Date: Fri, 9 Feb 1996 12:50:52 EST Reply-To: Vi Moreau Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: Vi Moreau Subject: ELENA IN PARIS, PART VIII ELENA IN PARIS Part VIII Elena turned to the others and announced, "We have them!" There was a sudden silence, then Richie asked, "Now, are you sure this information is legit? I mean, can we trust whoever it came from?" Duncan knew Elena would act on Bernie's information whether she trusted him or not; she couldn't not do it. But for the rest of them--all their lives might depend on Duncan's answer because they trusted Duncan's judgement. Except maybe for Methos. "Who can we trust, Richie?" He sighed. "I'm going with Elena. You'll have to make up your own minds." Elena echoed his sentiments. "This has nothing to do with trust, Richie. If Rios himself were to call me and tell me he has a trap set up just for me, and he will leisurely cut through my throat with a rusty saw, and I have no chance of escape, I would still go. I have no choice--it's either finish this or go mad. But you have a choice, Richie. You don't have to..." "Oh, no, you don't! I came all the way to Paris with you guys! I'm not backing off now!" "Don't let pride make your decision for you. We're talking about going inside a house and killing everyone there, everyone, Richie! No quarter asked or given." "So why are you telling me this now?" "Because we're going tonight," answered Duncan, "and you have to be sure. Because you'll have to live with what you do tonight for a long time." Richie shook his head. "What about the other night at that apartment? What's so different about tonight?" "This time we might actually catch someone there, and we'll hopefully have surprise on our side, which means we should be more effective," explained Duncan. "What he means, Richie, is we'll be doing a lot of killing." Elena smiled without warmth. In fact, she felt very cold, almost detached, very different from the first time she killed a Mortal... *********************************************** "Then you do not believe he deserves to die, Elenita?" asked Don Alvaro in disbelief. "He is supposed to protect you, and what does he do when you fall of your horse and injure yourself? He rapes you, he robs you, and he leaves you to die on the 'pampas'. And you would let him live after all this?" Elena looks down at the chained and gagged man. Everything Don Alvaro says is true, and yet just killing a man....she doesn't think she can do it. Everything has happened so fast--her own death, finding out about her immortality, and now, the very next day, this! "Don Alvaro, I can't just...." "You can't! Or you won't??!! You can't be weak now, 'nina'! Why even he himself admits that he deserves death! But I'm not asking you to execute him. I'm asking you to fight him and kill him. He will be unchained and given a sword to defend himself. He will have a chance." Elena sees Eugenio's eyes go wide above the gag. As her bodyguard, he had often sparred with her. Elena is taller, stronger, clearly better with a sword, and yet she sees the surprise and then the hope in his eyes. Elena takes Don Alvaro aside. "But he really won't have a chance, will he? He can't kill me, can he?" "Who knows?" Don Alvaro whispers back. "Perhaps he will go for your head!" Elena goes pale--it is possible. The truth is that she does hate Eugenio, but can't bring herself to what she considers to be murder. Perhaps if she asks Don Alvaro to do it...but then she imagines his reaction. Her only choice is to fight Eugenio and kill him--or let him go altogether. Without a sponsor like Don Alvaro, Eugenio would probably rejoin the Army, and the first chance he got, would probably find another woman to rape and abandon, or murder. She remembers being dizzy from the fall, then looking up and seeing Eugenio looming over her; and saying thickly, "!'Gracias a Dios que estas aqui! !Ayudame, por favor', Eugenio!" and then really, really getting a look at his face; and hearing him say, "!'India asquerosa'!" as he pulled down his pants. There was the terrible dull pain in her head and the sharp unending pain between her legs, and his dead weight on her, and having no strength to fight him. Sometime during the rape she died, and when she 'revived', gasping and writhing in shock and agony, she was in her own bed with Don Alvaro standing beside her. She felt a very strange feeling of 'connection' to her adoptive father. They talked about immortality. So she decides to fight Eugenio, and he wounds her, and she wounds him, and although her pain is just as bad as his, it gets better within minutes, and she regains her strength, but he doesn't, and she runs him through. She knows that in spite of what Don Alvaro said, Eugenio really had no chance--she murdered him. So she puts her head down between her legs and empties her stomach onto the ground. ************************************************** Richie thought about it for a long moment. Elena knew that Richie had killed Immortals before, but that was alright, it was a one on one fight, it was what they were supposed to do. But now he was really thinking about killing Mortals. Finally he said, "Look, guys, I'm ready! I know what's at stake! And no, I'm not doing it for you, Duran, or for you, Mac. These people have come after us, after me too, for the last time. They're going down tonight!" Duncan turned to Amanda. "Count me in," she replied. For once, he thought, she seems to be taking something seriously. Methos smiled. "I've done the commando bit before. I think this time I'll come along and watch from the sidelines. I'll sit with Dawson; I'm sure he'll be there." Duncan nodded, accepting. "I'm going out