Disclaimer: See Chapter One!

Plot: Set after "Eyewitness"; Richie gets kidnapped by a deranged immortal and it becomes a race against time to save Richie as MacLeod, the IUA and even the authorities are after the immortal.

Not Time to Say Goodbye

Richie smiled as he was eating chicken tenders from a pizza joint with Tori, and they were enjoying a movie while Duncan and Tessa were out on a date night.

"You know, it's not necessary," Richie spoke up.

"What do you mean?" Tori asked.

"You pointing out inaccuracies in this movie," Richie stated.

"Sorry," Tori apologized, "I can't help myself."

"It's good," Richie chuckled.

Tori heard a beep on her tablet and she answered the call, "What's up, Mom?"

"There's a new immortal sighting," Janet informed her, "and she's a twisted one at that."

"What do you mean by that?" Tori asked.

"The immortal's name is Kelsea Miller," Janet explained, "She is a serial killer who is responsible for kidnapping and murdering innocent victims. The string of killings and disappearances are akin to the movie The Silence of the Lambs. Kelsea kidnaps people, sometimes sexually assaults them, and when she's done, she kills the victims, but that's not all. Most of those victims have been skinned alive."

"Ewww," Richie grimaced.

"We'll keep an eye out on this creep, Mom," Tori replied, looking disgusted of what she had been told as well.

With that, the call ended.

Suddenly, Tori sensed the Buzz as she and Richie heard footsteps emerging from the room.

"Mac and Tess shouldn't be back yet," Richie stated as they finished their dinner.

Suddenly, a woman appeared in the room. She looked crazy and ready for whatever deranged plan this immortal woman had in mind.

"Richie, stay back!" Tori exclaimed as she got out her tachi, ready to defend them against this immortal. Richie backed to a nearby wall.

Then, the woman got out a gun and shot Tori three times, causing her to fall to the ground, dead.

"Tori!" Richie exclaimed in a panic before he picked up Tori's sword to try to defend himself.

"Stay back!" Richie shouted, holding the sword in hand, "Stay away from me!"

The woman grabbed him, and forced him to drop the sword to the floor. Richie tried to fight back to free himself from her grasp, and managed to push her off him, tearing a piece of her shirt in the process.

Richie looked on in horror as the woman grabbed him again and pulled out a syringe and plunged it into Richie's arm. The drug took its toll on him and he went limp before blacking out.

-DCH-Side-Stories-

Duncan entered the loft with Tessa in tow. They looked around to see nobody in sight.

"Richie?" Duncan called out, "Tori?"

"Mac! Tessa!" Tori shouted from a distance.

They looked on in surprise as Tori ran towards them in a panic, almost babbling.

"Tori? Tori!" Tessa called out.

"What's going on?" Duncan asked.

"Richie's missing!" Tori exclaimed, "Some female immortal, I assume it's the one my mom warned me about, she shot me dead during the struggle and she must have taken Richie."

This caused Duncan to pale in shock and Tessa to gasp in shock as well.

They hurried to the loft to find a gun on the ground as well as a piece of a shirt. Tori eyed the clothing, "Richie must've torn that off of her during a struggle."

-DCH-Side-Stories-

Richie woke up feeling quite dizzy and with a headache. It didn't help that there was some rock music playing in the background. He had no idea where he was until he looked up and flinched at the light overhead, "W – Where am I?"

He realized that he was now inside some deep, well. Probably 15 to 20 feet down. He touched the wall and it was cold and sticky and noticed that his prison was dark as he could barely see anything. Then he checked his clothes to find that his body was sticky and his clothes were a bit ruffled. A part of him didn't want to know what happened while he was unconscious, the more important thing was to figure out what was going on, who took him and why he was here.

"Hello?" Richie called out, "Hello?! Where the hell am I?! Hello?!"

He stepped back as he heard footsteps. Then he saw a feminine figure appearing from the overhead, "Morning, sleepy head."

"What do you plan to do with me?" Richie asked, "Why am I here?"

He took some deep breaths, trying to keep calm despite his predicament.

"You are going to make a great contribution to my collection, my dear boy," the woman answered, "That is unless MacLeod gets to you in time. Then if he triumphs in the duel, he will be able to rescue you."

"So, you're immortal? You're Kelsea Miller, that serial killer!" Richie inquired, "and what do you mean by your collection?"

