They sat in the cool night air, staring up into the starry sky and simply talking. The conversation carried no particular purpose or subject, they simply talked.

As the time passed, the subjects became more personal and the conversation covered the entire gambit of emotions, from joy to sorrow and all points in between.

The two of them each began to realize the commonalities they shared with the other. A sense of honor and desire for knowledge was at the heart of both of their beliefs. Another was their feelings of compassion and respect for not just each other, but the world in general and the people in it, though Gabrielle's world was a touch more naïve compared to the modern, cutthroat turmoil of the present day. Those differences in culture also played a large part in their conversation.

For Gabrielle, she enjoyed David's no-nonsense honesty. He spoke his mind directly, and by doing so, Gabrielle immediately understood where she might stand in any given set of circumstances. She also enjoyed his philosophical side. He had a way of looking at the world that she had never experienced before. David called it "thinking outside the box".

David was enthralled by the way Gabrielle related the events of her life. It was the detail with which she would recall those events and the almost childish innocence that would shine, like a light, in her eyes as she reminisced that enthralled him. There was a fire within her as well, something deep and mysterious, that he was hard pressed to resist. He felt drawn to her in a way that he had never experienced before, even with his late wife. It was the same attraction, but then also different somehow. There were times that he didn't even hear the words. He simply enjoyed the sound of her voice speaking in his ear. He was in the midst of one of those reveries when suddenly, she stopped. David looked down and saw her eyes fixed on a point in the sky.

Then he heard the sound, so familiar in its low rumble. He looked up and saw the flashing red lights of the plane moving lazily across the dark sky. He smiled.

"What is that?" she asked in awe.

David smiled. "An airplane."

"What?"

"A flying machine," David said simply. "A mode of transportation."

"It looks so small," Gabrielle tried to see the details of the dark image.

"That's because it's about thirty thousand feet in the air," he chuckled. Then he smiled a somewhat mischievous smile.

"Want to see one up close?" he asked, his eyebrows bounced.

Gabrielle nodded.

"Come on."

They went around back and hopped into David's large pickup truck. The diesel engine rumbled to life and the big dark metallic blue beast crawled around and out to the main drive. As they did, Tommy came out.

"And just where are you two going?" he asked, crossing his arms.

"To show her something," David replied. "I'll let you guys do the figuring on this one."

"You realize that she's being looked for," Tommy said.

"Yeah, on the back of a motorcycle," David countered. "No one will see her in Caroline, here."

He raised the deeply smoked window slightly.

"See, tinted glass," he said. "We'll be fine."

"And where are you going?"

David sighed.

"Well, dad," he said. "I was hoping to take Gabrielle, here, to the airport." He smiled.

"I promise to have her home before midnight."

Tommy also began to grin.

"Shakespeare," he said. "It's one thirty?"

David put the truck in gear.

"I never said which day," he commented, and the window slid up as the big Silverado coasted up the drive and turned onto the main street.

Tommy just stood there and watched them go, smiling. He turned and went back into the garage, chuckling to himself.

"Oh yeah," he said with a smile. "That boy is hooked."

It took most of the night before Alti and Finch found the small rural township that most of the Zombie Squad called home. Once within the realm of possibility, however, the spread out arrangement of the area, along with the lack of adequate signage on most of the smaller, less traveled roads, soon had them wandering aimlessly down deserted farm roads and more than one occasional long driveway. After several hours of this, Finch lost his patience.

"This is a complete waste of time," He blurted. "Even if we knew where they were, it could take days before we would find them, unless we make some inquiries?"

"That would mean being seen and potentially identified," Alti said with uncommon patience. "Just keep driving. We'll find them. I have other means."

She closed her eyes and stretched out with her mind, seeking that unusual energy that belonged to her prey. Almost instantly, she caught it, like a bloodhound detecting a faint, elusive scent.

"Stop the car!" she barked.

Finch responded instantly, and the car halted at the side of the road.

Alti stepped out and closed her eyes again, feeling the energy around her. She found that unusual fragment, like an apple sitting at the top of a basket of oranges.

She turned and faced that energy.

"She's that way," she said in a hoarse hiss. Her eyes snapped open, looking back down the road. The trees stretched their limbs over the paved surface forming a long, skeletal tunnel into the shadows. She smiled.

"We have them," she growled.

Almost as soon as she said the words, the energy began moving away.

"No," she whispered, her eyes going hard again. "No, no, no," she slipped quickly back into the passenger seat. There was no way that they could sense her presence. The little bard was never that good.

"Turn the car around!" she ordered as she dove back into the car. "They're going that way!"

The black sedan spat rocks from its rear tires as it spun around and roared down the street.

Alti focused upon the energy, trying to home in on it, to see that meddling girl in her mind's eye.

"Where are you, you little bitch?" She muttered under her breath.

Her mind launched itself skyward, searching the horizon for that one illusive candle of life that was Gabrielle. Off in the distance she could see it, flickering like a pale white star. Her mind raced over the trees after it, seeing the pickup truck rumbling down the deserted road towards the highway. It was a large dark behemoth on six wheels.

"There you are," Alti's mind hissed. She willed herself closer. "I must see you! Hear you!"

Her mind descended to the bed of the truck, and up towards the opaque rear window. She heard the sound of music from within, mingled with two voices in casual conversation.

Slowly, she penetrated the exterior and beheld what lay within.

There they were. The bard on her right and the stranger on her left. She dared not try and warp the bard's mind with her growing powers. Not yet. She still needed the young bard in tact in order to assure her return. This man, however, would be another story. She would twist his mind like putty and mold it into something she could manipulate.

Her soul radiated with dark glee as she moved closer to his ear. Suddenly, she was in his mind, and darkness swallowed her perception.

It was an interesting and uncommon experience for her. Usually she would discover unprotected thoughts, or subdued emotions that she could tap. In this man's case, there was nothing evident. There was only a quick flash of awareness that was immediately quelled. Either this man was nothing more than an automaton, or he had a remarkably well trained mind. She felt her confidence began to dwindle.

A light formed somewhere above her, pale and cold, like the moon slowly peeking from behind a thick wall of clouds.

What she took as shadows about her slowly dissolved themselves into lines, black and jagged, weaving an endless pattern in dry, desolate earth. The view stretched out to the horizon, shimmering in silvery light. There was nothing to be seen except the dry, flat land, distant gentle rolling dunes, and nearby, a single, ancient, withered black tree of massive proportions. Its naked branches clawed skyward like the bones of a buried hand, trying to wrench itself free. Somewhere among the heavy clouds, there was a flash of pale light. A few moments later, thunder rolled softly across the plain like a growl from some devilish beast.

Alti suddenly felt uneasy about this place. She turned about, in essence to withdraw her spirit from this mans' mind, only to discover that she could not. Her anxiety rose to something she was unaccustomed to - fear. That sensation quickly angered her, washing the fear away.

David and Gabrielle both ceased talking at the same moment and looked at each other.

"Did you just feel that?" Gabrielle asked in a hush.

David merely held up one finger and then swerved to the side of the road and stopped the truck. He put the truck in PARK and closed his eyes. Gabrielle watched as a myriad of emotions crossed his face in a matter of moments, and then something like absolute calm replaced it. His head rose to a neutral position and his breathing slowed. In a matter of moments, David had managed to place himself in a state of trance. Gabrielle stared at him in wonder.

His fingers uncurled from the steering wheel and came to rest several inches above his lap, palms down and still. He was completely motionless.

Gabrielle felt the shiver of the intrusive presence emanating from him.

"Alti," she breathed, suddenly feeling more alone than she ever had before in her life. She knew that David needed help combating this assault upon his soul. She composed herself and tried to relax. Her eyes closed and her breathing slowed as she tried to sink into the same state of mental calm so she might go in and help him.

It seemed to take an eternity before she felt that simple sensation of ethereal release. She moved, like a wraith, towards David, only to be stopped by some invisible barrier. It knocked her back into her own body and effectively woke her back up. She blinked and looked at him in wonder.

"David?"

Alti turned in a slow circle. "Show yourself!" She cried out in challenge. "I know you're here!"

"Of course I'm here. Where else should I be?" a voice replied coolly. It was low, gentle and deep. And it came from behind her. "Welcome to my mind."

Turning, she saw the figure of a man, hidden in shadow. His outline was lean and muscular, with broad shoulders and powerful legs. The arms were crossed over his muscular chest, but his face was hidden behind a shadow of long dark hair. Only his eyes could be seen, glinting in the pale light of the ghost moon.

"I belong here," he continued easily. "You, on the other hand, are a different matter." Alti saw something in those eyes that gave her pause. They were dark, and yet shone with an unnatural light, filled with confidence. They were fixed on her with primal intensity, challenging her.

"You think you could pit your will against mine?" she mocked him. "Do you know who I am?"

"I know what you are," the man replied, and she saw the glimmer of teeth as he smiled. "You're a library book that someone forgot to return. You're a myth, a story to frighten small children. You are an anachronism, and you have no place here!"

He stepped forward and Alti saw the same man from her memory, and yet not the same. He was older in the eyes, yet younger in the body at the same time. His arms dropped to his sides, hands twitching in anticipation.

"But, since you are here," he continued, "tell me, what do you want?"

Alti realized that trying to intimidate this man would be a fruitless venture. Best to try another approach.

"I want the girl," she said hungrily. "I want Gabrielle! And I want the Amulet that you stole from me!"

The man stroked his beard for a moment, as if he were actually considering her offer, then he smiled the most self reliant, mocking smile she had ever seen.

"Um, no," he finished flatly. "Anything else?"

"You shall give her to me, or I will take her from you, and your soul with hers!" Alti growled.

The mocking grin faded and was replaced with a look so sinister that Alti couldn't remember ever seeing the like of it before. Again she felt that unfamiliar twinge of fear.

"Let me lay this out for you, Alti," the man said, and she started to hear her name. "Yes, I know who you are," he added quickly. "You are in my mind, right now, attempting to dominate me, and failing quite miserably, if I may say?"

"There isn't a soul in the world that I cannot bend to my will!" Alti replied, her confidence growing. "Yours included!"

"Girl," the man said with a laugh. "The world has been trying to turn me into a well behaved little robot for over thirty years, and you think you can do it in one night?"

The thunder rolled, louder now, as if a storm were approaching. Alti stared at this figure again and saw, as well as felt the waves of power pulsing from the figure.

She reached out, sending a wave of energy straight at the figure. He merely held his hand out to receive it and she watched as it hit his outstretched palm, stayed and slowly faded, absorbing itself into his form. He shrugged.

"You'll have to do better than that, Shamaness," he scoffed. "You've dominated sheep for far too long. You've forgotten what it's like to hunt the wolf."

"Wolf!" Alti cackled. "Is that how you see yourself!"

The man's head dropped and his eyes stared at her with predatory calculation.

"I am!" His voice reverberated, low and demonic, across the barren landscape, deeper than the rolling thunder that came in to meet it. The ground shook beneath her feet.

The lightning flashed across the sky over him, and in those brief flashes of light, Alti beheld the face of her opponent. His eyes were deep and shining, his face defined and chiseled, framed in dark whiskers, and his mouth was twisted in a cruel savage grin.

He looked like a wolf.

"You will be mine!" Alti screamed at him, but her voice had an uncharacteristic shrillness to it that this man seemed to relish.

She lashed out at him with everything she had, only to watch it be absorbed into this figure like water into the dry earth. He rocked back and forth from the attack, but his head was turned up, not in agony, but in rapture.

When she stopped, he looked back at her, with hungry eyes. He shook his shaggy head and laughed.

"Oh yeah!" he bellowed. "Come on! Hit me again! Let me see what you got!"

She was flabbergasted. Her energy seemed to have fed him, not harmed him. It had also weakened her. She was still vulnerable until the Joining of the Heavens. Already, the loss of her energy had made it possible for the impotent Professor Klaus to begin to reassert control. She forced the subservient persona back into the darkness and fixed her eyes on the figure before her.

"What are you?" she cried.

The figure smiled at her and then seemed to melt into the barren ground.

"Me?" that voice said from directly behind her. She wheeled and felt his hands grasp the front of her clothing, pulling her nose to nose with him. His eyes burned with ravenous intensity, and his face was bunched up into a malicious snarl.

"I'm the nightmare your momma warned you about!" He growled. Then he shoved her back with such force that she slid across the rough ground for several yards before coming to a halt. She sat up and looked at him in amazement.

"You know? This has been a lot of fun. Really, it has," he said with mock civility. "But I think it's time for you to go."

She felt the hair on her body stand up as the static energy around her built to explosive levels in a matter of instants. There was a blinding pale green flash and the world became one exploration in the deepest pain imaginable. She felt the energy of her spirit shredding in the onslaught.

Alti convulsed in the passenger seat and slammed herself back against the backrest with a cry of agony. She blinked and saw Finch staring at her in concern.

Alti struggled to regain her composure, while at the same time attempting to convince her mind that she was not burning, even though she felt the heat in every pore. She was blind. She could see nothing but the reality of the world before her. Her senses, her fix on Gabrielle, were momentarily blasted. She set her trembling hands on her knees and tried to control the shaking that came over her.

"Alti?" Mr. Finch asked. "Are you alright?"

Alti looked at him with as much menace as she could muster. It didn't work.

"I've lost her," she admitted. "Just find us a place to stay. I must rest."

David's eyes blinked and he took in a long shuddering breath. The suddenness of the action made Gabrielle jump in fright.

"I tried to get in and help -" she started, then she saw the look on David's pale face.

"Wow," he breathed shakily. "That hurt." And he toppled sideways into her lap.

Gabrielle cradled his head in her arms as he lay, unconscious, her eyes looked out the windows at the surrounding shadows. There was nothing but the gentle swaying of the trees in the moonlit night. Behind her, she saw the glow of approaching headlights and she ducked down low in the seat.

"David?" she whispered as the vehicle approached. "David, wake up."

She watched the black sedan coast past the truck and continue down the road into the darkness. Somehow, Gabrielle knew that Alti was in that car and she had just made one of the narrowest escapes in her entire life.

"We have to get out of here," she whispered nervously. Her eyes settled on the various controls for the vehicle. Her mind raced as she considered trying to operate them. The pedal on the right made you go, the one on the left made you stop. The big wheel was to turn? In a moment of panic she actually considered attempting to drive "Caroline". She had observed David and the principles seemed simple enough? They had to get out of there. If Alti had found him that quickly, she had to be close - very close! Her eyes considered the river seat for a while longer. "I can do this," she began to say. She kept repeating it to herself as she looked at the various dials and gauges. Her brows furrowed as she read them. Finally, with a quick glance through the rear window, she sighed.

"No," she finally concluded. "It's probably not as easy as it looks." She continued her search. This time her eyes fell on the small cell phone in David's breast pocket. She took it out and pulled it open. The tiny keys lit up and the small screen flashed.

How had David done this? She thought tentatively, she held the device up to the side of her head and said timidly.

"Call Tommy."

Nothing happened. She waited a few tense moments as her mind whirled. What was it they called Tommy? She thought furiously until the name clicked.

"Call Papa Bear," she said again. This time there was a soft click, several rapid beeps, and the reassuring sound of the phone ringing.

Another sharp click and then a cheerful voice sounded in her ear, "Yo, Shakes, what happened? You run out of gas?"

"Tommy?" Gabrielle asked, still not sure how this thing was working.

"Gabs?" Tommy's voice became more serious. "What are you doing on the phone?"

"Something's happened to David!" Gabrielle said quickly, feeling the nervous energy rushing out of her, now that she had someone she could communicate with. "Alti tried to overwhelm him. I think he's okay, but I don't know! He's unconscious!"

"Take it easy, now," Tommy's voice soothed. "Just stay calm. Where are you?"

"I don't know," Gabrielle admitted. "Not far from you, I think, but I don't know the roads."

"Okay, okay," Tommy said, and she could sense that he was moving. "Describe what you see. Or anything you passed in the last few minutes."

Gabrielle did so, as best she could. But, she had been so engrossed in their conversation that she hadn't been paying much attention as to the direction they were heading, or any potential landmarks. Tommy relayed the shaky directions and there was finally a consensus.

"Okay," he said. "We're on our way! Just sit tight!"

Gabrielle put the phone on the dashboard and looked down at David's face. He was breathing softly, but was still completely unresponsive.

After what seemed a short eternity, David's left fingers twitched and he gave a soft groan. His eyes opened and looked up at her concerned face. He winced even as he tried to smile at her.

"Moving kind of fast on me, aren't you?" he asked hoarsely. His left hand reached weakly for the steering wheel. He groaned again in pain as he pulled himself back up. Then he fumbled for the door release and stumbled out of the truck and against the front fender, breathing hard.

"Too much," he hissed in pain. "Too much."

"David?" Gabrielle got out and ran around to him. She stood before him in case he fell over again. "What happened?"

David's eyes were filled with internal agony as he looked about him. Close by was a massive old oak tree.

"Come to papa," he groaned, and he stumbled over towards it. He dropped to his knees in front of it, with Gabrielle right behind him.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

David merely placed his hands on the roughened bark and let his eyes close tightly. Gabrielle watched in amazement, as pulses of greenish gold energy seemed to flow from David's fingers into the massive tree and vanish into the ground. She felt the power course through the earth beneath her feet.

David's teeth were clenched from the effort of releasing everything that he had received in his mental duel of a short while before.

The energy pulsed faster and faster as he let his low groan of pain build to a rising cry of agony. Then he simply fell back onto the soft, cool earth and lay still.

Gabrielle knelt over him, her fingers brushing the long hair out of his face.

"David?" she asked timidly.

"It's okay," he said softly. "I'm just counting my bones." He smiled wearily. "I think I just ground a quarter inch of enamel off my teeth."

"What happened?" Gabrielle asked.

"Alti tried to overcome my will," David whispered. "She's got a lot of juice for an old lady." He shuddered as the last of the invasive power left his mind. "Had to get it all out of my system. Had to ground myself."

He looked up at her and smiled again. "Man, you're cute when you get nervous."

"I'm-" she stammered. She looked into his eyes and realized that he was there, completely and wholly, albeit exhaustedly. The sound of a loud engine could be heard in the distance and another truck crunched to a stop behind David's.

Debbie, Shilah, and Tommy all emerged.

"What happened?" Shilah asked as they approached.

David rolled over heavily and looked up at them, then at Gabrielle. "Slick, Gabby. Real slick."

Shilah knelt next to David, looking into his eyes.

"Tell me," Shilah said.

David recounted the entire incident all the way up to the point he lost consciousness, at which time, Gabrielle finished the story.

Shilah listened carefully and nodded. She smiled down at David.

"That was incredibly brave," she said. "Also, incredibly stupid." Then she smiled at him. "I'm impressed."

"Yeah," David replied as he slowly rose to his feet. "I'm impressed too."

"Well," Debbie said. "At least she didn't get a fix on the clubhouse. That's something."

"Yes," Shilah agreed. "And once we get back, I'm going to have to make sure she can't." She looked up at Tommy. "You said the Ritual Room was ready?"

"Whenever you are," Tommy nodded.

Shilah gave a nod. "Tommy, take our hero, here, back to the clubhouse to rest. Debbie, the girls and I will need to do some work." Shilah turned back to Gabrielle. "Would you ride with us, please? I need to speak with you."

"Alright," Gabrielle agreed reluctantly. She would rather have stayed with David.

Tommy helped David over to Caroline and seated him in the passenger side, and then he got in and fired up the diesel. The big blue truck swung easily around, followed by his own large brown Ford.

Gabrielle looked out the window at the back of David's truck, biting her lip.

Finally she couldn't help it. "Where did he learn how to do that?" she asked, looking over at Shilah.

"Which part?" Shilah asked.

"He went into trance faster than anyone I've ever seen before," she said. "And when I finally went in, he kept me out. He faced Alti all alone and apparently won."

"He barely won," Shilah nodded. Then she looked at Gabrielle for a moment. "David has been rather an enigma for us." She thought for a few moments. "One thing I am certain of: he is a natural Blood Witch. His abilities are handed down to him through his family. We simply don't know which family it is."

"I don't understand?" Gabrielle asked.

"David was adopted by his late parents. There was no information about who his birth parents were. Just a few out of date files with very little information. All his life, he's had a different view of the world. As he grew up, he instinctively began to train himself to use the abilities that he has. Before meeting us ten years ago, he was a solitary practitioner, though he didn't know it himself. The idea of being a witch had never entered his mind."

"If he didn't know what he was, how did he manage to learn what he learned?"

Debbie leaned up from the back seat. "Trial and error, mostly." She added, "With the emphasis on error." She grinned. "Remember Barry's basement?"

Shilah's smile widened and she laughed. "Yes, that was a rather large cleanup."

Gabrielle looked back and forth at them.

Shilah smiled. "David instinctually knew that he had to train his mind to be able to control the things that he did. So, at a very early age, he enrolled in the martial studies. Tai Chi, Kempo, Karate, Aikido, Tai Kwon Do, and a few other more esoteric ones. That was where he learned to focus and clear his mind. He was able to do that when he sensed Alti's invasion of his mind. It's also where he learned to control energy, for the most part. All of those disciplines stressed a need for meditation in a private 'sacred space'. Well, when he lived with an acquaintance of mine, he turned his entire basement room into that 'sacred space' just by the power of his mind. Barry's wife often commented to me about how she could go into his room and all the noise of the house above would simply vanish. She also felt the energy in the place."

"Well," Debbie added. "David stayed with them for a year before he moved on again. That was when the fun really started."

"David had unknowingly opened a portal in that room. One that allowed him to absorb the energy he needed in his martial studies. However, when he left, he did not know that he had to shut that portal. So, a few weeks after he moved out, all manner of strange things began to happen."

"Shilah and the rest of us had to go in and clean up the spiritual mess," Debbie said, still smiling. "Took us nearly five days to do it. He had completely saturated the place with his energy."

"It was at that point that I realized," Shilah went on, "I needed to find this man."

"Problem was," Debbie added, "he was gone. Poof!" She held a hand up.

"He reappeared two years later, in a book store run by another acquaintance of mine, and this time, we seized the opportunity."

"His parents had only recently passed on," Shilah continued. "He was just getting himself situated. He was married at the time and living in the area. I took him on as a student and watched as the realization of everything he had been looking for just began to fall into place. He buried himself in the study of the craft, finding all the missing pieces he had been searching for and I watched in amazement as his abilities began to grow exponentially. Then Lizzy passed away and he withdrew for a long time. He finally came back about five years ago and we've been a close knit little family for him ever since."

"He's been as much for all of us," Debbie finished. "I swear, if I were ten years younger, and single," she sighed. Then she looked at Gabrielle. "You care about him, don't you?"

Gabrielle was suddenly taken aback.

Debbie shook her head and grinned. "Do yourself a big favor, young lady," she said. She pointed at the back of 'Caroline' and nodded. "Grab onto that man and keep him. You'd never find another one as good as he is."

Gabrielle felt the blood rushing to her cheeks and she laughed nervously.

"Debbie," Shilah said. "There are other things to be concerned with before you start playing at matchmaker again." Then she looked at Gabrielle. "Like you, and how this Alti character was able to home in on you as she did."

"What can I do about that?" Gabrielle asked.

