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tj191218: It's alright!
Okay, I know you're waiting for the next chapter, so there it is!
31. Chapter
After Prue had put Danny to bed, she took the thunder stone and went into her bedroom. She was angry about Amy, because she had dared to accuse her of being satisfied with this situation. She wasn't satisfied, she was desperate. She sat down on her bed with a sigh and put the stone onto the night stand. It was just terrible that Cole was locked up in the stone, but she would find a solution. She was convinced about it, she was never on a loss of ideas and sooner or later, she would find a way to set him free. But at the moment she was just too tired and exhausted to think about it.
Prue slipped under the blanket and fell in a light nervous sleep. Although she needed rest and peace, she didn't find them. She couldn't stop thinking, thoughts turned up and tortured her. She woke up again and again and looked at the stone lying on her night stand. She wanted Cole lying beside her in this bed and not locked up in the thunder stone. She hoped he didn't suffer inside of the stone, that the knowledge, that David Morgan could force his will on him didn't hurt him too much. Perhaps Cole tried hard to get free and was desperate, that he didn't succeed.
"I know that you are there, so listen to me." She urged him and looked at the stone hypnotizing. "I won't ever let down anyone I love. I won't leave anyone to his fate." She explained firmly. "Think of it, whatever happens. I'll get you out of it, I promise you, so don't lose your patience." She tried to calm him and herself down. She had no idea, how he was feeling at the moment, if he could understand her. But at least he was safe. "David Morgan or his mother can't harm you anymore, you are safe." She tried it again.
Prue leaned back with a sigh and tried to fall asleep again, when she suddenly had a shocking idea of David Morgan being able to put Cole under pressure even from a distance. He had been able to put a curse on Cole's bedroom without ever being in this house, she remembered with a shock. And Zadie told her, that he didn't need a personal contact, didn't she? What would happen, if Morgan or Belva could set Cole free from a distance and he would be forced to do them a favour. A favour which would be hell for Cole, because Morgan wanted to take revenge and he would choose something terrible something evil, and it would be impossible for Cole to bear it.
Morgan had already planned to force Cole to hurt her. Cole should hit her, beat her to death. Cole found a way out of it and didn't do it, but if a spell was powerful enough, nobody would have the chance to resist. And if Cole had to do something evil, would he be able to forgive himself? And would she be able to forgive him? Prue sighed, no she couldn't allow that, because she knew exactly how something like that could turn out. A spell could be more powerful than your own will. She looked at the stone unhappily. And if she was right, Cole would need her help.
She jumped up and started to put on her clothes. Perhaps Amy was right and the spell wasn't evil and she just needed such an extreme method to destroy the stone. And finally the spell turned up at the right time, as the book had promised.
"But remains of a body." she sighed. "I don't want that." She looked at the stone. "And I even don't know, where I should find them. I won't go with a shovel on the cemetery." She explained firmly, when suddenly Zadie occured to her. She pulled a face, that might be possible, a Voodoo priestess could have such things.
Although she still wasn't convinced about it, she ordered a taxi at 3 o'clock in the morning to take her to her car. Prue told the taxi driver the address of David Morgan's girlfriend. Then she looked out of the window lost in thoughts. Even at this time there were still many night owls on the road in the center of the city. Nevertheless the taxi driver needed less time to cross the town than Prue has needed in the morning. And when they reached the residential area where David Morgan's girlfriend lived, it was calm and nearly nobody was on the road at night. The street lighting was shining on the street and Prue couldn't see anybody.
She payed the taxi driver and looked after him, until the car disappeared. At home, she had put the thunder stone, the magical book and some other magical things into a rucksack. Now she slung it over her shoulder and crossed the road. She looked around, but she couldn't see Morgan's vehicle anywhere. Her eyes fell on the house and she looked searching for some light, but everybody was still sleeping at this time.
Prue walked to her car in relief and got in. She put the rucksack onto the front passenger seat and set off. She had decided to get to the car park of the supermarket, which was open all night. She wanted to go to Madame Zadie's house, because she supposed that a car would attract too much attention at this time. She reached the shopping center quickly and parked her car near the exit. There weren't a lot of cars at night and nobody saw Prue, when she took her rucksack and got off her car.
She walked along the streets to Madame Zadie's house and had no problems anymore to find the way. She already knew it inside out. On her way she just met a drunken man, who staggered from side to side and blabbered quietly. Prue didn't pay him attention and reached the house soon after. She walked around it to the back and saw that the police had been here yet. Yellow barrier tapes should bar the entrance to the study. But this provisional barrier wouldn't keep anyone from entering the house. But Prue supposed that nobody living in this district would dare to enter the house of the Voodoo priestess Zadie.
