Cassie entered the Cathedral slowly. She felt totally lost and alone. When she had left Duncan she didn't know where she wanted to go but she had to get away from the hospital. Something had drawn her to this place; maybe it was just in the back of her mind what she had read about the Immortal that was a Priest. Cassie stopped at the back of the church to catch her breath; she had run nearly the whole way. She stood in the doorway and gazed at the beauty of the Cathedral. Finally she moved to sit in the last row of pews. Her mother had been a devout Catholic, or though she had thought. Now she wasn't sure of anything. Her mother had been an Immortal, but that didn't make any sense either because she had died. Nothing she had been taught had prepared her for her father telling her she was immortal much less learning her mother had been one. Several years back she had come across some of her father's papers, they were stories of an Immortal, from what she had gathered he was over 2000 years old. Even though she had been fascinated by the different stories about him and wondered if it was true, she had been afraid to ask her father about it. It was just too outrageous. Now she realized that he had left those out for a reason. Not that it had been enough. It still left a lot of questions unanswered. Cassie felt a strange feeling pass over her, the same one she had earlier at the Cafe' with Duncan. Come to think of it she could tell when he was at the warehouse too.
Duncan slid next to her quietly. The minute he had arrived at the Cathedral he had felt her. Cassie had not moved a muscle since he arrived. He slipped his hand over hers and squeezed it.
"I think I felt you come up." She didn't know what else to say, a million thoughts were running through her head all at once. She was so confused by all of this.
"You did, it's a side effect of being an Immortal. You always know when were around." Duncan smiled, she sounded pretty good. At least she wasn't ranting. They sat in silence; Duncan knew she would talk when she was ready. Cassie glanced out of the corner of her eye at Duncan, he was watching her closely.
"Are you making sure I don't go crazy?" She asked a little sarcastically. Duncan didn't answer her but he picked her hand up and raised it to his lips.
Cassie closed her eyes she had to talk it out with someone and there weren't a whole lot of options here. "There was this horrible accident 5 years ago. We were coming home from a shopping trip when this car came out of nowhere and ran us off the road. When I woke up Dad was covering up Mom, I was lying next to her. I remember he looked kind of shocked when I sat up, but I figured it was just because Mom had died. He helped me up to his car and I'll never forget his words, `I don't know how or why this happened, but I promise I will find out.' Everything was so foggy that it just fit when he told me I had hit my head. I just chalked it up to a slight case of amnesia. I never thought to question my father." Cassie said covering her face with her hands to hide her tears. They sat in silence for awhile; Cassie finally wiped the tears away and turned to Duncan. "Duncan I don't understand something. If Mom was an Immortal like Dad said, how did she die?"
"The only way an Immortal can die if from beheading." Duncan wanted to ask her questions about her mother, but he could see that she was clearly distressed by what he had already told her.
"You are joking, aren't you?" Cassie asked looking at Duncan sharply, horrified at the thought. She couldn't remember seeing her mother's body, her Father had covered it up by the time she had come back to life. Robert had insisted on a closed casket. "What was Dad talking about when he said he was trying to keep me safe, safe from what?"
"Other Immortals." Duncan said shortly. He didn't know if she was ready to hear why someone would want to behead an Immortal. He sat in silence next to her wondering where to begin. It had been so many years since he had been taught and Richie hadn't needed to be taught about Immortals.
When Richie had broken into Duncan's shop years ago, he happened to see Duncan and Connor MacLeod fighting with Slan Quince, another Immortal that was after Duncan's head. Unfortunately Richie's natural curiosity got in the way and he couldn't let that initial fight rest. He followed Duncan and Connor to the bridge where they again fought Slan. Richie witnessed Connor falling off the bridge after being shot in the chest with a short spear that Slan had in the end of his sword. Then he watched as Duncan fought and eventually cut Slan's head off. If that hadn't been enough he also witnessed Duncan jumping off the bridge and pulling Connor from the water. Both Duncan and Connor realized that Richie would need watching so Duncan took him in and gave him a job. Over the years Richie had been a witness to many escapades of Duncan's and so when he was killed and became immortal he didn't have too much trouble adjusting. Still every now and then they both had to be reminded of the game. In the end there could only be one.
"I don't know what I want to ask first." Cassie said shaking her head. "And I don't really know if I want to hear it."
"Well we have plenty of time." Duncan said letting a mischievous smile slip. He slid closer to her and put his arm around her shoulders. "One of the first things you need to know is that there are other Immortals out there that only want one thing." He looked at her intensely all the playfulness gone from his voice.
"And what is that." She whispered as she felt a chill run up her spine.
"Your head." Duncan said gravely searching her eyes to make sure it sank in. "But you must remember that you will be safe from Immortals on Holy ground." Duncan thought he would wait till later to explain that there were others that knew that might not respect Holy Ground. Cassie heard the seriousness in his voice but still wasn't sure all of this was real.
"I found some of my father's papers several years ago, although I don't recall reading about any beheadings. Why do these other Immortals want my head, and why don't you." Cassie asked looking at Duncan gravely. She needed to know why she should trust him.
