The sun was shining over the streets of New Orleans, not an immortal was stirring. After five centuries of surviving the Game and roaming the world as a bounty hunter, capturing the lowest scum ever living Earth, Reagan Cole, late of the Headhunting Immortals Serpent Squad, had found love and happiness in the Big Easy where she had met the man of her dreams : Steve Greenwell, a mortal, manager of the House of Rising Sun, the most popular gambling house in New Orleans. She was working as head of security for Greenwell and instantly fell in love with him. Fortunately for her, the feeling was mutual. Three months later, after much reflection, they were ready to get married. And having their own family too, since Reagan was already the foster-mother of a lovely little girl, Beatrix, an orphan she had adopted a year before Steve entered her life.
However smart Greenwell was, he could not have guessed the origins of Isabel Knight, her nature and the dangerous world she came from. Because however strong was Isadora's commitment toward her groom, she could not hide from the Game and from her past. She had committed two mistakes. The first one: joining the ranks of Helen King's Headhunting Immortals Serpent Squad. The second one: trying to escape from it.

Helen King could not forget her former employee who also was the woman she had fallen in love with. So, she tracked her down using the resources of her organization and managed to find her.
The night before her wedding, after the House of Rising Sun closed its doors and the young couple prepared to go home, Isadora sensed the unmistakable presence of an immortal. Going outside, readying herself, she heard the sound of a harp playing. On a bench, nearby, was a tall, blonde-haired woman, whose face bore a white eyepatch matching her white clothing. Helen King, leader of the Serpent Squad, also known as the Black Serpent Queen.

"What are you doing here?" asked Isadora, pale as a ghost.

"Well," answered Helen, smiling, "I was playing the harp. And now, I'm looking at the most beautiful immortal woman to ever walk the earth."

"How did you find me?"

"I'm the best," was the Queen's answer.

Isadora looked cautiously around her. "Are you going to be nice ?"

"I am always nice. You have to acknowledge I always was a good woman."

"To me, at least." Isadora stood, looking at Helen. Then, she sat next to her.

"Listen, I--"

"Hush, girl. You don't owe me anything. So, tell me. I heard through the grapevine that the best bounty hunter to ever walk the earth is getting married ? Who is the young fellow my lady love chose for herself ?" Helen was smiling, her red lipstick shining under the full moon.

"His name is Steve Greenwell. He is the manager of the House of Rising Sun, here in New Orleans. He is very kind."

King gazed in the distance, thoughtfully. Then, she looked back at Isadora.

"Is he ? I do hope that he is worth settling with, after you left me nearly three years ago, in the midst of Okinawa, faking your death at the hands of a lousy ronin."

Helen's tone of voice was pleasant, her smile remained unfaltering. She showed only the slightest trace of reproach in her blue eyes.

"Helen, I would like to tell you-- Oh my god, here's Steve ! Call me Isabel."

Steve Greenwell slowly sauntered by, a little shy and wondering who that strange one-eyed man was, talking with his fiancee. Joyfully, Isadora got off the bench and went to her lover.

"Steve, meet my big sister Helen Knight. Helen, this is Steve Greenwell."

Helen and Steve shook hands. "It's a pleasure meeting you, Steve," smiled Helen.

“The pleasure is mine. Isabel told me you couldn't attend the wedding. That you had urgent matters to attend to in Argentina."

"I am glad I could come. I could never have missed my little sister's wedding!" Helen showed a broad smile, while looking strangely at Isadora.

"So, you two are getting married ? And maybe starting a little family?"

"Well, I already have a daughter-in-law," laughed Steve, smiling at Reagan. "And we hope to have a child or two ourselves."

Then, Helen chose that moment to let her mask slip, saying coldly, "I am afraid that's out of the question." She drew a gun from her purse and shot a bullet though poor Steve Greenwell's brain.

Isadora yelled, "Helen, noooo!!" rushing to Steve's body.

Helen smirked. "Like I told you, I am always nice. But I'm afraid the others aren't."

Silently, four immortals circled Reagan and the Serpent Queen.

