The Second First Born

N.B.I hope you're in it for the long haul! Please R&R! Also, disclaimer. I don't own Charmed, the show or any of the original characters.

Piper slammed The Book onto the desk, looking angry, 'You know. I am so sick of this book. It tells you how to get yourself into trouble, but when it comes to helping you out...'
Chris looked at her, 'Piper...mom. You need to relax. All this stress can't be good for you. You're...'
Piper said, '...pregnant. I know, I know. I just feel so useless.'

She opened the book again, and turned to The Undying entries. Her brow furrowed and she looked thoughtful as her finger trailed down the text, and came to rest on the illustration.
Chris asked her, 'What is it?'
Piper looked up at him, 'These demons...aren't the demon's that attacked before.'
Chris looked confused, 'What do you mean, attacked before?'

Piper said, 'Oh yeah, you don't know yet. You were probably hanging around in some bar in the underworld.'
Chris looked anxious, 'Some demons attacked? Who...what?'
Piper looked around; on the desk, on the bookstand and on the floor. 'There was...an atheme somewhere...'

Chris stood up, 'I'll look.' As he did, he felt a presence behind him; sort of like he was being watched. He spun around quickly, but saw nothing. He turned back, but he heard a quiet, jagged breath. He straightened and said, 'Mom...'
Piper looked up at him, 'What?' He put his finger to his lips to indicate quiet as he listened, 'I heard...something.'

Piper looked around, folding her arms, 'Uh, Chris?' She looked at him, but his eyes weren't on her. They were scanning the surface of the attic wall.
They suddenly widened and Chris yelled, 'Mom, watch out!'

The white lights faded, and Paige shook her hand out of Laura's grasp. Laura's hand instead tightened on the piece of paper with the spell on it. Paige noted this and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, 'It's okay.'
Laura looked surprised, and then she gave Paige a nervous smile.
Both of them squinted through the gloom.

They were stood inside a cavern, with a low, bumpy ceiling. There was a roughly hewn stone floor beneath them, and the torchlight illuminated a great archway.
Laura looked around, and pointed towards the arch, 'Let's go this way.'

Piper ducked instinctively at that moment. The usual clutter that filled the attic was sent into disarray, as a great force blasted it around. Chris dived out of the way as the desk was sent crashing towards him. He landed on the floor with a thud; quickly turning to face the attacker, taking in the scene hastily.

A cloaked demon, with black markings streaking down his face was bearing down on the slumped figure of Piper. She was semi-conscious, and Chris saw that there was a line of blood, trickling down her brow. A sudden glint caught Chris's eye, just above the demon's stained skull. An atheme was lodged into the attic wall. The demon gave a cruel smile as he saw Chris looking.

Hatred exploded inside Chris, clouding all other emotions. He lifted his hand, and gave a quick gesture. The atheme telekinetically flew from the wall, and was sent spinning towards the attacker. As if time was frozen, the demon laughed. He straightened up, and flung out his arms. A fiery force field appeared around him, which the atheme bounced off, harmlessly. It struck the wall, and there was a smash, as the blade shattered.

The demon reached inside his robes, and drew out an atheme; one that was identical to the other. He brandished it…and then shimmered away. Chris pushed himself up, and looked around, confused; the demon wouldn't just disappear. He started towards Piper, but as he moved, the demon reappeared in front of him. 'Surprise…' he snarled, before plunging the atheme deep into Chris's heart.

Chris swayed in shock; the blow was captured on his face. He stepped back, and gaped in disbelief at the blade buried in his chest. The demon grinned, and grasped he handle of the atheme, wrenching it away. Chris screamed in agony at the shooting pain, dropping to his knees.
Stepping away, the demon smirked, 'Thank you,' he said, before orbing away.

The two witches made their way cautiously through the murky dark that hung like a mist. Pride forgotten, Paige was grasping Laura's hand, both of them standing shoulder to shoulder. Laura peered ahead. She was sure she could see something…but she couldn't be sure. She stumbled as her foot was caught on something hard.

She cursed, and let go of Paige to kneel down. She felt around, running her hand over the object. It was metallic, and quite sharp. She soon recognised it as a fallen torch bracket that had come loose from the wall. There was still a long piece of timber lodged inside it.

Paige shuffled her feet impatiently, 'What is it?' she asked.
Laura replied, 'A light.' She lifted the torch out of the bracket, and waved her hand over it. Flames burst out of the torch, licking the slightly blackened surface. A glow encircled the pair, and both of them blinked to get used to the sudden light.

Paige shook her head, 'When we get out of this, you'll have to tell me how you do that,' she said in awe. Laura held the torch up in front of her, and started to walk forward, Paige in tow. Somehow reassured by the light, Laura once again looked ahead. This time, she could make out the 'something' better. It was a figure…a woman.
Paige saw it too, 'Phoebe?' The pair broke into a run.

Piper blinked her eyes open, and everything came into sharp focus. She was facing upwards, towards the ceiling. She lifted herself onto her elbows, and she surveyed the room. She saw a figure lying in the middle of the room, completely still.
'Chris…?' she said, before scrambling towards him. His shirt was soaked in blood, his breaths shallow and uneven.

Piper touched his face, which was face up, his eyelids flickering. He was freezing. 'Leo!' she yelled. Leo appeared in a flurry of white orbs, 'What is…?' he began, before taking in the scene. A look of panic flooded across his face.

