In Your Blood
Chapter Four

Buffy held Willow's hair as she threw up into a street drain. They were lucky that this part of town was quiet at the moment, otherwise this could have been embarrassing. After a few moments Willow stopped and pulled herself together. 'So now do I get to kill him?' She asked her best friend.

'I… I wouldn't even try!' Willow gasped. 'He wasn't lying about that explosion Buffy. Killing him will release so much energy. I don't want to be anywhere near that!'

'So he's basically a shaken bottle of coke. I take of the top and blam we all get soaked?' Buffy put it in her best dumb blonde explanation.

'A volcano of coke.' Willow corrected.

'Right. So, is Dawn like him?' She asked the question she had to. Not liking the answer she knew was coming.

Willow nodded. 'I think so. I mean its a pretty small sample to draw a conclusion from, but yeah. Only he's like a million times more.'

Buffy's mind was spinning from this idea. 'We best get back inside.' She said after a moment. Willow nodded her agreement and the two of them got back into the church.

Faith, Xander and Robin had made it inside after Andrew had, surprisingly making himself useful for a change, dashed out to tell them what was happening. Right now the Adam guy was surrounded by the fighters in their group, all of them armed and looking far a reason to end him.

He was putting on a good show of not caring, but Buffy could tell he was nervous. Who wouldn't be. One wrong move and, if he was telling the truth and he wasn't tricking Willow somehow, he'd explode. 'It's alright guys, put them down.'

'Bee?' Faith asked, her sword dangerously close to the man's neck.

Buffy kept her eyes on him. 'He's not going anywhere, are you?'

'Not just yet.' He shrugged pretending not to notice Faith was the only one not stepping back. Eventually she did, but when he tried to put his hands in his pockets she raised the sword again.

Making some show of keeping his hands in sight Adam, if that was his name, looked at Willow. 'You alright now?' he asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

Willow nodded. 'I wasn't ready. I never thought you'd be that powerful. What are you?'

'Old.' he told her cryptically.

'So Willow's convinced.' Buffy jumped in, trying to steer the conversation. 'I'm still not, but I promise you if you think you can just chop off my sister's head you've got another thing coming buster.'

'I already told you that's not what I'm here for. Dawn needs to be taught, I'm the only one that can do it.' He explained again patiently. Buffy recognised it as the same sort of voice Giles had when he was trying to explain something. It got on her nerves, treating her like she was still a high schooler.

'I'm sure there are others.' She pointed out. Not that she'd trust them, just a lot more than this guy.

'Oh, there are a few. Not as many as you might think, but some.' He said with a lazy shrug, 'But you can't guarantee they won't try to take her head the first chance they get.'

She narrowed her eyes at him. 'And what guarantee do we have you won't?'

'The only one I can give you. I promise, I swear to you, I have no intention of hurting her.' He actually managed to sound sincere. Even though he was surrounded by swords and people ready to use them.

'Why not?' Xander asked. 'Why do you people go around cutting each others heads off anyway? Is it a cultural thing or something?'

The supposed Immortal sighed. 'It's the Game. We've played it since time began. In the end there can be only one.'

'You said that before.' Dawn chipped in. 'What does it mean? Only one?'

Adam pulled himself up and looked Buffy's sister dead in the face, Buffy recognised the expression as almost same on Giles had when describing something world ending-ly bad was about to happen. 'We play the Game, until the time of the Gathering. When only a handful remain we will be summoned to a distant land. Once there the last of us will compete for The Prize. In the end there can be only one.'

Ignoring the shiver down her spine Buffy spoke up, diverting his attention. 'What is that, some kind of prophecy?'

He nodded. 'Perhaps the oldest, maybe the first.'

Giles coughed uncomfortably. 'Maybe you could be a little more detailed. What exactly is this Prize, what does it entail?'

Adam sighed again and stepped over to the pulpit in the corner. Buffy's fiends surrounding him moved too. Keeping the same distance. He didn't exactly climb up to the pulpit, but did lean against the side. 'We don't really know. It's sort of a mystery.'

'So you can live forever, but instead you kill each other and you don't even know why?' Robin asked.

'I told you why, for the Prize. It's just different Immortals have different ideas what that is. Here's what we know for certain. When an Immortal takes another's head we take their power. The lightning and fireworks is just a side effect, the real energy is absorbed within us. Now that doesn't sound like a lot at first, but if you think about it for a moment that's where the trouble begins.'

He folded his arms, all the while leaning against the pulpit. 'Say there's a thousand Immortals, there's probably more, but you get the idea. A thousand Immortals, each of them live a hundred years. Doesn't sound a lot, but then one of them takes the other's heads. Instead of having a thousand hundred years you've got one hundred thousand years concentrated down into one person.'

There was a clatter as Giles dropped his glasses. 'Good lord!' The Watcher gasped. 'You can't be serious!'

'What?' Buffy and a few of the others asked over the top of each other.

Willow thought had gone pale and looked like she was about to throw up again. 'By the Goddess! A hundred thousand years of life energy. Is that what I felt from you?'

