Chapter 5

The Order was threatening her friends.

Dawn didn't like that.

In fact, she loathed it. How dare they? What gave them the bloody courage to threaten her friends? HER friends! Did they really expect they'd get away with that? Her eyes narrowed as her anger mounted, until the emotion suddenly disappeared. Her anger went away and all that remained was the cold emotionless state of the true Noir.

Had she allowed Kirika to take over? No, Dawn realized that she was still the one in control. Good. That meant she was once again in a similar state as she'd been after the last time she'd taken care of one of these amateurs. And they would pay for threatening her friends. But first she had to see what it was they'd written.

Her eyes moved rapidly over the letter until she'd read the entire thing, after which she sat down on her bed with a thoughtful expression adorning her face. That was strange. Moving once more to the top she went over it again, even going so far as to sound out the greeting. "Dear miss Summers."

After several altercations with you, it has been decided that it might not be in our best interest to continue a fight with you. During this time you have shown an impressive ability where it comes to our trade, and it is for that reason we have decided to contact you.

Despite the fact that you have directly interfered with one of our missions, causing the death of several of our members, we do not wish you any ill. Your actions in Sunnydale were understandable considering our target was to be your sister. We recently made the error to compound our mistake by targeting you specifically in the city of Los Angeles.

For this we wish to offer our apologies. We have also decided that you may keep the money you have taken from us during the events in that city. Undoubtedly you'll find a good purpose for it.

Which brings us to the real reason for this letter. The information we have received and deducted about you, shows that you are a young woman of remarkable capabilities. And as you have already shown great aptitude in our chosen profession, we would like to offer you the chance to hone your skills.

It is our belief that the chance for you to join our Order would be a great step forwards in your education. While we have recognized your already remarkable capabilities, we also recognize that your potential is far greater. A potential that might one day even exceed that of our greatest members.

Reaching a potential like that is a long and difficult task however, and that is why we believe you want to accept our offer. We are the only ones on this planet who can help you reach your true destiny, for that is what we believe it to be.

A member of our Order will contact you within a day to discuss our proposition in more detail.

Highest Regards,

Yandi Borsemi

Order of Teraka

P.S. While we do not truly believe you would attack our messenger, we urge you to examine the enclosed photographs. While we might be able to forgive your previous attacks, as they were indeed instigated by us, we do not offer the same leniency where it concerns our messenger.

This was ridiculous. All thoughts of sleep were forgotten as Dawn started pacing around her room. What was their plan? What did they want to do? To her it was obvious that accepting the Order's offer would result in her death. They might be sincere about their offer, but that didn't mean anything.

Alright. This was bad, and she really needed some help on this. Taking her phone she dialed Jane's number. She let the phone ring, but after waiting for over a minute there was no answer. Putting the phone back on its hook, Dawn wondered where her friend could be, before she suddenly realized and felt like hitting her head against the wall.

Duh! Jane and her parents had gone to eat at Sara's place. Their annual New Year dinner thing. Taking up the phone again, she dialed Sara's number. She really needed to talk to them, but Dawn also understood that would probably have to wait until later.

After they had finished eating it might be possible, but not right now. Their parents would never allow that, and even tonight might be a bit difficult to convince everyone of. "Flynn residence, beauty of the house speaking."

"Sara? It's me."

The sober tone Dawn spoke in served its purpose and Sara immediately became serious. "Dawn? Is something wrong?"

"We need to talk, the three of us. Very soon."

It was quiet for a moment, and when Sara finally did answer, her words weren't directed at Dawn. "No mom, I'll be right there. It's Dawn, I won't be long."

"Sara?"

"Mom wants me back at the table. I can't really speak right now, especially about things like this."

"Trust me, I didn't want to talk over the phone anyway. I'm not exactly sure I can trust it right now."

"Trust it? You mean it might be tapped?" Some more sounds came from the other side, including what sounded like a slightly agitated mother. "Yes mom, I'm coming!"

"Can we discuss this later tonight? It's really important."

"I'd love to, but no. There's no way Jane and I could get away from the traditionalists."

"Damn. Alright, how about tomorrow morning then? As early as possible."

"Early? It's a holiday tomorrow, I want to sleep in."

"Sara..." Dawn grumbled, recognizing her friend was merely playing.

"Oh alright, sheesh. What's got your panties in a twist?"

"I'll tell you tomorrow, is eight o'clock alright?" It wasn't all that early, but if she wanted her friends to be at least capable of understanding what she was saying...

"Sure, let's do it at Jane's though. And I really gotta go now before mom gets even more pissed with me. See ya." And with those words Sara hang up, leaving Dawn to listen to the dial tone. Which wasn't exactly an interesting sound, and caused her to hang up as well.

Once again she took up the letter and studied every word, every infliction. It seemed so casually written, as if it was merely an afterthought. "Why?" she murmured into the silence of her room. Why would they suddenly approach her like this?

It didn't make any sense to her. She had to admit she hadn't thought all the consequences through when she'd suddenly been faced with a Terakan in Los Angeles, but then again, there hadn't really been time for that. They had her at a disadvantage, surely they must know that?

She was after all only barely trained, probably more than half crazy, and didn't have any current information about her enemies. If they really wanted to destroy her, they could do so easily. Even something as simple as a sniper near her school would undoubtedly be enough, and there wouldn't be much she could do to stop it from happening.

The only problem would be if they missed. Dawn didn't doubt that they'd recognize her reaction if they failed. But then again, hadn't they neutralized her rather well right now? By taking her friends as a hostage they ensured she wouldn't take any action against the Order. And that was not something she was happy about.

