Yet another Tinat story. (Anyone sick of them yet?) Read the others, they're good
(shameless plug ) They establish character if nothing else. All my previous stories are available at my web page.

http://www.oocities.org/SoHo/Lofts/6568

 

This story contains spoilers for Legacy, Methuselah's Gift, and the Horsemen - Revelations arc. I'm not sure how easy
it would be to follow if you haven't seen those episodes or at least have an idea of what happened. Violence and sex do happen, but are not significantly worse than what you might see in the show.

A major thank you and a large bushel of virtual chocolates to my beta reader, Mary Richards, without whose suggestions I would have never thought of the ending (not to mention the tortured grammar you might have been subjected to).

As you all know, I don't get paid to do this, so I really, really want your comments. Send them to bf18489@binghamton.edu
As always the characters you recognize belong to the wonderful people at Rhysher. The ones you don't are mine, I'm vaguely proud of them so don't use them without asking. Don't sue me I'm poor.


The Serpent's Game (1/5)

by L.B.


Our kind wanders in darkness. To live we must lie and the lie become apart of our nature. We see the march of history, the sum of human dreams and nightmares. On our souls we take the weight of centuries, sometimes selflessly, sometimes for power's sake, and sometimes because it easier to live than to die. As long as we are good enough with blade and mind, life continues. Until life becomes a cowardice all its own. -excerpt from Tinat's Journal


 

Malaysian Rainforest, Spring 1900 CE

By the time he sensed the other immortal, Luther was thoroughly lost. His guide had abandoned him when he found out the exact nature of his hunt and he'd been wandering for nearly two days in the jungle. Not at all ready to meet another of his kind.

"Hello Luther. Do you know who I am?" The words were in English, a woman's voice tinged with a Welsh accent. From behind him, something dropped out of the trees. He spun around and found a sword at his throat, driving him to his knees. The woman who held it was almost frighteningly ethereal.

Pale as a bone left in an acid vat with hair the same color. Eyes like a glacier, if a glacier could be lightening quick.

"No, but I suppose you want to tell me." He tried to maneuver his neck away but she anticipated it. She was not a European, he wasn't sure what she was. Her clothing was Malay, meaning there wasn't much of it. Her body was perfectly formed but it stirred nothing in him. Except fear.

"Maybe I want to help you find what you're looking for." He met her eyes. Shuddered. Turned away.

"You know about the crystal?" The Methuselah stone had been split apart by that fool, Rebecca. He had spent centuries roaming the world to reconstruct it.

Little boy, I made the crystal. And you are right, a piece of it is in this jungle." He drew in a sharp breath. Mouthed her name.

"Where?" He knew he was begging and didn't care. She smiled.

"I will take you to it." The steel was withdrawn from his throat, but he knew how easily it could find him again.

"Why?" He had to ask.

"I want the pieces put back together as much as you do, little boy. More than that you do not need to know." He nodded, swallowing rapidly. He knew her name. Lillith. Adam's first wife. Serpent. Demoness. Immortal. Somehow he stopped being afraid. He didn't know it, but that would cause his death.

Seacouver- Present Day

"Hey Tinat." I felt a hand push on my shoulder and dove deeper under the covers. "Tinat." The voice is louder, pushing harder.

"Mmph." I respond, very coherently.

"You have a message." I know that voice. I just have to figure out who, so I don't send the bomb to the wrong address . . .

"Mmph." Translation - go away Methos or I'll breathe on you- and I haven't brushed my teeth yet.

"You don't seem to understand, Lillith is trying to get in touch." Methos says calmly. I bolt up, shoving the blankets to the side.

"Excuse me, but are you suggesting everyone's favorite serpent type has sent me a summons?" I brush the hair that stuck to my face away.

"Lillith seems to think you owe her a favor. And not only was she never *my* favorite serpent type, I always thought I was yours." I throw my pillow at him. And hit him with the other one when he ducks.


 

Anatolia -1000 BCE

Blades clashing. Hot sun, sweat trickling down my throat. Attack, recover. Parry now. Counter - Yes!

"You lose." I said, holding my blade to the other woman's throat. She swallowed abruptly and I pulled her to her feet.

"I suppose. Two falls out of three?" She ran a hand through her sweat sodden hair and granted me her lopsided grin.

"Not likely. I finally won and you are going pay the forfeit." It wasn't often that I could take Lillith. I owed her enough in lost bets to keep me working until Chaos swallowed us all.

"Fine Tinat, what's your heart's desire?" She quirked a white-blond eyebrow. I shrugged and we dragged ourselves to the well to pump some water.

"Umm . . . I want nothing except for you to love me forever?" I had to laugh. Bad move, she's at the water pump. I feel the luke warm wave hit me with a crash and then glare from underneath my soaking tunic.

"I found it funny." She told me, as I glared some more. "Now, name your forfeit, Tinat." When she stops laughing.

"Look, Lillith, forget that." I breathed in, wondering if it's fair to ask, "I do have a favor to ask, but it's a serious one." Her eyes turned hard in seconds and she stepped in front of me.

"Sister, I'll do what I can." Not saying, I trust you not to ask too much, but I heard it anyway.

"No, it's not a big favor just serious. You know I promised Penthisilea I was in for the Troy thing, so I'll be leaving in a couple weeks." I shrugged that off. "But I've been hearing some odd rumors." I squatted down near the bucket and began to systematically scrub sweat out of my hair. I'm going to cut it someday, really.

"What kind of rumors?" She said.

"They say there is a group of bandits that has sacked a couple of the outlying villages. Calling themselves the four horsemen. The rumors suggest they may be immortals." I frowned a little.

"Damn. A bunch of idiots like that running around and soon enough anyone who dies in public gets burned as a demon." She blasted out. "You want me to look in to this, maybe see if I can have them taken down?"

"Not exactly. I have reason to believe that . . . Look Lillith, my old teacher may be one of them." Not this, Methos, I pray silently. Please, not this.

