Date: Fri, 17 Nov 1995 14:57:44 -0600 Reply-To: Julia Kosatka Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: Julia Kosatka Subject: In the Dark, 20/21 (REPOST) ADULT her quarters that she had nothing pleasant left of her past, and he wanted to give her back a piece of it. He put the figurines back in the box and closed it, then turned toward the door to meet Guinan outside, as he'd found what he was looking for. Halfway to the door he felt the sickening surge of recognition flood him, felt his heartbeat quicken as his body responded automatically to the perceived threat. Another immortal was near, on the other side of the door. Dane? How could he have gotten aboard? But who else could it be? Duncan carefully set the lacquer box on an out of the way storage drum, and drew a fold of his plaid forward to conceal his sword. Stepping forward, the sensor in the door `saw' him and opened it. The corridor was filled with a herd of children milling around in excited array. From their clothing and accents he knew they were Valhallan, not children from the Enterprise. It was a tour group! Of course! That's how Dane had gotten aboard. He studied the group carefully, hoping that he was wrong, that the presence he had felt belonged to someone other than Tanner Dane. He saw a Star Fleet ensign looking a bit besieged, he saw the familiar faces of the children, many of whom he knew. There were only a handful of adults present, among them Tara Kinnon and Rob MacPherson who taught at the school, and some parents clearly along to help keep the group from attaining critical mass. He almost smiled at the futility of that, then he saw Dane and all humor fled. The other immortal stood at the rear of the group looking around tensely, clearly he felt Duncan's presence. He had his hand on young Dinah Fitzpatrick's shoulder, and the girl looked distinctly uncomfortable. He went rigid, anger flaring in a white-hot wave. He wanted to grab the man and throw him across the corridor, but he restrained himself. He saw Caitlin Matheson and Gillian Blackshear attempting to corral a pair of little hellions near him and hoping Dane wouldn't hear him over the gleeful noise of the kids, he quietly spoke to get their attention. "Gill, Callie, do me a favor would you?" Callie looked up, recognition bringing a smile to her rounded features. She and her husband were friends of his, and he knew he could trust her to stay calm. "Duncan! Welcome home! What can we do for you?" "Without making a scene, would you get Dinah away from that man? He's not a healthy person to be around the children. I'll take care of things once you've separated them. He won't make a scene in front of the whole group." Gillian scowled, turning. "I'll see to it." She moved through the sea of children like a ship under full sail, and stopped blocking Duncan's view, and fortunately, Dane's as well. Her voice was clear and calm as she spoke. "Dinah, you're not with your partner. Go find Michelle and stay with her now, sweetheart. And thank you for keeping an eye on her, sir." Dane muttered something unintelligible and let Dinah go. The girl skittered quickly away, looking over her shoulder as if to assure herself that he wasn't following. Duncan felt a wave of relief wash over him as the group moved on, Callie and Gillian bringing up the rear, making sure none of the kids were within Dane's reach. As Gillian moved, Dane saw Duncan, and he stiffened, then shot a glance at the two women, and arched an eyebrow in question. Duncan smiled and nodded, and Dane drew an invisible hash-mark in the air, scoring a point to Duncan. Within a few moments they were alone in the corridor, only the echo of children's voices bearing witness to their passing. "You would stoop so low as to threaten children to get to me?" Duncan grated out. "Why not? It would have worked, had you not seen me first. They're just cattle, and with the way humans breed,there are always more of them around. You've more lives than a cat, MacLeod. I carefully arranged things so you'd be alone for me on that planetoid, and then you go and get yourself rescued by a damned battleship! Then again on the planet... your friend's quick thinking saved you yet again. Very annoying. I bet you thought you'd gotten away from me, didn't you? You didn't think I'd follow you." "The decision to leave wasn't mine." "I noticed. She's quite protective of you, but then you always did seem to have that effect on women. She is fascinating, that one. I must find out how she shields. It will be a most valuable asset." "I told you she's not one of us! She's an