Date: Fri, 9 Feb 1996 12:51:04 EST Reply-To: Vi Moreau Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: Vi Moreau Subject: ELENA IN PARIS, PART IX ELENA IN PARIS Part IX VIOLENCE WARNING!!! Richie reared back away from the dining room doors--he was now clearly visible from the inside--and as soon as he threw the stun grenade he threw himself down onto the patio floor to avoid its effects. An alarm went off, then the explosion, screams, and immediately Duncan crashed through the French doors and into the dining room, katana in hand. The first Hunter he met was a woman and he hesitated for an instant. Elena, who was right behind him, shot the woman and emptied her clip into three others she was sure were not Rios. Duncan swept his way forward with his katana. Elena looked around frantically; several men fit the description, but she couldn't get to all of them. "Rios!" she called out in Spanish, leaping onto the table. "I'm here! It's Elena Duran! Come and kill me like you promised! Where are you, you bastard? I'm waiting for you!" She swung her sword along her left side, neatly taking a man's head off; the spurting blood drenched her from the waist down. It felt hot on her legs, and her stomach lurched. Someone drawn by the sound of her voice fired towards her. A bullet hit her right thigh; she grunted painfully as her leg gave way. Dropping her gun, she tucked her head and right shoulder and rolled off the table in his direction. She felt another bullet graze her, but by this time she had landed on him. Using a very simple-looking and quick Aikido technique, she literally plucked the gun out of his hand. It was a move Steven Seagal used often in his movies, except this time it wasn't Hollywood choreography. She shot him twice with his own gun, then stood up and took a moment to look around. She saw Duncan stab one of the last Hunters still standing. Near the door Richie was fighting hand to hand with someone using a large tray as a shield. She fired at Richie's opponent but her gun was empty; then Richie ran the man through with his rapier anyway. She saw Kaminsky and someone else go out of the room and started after him but her leg wouldn't hold her and she fell again. She slowly rose; the three of them looked around the shambles of the room. There were no Hunters standing, and a total of eleven people down--one of them was still breathing with great difficulty, another moaning softly. Duncan could see a lot of blood on Elena but she didn't act badly hurt, so he concentrated on Richie, who was looking everywhere at once. "Richie?" he called out to him. The look Richie gave him was one Duncan would remember for a long time--it was haunted, sick, and horrified all at the same time. He remembered the day of his first battle in the Highlands, when he must have had the same look on his face. He walked over to Richie, who was glancing around again and seemed to be hyperventilating. "Richie?" asked Duncan softly, then turned him so he could look into Richie's face. "Richie, are you alright? We have no time for this!" Maybe he could send Richie out to stay with the Watchers... Richie's expression had changed slightly. He now looked like he was going to throw up. But then he shook his head. "I'm OK, honest, I just...I'm fine, Mac." He swallowed thickly. "I'm right behind you!" They heard a repeated thumping noise from inside the house. Duncan turned, but Elena was already gone. "Damn it, let's go!" But as Duncan went to the door he heard something behind him and turned to face that, unwilling to leave his back unprotected. It was Amanda coming in from the outside. "Amanda! I thought you were already inside!" he exclaimed. "I had to leave! That room was full of weapons, so I locked the door from the inside, put a chair up under the handle, and took some of them...behind you!" Duncan was just thinking how good Amanda was at being at the right place at the right time. He turned quickly just as a man with a kitchen knife was stabbing at him. In a move he learned from an Immortal named Reinhardt, he grabbed the man's right wrist with his own left hand, held it, and plunged his katana into his opponent's chest. Behind him he heard Amanda murmur something to Richie as he went into the hallway. There he saw a stairway on his right and doors on either side. Elena was slashing at a group gathered at a further door--the weapons room! There was a crash as the door gave way. He ran towards her, calling out "Elena!" softly so she would know who was coming up behind her. Elena saw Duncan, apparently unhurt, speaking with Richie. The latter looked pretty shook up; hopefully Duncan could help him. She briefly looked for her gun on the dining room table, but couldn't find it and decided to leave it. Her Reeboks felt sticky, so she pulled them off. She heard a thumping noise from inside the house. When she went out the dining room doors she was in a long, very wide hallway that apparently ran the length of the house. To her right was a staircase, and several doors led out of the hall, but her attention was drawn to the pounding at the end of the hall. A group of men was trying to batter down a door--the door to the curtained room! Amanda might be in there! But, as she sprinted forward, sword raised, she realized that they couldn't be after Amanda, that Amanda had certainly already left the room, and