A/N: I don't own The Covenant in any way shape or form, which makes me very sad. I do, however, own Kathryn, Killian, some of the family history, and other various things.

The characters of Kathryn and Killian are inspired by two of my all time favorite characters: Kathryn of Cruel Intentions and Faith of Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel the Series. Magical references belong to Aaron Spelling's Charmed. I own none of those either. Also, for images of the characters, check my profile for the link to my Photobucket.

Victoria87: You're forgiven. It was an honest mistake.

Thanks to ruggedangel0426, Lies-and-Truth, GreggoAddict, and Shiek 2!

Chapter 21: The Price of Darkness

Back at the apartment, which Reid was starting to think of as the Torture Chamber, Killian was sitting in the open window. He watched her carefully, wondering what she was thinking as she looked at the bloodstained piece of glass in her hands. There were several bloodstains on his shirt now since she had finally carved the symbol into his chest for real. Did she feel guilt? Was she as sick to her stomach as he was? Maybe, maybe not, but the latter seemed more likely since she let the shard drop, listening to it shatter, and sighed. Getting off the windowsill, she walked over to Reid, rubbing her hands together for warmth.

"That night air sure is refreshing, but I'm feeling a little cold," she said, referring to the breeze as she patted Reid on the cheek. "What do you say we warm the place up?" As soon as she said this, Killian went over to her alter.

"Did you ever wonder what would've happened if things had been different? If we'd grown up together? If you'd been the good little brother and me the doting big sister? You think you'd still be here right now or is it just fate? You know, like there's no choice? Like you were going to be here no matter what?"

As she rambled on, she hovered around the alter before picking up two of her many assorted tools, a spray can and a long candle lighter.

"You think about that kind of stuff, baby brother, fate and destiny?" she asked as she walked back over to him. "I do, all the fucking time. So much so that I could only escape it in the dream world. Kind of funny how I was taking my pain out on you there, and dream walked right into your brain," she chuckled amusedly. "I got to say, messing with you, cutting into then was nothing compared to now."

As Killian held the lighter in front of her, she depressed the top of the spray can and held the flame into the spray, igniting it where Reid could get a good look at the resulting flame shooting farther and much bigger.

"Not that any of this is your own fault. It's all on Dad, since he's the one who played favorites with you, his precious heir, and sent me away. But, even if he was in the States right now, I still think you'd be the one sitting here," she told him, flaming close to his face again. "Since this may be the last chance we have to unload on each other, I feel that it's kind of my duty to tell you that if you and Dad had been a better family, I might have been a more positive, healthy person." She flamed near his face once again. "Face it, Reid, you really are an ass, always walking around as if you have some great big stick jammed up your fucking socket."

It was after she said this and got a good look at his face that she frowned, switching the lighter into her other hand and ripped the gag out of his mouth.

"I think I want to hear you scream," she sneered.

"You never will," he told her scathingly.

"Them's fighting word," she praised mockingly. "Admit it, Reid, didn't you always kind of have the hots for me?" she joked, smirking as she flamed again.

As she moved it closer to his face, he tried to lean his head farther back. Just as she was about to burn his face to a crisp, the door burst from its hinges and Caleb slowly walked in, eyes black. Killian dropped the can and lighter to the floor hurriedly, and pulled an athame from her ankle holster and held it against Reid's throat.

"About time, hero-boy. One of you boys finally ready to play?"

"I'm ready," Caleb replied with a nod.

"So you showed. I guess that means you at least care about this little dumb shit," she reasoned to both herself and Caleb. "But how do I know you're really in this? I mean, if I kill him, would that help or just be really funny?"

"You don't think I know what you're after? I do," he said confidently.

"Oh, yeah? Reid I just have to kill. You and the other two are just going to be for the hell of it," she replied seriously, but she was still smirking.

Meanwhile, Caleb was slowly walking forward, rounding on her, so Killian had to turn to keep facing him. She didn't want him out of her sights, knowing very well that he was probably up to something. Unfortunately, her movement placed her beside Reid instead of behind him. Reid had been listening quietly the whole time, very weary and tired and completely confused as to why Caleb wasn't using the Power against her, or why Pogue and Tyler weren't rushing in as the cavalry.

