A/N: Ok, now it really is drawing to a close. I'm a little sad about that as I have and still am really enjoying sharing my story with you all. Anyway, I won't dwell on that. I hope to have the next chapter written and ready to be posted in a few days, but it all depends on how much homework I have to do(don't you just love homework? lol)

This one is for: scrappyearnhardt, Sci fi fan30, BeautifulxxDisaster, moonjat54, shell36799, ImaSupernaturalCSI, and zombieegirl, who reviewed last chapter.

Enjoy!

The room was silent. So silent that Natalie could hear every breath from the only other occupant of the room without even trying. For a moment she enjoyed the silence, but then she realised that for the room to be so dead silent, something had to be wrong.

She looked at Billy who had a frightened expression upon his face.

"B….b…be…..behind….y…you," he stuttered quietly. His eyes widened as though he had just witnessed something horrific. Natalie quickly turned around and came face to face with what she would describe as the devil himself. The man was tall, taller than her, probably almost 6'8" and his once blonde hair was tinted red, by a substance she could smell was blood. His clothes were tatty, but hinted of previous glory. His pale skin was coated with a thin layer of grime.

"Ahh….you must be Col," she smiled a fake smile. She cringed inwardly at his stench as he stepped closer to her. As he came closer she got a good look at his face. He had fine features and pure black eyes. They were so black that she couldn't distinguish between the pupil and the rest of the eye. If it weren't for his eyes and his appearance, he could be classed as handsome.

"Yes, and you must be the mighty Adrasteia, or should I say Natalie Constantine," he smiled back at her. He was articulate and had the type of voice one could listen to for hours on end.

"I must admit, you're not what I expected," Natalie remained calm and feigned boredom. Col laughed.

"That's what everyone says ma'am," his voice really was pleasant. For a moment Natalie almost forgot that Col was the enemy. She mentally berated herself for thinking that this man with a dishevelled appearance could be anything other than the monster people made him out to be.

"I'm sure they do. Now would you care to explain to me why you found it necessary to kidnap and murder members of my staff?" she asked casually, as if it were the most natural thing on earth for her to question a man about murders.

"Why should I tell you anything? You'd just kill me when I spoke the final words," his voice held the same casual tone as hers. His eyes never wavered from hers and she felt that he was trying to intimidate her into backing down.

"You know, for someone so strong I would've thought that you would be above trying to intimidate a woman into doing what you want. I picked you to be more of a 'seduce them and control them' type," she ignored his question.

"Right and I picked you to be a weakling," he replied, a sharpness to his voice that caught her off guard. He was obviously sensitive when it came to romance, or anything to do with it.

"You know, I imagined that you were some short, fat, ugly beast of a man. I didn't expect to be facing a filthy yet somewhat handsome man," she bit back. It was soon becoming evident to Col that she gave as good as she got.

"And I imagined that you were an ugly old hag who could be easily broken. I guess we were both wrong," he stepped toward her and she took an instinctive step back. He chuckled at her and stopped moving.

"Ok, I'll stay back here," he laughed although his voice held no trace of humour.

"I'm not afraid of you, and I'm not going to be intimidated by you. I'm the most powerful being on the face of this earth, no mere human is going to scare me," she laughed at him. In truth she was frightened, but she had enough experience to be able to mask her fright perfectly. That was her secret for always appearing to be calm and in control; she simply masked her fright and used it to her advantage. Fright for her was like a steroid, it gave her strength.

"Oh, well it's a good thing I'm not a mere human then isn't it," he replied. His words caught her off guard and for a moment her calm façade slipped and he caught a glimpse of her vulnerability. He seemed to read her thoughts with his next words.

"You're wondering how that can possibly be aren't you? Since I couldn't tell whether you were The One or not," she shivered as he spoke. She hated it when people practically read her mind.

"I'm not going to lie and say that I'm not intrigued, but really it's not my business," she brushed off his comment as best she could and regained her calm and casual composure.

"You're right, it's not. But you however are my business," Col's voice lost its light tone and became dark and deadly serious. He was over the light bantering; he wanted to get down to business.

"Right, and how am I your business exactly? Let me guess…..you want my blood? Or maybe you just want to kill me," Natalie changed her tone as well. Billy cringed at the change of the atmosphere in the room. Before it was tense, but still held that air of ease, now you could cut it with a knife. He wanted nothing more than to be on the other side of the door right now.

"You certainly are smarter than I was told you would be. I was expecting some incredibly dumb blonde, it would have made my life easier," while his words joked slightly, his voice did not.

"Well, I do aim to surprise Col," she spat his name as thought it were venom on her tongue.

"Enough of this," he snarled. He lunged at her, his hands aimed at her throat. She jumped back in surprise. He missed her and growled under his breath. She took a deep breath and kept her eyes on him as she backed out into the room. She felt safer when she had more space behind her, that way she had room to move.

She knew that this would be one of the hardest battles she would ever fight, but she knew she had to do it, and do it alone. This man had tortured some of the people she held dearest, and for that he would pay. Billy was merely a pawn in this game, drawing her and Col together, and he was of no importance. She focused on Col and easily avoided him as he flew at her again.

She didn't know what he was, he certainly wasn't a vampire, but whatever he was he must be fairly powerful to hold so many people under his command. She side-stepped as he swung his fist at her. He narrowly missed her cheek and cursed at himself for the slight miscalculation. He swung at her again and again until he finally made contact with her flesh.

His punch snapped her head to the side with such force that if she was human it would have killed her. A sickening crunch came from her neck as it snapped. Billy gasped and stared in amazement as Natalie slowly repositioned her head and waited while her neck quickly healed.

"That wasn't nice," she mockingly scolded. Col laughed and launched himself at her. This time he tackled her to the ground. She was surprised that she hadn't moved in time and now found herself writhing on the ground. Her mind flashed back to the night with Thanatos and it gave her the strength to fight against him. She beat her fists against his back ferociously. She felt his ribs crack beneath her hands and continued to hit, gradually getting harder and harder with her blows.

Col cried out in agony as she rained punches down upon his back. He felt his ribs break and bit back a scream as one snapped completely. For such a beautiful and old woman she sure could hit. He didn't know whether he expected to be weak and a complete ditz, but he certainly wasn't expecting someone who could defeat even the greatest of fighters. If he really thought about it, for her to have survived such a long time she must be good in battle.

He groaned again and punched her jaw, causing her blows to cease. He quickly pulled away from her and stumbled back. His ribs ached, but he knew this fight wasn't over. He waited for her to stand before charging at her. She blocked is punches and managed to land a few of her own. He landed one punch in her throat, momentarily blocking her airway. She fell back and landed on the ground again. Col landed on top of her and instantly his arm found its way to her throat. He pushed down, cutting off her breathing. She struggled against his arm desperately trying to allow herself air.

She didn't know why she struggled. She didn't need to breathe anyway, she was in fact already dead, or the living dead or undead as some would say. She only breathed out of habit. She smiled at him and ceased struggling. Suddenly she heard the door burst open and someone scream. Her eyes scanned the room and she realised that Billy had screamed. She glanced at the door and saw Mick standing there, completely vamped out. He clutched a sharp dagger in his hand, his knuckles white from holding it so tight.

Before she could call him off and tell him that she could handle it, he lunged at Col. The dagger struck out and cut his throat. Blood spurted out everywhere as Col's body fell to the ground. Natalie slipped out of the way, watching as Col's eyes fell upon hers. She watched as the light behind his eyes slowly faded and his breathing stopped.