Another Life(HLDR,XO,CC,Mature)COMPLETE 8/11/09

[thumper1942]

Another Life Part 21

One night almost a month after the shooting, Liz was practicing her Kata in preparation for working through the new defensive parries that Duncan had taught her when she felt the Buzz of another Immortal nearby. She stopped, moved towards the edge of her balcony above the Crashdown ,and looked down the fire escape into the alley. Looking up at her from the street was Adam Pierson. He cocked his head inquiringly; she shrugged and nodded. He then climbed the fire escape up to her balcony. Liz took her practice sword and hid it in the spot she had made behind some pieces of loose siding. She then sat down in her chair and waited for Adam to make it up to her. They had not talked much after the first couple of weeks, and she was not really sure why he wanted to talk to her now.

As he climbed up the stairs, Methos was trying to figure out how to ask the questions he had to ask as well as give the information he wanted Liz to know without her asking some probing questions of her own that would be uncomfortable to answer. *One would think after 5000 years you would not have to search for words or usage to do what you need to do,* he thought. *Just goes to show that experience is not everything.*

Cynthia lowered the binoculars that she had been using from a few blocks away and put down a few notes in Liz Parker’s chronicle. Due to where the Crashdown was located and the fact that there were no buildings close that were more than one story tall, this was the best position to see what Liz Parker did on her balcony. The problem with the location was that it was too far away for even parabolic microphones to pick up any conversation. Watcher custom and tradition was that while they would use such items, they did NOT place listening devices in the homes of Immortals, nor did they tap phones, or put in surveillance cameras. As her instructor had said at the academy, “We are Watchers not peeping toms, and immortals have the right to some privacy.” She wondered what Adam Pierson wanted to talk to Liz Parker about. She shrugged. She would ask him tomorrow.

Methos sat down next to Liz after giving her a searching glance. She seemed to be pretty calm and unsurprised at seeing him.

“You do not seem all that surprised that I am here.”

Liz shrugged. “I figured that you had come up with some more questions or had something to tell me that you wanted to make sure no one else overheard.”

Methos decided that some candor was in his best interests.

“I need some information and decided that you would be the best source.”

Liz raised an eyebrow at that.

Methos grinned at her. “What do you know about Michael Guerin, the teenager who just started working as a short order cook at the Crashdown?”

That got both eyebrows up.

It had taken a little time for Methos to come up with the unknown teen’s name, and he had found out that he was an emancipated minor who had been found wandering in the desert at the same time as Max and Isabel Evans. And like them, no trace of his parents had ever been found. Unfortunately for him, he was not adopted by a good family like Max and Isabel had been. The details of that were all too often found in the jumble that was the so called child protection system—in this case, it had failed badly. An abusive adopted father had finally been found out, and Michael was emancipated just a year ago. Outside of being friends with Max and Isabel (and what that was, was also a mystery), he was a total loaner. A non-descript student, he only stayed in school due to a condition of his status.

Liz thought about the question. Not that she knew him that well.

“Not a whole lot more then I bet you have found out. He is sometimes called Stonewall Guerin since he never lets anyone in other then Max Evans. You might notice he is actually pretty good looking, so a few girls have tried, and he has shown no interest at all. Moody and non-communicative, he seems bent on sliding through life making as little a wake as possible. He is not unpleasant or actually rude, just doesn’t seem to have an interest in talking to people or having much to do with them at all.”

Methos nodded. Liz was, as he had thought from the beginning, very observant, and he was surprised at how well she seemed to sum up the boy. From all he had seen, she was dead on about Guerin. Well now to see if she had picked up on anything about Max Evans. Methos still had not found out anything else new on Max or Isabel.

“Have you noticed anything unusual about Max Evans?”

Liz shook her head. “Not that I can tell. Why?”

“I can pick up something that is very faint from him, Isabel and Guerin. It’s not like the buzz of an immortal, but there is certainly something there. I have never ever felt it from anyone else.”

The dormant scientist in Liz Parker promptly woke up. After working hard the first week or so that she was immortal, that part of Liz had gone back to sleep when it became apparent that answers would not be forthcoming to the questions Ms. Scientist had asked.

“I get nothing from any of them—but then, supposedly, I shouldn’t considering how new I am. So just how old are you? I can tell that you are older than Duncan by a wide margin, but just how much older are you. If you can sense something that faint, you are getting up there pretty well.”

Methos decided that a little more candor was in order. Not a lot, just some.

“I am a few thousand years old, just how old I am not sure of. Even though I have been able to keep a low profile in the game, that much age really helps you get sensitive to the world around you. I have met some psychic healers, and a plain psychic or two, and NONE of them ever had any kind of a buzz. And that leads to another question: You thought that right after the shooting when Max put his hand on your wound, it felt hot—that is usually what happens when a psychic healer heals. There is almost always heat generated at the wound.”

Liz pondered this. She had thought she had felt heat then, but had never been sure that it was true or just a product of the situation. Could that be the reason behind her unexpectedly strong Quickening and her very fast revival? Max had perhaps given her a boost somehow. She was just beginning to get to know him, and beginning to really like him. Could he somehow be intertwined in her Immortal world?

Maria made her way up the stairs to see Liz. Since she had gone back to work the previous week, they had not had a lot of time to talk about her “situation”. And Maria was curious how things were going with Max. AND she wanted to vent somewhat about Stonewall Guerin. He was totally infuriating!!

It was time for some girl to girl talk and a chance for both of them to let their hair down and let off some steam. Which was another reason she was toting two pints of rocky road ice cream.

Liz heard someone coming and quickly motioned Adam to hide. He lightly moved over to the far side of the balcony where a narrow walkway went around to the back. He had just gotten out of sight when Maria DeLuca came out the window onto the balcony.

“Chica, I come bearing ice cream and some time to converse!”

Liz grinned at her. Despite Adam being just around the corner, she was looking forward to this.

“So Maria, I guess you have come to let your hair down and complain some more about Stonewall Guerin?”

“Got it in one, Chica. He is getting real close to getting the DeLuca treatment for unwanted growths.”

“Is Mount St. Maria about to erupt?”

“Not far off. A fair amount of smoke and fire is on its way.”

“Did you ever think that maybe he is doing it just to get a rise out of you?”

“Come on Liz even for someone as socially undeveloped as he is, that is a reach.”

“Maybe that is how he gets his jollies.”

“Liz Parker!”

“Why not? Unless he is really warm for your form and thinks this is a good way to get you fixated on him—which by the way seems to be working. You are always talking about him. I think someone here has some interest…”

“Shut up, and eat your ice cream.”

Methos quietly slipped down the side of the building to the alley. He really had no interest in what was to come, but he also chuckled. Liz Parker actually had a sarcastic streak to her that she seemed to be able to hide from all but her closest friends.

Liz felt Adam’s buzz fade away and relaxed a little. It would have been awkward knowing he was right there and listening in.

Maria had finished almost half her ice cream and had settled down to ask some more questions she had come up with about Liz’s “condition”.

“So how is the training going? I notice that you are spending more time at that gym you joined, and I know you have been sneaking off to the clinic every evening as well.”

Liz nodded to herself. Many thought that Maria DeLuca was an air headed ditz, but Liz had long known a lot better. Not much ever got by Maria.

“I have been lucky in that Dad and Mom bought it when I said I realized that I liked to work out after all the physical therapy I was supposedly doing. It did sound logical—sometimes you find out you like something you never thought you would once you started doing it. So joining the gym and working out once a day just seems normal to them now. Luckily, I recover quickly from any sprains or muscle problems, so I can push myself a fair amount. Of course Duncan does a lot of that anyway.”

“So how does he think you are doing?”

“He seems pretty satisfied. I am now able to really work the weighted practice sword—having those wrist and ankle weights on along with the rest of the workouts have really helped my endurance, and I have found I’m a lot stronger now.”

“The way you moved the soda machine the other day proved that, Chica. It’s a good thing no one else was around to see that though.”

Liz grimaced. That had NOT been a smart thing to do—she had decided that the Soda Machine needed to be moved and had done it herself—and since it weighed over two hundred pounds, her just easily pushing it around would have at the very least raised eyebrows, if not spurred actual questions.

“I know that was NOT a smart move, and I will not do it again. Sometimes I forget that I am so different now…” Liz trailed off.

A little worried Maria moved over and gave Liz a hug. “Look on the bright side, Chica—never having to worry about laugh lines and grey hair and sagging boobs.”

Laughing, the two friends watched the stars and ate their ice cream.

[thumper1942]

Another Life Part 22

Two months after the shooting, Duncan McLeod was assessing Liz Parker’s progress and finding that he had very little to criticize. She had greatly increased her strength and endurance, and had mastered the basics of defensive and offensive sword play. She had changed little in her outward appearance—only a close look would detect the stronger arms and somewhat sturdier frame. He had steadily increased the weight that she wore on her arms and ankles, and she had taken to running 5 miles a day while also working out for 2 hours a day. They spent at least one and usually two hours a day working on her hand to hand skills which were the only area that Liz still needed a lot of work on. This should come as no surprise since she had never done anything like that, and even the basics of any martial arts discipline takes time to learn, let alone the actual offensive and defensive moves. But now she would get the final piece needed to really prepare to defend herself in the Game: her sword. The somewhat cut-down Katana had arrived only that morning with the master swordmaker’s note with it.

“Duncan, I rarely praise myself as that would be counter to all I have been taught and believe, but in this case, I truly believe that I have never done better work in all my life and probably will not in this or my next life. I hope your student is worthy of it.”

He took out the Katana and walked down the stairs to the training room. While somewhat shorter than his, the difference was small, and yet it was much lighter. The balance was superb—the grip too small for his hands was just right for Liz’s. He’d made a mold of her hands and sent it to Japan so that the grip would fit just right. He went through his Kata, and felt the blade sing—this was indeed a superb sword. After hundreds of years, one could tell. With one hand or two, it would perform very well indeed. All it wanted was someone good enough to wield it.

Liz Parker walked into the training room from the alley and immediately felt the buzz of an immortal—she thought it was Duncan’s, but she still could only tell the difference when she felt Adams. Of course, that really should come as no surprise since he was indeed a great deal older then Duncan—and she had only ever felt two buzz’s anyway. Duncan was in the training room working through his Kata with his sword—NO, that was NOT his sword. Her eyes widened—had hers finally arrived?

Duncan had felt Liz’s quickening coming in the door—he had been a little surprised that he could tell the difference from other immortals but Liz’s quickening over the months had become quite familiar—of course it was nowhere near as strong as Methos’, but still stronger then a newbie’s should be, and it seemed to have a bit of an edge on it. Methos had agreed that her buzz did seem that way.

He turned towards Liz and gripped the sword halfway down the blade and offered it to her. Her eyes widened as she carefully took the blade by the grip and then positioned both hands on it in the classic style. Duncan moved to the side as she almost unconsciously began her Kata.

Later that night, Liz was once again practicing her Kata with her new sword. It was almost as if she could not set it down—it seemed to call to her.

From her post, Cynthia watched Liz Parker do her Kata with her sword; this was the first time she had seen Liz with anything other than a practice sword. Her movements graceful and controlled, she seemed to flow through the exercise. And that is exactly what Cynthia put down in Liz Parker’s chronicle on her first day with her sword.


Alex had decided that he needed to speak to Liz; they had not really had a long conversation since she had told him about her immortality. He had quietly tried to find out if there was anything out there on Immortals, and had found virtually nothing. A few vague rumors on way-out-there sites, but nothing more. And even those rumors seemed to be wrong or at the very least NOT about Liz’s type. They mentioned nothing about combat with swords, or a game, or a prize.

He stopped by the fire escape that led to Liz’s balcony; looking around to make sure no one was watching, he quietly went up. As he popped his head over the top he saw Liz practicing with her sword… NO, that was not her wooden practice sword—it was the real thing. Alex knew that Liz had been impatiently waiting for it to get here from Japan, having grown tired of practice swords. Obviously it had arrived, and Liz had left no moss on the stone getting it and working with it.

Lost in the flow, Liz moved and swung and danced with her sword. To Alex it was a beautiful dance laced with danger, for in the end, Liz would be dancing with others, and it would be to the death.

Liz finished her Kata and finally noticed Alex just at the top of the fire escape. Breathing a little heavily, she took her sword and wrapped it in its cloth and carefully hid it next to her practice sword in the side wall of her balcony.

Alex came the rest of the way up and over and sat down next to Liz.

“I take it it just came today?”

“Yeah—I was a little surprised since Duncan did not think it would come for a few more weeks. But the swordmaker really put in some overtime on it and got it to him sooner than he had thought. This was the second Kata I have done with it already, and it feels like a part of my arm now. Duncan was very impressed with its quality—the swordmaker sent a note with it that Duncan let me read. In it the swordmaker stated that he thinks this is the best work he has ever done. He made Duncan’s Katana, and it is a great one, but I think this one is better. The grip fits in my hand perfectly, and the blade is so well balanced that I think I could center it with a hair. I could not ask for better.”

Alex thought about that. Liz seemed almost high from getting her sword and working out with it—maybe the real purpose of it had slipped her mind. He looked at her and was about to say something when she held up her hand, and the look in her eye would have stopped him anyway.

Liz had seen the look on Alex’s face when she went on about the sword, and it really was not hard to figure out what was worrying him.

“Yes, I love this sword already and will treasure it. AND I am very aware that, more than likely, in less than a year, I will be cleaning blood off of it, thinking of the person I had just killed with it. But that is better than the alternative; someone else cleaning off their sword and thinking about MY head that it had just taken.”

Alex gulped and shuddered a little at Liz Parker’s cool and calm statement. He would have never thought that she would be capable of such; just another example of the changes that she had been through over the last 2 months. To Alex, who had known Liz from first grade, the changes in her physically were quite clear—her arms were much firmer, she was definitely more solid, and her legs stronger as well. She moved with more grace, and at the same time, a studied intent. He had seen videos of feline predators moving through jungle and forest, and Liz now resembled them—beautiful and deadly. The fact that he knew that she was indeed training every day to be able to kill was something that he had tried not to think about. But more than the physical changes, it was the mental and emotional changes that worried him; Liz had gotten quieter and more intent, more focused and determined. He was a little surprised that no one had commented on it since school had started the week before—but then only Maria and himself were really close to Liz… well them and of course Max. But then Max was so caught up in actually being able to date his dream girl that Alex doubted that he had really seen the changes at all. And since he had not really known Liz before the shooting, he probably would not have noticed anyway.

