Chapter 15

Jon and Richie pushed their way to the front of the milling crowd of bar goers in search of Jacqui. In swift succession they took in the blood on the floor and all over Duncan and the absence of Jacqui. Jon felt fear then, a fear he had never felt before as he searched the faces in the room vainly for the one face he loved above time and reason. He glanced over at Richie, whose own face was wearing a very worried look.

With his gaze centering again on MacLeod he spoke, “Where is she man? The girl who was just here, what happened too her?”

Duncan MacLeod knew he couldn’t answer. If Adam had rushed her from the room that meant only one thing, she was going to die and then shortly return from death. That was one thing the innocent public could never see or know about, that immortals existed and walked among them. It gave him the unenviable task, however, of finding a way to way lay the intense young man now staring him down.

“Man, I know she was here damn it, now where IS she?” Jon voice began to grow louder as he studied the taller man in front of him. Richie could tell Jon was getting angry, and a very angry Jon was a scary sight to behold. Placing his arm on Jon’s he spoke softly, “Calm down bro, we’ll find her, she couldn’t have gotten very far that fast now could she?”

“Listen, why don’t you just return to your hotel? She’ll turn up sooner or later.” Duncan gave the suggestion, even knowing when he did that they probably wouldn’t follow his suggestion.

Joe Dawson studied the situation. Something strange was up, he was sure of it. People didn’t just disappear out of his bar. It had the smell of immortal business all over it; Duncan was trying to placate a customer about a missing girl, Adam had rushed the girl out of the room and the girl’s friends were going ballistic. His Watcher training took over as he stepped back gingerly, avoiding the blood that was all over the floor at his feet. He was supposed to just watch and record their lives, not be involved, but in this instance he was involved up to his grizzled grey roots. It had happened here after all and if they didn’t solve things fast he knew he’d have police to deal with.

Jon knew something was up, the dark haired man in front of him seemed too calm for someone who had just been in a near fight. He grabbed the dark haired man’s shirt in his fists and with a frantic tone in his voice continued. “I saw that guy shove her at you man. It looked like she had been hurt, now I want to know where your friend took her and I want to know NOW!”

Duncan wasn’t sure what to say. Did he let the young rocker find the girl dead? What exactly was up Adam’s sleeve when he rushed her from the room? There had to be a way to calm this situation down and give Adam time to do whatever he was doing. “First off my name isn’t man, it is Duncan MacLeod, and you are?”

“My name is Jon Bon Jovi, my friend there,” Jon said nodding to Richie, “is Richie Sambora, and if you don’t swiftly tell me where my lady is, things are gonna get ugly fast.”

Duncan nearly laughed at that comment. He was taller than the rock star by 5 or 6 inches and outweighed him by a good 15 pounds or more. He had over 400 years of sword and martial art expertise behind him, and Jon although wiry and fit wouldn’t do so well if it came to fisticuffs. Jon though, didn’t register the fact that the man he was talking too was bigger. He simply didn’t care about that. The man was in the way of his finding Jacqui, and he would have fought Satan himself at that point if it meant finding her.

It was then that Jon felt Richie tugging on his arm. Turning to look at his friend, Jon’s eyes followed where he was pointing. There on the floor, although slight, was a small trail of blood. Releasing MacLeod so fast he nearly stumbled, Jon was off following that small trail like a blood hound. It might not lead to Jacqui, but it was better than standing around.

Duncan’s reflexes being as excellent as they were he raced after Jon and reached the closed office's door a split second before Jon. He barred the way and with a gentle voice exclaimed. “I don’t think you want to go in there young man.”

