It took more than just the one death to satisfy Elak's anger, but as the days went by she became more tolerant and could be approached without being set on fire or blown up. By the time she summoned some of them to gather, they knew better than looking hostile. She sat in front of them, unafraid of such creatures in the darkest place of the Eafth.
"Well…I've got quite the treat for you all" she said smiling. Even to demons her smile wasn't to be trusted. "The Pyxis box"
"What's that?" "Never heard of it!" was overheard.
"Of course not you morons, haven't discovered it yet…see, the box holds powerful dark magic, difficult to contain and to obtain…"
"Where is it then?"
"Above ground. The sisters successfully contained what's inside but not the box itself. They don't know what it is or what it can do"
"What if mortals find it?"
"See, that's the whole point!" she said triumphantly. "It wants to be found. That's how it infected a Halliwell in the first place"
"What's inside it?" another demon dared.
"My dear fellas, let me enlighten you" she looked at them all and singled out one from the crowd. "Can you come here for a second?" she said in a would be sweet voice. Unsure, the demon walked to the front of the crowd, curios as any other in the room to know what Elak had for them. She caressed his face in a motherly way, placing her hands on the sides of his misshapen head." Et comedet segetes tuas meam!" she said in a deep voice and a black smoke orb came out of the demon's mouth, dropping the empty body behind. "This" she said clasping the orb between her fingers. "It's a demon's life force. Untargeted, it'll make the humans act erratically. Put into the right human, at the right time can turn little Billy the match burner into Billy the firestarter" the demon's around smiled.
"So what's the plan?"
"I will get the box and arm you with these orbs, so you can cause as much needed chaos as you possibly can. But…the box will not stay long underground, it'll resurface so we must be quick about it, since there's no telling where would it go. You'll need to act unanimously" puzzled faces all around made her roll her eyes. "At the same time" she explained to moronic nodding. "Maximum effect. Different parts of the city. Force them to spread out!" there was cheer and sinister laughter about after her speech.
Meanwhile, the Halliwells were enjoying the no news is good news proverb.
"What is going on around there?" said an exasperated Paige.
"Trouble finding the place?" smiled Piper.
"A kid kicked me, yes, kicked me out of the way!" she showed the shoe's print on her pant leg.
"Aren't you a people person" Piper smiled further. "Relax, would you. Phoebe'll be here soon"
"Well, up yours too!" said Phoebe from the entrance out into the street. "Jackass!" she slammed the door.
"Easy. What happened to you?"
"Some jackass crossed my path just outside when I was trying to find a parking spot"
"You guys are all sunshines today" Paige grunted, followed by Phoebe and a chuckle from Piper.
"Hey everyone!" said Wyatt coming through the door stroller behind him. Sam had Megan in her arms.
"Hey you guys!" said Phoebe smiling now going to pick Angie up. "Hello, sweetie" she kissed her repeatedly.
"You're early. I thought you guys weren't coming till after lunch" said Piper opening her arms for Julian.
"Oh, I'm staying. I'll let these two have their fun" said Sam.
"Sure?" asked Wyatt.
"Positive" she gave him a peck on the lips before going to the play mat where she put their kids down to play.
"Hey, you're early!" said Chris coming down the stairs.
"Where are you going?" asked Paige.
"Believe it or not, to a baseball game"
"Really?"
"Yep, my big brother is going to get me hot dogs and nachos and…"
"Hey, hey, hey, don't push it!" he replied playfully. A cry came from upstairs.
"Oh, I'll get her" said Sam. She kissed Wyatt and went over to Chris who puckered his lips, she turned his face with her hand and kissed him hard on the cheek. "Have fun you two"
AT THE GAME…
"How much are you going to eat?" said Wyatt handing his brother yet another hot dog. "What is this… your third dog?"
"Let it go!" he said smiling back. "You're overreacting"
"And you're seriously overeating"
"It's not that much!" he said trying to juggle the enormous amount of topping on the dog.
"The tray of nachos, the soda…bucket you're drinking, the pop corn, the corn dog…" his speech was drowned by a cheering crowd. Chris smiled with a mouthful adorned by a half mustard half ketchup mustache.
LUNCH AT THE MANOR…
"How's Chris doing?" asked Phoebe over tea.
"Oh, he's fine or so he says. He hasn't really talked about it with me or Leo" Piper explained.
"It's alright, Piper. He'll talk about it when he's ready" advised Paige.
"I know. It's just… I'm still wondering how Barbas got to him. I mean, we've kill the guy like…"
"Hundred times?" nodded Phoebe.
