The Beginning of the End (ch.6 posted)

[wickedamazon]

hey everybody! here is one of the newest fan fictions that i have been working on. it is not part of the little series that i have going on. its a story on its own set in the future and written from Bianca's view. hope you enjoy
*****
Chapter One

They say that family is your everything. Home is where the heart is. Dorothy’s famous line in Emerald City was there’s no place like home. But sometimes your home isn’t where your heart is. In fact, sometimes you wonder if you even have a heart-or at least you ponder this when you are me.

My name is Bianca. I am around 5’7 in height, give or take a few centimeters; I have shoulder length brown which I have added blonde high lights to to soften my appearance. I have big almond shaped coffee colored eyes and I guess you can say that my skin is the color of honey. It’s not too brown but it’s not too white either. No I take it back, it’s tanner than honey. Naturally tan.

My family is like no other unless you are of magic folk and have read about us. Then again, you can be just a mere human and know about us because HE wants you to know about us. About him and everyone like and unlike him. He’s another story which I will get into later on.

I’m a Phoenix. The first thing that comes to people’s minds when they hear the word phoenix is the description of a beautifully colored Egyptian bird that is said to sing songs sweetly and at a certain pointing their lives, combust into flames and then rise up, born anew, from the ashes. We are not birds, nor do we burn into flames at a point in our lives. But we do share one thing in common with that legend: rising from the ashes.

Long, long ago, way before yours and mine time, before Kennedy, before George Washington, my kind were hunted and lynched for being what they were: witches. Powerful and independent; capable of doing the unthinkable yet most of them were simply practitioners of minor witch craft; spells of luck and love; potions to heal the sick and help the wounded. This was my family.

Now one could be skeptical and say there is no such thing as magic. I could counter with the question of is there really a god? Seeing isn’t always believing but magic does exist and it existed back when my family was committed and tried for being a witch. Satan’s servant to do his evil deeds as some of the ignorant fools claimed the members of my family to be. When a man or woman was under suspicion of being a witch, they were taken from their homes and put into cells awaiting their trial which would ultimately lead to their death. Arthur Miller wasn’t far from the truth when he wrote the play The Crucible. The witch trials went something like that. My family members burned on the stake for their sins that they had committed against god. As the flames engulfed my ancestor Lybby, she vowed that there would be a day when her blood would run again, fresh and free and more powerful than ever. She was right.

Upon that night, the full moon shined down brightly casting a silvery gleam onto everything it touched. Lybby’s pile of dark ashes still rested in the place where human feet once stood. A gentle breeze came about and suddenly the ashes began to rustle and lift up in the wind creating a funnel like cloud. There, before the night in the flesh was Lybby. Stark naked and standing under the full moon. The power pulsating through her veins and in the very air she breathed. A slight scar from when the flames had first touched her skin was noticeable on her wrist. A bright orange symbol that represented our clan, the Phoenix.

And so that is how we came to be. Of course, I had always wondered why anyone would wish to be living again amongst the very people who had murdered them but it wasn’t about them and it wasn’t about revenge. It was about showing power and the fact that you can only be stopped if you let them stop you.

I am twenty-eight years old now and this is my story. This is everything that I am and how I came to be this way. It’s funny how your mind works when you are on the brink of death. It’s as if are suddenly watching a movie that you can’t pause, rewind or stop. No matter how boring or depressing it is you’re forced to recall the memories-good and the bad. Everything from that first kiss under the umbrella during the storm up until the part where you finally realize why you are destined to be…well you. Everyone is here for a reason right? Whether that reason be for evil or something great, you’re here and there’s no changing that. Even if you commit suicide it still won’t change the fact that you once lived and once when through what you went through.

I lay here now, bleeding and breathing slowing. The voices around me sound like an echo; they’re distant and faint. As if they were derived from my very imagination. As I lay dying, I can feel the beating of my heart slowing and feel my lungs pumping hard against my chest in a vain attempt to get oxygen to every part of my body. I lay here and wait for the inevitable. I wait for darkness to surround me, for my body to drop in temperature and for the extraction of my soul into a new life. The after life, whether I’m destined for heaven or hell or maybe an eternity wandering the empty space of limbo being teased and laughed at by both God and the Devil for being a misfit and not worthy of any final destination.

