Well here is chapter 4 as promised. I just hope I can keep up the pace g. First the warning…… this chapter contains violence towards a child so if this bothers you please turn back now.

Second I would like to thank those that have reviewed this story:

Evil Angel – You have read my mind there girl. Contained within this chapter is some of what Little Cole survived as a child.

Atiejen – Sorry to disappoint you but I hope you decide to keep reading anyway.

Barb - Sorry to disappoint you Barb but there is someone else for Cole nowg.

Bronny – I'm glad you like. Yes Cole and Darryl are very much alike, as we shall see as the story continues.

Siamese – You shant have to wait too much longer to see her but not in this chapter though. Sorry.

Mage – You have also read my mind. Yes they are like brothers… very much like brothersg. And yes there shall be some Charmed Ones bashing so fear not it is comingg. As for fighting the Good Fight…. Let us just say that it is a different fight for the boysg.

Bubbly*pop – Well here is some of what Little Cole survived and there shall be as time goes byg. Yes I too always thought that Cole and Darryl good be great friends as you can tellg.

Okay this chapter will explain the Half-Blood Nation and Cole's connection to it. Please be kind and review!! Please see chapter one for disclaimerg.

This part is a continuation of the flashback from chapter 3. Yes I know it is a long flashback but it is necessary for the storyg

The scene suddenly shifted for Darryl and he could see a young Cole, again about 6 years old, only this time there was no knife. Instead he saw Cole dragged into a room; his small amount of clothing ripped off of him before being chained, face down do a cement slab. He didn't recognize anyone except Cole but then again they were all demons so that was hardly a surprise. There was a fire-pit in one corner of the room and he watched as little Cole stared at it, pulling at the chains attached to the shackles around his wrists and ankles. He wasn't going anywhere and he knew it but even the blood that began to appear from beneath the shackles did nothing to lessen his struggles. Darryl found that he couldn't move and simply had to watch as one of the demons, a male, picked up a poker that had been sitting in the fire and brought it over to the slab. The demon laughed as little Cole tried to move away from the sudden heat he could feel near his back. Cole's cries of pain as the poker was laid across the tender flesh of his back only made the demon laugh harder. Darryl suddenly smelled burning flesh and he tried to scream at the demons to leave the child alone but as he couldn't move so he couldn't speak either. It seemed like an eternity before the demon removed the poker and put it back in the fire-pit to heat it up again. The amount of blood coming from little Cole's wrists had increased as he struggled against the chains holding him down, still trying to get away. A second male demon, this one with a hood over his head moved to pick up a poker. This one though had what Darryl could only think of as a brand on the end of it, a red-hot brand. As the demon moved closer to little Cole another demon entered the stone room, a female demon. Darryl thought that she reminded him of Belthazor, Cole's old demonic form and when he heard little Cole call out to her he understood why.

"Mother…… please…… please."

Darryl thought he was going to be sick. The demoness was Cole's mother and she simply ignored him, ignored his cries for help as she walked calmly across the room. Just as the hooded demon reached little Cole the female demon sat in the chair that was situated right in front of her struggling and crying child. She sat impassively her eyes never leaving her son's.

"You belong to me never forget that. You live only because I wish it. You are mine forever." The hooded demon had grabbed a fist full of dark curls and yanked the boys head back, almost yelling in the child's face. Instead of simply letting go of little Cole's head he pushed his hand forward and Darryl heard the sickening crack as the boys head hit the cement slab. Darryl actually hoped at this point that his little friend had been knocked out but then he saw the small dark head move and his throat tightened once again, his tears flowing just as freely as the child's.

If he hadn't been frozen in place he would have fallen to his knees at what happened next. The hooded demon had moved down a little so he was standing right next to little Cole.

"Mine forever and so you never forget a reminder." The hooded demon brought the red-hot brand down on little Cole's back and pushed down, holding it in place as the child squirmed trying to get away from the pain and calling out.

"Please…… please…… Mommy…… please…… Mommy!" Little Cole begged his mother who simply sat staring at him. Darryl could find no emotion in the female demoness' face or her black eyes. He had never known such hate as he felt at that moment; hate for the person who simply sat uncaring and watched as her own son was branded. He was actually relieved when he saw little Cole pass out as the now cool metal brand was removed from his skin. Then he saw the hooded demon hold his hand over the small dark head and a red glow appeared. Before he could even wonder at what he was doing to little Cole now he saw the boy start to move and heard him begin to again whimper in pain. The hooded demon had woken him up, he hadn't even allowed the child the small respite from the pain that unconsciousness would have given him.

"Mommy." Little Cole's crying voice whimpered.

It was the last thing Darryl heard before he once again found himself back in the exam room, an adult Cole still laying in his arms. He looked over to Dr. B when he noticed Cole's eyes were closed. She was just finishing putting the instruments she had used away and was about to place a white gauze pad over the puncture site. He grabbed her wrist with the hand he had been holding Cole's legs with though before she could put it in place.

"What is it Darryl?" She wasn't overly concerned but then again she didn't know what it was that he had seen yet either. Not wanting to upset him more than he already seemed to be she simply watched him and waited.

Darryl looked at her before standing up and leaning over Cole's unmoving form. He didn't want to look but he had to, he had to know what it was that he had seen. This time he was the one that stopped breathing as he saw the scar, a burn scar with the same shape as the metal brand the hooded demon had used. He sat back heavily into the chair as his mind told him what he didn't want to know…… it hadn't been a nightmare it had been a memory, a 6-year-old child's memory.

"No a 6-year-old child's nightmare."

"What was what?"

Darryl hadn't realized he had even spoken out loud until he heard Simmons' question. He looked up at Dr. B and could see the sadness in her eyes. If she really was his Grandmother he wondered why he didn't feel the urge to blame her for abandoning Cole when he was a child. He would have asked her right then but Cole chose that moment to wake up. He was still a little slow tracking but at least he knew who Darryl was this time. Darryl somehow wasn't surprised by the first words out of his mouth.

"Darryl, are you all right? You don't look so good." Cole began to worry the minute he looked at his friends face. When he tried to sit up both Darryl and Dr. B pushed him back down.

