Thank you very much for your reviews!
Jaded: It's a good advice. I really should attach more importance of that and I'm sure, I'll do it next time.
Okay, hope you'll like the next chapter.
24. Chapter
Prue sat down on the sofa and looked gloomily into the space. Leo's visit reminded her of everything she had lost. And it was frightening that he didn't know anything of the things, which happening here.
Suddenly she saw something lying on the table beside her. She picked it up and found out, that it was a photo of a baby, her nephew. She held it in her hand thankfully and looked at it with a happy smile on her face. "I'm so lucky for you." She whispered. "If I could just be with you." She ran her fingers over the photo and for a moment she was lost in reverie of her former home.
When Cole entered the room, she looked up still depressed. Cole looked around thoughtfully."He is gone?" Prue nodded and Cole put Danny back to his place. "Will he come back?"
"He'll just come, if I'm in danger." Prue explained with a cynical smile.
"I understand." Cole said and sat down opposite to her. "And you'll be in danger, because of me, of course, won't you?"
Prue shrugged her shoulders. "It seems as if you are very unpopular with them, what have you done at all?" she asked him.
"What did he tell you?" Cole asked carefully.
Prue looked at him intently. "Nothing special, just the usual thing."
But before they could go on talking, they suddenly heard some noise from the hall, Amy was screaming in fright. As quick as lightning, they jumped up and rushed into the hall, where they found Amy who was absolutely desperate. She stared on the ground where a light mist was coming out of something.
Cole and Prue looked at each other asking, when a demon suddenly formed out of the fog. He glowered at Amy furiously. "You'll pay for it, you bitch, nobody can lock me up unpunished."
Amy looked at him with her eyes wide open, while Prue shouted she should throw herself onto the ground. Without thinking twice Amy did her the favour and the energy ball of the demon ended up in the grandfather clock.
"Oh, no. Not again!" Prue let out angrily and lifted her arm to send the demon afterwards. She didn't care about the clock, because it was already smashed.
Meanwhile Cole looked at his hand, where he had built a rather small energy ball. He was really dissatisfied with it, but nevertheless he threw it at the clock and before the demon could get up again, he was burnt to death. "I'm still able to do it." Cole said and smiled triumphantly, although he knew that the demon must have been very weak, otherwise his energy ball wouldn't have vanquished him.
"What was it?" Prue wondered and looked at Cole asking.
"How shall I know?" Cole replied and walked to Amy to help her standing up.
"He was coming out of the stone." Amy explained him and pointed into the direction of the thunderstone, which was lying in the middle of the hall.
Prue walked to the stone and picked it up. "Where does it come from?"
"We've found it nearby the stage today." Cole told her, while he led Amy into the living room. "It's a thunderstone, Voodoo disciples use it to communicate with their Loas."
"Yes, I know. But what does it have to do with the appearance of the demon?" Prue wanted to know.
"I just wanted to take a close look at the stone, but then it dropped out of my hand." Amy told them. "Immediately such a mist was coming out of the cracks of the stone and I thought it would start to burn, but suddenly this creature was standing in the hall."
Prue looked at Cole sceptically. "Okay, what do you know about it?"
Cole sighed. "I've heard, that you can imprison a demon with a spell in such a stone. And the person, who keeps the demon captured up, is able to set him free again."
"Mm, not bad." Prue said and looked at the stone with more enthusiasm.
"Well, unfortunately it just works with black magic, so don't go to any trouble." Cole informed her.
"What a pity. But why did you consider it necessary to bring the stone here, without thinking about the danger?" She wanted to know.
"Because I thought it wouldn't work anymore. Otherwise the former owner of the stone wouldn't have thrown it away. It's rather precious. Do you see the little cracks there?" He asked Prue and pointed at the stone. "I was sure, that the stone was of no use to anybody anymore. But I never supposed that there could still be a demon inside of it, who got the chance to escape through the cracks."
"Rather careless." Prue said angrily.
