Chapter 28

The drive to the house was very quiet. Christina was lying across the back with her head resting on Dani's lap. Dani gently stroked her hair as Katherine drove them towards Wendy's. 'How are we going to stop Abaddon?' Lauren said from her seat in the middle. 'If he's worked out how to make his demons as powerful as Chris, then what chance to we have?'

'We can't think like that.' Amy said.

'Why not? It's not like I'm wrong.' Lauren said. 'We need more than just Chris and the amulet, I'm sorry but I'm being realistic.'

'Lauren, we just need to get back to Wendy's and figure everything out.' Lisa said from the passengers seat. 'We don't know how many demons have been able to handle the power of the amulet, we don't know where they are. We have some time to figure this out.'

'I agree.' Amy said. 'We can't be negative now. We've come this far so we can't give up.'

'Chris would say the same.' Dani added. 'We're not giving up.' Dani looked down at her as she slept but there was a look on her face which made Dani worry. 'Guys, I think something's wrong.' Dani said.

'What do you mean?' Amy asked, turning around in her seat.

'I think she's dreaming.' Dani said. 'Amy can you feel anything?' She asked. Amy lent over further snd studied Christina.

'No, there's nothing coming from her.' Amy said. 'She looks in distress almost.' Amy said.

'Do I need to pull over?' Katherine asked, looking in her mirror quickly.

'No, not yet.' Amy said. 'Dani, just keep trying to wake her up.' Dani nodded and gently shook Christina's shoulder.

'Chris.' She said gently as she shook her. 'Come on Chris, wake up.' Christina's brow furrowed further as she gripped onto Dani's shirt.

'Dani.' She whispered.

'Yeah, Chris, I'm right here just wake up.' Dani encouraged.

Christina was walking down a crowded high street. There were people running past her on both sides screaming in terror. They were running away from something. Christina watched them pass as if they were in slow motion. She got to the end of the street and saw a woman, a demon. Her eyes were flowing blue and she was shooting rays of blue energy from her hands. She aimed one blast in the window of a coffee shop, one towards an oncoming police vehicle, and more after that. 'Stop!; Christina yelled. The demon didn't listen. She aimed a blast at a group of people running away from her and hit them all in the back, sending them crashing to the ground. Christina watched as they lay on the pavement, blood coming from various wounds. They were lifeless. 'Stop this.' Christina repeated. She shot out her own energy but it went right through the demon. She saw Christina and did nothing but smile at her. And with one sinister wave of her hand, Christina was sent back to reality.

Christina shot up in her seat, gasping for breath. Dani sat up straighter and went to comfort her but Christina started yelling. 'Kath, put the radio on.' She said.

'What?' Katherine asked. 'Chris are you okay?'

'Just put the radio on, there's an attack happening down town.'

'How do you know that?' Lisa asked as she turned on the radio. 'What station?'

'Any station!' Christina said becoming more frantic. She ran her hand through her hair.

'Chris, calm down.' Dani said, putting a hand on her back.

'I'm sorry.' Christina said, leaning her head on the seats in front of her. A reporters voice began to sound from the radio.

'The police have so far confirmed that seven people have died following an attack down town which only ended moments ago. The motives for this attack are unknown and no one has claimed responsibility…' Lisa turned down the radio and turned to her sister.

'Chris, how did you know that?'

'I had a dream, but it felt real.' Christina said. 'I saw the demon killing people. She had blue eyes and she was using the amulet's power.'

'So we know Abaddon had at least one more demon with amulet power.' Amy said.

'But how did Christina know that?' Lauren reiterated.

Maybe there's some sort of psychic connection between anyone using the amulet power?' Katherine suggested.

'Great.' Christina sighed, sitting back in her seat.

'Are you okay?' Lauren asked. 'Your powers kind of opened a black hole back there.' Lauren reminded her.

'I'm fine.' Christina said. 'I have no idea what that was.' She admitted.

'Power that intense has probably never encountered anything like itself before.' Katherine said. 'The combination of powers that strong must have had a reaction, and ripped a hole in the atmosphere.'

'Well that's terrifying.' Dani said.

