Chapter 9
"Are we ready to go?" Piper asked her sisters and Leo who were all standing in the attic.
"As ready as we will ever be," Phoebe muttered. "I hate it that we have to go to the Underworld. It would be much easier to vanquish Cole in the Penthouse. Wouldn't be the first time either."
Leo heaved a sigh and Piper decided to support her husband. "Phoebe, this time it's different. Cole is invincible now. The Elders are right that if we destroy the Grimoire we will ruin his plans and damage Cole's reputation with the other demons. And here we actually have a good chance of succeeding."
The middle Halliwell just sighed. "I know Piper, but the last time I was in the Underworld I lost my baby. It's difficult for me to go back there."
Piper gave her sister a comforting hug, "I know, honey, I know it is very difficult for you. But we'll try to be quick. We are well prepared with the potions, which Paige prepared and the intelligence from the Elders. Hopefully most of the demons will be at this gathering," Piper scowled disgustedly as if she's just stepped on a cockroach, "and this should make our task much easier."
Phoebe nodded and Paige who was impatiently shifting from one foot to another pulled a list of paper from her pocket. "Right," she said, "let's check everything once again. Potions?"
"One from Belthazor's flesh if there are any members of the Brotherhood still left, the power stripping one, the invisibility one and the general vanquishing one."
"Athames?" Paige called out.
Phoebe just pulled the top of the handle from her pocket.
"I have the scrying crystal and the spell right here," the youngest witched patted her pocket. "Now Leo?" she looked questioningly at her brother-in- law.
The whitelighter who seemed to be deep in his thoughts perked up, "I am going to take the Grimoire and immediately orb back to the Manor."
"Correct," Paige smiled triumphantly. "Now let's go and kick some demon ass."
When they orbed into the Underworld Phoebe immediately assumed the fighting stance and Piper had her hands ready to freeze or explode anything, which could be a threat. However, there was nobody around and the Charmed Ones were able to proceed without interruptions. Paige retrieved the crystal and the sisters chanted a short spell. The crystal glowed in a faint blue colour and floated out of the corner where they were hiding. The Charmed Ones followed it ready to fight back an attack at every step they took. But the tunnels were completely empty and they were able to follow the floating crystal without interruptions. The tunnel took several turns and Paige who was walking first was glad that they did not have to remember the way back. They approached another turn and according to the established routine Paige picked out first. She immediately moved back.
"I think we have arrived," she whispered. "There are two guards in front of this cavern and the tunnel stops here."
"Fine," Piper raised her hands, "Me and Phoebe go first and try to knock them out. You two follow us."
Paige glared at her, but the oldest Charmed One ignored it. Phoebe and her exchanged glances and jumped forward from behind the corner. To her surprise Piper could not freeze the guard but both demons were so shocked by the sudden appearance of the witches that she managed to blow one up. The second formed an energy ball in his hand but Phoebe levitated and kicked him into the jaw sending him flying into the wall and giving Paige a chance to throw a vanquishing potion at him. The Charmed One remained in the fighting stance ready for anybody who might be attracted by the noise of the fight. However, no one came and three sisters relaxed slightly. The first hurdle was taken. Paige had enough of standing behind her sisters back. She pulled four bottles of potions from her pocket and handed them to the rest of the group. She gulped her portion, grabbed Phoebe's arm and orbed into the cavern immediately followed by Piper and Leo. The sight that greeted them was bad enough. The Grimoire laid on the alter on one side of the cavern with two guards standing on opposite side of it and four further guards stood in each corner of the room. The one minus of invisibility potion was that not only the guards could not see the Halliwells but the sisters could not see each other either. So they only could rely on the plan they developed beforehand. Piper took a deep breath and raised her hands towards the demon standing to the left of the Grimoire. He exploded into a million pieces. Phoebe decided to use the surprise factor to her advantage and immediately levitated ready to kick the other guard. While Paige orbed in front of the demon who still stood in the corner and threw a potion making him turn into ashes. She immediately turned around and realised that both her sisters were perfectly visible now. The potion must have stopped working. The remaining guards finally recovered enough and three energy balls were sent into each sister. Phoebe levitated to avoid hers, while Piper did not even move: the energy ball just dissolved the moment it touched her. Paige called for hers and threw it back to the demon who cried and disappeared in flames. The other two demons went on the offensive no matter that they were now outnumbered but a well placed kick from Phoebe sent one of them into a knockout and Piper managed to freeze the other one. The sisters joined hands and red out a spell to finish them off. The Charmed Ones breathed out in relief.
"This was way too easy," Paige muttered.
"You call that easy?" Phoebe asked sarcastically.
"Yeah," Paige replied. "Come on we are dealing with Cole here, he is the sneakiest bastard I've ever met. So don't tell me that 6 guards is all he was going to come up with."
"You are forgetting, Paige," Piper reminded her sister, "that Cole does not know that we have found out about his little plan."
The youngest witch just smiled wryly, "Piper, don't be so naïve, Cole knows that we are keeping an eye on him, he knows that Phoebe gets premonitions and the fact that she was not able to pick up on anything else means that he's covering his tracks. Grimoire was just a slip from his side. But you should know our dear ex brother-in-law well enough to understand that he would not leave anything to chance."
"Paige, do you have anything constructive to say or you're just working part time as a Cassandra?" Leo snapped finally. "Six guards is not exactly "leaving it to chance". And I suggest that we take what we came for and get the hell out of here. I don't fancy being here when Cole shows up with a group of his allies to showcase the Grimoire to them."
"Fine," Paige muttered, "Jeez, don't be so uptight. All you and your Elders are doing lately is being scared of Cole. What's wrong with you?"
The whitelighter did not bother to answer and headed straight to the book.
In the meantime Cole was not having a great time. He was standing not far from his mother trying really hard to concentrate on the conversation with two high profile shape shifting demons. The gathering was getting on the way, most guests had already arrived and the large chamber was full of people. The rumours of the upcoming political changes had spread with the speed of lightening and the Underworld was buzzing. The world of evil was anticipating a new leader and the increased activity that his arrival would bring. Such parties were the places to gather the latest news and gossips, to meet rich and powerful of the Underworld and to find allies. Cole knew that it was an important evening for all of them. It was practically a coronation of Elizabeth as the new Source. The inauguration ceremony was just a formality. In reality today the Underworld would be presented with its new leader and her Council. And today the union with the warlocks would be announced and hence his upcoming marriage to Nicole. The half demon discretely shot a glance at the entrance. The warlocks still were not here and Nicole was coming with them. He knew perfectly well that by arrangement between his mother and warlock's leaders they would be arriving slightly late but this knowledge could not prevent him from being worried about Nicole. He hated when she was away from him, hated the fact that she was not invincible and it drove him mad when he could not be there to protect her. And during last week it happened way too often. Since the warlocks announced their agreement to the deal the preparation for the inauguration of the new Source went ahead full speed. And though Elizabeth did most of the work Cole still had to attend a lot of meetings, shimmer from Egypt to Russia and persuade some especially stubborn mail chauvinist that the female Source was indeed a good idea.
