Whitelighter Down

"Help! Someone help me!"

Lauren Stevens was screaming as loud as she could as she ran down the dark back alleys of San Francisco. She had never been more scared than she was at this very moment.

"Please, someone, anyone, help me!!" she yelled again, but no-one heard her.

She continued running, towards the slit of light she could see at the end of the alley. If she could just make it out to the streets, she would be safe in amongst the bustling streets, she thought. Her long brunette hair billowed behind her as she broke into a sprint.

However, before she could reach the light, a mass of black orbs materialised in front of her. She gasped in horror as the orbs cleared, and there stood a tall, dark man dressed in black. He held a crossbow in his hand.

"What do you want from me?!?" Lauren screamed, her eyes full of tears.

"Oh, Lauren, its simple really," said the man, approaching Lauren as she stepped backwards, "You see, I am a darklighter, and it is my sworn duty to rid the world of our sworn enemies; whitelighters."

"But I'm not a whitelighter!"

"Not yet, you're not," smirked the darklighter, as they both stopped, "However, if you were to keep cavorting with your new best friends, you would be, and you see, I just can't let that happen."

"What are you talking about?" asked Lauren, the tears now rolling down her face, "What do Billie and Paige have to do with this?"

"Oh, you don't know yet?" said the darklighter, with a small laugh, "Well, I suppose you should know before you die. You see, Billie and Paige ... are witches!"

"What?" gasped Lauren, eyes wide, mouth open in shock.

"Yes, witches do indeed exist, my dear. And not only that, but Paige is also half-whitelighter, and if given the chance, she would have taught you all about being a whitelighter."

"OK, well, listen, if-if you let me go," stuttered Lauren, now frozen in fear, "I p-promise that I won't go anywhere near either of them again, and that way, I won't ever become a whitelighter. You have my word."

"Aw, how sweet of you," smirked the darklighter, "However, I'm afraid your word isn't enough. You see, it is your destiny to become a whitelighter, and no matter what you do, you will eventually be drawn to that destiny."

"Oh no ..." gasped Lauren.

"Which sadly means that I have to make sure that doesn't happen," said the darklighter, as he grabbed Lauren by her arm and threw her to the ground. As she raised her head, she saw the darklighter arm his crossbow.

"Billie ... Paige ... help me," she said softly, as the darklighter raised his crossbow and aimed it at her. Lauren closed her eyes, praying for a miracle.

The arrow shot out of the crossbow, but as it did, it changed into a mass of orbs. However, these orbs were not black like the darklighter's, but light blue. At the same time, both the darklighter and Lauren heard an echoing voice shout "Arrow!"

The blue orbs shot towards Lauren, but then they suddenly changed direction, instead flying towards the darklighter, who stepped out of the way just as they passed them. The orbs hit the far wall, and changed back into the arrow.

Lauren opened her eyes, and sighed in relief. The darklighter growled angrily.

"Show yourself, whitelighter!"

Just then, Lauren could see another larger mass of blue orbs descend from the sky behind the darklighter, and could hear jingling. As the orbs reached the ground, they cleared to reveal a young woman with long brunette hair, pale skin, red lips and dressed in a red t-shirt and jeans.

The darklighter turned around just as the woman kicked him in the stomach, and he fell to the ground. The woman then ran over to Lauren, helping her to her feet.

"Paige ..." gasped Lauren.

"Don't worry, Lauren, I'm going to get you out of here," said Paige Matthews, in a soothing voice.

"It's true, you are half-whitelighter," said Lauren.

"Yeah, well, I figured that if I told you that at the start, you would be scared off, or you'd think I'm crazy," said Paige, with a small giggle.

Just then, the darklighter groaned as he tried to pick himself up.

"Oh no, oh no, what are we going to do?" gasped Lauren.

"OK, listen to me, Lauren," said Paige, "I want you to run out into the street, and go to the cafe at the corner, where Billie is waiting for you."

"Wait, what about you?"

"I'll hold off Ugly here," said Paige, "Now, go! Run!"

Lauren nodded, and sprinted past the darklighter towards the light. The darklighter then got to his feet and quickly aimed his crossbow at her. However, Paige quickly orbed a three-legged wooden chair from a nearby dustbin at him, and the sheer force knocked him to the ground as the chair shattered. By the time the darklighter rose again, Lauren was gone.

"You stupid witch!" he growled as he turned to Paige.

"Aw, so sorry if I've disturbed your plans to kill future whitelighters!" said Paige sarcastically.

"Well, don't be," said the darklighter, arming his crossbow, "You see, if I can't have her, I may as well have you!"

