"Well? Why the hell isn't he healed yet? Piper was practically screaming at Paige.
Paige's brow furrowed and she gave Piper a perplexed look.
"I have no idea. We've never had to deal with Darklighter poison before. Piper! Listen to me!" She raised her voice to get her attention.
"What? And don't tell me to calm down. When we get Leo healed I'm going after the sonsofbitches who have done this to us." Paige exhaled deeply and turned to Clare.
"Piper can't help me at the moment, she's too mad. Go get the book and look for healing spells or anything that might help Leo." Clare nodded and ran to the book. Josh stood in front of Piper and grabbed her hand.
"Piper. HEY!" She stopped her pacing and looked angrily at Josh.
"What do you want? I need to help Leo." He led her to the couch and made her sit down.
"I don't see how you shouting and stomping around is helping him. Look at Paige and Melinda healing him. They know it might not help but they are doing it anyway. Look at my mom. She is struggling with the book, she doesn't know her way around it but she is still trying." He stared at her and she lowered her eyes, staring shamefaced at the floor.
"I..I..just don't know what to do. I lost Prue and I don't know how to deal with the fact I might lose someone else." He patted her hand and she looked quizzically at him.
"Hey, how do you know all about that kind of thing. You're only a kid." She hugged him and went over to the book with Clare.
"Mind if I take over? I'll probably have better luck." Clare smiled gratefully and passed it over to Piper.
"Be my guest. Its so big and..well…its just amazing. I was struggling a bit." Piper nodded and began searching.
"I know what you mean. It can be quite daunting at first. Goddamn! This is taking to long." Josh marched over and put his hand on her shoulder. She smiled ruefully and placed her hands above the pages. With her eyes shut, she took a deep breath and focussed her mind on healing and her love for Leo. The pages stirred slightly, as if from a light breeze. She took more breaths and a page flipped over, then another and another. With each breath more pages moved with increasing speed until they came to an abrupt stop. Without opening her eyes she laid her hands up the upturned page and smiled. Clare leaned in for a clear view of a spell. Cleansing of Evil, was the name written at the top, in elegant calligraphy. Piper opened her eyes and read the spell to herself.
"Paige! Come look what I found. I think this will heal Leo." Paige hesitantly took her hands from Leo and strode to Piper. When she saw the spell her eyes widened and she grinned.
"This has to work. Darklighters are evil and their bolts are covered in Darklighter poison, which is essentially evil. The spell should neutralise the poison and make him better." Piper took Paige and Josh's hands and Melinda took Josh and Clare's. Together they formed a circle around Leo and began to chant.
Source of good,
And user of light,
The darkness inside,
Causes a fight,
Send the shadows away,
They must not dwell,
Evil be gone
With this spell!
Leo's body rocked with spasms and he rose a couple of feet into the air. A sinister darkness seeped out of his wound and twined itself around him, trying to find an anchor to his body. Piper held her hands over him and everyone else copied. A brilliant luminosity shone out of their outstretched palms and flowed over and around Leo, swallowing darkness and healing the wound from the bolt. Leo let out a calmed breath and he floated to the ground and into a natural sleep. Piper knelt beside him and lay her head on his chest. Her tears soaked his shirt as she stroked his face. Paige ushered everyone out of the room and then orbed Piper and Leo to their bedroom.
* * *
The Seer dashed her hand angrily through the cauldron mists and stalked to Hakar.
"The Charmed Ones and their charges took out that demon and one of my darklighters. They have been a thorn in my side for too long." Hakar stood awkwardly and bowed his head.
"I..I know about the problems they have caused The Underworld, Seer. Maybe if we attempted to break up the power of three?" She lowered her hood and her eyes flashed with anger.
"It has been tried before! Even when they were weak and new to the craft, all attacks failed. Now even by themselves they are strong." Hakar tried to placate her.
"If we tried once more, a concerted effort. We will send the strongest demons and warlocks to attack them, at times when we know they are separated." The Seer looked dubiously at him, then her face broke into a malevolent smile.
"If they fail at destroying the Charmed Ones, which I'm sure they will, they should at least be able to take down Clare and her Firestarter child. With any luck they'll get the child of the eldest sister as well" Hakar nodded and strode off to perform some ritual. The Seer's eyes gained a blue glow and she began to plot the downfall of the Charmed Ones.
* * *
Paige walked into the kitchen after settling Piper and Leo. Clare, Melinda and Josh were sat round the table talking quietly.
