Here is a new chapter. Hope you'll like it. Please review.
Chapter 14
Nicole heard a knock on the door of her office. "Come in," she answered.
"Ready to go?" Cole was standing in the doorway with his briefcase in one hand.
"Absolutely," the young woman smiled relieved. During the last half hour these numbers did not make any sense to her anymore. She looked around her desk, which was covered with papers and decided that there was no point taking them home. And the best thing was that she did not have to. She did not have an annoying boss anymore, who would criticize her for being slow all the time. She put on her jacket and headed out of her office.
When the elevator doors closed behind them Cole let out a sigh and pulled his tie loose.
"Tough day?" Nicole asked smiling.
Half demon smirked, "Let's see, except 3 meeting, on which both of us were present, I had a 300 pages contract to finish. And believe me after about 200 pages of the most laborious legal speak I've ever seen, your brain informs you that he has moved to Hawaii and unless you come up with a very good reason he's not coming back."
Nicole smiled knowingly, "You think I don't know?" she asked. "I had to make a decision whether we're going to invest in this company or not, and the accounts they put in place were just immense. Plus the fact that we got up today at 5 o'clock in the morning did not really help."
Cole nodded in agreement, "How many cups of coffee?" he asked teasingly.
"Six," Nicole answered reluctantly. "You?"
"Five," half demon replied proudly. "I won."
"Oh, no, we said during the whole day," Nicole retorted, "And it's only quarter to four. We still have the rest of the day to go through."
"Fine by me," Cole answered calmly but his eyes had a little spark in them, which did not go unnoticed by Nicole. "But you know yourself, that at the board meeting we'll be served just one cup of coffee, and then everybody will switch to water. It's California, everybody is obsessed with being healthy."
"We'll see," young woman just arched her eyebrow and got into the car.
The main office of BalFor Holdings was situated in a grand mansion on the border between the business part of town and posh residential areas. When the couple walked in, they were met by a middle aged woman, who introduced herself as Anne, company's secretary. She led them into a very large room with a massive table in the middle surrounded by thirteen chairs.
"You are the first to come in," Anne smiled pleasantly, "please sit down, you'll find your name tags on the folders in front of your seats." With these words she left, and Cole and Nicole found themselves alone in the board room of BalFor Holdings. Nicole walked around the table and spotted that her and Cole were sitting opposite each other. The moment they sat down the door opened and a tall man in his early forties walked in.
"Welcome to BalFor Holdings," he said with a strong Australian accent, "My name is Dorian Boldwin. I am the current chairman of this board and therefore will have the pleasure of introducing all other members when they come in."
Nicole liked him, he had a very open attitude and his smile looked very sincere. The next person to come in was a Spanish looking woman, who actually turned out to be Argentinean. The rest of the board arrived within next two minutes. In total there were three women and eight men excluding Cole and Nicole. The last person to come in was Vladimir. He gave young Lugels a small smile. After the introductions were finished the Chairman suggested that they should proceed. The agenda, which Cole and Nicole received two weeks ago, was very short and straightforward and it was clear that the main purpose of the meeting was to introduce the new members of the board. When all the matters were discussed the chairman got up from his seat and headed to the bookshelves which completely covered the wall. His eyes focused on the middle row of books and the wall in front of him dissolved. Dorian put his foot on the staircase, which appeared in front of him and turned to look at the new board members. "Please follow me," he asked seriously.
Cole and Nicole exchanged glances and encouraged by Vladimir's smile followed the Chairman. The latter disappeared from the bottom of the stairs and then reappeared on the platform. Nicole who was standing behind him took a step back. "Are we supposed to shimmer, blur or orb there?" she asked eyeing the flames roaming below the platform.
"You are not supposed to do anything. This is a vortex, just step down, you'll be fine." Vladimir explained supportively.
The young woman took a deep breath and stepped down, she felt her body being sucked into the powerful stream, which carried her down and then up. She could not say if it lasted a second or an hour when she found herself standing on the platform in a grey robe. A moment later Cole materialized next to her. One by one other members of the board joined them, forming a circle. All of them wore their hoods down and young Lugel was surprised that she could not recognize some of them.