"Well first of all I happen to think your head looks just fine where it is." Duncan said brushing his fingers lightly down her cheek.
"Second." Cassie prompted impatiently not letting him distract her.
Duncan paused frowning a little; she wasn't letting him slide on anything. She wanted to play it straight, maybe that was best way to tell her the rest of this. "This is the time of the Gathering. When an Immortal is defeated by another, he or she receives the others "Quickening". All of the Immortals knowledge and strength is passed to the victor."
"You are kidding..." Cassie said a touch of sarcasm slipping in her voice. Duncan gave her a stern look and she sighed, "This is all too weird." Cassie said shaking her head in disbelief. The way he had said that was so matter of fact. She wondered what else she needed to know besides the only way to die was to have her head chopped off. Cassie wondered if that meant that another immortal had killed her mother. Who else would want to behead her? She wondered how old her mother had really been. She always looked younger than her Father. She supposed her Father had kept records on her like he did that other Immortal she had read about. She wondered just what else her Father had known about these Immortals. There were too many questions that couldn't be answered now. She wondered if they would ever get answered. Finally Cassie came to a decision; she wouldn't get all the answers immediately so enough gloom and doom, there had to be a bright side about this situation. Her Father had always called her the eternal optimist. Cassie glanced at Duncan, he was deep in thought. "Just how old are you?" Cassie asked suddenly changing the subject.
"400 years." Duncan said clearly startled by the question.
"You don't look a day over 300." Cassie said seriously looking him up and down.
Duncan laughed out loud. It should not have surprised him that she could still joke. She seemed to have a lot of surprises up her sleeve. "Why thank you ma'am. I'm flattered. "
Cassie met his eyes and she gazed deeply into them. Now the look he had made sense. He had seen so much, all the history she had just read about, Duncan had lived it. She wondered if he had ever been married. That was her mother's dream for her, to get married and raise a family. Had her mother known she was an Immortal? Here she had thought she was getting to be an old maid. There she went again, the questions just seemed to pile up. She smiled slightly; she wondered when middle age was for an immortal. The Immortal she had read about was 2000 years old, was that normal?
"How do you do it? Watch all your family and friends grow old and die?" Cassie wondered out loud trying to read the look behind his pensive eyes. How many friends and family had he buried?
"The same way everyone else does." Duncan said softly. He started to tell her that they all didn't grow old and die.
Cassie could hear the pain in his voice. It must not have been that long ago that he indeed had lost someone Cassie thought picking up one of Duncan's hands and looking at it. It was so strong and she felt very safe with him this close, but she wondered just how long he would be around. Suddenly she thought of Richie, she remembered the feeling she had gotten from him as she had met him. Were all of his friends immortal and how many immortals were there out there? That didn't make sense either, Joe wasn't immortal. She had been around him a lot and hadn't gotten any kind of weird feeling from him. She also wondered just what Joe's connection was with all of this.
"Duncan, is Richie an immortal?" Cassie asked really already knowing the answer.
"Yes." Duncan said wondering what was going through her head. She was taking all of this really well. She was indeed a remarkable young woman.
"Those papers I told you I read, they were about an Immortal named Damian. Did you know him?" Cassie asked. She felt Duncan stiffen and looked at him out of the corner of her eye. Sore subject, she thought. She caught a glimpse of sadness pass over his face. He didn't say anything and she took that as a yes, and she dropped the subject. But she was still curious, from what she had read he was here in Paris, she had wondered if that was who her father was coming to check on.
"Yes he died a while back."Duncan finally said the sadness creeping into his voice.
"I'm sorry, from what I read he was a good man." He had been a Catholic priest; she wondered who could have beheaded a Catholic priest.
"Yes he was." Duncan said simply.
"I kind of figured out that Joe isn't immortal. How do you know him?" Cassie asked looking at him curiously.
"It's a long story." Duncan said taking her hand and standing up. "Well we can't hide out here all day. Let me show you some of Paris before you have to go back to the States."
"Duncan, what is going on? What aren't you telling me?" Cassie asked looking up at Duncan. She saw him looking at her in a curious way.
Duncan paused and wondered if he should tell her about the Watchers now. No tomorrow would be soon enough he decided. He pulled her up and smiled. "Enough questions. I'll answer them all for you later. Right now I think we need a drink."
Cassie looked up at Duncan; he had a determined look on his face. She wasn't going to get anything else out of him now. Well what the hell, she was immortal. And according to Duncan, as long as she kept her head about her she would have a long life ahead of her, "400 years old, boy I bet you know all of the good places." She stood next to him with a small smile on her face. She'd let him off now, but he had a lot of explaining to do. Cassie and Duncan came out of the church to a beautiful sunset. They both stopped and watched in silence. Cassie wondered how many more sunsets she would see. She hoped that she would never lose the feeling of awe at something so beautiful. She glanced at Duncan to see him watching her, she lowered her head blushing.
"So I'm a romantic." Cassie said simply shrugging her shoulders a little.
"And who says I'm not." Duncan said putting his arm around her waist and leading her down the street. "Let me show you Paris."