Chapter 36

She awoke to the cramping that was emanating from her stomach. At this point she wasn’t sure if it was hunger or the craving for whatever was in that needle. She tried to sit up and found that her body simply refused to obey her; it just didn’t have the strength to do more than lay there. On top of that indignity there was a sour smell floating into her nose. Somewhere in the back of her consciousness she recognized the fact that it was her smelling bad, the compliment of spending days in a dank room with no shower, along with piss poor food. Her belly didn’t care about eating; it cared about the deep ache that signaled the loss of that poison floating in her brain. She wondered how long the shadow woman had been gone and oddly enough hoped for her swift return. Curling up into a ball the best she could she closed her eyes to the surroundings and tried to sleep.

~~~~~~~

She exited the store her arms laden with bags and began the trek to the house she had rented for her mission. Dark nervous eyes skittered up and down the street, as she walked. It wouldn’t do to be caught now, when her plan was almost at its zenith. As she got closer to the police station she switched sides of the road, not wanting anyone in law enforcement to get a look at her, just in case and continued on her way. Her thoughts danced and tumbled upon the plans on releasing the woman. “I’ll just make sure she’s good and high then I’ll drop her in the drive way. When they find her he’ll be so disgusted he’ll probably call the law on her.” A swift wan smile fleetingly crossed her lips as she pictured that moment. “He’ll never see me across the road watching of course, I don’t want to meet him like that, but the time is swift approaching when I’ll just bump into him on the street, quite by accident of course, but he can’t help but love me; and when I tell him I helped him get that hussy away from him he’ll probably just marry me then and there.” Reaching her house she maneuvered her bags just enough to unlock the door and walked inside. Moving into the kitchen she set her bags on the table and went to the cabinet and pulled out the things she needed to give the next injection. Within minutes she was opening the door to find Amelia lying curled on the floor nearly crying.

“Oh is Ms. Thing missing her medicine?” Amelia glanced up at the superior sounding shadow and tried to respond only to find her tongue felt glued to the top of her mouth. She mutely nodded, only wanting the fire in her belly to go away, she could stand it until they found her if the burning would cease.

Without another sound the shadowy figure approached and jabbed the needle into Amelia’s arm and depressed the plunger. “You certainly took to this medicine like the pro you are. You really are the skank you know.” The shadow reached behind her and flipped a switch then began to laugh. “I know how you like Disney so I thought I’d get you some music. Enjoy now.” She left the room, locking the door behind her, laughter welling up in her throat as the strains of ‘it’s a small small world’ filtered out to her accompanied by soft groans.

~~~~

Jon and Richie had quietly followed the shawl to a non-descript little house near the edge of town. As they walked Jon had pulled his phone and dialed Adam to keep him abreast of what streets they were on. Standing on the corner 3 houses down from the shawl woman’s house they waited none too patiently for the two immortals to arrive.

As Adam and Duncan drove up Jon hurried to the car Adam began to question the duo. “Did you feel a hum? Did you get a good look at her? Why the bloody hell do you think that person has Amelia?”

Jon held up his hand halting Adam. “One, we stayed too far back for me to get a read, didn’t want to spook the person. Two, She was covered up by the shawl and again too far from me for me to get a good look and three, it was a woman that much I know because she was wearing the one of a kind shawl I had given Amelia.”

Adam nodded and signaled for them to follow him. “Listen you two are just too damned recognizable. You stay back; I’ll knock on the door and pretend to be a salesman or something. If I feel a hum off of her well I’m sure I can handle that pretty quickly.” Adam saw something close to desperation in Jon’s gaze and spoke sternly, “no you aren’t going in first. I know you want her back, and we’ll get her back, but just this one time realize I MIGHT know a few things you don’t?”

Jon sighed softly and nodded and motioned for Richie to step to the side of the door with him muttering softly, “Doesn’t mean I have to LIKE that your right old man.” Richie laughed at his friend and Adam turned to grin at him. “I bloody well heard that you know.”

Adam knocked on the door quickly and plastered a fake smile on his face. As the door opened he began his spiel. “Hello ma’am I’m here as a part of Parson, Mederbung and Parson. Do you have a few minutes to answer a few questions?”