Prue sighed, in contrast to her. She walked to the door and climbed over the yellow tapes. She entered Madame Zadie's study and looked around. Although it was rather dark, she noticed that nothing had changed. The furniture were still lying on the ground together with Zadie's things.
Prue took a flashlight out of her rucksack and kneeled down. Carefully she shined the torch over the carpet and saw broken bottles and boxes on the ground. But to Prue's relief it seemed as if Madame Zadie had labelled all of her bottles. Because Prue could see some little stickers on the bottles.
After she had found toad skin and other indefinable atrocities, she finally saw a broken bottle with some liquid left in the bottleneck. The other liquid was on the carpet and had discolored it strongly. Prue took a tweezers and picked up a splitter of glass. When she read the label, a satisfied smile flashed over her face. 'Veneno', that was great, then she wouldn't have to think about the ingredients of the Veneno mixture anymore.
She took the bottleneck with the tweezers carefully and poured the rest of the Veneno-mixture into an intact glass. Then she stood up and went into another edge of the room to go on searching. Soon later she felt uneasy, when she found something she was searching for. 'Cadavre' was written in Zadie's steep handwriting on the label. That could stand just for one thing. Prue opened the box reluctantly. "Perhaps it's just made of animals." She tried to convince herself, when her eyes fell on a strange gray powder. "Nasty, but I don't have any choice." She decided reluctantly.
She stood up resolutely and took her findings. Then she went into the kitchen and put them down on the kitchen table. She looked out of the small window, but a tree obstructed her view to the neighbours house. She could just see a street in a distance behind the house. Therefore Prue decided to turn on the light, she would need it and she didn't suppose that a driver would notice it from the street.
Prue turned to the cupboards and searched for a pot. When she found it, she poured the rest of the Veneno-mixture into it. The bottom wasn't covered with it and Prue hoped that it would be enough nevertheless. She took the thunderstone from the rucksack and talked with him hopefully for the last time. "Everything will go on well, just trust me." She put it in the middle of the pot and filled up water. Then she switched on the stove and placed the pot on the hotplate.
Thoughtfully Prue looked around for an object she could use to take the stone out of the pot at the right time. Because she didn't want to pour the highly toxic liquid into the sink. She searched through all cupboards and finally she found a wide tongs in the cutlery box. Prue placed it beside the hotplate and waited until the water started to boil. When she could see the first blows she unscrewed the box an spilled a little bit of the gray powder into the pot.
The water began to steam wildly immediately. Prue jumped back and coughed. "Well, obviously that was a little bit too much of the wonderful 'Cadavre' powder." She said ironically and put the box back onto the kitchen table with a disgusted look.
Then she tried to wave away the steam and looked calmly into the pot again. Despite of the numerous blows she could see the stone in the middle of the pot very well. Prue took the tongs into her hand and breathed deeply. She had to concentrate, there was no place for fear and doubts. After a while her breath was calm again and her heart didn't pound in panic against her chest anymore. "That's child's play for me." She explained confidently and starred at the stone fascinated. It was still looking the same, dark, nearly black, nothing had changed.
It wasn't written in the book, how it should look like after it would change its color. Hopefully it would turn red or brown and not dark blue, Prue thought, she was tensed. But there was no need to get worried, because ten minutes later, the stone discolored in a lilac tone. Immediately Prue took the tongs tightly and tried to get hold of the stone. She managed it quickly and chucked it out of the pot. But the stone was slippery from the long time it has cooked in the water, so it slipped Prue away and fell with a loud crash onto Zadie's old black and white tiles.
Prue stepped back, she didn't didn't want to think that there was the possibility that an unknown demon was suddenly standing in front of her. But she would be ready for a fight, if that happened. She looked intently at the light coming out of the stone. Prue was prepared for everything, when suddenly Cole shaped out of the dust, looking at her with exactly the same determined facial expression.
"Prue" he let out in relief. "I thought ... I feared ..." he stammered in a husky voice.
"Of course it's me!" Prue explained and walked to him to embrace him again. "Or did you think, I would leave you to Belva?" She asked.
"I don't know, I didn't know, what's waiting for me." He said still shaken, but then he smiled. "And then it's you."
Prue unclasped him to look him into the eyes again. "I've promised you." She explained with a smile. "Or didn't you listen to me?"
Cole gave her a confused look. "In there?" he asked in disbelief and gave the stone a look of hatred. The thunder stone was still lying on the ground and turned back into its former colour. "No, the last words I've heard were that David Morgan was over the moon, that he would get his revenge at least."
