DISCLAIMER: I don't own anybody you recognize, however, Iras is based on Cleopatra, and the name was taken from the play by Shakespeare, as Cleopatra's closest servant girl is called Iras.


A small girl of about six years old played in the garden, trying her best to have fun, however unsuccessful. A sudden breeze flew past her, causing her to shiver, but she ignored the cold, she was used to it. She was only severely disappointed when she looked skyward and saw the rain beginning to fall. This meant she would have to stop playing. She would go back into the house, but she hated it in there. Instead she curled up in a corner, still shivering, the only part of her body that was immune to the cold was her beaten arm, only covered by the thin, long sleeved, off-white t-shirt her father had given to her before he left. That was almost a year ago now, which showed in the random tears and stains on said clothing.


Prue ran through the streets, shielding her face from the rain. It was about six o’clock, she guessed. She had been on a date, a bad date, and gotten out of the car early, planning on walking home. Now she was about 4 blocks from the manor, in a run down area. She found it strange how such a nice place can become extremely destitute and uncomfortable in just a few minutes walk. How poetic. Through the sheets of rain that were pouring down, something caught her eye. A small child was huddled outside her house, cuddling a dirty stuffed toy, her clothes discoloured and ragged. Curious, she ventured into the garden, but became wary when she heard screaming and crashing from the house. Curiosity killed the cat. She saw that the child was rocking back and forth, as disturbed children do, unaware of their own movements because in such a circumstance, their movements did not matter and they did not take note of them. She bent down in front of the child, the tears trickling from the small child’s small but beautiful eyes leaving dirty tracks on her malnourished face.

"Hi, I’m Prue," she said softly.

The child backed away, having not seen Prue earlier. But then she looked into the kind woman’s eyes, and saw nothing but compassion and sadness.

"It’s ok, I can help you. What’s your name?"
"I’m Eve," she replied timidly.
"Looks like you’re shivering" Prue took off her jacket and wrapped it around Eve’s small, frail shoulders.
"I don’t want your coat, it’s too nice for me" she started to remove the jacket.
"I don’t need it, and you’re cold, I don’t want you to be sick. " she heard Eve’s mother’s drunken yells in the house and Eve put her small, dirty hands over her ears, the tears coming again. She stood up and started to run through the garden to the street. Prue was taken aback by the small girl’s behaviour and ran after her. She ran ahead of Eve and stopped just by the garden gate, kneeling so that Eve would have to talk to her.
"You don’t like it here at all do you?" She asked, caring. There was something about this girl she couldn’t put her finger on, and she knew she couldn’t leave her.

Eve looked up at Prue, her blue eyes seeming large and knowledgeable, like she knew too much for her small age. "Would you? My step mommy’s a nasty lady, she fwightens me. She makes me look after her when she’s dwunk, and it’s smelly. She sleeps a lot."
"You don’t have to go back there, you can come home with me."
The small child smiled slightly, "She won’t huwrt me again?"
"Never." Prue took Eve’s hand in hers and they walked home, the rain calming and the sun becoming brighter as the rain ceased further.


They got home a few minutes later. Prue realized how small the girl actually was, and how underfed. "Would you like something to eat or drink?"
Eve shook her head "I’m not allowed to eat in the afternoons, that’s when I tidy the house."
Shocked at the small girls revelation, she took a moment to recover. "It’s not like that here. You can be who you want to be, you can have fun, and you can even sleep late."
"That sounds nice. Prwoo?"
"Yeah Evie?"
"Can I stay with you? Mrs.. Pilcher was a nasty lady, and I don’t want to go back there!" She said, tears brimming up again.
"Of course you can, I would never send you back there." The girl yawned. "You look tired," Prue picked her up, about to take her upstairs. The girl winced.

"What did you do to your arm?" she said, finally asking about the blood stains on the shirt and the swelling underneath the blood.
"I trapped it in the oven. Mrs. Pilcher said I was stupid and a ...ing waste of space. To punish me, she burnt it on the stove," Eve confided.

Prue’s eyes grew wide as she slipped the sleeve up Eve’s arm. "When did she do this?!"
"Today. please don’t be angry!" She wailed.
"Sweetie, I’m not angry at you. I’m angry at Mrs. Pilcher. She’s a nasty woman. You can borrow one of my big t-shirts and go to sleep in my bed if you like." She said, pulling the sleeve back down and carrying her up to her room.

One Month Later.

Prue sat in the courtroom extremely nervous. By now, Eve was staying four nights a week with her and her sisters. They had all fallen in love with the little girl. Her big blue eyes, hair like Piper’s; long, sleek and thick, her cute giggle, the light dusting of freckles on her nose and shoulders. Prue had to win the case. She couldn’t afford to lose out. She knew where the girl really came from, even if Piper and Phoebe didn’t. Could they ever know?

The Judge entering the court from his chambers snapped her from her thoughts. She had a good team, the odds were on her side. The court seemed like a daydream as attorneys waltzed in front of her, numb to the lack of humanity apparent in so many of their cases. It was time for her to give her speech to the court.

"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me God?" The dude in the uniform asked. She gave a weak "Yes" in response.
"Prue Halliwell, on February 18th what did you do?"
About a million things, sir, she wanted to reply to the attorney. "I uh took Evelyn Scott from her drunken guardian."

She began to explain her actions as they happened, staying true to her actions. Until one question from the opposing attorney.

"Miss Halliwell, we have evidence that with you and your sisters’ presence, a lot of crimes became unsolvable. Why is this?"
"OBJECTION!" her attorney barked.
"Over-ruled".
"I believe that they were unsolvable from the beginning. My sisters and I have a good friend in homicide, one day I accidentally found one of his police files, and since then he’s come to us for help because we managed to track the killers." Smooth, she had avoided the deep water.

The rest of the days of the hearing went equally smooth, the now ex-step mother was sentenced and Prue had Eve for good. She smiled. Walking from the court for the last time Prue couldn’t be happier.

She drove home, her sisters were unable to be there when she heard the results.

She would have Eve home with her tomorrow. She walked through the Manor into the room for Eve that she hadn’t seen yet. It was purple with cute bunk beds and funky furniture and a picture of the three sisters with Eve. She couldn’t wait for her to be in her new home, she couldn’t wait to be reading her bed-time stories and tucking her in. Eve was a special kid, her parents knew that when they made the pact with Prue.

That night Prue lay in bed thinking of all the good times to come, the adventures ahead. She knew on the day she helped Eve escape Mrs. Pilcher who she was, and why she had to help her. Falling asleep, she remembered everything in the pact.

