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Chapter 11
On Saturday morning Nicole woke up late. Cole was already up, a very unusual event since he had never been a morning person. The clock on the night stand told her that it was already 11. She stretched and stared at the ceiling trying to guess whether Cole would remember that today was her birthday. She hadn't told him and it had taken all of her self restrain to keep her mouth shut. It was probably very childish behaviour on her side but at the same time she really hoped that he would remember without a reminder from her. For example, she knew perfectly well when his birthday was from their telepathic memory exchange. In the middle of her musing the bedroom door opened and Cole walked in carrying a breakfast tray in his hands.
"Morning, sleepyhead," he greeted, "I was not sure you were planning to get up so I decided to make breakfast hoping that the smell of food would wake you up." He placed the tray in front of her and bent down to kiss her.
Nicole smiled, her eyes spotting a pink rose, which was decorating the tray. "That's very nice of you," she murmured eyeing the food with hungry eyes. "Especially considering the efforts you had to put in into getting out of bed before midday."
He nodded approvingly, "Good to know that you appreciate my sacrifices."
"Sacrifice?" she repeated cocking her eyebrows. "Yeah, right!"
"Hey," he cried out trying to stay completely serious, "I made you breakfast and all I get in return is witty remarks."
Nicole bit into a piece of toast, "I said it was nice of you," she defended calmly her eyes sparkling with innocence.
Cole chuckled, "I'll remember that," he muttered and sat down on the bed. "So," he asked stealing a croissant from her plate, "What do you want to do today?"
Nicole shrugged and took a large sip of her orange juice trying to hide the disappointment she felt. "I don't know," she answered, "We might just enjoy the day off, sit on the coach and do nothing."
Cole nodded, "That's a good idea. But we can't do it here. If we stay in the Penthouse, somebody will definitely show up."
Nicole rolled her eyes, "If we have to go somewhere," she protested, "it's already not 'doing nothing day'."
"Well, call it doing as little as possible," Cole suggested and seeing her displeased face continued, "Let's at least go to your uncle's house where people have to knock to get in and we have a choice whether we want to open the door or not."
"Fine," the young woman finished her breakfast and got out of bed. "I'll just take a shower and we can go." She quickly disappeared into the bathroom. She could not help feeling upset that Cole forgot about her birthday. It did not mean that he did not care, right? Just didn't pay so much attention to such small things. One of her teachers always used to say, "Don't put your loved ones to the test when you don't have to. You just end up disappointed." He was right. She should have just told Cole. Of course, it would have been so nice to be surprised. Nicole sighed and got into the shower. Now she would just have to tell him herself and then they would do something fun together.
When Nicole finished drying her hair, she observed herself in the mirror and decided that she looked very nice "like a real birthday girl", she told herself. Since her father's death she never really had a proper birthday. Her mother was too obsessed with bringing her up as a future nun that the only holidays celebrated in their family were religious. Plus it did not help that her birthday was at the end of March which meant that it was the time of the Lent. When Nicole went to University, it meant that her birthday was during Easter vacations when most of her friends went home and she stayed to work in the pub to make some extra money. During the year she spent with Chris her birthday came quite early on and they just went to the pub with some colleagues from work. But at least since she got a job she always bought herself a present. Today she was secretly hoping that she would get one from Cole. Nicole pushed this thought away. "And you will," she told herself, "when you stop behaving like an eight year old and tell him about your birthday."
Nicole opened the door into the bedroom and froze on the spot. The room had completely transformed, it was now filled with flowers, which stood in big vases in every corner, decorated the nightstand and the vanity case. A big sparkling sign "Happy birthday" was hanging above the bed.
"Happy birthday, Nicole," she heard Cole's voice. He was standing in the door frame holding a red rose in his hands.
She looked at him a happy smile forming on her lips, "You remembered?" she exclaimed.
"How could I forget?" he replied with a question and grinned at her, "But I also know that you like surprises so I had to pretend that I was not going to do anything to get you out of the room."
He handed her the rose, Nicole breathed in the sweat smell. It was turning up to be a great birthday.
"It's really great," she said pointing at all the flowers, "how did you guess?"
