Chapter 8
Drusilla had decided to type up her report for Angel. She eyed the clock. Somehow, time had went faster than she had anticipated. Cole would be shimmering down here at noon so they could have lunch together.
Being able to enjoy real food again was more than interesting. The food that was around now, in this time and place, was a lot better than the stuff she used to eat, when she was first alive. Then again, a lot of things were different then than they were now. For one, she had planned on becoming a nun. After all that she had done, that was out of the realm of possibility, not that she was looking to that vocation anyway.
Dru shook her head to clear her thoughts and block out the past. She had a new life now. Fighting the good fight...and demons...or maybe that was the same thing.
She found herself stuck on how to word Wesley's and her attack by the blanketed vampire, when one of the most beautiful dolls, was set down next to the computer with a thud. Cole was early...and what a sweet present...
But when Dru looked up, she was more than a bit surprised to be locking eyes with Spike.
'How have you been, luv?' he asked in a quiet voice. Drusilla touched the box and looked at the doll. She then dragged her eyes from the doll and met Spike's. She stood up.
'What are you doing here?' she asked in a tight voice.
'I just got back from a bit of a vacation. I saw this in a shop and thought you would fancy it.'
Drusilla looked at the doll again, but not because she was enchanted with it. Looking at the doll kept her from seeing Buffy's fading aura that surrounded Spike.
The last two weeks had been less painful than she had expected them to be. And that was because of a little trick she had learned when she was a vampire. A trick taught to her by Darla, her grandsire.
Drusilla had just told herself Spike was dead. That dulled the pain. And there were times, in between her break-ups with Spike, back when they were vampires, that she would use this trick, suggested to her by Darla, to forget Spike and move on. It usually worked. She would pretend to herself that Spike had been staked, and of course, feed to get over her heartbreak.
So, after hearing that Spike had run off to Paris to be with his beloved Buffy, Dru had thrown herself into her training as a Charmed One and all that included....and told herself that poor Spike had died, not that he had run off to be with the slayer, yet again.
Cole had been a life saver. He had purchased her a new wardrobe and kept her quite occupied, yet, Dru could not allow herself to feel anything for him either. After that business with Spike offering to stake her for the slayer, Drusilla was not interested in men on the rebound. And Cole's aura said very clearly that he still loved Phoebe.
Drusilla sighed and shoved the doll towards Spike.
'Thank you, but I can't accept this. Now, if you don't mind, I have to type a report up for Angel.'
Spike knew she had liked the doll...that is, until she saw it came from him. He could feel her closing herself off from him again.
'Dru, let Harmony do that.'
Drusilla raised an eyebrow.
'Uh, no thank you. Even though these computers have spell check on them, Harmony doesn't feel the need to ever use it in her correspondence.'
'Oh. So how has your training been going? Angel tells me...'
'Spike...I don't want to talk with you about my life or anything else! I'm sorry if I sound rude...'
'You do.' Spike confirmed, smiling. Drusilla found his grin maddening! She picked up the box and shoved it into Spike's arms.
'Please take the doll and go. And in the future, only speak to me if it's business related. Are we clear?'
'Good bloody lord, Drusilla! How long are you going to keep this up? I can't change what I felt for Buffy! I can't! She will always have a special place in my heart! Always! But she is married to someone else now!'
'So you come sniffing around here now? You would've never come back here if she were available, would you? Tell me, Spike: if I wasn't human again, would you have ever sought me out?'
Spike blinked.
'To be honest, no. No Drusilla, I would not have. I have a soul now, I can't just kill people for the hell of it. And neither can you. It's kind of like what happened between Angel and Darla. Once he could feel, he couldn't be with someone that couldn't. But that's not us, Dru, not anymore. We both have been given a second chance.'
'And if Buffy just happens to drop her husband, and decides that you're the man she wants to be with?'
Spike set the doll box on a table and folded his arms.
'You have no idea what Buffy and I had. She would never 'drop' her husband, or a husband, for someone else. She's expecting a child I'll have you know.'
Drusilla gave him a wry smile.
'Sainted Buffy. It must be nice to know someone so pure and pristine. Now if you don't mind...'
Drusilla suddenly turned away from him, as a vision came to her! She could see Cole in his apartment, standing in front of Piper, Phoebe and Paige. They were holding hands and chanting...