Shilah smiled a sly smile. "You need to learn how to change the aura that surrounds you. You have to be able to manipulate the energy that makes you, you."

"Ah," Gabrielle nodded. "And how do I do that?"

"One thing at a time, baby," Debbie said mysteriously. "One thing at a time." She looked up as the clubhouse came into view. The two trucks coasted around back and parked.

Once they were all back in the main room, Shilah spoke.

"Tommy, would you entertain our guest for the time being?"

Tommy nodded. "My pleasure."

Shilah looked at David, now fidgeting with nervous energy. "And make sure he takes the time to meditate and get himself back in balance?"

Tommy's smile melted. "So much for the 'pleasure' part."

"Ha, ha," David grinned.

"Girls, we have some business downstairs." They all rose and vanished through the door.

Tommy also rose and went behind the bar into the kitchen. He began mixing a large bowl of salt with various other herbs.

"Hey! Shakespeare!" he shouted. "Don't give me no lip! Get some rest!"

David nodded. "I will." He looked at Gabrielle. "Eventually."

Gabrielle nodded and smiled.

David produced a key from within his jacket and then went down the hall, unlocking the door directly across from Gabrielle's room. He gave her a tired wink and vanished within.

Tommy came out a few minutes later with his dry mixture and jerked his head.

"Come on," he offered.

They began a slow circuit of the property, pouring the mixture on the earth as they walked.

"What are you doing?" Gabrielle asked.

"Sealing this place," Tommy replied. "Making sure no unwanted visitors come nosing about."

Gabrielle nodded. "I understand." Then she looked up at the big man. "So, how long have you been a Sha- uh, Witch?"

Tommy smiled and nodded at his preferred title. "Just a few years, nowhere near as long as the others."

"And what's your specialty?" Gabrielle asked.

Tommy smiled. "Potions, lotions, herbs, and oils," he replied. "I'll mix up a batch of something that can cure whatever ails you."

They continued, discussing various plants and their properties. As they came around to the back of the building, they saw David, standing in the middle of a large clear patch near the forest.

Tommy put a hand on Gabrielle's shoulder before she could say anything.

"Just leave him be," he whispered. "He's doing what he was told to do, more or less."

"Shilah told him to rest!" Gabrielle protested.

"She also told him to get his balance back," Tommy added. "That's what he's doing. This is where all that Kung Fu shit blends in nicely with what we do."

"How?"

Tommy pointed at him. "Just watch. I've gotta finish this. I'll be back in a few minutes." Then he continued on, scattering his mixture, and vanished into the shadows.

Gabrielle slipped up next to a large tree, hiding in the shadows and feeling a little guilty about this unperceived intrusion.

Though the air was cold, he stood in the moonlight wearing only a loose fitting pair of pants. His upper body shone in the pale moonlight, muscular and defined. His hands were resting palm to palm before him, and his eyes were closed as if in prayer.

Gabrielle could see his breath smoking from his nostrils in soft faint wisps and his chest moved slowly and easily. She began to realize something else. Though he was there, before her, plain as day, she could not sense him. It was like she were beholding some kind of statue, not a man. Her eyes simply drank in the sight of him, statuesque and beautiful in the moonlight. Then, slowly and deliberately, David began to move.

It was like watching a dance in slow motion. David stretched his hands out before him, then back in, then off to one side or the other, and finally he began to slowly move about the clearing. The entire time, his eyes remained closed.

As Gabrielle watched, she began to realize that the movement was not only a form of meditation, it was a form of combat as well. She could see the strikes and the blocks; the kicks and throws all melded into a fluid dance of action that began to pick up speed.

He moved faster and faster, though his physical exertion was unchanged, and then, just as it had built, it began to slow back down until he ended up in precisely the same place he had begun. His hands before him, eyes closed.

Gabrielle stared at him in wonder. Then his eyes flicked open and stared at her.

Suddenly, he was there again, his entire being and he perceived her, standing concealed in the shadows.

She caught her breath.

David's eyes shone in the moonlight and a smile played at his lips. His hands dropped to his sides and he bowed at the waist, his eyes never leaving hers.

At the base of the bow, he winked. Then he rose, turned and strode back towards the building.

She was getting ready to leave, feeling like she had just intruded on a very private moment when he stopped and picked up something. He returned to the center of the clearing, now holding a long slender staff of dark wood.

A quarterstaff! Now this was something she knew about! Her guilt vanished and was replaced by her insatiable curiosity.

David resumed his stance of a moment before and then he began again, this time with the staff as part of the action.

Gabrielle watched in fascination as he spun the weapon this way and that, moving it in ways that she had never seen her Amazon teachers use. She watched him with rapt attention, suddenly not caring if he saw her. A part of her wanted to join him, but she held herself in check.

Again the exercise sped up and wound down until it came to a halt. David drove the narrow point of the staff into the soft earth. Then Tommy appeared at the top of the steps leading into the common room.

"Shakes!" he barked. "You're supposed to be resting! Don't make me open a can!"

David smiled and looked up at Tommy. "Open a can, huh?"

"You know I will!" Tommy replied. "And after you try and whup my ass, Shilah will have a few things to say to you about it!"

"Alright, alright," David conceded. He jogged up the steps and vanished into the building. Tommy looked down at the clearing and saw Gabrielle come out of the shadows. He grinned.

"Quite the show off, ain't he?" he called down to her.

Gabrielle smiled and waived at him, then followed up the steps and into the building. She paused at the end of the hall, looking down at David's door, and then she sat down at the bar and waited.

Before long, Debbie, Jesse, Katrina, and Shilah came up from the shop level and motioned Tommy and Gabrielle to join them at the large sofas.

"Is it done?" Shilah asked knowingly. Tommy nodded.

"Then this place is now protected." Shilah finished, breathing a sigh of relief. Then she looked at Gabrielle.

"Now," she said, producing the amulet and handing it to her. "What do you make of this?"

Gabrielle took it, and immediately, one of the four crystals began to pulse with internal fire. Gabrielle almost dropped it in surprise.

"Cool," Katrina murmured, leaning forward. "What's that mean?"

Tommy reached over and took it from Gabrielle, only to have the light within the amulet fade. "Means it will only work for her," he said. Then he frowned. "Looks like a compass, like on a map." He turned it thoughtfully. "You know, North, South, East, West?" he handed it back to Gabrielle, only to see it begin to glow again.

"A compass that only works for you," Tommy finished.

"Why does it only work for her?" Jesse asked.

Shilah frowned thoughtfully. "Gabrielle," she asked. "You told us that you were sent here to retrieve the Chronos Stone and return it to the past?"

"Yes, but I don't know where the stone will be?" Gabrielle replied.

"What if?" Tommy was thinking out loud. Then he rose and went to the bar, rummaging about in a storage cabinet. He drew out a folded map and began to spread it across the floor. It was a wall-sized depiction of the entire state of Illinois.

"Gabby, come here a sec," Tommy instructed.

Gabrielle stood at the foot of the massive map and stared down at it questioningly. Many of the lines had been highlighted and small noted accompanied them, indicating routes to different destinations.

"What are those?" Gabrielle asked.

"We highlighted and noted the main charity runs that happen throughout the year. Green for spring, yellow for summer, orange for fall, and blue for winter. As you can see, there ain't much to do in the wintertime." He shrugged. "But that's not why I brought this out."

"I get it," Jesse said, grinning. "You think it'll work?"

Tommy shrugged. "Only one way to find out." He pointed at the bottom right corner.

"Put the amulet down here and see what happens?"

Gabrielle knelt down and stared at the map. Suddenly the top and left side crystals began to glow.

"Okay, okay," Tommy said excitedly. "Now, move the amulet in the indicated direction."

"Brilliant," Shilah said, nodding.

Gabrielle did as instructed, watching as the crystals began to pulse with purpose. She crawled across the map, following where the pointers led. Suddenly the green crystal in the center burst to life.

"That's it!" Tommy cried with glee. "Damn, I'm good!"

Gabrielle's mouth was open in awe as she saw the glowing light beneath her hand. She lifted the artifact, only to have the fire in the central crystal die. She replaced it and the green light grew again.

The rest of them were on their feet, staring down at the map.

"Where is it?" Katrina asked.

Debbie crouched down next to Gabrielle and looked down. She smiled knowingly.

"Serpent Mound State Park," she said. "That's a pretty good haul from here."

"But now we know," Tommy said happily. "Let's go get it."

"We can't," Shilah said. "We can't get it until Saturday, during the Convergence."

"Why not?" Tommy asked.

"Because it isn't there yet," Shilah surmised. "This amulet tells us where it will be, not where it is."

"Yeah," Debbie commented. "And we don't want Alti knowing about this before Saturday, or we could be in a lot of trouble."

"Debbie?" Tommy said as he looked down at the map. "Look here."

Debbie looked down at the map.

"You seeing what I'm seeing?" Tommy asked, smiling.

Debbie's eyes fixed on the long, orange line that went from the northeastern edge of the state down past the indicated spot.

"I'm seeing it," Debbie began to nod. "Oh, that's good, Papa Bear. That's real good."

"What?" Gabrielle, Shilah, Katrina, and Jesse all asked at the same time.

Debbie smiled broadly.

"This Halloween also happens to be the day that A.B.A.T.E. holds its annual Ride for the Cancer Research Foundation. It goes from Downtown Chicago to Starved Rock State Park."

"There's usually about two thousand or more bikes in that ride," Tommy added. "The ride starts at eight o'clock, Saturday night, and Arrives at Starved Rock about Twelve Thirty Sunday morning."

"I'm still not seeing why this is so good," Katrina shrugged.

"Kat, baby," Tommy asked. "If you want to hide a tree, where would you hide it?"

Katrina's eyes lit up. "In a forest!"

"And if you want to hide two people on a motorcycle?" Debbie asked.

Jesse was actually laughing out loud. "Oh, I would die to see the look on her face," she said.

"There's just one small detail," Tommy continued. "We can't just have three or four of us pulling out of here to meet up with the ride. We need everybody, or as close to everybody as we can get. We have forty bikes down there, but most of them are set up for storage. We're looking at one frantic maintenance schedule if we're gonna get them all ready in four days. Plus, I have another idea."

"I'm on it," Katrina bounced off the floor and ran to the phone. She dialed, waited and then spoke. "Hey Shawn - yes, I realize what time it is - look, I have a question for you? How fast can you get everyone together for a ride? This Saturday afternoon. Okay. Be at the clubhouse tomorrow morning. Oh, and get the others here. We've got bikes to prep. Love ya!" She hung up.

"We're rolling."

"Right," Tommy said, moving to the door. "I've got a shop to organize. Jesse, Deb, Kat, let's start getting the bikes moved."

Gabrielle and Shilah followed the others out into the dimly lit garage. Tommy thumped down the steps to a series of silver boxes and flipped up three levers. Suddenly, the dim light was replaced with the glaring pale illumination of daylight as numerous other lights hummed to life.

"Gabrielle," Shilah said. "We still need to speak. Come with me, please."

The first thing David heard was the familiar RAT-TAT-TAT of an impact wrench beneath him. He rolled up to a seated position and rubbed his eyes. Sunlight streamed in from the window. He pulled on a shirt, pair of jeans, and stepped out into the hall.

Voices could be heard in the shop. A lot of voices, and then RAT-TAT-TAT! The sound of the air tools.

"What the hell?" he asked, moving to the main room. He almost crashed into Michelle bustling out of the kitchen with a tray full of coffee mugs.

"Morning!" she greeted, stopping before him. She extended the tray, and he removed a mug.

"What the hell is going on?" He asked.

"Can't talk now," Michelle said quickly. "Gotta deliver!"

She kicked the door open and turned back. "Wanna wake your friend? She's missing all the fun!"

David listened to the cacophony of mechanical sounds below.

"Fun?" he retorted. He turned back towards the hall and knocked on Gabrielle's door.

A soft groan came from the other side of the door.

"Gabrielle?" David called, and he opened the door.

Gabrielle lay sprawled on the bed, covered in the blankets. Gabrielle pulled the blankets over her head.

"Come on," David said unenthusiastically. "Rise and shine."

Gabrielle peeked out from beneath the blanket. "I'll rise," she said thickly. "But I refuse to shine."

David sipped the coffee and smiled. "I hear ya." He closed the door, allowing her privacy and then went back to his room and got properly dressed.

The two of them stepped out into the shop and stopped dead.

The entire place was a hive of activity.

At the center of it was Tommy, moving back and forth with a stack of plastic bags, stuffed with paper. He was issuing orders just like a shop manager, which is, in fact, what his line of work was.

"Bout freaking time!" he bellowed at David. Then he turned back around to a skinny dark haired young man.

"Lawn Boy! Get T-Bone's Bagger on Shakespeare's lift!" He handed David one of the plastic envelopes. "Oil Change, plugs and carb adjust," he said.

"Tommy?" David started, but the big man held up his hand.

"Hey, Shawn!" he called.

Off in the corner, another large man paced back and forth, a cell phone in his hand. He paused in mid sentence and looked up.

"Did Munch send those parts from Suburban yet?"

Shawn consulted a large dry marker board in front of him.

"They'll be here by three!" he called back, and then he resumed his conversation.

Tommy nodded and turned to another station where a second man was just finishing up on a blue Road King.

"Goat!" he called. "Get Ranger's bike out to the staging area and bring in the purple Fat Boy!"

"Got it!" the young man replied, catching the next work order in his hand. He tossed it onto his workbench and lowered the hydraulic jack holding his finished project.

"Tommy!" David repeated more loudly. The big man turned back. "What the hell is going on?"

"I'll fill you in later," Tommy said. "Right now, I need you to get to work on T-Bone's Bagger, okay?"

David's eyebrows rose and he looked back at Gabrielle, who only smiled a knowing smile.

Lawn Boy rolled in a large, gleaming black motorcycle and positioned it on David's lift.

Shrugging, David went to his station and began opening up his tools.

"Will you please tell me what's going on?" he asked Gabrielle. He reviewed the quick notes on the bike he was assigned and then began selecting the necessary tools.

Gabrielle leaned against the workbench and told him everything.

As David heard the plan he laughed mischievously. "I love it."

From that point on, day or night, the shop was in constant activity as motorcycles of various makes and models were rolled in and out, one by one for repairs. Some were simple oil changes, while others ranged all the way up to complete engine and transmission rebuilds. Everyone worked as long as they could, or slept up in the main room before returning to work. Even Gabrielle learned enough of the basics to turn a wrench here and there. It was something that she found she actually enjoyed.

They also found out that while she liked the taste of coffee, the caffeine in it had a rather intense effect upon her. After the second episode of her practically tap dancing across the ceiling, Michelle was forced to put on a pot of decaf.

The shop was divided into sections. Prep, Work, Close Out, and Final Cleanup. Everyone knew their jobs and did them quickly and efficiently.

For the less mechanically inclined, they would support the others, keeping the coffee coming or preparing the meals.

Delivery trucks from various dealerships arrived like clockwork for two days straight. David paused when he recognized a delivery truck from a nearby Oldsmobile dealership. He frowned as Tommy took possession of a large order of parts and had them wheeled into the back bay - David's back bay.

He peeked underneath the Goldwing he was working on.

"Gabrielle?" he called. "Can you pop the drain plug on this for me? I'll be right back."

Gabrielle nodded, happy to use the little bit of modern knowledge she had acquired.

David went across the shop and found Tommy, Dusty and Steve deep in conversation.

"What's up?" David asked. Then he saw the stack of schematics laid out on the table - his schematics. "What are you doing?"

"If this is going to work," Tommy said. "You're going to need something a little safer than Rosie. So, we're going to get Panama ready for you."

"Panama?" David said. "Tommy? The car is in pieces?"

"Yeah?" Steve replied, folding his arms.

"You're talking a frame up build," David said.

"Yeah?"

"Inside and out!"

"Yeah?"

"In two days?"

"Yeah?" Steve looked amused.

"With all my little options?"

"Yeah?"

"You guys are crazy!"

"Yeah?" Steve said. "We done now?"

A squeal from David's workstation, followed by rolls of laughter, interrupted the highly enlightened conversation.

David looked up in alarm and then broke into a huge grin. He laughed out loud with the others.

Apparently, Gabrielle had run into a small issue with her assigned task. When she had looked beneath the bike to finish removing the errant drain plug, the oil had poured out all over the lift, and all over the right side of Gabrielle's face. She stood there, her hair and face covered in the dark liquid, frowning angrily at the machine, and then she blushed as she heard the laughter.

David walked back over to her, grinning broadly.

Gabrielle wiped the slippery stuff from her face and fixed him with a dark scowl.

"It's not funny," she moaned.

"I'm sorry," David said, his voice breaking. "I'm really trying not to laugh." Then the laughter just burst from him again.

After a few moments of good-natured humor, David began to look at Gabrielle closely, his smile fading to something more thoughtful.

Suddenly, Gabrielle began to feel like she was being studied. She pushed her dirty hair back out of her face and looked at him.

"What?"

David didn't hear her. He was staring at her face and her hair that had been a lovely golden blond, now stained a dirty brown by the errant oil.

"Kat!" He called over his shoulder. "Come here a minute!"

Katrina came running in from outside. "Yeah, what's up?" Then she saw Gabrielle and her hands covered her mouth as she began to laugh.

"Oh god," she laughed. "What happened to you?"

"Nothing," Gabrielle sulked.

"I have an idea," David said. Then he whispered in Katrina's ear for a moment.

Katrina's eyes lit up with glee. "You think so?"

David nodded. Then he looked at Gabrielle. "Right now, Alti is looking for a blonde on the back of a bike, right?"

"Yeah," Katrina agreed. "But she also knows what Gabby looks like."

"From behind?" David asked.

"I get it," Katrina nodded and smiled.

"I don't," Gabrielle asked, still wiping furiously at her filthy hair.

"Hey Bullet!" David turned back to the stocky, dark skinned man. "What do you think? Brunette or Red Head?"

"You know me, Cavrone," Derek replied easily. "I always say; Knock em dead in red."

David looked back at Katrina, his eyebrow rose.

"You bet," Katrina nodded. Then she reached out for Gabrielle. "Come on, Gabs. Let's get you cleaned up, and then, I've got a surprise for you."

Gabrielle, still completely bewildered, followed the excited young woman up the stairs.

"You know how Shilah was talking to you about focusing your mind into changing the way your aura is perceived?" Katrina explained.

Gabrielle nodded.

"Well, we can do the same with your appearance." She smiled. "Nothing crazy. Just a subtle change."

Katrina led her up into the main room and fished out a few things from the oversized bag she always carried.

"Go take a shower and get cleaned up," she instructed. "Then get ready to relax. This'll be fun!"

David finished up the Gold Wing and cleaned up the oil spill. He saw Katrina running out of the shop towards her car.

"Where are you going?" he called after her.

"I need supplies!" she called back and was gone. She returned a few minutes later with a large plastic bag.

"Okay, boys," she said from the foot of the steps. "The bar is closed until I'm done, understood?"

This brought a chorus of groans from the assembled people.

"Yeah well, deal with it!" Katrina replied and she jogged up the steps and locked the door behind her.

Several hours later, as David and Steve were discussing the reassembly of his car, the door opened and Katrina came out, followed by a second figure.

"Oh, Shakespeare?" Katrina called out in a lilting voice. "Have I got a surprise for you!"

David came out from beneath the steps and looked up. Katrina stood proudly, her arms crossed over her chest as she posed next to her latest creation. Gabrielle stepped up wearing a light tan deerskin jacket, dark brown loose fitting blouse and the standard jeans and boots. It wasn't the change in wardrobe that brought the entire operation to a grinding halt. It was her face and hair. The golden blonde hair was now a deep, almost brownish, auburn red. That color brought out the emerald color of her eyes to such an extent that they seemed almost luminous. Katrina had also utilized her skills as a makeup artist.

"I'll be God damned," Tommy whispered.

"Kat?" David said, suddenly at a loss for words. "Uh, wow!"

Gabrielle suddenly blushed and smiled.

"Kiss my black ass," Derek finally managed to say. "Damn girl, you look like a teenager!"

"Is that bad?" Gabrielle asked nervously.

"No, no," David said, a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth again. "No, not at all. It's a good thing." He turned back around before the sudden, almost inappropriate, surge of desire got the better of him. "Good thing," he repeated quietly. "Very, very good thing." He blinked as if the sight of her had momentarily blinded him. "Damn! I need a drink."

Steve heard the comment and shrugged. "Cold showers work too."

"Not on him," Crazy Johnny said dryly from beside his massive yellow monstrosity.

David gave him a scowl and then lay back down on the creeper, sliding beneath the frame of the disassembled car.

Gabrielle watched him depart, his arms swinging back and forth nervously.

"Did we do something?" she asked Katrina. The younger woman only smiled.

"You mean besides knock him dead?" she asked. She grinned. "What do you think?"

"I don't think my own mother would recognize me," Gabrielle replied.

"And that's exactly what we want," Katrina agreed.

As David was messing about with a brake line, safely beneath the frame of his car, Dusty came over and leaned over him.

"You know," he said casually. "If you don't make a move on that soon, I just might have to." He grinned as David dropped a wrench with a clatter.

"You're a real dick, you know that?" David said from beneath the car. "What makes you think she'd even be interested?"

"In me?" Dusty said easily. "I can think of lots of reasons."

"And I can come up with ten reasons why not, for every one of yours," David retorted.

"Hey in there!" Derek called loudly. "Don't be hating now!"

As the activity on the bikes died down, focus shifted to the massive amalgamation of parts that would eventually become David's 1975 Cutlass.

The work went on at a fever pitch as parts were placed and bolted or welded on. Eventually, the vehicle began to take shape.

David watched the activity when he wasn't actually involved. He folded his arms and sighed, leaning over next to Steve.

"You know," he said. "I had planned on restoring her myself. It was kind of a personal mission I had."

Steve smiled, his gray eyes looking over the car. "Well," he said. "Get over it."

Gabrielle watched the large metallic beast slowly come together. She also watched David, going at an almost hyper pace, like a small child excitedly awaiting the arrival of a birthday and the anticipated gifts. She smiled constantly as he nit picked over one detail or another, much to the consternation of Steve, who had taken over the role of supervisor for the rushed project.

They continued for nearly thirty-six hours straight, stopping only to swig down mugs of fresh coffee. Then the vehicle, now complete and operational, was rolled into a large, plastic lined booth.

"Alright, Goat!" Steve called, waking the young man from a deep slumber. "You're on! Make her beautiful!"

Goat rolled off the lift he had been sleeping on and rubbed his eyes. Then he zipped the forward layers of plastic closed behind him and activated the ventilation fan and compressor. The cloudy texture of the plastic obscured his action as he began to move back and forth around the car.

David suddenly felt nearly three days of straight work begin to take its toll. He rubbed his eyes, yawned, and glanced at his watch. It was twelve-forty AM, Saturday morning!

"God damn." he groaned. With the excitement (or challenge) of getting all the bikes prepped and his car rebuilt finally winding down, he felt the weariness for the first time, as did many of them.

"Well," Steve said easily. "I'm gonna head home and grab some shut eye. Call me when you all wake up."

One by one, they all departed and the shop lights towards the front of the building went dim. The machines slept once more.

