Chapter Seven
Demon Snare
After the sisters had explained the situation to a baffled Leo, he agreed whole heartedly with Chris. This creature had to be vanquished. Leo did listen to and agree with Phoebe's complaint that it wasn't a wholly evil demon, however Chris's argument that a demon which could take possession of a person's body was a serious threat Wyatt... Leo couldn't ignore that.
However, it wasn't Leo or Chris's decision to make. It was the sister's. If even one of the sisters didn't agree, the demon wasn't going to be vanquished, and in fact...
"We need a Power of Three spell to vanquish it, and I won't do it as long as I know there is some trapped good trying to get out of that demon!" Phoebe said stubbornly after her sisters had spent the better part of an hour arguing with her as the three moved around the house setting up crystals for their demonic alarm system.
"Well, then what exactly do you think we should do?" Piper asked as she placed a crystal a few inches from the front door.
"Maybe we could catch it?" Phoebe suggested eagerly.
"And do what with it?"
"Get a priest to perform an exorcism?" Paige suggested, bemusedly picturing a cackling demon with its head spinning around on its neck.
Phoebe gave Paige a disgusted look and stormed out of the room carrying a crystal.
Piper rolled her eyes as Paige looked at her innocently and asked "What?"
"She might actually have some with her catching it idea..." Piper said thoughtfully.
"What good would that do?"
"Well if she isn't willing to vanquish it till she's atleast had a chance to try to free whatever good is in it..." Piper said slowly. "We mind as well catch it... Otherwise Phoebe isn't going to be willing to even consider the Power of Three spell."
Paige started slowly nodding, then she handed Piper the demon-detecting crystal she was holding. "I'll go charge some more Pyrite Crystals."
Piper nodded with agreement, but Paige didn't see because she had already orbed.
# # # #
"Do you really think this is going to work?" Phoebe asked, laying on her side on the couch, and, with some effort, sipping from a coffee mug.
"It won't," Chris said angrily, pacing across the floor. "You should be out hunting the demon instead of waiting for it to come to you!"
"It'll probably work," Paige said, completely ignoring Chris as she sat on the floor leaning against the couch.
"And if not we'll try something else," Piper added, cutting off Chris as he opened his mouth.
"Oh Chris would you stop pacing," Phoebe snapped as she attempted to sip the last bit of coffee out of her cup without sitting up.
"How can I not pace," he snapped, as he absentmindedly stopped pacing. "This could be the demon that finally gets to Wyatt and you are lounging around doing nothing."
"Chris... Wyatt is safe with Leo and the other elders, as long as he's up there I don't think we have to worry about the demon getting him." Piper said soothingly.
"He can't stay up there forever! Sooner than later Leo will have to bring him back down," Chris resumed pacing, and silently wishing Leo hadn't gone back up there.
"And by that time we'll probably have vanquished your Louse," Paige said with a tone of finality.
"Leach!" Snapped Chris, "Leach! How do you plan to vanquish it if you don't know what it's call—!"
He was cut off by the demon alarm sounding.
"Incoming!" Paige shouted as she jumped to her feet.
Phoebe was quick to follow Paige, but made sure to place her coffee mug securely on the table before doing anything else.
"Where is it?" Chris asked, though his expression showed his usual calm, his voice cracked as he spoke, betraying his fear.
Piper heard the clicking of nails across the hallway floor. Paige heard it too.
"It sounds like a dog," Paige whispered, though she wasn't sure she needed to.
"How do we plan on getting it upstairs again?" Piper asked.
"How about we forget about getting it upstairs and just vanquish it?" Chris suggested sarcastically.
Phoebe, still dedicated to attempting to save the good in the creature, glared at Chris and her sisters, made a noise of disgust, and then promptly proceeded to run into the hallway.
"Phoebe! Don't!" Piper shouted.
"Here demon, demon, demon, demon!" Phoebe shouted, using the same tone baseball players use when they mock the batter.
Piper slapped her forehead in disgust.
This was not the way to deal with a demon.
Though it had seemed like a good idea at the time, Phoebe was very quickly regretting her rash actions. The demon, taken aback, paused briefly as one of its prey jumped before it, apparently ready to die. However, the demon's surprise was quickly replaced with the shear pleasure of the knowledge that it was about to reach part of its goal. The death of one of the sisters was enough to break the power of three. With one gone, the others wouldn't be hard to destroy.
If the demonic face was capable of grinning it would have been. Even though the demon's face remained stoic, Phoebe could still senses its emotions. One thing she sensed quite strongly was a very dominant evil and a sadistic pleasure.