Drusilla turned back to Spike.
'I have to go!'
Spike reached out to touch her arm.
'What is it? Is it a vision?'
'I have to go!' she repeated, as she began to orb. But Spike would not let go of her arm and she certainly wasn't going to take him with her! She stopped her departure.
'What, Spike?!'
Spike let go of her.
'If that vision, and I know it was one from a century of being with you, was what I think it was, then let him go, Dru. Let the Charmed Ones do what they need to do. Belthazor isn't worth it.'
Drusilla stared at him hard.
'They're going to try and vanquish Cole, aren't they? Oh my God! And you knew this?'
'Dru, the man is responsible for all of that trouble within your family! Now what's more important here? Getting to know your relations or some bloody demon that doesn't mean you any good?'
'You don't mean me any good, Spike.' Dru responded, then orbed away quickly. Spike just stared at the empty spot where she had just been standing, before picking up the doll and throwing it at one of the walls! He then turned and marched out of the office, past a nosy looking Harmony and threw open the doors of Angel's office!
Angel and Wesley stopped speaking abruptly and looked at him, as he approached them. Spike then looked at Wesley.
'I want Dru working under me.' he announced.
Wesley looked to Angel, who raised a brow.
'I'm sorry, I don't quite understand.'
'Yes you do, mate! I will take over going out hunting with Dru. She will report to me.'
Angel put a hand up.
'Okay, Spike. What happened? Dru didn't like the doll? She wasn't happy to see you? I told you so!'
'Dru had a vision about the vanquishing. She orbed off to stop it.'
'Oh great!' Angel hissed, taking out his cellphone. He was going to call Leo. Meanwhile, Wesley wanted answers.
'Spike, I am Drusilla's 'earthly Whitelighter'. She works under me so that, I, along with Leo, can help her become more in tune with her powers. Leo's duty is really to Piper, Phoebe and Paige.'
'I understand all of that, mate, but someone needs to keep her schooled in just who the enemy is. If either of you had been doing a proper job of that, Dru wouldn't still be living with Belthazor.'
Wesley looked him up and down.
'So this isn't about helping Dru, so much as it is your trying to win her back by being with her all of the time, am I correct?'
'No, you bloody well aren't! Chances are she's going to have to go up against Belthazor, with the others one day. She needs to be trained on how to combat his powers, not hunting low level vamps and the like.'
'We don't discriminate here, Spike! A demon is a demon, is a vampire is a vampire! There is no hierarchy!' Wesley said with disgust.
'From now on, I will be the one training her. I will be the one going with her when it's time to hunt something down. Get that through your bloody head!'
Angel got off of the phone an re-joined them.
'Leo told me the girls just orbed over to Belthazor's a few minutes ago. He's going to orb over there and see if he can run some interference. Either way, Dru is going to be pissed!' Angel predicted.
But Spike didn't care. Dru probably would stop the vanquishing, and that he could accept as well. But he was going to get his equal time in with her too. Belthazor may think that he has Dru all to himself at night, once she left the offices of Wolfram&Hart, but that too was going to change as well. This was war. And one he fully intended to win. For if Spike had anything to say about it, soon, Dru would be back in his life...and his bed.
****
Cole smirked at his ex-wife and her sisters, as they stood before him.
'I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you right?'
Phoebe walked up to him.
'Yes you did. We're here to vanquish you. I told you if you did anything to hurt my sisters, I would vanquish you. This is the end of the line.'
'Phoebe, I had nothing to do with that fire...'
'Oh the hell you didn't!' Piper hissed savagely. There was an unmarked car watching their house as the spoke! Probably to see if they were going to burn down their own house or something!
'You made that phone call to Phoebe's paper, didn't you?' Paige asked in a haughty tone. 'Never mind, I wouldn't expect the truth from you anyway!'
'My, my, my, Paige. You know, I always figured you were crabby because you had no boyfriend. That geek that works for Angelus must be servicing you well! What's his name again? Weasel?'
Paige rolled her eyes, but did not bother responding. Cole continued on.
'By the way, you do know that now that there are four of you, a power of three spell won't do any good. You'll need the power of four.'
Phoebe smiled.
