"Oh, this is nice." Cole Turner looked around the darkened mansion and snickered. He hadn't been inside the walls of Wyndemere in years. Since his last visit, the place had been redecorated, reorganized, and it looked as though some attempt of light had been tried within the sitting room. He assumed that was the work of the new woman in Nikolas's life. Stefan always preferred the place darker when he lived there. "No wonder they stick around this place."

Cole smirked and sat down on the sofa. Wyndemere was the only place he could think of that would have been completely safe for him to shimmer into. Anywhere else, there would have been been the trouble of random people on the streets seeing him. Of course, Nikolas's wife could have seen him shimmer in, and that would have been something to explain. Something told Cole that Nikolas had failed to share the secrets of his Cassadine half with the young woman Nikolas intended to marry.

Were there not more pressing matters at hand, Cole might have cared a little more about the woman's state of mind at seeing a man materialize out of nowhere. Considering that his guesses had turned out to be true, however, made Emily Quartermaine's mental state extremely far down on his list of priorities. Somewhere between getting a manicure and buying a new suit.

But the place wasn't bad. In his Balthazar days, he would have thought it too bright. Back then, he preferred Stefan's décor a lot more than what Nikolas had put out. What did he do? Add three lights to every room? It was so bright that Cole pulled his sunglasses out of his breast pocket and put them on. "Much better," he muttered as he slouched down and spread his arms over the back of the sofa. "Now, where is everybody?"

He figured he could have gone from room to room, but that was a lot of tromping around, especially if there was no one home but Mrs. Lansbury. He could have shimmered into each room, but that wasn't the best idea. Since being infused with so much power, he had learned that the more he used them, especially unnecessarily, the darker he felt. The power he held wanted to do evil things, and it was hard enough controlling them on a regular basis. To do so with a lot of use was damn near impossible.

The large doors opened and Cole turned his head to the side. "It's about time you showed up," he said with a grin. "For someone who lives here, you sure as hell are never around."

Nikolas Cassadine stared with wide eyes, his hands gripping the doorknobs tightly. He blinked twice, then stared again. He gulped. He shook his head. Then, he came fully to life. He quickly closed the doors behind him and strode forward. "What are you doing here?"

"Is that any way to welcome an old friend?" Cole smirked and stood up. "I thought Stefan taught you better manners."

At the mention of his uncle, Nikolas went stiff. His eyes blazed and a slight tremor went through his body. He shook it off and stepped closer. "What are you doing here?"

Cole sighed and shook his head. "You know, I always told Stefan you'd grow to be an ungrateful little shit if he brought you to this place, but he just wouldn't listen." Cole shoved his hands in his pocket and stared at Nikolas. "Ungrateful, and apparently stupid, from what I hear."

Nikolas growled and his eyes started to glow a deep, menacing red. Cole let his eyes drop from his face and watched his hands. There was something there, a little spark, and Cole grinned. "I knew your powers would grow, eventually. It's always strongest in the first son of the first son." He looked back up at his face. "Tell me, have you used them lately?"

Nikolas looked down at his hands and sighed. He balled his fists and closed his eyes, obviously willing the power to back down. Cole assumed that was from his mother. Laura Spencer had been trying to stop her son from coming into his full powers since the day she knew the truth. Even without her presence, her influence was still heavy on him. Stefan would have encouraged him to build his strength, if for no other reason than to be able to control it. If he didn't practice, he would never know how to keep the power from leaking out.

Nikolas opened his eyes and they were back to deep brown. He looked up at Cole and glared. "How the hell did you get here, anyway? No launch came over, and the last I heard, the Charmed Ones had stripped you of your powers. Balthazar was banished."

"So was the Source, little flaky one, but that power had to go somewhere." He smirked and held his arms out to the side. "You're looking at the new Source of All Evil. Too bad for the other side that I don't want to use my powers for them, huh?"

"Let me get this straight. You're the new Source… You're the one that's supposed to lead all the bad little demons and convert or destroy all of us fence-straddling half-breeds. Why don't I buy that?"

"Neither do I know nor do I care." Cole rolled his eyes. He'd never particularly cared for Nikolas. It was his blood that made him different. There was something about Laura Spencer… Cole would almost swear that there was a whitelighter in her line somewhere. Her blood was just too damned good for her to be just anybody. But, if there were a whitelighter in there somewhere, no one had yet to find it. The only evidence was Nikolas and his firm belief that he had to fight all of his powers as long as possible.

"I'm not here on a social visit," Cole told him. "The only Cassadine I'd see of my own free will is Stefan, and you've effectively ruined that possibility." He rolled his eyes. "But, there are things you need to know. About Stefan, about other things. You're the first son of the first son, Nikolas. It's your duty to make sure that this family is protected and let me tell you, kid. You're doing a horrible job of it."

"You don't have a clue what's been going on here, with this family. No one has even seen you around here since before the Charmed ones vanquished Balthazar. Even before that, you only came around to get my uncle into some kind of demon mess."

"You're uncle was over half demon, you idiot. Demon mess was his mess." He shook his head. "Besides, for all the contempt in your voice when you talk about him, you forget that your uncle is the reason that bitch of a grandmother of yours didn't turn you into the Source's pawn."

Stefan Cassadine was the perfect example of exactly what Cole had fought so hard to show Phoebe and her sisters. That half-demon didn't mean completely evil. It didn't mean that they didn't know how to love. It just meant that they were a little darker, more susceptible to the bad than others. But Stefan knew how to love. He'd cared for Nikolas as though he were his own son. He'd protected him and kept him as safe as he could for as long as he could. Stefan could love, and so could Cole. Thankfully, he'd convinced Phoebe of that. Too bad he couldn't fully convince Prue and Piper.

"My uncle put on a good face." Nikolas walked past Cole, pushing past him as he crossed the room. He sat down behind the desk on the far wall and groaned. "My uncle succumbed to the dark side, and because of that, he's dead."

"This isn't Star Wars, Nikolas, it's real life. There is no dark side for him to succumb to. There is no Emperor or any of that garbage. And honestly, do you know so little about your uncle that you could really believe that was him?"

Nikolas's head jerked up quickly. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Oh, this is just rich." Cole shook his head as he laughed bitterly. "Helena is not that good, Nikolas. Whatever she created, you should have known that wasn't Stefan. I may not have been here, but I heard enough of the story to know what happened. Did anything that happened sound like something Stefan would have done?"

Nikolas was silent and Cole groaned. "So wrapped up in your pretty princess wannabe that you couldn't see what was right in front of your face. The man that was here was not Stefan Cassadine," he told him, "and the only reason I knew to look into this is because Phoebe got called to Port Charles."

"What? The Charmed Ones… They're here?"

"Don't worry. They're not here to vanquish you. Though, I'm starting to believe there are other reasons for them being in town than the one that Phoebe didn't tell me about." He rolled his eyes and groaned. "Besides, you should be glad that they're here. Because they are probably the only ones that will keep your grandmother from getting ahold of you permanently." Cole clapped his hands together in front of him and laughed. "Now, aren't you glad that Balthazar got vanquished? With that half in me, I wouldn't give nearly enough of a damn to come all the way here and help you, let alone come and see you before I even let Phoebe know I was here."