This chapter and the next is dedicated to my wonderful, gorgeous, charming, amazing (Kina24: UR PUSHING IT!) Beta and best friend, Chantelle, aka ShaedowCat. She totally rocks! (ShaedowCat: Tee hee hee…!)

Chapter 10 – Changing: forwards and back.

I woke with little recollection, just snippets - like from a past life - of people and places. I was also feeling nauseous. I opened my eyes to see a familiar cave-like room made entirely of rock. I was still dressed in my normal clothes but I felt something different about me. I couldn't put my finger until the cloaked men walked into the room.

"I see that you're in a better frame of mind," the lead one said. I could see him studying me.

"I guess." Still hadn't worked it out yet.

"Let me introduce myself properly. I am Eman and this is Alhb and Halbowt." A smirk crossed Eman's face. "Can you feel it? The good is nearly gone," he asked them. They agreed. He clicked his fingers and three men appeared.

"Watch her!" they ordered and disappeared…I could still feel them, though. The three men just stood there and watched me. Gees they take their job seriously. I thought.

"What are you looking at?" I said. The one closest had a nice reply.

"Why? What should we be looking at?" He and his buddies laughed at his joke; I merely stood there waiting 'til they'd finished.

"Done giggling?" I couldn't help a smile cross my face. They didn't like that remark.

"Shut up you little wench!"

"Don't you guys learn to use a bigger vocabulary?" My turn to laugh; they didn't like that either. He came towards me; to hit me I suppose. But I got to him first. All that was left was a dark patch where he had been standing only seconds earlier.

"Fire balls: don't you just love them? He's lucky that he went the way he did, coz I could have made it a lot worse." I could see them deciding whether to stay or not. "Well, you do know that your bosses are watching, don't you?" If they didn't they did now and they didn't move an inch.

"Well, are you coming back to say hello or not?" I asked. They reappeared.

"Well done." That was Eman.

"Thanks for the good report," I said. No one said anything for a moment. "Is there something that you wanted?"

"Yes: we wanted to propose an offer." They paused for a second. "The Charmed Ones are coming to try and rescue you…" I scoffed. "Take them out and we will make you second in charge under us, with your own group of warriors" Sounded okay.

"Okay…you have a deal."

"Good" They disappeared.

"Do you think you're fit enough in your current condition?" one of my guards asked.

I sighed. Males. "Yeah course," I replied. There's nothing wrong…

I stood there leaning against the wall waiting for them to arrive. The other two dopes were there, too. Waiting was boring, but it had to be done. I could still feel the struggle between good and evil inside me, but the good was nearly gone. Then I finally felt them. The orbs started to form, and then they appeared. It was the three sisters. I smiled to myself.

"Welcome…I see you found me."

"We're too late! She's turned," Paige whispered.

"Really, you sure?" I queried. The dopes started throwing energy balls at them. Piper froze one, Paige threw one back (missed), and Phoebedodged them…one got her on the arm, though. I sent one of the men to go and get more men. Everyone stopped. Three verse two at the moment.

"Looks like your out-numbered," Phoebe stated.

"That's probably where I beg to differ," I told her. As if on cue, they were surrounded by Warlocks. Paige threw her potion bottle at me. I was able to blow it up in mid-air; one of the Warlocks threw a fireball at her, and I watched, amused, as she barely managed to orb it back at him. The other two potion bottles levitated from Piper and Phoebe to me.

"Thanks," I said to them. You could see the disbelief cross their faces. "Kill them," I ordered and walked out of the room. I could feel a presence near by that was familiar to me. It was Leo, good old Leo.

"Hey mate," I said cheerfully. He turned around, startled. "How are you?" Before he could respond, I threw an energy ball at him. He flew across the hallway and hit the wall hard. He wasn't what I could feel though.

Chris' POV:

Chris and Wyatt orbed into a hallway; they could hear their mum and aunts fighting down the end so they headed towards them. Chris poked his head around the corner.

There's another entrance across the room and Warlocks have surrounded them Chris told Wyatt telepathically.

Orb to the other side; we'll use that spell that mum taught us. That should get rid of them. Chris agreed to he plan and orbed around to the other side. They said in unison:

"The warlocks that are in the room,
make them disappear to their doom,
burning hot in the earth's core
they shall go there forever more."

It weakened the Warlocks a bit. Paige heard the boys saying the spell.

"Together say the Warlock spell with the boys," Paige whispered to the others. They said the spell repeatedly. Meanwhile Chris heard a noise and was distracted from the Warlocks. He heard a noise down towards the end of the hallway. He decided to go and investigate.

Kirra was there and so was Leo. He remembered the spell that she had written down and realised that it wouldn't kill her like he thought. He couldn't explain it, but he knew it wouldn't. She was about to throw the final fireball that would have killed his father who was lying unconscious on the ground.

"You don't want to do that," he said. She spun around. A smirk crossed her face.

"Oh, the love-struck lover has come to rescue his love…how romantic."

"One can hope and try."

"Yeah, and die trying."

"That's better than living in a nightmare."

