Date: Fri, 25 Mar 1994 12:51:56 -0700 Reply-To: Highlander TV show stories Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: L J Constantine Subject: Til Time... part V Til Time and Times Are Done A Forever Knight\Highlander story by Tara O'Shea Janette almost jumped as the phone rang. She reached to answer it, but Lacroix moved it out of her reach, tsking and wagging a finger. "Not just yet. Let's let him stew a bit first. The phone rang for what seemed like forever, and then was finally silent. * * * "No answer," Nick snarled, slamming the receiver down and somehow managing not to turn the device into a mass of twisted plastic and metal. * * * Janette leaned back in her chair, regarding her master with cool, impassive eyes. "So what rock have you been hiding under, hmmm? How did you survive that little bonfire you set last year?" "Please. Allow me to retain some secrets, my dear. It's none of your concern." "Why do you want Niamh?" "The book." "Ah. I should have guessed. Like a little boy, you can't stand to have your toys taken away from you. You must play with them until they break." "Very astute. I would watch my tone, however, if I were you." "How very glad I am that I am not you." Her smile was icy, and she sucked in her breath as Lacroix leaned in very close to her and smiled. "Wait." * * * As Nick snatched up his jacket, Nat grabbed his arm. "Where are you going?" "The Raven. He has to be there." "What about Janette?" "She can't handle him." "And you can?" "I have to try." Nick shrugged. "Then I'm coming with you." Niamh retrieved her trench and sword from one of the chairs, and Nat sighed. "You're forgetting something. You may well be nigh invulnerable, but Lacroix knows how to kill you both." "We'll be careful, Nat." Nick gave her a quick hug. "What about Fitz? You don't know where the book is, why put all the pieces into Lacroix's hands? The two of you aren't thinking clearly. If you go there, what's to stop him from just taking what he wants? All he has to do is use you as bait, and Fitz and I come running, abarat and all. *Think*, Nick." "I am thinking." "No. No, you're not. You yourself said the book may be your only bargaining chip for Kit's life." Nat's eyes grew dark with worry. "It could just as easily have been me he took, or Schanke. But he was being rash, grabbing the first mortal he found, knowing that you would be honour bound to help Niamh." "And Janette." Nick clenched and unclenched his fists. "And Janette." Nat nodded. "It's a trap, and you'd be walking straight into it." "Do we have any other choice?" Niamh sat down on the arm of the sofa. "Yes. Right now, Lacroix is holding all the cards, calling all the shots. He is controlling you, whether you believe it or not. But he hasn't made his move yet. He hasn't contacted us." "Should we let him?" Niamh couldn't keep the anger out of her voice. "Yes. At least, to find out where we stand." * * * Fitz whistled as he walked down Yonge, patting his pocket and feeling the comforting shape of Darius's book. The chaps at the University had been very helpful, as he knew they would be. Fitz prided himself on taking the initiative. Niamh and her policeman friend were obviously too close to the subject to think clearly, and it made perfect sense to talk to people who delighted in the intellectual puzzles of translating sanskrit and didn't have a stake in curing immortality. The fact that one of them was a lovely associate professor named Cherise, who was by some amazing coincidence quite single and quite inviting was, as far as Hugh Fitzcairn was concerned, a happy bonus for him. As he approached the shop, he prepared himself for Niamh's expression. After all, he had made off with the book without telling anyone where he was going. That, and he had cracked her safe. She might be annoyed by that. Still, it was all for the good. He smiled, and fit his borrowed key in the lock. * * * The phone rang. The three of them jumped, and once again Nick answered, barely controlled fury shining in his expression. "What do you want?" He growled. "That's hardly good telephone manners." It was a surprised English voice. "Is this Detective Knight?" "Fitz?" Nick's eyes widened, and Niamh jumped off the couch and picked up the portable. "Fitz, where are you?" "Niamh, my dear! I was hoping to find you there." "Are you at the shop?" "Yes, and I found it quite a mess. I took my chances with your redial button." "Fitz, listen to me carefully. Do you have the book?" "Why, yes. I'm sorry to have stolen it away, but I had an astounding revelation quite early this morningDD" "Thank God. Look, I need you to bring it here this instant. It's very important. Kit's life is at stake." She proceeded to give brief directions, and when she hung up, it was with a sigh of relief. "I don't know how much of a bargaining chip it may be, but it's something." Who waits forever, anyway? - Queen, "Who Wants to Live Forever" Part III "Forever" Lacroix watched the dancing mortals with some amusement. They had begun filing into the club a few hours after sundown, completely unaware of the tiny struggle for power occurring in the back room. He left the doorway, closing against the pounding music and cigarette smoke, and was greeted by Janette's scowl. "Why must you involve me in your games, Lacroix?" "Because, my dear, you are already a part of them." "And the boy?" She gestured to the unconscious Kit. "Were such crude methods really necessary?" "So now the student seeks to rebuke the master? You have grown bold in my absence." "I have *grown up* in your absence, Lacroix. I'll not be your pawn any longer." It may have been false bravado, Janette thought, but it still felt damn good. It would have felt better if she could stand up without using the desk for support. Her legs refused to obey her, thanks to sheer terror. That he could still terrify her made her furious with herself, but there was nothing she could do. She flinched as he ran a finger along her jaw, and then gripped it painfully. "Your only purpose in this particular game is to serve as bait along with this wrenched mortal here. I trust you can manage that quietly, yes?" "Why are you doing this?" "There is a nasty little rumour going around that our Nicholas has a copy of the abarat, and it striving for a 'cure' from this existence. I maintain the only true cure is death, which I would be happy to provide. Still, kids today... They simply have no respect for their elders." "That's not what I asked. I asked why you won't