Chapter Ten

Malachi was seething, his mouth in a grimace that was unbecoming on Chris's young face, as he glared upstairs towards the attic. He'd been so close to his target, so very near to achieving his goals. And it had all been ruined when the oldest Charmed One had burst into the room. If only it had taken her a few more seconds… by then, the Twice-Blessed would have already been in Malachi's grasp.

Malachi had always dreamed about having the powers that the Charmed family had inherited so easily. He'd especially wanted the powers that the Twice-Blessed was prophesied to have, powers that encompassed both great good and great evil. It wasn't very often that a witch with those abilities was born, and Malachi had been extremely angry to realize that his own abilities were much smaller than the average witch's. That was the reason why he'd sworn to live forever, to make himself better than anybody else. Still, he needed the power, and that was where Wyatt, as the others referred to him, came in.

As Malachi walked down the hallway, he let out a small grunt of anger, and was astonished to see a large portrait on the wall fall to the ground. He raised Chris's hand, inspecting it carefully. He hadn't really delved into the body he was currently possessing, but, now that he thought about it, because it was the Twice-Blessed's brother, and the son of a Charmed One, he would probably have a great deal more power himself. He quickly set the picture back on the wall, careful not to leave any suspicious traces behind, and continued walking down the hall.

As he reached Chris's room, Malachi closed the door and shut the young man's eyes. He sifted through memories, which the inner spirit of Chris tried to block. A smile gave rise to the man's features, a cruel smile. Nobody could keep something from Malachi for long, especially when he was in their body. The inner Chris was easily grappled with, and forced into a dark part of Malachi's consciousness, not to be listened to or used until Malachi had need for him. The evil spirit then had the opportunity to look through the young man's remembrances about his powers. As he watched the scenes play out in front of him, Malachi was surprised. This young man, Chris Hallliwell, was more powerful than he'd originally assumed. In fact, he came extremely close to the man upstairs, Wyatt. For a moment, Malachi wondered why he hadn't been able to see the enormous power that this man wielded, before taking a glimpse at the power aura surrounding him. While the Twice-Blessed's aura was flashy and impressive, Chris's was a lot less so, being more subtle and secretive. And, something that also helped hide the abilities he had, was that although he had the potential to be extremely powerful, the young man hadn't actually accessed that part of his powers yet, nor had felt the need to.

Well, now Malachi would take advantage of the abilities, whether Chris wanted him to or not. He forced the young man's mouth into an evil grin as he opened his eyes. It hadn't been a mistake to inhabit this body after all. With these powers on his side, Malachi would be able to control an army of demons to use to take control of the world. And, he would start by taking over the Halliwell Manor. With the grin still in place, the young man stood up and orbed out.

-)-(-

Wyatt was gazing at the attic entrance, his blue eyes serious as he considered how strangely his brother was acting. For one, he had complained about not feeling well, which wasn't something he usually did unless he was very sick. And Chris hadn't been acting really sick when he and Wyatt had been discussing ghosts. Sure, he'd seemed a little snappy and bad-tempered, but that was pretty normal considering that Wyatt had ditched him with two dozen shopping bags earlier that day.

Still, something was off, but Wyatt just couldn't put his finger on it. Apparently, his mother hadn't noticed, as she was still browsing the Book for potential potion ingredients, but Wyatt was coming to the conclusion that either his brother was very ill, or he something quite a bit more sinister was afoot… Wyatt hoped it was the former.

Footsteps sounded from the attic stairs, and soon, Jennifer stepped inside, looking awestruck as she gazed around the room. It was every witch's dream, with the spellbooks, potion ingredients, and large open space good enough for practicing magic in. Her eyes were wide as she examined the room where so many generations of good witches had practiced their craft, working to protect the innocents they were tasked with watching over. Then, she noticed the Book of Shadows, and her entire face lit up with amazement.

Piper had looked up when she'd heard Jennifer come into the room, and as soon as she saw the young woman's face, she realized what was going on in her mind. It was pretty common among white magic practitioners; they would be impressed by the Charmed heritage in the attic. "Do you want to come help me look through the Book?" she offered. "Two heads are better than one, after all," she added. She didn't want to sound like she was offering the young witch a chance to get close to their magical legacy, as she had the feeling that Jennifer had a bit of a pride issue.

Jennifer quickly schooled her features into an expression that covered all the happiness and amazement that had been shining through, and briefly nodded. She stepped towards the Book, as Wyatt retreated to give her room. Her hand trembled slightly as she reached out, holding it above the thick pages of the ancient Book of Shadows. Finally, she let a single finger touch the cool and beautiful pages, and she allowed a smile to grow on her face. Then, almost as if nothing special had happened, she began flipping through the pages of the Book.

Seeing that he was no longer needed, and still worried about his brother, Wyatt cleared his throat and mentioned, "I'm going to go check on Chris. He's been acting weird." He prepared to head towards the stairs, knowing full well that his mother didn't quite approve of him orbing such short distances unless it was an emergency.

He hadn't expected Jennifer's head to shoot up, and even less the way that she was staring intensely at him. "How is he acting weird?" she asked, her voice strangely insistent for such a simple question. In her face, a small trace of determination could be seen.

Piper, who'd been looking at the Book, turned to the young witch. It dawned on her what Jennifer was thinking. "No, Chris isn't possessed. You checked his eyes, didn't you? He's fine, he's just not feeling well." She tried to think about how Chris had looked when he'd mentioned feeling ill, and she realized that she'd been so distracted that she hadn't even looked into her son's eyes, but had merely checked his forehead. "He can't be possessed," she insisted.

Jennifer turned to Wyatt, knowing the signs that Piper was in denial, and instead repeated, "How is he acting weird? Is there any chance that Malachi is in him?" She was looking at him carefully, and her hand had traveled to her belt where she held the knife that she'd carefully crafted to kill the spirit that had thought to take possession of her fiancé.

Wyatt flew through the memories of the past few minutes, remembering how his brother had closed his eyes when he'd said he felt ill, how his brother had been speaking to him, how Chris had stood right behind him, the strange eerie presence that he'd suddenly felt. It was all making sense now, it fit perfectly into the explanation that Malachi had taken control of his little brother.

"Oh my God," Piper said, seeing the conclusion that Wyatt had come to, and knowing the answer to the question herself. Jennifer merely steeled herself, knowing what had to be done.

(A/N) Cue even more dramatic music! Yes, now the family has realized that Chris is possessed, and Malachi is making himself quite at home in Chris's body. Poor guy. Anyway, what do you guys think Malachi is going to do now? How will the Halliwells get the spirit out of Chris? And what measures will Jennifer go to to destroy Malachi once and for all?

As usual, thanks to those who added this to their Faves and Alerts. About reviews, you guys scared me for a second! I'd thought that I wouldn't get reviews for this story for a while there. It was nerve-wrecking, but, in the end, I got some really great ones. Thank you to the wonderful people who reviewed: Corianna15 and Fanycharmed. You guys are brilliantly awesome! And I guess I'll see you all next week with the next chapter. Please please please review! Reviews are like cereal to me at midnight (priceless, basically). The little box down there? It's calling to you. Look at it! See? It's so sad and empty. Don't you want to fill it up with lovely words? Please do! The box and I will thank you for it! And, I'll see you next week! Bye!