"Don't even think about. The procedure I just finished will give you one major migraine if you sit up or start moving around a lot. Now before you ask it was a Spinal Tap and I'm all done so just relax." She turned and grabbed 2 vials of fluid, neither one of which was as clear as it should have been. "Simmons, please take these to the lab and give them to Cam. Tell her I want the test results ASAP if not sooner. Darryl and I can handle it from here." She watched as Simmons left the room, propping the two doors open on his way out. Once he was gone she turned back to the boys. "Okay little one I am going to take this off just until we get to your room though; then I'm going to check you again and it goes back on if there is even the slightest hint of blue. Got it?" she stood there just daring him to say something but he knew that look and he knew the only thing arguing with that look got you was further into the doghouse.

"Yes ma'am." He raised his head a little so the strap wouldn't get caught in his hair. Once his Grams had moved away he again brought his gaze back to his friend. 'Darryl?" He knew something was wrong and he couldn't help but assume that he had done something wrong, but before he could even begin to feel guilty Darryl seemed to come back to himself.

"Hey, don't even think about sitting up there my friend and I wouldn't roll over anytime soon either." Darryl could tell that Cole thought he had done something wrong even though he had been out cold most of the time. He suddenly realized that it was a learned response on his friend's part, a learned response he had every intention of doing something about, but not right now. "I had one of those when I was a kid and I speak from experience here so just lay there and relax." When he saw Cole's worried frown he couldn't help but feel relieved that he had managed to divert Cole's attention, especially since he had no intentions of mentioning what happened till Cole was feeling better. "There was a kid in my class that had Meningitis and I just happened to be lucky enough to come down with the flu at the same time. When my Mom took me to the doctors one of them said they should do a Tap just to be on the safe side. Needless to say it came back negative and when my Mom overheard the other two doctors ask why he had done the unnecessary procedure my Mom proceeded to sing the doctor in question a 4-letter aria. My father showed up and just when Mom finished he stepped in and decked all three doctors. Needless to say we never went back to that clinic ever again." A wistful look crossed Cole's face before he smiled, chuckling a little. Darryl could have just killed himself at that moment. When he told the story he never realized how it would sound to someone who had had no parents; Darryl knew Cole's father was human and had been killed by his mother and his mother was no mother at all. His friend had grown up without any parents, without any kind of parental love.

"Your mom sounds like Grams. Actually so does your father." Cole snickered a little as his Grams simply rolled her eyes at him from the head of the gurney he was laying on.

Darryl looked up at Dr. B as she did this and it came to him again that he knew almost nothing about her yet he seemed to trust her implicitly. He looked down at his friend and couldn't help but wonder if he had something to do with it, he wasn't worried simply curious.

"All right boys enough lollygagging about. We need to get you two to your room so Darryl if you would just grab that end I'll direct from up here. And you no moving." She smiled as this time Cole rolled his eyes at her. "Actually you take this and just hold on to it." She pushed the IV pole into Cole's left hand, as she knew it wouldn't do to have him thinking too much right now. Once he had a hold of the pole she quickly got them moving and since their room was only about 100 yards down the hallway they got there relatively quickly. She had snickered at the put upon look Darryl had aimed at Cole after the latter made a few choice comments about his driving skills, the fact that Darryl had just run the corner of the gurney into a wall as they rounded the corner into their room did nothing but make Cole snicker as well.

As she locked the wheels of the gurney into place she noticed that Cole's breathing was getting shallower and she didn't like it. When she looked over at Darryl she knew he had realized the same thing. "Okay, Darryl can you get him into bed please. I would do it but I don't know what result my using my powers on him right now would be." She noticed Cole looking at her questioningly and she understood that he didn't remember what had happened. "I tried scanning the bullet earlier and it caused you to react in pain." She said as she put the guardrail down and pulled back the blankets so Darryl could move him into bed. "Okay Darryl?" She had her hand on the IV pole as she looked to him.

"Ready Dr. B." Darryl simply slid his arms under Cole once again and lifted him into his arms, this time though being very careful about both his back and his head. He had made sure that they had put the gurney on the right side of the bed this way when he turned to set Cole down his head would be where it was supposed to be. As he picked him up Darryl noticed that Cole had a somewhat far away look in his eyes, almost like he was remembering something.

"You tried scanning the bullet on the way down here didn't you?" He remembered feeling a pain in his head before and now he knew what it had been. "That's why you did the test. It's the only way to find out what is happening to me." Suddenly realizing he was in Darryl's arms he looked up at his friend. "Darryl I could have moved." He didn't get any further though.

"You shush. You'd have to sit up and Dr. B already said no to that so live with it. Besides it's not like it's the first time anyway." Darryl smiled as he said this but his smile faded as he saw a look he couldn't quite identify enter his friend's eyes. He was still trying to figure it out as he settled Cole into his new bed. It was only because he was still looking at him that he noticed Cole's lips had a slightly bluish tint to them. "Hey partner you all right there?" After it left his mouth he realized how stupid the question was and Cole's rolling eyes didn't help any. "Okay okay very funny very funny."

"I thought…… it was." Cole finally noticed what his friend was asking about. He was starting to have a little trouble in the breathing area and he was getting scared again. Normally the idea of appearing weak in front of anyone would have bothered him, weakness shown meant death when he was growing up. Now though he didn't feel that way at all and it suddenly dawned on him why, he had always trusted his Grams with his very life but he felt, inside that he trusted Darryl the same way. He knew Darryl wouldn't use his weaknesses against him or try and hurt him with them like others had done in the past. A smile formed on his lips as he turned towards his Grams because he wasn't alone anymore, though his mind did remind him that he had to make sure that he didn't do anything wrong that would make his friend leave like everyone else in his life always did. His Grams had never left but that was different. "Grams." He found he didn't have enough breath for anything else at the moment.

"Okay here we go." Dr. B had anticipated this and reacted immediately to her grandson's need. She quickly placed the oxygen mask on him, having already regulated the flow and gently tightened the strap. She then attached the heart monitor leads she had left on him to the monitor on the shelf above his bed and checked his BP again. Feeling him start to heat up again she quickly took his temperature using his ear, which he didn't appreciate.