Alex would have been surprised, but Max had indeed noticed the changes Liz Parker was going through. He had understood when Liz had told him that she wanted to be more prepared and able to defend herself better after what had happened, that was only natural. For someone of the logical and scientific mind bent that she had, it made sense. He was surprised how determined she was and how much time she was willing to spend to do it. Even now with school, she was still using at least 2 hours a night to work out and learn martial arts. She had found an instructor, a Duncan McLeod, who was willing to give lessons, and there just happened to be a training room located in the same building as the clinic she had been in. She had told him that she would be spending at least the rest of the year doing this, and maybe more. Max was a little worried about her seeming obsession, but then again, he had not been through what she had; so who was he to criticize it? On the other hand, she was very open with him about her training and why, and seemed to have no problem talking to him about it. Max was quite happy with the way things were going. Liz was a lot of fun actually when she let herself have some, and he felt it was up to him to try and get her to have as much fun as possible. It never occurred to him that she thought that it was also up to her to loosen him up as well.

Duncan listened to Joe singing an old Blues song and working his guitar softly. Methos was sitting next to him with his inevitable beer (as usual he was running up quite a tab here in Roswell), and enjoying the performance as well. It was fairly late, and they were the only ones left in the Café. Joe had decided to shorten the hours somewhat since they rarely had much business during the week after 10. It was very relaxing, and Duncan had found that he liked living in Roswell. It was really a very quiet community and a very big change from Seacouver, and certainly a huge change from Paris. After the hectic last few years, it felt pretty good doing very little and being out of the usual rapid pace that had typified the last ten years of his life. He knew that it would someday pall on him, and he would need more and leave, but for the time being, he was quite content. Richie was doing well, and he had Charlie there to keep an eye on him, so that was not a problem. He admitted that he missed Amanda more then he wanted too, but she was apparently very occupied (according to Joe, anyway) with a new student she had found, someone who apparently reminded Amanda of herself when Rebecca first found her. Methos, Joe, and he all agreed that this was probably a good thing. His student, meanwhile, was doing very well, and he was pretty satisfied there.

Joe finished and walked over to where Duncan and Methos were sitting and sat down himself. He had just had Sam (who had decided to come out as well to Roswell) turn off the outside lights and lock the door. This got both Duncan’s and Methos’s attention—Joe clearly wanted to talk to them without being overheard.

Joe was a little uncertain about this, but having gotten to know Liz Parker some (she had talked to him a few times since he had let her know he knew about Immortals as a friend to Duncan), he frankly had no compunction about further bending the watcher rules.

“Duncan, do you remember Felicia Rising?”

Duncan sat back with a start. He had not thought of her for over 50 years.

Methos raised an eyebrow. Duncan’s reaction said a lot.

“I take it that is one female not prone to the Highlanders Charm?”

Duncan glared at Methos. “I found her as a new immortal in 1946 in England. One of the last V2 hits in London had hit her flat and she was killed and then revived. I arranged for her to be trained by Vicki Manning, whom I had known since I met her during Victoria’s last year. She was a troubled girl even then, and I later heard that she had become a headhunter. I only spent a little time with her then; I have always wondered if she would not have gone bad had I stayed around.”

Methos rolled his eyes. Trust the Boy Scout to think it was his fault. “Not everything is either your fault, or your responsibility. She chose the path she is on now. I take it this is not just for scholastic study, Joe?”

Joe shook his head. “I got a call today from Europe, Budapest specifically. Apparently, she has taken to trying to find newbie female immortals and getting cheap quickenings.”

Duncan stiffened. He could see where this was going.

Joe looked at Duncan and nodded. “She apparently has been working at schmoozing some immortals who tend to keep track of the major players like you Duncan. Ever since you took out one of the Horsemen, Kahlas, you have been on the radar screen of the big time. Much like your cousin Connor after he took down the Kurgan. Word has gotten around that you have found, and for the first time are training, a female immortal. The good news is that no one knows where you are. It’s known that you are NOT in either Seacouver or Paris, but no one has a clue where you are. But the tip I got from her watcher is that she knows you have one and wants her head. That surprises me some since she has to know that if she takes Liz’s head, you will take hers, and there is no way she is crazy enough to think she has a chance against you.”

Methos shook his head. “She must have a plan of some kind to deal with Duncan, unless she has just gone insane. There is no sign that she is working with anyone?”

Joe shook his head. “From what her watcher has to say, she is still a complete loner. She has never worked with anyone either mortal or immortal.”

Duncan pondered this. “She was intelligent and observant—not as good at either as Liz is, but still no dummy. She is a little taller than Liz, but unless she has changed, Liz is stronger and quicker. Of course, there is the experience factor which cannot be underestimated. What is the count on her head total, Joe?”

Joe grimaced at this question, but since he had gone this far, he might as well go all the way.

“43 heads in 65 years. But none of them were more then 20 or 30 years old and most of them only a few. She is pretty quick and deadly, but she has never come up against a real pro.”

Methos had been going over all this in his head. “If Liz has a few more months to practice and get ready, I think she should be able to win. Do you have any idea how long it will take for her to find Duncan?”

“Not a clue. Who knows you are here, Duncan?”

“Only Richie and Charlie. No one else. I have been keeping a low profile and have not contacted anyone else since I have been here. Not even Connor.”

“Well that is good. She will have to go to Seacouver, and then try and find out where you went from there. You will need to let Richie know so that he can warn Charlie. She is quite ruthless and would have no compunction trying to force it out of them.”

“She would then have to fight me before she fought Liz—I would avenge anything done to them, and she must know that.”

Methos was still of the opinion that she had some kind of plan. There was no other way she would be forcing a confrontation with Duncan like this. “Your watcher is missing something, Joe. She HAS to be working with someone, or this is a pure suicide run.”

Duncan then had a nasty thought. “Joe, the watcher for Felicia... How long has she been on the job?”

Joe was a little startled by the question but answered it anyway. “About 10 years. She was recommended by her successor, who retired.”

Duncan knew this was a very sensitive subject but he needed to know.

Methos beat him to it. “The boy scout thinks her watcher might be involved with the Hunters—only this way, she is helping Felicia to hunt. Just like her successor did.”

Joe reared back in shock. Over the last 5 years, the Watchers had left no stone unturned to find any remaining hunters or their sympathizers. There had been no connection found there….

But what if she had NOT had any connection with the hunters, but only was helping Felicia hunt…

Felicia had had a rather surprising amount of success finding newbie female immortals.

Joe grimly said. “This might be true. No connection to the Hunters but still being involved. And from what I remember, the stats for Felicia had neither risen nor fallen since her new watcher took over. That might mean something, or it might mean nothing. One thing Duncan, only the very highly placed in the Watchers know you are here—the council and the head of Research. Felicia’s watcher and her retired watcher would not have the clearance for that information.”

Duncan grimly pointed out that that did not mean they had not found out a way to get around that.

Joe had to agree.

[thumper1942]

Another Life Part 23

Duncan felt the Buzz as the door below his apartment opened, and he knew that Liz had arrived. She was always very punctual, never being late.

Joe, Methos, and he had talked deep into the previous night about the situation with Felicia Rising. A few phone calls and some careful hacking on the part of the council had uncovered some evidence that their hunch about Felicia’s Watcher might just be right. Her previous watcher was also under the microscope by the Watchers, and some of the same indications had turned up there, as well. It was not conclusive, but more and more, it was beginning to look like for at least 20 years before she retired that the first watcher had indeed made many more inquiries than others about other Immortals. And many of them had been on new female immortals. After learning this, Joe shook his head. THAT should have been caught by her supervisor; watchers are not supposed to concentrate on any other immortal but their own. That steady trend of asking about others should have been spotted and, at the very least, questioned. The supervisor in question had been one of the Watchers killed in the hunter mess. They had tried to seize control of the council and had killed several of the council members. He had had no connection or sympathy for the hunters, but it looked like he had not been very good at keeping an eye on the Watchers under him. He was too busy politicking and moving up the ladder. All the chronicles for the newbies Felicia had killed were being looked over to see if there was some kind of trend. This would take a few days at least. To say that the Council was disturbed about this was to say the Pacific Ocean was wide.

One thing that had yet to be determined, if the evidence and signs were to be believed, is why this had happened. Why had the Watcher decided to start helping out Felicia in finding and killing newbie female immortals? The Hunters had wanted all Immortals destroyed, considering them an abomination. At the time, Joe had said that it seemed like the Nazi/Jewish situation during WW2; unreasoning hatred for someone different. Horrible in many ways, but somewhat understandable in the light of human history. Methos had pointed out that the older watcher had never gotten married, or had a family. She had become fixated on “her” immortal. The new watcher had been trained by the older one, and as it looked, indoctrinated as well. To step across the line and to actually help them hunt was a huge departure from Watcher tradition, and Joe just shook his head about Methos’s theory on why. Certainly possible, but it was still very much out there. Duncan had asked Joe what the Council would do if convinced that this had happened. Joe had grimaced.

“There will be a trial, and if she is found guilty, she will be executed. That has always been the penalty for anything like this. The same with Felicia’s current watcher. If the evidence continues to mount as it has, I would expect action to be taken within the next week or so. After the Hunter atrocity, the Council will move fast and hard to stamp this out right away. That leaves Felicia.”

Duncan slowly nodded. He did not have to be a seer to see where this was going. He would be expected to clean up the rest of the mess. The quid pro quo of his relationship with Joe. Since it looked very much like Felicia knew all about the Watchers, this could not be allowed to continue.

Methos snorted. “Of course she has to be taken out. She is too much of a threat to all of us, since all indications are that she is unstable as well. It is just a matter of who does it and when.”

Liz blinked as the Buzz that she had become fairly familiar with, Duncan’s, was joined by another that she was pretty sure was Adam’s. Why were both of them waiting there?

Methos had come to the conclusion that telling Liz who he was would move things along and help him get the answers to some questions that he had been building up about many of the players here in Roswell. Using some very advanced equipment, he had verified that Duncan’s apartment and the training room were not being monitored. Joe had told him that was his order, and usually that was the case. Methos just wanted to be sure. The most careful and diligent research had come up empty as regards Max and Isabel Evans, and Michael Guerin. NO indications of why they were the way they were and where they had come from. So it appeared a more direct approach would be needed. Liz had made it clear that sometime she would be telling Max about herself; she just wanted to be sure of the relationship before she did. Of course, there was always the possibility that they knew nothing at all about why they were the way they were, but there seemed to be no avenues left elsewhere.

Duncan quietly paced the apartment while he waited for Liz to come up. Joe had agreed that Liz needed to be warned, and that, in all likelihood, she was going to find out about the Watchers one way or another. Duncan had promised to see to it that that was the last resort, but he also thought it was just a matter of time. If Felicia found her way here, it was fairly likely that she would be quite upfront about why she was here and how she came to be here, hunting Liz. That Methos was going to tell Liz who he was startled Duncan somewhat, but he now knew just how much the mystery of the Evans and Guerin was picking at the old man. Any means necessary to find out.

Liz walked into the apartment to see Duncan pacing and Adam in a chair with the inevitable beer. Seeing Duncan like that told Liz that something was up. She walked over and sat down on the sofa across from Adam and looked at Duncan inquiringly.

Duncan decided to get the major part out of the way quickly.

“Liz, in 1945, I was in London when the last of the V2’s hit. A young woman was killed in the collapse of her building but was revived, they thought. I was on the crew that was looking for survivors and realized that she was an immortal. Her name was Felicia Rising. She came from a poor family, and from what I can gather, was an abusive, drunken father. She was rash and brash and hard already at 23. I arranged for her to train under Vicki Manning, an immortal I had met during the last year of Queen Victoria’s reign. Not too many years later, I heard that she had taken up head hunting, which sadly did not surprise me that much. There was nothing I could do about it, so I put her from my mind and had not had any contact or even heard about her for almost 50 years.”

Liz absorbed this. She looked at Duncan. “Let me guess—she is on her way, and MY head is what she wants?”

Methos smirked as he sipped his beer. Certainly no flies on this one.

Duncan nodded. “She makes a habit of taking the heads of young female immortals—sometimes males but usually females. All she cares about is getting another Quickening, nothing else matters. In many ways the typical headhunter.”

Liz was curious. “How did she know about me, and how did she know that you are here with a new student?”

Methos grinned. Let’s see how the boy scout handles that.

Duncan pondered just how far to go. Liz was too sharp to not pick that up, and he did not want to lie to her. He decided to fudge things a little.

“Regular people do find out about immortals on occasion, one way or another. And there are some immortals who are very curious about the whole Immortal society.” He glanced at Methos when he said that.

Liz wrinkled her brows at that. “So there is some kind of rumor mill or database or something on many immortals or the immortal world?”

Methos nodded. “To a certain extent. People are people no matter if you live to 80 or 800. They are going to talk and gossip and try and figure things out. There is no organized effort or anything like that with immortals.” Which of course was true. It was mortals who did it.

Liz nodded. That made sense. “So how soon will she be here?”

Duncan shook his head. “Not sure. I think she has no idea I am in Roswell. So it could be quite a while. I have not exactly kept a high profile, and there are only a couple of people who know. But I felt you needed to know right away so that you could be prepared.”

Methos decided to get her mind off of that and onto something else.

“Liz, I am known as Adam Pierson to most people. Duncan and a few others know me by another name—Methos.”

Liz’s eye got huge. She goggled at Methos. “Wow. I could tell that you were pretty old but not ancient.”

Duncan laughed out loud. “Ancient is the word. He does not even know how old he really is. Just sort of throws the 5000 years out there.”

Methos glared at Duncan. “The Boy Scout found out what it was like to be hunted early on. There are a lot of head hunters out there that would love to come after me, so I usually keep a very low profile. It’s all-around healthier. But in all my years of wondering the earth, there are few things that have startled me, or surprised me. I have met a few psychic healers, and a few psychics. They are very rare indeed. Only one of them was ever Immortal.” He stopped there, thinking the whole Cassandra story was not something that needed to come out now.

Duncan pondered why he stopped, then saw that he was not going to talk about Cassandra. Probably a good thing. Liz did not need to know about Death.

Methos shook himself, and then continued on. “In all these millennia, I have seen that many myths and legends are exactly that—all smoke and mirrors hiding nothing substantial. Merely stories that grew with the telling and got embellished as the years went by. Most so-called mysteries have very mundane explanations. BUT every now and then, say once a millennia or so, I do come along something that cannot be explained and is a real mystery. Maybe it’s not such a surprise that one of these instances occurred in Roswell.”

Liz sat forward. She knew that while the speed of her revival and the relative strength of her quickening was unusual, it was not unheard of. So what could this be?

Methos continued. “Not one of the psychic healers or psychics or anyone else has ever had anything like the buzz of an Immortal. I had never picked up anything from anyone else ever until I met Max and Isabel Evans and Michael Guerin. There is just a faint twitch or something there, about the strength of a pre immortal, the likes of which I have never felt before.”

Liz sat back with her eyes wide open. Max is different? But I have not felt anything from him—but then again, maybe only Methos can. She looked over at Duncan in question.

Duncan shook his head. He had been quite close to Max several times and had never picked up anything either. This apparently was only something a truly ancient Immortal could do.

