Chapter 7: Death Takes a Halliwell Part 1
"Phoebe…Phoebe…"
Phoebe Halliwell groaned and swatted at the hand that was disturbing her rest. Undaunted, Cole Turner kept up with his self-appointed task, nudging her until she finally opened her eyes and glared at him.
"What?" she growled, still half-asleep.
"It's nearly noon."
Blearily, Phoebe glanced at the clock. It was, indeed, quarter til noon. But that didn't explain why Cole was so insistent she wake up. Their lives were usually so hectic, a few extra z's when time allowed were usually not frowned upon. Cole, of all people, ought to understand this.
"So?" she muttered, closing her eyes again.
"So you're supposed to meet your sister in an hour."
This time, Phoebe's eyes flew open with no further prompting. The events of the past week came flooding back and she looked around the room, fully absorbing where they were. Piper and Leo had married a week ago; ever since then, the rest of the family had been trying to give them 'married people' time and space, as they hadn't been able to book a honeymoon. That meant spending as much time away from the house as possible. Prue had taken Phoebe's advice and had been spending more time with old friends. Phoebe herself had been spending nights in their father's guest room. She had been utilizing those nights to finally rekindle her relationship with Cole. The night of her sister's wedding had been the first time they had been 'together' ever since his return, and they had been enjoying every minute of it.
Most importantly, though, now that it had been a week since the wedding, Phoebe and Cole had decided it was finally time to tell Prue of their decision to keep the baby. Phoebe thought that maybe it wouldn't be so bad, now, because of her oldest sister's changing attitude and the fact that Cole had essentially exonerated her. However, she had decided to take no chances and do it in a neutral setting at the beach. Besides, who could stay mad at someone at the beach?
Hopefully, not even Prue.
XXX
Two hours later, Phoebe was no closer to telling Prue than she had been two weeks ago.
Instead, she had spent a whole hour building a useless sand castle which, as Prue pointed out, would be washed away 'in about five seconds flat.' Prue just…didn't seem to be in the right frame of mind. Phoebe didn't understand it. They were at a beautiful (if slightly cold) beach, were still rejoicing over their sister's recent wedding, and Prue was finally getting her social life back on track. What could be the problem?
"What's with the ba-hum castle attitude there?" Phoebe wanted to know.
Prue looked slightly distracted. "What?"
"The whole point of today was to relax and have fun," Phoebe reminded her. Well, that wasn't the whole point, but Prue didn't need to know that yet.
"See, and I thought the point was to give Piper and Leo some alone married people time since they decided to wait on their honeymoon," Prue quipped.
"Okay," Phoebe hedged. That had been part of the point, after all. But still, Prue didn't have to act like spending time with her sister at the beach was a chore. "So you're sure nothing's wrong?"
Busted. Prue looked a little bit like a deer in the headlights, and she looked away as she admitted, "The beach isn't exactly my idea of a good time."
Phoebe was astounded. "Prue, how is that possible?"
Prue sighed. "Okay, well, you're too young to remember, but this is where Grams brought us after Mom's funeral to try and cheer us up."
Oh. That would certainly explain why Prue didn't like the beach. Phoebe realized she'd made a mistake in suggesting this as a hangout spot. "Wow," she breathed.
"Yeah. You know, but I know that you love the beach and I didn't wanna ruin it for you, but something about the sand and the ocean makes me feel angry," Prue gestured to their surroundings.
"Why does it make you angry?" Phoebe had a degree in psychology; maybe she could help.
"Doesn't Mom's death make you angry?" Prue asked, perplexed.
Phoebe shook her head. Maybe she had just been too young, but… "It makes me sad."
Prue snorted. "Well, I don't do 'sad' that well, you know. I didn't even cry at her funeral."
Phoebe didn't even remember her funeral; heck, she hardly remembered Mom. Everything that she hadn't seen or heard in her adult years was just…an impression. That was all—and it made her sad. But now Prue's attitude totally made sense. "So seeing Mom at Piper's wedding and now the beach…" she theorized.