"Never thought he would get near our children"
"We all know there's a lot out there we can't protect them from"
"Besides, you were there" Phoebe took her hand encouragingly.
"If I hadn't been, Chris would have…"
"But you were" set Piper's thought still for the moment. "How's Wyatt?"
"You saw them. Spending some quality time together. I think they are more terrified of loosing each other than I can ever be"
IN THE UNDERWORLD…
A demon walked steadily closer to Elak who seemed to be napping awkwardly on her chair, her hand on her face.
"What is it?" she said when the demon was close enough.
"Didn't mean to disturb you…"
"What is it?" she said uninterested.
"The orbs…"
"Aren't you having fun with your new toys?" she exclaimed.
"Yes, but we're running low…"
"I told you. It's a limited time offer" she said staring at her nails. Demons all around grunted unsatisfied. Without warning, Elak took the closer one from the face and rose her hand above her head. "Perhaps you want me to make some more right now?" threatened, the demons vowed down. "Make havoc of what the orbs have provided, but keep it… human" she said walking off her chair.
"What…?" "How?"
"The only reason the Charmed Ones or any Halliwell hasn't meddle is because they think it's the same old daily bad mood in people. If they suspect demonic activity, fun's over, got it?" they nodded. "Mortals are predictable. They already try to destroy each other, which makes things relatively easy for you, to keep the balance on our side sort to speak"
"Why not take over all at once?" grunted a particularly ugly demon.
"Because, my dear fellow-demon, humans react to crisis. If you keep things routinely wrong they'll do nothing to stop it, till it escalates. Like… boiling water. You put a crab in the pot and it'll stay there and die slowly as the water temperature rises, but throw the same crab into boiling water and you'll get the pincers…" she eyed them all, her eyes wide and fixed on every being in the room. "Let them boil…unaware… have your fun… enjoy" she laughed maniacally as was her custom. Demons felt reassured somehow even though they couldn't get what they had come to demand from their new leader.
AT THE JUNK YARD…
"I want units at the back exit! We'll flush him out!" yelled Henry into a hand radio running into a car junk yard. He took his gun out and started sliding closer to the high car piles, looking this way and that.
"I think we lost them!" said another cop to his left. A shot hit near the two of them and they spread and dropped to the ground. Henry shushed him with a hand gesture and pointed in the direction of the fire. Another gunshot… they had been made and had to be very careful if they wanted to get to the shooter.
The shooter, scared and confused, had meant no harm to the store clerk. He had merely decided to steal some beer for his gang to party this evening, but things had escalated fast. Now he was hiding from the cops, armed and with no place to go from here but jail or the morgue. His teen face still not showing the years going though him, so young and so lost, what a triumph for the demon who had had the pleasure to infect him this morning on the way to the convenience store. He shadowed him, close, unseen, proud as his masterpiece rose to a crescendo.
"Hey kid! We just wanna talk to you!" shouted Henry from behind a pile of flattened cars. Yet another shot flew by them.
"The hell you do!"
"This doesn't look good for you, man. I'm not gonna lie, but you can make things easier for yourself if you just put the gun down. We don't want anybody else to get hurt"
"I didn't mean to, man! He was gonna shoot me if I didn't… I'm sorry!" the kid said nervously but truthfully.
"I believe you. But what's done it's done, let's just put an end to all this kid!" the scared teenager was shaking. Slowly he started to put the gun down to the demon's displease. He threw an energy ball at the pile of cars where the cops were hiding and that scared the kid who raised his gun again.
"Look out!" yelled Henry's partner running from the falling wreckage, having to shoot down the teenager who was still pointing the gun towards them to get out of the way. Henry jumped himself but didn't get far enough on time, the cars fell on his legs crushing them and pinning him down. The demon walked out from behind a broken truck and killed the back up. He prepared another fire ball for Henry, who was pointing his gun at him pointlessly, shaking from the shock, but not intimidated. The demon smiled, he kneeled down to him and let him shoot. He laughed at him before taking the gun from his hands. The demon was ready to strike when he heard the other cops running to them. The fire in his hand went out and he knocked a paralyzed Henry with a punch, leaving him bleeding and helpless.
A flash of blue light and time around them slowed down. A cloaked figure kneeled by Henry and tried healing him, which brought his respiration back to normal, his legs still in pretty bad shape. It looked up at the pile of cars and did what would look normal to the mortals, he tipped most of the cars on top of Henry to the other side relieving him of almost all the weight, careful not to harm anyone else. He did what he could without making it obvious and shone away. Time continued as normal and the men reached Henry. They lifted the remaining car off of him and took him to an ambulance.