Chapter One: Your Destiny Awaits

The wind growled, sweeping through a darkened alley somewhere in San Francisco. Stars slowly dwindled in the sky, reducing the city to an almost complete darkness. The scene was suddenly lit up as an orange sphere of flames shot down the alley. A young, raven-haired woman took cover behind a rusty, yellow dumpster. She winced at the sound of several fireballs slamming into the inanimate object before her. Then, with almost expert precision, she launched herself into the air and shot out her palm. A stream of clear, blue water spiralled towards the incoming fireballs and wrapped itself around them, causing them to fizzle and die out.

The set of four demons gasped as they realised their only powers were useless against the witch. The leader of the pack pushed his way to the front of the demonic crew and conjured another fireball. However, instead of throwing it, he shimmered out. The witch narrowed her eyes, unaware that the same demon had shimmered in again, this time behind her. He raised his fireball and then hurled it through the air.

"Fireball!" The fiery sphere was consumed by glowing, blue orbs, appearing again in the hands of whitelighter-witch, Paige Matthews. The demon gasped and looked up, only for the fireball to then slam into his chest. He gave a scream of pure agony before bursting into flames and exploding a moment later. "Jessie," Paige called. "Get out of the way!" Jessie glanced back at the remaining three demons, and at the fireballs that were shooting towards her.

Gasping, she ducked to avoid the first. The second, which was a little further behind, was carefully avoided by a cartwheel to the left. However, she was unable to escape the path of the third. Her eyes widened and she held up her hands on instinct, presumably to cover her face from harm. As she did, a thin blue layer was formed around her. The fireball bounced off of it and reversed in its path. She moved away her hands as she heard the sound of a scream. One of the demons exploded in front of her and she sighed with relief. The remaining two gave a sigh of defeat, before shimmering out.

Paige hurried to her charge and placed a comforting hand on her back. "You okay?" she asked, concerned.

Jessie nodded as she looked down at her own hands. "Yeah," she started. She didn't seem interested in her whitelighter. "I'm good." Quite understandably, she was more interested in the power she just used. She'd known about her powers, and about her hydrokenesis, but she'd never known about the power to create a shield of water to protect herself.

"Come on. Let's get you somewhere safe." Paige's hand remained on her charge's back as the two were consumed by a column of glowing blue orbs, to be then carried off to the manor.

-

Piper Halliwell was sitting in the foyer of the family's ancestral home, with her youngest child, Christopher, in her arms. Her eldest, Wyatt, was just a few inches ahead of her, running around and playing with his toy bricks. Pale blue orbs showered down in front of them, to reveal Paige and Jessie.

Piper looked up and placed Chris on the floor. "Go play with Wyatt," she said, softly. He nodded and then toddled over to his brother. Piper got to her feet and walked over to her sister and her charge.

"Hey, Paige. What's up?"

"Piper, meet Jessie. Jessie, meet Piper. Can you keep an eye on her for me? I promised Henry we'd go to dinner, tonight." Paige gave a begging smile, as she mouthed: "Please."

Piper sighed, "Oh, alright. But be back by 9:30. No later. I don't want to be charge-sitting all night."

"Promise," Paige said, excitedly. She quickly hugged her sister before orbing out again.

"Guess you're stuck with me." Piper smiled, and offered her a seat. "I'll make us some tea."

"Thanks," Jessie said. Piper nodded and then headed to the kitchen to make drinks. Jessie sighed and stood, looking around the room. She heard someone hurrying down the stairs and then heard a voice call out, "Piper, have you seen my book?"

Billie stopped as she noticed Jessie. "Um, hey," she said, eyeing her suspiciously. "Piper, who's the chick?"

Piper emerged from the kitchen with two glasses of tea. "What?"

"Who's she?" Billie nodded towards Jessie.

"Oh, this is Jessie – Paige's charge. Billie, meet Jessie. Jessie, Billie." Piper gave a smile, before handing Jessie her coffee and placing her own on the coffee table.

"So, have you seen my book? I think I might have left in the attic," Billie said, with a sigh.

"Have you checked up there?"

"Yeah, it's not there," she replied.

"Then I have no idea. You sure you didn't leave it somewhere outside the manor?"

"I might have left it at Paige's apartment. Can I borrow your car?"

"No."

"Pretty please. I promise I won't crash it," Billie pleaded.

Piper sighed and handed her the keys. "Fine, but if you crash it, I will vanquish you."

"I'm not even gonna ask if you're joking," Billie said, before hurrying to the front door. Piper rolled her eyes and took a sip of her tea.

-

Henry Mitchell paced around the apartment he shared with his wife, Paige Matthews. His cell phone was placed to his ear. A huddle of orbs descended from above and Paige materialized beside her partner. "Hey, honey," she started. "Sorry I'm late. I had a charge to deal with."