El-Aurian." Dane lifted his eyebrows in obvious disbelief. "There you go again, making up stories. It's just too obvious, MacLeod. El-Auria? I've never heard of such a place." "That hardly matters now, it's between you and me, and I don't intend to lose. This time no phasers, just blades." Dane sighed. "I did have to give up my phaser to get aboard. Their security wouldn't let me bring it with me. Fortunately, this can be shielded much more effectively." He brought out something that looked rather like a flashlight, and thumbed a switch on its side. The air in front of him shimmered and changed, revealing a sword, the same one he'd had on the planet. Duncan wondered how the hell he'd managed that trick, but didn't have time to dwell on it. He took a step back, triggering the door mechanism again. "I don't think this is an appropriate place for what we do. Come on, in here." Dane looked suspicious. "What's inside?" Duncan rolled his eyes. "It's a cargo bay! It's full of boxes, all right? What does it matter, anyway? It's a place to fight." "I don't like traps," Dane said tightly. "I don't set traps." Duncan replied, equally terse. To his surprise, Dane laughed. "True. You're too damned noble, aren't you? Lead on, MacLeod. Let's finish this, it's gone on far too long." "It certainly has." Duncan backed into the cargo bay, freeing his sword from his plaid as he moved. Dane advanced on him, sword extended. Behind him, just before the door slid closed, Duncan saw movement and let his gaze flicker past his opponent for a moment. He swore under his breath as he saw Guinan slip inside before it closed, to stand half-hidden by the arch of the doorway. Damn her, what the hell did she think she was doing? She should be safely out of harms way! Pain scored his arm, drawing his attention immediately back where it belonged. Dane had struck, and he'd instinctively parried, but not in time. The fading sting and itch told him it was a minor wound, though, and he ignored it. His katana was longer than Dane's seaxe, and he was taller, so he had better reach. He used that to his advantage, wrapping a blow around Dane's defenses to leave a slash and a darkening stain along his ribs, through his finely tailored suit. Dane growled and moved back, then darted in a stabbing attack. Duncan dodged it, and they closed, swords hilt-to-hilt. Duncan managed to break free and he scored another hit before stepping out of range. Dane lunged and slipped a little, his slick-soled shoes not finding a purchase on the smooth floor of the cargo bay. Duncan's moccasin-style boots had soft, gripping soles that gave him an advantage. Dane was fighting strangely... his defenses were unusually sloppy, and his assault unusually intense. Time after time Dane attacked in a way that left him open to a return blow. Puzzled but too busy to ponder the meaning of it, Duncan took advantage of it, touching Dane time after time until he was staggering with bloodloss. He finally dropped to his knees, and even as Duncan thought `this is too easy' he drew back his katana and brought it down. Something grabbed his sword and it rebounded away with the same force he'd put into the blow. The effect threw him several feet and he landed on the floor, stunned, arms aching from the impact. He saw Dane rise, a triumphant smile on his face. His mind refused for a moment to grasp that Dane wasn't dead. How could a dead man be walking toward him? Then he understood that somehow the blow had been turned aside... though how Dane had done it he had no idea. He rolled to his knees and tried to lift his sword to ward off the blow he knew was coming, but his arms were still too shaky to work properly and the blade wavered. He concentrated, trying to steady it, when there was a sudden movement behind Dane. "You're cheating," Guinan's said, her voice clear and hard, "...and that gives me the field." Dane stopped mid-stride, clearly caught off guard. He jerked around, mouth open in astonishment as Guinan's arm came around from behind him and rammed up under his solar plexus. His eyes widened as his breath hissed out, and he slowly collapsed over on himself. She withdrew her hand and he saw that she held a blade, dark with blood. Dropping her dagger, she bent to wrest Dane's blade from his hand. He scrabbled, trying feebly to retain it, and then with his other hand he found her dropped dagger. Duncan lunged forward to stop him and sprawled on the floor, a foot short of his goal, like a batter tagged out trying to slide into third base. Dane lashed out at Guinan, laying her open from navel to breast. Duncan moaned, closing