demonbelthazor | Room 412

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Room 412

OOC: The fact that Bel and Phoebe are having a fight is okay for broadcast, but not the specific details (they're behind closed doors after all), other than that the name Angelus/Angel was thrown around a lot (for anyone eavesdropping). ;)

After returning from town and a visit to the library, Belthazor swung by his room to see if Phoebe was up yet. She'd been asleep when he'd gotten back to the room last night after his "chat" with Logan and Angel, and he'd left before she'd awakened this morning. He knew she had a big chunk of time between her morning and afternoon classes, so he figured he'd find her in their room or study hall.

She was indeed in their room, sitting on the edge of the bed, an upset look on her face. The kittens were curled protectively beside her. "Sweetheart, what's wrong?" Cole said, moving towards her.

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Phoebe raised eyes to Cole and there was hurt on her face.

"Cole..." she asked softly. "Why didn't you tell me about Angelus...the soul...and why ~~are~~ were you threatening Tara?"

Fuck.

"Did Angel call you after all?" he said, scowling. "Let's see, I tried to stop them from giving Angel his soul, I threatened Tara, I'm stalking Veronica...did I miss anything?"

"Why would that murdering bastard call me?" She demanded. "He comes near me and I'll fucking stake him myself!"

I'm stalking Veronica...

"Wait...why are you stalking Veronica?"

"I...." Ooops. If it wasn't Angel, it must've been someone else, someone who didn't know about Veronica. He sat down in a chair opposite the bed. This was all bound to come out sooner or later, and they both knew one day they would have to deal with a situation in which they disagreed.

"All right," he said. "They stuffed a soul into Angelus. Someone told you? What do you know about it?"

Phoebe frowned. "I know enough to know that there was some sort of spell done to force a soul into Angelus, supposedly keeping him from killing any of my other friends. I also know that he attacked Rory and Logan."

"Like a soul stops someone from killing," Cole muttered. "Look how many human killers are out there. They all have souls. Now they've just made Angelus worse than he was before. Now he's self-righteous and judgmental. He wants to kill me, Phoebe. Because of what I am. Angelus warned me that would happen, and he also made me promise that if they tried to put a soul in him, I would kill him or get it out."

Phoebe stood up and started pacing. "I know his soul won't keep him from killing. He's the same person that killed my roommate and my friend...and then was so damn sympathetic and promised me he would help me make Kitty's killer pay."

She spun and pointed at Cole. "And he's damn sure not going to touch you or else he's going to have words with one pissed off witch." She clenched her hands at her sides, listening to him. "You promised him..."

"I promised him, yeah," Cole said softly, looking away, unable to meet Phoebe's pained gaze. "He is...was...my friend. We're both alike. We're both demons."

Phoebe felt like she had been hit. She felt betrayed.

"You said you would help me find Kitty's killer...how long have you known it was your best friend?"

"I didn't know," he said, leaving out the fact he'd suspected. "In fact, I've never heard to so-called evidence that was brought against him. Your friends just up and decided to judge him guilty without a trial of any kind. Judge, jury, and executioners. And as far as I know, the evidence was audio, not visual. So no one saw Angelus do anything. They're just interpreting what they heard on a tape. What's to say someone else wasn't there as well?"

Phoebe blinked, not willing to cry as she realized she and Cole were having their first fight.

"If you recall, I didn't believe it when I heard about the evidence...then Piper told me that it was very clearly Angelus who murdered my good friend." Phoebe swallowed and looked at him. "My friends? Yeah, I have friends that didn't trust him, but I didn't know what they were planning or if they even were planning to do anything! The only one of my friends that I knew was involved was Tara and that was after the fact. Also, say the proof about Kitty is wrong, he fucking ATTACKED and almost killed RORY!"

"I don't know anything about that," Cole snapped. "For all I know they were setting him up and he was defending himself. I wasn't there."

"Defending himself?! From RORY? Rory who happened to be one of his greatest defenders?" Phoebe snapped back. "You can't believe that, Cole."

She had a point there. It was ridiculous trying to defend Angelus. "Doesn't change the fact that they took the law into their own hands, so to speak," he said. "He may be a vampire, but last I checked most of the students around here are from lawful societies, and the school itself is in the USA. What do you think of the ethics of punishing him like that without even giving him a trial or a chance to defend himself? Maybe Tara should use that as an example in our next class. Mob justice and the consequences thereof."

He paused. "What if they come for me one day, Phoebe? They very well may. They took down Angelus, I'm next."

"What they did, how they did it, was wrong, yes. However, they felt that everyone here was in danger from him. They were desperate to feel safe again. Gods, Cole. I know that feeling. I knew it for weeks as I was being stalked by some crazy person. You were willing to take the laws into your own hands to protect me! How is that any different?"

Phoebe froze and her eyes filled with dread and tears.

