominance. Finally it was Lily's face that convinced her. She moved away from the couch and directed the attention to herself.

"So if we stop the sacrifices the ritual is ruined?" She was glad to see that the current conversation had Piper's full attention.

"Yes, is what it's always done, the ritual was stopped twenty and thirty years ago, the Elders realised that if the demon leading the ceremony was killed then the ritual couldn't take place. This demon channels the energy in his body and becomes a vessel for the demon to rise for that one night." The Elder was pacing the living room. "The hard part is actually getting to the demon, first we need to find out who he is and then get pass the demons protecting him. There is a spell that you can use in the Book of..." He never finished as Chris, now fully awake orbed himself, Freiya and Lily away.

Hiuzzi was getting anxious, his Lord had given him a week to retrieve the boy and so far he was failing spectacularly, he hadn't even been able to find him! And he had thought that actually capturing him would be the difficult part.

His second problem, ironically, was the lack of Charmed Ones, they were supposed to have killed the vessel two days into the ritual, and four had passed. If the demon rose and killed them then his Lord would be left unprotected, and the who would rule the world?

And just as that thought came to him he realised, maybe being selected to retrieve Chris was more of a blessing than a punishment.