Liz sat there and thought. Max was quiet and introverted, yet kind and gentle and caring. Isabel was the typical High School Prom Queen, stuck up and separate. Michael was a stone wall, very much a loner. None of them seemed to have any real friends outside of their small circle. Which now made sense—they KNEW they were different and wanted no one to know. Which was also logical—look at how she had worried about people finding out that she was immortal, and the possible fall out about that. She thought about the day of the shooting, and concentrated on the moment right after. She was sure that she had indeed felt heat on her wound from Max’s hand; but anything else was still very cloudy.

She looked over at Methos. “I am pretty sure I felt heat when Max put his hand over my wound, but everything else is blurry. Can’t be certain that anything else happened, and I was unconscious right after. Even now when I meet him, I sense nothing different about him. But those three do seem to stick together, and no one else is close to them. As far as I can remember, it’s always been that way.”

Methos nodded. Pretty much as he figured. “It’s up to you if you want to explore this further. I have come to the conclusion that, outside of talking to them, there is no way else to find out more. And that is not something I can do.”

Liz was thinking hard. *OK, this is way, way out there, but it is Roswell. The timing is all wrong, but maybe…*

Duncan and Methos saw that Liz was thinking very hard. Her face could be very expressive when she let her guard down.

Liz took a deep breath. They were going to think she was nuts, but a good scientist looks at all possibilities, not just the convenient and the safe ones.

“OK, this is going to sound way out there, but here goes. Have you ever come across anything not of this earth?”

Both Duncan and Methos blinked. Methos got if first and snorted. “Roswell. I guess this was inevitable. The only problem with that is the timing—that was supposedly 1947 which means 40 years too early.”

Liz nodded. “Of course. But how about a next generation or maybe something like some kind of suspended animation, cryogenic freezing, and so on. Maybe they were not meant to come out until they did. Having grown up here, I have been able to talk to some people who were indeed around back then, and just about every one of them agrees that that was no weather balloon. There was just too much going on when it happened to have been just an experimental plane as well. The military was running around like chickens with their heads cut off, and being way too active for anything really ordinary. I have always thought that there might be something to it. Also Sheriff Valenti’s father always did as well, he got the reputation as being obsessed about it. Kyle mentioned that a couple of times. The Sheriff apparently thought the same, though he always has made a point of not being obvious about it. The other thing about it is that the military apparently was around for months afterwards, supposedly going over the entire area with a fine toothed comb. And they went out many miles beyond the supposed crash site. Why would that be? Any debris would be fairly close, not 15-20 miles away. What if something indeed crashed here and some of them got away?”

Methos looked thoughtful. While his first reaction was to scoff, his millennia of experience had shown him that sometimes the weird and strange is true. Not often, but sometimes. Her points about the military acting as it had did seem to blow the crash theory of experimental planes and such out of the water. There would be no reason to hunt for something 20 miles away like they apparently had. Only if something had gotten away…. As far out as that sounded, it was just barely possible.

Duncan had been watching Methos, and he saw that the ancient immortal was actually considering Liz’s theory. He had to admit that with what she had known, it did sound suspicious. And as an immortal, he was used to trying to come up with explanations to keep something hidden. Usually, if there is a lot of smoke, there is some fire. In only the short time he had been in Roswell, he had realized that aliens were not just used for commercial gain here; many did think something had happened.

Liz then spoke up. “Well, it’s not like I can come out and ask if Max is an alien. BUT on the other hand, it would be so incredible that they could blend in like they have. One thing I can do—in the lab in advanced Biology, we will next week be looking at DNA. One of the things that we will do is look at each other’s DNA after getting a sample. I think I can get one from Max without him realizing it. But where can we go to get it looked at without attracting attention?”

Methos sat up at that, his beer forgotten. “Don’t worry about that. I can arrange for something somewhere, maybe sneak in to the New Mexico Universities biology lab—they would have all we need there to take a good look at it. Just find a way to get a sample, and let me do the rest.”

[thumper1942]

Another Life Part 24

Liz was on pins and needles as she sat in Advanced Biology that following Monday. This was the day they were supposed to look at DNA and take samples of each other to put under a microscope. She had decided to see if Max stuck to his occasional habit of chewing on a pencil—and switch it out when he wasn’t looking. Alternatively, she was going to try and get a sample of his hair which would work as well. She had gotten some nail clippers and worked on them so that she could hide it in the palm of her hand and work it, snipping off some hairs while he wasn’t looking. She had another possibility but did not want to go that route—using a nail file to “accidentally” scratch Max. She had justified all this to herself by figuring if nothing showed up different on the DNA then that is where it all ended. If it did, she would have to think about the next step.

Max rushed in as he usually did—his second period class was on the second floor at the other end of the building, and he was always one of the last ones in. Liz was waiting at their table as usual. She seemed a little tense for some reason—he would have to talk to her and find out what was wrong.

Liz watched Max come towards her and willed herself to relax. She knew that hadn’t worked by the searching look Max gave her as he sat down. Deciding to preempt his worried inquiries, she right away used one of the ‘short-notice’ stories she had come up with to deflect questions. “Sorry if I am not all there right now, Max. Dad told me the bank was questioning the latest loan we had out on the Crashdown, and it’s worrying me a little.” That seemed to work as Max then went and tried to put her mind at ease. She felt a little guilty about lying to him like that, but she had come to realize early on that that was life as an Immortal. She just had to make sure that she only did it when she had to, not just to make things easier.

As the class went on, Liz could see that it was Max starting to tense up as they got closer to sharing DNA samples. Liz made sure that she appeared totally into the session so as not to notice. Which was a good thing, since Max was not very good at hiding the fact that he had switched samples.

Max had been worried about this for a while until he came up with an idea. He found a way to get his dad’s DNA and use it for his. He was glad that Liz was so caught up with the actual procedure so as not to notice his switch. He did not realize that his habit of chewing on a pencil was going to make Liz’s job a lot easier.

Liz breathed a breath out heavily as she left class walking next to Max, his DNA sample in a sealed bag in her purse. During the study period that followed, Liz slipped out of the building and down to the parking lot where Methos was waiting.

Methos watched Liz come towards him, checking the surroundings to make sure no one was watching. Liz dropped the bag next to a garbage bin before walking across the parking lot to the gym building, never pausing and never even looking Methos’ way. Methos was a little impressed at how well Liz had made the drop. He had met some professional spies who were not as good. He waited until she was in the building and no one was around to slip out and pick it up.


Duncan had wrestled with whether to tell Joe everything. He finally decided that, with the way they were all involved in the whole thing anyway, partial disclosure was not only rude and untrusting, but could be dangerous in the long run. BUT he needed to make sure that no one but Joe was told, so he quietly slipped Joe a note the previous night to meet him that following day where Methos was taking the DNA sample—the Las Cruces campus of New Mexico University.


Joe Dawson found himself once again balancing his duty and oath as a Watcher with his friendship with Duncan McLeod, and his burgeoning protective feelings towards Liz Parker. Figuring that Duncan’s note meant something about Liz, and possibly Felicia Rising, he made sure that no one saw him head out towards Las Cruces early the next morning.

Duncan waited outside the New Mexico University Biology Lab impatiently. This whole thing rubbed him wrong, but he knew he had no choice. Sneaking around trying to spy on people and find things out about him had never been something he wanted anything to do with. He saw Joe Dawson quietly making his way towards him, and immediately started to check the area to see if someone was following him. Joe walked up to him and said, “Didn’t see anyone following me—I figured this was pretty hush hush. So what is the story?” Duncan motioned him to follow him inside the building. They went into the actual biology lab which was unoccupied at the time—or almost.

Joe saw Methos peering into a large microscope, and wondered if he was all wrong about the reason Duncan wanted him here. What could have the ancient Immortal so interested?

Methos looked up as Duncan and Joe approached. He was not surprised that Joe was here—he figured the boy scout would tell him at least something. Well, they were in for a big surprise—he was glad that he had had a few minutes to get himself under control. In 5000 years, he had not been this shocked.

Methos looked at them and stepped back from the microscope. “Take a look. On the right is a standard DNA sample from a normal human. On the left is Max Evans DNA.”

Duncan looked first, stepped back, shook his head and looked again. Then he looked at Methos and silently backed off. Joe took this all in and prepared himself for something extraordinary. And then he looked.

After they had both looked, Methos took the samples out and destroyed them. By mutual accord, they quietly walked out of the building and got in their separate vehicles, all following Methos. He took them out of town to a country road and stopped near some shade trees that were far away from any buildings.

As they all got out, Methos produced some folding chairs and some cold beers so that they could sit down and talk about what they had seen.

Joe was first. “There is no way that sample was contaminated?”

Methos shook his head. “Liz was very careful, and I know I was too. It is what it is.”

Duncan was next. “I am no biologist, but over the years, I have seen samples of DNA, and that was very different.”

Methos nodded. “I did some boning up before this, and I can safely say that that DNA does not belong to someone of this earth. There are components there that science here is at least decades from being able to alter. Either someone almost 20 years ago was about 50-75 years ahead of everyone else on earth, or there is the other explanation.”

Joe was finding it hard to grasp. “What made you do this?”

Methos responded. “Liz was the one who had it first—she said that she had talked to people over the years that believed something did happen in Roswell in 1947. In 5000 years, I have never gotten a twitch from anyone like I did from Max and Isabel Evans and Michael Guerin. SO while I was skeptical about little green men being able to become human, the DNA session Liz was having this week in her biology lab seemed like a way to make sure.”

Joe was still trying to catch up. “You were getting a buzz from them?”

“Not like an Immortal buzz or even a pre immortal one. Weaker. BUT different. Very different. And I have never, ever run across it before. I have never gotten ANYTHING from anyone other than either an immortal or soon to be one.”

Joe shook his head. “So you think that Max had something to do with Liz’s quickening being so strong so early?”

Methos nodded. “She is sure she felt heat from his hand on her wound. That goes with all the psychic healers I have come across over the millennia. BUT none of them ever had anything like a buzz even when they were actually healing someone. So with what we just found out, I think it’s a very good possibility that Max did increase Liz’s quickening somehow. His DNA, while different from humans, still has a lot of similarities with human DNA; my guess is that someone used human DNA as the template and made changes. Those three I think were engineered to be able to blend in with humanity while still having some crucial differences that would only be seen when looking at DNA. I would imagine that Max’s blood sample could very well look normal.”

Duncan had been sitting, nursing his beer, and contemplating what he had just learned. 450 years he had been around, but the fact that they had uncovered evidence that strongly hinted that extraterrestrial life was here on earth completely stunned him. As an Immortal, he was, of course, well aware that there were things that could not be explained, but this was totally different. He looked up at the late morning sky and thought about all the stars he had gazed at over the centuries. He had never believed in aliens and such; while knowing that it was a possibility, he had always scoffed at such until now. In Roswell, he had noticed that people were more open to the possibility, but he had put that down to all the alien hoopla here over time since 1947. Now he thought about what Liz had said about talking to those who had been around back then and had been sure that something had happened. Well it certainly looked like they had been right.

Methos drank his beer and thought about it all. 5000 years, and for one of the few times since his early days as an Immortal, he had been knocked on his rear end in shock. He had not really thought that there would be anything different with Max Evans’ DNA, but it had been a way to check and fill in the blanks. Now he knew. To be 5000 years old and have your world view completely change was shocking in itself. He realized that in many ways, he had grown complacent, thinking he had seen it all and no real surprises were left. He did not think that would ever happen again—not now.

Joe had finally wound down on his questions to Methos. He was now sure that the ancient was correct in that any race that could make it here from wherever they came from would be so far in advance of humans that playing with DNA was probably like a 9 year old and their video game—beginners’ stuff. He still had a lot more questions, but they were ones Methos could not answer. He wondered if Max could even answer them.

Duncan looked over at Methos. “Do you think Max and the rest of them know the whole story? I find it hard to believe that they would stay around Roswell if they could just leave. We know from their background that they appeared in the desert at age 6 or so. That was 1990. That was 43 years after the crash—so they had to be in some kind of sleep or suspended animation or something. Which means that the Military never found their hiding place despite all their searching of the area—which we can now guess they were searching for whoever moved the chambers or whatever came on the ship. That means that back then, there were aliens actually around here—I wonder what happened to them? Is it possible that they are still here, looking after those three? Find that hard to believe since we know Guerin was in a bad situation with his foster father. Any guardian certainly would have taken action early on to stop the abuse. So we can make the assumption that they are on their own—which would explain while those three stick together, they have not let anyone get close to them outside of the Evans parents’. I would guess they know fairly little about themselves, except that they know they are different and are afraid to let anyone know.”

Methos nodded. “Certainly human history has shown what happens to those that are different. Not healthy to let it be known. We ourselves carefully guard our secret partially in fear at what would happen if it ever became known. I have a hunch that they know very little about where they came from or why or what they are all about. Outside of it being clear they were meant to blend in with humans, there is not much else we can say for certain. I will see Liz tonight and give her the details—I also want to know how Max reacted to the whole DNA thing. Not that that will tell us much more then we already know, but it would be interesting to note how concerned he was.”


Liz Parker waited on her balcony that night, having just finished her kata. She knew that Methos would be by after dark to let her know the results. She was now pretty certain that Max at least knew enough to be worried, judging by the way he had tried to change samples. She had let him think he had succeeded, and he seemed much more relaxed by the end of the period. She REALLY did not like misleading him or lying to him; she thought they had a chance to make something special of their burgeoning relationship. But she also knew they would both have to be totally honest with each other for anything serious to happen. And then, there was the simple fact that unless somehow he would live a lot longer than anyone else, the brutal truth was that she would lose him anyway in the end. That fact was more and more hitting Liz deep in her soul. One day they would all be gone, and Liz Parker, assuming she did not lose her head, would be left alone again. She wondered how Methos did it—did he try and stay aloof and not get into close relationships with mortals? She really liked Duncan and thought of Methos as a friend, but the thought of the only friends she would have left in 50 or so years being the few immortals not interested in taking her head was terrifying. And even with the friends on the mortal side, how would it be to watch them grow old while she did not, not able to be around them without someone asking questions about why she did not age. She shook herself and took herself to task for getting maudlin and depressing and feeling sorry for herself. When handed lemons, make lemonade if at all possible. She looked up as she felt the Buzz hit her—Methos was coming.

Methos looked around carefully and made sure that Cynthia was not watching at the moment. Liz had completed her kata and was just sitting on her balcony looking up at the stars. Cynthia had put away her binoculars and left her observation post, so Methos started up the fire escape.

Liz watched Methos climb over the top and walk towards her. Soon she would know for sure.

Methos sat down besides Liz, looked up at the stars, and then looked over at Liz. She met his gaze, closed her eyes for a moment, and then nodded. She took a deep breath and started. “Max had it set up to switch samples right from the start; I let him think he had done it, then I took the pencil he had been chewing on and put it in the bag. So he either knew for sure or strongly suspected that his DNA would not look normal. I can guess from your demeanor that it is not. Just how different are we talking about?”

