Chapter Eight
A muffled thump sounded from the kitchen, and Piper craned her head over her shoulder as she wondered what had just happened. Wyatt was frowning, wondering what was going on. Jennifer's hand had grasped her dagger by the handle, and her arm was raised, ready to throw the weapon at the intruder. Another thump sounded, and all three witches stood up, prepared to defend themselves in case that Malachi had decided to visit them.
Cautiously, they stalked towards the kitchen. Their feet barely made whispers as they walked over the solid floors, keeping quiet in order to catch whatever the creature in the kitchen was by surprise. Piper froze at the entrance, shielded by one of the walls. She caught Wyatt's eye, and as he nodded, they both burst into the room, their arms raised. Jennifer followed, knife at the ready.
At the sudden noise of their entrance, the young man who had been standing there gasped in shock. He dropped the many shopping bags that he'd brought in, and his hands went to his chest. "Damn, you scared me!" Chris said, disconcerted by the fact that he'd nearly been attacked by two members of his family.
Piper had stopped looking at her son and instead was now inspecting the mess of bags that littered the kitchen floor. "What happened?" she demanded, noticing how several of the bags had spilt their contents all over, which meant that she would have to spend a while later on cleaning and making sure that the room was once more spotless.
Chris rolled his eyes, glancing at the couple standing behind his mother. "Well, Wyatt here decided to leave me the job of bringing every single one of the shopping bags inside, without even asking me first." His accusing eyes were matched by his sarcastic tone. "So, naturally, I had to use magic to orb them here. And then, you guys came in, ready to kill me!"
Wyatt looked down at the floor, hiding the prominent grin on his face. He didn't admit it, but it amused him to no end how frustrated his little brother was now, and how he'd managed to avoid having to bring all the things they'd bought inside. Over the years, Wyatt had become quite talented at avoiding jobs that he didn't want to perform, which ranged from washing the dishes to sweeping the attic floors. And, either way, if he was unable to dodge the task, he usually figured out a way to quicken it with a little magic. Of course, he had to be very discreet about it, otherwise, his mother would look at him with the stern look in her eye, much like she was doing now.
"Wyatt," she chided him, not caring that he was standing in front of a girl that he so obviously liked, "you really should have helped your brother bring all this stuff inside." Piper noticed Wyatt begin to blush and the young woman start to edge towards the kitchen door. "You know better than to make Chris do everything, especially when I ask both of you to help me out." Her gaze was beginning to make Wyatt cower, and she suddenly seemed to be much taller than he was, despite the opposite being true.
"Yes, Mom," he mumbled, trying to stop Piper before she began one of her five-minute long lectures on how much she depended on him, or how he was old enough to act like an adult now, and he had to stop making childish decisions. He didn't want those discussions even at the best of times, and with Jennifer standing right behind him, watching the whole thing, this was definitely a terrible time for this to be happening.
Chris, however, was smirking slightly. Both he and Wyatt relished making the other feel uncomfortable, as brothers tended to do, and they tried their best to cause situations where the other would be chastened by the wrath of Piper. However, they still loved each other, but they couldn't help laughing when their pranks gave the desired results.
Still, Chris was beginning to feel a tiny bit sorry for Wyatt, especially as Jennifer was looking as embarrassed as the blond man. He cleared his throat slightly, prompting his mother to turn to him with a surprised look on her face. "I think we should get back to Jennifer's demon," he said, gesturing at the young woman who seemed to be on the verge of fleeing the scene.
"Spirit," Jennifer corrected quietly, but she had a grateful smile on her face as she noticed that the uncomfortable moment had ceased. "We should definitely hurry, Malachi is probably looking for somebody to possess right now." Her brow creased as she thought of how the spirit might once more elude her grasp. She was so close, and she didn't know if she could handle the evil ghost escape yet another time.
