"This is certainly weird," said Phoebe, peering out into the empty corridors. "You'd think there would be some kind of welcoming committee."
"Not necessarily," said Paige. "Maybe the lower demons aren't intelligent. They may be acting on pure instinct."
"Whatever is going on," said Piper, "we need to get moving. Let's just get to that lab and destroy that thing while we have the chance."
"What's that?" asked Phoebe, pointing at the floor.
The floor had slight groove marks in it.
"It looks like something was dragged across the floor," said Piper. "Right into the elevator. Maybe those demons were trying to build a ladder or something up the shaft."
"So where's this ladder?" asked Phoebe. "The shaft is empty now except for the elevator."
"We can worry about that later," said Piper. "Let's get going."
They cautiously made their way along one corridor. All of the rooms appeared to be laboratories of some kind. And all had been trashed. Papers, books, even pieces of equipment littered the floors. In some cases, the doors had been torn from their hinges.
"Demon party," said Paige. "Looks like they got ticked off when they couldn't get out."
"Or when they ran out of victims," said Phoebe.
A snarl behind them brought the girls around. Standing at the intersection of the last corridor stood a demon. It appeared very much as the demon in the photograph Marcus had shown them.
It was humanoid but stood slightly hunched over. Fur covered most of its body. A thick bony ridge ran along its forehead giving it a primitive look. Its ears were pointed and sharp claws extended from each finger. Jagged, pointed teeth filled its mouth as it again snarled at the witches.
"Hello, bright eyes," remarked Piper.
The demon began to advance on the sisters. Piper raised her hands and the creature exploded into a thousand shards that evaporated instantly. She stood poised for several seconds to make sure that it wouldn't reconstitute itself. With no knowledge of this demon, she couldn't be sure if this demon would be able resist her power. It didn't.
"One down," she said.
"Yeah, twenty gazillion to go," snickered Phoebe to break the tension.
As the sisters turned to continue their trek up the corridor, another demon dropped from the ceiling in front of them. Easily within arms' reach, it struck out with its clawed hand at Piper.
Phoebe raised the crossbow and fired. The bolt struck the demon in the chest before it could complete its attack. The demon howled in agony and then vaporized where it stood. The crossbow magically reloaded itself.
"That was different," said Paige.
"I guess the gene splicing with the demonic DNA changed the White Lighter DNA," said Piper. "That's why it vaporized instead of being poisoned."
"Whatever the reason," said Phoebe, "I'm glad this thing worked."
"Me, too, little sister," said Piper. "Let's be more careful from now on."
They continued down the corridor carefully approaching each intersection. Three more of the demons appeared and each time they were easily vanquished. One by Pipers' ability, one from the crossbow, and one from the explosive potion Paige used. Each time the demons appeared to be working alone. There was no coordinated attack against the sisters.
"This is too easy," said Piper finally. "Marcus said they estimated about two dozen converted demons down here. So, where are they?"
"Maybe their on one of the upper levels," suggested Paige.
"These drag marks in the floor," said Phoebe. "They seem to be in the exact corridors we need to take to get to the container. If they were building a ladder to the upper levels, you'd think they'd pick something closer to the elevator."
"Maybe nothing was high enough for them to use," said Paige.
"That would imply some form of intelligence," said Piper. "So far, I haven't seen any signs of any intelligence."
"Neither have I," said Phoebe. "I don't like this. Things just don't add up."
"We can worry about that later," said Piper. "Once we finish what we came here to do."
Even more cautiously they continued down the corridor. No more demons appeared and that made Piper nervous. They couldn't have just vanished. And Marcus hadn't mentioned any ability like orbing or shimmering. So where were they?
Piper stopped at an intersection and peered around the corner. Several feet up the corridor she saw the double doors leading to the lab where the container was kept. She also saw two of the converted demons standing in front of the doors.
"Two," she whispered to her sisters. "One on either side of the doors. Phoebe, you take the one on the right. I'll take the one on the left. Paige, you be ready in case there are any more around."
"Right," whispered Paige.
Phoebe just nodded. Piper mouthed the words, "one, two, three". On three, she and Phoebe stepped into the corridor facing the lab. Piper raised her hands and Phoebe fired the crossbow. The two demons were vanquished by their respective attacks. They stood ready for several moments. No other demons appeared.
"Okay," said Piper, "I'll blow the doors open. Then we'll each use one of our vials of the explosive potion. That should be enough to completely destroy the container and, hopefully, whatever's inside it. At the very least, it should prevent the demon from getting out."
Each removed a vial from the bags they carried. Again, Piper mouthed the words, "one, two, three". She then exploded the doors to the lab. Immediately, the three sisters moved into the room, prepared to throw their vials.
The three froze just inside the lab. In the middle of the room sat a large platform. A platform Marcus had told them the container sat on. Except the platform was empty. The container holding the super demon was gone.