Chapter 9

"Look, honey, it isn't just that it's dangerous."

Piper sighed, and dropped the scrying crystal on the map as Leo persisted with his lecture. "Leo, Whitelighters are supposed to guide, not judge." she pointed out looking annoyed, "Just because I'm doing things a little bit differently doesn't mean that there is a problem."

"Piper, I'm your husband, not just your Whitelighter. When you speak to me like that, there is a problem." snapped back Leo, "I can't help you unless you talk to me." he continued, moderating his tone.

Piper strode over to the window and stared unseeingly out, "It hurts to talk, Leo." she stated angrily, "It hurts to breathe. So unless you have some idea of how to bring Prue back, I don't want to talk right now."

"Is that what you don't want to say?" exclaimed Leo, hurt, "That you still blame me for not being able to bring her back?"

Piper whirled around to face Leo, "No, Leo. I don't blame you. I blame evil. Why do you think I'm doing all this? For kicks?" she asked.

"Honestly, I think you're doing it because it's easier than confronting what you're really feeling." replied Leo quietly.

Piper ignored Leo and picked up the crystal again, "I have work to do." she told him unemotionally, refusing to look at him.

Leo stood there, silently watching her for a minute, before orbing out, his face screwed up to stop his tears from falling.

Cortez returned to his desk to find Darryl waiting there impatiently, still holding the file on Andy Trudeau.

"Morris." acknowledged Cortez curtly.

Darryl waved the file in front of Cortez's face, "Have you actually got any evidence?" he demanded, cutting straight to the chase, "Or is this all guesswork based on your personal feelings?"

Cortez surveyed Darryl coldly, "I will find the evidence." he stated, "I know that they did this, and that you covered up for them. It's only a matter of time before I can prove it to the world." Cortez leaned forward and dropped his voice threateningly, "I know what they are and what they do."

"See, I don't think that you do." retorted Darryl angrily, causing a few other officers to look up, "Because if you did you wouldn't be trying to bring them down, you would be thanking them for stopping the numbers of mysterious deaths from rising sky high. Prue gave her life to save people, just like Andy did. Just because you don't like the Halliwells, it doesn't mean they're bad people. They're not. They're the best people I know. And you need to realise that before you do something the whole world will regret." Darryl glared at Cortez, breathing heavily.

Cortez met Darryl's fierce gaze "Your threats don't scare me, Morris." he spat.

Darryl shook his head in defeat, "I'm not trying to threaten you, Cortez," he told him, "just trying to stop you from making the biggest mistake of your life."

Darryl placed the file on Cortez's desk and silently walked back to his desk, ignoring the curious stares of the other officers.

Piper nodded to herself, satisfied, as the scrying crystal suddenly went taut and dropped onto the map. "Phoebe! Cole!" she called out, mentally memorising the street the crystal had selected, "Let's go!"

Piper grabbed her jacket and ran down the stairs, meeting a flustered Phoebe at the bottom, waving the phone at her. "It's for you," Phoebe told her, looking relieved to hand over the phone, "It's P3, the band playing tonight has cancelled and the monthly delivery hasn't arrived. Your bartender sounds annoyed…" Phoebe added in an undertone.

Piper glanced at the phone in her hand, then back at Phoebe, "Later. We have a demon to hunt."

Phoebe gestured to the phone, while shushing Piper, "Less of the d-word." she hissed, reaching over to cover the mouthpiece.

Piper rolled her eyes and ignored the phone, "Where's Cole?" she asked tapping her foot impatiently.

Cole appeared in the hall "I'm here," he said sounding irritated, "Don't tell me you've found another opportunity to get us all killed."

Piper gave Cole a stern look, "Fighting demons is what we do." she told him coldly, "It's our duty to hunt them down."

"Hey! Hey!" cut in Phoebe, "Cole is half-demon, remember. We're not hunting him down."

Piper sighed exasperatedly, "Fine, it's our duty to hunt down evil then."

"But not at the risk of losing yourself, your identity." A quiet voice cut in. Unnoticed by the arguing triplet Leo had orbed in, his expression unfathomable.

"What do you mean?" asked Piper defensively.

"The Elders think, and I agree, that you're focusing too much on hunting down Shax and getting revenge for Prue, that you're losing perspective on the whole situation." Leo explained gently. He surveyed Piper's incredulous face and continued before she could interrupt, "Yes, it's your destiny to fight evil, but your aim should be to protect innocents not to gain revenge."

"Since when have I cared what the Elder's think?" demanded Piper angrily, "You'd think that after everything we've done for them they would stop criticising and judging us. Well I've had enough. I'm finished with them and their stupid rules." Piper took a deep breath, "I'm not doing it for them anymore. I refuse to work for them, listen to them or have anything to do with them anymore." She raised her free hand and pointed at Leo, "You can tell them they're going to have to find another witch they can control because I'm done with it!"

There was a shocked silence after Piper's outburst. Phoebe, Leo and Cole were too dumbfounded to speak.

Piper slammed the phone back in it's cradle and stormed out of the house without a backwards glance.

"So the order was never placed?" Phoebe double-checked a puzzled frown etched on her face, "Oh. Ok then. Thanks for your help. Bye."

Phoebe replaced the phone in its cradle and turned to find Cole and Leo in the living room. "Piper never placed the order for the delivery to P3." she told them, "And there's still no luck in finding a band."

"She's really letting the place go." commented Cole, which caused Leo to open his eyes and send Cole an annoyed look from across the room.