On the other hand Nicole spent a lot of time getting acquainted and then ordaining into the warlock's covens and also attending numerous negotiating meeting between different covens. It all resulted in Cole and Nicole spending a lot of time apart. And even during the rare moments together they were working on creating a copy of Grimoire and synchronizing their actions with Leo. Today was show time. Everything they have been working for the last 3 months should come to fruition in the next few hours. So far things were going well. The Charmed Ones had gotten pass the demonic dummies. Now Cole was waiting for them to get out of there. Then at least this part would be done and dusted and Leo could take it from there.
"Is that it?" Paige asked Phoebe and Leo. The four of them were standing around the pedestal looking at the black book lying on it. Phoebe was very pale, memories of the Cole's coronation ceremony flashing through her head. She bit her lip and nodded.
Leo decided that he waited long enough and picked up the book, "Okay," he said, "Let's get out of here."
"First open it." Paige demanded.
Leo rolled his eyes. "Come on Paige. We can do it in the Manor."
"No," the youngest witch was determined. "I want to make sure we have what we came for." Leo was about to object but she interrupted him, "Leo, we are wasting more time talking about it."
The whitelighter sighed in defeat and opened the book. The Charmed Ones peeped out from behind his shoulder. They were staring at the long inscription, which neither of them could understand. Phoebe gasped and took a step back, "This is the coronation of the Source. I remember this page," she said in a choked voice.
"Let's get out of here," Piper ordered.
"Not so fast, witches," the cold voice made them jump. The Charmed Ones swirled around and saw three demons standing at the entrance of the cavern.
"Leo, get out of here," Piper yelled. The whitelighter stood still for a moment but an energy ball forced him to orb out. Paige grabbed her sisters' hands and was ready to orb after him but a young demon dressed in an impeccable black suit flung his hand forward and three witches went flying into the walls. Fortunately the blow was not that hard and they were immediately on their feet but still it was not fast enough. Three well aimed energy balls flew towards the sisters. At the last moment Piper disappeared in a swirl of blue orbs. In an outrageous jump, which surprised her, Phoebe managed to reach her youngest sister and the moment their hands touched Paige orbed out. The young demon mattered something under his breath and three sisters felt as if some invisible force was pulling them back and instead of reappearing under the safe roof of the manor they found themselves in the tunnel outside the cavern.
"Whitelighters!" they heard a surprised yell and found themselves in front of the group dressed in black hooded robes.
"Kill them," the younger demon shouted shimmering in behind the Charmed Ones ready to execute his own orders.
"Paige," Phoebe shouted, "orb us out of here."
"I am trying," the younger witch hissed grabbing her sister's hands but her efforts were in vain. They were trapped between two enemy groups.
"This is the end," Phoebe thought, "we will not get out of this alive."
Ten minutes earlier Nicole was walking in front of a group of warlocks next to her father and uncle. Suddenly the sound of an alarm hit her mind. The Charmed Ones were being attacked. The young woman mentally cursed. It was so much not what they needed, not tonight. They were barely coping even without extra complication. She concentrated her energy and managed to give the sisters' powers an extra boost. But it was short lived. The Charmed Ones were out of the cavern but not out of danger. Nicole saw the sisters reappearing straight under her feet followed closely by Larent and his brothers. The young Lugels focused her powers on creating a barrier around the Halliwells. She could feel the magic forces banging into it from both sides and knew that she would not be able to maintain it for long. It would have been much easier to just create a complete barrier around the sisters but it could make others suspicious, so Nicole had to weaken each attack but only so far that it could not harm anyone. And this was consuming a lot of her own powers. Just as she thought she would not be able to hold it any longer Cole blurred in between the Charmed Ones and Larent's group.
Phoebe's heart flared with hope and she tried to catch her ex-husband's eyes. But he did not look at her. Cole was focusing his powers on establishing a link with Nicole. In a split second he took control over the barrier between Larent and the Charmed Ones leaving Nicole to maintain the separation between warlocks and the Halliwell sisters.
Phoebe could see how Cole stared at the hooded figure, which stood in front of the other group. Then an energy ball formed in his hand and he sent it flying towards his former family. The others followed his suit and Phoebe did not have time to look at Cole anymore. All three sisters were busy calling, diving, freezing and levitating. They also kicked, exploded and orbed energy ball towards their enemies.
In the middle of this mess another swirl of blue lights appeared between the sisters.
"Hold on," Leo yelled and the four of them disappeared from the Underworld.
"This bastard whitelighter," Larent yelled. "He helped them escape and he stole the Grimoire."
"What?" Henry Karenian threw his hood away, "these witches stole the Grimoire?"
"Yes," Larent hissed through clenched teeth, "I saw it with my own eyes. We need to go after them." He was ready to shimmer away when Cole stopped him.
"There is no need to go anywhere," he said calmly and looking at outraged expression on Larent's face added. "They do not have the real Grimoire. All they have is a fake book. I knew they were going to try to steal it and replaced the real book with a dummy. This way the Charmed Ones will think they have destroyed the Grimoire and get off our backs."
Larent had calm down a bit but asked suspiciously, "Why did not you just kill the Charmed Ones? Set a trap on them? Would solve our problems once and for all."
Cole smiled slightly condescendingly, "Because it's not that easy. The oldest Charmed One is carrying a very powerful child. You saw here yourself that no matter how much we tried we could not harm them. The baby gives her a power of deflection and a very strong one." The half demon turned to the warlock delegation. "I am glad you could make it," he said greeting them, "we've been waiting for you. I'll show you the way." And with these words he turned around and led the rest of the groups to the gathering chamber.
"That was close," Piper sighed, plopping onto a chair. "For a moment I thought we were stuffed."
"So did I," Phoebe echoed her words. "I still can't believe that we escaped from there unharmed. And it's all thanks to you, Leo," she turned to her brother-in-law. "If it was not for you, we would not be able to get out of there."
"Yeah," Paige added, "how did you manage? I could not orb at all."
The whitelighter shrugged his shoulders. He could not tell his family that Cole and Nicole channelled their powers into him giving him an amazing boost to pass through the barrier that was created by warlocks and demons. "It's probably because you are just half whitelighter," he said quietly.
Paige frowned, "Maybe."
"Well, the important thing is that you managed," Piper added dryly. "Since no one else was going to come to our rescue." She shot Phoebe a weary look and explained to her husband, "Cole was there, happily sending energy balls at us. How he missed is a real mystery to me!"
Phoebe stiffened. Cole's behaviour stunned her deep. No matter what she said about Cole, she always believed that he would never use his powers against her. And today she had a painful lesson that she was wrong. She remembered Cole's eyes: cold and distant, he never looked at her, even when sending fireballs her way, his gaze went through her as if she was transparent.
Piper's voice snapped her out of her gloomy thoughts, "Well, at least now we know for sure where we stand with Cole. And that he will kill us without mercy if he has a chance."