"This isn't about Reid, or me, or even Pogue and Tyler. You'd like me to think it is, but it's not. It's a bonus. It's about you. This whole thing has been about you," he stated wisely, and Killian scoffed quietly, rolling her eyes.

"No, baby, you're wrong. He's payback," she retorted, raising the knife a little higher of Reid's throat, making him gasp. "He's the payback, I'm the bitch. What role do you want to play? The corpse maybe?" she threatened.

Raising her other hand, she blew up a painting hanging on the wall behind him. As Caleb straightened his back from the instinctive duck, he looked back at her. She was smiling triumphantly, as if to say that he could do nothing to stop her, and he tried to remain calm as he got back to the point. He had to distract her long enough, just a few minutes more and Reid would ascend.

"Payback, for what?" he asked curiously. "I thought you were happy the way you are, or was all that just an act?" he questioned with a sneer, and Killian frowned. She knew he was talking about that night in his room, just two nights ago. "Killing us, is it really worth it, Killian?"

"Hell, yes!" she shouted angrily, and he stared at her in shock. "Don't look so shocked, Caleb. I'm young! I'm willing to work my way up the mass-murdering ladder. Not like you boys would be the first people I've ever killed," she confessed, shrugging.

"You may feel young, Killian, but you're looking pretty worn out to me," he retorted, eyes flicking to Reid who nodded as much as possible with the athame still at his throat.

Reid was careful as he threw himself back, toppling his chair. As soon as Killian turned to look at him, to grab him, Caleb threw her away from him with his Power. Reid saw as he struggled to break free that the athame was now sticking point down in the wooden floor beside him. Lucky him. Unluckily, as Killian raised her hands to try and blow up Caleb, he formed an energy ball and threw it at her. The blast hit her in the stomach, and she flew across the room, nearly hitting the ceiling as she crashed into the far wall of the apartment.

"That wasn't very nice," she sighed, glaring at him as she rose back to her feet, though very shaky. Caleb just stared at her as she ran over to him, and was prepared for a long fight.

Soon enough, the two were slamming each other around, punching and such though it pained Caleb to do so. He'd been raised to never hit a woman, and here he was doing the exact opposite – and to his girlfriend, no less. Killian had finally had enough of the fist fighting and raised her hands once again, but Caleb stopped her and tossed her onto the sofa behind her.

"Is that all you got, hero-boy?" she shouted at him. "You think I can't take a hit?" she yelled even louder, wiping some blood away from her mouth. "Get in the game, Caleb!" she screamed.

Raising her hands again, knowing he wouldn't have time to stop her, she blew up the glass-topped table in front of the sofa. The broken glass flew everywhere, particularly at his face. While he was blinded, she lunged over the table at him, pushing him back and slamming him against the wall. She kept on hitting him, tossing him with her telekinesis and blowing holes around the attic, until they both fell to the floor with Killian straddling his waist.

"Come on, Caleb! I thought you had ascended! I thought you were powerful," she goaded.

Frustrated, Caleb took a hold of one of her wrists as she swung to punch him and tossed her off him. Killian tried to throw him back with her telekinesis, but he stopped it as he had done to Reid so many times. So, instead, she swept his feet out from under him. As he got up though, he catapulted himself over the sofa and across the room, over her head. She jumped after him, a little confused at what he was doing, and telekinetically smashed a vase over his back then continued to use her power to slam him into the ceiling.

Meanwhile, Reid had managed to shimmy around in his chair so his back was against the athame, trying to cut himself free. While it was slow going, it was working, and Killian was totally oblivious to this fact. As he cut, he watched Killian swing objects at Caleb but he continued ducking them from across the room Killian suddenly growled in frustration, fed up, and kicked him in the gut. Caleb came back though, almost instantaneously, and punched her. She punched back then tossed him back over the sofa with her power.

"You can't take me!" she shouted defiantly. "No one can take me!"

