Love's Temptation

Disclaimer: I just own the fanfiction. The characters all belong to Spelling and Co. This story is a sequel to Love's Mission. I received quite a few requests asking for one, so I gave into my own temptation and wrote it. ;) Lyrics used are from Sarah McLachlan's "Afterglow" album.

"I didn't think you'd come."

The breath of wind had gathered about her face, trailing its invisible fingers through her long, brown hair, as her fragile hand toyed playfully with the ring she'd since placed back upon her finger. Oddly enough, it had proven itself to be a rather profound twist of fate that had her yearning to know more.

His battered, thick gray sweater was torn with a few mindless rumpled holes, and she suspected his new title had already prompted to him to clash violently with another demonic enemy of the unknown- most likely one she had yet to chance an encounter with. She smiled at him then, as only she could do, and acknowledged the rips with a single nod in his direction, her lips shielding themselves from an even wider grin.

His voice was quiet, and still somewhat uncertain, despite the elegant way he'd casually approached her, once again taken by the beauty he had so desperately been craving.

"Like I said before," she whispered, her mouth trembling slightly, as she allowed herself to take a single step forward, "it's different this time."

He pursed his lips, as he nonchalantly shrugged. "You'd be surprised at just how different."

"I'm not sure I understand."

"Well," he added, finally letting out a tired laugh, as he calmly slung an arm across her shoulders, giving her a soft squeeze, while they began to walk. "The Furies and Grimlocks are breeding, and they're currently at odds in marital disputes, as well as what on earth to even permit calling their offspring as a result."

She glanced up at him quickly, her mouth forming an opening of pure shock, as she hesitantly laid a soft slap across his chest. "Cole, c'mon. I thought this was serious."

"Oh it is. I mean, I'm not joking. In fact, the topic that best reaches the heat of their discussion, is the much talked about 'furigrims.' And believe me, they're ugly as hell. Stripes, bulging eyes...those stares alone could kill you."

She uttered a low giggle, abruptly sidestepping him. "You always were a bad liar."

"In any case, there's something I need to show you."

"Show me?"

"Yeah. It shouldn't take very long, but I'm going to have to insist you keep an open mind."

"Oh, I kind of think the furigrim stuff took care of that already. Maybe I should just surrender and say there's no hope for me."

"But hope brought you here," he argued. "So it's got to be worth something, right?"

"Maybe," she said softly.

"And you're not pummeling me helplessly to the ground, so I'm guessing you haven't turned me into your sisters for another vanquish."

"I'm giving you another chance," she retorted simply. "So I'd also appreciate it if you didn't make this any harder than-"

"You still think this whole thing is some pointless scheme I resurrected to get you to come back," he surmised plainly, throwing her a face that had suddenly willed itself to become entirely expressionless.

"Yeah, and speaking of resurrection, Cole, I'm guessing that's one thing that'll never keep you down."

He merely chuckled to himself, as he pulled a small key free from the pocket of his jeans, its contents a mass of weathered metal, eagerly urging her forward with a quick shuffle of his free hand, as the lock easily sprung open. The door was a beaten slab of wood, tiny slivers sticking out every which way, unable to resist the surprisingly loud creak that followed when she entered in front of him, the floorboards equally greeting them with a warped welcome. "It's not paradise," he told her. "But then again, Satanic half breeds never actually had a shot at achieving future bliss."

"Wow."

"Wow?" he repeated, clearly confused.

"Yeah. I...I mean I thought they'd given you another penthouse suite for being on the bestseller list for avatars or something, you know? But...but this?" She looked around once more, her eyebrows arching themselves in pure puzzlement, as she searched to report her findings, all the while struggling to hide a small smile in spite of the situation. Blowing out a breath, she threw her hands out toward him. "This is more or less a dump."

"I like to think of it as the lifestyle of the privileged, but underpaid," he managed lightly.

"Yeah, that too. You actually live here?"

"Do I need to print a Goddamn bulletin out front?"

She carefully ran a finger across the windowsill to her right, dragging along a mindless speck of dust, as it helplessly clung to it, the gesture taking on a less comforting appearance, as she tilted her head back to examine the ceiling. Crinkling her nose, she tucked her arms protectively across her chest. "And I think you've probably got several generations of spiders making your house a home up there."