Methos nodded. Pretty much as expected—Max did know he was different and feared a DNA check.

“I spent last night doing research on DNA, so what I saw this morning knocked me for a loop. Someone took human DNA as a template and kept anything that would be different as regards appearances and such, and then changed some other parts fairly drastically. Many of the parts with the biggest changes are those areas that we on this planet have only begun to map and chart. And the way it was done and the results indicate someone with knowledge at least 50-75 years more advanced then what we have right now. Since we know that Max, Isabel, and Michael have been growing normally as humans over the last 10 years, they had to have been conceived before that—and DNA research has only scratched the surface of what their DNA showed. The only possible, and in some respects it’s ridiculous to say but true nonetheless, reasonable explanation is that someone out there came here and mixed up a brew and put it in a chamber or whatever and let it grow. I suppose it’s possible that someone from the crash in 47 somehow deposited their chambers somewhere the military was unable to find, and it took 40+ years for the brew to percolate. Or they were brought here as they were when they were found and suspended for the decades and then let loose. Which means that someone came here before that, got the DNA to put it all together, and then sent the results here. Who knows? I doubt they do. All indications are that they got out and wandered until found. Which also argues against any adult aliens being around to keep watch over them. Michael’s situation strongly argues there is no one to teach them what they were supposed to be about, or even to look after them in any way. They may be in the dark every bit as much as we are.”

Liz nodded thoughtfully. To have her suspicions proved rocked her some, but she had already been pretty far down this road anyway. “Those three have always been around each other, but have never let anyone else in. Guarded and suspicious of anyone and anything, knowing they were different but not having any kind of guidance or anything else to reassure them or at least inform them. That must be a scary life to lead. I am surprised that Max has even the courage or will to reach out to me as he has. Isabel, from all I can remember, has never really dated anyone, and Michael even more so.”

Methos mused. “I have seen witch hunts and other great examples of man’s inhumanity to anyone thought to be different in any way. Thousands of times over the millennia. Their paranoia is absolutely understandable and defensible. In their position, I would have done exactly the same.”

Liz looked up at the stars—it would never be the same again. Now she KNEW.

[thumper1942]

Another Life Part 25

Joe Dawson put the phone back on its cradle and sat back. He stared at the wall of the small office at the back of the Jazz Café. The Council had gathered enough evidence to conclude that the former watcher and current watcher of Felicia Rising had indeed been helping her hunt. After thoroughly going over all the chronicles of all the female immortals that she had killed over the last 20 years, there were just too many coincidences of Felicia finding them so quickly after many had been found and trained. In just about each case, Felicia had found them only months after they had finished training—and were no longer under the protection of their trainers. They were found in over a dozen different countries on four different continents. And in almost every case, there was some evidence that her watcher had been asking about newbie female immortals. What made it worse was that the research division of the Council had made some comments to their supervisor about the unusual number of inquiries from the watchers involved with Felicia Rising, but nothing had been done about it. That supervisor had been dead for some years now, but his replacement had also ignored the warnings. He was now being grilled about why this was the case. Indications were that he was just another ambitious mid level supervisor more concerned with his next promotion then doing his job right. He was just continuing on with the way his predecessor had done his job... who had also been more concerned with promotions then getting the job done right.

The Council was now debating about what steps needed to be taken, and when. There was no debate about the Watcher Trials that were now being prepared. They would be held soon, and there was little doubt about the outcomes. That was the easy part. The entire Watcher network would be informed only after the trials were over. What worried the Council more was that no one had raised any red flags over the violations of regulations, and that no one had spotted the now obvious ease that Felicia Rising had had finding newbie female immortals spread all over the world. It was very clear that more careful supervision of individual watchers was going to be necessary to prevent any repeat. At this very moment, the entire research division was going over every single immortal death over the last 10 years to see if any trends or glaring mishaps could be spotted. The worry was that this was NOT a one off. That this had NOT been spotted even after the very careful check that had been made after the Hunter debacle was just ANOTHER thumb in the eye of the council. It was clear that the major changes that had been debated since then would have to be implemented. It meant more central control of watchers, and more than likely more layers of supervision added to ensure that anyone going off the rails would be spotted a LOT sooner than had been the case after the Hunters and now this.

It was now clear what had happened. After very careful inquiry into the history of the retired watcher, it was seen that she had quickly become close and had identified herself to Felicia. With no family, and lonely, it seemed the wily and street smart Felicia had quickly wormed her way into the watchers heart and basically over whelmed her common sense and oath to the Watchers. It was believed that she had actively started to help Felicia about 20 years into her time as Felicia’s watcher. Which meant that for the last 25 years of her time as watcher she had been diligently finding victims for her. They had been careful to not have more than one or two a year; that had certainly helped them escape any intense inquiry from anyone else. Then when it was clear that retirement would be coming, she had carefully found a young female watcher much like herself and clearly had early on indoctrinated her to help out. So when she retired, the new watcher just continued as before. And they kept the same pattern so that no one noticed any difference in the rate of kills or anything else.

Joe thought about all he had been told, and shook his head. It was so easy to see now that someone had actually looked. Joe was actually in favor of the changes to the watcher system. He had thought, for a long time, that the supervision of watchers was much too loose. Running around the world all the time isolated many of them to the point that they lost the ability to step back and make dispassionate judgments, and that was supposed to be the Watcher Byword. And the immortals that tended to try and stay in one place as long as they could also made their watchers lazy and careless. So he was not too worried about the system changes that would be coming; what he was worried about was this situation. The two watchers would be sentenced and more than likely executed. It was not that the watchers had a handy jail they could use. And both watchers had violated the most important of the watchers rules and regulations, and their oath as well. All watchers were made known even before beginning training what their fate would be if ever found taking actual part in the game by helping their immortals hunt and kill.

What the council was having the most trouble with was what to do about Felicia Rising. One thing that they were unanimous about was that the Watchers could do nothing about her; there would NEVER be a case again where the Council or Watchers had anything to do with an immortal death. Yet, she clearly knew about the Watchers, and if they took away her current watcher, she was more than smart enough to figure out why. She could then spread word about the watchers to other immortals in revenge. It was thought that it could be set up to have her watcher appear to die in an accident; that was easy enough to arrange. The problem with that is that she would be sure to go and see her OLD watcher—and if she too was suddenly dead, it would not be hard to draw some conclusions, especially with someone as unstable and paranoid as Felicia was known to be. It was being bandied about having her old watcher get sick, and then die. Then take care of the younger watcher. The problem with that were the trials that all felt were necessary. So, that pretty much sank that line of thought.

Joe knew what was going to come. The Council felt, and especially so with all the help provided to see to it that Liz Parker had been able to continue her life as before, that Duncan McLeod owed them—and the debt would be repaid with the head of Felicia Rising. Joe knew that Duncan would not be all that against taking her head—he hated head hunters, and with his old code of chivalry, the fact that someone he had found and at first befriended had turned bad, and more then that, all her victims were young and female—he felt somewhat responsible and, therefore, should take part in the reckoning. The problem was that it would be nothing but a setup which was also something Duncan hated. Yet Joe had to agree that it seemed the best of a bad set of options, and he also had to agree that Felicia Rising had to be stopped. The blood on her hands was also on the hands of the Watchers, who would clean up their own house. It was now up to the Immortals to clean theirs.

What neither the Watchers nor the Immortals involved knew was that the retired Watcher had already taken steps to find out where Duncan McLeod was staying and training his first ever female immortal. She very much disagreed with Felicia’s request—Duncan McLeod was way too dangerous for this kind of game. He would stop at nothing to find out who took his student’s head, and there was no doubt at what the outcome would be. But after all these years, she still could not deny her surrogate daughter’s request. So she had carefully and quietly employed a very unscrupulous PI to find out what info was needed. And he had just simply planted a bug on the phone and microphones in the office of the Dojo. The Watcher operatives that were now keeping tabs on her were slow to figure out what was going on—she had never done anything like this before. By the time they did, they then called the Council to ask for instructions. This took a while longer, and as it turned, out too long. The PI called her with the information, and she then called her other daughter, in name and feelings as well, Felicia’s Watcher. Felicia visited her only a few hours later, and was given the necessary information on the whereabouts of Duncan McLeod. The operatives noted this and reported in. They had already bugged the apartment that the watcher was using, so they were able to report it immediately. Felicia told her watcher that she would be leaving the next morning for the US, and would fly into Denver, rent a car, and drive to Roswell. There she would set up in a motel and start her surveillance of the situation.

The Council response had been quick and decisive. This was the final nail in the coffin of both watchers (literally and figuratively), and they were not going to be allowed to interfere anymore. They were both to be taken into custody immediately, with their trials to be done within the week. Felicia had indicated that she would not expect to see her watcher for a few days or a week, and would expect a call. It was decided that they would have a imposter call Felicia and let her know that her old watcher had fallen and broken her hip, and was in a hospital, and that it would be another week or so before she could be there in Roswell. No one would notice, and no one would be suspicious. The council felt that Felicia would be much more interested in getting her next head then with concern about her old watcher, who had pretty much outlived her usefulness anyway. The ruthless and pragmatic Felicia Rising had all she needed in her current watcher, and that was plenty.

Two days after the last call, Joe was informed of what had happened and that Felicia Rising was on her way to Roswell, and would be expected to be there in about two more days. Two Watchers were following her, with 2 more as back up. They would take turns so that there would be no way she would get suspicious. She had already reserved rooms in a Roswell motel, and the room in question would be bugged before she arrived. All rules about surveillance had been waved in her case.

Duncan walked into the Jazz Café only an hour after getting a call from Joe that he needed to see him right away. He had just finished up that evening’s training session with Liz. She was getting better every day, and now that they could actively spar, she was improving rapidly. He was not yet sure she was good enough to beat Felicia, however. He wanted at least one, and preferably two, more months of training.

Joe looked up as Duncan entered the café. He motioned to Sam to put up the closed sign—they were only a half hour or so from the normal closing time for a Monday anyway. And by saying the sound system was on the fritz, there had been no music that night, so the usual crowd had left already. He headed to the office in the back, and Duncan followed him. There they found Methos sitting with a beer waiting for them.

Methos was pretty sure that something big was up, but he could not help tweaking Joe.

“Really a great way to keep your clientele, Joe. Sabotage the sound system, stop anyone from playing anything anyway. What’s next, watering down the beer?”

Joe just looked at him and shook his head. “We have a lot bigger problems than that.”

Duncan and Methos looked at each other, then at Joe.

Joe sank down behind his desk and pulled out a very old bottle of Scotch. And then he poured three full glasses and handed one of them each to Duncan and Methos.

That got Duncan and Methos’s attention. Joe was not one to use very old scotch on just any occasion. This one had to be big.

Joe sighed and stared up at the ceiling for a minute. Then he looked at Duncan.

“Felicia is on her way to Roswell. She will get here in the next two days.”

Duncan said nothing but raised his eyebrow. Methos as usual had no problem getting right to it.

“How did her watcher find out?”

Joe shrugged. “It was her old retired watcher. She hired an unscrupulous but efficient PI and sent him to Seacouver. He bugged the phones and the office of the Dojo, and it only took him 2 days to find out. The Watchers supposed to be keeping an eye on her were both slow and stupid; by the time they figured out what was going on and then asked the council for instructions, he had already called her, and she then called her protégé. By the time the council told them to take her into custody, it was already done. Felicia came by only a couple of hours later and once again the slowness of the operatives allowed her to find out before they took her watcher into custody. So no matter what you can say about Watcher stupidity, what is done is done. Felicia is on her way here to take Liz Parker’s head.”

Joe felt in a way relieved that he would not have to tell Duncan that it had been decided by the Council that it was up to him to take care of Felicia. Events had overtaken all the carefully laid plans, and Joe was not exactly unhappy about that. But the situation now had gotten a lot more tricky. He had been able to watch one of Liz’s training sessions with Duncan (Liz had accepted Joe as a close friend of Duncan’s and had had no objection with him being around during training). Liz was progressing very quickly indeed for a newbie but to expect her to take on Felicia now was asking a lot. Joe had no doubt that given a few more months of training, Liz would wipe the floor with her—but not yet. Joe had no doubt that Duncan would be quite willing to meet Felicia right away and tell her either to fight him now or get out of town. The problem with that is that Felicia would then try to contact her watcher, and from there on out, who knew what she would do. He decided he needed to talk to Duncan about all the possible ramifications, but as usual, Methos decided to kick the table over.

Methos sipped his scotch and then looked at Duncan. “Well, Boy Scout, the whole thing is really on you now. If you go right up to her and tell her to get out of town, you are just delaying the inevitable. She is not dumb enough to fight you, and she will then go right back and try and get help from her watcher, and when she finds out that she has disappeared, and her old watcher as well, she will get desperate, and who knows what she will do then. She could become a threat to both Immortals and Watchers. This has to be taken care of now and not later.”

Duncan sipped his scotch and thought about what both Joe and Methos had said, and what was unsaid but understood. There was no way Felicia would fight him, but it was painfully clear that she had to be stopped and stopped for good. He cocked an eyebrow at Methos, who caught the look and correctly interpreted it.

“She is just old enough to sense my age, or that I am pretty old, and there is no way she will fight me either. It’s going to have to be another woman, and one who is not too old either. That leaves out Cassandra, and Amanda as well. Do you know of anyone you could call who would come and do it?”

Duncan grimaced and realized that he really did not know anyone who fit the bill and who he could be sure would win. Annie was also too old and too well known. Vicki Manners unfortunately had been killed more than 40 years ago (and he had avenged her two years later), and he really did not know anyone else he could call. So he returned the look at Methos, who shook his head.

“Forget that thought, Duncan. I do not know anyone who fits the bill either. And that wild child you had Amanda train a few years ago is really not good enough to be sure to win. Though I would agree that she certainly would try if in return she got to share your bed for a while.” He smirked.

Duncan glared at him. He needed no reminder of that fiasco—she still tried every now and then—though usually Amanda was around and sent her right off. But at least otherwise, she had settled down somewhat—if being an occasional cat burgler and accomplice to Amanda could be called settling down.

Joe had been working away at his scotch, and it had loosened him up enough so that he could say what he knew everyone was thinking.

“We all know it’s going to have to be Liz that takes her on. And we all know that she is really not ready, is she?”

The silence that greeted that pronouncement spoke volumes.

[thumper1942]

Another Life Part 26

Liz had decided that tonight was the night to tell Max about herself, and in turn to let him know that she knew he was not exactly normal himself. She had decided to tell him that she had done a DNA test on him, using one of the pencils he liked to chew on. She felt that he did not need to know right now about the others involved and that they knew he was not of this earth.

