FIVE

"That was foolish, Belthazor," said Warrick. "Now I guess I'll just have to collect the lower bounty on your corpse."

Warrick raised his hand with the energy ball in it. Cole tried to shimmer away but nothing happened. He didn't know what to do. In a moment Warrick would cast the energy ball and he would die. Suddenly Warrick's back exploded but reformed almost instantly. Warrick turned, the energy ball extinguishing. Piper was standing in the doorway to the kitchen.

"Hey," she said in anger, "I just cleaned this kitchen. If anyone is going to do any vanquishing in here it's me, mister."

"Charmed Ones," hissed Warrick.

Before Piper could attack again Warrick shimmered and was gone from the kitchen.

"Thanks," said Cole. "I thought I was dead."

"What happened?" Phoebe asked, rushing to make sure Cole was okay. "Why did you just stand there like that?"

"I couldn't form an energy ball," said Cole. "I tried but nothing happened. Then I tried to shimmer but nothing happened that time either. My powers are gone."

"Oh, this can't good," said Paige, standing behind Piper.

"Are we ready?" Teltrick asked.

"We are ready," said Baldasor. "The instructions given to us by Jorlan were exactly as he said."

"Good," said Teltrick. "The Source will be pleased. And we will have our brother back."

"I don't understand why we have to do this," said Kempac. "Why not just kill Turner and prevent this from happening again?"

"Because Cole Turner and Belthazor are two halves of the same coin," said Baldasor. "Most demons have always considered him less than demonic because of his human half. Even I used to feel that way. That somehow his human half made him inferior to us.

"But I have learned that this thinking is not entirely accurate. His human half has often proven to be a source of strength that other demons do not possess. You are familiar with his Brotherhood initiation. His accomplishment there was due directly to his human half. An accomplishment no demon has ever duplicated before or since."

"I agree with Baldasor," said Teltrick. "If we are to have our brother back we must have him back whole. That means his human half as well as his demonic half. And he has helped teach the Brotherhood about humanity. A task he could not have done if he were fully demon."

"I did not mean to disparage our brother," said Kempac. "I know the benefit he has been to the Brotherhood. I only thought to explore all of our options."

"No disparage was implied," said Teltrick. "I, too, had considered that option. But Baldasor is correct. Cole Turner is half of who Belthazor is. Besides, Cole Turner is a member of the Brotherhood just as Belthazor is. Once a brother always a brother. If we are to bring our brother back into the fold we must bring all of him back."

"Understood," said Kempac. "How soon before we can put the plan into action?"

"Very soon now," said Baldasor. "Very soon."

"I don't understand," said Phoebe. "How could your powers just suddenly be gone? The only thing that I know that can do that is a power stripping potion and we haven't used one."

"I don't know," said Cole. "But all of my demonic powers are gone. I can't even change to Belthazor. It's like I'm fully human."

"Who could have done this?" Piper asked Leo. "Who has the power to strip his powers away like this?"

"I don't know," said Leo. "There are beings who can do it but Cole said that nothing out of the ordinary happened. If any of them had done this Cole would have remembered encountering them."

"Unless the memories were removed from me," said Cole. "There are creatures who can suppress or remove memories. I could have had my powers stripped and then the memories of it suppressed or removed."

"When?" Phoebe asked. "Your powers were working fine when you returned to the manor. And I've been with you every second since then. Nothing unusual has happened."

"What about at the mall?" Paige asked. "Could something have happened there?"

"I don't see how," said Cole. "I left Phoebe in the clothing store and wandered around the mall for a while. Then I went back and picked her up. I remember everything clearly. If someone had removed or suppressed my memories there would be gaps in them. I don't have any gaps."

"What about the Elders?" Piper asked. "Do you think they could have done this?"

"Well, they certainly have the power to remove a creature's powers," said Cole. "They've done it to White Lighters on occasion. And even to some witches."

"Except the Elders have no power over me," said Cole. "Removing a demon's powers isn't like turning off a light switch. And I doubt even the Elders could do it to me. If they could do that they wouldn't need witches or White Lighters. They'd just remove the powers of any demon they came across."

"He's right," said Leo. "They don't have any power or authority over demons, even half demons. It sounds more and more like this is the work of the Underworld. Maybe some form of attack the Source has come up with."

"But how did they do it?" Phoebe asked. "Cole says he has no lapses in his memories. And I don't have any. So how did they remove his powers without us knowing about it."

"I don't know," said Leo. "There used to be a demon that had the power to suppress powers. His name was, I think, Talpax. But I haven't heard of him being around for a while."

"He was vanquished by the Source after World War II," said Cole. "He was a subordinate of Kernian. When Kernian disobeyed the Source during World War II the Source had him and all of his subordinates that were involved vanquished after the war."

"Okay, so scratch one power suppressing demon," said Phoebe. "Any other ideas who might have done this? And more importantly, any ideas why they would do it? If a demon could get close enough to Cole to suppress or remove his powers why not just vanquish him? He's under a sentence of death from the Source, isn't he? Why take away his powers and not just kill him?"

"Because you dishonored him and made him a traitor, human. You caused him to betray his own kind. And now you will pay for your treachery and interference."

They all looked at the entryway to see who had spoken. They expected to see a demon – or perhaps more than one – standing in the entryway. What they saw caused all of them to gasp in surprise.

Standing in the entryway, holding an energy ball, was the demon Belthazor.