Thank you so much for reviews. It really means a lot to me. Here is another
chapter. It's quite short but I am working on much longer one at the
moment. Let me know what you think.
Chapter 9.
A week later Nicole was standing in the living room of her uncle's mansion surrounded by boxes full of stuff she brought from London. During the last seven days her life changed by 180 degrees but she did not really have time to think about it. From the moment on Friday afternoon when Cole called Eric Sally and informed the latter that both Nicole and him accepted the conditions of the will the pace of their lives has increased a thousand fold. Firstly they rushed to Eric Sally to complete the inheritance paperwork. Eric had a stocky short woman standing next to him whom he introduced as a Kate Smith representative of the BOS Exports. BOS Exports were specializing in arranging visas, work permits, naturalization papers and all documentations necessary for residing in the foreign country. And as Cole told Nicole later BOS had a lot of dealings with the Underworld and as it appeared with all other magical worlds. In two hours time Nicole found herself having a green card, American style driving licence, National insurance card and a whole bunch of other documents including all the stamps she would collect if she was going back to London by plain. And all these documents were not false. Kate Smith told them with a note of pride in her voice that BOS always used real documents and just conjured the paper trail behind them. When all the paperwork was finished, Eric informed Cole and Nicole that they had 3 days to leave their respective jobs and by Thursday Nicole should also move to the USA. During the weekend Nicole managed to gain some control over her powers, so that at least they did not manifest themselves unexpectedly. During Sunday night young Lugels using the time difference between San Francisco and London visited Nicole's work and apartment where Cole conjured evidence and manipulated her employers and landlord so that Nicole could be out of her flat and her job by Wednesday. Then Cole blurred back to San Francisco promising to pick Nicole up again on Wednesday night. The next three days both of them worked around the clock trying to finish everything at work. The young woman also visited few friends she had and told them that she got a job in the US and was moving away. It took some effort on her part to convince them not to go with her to the airport, which could be uncomfortable since Nicole did not intend to fly ever again. She already managed to blur a bit and was definitely planning to use this power extensively.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. She opened it and saw a middle age petite woman with dark hair and brown eyes standing on the porch with a small basket in her hand.
"May I help you?" Nicole asked.
The woman smiled at her and said with soft French accent. "Hi, my name is Celina Bouves. I am one of your neighbours. I just wanted to welcome you to the neighbourhood and to say that I am really sorry about your uncle."
Nicole smiled, "Thank you. It's very nice of you to come round and I would have invited you for a coffee but I am afraid I have just arrived and don't have any food in the house."
The middle aged woman shook her head. "Don't worry about it. I understand that since you just moved in you would be in no mood to rush going shopping. So," she handed Nicole the basket she was holding, "I brought you a small welcoming gift. It's coffee, bread, milk, some eggs and biscuits. It would make an unpacking process a bit easier." She flashed Nicole another smile.
The younger woman was impressed. In London nobody would do anything like that. She took the basket and said gratefully. "It's very nice of you. I don't know what to say."
"Oh, that's nothing. Me and your uncle were very good friends."
Nicole perked up. It looked like her uncle had friends?! She carefully eyed the woman again. She was very pretty and definitely very French. Nicole wondered what type of friendship did this woman and her uncle share. "Would you like to come in?" she heard herself saying.
The older woman smiled. "I'd be delighted. But only if I don't disturb you too much? You must have a lot of things to do."
Nicole smiled. "I do have a lot of things to do but in all honesty unpacking is not one of my favourite activities. So I would be very glad to have a break."
"In this case, I'll be very happy to come in for a moment."
Nicole led her guest to the kitchen. She took out some coffee and biscuits from the basket and put the coffee maker on. "So how long have you lived here?" she asked.
"Oh, long enough. About 25 years."
"So you did not know my father?" Nicole continued.
"No," Celina's expression sobered. "I moved in about a months after his death. It was a big blow for William. He never stopped missing him. I understood they were very close."
"Yes," Nicole drawled. "I think they were."
"And your uncle was so fond of you." Celina continued. "He used to talk about you a lot. He was so proud when you graduated and started work for this investment firm. It's such a shame your mother did not want him to keep in touch with you."