From Africa, Mossane the expert in blow-guns and venomous snakes.
From Okinawa, Kin Oriyama posing as a psychotic schoolgirl.
From China, Chang, expert hit man whose eyes were the mirror of his cold heart.
From Greece, Kyraxanthos II, a woman who lived through 2000 years of murder and mayhem.

"You made a big mistake, Reagan."

Crying, Helen looked at her former lover and at her former associates, fully realizing what this meant. The betrayal. The death of her fiancee. Her dreams of a new life crumbling. Her stepdaughter possibly the next to die. Then a white-hot fury overtook her and she started fighting for her life. To call the ensuing fight uneven would be an understatement. What could Reagan do against four experienced immortals without her sword in hand ? Her past associates started kicking her one after the other : Gasira in the belly, Kyraxanthos in the legs, Chang punched her in the face and finally Kin Oriyama kicked her bloodied face, sending the poor woman to the ground.

The black-hearted Serpent Queen silently walked over to her and stood, gazing down at her bruised, bloodied form. Helen unsheathed her katana, readying herself.

“This is for your mother, darling. In memory of the Serpentinas Sisterhood.”

Isadora found the strength to speak, one last time.

"Helen... Kellistra... will come for you !"

And Isadora died, her head brutally severed from her body.

Two days later...

Matt MacCormick was driving to the Carré, the French part of New Orleans LS where two bodies had been found murdered; those murders were related to a bizarre string of grizzly killings that started ten years ago in Seattle WA, itself related to another series of murders in New-York, nineteen years ago. Those ritualistic murders involved death by decapitations, most subjects being males, aged between 18 and forty-five with a few exeptions: some of the victims being women, elderly people and children. Those cases baffled the FBI completely : it looked as if several serial killers had been on the prowl at the same time, all using an edged instrument lik a a sword and killing the innocent people who had the misfortune of crossing their paths. A few suspects had been arrested, of course : two of them in particular, of Scotish descent, and who vanished from the surface of the earth five years ago.

Even more puzzling, this series was mirrored by several cases located in Europe, Africa, Pacific Southwest and Asia, as if the world had turned crazy. Theoricians stated that Y2K had been driving those people completely crazy – it could have been solar flare for all they knew. Eventually, the killing ratio dwindled, with a few exeptions now and then. Like two days ago in New Orleans. Matthew McCormick had been labeled as the leading expert in the “Sword Murders” and spent most of his time working on them, being called from all over the American continent. Of course, the man formerly known as Matthew of Salisbury, born and bred in medieval England, who had tamed the wild west in the company of very long-lived people, knew the terrible secrets of those “serial killers” : most of them played the Game, living violent, scret lives, mirroring the mortal world.

It wouldn’t be the first time, nor the last, that he would be hunting his fellow immortals. But this time, a shock expected him.

Matthew arrived to the morgue, got out of his car, wearing his sunglasses. His colleague, Kim Novak had arrived earlier and expected him. The stocky woman, bearing a Californian tan from her days in the LAPD, looked like she had seen this scene one time too many.

“So ?”

“Same as usual. Young, blonde, in her late twenties. Head separated from her body. Known as Isabel Knight, chief of security in a gambling house. Her identity is a fake, she has no recorded fingerprints, or dental records that could help identify her. The gal’s another Jane Doe.”

The pair went down to the place were Isadora rested with her lover.

“What about the gambling house’s boss ?”

“Dead too. He was found next to her, a bullet in the head”

“So no one can tell us where she’s from ?”

“The New Orleans department’s on the case. They’ll tell us more when they can.”

Matt and Kim were received by the coroner, Gil Grissom, twenty-five years of expertise in the world of violent death, who told them what he found : the woman had been beaten pretty roughly, but other than that her physical condition was perfect : not a scar, or trace of medical treatment. Amazing. Exacly like some of the “Sword Murders” victims. That’s why Matt had been called.

“Well, show me the body, then. Make it snappy !”

