The Manor: Midmorning.

As Piper and Prue joined forces to start the weekly house clean up, Paige orbed into the hall, two meters above the floor, only to break not only the small table she landed on, but also one large flower bowl and several knickknack's that had been arranged around it.

"Paige!" both Prue and Piper said as they came running into the hallway from the kitchen, to find Paige still sitting on the broken table, and obviously in some pain as she tried to roll sideways to remove one of the sharper knickknacks from her backside.

Helping her to her feet, Prue was finding it difficult not to laugh while Piper's annoyance was plainly visible. "What the heck happened, I thought you had your orbing sorted out?" a thoroughly irritated Piper asked.

"Sorry" Paige replied "but something just tried to kill me".

"Something, do you mean a demon?" asked Prue, "did you get a good look at it?".

"A very good look" replied a still shaken Paige, "right down its throat almost. It was a wolf or something, very large, hairy and with teeth that a T-Rex would be pleased with. And it was intelligent, it was looking at me and I could feel its hunger. I only just orbed out in time".

From the top of the stairs, Cole and Phoebe had just arrived to view the damage. As Paige regained her composure, she again described what happened for their benefit as well. It was Cole who straightened and with disbelief and some trepidation said "No, thats not possible, they are forbidden on the pain of death to be anywhere near any city, especially here".

"What do you mean" asked Phoebe. "Wolfen" replied Cole, "and I don't mean your human version, what you call Werewolf's, the ones that can only change during a full moon etc, those are the poor relations. These are the true Werewolves, called the Wolfen, a shape changing magical species that can change into the ultimate wolf or back into a human, whenever they want. Highly intelligent, human intelligent and very hard to kill. Their loyalty is only to the pack they belong too and they are killing machines. Thats why they are banned from cities, both by Evil and Good. They care little if they are exposed and as a result so would magic. Even the Source would hunt them down ruthlessly if he knew they were in the city".

"If they are here, you have a major problem, they can look and act like humans but their animal side dominates, especially when they take Wolfen form. Powerful magic and silver weapons that can penetrate their skin are the only things that can kill them.

You need to check the Book of Shadows to see what it has on them".

With a grim look on her face, Prue said "Phoebe, Cole, take Paige, and check out the book to see what you can find. Piper, call Leo and see what he and the Elders know. I will ring Darryl and see if he knows anything.

It took only a minute for Phoebe to find the three page entry on the Wolfen as they were called. Like Cole had said, they could only be described as killing machines, highly intelligent but with no compassion. Paige easily recognised the drawing in the Book of Shadows from her encounter, The Wolfen despite their name, resembled large rottweilers rather than wolves. Standing almost one and a half meters tall, almost two meters long, heavily muscled and covered in short red or brown hair, patterned to hide them. The head was also large, with an impressive set of teeth. As Cole had mentioned, they were intelligent and capable of using many of mankind's tools.

Highly xenophobic, they would not form any relationship with humans or demons unless it was on their own terms. They regarded themselves as a completely different species and tended to consider their human form as a weakness as they preferred to spend as much time as possible in their Wolfen form. And while they could use many of the tools man had built, they regarded that too, as a weakness and avoided doing so unless they had no choice.

The last entry in the book proved more interesting, as it described an organisation of humans dedicated to hunting them and who would kill them without mercy. Apparently they knew a recipe for a potion that both repelled and poisoned the Wolfen, however the ingredients were unknown.

As Phoebe finished reading out the last of the entry, both Piper and Leo entered the attic, followed by Prue.

Prue spoke up first "From what Darryl just told me, it looks as if they are here, there have been at least two confirmed killings by large animals in the last four days. So far the police have managed to keep it out of the press, but not for much longer. Darryl and Cortez are on there way over with some of the evidence they collected from the two crime scenes".

The Elders were able to confirm what the Book of Shadows contained about the Wolfen. Cole had been correct, the Wolfen were vicious killers, with no compassion or morality. They could and had killed humans of any age, and while they could hunt animals, the easier to kill humans were a preferred target. Since they had no loyalty to anyone outside the pack, they could not be controlled. They were one of the few demonic species that both Good and Evil agreed were better dead.

Cole described why Evil would not tolerate the Wolfen's presence anywhere near a city such as San Francisco. The Wolfen would not give any allegiance to anyone other than the Pack they belonged too. They cared only for themselves and the packs well being. Brutal killings by the Wolfen bought attention to them and other magical beings. While the Wolfen could move on, the damage they created, meant that others would have to face the human's fear and anger.

Apart from their human form which was dangerous enough, the wolfen form had considerable strength and very fast reflexes. They were also almost invulnerable to conventional weapons except as the book described it, a serious wound from a silver weapon or very powerful magic. They had always stayed in the wilds, or around smaller towns as not even Evil would tolerate their activities in their own backyard. So the reason why this pack had moved into one of America's largest cities, the home of the Source, was very puzzling. True the Source was currently under threat from his own. But as Cole pointed out, if the Wolfen's presence became known and the Source did nothing, it would be seen as an almost fatal weakness.

The unknown potion proved highly frustrating as these had always been a major weapon in the sisters arsenal. Neither the book, Cole or the Elders knew anything about it. What were the ingredients, in what order, amounts and did it need a spell to activate it.

With Inspector Cortez's and Darryl's arrival, things changed. The small amount of evidence that they had managed to bring confirmed what was present. The few hairs might be enough for Paige or Phoebe to scry with and photo's of the two crime scenes and the bodies only served to ensure that everyone was determined to deal with the threat.

And as Cole pointed out, there were almost certainly more victims as yet unlocated, the Wolfen were not picky when it came to their food and would target the homeless and others that had no one to report them missing. Many who disappeared, never to be seen again, had been the Wolfen's victims. Unconfirmed rumors had the Wolfen working for those who did care about other humans. Drug dealers, organised crime and others would employ Wolfen as enforcers or as contract killers. Few ever knew them as Wolfen as they took care to remain in their human form when dealing with mortals.

A grim faced Cortez promised to include this in their investigation. By now he and Darryl had realised that they and their other officers were out of their depth and even sending a highly trained and well armed SWAT team against the Wolfen would result in their massacre. Only the sisters or this unknown group of hunters would appear to be able to deal with them.

The potion sample was the real find, This was something that the sisters, especially Piper wanted to learn more about. If they could determine the ingredients, then they could make it themselves. Inspector Cortez promised that as soon as the CSI's had analysed it, he would make sure a copy would be sent over. As Piper examined the sample, he warned that it was highly corrosive, having badly burnt an incautious junior officer as he had tried to pick up what appeared to be a pressurised pepper sprayer.

As they pooled all their knowledge, even the confident Prue, began to realise that these creatures were not going to be easy to even find, much less vanquish.