He smiled sheepishly, "Well, it was not really a guess. I remembered it from our telepathic mishap and," he paused trying to find the right words, "followed the lead so to say." He pulled a small box out of his pocket, "Except for this one. This is a total improvisation." He handed her a small box, which looked like a jewellery case. But when Nicole opened it she saw a key lying on black velvet with a discreet Mercedes badge on the inside of the lid.
She stared at Cole in disbelief, "You bought me a car?" she asked incredulously.
The half demon nervously shifted his weight from one leg to another, "Yeah. I know it's not very romantic and everything. But I know you like driving and..." He did not have time to continue, Nicole kissed him passionately her arms wrapping around his shoulders. When they pulled away her eyes were shinning brightly.
"It's the best present you could have given me," she whispered emotionally and smiled. If Cole had any doubts in how successful was his present this smile was enough to prove that he indeed hit the jackpot.
In the meantime Nicole stared at him impatiently, "Where is it?" she asked.
He grinned back at her, "It's parked downstairs." He did not have time to finish because Nicole grabbed his hand and blurred into the parking garage. In the spot next to the black Porsche there was now a silver Mercedes SL550. Nicole could not believe her eyes. It was just like a dream. "It's so beautiful," she whispered.
Cole inwardly relaxed. He was very worried that Nicole would not like the idea of being given a car as a birthday present or that she would not like his choice. But his worries seemed to be unfounded.
"I want to take it for a drive," Nicole shrieked excitedly.
"By all means," the half demon smiled at her impatience. "But I think if we got into trouble with the police for speeding it would be better if you were dressed not in your bathrobe. Then on the other hand it could help, I suppose, but only if the officer was a man."
Nicole realized that she had not bothered to change and immediately disappeared back into the bedroom. Ten minutes later the Mercedes SL had left its parking spot and sped up towards the San Francisco Highway.
A pair of grey eyes followed the silver sports car. "So the rumours are true," the woman thought to herself. "Who would have thought?!" She took a sip of her coffee. There was no rush at the moment. Judging by the sight of it they would not be back for a while and when they were it would be time to pay a visit.
Cole and Nicole spent a fantastic day. After driving along the coast they left the car in the parking garage and blurred to Colorado to see the Grand Canyon. The weather there was beautiful and they enjoyed fantastic views. After having lunch in a small restaurant they continued exploring the different natural beauties of North America. Nicole was keen to see everything. Since she was always scared of flying she travelled a lot through Europe but never actually went to another continent. Now when movement in space was easy she was anxious to visit different parts of the Earth, about which she knew only from films and books. Having Cole as a companion and a guide had made travelling even more interesting for her. During his over century long life the half demon had visited many corners of the planet and had a good knowledge of their geography and culture but he never had time to enjoy any of them and now with Nicole by his side everything looked different making him take pleasure in every moment. They got back to California in the evening. Cole made reservations in the restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel and they had enough time to take a shower and get changed before going out for dinner. Nicole carefully parked her new car into the underground garage and they took an elevator to the Penthouse. There she disappeared into the bedroom and Cole went to the kitchen to get some water.
The sound of the door bell made him perk up. Who the hell could that be? He did not want anybody to disturb them. It was Nicole's birthday and they deserved to spend it together. Cole was almost ready to ignore the bell when it rang again and this time the unexpected visitor did not give up easily. Cole cursed and blurred to the door. He picked into the pip hole and saw a woman in her fifties standing on the staircase. She looked familiar and the half demon frowned trying to remember where he had seen her before. Then the realisation hit him and he had a very unusual feeling of not knowing what to do. He hesitated for a moment and the woman pressed the door bell again. "I know you are there," Cole heard. He sighed and opened the door, "Can I help you?" he asked coolly.
The woman regarded him with cold interest, "My name is Katherine Berg," she introduced herself, "I am here to see my daughter."
Cole was about to reply when the voice from behind interrupted him, "What the hell are you doing here?" Nicole's face paled as she regarded her mother with a hardly hidden hostility.
The woman smiled calmly, "Good to see you too, Nicole," she said slightly sarcastically. "Do you think that the 30th birthday of the only daughter is not good enough reason for a visit?"
The young woman's lips twisted into a sardonic smile, which quickly disappeared, "Cut the crap, mother, will you? What do you want?"