David watched the activity behind the foggy plastic for a few minutes, and then he gave in to his desire for rest and trudged up the steps into the main room.

He paused at the bar and poured himself a drink before continuing towards the hallway.

"Hey, Shakes!" Debbie called after him.

David turned and leaned against the corner. Debbie, Jesse, Katrina and Gabrielle sat there, obviously in the midst of some major discussion.

"What did Alti do?" Debbie asked.

David sighed and took a drink. "The same thing society's been trying to do to me for thirty odd years, why?"

"In English," Debbie snapped.

"She tried to dominate my mind," David replied. "She was pretty adept at it, too."

"You think she might try it again?" Jesse asked, suddenly nervous.

David thought for a moment and shook his head. "I doubt she will."

"Oh?" Debbie asked, one eyebrow arching inquisitively. "What did you do?"

David's weary smile spread a little.

"I mind blasted her," he said. "She's blind for a while, yet. Maybe till this whole thing's over?" He shrugged.

"We can't get that lucky," Jesse commented.

"You 'mind blasted' her?" Gabrielle asked, not understanding the meaning.

"I took my energy and shot it through her mind. A lot of it, all at once," David explained.

"No wonder you were so wiped out," Debbie nodded.

"Well, that and the blast she sent at me," David closed his eyes. It was the only way he could keep from staring at Gabrielle. "That hurt a lot, though I did my best not to let it show. In any event, I think we might have scared a bit of respect into her. She'll leave us be for the time being."

He nodded once, his gaze locking on Gabrielle and his stupid smile began to reassert itself. He turned back towards his room.

"Knock em dead in red," he muttered, imitating Derek's tenor voice. "That's what I always say. Jesus!"

The girls heard his door open and close and then silence. Gabrielle sat there, looking at the spot where David had just vanished, a soft smile on her face. It faded as she turned back to Debbie.

"I still don't understand the whole thing about a mind blast?" she asked.

"Alti tried to dominate David's will," Debbie explained. Gabrielle noted that both Jesse and Katrina wore expressions of mild awe.

Debbie smiled. "She tried to get into his head and twist his sense of reality, and then control his actions."

"That part I understand," Gabrielle nodded.

"David," Katrina continued, "let her into his mind, and then kicked the ever living crap out of her."

"He focused his own mental energy in a duel for control. One thing that Shilah mentioned was his innate ability to manipulate energy?"

"I remember."

"This is part of what she meant," Debbie continued. "David pooled his energy - spiritual and magical - and absorbed all of her punishment, then he drew on more and sent it all back at her in one massive surge."

"Mind blast." Gabrielle nodded, now understanding.

"It was a risky move," Debbie said. "Too little, and he could have left himself open for domination. Too much?" she shrugged.

"He might have died," Gabrielle finished when Debbie paused. "Again."

She got up and paced a few steps away, her heart pounding in her chest suddenly.

"Debbie!" Gabrielle burst out. "That's the second time since I've come here that he's almost gotten killed because of me! What's he doing?"

Debbie shrugged. "Shakespeare's doing what he does. He's being Shakespeare."

"What are you more concerned with?" Jesse suddenly asked. "Him getting hurt, or you getting hurt over him?"

"Him, of course!" Gabrielle answered immediately, but her eyes told another story.

"Look, Gabby," Katrina finally blurted. "Enough of this. David is falling for you, and you're falling for him. Now, I don't know why you two haven't figured it out yet, and frankly, I don't care! The only thing I do know is that everyone except the two of you sees it!"

Gabrielle said nothing, feeling the truth in the young woman's words sink in with the inevitability of sliding into quicksand.

"Did you know that some of the guys have a pool going?" Katrina continued. "And most of them think you two won't get you heads out of your asses till this is all over!"

"Easy, Kat," Debbie cautioned.

"No," Katrina said sharply. "I think you need to hear this!" She fixed Gabrielle with a fierce stare. "Nevermind the fact that I've had a thing for him for the last two years and nothing's ever happened. Now I see why!"

"It's because I'm not like you," she finished with a touch of regret. "David's ass is on the line, because he knows, like we all do, that it's the right thing to do. But David's at the front of the line because he also cares about you more!"

Katrina sighed. "Look, maybe there will be time to explore the possibilities after this is all over. I hope there is, I really, truly do. But you have to ask yourself one very important question."

"And that is?" Gabrielle asked, not sure whether she should be angry with the young woman.

"What happens if you don't get the chance?" Katrina finished.

She rubbed Gabrielle's arm affectionately for a moment, and then turned and left the room.

Gabrielle stood there, stunned. She wanted to argue, but she could not find the words. For the first time in a long time, she was at a loss for words. She looked at Debbie helplessly.

"I just don't want to lose anyone else," she whispered with a hint of desperation.

"You can't sweat that, Gabs," Debbie shrugged. "All you can do is make the most of the moment."

"You want to know why David's doing the things he's doing?" Jesse said quietly. She was still reeling over Katrina's admission of a few moments before.

Gabrielle looked down at the teenager. Jesse's pale blue eyes looked up into hers.

"He lives every day as if it were his last," Jesse said. "Because, you never know, it just might be."

Those words resonated in Gabrielle's ears, with a truth she had failed to see for the longest time. At the same moment, something else solidified in her mind and heart. She looked back towards the hall, suddenly afraid in a way she hadn't remembered for years.

Debbie smiled reassuringly. "Carpe Diem, Gabrielle. Carpe Diem."

Gabrielle frowned.

"Seize the day," Debbie finished.

Gabrielle let that settle in her mind for a moment, pacing slowly back and forth, deep in thought.

"I think," Debbie said softly, "that it's time for us to go." She rose, with her daughter in tow and the two of them headed for the door. Debbie turned back to face her.

"I'll tell Goat not to come up until one of you comes down, okay?" she said. "Just think about it. Think hard."

"Gabrielle," Jesse added. "He's a great guy. He'll never steer you wrong. He'll never lie to you, even when you want him to."

"And," Debbie finished, smiling. "He'll never let anything hurt you, if it's in his power to stop it."

"Even at the cost of his own life?" Gabrielle asked, suddenly remembering Xena again, and her last battle in Japa.

Debbie smiled and gave a shrug.

The two women left her alone in the massive room.

Gabrielle paced some more, the memories flooding through her mind. Suddenly, she saw Xena's face before her. She was looking at her, and the love was so palpable, mixed with sadness that, at the time, she didn't understand.

"If I'm going to die in the next thirty seconds," Xena smiled. "Then I want to do it, looking into your eyes."

Those words suddenly hit home in a way that they never had before. Xena had known she was going to die. She had known that the journey to Japa would claim her life. She had desired only one thing before the end. A single, beautiful memory that she could take with her when she went.

Gabrielle suddenly realized that she also wanted, no, needed, the same thing. She wanted a moment to take with her. She wanted to give a moment to the man that had risked his life for her. The thought fell, soft and slow onto her heart, like a warm blanket.

"The man she was starting to love." She stopped in her tracks as that thought rang in her mind, echoed by her thundering heart. Love? Could it really be something like that? She suddenly understood that she was not in love with David. But that she was falling there fast, and that frightened her.

The possibility of doing nothing - of allowing time, after everything was done, was safer. They could take the time to allow this thing between them to grow.

"What happens if you never get the chance?" Her mind echoed Katrina's words. "How would you feel?"

That possibility also frightened her. The question was; which possibility frightened her the most?

She stopped at the end of the hall, which suddenly appeared long and ominous. The easy way was to go back into the main room, maybe fish about for something to eat. She could dig up a quill and some paper and write down everything that had happened, or?

That idea gave her pause. She had not wanted to write anything down since she had lost Xena. Now she was contemplating it again, as much out of a desire to do so, as it would be an easy escape.

The fact that her Muse, dormant for so long, had suddenly reawakened made her smile at the situation.

She wanted to tell this story! She wanted to tell it all, to record this moment in her life for all to know. It was as if a veil had been lifted from her eyes and she could see again.

The emotion welled up suddenly, and for no reason she could think of, a tear ran down her cheek.

"He's given that back to me as well," she breathed. Of all the gifts she had received from this one man, he had given her that as well. The thing that fascinated her most was that he had done this without any expectation. He had wanted nothing from her at all, except perhaps her smile. A smile, in spite of the silent tears, grew on her face. In that moment, she realized what her soul had been screaming for the past two weeks.

With her heart bouncing within her ribcage, she walked down the hall towards his door.

Her hand stopped just before it touched the wood and she hesitated.

It was her wedding night all over again. The feelings of anticipation, fear, desire, all jumbled into a knot in her belly.

Suddenly, the door to the bathroom at the end of the hall opened, startling her. She let out a nervous squeal as David emerged from the cloud of steam, wearing a pair of cloth sweat pants and rubbing a towel through his thick mane of wet hair. He jumped at her squeal and grinned.

"Sorry," he said. Then he stopped when he saw the look on her face and the tear streaks on her cheeks. His expression softened.

"Hey?" he said softly. "You alright?"

"Hi," Gabrielle stammered, suddenly nervous now that he was before her. "I was, um, I wanted to," She closed her eyes in frustration.

David stepped up to her and put a hand on her shoulder. The touch sent a ripple through her.

"Gabrielle? What's wrong?" he asked.

She looked up into his eyes. "It's just -" she began again and her voice caught. She closed her eyes again and took several nervous breaths. Then she looked up at him and before she lost her nerve, she reached her hands up to either side of his face and kissed him. The moment their lips touched, a river of passion blasted through her, as if a dam had burst and she held him in that kiss for as long as she could hold her breath.

It was David that actually parted them.

"Hey, now," he said in shock. "Slow down, killer."

He put his hand against her cheek. "You don't owe me anything," he said understandingly. "And you certainly don't have to do this."

She let her eyes close under his touch, relishing it for the moment, and then she looked back up at him. She realized that he meant it. She didn't have to do this, and that only made her want it more.

"I know," she said, and she kissed him again. They fell through the door into her small room and never bothered to find the bed. Somehow the comforter and the blankets ended up wrapped about them as their garments went flying.

Then they stopped, looking at each other. She lay atop him, her eyes a green sensuous fire. A smile crept across her face at his expression.

"How long have you been planning this?" He asked.

She placed a finger against his lips, silencing him, smiled, and kissed him again.

It began again with a slow deliberate exploration that would have seemed maddening if not for the absolute pleasure of it all. Every kiss was a tongue of flame in the fire, and their caresses the water cooling that burn. It went on and on for hours until, finally, the desires beneath the curious explorations began to overwhelm them both. They clutched at one another with a near desperation as they finally came together. David could feel her nails clawing into his back as she clutched at him. Her breath came in his ear as she held close to him. She felt the heat of his breath on her neck and reveled in it.

David held her tightly to him, almost with the same desperation as she, knowing that this night could probably be their one and only time together. He did not want to fail her in any way. Along with the absolute ecstasy of it all, he felt the pain in his heart that by tomorrow she might be gone. He wanted so much to keep her there with him, forever, in this one perfect moment.

They made love again and again with the desperation of two people who, though in love, knew that they might be forever parted. They held nothing back, expended all their passion, all their strength, all their desire in this one desperate night.

At some point, the two of them finally succumbed to sleep and lay in each other's arms. Then, David's eyes opened and he saw her lying there, her head against his chest. She had the most wonderfully peaceful expression on her face. David felt her breathing against his skin, slow and gentle. Reaching down, he pulled the blanket closer around them.

"Thank you," he whispered softly.

He didn't know how long they lay there. He just watched her sleeping in his arms, burning the image into his memory. Every detail of her face, every sensation of her body lying naked against his. He tried to burn that image and those sensations into his mind.

A soft moan escaped her lips and she stirred. Then her eyes opened and she looked up at him.

"Hi," David said gently, brushing a few stray strands of red hair from her eyes. She smiled and lay her head back down against his chest, listening to his heart beat, slow and steady.

Then she looked up at him again with a twinge of regret. "I'm sorry."

David smiled warmly. "For what?"

"I should have done this a lot sooner," Gabrielle confessed. "I was afraid of you."

David chuckled. "Of me? Why?"

"Because you're everything that I've missed since I lost Xena," she said finally. Then she smiled and kissed him. "And more."

David stroked her cheek and smiled.

"I don't want to lose you," she said. "I've lost so many people already. Perdicus, Xena, Autolicus, Joxer, and so many others. I don't want to lose you too."

He stroked her hair gently and held her close.

"Last night," she suddenly confessed. "I haven't been with anyone since before my husband died. I don't know why, I just," she stopped. Then she looked up at him.

"I want to stay with you, David." She said with a sudden desperation. "When this is over tonight, I want to stay here, with you."

David smiled reassuringly.

"I want you to stay," he said to her. "I want you to feel the wind in your face as we ride across the country, seeing all the wonders that your descendants have created." He smiled as an idea suddenly struck him. "When we're finished with this, would you like to go back home and see Greece as it is now?"

Her eyes lit up at that suggestion. She nodded eagerly.

He kissed her and smiled. "Then let's make sure Alti doesn't get the chance to spoil it, right?"

"Absolutely," she agreed and she kissed him again.

The phone on the nightstand suddenly rang, startling them both.

"Damn killjoys," David cursed, reaching up to grab the receiver. "Yeah?" he growled.

"I realize that the two of you are probably very busy right now," Tommy's voice teased. "But we do have a major deception to plan, and it is two in the afternoon?"

"Right," David nodded. "We'll be right down."

"We?" Tommy asked knowingly. "About damn time." The line went dead before David could reply.

David tossed the phone in the corner and wrapped his arms around Gabrielle again.

"Now I know why certain animals eat their young."

Gabrielle smiled. They lay together for a while longer before they both agreed that they did have to join the others. They got up, dressed and grabbed something to drink on their way to the shop.

When they stepped through the door, David stopped short, his mouth falling open in shock.

In the center of the floor, gleaming black and red, was Panama. The Cutlass completely finished out and restored.

"Holy shit," he stammered.

"Just like High School," Dusty smiled. "Only better, because now we all know what we're doing."

At that instant, Steve, who had been seated in the driver's seat, turned the key. The Cutlass roared to life. He let the engine growl at idle for a moment or two, and then revved it, making it roar again and again.

David walked mechanically down the steps, his eyes never moving from the gently rocking vehicle as the engine roared.

Tommy sidled up to him and patted his shoulder. "I think this'll be a match for that cop car the bitch is driving."

David ran his hand lovingly along the fender, feeling the engine thrum beneath his fingers like a thing alive. His smile broadened. "Oh, yeah."

The engine died and silence descended for a moment.

David stepped up to Goat and shook his hand. "She looks wonderful, man."

"Now," Steve said. "The plan."

"The plan." David stepped up next to Gabrielle, who also couldn't take her eyes off the massive machine.

"Goat," Steve ordered. "Grab the flatbed from work and load Panama up on it."

"What?" Goat asked in surprise.

"Go get the flatbed." Steve said again. "Now."

Reluctantly, Goat left.

"Okay," Steve smiled. "The ride leaves downtown at about eight o'clock. If we leave about the same time, and take 355, we can hook up with them about here." He pointed at an intersection on a map draping over his workbench. "Once we hook up with the ride, we shuffle the deck."

"And lose us in the crowd." David nodded. "Then what?"

"Then, after about ten miles, you two duck off here," he pointed at another intersection. "Switch vehicles under the bridge and head to Serpent Mound while the rest of us, with what's her tits in tow, continue towards Starved Rock." He grinned. "You two will have to make a subtle change on the way."

"Oh?" David asked.

"I've already talked to Trikey Mike," Steve continued. "He'll be in the middle of the pack on the Chariot. Get up next to him, ditch the helmets and," he turned to Gabrielle, "your outer jacket."

"Outer jacket?" Gabrielle asked.

"Yup." Steve smiled. "Come with me. There's a quick modification we need to make on Rosie."

OCT 31, 2004 4:45 PM

Derek pulled Bullit up into the gas station and began fueling up his bike for the ride. His eyes surreptitiously scanned the surrounding traffic. Sure enough, he spied the familiar black sedan coasting down the main street of town. The car slowed suddenly and then continued. Derek smiled as he saw the two pairs of eyes fix on him. He finished gassing up and turned out of the gas station, following them. He passed them on the main road and began a long winding route back to the clubhouse.

"Call Papa Bear," he said into the mic on his helmet. His cell phone beeped.

"Yeah?"

"I got the bitch," Derek said cheerfully. He checked his mirror and saw the black Chevy two cars back, trailing him. "They're on me now. How long you want me to string them along?"

"Give us thirty minutes," Tommy said. "Then head back this way."

"No problemo," Derek answered cheerfully.

In the car, Alti and Mr. Finch watched intently as the silver motorcycle made several turns onto various unnamed roads, weaving casually through the countryside.

The entire time, Alti focused upon him with unblinking rage.

"I can take care of him," Finch said.

"I doubt it," Alti retorted. "If he gets a whiff of us, he'll leave us behind." She tried again to enter this man's mind, only to give up in frustration. She was still feeling the effects of that mans' mental attack. Her powers were still paralyzed. "Just keep him in sight. Let him lead us to Gabrielle and the Amulet."

5:30 PM

Members had been arriving steadily for the past hour, and now there were nearly thirty people commiserating in the clubhouse. Most of the members not in the know, were upstairs in the main room, while the conspirators waited in the shop.

Gabrielle paced nervously, while David chewed on a cigar, his eyes fixed on the two closed doors.

A familiar, high-pitched beep was heard, and David hit the door switch. Derek and Bullit coasted into the bay and stopped.

"Okay, compadres, she's parked out on Main, waiting." He smiled smugly. "Next?"

"Next, is dinner," Steve said easily.

"Dinner?" David asked. "You're hungry?"

"Yeah," Steve answered. "First order of survival. Eat when you can, you never know when the next meal is coming. Come on."

On his way up the steps, he put his phone to his ear. "Goat! You there yet? Well, get moving, we roll in a couple of hours."

They entered the main room, crowded with members and friends of members. Off in the corner, on the sofa, Shilah, Debbie, Katrina, and Jesse all sat along with several other people that Gabrielle didn't know. All of them had an air of expectation and they each silently greeted her.

"That's the rest of the coven," David whispered in her ear.

Gabrielle nodded and then stopped when she bumped into a large muscular man in a rough and worn black jacket, covered by a vest that seemed to be made of countless patches.

"Hey, T-Bone," David greeted, shaking the man's hand. Then he looked at Gabrielle.

"Gabby," he smiled. "I believe you already met T-Bone, here?"

Gabrielle looked up at the wizened face and long dark beard in recognition. It was the man from the bar. The one that she had gotten into a fight with.

Suddenly, the adrenaline began to flow.

Instead, T-Bone extended a hand in greeting. "Hello again."

Gabrielle didn't know what to say. She took the proffered hand and shook.

"By the way," he said, grinning. "That was a pretty wild show last weekend. I'm impressed."

"Don't make me repeat it," Gabrielle growled.

T-Bone looked at her for a moment, and then he laughed uproariously.

He patted David on the shoulder. "She's alright," he said. He nodded to her and turned, disappearing into the crowd.

"What was that about?" Gabrielle asked, completely perplexed and shaking from unexpended excitement.

David only shrugged. "He likes you."

"Likes me?" Gabrielle shot back. "He's the same son of a Minotaur that tried to mess with me - "

"And you stood your ground," David finished. "Then you let him know it wasn't just a fluke. You earned his respect." He smiled. "Relax."

David looked back at Shilah, who only nodded. Then the rest of the coven, minus Tommy, vanished through the door.

"And so, it begins," David muttered.

7:30 PM

Alti and Finch watched helplessly as more and more vehicles poured into the tiny field adjacent to their objective.

"I'm sorry, Alti," Finch said regretfully. "There are simply too many of them for us to get in."

Alti growled in frustration as she tried to think of a way - any way - they might be able to get in and reclaim their missing property.

Gary, or "Dad", was one of the last ones to arrive. He strode into the garage where the majority of the participants were doing final checks of their bikes, and spread his arms out.

"Shakespeare?" he asked. "What's with the cop car at the end of the driveway?"

"Not cops," David answered as he double-checked the quick wiring adjustment he and Steve had made. "And they're after Gabrielle. We need to get her out of here."

Gary fixed his gray eyes on Gabrielle for a moment, noting the change in hair color with a raised eyebrow, and then he nodded.

"Say no more," he said.

As the group was gathering around their bikes, David, Tommy, Derek, Dusty and several others withdrew to a corner, near Derek's workbench. They stood silently for a moment. Then David said a few quiet words and Derek reached up and hit a button on the small bookshelf stereo sitting above his bench.

Instantly, music began to play and the small group fell silent as if absorbing the sound.

"Uh, oh," Gary said from astride the lady. "They're playing Willie the Wimp."

Gabrielle slid next to Debbie. "What are they doing?"

Debbie smiled. "Them? Oh they're just getting psyched up."

"Psyched up?" Gabrielle asked. "What do you mean?"

"Whenever those boys are about to do something completely crazy, they always play that song to get ready for it." Debbie explained. "It's kind of like taking that deep breath before you dive under water."

As she watched, they all seemed in a mild state of reverie, subtly moving to the music. David's lips moved in synch with the words as he stood there. She watched his fingers twitch in anticipation.

"Okay boys and girls!" Steve shouted over the din of voices. "Load up!"

The music halted and the men in the corner went into a form of auto pilot, moving their bikes up into the group.

Tommy walked his Yamaha up next to David and Gabrielle, as they finished their final preparations.

David smiled and the two of them bumped fists before finishing their checks.

Cycles were lined up in front of the closed doors, three across, with the café bikes in the front. David and Gabrielle set themselves in the middle of the pack. She looked over at Steve and Debbie, astride Mistress. Steve had his cell phone to his ear. He spoke a few words and nodded, then he looked up at Gabrielle and gave the universal sign for "okay."

The ride was leaving the city.

Gabrielle leaned forward to tell David and heard him muttering something to himself.

"What did you say?" she asked.

"Just part of a little twisted prayer I know," David replied with a wry smile. He lifted his helmet before his face and paused.

"Yay, though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I will fear no Evil, because I'm the baddest son of a bitch in the whole damn Valley!"

Gabrielle smiled and drew her own helmet over her face. David turned and plugged the small lead into the jack on the helmet before checking to make sure her cell phone was on.

"Crank em up!" Steve shouted.

7:55 PM

Alti's patience was at an end. She had just decided that she would go into the place, and she didn't care how many of them there were, when the ground suddenly thundered beneath them. The entire building seemed to shake.

"What in the name of Hades is that?" she hissed.

The door slid aside, revealing the interior of the place and a flood of pale lights burst forth from within. A thin blue haze rolled out into the crisp night air, and then three motorcycles seemed to leap out of the barn, followed by more and more.

Alti recognized the silver bike in the front and the dark skinned man in the jacket with the painted tiger.

"It's them," she said, settling back into the seat. "Follow them."

"Where is the girl?" Finch asked as his eyes tried desperately to scan the passing figures.

Alti didn't see her, but she did see the back of another jacket, and her eyes lit up.

"There!" she pointed at a dark colored bike in the middle of the pack. "She's there! Go!"

