Sweet Seduction

Prue had left for work by the time I'd woken up the next morning. At least this time I didn't have the unpleasant pleasure of meeting Jarrod beside the bed again.

I rose from the bed and replaced the nightgown with new clothes that Piper had bought for me yesterday. When I walked out into the hallway, Phoebe was there, smiling kindly. "Hey there, Delilah," she said cheerfully. "Did you sleep well?"

Smiling back, I nodded. Cole obviously hadn't mentioned our meeting last night to her, unless she was hiding it. 'No,' I thought, 'He kept his promise.' "Prue's at work again?" I asked.

"Yeah, I think so. She told me to give you a kiss but..."

Laughing lightly, I replied, "Thanks Phoebe. It's the thought that counts."

She giggled with me as we walked down the stairs together and into the kitchen. I saw Piper standing behind the counter again, making breakfast and exciting my stomach. However, the excitement faded into a nervous churn as I saw an unrecognizable man in the kitchen reading a newspaper at the table. He had light brown hair and a calm, kind face. "Who's that?" I whispered to the youngest.

"Oh, right!" Phoebe said rather loudly, making Piper clatter some pans and the man put down the paper. After whispering an apology, Phoebe said softly, "Leo, this is Delilah."

The man offered a warm smile to me, which I returned cautiously. "Leo's my fiancée, Delilah, and a Whitelighter, a guardian angel for witches," Piper chimed in helpfully.

Leo rose from his seat and shook my hand. "Nice to finally meet you," he said politely. "Piper's told me that you've been staying here, but has failed to give me any other information, besides the fact that you've been in the Underworld for your entire life. I hope you're enjoying it here."

My eyes flashed to Piper and widened. I thought she would've at least told him my situation. Piper seemed to avoid my gaze as she cut pieces of meat into tiny pieces. I turned back to Leo, my nervousness growing like a disease. "I am," I said, trying to smile. "Uh..." I began to say uneasily.

"Delilah is..." Phoebe tried to help, but the rest of her sentence appeared to be caught on her tongue.

"She's The Source's daughter," Piper finished quickly, not looking away from the food.

Leo's hearty smile faded abruptly into a confused frown. "W-- No... What?" he said quietly. Phoebe grew even closer to me as this happened, her hand grabbing mine protectively.

"Look, Leo, it's not a big deal--" Piper tried to say.

"Wh-- Not a big deal?!" Leo cried angrily to her. "Piper, how could you fail to mention this to me?! She's evil!"

The words took me aback suddenly. Phoebe's mouth opened in protest but Leo flared on.

"Do you have any idea how powerful she could be?! What she could possibly do?!"

Piper looked just as angry as Phoebe was, maybe even more. She dropped the utensils she'd been using onto the counter and glared at Leo in disbelief. "What are you talking about Leo? What kind of powers? She's not evil!" she raged.

"Oh, you don't think so?! There have been rumors going around since the rise of The Source, that he had captured a powerful witch and kept her hidden inside a dungeon until she was old enough to reproduce, hoping that he would get his beloved heir. No one believed it was true because they'd never seen a new rise in power because, believe me, if The Source had something new and powerful, young and destructive to bring to the table, he wouldn't let it hide away!"

"But he did," I said timidly. Leo's angry face turned to me. "After I was born, he killed my mother and forced me to live in that very same prison. And, as far as I know, I've only inherited my mother's powers, not his."

"You have them, though," Leo justified. "He must've done something to them--"

"Like, bind them?" Another body had formed behind Phoebe and me, the body of Cole. He manuvered around us to the other side of Piper. "That's what he did," he said plainly. "He became worried that if Delilah found out in time that she had, not only her mother's powers, but her father's as well, she may have just been powerful enough to overtake him."

"But he wanted an heir," Phoebe pointed out. "Why would he want some monster offspring with all of these powers if he knew that all of those powers combined would be enough to destroy him?"

"He thought that Delilah would be a boy," Cole said. "A boy that would want to follow in Daddy's footprints, not demolish them. When Delilah was born, he kept her around for reasons unknown. Sure, it wasn't the heir he wanted, but he got one. And he worried that, if Delilah would've figured out how to use them, her powers would cause enough destruction to destroy the entire world. So he bound them. Well, his, anyway," Cole concluded.

"He kept me around for them," I said unemotionally to Cole. "At least that's what he told me."

"'Them?'" Leo inquired.

Piper's, Cole's, and Phoebe's eyes all laid on me. With a sigh, I replied, "Demons. That rape me."

