Chapter 42
Rome
Alisaunne fairly flew into Ian's arms when he finally arrived back at their room several hours later.
"Hi… did you miss me?" he teased as she hugged him.
"Were you followed?" Duncan spoke up from the far side of the room.
"No… I drove all about Rome and then gassed up before returning here. The car's in the parking garage. When do we go?"
"In the morning. Get some sleep." Duncan focused once more on his laptop.
"Do you even want to know who it was?"
"Does it matter?" Duncan's clipped tone spoke volumes to Ian about his disappointment that someone might have picked up on them after all their diversions. "You should have avoided a fight at all costs. Now a body was found, the authorities are involved… and there were witnesses. A description of you is on all the local stations."
"I want to know." Alisaunne lay her head on Ian's shoulder.
He held her closely and grinned. "You will… very soon." He gazed soberly at Duncan. "It couldn't be avoided. I did the best I could… and I did change clothes and do what I could to change my appearance. I didn't seek him out." Ian felt older… more experienced… not so much the boy immortal he appeared to be.
Duncan nodded "Still… you'll need to stay out of sight for the foreseeable future. Interpol likely has a full description."
Ian nodded. "We could leave now…"
"This time of night?" Duncan laughed. "I don't think so… It would likely cause someone to remember us… as would just vanishing. No… we check out as scheduled in the morning. They'll only see me at checkout. Now get some sleep."
Alisaunne pulled him into the bedroom… and Ian went eagerly. He thought he might just have some new things to show her.
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Alisaunne awakened… startled. She'd had the dream again… but it had been different this time. For the first time since she'd started having it… the night she'd become immortal… it wasn't the rape… it was something else.
Breathing fast and shallow she felt a sheen of perspiration over her. Beside her… Ian had fallen asleep. He'd been very forceful tonight… and she'd surrendered to his needs. Even now… she could smile at the way he'd made her feel. Perhaps that was the reason the dream had changed. Quietly she rose, grabbing her robe. She wanted something to drink and she thought there was some water in the suite mini-bar in the main room. Opening the door she was halfway across the room before it dawned on her Duncan was still sitting at the table… staring at his laptop.
She stopped and looked up at him… hurriedly tying her robe about her. "Sorry," she murmured nervously, then pulled a bottle of water out of the small icebox. Opening it she swallowed half of it and then turned to stare at him. "I had the dream again…. only… it's changed."
Duncan shifted position in the chair, obviously concerned. "Changed? How?"
Alisaunne sat on the arm of the sofa and shook her head. "It was still him… but it wasn't the rape. It was more like… oh I don't know…" She ran one hand through her tangled dark hair. "A seduction." she finally said.
Duncan's brow furrowed. "How so?"
I could sense him… smell him… but he was behind me… whispering in my ear. Oh I can't recall what he said… but I found a knife in my hands… and I was contemplating using it… and I wanted to use it." Alisaunne's haunted gaze pierced Duncan's soul. "Where is he Duncan? I have to face him. If I don't… he will haunt me forever."
Duncan turned away. "That's not a good idea."
"Why not? What more could he do to me? You say he's dead… that only some part of him remains in the immortal who killed him… took his quickening. What could be so bad about my seeing him? If I saw him… then maybe I'd believe that the monster is dead."
"Alisaunne… he was very old and very strong. You've already felt what can happen when you play the game. You've surely felt the changes in you… even the ones that fade. You likely noticed changes in Ian tonight as well. For the immortal who killed Nestor… it was the same… only more so. He can't hurt you… no one will allow that… Now let it be. Just continue telling me of the dreams… that way… I'll be able to help you."
"And if you're gone?"
"Things have changed." He indicated his PPC. "I got an email from an old friend in America. Something is definitely going on with the Watchers."
"We knew that!" she spat.
"Only it seems it's far more insidious than I thought. I have a friend in Paris. I'll drop by to see him when we head there in the morning. I'll talk to him."
Ian opened the door and leaned against the doorjamb. "I thought you wanted us to get some sleep." He rubbed a hand through his still black hair and grinned at Alisaunne.
Duncan shut down his laptop. "You're right. It's late." Rising he entered the other bedroom and shut the door.
Ian leered at Alisaunne as she approached him… her mouth slightly open. She ran her hands over his chest. "Again?" he asked.
She grinned. "Most definitely." She leaped up… wrapping her long legs about him as she nibbled at his lips and ears.
He stumbled slightly and then hungrily kissed her while backing into their room and to the bed. Falling on it… he tore away her robe and let his mouth and his tongue range over her arcing and responsive body. Desire had overtaken them both. She was his… he was hers… and no one and nothing else mattered.