They inched forward and waited until the last bike in the pack thundered past, then the black Chevy pulled out into the road and followed them. There was no mistaking that yellow machine. It was the same bike that had nearly fried them a few nights before.

David hit the button on the top of his phone. "Conference mode. Call Papa Bear, Bullit, Crazy Johnny, Oddball, Dusty, Gabrielle, and Steve."

The lines all connected. "Okay," David asked. "What's up?"

"Well," Johnny's voice answered calmly. "Our favorite fan is behind us. Keeping a discreet distance for the moment."

"Igor told me that the ride headed out a little ahead of schedule," Steve added. "They should be past the ramp when we get there. We'll need to hoof it to catch them up."

"Okay, boss," David agreed. "Then take lead with Dad and set the pace. Everyone else, keep an eye on our friends back there. If they get too anxious, or do something crazy, scatter. I don't want anyone getting hurt. Johnny, can you hold them off if it comes to that?"

"You want me awake or asleep?" Johnny replied easily.

"Okay," Steve said. "One hour till the interstate. Just sit back and enjoy the ride."

A little less than an hour later, the thirty-two bikes of the Zombie Squad and others took up all three lanes on the 355 bypass heading south. Several of the speed happy café riders began horsing around, riding wheelies and the like, while the others maintained a rough formation.

Dusty came riding past David and Gabrielle on Slut, bouncing back and forth and smacking the rear seat as if he were a jockey in a horse race. Several other members had their own antics, and a couple of games of tag ensued, which only managed to mix the formation up even more. That was exactly what David and the others wanted. They kept rotating positions, inside, outside, towards the front, or rear, but never in the outer edge of the formation, hoping to confuse the two people in the black sedan that still shadowed them. T-Bone locked his throttle, leaned back on the back seat and rested his feet on the gas tank, lounging comfortably as he coasted past Gabrielle and David, an open can of soda pop in his hand. He raised the can in salute and took another drink as the bike drifted forward.

Gabrielle laughed out loud. Another neon blue and green racing bike coasted by, the riders legs wrapped up on the back seat, his hands resting on the fuel tank, while his chin lay on them, as if asleep.

Gabrielle leaned forward. "You're all crazy!" she shouted. "All of you!"

She wrapped her arms about David's neck and squeezed reassuringly. In spite of the threat behind them, she was actually enjoying herself.

9:10 PM - I 55 South

Alti sat and watched in frustration as the crowd of motorcycles continued down the dark interstate. Without the benefit of regular lamps illuminating the road, she had almost lost track of Gabrielle several times. She had memorized the pattern of rear lights on the back of that machine, and kept her eyes glued to it with reptilian intensity.

"We should do something," Finch suggested.

"No," Alti countered. "She's going after the Chronos Stone. If we are to find it, then we must let her lead us to it!" She smiled. "She won't get away. Not now."

No sooner had she said this than the car crested a low hill and she saw a sight that made her heart sink. About a mile ahead of the small clot of machines was a long, seemingly endless line of tiny red taillights.

"What is that?" she asked in growing despair.

"Well," Finch sighed as he saw the line of bikes stretching off into the distance. "There's something you don't see every day."

David grinned. "Call Trikey Mike," he said, and another line clicked.

"Yo ho there!" a voice called back over the rush of wind.

"Trikey!" David greeted. "Check your mirror."

"Hey there Shakes!" Mike's voice was a loud baritone. "Get your ass up here! I want to meet the new lady in your life!"

"Well, she's on the line right now," David smiled.

"Really?" Trikey replied cheerily.

"Um, hello?" Gabrielle said uncertainly.

"And a fine hello to you too, miss," Trikey replied. "So, you're the one that finally cracked the gloomy brat out of his shell?"

"Hey!" David protested. He heard the others on the line laughing.

"I guess you could say that," Gabrielle smiled. "Among other things. But he was never gloomy around me? He's been a perfect gentleman."

"Gentleman?" Trikey replied. "What have you done with the real Shakespeare?"

"Where are you?" David asked quickly.

"Three quarters of the way up, inner line," Trikey replied. "Just come on up the middle and you can't miss me!"

Steve raised his left fist up and pumped three times in the air, then he and Gary began accelerating. Instantly, the rest of the squad ceased their on road antics and followed suit.

As they neared the trailing bikes of the formation, yet another deep and airy voice entered the call.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen," Igor announced. "A bit of trivia for all you fans out there this evening. Currently, the temperature is forty-eight degrees with winds at a calm one-mile an hour out of the south. Tonight's grand total, two thousand, four hundred and twenty seven bikes. Total donations to the cancer fund were fifteen thousand seven hundred dollars. Our sponsors thank you for your support."

"What's up, my brother!" Derek called out gleefully. "Can we pay you at the end point? My boys and I wanna join up."

"Absolutely!" Igor's voice answered. "Come on up!"

Tommy's voice was thick with humor.

"Johnny, Bullit," he called. "Wake up the hornets!"

"My pleasure," Johnny's voice sounded happy for the first time.

"Bullit? With your permission?"

The silver Hyabusa drifted off to one side and the MotorPsycho howled ahead, hugging the left shoulder as it picked up speed.

"Light em up, my brother!"

Not to be outdone, the other speed happy rocket jocks accelerated towards the mass of machines.

Johnny got half way past the first batch of bikes and then opened up the flame-thrower, spewing the twenty-foot long burst of fire as he rocketed past them. Just after him, Derek and the other crotch rockets in the Squad ripped by in pursuit. The effect was immediate. Dozens of other racing bikes slipped out of the main formation and began skittering about in the left lane, while the cruisers reformed.

Steve's voice simply oozed confidence.

"Okay kids, let's shuffle the deck."

David and the Squad melded their formation in at the same time. Soon there was nothing but a large mass of blending red taillights out in the middle of the darkened highway.

David moved steadily and smoothly forward in the formation until he spotted his target, a large, green and white three-wheeled bike with a molded squarish top. The words

"Trikey Mikey's Sewing" painted in brilliant blue letters.

David slid in and noted the passing highway sign. Three miles till their exit.

He sidled his bike up alongside the trike and waved.

"Hello there!" Trikey Mike waived jovially. He was a short man, pudgy in the middle and completely bald. His face was a picture of piercings, and his gloved hands were covered in silver rings.

"You dropping off, or picking up?"

David grinned.

"Okay guys," he announced. "We're going off line for a while. We'll check in a little later."

"Good luck Shakes!" Tommy called. "Hey Gabby! Take good care of him!"

David reached down and flipped a small toggle switch behind his left knee. Instantly, the single tombstone taillight went dark, and two more horizontal lights along the base of his bags lit up.

David disconnected the cell phone and removed the helmet, tossing it in the back of the moving trike.

Gabrielle did the same thing, and her red hair went streaming in the wind. She also disposed of the helmet and then shrugged out of the black jacket. The tan deerskin underneath appeared. She managed to hand that over to the older gentleman before settling herself for the next part.

"Ready?" David asked.

Gabrielle reached down at the bundle of folded cloth between the two of them.

"Ready!"

David released the handlebars, allowing the bike to coast, and reached behind him as Gabrielle slipped the plain canvas duster up over the shoulders of his riding jacket, obscuring the Zombie Squad colors.

David looked over at Trikey and grinned.

Trikey smiled and nodded in approval.

"You're a real pretty lady! Nice to have met you!" he shouted at Gabrielle. Then he looked at David. "Excellent taste, Davey Boy!"

David smiled and gave a bow, and then he slipped into formation next to the trike.

Alti's eyes scanned the crowd of bikes for the familiar red taillights, she found several in this mass of machines, but none of them were the one she was looking for. A realization began to settle like rocks in her belly.

"Setup," she hissed in anger. "It's all a setup! The little bastard!"

She looked hungrily at Finch.

"Run them off the road!" She ordered. "Run them all off the road!"

"Are you completely mad?" Finch asked in shock. "There are thousands of them, and if I hit one, they will be on us like a pack of wolves!"

"Wolves," Alti hissed. She slammed her fist into the dashboard and fixed her eyes back out at the passing multitude of bikes.

They passed a large, three-wheeled vehicle, painted a brilliant green and white. Alti perked up a bit when she saw another motorcycle beyond it, but the lights were the wrong pattern and the passenger wore a pale coat and had dark hair.

They continued up the formation.

Gabrielle leaned her head against David's shoulder and watched, holding her breath as Alti's car coasted past and continued up the line.

David checked the next sign. One mile to the break off.

"Went right by us," David shouted triumphantly.

Gabrielle breathed a sigh of relief and then kissed David's cheek. "It actually worked!"

"Hey! Hey!" David sounded offended. "My plans always work!"

"You mean Steve's plan?" Gabrielle corrected him.

"I helped!" David continued.

"Oh?"

"Yeah!" David grinned. "I picked your coat!"

David looked over at Trikey and gave him a salute. "Ride safe, buddy!"

Then he switched off the ignition. The bike went dark and silent, coasting down the ramp to the underpass. He brought Rosie to a stop behind the silent flatbed.

Panama sat in front of it, waiting patiently.

David and Gabrielle walked toward the front of the truck. David knocked on the door. A bleary eyed Goat peeked out through the window.

"Oh," he said. "There you are. About time!"

David grinned. "Load up Rosie and take her back to the house," he said. "I'll see you later."

"Sure thing," Goat answered gleefully.

"Hey, Goat," David called as he stood next to the door of his car. "Thanks for everything."

Goat merely bowed theatrically. "Just don't scratch the paint job," he begged. Then he began to wheel Rosie up the flatbed and tie her down for the trip home.

David and Gabrielle slid into the car. The interior still smelled of cleaning solvents and new leather. David pulled his phone free and dialed Derek.

"Ce pasa, Cavrone!" Derek answered immediately.

"Hey Bullit," David asked. "Is she still with you?"

"Oh yeah," Derek was laughing. "And is she pissed!"

David grinned. "Have a drink for me at the Rock, we'll see you later."

"Right on." Derek replied. "Adios Muchachos."

David flipped the phone closed and turned the ignition. The Cutlass's engine growled to life immediately.

David looked over at Gabrielle. He kissed her and smiled.

"Let's go find this stone, shall we?"

Gabrielle pulled the amulet from her pocket and grinned.

The top pointed was glowing brightly.

"That way," She gestured.

"That way it is," David replied, and the car launched itself forward into the gloom.

Alti stared out the window as the mass of motorcycles coasted past them a second time. She noted that several of the people riding past them had begun to give them suspicious looks.

Suddenly, she sat up straighter, her eyes wide. A large green and white three-wheeled motorcycle coasted past them. In the back seat of the vehicle, she caught a flicker of something.

Two helmets and a black coat lay in the back seat. Alti stared at the driver, a short, pudgy man, wearing full riding gear. Then her eyes fixed on the articles of gear in the back seat once more. They narrowed in suspicion, and then went wide.

"Stop the car!" she barked in fury. "Turn around!"

Finch expertly slowed the car and wheeled around in one of the narrow islands that dotted the interstate, he sped off back the way they had come.

"What is it?" he asked as they accelerated.

Alti was cursing elaborately in several languages. Her anger was burning through her, making her blood boil.

Something seemed to snap within her mind and she felt the power wash over her. Her magical blindness was gone!

"Pull over," Alti ordered. "Pull over now!"

The car screeched to a stop at the side of the road. Alti stepped out and breathed in the cool air, stretching her limbs and her mind.

Her mind drifted up and away, scanning for her prey. She found her easily enough. A soft white glow emanated from her that was easy to trace.

She found the car, coasting down a dark country road, its engine roaring.

She knew better than to attempt entry into this vehicle, lest the man do to her what he had done before. She could not risk discovery. She simply let her mind hover outside the moving vehicle, moving like a wraith around the exterior and peering within at the occupants. Alti could see her, looking down at the Amulet, her amulet. The topmost crystal pulsing like a living heartbeat. Gabrielle had a different light about her now, and it seemed to connect both of them together in some way.

"They're lovers," she thought with malicious glee. "Perfect."

11:35 PM

David and Gabrielle watched as the late night mists flowed past the windshield. As they drove, David and Gabrielle watched for the entrance to the Serpent Mound Memorial Park. The central upper crystal seemed to increase in intensity, as if telling them they were getting close. Suddenly David frowned as the car barreled through another bank of thick mist. He looked out the window and around.

"What?' Gabrielle asked, seeing concern on David's face.

David looked about for a few moments longer and then sighed. "Nothing. I guess I'm getting a bit paranoid." He tried to laugh it off, but the next bank of mist revealed the nebulous shape he had spied moments before, wraithlike as it circled the car.

"Ah, shit," he muttered. The cell phone rang.

David flipped it open. "Talk to me."

"Shaky, we got a problem," Tommy's voice sounded nervous.

"She dropped out of the pack and bugged out, right?"

"Bingo," Tommy replied. "I think she's on to you. Better hoof it."

"We're hoofing," David said grimly. "Later." He snapped the phone closed and looked at Gabrielle. "She figured it out and I think her abilities have come back."

"Is that what you saw?" Gabrielle asked nervously.

"I'd bet my trust fund on it," David replied. He pressed the accelerator down a little further. Suddenly, he slammed the brakes on and Panama came to a screeching halt before a yellow metallic gate. The sign upon it read "Authorized Personnel Only" and beneath it in smaller letters were the words "Serpent Mound Memorial Park."

David got out and popped the truck, removing a large pair of bolt cutters. He stepped over to the padlocked gate and easily snapped the lock, pushing the gate inward.

The car crunched forward on the gravel. He closed the gate and hung the lock back in place, then the car moved down the access road, engine rumbling.

"Keep going," Gabrielle said anxiously. The central crystal had begun to glow faintly.

Serpent mound was a two mile long section of raised earth that "snaked" its way in a tight winding path through the park to the site of an ancient Indian temple or burial mound. As David coasted the car through the misty night, he could felt the energy of the place building up as if anticipating the coming event.

"Who'd have thunk it," David smiled wryly. "The first stages of Armageddon would happen in my own back yard." He shook his head at the irony.

11:50 PM

Finch stopped the car at the gate and looked out into the shadows. He and Alti could barely make out the faint glowing of headlights further up the gravel road.

"It's them!" Alti smiled. "Go!"

Finch hit the accelerator and crashed through the flimsy gate. They stopped the car a little ways back and got out, moving quickly and quietly through the trees towards the other vehicle.

As Alti gazed up at the sky, she saw thick clouds beginning to form with unnatural swiftness, blotting out the pale blue moon. A subtle green glow could be seen within the clouds.

"Faster," she thought. "We have little time!" She looked over at Finch. "When we find them, kill the man. Leave the brat to me!"

"As you wish," Mr. Finch said agreeably.

11:55 PM - The Convergence Begins

Gabrielle and David followed the strange device to the center of a larger raised, flat area at the head of the mound. The green crystal was pulsing alone now.

"We're here," Gabrielle said, looking about the place.

David looked about, not really sure what to expect. Aside from the neatly trimmed grass beneath their feet, there was nothing.

"You sure?" he asked. "You're reading that thing right, right?"

Gabrielle's eyes also scanned the flat ground before her, her frustration building.

"It should be right here!" she said, her arm pointing at the ground before them.

"Well, its not," David replied. His eyes searched the cloudy heavens and he saw the build up of energy in the form of a lazy pale green spiral, high above them. "But something's definitely happening."

"So," Gabrielle asked helplessly. "What now?"

"Now," A menacing female voice answered. "We tend to the matter at hand."

Alti and Finch stepped up onto the mound. Alti's eyes locked on Gabrielle hungrily, while Finch kept his eyes on David.

"Finch?" Alti said. "At your leisure."

"Of course," Finch smiled politely.

The heavens above suddenly exploded with energy. A brilliant green vortex of power began slowly spiraling down towards the earth. At the same moment, the conical shape of the Chronos Stone seemed to materialize out of thin air, resting on the ground to receive the incoming torrent.

Gabrielle took a step forward.

"Finch!" Alti barked.

David saw the short silver revolver an instant before Finch fired. Something slammed into his upper chest and he staggered back and fell.

Gabrielle screamed in shock and paused, torn between running for the stone and running to aid her lover. She turned and, with tears in her eyes, ran after the Stone.

She dove beneath the falling bubble of energy as Alti brought it around her. The edge of the power nicked the heel of her boot and she saw the smoke from it as she lay on the ground.

Alti laughed out loud. "Foolish, child!" She cackled. "You're no match for my powers!"

Gabrielle rose to her feet and stared at Alti, tears steaming down her cheeks and rage boiling in her heart. Her gaze flicked to David, lying motionless outside the circle.

"You can't stay here!" she cried out in a hoarse sob. "I won't let you!"

Alti smiled at Gabrielle's bravado. "You have little choice, now."

Instantly, the world changed, and Gabrielle stood in a field, dressed in her regular clothes. Several yards away, Alti stood, now in her normal Shamaness regalia, her eyes alight with hunger.

"For me to return, one must die." She said hungrily. "Your soul will clear the way for my return to power!"

She reached out her hand and, like before, Gabrielle felt Alti's invisible fingers about her throat while at the same time, watching as Alti lifted another version of her from the ground, squeezing the life from her.

She remembered that trick. But this time, she was ready. Instead of fighting the feeling in one body, she willed the other body to move. Her double lashed out, boxing the Shamaness's ears with savage intensity.

Gabrielle felt the grip on her throat loosen as her double fell from her opponent's grasp and vanished.

Then Gabrielle lashed out with an attack of her own, attempting to trap Alti in a similar death grip, only to have Alti smile coldly and fling her back like a rag doll.

"You have no power over me here, child," she scoffed. "Time for you to join your lover!"

Finch smiled coldly as he moved around the perimeter of the circle, his gun trained on the motionless man. He saw the smoking hole in the jacket, on the right side of his chest, and shook his head. "Off by that much," he chided himself. He knelt down to inspect the wound and make certain his target was dead.

David's eyes popped open and his fist slammed into Finch's jaw. The man went rocking back, the gun falling from his fingers.

"Actually," David said as he leapt to his feet and continued the assault. His fist found Finch's face again and the man spun to the ground.

"It was a perfect shot," David rasped painfully. He lifted the outer garment revealing a large and now misshapen pin that had been riveted to his coat. At the center of it were the mashed remains of Finch's expended bullet.

David's foot kicked up into Finch's face and blood erupted from his mouth as he rocked backwards on the ground. He got up and raised his hands; a razor was in one of them.

David only smiled fiercely.

"Oh, yeah?" he growled. "Come on! Cut me! Cut me deep you son of a bitch!"

Finch slid in and slashed with the weapon. David's martial training took over and he trapped the razor, feeling it slice into his inner arm, then he had Finch standing straight up and his hand came around in a vicious chop that knocked the killer to the ground with a bone jarring thud.

David stooped and picked up the razor, and then threw it into the darkness.

"You'll have to do better than that," he growled. Finch was up again, backing away in sudden fear. Then something hardened in his face, and Finch charged in like an animal. David met the charge easily and deflected him into the ground near the edge of the vortex.

"You mess with me," David said, slamming his fist into Finch's bloody face again. The man staggered. "You mess with my friends!" David continued. He struck Finch again. The man stood, dumb from the impact, hands hanging at his sides.

"You mess with my whole life!" David bellowed in rage and he struck Finch in rapid succession in the body and face before wrapping his head under David's left arm and spinning him so that Finch saw the roiling clouds above.

"I know no beast that has but some touch of pity," David quoted. He wrenched upwards and felt Finch's neck snap. Then he flipped him forward into the wall of the vortex. Finch's semi-lifeless body dissolved in the torrent of energy.

"But I have none, and therefore am no beast." He studied the scene beyond the wall of energy.

The two women were facing off as Gabrielle fought a war of wills over control of the Chronos Stone. It was immediately apparent to David that Gabrielle was not faring well.

David stepped forward, his hand out to the wall of energy. He felt it scorch his flesh on contact and cried out in pain as he jumped back.

"No cheating," a voice said calmly from behind him. "You remember our agreement?"

David turned and saw Ares standing against a nearby tree, surveying the action within the circle.

He had that same self-engrossed grin on his face.

"She can't win!" David cried.

"She was never supposed to win!" Ares shot back. "She was supposed to try, and in so doing, weaken Alti to a point that, even in victory, she could do nothing."

"What?" David threw his arms out. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Leave it alone," Ares barked. "Your part is over." He snapped his fingers and smiled that interminable smile. "Oh, that reminds me." He stretched out his hand and David felt something pull from inside him. The "gifts" Ares had bestowed were suddenly gone. "You and yours were never a part of the deal." He shrugged.

"She's gonna die!" David cried in desperation.

Ares merely shrugged. "The alternative is a lot worse."

David stormed towards the barrier.

"You can't help her!" Ares shouted from behind him.

David wheeled about, his eyes afire.

"I won't lose her!" he cried.

Ares stepped away from the tree, stalking towards him. "She was never yours to lose!" he bellowed back. "If she dies here, she dies among friends, with someone she cares about! If she survives, she goes back and she ends up dead at the hands of some bounty hunter, compliments of Gurkan! You know, the guy who likes to play Palace Guard in his own house? Either way, she's already dead! She's been dead to your world for more than two thousand years!" His roar died and he smiled coldly. "Let it be. There's nothing you could do anyway."

David lashed out and his fist landed squarely on Ares' jaw. The God of War staggered back a step and looked back at him with amusement.

"Watch me," David growled. He turned back to the wall of energy.

"It's gonna hurt a lot!" Ares called after him, rubbing his jaw thoughtfully. "What I could do with a dozen like this one?"

David's hands touched the wall again, and he felt the jolt of power course through him, knocking him back to the ground.

"It's energy," he growled, getting back on his feet and ignoring the tingling sensation in his lower arms. He licked his fingertips and stretched out his hands again. "Just like tuning a piano. Find the right pitch."

This time he held his hands in contact for a few seconds longer before stepping back.

Gabrielle felt the cold vise clamping onto her heart as Alti reached through her chest. She struggled to pull away from the Shamaness, but she was pinned and unable to move. The universe was beginning to fade from consciousness when suddenly, the pressure ceased.

She looked over weakly as the edge of reality rippled with crackling bursts of power. A hand pushed through with determined strength.

"It's not possible," Alti gasped. She focused her mental energy into the barrier, trying to reinforce it, but the apparition continued to press inexorably through.

Gabrielle rolled weakly away, trying to get closer to the Chronos Stone and seize it.

Alti waved her hand sharply, and Gabrielle was sent rolling away from her prize as if she had been struck.

A thundering bellow resonated in the small reality as David's face broke through the invisible wall between the real world and this false one. He roared in pain and determination, his body smoking from the energy that surged through him as he pushed through with glacial determination.

Both Alti and Gabrielle looked at the sight with gaping wonder.

Lightning crackled about him and rolled over him, scorching his clothing and his flesh as he came. He finally broke free and staggered a few steps, bent double from the pain, and then he stood up, his entire body smoking.

"Yes!" He roared. He shook his head to clear the pain and howled. "Oh, that'll wake you up in the morning boys!" he shouted, his face an expression of tortured joy. Then his eyes fixed on Alti and she beheld the same man from her last encounter, wolfish and savage, filled with malicious hunger.