For a moment Katherine looked as if she was about to lash out on her daughter but at the end she just sighed, "I want to talk to you. I heard about William's death. And then found out that you left your job and moved to the States. It meant that William had broken our agreement and, no doubt, told you everything. So I wanted to meet with you and present you with my side of the story," she paused and then continued, "I wanted to explain to you why I did the things I did."
Nicole lifted her head defiantly, "You needn't have to bother," she remarked curtly, "Uncle Will already explained everything."
Katherine shook her head dismissively, "And I am sure he was very persuasive. Knowing William I am sure he portrayed me as the guilty one. But it's only one side of the story. At least what you ought to do is hear me out and then you can decide."
"I don't need to hear your story," Nicole's voice tingled with anger. "No matter what your reasons were, you made my life miserable. And no amount of explanation can change that."
"I tried to protect you," Katherine yelled losing her cool. "You probably think that magic is such a great thing: all the cool powers and exiting adventures. Well, you're wrong. Magic will only destroy the lives of people. And those who practice it bring heartbreak to themselves and the ones that are close to them." She paused and continued quieter, her voice ringing with pain. "My mother was a human, she was supposed to be a future whitelighter. It was my father's job as a darklighter to stop her from fulfilling her destiny. And the way he decided to solve the problem was to seduce her, then he dumped her and used his telepathic powers to convince her that every man would behave the same way. He figured that this way my mother would start hating the world, which is not compatible with being an angel. He did not expect her to get pregnant. But when I was born he left my mother to raise me until my powers manifested at the age of six. Then he took me to the Underworld and my mother committed a suicide. He succeeded perfectly in his task. She never became a whitelighter having taken her own life. My life in the Underworld was horrible. Because I was a half-bred other children teased me. Everyday I had to practice to use my powers so in time I could become a loyal servant of the Source. But I had different plans. I wanted to escape from my father and return to the normal mortal world. And I was lucky. He was vanquished by a witch and I received freedom and his fortune. I graduated from University and then moved to the States leaving my past behind me. But magic never leaves you alone. I met Robert and we fell in love, then I found out that he was a half bred as well. I almost broke up with him. But he convinced me that magic had its good sides. Magical people lived longer, they didn't suffer from human illnesses. He made me believe that magic could protect us and that I would never have to experience loss again. So I stayed with him. Plus it was nice to have somebody whom I could tell the real story of my parents. Robert was an excellent husband: he did not insist on me using my powers, he allowed me to have a normal job. Things would have been perfect if not for his brother. William was always there. They had all these tasks and sometimes Robert would leave in the middle of the night for some emergency meeting. William was fully magical; his mother was a whitelighter, who fell for a demon. He could not imagine his life without magic and he dragged Robert alongside him. I hated this, if not for William, Robert might have agreed to strip his powers and lead a normal life. With time your father told me the truth, about the whole Lugel thing. When I got pregnant I was very worried that something was going to happen to us, so he told me about his invincibility and then passed it to me. He said he did not need it. And you know the rest. One night Robert left to fulfil another task from William and never returned. Magic had tricked me again. And then I swore that I would never fell its victim again and that I would do my outmost best to protect you from it. I threatened William that I would reveal the truth about Lugels if he did not leave us alone. He backed down and then I concentrated on shielding you from magic once and for all. Your powers were already bound from the moment you were born so all I had to do was prevent you from finding out about it. And I thought I did very well. Even when you went into the fit and left the house after graduating from school and decided to build the life on your own I still took care that William would leave you alone." She paused and smiled bitterly. "What I did not count on was that this bloody Lugel would die and this way undo all my efforts. But it's not too late," she stared at Nicole intently, "You can leave all this behind. We can bind your powers or even better strip them and you will be able to return to England and live a normal life."
Nicole listened to her mother, her face becoming more and more pale. And when the older woman finished Nicole's eyes sparkled with such fury that Cole had never seen. "Normal life?!" she barked with contempt, "You call that a normal life. You're more mad than I thought. I hated my life as it was. You treated me as if I was evil reincarnated. All you cared about was bringing me as far as possible from any sin, this way depriving me from any fun in life. Hey, you put me into the school where half the children were mentally retarded and the other half had committed serious crimes and were sentenced to serve society. It was like burying me alive. You did to me the same things as your father did to you, even worth since you did not get vanquished so I had to fight to escape from you. And even now when I finally succeeded, when finally I have the life I dreamt about you want me to go back to that miserable existence?! You must be out of your mind."
