"You're despicable, Sinclair," Halliday sneered. "I can't believe you're still living in Bay City. You're a murderer. You slept with your brother's wife, and got her pregnant. What next? Will you beat your child?"

"Shut up!" Cameron grated between clenched teeth.

"Everyone in Bay City recognizes you for what you are," Halliday pressed. "A piece of white trash that should never have been allowed out of prison. Your brother hates you. Amanda hates you. It's only a matter of time until your child hates you."

"That's not true!" Cameron cried, his soul tormented.

"It is," Halliday said. "What will you do when your precious Ammie recognizes you for the piece of offal that you are? Will you run away? Just like you always have?"

"No," Cameron whispered, weakening further. "No. I will never desert Ammie. Never." But his words seemed to lack conviction even in his own ears. With Stark's laughter ringing in his ears, Cameron was forced to acknowledge that perhaps his nemesis was right. He would never be worthy of Amanda. He would never be the kind of father he should be to Ammie. No matter how hard he tried, Cameron feared he would always fail to measure up. Just like his father.

~*~

Standing within the trees watching intently as Cameron confronted Halliday, Gary felt a surge of fear snake down his spine when his brother seemed to be weakening. He made a movement to go to Cameron's side, but one of his companion's grabbed his arm, hissing softly, "Don't."

Gary looked at the other man with growing irritation. His long trenchcoat, and dark, nondescript suit marked him as an agent of the FBI. Taller and slightly thinner than Gary, the man's dark eyes hinted at the sometimes mischievous nature of his soul. Shaking off the agent's hand, Gary said, "Let me go. I'm not letting that jerk hurt my brother."

"Your brother's tough," the agent said. "Besides, we've got it covered. A little surprise that will throw Stark off balance."

A sultry redhead, clad in similar attire to her partner, asked, "Mulder, are you sure this will work?"

"Scully, have I ever let you down before?" he grinned. "Don't answer that. I'm sure this will work. It will at least give Sinclair a bit of breathing room to regain his equilibrium."

Looking from one agent to the other, Gary was awed by their devotion to their work. "How did Cameron hook up with the two of you? I know he trained at Quantico, but it seemed like a short time that he was there."

Agent Fox Mulder grinned at Gary. "He helped us out with one of our X-Files, back when we were still working the X-Files."

Glancing at Agent Dana Scully, Gary said, "I would have thought he'd a least mention meeting someone like you."

"Your brother was all business," Scully assured him. "Which surprised me, to be honest. Most men getting out of prison have one thing on their minds. But not him. I got the feeling he knew I wasn't the one he was searching for."

"Cam can be single-minded," Gary conceded. "I'm still rather amazed that you'd come all the way to Bay City to help him bring down Jordan Stark."

Mulder, who had been speaking into his walkie-talkie, said with a broad grin, "Are you kidding? A 200 year old murder suspect? How could I resist?"

~*~

Holding the locket in her hand, Amanda gazed at the portrait of Conall Sinclair. Because of this man's gift to his love, Amanda felt connected to hers once again. She felt connected to Cameron in a way she had thought she'd never feel again. Feeling a shaft of fear shoot down her spine, she gasped aloud.

"What is it?" Marissa asked.

"Cameron," she whispered, the fear spreading throughout her body, filling her heart with dread. "Cameron needs me." Rising to her feet, she said, "I've got to go to him. Now."

Marissa shook her head. "No way. Cameron wants you here--and safe."

"You don't understand," Amanda told her. "He needs me to stand beside him. We must face Jordan Stark together or he might fail."

Hesitating momentarily, Marissa replied slowly, "You'd only distract Cameron. He'd be too worried about your safety to give his full attention to Stark."

Amanda grasped Marissa's arm tightly. "Listen to me, Marissa. Cameron is in grave danger right now. He needs me. I can feel it."

"I can't go against Cameron's wishes," Marissa said, frowning with concern. "He'd never forgive me if I put you in danger."

"But he's the one in trouble, Marissa," Amanda pleaded. "Cameron is a good man. Strong, courageous, sensitive. But he doesn't recognize his value. He never has. If Stark throws Cameron's past in his face, he'll falter."

Marissa's frown deepened, but she refused to comply with Amanda's wishes. "I can't do it. I can't betray Cameron. Not again."

Amanda's eyes lost focus for a moment as her connection with Cameron deepened further. "He's weakening, Marissa. I need to go to him, to help him. Please, help me!"

Staring at her for some time, Marissa seemed to be weighing her options. Finally, she said, "Okay. I'll take you to Cameron."

"Thank you," Amanda said, squeezing Marissa's arms with gratitude, before turning toward the door.

"Cameron is going to kill me," Marissa muttered under her breath.