'Probably more.' He admitted lazily. 'Some Immortals have lived for hundreds, even thousands, of years all by themselves. Taking heads over the eons. Each time growing stronger and stronger. We have lived amongst you since the beginning after all. Immortals have seen the rise and fall of empires, spoken languages long forgotten by all but them. We are a living link back into history, all the way back to the dawn, no pun intended, of mankind itself.'

Buffy stood there, stunned, but he hadn't finished yet. Adam looked at all of them and Buffy could almost feel the weight of all those years he'd talked about. No wonder Willow vomited. 'That's the world Dawn is part of. That is the legacy she must accept and why someone has to teach her how to survive it.'

Dawn raised a hand. 'I have a question; we're talking God here right? When this is all done one of us, one of you, will be a God.'

'At the very least.' Giles agreed.

'Right, so are we talking good God or bad God. I mean I don't know what I'd be.' she admitted

Adam laughed, Buffy didn't think it was that funny but he must have. Standing straight he opened his arms wide. 'That's the Game!' He grinned at all of them. 'If an Immortal who's heart is good and true wins the Prize humanity will know paradise. A never-ending golden age. Otherwise, well just like mortals along the same lines as Ghengis Khan, Caligula and Stalin, we've got our own share of bad influences and they wouldn't be as nice as those those three. An evil immortal with the Prize would make the worst of mortal kind look like a child in comparison with virtually unlimited power.'

There was a long silence as they all looked at each other

'I don't think I want to play this game.' Dawn admitted in a quiet voice.

'I'm afraid you don't have much choice.'

The mortals began babbling amongst themselves. Trying to convince each other that Adam was either lying or exaggerating. The Witch and the Englishman with the air of a Watcher were the most accepting. The others were in denial, but Dawn was terrified. She could sense the truth in his words.

He couldn't blame her. Adam wasn't pulling his punches here. The Slayer was incredibly stubborn, but obviously loved her sister and he couldn't fault her for that. Same for Dawn, which was why he was doing it this way.

Not for the first time Adam was wondering why he hadn't just left already, and not for the first time he cursed Duncan's influence on him. Before meeting the overly moral Highlander he would have never tried to get between a Slayer and her family for anything as prosaic as the right thing.

'Which side are you?' The boy with an eyepatch asked seriously. On the surface he was the least threatening of all the mortals, which made Adam the most nervous. He may appear average, but to keep up with a Vampire Slayer and only have one eye told him there was a hidden strength there.

It was also a difficult question to answer. 'Let's just say I'm in the middle.' He replied carefully. 'I'm no saint, but my wild youth is behind me.'

'What he means is if you win this Prize who's side are you on?' The muscular African-American asked.

Again that was a tricky question, but rather than come up with a lie that he'd have to remember and probably get caught up on later he decided to stick with the truth. 'It won't happen. I won't win. I'm not interested in that. I just want to the Game to continue.'

'You want to keep cutting peoples heads off?' Dawn asked, shocked.

'No, that's not what I mean.' He jumped in, realising he'd made a mistake but it was too late now. 'I don't want anyone to win the Prize. I want life to continue. I have no illusions, one day, probably soon, it's all going to happen. Until then I just want to make the most of the life I've got. However, long that is.'

'And how does training Dawn help that?' The blonde sister asked, she was still hostile, but he could tell he was making some progress.

Adam shrugged. 'The more trained Immortals out there the longer it will be. We don't all have to fight. Not all the time. I have friends that are Immortal, like me, who I can trust. Who can, and I hope do, trust me. One more friend won't hurt.'

It seemed to be the right thing to say, but Buffy picked up on something he'd almost forgotten. 'If you just want to be friends, why did you kill my boyfriend?'

Adam couldn't hide his sudden anger as he half growled. 'He got what he deserved.' It was amazing, even to him, that after all theses years he could still get this angry at the mention of what had happened.

'He deserved to die? So it wasn't part of your Game?'

He turned to Dawn 'Didn't you tell her about that file I gave you?' he asked.

She couldn't hide her expression. 'I, I… No. I read it first and it… I didn't know what to do.' Dawn stumbled with an explanation.

'File, what's he talking about.'

'It's kinda why I didn't tell you about it. I was trying to work out how.' Dawn explained uncomfortably as all eyes were on her. Adam, having just been in the same interrogation decided to help.

'I realised after using Dawn to distract you that she was a Pre-Immortal. From what she said then kidnapping was nothing new to her. Being the sister of a Slayer is a high risk life, shall we say. I realised it was only a matter of time before she was killed so I stuck around. I gave her a file on you're Immortal. Or as I knew him Agostnio. Not everything, just a few things I'd been able to confirm over the years. Including what he did to my Leanna.'

'Your Leanna?' Echoed the Witch.