Leo winced inwardly. He had to really bite his tongue not to say anything. Instead he decided to return their attention to the Grimoire. "I think we should not relax as yet," he told his charges. "They know we have the book, so we should destroy it as soon as possible. I don't fancy going to the Underworld again."
The Charmed Ones nodded and proceeded with reading the spell, which Leo, Nicole and Cole had creatively co-written.
The arrival of the warlocks coven had attracted a lot of attention. It was the first time since the old Source had been vanquished that all the fractions of the Underworld got together. Cole stood just behind his mother who was greeting Henry Karenian and Phillip des Noures. When it was Nicole's turn to be introduced Cole almost forgot to breathe. And he was not the only one. The young woman looked stunning. She wore a beautiful silk gown with open shoulders and back. The shining black material of the dress emphasized her smooth fair skin. Contrast to the tight top the skirt of the dress was very long and wide. It would have completely covered her legs if not for a multiple slits, which were cut quite high and linked together by the see-through silvery chiffon. A black pearl necklace adorned her neck and was accompanied by the hair net made from the similar but smaller pearls. Nicole looked gorgeous but even more important she looked like a real heir of the powerful warlock covens. Her head was lifted arrogantly, her eyes blasted green fire and her smile was as cold as ice.
Elizabeth smiled contently. She was not mistaken in this girl. She would make a perfect wife to Belthazor and would not embarrass the Belthor clan. The demoness was very pleased with this evening. Anybody who was anybody in the Underworld was there. And it meant that she was closer to her aim than ever before. Her heart shuddered slightly when she thought about the prophecy she heard so many years before and the danger was getting closer. If only she could safe her son from it! But the only thing in her power was to fulfil her destiny and hope that his would turn out well. The demoness closed her eyes. She could not think about it. Not today, there was too much at stake. She opened her eyes and raised her hand attracting attention of her guests. The room quickly fell into complete silence. The rich and powerful of the Underworld were ready to hear the details of the rumours, which were brewing for weeks.
"My guests," Elizabeth announced her voice ringing with power. "I am glad to see you all here. For too long we did not have anything to celebrate, the Underworld was in confusion and anarchy. We were losing our allies and too many battles. Now it's time to change that, to regain what we lost and to start the new era in the history of Evil. The past year has weakened us in numbers but it has definitely made us wiser. And wisdom is the Mother of all powers. We always praised ourselves as the smart ones. Well, now it's time to show that we are. Tonight I want to announcement the arrival of the new age to the Underworld - the age of power, unity and success. From now on the order will be restored and there will be no infighting among the creatures of evil. And I swear to you that I will serve this goal my whole life and fight to the end to see the Underworld restored to its former glory." The crowd roared and applauded.
Cole knew perfectly well what he was supposed to do. He kneeled in front of Elizabeth followed by the members of her Council. "Long live the Source," Cole's voice echoed under the vault of the chamber. "Long live Belthora," the Council repeated. It was a crucial moment and Cole kept feverishly screening the room for any sign of a rebellion. But the work of the last weeks paid off. The Underworld was welcoming its new Source. The warlocks were the first to kneel in front of the demoness and one by one the guests followed their example in swearing their loyalty to Elizabeth. She looked around with triumphant smile. She did it. The throne was hers. She was going to become the first female Source ever. That was a great achievement indeed, a great honour for her clan. Today was the day of her triumph, the triumph of their clan. Elizabeth took a deep breath, "Thank you, my guests," she said in a regal voice. "You loyalty would not be forgotten. Now please rise. I have one more announcement to make." She shot Cole a look and the half demon moved closer so he stood just slightly behind her. With the corner of his eye he saw Nicole stepping forward so she was standing on the other side of Elizabeth. The demoness looked around the crowd making sure that everybody was listening. "As a sign of the changes I was talking about earlier I would like to announce the upcoming marriage of my son Belthazor and the offspring of two powerful covens Nicole des Noures- Karenian." She took Cole's and Nicole's hands and brought them together. "Let this union mark the new era of the Underworld."
This announcement caused a bit more of a surprise. For the past weeks the Underworld was filled with rumours that Belthora struck the deal with the warlock's covens but nobody knew how she managed to get them on her side. Now the reason was out in the open. With a sinking heart Nicole was waiting for the reaction. The round of applause made her relax slightly. The most dangerous moment had passed. Suddenly she was hit by a wave of very strong feelings, which could only be described as female jealousy. She tried to pinpoint this feeling and saw a beautiful red headed demoness staring at her with hateful eyes. Her face looked familiar to Nicole and just a pick in the red head's mind gave her more details than she wished. This was indeed an old girlfriend of Cole's. Nicole shot the half demon an amused smile, which quickly disappeared when she found that there were a lot more women in this room who shared red head's feelings for her and unfortunately for Cole as well.
The half demon felt a sharp pain from Nicole's fingernails digging into his palm. He shot her a surprised look, "What the hell are you doing?" he hissed in a low voice so that only she could hear him.
Her eyes flashed at him so furiously that Cole got an immediate proof that looks could not kill because otherwise he would have been already dead.
"I see you have a lot of close friends here," Nicole said in a poisonously sweet voice.
Cole eyed her suspiciously, the young woman moved her eyes slightly and Cole following her gaze came face to face with the red headed demoness. He groaned silently. Medera!
"It was twenty years ago," he muttered.
"Oh," Nicole's lips were smiling brightly, but her eyes were blasting ice, "What a memory. Was she that special? Because considering the numbers on your list it would be really amazing if you remembered all of them."
The half demon squirmed uncomfortably, "It's all in the past," he said trying to hide his frustratation.
"Really? I think your friends think about it very differently," Nicole hissed acidly leaning closer to his ear, so that the rest of the crowd thought that they were enjoying a private moment.
Cole wished he could hide in the nearest hole. He never seen Nicole so furious, "God, help me," he thought. And it seemed that his prayer was heard. Elizabeth raised her hand and spoke up interrupting the conversation and giving Cole a desperately needed break. "Now I want you to enjoy this evening," she announced, "We all earned a celebration."
Everybody moved into the next room, which was fitted with numerous tables served with a delicious dinner. Cole and Nicole ended sitting opposite each other so during the whole dinner the half demon could not talk to her. Every once in a while he tried to catch her eyes but she avoided looking at him and pretended to be completely absorbed in the conversation with priest Corado and Phillip des Noures. Cole had to use all his self control to keep track of the conversation. He was thinking feverishly how to explain to Nicole that none of these women meant anything to him. He finally managed to catch Nicole's eyes and immediately wished that he did not. The dinner lasted for a long time and for Cole it felt like eternity.
Nicole was sitting opposite him and had real problems suppressing the anger which was boiling inside her constantly threatening to spill over. She wanted to slap Cole in the face and scratch the eyes of all these bitches who were eyeing him with sultry eyes.
Finally the dinner was over and the guests spread around the other rooms. Some of them stayed in the dining room drinking and talking. Others engaged in some strange card games with a large crowd watching the players and placing bets. In another room a group of younger demons was involved in a fighting competition using the low voltage energy balls and round ended athemes. The third room had some adult entertainment going on that could only be described as an orgy.