'Yes, we know.'
Cole made a point of looking around.
'I'm so sorry, but I only see three of you.'
'But you'll hear four of us!' Paige snapped, pulling out a small voice recorder. The girls had tricked Drusilla into reciting the spell, telling her it was for her lessons. Paige had been secretly tape recording her.
Cole's eyes widened. Good Lord! That recorder probably had Dru's voice on it! Damnit! Cole waved his hand so that he could blow up the recorder, when Drusilla herself orbed in. Cole stopped. The fight that would come, would be even better!
'What's going on here?!' Dru asked, her voice high pitched. The girls looked at one another. It was Phoebe that chose to speak up.
'We're vanquishing Cole.' she said coolly.
Dru blinked. She had known that. She had seen it in her vision, but she hadn't wanted to believe it.
'Why?! Why?! Just because of that poppycock that 'certain people' have been spreading around about Cole burning down Piper's club...'
Piper stepped forward.
'He DID burn it down, Dru! It was him! It's just too much of a coincidence!'
Dru walked up to Piper.
'Why would he do that? Why? Cole knows that if he did something like that he would never get Phoebe back!'
'He's not going to 'get me back', no matter what he does.' Phoebe answered, looking directly at Cole now. Cole returned the look with a cold smile. He was still looking at Phoebe, when he addressed Drusilla.
'Dru, they can't vanquish me without you. They had your voice on tape.'
Drusilla looked around, until she saw the tape recorder in Paige's hand! She pointed to it.
'Tape recorder!' she said, and it came floating into her hand. She then pressed play. Drusilla soon heard her own voice reciting the words, 'the power of four will make you no more'. Drusilla clicked it off and glared at them, before snatching the cassette out of the recorder.
'And you all want to make me family so badly! This is a nice way of doing it!'
Phoebe squinted at her.
'Would you have come here if we asked you?'
Drusilla looked at her as if she were crazy!
'No! Of course not! You don't have any proof that Cole did any of this! You can't just vanquish him into the netherland because...'
Phoebe walked up in her face.
'I am tired of listening to you defend this monster! Either you are with us or against us! We WILL vanquish him and there isn't a damned thing you can do about it!'
Drusilla, who had never liked her personal space invaded, shoved Phoebe back! Cole jumped in between them and looked at Paige.
'Get your sisters out of here!' Cole yelled. Leo orbed in just then.
'What's going on here?!' Leo asked, his voice very loud. Phoebe walked up to him and whispered something in his ear. Leo nodded, then looked at everyone.
'We'll be back.' he said. He and Phoebe orbed out of the apartment. Cole lifted an eyebrow. Where was Phoebe going?
'Get out of here, both of you!' Drusilla shouted. 'Neither one of you cares that Cole has been my only real friend! The rest of you are too busy hating me for what I did to Phoebe's boyfriend!'
Paige was about to say something, when Piper put a hand on her arm. She then looked Drusilla in the eye.
'He is our enemy, Dru. Either you orb back to work or to the manor with us, or you don't come back, ever!'
'Is that an ultimatum?' Dru asked sarcastically. But inside, her newfound human heart was breaking. She had given up on Phoebe a week ago. But there had always been a part of her that sensed that maybe she could develop a closeness with Paige and Piper.
But now, that chance was slipping away.
Paige sighed.
'I'm sorry, honey. But it is. It's either this creep...'
'Hey!' Cole snapped.
'Or us. Your family.' Paige finished.
Drusilla couldn't bear making a decision like this now. She just couldn't. She turned and walked towards her bedroom, then slammed the door shut! Piper threw her hands up in the air!
'Well, I guess that's her answer! Let's go!' she said to Paige. But Paige stared at the closed bedroom door, then at Cole.
'You don't love her. How can you be so cruel as to screw with her emotions like that?'
'You know, I may still love Phoebe, but why is it that I have to have evil intentions towards Dru? We're old friends. None of you have been very welcoming and...'
Piper couldn't stand the sight of his smug face one moment longer! She moved her hands and blew him up! His molecules swam around like flies.
'Let's go!' Piper said again, holding on to Paige. The sisters orbed away, just as Cole reformed. He looked around and saw the girls were gone. He then straightened his jacket and walked over to Drusilla's door. He tapped softly on it.
