DISCLAIMER: The concept of Immortality used here belongs to Rysher.  The Legacy belongs to the SciFi channel.  Victoria DiThon Kestral belongs to me (so ask before borrowing).  Shawn belongs to himself – he is, after all, the family god (long story).  Tabitha, Abby, EdE, and Kirk all belong to themselves as well.  Thanks for letting me borrow you for my story!

This Highlander Lyric Wheel “Where You Live” story was inspired by the lyrics to “This Is Who You Are” by Trans-Siberian Orchestra – thanks Alice!.  It takes place at my school, St. Mary’s College of Maryland (do you know how hard it is to write a story set in a college in the middle of nowhere in Southern Maryland? *glares at Amand-r*).  It is also lovingly dedicated to Shawn, Janet, Liz, and Jessica – I met you guys so late in the year and now you’re leaving.  I’ll miss you all.

Rated PG.  For once.  Don’t think this will happen often.  The longer version (if I ever get around to finishing it ) will be at least a PG-13, I promise.

February, 2002

Victoria DiThon Kestral opened the door to her dorm room, glad that her roommate Tabitha had gone home for the weekend.  Under her left arm, Victoria held a thick envelope containing all of the information that the Washington DC Legacy House had collected on St. Mary’s College of Maryland over the years, including information from when it was a female seminary college and even a few small things from it’s time as St. Mary’s City, one of the first cities in Maryland.  Perceived paranormal events had picked up over the past few months, prompting the Legacy to insert an operative into the school.  Since she looked like a teenager, the Precept of the Island House based in San Francisco had been an obvious choice.  She had arrived a week ago, but the research had been placed on a backburner while the DC House dealt with another problem.  Victoria was just glad that it was finally here – she really hadn’t had any clue where to start, and didn’t want to waste her time doing research that had already been done.

Dropping her backpack on the floor next to her desk, Victoria noticed a note propped up on her laptop in her roommate’s handwriting.  Expecting it to be a simple request for Victoria to feed Tabitha’s fish, she was rather surprised by what it did contain.

“A guy stopped by this morning while you were in class.  He wanted to know if you would meet him in front of the Campus Center tonight at eight.  Said something about working on a project together.  Anyway, I’ll be back Sunday night – please feed Alfie for me!”

After taping the note up so that she would remember to feed the fish, Victoria racked her brains for who this visitor could have been.  She hadn’t been assigned any group projects since she’d begun her classes at St. Mary’s – sociology, astronomy, intro to world religions, and a studio art class in sculpture.  Could it have been her Watcher?  The one’s assigned to her had a habit of blowing their covers willingly.  Came with having a reputation such as hers.

Well, the only thing she could do was show up at the meeting and hope that it wasn’t somebody trying to kill her (that had happened on more than one occasion as well).  But before then, Victoria had over a hundred pages of reading to do by the weight of the envelope.  Hopefully by then she would have more of an idea of where to start looking for the source of the mysterious events that had begun to plague the small college more frequently.  Victoria tossed the envelope onto her bed, put on some music, climbed onto the top bunk, and eagerly began to read.

Victoria sat at a table on the Campus Center patio, warming her hands around a mocha.  Luckily she had eaten a large lunch with some people in her art class, because she had read completely through dinner.  She now had a list of places on campus to check out; places such as Calvert Hall (the oldest dorm) and the State House in Historic St. Mary’s City, which lay right next to campus.

As she was raising the cup to her lips, Victoria felt the last thing in the world she had ever expected here – the presence of another Immortal washing over her.  She did not bother to conceal her look of shock as a young man walked across the patio towards her and stop by the table.  Victoria rose to her feet to meet him and was instantly jolted out of her surprise by the amusing fact that she was slightly taller than him.

The Immortal just grinned at her.  “Hi,” he said cheerfully.  “I’m Shawn.  Welcome to St. Mary’s.”

“Victoria DiThon Kestral,” came the reply.  Shawn reached out to shake her hand, and Victoria realized with a start that this guy was very old *and* very powerful.  She released his hand, carefully keeping her composure, and took a small step back.  “So.  Shall we go somewhere more private and have a talk?” she asked slowly.

“Yes, I think that would be a good idea.”  Victoria immediately cheered when Shawn smiled at her.  Maybe this guy was as legitimate as he seemed and *wasn’t* after her head….

“So, if you don’t mind me asking, why exactly are you here?” Shawn suddenly said.  The two of them were hanging out in the living room of his townhouse since his housemates were all out partying.  Victoria was rather jealous, but because she was registered as a freshman, she had no choice but to live in the dorms.

She took a deep breath.  “Well, technically I’m not supposed to tell anyone about this.  But being what you are, you’re a special case.  I’m here on assignment for a group that investigates the paranormal.”  Victoria waited for the sounds of disbelief to come.