"The maid was killed by a djinn last week," he added, shrugging.

"More like last month."

"Really?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, this is just beyond belief."

"I was kidding, Phoebe. Never had a maid last week. Or...ever- for that matter. So you're allowed to laugh because that was supposed to be just another silly joke on behalf of the dump this place is, alright?"

"Cole, I-"

"I should probably get myself cleaned up," he countered. "So don't worry about it, okay? My feelings have been hurt a lot worse, Phoebe. I mean, you should probably know that pattern like the back of your hand now, right?"

"You shouldn't worry about it, because you look fine," she whispered.

His hand already touching the banister, he halted before taking a step aboard the stairwell, his other hand having clenched itself into a tightly woven fist. Slowly, he unclenched it, turning around to face her, the fatigue faintly touching the edges of his scruffy visage. "What?"

"I said, you look fine," she emphasized a bit louder, tossing a random half smile in his direction. "Then again, even after the world's biggest conflict...life or death, you could always still come out looking like a million bucks." The smile widened. "Literally, I guess."

"Are they rebuilding your heart so soon?" he deadpanned.

"Listen, I didn't come all the way over to meet you, so you could try and take shots at me, okay? Just so we're clear, if that's all you plan on doing, I'm out of here, buddy. I'm above putting up with your crap now, Cole."

"Are you coming up or not?"

"I said I was sorry, didn't I?"

"Barely," he reasoned.

"Yeah, well, just for the record, you could have been anyone. Okay? I mean, I...I don't usually have a guy just walk into my room in the middle of night and try to cause a scene."

"Oh, is that what I was doing? I was actually under the impression that it was common practice now."

"And I suppose I deserve that, right? Because I've supposedly been so damn...uncaring about our relationship from the very beginning, is that it?"

"I'm not here to punish you."

"No, but I'm sure it's on the list."

"Have it your way. Lights." He rapidly snapped his fingers, watching as the narrow hallway at the top of the steps bathed itself in a casual yellow glow, illuminating the shadows of darkness in a rather vivid sight of brightness. Satisfied with the maneuver, he tucked his hands absentmindedly into the pockets of his jeans, rocking back upon the heels of his feet, as he stared down at her with a wide smile carved upon his gorgeous countenance. "C'mon up. I won't bite, I promise."

"And what's just so special about it, that you can't show me down here?" she called back.

"Because it only works up here," he taunted, casually rolling his eyes.

"You are such a child, you know that?"

"I'm being serious, here."

"Of course. It only works up there," she mumbled more to herself, as she began her destination up, throwing out a hand to steady herself upon the railing, as if her whole life depended on it, her lips heaving a long sigh. "Because far be it for Cole Turner to make anything easy as an avatar either. Everything's always gotta be done the hard way. Yep. I figured as much. Never gives you a moment's peace, because he's just so damn impatient."

"I heard that."

"Yeah, and let's understand something here and now, alright?" Letting herself be consumed by the light, she tossed her long brown hair over her shoulders, her brown eyes narrowing as they met his, her feet planted firmly on the ground, her sneakers sinking into the plush brown carpet. "You needed my help. I came here because you needed my help. Don't automatically assume things are going to go back to the way they were between us. You said it was urgent, so I'm here. Frankly, I'm still trying to figure out why, but I'm here. The truth..." she laughed quietly, throwing her head back. "Oh God. Look the truth of it is, I can't for the life of me decide if you should still rot in hell, or if I should just....if I should just grab you and kiss you again, for all its worth. You have a habit of that, you know. Messing people- women up. You stand there, you know? You stand there, and you look all domineering, and...and sexy, and you seem to actually mean what you say. But I- Cole, I think I'm still trying to see what this all means. Why it has to include me. You could probably pick any woman at random, and she'd happily stick by your side, no questions asked. Of course, contrary to the man you appear to be now, you were a monster at one point in your life, and I still stand corrected in that."

His blues stayed on her, long and hard, as his bottom lip covered the top, the gesture unknowingly causing her heart to stammer in her chest. He moved no more than an inch closer, leaning his tall frame down so that he was nearly nose to nose with her, his hands hesitantly reaching out and gingerly gripping her shoulders at either side. "I could have any woman, Phoebe, and I chose you. So I guess that's just something you're going to have to deal with. Like it or not, I've long since made up my mind about you."