"Don't worry," Dorian said, "Most of us have several identities and some prefer to keep the real one separated from BalFor Holdings. Especially people, who are famous to general public, like Celina. Anyway, I am really happy that we have our Council complete again and we finally can start to work on our peace treaty. We've been waiting for this for so long." He paused and then continued. "Anyway, I'll start with introductions. You already know that there are thirteen Lugels at any time, with the exception of last twenty five years. Two for each continent, so in North America we have you two and Celina. Vladimir represents Easter Europe. We also have Carlos," he pointed to a tall skinny man in his late sixties with an arrogant black eyes and a goatee beard. The latter gave a short nod. "He is based in Spain," Dorian continued. "Myself, I am from Australia, which you probably already guessed and so is Steven here," he pointed to a guy about Cole's age with a brown hair and piercing green-grey eyes. "Then we have Angela," a tall woman in her forties with gorgeous black hair and amazing blue eyes smiled at young Lugels, "she is based in Argentina and Gabriel is based in Peru." The blond guy wearing small spectacles shook Cole's and Nicole's hands. "And," Dorian resumed "last but not least Sylvester from Egypt and Kara who is currently based in Kenya, they are covering Africa."
"Wow," Nicole thought to herself impressed by the looks of the two members. "They are definitely not the least. And if they ever have children the rest of the population can take a break from any beauty contests."
Dorian finished the introductions and sobered up. "Now we should discuss the current situations and how it reflects on our plans. I believe that you have restored Belthora's powers and memory yesterday?" he turned to Cole.
Half demon tensed slightly, "Yes," he replied curtly, "and for what I can say it was successful."
"Have you had a chance to talk her about our plans?" Carlos asked.
"Yes," Cole answered, "she needed time to think. She went to the Underworld to check up on the situation and we have not spoken to her after that."
"Well, we don't exactly have much time. When do you think we'll know her answer?"
"I don't know," Cole raised his voice. "It's a serious decision to make and I don't want to hurry her."
"But you'll have to," Carlos insisted. "We don't have an eternity here."
Cole was about to respond but Nicole spoke up first. "But we don't have a right to make a mistake either. We need somebody who will be hundred percent committed to the task. If we force Elizabeth to accept our proposition now and two months down the line she changes her mind we are going to be much more behind than if we let her to make the decision in her own time."
"That's a good point," Angela backed her young colleague.
The other Lugels nodded.
"I think we'll leave it up to our Chosen Two to find the new Source." Dorian summarized general opinion. "Obviously we provide any backing needed. But if Cole's mother agrees to become the new Source we'll gain a very powerful ally. She is completely capable of running the Underworld on her own and with the right support Elizabeth would become the most powerful Source ever. Unfortunately we have a much less clear picture of what to do with the Power to Be."
"I am actually surprised about it." Nicole said calmly. "The witchery community is much easier to rule than demons. In all the history of Powers to Be there was not a single coup against the Elders Council. Plus witches are much more dependent on their leaders for information and even for their lives. Without Whitelighters witches will not last long. So therefore the Elders council has much stronger grip on its congregation than the Source. Also most witches live mortal lives, and if relieved from necessity to use their powers, they'll be much likely to find something else to do than demons. So all we need to do is to convince the Elder's council in the necessity of the peace deal."
Listening to her Cole smiled proudly. She was good. It was a most comprehensive analysis of the Powers to Be system that he every heard. And considering that Nicole had no idea what Powers to Be were just two weeks ago, that was an impressive achievement. The rest of the Lugels council was nodding along her words and Sylvester was the one to speak up after Nicole finished.
"That's absolutely correct. There is just one problem, the Elders Council is unbelievable conservative. We were hoping to make you the Head Elder to introduce some fresh blood into the Council. But now when we can't do that we need to find a different way. I still think that in principal our plan was correct, we just need to find a different person.
"I agree," Rodgiv nodded energetically. "We need a whitelighter who is respected among the Elders, and who also can cooperate with demons."
"You don't mean Leo Wyatt?" Cole asked incredulously.
"He is highly suitable," Steven remarked.
"Yes, and highly narrow minded," Cole commented caustically.
"Perhaps. But you worked with him in the past and very successfully. He has a history of breaking the rules and open disagreements with his bosses. Comparatively to other whitelighters he is one of the most flexible." O-Li spoke calmly.
"He only broke the rules for the Halliwells. And yes, we did work together but out of necessity. He always felt uncomfortable about working with a demon. And I think he was very relieved when it stopped."
"The reasons behind your cooperation are not relevant here. It worked, that's what matters," Carlos stated firmly. "Despite you won't have to work together a lot. The plan is that our delegates will be mostly independent. You will only provide support when necessary. And you don't have to like each other for that. The most important is that Leo believes in the necessity of the peace treaty."
"And how are we going to achieve that?" Cole smiled sarcastically. "You're basically asking a whitelighter to work behind Elders back and to manipulate their opinion. If he gets caught it will cost him his wings and his life."
"But if the peace is not made it will cost him a complete destruction of his family," Celina said quietly.
