Third Time Charmed

Black as Cole (Part 5)

The silence following Emma's accusation was deafening. Cole had reverted to his human form, but Emma stared at him as if seeing the devil himself. "He's a killer!" she spat, her voice shaking with fury. "What's the matter with you people?"

Piper stepped forward to reason with Emma, her hands raised as though she were negotiating a hostage situation, afraid that any sudden movement could set the woman off. "I know you're upset, but you have to understand—" she started.

"Let go of me," Emma snapped, jerking away from Piper's calming hand as though it burned her.

"Emma, this is a mistake. Cole is on our side," Prue assured the woman. She had already doubted their ally once today; she would defend him properly this time.

"He's the demon who killed my fiancé, and that is all I need to know," she said, shoving her way to the table, breath ragged, eyes blazing with resolve. Her fingers closed around the dagger, and with the ease of someone who had rehearsed this moment a thousand times in her mind, she hurled it at Cole.

The double-edged blade spun through the air, its deadly silver catching the light, but Prue redirected it with her mind at the last second, verbalizing, "Oh, oh!" It sank into the bathroom door with a thud.

Emma's rage melted into hurt. She had missed her chance. Then again, what real chance did she ever have against this monster? And now he had powerful and misguided witch bodyguards, to boot. "How can you protect a murderer? How can you live with yourselves?" she questioned, voice cracking, furious tears stinging the corners of her eyes. She stormed from the manor, the front door slamming behind her.

A tense pause followed. It was Paige who finally interrupted it, one hand clutching her bruised cheek, echoing Emma's grief, "Is she right? Are you the one who killed him?"

"Paige!" Prue snapped. "Did you learn nothing from this morning? Enough with the baseless accusations!"

Paige's free cheek burned against her fair skin. She opened her mouth to argue, but Piper placed a hand on her arm. "Come on, now's not the time. Let's get you healed, then we've got a vanquishing potion to make," she advised.

Without a word, Paige peeled the strip of Sykes' flesh off the floor, then gave Cole a disdainful look before hurrying to the kitchen with Piper, Leo, and a very rattled-looking Susan.

Prue sat down on the sitting room sofa, rubbing her temples to excise the recent mental trauma, not to mention the continuing drama of the day. "Sorry about her," she told Cole with a sigh.

"Don't be," he replied, earning a quizzical look from Prue. He opened his hand, revealing the dagger that Emma had thrown at him. "Because I think she's right. This is mine."

"Excuse me?"

Cole's voice cracked slightly as he continued, "I don't even remember doing it. I don't even remember what he looked like. It didn't matter what they looked like. It only mattered that I did what I was told."

"You're saying...? You're saying that Emma is right?"

"I am the one who killed her fiancé. He was a witch. The Source viewed him as a threat...."

Prue's stomach fell. He did it. She got to her feet and put some distance between them. She felt like she was going to get whiplash from all this back and forth. "But... But that was before, right? Before Phoebe. Before she freed you," she rationalized. "That's not the person you are anymore."

Cole looked down, jaw clenched, eyes shadowed with guilt. "I know. But Belthazor still exists inside of me. That hasn't changed. Nor does it change what I've done."

"You've changed," Prue asserted weakly, not sure she believed the words coming out of her mouth. "You've done a lot of good since then."

With a quiet scoff and a shake of his head, Cole answered, "Doesn't balance out. Doesn't even come close. And now...the very thing I've tried so hard not to be is the very thing I might have to become."