"Hey what are you complaining about, it all went well, we defeated him easily." Cole told her cooly, although he knew very well, that they just had been able to defeat him, because the demon's attempts to escape had sapped his energy.
"I think the owner had thrown the stone away, because he was afraid of the revenge of the demon." Amy supposed meanwhile. "He has told me, that he'll pay back to me, that I've locked him up in the stone."
Prue looked at Cole. "Doesn't the demon realize, who locked him up?" She wanted to know.
"How shall I know? I never allowed anyone to lock me up." He told her. "But I've heard, that some owners set the demon free again and he has to do them a favour. The owner puts him under an obligation to fulfil him a wish, no matter what it is. The demon has no choice to refuse it because a spell binds him to do it."
"Sounds like Aladin and the magic lamp." Prue said and sighed. "Probably it belonged to Belva and we'll have to pay her sister a visit to ask her about the stone, even today."
Amy looked at her asking. "Do you believe Belva has captivated a demon and set him free again to kill Adam?"
"Unlikely, but we can't exclude it, either. But I promise you, that we'll find it out, Amy." Prue explained and looked at the stone again. "And what will we do with it now?" She asked.
Cole took the stone away from her. "Don't worry, it's empty now." he told them and grinned. "One stone, one demon, otherwise it would be too narrow inside of it, I suppose."
"Well hopefully." Prue said and put it back onto the table.
After dinner Cole and Prue set off to the shopping center. Prue had decided to park the car there, because she wanted to walk through the little passages to Madame Zadie's house. She didn't want to attract attention by driving through this poor quarter with their car. So she parked the car and they walked round the center until they arrived at the back street.
Prue looked around and found the street, she had taken, when she followed Vivian. It was already dark as last time and the dim light of the few street lights, which were still working, was shining on the uneven street. But luckily, Prue wore more suitable shoes this time, she thought in satisfaction.
Cole followed her silently and hoped, that Prue would find the right way. The narrow passages and the mostly run down houses and sites looked nearly the same everywhere. They only met a few figures on their way, but nobody noticed them at all.
"How far is it?" Cole finally broke the silence. "It seems to me, as if we would go round in circles all the time."
"The reason for it is that everything looks the same in this quarter." Prue told him angrily and hoped, that she had really chosen the right way. She hadn't been sure at the last crossing, which way was the right one, but she would never tell him about it.
"How did you find it last time?" Cole wanted to know.
"I followed your girl-friend Vivian. Didn't I tell you about it?" She asked ironically.
"Vivian?" Cole laughed out loud. "Really? Vivian wanted to meet a Voodoo Priestess? She has told me, that she doesn't believe in magic at all. I'd like to know, what she wanted from her."
"Probably a love drug, so that all men become a slave to her." Prue suggested loudly.
Cole smiled. "Well it didn't work with me." He said in a low voice.
Prue shrugged her shoulders and decided to change the subject. "Why do you act so stupid? I told you that it's quite a way to walk. And I thought you like long walks."
"What?" Cole looked at her asking. "What makes you say that?"
Prue shrugged her shoulders. "I think Phoebe has mentioned it once."
"Oh." he let out in surprise and looked at her. "That's right, but I wouldn't call this a relaxed walk."
A dog was barking on a site and some noise was coming out of some houses, someone gave a scream and plates fell down to the ground.
"Yes, but we aren't here for fun." Prue explained and went on.
Cole looked at her intently. "It's strange that you remembered it." He said thoughtfully.
Prue shrugged her shoulders. "Don't let it go to your head. It doesn't mean a thing." She told him and breathed in relief, when she finally saw the seedy garage with the numerous car wrecks on the left side. "We'll be there soon." She said in a satisfied voice.
Soon after they were standing in front of Madame Zadie's house. It looked the same as Prue remembered it from the last time, nothing had changed. She looked at the entrance thoughtfully. "I think you should meet her alone first." She decided. "She doesn't know you yet and if you can't get something out of her, I can still try it myself."