'Dru? It's Cole. They're gone. Please open up.'
After a moment, Drusilla opened the door. Her eyes held fresh tears. Cole reached out and wiped them away.
'I know how hard that was for you...I'm sorry you had to choose.' he said softly, although secretly, he was overjoyed! His plan was coming along perfectly!
Drusilla sniffed and looked up at him. It was then that Cole's mouth swooped down over hers! Drusilla did not even bother to push him away, as he picked her up and carried her over to the bed.
****
Leo orbed Phoebe into Angel's office. Phoebe ran straight into his arms and began sobbing! Angel's arms clasped around her, as he looked at Leo. Spike and Wesley were still in the room.
'What happened? Phoebe?' Angel tried to ask, but Phoebe could not talk, for all of her crying. Leo cleared his throat.
'Than vanquish was a bust. Drusilla showed up and stopped it. The girls needed a power of four spell.'
Wesley and Spike looked at one another.
'Then how did Paige think she was going to succeed?' Wesley asked. Phoebe stopped crying and looked up at Angel.
'Hi.' she said quietly.
Angel smiled gently down at her.
'Hi.' he said back. Spike rolled his eyes! Good bloody lord! Angel was totally besotted with this witch!
'Hey, Whitelighter!' Spike snapped, 'could you answer the question? How did you all expect to vanquish Belthazor without Dru?'
Leo looked glanced over at Phoebe, who nodded.
'We had tape recorded Dru saying the spell. We were going to play the tape.'
Spike rolled his eyes! He knew Dru was royally pissed off now!
Wesley eyed Leo.
'Where is Drusilla now?'
'When we left she was having it out with Paige and Piper.'
Wesley took out his phone.
'I'm going to call her. I gave her a new cellphone. She lost her other one during her fight with Phoebe. Spike looked away. He himself had destroyed that phone, since he knew Belthazor had given it to Dru.
But all Wesley got was her voice mail.
****
Raagon and his daughter watched Cole and Drusilla making love through her crystal ball. Raagon turned away in disgust.
'I have seen enough.'
But Fiathna continued to watch, her eye brows raised. Raagon gave his daughter a sharp look.
'Fiathna!'
Fiathna reluctantly turned away.
'Go and summon me a witch that specializes in dark magic.'
'Why?'
'Because I've had it with Belthazor! He really thinks I'm stupid! This bedding of the newest witch, is just a ploy to get back at his ex wife! He neither cares about destroying the Charmed Ones, or ruling by my side!'
'But Father, what is it that you need a dark witch for?'
'I've figured out what Belthazor wanted with the Vanquishing Parchments. He planned to unleash all of the demons that have been vanquished by the Charmed Ones, back at them, and the world. It was a good plan. I will make it even better.'
'How?' Fiathna asked, worriedly. Her father always seemed to underestimate how powerful a demon Belthazor was.
'With dark magic, and the parchments, we'll unleash the demons ourselves. We won't need the Book of Shadows.'
'But what if the Charmed Ones...' Fiathna began. Raagon turned and sat down on his concrete throne.
'That's another thing I've been thinking over, dear daughter.' he purred. He then waved his hand. Three Dark Lighters appeared.
'How may we be of service, my lord?' One of them asked. Fiathna began to back away. Three Dark Lighters? What was her father up to?
Raagon answered her question.
'We'll need time for the witch to work. That and I want all of the Charmed Ones dead. Why would I have a need for a rogue Charmed One, when the other three are gone?'
Raagon got up off of his throne and walked over to the crystal ball. Fiathna joined him.
'Daughter, show our guests who their prey will be.'
Fiathna waved a hand over the ball. She pointed to Drusilla, who's head was thrown back, in the midst of passion. She then waved her hand over the ball, and Piper and Paige appeared. Fiathna pointed out Paige. The two sisters were back at their house.
Fiathna finally, made Leo appear. He was still in the Wolfram&Hart Offices. Raagon smiled.
'When I give the word, I want you to take all three of them out.'
Fiathna did not think that was a good idea! She looked at her father, wide eyed.
'What of Belthazor? He will know you did this! This is not what you agreed to!
'I will have a special fate waiting for Belthazor, when he decides to join us.' Raagon sneered.