his eyes momentarily, only to open them a moment later when Guinan, unbelievably, laughed. He stared, stunned. She seemed unhurt, and he could see a white gleam beneath the torn fabric of her tunic. "You lose," she said, amusedly, then with her free hand reached down and tore loose something at his throat. A second later she held up an object that looked for all the world like a necklace. She tossed it toward Duncan. "Never trust a sociopath, Duncan." He picked up the object, studying it. Up close it was clearly some sort of technological device, and bore what looked like Ferengi glyphs on one side. He still wasn't sure what it was. He levered himself to his feet and looked at Guinan to ask, and stopped cold, stunned. "No!" he managed to shout, a hand extended as if that could stop her. It didn't, of course, and he flinched at the all-too-familiar whistling sound of a blade slashing down, then the dull, wet sound of it impacting human flesh. He shuddered, knowing that he had come within seconds of being on the receiving end of that sound. He wasn't sorry Dane was dead, but he wished she hadn't done it. It wasn't fair to put that burden on her. >From the corpse, a swirling mist of energy rose and swayed toward her, then abandoned her to reach for him. He was momentarily surprised that it left her. Once more he'd forgotten that she wasn't that like him. He shook his head, as if that would turn the Quickening aside. He wanted no part of Tanner Dane, not even this. He didn't even believe in the Game any more, why should he play it? A tendril found him, shockingly cold, ecstatically painful; as if he had taken the substance of space inside himself. Cold, dark, empty, yet strangely seductive. He wrenched away, one hand over the entry point as if he could physically ward it off. Ward it off. He remembered something as another bolt shook him, and he moaned, shaking his head again. "Give me his sword!" he managed to croak out, backing away. She pulled her gaze away from the writhing energy and looked down at the weapon in her hand, clearly puzzled, then shrugged and moved to give it to him, skirting the mist-like tendrils carefully. He took the sword in his left hand and crossed his katana over it, placing the weapons between himself and the mist like a barrier. He'd only managed to do this one other time in his life, but he had to try. He couldn't bring himself to accept Dane's darkness into himself. The mist struck at him, and he moved to intercept it. It hit the crossed blades and recoiled, shooting off to zip crazily along the wall panels until it faded. Another tendril tried to reach him and he blocked it as well, working as hard to refuse the dark gift as he had fought to kill the man who carried it. He saw Guinan crouched next to a storage box, watching him, watching the energy, her eyes wide with amazement and a touch of fear she hadn't shown when confronting Dane. He flinched from that. God, the last thing he wanted was for her to fear him! He wanted to reach out to her, to take away the fear, but the Quickening hadn't finished with him yet. An energy tentacle got past his defenses and struck him full in the chest. It staggered him, filling him with torturous delight. He shuddered, trying to resist the impulse to yield and let it take him. Suddenly she was there with him, ducking under the swords to come up inside the circle of his arms. Her hands covered his, guiding him, supporting him. With her help he managed to deflect the last of the streams away to ricochet around the room, expending themselves against the ship. He realized after a moment that the sway and lurch beneath his feet wasn't just his own exhaustion. The ship was reeling. He hadn't even thought about what a Quickening might do to the all-too-fragile shell of a starship. He prayed to any deity that would listen that it do no real harm. Finally the energy gave up. He watched it shimmer and lick against the walls, then disappear with a plasmatic crackle along the conduits. He sighed, and let his arms fall, releasing Guinan from his embrace as he did. She turned and slid her arms around him, holding him close, her breathing as fast and labored as his own. Finally she leaned back a little and looked up at him with a wicked smile. "Was it good for you too?" He couldn't help it. Despite everything, he laughed. She wasn't the first to make that dead-on comparison, nor would she be the last, but somehow this was the first time it had seemed amusing instead of perverse. As they stood, laughing, the door into the corridor opened and a gaggle of gold-uniformed security officers