As he spoke he filtered the information that no the woman wasn’t immortal but that there was an immortal in the building, an immortal whose signature was dangerously weak at that.

“No, I don’t have time for a poll Mister. Try next door.” The woman tried to slam the door in Adam’s face only to find the tall lanky man had swiftly grabbed her by the throat and pushed her up against the wall.

“Well that’s too bad lady. I’m coming in and so are my friends.” Adam didn’t raise his voice, but his appearance served to scare the woman. What she didn’t know, what many didn’t know, was that thousands of years before, when legends were born, he had road with his band of brothers. That same band of brothers had garnered the name ‘the four horseman of the apocalypse’ and he had been death. It was Death’s face he now wore and he for once was ready to deal death again if need be.

The woman let out a squeak as she saw the men who entered the house next, for there was none other than Richie and his friend Jon. It came to her then that she had been found out and her mind raced to redo her master plan.

“Where IS she?” Jon nearly shouted, his blue eyes blazing fire.

The woman looked at Jon curiously, even held within Adam’s steel grasp she found her voice. “She who?”

“Don’t give me that bitch, where is the woman you took from me?”

Dark eyes swirling with madness began to laugh. “Why would you care where she is? She’s not yours to worry about. I knew you wouldn’t care Richie. He cares more for a guest of his than you do that whore.”

Jon roared as the woman talked, his strong arms reaching out to take her from Adam. “You tell me where she is, and you tell me now.”

The woman laughed. “It was all for you Richie. I had to get that sleaze from you. You’ve been hurt too much by the ones in your life already. You won’t want her now and we can be together!”

Richie looked at the woman a mixture of startled amazement and disgust on his face. “Lady, you’re nuts. She never was my woman, she’s Jon’s. And if your whacked enough to hurt what’s his, then who would want to be around you? Not me. If you know us then you have heard of his temper?”

The dark eyes welled with tears as it finally sank into her mind. She was a fan after all; she knew the stories of Jon and his temper. “She wasn’t your lady?”

“Nope, never was.”

Duncan in the meanwhile had left the room and was quietly searching the house for the immortal buzz he felt. As he entered the kitchen he noticed the syringe and bottle. Lifting it he sniffed and his eyes grew wide. “Liquid peyote? What the hell is she doing with liquid peyote?”

As he turned he heard scuffling from behind a door and moved closer. The immortal signature grew stronger the closer he got. Reaching for the knob he found it locked so he stood back and gave the door one good hard kick.

As he walked in he switched on the lights only to get an eyeful of something he never thought he’d see. Amelia was lying on her back insanely humming a Disney tune. Walking too her he knelt and softly spoke. “Damn lass, ye be a mess.” He looked her over carefully, recognizing the telltale signs of peyote use. Knowing prolonged use could be harmful he could only wonder how she would be when she came back to herself.

Glazed green eyes shifted up to see the Highlander and a loopy grin slid into view. “Well if it ain’t Happy himself. Where are the other dwarves?”

Duncan carefully took the woman into his arms, his nose wrinkling slightly. “Ahh dinna ken lass. In the other room I suppose. Let’s get you out of this place lass.” Standing, he swiftly moved from the room and as he passed the counter he grabbed the peyote and syringes. Adam would know how to fix it he hoped. As he walked back into the living room he saw that Jon had the strange woman by the throat and Richie was doing his best to pull him back.

“Well lookie lookie, if it ain’t Grumpy,” Amelia sing songed as she languidly pointed to Adam, “and Goofy; oh wait Goofy not a dwarf, oh well Goofy still,” pointing to Richie, “and that’s well that’s Doc? Naaah too damned purty to be Doc. He must be the new dwarf Smexy!”

The entire room halted as Amelia started to laugh. Three sets of eyes centered on Duncan and Amelia the obvious question in their eyes. “Liquid Peyote; she’s been injecting her with Liquid Peyote.” Duncan’s soft Scottish burr filled the room. “I dinna think she’s been fed or bathed in days.”

Jon released the woman’s throat and rushed over to take Amelia into his arms. “My poor baby, look what she’s done to you.”

