A/N: Once again, a big hand for Barb6, for beta reading this chapter. It was well appricated. Thank you.

Chapter 6 - A Deal With The Devil

Cole watched his mother as she cleared off the table. He had offered to help her but she had answered him that he would only do more harm than good. That was probably true. When Cole had helped clearing off the table in the past he had dropped the china.

They had lived here in the cave for a few days now, just the two of them, and Cole had seen some amazing things. For instance the food they had just eaten; his mother had put it there - magically. She had set the table with empty dishes and then chanted a spell. The next moment, food appeared on the plates and the glasses were filled with milk. Once they had finished eating she had recited another spell to clean the dishes. And now she was putting it back in its cabinets. Cole couldn't wait until he could learn this.

"Mommy?" Cole asked as Elizabeth grabbed his empty plate from the table.

"Yes." She answered as she looked at him where he still sat on his chair, barely reaching up to the table.

"Teach me something?" Cole pleaded, his eyes glowing with enthusiasm.

"You know the answer to that question." Elizabeth replied as she continued to clean off the table.

"Why not?" Cole wondered as his mother walked off towards the cabinet. He had begged his mother to teach him something magical since he had found out he too was able to. But she had just denied him. Why would she bring him to this place if he wasn't allowed to do magic? Not even allowed to learn it?

"Because, sweetie." Elizabeth said as she put the plate on one of the shelves inside the wooden cabinet. Porcelain wasn't the only thing in the cabinet. She also kept amulets, athames, potions and other magical equipment inside it. "It's too dangerous. You might hurt yourself." She closed the cabinet as she placed the last of the china inside it and turned to look at Cole, who was still sitting by the table, still looking disappointed from her answer.

"Aw be caweful." Cole promised.

"I know you will." Elizabeth approached him and knelt down in front of him as she placed her hands on his knees and looked up at him, meeting his big, blue eyes. "But you'll have to wait until the time is right."

"I don't wanna wait." Cole pouted.

"In time." Elizabeth said as she rose to her feet and placed a kiss on the top of his head.

Cole stared after his mother as she walked towards the closet to fetch his pyjamas. He didn't feel like going to bed. He felt like doing magic. Why couldn't he do magic? Why didn't she want to teach him?

Elizabeth went through the closet for one of Cole's pajamas. Yesterday she had shimmered back to their house to get some of Cole's belongings. Clothes among other things. It had felt strange to be back there. Everything was the way she had left it. Too many memories had bothered her and she had hurried to collect the items she came to claim. Hurried to leave, to never come back.

She felt her son's eyes upon her as she looked through the closet. He wanted her to teach him magic. She didn't have to teach him. Magic lived inside of him and sooner or later he would learn himself. Of course, she could speed it up by helping him. And she was supposed to. She was supposed to contact Raynor, to begin Cole's demonic training. To have her mentor and teacher train her child. But she simply didn't want to. She didn't want to be the one to take his innocence away. She didn't want Cole to become The Source's personal demonic soldier. Because that was what they would do with him. But on the other hand. If he didn't learn how to control his powers, the Source would have no use of him. No reason for keeping him alive. After all, he was half-breed.

She was truly faced with a dilemma. She had two choices. Number one was to allow him to learn the ways of evil. Number two was to dig his grave. Number two just wasn't an option so Elizabeth knew what she had to do. She would just wait for as long as possible to begin. She wasn't very anxious to condemn her child to a life of evil.

Elizabeth held the pajamas in her hands for a while, thinking of what she had to do. She then forced herself to wake up from her thoughts and closed the closet door. She turned around to face Cole and walked up to him with the clothing in her hands. Once she stood in front of him, she bent down to her knees to face him eye to eye. Elizabeth smiled at him once she unfolded the pajamas and held them up in front of him for him to see which ones she had chosen.

"Look. It's your favourite." Elizabeth said as she held up a light blue overall with a black horse upon the right chest pocket.

She had embroidered it, just like his name on the left chest pocket; Coleridge. Sewing clothes was one of the things she had done as a housewife when she had lived a normal life. When they had been a family. She had never really liked the idea of sewing clothes. But when it was for Cole; for her son, she had done it anyway. He brought out the strangest feelings in her.

"Horsy." Cole said as his face lit up at the recognition of his favourite pajamas.

"That's right." Elizabeth answered with a bittersweet smile. Fortunately, Cole was too young to differentiate a bittersweet smile from a genuine one. To him, a smile was simply just a smile.

Elizabeth placed the pajamas on the table as she began untying Cole's shoes. Cole's very small and very cute pair of shoes. She took them off his feet and put them down underneath the chair he was sitting on. She then removed his socks and placed them upon the table next to the pajamas. Then she began unbuttoning his brown pants. She carefully slid them off him so she wouldn't drag him off the chair. Cole held onto the chair to stay put, a smile playing on his face as his mother pulled off his pants. Finally there was only his sweater left.