She walked into the cafe they habitually hung around at. They were sat at their regular table. Instead of the jovial chit chat that was normally passing around the table, her friend was crying as Prue lowered herself into the steel molded chairs. She reached onto the table and held their hand.
"It’s going to be ok," she had said. "I can always help you."
"But. I can’t see her. Prue, this is too hard." The crying person looked at the sympathetic faces across the table. "You two have to take her. I haven’t had time to put it in my will. But you’re the only two I trust." Prue looked at Andy. He faltered under her raised eyebrow. Together they had had their forte in non verbal communication. Then he nodded, a single solemn nod to portray the reception of a new weight on their shoulders; the almost imminent responsibility.

Prue couldn’t believe what was happening. She walked home in a daze. Her’s and Andy’s best friend since high school, had fallen victim to a fast acting virus that would quickly steal her young life from her. And she had asked Prue and Andy to promise to take total custody of her two year old child.

Prue remembered that day like it was yesterday. Only Andy knew. But he was dead also, so it was up to her. If she didn’t succeed she would fail four people. Herself, her friend, Andy and that child. She failed for a whole 4 years. The girl died a few months after the pact, and the wills were never completed. The child was taken to foster care and dragged through more homes than her own age.

Thus began the months of searching, commencing as soon as she died. Andy and Prue even managed to track the girl down several times, but all attempts were in vain; she was in good care and they couldn’t take her from it. The initial determination of their quest was soon conquered by a lack of hope due to constant disappointment. One thing that Prue was glad of was that whenever they seemed to have found the girl, she was always being well looked after. When Andy died she stopped searching all together, her grief overcoming the need to fulfill the promise. She had almost forgotten the matter at hand, until that day, years later when she had seen the small, raven haired girl, rocking back and forth, huddled against the drainage in the run-down porch. That made her angry; what had possessed such an unjust orphanage system to have misplaced such a special child into that kind of home? She wondered how many glitches there were in the entire system. Probably so many that nobody could keep track of them.

She eventually fell to sleep, the frustration clouded her mind and then faded away as her conscious closed down for the night.

The next morning, when she awoke, Eve was sat on Prue’s bed, bouncing up and down. "Hey squirt," Prue muttered, sleepily, then pulled the girl into her embrace.

The girl just smiled, a genuine smile that Prue had never seen before. She was so happy to be with the first family she actually felt attached to.

"Oh. " Prue gasped as she went pale. Eve didn’t observe this rapid turn and began to gabble on, as children do, about how she wanted to spend the day with Prue and Mike. Mike was Prue’s boyfriend, and lawyer; she had hired him to sort out the Eve situation, and Eve simply adored him.

Prue leapt off the bed and sprinted into the bathroom. Eve went after her, confused.

"Pwroo?" She asked, standing next to her new mother, who was hunched over the toilet. When she received no reply, she ventured again. "Pwroo? Don’tcha wanna spend the day with Mike?"
Prue leaned back against the bathtub. "Perhaps I should go back to bed." She wasn’t entirely caught by surprise at her early morning act of regurgitation. It had been going on for some days now, but she had held off worrying due to the court case. Now it was time to worry.

Phoebe walked past the bathroom, whose door was wide open. She took in the scene before her and approached the two.
"Prue did you get sick, again?" She asked, concerned.
"Uh, yeah. Could you take Eve for me? I’m gonna go back to bed. " Prue said to calm her sister, though already feeling slightly better.
"Sure," Phoebe scooped the small six year old in her arms and carried her downstairs. Eve smiled up at her new aunt. "Pancakes," she grinned.

Half an hour later, Prue came downstairs and walked into the kitchen, where her sister and her new daughter were heartily eating their pancakes.

"Feeling better?" Phoebe asked as she came up for air.
"Lots," Prue smiled, pouring herself a cup of coffee.
"Want some pancakes, Pwroo?" Eve asked, offering her fork which held a small piece of her stack, completely oozing with syrup.
Prue wrinkled her nose, "I’ll pass this time, squirt. So do you want to spend the day with Mike then?" Prue asked, to which Eve nodded vigorously.
"Prue you’re going to a doctor first," Phoebe attempted.
"I know, I already made an appointment," Prue smiled. "10.30, then we’re meeting Mike at twelve at the park for a picnic, you’re welcome to join us; Eve would like that," she told her sister.
"Sounds cool," Phoebe nodded before stuffing more food into her mouth.

Dr Parks tied the blue ribbon around Prue’s upper arm and tightened it. He then lightly tapped the thin skin covering her veins in the crook of her elbow before carefully inserting the needle and drawing out a vial of blood.

Prue winced as she looked away.

"OK all done," Dr Parks smiled. "Which colour band aid?"
"Purple," Prue smiled. "And a strawberry lollipop."
He laughed and gave her what she asked for. "So what do you think it is?" she asked.
"I think you could be pregnant."
Prue’s mouth fell open. "Your kidding me? You were the one who told me I couldn’t have any children when you did my last physical."
"I didn’t say you couldn’t, I said there was a large chance that it would be extremely difficult. If it’s still early days you’re going to have to be very careful, nothing too strenuous, and lots of relaxation."
Prue nodded and stood "Well you know the number for when you get the test results. " she took a deep breath. "Bye. " she quickly exited the doctor’s practice and drove home, her eyes glazed over, her mind on other things as she maneuvered her BMW through the streets of San Francisco.

SEVEN MONTHS LATER.

Prue lay on her bed reading a book as Eve curled up in the space next to her, her head resting on Prue’s belly, which by now was almost eight months pregnant. She put her book down and smiled down at the small girl who called her mom. She lightly ran her hands through her hair, almost disbelieving how much progress she had made in the seven months that they had been together. There was still the odd nightmare but instead of it occurring at least three times per week, she only called out for Prue roughly once every three weeks. She was apprehensive about the baby in the beginning, but once she had felt it kick, that was it for her, all thoughts with a slight aura of apprehension quickly disappeared as she eagerly awaited the arrival of her baby sister.

Eve looked up at Prue, her ice blue eyes cute and playful, "When’s the baby coming, mom?" she asked.
"In about five weeks," Prue smiled, pulling her even closer.
"Five weeks. How many days is that? I lost count on the calendar I made," she asked innocently.
"It’s thirty-five days; it’s not so long. But you know, we still don’t have a name for my little girl," Prue hinted, wanting to involve Eve with the baby as much as she could.

At that moment, Phoebe bounded into the room and gave Prue what they had began to call ‘the look’. Prue nodded and excused herself from Eve, following Phoebe down the stairs to the kitchen. She saw Piper single-handedly fending off a huge demon.

"Blow him up!" Prue shouted.
"I can’t!" Piper replied, kicking the demon in the goods.

