Part 11
Seacouver, Washington
Sunday, October 19, 1997

At about eleven in the morning, Kane and Victoria entered the dojo. Victoria smiled smugly at MacLeod, who glared at her
and strode angrily out of the dojo. Methos and Richie remained. "Don't say anything, Adam," Victoria warned. "He can stay and that's that.  I'm not about to let him get shuffled off to some monastary just because MacLeod says so."

"You didn't tell him about me," the ancient said.

"Contrary to popular belief, I'm not stupid, nor am I completely insane. But I told Kane everything else. He deserves to know
everything," Victoria responded.

"But he's just a kid," Richie argued.

"Some people would say the same of me," she shot back.

Methos was staring at the other teenager. "Your name is really Kane?"

Kane shrugged. "That’s the name I was born with. I've been Keegan, Brandon, and Steven, too."

Methos smiled thinly. "I might consider changing it if I were you. Another Immortal named Kane was not too popular."

"Mac is seriously pissed off at you for telling him about everyone without asking us," Richie warned.

"Yeah, well," Victoria said. "He thinks he rules the world or something."

Kane looked uncomfortable. "Victoria told me everything and gave me a choice about whether I wanted to stay. Please don't
blame her."

"Hey, I'm glad that you're staying in Seacouver. It's just that Mac thinks he's in control of everything that goes on around here,
and Victoria likes to remind him that he's not," Richie said.

Victoria smiled. "What can I say? It’s a gift."

Richie rolled his eyes. "I'm going jogging in the park, and the dojo is officially closed, but you guys can hang out. Bye," he said
as he headed out the door, pausing to flip the sign to "Closed" on the way.

Victoria turned to Methos. "Arthur, I have a big question for you," she said seriously.

"What is it?" Methos asked warily. Victoria only called him Arthur when she was very serious about something, or extremely
angry with him. The rest of the time it was Adam, or Methos in select company.

"Do you think I could be a teacher?"

"What do you mean by that?" Methos said, though he knew exactly what she was talking about.

"You know, teach Kane how to survive," Victoria said.

"Sure, just don't ask me to help you," he replied.

"Why not?" Kane asked.

Methos looked at the two teenagers sadly. "Because I have taught a lot of Immortals in my life and only five of them are still
alive."

"Oh," Victoria said. "And I'm one of the them?" Methos nodded. "I'm sorry," she added softly.

"No," Methos said. "It's not your fault."

"It's not yours either," Kane said. "If you had not taught them, they would have had even shorter lives."

"I don't even want to talk about it," Methos said. "I'm going to see Amanda. I'll talk to you later." The ancient man walked to the elevator. Before he pulled down the gate, he looked at Victoria. "But I will help in any way possible, if only to spare you what I have been through."

As the elevator rose upwards, Kane looked at Victoria. She was still staring at the elevator shaft. She also looked extremely
thoughtful. "I had no idea," Victoria said softly.

"You don't know that much about him, do you," Kane stated.

"Not as much as I like to think I do," she replied.

"You don't need to do this," Kane said. "I can find a teacher somewhere. If someone comes after me, I can hide on Holy
Ground, and-."

"No," Victoria interrupted. "This is my responsibility, in a way." The two teenagers changed out of their street clothes, and
Victoria started to show Kane some basic blocks using wooden swords. Kane was a fast learner. Half and hour later, Methos and Amanda came downstairs. Victoria was relieved to see Methos back to his normal self and did not mention the
conversation. Amanda greeted Kane warmly. The two older Immortals helped demonstrated some attacks to Kane, using
Victoria as a target. Another hour passed quickly with no injuries except a split lip on Victoria's behalf. Everyone was laughing
and having a good time when the buzz hit. Methos looked automatically at Victoria who was sorting the auras out in her head.
"Richie, MacLeod, and someone I have not seen in a long time," she said mysteriously.

MacLeod walked into the dojo and held the door open for Richie, who was gripping the arms of another person.

"Who is that?" Kane asked softly from behind Victoria. The captive was a young boy with short blonde hair. Richie released
him only when they were safely in the dojo with the doors closed.

"Look who we found in the park," Richie said. The boy looked scowling around the room. When he saw Victoria, his face
shifted into pitiful helplessness.

"Victoria," he whined. "Help me, please."

Victoria glanced quickly around the room. Amanda, MacLeod, and Richie looked extremely angry. Methos looked slightly
amused. Kane simply looked curious. "Kenny, you're so bloody pathetic," she finally said with a laugh.

"You two know each other?" Amanda asked.

"I suppose you could say that," Victoria answered.

Now Kenny looked genuinely scared. "Victoria, we’ve known each other since the eighteen-fifties. Remember?"

"How could I forget. But I can certainly guess the reason why Amanda, Mac, and Richie look so mad at you," she said. "And
you promised you wouldn't trick people anymore over fifty years ago."

"Well he certainly broke that promise," Richie said angrily.

"Twice," MacLeod added harshly. "And you were stupid to come back here."

"You think I'm dumb enough to try again?" Kenny asked. "On the same people? I may look ten, but I am older than most of the people in this room."

"Then act your age," Victoria advised. "Why’d you come here anyway?"

"Two reasons," Kenny explained. "I heard Victoria was in the States, and I figured I should come say hi to my little sister."

"I'm not little," Victoria said automatically.

"Sorry, younger sister," Kenny corrected. "And I want to know why there are so many Immortals around here."

"And you want to hang around?" Victoria asked. When Kenny nodded, she added, "Who's after your head now?"

 "No one," Kenny said innocently. "I just want to."

"Then why do I feel nervous?" Victoria said. "And how did you find out I was in the US?"

Kenny ignored her second question. "Oh, come on. Why are you treating me like a criminal? Can I stay for a while or not?"

"That's not up for me to decide," Victoria said. She looked at MacLeod. "Shall we call a meeting?"

"You’re asking me?" MacLeod asked coldly. "Why not just go ahead and answer yourself?"

"Please, MacLeod." Victoria gave him a pained expression. "We have established that we don’t like each other, so can you
move on? It’s obvious that since you’ve met Kenny before, it’s not totally up to me. Besides, Greg doesn't even know he's
here."

MacLeod glared at her, but said, "Fine, I’ll organize a meeting for later tonight. But you have to promise not to let Kenny out of your sight."

"Deal," Victoria agreed. MacLeod and Amanda went up to the loft. Richie left, taking Kane with him.

"Little sister?" Methos asked Victoria in a bemused voice. He had not said anything since Kenny had appeared.

"Shove it, Arthur," Victoria retorted, careful not to use the ancient's real name in front of Kenny. She knew she would get
teased unmercifully because of the eight hundred-year-old child’s comment.

"You wouldn’t be Arthur Jenkins, would you?" Kenny asked. He was staring at Methos curiously. Methos nodded slowly.
"Cool!" Kenny said. "I’ve always wanted to meet you. Is that your current name?"

"No," Methos said. "Adam Pierson. And you’re the infamous Kenny?"

"Amanda’s been ranking on me, hasn’t she. Yeah, I’m the little brat who tried to take their heads," the boy said with a grin.

"I first heard of you six hundred years ago," Methos explained, not returning the grin. "And if this is all an act and you try
anything, watch your head," he continued harshly. The ancient Immortal strode out of the dojo without looking back.

"What was that about?" Kenny asked.

Victoria stared after her teacher. "I have no idea. He got in a bad mood earlier when I told him I had taken a student, and his
past got brought up."

"Back up a sec. You took a student?" Kenny said. "Who?"

"The teenage boy who left with Richie. He’s like us," Victoria explained, meaning Kane had died when he was still a kid.

"Really? How old is he?" Kenny exclaimed.

"Seventeen. Died when he was fifteen," Victoria answered.

"Well that’s two years up on you, and five on me, so he’s already doing pretty well," Kenny said.

Victoria ignored his comment. "I wonder why Adam doesn’t like you."

Kenny shrugged. He was in too good a mood to really think about it. "Maybe I killed one of his students or something. It is
possible. I was even more of a brat when I was your age than I am now, sis."

"I think I know how we might be able to find out," Victoria said suddenly. "Come on, let’s go to Joe's."

An hour later, Victoria and Kenny were sitting at the end of the bar eating lunch. Victoria was using Joe’s laptop and eating a
bowl of soup, and Kenny was devouring his second ham sandwich. Joe Dawson was eyeing Kenny warily from farther down
the bar.

"Find anything?" Kenny asked between bites.

Victoria shook her head no. She was searching through Kenny’s Watcher files for any connection to Methos from six hundred years ago. Luckily, Victoria came to the blue’s club before opening time often, so Joe didn’t mind serving the two some lunch.

Joe wandered over to speak to the two young looking Immortals. "It’s funny how students always seem to end up doing the
same job as their teachers," he remarked.

Victoria looked up from the computer. "What do you mean?"

"Well, Richie runs the dojo that Mac owns. Rebecca wasn’t a thief, but she and Amanda do share some traits. Greg’s teacher
was an amateur photographer, too," Joe explained. "Though I never saw you as the Watcher type, Victoria."

"I can," Kenny said, starting in on the rest of Victoria’s soup. "You should have seen her when we were trying to find something in a library in Paris once. She reads so fast, it’s almost scary."

Victoria did not reply. She sighed and shut down the computer. "Zip, nada, nothing. I cross-referenced everybody Kenny killed back around that time period, but I couldn’t find a name connected to theirs that might have been Adam’s current alias."

The phone behind the bar rang, and Joe answered it. He talked for a few minutes and jotted something on a slip of paper. He
came back over and handed it to Victoria. "MacLeod set up the meeting. Here’s the address."

Victoria glanced at the paper. "A warehouse?"

Joe nodded. "Yep. This one was condemned about two years ago, but the city doesn’t want to pay for it to be torn down," he explained.

"How many Quickenings have been taken there?" Kenny asked. "Sounds like you know a lot about this place."

"Believe it or not, only three," Joe said dryly. "One to Richie and two to MacLeod."

Victoria looked amused. "Poor MacLeod. Absolutely no imagination whatsoever. Can’t even think of a new place to fight."

"Its called familiar ground, Victoria. It’s not worth losing your head because you tripped on a crack you didn’t know was
there," Kenny countered.

"But then you start to get predictable," Victoria complained.

"You do sound so much like Adam," Joe observed.

Victoria raised her eyebrow at him. She shook her head and asked, "What do we do with our Watchers?"

"Think you can lose them by yourselves?" Joe replied.

Victoria and Kenny grinned at each other. "It’s two o’clock, and the meeting starts at six. Think we can manage, dear brother?" Victoria said.

"Only if they’re a whole lot better than Scotland Yard, dear sister," Kenny answered.

"Why am I beginning to regret that comment?" Joe asked to no one in particular. He had completely forgotten about the two
young looking Immortal’s past together.

"Because, Dawson, you’re talking to the best thieves and spies in Europe," Victoria said as she and Kenny got off the barstools.  The two apparent kids headed for the door. Before they exited, a shout rang out across the room. "And we’ve never been caught!"

Victoria and Kenny went to the park to pick up Kenny’s bag where it was hidden near the stream. Then they stopped at
Victoria’s townhouse. Victoria had just moved into the four-bedroom apartment, with living room, study, small kitchen, and two bathrooms. Being very familiar with the habits of the many Immortals who were her friends, she had expected too need the room, and was gratified that she had not been wrong.  Kane was ready to move in that weekend.  The living room contained a couch, armchair, television, and stereo set. Victoria had been very secretive as to where she had acquired the money in her many bank accounts to pay for it, and Joe refused to tell. She let them in, and they spent the rest of the afternoon catching up on old times and watching TV. Victoria also filled Kenny in on who the many Immortals in the area were, and why they were there. After raiding the refrigerator for dinner, the two long time friends decided on a plan to lose their Watchers.