"Yeah, kiddo, I am immortal, and some of my victims were immortal too, but others were merely mortal," the woman replied, "and as for my collection, you'd have to fast for five days. So, as long as you behave, but if not…..you'll know how she felt…."

Suddenly, Richie flinched at a light shining over him. Then he looked to his horror to see that the walls were covered in blood, and he couldn't help but to scream. He clasped his hands to his mouth to try to keep himself from screaming further. Then he sat down and rocked back and forth to try and calm himself down.

"You'd be amazed at what I can do," Kelsea stated before she turned off the huge light and left Richie to himself in the well.

"Mac, Tori, please hurry," Richie quietly muttered to himself, "Please find me soon."

-DCH-Side-Stories-

Duncan paced the room anxiously, worried about Richie's well being. Police were now at the loft as they were investigating the scene. Tori was rocking back and forth, worrying about Richie as well. Tessa looked on in surprise, feeling nervous as well.

"Mr. MacLeod?" Sargent Bennett walked towards Duncan and Tori, "Miss Gordon?"

The two looked over at the detective.

"Do you have any description about the woman who took Mr. Ryan?" Bennett inquired. He had a hunch on who the suspect was, but wasn't a hundred percent sure.

"The woman was five foot six," Tori answered, "She had brown hair, and she looked crazy, I mean, she had this crazy look on her face."

Bennett nodded in response. He knew right there and then who she was talking about.

"Do you know who did this?" Duncan asked.

"Kelsea Miller," Bennett answered, "She has been responsible for kidnapping and murders that had recently been going on."

Tori cursed, realizing this was the same Kelsea Miller her mother was talking about. She had to inform the IUA about this pronto!

"We'll send a team out to find Miss Miller's location," Bennett informed the duo, "This is a serious matter and we have to find Richie before he becomes the next victim."

Tori hurried to Richie's room and took a deep breath as she got out her tablet, calling her mother.

"Any progress?" Janet asked.

"We got progress all right," Tori answered, "Kelsea Miller was in the loft here, shot me and kidnapped Richie."

"Oh dear," Janet replied in shock, "We're going to put Miller on our top priority at this time. From what our records show, Richie is in danger as he is now in her clutches."

"Tori?" Duncan walked over to where she was.

"The IUA is going to help us find Richie," Tori informed the Highlander.

Duncan sighed with relief, "Thank God. I know your agency will be more reliable in finding Richie than Bennett would be."

-DCH-Side-Stories-

Kelsea looked at the two mannequins. She first looked at her girl suit, and then her boy suit. They were both containing various skins and hairs, even some clothes of her victims. Her boy suit would soon have the perfect curly red hair, and like with what she had done with her other victims, she would dispose of what was left of her newest victim.

-DCH-Side-Stories-

Duncan continued pacing the room. He reflected back in 1977 in Canada when he encountered another immortal Lowe Bishop, who was also a serial killer, who did the same things similar to what Kelsea was doing. Lowe kidnapped and murdered several people across the country and skinned them alive. Eventually, Duncan found Lowe when he kidnapped Jessi Malone, and took his head and quickening.

Tori walked into the room while Duncan was looking in the mirror.

"This is probably one of the worst cases I had to deal with since being a part of my mother's work," Tori stated, "especially since a dear friend of mine is in danger."

"He's been taken and it's been almost three days," Duncan stated, "In a couple of hours, it will be three days. I've never been so worried in my four hundred years of life like I am now."

"You've been keeping a close eye out on him prior," Tori inquired, "like there was something special about him. Is it something to do with immortality?"

"Yes," Duncan answered, "he's immortal, like us, or soon will be once his first death happens."

There was a pause of silence as Tori took that information in. If Richie came out of this alive, she decided he should find out about his immortality himself and not by her.

"Any luck finding Richie?" Tessa asked as she walked into the room.

"The IUA is still looking and so is Bennett," Duncan answered.

"Mom says their sources will be more reliable than what Bennett can offer," Tori stated.

"Whatever the case," Duncan stressed, "they need to hurry. There's no telling what she's doing to Richie while we're sitting here doing nothing!"

"There's nothing we can do right now," Tessa told the duo, "The authorities are doing everything they can to find where Richie is being held."

"I just wish there was something we can do," Tori stated, "it is my fault Richie is in this mess. If I had been more on guard, and was more aware of who Kelsea was, Richie would still be with us."

