I'm on the ship heading to Rome for seven months, and those seven months are some of the best life. I can feel my body come to life, as if I was born on, and for the sea. There were women on board, but by their dress I could tell that they were nothing but trouble. The men in there are the type to get jealous if another man looks at them sideways, and I don't want that kind of hassle. Because they going to balk about defending their ladies honor, and I would just have to kill them anyways. So I just decide to keep out of sight, and keep up with my duties. After a while the women start to get sick, violently, and it goes on for a few hours. Their men can't do anything to make it subside. So, I approach one of the men and give them an old remedy to make the sickness pass. After giving the medicine to their women they turned to thank me, but I had already disappeared.

As I was stepping off the ship in Rome, I was already looking for any outliers. I've been worked for Hetty long enough to look for anything out of the ordinary. When nothing jumps out at me I head to the nearest bar. When I step through the front door of the bar, I can tell this is going to be my type of place. But just as I was making my way to the bar a patron kicked their leg out to bar entrance to the place.

"Locals only." the man said in Italian.

"I know Italians. They could care less about where you're from as long as the money is right." I said in perfect Italian. I looked up to see the entire bar staring at me. I flipped the man a coin, and made my way past him. Just as I'm approaching the bar, another one of the locals stepped between me and the bar.

"You don't want to do that." I warned.

"What did the man by the door say?" the man asked.

I didn't answer. I grabbed the man's head, and slammed it against the bar. I grabbed a dagger off my body and threw it the blade catching fabric of the pant leg of the man by the door. I draw my sword, and place it just beneath the mandible of the next person to stand up. "Look at what I just did." I said to the man.

He look at his friend on the floor, who will have a splitting headache when he wakes ups, and the man by the door who was pulling the dagger out of the door frame. "If I wanted them dead they would be. Now take your wounded and go." I said.

The man by the door walked over to his friend on the floor placing my dagger on the table, and the one I had at sword point had thought against his original plan, and help picked the unconscious man up and the three men left.

"Hey." a person from behind me said. I turned to see the person tossing my coin back at me.

"What'll it be stranger?" the bar tender asked.

"Two things." I said.

"Okay." she said.

"When is Carnevale?" I asked.

"Just missed it. It ended yesterday, and you have to go to Venezia for it. Anything else?" she asked

"Got any whiskey?" I asked.

"Drink or shot." she asked

"Drink." I said and placed the money on the bar.

As the bar tender was pouring my drink I walked over and grabbed my dagger, sheathing it.

"Anything else?" she asked.

"I'm going to be in town for a few year. Know a place where I can live, and a place for employment?" I asked.

"I could use a new bouncer." she said.

"I'm your man." I said scanning the bar seeing if there were any contenders.

"None of these people are going to challenge you. There are two bedrooms upstairs. Your room is the one at the top of the stairs." she said.

"Thanks, and you name?" I asked.

"Mirabella Caito, but you can call me Bella for short? What's you name." Bella asked.

I looked at Bella as I was taking a drink, and I almost choke on it. Bella is a dead ringer for my wife. It took me a moment to regain my wits. "Ah, Martin. Martin Deeks." I finally said.

"Well Martin Deeks, you start today." Bella said.

"You can just call me Deeks." I said, and then went and put my clothes up in my room. I arrange the room to my liking, and then head back down. To my surprise the bar is bustling. I go to find my way to a booth in the corner.

The day comes to a close, and it was a quite one. The days go by, and it is very quiet in the bar. Not like it was when I was working Kitsune's brothel, although I can't complain.

I.T.D.

Eleven months later-

As I was cleaning one night after I broke up a brawl, Bella approached me. "I have good news, and I have great new." she said.

"Lay it on me." I said.

"Carnevale is only a few weeks away." she said.

"And the great part?" I asked.

"For the first time since I've been alive, Carnevale is going to be held in Rome, as well as Venezia." she said.

