Chapter 2

"What was I saying before about manners?" Jubilee growled to herself as she lugged her carry case over her shoulder and once more tried to get a taxi. Finally fed up, she opened her mind and 'made' one pull over.

"Were too, mademoiselle?" The driver had a slightly glazed look. Jubilee had used a little too much force.

"Chentara Apartments." The driver nodded and twenty minutes later they had pulled over at a posh block of apartments. Jubilee payed the man and walked in. The manager at the desk gave her one look and then squealed in shock, running over to her and rapidly talking in French.

*"Mme. Jaenelle! What a pleasure it is to see you again! Please, let me take your bags. Your apartments have been well kept, as you said. And your cousin Amanda is staying there as you said she could."* He would have continued to babble if she hadn't held up a hand. To her all she could see was her normal appearance, small hands with short nails painted blood red, black hair just below her ears. To Manager Jack Rowlins, however, she was now three inches taller, had black hair down to her hips and her nails were long and painted the same blue as her eyes.

"Thank you, Jack. But I would like my keys and privacy for the next three hours. The only ones allowed up are Mr Connor MacLeod and Mr Joe Dawson, with any guests they bring. And of course, if Amanda invited someone, they may be allowed up. My keys?" Jubilee spoke with a cultured English accent that would be associated with British royalty. Jack managed to keep his tongue in check as he scrambled back to the desk. As he handed her the apartment keys, she placed an English twenty-pound note on the desk. "Have my normal dinner sent up in an hour along with a bottle of Cherone '49." Jubilee turned around without waiting for a reply and brushed past the people at the desk who were staring at her. They looked like honeymooners and probably hadn't ever seen anyone act the way she did. She could hear an undertone of their thoughts as she walked into an elevator.

Man! She's da Bomb!

I wish I could get men to jump for me like that. What is Harry staring at!

Jubilee heard a smacking sound, and smiled as 'Harry' started to protest at the treatment from his new bride. As soon as the elevator started to move, she broke down in giggles. Being a bombshell with money was always a fun past time. It really was. The giggles stopped as the buzz hit her with force. There were at least three or four Immortals up there. One of them was obviously Amanda, and the rest were most likely the Macleod's with various other 'friends'. Jubilee smiled as she stepped out of the elevator and opened the door to her penthouse, to be met with a handful of swords.

"Geesh, nice welcoming committee, cuz." Amanda sighed as she saw the sarcastic grin on the face of her Teacher's Teacher. She lowered her katana and embraced her 'Grandmother'.

"Sorry Jae. I was expecting you yesterday, and when you didn't show…" She made the shrugging motion that indicated a beheading.

Jubilee nodded and looked at the others in the room. Six Immortals and all were known to her, though only by name and description for two of them. Those two obviously didn't know about her. Two humans as well, both Watchers. All in her Paris home.

'How interesting.'

"Had some problems. Was slightly delayed but no, I didn't run in to any of our 'friends'." She gave the room a scathing glance and finally settled on Joe. "And here I was thinking the Gathering you called us for was in two days, youngling. My own home has turned into a potential lightening rod." Joe flinched at her tone and hobbled back a bit.

"Don't get angry at him old lady." Connor moved forward to hug her, his sword already back in the its scabbard. Jubilee snarled at the old lady comment, but knew it was just his way of teasing her about her 'old illusion'. Jubilee pulled out a necklace that held a small silver key. Holding her right hand up to her neck she put the key in the lock on her bracelet and twisted it. Instantly she was back to her normal fifteen-year-old looking self. "Joe was just up here trying to reassure us that we weren't walking into a trap at this Gathering. So what trouble did the Lady of the Night Lights get into?"

Jubilee glared at him and then glared at Sandra and Richie who were both snickering. Neither of the two newest Immortals knew who she was, but it was obvious to them that Connor and Amanda were extremely comfortable around her.

"So these are our new pups. Which one is yours Con? No wait, let me guess." Jubilee flowed toward them with a deadly grace that normally scared the wits out of most people. The girl Sandra was a pre-Immortal, but was obviously in training. She held her sword comfortably by her side. The boy Richie had seen his First Death, but it must have been recent, because his sword was still held awkwardly, his eyes flickering as he tried to find her own sword. He was the one who backed off as she glided toward them. Sandra looked startled, but not all that disturbed.

"Young Sandra must be yours then, Con. And the boy is Mac's Student. Far too easy. Didn't even have to use my powers."

The elder Immortal gave her annoyance of a friend another scathing glance.