Max looked up at the balcony of the Crashdown—where Liz Parker spent a lot of her free time. She had called him only an hour ago to ask him to stop by. This was the first time he had been invited into what was really her personal space—only frequented by Maria and Alex otherwise. He had a feeling she wanted to talk to him about something fairly serious; what, he had no idea. Taking a deep breath, he headed up the fire escape.

Cynthia had been observing Liz for the past hour, watching Liz practice her KATA. The fact that Liz was still sitting outside was not unusual; what was unusual was that she was not reading a book or studying or anything like that; neither was she just laying back and watching the stars. That tipped off Cynthia that Liz was expecting someone. Cynthia was still trying to calm herself down after hearing from Joe Dawson today about the whole Felicia Rising mess, and the fact that the female head hunter was on her way to Roswell to take Liz Parker’s head. Her shock over the total breakdown of the watcher system in regards to Felicia Rising warred with her worry about Liz. Cynthia already realized that she would never be able to be impartial about Liz; she was a friend, and Cynthia cared about her. And Cynthia knew that Liz could be dead within days—as pretty much everyone else admitted, Liz was not ready to face a challenge from an experienced headhunter. No matter how well she had trained and gotten stronger and tougher, experience was way ahead of everything else when it came down to a sword fight to the death.

Liz took a deep breath as Max appeared over the side of the balcony. She had thought very hard all that day about how she was going to do this. In the end, she felt that fast and straightforward was the best way.

“Sit here, Max. I have something really big to share with you.”

Max did as he was bid.

Liz pulled out a large hunting knife that she had borrowed from Duncan when she told him how she was going to tell Max. He had shook his head but agreed that, while drastic, it would indeed be hard to refute.

Max’s eyes widened at the sight of the large knife.

Liz handed the knife to him grip first. He gingerly took it, then looked at her in confusion.

“Check the knife, Max. I want you to see that it is real and sharp.”

Confused, Max did look it over and saw that it was indeed real and sharp. Liz then reached out for it, and he handed it to her the same way she had handed it to him.

Liz took another deep breath, and then proceeded to cut her left arm wide open.

Max jumped up yelling, “Liz! What are you doing?”

Liz dropped the knife, held up her hand, and pointed at her cut arm.

Max looked, and his mouth dropped wide open in shock.

Blue sparks were arcing over the wound which was already closing. As he watched, the wound got smaller and smaller, and then disappeared. Liz then took a rag that she had left beside her chair, and wiped off the blood—showing an unmarked arm. No scar. She then handed him the rag. He looked at it and at her blood on it, then dropped it to the ground. Then he looked at her, still in total shock.

After her third deep breath, Liz started.

“That day I was shot, it turned out worse than it looked. The bullet lodged right next to my right renal artery. When I was supposedly stabilized, the nurse that hooked me up to the monitors messed up. So when the bullet moved and nicked the artery, the machines gave no warning as I bled to death internally. I died, Max. Then a couple hours later, I woke up. I felt fine, which surprised me. My curiosity overcame my common sense, and I unwrapped the bandage over my stomach. I found unmarked, unscarred skin, and the threads from the sutures just laying on the bandage.”

At this point, she raised up her shirt and showed Max her unscarred stomach.

“Needless to say, I was in shock and terrified. I had no idea what had happened. As I sat there and tried to figure out what to do, I realized that if anyone found out about this, I would be a circus side show freak at best or a lab rat somewhere at worst. And then I got this terrible headache—it was like someone was stabbing me in the forehead with a knife. As I held my head and groaned, I heard a voice tell me to look at him and the pain would go away. I looked up at a tall dark haired man in his late twenties or early thirties, and the pain did go right away. He then told me that his name was Duncan McLeod, and that like him, I was now immortal. And I would never age a day beyond right now”

Liz sat back and let Max absorb all this.


Cynthia dropped her binoculars and took a deep breath. She did not need to hear the words to know what Liz was telling Max. The knife and cut arm did all that. So now they would find out how Max took the news. She then started writing in Liz’s chronicle. This was a fairly important event in her life as an Immortal.


Max’s brain was whirling in confusion. Immortal? That meant never dying, but she had died. But she had then come back to life. Did that mean she would recover from any wound? Immortal. Never aging? That meant she would look like this all her life no matter how long it was. He had no idea how long a life he was to have, but it certainly—or as far as he knew—would not be that long. And he had to assume that he would age in some ways if even slower than others. And Liz would not. He took a deep breath, and tried to calm himself down. He looked over at Liz who was looking at him with a sympathetic gaze. Like she understood where he was coming from as regards the shock. And in fairness, she certainly did understand that aspect of the situation.

Liz waited a few minutes for Max to get his act together. She then reached over and touched his arm.

Max felt Liz touch his arm and he looked over at her.

“There is more. Do you want it all now, or do you want some more time to come to grips with it?”

Max shook himself, and then looked at Liz. “If there is going to be a lot more, I don’t know. But I want to know the whole story now.”

“OK. Duncan arranged for me to be sent to Albuquerque where there was a clinic he had helped start up some time ago that had people who knew about Immortals. It was all about hiding what I was. That has been pretty much what I have been doing ever since—hiding what I have become. There are a fair number of Immortals out there—hundreds, perhaps a few thousand all over the world. All carefully hiding what they are out of fear of witch hunts and other not so pleasant possibilities. Now you might wonder how this all happens—the easy answer is that no one knows—not even the oldest Immortal around who is over 5000 years old. Now not too many people know that I was adopted—I was found abandoned outside the Crashdown only a few months after my parents opened it. Mom could not have any children. so they adopted me. All Immortals are found that way—there has never been a mother found. We just appear. And until our first deaths, we are just like anyone else. BUT when we die the first time—and it seems part of the package that it usually is a quick or violent death—we then revive and are from that moment forward Immortal.”

Max was slowly getting a grip on himself and beginning to think about what Liz was saying.

“How come there are no more immortals than that—and you said the oldest was 5000? No one older?”

“There are indications that there have been Immortals a lot longer than 5000 years. There is one way that an Immortal can die permanently. If he is decapitated.”

Max started to have a bad feeling. “Why aren’t there more, and why aren’t there any older ones? Why do I have a very bad feeling that has something to do with the decapitation thing?”

Liz nodded to herself. Max was indeed getting back to normal if he was able to start putting the pieces together.

“For as long as there have been Immortals, there has been the Game”

“Game?”

“For every Game there is a Prize. What allows an Immortal to revive, heal wounds, and not age is called the Quickening. It is some kind of energy that only we have—and if you take the head of another Immortal, you get his quickening to add to yours—and yours gets stronger. The legend has it that when there are no more new immortals, and as the number of immortals grows smaller, those that remain will fight more often, and the whole pace will accelerate until only a few are left. They will feel an irresistible pull to come together in what is called the Gathering. There they will fight until only one is left—one person with all the Quickenings of every Immortal who has ever been. That person will supposedly have the power to rule the world. That is the Prize.”

Max thought he had been shocked before. He was wrong. This was much worse. He looked over at Liz who seemed way too calm about all this. She had gotten up, walked over to the side of the structure, pulled a piece of siding out of the way, and pulled out something long and slender. It was a sword. She then walked over to the middle of the balcony and started to move, swinging it in some sort of rhythm, some sort of exercise. She was quick and graceful; it was almost a dance.

Liz practiced her Kata for the second time that night; it helped to calm her down, and it would let Max think things out.

Max watched mesmerized by Liz’s dance with her sword. He now saw where she had been spending so much of her time—she had been indeed working out, but also spending a lot of time learning how to handle a sword. And he understood. Liz was now part of this game, and she would have to learn how to defend herself with a sword. And that shook him down to his soul. Clearly Liz was preparing to fight to the death against someone else with a sword.

Cynthia paused to make some more notes in Liz Parkers Chronicle. This was going to be a fairly big entry... in more ways than one. She just hoped that she would still be making notes a few months from now.

Liz finished and put her sword back. It had taken her about 15 minutes to complete the exercise. She walked over and sat down in her chair. Max was surprised to see that she was barely breathing hard—that had not been a light session. Liz was actually now in very good physical condition. And now Max knew why she had been so determined to work out and get stronger. It was all part of the puzzle.

Liz looked at him and decided now was the time for the WHOLE STORY PART 2—or MAX’s TURN.

“OK Max, I have shown you my secret. Turnabout is fair play. So what is yours?”

Max sat us straight, shocked once again. “What are you talking about? My secret?”

Liz just looked at him. “When I was shot, I felt a lot of heat from your hand on my stomach. Duncan told me that my Quickening was a lot stronger for a newbie, and waking up in only a few hours was very unusual indeed. He is of the opinion, and I agree, that something supercharged my quickening. The only one that could have done that was you. I have been thinking about that, when not thinking about being Immortal and all the baggage that comes with it—you know, only being able to tell a few and not aging means I will have to move every 5-7 years as people realize that I do not age, outliving all my friends and family, and so on. So last week when we did the DNA thing, I kept one of your pencils you liked to chew on, took some of the saliva, and put it under a microscope. Max, in case you did not know, your DNA, while mostly human, has parts of it that are NOT. And the way the work was done is so far advanced to ANYTHING that anyone here ON THIS PLANET can do, like at least one hundred years more advanced, the only explanation that in any way fits is that you are NOT of this earth. Which leaves only one possibility. And since I did notice how you switched your sample last week, you clearly know something about yourself is not normal. So Max, as I said, you now know my secret. What’s yours?”

Max was reeling. One shock after another. Liz knew he was different; more than that, she had figured out that he was an alien. Or something not of this earth. He did not know what to do. He just sat there.

Liz sighed. Max was obviously on overload. Maybe she should not have added this to the other shocks he had taken. She got up and squatted in front of Max, and took both his hands in hers.

“Come on, Max. It’s not like I am going to shout out about this or take an ad in the paper or something like that. Of all the people you know, I am probably the only one that really understands why you have hidden yourself, and why you are so terrified that someone might find out. It is exactly the same for me. And if you think that you being some kind of alien, or human/alien mix, or whatever, makes any difference to me, well then you are right—IT DOES MAKE A DIFFERENCE!”

At that Max looked up. And Liz leaned in and gently kissed him. “It means that I am not alone in being different, and not just because I know there are other immortals. It means my guy is also different, and that makes us more alike than any other couple I know.”

Max gripped her hands tighter and drew her onto his lap. And then he just held her as they looked up at the stars.

[thumper1942]

Another Life Part 27

Duncan, Joe and Methos had talked long into the night trying to come up with a plan to deal with Felicia when she showed up. Unfortunately, they had been unable to find any viable alternative to Liz having to fight her. Any Immortal challenging Felicia that she did not think she could win against would make her just run and bide her time. Then when she found out her watcher support was gone, who knew what she would do then. The threat to both groups was apparent. Even if all she did was try and spread rumors and innuendo, that could cause some in either side to become uninterested. And if one of those groups did indeed take her seriously, or worse yet, decided to find her and did, the possible fallout there could be catastrophic. She could also start telling other Immortals about the watchers; that could also spell big trouble.

Duncan had finally decided that Liz should be told as soon as possible; he would do that the next day. And then he would try and figure out a way for him to get Liz away from Roswell for a few days of intensive training. Methos had volunteered to stay at Duncan’s place and be a decoy. If he stayed indoors, any Immortal could sense him outside the building. That would reassure Felicia that she had the right place; one lucky thing was that after the Watchers had taken her old Watcher in custody, they had found out that the name of the new female Immortal had not been used. Of course a search of the Roswell newspaper’s would quickly come up with Liz’s name, and it would not be hard for Felicia to connect the dots. BUT that could take a couple of days, and right now, every day counted. The Watchers tailing her reported that she was not exactly pushing herself to get to Roswell. They thought it would be at least another day before she arrived. That left Duncan with the next day and possibly another before Felicia was in town.


Max had gotten back very late from Liz’s. His mother had not been happy that he was so late getting home on a school night, but when Max said that Liz had needed his help, she relented. She really liked Liz and was very happy that Max was finally coming out of his shell enough to actually date someone. That had worried her for a long time, even though her husband had told her that while Max was a little introverted, he was still pretty young, and she should not worry too much just yet. Max then went by his sister’s room and knocked on the door. Isabel had been a little worried as well; the call from Liz had clearly been out of the ordinary, and she was still not happy that Max was dating little Ms. Scientist. Any change always felt like a threat to Isabel. SO she was waiting for Max and dragged him into her room.

“OK, Max, what’s up?”

Max was a little worried about telling Isabel—he had wanted to tell both her and Michael at the same time to cut down on having to tell the story, but he also realized that doing it one at a time might be better in the long run. Liz had gotten the whole story out of him... not that there was much to tell. They really did not know where they came from, though they were pretty sure it was indeed from out there. They remembered getting out of pods and walking away. And they had found the pods last year when they had gotten a chance to start looking around. As far as they could tell, the small cave had not been entered since they left it over 10 years earlier. They had found it by just driving around until they had each felt something, and it had led them to the cave. Outside of the pods, they found nothing. They pretty much knew what they could do—over the years they had figured that out if nothing else. But why they were here and where they had come from was a total mystery to them. Liz had pondered this for a while, and then told him none of this really surprised her. And then she had given him permission to tell Isabel and Michael about her immortality—and the whole story about the Game. She had then grinned at him and said that if they did not believe him, they could come by, and she could show them the same way she had shown him.

“Liz had a really big thing to tell me. And it was as big as our secret.”

Isabel Evans prided herself on not losing her cool. Ice Queen Isabel was a label she was rather proud of; she had worked long and hard to earn it. But this really rocked her.

“How in the world can little Ms. Scientist have a secret that rivals ours? Come on Max she is a small town girl working in her parents’ alien-themed café. There is no way she could have anything like our secret.”

Max actually smirked, which startled Isabel even more; Max was acting out like she had never seen him do. This was obviously more of Liz Parker’s influence, and she was not happy about it.

“OK Max, clearly she has you wrapped around her little finger. So what is her big secret?”

Somewhat annoyed over Isabels attitude and her obvious disparaging of Liz, Max decided quick and hard was appropriate for this occasion.

“Liz died of bleeding that night. Then she came back to life as an Immortal. She will never age; she will look exactly like she does now for the next hundred or thousand years or whatever. And apparently my attempt at healing helped speed up the whole process.”

Isabel sat on her bed with her mouth wide open. He could not be serious. BUT from looking at her brothers face he was. She tried to gather her wits.

“I think she is nuts. How can she prove this?”

“She took out a big knife and cut her arm right down the middle. It healed in only a couple of minutes and left no scar at all. She then showed me her stomach which also has no scar on it either.”

Isabel was now totally blown away. That kind of proof was pretty definite. Immortal? Well, that did rival their secret for sure. Isabel then got a nasty suspicion.

“You did not tell her about us, did you?”

Max looked her right in the eye. “She already knew I was not from around here.”

Now Isabel got scared. “How did she KNOW?”

