Chapter 8 - A Name For The Nameless One & Help From Above

Bria had reached age seventeen and now everyone was walking on pins and needles. They were looking over their shoulders for demons around every corner. What they didn't expect was for Daryall to show up, his dark face looking pale. Behind hime were Cole and Phoebe looking grim.
Phoebe looked at her sisters and aked. "Where the hell are those girls?"
Piper was surprised. "They're up in one of the spare rooms."
Phoebe ran toward the spare room at a breakneck speed. Everyone else was behind her and they burst into the room to find it empty. There were scortch marks on the wall. "No!" she cried. "No! This can't happen!"
"But it will happen nonetheless," a raspy voice said behind them. They all turned to see Ebony and her cousins. She loked at Phoebe and Cole and said softly, her voice cracking. "I'm sorry. I really am. I didn't mean for it to happen."
"But it happened nonetheless," Phoebe said cruelly.
"You don't understand!" Bria said, trying to defend her cousin.
"Oh I understand all right!" Phoebe yelled back.
Suddenly Mercedes appeared in the room and the four girls with her. Each of them were clad in garnet olored gowns the color of fresh blood and they were unconcience on the floor. "Look, we were mercifull and didn't even kill your precious princesses," she smirked as she lifted the garnet encrusted cup she was holding. It held a steaming, thick red liquid. "Behold! The blood drink that will awaken our blood sister to her powers. Her true powers."
As she said it there was a glow around the cup of a deep red and a matching glow came from Ebony and quickly turned as black as her name.
Everyone was too stunned to move as Ebony came foreward in a trance like state.
"No!" Biancae cried. "No!"
Mercedes laughed. "Well! What do you know! One of the Charmed Ones is evil!" she threw her head back and laughed maniacally. Mercedes held the cup aloft and chanted something in an ancient language, much too old for even Cole to know.
Mercedes leaned down and Ebony went down on her knees, her head tilted upward. Mercedes tilted the cup to her lips and the thick red liquid passed her lips, sliding down her throat, thick and red and rich. Some of it spilled down her lips and trickled down her chin so that she loked quite like a vampire. Mercedes smiled as the darkened sky outside began to rumble with thunder and lightning crashed.
Ebony was changing as if dipped in demonic paint. Her lips were dark and glossy. As dark as fresh blood. Darker even. She had thin, delicate fangs much like Mercedes' or the vampire she so looked like with blood trickling down her chin. Her eyes became completely black with no white or iris or pupil. The diamond stud in her nose turned as red as a drop of blood. Her skin became so pale and frosty looking it was frightening. She had long dark red nails and black cuffs tattoed intricately on her bare arms. Her hair darkened and was slicked back the dim light reflecting in the now ebony gloss of her hair. Her clothing was black, tattered, and skimpy and she wore thigh high black leather boots. She had delicate black tattoes on her face and at her thraot was a black choker with a blood red ruby hanging from it. Hanging in a sheat at her side was a coal black dagger with a coal black hilt set with blod red garnets that snaked about the handle like the fire she was known for.
Everyone looked at her fearfully. What would they do now? They had lost one of their own. Ebony said softly in a raspy voice that was her own and yet not. It echoed softly against the walls like a whisper in their minds. "I am Nekura. The nameless one is named."
"Nekura," Biancae intoned softly. "Nekura...." where had she heard the before?
Daryall looked at everyone and said with a sigh. "Can I never come here on a normal ocassion?" the cop asked with a shake of his head.
Nekura looked at his, cocking her head to the side in an almost robotic movement. Her emotionless black eyes gleamed and she said in her whispery, echoing voice. "You are an annoyance." Her eyes flashed slightly and thin ropes of fire snaked out of the ground and pulled Daryall against a wall and held him there. He screamed as his firey bonds trapped him to the wall.
Everyone gasped. Phoebe looked at her daughter hopelessly. "You are evil," she said sadly and threw a potion at her that sent Mercedes realing and was strong enough that even Nekura was annoyed by it and dissapeared. With that Daryall's bonds dissapeared and he fell to the floor greatfully.
"What are we going to do?" Prue asked.
"There is nothing we can do," Phoebe intoned blankly. "She has drank innocent blood."
"Don't be stupid!" Prue said fiercely. "Of course there is something we can do. First lets get Tanya, Tara, Margo, and Baily to get these girls out of here. They weren't killed mercifully but there is no telling when they might change there mind."
As everyone left the room Phoebe stared at the spot Ebony had been. It was still storming outside and as Biancae walked by she heard her snap her fingers and say softly. "Nekura! It's japanese for dark natured!"
As they walked out Bri stopped and looked at Phoebe. She rested a hand on her shoulder and shipered. "Find peace in the knowledge that there is good in all evil and remember that in all evil there is good. Search in yourself for the darkness that is there and know that your daughter is struggling to fight something ten million times that size. Then look inside your heart and find that she is your daughter wether or not she is demon or human. Witch or warlock. Living or living dead. She draws power from those who are dark and the darkness that resides within us all. Don't underestimate the power of love and caring."
With that she walked out, leaving Phoebe to ponder this alone.

