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Chapter 10 part 1
The sound of the alarm clock woke Nicole up. She hit it with a pillow and snuggled under her blanket. God, she did not want to get up. For a minute she enjoyed peace and quiet but then the alarm went off again this time on snooze mode and Nicole reluctantly drugged herself from the warmth of her bed. She switched off the alarm and headed to the shower. It was a new day and Nicole wondered what the day would bring her.
It was the start of the second week of her training and it promised to be as difficult and as exciting as the first one, probably even more. During the first week Nicole had had to learn all basics of magic. From early morning to late afternoon she was reading books and practising using her powers. It was exhausting, sometimes frustrating and incredibly exhilarating.
The house they were staying was a perfect school of magic. Except the great library the mansion contained a fantastic gym and a massive armoury, which according to Cole exceeded the one belonging to the Source. In the library Nicole and Cole found a timetable with all the books they had to read and the practical skills to learn. Nicole was shocked, in her wildest dreams she could not imagine learning all this. If she had to learn all of it by traditional methods it would take her decades. With the help of telepathy she managed to gain all this knowledge within days. But Nicole had to admit that if Cole was not there she would not have been able to stick to the timetable. For the first week the half demon was practically free since he already had all the background knowledge. So he spent his time helping Nicole to get through the books and mentoring her in all aspects of practical powers. The young woman was impressed. Cole was a very good teacher, not an easy one but very knowledgeable and supportive. He was very demanding and did not allow her to skive off. But at the same time he took a great care of her.
Learning telepathically was very effective but also extremely tiring especially for her untrained brain. Self healing powers prevented Nicole from having pounding headaches. But they did not stop her feeling physically overloaded with information. In the evening of the first day Nicole felt particular bad: she did not want to eat, she could not bear to have the lights on, she thought she was going mad from images flashing non stop through her tired mind. Cole put her on the sofa, dimmed the lights and put his hands on her temples. He chanted something and then made Nicole breath deep, clearing her mind and she felt the now familiar sensation of his strength flowing into her mind taking away the tension. She was curious how he did it and kept nagging him until Cole explained that he was very surprised when she was able to reach him telepathically the night her powers went haywire in her hotel room. It led him to think that Lugels had telepathic links and he just tried to use it to channel his powers into her. And it worked perfectly just as everything he did using his magic. Sometimes Nicole felt really frustrated and annoyed with herself for not being able to use her powers as good as Cole and with the half demon for being so damn good.
On the practical front the first set of skills they practiced was orbing, blinking, blurring and shimmering. Nicole found shimmering difficult, orbing sickening, blinking boring and blurring fantastic. Cole found it hilarious that Nicole instead of shimmering from one side of the library to another reappeared in the kitchen and then moved to pretty much every room in the house before she managed to complete the exercise. However, soon it was her turn to laugh when half demon tried to orb and blurred back in panic because he just orbed on the meeting of the Japanese witch with her whitelighter. When she asked him how was it possible that he orbed to Japan Cole admitted sheepishly that for the past few days he'd been craving for some sushi. After she got hold on her ability to move magically they started jumping from dimension to dimension, from Middle Ages to Ancient Egypt and from Japan to London transitioning from orbing to blinking and from blurring to shimmering. It was a real magical express and by the end of it Nicole could not only use any one of the powers without any difficulty but also use different ways of covering her tracks. This was followed by telekinesis and deflection powers, which made both her and Cole grateful for their self healing powers. Otherwise Nicole feared they would not be able to get up the next day. She was very pleased with her achievements but the next day gave her much more reasons to be proud of herself. They practiced energy balls and here she gave Cole a bit of a shock. Nicole smiled remembering his surprised expression when she hit all 10 aims he prepared for her.
"Are you sure that you've never done it before?" he asked observing the results of her action.
"Well not with the energy balls." She gave him a triumphant smile. "But I did have a bit of practice with knifes and paint balls." He looked at her with a questioning eyes and she continued, her expression sobering. "One of my teachers in school was very good in martial arts and all types of weapons. I think she was ex agent of some special forces. I don't know what she was doing in the boarding school but she taught me a great deal."
"An ex agent?" he asked looking at her intently.
"Yes," she answered, "you know all these SAS, KGBs and Mossads they have in every country.
He waived his hand impatiently. "I know what these forces are. They all had deals with the Source. Who do you think taught them to fight like that?!"
Her eyes grew wide, "Do you mean that they learnt fighting from demons?"
Cole nodded. "Of course, the Source was kind of keen on them. Especially since he got first pick at recruits." He shot Nicole a provoking glance. "I think we should test how good this teacher of yours was?" he pointed at the garden lawn. "Care for some demonic fighting training?"
Nicole nodded, she was a bit nervous since she had not practiced for a while. But when she found herself facing Cole her adrenaline kicked in and years of practice paid off. Cole was good, actually he was better than anybody she'd ever fought before. His movements were unexpected and incredibly precise. Nicole could not let her guard slip for a single second. And for a while she managed to deflect his attacks. Cole moved fast but he did not try to increase the pace of the fight. She quickly realized that if she let the fight to go on too long Cole would eventually catch her on mistake. And he did have much more experience than she did. So she decided that her only chance of victory was to move on the assault herself. She increased the speed of her movements and suddenly saw an opening. She deflected one of Cole's kicks and in return hit him in the chest causing him to fall. For a second she thought she won just to feel Cole's hand grabbing her foot and pulling it. Next moment Nicole found herself laying on her back and Cole looming over her pinning her arms to the side pressing her to the ground. The young woman froze staring at his face too aware of how close their bodies were. She could feel the solid muscles of his legs against hers and the effect that this had on her already fast heart beat was unnerving. The half demon smiled his chest heaving deeply, drops of sweat glistering on his forehead. "Not bad, not bad at all." He rolled off her, quickly got up and offered her his hand. "By the way, your teacher was not an ex agent or not an ex mortal agent. She was a demon."