"Yeah. So I'm sorry if I've been a little cranky," Prue apologized.
Phoebe accepted it without complaint. She also accepted that this was not the time or place to tell Prue of her decision. "Say no more. Princess Prue has spoken!" she yelled, returning to her previously-playful attitude, and earned a smile from Prue. "By the order of the Queen, that's me…"
"Oh, I got that part," Prue rolled her eyes.
"Phoebeville, and all of its glory, will be abandoned for greater pastures and two lattes," Phoebe declared. 'Well,onelatteandahotcocoa,' she realized, somewhat mournfully. No more coffee for her, at least not for awhile. Starbucks would just have to wait.
"Oh, all hail the Queen," Prue readily agreed. Her mood may not be the best, but she could take comfort in the fact that there was a latte out there with her name on it.
They turned to make their way back up to the parking lot, and that was when Prue spotted her. There was a woman standing at the top, snapping photos of either them or the scenery. She stopped once Prue spotted her, and the two stared at each other. Or rather, the woman stared at Prue, while Prue stared at the figure behind her. It wasn't really a figure, so much as a big, dark shadow, and it was definitely not a trick of the imagination. Not knowing what else to do, Prue snapped a picture of it for future reference. The woman took off.
"Hey! No, no, no, wait!"
Phoebe came up to her, alarmed. "You okay?"
Prue pointed at the place where the woman and the shadow had just been standing. "There was this woman and there was a shadow next to her. It had to be demonic."
"A shadow?" Phoebe's breath caught, her mind flashing back to her recently-rediscovered childhood nightmare. "Like, what do you mean? Like a Woogy?"
"No, spookier, way spookier. I think I got pictures, though."
"So much for the lattes," Phoebe sighed. So much for telling Prue, too. "Looks like there's a new demon in town."
XXX
The two sisters were sorely disappointed when they got back to the manor. Prue's photos, as they turned out, showed nothing except the woman. No shadow, not even a distortion. Even worse, there was nothing in the book. The only thing they could do was contact Darryl Morris to see if he could track down the mysterious woman. Prue was heading to do just that when the doorbell rang. Phoebe answered it. Their visitor was Inspector Reese Davidson, DA Bureau of Investigations, and he didn't look happy.
"Inspector, how can I help you?"
"You can tell me where to find Cole Turner," Davidson ordered. "I know he's alive and I know he's in town."
Phoebe's breath caught, and she was sure he didn't miss it. How did Davidson know Cole was back? Surely Cole hadn't been so stupid as to reveal himself!
"Really?" she feigned surprise.
Unsurprisingly, Davidson didn't buy it. "Yeah, really. You wanna know how?" he hissed, taking a step closer. Phoebe leaned back, but didn't allow him entry into the manor. "Because his former landlady was found brutally murdered at this address." He showed it to her. It was Cole's old apartment.
"Mrs. Owens," Phoebe breathed, thinking back to the nosy but kind older woman she had met. "That's awful." But that didn't mean Cole did it, which Davidson seemed to be implying.
"Awful like you can't imagine," Davidson sneered. Well, Phoebe was pretty sure she could imagine, given that she'd seen some pretty awful murders in her time, but she wasn't about to let Davidson know that.
"Uh, Cole didn't do this," Phoebe tried to convince him. "The Cole Turner I know…"
Davidson pounced on her, figuratively if not literally. "The Cole Turner you know. See, now that just doesn't sound like the words of a woman who claims her boyfriend left her without a word four months ago."
He must really be upset, if he was getting the timing wrong. Phoebe was only 12 weeks pregnant; closer to three months, not four. She continued trying, "I know what you're thinking, and I know what this looks like, and I am so sorry for what happened to…"
The inspector cared little for words he felt were insincere, and didn't let her finish. Aghast, he hissed, "You're sorry?" Phoebe stepped back a little at his venom; he was really, truly angry and he proved it by giving her a description of the crime scene. "Her eyes were frozen open in terror, her skull punctured in two places, and by the time the police got there, most of her brain had spilled out onto the floor. Be sick, be horrified, but don't stand there lying to me and say you're sorry."
