Chapter 7 Soul Stealer Is Back
It was a long night. Leo couldn't sleep. Neither could Chris. Leo was to busy thinking about how Chris was acting. Chris, well, his reason was actually not quite the same. He couldn't sleep because the couch was so darn comfy. NOT! It was as hard as rock. Even the floor seemed softer. So that's where he spent most of the night.
"Good
morning. Sleep well?"
Paige asked Chris as she walked into the
lounge. It was obvious that he hadn't had a good night.
"Bloody brilliant."
She laughed.
"It
was good of you to let Barbas have your room."
"Well, I had no
choice, really."
"I
guess. So what are you doing today?"
She asked him just as
Phoebe came in.
"Not much."
"That's good. You can help kill the soul stealer."
Phoebe sounded as though she had slept well. She walked into the kitchen and turned on the jug.
"Who
wants coffee?"
She called. Chris stood up and walked in. Paige
followed him.
"Please."
Paige said.
"Nah. I think I'll just have a coke."
Chris walked over to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of coke. Paige leaned over the small island and got 3 cups for coffee. One was for Piper. Five minutes later, Paige, Phoebe and Chris were all sitting in the lounge watching stupid cartoons. They were laughing their heads off.
"Why do you watch those things? They're bad for your brain."
Piper asked as she sat down. Phoebe handed her a cup of coffee.
"Exactly."
Paige said. Piper chuckled. Her sisters were crazy about cartoons. This one seemed quite interesting. The dog had just ran over to the man and started to lick his boots. Until he started to eat the guy.
"Euw. Gross."
Piper said. She turned away in disgust. It was gruesome. Well, not really, but still, it was gross.
"Cool."
Chris exclaimed. Piper threw a pillow in his direction. He grabbed it and threw it back. Then came pillows from all directions. Barbas came down the stairs.
"Cool. Cartoons and a pillow fight."
He said as a pillow narrowly missed his head. They all stopped and stared. And then they all started to laugh.
"Even better. Cartoons, a pillow fight and a bunch of laughing hyenas."
Barbas said over the noise of laughing. They laughed for ten minutes. All of a sudden Chris bolted upright.
"Are
you okay?"
Piper asked.
"Anyone need another coffee?"
He asked.
"I'll have another."
Phoebe said. Chris got up, took her cup and walked into the kitchen. Paige grabbed her cup off the table and followed him.
"What's
the matter?"
She asked as she put the jug on. Chris got another
coke out of the fridge.
"That isn't Barbas in there. That's the demon."
He told her sharply. Her eyebrows raised in interest.
"Orb up to my room and you'll find Barbas. The real one."
And Paige orbed upstairs as Chris took the coffees into the lounge. He went back into the kitchen to find Paige standing there with a look of shock on her face. Standing beside her was Barbas.
"I told you."
Chris said.
"So
what do we do about the demon in there?"
Paige asked as she
gestured towards the lounge.
"I'll go get Leo."
He told her as he orbed out. That was amazing. He was actually going to talk to Leo.
"You should go back up to Chris' room. Before anyone sees you."
Paige told Barbas. She orbed him back up and orbed back down. Oh well, she thought as she walked through with her coffee.
"You took your time."
Piper said. Paige rolled her eyes and made Phoebe start to laugh. Paige ran over and jumped onto the couch, half squashing Phoebe.
"Oww."
Phoebe cried.
"Sorry."
Paige laughed.
"Let's get back to our cartoons."
And there they sat for the next two hours, laughing and screaming.
"Leo!
Where are you?"
Chris yelled out. Leo came rushing over to him.
"What's
wrong?"
He hurriedly asked.
"Our
demon problem is sitting watching cartoons, and Piper and Phoebe
don't know it."
"Oh."
Was all Leo simply said. He stood thinking for a minute.
"We could get them to vanquish it."
Chris suggested.
"It's the best we can do."
