Chapter Nineteen
Phoebe felt the pressure on her belly and moaned. She twisted her body but, when it was met with resistance, she slowly opened her eyes. Vision was blurred in her left eye but she still recognized the creature that was touching her and she froze.
Hasoaf was pressing both his hand and his claw into various spots along her abdomen. "Such energy," he nearly sighed. "Such power. And all mine for the taking."
"Never," she croaked as she twisted her body again to shake his hands free. Her ankles were still tied to the posts but her hands were loose and she tried to push herself up.
Hasoaf merely laughed in amusement. "Your persistence is admirable in this case but you can't stop me. You are nearly at term and have neither the will nor the strength to fight any longer. Your lover's been slain and your sisters are dying. You have no hope for rescue."
"Don't listen to him," Piper weakly called from the floor. She struggled to sit but only managed to prop herself up on her side. "There's always hope, Phoebe. You have to fight him."
"Foolish witch," he sneered, "struggling even as I have your energy and powers coursing through me." He waved a hand, created a chair, forced it to levitate high over her head, allowed it to drop, froze it, and then blew it up to prove his point. He laughed again as he watched Piper cover Paige's body in protection.
"It won't save you," Phoebe weakly commented.
"Bold words for one who nears her end," he replied as he turned back to her.
"My sisters and I may not be able to destroy you," she hoarsely told him, "but your followers will. You've been out of touch for too long and don't know the Underworld anymore. There are factions that are already working against you, ready for your first mistake. The old Source had style and creativity and, to this day, has a legion of followers. You have nothing but a bunch of second-rate, lower-class demons who can be destroyed in an instant. You won't last --" The slap to her face cut off her speech and dazed her further. She felt him grab her chin with his claw and squeezed her eyes shut as his talons dug into her skin.
"Perhaps I should rip out your tongue before I rip out your son from within you," he contemplated.
Phoebe opened her eyes and stared into his burning one and knew she had no choice. She prayed for her son. She prayed for Cole and her sisters. And then she moved.
Hasoaf never saw the athame form in her hand and stared at her in surprise when she had suddenly rolled onto her side and stabbed him in the ribs.
"Phoebe!" Piper cried out.
From the rush of adrenaline, Phoebe reached for her ankles to untie them. But, as she stretched, she was hit with the pain of a sharp contraction, stiffened, and moaned softly as she abandoned her quest.
Intrigued more by her reaction than by the creation of the weapon, Hasoaf merely pulled out the athame, threw it up in the air, and caused it to explode. As he watched Phoebe, he waved a hand and a red-robed demoness appeared in a puff of red smoke.
She pulled off her hood and quickly went to his side to examine his wound.
But Hasoaf dismissed her concern and pointed to Phoebe, "Examine her." The demoness snorted with displeasure but Hasoaf repeated his order and glared at Phoebe, "She will be no trouble."
"I cannot with her present attire," the demoness respectfully informed him.
"Do what you must," he said as he turned away.
"No, Phoebe," Piper cried out.
"Silence!" Hasoaf commanded as he flung a fireball at her.
Piper managed to freeze it and blow it up but collapsed next to Paige from the effort.
The demoness touched Phoebe's belly from all sides as well Phoebe's breasts. She smiled with pleasure as Phoebe flinched from her prodding. "Spineless witch," she muttered as she waved her hands over Phoebe's body.
In a small whirlwind, all of Phoebe's clothing was ripped from her body while she remained tied to the altar. She shut her eyes and was thankful Cole wasn't awake to see this. If he was even still alive. The wind died down and she opened her eyes to find that she was dressed in a simple black sheath. The sides had deep slits that went up to her thighs and she felt utterly vulnerable without her underwear. The demoness roughly pushed apart Phoebe's thighs and Phoebe cringed at the touch of the demoness's sharp nails but still tried to squeeze her thighs together.
The demoness dug her right hand's fingers into Phoebe's right thigh and dragged them down Phoebe's leg.
Phoebe bit her lip to keep from crying out and had no choice but to relax her legs. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to block out the sensations of the demoness's rough probing.
After a few moments of knowingly causing the witch discomfort, the demoness removed her hand and blinked a towel into existence. As she wiped her hands clean, she grimaced.
"Well?" he asked impatiently.
"The child comes," she answered. "It will only be a matter of hours."
"No," Phoebe whispered in fear, "he's not. He can't…"
"Excellent," Hasoaf commented with a grin as he ignored Phoebe. "You may remain," he ordered the demoness. He then turned to the center of the room and nodded.
A black-robed demon appeared next to a stand. "You are ready?" he asked Hasoaf.
"It will be some hours until completion," Hasoaf admitted, "but you, Priest, may begin with the first part of the ceremony."
"Very well," the priest replied. He waved his hand over the stand and quietly recited a spell. An old thick book appeared on the stand and he smiled.
"The Grimoire!" Piper gasped as she picked her head up. She weakly shook her sister, "Paige, you've got to wake up!"
The priest ignored the witches and reverently flipped the pages of the book. When he found the ritual he was seeking, he looked to Hasoaf, "Blood is required."
Hasoaf calmly picked up the dagger from next to Luron's body and brought it to the priest. As the priest accepted it, he extended his own right arm to the priest. He didn't blink as the priest used the dagger to slice a thin line from his elbow to wrist. He made a fist and watched the priest collect his black blood in a bowl.