Killian jumped to kick him again as he got up, but Caleb intercepted her kick with another ball of energy. Killian's blow sent him flying across the room again, but his attack sent her smashing into a glass-shelving unit. Caleb recovered quicker than her, since he just hit a wall, and ran over to her. He slammed Killian down on the floor and slide her headfirst across the room into a wall. It hurt for both of them, but it had to be done. He had to keep her distracted, for Reid's sake – for all their sake's.

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"Come on, Tyler, we got to hurry!" Pogue called as he raced down the stairwell of the Colony house. Tyler was lagging behind him, still hazy from when Killian had knocked him out.

"I still don't understand why we're here," he replied, watching as Pogue practically ripped the Book of Damnation from its place on the bookshelf.

"Caleb's going to need help, whether he wants to admit it or not," he replied, hastily flipping through the worn pages. "There are a few spells in here that might be able to help…hopefully."

"So, you're thinking we work a mystical whammy on Killian here while Caleb wears her out there?"

"Exactly. Ah, here they are!" He sighed in relief, looking at the spells before him. There weren't many, but the Covenant never really needed them. Spells, for them, were just for emergencies. This case was just such an occasion.

"So, what exactly are we looking for?" Tyler asked, looking over the list with him.

"Something to either slow her down or take away her powers, which ever we find first."

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"Come on!" she shouted, and the broken glass rose behind her like a massive army. "You're so pathetic, Caleb."

"Stop it, Killian!" he shouted pleadingly. "I know you! You're not like this! You're not evil!"

"Oh, really?" she asked sarcastically, highly amused. "You can't even imagine the price of true evil," she said gravely.

"You don't have to disappear into the darkness, Killian!" he shouted, throwing the glass into the wall behind her telekinetically before tackling her.

The fact that he made her glass army disappear didn't mean much since they both busted through the wide window, behind her. They fell two stories, and landed somewhat safely, because Caleb used to slow their fall, onto a trash-container lid. They rolled off of it together, but rose separately and the battle continued to rage as Killian grabbed Caleb by his collar.

"How can you hope to save me when you can't even protect your brothers, when you can't even save yourself?" she asked him, throwing him into the wall of the next building.

Back in the apartment, Reid was almost done sawing through his ropes when he felt a sudden burst of pain in his chest. He felt the Power boiling to the surface and his bonds instantly broke by a burst of strength. His hands went to his chest, the pain rising from there. Opening his eyes as he screamed toward the ceiling, Reid knew exactly what he was feeling. The Power was surging through his veins; he could feel it growing stronger.

He was ascending.

"No," Killian whispered to herself outside, as she looked back up into the apartment, having heard him scream. Looking down at her own body, she saw and felt the warm pale blue glow. She was ascending as well. "NO!" she shouted, and dropped Caleb to the ground. She made a mad dash toward the back door entrance into the building, but was suddenly thrown into the wall next to the door. She looked up to see Caleb.

"You want Reid's Power? Too bad. You won't get it," he told her stonily. "You have to finish with me first. You owe me that much."

"No problem," she said quietly, and Caleb paled a bit at the painful look on her face.

Whatever Killian was feeling, it didn't stop her from blowing a hole in the building behind him and running up to continue hitting and kicking him. Halfway through her attack, it started to pour down rain and her ascension ended, the glow faded away.

"You're dead!" she shouted, punching him in his jaw. "You hear me? You don't know what evil is! I'm evil! Fight back!" she demanded.

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"This one sounds promising," Pogue mused as he read the small incantation. "All we need is one ingredient."

"Yeah, but that's a pretty major ingredient, if you ask me," Tyler commented warily.

"Just go to the shelf and find it!" he ordered, pushing the youngest Son towards the bookshelf. Stored in various places were jars, some fairly recent, others obviously ancient. He finally found what he needed, a rather new looking jar with a red ribbon tied around its neck.

"Got it," he said triumphantly. There was no smile on his face though as he carried it over to Pogue. Instead, Tyler looked ill. "Do I even want to know where this came from?"

