Disclaimer: All the characters from Charmed belong to the Charmed Productions and Spelling. I only lay claim on the character(s) that I created myself…

The Worst of Both Worlds
Chapter III

The next morning Phoebe took to observing her sisters closely for a sign that the incantation had the effect Cole predicted, but nothing happened. That day she decided that she had to get out of the house. She decided to take the risk and to find Cole. He told her that he'd be waiting for her at the cemetery, but would watch over her in the meantime. Still, Phoebe had not seen him at all and was now worried about him and just a little afraid that he had abandoned her.

Therefore, it was with relief that she found him waiting and smiling. She'd also wondered if Cole would be angry with her for coming too soon but she couldn't help it. She needed his advice.

Cole came to her and kissed her long and hard, letting her feel how much he had missed her, and all of her worries seemed out of place.
"Did you find it?" Cole finally asked.

"I think so, but nothing happened… except the book changed…"

"You saw the book?"

"Yes, I had it in my hands only a few hours ago. But what about the powers…? Why don't I have it yet?"

"Be patient… soon. We mustn't do anything that will alert the Elders until then. You must return now."

"Oh, why? I can't stand to be away from you…"

"Neither can I but it's not going to be for long; and soon your sisters will be with us as well."

"What? Why? You told me they were the enemy."

Cole became impatient.
"For your powers to become all they can be, we need both of them. But don't worry. You will find that they won't be our enemies for long. When they come to us, it will be of their own free will, and then the fun will really start."

Cole smiled almost gently, telling her to leave and repeating not to worry.

Phoebe was unsure, but she didn't want to do anything that would displease him and she agreed to give it some time. On the way home, something finally happened. She was standing on a corner and she accidentally brushed with someone about to cross the road. A vision immediately came to her about this person being hit by a car. More by reflex than because she really cared Phoebe went after the man from the vision. She then pulled him out of the car's path.

The man turned to her, at first upset at her gesture, and Phoebe almost had the impulse to push him back in front of another incoming car. Then, the man realized what had happened and thanked her profusely, embarrassing her.

At this moment, she came very close to make a different choice and she thought about it very hard while getting back on her way.

Later that night, her sisters reported strange events that had happened to them as well. Prue witnessed the most incredible thing. In a store earlier, as she was upset at a clerk for his incompetence, she was interrupted by something extraordinary. All of the items in an alley behind her had flown off the shelves on their own. Then, Piper revealed something even stranger when she said that during her chef's exam, she had frozen the examiner simply by lifting her hands in front of him. Both of them turned to their sister askance, and Phoebe told her of her own experience, careful though not to reveal her inner thoughts on the subject. She then told them of the book in the attic, and they finally came to the conclusion that they had been changed irrevocably, even though they had trouble adjusting to the idea.

Piper still went on her date, but something even scarier happened then. They were about to enter an elevator when a red giant came behind them and threw a fireball at her date, killing him instantly.

Then the giant vanished. Piper ran home to tell her sisters. Phoebe hid her feelings the best she could and tried to sound as upset as Prue about this, but after a while she needed to leave them, unable to play the role anymore. That night, Cole came to her and this time he took her away.

When they were back at the cemetery, he told her that it was time for him to reveal his plans to her. Phoebe was still debating the events of the afternoon though, and when she told him how she felt, he became very upset.
"What did these women tell you? Did they turn you against me?"

Phoebe worried about his bad response.
"No, of course not! They could never do that."

Cole was still staring at her with a hard expression, and for some reason it excited her, but she still asked. "Why did you kill that man?"

Cole was still upset but he answered nevertheless.
"He was gonna kill her and where would we be?"

Phoebe, looked at him with questioning eyes.
"I don't understand."

Cole, suddenly became aware of her more than ever, breathing in her scent and he said in a whisper, "You will, tonight you will." Then he took her right then and there.

That night, they got married. An evil marriage that completed the change in her forever, but it also did something to her sisters. The next morning, when she went back to the house with Cole, she found her sisters very receptive to her.
"Hey Prue, how are you feeling today," Phoebe asked with a hard smile.

Prue answered in kind.
"Better than ever… But who's your handsome friend here?"

"Yeah, who're you?"

"I'm the one who's gonna make you the masters of this world…"

"That's a tall order of business, and I must admit a tempting one, but how are we supposed to do this?"

"You don't know it yet but you and your sisters are very powerful and if you let me teach you, no one will be able to stop us. Ever…"

Prue approached him.
"And what are you, might I ask, to aspire at teaching us?"

Cole transformed into his demon self, causing them to take a step back.
"Belthazor is my name and you better remember it if you know what's good for you."

"Well, if you know so much about us, why don't you start teaching right now? I'm impatient to begin."

Phoebe smiled, since for the first time in years, they were all of the same mind, and she no longer wondered about the why.

