Chapter 10

Paris, the following day

It was early morning by the time Duncan hit the outskirts of Paris. He'd managed to extricate himself from Meaghann's embrace and despite her protestations… had left, hours before he'd really wanted to.

"I really have to go," he'd kissed her as she clung to him while he dressed. "I'll call." Even now in the car, after several hours, he was still feeling excited even thinking of her. That woman had moves he'd never seen before… and considering his age… that was saying something. Still, he needed to get back, he needed to check on Alisaunne, and he needed to contact Phillip and then make arrangements to lose his Watcher for a few days while he checked out the inhabitants at Ste. Genevieve. All were things he could not do from Cannes… nor with Meaghann Reilly looking over his shoulder and blowing in his ear.

Duncan parked in his spot near the barge and grabbed his bag as he headed for the gangplank. Just as he reached the midpoint… he could feel someone here. Duncan narrowed his gaze as he wondered who would be here at this time of morning. It was still early.

Glancing about to see if a backup Watcher or anyone else was anywhere nearby… no one was… Duncan set the bag on the deck and carefully drew his katana. It might be nothing… but it was better to be prepared.

Silently he approached the door to his quarters and opened it… softly entering the cabin. He turned about… holding his katana before him and moving through his kata of opening moves to limber up. He paused staring at his bed.

There were two immortals there. One was Ian and the other was a female… he could see a leg. Then the female shifted and moaned… holding her head… it was Alisaunne! Duncan froze. Ian awoke and jumped toward his sword.

Duncan slammed the boy against the bulkhead, holding him by the neck… his katana flexed and raised to cut. "What did you do?" he growled.

"Duncan?"

Duncan's eyes glanced at Alisaunne who was trying to pull a sheet about her.

"What's the problem?" she continued, rubbing and shaking her head. "Damn headache!"

Duncan focused his attention on Ian who shook his head. "I didn't do it. She was in an accident."

The Highlander pulled back and stared back and forth at the two young people.

"What is it with you and swords! Honestly, every time I see you, Duncan, you are threatening someone with a sword." By this time Alisaunne had climbed from the bed wrapped only in the sheet.

"Does she know?" Duncan's words were clipped and dark.

"I had planned to explain last night… but we got side-tracked." Ian said apologetically.

Duncan sighed. "Get dressed, both of you. Ian I want to see you top-side."

Alisaunne ran a hand through her tangled dark hair. "I'd love to get dressed but I don't have any clothes here and I need a bath and…"

Striding to a bureau, Duncan roughly opened a drawer and pulled out some old clothes of Amanda's that she'd left behind years ago. He tossed them to Alisaunne. "Here… the shower's back there. Ian…" he snapped. "Topside… now."

"Honestly Duncan, you act like some wronged guardian. It's not as if you didn't know about us. We have been living together for the past five years." Alisaunne gathered the clothes in her arms and marched off to the shower in a huff.

Duncan shook his head as he stared after her. Then he headed to the deck of the barge, followed shortly by a chastened Ian, hopping as he pulled on his boots.

Leaning on the rail, Duncan waited quietly while Ian explained Alisaunne's accident and his own complicity in getting her out of the hospital before anyone noticed. "I had to bring her here. I feared the authorities would check her place."

Duncan nodded. "You should have told her already."

"I was trying to when she started screaming that Nestor was attacking her. I thought it was some sort of flashback… maybe due to the accident suddenly bringing those memories out again. I focused on her… on helping her… not on the rest of it… not on trying to explain things. I've never had to tell anyone before."

Duncan eyed the empty quai and the nearby pont, still deserted in the early morning fog. "Bringing her here might not have been a good idea either. We need to get her away from here before the Watchers pick up on her."

Ian nodded. "What do you suggest?"

"Well… let's you and I tell her together and then we'll see. I have those emergency documents I made up in case any of us had to leave France quickly… but where to go?"

"Aye… she can't stay in Paris… and I don't think she should go to Ste. Genevieve with him still there."

Duncan nodded thoughtfully. "About what time did it happen?" When Ian told him, Duncan realized that must have been shortly before Amanda had called. "No… we definitely can't take her to the convent. In fact… we might need to get her as far from there as we can."

