Dean never thought he would go back to California. He thought back to the last time he had been there and still found the memories fuzzy. His father had told him that he had been knocked unconscious during a hunt and that his memory loss must be a result of the blow that he took.
While Dean was a dutiful son he had questions, he just knew better than to question John Winchester. Besides, Sam did enough of that for both of them. Still, when Sam approached Dean with an online article about the death of a prominent doctor and a young female photographer being killed without any physical evidence Dean had tons of questions racing through his mind, especially at the sight of the woman who triggered the feeling that he was trying to grasp hold of a long forgotten memory.
Phoebe called out to Piper as she searched the house for her. The only place left was the attic and she was frightened of what awaited her there.
Piper was sitting at their altar with the book open and potion ingredients spread across the table. She let out the breath she was holding when she realized the voice she had hard was from her younger sister, not her eldest. The tears she had struggled to hold back burst forth again and she finally felt as if there was nothing more she could do.
"Sweetie, it 4 o'clock in the morning. What are you doing?" When Piper doesn't answer Phoebe noticed that Piper's hand was bleeding and moved to clean it with a towel. "You're bleeding."
"I don't understand why magic can't fix this. And why we can't bring Prue back. It's not like we haven't cheated death before. I don't understand why this time isn't any different."
"Because Leo can't heal the dead, Piper. You know that."
"There's other magic, magic that we've used before. Scrying, calling a lost witch, reversing time," she chimed out as she slammed the book shut. "It's like the book just deserted us and deserted Prue, and I don't understand why!"
"We lost our sister. How can we ever understand that? We've tried every magical way to bring her back… but we can't. She's gone. I just - I thank God that I didn't lose you too. We have to get some rest. Prue will never forgive us if we look bad at her funeral," she joked and got a tearful laugh from Piper. She led her sister downstairs to her bedroom and mentally prepared for the next day.
Dean entered the rundown motel room and saw Sam hard at work on his laptop. "Anything pop up," Dean asked grabbing a cold beer.
"Well, I found out a lot about the doctor and the photographer but nothing connects them together and there's no apparent reason for murder."
"Tell me about the photographer," Dean said hoping that his brother wasn't picking up on his strange vibes.
"Twenty-nine year old female, lived at 1329 Prescott Street her entire life with two younger sisters and her grandmother. The house has been in there family for over one hundred years. Rumored to have been a speak easy during the 1920s. There are police reports for noise complaints and supposed domestic disputes as far back as the family have lived there. The victim's name is Prudence Victoria Halliwell, born October 28 of 1971. Graduated from Gold State University with honors and had an impressive job history at a museum and Buckland's Auction house before changing careers."
"Any history of abusive ex's who may have wanted to hurt her," Dean asked.
"Only ex I was able to dig up was a police officer who was killed in the line of duty," Sam said. "Andy Trudeau; he was killed at her house," he told his brother and handed his brother a giant pile of papers. "That's not it either. While I couldn't find anyone who may have wanted to hurt her, I found out that she and her sisters have been involved in a bunch of unsolved homicides."
"What's your theory?"
"FBI ran through my head but I realized it's unlikely that this woman and her sisters are involved with them. They aren't any kind of mafia; the house is nice but they have two mortgages out on their house and the club her sister Piper owns is doing well but isn't raking in the doe, and the youngest sister, Phoebe, just graduated from college but has no job. What I did find might sound just as unlikely, though."
"Why? What exactly did you find?"
"Just that their ancestral home lies in the middle of a pentagram," Sam announced.
"How the hell did you figure that out," Dean asked with surprise colored on his face.
"One of the police reports filed against them from about 1999 was one of many in the area where people who entered the Halliwell manor went ape shit and wound up attacking neighbors and friends. A Professor Whittlesey attacked her teaching assistant less than twenty four hours after having dinner with the sisters. She tenured in the history of architecture and has written articles about the Halliwell manor. She sighted that metaphysicists believed that the house was on the grounds of a spiritual nexus; it's believed that when a geographical point is equal distance to the five spiritual elements, it's a place of great power."
"So these chicks are witches? How does the doctor figure into this and how do we go about toasting them?"
"Well, this is where it gets weird," Sam said. "I do think that they're witches or have something supernatural going on, but all of the unsolved cases usually involved a series of victims being targeted. In fact, the sister's usually showed up after the crime was instigated and are cited as showing up near the end having miraculously saved the last victim. Phoebe, the youngest, has been used by the police as a psychic consultant."
"Wait a minute," Dean said holding up his beer bottle, "are you telling me that you think these chicks are out there playing Glinda the good witch? That's twisted."
"What if they are actually good witches, though? We've never run across any and they would make interesting allies."
"You said it yourself, Sammy. We have never met good witches; what makes you think that they even exist? What if these chicks are just trying to use this good girl thing as a scam to get to their victims?"
"Why don't we call Bobby and see what he thinks," Sam said, knowing that in a case of this epic proportion the middle aged hunter was going to get involved eventually.
The next day the boys put on their suits and headed to the funeral. They parked the impala and walked with the other guests who seemed to have come out in spades.
"This Prue chick must have been pretty popular," Dean commented as he and Sam wandered inside. They sat near the back of the chapel and listened as the ceremony went on. With one last thought the priestess concluded; "That which belongs to fellowship and love. That which belongs to the circle, remains with us. The wheel turns. As life is a day, so our sister has passed into night. Nothing is final, and we who remain behind know that one day, we will once again share the bread and wine with our sister. O' blessed spirit, we bid you farewell, for you await a new destiny."
"Did you hear that junk," Dean whispered to Sam as they made their way to the back of the line to give the family their condolences. They stood at the end of the line, the last ones after a small statured woman with jet black hair.
They watched as she went up to the one they presumed was Phoebe and watched as the others left before they attempted to go up to Piper. Just then, Phoebe fell to the ground and the girl went running out of the chapel.
Sam gave Dean a look before going to find the girl while Dean stood off to the side to watch the family who had forgotten about his presence when two men appeared from nowhere and fired lightning bolts at the tall, swarthy man who had been at Phoebe's side during the entire funeral.
"Go. Go," a blond male said directing Piper behind a pillar. Phoebe ran out in the open and spun kick a man and the swarthy man created balls of light in his hand and killed the intruders.
"Stop it. Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Damn it! This is Prue's funeral, for God's sake! Can't we at least bury her in peace? Is that too much to ask," Piper exclaimed and knocked a vase down before exiting the chapel.
Dean waited until after the family left to go back to his motel room and meet up with Sam and Bobby who was driving in.
"What did you find out about the girl," Dean asked.
"I followed her back to the South Bay Social Services building. I did a walk by and found out her name is Paige Matthews."
"What's her connection to the sisters?"
"At first glance, none. I did some research though and it turns out that Paige was adopted. And I found articles in the newspaper a couple of days after her birth about a baby who was abandoned at a local church."
"Which church? We should go see if we can track down the nun and see what she knows about this Paige girl."
A knock at the door interrupted the two and Dean looked through the peephole before opening the door to Bobby Singer. "What the hell have you two gotten yourselves into now?"
The boys explained the situation and told Bobby that they thought Paige might be related to their murder victim, but that they were still nowhere close to figuring out what was responsible for the double homicide.
"Sam is going to the reception at the house. It started about half an hour ago and I'm going to the church to find out more about our mystery girl and how she's tied into all of this."
"Alright," Bobby said. "I'll stay here and try to find out what the police are doing about the investigation. Thank goodness I brought my good suit and FBI credentials." He rubbed a hand over his beard. "You boys have a razor?"