Grissom led them to the cases where bodies were being held, pending autopsies and opened a case, showing them the body of the woman who once was Isabel Knight, a body wearing the marks of a violent beating and of a past decapitation. Seeing the body, Matt’s face paled.

Ludmilla ! O dear God, Who the hell did this to you ? You never got involved in the Game !

Kim’s voice got Matt out of his trance. “Matt ? Are you okay ? Do you know her ?”

“Yes... we go from way back. She was my sister...”

And the man from Salisbury burst into tears.

Helen King made a first appearance on the immortal scene in 1752, during the first digging on the site were stood the scarce remains of Pompeii. One shudder at the idea of what King must have endured, entombed as a statue of hardened cinder, among ruins and the bodies of dead mortals and immortals. And immortals were a fair number, as they were recovered, their heads found apart from their bodies.

The woman known as the Queen of the Headhunting Immortals Serpent Squad had been born as Eleni of Sparta, two thousand and three hundred years ago, and had founded a very select group of immortal women known as the Septserpentina, under the guidance of an immortal known as Devius. The Serpentina's reign of terror over the city of Pompeii lasted centuries before they were joined by a dark-skinned woman from the mountains of Pontius, near present-day Turkey. That woman was known to them as Abellona, but today the Watchers and the immortals know her as Kellistra, the bringer of death. Abellona put an end to the Serpentina's rampage as she spew trouble in Devius' house. Then Devius betrayed Abellona, creating a chain of events that would lead to the death of all but one of the Septserpentinas, the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and the death of thousand mortals. Seventeen centuries later, Eleni of Sparta came back to the world of the living, disoriented, confused and insane. She had been in the darkest pit of hell, had gazed at the abyss and found herself without a reason to go on living.

Then, less than two centuries later, she resurrected the Serpentinas in her own fashion.

The city of New York, Manhattan. March 2000

At 11 AM, Helen King met Chang at Broadway Joe Steakhouse, NY near Central Park, where she had invited him for dinner.

This was not the first time the two immortals met : Chang, a Chinese immortal who was the last survivor of the children Kellistra has had in China two hundred years ago, first made Helen's acquaintance when he was hunting her in Rome, in the 1920's; Helen trapped him and offered to let him go after defeating him. Since then, they had been playing cat and mouse in a friendly manner, as if they weren't two of the most dangerous immortals to ever grace the Watchers' Doomsday Book with their names.
Chang arrived at the steakhouse, dressed casually in black clothing with a purple shirt and a pair of Nikes. He had his usual look of a shy boy who didn't really know where he belonged, hiding the psychology of a ruthless predator. Charming in his manners, efficient as a killer, but his heart was cold, as if he had lacked happiness throughout most of his life.

"Good evening Chang, I'm so happy you came. My, you look in good shape!" King rose from her chair and gave a hug to Chang, she was dressed in a conservative suit, black with a white shirt. She wore an eyepatch matching her clothes.

"The pleasure is mine, Serpent Queen darling. To what do I owe your invitation ?"

Chang sat, all smile and pleasantness. Tonight was a time of leisure for him, which didn't happen frequently.

"Well, I wanted to have a nice evening with an old friend but this is for business, too. You know, I haven't eaten here since ten years ago when I killed the King of Spades and his Royal Flush Gang."

"You killed the founder of Murder Inc ? And his cronies ? I've heard of them... They must have been hell to kill!"

"Yes, they were. As you know, I am running an operation called 'Headhunting Immortals Serpent Squad,' aka H.I.S.S."

"I love comic books too," retorted Chang, his voice dripping sarcasm.

"It sounded corny to me too, in the beginning," answered Helen, smiling. "Now listen: the Serpent Squad is a business enterprise whose identities are based on snakes. The Society is my brainchild, and I call myself 'Black Serpent Queen.'"

"I know of it, every assassin and merc in the world has heard of HISS, at least once in their lives. But why take the risk of 'gathering' – forgive the pun - deadly immortals like us?"

"I am a very old woman, I need good company, and I feel a group of immortals has better chance of surviving the Game and of relieving themselves from the boredom of immortality if they stand together."

