A/N I hate doing these at the beginning- but Chris Drew Lover pointed out something that may be causing confusion so I'd like to clear that up. The conversation that Wyatt had with Elizabeth in the last chapter was defiantly supposed to be AFTER Elizabeth came to see Bianca- I realize now that my wording was off, and it was a bit confusing. The way I see it, Wyatt had been forming alliances in the underworld for awhile, and thus had already spoken to Elizabeth about her coven's loyalties awhile ago…when he summons her, that is for a more direct purpose; he is informing her that he will soon need her services, not just her allegiance. I may go back and edit a few lines later to make this clearer. Thanks!

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One month.

It had been exactly one month since Chris' world had come crashing down…

…since he found out that his only brother- the person he had always looked to most, had turned.

The images of the slaughter were still fresh in Chris' mind, and they often kept him awake late into the night. When he closed his eyes, he saw slain bodies, blood stained floors…and Sam's lifeless face…they were all haunting him to no end.

Worst of all, he knew that it had been his fault.

He had told Wyatt about the meeting.

He was the reason Wyatt knew when to attack…the reason so many had died…he had helped to create his own hell.

The past month had been an extremely emotional, and tiring one. He had put a lot of his energy into helping Leo re organize magic school so that the few remaining whitelighters, and any endangered witches, could seek refuge there. On top of that, he had been on call day and night to heal those who needed it- he and the ten surviving whitelighters had organized shifts, each taking full duties sixteen hours a week, and helping out when ever more aid was necessary. A handful of whitelighters doing the work of a thousand was an almost impossible task, and Chris knew that many witches had been unnecessarily lost.

Demonic activity was reaching an all time high - the news of Wyatt's success had spread quickly through the underworld, and all were eager to attack as many witches as possible now that they were unprotected by their whitelighters.

More were dying…because of Wyatt…and because of what Chris had told him.

Victor and Bianca had both tried to convince him that it wasn't his fault at all. He didn't know that Wyatt had turned, and what he had told him had been completely innocent in its intent…but Chris couldn't accept this…he wouldn't. Innocently or not, he had contributed to the slaughter.

'Maybe you're not so innocent' a voice in the back of his mind whispered.

Chris felt a wave of nausea over come him…this was yet another dark thought that had haunted him for the past thirty days. He still had no idea why Wyatt had turned, and somewhere deep inside, Chris worried that he was at risk of heading in the same direction. Chris had always been under the assumption that as the sons of a charmed one and an angel, they were both incorruptible by evil…but Wyatt's recent behavior had shot that theory out the window…and he knew that if Wyatt was capable of such horrible acts, then he was too. They were brothers….and even more than that; they were the only two witch- whitelighters in existence….the only male ones ever born…

A distant memory echoed in Chris head as he stared up unblinkingly at the dark ceiling. He had once over heard a conversation between his mother and his great Grams during one of her visits. "I know we've gone over this before Piper" Grams had said "But you still have to keep a closer eye on them…men can't handle power the way that women can…."

Maybe Grams was right, maybe Wyatt had turned because he couldn't handle his powers…they had corrupted him…and they could corrupt Chris too.

"Chris." He heard Bianca's voice calling from outside the room. "I know you're in there!"

Chris sighed; he could tell that she was annoyed. He could hardly blame her, their relationship had not been given priority lately…he had been too distracted. But yet she stuck by his side, and he knew that their love was as strong as ever.

She was the reason that he kept fighting.

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"Chris." Bianca called as she knocked on the wooden door of her bedroom, where Chris had gone to relax. "I know you're in there!"

She sighed with frustration as she received no response. Chris had been moping for the past month. She couldn't really blame him; he had been through a traumatic experience, and she knew that he held himself responsible for it…but she also couldn't help but wonder when it would end. She wanted her Chris back- the innocent, sweet, loving Chris that she had fallen for.

"I'm going to shimmer in there if you don't come out this instant." She shouted.

Bianca knew that she was being impatient but her mood was not being helped by the slight flu she had had for the past two weeks. She was feeling rather disoriented at the moment, and was not prepared to stand in the hall way while Chris lay wallowing in sadness.

Thankfully the door then swung open. "Sorry, I was sleeping." He muttered his eyes slightly red and his hair disheveled.

"Good. You needed some rest…but now you need some food, and we need to talk."

Chris frowned. "I'm not hungry." He muttered.

"I don't care. You're getting to skinny, you do need to eat at least sometimes you know. I won't have my boyfriend wasting away into nothing. Come one, I ordered Chinese."

"Oh," Chris replied, his expression brightening somewhat at the mention of his favorite cuisine. "I guess I could eat a bit."

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"…every Prince should prefer to be considered merciful rather than cruel. But, to be feared is much safer than to be loved. For it is a good general rule about men that they are ungrateful, fickle, liars and deceivers, fearful of danger, and greedy for gain..." Wyatt read aloud from the small beaten book in his hand. The small table of upper level demons, his most trusted allies, began to stir.

"So we shall take them by brutal force alone? Cause fear?" inquired a particularly nasty looking demon to his left.