Victoria walked to the park, while Kenny took the bus on a winding route around the city. His Watcher easily lost him in the
evening rush hour traffic. Victoria lost her Watcher in the park by setting off at an easy jog. After going into the darkest part of
the woods, she simply scaled a tree and waited for her Watcher to pass before dropping to the ground and heading the
opposite direction. The two young looking Immortals met up again in front of the dojo. They had used this tactic to discourage
pursuers before. It was easier for both of them to lose their followers when they were by themselves. Though there was the time Kenny had been caught because of this, he could not help their pursuers find Victoria since he didn’t know himself.  Victoria was able to break him out of the jail that evening, and they were never heard from again in the sleepy English town.

The Immortals hopped on another bus to the warehouse district of Seacouver. It was nearly dark, so it took them another
twenty minutes to find the warehouse. When they arrived, all the other Immortals were already there.

"Nice of you to show up," MacLeod said icily.

"Couldn’t be bothered to give decent directions?" Victoria retorted.

"Now, now children," Methos cut in.

Both Victoria and MacLeod glared at him. Victoria’s face was the first to soften as she sighed. "Yes, your majesty," she said.
There were no crates left to sit on, so Victoria sank to the ground in front of the one Kenny had quietly joined Kane on.

"Why do you call him that?" Richie asked.

"Habit," Victoria said shortly. "And ‘cause of King Arthur."

"Oh," Richie said. He glanced slyly at Methos. "He probably likes it, too." Methos glared at him, but did not comment.

"Okay, that’s enough," Greg said. "Now why is everyone so against letting Kenny stay here?"

"Because he’s the reason I didn’t want to let Victoria stay," Richie explained.

"He almost took your heads?" Greg exclaimed. "I find that hard to believe."

"Believe it," Amanda said.

"Appearances can be deceiving," Kenny said sagely.

"Shut up, will ya?" Victoria advised quietly. To the group she said, "I don’t know why you’re so worried. If we let him stay
around you can keep an eye on him."

"She’s got a point," Methos said.

"And," Victoria continued, "maybe he’ll reform and not go around tricking people."

"What if he doesn’t?" Richie asked.

Victoria shrugged. "Then I’ll make him."

"All right," MacLeod said slowly. "Any more reasons why we can’t let him stay?"

Everyone was silent. "Good," Victoria said. Cynically, she added, "And they're both staying with me, so you don't even have to worry about them taking up space."

"Where have you both been living?" Amanda asked, looking curiously at the two boys.

"Social Services caught me and stuck me in an orphanage down in Los Angeles a couple months ago," Kenny answered. "But
one of the little kids there found my sword so I ran away. I heard Victoria was up here so that’s where I headed."

"I’ve been living with my friend Mike Reynard, and sometimes Paul Blaze.  Paul's the one who figured out what I was when I showed up here and he saw me crash on a bike and bang myself up pretty bad," Kane explained quietly. "He lives with his uncle, who used to be a Watcher.  They've all been great to me, but Paul's uncle is very leary of letting me live with them for long periods of time, and think Mike's mom is pregnant and they're going to need more room soon.  So it's good that I've found another place."

"So Paul really does know about Immortals?" Richie asked. Kane nodded.

"I must say that I'm impressed by his discretion," MacLeod admitted slowly, obviously slightly disgruntled by the new information.

Victoria furled her eyebrows and looked up at Kenny.  "Speaking of....who told you I was here? You never told me
earlier."

"Some Immortal named Will something. He paid for my train ticket up here," Kenny answered.

"I wonder how he found out," Victoria said. Kenny simply shrugged.

"Do we have anything else to discuss?" Greg asked.

"One more thing," Amanda said. "Duncan and Victoria need to call some sort of truce.  This is fighting is beginning to get old."

"No," MacLeod said.

"I didn’t think so," Richie said.

Victoria raised her left eyebrow at the blonde Immortal. "Bright boy."

MacLeod looked at Methos. "She sounds so much like you it’s disgusting."

"It’s her saying. I only stole it," the ancient replied amusedly. "Besides, what is your problem, MacLeod?"

"Victoria is an annoying, irresponsible, selfish child who does whatever she wants with absolutely no consideration for others,"
MacLeod explained. It sounded like he’d rehearsed the response.

"Tell us something we don’t know," Kenny offered. "Ow," he complained when Victoria elbowed him in the shin from her spot below him on the ground.

"I told you to shut up," Victoria muttered. She was getting sick of being talked about as if she were not present. It seemed to
happen often.

"Lay off, guys," Amanda said. "She’s just being the way she is."

"Thank you, Amanda," Victoria said. "But I will admit that I can be a pain." She paused. "Why are you defending me?"

"Because I want you to explain the comment that you made to Joe earlier," the lady Immortal said sweetly.

"What comment?" Kenny asked.

"The one about being the best thieves in Europe," Amanda said.

"Uh oh, competition, Amanda," Richie teased. Amanda gave him a look, and the young Immortal instantly shut up. She then
looked expectantly at the two guilty looking kids.

"Well, yeah. We hired ourselves out to various organizations that needed money during the Depression, and kept some of the
take for ourselves. And we were never caught," Victoria explained. "We did this for about fifteen years up until World War
Two."

"What did you do during the war?" MacLeod asked, his curiosity getting the better of him. "You obviously didn’t fight."

"Of course not," Kenny answered, continuing the story. "I have a photographic memory, so I became an unofficial spy for the
Allies. Victoria turned assassin and went off on her own little crusade."

"Against who?" Richie asked. He was intrigued that two apparent children had still found a way to fight in one of the bloodiest
wars in history.

"Hitler, who else? I came very close only once, but some stupid amateurs set a bomb and ruined everything. Besides losing the best chance I had, I died in the blast and that was definitely not fun. I ended up getting captured by the Nazis and some
Immortals Kenny and I had been working with in the Paris resistance had to rescue me," Victoria explained. "I also heard that
one of the amateurs got captured, but I never got to talk with her." She glanced at MacLeod, whose face was getting extremely angry. "What’s wrong, Mac?"

"I was one of those stupid amateurs," he answered sarcastically, yet in a dangerous voice. He stood and walked out of the
warehouse. The rest of the group heard the T-bird start up and drive away.

"Shitty," Victoria said softly. "Definitely didn't know that.  Guess I injured his fragile Scottish pride or ego or whatever," she continued with a grin.

Methos was looking at his young former student with curiosity. He was not about to tell her why MacLeod was so sore about
being reminded of the World War Two incident, but something else was on his mind. "For some reason I thought you had
stayed in Avalon all your life."

"Dream on," Victoria replied. "I’ve had my share of adventures."

"Oh, I just remembered," Greg interrupted before Methos could continue. "This came in the mail at my house for you today,
Victoria." He handed it to the older Immortal.

"Thanks," Victoria said in a nervous voice tinged with dread. It was a plain white envelope with no return address. It was
addressed very formally to Victoria DiThon Kestral. Victoria tore it open. "Oh, great," she said darkly. "Another one."

"What’s it say?" Amanda asked.

"Beware the death by which all stops. This is the fourth letter in about a week and a half," Victoria answered.

"Are they all that depressing?" Greg said.

"Pretty much," she replied. "They're all about death, though whether it’s mine or someone else’s I have no idea. Hopefully, if
someone is stalking me, they don’t know I’m Immortal. But this person does know an awful lot about me. I’ve found two of the notes in my tree at the park where I go to be by myself. The other one was in my locker at school."

"Creepy," Amanda remarked.

"Yeah, well, can we leave now? This warehouse is starting to freak me out," Victoria pleaded, nervously glancing into the dark corners not illuminated by the scattered light bulbs hanging from the ceiling. Everyone agreed and dispersed to go to their
separate homes. Amanda caught a ride with Methos, who was going to the dojo to try to talk some sense into MacLeod. Greg drove Victoria, Kenny, and Kane to his house, and Richie hopped on his bike to head home. The three decided to stay the night at Greg's when Victoria and Greg got into a deep conversation, but no one could sleep. Greg, Kenny, and Victoria ended up regaling Kane with tales from their long lives until late into the night.

Author’s Notes: What can I say, I’m insane. I actually like Kenny! And about the WWII incident, just think the episode
"Valkyrie." It’s a great episode, with one of my favorite Methos quotes.

Part 12
Seacouver, Washington
Saturday, October 25, 1997

Author's Notes: Elizabet is pronounced exactly like Elizabeth, except with a hard "T" at the end instead of a "TH".

Saturdays had fallen into a sort of routine at the dojo. Each of the Immortals in Seacouver came at least once during the day to work out and spar with each other. On this particular Saturday afternoon, Richie and Greg were sparring with quarterstaves, while Victoria, Kenny, and Kane did homework in a corner of the large room. Much to Kenny’s disgust, Anne had enrolled him as a seventh grader at the junior high Victoria and Kane attended as ninth graders. The three Immortals had not made too many friends, instead sticking with Mike, Paul, and their friends. Right now, Victoria was half-heartedly doing math while helping Kane write an English paper and alternately complaining about the current low standards in education.  Kenny was breezing through an extra credit worksheet packet for his World History class.

Greg and Richie ended the mock fight, with Greg as the victor. Richie decided he was tired of being dropped by the older
fighter and wandered over to the "Brats" as their adult friends affectionately called them. It suited the three inseparable friends,
so they did not protest. Richie had just seated himself on the ground in front of them when Kenny sighed and slammed shut his
history book.

"That was simple," he declared. "Mr. Duffie said it would take at least a couple hours to look through our books for the
answers. I did it in under forty-five minutes."

Richie picked up the packet. It was four pages long with about thirty to twenty questions on the both front and back of each
page. "You did all this in less than an hour?" he asked in an amazed voice.

Kenny shrugged. "Sure," he said. "I do have a photographic memory. And I lived through most of this. I only had to look up
nine of the questions, and the only one of those I couldn’t find Victoria knew."

"Which one was that?" Greg inquired. He had been listening to the exchange from across the room.

"What year Titanic sank," Kane supplied. "Even I know that, Kenny."

Victoria looked up from her math notebook. "April 15, 1912."

"How should I know?" Kenny whined. "Unlike some people, I wasn’t stupid enough to go on it."

Victoria’s face darkened dangerously. "You’re digging yourself a deeper hole, Neth." Neth was Victoria’s nickname for Kenny.  Kane had picked it up, but know one had ever bothered asking her where it was from.

"You were on the Titanic?" Greg asked as he walked over to the group.

"Yes, she was. I told her not to go, but she didn’t listen to me," Kenny replied smugly.

Suddenly, with a strangled cry, Victoria lashed out with her bare foot, and it connected solidly with Kenny’s shoulder. He was
knocked backwards, even though he was still sitting. Victoria grabbed the quarterstaff Richie had placed next to him, and threw it toward the smaller boy who was trying to sit up with a dazed expression on his face. She leapt to her feet and grabbed the other quarterstaff from Greg. "I know you can fight with a staff, Kenny," Victoria said grimly. "After all, you taught me."

Kenny hastily stood up, gripping the staff. The long weapon looked slightly ridiculous when held by the small boy, but Kenny
obviously knew how to use it. "Victoria, what are you doing? I don’t want to fight you," he pleaded, though the hard glint in his eyes betrayed the fact that he was willing to if needed.

