Author's Notes: Sorry it took me so long to post this! It's been a bit of a crazy week. It's my final year in my school so I'm trying to figure everything out for the two degrees I'm going for, and for the most part, it's been busy. Emails and all sorts of crazy things going on. Anyways, here is chapter 21! It's gonna be a blast, I'll say that much. ;) I hope you all enjoy it! Please let me know what you think. :D

With Henry standing beside Leo, the remaining present members of the Halliwell family all stood around Wyatt in the form of a pentagram, just beneath the chandelier in the sitting room. Their hands were interlocked, and the blond gripped his siblings' shoulders, who stood on either side of him. It was up to him to get them there, and when Piper began the countdown, they all stood anxiously, awaiting the moment when they were to orb into Lilandra's lair.

But right on the call of one, they were suddenly thrown by the scream of Phoebe, who was torn away from the formation. When the others opened their eyes, they all looked around, trying to find out what had happened. But before they could, soon Piper and Paige were hit as well. Wyatt, Chris and Mel all stood in shock.

"What's going on?" Mel said, confused.

"Orb Dad out of here now!" Chris ordered Henry, who quickly obeyed. His eyes shot around to try and find his mother and his aunts. When he did, he saw that they were spread out about the house, all lying on their backs, looking as if they had passed out. "Mel, check and see if they're okay!" he said.

While Mel did that, Chris saw Wyatt glancing around them, whipping from side to side.

"She's gotta be here."

"We just have to find her!"

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary in the house, which worried both of them. Chris couldn't see anything strange or different, let alone anybody who would have been doing it. How Lilandra could have planned such a quick attack, he didn't understand. She was just one person…

His back was to the living room. In what felt a second's time, he soon found his feet being lifted off the ground and his body flying right for the staircase. He managed to orb, but that only lessened the impact when he hit the wall just above the landing at the bottom of the stairs. He fell on top of it with a pained grunt.

At the attack, Wyatt turned around quickly. There, standing in the pathway between the living room and the sitting room, was Lilandra.

"I couldn't just let you come into my lair with your whole damn family," she said to Wyatt, her arms folded over her chest. Her thin lips formed into an undeniable smirk. "You're looking awfully well for someone who was just stabbed not too long ago."

"We're capable of a lot of things in this family," Wyatt said to her, not moving from his place. He didn't turn his head as he eyed his sister by the closet nearby, who was making sure their aunt Paige was still breathing.

"Trust me, I know." Lilandra approached Wyatt slowly, her back straight and her head held unmistakably high. "But I've come to make sure that that doesn't happen again."

"You're stupid for coming right to us…"

Lilandra opened her mouth to say something else, but all that came out was a sudden shout; she was suddenly flying through the air, and she hit the ceiling so hard that, when she fell, she had left an indentation and cracks in the wall. She thudded against the ground.

Chris panted quietly, holding his position from the base of the stairs. He was now standing.

"You okay?" Wyatt asked him.

"I feel like I was hit by a bag of bricks, but I've had worse."

"They're okay!" Mel announced from the kitchen, where their mom had landed. She stepped back into the sitting room. "They just look like they've been knocked out."

Lilandra stumbled to her feet. Wyatt had made the mistake of turning away just long enough to look at Mel, and she took full advantage of it, forming a fireball in her hand and throwing it right at the tall blond.

"Look out! Fireball!"

Chris had caught the fireball just in time, sending it flying in the opposite direction, toward the conservatory. It came in contact with one of the sets of curtains, which immediately caught flame. Mel froze them.

"Stupid witch!" Lilandra growled.

Angrily, Chris replied, "Stupid bitch!"

He thrust his hand out, using his telekinesis. Lilandra, however, was prepared for it this time, and she shimmered away, reappearing in the kitchen just behind Mel. She had a dagger out almost immediately, and it was against Mel's throat before any of them could even blink. Both Chris and Wyatt's mouths were partially open, and they tried to step forward, but Lilandra wrapped an arm around Mel's waist and tugged her back, tightening the blade against her neck.

"Come and closer, and she dies," she warned. Then she eyed Mel, baring her teeth in a snarl. "Try and freeze me, and you die."