Prue waved her hand, expecting him to fly into the coat hook protruding from the wall, but instead a blue streak flew from her open palm, electrocuting the demon. Blue lines visibly coursed through his body, down each arm and across his chest, up his neck and down his torso. He convulsed on the spot, suspended by the coat hook before exploding.

Prue stared down at her hand, bewildered.

"Mommy?" a small voice asked. "Mommy, what was that?"

Prue looked from her hand to the scorch marks on the wall.

"Sweetie, we need to talk. " Phoebe approached Eve and lead her out of the room.
"Prue, are you O.K?" Piper asked.
"I uh. " Prue gulped. "I don’t know," she completed as her knees gave way. Piper ran to her and lowered her to the ground.
"Easy. Lay down for a while. " She told her.

Prue winced as shooting pain exploded through her stomach.

"What’s wrong?!" Piper asked, confused.
"The baby. " Prue said through a clenched jaw.
"What’s happening with the baby? Is she coming?" Piper was frantic.
Prue closed her eyes and bit her lip, "I think so. "
"OK, breathe. breathe. ."
"I’m trying!" Prue exclaimed.
"I meant for me. I’ll call an ambulance," Piper dashed toward the phone, quickly dialing for an ambulance. Prue, meanwhile, watched in horror as her water broke, soaking the kitchen floor.
Piper dropped the phone after giving the address and ran back to Prue.
"Ok just. Shut your legs, don’t let her out!"
"It’s not like putting dinner in the oven to keep it warm, Piper!" Prue seethed. "She’s coming!"
"Try to wait for the ambulance. "

Prue relaxed her body as the second contraction ended.


Five minutes later, paramedics surrounded Prue, examining her.

"She’s already dilated, we don’t have time to move her to the vehicle. " the paramedic moved to sit behind Prue so she was leaning against him.
"Ok Prue, you have to push," he urged, Piper was holding her hand as Phoebe sat holding Eve as they perched on the kitchen table.


Eve looked up to her aunt.

"Are they hurting her?" she asked.
"No, but it’s not easy to push a baby out, she’ll be ok," Phoebe smiled
"Mom told me thirty five days. " Eve furrowed her brow. "Why is it coming now?"
"I don’t know sweetie," Phoebe replied, "Sometimes these things just happen."

The sound of the baby’s cries tore through the air.

"Ew," Eve chuckled. "It’s red and wrinkly."
Phoebe smiled. "She’s beautiful," she picked the girl up and scooted closer to Prue. "Congratulations, mommy," Phoebe grinned.
"Mommy?" Eve asked the next day, as she sat in Mike’s lap, watching Prue feed her baby girl.
"Yeah sweets?" Prue looked up.
"Where did I come from?" she asked. "You’re not my mommy like you are Kate’s."
"Your mommy died when you were two baby," Prue looked down, suddenly missing her friend and Andy very much. "Your mommy was my best friend in school, and she wanted me to take care of you."
"I’m glad," Eve replied.

TEN YEARS LATER.

"Kate! Are you ready to go yet?" Eve raised her voice as she stood at the foot of the stairs, calling for her ten year old sister. Prue chuckled as she approached the girl she had adopted almost eleven years earlier, her third daughter now three years old, bouncing happily on her hip.
"You know she’s just a little Phoebe," she smiled gently.
Eve jingled her keys, looking perplexed. "She’s going to be late!"
"Don’t about it, she’ll be down soon, Evie."

Eve smiled. She loved Prue more than anything else in her world.

"Be home by five," Prue grinned, she had a surprise for her baby girl that day.

Eve nodded as Kate ran down the stairs.

"Love you, mom," she said as she kissed Prue’s cheek before leaving. It was their routine. Both Prue and Even had lost so much in their lives that they knew if something happened and one of them was lost, it couldn’t be on bad terms. Unspoken rule in Prue’s house.

Eve drummed her fingers against the steering wheel, her head in the hand which leant on the window. "We’re going to be so late now, Kate."
"It’s ok, she’ll wait for me," Kate smiled, reassuring Eve as she surveyed the traffic. "Why aren’t we moving?" she asked.
"I don’t know, probably an accident or construction or something," Eve shrugged.

They were finally able to move more than two feet in fifteen minutes and Eve furrowed her brow, hearing a commotion as a police man approached them, winding her window down.

"Can I help you?" she asked.
"Yeah we’re having to close this section of the road for the time being. If you’ll follow the redirection route?" he asked. Eve nodded and she started driving again. She managed to see a glimpse of what the fuss was about. Mrs. Pilcher stared her down and chilled her to the bone.
"Eve?" she asked, looking up at her big sister. Eve stared into space, and pulled the car over, resting her head on the steering wheel.
"Eve what’s wrong?" Kate asked, unbuckling her seatbelt and climbing onto the extra space of Eve’s carseat.
"Kate, do you mind if we skip on your friend’s party?" Eve asked, wincing as she awaited an explosion from the ten year old.
"No," Kate asked, kissing Eve’s cheek; whatever was on her mind was upsetting her big time.
"Thanks, squirt," Eve put Kate back in her seat and started to drive back to the manor.

The silence in the car was too much for her. It felt like her head was going to explode. She slammed "ON" on the stereo. A CD Prue was obsessed with began to sound.

"It’s not the wind that cracked your shoulder,
And threw you to the ground.
Who’s there that makes you so afraid,
You’re shaking to the bone?"

She punched on the eject button and threw the CD through the window. Kate just looked out of the window, knowing how volatile Eve could become once thrown into a mood.

Ten minutes later, Eve stormed into the house, slamming the door immediately after Kate could run through it.

"Eve. " Prue ran into the parlour trying to stall her. Instead she saw the angst on the teenager’s face. "Sweetie what’s wrong?" She asked, tenderly.
"Nothing.." Eve replied, barging past her in to the kitchen. Prue ran after her to see her slamming the kettle onto the stove.
"Evie, talk to me," Prue sat on the chair, using the name she hadn’t used since Eve was small.
"I don’t know what to say. "
"Well how about why you’re home now instead of taking Kate to her party?" Prue prompted.
"Oh. um the traffic was bad."
Prue raised a single eyebrow. "That’s all? Come on, Eve. I know you, and you can talk to me. "

Eve looked her mother in the eye. "I saw Mrs. Pilcher." She poured boiling water into a cup, and left the room.

She sat on the window seat, watching as the rain pounded down, bouncing off the pavement outside the manor. She sighed, staring into her mug of black coffee. Like Prue. She was so much like Prue, she even looked like her. People thought she was lying when she told them she was adopted. She had Prue’s cheeky grin and her ice blue eyes and even some of Piper and Phoebe’s traits. She had to make sure, to check. Mrs. Pilcher had often hinted at something unnatural, something despicable in her, and Eve lost count of the times she thought she may be right.

