Nathy1000000: yay, more compliments!! Hope u like this chapter just as much!

Barb6: Thank u so much for reviewing!

Sorry I'm not updating all that often, well not as often as I did in my last fan fic, but college seems to have decided that we need to be given lots of work to do, so I'm not having so much time. I'll try to update every couple of days tho.

--Just thought I'd mention it's supposed to snow tonight so I'm happy!!--

lotsa luv

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Chapter 3: The Demon Who Loved Her

The manor stood empty. Cole cautiously opened the front door which had been left unlocked. "Phoebe?" he called out, "Anybody home?"

There was no answer so Cole walked in and closed the door behind him. He paused by the air conditioning unit and turned it up. Walking into the living room, Cole picked up a lamp and smashed it on the floor. He opened all the windows and then shimmered out.

Cole reappeared into the attic. Carrying on from his actions downstairs he opened the attic door and the windows. Looking round the attic, Cole saw the purpose of his visit; the Book Of Shadows. He walked over to it, an air of tension about him. Not noticing the crystals aligned in front of the book, Cole walked up to the pedestal the book was on. As Cole stepped into the crystal white electricity surrounded him and he fell to the floor.

Just at that moment, the three sisters walked into the manor. They all heard the thud as Cole fell on the floor. They all froze for a moment before rushing to the attic.

"Cole?" exclaimed Piper in amazement as she saw who was lying in their trap.

"What?" blurted Phoebe incredulously, hurrying to Cole's side.

"Wait, it could be dangerous." cautioned Prue.

Phoebe turned to Prue angrily "For god sakes, Prue, he looks really hurt."

"Phoebe, it's a trap for demons. You do the math." retorted Prue, looking suspiciously at Cole.

Phoebe knelt down beside Cole and rested his head on her knees. "What are you doing here?" she enquired.

"I came by to see how you're doing." Cole replied, shaking his head from side to side to clear it.

"Are you okay?" asked Phoebe, concerned

"So how did you get in and what are you doing up here?" cut in Prue, suspiciously.

"The front door was unlocked and when I saw the windows were open..." justified Cole

"You thought that someone broke into the house again." continued Phoebe, relieved there was an explanation for it. Cole stood up and Phoebe turned to glare at Prue, "Third degree over now?" she demanded

"What happened? What's that?" questioned Cole, glancing at the crystals surrounding him.

"Uhh..." Piper began.

"It's a trap." explained Prue shortly, still not completely trusting Cole.

"A what?" Cole replied.

-----

Cole's P.O.V

That was close then; and stupid. If I hadn't been so confident that I could get their Book of Shadows then they would never had had any doubts about me; or at least, not then anyway. Prue was suspicious of me, I could tell. Piper…I couldn't really tell but I think she thought Prue was overreacting, that she believed my reason for being in the manor. However Phoebe believed me completely. It gave me some satisfaction that I had gotten close enough to her for her to believe me immediately. But most of it was lost when I thought about how I was betraying her trust. She trusted me implicitly and I was trying to kill her and her sisters. The longer I spent in this world the more human I felt and I realised that I couldn't go on like this. I was falling in love and it was going to prevent me from doing what I came here to do. I had to end it with Phoebe.

-----

Phoebe and Cole were in the foyer of the manor. Phoebe opened the door to let Cole out but then she changed her mind and closed it.

"Uh, you know what? Is there something wrong?" she asked quickly, before she lost the courage to do so.

"No." replied Cole shortly

"It's just you haven't said anything since we left the restaurant." persisted Phoebe, wanting Cole to continue.

"A lot on my mind, I guess." replied Cole.

"Work?" inquired Phoebe.

"Yeah, sort of." muttered Cole, "Umm… I don't know how to say this." he began.

"Uh oh. Don't ever start a sentence like that with a girl. You don't wanna see me anymore do you? Right, I'll never accept a lunch date." said Phoebe trying to laugh.

"It's got nothing to do with you. I mean, you know how I feel about you." Cole almost whispered.

"I don't understand. I think that I deserve to know." asked Phoebe sadly.

"I promise you'll understand soon. Maybe more then you'll want to." replied Cole, feeling his heart breaking inside of him.

Cole turned to open the door. He went out, passing Prue who was walking up the steps at the same time.