"You shouldn't be able to do that!" Alti cried out.

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" David bellowed. He stalked quickly forward and rammed his fist into the Shamaness's face. There was a flash of expended energy and the old shamaness was flung onto her back. She rolled over and looked up at David hungrily, licking her lips.

"Pick on someone your own voltage!" David challenged her.

"Oh," Alti said in a suddenly calm, calculating voice. "That was good. You have strength, my friend. Why are you wasting it on her? You could be so much more if you join me!"

David didn't answer, but instead let loose with a blast of lightning that arced and wreathed about the old shamaness. Alti raised her hands, crossing them over her chest, palms out. Instead of causing her harm, the energy expended itself on an invisible barrier, mere inches from her body. Her gaze was intense from the strain as she repelled David's onslaught.

David focused his entire being on penetrating that defense. He could feel the energy that had been stored within him for so long, draining away faster than anticipated. What had for the longest time felt like too much was suddenly insufficient for the task at hand.

Alti managed a smile and settled herself back down before the stone, her eyes fixed on the heavens in anticipation. The alignment finally reached its apex and the vortex of energy seemed to fill the entire place. The wind howled and crackled with green fire as it was drawn down into the glowing stone. David could see the shadowy shapes of the coven, standing in the ritual room, so many miles away, chanting spells to stay the opening of this portal, but it was evident that nothing short of an act of God would stop it.

At the moment, God seemed rather busy, somewhere else.

Alti's eyes closed in rapture as the energy diffused itself within the stone and then flowed into her body. David could see the fusion of the two aspects of the Shamaness's soul molding together. The ancient shaman was becoming a whole being right before his eyes. The transition of energy was both horrible and fascinating to behold.

David was filled with a sudden rage at his own inability. In that brief, desperate moment, he recalled his conversation with Shilah, nearly two weeks prior.

"A battery," he realized. "An overcharged battery!"

Gabrielle slowly got to her knees and looked over in his direction. She read his intention and her mouth opened to cry out.

David stalked towards Alti and towards the stone. The energy around Alti was a glowing sphere of power. He staggered into that spinning chaos and fell to his knees allowing the raw energy of that exchange to enter his body, filling the empty well of power he so desperately needed. Alti clutched the stone in her hands, desperately, as David lay his hands over hers and willed the energy to enter him. In a flash, the power was diverted from her. It raged like an ocean during a hurricane, washing over David again and again in waves of pain so pure that white was all he saw. He fixed his gaze on Alti, now staring at him in disbelief. Then she began to pull the energy back towards her, attempting to force the transformation. It was a temporal tug of war as the two bodies strove to monopolize the energies of the universe. David could feel the clawing of her mind as she sought for the energy to complete her task. At the same time, he could feel the level rising within him, like a wave of pressure reaching a critical point before explosion.

"You cannot stop me," she said through clenched teeth. "I have all the powers of the Dark Arts at my call!"

"Dark arts?" David said, breathing hard. "All the powers of the Dark Arts?" He grinned maniacally like a rabid beast.

"Bitch, you're only batting five hundred!" He stared at her through the windows of pain.

He could see Gabrielle kneeling on the edge of the chaos, her expression one of fear. She tried to reach David, but the energy forced her back with fiery determination.

"I also have the Dark!" David said through clenched teeth. "But I have more than that! I have light!" and she recoiled under a sudden blast. "I have sorrow!" Another lash. "Joy!" And another lash. "Screams! Songs! Despair! Elation! Friendship! Solitude! Hate!"

Each word was a command that pulsed energy into the shamaness, knocking her further and further back. The universe of the dreamscape was faltering, and reality was reasserting itself.

David reached out and grabbed the throat of his opponent, watching as the consciousness returned to her eyes.

"And I got the one thing that you don't!" he roared. David looked over at Gabrielle and the pain in his body vanished in the sight of her. He realized what he had to do. "Love!"

The built up energy that Alti was attempting to pull from him blasted into her in one massive, devastating pulse. She screamed in sudden agony and patches of her flesh seemed to blister and char in that instant as webs of uncontrolled energy snaked over her body. Her eyes went wide and she toppled to one side, quivering. At the same moment, the dreamscape collapsed and David felt the damp cool of reality around him.

David staggered back a few steps and sank to the ground. He rolled back over and looked at Alti, smoking on the ground. A tormented, yet strangely satisfied smile formed on his lips and then his body convulsed in pain and exhaustion.

The vortex, now expended, faded to nothing as the planets moved out of their alignment and the world became still and silent. David gazed up into the last whispers of that energy.

He suddenly felt weak. Weaker than he could ever remember feeling in his entire life. Weaker even than when he had survived the crash a few days past. He stumbled painfully back to his feet and staggered a few more steps towards Gabrielle, before collapsing again, completely spent. Gabrielle also got to her feet and came over to him. She knelt down and held his head in her lap, smiling.

"You did it," she said, stroking his hair. David smiled through the numbing pain.

"Uh, uh," he corrected her. "We did it."

Gabrielle let him lay back down and turned towards the center of the circle. There in the grass sat the Chronos Stone, still glowing brightly in the darkness. She stepped toward it and knelt down.

"No!" David tried to cry, but his voice was gone and he could barely breathe, his hands clawed at the frozen ground as he tried to stop her.

"Don't touch it!"

She took the stone and pulled it to her. Immediately it began to pulse with renewed internal fire.

Gabrielle looked up at David, and he saw the shock and understanding in her gaze.

He tried to will the power to cease. Tried to reach his mind out to that stone and force it to die, instead there was a flash of green, and Gabrielle sat beaten, bruised and beautiful, bathed in a fresh green glow.

"Gabrielle!" David croaked in desperation. He clawed his way through the frigid mud, reaching for her. His hand bounced against the green shell of light that encircled her. He saw her call his name, saw her hand reach out to him. Felt the terror and loss in her gaze as they both realized what was about to happen and then she faded from his sight and was gone.

Somewhere in the back of David's mind, he heard a heart rending cry of agony. Only dimly was he aware that it was his voice.

When he opened his eyes again, he saw Alti slowly getting to her feet, her clothes and body still steaming from the transformation. She was laughing with manic glee.

"No," David groaned, forcing his leaden limbs to move.

Alti stood, tall and proud, looking down at her hands in wonder. The irritating voice to the late professor was gone at last! She was whole once more!

She turned at the sound of David's groan and smiled.

"Thank you," she said. "I needed one soul to exchange for my own." She shrugged. "I suppose Finch was as good as any."

"No!" David roared hoarsely as he struggled to his feet and fell down again.

"This has really been entertaining," Alti said darkly. "But I think its time for you to die now." She stretched her hands out and stared at him coldly.

Nothing happened. She paused, suddenly alarmed, then she repeated the action.

David laughed hoarsely, his body wracked with pain as he got to his knees.

"Welcome to the twenty first century, bitch!" he growled. He staggered up to his feet, his gaze dark and filled with heart broken rage. "Looks like you needed the soul of a Shamaness to stay a Shamaness!"

His face twisted into a cold, malicious, savage grin. He stumbled up to his feet, letting the pain of the movement feed his rage instead of adding to his heartbreak.

"You may be alive now!" he rasped. "Enjoy it while you can!"

"You can't harm me!" Alti cried, suddenly nervous in her vulnerability.

David's eyes went completely black with anger - or perhaps madness. His lips twitched as he muttered to himself.

"I know no beast that had but some touch of pity. Yet I have none, and therefore am no beast," He hissed.

He staggered towards her, the intent in his eyes was perfectly clear. Those words repeating mechanically from his lips.

Alti saw her death in this man's eyes and she backed away. Even if she had been in control of all her old powers, she doubted if she would have been able to stop him. He was consumed with rage and pain. His very essence of goodness seemed smothered in a dark blanket of insanity.

She backed away, looking behind her towards the spot where Finch had parked the car.

"I know no beast that has but some touch of pity. Yet, I have none, and therefore am no beast."

Alti turned and bolted towards the waiting car, her mind suddenly filled with the sensation of panic, a feeling that she had never experienced before. She ran, still seeing the image of that man, dressed in the long dark coat, stalking after her.

"I know no beast that has but some touch of pity. Yet, I have none, and therefore am no beast."

She got to the car and dove into the driver seat. Her newly acquired experience from the late professor told her how to operate the vehicle and the black Chevy careened out of the park and down the dark country road.

Alti looked in the rearview mirror and let a sigh of relief escape her lips. Then she saw the headlights behind her. No matter, this vehicle was the same as the ones that the local law enforcement officials used. It was built for speed. She pressed the accelerator down and felt the car respond. She focused her eyes on the dark stretch of road ahead.

The headlights stayed behind her, and much to her shock and growing horror, they were closing.

Panama's engine roared with fury as the Cutlass rocketed through the thick night air, slowly, inexorably, gaining on its prey. Behind the wheel, David sat, eyes locked straight ahead, his lips moving automatically as he felt his enemy being drawn into his grasp.

A voice tried to cut through the madness that had consumed him.

"Okay," Ares said nervously, sitting beside him in the car. "I admit that I was a bit harsh with you."

"I know no beast that has but some touch of pity. Yet, I have none, and therefore am no beast."

"And, I agree," Ares continued. "This was a bad setup from the start. Fine. But you could do so much more, provided you don't kill yourself tonight!" He grasped the dashboard as the car screamed around a bend in the road.

"I've had an idea," Ares said, trying to sound casual. "I think you and I could do some really interesting things together. If you would just let her go!"

David's eyes didn't move, they didn't even flicker in his direction. The God of war was not used to being ignored, but he simply swallowed that miniscule bit of pride and grunted as Panama navigated several small bends and a couple of hills. He felt the suspension protest as the car launched itself into the air as it crested each one. Sparks erupted as the metal contacted the road with each landing.

"I know no beast that has but some touch of pity. Yet, I have none, and therefore am no beast."

David's thumb hovered over a small red button on the front of the shifter. The words "oh shit" embossed in black on the white cover.

"David," Ares said, trying to sound agreeable in spite of the nervousness that even he was feeling. He had seen madness before, both temporary and permanent, and he wasn't sure which category David currently fell in. "You could do so much more than just this. You can be a lot more, with my help. You know that!"

For the first time, David's eyes drifted over to look at Ares. The gaze sent a chill up the War God's spine.

"I am," David said absently. "Exactly what you made me."

His finger pressed the button.

Panama's engine screamed as the tank of Nitrous Oxide emptied its contents into the injection system. The rear end of Alti's car rushed up towards him as he slammed the accelerator to the floor. There was a brilliant flash and a small explosion as the Cutlass's front end blasted into the rear of the Chevy. Both cars went sailing off the road in a tumble of earth, rocks, and metallic components.

The Cutlass flipped and bounced sideways while Alti's car rolled end over end once before slamming into the trunk of a massive old tree.

David opened his eye; the other was blind for some reason. He clawed his way out of the tangled wreckage that had been his car. He felt the earth beneath him and noticed that his left arm was useless, wreathed in fire. Something wet coated his face, and he felt the wind blowing through the numerous rips and gashes in his clothes and flesh.

He saw the steaming wreck of Alti's car and moved towards it. He felt the fire shooting up his left side. His lungs were on fire. Every move was an accentuation of the pain he felt in his very soul. He slumped against the rear of Alti's wrecked vehicle and pulled himself around to the driver's side door.

"I know no beast that has but some touch of pity. Yet, I have none, and therefore am no beast."

David wrenched the door open and reached within to grasp the throat of the woman that had cost him his only remaining chance for happiness. There was nothing there. His fingers snapped on vacant air. Alti was gone.

David stared, bloody and in pain, at the place where his nemesis had sat.

Another wail burst from him and he fell to the earth, feeling the universe slowly return to its normal rhythms beneath him, then all went dark.

He remembered the red flashes of light. A part of him knew that he was in the ambulance. That people were working to save his life.

"Just let me go," his mind cried in despair.

They didn't let him go. When he awoke, he saw the pale white light reflected off the ceiling. He could hear the constant "beep-beep-beep" of the monitor. His arms and legs were bandaged, and gauze obscured the vision from his left eye.

Through the drug-induced haze, he caught a sight of dark hair. A figure was seated next to him, her head resting on the mattress at his side.

"Gabrielle?" he croaked.

Katrina sat up from her involuntary nap and looked at him, alive and awake, though completely dazed.

"Shakespeare?" she asked timidly as she leaned closer to him.

"Gabrielle?" David asked again, his voice thick and hoarse.

Fingers stroked his hair, and his eyes closed. The tears began to flow. They weren't Gabrielle's fingers. It wasn't her voice. The sobs began slowly, making his entire body quiver and reawakening the pain he felt in his limbs.

"God," Katrina whispered, feeling her own tears well up in her eyes. "My poor, poor, beautiful man." She kissed his cheek and held him gently as he gave himself wholly over to grief.

Gabrielle was gone.

The middle aged man left his rental car on the street and trudged doggedly up the smooth blacktop driveway for the sixth time in two weeks. He took a handkerchief from within his tweed jacket and mopped his balding head, squinting up through the humid air at the burning sun. He sighed and continued to the small side stoop that led into the kitchen of the house.

As he peeked inside, he spied Prospero lounging lazily on top of the kitchen counter, his big, pale green eyes stared out of his black furry face inquisitively, and then he went back to cleaning himself.

"Oh, if only I could leave the message with you, my feline friend," The man said in a smooth British accent.

He sat himself down on the low concrete step and waited, occasionally mopping his brow or face as he sat, baking in the hot July sun.

Turning his head, he surveyed the dwelling. It was a modest, brown and yellow, three bedroom home in a simple, unassuming neighborhood. The old man smiled wryly. "You'd never know a millionaire lived here."

Of course, that was what he had wanted. David had always desired a low profile. Let his money rest in the bank and let him live a simple life. Here, in this place, the only apparent difference was that his home was paid for, while most others were still paying a mortgage.

After what seemed a short eternity, his patience was rewarded by the approaching sound of a motorcycle engine. It decelerated and the man saw a large, lithe man on a dark red motorcycle coast into the driveway, his hair streaming behind him, eyes hidden behind red lenses.

He wore a pair of jeans, black boots and a leather vest, adorned with various pins and patches. His face was set and grim, accented by a close cropped beard and moustache. The motorcycle coasted past him as if he were not even there. A garage opened behind the house and the vehicle vanished within.

The old man saw the glow of red tail lights and then the thumping of the engine fell silent. The old man waited, watching as a shadow moved about the silent machine for a few moments, then the rider emerged, carrying a bundle of clothes and a leather jacket draped over his arm and a large duffel bag over his other shoulder.

"David?" the man said as he stood up from his place. "David Forester?"

The rider stopped short and his mouth opened slightly in surprise.

"Professor MacGhee," David said. "What the hell are you doing here?" He pushed past the professor and inserted his key into the door.

"I need to speak with you," MacGhee said.

"Come on in," David replied. He opened the door and pushed inside, depositing his jacket on the dusty kitchen table. Then he stomped down a short flight of steps, turning right into a small laundry room. He tossed the bundle of dirty clothes in and turned the knob, pouring in some detergent.

Professor MacGhee followed David down the steps, studying him intently.

David let the lid of the washer fall with a clatter and walked back out into the basement, moving behind a small wet bar. He fished out a large bottle of Southern Comfort and a glass.

"You wanted to talk?" David asked as he also fished out a cigar and bit the end off. "So, talk."

Professor Arlan MacGhee regarded his former student carefully. There was a solitary demeanor about this man that he couldn't ever recall seeing before. Something dark and sinister lurked behind those red mirrored glasses. The professor cleared his throat suddenly.

"Yes, there's something rather odd about a dig that I've recently taken over, and I felt that I should discuss it with you directly."

"Why?" David asked. "I haven't been involved in a dig in nearly six years? Not since graduate school?"

"Because you were mentioned," Professor MacGhee said cryptically. "By name." The professor looked at David for a long moment, standing there, leaning against the bar, a drink in his hand, and the cigar clenched between his teeth. There was something about this former student that sent a chill up his spine. He was not the same man he had known. Anger surrounded him like a dark cloud, barely contained within his muscular frame.

"What's happened to you, David?" he asked. "At first, I thought that this whole situation might have been some type of elaborate joke?" His voice caught. "But I think you haven't joked with anyone for quite some time?"

"Would you mind getting to the point, Professor?" David asked, slamming down his drink and refilling the glass. "I have a lot to do."

"And what is it that you are doing? the Professor asked. "Why is it that, for nearly a fortnight, I have been to this house and not found you in it? How those people that knew you, could not give me any information about your whereabouts?"

"I've been busy," David said icily.

"Doing what?" The Professor asked gently.

"Looking for someone," David replied. There was an air of menace in the way he made that statement. "You said I was mentioned by name?"

Arlan swallowed down a sudden chill and lifted his brown attaché case to the bar. The locks popped and he removed a thick manila envelope.

"Yes, well," he began. "There I was in Lancaster, enjoying a well deserved retirement, don't you know, when I get a call from the head of the Archeology department at Oxford, asking me to come in and assume management of a site that had been found nearly two years prior." He sighed. "Not knowing any better, I agreed and landed myself in a cesspool of intrigue."

He removed a single image and set it on the table.

"This is the Potedia Archeological site," He said. "About twenty miles northeast of Athens, in the Greek countryside. Do you know the place?" His eyebrows rose inquisitively.

"I know the name," David said smoothly.

"Ah," Arlan nodded. "I thought you might. Then perhaps you also know something of my predecessor, Professor Bernadette Klaus, out of the University of Berlin?"

The old professor saw David go rigid at the mention of that name. A curious smile tugged at the mouth behind the thick gray goatee.

"I heard something about her over a year ago," David answered, but his voice was tight, as if something was beginning to boil within him. "Do you know where she is?"

"No," Arlan said. "That's a big part of the mystery. No one knows where she is. She abandoned the site and her personnel nearly two years ago. No one has been able to contact her since." He shrugged. He adjusted the wire-rimmed spectacles on the end of his nose and removed a thick stapled stack of paper, setting them on the bar and pushing them towards him for inspection. "Now," he said in the same voice he would use when he was testing one of his students. "Tell me what you deduce from this?"

David suppressed a sigh. He had things to do. His last lead had turned up nothing and he was anxious to continue his search. He looked down at the photocopied pages; browsing through them quickly, then his face dropped nearer and he removed the sunglasses.

For the first time, Professor MacGhee saw the scar that crossed over his left eye. It was jagged, shaped like a four-pointed star, and a deep red in color.

"Good, God," Arlan said. "When did that happen?"

"A little over a year ago," David answered mechanically. Something in the notes had caught his attention.

"And your eye?" Arlan asked, noting that it did not move with the same ease as his right one.

"Glass," David said, and then he frowned.

"Wait a minute," he lifted the pages up and flipped through them again. "This is all wrong. What a freakin mess!"

"I agree." Arlan smiled. He cleared his that uncomfortably. "You lost your eye?"

David read through the copied, hand written notes again. They were in a neat, quick, spidery hand. However the subject matter jumped from one site to the next in an awkward, random order. First, describing a stone foundation of a building, then an opening in a cave nearby, then back to a ruined temple, discovered near the center of the ancient community.

"She found the foundations of the village and began an excavation there," David said. "Then, for no apparent reason, she packed it up and began to bounce about. She didn't even bother to protect the sites she abandoned?" "Precisely," the Professor said proudly. "She was looking for something specific."

"All the dig sites and soil tests moved steadily west to the base of several craggy hills, and then there was a cluster of notes about several tombs unearthed on the eastern and southern face of the hill." David frowned.

"Yes," Arlan said again. "You begin to understand." He took another pile of paper out of his case and set them down.

"As you are well aware," he said studiously. "Any artifacts that are discovered are immediately preserved and then sent on to the laboratory for study, carbon dating, and all that." He flipped through them and pulled one free. "Here is a list of everything that was cataloged just prior to her disappearance," he handed the paper over. "And here is a list of everything that was actually sent."

"Actually?" David frowned, looking down at the two lists. He found the discrepancy immediately and sighed.

"Yes," Arlan said. He leaned on the bar and looked at a bottle of wine resting on a rack. "May I?" he asked.

David poured him a glass and settled back to review the collected notes. Suddenly, his desire to leave had been overwhelmed by his curiosity.

Arlan sipped the wine and nodded in approval. Then he gestured to the notes.

"Understand," he said. "I knew Bernadette. I had worked with her on several digs over the past ten years and I never saw a more thorough and conscientious individual in my entire life. She was almost obsessive about keeping everything neat and tidy. These records do not read like her. Yet they aren't forgeries, and nothing is missing. At least as far as we can tell."

David continued to peruse the inconsistent entries. "Oh, she was obsessing all right," he muttered. The memories began to filter back to him along with his desire for blood.

"Getting back to these manifests," Arlan took up the two sheets of paper again. "It's obvious to me that an artifact was removed from the site without proper authorization." He read the catalog list.

"A silver crystal amulet, in the shape of a four pointed star, with a semi-opaque green crystal, possibly emerald, in the center, surrounded by four other clear crystals that do not show the durability of diamond, though they are nearly clear and flawless."

David nodded. "The Amulet of Tachos."

Arlan looked up at him and swiped his spectacles from his face.

"Now, how in the duces do you know that?" he asked sharply.

"You don't want to know," David said soberly, refilling his glass for a third time.

"Yes, David," Arlan said. "I do."

David looked at the briefcase. "What else have you got?"

"David?"

"What else?" David shot back with equal force.

Arlan was taken aback by the younger man's sudden vehemence. He lifted another envelope and set it down, but did not open it.

"Very well," he said. "In exchange for an explanation from you, agreed?"

David nodded. "Agreed."

"Right," Arlan opened the file and removed several more recent documents and photographs.

"Now," he began again. "As you know, during an excavation, there is always a concern about contamination. Any modern contamination of a site can invalidate any hypotheses generated up to that point."

"I know the rules," David said.

"Well," Arlan said in a huff. "I cannot report contamination of a dig site unless it is genuine. It is either present, or not present."

"That follows," David agreed.

"So, imagine my surprise when we discover contamination on a family tomb, which actually turns out to not be contamination."

"Say that again?" David asked.

Arlan handed David a stack of photographs and several scientific reports.

"These are the results of carbon dating done on several articles of clothing that were recovered from one of the sites." He said. "Now, the rear half of the site had collapsed over time and our crew was still in the process of excavating it when I left two weeks ago." He pointed to a short series of numbers.

"As you can plainly see, most of the articles of clothing removed from the first sarcophagus date back to the Classical Period in Greco-Roman history."

David nodded, his old school lessons coming back to him.

"So," Arlan said, his voice becoming gruff. "Imagine my considerable consternation when, in addition to the dated material here, we also discover other articles of clothing that are constructed from a modern fabric."

"How modern?' David asked.

"Very modern!" Arlan said indignantly. He pressed another small picture to David. "And then we find this! This really put the tin hat on it!"

David looked at the image, and for the first time, a genuinely amused smile crossed his face. He laughed out loud as he looked at the worn and faded nylon tag. The words "Machine Wash Cold - Tumble Dry Medium" still plainly visible. Above it, he could still make out a faded tip of an orange wing. Part of a Harley Davidson logo.

