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Chapter 10 Powers and the Assassin

Chris and his evil self spent a very quiet night that night. That was to say that Dark Chris refused to talk to Chris whatsoever after their prior conversation, which left Chris pretty much to his own devices. Which meant he was bored out of his mind as he was forced to just basically ride around in what should have been his own body, with nothing to do except think. And think he did. A lot of things just didn't make sense. Why hadn't Wyatt told him that he didn't know who his family was? But then again, maybe the family had no idea of that fact themselves. That could prove to make things more difficult if they happened to end up facing off against his family. He hoped and prayed that Wyatt would just stay away until he found a way to discover Dark Chris' secrets.

The next morning started just as the night before had and Chris was becoming increasingly agitated at being ignored. Finally he couldn't take it anymore. "Will you quit acting like a spoiled child and talk to me?"

Dark Chris had heard everything his counterpart had been saying to him but something was holding him back. That one revelation that he'd learned the day before was causing him to become completely confused. Born a witch. How was that possible? Wouldn't he have known somehow if it were true? And what of the demon who raised him. He had always said that Chris belonged to him, hadn't he? Though demons rarely showed any emotion besides for hate and malice the demon had always acted possessive of him. And he had taught him everything he knew. Just as a father should have. But was it all a lie?

"Listen, I know you probably didn't want to hear what I told you, but I had no idea that you didn't already know. And I know you don't like it, but isn't having the knowledge of it better than being left in the dark. You can even tap into it and use it for your own gain." Chris was becoming desperate. The longer he stayed in a body that was infused with the power of the Source the longer he risked it taking him over.

"Oh shut up. You don't have to preach at me. I realize all of that," Dark Chris finally growled back.

"Well you could have at least acknowledged that you were hearing me." Chris had to keep reminding himself that this version of himself was raised completely different than he was. For a moment he flashed back to Aunt Paige's whole nurture vs. nature argument when they were dealing with the half-Manticore baby. So maybe she had a point. But that was something he'd certainly keep to himself.

"All right, all right. What powers do you possess?" Dark Chris asked as they again started another tour of a different part of the underworld.

"Now you know how this works. A power for a power. You go first," Chris said smiling at the ease it took to glean more information from his other self.

Dark Chris grumbled but spoke up anyway. "Fire balls."

"I already knew that one," Chris complained.

"Too bad. It's one of my powers. My most used power actually," Dark Chris gloated.

Chris took back his thought about his own cleverness but it was his turn. "Telekinesis."

Dark Chris just scoffed. "I use that one too. Big deal."

Chris smiled then. "Oh but I'm sure you only use it in the traditional sense."

"What do you mean?" Dark Chris asked in confusion.

They were walking by a dozen demons and Chris had an idea. He had been slowly but surely attempting to control different parts of his body as the hours wore on. He had managed a few eye blinks and even some finger twitches that Dark Chris hadn't noticed. But he figured it was time to let that cat out of the bag. "You aren't particularly found of any of those demons are you?" he asked sweetly.

Dark Chris glanced at the group. They were just a group of swarm demons. He couldn't even distinguish one from the next. "No."

"Good," Chris said happily. He used his will to force his hand to come up and then he closed the hand ever so slowly in a squeezing motion. The closest demon turned towards his master and grasped at his own throat falling to his knees as the very air he was breathing was taken away. Within seconds the demon disappeared in a puff of smoke and to their astonishment did not duplicate, as it should have.

Dark Chris stared in amazement. He had always used his power to knock others around but had never thought that it could be a killing power. But wait. "You are controlling my body now."

"Just barely. It takes a lot of concentration to do so. So what do think of that one?" Chris asked smoothing the incident over.

"I like it," Dark Chris immediately said smiling happily.

Chris hated to say what he knew he had to if he wanted to gain his darker self's trust. "You know it works on the hearts of Mortals and Witches too and even on Valkyries."

That information was extremely pleasing to Dark Chris. "Oh it does. Yes, I really like it."

"Okay your turn," Chris said feeling slightly sick at the gleeful reaction.

"Well I can speak to other's through my mind. It works well when I need to give orders to my minions," Dark Chris explained. It was a useful talent but not one he was too impressed with.