What could she do though? With a sigh she decided to postpone that question until later. It was time to put her thoughts in order again. Write down everything that had happened today. And boy, was that going to be a lot to write.

Taking out her real journal, she hesitated for a moment. The fake one could wait until later, couldn't it? No, it couldn't, Dawn realized as she exchanged one for the other. There was always the chance that Buffy would read it to see what she'd written down about Xander's heroics. Especially since it was obviously something she'd write about. Alright then, how should she put this?

Ah yes. "Dear diary, you have no idea what happened today," she said aloud while penciling those same words down and started on the entry. What she was going to write down was basically the truth, although she would leave a couple of things out. Like the violent way she'd had to take control of her body back, the strange dream, and the fact that her friends now knew she was an assassin.

Still, writing down her experiences like this was a lot of work. After all, she couldn't allow her diary to look like it had been massacred by anyone. Describing the events as Jane told her was difficult. There were too many conflicting emotions: fear of losing her friend, pride in Xander's actions, and more. Still, one thing that she didn't forget while writing it down was to mention Jane's name for Xander as often as she could. Oh, if only the boy truly was hers.

"Okay, tell me what happened," Buffy said as she suddenly stormed into Dawn's room, causing her to let out a shriek of surprise.

"Wha?" she mumbled while quickly putting something on top of the pictures and letter from the Order. Good thing she'd been in little girl mode, or she might have accidentally attacked Buffy. Where did her sister get the idea that walking into someone's room unannounced was a good thing?

"The thing with Jane and Xander. He told me some kind of story about how he couldn't let anything happen to a little girl, but I want to know what really happened."

"But that's what really happened!" Dawn answered.

"Really? Here, show me that," Buffy demanded while taking Dawn's diary.

"But-" she half-heartedly protested, while secretly being glad she'd actually had the foresight to write that entry.

"Hmm," Buffy mumbled as she searched through the text. "Ah, here it is. My Xander?" she suddenly exclaimed before turning to look at Dawn with horrified eyes.

"What?" Dawn screamed while getting up from her desk and reaching out to take back her diary.

Unfortunately, aside from being a Slayer her sister was also larger than she was. Which meant she could hold Dawn off with one hand while still paging through the diary. "Don't you think that's a bit early? Oh, just wait until I tell this to Willow. Oh, wait. I can't tell it to Willow, she'd become depressed. Still, that doesn't mean I can't tease Xander about it."

"No, you can't do that! I'll tell mom you read my diary. You'll be grounded for weeks!"

"No I won't. I'll just tell her you let it slip and forgot about telling me. With the way you act there's no need for me to read it in a diary."

"Mom!" Dawn screamed, before beaming a smile at her sister. If Buffy really wanted to test that assumption she'd better have a good reason.

"She won't hear you," Buffy said while returning the smile.

"Really? And why would I believe you when you say that? MOM! Buffy's reading my diary!" No reaction came. For a moment she debated stepping out of her room to find her mother, but the fear of what else Buffy might find stopped her from doing that.

Her sister only shook her head, while turning a couple more pages in the diary. "Slayer hearing. She went outside for a moment."

"She's cooking!"

"Well, she doesn't have stay in the kitchen the entire time for that."

"This isn't fair," Dawn seethed. This was bad, even a fake diary could obviously contain blackmail material. Why had she written that down? Wouldn't that sort of thing be better suited for her real diary? Well, that's where the whole hindsight thing came from, wasn't it?

Making another grab for the diary, she was once again faced with Buffy's reflexes. That Slayer stuff really was impressive, wasn't it? Unless one of the other personalities took over, Dawn doubted she'd be able to beat her sister in a fight right now. Thoughts of how she could take Buffy out from a distance came unbidden, and she shook her head to dispel that.

Buffy notice Dawn's sudden behavior and hummed a bit as she continued reading, obviously not even bothered by the fact that she had to hold off Dawn while doing so. Hah! Far from it even, as she turned back a couple of pages to read the entries there as well. "Wow," she suddenly said while giving Dawn a strange look.

Oh god no. She hadn't just read that entry had she? "Buffy?" Dawn tried.

"This is just wow. And you really dreamed this? Wow." Buffy shook her head while taking in the whole text, causing Dawn's head to grow an even darker red. "I didn't even know this was humanly possible. How do you plan to do this with him? I know it describes your wedding night, but still... Wow."

"It's just a dream okay? And can you give me back my diary now, haven't you embarrassed me enough? Do you need even more blackmail material?"

"Yeah, I think you're right actually. I think I could have lived without the image of you and Xander doing that. Although... could you explain to me how you did that part with the-"

"Buffy!"

"Alright, alright," Buffy said with a teasing grin on her face while backing out of the room. "I can see you don't want to talk about it. So I'll just have to do so with the other participant after I've apologized to him tomorrow."

"Apologized?" Dawn asked, for once not focusing on the impending humiliation.

"Yeah," her sister nodded. "He was right, I was wrong. I'm not really happy he put himself in danger but like you wrote, he wouldn't be Xander if he didn't try to help people."

"Yeah," Dawn sighed, "isn't he the greatest?"

"Sure, ehm Dawn?"

"What?"

"You do know that he and-"

"Yeah," she interrupted. "I know."

"Oh, okay," Buffy said while moving to turn around. "Oh, and I'm sorry for reading your diary too. I shouldn't have done that, but I... you know..."