As I lay dying, I’m forced to watch my movie: the documentary of my life. I have no cool, mysterious guy narrating my life like I used to see on E! True Hollywood Story when I was just a child. There are no drugs or divorce or infidelity. There’s no fame and fortune. It’s just my life. Haunting me until I take my last breath.

[wickedamazon]

My home life was something of the unusual. Being a Phoenix, the house was always full of other members coming in and out talking in hushed voices around me about their plans that were to go in motion in the coming days or hours. When I was a little girl the people showed up at our door and my mother greeted them warmly and invited them in. They were regular people to me only they had magic powers. They would gather around the table and play cards, talking in low voices to each other and laughing every once in a while.

When I was thirteen they no longer knocked on the door. They shimmered in- a way of transporting from one place to another- or appeared by other means of transportation: materialization, smoking, blinking and others. No longer did they keep their voices down when I was in the same room as them. No longer did they keep things secret. I would ask my mother over and over what they were talking about and why her friends were using words such as “kill,” “murder,” or “they deserve to die.” She would just shrug it off and tell me to go back to my room and not come back out until the guests had left.

I clearly remember the day that I found out the truth about everything. I had just come back home from the super market to find my mother sitting there in the living room on the over stuffed red couch. “What are you doing back home so early?” I asked as I placed the paper bags onto the kitchen counter. I walked up to her and stood up straight awaiting her response. I would hug my mother but in this house hold, displays of affection only showed weakness.

My mother glanced at me with her deep blue penetrating eyes. A random person walking down the street would never guess that we’re mother and daughter at all. She was tall and slender with blonde hair which she kept cut short and those eyes. I on the other hand was short and not built like a model. My hair was a dark brown and fell straight to my elbows and my eyes were a deep coffee brown. “My business trip ended early. Bianca, come here; sit down.”<br>
I walked over to her and sat down on the plush couch. My mother smiled at me.

“I know you’ve been wondering what I do for a living and I know you are concerned with what you’ve been hearing from our guests.” She looked around the room as if she was searching for something. “Bianca, you know what we are right?”<br>
I nodded. “We’re witches. Phoenixes to be exact.”<br>
Lynn-my mother- nodded her head and took my hands in hers. “Exactly. We’re very powerful witches. Elite witches. But we are also assassins. Do you know what an assassin is Bianca?”<br>
“I’m not stupid,” I replied annoyed at the fact that she even asked that question. I can tell that she sensed my frustration as she nodded curtly. “How can we be assassins? You told me that we were good witches.”<br>
“We are good witches Bianca. These people we are assigned to kill are the ones who are bad. I have raised you to defend yourself from these types of people. The kind that want to see us dead. That’s why I trained you in your martial arts, potion making and sensing skills.”<br> She rolled up the sleeve of my sweater on my left arm revealing the bright orange red birthmark. “It’s who we are: strong and independent. We can’t lose that. Our family has fought for generations to get to where we are today.” She smiled again and stood up bringing me to my feet as well. She took my hand in hers. “Today’s your day to shine Bianca.”<br>

She shimmered us into what looked like the middle of nowhere. We were standing in a large wide open field. The grass was a deep and bright green and came up to my knees. Every where I looked, we were surrounded by the grass and off in the distance behind us was the dark lining of the forest. I glanced up at my mother and she pointed straight ahead. Upon following her gaze I noticed that a tent had been set up and a fire was burning in a clearing.

We walked up to the clearing slowly and cautiously. When we came closer I noticed that two witches were sitting by the fire brewing what seemed to be a potion. I could tell because there were bottles of dragons blood and toad legs on the stump of a dead tree near to the fire My mother knelt down beside me. “These women want us dead Bianca,” she whispered in my ear. “They’re kind killed Grandma Rose.”<br>
My body tensed as I recalled being informed of my grandmother’s death. She had been attacked and viciously murdered. Anger flooded through me and my heart pounded heavily. My grandmother had been my mother. She was the one who hugged and kissed me. She was the one who told me that she loved me and took care of me when I was a small child. She died when I was seven.