Nicole who learnt enough about demonic parties to be weary of them and not enough to feel comfortable without Cole by her side decided to remain at the table talking to high priest Corado. Her attempts to avoid talking to him made Cole feel frustrated. The half demon ran his had through the hair and then turned on his hills and ordered a large portion of scotch. He was about to enjoy his drink when a light tap on his shoulder made him swirl round hoping and dreading that it was Nicole.
"Belthazor," the red headed demoness shot him a seductive smile, "Good to see you again. I thought you would never return to the Underworld."
"Medera," Cole greeted her coldly taking a few steps to increase the space between himself and his ex.
The demoness smiled at him innocently, "I did not know you were looking for a wife," she said moving loser to him and running her finger on his biceps. "Otherwise I would have volunteered. How do you think my chances would be?"
The half demon removed her hand from his shoulder, "Not very high," he said distantly hoping that Nicole did not see the whole thing.
"You think?" Medera leaned forward giving him a full view of her subtle cleavage, "Come on, Belthazor, don't be such a prude. Are you so scared of your warlock bride? She looks like an ice queen. Tell me, does she make you warm in bed as I used to?" Cole glared at the red head desperately fighting the desire to incinerate her on the spot.
"Listen to me, Medera," he said sternly. "I will warn you just this once. I am getting married and God help you if you ever try to approach me again or my fiancé for that matter. You don't know whom you are dealing with. So I suggest you find yourself another object of attention who would have at least some interest in what you have to offer."
The demoness looked at him with hateful eyes. "You used to have a lot of interest in what I had to offer," she hissed, "until you changed and became soft. I heard you fell in love with a witch and she left you for a mortal."
Cole regarded the red head with an icy glare, "If I were you, Medera," Cole whispered softly, but the dangerous edge in his voice made the demoness take a step back, "I would not try to test my softness. As to the fact I changed, that's true. My taste has improved greatly. I don't do sluts anymore." With these words he turned around and his eyes met Nicole's. She looked at him, her eyes full of hurt and anger. The half demon heaved a frustrated sigh and when somebody took him by the hand swirled around ready to incinerate whomever it was. His eyes met the dark eyes of his mother. She silently ordered him to follow her and headed straight to the table where Nicole was sitting with Henry Karenian.
"Henry," Elizabeth shot a charming smile at the warlock, "would you like to join me in a game of cards. And we let the young people to enjoy themselves."
The warlock nodded and got up from his seat. Elizabeth followed him but a moment latter returned as if she forgot her purse. She seared the young couple with a commanding glare, "Whatever it is between you two, it's not the place and the time. So I suggest you both get a grip on your pride and sort it out." She gave them another pointed glare and left.
The couple looked at each other uncomfortably. Cole ran his hand through his hair and suddenly grabbed Nicole's hand and pulled her towards the exit of the dinning room.
"Where the hell you are going?" Nicole tried to pull her hand out of his grip.
Cole just smiled wryly, "Do you want to discuss it here sweetheart? Because if you do, I am sure there will be lots of people here who would be very keen to see a scandal in the Source's family."
Nicole gave him a dirty look but stopped trying to break loose from his grip. They went through many tunnels and finally ended up in a small cavern.
"Why did you bring me here?" Nicole asked finally able to free her hand from his grip.
"Because I figured that if you were going to slap me in the face it'd be better done without witnesses." Nicole glared at him and the half demon sighed, "Nicole, why are you so mad at me?"
"And you have to ask?" she shot back.
"But I told you it's all in the past," he uttered totally annoyed. "These women don't mean anything to me and never did."
"Yeah, but it did not stop you from sleeping with them. Jeez Cole, you dated half of the female population of the Underworld. And it's not like these women are not interested in you any more! Don't tell me you did not notice the way they were looking at you. How do you expect me to feel about it?"
"I don't know," he yelled, "Maybe you should feel sorry for them since you are the only one I am interested in."
"Oh," Nicole rolled her eyes, "Don't give me that. You sent Mike Lindsay to work to Australia only because he asked me out for a drink without knowing that we were dating. Don't think I don't know about that." Her accusation made Cole squirm uncomfortably and Nicole continued, "It's fine for you to act on your jealousy but I have to stand and feel sorry for these demonic bitches while they are trying to get you into bed in front of my eyes. And I can't even vanquish them since our mission is to increase the population of demons not to halve it."
The half demon heaved a frustrated sigh, "What do you want me to do?" he shot angrily. "I can't change my past. It's a fact of life that I am almost ninety years older and during those years I was never exactly a saint. But it does not make my feelings for you any less. I want to be with you, I want to marry you and only you." He lifted his hands in defeat, "And I don't know what else to say to make you believe me. So here, maybe this will convince you." Cole put his hand into his pocket and pulled out a small box, which he handed to Nicole.
The young woman had a good idea what was in this box. Her first instinct was to give it back and tell Cole that he was not going to buy his way out of this. But the intensity of his eyes made her change her mind. She opened the box and her eyes grew wide. As she expected it was a ring. But never in her life had she seen such a gorgeous piece of jewellery. The shinning gold band had a thin rectangular plate made from a solitaire emerald in the middle and three smaller diamond plates crossing around it. It looked like a magical snowflake.
"It's beautiful," Nicole whispered. "I have never seen anything like that."
"Well, it's not exactly from the jewellery store," Cole muttered, "I got it from the elves of Signa plain. I guess I wanted to get you something special. Since I have not really made you a traditional proposal and I was hoping that it would show you how I feel about you."
Nicole was really touched by his words and she felt slightly guilty to lashing out at Cole. Her anger subsided and she explained in a low voice, "You've seen so much more in your life than I have. And I hate the fact that these women knew you for so much longer than me. Hell, people say that twenty years is a big age gap. Ours is ninety, you must get bored with me. And these demonesses have a lot more to offer."
Her quiet confession cooled down Cole's anger, he took Nicole's hand in his, "But I am not interested in what they have to offer. They are cynical, arrogant, egoistic bitches. Why on Earth would I want any of them? I have you. You are gorgeous, smart, kind and you love me. You never stop surprising me and for sure I am never bored with you. I cannot imagine my life without you. And I won't let you get away from me. Even if I have to tie you to myself until you realize that you're the only one I want." Nicole looked at his eyes and saw little sparks twinkling in them.
"I still want to slap you for sleeping with these women," she grumbled but a small smile was hiding in the corners of her mouth.
He grinned back, "Well, you can always do that but first..." He took a ring from the box and place it on Nicole's finger. "Here. Now we are officially engaged and I hope you are going overlook my... uh... wild past considering my excellent taste in jewellery." The blue eyes stared at her with such innocence that Nicole could not suppress a smile.
She shook her head and sighed mockingly, "You are such a..." she shook her head again unable to find a right word, "will always get what you want with any means possible."
He grinned back at her, "Hey, I am a demon after all, creature with no morals. So any method is a good one as long as it works."
Nicole ignored his comment and closed the space between them. "I don't care about your morals." Her eyes sparkled teasingly, "I'll have a whole life to work on them."