Nicole looked at the older woman in surprise. The latter seemed to know a great deal about her family affairs. "I see you and my uncle were very close," she remarked.
"We were good friends." The other woman replied curtly. "We both did not have any family. And when you travel as much as I do, it's difficult to make friends.
Nicole decided not to push the subject further. She poured the coffee into two mugs and handed one to Celina. "So what do you do?" she asked.
"Oh, I am a psychologist." The French woman replied. "I work as a consultant for the US government. So I spend a lot of my time in Washington. San Francisco is my home town. So I try to spend at least some time here, especially when I am writing."
Nicole stared at the woman and suddenly recognised her face from one of the business psychology books she studied at University. "You are Professor Bouves?" she asked incredulously, "A world leading expert in business psychology?"
The older woman had a pleased smile on her face. "Well, I did write a few books on business psychology. It's one of my interests. I also work on psychology of high achievements, extreme characters and a couple of others fields."
Nicole was impressed. "I've studied your books at University and my ex-boss is a big fan of your book "The inner core of business success". I think he decided to follow this book to the letter."
"Oh, then he'll never reach the pick of success," Celina laughed. "In order to achieve great success in any field you need to be a personality and be yourself. You can't do it just by following a book. Your uncle was a personality," she continued her expression becoming serious, "that's why he was so successful on his pass. And I am sure you'll go even further." She put her cup on the table and got up. "I probably should be going. It was great meeting you Nicole. I have to admit I really miss your uncle and it will be nice to have you around." she stretched her hand to Nicole. "I hope we can become good friends."
Nicole shook the older woman's hand and smiled at her. "It was great meeting you too. And I promise next time I'll invite you for a coffee, I won't have to use yours."
************
Later that day Cole was finished up at Carter, Jackman and Kline. It was his last day and he felt absolutely wasted. For the last 3 days he worked almost non stop in order to finish some cases and tie all lose ends in order to be able to pass them to his colleagues. Now his desk looked unusually empty and Cole was putting a few personal belongings in a cardboard box. He accumulated surprising little during this year. Now when he was moving into a different phase of his life he had mixed feelings. While working at Carter, Jackman and Kline he went through some of the darkest days in his life: being possessed by the Source, being vanquished by his wife and her sisters, losing Phoebe's love. At the same time his happiest moments were connected to this place: marrying Phoebe, moving out from the Manor, finding out Phoebe was pregnant. These were things he wanted in his life, wanted with all his heart and soul. And the fact that he was robbed from them by the Source made his blood boil with anger. But something else made Cole feel even worth. The fact that Phoebe, the love of his life, the woman for whom he changed his life, given up Belthazor, with whom he wanted to grow old and have children, this woman betrayed him: she did not want to save him, she did not even want to hear his story, she did not care that he had suffered at the Source's hands as well, she simply did not love him anymore. During the passed month Cole found himself on the verge of madness. Under the hatred and accusations of the Halliwells he started doubting himself. Did he really use the Hollow because he so much missed his powers? Did he struggle with the Source for control hard enough or did he just give up? He spent long hours trying to remember every single day while he was possessed; feelings of being scared, helpless and frustrated, fighting every minute of the day to save the Charmed Ones lives. Why did he struggle so hard? It would have been much easier to just go along with Source's wishes. At that point Cole realized that if he continued down that road he would go insane. It was enough. He knew that he never betrayed Phoebe and her sisters and though he was not able to convince them of the truth, it was time to move on. He agreed to give Phoebe the divorce and wowed to never let another woman into his heart.
Cole snapped out of his reverie. This was in his past, though it still hurt and he would never be able to forget it he had a new life ahead of him, new battles to fight. He picked up his briefcase and cardboard box and headed for the door.
**************
Evening found Nicole only half way through her unpacking. She spent the morning exploring the house. She did not have time to do it during her first visit. On second look the mansion was even more impressive. Her uncle had a very good and expensive taste. Everything in this house was done with love and such attention to detail, which only money could buy.