"Kiss my dick," he said, laughing.

"I beg your pardon?" Arlan asked.

David set the picture down and leaned back against the shelves behind him, looking at his old teacher with a bemused expression.

"Congratulations, Professor," he said. "You've found her."

"Found who?" Arlan protested. "Found what?"

David refilled the professor's glass and his own.

"Remember, about seventy years ago?" David said. "When that British/American expedition in Mesopotamia found all those scrolls?"

"Yes, it was quite a scandal in the archeological community." Arlan said. "They kept it all very hush-hush."

"Yeah, the information in those scrolls would have forced a major rewrite of every modern history book for that era, had they been made public." David sighed.

"They ended up in a trunk in someone's attic and were eventually forgotten until a wannabe screenwriter presented them to a television producer back in the mid nineties."

"I didn't follow the results, but I know what you're referring to. They turned them into entertainment for mostly American audiences, if I remember rightly?"

David smiled. "Well, Professor. You've found the woman that wrote them."

Arlan suddenly choked on the wine he was drinking. "What?"

David only nodded, and his smile changed to one of wistful regret. "You found Gabrielle." He felt the emotion churn at the mention of her name, and realized that he had not spoken it aloud for more than a year.

"And how in the blazes would you deduce that?" Arlan asked. "And how does that explain the contamination, that isn't really contamination, at my dig site?"

"You really want to hear the whole story?" David asked, suddenly unsure if he could retell it and maintain his composure. His demeanor shifted to something more subdued.

"Yes." Arlan answered. "Absolutely."

"No matter how wild it might be?" David asked.

"I like to think I have an open mind, young man?" Arlan said, suddenly wanting to brace himself.

David closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then he opened a drawer and fumbled about for a moment.

Arlan watched in stupefied amazement as David set the Amulet of Tachos on the bar between them.

"I think I should begin with this," he said. "I believe you'll find that this is the missing artifact from the dig site."

Professor Arlan MacGhee sat down on the stool, too stunned to do anything more than simply stare at it in wonder, his mouth agape.

"My God," he finally breathed as he tentatively reached out to touch it. "I think you had better start explaining yourself?"

With that, David told his teacher the entire story, from beginning to end. Everything about Gabrielle's arrival that fateful night, the dangerous adventure to recapture the Chronos Stone, Professor Klaus's murderous transformation into the woman he knew as Alti, and his loss of Gabrielle at the end, right up to the point where he rammed his car into the rear of Alti's fleeing vehicle.

"I woke up in the hospital, three days later," he said. "It took a few months for me to get back on my feet. I've been hunting for her ever since." His finger touched the edge of his scar. "I owe her for this, among other things."

Arlan sat back suddenly exhausted. He refilled his own wineglass and took a large swallow.

"Dear God," he whispered again. "She was actually here?" He looked about the room as if he expected her to walk out of the air.

David's face fell towards the ground. "Yup."

Arlan suddenly felt the man's pain.

"Oh, David," he said suddenly. "Forgive me. I'm so sorry. It's just so - remarkable!"

"Yes," David said. "She was."

Suddenly, David looked up with the most emotion that the Professor had seen thus far.

"I want to see her," he said earnestly.

"David," Arlan put a reassuring hand on David's. "She's gone, my boy. She's been gone, now, for more than two millennia."

"Not to me," David said, his voice suddenly hoarse. "To me, she's only been gone a little more than a year, and I miss her as much now as I did a year ago."

David turned and walked out from behind the bar.

"David," Arlan asked gently. "What are you hoping to find?"

"I don't know," David said honestly. He turned back to the Professor. "When my wife died, there was a service, a wake, a funeral, the whole thing. With Gabrielle?" He snapped his fingers. "She was gone. Maybe I'm looking for closure to this? Maybe I just want to see what's left of her so that I'll finally accept that she really is gone? I can't say."

Arlan looked thoughtful for a moment, then he nodded. "I think I understand. I need to fly back tomorrow. I'll arrange the necessary paperwork. Passes and the like. Follow me when you're ready."

The professor began shuffling the papers back into the briefcase, and then he paused, reaching into the top pocket and drawing out another printed page. He pressed it into David's hand.

"This is the reason I came looking for you," he explained. "It's a translation of a scroll that we discovered in the-" he stopped. "It was with her," he finally said. "It may help, or not. I don't know, really? But I think you should read it." He snapped the case closed and stood. Then he wrote down a phone number.

"This is the number and name of the hotel where I'm staying," he said. "Call me if you need to talk later? I don't think I'll be getting much sleep tonight." With that, he politely excused himself and left.

David stood in the middle of his basement, reluctant, suddenly, to raise the paper to his eyes. His arm suddenly felt heavy. He took several deep breaths and raised the paper to his eyes. With great effort, he began to read.

When it was over, he was seated on the barstool, the tears streaming down his face as all the emotion began to find a way out of him. The blind thirst for vengeance washed away, leaving only the feelings that he still had for her.

He smoothed the translation lovingly, and then rose and grabbed the phone. He dialed a number and waited. The line clicked.

"Professor?" David said calmly. "What time's your flight?" He jotted down the information and disconnected the call. Then he dialed again quickly. This time, a smooth middle aged voice answered.

"Tom Eardley?"

"Tom," David said, trying to sound upbeat. "Hi, there. David Forester here."

"Good evening David," the man replied cheerfully. "What can I do for you?"

"I need a favor," David said. "I want you to transfer twenty-five thousand dollars into the liquid account tied to my card."

"Twenty-five?" the banker replied in surprise. "That's an awfully large amount. Are you planning on making a big purchase? If so, I know a few other ways that we can do it without depleting the main fund too-"

"Nothing like that, Tom. Really," David said quickly. "I'm leaving the country for a few weeks, maybe longer, and I want to make sure I have enough liquid cash for it."

Tom clearly wasn't pleased. "Well, I can think of a few better ways to do that, but you're the boss. I'll take care of it first thing in the morning."

"Thanks, Tom," David said evenly. "I'll talk to you soon."

David grabbed the phone book and dialed another number.

"Good evening," he said. "I need to set up a shipment overseas, air freight, Chicago to Athens, tomorrow. A motorcycle. Yes, I realize that it will cost more with this short notice, I don't care. Yes, I have the flight information."

A few minutes later, the flight was booked and the freight carrier notified. He gave the card information for payment and then quickly packed the saddlebags on Rosie and a small duffel bag.

When Professor MacGhee reached his departure gate the next morning, he immediately noted the tall, longhaired man standing at the window, wearing a dark red button down shirt and black leather biker vest. He stood, poised, his arms crossed over his chest as he watched the activity on the ramp below.

Arlan smiled and stepped over next to him, looking down at the crew loading the plane. He saw David's bike, strapped securely to a pallet, and being loaded gently into the aircraft. Several of the men working the plane looked up to see the imposing figure watching them and they took extra care not to do anything that could damage the bike.

"You know," Arlan said, leaning closer. "You can rent one of those in Greece."

David's eyes never left his beloved Rosie as she disappeared into the forward cargo compartment.

"I know," David said. "But I owe her."

"Owe who?"

David nodded towards the bike. "I owe her a tour of Europe."

"The motorcycle?"

David smiled. "If you don't ride one, you'd never understand."

"Well, then," Arlan said with a grunt. "If ignorance is bliss, then I shall remain a happy man regarding that subject."

David turned to face him and his smile, though grim, was evident.

"Thank you, Professor," he said. "Thank you for coming to find me, and for bringing me that translation."

Arlan merely shrugged. "It was no trouble, really. Though it was a great surprise."

"You have the Amulet?" David asked. The old man patted his ever-present briefcase.

"Safely tucked away for the journey."

David nodded. "Good. I think you should send it directly to Athens when we arrive. It's caused enough trouble."

"On that, I think we can agree," Arlan nodded. He looked over at the entrance to the jet bridge. "In the meantime, shall we?"

David nodded and the two men boarded the plane.

Susan Wood was in her sixth year, heading for her Doctorate in History. She had been a part of many digs, all around the globe, interning with one professor or another. This dig, however, had been the wildest ride she had ever been on. She stared down at the ancient garment with its modern design, fabric, and that damned nylon tag.

"If you look at it long enough," a cheerful voice said off to one side, "you can actually see the cloth decomposing."

Robert Bennett, age twenty-three, also interning on the dig, entered the large tent bearing a tray of more artifacts collected from the tombs. "More pieces of the puzzle," he announced, gently setting the tray on an adjacent table.

"Anything interesting?" Susan asked, rubbing her eyes.

"More interesting than the clothing?" Robert answered. "No. But interesting none the less."

He handed her a recently received fax.

"It's final results of the post mortem on the body," Robert said. "Female, between the ages of twenty-five and thirty. Death was the result of a single intrusion by a sharp object through the heart. Other injuries were also present just prior to death, indicating that she had probably been tortured."

Susan shuddered as she read the list of cursory injuries. She pursed her lips. "When will we have access to the last coffin?" she asked impatiently.

Robert shrugged as he studied several pieces and began to experimentally try and match pieces together. "Probably another day or so. What's your hurry?"

"I don't know," Susan confessed. "I just think we haven't seen all the surprises in that particular tomb." She shrugged. "Maybe we'll find something that sheds light on this?" She gestured to the garment again.

"Well," Robert said, still gently fishing about the tray. "The Professor's friend is scheduled to arrive this afternoon. Maybe he'll know something we don't?"

"Yeah?" Susan asked. "Who is this guy? Some stuffy overpaid doctor with a hair up his ass?"

Robert smiled as he continued his examinations. Both of them paused when they heard the sound of a motorcycle approaching. They looked at each other as they heard the sound coasting up the gravel road to stop outside the tent.

Robert and Susan both shrugged in confusion before moving towards the open tent flap. Outside they heard Professor MacGhee's voice.

"Ah, David," he greeted. "It's about time, young man."

Robert and Susan rounded the corner of the tent and stopped short when they saw the lean, tan, muscular man in a black leather vest and jeans, sitting on a deep red motorcycle. His hand was interlocked with the professor's.

"Oh yeah," Robert said quietly in Susan's ear. "He definitely looks like the stuffy type."

Susan's elbow jabbed up into his side and she quickly straightened her long sandy hair.

"Come along and meet some of the staff," Arlan said, gesturing towards the tent. He stopped short when he turned and saw two of his lead students standing at the corner.

"Oh," he said in surprise.

David swung his leg over the bike and stepped up behind the professor.

"David," Arlan said graciously, "this is Robert Bennett and Susan Wood, the two graduate students that accompanied me from London."

David shook both of their hands and introduced himself.

"So," Robert asked, somewhat dubious. "You're an archeologist?"

David heard the skepticism in the young man's voice and smiled.

"Only on weekends," he said. "Professor MacGhee suggested that I take a look at some of the artifacts that you've recovered so far."

"Yes," Arlan said quickly. "They're in here. Follow me, please."

David followed the Doctor to one table where several items were laid out carefully. David's breath caught in his throat as he looked down at the table. There, opened up for examination, was the deerskin jacket that Katrina had bought Gabrielle one year before. He laughed quietly.

"As you can see," Susan said. "This is a modern garment, but it was found in the tomb with the rest of the occupant's belongings. Until we found the scroll, we were unable to understand how it might have gotten there. Do you know where this came from?"

David nodded, smiling. "It's a place called Suburban Harley Davidson, just outside Chicago," he said. "Cost me three hundred dollars, too."

"Well," Robert replied sarcastically. "I'd say you got your money's worth."

Susan glared at her coworker and then moved further down the table. "We also discovered woven cloth, similar to denim, and a more tightly woven cotton that seemed to be of modern make." She pointed at the nylon tag. "This was affixed to the tunic."

"The clothing she was wearing the night she went back," David said, his humor fading.

Susan paused, looking up at the Professor. He merely nodded and raised his eyebrows. "So she was in modern garments at the time, and she saved those items for the rest of her life and was buried with them?"

"That's what it looks like," David murmured. He quickly relayed some of the events regarding Gabrielle and the Chronos Stone. When he finished, the two young people looked skeptical. Susan frowned and then looked at her mentor.

"This is crazy," she blurted. "I'm sorry, sir. But how are we supposed to publish our findings without being laughed out of academia?"

"Very discreetly," Arlan answered with unnerving calm.

Robert, also highly skeptical, piped in. He shook his head. "I'm sorry, Professor, but there's no way that any of this is possible. I have to agree with Susan on this one. The carbon dating must be wrong somehow. Or someone got in here before us and contaminated the whole bloody site. If that's the case, we might as well pack up and go home?"

Professor MacGhee was clearly ruffled by this poor treatment of his guest, but said nothing. He simply looked at David and gave a subtle nod of his head.

David extended his hand to the two interns. "Of course," he said brusquely. "I'm sorry to have bothered you. You experts seem to have everything well in hand and don't need help from someone like me. Thank you for showing me this." He stalked away, pausing to pick up the post mortem report. Then he turned back and looked at Robert with dark, shimmering eyes. "But consider something that I know to be a fact." He dropped the sheet of paper back on the table as if it hurt him to touch it. "You could send samples of those clothes to every dating lab in the world and you'd get the same result. Are they all wrong then?" He vanished out into the sunlight.

Professor MacGhee fixed both of his students with an icy glare. "We shall discuss this later," he said gruffly. "In very elaborate detail." He turned and followed David outside.

Arlan took David by the arm and led him towards the opening in the rocks. "Come with me, quickly," he said. "The digging crew is resting for their afternoon meal. The tomb should be deserted." He looked back at the main tent. "I apologize about that, in there. Apparently they are not as open minded as I hoped."

David shrugged. "Would you have believed me if I didn't have the Amulet to back it up?"

Arlan nodded. "Good point." Then he pointed at a recently excavated opening. "This way."

They entered the dark, cool cave and moved quickly deeper into the side of the hill. At the end of a narrow tunnel, a large room opened up on the left. Work lights strung on cords dangled in from the ceiling, bathing the room in dim yellow light.

Before the two of them rested three sarcophagi, with a fourth one showing under a partially removed pile of rubble.

The lids of all three sarcophagi were gone, presumably being photographed and cataloged before being replaced. David stepped over to the first one; instinctively knowing it was hers. The body was nothing more than bones, lying where they had collapsed all those eons ago.

David knelt down at the head of the casket and looked down at the brown skull resting within.

"Hey, beautiful," he whispered. A lump suddenly formed in his throat. "I've missed you."

Arlan saw the tears welling up in David's eyes and he fidgeted for a moment.

"I'll leave you alone with her," he said in a kindly tone. "Take all the time you need. No one will disturb you while I keep vigil."

David nodded, never taking his eyes off the body.

"Professor," David called suddenly. "Have a security gate installed today. Just in case."

"You think that's necessary?" Arlan asked.

David looked up at him and shrugged. "You never know."

Arlan considered for a moment and then nodded. "I'll see to it." He turned and walked back toward the entrance.

"He's a good guy, after you get to know him," David said to her a few moments later. "I don't think he believed a word of it till we landed in Athens this morning." His voice broke. "But then you're hard to believe." His fingers clutched the edge of the coffin. The memories were a palpable pain in his chest. A sob burst from him. His fingers gently caressed the top of the withered skull.

"God I miss you," he said. "I'd give anything just to hear your voice."

Suddenly, the memories of her flooded his mind. Every sound, every touch, every expression. He saw her green eyes staring up into his and remembered the sound of her laughter. Saw her laughing among the rest of his extended family. Felt her leaning against his shoulder as they sat at night, gazing up in wonder as an airplane coasted across the heavens. He remembered her eyes looking into his with that mixture of anticipation and desire, the feel of her skin, warm and soft under his fingers. He saw her, once more, asleep against his chest, her face totally peaceful, and the tears fell. The emotions, held back for all that time, came rushing out and he fell to his knees at her side, his fingers stroking the top and side of the skull.

He looked down and through the burning tears, saw something wedged in the corner of the coffin, under the cluster of bones that had been her left hand. His emotion suddenly receded, overcome by his curiosity as he looked more closely.

"What have you got here?" he asked her. Gingerly, he reached into the coffin and gently pulled the item free. It was a ring. A simple gold band topped by a small diamond. Absently wondering why the crew hadn't removed and cataloged it, he examined it closely. Even his untrained eye could see that it was not classical in design, it was just like - he suddenly felt like laughing as he realized what it was, and he slipped the thing into his pocket. Then he leaned down and kissed the top of the skull gently.

"God, I love you," he said, almost weeping again. "I gotta go. Got some things to take care of."

Gaining control of his sudden elation, he tried to put on the somber look of a person leaving a funeral and exited the cave. Arlan stood out in the bright sunlight. He shook David's hand and smiled sympathetically.

"I know it wasn't what you wanted to see," he said, fumbling for the correct words. "But you were right. You deserved to say your good-byes to her."

David nodded, looking back at the entrance. "Thanks, Arlan." He smiled. He began walking towards his motorcycle. After a few paces, he turned back.

"You're okay, Professor," he said with a smile. "I hope to see you again in the future."

Arlan nodded and raised his hand as he accepted a sheet of paper from one of the other students.

"David!" He called quickly. "A moment, if you please?"

David stepped back over as Arlan read through the official looking document. He sighed.

"This is the post mortem on Gabrielle," he said somberly. "You may want to see this?"

David took the form in his trembling hand and read the final summation at the bottom.

"…Death was caused by an intrusion to the left chest region by a sharp object. Based on damage to the surrounding bone structure and angle of entry, the intrusion severed the heart. Death would have been nearly instantaneous. Approximate age at time of death would have been between twenty-five and thirty years…"

Arlan watched David closely as he read the report. He instantly saw the pain in David's expression. A chill ran up the professor's spine as that pained expression slowly began to change.

A fire kindled in the young man's dark eyes, and the trembling ceased. When David looked back at him, the professor caught his breath. Never in his long years had he seen such fierce determination. David's lips twisted into something resembling a snarl, and he crumpled the paper into a ball and threw it away.

"No," he growled.

"David," Arlan said sympathetically. His voice stuck when David fixed that dark glare upon him.

"No," was all he said and he turned and walked towards the bike. His entire manner had shifted. He was no longer the former student he had tutored. Now he was a hunter, stalking prey. What that prey was, the professor could not guess.

David climbed back onto the motorcycle and fired up the engine.

"Lets go," he said to the bike and he bounced off down towards the main road.

Once they were out of sight of the excavation, David pulled over.

"I need to get a few things," he said to himself. He scanned the horizon and saw a small town a few miles away. Twisting the throttle, he headed in that direction

David grinned mischievously as the Mediterranean wind washed over him. "I need to find a place that sells hunting gear."

He found a small motel in the nearby town and got directions to various shops that would have the supplies he would require. The small sporting goods shop he needed was about ten miles away. David found the place easily enough and went in, his eyes scanning the various aisles for what he needed. He moved quickly up and down, selecting several items. Two large duffel bags, a pair of sturdy black hunting boots, a long black canvas overcoat, black hunting vest, gloves, and various other anticipated necessities. He set the large pile on the counter in front of a very surprised proprietor.

"Starting from scratch, are we?" he asked as he rang up the small box containing a compact three man pop tent.

"Well," David said, trying to sound conversational. "It's easier than trying to deal with customs." He waited patiently. Fingers drumming on the hard wood as the total increased. Once the proprietor was done, he looked up at David with an inviting smile.

"Can I get anything else for you, sir?"

"Yes," David said, his eyes scanning several fiberglass bows hanging on the wall behind the shop owner.

"I need a collapsible compound hunting bow, about two hundred pound draw," David said. "The best one you have."

The proprietor smiled and turned, selecting a finely built camouflage olive and charcoal bow. "This one is one of the best," he said with an air of authority. "Two hundred twenty pound draw. Excellent release velocity and low maintenance. Plus, it's collapsible, so you can pack it into a small case for transport. I think it would do you well." He handed the weapon over to David for inspection.

David took the lightweight weapon and experimentally drew back on the string. He glanced back up at several others before nodding. "I'll take it, and I need twelve extra strings."

"Of course," the man said, a slight frown creasing his brows. He fished about under the counter and came up with twelve bundled bowstrings sealed neatly in plastic.

"Now," David said. "The most durable shafts you have. And do you carry Muzzie points?"

"Of course," the man said. "How many would you need?"

"How many have you got?" David countered with a wry smile.

David paid for the merchandise and began to quickly pack it into the large knapsacks he had purchased. The proprietor watched him for several moments. Finally his curiosity could no longer be quelled.

"If I might ask," he said. "What is all this for?"

"I'm going camping," David said mysteriously. "For a very long time."

"How long?" The proprietor asked.

David shrugged. "I need to find a place to pick up some clothes and then a jewelry store."

"Very well," The man said. Again, David received directions, and he thundered off down the narrow road.

He found a clothing store and made a quick trip of that one, then he rode to the next town before he found a jewelry store. By this time, the long flight and off-hours of jet lag were beginning to take their toll on him. The sun was high, but beginning its slow descent to evening.

David stepped into the jewelry store and began browsing about, looking at the different items beneath the cool glass. The keeper was a kindly looking middle aged woman with silver gray hair and deep, inquisitive blue eyes. She smiled when she saw David peering through the glass counter top at the wedding sets.

"May I show you something?" She asked cordially.

David continued to scan the contents of the display until he found what he was looking for.

"That one," he said. "I want that one, there."

The woman removed the ring and presented it to him. He smiled at it in recognition.

"I'll take it," he said.

The woman took the ring back and placed it in a fabric case.

"Does she know this is coming?" she asked knowingly as she wrote up the bill of sale.

David smiled and rubbed his eyes, suddenly feeling weary. "Not yet."

"You think she'll say yes?" the woman continued.

"God, I hope so," David replied.

The woman placed the box on the counter and took David's credit card. She looked at him appraisingly as the card was being processed.

"You haven't slept much, have you?" she asked.

"No," David said. "I just got here earlier today. I guess it's starting to show."

"May I make a suggestion?" the woman said kindly. "Before you propose, you might want to take some rest first?"

David grinned. "No rest for the wicked, ma'am. Besides, if I don't do this soon, I think I might lose my nerve."

She smiled understandingly. "Well, good luck to you."

David signed the receipt and shook the woman's hand.

"Hotel now?" he asked himself, surveying the overloaded luggage rack behind the back seat. He nodded. "Hotel."

The hotel was a tiny, single story edifice that sprawled across a large patch of unspoiled field. David went to his room and unloaded the bags, placing everything on the single bed in the tiny room.

He looked at the clock. It was nearly five PM. He sighed. "Gotta go, gotta go."

He stepped out onto the wooden porch and looked at the setting sun. His eyes drifted down to the rolling green and gray hills, watching as the shadows slowly lengthened.

As he gazed across the narrow street, he saw a small pharmacy and another fragment of his idea fell into place.

A few minutes later, he emerged from the pharmacy with several small boxes and several very thick books.

Once back in his room, he sorted through all his gear and began packing it all carefully into the two knapsacks.

It was just before eight o'clock when David finally finished stuffing the last of the gear into the bags. He stepped out into the late evening, watching as the rays of the sun peered over the western hills.

In his hand he held three envelopes. He slipped them into the inner pocket of his long coat and wrestled with the tie downs as he strapped the two large bags to the back of the bike.