"Then it was Morgan, who locked you up?" Prue wanted to know.
"No, his mother." Cole explained and sat down onto the kitchen chair. "Morgan just wanted to transform me into a zombie. And then I should kill Danny and you." He leaned his arms onto the table and ran his fingers through his hair lost in thoughts.
Prue shook her head and sat down opposite. "Hey!" she said and took his hand. "You would have never done it."
Cole looked up. "No?" He asked with a sad smile. "You never know."
"That's rubbish, you love Danny and you would never do something to him deliberately." Prue confirmed.
"You don't know it, Prue. You don't know, how it feels, if you are afraid of yourself." Cole looked at the table again. "Prue I, ...in some situations you aren't ..." He stopped again.
"Of course I know, what you want to say, Cole. But this time it was something else. You weren't responsible for it. And if a spell is too powerful, nobody can fight against it. That has nothing to do with you." Prue explained calmly. "You can't manage some situations alone, it's no shame."
Cole looked at her with a gentle smile. "Fancy that you of all people are telling me this."
"No it isn't, because I know, that sometimes you just need somebody who gets you off the hook, you can't do everything alone. And you had some help, I was there and that's the only thing that is important." She told him.
"Well sometimes nobody helps you. There was a time, when I rather wanted to die than getting evil again, but unfortunately I was invulnerable." Cole explained sarcastically.
"And you didn't tell my sisters about it." Prue supposed. "You didn't ask them for help, did you?"
"No, I asked them." Cole looked at her with an ironical smile on his face. "But you have to know, that they just saw the demon in me, after I returned from the wasteland. They forgot completely, that I had a human part, too. It was as if I was a complete stranger to them who didn't deserve their help."
Prue looked at him thoughtfully. "Cole, I can't judge what's happened between you, I wasn't there. I don't know, if they did right, or if they didn't. But now I am here and that's the one thing that counts." She explained again and added firmly. "And despite of everything I'm convinced that you'd never hurt Danny. You love your son."
"Oh, you should tell it Phoebe, she would contradict vehemently." Cole said cynically.
"She's still alive, isn't she?" Prue wanted to know, slowly she was getting annoyed. She didn't talk about herself intentionally, because she could defend herself. And actually she even knew, that he wouldn't have been able to carry it through to the end with her. "Cole, you didn't do anything to me, although your bedroom was set under a curse
"Zadie has told you about it?" Cole asked in surprise. "Then she has also told you, that I should harm you. And I knew that a fight with you wouldn't be so easy, so I've found another way to harm you."
Prue shook her head. "Stop it Cole, what are you getting at? You overdo it, you're very hard on yourself and that isn't like you."
"I just hate it, if someone tries to manipulate me." He explained and looked at her searching. "Did you ever have the feeling, that your life isn't your life? That it doesn't belong to you, that you just let everything happen?" It was obvious, that he didn't expect an answer.
"Cole.." Prue began nevertheless and wanted to take his hand, but Cole jumped up.
"I know it." he said and looked at her again. "And I can tell you, it's an awful feeling."
"I've no doubt about it." Prue explained calmly.
"Mm." he ran his fingers through his tousled hair and looked around. "Where are we at all?" He asked to change the subject.
"In Zadie's kitchen." Prue informed him, she was also relieved about the change of subject. "Unfortunately I needed a few special ingredients." She explained and pulled a face, while Cole cast a sceptical look at her. "You can't imagine, what I've taken upon me to rescue you."
"Well I hope it was worth it in the end." He said grinning, but then he asked seriously again. "Did Zadie help you?"
Prue shook her head. "No, she isn't here. She has told me, that she wanted to go somewhere to stop her sister."
"Mm, hopefully she'll succeed, although I would also like to take revenge on Belva and especially on her son personally." Cole said thoughtfully.
"Well I'd like to see her stupid face, if she was looking for your thunderstone and couldn't find it anymore." Prue said with a satisfied grin.
"Yes, that sounds good for the beginning." Cole said and grinned back. "Where did you find the stone?"
"Belva has a secluded house in the country." Prue explained. "And there are countless thunder stones in her cellar."
"Really? And how did you know, which was the right one?" Cole wanted to know.
"That was easy." Prue said and stood up to walk to him. "I trusted my feelings." She explained and looked him deep into the eyes.
"Oh, I see!" Cole said and smiled. "And that's the reason, why your look was full of fear, when I turned up. You didn't know, whom you should expect."
"No, you're wrong I knew it." She told him.
"And you were absolutely sure about it?" Cole asked in a low voice.