Drusilla had decided to type up her report for Angel. She eyed the clock. Somehow, time had went faster than she had anticipated. Cole would be shimmering down here at noon so they could have lunch together.
Being able to enjoy real food again was more than interesting. The food that was around now, in this time and place, was a lot better than the stuff she used to eat, when she was first alive. Then again, a lot of things were different then than they were now. For one, she had planned on becoming a nun. After all that she had done, that was out of the realm of possibility, not that she was looking to that vocation anyway.
Dru shook her head to clear her thoughts and block out the past. She had a new life now. Fighting the good fight...and demons...or maybe that was the same thing.
She found herself stuck on how to word Wesley's and her attack by the blanketed vampire, when one of the most beautiful dolls, was set down next to the computer with a thud. Cole was early...and what a sweet present...
But when Dru looked up, she was more than a bit surprised to be locking eyes with Spike.
'How have you been, luv?' he asked in a quiet voice. Drusilla touched the box and looked at the doll. She then dragged her eyes from the doll and met Spike's. She stood up.
'What are you doing here?' she asked in a tight voice.
'I just got back from a bit of a vacation. I saw this in a shop and thought you would fancy it.'
Drusilla looked at the doll again, but not because she was enchanted with it. Looking at the doll kept her from seeing Buffy's fading aura that surrounded Spike.
The last two weeks had been less painful than she had expected them to be. And that was because of a little trick she had learned when she was a vampire. A trick taught to her by Darla, her grandsire.
Drusilla had just told herself Spike was dead. That dulled the pain. And there were times, in between her break-ups with Spike, back when they were vampires, that she would use this trick, suggested to her by Darla, to forget Spike and move on. It usually worked. She would pretend to herself that Spike had been staked, and of course, feed to get over her heartbreak.
So, after hearing that Spike had run off to Paris to be with his beloved Buffy, Dru had thrown herself into her training as a Charmed One and all that included....and told herself that poor Spike had died, not that he had run off to be with the slayer, yet again.
Cole had been a life saver. He had purchased her a new wardrobe and kept her quite occupied, yet, Dru could not allow herself to feel anything for him either. After that business with Spike offering to stake her for the slayer, Drusilla was not interested in men on the rebound. And Cole's aura said very clearly that he still loved Phoebe.
Drusilla sighed and shoved the doll towards Spike.
'Thank you, but I can't accept this. Now, if you don't mind, I have to type a report up for Angel.'
Spike knew she had liked the doll...that is, until she saw it came from him. He could feel her closing herself off from him again.
'Dru, let Harmony do that.'
Drusilla raised an eyebrow.
'Uh, no thank you. Even though these computers have spell check on them, Harmony doesn't feel the need to ever use it in her correspondence.'
'Oh. So how has your training been going? Angel tells me...'
'Spike...I don't want to talk with you about my life or anything else! I'm sorry if I sound rude...'
'You do.' Spike confirmed, smiling. Drusilla found his grin maddening! She picked up the box and shoved it into Spike's arms.
'Please take the doll and go. And in the future, only speak to me if it's business related. Are we clear?'
'Good bloody lord, Drusilla! How long are you going to keep this up? I can't change what I felt for Buffy! I can't! She will always have a special place in my heart! Always! But she is married to someone else now!'
'So you come sniffing around here now? You would've never come back here if she were available, would you? Tell me, Spike: if I wasn't human again, would you have ever sought me out?'
Spike blinked.
'To be honest, no. No Drusilla, I would not have. I have a soul now, I can't just kill people for the hell of it. And neither can you. It's kind of like what happened between Angel and Darla. Once he could feel, he couldn't be with someone that couldn't. But that's not us, Dru, not anymore. We both have been given a second chance.'
'And if Buffy just happens to drop her husband, and decides that you're the man she wants to be with?'
Spike set the doll box on a table and folded his arms.
'You have no idea what Buffy and I had. She would never 'drop' her husband, or a husband, for someone else. She's expecting a child I'll have you know.'
Drusilla gave him a wry smile.
'Sainted Buffy. It must be nice to know someone so pure and pristine. Now if you don't mind...'
Drusilla suddenly turned away from him, as a vision came to her! She could see Cole in his apartment, standing in front of Piper, Phoebe and Paige. They were holding hands and chanting...