that she knew what was in that room that they wanted so badly--weapons! She reached the first man. He heard her and turned, then screamed as she slashed deeply at his middle; it was faster than stabbing because she didn't have to take the time to pull her sword out. She straightarmed him back against the others. There was a crash as the door gave way and the other four people almost fell into the room. Someone behind her said "Elena!" and she recognized Duncan's voice, so she knew her back was safe. She put her sword into the back of a woman trying to get untangled from the Hunter dying on the floor. Then she heard the unmistakable sound of clips being chambered and turned back to Duncan. "!'Armas'!" she yelled. She sprinted down the hall, past Duncan, saying, "I'm going up!" passing Richie on the way, noticing the grim, controlled look on his face. 'We have no time for this!' she thought. "They have guns!" she yelled at him, then ran up the stairs, noting a slim, dark Immortal figure ducking into a doorway behind her. Amanda! Duncan impaled the first man who came to the door--he, in turn, managed to shoot Duncan once in the shoulder as he collapsed. Duncan winced but managed to push the shooter off his katana with his foot and back into the room, causing him to crash into the others. "Back!" he said, but Richie was already darting into the next doorway, and Amanda was nowhere in sight. 'At least he's still thinking and reacting,' he thought with some relief. He followed Richie into a large sitting room. He could hear the pounding of feet behind them. "The windows!" They each dived out a window and onto the lawn. Duncan rolled to his feet--his shoulder was still on fire, but he couldn't stop--then sprinted toward the back of the house. They rounded the corner, bullets spitting into the grass around them. Richie was right beside him. Almost without pausing, Duncan bulled his way through the back door and into a large kitchen. They hurried across towards what seemed to be a greenhouse, but halfway there Duncan felt an Immortal, seemingly underneath them. He knew Elena had gone upstairs, and wondered if Amanda had gone down. Then he remembered the buzz they had all felt when they came near the house. He found stairs going down, and although it might be a mistake, there might be only one way out, he should go find Elena or Amanda, one of them might need him...but he felt he couldn't just leave an Immortal prisoner behind if he could help it. "I'm going down," he said to Richie, giving him a choice. Richie still looked pretty grim, but he was hanging on. Looking at his young friend, Duncan felt his chest fill with pride and love. He wanted to reach out and tousle Richie's hair and tell him everything would be alright; instead he just smiled. Richie had also felt the buzz. He nodded. His smile was somewhat crooked, but he was trying. "I'm right behind you, Mac," he said through tight lips. As they went in the doorway they heard a sound behind them and bullets crashed into the doorframe. They ran down the stairs into a large 'cave' or wine cellar, filled with rack after rack of bottles. There was no Immortal there, but there was another door at the far end, maybe beyond that... Suddenly a spray of bullets filled the room--their sound, along with the breaking bottles in such an enclosed space, was deafening. Duncan felt slightly dazed but stayed well hidden. He gestured Richie to move away; they had a better chance separated. Richie nodded and went down one aisle toward the back; Duncan went forward. But instead of coming after them, one of the Hunters, holding a sword, ran to the other door, unlocked it, and went inside. The Immortal had to be in that room! Duncan heard a bottle smash behind him, then saw Richie make a break for the inner door--Duncan made some noise himself as a distraction and threw himself to the ground. The machine gunner started to fire toward Richie. Duncan saw Richie arch his back and stagger into the inner room. Then the gunman wheeled toward Duncan. As the spray of bullets hit all around him, he felt pieces of glass pierce his skin. A bullet went through his foot; he drew it back, dragging himself along the ground as quietly as he could. When the shooting stopped he heard a woman's voice from the other room, shouting, "...me a sword and I'll help you fight! Don't let him kill me! Help me!" There was a clang of blades from the room. Richie's voice called, "Hang on, I'm trying to get to you!" Duncan ground his teeth in frustration. But then the gunman went to the other room too, and Duncan got up and followed, dragging his temporarily useless foot behind him. He heard a scream, which was quickly cut off. As he looked in the door, he saw the headless body of a woman tied to a wooden post, blood gushing in spouts from her neck. The Hunter with the sword jumped back to avoid it; Richie was on this side of him, obviously hurt; the man with the machine gun was coming up behind Richie but wasn't firing, probably for fear of hitting his own comrade. The room became charged with electricity as the Immortal's Quickening left her body and entered Richie's. Richie was hit by the lightning; he staggered, moaning, then screamed and fell to his knees as the force entering him intensified. The Hunter with the sword tried to behead Richie, but it was a mistake--one of the