“We’re going to make them pay for what they took away from us. You take out the woman with the red hair and I’ll deal with the other.” She glanced into my eyes, the deepness of her blue eyes penetrated into mine. “You’re going to kill her. Trust me it will be easy. You won’t even feel a thing.”<br>
The witches screamed shrilly and used their potion viles against us. Nothing can affect us though and I learned something great that day. The witch with red hair sent a potion vile at me and when it hit me I blew into pieces. The feeling was painful. A burning sensation ran through me on contact but shortly after I slowly reformed. Rising up from my ashes more angry than before. In the blink of an eye I was before the witch and my hand on her throat, squeezing until her throat structure crushed beneath my hands. The witch’s eyes locked onto mine. Her eyes were big and filled with fear and pain. “Finish her!” my mother instructed from behind me. An atheme appeared in my hand and I drove it into the gut of the witch, just like Lynn had taught me to: puncturing both the heart and lung at the same exact time. Blood dripped from her lips as the witch gazed up at me. I felt pity for her and I felt anger at myself for what my hand had done. Her eyes flickered dimly capturing my face as the very last thing she saw. Her body fell limp and to the ground. As I looked down at her, her milky white chest heaved as her lungs worked vigorously to pump oxygen to the organs that were slowly giving way. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her and I noticed that the pupils of her eyes became smaller and smaller as she slowly died. They eye is like a camera: the more light the wider the aperture or you pupil gets; the less light there is the smaller your pupil gets. My mother got rid of the evidence by sending an energy ball at the suffering witch causing her to combust. Lynn’s words echoed in my head as I stood staring at the burnt area in the dirt. “You won’t even feel a thing.”<br>

[wickedamazon]

I was never allowed to go to school like a normal kid. I was home schooled my entire life which was probably why I never made any friends aside from the demons and witches that passed through my house every hour of the day. I never had anyone to play dress up with or play with my Barbies. I was always alone and every time I asked my mother to play with me she’d refuse saying she was too busy, or she had better things to do, more important things to do.

So I played by myself locked away in my room for hours playing with my dolls. I created alternate realities where people in the world were magic-less and loved their families. The Barbies were my family. They listened to my problems and they were there for me when my world was caving in.

When I was a teenager I became absorbed in reading and studying in general. My private tutor Linda was thrilled with the work that I accomplished. My school work was my way out of the life I had. But then I found that I felt so much better writing out my problems in journals. Soon school work was just what it was before I used it as a way to escape. It was just homework to me again. My pen bled all my thoughts and my soul onto a single piece of paper freeing me from all the things I had kept bottled up inside me.

Don’t get me wrong; I wasn’t a complete loner. Only, my friends were not to be trusted, even the men in my life. When I was 14 I developed a crush on one of my mother’s friends’ sons. His name was Matthew Wright. He was the most handsome boy I had ever seen. His hair was a dirty blonde and his eyes burned green with intensity. He was tall and well built and had a tan that gave him the impression of a sun god. He was perfect. Matthew made me laugh and he was there for me when I needed him. His charming white smile made me melt at the knees and every time he held my hand my heart sped up. It sped up anytime he was near me. Matthew was 16 years old and someone whom Lynn despised with a passion which made him even more irresistible to me.

One day we had gone out to lunch together down by the piers. While I was down there, Matthew pointed out a woman with dark waist length hair and soft brown eyes. “That’s Piper Halliwell,” he told me. “A charmed one.”<br>
I glared at him. “I know who she is,” I said coldly. Why did people think I was ignorant?

Matthew wrapped his arm around my waist. “Sorry. Anyways, don’t you see that weakness? Living her life as if she were one of them? The non-magic folk.”<br>
“It doesn’t sound so bad,” I said as I glanced at Piper who was busy purchasing freshly caught sea food.

“It’s pathetic.” Just then the rain began to fall hard against the pavement and material of everyone’s clothes. I opened the umbrella and held it above both of our heads to shelter us from the storm. It was then that I noticed Matthew looking at me warmly. I gave him a curiously look and then he kissed me sweetly on the lips. My first kiss.

[Assassin Witch]

AWW!!

A great Bianca-told story..yay!

It's looking great..just sad that she's dying...

[wickedamazon]

It wasn’t until I was eighteen that I finally met my match. Ever since my first kill, my mother had constantly trained me and hounded me for any flaw that she saw. I worked hard, spending every free moment training in the gym and out in the world. I killed dozens of witches, warlocks, and demons. I grew numb to the guilt. I had found a way around all that. I killed imagining that it was everything that restricted my freedom and independence. Instead of seeing the faces of my victims, I saw the faces of my mother and the men who had played me only for the power that I had to offer. Matthew had been using me to get close as possible to make me weak. This is what enabled me to kill without a problem.