"I was trying to keep you away from harm," Katherine's face twitched.
"By depriving me from my heritage? From my uncle who loved me so much? You achieved the opposite, mother. Even as a little girl I dreamt about being reunited with uncle Will. And now when he is dead and I know that it was your doing that prevented me from knowing him, I hate you even more than I used to. And there is not a chance in hell I would ever return to that horrible existence you call life."
Now it was Katherine's turn to pale, her eyes looked wildly around and then fixed on Cole, "It's your doing, isn't it?" she hissed, "Don't think I don't know about you, Belthazor, and about your charms. No wonder William decided to use you to tie my foolish daughter to magic. All she could ever dream about was getting herself a husband and you offered her that," her eyes bored into the ring on Nicole's finger. "Now my daughter is completely unable to see through your tricks, to see that she is just a pawn in the game of all powerful Lugels. Well, don't think I will just stand by and watch you ruining her life."
With the corner of his eye Cole could see Nicole raising her hand ready to send her mother flying into the wall. At the last minute he managed to catch her arm in his, "No," he said sternly, his hand wrapping protectively around her waist. The half demon coldly regarded the woman in front of him. "Mrs Berg, you expressed yourself clear enough. Now let me say a few words. As Nicole's mother all you need to know is that my feelings for your daughter are deep and just. We are getting married soon. And I am planning to spend the rest of my life trying to make her as happy as she makes me. I believe you heard enough about me to understand that I will use all means at my disposal against anybody who threatens Nicole, myself or our marriage. So you better get used to the idea that your daughter can now perfectly take care of herself without your intervention and that she has people around her who would help and protect her."
Katherine's eyes glimmered dangerously, "Don't you dare threatening me," she shot.
"It's not a threat, it's a warning," he replied coolly.
"And if I were you, mother, I would listen to him," Nicole added her lips twisting into a grim smile.
Katherine swirled like an injured animal, "You," she uttered in outrage, "my daughter, are letting this evil bastard threaten me like that?"
Nicole shrugged indifferently, "Mother, I did not ask you to come here. I made it clear when I left your house that it would be better for both of us to never meet again. I don't want to fight with you but I agree with Cole. If what you say is true and you are worried about my safety then be assured that I am well protected and by no means helpless. That's all that should concern you. So go back to England to whatever you do there, I don't care. But if you ever try to interfere in my life I can guarantee you that our relation is not going stop me from defending myself and those close to me with every power I have and you might guess that I have quite a few."
The older woman surveyed them with angry eyes. "You will regret it," she uttered menacingly.
The young couple did not move and after shooting another angry glare towards them, Katherine left slamming the door behind her.
A few moments had passed and Cole and Nicole just stayed silent. Then she turned and walked back into the living room. Her shoulders sagged tiredly as she plopped on the sofa. Cole sat next to her and pulled her into a hug. Nicole wrapped her hands around his neck, her body shuddered from muffled sobs.
"Why can't she leave me alone?" she whispered into his shoulder.
Cole did not know what to say, he just hugged her tighter, stroking her hair, "It will be fine," he whispered back. "You are safe. I won't let her hurt you again."
"How can you be so sure?" she asked lifting her head so he could see her red worried eyes. "You don't know her. She won't stop until she makes my life miserable again. And she is clever enough to know that the best way to get to me is to harm you. Don't underestimate her, Cole, she is really dangerous. And..."
The half demon did not let her finish, his finger touched her lips stopping her from talking. "Don't worry so much, Nicole. We are not defenceless. We are the Chosen Two and we have a whole Lugels Council on our side."
"But..." Nicole was about to object but he interrupted her.
"I am invincible and so are you when we are together. And from now on I won't let you out of my sight. So don't worry we will be fine." He paused and added gently, "Don't let your mother ruin your birthday. It's what she wants. We should just go for dinner as we planned and enjoy this evening."
Nicole nodded and hugged him tightly burying her face in his chest. Cole did manage to calm her fears but they did not disappear. For the first time Nicole felt that she had something to lose in her life and it absolutely terrified her. Now feeling his warm arms around her body she swore to herself that she would be absolutely ruthless in protecting Cole and their relationship from anything and anybody, especially her mother.
