Author's Note: I would like to apologise to everyone for my lack of contact and updates. I am just now re-entering the world of the living and I am taking baby steps. I'll briefly explain what led to the unexpected hiatus and then I will talk about the future of this series.

In September, we suffered a very big loss in the family and as it was coming up to the one year anniversary of someone else's death, I was already quite raw. Suffice to say, I didn't handle it well. I basically shut down entirely. As I say, I am just now returning to the world from this weird place of grief I've been in. Christmas wasn't easy, so I just needed to get through it and now that I have survived that, I feel capable of making some tiny steps. So, if anyone hasn't heard from me, I'm sorry, I promise it isn't personal, I'm just not ready to face anyone yet.

Now for this series. I honestly don't feel capable of 12 full episodes any time soon, but I don't want to leave this series unresolved. I know it has many readers who love it and I don't want to leave you hanging… so I came to a decision' a compromise.

The final part of the series will be called "Charmed: Seasons of the Witch". It will consist of 4 "episodes" which will each be split into 6 chapters. This will make the episodes longer than usual, but breaking them into these smaller chunks will make it easier for me to manage and update regularly. Obviously with this shorter run, the series has needed adjusting, but I promise that the story will be as close to what I originally intended as possible. Also, I realise the series is titled "Charmed: The Final Season" and I suppose "Seasons of the Witch" is basically a very short season 5, but needs must.

I hope you all had happy holidays and all the best for 2017. I hope you enjoy the end of my story.

Charmed: Seasons of the Witch

Episode 1

"Winter Solstice"

Chapter One

It was the early hours of the morning in San Francisco. The sun wouldn't rise for at least a couple more hours and the woods were inky black with darkness. A young woman in a night gown struggled to keep breathing as she ran through the prickly earth beneath her, with nothing on her feet. She couldn't stop, or slow down and look behind her; she was too afraid of seeing them gaining on her. She knew she couldn't run much longer, but fought through the exhaustion and panic, hoping she could muster just long enough to come by some houses or a place where she'd be seen by a kind stranger. Kind strangers seemed hard to come by in San Francisco these days. She gasped, her breath caught in the back of her throat, as she felt herself trip on a large fallen branch. Tears streamed down her face. She was scared and she thought of how devastated her little brother would be if she died. She heard them heading towards her. She slowly turned around. Three men stood with guns, one of them pointing right at her.

"Take the shot Rob" one of the men insisted.

"No, please" she pleaded.

Paying no attention, the centre man's finger clasped around the trigger.

She completely despaired and all of a sudden, a rage washed over her. How dare they treat her this way? Who do they think they are? She let out a furious scream and the grass between her and the men burst into flames. A stream of fire charged towards the gun pointing killer. He was blown back by the flames and dropped his gun. The third man went to check on him, while the first pointed his own gun and didn't hesitate in shooting the woman square in the forehead. The flames vanished almost instantly as her lifeless body dropped to the ground.

Prue Halliwell sat in "The Brew Room", a local coffee store that had offered to place a copy her newly published photo-book on each of their tables. Prue had been sat for the past hour signing the books for people and she was beginning to feel a little fatigued by the repetition.

"Not that I'm not thrilled by the turnout, but how much longer am I going to have to do this?" Prue asked her agent.

Klea smiled at the oblivious Charmed One and lay a hand on her shoulder. "Just another half hour, but you can take a break whenever you need one."

"It's okay, I'll get it done. Want to get home and see my fiancé as soon as possible."

Klea nodded. "Sounds like a plan."

As more fans approached, Prue turned to the demon. "Thank you by the way; for everything. You've made all of this so easy and stress free."

Klea smirked. "You're more than welcome Prue. I'm here to keep you happy and on track; that's my job."

Prue returned to Halliwell Manor. She felt the warmth of home greet her as she entered and was stunned by the glitter of numerous Christmas decorations. Bane Jessup met her in the sitting room and smiled proudly.

"You decorated" Prue beamed.

"Thought it'd be nice for you to come home to" Bane kissed her.

"You're so thoughtful, what made you do it today? I thought you were going to wait a week."

Bane gestured to the television. "I felt like we needed a distraction from all the horrors in the world."

Prue looked quizzically.

"They found another girl's body. It was burned up," Bane explained.

"Oh God, what the hell is up with this city recently?"

Before Bane could answer, the phone interrupted them. Prue picked up the receiver.

"Hello?" She looked confused. "Sorry you have the wrong number". Prue put the phone down in frustration.

"Who was it?" Bane asked.

"Just a prank call. I'd better prepare for my shoots tomorrow. I have that piece on the mayoral election."

"Time for a glass of wine first?"

Prue smiled.

Prue tried not to let the size of the house intimidate her as she walked down the long hallway with her camera and equipment. She watched as an older woman in a maid's uniform forcefully guided a teenage girl towards the door.

"You need to go to practice" the woman stated.

"But why can't I be in the picture?" the girl protested.

"You know very well why, I saw the stuff in your room as I was cleaning. Now go on."

The girl held back tears and giving up, she stormed past Prue and out the door.

"Sorry you had to see that, I take it you're the photographer?" she asked, noticing the equipment.

"Um, yeah… is she okay?" Prue looked concerned.

"She'll be fine. Come this way" the maid abruptly began walking back down the hall.

Before following, Prue turned to look through the window. As the girl walked down the lane, Prue saw a dark figure hovering over her. The girl couldn't see it and Prue wondered if she was sleep deprived, but no… she knew it was there. What could it be?