I smile brightly, and I thought of hanging out with Bella the entire time.

"Awesome!" I said.

"I have family coming in, so we can go out at least a couple of nights." Bella said.

I gave her a look that says you know it, and Bella walked away with a very seductive look on her face. I finished cleaning up the mess, and took a seat. Six months ago I told Bella about being unable to have children, and to my great surprise she wasn't even hurt. The weeks leading up to Carnevale came and went, and to my great surprise I was completely blown away by the festival. The one downside about not being able to have children is the fact that Bella is jumping my bones every other day. Then again, Bella is loving it because she doesn't have to worry about getting pregnant. Which on the bright side is another good reason to be sterile, the children don't have to grow old and die while their father lives on.

The first night of the festival, as we were walking through the crowd Bella was explaining how the festival ran. "What's with the spiffy masks?" I asked, adjusting my mask so fits comfortable on my face.

"That's how Carnevale works. Everyone wears a mask, and is anonymous during the festivities." Bella said, and from the sound of her voice she had something sexual in mind while wearing the mask. The masks do sit on the bridge of the nose, leaving our mouths exposed.

"Oh don't worry. I won't miss you." I said.

Bella gives me a wicked smile, and runs off. Her plan of trying to disappear into the crowd might have stumped a normal man, but I have been tracking people for a few millennia. So I know how to follow people in the crowd. On top of that, Bella's hair style doesn't match the other women in the crowd. Then again, Bella's done her hair could be different than the rest of the crowd so I would be able to follow her. I've done enough tailing that I can spot my target from two blocks away in a crowded city. So I have no trouble tailing Bella.

We make eye contact periodically, and nothing more. Every time we make eye contact Bella gives me a coy, or seductive look that turns me on. We played cat and mouse for a minute or two, and then Bella opened a gate to one of the many bell towers and entered. I watched the tower entrance for a time, and then I slowly entered. I took my time climbing, savoring the moment to come. It was a tall building, but when I finally climbed to the top Bella was waiting for me. We gaze into each other's eyes, undressing each other.

We slowly approach each other, and when we're two inches from each other we forced not to touch. We slowly undress each other, and drink in each other's bodies. Bella had two different colored brown eyes, like my wife did. I trace the sharp angles of her hips, the softness of her firm breast. I even trace a scar across her belly.

"I was pregnant once. The child lived, but I lost my womb." Bella said with tears in her eyes.

I kissed Bella to quiet her pain. I help Bella to clear to the tears from her eyes and then she scanned my body in kind, which was cover in a lot of scars. A few that have faded, others that never will. We were kissing as I pressed Bella against the wall, and spread her legs, entering her. We stayed up in the bell tower until the day break. As the sun cast its long shadow across my body, I began to stir. I can feel and hear Bella stirring to. I can feel her body brushing against mine, her skin is as soft silk, and the color creamy olive.

Bella opened her eyes and gazed longingly into mine. We kissed as she was mounting me, and went one more round. Unlike last night where there was biting and scratching, mostly her doing, this was gentler and softer. After a while Bella dismounted me, and we got dressed again. We made our way out of the tower, adjusting our masks, and back to her bar. The festival last for two weeks, and the city returns to normal. Bella renovates the bar by buying the building next to it, cutting doorways between the two buildings, both upstairs and down. I stay on the bar for another year, helping get bouncers trained, and enjoying my time with Bella even more. The month leading up to Carnevale I told Bella I would be leaving.

"Bella." I said.

"Yeah Deeks." Bella said.

"After Carnevale this year I'm going to be leaving." I said.

"Where to?" she asked, the shock written in her features.

"My final destination will be Barcelona, Spain, but before that I have one stop to make before that." I said.

I can tell that this is not what she wanted hear. For the first time since her son had been born she found true love. "My life is not the life you want. It's a curse." I said.

"Doesn't look like it to me." she said.