The newly made warlocks and the demon started an evil rampage across the world from that day on. No witches or good people could survive their attacks; not even other demons, which Cole had now convinced the girls were not necessarily their allies. But for all of this, his master plan had not been completed yet. Only Cole and Phoebe knew of what he really wanted to do. He waited patiently, biding his time until the sisters were in full possession of their powers. Then one day when he knew that they were ready, he brought them to the source…

The source himself had been aware of an evil force that had risen in the world above, but for some reason he couldn't figure out who they were. He had not known at the time that the charmed ones were born. Cole had a stroke of luck with that one. One day that he was bored, he decided to research ancient prophecies and myths. He stumbled on the saying of an ancient witch that had been burned at the stake. She had proclaimed with her dying breath that one day, a trio of witches of her own descendants would come to the world and fight for good with powers such, as had never been known in this world. At first, he had thought that those were the words of a desperate witch. However, he learned from older demons that she had herself been very powerful and had the gift of vision… That is why he studied her lineage and realized that the witches who had been predicted might already be born. As the clever one that he was, he started forming the plan in his mind after finding one of them in New York. He was an ambitious demon, but a careful one. He knew the virtue of patience and his wait was about to pay off.

Cole stopped as Phoebe moved to take a new position and a lock of her hair brushed against his face.

"Why did you stop?"

Cole started caressing her hair and face softly.
"I don't know, lost track all of a sudden. I was thinking of something more interesting."

"That wasn't your mind thinking…"

Cole smiled slyly.
"No matter, can't we finish this later," he said starting to caress her more purposefully.

At that point she was very tempted, but curiosity won.
"No no, no!" she said with faked irritation. "I want the story, then fun."

"You're so cruel," Cole said pulling his lips away from her neck with a great effort, making her giggle. But he still went on…

Cole surprised the source when he shimmered in his chamber: a dark and forbidding cave. The Source immediately noticed him and beckoned to him angrily.
"How dare you enter this place without my permission, Belthazor?"

The demon smiled as much as his demon face could allow.
"I've come to you bearing gift my Liege."

The Source was still not satisfied and continued in a threatening voice.
"You know the punishment for you impudence."

However, instead of retreating at the implied threat, Cole signaled to someone just out of the chamber and the girls entered boldly.

He himself shimmered and found himself behind the all powerful Source in an instant.

The girls approached purposefully, to the mounting anger of the Lord of the place. But then, Cole caught him from behind and told him, "Here's my gift and my victory. Behold the prophesized Charmed Ones and meet your end."

The girls took it for the signal. Suddenly, they held each other's hands and began to glow of an orange light that intensified for every second. When he thought that they were ready, Cole released the Source and shimmered away, letting them hit the Source with the full blow of their evil powers. The Master was too stunned to react and the energy ball, one more powerful than he had ever seen, hit him fully. After a few moments, screaming in rage, he exploded and vanished.

The girls were congratulating each other on a job well done, but Cole came to them with a triumphant smile and told them, "Now as I promised, we are the masters of this world."

Cole had always thought that when they had created him, he had received an inordinate dose of smarts. And now he knew it for sure…

Phoebe just looked at Cole incredulously.
"I think that you're embellishing."

Cole chuckled.
"If you had let me finish, you wouldn't think that anymore."

"Right…"

"No really!"

"Alright, finish it then."

"As I was saying…"

Or so he thought… Cole's ambition was going to be his downfall.

After taking over the underworld, Cole truly thought that he was the master there and for a while, he was. Nevertheless, the old evil didn't see it that way. They had never wanted a half-demon as master of the underworld and they came after them. Eventually for their own survival, they had to flee, not only the underworld, but also this particular world where they had come from. They have been on the run ever since. Some say that they were vanquished in an alternate world, but no one knows for sure."

"You mean that they could come here?"

"You destroyed evil Charmed Ones before, don't worry. Still, I don't think that he'd take the chance and neither would they."

"You know, your counterpart was mistaken too…"
"Nobody is perfect," he said with a little grin.

Phoebe looked at him, wondering.
"Did you ever…"

"Thought about doing that? No, I was never that ambitious. Even my evil self saw more value in freedom than ultimate power."

"Then, I think you were still the smartest …"

"I like to think so. But you know what? I think that whatever powers he may have had because of his machinations, he never was and never will be as happy as I am."

Phoebe smiled happily at this.
Cole then added, "Ok now, can we go back to bed?"

This time, Phoebe didn't argue…

Outside the Manor, a couple with dark clothing just shimmered in. They were observing the manor and the woman seemed to think for a moment, then she almost walked toward the house, but her companion put a restraining hand on her arm.
"Not here," said Cole's voice.

"Why? I thought that it'd be such a good distraction to kill us some witches."

"Not those… I've got a bad feeling about this place."

Phoebe turned to him, a bit put off.
"You truly have lost your nerve."

Cole grabbed her arm rudely and then he growled, "Don't you dare!"

Phoebe smiled, utterly unconcerned.
"And what are you gonna do? Defeated has definitely become your middle name."

Cole almost hit her, but stopped himself. He had created a monster, but one that he couldn't live without. Therefore, instead he tried reasoning with her.
"You lost your sisters by not listening to me."

Phoebe was not very affected by this, but she still said, "Why bother? There are other places. Let's go."

They thankfully disappeared.