The Immortal Secrets of Nicholas Flamel, this isn't really set in the time frame of the books, even though Scathach is looking for Aoife. Might have happened before the books, another time Aoife went missing :D

Scathach/Billy The Kid. How cute would they be? I think Lots!

Always played around with the idea of a S/BTK fanfic, and got the basic idea from Scott's next little instalment about Billy the Kid, which is coming in November.

I own nothing, all Michael Scott. Review would be nice

This was a mistake, Scathach thought, huge mistake.

She scanned the room, an old hotel lobby in the depths of Mexico. Mexico, why Mexico? Scathach hated the heat, and the sun, too much for her pale Irish skin. Sunlight was streaming in from the ancient sash windows, and she could see the swirls of dust rising and falling in the golden light.

She could feel, even now, the familiar tingle of the oncoming burn on the back of her slender neck. She reached out to rub it, not a good idea either.

A floorboard creaked upstairs, a soft but rich sound that resonated throughout the hotel.

At least I know you're here, she mused. Her hands went straight to her twin swords, strapped to her waist and she began to ascend the staircase.

The stairs was a sweeping, majestic monstrosity but the flea-bitten carpet quelled the sounds of her footfalls, and soon enough she had reached the first floor. She turned to the sound of a second creak.

Too easy

Scathach turned to face a heavy mahogany door, room number 1. Typical. Quickly she stepped up to the door and knocked twice. She held her breath (as if it mattered).

The handle began to turn form the inside, and the person who opened it was not at all who she was expecting.

"Quetzalcoatl?"

The door-opener grinned, and shook his head, a sandy-blonde mop of hair. The room behind him was a large grand lobby, littered with heavy armchairs and tables, adorned with pictures. The wall at the back of the bar was lined with ancient whisky bottles, and oddities.

"Not yet doll" he answered, and motioned for Scathach to enter the room, but Scathach had other ideas and instead to stepping over the threshold, she brandished her tow gleaming twin swords. The twins cut through the air and came to rest lying on either side of the blondes' throat.

"Last guy that called me 'doll' ended up as the tragic victim of a sudden vivisection, do you want that?" she growled

Blondie smiled and raised his unarmed hands in surrender.

"Your good, I'll give ya' that" he laughed but Scathach, annoyed at being laughed at caused the sword to bit into his neck slightly. He jumped and a tiny stream of blood began to seep from the cut on his neck.

"Hey!" he protested, and jumped back out of her swords reach.

"Oops, my sword must have slipped"

" No need for that, was only messin' with 'cha"

Scathach was fuming, not only had she been summoned here, god-only knows why, but she was being antagonised by this little toe-rag. She glared at Blondie one last time and sheathed her weapons. It would be best to appear un-armed in front of Quetzalcoatl, he wasn't her master but he was still an Elder that she didn't want to piss off.

" I was summoned here…" she began,

"By Quetzalcoatl, I know" said Blondie, dismissively. He wasn't even looking at her but was picking dirt out of his fingernails.

She wrinkled her nose in disgust and if Blondie saw, he made no indication that he had. What was Quetzalcoatl doing with a dirty messager boy, who looked, for all the world, like a deranged cowboy.

He was slight but build, and young no more that twenty-one Scathach estimated, although she'd never been good at guessing humani age. His blonde hair was tousled, and his jeans were faded and dirty but it was his shoes that really puzzled her. Cowboy boots, but not the commercial cowboy boots that are seen at Halloween or on bad period dramas, actually authentic cowboy boots. He glanced up at her at grinned. Bright blue eyes, with two prominent front teeth.

Ugly thought Scathach, ugly.

"Don'cha be worryin', he ain't never kept a lady waitin'" Blondie said, and as Scathach was about to retort something sarcastic there was a booming thunderous sound. The hotel shook to its very foundation, so much so that Scathach almost thought it might come down on them. Picture frames fell off the walls with a crashing crescendo, floorboards started to shake and heave. The sound was immense. The shaking increased, and the whisky bottles almost jumped off the shelves. Blondie had to dodge out of the way of the wall of bottles. Scathach was flung to the floor with one of the tremors. She grabbed hold of the leg of a heavy armchair and tried to haul herself up. When the tremors had stopped and the room was covered in dust, and rubble. She coughed trying desperately to clear her throat as a hand hauled her up from the floor. She snatched her arm back quickly. Blondie threw her a look of disgust,

"He's here" he announced.