Completely unaware of the conversation, which could have such drastic effects on his life, Leo Wyatt had just orbed into the Sun room of Halliwell manor and found the Halliwell sisters talking to Darryl. Whitelighter's face was always like an open book so the moment blue sparks of his orb subsided, he heard Piper's voice, "I think we are going to hear some interesting news."
The rest of the group just stared at the whitelighter, the latter sat down on the couch and gave the sisters unhappy look, "Yes," he said, "and the Elders are very concerned. The apartment below Cole is rented by an empath with strong telepathic abilities. He's moved in just a month ago."
"Oh, God," Paige exclaimed, "that explains everything."
"And it's not all the news," Leo continued. "The Elders felt a massive surge of powers in San Francisco early this morning."
"Can they say where exactly it was?" Piper asked.
Leo nodded, "The pinpointed it to the area around the Penthouse."
Everybody was silent for a moment and then Phoebe said, "Well, at least we know whom we are dealing with. All the pieces are falling together. Now we just need to decide how to vanquish the bastard?"
A skeptical smile twisted Piper's lips but before she could say anything, Leo heaved a long sigh. "It's not that easy Phoebe," he said. "The Elders told me that the surge of powers was extremely strong."
"How strong?" Piper asked her face expressing concern.
"The Elders said that there wasn't anything like that ever. If you combine the powers of all witches and demons together it would still not be enough to generate such outbreak. And your power of three is like a drop in the ocean comparatively to this."
"So do they think that this surge was generated by Cole's powers?" Paige asked uneasily.
"They don't know. Cole had used his new powers a lot since coming back from the Wasteland and according to the Elders they could feel his powers before but it was nothing even remotely as strong as yesterday."
"Maybe he was concealing the true magnitude of his powers. Or maybe he found the way to increase them?" Paige suggested.
"The Elders don't know. They are very concerned and think you should be really careful when dealing with Cole."
"But we have to do something," Phoebe exclaimed. "He is completely out of control now. He murdered this Schwarzlight guy and fraudulently inherited his fortune and now he sat an apartment on fire and it's just a miracle that nobody died."
"We don't know all that," Darryl said quietly.
"What do you mean?" Leo asked confused.
"I mean that it's all just your suspicions and facts are saying nothing like that. William Schwarzlight died from a heart failure. Even if we assume that Cole has killed him using his powers, how do you explain the fact that neither Nicole Berg, who should be suspicious of Cole in the first place, since he received the inheritance, which should have gone to her, nor BalFor Holding, raised any alarm?"
Phoebe was losing her patience, "Darryl, we already told you that Cole can manipulate other people's minds. Look at Nicole Berg, she just arrived to San Francisco and it took her a week to move in with Cole. Come on what woman in her right mind will do it?"
"Phoebe," Piper tried to calm her younger sister down. "We don't know if they are living together, she might have just stayed there for a night."
"She wore a night gown, Piper!" Phoebe retorted, "Women usually don't take their night gowns with them on a date just in case things go well."
"Look," Darryl decided to interrupt the "night gown" discussion before it went any further. "Even if Cole manipulated Nicole Berg, what about the others? Can you imagine how many people are involved in control of an inheritance of such level? There are lawyers and accountants of William Schwarzlight, then there are lawyers and accounts of BalFor Holdings, Board of Directors, Executive Team, all shareholders, auditors and God knows how many others. To pull this off Cole would need to manipulate minds of half the city. It's just not realistic. Plus I checked the history of BalFor Holdings, fifty years ago there was another case where shares were left to the person completely unrelated to the belated owner."
"So you think that he's completely innocent?" Paige asked raising her eyebrows in doubt.
"I am not saying that," Darryl heaved a frustrated sigh. "I am just saying that you should consider the possibility that Cole is innocent. Accusation of murder and fraud are very serious and you need at least some proof before you accuse somebody of that for your own safety. You don't want to be dragged into Court for slander and from what you told me this woman Nicole Berg already threatened you with legal action."
The moment Darryl finished all three Charmed One started talking at the same time, Piper was saying that Darryl was right, Phoebe was insisting that they did not understand the seriousness of the situation and Paige was suggesting to try to strip Cole's powers as they did with Barbas.
Leo looked at his three charges and heaved a frustrated sigh. Sometimes the Halliwells drove him nuts. "Enough," he yelled not able to maintain his composure any longer. Unused to Leo raising his voice three witches immediately stopped talking and stared at him. Whitelighter looked at Darryl. "What did you find out about the fire?" he asked in a calmer voice.
