Chapter 6: Vanquish

Robert knelt down next to Millie and noticed a scorch mark appear on her stomach. He quickly placed his hands above the wound. They started to glow with a beautiful golden light. The wound, along with the clothing that had been singed, healed. Millie woke up and gasped for breath. She looked around and saw Robert above her.

"You…healed me?" she asked.

"Yes," he answered. She instantly felt guilty for the times she had been rude to him.

"I owe you one," she said.

"You have to go help them," Robert said. "They brought Betrix here."

"Did they make the vanquishing potion?" Robert felt foolish for not suggesting that they make one before they had summoned him.

"No," he admitted.

"They brought a demon to the house without any way to kill it?"

"Look who's talking," he said in his defense. "You went to his lair without a potion."

"Listen, I'm weak from fighting him," she said. "I can't hold him off for long. You need to find Sabrina. We need her help. You're the only one who can talk to her." Millie then got up and walked for the door.

"What do I say to her?"

"Just be her father," Millie said. With that, she left the room.

"How can I do that?" Robert asked to himself out loud. He closed his eyes to try and sense her. Whitelighters had the ability to sense their charges and along with the Four, he had been assigned to her as well. Once he felt her, he orbed.

"Look out!" Annie yelled as a fireball whizzed past David's head. The living room was a disaster. There were scorch marks on the walls from fireballs, the furniture was tipped over, torn ,or broken. Windows were shattered.

"Come on out, witches! Meet your death!" Betrix continued yelling things like this. Annie and Charles were ducked behind an upturned couch. David was on the stair well. Millie and Jordan were around a wall in an adjoining room.

"What do we do?" Jordan asked her mom.

"We need to make the vanquishing potion," Millie said. "Which means we need to get to the Altar Room."

"How?" Jordan asked.

"Annie!" Millie yelled. "We need cover!" Annie nodded and produced an image of the house being a large, flat field. Betrix looked slightly confused at first, but knew it was an illusion after a moment. He couldn't see where they were, so he just threw random fireballs in different directions.

"Ah!" Annie yelled as a fireball barely missed her. They all finally reached the Altar Room without being hit.

"We have to hurry," Millie informed. "Betrix will start killing innocents to get us to come out." She then sat down on a chair. She was exhausted. "Annie, you need to make the potion."

"Mom, what's wrong?" David asked.

"I'm too old and tired for this much fighting anymore. I need to rest."

"Without you, we won't be able to stop him though," Charles said.

"Make the potion. Sabrina and Robert will be here soon. They will guide you." With that, Millie lost consciousness.

"Sabrina," Robert said, walking over to her. They were on some beach on the other side of the country. Robert sat down next to her. Sabrina just sat and stared out at the water. "What are we doing here?"

"I've always loved the ocean," she answered. "The water calms me. Mom used to bring me here all the time."

"I'm sorry for not being there for you and your mother," he said awkwardly. He sat down next to her. "I really couldn't help it."

"Then how can you help it now?" she asked, not looking at him.

"I'm your Whitelighter, just like I'm the other's. It's my job to be with you now."

"So you need it to be your job to be with me?"

"That's not how I meant it to sound," he said.

"Well, that's how it sounded."

"Listen," he said, getting a stronger voice. "You may not like me, but your cousin and the others are trying to fight a demon ,and they need your help. Without you, they're goners. Can we put our past behind us and start over?" Without saying anything, she orbed into the Altar Room.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"We're being attacked," Charles said frantically. Sabrina then heard something pound on the door.

"Who's attacking?"

"Betrix," Jordan said.

"I'll go hold him off," she said. "But I can't do it alone."

"I'll go with you," Charles said.

"Not without an active power, you're not."

"But Millie's too tired," Annie said.

"That's it!" Charles exclaimed.

"What's it?" Jordan asked.

"Remember this morning?" Charles asked. "White candles!" Sabrina nodded her head and orbed into the living room to fight Betrix.

"That's right," Jordan said. She walked over to a shelf of candles and grabbed a few. She set them around Millie and lit them.

"I've got the potion," Annie said. "It just needs time to set."

"Good," Millie said, opening her eyes. She stood up. "Come out when it's done." Without saying anything else, she went out the door. Sabrina was shooting light beams out to stop incoming fireballs. Millie held up her hands and blew Betrix to the ground with a cyclone.

"You're up," Sabrina said.

"You seem surprised." Betrix let out a sort of growl and stood up.

"I've had enough of this," he said. He started shaking, and then turned into his demonic form. He had been in a human form. His demonic form was bigger and stronger. His face was blue with black markings. He smiled at them with yellow, sharp teeth.

"You don't scare us," Millie said.

"Then you're foolish," he said.

"You're the fool!" Jordan said, rushing out and throwing the potion to his feet. He let out a yell as he slowly set fire and exploded.

"You got here just in time," Millie said to Sabrina. "We all owe our lives to you. We've all acted on impulse and done so before thinking."

"Well, in a way, I did the same," Sabrina said. "Come on, let's clean up."