"You’ve had this coming. Just because I call you my brother does not give you the right to tease my about something I beat
myself up over practically everyday," Victoria explained harshly as the two circled. "You’ve been taunting me with this every
time we meet for over eighty years. It’s going to stop."

Richie looked at Greg and Kane. He wanted to stop the two, especially since Victoria had murder in her eyes, and Kenny was fully willing to participate in the fight. Greg read the look in Richie’s face and shook his head no. Like any fight, it was not their place to interfere. He was only thankful that they could not kill each other permanently, and that Victoria had gone for the
closest weapon instead of her sword. The older Immortal would not admit it, but it scared him to see the sudden changes in the two seemingly carefree kids.

Kane watched the exchange with no expression. Though the two older Immortals treated him as an equal outside of training
lessons, he knew that there was a complicated past between them that he could not interfere with.

Suddenly, Victoria moved in for the attack. Kenny blocked the downward swing with one end while swinging the other towards her side. The observers plainly heard ribs crack, but Victoria only grunted in pain. From past experience, Greg and Richie knew that the girl must have been in incredible pain, and were amazed when she pressed the attack. Kenny let Victoria call the shots.  He was merely blocking her inexperienced blows, and had not gone on the offensive since his first hit. The shorter boy let her back him across the room until they were in the center of the dojo. Then Kenny held his ground, apparently waiting for something. Victoria swung her staff in what would have been a beheading blow, had she been using a sword. Instead of blocking, Kenny dodged the under the swing and ended up behind Victoria on one knee. Before she could turn around, Kenny swung his staff. Connecting with the side of her knee, the bones made a harsh cracking noise. With a howl of pain, Victoria collapsed. Jumping nimbly to his feet, Kenny looked down at his opponent’s face.

Victoria met his gaze with fury "Do it," she growled, and without hesitation, Kenny slammed the end of the staff into the side of her head.

Greg had watched impassionately throughout the fight. He instinctively knew that Victoria was dead, or at least unconscious,
from the head blow. He maintained the non-interference rule until Kenny raised the staff with the end directly above Victoria’s
chest. With a horrified glance at Richie, who had realized the same thing, the two could only watch helplessly as Kenny brought the staff down.

A cry that was both commanding and fearful rang across the dojo. "No!" Kane cried. Kenny stopped with the
staff just inches above Victoria’s heart. The room was still. Kenny shook his head as if waking from a dream. When he realized what he had been about to do, the boy dropped the staff and sank to his knees with a sob and a curse.

"Kenny, what were you thinking?" Richie said angrily as he hurried toward the fallen girl. Kenny looked at Richie with a face of pure horror. The Immortal child got up and ran out of the dojo.

"Go after him," Greg ordered Richie. "He can’t think straight, and something may happen to him. I’ll look after Victoria." Richie nodded and headed out the door. The Immortal doctor knelt beside Victoria and began examining her. He took her pulse and said, "She’s dead. Probably a skull fracture." He started to straiten out her leg. "He shattered her kneecap, too. It'll heal faster if it's straight." There was nothing Greg could do for the cracked ribs or skull, so he sat beside her while Kane put away the discarded weapons. The two waited for Victoria to revive.

A few minutes later, they felt the buzz. Richie walked into the dojo holding an unconscious Kenny in his arms. He was followed closely by a young lady with long blond hair. The girl was wearing black jeans and a large black leather jacket. She
stopped in the entrance of the dojo and looked around. When she saw Victoria lying on the floor, the girl immediately ran to her and knelt across from Greg and Kane, who were staring at the new arrival. Richie carried Kenny over to one of the weight benches and gently laid him down. He then joined the group surrounding Victoria.

"It’s a good thing the Game isn’t fought with quarterstaves, or Victoria wouldn’t have lived to see thirty, much less two
hundred," the blonde girl said with a faint European accent. "They were fighting about Titanic, weren’t they?" she asked Greg.  He nodded silently. She laughed. "She always loses, because she never grabs her sword. I don’t know why Kenny keeps bringing it up."

Kane was dying of curiosity. "Who are you?" he finally asked.

The girl looked startled. "Victoria never mentioned me? I’m Elizabet Aspen."

"Are you Immortal?" Kane continued.

"At two hundred and two, I certainly hope so," Elizabet said. "Anything else?"

"Yeah, but this will have to do for now," Greg said. "You obviously know Victoria. Do you have any idea how long she’ll be
out?"

"How’d she die?" she asked, suddenly serious.

"Possible skull fracture," Greg replied.

Elizabet snorted and gestured to Richie. "From what he said, she’s been dead about four or five minutes. Last time she was out for around twenty from this type of injury. She hates getting knocked in the head."

"So should we just wait here?" Richie asked.

"No," Elizabet said strongly. "Both Kenny and Victoria will freak out if they wake up and feel this many buzzes. Either at least
two of you leave, or we have to take them somewhere else."

"The loft," Richie suggested. Unconsciously, he trusted the unknown girl. "We’ll wait down here."

"Good idea," Greg said. He trusted the girl, too. "Kane can stay with them until they revive." He walked back over to Kenny,
who was still out cold, and scooped him into his arms. Richie carefully gathered Victoria up and led the way to the elevator.

"I’m coming too," Elizabet said. Kane looked at her and nodded. "I want to talk with you anyway," the girl added. The group
rode the noisy freight elevator up to the loft in silence. When they arrived, Richie set Kenny on the couch, and Greg laid Victoria gently on the bed. Elizabet waited for the two men to leave before taking off her jacket and placing it carefully on the counter that separated the kitchen from the living room. Kane still heard a muffled clank.

"What was that?" he asked.

Elizabet reached into the back of her jacket and withdrew a sword. "English privateer’s cutlass, made in 1795," she said
proudly. "This baby’s as old as me and hasn’t let me down yet."

"You carry around your sword? Victoria and Kenny don’t," Kane said.

"That’s because I’m the smart one in our merry little band," Elizabet explained. She pulled a small black cloth out of her back
pocket and started absently wiping down her blade. "Kenny thinks he can run away, and Victoria places way to much trust in
her hold-out dagger." She looked at Kenny. "I suppose we should wake him up so Victoria doesn’t try to murder the poor kid in his sleep when she revives."

"Can I ask you a question first?" Kane asked hesitantly. When Elizabet nodded, he took a deep breath. "Why did Richie and
Greg leave us alone together, especially since Victoria and Kenny are out cold -- one of them literally?"

Elizabet thought for a moment. "I don’t suppose Kenny or Victoria have mentioned anything about their gifts?" When Kane
shook his head, she sighed. "Okay, has she told you about Cassandra and the Kurgan?" Again Kane shook his head. "Okay,"
Elizabet repeated. "Cassandra can make people do her will and the Kurgan had unnatural strength. I don’t know why, but I
think the reason Victoria, Kenny, and I have gifts is because we became Immortal really young. I can make people trust me,
and I’m empathic."

"What’s that mean?" Kane asked.

"It means I can sense emotions," Elizabet answered. "Victoria is telekinetic, which means she can move objects with her mind.
Kenny can teleport, move from one place to another instantaneously."

Kane smiled. "That might explain why I could do this after I became Immortal." He looked at a candle on MacLeod’s
bookshelves. Suddenly, it burst into flame.

Elizabet laughed. "You’re pyrokinetic! Now, there’s a handy skill."

"How’d you meet them?" Kane asked. He was slightly surprised that there was another 'kid' Immortal in the world. He
was also kind of hurt that Victoria and Kenny had not told him about her.

Elizabet looked unsure of herself. After glancing at the two prone forms in the loft and giving them a mental salute, she began her story. "An Immortal who is, thankfully, now dead captured me and tortured me to see how an Immortal would stand up to it.  After two days, Victoria and Kenny were wandering through the woods in Germany where I was. They rescued me, and I
killed the Immortal." The girl smiled at Kane.

Kane was unnerved by the smile that was both innocent and dangerous. "We’d better wake up Kenny. How do we?"

Elizabet looked around the loft and spotted MacLeod’s liquor cabinet. She opened it up and surveyed the contents. She
selected a small glass and filled it halfway with scotch. She looked at it for a moment and, to Kane’s amazement, quickly drank the liquid. After refilling it, she looked at Kane. "How old are you?" she asked.

"Seventeen, died when I was almost fifteen," he replied.

"Okay, never mind," the girl said. "I at least try to follow the laws of whatever country I'm in. But don’t tell Victoria that I drank that.  She’ll have a fit." Elizabet carried the glass to the couch and held it under Kenny’s nose. He awoke with a start, and Elizabet quickly backed away.

Kenny looked around wildly until he saw Elizabet. "Are you going to kill me?" he asked fearfully.

Elizabet approached the couch warily. "I was worried about my own head until I saw you practically drop dead at the sight of
me. Besides, I’m not crazy enough to risk Victoria’s wrath," she said, handing the glass to the small boy. He greedily drank the scotch.

"Are you Victoria’s ‘sister’?" Kane asked.

"Sister-in-arms," Elizabet corrected. "And Kenneth’s archenemy."

"It’s not my fault you threatened to kill me the next time you saw me within buzz distance of an adult Immortal," Kenny said
sarcastically.

"Please, Kenneth," Elizabet shot back. "You know you can’t play your little tricks for very long now. Your reputation is starting to precede you." Kenny paled. "Joking," Elizabet said, "but it wouldn’t hurt you to act your age every once in a while." She easily blocked Kenny’s light punch and retaliated by tickling him in the side. It was about to escalate into a full-scale tickle war until Elizabet saw Kane studying her jacket. A portion of its back was in view and the colorful embroidery had caught his eye.  She left the couch and to join the younger Immortal. Elizabet held up her jacket for Kane to see. Embroidered in the black leather were a sword and six roses. Kane recognized the downward pointing sword as Elizabet’s beloved cutlass. Over the hilt was a white rose edged in gold, and below the blade was a black one edged in silver. The four surrounding roses, two on each side, were red, blue, yellow, and green.

"You got promoted," Kenny observed.

Elizabet smiled proudly. "Yep, now I’m a full Rose Master."

"What does that mean?" Kane inquired. He had gotten quite used to being out of the information loop during conversations with the older Immortals he knew. He had learned that the only thing to do was ask what the conversation was about.

"I’m a member of a group in Europe called the RoseBlades. There’s a division in almost every major city of about six countries.  All the members are between the ages of eleven and nineteen. I died when I was thirteen so I’ve been hopping from city to city for about a hundred and fifty years," Elizabet explained. "If the members were older, we’d be mistaken for organized crime, but the whole purpose of the RoseBlades is to keep peace between the real gangs." She paused.

"You didn’t explain about the orders," Kenny said helpfully.

Elizabet gave him a withering glance. "I’m getting to that," she said. "There are three orders called the Order of the Rose, Order of the Blade, and Order of the Crown. You work your way up through the ranks, and the highest are the Rose Master, Blade Master, and Crown Master." She rested her hand lightly on her jacket. "I have the right to wear the sword design, because I’m a Blade Master.  Hell, I'm the first Blade Master. Recently I got my sixth rose and became a Rose Master."

"Do all the orders deal with weapons?" Kane asked, intrigued and listening with rapt attention to the girl’s explanation.

"Only the Blades, hence the name," Elizabet replied. "The Roses are diplomacy, and the Crowns run the few businesses that the RoseBlades own."

"I have a Green Blade," Kenny said. "That's the third level. And I'm only on the first level, black, for the Crowns. But I haven't
been in Europe for about thirty years."