Chapter 11
On Saturday morning Nicole woke up late. Cole was already up, a very unusual event since he had never been a morning person. The clock on the night stand told her that it was already 11. She stretched and stared at the ceiling trying to guess whether Cole would remember that today was her birthday. She hadn't told him and it had taken all of her self restrain to keep her mouth shut. It was probably very childish behaviour on her side but at the same time she really hoped that he would remember without a reminder from her. For example, she knew perfectly well when his birthday was from their telepathic memory exchange. In the middle of her musing the bedroom door opened and Cole walked in carrying a breakfast tray in his hands.
"Morning, sleepyhead," he greeted, "I was not sure you were planning to get up so I decided to make breakfast hoping that the smell of food would wake you up." He placed the tray in front of her and bent down to kiss her.
Nicole smiled, her eyes spotting a pink rose, which was decorating the tray. "That's very nice of you," she murmured eyeing the food with hungry eyes. "Especially considering the efforts you had to put in into getting out of bed before midday."
He nodded approvingly, "Good to know that you appreciate my sacrifices."
"Sacrifice?" she repeated cocking her eyebrows. "Yeah, right!"
"Hey," he cried out trying to stay completely serious, "I made you breakfast and all I get in return is witty remarks."
Nicole bit into a piece of toast, "I said it was nice of you," she defended calmly her eyes sparkling with innocence.
Cole chuckled, "I'll remember that," he muttered and sat down on the bed. "So," he asked stealing a croissant from her plate, "What do you want to do today?"
Nicole shrugged and took a large sip of her orange juice trying to hide the disappointment she felt. "I don't know," she answered, "We might just enjoy the day off, sit on the coach and do nothing."
Cole nodded, "That's a good idea. But we can't do it here. If we stay in the Penthouse, somebody will definitely show up."
Nicole rolled her eyes, "If we have to go somewhere," she protested, "it's already not 'doing nothing day'."
"Well, call it doing as little as possible," Cole suggested and seeing her displeased face continued, "Let's at least go to your uncle's house where people have to knock to get in and we have a choice whether we want to open the door or not."
"Fine," the young woman finished her breakfast and got out of bed. "I'll just take a shower and we can go." She quickly disappeared into the bathroom. She could not help feeling upset that Cole forgot about her birthday. It did not mean that he did not care, right? Just didn't pay so much attention to such small things. One of her teachers always used to say, "Don't put your loved ones to the test when you don't have to. You just end up disappointed." He was right. She should have just told Cole. Of course, it would have been so nice to be surprised. Nicole sighed and got into the shower. Now she would just have to tell him herself and then they would do something fun together.
When Nicole finished drying her hair, she observed herself in the mirror and decided that she looked very nice "like a real birthday girl", she told herself. Since her father's death she never really had a proper birthday. Her mother was too obsessed with bringing her up as a future nun that the only holidays celebrated in their family were religious. Plus it did not help that her birthday was at the end of March which meant that it was the time of the Lent. When Nicole went to University, it meant that her birthday was during Easter vacations when most of her friends went home and she stayed to work in the pub to make some extra money. During the year she spent with Chris her birthday came quite early on and they just went to the pub with some colleagues from work. But at least since she got a job she always bought herself a present. Today she was secretly hoping that she would get one from Cole. Nicole pushed this thought away. "And you will," she told herself, "when you stop behaving like an eight year old and tell him about your birthday."
Nicole opened the door into the bedroom and froze on the spot. The room had completely transformed, it was now filled with flowers, which stood in big vases in every corner, decorated the nightstand and the vanity case. A big sparkling sign "Happy birthday" was hanging above the bed.
"Happy birthday, Nicole," she heard Cole's voice. He was standing in the door frame holding a red rose in his hands.
She looked at him a happy smile forming on her lips, "You remembered?" she exclaimed.
"How could I forget?" he replied with a question and grinned at her, "But I also know that you like surprises so I had to pretend that I was not going to do anything to get you out of the room."
He handed her the rose, Nicole breathed in the sweat smell. It was turning up to be a great birthday.
"It's really great," she said pointing at all the flowers, "how did you guess?"