Nicole stared at him in disbelief, "How do you know?"
"You're kidding! Though demons did teach the recruits to fight, they never gave away all tricks. None of these agents would be able to withstand a fight with a demon for longer than 5 minutes and you were really good. So it meant you were trained by a demon and a really good one."
And he was right. Nicole smiled remembering how she beat Cole in a sword fight, and the mixture of annoyance and approval on his face. After that they practiced fire balls, shimmering, blurring, defence shields, freezing, exploding. She could not count all the dishes broken, the wooden logs burnt, vases exploded. The most problems she had was with fire and Cole to her delight struggled with aerokinesis. It did not last long and they ended up playing the game when Cole was conjuring streams of air and Nicole was freezing them instantly into the columns of ice.
Nicole snapped from her thoughts when she realized that her body was getting wrinkly from being in the shower for too long. Today they were starting on new set of skills, which Cole called telepathic warfare, which Nicole found even more terrifying than fire balls and ability to change people into bricks.
When Cole got downstairs Nicole was already there, having breakfast. "As always," Cole thought. They have been in this plain for a week. Initially the half demon was a bit worried about living with Nicole in one house for two weeks and he thought it was a bit over the top from Lugels to want both of them to stay in this plain of reality while they trained. But now he understood their reasons. The training was very intense, even for him. And he could only imagine how tiring it must have been for Nicole. For each day she had a list of books to read and a list of powers they should practice. In the evenings he could see the strained expression on her face and how pale she got and it was good that he was around to keep an eye on her. The half demon was really impressed by the young Lugel. She went through everything with determination he admired. And she was good. Cole could see the potential in her. And her fighting skills exceeded anything he could imagine. He was convinced that the demoness who trained her was sent by Lugels. And she did a very good job. There was also something else. Cole enjoyed having Nicole around. She was easy to get on with, she had a fantastic sense of humour and he could feel that she liked him. At the same time she kept a safe distance from him. Cole was used that women made moves on him but Nicole never even gave him a hint. If anything she was keeping him at arms lengths. They would sometimes joke and talk about their experiences and lives but than Nicole would put a wall and move away from conversation getting any more personal. And she managed to do all that without being rude or insincere. Cole could not understand her reasons, sometimes it amused him and sometimes annoyed. But he respected her privacy and it suited him.
Today was going to be the first day when they would start to learn about Lugels and Cole was going to start telereading himself. The half demon was never keen on telepathic skills and his experiences with Barbas put him of them completely. But now it was his turn to learn how not only defend himself from telepathic attack but also use it as an assault weapon.
Cole smiled at Nicole, "Morning," he said.
"Morning," she replied returning his smile. "Did you have a bad night sleep?" she asked, "you look grumpy."
"I thought I always look grumpy in the morning," he pretended to grumble.
"Not like today. Usually you look just forbidding like a rock, today you are Mount Everest."
"Did not think I reminded you of a rock." Cole frowned trying to hide a smile. "I slept well," he answered her earlier question pouring himself coffee. "I always do, I think it comes with demonic blood but I keep having these dreams. Recently it's an every night activity for me."
"Tell me about it," she sighed. "All this info I am getting every day, the brain needs time to process it. I am surprised that I just don't get a message in my head "System overload."
He nodded and bit into the sandwich. Nicole eyed him again and asked:
"Cole, what do you know about telepathic powers? You don't seem too keen about learning them."
The half demon was a bit surprised. He never told Nicole how he felt about telepathy. But she must have sensed it. He sighed, "Telepathy can be extremely powerful and even the strongest demons fear it above all. You can mess with your enemies even being in another dimension. It allows its owner to obtain the immense amount of knowledge and knowledge is power in itself. You can create a different reality in people's head, control their bodies and minds. It can't be seen and not everybody can even detect that something is wrong. I am more of a fist and knife kind of guy. I prefer an open fight even if it sounds strange coming from a demon. Also a couple of weeks ago I had my own experience with telepathy. The demon of fear was manipulating my mind trying to convince me that I was evil. I ended up losing my powers and...," he paused, "well, it was not a nice feeling."
"You lost your powers?" Nicole looked at him surprised. "How is it possible? I thought Lugels were these all powerful, invincible creatures."
Cole shrugged, "Nobody is completely invincible. There is always a power, which can affect yours. Anyway, with Barbas I don't think that my powers were balanced at the time. After coming back from the Wasteland I tried all of my powers and had a very powerful range but not even close to what I have now. I think that part of them was bound and got unbound the same time as yours in the mausoleum."
Nicole shook her head. "You magic people have a weird life."
Cole laughed, "Says one of the most powerful magic beings ever." He drained the last bit of his coffee. Ignoring the intentionally filthy look she gave him, he got up and opened the door from the kitchen, "Madam, shall we proceed?"
By the end of the day both of them felt not just exhausted. Learning telepathy was difficult and practical training was even worse. They had blurred into different places from the Underworld to a Brazilian carnival practicing manipulating people's mind, reading thoughts of demons and even picking up on premonitions of witches. By the second day they found that their skills have improved dramatically and they were easily picking up on people's thoughts and even enjoyed a few funny moments after manipulating a couple of demons to start kissing each other instead of fighting. In the afternoon they got back to the Lugel's plain. Nicole checked the timetable and found that it was the last day of telepathy studies. "We have only one telepathic exercise left," she told Cole with a satisfied smile.
