War of Kings

Authors introduction:-
After spending the last few months (that long, oh dear) editing some of my older stories I hit a patch of writers block. Couldn't get anything out and nothing I did write felt like it worked. The characters were wrong and... who cares. The point I've not been writing much and I felt it was time to go back to the well as it were.
I started writing Fan Fiction with Buffy, with it's 20th anniversary just gone I thought it was time to dust off that fandom and sink my teeth into it again. (pun intended) But as a crossover I needed something to spin it with.

So again I dusted off my notes. Found an old idea that I never really worked out. A quick shift in premise and this practially wrote itself. At the moment it's a one off but there is a sequel of sorts planned. I've set the ground work here for what could be quite intersting. At least to me.

Disclaimer:-
I own non of the characters used here and I make no profit form their use Buffy was Created by Joss Weadon and is owned by Mutant Enemy / 20th Century Fox Highlander the Series was created by Peter Davis and Bill Panzer and owned by them & Gaumont Television

The man known as Adam Person for the last twenty or so years looked around the historic streets. He found it amusing to think just how much things had changed in Rome. He had, after all, been here when it was still a collection of seven villages and when it had been at the heart of a great empire. And no more than an hundred years ago.

Quickly banishing those memories he walked down the cobbled streets. After all this time he was back here. Most Immortals avoided big cities these days, preferring to hide in the backwoods middle of nowhere. Where CCTV cameras and public databases were few and far between. Adam, on the other hand, had been careful. Millennia of experience and guile had taught him a few tricks that not even todays modern society could pick up on.

That and unlike most of his kind he'd kept with the times. He knew his way around computers better than most mortals.

Sticking his hands in his pockets he was tempted to whistle his favourite Queen track when he sensed it. The familiar vertigo and prickling on the back of the neck that told him another Immortal was near. Forcing himself to relax Adam check for the familiar weight of his sword in the hidden pocket of his long coat. It was still there. So was the dagger in it's ankle holster and the throwing star at the small of his back.

There was something almost familiar about the Quickening he couldn't place. Everyone had their own feel, their own smell if you will. This was someone he'd met before, Adam was sure of it.

Quietly he looked around, the street wasn't empty, but it wasn't crowed either. None of the dozen or so people were familiar and most were busy within their own little worlds. Taking the opportunity he slid into the shadow of a back alleyway. Next to a nightclub that was far too loud and bright for his liking.

Keeping his senses alert Adam scanned the street for anyone that appeared suspicious or nervous. He didn't want a fight if he could avoid it and hopefully this Immortal, who ever it was, felt the same. Still it was better to be safe than sorry. Especially when it came to The Game.

He would have missed it if it wasn't for his extra-senses. Adam felt the other moving, they were close. Heading away for him. It took a moment to piece together what he was picking up and realised what it was a fraction before the backdoor to the nightclub opened.

Out stepped a beautiful, if small, blonde woman wearing what he guessed was fashionable attire. Adam had long since given up on following those trends, but at least it was not as silly as some of the styles that had become inexplicably popular over the centuries. 'Are you sure, I mean I didn't see anyone.' she said, her american accent out of place in the middle of Rome. She sounded Californian and not what he expected.

Then another voice replied:- 'But I felt them. Believe me my love there are monsters out tonight.' Adam did recognise that voice. He knew it all to well. Then out he stepped, Agostnio. All slicked back hair and square jaw.

Taking a step out into the light Adam kept tight control over his emotions, capping the boiling rage that the sight of this snake had lit. 'For once you and I are in complete agreement.' He announced his presence.

'Adamson!' Agostnio jumped back in fear. Backing up against the wall. 'I, I thought you were dead!'

'Thought, or hoped. Draw your sword.' Adam corrected in as cold a voice as he could. Matching action with his words he pointed the tip of his blade at the man he was going to kill.

'Yeah, so not going to happen.' The girl quipped, pulling out what looked to be a wooden stake and a short knife from her purse and stepping between them. 'You want to pick a fight. Try me.'

It looked like she knew what she was doing with those weapons, but that wasn't his problem. Pulling his sword back Adam kept his eyes on Agostnio 'Out of the way child. This is between us.'

'My boyfriend and me, we're package deal.' She said brightly. 'But when you finish picking up your teeth you could tell me where you kept that sword. A trick like that might come in handy.'