"Grams." He knew he sounded whiney but he didn't care. He didn't feel right and he was scared and he was worried. Not knowing what was happening to him scared him and he was worried that he might accidentally do something that would make Darryl leave and he would lose the only friend he ever really had. "Grams, something's wrong."

"What is it? What are you feeling?" She looked into his eyes and noticed they were starting to lose their focus. "Cole? Hey kitten come on; stay with me here." His hand reached up and she saw Darryl grab it, holding it tight the worry in his eyes easy to see. "What are you feeling?" She needed to know what he was feeling because she didn't like the readings she was looking at.

"Ears are ringing …… can't see you right." The ringing in his ears was getting worse and his Grams seemed to be getting further away, both the sound of her voice and physically. It was like she was moving away from him and he was becoming even more frightened. "Grams." Her reached out to her with his free hand trying to stop her from leaving. Just as he felt her grab his hand everything went black.

Dr. B watched as Cole's eyes rolled back into his head just as his whole body went stiff. "Darryl grab his leg." She shouted just as the seizure she knew was coming took hold of her grandson. As she held down his arm and leg on her side she made sure Darryl was doing the same on his side. When Darryl spoke the panic was plain to hear in his voice.

"Dr. B what's happening? What's wrong with him now?" Darryl had seen people have seizures he was after all a cop, but he never understood the fear the families lived with until now. Once again his friend was hurting and in pain and there was nothing he could do. He had to settle for keeping Cole from hurting himself even more by just holding onto him. He barely heard Dr. B calling out but a second later there was someone else in the room, someone he had never seen before.

"Cam I need."

"Got it!"

Darryl watched as the blond haired girl, she couldn't have been more than 16 years old, ran up to the bed and pulled Cole's PJ top apart baring his chest. Carefully she placed what looked to Darryl to be an air gun on Cole's chest and quickly pulled the trigger. Almost immediately Cole's thrashing began to subside, though it took almost a full minute for the seizure to completely give up its victim. By then Darryl found his own legs to be a little unsteady but he refused to let go of his friend's hand to get a chair for himself. Apparently Dr. B had noticed his condition too.

"Darryl, sit down before you fall down." She waved her hand at the closest chair and pushed over to him. "I don't need another patient thank you very much." She was checking Cole's vitals again when Cam spoke up though and she realized that her number of patients was going to double anyway.

"Actually you are going to have another patient anyway and it is going to have to be him. If he is willing of course." Cam didn't know Darryl but by the few reactions she had seen so far and what Simmons had told her he would readily agree to what ever was needed, pain be damned.

"Cam what are you talking about?" Dr. B asked as she measured out two syringes of medications. When she reached over to Cole's IV she ran into Darryl's hand instead and looking over to him she realized that he didn't even seem to notice, his eyes still focused solely on her grandson's face. "Darryl, he's alright. I've checked his vitals and he's just unconscious that's all. It's natural after a seizure; the energy the body expends during one is very draining so the body will shut down to conserve and rebuild its energy store. I promise you he is fine." The look she received was anything but kind. "Okay he's not alright but he will be so can I please have his hand? I need to give him this medication that will hopefully help prevent another seizure." She smiled as he instead simply held Cole's hand up so she could reach it. "That'll do." She had hoped he would smile and he did much to her relief. As she proceeded to give Cole the medications she asked Cam to explain.

"All right I ran all of the tests and."

"Exactly how did you do that, you have only had the samples for about 15 minutes." She finished giving him the second injection and stood up to face Cam for her answer.

"You told Simmy ASAP or sooner so I simply took everything I needed and shifted to another plane." Her look spoke volumes on the word 'duh' and Darryl couldn't help but snicker.

"If I were you Darryl I wouldn't snicker or smile for that matter when she uses that nickname around Simmons as he isn't very fond of it. And you Camilla, put the look away and get on with it." She used Cam's full name for emphasis and it worked as Cam wrinkled her nose but then redirected her eyes to the test results she carried with her.

"Well it is a poison and before you ask what kind I can only describe it as a 'Darryl Poison'. Now before you get your knickers in a twist Inspector I don't mean that you poisoned him what I mean is that the potion that was coating the bullet was specifically designed for you. The potion was geared for your system not Coley's so his system is rejecting it." She smirked at Dr. B as she used her nickname for her old friend causing her boss to roll her eyes. "Now the only solution that I could find was to make Coley's system think it's Darryl's system and the only way to do that is to make a potion using Darryl's Cerebral Spinal Fluid or CSF for short. This should work because the potion on the bullet is designed to interact with the targets CFS as it passes through it on its way to the brain. It will of course require obtaining some of Darryl's CSF via a Tap procedure. We can't use magic here or it will corrupt the CSF and it will be useless in the final potion. We need it pure as we combine it with Coley's CSF. Then we take the combination and make the potion. Once that is done we introduce this new potion into Coley's CSF and that should do it." She looked up and noticed the look on Darryl's face. "This is not your fault Darryl. No one could have foreseen this very warped idea."

"What warped…… idea?" Cole's voice was low but they heard him and from the look on Dr. B's face she hadn't expected to hear it.

"Hey there little kitten. How are you feeling?" She hadn't expected him to wake for some time, the fact that he was awake, and had been listening apparently, caused her more than a little worry. A blind person could see how protective he was of Darryl and how scared he was of losing the one person he truly called friend. It didn't take a genius to figure out that he wasn't going to want to cooperate with anything that would hurt Darryl.

"What warped idea?" Cole had heard most of what was said and he didn't like where it was going. If the potion was made for Darryl then someone was targeting him and it had to be magical. His first and only thought was that he was responsible and that meant he had to get Darryl away from him before something else happened. "If it was…… was magical then someone…… is still out there."

"Cole, you need to rest." Dr. B wasn't liking his heart rate or his agitation level, it would simply make the poison spread faster and that they did not need.

