Chapter 9

This was just way too easy.

He always thought that getting inside their heads and screwing with their minds would have been a lot more challenging then it actually was, but then again no one ever said they were smart. Well, not as smart as him anyway and judging by their willingness to accept every word out of his mouth as the truth kind of begged the question as to whether or not they even had any brains at all.

He snickered to himself at the last thought, knowing that he was intellectually superior to his family gave him an intense sense of self admiration. The almighty charmed ones and the fallen angel were no match for him. He was on a level far beyond their range of competency and once he gave his dear aunt Phoebe a very entertaining premonition then he would happily watch what little bit of mental capacity they had left disintegrate.

"How's your pancakes peanut?" his mother questioned in that phony concerned tone he loathed.

Part of him wished that she would just shut the hell up already. Gees she had spoken to him more in the past few hours then she had his entire life. While the other half of him loved the attention, although he would never admit it.

"They're great Mom" he replied trying hard not to sound bad-tempered or rude. He had to remain pleasant and non-threatening at all times other wise his little mission of revenge would come to an abrupt end before he even had a chance to get to the good part.

"Are you sure honey because I can always make you some more or something else all together" the woman continued, willing to do anything to make her youngest son happy.

Chris had to clench his teeth together and closed his eyes briefly all the while trying desperately to his mother's words.

He couldn't believe this woman. He couldn't' fathom the nerve, the sheer audacity it took for her to sit there before him and pretend to love and care about him and the things he liked when she never gave a shit before. She, his aunts and his miserable father were full of it and he couldn't wait to inflict the emotional torment and pain on them that they so richly deserved.

Easy Chris, don't screw this up for yourself. You've got them right where you want them so don't be foolish. Don't let your emotions get the best of you, a voice inside his head spoke. Opening his eyes he forced himself to smile at the woman.

"No Mom, really everything's perfect"

"Good" Leo replied with a saddened smile. "We just wanted to make sure you were happy"

"I am. Really Leo" he said putting emphasis on his father's name. "I'm good"

Chris kept his eyes fixated on his father while struggling hard to keep his amused grin at bay. He was enjoying the pained and heartbroken look on his father's face as he winced at the sound of his own name. This little game of his was turning out better then he had anticipated and with his father getting ready to cry like a bitch only added to his delight.

"Don't call me that!" he heard his father shout as he pretend to be freighted by the man's outburst.

Leo was so freaking easy to unravel.

"Chris" he now spoke with caution. "I don't want you to call me by my first name. I am your father and no matter what happened in your past I will always be your Dad and that's exactly how I want you to address me, ok?"

He could feel the tensions in the room build up to an all time high as each one of his family members stared at him, waiting for a reply. He had to admit having this much power over an entire room full of people was exhilarating. Deciding that it would be best for dramatic effect he down cast his eyes and strained as if he were holding back tears and sighted heavily.

"I'm sorry Le…Dad" he said in a voice that was just above a whisper. He continued to look down to make sure no one saw the smirk on his face.

"It's ok son. Don't worry I'm gonna fix this. Whatever happened before won't happen again" Leo finished as an intense wave of Déjà Vu came over each family member that was sitting around the table.

"Chris" Phoebe began as she reached out to touch him, but she didn't get a chance to finish before she was pulled into a premonition.

Phoebe's Premonition

"Come on Chris we can be finished before Mom and Dad get back" a ten year old Wyatt pleaded with his little brother as the two entered the kitchen.

"No Wyatt, you heard what Mommy said. The ice cream is for after dinner" the younger boy replied while holding a finger in the air right in front of the older boy's face just as his mother would if she were there.

Slapping the child's hand away Wyatt rolled his eyes and side stepped the dark haired boy and continued on his path towards the freezer.

"Well Mommy's not here now, is she Chris?" he said with a mischievous grin.

"Wyatt!" the younger boy warned not quite comfortable with the boy's demeanor. He stood by and watched helplessly as his brother reached into the freezer and pulled out the box of peanut brittle ice cream. He then retrieved a bag of reeces pieces candy and a bottle of fudge chocolate sauce. Carefully spreading out makings for the tasty treat, he continued on taking hold of a chair and placing it in front of the cupboards before pulling out two bowls and although the younger boy was dead set against his brother's treacherous acts he still found his mouth watering as he looked around making sure to alert his brother should his parents suddenly appear.

"Is anyone coming Chris?" he questioned now beginning to fill the bowls with ice cream.

"No but what if we get caught?" the boy asked obviously worried about getting caught and the punishment that would come with it.

"So what if we do? Mom and Dad will only lecture us for a little while then send us to our room where we'll play video games for the hour or two before dinner. It's no big deal" the blond child spoke as he handed his brother a bowl full of sugary delight.

"Yeah that's easy for you to say. Dad doesn't hate you and Mom loves you to pieces, no body loves me, well except for you"

Wyatt sent a sympathetic glance his brother's way as his face contorted as he struggled to come up with soothing words to comfort his brother who now didn't find his sundae so appealing. But he couldn't. He knew what his brother had said was the truth and no matter how much he didn't want it to be so there was no way to deny it.