let us go." "Because you haven't broken yet, my little toy." He handed her the phone, and she dialled nervously. * * * The phone rang, and this time it was Niamh who flew to catch it. "Hello?" "Niamh?" "Janette." Nick was at her side, and Nat picked up the extension. "He's there, isn't he." "Yes." "And Kit?" "He's alive." *For now*, Niamh's mind finished for her, and she swallowed nervously. "What does *he* want?" She wouldn't even say the name. "A trade." * * * "They're coming." Janette carefully placed the receiver in the cradle. "Do you know what she is?" "An immortal? I know all about them. I even knew one of them." "The priest, Darius." "He was General Darius when I knew him. His armies would have covered the world like ants on a honeycake. Instead he chose *peace*." He filled the word with contempt. "Alexander thought he had beaten him, but he rose again, and went farther than Alexander could have dreamed." "And you knew him." "I was curious about his kind. Do you know they kill one another?" "Yes." "They will fight until only one of them remains, so they are not truly immortal, for which he envied me. Of course, he wanted to live simply to see what wonders would come. He was overly optimistic, as well as ridiculously fond of the mortal race. Yet their kind walk abroad in the day. I envied him that." "All of the pleasures, and none of the drawbacks of immortality?" "Something like that. Of course, they cannot propagate their species. A handful of them are born every few centuries, and they are all sterile. Rather a pity." "They would have overpopulated the planet in a few centuries." Janette reminded him, and he dismissed the thought immediately. "Obviously that is what their game is for, an aggressive form of natural selection." "There is nothing obvious about that conclusion." Janette scowled, annoyed by Lacroix's logic. She had forgotten how his condescending attitude could irk her. "Do you think our kind could be related? So similar..." "I do not know. From the dawn of time they came, Darius once said. >From the dawn of time. I do not know how long our kind have walked the earth. All I know is, when the last of their kind have battled till there is only one, our kind will still be waiting in the wings, like cat's ready to lick up the cream." "You are mad, Lacroix." "Gloriously so." "This Darius died, you know. Killed by a mortal while he was still on holy ground." "So the little Irish girl told me. She was very angry, and I could also taste her sorrow. She loved him." "Did she? As I friend, I knew..." "Oh no, I could see it in her eyes, taste the longing in her blood. She was furious that he had been stolen from her. I could almost appreciate it. Perhaps our two races were created to compliment one another? After all, think of it, an immortal lover who cannot die and can guard you while you sleep during the day paired with the strength of the vampire, so guard them against each other, with their swords and knives and axes." "A pretty fairy tale, I'm sure." "We are the stuff of children's stories, my dear Janette. Never forget from whence you came." "How could I with you here to remind me?" "Did you enjoy your little vacation?" "I had hoped it would be permanent. No offense." Her eyes smouldered as she played his little word games. Lacroix was ever one for dancing, be it with words or actions. He played with his food. It annoyed her. "Will you miss your Nickolah when he's gone?" "More than I ever missed you." * * * "I'm going with you," Nat put a hand on Nick's shoulder. "Oh no you're not." "Nick," Nat was poised for a speech about trying to do too much on his own, but Nick put his hand over her mouth. "You've never faced Lacroix. You don't know what you're up against. I have too much to worry about without having to worry about you as well." She said something against his hand, and he removed it so he could hear her. "You're an idiot." "I love you too." He kissed her forehead and went to collect Niamh, who was having a similar discussion with Fitz. "Darius, if he were alive, bless him, would have my head if anything were to happen to you." "Fitz, this is my fight. If he were one of us, and challenged me you would have no choice but to stand back and let us fight." "But he's not one of us. He's faster and stronger, and he doesn't play by our rules." "Well then, I won't either." She grinned at him, and Fitz scowled. "But this is about Kit, and Nick. And it's my fault. I've brought this down in their heads." "That's very egocentric of you," Nick poked her in the shoulderblade. "And I thought we agreed to stop blaming ourselves." "I will once this is all over. Fitz, you stay and guard Nat." "'Guard' Nat?" Natalie folded her arms across her chest and glared at the pair of them. "Do I have a great big neon sign attached to my forehead that says 'easy victim, please attack'?" "*Yes*." Nick and Niamh replied simultaneously. "You two are scary." "Stay." Nick wagged a finger at her as the elevator swallowed them and Nat sighed. "Great, I went from sidekick to lapdog." "My dear girl, I would never liken you to such." Fitz put his arm around her shoulders and steered her back towards the couch. "Why don't you tell me all about yourself?" * * * The Raven seemed no different, teeming with young, clueless people. But Janette's bartender glanced from Nick to the office door, a grim look on his face. Niamh clutched the hilt of her katana beneath her trench, nervously stepping closer to Nick. AS the music pounded on, they threaded their way across to the door and cautiously stepped inside. * * * "Nicholah..." Janette looked up from her desk, trying to look calm, and failing miserably. "Where is he?" "The alley. He said he didn't want to attract undue... *attention*. I don't like it. I don't like it that he has come out now, that he has been watching us all this time." "We don't know that he has, we don't know how long it took him to recover." "What about Kit?" Niamh was leaning by the sofa, inspecting a not yet old bloodstain with dread. "I don't know." She shook her head, and they moved down the hall, to the back entrance facing the alleyway. -- johanna@hydra.unm.edu * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * or just plain Tara * "Whoa! I think we just met today's * I'm carrying Wakko * Special Friend." * Warner's love child... * - Yakko Warner * Ask me how to join the new Lois & Clark discussion list, as I'm the listowner =========================================================================