"Didn't think?"

"Well, that's a bit harsh."

"Were too angry to think it through?"

"Maybe a bit. But it wasn't as bad as you think either."

Dawn only let out a sigh. Buffy would never change and, despite the fact that she could sometimes really be a pain in the but, she still loved her sister. "Alright, let's get downstairs okay? I'm getting hungry, and maybe we can bug mom to hurry up with dinner."

x.x.x

"Why did we have to take such an early flight?" Methos whined in his most child-like voice.

Amanda didn't answer immediately, instead walking over to the car rental agency. "Because it was the first one."

"We could have just come by car you know."

"Really? Whose car would we use for that?"

"MacLeod's?" he answered. Who cared what car? He hated how he didn't have any direct access to his sword on a flight. Even posing as a courier the sword had to be packaged. Not that he believed anybody would challenge him on a flight, but he still didn't like it.

"Oh come on, old man," Richie spoke up. "It's not that bad is it? We're here now, and we can go and meet the beautiful ladies of Southern California."

"And one in particular, eh?"

"Yes," the young Immortal answered before focusing on Amanda. "You know Amanda, I'm still not sure whether to be angry at you for hiding her so long, or happy that you actually know someone as beautiful as you."

Amanda smiled at that, while Methos only rolled his eyes at the exaggerated flattery. "Flattery gets you everywhere darling, but you might want to save it for Callie. You'll need it."

Why had he come again? Methos wondered, as he watched Amanda ask for the car she'd ordered. Was it to watch Richie go down in flames while trying to seduce a useless piece of fluff? Or was it to help Amanda protect her student?

Nah, he knew why he had come. Despite the way he sometimes acted towards these two, he was still rather fond of them and would miss them if something happened to them. Well, that and the fact that MacLeod would string him up if he allowed any harm to come to either his lover or former student.

Which was always a good reason. Still, while he usually didn't mind getting up early. Usually? Okay, sometimes was more accurate. Alright. Rarely. The point still stood. He liked it even less if it was followed by the usual nonsense one had to endure when traveling by plane.

"Thank you," Amanda said while accepting the key from the man behind the desk. Turning around she then indicated for the two of them to follow her. They didn't have to walk very long, but when Methos saw the car, he was actually disappointed. It was just a normal car, nothing flashy about it. No, he perked up, this was actually better than a flashy car. It would allow them to blend in better.

Richie however didn't think in those terms. "This is it? Couldn't you have hired a Porsche or something? I'd hoped to make an impression while getting out of the car."

"Richie," Amanda answered while heaving a sigh, "there's no way that you could impress her with a car. Cars are status symbols, and have to be bought in Callie's opinion. And you don't have the money required for buying a suitable car."

"She's rich then?" Richie asked excitedly.

"Yes. She almost always has been, and if it's even the least bit up to her, she always will be."

"She always acts as a rich person? Doesn't that get her noticed?" Methos wanted to know.

"That probably depends on how you define it. And she lives all over the world, so there never was much chance of anyone recognizing her from a previous life. Of course, I don't know how she plans to deal with that now that the world is getting so small and everything is documented."

"Maybe she'll have to live like a vagrant for a while then," Methos muttered. "It's not like it would do her any harm."

Amanda snorted while she unlocked the car. "Right. You obviously haven't met her. Status is far too important to her."

He debated taking the front seat for a moment, but Richie was too fast and Methos only shrugged before getting into the back. It didn't really matter to him anyway, and this way he might be able to get some sleep.

"Is she really that concerned with status?" Richie wanted to know once all three of them were in the car.

"Yes, it sounds a bit crazy perhaps, but it's the truth. Let me put it like this," Amanda tried to explain. "I told you about the shared Quickening right?"

"Yeah, the one Joe got so angry about because he didn't know about it."

"Exactly. Now, after that she'd accepted what she was and do you know what the first thing was that she wanted to do?"

The boy shrugged, obviously not even bothering to guess at what ridiculous thing a woman like that could come up with. So Amanda answered for him while turning the first corner. "She wanted to visit London, where she knew everybody!"

"Didn't you explain that she shouldn't see people she knew?"

"Of course I did. But that didn't help a bit, she wasn't very happy when I forbade it either. I had a hell of a time calming her down."

"You should have killed her," Methos interrupted from the back seat. It was the most logical thing to do after all. A hysteric Immortal? Stick a sword through their chest and they'll calm down, works every time.

"She had just saved my life, I had no intention of doing that."

"In that case you've got nobody to blame but yourself."

"Geez Adam, are you always this nice to a potential student?" Richie wanted to know.

"They need to learn to survive, don't they? If they stop complaining about every tiny little thing it goes a lot faster."

"Maybe, anyway I had a better solution," Amanda continued. "We got cleaned up a bit in a small lake nearby and I loaned her some of my clothes. That way she looked at least representable, and to prevent her from complaining even more, we went south."

"What? To London?" Methos asked indignantly. "You didn't really accept her ridiculous demand, did you?"

"Of course not. We went to Paris."

"To Paris. You went to Paris because your new student wanted pretty nails?" He couldn't believe it. Amanda wasn't that stupid, was she?

"Well, that's what I told her. Of course, once we arrived there were other plans. Do you have any idea of the valuable knowledge she possessed? It was simply incredible. I mean, I know quite a bit about who was who at that time, but she was in a completely different league.

"We started to work the court, and that's where you noticed how good she really was. The girl could have made a killing if she'd continued with it. Not that she didn't do good anyway, but it was such a waste of potential," Amanda sighed.