"Okay," He sighed. "Game time."

He stopped at a local post office and dropped two of the envelopes in the box. One to Shilah, and the second to Debbie. Then he dropped the ring he had found in the crypt into the third envelope along with a note. He wrote on it. "Professor Arlan MacGhee" and sealed it, slipping it back into his pocket.

Once back outside, David climbed back onto the bike. He was feeling the hours. His false eye was itching intolerably. He rubbed it and wiggled it about slightly, forcing his tear duct to work. That helped a little. Then he tilted his head sharply from one side to the other, feeling the bones crack loudly, and that helped a bit more.

"You're going to run yourself into the ground," he muttered, shaking his head.

The shadows were long and the moon was shining pale in the night when David coasted the motorcycle up to the side of the darkened tent.

A single figure came out to greet him wearing a blue uniform of a security guard.

"Can I help you?" he asked gruffly. David fished out the card that Arlan had given him, granting him access to the dig site, and handed it and his passport to the guard.

"I'm here to look at some of the artifacts recovered earlier today," he said politely.

"It's a little late, don't you think?" the guard asked suspiciously.

"Not in Chicago," David smiled. "I'm still dealing with the time difference." He shrugged. When the guard seemed unconvinced, David looked up at the stars and sighed impatiently.

"Look," he said. "If you need to confirm anything, contact Professor MacGhee. He knows me, and he knows why I'm here."

The guard considered that option for a moment and then shrugged. The identification and the pass were in order. He handed them back to David. "I cannot let you stay the night, but if you have a few things that you can do quickly, I'll allow it."

David forced the bleary feeling from him and smiled. "No problem. It'll only take a few minutes." He got off the bike and stretched.

As they walked towards the tent, David stared up at the stars again. "Beautiful night," he said conversationally.

The guard said nothing. David reached out to move the flap of the tent, his hands just touching the fabric, and then he wheeled around and slammed his fist into the startled guard's jaw. The man launched himself skyward and landed with a thud, unconscious.

"Sorry about that," David said genuinely. He fished out a roll of electrical tape and went to work, binding the guard's wrists and ankles. Then he removed the pistol from the guard's holster. "Just blame it on us crazy Americans." He patted the unconscious guard's shoulder. "Everyone else does." He dragged the limp form into the tent and began fishing for the keys to the security gate. There were none!

"Oh shit," he muttered as panic set in. He found a small key ring, but none of those keys were to a padlock. Car keys, a handcuff key, and a house key. "Shit!"

There had to be a second security guard walking a beat somewhere in the compound. He could be back, looking for his partner at any moment.

He ran to the bike and snapped the tie downs free, slinging the massive knapsacks over his shoulders. Glancing down at the pistol, he frowned and then tossed it into the shadows, hearing it bounce several times. He took his bow and quickly assembled the components. The two quivers of prepared arrows went over the rest of the gear. Then he popped the saddlebag and removed his long thick bowie knife and hooked it onto his belt. The blade hung down to just above his knee.

"I'm screwed, I'm screwed, I'm screwed," he kept repeating as his eyes scanned the surrounding shadows furtively. He notched an arrow to the bow and began moving deeper into the compound. He needed those damn keys!

Something snapped around the corner of another, smaller tent and the second guard stepped into view.

David reacted, raising the bow and drawing back on the string.

"Hi," he said in surprise. The point of the arrow shone coldly in the moonlight.

David nodded to the holster on the man's hip.

"Gun," he said. "Two fingers, slowly."

The guard considered his position for a moment and decided that discretion would serve him best. He did as instructed and held the weapon between his thumb and forefinger.

"Toss it," David instructed. The second pistol bounced several times in the shadows.

"Good boy," David continued. "Now, open the gate."

David covered the sweating guard as he walked slowly towards the newly installed security gate and opened it.

"Step back," David said and he moved around, backing into the opening.

"Now," he said. "Close it and lock it."

Again the guard complied. David smiled. "Toss the keys in here."

The keys clattered on the stone floor at David's feet.

David let the tension on the quivering string ease and he lowered the bow.

"Grab your partner and get the hell out of here," he said.

The guard turned and fled.

"Ready?" he asked himself as he watched the guard flee without retrieving his coworker; the adrenaline washed away his weariness. He nodded. "God, I hope I'm right!"

David ran deeper into the tomb and procured a flashlight from the pocket of his coat. The feeble light penetrated the darkness as he moved quickly back to the burial chamber. The clock was ticking now. At best, he had twenty minutes to execute his plan, if everything went right, he would be gone before anyone arrived with a second key, or a truck big enough to pull the gate down.

He passed into the tomb, dropping his gear next to Gabrielle's sarcophagus.

"Hey, sweetie," he said to her. "Told you I'd be back."

His tiny light panned through the gloom and fell on a discarded pick and shovel.

"Okay," he said to her. "Now, where would you have put it? I know it's in here. Would you have kept it? No. They would have found it with you and it would have been in the tent with the other stuff. One of the kids? I doubt it. So, that leaves only one option left."

He stepped up to the partially buried sarcophagus and studied the engravings on it.

"Me." He continued, looking at the exposed surface. "Always assuming this is me?"

That revelation gave him pause. Was he standing there, looking at his own grave? The idea of it sent a chill of horror up his spine.

"Okay, this is mildly freaky." he murmured.

Using the pick, he began to pry some of the stones loose, attempting to dig out the sarcophagus. There was no need for subtlety now. He was in and he had precious little time. He shattered stone and other artifacts buried in the rubble, clearing off the top of the grave. Any markings upon it were long ago erased by the passing of time. He wiped sweat from his brow and forced his weariness away as he dug deeper and deeper into the broken earth.

"So," he spoke to Gabrielle's bones. "I was wondering if you'd like to come back here, with me, when this is all over. You know, set up house, couple of kids, maybe a dog?" He grinned fiercely as desperation fueled his determination. "Just a thought. You don't have to answer right away. Take your time." He glanced at the open coffin and smiled. "Just think about it."

Three sides of the coffin were cleared. At the head end was a small stone, resting on the floor. It was like a step that would allow a person to stand at the head of the grave and place offerings upon it. David noted it and continued. He wedged the pick into the small crevice between the lid and the wall of the stone box. Prying with all his might, he heard the stone grate. Then he heard another noise. He froze and held his breath. The silence descended on him again. Paranoia began to spike within his mind.

"Shit!" He grunted and he forced the heavy lid to rise a few inches. The end of the pick popped out and the lid slammed shut with an echoing thud.

"Dammit!" David held the pick in both hands and brought it down hard on the smooth surface. It cracked under the blow.

David winced at the damage. "Sorry, Prof," he apologized. A second, and then a third swing and a chunk of the lid separated from the whole. Dropping the pick, David wedged his fingers in the gap and pulled the errant piece off.

David panned his light within the space beneath. He saw the bones of a body, for all he knew it was his own body. But there was nothing else in the coffin. Just bones and shreds of clothing. He ignored all that, rifling through the space, searching for a secret panel, or a small box. There was nothing, no Chronos Stone, no nothing. David growled with frustration. He walked around the three sides, hoping that the stone wasn't buried deeper in the rubble. His eyes fell back on the skull within, sitting upright, grinning at him. Maybe his skull?

"What are you grinning at?" he asked the fleshless face.

Then he heard the sound again. A metallic clink of someone trying to quietly force open the gate.

Someone else was attempting to break into the tomb, and he had a pretty good idea who that might be.

David scanned the room again, desperately trying to figure out where the stone might be hidden. There was nothing to indicate a hidden panel or secret door. He tapped on the walls experimentally, to no avail.

"It's got to be here, dammit!" he thought. Once again, his eyes fell on the small square block of stone at the head of the sarcophagus. "I couldn't be that blatant, could I? Then again, if you want to hide a tree?" In desperation he swung the pick against it and heard the hollow thud as the stone chipped.

"Yes!" he hissed. He swung the pick again and again until the stone shattered revealing a small rotting leather pouch. He snatched it up, feeling the leather crumble in his fingers. As he peeled the rotting skin away, he saw a familiar green glint.

There was a sharp staccato report and the sound of hinges creaking.

At the same moment, the lights in the tomb came on and footsteps echoed in the corridor.

David ran to his gear, quickly shouldering the bags and scooping up his weapon. When he looked up, there was Alti, eyes glaring at him. One of the discarded revolvers in her hand.

"Put that down!" she growled.

"This is the second time in two years that someone has pulled a gun on me," David said with annoyance. He surveyed the hag in front of him.

She was dressed in dirty clothes, probably the same ones she had worn a year ago. Her hair was greasy and unkempt and her eyes were wild with madness and desperation.

"I don't think so," David said, grinning like a savage. "You shoot that and I drop this, it shatters into a million bits." He slowly moved the Chronos Stone into her line of fire. "Drop the gun, or it gets broke. You don't want that, now, do you, Alti?"

The defrocked Shamaness stared at David with eyes that would have sent normal men into panic. However, here, faced with a man who had nothing to lose, her anger only seemed to amuse him.

"Give me the stone!" she screamed. "I must get out of this time! My powers don't work here! You crippled me a year ago, and I can do nothing!"

David held the stone in both hands, his eyes searching the angry woman before him.

"Yup," he thought. "She will kill me and risk it, rather than let it go."

"Okay," he said slowly. He handed the stone out towards her slowly. "Okay, fine. Take it."

Alti stepped slowly forward and reached out for the artifact in David's hands. That simple movement took him out of harms way of the pistol for just a second. His foot came up and struck the wrist holding the gun. The shot exploded and the gun bounced into Gabrielle's sarcophagus.

David shoved the woman back with all his might. She slammed against the wall with a thud and stared at him, eyes bleary from the impact.

"First you want to ruin my time, and now you want to go back and ruin someone else's?" David said. "You didn't get the Stone before and you sure as shit aren't getting it now!"

"I must get out of this time! Help me, or I'll tear your heart out!" She screamed at him.

"Well, while I worry about that, you think about this," David said, holding the stone out in front of him. "You've just broken into a secured archeological site, restrained and disarmed two guards, and shot the lock off the security gate into the place. The cops are gonna love you." He laughed out loud. "Enjoy the twenty first century, Alti."

Then there was a pulse of green light and he vanished, just as several members of the local police burst into the room.

"Doctor Bernadette Klaus" reached out to the empty space and screamed in rage.

The universe spun around him in a never-ending collision of possibilities. He stood within the eye of a hurricane, watching the ages whirl past him.

"Focus," David thought to himself. His mind imagined Gabrielle, her village, the surrounding countryside. He saw the flow of time, working backwards like a series of strobing instants and he realized that he could move, but he couldn't breathe. He walked out into the world beyond the crypt and stared in wonder as the ages flowed like a movie rewinding at high speed. The buildings that had been nearby dwindled and vanished, as did the roads and the distant lights of Athens. Stars whirled in the heavens spinning madly as the ages rolled backwards. There was a howling like a million voices in his ears.

Through it all he began to make out a single nebulous tendril of energy. It had separated from him a few moments ago and was stretched out beyond the horizon. The ancient walls of Potedia seemed to rebuild themselves as if by magic. He realized he was looking at the energy left over from his and Gabrielle's one night together. That night of passion had linked them forever. The moment was getting closer. She was getting closer! His lungs were burning from lack of air, still he held on, trying to ignore the sensation.

"Need to slow down," he thought, trying to control the reckless speed at which he traveled. "Think HG Wells. Slow down. Slower, slower, slower."

The spinning of the universe complied and he watched as the stars settled and the tendril of energy faded and vanished. Blessed oxygen filled his lungs and he breathed deeply a few times, forcing himself to stay on his feet, though his legs felt like rubber.

He stood at the entrance to the tomb, now only partially constructed. Ancient tools lay against some of the fallen stone and a discarded water skin rested on top of a flat wooden table. The sun was hidden behind a layer of thick gray clouds and the wind was chill and damp. David looked out towards the village, now alive with people and restored to its former shape. He let a laugh escape his lips as he looked at it.

"It worked," David said, patting his pocket, and then he frowned. A procession was approaching. Four men carried a bier, followed by several other individuals, all with somber expressions.

David scrambled up the hill and concealed himself in a thin row of shrubbery at the top, just above the tomb entrance.

"What the Hell?" David asked the wind as he looked down at the scene. The four men were dressed in the military uniforms of the latter Greco-Roman period. They carried the bier with slow, steady, and deliberate steps, their eyes never wavering from the entrance. Behind came several people. They were obviously friends and family of the departed. His eyes fell on three individuals and he paused.

"No way," he mouthed.

A short, frail looking woman moved with the stiffness of old age, her head covered in a dark veil. At either side came two other figures, young and lithe. Her children, presumably. A young man, dressed in simple travelling armor, with a short sword strapped at his back, and a taller woman, similarly dressed. The man was only a bit taller than the old lady, with fierce green eyes and thick sandy hair, brushed back in a mane that fluttered in the cool breeze. The woman was taller, with dark brown hair and thoughtful brown eyes. They wore somber expressions as they looked down at the bier.

"Oh, I'm not liking this," David whispered. His hand reached slowly into his pocket.

He strained to see the body on the bier, but the thick white cloth covering it obscured its features. At the same moment, his foot snapped a twig with an audible crack.

The procession halted, and the two young people looked about nervously.

"I gotta get out of here," David said, pulling the stone free. Then without knowing quite why, he rose to his feet and looked down at them.

The two young people saw him and immediately stepped up in front of the elderly woman. Instead of cowering behind them, she pushed them apart and stepped forward, raising the veil. Her green eyes looked up at him, and her wrinkled face became an expression of wonder.

Even after the passing of the years, David recognized Gabrielle.

He stood above the tomb, his bow in one hand, his long coat flapping in the breeze like ghostly wings. He raised the bow in salute and took a deep breath. There was a soft green glow, and he smiled at her as he vanished.

Gabrielle stared at the spot where the apparition had appeared, her withered hands rising up to her mouth and fresh tears streaming down her wrinkled cheeks. "David?" she whispered.

"Mother?" the young man asked her as he put a comforting hand on her bony shoulder. He looked back up at his sister and then at the vacant space above the corpse on the bier.

"It's alright, Alex," Gabrielle reassured him. "It's alright."

"Who - what was that?" the woman asked, also looking at the space.

Gabrielle patted her daughter's hand. "Xena, dear," she said. "That was your father."

All three of them looked back up at the space where David had appeared and vanished. Gabrielle smiled a knowing smile. "I'll see you again, soon."

The universe was spinning again. David heard its rushing wail all around him as he moved further back in time, his mind reeling at what he had just seen while at the same time, struggling against the fatigue to remain focused on his task.

"Not far enough," he thought. "Must go further. Just a bit further." He felt the universe tumble for a while longer and then the feeling in the pit of his stomach as he slowed back down. His mind was on fire from the exertion. The held breath burst from him once he stopped again. This time, he did drop to his knees.

The moon shone brightly, partially waxed.

David blinked and quickly slid the bulky artifact back into the inner pocket of his coat and then he breathed wearily. His head was pounding as if it might explode.

He was aware of several things. The air was cleaner, he could feel it. And it was silent, except for the sounds of the night animals. There was no noise beyond that of nature. The subliminal sounds of the modern world were completely silent.

Looking out past the nearby hills, he spied a small campfire flickering within the confines of the forest. Shouldering his packs, he walked toward it, his heart suddenly pounding in his ears. All the weariness of the past two days was replaced by a sudden apprehension. Did he go back far enough? Did he do it correctly? Would Gabrielle even be happy to see him? Would she say yes? The evidence pointed to the definite possibility. The ring had been in her tomb. Then the spectacle he had seen - will see - oh god, just thinking about it made his head hurt more.

Those doubts and others began to ricochet through his mind. How much of the path was actually chosen? How much, if any, was fate?

His boots crunched on the dead leaves and branches as he approached the camp. He felt no need for stealth. He was a traveler on the road, looking to share a campfire with another traveler. Where was the harm in that?

He entered a small round clearing and found it void of a human occupant. Across from the fire stood a fine tan mare with a pale white mane and tail. The horse turned its head towards him and gave a snort. The thoughtful brown eyes of the horse considered him for a moment, and then looked away.

David felt something sharp touch the back of his neck.

"Looking for someone?" Whispered a husky female voice.

David let his bow drop to the ground and raised his hands.

"Yes, actually," he said, smiling when he heard the ancient Greek language.

"Looks like I found someone, too."

He slowly turned around and met the gaze of a tall, proud warrior in dark armor. Her pale blue eyes bored into his with icy detachment. Her dark hair shimmered in the light of the fire.

The combination of the revelation of who she had to be, along with the lack of sleep made his laugh sound somewhat manic.

"Xena, right?" he said, grinning like an idiot. "Holy shit! I've heard so much about you, I mean I've heard a lot about what you've done in the past, or will do, or, oh Hell," he extended his hand, suddenly unconcerned by the sword pointed at his chest.

"I'm David," he introduced himself.

Xena's icy stare changed to one of confusion and then mild concern. "Okay?"

"I'm not a lunatic," David said quickly. "I've had a real long day - two days actually, not including the jet lag and all that, but I digress." He paused suddenly, looking at her. "How've you been?"

"Oh, I'm doing great." Xena let the sword lower, though she did not relax. The man before her was a babbling idiot!

David suddenly rubbed his eyes and fought his giddiness down. "Wait," he said. "I know what this looks like. I've been on the go for almost three days with no food and no sleep. I must seem like a madman."

"Not at all," Xena lied.

David looked behind him at a nearby tree stump. "Do you mind if I sit? I really need to sit."

Without the manic behavior, Xena suddenly realized that this wild-eyed man was actually on the verge of collapse.

She gestured to the stump and nodded. "Go ahead."

"Thanks," David said and he dropped the two large packs to the ground and dropped onto the smooth flat surface. "I feel like week old bread."

"You look it," Xena said, standing opposite the fire, just in case. She studied him carefully for a few moments as he situated himself. She saw the scar crisscrossing his left eye and winced at what that must have felt like. The man had obviously been in battles before. His clothing was strange. She didn't recognize any of the symbols or colors on his inner black vest. He let his two outer jackets flop open and breathed deeply. "Where are you travelling from?"

"Chicago. The northwest suburbs, actually, if you want to get technical?" David said automatically. When Xena frowned, David waved his hand dismissively. "Nevermind. Long, long story."

David reached into the side pocket of one of the bags and removed a small silver, rectangular bundle. He tore the top of it off and removed a thin wafer of what looked like pressed nuts. He munched on it thoughtfully and sighed.

David looked up at the warrior before him, as if appraising her.

"Yup," he nodded. "You are exactly as she described you."

"Who?" Xena asked.

"Your friend, Gabrielle," David answered. Suddenly his gaze changed to one of alarm.

"Wait a second," he said. "If you're here, then." He closed his eyes and groaned. "Oh shit. That's twice!" he looked back up at Xena nervously. "Um, where is she?"

"She's in Athens," Xena answered, still confused by this stranger. "At the Bards Academy. How do you know her?"

"Another long story, I'm afraid." David said. "I just came from - " he stopped.

"From where?" Xena's voice dropped to a menacing tone. Suddenly, she suspected foul play on the part of this man.

David looked up at her. "From, uh, her tomb?"

Xena's eyes widened in shock for just a moment and then she was across the flames with her weapon at David's throat.

"What are you talking about?" she hissed. "If you've done anything to her!"

David held his hands up in supplication. His much needed energy bar fell into the muddy soil. "Whoa! Easy! Easy! I haven't done anything to her! She's fine, for right now! Ah nuts, that didn't sound right! I mean it doesn't mean to sound like it sounded!"

"Start talking!" Xena growled.

"Okay, okay," David breathed. "God damn you're strong!"

"Well?" Xena's clenched fingers tightened on the collar of his coat.

"In the year twenty oh three," David said quickly. "An archeological dig discovered a tomb in the area of what you call Potedia. Hidden among the artifacts was an object called the Chronos Stone. It was buried there along with the family of a woman named Gabrielle. The ruins of Potedia itself were unearthed nearby."

Xena's eyes went wide and her grip loosened on the collar of the coat. Blessed air began to flood back into David's lungs. He took a few deep breaths and looked up at Xena with a new respect.

"Shit, lady," he said. "I recommend decaf in the future."

"Keep talking," Xena ordered.

David started to speak, but then he stopped. A sudden and terrifying realization hit him. "I can't," he finally said.

Xena stepped up again and her fingers jabbed into either side of his larynx. There was a crunch and David went stiff, unable to move. He could feel his pulse pounding between his ears.

"Pinch, right?" he gasped. "Yeah, she told me about that, too."

"Talk!" Xena barked.

"I can't," David hissed. "Anything I tell you will put Gabrielle's life in jeopardy! I won't do that!"

"You've got twenty seconds," Xena breathed.

David fought to keep his lungs working. There were stars flashing before his eyes. He tried furiously to think of something he could say that might change Xena's mind.

"She's going to help me defeat Alti," he finally gasped.

Xena's eyes went wide and her fingers jabbed again.

Instantly, the building pressure in David's skull vanished and he toppled forward.

"What about Alti?" Xena asked. "How do you know about Alti?"

He stumbled to his feet and stared at Xena with a mixture of anger and insult.

"God damn!" He blurted angrily. He wiped blood from his nose and held his hand up, showing the blood to the woman before him. "You are one maladjusted mistrustful bitch, you know that?"

Xena stared at him, her own expression somewhere between rage and respect.

"What about Alti?" Xena repeated forcefully.

David looked up at the sky, his own temper flaring.

"I can't tell you!" he shouted. "I wish I could, but I can't! You have to understand! Hit the pinch again, if you want to. Kill me if it makes you feel better, but I can't tell you!"

"Then how do I know you're telling the truth?" Xena pressed, folding her arms.

David threw his arms up in frustration and began pacing back and forth. "How in the hell did she deal with you?" he blurted.

Xena's eyebrow rose at that comment and a slightly bemused expression touched her face.

David thought furiously for a moment and then he stopped and pointed first at the bow lying on the ground and then at himself.

"Look at the way I'm dressed! Not exactly local fashion is it? Look at the bow I'm carrying!" David said, suddenly becoming harsh in his own right. "You're an expert where weapons are concerned. Tell me if you've ever seen anything remotely like that?" He gestured to the fallen bow with the arrows still attached to the front.

Xena stooped and picked up the weapon, studying it closely and then she looked at David again.

"I haven't," she admitted.

"Damn right! That's because it's made of a composite material about two thousand years ahead of your time!" David hissed. "What little I can tell you is the truth! I just can't tell you any more of it!"

"Okay," Xena said in a softer tone. She held up her hands in a calming gesture. "Okay. If this is true, and you are from some distant future. What are you doing here? And what do you want with Gabrielle?"

"I'm here," David said as he drew the Chronos Stone from his pocket and held it up. "Because I'm exhausted and can't focus clearly. I missed my exit - twice!"

"And Gabrielle?" Xena asked, but suddenly she understood the look in David's eyes.

"I -" David started. He seemed to consider for a moment and shook his head. "No. I can't." Then he looked at Xena earnestly. "And you can NOT tell her anything about me, you understand? You have to go on from now as if I never arrived here tonight! It is vital that you say nothing about me, our encounter, absolutely nothing!"