"Did you forget that we can just do this?" Wyatt moved to lift an arm, but the second he did so, Lilandra gave a quick jerk of her hand, and Mel cried out. Thick, bright red blood began to dribble from a cut in her neck, just under her chin.

"You do anything, and she dies."

Wyatt and Chris looked at each other. They both knew that orbing wasn't fast enough to save Mel's life, and they weren't willing to risk it. Even lifting their hands in an attempt to attack would cause Lilandra to slit her throat, and that they couldn't risk either.

But then it suddenly hit him. Chris stared at his brother, giving him the look—the one that meant he had a plan up his sleeve. There was no way that he could verbalize it, because then Lilandra would overhear. He just hoped that Wyatt would understand, and would back him up when the time came. Wyatt got it, though, and he gave just the faintest hint of a nod.

Lilandra stared at both of them, a sinister chuckle escaping her. "Don't you want to save your sister? Or did you just want to see her bleed to death?"

Chris gave Melinda the look, too, but she was too scared to grasp it. It was then that he closed his eyes, willing his body to project its astral self out and onto the plane. Fortunately for him, his power activated right away, and his head slumped downward as he left his body, blacking out.

Lilandra stumbled just a little, tightening her grip on Mel. She eyed Chris. "What did he—"

Before she could finish speaking, Chris, who had suddenly reformed behind her said, "Turn around!"

In that split second of being caught off guard, Lilandra gave in, and her surprise caused her to turn around. When she did so, Chris said, "Now!" She turned her head around quickly.

"Mel!" Wyatt called.

All it took was that moment of letting her guard down for Lilandra to mildly lose her focus. And with it, Wyatt orbed his sister to him, keeping her close as he took a few steps back.

Lilandra cursed loudly and angrily. It was clear that she hadn't expected to be fooled like that. And Chris knew his body was in danger, resting there like that, and so he refocused on bringing his two halves back together. When he re-entered his body, he stumbled back from Lilandra, who was clutching the dagger so harshly, she looked like she might crush it.

"I've got a bone to pick with you," Chris announced to her. He stared at Lilandra intently.

"I don't care what you've got with me, witch. I'm going to kill you, just like I plan to kill the rest of your forsaken family. I hate all of you." Lilandra kept her ground, eyes moving quickly from Chris to Wyatt, and back again.

"God, what is with all you demons? And you in particular! Do you not do things differently? Possessing my other sibling, and trying to kill another important person in my life?" He was clearly referring to Landon, although he doubted she knew him by name. Arms folded and eyebrows furrowed angrily, he continued: "What do you have against me in particular? What is your issue?"

"You are my issue, witch," Lilandra spat out viciously. She pointed the dagger at him. "You. You're the one who wrote that spell. I have never felt so much pain in all my life."

"That was the point," Chris responded flatly. He refrained from rolling his eyes. "You were supposed to die."

"Yes, well, I didn't. And now look what's happened." Lilandra eyed Wyatt again, making sure that he wasn't going to move from the place he was in. Once certain, she returned her focus to Chris. "Half of your family is down for the count, and here you are, asking stupid questions when you could be saving their lives."

"Mel said they were okay."

"What does she know?" Lilandra scoffed. "They may look like they've only passed out, but for all you know, it could be eternal slumber. Or it might even be something worse. When have you ever fully trusted your siblings and what they say?"

Wyatt, Chris and Mel all looked at each other briefly. But Chris' gaze hastily returned to Lilandra, just to make sure she hadn't moved.

"Got you worried now, don't I?" she asked teasingly. "You'll never know how to fix it, because you won't know what's wrong with them. Not unless you let me go." She shrugged her shoulders loftily. "It's very simple. My life for theirs."

Silence crept over them as the four individuals stood in place. Then, Lilandra began to chuckle softly.

"What do you say, witches? Want to save your family?"

"They wouldn't want to live, knowing what we had done for them," Chris said, although doing so hurt him. He couldn't imagine not being able to fix whatever had happened with his mother and aunts, but just the same, he knew they would never be forgiven if they allowed Lilandra to walk free and cause more havoc. They were going to have to take the risk of trusting in themselves and their abilities.

He was going to have to trust his brother and sister, and himself.