The three fell into a companionable silence as Elizabet went to check on Victoria. "I can’t tell anything about her skull or ribs,
but I think her knee has healed." She gave an embarrassed look at the other two Immortals. "But I can’t even be sure about
that. I seriously need to become a doctor if you two are going to keep this up. They like to kill each other a lot. Keeps things
interesting," she added to Kane.

Kane looked at his watch. "It’s only been about ten minutes."

Elizabet nodded at him distractedly, and walked back over to the couch where Kenny was still sprawled. "Did you search
Victoria out? Or did you happen to find her here?"

Kenny looked at Kane. "Don’t worry. You’ll get used to her split second conversation changes." Elizabet glared at him, and he sighed. "What are you talking about?"

"How did you find out Victoria was here? You know she planned to stay in Avalon for a couple more years," Elizabet explained.

Kenny looked at her warily. "I thought we agreed not to question what goes on in each others lives."

It was Elizabet’s turn to sigh. "Stupid photographic memory. I forgot about that conversation."

Kenny shrugged. "I’m not surprised you don’t remember. It was Victoria’s idea."

That made Elizabet smile. "Make’s you wonder what she’s hiding, doesn’t it."

As if on cue, Victoria inhaled a deep, gasping breath, providing her starved lungs with air. She immediately tried to sit up.
Elizabet ran to the bed and put her arms around the teenager, who tried to struggle out of her grasp. Kane started to follow, but Kenny grabbed his arm when he passed the couch.

"Elizabet can handle it. She has for the past hundred and fifty years," the small boy said. "Victoria will attack any one else who
comes near. She hates dying in front of people she knows."

Kane looked across the loft and surveyed the scene. Victoria was sitting up in Elizabet’s arms, but her eyes were closed. The
blonde girl was rocking her slowly and humming in her ear. Victoria slowly opened her eyes, and turned her head to let them
focus on Elizabet.

"Titania?" she said.

"Hush, Atlantis," Elizabet soothed. "Yes, it’s me."

Kane looked at Kenny questioningly. Again, Kenny shrugged. "Code names we’ve been using for years. They kind of evolved into nicknames. I’m Zeist."

"Hey, Kenny," Victoria called in a somewhat hoarse voice. "Why didn’t you stab me like you usually do?"

"Kane stopped me," Kenny explained. His face showed no emotion, though Kane thought his eyes betrayed a hint of sadness.
Suddenly, he grinned. "Besides, you were already dead. How come you didn’t stay that way longer?"

"Dead? Last time you cracked my skull was over a hundred years ago," Victoria replied, her voice already sounding much
better. "You heal slightly faster every time you somehow die. It evens out eventually," she continued, more for Kane’s benefit
than the others. She climbed off the bed and walked across the loft, leaning slightly on Elizabet, and favoring her injured knee.

"So I screwed up on that diagnosis," Elizabet muttered when Kane looked at her pointedly.

Victoria gave a knowing smile and gestured towards the lift. "Come on," she said. "Let’s go downstairs and break the sad news to whoever’s still down there that I’ll live."

The four Immortals rode the elevator down to the dojo proper. They entered the room with Victoria supported on either side
by Elizabet and Kane. Greg and Richie immediately approached them. "Are you all right?" Richie asked anxiously.

Victoria cocked her eyebrow at him. "As much as this will surprise you, I’ll live."

"She’s back to normal," Greg said. "Sarcasm and all." His voice had just a hint of relief in it.

"I’m not surprised," Richie protested.

"Sure, kid," Victoria said with a grin. She smiled even wider when Richie looked at her with a pained expression.

"So how long have you known Victoria and Kenny?" Richie asked Elizabet, his natural curiosity getting the better of him.

"I have known these two lunatics almost all my life," Elizabet said.

Greg interrupted with a question of his own. "Were they your teachers?"

"Now that’s a scary thought," Elizabet said in answer. "No, they weren’t." She closed her eyes for a second and took a deep
breath. "But I do have something to tell Victoria," she said. "Can we go to your place, Tor?"

"Sure," Victoria said. "If you stay around, you’ll probably end up living there anyway."

"Thanks," Elizabet said. The four apparent kids left the dojo. Victoria’s limp was completely gone. The adult Immortals watched from the window as Elizabet expertly hailed a cab, and they piled in.

"So who’s going to tell Mac that Elizabet is here?" Richie asked glumly.

"I will," Greg volunteered. "He won’t yell at me."

"How do you know that?" Greg asked.

"Believe me, he won’t," Greg said. "He can yell at you because you were his student."

Richie looked thoughtfully at Greg, but changed the subject. "Victoria comes, and suddenly kid Immortals are popping up
everywhere. I wonder what gives," he said.

Greg grinned. "Maybe you should ask her. She most likely knows every kid Immortal in existence, and probably a lot of the
adults."

"Maybe I will," he said noncommittally.

"Just be glad none of them are out for your head," Greg said.

"I wish I could say the same of Mac. He’s going to be thrilled when he learns about Elizabet. Whatever possessed you to
volunteer to tell him, I don’t want to know. Maybe we should tell the Watchers that you have sadly gone back to being
psychotic," Richie cracked with a smile. "But I will gladly call everyone else, so they don’t have a heart attack if they see her."
The young, compared to others, Immortal headed for the office. Greg watched him pick up the phone before leaving in silence.

Part 13
Seacouver, Washington
Saturday, October 25, 1997

The four Immortals ended up taking the cab to the park instead of Victoria’s apartment as expected. After instructing the others to wait on a bench by the pond, Victoria disappeared into the woods.

"Where is she going?" Elizabet asked distractedly. Across the pond was another group of teenagers, apparently an inner city
gang of Seacouver. They hadn’t spotted the three, but Elizabet was eyeing them warily. Kane had easily figured out that the
blonde Immortal needed to clean something, preferably a weapon, when she was nervous. The black cloth was attacking this
time a small throwing knife that had materialized from her boot.

"Her tree," Kenny answered. "She needs to check if something is there." Victoria had decided not to be worried about the note sender. Since it probably wasn't an Immortal, it wasn't as if her life was in danger.

The Immortals felt the buzz and turned towards the section of woods Victoria had disappeared into. "Where is she?" Kane
asked quietly when she did not appear.

"Boo!" was the shout from behind the bench. Kenny and Kane only jumped slightly, but Elizabet whipped around and
immediately had her knife to Victoria's throat. The four were completely still. Kenny cursed softly under his breath, and the two boys' eyes were drawn to Elizabet's. The irises were completely black, as if the pupils covered her eyes. They narrowed, and then she blinked. When they again opened, the blonde girl's eyes were again ice-gray.

Victoria let out the breath she had been holding. "Just checking," she said casually. The two girls stood up. Elizabet slid her knife back into her suede boot and then grabbed the front of Victoria's T-shirt, pulling her close.

"One of these days, I am going to accidentally slit your throat. And those scars don't go away, remember?" she said harshly.
Elizabet pushed her shirt collar down. Just above her collarbone was a vivid scar that stretched across her throat. Elizabet
released both her shirt and Victoria, shoving the latter away. She sat down on the bench and put her face in her hands.

Victoria walked around the bench and put her hand comfortingly on her friend's shoulder. "So you haven't found a cure yet?"
she asked softly.

Elizabet lifted her head and buried her hands in her jacket pockets, slumping back against the bench. She shook her head no.
Glancing at Kane, who was staring at her avidly, she said, "You must be pretty confused, huh." It was more of a statement than a question.

Kane nodded. "You could say that. But I've kind of grown used to begging for information. At least you don't forget that some people around here aren't as old as you guys."

After giving Victoria and Kenny a disapproving look, she gave Kane a somewhat embarrassed smile. "I'm assuming you saw
my eyes," she stated. Again, Kane nodded. "Well, here's the quick explanation: I have multiple personalities. The one you just
saw was Omega."

"Omega?" Kenny asked. "I thought you weren't going to name it."

"Two words," Elizabet said. "Sean Burns."

Victoria let out a startled laugh. "You went to see a shrink?"

"Yes, I did," Elizabet replied defensively. "He did some sort of age regression hypnotism thing and found out that I have at least four other personalities besides my own. Sean thinks that they split off during my childhood and just aren't strong enough to manifest."

"Question," Kane interrupted. "Who's Sean Burns? And why would your personality split when you were a kid?"

"Oh, sorry," the blonde girl said. "Sean Burns is a psychiatrist who also happens to be Immortal. I went to see him when Omega started getting out of control. I figured he'd be the only shrink who would understand. And let's just say that my mortal years weren't the greatest." She unconsciously lifted her hand to her neck, and Kane shuddered slightly.

"Why did you name it Omega?" Kenny asked. "Isn't that the last Greek letter?"

Elizabet nodded. "The earliest personality Sean found I named Alpha. My own is named Beta, which is my nickname anyway. I didn't bother with the other two since they've never appeared."

"So do you have control of Omega?" Victoria asked.

"Yes, except when I get really angry or when people surprise me," she answered with a pointed look at Victoria. Victoria
merely smiled. "So where did you go, anyway?" Elizabet continued, happily changing the subject.

"Did you find another note?" Kenny inquired. Victoria dug a piece of paper out of her back pocket and handed it to him.
"Death shall come to those that wait out the storm," he read.

"Someone is sending you threatening notes?" Elizabet asked. When the other three looked at her, she shrugged. "Sounds pretty threatening to me. I’d be scared, especially since there are so many other Immortals around here."

Victoria stared at her. "How did you know that?"

"A friend of mine who used to be a Watcher. Actually, he used to be my Watcher," the other girl said. "He just kind of warned me that there were a bunch of Immortals around when I mentioned I was coming, not that I'm worried."

"Why not?" Kane asked. "I would be."

Elizabet gave a shadow of the smile that had weirded out Kane before. "I'm strange that way." Kane decided not to press since the girl appeared to not want to alleviate.

Suddenly, they caught sight of a boy from the gang across the pond approaching the bench. They watched him silently. "I need to speak with you," he said formally to Elizabet. Unbeknownst to the Immortals, the gang had seen Elizabet's knife, and her reaction to Victoria's surprise.

Elizabet looked at him with a piercing gaze. "Yes?"

The teenager glanced at the others. "Um, I don't think this concerns them."

"Then it must not concern me," Elizabet said. Her extensive knowledge of gang hierarchy told her that this teen was not very
high up on the food chain from the nervous way he was acting.

Giving the Immortals another nervous glance, the teenager replied. "What, ah, gang are you from?"

Upon hearing this, Victoria stood up. "I'm outta here. I don't involve myself in politics anymore. Come on, guys." She
headed towards the park exit, followed closely by Kenny and Kane.

The three waited at the exit for no more than a few minutes when Elizabet ran up. "What was that about?" Kenny asked.

"He wanted to know whether a new gang had been started in Seacouver. His gang, the Black Demons, didn't recognize my
jacket," she explained. "I told him I was only visiting from Europe."

"Did you tell him you were in a gang?" Kenny said.

Elizabet nodded. "But I said I didn't want to get involved in anything over here, so I think I'm free of any pressure to form an
allegiance to anyone."

"Gang politics," Victoria said with a shudder. "I don't even like to think about it."

"What happened?" Kane asked, knowing there had to be an interesting story in this somewhere.

"I was killed in a gang war back in the thirties," Victoria said. "I resolved never to get involved with any gang ever again, which is the only reason I'm not in the RoseBlades."