Phoebe hardly heard a word after the word 'floor'. This wasn't a human murder, as she'd been hoping. It sounded like the demons who were after Cole had found his landlady instead. They'd brutally murdered an innocent woman, and now, two (relatively) innocent people were about to take the fall for it.
"Alright, wait a second," Prue cut in, making Phoebe jump. She'd forgotten her sister was there. "You're talking to her like she did it."
Davidson glared at her. "If she's lying to protect Turner, then she might as well had." He turned back to Phoebe, getting right in her face. "Now, for the last time, where is he?" Phoebe said nothing; there was nothing she could say. Davidson shook his head disgustedly. He threatened, "I'm gonna find him, Miss Halliwell, and then I'm gonna bust his ass, and then I'm gonna bust yours."
They watched him leave in a fury. Phoebe tried to convince himself that he would never be able to bust them, as she doubted there was any physical evidence that would link them to the crime. But he could expose them.
"You okay?" Prue asked softly.
Phoebe turned to her. "He didn't do it, Prue," she said, in earnest. "I know he didn't do it."
Prue's expression was unreadable, making it hard for Phoebe to tell if she believed her or not. "Yeah, well, it's not me you have to convince." Phoebe nodded her assent, and they looked out the window. Prue started. Davidson was with the woman from the beach. They were talking, and the shadow was following them. "Oh my God," she pointed, and Phoebe looked. "That's her, the woman from the beach. Alright, look, do you see it?"
Phoebe saw nothing but a man, a woman, and a car. "No. All I see is Inspector Davidson and a woman. What does this mean? Is he having her follow us?"
"I'm more concerned about what's following her," Prue told her. "I don't understand why you can't see it."
"That doesn't matter, Prue, you can." Phoebe watched the two get into the car. "Do you think this has anything to do with the landlady's death?"
"It would be a pretty big coincidence if it didn't," Prue pointed out. "Alright, I'm gonna follow her to protect her from it. If I'm the only one who can see it, that must mean I'm meant to fight it."
Phoebe nodded. "Alright, but by the way the Inspector was describing the murder…" she trailed off, knowing Prue would know what she meant.
Prue did. "I know, I'll be careful. I think you should find Cole, tell him what happened and see if he knows anything about this shadow thing, 'kay? Bye."
Prue left, driving off in her own car. Phoebe, too, departed the manor. Her destination was the one place she could now talk to Cole safely—the mausoleum.
XXX
Cole was doing what he now spent most of his time doing—moving through different planes to dodge bounty hunters—when he felt it. Although he couldn't sense witches nearly as well as demons, he could sense Phoebe. More specifically, he was getting good enough to where he could sense if when she wanted him. Right now, he was feeling that distinctive pull. He willingly followed it.
Unsurprisingly, it led him straight to their preferred meeting place—the mausoleum. Phoebe came up to him, greeting him a, "Hey, baby," and a kiss. Again, Cole returned willingly returned both greetings, but he quickly pulled away. She wouldn't have summoned him to the mausoleum if it wasn't urgent.
"What's wrong?" he asked. Another thought occurred to him. It might not count as urgent, but… "Did you tell Prue about the baby yet?"
Phoebe, too, pulled back with a sigh. "No," she admitted and Cole gave her an annoyed glare. How long had they been putting this off? Too long. He was about to say so when she stopped him. "I know, I know," Phoebe put a finger to his lips, shushing him. "I need to tell her. But something else came up. Your landlady was murdered."
His annoyance momentarily forgotten, Cole listened as she described the shadow figure, the murder of his former landlady and Davidson's accusations against them both. If Davidson continued his investigation…
"I better get out of here," Cole immediately decided.