Richie didn't seem to understand, not that Methos really did but unlike the younger Immortal, he had not intention of admitting that. "What was so special about her then?"

"She remembered everything. Which was pretty strange considering the amount of trouble she had even learning how to properly hold a sword. But when it came to people, there wasn't anything she didn't remember. Whenever I introduced her to somebody, I only had to leave her with him for half an hour before she could tell me everything about them.

"Once I'd come back to pick her up she knew the layout of his estate, how much he was worth, where the most valuable things were, and how everything was guarded. Hah! Callie would even know the name of the captain of the man's guard. She could play people like nobody else I've ever seen."

"I thought you said she wasn't a people person," Richie asked. A question that Methos would like an answer to as well.

"I know. It's one of those weird things. If she's being her normal self and only in the presence of those she feels are beneath her, which means most people, she's a prime bitch. But back there she was among her equals, and she definitely knew how to talk to them," Amanda grinned.

Well, if she was so happy about that she must have really made a lot of money during that time. "I take it things went well then?"

"Oh yes," Amanda said before apparently deciding to tell a story about that time. "Things went so incredibly good, it's not even funny."

She then started her tale, and like most Immortals she had become good enough at telling it that it almost seemed like he was there.

….…

Amanda looked at her new student, not even bothering to hide the despair she felt at the shabby way she handled her sword. "This won't do Callie. It's been over a year now and you haven't improved at all. You managed to kill Svenson, didn't you? And the people who killed you."

"That was different," Callidora explained, "My own wounds did not concern me at that time. All I wanted to do was kill them."

"And that is no longer the case," Amanda confirmed.

"No, you have told me many times that I should be careful about taking wounds. That it will slow me down enough to offer my opponent a chance to kill me. However, hiring a guard would solve all those problems. Why can I not do that?"

She always came back to things like this: one time it was carrying a crossbow to kill her opponents from a distance, the next it would be a guard. The only thing she hadn't yet wondered about was how she could get her hands on a decent army. At least, Amanda hoped Callidora hadn't thought of that yet. "The rules, Callie. The rules."

"The rules are for idiots!" the young woman bit out. "I do not care about them, my life is far more important!"

"And if you want to continue living you better make sure that you know how to handle a sword!" Amanda shouted back.

"I do not want that!" Callidora screeched, and with a powerful swing she threw the wooden practice sword away from her. "I am not good at this, and I never will be. We should accept that as a fact, and arrange for a better protection."

"You do not have a choice in this matter. Immortals will come to kill you, and if they know that you do not play by the rules they will not bother with them either."

"And how could they find out if whether that is the case? You do not believe that I would leave any witnesses, do you?"

Now that she put it like that, no. One constant where it came to Callidora was that she didn't leave things to chance. She was always meticulous, practical, and most of all ruthless. "That will not work forever. Matters like these have a way being found out"

"But until that time I will be alive. And if they find out I can go into hiding, or move to another country."

"They will know your name," Amanda explained once again.

"They will not," Callidora countered. "Why would I give my real name to people who try to kill me? I do not care about what they do, nor about who they are. A bunch of sword-wielding fools has no need to know my name."

"You are not thinking this through Callie-"

"NO! You are not doing that. You have lived for a very long time. You are centuries old, and closer to a thousand than to five hundred. You must know that members of our kind do not always give their true name. If they did, none of the very old would still be alive."

"What makes you think that they are?" Amanda tried to counter.

Callidora raised on of her perfect eyebrows before answering. "You have told me that yourself. Many times have you spoken about your teacher who is so much older than you are. Aside from that, you have told me about these myths who are millennia old and similar stories. No, you always tell me that I have the potential to live forever, but at the same time you want me to learn how to shorten that life."

"I try to extend it, not shorten it!"

"It does not seem that way to me. I have no wish to continue learning how to use a sword."

Well, there were other things she could teach her student right now. So Amanda didn't see any need to continue with that right now. "As you wish."

"Really?" Callidora asked surprised.

"Yes, we will take a break for now. There is a party tonight that we should prepare for anyway."

"Not again. You know I am not comfortable with resorting to the feats of a petty thief."

"There is nothing petty about me. I am the best."

Callidora sighed. "And I do not care. I have no wish to use a sword, nor do I want to have to fight for my life, and I certainly do not want to be a common thief."

"But tonight you will be."

The young woman raised her eyes to peer into hers, showing Amanda for the first time in months that there was a core of steel underneath them. A core that only needed to be awakened. "That sounds like a threat."

"If that is how you want to see it," Amanda answered.

A strange mixture of emotions crossed Callidora's face, but in the end she lowered her eyes. Clearly not yet ready to confront Amanda. "As you wish. I will help you again, because you did try to help me and explained who I am. But after tonight, I will be leaving."

Hearing that, Amanda's eyes widened in surprise and she tried desperately to come up with a reason for Callidora to stay that her student would accept. But nothing came up that she hadn't already mentioned earlier. "No! You should not do that."

"I must. I can not live like this any longer. You have already told me that I can not have children, that a marriage would be unsuccessful, and that I can not stay any place for long. If that is the case, I want to travel. Visit the colonies."

"You will. That is what I have been telling you," Amanda tried. "But you aren't ready to do so."

The beautiful woman stayed aloof though, and the conversation soon petered out. Knowing that trying to convince her student would be useless, Amanda did her best to accept it and went to ready herself for that night.

