[A/N. I just want to say first that this is my absolute favorite chapter. I throughly enjoyed both writing it, and editting it (just because I got to read through it over and over). I hope you enjoy it too!]

Chapter Nine

What's In A Name?

While the sisters conferred on what the next logical step to take, they were also forced to watched as Kayla slowly became consumed by the demon again. Every time she lunged at, and was thrown back by, the cage walls, her form seemed to become less and less teenaged human, and more drooling demon. Her constant shrieking death threats had lost all meaning, and instead were now shrill cries of anger coming from the creature. Mentally, Kayla had entered a dream like state, she was conscious, but barely aware of her surroundings, and no longer in control of her body. She felt a sharp pain every few seconds, but was unaware of the cause.

"What are we doing?" She thought, her mind slowly forming the question.

"We are seeking vengeance," the demon said simply.

"Oh," Kayla couldn't think of anything else to say. She felt tired. It was strange to feel tried in an almost dream.

What Kayla didn't know was the demon was slowly crushing her. Not physically, but spiritually.

She had resisted for a long time, but the demon had nearly fully convinced her that Charmed Ones were the enemy, and one she must help to destroy. However in believing this, she was only allowing the demon to destroy herself.

Phoebe flinched painfully.

"What?" Paige asked observing the reaction.

"It's getting stronger," panic was creeping into her voice. "The demon, its smothering her." She flinched again. "We need to do something. Fast!"

"What can we do?" Paige asked, catching some of Phoebe's panic.

"Can we talk to her at all?" Piper asked, remaining calm.

"Do you think she can hear us in that thing?" Paige asked doubtfully as the demonic creature continued throwing itself pointlessly against the walls of the cage.

"We can try!" Phoebe responded defiantly.

She strode resolutely towards the cage and shouted straight in the demon's face.

"Kayla!" The demon ignored her and continued, if anything more enthusiastically, to throw itself at her. "Kayla Counter you listen to me! We aren't the bad guys!"

# # # #

The mention of your own name can sometimes give you almost unnatural powers. If you've ever stood in a crowded, noisy room, and heard someone mention your name from across the room you can understand that. Somehow you are always unconscious listening intently for any mention of your name, perhaps eagerly awaiting to be made the center of attention, or perhaps fearing being spoke of behind your back.

Kayla certainly wasn't in a crowded room, nor on the opposite side of the room from Phoebe, but even trapped inside her own body, it didn't make a difference.

"Kayla... Kayla Counter..." She heard, almost as a soft echo.

Like anyone who hears their name from afar, Kayla forced her sluggish mind to focus. She was almost surprised how much effort it seemed to take her to simply listen.

"Kayla you ne..... ight the demon... aren't t... ing to hur... ou... Do you hear m... We aren't the ba... guys!" She heard the echoing voice say, but what did it mean? Who was that? She concentrated harder, she wanted to know who that was... she needed to know.

# # # #

The demon abruptly stopped lunging at the cage walls, and instead sat crouched on the floor, growling and leering.

"It's working!" Phoebe said enthusiastically, but she looked drained.

Piper stepped in to help.

"Kayla, can you hear me? I need you to listen to me okay sweetie?" She used the light tone she normally used to talk to Wyatt. Not cutesy, but motherly. "There is an evil being trying to control you. You need to fight it. Do you understand me? You-need-to-fight-it." She said clearly.

# # # #

"They are the evil..." she thought, but then realized with a shock that she didn't believe that, nor did she mean to think that. Something else made her think that. Something... controlling.

"Do not fight me..." Hissed the voice of the creature.

"What are they talking about?" She asked firmly, her mind clearing.

"They seek to kill me...you..."

"Why?"

"Because they are murderers..." it hissed. "You saw how they slashed your parents..."

Something in the back of Kayla's mind clicked.

"I thought you said they blew my parents up..." She said slowly.

The voice remained silent.

It's silence was more terrifying that anything it could have said. She now believed what the outside voices were saying. There was a creature possessing her, forcing her to do things she didn't want to do, and probably didn't even know she was doing. Suddenly a horrifying though occurred. What if her parents had been killed by... No... She didn't even want to think that... She had to fight the creature... She had to stop it...

"Get out of my head!" She shouted at it.