I was more skilled in my fighting than any witch or warlock was prepared for. That also went for the very first white lighter I had killed when I was 14. I was earning a reputation down in the underworld. I was topping Lynn. No longer was she getting all the big jobs. People were coming to me to get the job done. I relished in Lynn’s envy.

It wasn’t until I was out on a kill when I came across the Amazon. I was in the middle of a fight with a witch, really it was just a game to me, when she appeared. Everything happened so quickly. I barely had time to defend myself. One moment the witch was in my grasp and the next she was flung through a portal that closed as fast as it had appeared. I charged at the girl but she jumped over me with the most grace and landed on her feet behind me. I whipped around and slanted my eyes at her. The girl grinned playfully as I stared into her violet eyes. I charged at her and as quick as light she had me pinned on the cold clammy ground of the park.
She smiled as she held me by the throat with one finely manicured hand and her knee was pressed against my chest. “My, my look what I’ve caught here: a Phoenix. I didn’t think they were this weak.”<br>
Her condescending tone caused me to give into my anger and I shoved her off causing her to fly back and land on the ground. In a fit of rage I shimmered and appeared before her swinging my fist at her. She easily dodged the blows I sent at her and suddenly she had me pinned again on the ground, this time holding me with one hand and steadying an atheme at my neck. Her knee dug into my chest as it heaved heavily. I tried to remain as calm as I could. I had never been defeated before and now I was sure that I was going to die.
I looked up into her deep violet eyes and she smiled again as she leaned in closer to me. “You’re dead.” The way she whispered that sentence sent chills up and down my spine and made me shiver. She laughed as she let go of me. I looked at her confused and frightened as I picked myself up. “You should never fight on your emotions. Don’t you know that’s the best way to get yourself killed?”<br>
Who was she to tell me how to fight? She didn’t even know who I was or what I was capable of. Again I charged at her, this time more quickly. I caught hold of her arm and held it in an awkward position. The slightest move would break her arm. In my other hand an atheme was set right against her neck in a mocking position of how she held hers next to mine. “Who’s dead now? You should have killed me when you had the chance witch,” I snarled.

The girl laughed and forced her head back, her hard skull almost crushing my nose. As I staggered with my hand to my nose catching the blood as it fell in a thick warm stream. She came up behind me and placed her hands on my head simply. I knew what would happen if I moved again, she would snap my neck and that would be it.

“You just keep on wanting me to kill you don’t you?” she said this with a tone of amusement in her voice as she shoved me away from her. I stumbled a bit and then whipped around. I was not one to be played as a fool. Certainly not to one who was as arrogant as she. Once more I shimmered and appeared right behind her but she was ready for this. The heel of her stiletto boot dug deep into my gut cutting off my oxygen and causing me to become light headed and my vision to blur. She then picked me up with no trouble at all and tossed my like a rag doll into a thick trunk tree.

I groaned as I staggered to get myself up to my feet. The girl laughed. “That’ll teach you to call me a witch,” she said. “Amazon’s are so not like your kind. See we’re not weak.” I looked up at her still gasping for breath. “See you in the future witch,” she said and shimmered out.

[Assassin Witch]

.......Awww........Keep going, I wanna find out what happens!

[wickedamazon]

That night I came home to find my mother waiting boredly in the living room. I rolled my eyes as I closed the door behind me and I took off my jacket. “So I take it the job went well?” she said in that arrogant tone she always used.

“What are you doing here?” I said ignoring the question. “Haven’t you heard of breaking and entering?”<br>
Lynn cast a stern glance at me. “It’s not breaking and entering when you shimmer in. Besides, as your mother I have a right to be here.”<br>
“Well if that were true then I wouldn’t have moved into my own apartment,” I countered glaring at her.

Lynn watched as I headed to the freezer and pulled out a pint of ice cream. “So how did the job go?”<br>
“Why do you care? It wasn’t even assigned to you.”<br>
Lynn shook her head at me. “You know Bianca, it wouldn’t hurt for you to treat me with some respect.”<br>
I rolled my eyes at her. “I’m not in the mood to find out.”<br>
Lynn got up and walked over to the kitchen. Her bright blue eyes burned with annoyance. “What the hell is your…” she sniffed and looked around then down at me. “Have you been drinking?”<br>
“No,” I lied and shoved another spoonful of strawberry ice cream into my mouth. I let it melt on my tongue in vain hope that it would cover up some of the liquor.