He smiled sheepishly, "Well, it was not really a guess. I remembered it from our telepathic mishap and," he paused trying to find the right words, "followed the lead so to say." He pulled a small box out of his pocket, "Except for this one. This is a total improvisation." He handed her a small box, which looked like a jewellery case. But when Nicole opened it she saw a key lying on black velvet with a discreet Mercedes badge on the inside of the lid.
She stared at Cole in disbelief, "You bought me a car?" she asked incredulously.
The half demon nervously shifted his weight from one leg to another, "Yeah. I know it's not very romantic and everything. But I know you like driving and..." He did not have time to continue, Nicole kissed him passionately her arms wrapping around his shoulders. When they pulled away her eyes were shinning brightly.
"It's the best present you could have given me," she whispered emotionally and smiled. If Cole had any doubts in how successful was his present this smile was enough to prove that he indeed hit the jackpot.
In the meantime Nicole stared at him impatiently, "Where is it?" she asked.
He grinned back at her, "It's parked downstairs." He did not have time to finish because Nicole grabbed his hand and blurred into the parking garage. In the spot next to the black Porsche there was now a silver Mercedes SL550. Nicole could not believe her eyes. It was just like a dream. "It's so beautiful," she whispered.
Cole inwardly relaxed. He was very worried that Nicole would not like the idea of being given a car as a birthday present or that she would not like his choice. But his worries seemed to be unfounded.
"I want to take it for a drive," Nicole shrieked excitedly.
"By all means," the half demon smiled at her impatience. "But I think if we got into trouble with the police for speeding it would be better if you were dressed not in your bathrobe. Then on the other hand it could help, I suppose, but only if the officer was a man."
Nicole realized that she had not bothered to change and immediately disappeared back into the bedroom. Ten minutes later the Mercedes SL had left its parking spot and sped up towards the San Francisco Highway.
A pair of grey eyes followed the silver sports car. "So the rumours are true," the woman thought to herself. "Who would have thought?!" She took a sip of her coffee. There was no rush at the moment. Judging by the sight of it they would not be back for a while and when they were it would be time to pay a visit.
Cole and Nicole spent a fantastic day. After driving along the coast they left the car in the parking garage and blurred to Colorado to see the Grand Canyon. The weather there was beautiful and they enjoyed fantastic views. After having lunch in a small restaurant they continued exploring the different natural beauties of North America. Nicole was keen to see everything. Since she was always scared of flying she travelled a lot through Europe but never actually went to another continent. Now when movement in space was easy she was anxious to visit different parts of the Earth, about which she knew only from films and books. Having Cole as a companion and a guide had made travelling even more interesting for her. During his over century long life the half demon had visited many corners of the planet and had a good knowledge of their geography and culture but he never had time to enjoy any of them and now with Nicole by his side everything looked different making him take pleasure in every moment. They got back to California in the evening. Cole made reservations in the restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel and they had enough time to take a shower and get changed before going out for dinner. Nicole carefully parked her new car into the underground garage and they took an elevator to the Penthouse. There she disappeared into the bedroom and Cole went to the kitchen to get some water.
The sound of the door bell made him perk up. Who the hell could that be? He did not want anybody to disturb them. It was Nicole's birthday and they deserved to spend it together. Cole was almost ready to ignore the bell when it rang again and this time the unexpected visitor did not give up easily. Cole cursed and blurred to the door. He picked into the pip hole and saw a woman in her fifties standing on the staircase. She looked familiar and the half demon frowned trying to remember where he had seen her before. Then the realisation hit him and he had a very unusual feeling of not knowing what to do. He hesitated for a moment and the woman pressed the door bell again. "I know you are there," Cole heard. He sighed and opened the door, "Can I help you?" he asked coolly.
The woman regarded him with cold interest, "My name is Katherine Berg," she introduced herself, "I am here to see my daughter."
Cole was about to reply when the voice from behind interrupted him, "What the hell are you doing here?" Nicole's face paled as she regarded her mother with a hardly hidden hostility.
The woman smiled calmly, "Good to see you too, Nicole," she said slightly sarcastically. "Do you think that the 30th birthday of the only daughter is not good enough reason for a visit?"
The young woman's lips twisted into a sardonic smile, which quickly disappeared, "Cut the crap, mother, will you? What do you want?"