The half demon was enjoying his afternoon scotch and did not feel like doing anything. "And what is it?" he drawled hoping that it was some trivial little thing, which they can do later, like much later.
"Mind blocks and ways of breaking them."
Cole tensed, "We already practised that. You had no problems breaking the mind block of that warlock."
"Yes, but he never tried to put a serious mind block against us. He did not even know that we were there. It was a great test for secret mind reading but not for mind blocking and breaking."
"So what do you suggest, we catch some kind of telepath, bring him here and practice on him?"
"No, I suggest we practice on each other. It would be safer and more useful since we supposed to be equally powerful." Cole's face assumed a cold mask and Nicole could see that he was not pleased with her idea. "What's wrong?" she asked. "You don't want to do it?"
Half demon paused, "No," he said finally, "I don't like this idea. Don't understand me wrong but I feel a little uncomfortable with letting somebody reading my mind."
She heaved impatient sigh, "I don't want to read your mind. All we going to do is try to prevent each other from doing just that."
"And if one of us manages to break the mind block of the other?" he asked with a cold smile. "What are you going to do? Not even have a pick in my thoughts?"
She shot him a hurt glare and Cole suddenly felt guilty. "That's what you think about me?" she cried out, "that I just want an excuse to read your mind?! You obviously think very highly of me." She turned on her hills and left.
Cole stayed in the living room. He finished his scotch and went to the library. There he saw Nicole sitting in one of the chairs staring aimlessly at a book she picked up. She looked tired and pale and half demon felt a stub of shame. For the last week Nicole had worked so hard and he did his best to help her but he did not give much thought to how she felt turning her life like this. He never knew the life without magic, for him what they did this week was completely normal, whereas for Nicole it must have been an experience from a madhouse.
"Nicole," Cole cleared his throat. "I did not want to insult you. I just..."
She did not let him to finish, "You don't have to apologize, Cole. I know it's not personal, you just don't trust people in general and women in particular. And I can't ask you to trust me since we've just met 2 weeks ago. But I know one thing. If telepathy is so powerful we need to be able to use it both for self defence and attack. And I thought that your passed experiences should have made you even keener to learn it. But it seems that you are more worried about me finding out some of your inner secrets. And I can't make you change your mind. But what I can do is practice myself. I want you to try to break through my mental block. This way you don't risk."
Cole's face hardened. "You are very brave," he stated coldly, "after such a speech I would have been surprised if you trusted me with a kitten not your thoughts."
Nicole's eyes became icy, "I would not trust you with a kitten," she said calmly. "But unlike the kitten I am capable of defending myself."
Half demon could feel anger igniting in him. "Fine," he snapped. "Let's go."
In the gym they sat on the floor opposite each other. Cole took a deep breath a stared into Nicole's eyes trying to clear his head from emotions. With his conscious he reached and tried to find an entry into Nicole's mind. The young woman could feel the pressure but she concentrated on strengthening the defence wall she created around herself. Cole had stepped up the pressure but she was strong. Neither of them noticed the sweat appearing on their foreheads. Cole decided to use the tactic of physical fighting in this battle of minds. He withdrew the pressure and started circling around Nicole's mind occasionally trying to find a weak point in her defence. The female Lugel quickly realized what he was doing. This tactic allowed him the chance to relax whereas Nicole had to keep the wall up at all times. By the rule she suggested herself she could not go on the offensive so Nicole had no chance left apart from trying to trick Cole. She relaxed her defences concentrating really hard on identifying the moment when he tried to enter her mind. And when he did she hit back at him causing Cole to gasp. But then she felt herself being hit by a wave of brain power. Both of them tried to break the eye contact but a beam of bright light linked them. It lasted just a few seconds and when it disappeared both Cole and Nicole collapsed on the floor.
The half demon opened his eyes and looked around. He was lying on the floor in the gym. The room was completely dark so he figured he must have been out for a few hours. Cole tried to get up and groaned holding his head. Had somebody hit him with a baseball bat? When he switched on the light and saw Nicole's body sprawled on the floor. She seemed to be in deep sleep and he could not wake her up. Cole remembered his bickering with Nicole about his reluctance to do extra telepathy training and her suggestion to do one way training. He was mad at her because he knew she was right. So what happened during this training? He again looked at Nicole and thought, "She does not like lying on the floor, reminds her of the years she spent in that horrible school." Cole gasped aloud. He looked at Nicole terrified, "she keeps me on arms length because she's scared to fall for me like she did for this guy Chris. This miserable bastard." Cole sprang to his feet and started pacing around the room. How did he know all this? How was it possible that he knew exactly how Nicole's flat in London looked, who were her teachers, what she liked to eat and even, what she bought herself for her last birthday. He could easily trace in his head what Nicole did from the moment she was 3 to yesterday. It must have been this stupid exercise; he probably had broken through her mental block. But he could not remember even reading one of her thoughts, he never wanted to. All he remembered was this blinding light coming from her eyes. Cole stopped pacing and tried to come down. He needed to get Nicole out of the gym.