Lynn laughed with disbelief. “I can’t believe this! You’re drunk! I hope you weren’t this way when you went on assignment.”<br>
“Maybe if I was I wouldn’t have felt how hard that bitch kicked my ass,” I muttered.

Lynn looked down at me. “What did you just say?”<br>
I looked up at her. “You heard me.”<br>
“That’s just great Bianca, you let the witch get away.”<br>
“I couldn’t help it, there was an interruption.”<br>
“What sort of interruption?”<br>
I leaned back in my chair. I pondered over whether or not I should tell her. There was the option of keeping my mouth shut and listening to her nag and complain. Then there was the option of telling her and listening to her nag and complain. Either way, I had enough alcohol in to endure the long lecture that lay before me. “Amazon,” I spat.

Lynn’s hard features twitched at this response. “Amazons?” she said in wanting me to clarify for her.

“I didn’t stutter,” I said dryly.

Lynn fell silent and it was like music to my ears. Only it began to give me the creeps.

“What’s wrong?” I asked looking at her oddly.

Lynn took a seat across from me. Her blue eyes locked onto mine with all seriousness. “You’re lucky to be alive,” she said after a while.

“Don’t sound too thrilled,” I countered as I sat back against the wood back of the chair.

Lynn rolled her eyes. “Amazons are dangerous, not to mention the fact that they’re a bunch of arrogant bitches.”<br>
I smiled. “I’m sure you’d fit in just fine.”<br>
“Bianca! You don’t understand, these…creatures could wipe out very existence.”<br>
“And why would they want to do that? Do they know you live a life as a Phoenix?”<br>
Lynn sighed, her temper slowly rising. “A long time ago we used to be like sister clans with them and the Valkaries. Of course we’re not anywhere near as powerful as them; we’re the only ones who know how to kill an Amazon. They can’t die unless the weapon is specially made. Anyways, they became fed up with us “lesser beings” as the called us and started killing off our blood line. They’re vicious creatures who must be stopped.” She paused. “They’re the ones who killed Grandma Rose.”<br>
I shook my head at her. “NO, you told me the witches we killed were the ones who murdered Nana.”<br>
Lynn laughed. “Oh please, those petty witches? They couldn’t kill a Lazareth demon if you put them in front of one. They were a test.”<br>
“A test? What sick mental disorder do you have?”<br>
“Bianca…”

“Get out,” I said firmly.

“Don’t act like a little…”

“I said Get out!!!”<br>
Lynn shut up and shimmered out. I sighed and put my head in my hands. I was so not in the mood for any of this.

[wickedamazon]

Let me tell you about the Halliwell family. The sisters three: the Charmed Ones. The Halliwell family is a group of very powerful good witches. They have battled evil after evil after evil. As descendents from Melinda Warren (a powerful witch at the start of the whole Charmed bloodline), the family has been blessed with great magic powers. The grandmother Penny Halliwell had a daughter whom she had named Patty. Patty was a beautiful woman and fell in love with a mortal named Viktor. The two married and had three daughters who would one day become the most powerful witches that the world has ever seen. Their names were Prue, Piper and Phoebe.

The power of three was born one stormy night after the sisters reunited in a time of need. An incantation from the famous Book of Shadows (the book every demon and witch and warlock alike wishes to get their hands on) each sister ended up coming into their powers. The eldest sister, Prue, had the power of telekinesis and soon was capable of astral projection-being in two places at once. The middle child, Piper, had the ability to slow down molecules which seemed to freeze what ever she used that power on. Later on her powers advanced and she was able to speed up molecules also causing things to combust. The baby of the sisters, Phoebe, had the power of premonition and then she had the power of levitation and finally, she became an empath. The sisters were unstoppable. That is, they were until they came up against the Source of all evil. He had hired the hit man Shax who ended up killing Prue.

The power of three has been through so much turmoil. Piper fell in love with her white lighter Leo, which was forbidden but they did marry and then their sister died. The power of three was broken. That was until Piper and Phoebe’s mom dropped the big bomb on them saying that she had an affair with her white lighter Sam and had a child named Paige. The power of three was once again alive.

