A/N: Sorry this took so long, been a bit busy lately. But, it's here now so enjoy :D
Manor Attic
"Paige? Are you okay?"
Paige cleared her throat before talking. "Yea, I think I just need to sit down."
As if on cue, Paige's legs gave out from underneath her and Piper had to catch her before she collapsed to the ground. Phoebe quickly hurried over and helped Piper lay Paige down on the couch. Both of them shared a silent look over Paige's head while Reichs' words were running through their heads.
It's only going to get worse.
"Go look up Praeter." Paige's weak voice broke them both out of there thoughts. Phoebe reluctantly left Paige's side and headed towards the book.
Piper draped a blanket over Paige and at the same time her eyes scanned her younger sister. No matter what Piper did, she just couldn't stop Reichs' words from haunting her. It's painful, isn't it? It's like someone's constantly smashing your head with a sledgehammer. And your stomach feels like it's being twisted by an unrelenting claw that just loves to hurt you. You're going to get so hot that you'll feel like you're on fire. Your entire body will feel like it's about to explode and the pressure keeps building and building until…
In a way, Piper was glad that he never got finish his sentence. In fact, she didn't ever want to know what would happen after that. And with every fiber of her being, Piper was sure as hell not going to let Paige experience it. "Paige?"
"Yeah, Pipe?" Paige answered with as much strength as she could muster. Unfortunately, that wasn't much.
"Are you in any pain?" Piper asked even though she had a feeling that she already knew the answer. She also knew that Paige was too stubborn to admit what she was truly feeling. Must run in the family… Piper thought glumly.
"Not really." Paige's voice rasped.
Piper raised her eyebrows at Paige to show her that she didn't believe a word of what her younger sister just said.
Paige let out a slow, long sigh. "I've been better, but it's really not as bad as Reichs said it was."
"But it will be…" Piper whispered sadly while avoiding Paige's eyes.
Paige saw how much all this was hurting her sister and that hurt her more than any demon could. Paige had made a promise to herself a while back that she would do anything in her power to stop either one of her sisters from getting hurt, physically and emotionally. And right now she was breaking that, very important, promise. She gingerly reached out with one hand and pulled Piper's chin up until their eyes connected. "Don't worry so much, Piper. You'll get wrinkles. Besides, we'll fix this before it gets that far." Paige said in a cheery voice. Well, as cheery as she could make herself sound under the circumstances.
Piper gave Paige a watery smile. "You're right." Piper announced with confidence, despite the tears that were slightly clouding her vision. "It's not going to get that far because I'm not going to let it get that far. I promise that you will be up and orbing before you know it. Okay, Missy Paige?"
Paige let out a tiny chuckle before nodding her head. "Thanks, Pipe."
"Anytime." Piper announced while leaning in to kiss Paige on the forehead.
Phoebe watched the scene with tears in her eyes. It' so good to finally see Piper acting more sisterly towards Paige, especially if she's not going to… No! Don't think like that, Phoebe! Paige is going to be just fine after you find this Praeter guy in the Book and get him to tell us where his friend is. Then Paige will have the antidote and everything will be fine. It has to be… Phoebe shook her head to clear the unwanted thoughts before once again focusing on the book.
Unknown to the sisters, another person was watching the scene as well. Full of anger, Praeter shimmered away from the manor and back to the underworld and Renzor.
Underworld Cave
Renzor looked up to see Praeter shimmer in. He immediately jumped up from his seat to greet his long time friend. "Praeter, did it work?"
Praeter nodded. "The youngest was hit with the arrow. Now, she lies dying on the couch in their attic with her sisters at her side."
"Perfect," Renzor announced with a hint of amusement in his voice. "Now they have a front row view of their sister as she suffers."
"There might be a slight problem though, Renzor." Praeter said barely above a whisper, not wanting to anger the demon any more than he already was.
"And what might that be?" Renzor asked, making no effort to hide the annoyance he was feeling.
Praeter swallowed hard, unsure if he should be telling Renzor this, but it was too late to stop now. "Reichs, the darklighter you hired, was captured by the Charmed Ones."
"Did that little worm give them my name?" Renzor sneered.
"No," Praeter hesitated for a second, regretting the fact that he brought this up in the first place. "He gave them mine."
Renzor just stared at the demon in front of him for a couple of seconds, contemplating his next move. Praeter was like a brother to him, and after just losing Kanzor, Renzor was unsure if he could deal with losing Praeter as well.
"Find a sorcerer and get him to put up something that will keep you safe from the witches' magic." Renzor snapped after about a minute of silence before storming out of the chamber.
Praeter let out a sigh of relief as Renzor left. He took a moment to compose himself before leaving to find a sorcerer that could help him.
Manor Attic
Piper approached Phoebe, who was still flipping through the Book of Shadows. "Find anything yet?" Piper asked, making her presence known to Phoebe.
Phoebe's head snapped up at the sound of her sister's voice. "Not yet. How's Paige?" She asked before she returned to flicking through the book, looking for the one demon at the moment that could help them.
Piper's gaze drifted over to the youngest Halliwell. "She's asleep right now, but she's definitely getting worse."
Phoebe's eyes flicked back up at that statement and they found their way over to Paige. Even though she was asleep, it was still painfully obvious that something was very wrong. A light sheen of sweat was covering Paige's face, she tossed and turned slightly and her eyelids kept fluttering slightly as she let out a low murmur or a pitiful moan every so often. The sight weighed heavy on both of their hearts. Phoebe went back to flipping through the book with a renewed vigor, trying to find the demon that could stop Paige's, and even Piper's, suffering.
Piper walked back over to Paige and placed a cool, damp cloth onto Paige's forehead in an attempt to bring her ever rising temperature down. The poison that was working its way through Paige's system seemed to be playing with them. One minute it looked as if Paige was going to drop dead but then the next minute Paige looked completely fine. And just when they thought Paige might have fought off the poison, she was back to being extremely ill. Piper was starting to find this cycle infuriating, she kept getting her hopes up just to have them crushed again and again in one of the worse ways she could have possibly imagined. Piper thought that once they had talked with Reichs they would be a lot closer to having the answers they needed to make Paige better. But it seems that Reichs' visit raised more questions than it answered. Piper continued to stare almost blankly at Paige, as if waiting for a miracle. And for once in her life, that's exactly what she got.
"Hey, Piper." Phoebe's excited voice chirped from behind her.
Piper's head snapped around to see that Phoebe was gleefully eyeing the book. "What?"
"I found him."
A/N: Don't forget to review! Tell me what you think (Constructive criticism is definitely welcomed). It's great as a writer to get as much feedback as possible so just do me this one small favor and I promise I will update again soon. That's not an ultimatum by the way, I'll update no matter how many reviews I get but you know, you scratch my back….