Divine Source

Disclaimer: I don't own X-men or Charmed in any way, shape, or form. I own only the plot.

AN: Constructive criticism welcomed, but please if you don't like the story just don't read it. Or let me know, in a non-rude way, that you didn't like the story.
Chapter 13

Taylor stomped up to her room nosily to grab her scrying tools. She barged in and was immediately sorry for doing so when she saw Rogue and Bobby lying on Rogue's bed.

"Oh my god!" Taylor said averting her eyes immediately. "I am so sorry. I just needed my scrying tools." Rogue laughed as she and Bobby sat up.

"Taylor, it's okay. We're not doing anything. We were just lying down." Taylor nodded and entered the room. Still averting her eyes from Rogue's side of the room, she gathered her tools and moved to leave.

"Uh, carry on," she said nervously with a salute as she turned and left the room.

Rogue watched all of this with amusement. She turned to Bobby to see him staring at the door with a smile. His shoulders were shaking and he was barely holding back his laughter.

"I think she's warming up to us," he laughed when he couldn't take it anymore.

Taylor headed back to the kitchen, passing the workout room as she did so. Logan was in still in there. When she looked to see what he was doing, she saw that he was using the punching bag again. This time he seemed more fierce as he beat out his frustration. He'd taken his shirt off and his sweat shined on his defined body.

Taylor realized what she was thinking and her eyes widened. 'Gotta go,' she thought turning and practically running away from the room. 'I'm not talking to him anyway.'

"Here," Taylor breathed once she reached the kitchen. She placed her tools on the table and looked over to Chris, who was biting a pencil and staring at the small writing pad he held in his hands. "What have you got so far?" Chris turned the paper over to Taylor. She glanced at it once and turned disbelieving eyes onto Chris.

"Are you kidding me?" she asked him. "One line?"

"Hey, it's harder than it looks!" he said defensively. He grabbed the pad back and Taylor spread her tools across the table and began scrying.

"Look," she told him. "Just work on the vanquishing spell and I'll write a revealing spell." When she got no answer she assumed he was doing what she asked. Within the next few moments the scratch of pencil on paper was all that was heard.

Without warning, the scrying crystal dropped on the map. This surprised Taylor because, from experience, scrying usually took a bit longer.

"Hey," she called to Chris. "Found him."

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Chris asked Taylor. "I mean, shouldn't you have told one of your friends at the institute where you were going?" It was past midnight. He and Taylor had tracked the demon to a large alley behind central park.

"Why? So that they'd ask to come with? No way, man. They may be mutants, but there's no way they can deal with demons. I can hardly deal with demons." Chris didn't answer.

The two crept along in silence, looking for anything that resembled the demon they were searching for. Suddenly movement caught Taylor's eye.

"Over there!" she hissed. Chris nodded and headed towards the source of movement. A large dumpster hid what had caused the movement and Chris moved towards it.

"Chris," Taylor whispered. "Chris!"

"What?" Chris asked irritably turning towards Taylor. Without warning the demon sprung out from behind the dumpster. He looked like a normal human. He was dressed in a suit and could pass for a banker. He headed towards Taylor and, with wide eyes; she threw her hands up to freeze him. He stopped, only a few feet from her and she turned and ran over to Chris.

"Chris, where's the vanquishing spell?"

"You don't wanna cast the reveal first?" he asked her confused.

"Chris, does he look like and innocent?" Chris tapped Taylor on the arm. "What?"

"He's not frozen anymore."

"What?" Taylor turned around to see the demon moving slowly towards them. She raised her hands to freeze him again. It didn't work. "Uh oh. Chris, the spell! Give me the spell!" Chris fumbled in his pocket as the demon got closer and closer.

"Here!" Chris said as he pulled it out of his pocket. The demon noticed this and raised his hand, freezing Chris.

"Hey, that's my power!" Taylor shouted indignantly. She raised her hands to try and blow him up, but thought better of it. The Image Changer certainly did more than steal the way you look. Apparently, he stole powers too. 'Wait,' Taylor thought. 'My powers.'

"Alright," Taylor said as the demon came closer. "How about a spell?"

"Stupid witch," the demon said darkly. His human features had twisted. He no longer passed for a mortal as he reverted to his great large blob of a self. "Your powers will not affect me for long." Taylor smiled.

"Wanna bet? Freeze the time in this space. Reduce it to its slowest pace. Freeze the time in this space, and do it with the greatest haste." The demon's oozing body stayed where it was as it froze yet again, and Taylor was sure that this time it would stay that way. She turned to the frozen Chris and glanced at the spell in his hands.

