Chapter 15
Cole and Nicole were driving back from the BalFor Holdings/Lugel's Council meeting. Neither of them said anything. The last two hours were full of surprises and revelations and Nicole now felt her head starting to spin from the complexity of their task. She rubbed her face trying to arrange her thoughts.
"It's a lot to digest," she heard Cole saying. The young woman looked up at him. He was concentrating on his driving but she could see that he was tired.
"Yes," she simply answered. "I just can't take it all in," she rubbed her face again.
"Look," half demon parked the car in front of the mansion and turned to look at Nicole. "I think we should take a time out. We are both exhausted and I don't know about you but all I can think of right now is sitting on a coach with a drink in my hand and my feet on the coffee table."
Nicole smiled and nodded, "Sounds great to me, except I also want some food. I am starving."
Cole grinned back, "So am I, but I am not cooking. I've done my fair share yesterday."
Young woman looked at him pleadingly, "Take away?"
Half demon could not stop himself from laughing at her dreamy expression, "Absolutely," he answered and climbed out of the car.
They both headed straight to the kitchen where Nicole discovered earlier a big stack of different take away menus. They easily agreed on the Mexican style but picking the dishes was more difficult. They were just in the middle of choosing the main course when the door bell rang.
"Oh, God," Nicole rolled her eyes, "if it's Celina, I'll tell her that one more revelation and tomorrow she'll be visiting me in the mental institution." She went to the door and flung it open expecting to see the French woman standing on the porch but instead her gaze met with the pair of dark penetrating eyes belonging to Elizabeth Turner Raynolds.
The older woman flashed Nicole a cool smile. "Good evening," she greeted graciously. "I could not shimmer into your house so I had to knock."
"Yeah," Nicole smiled politely, silently thanking her uncle for putting protecting spell on his house. "Are you here to see Cole?"
Elizabeth eyed young woman with such intensity that Nicole felt really uncomfortable, "Actually, I am here to see both of you," the demoness answered still staring at the young woman.
"Oh," Nicole felt that she was being evaluated according to the personal list of Elizabeth Turner and had no idea how high her current score was. "Please come in," she offered, "Cole is probably in the kitchen."
She let the older woman go first and followed her trying to think of a reason for this visit. They found Cole studying the Mexican restaurant menu.
"Belthazor," Elizabeth smiled at her son, "Again in the kitchen, you are making it a habit."
"Well, what can I say," Cole said his expression totally serious; "I like to eat."
"Of course," his mother gave him a mocking look. She then sobered up, "And on the topic of food. I came here to invite you for dinner tomorrow. I am celebrating my return to the Underworld. It will be a small gathering of close allies. And it would be great if you could come."
Cole shot his mother a questioning look but her expression did not change. "Of course," he said, "I'll come. What time?"
"About eight. Smart casual, as I said it would be a small group of people." She turned to Nicole, who was standing near the wall trying not to get upset from being so bluntly left out of this family affair or at least not to show how upset she was. "You should come as well," Elizabeth said. "It would be good for you to meet my guests; they are all very powerful demons."
Both Nicole and Cole were shocked by this invitation. The half demon did not expect his mother to be so welcoming to Nicole. During all his life Elizabeth never even said hello to any of his demonic girlfriends. The young woman was so surprised that she just managed to mumble, "Thank you, I will come."
"Well, if that's settled, I'll better go." Elizabeth said, "Would you show me out?" she turned to Nicole. The latter has not yet recovered from her previous shock and only managed a silent nod and followed the demoness into the hallway. When they were far enough for Cole not to see them, Elizabeth stopped. She turned to Nicole and gave her another one of her penetrating stares. Nicole had enough of that. She did not want to pick a fight with Cole's mother but she also was tired of being examined like a specimen on sale.
"Mrs Raynolds," Nicole tried to sound polite but firm at the same time. "I am a little uncomfortable with you staring at me all the time. If you want to ask me something then just say so."
Elizabeth stared at her for a few more seconds and then laughed. "You've got character," she said, "I was hoping it would be the case."
Nicole raised her eyebrows," You were hoping I would tell you off?" she asked in a slightly puzzled tone.
Elizabeth shrugged, "I was hoping you would stand up to me. I would not want some pathetic wimp next to Belthazor." She stopped laughing and said in a business voice. "I accept the fact that at the moment you are the person who is closest to Belthazor. And as long as you are loyal to him I won't interfere. But if I ever find out that you as much as have a thought about betraying him, nobody, not even Lugels, will save you." She paused and Nicole knew perfectly well that she got her warning and that this statuesque looking woman with a pleasant smile will kill her in a most terrible way if it meant protecting her son. "Now," Elizabeth continued. "Tomorrow will be your first open appearance in the Underworld, am I right?"
Nicole nodded.
"Then there are few things you need to know. First, don't ever again call me Mrs Raynolds. I will not be called by the name of this bastard. You can call me Elizabeth in the Upperworld and Belthora in the Underworld. Second, use your demonic name during the party, the same goes for Belthazor! And the last thing," the demoness took the bag she was holding and handed it to Nicole. "This outfit would be just right. It should be the right size, if not I am sure you'll manage to alter it. Wear it. Appearance is everything in the Underworld. And demons have a long memory. You mess up once, everybody would talk about it for a decade."
Nicole was speechless. At least the warning Elizabeth gave her a minute ago was something young Lugel could expect. But Cole's mother giving her instructions of how to behave and what to wear at the dinner party was completely bizarre. "Why are you doing this?" Nicole asked.
Elizabeth observed her with a cool stare, "You are Belthazor's partner now and should look accordingly," she said simply and turned to leave. She stopped just in front of the door. "By the way, it will be better if you use your shape shifting power tomorrow. Nobody needs to know how you really look." With these words she left. And Nicole just stood in the middle of the hallway with a shopping bag in her hand. She then shook her head and returned to the kitchen.
Cole was already on the phone ordering food. He disconnected and turned to Nicole. "Sorry," he said, "you were taking so long so I just went ahead but I ordered everything you mentioned." He looked at Nicole's face and immediately became alert. "What happened? Was she rude to you? Did she threaten you?"
"No," Nicole said, "She gave me this dress to wear tomorrow and told me to shape shift into somebody else so that the other guests don't know my real face."
Cole was surprised. This was so much not what he expected from his mother. "Well, that's probably a good idea," he said slowly. "What else did she say?" he asked.
"Nothing," Nicole tried to sound convincing. She did not know if the half demon believed her but he did not say anything. They sat in silence for a few minutes each of them in deep thoughts. The knock on the door interrupted their reveries. Nicole jumped up, "Food!" she exclaimed and rushed to the door. She flung it open and saw a handsome tall man with rich brown skin standing on the porch. He looked strangely familiar but Nicole could not remember where she knew him from.