She gulped down the rest of her coffee before hugging her old bear tightly, still sat on the window seat. It was a bear Phoebe had given her when Prue first got custody of her, all those years ago. She curled up and fell asleep, a sleep filled with torment.


‘EVELYN!’ She would scream. ‘EVELYN! Come here when I’m talking to you!’ She remembered the drunken yells, the scolding. The punishments for happenings she had dreamt up.
She would trudge into the room, staring at a woman she despised. ‘Don’t look at me like that you stupid child!’ and then the blows would come. First across the cheek, then underneath the chin. How many times had she bruised her tongue and drawn blood from it? Who knew.
‘I’m sorry, ma’am,’ she would reply courteously.
‘Oh don’t give me that. Go get me some food, and cook it properly this time you little brat!’
Evelyn trudged off.
‘Do I smell burning?’ Mrs. Pilcher asked occasionally.
‘No ma’am, I’m not burning it today,’ Eve would reply. For that she would receive a clip upside the ear.
‘Give me your arm!’ The drunken lout would order. Eve would hesitantly offer her arm until the woman grabbed it. She would stub out her cigarette or hold it up to the element in the oven. Sometimes she would lacerate it with her razor. She would do a lot of things. ‘Girls of your nature need punishments.’


Eve fell off the window seat, thrashing in the throes of her nightmare. She fell with a thud and knocked the china mug too, shattering on the floor. She shakily stood and started to clean up the pieces. She heard the footsteps running up the stairs.

"NO!" she screamed out when the door was flung open. "I won’t let you punish me anymore!!!" She calmed slightly, extremely embarrassed when she saw Prue standing there.
"Baby, what’s wrong? You hurt your arm. " she glanced at Eve’s arm, dripping with blood. Eve looked around at the broken pieces of china. None of them had blood on them.


Eve looked up at Prue, then at her arm. "I. I don’t know," she stammered. The dream. It was the dream. Could a dream give her physical injuries?
"Baby we need to talk," Prue came closer to her and the two sat back on the window seat.
"I. I had a dream," Eve sighed. "Sounds stupid."
"A dream injured you?" Prue looked down. "That doesn’t sound stupid at all baby, I’ve been there."
"Really?" Eve asked, intrigued.
Prue nodded. "We’d just found out we were witches and this guy went after women in their sleep. He came after me."
"How do you mean, he went after them?" Eve asked.
"He paralyzed us in our sleep and would push us off the top of buildings, so the bodies imploded."
"So you interacted directly with him?" she asked.
Prue nodded. "Did something happen in your dream sweetie?" Prue asked, confused. Normally Eve was pretty off-hand about their supernatural activities and now she sat here with a bleeding arm.
"Kinda. I remembered when Mrs. Pilcher used to hurt me. She always went for my arms. And now. " Eve frowned, her vision centered on the bear in her arms. This was always a hard conversation topic for her.

Prue took the small seventeen year old into her arms, "it’s ok baby," she soothed. "I’ll get you some ice for that arm." Prue planted a soft kiss on the top of her head before running off to fix her arm up. Eve took this as an opportunity to find some information out on this freaky dream guy. She knew there was some sort of connection there, but she couldn’t quite figure out what. And so she crept up to the attic, and drew the large tome into her lap, looking for anything about dreams.


The haggard old woman sat before the ashtray in her holding cell, the hot coal on the cigarette before her fuming bright red in the darkness. She could hear catcalls and comments from the other cells in her prison block, but she herself stayed silent, only occasionally blowing a puff of smoke into the dark night, planning her next move.

She heard a clank against the metal bars and retrieved her lighter, moving closer to the source of the noise. There she saw a pen, attached to a rolled up sheet of paper. She took it, and began to read.

"I can get you out of here."

She stared at the note for an eternity. Who’d want to aid her salvation? What would they want in return? She was just a lowly mortal with a penchant for abusive behaviour. You don’t go around helping people like that unless they have something to offer. But what could she offer?

She picked up the pen and scribbled, dropping ash on the paper.

"What do you want in return for your troubles?" She didn’t know what to do with the note.
‘Slide it under the bars,’ a steely voice hissed almost silently. She did as was advised, and sat back, awaiting a reply.
"Access." The reply stated. Access. Access to what?


Eve closed the book after having read Prue’s handwriting, telling the tale of Whittaker Berman. She looked up and saw Prue sat across from her, she hadn’t even noticed her come into the room as she was so engrossed in the tale.

"Learn anything?" Prue asked. Eve frowned.
"He went after people who’d refused his romantic advances. And he’s dead."
Prue nodded. "The Dream Sorcerer. We’d only known we were witches for a couple of weeks when he came after me-" at this Eve held up her hand to silence her.
"It’s completely different," she began. "You connected directly with your dream sorcerer. Mine was like memories. I remember the stuff she used to do to me. My arm. It shouldn’t be bleeding because she cut me there before, in exactly the same way."


She laid back on her bed, staring at the featureless ceiling, blowing smoke rings into the air. Access. The word kept running through her head. Access to whom? One name in particular repeatedly sprung to mind. Evelyn. Did he want Evelyn? She grinned, a wicked smile with yellow teeth. Evelyn, she had seen her that day, during the arrest that had lead to her being back here.
The look on Evelyn’s face had said it all. Shock; complete shock in seeing the woman who used to beat her all those years ago. Eve had never known why she had beaten her. Of course, Mrs. Pilcher had her reasons. You don’t suddenly jump from lovingly adopting a child to hating it over night. Something clicked in her head. There was something about Eve that repulsed her. It made her feel small. A bug. That’s it. There was a bug in Eve, and as her guardian it was up to her to displace it. Eliminate her aura of superiority.

She heard the clank and scrambled to the bars.

"Yes," the paper read. "You’re right. She’s the one I want, and you know where she is."
She decided to speak up. "Why do you want her?" she asked.
"All in good time." He reached through the bars and took her hand. "Hold tight." He closed his eyes and the two drifted through time. When he opened them, it was nightfall, and they stood outside the Halliwell Manor.
"Nolite te bastardes carborundorum," she whispered, gaining a smile from him.
"Yes," he said, nodding. "Run with that. We must wait for them to all be sleeping, and then, we go in. But first, we need others."
"Others?" she asked, confused. She was no stranger to the world of magic, but this was a little out of her scope.
"To aid in battle."

He took her hand and blinked to the underworld.