"Hey partner, Dr. B's right. You need to calm down and rest." Darryl understood where Cole was going; if it were magical Cole would automatically assume that he was somehow responsible. His friend would also feel the need to protect him from possible further harm even if it was Cole himself who would be hurt in the end. Of course Darryl had no intentions of allowing that to happen. "If anything magical is going on then we are perfectly safe here. Dr. B already explained that this place is fully protected magically so we are all safe right where we are."

"No you need to go. Grams you need…… need to take him…… somewhere else…… away from me. Safe…… then." He tried to reach for the oxygen mask to get it off, they needed to listen and they weren't listening, but his Grams grabbed his hand stopping him. He tried to pull his hand away to get away from her but she simply held onto him while she talked. He never heard what she said though.

"Cole, leave that alone." She grabbed his hand and held firm. "You need to calm down and relax. Darryl is perfectly safe and so are you. You need to calm down though." She realized she wasn't getting through to him rather quickly. Cam also realized this and moved to help her; too bad she didn't know Darryl as well as she did.

"That's all right Cam. I've got him. Why don't you just go and start getting things ready for the antidote. As soon as we take care of my friend here Dr. B will get what she needs from me and I want everything ready for when she does. He needs the antidote soon and I plan to see that he gets it soon." Darryl had seen her coming towards them but he automatically stepped in first grabbing Cole's right hand. He saw Dr. B glance behind her and when he followed her gaze he saw the loaded syringe. "Dr. B is it safe to do that when he has a fever this bad?" He had seen the temperature readout earlier and he could just tell that it had gone up even more. Even knowing that Dr. B wouldn't do anything to hurt Cole he still felt the need to ask. He watched as Cam left the room before turning his eyes back to her.

"It is perfectly safe. This one is designed for him and him only. It's the only thing that will keep him out long enough for us to do what we have to but I am going to need you to hold him for me. Is that all right with you?" She watched his eyes as he looked down at Cole, who was still struggling with them his words no longer making any sense to anyone but Cole himself.

"Give me his other hand." Darryl didn't like what he was doing to Cole but he knew his friend was beyond reasoning with, his fever too high to promote rational thought. Even though he knew Cole couldn't hear him he still felt the need to say it. "I'm sorry my friend, I'm sorry." Cole may not have understood what they were saying but when Dr. B leaned over with the needle he reacted. Darryl had to tighten his hold on Cole so Dr. B could sedate him. When he started to whimper Darryl felt tears gather in his own eyes as his guilt reared up. Fortunately the drug worked fast and very soon Cole's struggles lessened and then finally stopped as he slipped into unconsciousness once again. As Dr. B ran his vitals again Darryl found himself shifting Cole a little so he was more comfortable and pulling the blanket up over him. Carefully he laid Cole's hand down taking special care not to disturb the IV in the back of it.

"He'll be fine Darryl and he should sleep for at least 3 hours…… I hope." Dr. B was almost positive that she has the right combination this time and it would be the perfect test to see how long the auto hypos that she was going to give the boys were going to last. Of course now she would have to make the adjustment for the antidote he was going to be given but that shouldn't alter the serum too much.

"At least…… what you're not sure? Dr. B he cannot wake up while you are getting my CSF for his antidote. He will lose it if he does because you are going to have to do it right here, I am not leaving this room." Darryl made sure Dr. B had understood him before he continued. "Actually I hope that he remains out while you give him the antidote as well, painful doesn't even begin to describe what that is going to be like." He simply looked into her eyes, making sure she knew how serious he was about these points. He didn't want to argue with her but he would if he had to.

Dr. B had heard everything he had said and she did understand. What's more she was now more sure than ever that he was the one, the one who would guard and protect her grandson and to join him in his destiny. He was Cole's friend and his partner and together they would move forward and take their rightful places…… assuming she could keep Cole alive that long. The poison was but one obstacle here, there was also the bullet's moving to deal with and she only hoped that Darryl was going to be up to it. As she stared him in the eyes she could see that he was indeed up for it. More than up for it…… he was willing to not only fight for Cole but also to be there for him, to stand by him as a friend no matter what. She knew that both boys would soon learn about their true destiny and she fervently wished that they would have no problem accepting it. Darryl's worried voice snapped her back to herself.

"Dr. B what's wrong with his eyes?" Darryl, having just seen the blood drying on Cole's face as if he had cried blood tears, quickly called to Dr. B.

"That's just from the seizure. Don't worry." She said as she reached for a pan of water and a washcloth from one of the shelves above his bed. Before she could even begin to clean to his face Darryl reached over and took them from her hands.

"I'll do that, you need to get the stuff prepared for my test. The sooner we do this the sooner Cole gets better." Darryl took the pan of water and the washcloth from her now still hands and began to clean off his partner's face.

Dr. B watched this for a few minutes before collecting her instruments and placing them on Cole's tray table. Once she was finished she called for Darryl to lie down on the gurney they had brought Cole in on. As soon as he was done cleaning Cole off he gently wiped his face clean before setting the pan down and moving over to the requested spot. Once he had pulled off his shirt he laid down on his side, making sure that he faced Cole's sleeping form. He was momentarily surprised when he felt the gurney move but before he could say anything he realized what she was doing. When she locked the wheels in place he thanked her as he reached out and once again took his friend's hand in his own; this way it would be easier to sense any change in him and just in case he did wake up he wanted to make sure that he was the first thing Cole saw. As long as Cole saw him and saw that he was all right hopefully he wouldn't panic.

"Okay Darryl since you already know how this works I am just going to begin." She could feel the tension in her patient and had to ask. She figured she already knew the answer but asked anyway. "Darryl I can give you something to help you relax if you."

"No! Don't even think about it Dr. B. Don't even."

"All right Darryl relax I promise I won't so just relax." She couldn't help but smile at the vehemence of his words as she put down the needle she had had in her hand; doing anything now would simply piss him off and he trusted her at this time, a trust she didn't want to lose. Instead she decided to talk to him to keep his mind off the proceedings, well as much as one could anyway. "Okay this is going to be the general so you know what to expect."