Her own belongings looked out of place here. Nicole found that most of her books were already on the shelves in the library. The kitchen was very well equipped and the collection of DVD's in the living room exceeded anything she ever dreamed about. She hanged some of her clothes in the spacious closets and left the rest in boxes knowing that with the money she had now she could afford to buy new things. The knock on the front door made Nicole sigh with relief. At least now she had a legitimate reason to have a break. She swung the door open and saw Cole standing on the porch.
"Cole," she cried out. She was glad to see him. She missed him while being in London. Nicole immediately squashed this feeling. This was wrong. "What brings you here?"
Half demon did not really know why he came. He needed to speak to Nicole with regard to their 2 week training session which was due to begin tomorrow. But they could have easily done it over the phone. At the same time, Cole did not want to spend the evening on his own. His earlier musings over the last year's events left him craving for some distraction from his thoughts and Nicole Berg was a perfect person to lighten up his mood.
"I wanted to check how your unpacking was going."
Nicole grimaced and gave him unhappy look. "It's not going too great," she said motioning him inside.
Half demon observed all the boxes still sitting in the hallway. "That's a lot of boxes."
"What a subtle observation," Nicole scowled at him, she then heaved a defeated sigh "This house is too well equipped. All my cutlery, books, DVDs and CDs are already here. So I did not have to ask you to send all these boxes from London. And now I don't really know where to put all this stuff."
Cole shrugged his shoulders. "If you want I can send it to the basement. Then you can keep it for a while and if you don't get anything out in the next 6 months you can safely donate all of it to charity. And if you get some things out, well, you keep them and chuck the rest."
Nicole smiled at his iron logic. "And when did you learn to be so clever?"
He grinned at her. "Well, when you've lived for over a hundred years, you kind of get used to moving and getting rid of stuff you've accumulated. Otherwise you'll need a palace to store all the crap.
Nicole just stared at him open mouthed.
"What?" Cole said looking surprised. "What did I say?"
The young woman finally found her tongue. "How long did you say you lived for?" she asked staring at his face as if she's never seen him before.
The half demon squirmed uncomfortably. "117 years. It's not that old for a demon. Actually it's very young."
Nicole could not help but examine Cole's figure and face. Dark hair without a single touch of grey, deep blue eyes with just a few wrinkles around them and even those were very light and were coming more from his habit to narrow his eyes than anything else; powerful body with very well developed muscles as she saw herself just a few days ago. No, he definitely did not look older than in his early to mid 30s.
Half demon felt very aware of himself under her scrutinized gaze. And her sparkling eyes made his insides grow very tight. "Look, you can stare at me all you want, but I am not going to transform into some old man with grey hair and a walking stick," he finally snapped.
His voice got Nicole out of her amazement and she realized that she had been staring at Cole with appreciative eyes for the past 5 minutes. This realization made her turn red and she averted her gaze. "I am sorry," she apologised. "It's just I never thought you were more than in your mid 30s. How do you do it?"
Cole shrugged partially relieved that she was not staring at him any more and partially amused by her obvious embarrassment. "I don't have to do anything. Demons age much slower than humans. I received my last power when I was about 30. So since then I have not aged much."
"So what about me? Will I still age as I used to or not?" she asked curiously.
Cole shook his head. "Not as you used to. You have demonic blood and your powers were unbound. Also I think Lugels live for a very long time. They are basocally immortal from what I know."
"But they do die," Nicole retorted. "I mean my father is a different case, but uncle Will died as well."
"Yes, but I don't think it's the same as what mortals call death. From what I've heard and it's only rumours or better said legends Lugels preserve the balance of forces in the Universe and when they finish their life span on earth they are shifted into a completely different Upper dimension. To reach this dimension the spirit has to go through incredible transformations that only Lugels are capable of. Upper dimension is the place of eternal knowledge, new spirits and souls are created there. That's why your uncle said that he could not be summoned. There is no way back from there."
Nicole listened to him completely mesmerized by the story. "So does it mean that you and I when we are finished here will go to this dimension?"
Cole shrugged, "Probably. I don't really know. Lugels are pretty much a mystery in the magic world. All I know are more myths than anything else. But," he smiled, "I think we have a good chance of finding out."