He picked her up and carried her into the lounge, put her on a sofa and covered her with a blanket. She looked very peaceful in her sleep but Cole could not stop worrying. He did not trust telepathy, he knew that you could inflict some serious damage with it. Was he just too brutal in the way he tried to break through her defences? He would never forgive himself if he hurt Nicole. The other thing that worried him was what happened. He was not supposed to learn about her entire life. And what happened to Nicole? Did she also learn everything about him? Cole stared at her again. She looked really young, her chest lifting with every breath. Cole caught himself that he was pacing again. He stopped in front of the bar, poured himself a scotch and set in the chair just waiting for Nicole to wake up. It was pointless to guess, he'll just have to wait. The clock was ticking and Cole was sitting in his chair every once in while getting up to get some more scotch. He was always able to drink a lot of alcohol without getting drunk. But this time he drank so much that he did not notice how he's fallen asleep. He woke up when a sun light of sunshine hit his eyes. He cursed quietly and looked around. He was still sitting in the chair, his back was aching. Invincible or not he was not immune to muscle cramps. The half demon got up and went closer to check on Nicole. As he approached she stirred and opened her eyes.
She saw Cole in the middle of the room. He looked as if he spent the night in the chair. He had a strange expression on his face. "Morning," Nicole smiled, "you look like you've been hiding from the bounty hunters for the past week." The moment her words escaped her mouth, Nicole's eye grew big in shock. She stared at Cole, her brain full with memories, which were not there a day ago. "You..., you are Belthazor?" she whispered.
Cole did not want to hear or see what would follow. He'd been through this and he did not want to see Nicole's face when it turned scared and disgusted. He swirled on his hills and headed to the door. Just before leaving the room he looked back at her shocked face and transformed into his former demonic half. Cold black eyes stared at Nicole and the low roaring voice announced, "I am Belthazor."
The half demon went to his bedroom and headed to the shower. The hot water pouring on his body did not bring him the relief he wanted. He did not know what he felt: fear, anger, resentment. He was tired, for how long was his past going to haunt him? Probably forever. He did not even want to think how he was going to face Nicole again and cope with her fear and hatred. He had enough of that with the Charmed Ones. And they knew only the tiniest part of what Nicole has just learnt. Cole decided that drowning himself in the shower was not going to help him. He switched off the water and headed to the dresser. Should he just pack his stuff and go to the penthouse? He doubted Nicole would tolerate staying in one house with him.
A knock on the door snapped him out of his gloomy thoughts. He quickly buttoned his shirt and opened the door. Nicole stood there eyeing him with a wary expression. "Can I come in?" she asked quietly.
Cole stepped aside letting her in. The young woman stared at him. The half demon's expression was unreadable. But she could feel the cold defensive air coming from his now steely blue eyes. She took a deep breath trying to get her courage. Cole did not say anything and Nicole decided that it was better to just jump into the deep end. "Cole, I am really sorry for what happened. And I completely understand if you never want to speak to me again. I just want to tell you that I honestly did not see it happening. I was stupid and arrogant that I did not listen to you about the dangers of telepathy. You have much more experience in magic than I do and I should have listened to you. If there is any way we can reverse it I will do it." She paused for a moment and continued, "And I know it's a lot to ask but I just hope that you won't hate me." She finally dared to lift her eyes and look at him. She could not understand his expression. Cole looked at her as if she was a ghost. His eyes were fixed on her face as if he wanted to penetrate into the very depth of her soul.
"Are you serious?" he asked finally in a hoarse voice.
Nicole's heart fell. "Oh," she stammered, "I was just hoping... that maybe you'll forgive me. I know that there is a slim chance. But..." Nicole tried to fight back her tears. "I should probably go," she turned to leave the room when Cole finally found his tongue again.
"No," he said, "I meant aren't you scared of me?"
Nicole stopped in her trucks and turned back. She finally could understand what was it she saw in his eyes and knowing what he'd gone through in the past 3 years made Nicole forget all her wariness and ideas of staying away from him. She looked deep in his blue eyes. "I am not afraid of you Cole. I knew that you were dangerous the moment I met you. You don't have to be a telepath for that. But I trust you and I know that you won't hurt me."
Cole could not believe his ears; he searched Nicole's face for a single sign of insincerity but could not find any. He could not help but ask, "You trust me in spite of what you learnt about me?"
Nicole allowed herself a small smile, "Whatever you've done is in the past. I am not the one to judge you. You went through so much during your life and if it was anyone else I really doubt they would be able to change their life the way you did. For myself I can only say that I am proud to be working with you and hope that we can become friends." She stretched her hand towards him as she did a week ago.
Cole took her hand in his and stared intently into her face, a clear thought forming in his head. He was never going to let her go. Nicole Berg belonged to him. A woman who could see his past and not turn her back on him was the most precious gift God could ever give him. And now he knew that she was attracted to him. This thought made Cole smile. Then it occurred to him that he had a confession to make as well. He cleared his throat, "I hope so too," he said finally letting go of her hand, "and the sooner the better since, both of us already know so much about each other that we ought to be very close friends."
She stared at him an understanding hitting her mind. "Oh, my God," Nicole gasped. "You too? You know all about me as well?" Cole gave her a sheepish smile. "And you made me humble myself all this time, when you also learnt everything about my past."
"Well, it was your idea," Cole pointed out and immediately backed away to avoid encounter with her fist.
Nicole glared at him, her face flashing bright red. She knew he was right, it was her idea. But how the hell she was going to look him in the face again? "And how detailed is your knowledge?" she managed to mumble staring at her feet.
"Pretty detailed," he said gently. Then he lifted her chin forcing her to look at him, "But don't worry I will never bring it up. I promise." He allowed himself a smile, "And if I break this promise you can kick my ass with your sword again."
"You bet I will," she answered grateful for his sense of humour.
He grinned back at her and said. "But I expect the same from you. No witty comments miss Berg. Otherwise I will have to retaliate."
They laughed, relieved that they seemed to come out of their telepathic ordeal being stronger than before.