"A small pinch and a little burn." His voice spoke of exactly what he thought of that particularly inaccurate description.

"Ah yes I can see you have heard this before. Don't worry I won't take it personally. Now since we have a little uninterrupted time together here is there anything you would like to know." A smile formed on her lips as he chuckled.

"You're kidding right?" He couldn't believe what she had just said. There were a million questions running through his head, many of which he would only ask Cole himself. He didn't feel right about taking advantage of his friend's condition and that's what he felt he would be going in asking Dr. B personal questions about him. Instead he decided to ask about the half-bloods as there seemed to be more than a few of them running around. "Okay tell me about the half-bloods. How many are there and." He stopped when he realized that he was just about to do what he promised himself he wouldn't.

"Don't worry Darryl, he won't mind. Really. As a matter of fact this is one explanation that we really should get out of the way now. I promise you that he won't mind really. Now you just relax and let me explain just what the Half-Blood Nation is and who we are." She kept her voice even and soothing knowing that Darryl would probably have a few choice phrases to use before this was over and she wasn't talking about the procedure.

"As long as you're sure he won't mind." Darryl wanted, no he needed to know why his friend had been so alone all of his life and he knew he had only pieces of the puzzle. If he could just make sense of the bits and pieces that he had taken in so far he would be in a better position to help Cole when he got better. His friend had nightmares to spare and he intended to make most of them go away but he needed information and Dr. B was offering just that. Looking over at his sleeping friends face he made his decision. "Tell me a story Dr. B. Tell me the story of the Half-Blood Nation."

Dr. B was glad that he had taken her up on her offer because she was going to tell him all about them and Cole in the process. She knew Cole wouldn't be mad and would have eventually told Darryl, but this way she can tell him all of the story and not just Cole's version, which tended to leave out a few details. Details like why he was created in the first place. Knowing she didn't have a whole lot of time she put her thoughts in order quickly and jumped right in.

"Okay Darryl here is the story of the Half-Blood Nation. Half-bloods have been around for thousands of years but they have never been accepted in either the Underworld or Above. I am speaking of half-bloods between different realms here as well. They were cast out almost as soon as they were born and in the early years many did not survive. However, over time they began to seek each other out, they were drawn to each other. They then started to form communities and eventually families. This began about two thousand years ago. They also created the Hall of Memory where an Eternal Flame is lit for every half-blood that crosses over into the Abyss; for a half-blood this is all the remembrance they will have, the Candle Flame and the stories told and written by the Nation. You see for half-blood's there is no afterlife, no watching over your family, no reincarnation. When a half-blood dies their souls and they do have souls, each and every one of them; but you see when they die their soul is sent to the Abyss where it is literally ripped apart and devoured by the Abyss. There is no peace for half-bloods only that which they can find during their life time. As I said this all started happening about two thousand years ago, a time when they also started to actively seek out newborn half-bloods in hopes of saving them. Infants don't last long after they are cast out. Now they have been surviving and thriving actually during this time. With each new half-blood they find their families increase. The child is adopted by one of the families and raised as one of their own even if they aren't the same type of half-blood if you know what I mean."

"I know what you mean." Dr. B never saw the tears fall from Darryl's eyes as he watched Cole sleep. He now knew the ultimate injustice that was going to destroy the man lying next to him and he simply let his tears fall. As Dr. B resumed her explanation he never took his eyes off of his friend.

"Now once the child reaches ascension age, that being 10, they take the final Pledge and they bond with the Nation. There is a blood link between all Nation members; it is mainly used for protection since it allows them to track one another. However, it can also be used to rapidly transfer information from either one member to another or one member to the Nation as a whole. Now almost three hundred years ago certain information made it's way to the Nation. Apparently the Seer had told the Source that she had foreseen his death at the hands of the Charmed Ones and the only way to avoid this end would be to create a vessel in which to transfer his powers and his consciousness along with them." As Dr. B continued speaking, never stopping at all, she picked up the larger gauge needle and preceded to extract the CSF they needed. Darryl didn't even flinch which was a good thing since it was going to at least another 15 minutes to get what they needed. She was going to do the extraction slower because she knew that it was going to take it's toll on him and she knew he wanted, no needed to know what she had to tell him; she simply wanted him awake long enough to hear all of it. Of course there was the added bonus that doing it slower decreased the pain level quite a bit. All these thoughts ran through her head but she never stopped talking, she had promised him the words and she would deliver, after all no Nation member ever broke a promise.

"The Source wasn't pleased to say the least. The Seer suggested using a half-blood as the vessel because it would be easier to destroy the original consciousness for they were inferior creatures, in her opinion. So they began to seek out half-bloods. The Source's way of doing this was to create the Hound Demons. They were created solely for the purpose of sniffing out and hunting down half-bloods. When one was found they were dragged before the Source and the Seer would determine if they would be a suitable vessel. If they were found unsuitable they were summarily destroyed; many were lost in the next two hundred years as he sought his vessel, many Flames were lit but he never found what he was looking for and he was getting angrier. The half-bloods had gone to ground in an effort to protect themselves and their families. You see it wasn't just the adults that were caught; it was the children that he was especially interested. He wanted to find his vessel while it was still young so he could groom it to be strong and powerful when he took it over. And no he did not differentiate between male and female, for him it was solely about the power and continuing his reign. He believed that if he could do it once he could do it again so he would be eternal."

"After about one hundred years of searching he became frustrated and he began to send his upper-level demons out to create half-bloods for the Seer to test as well as continuing to seek out the ones that already existed. These children were born and bred for this one test and they all failed. The Nation tried to save as many as they could and even more died in the attempts but they did succeed some of the time and for them that was all they needed to continue, which they did. A little over a hundred years ago the Seer, fearing for her very life performed a very dangerous spell in order to find out more about the vessel. It was then that she told the Source that the only vessel that would work was one born of his own bloodline. Armed with this new information the Source called upon his only living daughter, Letore, to create the vessel. However, before she could even begin the Seer explained that it had to be a human/demon half-blood. The Source was very angry; everyone knew that no human/demon child could survive its own birth. The Seer said that this one would if Letore got the father to drink a potion she would create before conceiving the child. The Source eventually agreed and once she was armed with the potion Letore ventured above and chose a mate. Benjamin Coleridge Turner was chosen and Coleridge Belthazor Turner was born."