"How are they?" Clare enquired. Paige smiled and took a seat.
"Leo seems to be ok now, and Piper is just tired. How are you doing?" Clare's mouth tightened for a second.
"I am doing better now. Since I've seen you fight off the demons and that darklighter and then heal Leo..I've gained more hope. I know we'll get Susanna back." Josh and Melinda got up and started to walk out the room. Paige stopped them.
"Where do you think your going?" Melinda turned and sighed.
"Just outside. We're not going anywhere dangerous." Paige pursed her lips and let go. Clare laughed. With a mock frown Paige turned to her.
"You look like Piper when you do that." Paige laughed as well and went to make some drinks.
"Have you ever thought of having children yourself?" she asked. Paige came back over to the table and handed Clare a drink.
"Some day I'd like children. I'm just not sure when would be a good time. There have been demons and warlocks and that whole Source business." Clare cleared her throat drank some of her tea.
"It must have been hard for you, for all of you. I know I found it hard enough with only occasional attacks, you've had to deal with near constant attacks. I don't know how you have coped."
"Yeah, it's been hard. But remember we had the power of three to back us up. Well there was a time when the power of three was broken..but lets not get into that." She yawned and looked at her watch.
"Hmm, I better get to the shops before they shut. We need groceries. Can you look after things here for a while?" Clare nodded and stood up.
"Yeah, I think so. You want me to make dinner or something?"
"Sure, I don't think Piper will feel like doing anything." She grinned and laughed.
"If a demon attacks then either fight it off yourself or call for Mel and Josh. I'm sure they can handle it." Clare laughed and said bye as Paige orbed out.
* * *
The Seer broke out of her trance and summoned six of her most powerful minions.
"I want you do go and kill Paige Halliwell." The demons and warlocks looked uncertainly to each other before one spoke up.
"You mean Paige Halliwell of the Charmed Ones?" The Seer rolled her eyes and raised her hand threateningly and formed a small blue energy ball in it. The demons cringed and she lowered it, extinguishing the ball.
"She is alone and although powerful, she will be weakened without her sisters to help. Go now!" The demons travelled away leaving The Seer alone. She bent over the cauldron and stirred its smoke.
* * *
Thirty minutes later Paige walked out of the local wal*mart and walked casually to her usual Orbing spot. She shifted the bags from hand to hand looked around. It was all clear. She was about to orb when a cat ran up and rubbed itself around her legs. She bent down and stroked it.
"Hello kitty. Aren't you nice. What's your name? Hmmm that's just weird." She looked at the collar. It had a familiar symbol on it.
"Goddamn, where have I seen that before? Oh god!" She stepped away from the cat and picked up the bags. It was the Tri-Serpent blade. The cat ran forward and swiped at her leg. She jumped back and saw red claw marks on her pale skin. With a cry of pain she kicked it and sent it flying into the wall. Paige looked around to see if there was anyone or anything strange around. The cat got to its feet and abruptly shape changed into a gaunt looking warlock. He licked the blood off his fingers and smirked at her.
"Ahhh crap! A warlock. Well ok then lets get this over with." The warlock lost his cocky look and cleared his throat.
"Hey, come on. She's alone like The Seer said." Paige looked shocked and she spoke furiously to the warlock.
"The Seer? I thought that bitch was vanquished. I swear, I will not let her mess up out lives again." She called for a nearby dumpster and tkorbed it onto the warlock. Five other demons and warlocks shimmered and blinked in, encircling her. She spun round and tried to back away, but they pushed her into the centre again.
"What the hell do you want?" Mentally she berated herself.
'what else are they going to want to do apart from kill me!' She tried taking the tough approach with them.
"You know I'm a Charmed One don't you. You know about MY power and the power of my sisters?" To her amusement they looked apprehensive and unsure.
"I can orb out of here anytime I want. Then you'll have to face all of the Charmed Ones." She almost slapped herself after saying that. Leo was still resting up and Piper was too shaken up to face all these demons. She remembered Clare and Josh and Melinda. They couldn't be put in danger.