Cole looked at her sceptically, but then he nodded. "Sure, no problem." He walked to the house and knocked at the door.
Immediately afterwards an imposing woman opened the door and looked at him tiredly. "I don't receive visitors late at night." She told him resolutely.
"You'll receive me. Because it's very important." Cole told her and was anxious to be friendly. He went forward and stood in the doorframe, so that she couldn't close the door.
Prue watched everything, hidden behind a bush. She sighed and regretted already, that she didn't go herself.
Madame Zadie smiled at Cole in amusement. "I won't be forced, even you won't get anywhere with me." She told him, while she looked straight into his eyes. "But you can count yourself lucky, I have some time and I'm rather interested, what you want from me." She said and stepped aside to let Cole in.
Prue watched Cole disappearing in the house. The door was closed again and she decided against going into the garden to watch them. She didn't want that Madame Zadie caught her eavesdropping once again.
Cole entered the dark corridor and followed the woman into a crammed full living room. He looked around curiously and took a close look at the masks and the pictures of saints hanging on the walls and embellishing the altar.
Madame Zadie interrupted his viewing. "You are well versed in this business, aren't you?"
Cole shrugged his shoulders. "More or less." he said and looked at her smiling. "First of all I know everything about black magic."
"Well, that's not my line." Zadie told him and sat down. "So why do I have the pleasure of meeting a former demon?"
Cole tried hard not letting her see his surprise and took a seat opposite to her. "As I already told you, I'm interested in Voodoo Priestess performing black magic."
"Well I'm not one of them."Zadie told him calmly. "But that isn't why you are here, is it? Your problem is, that you are afraid, that you don't deserve to be lucky."
Cole smiled non-committal. "No, I don't. Actually I'm interested in a Voodoo Priestess called Madame Belva and I've heard that you know her very well." He looked at her attentively, he didn't want to miss one of her emotions.
But Zadie pretended, as if she didn't listen to him and didn't show any trace of emotion. "You wonder, how long you'll need to mess up everything again, don't you?" Zadie wanted to know. "You believe, that you'll always hurt the people you love, because you were up to no good, you were evil in the past and that is your punishment."
Cole shook his head. "Did you get me right? It's about Belva that I'm here. She performs black magic to lock up demons and I fear she does even worse things."
Zadie looked at him forcefully. "It's wrong, that you'll mess up everything good in your life. You just never got a real chance. You're afraid that you aren't able to keep your happiness, your luck. That you don't deserve to be lucky and that you'll fail inevitable. But that's not the way it is, you should trust yourself and then everything will be alright."
Cole couldn't avoid answering her. "Don't worry, I trust myself."
"But do you have confidence in love?" Zadie wanted to know.
"No, I don't have anymore." Cole told her with a sneering smile. "Bad experiences. I learnt it the hard way. And as I already told you more than once, I have to talk to you about Belva, that's why I'm here."
"You have to forgive yourself. You shouldn't expect too much of you." Zadie told him with a smile. "You fear that you'll always harm the people you love and therefore you prefer to be careful. You don't want to listen to your feelings, you don't want to dedicate yourself. But then you'll just reach a dead end."
"You repeat yourself." Cole was irritated with her, he knew very well, that it could be dangerous, if he wasn't careful. And therefore he had to be careful all the time. This funny odd bird wouldn't be able to persuade him that the exact opposite was right.
"I can do you a favour and take a look into your future. If you need it to calm down." Zadie offered him.
"No, I'm not interested in your visions of my future." He told her angrily. "You should better look into the future of your sister, because it will look pretty bad."
Seconds later Cole rushed out of the house. "Come on, let's go, she won't tell us anything." He said furiously, when he was standing in front of Prue. He wanted to take her arm to lead her away.