"Hi," he said giving Nicole a brief smile. "I am inspector Darryl Morris," he flashed a badge, "SFPD. I am investigating the fire, which happened early this morning in the Tower. You must be miss Berg?"
When he said his name she remembered where she saw him: in Cole's memories. Morris was a big friend of the Halliwells. Nicole smiled at him. "Yes, I am. How can I help you?"
"Well, I wanted to speak to Mr. Turner and was wondering if he was staying with you?"
Nicole was not keen on telling him the truth and was about to lie when Cole appeared behind her back saying, "Do you need a hand?" He stopped mid sentence when he saw their visitor.
"Darryl?" Cole's voice sounded polite but distant.
"Cole," the policeman greeted the half demon coolly. "I was just telling Miss Berg that I am investigating the fire accident. I just want to ask you some questions if it's okay."
"Well, it is very late," the half demon frowned, "and I was hoping to have dinner."
"It won't take much time," Darryl insisted, "just a couple of routine questions."
"Fine," Cole finally said and immediately turned to Nicole, "Would you mind?" he asked.
"Not at all," she flashed him a brief smile. "You can go to the living room." She went in and headed to what Darryl guessed was the kitchen. Himself he followed the half demon into the living room still pondering on the way Nicole and Cole looked at each other. Darryl always complimented himself on being able to spot the romance in its very bud. And here it was way passed that stage on both sides.
"So what do you want to know?" Cole's voice snapped the police inspector out of his musings.
Darryl opened his notebook and asked, "Do you know your downstairs neighbour, Alex Reid?"
Cole shook his head. "No, he's new, moved in about a month ago. Come to think about it I've never met him, just heard from the building super attendant that we got a new tenant."
"But he lives just below you?" Darryl was surprised, "How is it possible that you never even seen him."
Half demon's expression became ironic, "It's quite easy actually," he answered, "He moved in a month ago. From this month I have been on holidays for the past 2 weeks, the week before that I was at work almost 24 h a day and the week before that I spent being drunk and generally in a bad mood, so I would not open the door even if he wanted to get acquainted with me."
The condescending arrogance of his voice made Darryl wish that Cole Turner was an ordinary criminal and he could arrest him and put behind the bars for at least few hours, just to get this annoying smile off his face. But unfortunately it was not the case and police inspector mentally counted to ten before asking the next question.
"So you have been on holidays for the last 2 weeks. Can you tell me where?"
Cold blue eyes, which so far observed inspector with calm indifference now reminded more of icy daggers. "I've been in Europe," Cole answered, "but I don't see how this is connected to the fire accident."
"I am just trying to find out when did you return home yesterday?" Darryl maintained the cool façade mentally praying that by now the Halliwells were well on the way with their plan. "Can you describe your day yesterday?"
Half demon frowned. Darryl looked extremely uncomfortable asking his questions, nothing like his usual sharp self. As if he was waiting for something. But Cole could not figure out what it was. If it was anybody else the half demon would not hesitate to show his visitor to the door but he respected Darryl for his honesty and for attempts to convince him to move on with his life. So Cole decided to give Darryl a benefit of the doubt and play along for now, "I have returned from holidays sometime in the early afternoon, unpacked, then I read some papers. I had important meeting scheduled for Monday. Then I had dinner and went to bed and slept until the firemen woke me up."
"Were you alone?" Darryl asked.
Cole started to get tired. "No, I was not," he answered sharply and before inspector Morris could ask another question continued, "Look, Darryl, stop wasting my time and yours. I can see that you really want to ask me something else. So stop going around it and just spill it out?"
"Fine," Darryl said. "Did you know that the guy living below you was an empath and a telepath?"
"No," Cole exclaimed. The surprise on his face was so obvious that Darryl had to admit that either the half demon was telling the truth or he deserved an Oscar for this performance. "I had no idea he was magical."
"And you had nothing to do with this fire as well?"
Cole's face turned into a cold mask and Darryl was uncomfortably reminded that he was talking to a powerful half demon who could incinerate him with a mere flick of his finger.
"Oh, I see." Cole's voice became sarcastic. "My lovely ex-in-laws are too scared to show up themselves so they are sending the police after me. Just one question, inspector, why the hell would I want to set his apartment on fire? I could have just killed the guy. It's much faster and much more efficient?" He glared at Darryl, who wished he never agreed to take part in the Halliwell's plan.
"You did not want him dead," he finally said, resigning to use Phoebe's explanation. "You just wanted him out of the picture until your plan with miss Berg was completed." Even while saying it Darryl immediately knew that he just made a huge mistake and that the Charmed Ones got themselves into a lot of troubles. Cole's face hardened and his eyes flashed furiously.
"I would advise you, inspector, to be careful believing the Halliwell sisters. It can cause you to make a mistake you don't want to make and cost you your job as well."
Darryl knew that it was his last chance to say something and that the next moment Cole Turner would just kick him out of the house and be completely in his right to do so. "Look, Cole, I don't want to make a mistake. And I don't want Phoebe, Piper and Paige to make it either. That's why I am asking if you had anything to do with this fire? You have to admit that inheriting 20 billion dollars from somebody completely unrelated to you when that somebody has a niece is very unusual. And you also started dating the said niece 5 days after your divorce with Phoebe, which you claimed had broken your heart. And in less than a month after that there is a fire in the apartment of the empath who lives just below you. You can say that Halliwells are paranoid and I was brainwashed by them but it's a bit too much of a coincidence especially when one takes into account what you are capable of." When Darryl finished he was very surprised that first he was still in one piece and in the same shape and second that the expression of fury has disappeared from Cole's face and was replaced by normal human tiredness. The half demon sighed and said quietly.
"You know Darryl, if it was anybody else, I would just throw him or her out of this house without even bothering to explain anything. But you always were an honest guy plus you have to deal with more weird crap than anybody deserves. So I am going to answer your question but on one condition that you will pass my message to the all mighty Charmed Ones and that you'll remember it yourself. I am tired and fed up with having to constantly defend myself. I am not married to Phoebe and I do not live with the Halliwells anymore. I have moved on with my life and I am done trying to prove to anybody that I am not an evil bastard. I have more important things in my life now. So next time the Charmed Ones decide to ask me some questions I will not be so forthcoming and I will use every mean possible to protect myself and those close to me from their interference." His eyes bored into Darryl's for a moment as if making sure that the latter understood what he was told. Then the half demon continued. "I have nothing to do with the death of Nicole's uncle. I owe this man not only my life but something much more important than that. It was his wish that I inherited his fortune and nobody will stop me from fulfilling my promise to him. With regard to Nicole Berg, do not worry about her. She is not a victim here. The last thing is about the fire. I had nothing to do with how this fire started. But I did end it." He saw a surprised look on Darryl's face and a wry smile twisted his mouth. "I'll give you a small demonstration." Cole opened the palm of his hand and a small water sphere appeared on it. The next moment this sphere disappeared from his palm and reappeared few feet in front of Darryl. In amazement the police inspector watched the sphere grow into a massive wave, which hung over him. Instinctively he wanted to run away from it but could not make a single move. Then the wave collapsed soaking him from head to toe.