"Very smart. I'll even be smarter by guessing you are inviting me to join your little society, not just to enjoy my splendid features," said Chang, with a light laugh.

"Exactly. You are an immortal, several centuries old, very experienced and a master assassin yourself. We go from way back together and I have complete faith in your talents, your sense or responsabilities and loyalty. Who knows, you could be our new Cobra."

The conversation King and Chang enjoyed was interrupted by a lovely waitress, brunette, clad in uniform, offering menus. The two immortals quickly looked at them and chose a salad, wine and two steaks, medium for King and well-done for Chang.

The waitress - or rather the Watcher posing as a waitress - left and re-joined the team waiting for her. They were a half-dozen gathered tonight, closely following the conversation of the two killers.

"I appreciate your compliments, indeed we go way back together. Tell me, who was the first Cobra ?"

"Paul Kinman."

"Kinman ? Oh that's rich ! Charming and deadly. Good with women, too. Have you heard of that FBI woman who fell in love with him ? She became a liability to him and he killed her.”

“Mortals should never interfere in the affairs of mortals."

"You got that right. By the way, have you heard of the Watchers ?"

"Oh yes ! I've spotted them around the eighteenth century, I tortured one for information and learned plenty of interesting things about them. They amuse me."

"What happened to Kinman, he's left the Squad ?"

"No, he died. Facing Duncan MacLeod."

"It's a real shame."

Chang smiled, lost in thought. Then the waitress/Watcher girl brought their plates and wine, wishing them a good appetite, when Helen grabbed her wrist.

"Tell me, young Watcher, what's your name ?"

"I beg your pardon ? Ouch ! Please, you're hurting me !"

Helen smiled coldly at the Watcher, with Chang waiting, his hand on his chin.

"What-is-your-name ?"

"My name's Uma. Please, let me go !"

"Sure, girl," answered Helen releasing Uma's wrist, "but go tell your team of spies my friend and I would like to be left alone, at least for tonight. Or there will be Watcher liver with chianti on the menu tomorrow ! Understood ?" Uma nodded, frightened. "Go away, kid."

And she did. The restaurant quickly emptied itself of its Watchers, with Mike Gambit - former CIA operative, twenty years of field experience with dangerous assignments - bugging the main room where Helen and her guest sat.

"Well, Helen, you certainly know how to scare people away. So, Kinman was killed by MacLeod ? As far as I know, he's still alive. Didn't you avenge the Englishman ?"

"Good question. Actually I sent a few immortals after him in Seattle but he creamed them all. Peter Kanis relayed too much on his dogs; Horvan Kant was killed by James Coltec before he could do the kill, and after that I briefly lost his trace. When he killed Haresh Clay and Johnny K. I thought 'what the hell !' and gave up. I didn't want to attract his attention to my group."

"MacLeod. He's the man. I have reservations still. Aside from company, what would be there for me in this?"

"You'd get top salary, pension plan, retirement plan, insurance, free out-of-jail ticket, all expenses paid. Do you like this idea ? Because next week you are going to be inducted into the Serpent Squad and come the day you leave the Squad, well... you'd better have a good reason for it !"

Chang laughed lightly at the idea. "Okay, I guess I like to live dangerously."

"Here's a card with my phone number; call me three days from now if you haven't changed your mind." And on those last words, the two friends parted company.

From: Sarah Lao (Field Watcher, Jane Doe IV)

To: US NorthWest Bureau

Date : 21.06.04

Not much is known about Kin Oriyama : a teenager who made her first acquaintance with death three hundred years ago when she and her family where killed during the insane war of Clan Kanagawa against Clan Ito, two of Japan’s most powerful clans – both led by immortals. These informations were discovered through conversations between Lucy Sparks and Helen King.

After Oriyama took part in the murder of her ex-colleague in Lousiana, she vanished from Watcher records and re-appeared in Manhattan, looking for a katana having belonged to Kane of Samarkand who met his end in 1994 to Connor MacLeod. This day, she was triomphantly touring the seedy pubs of New-York’s East End with Lucy Sparks in tow when the two women met up with Kellistra, in a back alley. I strongly suspect this was a set-up since Kellistra had been looking for the whereabouts of Kin’s current associates.