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After arriving in Rome, Avril Mischkov and his retrieval squad met quietly with Arthur Kidman. Mischkov showed him a file. "Is this the immortal?"
Kidman glanced at at the photo, then shook his head. "Maybe. He fits the general description the old couple gave. I didn't get there in time to see his face. Who is he?"
"Duncan MacLeod. Rawlins wants him brought in at all costs." Mischkov reclaimed the folder. "He's likely traveling with a young woman and a boy." He pulled out a list of names. "Here are some aliases we believe he's used in the past. Start calling hotels."
Kidman nodded as he read down the list of names. The second page was a list of better hotels. "I'll get started," he murmured and turned away to begin phoning.
Mischkov stared at him darkly. "You do that." Pulling out a second list… Mischkov began with the list of medium-range hotels. His people had been on it for the past few hours… but let Kidman think he was helping. The fool had been too far away and MacLeod had vanished again. But he was here… Mischkov was certain of it… and with a little luck… they'd get a lead on his whereabouts. "Pronto," he said to the hotel switchboard… and began his inquiry.
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St. Louis
Amber turned off the hot water and exited the steaming shower. Wrapping a towel about her she wiped off a spot on the mirror and stared at her bedraggled appearance. They'd kept moving most of the afternoon… checking into this fleabag motel only in the last hour. Amber was tired… and she felt that there were still some of the drugs in her system.
Her teacher would never have approved of Amber's tagging along with this woman she didn't know. But Connor MacLeod was long dead… and Amber Kathleen Conroy was still here… still alive… still immortal. At the gentle knock she pulled back from the mirror.
"It's open," she said.
Katya opened the door. "If you're about done… I'd like to clean up myself. I managed to send a message to an old friend of mine about what happened. He's going to look into things."
"So what do we do?"
Katya began pulling off the men's clothes she still wore. "Stay out of sight. Keep a low profile. I have a feeling our pictures may very well end up on police blotters."
Amber laughed. "Then it's hair cuts and dye jobs… right?"
Katya nodded soberly and turned the water on in the shower. As the steam rose once more, Amber stepped out into the hotel room, closing the door behind her. She shivered in the cooler temperature… and began to dry her hair.
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Washington, D.C.
Special agent Matthew McCormick of the FBI stared at the reports crossing his desk. He'd made a name for himself in the bureau as one who investigated unusual cases… ones that seemed a little on the outside of the norm. He'd had many a good laugh though, over the years, at the popularity of the X-Files. The cases he spent time on… were strange… but definitely not that strange. His main concern was keeping an eye out for beheadings.
It was with some surprise he found that someone had sent him a file on his computer that had nothing to do with beheadings… but with the deaths of four men in a St. Louis suburb. It was only when he stared at the autopsy photos and saw the tattoo on the wrist of one of the men and the almost identical cuts made on the left thighs of all four… that he began to get really interested. The tattoo he'd seen before. He sank back in his chair, staring at the symbol…
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New Orleans, 1903
Matthew McCormick, policeman squatted before the three bodies in the squalid cabin and held one hand over his mouth. "How many days do you think?" he asked Doc Lebeau… the police mortician.
"Wall… hard to say lieutenant… mebbe two, tree day." The old Cajun doctor's slow drawl reminded Matthew of the people of a previous century. "Thisa here is interestin'." He held up the arm of one man. "Strange tattoo. Strange place for it… inside de wrist."
Matthew stared at the symbol… a strange "V" shape surrounded by a circle. He'd never seen such a thing before. This man had been stabbed… but not beheaded as the other two had been. Already from the looks of the scorch marks, Matthew had known at least one of the men had been an immortal… and likely both… but this one was mortal.
"Likely nothin'," he'd muttered as he'd made a rough sketch of the symbol in his notebook. "Now these beheadin's… this is interestin'."
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Washington DC
Matthew had never found the immortal who'd killed those others. His investigations at the time had been limited to who the dead were in that life… not who they might really have been. And the mortal had not interested him at all.
Now here was another dead man… with the same tattoo in the same place.
Matt knew by morning he'd be in St. Louis… but first… a little on-line research was called for. He wanted to know more about the symbol that tattoo represented.
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Author's Note: Katya (Justina Vail) appeared in the Sixth Season episode Justice. Matt MacCormick (Eric MacCormack, later of Will & Grace fame) was from the Fifth Season Episode Manhunt. Amber Conroy is an original character who also made an appearance in my AU story The Haunting (a.k.a. Child's Play) .