"It happened so fast," Duncan said, "you know very well you couldn't do anything about this."

-DCH-Side-Stories-

Richie took a deep breath, doing all that he could to keep calm. Realizing how the clothes were tampered with and his body was sticky, he realized what Kelsea had done to him while he was unconscious. It had taken everything he had not to break down and cry right there and then.

He managed to gather enough momentum to try to escape the well but given he hadn't eaten in two days, he didn't have the full strength that he would have had otherwise. He accidentally put one of the bricks in the wrong position and they all tumbled down.

"Damn," Richie muttered, "This couldn't have happened at a much worse time. Mac, Tori, please, hurry."

"Trying to escape, are you?"

Richie gasped as he saw bricks being dropped at him and before he knew it, Kelsea was throwing the bricks at him.

"Here you go!" she shouted.

Richie managed to dodge but not in enough time for some of the bricks hit Richie's left arm, which caused it to crack and for Richie to scream in pain.

Kelsea was mocking his screaming before she left him alone, close to passing out.

"No. I can't pass out," Richie told himself, while crying in pain, "I can't give in. I have to stay awake. Must….stay awake."

-DCH-Side-Stories-

"We've found Miller's location," Janet told Bennett as she eyed the detective. Tori and Duncan hurried to them upon hearing the announcement.

"It's at some old Tudor house in Kelondo," Janet continued, "a small town outside of Seacouver. It can't be too hard to miss because this house is located in the middle of the woods after you pass the old barn with the basketball sign and old RC cola sign."

"That can't be too hard to miss," Duncan replied.

"Exactly!" Janet exclaimed, "We need to hurry now! If not, Richard Ryan might not make it!"

"Let's make our move," Bennett told his men before they proceeded to leave the loft.

"Duncan," Tessa walked over to her lover, "I hope you are able to find Richie in time."

"Me too, Tess," Duncan said, "Me too."

They kissed before the Highlander and Tori left the loft with the IUA agents.

-DCH-Side-Stories-

Richie found himself laying on the ground, finding no strength left in him to move as he started to throw up in his periodic sleep and even convulsing. It had been three days without food or water, and he felt his body start to shut down.

"Mac," Richie whispered in despair, "Tori. Tessa."

"It won't be long now," he heard Kelsea taunt at him, "you will soon expire and I will have your pretty red hair as a part of my collection. I have to give you credit, you have put up a good fight."

The last thing Richie remembered was an alarm blaring before he blacked out.

-DCH-Side-Stories-

Duncan looked on as he led Tori and the IUA agents into the house where Kelsea was holding Richie prisoner.

Duncan and Tori were leading the group, trying to sense the buzz, trying to sense Kelsea, swords in hand.

"You think we will find her anytime?" Darren asked.

"We should," Tori answered, "Miller doesn't go out often other than to kidnap her victims or get her essentials."

"She sure lives the simple life," Duncan stated.

Suddenly, Duncan and Tori sensed the Buzz upon entering the kitchen.

"Looking for someone?"

The group turned around and saw Kelsea standing there with her sword in hand.

"Where's Richie?" Duncan demanded.

"He's here," Kelsea smirked, "and if you're lucky, you will find him in the basement."

The agents surrounded Kelsea, who tried to struggle against them. A couple of the agents shot her dead, allowing Duncan and Tori to hurry into the basement, where it was hinted Richie was located there.

They noticed a well in the basement upon arriving at the room.

"Richie must be in there," Tori stated.

"We need to find a ladder or a rope to get him out of here," Duncan looked around the room.

They both looked around the room to find something to get their friend out of this situation.

Darren arrived with a rope ladder and first aid kit, "An ambulance is on its way here."

"Thanks, Darren," Tori grabbed the rope before she lowered the rope into the well, "We'll be able to rescue him by now."

"Darren and I will hold the rope ladder for you and Richie," Tori informed the Highlander, "You get Richie out of this hell hole."

"Good idea," Duncan replied before he climbed down with the first aid kit. He got inside and to his horror seeing a bunch of bricks nearby, and what he saw next was more horrifying, "Oh no."

He moved the bricks and saw Richie in a terrible state. He looked almost skeletal, as if the life was nearly sucked out of him and he was vomiting. Kelsea must have tortured him severely for the past three days given the state he was in. Duncan held Richie and gently shook him, "Richie? Can you hear me? Richie?!"