Max sighed. “She was suspicious because she felt heat from my hand on her stomach when I tried to heal her. Then she was told by her Immortal trainer that reviving only a couple of hours after her first death was VERY unusual. And apparently her Quickening—which is what Immortals call that special energy or whatever it is that keeps them from aging after their first death and heals them with so much speed and no scarring—is much stronger then a new immortal should have. So last week during Advanced Biology when we were doing DNA tests, she noticed I had switched my sample, and then found a way to get another, and checked it out. Which answers one question we have always had—our DNA IS much different than a normal humans.”

Isabel sat there and tried to think. Then some of what Max had said sunk in.

“Immortal Trainer? What does she need training for?”

Max looked grim. And then filled in Isabel on the Game.

Isabel had thought that she had gone beyond shock, but hearing how Liz Parker was now training with a sword to fight other Immortals who wanted to take her head and her quickening and eventually maybe rule the world showed how wrong she was. As far as having a life that could suck, she had to admit that maybe Liz’s deal was worse than theirs. At least they did not have to learn how to use a sword.

After sitting and thinking for some time, Isabel looked at her brother.

“I know you, Max. You right now are trying to figure out a way to help her. Even though from what you say all battles between them must be one on one with no interference.”

Max nodded. “I know. And that hurts that I probably cannot do a thing to help her. One thing though, and this is another big one. Apparently in addition to that rule which some bad immortals have broken, there is one rule that none of them will ever break. There will be no fights on Holy Ground, and that means Holy to any religion anywhere.”

Isabel looked intrigued at that. “Why would all Immortals, even the really evil ones, follow that rule?”

Max looked very grim at that. “Because a legend that they ALL believe is that the last time two immortals fought on holy ground was right outside of Pompeii. And right after they fought, Vesuvius erupted and wiped out that whole area.”

Isabel’s mouth dropped open for about the fourth time that night. She shook her head dazedly. “OK, I am willing to admit that her secret is a bigger one than ours.”


Liz Parker was on her morning study hour when she got a message to come to the main office. Curious about what it could be, she went in and found a message from Duncan to call him as soon as she could. Worried, she asked one of the counselors if she could use their office for a phone call. This was granted, and she wasted no time.

Liz put down the phone after Duncan had told her that Felicia Rising would be in town no later than the next day. He told her that he wanted to find a way to get her out of town for some intensive training for at least a few days, and that they were putting in motion a plan to make Felicia think that Duncan was staying in his apartment, with Methos being the decoy. Liz sat there, trying to think. Then she got an idea. She then made another phone call.

Max had decided that Michael deserved to know as soon as possible, so he made sure that he got out on time that afternoon to head over to the Crashdown to be there while Michael was working his shift. Michael had been able to arrange his class schedule so that he was able to work the 2-10 shift every day. Taking breaks was fairly flexible, and Max knew that he could talk Maria into seeing to it that they were not disturbed. Liz had told him that she had let Maria know that she was going to tell Max about her Immortality; Maria did NOT know about Max, and Liz had told him that only if he signed off on it would she tell Maria. Telling Michael about it was something that Liz had told Maria was up to him. Maria had questioned this (Michael was not one of her favorite people), but Liz had been firm that it was up to Max.

Michael was wondering what had Max shaken up; he could see the signs. So when Maria told him that Max was there to talk to him, and that she would make sure that no one disturbed them in the break room at the back, he KNEW it had to be something about Liz Parker. There was no way Maria would do that otherwise.

In the break room, he found Max sitting at the table. Getting right to it he stated, “There is no way Maria would help me out in anyway, so this has got to have something to do with Liz. So let’s hear it, Max.”

Max looked him in the eye and gave it to him.

Liz got off early that day, a light day on her schedule. She decided to go straight home, catching a ride from Kyle, who did not question her, for which she was thankful. She walked into the Crashdown and ran right into Maria, who wasted no time in telling her that Max was in the back with Michael and probably spilling all of Liz’s ‘Immortals’ secrets right now, and was she sure that it was such a good idea.

Liz smiled at her best friend. “Probably not, but it felt right.” Then walked back to the break room, stopping by the counter to pick up a sharp knife.

Michael was sure that Max had lost it. Liz Parker, immortal? Learning to fight with swords to cut off the heads of other Immortals and maybe one day rule the world. Just no way.

The door opened, and they both looked up. Liz Parker walked in, closed the door, and looked at them.

“Let me guess, Michael is somewhat skeptical?” she smirked at Max and Michael.

Max nodded. Liz nodded, then pulled the knife out from behind her, showed it to Michael, and cut her arm wide open.

Michael jumped up—and then stopped as Liz showed her arm and the blue arcs of light dancing around the wound that was ALREADY closing. He stared transfixed as it healed. Liz then took the large napkin from her back pocket, wiped the blood off of her arm, and showed Michael an unscarred, unmarked arm.

Michael sat down hard. Outside of the time they had found their pods and finally accepted that they were truly aliens, this had shocked him more than anything else in his entire life.

Liz looked at Max. “Duncan called me this morning to let me know that there is a headhunter on her way here to Roswell to take my head. She will probably be here tomorrow. I called my grandmother and told her that I needed to get away from town for a few days and convinced her to call my parents tonight to spin a story about needing me to help her for a few days. I have a light schedule tomorrow anyway, and next Monday is nothing special, so I will miss it as well. I am going to be spending the next few days in intensive training. Looks like my first challenge is going to come a lot sooner than I had thought.”

[thumper1942]

Another Life Part 28

Max was able to talk Liz into letting him drive her to the place Duncan had picked out- a farm about 50 miles north of Roswell that a watcher family owned. It was currently empty but still had the utilities turned on. It had a nice sized barn that would serve well as a temporary training site. Liz had then talked to Max, Maria and Michael about keeping an eye out but to NOT in any way have anything to do with the headhunter. She was very clear on that- the Felicia was a real piece of work and could be a threat to anyone that got in her way.

Felicia Rising drove into Roswell that evening- only about 6 hours after her target left. Unknown to her she was followed by 4 watchers, each in separate cars. They had arranged to place a beeper on her rental. She checked into a relatively cheap motel (Felicia was known to be tight with a dollar) and then immediately went to the town library. Her Watchers had to be somewhat careful, though at the moment she was not particularly watchful herself. One of them was able to get close enough to see that she was looking up telephone numbers. That took her about 15 minutes then she left the library.

She drove straight to where the clinic was and parked nearby. She stayed far enough away so that any Immortal in the clinic would not be aware. She circled the building twice and looked at it from every angle. Then she walked up to it and around the rear. Clearly now trolling to see if there was an immortal in the building.

Methos had been pretty bored sitting in Duncan’s apartment waiting for Felicia Rising, but realized that he had indeed volunteered. No good deed goes unpunished, he reminded himself. Then he felt a buzz; after all these millennia he had gotten fairly good at figuring out if the buzz he felt was one he had felt before. This was definitely not one that he knew well; and since that number was fairly limited to Duncan, Amanda and a few others he could be pretty sure it was Felicia. Deciding to play up to her, he went to a window and pulled back the curtain slightly, enough to be seen from down below but not enough for anyone to get a good look at him.

Felicia smirked and quickly moved out of sight of the window where she had seen movement. Her reading of the building had made her think the apartment was on this side and she had been right. *Hello, Duncan. Long time no see. Sorry to take your student but that is how I play the game.*

The Watchers observed the interaction and made notes. It had been made very clear to them that they were to write down everything but to take no action under any circumstances. They were to Watch and only Watch.

Joe Dawson had gotten a call from the lead Watcher tailing Felicia, letting him know she was in town and looking around. Wasting no time, he called Duncan on his satellite phone (Duncan had gotten it only this week to be sure that he could contact or be contacted any time anywhere).

Duncan put down his phone and went back to watching Liz warm up doing her Kata. He then started his own, pleased by her progress. She was getting it quicker than any student he had ever had; but then none of them had had the motivation for immediate need that Liz had. He just hoped he was able to teach her enough in the next few days to make the difference.

Max was in the Crashdown more out of habit than anything else. In the talk with Liz, she had said that Duncan thought that Felicia would give it a day or so of staking out the Clinic, then would start to look harder for her target. They figured that she would go back to the library and start looking up local news over the last few months, hoping to find what she needed. Since the shooting had been front page news for several days, it would not be hard to find.

Methos was really getting bored, stuck in the apartment. Then he had an idea- and made a phone call.

Joe Dawson had to laugh to himself. Methos really was pretty predictable in a lot of ways. The novelty of doing a good deed had clearly worn thin pretty fast. He now wanted to be able to escape the apartment at least a little and needed to know where Felicia was. He had suggested that perhaps him moving close enough to Felicia for her to feel him then leave would have her jumping around more. With the watchers help, he should be able to avoid her getting more than a glimpse of him. Joe had said OK, but not too much. She was really unpredictable and they did not want to set her off right away.

Felicia looked up as she caught the Buzz. Looking around carefully she could not see anyone that looked likely. Then it was gone- clearly someone had not wanted to be seen and had moved off as soon as they felt it. Felicia was much too young to be able to tell the differences in Quickenings, so to her it had to be the newbie. Probably Duncan had told her that as soon as she felt a buzz to get away immediately. She decided not to try and find her right now; and began to think that maybe she should start trying to identify her instead of just staking out Duncan’s apartment. No, time enough for that. Duncan had almost certainly already warned her of a new Immortal in town. And he would want to accelerate her training for sure. Staking out his apartment sounded like the best thing for the moment.

Liz sat down on a bale of straw, breathing heavily. Duncan was pushing her to her limits. And beyond. She looked down at her shirt, torn and stained from the several cuts that he had inflicted on her. But she was getting better- it was no longer easy for him! As Duncan had thought when first assessing her potential, being small and quick was a good thing sometimes. She was able to avoid and move away quite often, more then a bigger and slower opponent could. He was now trying to teach her offensive moves, which was always the hardest thing for a newbie to learn. Defense and parry were more reactive and instinctive; attacking required thought and planning and a distinct series of moves. Interspaced with all this Duncan was constantly forcing Liz to counter other kinds of attacks such as punches and kicks and even that old chestnut, throwing dirt into your opponent’s eyes.

Duncan let Liz rest for a few minutes, knowing that she needed to absorb lessons more than learning to fight exhausted. That would come later. He was trying to cram a couple months of training into a few days- and deciding what was important from what was not had been hard. He had always had a set routine for his training and it really bothered him to change it- but he knew he had no choice. The whole idea was to teach her enough to survive; polishing and refining could come later. He knew he was much better then Felicia, and the knowledge that Liz was beginning to be able to block his attacks was good. He felt that it was better to concentrate on defense and teach Liz only a few basic attack moves. From all that Joe had been able to describe of the way Felicia fought, she did not appear to have a lot of patience and if Liz could stymie her for long enough, she would start to overextend and get overly aggressive, leaving her open to simple counterattacks.

Methos was happy enough to be able to get out of the apartment; tweaking Felicia was just icing on the cake. He had done it twice then decided to head back.

Felicia was puzzled and starting to get angry. Whoever it was had come back and done it again- just long enough for Felicia to feel him or her and then leave. The idea that someone was trying to play games on her just stoked her anger. She knew that it was not Duncan doing it- he was much too direct and honest. He would have come right up to her. The odds that there was a third immortal in a town this size was pretty long, and being Roswell and a tourist trap making it even less likely. So it had to be the newbie trying to play games with her. Well 2 could play at this game- all she had to do was find out who it was. Back to the library.

The Watchers let Joe know that Felicia had gone back to the library and was searching through the local newspaper which had just recently gone online. They were of the opinion that it would not take her long to make the connection to Liz Parker. Since it was almost 6 pm, and the Library closed at 8, odds were that she would find out before she had to leave.

Joe decided that Duncan needed to know what was going on and gave him a call.

Duncan listened to what Joe had to say, then motioned Liz over and gave her the phone.
Liz listened, then thought for a moment. “Joe, here is Maria’s number. Call her and let her know that odds are that Felicia will be going by the Crashdown. Tell her to let Max and Michael know and remind them that they are too do NOTHING.”

Max put down the phone, having just come back from talking to Michael at his apartment. They had discussed the whole situation, and had reluctantly agreed that they had to stay out of it. He had been surprised that Michael had even considered doing anything at all, and had told him so. His reply had surprised Max.

“Just because we have to keep a low profile does not mean I don’t care, Max. You might remember that Liz was one of the very few people that tried to be my friend over the years. It was just her way. She is one of the nicest people I have ever met, and this whole Immortal deal really sucks for her. Especially with this crazy bitch coming after her so soon after it all happened. I would like to help, but really there does not seem to be a way. I mean I could blast the bitch, but that would attract way too much attention. Its pretty clear to me that Duncan has other people keeping an eye on her, so that is out.”

Max had asked him about that whole keeping an eye on her. Michael had rolled his eyes and told max that he needed to look around some when he was with Liz. He had noticed a young woman and at least another man who had been around the Crashdown that he did not recognize. And they seemed to be keeping an eye on Liz.

Max thought about that. It made sense- and Liz had said that several people at the clinic were friends of Duncan or had family ties to friends of Duncan. IT was a smart move to have someone keeping an eye on her, especially with this threat to worry about.

Now Max decided to head back to the Crashdown in the morning, which would be Saturday. If the headhunter had figured out who her target was, she would be by the Crashdown pretty quickly after. And Michael had the morning shift. His surprising admission to liking Liz made Max worry that the impulsive Guerrin might take it into his head to do something if he saw an opportunity. Max was of two minds about that= he badly wanted to help out Liz but he knew they also risked being found out.

Joe had come by the apartment to talk to Methos. He was feeling restless himself and getting out from behind the desk sounded good. They were discussing Methos’s plan to keep tweaking Felicia and trying to figure out how much would be about right and how much could possibly send her off. Joe was off the opinion that the tweaking had already speeded things up and that was not necessarily a good thing. Duncan had made it clear he wanted 3 full days to get Liz as close to ready as possible.

Methos had to admit that probably starting the tweaking only on the second day maybe had been pushing it since it seemed clear that had pushed Felicia into finding out about Liz quicker then she might have otherwise. But he felt that playing defense was not the best tactic to use in this case. The more frustrated and angry Felicia became, the better chance Liz had in the fight that was to come. Especially if Felicia felt Liz had been playing games with her, which is what Methos had intended.

Methos felt the buzz and went over to the window, doing as before and only slightly opening the drapes. Felicia was standing on the street in full view. Then deliberately she turned and slowly walked away.

Joe agreed that that was Felicia’s way of telling Duncan that she was here. And why.