He shot an arrow directly at Paige, but she held out her hand and yelled "Arrow!" The arrow became another mass of blue orbs, which changed direction and shot towards the darklighter, who orbed away in his black orbs as the arrow joined its friend on the back wall.

Paige began to scan the alley, searching for any sign of the darklighter, as she knew it was not in their nature to give up so easily.

Suddenly, the darklighter orbed back in, a few feet behind her. As Paige had not turned around, he assumed she had not heard him. He quietly aimed his crossbow and aimed it at her back, and was just about to shoot when...

"Crossbow!"

Paige waved her arm without turning around, and the crossbow orbed out of the darklighter's hands, sliding across the ground past Paige. The darklighter dived for it, but with a wave of her arm and a call of darklighter, she sent him flying into the wall in a shimmer of blue orbs.

"Again, so sorry for interrupting," smiled Paige, as the darklighter fell in a heap at the bottom of the wall.

"Oh, this isn't over," groaned the darklighter, "Not by a long shot."

Paige wore a confused look, as another mass of black orbs appeared behind her. A blonde darklighter then appeared, nodding at his partner.

"Now!" roared the first darklighter, as the second armed his crossbow. Paige only orbed out just in time, as the arrow shot through the trail of blue orbs and hit the wall above the first darklighter.

"Drakor, you idiot!" roared the first darklighter, as he rose to his feet and pulled the arrow from the wall.
"Hey, don't blame me," said Drakor, "The witch is too quick, and if you hadn't yelled …"

"Are you blaming me for this?!?"

"N-no, Arrow, of course not," stuttered Drakor, clearly scared.

"C'mon, let's just find the witch," said Arrow, "She can't have gone far!"

And so, the two darklighters walked down the dark alley, searching for Paige.

Meanwhile, Lauren was running as fast as she could, bumping into several people as she made her way through the streets. A cool breeze stung her tear-soaked face, but still she ran towards the café on the corner.

At last, she reached the café, and immediately spotted a woman younger than Paige. She had blonde hair and was wearing a flowery t-shirt, jeans and trainers. Lauren made her way to the table and collapsed in the chair opposite the girl.

"Lauren!" gasped the girl, taken by surprise, "Where have you been? Are you all right?"

And then she noticed the marks the tears had left on Lauren's face. Her black jumper was also torn to reveal a graze, and she was shaking slightly.

"Lauren, what happened? What's the matter?"

"It's P-Paige," stammered Lauren.

"Paige?" said the girl, leaning across the table, "What about her?"

"She … she's fighting the darklighter," sobbed Lauren.

The girl grabbed Lauren's hand, and took it in both of hers.

"OK, listen to me, we're going to get out of here. I'm going to take you somewhere safe …"

"But, what about Paige?" asked Lauren.

"Don't worry, Paige is … well, I'm sure that …"

"Oh, I already know that you're both …" said Lauren, before lowering her voice to a whisper, " … witches, and that Paige is a whitelighter."

"Oh. Well then, Paige can hold him off, don't worry," said the girl, with a smile.

Suddenly, the two girls heard a loud scream.

"Oh my gosh! HELP!"

Lauren and the girl rose to their feet, and walked back into the main street. An older blonde woman was screaming at the top of her voice as she ran down the street.

"Call the police!"

"Billie, what's going on?" Lauren asked the girl.

"I don't know …" replied Billie.

"Men! Men with crossbows! In the back alley! HELP!"

However, no-one listened to her. They probably all thought she was talking rubbish. After all, who ever heard of men with crossbows in this day and age? However, Billie and Lauren knew different.

"Wait, men? I thought you said there was only one darklighter," said Billie.

"There was when I left," said Lauren.

They both looked at each other, and then Billie began to run down the street towards the alley. Lauren hesitated, and then, probably not wanting to be alone, ran after her.

Meanwhile, Drakor and Arrow were still searching for Paige.

"Come out, come out wherever you are," said Arrow, keeping his crossbow armed and ready.

"Maybe she's gone," suggested Drakor.

"What, and leave us two darklighters here in broad daylight? Trust me, old friend, she's here!"

"Hey, at least we got to scare that old lady," laughed Drakor, "As soon as she saw us, she just screamed and ran!"

"Well, as fun as that was, we have bigger problems to worry about," said Arrow, "Now focus!"

Drakor nodded, and the two continued to search the alley. Suddenly, Drakor noticed a glow of blue light behind a dustbin.

"Hey, Arrow, over here!" he yelled, and they both proceeded towards the dustbin. As they reached it, Arrow quickly jumped and shot an arrow at where the light came from. However, it was not Paige he shot, but ...

