Yay, this is finally up! I'm sorry about the delay, I've had a huge workload piled on me, that and the fact that my beta flew far away, so yeah… I'm really, really sorry, and I do normally update faster than this, just not this time… Anyway enjoy.
Some people own Charmed. I am not one of those people. Congrats on working that out, don't you just feel so smart?
They all left quietly the next morning, perhaps in the hope that Chris wouldn't hear them leave and try to start another argument. However, he heard them go (woken up by Wyatt's orbing lights) and laid listening to the hushed voices and footsteps thudding around the kitchen floor above him. Chris sat up and pulled the comforter around his shoulders, drawing his legs up to his chest and leaning against the wall.
It was a Saturday, but instead of stretching luxuriously and rolling over for another two or three hours sleep, he was sitting awake, listening to his family and brooding. He still didn't see why his Mom wanted to keep him so safe, so sheltered… She had once confided in him that, when she was new to Wicca, she used to believe that it had ruined her life (whether she still thought that she chose not to divulge) and maybe she thought that she didn't want the same thing to happen to Chris…
But he'd had his powers since birth; she had only got them six years before he was born. Chris had grown up with witches and demons and, in particular, magic and saw no reason to think that it was going to ruin his life in any way by killing just one demon.
His Whitelighter senses kicked in as he felt the family orb away, and he sat still for a few minutes, gnawing on his bottom lip and staring absently at a sock on the floor. Then, with a sudden determination and spurt of speed he had lunged halfway across the room to the phone in the corner, muttered to the voice-activated dialler and listened to it ring.
Whether it was a grunt or a groan that greeted him Chris couldn't tell, but by the sounds of it, he had just disturbed someone who had been sleeping. He looked at the clock; it was just after eight in the morning. Wincing guiltily, he answered the grunt.
"Hey, Morning Sunshine, want to go on a vanquish?"
"Ha, ha, funny Chris. No go back to sleep like normal people on a Saturday morning," The voice was muffled, as if the mouth talking was still half-embedded in a pillow.
"No, I mean it. Come on; come kill a demon with me? Please?"
"Why...?" Ben asked, sounding whiney. "I'm tired,"
"Because it'll be fun… You know, demons go poof, we get an adrenaline rush…"
"Chris, I'm sure you don't realize this, so I'm going to tell you: It's early - it's too early to be killing demons… Why do you want to go, did your family dump you again?"
In a combination of how early it was and the fact that he'd been woken up Ben had forgotten to be tactful. Chris often complained of being left out, telling him that his family had 'dumped him again' but it was not something that he should have said to Chris.
"Look, man, I'm sorry, it's just… early, you know?" Ben apologized quickly, realizing his mistake as he rubbed sleep from his eyes, "And I'm irritable without caffeine, you know that…"
"Fine," Chris replied coolly.
"Look, Chris…" Ben scrabbled about to get Chris to accept his apology, "Ok, look, I'll go with you… Give me… five minutes yeah?"
"Cool, see you then," They hung up and Chris went to get dressed. They often planned – well, Chris often planned and then persuaded Ben – to go and kill a demon or two while Chris' family were out vanquishing.
The two teens did it sometimes with and sometimes without the aid of their Hunter friends, who went to the same High School as them. But Chris had found them even grumpier than Ben if he woke them up early, and hadn't called them. This had all, of course, been planned in secret, because he was sure his Mom would go ballistic if she ever found out about his demon-slaying, especially after she had banned him from going on all the family vanquishes.
He felt the afore mentioned buzz of adrenaline surge through him and he grinned, dashing about the room, pulling on jeans and a T-shirt, throwing a lightweight jacket over the top. From a small draw in the desk near the foot of his bed, he pulled an athame, a present given to him on his sixteenth birthday that had a Triquetera on in, each point marked with a small glinting emerald 'to match your eyes' as Piper had told him fondly.
Chris put the athame into his waistband and pulled out several vials of potion from the drawer as well, each stopped with a cork. They were all exploding potions, and if the demon was low level enough they usually worked.
He ran into the bathroom and quickly scrubbed his teeth and ran a comb through long and unruly brown hair, glancing at the clock again. Ben had seven minutes now, so he orbed out of the basement.