Nicole nodded. All this was very fascinating and at the same time very scary. Sometimes she had to pinch herself just to be sure it was not a dream. And she was glad that Cole was around. He made it all look a bit more normal and his knowledge was very helpful.
Half demon glanced at the clock on the wall. "Look, would you like to go for dinner? I don't think you have any food in the house and anyway there is no point doing the shopping since you are going to be away for two weeks. Plus it's the last day of the life as you knew it so it's worth celebrating?"
A small voice at the back of Nicole's head reminded her about the decision she made just eight days ago to stay away from Cole Turner and the dangers that his charms presented. On another hand he did have a point that she was entering a completely different life and it was worth celebrating. And her self promise of never going for dinner with him looked a bit ridiculous since she was going to spend two weeks living in one house with him. So she smiled and nodded. "I'd love that. Where shall we go?"
"Oh, there is this new restaurant, which supposed to be really good and has a nice view of the city. My now ex boss Kline was going on about it yesterday."
"That's sounds good," Nicole murmured approvingly. She noticed that Cole was wearing an expensive blue suit. And by the sound of it her casual trousers and top would not be suitable for the restaurant he wanted to go to. "If you give me a minute I'll go and change," she said and pointed to the liqueur cabinet. "You can fix yourself a drink while waiting."
That sounded good to Cole. When Nicole went upstairs he inspected the contents of the old Lugel's bar and found it more than satisfying. William Schwarzlight had a good and expensive taste. Cole powered himself a 20 year old scotch and set in one of the chairs his eye exploring the living room. His thoughts drifted away and were only interrupted by the footsteps behind him. Half demon turned around and found himself face to face with Nicole, who had already changed. She was wearing a dark blue mini dress with three quarter sleeve. The square cut showed a tasteful amount of fare skin. Simple gold necklace, a matching bracelet and earrings were the only jewellery she wore. She looked incredibly elegant and Cole was impressed. He always appreciated classy looks and liked when women did not overdo it with colours like Phoebe and especially Paige. Sometimes he almost got headaches from the rainbow of colours they were wearing. Cole pushed the thoughts of his ex wife away. He was going to enjoy this evening. He smiled to Nicole. "You look very nice," he remarked.
She smiled back at him. "Thank you," she was very pleased with his words and even more wth the appreciative look he gave her. "Stop it," Nicole told herself. "Don't imagine things, which are not there. He is just being polite. He'd better be just polite."
The drive to the restaurant was pleasant even though they got stuck in traffic. Nicole was telling Cole about her flatmates in London, greatly surprising the latter that she was still sharing a flat. She told him about house prices in London and that she wanted to buy her own place, which meant she needed to collect significant deposit. The two were so engrossed in the conversation that they did not notice a pair of dark brown eyes staring at them through the side window.
Phoebe Halliwell had a serious feeling that somebody up there really did not like her lately. It was bad enough that in the past seven days she found out that the man who claimed his undying love for her just three weeks ago had another woman staying with him. After that day and especially after a long conversation with Leo she decided to put Cole's issue to rest. The whitelighter insisted on Phoebe taking a step back from her anti Cole mission. He said that the middle Halliwell needed some emotional and physical rest and she had to agree with him. Recently her powers were going haywire and the Charmed Ones could not afford that. Jason had a trip planned to Japan and under pressure from her family Phoebe decided to accept his invitation to go with him. The demonic activity was very low at the moment and it seemed to be a perfect time for a small vacation. Jason and her just got back a couple of hours ago and she was sitting in the taxi home, which moved with the pace of a snail along the XXX highway. After a long flight Phoebe felt tired and was almost asleep in the back of the cab when she turned her head to look at the window. She found herself staring at all too familiar profile of one powerful half demon. Phoebe could not believe her eyes. She set up and shook her head hoping that this was just a fluke of her tired brain. But her hope was about to be smashed into pieces. When she opened her eyes she saw a familiar black Porsche with her ex husband in the driver sit engrossed in the deep conversation with his female companion. Jealousy stabbed Phoebe in the gut. He looked relaxed and happy. The woman said something and they both laughed. At that moment the traffic in front of the Porches cleared and a powerful sports car quickly drove away. Phoebe followed it with her gaze, a thought coming into her brain that this car was taking Cole away from her forever.