'Last warning.'

From the corner of his eye Adam could see the girl smile, 'I don't do warnings.' she said and jumped into action. He had barely enough time to react as she attacked with super human speed. The knife and stake a whirlwind of action Adam struggled to follow.

There was nothing worse than bringing the wrong kind of weapon to a fight. Adam's broadsword, with all it's size and reach, was the wrong weapon for a knife fight. The girl knew that and knew how to get around it. It was only Adam's skill and experience that kept her from delivering a serious wound.

Adam couldn't feel any Quickening coming from her, but that didn't mean losing to her meant he was going to keep his head. Even if she didn't take it Agostnio was there, cheering his girlfriend on. He wouldn't let a chance slip through his fingers.

Not that Adam could hold her off much longer. The girl was too good a fighter and wasn't holding anything back. He on the other hand didn't want to kill her and doubted he could if he wanted to. She was that good. That left only one high risk option. Give her the opening she wanted.

It was an obvious mistake, but she fell for it. Adam used his sword arm to block a swipe from the knife wide and she took the opening. Flipping the stake to a reverse grip she drove the point deep into Adam's chest. Puncturing his heart.

The girl paused, either savouring her victory or she was surprised he hadn't collapsed dead. Either way it didn't matter. Grabbing her wrist with his free hand he wrenched the length of wood out of his torso and then clocked her with the pommel of his sword. He only had a short time before his stopped heart would kill him, if only for a short while.

His shirt was already soaked with blood, but that didn't matter. Sheathing his sword Adam ran, fighting the inevitable he stumbled into the street.

Her evening, and outfit, ruined Buffy had reluctantly decided to go back to her apartment. The Immortal, gentleman as ever, insisted on escorting her. 'So what was that about, and what was that name he called you?'

The Immortal gave her a dazzling smile, 'It's a long story Buffy, Are you sure you want me to tell it?'

'A chance to learn more about your mysterious past. How could I let that go?' She said, rubbing her jaw. That cheap shot had hurt. It was a cool sword though. What really got her was how, by the time she'd recovered he'd disappeared without a trace. How he didn't even leave a blood trail was something she couldn't get over/

The Immortal chuckled. 'It was a long time ago.'

'In a galaxy far far away.' She finished without thinking. 'Sorry, too much time around Andrew.'

'I made it too easy for you.' he admitted. 'Maybe it wasn't that long ago, but it was before I met you. I knew him as Adamson, but I don't think that was his name. He was a monster, while he might not look like much he's a demon in the shape of man.'

Buffy nodded. 'The whole stake to the heart not slowing him down kinda gave that away.'

'He claimed to be like me, Immortal, but he's nothing like me. That monster is a killer. He slaughters countless thousands to stay alive. Stealing their lives to extend his own.'

Buffy sighed, 'And now he's here. At least that explains the sword, let me guess some sort of magic life stealing thing.'

'Something like that, I guess.' The Immortal kissed her gently. 'I better stay with you tonight, just in case he comes back.'

'I can think of a few other reason's for you to stick around.' Buffy flirted with him. Some very naughty ideas coming to mind.

The next morning she was up early and while the Immortal slept in she made herself some breakfast. Dawn was already up, and naturally she'd used that last of the milk. Which meant they'd have to send Andrew out to get more. Their houseguest was still staying with them, as he was having trouble finding an apartment of his own.

Buffy put up with it, after Sunnydale the super nerd had grown up a lot and unlike her and Dawn he could actually cook.

'You came home early.' Buffy's sister said after swallowing her cereal. 'I was trying to study you know.'

'We weren't that loud.' Buffy protested around a yawn. 'Is there anything to eat?'

Dawn shrugged. 'I think theres some bacon left in the fridge. You don't need to be loud, the walls are kinda thin.'

'Bacon, in the morning? Do I look like I'm English?' Buffy rolled her eyes as she found some bread. 'I'll have some toast.'

'So why were you back so early?' Dawn asked, sounding actually curious.

'Major creep. Demon of some kind, runs around stealing people lives so he can live forever.' Buffy told her. 'I think he's after the Immortal.'

Dawn smirked 'Big mistake.'