poured into the room, led by an annoyed- looking Worf. He stopped, surveying the scene, and motioned for his team to lower their phasers. "Evidently you no longer need our assistance. I take it this was the saboteur?" Guinan nodded. "It was. I heard him admit to it." She smiled suddenly. "Sorry, Worf. We were kind of in a hurry or we would have let you take care of it." He nodded, looking at Dane's body, and a little ways away, his head. "An effective, if messy solution. I salute you, MacLeod." Duncan shook his head. "Salute Guinan, not me. Without her I'd be the one lying there." Worf looked at Guinan in astonishment, then shook his massive head. "I do not know why I am surprised." Guinan chuckled. "Neither do I. I've taken you down in mok'bara, and, beaten Picard three out of four matches with sabers." He nodded, then looked at her apologetically "I am sure you were justified in doing this, but we will have to investigate." "I know. It's not a problem. I activated the bay recorders when I came in, I trust they will show that we acted in self-defense." Worf nodded again, and turned to MacLeod. "The scanners registered a massive discharge of energy, what sort of weapon was he carrying that would cause it? We could not identify the source or type of energy involved." Duncan snorted. "I'm not surprised, and it wasn't a weapon, it was him. That's what happens when an immortal dies in the presence of another immortal. We've never been quite sure exactly what causes it, or why it only happens if there's another of us present. As for what it is, I suppose you could call it a `soul,' for lack of a better term." Worf looked dissatisfied. "Commander LaForge will not be pleased." "No, he certainly isn't," said the man in question who had come in behind the security team, tricorder out and scanning. "How the hell am I supposed to explain to the captain that someone's soul knocked out the damned starboard power coupling?" He sighed, shaking his head. "Oh well, I guess we've seen weirder things. We're just lucky the damage wasn't any worse. Next time, take your fight planetside." Duncan nodded. "I'm sorry, I didn't have much choice." "No, I don't suppose you did. Well, at least I'll have time to get things back in shape before the captain gets back." "Where is he?" Guinan asked. Geordie grinned. "Well, he went planetside about an hour ago, and he took his saddle. I'd say he went riding." "Good. He needed that after the vacation he had" she turned and looked at Worf. "Can we go? I need to change." Worf nodded. "I know where to find you if I have questions." She took Duncan's hand and urged him toward the door. "Let's get out of here." **** They walked in a rather subdued silence to her quarters. As they stepped inside, he saw her tunic gape along the slash Dane had put in it, and he reached out to slide a finger down the rent. "I thought you were dead..." he said softly. "It scared the hell out of me." She put her hand over his, guiding his fingers farther inside so he could feel the heavy fabric beneath the tear. "I wore my fencing armor. I knew Dane was dangerous, and I've no desire to leave this life just yet. I've got too much left to do. I'm sorry I frightened you, but I just couldn't stand there and watch him kill you because he cheated." "What was that thing?" "A personal shield. Latest Ferengi make, too. Usually they're full-body protection but he'd modified his so it only covered his throat. I think that's why he let you cut him so many times, to sucker you in, to make you think he was vulnerable." Duncan nodded. "It's funny, I remember thinking it was too easy." He rubbed the back of his hand against the armor, feeling the softness of her beneath it. How could someone so soft be so strong? At that nonsensical thought, he realized he was feeling a little stunned, in shock. She'd killed Dane. She'd done... something, something he'd thought impossible. She'd kept the Quickening from him. He still couldn't quite believe it. "You shouldn't have killed him," he said. "It wasn't your fight." "Duncan, he made it my fight four hundred years ago when he tried to use me as bait. I don't feel guilty, so do me a favor and don't feel guilty for me, okay?" He nodded, smiling a little. "Understood." "Good. You know, I didn't quite believe you when you told me about the energy thing. Not until I saw it... not until I felt it. It's strangely seductive. I could tell you wanted to let it in." He shuddered and dropped onto her couch, his face in his hands. "I did. It's impossible to resist. Guinan, you can't imagine what it's like. Sex, only a thousand times