"Catch me if you can!" Yelled Paige as she orbed. A warlock lunged forward, only to fall to the ground as he missed her completely. She reappeared behind the biggest demon and kicked him in the leg. He spun round and swung his arm at her, but she orbed again. The demons were wary now, they had no idea where she was going to appear next. Her laughter filtered through the alley and she materialised next to a short, scaly demon. The demon she kicked a second ago threw a fireball at her. She quickly pulled the scaled demon in front of her. He burst into flames when the fireball struck. The four remaining underlings stepped forward and began to throw energy balls and other ranged attacks at her. She called for as many as she could and threw them back, but the constant use of her powers was tiring. Paige knew she would falter soon. She tried to orb but didn't have enough energy. She hung semi formed in the air. Her body flickered with blue and white orbs.
'Oh god! What's happened to me? I..I..can't orb, I can't reform. I'm just hanging here defenceless, until they get it into their thick skulls and then come and kill me.' They saw their chance to attack and took it. Led by the large demon, they threw a torrent of fire and energy balls at Paige's new form. Paige would have screamed if she was able to.
'Help me! Someone! Leo Leo! Ahhhhhhhhhh! Hey! That..that..doesn't hurt. Infact, I feel…energised?' The orbs glowed and sparked as the fire and energy hit them. With a ripple, they were absorbed and Paige fully orbed out. With a gasp she re-orbed and shakily leaned her hand against the dumpster.
"Guess you couldn't catch me, huh?" She held up her hand and threw all of the absorbed powers back at the original owners. They all burst into flames and soon exploded into ash. Paige rubbed the scorch marks on the ground and tutted to herself.
"These will never come out." A wave of fatigue hit her and she sank down to the ground, resting her head against the dumpster. She shut her eyes and yawned.
"Ow! What the hell was that?" She clambered to her feet and examined her leg. Two bloody holes that dripped a green liquid, punctured her leg, just above the ankle. A snake slinked away from her. She knew instantly that it was the warlock she had supposedly crushed beneath the dumpster. She picked up a piece of wood with an outsized nail it in and hit the snake repeatedly. It jerked spasmodically and reverted to back its original, warlock form, before blinking away.
"Yeah," shouted Paige weakly.
"You better run. Oh my. That sonofabitch poisoned me! Ugh, I can't stand up anymore." She fell to the ground and weakly called out.
"Leo…."
There, chapter….6? is done. Oh and remember to review chapters 4 and 5. I posted them when crappy ff.net crashed and I only got 2 reviews for them. (thankee KT, and thankee Steph for the 'suspenseful' line…which I kinda changed a bit)
Paige's brow furrowed and she gave Piper a perplexed look.
"I have no idea. We've never had to deal with Darklighter poison before. Piper! Listen to me!" She raised her voice to get her attention.
"What? And don't tell me to calm down. When we get Leo healed I'm going after the sonsofbitches who have done this to us." Paige exhaled deeply and turned to Clare.
"Piper can't help me at the moment, she's too mad. Go get the book and look for healing spells or anything that might help Leo." Clare nodded and ran to the book. Josh stood in front of Piper and grabbed her hand.
"Piper. HEY!" She stopped her pacing and looked angrily at Josh.
"What do you want? I need to help Leo." He led her to the couch and made her sit down.
"I don't see how you shouting and stomping around is helping him. Look at Paige and Melinda healing him. They know it might not help but they are doing it anyway. Look at my mom. She is struggling with the book, she doesn't know her way around it but she is still trying." He stared at her and she lowered her eyes, staring shamefaced at the floor.
"I..I..just don't know what to do. I lost Prue and I don't know how to deal with the fact I might lose someone else." He patted her hand and she looked quizzically at him.
"Hey, how do you know all about that kind of thing. You're only a kid." She hugged him and went over to the book with Clare.
"Mind if I take over? I'll probably have better luck." Clare smiled gratefully and passed it over to Piper.
"Be my guest. Its so big and..well…its just amazing. I was struggling a bit." Piper nodded and began searching.
"I know what you mean. It can be quite daunting at first. Goddamn! This is taking to long." Josh marched over and put his hand on her shoulder. She smiled ruefully and placed her hands above the pages. With her eyes shut, she took a deep breath and focussed her mind on healing and her love for Leo. The pages stirred slightly, as if from a light breeze. She took more breaths and a page flipped over, then another and another. With each breath more pages moved with increasing speed until they came to an abrupt stop. Without opening her eyes she laid her hands up the upturned page and smiled. Clare leaned in for a clear view of a spell. Cleansing of Evil, was the name written at the top, in elegant calligraphy. Piper opened her eyes and read the spell to herself.
"Paige! Come look what I found. I think this will heal Leo." Paige hesitantly took her hands from Leo and strode to Piper. When she saw the spell her eyes widened and she grinned.
