"How'd it go?" Vanessa asked.
Cole and Vanessa were having lunch as they would agree they had. Cole had never even heard of the restaurant, it was very expensive. It was even a little too romantic for two friends to be having lunch but he shrugged it off.
When he'd gone to Vanessa's work he'd been surprised how big it was. Cole was even more surprised to learn that she was the big boss – the CEO of the company.
If Phoebe didn't come around, at least he could get a good job with a little help from Vanessa.
No, it wouldn't come to that. He would get Phoebe.
He then thought about what had happened this morning. It certainly hadn't gotten too well. He hadn't even seen Phoebe. Her sisters were shielding him from Phoebe.
Again.
And then there was Michael. The lunch date guy. She was already dating someone less then 24 hours after the demise of her last fling?
"I'll ask you again," Vanessa said. "I never ask a third time."
And for the first time since Cole had seen Vanessa, he remembered the demon side of her. He remembered her saying that phrase a couple time before. She would torture witches for information on other witches locations, kill them, and then hunt down the next ones.
"Uh.. It went okay, I guess."
"The hell it did," she said, her eyebrows raised. She leant over and pushed his chin up.
"Smile, darling, it brings out your lovely eyes."
God, he had missed her accent. It drove him wild.
Vanessa held a special place in his heart.. but Phoebe.. it was her that his heart belonged to. He had to get back to her, somehow. Nobody would stop him.
"I don't know if I can do it, Vanessa."
She smiled. "Of course you can. You're the most intelligent and ruthless man I know. You will find a way. You always do."
"Ruthless doesn't cut it with humans, especially not with witches," Cole told her. "Believe me, unsheltered territory. All my manipulation techniques that I have perfected to the very last detail do not work."
"You thrive in the human world, that's what made you so good. That's why Raynor chose you for the Brotherhood. You blend in this world."
She paused and said confidently, "You will find a way. I have the utmost confidence in you."
"I don't know," he said unsurely.
"Hey," she said softly, "If you can bring the human out in someone like me, you can do anything."
He thought for a moment. Vanessa had been so ruthless, so evil. She really didn't care about his human side when they had mission objectives. As long as he got the job done. Something changed in her later, something he never could put his finger on. One day in the 50's it hit him – she was getting kinder. He was sure she was showing human emotions and affections.
"I changed because of you, you know."
Her voice interrupted his thoughts. Maybe he had. As it turned out, 8 generation ago there was a demoness whose great grandmother had been a human. Through all those years, the human should have withered away. He still had somehow tapped into it.
Though she was far from human. She had reluctance to do some things, but she was still evil. Vanessa did care about him, but anyone who underestimated her capacity for doing evil things was making a huge mistake.
Cole finally spoke up. "You still have no idea what it is to love."
She nodded. "I know I don't. By the way it's driving you crazy, I don't know I even want to. I care about you, and that's a start."
Cole said nothing.
"It's not that I lost you," she told him, "It's that the woman who has captured your heart doesn't want you. She doesn't deserve to have you, when she finally comes to her senses."
"Vanessa, you've got it all wrong. I deserve this."
"She went evil. I know she did, and I know while she was by your side as the Queen of evil, she still helped her sisters. She cannot expect you to switch completely over, with no hesitations, no mistakes. She couldn't do it."
"Sure, good cannot be evil and evil cannot be good. There was no mistake that Phoebe is a force of good. What am I? I've been evil for so long, so does that make me a force of evil? Maybe their right to doubt me."
"All this emotions and love talk is making my head spin," Vanessa said.
"Okay," Cole said. "Maybe a change of topic is needed. Tell me about your latest conquests."
Her face lit up, and she gave a flirty smile. She was back in her domain.
"All of them?"
"How about we just start with the ones you ended up marrying."
"First there was Liam," Vanessa said. "Doctor, very rich."
"Gave you the house?" Cole asked.
"The Ferrari, plus a couple million," she said, shrugging.
"Chicken's feed," Cole said, smugly.
"He had a good divorce lawyer. I nearly got so mad I killed him."
"I was joking," Cole said.
"So was I," she said winking.
"Next?" he asked.
"Will. Lawyer."
"You always fall for the lawyer," he laughed.
"Conveniently your choice of occupation," she said to him, grinning. "And I do not fall for them, just their mansions."
"Ah, so that's where the house come from," Cole said slyly.
"That's a playpen compared to his real mansion."
"Lawyer's don't make that much. Must have won all his cases."
"Nah," she said, laughing "He just had a rich daddy."
"And the last one?"
Vanessa hesitated. Cle saw a flicker in her eyes, similar to the look Piper had given him in the ghostly plane. He still couldn't figure out that one. So she had really cared for this one.
"His name was Jack," she said strongly, trying to mask her feelings.
"This one you fell for,"
"Did not!" she squealed like a spoilt child.
"The human is emerging..." he teased.
Vanessa glared at him. "The demon is still in control," she told him confidently.
"Not after I'm done with you," he said coyly.
"I can't embrace it like you can, Cole,"
"If you wanted to you could. Human emotions never go away – you can suppress them but you can never escape. I know. All you have to do is tap into them."
"My soul is too corrupted," she said quickly.
He grinned. "I'm sure."
"Time to go back to work," she said quickly.
"Conversation getting too complicated?"
She just gave him a look and he withdrew, he couldn't win this fight. He could never win a fight with her.
She reached to grab her purse.
"No, I'm taking the bill," Cole told her.
"You couldn't afford it," she teased him.
"I pride myself in being a gentleman," he told her.
"You don't even have a job," she argued.
"If this bankrupts me," he told her, approaching the restaurant counter, "I promise I'll sell your Lamborghini to cover the costs."
She gave him a face. "I'm keeping that car, thank you very much."
"Luck of lucks," he muttered, stopping dead in his tracks. He turned to face Vanessa. "You're three o'clock."
Vanessa looked into the direction he was referring to and saw a couple finishing off lunch.
"Phoebe and her date," Cole told her.
"That is the beautiful and mesmerizing witch?"
Cole raised his eyebrows. "I think she is very beautiful," he said, his voice cracking.
"I at least expected her to be taller," she said, looking deeply at Cole. He was avoiding her glance. "I'll pay, meet me outside," she said.
"Thank you."
As luck would have it, they finished their meals at the same time and Phoebe was approaching her, obviously to pay for her meal.
"Guys," the woman Vanessa knew as Phoebe said to her, "As soon as it's time to pay the bill, it's time to disappear."
"Already upset with your boy in shiny armor?" Vanessa said softly, probing, her voice cold. "Time to vanquish him?"
Phoebe's face showed surprise. She regained her composure.
"I've only vanquished my husband," she said softly. "What are you? Evil? Good?"
Vanessa interrupted her as Phoebe was about to continue.
"Lucky for you, I'm a bit of both. It's why you're not dead already."
Phoebe was about to say something, but seeing her credit card had gone through, Vanessa snatched it off the poor waiter in front of her, and headed for the door.
She gave a smile to Cole who was waiting by the card.
"You didn't talk to her, did you?" he asked quickly.
"Of course not," she told him.
"Vanessa.."
"She has no idea who I am, I swear," she said, kissing him on the cheek. "I have to get back. Are you coming?"
Cole looked into the darkened restaurant. He changed his mind, he did want a confrontation with Phoebe..
Vanessa grabbed his hand and guided him into the car.
Cole sighed softly. It seemed to all work out okay, though he had a feeling Vanessa was lying to him.