Immortal Cascade 10 Immortal Phoenix Read online

  04/05 WARNING: THIS STORY IS NOT YET COMPLETED; WORK IN PROGRESS IT WILL BE UPDATED AS THE AUTHOR WRITES THE PARTS; CAROL DOES HOPE TO HAVE COMPLETED SOMETIME IN THE SPRING…

  Please have patience with me. This story has been in my mind for almost a year now, but for some reason it seems like it is taking forever to get it finished. I know where the end is, I have a list of scenes needed to get there, but my muse has been very fickle where this story is concerned. In an attempt to get her ass in gear, I'm posting what I have here, and hope to finish the rest soon.

  Rating: R for violence, language and sexual situations

  Crossover: Highlander:The Series and The X-Files

  Immortal Phoenix

  By CarolROI

  Part 1

  Somewhere in Mexico

  December, 1998

  Hot. And growing hotter. Pain, so much agony, turning her inside out, destroying that which was flawed, burning away the cobwebs in her mind, making everything sharper, clearer... a cleansing fire... ashes to ashes, dust to dust... .with her last breath she knew, she could once again see beyond the confines of her psyche, from her ashes she would be reborn... crying joyously, she gave herself up to her destroyer, her creator...

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  The great cat raced through the tangled underbrush, its lungs straining in the hot, heavy air. With a frustrated growl, it slid to a stop at the edge of a cliff, glancing back over its shoulder at the encroaching red, orange and gold wall of snapping, crackling flame. It paced the perimeter of the gap, keen eyes seeking a way across, a narrowing of the chasm that it could perhaps leap. Nothing. The jaguar was trapped. Its flanks heaved as it coughed, smoke burning its throat. With a scream of challenge, the cat faced the fire, then sprang to meet it, its golden, black-spotted coat merging with the flames.

  The conflagration moved on, until the ridge was a solid sheet of burning jungle. But within the inferno, something moved. A large, blazing cat of fire launched itself over the ravine, the roar of the powerful feline sliding up the scale until it became an almost human shriek. The fire twisted its shape until the jaguar form was no longer visible. Wings of flame opened wide, and the ball of fire grew a fan shaped tail and a raptor's head, complete with sharp, intelligent eyes and an even sharper beak. The hot air from the burning forest provided lift for blazing feathers, and the firebird soared high into the brilliant blue expanse of sky, its haunting cry echoing through the dying jungle. . .

  Cascade, Washington

  Jim Ellison sat up in bed with a gasp, his eyes snapping open, his heart racing. It took him a long moment to realize he was at home, in the loft, in bed, instead of the midst of a jungle inferno. He ran his hands slowly through his sweat-soaked hair, and concentrated on slowing his breathing.

  "Jim?" His guide appeared at the top of the stairs. "You okay, man? I heard this really weird screaming... "

  The sentinel nodded. "I'm fine, Chief, just a bad dream."

  Blair sat down on the top of the stairs and leaned his back against the railing. "You wanna talk about it?"

  Jim started to shake his head, then caught himself. Trust, he reminded himself, trust your guide. This could have been a spirit vision, and if so, Blair needed to know, to help him interpret it. They had both learned the hard way that visions should not be ignored. He took a deep breath, then described the dream to his partner. "What do you think it means?" he asked when he finished his explanation.

  The anthropologist chewed his lip for a moment. "I think it's about Alex," he said finally, seeing his conclusion reflected in Jim's eyes. "What it means, I'm not sure. But you connected with her in the temple and maybe part of that is still there. Maybe you were seeing what she saw, experiencing her dream."

  "That's not what I wanted to hear, Chief. I don't want anything to do with her, or her dreams. Anything connected to her can only be bad news."

  "I don't want anything to do with her either, Jim, but it's not about what we want. This Sentinel thing has a nasty habit of taking on a life of its own, talking to us in its own cryptic language. We just get the privilege of trying to decipher it. For some reason, maybe the connection between you has been activated again. It could be that Alex has finally come back from la-la land, that she's regained control of her senses. Or it could just be your body's way of telling you that three helpings of chili was over your limit."

  Blair's teasing grin was clearly visible to the sentinel, and Jim chucked a pillow half-heartedly at him. "Hey! Is this the thanks I get? Some people pay a lot of money to have their dreams analyzed, you got yours done for free!" He lobbed the pillow back toward his partner. "But seriously, Jim, I'll look into this tomorrow, give the hospital in Mexico where she was sent a call to see if there have been any changes in Alex's condition. Just to be on the safe side."

  Jim nodded. "Sounds like a plan... "

  His guide rose to his feet. "You okay to go back to sleep now? Because I've got to get up in... like four hours, man."

  "I'll be fine, Sandburg. Go back to bed." Jim punched the pillow into a more comfortable shape, listening to the sound of his friend descending the stairs and crawling back into bed. A quick check of the apartment with his senses confirmed that everything was fine. Closing his eyes, Jim went back to sleep, his rest undisturbed for the remainder of the night.