"You don't mean Methos?" I nodded dully, "Our Methos? I can't quite see it, unless . . . damn. Are you sure about this?" She pulled away from the water and started pacing.

"Like I said, I've heard rumors. But some of them are pretty solid. I'd like you to look in to this 'till I get back from Troy." I looked up hopefully.

"Ah, Goddess, that look. How can I resist?" She grinned, then shook the water from her hair. "I'll keep an eye out, little sister. How long do you think you'll be gone?"

"Well, the Akhians are raiding out of Greece again. But they're two steps above barbarian, between us and the Trojans we'll rout them within the year." I pronounced confidently.

"Tell me Tinat, have you ever fought the Akhians before?" She smiled to herself.

"No, why?" I twisted my mouth.

"Nothing. Have fun, little sister. Don't lose your head." She shook her own in silent laughter.

"You never give a straight answer, do you sister?" I joined in her laughter, knowing I was laughing at myself as well.

"That's what Adam told me. Bastard." She curved up her lips in a mockery of a smile. "Don't worry, you're young yet. You'll grow out of straight speaking eventually."

"I have more than eight hundred years, and I'm already running out of games to play. I don't know how much longer I want to live." I shrugged.

"The longer you live, the more you want to live. Just ask Methos, when he was a kid he was one of the most suicidal people I'd met. And now look at him." Then she remembers. Back on target.

"You will keep an eye out for him?" I asked. Confident she will. Because I'm me.

"I swear I will." Call her a serpent, but I've always believed in her. Maybe that's why she never disappointed me.


 

Seacouver- Present Day

"Ok Methos, I'm awake. What did she say?" I pull on a robe and move toward the kitchen. I can't possibly be the only one who always wakes up ravenous.

"You don't really think I would read your mail?" He asks innocently.

"Don't even start. What did she say?" I call as I rummage through the cupboard and pull out something that looks gaudy enough to be a cereal box.

"That some old problems are coming to a head and she might need your help." He pauses, considering that, "Has it struck you that a lot of old business seems to be coming to the surface lately?" I nod. Thinking of all the unresolved issues that I had taken care within the last year. Methos himself. The Horsemen. Robert Karof. And now, possibly Lillith. My sister - how did Methos put it? In all but birth.

"MacLeod thinks the Gathering is at hand." I say.

"I know what he thinks. What do you think?" He demands.

"Not in this generation - too many young ones. But they're dropping like flies these days." When I died for the first time an immortal could easily expect to reach a thousand years. Now they were lucky to survive a mortal lifetime.

"So you think it will be soon?" He whispers.

"Maybe. I pray not." I grimace, trying to explain it. "I've become awfully attached to my head over the years, I wouldn't want to lose. But to win . . ." It would mean losing everyone I love. And I seem to have lost touch with the mortal world lately, other than Joe, I can count my mortal friend on one hand.

"Yeah, I know. I've lost track of it myself since Don died." I nod before I realize I had not spoken aloud.

**Methos, you're in my mind again!** I insinuated the words into him. His eyes widened.

"Bloody hell. I'm sorry, Tinat. I didn't mean-"

"I know you didn't, that's what scares me. I don't seem to be in control anymore either, when it comes to you." I used to wonder why I never had a, how do they say it now, yes, a 'relationship' with Methos. I never figured it was because I couldn't handle it.

"So what are we going to do?" I can feel the heat under his skin in every pore. He is my best friend and it never occurred to me to wonder why I want him all the time now.

**I can't give you up, I won't survive it** I don't know whose thought it was. No regrets, the past can't be changed. I lean into his chest trying to feel the heat.

"So, where's the serpent's letter?" I ask from my shelter. He pulls it off the coffee table and I scan the lines. "Shit. I need the phone, hope you don't mind a trip to Paris." I jerk up abruptly and focused on his worried face. "You were right about old business. Lillith has found most of the pieces of that damn bit of crystal." I have rarely been as happy as I was when I heard it was resting on the bottom of the Seine, much as I pitied Alexa. Now we're in for it.


 

Lagash - 1800 BCE

I ducked through the alley into a cool, dark shop. On the door hung a scribe's insignia. The Presence of another grew to a fever pitch inside me and I pushed the fear down relentlessly. Fear had become an instinct in the half decade since I found I could not die.

"Whoever you are, this isn't the time." A woman's cold voice called from inside.

"I can wait." I called back. From the inside a flurry of curses is emitted.

"Never mind. You've ruined my concentration entirely - and this tablet will be dry before I've finished it. But don't let that bother you, children these days have no respect." Then she came outside and I caught my first glimpse of Lillith. The legends grace her with a poisonous beauty. She was white blond and pale eyed in a country that had always run to darkness. All height, slenderness and elegant bones with a swords-woman's grace. I could see where the stories came from. Was there is any truth to them? Only that, unlike Methos, or myself, Lillith never bothered to hide her true nature. That, above all else, would have terrified Adam, I think.

"Who in the abyss are you?" She demands.

"Tinat of Babylon. Are you Lillith?" I was still a little awestruck by this creature I had come to find.

"I am. And you would be Methos' student, he had word sent to me." She appraised me like a housewife looking for the best fruit, "The old man ran out of lessons early- does that make you fast or slow?" She ushered me inside and regarded me again with sharp eyes.

"He said I'd do better with a woman and that-" I flushed and looked down.

"He bedded you didn't he? He should be old enough to know better. Come on, you must be thirsty, I'll bring you a drink." She said abruptly and I followed, still somewhat dazed.

"We haven't shared a bed." I explain after a pause, "not since I . . . died." The word still didn't seem right.

"Name of the Goddess, why not? Methos is very-" Then she caught the look in my eyes, "Oh, like that is it. You know he of all people would understand that . . . or should." She patted me on the shoulder kindly.

"He was very kind after . . . " I inspect my sandals for road dust.

