Chapter 17. Two lovebirds with one stone.

Kaiba orbed into a dark corridor, with damp rock walls and a sand floor. He could barely see his own hand, let alone a demon, but screaming voices made him look in their direction, and he began to run towards them, his spotless trenchcoat billowing behind him. He stopped at the doorway to see about eight demons and four darklighters circling the Charmed Ones and Serenity, all primed to attack. Piper saw Kaiba and nudged Phoebe, giving a discreet glance his way. Kaiba raised his hands, letting the power gather in his wrists. He flicked them quickly, and the two nearest demons, along with fireballs yelled in pain and burst into flames. Two down, another ten to go, but he'd now attracted the attention of the others, including Taihe. Phoebe tried to get the attention of one by throwing a well-aimed kick at the nearest to her, sending him into the wall and knocking him out, but another two demons grabbed her arms. She yelled for her sisters, but they had been grabbed too. The next three demons threw energy balls at him, but he held up his palms and stopped them in mid-air. He flicked his wrists at each demon in turn, overloading them with power and making them vanquish. The last two demons tried physical attacks, the overpowering looks of hate on their faces gave the obvious reason as to their foolishness in trying, and he threw lightning volts at them, rendering them dead, and surprising himself in the process.

He could remember vanquishing demons as a child, but he never had powers like this, not this strong, and the strange thing was that he could control them. He liked that. He noticed the darklighters orb out, and he knelt down to disable Serenity's force field. It disappeared, and she stiffly got to her feet, however this happy moment didn't last, because one of the darklighters had orbed in again, crossbow poised.

"Seto!" she yelled, but she wasn't quick enough. He turned to face it, but the arrow had already left the crossbow and it hit him just below the collarbone. He grabbed at it, but was unconscious before he could pull it out, and he hit the sand floor with a soft thud.

"Oh my God!" she said, as she knelt down beside him. Piper looked for the darklighter, but it had already orbed out. She too knelt down by Kaiba and yanked the arrow out. All of them tried to wake him, but to no avail. He had gone cold and his face had paled slightly.

"Seto no!" Serenity cried, tears sliding down her cheeks. She wrapped her arms around him and propped him up, telling him again and again to wake up.

"Ahhh. Dear dear. He will never wake up you know. Pity actually, he had rather impressed me. Oh, and I would brace myself if I were you," said Taihe – who had come back – addressing Serenity, "The pain of losing a true love is worse than any physical pain, I assure you, and the vast majority do not live through it. I like to call it; killing two lovebirds with one stone." She said, a smirk playing on her face. "I do not expect you to either. What a shame, two young sorcerers killed in one day, but then again this is the Underworld… Oh temper temper." She said, referring to the sisters, who had stood up between them and Taihe. Piper looked as if she was ready to explode, or make something explode, if she were able to.

"You won't live." She said, her voice, like Kaiba's - lowered several tones when she was angry, and now was no exception.

"My dear, you forget that you have no powers, and hence would not be able to kill me if you tried." She laughed to herself. This only enraged Piper more. She couldn't let them die… she wouldn't. "However, I can kill you." She said, producing I fireball in her hand. The sisters ducked, letting it strike the wall behind them. "Tch tch tch. How pathetic. I expected better of you…"

Meanwhile, as Taihe continued her speech, Kaiba's eyes fluttered open and he grasped his wound. He put a finger to his lips, a sign for Serenity to keep quiet. She did so obediently. Finding the strength, he began to get to his feet. Serenity frantically signaled for him to stay down, but he stood all the same. Taihe, who was so into her speech, never noticed his tall figure rise from behind the sisters, who hadn't noticed either. He shut his eyes, and began to summon all the power he had. Power he never knew he could muster. A silver triquertra began to glow brightly on his forehead, and a gust of wind began to blow around the room, picking his trenchcoat up in waves. Taihe turned to face the sisters again, and paled when she saw him. The sisters, confused at her sudden loss of colour, turned around to see him standing behind them. They smiled at Serenity, who acknowledged them mutually. Kaiba began to recite a spell, a spell taught to him by his mother, brought forward from the very back of his memory, back into his mind's eye;

"Hell threw you from its inner core,

But earth won't hold you anymore,

And since Heaven cannot be your place,

Your flesh and blood, I now erase."

The gust of wind concentrated around the demon woman, disallowing her freedom. She screamed as the power hit her, making her burst into flames. Even in the second or so after she combusted, her eerie voice could still be heard echoing in the demonic chambers around them. Simultaneously, due to the potion-brewer being vanquished, the effects of the potion subsided, and the sisters felt their powers flood back from dormancy. Kaiba's hand reached up to his wound again, provoking mad questioning from them all as to if he was alright;

"I'm fine."

"Fine my foot! You were hit by a god-forsaken darklighter arrow!" scoffed Piper.

"I'm amazed you woke up so soon. At all, in truth." Said Phoebe gladly, "I'm also amazed you're still conscious after having performed a spell like that and having been hit by the poison arrow. By the way, how's it feeling?"

"Painful." He said.

"Funny actually that the poison, although it rendered you unconscious and is still causing you great agony," said Paige analytically, "was only effective for a very short amount of time. In fact, if you didn't have a hole in your shoulder, I'd thin you were fine. You must be stronger than we thought."

"Thanks." He said.

"Finally, something he actually means." Thought Piper to herself. "We really out to get that healed." She said concernedly.

"I'll get an Elder." Said Paige,

"No, don't bother, my brother can heal me." He said certainly, casting doubts among the sisters. They looked to one another, and then Piper said;

"Fine, but we're staying with you until we can't see a hole in your shoulder!"

"C'mon," he said, offering his hand to Serenity, who took it, eagerly this time. When their hands touched, he felt a shock travel up his arm, and dissipate to every part of him. It was a pleasurable shock, one he strangely liked. A lot. He didn't dare show it, but he knew that Serenity felt it too. He heard Seth say;

"I told you so hikari, and you have."

"Shut up." He told his yami.

"You never learn, do you?" Kaiba chose not to answer this remark, and orbed them back to his mansion, with the sisters not far behind them.