He stood before his minions. The mish-mash of demons were the constituents of their army.
"Silence," he rose a hand to the crowd who immediately obey him. "Your mission is to go to the house in which the three sisters reside. There they hold the Key. Her name is Evelyn. She’s seventeen. She should be easy to catch having suffered substantially horrific psychological ordeals. It will be easy to break her. When you," he pointed out the most intelligent demon he could find. "have done that, the rest of you shall close in on the house, from every possible direction. A select number of you shall blink and shimmer in, attacking the family from within. Squander every female human being you encounter!!" He spoke with escalating defiance. A crooked smile played across his features. "Nolite te bastardes carborundorum. For the lesser of you; don’t let the bastards grind you down."


They sat on the couch together, Eve leaning against Prue. She traced the mouth of the wound to her arm with her other hand. She remembered when she had given her that wound in the first instance, slowly trailing the red hot coal at the end of her cigarette in the pattern, a circle. Then she had drawn a knife around the inside edge of the smoking circle. She remembered that pain as the knife stuck in for roughly four millimeters and tediously drawn around the circle. She had been too scared to cry out, but eventually her instinct got the better of her, and she had indeed cried out, earning a kick in the ribs again. As she remembered this, she recalled this, she felt a blow to her stomach and lurched forward. Prue looked up at her.

"Eve baby are you ok?" she asked, her brow furrowed in concern as she slammed her book down.
Eve held her chest, gasping for breath. She felt the kick come again, and again. Tears began to stream from her icy eyes.
"Eve what’s happening?" Prue sternly demanded.

Eve grabbed a hold on Prue hand, squeezing it through the pain until she stumbled to the bathroom and let her knees give way in front of the toilet.


She stepped back from the circle in the floor and opened her shock white eyes, waiting for her pupils and irises to return along with her vision. The indigo glare returned almost instantaneously and a grin played across her cherry lips.

"Has enough been done?" He asked, seeing into her beautiful dark eyes once again. He was handsome against the light of the thousand flickering candles.
"She is nothing but a shell," she traced his square set jaw with her long, sharp, black fingernails. "She is ready."

He pulled her close, her long ebony hair reaching the arm he had around her waist. He played with the loose black curls. "Then we shall leave to retrieve our Key." He pulled her in for a long, passionate kiss before letting go of her. "Send Renkin to her. He is the only demon we have with more than one brain cell."
"Dangerous," she grinned, her cherry red lips glossy against her white teeth. He pulled her in for another kiss.
"Irresistible," he smiled. "Give her another memory. A mild one. My boys need something of a challenge but they’re not up to elementary standards yet," he winked at her before leaving.


Eve tossed in a dreamless sleep and woke with a jerk even before her alarm clock rang, alerting her for the beginning of the school day. She numbly went through the motions of the morning, and jumped into her car before anyone could catch her to talk to her. She had managed to not have to endure any painful memories so far yet that day, but memories from the previous day prayed on her mind.


Jen, you stand on the seat and just pour it in," She grinned slyly.
Jen looked down at her small friend, returning the smile. "Won’t it soak through?" she asked. "Nope, only when they yank the chain."
"How are you sure it’ll work?" She asked pouring the read powder paint into the over head tank of the toilet.
"Trust me. The water’s up there. That water is the water that flushes the toilet."

Jen just nodded, pouring half the can in. She handed Eve the can and climbed back down. Eve climbed up to the toilet in the next cubicle and started to do the same.

"Evelyn!" She heard a stern voice behind her. "Evelyn what are you doing?" Evelyn pivoted on the balls of her feet.
"Oops," she uttered.
"Oops indeed," the teacher took the can from her. "Come to my office." Eve cast a grave look at her friend as she followed the teacher out of the bathroom, her stance and mood entirely defeatist, as she tried to keep her lip from trembling, knowing the punishment which lay ahead of her.


As soon as she got through the door, she felt a blow to the head so strong that she flew across the room, smashing into the table, crumpling beside it. And this time it wasn’t the cruel hand of her wicked foster mother. She cast a teary glance up at the hand. It was big and strong, a man’s hand. She felt his other hands close over her eyelids and jerk her body up over his shoulder in a fireman’s lift.

"Girls like you need discipline," was the last she can remember of that week. She had blocked out the rest.


Eve now looked up, the memory so suppressed it fell like a ton of bricks on her head. She visibly jerked forward as the memory left her with only after thoughts and shock. She pulled over to the side of the road, and got out of the car. She fell to her knees and screamed, clutching her stomach and she felt the blows come over and over again before she finally remembered him painfully entering her. In and out, over and over again, tirelessly, heavily. She felt sick, the movement jerked her diminished frame too much, it was almost motion sickness. She threw up on the roadside, her vision blurred by tears, thankful for the car beside her obscuring her from public view.

She reached for the door frame of the car, and hoisted herself into the seat, her feet still on the ground as she hung her head between her knees trying to collect herself as she admitted to herself what had happened to her. She was raped at six years old.

Prue picked up her ringing mobile.

"Hello?" she answered.
"m. mom. " The shaky voice replied. Prue straightened, putting down her mug of coffee.
"Eve, what’s up, are you ok?" she asked, concerned.
"Come get me. "
"Of course, where are you?"
"A block away from school."
"I’m on my way, just stay put, ok?"
"Yes," Eve wobbled before hanging up. Her eyes went wide and her face a dead white when she saw him shimmer into existence.

"Key," he grinned, addressing her.

Eve just looked at him with tormented eyes, willing him to leave her alone, the past few days suddenly making too much sense.

"Don’t struggle and we won’t hurt you," he warned. She stood and kicked him in the goods, sprinting as far home as she could, glad when she saw Prue’s SUV pull over. She hopped into it, clinging to Prue for dear life.


"It’s ok baby," Prue shifted gears and looked into her rear-view mirror, seeing a dark, hooded figure behind her car. Her eyes grew wide but she continued to drive, not letting onto Eve that there was a demon, whom obviously only she could see, taped to her fender. She sighed as she looked at Eve, who was now curled up in the front seat, sleeping. She knew what the demon meant. It was a warning, like the Angel of Death.

She was about to wake Eve as she pulled into the manor when she saw the torment on the young girls face. Eve was crying silently in her sleep. Prue picked her up and carried her into the manor. She saw Phoebe rounding the bottom of the stairs, angry as she clung to the towel around her waist.

