Chapter 13

Underworld Cavern

After Gideon orbed out of the attic he did not go back "up there" but the Underworld with Patty following him. Just as she has expected he went to meet his "contact". She materialized, undetected, in the dark cavern that Gideon had gone. Patty was in a corner of the cavern where she was able to see and hear what was going on.

"I thought you said you had taken care of the problem," came from a female voice.

Patty heard the voice before she saw the individual from who it came from. Taking a look at the woman she did not recognize her. She was beautiful with long dark hair and piercing green eyes, they seem to mesmerize Patty who quickly looked away. It was almost hypnotic.

"I have taken care of the problem. The Charmed Ones have bought into my plan to separate Balthazar's body and soul. They think that they will be vanquishing him so that he can never come back. Little do they know that they are playing right into our plans."

"How can you be so sure that his little witch will go through with your idea?" The woman asked while pacing around Gideon.

"Oh, she will go through with it", he said with a slight chuckle. "She is emotionally unbalanced and willing to do whatever her sister's say and they are so angry and blinded by rage at what has happened they are more focused on revenge then seeing that there is anything else going on".

"Very well. Once they have separated his body and soul, I will be able to resurrect him by transferring the soul of the Source's heir into Balthazar's body. He will no longer have a weak human soul to be conflicted over and he will rise up to his rightful position and take control of all Demondom."

"Have you located the Grimore".

"No, my minions have failed once again and we are running out of time. We have to locate that book in order to complete the transfer ritual prior to the next Blue Moon."

"Well I have done my part, it is up to you to do yours, Elizabeth".

Patty gasped at the name, Elizabeth – it couldn't be the same person, could it, she thought to herself. She continued to watch the woman, trying to learn where the baby's soul was located.

"I know what I need to do," she said with in an angry voice. "After those vile witches destroy the Seer and the upper Council the book went missing and no one has been able to find it.

"Are you sure that it wasn't destroyed in the explosion, as it was relayed to me, it was quit devastating.?"

"Yes, you moron, I am sure. The Grimore can not be destroyed and can not be touched by "good" but someone had to have taken it out of ritual room and the only ones that left were those goodie-goodies, so how could they take it'? She continue to pace around the room, thinking our loud.

"Even if the Charmed Ones were able to take the book, where would it be?" Gideon asked puzzled since he did not know anything about the sisters taking the book and thought for sure that Leo would have advised him.

"It had to be them, there is no other explanation. They must have found a way around the book's defenses." She looked at Gideon, her eyes becoming brighter and slightly glowing as she looked at Gideon. He appeared to go into some sort of trance as she fixed her eyes on him. "You must find out what those witches did with the book. You must find out where it is hidden regardless of the cost. No one is to stand in your way. You are to get the Grimore and bring it back to me."

Gideon could not take his eyes off the Evil Seductress she spoke, he absorbed every word she uttered and at the end, he nodded, "Yes, my Queen. I will do as you have commanded." She broke her "connection" to him and he blinked his eyes repeatedly, like he was trying to reorientate himself with his surroundings.

As if he did not remember her actions of just moments ago Gideon looked around, "well, I have things to do. I will be back soon to check on you progress." With that he orbed out but Patty did not follow him, she wanted to see what Elizabeth was going to do next. While still concealed she looked on as Elizabeth waved her hand and the wall in front of her disappeared and behind the wall was an stone alter of sorts and upon it was a glowing while globe.

"Ah, little one, soon you will take your rightful place. Your father was not strong enough to overcome his weak human soul but you, you will be able to rise above and succeed where he failed and soon I will have your vessel". The radiance from the sphere seemed to grow more intense as she spoke, causing Patty to shield her eyes from its brightness.

"There, there little one, you need to control your temper. If it was not for me, you would have been destroyed by that nasty Elder. I am giving you the chance at life that your mother never wanted you to have, she hated you but I, well I saved you and you will do as I say." With her final words the sphere dimmed to a mere blush and Elizabeth cackled as she retreated out of the cavern after resealing the room that held the sphere.

After Patty was sure that Elizabeth was gone, she moved over to the wall and tried to open the secret passage but nothing she tried worked. She knew that she had to get back to the Manor but her heart felt pulled to the sphere. Following much wavering, she sighed and went back to the family to relay what she had found out.

In Another Part of the Underworld

Phoebe was rested her head on Cole's shoulder, her body secure in his strong arms enjoying the feel of security that she had long missed. She knew that they needed to figure out who had their child's soul quickly but she also knew that Cole needed to know that she was there for him as he struggled with his inner turmoil.

Finally, Cole pulled away and took his hand to Phoebe's face, using his fingers to delicately wipe away the last of the tears from his cheeks.

"Okay, now is not the time for me to have an emotional breakdown", Cole said in an attempt to relieve the tension in the air.

"Not funny"

"Sorry, just trying to lighten the mood a little", he said with a slight smirk on his face.

"I know its just, well….you have never told me much about your past and sometimes talking about it helps", she said playing with her hands nervously. "When you feel 'safe' with me, in what we share, then I will be ready to listen and support you." Phoebe then looked at him with a smile.