"You've been lax on your training, Mac. He's not sure of himself, and he doesn't handle a sword to easy." Duncan Macleod frowned.

"He didn't really believe me when I told him he was one of us. He only died less then a year ago."

"That isn't an excuse. We're dying out Mac. These idiots who believe those who started the Game are slowly killing us off. There used to be a hundred times our numbers, and the Powers That Be are getting pissed about it."

Duncan looked at her for a second, and then moved his head toward the last Immortal in the room. Methos nodded. What she said was far to true, and Methos knew that very well. He had known far more Immortals then he could remember, and more then half were dead.

"Are you sure about the Powers?" Duncan seemed to be even more worried.

"Yeah, it was cause of them that I was late." Her eyes roamed to the remaining Watcher. Joe was safe, and Adam wasn't a real Watcher, but Degan Montreil was not someone she was comfortable with. "Hey Deg. On your way out, can you tell my Watcher down stairs that I'll be visiting a friend tomorrow, who will go on a headhunting spree if he even smells a Watcher nearby? We really wouldn't want every Watcher in France to lose his or her head because of one annoying little man, would we?" Degan's eyes opened wide in shock and he shook his head. Mumbling a quick good bye, he practically ran out the door.

Amanda snorted in amusement, and walked toward the kitchen. No point standing around if there wasn't any danger.

"So what did the Powers tell ya, cuz?" Amanda put her katana up on its display case and then went to rummage in the fridge. She pulled out two beers and handed one to her current mentor. Jubilee threw her bag in a corner and gestured for everyone to sit back down.

"They didn't tell me anything. They gave me something." She took a long swig of the beer. Connor fell on to a couch and pulled her down next to him.

"So what did the give you, Lady?"

Jubilee made sure everyone had given her their attention. Then she casually shrugged.

"Two pre-Immortal babies." The personality Jubilee had been using around the X-men slipped out a bit as she observed the sudden silence.

'In this, a pin dropping would sound like Piotr falling off the Empire State Building.' Duncan's mouth was actually hanging open, and she was afraid that Joe's heart was about to give out.

"The Powers sent them to a forest area to be found by one of the local tribes. The tribesmen are the descendants of the people who reside in the graveyard - the Holy Ground - that my home is built on. They knew that I have a house there, and their Shaman seemed to be some kind of clairvoyant or seer. They left the babes on my front door step…well actually on my front driveway, with a note saying that they would take care of the babies if I wished them too. But they would only do as - and I quote - 'The Lady Keeper of the Resting Place of the Kehota' says. I left the babes with them, though I did give them a naming ceremony, and put the Immortal mark on them. I gave the new mothers two of my gold pendants and put a protection spell on each. And they all know to get the babes to a Holy place if anyone comes after them without my say so. In a few years the kids will start their training under me." Jubes took a deep breath as she finished. That was hard to say without breathing.

Everyone was still staring at her.

"Whatever, I'm going to go have a shower. And then I'm going to go get some dinner. Amanda, call down to the front desk and cancel room service, but tell them to bring that bottle of '49 up." Amanda nodded mutely in her shock.

Jubilee left the room, scooping up the carry bag on her way. After she dumped it in her room, she instantly made for the shower. After four thousand years, and two Dark Ages, she had learnt the value of a good hot shower. And spending more then thirteen hours on a plane, even in first class, was just hot and dirty. She spent ten minutes standing under pure hot water, almost at boiling temperature. Red burns littered her body and faded just as quickly. Finally she turned off the water and went to stand in front of the full-length mirror.

Jubes liked being Immortal. She had seen a lot of things over the years, and her curiosity was still piqued. She liked the ability to heal, and the fact that she had seen so much of history and its people first hand. She liked the friends that she had made, mortal and otherwise. But the one thing she really hated about Immortality was her body. She was a typical teenager, the perfect size, with muscles that were toned from long use and martial arts. Her hair was currently short and spiky and she didn't mind that. Blue eyes that tended to glow, were a result of her powers, and the small pouty mouth was just normal among the people she had come from. But it was the fact that she was stuck in a fifteen-year-old body that really pissed her off. A few thousand years ago it wouldn't have mattered. When she had died, anyone over the age of ten was considered an adult. But starting in the fifteenth century the traditions of the peoples of the world started to change. And to day, in most countries, she was considered three years to young to be legal. Even in most of Africa, where children had to get jobs to survive, they were still considered children.

And now she had to use spells and glamour to even get a beer anywhere on this planet.