The policemen shrugged his shoulders. "It's all clear. The cause has been identified. Your empath or whatever he is had his girlfriend over last night. So he put one of these fake fireplaces on. Then they got a call from his mother, she was taken to hospital with a heart attack so they rushed there and the guy reckons he left the fireplace on. They spent the night in the hospital and did not come home till 7 pm this morning, when police phoned him."
"Talk about a bad day," Piper murmured.
"Yeah, and dangers of bad taste," Paige added "If he did not want to fool around with his girlfriend on the living room floor in front of the fake fireplace he would have one problem less now."
"Anyway," Darryl continued, "this all has been confirmed by our experts. The interesting thing is what the fire brigade told me. They had real problems containing the fire. It was discovered late. Apparently this guy had disconnected a fire alarm," he gave three witches a pointed stare. "No doubt for the same reason as you. But he also had a lot of bottles with some stuff containing alcohol."
"Potions," Paige muttered under her breath.
"Aha," Darryl quipped sarcastically. "Well, I hope you don't mind that I told the experts that the guy loved showing magical tricks. These things started exploding producing some coloured fumes, which were very difficult to extinguish. So the fire brigade had real troubles. One of them was carried out unconscious and the rest continued to battle the fire trying to at least prevent it from spreading. And suddenly one of the hoses just slipped from the guy's grip and the next thing they saw was a massive wall of water coming on them from nowhere. It hanged near the ceiling for a minute and then collapsed down completely extinguishing the fire. But what shocked them even more was that all this water just disappeared into nowhere. All five firemen who were in the apartment at the time are unanimous in saying that the wave was so massive is should have flooded the apartment completely. But there was just a thin layer of water on the floor nothing out of the ordinary."
Three sisters and Leo exchanged unsure glances. "That's sounds really strange," Paige was the first to speak.
"And it does not help us with Cole's issue." Piper said. "Was he the guy who started the fire, or was he the guy who extinguished it?"
"Or may be both?" Phoebe suggested.
The rest of the family and Darryl stared at her. "Common guys, just think about it. Cole started the fire and then found out that the guy was not coming home, so he just extinguished it to avoid damaging his precious Penthouse."
Piper shook her head, "Phoebe, I think you are taking it a bit far. If Cole wanted this guy dead he did not need to bother with the whole fire thing. He could have just killed him. The empath would have disappeared and no one would ever link it to Cole. Now there is a police investigation. Why go in so much trouble? Remember, Cole never liked using his fire powers, even when he was Belthazor. He was always going on how uncontrollable it was. For him would be much easier to just kill this guy and forget about it."
"If he had killed the guy than we would be on his doorsteps," Phoebe objected. "Now it all looks like an accident and if we did not see this picture on TV we would not have thought Cole had anything to do with it. Plus Cole does not need the empath dead. He just wants him out of the building and he succeeded perfectly. Even if the guy would still want to live in this apartment, which is unlikely, it would be ages before it is suitable for living again." The middle Halliwell took a deep breath and looked at her sisters and Leo. "Look guys, we can talk about all the possibilities endlessly. And I feel we are not getting any closer to the important point. Right now we have an innocent to protect. The circumstances are highly suspicious and we ought to do something until it's too late. Or do you really believe that Cole is completely unconnected to the whole story?"
Everybody exchanged glances and Piper answered, "No, he is involved but..."
"But what, Piper?" Phoebe asked in unpleasant voice. "If he is involved than we need to do whatever it takes to protect our innocent, even if she is so unpleasant. Yes, we can't fight Cole now, but at least we can try to safeguard Nicole. "
"I think Phoebe is right," Paige said. "And since we tried talking to her before with no success what so ever I believe it's time to tell her the whole truth about Cole."
"What did the Elders say about it?" Piper asked her husband.
"They are not kin on the idea," the whitelighter answered, "they asked to try to avoid it but if we're left with no choice we can do it."
"Fine," Piper said, "then I think we should talk to her but without Cole being there."
"Do you know where he is staying," Leo asked Darryl.
"Probably, at the Schwarzlight mansion," the policemen pulled out his notes. "The experts and insurance people are still finishing in the Tower, so the tenants were staying with friends and in the hotels. Cole's name is not listed in any hotels, so he probably is staying with Nicole Berg. At least they were seen leaving together this morning." Darryl bit his tongue. The last sentence was completely unnecessary and the way Phoebe's face changed made Darryl feel as if he had kicked her in the gut.
Piper also noticed Phoebe's expression and said, "In that case, the best thing to do would be for you, Darryl to go first and talk to Cole tet-a- tet. You are completely in your right since you are conducting the investigation. And while he is busy answering your questions we can talk to Nicole."
