"Get out of my house!" Piper ordered.
Her sister sighed and sat down on the couch. "Is that any way to treat your baby sister?" she said. She rubbed her hand over her stomach. "And your nephew?"
Paige looked over Phoebe's outfit -- tight black leather pants and halter top that left the rounded bulge of her stomach bare. "Nice maternity wear," she said. "Where'd you get it? Evil Kids-R-Us?"
Piper squinted at the dark red markings visible on Phoebe's belly. Phoebe caught her gaze and looked down and traced the markings with one finger. "Just a present from the Seer," she said. "Magical protections. Made from fresh virgin's blood. Something to make sure my baby is safe and well. He's going to be such a strong boy. The most powerful force of magic the world has ever know, did you know that?"
"That's rather egotistical of you," Piper grumbled.
Phoebe shrugged. "It's true. The Seer has, well, seen it. The child of a Charmed One and the Source of All Evil...how could it not be? My baby is going to rule the world." She giggled. "And I'm going to be my own mother and my own father. How funny is that?"
"It's freaking hilarious," Piper said, rolling her eyes.
"What's the matter, Piper? Jealous?" Phoebe said. "I know how much you want a baby of your own. Cheer up, we saw your little girl in the future, didn't we? Then again, Prue was alive in that future, and we know how she ended up."
Piper choked on a sob and flashed her hands at her sister. Phoebe waved her hand and deflected the blast, and one of Grams' antique lamps exploded. "Never liked that ugly thing anyway," Phoebe muttered, then glared at Piper. You know as well as I that that is only an inconvenience to me. But it hurts, and I don't want to bring any undue harm to my baby." She put her hand protectively over her belly, then gasped softly. "Oh! He just kicked." She grinned at Piper. "Want to feel?"
Piper turned to Leo and buried her face against his chest. He put his arms around her and said to Phoebe, "You've done enough. You should go."
"But I just got here," she pouted. "Is it so wrong I want to spend time with my sisters? I miss them."
"Is that why you're here?" Paige said incredulously. "Because you miss us?"
"Is that so surprising?" she said. "You're my sisters."
"And you're the Source of All Evil," Paige said. "Why would evil care about sisters?"
"The longings of a human soul are so bothersome," Phoebe said. "But I suppose it's the price I pay for being a Charmed One."
"We've been through this before," Piper said, lifting her head. "You're evil. We're good. You can't have it both ways."
"That's what you think," Phoebe said in a sing-song voice. "We'll all be on the same side soon."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Piper said. She looked at Paige. "Oh, no. The Book..."
Both Paige and Leo latched on to Piper, and they orbed up to the attic. The wooden stand that usually held the Book of Shadows was empty. Cole stood next to it, gingerly holding a large cloth bag.
"Cole, don't!" Piper cried.
"Don't try to stop me and I won't hurt you," he said. "But this is something I have to do."
Phoebe blazed in next to Cole. "Well done, baby," she said, linking her arm with his.
"Book!" Paige called, holding out her hand. Phoebe brushed away the cloud of orbs with her own power.
Piper grabbed a bottle off a nearby table. "Cole, please don't make me throw this," she pleaded. "Put the book down."
"I'm sorry, Piper," he said. "I can't."
I'm sorry, too," Piper whispered and threw the bottle.
It shattered at his feet harmlessly. "Uhh...that's not good," Paige said.
Phoebe laughed. "When I realized you could summon him again, I realized you could vanquish him if you had any of the original potion left. So I had to take care of that little vulnerability. But now it won't be long before you'll be joining me in your new home. I'm so excited. We're finally going to be a family again." She and Cole blazed out of the attic.
Silence fell in the attic. After a moment, Paige looked at Piper and Leo. "How pissed is she going to be when she finds out that's not the Book?"
Phoebe shrieked in rage and hurled the book across the room. "Fake! They made a fake Book of Shadows?" She turned to Cole. "How could you not know, you fool?"
"I never touched it," Cole protested. "I just threw the bag with your protection spell on it over the Book and picked it up that way. It looked like the book to me."
She summoned a ball of fire and threw it at the wall. "Damn them!" she cried. Two more fireballs followed the first until Cole pulled Phoebe into his arms. "Calm down. Being upset like this isn't good for the baby."
She melted into his embrace, relaxing. "You're right. We can try again later. This time they won't fool us." She slipped her arms around his waist. "Why don't you take my mind off it, baby?"
"I'll be happy to distract you," he said, bringing his lips to hers.
Phoebe suddenly gasped and tensed as she was caught in the grip of a premonition. A demon shimmered into the manor. Piper raised her hands to destroy it, but it held up one hand to stop her. "I bear a message from the Source," the demon said mockingly. "He says to tell you your efforts are pointless. Your foolish vanquish potion will not work. The Queen's soul is married to evil, and that bond cannot be broken. You will meet the same fate as she." The demon smugly started to shimmer out, but Piper blew him up before it could vanish.
"What the heck was that about?" Paige said. "That was pointless, wasn't it?"
Piper shook her head. "No...it must be a message from Cole. The Source wouldn't send a demon on a suicide mission just to deliver a stupid taunt. Vanquish potion won't work...his blood's been changed. Phoebe must have realized we summoned him, and that the old spells will work."
"Good to know," Paige said. "What about the rest?"
"Married to evil. Married to evil, same fate," Piper mused. "Oh! Dantalian!"
"Dantalian?" Paige asked.
"She was an evil high priestess," Piper explained. "She made Prue marry a demon to turn her evil because she wanted the evil to spread to the Book of Shadows."
"Do you think he's trying to tell us that Phoebe's coming after the Book?" Paige said.
Phoebe pulled back from Cole, her eyes turning to flame. "You warned them!" she hissed. "You betrayed me!" She backhanded him, knocking him to the ground, then leapt upon him, one hand on his throat, an athame appearing in the other. She brought it to his neck, pressing the sharp blade into his skin.
Cole tried to shimmer out of her grasp, but her power prevented him. So he lay still, not fighting her. "Phoebe," he said calmly. "Don't." He'd known there was a risk of Phoebe finding out he'd warned her sisters, but he had to. If Phoebe had succeeded in corrupting the Book and then her sisters, there would be no hope of saving her.
She hesitated. "I should kill you," she said angrily. "Kill you and be done with it. But I can't and you know it, damn you." She carefully traced the line of his jaw with the tip of the athame. "But I have an idea. The witches stripped your demon powers from you once. Why I can't do the same to your human soul?"
A cold wave of fear swept through him. "Phoebe...don't. Please." His time at Phoebe's side had already strengthened the demon in him; if she removed his soul, it would have free reign, no humanity to hold it back.
She smiled cruelly. "I should have thought of this long ago. It's perfect. And then when my power returns to you when the baby is born, I won't have to worry about your disgusting human desires. I may keep the witch alive to bear more of my children, but your love for her will no longer be an obstacle when I am done with her." She brought her face down to his and kissed him. "But first, I'm going to make you pay for betraying me." She bit his lip hard enough to draw blood. "I want to hear you beg, baby. I want to hear you scream."
