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Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed, they are simply my muses.

Chapter 3: the aftermath

Phoebe rolled over painfully and coughed at the black smoke that filled the room. "Ow, my aching…everything." She tapped Paige in the shoulder. "You okay?"

Paige moaned. "Yea, Piper you with us?" No response.

The two sat up slowly and squinted through the aftermath of the fight. No sign of Piper."

"Piper?" Phoebe called. Her tone sounded worried.

"Yea?" Piper said from another room. Paige and Phoebe exchanged a confused glance and made their way to where they heard Piper's voice, the conservatory.

"What are you doing in here?" Paige questioned.

"I woke up and dragged Leo over to the couch, only… we don't have a couch anymore." Piper said in an apologetic tone. She slightly smiled and a little trail of blood trickled down the corner of her lip.

"We don't have a house anymore. Piper do you have any idea what you did? What if someone heard that explosion? It could be what happened to Prue all over again!"

"I've got that covered." Piper assured them.

'Let the object of objection

become but a dream,

as I cause the scene to be unseen'

Instantly the whole house repaired. Windows fixed themselves, furniture reassembled, walls formed, and the smoke disappeared.

Piper smiled triumphantly and wiped her hands together. "There, now they have no evidence. Don't you just love that spell?"

Paige let out a shallow breath then turned to Leo who was laying on the ground still. "How's he doing?"

Piper sighed then kneeled next to him and brushed back a stray piece of hair from his face. "He should be fine, just bumps and bruises." She covered Leo up with a blanket then stood up. "Did you guys notice if any Elders survived?"

The two shook their heads.

"Well we'll just have to go check, won't we?" Piper sounded cheerier as she walked into the sunroom which had turned back to its original state. Everything looked normal, no Elders sprawled across the floor in a puddle of blood.

"Just the way I like it." Piper grinned. Paige and Phoebe swapped another glance. Phoebe raised her eyebrow.

"What if they're still alive?"

"I'll go see." Piper said as she started for the kitchen to yet again whip up a potion.

"Uh Piper, what are you doing?" Paige asked as they trailed behind her. "Shouldn't she be back to normal?" She whispered from the corner of her mouth. Phoebe shrugged.

"I'm making another potion, silly. Just in case an Elder or two survived. Though I highly doubt it." Piper smirked as she tossed in the ingredients.

Just then there was a loud knock at the door. Piper was too busy humming to herself to hear.

"You keep an eye on her. Don't let her leave." Phoebe ordered and walked off. She opened the front door and Daryl stepped in. "Daryl, hi what's up? Is Wyatt okay?" Phoebe asked as she led him into the front room.

" He's fine, uh there's been a string of murders and disappearances in the last few hours. I think it might be something, you know, in your area of expertise." Daryl said as he sat down.

"What makes you say that?" Phoebe replied. She crossed her arms and leaned up against the fireplace mantel.

"Well, the first couples of deaths, the doors and windows were all locked from the inside, so there's no way anyone could've gotten out, and some of the bodies were badly burned beyond recognition. At one scene there was even a, what do you call it?" He stopped to think.

"A scorch mark?" Phoebe guessed.

Daryl nodded grimly.

"I was afraid you were going to say that."

"Phoebe, help!" Paige shouted from the kitchen.

"Is everything alright?" Daryl asked as he stood up. Phoebe stopped him.

"Yea, uh, Piper's been on this power trip and she kinda vanquished the Elders. It's not her fault though." Phoebe explained as she gave a week smile.

"C-could that be the reason for all the deaths?" Daryl asked as he looked over to the kitchen.

"Phoebes!" Paige screamed as a glass plate flew through the room. Phoebe jumped.

"Ah will you excuse me please?" Phoebe ran out of the room. "Paige what's wrong?" Phoebe asked as she looked over the scene. Paige was chasing Piper, who was throwing things at her.

"No, you have to let me go!" Piper screamed.

"She just went crazy when I tried to dump the potion out!" Paige hollered as she ducked just as another plate flew past her and hit the wall.

"We have to stop her." Phoebe mumbled. She picked up a pan and ran over to Piper and hit her over the head. Piper let out an 'Oomph' and fell to the ground.

"Omigod Phoebes, why'd you do that!" Paige said as she ran over and checked Piper.

"We had to stop her, and it worked didn't it?" Phoebe set the pan down.

Paige shook her head. Daryl walked in, immediately noticing Piper on the floor.

"What happened to her?" Daryl looked pale.

"Uh, Phoebe knocked her out. She'll be fine. So what's up Daryl? "Paige smirked as she put a hand on her hip.