"Well, I'll go in later and try to sort it all out for her." Phoebe suggested, "Any luck in sensing her?"

Leo nodded. "I can sense her; she's angry but she's not in danger."

Cole let out a harsh laugh "Well not until your Elders get a hold of her anyway. I don't think I've ever seen Piper quite that angry before; remind me never to get on her bad side again."

"Cole, this is not the time for levity." ground out Leo, he was badly worried and Cole's flippancy was not helping matters.

Phoebe perched on the arm of Cole's seat, her face concerned, "Cole has a point though. Piper really seemed to mean what she said. I mean, I know Piper and the Elders never exactly saw eye to eye, but I never thought she would ignore them completely. Do you think there's any chance she was just mouthing off?" she asked Leo desperately.

Leo sighed and shook his head, "I think this was one time to many for Piper. She's never liked their orders and I suppose she blames them slightly for Prue's death."

Phoebe stood up, unsure of what to do, "Should we go after her?" she suggested, "Or should we give her some time to calm down? Piper's powers aren't working properly and if she's gone out after the demon she was scrying for…"

Leo nodded, "We need to stop her before she does something dangerous. I can feel her anger and pain, I don't know what she'll do. But what about P3?"

"Oh." Phoebe hadn't thought of that, "I don't suppose, Cole, honey, you could…?" she trailed off hopefully.

"What? Me? Organise a club?" Cole backed away, raising his hands, "I don't think so. I wouldn't know the first thing about it."

"Cole." Phoebe pleaded, "We need you to do this, and you won't be there alone, the bartender will be there. Please? Just do what you can?"

Cole sighed, "Fine." he muttered exasperatedly.

"Thank you!" Phoebe dropped a quick kiss on Cole's cheek before crossing to Leo and being orbed out.

"How did I get roped into doing this?" grumbled Cole, as he surveyed the mess of P3 around him. It was nearly opening time and it was obvious nobody had cleared up since last night. Litter and dirty bottles were still strewn around the place and the bartender was fretting on the phone that there weren't enough drink supplies to last the night unless it was a quite evening.

Cole fervently hoped it would be. Having spent so long as a demon he was completely useless at organisation and trying to sort the place out was giving him a migraine.

'One more thing I didn't have to worry about while being a demon.' the thought crossed Cole's mind briefly, surprising him. He hadn't reminisced about his demon days since finding Phoebe.

Cole shook his head and went into the back room to look for a broom to sweep up some of the mess.

Piper nodded her head in satisfaction as the tortuous screams of the demon faded into nothing. Only a few ashes sprinkled the ground where the demon had been vanquished. 'Another one down.' Piper thought viciously.

"Piper!"

Piper sighed quietly "What now?" before turning round to face her husband and remaining sister. She resolutely folded her arms, mentally preparing herself to ignore the inevitable lecture heading her way.

"Piper, I thought we already had this talk." Leo sounded disappointed as well as upset.

At Piper's stony silence, Phoebe decided to try, "Piper, honey, we're worried about you. You're not acting like yourself. We know you're upset, we all are, but please don't do anything too rash."

"What like cutting all ties with the good-for-nothing guys-in-robes up there?" Piper retorted.

"You meant it?"

"Yes." Piper stated firmly.

"Honey…" Leo began soothingly but Piper interrupted before he could say anymore.

"No, Leo, I don't want to hear it. I'm sick of being told I can't do things my way. We tried their way and look how well it worked, Prue's dead. She's not coming back. Not ever. We've given too much for them and for what? For nothing, that's what. I meant what I said before; I'm finished with them. And if you'll excuse me I have another demon to hunt."

Piper strode past the pair, Phoebe looking flabbergasted and Leo upset, before getting into her car and driving off.

Cole entered the dark backroom and began hunting for a broom or anything that could help with the mess outside. He stumbled over a chair in the half-light and cursed to himself.

"See what you have been reduced to?"

The calm, ringing voice cut through the darkness and shocked Cole into immobility. "What…?" he spluttered, trying vainly to see into the impenetrable shadows.

"You used to be so strong. So powerful." The voice was female and almost teasing.

Cole felt a strong feeling of recognition but couldn't quite put his finger on it. "Who are you?" he demanded, putting strength back into his voice.

"I can give it all back to you. All your power. Everything you once had and more."

A silhouette moved forward, still wreathed in shadows. Cole squinted, unable to see a face.

Cole could feel a strong pull inside of him. He was tempted ad he knew it. He had never realised quite how hard it was to have a conscience, especially after all that he had done.

But, this was the main thing; Phoebe would not love him if he were evil. Cole knew this and held on to it tightly, his safety net. He could not risk losing Phoebe.

"I'm not interested." Cole stated, trying hard to keep the desire out of his voice.

"Of course you are. You can feel it, can't you? The demon inside of you craving to be free? Come back to where you belong, Belthazor. Come back to the dark."

With a tremendous effort Cole shook his head, "No." he insisted. He shook his head slightly to regain all of his senses. "No." he repeated more strongly stumbling towards the door.

"You will return eventually." The voice was confident.

Cole didn't reply but reached for the door handle, twisted it and almost ran out, slamming the door behind him. Ignoring the curious stare of the bartender, Cole hurried across the club and up the stairs to the door. He needed air.

Back in the room, a tall, cloaked woman paused for a moment, her eyes following Cole's path out of the room, before shimmering out, leaving behind no trace of her appearance.