"You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you. No matter - it will sort itself out, or not. Come have some wine." As she poured the drinks I examined her shop. She had the clay and stylus of a scribe scattered on a table. Deeper in was a smaller table covered with boxes. "Here you are, the good stuff." She put a clay mug into my hand. I had grown accustomed to drinking in the last half- decade, and bolted it down.

"Methos asked me to bring you this." I explained after a moment, pulling a little wooden box out of my cloak.

"Thank you." She puts it away. "Now tell me, why are you here?"

"Methos told me-" She gestures abruptly and cuts me off.

"I know all about what Methos thinks. Tell me - why are you here?" I pause, considering my options.

"Because I want to learn how to be what we are and Methos has taught me all that he will." I look her in the eyes, almost drowning in ice.

"And how do you know that I will be a good teacher?" She demands.

"If I'm gone within the month, you'll know you were not." She just looks at me for a long instant, then throws back her head and laughs. As I understand it, her laughter is not a common thing. Maybe she saves it all for me.


 

Seacouver - Present Day

"Lillith has the Methuselah Stone? How? Why?" Methos demands.

"She doesn't have all of it. What's-her-name - Rebecca's student, has the last piece. How is apparently a long story, but since she was involved in making the damn thing, I'm sure she figured something out." Lillith would.

"And why? Or I should I be afraid to ask?" Sarcasm does become you love. Ugh, I have to get my mind out of the gutter.

"She bound up her quickening in the damn thing. Maybe she wants to destroy it so that she has more power to play the game?" Ignore the fact that Lillith has absolutely no interest in the game. Ignore her sword skill. Ignore the power and uses that damn crystal has. A girl can hope.

"Tinat, you're going to have to get over this animosity you have toward the Methuselah stone."

"Why?" I smile innocently.

"Forget it. What does our Serpent want from you? I doubt Amanda will give up the last piece of the crystal." He says. Amanda being Rebecca's student, I'd assume.

"You got her to." I silence his protests, "I know, special circumstances. But do you honestly think Amanda is a match for the Serpent?"

"The girl is tougher than she looks. She might be a little flighty, but she's a decent sort and pretty damn smart. And whether she is match for Lillith or not she doesn't deserve to be on the wrong end of one of the Serpent's little schemes." He fumed.

"What gives between you two? I mean since when have you had this whole antipathy thing going on?" Not serious dislike, but definitely antipathy.

"A long and slightly tawdry tale involving way too much beer a g-string and my toes." Say what?

"SAY WHAT?" He grins at that.

"You don't even want to know. But let's just say you're in a better position to determine what's going in Lillith's head than I am."

"I have no idea what's going on in Lillith's head, Methos. But I owe her enough to go to Paris on her say so." I frown, already mentally packing my suitcase, "Besides if our Serpent is true to form Rebecca's student won't get seriously hurt. Humiliated and pissed off? Maybe."

"Am I invited?" He sighs.

"Sure, wouldn't have it any other way." I pause, taking in his features, "Did anyone ever tell you you're cute when you sulk?"

"You are suddenly way too perky." But he smiles at that.

"Don't worry, I believe in spreading the perkiness." And then I fasten my mouth on his, ending any reply he might have made. I'll get a ticket to Paris . . . in a couple of hours.


 

I hate flying, I hate flying, I hate flying. Why? Aren't those damn foil peanuts, ear popping noises, crowded little planes where the air conditioner is always on too high, dry air, lousy movies, screaming babies, don't even get me started on the food, enough? And I always run out of gum before landing. I hate landing without something to chew on. Methos still thinks planes are just oodles of fun. He says I'm getting spoiled and that anything is better than horses (ok, that is true). He would.

Anyway when we finally got to Charles De Gaulle in Paris, near Paris, actually. Did you ever take the Underground from one of the London airports, don't they just take forever to get to civilization, I mean taxis are just the . . . I'll shut up now.

"You're nervous, aren't you?" Methos asks after we pass our passport checks.

"What makes you say that?" I take my fingers out of my mouth and the follow the little exit signs. At least I don't have to lug around suitcases, minimalist packing I can do.

"You spent the whole trip pacing up and down the aisle when you weren't complaining. I think the flight attendants thought you were going to pull a gun out." Hah! More mystery meat and I would have.

"It's been a hundred years since I saw her. Did you ever notice that your friends always go off the deep end whenever you lose touch?" His mouth twists.

"She was fine the last time I saw her- generally serpent like, but fine. Besides, I thought that only happened to MacLeod."

"Well maybe it's catching or something." I pause, really horror stricken by the thought.

"You think?" We consider that as we walk out of the restricted area and then stop when the buzz hits us. Lillith looks good in leather and flannel. I wonder how she keeps all those piercing from healing, though.


 

December 31, 1900 - San Francisco, generic saloon

"So- you think vodka or whiskey?" Lillith wondered, before pouring something down her throat that was considerably more potent than either of the above.

"I think we do this New Year thing too often. Seems like we were doing it yesterday." I pause trying to remember if we had in fact had a party yesterday.

"What are you talking about, we only celebrate New Years once a decade. Or are we only doing it once a century now?" She tries counting it out on her fingers, puts up a valiant attempt, then gives up and calls for another drink.

I never got a chance to answer that because some drunk walked up about then.

"You ladies looking fer a good time?" I laugh happily at this point.

"Yep, and it looks like we found one." I said before smashing him over the head with my shot glass. The bar fight was very satisfying and the other guys left looking much worse than we did. No mean feat in those contraptions they call clothes in these 'enlightened' times. Of course their bruises last longer.

"Tinat." My face was smothered in a pillow.

"Mph." Coherence is impossible when your face is smothered in a pillow.

"Good morning. We had fun last night didn't we? I can't seem to remember how we got to our rooms." I lifted my head and looked around blearily.

"Are you sure these are our rooms? Didn't they looked different before?" Or maybe that was just the last bits of headache. Immortality- the instant hangover cure.

"Who cares?" She shrugged and tried to smooth the wrinkles out of her dress. Tough job.

"Mph." Do I look like I care?