"Thank you" was all he could say at the moment. Then after a moment he began to regain his focus and pushed the emotions back so that he could handle the task at hand.

"Okay, let's see if we can make any sense of what we know. Those two demons were obviously low level, working for someone who is searching for the Grimore."

"That someone maybe your mother and she may also have our baby's soul. You have never talked about your mother, is she still alive?"

"My mother, I have not thought about her in decades. Her name is Elizabeth and she was or is a Seductress demon. She has an 'aura' about her and if a man looks into her eyes, she is able to put them into a type of hypnotic trance where she can 'program' them to do her bidding. That is how she was able to catch my father's attention but before she could carry out the Source's mission, she became pregnant with me. The Source did not see the benefit of her pregnancy at first but the Seer convinced him that I was destined to be his most powerful weapon against the power of good so he changed his plans. When I was about 3 years old, the Seer told the Source it was time to bring me to the Underworld to start my training and well you know what happened from there."

"So, if we were to assume that it is your mother, how would she have gotten the baby's soul and what does she want with it?" Phoebe asked with a tone of that showed both her fear and curiosity.

After several moments he started, "well, how I have no idea but since she is evidently on the hunt for the Grimore I can only guess that she is interested in using the soul in combination with black magic to…." Before he could finish Phoebe jumped in with a hopeful voice.

"She is going to resurrect our baby." she said as more a statement then a question. "Oh my god Cole, she is going to bring our baby back to us."

She wasn't thinking beyond the feelings of a mother who had recently suffered the loss of a child. Cole not only heard the hope in her voice but saw the look on her face. He knew that she would never want to use black magic to bring back the baby but logic and feelings did not always work together, as he well knew.

"No Phoebe that is not possible"

"Why because she can't find the Grimore? Because if that is it I know how to get it?"

"Stop, please stop." He spoke with a cracked voice as he fought to control his emotions. "It doesn't matter if she has that damn book or not because the baby wasn't born, she can not resurrect a person without a body."

Cole's words took a moment to register in her mind but then with all hope lost, "if she can't resurrect him why does she want his soul." Anger building up along with all the other emotions she began to punch Cole in the chest over and over.

"Why……why…..why….my baby……my baby", she cried out and finally stopped and let Cole pull her into his embrace.

"I don't know what she is planning on doing but whatever it is she will not be able to do it without the Grimore, as long as no one knows how to get it, we will have the time to get to her and the baby's soul before she is able to carry out her plan, whatever it maybe."

Composing herself, Phoebe realized that she would not be able to help her child's soul to find peace if she fell apart every time she thought about what happened and how her child was ripped from her womb. She silently vowed to herself no to let those thoughts and emotions out again until the baby was at peace. She would be strong and not allow herself to feel the guilt or pain, not now, not when he needed her to save his eternity.

"Well, where do we start to look for the mother in law from hell, and I do mean that literally" Phoebe said with a small amount of humor.

"We need to track down her hide out which should not be too difficult; there are only a few places where she would be able to hide a soul without detection." He started to go over them in his mind when Phoebe interrupted him.

"How does Gideon figure into all this? Do you think that he is working with your mother and if he, why?" There were so many unanswered questions like a puzzle and they were still trying to get all the pieces.

"I have no idea what is in it for this Gideon guy but Elizabeth would have needed to work with someone on the side of good who could cover the fact that the soul never reached its destination. It would make sense that an Elder would be able to accomplish this with their type of power and influence. The one think I can not figure out is how she would have gotten hooked up with an Elder to begin with."

"That is way he wants you dead. Cole, would there be any advantage to Elizabeth if you were vanquished but instead of your standard Wasteland visit, your body and soul were separated and your soul sent to another plane or dimension?"

Cole listened to her question and then realized what his mother and the Elder were up to, or at least part of what he thought they were planning.

"I think you have just given me some of the pieces I was missing"

"What do you mean?"

"Because I am not a demon my body would go to a type of limbo with a soul and my mother could retrieve it. Once she had my body without a soul she could use any number of possible spells in the Grimore to put the baby's soul into my body, and then resurrect me. There must be something in the Grimore about corrupting the baby's soul because that is the only way she would benefit."

"She wants you back but no you and some sort of evil version of you?"

"Yeah, sick I know but she always said that my weakness was my 'good' soul so she must have found a way to make the baby's soul evil but she needs the Grimore to accomplish it. Phoebe do the Elders know where the book is?"

"I'm not really sure; all Leo said was that he hide it where no one would ever see it again, end of story. We never talked about it." Phoebe now realized what Cole was getting at, that if Gideon got his hands on the Grimore then Elizabeth would be able to complete her plan.

Grabbing her hand, "come on, we have to get to Leo, now". With that they shimmer out.

TBC

So know we know that Elizabth and Gideon are working together but Gideon is not aware that she is also manipulating him with her powers. Next up Patty as well as Cole and Phoebe head back to the Manor.