Binding Ties

A/N: A quote in this chapter comes from episode 1x06, “The Wedding from Hell”. By the way, Klea is a canon demon.

Cole stared at Prue for several seconds. Finally he said, “The Seer never tells the Source anything but the complete truth revealed by her visions.” He looked her over speculatively.

“You think I’m --” she started to retort, but his pointed look made her stop short. “You don’t think I’m lying.”

“I think that obviously there’s more going on here than either of us realizes, Prue.” He shrugged. “Maybe it is some sort of game the Seer is trying to play, like you said. I just know that this hasn’t happened before, at least not while I’ve been a member of the brotherhood. Something significant has to have changed, and it was enough to affect her loyalties.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “Clearly. We just fulfilled this prophecy that the Source thinks is so important. Somehow, anyway. How did I get pregnant so quickly? And how could the Seer even tell?”

He tried to keep his smirk muted; she wanted a straight answer, not teasing boasts about what he had thought was obvious. “You’re still thinking by mortal standards. I’m a demon, Prue, as you’ve reminded me more than once.”

She surprised them both when she interjected, “Half demon. You’ve got to still have enough humanity in you to not --” Prue gestured toward him, unable, or perhaps unwilling to finish the thought.

Cole couldn’t help himself; he laughed aloud. “Not be bound by the basic rules of demonic reproduction?” He leaned back on the sofa, still chuckling. “I am, believe me. However powerful you think I might be, the same mechanisms that applied to my mother and every other demon apply to me. To you.” He looked at her thoughtfully. The Source hadn’t intervened with ‘every other demon’ like he had with Prue.

Prue raised her chin, but couldn‘t quite look him in the eye. “And these rules are?”

He said softly, “Demonic sperm is more aggressive than a mortal’s, Prue. More like a very nasty virus, really. Between that and whatever black magic the Source worked on your cycle during the time pause, I’m not all that surprised by the idea that you’re pregnant this quickly. I suppose the Seer could sense the effects of that truth. That‘s how the power of premonition works, after all.” A muscle in his jaw tensed slightly.

She followed the pattern of the embroidered upholstery with her eyes while she thought that over. Of course she’d known this would eventually happen when she’d agreed to the Source’s demand, but still, a part of her had expected to have some time to get used to the idea. She didn’t even know how to react to the news that the Source had done more to her while time stood still.

Leaning forward, Cole reached for her hands, and she let him take hold of them. They looked at each other. “I meant what I said about the hard part just beginning, Prue. This whole plan wasn’t going to be easy for the Source to pull off even if everything went the way he wanted. If the Seer is acting alone too, who knows how this might play out? All we can do is try to stay one step ahead. So, tell me again, what did she say about her vision?”

Prue dropped her gaze to the cushions again. “Well, she said ‘he is come,’ and ‘the child of the winter fire.’ I guess the first part is obvious, except that it isn’t. I have no idea what the second part means.”

Cole again suppressed a smirk. “What wasn’t obvious to you about the Seer telling you you’re pregnant, besides how soon the news came?” When her only answer was to set her jaw and refuse to look at him, he dropped her hands and came over to sat beside her. “Prue.” She closed her eyes. He saw genuine confusion when she reopened them.

“The Seer said ‘he.’ There haven’t been boys born into my family going back to, to, to I don’t know when. I didn’t even seriously think it was possible for powers to be passed on to boys for a while.” She tried to shrug nonchalantly, but Cole wasn’t completely fooled.

“The same family you renounced under oath?” he murmured. Slowly he reached out to cup her chin and turn her face back towards him. “Under the influence of the same good magic you abandoned? Demons hardly ever produce female children, Prue. The only case I know much about is the Seer herself.”

Cole waved away her questioning look, and smiled to himself. He was getting better at judging her reactions, her thoughts. “As for her little metaphor,” he went on, “My guess is it has to do with your due date.”

Prue narrowed her eyes, but didn’t move away from his touch. “My due date?” she echoed, suspicious as always.

He nodded, running his fingers along her jaw. “Most demonic pregnancies last about six months, but the Seer had thought this one would take longer, since it is the twice blessed child. ‘Winter fire’ sounds like a reference to Imbolc, the midwinter wiccan sabbat or fire festival.”

Prue blinked. “February second. That’s in about eight and half months.” She tried to glower at Cole, but his fingers still on her jaw line lessened the effect. “It might as well be human,” she muttered.

“Are you really sure about that?” He dropped his hand to her shoulder. “Think about it, Prue. The twice blessed child, who was prophesied over three hundred years ago. You’re his mother.”

The twice damned child, a weak, shrill voice whispered in her mind. She shook her head slightly. Cole leaned over and whispered in her ear, “It could only have been you. You were the one the Seer saw in her vision. The most powerful of the Charmed Ones.” He put his left hand against her abdomen. “Carrying this child.”

Prue glanced down at his hand. She tried to imagine herself with a baby, and what came to her mind instead was the sneering voice of Hannah, the panther warlock. My biological clock isn’t the one that’s ticking. Almost without thinking, she looked him in the eye and asked, “Really?”

Slowly his smirk returned. “Really.” They sat like that, bemused grins on their lips, for several moments. Then there was a knock on the suite’s outer door.

A female demon was at the door when Cole went to answer it. “Klea,” he said.

Her red-rimmed eyes darted between him and Prue, who had gotten up and now stood several steps behind him. “Delic wants you in the brotherhood’s chambers right away, Belthazor.” Her eyes rested on Prue. “Bring the witch.” She dematerialized into the air of the passageway, with her eyes following seconds later.