"Hands up." Elizabeth told him, softly.

Cole stretched his arms above him as Elizabeth carefully pulled the sweater over his head. Once the sweater was off, his face peeked up at her. The sweater had messed up his dark hair and Elizabeth couldn't stop herself from messing it up even more with the rub of her hand. Cole giggled playfully as she did. She then folded the sweater and placed it on the table among the rest of his clothes. She then took a hold of his pajamas. She placed his legs inside the pant legs and lifted him down from the chair to finish dressing him.

Just then a knock on the cave wall interrupted them. Both Elizabeth and Cole turned their attention to the exitdoor of their cave.

Raynor stood in the doorway from where he had watched the two of them. From where he had despised them.

"Hello Cole." He said as he tried to sound nice and cheery.

"Hello." Cole answered shyly. He still didn't like the man. Even though he had brought him to his mother, there was something about him that made Cole not trust him. Something inside him told him not to trust this man. Something Cole felt he should listen to.

"How's it been?" Raynor asked as he stepped inside the cave, entering their home.

"Good." Cole answered shortly as he worriedly followed Raynor with his eyes.

Raynor nodded at Cole's answer. But before he could say anything. Elizabeth spoke.

"What do you want?" She asked bitterly as she turned back to Cole to continue dressing him. She knew Raynor hadn't come here to bond with her son. He had a reason, one he was hiding from Cole.

"Why haven't you contacted me?" Raynor asked, suddenly very down to business.

"Why would I?" Elizabeth replied as she helped Cole to get his arms inside the pajamas.

Raynor watched her dress the child with disgust. She did it so carefully. Those were not hands of a demon. A demon that had killed and tortured hundreds of mortals. Those were hands of a mother, her touch soft and gentle. He felt his blood boil. Of course, he hid this from Cole. He didn't let on to the boy of his disapproval.

"You know very well what I mean." Raynor replied as he stopped a few feet behind Elizabeth and rested his arms behind his back.

"What if I changed my mind?" Elizabeth spoke as she gently began buttoning Cole's pajamas. She felt slightly uncomfortable with Raynor standing behind her, her back turned towards him. She didn't trust him to stand there. Yet, she couldn't show him it worried her. She couldn't show him any signs of fear, of weakness.

Cole looked from Raynor to his mother, wondering what they were talking about. For some reason he suspected it was about him.

"We had a deal." Raynor reminded Elizabeth as he tightened his fist behind his back to stay in control.

"You gave me no choice!" Elizabeth burst out as she turned around to look at her mentor.

"There's always a choice, Belzora." He told her, calmly.

"Is there?" She asked him, leaving the question hanging in the air.

Raynor locked eyes with Elizabeth as silence followed her question. He thought about it for a few seconds before he spoke. "Come."

"Where?" Elizabeth asked, wondering what he had up his sleeve.

Cole snuggled up to his mother as he got worried from the fierce conversation her and Raynor had. Elizabeth protectively took him in her arms and stood to face their guest.

"There is someone who needs to see you." Raynor said, never breaking her gaze.

Elizabeth knew she had upset him. She knew she should've kept her part of the deal. But as she and Cole had stayed together in her cave for the last few days, she hadn't had the strength to do it. She wanted her and Cole to be a family. Even if it was just a facade. She wanted to be that caring mother. She wanted to wave him off for his first day at school, and she wanted to sing him lullabies before he went to sleep. She wanted to bake him that cake for his birthday and she wanted to send him to his room for disobeying her. She wanted all those things. Once, she had thought she could have them with Benjamin and Cole. Even if it wasn't actually real, she still wanted it. She wanted it badly. But now Raynor had come to wake her from her dreams and to introduce her to the cold reality. And she knew she had no choice but to follow him.

Elizabeth walked up to Raynor with Cole safely in her arms. Raynor turned around to leave the cave.

"Let's shimmer." Elizabeth stopped him. She knew it was a long way to walk and Cole would much rather be spared the trouble.

"Okay." Raynor agreed as he turned around to look at her. He sent one last glance at the child clinging onto the neck of his mother before shimmering out.

Cole's eyes widened as Raynor disappeared from his sight. He had done the same thing with his mother before, but he had never seen anyone else do it. He longed for the day he could do it by himself. Even though it scared him, he couldn't wait to learn.

Elizabeth held a tighter hold on Cole as she silently cursed herself for where she was taking him. Then, with a breath kept inside herself, she shimmered them out of their home.

Cole reappeared in a familiar tunnel. It wasn't familiar to the eye, all tunnels looked the same down here. No, it was familiar to his mind. He sensed something familiar up ahead. Once he had gotten used to the ticklish feeling in his stomach he curiously stared in front of himself. To his horror, he found himself a few feet away from the two men guarding The Source's door. They looked slightly surprised as they appeared in front of them, out of nowhere. But their eyes soon returned to their usual empty stare.