Below is a report of their conversation .

"I am Kin Oriyama of Okinawa ! "

“And I am Lucy Sparks.”

" Well, hello ! Pleased to make your acquaintance at last, girls. I am Ursula Katz."

Sparks looked at her friend, a worried look on her face.

“Kin... let’s run, I know that woman. She is the Bringer of Death.”

Oriyama pretended not to hear her friend, advancing toward Kellistra. Sparks recoiled in a corner, waiting and observing.

"Oh yes?   I don't know . . .  Was it my lovely new sword that brought you to Manhattan tonight, Bringer of Death? Only I think I reached the prize before you did, and that means I've won the fight!" exulted Kin.

"Really ? Your overconfidence dazzles me ! You know, you ought to listen to your friend"

“But you’ve got to know that this saber will give me the victory.”

“Why ? Will it you help you cheat in some unusual way ?”

"I don't cheat, bitch! I've spent seventy-one years tracking down this treasure--the most powerful magical weapon ever forged!"

"My sweet child, magic should be found in oneself, not in an artefact that was young when I was old. "

The conversation was brutally stopped when Kin hurled herself against Kellistra and attacked her. It's funny, their fight reminded of my pet cat Ebony when he catches a bird or a mouse: he plays with the poor thing a few minutes before savaging him to death. That's what Kellistra did: first a few small cuts on the face, arms, thigh; then she toyed with Kin, showing her dirty tricks of the sword, laughing all the time.

"Give up, peanut. I’ll make it painless."

" I am the Golden Water-Snake and I will chop your fucking head off !"

"Golden... Whoa, wait a minute !"

Kellistra disarmed Kin by sending her katana flying. Then she pointed her sword at the Japanese girl. Meanwhile, Lucy Sparks braced herself for what was coming.

"Why call yourself Golden Water-Snake ?"

"It's none of your business !"

" Is it your surname in the Serpent Squad ?"

"You know of it?" asked Oriyama, defiantly.

" I am looking for your group... There are things we need to “discuss”. I must admit even old geezers like me are impressed by your work."

"Bitch! You can stop here right now," laughed Kin. I'm sure we are not put on this earth to impress pompous old crones like you."

Kellistra spoke calmly, with fire in her eyes

" Will you stop calling me "bitch". Now, remember I have my sword at your throat: I want you to tell me why you call yourself after an immortal who died two thousand years ago and also where I can find the other members of your group. “

"Why should I tell you anything?"

"Because if you don't, I will cut something off you. Something that you will MISS. Capisce?"

"Fuck you. Bitch." Kin spoke those words with a smile, keeping a defiant stare.

And that's when Ursula Katz slipped the mask and showed us the face of Kellistra. She yelled in a foreign language, did a freaky move with her sword and chopped Kin's head off ! Lucy screamed her lungs out upon seeing Oriyama collapsing to the floor, there was blood pouring out as she kept on yelling.

“Well, Lucy Sparks. I guess it’s you and me”, growled Kellistra menacingly coming to the frightened woman.

“Please. I don’t know anything ! I’m only an attorney.”

“Liar ! Do you want to lose your head like your friend ? I know you too are close associates, that you work for the same person. The informations I lack are : who that person is, why was Oriyama calling herself Golden Water-Snake, where can I find the other Vipers ! See ? Those are simple questions calling for simple answers.”

“Burn in hell, you... you murdering swine ! I won’t tell you anything !”

Kellistra lost patience, swore a Latin curse and hastily cut Sparks’s arm off, with blood pouring out everywhere. "Answers ! Now ! Or lose every part of your body one at a time !”

Sparks completely lost her nerve. "I was recruited by a woman calling herself Black Serpent Queen. She called Kin like this because she reminded her of a girl she was very close to, a long time ago ! Please, I don't know where the others are right now, oh please !! I’m not even a member of their group !"