"Are we ready to go?" Piper asked her sisters and Leo who were all standing in the attic.
"As ready as we will ever be," Phoebe muttered. "I hate it that we have to go to the Underworld. It would be much easier to vanquish Cole in the Penthouse. Wouldn't be the first time either."
Leo heaved a sigh and Piper decided to support her husband. "Phoebe, this time it's different. Cole is invincible now. The Elders are right that if we destroy the Grimoire we will ruin his plans and damage Cole's reputation with the other demons. And here we actually have a good chance of succeeding."
The middle Halliwell just sighed. "I know Piper, but the last time I was in the Underworld I lost my baby. It's difficult for me to go back there."
Piper gave her sister a comforting hug, "I know, honey, I know it is very difficult for you. But we'll try to be quick. We are well prepared with the potions, which Paige prepared and the intelligence from the Elders. Hopefully most of the demons will be at this gathering," Piper scowled disgustedly as if she's just stepped on a cockroach, "and this should make our task much easier."
Phoebe nodded and Paige who was impatiently shifting from one foot to another pulled a list of paper from her pocket. "Right," she said, "let's check everything once again. Potions?"
"One from Belthazor's flesh if there are any members of the Brotherhood still left, the power stripping one, the invisibility one and the general vanquishing one."
"Athames?" Paige called out.
Phoebe just pulled the top of the handle from her pocket.
"I have the scrying crystal and the spell right here," the youngest witched patted her pocket. "Now Leo?" she looked questioningly at her brother-in- law.
The whitelighter who seemed to be deep in his thoughts perked up, "I am going to take the Grimoire and immediately orb back to the Manor."
"Correct," Paige smiled triumphantly. "Now let's go and kick some demon ass."
When they orbed into the Underworld Phoebe immediately assumed the fighting stance and Piper had her hands ready to freeze or explode anything, which could be a threat. However, there was nobody around and the Charmed Ones were able to proceed without interruptions. Paige retrieved the crystal and the sisters chanted a short spell. The crystal glowed in a faint blue colour and floated out of the corner where they were hiding. The Charmed Ones followed it ready to fight back an attack at every step they took. But the tunnels were completely empty and they were able to follow the floating crystal without interruptions. The tunnel took several turns and Paige who was walking first was glad that they did not have to remember the way back. They approached another turn and according to the established routine Paige picked out first. She immediately moved back.
"I think we have arrived," she whispered. "There are two guards in front of this cavern and the tunnel stops here."
"Fine," Piper raised her hands, "Me and Phoebe go first and try to knock them out. You two follow us."
Paige glared at her, but the oldest Charmed One ignored it. Phoebe and her exchanged glances and jumped forward from behind the corner. To her surprise Piper could not freeze the guard but both demons were so shocked by the sudden appearance of the witches that she managed to blow one up. The second formed an energy ball in his hand but Phoebe levitated and kicked him into the jaw sending him flying into the wall and giving Paige a chance to throw a vanquishing potion at him. The Charmed One remained in the fighting stance ready for anybody who might be attracted by the noise of the fight. However, no one came and three sisters relaxed slightly. The first hurdle was taken. Paige had enough of standing behind her sisters back. She pulled four bottles of potions from her pocket and handed them to the rest of the group. She gulped her portion, grabbed Phoebe's arm and orbed into the cavern immediately followed by Piper and Leo. The sight that greeted them was bad enough. The Grimoire laid on the alter on one side of the cavern with two guards standing on opposite side of it and four further guards stood in each corner of the room. The one minus of invisibility potion was that not only the guards could not see the Halliwells but the sisters could not see each other either. So they only could rely on the plan they developed beforehand. Piper took a deep breath and raised her hands towards the demon standing to the left of the Grimoire. He exploded into a million pieces. Phoebe decided to use the surprise factor to her advantage and immediately levitated ready to kick the other guard. While Paige orbed in front of the demon who still stood in the corner and threw a potion making him turn into ashes. She immediately turned around and realised that both her sisters were perfectly visible now. The potion must have stopped working. The remaining guards finally recovered enough and three energy balls were sent into each sister. Phoebe levitated to avoid hers, while Piper did not even move: the energy ball just dissolved the moment it touched her. Paige called for hers and threw it back to the demon who cried and disappeared in flames. The other two demons went on the offensive no matter that they were now outnumbered but a well placed kick from Phoebe sent one of them into a knockout and Piper managed to freeze the other one. The sisters joined hands and red out a spell to finish them off. The Charmed Ones breathed out in relief.
"This was way too easy," Paige muttered.
"You call that easy?" Phoebe asked sarcastically.
"Yeah," Paige replied. "Come on we are dealing with Cole here, he is the sneakiest bastard I've ever met. So don't tell me that 6 guards is all he was going to come up with."
"You are forgetting, Paige," Piper reminded her sister, "that Cole does not know that we have found out about his little plan."
The youngest witch just smiled wryly, "Piper, don't be so naïve, Cole knows that we are keeping an eye on him, he knows that Phoebe gets premonitions and the fact that she was not able to pick up on anything else means that he's covering his tracks. Grimoire was just a slip from his side. But you should know our dear ex brother-in-law well enough to understand that he would not leave anything to chance."
"Paige, do you have anything constructive to say or you're just working part time as a Cassandra?" Leo snapped finally. "Six guards is not exactly "leaving it to chance". And I suggest that we take what we came for and get the hell out of here. I don't fancy being here when Cole shows up with a group of his allies to showcase the Grimoire to them."
"Fine," Paige muttered, "Jeez, don't be so uptight. All you and your Elders are doing lately is being scared of Cole. What's wrong with you?"
The whitelighter did not bother to answer and headed straight to the book.
In the meantime Cole was not having a great time. He was standing not far from his mother trying really hard to concentrate on the conversation with two high profile shape shifting demons. The gathering was getting on the way, most guests had already arrived and the large chamber was full of people. The rumours of the upcoming political changes had spread with the speed of lightening and the Underworld was buzzing. The world of evil was anticipating a new leader and the increased activity that his arrival would bring. Such parties were the places to gather the latest news and gossips, to meet rich and powerful of the Underworld and to find allies. Cole knew that it was an important evening for all of them. It was practically a coronation of Elizabeth as the new Source. The inauguration ceremony was just a formality. In reality today the Underworld would be presented with its new leader and her Council. And today the union with the warlocks would be announced and hence his upcoming marriage to Nicole. The half demon discretely shot a glance at the entrance. The warlocks still were not here and Nicole was coming with them. He knew perfectly well that by arrangement between his mother and warlock's leaders they would be arriving slightly late but this knowledge could not prevent him from being worried about Nicole. He hated when she was away from him, hated the fact that she was not invincible and it drove him mad when he could not be there to protect her. And during last week it happened way too often. Since the warlocks announced their agreement to the deal the preparation for the inauguration of the new Source went ahead full speed. And though Elizabeth did most of the work Cole still had to attend a lot of meetings, shimmer from Egypt to Russia and persuade some especially stubborn mail chauvinist that the female Source was indeed a good idea.