Cole looked out into the passageway, his face blank. He turned back to Prue, and said in a deceptively light tone, “The brotherhood wants to meet you.”

She nodded, and waved toward the door. “Lead the way, then.”

The chamber they entered was round and hollowed out of rock, like the cavern Prue had woken up in. Demons clad in black stood in a semi-circle, facing them. At their head stood one who was tall, thin, and grey-eyed. Cole spoke to him even as his gaze took in the rest of the assembled demons.

“Delic. You make a good leader of our brothers. The Source has chosen well.”

“Has he, Belthazor? Forgive us for wondering that very thing. Some question whether this prophecy should be dependent on your perhaps uncertain loyalties.” Delic gestured to the surrounding demons. They stared at Cole and Prue, and several leered at Prue. She stared back at them evenly.

Cole’s confidence didn’t fade, but his voice was deadly quiet when he finally spoke. “Are you questioning the Source’s plan, Delic? Because if you are,” the semicircle of demons seemed to take a collective step forward, “It seems you’re the one with uncertain loyalties.” The brothers jeered at that.

“I am not the one who thwarted a two year long effort to destroy the Charmed Ones, Belthazor.” Delic’s tone remained even and thoughtfully mocking, but the brothers’ jeers grew louder. “I am not the one who showed them sympathy, I am not the one who killed the Triad under suspicious circumstances, and I am not the one who forced our own leader to blackmail him back into the fold.” The jeers became a low roar.

Cole began to reply, but before he could get more than three words heard over the shouts filling the chamber, Klea stepped forward from the semi-circle. She arched her eyebrows at Cole. “And you weren’t the one who killed Raynor, were you, Delic?”

Silence fell over the brothers. All eyes were on Cole, even Prue’s. He looked at Delic. “I killed Raynor because his handling of the Pirelli affair was about to expose us to the witches. One of the first and most important lessons he taught me was ‘better the betrayal of one brother than the exposure of all brothers.’” Murmurs started again.

Delic gestured for quiet. “You betrayed us yourself long before Raynor may have erred, Belthazor. You betrayed us the instant your humanity was reawakened. Reawakened by the love of a Charmed One, of all things.” Delic stepped toward Cole, and the demons began to sneer again. “Now we are expected to believe that not only have you come back to us completely, freed of the witch’s influence, but that you are the only demon who can sire the twice-blessed child?”

Amid the demons’ sneers of disbelief, Klea spoke up once more. “With another Charmed One, no less.” She nodded toward Prue, who had silently watched the entire exchange. “The Source must be very confident about where your loyalties lie, Belthazor. He devised this entire plan, gambled with a great potential advantage for evil, and based upon what? Your willingness to take your former lover’s sister to your bed!” Her laugh echoed through the chamber.

Cole’s voice, when there was again silence enough to speak, trembled with suppressed rage. “Is the Source’s confidence not enough for you, Klea?” He looked around at the other demons. “Is it not enough for any of you? Just say the word, brothers. You know your duty, and I know mine. I should shimmer straight to the Source with what I’ve heard here and report you all for disloyalty far worse than anything I’ve committed.”

He sighed and looked at Delic. “You would dare to doubt the Source because of me. I am humbled by that demonstration of my importance to you, Delic, truly I am. But if you would do that on my account, surely you will not give me whatever punishment I might deserve. Surely our oaths to each other, sharing each other’s blood, still represent something to you.” Again he looked around at the members of the brotherhood. They had gone quiet of their own accord. A few nodded at his words.

Then Cole laid a hand on Prue’s arm and drew her over to stand with him before Delic. “Despite what you all might think, my human feelings for the witch Phoebe Halliwell were a hindrance to a mission that is now past me, and the Source has seen fit to give me another chance to turn my weakness into strength. Brothers, I may be the demon destined to father this powerful child, but we will raise him together. He will be ours.” Cole squeezed Prue’s arm lightly. “The witch destined to be his mother has already turned.”

Delic considered Prue. “The Source picked the right witch, at least. This one’s reputation is known throughout the Underworld. Strong, willful, and powerful enough to carry the child. I daresay her sister couldn’t have been the one.” He laughed aloud when Prue’s lips curled into a cruel smile. The other demons chortled. “Well, now I believe you aren’t lying to us outright, brother. Still…”

Klea’s laughter rang out again, and this time it was filled with disbelief as well as derision. “I suppose I must be the one forgiven now, Delic. I am not so willing to take Belthazor at his word when he declares that the witch has truly joined our side. He himself proved that the Charmed bond is not so easily broken.” She sneered at Prue. “That was a token of pettiness all witches are prone to, nothing more.”

“What do you suggest, Klea?” Cole tried to bite back his impatient exasperation. “She is already bound to me through the strong magic of a dark wedding.”

No one was more surprised than Cole when Prue spoke up. “Are you offering me initiation into the brotherhood, Klea? If you are, then say so. I will accept, and then I can go through whatever ritual is involved. Shouldn’t that be enough proof?”

Klea’s grin became a smug smile. “Oh, that will probably be plenty. But only Delic can offer you initiation, witch.” She turned to her leader. “Only he can determine whether you are potentially demon enough.”

Once he’d gotten over his astonishment, Cole quickly seized upon the opening Klea had handed him. “Sounds to me like quite a leadership opportunity, Delic. And like Klea said, Prue joining the ranks of the brotherhood would be more than adequate proof of her loyalties.”

Delic looked at Cole. “And perhaps an adequate test of yours as well, Belthazor. Very well.” He turned to one of the demons beside him. “Get me an athame.” To Prue he said, “Kneel before me, witch, and soon we will share blood.”