A/N: Dominus Trinus and Wya, I'm so sorry for the delayed upload. Been having difficulty with writer's block. Argh. But I'm okay now, and I'm working on future chapters. Here's more about Abbey and her role in this alternate universe

Chapter 6

She felt disgusted as the sound of the two women- the two witches- floated outside the door of Prue Halliwell's office. It felt like listening to forks being scraped down a chalkboard; their high-pitched excited voices literally made her stomach turn.

"That meant a lot, Prue," Piper's voice wafted outwards, "Thank you."

"Whatever has happened and whatever will happen, Piper, we'll always be sisters. Remember that."

Abbey cringed, What is it with these witches and cheesy family drama cliches?

Pushing her dismay aside, she pressed closer to the small opening that she managed to create without either sister noticing. For a while, there was nothing, which caused her to worry. But a heartbeat later, she heard the thump of something heavy and the soft rustling of book pages being turned.

"So we now have the ashes and the orbs," Piper's voice again.

"And the pre-requisite herbs and crystals," Prue's voice, followed by the tinkle of glass bottles.

"All we need now is blood from," Piper's voice trailed off, as she flipped through their accursed Book. "Well, look at that, something that we actually used to have, and now don't."

"Which is?" Prue prompted.

"Three witches."

"Oh," Prue whimpered, voice trailing off. It was as if all sound was cut off.

Abbey inched closer as she struggled to hear more. It was imperative that she find out everything that the witches were up to. She had come this close to finding out what their plans were, and the Source had made it abundantly clear that failure was not an option. As she used her weight to push Prue's red door further, the heel of her left boot snagged the lace of her right boot, and she fell forward. Stifling a yelp and mentally cursing herself, she closed her eyes and disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving Prue and Piper momentarily distracted and wondering what pushed the door open.
…

"Who's there?" I whirled to the door which suddenly banged open, almost dropping the bottle of powdered wolfsbane from my hand. I jumped in front of the open Book of Shadows, hiding it with my body in case someone was outside. Surprised to see no one, I turned to Piper.

"Hey, don't look at me," she said, "I closed that door when I got in. Like I always do." She continued to pour more of the Lazarus demon's ashes into a black vial as I walked to close my office door.

I examine the area near my door. Instinct honed from months of vanquishing demons made me tense, and as I got to my door, a vile odor made my senses jump on high alert. "What's that smell?" The scent was familiar.

Like I've encountered it before, a noxious scent that left a bad taste on my mouth, like burnt skin.

"No, no, no," I muttered nervously. not now, just when everything is starting to fall into place.

"What?" Piper asked, looking up from her vials and potion ingredients. "What is it, Prue?"

"Smoker Demon," I managed, knowing full well that if one demon got this close, others were soon to follow.

…

I felt my eyes go wild after hearing what Prue just said. "Demon? Did you just say demon? Prue? We can't have demons, we already have Pratt. We can't handle demons right now."

"I know," Prue said, tense. "We better hurry; we might be under attack soon."