" Black Serpent Queen, right? Somehow I suspected it. Only she could have survived the Pompeii massacre! But why would she build another Serpent group, I wonder.”

Oriyama was crying her heart out.

"Well, Lucy Sparks, I am going to let you keep your insignificant life so you can tell in person to the Black Serpent Queen what happened to you tonight. So you can tell her what I know. I want you to tell her I am coming for her and for the other Snakes. For revenge and to tie up loose ends... One last thing : tell her she'd better stop luring my progeny in her little group of misfits! And that's from the Black Pontic Viper. Understood? "

"Yes. "

And with that, she was gone, leaving poor Lucy Sparks in a pool of her own blood.

--End of report—

Sometime later... in a penthouse belonging to the wealthy leader of HISS.

"Lucy. My Lucy. I'm so sorry."

" Please. Please, forgive my betrayal."

"Let’s speak no more of it. My heart aches at what became of my sweet, brillant Lucy. Tell me what happened."

"The woman who attacked us... she was old. Maybe as old as you are. She was like a tigress prawning for prey, she had murder in her eyes."

"Her name?"

"Kellistra. She also called herself Black Pontic Viper." Helen swore loudly.

"Do you know her ?"

"A past acquaintance. Somehow I knew this day would come."

" She completely pulled us apart I met her after Kin and I purchased Kane's katana."

"The demonhead saber Kin told us about? She wanted it for a long time."

"Yes. After we got out of the Broadway Antique Market, we sensed the presence of an immortal. You know how Kin was, she could never resist the temptation of a Quickening. We went into a dark alley together and there... there... " Lucy started sobbing uncontrollably.

"Hush, child. Control yourself. What "betrayal" were you referring to?"

“Kin was going crazy. She refered to herself as Golden Water-Snake. It turned Katz mad, she asked Kin where that name was coming from. Kin wouldn’t say anything and... and... (sobbing)... after she killed Kin, she went at me and did this to me. I was so scared. She swore she'd kill me slowly, cutting me to peaces, if I didn't answer her questions."

"What questions?"

"Who the Vipers are. Who is leading us. She told me that she hates loose ends and will come after you, my Queen. And she wants you to stop luring her children in our midst”. Pausing. “What is going to happen to me ?"

"You still are a valuable member of our group and my prize student. I will send you to China, for re-education with Mitsuhiro Ito, if he is still alive. And then, you will come back to us."

"You are giving far more than I deserve."

“This is the least I can do for you.” Pausing. "One more thing, Lucy, is she aware that Isadora's daughter is still alive ?"

They came in large numbers, these gifted people. They came from every place, every culture, every background, without distinction of age or gender.

The Ninja brothers, the Vampire of Romania, the Vigilante of Watts and the Six of Vinland. Many of them. They travelled carrying suitcases, bags, lunchboxes, packing their swords, cutlasses, knives and weapons.

The warrior, the pacifist, the assassin, the writer.

The genius, the idiot, the old man and the child.

Because Kellistra immersed herself in so many cultures, the children and students she has had over the years reflected that.

The northern wind, the eastern wind, brought them all, gathered them all to that little cemetery located in the canton of Zurich, where laid one of their sisters : Isadora, known in the 20th century as Reagan Cole, now sleeping forever.

They were Ceirdwyn, the Iceni warrior whose heart was made of gold and her sister Alexi of the Carvetti tribe (sister in spirit if not in blood, for Kellistra had not borne her); Elijah of Pompadour, aka Herder of the Lost, a Romanian vampire who gathered the lost to their doom; Hsien Tsiang the Buddhist monk who left Holy Ground so rarely; Keren-Happuch, the biblical assassin who had led countless men and women in wars and revolutions..

They were The Lost Children, a group made of the survivors of Kellistra's children who died in infancy during the Great Plague of 1348.