On the other hand Nicole spent a lot of time getting acquainted and then ordaining into the warlock's covens and also attending numerous negotiating meeting between different covens. It all resulted in Cole and Nicole spending a lot of time apart. And even during the rare moments together they were working on creating a copy of Grimoire and synchronizing their actions with Leo. Today was show time. Everything they have been working for the last 3 months should come to fruition in the next few hours. So far things were going well. The Charmed Ones had gotten pass the demonic dummies. Now Cole was waiting for them to get out of there. Then at least this part would be done and dusted and Leo could take it from there.
"Is that it?" Paige asked Phoebe and Leo. The four of them were standing around the pedestal looking at the black book lying on it. Phoebe was very pale, memories of the Cole's coronation ceremony flashing through her head. She bit her lip and nodded.
Leo decided that he waited long enough and picked up the book, "Okay," he said, "Let's get out of here."
"First open it." Paige demanded.
Leo rolled his eyes. "Come on Paige. We can do it in the Manor."
"No," the youngest witch was determined. "I want to make sure we have what we came for." Leo was about to object but she interrupted him, "Leo, we are wasting more time talking about it."
The whitelighter sighed in defeat and opened the book. The Charmed Ones peeped out from behind his shoulder. They were staring at the long inscription, which neither of them could understand. Phoebe gasped and took a step back, "This is the coronation of the Source. I remember this page," she said in a choked voice.
"Let's get out of here," Piper ordered.
"Not so fast, witches," the cold voice made them jump. The Charmed Ones swirled around and saw three demons standing at the entrance of the cavern.
"Leo, get out of here," Piper yelled. The whitelighter stood still for a moment but an energy ball forced him to orb out. Paige grabbed her sisters' hands and was ready to orb after him but a young demon dressed in an impeccable black suit flung his hand forward and three witches went flying into the walls. Fortunately the blow was not that hard and they were immediately on their feet but still it was not fast enough. Three well aimed energy balls flew towards the sisters. At the last moment Piper disappeared in a swirl of blue orbs. In an outrageous jump, which surprised her, Phoebe managed to reach her youngest sister and the moment their hands touched Paige orbed out. The young demon mattered something under his breath and three sisters felt as if some invisible force was pulling them back and instead of reappearing under the safe roof of the manor they found themselves in the tunnel outside the cavern.
"Whitelighters!" they heard a surprised yell and found themselves in front of the group dressed in black hooded robes.
"Kill them," the younger demon shouted shimmering in behind the Charmed Ones ready to execute his own orders.
"Paige," Phoebe shouted, "orb us out of here."
"I am trying," the younger witch hissed grabbing her sister's hands but her efforts were in vain. They were trapped between two enemy groups.
"This is the end," Phoebe thought, "we will not get out of this alive."
Ten minutes earlier Nicole was walking in front of a group of warlocks next to her father and uncle. Suddenly the sound of an alarm hit her mind. The Charmed Ones were being attacked. The young woman mentally cursed. It was so much not what they needed, not tonight. They were barely coping even without extra complication. She concentrated her energy and managed to give the sisters' powers an extra boost. But it was short lived. The Charmed Ones were out of the cavern but not out of danger. Nicole saw the sisters reappearing straight under her feet followed closely by Larent and his brothers. The young Lugels focused her powers on creating a barrier around the Halliwells. She could feel the magic forces banging into it from both sides and knew that she would not be able to maintain it for long. It would have been much easier to just create a complete barrier around the sisters but it could make others suspicious, so Nicole had to weaken each attack but only so far that it could not harm anyone. And this was consuming a lot of her own powers. Just as she thought she would not be able to hold it any longer Cole blurred in between the Charmed Ones and Larent's group.
Phoebe's heart flared with hope and she tried to catch her ex-husband's eyes. But he did not look at her. Cole was focusing his powers on establishing a link with Nicole. In a split second he took control over the barrier between Larent and the Charmed Ones leaving Nicole to maintain the separation between warlocks and the Halliwell sisters.
Phoebe could see how Cole stared at the hooded figure, which stood in front of the other group. Then an energy ball formed in his hand and he sent it flying towards his former family. The others followed his suit and Phoebe did not have time to look at Cole anymore. All three sisters were busy calling, diving, freezing and levitating. They also kicked, exploded and orbed energy ball towards their enemies.
In the middle of this mess another swirl of blue lights appeared between the sisters.
"Hold on," Leo yelled and the four of them disappeared from the Underworld.
"This bastard whitelighter," Larent yelled. "He helped them escape and he stole the Grimoire."
"What?" Henry Karenian threw his hood away, "these witches stole the Grimoire?"
"Yes," Larent hissed through clenched teeth, "I saw it with my own eyes. We need to go after them." He was ready to shimmer away when Cole stopped him.
"There is no need to go anywhere," he said calmly and looking at outraged expression on Larent's face added. "They do not have the real Grimoire. All they have is a fake book. I knew they were going to try to steal it and replaced the real book with a dummy. This way the Charmed Ones will think they have destroyed the Grimoire and get off our backs."
Larent had calm down a bit but asked suspiciously, "Why did not you just kill the Charmed Ones? Set a trap on them? Would solve our problems once and for all."
Cole smiled slightly condescendingly, "Because it's not that easy. The oldest Charmed One is carrying a very powerful child. You saw here yourself that no matter how much we tried we could not harm them. The baby gives her a power of deflection and a very strong one." The half demon turned to the warlock delegation. "I am glad you could make it," he said greeting them, "we've been waiting for you. I'll show you the way." And with these words he turned around and led the rest of the groups to the gathering chamber.
"That was close," Piper sighed, plopping onto a chair. "For a moment I thought we were stuffed."
"So did I," Phoebe echoed her words. "I still can't believe that we escaped from there unharmed. And it's all thanks to you, Leo," she turned to her brother-in-law. "If it was not for you, we would not be able to get out of there."
"Yeah," Paige added, "how did you manage? I could not orb at all."
The whitelighter shrugged his shoulders. He could not tell his family that Cole and Nicole channelled their powers into him giving him an amazing boost to pass through the barrier that was created by warlocks and demons. "It's probably because you are just half whitelighter," he said quietly.
Paige frowned, "Maybe."
"Well, the important thing is that you managed," Piper added dryly. "Since no one else was going to come to our rescue." She shot Phoebe a weary look and explained to her husband, "Cole was there, happily sending energy balls at us. How he missed is a real mystery to me!"
Phoebe stiffened. Cole's behaviour stunned her deep. No matter what she said about Cole, she always believed that he would never use his powers against her. And today she had a painful lesson that she was wrong. She remembered Cole's eyes: cold and distant, he never looked at her, even when sending fireballs her way, his gaze went through her as if she was transparent.
Piper's voice snapped her out of her gloomy thoughts, "Well, at least now we know for sure where we stand with Cole. And that he will kill us without mercy if he has a chance."
Leo winced inwardly. He had to really bite his tongue not to say anything. Instead he decided to return their attention to the Grimoire. "I think we should not relax as yet," he told his charges. "They know we have the book, so we should destroy it as soon as possible. I don't fancy going to the Underworld again."