Chris turned to leave.
"Wait,
we can't just go in there and say 'you are a demon. Vanquish him
Piper.' Can we?"
"I guess not. They could all come into the
kitchen one by one and we could tell them are plan." And they both
orbed out.
A blast of light came from the kitchen when Piper walked in. She gasped as two figures came into view.
"You scared the hell out of me!"
She exclaimed. The boys just laughed at the look on her face.
"At least you are getting along. Well, do either of you want a cuppa?"
"No thanks. Sorry to say, but the guy in there that you've been watching cartoons with all morning, is the Soul Stealer."
"That's nice."
Piper said as she walked over to the fridge. Then it hit her. She whipped around
"That isn't Barbas out there?"
"No. So you have to get your sisters in here so we can vanquish him."
Chris told Piper. Piper nodded, took her coffee and went back through to the other room. Through the closed door, Chris and Leo could hear whispered conversations. A few seconds later, Phoebe walked through the door.
"Piper said you wanted to talk to me."
"The guy in there that you've been watching cartoons with all morning, is the Soul Stealer."
"Oh."
"After we talk to Paige, we'll come up with a vanquishing spell to vanquish it. Then we'll get you all together and vanquish it."
Phoebe nodded as she walked out. A second later, Paige was standing in her place. She looked at Chris, then at Leo, and back at Chris.
"You two seem to be hitting it off well."
She said with a smile. Chris narrowed his eyes at her from over at the fridge, where he was getting her a diet coke. Following her gaze, Leo sharply said
"We'll come up with a vanquishing spell to vanquish the demon. Then we'll get you all together and vanquish it."
"Okay. Oh, by the way, the demons getting suspicious of us."
Chris threw her the coke and she walked out to the lounge where they were just starting to watch a movie.
Leo
spun around to face Chris.
"So, any ideas?"
"We'll just
get a potion and vanquish it. Barbas is upstairs, so nobody will see
him just burst into flames."
"But…"
"But what?"
"Nothing."
Leo sighed. He didn't want another fight.
"Come on. We have a potion to brew."
He said as he turned to the cupboards. Chris rolled his eyes and turned to help.
"Dragons blood, myrrh oil, and jargons root."
Leo counted off each item as he pulled it out of the potions cabinet. They spent the next ten minutes making the potion, barely talking.
They were all feeling a bit tired, but now they knew why. The demon was draining their power. Chris walked in the door with a sour look on his face. A grouchy looking Leo followed him. Leo had a small vial in his hand. Paige looked at them with a look of confusion.
"Having fun?"
Phoebe asked, noticing their faces. Her and Paige shared a quick laugh. Chris scowled at them and they burst out laughing. After wiping away their tears, they saw the look on Piper's face. They immediately shut up.
"What's wrong?"
Piper asked as she turned to Leo.
"It's
time."
Leo told her. Piper sighed and got up along with her
sisters. They all stood next to him. Piper took the paper, Phoebe
took the potion, and Paige took their hands. Chris rushed over and
held onto the demon. The girls stood together and said the spell.
Phoebe was about to throw the potion, when Leo ran in front of her.
"Wait!
Don't throw it!"
He yelled at her. She looked stunned. "He
doesn't deserve to die."
He told them. Paige turned to him, furious. Her eyes were raging.
"Give us one good reason."
"Because he isn't a demon. He has just been influenced by a demon."
"Throw the potion Phoebe!"
Chris yelled from behind the demon.
Confused, Phoebe handed the potion to Piper. Piper's eyes widened.
"I don't know what to do either Phoebe."
She told her sister. Over in the corner, Chris was struggling.
"Hurry up, before he gets away."
Paige stomped over to her quarrying sisters. She snatched the potion out of Piper's hand. She threw it at the demon.
"There. You happy now?"
She said as she turned around to face her sisters. Behind her, the soul stealer had just burst into flames. Leo turned to her, his face raging.