"Look, I've got a boat to catch. I'm supposed to be in Malay in a couple of weeks." Amazing how fast you could get places. The last time I was in Malay was around the year nine hundred. I left something rather interesting behind . . . I wonder if I should retrieve it.

"Didn't you just get here?" It's only been a year or something.

"I know, but I'm playing a new game." At this I throw her a questioning glance, Lillith's games are generally incredibly amusing and it's been a while since we played one that was really new.

"Yeah? Am I invited?" She smiled down at me, almost tenderly.

"Not this time, sister. I have personal things to take care of." She packed the dress into a box, muttering something about brawls and complete losses. She was already dressed in her traveling clothes and cloak.

"If you need me sister, get in touch." I lay a hand on her shoulder, half expecting her to shrug it off. She didn't.

"I will. You owe me way too many favors." She promised. "Tinat, remember when I told you the longer I lived the more I wanted to? Do you think there is a point when you stop wanting to?" No deep thoughts on New Year's day. None.

"Maybe. I think I'd rather be alive in spite of everything." She shrugged and we walked toward the docks. I waved her off, and it was the last time I would see her in more than ninety-seven years.


 

Paris, Charles De Gaulle Airport - Present Day

"Hey sister, I've missed you! And you to old friend!" Lillith calls to us, and within a breath we're in each other's arms.

"What, I don't get a hug?" Methos pouts. Lillith shrugs.

"I remember all to well what happened last time I let you hug me." She mutters, but she hugs him anyway so it can't have been all bad.

"Have you two got all your things? Good, I've got my car in a tow away zone. Let's go." A mad dash reveals that Lillith has avoided towing and tickets, the slightly bewildered smile of the local uniform reveals why. She blows him a kiss as we drive off.

"You're probably wondering what in the abyss is going on, yes?" Lillith says after she's fought us out of traffic.

"Actually I'm wondering how you got all those holes in your body, and why they aren't closing up?" I say.

"I'll introduce you to the guy that did mine. He can do you, if you want, some of them are very useful for . . . entertaining." She says, with a demure smile.

"Hmm . . . am I keeping you adequately entertained Methos?" I grin.

"Are you two finally together again? It's about bloody time - the just buddies act got old twenty centuries ago." I feel the heat rise in my cheeks; Lillith never had said anything before.

"That's all well and good, but I do want to know why you called us here, oh my lady of serpents?" Methos says from the back.

"I'm collecting the pieces of the Methuselah Stone, and I need to get the last one. But I'd assume you've already found that much out." She replies, exasperated.

"Why?" I keep my voice even.

"What do you know about the crystal, Tinat? Methos? That the one who holds it lives forever? That it grants immortality to mortals? What?" I can't help remembering the first time I had seen that damn piece of crystal. Goddess, what a mess.


 

**Nicea, Byzantium- 670 CE**

"It's what?" I look doubtfully from the crystal in my hands to the young immortal in front of me. People come up with the most ridiculous stories to sell jewelry, but Mykos had to win the prize, um-awkward phrase, isn't it.

"This is the same stone that kept Methuselah young throughout the centuries. This is the stone that let Adam live almost a thousand years. It was created by his demoness wife, Lillith, she bound some of her life force in it to keep him young and alive." I suppress laughter, wondering what Lillith would say to this man.

"If it keeps you young forever why did Adam give it up? And why are you selling such an object of value?" I ask. This one I've got to hear.

"There is a curse, Milady." He looks around frantically, as if expecting devils to pop into his stall.

"Let me guess . . . it incurs the attention of the demoness. Or does your nose turn green and fall off?" He gulps and shakes his head.

"No it brings - luck!" Oh the horror, the infamy, the agony.

"Really, Mykos. Truly a fate worse than death."

"You do not understand, not good luck, merely . . . luck." Oh goody, that's original. Still, I do like objects with colorful stories and crystals that big and flawless are rare.

"How much do you want for it." He smiles gleefully. Oh well, it's only money. I've got lots of it . . . somewhere.

Three Weeks Later

Luck, yes? I hadn't felt those lousy in at least six centuries. My bruises had bruises and believe me that takes some doing.

I had taken three quickenings in the last three hundred years and all of them within the last three weeks. I was dusty and the last quickening caught my drapes on fire, burning my house down. The only way I could get luckier was if someone managed to kill me. Then I felt the Presence.

A woman, strawberry blond and blue eyed. Almost noble in appearance.

"I'm Rebecca Horne, and I'm not looking for a fight if you are not." She promised.

"Eurdiyce Seniathena. I've had more than enough fighting for this lifetime." I reply. We rose to shake on it when I tripped on a cobblestone, the damn crystal flying from my pouch and shattering against the wall. I guess it was flawed after all.

"Goodness, I'm terribly sorry, it was lovely." Rebecca cried, kneeling down to gather the pieces.

"Don't worry about it, most likely a fake." I said, not even trying to hide my relief.

"A fake what?" She looked up curiously. I shrugged and told her the story. "She did all that for him and he left her for Eve because she was barren? No wonder Lillith cursed the thing."

"Mortal men. Who can understand them? Well it's broken now. Why don't you take it, maybe you'll get some good luck." I suggest, after secreting one of the shards in my dress pocket.

"I think I will." She took off into history and I carried the shard around with me until I left it in a small Malaysian temple a couple of centuries later.

Paris - Present Day

"I know you bound your Quickening to it, to grant Adam a form of immortality. I don't know how." There were some times and some loves when I would have given anything to know how.

"Different times. Different world. I don't think it could be done again." She frowned into her side mirror.

"Are you sure?" Methos asked.

"The deity doesn't listen to us anymore. Or if she listens, she doesn't answer. I'm sure." Lillith voice was sad.

"And what do you want with the crystal now?" Methos pressed.

"It's a part of my soul. I want it back." Lillith temporized.

"Why now?" I have to ask. There were plenty of times she could have had it easily. She sighs, lets her shoulders slump.