But Prue got away from him angrily and didn't move. "We'll see. I thought so as me. I knew that I'd better go myself." She said and looked at the house. "But hopefully it isn't too late, yet. I'll get her to talk." She told him confidently and walked purposefully to the door.
"Okay, enjoy yourself." Cole called after her and hid behind the bush, when Prue knocked at the door. He was fed up with Zadie's views and messages.
Madame Zadie opened the door immediately and smiled at Prue friendly. "I have expected something like that." She said in a low voice and let Prue step in. She led her along the corridor to the study, looking out onto the garden. Zadie closed the door and offered her the same seat as the night some weeks ago.
"Thank you!" Prue said and sat down. Then she looked at the woman attentively and decided to get onto the subject of her visit immediately. "I want to talk about Belva's dark machinations with you."
Zadie smiled knowing. "No, that isn't the real reason why you are here." She explained calmly. "You don't know, how you shall deal with your feelings for the man, who just visited me."
Prue gave her an annoyed look and feared the worst. "What did he tell you?"
"Don't worry, he didn't talk about you." Zadie told her. "That wasn't necessary. I can see it in your eyes. You are afraid of your feelings for him."
Prue smiled coldly. "No, I'm not." she got it straight firmly. "And that's not the point why I'm here. It's about..."
But Zadie cut her short. "There is no reason to be afraid of love." She told Prue with a smile. "He isn't a demon anymore, you don't have to worry about it. There isn't any evil inside of him any longer, even if he isn't convinced about it himself."
Prue decided, that she wouldn't fall for Zadie's line. Perhaps she succeeded to confess Cole with her talking, but she would fail with her. "But there is evil inside of your sister." She told her with a cold smile.
Zadie sighed. "My sister is a complicated person, just like you. She has never seen the luck, even if it was right under her nose." She took a few bones into her hands and shook them. "You fell in love with him, why do you think you have to deny it?"
"We aren't talking about me." Prue explained as calm as possible.
"Oh we do!" Zadie looked at her smiling and cast a few bones onto the table.
Against her will Prue looked at the pattern on the table and wondered, what the meaning of it was. But she wouldn't have to worry about it, Zadie told her at once.
"I can see a lucky future for you and this former demon. Three children, two girls and ..."
Prue stood up furiously and pushed the bones onto the ground with a simple gesture. "Stop it, it's not about that, that I'm here. You just try to distract me, but you won't succeed. It's your sister, why I'm here." She explained insecurely.
Zadie shook her head sadly. "She is my sister and I know, that you'll understand me. I can't walk out on my sister, no matter how wrong the way is, that she has chosen. Don't worry about her, I'll take care of this matter." She explained firmly and pointed at the bones, which were lying on the ground in the same pattern as before. "But that is real. Don't seal your heart to your luck."
"Don't worry, I know better than you, how my luck looks like." Prue told her and left the house without turning back.
When she passed Cole, soon after, she didn't deign to look at him. He emerged from the bush and tried to follow her. "Did she tell you anything?" he wanted to know.
"She told me, that she'll take care of her sister alone." Prue said curtly. If only she hadn't gone to Madame Zadie, because without wanting it at all, she had realized something she actually already knew all the time.
Prue looked aside, but when she saw Cole at her side, she moved away a little, because she didn't want to be close to him. She felt terrible. She had fallen in love with him so slowly, that she didn't notice it herself. But when she was standing in Madame Zadie's living room it suddenly stared into her face. It was so obvious, already when she stood up for him this afternoon, she should have known, or when she had been happy to hear Dianne's theory about Cole's behaviour, or when she had been so hurt, after he had whispered Phoebe's name into her ear, or actually earlier, every time, when he had kissed her.
But a lucky family with children, that was even too much for her! She took a deep breath, she didn't have to worry about it. She took the pill, she was always careful. And she had never believed one of the stories about women who got pregnant by chance. That was nonsense, something like that couldn't happen to her. She looked down, when she suddenly saw Madame Zadie's amulet, she was still wearing. She took it and tore it off furiously, she didn't want to wear anything of this Voodoo priestess. She should never have worn it. She threw it away in a high arc. She could hear a low clatter, as if the tooth bounced off a wall and fell onto the ground.
