Bite Me

Bite Me is the 84th episode of Charmed. ==Guest Stars ==

Episode Guide
At the start of the episode, the sisters are attacked by a harpy; they vanquish her, but Phoebe is scratched on the shoulder. The sisters are glad they can still get the best of demons even though Phoebe has moved out of the manor. Paige offers to orb Phoebe back home, but Cole doesn't want Paige or Leo orbing in except in emergencies. Paige is still suspicious of Cole, but Piper still won't hear of it.

Cole is trying to end the infighting among the numerous demon and warlock factions prior to his formal coronation as the Source. He hears the elevator ding and abruptly adjourns the meeting. After the faction leaders blink, shimmer, etc. out, he changes the meeting table to a dinner table. Phoebe steps out; Cole didn't expect her home this early.

The next day, Phoebe is heading out after breakfast when Cole notices the scratch on her shoulder. Cole is concerned that Phoebe didn't tell him. Julie walks in on them kissing; Cole's working at home today since his office is being painted. After Phoebe leaves, Cole orders Julie to bring the harpies' leader to him; he wants to dress her down for allowing one of her minions to attack his wife.

The Vampire Queen plots to take on the new Source along with Keats, a demon who wants to overthrow Cole. The vampires have been exiled from the underworld for decades, and the Queen first wants to see if Cole will give them amnesty. She sends her top lieutenant, Rowan, to Cole in hopes of ending her people's exile.

The Elders have noticed a spike in demonic activity, and want Leo to get a fix on it. Piper and Leo haven't had any luck conceiving, and Piper wonders if they'll ever be able to have a baby. Paige reassures her.

Julie brings back the harpy leader's hand and tells Cole she won't be coming to see him; it is not known whether the harpy leader survived. She ushers Rowan in, but Cole rejects his request for amnesty almost out of hand. Paige orbs in to talk to Phoebe, and Cole isn't at all happy. Cole and Paige have a brief exchange of words. Paige's suspicions about Cole grow stronger. Paige bumps into Rowan in the elevator; they share a mutual distrust of Cole. Rowan asks Paige out as she leaves and they agree to meet at P3. Rowan reports back to the Queen, who is pleased at the prospect of getting a Charmed One on their side. Keats is skeptical, but the Queen thinks that having the magic of even one Charmed One combined with theirs will enable them to take over the underworld before Cole can consolidate his support.

Rowan is running late; Paige thinks he stood her up. Phoebe comes in; she's concerned she may be getting sick from the scratch. She thinks she may be turning into a harpy, but Leo reassures them that a human can't turn into a harpy that way. He heals Phoebe in the office. Paige wants Phoebe to cheer Piper up about her pregnancy troubles, but when Phoebe finds out Paige orbed to the apartment she walks away in a huff.

Paige is walking to her car when a flock of bats swarm on her and attack her. She's bitten several times. At the hospital, the doctor tells Piper, Phoebe and Leo that Paige nearly bled to death. Paige initially suspects vampires, but Phoebe isn't sure; from what she understands vampires attack in human form. Leo adds that vampires have been banished from the underworld for many years. Phoebe faints while the doctors draw blood from Paige. On the way back to the manor, she calls Cole on her cell phone and asks him to meet them there. Cole suspects the Vampire Queen is making her move, and orders Julie to gather the faction leaders for a war council.

The sisters can't get a fix on who attacked Paige. Paige assures Piper, Phoebe and Leo that she's fine, and heads to bed. Leo has found out that the recent spike in demonic activity is a sign that there's a new Source. Cole arrives, and the sisters tell him what happened to Paige. Cole thinks that biting bats could only mean one thing--Paige was attacked by vampires. Even though the previous Source banished vampires from the underworld for selling him out, Cole dealt with them when he was Belthazor and knows how they operate. They run up to check on Paige, and find her hanging upside down in her room. Paige turns into a bat and flies out the window.

Phoebe and Piper grab a cross, a stake and some garlic while Leo scours for holy water. Piper has looked in the Book of Shadows about vampires, and has found out that vanquishing the Queen vanquishes the entire clan. However, they have to get the Queen before Paige feeds on someone's blood; if this happens, she will lose the rest of her humanity. Unfortunately, they need the Power of Three to vanquish the Queen. Cole initially doesn't want Phoebe to go, but Phoebe is determined to save her sister. Cole flames back to the apartment, where the faction leaders (with the notable exception of the harpy leader) are already gathered. He considers the vampires' attempt to convert Paige as an act of war, and orders all vampires hunted down and exterminated. Cole tells Julie that he won't shed a tear if Paige dies as a result.