Chapter 9.
A week later Nicole was standing in the living room of her uncle's mansion surrounded by boxes full of stuff she brought from London. During the last seven days her life changed by 180 degrees but she did not really have time to think about it. From the moment on Friday afternoon when Cole called Eric Sally and informed the latter that both Nicole and him accepted the conditions of the will the pace of their lives has increased a thousand fold. Firstly they rushed to Eric Sally to complete the inheritance paperwork. Eric had a stocky short woman standing next to him whom he introduced as a Kate Smith representative of the BOS Exports. BOS Exports were specializing in arranging visas, work permits, naturalization papers and all documentations necessary for residing in the foreign country. And as Cole told Nicole later BOS had a lot of dealings with the Underworld and as it appeared with all other magical worlds. In two hours time Nicole found herself having a green card, American style driving licence, National insurance card and a whole bunch of other documents including all the stamps she would collect if she was going back to London by plain. And all these documents were not false. Kate Smith told them with a note of pride in her voice that BOS always used real documents and just conjured the paper trail behind them. When all the paperwork was finished, Eric informed Cole and Nicole that they had 3 days to leave their respective jobs and by Thursday Nicole should also move to the USA. During the weekend Nicole managed to gain some control over her powers, so that at least they did not manifest themselves unexpectedly. During Sunday night young Lugels using the time difference between San Francisco and London visited Nicole's work and apartment where Cole conjured evidence and manipulated her employers and landlord so that Nicole could be out of her flat and her job by Wednesday. Then Cole blurred back to San Francisco promising to pick Nicole up again on Wednesday night. The next three days both of them worked around the clock trying to finish everything at work. The young woman also visited few friends she had and told them that she got a job in the US and was moving away. It took some effort on her part to convince them not to go with her to the airport, which could be uncomfortable since Nicole did not intend to fly ever again. She already managed to blur a bit and was definitely planning to use this power extensively.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. She opened it and saw a middle age petite woman with dark hair and brown eyes standing on the porch with a small basket in her hand.
"May I help you?" Nicole asked.
The woman smiled at her and said with soft French accent. "Hi, my name is Celina Bouves. I am one of your neighbours. I just wanted to welcome you to the neighbourhood and to say that I am really sorry about your uncle."
Nicole smiled, "Thank you. It's very nice of you to come round and I would have invited you for a coffee but I am afraid I have just arrived and don't have any food in the house."
The middle aged woman shook her head. "Don't worry about it. I understand that since you just moved in you would be in no mood to rush going shopping. So," she handed Nicole the basket she was holding, "I brought you a small welcoming gift. It's coffee, bread, milk, some eggs and biscuits. It would make an unpacking process a bit easier." She flashed Nicole another smile.
The younger woman was impressed. In London nobody would do anything like that. She took the basket and said gratefully. "It's very nice of you. I don't know what to say."
"Oh, that's nothing. Me and your uncle were very good friends."
Nicole perked up. It looked like her uncle had friends?! She carefully eyed the woman again. She was very pretty and definitely very French. Nicole wondered what type of friendship did this woman and her uncle share. "Would you like to come in?" she heard herself saying.
The older woman smiled. "I'd be delighted. But only if I don't disturb you too much? You must have a lot of things to do."
Nicole smiled. "I do have a lot of things to do but in all honesty unpacking is not one of my favourite activities. So I would be very glad to have a break."
"In this case, I'll be very happy to come in for a moment."
Nicole led her guest to the kitchen. She took out some coffee and biscuits from the basket and put the coffee maker on. "So how long have you lived here?" she asked.
"Oh, long enough. About 25 years."
"So you did not know my father?" Nicole continued.
"No," Celina's expression sobered. "I moved in about a months after his death. It was a big blow for William. He never stopped missing him. I understood they were very close."
"Yes," Nicole drawled. "I think they were."
"And your uncle was so fond of you." Celina continued. "He used to talk about you a lot. He was so proud when you graduated and started work for this investment firm. It's such a shame your mother did not want him to keep in touch with you."