The Charmed Ones nodded and proceeded with reading the spell, which Leo, Nicole and Cole had creatively co-written.
The arrival of the warlocks coven had attracted a lot of attention. It was the first time since the old Source had been vanquished that all the fractions of the Underworld got together. Cole stood just behind his mother who was greeting Henry Karenian and Phillip des Noures. When it was Nicole's turn to be introduced Cole almost forgot to breathe. And he was not the only one. The young woman looked stunning. She wore a beautiful silk gown with open shoulders and back. The shining black material of the dress emphasized her smooth fair skin. Contrast to the tight top the skirt of the dress was very long and wide. It would have completely covered her legs if not for a multiple slits, which were cut quite high and linked together by the see-through silvery chiffon. A black pearl necklace adorned her neck and was accompanied by the hair net made from the similar but smaller pearls. Nicole looked gorgeous but even more important she looked like a real heir of the powerful warlock covens. Her head was lifted arrogantly, her eyes blasted green fire and her smile was as cold as ice.
Elizabeth smiled contently. She was not mistaken in this girl. She would make a perfect wife to Belthazor and would not embarrass the Belthor clan. The demoness was very pleased with this evening. Anybody who was anybody in the Underworld was there. And it meant that she was closer to her aim than ever before. Her heart shuddered slightly when she thought about the prophecy she heard so many years before and the danger was getting closer. If only she could safe her son from it! But the only thing in her power was to fulfil her destiny and hope that his would turn out well. The demoness closed her eyes. She could not think about it. Not today, there was too much at stake. She opened her eyes and raised her hand attracting attention of her guests. The room quickly fell into complete silence. The rich and powerful of the Underworld were ready to hear the details of the rumours, which were brewing for weeks.
"My guests," Elizabeth announced her voice ringing with power. "I am glad to see you all here. For too long we did not have anything to celebrate, the Underworld was in confusion and anarchy. We were losing our allies and too many battles. Now it's time to change that, to regain what we lost and to start the new era in the history of Evil. The past year has weakened us in numbers but it has definitely made us wiser. And wisdom is the Mother of all powers. We always praised ourselves as the smart ones. Well, now it's time to show that we are. Tonight I want to announcement the arrival of the new age to the Underworld - the age of power, unity and success. From now on the order will be restored and there will be no infighting among the creatures of evil. And I swear to you that I will serve this goal my whole life and fight to the end to see the Underworld restored to its former glory." The crowd roared and applauded.
Cole knew perfectly well what he was supposed to do. He kneeled in front of Elizabeth followed by the members of her Council. "Long live the Source," Cole's voice echoed under the vault of the chamber. "Long live Belthora," the Council repeated. It was a crucial moment and Cole kept feverishly screening the room for any sign of a rebellion. But the work of the last weeks paid off. The Underworld was welcoming its new Source. The warlocks were the first to kneel in front of the demoness and one by one the guests followed their example in swearing their loyalty to Elizabeth. She looked around with triumphant smile. She did it. The throne was hers. She was going to become the first female Source ever. That was a great achievement indeed, a great honour for her clan. Today was the day of her triumph, the triumph of their clan. Elizabeth took a deep breath, "Thank you, my guests," she said in a regal voice. "You loyalty would not be forgotten. Now please rise. I have one more announcement to make." She shot Cole a look and the half demon moved closer so he stood just slightly behind her. With the corner of his eye he saw Nicole stepping forward so she was standing on the other side of Elizabeth. The demoness looked around the crowd making sure that everybody was listening. "As a sign of the changes I was talking about earlier I would like to announce the upcoming marriage of my son Belthazor and the offspring of two powerful covens Nicole des Noures- Karenian." She took Cole's and Nicole's hands and brought them together. "Let this union mark the new era of the Underworld."
This announcement caused a bit more of a surprise. For the past weeks the Underworld was filled with rumours that Belthora struck the deal with the warlock's covens but nobody knew how she managed to get them on her side. Now the reason was out in the open. With a sinking heart Nicole was waiting for the reaction. The round of applause made her relax slightly. The most dangerous moment had passed. Suddenly she was hit by a wave of very strong feelings, which could only be described as female jealousy. She tried to pinpoint this feeling and saw a beautiful red headed demoness staring at her with hateful eyes. Her face looked familiar to Nicole and just a pick in the red head's mind gave her more details than she wished. This was indeed an old girlfriend of Cole's. Nicole shot the half demon an amused smile, which quickly disappeared when she found that there were a lot more women in this room who shared red head's feelings for her and unfortunately for Cole as well.
The half demon felt a sharp pain from Nicole's fingernails digging into his palm. He shot her a surprised look, "What the hell are you doing?" he hissed in a low voice so that only she could hear him.
Her eyes flashed at him so furiously that Cole got an immediate proof that looks could not kill because otherwise he would have been already dead.
"I see you have a lot of close friends here," Nicole said in a poisonously sweet voice.
Cole eyed her suspiciously, the young woman moved her eyes slightly and Cole following her gaze came face to face with the red headed demoness. He groaned silently. Medera!
"It was twenty years ago," he muttered.
"Oh," Nicole's lips were smiling brightly, but her eyes were blasting ice, "What a memory. Was she that special? Because considering the numbers on your list it would be really amazing if you remembered all of them."
The half demon squirmed uncomfortably, "It's all in the past," he said trying to hide his frustratation.
"Really? I think your friends think about it very differently," Nicole hissed acidly leaning closer to his ear, so that the rest of the crowd thought that they were enjoying a private moment.
Cole wished he could hide in the nearest hole. He never seen Nicole so furious, "God, help me," he thought. And it seemed that his prayer was heard. Elizabeth raised her hand and spoke up interrupting the conversation and giving Cole a desperately needed break. "Now I want you to enjoy this evening," she announced, "We all earned a celebration."
Everybody moved into the next room, which was fitted with numerous tables served with a delicious dinner. Cole and Nicole ended sitting opposite each other so during the whole dinner the half demon could not talk to her. Every once in a while he tried to catch her eyes but she avoided looking at him and pretended to be completely absorbed in the conversation with priest Corado and Phillip des Noures. Cole had to use all his self control to keep track of the conversation. He was thinking feverishly how to explain to Nicole that none of these women meant anything to him. He finally managed to catch Nicole's eyes and immediately wished that he did not. The dinner lasted for a long time and for Cole it felt like eternity.
Nicole was sitting opposite him and had real problems suppressing the anger which was boiling inside her constantly threatening to spill over. She wanted to slap Cole in the face and scratch the eyes of all these bitches who were eyeing him with sultry eyes.
Finally the dinner was over and the guests spread around the other rooms. Some of them stayed in the dining room drinking and talking. Others engaged in some strange card games with a large crowd watching the players and placing bets. In another room a group of younger demons was involved in a fighting competition using the low voltage energy balls and round ended athemes. The third room had some adult entertainment going on that could only be described as an orgy.