The years after that were fairy tale like. Piper and Leo ended up bringing the most powerful child into the world. Twice blessed and with a bright future ahead of him as a witch. His name is Wyatt Matthew Halliwell. Then two years later they gave birth to another son whom they named Christopher. The second child is inferior power wise compared to Wyatt.

Phoebe Halliwell married her long time boyfriend Jason Dean while Paige married a man she had known all of her life. That man was Glenn her best friend. Life seemed to be going great for the Charmed Ones and their families but Leo was an elder and didn’t have time to stay on earth that long and Phoebe had passed away when she was thirty-seven due to a strange consequence with her empath power which messed with her heart. Jason grieved and still visited the family but died shortly after in a demon attack leaving their three year old daughter Evie parentless.

Paige took Evie in as her own daughter caring for her niece. She and Glenn had two children: a girl, Avery, and a boy whom they named James.

*****

My mother had been offered a job to take out a coven of witches by the name of Mythis. She decided to take me out on this mission with her-apparently her way of trying to win me back. We shimmered into the dark forest where the witches hide out were said to be. The night was a haunting quiet and nothing moved. An ominous feeling came over me as I glanced at the many shadows that were painted here and there due to the silvery blue gleam of the moon. We walked cautiously not talking and barely breathing. It is vital that you be extremely quiet as possible when on a kill. The slightest gasp of your breath could be the very thing that leads you to your grave.

As we continued to walk through the forest, ducking under the low hanging branches of the trees, wiping the moss out of our hair, a sudden shrill cry sprang up out of nowhere. The sound was nothing like anything I had ever heard before. It didn’t sound human; it was animal like and echoed off the dark trees that surrounded us. The shrillness made my blood run cold. Then several bright blue fire balls came right at us from every direction. I dodged several of them and sent energy balls into the darkness. I didn’t know where I was aiming but I just kept sending them one after another. Since I couldn’t see these witches, I knew that they had to be somewhere and there was a probability that one of my vibrant blue energy balls would kill at least one witch.

As the fight continued, witches appeared in a cloud of smoke, the shrill cry rising to a higher range. It pained my ears at the high note that seemed to engulf the forest. I then realized that it must be one of their tactics they used during battles. The cry was used as a way to confuse and annoy their enemies. It was working.

My hands covered my ears every moment that was possible. I killed seven witches and immediately blocked out the migraine causing noise. When I took my hands away from my ears to defend my self from an oncoming electricity ball that’s when I heard the scream that made my heart skip a beat. I turned quickly and found Lynn-wide eyed and in pain- on the ground bleeding to death from the atheme that had been jabbed into her lung. Suddenly the shrill call ended and the witches disappeared. It was as if they had accomplished what they had wanted to do. I walked up slowly to my mother who was lying on her back, staring up with her blue eyes holding the sky and the world in their grasp. Her skin was cold and she wasn’t breathing. Her heart wasn’t beating. Phoenixes are unstoppable but like everyone, we too have an Achilles heel. Our weakness that led to our death were the things that weren’t magical. Sickness, depression, a car accident; a gun shot wound or simple an atheme could end our life. You can vanquish us with potions and spells but we will rise up out of our ashes. Cut us with a knife and we bleed and scar. In my mother’s case she was stabbed by the very weapon she used to kill so many with.

[wickedamazon]

I stood there for what seemed like an eternity; the gentle breeze rustled through the leaves of the trees and the short blonde locks of hair. The temperature was dropping slowly, as if the entire world was grieving for the loss of one of the best assassins to ever live. I just looked at her, my eyes scanning over her body.

The hair that I used to cling to when I was young, the bright blue eyes that burned into your soul; the mean mouth that always seemed to scowl at you; her pale creamy skin which I envied so much when I used to want to so desperately be like her. Her cold arms that ceased all affection when I was six, and of course Lynn as a whole. The mother I wished I never had…now my wish was true, just, it felt like an empty wish.




“Watch where you’re going!” a man said as I bumped into while walking down the street. I couldn’t speak, and I walked as if in a dream. My legs felt like Jell-O and my head was light and my eyes were wide and dry from not blinking.