However, Shawn simply nodded his head thoughtfully.  “Yeah, I’d been wondering when someone would show up trying to find out about that.  Let me guess: the Legacy?”

Victoria sat up in shock.  “How the hell do you know about the Legacy?”

Shawn laughed.  “Hey, I’m older than I look, kid.”

With a smirk, Victoria replied, “Indeed.  And how old would *that* be?”

Gazing at her in perfect seriousness, Shawn said, “Over two thousand.”

Merely blinking at him, she asked, “And you’re in college, why?”

“I’m a music major.  Music changes over the years.  I’m sure you’ve been in college before,” Shawn answered.

“Very true.  I may only be a little over two hundred, but if I were staying here it’d be my fourth time around,” Victoria said with a grin.  “Damn, Shawn, way to make me feel young.”

He laughed.  “Sorry, can’t help it.”

The conversation delved into less serious things after that, but Victoria knew that she would have to meet with Shawn again soon.  He was old, and he was smart.  If anyone was going to help her figure out what was going on at this school, it was he.

Two weeks later, Victoria awoke to first the presence of an Immortal, and then a pounding on her door.  She knew from the aura that it was Shawn (and therefore she did not need to go for her sword in front of her unsuspecting roommate), but when she glanced at the clock and saw that it was two o’clock in the morning, she immediately jumped down from the top bunk and across the room to the door.

“What’s going on?” Tabitha sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes sleepily.  Victoria ignored her for the moment in favor of unlocking the door and pulling Shawn inside.

“Grab your stuff,” Shawn immediately said without apology or prelude.  “We have to go.  Something’s happening in Historic.”

“What are you talking about?” Victoria asked worriedly – but she knew better than to argue and merely pulled on her jeans under the t-shirt she used as a nightgown and grabbed her coat.  Shawn had already dug her weapons bag out of the back of her closet and was standing by the door impatiently.

“Kirk, Abby, EdE, and I were down on the beach having a bonfire when some weird shit started happening from the direction of Historic St. Mary’s City and the State House.  I knew I should get you.”

“Good boy,” Victoria replied with a grin.  “Let’s go.  Sorry, Tabitha!”

She did not wait for her confused roommate’s response, but followed Shawn out the door at a run.

“Damn,” Victoria muttered to herself. “Damn, damn, damn.”

Shawn answered with some curses in Gaelic.  It was an older dialect, but Victoria got the gist of it just the same and started laughing.  He glared at her, but then blushed when he realized she understood him.  “Shoulda known.  Sorry.”

“It’s okay.  I feel that way myself right now.”  They had gotten there too late.  Even the other three Shawn had been with hadn’t seen anything.  “This bites.  I’ve been here for three weeks and nothing worth noting has happened.”

“Well, we’ll just have to wait,” Shawn replied, placing a comforting arm around her shoulder.  “Hell, I’ve been going here for three years already.  We’re probably due for something big.”

“And who would have thought that you’d be the one that I would have found here waiting,” Victoria replied with a small grin.  “Methinks that between the two of us we can take just about anything.”

The two Immortals stared at the State House for another few minutes before heading back across Historic St. Mary’s City.  Neither noticed the small blinking lights within the windows of the deserted house.  It could have been light reflected from the river.  Or it might not have been.
 

"This Is Who You Are"
 By Trans-Siberian Orchestra
 From the album "Beethoven’s Last Night"

 Sometimes
 Slowly
 Time brings revelation
 Waiting
 Softly
 For someone to believe
 That the ghosts we’ve hidden or left to die
 Have now arisen and will arrive
 To say what has happened
 Say what has happened
 Say what has happened
 To me
 And who would have thought
 That you’d be the one
 That I would have found here waiting
 Lost in this night
 Until you arrived
 And always too blind to see
 And who would have thought
 That after this time
 That I’d be the one you’re saving
 Now undisguised
 The ghosts that survive
 Now say what was meant to be
 I never wanted to give my life away
 Who ever thought it would matter any way
 Wandering inside this night
 Finding pieces of a life
 Never sure I’d ever know what it means
 It’s the strangers in your life
 That you’d never thought you’d meet
 It’s the hand that picked you up
 When you’re laying in the street
 It’s the hand that cut you down
 It’s the dream that someone shared
 When you thought that all was lost
 It’s the friend that wasn’t there
 You can run from all the memory
 But never get that far
 For in the end they’ll find you
 For this is who you are
 Change one note
 Change one line
 Nothing’s going to be the same
 Change one loss
 Change one cut
 Everything is re-arranged
 Every act
 Cruel or kind
 Lost inside our memory
 If you look
 There in time
 You’ll find it in
 Find it in
 Find it in
 You’ll find it in me

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This page was last updated: 2.22.5 ~jlg~