"Sorry Chris. I almost forgot but don't worry I'll orb everything away and say a spell so no one will know, ok?"

"Okay" Chris said still not removing his eyes from the treat bowl in front of him.

"Good now stop worrying about nothing and eat up before it melts" he smiled.

Unfortunately their moment of brotherly bonding was interrupted when the dark haired boy was violently pulled from his seat. Without offering a reason for his actions Leo turned to his eldest son.

"Wyatt take your ice cream, go to your room and watch TV while Chris and I talk okay"

Chris's eyes were already filled with tears before the older boy had a chance to get up.

"Dad" Wyatt's voice cracked as he took in the sight of his petrified younger sibling. He hadn't meant to get Chris in trouble and if he had, he would never forgive himself.

"What is it son?" he questioned lovingly.

"It wasn't Chris's idea" he spoke softly while suddenly taking interest in the tiled kitchen floor.

"Wyatt you're a really good big brother and Chris is so lucky to have you but you cannot keep covering up for him when he does something wrong"

"Dad listen to me!" he yelled in frustration. "Chris told me not to take the ice cream because you and Mom would be mad and I did it anyway so if you want to be mad at anybody then be angry with me"

"Okay son, there's no need to get upset" the man spoke while hugging his eldest son with one hand and squeezing the arm of the other.

"So you're not mad at us"

"Of course not Wy, I could never be mad at you" he continued before planting a kiss on the boy's head.

This seemed to ease the young man's fears until he saw the tight grip his father still had on his brother and the pained look an the boy's face didn't help.

"What about Chris?" he questioned.

"What about him?" the fallen Elder shot back in a venomous tone.

Hearing the tone of his father's voice caused the young man to continue more hostile. "You said that you weren't mad at me but you didn't say anything about Chris"

"It's okay Wy. You don't have to stick up for me" the boy's young sibling that had been silent until now spoke in a voice that was barely a whisper. Chris didn't want his father to get angry at Wyatt, even if that was virtually impossible he didn't want to risk it.

"You're brother's right Wyatt. Everything's fine so why don't you just take your ice cream and your brother's upstairs so I can talk to Chris just for a minute okay?"

"Alright" the younger boy spoke reluctantly before giving his brother a tormented look, grabbing the bowls and leaving the room.

The second the powerful witch vanished from his sight Leo raised his hand high in the air and struck the face of his youngest child, knocking him down to the floor with a sickening thud.

Muffled cries escaped the boy's mouth as he lay on the cold ground with an agonizing pain throbbing in his arm and check.

"Shut up!" the man yelled as the small child clasped a hand over his own lips.

The man then landed a swift hard kick to the boy's abdomen as the small formed shuttered in pain.

"You have always been such a fucking pain in the ass and now you want to drag your brother into your mess" he questioned pulling the boy to his feet.

"I'm sorry Daddy" the boy barely made out through tears.

"What did you call me?"

Instantly picking up on his mistake the boy quickly replied "Leo. I'm sorry Leo"

"That's what I thought" the man said grabbing a paper towel from the counter and handing it to the little boy. "Gees you're so pathetic, even worse then your other version, you know the emotional train wretch that screwed up the lives of this entire family"

"I'm sorry" the boy repeated to stop the verbal assault.

Leo was about to continue when a voice called out "Hello is anybody home" he abruptly picked the boy up and held him close.

"In here" he shouted while saying "It's ok son, it's alright" he then whispered to the child "Say anything to your mother and what I did to you will seem like a walk in the park"

Seconds later Piper came through the kitchen door. "Oh my God, what happened?" the concerned mother spoke rushing over to her child.

"Chris took a nasty fall down the stairs but I think he'll be ok, right son"

"Yeah" the boy replied not even bothering to look up.

"Ok, well I'm going to go get some ointment for that bump" the woman said before hurrying out of the kitchen completely unaware that her husband was the true reason for her son's pain.

End of Flashback

"Phoebe, what is it? What did you see" the empath was confronted by the sound of her sister's voice as she came out of her vision.

She said nothing, instead she stood still looking down on her nephew who in her mind was an innocent party in her sick brother in law's games. She then set her sights upon the man that was responsible for making the boy's life and a living hell. Beating him, threatening him and treating him worse then some animal.

"You son of a bitch!" she yelled rushing over to her brother in law and knocking him out of his chair.

"Phoebe what the hell's the matter with you!" the man's wife shouted as she helped her husband to his feet while her youngest sister held the middle witch back.

"You didn't see what I saw Piper so don't you dare defend him!"

"Well why don't you enlighten me then? Tell me what Leo did that was so bad"

"No, aunt Phoebe please don't" the boy pleaded as if pretending to give a damn.

This was going perfectly and once his mother and youngest aunt found out the truth, well his version anything the shit was really going to hit the fan.

"Ok you want to know what he did, fine I'll tell you" the woman paused before continuing.

"I'll tell you how your husband tortured your son"