AN: Sorry again for the long delay but unfortunately I still have those family-problems I mentioned beforebut now here is the next chapter. Enjoy and please let me know how you liked it!

Chapter 6: Prue

She found herself in a sinister chamber this time and of course she realized immediately that she still wasn't at home. It was quite dark as only two torches illuminated the room. Chains and different devices were hanging on the wall that reminded Pure of the Spanish inquisition.

In the middle there was a contraption where a man was stretched out in restraints between two upright poles. It was Cole. He was naked from the waist up and Prue could see deep cuts and bruises on his chest and back. His head was tipped down and he seemed to be unconsious. But it really only seemed so because when the door opened he looked up immediately and his eyes were alert.

„Good morning! Good morning!" said the arriving demon cheerfully. It was the demon who Prue saw in the former memory, so she guessed this must have been the continuation of that one. Its name was Harak, Prue rememberred. „I see you aren't very talkative today!"

Cole followed every move the demon made, but didn't react to his words.

„Today we will try out a new method!" he went on with the talk.

He took out a bottle from under his robe. He raised it up and swang it in front of Cole. The glass was misty but Prue saw something moving in it. The demon opened the bottle, and took out that thing: it reminded Prue of a centipede, only that it was bigger than a common one. It was about five centimeters long and quite ugly.

„Do you know what this is?" Harak asked, but didn't expected an answer. „I bet you do, you had perfect education, after all! This is a Dulan-worm!"

He dropped back the worm into the bottle and took a knife instead.

„You know, I got quite bored of our little game. It has been going on for two years. It's our anniversary today!"

Two years? Prue studied Cole a little bit closer and she could see the signs of the long imprisonment. Under the new cuts there were older ones, and even older scars. And he was so thin that she could count his ribs. After looking into his eyes again she also saw that he seemed to be extremely exhausted.

„Two years..." the demon continued. „And we still didn't achieve anything. Of course, I broke every bone in your body, some of them more than once but other than that? But the Source wants results soon. So I decided to take some radical measures."

He made a cut with the knife under the lowest rib. Then put down the knife and took out the worm again. He held it over the wound and the animal raised its head and started to struggle around.

„If I put this worm on the wound it will gnaw itself under your skin. Then very slowly it will eat you up from the inside. You can live with it for three or four weeks but you will wish that you would die."

„Hearing your stupid blurb already makes me wish that..." said Cole cutting in the monologue.

„If I were you I would spare my strength" warned the demon. „Where was I? Ah, yes! Well you can save yourself but only in one way. If you let your demonic side rule you, you will be saved because the Dulan can't live in demons."

With a nonchalant move he dropped the worm on the wound. It started to lick at the blood immeidatley, then suddenly pushed its head into the wound. Cole jerked and Prue felt like wretching.

„As I mentioned, you can live for three or four weeks, but I don't think that we have to wait that long. I used this little animal a few times before and the longest time, somebody lasted was five hours."

He stepped next to Cole, and Prue realized that the construction he was bound to, could be moved with a lever. The demon put it level.

„I think it will be better this way... and now, I'll leave you alone. Just call if you need something!"

When he left, Cole tried to raise his head so that he could see the worm but he didn't really manage. Prue thougth it was better this way because it already vanished half-way in the wound. It was the most disgusting and terrifying thing she has ever seen in her life. She shivered just from thinking about how it must feel when those small legs move in somebody's body.

Cole's body jerked again and again and perspiration started to cover his forehead and face. The minutes ticked by slowly. Prue didn't know how much time went by, maybe about an hour when Cole suddenly started to dragging at his restraints with all his might and struggling so strongly that Prue was afraid that he would break some bones. Afraid? She realized suddenly. Since when am I worried about a demon? But she knew the answer. She was sure that she would have given up after twenty minutes or so.

Cole stopped just as suddenly as he began his frenzy. He was wheezing.

„Oh... my god..." he moaned. „Breathe... deep..."

In that moment the door opened and Harak walked in again. It seemed as if he had felt somehow that his prisoner got to some kind of breaking point.

„How are you feeling?

„I...won't give up..." Cole mumbled, rather to himself than to the demon.

„We will see" he went closer and examined Cole's chest. „As I see it arrived at the ribs. Did you know that this worm can coil around bones and break them? It might go over all your ribs before it starts on your inner organs."

Cole looked at him with eyes that could have murdered. Prue felt the same way.

„Well, I'll go then! I really don't want to nerve you!"

He left again and time went on in silence. Prue was almost dozing off when Cole screamed all of a sudden and it startled her so much that she jumped up. She stepped to Cole's side and studied him: he was gasping for air and was sweating, he also shut his eyes tightly.

Then suddenly he opened his eyes and looked exactly at Prue.

„Is anyone here?" he asked in a qiet voice. And then: „Great... I'm already hallucinating..."

Prue wanted to ensure him that he wasn't alone, but had no means to do that of course.

Cole took some deep breathes, went quiet and gazed at the ceiling. Now and then he mumbled something and after a while Prue realized that he was counting. She just watched and slowly started to feel some respect for the half-demon.

„Ninety-five" he choked out more loudly and then screamed out again. Prue heard something crack faintly.

She didn't know how long she could bear to watch this. There was a long silence, only Cole's laboured breathing could be heard but then he started to speak again in a wobbly voice.

„...this can't be...no..."

And just then Harak came back again.

„Do you know how much time went by?" he asked. „Six hours! With this you officially broke the record! Do you want to try for more or do you give up?"

Cole just mumbled something but Prue couldn't make out what, obviously the demon could neither, as he asked back:

„Pardon?"

„Go to hell..."

„Oh, I won't do that favour."

He mooned along for a while before leaving and then things turned into terrible monotony. Cole cried out form time to time, or moaned or just jerked or shivered. There was a point where he screamed for a total of five minutes and Prue already thought that she would have gone crazy if he hadn't stopped.

Prue guessed that hours went by before somthing changed. But it wasn't for the better. Cole screamed out again and started to tug at the restraints.

„Don't... move... please... just stop..."

There was so much desperation in his voice that it brought tears into Prue's eyes. She knew of course that at some point Cole gave up as he lived as a demon when they met him but now she wished that point would come already!

He was trembling harder.

„No...no...no..."

„Stop! Please, stop already!" Prue shouted at him involuntary but of course he couldn't hear it. Instead of stopping he muttered on but Prue had to go closer to hear what he was saying.

„My name's... Cole Turner...I'm...human..." he repeated it again and again until the words turned into incomprehensible whimpers.

Then he let out a long and painful sound and Prue somehow felt that it was over. She saw in shock that tears rolled down his face.

He shivered again but this time it had a different cause: he turned into his demon-form.

And this was the point when the world turned blurry for Prue not just because she couldn't avoid the tears but because the scene was over and she was stepping out of it. When she could see clearly again she was back in the Manor and looked in the disturbed eyes of her sisters.

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AN2: All right, there is one more chapter to go and I'll try to update it today if I manage to stay awake for a while! So hopeflully see you soon!

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