"That, and the fact that the RoseBlades aren't too fond of her either," Elizabet said with a smile. "We don't take kindly to spies."

"Hey," Victoria protested. "I didn't know he was a mob boss, the pay was good, and I thought that you were in London,
otherwise I wouldn't have even tried it."

Kenny decided that he'd better stop this old argument before it could get too heated. "Let's go, guys. I'm freezing." The weather had gotten chillier as the evening, and winter, approached. The four Immortals started walking towards Victoria’s apartment instead of taking a bus, in an effort to keep warm.

They felt the buzz as they walked down the street, and saw Richie seated on the steps leading to Victoria’s townhouse. He stood up, holding Victoria's school binder, which he apparently had been looking through. He waited patiently as
the others walked towards him.

"Victoria, are you a genius or something?" he asked. "Some of the shortcuts and formulas you use have to be at least college
level."

The girl in question smiled. "Don't tell anyone, but I have a master's degree in mathematics."

Richie's jaw dropped in surprise. "That means you're smarter than me."

"Thanks for bringing over our stuff," Kane said. Scattered on the landing were Kenny, Victoria, and Kane's backpacks, and
Elizabet's small suitcase.

"No prob," Richie replied. He followed the others into the house. The apparent kids dumped their stuff in the living room and
moved into the kitchen. After each of them had grabbed something to eat, the Immortals took seats on the kitchen chairs or
counters. Victoria was the first to be seated and started looking through her binder. Suddenly, she laughed.

"What's up?" Kane asked, taking a bite of his apple.

"The sky," Victoria replied automatically. When the others looked at her curiously, she shook her head with a smile. After taking out a packet of papers and tossing them on the table, she elaborated. "One of the things Arthur taught me was ancient Greek.  When I was a thief, I got into the habit of doing research on my targets, and I always took my notes in that language, just in case anyone found them. A few days ago, we watched a video in science and we were supposed to take notes. I didn’t know we were going to have to turn them in, but when Mr. Cimitala told us, I never got time to translate them. So I handed them in with the worksheet packet, anyway."

Richie picked up the packet and flipped to the first page of notes. He couldn’t make any sense of the strange looking characters.  "So what’s so funny?"

"Back page," Victoria directed.

He turned to the last page and laughed. The words, "Cute, just don’t try it on any of your other teachers," were written,
along with a small sketch of the Watcher’s symbol. Richie passed the packet to Elizabet before saying, "So you knew he was a Watcher?"

"Actually, I didn’t. I only suspected, because he never seemed amazed when I gave some answers in class," Victoria explained. "I took a course in physics at the same time as the math one, but had to leave before I could get the degree."

Elizabet shook her head in amazement. "From scholar to thief and back in about a minute. Only you could pull that off,
Victoria."

Victoria leaned back in her chair, and said in a deadpan expression, "The insanity made me do it."

Kenny and Elizabet immediately cracked up laughing. Kane and Richie looked at Victoria, who merely shrugged and took a sip of her root beer. "Smooth, sis," Kenny said.

"You’re not insane, Victoria," Kane said in an audibly unsure voice.

"Yes, I am," Victoria replied. When Kane and Richie gawked at her, she reevaluated her statement. "Well, maybe not
completely."

"Actually, that would explain a lot," Richie said. Victoria retaliated by throwing on of Kenny’s potato chips at him.

When things settled down, Victoria started an in-depth explanation. "I was joking. I’m not insane." Kenny interrupted with a
snort of muffled laughter. "But one of my past names is registered in France as having a borderline personality disorder, though," she added with a sly smile.

"Do I want to know what happened?" Kane asked Elizabet.

"No, but I’ll tell you, anyway," Elizabet said. "The first time the two of us met Sean Burns was when we were travelling through Paris back at the turn of the century. Victoria got arrested for pick-pocketing, and in a last ditch effort to keep her out of jail and forcing me to have to break her out, I pleaded that she was insane and didn’t know any better. So instead she got sent to an insane asylum, where luckily, Sean was visiting. He promised to get her out if he could run some psychology tests."

"And it turns out I’m borderline insane, anyway," Victoria finished.

"I still think she faked the test," Elizabet admitted.

"I wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t," Kane said.

Victoria looked at him with a puppy dog face. "Hey, I’m your teacher. You’re supposed to defend me." Kane only smiled
mischievously at her.

"What a weird group we make," Kane said after a small silence. "An eight hundred year old homicidal kid, a gang member with multiple personalities, an insane teenager who’s been a thief, spy, and assassin, and an actual semi-normal person who still looks his real age."

"I resemble that remark," Richie said. "You forgot you."

"He’s not old enough yet," Victoria said.

"Says who?" Kane asked defiantly.

"Says me, your smart and esteemed teacher," Victoria retorted, getting him back for his earlier comment. Kane rolled his eyes, but did not press the issue.

Richie looked at his watch and finished his can of soda in one gulp. "I have to go," he said, standing up. "I promised Belinda that I’d pick her up at her apartment at four. She knows Amanda well enough that if I’m late, Amanda will whip me next time we spar together. Anybody need a ride somewhere?"

Elizabet shook her head. "No, I have to talk with them."

Richie glanced questioningly at the other three and saw that they did not protest. "Okay. Bye, you guys." The Immortal left the
apartment.

After Richie left, Victoria looked at Elizabet in curiosity. "Does this relate to what you had to tell me earlier?"

"It is what I have to tell you," Elizabet replied. Her face was a mixture of sadness and dread. "Let’s go somewhere more
comfortable."

The four were sprawled in various positions around Victoria’s room. Kane was in the desk chair, Kenny on the windowsill, and Victoria and Elizabet were sitting closely on the large bed.  There was silence for a few moments as Elizabet composed her thoughts.

"So spill," Victoria said, drawing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. "What’s going on?"

Elizabet sighed. "First, you might want to tell Kane who Justin is," she said. "Otherwise he’ll have no clue."

"Okay," Victoria said slowly, looking curiously at the other girl. "Justin Le Faye is an Immortal two years older than me, whom I’ve known almost all my life, including my mortal life.  My mother hired him as a servant when he rescued me from the evils of London when I was about nine."

"Did he become Immortal when you did?" Kane asked as Victoria paused to think. She shook her head.

"He left on a trip to London a few weeks before it happened," she explained, wincing slightly at the memory of that fateful day.  "He got back the next day, earlier than expected, but still one day too late. I didn’t tell him I had been shot, just that I had been knocked out somehow, and the village men had left me for dead. Justin believed me, and I partly believed myself. He left again two weeks later because he could tell that I was keeping secrets from him."

"But you stayed," Kane said.

"I didn't feel like I had any other choice," Victoria said. "A few years later, Arthur found me and told me I was an Immortal. One month after he ditched me, Justin came back. He was also Immortal, and died when he was sixteen. We left Avalon to see the world."

"But then there was a personality clash," Kenny interrupted dramatically.

Victoria rolled her eyes. "More like a difference of opinion. Justin has the inability to stay in one place for more than two years.  We separated after five years of travelling when I wanted to stay in Paris and he wanted to go to America."

"So have you seen each other since?" Kane asked.

"Of course," Victoria answered. "We see each other at least once every couple of years.  Not to be too corny, but that man is for all intents and purposes the other half of my soul.  He’s like a brother to me, even closer than you guys." Kane was happy to be included in her statement.

"When’s the last time you saw him?" Elizabet asked, sounding concerned.

"Two years ago, right before I left for Avalon. Justin was planning to head for Europe," she replied. "Why are we talking about Justin?" The sense of dread that had been effecting Elizabet suddenly washed over Victoria. "Did-did something happen to him?" she asked quietly.

"You could say that," Elizabet said. "Gods, I hate this."

"What’s going on?" Victoria said softly. "He’s not-?" She couldn’t finish the question.

"I’m sorry, Toria," Elizabet said, eyes cast down at her hands. "Justin’s dead."

There was a pause. "I’m sorry, too," Victoria said in a voice of barely controlled fury. She rose from the bed and left the room.

The three remaining Immortals sat in silence. There were tears running unheeded down Elizabet’s face, and Kenny was staring
out the window. The sky, which was gray and foreboding, seemed to match the mood that had descended over the house.
Kane watched the other two, not knowing what to say, or to whether say anything at all. It was obvious that a very good friend of theirs had died, and he was unprepared to deal with the results. However, Kenny was the one to break the silence.

"You realize of course, that Victoria is either going to punch something or kill herself." His true age sounded heavily in his voice.  Elizabet wiped away her tears with her hand and nodded. Silently, she got up and headed into the living room. Kenny and Kane looked at each other and followed.

Victoria was standing in the living room in front of the gas fireplace. "I’m sorry, Elizabet," she said. "I shouldn’t have snapped at you." Her voice was void of emotion, but her eyes were bright with unshed tears.

"It’s okay," Elizabet replied. "I understand."

Victoria’s face changed to one of agony. "No you don’t," she said in a whisper. Suddenly, with a cry of outrage, Victoria spun around and punched her hand into the brick fireplace. There was the sickening crunch of bones, then only Victoria’s heavy breathing. She turned around and sunk down onto the couch, clutching her injured arm. Elizabet ran over and sat next to her.  Kenny and Kane squeezed onto the other side of the couch. "How did it happen?" Victoria asked quietly. "Who took his head?"

"I don’t know. Justin was visiting me at the RoseBlade headquarters in Paris when someone challenged him. I followed him to
the warehouse, but it was on fire, apparently by the Quickening. I only saw one person run from the building," Elizabet
answered. "I went back after the fire had burned out. All I found was badly burned body with no head."

"How did you know it was Justin?" Victoria questioned.

"I found his sword a few feet away," Elizabet said, her voice cracking slightly. "It was broken."

Victoria gave a harsh sob. Elizabet put an arm around her friend, and Victoria buried her face in the blonde girl’s shoulder,
crying uncontrollably. Kenny left the couch to kneel at Victoria’s feet. He reached up and clasped her hands in his smaller ones.  Kane could do nothing but put his hand on Victoria’s shoulder. He was concerned for his teacher. She and Kenny, and now possibly Elizabet, were the closest thing to a family he had, and he hated to see them like this.

Victoria was in mental agony. In her mind, she was screaming that everyone she ever loved always had to die. First her mother, leaving her alone in a harsh world.  Then a very good mortal friend on the Titanic, the only mortal man she had ever married. Also Darius, whom MacLeod had told her, died by the hands of mortals. And now Justin, her brother and best friend.

After a few moments, Victoria stopped crying. She looked at each of the other Immortals in turn. "I loved Justin," she admitted. "And he wouldn’t want us to cry over him." She smiled at Elizabet. The slightly younger girl smiled back. Victoria pried her recently injured arm from Kenny’s grasp and flexed it. It was perfectly healed. Crying, which Victoria rarely did, had helped, and now Justin’s memory was merely a dull ache in Victoria’s chest -- for the moment, at least. "I say we go find a bottle of good white wine and hold a wake for Justin. He’d like that," she suggested.

All agreed, and the four Immortals left the house in a sense of happy companionship. As they walked down the sidewalk to the bus stop, Victoria dropped back behind the group. She tilted her head to the sky and let the wind blow her hair back from her face. Blowing Justin one last kiss in her mind, she thought, You died too young, my love. In both senses.

Part 14
Seacouver, Washington
Friday, October 31, 1997

Everyone was worried about letting Victoria out of their sights. The reason being that she might simply let anyone take her head if she were challenged. But after much convincing on Victoria's part, the others, specifically Methos, were finally assured that her sense of self-preservation was too strong to let that happen. But that didn't stop the other Brats from keeping her with them at all times. Paul and Mike also kept a concerned eye on her.

