"He has the blood of a god?" Richie had never heard of such a thing outside of books.
"Both Xander and Cordelia do actually." Duncan confirmed. "Cassendra did a test to confirm it. And Xander may be right that his blood made the ground you were fighting on holy."
"How? He's an immortal like we are and we don't have the blood of gods in us, do we?"
"Cassandra has done that same test on other immortals, none of them have the blood of a god. We think it has to do with a way to end the Game, once and for all. And if we did, any challenges would have resulted in the same thing and the Game wouldn't even be a thing."
"The Game has been going on for thousands of years." Richie agreed. "Why?"
"Because our purpose has been corrupted." Xander said. "You remember the prophecy that Cassandra thought was about Duncan? We tracked down the entire prophecy. According to the prophecy, we're meant to be fighting vampires, not each other. The last immortal won't be a god and won't be able to claim the Prize. According to the prophecy, the One, is someone who already has the blood of a god and the Prize is something that will let the One speak to the gods."
"Then how did it get so twisted?"
"Some demons are able to influence humans, one probably got the Game going by doing just that, influencing. It obviously knew something about the Prize and our real purpose to able to twist us into the Game." Xander said.
"Is this prophecy the only thing you have to go on?"
"No, Nakano called me a Game changer and said I bring the winds of change. Cassendra is certain we have a special destiny and the Oracles have confirmed some things as well." Xander said.
"How do you have the blood of gods?"
"They may have been created specifically to end the Game." Duncan said. "The prophecy implied it. If there's no reason for the Game then we can stop fighting each other. Something I would very much like. I'm sorry I scared you, Richie. I never meant to hurt or scare you. Ahriman got into my head for a time. And I get why you want to be stronger, but hurting people to get there, is hurting yourself as well. You're turning yourself into a killer. The boy I took on as my student was cynical, but not a killer. You wanted to be a father to your ex girlfriend's kid. What kind of father would you be if you're a killer? There are reasons to kill, but this isn't one of them. Come home, Richie."
"Is it still home?" Richie asked, not looking at Duncan as though afraid of what he'd see. "I challenged Xander. He didn't want to fight but I made him. If his blood hadn't spilled on the ground - ."
"You wouldn't have won, Richie. Xander was giving you a chance to stop. As an immortal, he's not as strong as you. But he's not just an immortal. He's a were hyena. The only one we know of. The spirit of a hyena merged with him. If he'd transformed, he could have killed you. Unlike most werewolves, he has control over it. Knowledge and abilities get transferred with a quickening, this wouldn't. I've taken the head of a skin walker and his ability didn't transfer to me. You got off easy. And yes, this is still your home, both of you. Cordelia's too."
"Yeah, just tack me in the end there." She grumbled good naturedly.
"If you want a purpose, a way of helping, then you can help us with a friend of ours. She'll be coming out of a coma soon. Cassendra has been working to heal her. Someone we know used Magic to influence her into killing people. She was convinced she was evil. You can help us, help her. She can always use more friends. We all could." Xander said.
"Alright, I'll come home. And I don't know what I can do for your friend, but I'll try."
"That's all any of us can do." Xander assured him, after all, he had no clue how to end the Game, but if he found the way, he'd take it.
"If the Game can be ended, I want to help with that too. If there's no need for me to be stronger in order to survive, then there's no need for me to hunt. And that was the only reason I was hunting." Richie decided.
"Then welcome home." Duncan held out his hand and Richie took it. Richie looked at Xander. "Brothers, huh?"
"We've got a dad that gives a damn. So yeah, brothers."
"Cool."
"Very."
Not long after they found out the results of Xander's tests. Finding out he was the only immortal who wasn't sterile might even be more shocking then finding out he had the blood of a god running in his veins.
A/N Duncan is making an educated guess that the were hyena isn't transferable. Werewolfism is caused by a virus and is inheritable. It's part of the body. A quickening transfers knowledge and skills associated with the mind. Psychic type abilities or knowledge of Magic. Nothing on highlander ever said Magic could get transferred. Btvs did when Willow stole Rack's power and drained the books, so it's possible Cassandra's power could transfer in this fusion.