Duncan touched Richie's cold hand as he could tell he was going into shock.

"Mac, is that you?" Richie asked weakly, "It hurts…..Mac….it hurts."

"I know it does," Duncan managed to wrap a splint on Richie's broken arm, "but you need to hang on."

Richie whimpered before he started crying, "Mac, I was…..so scared. She was…..going to take…..my hair…..and dispose…..what was left of me."

"It won't happen now," Duncan assured him before he wrapped the emergency blanket around him, "You're going to be okay now."

Suddenly, Richie started to convulse and Duncan tried his best to hold him still. Within a couple of minutes, Richie stopped. He looked at the Highlander, "I wanna go home. Mac, please. Get me out of here."

"We need to get you to a hospital first," Duncan replied, "We need to get your body weight back to normal, okay?"

"Kay," Richie nodded before trying his best to hold on to Duncan.

Duncan used the rope ladder to climb himself and Richie out of the well. They managed to pull Richie up out of the well first, followed by Duncan.

"Oh, God no!" Tori cried out, "He's stopped breathing!"

Duncan pushed her out of his way and proceeded with CPR on Richie, "Come on, Richie. Breathe. Breathe! You have to breathe."

Richie began breathing again after a minute. Minutes later, EMTs arrived in the basement. One of them brought Richie to the stretcher and another placed an oxygen mask on him. Duncan hurried to his side.

"Mac…..is that….you?" Richie asked weakly.

"Yeah," Duncan answered, "we're getting you out of here."

-DCH-Side-Stories-

Tori looked on as Duncan hurried into the ambulance with Richie. She was relieved Richie was going to be okay.

"Our agents have surrounded Miller after she revived at the backyard of the house," Janet informed her daughter upon arriving in the room, "It's currently a standstill."

"That won't be necessary for long," Tori replied before she held out her sword.

"What do you mean?" Janet asked.

"You should know what I mean by now," Tori replied before she hurried to the backyard.

She found Kelsea with her sword in hand.

"She can't die from our guns!" one of the agents exclaimed.

"No," Tori stepped forward, "but I know what can stop her for good."

"But you're not MacLeod!" Kelsea exclaimed.

"He's not here right now," Tori replied, "so, you got me. Deal with it."

"Fine then," Kelsea scoffed.

Tori hurried to Kelsea and both female immortals began their duel. The duel took place across the woods.

So this is what a duel looks like, Tori thought, I have to stop her from hurting anyone else.

Eventually, Tori gutted Kelsea, "You are one sick immortal. One of the worst I've ever encountered since being in the IUA or knowing about immortals, and now your terror ends."

She swung her sword and took Kelsea's head. Tori took a deep breath and felt energy transfer from Kelsea's body to hers. She panted a bit as the quickening began. Then she felt the lighting hit her as she screamed, holding her sword up in the air. The lighting from the quickening was causing damage to anything that was near her.

Tori then dropped to her knees as the quickening ended.

-DCH-Side-Stories-

"No questions I'm afraid," Janet told the authorities in regards to Kelsea's whereabouts, "but it is safe to say that Kelsea Miller is now dead, and she will never hurt anyone else again. One of my top agents tried chasing her down but she took her own life before she could be taken into custody by us or regular authorities."

"What about her last victim she kidnapped?" Randi asked.

"Richie Ryan was badly malnourished and nearly died from the torture he had to endure," Janet answered, "but he's expected to survive this ordeal."

Randi nearly paled hearing that name. She recognized him from before as he was with MacLeod on more than one occasion. It must have been horrible what the boy had to go through. She hoped he would be okay.

"No further comments," Janet told the press as she started to walk away.

-DCH-Side-Stories-

Janet sighed. She knew that Kelsea Miller was immortal and people would be questioning what happened to her. She was surprised that her own daughter was able to handle such a quickening that Duncan MacLeod usually handled. Tori couldn't be immortal. She couldn't be.

-DCH-Side-Stories-

Duncan was in the ICU laying by Richie's bedside. Before entering the room, he called Tessa to let her know where they were, Richie was found and Kelsea was taken care of. Since 11 AM, he had been sitting by his side.

Richie was pale, and he was very thin. He wasn't as skeletal as he was when the Highlander found him but the nutrients were doing their work to get his body weight back to normal. There was also a blue cast on his left arm, and Duncan held his laxed right arm.