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  "Are you sure? I mean, there couldn't be a mistake, right? It's definitely her? Okay, okay, I believe you, thanks for returning my call. Goodbye." Blair hung up the phone slowly, letting out the breath he'd been holding. She was gone, really gone. Part of him felt relieved, and yet another part of him felt more than a twinge of grief, of regret. He hadn't done all he could to help her, and now she was gone, one less throw-back to ancient man, one less Sentinel... one less person trying to kill him...

  He sat down on the sofa, burying his hands in his hair, resting his elbows on his knees. He should be glad, really he should. She was in a better place he told himself, her spirit free to roam the stars instead of trapped in the confines of her own mind. If only he had... if only Jim had... if only they had reached out to her... .

  Lost in might have beens, Blair didn't hear the door open, was unaware of the trio's entry until he felt the cushion shift next to him. "Lobo? You okay?" A hand settled gently on his arm.

  He looked up to find three worried gazes fixed on him. Dee was seated next to him, Megan was across from him on the coffee table, and Jim leaned anxiously over the back of the couch. "What's the matter, Chief?"

  Straightening up, he said, "You remember that dream you had the other night, Jim?" At his nod, Blair continued. "I called the sanitarium in Mexico today, to see if there'd been any change in Alex's condition." He heard Megan's sharp gasp at the mention of her name, and felt Dee's fingers close over his own. "There was a fire there two nights ago; many of the patients were injured... or killed. Alex was so badly burned they had to identify her from her dental records as one of the dead... " He squeezed his eyes shut. Damn it, he wasn't going to cry! She'd killed him! She'd come between Jim and he... she was a cold-blooded murderess... and... and... now there were only two Sentinels left.

  Jim reached over and grasped his guide's shoulder, unable to find any words to comfort him. Megan leaned forward, resting her hand on Blair's knee, as Dee laced her fingers with his. They sat there silently for a long time, finding a measure of solace in their connection.

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  Somewhere in South America, February 1999

  The olive skinned man loo
ked up from his desk at the sound of a sharp knock on his study door. His majordomo stuck his head inside. "Que pasa, Rico?"

  "La Asesina... "

  Juan Bautista Cristo rose to his feet, rubbing his hands together. "Si, si, send her in."

  A few moments later the door opened again to admit a tall, slender woman dressed in a stylish suit of black suede. She looked like any other businesswoman in her late twenties, except for the white blond hair cropped close to her head in a severe military style cut.

  Juan stepped around the desk, giving her a hug and a kiss on both cheeks. "Alejandra! It is so good to see you again! So much has happened since I last had need of your services, and you have been a difficult woman to find."

  The woman returned the hug and the kiss, then said, "I'm sorry I've been so hard to get a hold of. I was... " A smile tweaked her lips. "Going through a spiritual rebirth. So tell me, Juan, what kind of job has you desperately seeking me?"

  Taking her arm, he guided her to a seat on the couch. "A terrible tragedy has happened to my family. You remember my brother, Jesus?"

  "Oh, yes, yes. Last time I finished a job for you, he took me out on his boat to celebrate. I was hoping to see him again... " She glanced around the room, then back at Juan's sad, dark eyes. "Something's happened to him, hasn't it?"

  "Si, Alejandra. Jesus is dead, murdered last November."

  "Oh, no, no. I'm so sorry, Juan."

  He patted her hand. "That's why I sent for you, to avenge his death. I've finally found out the names of the people responsible for his murder." Getting up, he got a file folder from his desk and handed it to her. "These are the people who betrayed Jesus. He went after them on his own, but you know Jesus. He had grand ideas, but not the ability to carry them to completion. He failed, and they killed him."

  She opened the folder and glanced at the dossiers. "Ellison." She flipped to the next page. "Sandburg." Another page turned over. "Connor." She uncovered the final page in the file, and suppressed a gasp. The last face in the world she expected to see stared back at her. "Pallas... " she breathed. She took a moment to calm her wildly beating heart, her racing thoughts, then looked back up at Juan. "I will do this for you, Juan, free of charge, but I will do it my way." Her lips pulled back in an almost snarl. "A way I think you will approve of very much. I trust you want them to suffer?"

  The Hispanic man nodded. "I want their deaths to be long and excruciating."

  Her voice was almost gleeful when she answered him. "They will be, oh, they will be."

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  Early March, 1999

  "Dee?" The voice on the other end of the phone line was tired and full of pain.

  "Lobo? What's wrong? What's the matter?" Diandra said, feeling her chest constrict as if he was in the same room, and she was picking up his anguish over their spiritual connection.

  Blair paused, struggling to find a way to put the past few days into words. "I. . .I need to see you," he finally managed. "I've made such a mess of everything."

  "Oh, Lobo. . .tell me where you are, and I'll be right there," she said.

  "Actually, um, I'm sitting in my car outside the dojo. I was hoping you were home."

  "Come on up, love."