For a moment Katherine looked as if she was about to lash out on her daughter but at the end she just sighed, "I want to talk to you. I heard about William's death. And then found out that you left your job and moved to the States. It meant that William had broken our agreement and, no doubt, told you everything. So I wanted to meet with you and present you with my side of the story," she paused and then continued, "I wanted to explain to you why I did the things I did."
Nicole lifted her head defiantly, "You needn't have to bother," she remarked curtly, "Uncle Will already explained everything."
Katherine shook her head dismissively, "And I am sure he was very persuasive. Knowing William I am sure he portrayed me as the guilty one. But it's only one side of the story. At least what you ought to do is hear me out and then you can decide."
"I don't need to hear your story," Nicole's voice tingled with anger. "No matter what your reasons were, you made my life miserable. And no amount of explanation can change that."
"I tried to protect you," Katherine yelled losing her cool. "You probably think that magic is such a great thing: all the cool powers and exiting adventures. Well, you're wrong. Magic will only destroy the lives of people. And those who practice it bring heartbreak to themselves and the ones that are close to them." She paused and continued quieter, her voice ringing with pain. "My mother was a human, she was supposed to be a future whitelighter. It was my father's job as a darklighter to stop her from fulfilling her destiny. And the way he decided to solve the problem was to seduce her, then he dumped her and used his telepathic powers to convince her that every man would behave the same way. He figured that this way my mother would start hating the world, which is not compatible with being an angel. He did not expect her to get pregnant. But when I was born he left my mother to raise me until my powers manifested at the age of six. Then he took me to the Underworld and my mother committed a suicide. He succeeded perfectly in his task. She never became a whitelighter having taken her own life. My life in the Underworld was horrible. Because I was a half-bred other children teased me. Everyday I had to practice to use my powers so in time I could become a loyal servant of the Source. But I had different plans. I wanted to escape from my father and return to the normal mortal world. And I was lucky. He was vanquished by a witch and I received freedom and his fortune. I graduated from University and then moved to the States leaving my past behind me. But magic never leaves you alone. I met Robert and we fell in love, then I found out that he was a half bred as well. I almost broke up with him. But he convinced me that magic had its good sides. Magical people lived longer, they didn't suffer from human illnesses. He made me believe that magic could protect us and that I would never have to experience loss again. So I stayed with him. Plus it was nice to have somebody whom I could tell the real story of my parents. Robert was an excellent husband: he did not insist on me using my powers, he allowed me to have a normal job. Things would have been perfect if not for his brother. William was always there. They had all these tasks and sometimes Robert would leave in the middle of the night for some emergency meeting. William was fully magical; his mother was a whitelighter, who fell for a demon. He could not imagine his life without magic and he dragged Robert alongside him. I hated this, if not for William, Robert might have agreed to strip his powers and lead a normal life. With time your father told me the truth, about the whole Lugel thing. When I got pregnant I was very worried that something was going to happen to us, so he told me about his invincibility and then passed it to me. He said he did not need it. And you know the rest. One night Robert left to fulfil another task from William and never returned. Magic had tricked me again. And then I swore that I would never fell its victim again and that I would do my outmost best to protect you from it. I threatened William that I would reveal the truth about Lugels if he did not leave us alone. He backed down and then I concentrated on shielding you from magic once and for all. Your powers were already bound from the moment you were born so all I had to do was prevent you from finding out about it. And I thought I did very well. Even when you went into the fit and left the house after graduating from school and decided to build the life on your own I still took care that William would leave you alone." She paused and smiled bitterly. "What I did not count on was that this bloody Lugel would die and this way undo all my efforts. But it's not too late," she stared at Nicole intently, "You can leave all this behind. We can bind your powers or even better strip them and you will be able to return to England and live a normal life."
Nicole listened to her mother, her face becoming more and more pale. And when the older woman finished Nicole's eyes sparkled with such fury that Cole had never seen. "Normal life?!" she barked with contempt, "You call that a normal life. You're more mad than I thought. I hated my life as it was. You treated me as if I was evil reincarnated. All you cared about was bringing me as far as possible from any sin, this way depriving me from any fun in life. Hey, you put me into the school where half the children were mentally retarded and the other half had committed serious crimes and were sentenced to serve society. It was like burying me alive. You did to me the same things as your father did to you, even worth since you did not get vanquished so I had to fight to escape from you. And even now when I finally succeeded, when finally I have the life I dreamt about you want me to go back to that miserable existence?! You must be out of your mind."