Within a few hours, Richie's vitals were growing stronger and the doctors predicted he would regain consciousness soon enough and they prepared to move him to a regular hospital room.

Tessa walked into the room and she cried out in horror seeing the state Richie was in, and she understood Duncan didn't want to interrupt his bedside vigil, but she wanted to give him reassurance.

"Duncan. Duncan," Tessa called out to her lover, "look at me."

The Highlander hesitated before he looked at her.

"It wasn't your fault," Tessa assured him, "You and the agents did the best that you could. It was a good thing you guys found him when you did."

"Richie was in a much worse state than he is now," Duncan told her, "He was almost skeletal when I found him. That sicko immortal tortured him, trapped him in that well for three days."

-DCH-Side-Stories-

Tori looked on as she walked into the hospital. Janet walked over to her.

"Are you okay?" Janet asked.

"We're trying to keep it together," Tori answered, implying about herself, Duncan and Tessa, "we're worried about Richie."

Janet noticed her daughter was on the verge of tears.

"Oh, Mom," Tori broke down, tears falling down her face, "We almost lost Richie! He went into shock and MacLeod had to use CPR to save him."

Janet held Tori in her arms and comforted her, "It'll be okay, Tori. It'll be okay."

-DCH-Side-Stories-

Richie felt dizzy as he was unaware of what was going on. He couldn't tell if he was awake or asleep until he heard a familiar voice.

"Richie, are you all right?" Duncan asked, "I was so worried."

"Mac," Richie answered weakly, giving out a small smile.

"I'm so sorry this happened to you," Duncan comforted his friend.

"Am I at a hospital?" Richie asked.

"Yeah, you are," Duncan nodded.

"Mac, why did she go after me?" Richie asked.

"From what Bennett and the IUA could gather up," Duncan answered, "Kelsea goes after young people. The only reason I could think of is that she wanted to challenge me to a duel, but Tori ended up taking care of her."

"Tori?" Richie perked up, only to be held back because of the pain he was still in.

"Yeah. She saw the damage that was done to you," Duncan replied, "and once we were cleared, she made sure to take care of Kelsea Miller once and for all, so needless to say, she will never hurt you again."

Richie smiled before he fell asleep again.

-DCH-Side-Stories-

Richie found his head hurting and his arm itching from being in a cast. It had been a week since he had returned home from the hospital, and Richie had remained mostly in his room.

He was avoiding the others like a plague while laying in bed and he was having nightmares. Tori and Tessa would bring in food for him to eat, and they would try to coax him to eat along the way.

Suddenly, Richie heard a knock on the door.

"Richie, can we talk?" it was Duncan.

"I don't really want to," Richie answered, "but okay."

"I know," Duncan entered the room with Tori right behind him, "but we can't let you suffer and isolate yourself like this."

"What did you expect, Mac?" Richie replied, "I thought I was going to die. I was so scared."

"I know, Tough guy," Duncan comforted him, "I know. It's going to be okay."

"There's something else," Richie spoke up.

"What is it?" Tori asked.

"I….I felt violated by her while I was unconscious," Richie looked down, breaking down in tears, "I was out cold, and she stripped me and….."

"She did it to you?" Duncan inquired.

Richie nodded between a sob, "Even though I was out cold, I could still feel the chill. I felt it a lot more than I would if I were still in clothes, but they stripped me before putting me back in my clothes in filth after she was done with me. When I came to, I was in the well."

Tori broke down crying, her heart bleeding for her friend, "I'm so sorry, Richie. I'm so sorry."

"It wasn't your fault what happened," Duncan assured his young friend, "Nothing she did was your fault. She was sick and she had no right to hurt you the way she did."

Tori hugged Richie, "She will never hurt you again. I made sure of it."

"Thank you, Tori," Richie accepted the embrace, "Thank you, Mac."

Duncan sighed as he and Tori were comforting Richie. He would get Richie into therapy, and he would recover from this. MacLeod and Tori would see to that. Richie would recover from this ordeal, and once his first death came about, Duncan MacLeod would train Richie in the ways of the immortal.

Author's Note: This was quite an interesting roller coaster ride. Consider this Silence of the Lambs meets Highlander in some sort of way. The next few chapters will focus on Season 1 in Paris, meaning it will start with "For Evil's Sake" but not exactly focusing on the immortal of that said episode as Tori will be involved in an IUA mission, and hello Jack!