'Yes it is.' Christina whispered from beside her.

xxxxxx

They walked through the door to Wendy's and she was eagerly waiting for their return. She jumped up as soon as she heard the door open to greet them. 'So, how did it go?' She asked as they began filing into the living room and sitting down.

'It was Abaddon's lab.' Amy said. 'But he wasn't there.'

'Only a really angry demon juiced up on amulet power.' Dani said, slumping down next to Lisa.

'Oh dear.' Wendy said. 'Abaddon found a way to infuse his demons.'

'Yeah, and when Chris fought him their powers created some sort of black hole.' Lauren said.

'Really?' Wendy said, intrigued. 'How interesting.'

'Try frightening.' Dani said.

'We also think there's some sort of psychic connection between people using the amulet.' Katherine said. 'Chris had a dream on the way back which turned out to be true.'

'The demon down town.' Wendy nodded. 'I saw it on the news.'

'We need to find Abaddon and stop him before he kills any more people.' Christina said.

'How?' Amy asked. 'Every time we think we know where he is, he's one step ahead.'

'He still needs the amulet.' Christina said. 'The power he took from me is limited so he'll need more. He's going to come for us sooner or later.'

'That's the plan?' Lisa said. 'Wait until he finds us?'

'Short of another demon attack, we're out of options.' Katherine said.

'I'm going to sleep with the amulet on tonight. Maybe he can use it to reach out. He has the power in him too so if we are linked it may work.' Christina said.

'Okay, but we're all staying with you.' Katherine said. 'No one sleeps alone tonight.'

xxxxxx

That night, they had all decided to camp out in the living room. Wendy had helped them bring down the mattresses from the beds and set up the room. Lisa and Katherine were back on their sofa's whilst the others spread out on the floor. Wendy had lit the fire for them, and they were sipping on tea as the night got darker. 'I remember doing this when we were little.' Lisa smiled. 'Mum used to make us hot chocolate and stay up with us all night. Katherine and Christina smiled with her at the memory.

'What was she like? When you guys did that?' Lauren asked.

'I remember doing it with you guys but never with mum.' Dani admitted.

'She was really fun, and funny.' Katherine told them. 'She would try and tell us scary stories.'

'She even made dad join in once, pretending to be a monster in the window.' Christina grinned.

'It never worked though, she couldn't keep a straight face.' Lisa added.

'I remember when dad tried to do it, after she died.' Amy said. 'But Chris and Kath had already moved out, and it wasn't the same.' Christina dropped her gaze to the floor and thought back.

'I used to get so mad at mum for scaring us.' Katherine said. 'I hated this stories.'

'I remember we used to pick movies to watch and Christina would always pick the scariest one she could find.' Lisa said.

'And mum would always let her get away with it because they were basically the same person. Katherine said.

'Dad caught us watching Night of the Living Dead when Lisa was what, nine?' Katherine said.

'I think so.' Lisa nodded. 'Dad was so angry!' She laughed.

'He banned us from slumber parties for months after that.' Katherine said. Dani and Lauren were listening on, trying to get a picture of what it was like. Amy noticed Christina and nudged her on the knee gently.

'What are you thinking?' She asked.

'Just something mum told me once, I'd completely forgotten about it until just now.' Christina said.

'What's that?' Lisa sipped her coffee.

'That a family doesn't have to be perfect, but it has to be united.' Christina looked around at them. 'I know we can get through this if we stick together.'

'Damn straight.' Dani agreed raising her mug.

Xxxxxx

It was almost midnight when the fire started to flicker. There was no wind, so it caught Katherine's attention. Dani had fallen asleep on the floor but everyone else was still awake. 'Did anyone else see that?' Katherine asked.

'The fire flickering?' Amy said. 'Yeah, so?'

'Just seems odd, there's no wind in here.' She said. Lisa saw something out of the corner of her eye and turned to Christina. The amulet was glowing. Christina put a hand to her chest as the warm power hit her.

'Chris, you okay?' Lisa asked as Lauren woke Dani.

'I don't know what it's doing.' Christina admitted. She felt the amulet get warmer until the heat was almost too much. Power shot out of the amulet and backwards through her body. It sent her crashing into the wall, grimacing in pain.