"This has to work. Darklighters are evil and their bolts are covered in Darklighter poison, which is essentially evil. The spell should neutralise the poison and make him better." Piper took Paige and Josh's hands and Melinda took Josh and Clare's. Together they formed a circle around Leo and began to chant.
Source of good,
And user of light,
The darkness inside,
Causes a fight,
Send the shadows away,
They must not dwell,
Evil be gone
With this spell!
Leo's body rocked with spasms and he rose a couple of feet into the air. A sinister darkness seeped out of his wound and twined itself around him, trying to find an anchor to his body. Piper held her hands over him and everyone else copied. A brilliant luminosity shone out of their outstretched palms and flowed over and around Leo, swallowing darkness and healing the wound from the bolt. Leo let out a calmed breath and he floated to the ground and into a natural sleep. Piper knelt beside him and lay her head on his chest. Her tears soaked his shirt as she stroked his face. Paige ushered everyone out of the room and then orbed Piper and Leo to their bedroom.
* * *
The Seer dashed her hand angrily through the cauldron mists and stalked to Hakar.
"The Charmed Ones and their charges took out that demon and one of my darklighters. They have been a thorn in my side for too long." Hakar stood awkwardly and bowed his head.
"I..I know about the problems they have caused The Underworld, Seer. Maybe if we attempted to break up the power of three?" She lowered her hood and her eyes flashed with anger.
"It has been tried before! Even when they were weak and new to the craft, all attacks failed. Now even by themselves they are strong." Hakar tried to placate her.
"If we tried once more, a concerted effort. We will send the strongest demons and warlocks to attack them, at times when we know they are separated." The Seer looked dubiously at him, then her face broke into a malevolent smile.
"If they fail at destroying the Charmed Ones, which I'm sure they will, they should at least be able to take down Clare and her Firestarter child. With any luck they'll get the child of the eldest sister as well" Hakar nodded and strode off to perform some ritual. The Seer's eyes gained a blue glow and she began to plot the downfall of the Charmed Ones.
* * *
Paige walked into the kitchen after settling Piper and Leo. Clare, Melinda and Josh were sat round the table talking quietly.
"How are they?" Clare enquired. Paige smiled and took a seat.
"Leo seems to be ok now, and Piper is just tired. How are you doing?" Clare's mouth tightened for a second.
"I am doing better now. Since I've seen you fight off the demons and that darklighter and then heal Leo..I've gained more hope. I know we'll get Susanna back." Josh and Melinda got up and started to walk out the room. Paige stopped them.
"Where do you think your going?" Melinda turned and sighed.
"Just outside. We're not going anywhere dangerous." Paige pursed her lips and let go. Clare laughed. With a mock frown Paige turned to her.
"You look like Piper when you do that." Paige laughed as well and went to make some drinks.
"Have you ever thought of having children yourself?" she asked. Paige came back over to the table and handed Clare a drink.
"Some day I'd like children. I'm just not sure when would be a good time. There have been demons and warlocks and that whole Source business." Clare cleared her throat drank some of her tea.
"It must have been hard for you, for all of you. I know I found it hard enough with only occasional attacks, you've had to deal with near constant attacks. I don't know how you have coped."
"Yeah, it's been hard. But remember we had the power of three to back us up. Well there was a time when the power of three was broken..but lets not get into that." She yawned and looked at her watch.
"Hmm, I better get to the shops before they shut. We need groceries. Can you look after things here for a while?" Clare nodded and stood up.
"Yeah, I think so. You want me to make dinner or something?"
"Sure, I don't think Piper will feel like doing anything." She grinned and laughed.
"If a demon attacks then either fight it off yourself or call for Mel and Josh. I'm sure they can handle it." Clare laughed and said bye as Paige orbed out.
* * *
The Seer broke out of her trance and summoned six of her most powerful minions.
"I want you do go and kill Paige Halliwell." The demons and warlocks looked uncertainly to each other before one spoke up.
"You mean Paige Halliwell of the Charmed Ones?" The Seer rolled her eyes and raised her hand threateningly and formed a small blue energy ball in it. The demons cringed and she lowered it, extinguishing the ball.
"She is alone and although powerful, she will be weakened without her sisters to help. Go now!" The demons travelled away leaving The Seer alone. She bent over the cauldron and stirred its smoke.