"I've been trying to get it for more than a hundred years. You see, someone took my head. Obviously, I'm still here." I can almost feel the whiplash when I turn to face her. It's a damn good thing she was driving.


 

We drove to Lillith's house in silence. It was a typical grad student's place, in keeping with her clothes. Maybe one with more cash than most, but I barely saw it anyway. Lillith poured us drinks.

"You think the Methuselah stone did that?" Methos demanded, his eyes dark with shock. And maybe desire.

"I know it did. My head would not leave my body- it damn near healed as the sword passed through." I heard the horror in her voice and felt the cold fingers of it in my spine, "I bound my Quickening to crystal, while it exists I am truly immortal."

"And that's a bad thing because?" Methos' voice held only wonder.

"I'm not sure," Lillith whispered, "There are worse things than death, but - I don't want to die - I just think I need to know that I can. Now I have . . . nothing to fear."

"Malaysia - you went there to find a the last piece of the crystal." I realized. It was a part of her soul, and she would always know where the pieces were.

"And what about Luther?" Methos' voice didn't quite accuse. To get rid of the ones who would not give up their pieces of that damn crystal, I think. Lillith shrugged.

"I gave him information, but he chose his own path." She said evenly.

"People died." Methos pressed, still not accusing, just . . . curious.

"They tend to do that, it's our game. And Luther would most likely have done what he did without my help."

"And you didn't want to kill them yourself." I said. She nodded tightly.

"I took advantage of the situation. Do you hate me for it?" I caught Methos' eye, touched his mind with mine in a way that had become frighteningly easy. We were in agreement.

"We don't judge you, sister." I smiled, the serpent is always the serpent.

"But we would prefer for Amanda to get out of this with her head intact." Methos added.

"As would I. And that's why I called you here." Ah, a new game. Just what I needed.

"I assume you're not planning to just walk up to Amanda and ask for the crystal? She might give it to you." Methos would know, I suppose.

"I've studied her, she won't and she just might discover my connection to Luther. Besides . . . it would be too easy." She outlined her plan and I drew in a sharp breath. Convolutions are interesting, but the Byzantines had nothing on Lillith.

"Do you trust her?" He whispered to me as I lay nestled in his arms.

"To do what? She won't let any harm come to us." I didn't have to trust her, I knew her.

"And Amanda?" Yes, there was Rebecca's student. In a way the guilt for the fate of Rebecca and her students was mine . . . giving away a dangerous toy because I didn't want it anymore. No - I had meant no harm.

"She doesn't particularly like to kill. But if she's sure that's the only way, she will." And I could not hate her for it.

"Gods, I can't let her do that. If she killed Amanda, Mac would get involved." And then you would have to pick sides. Possibly me as well. Two thousand years ago it would have been no contest, even a century ago. But now - there was something so bloody moral about that boy.

"So we keep it from coming to that." And just pray that we haven't outsmarted ourselves.

I could almost taste the fog in the park that morning. Maybe it was sweet. Like pollution. I shifted on my bench and pretended not to be listening to anything in particular. Especially not the whispered conversation the people on the next bench were having.

"Hello Amanda, you like quite lovely today." Methos bowed gallantly.

"Ha! You pulled me out of a business meeting." And don't we all wonder what kind of business? "What's so damn important, Methos?"

"Look, I have reason to believe someone is after a possession of yours." She flinched, he wouldn't say head, not in public.

"What? Who? Should I even ask why?" Amanda's voice was tinged with anger and distrust.

"The Methuselah stone." It was explanation enough for most of our kind. Methos sighed.

"But most of it's at the bottom of the bloody Seine! It would be impossible to find." She protested.

"Impossible for you or me. Not for Lillith." He said. Amanda shook her head in protest.

"The demoness? You've got to be kidding- and how do you know this?" She threw a questioning glance at his wrists, both bare since the mess with Galati and the watchers.

"She was one of my teachers, we talk sometimes." Amanda frowned, but said nothing. "Look she wants the crystal, not necessarily your head, if you just-" He began.

"No way. It's all I have left of Rebecca, and I won't give it up to some . . . some decrepit old demoness!" Amanda voice rose to an uncomfortable level.

"She's not really demon - that's just a story bored people with overactive imagination like to tell." So are you Methos. "And in an obscure way the crystal is a part of her. Would you consider-"

"No!" With that she stalked off. The first part of the plan went quite well.

"Methos? Is it just me or is this bothering you a little?" Methos and I walked along the banks of the Seine, looking like young lovers. He stroked my hair thoughtfully. Then he groaned and buried his head in my shoulder.

"We're growing rigid morals in our old age aren't we?" He muttered.

"Quit that you're scaring me. I mean it's a good plan - nobody gets hurt . . . we hope." The fog rose off the murky Seine and I wondered how in the hells Lillith had found the crystal pieces to begin with. And how she had made it for that matter. It was not a story she liked to tell.


 

Paleolithic Forest -

(no one remembers where- which is just as well, as it's probably not there anymore)

The Serpent was proud of herself. She and her mate had brought home the most game in the tribe, but it had been a good hunt all around. There would be feasting. Very vaguely, she remembered a time before hunting, when there had been only scavenged meat.

"Hey Serpent!" A childish voice interrupted her thoughts. She looked down at Little Oak, the Shaman's son.

"Hey Little Oak! What news?" She smiled indulgently at the boy. She had no children, as the Gods had taken the fruit of her womb, perhaps in exchange for long life.

"She Bear says the feast is nearly ready. She wonders if the Head Huntress would not condescend to do woman's work long enough to help in the preparation." Serpent threw back her head and laughed. She Bear was a good Chief but she had strange humors. She ran down to the fires, laughing all the way.

When she arrived she saw all the other hunters had been pressed into service. Her mate was turning the roast, sweat gleaming off his finely muscled flesh. Others filled in the old fire pits, carried, and stirred, all under She Bear's direction. Even Old Oak, the Shaman, stirred a stew with his grizzled arms. Serpent was glad her arms would never age and be incapable of hunting.