Wyatt smiled. "No, no, Nicaea," he muttered, turning to face the demon "Allow me to finish."

All were silence once again as he looked back to the book.

"No Prince should mind being called cruel for what he does to keep his subjects united and loyal; he may make examples of a very few, but he should be more merciful in reality…a prince should make himself feared in such a way that, even if he gets no love, he gets no hate either; for it is perfectly possible to be feared but not hated."

Wyatt placed the book down on the stone table and surveyed his companions. Most appeared confused by what he had read; he sighed with frustration.

"This book brings to light many good points which I intend to follow as we move forward." Wyatt explained slowly "Taking over the human world by pure force alone will only cause more problems. We must establish not only fear, but also a sense of stability- if we are to rule them, they must believe that we are providing something in return for their loyalty…or our rein…my rein…will be short lived."

There was a long pause.

"Lord Wyatt, have you basing this approach on the theories of a past source? Because if so…"

Wyatt burst out into laughter, and the demon instantly stopped speaking. "These," Wyatt began, regaining hic composure and gesturing to the small book he had been reading from "Are not the theories of a demon. They are much to complex to be that." (He muttered the last part under his breath) "They are the theories of a human, a man by the name of Niccolo Machiavelli. He understood human nature, and what kind of ruler was necessary to control it. There is mush to be learned from him."

The demons looked unconvinced. It was clear that they did not believe a human to be capable of any valuable insight…Wyatt himself had believed that at one point too, but this book, The Prince as it was called, really spoke to him.

"I think Machiavelli is correct. I want people to fear me, but I know that pure fear will only cause unrest. What we must do next is offer them protection from a fear which we propagate…a fear of witches."

A small buzz of noise began to fill the room. "So, we expose magic" Seleucid, a particularly bright demon began slowly "…make the humans believe that witches are the true threat, and then gain the loyalty of the humans by establishing ourselves as their protectors."

Wyatt grinned, glad that at least one of his demons was catching on. "Exactly." He replied "We will offer protection from other things too; humans are always caught up in such stupid international conflicts…we will give them an end to all that. I will be the one power; the one ruler…all will be united under me."

"That is a brilliant plan, my lord." Seleucid, said, a malicious grin across his face. "They may be apprehensive of your power, but you are giving them something in return…you will feared but not hated."

"Exactly."

"So what do we do now?" another demon asked.

Wyatt grinned again. "We expose magic."

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Chris placed down his fork and grabbed a near by napkin. "That was great." He said with a small smile "Didn't you want any?"

Bianca shook her head. "No. I'm not feeling too well. I might have some later." She paused. "Now that you've finally eaten something, there is some thing I've been meaning to talk to you about."

He slowly looked up and met her eyes, a worried expression on his face.

"Look, Chris, your grandfather and I have been talking," Bianca began "And we both agree that you can't carry on like this. You're depressed, you don't eat, you hardly sleep, you're always orbing all around the world to help everyone else…we think it's time that you help yourself."

Chris said nothing, but she could tell that he was not willing to change.

Bianca sighed. "We know that you won't listen to us, so we think that maybe its time for you to talk to someone else."

"There is no one else!" Chris exclaimed suddenly, his eyes slowly becoming red. "Who do you suggest? My Father?! He doesn't understand, he's useless…"

"No Chris," Bianca cut in "We weren't thinking your father…we were thinking that you should talk to your mother."

There was a long pause as Chris tried to absorb what she had said.

"My mother is dead, Bianca." He muttered, looking sadly down at the table.

"I know…but you can summon her. Remember how you told me that you're aunt came, where you weren't sure what to do about me? Well, it was her that came; because she could offer the most relevant advice…I think that your mother will come this time, because you truly do need her."

Chris drew several deep breaths, and she knew that he liked the idea. Bianca had liked the idea too when Victor had come up with it the other day; she knew that if Chris was going to listen to anyone, it would be his mother. A conversation with Piper was their best hope of drawing him out of his depressed state.

"I…I…Yes, I have to try." He stuttered, standing up abruptly. He gave Bianca a quick kiss, and orbed out of the small kitchen.

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A/N The lines Wyatt recites are actually from The Prince by Machiavelli. For those of you who don't know, Machiavelli was a political philosopher who lived during the Italian Renaissance, and in this particular book, he describes the ways in which a prince can acquire and maintain political power.

Hope that part wasn't too confusing, but I thought it would be neat to bring some non- fantasy stuff into the story, to make it a little more realistic.

Plus, I've found that most stories portray Wyatt as a completely horrific ruler (but then why would people be in awe/ want to visit the Haliwell museum…?) I'm going to attempt to make it a bit more believable...

ilovedrew88- Glad that you like Bianca. I'm not fond of show Bianca either…but I am trying to stay as true to the show as possible, so I don't want her to be hugely different.

phoebe turner – thanks, again

Chris Drew Lover- Eww, I'd never side with evil Wyatt…Chris all the way, lol! Thanks for another great review!

PLEASE REVIEW.