Maria was getting ready to help open the Crashdown that Saturday morning, trying to concentrate on her job despite her worry for Liz. She and Alex had spent the previous evening trying to find a way to help out but could not. Ever since Liz had told her 3 days ago about the coming headhunter Maria had been alternately scared and angry. Which made her very hard to be around. Surprisingly Michael had actually been helpful- he right away told her that he was ready to help out but that he had not figured out how. She was forced to admit that she was in the same boat. All they could do was watch out and if the bitch showed up try and not let her know anything about Liz. They had agreed to make sure that no one else talked to her. They were worried that if they managed to talk to one of the other workers they might let it out that Liz was out of town for the next few days. Who knew what the headhunter would do then?

Felicia looked at the Crashdown and smirked. Tacky was being polite. It had not been hard at all to find out who the newbie was. The story of the shooting was very prominently spread all over the local newspaper for several days. It had taken her less than an hour to come across it. Liz Parker being shot and somehow surviving told her all she needed to know. Pre Immortals almost invariably died violently or suddenly. Car crashes and gun shots seemed to be a couple of the more favored ways. Felicia had never cared for figuring out why things were the way they were- to her it did not matter. She decided to go in and see if Parker was there.

Maria had gotten a phone call from Joe Dawson, apparently one of Duncan’s Immortal friends who were keeping an eye out for the headhunter. He had let her know that Felicia had left her hotel and was heading towards the crashdown; and after her session in the library the previous evening, it was pretty much accepted that Felicia had figured out it was Liz and had come to case out the place and maybe try and frighten Liz. So she and Michael were keeping an eye out and it was her luck to spot the woman coming in the door- she fit the description to a t. About 5’ 6”, slender but not thin, brown hair and eyes. Attractive but not beautiful. Wearing jeans and shirt, carrying a long light trench coat. Probably where she kept her sword, Maria thought. She looked over at Michael and motioned towards the serving area. He narrowed his eyes and looked and nodded. He spotted her as well.

Maria walked up to Felicia and went into the standard greeting.

Felicia looked at the young waitress dressed in the ridiculous alien outfit complete with antenna and could not keep the smirk off of her face. This was beyond tacky. But to the matter at hand. She needed to pump the waitress for information. Which did not look like it would be too hard- she appeared to be the epitome of the blond ditz airhead.

Maria had decided to play up being blond- and the smirk the bitch had just helped her. Want to hurt Liz, eh? Well lets see how you can take airhead number one.
“Liz Parker? Oh she is not working right now.”
Felicia gritted her teeth a little. “ A friend of mine came through Roswell a while ago and mentioned that her parents own this place.”

“Oh, yeah. For like forever.”

“Is she going to be working today?”
“Uh, I don’t know”

“Could you find out?” Felicia managed to grind out as pleasantly as she possibly could, considering that she really wanted to strangle this bimbo.
“Find out what?” Maria could see that the bitch was getting pissed and that really cheered her up.

“Find out if Liz is working today.”

“Oh, that. Well I could ask Michael he might know.”

“If you would. Please.” It took all of Felicia’s self control to be polite.

“OK.”

Maria then spent the next 15 minutes puttering around the fairly empty diner before bringing Felicia her order.
Felicia had been barely able to control her temper when the bimbo finally came back.

“Here you go. Hope you like it. Michael is a pretty good cook.”

Maria started to go away when Felicia grated out “ Is Liz going to be working today?

“ oh that. Michael does not know either. He thinks so but he is not sure.”

It was all Felicia could do not to bang her head on the table as the bimbo walked away.

[thumper1942]

Another Life Part 29

The Watchers keeping an eye on Felicia had reported back to Joe that evening. Apparently, she had loitered around the Crashdown most of the day before giving up and heading back to her motel room. One of them had followed her into the Crashdown and had been close enough to hear the conversation between her and Maria. Joe had to laugh—Maria had really done the airhead bit to perfection. But now he had to wonder what her next step would be.


Duncan had pushed Liz to her limits all day Friday and all day Saturday, barely giving her a chance to catch her breath. His goal was to make her defensive moves automatic, without thinking, just reacting. Interspaced with teaching her the basic attack moves. He drilled it into her head that one must always be alert to the situation, to opportunities to take advantage of an opponent’s mistakes. And to be able to recognize when the opponent is trying to lure you into over extension, to making your own mistakes that he can take advantage of. He was satisfied with her progress, but still very aware how inexperienced she was. And there was no real way to rectify that weakness; only time and surviving battles gave you experience—there were no short cuts.

Felicia was beginning to question some of her assumptions about Liz Parker. 16 years old is very young to be pulling the tricks that she suspected her of. And Duncan was not the sort to be teaching them anyway. But where could she have learned it from? Liz Parker was very lucky in apparently being able to continue her life as it had been, a very rare thing for immortals. Perhaps the security of the situation emboldened her? But how would she know about another Immortal in town except by feeling the buzz? And what newbie immortal would have the temerity to try and play games? Then Felicia remembered that Duncan knew about the Watchers. Her current watcher had found that out only a few months ago. Is it possible that he was getting information like she was? But once again, it came back to the fact that Duncan just did not play those kinds of tricks, and it was VERY doubtful that he would teach his student to do them either. Duncan had never trained a female immortal before—why now? This whole situation was not normal—perhaps she was over thinking this. Maybe—now she thought she was on the right track—this newbie was still on her post immortal high. Young and invincible. 16 years old—secure in her home not having to change—yes. That had to be the answer. She was just not taking it seriously. Well that was a mistake that would cost her her head. Felicia would just have to have a little more patience than normal.

Liz Parker was taking the whole thing VERY seriously, but it was really getting to her as for the 50th or 100th or whatever time she ended up on the floor of the barn with Duncan’s sword at her neck. For a moment she just laid there and groaned. She looked up at Duncan. “Am I getting any better at all?”

Duncan stepped back and thought about it. It was Sunday, not quite noon. They had been at it since 7 AM that morning. And they had been pretty much doing 16-hour days both Friday and Saturday. Maybe he needed to take a pause. One thing he did not want was to make Liz unsure. And perhaps he had been pushing too hard—so aware of the limited time he had missed the big picture. Fighting ability was based on many different things—physical, mental, emotional. Going into a fight unsure and uncertain was a virtual death sentence. Just as bad if not worse than being unprepared. He reached down and gave her a hand up. “I think it’s time we took a rest. I have been so focused on training you, I was not thinking about the whole picture. One must be ready in all areas—to be unready in one is to lose.”

Liz was not averse to a little rest; outside of exhausted sleep each night, she had had none ever since Thursday. She groaned as the bumps and bruises made themselves felt as she walked over and sat on a bale of straw. She looked over at Duncan. “You will not hear me complaining about taking a break. I do think we need to talk about how we are going to arrange the fight. Of course it needs to be out of town—but we have to find a good spot that we can easily get to that no one will stumble on.”

Duncan nodded. “We want it well clear of town and any farms or homes. Open space and level with little vegetation. We don’t want anything that might trip you up or make you lose balance and concentration. Away from town means a daytime fight. But I have looked around Roswell, and the only abandoned warehouses that would allow a nighttime battle are too close to town. A quickening would draw too much attention.”

Liz pondered. “You don’t have to go far out of town in any direction to get plenty of distance from homes and farms. And fighting in the daytime would draw less attention if the stories I hear about lightning and such are true.”

Duncan sighed. “They are true. Any nighttime fight would draw some attention because the effects of the Quickening can quite often be seen miles away.”

“OK. I think the best place would be north of town—there are some decent roads that way that are easy to find and plenty of level areas to fight in. Actually northwest would be best. Over the years, I have been all around Roswell and the surrounding area—and I think it would attract the least amount of notice there.”

“Sounds good. Now for the hard part—arranging this fight without scaring Felicia off. I think that is something you are going to have to do yourself. Just walk right up to her, and let her know in a public place that would make sure there is no way she would try a fight there, and also that would not attract any attention.”

Liz nodded somberly. This whole thing was beginning to get to her somewhat. For all the stoical look she had been trying to project, this was a very scary situation.

Duncan accurately appraised the look on Liz’s face. The seriousness of the circumstances was beginning to really get to her. He knew he needed to boost her confidence; that was actually more important than anything else he could do from this point on. She had down all the critical defensive moves very well; and the attack moves pretty well. Now it would just be a case of polishing them, and trying to make them as much second nature as possible. As an old soldier, he very well knew that in their first battle, green troops could only be expected to do as they had been trained. No more.

Duncan got up and motioned for Liz to follow him. He walked out of the barn into the bright sunlight of midday New Mexico. He walked toward the car and got in, after putting both swords in the trunk. Liz got in the other side and looked at him with a raised eye brow. Duncan smiled at her. “Time for a break, but let’s use the time wisely. Let’s find the place you would like to fight in.”


Methos had decided that continuing the little game would probably not be more productive. He had done it to shake Felicia up and make her question her assumptions regarding Liz Parker. He had figured that there was no way that she would think Duncan was doing it—not the Boy Scout; playing tricks was so NOT his style. And he also was of the opinion that she would NOT think there was a third Immortal in town—for a place like Roswell and as small as it was that was simply unlikely to virtually unthinkable. So she had to think that it was Liz playing tricks, and it had to tick her off—some newbie trying to play a trick on HER. The more ticked off and agitated Felicia was the better for Liz. However he did not want to push her into maybe rethinking things and being more cautious. He had learned from Joe that she was staking out the Crashdown. She had to know that Liz lived above it and that she had been close enough to feel the buzz if Liz had been there. So she knew that Liz was not at the moment home. So she had to think that Liz would be back sooner or later and was just waiting. That was well and good—it was giving Liz more time to get ready.

Max had realized that staying at the Crashdown without Liz being there was a useless thing to do. He had been told by Maria that the headhunter had stopped by and that Maria had given her a real ration of crap. He smiled at the thought—Maria could do the air head thing really well when she wanted to. Michael had told him about it as well. He lost the smile as he contemplated the situation. The plan so far as he knew was for Liz to be back Monday afternoon. And sometime after that, the fight would be arranged. He did not know where or when, but he figured it would be outside of town during the day. He was determined to be there no matter what. Even though he knew there was nothing he could do—and if Liz lost, there was nothing he could do to save her. BUT he vowed that if that was the case, then Felicia Rising would die right there and then—permanently.

Maria had told Mr. Parker that she would not be able to work Monday. She knew Liz was coming back that day, and that the fight would come soon after. No matter what, she was going to be there. Even though she knew there was nothing she could do to help. Liz was her best friend, and no matter what, Maria would be there for her.

Alex was sitting behind his computer studying what he could find out about fighting with swords. He knew Liz was due back the next day, and the fight would come soon after. There was nothing he could do about anything, and that made him angry. So now he was trying to see if he could come up with something that would help Liz. He was going to be there for her no matter what.

Michael was working the same shift as Maria that day. He could see that while she was putting on a brave front, she was scared. And she had reason to be so. Liz would be back tomorrow, and soon after that came the fight. It frustrated Michael that there was nothing he could do. He knew Max was thinking the same thing as he was—if Liz lost, that bitch was going to die soon after—for good. One way or another.

Joe sat in the darkened Café—it was closed on Sunday’s—and played an old Blues song he had learned long ago. As he picked at his guitar, he thought that this was a very strange situation. So many players that usually had nothing to do with a fight between Immortals were not only involved, but would almost certainly be watching. There was no doubt in his mind that Maria, Alex, and Max would be there; Duncan of course. He had no doubt that Methos would be watching. And of course the Watchers would be there in force. He had talked to Cynthia, and he knew she would be badly hurt if Liz lost. She had quickly grown close to the young woman.

Cynthia had not gone out to follow Liz. She knew where she was going, and it would be next to impossible for anyone to not be noticed watching that farm—the area around it was flat, open, and without trees or much vegetation at all. Duncan would call Joe when he left to come back, and Joe would call her. Then she would do her job. Even if it only lasted another day. She closed her eyes and prayed. Please let Liz survive—PLEASE.

Liz looked around the area she had thought would be the best place. North of town off the main roads. A clear area without trees or big rocks, level without ditches or anything much at all. Featureless, a place no one would notice. Nothing here at all. Which made it a good place for what was intended. She looked over at Duncan and nodded. This was the place.

[thumper1942]

Another Life Part 30

Duncan stepped back as Liz got back up after he had managed to surprise her and sweep her legs while she was parrying an over hand strike. He was pleased that she had rolled and gotten away from his next strike downward. She had steadily improved over the last three days to the point where he had cautious optimism that she was ready for her first challenge. He checked his watch and saw that it was almost noon. This morning, he had been going over all the basic defensive and offensive moves. He thought that he had probably taught her as much as she could absorb in such a relatively short time period. He just hoped it was enough.

Liz got up and saw that Duncan was cleaning his sword—his signal that the training session was over. She was a little surprised; she had thought they would be going later into the day. She went over to the side of the barn, got her own cleaning cloth out, and went to work on her sword. It did not take long, and she was ready when Duncan headed out of the barn. He headed right into the house, and then over his shoulder “Pack everything up; we are heading back to Roswell.”


Felicia was getting frustrated. She knew Duncan knew she was here and his newbie had been trying to play games. She had tried to get her watcher on the phone and got the answering machine. The same with her old watcher, but she really had not expected to get a hold of her anyway. Maybe a more direct approach was necessary. The question was whether to try the apartment or the café? She decided the café was the way to go.

The Watchers noted Felicia leaving her motel room and heading towards the Crashdown, and so notified Joe Dawson. He immediately called Duncan, knowing that, sometime today, they were coming back to Roswell.

Duncan answered his cell phone and told Joe that Liz was back at the Crashdown. He and Liz had discussed what to do if Felicia showed up there while Liz was there. He hoped things went as planned.

Liz had just got into the Crashdown, where by chance neither Maria nor Michael was working at the moment, when she felt the buzz. Duncan had dropped her off and headed over to the apartment. Just putting her clothes away, and knowing basically how far away an immortal could sense the buzz, she knew that Felicia had to be downstairs in the Crashdown. Taking a deep breath, she headed for the stairs.

Felicia felt the buzz right after she slid into a booth. She smiled—at last. She watched the serving area that she knew had a stairway upstairs. *Let’s see if the newbie has the guts to come down and talk.*

Liz thought about getting her waitress uniform but decided against it. It would take a few minutes, and she wanted this over with NOW. Jose was cooking and Agnes and Sally were the waitresses. She was a little glad in one respect that Michael and Maria were not there at the moment; they might react and let Felicia know that others knew what was going on. In discussions with Duncan and Methos, they had agreed that keeping her from knowing that would ensure she did not back off and wait.

Felicia was watching and saw the young woman wearing jeans and a T-Shirt come through and look right at her. She was small and slight; this would not be much of a fight. Liz Parker walked up to her booth and looked down at her.

Liz had tried to rehearse what she was going to say and had finally decided to just wing it.

“Well finally. Took you long enough to figure out that I was having some fun. Duncan said you were not one for games and such, but I had to have some fun. It’s 2 PM right now; here is a map of where I will be at 5 PM. It’s north of town out in the country. Flat, level, just the place to settle this. Have a nice day.” She dropped the map she had printed out on her computer and walked away.