….…

"I thought you were going to tell about how she was so useful during those missions, which I interpreted as a funny story. All you've done so far is shown how she threw a hissy fit, proving me right about how the noblewomen during that time were," Methos interrupted the story.

"Hey!" came from Richie. "I was enjoying the story, why don't you keep quiet and let Amanda continue?"

Rolling his eyes in exasperation, Methos countered. "You only enjoy the story because you keep hoping she explains the changing part in detail, telling you what this Callidora looks like underneath her clothes."

"I do not."

"Yes you do."

"Do not."

"Yes-"

"Oh shut up you two," Amanda interrupted. "You act like a couple of children. And I was about to come to the part you were waiting for Adam."

"You were? And this is actually going to be interesting?"

"Yes it is."

"Oh, alright then, carry on." A look in the mirror showed him that Amanda was staring heatedly at him, but instead of apologizing for his words he only made himself more comfortable.

"Alright then. Now, we changed into the clothes that would be needed for the mission, and after Callie had spent her usual three hours making her face look perfect we were finally ready to go."

….…

"Tonight? You want to take everything tonight? While everybody knows that we are there? That does not seem wise to me." Callidora hissed while they were seated in the stuffy coach that would bring them to the estate.

"What does it matter to you? You will leave after tonight."

"That is exactly why it matters to me. They will think I committed the crime. That would ruin my good standing."

"I have two things to say about that. The first is that you actually will be involved in this crime, and secondly why does it matter if your reputation is besmirched? You will have to take another name in any case."

Callidora looked at her as if she saw water burning. "What else is there besides having an impeccable reputation?"

"Your life for one."

"Aside from that!"

"Why? That is the most important thing, is it not?"

"Yes, but that is not the point," her student sighed. "Are all Immortals like this?"

"What do you mean? Procurers of rare items?"

"No, I am not talking about the stealing. I know that there are only few who do that. What I alluded to is the question if all Immortals are this afraid to die?"

That actually got Amanda thinking, her student was right about the fact that Immortals probably thought more about death more than most mortals did. But that was probably because there was no natural end to their life. And besides, she wasn't nearly as focused on staying alive as she showed Callidora, that was mostly a show for her student's benefit.

"I do not know."

Callidora only looked at her with those perfectly accented eyes, and remained quiet. A state they remained in until they arrived at the party.

Once the coach drew to a halt in front of the mansion, they could finally get out of the vehicle and Amanda made use of the opportunity to stretch her sore muscles a bit. She hated having to sit in those cramped little things. Of course, the super noble woman showed no sign of any discomfort, and that was something she envied her student for.

No matter what happened, Callidora was always acting exactly the right way. Doing things perfectly that had taken Amanda years to perfect, and some of which even now occasionally went wrong. Not that she was jealous. Oh no, absolutely not. Well alright, maybe a little, but even without being raised like Callidora, she was able to do handle herself in these situations.

"Shall we?" she asked Callidora and waited for the acknowledging nod before starting for the entrance herself.

Usually they brought male companions along with them, but because they were planning on taking the jewelry tonight, they couldn't do that. Which might actually be the reason why her student didn't like it. When it came to men, she obviously didn't care what her reputation was. Callidora always toyed with them, leaving them wanting her, until at the end of the night she sent them home with their tail between their legs.

In the entire year since they'd been student and teacher, never once had she seen Callidora actually take anyone to her bed. It might be because it went against the sensibilities of a noblewoman, but Amanda suspected there was more to it. Details about how she had died were still sketchy, but she knew it happened during a raid.

Or rather, after a raid. And she had seen the results of something like that often enough to understand what happened to the women. Still, the woman was remarkably silent about what had happened to her, and after several failed attempts to get Callidora to open up about it Amanda had given up.

But that wasn't relevant to the current situation anyway. Passing through the door, they walked to the entrance of the ballroom, where they were loudly announced under the guise of cousins. And as they were both looking quite good, their entrance didn't suffer from any lack of attention.

Smiling at the gathered crowd, Callidora whispered to her. "Is this not great? Is this not so much better than picking pockets in the streets?"

"The great part about this is that we can get close to our targets. For the rest, I don't really care about these stuffy people."

"Hah! I knew it," Methos once again interrupted. "You thought they were stuffy too, despite what you said yesterday."

"Can't you keep quiet during a story?" Richie asked, turning partly around to glare at him. As if the young pup was allowed to do that.

"Only when it's interesting. And she doesn't contradict herself like she did now. Didn't you say that I shouldn't think of them as stuffy yesterday?"

"No, what I said was that the noblewomen weren't as bad as you believed. That's all. And these people were stuffy. Callie might be able to spend hours with someone that dreadfully boring, but I couldn't. The subjects they talked about were horrible."

"Well, that's what women always do," Methos told her smugly. This trip was getting better and better.

But Amanda wasn't out of the game. "Who said I was talking about the women?"

….…

Making her way through the crowd, Amanda did her best to spy out anyone who could pose a danger to her plan. This was after all what she'd been working for these pasts nine months. With Callidora at her side it had become far easier to infiltrate these people, and so far she hadn't made any mistakes that might give away her intention.

She had actually been so nice as to not steal anything from the other people here. Or even from the palace, another place the two of them had been invited a couple of times. Those visits were actually the ones that had unnerved her the most. She knew that it was unlikely that anyone who knew Callie in her previous life would actually show up during their brief visits, but there was always a chance.

