"Ok, then, there's nothing in the Book of Shadows on strange animals who hang around outside houses," Phoebe said when she came down after hunting the entire book over and over again for information. Things had been somewhat tense in the Halliwell household since Prue died, with the changes in social structure this had brought in along with the arrival of Paige into their lives. Piper had found herself reluctantly brought into the role of oldest sister, the one who was like the Matriarch of the family and got to worry about her other sisters. With the arrival of Paige, Phoebe had ended up becoming the neutral middle sister and had to constantly keep the peace between both Paige and Piper. They were now starting to get their feet back underneath them, but it was still an unsettled environment for anyone to live in.
"Leo, could you check with the Elders if they know anything about this?" she asked her husband gently. Nodding, Leo leaned down and gave her a gentle kiss before teleporting out. Just as he was leaving, the front door opened and Paige came in. She sat her handbag down and hung her coat up before approaching her sisters.
"Hey, what's up?" she asked, noting the worried look on Piper's face. Phoebe enveloped her older sister in a tight hug while motioning Paige to close the front door and come into the living room. They all sat down on the couch with Phoebe in the middle of them all.
"We don't know yet, but earlier tonight, I saw some animals standing outside our house," Phoebe explained, "it doesn't sound strange, but the animals were a tiger, a panther and a fox. Since when did animals like that become common around here?" She could feel Piper's body shaking in her arms, so she lessened her grip slightly to allow her sister to pull back a bit. Her eyes were red and swollen, her cheeks soaked with tears.
"I-I can't do this," Piper's voice came in hiccupping sobs, "I-I can't be t-the strong one. I just, I-I want Prue back! I want her back so much!" Paige moved to the other side of Piper and both she and Phoebe held her tightly, letting her cry her pain out. They only relinquished their tight grip when they were sure she had stopped crying and let her sit back on the couch more. They both knew that Prue's death had shaken Piper more than anyone. It was as if her world had been ripped out from under her and turned on its axis. Killing the demon responsible for Prue's death, Shax, hadn't taken the edge off Piper's grief. She was literally lost in her own nightmare of pain.
On the other side of town, the three animals were scurrying along the floor of what they now knew to be a large cavern. Somehow, the demons that made this place theirs had concealed it behind the illusion of a large closed supermarket to the mere passer-by. Lyra suspected this place served as a genuine supermarket by day and this other place was hidden somehow during the daylight hours. Her keener sense of smell that the stoat form afforded her alerted her to something unusual on the ground. It was softer, more female smelling and struck her as the scent of a beautiful woman. Inwardly, she kicked herself for thinking of a smell as a beautiful woman. However, the enhanced scent of smell that came with being a stoat resulted in mental images like this. She darted along the floor of the cavern down one of the tunnels that branched off, with Crystal and Tyrk in hot pursuit. Soon, they reached another open cavern with the suited gentleman that they had seen outside a short time ago. He was talking to an extremely ugly demon that looked somewhere between a crocodile and a thorny devil. It walked on two legs like a human, but was undoubtedly a demon. Staying in close to the wall, the friends transformed into bats so they could crawl up and hear better than their previous forms allowed them to.
"Here's what you asked for," the man in the suit said, handing over a jar containing something. The reptilian demon took it, smiling happily with his horrible serrated teeth showing. He walked over to a large wooden container and removed the lid, pouring the contents of whatever was in the container into the wooden box. The screams of agony that echoed from the box were deafening to all three of the bats, but especially tore at the heart of Lyra. She knew that voice; there was only one person who was in that box being tortured. Scuttling down to the ground, she lay in wait for the moment to transform and strike back. She knew that to launch a full frontal attack would be foolish and would most likely see her killed.
"Ah yes, she does make quite a good pet, doesn't she?" he hissed to the human, "Not many demons can say they have one of the Charmed ones in their possession. Come, I believe I owe you something for bringing me what I wanted." When they both had left the room and could be heard getting further and further away, Lyra, Tyrk and Crystal all changed back into their human forms and marched swiftly over to the wooden box. Lyra fixed Crystal with a set look and the younger girl walked over to the entrance to this cavern and kept a watch down the corridor. Lyra walked to one end of the wooden box and Tyrk went to the other. They were purposely avoiding looking into the open box and just fixing their gazes on each other.