'Huge.' Buffy agreed. 'I'll tell the girls to keep a look out. Tallish guy. Dark hair, looks kinda average, but has a really big sword. He's got a english accent.'

'I'm hitting the town with Vi and Amy tonight. I'll tell them about him.'

Buffy finished her toast 'Great, I'm going to get changed and go out for coffee, you want some?'

Dawn laughed at Vi's story. She and Amy were the official Slayers assigned to Rome. Buffy was retired, apparently, and was supposed to be helping to train them and the others that passed through. While Dawn, Watcher in training, was taking courses at the College.

She hated it. Rome was cool, but Dawn had never really liked school and college was more of the same. Just with more hormones, zits and in her case a language barrier. With a lot of hard work she had just finished her exam and tonight was a sort of celebration. The three of them had taken over a table at their favourite coffee shop and the plan was to go out, finding a club and dance the night away. 'So how's it going with Ronardo?' Amy asked after a moment. 'You ask him out yet?'

Dawn winced and she knew the others hadn't missed it. Ronardo was her teacher's assistant and had the most beautiful eyes. He was always nice to her and it hadn't taken much for Dawn to develop a crush. 'No. I was going to but I caught him making out with someone during break.'

'Oh sorry. Let me guess, really tall with big boobs.' Vi joked.

'He wasn't that tall.' Dawn told them.

Amy and Vi looked at each other. 'Now that's bad luck.'

'Right, first drinks are on us.' Amy insisted. 'End of the night we'll find you someone that will take your mind of Ronardo.'

'Thanks guys.' Dawn was about to finish her coffee and suggest they move on when a total stranger sat at their table. 'urm Hi?' she ventured

The guy looked like a book nerd, Dawn had spent enough time around Watchers to seethe signs, but there was a hard edge to him that reminded her of Giles when he was in full Ripper mode. After a long seconds pause he finally spoke. 'Hello. I don't think I need to tell any of you who I am.' He gave Dawn a piecing look that seemed to see right through her. 'She already knows.'

Dawn put on her best poker face, she hadn't had a chance to tell Amy and Vi about Buffy's attacker last night. She was going to but things hadn't given her a chance. She hadn't really expected the latest bad guy in their lives to just walk up and introduce himself. 'You went after Buffy with a sword.' Dawn accused him.

The other Slayers heard this and quietly reached for their weapons. The stranger, however, raised his empty hands like he was surrendering. 'I'm not here to fight. This isn't about you, or the blonde girl.'

'Her name's Buffy.' Dawn told him.

'She'd be your sister. I'm guessing.' He lent back, hands still up in the air. 'Girls, I don't doubt you're armed, but this is an awfully public place and none of us want to try and explain to the police if things get… messy. I'll just say my peace, then I'll leave. All I ask is for you listen.'

Dawn frowned, While not a Slayer she'd grown up on the hellmouth and had been kidnapped enough times to know evil when she saw it. This guy was dangerous, freaking dangerous, but not to them. 'Alright, but try anything funny and it won't matter how many lives you've got.'

He smirked at that. 'Is that what he's told you? It doesn't work that way. You can call me Adam and like Agostnio I'm Immortal. We can only be killed by another of our kind.'

'Agostnio?' Amy asked, Dawn didn't recognise the name either.

'That's his name. The man her sister was with last night. At least the name I knew him as.' The man, Adam, spat pointing a finger at Dawn. 'There are rules, rules he's broken, to never include mortals. When two Immortals fight it must only ever be one on one. To the death.'

'Rules, you mean you immortal types prance around with a bunch of rules about how to kill one another?' Vi asked. 'That's stupid.'

'I'm not buying it. Why would an Immortal want to kill another?' Amy pointed out.

Adam smirked, like it was some joke only he knew the punchline to. 'That's the way it's been since the beginning. We live, we fight. Until in the end when there can be only one.'

Dawn rolled her eyes. 'Sounds like a prophecy. I hate those. So that's all, you just want to kill the Immortal and that's it?'

'It's him or me. That's how it has to be and trust me it's going to be him.' Adam said darkly. 'This is what I wanted to say; stay out of my way. You, the girl Buffy, everyone you know. I don't want to hurt any of you, but I've waited too long for this. Agostnio is mine and I will have his head.'

