A Kind of Magic
part 14
"Okay, a word of warning- or shall I say advice? Please do not make my daughter magic again without my permission."
"Oh, but you did with Ally," Cole reminded her. "Remember?"
That...was different. She was in trouble. I did not see Melinda screaming for any help," she added, rolling her eyes at him.
"But she was," he argued. "In the hallway. 'There's a demon in my room,' " he mimicked.
"Wow. That voice sounds good on you, Cole," Paige quipped.
"Well I thought it might have a familiar ring, seeing as you act about that age now."
She just stared at him, her mouth hanging open. "I so don't forgive you for that one."
"Okay," Phoebe interrupted, coming up behind them. "Anyone want to take a guess as to where the entrance might be? Or are you too busy already fighting over who's picked the best one?"
"Hey," Cole objected, offering a gaze at his wife. "We're all adults here."
"Except me," a tiny voice commanded from below.
"Well, sweetie, we might not need you right away."
"Yes, you will," Leo Wyatt sided, as he orbed in unexpectedly. Offering a quick smile in Piper's direction, he clasped his hands together. The remaining eyes found him as well, each delivering him with a glare of their own.
"Where in the name of the Elders were you?!" his wife snapped.
"Honey-"
"A demon attacked our daughter at the manor, disguised as you," she continued. "I called for you. But no Leo. I called for you again when we got here. No Leo."
"She doesn't have a heart," he explained.
"Excuse me?" she returned angrily.
"Not you. The Dark," he corrected her. "She doesn't have a heart."
"Literally?" Cole asked. "Because that's actually a pretty big weakness."
"Rumor has it, that's how to vanquish her," he put in, raising his eyebrows.
"See, the question still stands, how are we going to get rid of something she doesn't have?" Paige brought forth.
"She doesn't feel love," Phoebe whispered.
Cole studied her expression intently, his eyes washing over her face. "Do you have an idea?"
"How is she even alive?" Piper wondered aloud.
"I noticed it back at the cabin," Phoebe said slowly.
"Noticed what?" he questioned again, confused.
"There almost seems to be a hint of sympathy there, but it's all part of who she is....what she needs."
"Then, why didn't she just kill us?" Paige responded. "It would have been so easy."
Phoebe nodded. "It makes no sense."
"So, maybe she did fall in love," Leo remarked carefully.
"Honey, I think you got just a bit too much air from orbing," Piper offered, smiling.
"Well, I think that may have been why she's had trouble all along," he continued. "She's confused."
"About?" Paige asked impatiently.
"You knew her in your days as a demon, right?" he inquired, looking over at Cole with a bit of uncertainty.
"Yes, but you are not going to say this has anything to do with me, because-"
"Alexandra may be one of the most powerful wicca's....but..."
"There's always something greater at stake," Phoebe finished, glancing worriedly up at her husband. She held his blues, a trace of fear hidden within them. "She wants you."
"Yes, but she attacked him," Paige pointed out. "Piper was there. She saw it."
"You're out of your mind to think that way," Cole accused Leo. "She wanted to turn me, but it's not-"
"She's using Alex to bring us to her," Piper added, nodding.
"But the ritual-" Cole started.
"Maybe it's not for her," Paige mused, shrugging.
"And what about that monster?" Melinda asked.
"Somehow, it's starting to add up," Piper confessed.
"My new theory?" Paige deadpanned. "She wants to bring chaos to earth with Alex, and have Cole rule at her side for all eternity. In fact, it does kind of have a trashy romance novel kind of ring to it."
"She already tried to tempt me," Cole said again.
"Did she?" Phoebe asked, her voice swelling up with a fairly noticeable hint of jealousy.
"And the point is, it didn't work. It won't work."
Piper put her hands on her hips. "Well, should Leo be right, it has to. Which means...you'll have to make it work."
"Um...hello? That's my husband you're talking about," Phoebe put in. "Look. This is ridiculous. So she may have taken a liking to him. But who's to say she won't try and vanquish him the first chance she gets?"
"Hey, I'm with her," Cole sided. "Our main focus is getting Ally back."
"Piper may be getting somewhere though," Leo spoke up. "If you pretend you do in fact have actual feelings for her, then it'll distract her from Alex."
"Maybe...." he considered. "But who's to say she hasn't already completed the ritual?"
"Do you see demons taking over the earth?" Paige quipped.