'What's happening?' Dani asked, still slightly sleeping. Christina lent her head on the wall until her eyes rolled back in her head, they were bright blue. Amy went over went to put her hand on Christina's shoulder but she was shocked with the energy of the amulet and pushed back.

'Shit!' Amy cried, grasping her hand. 'Nobody touch her.' She reiterated.

'Christina, if you can hear us, we're right here.' Lisa called.

Christina was somewhere she didn't recognise. She looked around and was surrounded by nothing, until Abaddon appeared in front of her. She stepped back in surprise. 'What did you do to me?' She asked.

'I just wanted to show you something.' He said, smiling.

'Yeah, what's that?' Christina said. Abaddon raised his arms and about one hundred demons materialised around them. Their eyes were all glowing blue.

'It's a premonition of the future.' He grinned. 'This is what's going to happen when I get that amulet from you.' He walked closer to her as she looked around.

'Why are you showing me this?' Christina asked, facing him.

'To give you one last chance.' He said. 'Give me the amulet or I will take it from you and kill everyone you love in the process.'

Christina jolted back to reality and was met by the worried faces of her sisters. She sat against the wall breathing heavily for a moment before speaking. 'Hey.' She said.

'Hey! What the hell was that?' Lisa asked.

'Abaddon wanted to show me the future.' Christina laughed bitterly. 'He said he would kill everyone I love unless he gets the power he needs.' She wiped away a tear.

'You know we can't let that happen Chris, we wont.' Lauren said.

'I know.' Christina said.

'Chris, what are you thinking? I don't like what I can feel from you.' Amy said worriedly.

'I know what we need to do.' Christina said. 'We need to destroy the amulet.'

'But that's pretty much impossible.' Lisa reminded her.

'The last person who tried didn't have enough power and ended up dead.' Katherine reminded her.

'Yeah, but the wizard who tried before hadn't bonded with it, wasn't able to use it's power.' Christina said as they began to realise what she meant.

'No Chris, you can't be serious.' Dani said.

'I've never been more serious in my life.' Christina said. 'If I use the power of the amulet against it, it might be enough to destroy it.'

'But you'd have to be wearing it to use the power.' Lauren said.

'I know.' Christina nodded.

'That'll kill you.' Katherine said bluntly.

'Probably.' Christina replied. 'But it's the only way.'

'It can't be the only way.' Lisa said gently, racking her brain for another option.

'If he doesn't have the amulet, he doesn't have the power and he won't have an army.' Christina said. 'And if I do it with him near, it'll probably destroy him once and for all, might even destroy the demons he's powered up.'

'You're talking about a suicide mission. You're talking about doing the same thing mum did.' Dani shouted.

'Dan….' Christina said sadly. 'We don't have another choice.'

'You're doing exactly what dad was worried about.' Lauren said.

'I know.' Christina smiled. 'And afterwards, when it's all over, he can say I told you so.'

'Christina.' Kathrine said. 'I've never been so mad at you.'

'It's okay.' Christina said, almost resigned to what she was going to do. 'I wouldn't be suggesting this unless I thought there might be a way out of it.'

'What do you mean?' Lauren asked.

'Amy can bring me back, like before.' Christina looked to her younger sister.

'That's not fair.' Amy said.

'But it's the best shot we have.' Christina said.

'That's a lot of pressure to put on someone.' Lisa said.

'What if I can't make it work? What if it was a one time thing?' Amy panicked.

'I know it's not fair, and I know it might not work.' Christina took Amy's hand. 'I want you to try your best, and I don't want you to beat yourself up if it doesn't work. I forgive you already.'

'No!' Amy ripped her hand away from Christina. 'No, that's not fair!' Amy repeated.

'Aimes.' Christina said gently.

'You don't have to do this Chris, you don't!' Amy sobbed.

'Yes I do.' Christina said. 'And it's okay.'

'It's not okay.' Lisa said, wiping away tears. 'What happened to a family has to be united?'

'It's our only option. And I know you guys will be with me the entire time.' Christina said. 'Let's just try and get some sleep, and if anyone has a better idea in the morning I will be more than happy to try it.' She smiled.