Chapter Twelve
Piper's wail of dismay was enough to pull both of her sisters out of the surprised trance they'd entered when they'd seen the unexpected two demons. Instantly, their minds got to work, trying to figure out exactly what had happened as Piper ran over to where the potion had landed and called out, as if her son would be able to hear her from where she was.
Quietly, Phoebe walked towards her older sister, and placed her hand on the woman's shoulder.
Piper didn't even shrug off the hand as she continued calling out, trying to find her kidnapped son.
"Sweetie," Phoebe was saying sadly. "That's not going to work."
Piper, sensing the truth behind these words, let her calls turn into strangled gasps as tears threatened to burst from her eyes. "Chris, oh Chris," she kept repeating under her breath, as horrible images of what her son might be going through filled her mind. She just couldn't believe that after so much careful preparation, her son had been whisked away right under her very nose. That wasn't what was supposed to happen!
Paige, who had been standing nearby, then walked to her sisters and said quietly, "We should go back to the manor. We can't help him from here."
Phoebe glanced at Paige before turning to see Piper's reaction. The oldest sister had frozen for a moment, before nodding reluctantly. Even if she knew that it was useless to stand here and wait for her son, she still felt as if she had to stay.
Paige, having seen Piper agree, placed her hands on her sister's arms and called on her orbing powers to take them back to the manor, where Wyatt would be waiting for news on the vanquish, instead of the kidnapping of his brother. Paige really wasn't looking forward to this.
-)-(-
Wyatt had been alternating between pacing and looking out the window, trying to catch a glimpse of the family that had left to kill the demon who had been after them. At the moment, he was pacing through the living room, avoiding the various couches and tables mechanically, having completed the route several times before.
He just couldn't keep a knot of worry from developing in his stomach, telling him that all this had been a bad idea. Uncertain of what to do with this relatively new feeling, Wyatt had succumbed to the usual signs of anxiousness, which kept him in rapid movement as he moved from one end of the room to the other.
Hearing familiar chimes, Wyatt looked up as a swarm of bright lights appeared and began to form into the shapes of three people. Wyatt refused to believe his eyes and closed them briefly before opening them again and realizing the truth. His mother and aunts were back at the manor, but Chris hadn't come.
"Where's Chris?" he asked gruffly, trying to keep his feelings from projecting themselves in his voice.
His aunt Phoebe, probably sensing his emotions, glanced at him sadly as his other aunt explained shortly.
"A couple of demons took him."
Hearing this, Wyatt collapsed into a seat, feeling as if his stomach, which had been previously knotted, had dropped into the depths of hell. He'd been so sure that something was going to go wrong, but he hadn't expected this. His brother had been kidnapped by a couple of demons.
Not trusting himself to say anything, he sat there quietly as his mother struggled to take control of the situation.
"Paige, go and grab Chris's shirt from the laundry," Piper was ordering. "Phoebe and I'll meet you in the attic, so we can scry for him." Purposefully, she didn't instruct her oldest child to do anything, knowing with her maternal instinct that Wyatt would be useless until he was able to get over the fact that his brother had been taken by the minions of evil.
The three sisters left to start working, leaving Wyatt where he was, still in shock, and still sitting. They would have loved to help out the young man, but, as it was, time was running out for Chris, who was their main priority at the moment. They had to find Chris, before it was too late.
-)-(-
Chris closed his eyes as the feeling of being shimmered filled his senses with disgust. While orbing felt so comfortable and natural to him, shimmering felt like someone was forcing him through a very small hole.
In fact, most of his disgust at being shimmered was probably due to the fact that it was all against his will. The demons grasping his arms hadn't been particularly merciful in their holds either, which resulted in Chris being unable to feel anything from his elbows down.
Finally solid, Chris opened his eyes to find himself in the underworld once more, but this time, flanked by two overly large and particularly ugly demons. Not a nice situation to be found in at any time.
Chris twisted, trying to free himself or at least loosen the death grips both creatures had on his arms, but it was all for naught. His arms were still caught tightly, and he was definitely not free.
Chris's mind began to race, trying to find a way out of this situation. He couldn't orb away, because of the demons holding on to his arms. If he did so, they would just come along, and he wouldn't be able to shake them off. His mother and aunts weren't around to help him either, and Chris had been counting on having them there for the vanquish.
For a moment, Chris found himself wishing that he'd listened to his brother's warnings and hadn't attempted to prove his point. Sure, he was still upset about being treated like a child, but proving he wasn't so didn't seem to be such a good idea from this perspective.
Not noticing the Charmed son's inner dilemma, the demons relentlessly walked on, dragging the young man along the floor as they headed towards the room where they could sense the Source's aura. It was flickering because of the power the room radiated, but it was there all the same.
Both demons knew that that room was a special one in which no one would be able to leave unless it was from the front door. And, as they would be guarding the doors themselves, they were pretty sure that nobody except the Source would be leaving that room in one piece.
In fact, they were a bit surprised by the lack of fight they'd gotten when they'd kidnapped the Charmed son. Having heard hundreds of stories of the power the three sisters wielded, and their fierce protection of the ones they loved, they were slightly disappointed by what they'd seen when they'd taken the boy away from them. Somehow, they'd expected more.
And the boy hanging in their grasps also seemed to be rather useless. He was quietly struggling instead of blasting the demons away with a well-placed blow, or simply disappearing. Ah, well, what else could they expect? He wasn't his brother, after all.
Finally, the trio arrived at a door inscribed with the demonic language, proclaiming that access to the room inside was prohibited to anyone except the Source and whoever he invited.
Smiling grimly, both demons stopped and waited quietly.
Chris, looking up at the sudden pause, noticed the ominous-looking door in front of him, and cowered slightly as it proceeded to open without any assistance.
As soon as the door had opened enough for someone to walk through, the demon guards pushed their captive forward.
Chris stumbled as they did so, and landed facedown on the dirty ground inside.
"Welcome to hell, Charmed son," a menacing voice said.
Chris looked up to see the Source of All Evil standing before him, a fire ball in his hand. The Source was smiling evilly, obviously ready to vanquish the young man.
Behind him, Chris heard the booming of the door closing. He was in big trouble now.
(A/N) Ooooh! Another cliffie! How evil am I? Please don't hate me! I'm doing regular updates! Poor Chris, doesn't he always seem to get into the worst situations? Will he survive? Will he make it out alive? Stay tuned for the next chapter!
BTW, I wanna thank all the people who Faved, Alerted, and Reviewed! Especially thanks to: Drunk, BlueEyedDreamer, Patry, and Funnie. I must say, I was very confused about two completely different reviews I got... one asking me to make Chris very powerful, and the other requesting that Chris have no additional powers. Sorry, there is no way to make absolutely everybody happy, but I'll try!
See you next week!