"Mommy.." Cole whispered in a fearful breath as he hugged her tighter. He didn't want to meet The Source again. He didn't want to enter this gate. He wanted her to take him back home, away from this place. A place that sent shivers down his spine. Partly because of the cold temperature, but mostly for the deadly scent.

"It's okay." Elizabeth quietly told him as she folded her hand on the back of his head to calm him down. She felt how he tensed once he recognized this place and she mentally kicked herself for bringing him here. In the corner of her eye she noticed Raynor approaching the guards.

"Raynor." One of the giant guards acknowledged him as they both bowed.

"Back so soon?" The other guard asked.

"Yes." Raynor answered. "It seems I'm not the one to talk sense into her."

The two guards instantly looked over at Elizabeth, protectively holding the child in her arms. Elizabeth threateningly glared at them, with her eyes reminding them of who she was and what power she possessed.

They quickly looked away from her, not wanting to upset her. Rumours had told them of what she had done to one of the guards the other day. That she had killed him, just for grabbing her son's arm too tight. So they both stepped aside from the doors and opened them with the wave of their hands. Raynor nodded at them as he stepped through the gate and walked down the avenue of burning candles.

Elizabeth watched Raynor as he walked deeper and deeper into the darkened room. She forced herself to enter the chamber and silently followed behind him, passing through the gate with Cole in her arms.

Cole looked over his mother's shoulder and saw the guards turning around once they had entered the chamber. They both stared at him fiercely before waving their hands and closing the doors behind them, closing them inside. Cole held his mother tighter and closed his eyes in denial as he buried his face in her neck to avoid the looks he was receiving from the guards they passed, pretending he wasn't really there. But without him being able to control it, the feeling of evil grew stronger. It grew stronger for every step his mother took towards The Source's throne. And all he could do was hang onto her neck, hide himself in her arms, desperately looking for comfort in her embrace. Sadly, it wasn't enough.

As the presence of evil filled his entire being, his mother stopped. And then he knew, he knew he was once again facing The Source. The Source Of All Evil.

"What's the reason for this intrusion?" The Source demanded to know. His harsh voice piercing through Cole's head was making it very hard for him to pretend he was some place else.

Raynor stepped up to his master to answer him. "She's having second thoughts, My Liege." He bowed to pay his master respect.

"Is that so?" The Source questioned as he turned to look at Elizabeth, disgusted by the image of her holding that brat in her arms, protecting it. She had caused him more trouble than he had imagined from the beginning. It made him wonder if it was really worth it, that cowardly half-breed that was hiding in her arms, wearing only his pajamas. What kind of demon was that? Judging by the present, it seemed he had made the wrong decision.

"Need I remind you of our deal?" The Source told her, calmly, yet impatiently. He was growing tired of this constant resistance from her.

"Hardly." Elizabeth answered as she held Cole closer to herself, worrying for his safety. She knew that if The Source lost interest in Cole, he would kill him - like an insect, without worth and without value. And still, it was so hard to surrender him to evil. Even if it was her son's only way of survival. His only way out.

"Then what's the problem.. Belzora?" The Source asked, speaking her demonic name to remind her of what she was. Of the things she had done and of the power he had over her. She existed only to obey him. Period.

Cole held his breath as he felt his mother twisting him in her arms. Her worry washed over him like a bucket of cold water. She was thinking of how to answer The Source's question. Of how to save them without upsetting him in some way, and Cole was trusting her. He was trusting her to save them both.

"If you would just give us some time-" Elizabeth stumbled across her words, desperation had reached her usually calm voice.

"I don't have time!" The Source interrupted her, yelling.

Cole shut his eyes tight and grabbed onto his mother's hair with his tiny hands. Every time The Source raised his voice, every cell in Cole's body panicked. He didn't know what to do or how to act. All he knew was that he wanted to get away from this place, get away from him.

The Source glared intensely at Elizabeth and Cole. How could she stand there and ask him for time? He had waited many years for that child. Too many. And still, she wanted more? Didn't she know who he was? Had she forgotten her place in this world? In his world.

"He's just a child!" Elizabeth raised he voice, knowing it was dangerous to, but incapable of stopping herself. She had to fight for Cole. If she could, she would do everything in her power to keep the evil in his veins from developing, growing.

Raynor looked at Elizabeth with surprise. She had become so careless. Yes, she had always been rebellious. But she had to know better than to question The Source. All demons knew. But lately, Elizabeth had began looking at herself as a mother. She seemed to have forgotten the fact that she was a demon - a being of evil. She needed someone to remind her. Someone like himself.

