"What's your name?" Xander asked the woman, who looked to be about thirty, pretty, but her face was drawn in angry, tight lines and stamped in pain.
"Emma." She murmured. "You're sure it wouldn't have worked?"
"I'm sure, the more powerful a demon is, the more resistant to injury they are. I've been doing this six, almost seven years. Did your fiance hunt?"
"When he needed to, not many demons showed up in our town and his Coven was small, only a few people. He learned from his mother. He was a happy man who just wanted to protect his little corner of the world, you know? And a demon killed him."
"Did you see what happened?"
"I walked in on it. I heard the demon say witch and saw him stab Andrew. I grabbed a flower pot and threw it at him and he dropped the athame and there was this weird shimmer in the air and he was gone. He killed the rest of the Coven while I was trying to figure out how to find and kill him. You'll get him, now that you have what you need?"
"We know how."
"Can I be there, see it happen?"
"No, there's already too many cooks in this pot, as the expression goes. We're getting in each other's way at this point. Let us finish it and I'll let you know when it's done."
"Okay." Emma's anger and desire for revenge burned but what else could she do, he was the one with the gun and the badge and the authority. She would just have to let someone else destroy the monster that destroyed her life when they killed Andrew.
They dropped Emma and Susan off at the local F.B.I. office with the local team that normally handled investigation into the supernatural in the area, before heading back to the Manor to make the vanquishing potion. And Xander needed to talk to Cole.
"Belthazor used the D.A.'s office as a cover too." Xander pointed out while the girls got to work on the potion.
"Yes." Cole confirmed. "A little removed from Rodriguez's attempt, but still close enough that it would bring me in contact with the police, especially Daryl and though him, the girls. They were hunting a demon called a Guardian, an incorporeal one that a human makes a deal with and Daryl was hunting what seemed like a human killer at first, but he quickly realized was supernatural. He called the girls for help and because it was an official case, it went through the court system, minus the supernatural aspect. Turns out the Judge in the case was the Guardian repository, but it worked and got me close to the sisters."
"Belthazor's entire plan hinged on thinking he was in control over you." Xander prompted.
"Since he only used me as a brief cover prior to that and suppressed me the rest of the time, for over a hundred years, he had reason to believe it. But I kept stopping myself from hurting Phoebe and I realized I could keep him from knowing some things about what I did. Eventually I was able to assume full control."
"You may not have as much control as you think." Xander pointed out. "He could have learned from your example and is just biding his time and he's a demon, as long as he's a part of you, he can still influence you. If this Sykes is the same species of demon as Belthazor is, would you recognize him?"
"I don't know every member of Belthazor's species, any more than you know every human on Earth, but it's possible."
"Do you recognize the name Sykes?"
"No, but there's no guarantee that's actually his name."
"You're half human, is it possible he is too?"
"Anything's possible, but I doubt it. I'd have heard about it, Belthazor's species rarely mates with humans. The human form most of them have is their cover."
"Emma says this athame is the one used to kill her fiance, the demon dropped it when she attacked him, before shimmering away. Do you recognize it?" Xander held the athame out to Cole, who took a look and looked surprised.
"It's given to members of the Brotherhood of the Thorn."
"That group you went undercover in a few months ago?" Phoebe asked as she tossed ingredients in the cauldron for the vanishing potion. "When the leader realized it was you in control and not Belthazor and literally forced you to kill a witch?"
"Yes, that one." Cole's face was rigid and his eyes anguished as he remembered and Phoebe came over and hugged him.
"I'm sorry." She murmured.
"It's not your fault. Belthazor has killed hundreds of people, many of them witches and I remember everyone, sometimes using my hand to do it. But that was the first time it was more me then him and I couldn't stop it from happening. But worse, I recognize this athame. It was mine or Belthazor's. He, I, we killed that witch."
"Sykes seems to be following the same plan you used." Xander pushed on, Cole was struggling, but they needed answers and Cole had them. He just hoped Cole would be alright. "And we've all commented on how this demon seems to be trying to get someone's attention. It might just be your attention he's trying to get."
"It's possible." Cole admitted. "The Source wants me dead and every bounty hunter out there seems to be after me. This Sykes could be using the opportunity to both take out witches and draw me out at the same time."
"Is it possible being that you're half human, to destroy Belthazor, but not hurt you in the process?" Xander asked. "They're going to keep coming and as long as Belthazor exists, you're a danger to the girls." Phoebe drew in a breath to protest, but Cole squeezed her hand.
"He's right. As long as Belthazor's around, they won't stop coming and sooner or later, one of them will hurt or kill you guys. I'm barely managing to live with the memories, not to mention the witch I killed. If something happened to one of you, especially you, Phoebe -."
"Just one final question before we destroy your alter ego and go after this Sykes." Xander paused a moment. "I could do the demon and lawyer joke and in High School I would have but there's something more important I need to ask."
"Go ahead." Cole waved his free hand.
"Did you ever work for Wolfram and Hart?"
"Gods, no. I was never that evil!"
"That's a relief, there'd be no saving you if you had."