"Daryl was telling me how there's been a rash of murders and disappearances. Right around the time Piper killed off the Elders." Phoebe answered for him.

"I guess the Elders were more important then we thought." Paige said as she followed Phoebe and Daryl into the conservatory. Daryl laid Piper down on the couch.

"You're telling me. That's assuming that it's connected to the demons." Phoebe pointed out.

"Well then let's go check out some of the crime scenes." Paige suggested.

"I'll go so I can get a premonition. You try to wake Leo up okay?" Phoebe took the lead at once.

"Let's try to be fast. People already think I'm crazy for bringing you around. No offense." Daryl apologized.

"None taken, let's go." Phoebe ignored the comment and the two left.

Paige sighed and looked down at Piper. She shook her head. What would happen to her sister if at least one Elder was still alive? 'They' would probably recycle her. She would never be able to see her husband, her sisters, or her son. Piper would miss so much. Paige shook the awful thought away as she kneeled next to Leo. "Leo, hey dude I need you to get up." Paige shook him lightly. Several attempts later Leo shot up.

"Piper!" He almost screamed. Leo looked around. "Paige, where's Piper, is she alright?"

"Yea, she's… well she's resting now. Phoebe went to help Daryl with something." Paige guaranteed him.

Leo nodded then winced and put a hand on the back of his head. "Ow," He muttered.

"Hold on," Paige said as she held out her hand. "Icepack!" She called. Seconds later an icepack orbed into her hand. She handed it to Leo.

"Thanks," Leo said as he placed the cold pack on the lump that had formed on his head. He twitched at the coldness. "You mind telling me what's happened since I've been out?"

Paige nodded.

Meanwhile…

Daryl led Phoebe into a room it had police tape all around it. There were little numbered cards marking anything that might be considered evidence, including the scorch mark.

"CSI has already been here so feel free to touch anything." Daryl told her.

"Thanks Daryl." Phoebe replied as she picked up a pen that was sitting on a wooden desk. A couple seconds later she picked something else. She continued doing this until she made it to the scorch mark. "Did they find the body?" Phoebe almost whispered.

"Yea, Coroners Report says that all the organs were charred, he thinks that perp must've used a blowtorch or something, but he can't figure out how nothing else got burned. Someone suggested Spontaneous Combustion." Daryl said as Phoebe touched the mark.

She gasped as she saw a bright light then she saw a 3 demons standing in front of a man and woman. Then one of the demons threw an energy ball and it hit the woman. She screamed in agony then turned to ashes. Another demon walked up to the man and put a hand around the man's throat and his flesh started to burn. The smell stung Phoebe's nostrils as if she were really there. She saw that he was wearing an amulet. Then the man finally stopped screaming and fell to the floor.

Phoebe shuddered as she opened her eyes. "It was a demon." She mumbled. She looked down. "Did anyone find any ashes here?"

"Yea, we sent them down to Forensics, why do you know what they are?"

"There a woman's ashes, I saw the demons that did this. I also saw that the man was wearing an amulet. I think they were witches Daryl."

"We should go check out the other scenes to see if they're connected." Daryl said grimly.

Phoebe nodded and they left.

Crime scene after crime scene, they were all connected; they were all witches and had been killed by demons or warlocks.

When Phoebe finally made it home she was exhausted. Premonitions really took a lot out of her. She walked into the conservatory and saw Piper was still out; Paige and Leo were sitting on the couch.

"Hey, you're up." Phoebe told Leo.

"Yea, so how'd it go?" He asked.

"Well, all the victims were witches, and they were all killed by demons. It doesn't make sense. Why now?" Phoebe closed her eyes and sighed.

"Leo thinks it's because the Elders are gone. Now that there's no ultimate good, bad is trying to take its' place." Paige said as she handed Phoebe some tea.

'How do we know that all of 'them' are gone?" Phoebe asked.

"They're not, I can sense the only two left, but they can't do much now, they're too weak." Leo replied.

"Better not let Piper hear you say that." Phoebe told him as she glanced at Piper.

"Speaking of which, she's still out. Phoebe how hard did you hit her?" Leo asked, concerned.

"Not that hard. She'll be fine, until then, we have to think of some way to stop all these demons from attacking. Before anyone else has to die." Phoebe said solemnly.

To Be Continued…

Okay so this chapter was…different. I liked it. Like I said, I'm tryin to juggle 5 other stories now and I'm doin the updates as fast as I can type. So the sooner I get those lovely reviews, the sooner I update. K? Thanks!