Chapter 14
Nicole heard a knock on the door of her office. "Come in," she answered.
"Ready to go?" Cole was standing in the doorway with his briefcase in one hand.
"Absolutely," the young woman smiled relieved. During the last half hour these numbers did not make any sense to her anymore. She looked around her desk, which was covered with papers and decided that there was no point taking them home. And the best thing was that she did not have to. She did not have an annoying boss anymore, who would criticize her for being slow all the time. She put on her jacket and headed out of her office.
When the elevator doors closed behind them Cole let out a sigh and pulled his tie loose.
"Tough day?" Nicole asked smiling.
Half demon smirked, "Let's see, except 3 meeting, on which both of us were present, I had a 300 pages contract to finish. And believe me after about 200 pages of the most laborious legal speak I've ever seen, your brain informs you that he has moved to Hawaii and unless you come up with a very good reason he's not coming back."
Nicole smiled knowingly, "You think I don't know?" she asked. "I had to make a decision whether we're going to invest in this company or not, and the accounts they put in place were just immense. Plus the fact that we got up today at 5 o'clock in the morning did not really help."
Cole nodded in agreement, "How many cups of coffee?" he asked teasingly.
"Six," Nicole answered reluctantly. "You?"
"Five," half demon replied proudly. "I won."
"Oh, no, we said during the whole day," Nicole retorted, "And it's only quarter to four. We still have the rest of the day to go through."
"Fine by me," Cole answered calmly but his eyes had a little spark in them, which did not go unnoticed by Nicole. "But you know yourself, that at the board meeting we'll be served just one cup of coffee, and then everybody will switch to water. It's California, everybody is obsessed with being healthy."
"We'll see," young woman just arched her eyebrow and got into the car.
The main office of BalFor Holdings was situated in a grand mansion on the border between the business part of town and posh residential areas. When the couple walked in, they were met by a middle aged woman, who introduced herself as Anne, company's secretary. She led them into a very large room with a massive table in the middle surrounded by thirteen chairs.
"You are the first to come in," Anne smiled pleasantly, "please sit down, you'll find your name tags on the folders in front of your seats." With these words she left, and Cole and Nicole found themselves alone in the board room of BalFor Holdings. Nicole walked around the table and spotted that her and Cole were sitting opposite each other. The moment they sat down the door opened and a tall man in his early forties walked in.
"Welcome to BalFor Holdings," he said with a strong Australian accent, "My name is Dorian Boldwin. I am the current chairman of this board and therefore will have the pleasure of introducing all other members when they come in."
Nicole liked him, he had a very open attitude and his smile looked very sincere. The next person to come in was a Spanish looking woman, who actually turned out to be Argentinean. The rest of the board arrived within next two minutes. In total there were three women and eight men excluding Cole and Nicole. The last person to come in was Vladimir. He gave young Lugels a small smile. After the introductions were finished the Chairman suggested that they should proceed. The agenda, which Cole and Nicole received two weeks ago, was very short and straightforward and it was clear that the main purpose of the meeting was to introduce the new members of the board. When all the matters were discussed the chairman got up from his seat and headed to the bookshelves which completely covered the wall. His eyes focused on the middle row of books and the wall in front of him dissolved. Dorian put his foot on the staircase, which appeared in front of him and turned to look at the new board members. "Please follow me," he asked seriously.
Cole and Nicole exchanged glances and encouraged by Vladimir's smile followed the Chairman. The latter disappeared from the bottom of the stairs and then reappeared on the platform. Nicole who was standing behind him took a step back. "Are we supposed to shimmer, blur or orb there?" she asked eyeing the flames roaming below the platform.
"You are not supposed to do anything. This is a vortex, just step down, you'll be fine." Vladimir explained supportively.
The young woman took a deep breath and stepped down, she felt her body being sucked into the powerful stream, which carried her down and then up. She could not say if it lasted a second or an hour when she found herself standing on the platform in a grey robe. A moment later Cole materialized next to her. One by one other members of the board joined them, forming a circle. All of them wore their hoods down and young Lugel was surprised that she could not recognize some of them.