Rowan brings Paige before the Queen. Paige is starving, so the Queen suggests she feed on her sisters. Rowan is ecstatic; he thinks Cole won't stand a chance against them of all three Charmed Ones on their side. Paige doesn't think it will be easy, but the Queen tells her the rest of her clan will help her out. Paige kneels before the Queen.

Keats is warning a vampire that Cole is on the warpath, not knowing that Cole followed him. Cole destroys the vampire with a fireball, and demands that Keats tell him where to find the Queen. Keats replies with an energy ball, but it doesn't even scratch Cole. Cole tortures Keats with fire, and Keats finally talks.

Paige and Rowan return to the manor, but it's deserted. Rowan tells Paige about his many feedings. He also assures Paige that she was more than "fast food"--apparently he led the flock of bats who attacked Paige earlier. He suggests that Paige use her new-found vampire powers to find her sisters. Paige finds them, and tells Rowan she'll be back--with her sisters in tow.

Piper and Phoebe are trying to track Paige down in the cemetery. Phoebe almost faints, worrying Piper. However, Phoebe tells her she took a pregnancy test, and it came back negative. Piper took one as well, with the same results. Phoebe realizes that's what Piper wanted to talk to her about, and reassures her she still wants to be part of the family. Just as they embrace, Paige flies in. Piper wants to take her home and brew up a potion to turn her human again, but Paige shoves her aside and goes in on Phoebe. They fight and Paige gets the better of it. She's about to bite Phoebe when Leo orbs in and sprays holy water on her. Paige flies away.

Leo, Piper and Phoebe orb to a nearby cave where they find the Vampire Queen, Rowan and Paige waiting for them. The Queen offers Piper and Phoebe a chance to be converted without a fight, but Piper will have none of it. The Queen calls down a swarm of bats on Leo, Piper and Phoebe. Leo fends them off with holy water, but Rowan sends him flying. Paige is about to bite Piper and Rowan is about to bite Phoebe when the bats suddenly start going up in flames. Unknown to them, Cole is personally hunting the Queen. Leo takes advantage of the distraction to pull Paige off Piper, while Phoebe gets out from under Rowan. The Queen senses Cole is nearby, and runs off with Paige. Phoebe has turned the tables on Rowan; she stabs him with the cross, vanquishing him. Cole tracks down the Queen and vanquishes her with a fireball. The vampires all go up in flames and Paige is back to normal. Cole is about to finish Paige off with a fireball when he hears Piper, Phoebe and Leo rushing in. Cole flames out. Paige knows that the Source was here but does not know he is Cole.

Paige tells Piper that she doesn't think it was a coincidence that she saw Rowan at Cole's place. Piper is more willing to listen. Between Cole not wanting Paige and Leo to orb in and his unwillingness to let Phoebe help them go after the vampires, she's starting to have second thoughts about him.

At the very end of the episode, Phoebe gets a call from her doctor, who informs her that she's pregnant.

Trivia
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 * Although only brief, Paige's flirtation with Rowan now adds her to a long line of Halliwell women who become involved, inadvertently or otherwise, with an evil being. Previous dangerous liasons include:
 * Melinda Warren with Matthew Tate.
 * Pearl Russell with Anton.
 * Grams with Armand, the Necromancer.
 * Prue with Zile.
 * Piper with Jeremy Burns.
 * Phoebe with Rex Buckland and Cole Turner.
 * This is Michael Bailey Smith's 18th and final appearance on Charmed when he appears for the second time as the Grimlock Janor, having previously appeared in the episode All Halliwell's Eve. This also marks the third character that he appeared as more than one time. Previously he has appeared in two episodes as Shax (All Hell Breaks Loose and Charmed Again Part 1) as well as 14 episodes during seasons 3 and 4 as Belthazor (Cole's demonic form). He has also appeared once as The Source (All Hell Breaks Loose).
 * In this episode, we see a Fury, who first appeared in Hell Hath No Fury, appear at the meeting Cole called for all the evil faction leaders. It had been presumed that Furies were nominally good beings, but this confirms that they are in fact evil.
 * Leo says "It's true, vampires have been ostracized from the underworld for centuries. As far as I know they're a part of a whole different network now", a reference to the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer which had jumped networks, from TheWB to UPN.
 * Keats seemed to be surprised when Cole followed him to his rendezvous with a vampire. According to Cole, all demons can sense the Source's aura.  Apparently the Source only acquires this power after he's crowned and receives his full powers.
 * When Julie came back to Cole's apartment with the harpy leader's hand, it was never made clear whether she killed the leader or merely cut off her hand.
 * This is the second episode in which Paige is evil.