"When Cole was 6 years old Letore killed Benjamin and took Cole to the Underworld. He was given to Raynor for training. The Source wanted a strong body to move into and a powerful one. He sensed great power in his vessel and he wanted that power to add to his own but he would have to wait till he moved into his vessel to gain access to it. Cole of course was defiant; he had loved his father very deeply and he couldn't understand what had happened. He was lost and scared and alone. The Source however was not amused and he took steps to rid himself of this problem. He had a special cell designed for Cole; one that would both protect his vessel from other demons and to make sure his vessel didn't escape. During the next two years Cole trained hard. Raynor would push him to exhaustion most of the time, because of this he never really took notice of the fact that he always fell asleep within 15 minutes of being returned to his cell. This was the Source's idea. He had put a powerful spell on Cole's cell, one that would put him to sleep, thus rendering little Cole powerless to stop the Source from entering his mind. Over the next 2 years he systematically removed all of Cole's memories of his six years in the human world, especially those of his father. What he didn't know was Cole and Belthazor, who had yet to make a physical appearance, were in fact making copies of his memories and it was the copies that were destroyed. The originals were stored in Cole's human heart, the one place the Source couldn't get into and the Source never knew."

"As soon as the Source was sure that nothing remained of Cole's human world memories he forced Cole's first transformation into Belthazor. Even at 8 years old Belthazor was powerful but he hid those powers just as Cole had told him to. He also had the same attitude problem Cole had had, apparently his father had rubbed off on Belthazor as well."

"And you." Darryl was angry but he knew that there was nothing he could really do but listen so he listened well, taking in everything so he could better help his friend later on. "You're the one who taught him how to duplicate his memories and store them." It wasn't a question but Dr. B answered anyway.

"Yes Darryl I was. If I could have done anything differently I would have but I couldn't, not without risking his very life." Dr. B somehow knew that Darryl truly understood what she was saying and she knew Cole had finally found his true Guardian, whether he knew it yet or not.

"You kept him alive, taught him how to survive didn't you?"

"Yes I did."

"You taught him well. Thank you." Darryl had seen Dr. B with Cole, saw how she reacted and he knew that if she said that she couldn't get him out then she meant it and that there had been no other choice. "When did he find out?"

Dr. B knew what he was asking, when had Cole found out the truth behind his very creation. She took a deep breath before continuing for she knew that Darryl needed to hear her words. "Two years later when the Nation finally managed to reach him. As I said Belthazor shared Cole's attitude problem and he refused to train, this refusal cost them though. The Source was not amused so he took steps to rid his vessel of this problem. Cole took more over the next year than any 8-year-old human child should have been able to." She paused for a moment as her own emotions threatened to surface. The pause did not go unnoticed by Darryl.

"Dr. B. Tell me." When she didn't answer right away he pressed her for a response. "Dr. B I plan on being here for him, to help him and to do that I need to know what happened. I know he was abused as a child and I know he was branded, but I need to know everything." Darryl made sure that his voice conveyed to her his determination in this matter and he wasn't disappointed.

"All right Darryl. You apparently already know about the brand. The Source had him branded that very same day."

"But he looked."

"Younger. Yes I know and no I don't know why. We have tried to find out but the only reason we could come up with is his DNA combination. It is unique and may have affected his aging process. Now after he had been branded the Source spent the next year doing everything in his power to strip Cole of the last vestiges of his humanity. This torture consisted of physical, emotional, and even sexual abuse and it continued almost non-stop for one year. Cole was a strong boy and never wavered but in the end Belthazor reemerged in an effort to protect little Cole. Cole never wanted that but Belthazor couldn't let the torture continue, he knew that in the end all that was Cole would be destroyed. Belthazor's need to protect Cole saved both of them. Cole had taken more than any 8-year-old human child should have been able to but he survived. Belthazor became his protector then and continued to protect him up until the day he was killed. The Source demanded that he remain in Belthazor's form from that point on. Because of this both Cole and Belthazor decided it would be best to hide most of his powers with Cole's memories. So they took the powers and locked them away with the memories. Belthazor removed a piece of himself and left it to guard both. He also, unbeknownst to Cole, ordered little Belthazor to protect Cole's human heart as well and he still does to this day. Now before you ask yes I helped him do this. Cole was going to have to do things that would be very hard on him so Belthazor and I discussed it so to speak and agreed that it would be Belthazor who did the killing whenever possible. He chose the role of protector that day and as I said he continued to do just that until he himself was killed."

"Now a year later, when Cole was 10 the Nation managed to reach him. Many died that day but that is part of what the Nation is all about. They found him and talked with him. They explained about the Nation and how they had been searching for him; they apologized for not getting to him in time and how very sorry they were about his father's death. Before you ask yes I was there and yes I used my powers to link Cole to the Nation that day. He needed to know what they knew if he was going to survive. They explained to him why he had been created in the first place. When he turned to me he could have asked me to take him away but he didn't, he somehow knew I couldn't do that, no matter how much I wanted too and by the Gods I so wanted too but I didn't. If I had taken him it would have been a death sentence for the Nation and for him and somehow he knew this. However if the Nation got him out then the Source would never find out that he was my Grandson as well, a piece of information that had to remain secret or vessel or not Cole would be dead."

"Why?" Darryl didn't expect an answer but he asked anyway.

"That is a question that I can't answer right now. Ask me again in seven days. Now as I was saying the Nation could get him out and they tried. They almost made it too but the Source found out. Apparently the brand was more than just a mark upon his skin; it acted almost like a homing device. They were close, so very close when the Source's personal guard intercepted them. Three half-bloods lost their lives and nine out of the ten guards died as well. They would have made it but the Source showed himself then and played his trump card. He pulled out an orb and told Cole that it was his father's soul. Cole didn't believe him until the Source started hurting Benjamin. Because of the blood bond between father and son Cole felt his father's pain and realized the truth. The Source promised Cole that he would continue to torture his father for all eternity if he left and Cole knew that he would so he did the only thing he could, he chose to remain behind. He helped the remaining half-bloods escape but he remained behind. It was at that moment that he buried his human soul inside his human heart. He privately vowed to save and protect each and every half-blood he came across. You see he."