"I was trying to keep you away from harm," Katherine's face twitched.
"By depriving me from my heritage? From my uncle who loved me so much? You achieved the opposite, mother. Even as a little girl I dreamt about being reunited with uncle Will. And now when he is dead and I know that it was your doing that prevented me from knowing him, I hate you even more than I used to. And there is not a chance in hell I would ever return to that horrible existence you call life."
Now it was Katherine's turn to pale, her eyes looked wildly around and then fixed on Cole, "It's your doing, isn't it?" she hissed, "Don't think I don't know about you, Belthazor, and about your charms. No wonder William decided to use you to tie my foolish daughter to magic. All she could ever dream about was getting herself a husband and you offered her that," her eyes bored into the ring on Nicole's finger. "Now my daughter is completely unable to see through your tricks, to see that she is just a pawn in the game of all powerful Lugels. Well, don't think I will just stand by and watch you ruining her life."
With the corner of his eye Cole could see Nicole raising her hand ready to send her mother flying into the wall. At the last minute he managed to catch her arm in his, "No," he said sternly, his hand wrapping protectively around her waist. The half demon coldly regarded the woman in front of him. "Mrs Berg, you expressed yourself clear enough. Now let me say a few words. As Nicole's mother all you need to know is that my feelings for your daughter are deep and just. We are getting married soon. And I am planning to spend the rest of my life trying to make her as happy as she makes me. I believe you heard enough about me to understand that I will use all means at my disposal against anybody who threatens Nicole, myself or our marriage. So you better get used to the idea that your daughter can now perfectly take care of herself without your intervention and that she has people around her who would help and protect her."
Katherine's eyes glimmered dangerously, "Don't you dare threatening me," she shot.
"It's not a threat, it's a warning," he replied coolly.
"And if I were you, mother, I would listen to him," Nicole added her lips twisting into a grim smile.
Katherine swirled like an injured animal, "You," she uttered in outrage, "my daughter, are letting this evil bastard threaten me like that?"
Nicole shrugged indifferently, "Mother, I did not ask you to come here. I made it clear when I left your house that it would be better for both of us to never meet again. I don't want to fight with you but I agree with Cole. If what you say is true and you are worried about my safety then be assured that I am well protected and by no means helpless. That's all that should concern you. So go back to England to whatever you do there, I don't care. But if you ever try to interfere in my life I can guarantee you that our relation is not going stop me from defending myself and those close to me with every power I have and you might guess that I have quite a few."
The older woman surveyed them with angry eyes. "You will regret it," she uttered menacingly.
The young couple did not move and after shooting another angry glare towards them, Katherine left slamming the door behind her.
A few moments had passed and Cole and Nicole just stayed silent. Then she turned and walked back into the living room. Her shoulders sagged tiredly as she plopped on the sofa. Cole sat next to her and pulled her into a hug. Nicole wrapped her hands around his neck, her body shuddered from muffled sobs.
"Why can't she leave me alone?" she whispered into his shoulder.
Cole did not know what to say, he just hugged her tighter, stroking her hair, "It will be fine," he whispered back. "You are safe. I won't let her hurt you again."
"How can you be so sure?" she asked lifting her head so he could see her red worried eyes. "You don't know her. She won't stop until she makes my life miserable again. And she is clever enough to know that the best way to get to me is to harm you. Don't underestimate her, Cole, she is really dangerous. And..."
The half demon did not let her finish, his finger touched her lips stopping her from talking. "Don't worry so much, Nicole. We are not defenceless. We are the Chosen Two and we have a whole Lugels Council on our side."
"But..." Nicole was about to object but he interrupted her.
"I am invincible and so are you when we are together. And from now on I won't let you out of my sight. So don't worry we will be fine." He paused and added gently, "Don't let your mother ruin your birthday. It's what she wants. We should just go for dinner as we planned and enjoy this evening."
Nicole nodded and hugged him tightly burying her face in his chest. Cole did manage to calm her fears but they did not disappear. For the first time Nicole felt that she had something to lose in her life and it absolutely terrified her. Now feeling his warm arms around her body she swore to herself that she would be absolutely ruthless in protecting Cole and their relationship from anything and anybody, especially her mother.