By 8:30 that night the dance at Bay Side High was in full swing. Loud music pumped into the gymnasium and hyped up teenagers- in full Halloween garb- danced enthusiastically. As Chris glanced across the crowded room he could see Mel with her arms wrapped around Jake, her most recent boyfriend. No one in the Halliwell household was overly thrilled about Mel's choice in guys- she tended to go for the smooth talking types- and Jake, like most of the other ones she had dated, could appropriately be called a egocentric jerk. Chris was half tempted to walk over there and blast that smug look off the other young mans face as he stared a little to closely at the revealing parts of Mel's attire.

Chris was suddenly snapped away from his thoughts as he felt a gentle hand touch his shoulder. It was his date – Jenny Hughes- a girl he had liked since tenth grade and had finally worked up enough courage to ask to the dance. They definitely were not at the dating stage yet, but Chris was hoping that this night would bring them a step closer.

"Do you think it's kind of hot in here?" Jenny asked, brushing a stay strand of dirty blonde hair away from her eyes and readjusting the tiara she was wearing as part of her princess costume.

Chris shrugged. "Sure, I guess."

"Well, maybe we could go outside for a bit…and get some air. I'm dying in here." The girl managed to catch his eye and Chris' face broke into a wide grin as he realized that this was her indirect way of getting them a bit more privacy.

"Okay," he said quickly "Let's go." And with that he grabbed her hand and led them through the crowd and out of the gym.

When they arrived outside, Jenny gave a small sigh before flashing Chris a brilliant smile. "Thanks." She muttered softly "Its much nicer out here."

"I agree." Chris replied, amused to see that a fait blush was beginning to appear on her cheeks. "A lot quieter too."

Jenny giggled and glanced down at the pavement, clearly unsure of what to say next. "Um, I like your costume." She muttered, after several tense minutes of silence. "It suits you."

The boy could hardly suppress his laugh- she had no idea how right she was. "Thanks," he replied, smiling "I like yours too."

There was another period of prolonged silence as both teens desperately searched for something to say.

Chris could feel his heartbeat begin to increase and his knees become weak as they stood, avoiding each other's eyes. He internally scolded himself for being so ridiculous- he faced demons and other bad guys on a weekly basis- something as simple as talking to a girl he happened to like should not have caused him to loose his cool like this.

Unable to stand it any longer, Chris cleared his throat and said what he had been holding in for so long. "Jenny," he began quietly, causing the girl to look up. "I…I…do you wanna go out this weekend sometime…like on a real date?"

The girl blushed more than she had before. "Of course." She replied quickly, her voice a little louder than normal. "I'd love to…I've always wanted you to ask me that."

Taken aback, Chris' mouth opened in shock…was it possible that all this time she had liked him too? Why had he waited so freaking long to ask her out? "I…I've always wanted to ask you." He replied dumbly. "How's Saturday at seven?"

Both were grinning now, and the earlier tension was slowly beginning to dissipate.

"Seven is perfect."

They found themselves leaning slowly towards each other…their faces were only inches apart. Chris closed his eyes as he prepared himself for the kiss that he had yearned for for so long….

But it never came.

A loud scream suddenly echoed out of the gym, causing Chris and Jenny to quickly draw back.

Chris listened as the noise began to build…something was obviously wrong. "I'm gonna go check that out." He said worriedly, turning to the girl.

"I'm coming too." Jenny stated, and without another moments hesitation the two took off towards the gym.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Mel stood on the dance floor with her arms wrapped around Jake. She had seen Chris leave the room with his date a few minutes ago and wondered amusedly what they were doing at that very moment. She hoped that it went well- Chris really did need a girl to loosen him up a bit.

"I love this song!" she exclaimed as the DJ began to play a track from one of her favorite new groups.

Jake smiled. "I know, that's why I requested it for you."

"Aww, that's so sweet." She giggled, standing on he toes to give him a peck on the cheek. She wished that her family could see how nice her boyfriend really was…at times.

The two began to move to the beat of the song, dancing rather closely together. Mel knew that if Chris had still been in the room he probably would have been shooting daggers at them right now. Even though he was only a year older then her, he had always felt the need to protect her- she supposed that it just part of his Charmed- whitelighter nature to look out for others…but she was a big girl now, she could make her own decisions.

As the song finished, the pair found themselves in the center of the room- both somewhat out of breath. "Shall we get something to drink?" Jake asked, taking hold of her hand.

Mel nodded and opened her mouth to reply but before she could, she was overcome by a very strange feeling.

She abruptly let go of Jake's hand and clutched her head in pain…it felt as if she was suddenly being torn in half.

Grey…

She saw a grey mist pass through the room.

She looked around frantically…Chris…she needed to find Chris…

The girl managed to take a few shaky steps towards the door before she collapsed onto the hard floor, writhing in pain.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Chris burst into the gym, Jenny trailing closely behind.