"Thank God, I was worried sick." Henry quickly pulled Paige into his arms and she raised an eyebrow.

"Henry, you know the requirements of my job, you don't have to worry. I'll be fine."

"Well, I still worry. You're my wife, Paige. I love you." Henry stroked the side of her face, before kissing her, gently, on the lips.

"I love you too." She granted her husband another quick kiss before taking his hand and orbing out of the apartment.

-

Jessie paced around the foyer of the manor. "For crying out loud, sit down," Piper said, half-joking, half-not. "You're making me dizzy."

"Sorry," Jessie replied, quickly taking a seat again. "It's just... I mean, I always knew about my powers, but now there's all these demons after me and I just have no idea what's going on."

Piper eyed Jessie for a moment, and then smiled. "Come on," she spoke with smile. "I want to show you something." The two women stood from their seats and Jessie followed Piper to the stairs. They began to ascend.

-

The door to the attic was pushed open as Jessie and Piper entered. At the sight of the room, Jessie's jaw dropped; her eyes were wide with excitement. "What is all this stuff?" Her finger trailed along a side table that had several ready-made potions along the top.

"Those are potions, which I guess you gathered. I think they're Phoebe's." Piper picked up one of the potions and looked deep into the liquid.

"Phoebe?" Jessie raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, Phoebe's my other sister, besides Paige. And then there was Prue, but that's a whole different story and I don't really think you'd want to hear about all that stuff. Not yet."

Jessie nodded. She was curious, obviously, but still, the woman stood before her was a powerful witch, and if she said she probably wouldn't want to hear about it, who was she to challenge her? Piper reached the podium in the centre of the attic and ran her left hand over the front cover of the Book of Shadows. Jessie followed in suit, also approaching the ancient tome. "What's this?"

Piper looked up at her sister's charge with a smirk. "This is the Book of Shadows."

"The Book of Shadows?" Jessie narrowed her eyes.

"It's sort of like a family hand-me-down. It's been in our family for generations. It's pretty much the book for witchcraft. We continue the tradition and fill in any information on new demons we come across. Wanna look through?"

Jessie gave an eager smile. "Sure." Piper took a step back as Jessie quickly moved in front of the sacred book. She admired the cover, before turning over to the first page. She ran her finger down the spine, collecting small pools of dust on the tip of her finger. Then she flicked a couple of pages in. She landed on a new-ish looking page entitled: 'Christy Jenkins'. On the page was a photograph of Billie and Christy somewhere in the manor. "She doesn't look so evil."

Piper's eyes narrowed, her lips pursed, at the thought of Christy Jenkins. "Yeah, well... Looks can be deceiving."

Jessie, seeing the mixed emotions in Piper's eyes, continued, turning the page. This time she landed on Cole Turner/Belthazor. There was a set of photos containing Phoebe and Cole, in human form. "Who's she?" Jessie placed her index finger over Phoebe's picture.

"That's Phoebe. That was a long story that consumed almost four years of our lives, but long story, short: our sister fell in love with a demon. Eventually she vanquished him, but not before becoming the Queen of all Evil and falling pregnant to a demonic baby. It died in her womb. Hate to say it, but good riddance. It was evil, after all."

Jessie gave a cheeky smile. "Sounds interesting."

Piper smiled back, and gently closed the back. "Believe me, it was far from it," she said, as she walked towards the exit of the attic. As she reached the door, a demon quickly shimmered in. She gasped as he slammed the back of his hand into her face. She flew through the air and slammed into the podium, knocking it down and causing the book to skid across the floor.

Jessie's eyes grew wide with terror as she looked at the demon. "Uh-oh."

-

Paige and Henry were seated by a candle-lit table, somewhere in a fancy downtown restaurant. Paige smiled and lifted the tall thin glass of champagne, clinking it against Henry's glass.

The two smirked before each taking a small sip of their drinks. "I'm just glad we're getting to spend some time together. It's a nice break from all the-"

She suddenly stopped talking as she fell forward with a loud groan, holding her stomach. "Jessie," she whispered.

Henry, knowing all too well what was happening, quickly hurried to her side and helped her out of her chair. He quickly guided her to the bathroom, where they were both consumed by orbs.

-

Piper blasted one of the demons, while another immediately shimmered in. He hurled a fireball in her direction and she lunged behind the couch, where Jessie was taking cover. They could feel their defence being bombarded with fireballs. Jessie quickly jumped up as water streamed for her palm and engulfed the demons. They gasped, trying to break free. Piper also stood and used her power to vanquish the trapped demons.

Out of nowhere, a fireball suddenly slammed into Jessie's chest. She squealed as she was flung through the air, landing nearby the Book of Shadows.