"Don't worry," Dorian said, "Most of us have several identities and some prefer to keep the real one separated from BalFor Holdings. Especially people, who are famous to general public, like Celina. Anyway, I am really happy that we have our Council complete again and we finally can start to work on our peace treaty. We've been waiting for this for so long." He paused and then continued. "Anyway, I'll start with introductions. You already know that there are thirteen Lugels at any time, with the exception of last twenty five years. Two for each continent, so in North America we have you two and Celina. Vladimir represents Easter Europe. We also have Carlos," he pointed to a tall skinny man in his late sixties with an arrogant black eyes and a goatee beard. The latter gave a short nod. "He is based in Spain," Dorian continued. "Myself, I am from Australia, which you probably already guessed and so is Steven here," he pointed to a guy about Cole's age with a brown hair and piercing green-grey eyes. "Then we have Angela," a tall woman in her forties with gorgeous black hair and amazing blue eyes smiled at young Lugels, "she is based in Argentina and Gabriel is based in Peru." The blond guy wearing small spectacles shook Cole's and Nicole's hands. "And," Dorian resumed "last but not least Sylvester from Egypt and Kara who is currently based in Kenya, they are covering Africa."
"Wow," Nicole thought to herself impressed by the looks of the two members. "They are definitely not the least. And if they ever have children the rest of the population can take a break from any beauty contests."
Dorian finished the introductions and sobered up. "Now we should discuss the current situations and how it reflects on our plans. I believe that you have restored Belthora's powers and memory yesterday?" he turned to Cole.
Half demon tensed slightly, "Yes," he replied curtly, "and for what I can say it was successful."
"Have you had a chance to talk her about our plans?" Carlos asked.
"Yes," Cole answered, "she needed time to think. She went to the Underworld to check up on the situation and we have not spoken to her after that."
"Well, we don't exactly have much time. When do you think we'll know her answer?"
"I don't know," Cole raised his voice. "It's a serious decision to make and I don't want to hurry her."
"But you'll have to," Carlos insisted. "We don't have an eternity here."
Cole was about to respond but Nicole spoke up first. "But we don't have a right to make a mistake either. We need somebody who will be hundred percent committed to the task. If we force Elizabeth to accept our proposition now and two months down the line she changes her mind we are going to be much more behind than if we let her to make the decision in her own time."
"That's a good point," Angela backed her young colleague.
The other Lugels nodded.
"I think we'll leave it up to our Chosen Two to find the new Source." Dorian summarized general opinion. "Obviously we provide any backing needed. But if Cole's mother agrees to become the new Source we'll gain a very powerful ally. She is completely capable of running the Underworld on her own and with the right support Elizabeth would become the most powerful Source ever. Unfortunately we have a much less clear picture of what to do with the Power to Be."
"I am actually surprised about it." Nicole said calmly. "The witchery community is much easier to rule than demons. In all the history of Powers to Be there was not a single coup against the Elders Council. Plus witches are much more dependent on their leaders for information and even for their lives. Without Whitelighters witches will not last long. So therefore the Elders council has much stronger grip on its congregation than the Source. Also most witches live mortal lives, and if relieved from necessity to use their powers, they'll be much likely to find something else to do than demons. So all we need to do is to convince the Elder's council in the necessity of the peace deal."
Listening to her Cole smiled proudly. She was good. It was a most comprehensive analysis of the Powers to Be system that he every heard. And considering that Nicole had no idea what Powers to Be were just two weeks ago, that was an impressive achievement. The rest of the Lugels council was nodding along her words and Sylvester was the one to speak up after Nicole finished.
"That's absolutely correct. There is just one problem, the Elders Council is unbelievable conservative. We were hoping to make you the Head Elder to introduce some fresh blood into the Council. But now when we can't do that we need to find a different way. I still think that in principal our plan was correct, we just need to find a different person.
"I agree," Rodgiv nodded energetically. "We need a whitelighter who is respected among the Elders, and who also can cooperate with demons."
"You don't mean Leo Wyatt?" Cole asked incredulously.
"He is highly suitable," Steven remarked.
"Yes, and highly narrow minded," Cole commented caustically.
"Perhaps. But you worked with him in the past and very successfully. He has a history of breaking the rules and open disagreements with his bosses. Comparatively to other whitelighters he is one of the most flexible." O-Li spoke calmly.
"He only broke the rules for the Halliwells. And yes, we did work together but out of necessity. He always felt uncomfortable about working with a demon. And I think he was very relieved when it stopped."
"The reasons behind your cooperation are not relevant here. It worked, that's what matters," Carlos stated firmly. "Despite you won't have to work together a lot. The plan is that our delegates will be mostly independent. You will only provide support when necessary. And you don't have to like each other for that. The most important is that Leo believes in the necessity of the peace treaty."
"And how are we going to achieve that?" Cole smiled sarcastically. "You're basically asking a whitelighter to work behind Elders back and to manipulate their opinion. If he gets caught it will cost him his wings and his life."
"But if the peace is not made it will cost him a complete destruction of his family," Celina said quietly.