“Is it true?” I heard a young girl whisper. “It can’t be, can it?”<br>
I turned to where she was as if drawn to her magnetically. She was around 14 with curly brown hair, her friends gathered around her. They lowered their voices at the sight of me so I continued on. It wasn’t long until I was stopped again, not by a curious whisper, but by the crowd of people gathered around the television store. I made my way into the television store and found that every channel was the same on every television.

“Oh my goodness!” people exclaimed.

“I’m Wendy Matcher reporting live from Prescott Street in San Francisco,” the Asian reporter announced holding the microphone up. “After what seemed like a party gone awry, neighbors phoned the police reporting of loud screaming and sounds of what seemed like domestic abuse. Of course when police arrived on the scene it was anything but what was reported.” The screen showed the Halliwell manor and the broken windows along with the yellow tape that surrounded with the black lettering of Crime Scene Investigation. “Police investigated the manor and found traces of what appear to be scorch marks seemingly to have come from a magical fight that broke out here in the manor. Along with broken windows and Wiccan tools, police also discovered the three dead bodies of Piper, Paige, and Phoebe Halliwell. I’m Wendy Matcher reporting live for KKXQ; stay tuned for more live coverage as the story unfolds.”<br>
“Can you believe that?” a woman exclaimed.

“Mommy, what’s Wiccan?” a young boy asked the woman.

“It’s nothing you need to know,” she replied firmly.

“Yeah, well, if you ask me, I don’t carry any sympathy for them witches,” a man said to the crowd around the television. “It’s their own fault they’re dead.”<br>
“Oh come on!” another man exclaimed. “Witches are what saved our sorry a$ses when the titans came.”<br>
“Yeah well, look around,” the first man said motioning his arms. “Look at this city. It used to be beautiful before magic came into play. Now people die and we live in ruins. You tell me why I should be sorry for them witches!”<br>
“That’s so ignorant of you to….”<br>
I tried to remain calm. Suddenly I spotted a familiar face in the crowd. It was the Amazon. What could she possibly want here? I thought to myself. She glanced in my direction, her big brown eyes locking onto mine then she walked out into the street. I quickly followed after her, wanting to settle the score for what happened last time, but also wanting to know why she was there in that same place at this time.

I followed her around a corner and into an alley behind an old run down where house. The heels of my boots tapped and echoed which I rolled my eyes at. What a way to get yourself killed. “Boo!” I jumped and turned with a round house kick only to have my ankle in her grasp. There she was again, right before my eyes. The same warm brown hair with natural red high lights in it, only this time it was longer and fell in beautiful waves past her shoulders. The same eyes- only now they were brown and held me in their gaze. She smirked and let go of my ankle and I stumbled a bit. “Hello Phoenix.”<br>
“Amazon,” I addressed coldly remembering our last encounter and my mother’s story of the so called war between them and us.

“I told you I’d see you in the future—not a power but pretty damn good foresight huh?”<br>
I said nothing but instead I watched her with cold, careful eyes. She didn’t seem like she was capable of much. She was tall and slender; her make up was done perfectly and her attire wasn’t what you’d expect from a trained fighter and witch….at least, nothing that I would ever where since I lacked a keen fashion sense.

She was dressed in black pants and wore a green jacket with a matching green scarf tied around her neck. She looked like the average person our age on their way to school.

The girl looked around then back at me. “You know what this means, don’t you?” she said looking at me with curious yet amused eyes.

“Well if you’re talking about utter chaos from a lack of balance, then yeah,” I replied still tensed in preparing for a possible fight.

The girl laughed. “Not only chaos but the fact that you’re kind is going to be very busy soon.”<br>
“Meaning what?”<br>
“What do you think?” the girl asked. “The twice blessed child of course. Every demon is going to be after him. The ones who get to him first get power-lots of it.”<br>
“Even you?” I tested.

The girl grinned and shook her head. “No; we don’t want the twice blessed child. We don’t need him. But the weak do.”<br>
With that I threw the atheme I always carried with me at her but she caught it in her hand. My eyes widened.
“I thought I told you about not fighting on your emotions,” she said looking at the atheme. She hadn’t even taken her eyes off of me when she caught it with cat like reflexes. “Anyways, I’ll be chatting with you soon. I’ll probably bring you some Midol also seeing as these petty outbursts of yours are getting annoying.”

She shimmered out.