for an errand. I'll be back soon." He grabbed his trenchcoat. "I'll come with you, 'querido'. We're a team, remember?" They both walked out into the March air. It wasn't quite spring in Paris yet, but if they survived another month they would see the best this most beautiful and romantic of cities had to offer. Duncan very much wanted to share April in Paris with Elena as he had shared it with Tessa so many times. As soon as they were free of this burden of the Hunters....They went to see Pierre Lelou, Georges Lelou's son, from whom Duncan obtained a very illegal item. They drove up near the fence surrounding the estate when it was full dark; it was isolated, so Duncan had turned off his headlights and had coasted. He didn't want to leave the car too far away--he was too experienced a tactician not to leave himself an escape route, although he doubted he could persuade Elena to leave once the fighting started. He had already dropped Elena, Amanda and Methos off a half a kilometer back--the three were circling around to the woods on the north side of the house, which provided a good vantage point to watch from. Meanwhile, Duncan and Richie would circle around to see what they could see. They set a meeting point by the fence well out of sight of the gate. Sure enough, the three Immortals easily found two Watchers with binoculars in the woods. They recognized Dawson and Bernie Liebowitz. Elena put her finger to her lips, and they quietly made their way up to right behind the pair. Amanda was very good at sneaking, and Methos had also obviously done this before. Elena felt like a rookie beside the two older Immortals, but for all her size, she could move very quietly when she had to. "Have you seen any night life?" she asked the two Watchers. Dawson put his head, up, startled, and Bernie jumped. "Aaahh!" he whispered, clutching his chest. He turned--Elena was standing one meter behind him. "You know, Senorita, there are many ways to kill a man!" "How long have you been here?" she asked. "About an hour," he gasped. "Hello, Adam," said Dawson to Methos. His eyes slid to Bernie and back. "What brings you to these parts?" "To do what we do best, my friend. To watch." While Dawson introduced Adam Pierson to Bernie, Elena used Duncan's nightscope to look the grounds over. She detected absolutely no movement inside the perimeter. "I don't see any guards or dogs." Amanda said, "Great! I hate dogs! They have so many teeth!" She had borrowed Joe Dawson's binoculars and now said, "Any chance you've been spotted?" "No way! We're too far away, and we've done this before, remember? We've been watching for a while, and there's absolutely no sign that they're expecting anyone. But they do have a guard at the gate, and at least one other." "What about the house, Amanda?" asked Elena. "Looks like a standard beautiful mansion. This is a side view, of course. They have a lot of lights on, but not too many outside. Lots of glass. There's no movement upstairs that I can see, and only one light on, but it's still early." "It's a cool night," added Bernie. "The windows are all closed, but the curtains are mostly open." "Except for that last room on the eastern side. The curtains are tightly drawn there. I wonder why," said Amanda, narrowing her eyes. "That might just be my best point of entry." Elena held out her hand to Bernie, and he gave her his binoculars. The last room was dark even beyond the curtains. "Oh, look," added Amanda, "they're sitting down to a late dinner!" The dining room had a nice set of French doors leading out to a stone patio. There were at least a dozen men and women just coming in, getting their food from somewhere out of sight, then sitting down at a very large table near the center of the room. "How many do you count?" asked Elena, studying them closely. She suddenly saw Evan Kaminsky! Yes!!! He was a dead man. Hit the big group first, she thought. Then worry about the stragglers. The one thing she was most afraid of was that she'd miss Rios, that he'd be killed and she wouldn't know it, that he'd get away somehow...She didn't know him by sight, only by his voice. Dawson had given her a general description: five feet eight (about 170 cm.), dark hair, in his forties. What could she do, ask every middle aged male Hunter to speak before she killed him? Burst in and demand that Rios identify himself? "There's the guard at the gate; I don't see any patrols, although...oh, yes, I see you!" Elena turned her binoculars in the same direction and spotted a man just crossing in front of the last set of windows on the west side, which seemed to be the kitchen. She could see people moving around inside there as well. Amanda continued. "At the table--thirteen for dinner!" She removed the binoculars and grinned at Elena. "That's been an unlucky number since I was a young girl!" "There are at least three or four more in the other rooms," said Elena. "And several in the kitchen while they're eating. There are always knives there, too." "We don't have an accurate count because they keep moving around," added Dawson. "But we figure about twenty, not counting the other side of the house." "The question is, why aren't they expecting trouble? They know we're in Paris!" "But they may not know about Richie, or that you've gotten together with Amanda, too. Your greatest weakness has always been that you're solitary, and prey on each other. But four Immortals attacking as a group--it's unheard of! They'll never expect it!" Elena heard Amanda mutter to herself, "The four musketeers!" "And they don't have a clue that you know about this place," said Bernie. "So you say." Elena got up, handed the binoculars back to him and