Cole looked at Prue in surprise. "What was that?" he asked and on a sudden impulse he took her hand.
His touch was a flash of lightning, she stepped back and looked at him horrified. "Don't touch me ever again."
Her uncouth rejection hurt him more, than he had thought. He was getting cold just of thinking that he could never touch her ever again. Therefore he asked rudely. "Why do you make such a fuss about it?" When he didn't get an answer, he rolled his eyes edgily and wanted to know again. "What did you throw away?"
"Just the ugly tooth amulet, I should have never worn it." she explained coldly.
"That was a stupid idea." Cole said in dissatisfaction and looked around, but it was too dark to make out anything. He just saw a building with a christmas lightning over the entrance, but he couldn't see, where the amulet ended up. "She didn't want to betray her sister. But I'm sure she just wanted to protect you with the amulet."
"We've no idea, what she was trying to achieve by that." Prue explained, completely composed again. "And I don't want to wait and see what happens." She didn't want to wear anything what could in the least be connected with black magic. She didn't trust this Voodoo Priestess and she'd never listen to her, no matter, what she was feeling. Her heart would be sealed and she would put everything under lock and key as firmly fixed as possible.
Cole looked at her attentively. "What else did Zadie tell you? I've never seen you so badly shaken before."
"Nothing! Why do you ask?" Prue looked at him carefully and wondered, if she had told him the same nonsense. No, please not, she thought begging. "What did she tell you?"
"Nothing." he explained curtly.
Prue looked at him sceptically, but decided, that she must have told him something else. Because otherwise she could imagine very well, that he would tease her about their future little family.
When they arrived at home, Prue walked upstairs quickly, without another word. Cole looked after her thoughtfully, she had really acted very strange. But he hoped, that that would change soon. He shrugged his shoulders and turned around to go into the living room, where he could still see some light.
Amy had made herself a home on the coach and was on the verge of sleeping. When she saw Cole, she had a good stretch. "I wanted to wait until you are home again." She told him. "Did you find out anything?"Cole shook his head and sat down. "No, she was silent as the grave. Her sister wreaks havoc and she couldn't care less."
Amy nodded. "And where is Prue?" she wanted to know.
"Upstairs. Good old Zadie must have told her something that put her off completely." Cole said and looked to the door, then he turned back to Amy. "And I can tell you, Prue doesn't lose the thread so easily."
"Did you ask her about it?"
Cole looked at her sceptically. "Of course, but she never tells me anything."
Amy shook her head slowly. "If you really asked her, she'd do it." She explained, because she could imagine very well, the way their talk had gone. "If you told her, that you are worried about her, she would tell you everything."
Cole laughed disdainfully. "You don't know her very well." he said and stood up. "But so what. Probably she won't remember anymore tomorrow." He wished Amy a good night and disappeared.
Amy looked behind him thoughtfully. She couldn't understand, why both of them acted so strange. It was obvious, that they were wild about each other, nevertheless they acted as if they didn't know it. Or rather, they preferred to fight against and snap at each other. Amy sighed, they should have grown out of that by now, she thought angrily, but obviously age didn't matter. Adam and her that had been completely different. They had always known that they were in love, even in the beginning. But that didn't get them anywhere, Adam decided for the church and not for her. If she had accepted his decision, he would probably still be alive. She looked at the table wistfully, where the thunderstone was still lying. If she just knew, why the demon had killed Adam and if there was a reason at all.
She sighed, why did Adam have to be so terribly good, they could have continue their relation secretly. But no, he didn't want it. Perhaps she should fall in love with someone who wasn't so good, next time. No demon of course, because they didn't have a heart. Amy looked at the door and suddenly remembered that she had forgotten to ask Cole about the strange man. Why had he called him a demon?