"Okay," she sighed. "Let's see what I can do. Changing forms as time goes by, your blob of nothing refuses to die. I send your oozing fest to hell, as death takes you with this spell." As Taylor finished the last line of the spell the Changer unfroze and fire surrounded him as he was vanquished. Once he'd disappeared Chris unfroze.

"Hur-ry," he said slowly as he realized the demon was gone. "What happened?"

"I'll explain when we get home," Taylor said airily. "By the way, good spell. Worked like a charm. You know, after he froze you and everything." Chris blinked.

"He froze me?" he shouted.

"What do you mean he froze me?" Chris repeated for the hundredth time that morning as he and Taylor orbed into the kitchen.

"Will you keep it down?" she whispered. "I'm sure everyone else is asleep. They've had a long day around here with the redhead, Kurt's death slash not death, and you and me." Chris looked at Taylor with empty eyes.

"What?" he asked. "Who died, but then didn't die? What's going on in this house?" Taylor sighed.

"Dude, it's like four o'clock in the morning. Let me sleep and I'll explain everything I know when I get up." Chris opened his mouth to say more but Taylor raised a hand to stop him. "Do you want me to freeze you?"

"You can't freeze me. I'm a good witch."

"Yeah, but I can blow you up. Go to bed, man." Chris grinned at Taylor.

"Alright, but you're going to have to get use to this late night stuff. My parents and aunts did it all the time."

"Do I look like your mother? Do I look like your aunts?" Chris looked Taylor over in a way that suggested that he didn't see her as one of the family.

"Shut up," she said before he could even comment. "Don't say a thing." Chris chuckled. Chris turned to leave. "Wait, Chris."

"Yeah?"

"How is it that the demon froze you with my powers, but not me?"

"Well, once he got them he could've frozen anyone, but I think that he didn't freeze you because he wanted to kill you first."

"Well, why not just freeze me?"

"The challenge of live bait," Chris said honestly. "You're being targeted." He said this with a sudden understanding. "Go to bed," he told Taylor. "We'll talk about it later." Taylor nodded silently and watched as Chris left the kitchen. Not even a minute later, Logan entered through the same way.

He didn't seem surprised to see Taylor. Instead, he looked relieved.

"Where have you been?" he asked quietly. He walked over to the fridge and got a cola.

"What's it matter?" Taylor returned his question with one of her own. She was still mad at him about earlier. She could understand his wanting to be left alone, but he didn't have to yell at her like that.

"It matters a lot, okay? So what happened?"

"I had to vanquish a demon," Taylor said dryly. "No biggie." Logan almost choked on his cola.

"Dammit, Ice!" he growled. "What have I told you about that? Why didn't you come and get me? Or even Scooter for that matter?"

"I had Chris." Logan's face twisted.

"Oh, right. He's been such a marvelous help in the past!" Taylor's face crumpled.

"Shut up," she said quietly, but Logan continued like he hadn't heard.

"He left Wyatt, Taylor! What makes you think he won't do the same to you? What if you two are out fighting demons and he takes off?"

"Shut up," Taylor repeated.

"He's no good! He let his own brother die!" Logan continued completely oblivious to what he was saying let alone Taylor. All he knew was that he couldn't protect her without powers like hers and it was driving him nuts. He had to show her that Chris was no good. Somehow he had to show her that he wasn't the one to trust.

"Shut up!" Taylor shouted. Logan fell silent as he finally looked at Taylor. I mean he really looked and what he saw shocked him. She was crying. She was pissed, but she was crying and it was his fault. He didn't know how to deal with that.

"Taylor," he whispered sadly. "Ice, I'm sorry. I just- I want to protect you, okay? I want to protect you, but I don't know how I'm going to fight your demons when you won't let me."

"I don't need your help," Taylor told him shakily. "I don't need anyone's help. You're right, Logan. I don't need to trust Chris." She looked Logan in his eyes. "I don't need to trust you either." She brushed past him and left the kitchen.

Logan watched her go and growled as he ran his fingers through his hair. Frustration. That was what he was feeling. It had been a long time since he'd felt it, but here it was. He was frustrated at himself for saying the wrong things, at Taylor for not knowing what he was trying to say, and at Chris because it was all his fault. Everything, from now on, is Chris' fault, Logan decided.

"How am I going to protect you, if you won't let me?" he whispered after Taylor. He sighed. Damn hormones.