As she drove down the quiet, seemingly deserted side road, Prue heard the eerie wailing of police sirens. Parking her car quickly, she walked briskly to Darryl, only to find him frozen in place, a cross between a frown and a wince on his face. Her glance softened. He shouldn't be up and about so soon after his recovery. The siren keened, the only sound in the back alley. She looked around, confused by the scene. Piper must be here, somewhere.
Then she saw Piper lying by one of the collapsing brick walls, unconscious. And the demon Balthezor was bent over her, his horrendous crimson-and-black face inches from the lifeless girl.
"Stop!" She threw him away from her sister with a wave of her hand. He rolled away, an unmistakable grimace of pain on his face as he was thrown into a pile of rubble. A small packet flew from his claw, but she didn't notice as she braced herself against a retaliating spell from the powerful demon. Instead, he looked at her from Cole's beseeching eyes.
"So it was you after all," she stated in disbelief. Her hand flew back to strike him again.
"I'm trying to help, Prue. Piper needs my help!" he protested, his hands stretched out in front of him pleadingly. "I'm the one who opened your windows so that you could see the invisible demon."
The dark-haired girl looked at him unforgiving, her lips forming the words "You're lying." A glance at the wall behind him, the jagged broken edge perhaps sharp enough to drive into the demon with enough force to stun it, showed her next move so clearly that she tensed herself in case he decided to throw himself out of line of her magic.
But he crouched there, blood rolling down his torn back, shaking his head. "If you don't believe me… Kill me, then," he murmured. She did not hesitate.
Prue swept her arm out, the force of magic almost visible as it spun through the air towards the revealed demon. But at the last moment, Phoebe rushed to the scene and flung herself forward. "Cole!" She took the full force of the blow and hit the brick wall, her head striking it with a sickening thud.
The demon, Balthezor/Cole, hurled himself over to her motionless body with a wordless howl of despair, falling on clawed hands and knees. His form flickered between the demon shape and the human figure with glittering tears, alternating blood red and clear, falling out of his eyes.
Prue looked down at her hand with shock. "Phoebe…" she whispered. She tried to move, to get to her sister, but her body was riveted to the ground with the horror and revulsion of what she had just done. She was surprised to see the demon gently pick up Phoebe in its strong arms, tears flowing all the while, and stand there, looking at her with forgiving, understanding eyes. And then she was even more taken aback when she saw his back arch into an unbelievably strained position, and his mouth opened in a soundless scream.
A fiery pit opened in the pavement at his feet; he had only enough time to somehow gently lay Phoebe on the ground before he was sucked into the pit to face the Triad. Phoebe lost no time in following him to help; it was only after she had leapt into the portal that she realized that the face he'd had was the same grimace that Leo had worn when he was forcibly taken from Piper at their "wedding."
She found herself standing back-to-back with Balthezor, facing the youngest of the Triad. Her hands rose with some trepidation, but she fought back her fear and tried to throw the great demon from its place in the deadly circle. It struck an invisible wall and, recoiling, flung her backwards, stumbling into Cole.
The Triad's sibilant hisses were triumphant. "Your little magic tricks can do nothing against us," one of them boasted. Then it turned to Balthezor. "Well done, Balthezor. You went so far as to bring one of them to us and render the other two unconscious." The beady black eyes, the whites so tiny as to be almost indiscernible, hardened. "But you have a weakness, don't you? You fell in love with—" the voice became contemptible—"one of the witches."
Prue prayed that the demons would be too absorbed with their interrogation of Cole and did the only thing she could do at the moment. She astral-projected.
Leo was getting seriously worried. Piper and her sisters were nowhere to be found; he'd already checked their house and the club. Sometime during his search for Piper, Phoebe had disappeared also, probably wanting to help Prue find her missing sister. He sat on the front steps with anxiety gnawing at his innards. His worst fears were assured when Prue appeared before him.
"Leo, I—we really need your help." As she relayed quickly all that had happened, he nodded.
"Go to them. I'll follow." The familiar blue glow surrounded him, the glittering magenta light flickering around her, as they disappeared.
Leo found himself in a deserted alley; since the police were still frozen in place he knew he had to act quickly before they found out what was going on. He scanned the scene, taking in the limp forms of Piper and Phoebe. Then his gaze fell on the small pouch lying beside the heap of construction rubble at the end of the alley.
He picked it up, sniffed it. It was some kind of medicine powder… He looked at the girls quickly and rushed over to Phoebe. She had only hit her head on the wall. He placed his hands over her head and Healed her hurriedly, then scrambled over to Piper. Prue stood near him, the image flickering with her effort to keep staying there.
He examined Piper closely, then realized she was under the effect of some powerful spell. He tried to Heal her but failed. Prue looked at the pouch.
"Try the medicine," she advised. She felt guilty for not realizing what Balthezor/Cole had been up to.
Leo sprinkled a bit of the powder onto Piper's forehead. Instantly the white stuff took on a reddish light and then seemed to be absorbed into her skin. Her eyes opened, and she got up, brushing herself off and smiling at Leo.
Phoebe had risen, too, and walked over to Prue. "You just tried to kill Cole," she accused.
"Yes, I know, and I'm sorry. I was mistaken. But he's down there somewhere," she waved toward the ground, "and the Triad is going to kill him unless we do something. And I'm going to die too, since I'm down there."
Leo took that moment to orb back and retrieve the Book of Shadows. He and Piper stood together, hands entwined, absorbed in flipping the heavy vellum pages of the Book.
"Look, we don't have a lot of time. We have to defeat the Triad now!" Prue's magic was tiring, and her image flickered even more. When her form was stabilized again, the others realized that they could see through her to the view of police cars beyond. Piper could also see how the strain of using her magic was taking its toll on Prue.
Phoebe looked at her, debating whether to help or not. After all, Prue had nearly destroyed Cole, who was good inside even if he was a demon. But if she didn't help, Cole would be killed. She nodded reluctantly.
Prue put out her translucent hand, joining her sisters' hands. They chanted their "Power of Three" spell quickly. Then Leo came up with an idea.
"I found a spell in the Book. It lets you channel your powers into another person. If you combine that with your "Power of Three" spell, you might be able to give your powers to Prue so she can try to defeat the demons."
"Can't you just transport the three of us down there?" Piper wanted to know. "Then we can hold them back while you get Cole to safety and then you can get us back out again."
Leo looked skeptical. "I'll try, but I'd rather you use the Channeling spell just in case. You still have your own powers, just Prue will be able to tap into them, and you into each other's."
The sisters agreed, then chanted the second spell. Prue felt a burst of power within her.
"It worked. Let's go." Just as she spoke, her image flashed once more and then disappeared.
Piper offered to go first. "I'll try to freeze them if I can."