Dawn could see he was being serious. This wasn't just some stupid prophecy or rules. Something had happened between him and the Immortal and he wasn't going to let anything stop him. Too bad for him. 'Fine, warning received and understood. Our turn; you want to hurt a friend of ours you still have to get through Buffy. Through all of us.'

'Don't think I won't.' He said before standing up, a cold shiver running down Dawn's spine as he left.

The three of them sighed with relief. 'That was major league creepy.' Vi said after a moment.

'There's no way we can let someone like that lose out there.'

Dawn agreed, fumbling in her purse for her cell phone. 'Right, you two follow him. I'm calling Buffy.'

'You going to be alright?' Amy asked

'Don't worry about me, just go.' She told them. The pair of Slayers looked at each other and nodded. A moment later they had vanished, the guy couldn't have gotten too far and Dawn knew how hard it was to dodge a Slayer when they were hunting.

Paying the bill Dawn headed out of the Coffee shop and began punching in the number when a strong hand grabbed her from behind. She didn't get a chance to fight back as an arm wrapped itself around her neck and she blacked out.

Adam was in the process of pulling the sim-card from her phone, along with the battery, when he heard a noise. The girl wasn't quite awake yet, but she was already pulling on the chain. Adam wasn't proud of what he'd done but that hadn't stopped him from kidnapping the dark blonde girl and chaining her up here.

After his disastrous first attempt on Agostnio Adam had spent the day looking for a place like this, it was an abandoned apartment block. Not that far away from where he had lived in Rome the last time. Over the eons he'd earned a reputation for elaborate planning, the truth was he'd just learnt the value of having back ups and contingencies.

When he approached the three teenagers he knew it was a long shot and had this place ready just in case. There was time he would have jumped straight to the kidnapping. It appeared that his time with the boy scout Duncan had rubbed off on him.

He looked back at the girl who was now fully awake, her blue eyes glaring at him above the gag he'd given her.

'Not how I wanted this.' He told her firmly. 'Now I'm going to take that off, please don't try shouting the place down. There's no one that can hear you and it will just get on my nerves.'

She mumbled something that sounded somewhere between an agreement and for him to go to hell. Making sure she could see that he had one hand on the knife at his belt he knelt down and undid the knot. After working her jaw a couple of times she looked back at him. 'Why am I the one that always gets grabbed? Is there some sort of giant "kidnap me" sign over my head only the total psychos can see, or something?'

Adam couldn't help but laugh. 'The truth? I wouldn't know. Not being a total psycho. Just mostly. I kidnapped you because, quite frankly, you weren't going to be as big as a handful as those other two. How'd you manage that by the way?'

'Manage what?' she asked.

'Slayers, as in plural.' he reminded her. 'I dated one some time back so your sister wasn't the first I've run into over the years. I know the signs, but there's only ever supposed to be one at a time.'

It was her time to laugh. 'Oh you know; ultimate evil, big spell, army of superpowered girls. The usual. I'll tell you the whole story, you know, after they kick your ass.'

Against his better judgement Adam was beginning to like her. 'You're awfully relaxed for a girl chained to a pillar.'

'Not the first time someone's done it. Try being sacrificed to a crazy hell-goddess, that's the opposite of relaxing. Besides if you were going to kill me you'd have done it already.'

Adam shook his head, 'Oh dear, I got the wrong person after all. You're the smart one in the family.'

She either didn't care what he thought, or she thought it wasn't worth commenting on. 'So what's the big plan? Buffy comes to get me, but you forget she's bringing the whole gang and she wins. I thought…' The girl stopped, her eyes going wide. 'Oh crap, I'm the bait alright. Only you weren't lying when you said you were only after the Immortal.'

'Like I said you are the smart one. That's why I didn't kill you, tracking spells work so much better on the living than the dead.' Magic, he'd seen it all, even dabbled a bit. Problem was he often found it wasn't worth it, all that prostrating and prayer. It was never worth the effort and the price on your soul was always far steeper than you thought. Like taking a loan to play at a rigged casino. The only people to win were everyone else. You just lost.

He looked at his watch theatrically. 'Now unless I miss my guess by now your sister knows you're missing. Has already tried beating up a few contacts, but because nobody here knows who I am its not gotten her anywhere.'

'Tracking spell.' The girl pointed out. 'But you knew that already.'