"What? Why?" Phoebe demanded.
"Because it's getting too dangerous," Cole explained. He didn't want to leave, but this was his battle. He knew that the sisters could hold their own against supernatural foes, but he wasn't sure they could handle that and a mortal one. There was too much at stake here.
"So you're just gonna disappear again?" Phoebe was getting angry. If this was Cole's response every time there was danger, their newfound relationship was in trouble.
"If that's what it takes to keep you safe," Cole stated simply.
"What about keeping me sane, Cole?" Phoebe asked, exasperatedly. She was never going to be safe, and the sooner he got over that, the better. Sane was all they could hope for. "I'm not gonna lose you again."
"Some demon obviously knows I'm alive or at least suspects that. Why else would they have killed my landlady?" Cole ran his hand through his hair. "And if they killed her, they'll kill anyone they have to, to get to me."
"That is exactly why you cannot leave." Phoebe reminded herself that Cole was used to fending for himself, to working alone. Well, that wasn't how it would work with them. "We have to stop them before they hurt anybody else. Before they hurt you."
Cole took Phoebe's smaller hands in his larger ones. "They're after me, Phoebe, this is my battle. I'll handle it." He started to walk away.
Oh no, he didn't. Phoebe wasn't letting him leave that easily. "Cole," she called, and he stopped, turning back around to look at her. "I love you, and if holding onto that means I have to fight a couple of extra demons along the way, then bring 'em on."
Cole gestured at her stomach, to where their child was growing. "What about the baby?" he reminded her. "You shouldn't take unnecessary risks."
That was true but right now, it was a moot point. Prue had seen the shadow and Davidson was threatening all of them. Knowing she could now convincingly make her case, Phoebe simply said, "I'm already involved, anyway."
XXX
And that was the reason why, not too long after their meeting in the mausoleum, Phoebe and Cole arrived outside his apartment. Cole shimmered them in so that Phoebe's car wouldn't be seen in the lot. There was only one sleepy, inexperienced cop guarding their intended destination, and slipping past her was simple. In no time at all, they were stepping into his old abode.
Phoebe saw the blood stain. "Oh, God."
"You okay?" Cole asked, quietly shutting the door. "Try not to touch anything, you don't want to leave your finger prints."
"What if I want to get a premonition?"
"Use the back of your hand."
Phoebe followed his advice, touching various objects while Cole looked around the apartment. He went into the bedroom and a small smile crossed his face. Their baby had been conceived here.
"Did you find something?" Phoebe asked, coming over to him.
"Just this place. It's strange to be back here," Cole commented as he looked around his bedroom.
Phoebe leaned her head against his shoulder. "I know. It's strange to be back here too."
"This was the first taste I had of a normal life," Cole explained. "There were mornings I'd wake up next to you and I didn't feel evil. I was just a guy in love with a beautiful girl. I wanted it so much. I started to believe that lie."
"That's not a lie anymore," Phoebe told him, smiling. She rested one hand against her belly. "We can have that. We can have a life together. Heck…we already made one."
Cole smiled back at her. Yes, they had.
As she slowly moved away from him, Phoebe's hand brushed against a lamp. She gasped as her mind was violently ripped from the room they were in and into a place that was dark and gray. A mausoleum. Inspector Reese Davidson was there, only long enough to be killed by what she would swear looked like a vampire of myth. Prue, too, was nearby. She watched as the man was killed. She did nothing.
The air exploded out of her lungs and Phoebe stumbled as she came out of the vision. Cole was right there. He was concerned. "What did you see?"
"Prue, she turned her back," Phoebe cried, spinning to face him. Desperately, she asked, "Why didn't she do anything to stop them?"
"Stop who?"
"Uhh, demons," Phoebe thought back over her vision, cringing away from its viciousness. "They…sort of had vampire teeth and they were floating. They were killing Davidson."