"Why? Is there something I don't know?" Ian sounded truly worried.

Duncan told him.

The young man's face paled. "That doesn't sound good… not good at all."

Duncan's fingers tapped on the railing as he nodded. "Now… let's you and I go face Alisaunne with the truth… or at least as much of it as she can manage for the moment."

"Aye."

Alisaunne stared out the porthole, painfully aware of the silence of the two men… no… make that immortals… behind her. Her mind was a whirl with what they had told her.

"We are immortal… we cannot die. We do not age. You are now immortal. We've known this for some time. We couldn't tell you… We had to wait for you to die a violent death and be re-born." The sentences jumbled together and made no sense.

Alisaunne turned back to toward them, rubbing her hands up and down her upper arms. She was cold… so very cold. "And the swords?"

The two men glanced at one another sheepishly. Finally Duncan cleared his throat. "There is one way we can die. If someone cuts off our heads… then all we are goes to the victor… all our power of immortality… all our skill… all our knowledge."

Alisaunne regarded them coldly. "And Nestor?" she hissed. "He was like that too?"

They both nodded.

"But he's dead… you told me he's dead."

Duncan rose from the sofa, crossing the room to stand before her. "He is dead, Alisaunne. But something of him remains trapped within the one who killed him. He cannot hurt you… ever again. We won't let him."

"Then what did I feel last night?" Thrusting out an arm pointed at the bed she screamed at them both. "That wasn't me… I felt him… He was here!"

"I don't know, girl, I don't know. I truly don't. But first things first. You cannot remain in Paris. I have papers ready to get you out of France… I prepared them years ago and kept updating them. We leave now… " Duncan turned to his safe and dialed the combination to retrieve the documents for all three of them. Ian would need to leave here as well.

"What about my friends? What about my life? What about my career?" she cried.

"Lass," Ian's eyes were filled with tears. "Ya canna go back to that… any of it. They know you died. They saw ya when ya were hurt. There are too many witnesses. Ya have to leave and start a new life… somewhere else… and ya have to learn to survive."

"You mean I have to learn to kill!" Her voice peaked on the final word.

The two men silently nodded.

"Let's go," Duncan said as he pocketed the documents in his long coat, carefully sequestering his katana within it. He glanced around… there was nothing else he needed. He'd learned long ago to travel light when moving on. And this time… Duncan MacLeod knew even he had to vanish. He picked up the bag with his laptop… the only thing he dared not leave behind, and waited.

Ian grabbed his own coat and sword and a backpack lying near the door. There was nothing else for him here.

Alisaunne looked around. "I have nothing here. All my things are at home."

"We can buy whatever you need. We can't risk your going home to get anything. We need to go and we need to go now," Duncan told her quietly.

Ian threw the long coat she'd worn last night once more about her shoulders. "I won't leave ya lass… not unless you want me to. I'll never leave you… never again."

Alisaunne closed her eyes and leaned into Ian's embrace for a moment. Her world was collapsing around her once more. And once more… Ian… her rock… her anchor… was all that kept her from drowning. She straightened, giving him a thin smile and a nod as she pulled the brimmed rain hat on her head. "Let's go then. You lead and I will follow."

The three immortals left the locked barge and climbed into the Ferrari, driving off… into the foggy Paris morning.

Cannes

Meaghann's cheek throbbed from the slap. Tears sprang to her eyes.

"Bitch!" Rawlins screamed as he belted her across the mouth one more time just to be certain she got the message. "You were supposed to keep him here!"

"I tried. I tried like hell. I tried everything… every trick I know," Meaghann moaned as Rawlins tangled his fist into her red hair and pulled.

He sneered at her, "Evidently not hard enough."

"He was adamant about leaving. But he said he'd call." Rawlins forced her to her knees and glowered at her, roughly sliding his other hand along her face.

"And that is why you still live. Now…" he said undoing his pants as he stood over her. "Make yourself useful… and do it right… just like I showed you." He forced Meaghann's head closer and leered. "MacLeod is essential to our plan. You better be right about his calling you. You had just better be right."

Meaghann crept closer to meekly do as she was told.