"Jessie!" Piper turned to the demon that emerged from the explosion caused by their fellow demons' vanquishes. The hooded figure stood still for a moment, before flaming out just in time to avoid Piper's blasts. Paige and Henry orbed in as two more demons shimmered in. Gasping, Paige shoved Henry to the floor. A fireball skimmed past her and she ducked to avoid the second. Piper blasted the first.

Paige quickly eyed her surroundings, before holding out her palm. "Athamae," she called. An athamae orbed into her hand and she hurled it at the demon, vanquishing him on impact. Once she realized that was the last of them, she spun around to Piper, who was crouched down beside Jessie.

"Quick," Piper said. "Heal her."

Paige rushed over to her charge and held up her palm. A golden light emanated from her hand and shone over the girl's wound. Moments later, the wound healed. Jessie's eyes flickered and opened as she sat up. With a groan, she muttered, "What happened?"

"You were hit," Piper responded. "Paige healed you."

"Thanks." Jessie smiled as Paige straightened herself up and then helped her onto her feet.

Piper turned to her sister, with a sigh. "We need to find this demon."

"Or demons," Paige replied.

"No, there was this one demon. The one that got Jessie. He had a hood over his face and he shimmered out before I could get him."

Paige turned and scanned the attic floor. "Did he drop anything we could scry with?" Paige didn't wait for an answer, but instead strolled away from her sister.

"I don't think so. Like I said, he shimmered out before I could blast him." Piper folded her arms over her chest.

"What about any of the other demons? Did they drop anything? It could tell us where the leader is."

"Nope. They took everything with them when we vanquished their sorry asses."

"Looks like we'll have to wait this one out," she said, before turning to Jessie. "You should probably stay here for a while, you'll be safe here. We'll be ready for when a demon attacks."

Jessie nodded and Paige strolled over to Henry. "I'm so sorry, honey," she said, touching his arm.

"It's okay. All the requirements of your job, remember. Anyway, I'm going to head home. You coming?"

"I think it's best if I stay here tonight, at least. In case a demon attacks."

"Sure," Henry said.

"Want me to orb you?"

"No, I'm good. It's only a few minutes away. Bye, honey." He placed a soft kiss on her lips before turning and heading out of the attic. Paige spun round to face the other two women.

"Alright, I'm gonna contact the Elders and see if they know anything about that hooded demon. I don't want yet another Source of All Evil on our hands." With that, Paige orbed out.

-

Paige stood upon the top of Golden Gate Bridge. Her eyes were closed and she was focusing hard. Golden-white columns of orbs showered down in front of her, taking the form of two Elders: Sandra and Odin.

"You? What do you want? Why have you summoned us?" Odin said, a tone of annoyance present in his voice.

"I'm here because one of my charges is in trouble," Paige said, trying her best not to get impatient with the not exactly helpful Elder.

"Well deal with it," Odin retorted. "Your charges are your responsibility."

"And your whitelighters are your responsibility, so listen up!" Paige snapped, much to the disgust of Odin.

"How dare you speak to me like that!?" Odin's face was a picture of disgust, annoyance and pure rage.

"Enough," Sandra said, interrupting. "Both of you."

Both Whitelighter and Elder stood in silence.

"Now, Paige, what is it?" Sandra asked kindly.

"My charge, Jessie, is under constant attack. She and my sister were attacked at the manor and-"

"Where were you at this time?" Odin interrupted.

"I was having dinner with Henry."

"You were having dinner?" He turned to Sandra. "Do you see how selfish she has become? She is not fit, nor ready for this."

"Excuse me? My sisters and I have been busting our asses for five years, eight for Piper and Phoebe, for you Elders, yet you think you have the right to stand there and tell me I'm selfish because, after five years, I want to spend one night, one night, with my husband."

Odin was lost for words. "Wait a second," Paige continued. "Not ready for what?"

"All shall be explained in due time," Sandra replied. "Now, continue."

"Piper and Jessie were attacked at the manor and one of the demons got Jessie. I healed her, but Piper said the demon got away. He was wearing a hood, so she didn't see his face. Do you know who – or what – he is?"

Sandra looked to Odin and then back at Paige. "A great evil is coming."

"A great evil? What kind of evil?"

"One that could destroy all good magic, and inevitably tip the balance from good to evil. This is partly the reason we have decided it is time for you to begin your second destiny."

"What? What second destiny? I thought we fulfilled our destinies."

"You and your sisters fulfilled your destinies as the Power of Three, but now it is your turn to take on your new destiny alone. Your destiny as the Hybrid."

Paige's jaw dropped as what the Elder was saying began to sink in. A second destiny? Me alone? The Hybrid?

End of Chapter

* Okay, bear in mind, I'm from the UK. So certain spelling mistakes, such as centre, aren't actually mistakes. I'm willing to take full responsibility for anything else. Anyway, please review, and I want to thank Harrison for editing this chapter. Sorry for changing "center" back to "centre", I just couldn't bear the squiggly red underline.