Cole recognized her description. They weren't vampires—right now, as far as he was concerned, they were worse. "I know. They're seekers. They have ways of gathering information fast." By ripping it directly out of their chosen victim's brain. "Really fast."
"Do you know how to vanquish them?" Phoebe asked anxiously.
"No," Cole admitted. He had never dealt with a seeker before.
"Then let's hope the Book of Shadows does."
Now that they had what they had come for—knowledge of who and what had killed Mrs. Owens—Phoebe and Cole quickly departed. They made a quick stop back at the cemetery to get Phoebe's car before going back to the manor. Once there, Phoebe brought the Book of Shadows down to the much comfier living room and began flipping through it. The seekers were easy to find. She pointed to the page.
"Here it is. The seekers. They gather information by feeding on their victims' brain stem cells. Lovely," she remarked sarcastically.
Cole already knew that. "Which means that my landlady must have talked to Inspector Davidson about me, that's why they're after him. Does it say anything about demons taking on shadow form?"
"No, but it does have a vanquish. Wanna see it?" Phoebe held the Book up to him.
Cole quickly got up and moved away, wanting to put as much distance between himself and the Book of Shadows as possible without actually leaving the room. "Oh, no, no, no," he shook his head. "Last time I touched that book, it electrocuted me."
Phoebe smiled and laughed. "Yeah, well, maybe because your intentions were evil. Maybe it knows now you're trying to be good."
Cole held his hands up. "Better safe than sorry." Absently, both parents-to-be wondered if the Book would reject their baby later in life. Probably not, since it wasn't rejecting Phoebe right now. And their baby would be three-quarters human, with two-thirds of that lineage being witchy in nature. The baby would be fine—they hoped.
At that moment, Prue walked in and Phoebe momentarily forgot about the Book. She looked…defeated. Phoebe's heart sank; things hadn't gone well on Prue's end.
"Alright, I need the Book," the eldest Charmed sister declared. Then she noticed Cole. Feeling slightly outraged, she demanded, "Wait a second, what is he doing here next to it?"
"Keeping my distance, don't worry," Cole reassured her.
Prue looked like she was about to say something else, but Phoebe interrupted her. "Uh, pardon the potential understatement of a cliché, but you look like you've seen a ghost."
"Yeah, among other things." Prue's shoulders slumped. "I lost my innocent."
"Davidson?" Cole asked.
"No, his partner. I mean, she was out of my sight for two seconds and then they got her," Prue sank down at the coffee table.
Phoebe pointed at the Book. "Was that them?"
Prue looked at the page she was pointing to. Those demons certainly looked familiar. "Yeah, I think so."
"They're demonic lie detectors," Phoebe explained. "Only no one survives their test."
"They killed Mrs. Owens and now they're after Davidson," Cole added.
Prue gave him a hard, chilling look. "To get to you?" she asked pointedly.
"Yes, to get to me," Cole admitted. Prue's unspoken accusation that he was to blame for this hung heavy in the air, and everyone was silent for a moment. Finally, Cole turned back to Phoebe and said, "Maybe I should deal with this on my own."
Phoebe shook her head. "No, you can't. You said it yourself. You don't know how to vanquish them."
"Unfortunately, this isn't the only evil we're up against either," Prue remembered. She grudging accepted that they might still need Cole's help.
"You mean the shadow?"
"Yeah." Prue turned back towards the empty entryway, calling, "Leo! Leo!"
Leo and Piper appeared in a swirl of bright, white orbs. Brighter still was the…lamp?...that Leo carried in his hand.
"What's with the lamp?" Phoebe asked.
"Bright, isn't it?" Piper commented. It was obvious that she didn't like it.
"Uh, yeah." Prue brushed it off, and moved on to the real reason she had called her sister and brother-in-law back down to Earth. "Leo, is there such a thing as Death? I mean, the Angel of Death?"
"Yeah, sure. Why?" Leo asked.
"Because I met him," Prue stated.
Phoebe stared at her. The Angel of Death? Really? "What, are you kidding me?"