The fact that Friday was Halloween also seemed to cheer Victoria up. When asked by Amanda why, Victoria explained that
October thirty-first was a day of great power in many religions. "It's always been my favorite holiday," she told the older woman, "even when it got all commercialized." But she refrained from giving a reason why. What Victoria neglected to mention to anybody was that it was also her birthday. She did not want to make a big deal about it, and told Kenny and Elizabet not to tell anyone. Victoria doubted that Methos even remembered. That did not stop Paul from telling his friends, and they finally persuaded her to let them take her to a movie the next day.

On Halloween, however, Victoria was looking forward to a quiet evening watching scary movies with Kenny, Kane, and
Elizabet. The four had heard that a party was being held at Joe's, but being at a bar, they assumed that it was only for "adults".
They were very surprised when a message arrived at school that morning instructing them to be at the blues club at five o'clock.

Now it was four forty-five, and Victoria had only just left school. She was cutting through the park in an effort to make it to
Joe's on time. In addition to her backpack, Victoria also had her old duffel bag containing her sword. She had brought it to
school with the intention of going to the dojo for a solitary workout. The opportunities to do that were rare, so Victoria had
planned to work out for an hour while everyone was at Joe's before meeting the others at the house for a scary movie fest.

Because of detention after school, Victoria was forced to walk to Joe's and skip the dojo. The park was not a necessarily safe place to be at night, so Victoria was relieved to have her sword. Bringing it to school was a risk, but at Paul's suggestion, she had asked Mr. Cimitala to keep it in his room for her. But this was not the reason for the detention. Victoria smiled as she
crossed the deserted soccer fields, remembering the events that had taken place just this morning.

They were about to start a unit on Homer's Odyssey in English. Their class books had a shortened version of the epic, which
the class would be reading. Victoria was slumped in her chair at a table across from Mike. She was not looking forward to reading the story. That day, Mrs. Sinramsey was giving the class a lecture on the Trojan War. However, Methos had told Victoria what really happened during the war. So she was seated at the table giving only half an ear to the teacher, and
only that much to see what facts she was getting wrong. The first came relatively soon, as Mrs. Sinramsey was talking about the leaders of the war.

"And the king of the soldiers from the island of Ithaca was named Odysseus," Mrs. Sinramsey told the class.

As the teacher paused, Victoria muttered under her breath, "Ulysses." Though she had said it quietly, Mike heard and gave her a kick under the table.  While he didn't really know why she was as incredibly smart as she was, he had made it his personal mission to prevent Victoria from making too much a smartass of herself in class.  Sometimes she listened.  This did not look to be one of those times.

Victoria apparently did not say it softly enough to prevent Mrs. Sinramsey from overhearing her. Frowning at the disrespectful
student, she replied, "Yes, Odysseus was his Greek name. Most back then also had a Roman one, and his was Ulysses." Victoria rolled her eyes, but Mrs. Sinramsey had already continued with her lecture. "And one thousand ships sailed to the city of Troy."

"One hundred," Victoria corrected softly. Mrs. Sinramsey glared at her, but was unable to comment when another teacher
called her out into the hall. "Ow," Victoria complained when Mike kicked her again. "What?"

"Not everyone is as versed in true history as you are," her friend explained. "So watch it."

"I thought that was your job," she replied sarcastically. Mike could only glare back as Mrs. Sinramsey reentered the classroom.

Finally the lecture on the ten-year war ended. Much to Mrs. Sinramsey's credit, no more large mistakes were made. However, she ended the speech with a flourish that made Victoria wince. "And to think the entire war was fought over beautiful Helen of Troy." Victoria gave a snort of laughter, ignoring Mike's evil look. She was quite surprised when Mrs. Sinramsey marched over to her table and stood with her arms crossed. "Do you have a problem, young lady?" she asked sternly.

Unable to help herself, Victoria smiled at the term "young." "No," she said. "I just learned that story differently." And from a
guy who was there, she added silently.

"Well, perhaps in Wales, you learned the wrong thing," Mrs. Sinramsey said snobbishly.

Victoria bristled at this accusation against her adopted home country. Normally she would have backed off at this point, playing the normal teenager, but this comment made her eyes narrow. Besides, the rest of the class, with the exception of Mike, was enjoying the spectacle, so Victoria decided to continue the entertainment. Looking the English teacher in the eye and adopting a Welsh accent, she retorted, "Or perhaps they do in America." This caused the rest of the class to erupt in laughter.

"That's it!" Mrs. Sinramsey declared loudly. "I don't care if it's Halloween, you have detention after school!"

"Anything for history," Victoria stated, still using the accent. Luckily, the bell rang, signaling the end of class, and Mrs.
Sinramsey's angry retort was left unsaid. Throughout the day, kids kept congratulating Victoria. Apparently, no one had ever
had the courage to stand up to the English teacher. Despite a scolding during lunch by Paul and Elizabet (who had enrolled in the ninth grade at her own will) and a nasty look from Mr. Cimitala during Science, Victoria was happy the rest of
the day.

But she still had to serve the detention.

Victoria smiled again and shook her head. "I am a brat, but that pathetic excuse for a teacher deserved it," she muttered under
her breath. "And at least I got my homework done before the weekend." Victoria cut through the woods and approached her
tree, the one she had hidden from Methos in on her second day in Seacouver. "Please don’t let there be another stupid note,"
Victoria said aloud. "What a way to ruin a perfectly good Halloween." Hesitantly, she reached into the small hole created by
some overlapping branches and felt around. She sighed in relief. "Not one note if five days. Maybe the idiot has finally given up."

Victoria turned away from the tree and stopped dead. The sensation of another buzz, definitely not one of the Immortals
currently living in Seacouver, rang through her head. The color of dark copper was the aura that flashed in front of her eyes.
Automatically, Victoria unzipped her bag and withdrew her sword, at the same time dropping her backpack. Her mind was
furiously trying to figure out whose aura it was. Victoria knew she had never seen it before, yet it was somehow familiar.

Holding her sword in a defensive position, Victoria scanned the area with a critical eye. It was nearly dark, a definite
disavantage. Directly in front of her, a man dressed all in black with a broadsword in his hands appeared from behind a tree.
Instead of introducing herself, as was tradition, Victoria only stared at the unknown Immortal. He somehow seemed familiar, but Victoria could not place him.

Suddenly, the man began to speak in a smooth voice, dripping with sarcasm. "Really, girl. To call someone you do not know
such an uncouth title."

The Immortal’s little speech made Victoria raise her left eyebrow. "So you’re the note sender," she stated. "Care to introduce
yourself?"

"Thomas Parker," he answered. "And I have know idea what you are talking about." It took all of Victoria’s power not to laugh out loud. His aura had flared, so she automatically knew that he was lying. Thomas bowed, trying to block Victoria’s view of his front. When he returned to an upright position, he had a handkerchief in his hand. Tossing it to Victoria, he said. "But I do believe you know, ahem, knew who this belonged to."

Using her left hand, Victoria caught the cloth. She shook it open and read the embroidered name. "Marie Jennifer Branwald."
Victoria raised her head and stared him in the eye with barely concealed fury. "You killed her. Why?" she asked harshly.

"Ah, ah, ah," Thomas said, wagging his finger. "Now it’s your turn." Victoria looked at him with an expression of amusement.
He sighed dramatically. "To introduce yourself. Don’t you know anything?"

Victoria grinned. "I’m no child, and I’m willing to bet that you’re barely older than me, if at all." It was a slightly risky statement if she was completely wrong, but the Immortal’s cocky attitude told Victoria that he was young and somewhat inexperienced. "I am Victoria DiThon Kestral."

Thomas’s eyes widened in shock. Thrusting his sword in front of him, he took a step back. "But, you’re dead."

Another aura flare. Victoria didn’t dwell on it, but instead glanced down at herself. "Do I look dead?" she asked sarcastically.

"You’re dead," he repeated. "Father killed you."

Something registered in Victoria’s mind, and she finally realized who Thomas Parker really was. "William Boyle," she said in
amazement. "My cousin."

"No, I am not your cousin," William said, but unconvincingly. "Father said you were a witch. That we had to kill you and destroy the stones." He sounded slightly unsure of himself.

Victoria’s face was an expression of anguish. "Uncle Jonathan was insane, William. He killed innocent people in a delusion. The stones were not evil.  They were just a part of history."

"They were a blight upon the land," William replied, his voice growing stronger.

Shaking her head, Victoria tried again. "I am an Immortal, just like you. I did die that day, but I woke up after my first death. I
carry a sword and fight, like all Immortals."

With a strangled shout of denial, William lunged toward Victoria and swung wildly. Victoria parried and backed away. "I don’t want to fight you!" she yelled. "I don’t blame you!"

This statement made William almost paused in mid-swing. "What?"

"Much as I’d like to, I don’t blame you for my death," Victoria told him, standing firmly with her sword ready.  "Uncle Jonathan is all to blame. He manipulated you." She backed up a step.  "I don’t want to have to kill you."

Narrowing his eyes, William answered, "You are trying to lull me into a false sense of security, like a witch." Again he swung
towards Victoria and she blocked in a loud clash of steel on steel. They broke apart when two things happened. A throwing
knife embedded itself in the trunk of the tree the two battling Immortals stood under, and a buzz filled their heads. Not having
Victoria’s aura sight, William glanced around suspiciously. Victoria, however, immediately recognized the teal blue aura that
flashed in her eyes, and her heart leapt into her throat.

"I believe the lady said she did not want to fight you," came a Welsh accented voice from the growing shadows. A teenage boy with closely cropped blonde hair walked towards them. He was holding a sword lazily at his side. "And besides, I have
previous challenge rites."

Victoria was overjoyed to see the new Immortal, for he was Justin Le Faye. Deciding that dealing with the fact that he was supposed to be dead another time, she decided to play along. "And why is that?"

"Um, I forgot to finish the job?" Justin asked innocently.

William was staring wildly at the two of them. "But-but, you’re dead!" he shouted.

Justin frowned. "No, I’m not dead. You only thought you’d killed me." At William’s confused look, he sighed. "You beheaded a poor homeless guy."

"But-the Quickening…" William said.

"The warehouse we were in had a lightning rod, but it was broken. The lightning from a storm struck you, setting the warehouse on fire in the process, and destroying my second best sword," Justin explained in a pitying tone.

William was shaking his head. "Demons, both of you!" He drew an antique pistol out of his coat and fired a round at Victoria.
"Not again," she muttered. Her last sight was William turning towards Justin. And then she died.

As Victoria collapsed, William swung his gun towards Justin. Having lived through many traditional duels with mortals, he was
prepared for this and pulled out a throwing knife from his other wrist sheath. For a full three seconds, the two Immortals stared at each other. Suddenly, William reached his thumb up to cock the gun and Justin reacted instantly. He let lose the knife with perfect aim, and it hit William’s arm in a glancing blow. William dropped the gun and drew his arm to his chest.

William spit at his adversary’s feet and said, "Demon, you shall die." Then, he turned and fled.

Justin was tempted to give chase, but his concern for Victoria was too strong. Dropping to his knees beside her, he held her
hand tightly as she drew a gasping breath. She tentatively opened her eyes and smiled up at him. "One of the advantages of
having been shot way too many times," she said in her usual post-death hoarse voice, "is the coming back fast part." Victoria
propped herself up on her elbows and examined her shirt. It had a bullet hole in the front, and most likely in the back, too.
"Great," she said. "My shirt is ruined."