Not that it had bothered her student. Despite her many other weaknesses, a lack of confidence was not something she suffered from. At least not when it came to socializing. She had remained calm during the long rides there, and during the parties themselves she didn't act in any way different. And she did know the importance of not being recognized by anyone who knew her before.

The jewelry. She had to think about the jewelry, because that's what she was here for. The plan had already been worked out, Callidora had an important role to play in that part, but it wasn't something the woman wouldn't be capable of. All she had to do was keep everybody busy, and from the crowd that had already gathered around her, that didn't seem the least bit of a problem.

Seeing her chance, Amanda opened the door to an empty hallway, and with a wildly beating heart she then slipped through it. As she closed it behind her, she spent a couple of minutes to see if anyone came after her. It was a lot easier to come up with an excuse while she was still near the door than when she was going through the jewelry.

But nobody came after her, the distraction obviously worked. Not that this was the hard part; she could have managed to get this far without Callidora.

Focus. Walking on in the hallway, she looked for where she needed to go. It was about two months since the count had given the two of them a tour of the house, once again thanks to her student, but she still knew exactly where everything was.

Encountering a hallway that led to her left, she nodded in recognition. Yes, this was the one. Now she needed to look for the stairway used by the servants. Following the path she knew would lead her to the master bedroom, Amanda came closer and closer to her goal until she could almost taste the gold that she was about to steal.

Perfect. There it was, the room that would set her up good for the next couple of years. Well, no doubt her student would demand some of the spoils, but that was of a later concern. Now she just had to take everything, put it in the bag she was carrying underneath her fluffy dress, and get the hell out of here. Opening the door slightly, she confirmed the room was dark, and stepped through.

"Finally," Amanda whispered in exultation as the dim light showed her the cabinet in which the jewelry was kept.

Walking over she tried to open the drawers, and, once she'd confirmed they were indeed locked, she took out her lock picks to remedy that. With centuries of experience in this field of work, it didn't take long until she heard the familiar click that indicated her success. Sliding it open she held her breath in anticipation of the beautiful sight that would greet her.

"I am impressed with your control."

With her heart suddenly beating heavily in her throat, Amanda spun around until she could see the speaker. A sight that almost made her sick, the captain of the guard was standing there. While he didn't have his sword drawn, the men with him were pointing their various weapons at her, leaving her without a decent chance to get away.

"Oh, I am sorry. I got lost."

"There is no point in lying. I recognized you the first time that you stepped through the door of this house. Unfortunately the count would not believe me until I had some proof, which is why you actually got this far."

"Really? You recognized little old me? Have we met before?" Amanda asked while showing her most disarming smile and fluttering her eyes at him. She had to get out of here, and fast. This situation was going down the drain fast.

"I doubt you remember me. I was only one of the many guards at that time." Seeing that she still didn't have a clue, he tried to explain a bit more. "Milan? Do you remember me from there?"

Not really no, although she had spent some time there about a decade before. "I am terribly sorry, I think you've got me confused with somebody else."

"I thought that to be the case when I started paying attention to the woman you claim is your niece. She actually feels at home among the nobles; where did you find her?" the captain asked while indicating she should start walking.

Reluctantly Amanda did as he ordered, but wouldn't stop trying to convince the man of her innocence. "She is my cousin, naturally. Is it really necessary to act as if I am a common criminal?"

"My apologies dear lady. I realize that you are no common thief. I am really sorry for mistaking you for one. Shall we go speak to the count anyway? Then you will have the chance to explain to him how you are no ordinary thief, but instead one that targets nobles like him."

Amanda was starting to get angry at the man's tone, but she also realized there wasn't anything she could do about it. She was in trouble, and she knew it. Following a different route from the one through which she'd found her way to the room, they eventually ended up at the ballroom again, where everybody spotted their entrance.

"What is the meaning of this?" the count demanded as he walked over to them.

"I come with your proof, sir. We discovered this woman while she was trying to rob you."

"She probably only took a wrong turn. There's no need to let something like that ruin a good party."

Seeing a chance, Amanda immediately jumped on it. "Exactly, my dear friend. Would you honestly believe that I would do something like that?"

The captain of the guard however, simply handed over her lock picks, destroying any credibility she might have head. "We found her with these."

"Amanda? What have you done?" Callidora suddenly spoke up, wearing a horrified expression.

The count immediately turned towards Amanda's supposed cousin. "My dear, do you know what's going on?"

"I am so terribly sorry count. Had I known she might do this I would never have allowed her to come along. My uncle has always said he believed something went wrong with her: maybe my aunt spent a night with someone who tried to rob them. However it happened, ever since she was a little girl she has had the urge to take things. We believed she had grown over it. But obviously..." she trailed off while sadly shaking her head.

"You have my sincerest condolences," the count said with a mournful expression, while resting a hand on her shoulder. "It must be terrible to be confronted with the reality of her behavior like this."

Yes, that was something Amanda couldn't agree with more. She had listened with mounting horror as Callidora had spun her tale, doing far more damage than anyone else could possibly have done. "But-"

"No Amanda, I am truly sorry about this. You should have learned from you previous mistakes though, there is no real future in crime," Callidora said before turning back to the count. "Am I correct in understanding the punishment that she'll have to suffer?"

"I truly am sorry, but if I'm not consistent in matters like that..."

"Do not worry, while I am far from happy about it I understand what needs to be done. However, I would like to ask you for a boon."

"Normally, I would say anything. But-"

Callidora placed a finger on the count's lips. "I will not ask for her to be freed. However, I would prefer it if she died with dignity, and not after a prolonged stand with the magistrate."