Crossing the Atlantic, came Matthew McCormick the FBI profiler who tamed the wild, wild west with Charles Mako and Isadora herself; Ruby Proudfoot, born too late to be a Comanche warrior - which Kellistra found to be the Comanche's loss; Pastor Doc T. Widders, painter and wandering preacher, originally hailing from a nomadic tribe, eighteen centuries ago; Ekaterini, daughter of Kyriakos from ancient Greece, now a paramedic and mother in New-York.

From Zurich, Juliet, Emily and Mariotta Rochia, born-pacifist and to whom Kellistra taught means to survive, not expecting them to survive their first century. But they did, growing and living together during two hundred years.

The Watchers attending that Gathering of sort had the surprise of seeing Siah-Seck, the pirate woman from Pacific Southwest they reported dead after she met The Man with the Harmonica in San Francisco, twenty years ago.

Also present, the Vinland Clan : six immortal Vikings born and bred in the country of Vinland, one thousand years ago. Now living peaceful lives with their families, children and students. When they heard the call, they came too.

Virgil of Naples, the writer who astonished entire generations of young readers as Jules Verne, today, toying with epic poetry that is never published; for amusement, he forges 'undiscovered' Shakespearean plays and plants them where antiquarians and scholars can find them.

From Japan, Koji and Kokuten Tadokoro, two fearless Ninja assassins clad in black and carrying an assortment of exotic weapons, and Izumi Sakaki, aka Quicksilver, a manga scenarist and illustrator known for her speed and skill, which got her the nickname from her colleagues and friends.

Halis Ag Emoctar : Tuareg, former raider, now tour guide in the Arabian desert and Zuwarah of the Serengetti people, now a cop in the streets of Johannesburg.

Thirty immortals, last survivors of Kellistra’s tribes of children, answering the call of their mother and teacher. As they entered the cemetery, they eyed each others cautiously, not all of them getting along, some of them starting conversations. Some were acquainted and formed knots among the graves; the Vinland Clan immortals were among the more talkative. The less sociable of them – the Herder, Keren-Happuch, Zuri, the Tadokoro brothers - stood apart, waiting.

"...I've been travelling for six days, the journey was a real killer, believe me !"

"...I was working on the Candy Man case when you called, Thor, that was..."

"I hate Johannesburg, I miss the Serengeti and my family ..."

"... They do that kind of cheese in Corsica, called brucciu that's to die for..."

"... How's little Adam doing, Katie ? He must be a real boy, now !"

It seemed like the wind of autumn brought them all together, like an irresistible force. A force of nature. And maybe it did.

"That's what I heard about him, that he killed the King of Skin in the 70's..."

"Hard to live as an immortal and to remain a pacifist, don'cha know..."

"...hate those little burial places... it feels like a Stephen King novel, by God..."

"That's when Jack killed those poor girls, it took twenty-one of us to hunt for him..."

"... can't find decent human blood, those days, with all the std's and..."

Knots became groups, and eventually they all gathered near Isadora's tombstone.

Kellistra stood in front of a lonely gravestone, located west of the cemetery. A stone dark as night, reflecting the oblivion of death and the thoughts running through her mind. She was a little more than 2800 years old, this summer of 2004, she has had over two hundred children and students, all of them immortals. A lot of them had died, either because of the Game or because of accidents, or suicides : Chang Kim of Beijing wanted to escalate Mt Fuji-Yama, he got lost by a cold winter night, his body was never recovered. Chastity and Milosh Green, two wandering souls searching for a goal in life their immortality couldn't provide to them, ended their lives surrendering to a headhunter. And others, too weak physically or mentally to survive their first century. Kellistra mourned them all.

To her, giving birth to children, whether in China, or in a land conquered by the Vikings, was the most positive thing she could do in her life. Killing, pillaging and rampaging where things she had learnt as a student of the Horsemen, but there was one man in Italy, two thousand years ago, who had bestowed unto her that most precious of gift : she, the bringer of death would bring life in this world and bear children of her own. Becoming one of the rarest immortal woman on earth.