Chapter 10 part 1
The sound of the alarm clock woke Nicole up. She hit it with a pillow and snuggled under her blanket. God, she did not want to get up. For a minute she enjoyed peace and quiet but then the alarm went off again this time on snooze mode and Nicole reluctantly drugged herself from the warmth of her bed. She switched off the alarm and headed to the shower. It was a new day and Nicole wondered what the day would bring her.
It was the start of the second week of her training and it promised to be as difficult and as exciting as the first one, probably even more. During the first week Nicole had had to learn all basics of magic. From early morning to late afternoon she was reading books and practising using her powers. It was exhausting, sometimes frustrating and incredibly exhilarating.
The house they were staying was a perfect school of magic. Except the great library the mansion contained a fantastic gym and a massive armoury, which according to Cole exceeded the one belonging to the Source. In the library Nicole and Cole found a timetable with all the books they had to read and the practical skills to learn. Nicole was shocked, in her wildest dreams she could not imagine learning all this. If she had to learn all of it by traditional methods it would take her decades. With the help of telepathy she managed to gain all this knowledge within days. But Nicole had to admit that if Cole was not there she would not have been able to stick to the timetable. For the first week the half demon was practically free since he already had all the background knowledge. So he spent his time helping Nicole to get through the books and mentoring her in all aspects of practical powers. The young woman was impressed. Cole was a very good teacher, not an easy one but very knowledgeable and supportive. He was very demanding and did not allow her to skive off. But at the same time he took a great care of her.
Learning telepathically was very effective but also extremely tiring especially for her untrained brain. Self healing powers prevented Nicole from having pounding headaches. But they did not stop her feeling physically overloaded with information. In the evening of the first day Nicole felt particular bad: she did not want to eat, she could not bear to have the lights on, she thought she was going mad from images flashing non stop through her tired mind. Cole put her on the sofa, dimmed the lights and put his hands on her temples. He chanted something and then made Nicole breath deep, clearing her mind and she felt the now familiar sensation of his strength flowing into her mind taking away the tension. She was curious how he did it and kept nagging him until Cole explained that he was very surprised when she was able to reach him telepathically the night her powers went haywire in her hotel room. It led him to think that Lugels had telepathic links and he just tried to use it to channel his powers into her. And it worked perfectly just as everything he did using his magic. Sometimes Nicole felt really frustrated and annoyed with herself for not being able to use her powers as good as Cole and with the half demon for being so damn good.
On the practical front the first set of skills they practiced was orbing, blinking, blurring and shimmering. Nicole found shimmering difficult, orbing sickening, blinking boring and blurring fantastic. Cole found it hilarious that Nicole instead of shimmering from one side of the library to another reappeared in the kitchen and then moved to pretty much every room in the house before she managed to complete the exercise. However, soon it was her turn to laugh when half demon tried to orb and blurred back in panic because he just orbed on the meeting of the Japanese witch with her whitelighter. When she asked him how was it possible that he orbed to Japan Cole admitted sheepishly that for the past few days he'd been craving for some sushi. After she got hold on her ability to move magically they started jumping from dimension to dimension, from Middle Ages to Ancient Egypt and from Japan to London transitioning from orbing to blinking and from blurring to shimmering. It was a real magical express and by the end of it Nicole could not only use any one of the powers without any difficulty but also use different ways of covering her tracks. This was followed by telekinesis and deflection powers, which made both her and Cole grateful for their self healing powers. Otherwise Nicole feared they would not be able to get up the next day. She was very pleased with her achievements but the next day gave her much more reasons to be proud of herself. They practiced energy balls and here she gave Cole a bit of a shock. Nicole smiled remembering his surprised expression when she hit all 10 aims he prepared for her.
"Are you sure that you've never done it before?" he asked observing the results of her action.
"Well not with the energy balls." She gave him a triumphant smile. "But I did have a bit of practice with knifes and paint balls." He looked at her with a questioning eyes and she continued, her expression sobering. "One of my teachers in school was very good in martial arts and all types of weapons. I think she was ex agent of some special forces. I don't know what she was doing in the boarding school but she taught me a great deal."
"An ex agent?" he asked looking at her intently.
"Yes," she answered, "you know all these SAS, KGBs and Mossads they have in every country.
He waived his hand impatiently. "I know what these forces are. They all had deals with the Source. Who do you think taught them to fight like that?!"
Her eyes grew wide, "Do you mean that they learnt fighting from demons?"
Cole nodded. "Of course, the Source was kind of keen on them. Especially since he got first pick at recruits." He shot Nicole a provoking glance. "I think we should test how good this teacher of yours was?" he pointed at the garden lawn. "Care for some demonic fighting training?"
Nicole nodded, she was a bit nervous since she had not practiced for a while. But when she found herself facing Cole her adrenaline kicked in and years of practice paid off. Cole was good, actually he was better than anybody she'd ever fought before. His movements were unexpected and incredibly precise. Nicole could not let her guard slip for a single second. And for a while she managed to deflect his attacks. Cole moved fast but he did not try to increase the pace of the fight. She quickly realized that if she let the fight to go on too long Cole would eventually catch her on mistake. And he did have much more experience than she did. So she decided that her only chance of victory was to move on the assault herself. She increased the speed of her movements and suddenly saw an opening. She deflected one of Cole's kicks and in return hit him in the chest causing him to fall. For a second she thought she won just to feel Cole's hand grabbing her foot and pulling it. Next moment Nicole found herself laying on her back and Cole looming over her pinning her arms to the side pressing her to the ground. The young woman froze staring at his face too aware of how close their bodies were. She could feel the solid muscles of his legs against hers and the effect that this had on her already fast heart beat was unnerving. The half demon smiled his chest heaving deeply, drops of sweat glistering on his forehead. "Not bad, not bad at all." He rolled off her, quickly got up and offered her his hand. "By the way, your teacher was not an ex agent or not an ex mortal agent. She was a demon."