Smiling back at Marissa, Amanda answered, "No, he won't. Cameron will know exactly who to blame."

As they approached the door, Joe stepped in front of them, asking, "Where do you two think you're going?"

"To Cameron," Amanda stated. "He needs me, Joe. I can feel it."

Joe shook his head, wearing his sternest police captain expression. "I'm sorry, Amanda, but I can't let you do this. Cameron asked me to protect you, and that's exactly what I'm going to do. Whether you like it or not."

Growing impatient, Amanda said, "I'm going, Joe. Cameron needs me, and I'm going to join him."

Although Joe opened his mouth to argue further, he found himself stymied by his wife and mother-in-law. Paulina, pulling gently on his arm, said, "Let her go, Joe. Nothing, and no one, could keep me from you if I knew you were in trouble and needed me."

"But . . ."

Rachel prodded him gently from the other side. "Cory women usually get what we want, Joe," she smiled. "One way or the other. We do what needs to be done."

"I'll watch over her," Marissa promised with a rueful grin. "She's pretty persuasive, Joe. I'd just give in gracefully, if I were you."

Throwing up his hands in defeat, Joe said, "Fine. Go. Just be sure to tell Cameron that you knocked me out first. Okay?"

Amanda kissed his cheek. "Thanks, Joe. I'll do that."

"Mom?" Ally said worriedly.

Hugging her daughter tightly, she said, "I've got to help Cameron, Ally. Please understand."

Ally struggled valiantly to hold back her tears, but as they began streaming down her face, she said, "Kick butt, Mom."

Standing in the open doorway, Amanda faced Joe once again. "And, Joe . . ."

"Watch over Ally for you?" he interrupted. "I will. Don't worry about anything." When she hesitated a moment longer, he said, "Go on. Get out of here before I change my mind."

As he began closing the door behind her, Amanda heard him mutter under his breath, "Cameron is going to kill me for this."

~*~

Under Jordan Stark's watchful stare, Cameron threw back his shoulders and hardened the expression on his face, clearly stiffening his resolve. Sinclair was obviously tougher than Stark had believed. Preparing to redouble his verbal attack, Jordan hesitated when he heard a soft voice whispering in the gentle wind. Fear surged through his body at the sound, and he was forced to focus on keeping the Halliday visage intact yet again.

"Murderer," the voice whispered, becoming clearer as it seemed to grow nearer. "Murderer."

"No!" Jordan exclaimed, his body beginning to tremble with terror as he thought he recognized the voice. "This is impossible."

A vague form began to take shape near Sinclair. As it's outline became more defined, one hand seemed to touch Sinclair's hair in a soft caress. Jordan recognized the image immediately, and his heart stopped. Unable to keep his eyes from her image, he paled as the blood rushed to his feet.

"What's wrong, Stark?" Sinclair sneered. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

Paying little heed to his rival, Jordan cried out, "Amaryllis! My love!" He reached out one hand toward her in silent supplication, begging for both release from his living hell and forgiveness for past sins. But the image of his dead wife remained aloof and distant, just as she had in life.

"Murderer. You killed my beautiful Conall."

Shaking his head from side to side, Jordan continued to deny his guilt. "It was not me, my Beloved," he vowed.

"Liar," another voice said sternly, this one tinged with a deep Scottish brogue. "Shot me in the back, you coward. You had not the courage to face me honorably."

As he stared at the second form solidifying on the other side of Sinclair, Jordan could feel his Halliday visage shimmer into his true features. But since only Cameron Sinclair had seen the change, Jordan brushed away his fleeting fear of discovery. He knew that no one would believe Cameron, who was the least of his concerns at the moment. The apparition of Conall Sinclair was much more disturbing for it clearly hated him.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"I want you gone," Cameron answered. "I've already told you that."

Brushing aside his answer like an annoying fly, Jordan said, "Not you, Sinclair. Him."

Looking around for several seconds, Cameron asked, "Him, who? There's no one here but you and me, Stark."

One part of Jordan's mind knew that what he was seeing was a physical impossibility. Since the souls of both Amaryllis and Conall had been reincarnated in Amanda and Cameron, neither one could be tied to this plane. But another part of his mind feared that their souls had followed him to this time and place in order to exact their revenge. Killing Conall had accomplished nothing for he had lost Amaryllis just the same.

It was eerie seeing Cameron and Conall together--almost like brothers so closely did they resemble each other. Jordan frowned. *Brothers?* But he immediately discarded that notion for two reasons. Gary Sinclair hated his younger brother and would have nothing to do with Cameron. But even more importantly, Gary bore no hint of a resemblance to either Cameron or Conall Sinclair.