  When the freight elevator groaned to a stop on her floor and the gate lifted, she nearly didn't recognize him. He looked like he hadn't slept in a week and pain radiated off him in waves. He took a step off the elevator, almost falling into her arms. She wrapped him in her strong embrace and led him over to the sofa, relieving him of his coat and sitting down with him as he poured out the tangled tale in a rush of words.

  The gist of it was something about his mother turning his thesis over to a publisher, Jim's sentinel abilities being exposed to the world, and Jim hating him. "I'm sure he doesn't hate you, Lobo," Dee said, sliding her fingers through his. "You are too important to him."

  Blair shook his head sadly. "He feels like I betrayed him, Dee, like I planned from the start to do this to him. I have to decide what to do. . .and you're the only person I knew who would really understand"

  She brushed a stray curl out of his face. "Yeah, I do understand. You've just been offered everything you thought you wanted in the world, everything you've worked so hard for, only it comes with a bigger price than you ever thought you would have to pay."

  He nodded. "Exactly. I know what I have to do; it's just that a part of me wishes I could have it both ways. Finally my work is getting noticed; I'm not that little anthro geek who can't finish a paper anymore. I would finally be someone. . .respected."

  Blair inched closer to her. She obligingly put her arm around his shoulders, and he leaned his head on her chest. "You remember when we first met?" she asked. "And I told you those three letters after your name were way over rated?" He nodded. "They are. They don't mean anything to anyone but a bunch of wrinkled up academics who couldn't exist outside their stuffy college walls. Those letters are not you, Blair; they will never be you. There aren't enough letters in the universe to express every wonderful thing that you are. You are friend, lover, guide, companion, shaman, warrior, Watcher, son, teacher, student. . .the list goes on and on and still wouldn't be long enough. Whatever decision you make will be the right one, Lobo. I have the utmost faith in that."

  He looked up into her sincere blue eyes, marveling at how lucky he was to have a friend like her. "Thanks, Dee, that means a lot to me. You have always believed in me, believed I was good enough, and strong enough and smart enough to do anything I put my mind to."

  "Well, you are," she replied, pressing a kiss against his forehead.

  He laughed softly. "Maybe I am," he told her, "but it feels so good to hear 'yes, you can' from someone else instead of a list of reasons why I can't." His voice took on a somber note. "Sometimes I wish I had found you first, instead of Jim. I can't imagine my life without him, but just once, just once, I would like to hear him say, 'Let me help you fix it, Sandburg,' instead of 'It's all your fault'."

  "Oh, Lobo," she whispered, pulling him closer, holding him tightly. "I wish I could make it all go away."

  "So do I," he murmured against her sweater, "so do I."

  They stayed curled together on the sofa for a long time, until Dee ran a hand through his hair, and planted a kiss on his cheek. "Hey, Lobo, when's the last time you had anything to eat?"

  Sitting up slowly, he replied, "Can't remember."

  "Well, it's almost dinnertime, and I'm getting hungry. What do you say I heat up some soup and make some sandwiches?"

  Raising his arms over his head, Blair stretched. "Sounds okay to me."

  Giving his shoulder a squeeze, Dee rose and headed for the kitchen. Blair could hear her rummaging in the refrigerator, then the sound of pots being set on the stove. Getting to his feet, he joined her, the thought of being more than an arm's length away from her at the moment was distressing for some reason. Coming up behind her, he slipped his arms around her waist and leaned his chin on her shoulder. Turning her head, she gave his nose a kiss, then went back to buttering some bread. When he finally released her, she handed him a spoon, and he gave the minestrone soup a stir, content to concentrate on that simple task, putting his problems aside for the moment.

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  Dee picked up the plates and bowls they'd dirtied, and set them in the sink. Blair brought the glasses over, and rinsed them out before putting them with the other dishes. He rested his back against the counter, his eyes on the floor. "Thanks for dinner, and for... everything. I guess I should get going back to Cascade."

  The Immortal moved to stand in front of him, so close her hips brushed against Blair's. Cupping his face in her hands, lifting his chin so his eyes met hers, she said, "No. It's late, the weather's crappy, and you're exhausted. I know you can't possibly have been sleeping since this started. You're staying here." Her fingertips traced lightly over his cheek, a
nd she pressed a kiss against the corner of his mouth.

  Blair squeezed his eyes shut against the tears that threatened to spill over. His arms went around her in a fierce hug, unable to force any words past the huge lump in his throat. His world was coming apart at the seams, and she still loved him. Maybe there was some hope for him after all.

  "Lobo, it's going to be okay. Just trust me on this one, all right?" He nodded against her shoulder, and after a few moments, she stepped back, reaching for the phone.

  "Who are you calling?" he asked.

  "Jim." She put the receiver to her ear and pushed the speed dial. "Hello, Jim, this is Dee. Just thought I would let you know Blair is here in Seacouver with me and I'm making him stay the night. He's too tired to drive back this evening. I'll call you tomorrow." She hung up the phone. "I got the machine."

  Blair sighed. "He's screening calls."