A/N: Hey guys! So sorry for the delays the last few days. It's been hectic.
Anouki90: Yes, the other three are definitely hard on Rebecca. Katelyn has always been the one who sided with her and tried to be friendly. Thanks! Glad you're enjoying!
lizardmomma: Yeah, orbing should be fun! Haha. Thanks!
CharmedOpal: Melinda and Rebecca = Piper and Paige in the beginning. So that explains it! Haha. Also, Melinda can freeze and orb,; no other Whitelighter powers. But you're right! She should be more understanding.
Guest (Semper Fi Witchlighter?): Ahaha. I'm sure Rebecca would appreciate that, since everyone is ganging up on her!
Okay, so I've been really building towards what's going to happen in the next few chapters. This is NOT the last chapter – keep that in mind! It might seem like it, but it's not at all. There will DEFINITELY be another chapter coming soon!
So here we go! Hope you enjoy!
...
Katelyn and Rebecca landed on their asses, in a tangle of limbs.
"Ow!" Katelyn howled, wincing.
Melinda and Corrine orbed in a second later. Melinda reached out to Katelyn and helped her stand, while Corrine reached for Rebecca.
"The landing is always a bitch," Melinda said with a smirk, crossing her arms.
Rebecca glared at her, but said nothing. She knew Melinda trying to bait her and it wasn't worth biting back.
"Okay, enough," Corrine said firmly. "We have a very powerful demon to vanquish. Vanquish now, snark later."
Melinda chewed on the inside of her lip, shrugging. "Sounds good."
Rebecca grumbled unintelligibly.
Fighting over – for now – the cousins looked around, finally taking in their surroundings. They were in the Underworld – something that had only happened a handful of times, and almost always under the watchful eye of Prue, Piper, and Phoebe.
"How do we find the demon?" Katelyn asked, frowning and looking around.
"Well, we scryed," Corrine replied. She chewed her lip. Katelyn had scryed continuously up until the point when they had orbed out. The demons had started out hiding in the park, but had led them to the Underworld minutes before they had left. Corrine had been hoping that wouldn't happen; it put them on the demon's turf, taking away their home advantage. Now, anything could happen.
"Well..."
"Witches," someone sneered.
"Maybe they'll find us," Corrine finished weakly, backing up so her cousins were behind her.
The demon grinned. He looked like a warlock, very human-like and very sinister.
"I wondered how long it would take you to show up," the warlock mused, pacing before them, completely at ease.
"I truly thought you would have been smarter than this," he sighed, shaking his head. He came to a stop and grinned at them. "You are stupid witches, hm?"
"Anyone else think this is a trap?" Melinda grumbled, sarcasm dripping from her every word.
Katelyn pinched her, narrowing her eyes. Melinda glared at her.
"Like lambs to the slaughter," the warlock said with a chuckle.
"Do you really think we're that dumb?" Rebecca snapped, sounding braver than she felt.
The warlock smirked, stepping closer to them. Corrine pushed her cousins further back, protectively. She threw her hand out, but it only sent the demon stumbling back a few steps.
"Cute parlor trick, bitch," he laughed, shaking it off. "What else you got?"
Corrine threw her hand out again and again, but the warlock only stumbled each time, laughing harder each time.
"This is going to be easier than I thought," the warlock managed to say through his laughter.
"Not happening," Melinda snarled, throwing her hands up and freezing the warlock.
They all breathed a sigh of relief.
"Let's hit him with the potion before he-." Melinda began, cutting off as she was thrown off her feet into the large rock behind her. She gasped, winded, as she hit the ground. She groaned, trying to stand, but unable.
"Stupid witch," the warlock chided her. "Not going to happen. You're little powers don't work on me."
Rebecca gripped the potion in her hand, then threw. It sailed through the air, inches from the warlock. But he flicked his fingers and sent the potion flying into the wall. It shattered, dripping into the sand.
Rebecca's eyes widened.