more intense. Pleasure that's simultaneously agony." "I don't have to imagine, Duncan. I felt it, though not quite like you would... you seem to be more attuned to it than I am, it seemed to really want you, but it settled for me once I figured out how to draw it." "And I wanted it, but at the same time it was him and I wanted nothing of him to become part of me. I felt like I would be--" he paused, searching for the right word, and found it. "I felt contaminated by him. Can you understand?" She nodded, a frown on her face. "Rape." "Worse. Imagine enjoying it." She shivered. "Duncan..." she knelt and drew him into her arms. "Sometimes I can forget who it was," he whispered against her shoulder, "...forget their evil, forget everything but the experience; but not this time." "It's all right, you did what you had to." "No, you did it for me. What I don't understand is how you did it. I've never been able to refuse a Quickening before, not in all the years I've been what I am." She looked uncomfortable. "I don't know how I did it. I just wanted to help. I just knew you needed me. What happened was as much a shock to me as it was to you. It was like when I touched you, the knowledge of what to do was just there; as if I've always known what to do, and was just waiting for the need to arise." He shook his head, confused. "How could you know what to do if you'd never done it before?" She made a frustrated face. "I don't know! Damn it, Duncan, there are all kinds of things my kind should be able to do that I never learned, because there were no teachers left by the time I got around to wanting to learn. Maybe it's something I would have eventually learned about, maybe there is a need for something similar among my people. I don't know, and there's no one to ask!" Her agitation was clear, and he felt somehow ungrateful for even having asked. "I'm sorry, it just seemed so oddly convenient. But I'm thankful to you, more than you can possibly imagine." "There's no need to be, Duncan. None at all." Her hands framed his face, then her lips were on his, soft, warm, alive. He kissed her back like a starving man, breathing her breath, feeling her heartbeat in her mouth, in her body. Finally they broke, and he leaned against her with a sigh. "`Breathe me, beloved...'" he said softly, quoting. "`Ravish me, so I can pass on to sleep, and to love.'" she quietly gave him the next line. He lifted his head, staring into her eyes, amazed to find she knew the poem, and could make the association. "`I feel death's rejuvenating tide transform my blood to balm and ether.'" "`I live by day full of faith and courage.'" she gave him the next line, and waited, then joined him in the last few words. "`And perish by night in holy fire.'" ** "Perfect." he said, and closed his eyes. She tugged him to his feet, and he followed her into her bedroom, to the wide, creamy bed he'd occupied once, alone. He remembered wondering if the spiced-wine scent that clung to it was a perfume she favored. Now he knew it was her scent, the natural essence of her. Her let her push him down onto the bed and sat watching as she stripped off the ruined tunic, revealing the heavy fencing gear that had saved her life. At her waist a brightly-patterned belt held a phaser, and a small sheathed dagger... the one which had saved his life. She removed the belt, smiling, and laid it on a small table. "Never thought I'd ever have a use for that," she commented, stepping out of her trousers and unfastening the jacket. She seemed completely un-selfconscious , but he was quite aware of how the white fabric framed the heavy fullness of her breasts and the conical thrust of her nipples. "Why is that?" he asked, trying to distract himself. She chuckled. "It's a virtue dagger." He found a smile forming. "You're not planning on using it on me, are you?" She grinned back. "Only if you don't make an attempt my virtue." He shook his head in mock fright. "Ah, no! I've seen what you can do with that thing, I'll not chance it! Come here and I'll endeavor to ravish you." She grinned, picking up on the reference back to the poem he'd quoted. She shook her head. "No, you stay right there and I'll ravish you." She removed the fencing breeches, slid the jacket off her shoulders, and came toward him. His body responded fiercely, still flooded with unspent adrenalin from his duel with Dane. She knelt on the bed, straddling his thighs. With great deliberation she unpinned the brooch which held his plaid at the shoulder and tossed it onto the table =========================================================================