Adam picked up a box and tossed it across the floor to her. 'Takes time. Even if you've got everything ready just in case. I've got about half an hour, maybe a little less, before your Slayer sister busts in here looking for me. Finding only you and that pizza box. Don't worry, it's not that cold.'

The girl pulled the pizza box close with one foot and then opened it. She looked surprised and not a little suspicious.

Adam waved off her unspoken accusation. 'I'm not a creep. Think of it as an apology for ruining your night.'

'How do you know the Immortal won't be with her?' She challenged. It was obviously a delaying tactic, but Adam always did like playing games.

'Easy. He's scared of me. Agostnio never was as good as me with a blade, otherwise he wouldn't be using your Buffy as a bodyguard. Oh he'll volunteer to come, but he'll do it in a way that she think's it's her idea to leave him behind.'

The girl took a mouthful of pizza. After swallowing carefully she continued to glare at him. 'Reverse psychology. Yeah, that would work.' She was trying to sound sarcastic, but he was too old to fall for it. 'Isn't this whole thing kinda cliche? So it's not number one on the list, but it's right up there in the bad guy's handbook.'

Adam gave her his best charming smile and impersonated her Californian accent. 'One of the advantages of being incredibly super old is you get to be the guy that wrote the big book of evil cliches.' Closing the door behind him Adam headed for the one place Agostnio would dare hide out.

His girlfriends apartment.

Buffy raced across the city, she still didn't drive but that didn't mean she couldn't ride. She took a corner tightly in the little Vespa scooter the Immortal had gotten her as a gift a few weeks ago. It had been sweet when he'd offered to come with her and the others but they both knew she would handle it better alone. Besides he wasn't good with violence. Not like Buffy was.

Amy and Vi, both really pissed that he'd somehow not only given them the slip but doubled back to grab Dawn, were following in their car. The trunk full of weapons. Buffy wasn't going to need them. Trying to get to her through first her boyfriend and then her sister? He was going down so hard this guy was going to bounce.

Sure, she wasn't exactly hells angel-ing around on a black motorbike like a bad ass, but when Buffy brought the fight no one got in her way. Pulling to a stop she checked the address on her phone again. She was here, the building was abandoned, save for a light on the middle floor. This guy had to be some sort of a moron. That or he had no idea who he was dealing with.

Probably both, which was good news for her. Pulling her bag off her back she pulled out the pair of fighting knives she'd stashed in there. He might be immune to stakes, but she was going to see if this Adamson guy could survive being sliced into them.

Stuffing them into her belt Buffy leapt up and grabbed the nearest window ledge. Pulling what Andrew called a Spider-woman Buffy climbed up the face of the building. She wasn't happy with heights, especially not after the whole Glory's tower thing. But on the off chance this guy wasn't as stupid as he seemed the front door would be a bad move.

Below her Buffy heard the other two Slayers pull up with a screech of tires. Knowing her stealth was only gong to last so long Buffy decided to go on the offensive. One last push and she threw herself through the lit window.

In a shower of glass Buffy rolled across the floor and ended on her feet. Pulling the knifes she was ready for a fight, hoping the element of surprise was on her side.

'You know, they have these things called doors. You knock on them, you come in. You don't have to get glass everywhere.' Dawn said sarcastically.

Buffy blinked in shock. Aside from her sister, chained to a column in the middle of the room with a half eaten pizza there was no one. The place was empty 'What the hell? Where is he?'

'Looking for the Immortal. He is the one he's after, we're just in the way. Please tell me you brought him with you.'

Buffy felt a cold weight in her stomach. It had happened again. With painful clarity she remembered Angelus, five years earlier, doing the same trick had lured her away and then gone after her friends. Angelus's words that night, that she fell for it every time.

Muttering something she'd heard Spike say once she jumped out of the same window she'd come through. Her sister screaming after her 'At least unchain me first!'

It was a big jump, but Buffy was better at falling than going up. Again rolling with momentum she barked at Amy and Vi to get Dawn and free her before getting on her vespa.

Taking every back road and shortcut she'd learnt in the last few months Buffy was sure she broke just about every speed limit between where Dawn was being held and their home. Luckily no one caught her, but she was still too late.

Pulling to a stop outside her apartment block Buffy could already feel something was happening. Something was wrong. Andrew came running out of the building. 'Buffy! Buffy! you've got to do something!'