"Yeah, that's how the shadow introduced himself to me when he took Davidson's partner," Prue explained quickly. "And then he said he would be back, too, I'm assuming for Davidson."
If that was true…Cole sighed inwardly. "He's not working with the demons," he informed Prue matter-of-factly.
"No, he can't be," Leo agreed. "The Angel of Death isn't evil."
Prue snorted. "The hell he isn't. And if I can see him, that must mean I'm supposed to stop him."
"Prue, you can't stop him," Leo put in. "The Angel of Death always gets what he comes for."
Prue brushed him off. "Yeah, well, not this time. Alright, I need to get a hold of Davidson. If I can get him here, I can protect him better."
Piper, however, stopped her. "Hold it. Davidson? As in, Reese Davidson, the DA investigator? He's the innocent?"
"Yeah, is that a problem?"
"One great big giant one. Prue, we can't protect him without telling him we're witches," Piper exclaimed.
"Yeah, I know that, Piper, but I don't care, okay?" Prue took a deep breath. "I cannot stand by and watch death take that man."
"But that's what you do," Phoebe interjected quietly. She explained, "At least, according to my premonition. You turn your back when the demons attack."
Prue stared at her, shocked. Phoebe's power must've been fritzing, because she would never turn her back on an innocent. "Then you saw wrong," she declared. "I'm not gonna let Death take any more of my innocents. I'm tired of losing people. So, Phoebe, do you have Davidson's card?"
As Phoebe left the room to get it, Cole watched the oldest sister out of the corner of his eye. That was part of her problem, he mused privately. She couldn't accept both the good and the bad in the world around her. Things were all one or all the other, as far as Prue Halliwell was concerned. And she would never be truly happy until she could bring herself to believe otherwise.
Cole quietly excused himself, wandering out into the hallway. He needed to get to Davidson first so the man couldn't expose them all. Once he was sure no one was looking, Cole shimmered. He arrived in the hallway of Davidson's office, where a flurry of activity was taking place. Paramedics were covering a dead woman, likely the partner Prue had been talking about. Other people were processing the crime scene. That mattered little to Cole—the man he had come for was in imminent danger. He could sense it. The seekers were coming.
Davidson came down the hall and Cole stepped in front of him. "Forget about the Halliwells, it's me you're after," he said lowly as Davidson jumped back in shock. "I'll tell you whatever you want to know, I promise." Well, everything that wasn't supernatural, anyway, which wasn't much. "Just not here, it's not safe."
Davidson thrust his hand off when Cole put it on his shoulder. "Don't touch me!" he shouted. "You're under arrest, Turner, and I will personally see to it."
Not if he was dead. "Wait," Cole hissed, as that feeling of approaching danger grew stronger.
"What do you mean, wait?" Davidson demanded. Cole didn't answer, at least not verbally. Instead, he grabbed the man again—and shimmered. Two seconds later, they were once again in familiar surroundings—familiar to Cole, that is. He had, once again, chosen his father's resting place as a hideout spot.
Davidson jerked away from him. "I'm sorry, it was our only chance," Cole apologized, not feeling sorry at all. He had just saved the man, after all. "They might be able to track me, but they'll have a hard time sensing me in a cemetery."
Their only chance? Tracking? Sensing? What the hell was Turner talking about. Reese panicked. "How did we get…What the hell's happening?" He looked around wildly at their dark and dreary surroundings. Good God, he was in a crypt! "What's happening to me?"
"Just breathe, try to calm down," Cole advised. Really, this man was supposed to be a hardened cop, so Davidson's reaction seemed slightly ridiculous to him. He had to remind himself that not all cops were Darryl Morris.
"Who are you?" Davidson demanded.
"Somebody who just saved your life." Cole took a step towards him, and Davidson hurriedly backed away. "Try to calm down, Inspector. If I were a murderer, I would have killed you by now."
"Just-just-just let me go, then," the inspector stammered. "I'll just walk away."