Nicole stared at him in disbelief, "How do you know?"
"You're kidding! Though demons did teach the recruits to fight, they never gave away all tricks. None of these agents would be able to withstand a fight with a demon for longer than 5 minutes and you were really good. So it meant you were trained by a demon and a really good one."
And he was right. Nicole smiled remembering how she beat Cole in a sword fight, and the mixture of annoyance and approval on his face. After that they practiced fire balls, shimmering, blurring, defence shields, freezing, exploding. She could not count all the dishes broken, the wooden logs burnt, vases exploded. The most problems she had was with fire and Cole to her delight struggled with aerokinesis. It did not last long and they ended up playing the game when Cole was conjuring streams of air and Nicole was freezing them instantly into the columns of ice.
Nicole snapped from her thoughts when she realized that her body was getting wrinkly from being in the shower for too long. Today they were starting on new set of skills, which Cole called telepathic warfare, which Nicole found even more terrifying than fire balls and ability to change people into bricks.
When Cole got downstairs Nicole was already there, having breakfast. "As always," Cole thought. They have been in this plain for a week. Initially the half demon was a bit worried about living with Nicole in one house for two weeks and he thought it was a bit over the top from Lugels to want both of them to stay in this plain of reality while they trained. But now he understood their reasons. The training was very intense, even for him. And he could only imagine how tiring it must have been for Nicole. For each day she had a list of books to read and a list of powers they should practice. In the evenings he could see the strained expression on her face and how pale she got and it was good that he was around to keep an eye on her. The half demon was really impressed by the young Lugel. She went through everything with determination he admired. And she was good. Cole could see the potential in her. And her fighting skills exceeded anything he could imagine. He was convinced that the demoness who trained her was sent by Lugels. And she did a very good job. There was also something else. Cole enjoyed having Nicole around. She was easy to get on with, she had a fantastic sense of humour and he could feel that she liked him. At the same time she kept a safe distance from him. Cole was used that women made moves on him but Nicole never even gave him a hint. If anything she was keeping him at arms lengths. They would sometimes joke and talk about their experiences and lives but than Nicole would put a wall and move away from conversation getting any more personal. And she managed to do all that without being rude or insincere. Cole could not understand her reasons, sometimes it amused him and sometimes annoyed. But he respected her privacy and it suited him.
Today was going to be the first day when they would start to learn about Lugels and Cole was going to start telereading himself. The half demon was never keen on telepathic skills and his experiences with Barbas put him of them completely. But now it was his turn to learn how not only defend himself from telepathic attack but also use it as an assault weapon.
Cole smiled at Nicole, "Morning," he said.
"Morning," she replied returning his smile. "Did you have a bad night sleep?" she asked, "you look grumpy."
"I thought I always look grumpy in the morning," he pretended to grumble.
"Not like today. Usually you look just forbidding like a rock, today you are Mount Everest."
"Did not think I reminded you of a rock." Cole frowned trying to hide a smile. "I slept well," he answered her earlier question pouring himself coffee. "I always do, I think it comes with demonic blood but I keep having these dreams. Recently it's an every night activity for me."
"Tell me about it," she sighed. "All this info I am getting every day, the brain needs time to process it. I am surprised that I just don't get a message in my head "System overload."
He nodded and bit into the sandwich. Nicole eyed him again and asked:
"Cole, what do you know about telepathic powers? You don't seem too keen about learning them."
The half demon was a bit surprised. He never told Nicole how he felt about telepathy. But she must have sensed it. He sighed, "Telepathy can be extremely powerful and even the strongest demons fear it above all. You can mess with your enemies even being in another dimension. It allows its owner to obtain the immense amount of knowledge and knowledge is power in itself. You can create a different reality in people's head, control their bodies and minds. It can't be seen and not everybody can even detect that something is wrong. I am more of a fist and knife kind of guy. I prefer an open fight even if it sounds strange coming from a demon. Also a couple of weeks ago I had my own experience with telepathy. The demon of fear was manipulating my mind trying to convince me that I was evil. I ended up losing my powers and...," he paused, "well, it was not a nice feeling."
"You lost your powers?" Nicole looked at him surprised. "How is it possible? I thought Lugels were these all powerful, invincible creatures."
Cole shrugged, "Nobody is completely invincible. There is always a power, which can affect yours. Anyway, with Barbas I don't think that my powers were balanced at the time. After coming back from the Wasteland I tried all of my powers and had a very powerful range but not even close to what I have now. I think that part of them was bound and got unbound the same time as yours in the mausoleum."
Nicole shook her head. "You magic people have a weird life."
Cole laughed, "Says one of the most powerful magic beings ever." He drained the last bit of his coffee. Ignoring the intentionally filthy look she gave him, he got up and opened the door from the kitchen, "Madam, shall we proceed?"
By the end of the day both of them felt not just exhausted. Learning telepathy was difficult and practical training was even worse. They had blurred into different places from the Underworld to a Brazilian carnival practicing manipulating people's mind, reading thoughts of demons and even picking up on premonitions of witches. By the second day they found that their skills have improved dramatically and they were easily picking up on people's thoughts and even enjoyed a few funny moments after manipulating a couple of demons to start kissing each other instead of fighting. In the afternoon they got back to the Lugel's plain. Nicole checked the timetable and found that it was the last day of telepathy studies. "We have only one telepathic exercise left," she told Cole with a satisfied smile.