Drusilla turned back to Spike.
'I have to go!'
Spike reached out to touch her arm.
'What is it? Is it a vision?'
'I have to go!' she repeated, as she began to orb. But Spike would not let go of her arm and she certainly wasn't going to take him with her! She stopped her departure.
'What, Spike?!'
Spike let go of her.
'If that vision, and I know it was one from a century of being with you, was what I think it was, then let him go, Dru. Let the Charmed Ones do what they need to do. Belthazor isn't worth it.'
Drusilla stared at him hard.
'They're going to try and vanquish Cole, aren't they? Oh my God! And you knew this?'
'Dru, the man is responsible for all of that trouble within your family! Now what's more important here? Getting to know your relations or some bloody demon that doesn't mean you any good?'
'You don't mean me any good, Spike.' Dru responded, then orbed away quickly. Spike just stared at the empty spot where she had just been standing, before picking up the doll and throwing it at one of the walls! He then turned and marched out of the office, past a nosy looking Harmony and threw open the doors of Angel's office!
Angel and Wesley stopped speaking abruptly and looked at him, as he approached them. Spike then looked at Wesley.
'I want Dru working under me.' he announced.
Wesley looked to Angel, who raised a brow.
'I'm sorry, I don't quite understand.'
'Yes you do, mate! I will take over going out hunting with Dru. She will report to me.'
Angel put a hand up.
'Okay, Spike. What happened? Dru didn't like the doll? She wasn't happy to see you? I told you so!'
'Dru had a vision about the vanquishing. She orbed off to stop it.'
'Oh great!' Angel hissed, taking out his cellphone. He was going to call Leo. Meanwhile, Wesley wanted answers.
'Spike, I am Drusilla's 'earthly Whitelighter'. She works under me so that, I, along with Leo, can help her become more in tune with her powers. Leo's duty is really to Piper, Phoebe and Paige.'
'I understand all of that, mate, but someone needs to keep her schooled in just who the enemy is. If either of you had been doing a proper job of that, Dru wouldn't still be living with Belthazor.'
Wesley looked him up and down.
'So this isn't about helping Dru, so much as it is your trying to win her back by being with her all of the time, am I correct?'
'No, you bloody well aren't! Chances are she's going to have to go up against Belthazor, with the others one day. She needs to be trained on how to combat his powers, not hunting low level vamps and the like.'
'We don't discriminate here, Spike! A demon is a demon, is a vampire is a vampire! There is no hierarchy!' Wesley said with disgust.
'From now on, I will be the one training her. I will be the one going with her when it's time to hunt something down. Get that through your bloody head!'
Angel got off of the phone an re-joined them.
'Leo told me the girls just orbed over to Belthazor's a few minutes ago. He's going to orb over there and see if he can run some interference. Either way, Dru is going to be pissed!' Angel predicted.
But Spike didn't care. Dru probably would stop the vanquishing, and that he could accept as well. But he was going to get his equal time in with her too. Belthazor may think that he has Dru all to himself at night, once she left the offices of Wolfram&Hart, but that too was going to change as well. This was war. And one he fully intended to win. For if Spike had anything to say about it, soon, Dru would be back in his life...and his bed.
****
Cole smirked at his ex-wife and her sisters, as they stood before him.
'I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you right?'
Phoebe walked up to him.
'Yes you did. We're here to vanquish you. I told you if you did anything to hurt my sisters, I would vanquish you. This is the end of the line.'
'Phoebe, I had nothing to do with that fire...'
'Oh the hell you didn't!' Piper hissed savagely. There was an unmarked car watching their house as the spoke! Probably to see if they were going to burn down their own house or something!
'You made that phone call to Phoebe's paper, didn't you?' Paige asked in a haughty tone. 'Never mind, I wouldn't expect the truth from you anyway!'
'My, my, my, Paige. You know, I always figured you were crabby because you had no boyfriend. That geek that works for Angelus must be servicing you well! What's his name again? Weasel?'
Paige rolled her eyes, but did not bother responding. Cole continued on.
'By the way, you do know that now that there are four of you, a power of three spell won't do any good. You'll need the power of four.'
Phoebe smiled.
'Yes, we know.'