"A rubbish bag!" he roared, as the contents of the bag began to spill onto the ground.

"Uh, I hope you're going to clean that up," called a voice. Drakor and Arrow turned to see Paige standing at the opposite end of the alley.

"That's IT!" roared Arrow, shooting another arrow directly at Paige. Paige called for the arrow, and sent it flying back. The two darklighters jumped out of the way as the arrow zoomed past them. Almost instantly, Drakor armed his crossbow and shot at Paige, who orbed out of the way.

She re-appeared behind Drakor as he rose to his feet, and kicked him back to the ground. Arrow then quickly aimed and shot at Paige, but she sent the arrow flying back at him. He rolled out of the way, rose to his feet, threw his crossbow to the ground and ran towards Paige. The two then began to fight each other, kicking and blocking each other.

Meanwhile, Drakor groaned as he picked himself up again. He first saw Paige and Arrow fighting, and then he saw Arrow's crossbow on the ground. Having an idea, he quickly made his way to the crossbow and grabbed it. Arming both his own crossbow and Arrow's, he aimed at the others, waiting to get a clear aim at Paige.

Moments later, after blocking a punch, Paige managed to deliver a kick to Arrow's stomach, who keeled over. Drakor seized his chance and shot an arrow at Paige, who easily deflected it, but not before Drakor shot a second arrow from his second crossbow. He was too quick for Paige, who gasped in shock as the arrow hit her in the stomach.

Paige looked down at her stomach, mouth open in shock, before she collapsed to the ground in pain. Drakor ran to Arrow and helped him to his feet.

"Nicely done," grinned Arrow, as he looked at Paige, who was gasping for breath.

"Yeah," Drakor said, with a sigh, "Too bad it's not the whitelighter we were supposed to get."

"Oh, who cares about her? Come on, this is not just any whitelighter, this is also one of the Charmed Ones," smirked Arrow, "Just imagine, we will be respected and feared by all others as the ones who put an end to the Charmed Ones once and for all!"

"Uh, I don't think so," yelled another voice. Drakor and Arrow turned just in time to see Billie Jenkins take the two arrows from the far wall and magically throw them towards them. The darklighters ducked and felt the arrows skim over their heads.

"Step away from her, or I will vanquish your sorry butts," yelled Billie.

"Oh, yeah, right, what are you going to do? Throw your purse at us?" laughed Drakor.

"Oh dear, was that a sexist comment?" said Billie, "Not very smart, considering you and all the other magical bad guys have been getting your butts kicked by a total of five women over the last eight years, including yours truly."

Drakor leered at Billie, but before he could arm his crossbow, Arrow grabbed his arm.

"Are you crazy?" he roared, "That's Billie Jenkins! Remember, Billie and Christie, the Ultimate Power?"
Drakor's eyes suddenly grew wide, and Billie smirked in reply.

"B-but, surely, with only one of them …"

"We can't take our chances," said Arrow, "C'mon, we're leaving!"

And with that, both Drakor and Arrow orbed away, the arrows in the walls also vanishing in puffs of black smoke. Billie then ran towards Paige, kneeling by her side.

"Paige, just hang on," said Billie softly, "It's going to be OK."

Just then, Lauren slowly came into the alley.

"Are they gone?" she asked, scanning the alley

"For now, but we have bigger problems," said Billie, and Lauren gasped as she saw Paige. She ran towards Paige, kneeling beside Billie.

"Oh no, oh no, this is all my fault …"

"No, Lauren, this is not your fault," said Billie, placing her hand on Lauren's shoulder, "Darklighters do this for sport."

"The evil …" said Lauren, now feeling anger.

"Yeah, but right now, we need to focus on saving Paige," said Billie, biting her lip.

"Well, what should we do? Call an ambulance?"

"No, I know what to do," said Billie, "OK, put your left hand on my shoulder and place your right hand on Paige's leg."

"What?" said Lauren, confused, "Why …?"

"Please, Lauren, we don't have time! Come on!"

Lauren did as she was told. Billie then put her right hand on Paige's arm, and used her left hand to reach in her hand bag. Eventually, she produced a vial which contained a grey liquid.

"What's that?" asked Lauren.

"Something that will help Paige," replied Billie.

All this time, Paige was still gasping for breath, but now her breaths were getting quieter.

"Please …" Paige gasped, using all her remaining strength to speak, "… hurry …"

"OK," said Billie, grasping Paige's arm tight, "Here we go."

She threw the vial to the ground, and as it smashed, thick grey smoke rose form the shards, consuming Billie, Lauren and a now very weak Paige. Moments later, the smoke cleared and the three of them were gone.