AUTHOR'S WARNING!! While in no way as graphic as Chapter 70, part of this chapter is written from Nestor's point of view and does contain his take on the things he has done. There is some violence, but more suggested than shown.

Chapter 75

From his hiding place Nestor had watched the immortals arrive and then leave. He smiled. "Phillip!" he'd sneered. Phillip would know what he was looking for. Phillip would know how to find the girl. Nestor considered waiting longer at the convent... but decided even if the others returned... he had all he needed now. If Phillip were leaving... then the girl was not here. Nor would she be here. He climbed into his stolen truck and pushed the dead owner over into the passenger seat once more.

The body was beginning to rot but its odor had a calming effect on him. "Sorry friend... I think we have a little trip to take." He chortled at that. He'd rather enjoyed tearing the young one... what was his name... oh yes Wolfe... apart. Hardly a wolf... no where near old enough to be a real challenge. Only a foolish boy.

Nestor laughed once more. The boy was likely begging for death. Nestor had left him no way to ever enjoy life again. He'd rather enjoyed removing pieces one at a time... pieces that would not re-grow.

Oh Nestor had considered taking the boy's head when the pup had robbed him of the woman... but it was far worse to leave him alive as he had left him. His friends would have to kill him now... or leave him to be a sacrifice for some other immortal. It didn't matter that Nestor had received no quickening for several days. Soon he would have all the quickenings he wished. But first the girl... he had to get the girl... Once he had the girl... once she was his... he would not be vulnerable ever again. Even during a quickening he would be supreme! No one could touch him!

Nestor turned the truck's radio up full blast and searched for some pounding music. Finally finding it he settled back into the driver's seat and tapped his hand to the beat... thinking of how he'd pound Phillip to a pulp. He'd not known any of the old ones had remained. He'd only found Darius... but he couldn't get to him at the time... and then Darius had died by mortal hands. Too bad! He would have enjoyed him very much! It was Darius who had suggested burying him in the earth. Oh that was a particularly nasty horror... but Nestor had survived it. As he had survived all that had befallen him over the millenia. Although... he'd always wondered what had ever put that particular torture into the general's mind. No matter! He survived... Darius was dead.

Nestor wondered if any of the other's remained. The lovely Rivka with her red-gold hair would have been a prize. But she... too... was dead. No... it was the girl he wanted. Nestor drove thinking of what he'd do to the girl. She'd have to live of course... but she would be such fun to carve. He'd had practice with the others... he was getting quite good at carving them up and keeping them alive. Yes... he would bind her to him and then he would pleasure himself upon her again and again... reveling in her screams.

He wondered what she looked like now. When last he'd seen her she'd been a child. If only he could have gotten to her then... but he hadn't been ready... she hadn't been ready... but she would be now. He floored the gas and grinned ever more broadly until he came to a stop at an intersection beside another truck. He glared at the shocked faces of the old man and the old woman as they evidently got a whiff of his odor or a look at the blood spattering his face. "Getting an eyeful?" he sneered.

The old woman blanched and motioned for the old man to drive off. For a moment Nestor considered letting them go. He would fill their nightmares for many years to come. Then he realized they might just notify police. He hit the accelerator and followed them... bumping his truck against theirs. They sped up. Nestor grinned and floored the accelerator again... this time ramming their truck and running it off the road. As the truck crashed into an embankment he leaped from his vehicle with sword in hand.

It was with great pleasure he listened to their pleas and screams as he pulled them from their vehicle and began slicing them up. All too soon, being only mortal, the old couple was only dead. He wiped the blood from his sword and looked around.

As he looked, Nestor realized he'd let himself be distracted. Now he needed another vehicle and he needed to keep up with Phillip and his friend. Only that way could he get to his prize.

He wandered out onto the road and waved his arms at an oncoming car. As it slowed to assist him, Nestor hid his sword behind him and considered how he should kill this one. She was so young and delicate looking... perhaps he could manage a bit of time to give her a proper send off.

As he finished with the young woman... Nestor sensed an immortal presence. Swiftly he rose and grasped his sword once more. He could feel someone out there in the darkness... but he saw no one. "I am Nestor!" he screamed. "Come to me and die!" He offered laughter to the darkness. The other did not approach. Nestor spat on the ground. "Stay then with the dead! I have others to kill!"

Nestor climbed into the dead woman's car and drove off swiftly. He could no longer afford distractions. He needed to find Phillip's trail... he needed to find the girl before someone else found her. Someone who was old enough to realize what she was.

The dead woman's car had a CD player but it was playing some soft drabble. Angrily he punched at buttons trying to find a way to get it to stop. At last the disc was ejected. Nestor grabbed it and threw it over his shoulder. Then he started punching buttons to get the music from the radio. Finally getting some... he angrily began dialing seeking the pounding rhythms he'd had before. Finding them he relaxed.

***

On the road behind, Kenny looked at the carnage and found it made even him sick. He didn't know these people... they were only mortals... he didn't care. But there was something truly perverted in what Nestor had done.

Kenny crouched by the dead young woman and tried to understand how it was that something he so badly wanted to do... love a woman... something his child's body would never let him do... could be so degrading. He'd watched from the shadows but had seen no opening to kill the immortal. He did not understand why it was the others were so frightened of him.

Mad? ... Nestor was certainly mad. Perverted? ... Oh yes, Nestor was most certainly one of the sickest immortals Kenny had ever known.

He rose with the feeling of an on-coming immortal. It was with some surprise that he realized Amanda was at the wheel of Nick's SUV. She stopped and he climbed in.

"Nestor killed four mortals here. He's on the move."

Amanda nodded and punched in the number she had for MacLeod and Phillip.

"He's on the road. About ten minutes ahead of me."

Kenny glanced back at Nick and Valeraine in the back. Then he did a double-take. Why did Nick look so odd? "Why isn't Nick driving?" he asked.

"Because I am," Amanda seemed to say between gritted teeth.

Kenny wondered what her problem was. Angrily he sat back and remained quiet for a while as the dark countryside passed them by. Ahead he could see the glow of lights that had to be Paris. "Where are we going?" he finally asked, although in truth he couldn't see that it mattered.

Amanda's cell phone rang. Answering it, she gave their location and then nodded. "Will do." She pulled over to the side of the road.

"Why are we stopped?" Kenny asked.

"We're waiting," Amanda snapped at him. "But if you're in a hurry... feel free to hitch a ride with someone else.

Kenny stared at her sharply. He glanced back at the two quiet figures in the back seat. But neither said a word. "Do you need my help?" the boy finally asked with no sign of the attitude he'd been using.

Amanda looked down. "Kenny... I wish I'd been there for you over the centuries... I wish I'd helped you more. If you wish to stay... we can use your help. If you wish to leave and save your head for this night... I won't hold it against you. We'll manage."

Kenny nodded and sat back. He decided he'd wait... at least for the time being. After all... he might still get a chance at one of them.