'Could you at least try and act normal.' Darryl hissed in frustration. 'The guys at the station already think I'm a little crazy and all you're doing is confirming their suspicions.'

'Okay I promise from now on totally normal' Paige said placatingly, as he took hold of her arm and dragged her out of earshot of the bunch of curious police officers. The officers had already finished up the initial examination, and were now standing around drinking coffee and waiting for the forensics guys to finish. Darryl was feeling decidedly uncomfortable at the whispers, the occasional bursts of laughter and the inquisitive glances that all seemed to be directed at him.

Jaw set firmly, he squared his shoulders and then walked determinedly towards the crime scene, the laughter of his fellow officers mercifully fading in to the distance. After a moment's hesitation, Paige followed him, struggling to keep up with his long strides. As they passed the ambulance where the Medical Examiner was supervising the removal of the bodies, or at least what was left of them, Paige found that she had to avert her eyes.

Darryl shook his head 'Man this one's nasty. Second one of these in as many days too. The guys at the station think we might have a serial killer on our hands.' He looked at her seriously. 'That means you need to be more careful about how you act, everyone's that much more alert on cases like these.'

'Hey I thought you said they bought the whole police psychic routine.' Paige said indignantly as she followed him across the grass, the heels of her boots sinking in to the soft ground as she walked. She frowned. They'd had a lot of rain lately and the ground was churned up from so many police and paramedics walking over it, her jeans and boots were already splattered with mud. She'd always maintained that a clothing allowance should come as part of the Charmed ones gig; she'd sure ruined plenty of good outfits in the line of duty.

'I was just embellishing my part a little, you know going for some realism' she explained to Darryl, almost apologetic. 'I thought I was helping.'

'Yeah well from now on you let me do all the talking' Darryl insisted, stopping as he reached the yellow tape, and turning back to fix her with one of his 'I mean it' looks.

Paige shrugged 'Whatever.' Glancing behind her to make sure that she was no longer being watched, she lifted up the tape that cordoned off the crime scene, and ducked underneath. Muttering something about being demoted, Darryl followed her.

'So, what do you think?' Darryl asked turning to Phoebe, who was already kneeling on the grass carefully examining the scorch marks.

Phoebe sighed heavily. 'Definitely demonic.'

'I knew it' Darryl groaned. 'Why did it have to be demonic? I mean it's Christmas don't the bad guys take time off for the holidays too?

Paige smiled ruefully. ''Fraid it doesn't work that way Darryl, but don't worry we're on to it now.' She patted him comfortingly on the shoulder. 'We'll go home, hit the Book of Shadows, we're bound to come up with something.'

'You know Cole came to see me this morning, and he said that we were in danger' Phoebe said carefully. 'I'm starting to think this could be connected.' She stood up, brushing the grass off her jeans, and turned slowly to face Paige, chewing her bottom lip nervously as she awaited the inevitable reaction.

'What!' Paige screeched. 'Your demonic ex-husband threatens you, and you don't think it's worth mentioning until now.' She shook her head in disbelief 'Honestly Phoebe I can't believe you! How are we supposed to work together if you don't tell me all the facts?'

'I know, I know, I'm sorry, I should have told you' Phoebe was contrite, 'But I'm really busy at the paper right now, the holidays always seem to make people's problems worse ya know. And then I promised Piper I'd organise the Christmas decorations at P3, and then there was this, and well I guess with everything that's been going on it just kinda slipped my mind.'

'Slipped your mind?' Paige was incredulous. 'Picking up the dry cleaning, getting the groceries, those are the kinds of things that slip your mind. Threats from indestructible demons, that one oughta stay with you.'

'Do you think you could keep your voice down?' Darryl pleaded, glancing nervously over his shoulder and noticing that they were attracting some unwanted attention from the M.E. 'You know some of the people here still think I'm a pretty normal guy and I'd kinda like to keep it that way.'

'Well I'm sorry, but hearing that Cole has threatened us isn't the kind of news I take lightly' Paige hissed.

Phoebe screwed up her face in concentration trying to remember exactly what Cole had said. She wished now that she had paid a little more attention. 'No, Cole wasn't threatening me, he was warning me. He said that we were in danger, danger that could bring an end to the Charmed Ones.'

'Phoebe, take a look around, it's not hard to figure out what went on here' Paige spoke firmly, struggling to keep her voice down. 'An entire coven taken out, no signs of a struggle, scorch marks on the ground. He's the only one we know who has that kind of power and favours energy balls as his weapon of choice, it's obvious Cole's involved.'

Phoebe shook her head, 'No, it doesn't make any sense. If Cole wanted to destroy us why not do that, destroy us? Why take out a coven? And why come and warn me about it? Besides Cole's obsessed with getting me back, there's no way he'd pull a stunt like this now.'

Paige shrugged. 'Cole's crazy, he's capable of doing anything right now.' She hesitated, seeking inspiration 'I don't know, maybe, maybe this is part of some grand demonic plan to get you back.' She looked at Phoebe triumphantly 'Maybe he's gonna try and blackmail you in to a relationship, did ya think of that? The way I see it, the sooner we figure out a way to vanquish Cole the better.'

'Okay, well do ya think you could do that someplace else?' Darryl asked hopefully, as he turned to walk back to his car. 'Cause I think we've outstayed our welcome here. The guys are starting to get curious and I'm fresh out of explanations.'

'Wait a minute.' Phoebe said, putting out a hand to stop him. 'I think I found something.' Bending forwards she stooped to retrieve the pendant that was lying in the grass. Instantly a barrage of uncontrollable images hit her. In a matter of seconds it was over, leaving Phoebe's senses reeling.

'A premonition?' Paige asked eagerly, taking hold of Phoebe's arm to steady her.

Still dazed, Phoebe nodded mutely, slowly opening her eyes to meet Paige's excited gaze.

'So what did you see?' Paige asked impatiently.