The Mighty Belthazor

The surprise!portal had grabbed Bel Thursday afternoon and deposited him in an unfamiliar room. He looked around, trying to get his bearings. The view from the window was familiar, at least -- San Francisco. The room appeared to be the living room of a posh penthouse, but he had no idea who it belonged to.

Paige suddenly orbed into the room, along with Piper and an unfamiliar man. "You evil son of a bitch," Paige said, and then Piper was flashing her hands at him and trying to blow him up. It hurt but did not vanquish him, though it did knock him back into wall.

"Phoebe, get out here and help us, damn it!" Piper called out.

At the same time, Paige ran over to him to try to surround him with crystals while he was stunned. He pulled himself to his feet and kicked one of the crystals away. "What the hell are you doing?" he said.

Piper tried to blow him up again. "Phoebe, he's gonna kill us, help us!"

"Piper, stop it!" Bel said. He conjured a fireball, not wanting to use it on Phoebe's sisters, but he would defend himself. "Why are you doing this?"

A door opened, and Phoebe stepped out of a bathroom, her face wet with tears. She picked up the crystal that Bel had kicked and moved to his side.

"Phoebe, tell them it's okay," Bel said, extinguishing the fireball so he could put his arm around her.

"It's okay," she whispered, pulling his head down to kiss him.

"Phoebe?" Piper said, her tone worried.

Phoebe moved away from Bel. "I'm sorry, too," she said, setting the crystal down to activate the magical trap.

"Phoebe, no!" Bel called. "No!" He tried to reach for her through the magical prison. "Don't do this! I'm not the Source!"

"Don't listen to him, Phoebe!" Paige said.

Phoebe bowed her head, unable to look at Bel. "I'm sorry, baby, I'm so sorry."

"Phoebe, please!" Bel called, panicking. "It's me! I'm not evil!"

The sisters began the spell, with Phoebe choking out the words. The Source vanquish was one of the most powerful spells the Charmed Ones could cast, and even if he wasn't the Source, he knew it would destroy him, and this time there would probably be no coming back. "Phoebe!"

As they finished the spell, a portal began to open behind him again. He threw himself toward it as everything exploded around him.

And found himself back at the Hyperion. Dream? Vision? Whatever it was, he was shaken enough to retreat to an empty room. He wasn't hiding and being emo. Nope, not at all.

The Source flamed into an empty room on the 5th floor. Simple shape-changing wasn't a good idea for him at the moment, not without having to take out whomever he was impersonating permanently, which could possibly be discovered and lead right back to him.

Fortunately, he had another option available.

He pulled out his cell phone and called Blair.


[ooc: Locked to lovechildblair. Empty room used with admin permission. If it turns out this room is used for some purpose I'm not aware of (it's empty on the housing list), please just ping me and I can change the number.]

Late in the afternoon, the Source headed up to the roof for a smoke. Stupid Belthazor and his stupid nicotine addiction which he'd inherited. No one was around, so he lit the cigarette with a fireball and looked out on the school grounds, contemplating his next actions.

The Slayer was alive, somehow. She'd been dead when he left her, but someone had somehow revived her. Fortunately her brush with death must've affected her memory, since no one had come after him. But there was a risk that it could come back at any minute.

And Anders had betrayed him and told Parker about their relationship. Fortunately it seemed that Parker was keeping her mouth shut, but that could prove troublesome if she went to Phoebe about it. The tonic he'd been feeding Phoebe was making her dark side emerge, but he wasn't certain it was enough yet, and he didn't want to take that risk, either. It was possible he'd have to deal with Parker. And Anders, of course. The Source didn't take treachery lightly.


[ooc: locked to mparkerceo]

After calling Marty, Bel returned to the Pangolin cabin to see how Angela had fared last night. The cabins were insulated, of course, but it couldn't have been a comfortable night between the outside chill and lack of blankets.

He was wearing Marty's face again when he blazed into the cabin.

Agitated, Bel paced his room. First his failure with Veronica and Piper, then Cally's discovery of his powers last night. He was starting to leave a trail of evidence that could eventually point back at him, and that could not be allowed to happen. He'd have to step up his plans, move the coronation forward so he could end this charade.

And in the meantime, maybe he could arrange some sort of distraction, keep attention from falling on himself. So now he pondered this, wondering what he could do -- and who would be a suitable victim.

[ooc: open if you have need of the ex-demon.]

Well, that hadn't gone as planned.

He'd gone to Veronica and Piper's apartment and shapeshifted into a CD rack to spy on them shut up, it's canon after Cally, Mac, and Lindsey arrived. When they'd headed to the party, he'd mingled with the crowd, keeping an eye on them and waiting for opportunity, which presented itself Veronica, Piper, and Cam had split off from the others. He'd shapeshifted into Veronica, knocked Cam out, and took his place.

It should've been an easy kill, but Belthazor had held him back, allowing Piper to use her powers on him. Then the real Cameron had shown up, running him down. And when the police started to get near, he'd decided to leave rather than finish the job.

The Source was not pleased. He'd stopped by the Underworld and destroyed a few underlings in a fit of pique before heading back to Fandom. The sooner he could finally be rid of this human soul, the better.

Fortunately he remembered to change back into his normal self before Phoebe or anybody in the school saw him. That would be awkward to explain.

Bel woke up Monday morning and gave the-still-sleeping girlfriend an equally sleepy kiss. She hadn't been feeling well last night so, after going to see Dr. Wilson about his headaches, he'd gone to Caritas alone. He seen Seely in a dress (the horror) and talked to Anders.

Spending today snuggling in bed seemed like a good idea. But that, unfortunately, wasn't going to happen. When he got up to get something to drink, flames surrounded him, transporting him to the Underworld.

( The Seer was waiting for him. )

The Source was having a difficult time reigning in Belthazor's human emotions. He was angry and frustrated over the day's events in LA and needed to vent some of it some how. But the Source had been certain to be on his best behavior at the Halliwell Manor and didn't want to cause any incidents that might draw attention to him at the Hyperion, either.

So he flamed back to Fandom, careful not to let anyone see him, and found Anders in his room.

That would definitely do the trick. He'd just have to do something so Angel couldn't tell. He'd forgotten about that and wouldn't make the same mistake twice.


[ooc: NFB. futurebucs_star shamelessly used with permission. ;) ]

A muffled thud woke Bel in the middle of the night. Phoebe refused to wake up and investigate, despite how hard he willed her to do so, so Bel climbed from the bed and wandered out of the bedroom to see what the cats had done. In the near darkness he could make out Valkyrie and Seraphim sitting on the couch, looking up at him innocently despite the lamp that was knocked over on to the floor.

"Bad cats," Bel grumbled, picking up the lamp and setting it on the table where it belonged. He began to head back to the bedroom, eager to return to softness, warmth, and girlfriend. ( He didn't make it. )