"I won't let them hurt you. You haven't done anything wrong...except threaten and stalk---which you shouldn't have done. You haven't actually hurt Veronica...have you?"

"That wasn't the same!" Cole protested, not knowing how to justify that statement. Yeah, he'd been perfectly willing to kill whomever had been stalking Phoebe.

He started to pace. "They're already proven they don't need hard evidence to make their judgments, Phoebe. Doesn't matter what I have or haven't done. If they decide I'm a threat, they'll try to kill me. Try." He ignored the question about Veronica for the time being.

Phoebe shook her head. He wasn't side-stepping her on this issue. He wasn't.

"Cole...what did you do to Veronica?"

He turned away, not wanting to see the look on her face. "I was angry," he said. "It was her fault that Angelus got accused. If she hadn't meddled.... So I, uh, wanted to scare her. Get her to think twice before she did something like that again." He couldn't admit he had intended to kill Veronica.

Having seen what Cole's anger could do at times, Phoebe's jaw tensed. Veronica was a good friend, she had been there for Phoebe when she needed someone.

"Fireballs?" she demanded.

"Yeah." He nodded slightly. "She's...afraid of fire."

Phoebe was stunned and shaking.

"She's afraid..." Phoebe swallowed. "Cole...she's not a witch. Veronica found the evidence and turned it in, that's all she did." She bit her lip. "Would you have done the same if I had been the one to find the evidence against Angelus?"

...

"No, of course not!" he said. "You know I'd never hurt you."

"I know that...but do you?" Phoebe swallowed, hurting and angry. "You attacked Veronica because she found evidence against Angelus and turned him in." She clenched her fists. "Damn it, I believed in Angelus, too, Cole. I thought he was my friend and I really looked up to him. But, if I had found the evidence, I would have done the same thing, Cole."

Phoebe started pacing again.

"Cole, I'm asking you because I love you, lay off of Veronica? She's mine and Piper's."

"Yours and Piper's?" he echoed. "What, is there a Veronica Is Mine club or something? You're the third person to put a claim on her in less than 24 hours. Don't worry, I've already decided to back off. Tara, too."

"She's our innocent, Cole. Piper and I have a responsibility." Phoebe looked torn. Standing on opposite sides of Cole hurt. "Why were you threatening Tara? She adores you, love."

"Because she did the spell that stuffed a soul in Angelus," Cole said in a low tone. "He would've rather died. And Tara told me she'd never do it. Now she says she had no choice. Right." He laughed hollowly.

"Tara did that? I didn't know she had that kind of power," Phoebe said softly. "Did...did you ask her why?"

"She said she didn't have the power, either, but apparently that wasn't the case," Cole said. "The angel, Aziraphale...he helped her I think. While Crowley was kicking my ass outside. Tara said she didn't have a choice because they would've killed Angelus otherwise. He'd rather have taken that chance."

Phoebe started to feel sick.

"I would have liked to vanquish him myself after what he did."

"I know," Cole said quietly, sitting on the edge of the bed, his face in his hands. "I'm sorry."

Phoebe kneeled in front of him and placed her hands on his knees.

"Cole these are things that you can't keep from me. I know you're going to do things I hate and I'm going to do the same thing." She sighed.

"Did you know he planned to attack Rory?"

He shook his head. "No. I guess he wanted to turn Logan or something. Maybe Rory got in the way. I don't know. He bit them both."

He lifted his head from his hands and looked at her. "How can I tell you these things, Phoebe? If I have to do something...if I have to hurt someone...you'll have to try to stop me."

"And you'll have to try to stop me at some points, Cole," she said sadly.

She sat back on her heels, her hands still on his knees.

"What are we going to do, Cole?"

Zinging left.

"And you'll have to try to stop me at some points, Cole," she said sadly.

She sat back on her heels, her hands still on his knees.

"What are we going to do, Cole?"

He put his hands over hers. "I don't know," he said softly. "I have to help Angelus. And you have to make sure I don't succeed. He'll kill Veronica, Tara, anyone who had anything to do with this. And he'll make them suffer first."

Phoebe nodded. "I won't let them be hurt...and I won't let Angel hurt you."

"I won't let him hurt you, either," Cole said, leaning forward and putting his hand on her cheek. "You've always been hands-off to him, even before. He tried to insinuate last night he was going to do something to you. I told him he'd be ashes before he could get close enough to touch you."

Phoebe leaned against his hand.

"I've never been afraid of him love."

He sighed, then rose to his feet, taking her hand and pulling her up and into his arms. "People are going to think you're insane for being with me, you know," he said, kissing the top of her head. He leaned back and tilted his head, looking down at her. "What do you say about going into town after class? We go out for dinner after Arthurian Trad or something, get our minds off this for just a little while?"

Phoebe held him to her tightly.

"Then people can go pound sand," she said softly. "And I think dinner in town would be wonderful."

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Room 412

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