Piper laughed. "Um...something tells me they always have."
"Well, this means we don't need Melinda afterall," Leo replied, offering a gaze in his daughter's direction.
"But I wanna save her too!" the little girl protested.
"But we've got a new plan," he told her softly. "It's for the best, sweetheart. Trust me."
"You'll get hurt, Dad."
He smiled. "Which is why there's no place for you here."
"And I have powers."
"I know. But you're only familiar with one," Paige told her.
"Orb her back to Dad," Piper offered.
Melinda defiantly set her arms across her chest. "I can orb back myself."
"Yes, but we can't trust that you'll do so now," she added.
"Think of it this way," Phoebe pointed out. "If we can get her to use her astral projecting here, then they'll believe there are two of her, and she can hold the minions off."
"That's saying she'll have like four or five," Piper objected. "And seeing as they're not above ground at the moment, anyone want to second guess where they might be at this very moment?"
"We're splitting up again," Cole sided. "This time, I'll go with Paige, Melinda will go with Piper, and Phoebe you'll go with Leo."
"Looks like I got cheated," Paige countered. "Again. Just don't expect me to be all eager to rescue you, if the big bad puts on the love whammy."
"Guess it's still a surprise to you that some women do in fact find me attractive."
"Are we talking just Phoebe, or...."
"Mmm. Would vanquishing your sister in law be considered cruel and unsual punishment?" he returned.
"No, but vanquishing your sorry ass would be so much more fun."
"We'll go straight," he instructed her, ignoring the sarcasm.
"Well, that leaves us with either left or right," Phoebe added. She glanced at Cole, her eyes revealing just how worried she was. She hated not knowing what was to come. She hadn't had a premonition for hours, and she was sure one wasn't going to come now. She took her hand in his, gently pulling him close. "Be careful," she whispered. Their lips met in a prolonged gesture, as she reluctantly parted ways.
He threw her a reassuring smile. "You too."
"Alright, I'm really enjoying the whole Kodak moment here, but we're losing time," Paige pointed out again, rolling her eyes.
"We're going to try a binding spell on her," Piper then suggested. "It may not hold her for long, but it could just buy us a couple of extra minutes along the way."
"Actually, no," Cole put in. "It won't. As of now, we still don't have a way to control her."
"Immortality at its finest," Phoebe agreed.
"Mom, can I astral protect the bad lady?" Melinda spoke up.
Piper almost laughed. "Honey, that's not what astral projecting is for. I thought-"
"Well, I still want to help."
"I know."
"Alright, then we're off," Leo started, raising his eyebrows.
"Don't hesitate-"
"To vanquish anything that comes in our paths," Paige finished. "A little too eager there."
**********
"Okay, the dungeons they have on tv? Are so void of cobwebs. This place has literally been dead for thousands of years."
"And counting," Cole echoed. "Don't get any in your hair."
"What?"
"There's this old tale that's been passed around for centuries, right- that the spiders in dungeons sometimes put a curse on you," he explained, his expression unnreadable.
"Seriously? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."
"Well, you'll see."
"You do have a strange sense of humor, Cole Turner."
"And it only gets stranger," he deadpanned. "In fact, it's what Phoebe finds so fascinating about me."
"Ha ha."
"Alright, look. It's just something I made up. I admit it. But you can't say it didn't have you going there for awhile."
"One, I'd never willingly believe anything you say. Unless of course you did honestly try convincing me. Two, I was just toying with you. So you didn't fool me."
"That's not what your face said. Besides, I was only trying to lighten the mood." He briefly cleared his throat. "So. Do you always get up on the wrong side of the bed? Prue was the same way."
"Oh. My great successor whom I will never surpass. Do tell."
"Well, there's not much to say. She hated me for basically no valid reason. My redemption never worked with her. Surprise, surprise."
"Hmm. Yeah. Wonders never cease."
"Thanks, Paige."
"No. Up ahead. Look."
Craning his neck around the corner, he could just barely make out the string of demons headed their way. A group of Furies, followed by a set of Seekers- the very same Seekers The Charmed Ones were thought to have vanquished eons ago. The walls were silent, as their footsteps tapped endlessly upon the hard dirt floor. "Oh great."
"What? What's going on? Because that 'oh great'?.... Doesn't sound so good," Paige hissed back.
"It isn't. She's resurrected them."