"As I understand the laws, there is no need for her to die over this."

"Having her hand chopped off instead? No, think of her family dear count. Think of the humiliation that would bring us."

"I understand, is that your request? That she will receive the death penalty for this?"

But Amanda's student didn't seem finished yet. "No. My request is one of more advantage to myself. It will be hard enough to explain the situation to her parents as it is, I would prefer if I did not have to do so with a mutilated corpse as well. As I am unsure about how she would be killed, I want to ask you to have it done by the single stroke of a dagger."

Died? Kill? It was only a failed attempt at thievery! "Callie?" Amanda almost begged. She didn't want to die, even if it was only temporary. The plan had been that her student would convince the count to let her go, not to have her killed!

But Callidora didn't seem inclined to help her. "I am sorry, dear cousin. But if dieing is the only thing that will make you learn, that is the way it should be." Not fair! Using her own words against her. She hadn't been that strict a teacher, had she?

"I accept your request, milady. And I understand your plight. Sometimes the rules have to make way for the realities of the world."

"Thank you. I would prefer if I did not have to witness the event myself. Would it be possible for me to have a rest?"

"Of course," the count answered while ignoring Amanda's continued pleas and waving one of his servants over. "This day has been hard enough for you. Please escort her to a room."

….…

"She betrayed you?" Richie asked when Amanda stopped her account.

"That's what I thought at the time. And the only thing that stopped me from implicating her as well was the fact that she'd at least spared me a beheading."

"Beheading? For being a thief?"

Methos interrupted now, as he understood the situation better. "No, for being a repeat offender. And most importantly for being a noble. While they would accept many things from each other, there were limits. And if that captain of the guard had indeed recognized her from earlier escapades..."

"Okay, it still doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but I'll accept it for now. But that still doesn't explain the beheading thing. Wouldn't cutting off a hand be a better punishment?"

"Hey!" Amanda interrupted while swatting Richie playfully. "That's not nice. I rather like my hands where they are."

"I know. But I thought that's the kind of thing they did in those days."

"Normally yes. However in this case, a direct family member asked for the honor of that family to be spared the indignity of a public conviction. Although I'm pretty sure she could have argued for Amanda to be released as well."

"That's what I believed as well," Amanda acknowledged. "And that was actually the plan."

"So, why didn't she do that?"

"Because she wanted to show off," Amanda muttered darkly.

Okay, that didn't make a lot of sense. "Show off?"

"Yes. While the guards were off watching my execution, she broke into the count's room and took the loot. It was probably the only thing that stopped me from Challenging her after I'd woken up."

Somehow he doubted that, it was never easy to Challenge one of your own students. "So, she used you?"

"Isn't it great?" Amanda beamed, reinforcing Methos' opinion that he'd never understand her. "She made me so proud. I would've preferred if she'd used someone else, but she did manage to do it. And she even stayed with me for a couple of extra months as well. Not that her skills with a sword improved much, but it was a lot of fun."

Right. Somehow he couldn't imagine how much fun it could possible be to have a student who'd shown she was willing to have you killed. But he decided to remain quiet and spent his time looking out of the window until Amanda once again broke the silence.

"Ah, almost there."

Finally, Methos thought, still wondering what little town they'd be going to. It was Richie who asked the question though. "So, we're going to Sunnydale?"

"Yes." The answer sounded a bit nervous to him, and wrinkling his brow, Methos tried to come up with a reason for that.

"I know that name, although I don't know why."

"Yes, I had a feeling you would," Amanda answered, still sounding far too nervous for his liking.

This was not good. What was it about Sunnydale that could make Amanda fear his reaction? It didn't sound like any impressive town, but he was still pretty sure he'd heard the name before. But where?

It took him a couple of minutes to remember, at which time they'd already reached the house they were looking for, but that didn't take away his sudden need to leave. "You did not just bring me here, did you?"

"I'm sorry."

"Do you have any idea what this place is?"

"Of course, it's the reason Callie went to live here."

Someone knowingly came to live here? "You want me to help someone who decided to live on top of the Hellmouth? Are you crazy? I'm already sure that your student is, but I never expected such a low trick from you."

"Low trick? I didn't lie about anything."

"Oh yes, you only forgot to mention that your student lived on the Hellmouth. How could I possibly mistake that for a lie?" Methos shouted back, seriously freaked out now.

"From what I heard it's not really that bad."

"Not that bad? I've spent 5000 years evading this kind of place, and now you want me to help someone I don't even know. Someone who decided to live here?"

"Hold on," Richie injected, "what's a Hellmouth?"

"It's where Ahriman's big brothers live. A portal of sorts to Hell."

Amanda didn't agree with that explanation though, and provided her own while getting out of the car. "Well, not Hell exactly, just something that lookes like it."

Following her example, Methos didn't stop complaining. "If you think that I'm staying here, you've got a serious problem. I'm outta here."

"Will you at least come in to meet Callie?"

"Of course I will, I need to call myself a taxi. I knew I should have put the damn car on my name." The last part was muttered, as he stormed up the path leading to the front door and ringing the door bell repeatedly. There was no way he was going to be spending any more time here than necessary.

It was a couple of minutes before he could feel the familiar buzz of an Immortal, and even then it took a while before someone finally opened the door. A someone who had obviously taken the time to dress herself. Of course, she was also carrying a sword, which was quickly put aside when the woman recognized her teacher. "Amanda!"

