Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Highlander characters.
Jase looked around the corner and eyed the quiet house. He could sense the presence of Immortals and another presence that felt like an Immortal but that was off somehow. He smirked. After two centuries of chasing the Lionheart couple, he had found them. Grinning he melted into the darkness.
Roger walked into Luisa's room, and taking her arm, injected her with a shot of something. Luisa awoke with a choked cry, which was silenced when Roger slapped her.
"Move girl, there's game to hunt," he said as he pushed her toward her closet. Luisa quietly got dressed and followed Roger out. She was startled when her mother joined them.
Luisa started to say something but a quelling glance from Martha made her hold her tongue. They rode in silence, Luisa scrunched against the corner of the backseat. They drove for several minutes before the car stopped. Roger hauled her out of the car by her hair and dragged her inside an old building. He tied her to the pole with her hands behind her back. He gagged and blindfolded her.
Luisa heard him say something in a language she didn't understand and her mother's soft whispered answer. Then came the silence and the waiting. Luisa dozed for what seemed like hours when she felt the familiar tug on her senses. Someone was coming.
The Oriental woman walked silently into the abandoned building. She had felt the presence of Immortals and she was looking for a fight. She glided into the building and saw a girl tied to a post. She frowned and cautiously, but alertly, made her way over to the girl. She untied the gag and blindfold.
"Who are you?" she demanded of the child.
Luisa blinked rapidly. "Get out! They're going to kill you, please go," Luisa said, as her voice cracked.
The Oriental woman whirled around and assumed a defensive posture when she heard a sword being drawn. Martha stepped into the light grinning. The Oriental woman glared at her and then looked at Luisa who blushed and looked down at the ground.
"You'd use a child for bait? That is dishonorable," the woman said to Martha.
Martha shrugged. "In this game we use whatever means necessary to stay alive. She is my daughter, my property to do with as I please," Martha said, gloating.
Luisa eyed her mother in dismay and pain. Her mother saw her only as a belonging. Luisa felt her heart breaking in two. Her parents didn't love her. They only wanted to use her. Luisa could feel the tears start to course down her face.
Roger crept up behind Luisa's pole and stood ready, in case Martha needed any help.
Luisa watched in helpless dismay as her mother and the Oriental woman fought. Luisa admired the other woman's graceful fluid moves as opposed to her mother's more unrefined and jerky movements. Luisa was silently cheering on the other woman when she heard rather than saw the throwing knife Roger drew from its sheath.
Luisa saw the knife out of the corner of her eye as Roger tossed it. "Look out!" she screamed to the woman who dove to the side. Luisa watched in horror as the knife embedded itself in Martha's chest. "Mother no!" she shrieked
Roger had been grinning when he threw the knife but he stared in horror as the woman dove out of the way and the knife hit Martha instead. "Oh god, Martha!" he yelled coming from behind the pole and heading toward his fallen wife.
Before he could reach her, the other woman had regained her footing and with one swoop, chopped off Martha's head.
Luisa let out a scream of horror and fear. "NOOO!"
Roger fell to his knees crying and cursing the grinning Oriental woman who held out her arms wide and received Martha's power. Luisa was so sickened by the beheading that she had to fight to keep from vomiting.
Finally the woman sank to her knees panting and looked at Roger. "You thought to trick me but see, you were betrayed by your flesh and blood. Do not come looking for me again for you shall only find trouble." The woman leaped to her feet and then swiftly vanished into the shadows.
Roger stayed where he was for a long moment, anger etched on every part of his face. He gathered Martha's headless body up in his arms and took it to the car. A few minutes later he came back, untied Luisa and dragged her to the car. He shoved her into the front seat and drove them home.
The silence was so thick you could cut it. Luisa was miserable. She felt guilty for having screamed a warning. Now her mother was dead and it was her fault. They finally arrived home and Roger growled, "Get to your room now and I want you nude when I get back."
Luisa's eyes widened and she started to protest when Roger cuffed her hard. Swallowing her words, she rushed into the house and to her room. She didn't take off her clothes. She refused to do so.
Roger took Martha's body and went around back to the garden. He spent the next 45 minutes digging a grave and burying his wife's body. He cried while he worked and cursed and cried some more until he had no more tears left. Then tossing the shovel aside he stalked back toward the house and Luisa.