Next day, evening
The next day, Methos dialed Darius's phone number at St. Julien's church. After a few rings, he heard the old priest's familiar voice. "St. Julien's, brother Darius speaking. How can I help you?"
"Hi," Methos smiled, relieved that the priest was obviously all right. "It's me, old friend."
"Oh, Methos," Darius replied. "It's nice to hear from you. Have you decided your next move yet?" (Both men had been playing chess for about 3 years via phone now, exchanging their moves weekly.)
"Yes, Pawn A6 to A7." Methos heard Darius put the receiver down, and then there were loud footsteps. About half a minute later Darius returned.
"Good move, old friend," Darius amused voice came out of the receiver. "But you have to do better if you want to beat me."
They talked about 30 minutes and exchanged the latest Immortal news. Darius told Methos about Marcus Constantin's last visit to the church. Then Methos finally asked the crucial question. "Darius?…Are you all right…I mean is there any dangerous Immortal near who is threatening you?"
"No, not that I know. Why do you ask?"
"I have a dream about you. It was a nightmare. You lost your head on holy ground…the dream was so real."
Methos heard laughter in the priest's voice and the reassuring reply "Everything is fine, old friend; this is the house of God. No Immortal – and may he be as evil as possible – will ever break this rule…No, Methos, I'm perfectly safe here…don't be afraid for me…. Why not come over and visit me? We could finish our chess game," Darius suggested. "…And don't forget to bring the old Scottish whiskey, which Marcus sent you," he laughed.
"Why not," Methos happily agreed. "When?"
"Hmmm…do you have time on Wend…". Suddenly there was a loud noise at the other end of the line. It sounded like braking glass. "Wait a minute," he heard Darius's voice. While he could hear Darius putting the receiver down, he recognized the noise of several persons entering the room. "What do you want?" Darius wanted to know. "This is the house of God, you cannot come here with weapons. I must insist that you leave immediately."
"Shut up, Immortal scum," came the angry voice of a man. "You think you are so clever. You and your kind of freaks. Think that you are better than the rest of us…"
At the last words Methos went cold. He swallowed hard while his hand became sweaty around the receiver. His hard was beating very loud and quickly in rising fear.
"I…" he heard Darius's voice being interrupted by the sound of a forceful slap.
Then there was another mocking voice. "He said "shut up", you scum…Don't think you can fool us, we know exactly who you are, General Darius," he spat. "You may hide behind holy walls, pretend to be a holy man… but we know who you really are, you and the rest of your freakish kind…You are killing bastards and nothing else. "
"Please," Darius once again tried to reason with the men but was again silenced by another blow.
"We don't want to hear your excuses," intervened another angry voice. "I know your kind very well. I've witnessed your killing long enough …You and your kind think you can do whatever you want without any consequence. But today is pay back time…We will erase your kind from this world – OUR world…Take him," he then ordered "and bring him here".
Methos felt like he was in a bad movie - the whole scenario was totally unreal. He wanted to scream into the phone but all he could manage was a whisper. "No...no."
Then he recognized the sound of a drawn sword and Darius's horrified plea. "Please, you cannot do this, this is holy ground. You cannot violate…" His voice was interrupted by another slap against flesh, and Methos heard a cry of pain.
"Kill him, George, " one of the voices laughed. A second later, Methos heard another sound he knew very well. It was the sound of a sword cutting through flesh. Then there was deadly silence for a moment.
"You got what you deserved, Immortal scum, " Methos heard a voice laugh evilly. "You will not be the only one…Let's go, no need for any witnesses."
Hearing leaving footsteps, Methos sank to the floor – still holding the receiver in his shaking hand. "No… this is not real," he tried to reassure himself. "This is a dream…I have only to wake up." He closed his eyes and counted to four before he reopened them. He was still sitting on the floor while he still held the phone in his cold hands. Not believing his sins, he hung up and dialed Darius's number once again. But a busy signal was everything he got .
"This is not real…not real…this cannot be." He grabbed his keys and ran to his car while he repeated the thoughts over and over in his mind that Darius was alive. Without paying much attention to the traffic, he raced to the church.