"What the hell are you doing?" Darryl cried out.
"You wanted to know what happened yesterday with the fire." Half demon replied coolly a hint of smile hiding in the corners of his mouth. "I've answered your question."
Darryl looked around and found that the mass of water, which two moments ago was hanging over him and a moment ago has completely soaked his clothes, had again become a small sphere hovering over Cole's palm. The latter closed his hand and the sphere disappeared leaving the room completely dry. Inspector looked at Cole and grumbled, "Was it really necessary?"
Half demon shrugged. "Nothing is better than personal experience. At least now you know that the fire brigade did not have a group hallucination."
"And you could not be bothered to avoid soaking me completely or at least to dry me up as you did with the rest of the room?" Darryl asked trying to shake off the drops.
"You would not have believed it was water, if you did not get soaking wet and about drying you up, here," Cole waved his hand and a big towel materialized in inspector's hands, "this will help." Darryl took the towel and started to dry his hair and face muttering under his breath. He was about to hand the towel back to Cole when he heard loud voices coming from the hall.
"What the hell is it?" the half demon asked.
Ten minutes earlier Nicole was sitting in the kitchen patiently waiting for Cole to finish his conversation with Darryl and for the food to arrive. When the door bell rang young woman hurried to open it expecting to see a delivery guy and was greeted by the sight of three Halliwell sisters and a young man in his mid thirties in whom she instantly recognised Leo Wyatt.
"I think I told you not to come back?!" The anger flared in Nicole.
In stead of answering her Paige grabbed Nicole's hand and tried to orb her to the Manor but nothing happened.
"What the hell are you doing?" young Lugel cried out and pulling her hand out of Paige's grasp.
The witch shot a terrified glance at her sisters and Leo. "It does not work," she uttered. "Cole must have put a protective spell on the house."
Nicole perfectly knew that it was her uncle's spell that prevented Paige from orbing her out of the house, the same way it prevented Elizabeth's from shimmering in earlier on. Young Lugel saw Leo trying to orb and then confirming with the nod that his attempt had failed as well. The series of panicked looks were exchanged between the Charmed sisters and their whitelighter. It made Nicole smile but she hid her amusement behind a frown and asked in a stern voice, "Well, may be you'll explain what does all this mean and why you are at my house again?"
Phoebe and Paige were still in shock after their plan failed so miserably. Piper was the first to compose herself enough to be able to talk, "We wanted to talk to you," she said slowly trying to find right words. "You see, the last time we weren't completely honest with you because it involved telling you the secret, which we vowed to keep. But the events of the last days made us reconsider our decision. We realized that if we wanted you to trust us, we would have to trust you." The oldest Halliwell paused. She was hoping that the blond woman who stood in front of her would say something. But the latter just looked at them, her expression unreadable. Piper exchanged glances with her husband and continued, "When we warned you about Cole, we did not tell you why he was dangerous and why we were keeping an eye on him. It is a really long story and not an easy one to tell or to digest. We were hoping to tell it to you without interruptions. We live at 321 Prescott St. If you just come along with us we'll tell you the whole truth about Cole. "
"And which truth is that?" asked a sarcastic voice. Everybody jumped and saw the half demon looming in the hallway next to the living room door. His eyes were cold and haughty and he regarded the Charmed ones with a mixture of anger and contempt. Cole made a few steps forward and now he was standing beside Nicole his eyes fixed on the Halliwells sisters. "Come on Piper, finish what you started, what truth do you want to tell Nicole?"
Piper opened her mouth to speak but Phoebe bit her to it. "We are going to tell her the truth," she spit, "the truth of what you are." She turned to Nicole and continued, "He is not human, he is a notorious demon. His hands are covered in blood of hundreds of innocents he killed for more than a century. He can manipulate people's mind. Occasionally he expresses a wish to become good but don't trust him, it never lasts long." Phoebe's voice was ringing with emotion. Her face flashed red and she took a step forward and again fixed her eyes on Cole, "I will tell her what you did to me, how you turned me evil and almost destroyed my family. And when we are done, he'll see you for what you are, an evil heartless bastard."
With every word she said Nicole could see how Cole's eyes were becoming more and more lifeless. His expression did not change, a sarcastic smile stayed frozen on his lips. But young Lugel could feel that every accusation was like a knife stab into Cole's heart and into her own. She could not take it any more. She stepped forward unconsciously moving in front of the half demon as if trying to protect him from Phoebe.
"Enough," she exclaimed. "How dare you to judge him? You killed your husband without mercy when he was possessed by the Source, you basically killed an innocent man, a man you vowed to love till the death do you part? And you don't even have the guts to admit it."
Her words caused the effect of an explosion. Phoebe looked as if somebody let all the air out of her. The rest of the Halliwells household were as shocked as their middle sister. Young Lugel gave them a contemptuous look, "I know," she said. "I know about The Charmed Ones, Belthazor, the Source and the Wasteland. Cole told me."
"And you believed him?" Paige uttered sarcastically.
"Yes, I did," Nicole answered sternly. "Because he told me the truth."
"Yeah, right," the youngest Halliwell smirked, "did not you hear he has a power to manipulate people's mind?" She turned to Cole and seared him with a glare, "Good job, by the way. May be next time you can create a whole harem full of fans."
Leo tugged his sister's-in-law hand. This was getting really dangerous. He could feel that both Cole and Nicole were furious and if the half demon decided to use his powers the Charmed Ones did not stand a chance. He shot a worried look at Cole and was surprised to see him laugh. But his surprise quickly turned into fear. There was no humour in this laugh, just anger and pain.
"Sorry to disappoint you Paige," the half demon stopped laughing, "but I did not have to manipulate Nicole's mind. She can do it herself to any of you. Nicole is an empath with strong telepathic abilities. She knows the truth."
Astonished by this revelation Leo stared at the young woman in front of him. "It can't be true!" he uttered.
