Chris cautiously approached the limp body of his fallen friend. The Charmed Ones watched in hope as their son and nephew came closer and closer to Jessie's body. Piper covered her mouth with her hands as she patiently waited from across the room with her two sisters by her side.
Chris closed the gap between Jessie and himself as he knelt down beside her body. Jessie's body lay on her stomach and Chris could only see her back. Chris placed a firm hand on her shoulder, he hesitated for a moment before he pulled her upper body to face him. As he held his breath, Chris placed a hoping hand on Jessie's neck hoping to find a pulse.
"Jessie?" Chris called out softly. In response to Chris's call, Jessie's eyes slowly opened.
"Is she…." Paige asked not wanting to finish her question.
"Run." Chris said confusing the Charmed Ones with his warning.
"Chris?" Piper asked taking a few steps forward. "Chris?" she called out again. She began to worry when she didn't get a response from her son the first time she said his name.
"No don't come any closer! Get out now!" Chris warned again as he rose from his kneeling position and backing up from his friend.
"Chris what is it?" Paige asked as fear started taking over.
"She's not herself…." Chris trailed off as he returned to his family's side.
Not long after Chris finished his sentence Jessie slowly got to her feet. Phoebe started to move toward the empath until Chris blocked her path with his arm.
"Chris what are you doing?" Phoebe asked.
"Look at her. Look into her eyes." Chris replied never taking his alerted eyes off of the person standing before him.
The Charmed Ones did as Chris has told them and they finally saw what Chris had seen just moments before. Standing before them was the Jessie they all knew in body and form but one thing was different. Her eyes were black as coal and as you looked deeper into her eyes you would find nothing beyond them. Before, they were soft and welcoming and now they were a solid abyss. Jessie's current eyes reminded the Charmed Ones of their past enemy, the Source, which sent chills down each and every one of the powerful witches.
"Jessie?" Phoebe called out.
Instead of responding to her name, Jessie looked down to her right side and brought her right hand up and held her palm open. A reddish orb that looked similar to a demonic energy ball but instead of coursing blue electrical energy emitting for it, the energy ball was a smooth reddish orb.
At the sight of the energy ball, the Halliwells took a few cautious steps away from the empath.
"Jessie?" Phoebe called out again.
"Such power in a young witch." Jessie replied, only it wasn't Jessie. It sounded more like Soren with a demonic echo in his voice.
"Let her go Soren." Paige yelled.
"Do you know how powerful she is, how she could easily defeat you." Soren continued raising his left palm towards the witches.
"Piper, freeze him." Phoebe ordered.
Piper quickly threw her arms up and flicked her hands towards the empath, only nothing happened.
"Um um uh." Piper stammered confused.
"Jessie's still a good witch, she can't freeze." Chris clarified.
"Great…" Piper replied. "Chris, Paige, orb us out now."
Quickly Paige grabbed hold of Phoebe and Chris grabbed his mother. Both the witch-white lighters willed themselves to orb to the attic but nothing happened.
"What's the matter?" Piper asked wondering why they were still in the living room.
"I can't orb." Paige replied. Looking around the room, her eye came upon a lamp. "Lamp!" Paige called out with her hand extended towards the object. "My powers are gone." Paige said in shock.
"What?" Piper asked still looking at an arm extending, energy ball wielding Jessie. "Run now." Piper instructed.
As her family turned to run towards the stairs, Piper turned to the same lamp that Paige tried to orb and she flicked her hands at the lamp only to find her powers were gone as well. With this new revelation, she ran towards the stairs as fast as she could.
Piper got halfway up the stairs and found herself looking back at Jessie. Just as she looked, a possessed Jessie brought her arm back and lunged the energy ball towards a fleeing Piper. As a natural reaction, Piper threw her hands up to freeze the orb only to have nothing happen. The energy ball hit her in the upper arm and brought her to the ground.
Her scream of pain brought her middle sister running.
"Piper?!" Phoebe screamed in fear. She quickly ran down the stairs to her sister aide. Grabbing her sister's uninjured arm, Phoebe helped her to her feet.
"Phoebe, my powers aren't working." Piper said stumbling up the steps.
"This is not happening." Phoebe stated as the two of them entered the attic. Phoebe quickly shut the door behind them and attempted to barricade the door as much as she could.
"It looks like our powers are gone." Phoebe stated as she stood still with her arms relaxed. "I can't levitate either." Phoebe stated.
"Chris, how bout you?" Piper asked.
Chris quickly threw his hand towards a trunk and proving that his powers were gone as well.
"Guess I know what that means." Paige remarked.
"How is this possible, Jessie or Soren doesn't have the power to take away ours." Piper stated.
"Actually she does." Phoebe stated as she began to understand.
"Phoebe, what are you thinking." Piper asked
"It's Jessie, she can control each and every one of our emotions, our feelings. Our powers are emotionally tied to us. If Soren somehow figured out how to play with that then he can keep us from focusing our emotions and stop us from using our powers." Phoebe explained.
"But how would he know which emotions to counter to stop us from triggering our powers?" Paige asked.
"Jessie, she knows how we use our powers, we might not have told her exactly how and which feeling but by using our powers, she's able to read it." Chris said as he began to realize.
Just as the witches figured out what was wrong with their powers, the door to the attic violently exploded allowing the dangerous empath to enter their haven.
TBC, Please Review