Justin smiled at her and ducked behind a tree. When he reappeared, he had a sweatshirt in his hand. "Here," he said, tossing it
to her. He ducked back behind the tree again as she quickly changed and put her bloody shirt in her duffel bag, and came
back wearing a brown leather jacket and had a vaguely army looking rucksack slung over his shoulder. Victoria picked up her bags and looked at him.

"Well?" she asked. Justin didn’t say anything, but instead put down his bag and held open his arms. Victoria smiled and also put her bags down. She all but ran into his arms. They held each other close, relishing being together after this painful reminder of what it was like to fear being permanently apart. Victoria, at five foot seven, was extremely tall for a girl her apparent age two hundred years ago, but Justin was three inches taller. Victoria put her head on his shoulder and merely savored being with him again.

Justin also laid his head on her shoulder before saying, "Boyle ran." After a short pause, he added, "Poor kid."

"He’s older than you, dear brother," Victoria replied.

"Not by much," he said. "Even you seem older than him." Justin squeezed Victoria tightly one more time, before letting
her go. They both picked up the dropped bags.

"My natural cynicism," Victoria said with a wry smile. "You gotta love it." The two started towards the exit of the park. "The
fact that we’re both extremely jaded helps, too," she added as they emerged from the darkness of the woods.

Justin laughed. "So, my love, what have you been up to?" he asked.

Victoria turned serious. "Mourning your death." Justin turned his head away from her. "Don’t worry about it, Jus. The only thing that matters now is that you’re still alive."

He sighed. "But that still doesn’t excuse what I must have put you through."

Victoria stopped and Justin automatically followed suit. She stared him straight in the eyes and frowned. "As Elizabet would say, what’s done is done. Stop doing this to yourself, my brother." She reached out and took his hand before continuing. "You’re here, I’m here, and so are Kenny and Elizabet, not to mention my student Kane. That means I’m happy, and you’re going to be happy, too."

Justin gave her hand a squeeze. "You’re such a stubborn little chit," he said fondly.

"Who are you calling little?" Victoria retorted, but returned the squeeze. "Anyway, why are you here?"

"To celebrate your birthday, of course," Justin replied promptly.

Victoria raised her eyebrow at him. "You’ve never cared before."

"Remember when I came back to Avalon for your fourteenth birthday?" She slowly nodded, and Justin continued. "You said
you didn’t feel like celebrating at all, not even Samain. And then you added that you probably wouldn’t want to celebrate for
two hundred years.  Well, here I am!"  He gave her a rogue smile.

Victoria laughed. "You just had to take that seriously, didn’t you," she stated.

"Well, it is your two hundred and fourteenth birthday," he said.

"True," Victoria agreed.

"So, what does the lady of the day want to do to celebrate?" Justin asked.

Victoria contemplated that for a few seconds when, suddenly, a thought hit her. "Oh, hell!" she cried.

"What’s wrong?" Justin asked, confused.

Victoria gave him an embarrassed smile. "I’m late for the party at Joe’s." Justin stared at her. "Come on!" she said, setting off at a jog and pulling Justin behind her.

When the two were about a block away from the blues club, Victoria slowed to a walk. "A word of warning-," she began.

"I know, I know," Justin interrupted. "Lots of Immortals are around here and you don’t want me to get into a fight."

"Correction, lots of Immortals are going to be in that building and I don’t want you to lose your head," Victoria said.

"Yes, I’m rather fond of it, too, you know," Justin said with a sideways glance.

"Ha, ha," she answered humorlessly. "How do you know there are lots of us here?"

"You’re not the only one who checks everything out before you do anything," Justin replied. "Come on, we’re only delaying the inevitable." They slowly approached the door, and with a quick smile at Victoria, Justin pulled it open. With a bow, he let
Victoria enter first. She walked a few steps into the room and stopped dead, noting that Justin had done the same. "I’m toast," he muttered.

Anne, Joe, Kane, and Kenny were in the rear of the large room. The remaining six Immortals were scattered around with
swords drawn. Out of pure habit, Victoria drew hers, and she heard Justin’s slide out of his jacket. MacLeod stepped forward, katana at ready. "I am Duncan MacLeod of the clan MacLeod. Who are you?"

Justin stepped to the left of Victoria. "Well, if you want to be that formal," he stated. Giving a sweeping bow, Justin continued,
"Justin Merlin Le Faye, at your service."

Everyone gaped at him in shock. Kenny cautiously approached Justin. "Aren’t you supposed to be dead?"

Author’s Notes: Samain (pronounced Soe-vain) is the Celtic New Year. Technically, it’s November 1st, but for some reason Halloween, which derives from the holiday, is on October 31st. The "flashback" (if it can even be called that) is based on my all-time favorite Methos quote. If you can't guess which one it is, it's number 13 in the quotes section of my webpage.

Part 15
Seacouver, Washington
Friday, October 31, 1997

Unlike Victoria, the other Brats got to Joe’s a few minutes before five o’clock. Everyone else was already busy setting up
Halloween decorations. They looked up when the three walked into the bar. "What’s going on?" Elizabet asked.

Methos took their arrival as an opportunity to take a break. He sat at the bar with a beer and motioned for them to come
closer. "What does it look like?"

"It looks like you’re going to have a party," Kane answered.

Anne came out of the kitchen and placed a cake on the counter. "How many candles do you want on the cake? I could only
find forty-seven."

Elizabet and Kenny looked at each other in horror. "Uh, why do you need candles on the cake?" Elizabet wanted to know.
"Whose birthday?"

Methos raised his eyebrow, looking remarkably like Victoria. "Victoria’s."

"Why do you think it’s her birthday?" Kenny asked.

"Because she told me when she turned seventeen," Methos answered. "And according to Joe, she hasn’t celebrated her
birthday for almost a century."

"She’s going to kill us," Elizabet muttered to Kenny. To Methos she said, "Did you ever think why?"

By this time, Richie had joined the conversation. "Why wouldn’t you want to celebrate your birthday?"

"Take a good look, Richie," Elizabet explained. "For you, a birthday is a celebration of another year survived.  For us, it's a reminder that we're never going to grow up.  None of us celebrate our birthdays, really."

The smile on Richie's face froze at this revelation, but Methos simply shrugged. "That would explain why she always seemed depressed."

"And now she’s going to be the exact opposite," Kenny said. "More along the lines of violently angry."

"So we’ll play ignorant and she won’t be able to do anything," Amanda called from across the room.

Kane tapped Elizabet and Kenny on the shoulders and motioned them away from the others. "Guys, it’s not as if we can do
anything either. Adam seems pretty set on holding this party. I say we go with it."

Elizabet and Kenny looked at each other. Shrugging, Kenny said, "Why not? Maybe this’ll get her off the sugar high she’s been on since she insulted that teacher."

Elizabet smiled thinly. "You didn’t spend half an hour on the phone listening to Mike yell about it. As if it’s my fault she gets an
attitude when someone insults something she likes."

"You and Mike have really hit it off, haven’t you," Kane teased. Kenny laughed and Elizabet turned red.

"Let’s talk about something else, shall we?" she asked, hoping to take the attention off her and Mike. "I got Victoria a birthday present anyway. I was planning on giving it to her tonight, but now is fine."

"I got her something, too," Kenny said.

Kane looked ashamed. "I didn’t even know it was her birthday until today."

"Don’t worry about. Victoria won’t care, and she’ll be embarrassed that people got her presents anyway," Kenny assured him.

"Thanks, kid," Kane said and laughed at Kenny’s strange look. Kane led the others back to the bar. At Methos’ expectant
gaze, he said, "All right, we’ll help with the party."

"Great," Joe said. "You can put up the balloons."

The three pitched in, and within the next ten minutes, the bar looked ready for a party. Nobody voiced their growing concerns
about why Victoria was late. When the Immortals felt the buzz, they were more relieved than worried. That is, until, Methos
suddenly leapt off of his seat, nearly dropping his bottle of beer.

"That was too strong to be just Victoria," he said. Immediately, the others took action. Joe and Anne went behind the bar, and Kenny and Kane stood in front of it. The other more experienced Immortals drew their swords and stood waiting. The door opened and in walked Victoria. Much to everyone’s surprise, she also drew her sword. Following her was a teenage boy none of the "adults" had ever seen before. He muttered something under his breath and drew a rapier, but before anything else could be said, MacLeod stepped forward.

"I am Duncan MacLeod of the clan MacLeod," came his familiar introduction. "Who are you?"

The boy on Victoria’s left held his sword defensively, but gave a wry smile. "Well, if you want to be that formal," he drawled.
He gave a sweeping bow, trusting that Victoria would cover him, and said, "Justin Merlin Le Faye, at your service."

Elizabet stared in shock at him from her place next to the stage. Her mind was racing furiously; throwing her pictures of a
burning warehouse, a broken sword, and a badly burnt decapitated body. But the boy next to Victoria was definitely Justin.

Meanwhile, Kenny had been cautiously approaching. "Aren’t you supposed to be dead?" Kenny had only met Justin once, but he knew how much Victoria cared about him. He quelled a surge of anger at what Justin had put her through.

Justin looked at Victoria. "Why the heck does everybody think I’m dead?"

No one could answer as a strangled cry came from Elizabet’s direction. She strode angrily over to Justin. Grabbing his
shoulder, she spun him around to face her. "Why the hell did you scare me like that? I thought you were the dead body!" she
nearly screamed at him. She drew back her arm to punch him, but Justin grabbed her wrist before she could swing at him.

"Titania, calm down," he ordered. When Elizabet stopped struggling, Justin let her arm go. "I’m sorry," he said, "but I needed to run. I had no sword and no money."

"But of course you couldn’t contact me?" Elizabet said sarcastically.

"I went to Avalon thinking Victoria would be there. She wasn’t and I finally found out where she was," Justin said. "I’m sorry.
What do you want me to do?"

"Okay, fine. Apology accepted," Elizabet said grudgingly.

"Wow," Kenny said. "You actually got Beta to accept an apology without having to punch someone." Kenny held up his hands in defense when Elizabet pointed her cutlass at him in warning.

Methos stepped closer to Victoria. "Uh, Toria? Some introductions would be nice."

Victoria suddenly remembered the others in the room. "Oh! Sorry. Everybody, this is Justin Le Faye. He’s the guy Elizabet told me was dead. Justin, this is Duncan MacLeod, Amanda, Richie Ryan, Greg Powers, Adam Pierson, Joe Dawson, and Anne Lindsay." She pointed each of them out in turn.

"I don’t have to repeat those, do I?" Justin said with a quick smile. He looked around the room. His eyes fell on Kane. "Who
are you?"

Kane also looked at Justin. The teenager appeared to be about his apparent age, but according to Victoria, he was over two
hundred. However, Kane did sense a potential ally. He was very alone in Seacouver. Victoria and Elizabet had each other, and Kenny was still playing the part of a seventh grader. "Kane Nalamas," he finally answered.

"He’s my student," Victoria added.

Justin raised his eyebrows and gave Victoria a sideways glance. "Much as I’d like to, I’m not going to say anything."

Rolling her eyes, Victoria said, "Good." Then she finally appeared to notice the party decorations. Her eyes narrowed. "What’s going on?" she asked Elizabet, glancing nervously at the cake.

To spare Elizabet the interrogation, Richie stepped forward. "Happy Birthday, Victoria."

"He’s got you, Victoria. Now you have to celebrate," Kenny said.