"Why?" Xena asked. "If you know her, she should know about it."

"Yes," David said. "She will. But not now! My very being here may have already altered things. If she learns anything about this conversation, I might never see her again! Talk about a Mongolian cluster-" He stopped himself, rubbing his head and trying to quell the sudden blinding headache.

Xena suddenly realized what she saw in this stranger's eyes. It was more than just a fear of changing the future. He was genuinely afraid of not finding Gabrielle somewhere in that future. She looked at the slumping, exhausted man before her, and her gaze softened.

"I have to go," David said suddenly, reaching for his packs. "I'm sorry to have barged in on you." He adjusted his equipment, looking like an overworked plow horse and stood before Xena holding out his hand.

Xena handed his bow to him, staring into his eyes. "Just tell me one thing," Xena asked suddenly. "Does everything turn out alright in the end?"

David took the weapon and smiled. "I don't know. That part of the story is still being written." He looked at her for one long moment, and then clasped her forearm.

"For what it's worth," David said. "It has been an honor to meet you." He smiled, rubbing the two spots on the front of his neck and then he turned away. "Nice to put a face to the stories I've heard." Xena watched him depart.

"You're in love with her," Xena called after him. "Aren't you?"

David stopped and looked back at her for a long time. He smiled wearily.

"No more than you are." He seemed to consider for a moment. "I envy you," he said suddenly. "Both of you. If you believe anything I've said tonight, believe this. You are at the beginning of an incredible adventure. At times you'll feel like you're going to break, but you never will. In the meantime, take care of her for me, alright?"

Xena smiled. "I'll see you again sometime," she said.

David opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. Then he merely nodded his head. "Good-bye, Xena."

Without another word, David turned, bent by his load and vanished into the deepening gloom.

David reached the main road again and stared up into the shadowy arch of trees. The knapsacks on his shoulders felt like boat anchors. He shifted them again and tried to ignore the burning in his limbs and the throbbing in his head. He drew out the stone, wondering if he had the strength for another attempt.

"Just one more," he sighed. "I can do one more."

A voice spoke from the edge of the path, filled with mischievous good humor.

"Bouncing through time?" the female voice asked. "That's, like, totally gnarly."

There was a flicker of sparks, and the scent of fresh roses, and a young woman appeared in front of him. Her deep blue eyes looked at him with delight. Her long golden curls fell over her shoulders. She wore a pink outer robe of diaphanous material and two other pieces beneath that barely served the need for modesty.

"So, what are you doing in this neck of the woods, stranger?" She put her hands on her hips and smiled at him.

David let his arms drop to his sides and smiled.

"Aphrodite, right?" he asked.

"Mmm, my reputation precedes me?" she stepped up to him. "That's cool."

"Oh, yeah," David nodded. "I'm David."

"I know," Aphrodite stepped around him, looking him over as if she were trying to decide whether or not to have her way with him. Not an altogether unpleasant prospect. "And I've been watching you bounce around the vortex for the past forty years like a dragonfly." She leaned against his shoulder. "Looking for something in particular? Or someone?"

"Gabrielle," David said wearily. He really did not have the energy for this.

"And what do you want with my little girl?" Aphrodite asked. When David seemed reluctant to speak, she slapped his shoulder playfully. "Oh, you can tell me, silly. I am a Goddess after all."

David slipped the Chronos Stone back into concealment and drew out the fabric box. He popped it open and showed it to the Goddess of Love.

"That's pretty," Aphrodite smiled. She looked up at him curiously. "What does that have to do with my little friend?"

"It's an engagement ring," David said.

"Is that why you did all that crazy stuff back there? I mean up there?" she pointed back behind her and then forwards. Her voice became wistful. "Ooh, that's so romantic!" She practically bounced with glee.

"You know about all that?" David asked.

"Of course I do, silly," Aphrodite said. "Goddess, remember? I also saw all the stupid stuff Ares did. He's such a killjoy." She frowned. "Anyway. Why are you waiting to tell her?"

"I wouldn't if I could find her!" David snapped, starting to feel his temper grow short from lack of rest or caffeine.

Aphrodite looked at him with a pout on her lips.

"You don't have to get uppity about it," she chided him.

David closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "You're right. Sorry. I guess I'm a little strung out."

"Yeah," Aphrodite's face softened. "I can imagine. Mortals who do God things usually can't handle it. Still, you've done better than most."

"Thanks," David smiled. "But I still haven't gotten to where I need to go. And I can't do this much more?"

"And so, that's why I'm here," Aphrodite smiled, raising her arms and grinning. "You can't do this forever, and I can't let you, so. I'm here to get you where you need to go."

"Oh?" David's eyebrow rose. "The last time a deity popped up, the price was a bit much."

"Sweetie," Aphrodite held his scruffy chin between her thumb and forefinger. "Look with your good eye, okay? There's only one thing that I'm going to want from you if we do this."

"Here we go," David rolled his eyes towards the heavens.

Aphrodite looked at him for a moment, and smiled. "I want you to make her the happiest woman in Greece. Think you can handle that, studly?"

David looked back down at her in surprise. She seemed to find that immensely funny and she laughed, wrapping her pale arm about his shoulders.

"What if she says no?" David asked. "She doesn't have to say yes, you know?"

"After everything you did?" Aphrodite replied, slapping his chest. "If she says no, she's an idiot. But just in case, I could make sure -"

"No!" David protested loudly. Then he shook his head. "No. She can't really say yes if she doesn't have the choice to say no, can she?"

Aphrodite looked at him for a moment, and her smile widened. "You are a romantic, through and through." She shrugged. "Okay. If she says no, and you want to go home, I'll help you with that." She pinched his nose playfully. "But I know Gabby, and she's not stupid." She stepped in front of him and gestured to his pocket.

"Whip it out, big boy," she teased. He pulled the Chronos Stone from his coat and held it up.

"Okay," Aphrodite asked, smiling. "When to?"

"After Gabrielle gets back from my time," David said. Then he remembered. "But before Gurkhan's bounty hunters get a hold of her."

"Okay, hot pants," Aphrodite put her hands over his. "Here we go."

David took a deep breath and braced himself.

Nothing happened. Aphrodite released her grip on the stone and stepped back, grinning.

"See, that wasn't so bad, was it?"

"We didn't?" he started, then he saw the walls of Potedia just a short walk away. He smiled and looked at the Goddess of Love.

"Smooth," he said, smiling. "Real smooth."

Aphrodite shrugged her shoulders and grinned. "Go get your girl, Shakespeare!" she said encouragingly and with a shower of sparks, she vanished.

David let the Chronos Stone fall back into the inside pocket of the coat and looked about him. He stood in the same forest as before, the sounds of the night animals surrounding him.

With deliberate steps, he began meandering through them.

David stepped around several massive trees and looked down on the ancient village. The gates were closed for the night and firelight could be seen twinkling between the cracks of the crudely shuttered windows and closed doors.

Adjusting the large packs on his back, David began to walk cautiously down toward the gates. As he came within torchlight, a voice called out to him from the wall.

"State your business!"

David smiled. "You wouldn't believe me," he thought.

He held his hands out in gesture of peace.

"I'm looking for Lila, sister to Gabrielle, a friend of mine!" he called back hoping his butchered Greek wasn't too strange to rouse suspicion.

A figure moved from the wall, and a few moments later, one of the gates was drawn inward. Two men wearing swords and carrying shields approached him. One of them carried a torch.

"Why have you come at so late an hour?" one of them asked. He seemed to note David's haggard appearance. "You look as if you've come a great way?"

"You have no idea," David replied wearily. "It has been a long road, and I did not wish to wait another night before seeing her. May I pass?"

The guard looked at him for a long moment and finally nodded. "You may enter. Lila's home it the third one on the left, down the main street."

"Thank you," David replied. "I'll find it. Good night."

The two men followed the stranger into the city and barred the gates behind him.

David walked down the quiet street, marveling at the fact he was actually there. He was standing in the land of Greece some two thousand years in the past. He smiled drunkenly at the thought. The smile faded and uneasiness began to build in his chest when he found the appropriate door. He knocked upon it gently.

"Lila?" he called out. "Lila, are you there?"

The latch was pulled and the door opened a crack. David saw a middle aged woman of about fifty years staring up at him from within.

"Yes?" she asked. "Who are you?"

"I'm sorry to be calling so late," David stammered. "I need to speak with Gabrielle. Is she here?"

"No," Lila replied. "She left." The door closed in his face.

"Lila, please!" David pleaded to the closed door. "I need to find out where she's gone. My name's David. I'm a friend of-"

The door was pulled all the way open and the woman looked at David with wide, astonished eyes.

"David?" she repeated. "You're David?"

"Yes," David replied. The look in Lila's face was one of wonder, mixed with fear.

"Come in, come in," Lila beckoned him into the small home.

"Where has Gabrielle gone?" David asked as he entered the cozy little home. A fire crackled in a small hearth, and a bed lay unkempt to one side.

Lila said nothing. She held David at arm's length and studied him for a moment and then a smile began to appear on her face.

"Yes," she said finally. "You are him. Gabrielle told me all about you." Her smile faded suddenly.

"Lila," David said earnestly. "Where is she?"

"Gone," Lila replied. "She left early this morning, as I said." The woman turned and went to a small table. "She was so sad. She told me all about what had happened, and then she said she was going away for a while. She didn't say when, or if she was coming back."

"Did she say where she might go?" David asked desperately.

"She said she might head south towards Athens, or even Corynth," Lila said. "David, you have to find her. I don't know why, but my heart tells me that she's in trouble."

David let his two bags drop to the ground. He gathered a few necessities and stood.

"May I leave these here, in your care?" he asked. "I'll travel faster without them."

"Of course," Lila nodded. "Now, go, before it's too late."

David took his bow and a quiver of arrows, slung them across his back and with a courteous bow, stepped back out into the cool night air.

The guards at the gate seemed surprised to see him so soon.

"The road to Athens," David asked as he approached.

The guard's mouth opened and shut a few times in confusion.

"The road, man!" David repeated with the air of a drill sergeant.

The guard pointed through the gate.

"Follow that path to the fork in the road and bear left," he stammered.

"Open the gate," David ordered and he moved towards the entrance. The door swung inward again and David jogged down the path.

The path followed a gently meandering course through several rocky hills and valleys. As David continued, he became acutely aware that his physical conditioning, though adequate, was severely lacking in stamina. He reached the fork in the road and continued to his left moving ever downwards. That helped a bit. At least he wasn't forced to fight gravity at the same time he was combating his own lack of endurance.

He came through a narrow pass and up a small slope before he stopped, breathing in deep, forceful gasps.

"Damn near three days without rest, and now this," he wheezed. He bent over and placed his hands on his knees as he looked down into the next shallow valley. He was heartened to see the tiny orange glow of a campfire not too far away. Smiling, he began to walk easily down towards the site. His hopeful anticipation faded to curious concern as he heard harsh voices coming from the site up ahead. He slowed down and stepped up into the rocky hill, moving as cautiously as he could.

He reached a small, sheltered outcropping and looked down on the camp. He could see four or five men, all with weapons drawn, milling about the fire. A sixth man stood guard over a seventh figure, which lay bound and gagged.

David's heart thundered in his ears when he saw that it was Gabrielle who lay bound and helpless.

One of the men was laughing loudly, flipping her sais in his fingers. "The bounty for her will make us all rich," he laughed. "Make sure the ropes are tight, lads. Gurkhan said he preferred her alive."

Gabrielle twisted under the tight bindings. That got her a boot in the gut for her trouble.

"He said preferred," another man hissed. "That doesn't mean he won't pay for your lifeless corpse."

Gabrielle looked up at him with defiant eyes.

David licked his lips. "Well, kiss my white ass," he muttered. "After she got back, but before the thugs got her. I guess there wasn't much of a window, was there?" He reached into his pocket and removed four small signal flares and his roll of electrical tape. Quickly he affixed the four flares to the end of one of his arrows and then notched it to his bow.

He drew back on the string and sighted the campfire. His heart was pounding.

"Okay," he said to himself. "Once this flies, Davie boy, you are in it up to your ass. You ready for this? You might have to kill one of them, or more? Its, one, two, three, four, five, six on one. Can you handle it?"

One of the men reached down and pulled Gabrielle up to a kneeling position by her hair. Even with the gag, David heard her cry of pain. The bounty hunter raised his weapon, the point aimed right at Gabrielle's heart.

"…Death was caused by an intrusion to the left chest region by a sharp object…"

Fury rose within him, instantly suffocating his conscience.

"Fuck it," he said and he loosed the arrow. It whistled through the air and struck in the center of the small fire. A few moments later, a brilliant blast of hot white light sent them all stumbling away as the magnesium in the flares ignited. They waved their hands in front of their faces, trying to clear the blinding spots in their vision.

The man that had been about to stab Gabrielle, dropped his weapon in surprise and stumbled to the side before he fell.

David didn't think. He just drew back on his bow and let a second arrow fly. This one struck the man who had just roughed up Gabrielle. He stumbled a few more paces into the shadows and fell.

David drew back again and shot a second man through the leg. He cried and fell over, writhing in pain. The fourth arrow struck the leader in the chest and he staggered backwards before sprawling on the ground.

"Three up - three down," David growled. "Time for the second inning."

David slung his bow on his back and drew out the two-foot long bowie knife. He ran down the hill and leapt across the path, his right knee slamming into one of the remaining bounty hunters. The knife descended and the man choked once and went limp.

Gabrielle seized the moment and tried desperately to get her wrists free. She looked up and saw a thick dark swirl of movement as a bounty hunter wrestled with this strange new apparition. Suddenly another shadow fell over her.

The last remaining bounty hunter brought the hilt of his sword crashing down upon her forehead, and everything flashed white with pain before fading to black.

She came back to consciousness slowly, one painful nerve at a time. The first thing she sensed was the sound of the fire, still crackling merrily. Then she smelled the scent of burning wood, and another, more leafy scent on top of it. She felt the ground vibrate under her ear as someone moved about, and she heard the sound of water being poured into a container.

Then the smell of something laden with unknown spices overpowered the other smells.

She tried to roll over and realized that her hands and feet had been unbound. She opened her eyes slowly, and the brilliant light of the fire fed the throbbing in her skull. She groaned and put a hand to her head, feeling something small and made of woven fabric stuck there.

Then she saw the shadow of a large man crouching next to the fire. Two small tripods rested directly above the merry flames. On one was a small silver bowl, steaming as the contents boiled. On the other was a second, taller pot with a tiny crystal protruding from the lid.

The figure was dressed in a long black cloak or coat and she saw the thick soles of tough black boots resting on the earth. The man's hair was long and hung in ragged strings from his scalp, damp either from the recent rain, or from sweating through physical exertion. A bow rested on his back and a quiver of arrows hung beside it.

He wore fingerless gloves on his large hands, one of them raising a metallic cup to his lips. She detected a nutty scent in the air beneath the others. The cup rose, lowered and then the other hand placed a long smoldering roll of tobacco in the mouth. The pungent smoke puffed out before him. It was a familiar scent, and her heart began to pound.

Gabrielle said nothing, her eyes still flashing with spots from the explosion and the blow to her head. She saw the shapes of several bodies, lying scattered nearby.

"You know," the man spoke in a voice that sounded hauntingly familiar. The cup rose and fell again, and he swallowed. "I'm a real dick when I don't get my coffee in the morning."

Gabrielle looked at the man and then back at the dead bodies nearby, then back at the stranger again. She knew that voice, but it was impossible!

"Anyway," the man continued. "I waited for over a year, you know, just to see if I could get along without you?" He sighed and took another long drag on the cigar. "Turns out that I couldn't. Besides, I always wanted to see the Parthanon before the roof came down."

Gabrielle got to her feet and stepped around, backing unsteadily away from the man. Her eyes were locked on him, waiting for him to rise, attack, or do something.

He did. His head turned towards her and she looked through the stray stands of hair into his deep brown eyes.

"Hell," David said. "I figured, if I couldn't show you Greece in my time, you might at least show it to me in yours?" His eyebrows rose questioningly. "That is, if you're interested in me sticking around?"

"David?" Gabrielle gasped.

David put the cigar between his teeth and grinned mischievously. His eyebrows rose and fell once. Then she saw the dark scar over his left eye.

"Interested?" he asked.

Gabrielle stepped towards him slowly, not daring to believe that he was real. She sank down to her knees in front of him, looking up into his eyes. Her fingers touched the fabric of his coat.

"Is it really you?" she asked. She looked at his injury and her lip began to tremble. "What happened?"

His fingers reached out and touched her cheek.

"I got it running Alti off the road, just after-," he stopped, tossing the butt of his cigar into the flames. Then he looked at her again and smiled. "How've you been?"

She fell into his arms and held him as tightly as she could, fearful that he might suddenly vanish from sight.

"Hey now," David whispered in her ear. "You didn't think I was going to let a little thing like Time stop me, did you?"

She looked at him suddenly. "How did you - ?"

"Ah," David grinned. "I found the Chronos Stone, where we'll leave it, in about forty years, or so"

"But I still have it," Gabrielle stammered. "I didn't destroy it."

"Lucky for me," David said. He reached into his pocket and drew the stone out, setting it on a nearby rock. Then he handed her a thick piece of firewood. "Would you like to do the honors?"

She seemed uncertain for a moment, and suddenly David swung the log down, shattering the stone into hundreds of tiny, glowing fragments.

"Oops," David said neutrally. "Well, I guess I'm not going anywhere any time soon."

Gabrielle stared down at the shards glowing on in the dust. As they watched, the glow within the shards of the crystal faded and died.

"And that," he said. "As they say, is that."

Gabrielle looked at him in shock.

"What have you done?" Gabrielle asked. "How will you get home?"

David reached into another pocket and drew out a small fabric wrapped box. He pressed it into her hand.

Confused, Gabrielle took the box and opened it. Within was a diamond ring. The gem flashed in the firelight.

"What is this for?" she asked.

"It's an old tradition." David said, suddenly getting nervous under her gaze. "Well, actually, now, it's a new tradition. Well, newer than it was a few days ago. Or something like that?" He stammered, suddenly fidgeting nervously. "A man gives a woman he cares for a ring like this when he wants to," he paused. "Well, I was wondering, um, oh Hell." He stood up and took her hands in his. "I don't want to go home without you. I've been doing a lot of thinking this last year and I realized that my 'home' was empty, because you weren't in it."

Gabrielle began to smile at his discomfiture. "David," she asked. "What are you trying to say?"

Off in the shadows, Aphrodite looked on, her fingers rubbing her chin in anticipation. She was smiling. "Go on," she whispered. "Go on, ask her." She took a step forward, and then a step back, forcing herself to remain where she was and simply watch. "I promised," she said for the hundredth time.

David took a deep breath. "I don't care where I am, as long as I'm with you. Always assuming that you wouldn't mind having me around for, say, the rest of our lives?"

"The rest-?" Gabrielle started to say then a look of dawning crossed her face and she began to smile.

"Gabrielle," David said. Then a nervous laugh escaped him and he shrugged. "I had this great speech all worked out."

David took the ring out of the box and slid it onto her left ring finger. He looked into her eyes.

"What do you think?" he finally stammered.

Gabrielle stared down at her hand, and then up into his eyes, her own filling with tears again.

"David?" she asked. "Are you asking me to marry you?"

David looked into her eyes and smiled.

"Yeah," he said with a shrug. "Yeah, I suppose I am?"

She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck and held him tightly.

"Yes," she whispered.

From the shadows, Aphrodite grinned and quietly clapped her hands. She barely managed to contain her squeal of delight. "This is what is sooo cool about my job," she said and she vanished.

Professor Arlan MacGhee paced about the tent, his patience at its limits. After everything that had happened before, and now this! Professor Bernadette Klaus had been hauled away by the local authorities, ranting like a mad woman and there was no explanation as to why David's motorcycle was parked outside the tent, even though the two Guards said that he had been the one to attack them. The police had sent for a tow truck to remove the suspicious machine, but the professor quickly quashed that idea.

As he stood there fuming, he suddenly realized.

"That young man still owes me an explanation!" He stepped out to the motorcycle and began rummaging through the saddlebags. Within the right one, he found the envelope with his name on it.

He tore it open and drew out a piece of paper and a worn, tarnished gold ring.

Frowning, he placed the ring in his pocket and opened the folded paper.

Dear Professor,

I know you were expecting a letter of explanation. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to give you one right now. I do have a theory, however.

Open the fourth Sarcophagus. You will find the explanation inside it - if I'm right.

Take care of Rosie for me and take care of yourself.

Good luck in the future.

With respect,

             David

"Professor!" Susan came running towards him, excitement showing on her face. "You're not going to believe this!"

His curiosity piqued, the professor slid the small note into his pocket and followed the excited student back into the cave. The far wall had been successfully excavated, revealing the damaged fourth sarcophagus. Robert was on the other side, practically vibrating with excitement.

"Gently, now!" Arlan exclaimed as he moved to assist.

On the opposite side of the sarcophagus was a stone storage block, with pigeon holes drilled into the hard surface. In each one, the end of a battered leather case could be seen.

"It's like the ones all those years ago," Arlan gasped. He counted the scrolls quickly. Twenty in all and his heart raced. The one in the top left pigeon hole had a small tarnished golden emblem embossed upon the end, and Arlan laughed out loud as he saw the crudely worked Harley Davidson shield. He drew it out carefully and took it with him.

"Have the rest of these sent to Athens immediately. I want complete translations, carbon dating, spectral analysis, the lot!" he moved towards the exit. "Susan! Come with me, please?"

Confused, the young intern followed the professor.

"Why aren't you sending that one?" she asked, once they were inside the tent.

Arlan held the scroll up, end first so she could see the emblem. Her eyes widened.

"It's from him," Arlan laughed.

"Who?" Susan asked, completely perplexed.

"David!" Arlan said, his laughter growing. "The young man who came here the other day! My former student!"

Susan pulled the thin rubber gloves over her fingers and gingerly took the scroll.

"Professor," she said. "That isn't possible."

"That side of the room was uncovered this morning, and yet the scroll is here, in your hands!"

Susan gently removed the end cap, feeling the ancient wood soft and gel like in her fingers. Within the tube were the wooden ends of a formal scroll, just like the ones found in Roman temples all over the empire.

Gently, she drew it out and examined the parchment. It didn't seem too brittle, but she grabbed a small bottle of liquid and gently sprayed the parchment as the two of them unrolled it.

They stopped and Arlan laughed out loud when he saw the first lines, written in Modern English.

Greetings, Professor MacGhee! You wanted an explanation! Sorry it took so long for you to get it!

Susan's fingers left the parchment as she felt her mouth drop in wonder.

Robert came in a few moments later with a fax in his hand.

"What's this?" Arlan asked, taking the report.

"Copy of the post mortem on the first body. Female, age fifty-five to sixty-five, cause of death is unknown, probably natural, given her age." Robert reported dutifully. "The second opinions on the modern fabrics also came in. They confirmed the initial findings, though I don't know how?"

"As I said," Arlan laughed. "Anything is possible."

Gently, the Professor and his students slowly unrolled the parchment, reading the words as they went.

END