"Absolutely!" She touched his face with her hands and kissed him softly. "You should actually know that I make no mistakes."
"Then it wasn't a fault to fall in love with me?" He asked silently.
"I'm not sure, yet." She explained and looked up thoughtfully. "Perhaps you should stop talking now. You should better try to convince me that I'm right."
Cole looked at her with a broad smile. Prue knew this look very well, it had been her undoing before. For a moment they lost themselves in each others eyes, before he kissed her playfully.
"That's much better." Prue murmured and kissed him again. Their tongues touched each other and the kiss was getting deeper. Cole's hands touched her waist and caressed along her back.
Prue buried her fingers in his hair and she pulled his face closer. Thereby she lost her balance a little and fell against the wall. Her back pushed the light switch and suddenly it was getting dark in the kitchen. Just the pale moon light was shining into the room, but it had no chance to light up the room.
Cole leaned back a little and tried to make out Prue's face."You turn out the light, what's the meaning of this?" He wanted to know in amusement.
"Is it a bad sign, that you need a shave?" She asked back.
"No, there was just no shaver in the stone." he explained silently.
"Well it seems as if the thunder stones don't have a great service." Prue said and wanted to kiss him again.
But Cole held her back. "Is here a bedroom anywhere? I fear I'm not able to shimmer without the feeling of being locked up ever again." He explained in excuse.
"Well don't worry, I wouldn't do it anyway. Who knows, where we would end up." Prue said still holding him tightly. Her mouth touched his neck just below the earlobe.
"On a lonely island." Cole suggested in a husky voice. "That would be better than Zadie's bedroom."
"What do you think about the kitchen. We are already here, although..." Prue thought and her hands wandered deeper, she noticed in satisfaction, that he gasped for breath. "The cadaver powder is still on the table." She pointed out.
"Mm, doesn't matter." Cole embraced her tightly and kissed her, it was a hot passionate kiss. A kiss, that should never end, if someone asked them. But suddenly the ray of a torch was shining blindingly bright into their faces. They jumped apart startled.
"Prue!" They heard a surprised voice.
"What?" Prue asked and tried to cover her eyes with her hand, but the light was too strong for her eyes, she couldn't make out, who was standing in the dark with the torch in his hand. The person didn't hold down the light, yet. "Whoever you are, switch out the damn light." She hissed at him.
"Oh, I see." The man excused and it was getting dark again.
Meanwhile Cole searched for the light switch and turned on the light. It was getting light again in Zadie's kitchen and Prue could see, who was standing opposite to her. "Paul, Robert." She said in surprise and looked at the men in police uniform. "What are you doing here?"
"Well we better should ask you." Paul Hennen said and kept his distance, while Robert started to give an explanation.
"We were on patrol. Someone broke into this house some days ago, and we couldn't find the owner. Therefore we pass by here routinely. When we passed by here on the street, we saw a light in the window." He informed Cole and Prue. "It went out again and we decided to look what's going on here." He said and started to smile. "But we weren't prepared to find you."
"We were surprised to meet you, too." Cole said dryly.
Robert Hennen looked suspiciously at them. "You still didn't tell us, what you are after."
"We wanted to visit Zadie." Prue explained quickly.
"Exactly, we needed some ... magical help." Cole added.
"That's it. Well ... you could call it this way." Prue agreed. "Finally you should test everything."
"Oh really? What kind of help?" Robert asked rather amused.
"Sorry, it's private." Cole said with an excusing smile. Then he looked at Paul Hennen. "I'm sure you can understand that."
"And besides we have found another solution for our problem." Prue said quickly, but when she saw Robert's amused look, while Paul was looking back grimly, she noticed, that it was easy to misinterpret her statement. Prue forced a smile. "But, don't get me wrong."
"No, how could we." Robert said grinning.
Prue looked at him angrily. "One more word, Robert, I'm warning you." She hissed at him.
Robert raised his hand in excuse and tried to look seriously again, but he didn't succeed as he'd hoped.
"It's irrelevant what they wanted here." Paul explained his colleague meanwhile. "They broke into this house and that's a criminal offence."
"But Paul, we know Zadie very well, and when she didn't open the door we wanted to know what's going on." Prue explained calmly. "And when we saw the broken door, you'll understand that we were worried, don't you?"
"And you weren't beginning to have your doubts by seeing the police barrier tapes?" He wanted to know shaking his head, then he looked at Cole again. "You are a lawyer, you should know that it's forbidden to ignore them."
"Paul, we know Zadie very well, she wouldn't mind, if we made sure if everything is alright." Prue tried to convince him.