After the feast a little girl tugged on Serpent's jerkin. "Serpent, tell us a tale." The other children clamored in agreement so Serpent let herself be dragged to the center fire.

"Tell us of the hunter and the sky fox!" Old Oak suggested. Serpent nodded and let her voice sink into cadence, telling of the man who hunted a fox made all of stars. She would always remember that night because it was the last time before everything changed.

The next morning she woke up to find her mate shivering and feverish.

"Elk." She pushed at his shoulder, but he scarcely heard her. She quickly rose up to gather herbs against the fever. Old Oak came to aid her, but nothing seemed to work.

Then, Old Oak grew ill as well, swiftly followed by the young children and the old ones. All the hunters that had gone for game were ill, then everyone in the tribe, except for Serpent. On the seventh sun, Elk looked ready to die.

"Adam." Serpent called. In desperation she used the greatest magic, calling on Elk's true name. "Adam." She was tired, tired of losing mates, and this one had been young and healthy.

All her magic failed and in desperation, Serpent went to the Gods' Cave. "I am Lillith and my mate Adam is dying. Please send me some magic." She begged. But she was no Shaman, and no Goddess or God heard her.

Then she felt a strange stirring in her spine. In her tribe's wandering, she sometimes met others with long lives, and always this feeling came.

"I am Serpent." She called to the stranger.

"You are dead." He was a strange looking man, covered in matted black hair and his body twisted like an ancient oak. His eyes shone with a mad light, though Serpent did not believe she could die, she was suddenly afraid.

"There is a God in you!" She drew back, frightened to be possessed by this madness. In the man's hand was a sharpened bone knife, edge gleaming wickedly.

"There is! The Gods are speaking, they say you should not have power. Your power will be mine!" He raised his knife and she ducked back. "I am Sever and I will be the only one!" He threw the blade and Serpent felt it slice at her neck. Surely the Gods would not allow her to die in this holy place.

Under her eyelids she felt the lightening, followed hard by a presence. She thought of Elk, no Adam, and her dying people. Her Quickening, released on holy ground, granted her wish. Sever collapsed to his knees and Serpent realized she no longer felt his Presence.

"The Gods have punished you. You are no longer long lived." Her voice was full of wonder. He ran screaming into the forest and she never thought of him again. The gleaming crystal on cavern floor captured her mind.


 

Paris- Present Day

Methos waited for Amanda in a little jazz club on the Left Bank. She showed up exactly when predicted.

"You've got to help me." She clutched at his coat.

"What happened?" He soothed.

"Dreams. She is in my dreams, Methos." She looked around as if the dream figure was about to pop out of a corner.

"Tell me exactly what happened." She raised her wide eyes to his and started talking.

"There was an earthquake and a snake - a huge one. It was pulling me underground and then I saw this woman, one of us but as pale as a bleached bone. I took her head but it didn't matter, she kept coming. Methos, I'm scared." She stopped, making sure there were no listeners. She completely ignored the blind old woman with the hearing aid though. Never underestimate a Babylonian.

"Amanda, it was a dream." She bit her lip.

"Damn it Methos, I'm old enough to know the difference between a dream and a prophecy." Interesting, she had interpreted the projection as a prophetic dream. I might have as well, if I didn't know what it really was.

"Remember Garrick? It's a sending, a projection. The woman you described, that could be Lillith." As if he didn't know.

"It was the third night, Methos. I can't take this - everytime I close my eyes- I'll go mad." I felt a sharp twinge of guilt. Guilt, Goddess and for a complete stranger.

"Look, there is something that can be done." He promised.

"I'm not giving up the stone!" She is stubborn, I'll give her that.

"I am not asking you to. Speak to Lillith, maybe you two can work something out." Yeah, and maybe Methos and Cassandra could have tea and crumpets and discuss sports teams.

"Tell me where she is." Amanda's face was set.

"She can kill you."

"I know."

"It's no good to you." Nothing more than a keepsake.

"I won't give it up." And then she stood up and left the bar. I slipped into the ladies to get rid of my persona. Then I ordered a drink.

"She wants to die." I told Methos, suddenly understanding.

"Amanda?" He shook his head.

"No, Lillith. I saw Amanda, if Lillith had approached her in the right way, this would not have happened." I felt old and very tired. Vodka, just perfect for my mood.

"What do you want to do?" He looked like I felt and I knew he had seen it from the beginning.

"I can't imagine a world without Lillith. I know where my sanity rests." Between Methos and Lillith, the two things I still had left after all these years.

"It's not enough for her. We're not enough." He answered my thoughts, but that didn't bother me anymore.

"Make love to me before the darkness swallows us?" I looked up into his beautiful hazel eyes. **But it's already too late.** Someone thought it, I can't say who anymore.


 

In the flesh there is no fear. I don't mean sex, that doesn't mean the same thing to me it means to a mortal. It did not mean the same thing to mortals when I was young. Sex is Ishtar. Was. I don't know. I bedded my friends because they were my friends, but not Methos. Lillith used to tease me about that, and I laughed with her because I didn't understand why myself. It is a frightening thing to know that there is no one else in the world for you. I've loved a lot of people, I've never chosen to belong to anyone before. In the flesh there is no fear, you are all that I am now beloved and I don't have to tell you.

That night, Methos claimed me with every touch of lips and hands and skin as I claimed him. In the morning I awoke to the prosaic fragrance of coffee and eggs.

"Morning lazy, do you know it's half past nine?" He teased. I groaned and pulled myself out of bed. Then padded out the bedroom door and into the kitchen. He smiled at me, and I admired his long frame for a heartbeat. Long, lean, and . . . not gonna go there just now.

"Don't you believe in getting dressed?" He said when he saw me, voice bubbling with laughter.

"No, it's to early." He's got wooden chairs, I don't stick to wood. Now plastic, bleh.

"What if I told you there was a door to door sales man pitching encyclopedias?"