Adam let the memories come back to him. After all this time it still hurt, even if dulled by the years. 'It was the eighteen hundreds, early eighteen hundreds. I was living in Paris, working as a Doctor.' He swallowed. 'I found her in a back street. Her mother had died during the birth. Squatting in the alleyway amongst the rats and the filth. She was more than likely a prostitute. Unable to afford even the most basic treatment. God only knows how long she'd been sat there in the dry blood. Screaming as the gentry passed them by.'

He could remember it as if it was yesterday, the smells were the worst. Coming to him unbidden as the cries still filled his ears. When Immortals remembered traumatic times it was always crystal clear. One of life's little mysteries. 'Maybe because I'd spent so many years alone. Or because there was something about that defiance in the face of certain death. It could just have been because I felt sorry for the baby. Whatever the reason I took her. With no Father to speak of if I hadn't she'd have died there.'

'I could have just left her at a workhouse. After a few years she'd either be a cut purse, or end up like her mother. You could never start too young in those days.' Adam saw the reaction that dark truth brought. 'Please, do you think I'm that heartless?' He asked before picking up again. 'I adopted her. Wasn't difficult, I was rich after all and back then very few people asked questions. At least at first. It wasn't easy for her and while my reputation did take a blow she was always known as the whore's child. Leanna had very few friends growing up. I taught her myself. She was a gifted student. Smart, but a social pariah. You can probably guess how outcast she was. Eventually we moved on, first to Germany. The city of Dresden, where she became interested in art. Sculpture was her passion. We then moved here. No finer sculptures in the world. Oh Leanna loved Rome.' Adam grinned, remembering how excited she was.

'That's when we met Agostnio. All charm and slime. I didn't really trust him, but he didn't seem interested in challenging me so I reasoned live and let live. Instead of fighting me he started courting Leanna. I took the role of a protective father, but I knew it was only a matter of time before he broke her heart. Eventually we all move on. It's a hard lesson, but an important one.' Adam could tell that he had them on the edges of their seats, at least metaphorically, but they hadn't missed his latest slip up.

He didn't give them a chance to question him on it. 'It wasn't much later, after I first heard they were enjoying each others company, that Agostnio came to my door in the middle of the night. Practically knocked it down. He'd been attacked by a group of thugs, or so he said. Told me they left him for dead and took my daughter. He was very good at blaming himself, but he had an idea where we could find them. I was so angry and desperate I fell for his trap. Agostnio had given Leanna to a particularly nasty clan of demons he had contact with. Luring me down to their lair they were to soften me up before he took my head. Their payment, my daughter. To do with as they pleased.'

Adam fought to keep what he saw that night buried. 'Needless to say I was very angry and while unpleasant the demon clan was not very skilled. Agostnio saw which way the wind was blowing and fled. I was so busy slaughtering the clan I didn't notice. By the time I was finished and put it all together my good friend had fled. I next saw him years later, with you. You know the rest.'

'I don't believe you.' The blonde sister protested.

'And you'll be amazed how little I care about what you believe. It's the truth.' Adam snapped before turning away and taking a moment to compose himself.

Dawn was glad she skipped the mascara and wiped the tears from her eyes. It was one thing to read about it. It was another to hear his pain first hand. Adam's voice cracked several times as he tried to be factual. 'I don't believe you.' Buffy repeated to his back. 'Hey, look at me, look at me when I'm talking to you! I said I don't believe you.'

'He's telling the truth Buffy.' Dawn said quietly. 'At least I think he is.'

'What do you mean? The truth?' Her sister snapped. 'You knew the Immortal, could he do that?'

'Did we know him?' Dawn shot back. 'We didn't even know his name. It was all secrets and mystery with him. We never knew where he was coming from.' She took a moment to breathe and remember the research she had done. 'I didn't believe it either, so I did some checking. Eighteen thirty-four. The Slikt-nogh clan, a demon army for hire based here in Rome, was given a girl to sacrifice. Payment for a murder, when instead of a victim came what the books called the Angel of Death. Over the space of a week someone killed pretty much all of them. The few survivors were wiped out by their rivals.'

'You can't prove it was him. Or that it was this guy that did it.' Buffy insisted. 'He could have read up on that. He might have been there, or he's just that good an actor.'

'He gets my nomination for an oscar.' Faith muttered.

Adam faced them again. 'It doesn't matter. I've said my piece. I'll be in town for the rest of the week. After that I'm gone and none of you will ever find me again. Dawn should make up her mind by then. I'll leave you now.'

'Where do you think your going?' Faith asked.

'Home.' he said in a flat voice.

'Faith. Let him go.' Giles told her.

Buffy stared at him. 'You can't be serious. We've got him!'

'What are we going to do with him? Keep him prisoner?' Giles asked

'Killing him would be a really bad idea.' Willow added. 'Not just here. The amount of power I felt. It's big.'

'Besides, he's already gone.' Dawn pointed out. While they'd been arguing Adam had slipped away.

'Follow him!' Buffy ordered, rushing to the back of the Church. Faith and Xander went for the front. 'Crap, there's a back door!' She shouted back into the Church 'Find him!'

End Chapter Four