"Telepathy. I'm sure that does come in handy," Chris acted slightly impressed. And why don't I have that power, he thought to himself angrily. Now that would have come in handy at times.

"What else you got?"

Chris of course couldn't mention orbing. It would seem very strange to his darker version if he had a Whitelighter ability. But there was a Whitelighter power that he could mention. "Well I can sense where my allies are when I need to."

Dark Chris didn't seem impressed. "Ha, I can sense when my enemies are near. I'd say I'm one up on you there."

Chris didn't bother to mention that his allies were probably Dark Chris' enemies that he was sensing. Not really surprising there. He should be able to sense his family even if he didn't know who they were. The blood of his family still called to him. "Okay, so yours is better. What else?"

"Just one more." With that Chris felt as if part of his body was floating away from him and to his amazement he saw another version of himself appear a few feet away.

"Astral Projection. Oh that is so not fair." But something wasn't right about it. He was still moving and looking at himself. That's not how Astral Projection worked.

The projection turned and looked towards his body. "Why aren't you in a trance, like I always have been before?"

"Maybe because we haven't merged yet. Having the second consciousness might make it so we can each control a part of us," Chris suggested, not really sure that was plausible.

"Hmm, that might also come in handy. Okay, not so bad." With that the projection disappeared and Chris could feel the darker presence reenter his body. "So you got anything else?"

Chris shook his head not even realizing that he was gaining more control of the body but neither did his dark self notice. "Sorry, that's it."

"Not very powerful are we?" Dark Chris leered at himself.

Chris grimaced to himself. "Hey, I did say that we were not the most powerful in my timeline."

"And who exactly was your, what did you call him?" Dark Chris asked in curiosity.

Chris paused. How dangerous could letting that one slip, he wondered. The sharing of information was increasing with everything he said. Soon he was positive he'd have enough of Dark Chris' confidence to learn who had taken him, but would it jeopardize his family? Then again, if Dark Chris could see some potential in Wyatt, it might just keep him from trying to kill him in the near future. His decision was made. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

This piqued Dark Chris' interest even more. "Is it that unbelievable?"

"Would you believe that the one evil ruler of all demons and most of mankind alike, in my timeline, was Lord Wyatt?" Chris asked as if he was springing a huge surprise.

Dark Chris paused to think for a minute. He knew the name Wyatt. But wait. "You can't mean the Halliwell brat can you?"

"The one and the only," Chris answered smugly.

"But he's a good witch," Dark Chris said in complete shock.

"Not in my timeline he wasn't. An Elder tried to kill him when he was a baby. It turned him evil. And he went on to take over and rule our world. I ended up being his second in command, before I got it into my head to go back and change things," Chris explained.

"What did you do?" Chris could tell he had his darker self hooked with that.

"I went back and kept him from turning evil. You think I wanted to be ruled by him forever? I figured if not for him I'd be on the top. And as you can see, I was right." Chris thought he was spinning the tale perfectly.

Until Dark Chris thought of something he hadn't. "Why didn't you just kill him?"

Such a good question. Why didn't he think of it? But improvise he must. "I originally planned to do that but things didn't go as I wanted them to and I ended up missing my chance. But the witches' father ended up saving him anyway. And since things worked out relatively well, I'm not complaining."

Dark Chris nodded in understanding. "To bad you couldn't have killed the brat though. Him and his family have been killing my demons faster than I can recruit them."

"Yeah, too bad," Chris said in agreement the thought making him want to shiver. "So what's next for us?"

"I need to check the new captives out. We have some cages set up in the next chamber," Dark Chris answered. As they entered the dark cavern, Chris could see ten cages lined in a row. "These chambers are warded with an anti-shimmering and anti-flaming spell." Dark Chris explained.

"I thought you didn't use spells," Chris asked surprised.

"I don't, but some of my minions do," he answered. "There are other chambers that have anti-orbing spells cast. We keep the Whitelighter prisoners separate from these demons and witches that aren't sure which side they should be on."

Chris glanced at the cages seeing both witches and demons alike. They all were in pretty bad shape, he noticed. One of the cages was still empty and he could hear that another prisoner was being drug in through the door behind them.

"Master, we finally caught the assassin," a brute demon spoke holding the prisoner back.