* * *
Thirty minutes later Paige walked out of the local wal*mart and walked casually to her usual Orbing spot. She shifted the bags from hand to hand looked around. It was all clear. She was about to orb when a cat ran up and rubbed itself around her legs. She bent down and stroked it.
"Hello kitty. Aren't you nice. What's your name? Hmmm that's just weird." She looked at the collar. It had a familiar symbol on it.
"Goddamn, where have I seen that before? Oh god!" She stepped away from the cat and picked up the bags. It was the Tri-Serpent blade. The cat ran forward and swiped at her leg. She jumped back and saw red claw marks on her pale skin. With a cry of pain she kicked it and sent it flying into the wall. Paige looked around to see if there was anyone or anything strange around. The cat got to its feet and abruptly shape changed into a gaunt looking warlock. He licked the blood off his fingers and smirked at her.
"Ahhh crap! A warlock. Well ok then lets get this over with." The warlock lost his cocky look and cleared his throat.
"Hey, come on. She's alone like The Seer said." Paige looked shocked and she spoke furiously to the warlock.
"The Seer? I thought that bitch was vanquished. I swear, I will not let her mess up out lives again." She called for a nearby dumpster and tkorbed it onto the warlock. Five other demons and warlocks shimmered and blinked in, encircling her. She spun round and tried to back away, but they pushed her into the centre again.
"What the hell do you want?" Mentally she berated herself.
'what else are they going to want to do apart from kill me!' She tried taking the tough approach with them.
"You know I'm a Charmed One don't you. You know about MY power and the power of my sisters?" To her amusement they looked apprehensive and unsure.
"I can orb out of here anytime I want. Then you'll have to face all of the Charmed Ones." She almost slapped herself after saying that. Leo was still resting up and Piper was too shaken up to face all these demons. She remembered Clare and Josh and Melinda. They couldn't be put in danger.
"Catch me if you can!" Yelled Paige as she orbed. A warlock lunged forward, only to fall to the ground as he missed her completely. She reappeared behind the biggest demon and kicked him in the leg. He spun round and swung his arm at her, but she orbed again. The demons were wary now, they had no idea where she was going to appear next. Her laughter filtered through the alley and she materialised next to a short, scaly demon. The demon she kicked a second ago threw a fireball at her. She quickly pulled the scaled demon in front of her. He burst into flames when the fireball struck. The four remaining underlings stepped forward and began to throw energy balls and other ranged attacks at her. She called for as many as she could and threw them back, but the constant use of her powers was tiring. Paige knew she would falter soon. She tried to orb but didn't have enough energy. She hung semi formed in the air. Her body flickered with blue and white orbs.
'Oh god! What's happened to me? I..I..can't orb, I can't reform. I'm just hanging here defenceless, until they get it into their thick skulls and then come and kill me.' They saw their chance to attack and took it. Led by the large demon, they threw a torrent of fire and energy balls at Paige's new form. Paige would have screamed if she was able to.
'Help me! Someone! Leo Leo! Ahhhhhhhhhh! Hey! That..that..doesn't hurt. Infact, I feel…energised?' The orbs glowed and sparked as the fire and energy hit them. With a ripple, they were absorbed and Paige fully orbed out. With a gasp she re-orbed and shakily leaned her hand against the dumpster.
"Guess you couldn't catch me, huh?" She held up her hand and threw all of the absorbed powers back at the original owners. They all burst into flames and soon exploded into ash. Paige rubbed the scorch marks on the ground and tutted to herself.
"These will never come out." A wave of fatigue hit her and she sank down to the ground, resting her head against the dumpster. She shut her eyes and yawned.
"Ow! What the hell was that?" She clambered to her feet and examined her leg. Two bloody holes that dripped a green liquid, punctured her leg, just above the ankle. A snake slinked away from her. She knew instantly that it was the warlock she had supposedly crushed beneath the dumpster. She picked up a piece of wood with an outsized nail it in and hit the snake repeatedly. It jerked spasmodically and reverted to back its original, warlock form, before blinking away.
"Yeah," shouted Paige weakly.
"You better run. Oh my. That sonofabitch poisoned me! Ugh, I can't stand up anymore." She fell to the ground and weakly called out.
"Leo…."
There, chapter….6? is done. Oh and remember to review chapters 4 and 5. I posted them when crappy ff.net crashed and I only got 2 reviews for them. (thankee KT, and thankee Steph for the 'suspenseful' line…which I kinda changed a bit)
