EIGHT

Suddenly a light flashed in the manor so brightly that everyone was blinded. They all stood with their hands over their eyes waiting for the blindness to pass. They were all defenseless in their blinded state and they also knew that those who regained their sight first would have an advantage over the others.

As their vision cleared, they all prepared to continue the battle. That's when they noticed a change in the manor. Standing in the middle of the living room was a man. A man they all knew.

"Cole?" questioned Phoebe.

"I'm tired of this," said Cole. "The fighting stops now."

The demon behind Phoebe saw an opportunity. She was startled, as they all were, by Cole's appearance. Phoebe was distracted and an easy target. The demon lashed out in an attempt to strike the witch down.

Cole's eyes flashed one. In that instant, the demon behind Phoebe simply vanished. Vanquished by the power that Cole now possessed. Cole looked around the room at the other demons.

"I suggest," he said, "that you leave here now. While I'm still in a generous mood."

His eyes flashed again and the demons didn't hesitate. All of them shimmered and were gone from the manor in an instant. Even the body of the demon Piper had vanquished vanished from the floor where it had been lying.

"You betrayed us," said Lucan. "You never gave the potion to the Slayer."

"No, I didn't," said Cole, anger in his voice. "I knew what that potion would do to her. You had no right to do that."

"He murdered my son," said Piper angrily, glaring at Lucan.

"Wyatt is fine," said Cole.

Suddenly the child appeared in his arms. He gingerly handed him to Piper who hugged him close and kissed his head several times. Leo moved over next to Piper, thankful that Wyatt was uninjured.

"What happened here?" Buffy asked.

"I put a dampening field on the manor," said Leo. "That's why your magic wouldn't work. If I hadn't, many of you would be dead now."

"How?" Trembor asked. "You shouldn't have such power."

"I'm half demon," said Cole. "I was also the Source and at one time one of the most powerful beings on the mortal plane. And you gave me Avatar powers. Did you think that none of it would have an affect on me? Even with my powers stripped from me, there's still a residual affect from them. What did you think would happen when the residual affect from all that power began to combine inside me?"

"Who do you think you are?" the grown up Wyatt nearly screamed. "Do you think you can manipulate me? No one is more powerful than I am. And power is the only thing that matters."

"You're a fool," said Cole. "And, yes, I'm more powerful than you are. I'm more powerful than them," he looked at the three sisters. "I'm even more powerful than the so-called Avatars. I made a little side trip of sorts. To the Wasteland. You have no idea of the extent of my power now."

"Why?" Paige asked. "The last time you came back from their you were so powerful you couldn't even vanquish yourself. I thought you hated that?"

"That's because I wanted to get Phoebe back," said Cole. "I thought we could be together. When she refused me, I didn't have anything to live for. And I couldn't end my own existence. It was a living nightmare."

"But now you do have a purpose," said Lucan. "You joined us. You agreed that there could be no ultimate winner in the fight of good versus evil. Why are you doing this?"

"Because what you're doing is wrong," said Cole, looking over at The First. "Maybe neither side can ultimately win, I don't know. But I do know that it's not up to you to decide who wins which fights. To decide what the balance should be."

"We gave you a place with us," said Mellock. "We gave you purpose. And you repay us with betrayal and deception."

"You used me," said Cole. "Just like everyone has always used me. My mother trained me up to be a demonic bounty hunter. She repressed my human half so that I would be hampered by it. The Triad used me to further the ends of the Source. Even the Source used me to do his bidding. Without any thought of what I might have wanted."

He turned to Phoebe.

"Even you and your sisters used me," he said. "Oh, I know you had the best of intentions. I can't fault you for that. But I was a demon for a hundred years. And you expected me to change overnight. To go against everything I had be raised to believe in. You wanted me to be perfect. To never make a mistake."

"I never wanted that," said Phoebe.

"Yes you did," said Cole. "You all did. I was only human for a few months. And yet every time I made a mistake or fell back into old patterns, you chastised me for it. Told me that if I really wanted to be good I wouldn't do things like that.

"You did what no one else was able to do in over a hundred years. You showed me that I wasn't the demon I had always thought I was. That there was some of humanity in me. And I tried, I really tried, to be what you wanted. But it can never be. The Cole Turner you fell in love with could never be what you wanted. Even with the humanity in me, there was still the demonic half."

He looked around at the group.

"Everywhere I've gone," he said, "I've been manipulated and controlled and coerced into being what others wanted me to be. Not what I wanted or what I really was."

"And what is that?" Paige asked.

"I honestly don't know," said Cole. "I only know I won't find it here. Phoebe and I can never be together and I've finally accepted that. But they," he looked over at the Avatars, "they planned to kill you all. To restore the balance that had existed for centuries. I couldn't allow that. If there is to be a balance or if one side or the other is to ultimately win, it has to be natural. It can't be imposed by anyone no matter who they are."

He looked over at The First. With a wave of his hand The First simply vanished from the manor.