“Do you see the blue birds Smexy? Where are the other dwarves?” Amelia’s glazed eyes slid over Jon to the other men in the room. “Why won’t that damn song stop?”

Jon looked up from Amelia to Adam to see the man dialing his phone. Adam shrugged as he spoke. “We’ll let the police handle the woman.”

Within moments the police had arrive and taken the woman into custody. When asked if they wanted to take Amelia to the hospital all four men chorused a huge “NO.” This one they would handle at home as it wouldn’t do for the papers to get wind of Amelia’s state.

Loading her into the car they quickly made their way home, and none too quickly as all Amelia seemed to be able to do was swipe at invisible birds and sing “it’s a small small world.” Jon was sure that if his kids EVER played another Disney movie he’d probably throw up as it started. It was times like this he wished he knew a bit more about drugs than he did, but thankfully Adam would know what to do.

“Adam, how long will this particular injection she had last?”

Adam shook his head. “Jon, Peyote is strong. Some peyote trips last ten hours or more. I don’t know the dosage so I’m not sure. The first thing to do is give her a cold shower. She needs to be clean any ways. We’ll try to get her to eat something bland and then let her sleep. Hopefully her immortal healing will kick in.” He looked over at Jon a serious look on his patrician features. “I’m more concerned about the addiction factor. Immortals aren’t immune to addiction, as a matter of fact because of our healing addictions can be even worse. If she’s been fed a lot of that shit, she’s gonna bloody well have to dry out and that’s gonna be a righteous bitch.”

Jon brushed a lank tendril of hair off of the now sleeping Amelia. “Doesn’t matter what it takes old man. She’s worth every bit of it.”

After arriving at the house Jon swiftly carried Amelia upstairs and into the bathroom. Sitting her on the counter he reached into the shower and turned the water to warm. He wasn’t even going to try to peel clothes so dirty they stuck to skin off of her, she’d go into the shower fully clothed. Picking her up, he stuck her into the shower then stepped in behind her. Setting her on her feet he held tight to her with one arm while picking up a bottle of shower gel with the other. Squirting an overly generous amount all over her he then picked up a wash cloth and began to scrub her clean.

He was finally able to peel her clothes from her body and sat her in the tub. Setting the stopper he began to fill the tub with icy cold water then kneeling ducked her head under. A spluttering oath echoed in the bathroom as a now awake Amelia opened her eyes to see Jon. Those green eyes he so loved to get lost in were at least semi lucid now, but he could still see the remnants of the drugs playing at the fringes.

She took in her surroundings as her eyes opened, a brilliant smile painting her lips. This wasn’t a dank dark place, it was light and beautiful, and damn it was cold too. But it wasn’t dark so it was an improvement. As she looked over she saw Jon kneeling by the tub and her heart skipped a beat or two. This sure beat the Disney stuff all to hell. “I wish you were real, wish you’d find me. I miss you, you know. Stupid shadow woman, thinks I’m Richie’s, stupid shadow doesn’t know perfection when she sees it. Stupid birds, stupid dwarves, stupid Disney; I want the real you.” Tears welled up in her green eyes as the drugs continued their rant, “I wanna be warm and I want Jon, and I’m hungry and I hurt. Is she coming with the shot now I wonder? Why can’t Jon find me?


She looked at the vision in front of her, a small gasp leaving her mouth as his warm finger traced her cheek. “ohh its warm, his hand is so warm on my skin. The other visions didn’t feel so warm. He’s just so warm.” She looked at Jon, a tilt to her head as she formulated the question and whispered, “Are you real?”

“I’m as real as it gets Baby.”

As she heard that she bolted forward and wrapped her arms around him, holding onto him as tightly as possible, and not even letting go even when he tried to wrap a soft towel around her.

“You found me?”

“We sure did baby.”

“It hurts Jon, all over.”

“We’ll make it better baby.”

Her voice was plaintive as she asked the next question. “You promise?”

“I promise baby.”

She smiled so brightly his heart melted all over again. She smiled because he promised, and he never ever broke his promises. She was home, she was safe and he had promised.