"Trust me, it's not. Not only that, where I'm going I don't want you there. I could be going to my death, and I want you to live." I said.

Bella looked at me in shock. "Like I said." I whispered.

Bella kissed me, and then went back to work. The month past and Carnevale was upon us again. The city came alive, and we spent the entire festival together. And on the finally night we found ourselves up in that bell tower again. We had sex all night, and there was scratching and biting. I made Bella scream more than once that night. More than any other time I had been with her. Come morning, as we were exiting the bell tower, Bella gave me a gift. "What's this?" I asked.

"Something to remember me by." Bella smiled.

"Mirabella Caito, I could never forget you." I said.

I could tell by the shape of the cloth it was a dagger of sorts. I pulled the cloth off and saw that the sheath was plain leather that was long enough to accommodate a five inch blade. I pulled the blade from the sheath and saw on one side the word Bella, and on the other side Deeks had been etched into the blade.

"Thank you. And for you." I said.

Bella has a soft spot for rubies, so I had a necklace made with the stone set in the base. Bella was brought to tears that I would buy her such an expensive gift that she shoved me back into the bell tower for one last moment with me. I open the clasp on the necklace and put it around her neck, and closed the clasp. I kissed Bella good-bye, and then made my way to the port. I found a ship that would be heading all the way up to Scotland.

As the ship was sailing out of port I saw that Bella came to see me off. I mouth that I loved her, and bowed. Bella nodded, and watched as the ship left. I watch Bella on that dock until I was unable to see her no longer. It was at that moment I realized that I didn't want to sleep with another women that didn't look like me wife, albeit, I would sleep with a couple more women before I saw my wife's double again. It's been four thousand two hundred and eighteen years since I last saw my wife, and I can still remember her name: Kinzie MacLeod.

I.T.D.

Six months later, Scotland-

I disembark from my long journey in Glasgow, Scotland. I make my way out to the last place I remember I was born and raised, but I don't even make it out of the city. "What are you doing?" a voice asked, and one I could never forget.

"Ray. What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Orders. I want you to forget whatever you came here to do. There are still people that want to kill you outside of this city. That ship on the far side of the harbor is leaving in twenty minutes. You're going to board it, and never come back here." he said walking back in the direction I had just come from.

"Sure you don't need any help?" I asked.

"No. Here's the fare to board the ship." Ray said handing me the coins to get on the ship.

I pay my fare, and board the ship. As the ship is sailing off both Ray and I nod to each other.

I.T.D.

Barcelona, Spain, six months later-

I wake up screaming from a horrible nightmare, but I didn't get to process it. I get my bearings, and then get out of bed. Just my luck as I was entering Barcelona six months ago, so was Lara. Hetty gave her the keys to the house, and instructions.

I remember the conversation well. Lara said that I was supposed to take it easy will she did all the leg work. I was not heaving it at first, but then I was reminded that I have no idea what the job was, and that I was sent as back up. I was very mad at Lara at first. We were both mad at each other. Lara most likely thought that I didn't believe that she could handle herself, which wasn't case at all. I could see that Lara was so mad that she was shaking, violently, but she wasn't too mad at me. She let me pull her into a hug, and I apologized.

"My complaint has nothing to do with your skill level, or that you're a woman. It's just I spent the past four thousand years doing some kind of work. Now I'm just sitting around with nothing to do. It's maddening." I said.

"You're forgiven." Lara said.

As I was remembering the conversation I had stepped into the shower to freshen up. The nightmare had me sweating up a storm. After I had finished taking my shower, dried off, and had put some pants on at least did I exit the bathroom. We may share a house, and both immortal, but neither us wants to see the other naked. I was pulling a shirt out of the drawer when I heard a blade slipping its sheath.

"Who's Bella?" Lara asked.

"Bella was my lover for the past two years." I said retrieving the dagger, and putting it back in its sheath.

"You never struck me as the sentimental type." she said.

"That's because this particular woman was never in your presence when I was around." I said.