Methos barely saw the girl move before she was hanging around Amanda's neck, muttering about how happy she was about having her there. While Richie was obviously enjoying the sight—no doubt the scene would fuel some of the boys future fantasies—Methos was getting antsy. This was the Hellmouth, and now that he knew that he wanted to be gone as fast as he could.

"Yeah, hello to you too. Can we go in now?" Not bothering to actually wait for an answer he walked inside, continuing until he reached the living room. A living room that appeared to have undergone some rigorous cleaning lately. Probably connected with the whole attackers thing. Not his problem. Something else was though. "Where's your phone?"

By now the others had joined him in the room, and Callidora demanded to know what he was doing. "What does it look like I'm doing? I want to get out of here. Your precious teacher forgot to inform me that this is where we'd be going."

"This?" Callidora's voice was freezing cold, but Methos really couldn't care less. He didn't care about insulting anyone right now. All he wanted was to get away from the Hellmouth with his life intact.

"Yes. This. The Hellmouth. The place only a complete and utter idiot would live."

"Amanda? Who is this man who thinks he can insult me in my own house?"

A weary sigh came from Amanda, but once again he didn't care. "Callie, this is Adam Pierson, the boy here who's drooling all over you is Richie Ryan."

"Hey! I'm not drooling, and besides how could anyone not do so?" The last part was muttered, but nobody had any trouble hearing it.

Of course, the stupid woman took it as a compliment. "Thank you."

"Y-you're welcome," Richie stuttered, probably surprised by the reaction. However, all that nonsense still hadn't solved his problem.

"Where's the phone? Or do you have a car I can use? I only need a drive to the closest airport."

"Are they all like you, Cordy?"

Turning around, Methos sized up the little girl who seemed to be standing casually in the room. Where had she come from? She wasn't Immortal, or he would have sensed her, but mortals didn't usually sneak up on him either. "Who're you?"

"Cordy?"

"Yes they are. Amanda, I'd like you to meet Dawn Summers, a good friend of mine who helped me out yesterday."

Wait a minute, this young girl had helped Callidora when she'd been attacked? Nah, she had to be speaking of something else. Or was she? He took a closer look at the girl, and while she returned the examination he didn't see anything about her that appeared to explain Callidora's comments. Well, you never knew on the Hellmouth. For all he knew she was-

His thoughts crashed to a halt as the girl was suddenly pointing a gun at him, and before he even had a chance to say something, or even dive to the side, a bullet crashed into his forehead.

x.x.x

"And?"

"It sure looks as if your contact was right. Several more people just arrived," Jason told him.

Boris nodded in acknowledgment of that statement. "Immortals?"

"We didn't get close enough to sense them, but I did recognize that thief Amanda. And Willem said the kid with them is MacLeod's student."

"Which MacLeod?"

"The younger one, I think. He's the only one with a student right now isn't he?"

"Was he there as well?" he wanted to know. The presence of someone like Duncan MacLeod could make this whole operation a lot harder than it should be.

"No, there was another man with them but he didn't seem very impressive. He looked more like a student than anything else, oh and he was very agitated, almost afraid."

"Afraid? What could he be afraid of?" Boris mused, but when he couldn't think of anything he directed his thoughts elsewhere. "Could he be a new student of Amanda? We knew she'd be coming here after those failed attacks, but I can't believe she'd take on a new student while the others are being killed."

"I don't think he's a student. Or at least not a new one, he could be a mortal though."

"A mortal? What makes you think that?"

Jason shrugged. "He didn't react to the buzz, well that or he's very good at hiding it."

"No, so far the information we've received has panned out. There are four Immortals in that house, and with only five people that leaves only him as the fourth." Yes, Boris thought, that was the only possibility as only one of the girls was Immortal.

"Maybe another one will arrive later," Jason proposed, but Boris didn't believe that would be the case.

"No, there were four once Amanda arrived. That's what we were promised and that's what we'll count on. Are they cut off?"

"Yes, unless they have a cellphone, there is no way for them to place a call. Everything is ready to take out their electricity as well, but I'm not sure how much use that'll be."

"Not much. It might scare them a bit, but they probably won't even notice," Boris conceded. That had after all mostly been a contingency plan in case they'd attack during the night. But he didn't want to risk waiting the entire day. A smile slowly crept on his face as he considered what they were about to do though. "However, I believe it is time for us to make our presence known."

"Already?"

"Yes, it's time for Amanda to find out who has been killing her students. Too bad she won't be able to take any comfort in that knowledge."


Allen Pitt: Thank you for the feedback. Well, by the time she heard the music, Dawn was once again in control and she does know the music. Preventing the fluke thing would probably not be very high on Dawn's agenda, even if she could remember the particulars about the incident.
Your ideas about the Wish are interesting, not quite what I had in mind, but interesting nonetheless. An Immortal Cordelia would definitely be in a bad situation there, and you're right that it could be fun. The werewolf thing isn't something I'll use though. :-) As for Dawn coming to a world where Buffy is a tv-series... No. While it might sound interesting, it would destroy the series.

Bob-from-Accounting: Thank you for your review as well. As you've read by now you know that they were indeed both practical. Although maybe not in the way you'd expected. The Terakan thing was only a warning, so it wasn't out of character (simply an extra insurance that their messenger will survive). And as for the reviews, well there aren't that many people who read the story, and while I like receiving reviews I'm not lying awake about their lack. They improve my writing and give me ideas, but they should come voluntarily. Besides, I have to confess that my own record where it comes to giving deserved reviews isn't as good as I like it either.