"Ok, on the count of three, we look inside to see how bad she is," Tyrk said slowly to Lyra. She nodded nervously, taking an audible gulp. They mouthed the countdown to each other and glanced down quickly when they reached three. Lyra immediately covered her mouth with a hand to prevent a scream or cry of complete horror from coming out. The eldest of the Halliwell sisters was indeed lying in the box, but nowhere as beautiful as Lyra could remember. She was lying naked, completely catatonic with her eyes opened and staring straight upwards. There was no trace of hair anywhere on her body, including her head. Her body was marked with horrendous marks and burns which would've killed a normal person. Indeed, the only indication that Prue was alive was the slow and faint rise of her chest as she breathed. Tyrk reached over and took one of Lyra's hands in his own gently, drawing her devastated gaze up to his own.
"Why don't you fight the way clear for us?" he suggested gently, "Crystal and I can carry Prue if you get rid of the demons." Lyra didn't need telling twice before she transformed into a panther. However, she was the same size as a Bengal tiger as she focused all of her energy and rage into giving her an advantage on both size and strength. Crystal took up the position Lyra had previously occupied at the bottom end of the box and both she and Tyrk lifted the catatonic form of Prue out of the box. They sat her on the ground and Lyra changed back to her human form.
"Here, she'll be freezing when we get outside," she said quickly before taking off her t-shirt. Knowing they had little time to argue, Crystal and Tyrk held Prue's arms up and slid the t-shirt on so she was at least wearing something on her top half. Turning back to the panther, Lyra led the way with the others following close behind. Her keen sense of smell led them back to the chamber they had first come in through and she could see the demons talking among themselves.
"You don't worry that the other charmed ones will find out where their sister really is?" the human asked. The reptilian demon laughed at this query, completely unaware of the other presences in the room.
"They believe she's dead, even the Elders are unaware of my presence here," he hissed, "Nobody can stop me or release the eldest from her permanent catatonic state. I am completely in control." Lyra let out a deep growl before running and lunging at the reptile. She knocked him to the ground before he had a chance to react. The suit-wearing demon revealed his true colours when he changed into a red and black demon. He started shooting fireballs left, right and centre at Crystal and Tyrk. They ducked and dodged while maintaining a tight grip on Prue, barely avoiding the fireballs thrown their way. Lyra was rolling around, scratching and biting into the reptilian demon she had a grip on. He hissed loudly before sinking his fore claws into Lyra's chest and dragging them down towards her groin. The screech of pain she uttered was like nothing her friends had ever heard before. Blind rage completely consumed her as she lunged down and drove her carnassial teeth deep into the jugular of the demon. She slumped to the side off his body, bleeding heavily from the wound that ran down the front of her body. She could feel her body changing and watched as her paws changed back into bald human hands. Looking up, she recognised Belthozar and dragged her body over to him. Spotting a pointed rock lying close by, Lyra grabbed it and drove it deep into Belthozar's leg. He screamed in pain and stopped shooting fireballs at the others, giving them the opportunity to flee. He bent down and grabbed Lyra by her hair, dragging her to her feet. She gritted her teeth, determined not to let her pain show too much for the demon's satisfaction.
"Silly little girl," he had changed back into Cole to speak, "coming all this way to free one of the Charmed ones. You're not even magical, you're just a faunamerge. You really should've stuck to saving people in animal form where they needed it. Now, you will pay." He drew back his free hand, magically made a knife appear in midair and was about to force it into Lyra's chest when he stopped. Letting out a gasp and releasing the girl, Balthazaar collapsed and disappeared in a pile of flames. Tyrk walked through the fire and started wrapping a white sheet tightly around his friend's wound.
"Hey, you should know Crystal always insists on bringing a bag with first aid in it," he explained, "wasn't the brightest idea you've ever had, getting yourself badly injured like this." Lyra was too weak to argue and her body had begun to tremble heavily with shock.
"W-what h-happ-e-ened t-to C-C-Cole?" she stuttered weakly. Tyrk lifted his friend onto his back and carried her outside where Crystal was waiting with Prue. The change in temperature had resulted in the bald girl beginning to lose her catatonic state so she was now shivering and her teeth were chattering. Tyrk produced a lighter from his jacket pocket after he laid Lyra on the ground.
"Let's say I managed to lighten things up for him," he quipped. The bad joke would've normally got a slap on the head from Lyra and a good-natured roll of the eyes from Crystal, but Lyra was slipping in and out of consciousness while Crystal was having an internal dilemma on how to get both girls back to the Halliwells manor.
"We need to get help for both of them, Tyrk," she said frantically, "even if it means revealing our secret. Lyra won't survive without Leo's help!" Summoning what was left of her strength, Crystal changed into a black horse. Tyrk lifted Prue and Lyra onto Crystal's back before climbing aboard himself. Once she was sure that he had a tight grip of her mane, Crystal set off at the fastest gallop she could manage.