"You don't believe me?" Nicole smiled coolly. She stared at Leo for a second. "For the first time in your life you doubt if you are right. You wish Phoebe never met Cole because now you would not have to deal with this mess. And you really don't want to. You are used to dealing with black and white and you feel that now you are out of your depth. You are annoyed with the Elders for their set ways of dealing with things and for what they did to your family. But you are scared to do anything about it because they might take your wife and the son she's carrying, away from you." With every word she said Leo was getting more and more pale, but young woman seemed to not have noticed. She turned to Paige, "You are frustrated that nobody seems to listen to you. You want to be acknowledged as a better witch than Prue was. You also still think about Shane, because he was the only one whom you trusted and he then was possessed by the Source. And now you expect every guy you meet to be a demon or a warlock in disguise so you keep pushing them away. And deep down you blame the witchery life for that. At the same time you always wanted to be special and what can be more special than being the Charmed One." Nicole turned to the oldest Charmed One, "Piper, all you want is to have a normal life and a normal family. You want to move into your own house and share it with Leo and your baby, without sisters, charges and Elders. But you are scared that if you are not a witch any more, Leo will still be a whitelighter and you won't be able to stay together. You miss Prue because she was the oldest and now it's you who have to take the responsibility and you hate it. Every decision you make, you have to push yourself harder and harder." Green eyes moved to the middle Halliwell and stared at her, "Well, well, well Phoebe Halliwell, I could not even begin to describe what you feel: fear, denial, guilt. I can just tell you that it won't go away, it would get worse and worse with every day until you either find the courage to face yourself or turn into the old bitchy woman you met from your future. And this is your biggest fear of all." She took a deep breath and observed the pale faces in front of her. "Is it enough or would you like to know anything else?"
The Charmed Ones and their whitelighter regarded her with horror. "Who are you?" Leo asked.
"Does it matter?" Nicole replied. "You came here concerned for my safety. Now you know that I am safe. You fulfilled your duty."
Leo opened his mouth to say something but a cheerful voice behind him made him stop.
"Delivery from Mexicano for the name of Turner?"
Everybody turned a saw a young girl standing near the porch with her hands full of boxes and a red van behind her. The girl observed the tensed group of people and tried to reach for her pocket. "Sorry, am I at the wrong address?"
Cole snapped out of his stupor and smiled at the girl, "No, no," he said trying to sound casual, "you are absolutely right, we just did not expect you so soon." He pulled out his wallet, "How much is it?"
"Sixty five dollars, Sir," The girl smiled at Cole. "Where do you want it?"
Nicole perked up, "Just give the boxes to me, I'll carry them to the kitchen," she said.
While Nicole was busy with the boxes and Cole was counting the money, Leo tapped his wife's hand. "We should go," he said quietly. Piper nodded and headed to the car pulling her sisters after her. The whitelighter followed them.
"Bye, Leo," he heard a soft voice belonging to Nicole Berg. "We'll see each other soon." The whitelighter swirled around but did not see anybody except a delivery girl, who was walking to her van, huge smile on her face while she counted the large tip this gorgeous block gave her.
Cole turned in his bed, looked at the clock on his night stand and cursed. It was 2 o'clock in the morning and he could not sleep. After the encounter with the Charmed Ones him and Nicole had a silent dinner, though neither of them felt really hungry and then went into the separate rooms. They both felt this evening had changed a lot not only in the situation with the Charmed Ones but their relationship as well. For himself Cole had to admit that never in his life he had more confusing emotions. He felt angry and hurt, grateful and guilty, proud and attracted. And his emotions were linked to two very different women. Never in his life had he faced such hatred as today with Phoebe. He felt that every single accusation she threw at him was a knife in his back. And then Nicole defended him with such passion and faith that Phoebe never had. And what did he do to repay Nicole for this kindness. He exposed her powers. Let the Charmed Ones know that she was magical. All his intentions of maintaining her incognito went to hell. He wanted to prove to the Charmed Ones that they were wrong. Did it mean that he still cared for their opinion in spite of what he told Darryl earlier on? His thoughts shifted back to Nicole. How she used her powers and practically destroyed the Charmed sisters and their whitelighter, especially the latter. Cole had never seen Leo's face so pale and distraught.
The half demon decided that he needed a drink and got out of bed. When he reached the living room he saw Nicole sitting on the thick carpet in front of the fireplace. She was staring into the fire, her expression thoughtful. She did not hear his steps and he just stood there completely mesmerised by how beautiful she looked. The flames lit up her face and reflected in her black silk pyjamas. Her face was serious and Cole could see how her eyes sparked like emeralds from every movement of the burning fire. He probably could have stayed like this for a long time but Nicole turned her head and her eyes stared at Cole. He felt a guilty for spying on her like that.
"Sorry," he mumbled. "I did not mean to spy on you. I just wanted to get a drink."
Young woman smiled and shook her head. "That's okay," she said softly. "I could not sleep and decided to light the fire. It's much easier when you can throw fireballs in stead of using the matches."
"Oh, yes," he nodded, "makes a big difference." Cole poured himself a scotch and set next to Nicole. "You don't mind?" he asked position himself closer to the fire.
"Not at all," she smiled.
They stayed quiet for a few minutes and then the half demon said, "Look, I am sorry I have blown your cover. I should not have told the Charmed Ones that you were an empath and a telepath."
Nicole shook her head. "Don't be sorry. I am actually glad that they know. It would have happened soon anyway especially since we need to involve Leo in our plans. Plus," a small smile touched her lips, "I would have told them myself. And I'll be honest with you, I enjoyed using my powers for the first time for real not just for practice."
Cole smiled, "And I'll be honest with you too. You were magnificent," he said his eyes sweeping appreciatively over Nicole. The young woman blushed. Though his compliment was related to her powers his eyes were saying different things than his words.
The half demon did not know what was going on with him. He felt himself being drawn to Nicole almost beyond his own will. And with every minute they spent together he was more and more attracted to her. Everything in him screamed that he was given a treasure and he knew that he would kill anybody who would try to take Nicole away from him. But also there was a voice in his head telling him that she was an innocent girl, who already went through a lot of hurt and pain. He had no right, absolutely no right to bring more distress into her life. Cole looked up at Nicole and when their eyes met he could not look away anymore. Cole felt that he was drowning in her eyes. For a split second her soul has opened to him and he was shocked by what he saw: unconditional and overpowering love. But the next moment green eyes turned away and she was again staring into the fire.
"You know," Nicole said quietly, "she still loves you."
"Who?" the half demon was taken aback.
"Phoebe. A lot of her anger comes from being jealous and scared. I could sense that, but even if she does not want to admit her feelings, she loves you and you might still have a chance with her."
Cole shook his head. "No, we don't," he said quietly and when Nicole was about to object, continued. "Me and Phoebe don't stand a chance and we never did. We are too different. She always was uncomfortable with my darker side and initially I was eager to pretend that it did not exist, but it was a lie. It's part of who I am and unless Phoebe can love this part of me and trust me as I am we don't have a future. And I know that she will never be able to do it. But what is even more important I can't trust Phoebe either. When the person who swore to love you and stand by your side till death do you part kills you without even trying to save you, it also kills the relationship. I will always be afraid that if something goes wrong she'll betray me again. And where there is no trust there is no future."
Nicole listened to him and her heart was swelling with joy. She tried to squash this feeling. It did not concern her, it will never concern her but a spark of hope was already ignited for the first time in five years. Young woman pushed these thoughts to the back of her head. She gave Cole a sympathetic smile, "I am sorry to hear that."
A small smile touched half demon's lips and his blue eyes lit up. "Don't be," he said and looked up at Nicole. "Because I am not sorry, not any more."