Felicia sat there with her mouth open. The nerve of that bitch thinking she had the upper hand. Well she would learn soon enough. Too bad she would not be able to use the lesson Felicia was about to teach her in the future. She took the map and walked out of the diner.

Liz went into her room and closed the door. Letting out the breath she had been holding, she sat down on the bed and picked up the phone.


The Watchers saw her leave the diner with a piece of paper in her hand. They had decided not to enter, but to follow. Even thought the first confrontation with Liz Parker would have been interesting to observe. They followed Felicia back to her motel room, and then called Joe Dawson with the latest update.

Duncan put down his phone after Liz’s call. He thought about what she had said. He smiled a little as he imagined Felicia’s reaction. Getting your opponent angry is a good tactic—very few Immortals fought as well when they were angry. He looked at his watch—a little less than three hours until the fight.

Joe figured that Liz would tell Duncan what had happened, and he could wait to talk to him. He then called Cynthia to let her know that Felicia and Liz had had words in the Crashdown—and more than likely the setting for the fight had been decided on. He knew that Liz had picked out a place for it.


Maria was on her way to pick up Alex—she had decided to cut her afternoon classes, since Liz had said last night that they would be back in Roswell sometime that afternoon. She knew that today Alex had none. They had agreed to stick close to Liz this day to make sure they did NOT miss the battle to come. They were going to be there for Liz no matter what.

Max was just leaving his last class of the day and would be picking up Isabel and Michael—they had both made it clear that he was NOT going to be wandering around today without them being around. He was going to head over to Maria’s house on the way back from school to find out what she knew—he figured that she would worm the details out of Liz somehow. All that mattered to Max was making sure he would be there.


Methos was sitting in Duncan’s apartment with the inevitable beer in his hand when Duncan came in. He took in his demeanor and knew right away that it was in motion. “When and where?”

Duncan put his bag in the closet, went to the refrigerator, got a beer for himself, and decided to just go with the flow—and got another for Methos. He sat down in the easy chair that Joe usually used when he was there and looked at Methos. “Liz told me that she would set it for 5 PM if Felicia came by before 3. She would then arrange it for tomorrow at around 8AM if she did not come around. I just got the word from Joe that his watchers followed Felicia to the Crashdown about half an hour ago, so Liz will be there. She picked out a place north of town that should do.”


Liz spent the next hour with her parents, knowing that it was possibly the last time she would see them, and she wanted to make sure that if it was the last time they saw her, that it would be with good memories. She had talked to Duncan about what to do if she lost. He had agreed to make it look like a car accident.

After leaving the upstairs, Liz went down into the Diner and saw Michael in the kitchen and Maria helping out Agnes with the crowd. Max, Isabel and Alex were in a booth. That surprised Liz some; she knew that Max would find a way to be there, but she was surprised that Isabel was. She figured that Isabel was there to make sure Max did not do anything stupid. She saw Michael leave the kitchen and go to the break room. She decided to let him know so that he could tell the others.

Michael saw Liz come into the break room. She looked sober and very serious as she walked up to him and handed him a piece of paper. On it was a map that showed a spot north of town.

“5 PM this afternoon. You have to make sure none of you are spotted or she will probably not come. I want this over, so stay out of sight.” She then turned around and left the break room.

Liz knew that Maria had spotted her and headed up the stairs knowing that she would follow with Alex.

Liz waited at the top of the stairs and led Maria and Alex through the upstairs out to the balcony where they could speak freely.

Michael walked towards the booth where Max and Isabel were—passing Alex who was following Maria towards the stairs. He sat down in the booth and handed Max the map.

“5 PM this afternoon. Liz said to make sure you are not seen, or that bitch might not show. Liz wants this over with now.”

Max looked at the map. Isabel looked at Michael. “She just told you like that?”

Michael nodded. “Just handed me the map and said stay out of sight. Figured she would have it all planned out.”

Max looked at the map and said. “Let’s go. That way we have plenty of time to find a good spot to see and not be seen.” He got up, and they followed him out of the Crashdown.

Liz sat on her balcony; luckily the building was oriented so that they had shade at the moment as it was a fairly hot day. Maria sat right next to her, and Alex was on the other side.

Maria had been looking hard at her friend from the moment she had spotted her.

“How do you feel Liz?”

Liz shrugged. “I am scared, of course. But I also want this done. If I lose, then, well, I was already supposed to be dead. I got an extra 3 months almost. Can’t really complain.”

This worried Alex. Liz seemed too calm—he was afraid that she was resigned to losing.

Maria was less subtle. “I DO NOT want to hear this Liz. You are going to kick this bitch’s butt and send her head rolling. I refuse to think it will happen any other way, and you need to be the same.”

Alex chimed in. “Thinking you are going to lose will make you lose Liz. You have to be positive.”

Liz looked at her two best friends and sighed. How to make them understand? Her whole world view had changed in the last 3 months, and that now separated her from those who had been so close before. She knew this was inevitable—she was different now and would always be so.

“It’s not that, guys. I am very determined to bury the bitch. But I have to be practical and realize that I could lose. I have already made plans with Duncan to make it look like a car accident. I do not want anyone to suffer more than they already will. I will do everything I can to win and survive. And I believe I will. Felicia Rising has no idea how well-prepared I am. And I intend to make sure that she has no chance to learn anything different before I take her head.”

Max, Isabel and Michael looked around the designated spot. They agreed that for what Liz wanted it was ideal. Flat, level, no real vegetation and hard ground. The problem was that they would have to be a fair distance away to avoid notice. There was a hill about a quarter mile away that was probably the best place. So they headed there, parking the jeep farther away, well out of sight of the road.

Duncan, Methos and Joe, who had arrived only half an hour after Duncan arrived, walked downstairs—it was just past 4, and they wanted to find a good spot to observe. They walked out of the building to find Cynthia waiting for them.

“Since I am Liz’s official watcher, I will be there. But it looks like I will not be the only one.”

Joe looked at the other two, then at Cynthia. “You will be the official watcher. I will be there because Duncan will be there. Adam is just being nosy.”

Methos snorted. “I am going to be there to make sure that there are no exaggerations from these two. They do like to embellish things.” Duncan and Joe rolled their eyes as they got into Joe’s car.

Liz sat in Maria’s car as they headed out of town. They had gone down the fire escape with Liz wrapping up her sword in a raincoat. She had made them promise to stay out of sight.

Felicia looked at her watch and saw that it was almost 4:30. She got her sword and wrapped it in her thin trench coat. She was already looking forward to another quickening. It had been almost a year since her last one.

Liz got out of the car and gave Maria a look before she closed the door. Maria leaned out the window and grabbed her free hand. For once in her life, she said nothing. She just squeezed Liz’s hand, let go, and drove away.

Joe, Duncan, Methos, Cynthia, Maria and Alex all arrived within minutes—they had all spotted the hill as the best place to observe without being seen. They found Michael, Isabel and Max waiting.

All of them looked at each other, and most of them laughed a little or smiled. Duncan just shrugged and introduced Cynthia, Methos and Joe to the others. Methos concentrated on the slight buzz that Max, Isabel, and Michael had. It was like nothing he had ever felt before—small but certain, and very different. Michael had been watching the road and said, “Here comes another car—is that her?”

Joe squinted and then nodded. “That is her car alright.”

Liz stood in the middle of the place she had picked. She had started her Kata and had almost finished it when she heard the car. She stopped and waited as calm as she could.

Felicia saw the newbie standing there with her sword. It looked like a Katana, only slightly smaller. Made sense—she needed as light a sword as possible. Not like it was going to do her much good. She got out of the car with her sword in her hand. Then looked around and could not see anyone. She was a little surprised that Duncan was not there—she knew he had to be around somewhere and wondered where the watchers were hiding—or at least one watcher anyway. Did not matter. Time to pay the little bitch back for her games.

Felicia gripped her sword—a modified Cavlary Sabre—just about as long as the newbies sword. As close as made no difference. Being taller she had a reach advantage anyway. She swung it around a few times, loosening up. Not that she would need much preparation. The newbie just stood there watching her—no expression on her face. Interesting—she expected more emotion to be visible—at least some nervousness and fear. No matter.

Liz suddenly felt her butterflies leave and felt very calm. She closed her eyes for a moment and prayed for the strength to survive. She then raised her sword, gripping it with two hands the way it had been made for her. She then started to move towards the headhunter.

Felicia was again surprised that the newbie was being aggressive and starting it—this might take less time then she had thought it would.

Liz moved close, not changing her position—Felicia then made the first move—a straight slash that Liz easily parried. Liz did not make a counter move, but slid to the right with her sword in the same position as before in a classic defensive pose.

Felicia saw that the newbie was a little stronger then she looked—obviously had worked on that. She made no offensive move which was fine with Felicia—that left her with the initiative, and she took it, throwing a series of cuts and slashes that the newbie parried. Still making no offensive moves.

Liz was feeling unnaturally calm. It was like a part of her was standing off in the distance. And she realized that Felicia was not as good as she thought she was. Her attacks were not particularly smooth or well done; of course being trained by Duncan McLeod as the only other comparison probably helped there. She continued to parry and move defensively.

Max was watching tensely—Liz seemed to be holding her own but was clearly not attacking. He both wanted and feared that.

Maria had a death grip on Alex’s hand as they watched their friend fight for her life.

Isabel was astonished at Liz Parker and the way she seemed to flow with the fight—it was almost a dance.

Michael found his inner self identifying with Liz—feel out the enemy, assess his strengths and weaknesses before you strike.

Duncan watched his student fight and saw that Liz was being cautious and feeling Felicia out. He nodded to himself. So far so good.

Methos agreed with Duncan—if he had known what Duncan was thinking.

Joe watched Liz fight and quietly prayed. Just as Cynthia was doing.

Felicia was getting frustrated. The newbie had learned defense quite well—obviously Duncan had concentrated on it. Maybe he had only had time to do that. So she sped up the pace.

Liz saw that Felicia was getting frustrated and internally smiled. Just what she wanted. She continued to parry the increasing attacks—noting that they were getting more sloppy as well.

Joe, Duncan and Methos all saw that Felicia was getting frustrated and starting to get sloppy in her attacks. So far so good.

The others just saw Felicia attacking more and more and were a lot more worried.

Liz countered a particularly sloppy attack and decided to start something so she kicked Felicia in the side and moved away.

Startled by that—Felicia paused. The bitch had kicked her then moved away. MORE GAMES. Well screw that. And increased her speed of attack.

Liz was able to parry every move and realized that the opportunity to take the initiative was at hand. After another hurried attack, Liz kicked her in the side then snapped a fist right to her face. Felicia staggered back and brought her hand up to her face, and found blood on it. She stared at Liz, who was back in the same position she had started the fight.

Felicia now saw only red. This bitch was going down. She charged Liz with her sword high for a downward strike with all her strength—and Liz moved faster then she had ever had before to the right and slashed Felicia deeply right across the stomach.

Duncan, Methos and Joe nodded as they saw Liz make her first attack successfully. The others winced and gasped, except for Michael who just nodded to himself.

Felicia staggered backwards trying to bring up her sword, but she was too slow, and Liz knocked it aside before stabbing her in the chest, dead center. Felicia dropped her sword and went to her knees, blood pouring out of her mouth.

For a moment Liz considered just walking away—but she knew that Felicia was the type to always be a threat—and knew it had to end now. With a smooth, stroke she pulled all the way back and swung with all her strength taking Felicia Rising’s head.

Maria gasped and put both hands to her mouth; Alex closed his eyes in horror and mingled relief; Isabel just stared, and Max closed his eyes, and for the first time in his life, he thanked god. Michael nodded again to himself—end it quick and clean. Just right.

Cynthia made herself watch the whole thing—but inside, she was thanking god that Liz was the winner.

Joe also closed his eyes and thanked god. Then he pulled out his phone and made the call to the watchers waiting in Roswell to come out and take care of the body.

Duncan nodded to himself and sighed. He was glad that Liz was the winner, but knew that it would haunt her. As it had always haunted him.

Methos was expressionless. He had thought from the first few minutes that Liz would win if she did not make any mistakes, so he was not surprised at all. He had worried for a moment when Liz stood back that she would make the mistake of not finishing it. But she had, and that was what mattered.

Liz stood there for a moment looking at Felicia Risings headless body. Then she saw what looked like lightning emerge from the body and swirl around and then strike her. It was like the mother of all electric shocks—and she felt Felicia and all those she had beheaded. And then the emotions and the memories and everything else hit her, and she screamed.

All the rest stood transfixed as what appeared to be lightning came out of the corpse and hit Liz. And then she screamed and went to her knees.

Before anyone could stop him, Max was running towards Liz. The rest followed him with Duncan and Methos yelling at them to stay clear. Of course, they did not listen.

It was indescribable. All those young women; so many afraid and terrified; Felicia’s gloating at her wins so unfairly won; all that combined knocked Liz to her knees, then to all fours. She gasped for breath as it continued—then it stopped, and there was nothing but silence.

It took Max only about a minute to get to Liz; luckily the lightning storm ended just before he got to her. He fell to his knees in front of her, gently putting out his hand to draw the hair from her face as she stayed there, on her hands and knees.

Liz felt a hand move her hair aside, and she was able to just barely raise her head and look at Max. Her eyes were glazed, and she was breathing hard and shaking. The look in her eyes scared Max, and he took her into his arms, pulling her onto his lap.

All the rest of them arrived soon after, except for Joe who went down the hill to the car and drove over. They gathered around Liz. Duncan looked closely at Liz and saw that she was still dazed from the quickening. He went over and picked up her sword. He pulled out a handkerchief and proceeded to wipe off the blade. Maria fell to her knees next to Liz and asked the first question.

“Liz, chica, are you ok? That was incredible. All that lightning and everything else.”

Liz managed to raise her head, and in an exhausted voice, said, “I can’t describe it. All those young women—how scared they were. And she was gloating all the time. Taunting them before she took their heads. She was a real piece of work. I am glad I stopped her.”

Isabel stood next to Michael, who seemed very calm about the whole situation. She looked at him “You seem to be pretty calm, Michael—why?”

Michael thought for a moment then shrugged. “Somehow I understood—it was like I had been in the same position sometime and had to do the same thing. I can’t explain it.”

Alex was still in shock. Liz had made it look easy and simple. He shivered—he hoped that this did not change her.

After a few minutes, Liz stirred and slowly got up with help from Max. She looked around and took her sword back from Duncan. She held it up and looked at it for a moment. Then she looked around at her friends.

“Well, let’s head for home. No reason to stay around here. What’s done is done. I will not celebrate it, but I am not sorry for it. After feeling her, this was the only way it could have ended. For a moment, I was tempted to just walk away. Now I am glad I did not. She would have always been a threat to me and others. She made her own grave, and I just put her in it.” Then she looked up at Max.

“Take me home, Max.”