"So what is it?"

"I'm sorry?"

"What is it that you want to sho-"

"In there." He drew a single finger off to the right, indicating a room that looked to be entirely empty, void of any kind of furniture, minus a small rug seated directly in the center. The walls were painted an off colored white, and the air surrounding it carried a rather musty odor about it. The curtains had been drawn tightly against the outside world, shutting out any sign of human life, as a single bulb polluted the remaining ceiling. It was the kind of habitat every recluse dreamed about, to find such a spot that was both mesmerizing in its silence, and yet demanded its answers have a question preceding them, while still managing to close out the very presence that would have made it feel alive.

"Still haven't finished unpacking?"

"And it's not what it looks like."

"Cole, if this is your idea of getting me in there to play some kind of game, I-"

"The only thing you're going to find in there is our reality as we know it," he calmly stated, a brow beginning to rise out of annoyance.

"How can our reality be in that tiny little room?"

"It's not. It's here." He let his hand recover a small orb, no bigger than a tennis ball in size, its hue a clouded, misty white, composed of smooth, untainted glass. He casually tossed it to her in one swift movement, watching her slender fingers close over it almost instantly, her expression struggling to come to a sense of reason and recognition. She turned it over several times, noting the texture with a soft rub of her thumb, weighing it gently in her palm, as she continued to seek out a plausible explanation.

"So avatars are fortune tellers?" she finally guessed. "Do I get a free reading from Madam Cole about my life's pet peeves and pleasures?"

"It allows us to see what we were meant to. It opens the gateway to everything we'll ever know," he replied simply, shrugging.

"Correct me if I'm a little off, but you don't sound too enthused."

"What's to be happy about, when our future is summed up by disappointment, death and despair? It's not exactly my idea of a party."

"What do you mean?"

"I wasn't just feeding you something to contemplate, Phoebe. The truth of the matter is, you and your sisters will still be wiped out, and the underworld will still cease to exist. The new breed rules above ground."

"So you already told me."

"The question is, do you think we're strong enough to stop it?"

"Are you giving me an invitation?"

"I'm asking," he noted.

"Asking...."

"Maybe you ought to see it first. All things considered, the orb never lies."

"So that's why you're out here, trying to live a normal life?" she whispered. "So....whatever it is, that's...probably out there right now, doesn't find you, and suspect your balance works against him?"

"Yes, in a manner of speaking."

"That's nuts," she mumbled.

"Why? How can it possibly not work in my-"

"Because evil always finds you. It finds a way. We know this."

"So let's stop it," he uttered quietly, his voice barely level with a whisper. "Join me, and help me stop it, Phoebe."

"Let me see."

"Phoebe-"

"No, I want to see. I have to see."

"You won't like it."

"Then why were you going to show me, anyway?" she countered. "If it's so bad, if it's just that devastating, maybe there isn't anything that can be done."

"The end of the world only finds us, if we do nothing to make sure that point in history won't come to pass."

"So let's see what we're up against."

"You have to stand directly in the center. You won't be able to see it, if you don't."

"And your new friends are totally okay with me seeing this, too?"

"It doesn't matter anymore," he told her.

"And I'm still not getting why they would even want a witch to be part of something the whole world needs to be saved from. I mean, they can't be serious, Cole. I was the reason you wouldn't go with them in the first place. I swayed you from their offer, and I-"

"Because the truth about who I am, wouldn't have mattered if you really loved me. And I can clearly see it doesn't."

"That's for me to decide."

"I think you already did," he whispered. "Look."

I own my insecurities I try to own my destiny
That I can make or break it if I choose
But you take my words and twist them 'round 'till I'm the one who brings you down
Make me feel like I'm the one to blame for all of this

She could feel the vibration of the orb in her hands, as the faintest of shivers traveled slowly down her spine, lighting the walls around them in vivid shades of color, bringing them quietly to life. And among the wisps of silence, she heard the screams.