Cole made a point of looking around.
'I'm so sorry, but I only see three of you.'
'But you'll hear four of us!' Paige snapped, pulling out a small voice recorder. The girls had tricked Drusilla into reciting the spell, telling her it was for her lessons. Paige had been secretly tape recording her.
Cole's eyes widened. Good Lord! That recorder probably had Dru's voice on it! Damnit! Cole waved his hand so that he could blow up the recorder, when Drusilla herself orbed in. Cole stopped. The fight that would come, would be even better!
'What's going on here?!' Dru asked, her voice high pitched. The girls looked at one another. It was Phoebe that chose to speak up.
'We're vanquishing Cole.' she said coolly.
Dru blinked. She had known that. She had seen it in her vision, but she hadn't wanted to believe it.
'Why?! Why?! Just because of that poppycock that 'certain people' have been spreading around about Cole burning down Piper's club...'
Piper stepped forward.
'He DID burn it down, Dru! It was him! It's just too much of a coincidence!'
Dru walked up to Piper.
'Why would he do that? Why? Cole knows that if he did something like that he would never get Phoebe back!'
'He's not going to 'get me back', no matter what he does.' Phoebe answered, looking directly at Cole now. Cole returned the look with a cold smile. He was still looking at Phoebe, when he addressed Drusilla.
'Dru, they can't vanquish me without you. They had your voice on tape.'
Drusilla looked around, until she saw the tape recorder in Paige's hand! She pointed to it.
'Tape recorder!' she said, and it came floating into her hand. She then pressed play. Drusilla soon heard her own voice reciting the words, 'the power of four will make you no more'. Drusilla clicked it off and glared at them, before snatching the cassette out of the recorder.
'And you all want to make me family so badly! This is a nice way of doing it!'
Phoebe squinted at her.
'Would you have come here if we asked you?'
Drusilla looked at her as if she were crazy!
'No! Of course not! You don't have any proof that Cole did any of this! You can't just vanquish him into the netherland because...'
Phoebe walked up in her face.
'I am tired of listening to you defend this monster! Either you are with us or against us! We WILL vanquish him and there isn't a damned thing you can do about it!'
Drusilla, who had never liked her personal space invaded, shoved Phoebe back! Cole jumped in between them and looked at Paige.
'Get your sisters out of here!' Cole yelled. Leo orbed in just then.
'What's going on here?!' Leo asked, his voice very loud. Phoebe walked up to him and whispered something in his ear. Leo nodded, then looked at everyone.
'We'll be back.' he said. He and Phoebe orbed out of the apartment. Cole lifted an eyebrow. Where was Phoebe going?
'Get out of here, both of you!' Drusilla shouted. 'Neither one of you cares that Cole has been my only real friend! The rest of you are too busy hating me for what I did to Phoebe's boyfriend!'
Paige was about to say something, when Piper put a hand on her arm. She then looked Drusilla in the eye.
'He is our enemy, Dru. Either you orb back to work or to the manor with us, or you don't come back, ever!'
'Is that an ultimatum?' Dru asked sarcastically. But inside, her newfound human heart was breaking. She had given up on Phoebe a week ago. But there had always been a part of her that sensed that maybe she could develop a closeness with Paige and Piper.
But now, that chance was slipping away.
Paige sighed.
'I'm sorry, honey. But it is. It's either this creep...'
'Hey!' Cole snapped.
'Or us. Your family.' Paige finished.
Drusilla couldn't bear making a decision like this now. She just couldn't. She turned and walked towards her bedroom, then slammed the door shut! Piper threw her hands up in the air!
'Well, I guess that's her answer! Let's go!' she said to Paige. But Paige stared at the closed bedroom door, then at Cole.
'You don't love her. How can you be so cruel as to screw with her emotions like that?'
'You know, I may still love Phoebe, but why is it that I have to have evil intentions towards Dru? We're old friends. None of you have been very welcoming and...'
Piper couldn't stand the sight of his smug face one moment longer! She moved her hands and blew him up! His molecules swam around like flies.
'Let's go!' Piper said again, holding on to Paige. The sisters orbed away, just as Cole reformed. He looked around and saw the girls were gone. He then straightened his jacket and walked over to Drusilla's door. He tapped softly on it.