Nicole looked at the older woman in surprise. The latter seemed to know a great deal about her family affairs. "I see you and my uncle were very close," she remarked.
"We were good friends." The other woman replied curtly. "We both did not have any family. And when you travel as much as I do, it's difficult to make friends.
Nicole decided not to push the subject further. She poured the coffee into two mugs and handed one to Celina. "So what do you do?" she asked.
"Oh, I am a psychologist." The French woman replied. "I work as a consultant for the US government. So I spend a lot of my time in Washington. San Francisco is my home town. So I try to spend at least some time here, especially when I am writing."
Nicole stared at the woman and suddenly recognised her face from one of the business psychology books she studied at University. "You are Professor Bouves?" she asked incredulously, "A world leading expert in business psychology?"
The older woman had a pleased smile on her face. "Well, I did write a few books on business psychology. It's one of my interests. I also work on psychology of high achievements, extreme characters and a couple of others fields."
Nicole was impressed. "I've studied your books at University and my ex-boss is a big fan of your book "The inner core of business success". I think he decided to follow this book to the letter."
"Oh, then he'll never reach the pick of success," Celina laughed. "In order to achieve great success in any field you need to be a personality and be yourself. You can't do it just by following a book. Your uncle was a personality," she continued her expression becoming serious, "that's why he was so successful on his pass. And I am sure you'll go even further." She put her cup on the table and got up. "I probably should be going. It was great meeting you Nicole. I have to admit I really miss your uncle and it will be nice to have you around." she stretched her hand to Nicole. "I hope we can become good friends."
Nicole shook the older woman's hand and smiled at her. "It was great meeting you too. And I promise next time I'll invite you for a coffee, I won't have to use yours."
************
Later that day Cole was finished up at Carter, Jackman and Kline. It was his last day and he felt absolutely wasted. For the last 3 days he worked almost non stop in order to finish some cases and tie all lose ends in order to be able to pass them to his colleagues. Now his desk looked unusually empty and Cole was putting a few personal belongings in a cardboard box. He accumulated surprising little during this year. Now when he was moving into a different phase of his life he had mixed feelings. While working at Carter, Jackman and Kline he went through some of the darkest days in his life: being possessed by the Source, being vanquished by his wife and her sisters, losing Phoebe's love. At the same time his happiest moments were connected to this place: marrying Phoebe, moving out from the Manor, finding out Phoebe was pregnant. These were things he wanted in his life, wanted with all his heart and soul. And the fact that he was robbed from them by the Source made his blood boil with anger. But something else made Cole feel even worth. The fact that Phoebe, the love of his life, the woman for whom he changed his life, given up Belthazor, with whom he wanted to grow old and have children, this woman betrayed him: she did not want to save him, she did not even want to hear his story, she did not care that he had suffered at the Source's hands as well, she simply did not love him anymore. During the passed month Cole found himself on the verge of madness. Under the hatred and accusations of the Halliwells he started doubting himself. Did he really use the Hollow because he so much missed his powers? Did he struggle with the Source for control hard enough or did he just give up? He spent long hours trying to remember every single day while he was possessed; feelings of being scared, helpless and frustrated, fighting every minute of the day to save the Charmed Ones lives. Why did he struggle so hard? It would have been much easier to just go along with Source's wishes. At that point Cole realized that if he continued down that road he would go insane. It was enough. He knew that he never betrayed Phoebe and her sisters and though he was not able to convince them of the truth, it was time to move on. He agreed to give Phoebe the divorce and wowed to never let another woman into his heart.
Cole snapped out of his reverie. This was in his past, though it still hurt and he would never be able to forget it he had a new life ahead of him, new battles to fight. He picked up his briefcase and cardboard box and headed for the door.
**************
Evening found Nicole only half way through her unpacking. She spent the morning exploring the house. She did not have time to do it during her first visit. On second look the mansion was even more impressive. Her uncle had a very good and expensive taste. Everything in this house was done with love and such attention to detail, which only money could buy.