"He'd get an eyeful, then. Pour me some of that won't you?" I gestured to the coffee. I'm a lot more clever after coffee and not nearly so damn morbid.

"Do you think we-" But then he was interrupted by the phone. Don't get me wrong, phones are a great invention, but don't you think they get one with a slightly less . . . piercing tone.

"You what? He's where? You're sure?" His eyes were wide and he nodded, pulling out a pad to copy something down. I sighed and ate what he left for me, not really tasting it.

"Well?" I felt the darkness settle on me. Prophecy . . . just a really bad feeling.

"That was Amanda. MacLeod is here, he is going to hunt her down." I knew who her was. He levered himself into the seat and rested his forehead in his hands. I wanted to comfort him, but I couldn't stop the memories, though I knew they were not mine.


 

The horseman's camp 1000 BCE

Methos could taste blood on his tongue. He wasn't sure where it had come from, but he could taste it. He forced his eyes open and looked around. A woman's body. Cassandra.

She was staring at him with great, empty eyes. He had done that. Created emptiness.

"Someday, I'm going to kill you for this." She promised. He wanted to tell her not to bother, that he was already dead.

"I'm sure." He smiled. "But me first." She flinched from the dagger, cowered from him. Power. He hated himself, he couldn't stop.

Then he sensed the Presence of another. Probably one of his brothers, but he ought to check. They should be well within range, and not triggering the buzz. He calmly ran Cassandra through, avoiding the blood, and stepped outside.

"So." He knew that voice. Smooth as Egyptian linen. He turned to face her. She rode on horseback, ready to move in an instant. He knew they had started to call him death on horseback, but this bone woman looked the part.

"Are you here to die?" He asked her. If he did not kill her, his brothers would. She twisted her lips. Smiled.

"Do you fancy yourself as death, Methos? As a God?" She soothed her nervous horse, never taking her eyes off of him.

"Why not?" He was surprised to hear how normal his voice sounded.

"I've seen the faces of the Gods, Methos. They no longer walk with us." Of course she had. She was Lillith.

"What do you want? Why are you here?" He wondered if he would be able to take her down. What it would be like to taste her blood.

"A favor for a friend. Tinat heard rumors. She was worried about you." She almost spit the words out, calm facade cracking. Vaguely, he remembered Tinat, and the way the sun reflected on her golden eyes. It was almost enough.

Then he heard footsteps. A hand reached out and touched his shoulder. Kronos.

"Now, who's this?" He heard the laughter behind the words and felt himself pushed aside. Lillith smiled.

"Which one are you, Pestilence?" From the glass-plated look on her face, the calm might never have been ruffled.

"My name is Kronos. If you want to live, you can call me master." He drew his blade. But there was a faint tremble in his walk. Of course, even Kronos would see it in her. If she had been a horseman, she would have been Terror.

"Really?" He drew back. She held the advantage. "I'm not interested in you, Pestilence." She threw a glance at Methos, an offer. I'll get you out of this. I forgive. Her eyes were still glacial. Kronos caught the glance.

"You're here for him? What, to 'save' him from me?" Kronos' laugh was razor sharp. He grasped Methos' arm and shoved him toward her. "Tell me Methos - do you want to be saved?" Methos shuddered, knowing if he left now, Kronos would hunt him like an animal and use him anyway he chose before he died. He'd been given a taste of that treatment, seen it happen to Kronos' enemies.

"Methos?" Lillith's eyes were ice, but clean ice. Then Methos knew that he was not clean. What he had done had made him abomination.

"Go. Get out." He turned his eyes away so he would not have to see the purity of ice.

He heard the horse ride away, felt more than heard her parting words.

"So who do you belong to, my brother?" Kronos stood in front of him, trapping him with his eyes.

"I am death. I belong to you." I am dead, he told himself. What happens after this doesn't matter. When Kronos let him walk back to his tent he was already planning their next raid.

The part of him that was alive still heard Lillith's words, "Come back when you can. Don't lose your head." He only hoped that Tinat would not come after him.


 

Paris - Present Day

I found Lillith sitting on a bench in front of Notre Damne watching the crowds pass by. If you watch long enough, you can begin to feel like a real person.

"Hello sister, where is your shadow?" She didn't turn around. I didn't answer.

"Damn you, Lillith. Why are you doing this?" She turned then and smiled gently at me. I sat down next to her.

"It's time, sister. I saw the game open, I couldn't bear to see it close." Her face was implacable, and I wanted to scream in frustration.

"We don't know this is the end. Why are you doing this? Why MacLeod?" I feel the heat in my face and a part of me wonders why I am angry. Mac's plane would be landing now.

"Methos thinks Duncan MacLeod is the one who is fit to win the game. I don't disagree, but if you prefer, I will arrange for you to take my head." I shook my head rapidly and gestured as if to push the very thought away.

"Why are you doing this now? Why do you want to leave me?" The flush of anger and the old bitterness brush against my tongue. I swallow them.

"I am not Surya, Tinat. I know you know that - but you're reacting as if I were." I hated her for being right. But I couldn't let her go because it was true.

"I need you, Lillith. You and Methos are all I have left. Sister . . . Mama, find another way." I begged, clasping her hands in mine. Her eyes seem almost soft in the light, but I don't think she'll cry.

"It's my time." She shook away the dampness.

"If you die, I swear vengeance." I kept the shaking out of my voice.

"What!? No." She pleads. "This is blackmail."

"I swear vengeance on your killer and all who aided him." I knew I was including myself.

"So you'd kill yourself. Will you kill Methos too? Don't do this." Her wintry eyes caught me, demanding obedience. I laughed in her face.

"Everyone but him. Don't worry, I sincerely doubt I'll survive a bout with MacLeod." I left her on the bench, alone, mourning for me, a woman who was after all, her daughter.


The flash of city lights against the darkness. The muddy banks of the Seine. How many bodies did it hide?

Amanda strode in purposefully, blade in hand. No ridiculous outfits, she was all business now. Lillith knelt, facing the river, sword across her knees.