"Felt responsible for the Hound Demons and those that had died while the Source searched for him. Has he been protecting them all of this time?" The connection was easy for Darryl to make; Cole always seemed to take responsibility for things even when those things were out of his control. His feeling responsible for the Nation's losses was simple reasoning on his part. He also knew that when Cole made a promise he always followed through no matter what which was why he never made a promise lightly.

"Yes he has Darryl." She had finished the procedure but he hadn't seemed to notice. He was still listening to her and watching Cole sleep, his hand never letting go of his friend's. The only thing keeping him awake at this point was her magic and she knew that if she removed it to let him sleep he would most likely not forgive her for it. Of course there was also the promise she had made so she continued.

"He has protected the Nation and has saved many from the Hounds; he has also rescued many infants like Cam. Yes Darryl Cam was one of his; actually she was the first infant he rescued and brought to the Nation. She has always tried to keep track of him since she was old enough to understand and in case you hadn't noticed."

"Has a crush on him." The smile was plain to hear in his words. He had seen the way the young blonde had looked at Cole before and a blind man could have seen it. Knowing Cole though he probably hadn't or if he had he either ignored it to protect her or didn't believe he was worthy. Darryl smiled again when he realized it was probably a little of all three.

"Yes. She has been with me since she was 19 and she has always looked at him that way."

"What happened?"

"Nothing gets by you does it. Cole brought her to me after her family was killed and she has been with me ever since." When she didn't elaborate he finally asked.

"It wasn't the Hound Demons was it?" Darryl somehow knew what she was going to say but he still needed to hear her say it.

"No it wasn't. Her family was killed by a witch." Again she didn't elaborate and again he called her on it.

"It was a Halliwell wasn't it?" Darryl didn't know how he was making the connections he was and he didn't question it either since it was helping him in understanding his friend.

"Yes Darryl it was, which one doesn't matter since it was in the past. The Nation has many Laws and one of them is that we do not hold a persons past against them because no one is perfect." She took a moment to wave her hand over the now full vials and send them directly to Cam while contacting her through their link.

Cam I suggest you begin as soon as possible since Cole will not be asleep forever here and I agree with Darryl, I don't want him awake when we do this.

Will do Boss. Cam answered her boss back through their Nation bloodlink. Cam smiled; she had always found the bloodlink, which was simply a form of telepathy, to be one of the major Nation advantages.

Once she was sure Cam had begun she returned her full attention to Darryl and the story she had promised him.

"Now where was I, oh yes Cole's vow. Now since Cole now understood the Source's interest in him, which the Source didn't know that he knew, he began to study and collect information. He had heard Raynor and the Seer talking and he knew that the Charmed Ones weren't going to come for at least a century and this gave him time. He had no intentions of letting the Source have his body so he and the Nation researched and planned. Cole learned fast and quickly rose in rank in the Underworld, even entering the Brotherhood of the Thorn at the unheard of age of 18 years old. The Nation at first did not understand what he was doing."

"But you did."

"Yes I did and I explained it to them. Cole was going to kill the Source and he was going to ask the Charmed Ones to help but he had to wait. We all had to wait."

"Cole knew that if he died then the Source would simply try and make another vessel and he couldn't allow that. He also wanted revenge on the Source didn't he?"

"Yes. We don't normally approve of vengeance but in this case we all concurred that it was necessary." She appreciated the fact that he understood what she was talking about and was taking most of it stride. His friendship with her Grandson was apparently already very strong because he had seen things in Cole that most failed too, including the fabled Charmed Ones. "Now as I said we needed information if we were going to succeed in killing the Source, he was powerful and had a lot of protection, many, many layers of protection in fact. It was hoped that between the power of the Nation and the power of the Charmed Ones we could do it though. So while the Nation collected information Cole protected them and Belthazor did what he had to do. I won't lie and say that Cole never killed because he has and more than just once. He never killed in anger though, he did only what he had to in order to survive."

"And he takes responsibility for each and every kill Belthazor made as well." Darryl wasn't stupid; he had seen the haunted look in Cole's eyes when he spoke of the past. "When Belthazor killed Cole feels it was because he let him out, that it was because of him that someone died." The more Darryl heard the more sense he was able to make out of his friend. "There were parts of himself he had to give up just to survive in the Underworld and to live with what he knew, parts that he hasn't been able to reclaim until now."

"I see you understand and with your help I am confident that he will become whole once more." Dr. B smiled as she spoke, seeing the double meaning to her words even if he did not, not yet anyway. "Now by the time the Triad summoned Belthazor to destroy the Charmed Ones the Nation and Cole had come up with a plan. He simply needed a little time to find out more about the Charmed Ones and their powers in order to finalize things. Towards that end he continued to plan attacks on the girls and then he or the Nation would sabotage said plans. Things were going well then a wrinkle developed that none had foreseen. Cole fell in love with Phoebe. He had never allowed himself to get close to anyone before, not even members of the Nation. Oh he felt safe with me but that was different and again I will explain that one later. His emotions that he had buried so long ago so that he could do what was necessary began to surface. Now you must understand that these emotions, well most of them anyway."

"Were the emotions of a child. He buried them when he was a child and they remained untouched until he met her." Tears ran down Darryl's face as he spoke. His friend was an adult but some of his emotional responses had always reminded Darryl of a child and now he knew why. His friend had been denied even his own emotions for most of his life. Oh he cared about the Nation, even back then but it wasn't the same and he somehow knew that.

