Work Text:
Relative Morality
Lawyers were evil. That’s why Cole – rather, Belthazor – had become one.
Then he’d discovered, after Belthazor had been vanquished, and he was just Cole Turner once more, that he liked being a lawyer. Not being evil, per se, but being a bureaucratic shark, using his keen mind, sharp wits and sharper words to make his point in the courtroom and convict clients who were guilty.
Never as guilty as he’d been – well, Belthazor, but still. Not nice people.
The power of it had started to go to his head. The power to exact justice, to right wrongs, to hurt those who’d done the hurting… Cole had actually given serious thought to becoming the new Source of all Evil.
Then he’d found out that Phoebe was pregnant. Stymied by what to do concerning his evil impulses, he’d been surprised to receive a job offer from Wolfram & Hart. It made him remember what Belthazor’s former job was like, and how much he didn’t want to go back to it.
He and Phoebe’s child deserved better than a demon for a dad. All he had to do was remember some of the errands he’d been sent on by the former Source for the Senior Partners, and…
Well, suffice to say that there were some acts that had turned even Belthazor’s stomach.
Job interviews, unfortunately, were equally as stomach-churning, at least when they involved one of the Biggest Baddest Evils with a capital E around. But Cole had heard through the demonic grapevine that Wolfram & Hart was under new management. One of the Senior Partners’ main enemies had overthrown them and taken over.
In the case of capital E Evils, the enemy of one’s enemy was not always one’s friend. But Cole had to take the chance. He needed to get out of San Francisco and away from temptation.
At least until the new Source got chosen. Then he’d have to fight it in Phoebe’s stead. In the meantime, however, he had to pass this job interview, or else he wouldn’t get the job.
And while he didn’t need this particular job, he didn’t really have any time to waste.
“Mr. Angel will see you now,” the blonde tramp serving as secretarial eye candy said. Her nameplate read Harmony Kendall, but her voice was anything but harmonious. It grated on Cole’s nerves, nerves already on edge by the amount of mystical energy he’d been able to feel surrounding him ever since he stepped inside the building.
Cole took a deep breath, pushed down his doubts, and, armed with nothing more than a briefcase and his own good intentions, strode forward towards his destiny.