Leo's eyebrows furrowed. "He lets his demons use your body?"

I nodded. "I can't do anything to them. I'm what keeps them coming back for more." To some, that may have sounded cocky; to me, it sounded nauseating. Piper, Phoebe, and Cole looked away to the floor, having already heard this, but Leo was still watching me, his face a little less infuriated and a little more sympathetic. I turned my head to Cole and said, "So I'm actually really powerful?"

He tossed his head back up to meet my gaze, his face very serious. "Yes. Extremely. With the power between The Source and your mother, you are capable of great--"

"Evil," Leo finished, his eyes now a glare toward Cole and me.

"Technically, yes," Cole said smoothly. "I mean, that's what she was created for, right? Yet she still holds that choice: to be good or bad. Delilah has never done anything evil to anyone because she never had the power to. And she's never been able to do anything outside the Underworld that was proof of goodness. For right now, she's... neutral, I guess."

Leo looked as though he was dropping the subject. His eyes were continually glancing between the half-demon and me. "Alright!" Phoebe shouted, attempting to cut some of the tension. "Well, I've been working on a spell... to vanquish The Source."

"You have?" Piper asked, looking surprised. I seconded the look.

"Of course! I wanted to get rid of that bastard before, and now, after hearing about Delilah's past, it makes me just want to do it more. Therefore, I have," she said brightly.

"Are you sure it'll work, Phoebe?" Cole asked in interest. "It is The Source we're talking about here."

"Yeah, it will. I added the names of our ancestors, so now we have the whole Halliwell line of magic with the Power of Three."

"Nice job," Piper said with a nod, sounding impressed. "Oh, breakfast is done," she concluded, shuffling plates to the table. We all sat around the table, taking in the delicious aroma of Piper's cooking. Cole and Phoebe happily fed each other pieces of toast, while Leo and Piper were still bickering over the fact that she didn't tell him about me. Meanwhile, I sat quietly in the center, wondering what my beautiful Prue was possibly doing.

After breakfast, Phoebe and Cole decided to go for a walk by themselves. Leo had to go inform 'the Elders' - whoever they were - about me. Without a kiss to Leo, Piper, whom looked slightly pissed, told me she was heading out to P3 for a while.

"I can stay here until Prue gets home, if you want," she offered, though she'd already put on her jacket and swung her bag onto her shoulder.

"No, I'm fine," I said calmly, smiling.

"Okay," she huffed. "Don't destroy the house while I'm gone, please. We've already spent enough money this month," she added with a smile.

I nodded innocently and closed the door behind her. As she zoomed off down the road, I fit my hands into my jean pockets and wondered what I could do. I remembered the day I'd first arrived at the Charmed Ones' house and talked to Piper and Prue for the first time. Then I recalled speaking to Prue about her sisters, her passion for photography, that she couldn't bake anything... "Oh!" I shrieked excitedly, "I'll make a cake!"

Scampering into the kitchen, I immediately opened up cupboards and searched for something to create. I came across a box of chocolate fudge cake mix. "Mmm," I hummed with a smile. "I hope she'll like this."

As I grabbed a red apron and tied it behind my back, I looked over the other ingredients I would need to create the cake. Biting my lip, I gathered all the items and placed them on the counter. "'Preheat oven at 350 degrees'... Alright," I said to myself and pushed the buttons on the stove. It began at 100 and didn't go farther than that number for a long time. "Fine, take your time," I scolded the machine.

I placed the mix and other ingredients in a bowl and mixed them, making it look more like pudding than cake. Feeling as though I'd done something wrong, I skimmed over the directions again. "Huh," I said dumbfoundedly. Then a beep came from the oven, causing me to jump. Gripping my chest, I noticed that the 100 had turned to 350. "Does that mean it's ready? I sure hope so."

I grabbed a pan and poured the pudding-like cake into the pan, spreading it out as evenly as possible. I opened up the oven's door, felt a huge wave of heat come over my face, and, very quickly, I pushed the pan into the oven, shutting the door briskly.

"Now what do I do?" I asked with a sigh.

"I'd recommend watching it so that you don't burn the house down," said a masculine voice from the kitchen entrance. Jarrod strolled around the corner, smirking evily, and added, "It'd be pointless, since the witches aren't even home."

My eyes widened and my heart stopped beating. "What are you doing here?"

"Didn't we go over this already, Delilah? I'm watching you," he declared.