Her own belongings looked out of place here. Nicole found that most of her books were already on the shelves in the library. The kitchen was very well equipped and the collection of DVD's in the living room exceeded anything she ever dreamed about. She hanged some of her clothes in the spacious closets and left the rest in boxes knowing that with the money she had now she could afford to buy new things. The knock on the front door made Nicole sigh with relief. At least now she had a legitimate reason to have a break. She swung the door open and saw Cole standing on the porch.
"Cole," she cried out. She was glad to see him. She missed him while being in London. Nicole immediately squashed this feeling. This was wrong. "What brings you here?"
Half demon did not really know why he came. He needed to speak to Nicole with regard to their 2 week training session which was due to begin tomorrow. But they could have easily done it over the phone. At the same time, Cole did not want to spend the evening on his own. His earlier musings over the last year's events left him craving for some distraction from his thoughts and Nicole Berg was a perfect person to lighten up his mood.
"I wanted to check how your unpacking was going."
Nicole grimaced and gave him unhappy look. "It's not going too great," she said motioning him inside.
Half demon observed all the boxes still sitting in the hallway. "That's a lot of boxes."
"What a subtle observation," Nicole scowled at him, she then heaved a defeated sigh "This house is too well equipped. All my cutlery, books, DVDs and CDs are already here. So I did not have to ask you to send all these boxes from London. And now I don't really know where to put all this stuff."
Cole shrugged his shoulders. "If you want I can send it to the basement. Then you can keep it for a while and if you don't get anything out in the next 6 months you can safely donate all of it to charity. And if you get some things out, well, you keep them and chuck the rest."
Nicole smiled at his iron logic. "And when did you learn to be so clever?"
He grinned at her. "Well, when you've lived for over a hundred years, you kind of get used to moving and getting rid of stuff you've accumulated. Otherwise you'll need a palace to store all the crap.
Nicole just stared at him open mouthed.
"What?" Cole said looking surprised. "What did I say?"
The young woman finally found her tongue. "How long did you say you lived for?" she asked staring at his face as if she's never seen him before.
The half demon squirmed uncomfortably. "117 years. It's not that old for a demon. Actually it's very young."
Nicole could not help but examine Cole's figure and face. Dark hair without a single touch of grey, deep blue eyes with just a few wrinkles around them and even those were very light and were coming more from his habit to narrow his eyes than anything else; powerful body with very well developed muscles as she saw herself just a few days ago. No, he definitely did not look older than in his early to mid 30s.
Half demon felt very aware of himself under her scrutinized gaze. And her sparkling eyes made his insides grow very tight. "Look, you can stare at me all you want, but I am not going to transform into some old man with grey hair and a walking stick," he finally snapped.
His voice got Nicole out of her amazement and she realized that she had been staring at Cole with appreciative eyes for the past 5 minutes. This realization made her turn red and she averted her gaze. "I am sorry," she apologised. "It's just I never thought you were more than in your mid 30s. How do you do it?"
Cole shrugged partially relieved that she was not staring at him any more and partially amused by her obvious embarrassment. "I don't have to do anything. Demons age much slower than humans. I received my last power when I was about 30. So since then I have not aged much."
"So what about me? Will I still age as I used to or not?" she asked curiously.
Cole shook his head. "Not as you used to. You have demonic blood and your powers were unbound. Also I think Lugels live for a very long time. They are basocally immortal from what I know."
"But they do die," Nicole retorted. "I mean my father is a different case, but uncle Will died as well."
"Yes, but I don't think it's the same as what mortals call death. From what I've heard and it's only rumours or better said legends Lugels preserve the balance of forces in the Universe and when they finish their life span on earth they are shifted into a completely different Upper dimension. To reach this dimension the spirit has to go through incredible transformations that only Lugels are capable of. Upper dimension is the place of eternal knowledge, new spirits and souls are created there. That's why your uncle said that he could not be summoned. There is no way back from there."
Nicole listened to him completely mesmerized by the story. "So does it mean that you and I when we are finished here will go to this dimension?"
Cole shrugged, "Probably. I don't really know. Lugels are pretty much a mystery in the magic world. All I know are more myths than anything else. But," he smiled, "I think we have a good chance of finding out."
Nicole nodded. All this was very fascinating and at the same time very scary. Sometimes she had to pinch herself just to be sure it was not a dream. And she was glad that Cole was around. He made it all look a bit more normal and his knowledge was very helpful.