Piper nodded. "You're right, of course. Let's go back to the living room, and you can everything you know about this spirit. Hopefully, with that information, we can cast a summoning spell that will bring him to us before he takes someone else's body." She ushered both of her sons and the girl out of the kitchen, and away from the mess. Despite how hard it was to leave the dirty kitchen alone, she had more important stuff to deal with at the moment. She would just have to clean that up later.
The two women and young men made their way back to the living room, where they all sat down on varying seats. Wyatt made sure to sit next to the pretty young witch, while his brother grabbed a chair across from them and launched the blond man teasing grins from time to time. Piper made herself comfortable on an overstuffed armchair, as she continued listening to Jennifer's account.
"Malachi can't survive very long in spirit form, not without a host body. He can spend maybe an hour or two outside before he has to possess somebody else," Jennifer was saying as she tucked her knife back into the sheath on her belt. "He usually tries to grab someone powerful, but he's been getting desperate and sloppy. Over the past few weeks, he's possessed more people than in the first months that I knew him." The young woman turned her eyes down to the ground, ashamed. "It's probably because I've gotten much close to getting him, now, and he's trying to shake me off his tail, but I just can't stop going after him."
Wyatt took this chance to pat the woman on the back, ignoring his little brother's smothered laughs and Piper's understanding eyes. He was just glad that he had an excuse to touch Jennifer now, even if it was only her back. He'd much rather touch her lips... "You just did what you had to," he said, trying to comfort her, making his voice sound as soothing as possible. "You've done nothing wrong."
Chris suddenly felt a twinge of pain at the back of his head. He frowned slightly, his hand going up to his temples. He rubbed them softly, cringing as the pain began to increase. "Excuse me," he muttered as he headed upstairs to his room. He was sure he had some Ibuprofen in his drawer, which would free him of the headache that was forming right behind his eyes. He wondered why he would be in pain at such a time, but figured that it might have had something to do with the busy night.
Chris sighed, wondering why it had taken so long for the signs accompanying a lack of sleep to appear. He opened his door and walked into his room, heading over to his desk. The young man quickly spotted the bottle of medicine on the table, and he quickly tipped out two tablets and knocked them back. He closed his eyes as he swallowed, turning to head back out the door and downstairs.
However, as he began to leave, something caught his eye. It was his reflection. From the mirror, a young man with mussed hair stared out of him. His clothes were wrinkled, and there was a small stain on the collar of his shirt. Chris grimaced, trying to remember what had caused that stain. He shrugged, deciding to leave the shirt as it was, and instead began to fix his hair. As he began combing the brown strands with his fingers, he noticed something that made him step back in shock. His eyes, which were usually a deep shade of green, looked lighter and seemed to have flecks of silver. He stared into the mirror, trying to wrap his mind around what he'd just realized. Malachi was inside of him!
(A/N) Muahahahaha! Cliffhanger! I just love putting those in there, don't I? I really enjoyed writing this chapter... BROTHERLY LOVE! Well, I don't really get along with my own brother (probably because he's waaaay older than me), but I assumed that this was what brothers did. Either way, it was fun, and I'll leave you on that note.
As usual, thanks to all those lovely people who added this story to their Favorites or Alerts. Seriously, it makes me glad that people are enjoying this story. Special thanks to those extra lovely people who reviewed: DarcieBiffo, annaangel23, Guest, and Fanycharmed. I know I always say your reviews made my week, but, this time it's most definitely true. Your reviews, letting me know that you're liking this story so much, gave me confidence in my writing.
Oh, and speaking of writing, I have good news and bad news. The bad news, I've been working more on my original fiction than on fanfiction. The good news? That won't affect this story. All of this story's chapters are currently saved on my computer, and I just post them every Friday because I'm evil like that. The fact that I'm more focused on my original fiction means that the story after this one might be posted a little (or a lot) later than usual. Depends on how all this goes. Anyway, don't forget to read and review! Reviews are golden to me! Seriously! And I'll see you next week, you awesome people! For now, enjoy this chapter!