"Um..." Phoebe mumbled as the demon moved stealthily across the floor towards her. As it shifted its weight, preparing to lunge Phoebe shouted "Chris!"
The white lighter instantly appeared at her side, and both of them disappeared just as the creature gave a sharp growl and lunged at the spot where Phoebe was merely a second before.
The demon landed softly on the ground, and turned its head left and right, checking to make sure its prey hadn't appeared nearby. It cocked its head to the left, then right, sniffed the air, then it orbed.
"Piper! Paige!" Phoebe shouted from the attic.
"Go, go, go," Piper snapped grabbing Paige's arm.
As the two orbed into the attic, Chris and Phoebe promptly orbed out the demon lunged at them again. Phoebe's blatant refusals to do anything that might hurt the demon had turned the situation into a cat and mouse game. Chris and Phoebe being the unfortunate mouse.
Paige flinched as the demon landed on a table, knocking several items off of it. It wasn't so much the smashing sound the falling objects that made her flinch, but the fact that if the demon had landed five feet to the left it would have, not only missed the table, but landed squarely in the center of the partially completed Pyrite crystal circle.
Piper was thinking along the same lines as Paige, what was the best way to force the demon to move without risking vanquishing it or getting one of them killed. She knew she couldn't blow the demon up... But she could....
"Piper! No!" Phoebe shrieked as her sister raised her hands, and then for the first time in a very long time, she actually saw Piper miss a stationary target. Or had she missed her real target?
Indeed, when Piper flicked her hands, she wasn't aiming for the demon, but the table. The explosion was enough to knock the few remaining items on the table, and the demon, off it.
The demon landed heavily on the ground, not near enough to the cage to be caught, but atleast it was on the floor. The demon scampered away, and hid behind a cardboard box. All three sisters noticed one thing: When it moved it only used three legs. The forth one, its left forearm, was being held tightly against its body. It was injured.
Paige held out of hands, "Box!" She commanded. Instantly the box the demon was behind disappeared and reappeared in Paige's arms. She was hoping it was empty, or maybe had some old clothes in it. Unfortunately the box was full to the brim with old, very heavy, magazines.
Paige swore loudly and tried to regain her balance as the demon gave one of its piercing shrieks. Like any cornered animal it knew when it was beat, and it gave into its instinctive last ditch effort: Attack and try to take one of your attackers down with you. Paige was the closest target and she was also preoccupied with the heavy box. So it lunged.
Paige instantly reacted, not only did she orb, but she threw the box away from her and at the demon. The box connected with the demons skull with a loud cracking noise. The demon, knocked to the ground, skidded across the floor, and landed a mere foot away from the cage. Half stunned the demon struggled to its feet.
Piper noted it was only standing on three legs, its injured one still clutched to its chest. Well... that had worked once, why not again? Piper flicked her hands and the box of magazines blew up. The box wasn't very close to the demon, so the explosion didn't injure it in anyway, but the demon still scampered back, unknowingly moving into the center of the cage.
"Now!" Paige and Piper shouted together as Phoebe lunged forward and slammed the finally Pyrite crystal into its position on the floor. Instantly the cage formed around the demon, trapping it inside. However the demon didn't realize what had happened, it only knew one of the Charmed Ones had suddenly lunged towards it, so it jumped backwards. Backwards into the magical force field that had been formed by the crystals. The force field promptly shocked the demon and it fell heavily to the ground.
Though the demon was trapped, the sisters took a surprised step back. As the demon hit the ground a gray cloud came straight out of the body and hovered in the air for a moment. Though it had no recognizable face or other features, Piper, Paige and Phoebe were sure it was looking around, surveying the room. It flew forward into the walls of the cage, and promptly bounced off. It flew around the cage in a complete circle, occasionally flying into the walls of the cage, checking for weaknesses and finding none. After finishing its complete circle it did a small loop in the air and dove straight down.
The sisters gasped. They had been focusing on the demon which had been pictured in the Book of Shadows, not on the body that was laying unconscious in the cage. The demon had flown straight down, and re-entered the limp body that rolled slightly as the cloud passed into it. The girl lay on the ground, unconscious, and not looking well at all. Her clothes were torn and muddy; the left sleeve of her shirt was virtually gone, what hadn't been torn off appeared to have been burned off, and the skin below was marked with a severe burn. Her face was badly scratched, her lip was bleeding, and her right eye was showing signs of a forming black eye. All the injuries received from the brawl which had ended seconds before, plus the injuries she had sustained in the car crash made her appear in a very sad shape.
"Oh my god," Phoebe whispered, staring at the girl. "I think we know where the presence at the car accident was."
- - - - - - - - - -
[A/N, Dun dun dun! If you want me to update some more, you gotta review!]