"Double-team him," Corrine whispered to Katelyn. She motioned with her fingers to countdown from three, two, one... And they both threw their potions at the warlock. He easily flicked the potions aside, then sent Corrine and Katelyn flying; they landed on their backs, inches from Melinda.
Rebecca ran to help her cousins up, giving Corrine a hand. She was just moving to help Katelyn when, suddenly, there was pressure on her neck, like an invisible hand chocking off her air supply. She was lifted from the ground, swinging her legs wildly, kicking and flailing. The invisible hand only gripped tighter.
The demon chuckled. "You make it so easy, it almost isn't worth it," he said, pulling her closer to him through the air.
Rebecca's eyes widened and she fought harder.
"What do we do?" Katelyn asked her cousins, panicked.
"We're out of potions," Melinda said, frustrated. "And our powers have no effect on him."
Rebecca realized that if she didn't escape, he would kill her. In that moment of panic, there was a second of clarity. She closed her eyes and, though she was oxygen-deprived, she tried to relax. She closed her eyes, loosened her muscles, and –
She orbed.
She orbed out of his grasp, and back to the safety of her cousins. She stumbled into them, but they held her up and supported her weight while she gasped for breath.
The demon paused, eyes wide and caught off guard; he hadn't expected Rebecca to be able to fight back.
"I have an idea," Rebecca gasped, hand to her throat. "Go with it." And she began to chant:
"Halliwell Witches, we call to thee
Hear us now, answer our plea.
Vanquish this demon from this place
Send him away, through time and space"
Corrine, Melinda, and Katelyn repeated the spell as Rebecca recited it to them, then held their breath.
The demon laughed, as if he found them to be ridiculous. The smile, however, quickly fell off his face, contorting into a grimace of pain. His eyes were wide with shock and he clawed at his body, as if he had bugs crawling over himself.
And then he exploded. It was an enormous, fiery blast that seemed to take him from the inside out. His screams echoed off the cave walls long after he was gone.
Corrine, Melinda, Katelyn, and Rebecca watched with wide, shocked eyes.
They stood there for several minutes after the warlock was gone, relishing in their first demon vanquish.
...
Katelyn held a tray of hot chocolate in her hands as she made her way to the living room. She passed one mug off to Corrine, another to Melinda, then took her own and plopped next to Katelyn on the couch, with Corrine across from them.
"To our first real vanquish together," Corrine said, holding her mug up and out. Melinda and Katelyn did the same, murmuring a 'cheers' before taking sips.
"Rebecca really saved our asses," Katelyn reminded her cousins, looking pointedly at Melinda.
Melinda rolled her eyes. "Look. I know I've been hard on her. But it worked out, didn't it? I was harsh about her healing abilities, and then she healed us. Then I made fun of her about orbing, and she orbed."
"Yeah, but I landed on my ass – again," Katelyn said with a shake of her head.
"But she orbed," Melinda said firmly. "Reverse psychology," she said with a shrug.
"Okay," Katelyn quipped, quirking a brow.
Corrine shook her head, sipping her hot chocolate. "Just lighten up, okay? She's proved herself."
Melinda waved them off. "Yeah, yeah."
"Where is Rebecca?" Katelyn asked with a frown.
"Did I hear my name?" Rebecca called, padding in to the room. She was in pajamas already and looked exhausted. She settled next to Corrine.
"We were just talking about how your quick thinking saved us," Corrine said with a kind smile.
Rebecca blushed. "I just did what had to be done," she said, brushing it off. "It wasn't anything you guys couldn't have done."
"But we didn't," Katelyn pointed out. "You did it. And it was great."
"Thanks," Rebecca said, grinning.
"I have a feeling," Corrine said, sipping her hot chocolate slowly, "That we're going to be okay."
"Well, we survived our first demon attack," Melinda said, shrugging. "It's all up hill from here."
"Cheers to that!" Katelyn said, holding her drink up and sipping it.
"This will all work out," Corrine said firmly, glancing at each of her cousins in turn. "I don't know how, but somehow, it will all work out."
Melinda, Katelyn, and Rebecca all nodded in agreement.