"It is sufficient," the priest declared after a few moments.
The demoness then stepped forward and took hold of Hasoaf's wounded arm. She looked up at him and, when his eyes offered permission, she brought his wrist to her lips and began lightly sucking away the dripping blood. Her mouth slowly followed the trail of blood up his arm and, when she was sated, she looked back to him gratefully. He nodded once and she then lightly brought her fingertips to the wound and traced the cut from elbow to wrist. As her fingers slowly moved along it, the wound healed until his arm was as untouched as it had been before the priest cut it.
Once the demoness was done, the priest instructed Hasoaf, "Now hers."
"Hold her down," Hasoaf ordered the demoness even as he created shackles to bind Phoebe's wrists in place.
"Phoebe…" Piper nervously called out as she caught sight of her sister struggling.
Hasoaf took the dagger from the priest and, as the demoness pressed down on Phoebe's shoulders, Hasoaf held Phoebe's chin within his claw and roughly turned her head towards him. He ignored her whimpering and proceeded to carve a pentagram around her right eye as her red blood pooled into the bowl and mixed with his.
"NO!!" Piper's scream mixed with Phoebe's screams. She raised her hands and, mustering all her strength, she blew up the demoness.
Hasoaf spun towards her in anger, "I've tolerated your existence long enough!" He threw a bolt of fire directly at Piper and Paige.
Piper covered Paige with her body but never felt the flames. Instead, she heard screams coming from the priest. She peeked and realized that she and Paige had switched places with the priest and the priest was the one engulfed in flames. "Cole," she whispered as she looked to her former brother-in-law.
Spent from the effort, Cole's head dropped to the floor and he closed his eyes. He knew he'd only had enough energy for one last chance to help Phoebe and their son. At least he'd helped her sisters one last time. Perhaps it was enough to redeem his soul. Perhaps he'd end up in the Wasteland once again and could find his way back to her. If she even survived. As his thoughts grew fuzzy, he suddenly realized he wasn't in pain and he thanked Phoebe for the unforeseen consequence of her spell on the sword. And, in those last thoughts, he thanked her for so much more and regretted she'd never hear the words come directly from him. "Love you," he breathed even as he felt the sharp blow to his back when the darkness came.
Enraged, Hasoaf kicked Cole again, "Traitor to the end!" He pulled out the sword from Cole's back and announced, "Enjoy the death cries of your lover and son for they will be the last sounds you hear!"
Paige heard shouting and stirred as she felt herself being shaken. She slowly opened her eyes to Piper's stricken face.
"He's going to kill her!" Piper cried. "We've gotta say the spell," she pleaded.
"Spell?" Paige murmured in confusion.
"Stay with me, Paige," Piper begged. "Phoebe!" she called out. "Paige's awake! The spell. We can say it! We can end it!"
"'Kay," Phoebe weakly replied as Hasoaf stood over her with the sword. He placed his hands on her abdomen and suddenly ripped apart her sheath and she urged her sisters, "Hurry!"
"I'm with you," Paige quietly announced as she sat up with Piper's help.
While Hasoaf closed his eyes and recited an ancient spell, the three witches recited their own spell, together,
"The Warren line, you tried to erase
So now our wrath you must face.
Together they work, potions and spell,
To send this demon on a one-way trip to hell."
But Hasoaf remained unaffected by their spell and used the sword to slice into Phoebe's abdomen.
Phoebe screamed and tried to remember what Cole had taught her about working through pain but this was unbearable. She screamed louder as the sword cut deeper into her and she barely heard Piper's command to repeat the spell. "Piper…" she cried.
"Please, Phoebe," Piper pleaded, "please, you can do it. I know you can. Just say the words with me."
Paige and Piper began the spell again and Phoebe haltingly joined in and recited it with them.
But Hasoaf tossed aside the sword and began to pull apart each side of her cut abdomen and Phoebe screamed again in agony before she passed out from the pain. Just as he was about to put his hand within her to retrieve the child, he noticed that his arm began to smoke. He stared at it in disbelief and stepped back as his arm slowly caught on fire. He stepped further back as flames of blue, green, and purple began to consume his arms and legs. He suddenly began screaming and twisted helplessly within the flames.
Piper and Paige held onto each other as they watched Hasoaf twist and scream. After what seemed like an eternity, he exploded in a burst of colorful fireworks. The room shook and they didn't let go of one another until Paige noticed Phoebe lying unconscious on the altar.
"Leo!" she called out. "Sam!"
Both Whitelighters orbed in as the sisters pulled apart. When they immediately knelt next to the sisters, Piper shook her head. "Phoebe and Cole first." She and Paige watched Leo rush to Phoebe's side while Sam went to Cole. "He saved us both," Piper announced to no one in particular. "He saved us," she repeated to her sister.
Paige pulled her sister into a hug. "Sam will heal him."
Piper shook her head, "I think it's too late," she quietly admitted. "You didn't see any of it. You didn't hear her. Oh, God," she whispered, "her screams. I'll remember them for as long as I live."
"They'll be okay," Paige tearfully assured her older sister.
But Piper shook her head and hugged Paige tighter. "Oh, God, Paige, it's too late. We've lost her. The baby. Even Cole. It's over," she sobbed.
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