There were bright flashes of light coming from her rooms, but she'd already messed up once tonight jumping in without thinking 'What happened?' she asked the panicking Andrew. 'Bullet points.'

He swallowed quickly, pulling his thoughts together. He was so scared he even forgot his usual refernces. 'Scary guy, broke in. Threw me out. Sword. Immortal had a sword too. Going at each other. Lightning, in the swords.'

'Whoa.' Buffy stopped him. 'They're still up there?'

He nodded vigorously.

That's all she needed to know. 'Stay here. I've got this.' Buffy ordered but before she could make two steps to the building the entire top floor exploded in a flash of white light. Buffy was blown off her feet as what looked like lightning bolts flew out of the apartment, taking out a whole chunk of the building.

The strangest thing, for a moment. Just a moment Buffy could have sworn the rubble and bits of building that were sent flying actually hovered. Floating there for a second before dropping straight down.

Dawn was already tired of researching. She had been doing it for the past week and she wasn't running out of material. Anything and everything she could about Immortals. Turns out if anyone had been bothered to check there was quite a lot about them. Around since the beginning of time, pretty much. Live forever until you cut of their heads. Nothing special.

There were whole books on them, even a whole other group of Watchers out there that had devoted their lives to chronicling these things. Dawn wasn't sure if they were demons, or fairy-kind, or something else. the books weren't clear on that.

Another thing Dawn wasn't sure about was why she hadn't found this mountain of research earlier. It wasn't hard, she'd just not looked for it. Kinda the same way no one bothered to look into the Mayor of Sunnydale back when, but the Immortal never used magic. Did he?

Dawn had tried to clear her head by going out for coffee. Questioning everything she had known for months sucked. Instead of finding something else to think about she found herself going over the same things over and over again. Movement caught the corner of her eye. Dawn looked up from her coffee to see a glass vase with a rose in it. It hadn't been there when she sat down. Sitting opposite her was a half a familiar face she hadn't expected to see again. At least not this soon. 'You know I never did get your name.' he said, almost charmingly.

'No. You didn't.' She swallowed her sudden fear. It was that Adam guy, the one that left them living in a hotel after blowing up their home by beheading a guy. An Immortal. 'Thought you'd skipped town.'

He pushed another cup of coffee towards her. He already had one of his own. 'Did, but I took a page out of Agostnio's book. The last place anyone would think to look is where I just was.'

Dawn laughed at that, he was right Buffy had Slayers all over the world looking for the man sat right there in front of her 'My sister is going to kill you. You got that, right? Beheading. Not that big a deal for the Slayer.'

Adam chuckled. 'What can I say but I like to live dangerously.' 'There's dangerous and then there's suicidal.' Dawn pointed out. 'Guess which one you are.' He just smiled back. 'I've been catching up on my reading. Turns out you and him aren't the only ones out there. At least I hope not. How many are left?' She asked. During her research Dawn had come across something called the Prize. It was a little vague, but words like ultimate power and god like had her worried.

'Don't know. A few. Enough.' He admitted easily. 'We're not there yet, and there's always others. Immortals are still being found even today.'

'What is it, the prize?' She asked.

Adam pulled a face 'Ohhh, I don't know. I don't think you're ready for that. Not yet. Lets just say if the right person gets it everything's going to be alright.'

'And you're the right person?'

That got her another laugh 'No, but I think their out there. Somewhere.' He finished his drink and stood up. 'Maybe, if one of us is lucky, we'll see each other again. Tell your sister I'm sorry for hurting her, and you.' He pulled a memory stick out of his pocket. 'This is Agostnio. His history and some of the things he did. Including what happend to Leanna. She wasn't that much younger than you when, when he... That's there too. If you can stomach it. Might make things easier.'

Dawn took it, wondering just what he meant by make things easier. 'You know, that whole tracking spell thing? We can use this, but you know that aready.'

'I... I took precautions, but good luck with that.' He gave her another grin and waved at the table with it's cups. 'I've got this.' With that he turned and walked away.

'Dawn.' She called after him. 'My name's Dawn.'

Adam turned back 'It was a pleasure to meet you Dawn.' He walked away, long coat billowing as he faded into the background. One of the crowd.

End Rules of the Game