Jubilee felt the buzz diminish as most of the Immies left. There was still one left in the apartment, but that was most likely Amanda. Wrapping herself up in a big fluffy towel she walked out of the steam that was still swirling around the bathroom. Jubilee looked through some of the clothes in her bag and then walked out still wrapped in the towel.

"Hey Manda, you still got that red strapless top-Eek!" Jubilee stood there in shock as Methos eyed her appreciatively. Amanda was nowhere to be seen. Jubilee's eyes narrowed as a well-known smirk crossed her Teacher's face.

"Amanda went with Mac to Joe's bar. She asked me to wait for you and tell you. And since you were going out for dinner I thought I'd join you. If you don't mind that is?" He took a sip of the glass of wine her was holding. From the very smell of it, and the open bottle that was on the table, Jubilee could tell it was the '49 she had ordered.

With a couple of snarled out expletives that even he had never heard, she stalked into Amanda's room and grabbed the shirt she had been asking about, stalked back out into her room and added some black hipster jeans. She pulled on a pair of black boots that were extremely expensive and then shoved a small boot dagger in the left one and a sai in to the right. She placed a long silver chain around her stomach in lieu of a belt and then set to work doing her hair. Though she was too angry to realise it, she was taking more care in her appearance then usual. Finally slipping two small jewelled throwing stars into her hair; she was ready to go out.

Unlike most Immortals, Jubilee never bothered to carry a sword when she was going out. If she knew there was another Immortal in the area, looking for heads, she'd hide a sword under her yellow leather trench coat, but otherwise she only took daggers, sais and throwing stars. And tonight she had added the chain, which was not silver at all. It was made from adamantium. Logan's to be exact. She had managed to find some of it after Magneto had ripped it out of her friend's body.

Having travelled the length of Asia more times then she could remember, Jubilee was an expert at chain fighting, and had occasionally taken a head with nothing but her wits and a chain. Besides, with her powers she could create a sword from thin air if she had no other choice.

Methos stood waiting for her as she stalked back out and waved viciously at the bottle of wine. The cork was in the stopper so fast, no one would have seen it moving, and the bottle flew toward the kitchen. Methos just smiled. As much trouble as he had remembering the woman standing in front of him, he had dim memories of her teaching Cassandra a few of the same tricks, and later on, teaching a woman named Rebecca. He also remembered that he was the only one who had the ability to survive her temper not matter how much he got her angry. But that was about it.

He knew from recent experience that she could best him in a fight, whether hand to hand or sword. And that she was the oldest Immortal next to him was now current knowledge thanks to the questions he had asked Amanda and Chendaro. For the eternal life of him though, he couldn't figure out why she never even raised a voice against him when he got her angry as hell. Even now, she was simply storming around the penthouse, throwing bits and pieces telekinetically, apparently trying to find her keys. It was one of the reasons he wanted to take her out with only him to talk to. That way she couldn't avoid questions so easily.

"Where did you want to go for dinner?" The sudden calm question startled him. She was standing in front of him, hands on hips. She had found her keys and had grabbed her purse.

"Where ever you want to go, chere." He extended a hand to catch one of her own and brought it to his lips. Touching her, he managed to feel the small tremors going through he body. She pulled her hand back and looked at him reproachfully.

"There's a little restaurant down by the Sentinel Stone. Called the House of the Eternal. A young Immortal set it up near the Holy Ground the Stone is on, so that he could have a safe haven for any Immortal who needs it." She walked past him and out the door, waiting in the lift for him. With a shake of his head, he grabbed sword and leather duster, running to join her before she left without him.

"After dinner, I suppose we can stop by Le Blues Bar. I'd rather go tonight and find out what hair-brained scheme Joe has going now, then wait until we're in a room full of Immortals, a mile away from the nearest Holy Ground." Methos nodded in agreement then held an arm out to her. Jubilee looked at him, slipped her own arm through his, and then decided that she really liked it better when she wasn't wearing her Glamour bracelet. Her blood red nails just looked right, especially as she had made then grow out a half an inch while she was doing her hair. That was a trick she had learnt to keep up the mortal illusion. If she got wounded then Hank would have wanted to patch her up, so she couldn't just have her wounds healing straight away. Two thousand years ago, she had found the secret to halting the healing process, and a thousand years ago, she had managed to make it so that she could extend the healing even when she wasn't hurt. Very useful if she had a broken nail. During the last millennia, her concentration had been on making her features look older, but all she had managed to do was give her self a mature sort of glow that made her look a few years older. Fortunately, when she was dressed up as she was now, that glow and her age-old eyes made her look around twenty. It was good enough. Especially when her escort added to her age with his own mature glow.