"She shared the face of your wife, didn't she?" she asked.

"Yes. Bella had lost her womb when she gave birth to her son." I said.

"Well, match made in heaven." She said.

"I never asked what happened to the son. All Bella said was that he survived being born, nothing more." I said.

"Probably because she didn't want to discuss it, plain and simple." she said.

"I know. Just not one of my finest moments." I said.

"That's an expensive dagger. I don't think Bella care whether you asked or not." Lara blurted out.

I chuckled, and then moved out onto the balcony with Lara behind me. We sat on the balcony, and enjoyed a cultural drink and snack, sitting in silence. Lara would leave every afternoon after our snack, and go work on whatever her business was. This went on for the next two hundred and forty years.

I.T.D.

Barcelona, Spain-

We're packing our equipment, and moving from Barcelona to Madrid. The Catholic Church had made a decree that everyone living in a territory that is governed by the Spanish crown should convert to Catholicism, or suffer the consequences. This would later become known as the Spanish Inquisition. It was a time of great uncertainty, and unrest. Those didn't convert to Catholicism were torture. Those who submitted were spared further torture. Those who did not were executed, either in the dungeons or in the public square. Most of the time when people were executed in the square they were always burned at the stake.

Halfway through the Inquisition, the capitol of Spain was moved from Toledo to Madrid. I felt even more fear being in the Capitol of Spain. Everything was going fine, and Lara was able to complete her mission until the last days of the Inquisition hundreds of years later.

I.T.D.

Madrid, Spain, three hundred and fifty-five years later-

Today is June fifteenth, eighteen thirty-four. I have an associate that told me that the Spanish Inquisition would be ending in a month, but the leaders of the church have decided to punish one last group of exiles. The group has thirty-two people in, thirty-three if you count me. The last person would have been Lara, but I took her place. She was able to complete her mission and kill her target, but the Quickening left her in a weakened state. So I bought her some time so she could escape.

While I was in prison I stood trial for my crimes.

"The accused stands trial from the crimes of assault, murder, and being a witch." the man presiding over my trial said reading off the list of charges.

"I'm not a witch, not really." I said.

"You were stabbed through the heart with a sword, and did not die! You are not human! You cannot be allowed to live, or you might spread your sorcery and corrupt more people!" another man said.

"So, what are you going to do? Burn me?" I asked.

"There are twenty other people in front of you that refused to repent of their sins and convert." The man presiding said.

"Religion holds no sway over me." I said.

"Blasphemer!" The judges started shouting.

I just stood there listening to the shouting, I could even hear some people behind me that started to cry. As if my fate had been sealed. I just stand there silent, and unperturbed.

"Because of you unnatural life that you live you will be execute tomorrow." The man who led this little trial said.

"It's a date." I said, winking at the man as I was being dragged off to await my execution.

It was a long twelve hours, or so until sunrise. And then the herd us out on to wagons, so we could be executed publicly. One by one our wagons began to move forward. When left the dungeon we were blinded by the noon day sun. I see that we were going to be paraded through the city like circus animals, all the way to our execution site. All the way to our site the crowd is shouting, mocking, and they even threw rotten fruit at the lot of us.

When we get to the site they force off the wagons, some we jerk out off of the wagons by the chains. People were maimed, disfigured and forced to walk to there in their current condition. We were all herd to our posts, and chained down so we couldn't escape. The only thing going through my head is that when this is all said and done I'm going to kill that man.

We all stood and listened as the crowd booed and jeered the blasphemers, and waited for the judge to call for the pyres to be lit. I know that we have about ten minutes of speeches before we are murdered.

Any day now. I thought wishing these people would get on with the unceremoniously killing spree. And to my great surprise the leader of the church brought order, and without a big speech called for us to be executed. And without any hesitation the torch bearers lite our pyres.

The last thing I remember is the flames burning away the flesh on my feet.

"ARGH!" I screamed.