Cole and Nicole were driving back from the BalFor Holdings/Lugel's Council meeting. Neither of them said anything. The last two hours were full of surprises and revelations and Nicole now felt her head starting to spin from the complexity of their task. She rubbed her face trying to arrange her thoughts.
"It's a lot to digest," she heard Cole saying. The young woman looked up at him. He was concentrating on his driving but she could see that he was tired.
"Yes," she simply answered. "I just can't take it all in," she rubbed her face again.
"Look," half demon parked the car in front of the mansion and turned to look at Nicole. "I think we should take a time out. We are both exhausted and I don't know about you but all I can think of right now is sitting on a coach with a drink in my hand and my feet on the coffee table."
Nicole smiled and nodded, "Sounds great to me, except I also want some food. I am starving."
Cole grinned back, "So am I, but I am not cooking. I've done my fair share yesterday."
Young woman looked at him pleadingly, "Take away?"
Half demon could not stop himself from laughing at her dreamy expression, "Absolutely," he answered and climbed out of the car.
They both headed straight to the kitchen where Nicole discovered earlier a big stack of different take away menus. They easily agreed on the Mexican style but picking the dishes was more difficult. They were just in the middle of choosing the main course when the door bell rang.
"Oh, God," Nicole rolled her eyes, "if it's Celina, I'll tell her that one more revelation and tomorrow she'll be visiting me in the mental institution." She went to the door and flung it open expecting to see the French woman standing on the porch but instead her gaze met with the pair of dark penetrating eyes belonging to Elizabeth Turner Raynolds.
The older woman flashed Nicole a cool smile. "Good evening," she greeted graciously. "I could not shimmer into your house so I had to knock."
"Yeah," Nicole smiled politely, silently thanking her uncle for putting protecting spell on his house. "Are you here to see Cole?"
Elizabeth eyed young woman with such intensity that Nicole felt really uncomfortable, "Actually, I am here to see both of you," the demoness answered still staring at the young woman.
"Oh," Nicole felt that she was being evaluated according to the personal list of Elizabeth Turner and had no idea how high her current score was. "Please come in," she offered, "Cole is probably in the kitchen."
She let the older woman go first and followed her trying to think of a reason for this visit. They found Cole studying the Mexican restaurant menu.
"Belthazor," Elizabeth smiled at her son, "Again in the kitchen, you are making it a habit."
"Well, what can I say," Cole said his expression totally serious; "I like to eat."
"Of course," his mother gave him a mocking look. She then sobered up, "And on the topic of food. I came here to invite you for dinner tomorrow. I am celebrating my return to the Underworld. It will be a small gathering of close allies. And it would be great if you could come."
Cole shot his mother a questioning look but her expression did not change. "Of course," he said, "I'll come. What time?"
"About eight. Smart casual, as I said it would be a small group of people." She turned to Nicole, who was standing near the wall trying not to get upset from being so bluntly left out of this family affair or at least not to show how upset she was. "You should come as well," Elizabeth said. "It would be good for you to meet my guests; they are all very powerful demons."
Both Nicole and Cole were shocked by this invitation. The half demon did not expect his mother to be so welcoming to Nicole. During all his life Elizabeth never even said hello to any of his demonic girlfriends. The young woman was so surprised that she just managed to mumble, "Thank you, I will come."
"Well, if that's settled, I'll better go." Elizabeth said, "Would you show me out?" she turned to Nicole. The latter has not yet recovered from her previous shock and only managed a silent nod and followed the demoness into the hallway. When they were far enough for Cole not to see them, Elizabeth stopped. She turned to Nicole and gave her another one of her penetrating stares. Nicole had enough of that. She did not want to pick a fight with Cole's mother but she also was tired of being examined like a specimen on sale.
"Mrs Raynolds," Nicole tried to sound polite but firm at the same time. "I am a little uncomfortable with you staring at me all the time. If you want to ask me something then just say so."
Elizabeth stared at her for a few more seconds and then laughed. "You've got character," she said, "I was hoping it would be the case."
Nicole raised her eyebrows," You were hoping I would tell you off?" she asked in a slightly puzzled tone.
Elizabeth shrugged, "I was hoping you would stand up to me. I would not want some pathetic wimp next to Belthazor." She stopped laughing and said in a business voice. "I accept the fact that at the moment you are the person who is closest to Belthazor. And as long as you are loyal to him I won't interfere. But if I ever find out that you as much as have a thought about betraying him, nobody, not even Lugels, will save you." She paused and Nicole knew perfectly well that she got her warning and that this statuesque looking woman with a pleasant smile will kill her in a most terrible way if it meant protecting her son. "Now," Elizabeth continued. "Tomorrow will be your first open appearance in the Underworld, am I right?"
Nicole nodded.
"Then there are few things you need to know. First, don't ever again call me Mrs Raynolds. I will not be called by the name of this bastard. You can call me Elizabeth in the Upperworld and Belthora in the Underworld. Second, use your demonic name during the party, the same goes for Belthazor! And the last thing," the demoness took the bag she was holding and handed it to Nicole. "This outfit would be just right. It should be the right size, if not I am sure you'll manage to alter it. Wear it. Appearance is everything in the Underworld. And demons have a long memory. You mess up once, everybody would talk about it for a decade."
Nicole was speechless. At least the warning Elizabeth gave her a minute ago was something young Lugel could expect. But Cole's mother giving her instructions of how to behave and what to wear at the dinner party was completely bizarre. "Why are you doing this?" Nicole asked.
Elizabeth observed her with a cool stare, "You are Belthazor's partner now and should look accordingly," she said simply and turned to leave. She stopped just in front of the door. "By the way, it will be better if you use your shape shifting power tomorrow. Nobody needs to know how you really look." With these words she left. And Nicole just stood in the middle of the hallway with a shopping bag in her hand. She then shook her head and returned to the kitchen.
Cole was already on the phone ordering food. He disconnected and turned to Nicole. "Sorry," he said, "you were taking so long so I just went ahead but I ordered everything you mentioned." He looked at Nicole's face and immediately became alert. "What happened? Was she rude to you? Did she threaten you?"
"No," Nicole said, "She gave me this dress to wear tomorrow and told me to shape shift into somebody else so that the other guests don't know my real face."
Cole was surprised. This was so much not what he expected from his mother. "Well, that's probably a good idea," he said slowly. "What else did she say?" he asked.
"Nothing," Nicole tried to sound convincing. She did not know if the half demon believed her but he did not say anything. They sat in silence for a few minutes each of them in deep thoughts. The knock on the door interrupted their reveries. Nicole jumped up, "Food!" she exclaimed and rushed to the door. She flung it open and saw a handsome tall man with rich brown skin standing on the porch. He looked strangely familiar but Nicole could not remember where she knew him from.