"You decide to pop in whenever the sisters are gone?" I snapped.

"No," he said, his smirk broadening. "But anyway... I'm just curious... when you told Prudence that you loved her, was it true?"

"Stop watching me," I snarled.

"It is, then," he said, rubbing his chin. "Well, this isn't how we planned it..."

"I'm not-- I--" I mumbled aloud. He knew I couldn't deny how I was feeling; he knew. And if he knew, that meant that The Seer knew. And if The Seer knew...

Then my father knew.

"This is good, though, I think," Jarrod carried on. "Now you have Prue right where you want her. Use it to your advantage. Don't get any closer to her, though," he warned, "You have a job to do, that's it."

"But why--"

"She's coming," he said before I could finish, his eyes flashing through the wall. "Remember your task." He shimmered out.

"Anybody home?" a voice called from the entrance.

With a shaky exhale, I shouted, "In here."

Footsteps headed my way and in walked in Prue, looking as stunning as ever. "Why, hello, there," she said, grinning. "I must say, I've never been happier to be home."

"And why's that?" I asked, smiling a little back.

"Because it's just you and me... here, alone... and there is a table, you know," Prue said seductively, curving around the counter toward me.

"Oh, Prue," I moaned, moving against the counter as she leaned over me, kissing me passionately. Her hands held onto my hips, her thumbs slithering up my shirt and rubbing my flesh. I moaned into her mouth, craving her touch.

She pulled away, still beaming, and sniffed the air. "Mm, what is that?" she inquired, looking to the oven.

"Oh!" I cried, pushing the 'OFF' button on the stove. "I made a cake," I said happily, but yelped as I tried to pull out the extremely hot pan.

Prue placed a pair of padded-gloves onto my hands and guided them with hers over to the heated pan, though, now, with the gloves on, I couldn't feel the warmth at all. "Sorry," I murmured, feeling foolish.

"It's my fault, too," Prue retorted kindly. "It sure looks delicious, Delilah. Thank you," she said through a warm smile.

"You're ever so welcome, Prue," I said, no longer feeling silly, "I'm surprised it turned out. It needs to cool first before we eat it."

"Okay. In the meantime..." She finished her sentence by pulling me into another blissful kiss. However, it didn't last long when a voice called out, "Prue!"

I pulled away, looked worriedly to the doorway, then to Prue, whom looked just as confused, and we bounded out of the room into the entranceway. "What is it?" Prue asked.

Phoebe and Cole had shimmered in together, both of them looking around fearfully. "We were just attacked by bounty hunters," Phoebe said in distress.

"Are you guys alright?" I asked both of them, casting a glance around the room myself.

"Yeah, we shimmered out before they could--"

"They're coming!" Cole shouted, pushing Phoebe down to the floor as a bounty hunter formed behind them and the other appeared on the stairs.

Prue turned around and sent the one demon on the stairs flying onto the table on the bottom floor. "Over here!" she said to me, pulling me over to the corner beside the staircase. As Phoebe stayed on the floor, Cole and the other demon sent fireballs at each other, ducking and dodging them as they came at one another.

The demon that Prue had flown onto the table rose up to its feet and gawked at Prue and me in sickening desire. "Little whore," he hissed with a icy laugh, pointing at me. Its hand formed an athame within its palm and sent it flying toward us, but we both jumped out of the way onto the couch.

"You know him?" Prue questioned, her eyes staying on the demon.

"Unfortunately," I squeaked, my heart racing a million miles an hour.

A scream was heard as the demon that Cole was battling burst into flames; Cole had killed him. He brought Phoebe to her feet, while they embraced. The other demon, who glanced at us all in worry, began to back away. "I came with mission... I came with mission..." it mumbled continuously.

Prue stood up, leaving only me on the couch. Cole roared, "Prue, no!"

Suddenly, the demon saw Prue move and sent another athame at her. "No!" I screamed and pushed Prue out of the way, and the knife hit me straight in the stomach.

The cries of Prue, Cole, Phoebe, and the demon rang through my ears as I fell to the ground. I saw Prue's face, a look of sheer hurt and fright painting her face, and I couldn't keep my eyes open. 'No, stay awake!' I ordered myself silently.

But it was dark... so dark... so dark...

------

Oy vey! What'll happen?!

I've decided to do three more chapters, I'm fairly positive about that. Are you excited? How will it end? What surprises are still in store? CLASS DISCUSSION! Ha, kidding. :p

You know the drill! Please rate and review, darlings!