The half demon was enjoying his afternoon scotch and did not feel like doing anything. "And what is it?" he drawled hoping that it was some trivial little thing, which they can do later, like much later.
"Mind blocks and ways of breaking them."
Cole tensed, "We already practised that. You had no problems breaking the mind block of that warlock."
"Yes, but he never tried to put a serious mind block against us. He did not even know that we were there. It was a great test for secret mind reading but not for mind blocking and breaking."
"So what do you suggest, we catch some kind of telepath, bring him here and practice on him?"
"No, I suggest we practice on each other. It would be safer and more useful since we supposed to be equally powerful." Cole's face assumed a cold mask and Nicole could see that he was not pleased with her idea. "What's wrong?" she asked. "You don't want to do it?"
Half demon paused, "No," he said finally, "I don't like this idea. Don't understand me wrong but I feel a little uncomfortable with letting somebody reading my mind."
She heaved impatient sigh, "I don't want to read your mind. All we going to do is try to prevent each other from doing just that."
"And if one of us manages to break the mind block of the other?" he asked with a cold smile. "What are you going to do? Not even have a pick in my thoughts?"
She shot him a hurt glare and Cole suddenly felt guilty. "That's what you think about me?" she cried out, "that I just want an excuse to read your mind?! You obviously think very highly of me." She turned on her hills and left.
Cole stayed in the living room. He finished his scotch and went to the library. There he saw Nicole sitting in one of the chairs staring aimlessly at a book she picked up. She looked tired and pale and half demon felt a stub of shame. For the last week Nicole had worked so hard and he did his best to help her but he did not give much thought to how she felt turning her life like this. He never knew the life without magic, for him what they did this week was completely normal, whereas for Nicole it must have been an experience from a madhouse.
"Nicole," Cole cleared his throat. "I did not want to insult you. I just..."
She did not let him to finish, "You don't have to apologize, Cole. I know it's not personal, you just don't trust people in general and women in particular. And I can't ask you to trust me since we've just met 2 weeks ago. But I know one thing. If telepathy is so powerful we need to be able to use it both for self defence and attack. And I thought that your passed experiences should have made you even keener to learn it. But it seems that you are more worried about me finding out some of your inner secrets. And I can't make you change your mind. But what I can do is practice myself. I want you to try to break through my mental block. This way you don't risk."
Cole's face hardened. "You are very brave," he stated coldly, "after such a speech I would have been surprised if you trusted me with a kitten not your thoughts."
Nicole's eyes became icy, "I would not trust you with a kitten," she said calmly. "But unlike the kitten I am capable of defending myself."
Half demon could feel anger igniting in him. "Fine," he snapped. "Let's go."
In the gym they sat on the floor opposite each other. Cole took a deep breath a stared into Nicole's eyes trying to clear his head from emotions. With his conscious he reached and tried to find an entry into Nicole's mind. The young woman could feel the pressure but she concentrated on strengthening the defence wall she created around herself. Cole had stepped up the pressure but she was strong. Neither of them noticed the sweat appearing on their foreheads. Cole decided to use the tactic of physical fighting in this battle of minds. He withdrew the pressure and started circling around Nicole's mind occasionally trying to find a weak point in her defence. The female Lugel quickly realized what he was doing. This tactic allowed him the chance to relax whereas Nicole had to keep the wall up at all times. By the rule she suggested herself she could not go on the offensive so Nicole had no chance left apart from trying to trick Cole. She relaxed her defences concentrating really hard on identifying the moment when he tried to enter her mind. And when he did she hit back at him causing Cole to gasp. But then she felt herself being hit by a wave of brain power. Both of them tried to break the eye contact but a beam of bright light linked them. It lasted just a few seconds and when it disappeared both Cole and Nicole collapsed on the floor.
The half demon opened his eyes and looked around. He was lying on the floor in the gym. The room was completely dark so he figured he must have been out for a few hours. Cole tried to get up and groaned holding his head. Had somebody hit him with a baseball bat? When he switched on the light and saw Nicole's body sprawled on the floor. She seemed to be in deep sleep and he could not wake her up. Cole remembered his bickering with Nicole about his reluctance to do extra telepathy training and her suggestion to do one way training. He was mad at her because he knew she was right. So what happened during this training? He again looked at Nicole and thought, "She does not like lying on the floor, reminds her of the years she spent in that horrible school." Cole gasped aloud. He looked at Nicole terrified, "she keeps me on arms length because she's scared to fall for me like she did for this guy Chris. This miserable bastard." Cole sprang to his feet and started pacing around the room. How did he know all this? How was it possible that he knew exactly how Nicole's flat in London looked, who were her teachers, what she liked to eat and even, what she bought herself for her last birthday. He could easily trace in his head what Nicole did from the moment she was 3 to yesterday. It must have been this stupid exercise; he probably had broken through her mental block. But he could not remember even reading one of her thoughts, he never wanted to. All he remembered was this blinding light coming from her eyes. Cole stopped pacing and tried to come down. He needed to get Nicole out of the gym.