"You seem to not understand: it's not a nightmare, but a blessing of sorts. I'm finally free, with power and potential."

"You're just so caught up in who you are becoming that you don't realise what you're leaving behind," Chris argued, and for a moment a flicker of uncertainty crossed Kirra's determined face. Chris' eyes met hers. Please trust me, he thought to her, and she stared at him for a moment, then nodded. He began to walk towards her, saying her spell as he did.

"The demon that grips you this night,
its grip will loosen, it won't be tight.
Banished to the earth where it'll stay,
Forever, even after earth's last day."

As he said the last words of the spell, confusion, despair and something else crossed her face. He stopped right before her. "Fight it," he whispered. "I know you can."

Then everything happened at once. Kirra collapsed to the floor, the conflicting energies within her creating an incredible aura of power around her. Then the hooded men from the club shimmered in. One of them – the second one – waved their hand and Chris was sent flying. He hit the wall, hard, and he felt like a giant, stony hand had smashed into him.

"Kirra! Kill him!" the guy who'd given him flying lessons demanded.

"I'm trying…" Kirra mumbled as she staggered to her feet, then she collapsed again as the spell worked its magic.

"Stupid girl," the leader grumbled, glaring at Kirra. "If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself."

The three men advanced on Chris, gathering around him in a circle. He closed his eyes.

Kirra's POV:

I opened my eyes…again. What the hell? I lifted my head to see Chris on the ground about four metres from me, surrounded by the hooded guys. As my mind cleared, I realised it was gone…the evil that had plagued my mind. And that was all thanks to Chris. I stood up.

"Pick on someone that's not depleted in energy, that's very cowardly." All three pairs of eyes were upon me. You could see the hate, anger and fear in their eyes. I took a deep breath and summoned my power. While I was doing this, Chris crawled around to his father and orbed them both out. They either didn't notice or didn't care.

"What are you going to be a goodie-goodie now?" Eman asked, trying to hold the bravo image up.

"I guess you could call me that," I replied. I threw an energy ball at them. It split into three slightly smaller ones and hit them. Propelled backwards by the blast, they lost their balance and ungracefully fell over. Drawing on their energy as they got up, I threw another one. They couldn't cope with it. Eman looked at the other two; they nodded and he killed them and absorbed their powers. Regenerated, he stood up.

"That was a bad move, turning on us like that."

"Ooh I'm shaking." I was wary though. I could feel him gathering energy, so I put up a mind barrier. He threw a huge energy ball at me. I was too slow to react so it hit me on the arm and I was knocked down. Hard.

Chris came round the corner. He threw something at Eman and tried to get me. He just laughed at Chris and was amused when he couldn't get any closer. There was an invisible barrier between us.

I couldn't let him get to Chris.

They found a spell. He showed me the spell in my mind's eye.

"No tele-talking,"Eman said, then flung Chris across the room, knocking him out. I stood up, pissed off as ever. I started throwing heaps of energy balls at him. Just kept throwing them. He tried to throw some back, but they didn't get close enough to do damage. They were blown up in midair. His energy levels depleted a little. There was a pause in the fight.

"You really think that you can defeat me?" he laughed. I stopped to gather my thoughts. The spell came to mind.

"Yeah, otherwise I wouldn't be here. Would I?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Your death will be a wasteful one." As he finished that sentence I, with all my power, threw the spell out him.

"Hell threw you from its inner core,
and earth doesn't want you anymore.
With all my power and all my might,
I vanquish you forever this night."

He was able to throw one last energy ball before he disintegrated. It hit me square on and I flew backwards. Chris ran over to me. He dropped to his knees beside me and held me.

"Stay with me…" he whispered.

Everything went black.

Chris' POV:

Chris watched Kirra get hit by the energy ball as the last hooded guy disintegrated. He staggered to his feet then stumbled over to her. He dropped to his knees, tears coming to his eyes as he saw the extent of the wound. Reaching out with his Whitelighter senses, he felt her going.

"Stay with me…" he whispered desperately. Her eyes flickered closed. "No! Goddamnit!" he yelled, then orbed her back to the Manor. Leo was there, along with Piper, Phoebe and Paige.

"Dad, heal her," Chris told him as he laid her on the sofa. Leo nodded and knelt beside the sofa, holding his hands over the wound. Golden light came from his hands. Leo frowned slightly.

"Dad, what is it?" Chris asked nervously, seeing the look on his father's face and noting that the healing was taking too long. "Why is it taking so long?" Leo didn't respond. "Dad!" Chris snapped. Leo glanced at him.

"It's taking so long because she was near death…she was getting ready to move on," he explained. Chris paled. "Don't worry; she's okay now," Leo assured him, gesturing to the wound. Chris leaned in to check; the blood and gore had disappeared, leaving behind unblemished skin. Chris glanced at her face. She was still unconscious.

"Why is she still sleeping?" he demanded. Leo shrugged.

"Give her time. She was near death," Leo told him, resting a hand on his shoulder. Chris nodded, then took her orbed her upstairs and stayed by her side.

End of Chapter 10

Thanx for reading

Kina24