Chris wanted to scream when he saw the prisoner, but he bit his lip trying not to make a sound. He should have known. She was good at what she did and if someone had paid her to try to assassinate Wyatt in his timeline why wouldn't they do the same to Chris in this one? That was how they had first met. A disgruntled demon had paid her to kill Lord Wyatt and Chris had stopped her. Even though they were on different sides it wasn't long before they became close. Bianca.

"Did she say who hired her?" Dark Chris asked staring at the lovely creature before him. She was being held by a brute demon on each side but he noticed her feet were not chained. She stopped struggling when she saw him and her eyes narrowed in anger but a cocky grin lit her face.

Chris saw the look in her eye and knew it was coming. It was just like before. He knew he'd have to react if he was ever to survive this. He summoned every bit of will power he had to take over the body he was in tossing himself backwards as she jumped up kicking both demons away from her. They had underestimated her just the same as in his timeline. When she landed back on the ground she was surprised to see her pray standing across the room instead of in front of her.

"What is going on? How did you know she'd attack?" Dark Chris bellowed inside his mind.

"I've been here before," he answered calmly. "Just let me handle this.

With that Chris moved forward smiling with a cocky grin. "You're good, I have to admit."

Bianca gave him a sweet smile. "I'd say better than you," she answered, moving forward herself.

Once they were within five feet of each other they began to circle each other as she sized him up. Once her mind was made up on a course of action she moved forward as an Athame appeared in her hand. Chris knew her style. He knew her every move before she made it, otherwise she would have made quick work out of him. But to her surprise he blocked every blow and countered ever move. But he did not strike her even though he had a few opportunities to do so.

He remembered the first time they had fought in his own timeline. She had made very quick work out of him. He had only been saved by two demons shimmering in and stopping her but she had escaped that time. Once Wyatt found out the demons hadn't survived long, though.

Then the second time they had fought again she had had him beaten and there were no demons there to save him that time, but for some reason she hadn't been able to make the killing blow. Instead she had said something that surprised him.

She was crouched over him the Athame at his throat and could have easily ended his life. But instead she said, "Haven't we been here before?" She had given him a seductive smile with the words that had emboldened his own response.

"Maybe we'll be here again," he answered. He had stopped struggling against her and he gave her a look of undeniable longing.

"Maybe," was her only answer as she shimmered away.

Each time they had fought after that had always ended with the same result. She would beat him and say those words he so wanted to hear, and he would answer in kind, waiting for that 'maybe'.

Until the last time they fought. She had said her line and then he had returned with his but instead of that 'maybe' he had expected she had bent down and placed a hesitant kiss on his lips, which had turned into so much more.

He shook his mind from his memories not even realizing that his dark self had seen all of it. But it was time to end this. The final blow that he knew would put him on the ground was next to come and he didn't see a 'maybe' in his future. So as she swung her leg out to try to catch his and knock him down he jumped over her leg and then twisted as he came down allowing him to shove her to the ground himself. He immediately crouched over her his hand grasping hers that still held the Athame and then forcing it next to her throat. But he didn't make the killing blow. He couldn't.

Before he realized what he'd said the words came unbidden to his lips. "Haven't we been here before?" He knew she wouldn't realize what the words meant but still…He willed her to somehow know how to respond.

She looked at him in confusion but without thinking she answered. "Maybe we will be again."

He smiled at her very pleased that something had carried over from his timeline at least. "Maybe." Then he stood pulling the Athame from her hand as he did.

She looked up at him in confusion as he backed away from her. The demons that had brought her in stepped forward to grab her but Chris tk'd them both away from her.

"What are you doing? She tried to kill us," Dark Chris shouted inside his mind.

Chris couldn't help the emotion that was sliding through him then and he was positive his darker self could feel it too. "In my timeline she died saving us."

That shocked Dark Chris but still he immediately took control of his body again. For a split second Chris feared that he'd kill her.

"Leave," he said motioning her to the door. "Before I change my mind."

She glanced at him again and then strode out as fast as she could move. Chris knew she'd try again but just maybe he'd be able to change things first and wouldn't have to fear for her life again.

A/N: Before anyone asks, no Bianca is not going to be an ongoing character in this fic. I used her as a way to show Dark Chris a little insight into his counterpart's way of thinking. Sorry this is not a romance. So that being said, what did you think?