"Them? Them who?" she returned, puzzled.
"I don't have-"
"Well, you'd better, because I do not want to be kept out of the loop. We're all family."
"Really?"
"So?"
"Did you...was that actually some goodness coming from the Ice Queen's heart?"
"Just tell me who they are," she snapped impatiently.
"Seekers," he replied, offering a hint of an amused smile.
"And what exactly do these Seekers do?"
"They gather information."
"Well that sounds rather harmless."
"By basically sucking out your brain," he added.
"A brain drain?" she quipped, making a face.
"Pretty much."
"Okay, maybe I'm sorry I asked. Yuck."
"Anyway, Phoebe, Piper, and Prue said a spell, and fried them right in the manor years ago. I was there."
"Oh."
"Something tells me they're not here to give us a truce."
"Well, that's between them and the Furies-"
"And the Grimlocks," he observed, as two of the tall creatures passed them by, last in line. "Never a dull moment, is there? I say we can take them all. What do you think?"
"Um...I'd say you were crazy. Because there's no way in hell I'm about to pick a fight."
"I've dealt with all of them on various occasions before. How hard can it be?"
"Look, who knows what else she's conjured up."
"So how do you propose we execute this?"
"My guess? I think once she goes, most of them go. It's like follow the leader."
"And dominoes," he added, jokingly.
She rolled her eyes. "Whatever. What I'm trying to say, is we could save ourself the aggravation, alright?"
"And that's so like you, taking the easy way out."
"Mmm hmm. And when this has ended? I'll bet you'll have nothing left."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Oh, c'mon, Cole. I've said it once, and I'll say it again. Phoebe will never be able to live life on your terms."
"And who says she has to?" he questioned, frowning.
"You'll never be her Prince Charming. It's as simple as that."
"Paige, I also have a daughter to think about."
"I know, and I'm aware that you'd do almost anything-"
"No. Anything. For both of them. They mean everything to me."
"And do you really think my opinion of you after-"
"Like I said before, I really don't care. And right now, I'm going to go after some demons!" Already off to a head start, he called back to her, his feet picking up momentum.
Paige simply sighed, running a hand through her hair. "I really intensely dislike that man."
**********
"So what's new, Leo? How's married life?"
The whitelighter offered a friendly gaze at his sister in law, shrugging. "I think the more important question, is how are things with you?"
"I'd...rather not talk about me."
"What about you and Cole?"
She sighed. "I love Cole, but I can also see where I went wrong before." Phoebe crossed her arms over her chest. "Sometimes I think if I would have trusted his judgement with magic, none of this would've happened."
"You didn't know."
"But I kicked him out of his own house," she reminded him.
"You did."
"I listened to my sisters and the worst came from it."
"And that's not wrong. What's-"
"She really does like him, doesn't she, Leo?"
"That's what's been bothering you, isn't it?"
"No, you know, it does add up. It's like I was-"
"But she's still evil, regardless," he told her. "She's basically a soulless creature who feeds off of our fear. But we do know that she has a weakness now. A weakness that means she can be defeated."
"Oh, I don't know about that," a voice pondered from a short distance away.
Recognizing it, Phoebe whipped around, her eyes darting from corner to corner, as she threw out her hands in fighting stance. Leo stood his ground as well, in search of a face, as he gently placed a hand upon Phoebe's arm.
"Hello, witch. Been awhile, hasn't it?" The woman stepped out into a patch of light, her long blonde hair catching its reflection. She neatly placed her arms over her chest, a smug smile plastered on her face. "How've you been?"
"Julie," she hissed, narrowing her eyes. "I should've known."
"Well, we all get second chances. Don't we now?"
"Isn't that nice," she replied sarcastically.
"I mean, just look at Cole. He's got a daughter....and....he's still with you. Guess he definitely hasn't gotten any smarter."
"I could also say that you weren't too smart to come back like this."
"Oh, that's funny, because I couldn't agree more. See, I believe I still have some unfinished business to tend to."
"Really?"
"And seeing as you no longer have your ability to throw fire, I think I just might get the upper hand this time."
"Try me," she threatened.
"Phoebe," Leo advised.
"We're here to save Alex, remember?"
"But not at the cost of your own-"
"Back off, Leo."
"Phoebe, it's not worth it."
"It is. Because she's about to go to Hell. Again. And I'm going to make sure she stays there."