"Hi," he said giving Nicole a brief smile. "I am inspector Darryl Morris," he flashed a badge, "SFPD. I am investigating the fire, which happened early this morning in the Tower. You must be miss Berg?"
When he said his name she remembered where she saw him: in Cole's memories. Morris was a big friend of the Halliwells. Nicole smiled at him. "Yes, I am. How can I help you?"
"Well, I wanted to speak to Mr. Turner and was wondering if he was staying with you?"
Nicole was not keen on telling him the truth and was about to lie when Cole appeared behind her back saying, "Do you need a hand?" He stopped mid sentence when he saw their visitor.
"Darryl?" Cole's voice sounded polite but distant.
"Cole," the policeman greeted the half demon coolly. "I was just telling Miss Berg that I am investigating the fire accident. I just want to ask you some questions if it's okay."
"Well, it is very late," the half demon frowned, "and I was hoping to have dinner."
"It won't take much time," Darryl insisted, "just a couple of routine questions."
"Fine," Cole finally said and immediately turned to Nicole, "Would you mind?" he asked.
"Not at all," she flashed him a brief smile. "You can go to the living room." She went in and headed to what Darryl guessed was the kitchen. Himself he followed the half demon into the living room still pondering on the way Nicole and Cole looked at each other. Darryl always complimented himself on being able to spot the romance in its very bud. And here it was way passed that stage on both sides.
"So what do you want to know?" Cole's voice snapped the police inspector out of his musings.
Darryl opened his notebook and asked, "Do you know your downstairs neighbour, Alex Reid?"
Cole shook his head. "No, he's new, moved in about a month ago. Come to think about it I've never met him, just heard from the building super attendant that we got a new tenant."
"But he lives just below you?" Darryl was surprised, "How is it possible that you never even seen him."
Half demon's expression became ironic, "It's quite easy actually," he answered, "He moved in a month ago. From this month I have been on holidays for the past 2 weeks, the week before that I was at work almost 24 h a day and the week before that I spent being drunk and generally in a bad mood, so I would not open the door even if he wanted to get acquainted with me."
The condescending arrogance of his voice made Darryl wish that Cole Turner was an ordinary criminal and he could arrest him and put behind the bars for at least few hours, just to get this annoying smile off his face. But unfortunately it was not the case and police inspector mentally counted to ten before asking the next question.
"So you have been on holidays for the last 2 weeks. Can you tell me where?"
Cold blue eyes, which so far observed inspector with calm indifference now reminded more of icy daggers. "I've been in Europe," Cole answered, "but I don't see how this is connected to the fire accident."
"I am just trying to find out when did you return home yesterday?" Darryl maintained the cool façade mentally praying that by now the Halliwells were well on the way with their plan. "Can you describe your day yesterday?"
Half demon frowned. Darryl looked extremely uncomfortable asking his questions, nothing like his usual sharp self. As if he was waiting for something. But Cole could not figure out what it was. If it was anybody else the half demon would not hesitate to show his visitor to the door but he respected Darryl for his honesty and for attempts to convince him to move on with his life. So Cole decided to give Darryl a benefit of the doubt and play along for now, "I have returned from holidays sometime in the early afternoon, unpacked, then I read some papers. I had important meeting scheduled for Monday. Then I had dinner and went to bed and slept until the firemen woke me up."
"Were you alone?" Darryl asked.
Cole started to get tired. "No, I was not," he answered sharply and before inspector Morris could ask another question continued, "Look, Darryl, stop wasting my time and yours. I can see that you really want to ask me something else. So stop going around it and just spill it out?"
"Fine," Darryl said. "Did you know that the guy living below you was an empath and a telepath?"
"No," Cole exclaimed. The surprise on his face was so obvious that Darryl had to admit that either the half demon was telling the truth or he deserved an Oscar for this performance. "I had no idea he was magical."
"And you had nothing to do with this fire as well?"
Cole's face turned into a cold mask and Darryl was uncomfortably reminded that he was talking to a powerful half demon who could incinerate him with a mere flick of his finger.
"Oh, I see." Cole's voice became sarcastic. "My lovely ex-in-laws are too scared to show up themselves so they are sending the police after me. Just one question, inspector, why the hell would I want to set his apartment on fire? I could have just killed the guy. It's much faster and much more efficient?" He glared at Darryl, who wished he never agreed to take part in the Halliwell's plan.
"You did not want him dead," he finally said, resigning to use Phoebe's explanation. "You just wanted him out of the picture until your plan with miss Berg was completed." Even while saying it Darryl immediately knew that he just made a huge mistake and that the Charmed Ones got themselves into a lot of troubles. Cole's face hardened and his eyes flashed furiously.
"I would advise you, inspector, to be careful believing the Halliwell sisters. It can cause you to make a mistake you don't want to make and cost you your job as well."
Darryl knew that it was his last chance to say something and that the next moment Cole Turner would just kick him out of the house and be completely in his right to do so. "Look, Cole, I don't want to make a mistake. And I don't want Phoebe, Piper and Paige to make it either. That's why I am asking if you had anything to do with this fire? You have to admit that inheriting 20 billion dollars from somebody completely unrelated to you when that somebody has a niece is very unusual. And you also started dating the said niece 5 days after your divorce with Phoebe, which you claimed had broken your heart. And in less than a month after that there is a fire in the apartment of the empath who lives just below you. You can say that Halliwells are paranoid and I was brainwashed by them but it's a bit too much of a coincidence especially when one takes into account what you are capable of." When Darryl finished he was very surprised that first he was still in one piece and in the same shape and second that the expression of fury has disappeared from Cole's face and was replaced by normal human tiredness. The half demon sighed and said quietly.
"You know Darryl, if it was anybody else, I would just throw him or her out of this house without even bothering to explain anything. But you always were an honest guy plus you have to deal with more weird crap than anybody deserves. So I am going to answer your question but on one condition that you will pass my message to the all mighty Charmed Ones and that you'll remember it yourself. I am tired and fed up with having to constantly defend myself. I am not married to Phoebe and I do not live with the Halliwells anymore. I have moved on with my life and I am done trying to prove to anybody that I am not an evil bastard. I have more important things in my life now. So next time the Charmed Ones decide to ask me some questions I will not be so forthcoming and I will use every mean possible to protect myself and those close to me from their interference." His eyes bored into Darryl's for a moment as if making sure that the latter understood what he was told. Then the half demon continued. "I have nothing to do with the death of Nicole's uncle. I owe this man not only my life but something much more important than that. It was his wish that I inherited his fortune and nobody will stop me from fulfilling my promise to him. With regard to Nicole Berg, do not worry about her. She is not a victim here. The last thing is about the fire. I had nothing to do with how this fire started. But I did end it." He saw a surprised look on Darryl's face and a wry smile twisted his mouth. "I'll give you a small demonstration." Cole opened the palm of his hand and a small water sphere appeared on it. The next moment this sphere disappeared from his palm and reappeared few feet in front of Darryl. In amazement the police inspector watched the sphere grow into a massive wave, which hung over him. Instinctively he wanted to run away from it but could not make a single move. Then the wave collapsed soaking him from head to toe.