The bodies lay surrounded by a mass of pure nothingness, the limbs tangled together in blood. It had seeped clear into the dirt, weaving itself in and out of a mass of red that continued to cry out in pain. Hands lay outstretched, forever longing for help that never came. A woman struggled to flee, as she haphazardly dragged her injured leg along behind her, the gash sliced right to the bone, as a clawed hand eagerly lashed out with rapid strength, yanking her into its grasp, the winged beast pulling her away like she was no more than a toy doll, as it anxiously flapped itself higher into the sky. The clouds were coated in a dark gray, and the sky was filling itself up with more demons than she'd ever witnessed in the Book of Shadows, let alone a lifetime, the unknown creatures crying out in delightful glee, as one breathed a string of fire into the air around it, bathing a nearby building in flames. She reached a hand out to the image, helplessly watching as it filtered right through the picture before her, grasping at nothing but the paint plastered on the walls, sliding right through the mirage of victims.

Cole kept his eyes trained on her, her reaction catching his heart, as he tried his best to restrain himself from bringing her close, knowing it was probably way too much to bear for someone who thought she'd done so much good up until this point. Someone who thought she was saving innocents from the same cause of peril that was now claiming lives like a revival of the plague on humanity. But he reluctantly stayed his distance, clinging to the hope that it was enough to let her be a part of something he'd only dreamed about.

He wanted her now, more than ever.

A single tear streamed down her cheek, as she saw a little girl cry out for her mother, wandering the barren streets alone, fearfully glancing up at the monsters that awaited her in the sky. She was shaking, and trembling terribly from the cold, the wind roughly catching onto the remaining tatters of her thin blue dress.

A man came forward to try and grab her, but was quickly tossed into mid flight, as yet another creature saw the opportunity to seek out a meal, his cries traveling soundlessly through the vacant breeding ground.

"You don't recognize her, do you?"

The tears were flowing more freely now, as she angrily wiped at her soaked cheeks, sniffling while she placed a shaky hand over her mouth, quietly tossing her head either way in utter disbelief, as the horror raged on in full force.

"Phoebe, look at me."

"I can't."

"Please."

She shook her head again. "I don't want to hear it."

"Yeah, you do."

"Those people have nothing," she breathed, "not even you."

"That's why I-"

"It's free reign. There's not just one. There's too many. There's...I can't..."

"This is what they want. Whatever it is, this is what they're going to do, unless we stop that from happening. Don't you see that now?"

"What I see, is a bunch of men with power who failed to use it for the better part of-"

"No," he cut her off. "This isn't a result of what we didn't do. We couldn't do anything. It was impossible."

"So you just let all of those innocents die."

"She was ours," he choked out in a whisper.

"What?"

"That little girl? One of the things that come to pass in the future is a child. A little girl of tremendous power…a little girl of a gifted nature. She's the key. And she's ours, Phoebe. Every inch of her. We made her. Together."

"I don't know what you're talking about," she stammered. "That little girl is from the pas-"

"No. This is what's in our future, Phoebe. This is something we caused together. Listen to me. This is something we did together, because we joined-"

"She's so little."

He smiled painfully then, as emotion started to overcome him now, despite every single ounce of him that was threatening itself against it. "She's only four."

"She's beautiful. She has your eyes."

"We never gave her a name." He said it so quietly now, so slowly, that his heart literally felt like it was crumbling to pieces right in front of him, as the disaster carried on, the tiny figure diving into shelter in a deserted alleyway, her hands pulled down tightly over her head, anticipating the next attack.

"I must have forgiven you completely," she tried hopefully.

"You must've," he agreed. "Or else I would have never shown myself the way I did. If you want to believe something, believe that. I'm good, Phoebe. There's a good man in there, and for everything you've ever doubted....it's me."

"I do," she told him rather hoarsely. "I know I believe it, Cole. I have to."

"Fight with us," he urged her. "Join us."

She desperately threw her arms around him, as the orb closed itself off to the impending doom, the room shrinking to a mere tabula rasa, as it fell from her grasp, tumbling carelessly to the floorboards below. She watched it randomly bounce off a sharp corner, a small crack forming within its crevices. Relief thundered hard against her chest, as she fought to catch her breath, pressing her cheek into his, her lids shutting themselves to the motion surrounding her, almost like she had willed the very core of the world to stop of its own accord. "I don't know why I ever stopped."

The End