Chapter Five
Wyatt looked back at his mother, who'd returned to the kitchen quickly, before shaking his head. Piper cared a great deal about her cooking, and sometimes the rest of the family found that strange. Of course, they were grateful afterwards, because Piper's care managed to not only feed everyone but it turned every single meal into a delicious one.
Piper saw her son's reaction. "What?" she asked. "If I hadn't put the mousse into the fridge, we wouldn't be able to have any later," she protested.
Wyatt just smiled and continued on his way to the stairs.
Suddenly, a loud thump was heard.
Wyatt and Piper froze mid-step as they strained their ears to hear more. They had no idea what had caused the noise, and they thought there might be another demon in the house. Maybe they hadn't gotten them all.
Once more, they continued on their way, but moving so slowly and quietly that they were practically undetectable. Wyatt projected his shield out to cover them both, in case of surprise attacks.
As they approached the living room, Wyatt saw a body crumpled on the floor by the couch. Whoever it was, they seemed to be either unconscious, sleeping or dead.
Piper didn't see the figure, as she was currently investigating another part of the living room. She sneaked about, hoping to find the cause of the sound.
Wyatt approached the body carefully, an energy ball held in his hand in case the unconscious figure rose to fight against him.
As Wyatt circled the person, he frowned as he wondered why the shirt the person was wearing seemed so familiar.
When he got near enough to make out the facial features, Wyatt gasped, snuffed out the energy ball in his hand, and instantly fell to his knees next to the figure.
Piper heard her son's gasp, and she immediately ran to him, terrified that he had been hurt. However, when she saw what her son was doing, her face took on an expression of horror.
Chris was lying on the ground, his longish hair almost completely covering his face, which was why his brother couldn't recognize him at first. His arms were stretched out slightly, as if he'd tried to catch himself as he fell; his neck and head were lying at such an impossible angle, it seemed unbelievable that he was still alive. However, his chest was rising and falling, irregularly, but at least it proved that he was still among the living.
"Chris?" Wyatt called his brother, gently lifting up the unconscious boy's torso and cradling it. "Chris?" he repeated worriedly.
Chris heard a voice intrude the darkness in which he lay, and he stirred feebly. The voice called him once more, insistently. Chris opened one eye in response.
Once he saw his brother open his eye, Wyatt exhaled in relief. He then moved his arm to a lower place on Chris's back in order to hold him better, but as he did so, he felt a warm wetness cover his hand. Instantly, he retracted his hand in order to see it better, and he felt a cold fear grip his heart as he saw that it was coated in a thick red substance.
Piper shuddered as she saw the blood on her son, but she held on firmly to her composure, telling herself that Wyatt would just heal Chris and everything would be ok.
"Hang on, Chris," Wyatt muttered to his brother as he began to turn him over to reach the wound better. Chris just groaned as his injury was moved, and the skin around it stretched painfully.
Finally, Wyatt could hold his hand over the gaping hole. He concentrated, and warmth began to flood him as his healing power was activated.
Chris sighed happily as he felt the wound on his back begin to heal, and the pain just disappeared.
Soon, it was done. Wyatt drew back his hand but didn't let go of his young brother.
Chris struggled for release, and once Wyatt's arms had loosened around him, he tried to stand up.
"Easy," his brother's voice cautioned him, and he felt a pressure forcing him back down.
Wyatt kept his brother from standing, and reached over to his lower back once more, to really make sure that Chris was fine.
Seeing what Wyatt was trying to do, Chris squirmed and protested, "I'm fine, Wy. Lemme go!"
Finally, Wyatt released his younger brother, and Chris stood up quickly. For a moment, Chris stood firmly, but then a rushing noise filled his ears and he swayed slightly. He collapsed onto the couch, his eyes closed. He heard footsteps approach him, and then his mother's worried voice.
"Chris?" she asked.
"I told you to take it easy," his brother muttered.
"I'm good," Chris answered, "just a little dizzy."
Piper sat down next to her younger son, and then, on an impulse, she hugged him fiercely. Chris seemed a little surprised by the gesture, but he responded in kind. Wyatt watched them for a while, before standing up himself.
"So," he began, doing his best to sound businesslike, "what happened?"
Chris tensed slightly and let go of his mother to look his brother in the eye. "I was attacked."
"By who?"
"A couple of demons." Chris blushed, then continued, "I was walking to the cable-cart stop when they grabbed me."
Wyatt pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. If Chris had simply done as he was told, and orbed home instead of taking the normal route, none of this would have ever happened.
Wyatt tried to cover his softer feeling behind his frustration, but it was difficult. He was extremely mad at Chris, yes, but under all that lay a feeling that wasn't so easy to deal with: worry. Wyatt was extremely worried about his younger brother, and even though he knew said younger brother would be probably embarrassed by the feelings in his heart, he couldn't help them.
Clearing his throat, Wyatt then commented, "We should probably check the book."
Chris nodded as his mother stood up. "Yeah, we should."
-)-(-
Just a short while later, both brothers were standing in the attic, reading the Book of Shadows, while their mother watched them from a seated position on a nearby chair.
"Are those the demons that attacked you?" Wyatt asked for the seventh time.
"No," Chris answered hesitantly. The only demon he'd gotten a good view of was the one covered in all the tattoos, and even he wasn't so easy to recognize.
Wyatt turned the page once more, and stopped. "Those are the demons that attacked us," he said, pointing at the page in front of him. Evil creatures were painted on it, baring their teeth and holding energy balls.
"It says here that they're lower level demons, not too hard to vanquish. You don't even need a potion," Chris said, reading the explanation next to the drawings.
Wyatt nodded, and then continued flipping the pages, asking every once in a while if Chris recognized the demon.
It went on like this for a while, and Wyatt was beginning to grow rather tired. He turned another page over, and opened his mouth to ask if that was the demon, when Chris gasped. Wyatt instantly read the writing next to the image of a ferocious tattooed demon.
These types of demon are very dangerous to encounter. They have upper level powers, but use them rarely. They mostly take on jobs as assassins instead of killing randomly, like others do. Specialized in their trade, when their services are required, they are tactical and their strategies rarely fail.
Under the explanation were the instructions for a vanquishing potion.
Chris had read the text with raised eyebrows, growing more skeptical every moment. Why had Wyatt been attacked by minor demons, while the best assassins were after Chris? It made absolutely no sense at all.
Chris puzzled over this for a moment before coming up with a solution. Obviously, the demons had made a mistake. They'd probably gotten the brothers confused or something, which was the reason they'd sent the stronger demons after the weaker brother, and vice-versa.
While Chris was thinking this over, Wyatt had told his mother about the demons.
"Is there a vanquishing potion?" she asked.
"Yeah," Wyatt answered, glancing once more at the list of ingredients. "It's not too hard. All we need is some mandrake, cardamom, and-"
"We're out of cardamom," Piper interrupted. "You finished it yourself," she added, and Wyatt blushed slightly and looked down at his feet. He was supposed to write down the herbs they ran out of on the shopping list, but somehow he always forgot.
Piper stood up and began walking to the stairs, the boys followed her. "In fact, you two can get me some other herbs while you're at it," she continued, as she walked down the steps.
(A/N) Yaay! Chris made it home safe and sound! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it was pretty fun to write, at least.
I wanted to thank my two reviewers: Drunk and xxxwallflowerxxx, you guys make it more fun to post each and every chapter! Anyway, please let me know what you thought about this chapter! See you next week with chapter six!