"What the hell are you doing?" Darryl cried out.
"You wanted to know what happened yesterday with the fire." Half demon replied coolly a hint of smile hiding in the corners of his mouth. "I've answered your question."
Darryl looked around and found that the mass of water, which two moments ago was hanging over him and a moment ago has completely soaked his clothes, had again become a small sphere hovering over Cole's palm. The latter closed his hand and the sphere disappeared leaving the room completely dry. Inspector looked at Cole and grumbled, "Was it really necessary?"
Half demon shrugged. "Nothing is better than personal experience. At least now you know that the fire brigade did not have a group hallucination."
"And you could not be bothered to avoid soaking me completely or at least to dry me up as you did with the rest of the room?" Darryl asked trying to shake off the drops.
"You would not have believed it was water, if you did not get soaking wet and about drying you up, here," Cole waved his hand and a big towel materialized in inspector's hands, "this will help." Darryl took the towel and started to dry his hair and face muttering under his breath. He was about to hand the towel back to Cole when he heard loud voices coming from the hall.
"What the hell is it?" the half demon asked.
Ten minutes earlier Nicole was sitting in the kitchen patiently waiting for Cole to finish his conversation with Darryl and for the food to arrive. When the door bell rang young woman hurried to open it expecting to see a delivery guy and was greeted by the sight of three Halliwell sisters and a young man in his mid thirties in whom she instantly recognised Leo Wyatt.
"I think I told you not to come back?!" The anger flared in Nicole.
In stead of answering her Paige grabbed Nicole's hand and tried to orb her to the Manor but nothing happened.
"What the hell are you doing?" young Lugel cried out and pulling her hand out of Paige's grasp.
The witch shot a terrified glance at her sisters and Leo. "It does not work," she uttered. "Cole must have put a protective spell on the house."
Nicole perfectly knew that it was her uncle's spell that prevented Paige from orbing her out of the house, the same way it prevented Elizabeth's from shimmering in earlier on. Young Lugel saw Leo trying to orb and then confirming with the nod that his attempt had failed as well. The series of panicked looks were exchanged between the Charmed sisters and their whitelighter. It made Nicole smile but she hid her amusement behind a frown and asked in a stern voice, "Well, may be you'll explain what does all this mean and why you are at my house again?"
Phoebe and Paige were still in shock after their plan failed so miserably. Piper was the first to compose herself enough to be able to talk, "We wanted to talk to you," she said slowly trying to find right words. "You see, the last time we weren't completely honest with you because it involved telling you the secret, which we vowed to keep. But the events of the last days made us reconsider our decision. We realized that if we wanted you to trust us, we would have to trust you." The oldest Halliwell paused. She was hoping that the blond woman who stood in front of her would say something. But the latter just looked at them, her expression unreadable. Piper exchanged glances with her husband and continued, "When we warned you about Cole, we did not tell you why he was dangerous and why we were keeping an eye on him. It is a really long story and not an easy one to tell or to digest. We were hoping to tell it to you without interruptions. We live at 321 Prescott St. If you just come along with us we'll tell you the whole truth about Cole. "
"And which truth is that?" asked a sarcastic voice. Everybody jumped and saw the half demon looming in the hallway next to the living room door. His eyes were cold and haughty and he regarded the Charmed ones with a mixture of anger and contempt. Cole made a few steps forward and now he was standing beside Nicole his eyes fixed on the Halliwells sisters. "Come on Piper, finish what you started, what truth do you want to tell Nicole?"
Piper opened her mouth to speak but Phoebe bit her to it. "We are going to tell her the truth," she spit, "the truth of what you are." She turned to Nicole and continued, "He is not human, he is a notorious demon. His hands are covered in blood of hundreds of innocents he killed for more than a century. He can manipulate people's mind. Occasionally he expresses a wish to become good but don't trust him, it never lasts long." Phoebe's voice was ringing with emotion. Her face flashed red and she took a step forward and again fixed her eyes on Cole, "I will tell her what you did to me, how you turned me evil and almost destroyed my family. And when we are done, he'll see you for what you are, an evil heartless bastard."
With every word she said Nicole could see how Cole's eyes were becoming more and more lifeless. His expression did not change, a sarcastic smile stayed frozen on his lips. But young Lugel could feel that every accusation was like a knife stab into Cole's heart and into her own. She could not take it any more. She stepped forward unconsciously moving in front of the half demon as if trying to protect him from Phoebe.
"Enough," she exclaimed. "How dare you to judge him? You killed your husband without mercy when he was possessed by the Source, you basically killed an innocent man, a man you vowed to love till the death do you part? And you don't even have the guts to admit it."
Her words caused the effect of an explosion. Phoebe looked as if somebody let all the air out of her. The rest of the Halliwells household were as shocked as their middle sister. Young Lugel gave them a contemptuous look, "I know," she said. "I know about The Charmed Ones, Belthazor, the Source and the Wasteland. Cole told me."
"And you believed him?" Paige uttered sarcastically.
"Yes, I did," Nicole answered sternly. "Because he told me the truth."
"Yeah, right," the youngest Halliwell smirked, "did not you hear he has a power to manipulate people's mind?" She turned to Cole and seared him with a glare, "Good job, by the way. May be next time you can create a whole harem full of fans."
Leo tugged his sister's-in-law hand. This was getting really dangerous. He could feel that both Cole and Nicole were furious and if the half demon decided to use his powers the Charmed Ones did not stand a chance. He shot a worried look at Cole and was surprised to see him laugh. But his surprise quickly turned into fear. There was no humour in this laugh, just anger and pain.
"Sorry to disappoint you Paige," the half demon stopped laughing, "but I did not have to manipulate Nicole's mind. She can do it herself to any of you. Nicole is an empath with strong telepathic abilities. She knows the truth."
Astonished by this revelation Leo stared at the young woman in front of him. "It can't be true!" he uttered.