He attempted to return his focus to the living Sinclair, trying to once again bend Cameron to his will as he had so many times before. But Jordan found himself unable to take his eyes off Amaryllis, who was just as beautiful as he remembered. He had loved her so deeply that he had traveled centuries to find her again. But Amaryllis had betrayed him with Conall Sinclair, a highlander not fit to scrap her boots.

"Why, Amaryllis?" he asked. "Why did you betray me? And with him?"

"She didn't," Cameron said coldly. "Nothing happened in the barn that night. Conall respected your marriage vows."

Jordan's eyes remained locked on Amaryllis, her apparent betrayal still fresh in his mind and heart. "Then why did she flee? Why did she run away with him?"

"Because you forced yourself upon her," Conall snarled. "Wife or no, a real man, a man of honor, does not force himself upon a woman. I could not allow you to harm her again."

Shaking his head in denial, Jordan said, "No! I would never harm Amaryllis."

"Liar!" Conall raged, his form becoming more solid. "I saw the marks you left upon her body. For that alone I would gladly kill you. But rape was not enough. No, you had to torture her further, by starving her to death."

In the distance, Jordan heard the slamming of a car door, but he was unable to take his eyes from the ghostly form that was Conall Sinclair. With each beat of his heart, Jordan's fear intensified tenfold for he could see that this apparition was intent on vengeance.

"Cameron!" a voice called out behind him.

"Amanda," Jordan said sadly. Briefly taking his eyes from Conall, he watched with regret as Amanda joined Cameron, placing her hand in Sinclair's. As she faced him defiantly, Jordan knew he would now be forced to kill them both in order to keep his identity a secret.

~*~

When Cameron heard Amanda's voice and saw her running toward him, he tried to move, tried to call out to stop her, but could not. His mind felt oddly detached from his body as if floating in mid-air. Something strange was happening to him, and there was little he could do to stop it.

Everything had gone according to plan until Amanda had shown up unexpectedly. Well, if he were honest with himself, almost everything. He had allowed Stark to get to him at one point, and his determination to stop Stark had faltered for a short time. Sighing deeply, he realized that was probably why Amanda had come. Somehow she had known he was weakening. A small smile touched his lips as he felt his love for her intensify even more. Amanda Cory was definitely one of a kind.

She slid to a stop beside him, touched his cheek briefly before sliding her hand into his. Even though he knew he should be concerned for her safety, somehow his fear for Amanda was not nearly as powerful as his hatred for what had happened to Amaryllis all those years ago.

"What are you doing here, Amanda?" he whispered, staring down into her eyes. "I thought I told you to stay put."

"You should know me better than that by now, Cameron Sinclair," she retorted, eyes twinkling mischievously. "I don't take orders well." After a few seconds, she became serious, continuing, "You needed me. I came."

Squeezing her hand tightly, he said, "But now you're in terrible danger. I wanted you to be safe, even if something happened to me."

"How could I live without you?" she asked, eyes aglow with the love she felt for him. "You're my world, Cameron. Without you, I'm only half alive." Her nose wrinkled as if smelling something noisome. "I'm not about to let this creature come between us again. Not ever again."

With his free hand, Cameron gently caressed the side of her face, allowing all his hopes and desires to show in his face. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with this woman of incredible beauty, strength of character, and courage. "Amanda," he whispered softly, his voice filled with love and an undercurrent of passion.

The apparition of Conall Sinclair made a movement toward Stark, pulling Cameron's attention from Amanda. Again he felt curiously detached from his body. Cameron wanted to make Stark pay for all the times he'd kept their souls apart. But as he reflected on those past lives, he was almost overwhelmed by a need to kill Stark for what he'd done to Amaryllis.

As Cameron watched, still hand in hand with Amanda, the ghostly form of Conall Sinclair moved ever closer to Jordan Stark, who stared at the apparition with wide-eyed terror. "My Ammie shall be avenged," Conall declared in a soft, yet deadly voice.

Stark retreated, but Conall continued to advance, pushing his enemy to the brink. Cameron could sense that Conall had every intension of carrying through on his threat. *But how?* he wondered. *Conall isn't real. Or is he?*

Amanda's hand began to tremble in his as she watched Stark being stalked by the apparition of the man in her locket. Cameron assumed that she would shed few tears should Stark disappear permanently from her life. But this sort of unnatural phenomenon was distinctly unsettling. "Cameron?" she whispered, unwilling to draw either Stark or 'Conall's' attention.

"I don't know what's happening," he answered. "This wasn't part of the plan."

"What are we going to do?" she asked. "We can't just let Conall kill Jordan Stark."