He quickly knelt down beside his son, and placed his hands over the wound.
A golden light shone out from under them. The bloodstains began to disappear from Chris's shirt. The ripped hole repaired itself, and the wound healed. Air filled Chris's lungs, and his chest rose. His eyes shot open, and he sat up.
'Mom…' he started.

Leo placed a hand on Chris's shoulder, 'It's okay, she's fine. What happened?'
Chris ignored the question and looked to Piper, 'Did he heal you?'
Piper looked back at him, 'What do you mean?'
Chris pointed to his own head, indicating what he was saying, 'You got hit over the head; you were bleeding.'

Piper put her hand on her forehead, but her hand came away dry, 'Uh, no. He didn't heal me,' she said, confused.
Chris frowned, 'Then who did?'

Laura skidded onto her knees beside the limp form. She held the torch up high, the flames illuminating the woman that lay before her. She was curled up, her head underneath her arms. Short tousled brown hair stuck out at odd angles from gaps in her fingers. Her face was hidden from view.

Paige crouched down beside Laura, and put a hand on Phoebe's arm, 'Phoebe? It's me, Paige. Can you hear me?'
Phoebe lay, unresponsive. Laura grasped Phoebe's arm gently, and turned her onto her back.
Phoebe's face was almost unrecognisable. Her skin was chalk white, with large black shadows underneath each eye. She looked drained, gaunt and hollow.

Laura turned away, cursing under her breath. Paige nodded, 'I know. Let's just get her home.' With that, she held Phoebe's shoulder, took Laura's hand and she orbed.

Leo examined Piper's head, holding it gently in his hands, 'No, there's nothing there,' he said.
Chris shook his head and frowned a little, 'I could have sworn…'
Leo shook his head in reply, 'Obviously not. You probably made a mistake or something,'
Chris said, 'I'm telling you what I saw. Piper was lying there, unconscious and bleeding.'

Piper stood up, wearily, 'Chris, Leo, could we just drop it please. I'm fine, and whatever happened to me isn't happening any more. Now, this room needs tidying up.'
Chris sprang onto his feet, 'I'll help,' he said.
Piper said, 'No, I want you to look up the demon in The Book.'

Chris muttered, 'Which demon?'
Piper folded her arms and turned to face Chris, 'Whaddya mean, 'what demon'? The demon that just skewered you would be a good start.'

Chris nodded, and walked over to the fallen bookstand, 'Okay, you don't have to yell…'

Paige and Laura looked at each other. The blue-white lights had stopped swirling, and they were still sat in the same dark cavern.
'What the...?' Paige said.
Laura supposed, 'There must be some kind of anti-orbing forcefield around this place.'
Paige threw up her hands, 'So how exactly are we going to get out of here?'

Laura reached into her pocket and brought out the spells. Next to where she was kneeling was the glowing embers of the torch she had left. She held the torch up to the grainy piece of paper and squinted at it, 'I think we have to go back, the same way we came, ' she said.

Søren looked angrily at the figure in front of him, 'So what you're saying is, you didn't do what I asked of you?'
The demon nodded and said, 'Yes, but at least I got something out of it..new powers.' Søren stopped and looked incredulously at the demon, 'What do you mean, new powers? This was supposed to be a pretty straightforward task, so that even you could have accomplished it. My orders were to wait until the oppertune moment, and then kill the infant.'

The demon cut in, his lips curling, 'Yes but you understimated them. There were two there, not just the woman. One was a whitelighter, a male, ' he held up the atheme, so that it's surface glinted in the torchlight, 'and then I stole his powers.'
Søren noted the craftmanship of the knife, 'Ereptio potentia? Not exactly your style is it, Kraall?'
Kraall shrugged, 'Hey, you have to keep up with the market. Killing witches doesn't pay as good as you would think. There is a lot of demand for whitlighter powers, especially orbing...'

Søren looked at the atheme, and then turned to Kraall, 'You might experience tough competiton for powers like those, so let me make it a little easier for you...'
He drew an atheme out from the folds of his cloak, and thrust it into Kraall's stomach. Kraall screamed, his face a picture of pain, before disintegrating into dust.

The atheme Kraall had held in his hand fell to the ground. Søren bent and picked it up. He then turned and said aloud, 'I think it's time I paid a visit to my old pal Gideon...'

Piper replaced one last book on the shelf, before stepping back to admire her work, 'You know,' she said, 'I don't know why I bother. Maybe I should just blow up the house and be done with it...'

Leo smiled and said, 'I don't know how you can even think about housework at a time like this. I mean, with Phoebe...'
Piper put her hands protectively over her stomach, 'I do it, to take my mind off how completely useless I feel.'

Leo shook his head, 'You aren't useless. I mean, at least you were here for Chris.' Piper said, 'Hmm. Speaking of which, what did the Elders want you for?'
Leo stood up and gave Piper his seat at the desk, next to Chris, 'Gideon was holding a summit meeting. They don't know anything about these attacks.'

Piper nodded, 'What a surprise. Find anything, Chris?'
Chris, who had been flicking noisily through The Book, had stopped. His finger was poised on a page. Piper leaned over and looked at the word at the top of the page, 'Reverto'.
Piper asked, 'What do they do?'
Chris read out:

Their latin name is very fitting, as 'return' in english. They are able to create a forcefield at will, against anything and everything that they view as a threat.

Chris said, 'This matches the demon down to a 'T', except that it doesn't say anything about athemes...'
Leo said, 'Well we can't rule them out. What is the larger issue here, is that two different types of demons are targeting this family. There has to be a faction of some kind...'

Piper cut in, 'But that doesn't make sense; why would he try and kill Chris, but leave me alone?'