"What’s up?" Prue asked, shifting Eve’s weight slightly.
"Goddamn demons coming like there’s no tomor-oh..what’s up with Eve? More visions?" she asked, finally seeing the girl in Prue’s arms.
Prue nodded. "She rang me in tears. I don’t know what she saw but we have to find out Pheebs. I’m worried about her."
Phoebe stroked Eve’s black hair. "If you put her in bed, be careful. While you’ve been out there have been four demons and you know we don’t want them to get her alone."
Prue placed her gently on the couch and covered her with a blanket. "I’ll just put her here then. Why have there been so many demons?" she asked, placing her hands on her hips.
"I don’t know, they must want something."
Prue cocked an eyebrow. "You ever stop to think that what they want is Eve?"
"Huh?" Phoebe asked confused.
"We need Leo," Prue sighed before looking skyward and calling out for him.

"Our plan of attack is this," he addressed the poor excuse for an army in front of him. "When each of the witches in the house is preoccupied, and after they have conferred with their Whitelighter, then and only then, may you enter their home and attack."
One of the demons raised his hand, "why then?" he asked.
"Because then, their Whitelighter is with the elders. He is retrieving information of how to destroy us. Timing is everything."
"So uh. why then?" he asked again, scratching his head.
"Because we have several Darklighter enlisted in our team who aren’t present at the moment!"
"Oh. So what do we do when we get in there?" he asked, stroking his chin.
"ATTACK!"
"Attack who?" he asked, scratching his head again.
"Every mortal you see!"
"Oh. Thank you for clearing that up."

He sighed and put a hand on his hip, and placed the other in front of him, as though he was throwing and catching a tennis ball, an energy ball forming as he did this. He threw it at the stupidest demon he had ever encountered. "Liability," he muttered.
"Standby, troops, I will give you the signal," he said before stalking off to her chambers.


Phoebe came back down the stairs, this time fully clothed. She checked on Eve, who was still sleeping on the couch, then proceeded to the kitchen where she saw Prue sat on the worktop, juxtaposed with the coffee pot, the Book of Shadows on her lap.

"Anything?" she asked.
"No, and Leo’s not back yet."
"Give him time, we only asked him five minutes ago."
Prue sighed. "She’s my daughter. She’s had enough to deal with already without magical interference," she ran a hand through her hair.
Phoebe put an arm around Prue. "We’ll be ok, we always are," she pulled away, reaching into the cupboard above Prue’s head for a cup, thrown into a premonition.


~Eve. five or six maybe. Giggling, a friend who was a little older. pouring something. powder. into a tank. A man, unshaven and dirty, grabbed her wrist, his hand almost the same size as her entire forearm. He pushed her into a table and began to roughly rip her clothes off of her. Eve passed out almost straight away.~


Phoebe gasped as the premonition ended. "Oh my. " she reached for the table to steady herself.
"What did you see?" Prue asked, her ice eyes searching Phoebe’s.
"Eve was. Prue she. She was raped. " Phoebe hung her head, as if stating the act meant she was guilty of it’s perpetration.
"Phoebe, I know. " Prue put her hand on Phoebe’s arm, making her look back up. "She told me herself, when she got her first crush. She was terrified. But since then I think she’s forgotten it. I mean seriously forgotten it, completely detached herself."
Phoebe nodded. "Do you think she saw that, when she was on the road?"
"Probably."


He put his hand in between her shoulders. "Good lady," he breathed through her hair.
She turned gently. "I’m never good." She smiled seductively and pulled him in for a kiss.
"They are ready. Has our plan been set in motion yet?" she asked, now distancing herself slightly.
"Almost. I fear I may destroy our army before the Charmed Ones or the Key," he sighed. "They suck."
She chuckled. "They’re the best we have for a secretive approach. Anyone else would be a leak."
He nodded. "I know. Before the sun sets, we shall have our glory, we shall have our key," he reached for her again, once again pulling her into his embrace, showering her with passionate kisses.


Eve woke slowly, her tears blurring and stinging her vision. She threw the blanket off of her and walked into the kitchen.

"Mom," she announced her presence and caught Prue’s attention. Prue jumped down from her perch on the kitchen counter and hugged her.
"Are you ok?" she asked, lovingly.
Eve nodded. "I guess. I didn’t have a bad dream."
"You didn’t?" Prue questioned, urging her to indulge in her pleasantry.
"I saw mom. I mean, my real mom. " She said, looking down.
"You saw Jenny?" Prue asked.
Eve nodded. "She looked happy, she was with you and that Andy guy, you were like my age."

Prue smiled, remembering those times when their biggest worry was getting an A on a test.

"She was pretty," Eve noted, putting an arm around Prue.
"She was beautiful," Prue relaxed in Eve’s embrace. "A lot like you, you’re both-"
"Prue!" Eve interrupted her retrospection. "What’s that?!" she questioned, pointing at a man in a black suit with a white tie, bow and arrow poised.

Prue spun around and saw what he was pointing at. Leo had just entered the room.


"It starts," her eyes flicked back to purple irises and ivory. She grinned, the flickering candles dazzling her juicy red lips against rivaling immaculate white teeth. He stood from his seat before the desk, picking up a folder entitled "KEY".
"She won’t succumb immediately," he panicked, worry of defeat piercing and deflating his confidence.
"But she will succumb," she smiled again.
"How do you know?"
"Because she’s young, and it’s her innate quality, simply undiscovered."
"Whence is their Whitelighter?"
"Currently preoccupied with the arrow in his chest."

He grinned, some of his confidence returning. "My army shall go forth," he stepped closer to her, once again tying his arm across the small of her back. "Don’t stray," he warned. She had a tendency to jump onto a different train of thought when it occurred to her. It was how she had seized almost all of her power.
She stood on the tips of her toes, taking his face in her hands and kissing him passionately. "Loyalty is not a virtue of mine," she grinned. "But I can make allowances, for you," she said close to his ear before pulling him in for another kiss.

"LEO!" Phoebe yelled out as she watched the arrow embed itself in his chest. The three women ran forward as he began to fall, and carried him to the couch, where Eve had lied no more than two minutes ago. Leo sucked in shaky breaths as he regarded the Darklighter before them, confirming his suspicions.
"They’re coming. " he stuttered out, lengthily.
"Who?" Eve prodded.
"The army in search of the key," Prue answered for him.
"Key. " Eve remembered the demon earlier that morning addressing her as ‘Key’. "Key. What am I? An implement to open a door?!" She raged, pacing.
"Yes," the Darklighter chuckled. Eve cocked her eye at him, suddenly the arrow flying from Leo’s chest to the Darklighters.
"The Key to Omniscience," the Darklighter shrieked before exploding as an entity of black, fuming cloud.
"And what the hell is omniscience?!" Eve raged as she turned to her uncle on the couch and her aunts kneeled beside him.
"All knowledge," a stranger answered gravely.
"And who the hell are y. " her sentence trailed off as she turned to the stranger’s voice and saw demon upon haggard demon streaming all over the house she had lived in for her eleven years with love. Realization bit her in the butt as it occurred to her that maybe she was only meant to live there for those eleven years.