He picked her up and carried her into the lounge, put her on a sofa and covered her with a blanket. She looked very peaceful in her sleep but Cole could not stop worrying. He did not trust telepathy, he knew that you could inflict some serious damage with it. Was he just too brutal in the way he tried to break through her defences? He would never forgive himself if he hurt Nicole. The other thing that worried him was what happened. He was not supposed to learn about her entire life. And what happened to Nicole? Did she also learn everything about him? Cole stared at her again. She looked really young, her chest lifting with every breath. Cole caught himself that he was pacing again. He stopped in front of the bar, poured himself a scotch and set in the chair just waiting for Nicole to wake up. It was pointless to guess, he'll just have to wait. The clock was ticking and Cole was sitting in his chair every once in while getting up to get some more scotch. He was always able to drink a lot of alcohol without getting drunk. But this time he drank so much that he did not notice how he's fallen asleep. He woke up when a sun light of sunshine hit his eyes. He cursed quietly and looked around. He was still sitting in the chair, his back was aching. Invincible or not he was not immune to muscle cramps. The half demon got up and went closer to check on Nicole. As he approached she stirred and opened her eyes.
She saw Cole in the middle of the room. He looked as if he spent the night in the chair. He had a strange expression on his face. "Morning," Nicole smiled, "you look like you've been hiding from the bounty hunters for the past week." The moment her words escaped her mouth, Nicole's eye grew big in shock. She stared at Cole, her brain full with memories, which were not there a day ago. "You..., you are Belthazor?" she whispered.
Cole did not want to hear or see what would follow. He'd been through this and he did not want to see Nicole's face when it turned scared and disgusted. He swirled on his hills and headed to the door. Just before leaving the room he looked back at her shocked face and transformed into his former demonic half. Cold black eyes stared at Nicole and the low roaring voice announced, "I am Belthazor."
The half demon went to his bedroom and headed to the shower. The hot water pouring on his body did not bring him the relief he wanted. He did not know what he felt: fear, anger, resentment. He was tired, for how long was his past going to haunt him? Probably forever. He did not even want to think how he was going to face Nicole again and cope with her fear and hatred. He had enough of that with the Charmed Ones. And they knew only the tiniest part of what Nicole has just learnt. Cole decided that drowning himself in the shower was not going to help him. He switched off the water and headed to the dresser. Should he just pack his stuff and go to the penthouse? He doubted Nicole would tolerate staying in one house with him.
A knock on the door snapped him out of his gloomy thoughts. He quickly buttoned his shirt and opened the door. Nicole stood there eyeing him with a wary expression. "Can I come in?" she asked quietly.
Cole stepped aside letting her in. The young woman stared at him. The half demon's expression was unreadable. But she could feel the cold defensive air coming from his now steely blue eyes. She took a deep breath trying to get her courage. Cole did not say anything and Nicole decided that it was better to just jump into the deep end. "Cole, I am really sorry for what happened. And I completely understand if you never want to speak to me again. I just want to tell you that I honestly did not see it happening. I was stupid and arrogant that I did not listen to you about the dangers of telepathy. You have much more experience in magic than I do and I should have listened to you. If there is any way we can reverse it I will do it." She paused for a moment and continued, "And I know it's a lot to ask but I just hope that you won't hate me." She finally dared to lift her eyes and look at him. She could not understand his expression. Cole looked at her as if she was a ghost. His eyes were fixed on her face as if he wanted to penetrate into the very depth of her soul.
"Are you serious?" he asked finally in a hoarse voice.
Nicole's heart fell. "Oh," she stammered, "I was just hoping... that maybe you'll forgive me. I know that there is a slim chance. But..." Nicole tried to fight back her tears. "I should probably go," she turned to leave the room when Cole finally found his tongue again.
"No," he said, "I meant aren't you scared of me?"
Nicole stopped in her trucks and turned back. She finally could understand what was it she saw in his eyes and knowing what he'd gone through in the past 3 years made Nicole forget all her wariness and ideas of staying away from him. She looked deep in his blue eyes. "I am not afraid of you Cole. I knew that you were dangerous the moment I met you. You don't have to be a telepath for that. But I trust you and I know that you won't hurt me."
Cole could not believe his ears; he searched Nicole's face for a single sign of insincerity but could not find any. He could not help but ask, "You trust me in spite of what you learnt about me?"
Nicole allowed herself a small smile, "Whatever you've done is in the past. I am not the one to judge you. You went through so much during your life and if it was anyone else I really doubt they would be able to change their life the way you did. For myself I can only say that I am proud to be working with you and hope that we can become friends." She stretched her hand towards him as she did a week ago.
Cole took her hand in his and stared intently into her face, a clear thought forming in his head. He was never going to let her go. Nicole Berg belonged to him. A woman who could see his past and not turn her back on him was the most precious gift God could ever give him. And now he knew that she was attracted to him. This thought made Cole smile. Then it occurred to him that he had a confession to make as well. He cleared his throat, "I hope so too," he said finally letting go of her hand, "and the sooner the better since, both of us already know so much about each other that we ought to be very close friends."
She stared at him an understanding hitting her mind. "Oh, my God," Nicole gasped. "You too? You know all about me as well?" Cole gave her a sheepish smile. "And you made me humble myself all this time, when you also learnt everything about my past."
"Well, it was your idea," Cole pointed out and immediately backed away to avoid encounter with her fist.
Nicole glared at him, her face flashing bright red. She knew he was right, it was her idea. But how the hell she was going to look him in the face again? "And how detailed is your knowledge?" she managed to mumble staring at her feet.
"Pretty detailed," he said gently. Then he lifted her chin forcing her to look at him, "But don't worry I will never bring it up. I promise." He allowed himself a smile, "And if I break this promise you can kick my ass with your sword again."
"You bet I will," she answered grateful for his sense of humour.
He grinned back at her and said. "But I expect the same from you. No witty comments miss Berg. Otherwise I will have to retaliate."
They laughed, relieved that they seemed to come out of their telepathic ordeal being stronger than before.