"We're just gonna have to live with the doubt, then," Wyatt declared. Letting go of Mel, whose wound had been healed while Chris and Lilandra talked back and forth, he then stepped forward beside his brother. They were soon joined by their sister.

Lilandra looked as if she were about to attack, but Wyatt held his hand out and she suddenly froze in place, the dagger dropping from her hand as she reached up to grasp at her throat. She began to gag and wheeze, as if she were being choked. It was a power Wyatt used very infrequently, but here, it was fitting.

As she was slowly lifted off the floor, Mel stuck her hands out and began to repeatedly use her combustion power. Lilandra may have been partially immune to it, but that didn't stop the pain that came along with it. With each attack came a choked cry, and the demon clenched her eyes shut.

Chris, who was standing in between his siblings, reached out and gripped with each of his hands one of theirs. Wyatt used his other to hold Lilandra in place, while Mel continued to blast her. Lilandra's legs were thrashing back and forth in mid air.

"Demon of plight," he began to chant, staring at Lilandra intently, "urging us to fight. Together we three banish thee, from here until the end of eternity."

Wyatt released Lilandra from his grip and Mel ceased using her powers right after Chris finished the spell. But the demon remained suspended in mid air, her body seemingly frozen in place. Then, from within her came a golden light. Lilandra opened her mouth and began to scream, while bursts of brilliant energy poured from every orifice of her body. She was soon enveloped by it, and in a flash and a boom—Wyatt, Chris and Melinda covered their eyes to protect themselves—she was gone, leaving nothing in her wake.

It took a moment for them to be entirely sure that she was gone. They all glanced around them, and Wyatt even stepped forward, standing right where Lilandra had been, just beside the fireplace in the dining room. Normally it wouldn't have been such a concern, but given the proclivity this particular demon had for fleeing from death, they couldn't be too careful. It was soon decided that they had, in fact, finally managed to get rid of her, if only because Wyatt and Mel took the time to really think about the words in Chris' spell.

"Banishment's a nice way to go!" Wyatt said.

"Yeah, seriously. Now she can't ever come back." Mel smiled, looking mighty pleased.

"That's just one problem down, though," Chris sighed. His joy was short lived, because his mind went right to his mother and aunts. "Now we just gotta hope that whatever Lilandra did to them is entirely reversible without her being here…"

"Come here," Wyatt said suddenly. He reached out and gripped both Chris' and Melinda's wrists, and without giving them a chance to respond, he orbed them up and away from the manor. Where they ended up was a place that neither of the younger two knew, but to where Wyatt had recently been.

"Where are we?" Chris asked worriedly. "Wyatt, where'd you take us?"

"This is Lilandra's lair," Wyatt explained. Saying nothing more than that, he walked toward the table in the middle of the compact, dirty place, tapping its dusty surface. "Well! Lookee at what's sitting on here."

Chris turned his attention away from the shelves of opaque bottles he was looking at and toward the table, upon which sat an open book about the same size as their Book of Shadows. Although not one of them attempted to grab it, they all knew what it was: the Grimoire. And on the page was an intricate list of ingredients, above which sat the name of the potion she had used.

"She must have had some already made, because it looks like this would take a long time." Mel eyed the contents of the list from afar. "It even says at the bottom of the page that it needs to sit and stew for a few days…"

"Let's all thank her for being stupid enough not to know that she needed to ward her place before coming and attacking us," Wyatt said with a laugh.

"There's no way that she wouldn't have had this place already warded," Chris said, shaking his head. "Not with all those demons chasing after her. My guess is that it was selective warding. And you must have been let through…she must have she modified it for you. She probably expected to keep you around longer, under her control.

"Still." Piper's eldest cleared his throat. "Now we know what the potion is, which means that we can counteract it. Come up with some kind of panacea."

"Of all the things in the Grimoire, she uses a knock out draught?" Chris snorted, finally reading the page. "It seems…I dunno. Like she wasn't thinking."

"Maybe she wasn't." Mel shrugged. "Maybe she just made a mistake. And…well." She rubber her upper arm. "Look what it cost her."

What Mel said made sense. To err was human, after all. But Lilandra wasn't human. Still, demons made mistakes too.

And apparently, the mistakes were occasionally grave ones.