"I don't care!" The Source yelled, as he almost rose from his throne in anger. "If he's incapable of controlling his powers, he is of no use to me!" He paused to calm himself down. He was not used to being this out of control. But Belzora was pushing his boundaries. "I'm sure you know what I do to servants without worth." He told her, calmer than he had expected.

"I do." Elizabeth answered as she held her son closer, fearing The Source's threat. She knew he could kill Cole in an instant. Snatch him away from her arms; like candy from a child. She knew she had to co operate. She wasn't doing it for herself. As twisted as it sounded, she was giving her son up for evil, for his own sake. But it was the truth. She couldn't let him die, Cole wouldn't want to. And like The Source had recently reminded her, she had made a deal. The price for breaking it was just too high for her to pay. Too high for Cole to suffer.

"Then I'm sure there is no need to discuss this matter any further." The Source spoke, leaving Elizabeth with a decision to make. And even though he hated and despised her maternal instincts towards the half-breed, he could indeed count on them giving into his ultimatum. He would have his soldier. She would give him to him, voluntarily, to spare his life. Pathetic, really.

"I guess not." Elizabeth surrendered to his proposition. She had just given up her son. She had to force herself into speaking those words. Force herself into buying his deal. And the very second she had done it, she regretted it. Though, of course, it was nothing like the regret she would have felt if he had killed Cole for her refusal.

The Source smiled inwardly as she gave unto him. He had won. He had finally won. The child was his to poison. To shape for his own needs and desires. His demon to control. He immediately started making up plans in his mind. His ways of destroy the human inside the half-breed. Then suddenly, like a flash, it hit him. The perfect way of creating his soldier, and at the same time winning back Belzora, his once so powerful assassin.

She would be the one to train him.

"Good." The Source spoke. "You will begin his training tomorrow."

"What?" Elizabeth questioned in shock. What was this suppose to mean? What kind of game was he playing? How could she be the one to train him? She was his mother, not his demonic teacher.

"With all do respect, My Liege." Raynor stepped up to his master. "I thought it was said I was to train him." He usually never questioned his master, but this really bothered him. He was promised to train the boy.

"Yes well, I changed my mind." The Source answered him, nonchalantly. "Belzora, you are to take this mission very serious. I was promised to have a demonic soldier. Was I not?"

"Yes." Elizabeth admitted.

"Good. How you'll be able to make a demon out of that coward is beyond me. Then again, that's not my problem. It's your problem."

Cole opened his eyes carefully, realising the guards were still watching him. He imbedded his face in his mother's hair to escape them. This was taking too long. The Source had been quiet for too long. It scared him beyond belief when The Source yelled with all his power and glory. But what scared him the most, was when he remained silent. For then, Cole couldn't know of the evil he was thinking, planning. And since this entire conversation had focused on him and his part in this world, he was surely planning something about him.

"As for you, Raynor." The Source turned to look at him. "You are to report to me of her failures and successes. I want to know every step that brat takes."

"Yes, My Liege." Raynor bowed his master as he accepted his task, disappointed and somewhat upset.

"Good." The Source said as he leaned back in his throne. "Now leave me."

Cole carefully raised his head again, peeking up at Raynor who bowed to his master before he turned around and strode towards the exit. Not a single word was spoken, there was no need for it. The Source had given his orders and that was that. That's why Cole felt kind of surprised as his mother still remained in the same spot, still holding him in her arms, still staring up towards The Source. Cole didn't know if she did this out of bravery or stupidity.

Elizabeth was speechless. The second The Source had declared her as Cole's demonic trainer, her world had stopped moving. She couldn't believe he was demanding this from her. This.. this twisted deal, meaning she would raise her son to become his personal demonic murderer. Sometimes, she forgot how evil he really was, sometimes. But then again, she could always count on him to remind her of his cruel nature.

"Is there a problem, Belzora?" The Source asked, impatient. He didn't know if this was some kind of challenge from her or some sick, desperate way to seek sympathy in from him. If it was, she wouldn't find any. "Do you need a demonic escort like last time, or can you manage by yourself?"

Elizabeth woke from her frozen state as the world around her started moving. Raynor had left and she had to do the same. She sent The Source one last glance before she turned around and began walking towards the gate at the end of the chamber. She still couldn't believe the task he had given her. How was she to pull this off? Buried in problems, she left the chamber with Cole in her arms.

This time, Cole kept his eyes open as they left The Source and passed all his guards. He kept them open as they exited the chamber and the two giant guards closed the doors behind them. Cole kept them open as his mother held him closer and magically left the hall to arrive back home. He kept them open as she put him to bed and pulled the cover over themselves. He kept them open as she told him goodnight and put out the torch that lit the room, allowing the darkness to swallow it. He kept them open as his mother's breathings got heavier and he kept them opened as he stared at the ceiling, an empty gaze travelling across the room, observing their furniture in the dark. After that, he didn't know for how much longer he kept them open, but at some point during the night, he did close them.