"Yes Darryl, they are the emotions of a child. This was actually a good thing though because it was with these newly revived emotions that he realized that the Charmed Ones would never trust him enough to work with the Nation to defeat the Source. Now because of this the plan had to be changed, especially when Cole had to go on the run from the Zotars. Now you may ask why would the Source try and kill his vessel when he was so close to getting what he wanted. First the Source needed to wait until Cole turned 120 years old before he could transfer into Cole's body. As to why you would have to ask the Seer since she is the one who told him this. Now as for the Source sending the Zotars after Cole he had no choice. If he hadn't done that it would have made him look weak and it would have told others, his rivals, exactly who Cole was. You see the Source had kept his vessels identity a secret so that his enemies wouldn't find out and destroy his vessel before he could use it. He knew Belthazor was better than the Zotars and in the end he simply had to risk it."

"A weakness shown meant death didn't it?" Darryl understood the criminal mind and that made it easier to understand the Underworld apparently.

"Precisely. Now Cole and the Nation were working on changing the plan when Sykes showed up. It was also then that Cole made a certain discovery in regards to the brand the Source had placed on him. It seemed the brand connected Belthazor and the Source. I don't mean that the Source could control Belthazor but it was more than a tracking device. Since he knew that the Charmed Ones would never work with the Nation, which meant that all of their planning had been for naught, he made a decision. He told Phoebe to get the vanquishing potion that Prue had kept in her room before she had died. He told Phoebe that in order to beat Sykes he would have to embrace his demonic side and the potion would be the only way to stop him."

"He was going to kill himself." The pain was very plain to hear in Darryl's voice as he spoke. He was beginning to understand the true intricacies that made up his friend's very complicated mind, heart, and soul.

"Yes Darryl he was. He had contacted the Nation and told them to be ready and they were. Cole had calculated things perfectly. He would open the connection with the Source just as the potion began to work. This would scare the Source enough to bring him directly to Cole, at which point the Nation would attack him. Cole now knew that the Source would be weakened at the moment of his death if he kept the connection between them open. It would have worked too, except Phoebe didn't do as he asked. Instead she had the power-stripping potion that she had made for him once before, not the vanquishing potion. He realized rather quickly what she had done so he never opened the connection. Phoebe had killed Belthazor and rendered Cole."

"Powerless. Did it break his connection to the Nation?" Again Darryl did not know where his mind was getting the connections it was using but he believed it was somehow Cole who was responsible. It made him feel better to think this because that meant that his friend truly wasn't mad at him for talking about him with Dr. B.

"Yes it did. Unfortunately it also made him unable to fight the Source. I would have gone to him in person then but the Source would have found out about that meeting rather quickly and since Cole no longer had the power to protect himself I simply couldn't risk it. We did keep an eye on him though and watching him struggle with the loss of Belthazor was almost too much."

"He had lost his only protector and now he was alone, alone in his own head for the first time. I knew he was scared of something back then but I thought it was because he couldn't protect Phoebe any more. I never stopped to ask." Darryl was beginning to feel guilty for not having talked to Cole back then about what was so obviously bothering him. "I thought the girls and Leo would." His voice trailed off as he fought to control his now raging emotions.

"Darryl you have no reason to feel guilty about anything do you hear me. You had no way of knowing what was wrong with him back then and Cole knows and understands. You are right, the girls and Leo should have asked, they should have seen but they didn't and because of that we almost lost Cole to the Source." Dr. B didn't like seeing Darryl upset like this especially over something he truly had no way of knowing anything about. "Now what I mean by that is without Belthazor he had no way of fighting the Source and when Phoebe got the premonition about him taking a fireball to save her he realized that the time had come. It was the Source making a move. He told Phoebe, after she had explained her vision, that sometimes her visions were simply meant to prepare them for what was to come, that they weren't meant to save every innocent."

"He was saying goodbye."

"Yes Darryl he was." She had heard the catch in his voice as he spoke and it made her smile. He was the one, Darryl was the Guardian and now her Grandson would be able to achieve the destiny that was his and it would be with his friend Darryl at his side as his Guardian. " The Seer told Cole when she summoned him to her in the Underground that the Source had gone mad after taking in the Hollow and using it so many times. She told him that taking in the Hollow himself was the only way to stop the Source, to save Phoebe and his family. He wasn't going to do it but she forced the Hollow into him. Once he had the Hollow within him she sent him back and he saved Phoebe by taking the fireball and with it the Source's powers. When the girls vanquished the Source they never bothered to find out where his powers went when they returned the Hollow to the box. They never found out what happened to his essence either."

"It went into Cole. Cole told me about his possession, not all of the details mind you, not yet anyway. But I will talk to him about the specifics when he's better. I know he fought but the Source was strong and he was torturing Cole the whole time as well just to make sure that Cole couldn't regain control." Darryl stopped for a moment to collect himself before continuing. "I know he ended up in the Wasteland and that he collected powers to get out. It was his human soul that was trapped in the Wasteland but he had been born a half-blood and he still had the void within him that had once been Belthazor."

"I see he has already told you a great deal." Dr. B was glad to hear that Cole had already started talking to Darryl about his past, giving himself to this new friendship in a way that he had never done with anyone in the past. "Yes he was born a half-blood and more importantly he was born."

"Of magic. He is a creature of magic and he can't survive for long without magic can he?" Darryl had started to think of his friend as a magical creature and apparently he was more right than he had imagined.

"No Darryl he can't survive for long without magic. You could very well say that it is a part of his DNA, which is why the potion is reacting to him differently. It's one form of magic fighting another form of magic and this is how his body is reacting to it. Once we give him the antidote he will be fine."

"Are you positive Dr. B ? I mean once he has the antidote he will get better right?" Darryl couldn't help but worry about his sleeping friend. Too many things had happened to Cole in such a short period of time, the shooting itself, the high fever, the seizure, add to that what happened in the operating room and his lack of sleep…… Darryl simply wanted; no he needed reassurance that Cole would be all right.

"Yes Darryl I am positive and now that the story is over it's time for you to get some rest yourself." Dr. B carefully removed the magic that was keeping him awake and watched as he too drifted off to sleep. He never let go of Cole's hand though and she soon noticed that Darryl's breathing was matching her sleeping Grandson's. The Bond was already forming and it made her smile.

Okay another chapter done. I hope to see some reviews again as I just love reviewsg.