'Dru? It's Cole. They're gone. Please open up.'
After a moment, Drusilla opened the door. Her eyes held fresh tears. Cole reached out and wiped them away.
'I know how hard that was for you...I'm sorry you had to choose.' he said softly, although secretly, he was overjoyed! His plan was coming along perfectly!
Drusilla sniffed and looked up at him. It was then that Cole's mouth swooped down over hers! Drusilla did not even bother to push him away, as he picked her up and carried her over to the bed.
****
Leo orbed Phoebe into Angel's office. Phoebe ran straight into his arms and began sobbing! Angel's arms clasped around her, as he looked at Leo. Spike and Wesley were still in the room.
'What happened? Phoebe?' Angel tried to ask, but Phoebe could not talk, for all of her crying. Leo cleared his throat.
'Than vanquish was a bust. Drusilla showed up and stopped it. The girls needed a power of four spell.'
Wesley and Spike looked at one another.
'Then how did Paige think she was going to succeed?' Wesley asked. Phoebe stopped crying and looked up at Angel.
'Hi.' she said quietly.
Angel smiled gently down at her.
'Hi.' he said back. Spike rolled his eyes! Good bloody lord! Angel was totally besotted with this witch!
'Hey, Whitelighter!' Spike snapped, 'could you answer the question? How did you all expect to vanquish Belthazor without Dru?'
Leo looked glanced over at Phoebe, who nodded.
'We had tape recorded Dru saying the spell. We were going to play the tape.'
Spike rolled his eyes! He knew Dru was royally pissed off now!
Wesley eyed Leo.
'Where is Drusilla now?'
'When we left she was having it out with Paige and Piper.'
Wesley took out his phone.
'I'm going to call her. I gave her a new cellphone. She lost her other one during her fight with Phoebe. Spike looked away. He himself had destroyed that phone, since he knew Belthazor had given it to Dru.
But all Wesley got was her voice mail.
****
Raagon and his daughter watched Cole and Drusilla making love through her crystal ball. Raagon turned away in disgust.
'I have seen enough.'
But Fiathna continued to watch, her eye brows raised. Raagon gave his daughter a sharp look.
'Fiathna!'
Fiathna reluctantly turned away.
'Go and summon me a witch that specializes in dark magic.'
'Why?'
'Because I've had it with Belthazor! He really thinks I'm stupid! This bedding of the newest witch, is just a ploy to get back at his ex wife! He neither cares about destroying the Charmed Ones, or ruling by my side!'
'But Father, what is it that you need a dark witch for?'
'I've figured out what Belthazor wanted with the Vanquishing Parchments. He planned to unleash all of the demons that have been vanquished by the Charmed Ones, back at them, and the world. It was a good plan. I will make it even better.'
'How?' Fiathna asked, worriedly. Her father always seemed to underestimate how powerful a demon Belthazor was.
'With dark magic, and the parchments, we'll unleash the demons ourselves. We won't need the Book of Shadows.'
'But what if the Charmed Ones...' Fiathna began. Raagon turned and sat down on his concrete throne.
'That's another thing I've been thinking over, dear daughter.' he purred. He then waved his hand. Three Dark Lighters appeared.
'How may we be of service, my lord?' One of them asked. Fiathna began to back away. Three Dark Lighters? What was her father up to?
Raagon answered her question.
'We'll need time for the witch to work. That and I want all of the Charmed Ones dead. Why would I have a need for a rogue Charmed One, when the other three are gone?'
Raagon got up off of his throne and walked over to the crystal ball. Fiathna joined him.
'Daughter, show our guests who their prey will be.'
Fiathna waved a hand over the ball. She pointed to Drusilla, who's head was thrown back, in the midst of passion. She then waved her hand over the ball, and Piper and Paige appeared. Fiathna pointed out Paige. The two sisters were back at their house.
Fiathna finally, made Leo appear. He was still in the Wolfram&Hart Offices. Raagon smiled.
'When I give the word, I want you to take all three of them out.'
Fiathna did not think that was a good idea! She looked at her father, wide eyed.
'What of Belthazor? He will know you did this! This is not what you agreed to!
'I will have a special fate waiting for Belthazor, when he decides to join us.' Raagon sneered.