Completely unaware of the conversation, which could have such drastic effects on his life, Leo Wyatt had just orbed into the Sun room of Halliwell manor and found the Halliwell sisters talking to Darryl. Whitelighter's face was always like an open book so the moment blue sparks of his orb subsided, he heard Piper's voice, "I think we are going to hear some interesting news."
The rest of the group just stared at the whitelighter, the latter sat down on the couch and gave the sisters unhappy look, "Yes," he said, "and the Elders are very concerned. The apartment below Cole is rented by an empath with strong telepathic abilities. He's moved in just a month ago."
"Oh, God," Paige exclaimed, "that explains everything."
"And it's not all the news," Leo continued. "The Elders felt a massive surge of powers in San Francisco early this morning."
"Can they say where exactly it was?" Piper asked.
Leo nodded, "The pinpointed it to the area around the Penthouse."
Everybody was silent for a moment and then Phoebe said, "Well, at least we know whom we are dealing with. All the pieces are falling together. Now we just need to decide how to vanquish the bastard?"
A skeptical smile twisted Piper's lips but before she could say anything, Leo heaved a long sigh. "It's not that easy Phoebe," he said. "The Elders told me that the surge of powers was extremely strong."
"How strong?" Piper asked her face expressing concern.
"The Elders said that there wasn't anything like that ever. If you combine the powers of all witches and demons together it would still not be enough to generate such outbreak. And your power of three is like a drop in the ocean comparatively to this."
"So do they think that this surge was generated by Cole's powers?" Paige asked uneasily.
"They don't know. Cole had used his new powers a lot since coming back from the Wasteland and according to the Elders they could feel his powers before but it was nothing even remotely as strong as yesterday."
"Maybe he was concealing the true magnitude of his powers. Or maybe he found the way to increase them?" Paige suggested.
"The Elders don't know. They are very concerned and think you should be really careful when dealing with Cole."
"But we have to do something," Phoebe exclaimed. "He is completely out of control now. He murdered this Schwarzlight guy and fraudulently inherited his fortune and now he sat an apartment on fire and it's just a miracle that nobody died."
"We don't know all that," Darryl said quietly.
"What do you mean?" Leo asked confused.
"I mean that it's all just your suspicions and facts are saying nothing like that. William Schwarzlight died from a heart failure. Even if we assume that Cole has killed him using his powers, how do you explain the fact that neither Nicole Berg, who should be suspicious of Cole in the first place, since he received the inheritance, which should have gone to her, nor BalFor Holding, raised any alarm?"
Phoebe was losing her patience, "Darryl, we already told you that Cole can manipulate other people's minds. Look at Nicole Berg, she just arrived to San Francisco and it took her a week to move in with Cole. Come on what woman in her right mind will do it?"
"Phoebe," Piper tried to calm her younger sister down. "We don't know if they are living together, she might have just stayed there for a night."
"She wore a night gown, Piper!" Phoebe retorted, "Women usually don't take their night gowns with them on a date just in case things go well."
"Look," Darryl decided to interrupt the "night gown" discussion before it went any further. "Even if Cole manipulated Nicole Berg, what about the others? Can you imagine how many people are involved in control of an inheritance of such level? There are lawyers and accountants of William Schwarzlight, then there are lawyers and accounts of BalFor Holdings, Board of Directors, Executive Team, all shareholders, auditors and God knows how many others. To pull this off Cole would need to manipulate minds of half the city. It's just not realistic. Plus I checked the history of BalFor Holdings, fifty years ago there was another case where shares were left to the person completely unrelated to the belated owner."
"So you think that he's completely innocent?" Paige asked raising her eyebrows in doubt.
"I am not saying that," Darryl heaved a frustrated sigh. "I am just saying that you should consider the possibility that Cole is innocent. Accusation of murder and fraud are very serious and you need at least some proof before you accuse somebody of that for your own safety. You don't want to be dragged into Court for slander and from what you told me this woman Nicole Berg already threatened you with legal action."
The moment Darryl finished all three Charmed One started talking at the same time, Piper was saying that Darryl was right, Phoebe was insisting that they did not understand the seriousness of the situation and Paige was suggesting to try to strip Cole's powers as they did with Barbas.
Leo looked at his three charges and heaved a frustrated sigh. Sometimes the Halliwells drove him nuts. "Enough," he yelled not able to maintain his composure any longer. Unused to Leo raising his voice three witches immediately stopped talking and stared at him. Whitelighter looked at Darryl. "What did you find out about the fire?" he asked in a calmer voice.