"You don't believe me?" Nicole smiled coolly. She stared at Leo for a second. "For the first time in your life you doubt if you are right. You wish Phoebe never met Cole because now you would not have to deal with this mess. And you really don't want to. You are used to dealing with black and white and you feel that now you are out of your depth. You are annoyed with the Elders for their set ways of dealing with things and for what they did to your family. But you are scared to do anything about it because they might take your wife and the son she's carrying, away from you." With every word she said Leo was getting more and more pale, but young woman seemed to not have noticed. She turned to Paige, "You are frustrated that nobody seems to listen to you. You want to be acknowledged as a better witch than Prue was. You also still think about Shane, because he was the only one whom you trusted and he then was possessed by the Source. And now you expect every guy you meet to be a demon or a warlock in disguise so you keep pushing them away. And deep down you blame the witchery life for that. At the same time you always wanted to be special and what can be more special than being the Charmed One." Nicole turned to the oldest Charmed One, "Piper, all you want is to have a normal life and a normal family. You want to move into your own house and share it with Leo and your baby, without sisters, charges and Elders. But you are scared that if you are not a witch any more, Leo will still be a whitelighter and you won't be able to stay together. You miss Prue because she was the oldest and now it's you who have to take the responsibility and you hate it. Every decision you make, you have to push yourself harder and harder." Green eyes moved to the middle Halliwell and stared at her, "Well, well, well Phoebe Halliwell, I could not even begin to describe what you feel: fear, denial, guilt. I can just tell you that it won't go away, it would get worse and worse with every day until you either find the courage to face yourself or turn into the old bitchy woman you met from your future. And this is your biggest fear of all." She took a deep breath and observed the pale faces in front of her. "Is it enough or would you like to know anything else?"
The Charmed Ones and their whitelighter regarded her with horror. "Who are you?" Leo asked.
"Does it matter?" Nicole replied. "You came here concerned for my safety. Now you know that I am safe. You fulfilled your duty."
Leo opened his mouth to say something but a cheerful voice behind him made him stop.
"Delivery from Mexicano for the name of Turner?"
Everybody turned a saw a young girl standing near the porch with her hands full of boxes and a red van behind her. The girl observed the tensed group of people and tried to reach for her pocket. "Sorry, am I at the wrong address?"
Cole snapped out of his stupor and smiled at the girl, "No, no," he said trying to sound casual, "you are absolutely right, we just did not expect you so soon." He pulled out his wallet, "How much is it?"
"Sixty five dollars, Sir," The girl smiled at Cole. "Where do you want it?"
Nicole perked up, "Just give the boxes to me, I'll carry them to the kitchen," she said.
While Nicole was busy with the boxes and Cole was counting the money, Leo tapped his wife's hand. "We should go," he said quietly. Piper nodded and headed to the car pulling her sisters after her. The whitelighter followed them.
"Bye, Leo," he heard a soft voice belonging to Nicole Berg. "We'll see each other soon." The whitelighter swirled around but did not see anybody except a delivery girl, who was walking to her van, huge smile on her face while she counted the large tip this gorgeous block gave her.
Cole turned in his bed, looked at the clock on his night stand and cursed. It was 2 o'clock in the morning and he could not sleep. After the encounter with the Charmed Ones him and Nicole had a silent dinner, though neither of them felt really hungry and then went into the separate rooms. They both felt this evening had changed a lot not only in the situation with the Charmed Ones but their relationship as well. For himself Cole had to admit that never in his life he had more confusing emotions. He felt angry and hurt, grateful and guilty, proud and attracted. And his emotions were linked to two very different women. Never in his life had he faced such hatred as today with Phoebe. He felt that every single accusation she threw at him was a knife in his back. And then Nicole defended him with such passion and faith that Phoebe never had. And what did he do to repay Nicole for this kindness. He exposed her powers. Let the Charmed Ones know that she was magical. All his intentions of maintaining her incognito went to hell. He wanted to prove to the Charmed Ones that they were wrong. Did it mean that he still cared for their opinion in spite of what he told Darryl earlier on? His thoughts shifted back to Nicole. How she used her powers and practically destroyed the Charmed sisters and their whitelighter, especially the latter. Cole had never seen Leo's face so pale and distraught.
The half demon decided that he needed a drink and got out of bed. When he reached the living room he saw Nicole sitting on the thick carpet in front of the fireplace. She was staring into the fire, her expression thoughtful. She did not hear his steps and he just stood there completely mesmerised by how beautiful she looked. The flames lit up her face and reflected in her black silk pyjamas. Her face was serious and Cole could see how her eyes sparked like emeralds from every movement of the burning fire. He probably could have stayed like this for a long time but Nicole turned her head and her eyes stared at Cole. He felt a guilty for spying on her like that.
"Sorry," he mumbled. "I did not mean to spy on you. I just wanted to get a drink."
Young woman smiled and shook her head. "That's okay," she said softly. "I could not sleep and decided to light the fire. It's much easier when you can throw fireballs in stead of using the matches."
"Oh, yes," he nodded, "makes a big difference." Cole poured himself a scotch and set next to Nicole. "You don't mind?" he asked position himself closer to the fire.
"Not at all," she smiled.
They stayed quiet for a few minutes and then the half demon said, "Look, I am sorry I have blown your cover. I should not have told the Charmed Ones that you were an empath and a telepath."
Nicole shook her head. "Don't be sorry. I am actually glad that they know. It would have happened soon anyway especially since we need to involve Leo in our plans. Plus," a small smile touched her lips, "I would have told them myself. And I'll be honest with you, I enjoyed using my powers for the first time for real not just for practice."
Cole smiled, "And I'll be honest with you too. You were magnificent," he said his eyes sweeping appreciatively over Nicole. The young woman blushed. Though his compliment was related to her powers his eyes were saying different things than his words.
The half demon did not know what was going on with him. He felt himself being drawn to Nicole almost beyond his own will. And with every minute they spent together he was more and more attracted to her. Everything in him screamed that he was given a treasure and he knew that he would kill anybody who would try to take Nicole away from him. But also there was a voice in his head telling him that she was an innocent girl, who already went through a lot of hurt and pain. He had no right, absolutely no right to bring more distress into her life. Cole looked up at Nicole and when their eyes met he could not look away anymore. Cole felt that he was drowning in her eyes. For a split second her soul has opened to him and he was shocked by what he saw: unconditional and overpowering love. But the next moment green eyes turned away and she was again staring into the fire.
"You know," Nicole said quietly, "she still loves you."
"Who?" the half demon was taken aback.
"Phoebe. A lot of her anger comes from being jealous and scared. I could sense that, but even if she does not want to admit her feelings, she loves you and you might still have a chance with her."
Cole shook his head. "No, we don't," he said quietly and when Nicole was about to object, continued. "Me and Phoebe don't stand a chance and we never did. We are too different. She always was uncomfortable with my darker side and initially I was eager to pretend that it did not exist, but it was a lie. It's part of who I am and unless Phoebe can love this part of me and trust me as I am we don't have a future. And I know that she will never be able to do it. But what is even more important I can't trust Phoebe either. When the person who swore to love you and stand by your side till death do you part kills you without even trying to save you, it also kills the relationship. I will always be afraid that if something goes wrong she'll betray me again. And where there is no trust there is no future."
Nicole listened to him and her heart was swelling with joy. She tried to squash this feeling. It did not concern her, it will never concern her but a spark of hope was already ignited for the first time in five years. Young woman pushed these thoughts to the back of her head. She gave Cole a sympathetic smile, "I am sorry to hear that."
A small smile touched half demon's lips and his blue eyes lit up. "Don't be," he said and looked up at Nicole. "Because I am not sorry, not any more."