"Eve did I do that or did you?" Prue asked.
"I. I don’t know," Eve replied, glancing back at Prue. "I think it was me."
"But you’re not magical. "

Then turned when one of the demons stood before them issued a grunt to gather their collective attention.

"Sorry to keep my assassins waiting," Eve quipped and turned back to them.

They heard the front door slam. "Okey dokey here I am, Prue? What didja wa. " Piper’s voice rang through the entrance hall until she caught sight of the demons flooding their home. "Why so many?!" She almost stomped her feet. "Where the hell’s my husband?"
"Ummm. " Phoebe began. She didn’t have to divulge that information, as Piper turned to the couch, awaiting the shriek.


Eve looked to Prue and Phoebe and the three nodded. They advanced on the army, surprised at how quickly they defeated demon by demon. They were tiring none and the demons were dropping like flies, a sequence to defeat was easily found the demons had soft spots. Hit them in the base of the neck and they went down. They were subhuman in their weakness. Each of the women jumped as the demons laying at their feet disappeared, together, in smoking contraction. They each looked to each other, confused.

"There. " Eve pointed ahead of them. There stood a demon, sword in sheath, connected to his belt. He stood jaw set straight, eyes gleaming, as if he had already defeated them.
"Who are you?" Prue asked, advancing on him.
"I am Renkin," he replied, simply.
"And you are. "
"I am Renkin."
"And what is a Renkin when it’s at home?" Phoebe asked this time.
"Assassin seeking out the key," he focused his glare on Eve.
"Assassin?" Prue went pale. "Like Shax?"
"Shax is gone, you defeated him. I am not like Shax."
"Ok enough of this!" Eve muttered, driving her fist into his jaw. He grabbed her wrist as she started to withdraw the fist.
"Wrong move. " he grabbed a hold of her other wrist. She kicked and thrashed as much as she could, grateful for Prue and Phoebe’s advances on him from behind. She felt the blows to his back trembling through him, shaking with him. She twisted out of his grasp and attack him from the front. He reached down with his now freed hand to grab his sword. She kicked his hand and the sword flew into her’s.

"Again. " she muttered, amazed that she was making her wishes happen. Prue and Phoebe did not stop attacking him until he disappeared. They looked up to see Eve stood with his jeweled sword in her hand, blood dripping from the tip, held where his stomach had been a split second ago.


He raised his hand and threw the heavy mahogany table into the wall. It splintered into a thousand pieces.

"This was NOT part of the plan!" He fumed, approaching the object of his infatuation stealthily, his footsteps heavy like bricks.
"If you want something done properly, you have to do it yourself, Marcus," she stared into his eyes, her arms around his back.
"Iras, what do you propose I do?"
"Go after her yourself. If you bring them all down here and disperse them, their Whitelighter cannot track them, their Elders cannot track them and we can convert them."

Eve carried the cold washcloth to Piper. "Here," she said, hurriedly handing it to her. As soon as she had done so, she ran upstairs to her room. She looked at the posters on her walls, her idols. What good were Linkin Park as an idol? She chuckled to herself as she sat in the window seat, holding her bear. She thought about what she was. The Key To Omniscience. who in their right mind would want to be omniscient? That was the problem; demons didn’t have right minds. She was about to call for Leo, until she remembered he was dying on the couch downstairs. He was dying because of her. If she weren’t this stupid key person, none of this would be happening. She snuggled up with her bear, looking longingly out of the window, longing for a sense of solidarity in all this loss. Did her mother and aunts hold it against her that she was something? Something magical? Hypocrisy to the max, she knew if they did, but she wasn’t meant to be magical. This was not her station in life. She sighed; she wasn’t really meant to be with Prue either, she was effectively kidnapped.


"Why isn’t she here?!" she fumed, storming into Iras’s chambers, catching them mid-embrace. "OI!" she yelled, finally catching their attention. She plucked a cigarette from the pack and placed it between her wiry thin lips.
"You’d think they’d learn. There’s so much sulphur around her. " Iras mused.
"What’s the problem?" Marcus asked.
"Where’s that little brat?!" Mrs. Pilcher spat, before sucking desperately on her cigarette.
"We shall have her before sunset, I promise you that. But you have to keep up your end of the promise. You are here to scare her mentally. None of that physical abuse I busted you out of jail for!"
"Oh hush you stupid demon!" This time she literally spat on the floor.
"Um, is she necessary for the rest of our plan?" Iras asked, disgusted.
"No," Marcus grinned.

Iras closed her eyes and concentrated. Her eyes opened, the purple irises vanished, rolled into the back of her head. The old woman dropped her cigarette in shock as she felt every fibre of her being awaiting explosion. Marcus grinned wickedly, stepping out the hot coal on the ground, laughter bubbling in his throat as he watched the old woman seem to be struck in the chest by fire, fire consuming her left arm, then her right, running down her torso and legs, down to her toes. The woman started to cough, every part of her body on fire with the exception of her head. Her hair hissed as it singed and spiraled up like wire coils onto her head. She began to inhale the smoke, choking her.

Iras opened her eyes, grinning at the sight before her. Her irises returned as the woman exploded.
"Splat," she giggled.
Marcus smiled. "I’ll be back," he declared before shimmering directly to the Manor.

He reappeared in her room, she hadn’t even noticed the extra presence. He was thankful for that as he was able to touch her before she emitted a scream for help.

"Prue!!" she wailed.
"Ugh," he wrapped one hand around her wrists, held behind her back, and jiggled the other about in his ear. "Mortals are going to deafen me," he muttered before shimmering her out, just as Prue and Phoebe busted the door open.

She struggled in his arms as they appeared in Iras’s chambers.

"Who are you?" she yelled, elbowing him wherever she could drive an arm.
"Easy child," he released his grip on her. " I don’t intend to hurt you."
"Why does that suddenly scare me so much more?"
"Because destiny is a frightening concept," a woman stated, walking gracefully yet purposefully into the chambers.
Eve chuckled. "Are we playing Cleopatra or Snow White?" she asked.
"Iras," she corrected.
"My companion," Marcus approached Iras, who ignored his approach and started to walk towards Eve again.
"Evelyn, do you know why you’re here?" Iras questioned, almost kindly.
"Don’t call me Evelyn," Eve all but spat in her face.
"Apologies. But, do you?"
"Because I’m something that’s gonna open some sorta door of all knowledge, yadda yadda yadda," Eve shrugged.
"Oh, it’s much more than that," Iras grinned. "You much more than a key," she watched Eve search her eyes, searching for trust.
"What am I?" she asked.
"You’ll find out in due time."
"Iras, this is not what we had agreed to. " Marcus approached her.
"Because I don’t need you anymore you fool," she turned to him this time. She flicked her wrist and a sword appeared in Eve’s hand. "You know what to do."