Nicole who learnt enough about demonic parties to be weary of them and not enough to feel comfortable without Cole by her side decided to remain at the table talking to high priest Corado. Her attempts to avoid talking to him made Cole feel frustrated. The half demon ran his had through the hair and then turned on his hills and ordered a large portion of scotch. He was about to enjoy his drink when a light tap on his shoulder made him swirl round hoping and dreading that it was Nicole.
"Belthazor," the red headed demoness shot him a seductive smile, "Good to see you again. I thought you would never return to the Underworld."
"Medera," Cole greeted her coldly taking a few steps to increase the space between himself and his ex.
The demoness smiled at him innocently, "I did not know you were looking for a wife," she said moving loser to him and running her finger on his biceps. "Otherwise I would have volunteered. How do you think my chances would be?"
The half demon removed her hand from his shoulder, "Not very high," he said distantly hoping that Nicole did not see the whole thing.
"You think?" Medera leaned forward giving him a full view of her subtle cleavage, "Come on, Belthazor, don't be such a prude. Are you so scared of your warlock bride? She looks like an ice queen. Tell me, does she make you warm in bed as I used to?" Cole glared at the red head desperately fighting the desire to incinerate her on the spot.
"Listen to me, Medera," he said sternly. "I will warn you just this once. I am getting married and God help you if you ever try to approach me again or my fiancé for that matter. You don't know whom you are dealing with. So I suggest you find yourself another object of attention who would have at least some interest in what you have to offer."
The demoness looked at him with hateful eyes. "You used to have a lot of interest in what I had to offer," she hissed, "until you changed and became soft. I heard you fell in love with a witch and she left you for a mortal."
Cole regarded the red head with an icy glare, "If I were you, Medera," Cole whispered softly, but the dangerous edge in his voice made the demoness take a step back, "I would not try to test my softness. As to the fact I changed, that's true. My taste has improved greatly. I don't do sluts anymore." With these words he turned around and his eyes met Nicole's. She looked at him, her eyes full of hurt and anger. The half demon heaved a frustrated sigh and when somebody took him by the hand swirled around ready to incinerate whomever it was. His eyes met the dark eyes of his mother. She silently ordered him to follow her and headed straight to the table where Nicole was sitting with Henry Karenian.
"Henry," Elizabeth shot a charming smile at the warlock, "would you like to join me in a game of cards. And we let the young people to enjoy themselves."
The warlock nodded and got up from his seat. Elizabeth followed him but a moment latter returned as if she forgot her purse. She seared the young couple with a commanding glare, "Whatever it is between you two, it's not the place and the time. So I suggest you both get a grip on your pride and sort it out." She gave them another pointed glare and left.
The couple looked at each other uncomfortably. Cole ran his hand through his hair and suddenly grabbed Nicole's hand and pulled her towards the exit of the dinning room.
"Where the hell you are going?" Nicole tried to pull her hand out of his grip.
Cole just smiled wryly, "Do you want to discuss it here sweetheart? Because if you do, I am sure there will be lots of people here who would be very keen to see a scandal in the Source's family."
Nicole gave him a dirty look but stopped trying to break loose from his grip. They went through many tunnels and finally ended up in a small cavern.
"Why did you bring me here?" Nicole asked finally able to free her hand from his grip.
"Because I figured that if you were going to slap me in the face it'd be better done without witnesses." Nicole glared at him and the half demon sighed, "Nicole, why are you so mad at me?"
"And you have to ask?" she shot back.
"But I told you it's all in the past," he uttered totally annoyed. "These women don't mean anything to me and never did."
"Yeah, but it did not stop you from sleeping with them. Jeez Cole, you dated half of the female population of the Underworld. And it's not like these women are not interested in you any more! Don't tell me you did not notice the way they were looking at you. How do you expect me to feel about it?"
"I don't know," he yelled, "Maybe you should feel sorry for them since you are the only one I am interested in."
"Oh," Nicole rolled her eyes, "Don't give me that. You sent Mike Lindsay to work to Australia only because he asked me out for a drink without knowing that we were dating. Don't think I don't know about that." Her accusation made Cole squirm uncomfortably and Nicole continued, "It's fine for you to act on your jealousy but I have to stand and feel sorry for these demonic bitches while they are trying to get you into bed in front of my eyes. And I can't even vanquish them since our mission is to increase the population of demons not to halve it."
The half demon heaved a frustrated sigh, "What do you want me to do?" he shot angrily. "I can't change my past. It's a fact of life that I am almost ninety years older and during those years I was never exactly a saint. But it does not make my feelings for you any less. I want to be with you, I want to marry you and only you." He lifted his hands in defeat, "And I don't know what else to say to make you believe me. So here, maybe this will convince you." Cole put his hand into his pocket and pulled out a small box, which he handed to Nicole.
The young woman had a good idea what was in this box. Her first instinct was to give it back and tell Cole that he was not going to buy his way out of this. But the intensity of his eyes made her change her mind. She opened the box and her eyes grew wide. As she expected it was a ring. But never in her life had she seen such a gorgeous piece of jewellery. The shinning gold band had a thin rectangular plate made from a solitaire emerald in the middle and three smaller diamond plates crossing around it. It looked like a magical snowflake.
"It's beautiful," Nicole whispered. "I have never seen anything like that."
"Well, it's not exactly from the jewellery store," Cole muttered, "I got it from the elves of Signa plain. I guess I wanted to get you something special. Since I have not really made you a traditional proposal and I was hoping that it would show you how I feel about you."
Nicole was really touched by his words and she felt slightly guilty to lashing out at Cole. Her anger subsided and she explained in a low voice, "You've seen so much more in your life than I have. And I hate the fact that these women knew you for so much longer than me. Hell, people say that twenty years is a big age gap. Ours is ninety, you must get bored with me. And these demonesses have a lot more to offer."
Her quiet confession cooled down Cole's anger, he took Nicole's hand in his, "But I am not interested in what they have to offer. They are cynical, arrogant, egoistic bitches. Why on Earth would I want any of them? I have you. You are gorgeous, smart, kind and you love me. You never stop surprising me and for sure I am never bored with you. I cannot imagine my life without you. And I won't let you get away from me. Even if I have to tie you to myself until you realize that you're the only one I want." Nicole looked at his eyes and saw little sparks twinkling in them.
"I still want to slap you for sleeping with these women," she grumbled but a small smile was hiding in the corners of her mouth.
He grinned back, "Well, you can always do that but first..." He took a ring from the box and place it on Nicole's finger. "Here. Now we are officially engaged and I hope you are going overlook my... uh... wild past considering my excellent taste in jewellery." The blue eyes stared at her with such innocence that Nicole could not suppress a smile.
She shook her head and sighed mockingly, "You are such a..." she shook her head again unable to find a right word, "will always get what you want with any means possible."
He grinned back at her, "Hey, I am a demon after all, creature with no morals. So any method is a good one as long as it works."
Nicole ignored his comment and closed the space between them. "I don't care about your morals." Her eyes sparkled teasingly, "I'll have a whole life to work on them."