"Do you have it?" She trapped Amanda's eyes.

"You're not what I expected. Who is she?" She pointed her chin at me.

"My daughter. Do you have it?" I gasped a little at the acknowledgement. I had been sister, never daughter. Amanda paid me no notice, wouldn't have known what I was if she looked.

"I do." The crystalline shard of the stone gleamed in the lights. Centuries ago it would have been starlight.

"That is not it." Lillith would know a falsehood.

"Fight me." Amanda demanded. "Fight me or leave me alone." The haggardness of the nightmares came through.

"Where is your lover?" Lillith asked.

"Are you telling me this was to get at him?" Amanda drew back.

"I want the stone, need it more than you can possibly imagine." Amanda shook her head and the battle was joined. Amanda wasn't bad, very athletic and fast, but she was no match for Lillith. She went down hard, blade at her neck when the Presence manifested. There were two.

"I think I have what you want." MacLeod spoke into the stillness. The shard gleamed in his hand as he tossed it to Lillith. Methos stood behind him, eyes blackened by shadows. I wondered how much he had told.

She lovingly rejoined the crystal, then held it to her breast whispering something in a language older than me, older than Methos.

Light. A flash so bright it lit the night like a flare. If we hadn't been sheltered it would have brought the mortals down on us. There would be UFO sightings.

Light. I averted my eyes. When I could see again, that damn crystal was gone and there was only Lillith.


Tinat's Estate - The Tigris-Euphrates river valley 40 BCE

In the days after the horseman mess I played my games with the demons, the prize a human soul. It was not an easy battle, for a long time I was afraid to let Methos out of my sight. Because of what he might do in a fit of self-loathing. Suicide is not easy for our kind but far from impossible. I dismissed my servants and made do with my less than adequate housekeeping because he could not stand human contact. Even being with me was hard to tolerate, but he would have been worse off alone.

We made my home a nest, walking, watching the river pass and the grass grow. On a good day I could take him with me to buy food from the village and he told me he felt almost like a person again.

The nights were the worst, we slept in one bed without touching because he couldn't bear to sleep alone but could not stand to be touched. He woke often and I was terrified of what he might do in the grip of a nightmare, but it was only after these bouts of hell that he would let me hold him. I rocked him to sleep like a small child and tried to soothe the blood away. Of course it wasn't enough, but it was a start.

Lillith rode in just ahead of the winter storms. I still don't understand how someone could sit on one of those beasts. Horses, gah.

"Your handmaiden, Milarie, told me you were out here. You look tired." She was obviously wondering why. Methos was out in the gardens drinking beer and watching the sunset. Probably writing atrocious poetry about death and decay.

"I thought her name was Milinda." Not that it mattered. Who says small talk should matter?

"Why are you burying yourself in your bolthole this time, Tinat? Did you lose someone?" She could be gentle, but she saved tact for the irrelevant.

"No, I found someone." I smiled, glad through the exhaustion.

"Tinat!" Methos called from the house "Do you-" He stepped outside and saw her, flinched a little. She dismounted carefully and walked up to him.

"Methos. I should have known." She offered her hand and he looked into her eyes, searching for something. He took her hand in a loose grip, as if unsure what to do with it. "I am glad." She whispered.

This could work. It could.


 

Paris - Present Day

"Are you ready MacLeod?" Lillith raised her sword. He drew back.

"We don't have to do this." He offered. I admit he surprised me, I hadn't expected him to understand.

"It is necessary. Time is running low." She smiled and stepped into en garde.

"If that's what you want." He looked haggard and tired. It was probably unfair to him but I couldn't forgive him, not now.

"I release you from all oaths sworn." Lillith turned to me, Duncan frowned, not really able to make out my face in the darkness. I nodded, not saying that only I could release myself that my mind was made up. Goddess, but I can be as idiotic as anyone.

The battle was joined. I'd sparred with both of them and I knew who the better fighter was. I also knew why she wouldn't win.

"Damn you, what are you playing at?" MacLeod threw their swords out of line with a brutal twist. "Fight or don't, I'm not here to assist a suicide!"

"Then why are you here MacLeod?" I stepped out of the shadows.

"Tinat." He breathed. Surprised to see me. . . Now I really wonder how much Methos told him.

"If you kill her, I will destroy you." I promised gravely and stepped back. Methos came and took my hand.

"Don't you see she wants this." He hissed. I ignored him and clutched his hand anyway.

MacLeod shouted something and Lillith's cold laughter tainted the air. He raised his sword. Pulled back.

"Do you know how many people I've killed Duncan MacLeod? How much blood I've shed. . . it didn't even bring me pleasure - it was expedient. Can you really allow such a creature to walk the earth?" He shook his head soundlessly, but he didn't reply. Then he turned to walk away. She shrugged and lifted her own sword, "Then die."

A thousand years . . . a few moments . . . everyone dies anyway. Methos tore his hand from mine and shoved his body forward, cleanly slicing head from shoulders in a brutal swing. He fell off balance and collapsed in a boneless heap. MacLeod never turned around. He simply stood there.

I never wanted anyone dead as much as I did right then.

The Quickening caught Methos as he tried to crawl away from it. I felt him lunge hopelessly for my mind and I closed it to him.

Slamming doors. Images. I could hear him screaming but it didn't matter, it was only senses.

Lillith at her bench, inscribing clay with meaning.

Methos, in my arms, crying for Silas.

MacLeod, strong in his faith, in a way Methos had forgotten how to be.

Like a fist, slammed through my mental walls. Cracks, then a pile of rubble. The Quickening. Lillith's voice.

Mama. Why?

I love you. Accept it.

**Please** Methos, begging me to understand. How much do I have left to give?

MacLeod's turned back. Methos. No. I won't lose him too.

**I'm here.** I knelt down and took Methos' slender body into my arms, trying to keep it safe. The essence that was Lillith flowed around us and I stopped being afraid of death. Courage and cowardice are really the same thing.

Maybe it won't be long now.


finis.