"Ohhh..." gasped Prue, stopping. She reached out to close the door, "Whoa, I haven't felt anything like that since Andy was alive." she said looking first at Cole's retreating back then at Phoebe.

"Anything like what?" sighed Phoebe distractedly, following Prue's gaze at Cole.

"Spinning into infinity. You know, that head long spiral that steals your breath and stops your heart." grinned Prue.

That got Phoebe's attention, "Prue, what the hell are you talking about?" she demanded.

"Falling in love." smiled Prue.

"Falling in love?" questioned Phoebe, "Prue, I just got dumped, okay, I'm trying to experience a break up here. Who's falling in love?"

"Cole." replied Prue simply.

Phoebe laughed nervously, "Okay, you're so off track."

"Oh! Oh! Wait, I felt that too. Your heart just jumped and I felt it. You're falling in love too." exclaimed Prue happily

-----

Phoebe's P.O.V

Despite whatever problems it caused I was glad that Prue had the powers of an empath for a short time; if she hadn't I would never have known how Cole really felt; I would have just let him walk away. However the knowledge that he was falling in love with me made me refuse to let him go without a fight. We were both falling in love and I wasn't going to ignore that. So I went round to his later. It was perfect, magical, except that I knew he was hiding something from me. I tried to ignore it though; I mean I was hiding something from him too. I wasn't going to let Cole go.

-----

Cole was packing his suitcase sadly when he heard a knock at the door. "Phoebe, what are you doing here?" he asked, unable to believe that she had come to see him.

" I, um, I came to tell you something." Phoebe began nervously, " Actually..." she continued reaching up to kiss Cole, " I was always better at show then tell."

" You have no idea what you're getting yourself into." Cole whispered guiltily.

" Neither do you." replied Phoebe

-----

Cole's P.O.V

From that morning that I woke up I knew that I loved Phoebe. After years of suppression my human half had shone through and I was happy. Happy beyond words or expressing; I was finally experiencing love. For a few blissful moments I was just a guy in love with a beautiful girl.

-----

Loving you is easy because you're beautiful,
Making love with you is all I want to do,

Loving you is more than just a dream come true,
And everything that I do is out of loving you.

No one else can make me feel the colours that you bring,
Stay with me while we grow old and we will live each day in spring time,

Because loving you has made my life so beautiful,
And every day of my life is filled with loving you,
Loving you I see my soul come shining through,
And everything that I do is out of loving you.

-----

Cole's P.O.V

It was a nice thought; unrealistic, but nice. Who was I kidding? It was never gonna work out between us. She was a witch and I was a demon. She was good and I was evil. She saved innocents and I killed them; I mean hell, I was even trying to kill her and her sisters. I was living in a fool's paradise; there were barriers between us that even love couldn't conquer; barriers that the Triad weren't going to let me forget.

----

Phoebe and Cole were lying in bed, kissing. Hesitating, Phoebe drew back.

"What?" asked Cole, "No, tell me." he insisted at Phoebe silence.

"I don't know." sighed Phoebe, "It just seems like whenever I get close to you, you pull away from me. Why do you do that? What are you so afraid of telling me?"

"Phoebe, don't." pleaded Cole, rolling over so his back was towards Phoebe.

"I wanna know; I deserve to know." insisted Phoebe.

"Phoebe, you don't know what you're asking for." appealed Cole. He sat up with his back facing Phoebe.

"Whatever it is you can't keep pretending that it's not coming between us. You can't keep hiding from the truth." persisted Phoebe

Suddenly, Cole turned into Belthazor. He turned round snarling and attacked Phoebe.

Cole woke up, breathing heavily. One of the triad members was standing in his apartment.

"That wasn't so hard now was it?" he asked calmly.

"What are you doing here?" demanded Cole

"Reminding you of your inner nature, Belthazor." replied the Triad member, "One that would be in your best interest to reconnect with...soon." he continued ominously.

"I won't let you down." insisted Cole.

"You already have. You set out to destroy the witches; instead, you bedded one of them." snarled the triad member.

"That was a mistake." Cole justified hurriedly, "I..."

He was interrupted by the triad member waving his hand in front of Cole. A dagger materialised in Cole's hand.

"Find demonic help if you have to, Belthazor, but you better find a way to kill the witches or we'll kill you."

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lyrics from "Loving You" by Minnie Ripperton