lightning bolts traveled up the sword blade and struck him. He screamed once, shuddering, and fell like a stone, smoke coming up from his clothes. Duncan could smell the stench of burned flesh. Then the gunman, with a cry, opened fire on Richie. Even as the Quickening was still entering him, Richie writhed and collapsed in a hail of bullets. "No!" Duncan rushed forward and almost cut the gunman in half. He still couldn't approach Richie; he could only stand there and wait, watching the door. After a minute or so the Quickening ended, but Richie still lay there, dead. He could stay dead for ten minutes or for an hour--in any case, Duncan didn't dare leave him. And yet, he couldn't just stand by and wait while Elena and Amanda might be in trouble upstairs. He finally compromised--he hid Richie's body, with his rapier nearby, behind one of the wine racks. "Good luck, Richie," he muttered, and went upstairs. As Elena ran up the stairs she heard a machine gun go off. That particular weapon gave her the willies, because it reminded her of Maria's death, and because it was so deadly. Even against an automatic she had a chance, but not against a 'metralleta'. Fortunately they couldn't see her from below because of the staircase's orientation, and she certainly wasn't worried about making noise. She was worried about someone waiting on the railing behind her, but it was empty. She dropped to the ground and crawled up to peer over the top step. The setup was identical to the one downstairs, with what she assumed would be bedrooms off the wide, well-lit hallway. There was no one visible. With all the noise from the battle downstairs, this meant there was either no one upstairs or they had stayed hidden. She hoped Rios had not been in the dining room, but she could be wrong; or he could be shooting at Duncan even now. Who was he? Where was he? She went to the first door on her left and listened, turned the knob, and pushed it open, stepping back. Nothing. She took a quick look inside the dark bedroom and bathroom- -it connected to a second bedroom. She listened briefly, hearing muted gunfire from downstairs, then came in through that inner door, holding her broadsword ready in front of her. She knew she wasn't making any noise that could be heard by anyone else, but the sounds of her heartbeat and breathing seemed impossibly loud to her ears. The sweat from the exertion and excitement, combined with the blood, chilled her. The second bedroom was also empty, but both had several beds in them and definite signs of current use. There were papers and folders on a small table--she made a note to look at those later if she survived. She saw an automatic on a dresser and picked it up, but it was empty. She started to look for a clip when she heard a noise (a door opening?) from across the hall, so she put the gun down and went to the open door leading out. She stuck her head out quickly, then pulled back to process the mental picture of what she had seen. The stair railing was directly on her left and no one was on the stairs; the hallway was still deserted, but there was an open door one room down and across from her. That door had been closed when she looked before, and she heard soft voices from that room. She couldn't make them out. She partially closed her door and situated herself so she could peer out at that bedroom doorway, then thought about what to do. It was possible that that bedroom had a connecting bathroom too, and she could go in that way, but she couldn't be sure. Going directly to the open door would expose her completely; so would going into the open hallway. She waited and watched--this was the hardest part for her, the time when she began to feel real fear. She took several deep breaths and waited. The voices stopped and a dark-haired man in his forties with a machine gun came out, looked around briefly, and went toward the stairs. '?Sera Fernando Rios?' she thought. As he got to the stairs he looked into the bedroom Elena had first entered. He had to know someone was up here, she reasoned. Even on the parquet floor of the hallways and the marble of the staircase she must have left some blood behind--her jeans were still quite damp and stiffening. And the bedrooms had carpeting! Suddenly the Hunter (Rios, it had to be him!) darted into the first bedroom, firing his machine gun. He was coming through the bathroom right behind her! She threw open the door and dived out into the hall, rolling to her feet. The roar of the machine gun was deafening as a spray of bullets hit all around and through the door. Without pausing, she grabbed the railing with her right hand, swung over and around until she was hanging straight down, then let go. She lost her balance on the steps but grabbed the hand railing for support as the gunman shot down from the second floor. Elena jumped down the last few steps, but he had already moved forward, still firing down. As she tried to duck into the first doorway, two bullets struck her in the shoulder and back, knocking her against the wall. She cried out, finding it hard to breathe, knowing from experience that one of her lungs had been hit. She closed her left fist on her sword hilt ("Never lose your grip on your sword!" was Don Alvaro's favorite saying). Bullets rained down just behind her as she lurched into the open doorway, sobbing. Three meters inside the room she staggered into a large object--a sofa. She could hear the gunman coming down the steps. She looked around frantically, aware she had only seconds. Directly across the room was a window, too far to reach; to her right, a closed door. She stepped to the door and opened it, leaving a bloody mark on it, then came back to drop like a dead weight behind the sofa just as 'el pistolero' burst in, firing again, sweeping the gun left and right. She could feel some bullets impact the overstuffed sofa, but none got through to her. Her breathing was labored; the pain seemed unending; her ears and head hurt. Then he suddenly stopped. 