The policemen shrugged his shoulders. "It's all clear. The cause has been identified. Your empath or whatever he is had his girlfriend over last night. So he put one of these fake fireplaces on. Then they got a call from his mother, she was taken to hospital with a heart attack so they rushed there and the guy reckons he left the fireplace on. They spent the night in the hospital and did not come home till 7 pm this morning, when police phoned him."
"Talk about a bad day," Piper murmured.
"Yeah, and dangers of bad taste," Paige added "If he did not want to fool around with his girlfriend on the living room floor in front of the fake fireplace he would have one problem less now."
"Anyway," Darryl continued, "this all has been confirmed by our experts. The interesting thing is what the fire brigade told me. They had real problems containing the fire. It was discovered late. Apparently this guy had disconnected a fire alarm," he gave three witches a pointed stare. "No doubt for the same reason as you. But he also had a lot of bottles with some stuff containing alcohol."
"Potions," Paige muttered under her breath.
"Aha," Darryl quipped sarcastically. "Well, I hope you don't mind that I told the experts that the guy loved showing magical tricks. These things started exploding producing some coloured fumes, which were very difficult to extinguish. So the fire brigade had real troubles. One of them was carried out unconscious and the rest continued to battle the fire trying to at least prevent it from spreading. And suddenly one of the hoses just slipped from the guy's grip and the next thing they saw was a massive wall of water coming on them from nowhere. It hanged near the ceiling for a minute and then collapsed down completely extinguishing the fire. But what shocked them even more was that all this water just disappeared into nowhere. All five firemen who were in the apartment at the time are unanimous in saying that the wave was so massive is should have flooded the apartment completely. But there was just a thin layer of water on the floor nothing out of the ordinary."
Three sisters and Leo exchanged unsure glances. "That's sounds really strange," Paige was the first to speak.
"And it does not help us with Cole's issue." Piper said. "Was he the guy who started the fire, or was he the guy who extinguished it?"
"Or may be both?" Phoebe suggested.
The rest of the family and Darryl stared at her. "Common guys, just think about it. Cole started the fire and then found out that the guy was not coming home, so he just extinguished it to avoid damaging his precious Penthouse."
Piper shook her head, "Phoebe, I think you are taking it a bit far. If Cole wanted this guy dead he did not need to bother with the whole fire thing. He could have just killed him. The empath would have disappeared and no one would ever link it to Cole. Now there is a police investigation. Why go in so much trouble? Remember, Cole never liked using his fire powers, even when he was Belthazor. He was always going on how uncontrollable it was. For him would be much easier to just kill this guy and forget about it."
"If he had killed the guy than we would be on his doorsteps," Phoebe objected. "Now it all looks like an accident and if we did not see this picture on TV we would not have thought Cole had anything to do with it. Plus Cole does not need the empath dead. He just wants him out of the building and he succeeded perfectly. Even if the guy would still want to live in this apartment, which is unlikely, it would be ages before it is suitable for living again." The middle Halliwell took a deep breath and looked at her sisters and Leo. "Look guys, we can talk about all the possibilities endlessly. And I feel we are not getting any closer to the important point. Right now we have an innocent to protect. The circumstances are highly suspicious and we ought to do something until it's too late. Or do you really believe that Cole is completely unconnected to the whole story?"
Everybody exchanged glances and Piper answered, "No, he is involved but..."
"But what, Piper?" Phoebe asked in unpleasant voice. "If he is involved than we need to do whatever it takes to protect our innocent, even if she is so unpleasant. Yes, we can't fight Cole now, but at least we can try to safeguard Nicole. "
"I think Phoebe is right," Paige said. "And since we tried talking to her before with no success what so ever I believe it's time to tell her the whole truth about Cole."
"What did the Elders say about it?" Piper asked her husband.
"They are not kin on the idea," the whitelighter answered, "they asked to try to avoid it but if we're left with no choice we can do it."
"Fine," Piper said, "then I think we should talk to her but without Cole being there."
"Do you know where he is staying," Leo asked Darryl.
"Probably, at the Schwarzlight mansion," the policemen pulled out his notes. "The experts and insurance people are still finishing in the Tower, so the tenants were staying with friends and in the hotels. Cole's name is not listed in any hotels, so he probably is staying with Nicole Berg. At least they were seen leaving together this morning." Darryl bit his tongue. The last sentence was completely unnecessary and the way Phoebe's face changed made Darryl feel as if he had kicked her in the gut.
Piper also noticed Phoebe's expression and said, "In that case, the best thing to do would be for you, Darryl to go first and talk to Cole tet-a- tet. You are completely in your right since you are conducting the investigation. And while he is busy answering your questions we can talk to Nicole."