# # # #

"Come on Kayla," Phoebe muttered, crouching down next to the cage and making eye-contact with the now visibly hesitant demon.

The demon growled, rotating its head left, then right, visibly trembling while doing so. It pawed at the ground with its front foot, like an animal waiting to charge. Piper flinched as its claws left several deep groves in the floor boards.

The demon wanted to launch itself at the sisters. Phoebes seemed so vulnerable crouched down like that. It wanted to kill... It just couldn't quite bring itself to do it... But they were the enemy... Weren't they? No... Yes... Maybe... They... Were!

With a shrill cry the creature lunged forward again, and was of course knocked back. However, the shock of the sudden evil feelings from the demon knocked Phoebe off balance even more than the physical attack did. Phoebe fell hard backwards, but instead of landing on the ground, bottom and ego bruised, she landed on Piper's foot, knocking her over too. Phoebe had been expecting to hit the ground, and had instantly prepared herself to break her fall. However, the ground usually doesn't cry out in pain and rip itself out from under you. Because of Piper pulling her foot away, Phoebe was thrown out of balance a second time, and wildly shot her legs out to slow the fall, what she didn't expect was for one of her feet to connect with one of the crystals in the perimeter of the cage.

It only took the demon a second or two to realize it was no longer confined, however it didn't waste its time with lunging, it knew it would easily be captured again. Instead it gave a cry of rage and began swiping the crystals across the room.

By the time Phoebe was back on her feet, the crystals were on all sides of the room, and one had been knocked as far away as the attic door and could be heard tumbling down the stairs.

Paige rushed to the doorway and shouted "Crystal!" causing it to instantly appear in her hand. One down four to go.

"Piper! Blow something up near it!" Phoebe shouted and Piper promptly complied.

"Crystals!" Paige shouted, spotting two more of the scattered stones.

The demon, which had easily dodged Piper's blast, had been watching Phoebe and Piper menacingly, but now it seemed to realize Paige was the real threat. If she could recollect the pyrite crystals and form the cage again...

Before Phoebe and Piper even had a chance to process what the demon had just done, the creature had spun around on its haunches and lunged at Paige, whose back was turned to the demon as she searched for the remaining crystals.

At the last second Piper shouted "Paige!"

She turned around only to be promptly knocked over by the demon. The two rolled over several times across the attic floor. When they stopped Paige was pinned on her back, the demon was kneeling on her chest, and the talons of its left hand were dug very painfully into her shoulder. It gave a shrill cry and raised its right hand to strike. Paige knew well enough to orb, but when she did so she didn't expect the demon to orb with her. So there the scene stood, frozen for a moment, Phoebe and Piper standing mere feet away from their sister who was pinned, apparently helplessly, against the ground.

Even though it appeared to be frozen, it wasn't.

Paige felt safe, only for a moment, she quickly realized Piper hadn't frozen the room, the demon was simply not striking. It was breathing sharply, its hand, raised above its head, was visibly trembling. It wanted to attack, but it couldn't.

Paige was daring enough to shift her eyes to glance at her sisters. Piper had her hands raised, ready attack if she absolutely had to. Phoebe mouthed the words "Don't move" at Paige, and prayed that her sister understood.

Slowly the demon lowered its hand. Paige tried not to flinch as it brought the claw within inches of her face. The demon slowly removed it gaze from Paige, and focused on its claw. It stared blankly at it for a moment, as if it didn't recognize it own appendage. It closed the clawed hand into a fist, and slowly opened it again, as if to confirm indeed it was attached. In a sudden violent motion it brought the hand down to the floor, barely an inch from Paige's ear, and then flipped itself sideways off of Paige.

Paige didn't need to be given a better opportunity. She promptly scrambled to her feet while her right arm hung limply at her side as her shoulder freely bleeding. The demon curled itself up in the fetal position, its back to the sisters. Right before the sisters' eyes the demon morphed back into the human form of Kayla Counter.

Trembling and hugging herself, from the floor she whispered two simple words.

"Help me..."

- - - - - - - - - -

[A/N Some review replies!]

Linda: Thanks for the reply! The BoS has been wrong before... hasn't it?

Maili-chan: Isn't any guy who has HTRDWGN as a plate a little crazy? Hehehe...