"Nevertheless it's burglary." Paul got it straight.
Cole rolled his eyes. "Stop acting the big shot." He said annoyed.
Paul turned to Cole again. "Under existing law, you broke into this house. And you off all people should know, how important it is to stick to our rules."
"What makes you saying that?" Cole murmured.
"I thought you'd be sensible enough to think about your license. If you don't care about the existing law, you can lose it very fast." Paul informed him.
Cole already wanted to give him the right answer, when he saw Prue's look. He shrugged his shoulders and held his mouth, probably it wasn't such a good idea to set Paul against himself even more than he already was.
Meanwhile Robert tried to calm down his partner. "You've heard, what they were here for, it's just a misunderstanding."
But Paul was stubborn. "Burglary is burglary." he explained. "Even if they are your friends, we can't turn a blind eye to it."
"They just wanted to visit a friend and when the garden door was broken, they wanted to see if everything was alright. Everybody would do that." Robert tried it again.
"You shouldn't forget that it's in the deepiof the night." Paul pointed out coldly.
Robert grinned "Come on Paul, usually you aren't such a stickler for the rules." He explained and grinned broadly. "And they are already punished enough, finally we disturbed them by trying to find a solution for their problem."
"I'm warning you Robert." Prue reminded him angrily. "And take that silly grin off your face."
"But Prue, he's on our side." Cole said and gave Paul a patronizing pat on the back. "Enough of that Paul. Finally we didn't walk off with anything."
"You don't say, but what is this?" Paul asked and picked up the box from the table. "A love drug?" He wanted to know in a cynical voice, while he opened the box.
"No!" Prue let out horrified. She better didn't want to know, what someone like Robert would do with the powder, if he thought it was a love drug. Worst of all he would eat it. No, she had to prevent it, therefore she knocked the box out of Paul's hand quickly. It fell onto the ground and the gray powder spread out on the tiles.
"That wasn't very nice of you Prue." Robert said indignantly and looked at the gray powder on the ground unhappily. "Why do you grudge us the pleasure?"
"Well Robert, you are a policeman." Prue reminded him with a satisfied smile. "And I didn't want to lead you into temptation to do something illegal."
"I didn't know that a love potion is illegal." Cole wondered.
"Theft is a criminal offense, Mr. Turner." Paul informed him "Because this box whether belong to you nor to us."
"I think we should go at least." Prue suggested resolutely. "Zadie isn't here. And you'll have something better do do than to discuss with us."
"I see it the same way." Cole agreed. "There are worse criminals in this town than us."
Paul nodded slowly and they walked along the corridor to Zadie's study.
When they entered the room, Cole stopped immediately and looked around in disbelief. "What on earth did happen here?" He asked in surprise.
Prue cast an angry look at him. "We already wondered, when we saw the room last time." She hissed at him.
"Oh yes, of course. I just forgot it for a moment." Cole explained with a broad smile.
"When you entered the room last time, you were too busy with your problem, weren't you?" Robert asked in amusement.
"You got it." Cole confirmed.
Prue gave an annoyed sigh. "Let's go finally." She said and walked to the broken door. She climbed over outside, where the sun was already shining.
"Where is your car?" Paul wanted to know, because he didn't want to risk, that they would go back into the house, therefore he suggested. "We can take you there."
"Don't worry, I've parked it nearby." Prue rejected his offer quickly. "At the shopping center."
"We can give you a ride." Robert informed her. "It's on our way."
Prue looked at Cole, who shrugged his shoulders hardly noticeable. "Well, okay, why not." Prue decided and they got into the police car.
When they reached the parkings of the shopping center, Prue and Cole said goodbye to the policemen and got off the car quickly. "And thanks, that you won't cause us trouble." Prue thanked again.
"Don't mention it." Robert said. "But don't forget the barbecue tomorrow night." He told Prue and looked at Cole. "She didn't tell you about it, did she?" He wanted to know.
Cole gave him a confused look. "About what?"
"The barbecue tomorrow night." Robert shook his head and looked at Prue reproachfully. "Judy already thought, that you wouldn't ask him.
Prue shrugged her shoulders. "I don't have to ask him." She explained with a satisfied smile. "If I want him to come with me, he'll come with me."
Robert grinned. "Oh I see, that's how it is. Okay, we'll see each other tomorrow night." He closed the door and they got off.
"I'll always do it, if you want something?" Cole wanted to know sceptically.
"Yes," Prue grinned. "Is it a problem for you?"
Cole sighed. "I've really let myself in for something there." he said shaking his head and followed her to her car.