Although a major part of him was all for the idea, Cameron knew he couldn't allow it to happen. Glancing over Amanda's shoulder, Cameron noticed that 'Amaryllis' still hovered close by. But after a closer inspection, he realized that her appearance had somehow changed. He returned his gaze to 'Conall' and a shiver of apprehension surged through his body. Conall, too, had changed.

"This is impossible," he muttered under his breath. "They can't be here."

"What are you talking about?" Amanda asked, eyes still locked on the unnatural battle before her.

"Conall and Amaryllis," he said softly. "They're here."

Amanda shook her head, trying to sense his logic. "Conall is you, Cameron. I know that for a fact. So this 'ghost' can't be Conall."

Cameron shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know how it's possible, Amanda. I just know that these projections have changed which leads me to believe that both Conall and Amaryllis have somehow managed to separate themselves from us."

"The parts of our souls that were theirs?" she asked. "So what do we do? How can we stop Conall?"

"I don't think he'll listen to us," Cameron said slowly. After a few moments of thought, he said, "Let your mind drift, Amanda. Free Amaryllis if you can. She's the only one who can do it."

The memory of Conall's murder as well as Amaryllis' own lingering death were fresh in Amanda's mind. "But what if she doesn't want to stop him?" she asked worriedly. "Then what?"

Shrugging his shoulders once again, he said, "Then we're all in big trouble."

~*~

Standing beside the two FBI agents, Gary watched the scene unfolding before him with a curious sense of de je vu. Cameron and Amanda faced Stark hand-in-hand while the specters of their past lives hovered protectively above them. The special effects were incredible. Apparently, the FBI had reasons of their own to bring Jordan Stark to justice, because all of this sleight of hand couldn't all be due to favors owed his younger brother by the Feds. When Cameron had explained the 'ghostly' images to him, Gary hadn't imagined them looking quite so real. It was amazing what a high tech projector and recording machine was capable of in this day and age.

"Nice trick," he murmured softly.

Scully frowned intently as she stared at the apparition of Conall Sinclair. Under her watchful eye, the 'ghost' seemed to be pursuing Stark. "This wasn't part of the script," she muttered.

"What are you talking about?" Gary asked.

Turning her attention to Gary, she answered, "Your brother is ad libing it seems."

Gary shook his head. "No way. Cam couldn't do that."

"Listen to him!" she hissed. "He's threatening to kill Stark. That was not part of the plan."

Closing his eyes, Gary listened closely to the words the 'ghost' was using. The Scottish brogue made it extremely difficult to understand. A wave of disquiet raced down his back, making him shiver. He'd heard that voice before. It had upset him profoundly at the time, and he liked it even less now. Cameron had spoken in that voice once, and only once, during a session where he had been hypnotically regressed to more fully remember his past life as Conall Sinclair.

"It's not Cam," he assured her. "He doesn't do accents. It took weeks of hard work to get those first few phrases the 'ghost' of Conall did use. This is not Cameron."

Her expression became skeptical, and she asked, "The who is it?"

"Conall Sinclair."

"You are kidding, aren't you?" she asked in disbelief.

"Actually, I'm not," Gary told her, his eyes locked on hers. He could see that her skepticism had increased. "I've heard the voice. It is Conall."

Wearing the expression she normally reserved for Mulder as he expounded on one of his more farfetched hypotheses, she said, "Conall Sinclair is dead, and has been for over two centuries."

"But he is reincarnated in my brother," Gary said. "When Cam was regressed, I heard that voice. It sent a chill down my spine."

One eyebrow arched. "So your brother is capable of speaking with a Scottish brogue."

"Under hypnosis," Gary retorted, beginning to lose patience with this beautiful, yet stubborn, redhead. "Does Cam look hypnotized to you?"

Although she clearly didn't believe his theory, Scully said, "Let's just say I suspend judgement on reincarnation for the moment. Why did this voice scare you so much?"

"Because Conall Sinclair was quite clearly a man who could focus on one thing while excluding everything else," Gary told her. "In my experience, this sort of man is very dangerous. Once he decides on an action, nothing will stop him. If Conall has decided that Stark must die, Stark will die."

Scully frowned. "I understood from Cameron and Marissa McKinnon that Conall Sinclair was a man of honor. This doesn't seem like an honorable act to me."

"Jordan Stark raped and murdered the woman he loved," Gary said. "In Conall's place, I'd be out for revenge, too."

For several long seconds, Scully stared at Gary. With a shake of her head, she said, "This is ridiculous. Cameron is not the reincarnation of Conall Sinclair, nor is that figure an apparition of Conall. Your brother is . . ."

Mulder, who had been speaking into his walkie-talkie for several minutes, interrupted Scully, barking into the hand-held device, "What do you mean the projector is turned off? I can still see the ghosts!"

CONTINUE