Everyone was huddled close to the walls…backing away from a single figure in the center of the room…Mel…

They all seemed to be afraid of Mel…and as the girl turned around he could see why.

He froze in panic.

His cousin stood alone in the middle of the ring of students, a fireball crackling menacingly in her outstretched hand. Something had gone seriously wrong…he knew that Mel would never do something like this…and yet there she was, exposing her magic for all to see.

Knowing that he had to end this before it got any worse, Chris threw off the cumbersome wings he was wearing and tore across the room. Pushing his way to the front of the crowd, he began to wave his arms frantically. "Mel!" exclaimed, trying to get her attention. "What the hell is going on?"

The girl turned towards him and Chris felt even more confusion overcome him as he saw her up close. The red makeup she had been wearing as part of her costume seemed to have spread across her entire body, and black markings had appeared on her face- reminding Chris instantly of the picture of his Uncle Cole's demonic form in the book of shadows. "Mel, something's wrong with you." He continued, taking a few steps towards her. "We need to get out of here, now."

Chris took hold of hid cousin's arm, but she instantly yanked it back. "I'm not leaving," she hissed, her eyes flashing a dangerous red. "It is far to much fun torturing the humans."

He could do nothing but stare at her in shock.

This certainly was not a costume…

…it seemed that for the first time, she had actually transformed into a demon- both mentally and physically.

Smiling smugly and taking advantage of his hesitation, Mel began to fling fireballs into the walls- just above the students heads.

The situation had gone from bad, too worse.

Many of the teens began to scream in terror once again and Chris forcefully grabbed hold of her arm…he needed to get her out of here as quickly as possible- without demonstrating anymore magic in the process.

"Piss off angel- boy." Mel screeched, throwing him backward with a stregenth that he did not know she possessed.

Chris tried to suppress his growing panic…she was exposing magic…in front of the entire school…and it was beginning to seem that he would not be able to stop her without using some himself. He really wished that he had inherited his mothers freezing power- that would have come in really handy at the moment.

"Mel, I need you to calm down," he said in his best whitelighter voice as he climbed to his feet. "This isn't you."

The girl merely smirked. "You can't stop me Christopher." She laughed, advancing slowly towards him. "Don't even try."

With out any warning she flung a fireball straight at his chest. He cried out- more in surprise than pain- and instantly felt himself dissolving into a mass of orbs.

Concentrating as hard as he could, he quickly managed to reform into his solid form…but he knew it was already too late to stop the damage she had done. She had blown him up…in front of the entire school…he was exposed just as much as she was right now.

Normal people did not dissolve into balls blue of energy.

As he glanced around he could see that everyone was starring at both of them with a mixture of shock and terror. His heart sank; the secret he had worked so hard to protect his entire life was out in only a matter of minutes and there was nothing he could do about it.

He'd never be able to explain his way out of this one.

"Why the hell did you do that?" he shouted at the smirking Mel, not caring who heard anymore.

"Because I can." she retorted, amusement evident on her demonic face.

Chris glared. "Yea, but I can kick your ass in a fight, you idiot!"

"But I know that you won't, you pacifist."

Chris opened his mouth to protest, but he closed it quickly as he realized that she had a point. He would never attack her- no matter what she did to him. He could hardly suppress his pacifist nature at the best of times and he knew that he could never push himself far enough to use his powers against his family.

He looked up to meet Mel's eyes; she continued to smirk confidently. "Think about what you're doing." The boy said, his voice barely above a whisper "You need to snap out of this…you're not evil, you're not a demon…"

The girl gave a cold laugh. "Yes Christopher, I am." She began "I was just too naive to see it before. This is who I should be- who I was meant to be."

"No."

"I am willing to give you five seconds to get out of here before I end your pathetic life…you are the enemy now. One…Two…" she continued, he voice distant and cool.

Chris took a step towards her, trying to ignore the lump building in his throat. This wasn't Mel… this wasn't the cousin he had always loved as his sister. "Stop this now." He choked.

"…Three…four…"

"Mel, I mean it!"

"Five." She finished with a grin as a darklighter's crossbow materialized in her hands.

Chris froze with fear; darklighter poison was the most lethal weapon anyone could use against him- and Mel knew it.

"Goodbye Christopher." Mel said with a sinister look on her face.

She pulled down the trigger at the exact moment that Chris began to orb…

XXXXXXXXXXXX

A/N You'll have to wait and see what happens! Much excitement coming up!

Hope it was okay…its late and I've been studying for my Anthropology exam all freakin day…with any luck my bad mood did not trasmit into the story:)

Oh yes, I forgot to warn people in my intro that this is not really a good story for Phoebe lovers…personally I can't stand her…and that's gonna start to show really soon. (I apologize in advance.)

I think that Piper is by far the best sister (mostly because she gave birth to Chris, lol)...anyone agree?

PLEASE REVIEW!

Thanks so much to the people that reviewed the last chapter!