Eve charged at Marcus, driving the sword into his stomach, the veins in her hand and knuckles bulging as she hacked it in and out again and again, still trying to kill him long after he was dead. She eventually saw the green tint on his face, noticed the blood all over her, dripping from where it had gushed from his mouth and the series of holes in his stomach. She pushed the corpse hard and it was thrown to the wall. It suspended there for several seconds as the sword embedded itself in the wood, supporting the dead weight until it caved into the pressure and fell to the ground with a sickening thud. Eve looked at the consequences of her actions and was torn. She’d killed. and he had not disappeared. He was human. She felt her face being cupped in soft cold hands. She tore her eyes from the corpse and found herself looking into unnatural startling purple irises.

"Iras. I. I killed him. " Eve confessed, looking down. She had felt like it was her versus Marcus, and her only task was to kill him, the rest of the world forgotten. She had forgotten that Iras was there, urging her to do it. When she looked back into the eyes, the purple was different. it was violet. a gentle shade.
"He deserved to die, you did the right thing," Iras confirmed. "He had strayed from his natural path, there was no choice for you. You followed your instinct. Keep following it, and life shall fare you well."

Prue paced the small pink room as Phoebe sat on the bed, holding the bear, willing a premonition. She stopped when something caught her eye. It was a book, covered in black paper, with gentle silver flowers drawn all around the edge. She saw the black ribbon poking through halfway, and pulled it, the book opening to a page.

"September 20th, 6p.m

I’ve been thinking a lot about Prue. thinking about how I need her more than ever now, and when she first found me. She took in an orphan, a really unsettled one at that. I must have been a pain when I first started staying over. I remember not being able to sleep unless her arms were wrapped around me. I was so scared. and I felt so safe in her arms. But today I saw Mrs. Pilcher, and it almost stopped my breath. She was getting arrested, I saw them cuffing her, but she looked right at me. I’m sure she knew it was me driving the car. I was so scared. When had her jail sentence ended? At least now she’d be getting another. but these things only last so long. They safe life and it’s thirty years, and you can get out early on good behaviour. It’s not right. What she did to me, what she allowed people to do to me. she should be tortured every day so she can experience a small fraction of the pain I couldn’t tell anyone about for almost four years. I didn’t even know what was happening to me at first, she’d started abusing me when I was two. All I knew was that it was wrong. Oh god I want to kill her. I want to drive her favourite knife through her eye, and spread it around as if I were buttering bread. I want to get the rope and tie it around her neck until she’s almost dead but not quite. I want to embed knives in parts of her body that will kill her in a matter of days, rather than seconds. The flesh on her hips to carve and contort, cut out the muscle from the back of her thighs. I hate her. "

Prue closed the book before she could read anymore. She fought the urge to gag and ran out of the room, going into her children’s bedroom, holding Kate close and kissing the three year old, Beth, in her sleep.

"Mom what’s wrong?" Kate asked, confused.
"Nothing baby, I just want to hold you close."

Kate knew something was wrong with Eve, but didn’t pry, just wrapped her arms tightly around her mother’s tummy.

"I need more. " Eve paced the chambers. "I have to. "
"Child, you shall have more," Iras took her hand and led her to a podium. She leant against it and her eyes flashed white. She took both of Eve’s hands in her own, allowing her to see what she was seeing. Prue was reading Eve’s diary. Eve pulled her hands away, screaming in rage.
"I’ll KILL HER!" She yelled. "That’s not hers to read!" She held out her hand, the sword Iras had designated to her flying into her palm. It was the sword she had killed Marcus with. She stormed out of the chambers, her body floating upward as she disappeared from view, reappearing in the manor.

She crept into Prue’s bedroom with silent footsteps, and sat down on the bed, thankful for Mike being away on business. She resisted the urge to run, screaming, through the door, oscillating her sword, connecting with every being in her path.

"Mother," she cocked an eyebrow as a pale looking Prue entered the room.
"Eve I’m so. whoa where’d you get the sword?" she halted her pace, frowning at the sword in her daughter’s hand.
"Oh this lady gave me it."
"A lady? What kind of lady?" Prue laughed.
"The kind of lady I’m going to become," she stood, lifting the sword. "I think the sensible thing to do my be to run. "

Prue stared into her eyes for a split second before pivoting to the direction of the door and bolting through it. What had she seen in those once soft eyes? Not the compassion and love that was usually present, but instead, a despising glare for the woman who had saved her. That was not the Eve she knew.

"Phoebe!" She screamed, running into Eve’s bedroom, slamming the door shut and locking it before Eve could join them. Eve threw her sword into the door, putting all of her weight on top of it. The tip showed through the other side of the wood as Prue pulled Phoebe back from the frame.
Eve grunted in frustration as she felt herself being pulled. She left the sword in the door, unable to reach it before she was sucked to Iras.

"Why did you have to bring me back so soon?!" She raged at Iras, almost decking her when she had reached her.
"Because this is too much to soon. Child, you will accomplish great things but Rome wasn’t built in a day," Iras noted, backing away from her.
"I don’t understand! I feel like I want to kill everything I cross," she fumed, the frustration outrunning the adrenaline as she sat on a cold stone slab and slumped her head in her hands.
"It is the struggle between good and evil in you. You have already killed, why stop at one?" Iras suggested.
"Because I didn’t choose to kill him. It was instinctive."
"Are you regretting your actions, child?" Iras asked, already forming a back up plan.
"No. Maybe. I don’t know. " she sighed. "I conformed to everything I experienced as a child and extended it to a third party. I almost extended it to my mother," she battled for reason.
"You will do great things. " Iras smiled as she turned and sat next to her. She took Eve’s hand and kissed the top of her head. Eve slumped to the side, unconscious.


"You think she’s gone?" Prue looked up from the bed at Phoebe, who was still willing a premonition.
Phoebe nodded. "I think so. It’s been quiet for too long for her to still be here."
"Ok stand back," Prue lifted her hand, the door flying off its hinges. She approached the damage and pulled the sword out, inspecting it.
"This is hers?" Phoebe fingered the purple jewels before being sucked into a premonition.

Eve was laid out on a stone slab, five candles surrounded her, as did a variety of chalices and gently fuming mortars. A beautiful, timeless woman stood at her head, her hands hovering over Eve’s closed eyes. Eve’s body rose up, light expanding out of her stomach, h