His friend was sitting cross-legged on the bed, light brown hair looking tousled and untidy and although it was not as long as Chris's - it was shorter by around two inches. He had hazel eyes which were currently clouded with sleep and, standing at about five ten, was shorter than Chris.
However he came from a family of witches as old – if not older than – Chris's own. Every three generations, a witch was born into the family, and Ben had fallen on the third generation. The last witch in his family had been his grandmother, who had died young at the hands of a demon before she had reached thirty.
"Who are we killing today?" Ben asked by way of a morning greeting. He still looked half asleep.
"I thought we'd go after some Andura demons," Andura demons lived in large groups, were low-level and often used as cannon fodder. Upper-level demons used them to carry out their dirty work, and Chris had overheard his two aunts talking about their scrying turning up a group of them underground near the outskirts of San Francisco.
Ben shrugged, "That's cool with me," And Chris orbed them away.
"Are you sure this is where the crystal landed?" Piper asked Paige, for what had to be at least the fifth time. They had not found Drox yet, despite creeping further and further into the forest where the map had told them that he was hiding.
"Piper, yes," Paige whispered back, "He's probably just hiding, doing that ambush thing that demons like to do so much," Megan shivered slightly, out of anticipation, excitement and fear. She was clutching a vial tight in her hand, and had to keep reminding herself not to squeeze it too hard or it would break in her fist.
Adrenaline made hearts pump faster and blood pound in their ears, magnifying every noise that was made. The sun was getting higher as they walked, but the further they went, the denser the foliage got, so it in fact got darker. The trees pressed down on them claustrophobically, and they walked on a carpet of dead leaves, twigs, moss and compacted earth. Silence reigned.
Prue walked alongside her mother, channelling everyone's fear just as Phoebe was. As well as empathy, Prue could see the future, but, like her mother, had no active powers. Phoebe yawned and continued to trudge forward with her family, straining her ears for any noise. So far there was nothing, no Drox, no anything, unless you counted that crow which had rustled its wings and made Piper blow up the tree stump it was resting on.
So it came as a total surprise when an energy ball turned part of a tree trunk into a flurry of soggy, charred wood chippings. They all ducked instinctively and Paige and Megan were near enough to be caught in the rain of wood. Cursing like mother and daughter they turned to face the enemy.
Drox was standing behind them, an energy ball rotating slowly in his palm. He smiled, revealing a face much more disfigured than it looked in the Book of Shadows. It was greener now and with some pretty bad scars, not helped by the twisted smile on his face.
"So, you brought the whole family along? Thank you, that certainly makes things better for me," Wyatt formed his shield and sent it rushing at Drox in an arrow-type formation, but Drox disappeared and it blew up another tree. Wyatt recalled it and it vanished.
Drox appeared again, both palms facing Wyatt, the runes carved there glowing blood red. Wyatt struggled to draw breath and Drox closed his eyes, feeling waves of power enter him. The blonde teen fell to the ground, hands around his throat, trying to force away Drox's power.
The two empaths of the group rebounded Drox's attack from Wyatt, throwing the demon into a tree with the backlash of it. Wyatt got shakily to his feet, flexing his fingers dangerously. Drox clambered up as well, snarling at Phoebe and Prue and sending them flying backwards with a wave of his hand.
Piper gestured to blow him up, but it only mildly staggered him, and he grinned at her, sending her to land sprawled by her sister and niece. Pain shot through her head and spots danced in front of her vision as her head struck a rock, and Drox turned to Wyatt again, palms blazing.
Wyatt put up his shield but the runes burned the shape through the shimmering blue wall and reached Wyatt's chest, branding it. Wyatt cried out in pain as his shield failed and the power knocked him to the ground. Megan's hands shot out, but the power passing from Wyatt to Drox protected him from the freezing spell. A potion had the same affect, shattering harmlessly nowhere near Drox.
"Uh… Wyatt!" Paige called, orbing her nephew away from the demon. Drox growled and raised his hands to the sky, throwing out a blue ring from his middle and blasting everyone, knocking them out.