Victoria sighed. "Fine, you all win. I’ll celebrate my stupid birthday."

Everybody smiled. Once Justin and Victoria convinced the others that Justin was not there to pick a fight, Anne lit the candles,
fourteen is all, on the chocolate cake. For the next hour, everyone ate and talked. When the entire cake was no more than
crumbs, Amanda stood up.

"Now for my favorite part. Presents!" she said.

Victoria looked between embarrassed and horrified. "Okay, the cake I understand, but you did not have to get me presents."

"Well, we did anyway," Methos said. "Let’s see....we'll go by age, shall we?"

"But that means you get to give your present first," Greg pointed out.

"Exactly," Methos answered. He picked up the large package by his coat. It was wrapped in brown packaging paper and tape. He set it down in front of Victoria before going back to his seat.

"Nice wrapping job," she said dryly, but started tearing off the paper. Though she was slightly embarrassed, she still loved
surprises. "Okay," she said. It was a gray laptop computer.

"Hope you don’t mind that it’s my old one," Methos said, unsure of how Victoria would react.

"No way. It’s great. I’m sick of using the school’s computers to do assignments. Thanks!" Victoria assured him.

"Mine next!" Amanda said. She was already holding a long box wrapped in gold paper. Victoria took it and looked it over.

"Let’s see. It’s as long as a sword. It’s as wide as a sword. What could it be?" Victoria asked.

"Just open the present," Amanda said with a smile.

Within seconds, the paper was off and the box opened. Victoria pulled back the rubber foam packing and lifted a gleaming
sword. "Arc," she read off the hilt. "What’s that?"

"You mean you’re actually giving it to her?" MacLeod asked Amanda, who shushed him.

"That was Marie Branwald’s sword," Amanda said sadly. "Rebecca gave it to her."

"What does Arc mean?" Anne asked.

"Not-?" Methos started.

"Yes," Amanda said. "It was Joan of Arc’s sword. Rebecca somehow ended up with it."

"Wow," Victoria said reverently. "Why are you giving it to me?"

"You only have one sword. You never know when you might need a backup," Amanda tossed off. "Besides, I think Marie
would have wanted you to have it."

"Thank you, Amanda," Victoria said. "I really appreciate it."

Amanda smiled, then glanced at Kenny. "You’re next."

"I’m going last," Kenny told her.

"Then it’s my turn," MacLeod announced. He reached behind him and took another oblong box from the bar. Victoria took it
and tore off the red wrapping paper. She opened the box and stared at the contents.

"I know this is going to sound incredibly rude, and it’s not meant to be," Victoria stated. "But what am I going to do with a
scimitar? I can’t fight with a curved blade to save my life."

"That’s because it’s not for you," MacLeod answered. "I’ve been working with Kane, and he’s really good with a curved
blade. And it’s tradition for the teacher to give their first sword, that’s why I’m giving it to you."

Victoria shrugged and pushed the box across the table to Kane. His eyes were alight with happiness as he lifted the scimitar by its black leather wrapped hilt. "Awesome," was all he could think of to say.

Victoria smiled proudly. "Don’t get cocky. You still have a lot to learn." Then she turned to Methos and said in a stage whisper, "How in the abyss am I going to teach him how to use that thing?"

Methos grinned, but MacLeod answered. "I’ll help." Victoria smiled gratefully.

After a few seconds of silence Elizabet glanced around. "Hmm. Guess I’m next." Leaning over in her chair, Elizabet dug around in her school bag. She sat back up with a small, black object in her hand. She handed it to Victoria and said, "I didn’t have time to wrap it. Sorry."

Victoria examined the gift. "Why did you get me a cellular phone?"

"Hey, you’re the one who’s always yelling at us about technology," Elizabet said. "So I figured I’d go with it. Besides, I’m sick of being out of touch for years at a time. This’ll help a little."

"So am I," Victoria agreed. "Thanks, Beta." Elizabet smiled in return.

"My turn," Greg said. He got up from his chair and walked behind the bar. As he walked back out, the others saw he was
wheeling a black, men’s mountain bike with a black helmet hanging from the handlebars.

Victoria’s eyes widened and she slowly stood up. "Cool!" she said happily.

Methos glanced at Greg. "A men’s bike?"

Greg shrugged. "None of the women’s came in black, and I wanted it to be an eighteen speed. Besides, I figured she’d want a men’s anyway."

"You got that right," Victoria said. She swung her leg over and sat on the bike. It was the perfect height. She was tempted to
ride it around the room, but didn’t want Joe to yell at her. She got off and impulsively gave Greg a quick hug. "Thank you, Greg.  I love it." She smiled at his surprised face.

Methos gave a disapproving sniff. "What, he gets a hug and I don’t?"

Victoria gave her best innocent look. "I’m sorry, your majesty. Did you want a hug, too?" She smiled at him sweetly.

Methos rolled his eyes. "Absolutely no respect for her elders."

"You’re not my elder," Victoria protested. "You’re a Wart." As everybody laughed, Victoria blew him a kiss and returned to
her seat. Joe handed an envelope across the bar to her with a grin. Victoria tore it open and read the letter. "Very funny, Joe,"
she said.

"What’s it say?" Kenny asked.

"A plane ticket to anywhere in the world whenever I need it, to get away from the massive amounts of insanity in
Seacouver," she answered. "Thanks, Joe. Knowing me, I’ll need it."

"No problem," the gray-haired Watcher said. "And I believe Anne is next."

"Richie and I both got you something together," the doctor said. She nodded at Richie, who handed Victoria a large box
wrapped in purple. Victoria tore off the paper and took off the top of the department store box. She stood up and lifted out a
black trench coat.

"All right!" Victoria said. She put it on and found that it hung perfectly.

"It’s already altered to hold your sword," Richie assured her.

"Thank you, Anne, Richie," Victoria told them. She walked around the table to give Anna a hug, sticking her tongue out at
Methos. There were laughs all around when Methos put his head in his hands and groaned.

Victoria jumped as Justin spoke from behind her. She’d forgotten he was there. "You look great, Victoria," he said. Victoria
turned around and took the small package he handed her.

"Thanks, Justin. I’m sorry I forgot about you," she said. Justin shrugged and smiled. Victoria unwrapped the forest green paper and opened the box. From the packaging she pulled out four steel throwing stars.

"You said you wanted a set like mine, and I was in Japan before going to Paris, so I had them made by a friend of mine," he
explained.

Victoria picked one up and examined it. "What’s it say?" she asked. "I’m afraid Japanese isn’t in my repertoire of written languages.  And if you say one word about my accent, I will hurt you, Jus'."  He shut his mouth again and attempted to look innocent.

MacLeod had left his seat to see the small weapons. He looked at the small Japanese character etched in royal blue. "Victory," he read.

"Mine say justice," Justin added. "I asked my friend to put Atlantis on them, but he didn’t want to."

"Thanks, Justin," Victoria said.  "Hey, speaking of weapons, whatever happened to the crossbow I gave you?"

"It got confiscated at Kennedy Airport about thirteen years ago. Security was all on edge because it was during that big case
with Russell Nash and the Kurgan," Justin explained. "I have yet to contact him and ask for a replacement."

"Who? Russell Nash?" MacLeod wanted to know.

"No, Connor MacLeod," Justin replied.

"But aren’t they the same person?" MacLeod said.

Justin raised his eyebrow at him. "No, duh." Richie laughed, having encountered the elder Highlander before.

"Anyway," Anne interrupted, hoping to ward off an argument. "Isn’t it Kane and Kenny’s turn?"

"Yeah," Kenny answered as he pulled two jewelry boxes out of his jacket pocket. He handed the one with a blue ribbon
around it to Victoria.

She smiled. "I know what it is," she stated as she opened the box and pulled out a necklace. It was a steel bird-of-prey’s claw
wrapped around a blue glass marble. The charm hung from a black leather cord. Elizabet held out her hand, and Victoria gave
her the necklace. She glanced around at the others who were looking at them curiously. "Don’t mind us."

Elizabet held the necklace in front of her. "Victoria DiThon Kestral, elemental air, I name you Atlantis." She then put the
necklace over Victoria’s head. "Would you stop losing these? This has got to be your fifth one. I’m only on my second."
Victoria only shrugged.

"What’s in the other one?" Kane asked. Kenny slid it across the table to him. The older looking boy undid the red ribbon and
took another necklace out. This one was a bronze miniature dragon with head and tail curled around a red glass marble. It also hung from a black leather cord.

Kenny walked around the table and took it from him. "Kane Nalamas, elemental fire, I name you Pompeii," he said before
putting over the younger Immortal’s head. "Welcome to the club, and please don’t take after your teacher and lose this."

"What club?" Amanda asked.

"We’re not really a club," Victoria explained. "Just the kid Immortals of the world. We’ve got a five hundred year old promise
not to kill each other unless absolutely necessary."

"I’m Kenneth Mason, elemental earth, named Zeist," Kenny put in, producing his necklace. His was a gold lion’s paw with the
extended claws clutching a green marble.

"I’m Elizabet Sarah Aspen, elemental water, and my name is Titania," she explained. Her necklace was a silver dolphin
wrapped around a yellow marble.

"Justin Merlin Le Faye, primordial storm, otherwise known as Justice of Avalon," Justin said. The necklace he pulled out of his shirt was on a brown leather cord. The charm was a copper wire wound around a cloudy purple marble. At Victoria’s nod, he added, "The others are Angelspawn, Quonosari, Methuselah, and Executioner. Don’t expect us to tell you who they are, because we won’t."

"Then we won’t ask," Amanda assured him. "What do elemental and primordial mean?"

"You don’t know what elemental and primordial magic are?" Victoria asked.

The look on Victoria’s face was so serious and sincere that Amanda just said, "Never mind."

Suddenly, there was a pounding on the door. "I’d better go tell whoever it is that we’re closed," Joe said as he headed to the
door with his peculiar gait. He opened it and there was a low conversation. When Joe returned he was holding a small envelope and shaking his head.

"What’s wrong, Joe?" MacLeod asked.

"Anyone ever hear of an Immortal named Thomas Parker?" he asked.

Amanda immediately stood up. "He’s the bastard who killed Marie! Is he in Seacouver?"

Joe shook his head and turned to Victoria. "Or perhaps I should ask if anyone here knows an Immortal by the name of William Boyle."

Victoria and Justin exchanged glances. "Um, I don’t suppose anyone would believe it if I told you he was my cousin?" The
others were silent, so Victoria proceeded to tell them about the incident earlier that evening.

Joe nodded. "That would explain some things. He discovered the Watchers a couple decades ago and just found his this
evening. Parker ordered her to give this letter to the demon and the witch."

"That would be us," Justin admitted.

Joe handed Victoria the envelope. Victoria opened it and read the letter with Justin looking over her shoulder. "Oh boy," she
said in a worried voice.

"What does it say?" Elizabet asked.

"Well, first of all, this definitely proves that he was the one sending me the notes," Victoria said. "And it says that he’s going to
gather forces to wipe out the evil invading Seacouver."

Justin sighed. "And here I was hoping that I could stick around awhile, but it looks like now we have to leave."

"No way," Victoria said. "I swore long ago to survive like an adult Immortal and not spend my life running. If he comes back,
I’m fighting."

It was Elizabet’s turn to sigh. "There goes the end of an existence as a normal kid for awhile. Now none of us are safe."

"Not even," Victoria said with a smile. "Try the beginning of a life that will certainly not be boring."

~Finis~

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This page was last updated: 6.15.4 ~jlg~