Fat chance, on either count. "But I can't do that," Cole protested calmly. "If the demons get to you, they'll find out the way to get to me is to kill Phoebe and I can't let that happen."
"You say demon."
Cole smirked to himself. If only the man knew, although it probably wouldn't be long before he did. "Only as a metaphor."
XXX
Miles away at the Halliwell Manor, Prue waited anxiously by the phone. How long had it been since she had called? Davidson wasn't answering any calls or any pages, and that worried her. "Something must have happened to him," she decided, heart twisting.
Phoebe down the stairs. "Cole's gone," she announced.
"What do you mean, 'gone'?" Leo questioned.
"I mean, he's not here. I've looked everywhere," Phoebe sighed, realizing what must have happened. "He must have gone after Davidson alone, to protect us."
"Yeah, but if the seekers get to him first…" Piper trailed off.
Phoebe understood—they all did. Davidson and Cole would die, and so would they. They had to get Cole to bring him back to the manor, where everyone could protect them both. "The mausoleum," she said, and everyone looked at her. "He could've taken him to the mausoleum. That's where Cole stays."
"Is there any chance that's where you saw the Inspector die in your premonition?" Piper asked.
"Maybe," Phoebe admitted. It had definitely been a mausoleum, she just didn't know which one. Even more frightening was the fact that if the Inspector was dead, Cole might be, too—the seekers would only have been able to get to Davidson after going through Cole. She quickly dismissed the thought, not wanting to alarm herself further. "Let's go."
"I could astral there faster," Prue pointed out.
"What if the demon shows up?" Leo asked. "You can't vanquish them, you'll need the Power of Three spell."
"So then I won't vanquish them," Prue stated. "I'll just protect Reese long enough to get him outta there."
Phoebe started, "Prue…"
Prue turned to her. "Phoebe, your premonition is not gonna come true." Perhaps her knowing about it had already changed it. "I told you, this is one fight Death is not gonna win."
XXX
Cole was not having any luck in getting Inspector Reese Davidson to calm down. The man had just tried to escape for the umpteenth time, and Cole had pushed him back against the wall. He was vaguely aware that he was going about this 'calming down' thing all wrong; he just didn't know what else to do. And he didn't have a chance to correct himself for, just when he was about to try again, that was when the seekers chose to appear.
"Belthazor, I assume," the first seeker intoned.
Cole played dumb. "I'm sorry, who?"
"We sensed your shimmer." The seekers seemed to smirk a little. "You're losing your touch."
Cole abandoned his ploy. "Leave him out of this," he ordered; not that an order from him would carry meaning any longer.
"Why would we want him?" the seeker wanted to know. "Now that we have you."
"Unless the human knows something Belthazor doesn't want us to know," the second seeker added.
They didn't have the chance to find out. Prue Halliwell astralled in, and Cole had never been more glad to see back-up, no matter who that back-up happened to be. "Hi. Need a little help?"
"What are you doing here?"
In response, Prue winked at him and Cole was thrown for a loop. Davidson just panicked even more and asked how she had gotten there.
The seekers looked between the demon and the witch, and smirked. "Well, well, well. The mighty Belthazor, in bed with a witch."
Cole would have laughed out loud, if the situation hadn't been so dire. Yes, he was in bed with a witch, but not that witch. Prue might be attractive, but he'd never betray Phoebe for her sister. And Prue would never have him, which she proved by wrinkling her nose and saying, "Don't make me sick."
Just then, Davidson tried to make another escape and the situation lost whatever humor it might have held. The seekers went after him, and Prue and Cole went after the seekers. She had just completed a vicious kick that had sent the second seeker into a cement statue when Cole heard her shout, "No!"