'Don't get cautious now, you bastard! Use up all your rounds!' she thought desperately. She was practically holding her breath, and she didn't dare look. "I know you're here, Duran! I now know what you are, and God has led me to you! You can't escape Him or me!" Elena closed her eyes, remembering the voice. Of course it was Fernando Rios! How poetic, how dramatic! She felt like the hero in a Shakespearean tragegy facing the villain in the end. Or maybe she was the villain. She gathered her long legs under her, gathering calm and strength as well. There was a sudden noise from the room next door, and Elena heard Rios start walking towards the door. Another noise--he started firing, but after only a few seconds she heard the welcome click of an empty chamber. Immediately she sprang up onto the sofa and over the top, letting out a savage battle cry that was part pain, part fear, and part blood lust. He had ejected a clip and had another in his hand. He turned to her, looking at her in horror, then tried to insert the new clip. It was a race, and she won. Her blade plunged into the Spaniard's abdomen and out the back--he dropped his machine gun without a sound, eyes going round in shock. Elena kept her sword in his body--if she pulled it out, he would quickly bleed to death, and she had to ask him. She was still wheezing; between that and the pain she couldn't get any words out. She gritted her teeth. Her opponent was gasping, his mouth open like a fish out of water. "You are Fernando Rios! I've been hunting you as well," she finally said, panting. His voice was filled with disgust and loathing. "Duran! I know you, demon!" He took a deep, strained breath. "I have seached for you for so long, and now God has delivered you into my hands!" She pushed her broadsword in to the hilt, their faces centimeters away. "Aaaahhh!!!" he gasped in sheer agony. "God is just. I have won and you have lost. What do you think that means, Rios?" With difficulty, he said, "He has tested me, and now He is calling me to him. I am content, knowing I died trying to destroy you. How content are you to keep living, spawn from hell?" That was certainly something to think about--later. But for now..."You don't really believe..." she began. But she could see that he did. Demon from Hell, huh? It didn't matter. She pulled out Maria's chain. It hung from her hand, dripping onto the carpeting. "What about her? What about Maria? Why did you kill her and her baby? Was she a demon also?" He was going into shock, sinking down to his knees. She came down with him. "Don't die, Rios! Tell me why!" she screamed in his face. He managed to focus on the chain she held right in front of him. "The little girl..." He took a deep sobbing breath. "That was so wrong...a mistake. I never meant...not a day, not a moment passes that I do not regret their deaths! I grieve for them! Every night I pray to God for her immortal soul and the soul of her unborn child!" His voice was fading."Every night I pray to God for forgiveness!" Elena was looking at his face. There was no question that he was telling the truth, no doubt of his sincerity! Just who had she been hunting all these months??? His eyes were beginning to glaze over. He looked at her. "Every night," he whispered, "I pray to God for you and your kind to return to hell where you belong!" Elena couldn't listen to any more. "I hope God forgives you, Fernando Rios, because I never will!" She stood, pulled her sword out roughly and stepped back. Rios fell forward with a moan. She held her sword out in front of her, hilt down, so that it formed a cross in her hand. She had to believe God was on her side. She was no demon. And Rios was a madman. But he really believed! And he really, really regretted killing Maria; there was no doubt about that! "!'Dios mio'! she whispered. She looked at the figure in the doorway, standing there, watching her. He looked probably much like her, like he'd been through Hell, but he stood tall and graceful, his katana resting behind his arm. Was it really over? she wondered. His face was grim, but his eyes were kind, and he was so beautiful he took her breath away. She wondered how long he had been there, how much he had heard, then decided it really didn't matter. Fernando Rios was dying at her feet. Elena gave her enemy the 'coup de grace', stepped around the body, and went to Duncan MacLeod. End of ELENA IN PARIS Part IX Translations: 'armas' - arms, weapons 'cave' - wine cellar 'metralleta' - machine gun '?Sera Fernando Rios?' - could it be 'el pistolero' - the gunman 'Dios mio' - my God 'coup de grace' - killing blow copyright by Vivian Moreau, 1995 =========================================================================