“Yeah right, and you and what army is gonna stop me,” said a very irate rock star as he and his friend ganged up on MacLeod, to shove him from his spot in front of the door.

~~~~~

Adam heard the commotion at the door and groaned. Why in the bloody hell did baby immortals take so long to wake up the first time? “Come on, come on you wench. Wake up,” he muttered as his eyes watched the door.

Suddenly he heard a gasp and his eyes turned to the girl, watching as his chest began to once again rise and fall as breath returned to her body. Sitting up suddenly Jacqui moaned as a sharp pain ripped through her head. She placed her hands over her ears trying to make the ringing stop. What the hell was happening? She felt a hand grasp her chin and force her head up. Pain filled green eyes encountered gentle hazel as she heard a cultured British voice, “Just breathe and look into my eyes. Realize you aren’t going to be hurt and that you are safe.”

Jacqui lost herself in that gaze for the briefest of moments and felt the pain subside slightly. It was still there, a soft hum in the back of her brain, but it was manageable at least. “Thank you,” she whispered softly as she stood, her eyes turning to the commotion resounding from the door.

“Bloody hell girl, is your boyfriend always so excitable?” The British voice continued, “Before he breaks the door down I have to tell you something and fast. You died, yes you died, your immortal and you need to break up with that rock star and find a teacher fast. You’re a part of the game now whether you like it or not and the game doesn’t care if you are in love. Whoever you were died 5 minutes ago and you have to prepare to move on.”

Jacqui looked back at the man who housed the voice a surprised look on her face. “Man do you get off on spinning stupid stories like that?”

“What I’m telling you is the truth you ninny. Get used to it!” Before Adam could continue the door burst open and Jon, Richie and Duncan almost fell into the room. Jacqui whirled, a bright smile lighting her face as she ran to Jon and was swept into a big hug. Feeling the stickiness on the back of her blouse, he pulled his hand away to see it coated in blood. “Oh my God baby, you’re hurt!” Turning her swiftly he looked her over only to find no injuries. “What the hell,” he exclaimed as he looked back up to the others in the room.

Adam shrugged, “The guy that grabbed her must have cut himself and gotten it on her.” His mind raced to come up with plausible solutions. “She fainted so I brought her in here before she truly did get hurt.”

Jon flashed his mega watt smile Adam’s way. “Thank you. I don’t know what I would have done had something truly happened to her.” Turning to Duncan, his face flushed slightly pink. “Man I’m sorry, but hey my lady was missing ya know? I get a bit crazed when someone I love is in danger.” Duncan murmured an “its ok” before glancing at Adam, who shrugged slightly before turning to the group of young people.

“Jon, lets just go back to the hotel ok?” Jacqui looked up into his eyes pleadingly. “I just wanna get away from here, and all that happened.” She left unspoken the craziness of the British guy, figuring if they just got away everything would be ok and go back to how it should be.

Nodding in the affirmative Jon took her hand and motioned for Richie to follow. Glancing backwards at the men standing in the room she took a slow breath and put the night from her mind. As they moved from the room Duncan took a long look at Adam, his soft cultured soft Scottish burr filling the room with a question that demanded an answer.

Watching the new immortal and her friends leave them room Adam sighed then began to speak. “I couldn’t bloody well kidnap her when he entered the room Mac. She revived quickly, but there would have been no getting her away from that long haired singer.” Duncan nodded as he continued. “One of us will have to follow them and find a way to get her away from them long enough to prove to her what she’s become. Although I don’t care if she gets trained or not, I’m quite sure you of all people will.”

Duncan gave a look at Adam that clearly said he didn’t believe Adam’s protestations of not caring. “Well old man, I can’t follow her as you put it. No matter how you like it, you are going to have to do the job yourself.”

Adam frowned slightly. He hadn’t planned on taking a student, hadn’t taken on a student in hundreds of years. It just wasn’t a good time damn it all, but he knew it had to be done. “This calls for a beer Highlander,” he said as he stalked from the office to the bar, his aged mind already making plans within plans on how to fix the situation he found himself in.

~~~~

Jon and group reached the hotel, all three wrung out physically and emotionally. With the barest of nods their way Richie turned to go to his room. Waving a good night to his friends he entered his room, intent to sleep the entire next day. Jon opened the door to his and Jacqui’s room and literally flopped down on the bed. Jacqui, without a word spoken walked straight to the bathroom, her dirty clothes dropping with each step she took. With a soft groan he got up off the bed and picked up the puddles of cloth she had left behind. Not caring if she wanted to keep them or not, he stuffed them all deep into the trash can. He would just buy her more if need be.

Jon then quickly stripped off his clothing and lay back upon the bed. The night had been pretty eventful and he was worn clean to the bone. Within moments his eyes had closed; he was asleep, the covers pushed way to the foot of the bed as he sprawled out. Jacqui came out of the bathroom, her hair damp, a towel wrapped around her diminutive form. She nearly laughed at the site of her bronzed rock God dead to the world, his ass sticking up his legs every which way on the bed. Climbing up beside him, she nudged his leg over and he instinctively turned over to spoon against her putting his arm pulling her tight too him.

Within moments sleep had claimed the couple, neither of them caring what the morrow would bring.