As soon as the demon raised its hand Thomas reacted. He moved over and grabbed Percy intent on getting him out of harms way. Instead the blue beam caught him directly in the back. He took the full force of the attack. He stood rigid for several moments, and then collapsed on the floor, his eyes clouded over. Leo moved to check him.
"He's dead," Leo announced with astonishment.
The girls reacted instantly. Piper raised her hands and tapped into her freezing power. Only Damonculous didn't freeze. Piper appeared to be as powerless as Leo and Thomas.
Prue tapped into her telekinetic power intent on throwing the demon back. But just as with Piper, her power never manifested itself. Apparently what had affected the Whitelighters and the Elders had also affected the girls. They were all as powerless as normal humans.
"Whitelighter," Damonculous spat out angrily. "I don't need the power of a Whitelighter. It will do me no good. I need the power of the Elder. Your powers are useless to you witch. Stay out of this and you will be spared."
Damonculous raised both hands. This time he was intent on draining the power of the Elder despite any interference from the others. But before he could bring his power to bear a fireball struck him in the chest sending him hurtling back against the back wall of the entryway. He immediately regained his feet and turned to face his attacker.
"Maybe their powers don't work," said Cole standing at the forefront of the group, "but I seem to be unhindered. Now, care to take on someone besides people who can't protect themselves against you?"
"Who are you?" demanded Damonculous.
"Who me?" questioned Cole. "Nobody. But if you want the Elder, you have to go through me."
"So be it," said Damonculous, casting an electrical attack at Cole.
The attack looked like lightning. It came from Damonculous' fingertips and struck Cole full in the chest sending him crashing against the fireplace. Damonculous, apparently satisfied Cole was out of the way, turned on the Elder once more.
"Now," he said, "to finish what I started."
Before he could attack again, Cole cast another fireball at him sending him once again careening against the back wall of the entryway.
"Not bad," said Cole, his chest still smoking from the attack. "But if that's all you have then you'd better rethink what you're doing."
"Impossible," said Damonculous. "You cast fire. What kind of witch are you to cast fire and be unaffected by my power that has blocked all good magic?"
"I'm not exactly a witch," said Cole. He suddenly changed form. Belthazor stood where Cole had stood only a moment ago. "And as I said, if you want the Elder, you have to go through me, first."
"Demon?" Damonculous questioned. "Protecting an Elder? How can this be?"
"You want to talk or fight?" Belthazor asked. "Frankly, you're beginning to bore me to death."
"This is not finished," said Damonculous. "I will be back. And when I do, I'll take the Elder, demon or no."
Suddenly Damonculous vanished from the entryway. He didn't shimmer as most demons did. Nor did he orb as the Whitelighters and Elders. Instead it appeared to be a combination of the two. A shimmering orb that was gray in color instead of the normal blue. Everyone turned to attend to Thomas. Belthazor changed back into Cole.
"He's dead," Leo repeated. "That's impossible. Whitelighters can only be killed by a Dark Lighters' arrow."
"He was a good Whitelighter," said Percy. "I shall miss him."
"Thanks, Cole," Prue said. "For a minute, I wasn't sure what we were going to do."
"Well, I couldn't very well just stand there and let him kill an Elder, now could I?" asked Cole.
"But what do we do when he returns?" Piper asked. "Apparently we don't have our powers either. And he said something about blocking the power of everyone who uses good magic. Is that even possible?"
Everyone turned to Percy. Clearly he knew more than he was telling. And he seemed to know who this Damonculous was. He just looked at them offering no explanation.
"Percy," said Leo, "you know who that was, don't you?"
"Leo," said Percy very deliberately, fear evident in his voice, "never ask me that question again. You are forbidden from leaning the answer."
Percy turned and walked over to the fireplace to compose himself. Everyone just stared at him in shock. He obviously knew something. And even though it could quite possibly cost him his life, he refused to say anything.