straightened her cloak. "Look, I can see that you still don't trust me! Do you want to know how I knew they were here and why I told you about it?" "No," replied Elena, "as long as THEY don't know WE are here." "They don't," said Amanda firmly. "They wouldn't be sitting down to eat like that. Unless, of course, it's a very clever trap!" "It's no trap, believe me!" He paused. "Glenn and Randy and I were drinking buddies in Korea. We go back a long way." His voice was hoarse. Elena said, "You know I killed Randolph. I used a baseball bat." Bernie nodded, swallowing hard. "That was...wrong. But what they're doing is also wrong; they've even killed other Watchers, men and women we both knew and worked with. They have to be stopped, and I certainly can't do it." She sighed. Everyone had their own agenda, and somehow or another, it always involved killing. Even Bernie, "the most inoffensive person in the world," had just told her to kill one his own old friends. And she'd have to do the killing, not him. Elena was getting so tired of death...but this was not the right attitude to take into a serious battle. She'd better pump herself up, or she would die. By the time they met up with Duncan and Richie at their prearranged point Elena was thinking in a different way. She was going into a life and death fight, and this is what she did best; she had a good sword and a loaded pistol in her pocket. These Hunters had shot her, killed her, captured her, trapped her, chased her--but she beat them every time, and now, at last, she would finish the Hunt that had taken over her life for the past year and a half! Most importantly, she was with Duncan MacLeod, a man she loved, and he was fighting by her side! She tipped her head up and laughed softly, deep in her throat, with sheer excitement, the pulse at the base of her neck throbbing. Maybe later she'd be afraid; maybe later she'd have regrets; but right now, her blood was rushing, and she was ready! Duncan was not feeling good about the job ahead, but he looked on it as a war. The enemy were implacable and they would keep coming back, so they had to be destroyed once and for all. His concern was for the others. He hoped Richie was tough enough not to choke up--that scared him. Amanda, whom he had known for three hundred years! And if Elena were killed...he looked at her in the dim light of the crescent moon. He could just make out the shine in her eyes. She looked radiant, her hair tied back, her teeth very white in her face, her body tense. She was almost humming with energy, and her excitement was contagious. She tipped her head up and laughed softly, deep in her throat. And when she looked at him he felt such an outpouring of emotion it was a physical ache. How he wished he could just send her away to safety, but he realized part of what he found so attractive about her was her strength, so much like his own. He found himself smiling, his muscles tingling. "I love you, Elena!" he whispered just for her. She kissed him briefly on the lips, hard. Then she pulled out her sword, brought the hilt up to her lips and kissed the cross there, whispering, "!'Ayudame, Dios mio'!" Duncan perfomed a similar ceremony with his katana, holding it in front of him, blade down, and closing his eyes. He dimly heard Richie muttering something. They decided to bypass the man at the gate because he had the one weapon that could hurt them the most-- communication to the inside. Because they were outnumbered and outgunned, their attack depended entirely on surprise. The fence was not electified. They each took a running start and swung lightly over the spiked top. As they landed they stopped to listen. They had seen two men patrolling the grounds, but they were both near the house. They proceeded forward quietly, fanning out but keeping within sight of each other. The bushes and trees were sparse, providing minimal cover, and there was a long stretch of open lawn to cross before they got to the house itself, and a crescent moon to provide light. Duncan quietly approached each of the two guards from behind and broke their necks instantly. They hid the bodies and crossed over, one by one, to the house right in front of the closed room--if they couldn't see in, theoretically the people inside couldn't see out, but if someone was glancing out any one of the windows, especially an upstairs one... 'No alarm yet, good,' thought Duncan. Then he became aware of the Buzz, coming from inside the house. He looked back at Elena, and she, too seemed surprised. She silently confirmed with the others--they had all felt the presence of an Immortal inside! And if they had felt him or her...???!!! Elena felt an ache deep in her stomach. If an Immortal was working with the Hunters, they were already discovered! They tensed, waiting, ready to move immediately, but moments passed in silence, and they didn't dare wait too long--they wanted to catch the large group in the dining room. 'Maybe they took another Immortal prisoner like they took me!' she wondered. She tapped Duncan on the shoulder and crossed her fists at the wrist together in front of her, gesturing toward the window. He nodded, understanding. Then the three of them sneaked torward the dining room doors while Amanda examined the windows of the curtained room. End of ELENA IN PARIS Part VIII Translations: 'pampas' - plains of Argentina 'nina' - girl !'gracias a Dios que estas aqui'! - thank God you're here! !'ayudame, por favor'! - help me, please! !'India asquerosa'! - filthy Indian! 'querido' - beloved !'ayudame, Dios mio'! - God help me! copyright by Vivian Moreau, 1995 =========================================================================