"Hi," Chris said as the orbing lights faded. He looked around the room they were in and counted seven Andura demons in what appeared to be a large dry sewer tunnel, maybe even a storm drain. Smaller pipes led off to the sides, each blocked with a hefty metal grate. In the floor there were two holes, each of them uncovered and gaping.
The Andura demons were electric blue, with a darker blue circle on their lower abdomens and pebbly skin, the bumps standing out from their flesh.
Immediately Chris threw two potions and vanquished the two nearest to him before they could move in a burst of fire. Despite being low level they could still throw energy balls, and the first one caught Chris in the shoulder and made him drop his potion. It rolled down into one of the holes and shattered.
"That wasn't nice," Chris growled, bringing the puddle up from below and throwing it at the demon that had attacked him. That demon died too. The next energy ball was aimed at Ben, but the young witch flicked his hands reflexively and it turned to ice, becoming too heavy to fly towards him. It fell to the floor and shattered. Ben currently had two powers, astral projection and cyrokinesis (power over ice), and had learned to use them both to great effect.
The remaining four Andura demons raised their hands to the concrete ceiling, the circles glowing ferociously suddenly. Both the teenagers took an involuntary step backwards, uncertain.
"Uh… Is that meant to be happening?" Ben asked, shielding his eyes from what was now as burning light.
"Not that I know of…" Chris said, taking another nervous step back. Slowly the light began to dim, getting less and less bright until it was not there any more. Suddenly bright blue hands gripped Chris's upper arms, and when he looked left he saw that Ben had been captured in the same way.
He turned his head even more and saw that a further twenty or so Andura demons had appeared behind them.
"They were calling for reinforcements?!"
"Looks like it," Ben flicked his hands and froze the four demons in front of them into blocks of ice and then struggled to turn around to use his power on the demons behind them, but cruel fingers just dug deeper into his arm. Chris uncorked a potion and threw it backwards into the face of the demon that was holding him, ducked out of the way of the explosion, and used telekinesis to fling away the rest of the group one by one until an energy ball blew him backwards and down one of the holes.
Ben raised his hands again, but another demon shimmered in and grabbed his wrists, putting pressure on just the right place to make Ben's knees buckle with pain. This Andura demon had three interlinked circles on him, which were more pronounced against his body than the circles of the other demons.
"Well, well. Two young witches…" He squeezed harder and Ben let out a small moan of pain, "Now what could I do with you?"
"You won't be doing anything with us," Chris growled from the hole, tossing a potion out at him. It shattered on his chest but he didn't die.
"You see that might work on some of my minions," He said, "But on me? I think not," He barely glanced at his chest, where a bubbling potion puddle appeared to be having no affect on him.
"Go to Hell," Ben spat, glaring.
"I'd like to, but the sewer is the nearest my people can get, with witches like you skulking around, vanquishing us… We're not even respected enough to get into the Underworld…"
"We're supposed to care?" Ben asked through gritted teeth.
"Well the boys down there… You become very popular with them if you bring them gifts…"
Chris shifted his weight and felt cold pressed against his leg. Then he remembered the athame tucked into his waistband and concealed by his jacket and shirt. The leader was immune to potions but surely not to a stab wound…
He concentrated hard and felt the blade move. He willed it into the air and the knife sliced through the air and came to rest lodged in the demon's throat.
The demon made a gurgling noise and clutched at the dagger, letting go of Ben's wrists. Ben fell to the floor, rubbing his arms just as the leader was vanquished in a burst of fire that blasted Ben down the hole on top of Chris.
"Ok, ow," Ben muttered, standing up.
"You?! You didn't just get landed on!" Chris orbed them out of the pipe, and Ben flicked his wrist angrily at the demons that had been hovering, uncertain, behind their leader and they all became ice statues. Chris threw them into the wall with a flick of his wrist and they shattered. Chunks of ice littered the floor, oozing green blood that ran thickly into a grate and dripped away.
"Remind me to never let you persuade me to go vanquishing again," Ben said, eyeing the scorch mark that had been the leader and the trail of blood disappearing down a drain.
"You always say that. I know you had fun," Ben didn't deny that, he just shook his head, grinning, as Chris orbed them away.
"Chris?" As soon as the flurry of lights had gone from his vision, Chris found himself staring into the face of another of his friends, Bridget.