"No, and neither do I. All that matters is that this might be what saves Caleb and Reid," he replied, unscrewing the jar and pulling out a human heart. Walking up to the circle, Pogue carefully tied the ribbon around the heart. "Before the passing of this hour, take away all her power," he chanted and tossed the heart into the fire. The flames rose above their heads, a sickening blood red tone. Both boys had to back away, shielding themselves from the inferno. When the heat suddenly died, they looked back to see the fire of the circle barely even flickering.

"Did it work?" Tyler asked curiously, stepping up to the circle with Pogue.

"I'm not sure, man."

"Well, how will we know if it did?"

"Caleb will come back with Reid, and Killian will be gone…hopefully."

"Isn't there anything else we can do?"

"Not unless you want to go fight Killian yourself. Caleb specifically told us to stay put."

"So, what do we do now?"

"We go back to Caleb's place and wait. Let's get out of here." Tyler just nodded and the two headed up the stairs, silently praying that their brothers were alive and well.

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Reid was free, and his eyes were still black as he started untying the ropes around his ankles. He could feel the Power racing through his body, and was beyond pissed that he couldn't use. Killian's binding potion was still in effect; he could feel that, too. It was like an anchor weighing him down inside. But he wasn't going to let Caleb have all the fun with her. No, he wanted to get a few licks in as well. But, outside, Caleb wasn't getting many hits in at all as Killian was still whaling on him. Sometimes he ducked, but the hits connected to him for the most part, until Caleb was able to grab a hold of her.

"Nice try, Killian," he said, his face close to hers, before he tossed her away from him with an extra boost of Power, slamming her back into the bricked wall. As she recovered, shaking the pain clouding back and head away, she saw Caleb calmly walking toward her, as if it were any other sunny day. "I know what you want," he said, and she raised her arm to attack. Both of them noticed right away that she just barely hit him with her telekinesis.

Her power was weakening, barely making Caleb go back a step, and he hit her back with his Power. His attack was much more effective, throwing her back into the wall even harder and dropping her to the ground. She shivered as she came back up, feeling weak and drained. Caleb stood in front of her, calm as ever, even as she hit and screamed at him. Her hits weren't making much of a dent; she was like that woman in the black and white version of the Wolfman, when the monster was struggling with her in the foggy woods.

Upstairs, Reid was leaning out of the window and saw Killian hitting Caleb. He didn't know that she was wearing down and weak. All he saw was his psychotic sister hitting his friend. She needed to be shut down. With that, and his revenge in mind, he went into the kitchen as fast as he could, grabbed her discarded athame then headed for the door.

"I'm not gonna make it easy for you!" Caleb shouted over the rain, and Killian threw herself against him, screaming.

"I'm evil! Do you hear me? I'm evil, Caleb! I'm evil!" she shouted, but her shouts soon faded out. She began to sob, grabbing a hold of Caleb's shirt and shaking him hysterically. "I'm ev-evil! Do you hear me? I'm evil! I'm evil! I'm evil! Please! Caleb, please, just do it," she begged, and he looked down at her ragged form.

Neither of them noticed Reid running out through the back door. He was completely compared to jam the butcher's knife into her back, slit her throat, and gut her – have as much fun with her skin as she had with him – until he saw her sobbing in Caleb's arms.

"Caleb, please, just do it," she begged, looking up at him. "Just do it! Just kill me! Just kill me! Just kill me, please, just do it," she begged, and Caleb wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her against his chest in shock. As she continued to cry hysterically, she lost balance and collapsed to her knees, bringing Caleb with her.

"Shh," Caleb soothed, rubbing her back and smoothing her hair back as she continued to bawl her eyes out into his chest. "It's all right. It's okay. I'm here. I'm right here. Shh," he told her, and glanced over his shoulder to see Reid. The knife fell from his hand, and he was left standing there in the pouring rain, staring at them as the rumbling of thunder drowned out Killian's cries.

There was no way they could kill her, not now.

A/N: "You think I can't take a hit?" was a line taken from Sky High, said by Steven Strait. Also, I feel really bad about posting this the day before I go on vacation, but I hope to come back in a week to reviews.

P.S.: Eight pages total.