"Leo," screamed Piper. "Leo, get down here now!"
Leo orbed in beside Piper and Phoebe. He looked down at Phoebe in the throes of convulsions.
"One of those things bit her," said Piper. "You have to heal her. You have to get that poison out of her before she changes."
Leo placed his hand over the wound in Phoebe's shoulder and used his healing power. Within seconds the wound was healed. He wiped the blood away to make sure it was completely healed.
But even though the wound was healed, Phoebe continued to convulse. Already a bony ridge had begun to form on her forehead. And fur was beginning to cover her entire body.
"I don't understand," said Leo. "I healed her. She should be fine."
"Get us back upstairs," said Piper. "Maybe Marcus can do something."
When they orbed into the conference room, Marcus and Amy were waiting for them. There was also another man none of them had seen before. He stood next to Amy, a syringe in one hand.
"Put her on the table," ordered the man with the syringe.
Leo did as he was instructed. The man with the syringe immediately injected Phoebe with the syringe. Almost immediately, Phoebe stopped convulsing.
"It wasn't hard to guess why you'd called for your White Lighter," said Marcus. "This is Dr. Memphis. He's the Chief Medical Officer at the complex."
"That injection," explained Dr. Memphis, "will slow the progression of the infection. But I'm afraid we can't prevent the conversion. It's only a matter of time before your sister converts into one of those things in the lower levels."
"Why?" demanded Piper. "Leo healed her. That poison should be gone."
"I'm afraid it's not that simple," said Dr. Memphis. "It's not exactly a toxin. She isn't really poisoned. New genetic material has been introduced into her system. The new material is coded to change the hosts' genetic code to that of the new material.
"That new material is overriding here own genetic code. Rewriting it, so to speak. Changing her genetic code in favor of the new one. While we know what it's doing and how, we don't yet know how to stop it. Or change it. With that injection I gave her, it will slow the change down to several hours instead of several minutes.
"But that's all we can do. I'm afraid there's nothing else we can do. You'll have to accept the fact that your sister is fated to become one of those demons like the type in the lower levels."