She stood at around five-and-a-half feet tall, and had black hair that was cut quite short, around shoulder-length. She had naturally pale skin, and the fact that her hair was black made it look even whiter. She had brown eyes that were looking right at him – he could tell she was annoyed.
"Where were you?" She demanded, "We called at Ben's, but his Mom said that he's probably gone out with you, and so we came here, but you weren't here…"
"There's no one here," Bridget's blonde companion added, looking around the foyer. She was maybe two inches taller than Bridget, with her blonde hair pulled back into a sensible ponytail that just brushed her shoulder blades. Her eyes were blue and her name was Nixa, and, like Bridget, she was a Hunter, a girl with excellent fighting skills who combated demons just as witches did, although they were without powers.
"No one's here?" Chris echoed, sounding slightly worried. Sure, he had intended to be back before them but a vanquish didn't normally take this long, especially with the Charmed Ones and Wyatt on the side of good.
"Nope, no Halliwells in the building. Except you," Bridget added as an afterthought. "We were gonna ask you to go to the mall with us, but Ben wasn't there, and then neither were you… And now we've wasted all the valuable time that we could have spent drinking sodas in the Food Court and… And have you been demon killing?" She asked, all in one breath.
"Yeah, a pack of Andura demons," Chris said distractedly.
"Without us?" Bridget asked incredulously.
"Hey, you've never been on the receiving end of you haven't gotten enough sleep, have you?"
"Are you implying that we're grumpy?"
"Very," Ben teased, looking at Chris who was frowning, "You're Mom and the others probably just got held up," He said reassuringly, "Nothing bad would have happened to them, I mean they're the Charmed Ones, right?"
Pixie Wildfire: - It's you again! :: Gasp :: Lol, thanks for reviewing.
ChRsTiNe17: - Thanks :)
M J Rosemary: - Aw, thanks! Sorry for not updating…
Aldrea7: - You know, I never thought of that… If a demon came to the Manor? :: shrug :: who knows? Thanks for reviewing; I'm sorry about the really bad speed of my updating.
cherry7up56: - Thanks!
Nemesis' Arrow: - Yeah, I know I should have actually continued soon. Sorry, but I was majorly busy, just like I was for BB, so sorry about that.
HollyShadow: - I like my new name too, I'm glad you got that Piper was protecting Chris, thanks for that, cuz I thought I'd lose so many people over that. Thanks for reviewing!
NoAlias: - Thanks a lot, and sorry I didn't update sooner. Chris is unsure as to why he's not allowed to vanquish evil, but he has a few inklings, and they were put up there, I think. Thanks for reviewing.
Chattypandagurl: - Thanks a lot, sorry for not updating for a while.
Toni: - Thanks a lot!
Claddagh Ring: - Even if it did want to make you go and see the Thunderbirds movie, lol. I haven't seen it yet, and probably won't 'til it comes out on DVD cuz I'm lazy like that and too busy to get to the cinema, lol.
Willows2: - A reason hasn't been made clear as of yet, but it will be made clear.
Dominique1: - Soon… Yeah, well, you know from BB that I've had a problem with soon-ness, and I'm really sorry. Thanks for reviewing, glad you like what there is so far.
AK8: - I thought levitation would be a very Chris power, I guess someone else did too. Thanks for reviewing.
Marysmary: - Because she knows what? Ok, slightly confused there, but thanks for reviewing, you were really kind. I'm really sorry about not updating, I don't usually take this long…
princesscatie21: - I'm sorry I couldn't get this up sooner, but thanks for reviewing!
GaladInzel: -I'm sorry I didn't update sooner, thanks for your review.
Karen: - Yeah, she's mean. Thanks for reviewing, sorry I took so long to update.
Taynna: - Your review inspired practically this whole chapter, thanks so much. Thanks for reviewing, it was really kind, and, as I said, this chapter would hardly have happened without you.
Pink-Charmed-One: - Thank you!
Charmed Amber: - Sorry for taking so long, I don't mean to, and thanks for reviewing, I don't mind lateness at all!
Wow, shocked by how many people like this, thanks so much for all of your reviews and support, even if I did take forever to update.