"Prue!" he called, sending the first seeker flying off of him. Less than a second later, the second seeker had taken his partner's place, and Cole was right back where he started. He was vaguely aware of Prue shouting at another person. When Cole looked, if he'd had the time, he would have stared in disbelief. Prue was fighting…air. Each blow was precise and yet it landed on nothing that Cole could see. He knew that Prue didn't really like him, but he couldn't believe that she was kicking and punching air while an ally fought off two enemies by himself.
Once again, the seekers regained his attention. Wanting to end this as quickly as possible, Cole flung an energy ball at them. But apparently the seekers decided that discretion was the better part of valor, for they faded from existence before the deadly shot could ever come into contact with their bodies. Prue and Cole found themselves alone in the mausoleum—well, alone, save for the unconscious Davidson.
Panting, Cole stared at her. Finally, he asked, "What the hell were you doing?"
XXX
Phoebe absently watched her sister and brother-in-law move from place to place around the room, repositioning their overly-bright lamp. She was paying little attention to their bickering, as most of her attention was on two other members of her family. Prue had only been gone for 15 minutes, but those 15 minutes had seemed like an eternity to Phoebe. She had gone from very worried to nearly insane with worry. Phoebe felt only a little guilty for snapping at Piper and Leo over their argument about the lamp. How could they worry about something like that at a time like this? They should be more worried about…
"Cole!"
The very two family members Phoebe had been agonizing over walked into the living room, and Phoebe's heart soared with relief. They weren't dead, they were okay. Except for Davidson, who appeared to be unconscious, as he was draped over Cole's shoulder.
"I wouldn't revert to my demon form and I could've used some help," Cole was saying as he laid Davidson down on the couch.
"I was busy saving Davidson," Prue shot back. Phoebe thought this sounded like an argument that had been going on for awhile.
"No, that's what I was doing," Cole corrected her.
"Hello?" Phoebe tried to get their attention. "What happened? Is he okay?"
"He almost wasn't," Cole responded. "The seekers were at the courthouse waiting for him."
"And then they tracked Cole to the mausoleum," Prue added.
Leo was concerned. "How do you know they didn't track you here?"
"They retreated first. They have to be close to a shimmer to track it," Cole replied.
"They retreated?"
Prue tossed her head back proudly. "Yeah. I kicked ass."
Once again, Cole corrected her, "No, you kicked air."
Prue sighed, exasperated. "No, I told you that I was fighting the Angel of Death and I obviously won."
That made no sense. A person couldn't beat Death, no matter how hard they tried. Cole thought her life should have taught her that. Leo tried to point that out; Prue would have none of it. In her mind, she had beaten Death, the greatest enemy in Life.
Right now, the Angel of Death didn't matter because there was nothing they could do about it. What did matter was the fact that seekers would be even more determined to get to Davidson, as they now knew that he knew something that Belthazor didn't want them to know. "If you had just worked with me," he started.
Prue glared at him. "You know, you're not exactly the poster boy for teamwork, Cole," she accused.
Piper backed her up. "Hey, you were supposed to stick with us, remember?"
Yes, he did remember. And that wouldn't have worked. "I was trying to protect you," he defended. "All of you."
Cole was not quite stunned (but very nearly so) when Prue said, "You know, the one thing you failed to consider, Cole, is no matter how dangerous Davidson is to us, you were more dangerous."
Hadn't they moved past that? Cole protested, "Wait a minute, I think that I proved myself to you…"
Phoebe jumped in before another argument could erupt. "No, Cole, that's not what she meant," she hastened to reassure him. "You're a part of our lives now. You know almost everything about us. If you had lost…"
If he had lost, Phoebe and her sisters would have been doomed. Cole slumped as he realized his error. "The seekers could use what they know to destroy you," he finished. Almost inaudibly, voice pitched so that only Phoebe could hear him, he added, "I'm sorry."
Phoebe smiled. "I know."
"I better check with the Elders, this is getting complicated," Leo said. They watched as he disappeared in a swirl of bright lights. Naturally, Davidson woke up just in time to see another magical movement.
Yes, this was indeed getting complicated. For the millionth time that day, Cole sighed.