Half demon glanced at the clock on the wall. "Look, would you like to go for dinner? I don't think you have any food in the house and anyway there is no point doing the shopping since you are going to be away for two weeks. Plus it's the last day of the life as you knew it so it's worth celebrating?"
A small voice at the back of Nicole's head reminded her about the decision she made just eight days ago to stay away from Cole Turner and the dangers that his charms presented. On another hand he did have a point that she was entering a completely different life and it was worth celebrating. And her self promise of never going for dinner with him looked a bit ridiculous since she was going to spend two weeks living in one house with him. So she smiled and nodded. "I'd love that. Where shall we go?"
"Oh, there is this new restaurant, which supposed to be really good and has a nice view of the city. My now ex boss Kline was going on about it yesterday."
"That's sounds good," Nicole murmured approvingly. She noticed that Cole was wearing an expensive blue suit. And by the sound of it her casual trousers and top would not be suitable for the restaurant he wanted to go to. "If you give me a minute I'll go and change," she said and pointed to the liqueur cabinet. "You can fix yourself a drink while waiting."
That sounded good to Cole. When Nicole went upstairs he inspected the contents of the old Lugel's bar and found it more than satisfying. William Schwarzlight had a good and expensive taste. Cole powered himself a 20 year old scotch and set in one of the chairs his eye exploring the living room. His thoughts drifted away and were only interrupted by the footsteps behind him. Half demon turned around and found himself face to face with Nicole, who had already changed. She was wearing a dark blue mini dress with three quarter sleeve. The square cut showed a tasteful amount of fare skin. Simple gold necklace, a matching bracelet and earrings were the only jewellery she wore. She looked incredibly elegant and Cole was impressed. He always appreciated classy looks and liked when women did not overdo it with colours like Phoebe and especially Paige. Sometimes he almost got headaches from the rainbow of colours they were wearing. Cole pushed the thoughts of his ex wife away. He was going to enjoy this evening. He smiled to Nicole. "You look very nice," he remarked.
She smiled back at him. "Thank you," she was very pleased with his words and even more wth the appreciative look he gave her. "Stop it," Nicole told herself. "Don't imagine things, which are not there. He is just being polite. He'd better be just polite."
The drive to the restaurant was pleasant even though they got stuck in traffic. Nicole was telling Cole about her flatmates in London, greatly surprising the latter that she was still sharing a flat. She told him about house prices in London and that she wanted to buy her own place, which meant she needed to collect significant deposit. The two were so engrossed in the conversation that they did not notice a pair of dark brown eyes staring at them through the side window.
Phoebe Halliwell had a serious feeling that somebody up there really did not like her lately. It was bad enough that in the past seven days she found out that the man who claimed his undying love for her just three weeks ago had another woman staying with him. After that day and especially after a long conversation with Leo she decided to put Cole's issue to rest. The whitelighter insisted on Phoebe taking a step back from her anti Cole mission. He said that the middle Halliwell needed some emotional and physical rest and she had to agree with him. Recently her powers were going haywire and the Charmed Ones could not afford that. Jason had a trip planned to Japan and under pressure from her family Phoebe decided to accept his invitation to go with him. The demonic activity was very low at the moment and it seemed to be a perfect time for a small vacation. Jason and her just got back a couple of hours ago and she was sitting in the taxi home, which moved with the pace of a snail along the XXX highway. After a long flight Phoebe felt tired and was almost asleep in the back of the cab when she turned her head to look at the window. She found herself staring at all too familiar profile of one powerful half demon. Phoebe could not believe her eyes. She set up and shook her head hoping that this was just a fluke of her tired brain. But her hope was about to be smashed into pieces. When she opened her eyes she saw a familiar black Porsche with her ex husband in the driver sit engrossed in the deep conversation with his female companion. Jealousy stabbed Phoebe in the gut. He looked relaxed and happy. The woman said something and they both laughed. At that moment the traffic in front of the Porches cleared and a powerful sports car quickly drove away. Phoebe followed it with her gaze, a thought coming into her brain that this car was taking Cole away from her forever.