Chapter 11

Christina was sitting on a swing in the middle of the park. She was gently swinging back and forth with her eyes closed. It was raining gently in the cold air. Her coat wasn't meant for the rain so it would gradually soak through, but she didn't care. Christina just needed to breathe the fresh air and clear her mind. She heard footsteps approaching which made her open her eyes. Her sisters stopped a few yards away from her as she sighed. 'Hey.' She said.

'You okay?' Katherine asked.

'No, not really.' Christina said, wiping some of the rain from her face.

'I'm sorry I grabbed your arm, I shouldn't have done that.' Katherine apologised.

'I get why you did it Kath, I just wanted to protect you from it.' Christina said.

'You don't always have to be the protector Chris, sometimes you need to let us do that.' Lisa smiled and sat down on the swing next to her.

'I know, but if you haven't noticed, I have a hard time not being in control.' Christina knocked Lisa's shoulder and smiled back.

'Yeah, we got that.' Dani said.

'How did you get here so fast?' Christina asked. Lauren held up her car keys.

'We drove.' She said. Christina smiled again and nodded.

'How did you know I would be here then?' She wondered.

'You always used to come here with mum.' Katherine said. 'I remember you would leave together and not come back for hours. I was really jealous actually.'

'You know we didn't even talk that much. We would come and sit here on the swigs, and just be.' Christina kicked the floor gently. 'It was nice, quiet. Like everything was at peace and nothing could ever disrupt it.' She said. Suddenly a voice sounded from behind them, it was deep and unnerving.

'Oh, how sweet.' The demon croaked. Lisa and Christina jumped up and turned around. They stood in front of their other sisters and backed them away as the demon made his way around the swing set.

'Who are you?' Lauren asked.

'How rude of me.' He smiled a wicked smile. 'My name is Joe.'

'Strange name for a demon.' Lisa said.

'Well, it's not my given name of course, but it's easier for the humans to pronounce.' He smiled again. 'You managed to get rid of my ghost, I'm impressed.'

'How did you know the ghost would get through our barrier?' Amy asked.

'I didn't, but I needed to get you out of the house so I took a chance.' He looked at Christina and his eyes darkened. 'That amulet around your neck...'

'Is none of your business.' Christina said. 'Are you going to leave or do I have to make you?'

'That's a novel idea Christina, that you think you can defeat me.' He put his hands in his pockets and lent up against the swing set. He looked Christina up and down. Lisa saw it and moved a step in front of her. 'What are you? Twenty-something?' They didn't respond and he sighed. 'I'm three-hundred-and-sixty-four, sixty-five next week.'

'Congratulations, do you have a point?' Dani asked.

'Now now pip-squeak, the grown ups are talking.' He turned his head to the side and looked back to Christina. 'I've had my powers for a very long time. If I were you, I would just surrender.'

'How do you know my name?' Christina wondered.

'Oh I've been following you for a while my dear. A few of us have. We thought it might be you we needed, the eldest daughter of Michelle Cimorelli. She was a powerful witch, it's a shame she had to die, she would have made a wonderful demonic queen.'

'She would never have joined you.' Christina said forcefully.

'But you might? How about it Christina?' He asked her.

'Not going to happen.' Katherine said firmly.

'Alright then, I guess we're going to do this the hard way.' He said, before shooting a jet stream of air at them. Christina wasn't quick enough to put up a shield and they were all thrown backwards, landing heavily. Lauren thought quickly and gave Dani the car keys. Dani went invisible right away and ran off to get the car closer. 'Never mind, I don't need that one.' He said as Dani disappeared. He started walking towards them, clicking his fingers to make flames appear.

'What are you?' Lisa asked.

'I'm lots of things.' He said. He blew another gust of wind at them, but this time from his mouth, and then all stumbled back further. 'I absorb power, like Belial.' He studied their reactions to the name. 'I'm not working for him, don't worry. I want to kill you and take your powers myself.' He told them. 'Then I will be the most powerful demon in the underworld.' Whilst he was talking, Amy took a potion from her pocket and threw it at him. It hit his arm and his sleeve exploded into flames. He looked at it briefly, as if it were nothing more than a nuisance, before patting it out with his hand. 'Very nice.' He said. 'I didn't even see it coming. But you're going to have to do better than that.' His hands shot out, sending flames towards them in an angry stream. This time Christina managed to get her barrier up, protecting them. She braced her feet in the ground as the fire hit. It was strong. Katherine saw the pained look on her face and went to her side.

'What can I do?' She asked.

'Can you...' Christina stumbled back. 'Channel your energy into me, Lauren, Amy, anyone.' She said, strain in her voice. They all came up to her and placed hands on her arms and shoulders. They'd done this once before, really focusing to channel energy into one of them.

'Look at that, it's a team effort.' He said, walking forwards and putting more energy into the fire stream.

'Chris?' Amy said. 'The amulet is glowing.' She pointed out.

'It's getting... Warm.' Christina told them. 'I can feel it through my shirt.'

'Damn this guy is strong.' Lisa said, trying to focus her energy.

'How long can you stand it Christina? The burning, the pain?' He asked. 'I know exactly what that is around your neck.' Christina focused harder and closed her eyes. She felt herself moving a step towards him, pushing his fire back. He looked shocked for a moment as a car appeared behind them. Dani was able to manipulate the areas around objects and make them invisible too.

'Guys come on.' Dani called to them.

'Get to the car.' Christina ordered.

'Not without you.' Amy said.

'Please... I'm not sure how much longer I can hold the shield but I have another idea.' She told them.

'What idea?' Lisa asked.

'Just get to the car!' Christina turned around and looked at them. Her eyes were blood red and her nose was bleeding. 'Please, get to the car.' Her voice softened.

'Let's go.' Katherine said. 'You better be right behind us.' Christina nodded and they all retreated to the car.

'Just the two of us then.' Joe said. 'We could be great together Christina. King and Queen of the underworld.'

'Thanks for the offer.' Christina said. 'But I have better things to do.' With that, she turned the shield into an energy almost matching his. It was red and warm and hit the end of his fire stream. They were locked in a power battle and Christina was winning. She was forcing the fire back towards him. His eyes widened in fear as the energy hit him square in the chest, filling him until a light as bright as the sun poured from his eyes, ears, mouth, every place imaginable as he exploded. The explosion sent Christina to the ground.

'Chris!' She heard a couple of her sisters yell. Moments later she felt hands on her arms, but she couldn't quite make sense of what was going on. Her ears were ringing and she could feel warm blood running from her nose.

'Christina, can you hear me?' That was Katherine, and she tried to respond. She was sitting up and could see Katherine kneeling in front of her. 'Chris?'

'Yeah.' She mumbled.

'Chris you're bleeding.' Katherine pointed out. Christina reached up and touched her nose.

'I'm fine.' She whispered.

'Guys, I think she's in shock.' Dani said.

'Look at her eyes.' Lauren said.

'What's... What's wrong with my eyes?' Christina asked.

'They're blood red Chris, like...' Lisa didn't want to finish her sentence.

'Like a demons.' Christina finished for her. 'Good witches have no record of the amulet because they didn't know anything about it, because it's made of something demonic, something evil.' She said, almost crying.

'Come on.' Amy said to the group. 'Let's get home.' Lisa and Katherine each took an arm and lifted Christina off of the ground. Her legs felt a little like jelly but she managed to walk to the car with only Lisa's help. Katherine got in the drivers seat and they drove home. Everything was a blur at the moment for Christina.