*

Up in the attic Daryall watched on as the other witches and white lighters looked through the Book of Shadows and then slowly began to concoct a potion that was as thick and red as the blood drink had been." The attic was sofltly lit with white candles. Everyone talked softly, for the atmosphere seemed to command it.
As they readied something Phoebe came up into the attic, her eyes were bright and red from cryig. Then she looked around and said softly. "What is that?"
Prue answered. "It is a potion to strip her of her powers."
"But it would strip her of her chamred powers too!" Phoebe cried.
"It may be the only thing we can do, sweetie." Piper said sadly.
Phoebe shook her head. "No. It's not. There is always another choice."
"There isn't anything else I can think of," Prue said with a sigh.
"Well if its anything like when we've become other demonic creatures she;s going to be searching for a kill." She turned her gaze on Daryall.
His eyes widened. "No!" he said. "Uh-uh! No way! I don't think so!"
"Look," Phoebe said reasonably. "You'll be proctected. I can call her and then Piper can freeze her. Biancae, can you use your shield like a cage?"
Biancae shrugged. "I don't know. I could try. I've never done it before. But I should be able to," she said as she thought about it.
"I wish we could find a way to fill the cage with lightning. I think it would be more effective but since we don't, Bri, force Ebony....er....Nekura to be kepp her eyes to the floor where she can't do anything powerful enough to break the barrier. Cole fill the cage with fire."
"I don't get it," Prue and Piper said in unison. "What good will that do?"
"I do," Brett said, it being one of the rare occassion he actually spoke. "As Nekura Ebony's senses are so heightened the fire or lightning which would indeed be better, would frighten her into turning back into her natural form which is Ebony. As Ebony she can reasoned with and talked to. Unlike most demons Ebony's human half is currently completely seperate from her demond half. What we need is a potion that will meld the two together, balancing out her light and dark sides. As a seperate being her dark side is becoming to powerful."
Finally Daryall sighed and nodded. "Okay. I'll be your damn bait. But if I die I'm never talking to you again!" He said severely.

*

Aphrodite looked down at the scene playing blelow her and clucked her tounge, knowing her brother was already on his way to help with his superior lightning power. As she turned she saw her handsome winged son, Cupid. She smiled. "Cupid, have you shot Ares with a love arrow?"
Cupid laughed. "Yes I did."
"Tsk tsk tsk!" she said. "What about the female? Prue?"
Cupid sighed. "I got her with an arrow of attracting. No about she's attracted to him. But I haven't been able to get to her with a love arrow. She's moving around so much demond hunting and the rukes say I can't interfere with that unless its to the advantage of the good side and as gods who are we to decide what is good and bad?"
Aphrodite looked at her winged son and shook a finger at him. "Cupid! I demand you get that witch with a love arrow or I will personally see to it that your special......love arrow......is shot down!" she said severely. "You better do something about the torture you are putting my brother through. He may not say anything but that's because he's a god. He's going to end up doing something stupid if you don't fix this mess of yours!"
Cupid sflinched. "Oww, mom, don't be so harsh. Don't worry. Uncle Ares will get his witch," he chuckled. "Then they can make magic together!"
"Well, my brother is going to go be stupid and tell her he's a god so he can help out. That is not going to go over well and these dummy's are going to lose to that Nekura girl."
At that moment Hermes walked in, his gold and bronze curls cparkling and his cheeks pink and glittery, more like a fairy than god. He wore a gold headbadn and gold sandals with tiny silvery white wings on them. In his hands was a gold staff also winged. His eyes, like a piece od night sky, sparkled. "Hello Aphrodite! Cupid," he flitted around on light feet. "How are you?"
Aphrosite didn't bother with greetings. "Hermes! Hurry and go get Hades and Athena."
Hermes looked suprised but nodded. "Sure thing!" he said and was off so quickly that if any mortal had been around they would have tohught it was just a silky gust of wind that flitted past.
Aphrosite folded her arms and glared. "We better get there in time. With Ares getting his ass involved this could affect the Gods as well as the underworld and the humans!" she said menacingly. She turned to her son. "And will be all your fault because you don't know when to stop messing around with mixing passion and love. Imbicile! You had better be able to fix this!"