The dust began to clear, and Scatty could see him sitting beside the bar at the end of the room.

"Scathach" he said quietly, although the "S" was elongated and sounded more like SSSSSSSSSSSSSSssssssscathach.

She cleared her throat again, and nodded to her name. Blondie gave her a dig in the back causing her to stumble forward. Slowly she began to walk towards him.

"The Shadow? Isn't that correct?" he asked. His voice was low, and sibilant. His skin was dark except his face, with was covered in the red scales of a snake, and from his head to his back was covered in a red and black plumage of feathers.

" I presume" he began "you have been told what this is about"

Scathach glanced around, she had hoped for more privacy but Blondie showed no intention of leaving, and nor did Quetzalcoatl of making him do so.

"It's my sister, Maester, I'm looking for her"

Quetzalcoatl looked up and nodded.

"I'm here to make a deal with you Scathach Of Skye, I can get you your sister back" He leant back and removed three dusty glasses from behind the bar, and picked up one of the few bottles of Whisky that hadn't smashed on his arrival. He poured three doses of the amber liquid into the glasses.

"On one condition, I need your….expertise" the elder continued. He glanced at Blondie, and beckoned him forward also. The glass of whisky was thrush in his hand, and downed in one gulp.

"McCarthy here has the skills, the manpower, the weapons but he's lacking the…"

"Expertise" Blondie grumbled.

"Expertise on what?" Scathach asked, fed up of being outside the loop.

Quetzalcoatl looked up from his half empty whisky glass,

"Vampires of course" and he smiled, finishing his whisky.

Scathach felt ill to the core.

"Clan Fola are killing and terrorising my city, there have been more that 30 deaths in the last month alone, and sightings. I can't have this getting even more out of hand"

Clan fola, brilliant…

Clan fola, were a strain of the lowliest vampires around, but also the deadliest. Immensely powerful, cunning and bloodthirsty. One of the few creatures that Scathach rathered avoiding.

"A full colony, just outside Mexico City with about 50 fully grown, dunno 'bout fledglings though" Blondie piped up.

Quetzalcoatl turned from Blondie, and fixed his cold, red eyes on Scathach.

"You eliminate them, and I will bring you your sister"

She stepped out into the sunlight, letting the light bounce off her vibrant red hair. She knew what she had to do. She swore that she would get Aoife back.

"You coming ginger?" Blondie called out.

Scathach snapped out of her ravine, and turned her head to the sound. She saw the cowboy skirt around the old hotel. She followed along swiftly. He had stopped beside a dust-covered car and fished a bunch of keys out of his pocket.

"Wait, I don't remember the serpent saying anything about you tagging along" Scathach said sharply. "It's my expertise that's needed"

Blondie ripped the dust-cover off to reveal a gorgeous red thunderbird convertible, if Scathach hadn't been so pissed off she might have complimented it.

"Yeah, and my everythin' else dollface, my weapons, my manpower, my observations. I've been watching these guys for months"

"I think I can handle it" Scathach retorted, crossing her arms in protest.

"Not this one, trust me, even I couldn't do it on my own" Blondie snapped open the trunk of his car, and dumped in a Colt single action .44 and a Colt double-action .41 caliber. At a glance, Scatty could see numerous other weapons in there. Scathach snorted, possibly not the most lady-like thing to do but it worked.

"You have no idea who I am, do you?" Scathach teased.

Blondie slammed the trunk down with a jolt, and stood to face her. As slender and short as he was, he was still quiet intimidating and he still towered over Scathach's slender frame.

"I know exactly who you are, Scathach. I've heard the stories, the rumours, and the myths. Trust me, I didn't chose to work with you any more then you did. But I've got a job to do, so are you coming or walking?"

Scatty could see he was getting annoyed now, his breathing was laboured, and his smooth complexion was now blotchy-red.

"Depends" she teased

"Depends on what?"

"Depends on how long a walk it is"

"From here? To mexico city, about three days in the desert. That pale Irish skin will come in handy" He grinned cockily.

Scathach narrowed her eyes, she really had no other choice. This is for you, Aoife. Blondie reached out and gallantly opened the passenger door for her. She slid into the red leather interior while he rounded the car and got in on the opposite side. He shoved his key into, and started the ignition, before flooring the accelerator.

"I'm Billy by the way" he glanced across at her. Scathach rolled her eyes,

"Yeah, I gathered".