She made the most of it each century of her life. It is true she had known failure as a mother since many of her sons and daughters took after her in bad ways : temperamental people, corrupted to their very souls. The Gentleman, Kriss of Valnor, the Kurgan, Harry Rochia who became Jack the Ripper; they died by the sword after butchering countless mortals and immortals. Yet, Kellistra knew her flaws and always tried to do good when some of her children become thorns on mankind' side.

But there were also the good ones, living testimonies that Kellistra was a fit mother and teacher, able to bear and rear solid immortals : those of her surviving children presenting themselves to her tonight. "Well, here you are !" said the raven-haired immortal as her children congregated around her. All of them looking for all the world like intimidated children being presented to the Godfather himself.

Ceirdwyn advanced herself ."We salute you, Mother, we are so happy to see you in good shape and present among us..."

"Can the dramatics, Ceirdwyn sweetie, you can speak better than that."

All remained silent.

"Please stop looking at me like I am the Second Coming ! I am only the woman who let you loose in that damn battlefield. Rather, I'd like you to pay your respect to your fallen sister."

Thor Kanwulfsson of the Vinland immortals came to his mother, too. "We all are saddened by Isadora’s passing. She was among the best warriors I had the pleasure to meet. She is going to be missed and remembered with honor."

"Thank you, Thor," answered Kellistra; then, taking a few steps backward, she addressed the immortals assembled.

"I called you to this place, my children, to mourn and remember one of our own. Isadora was born in the Canton of Uri where I had settled during what the mortals call the Age of the Renaissance. During those times, I was a merchant and shared my time between this activity and more artful ones. When the time came, I decided to become a mother again and not repeat the mistakes I committed during the Dark Ages when the Great Plagues struck. “

She looked at the Lost Children quintet lovingly, with a hint of sadness in her eyes.

“So, I exiled myself for a few decades to Switzerland where I met the immortal who would become Isadora's father : Armand of Winterthur, a six-hundred years-old knight who pretended to have founded the Canton of Uri where I sojourned. This man became the father of my child. I am sorry to say Armand didn't live to see his daughter become a woman : I took his head myself when he threatened her virtue."

Kellistra’s lips curled at those memories, then she returned to her story.

"Isadora's first encounter with mortal death occurred two days before her twenty-ninth birthday when she was working as bodyguard for a local tax collector. The collector, his bags filled with gold, was attacked on the road to Zurich by a band of robbers who had nothing but bad intentions toward my daughter's protege. During the ensuing fight, she fought bravely, the way I taught her. Unfortunately, the bandits outnumbered her and they beat her like pulp after raping her. When Isadora woke up, safely tucked in the home where she grew up, she went after the men who brutalized her. We killed them together, bathing our swords in blood. Later, I finished her training as an immortal and sent her on her way. Isadora was one of my best achievements as mother and teacher. Unfortunately, she threw herself into a bad venture with the wrong crowd and died because of this single mistake."

The assembly grimly listened as she finished her story.

"I will dispose of the Serpent Squad as I see fit, then Isadora 's soul will rest in peace. And my quest will be over."

Before anyone in the crowd had the time to say anything or to offer swords and help to Kellistra, a loud voice thundered in the morning sky.

“BLACK PONTIC VIPER !! YOU AND I GOT A SCORE TO SETTLE !”

Everyone rushed outside of the cemetery like a pack of hounds sensing prey nearby; Kellistra slowly followed them to the gates and saw, gathered, a circle of one hundred ninja assassins, clad in red with deadly weapons and sabers in their hands. Standing among them was an immortal. A crazy-looking, one-armed immortal known as Lucy Sparks. And in front of her, twenty-two well-armed immortals yelling and charging like a pack of mad bulls.

The hundred fearless Ninja warriors never stood a chance against them.

Eir and Freya, the Vinland women and their four brothers - Thor, Heimdall, Eric and Balder - fought side by side using huge broadswords, axes and maces, as they always did during the ten centuries of their lives. They despised useless violence, oh yes, but also enjoyed a little slugfeast now and then like self-respecting Vikings. The assassin, the merchant, the traveller, the hunter, the student and the writer, enjoying this bloodbath together.

Ceirdwyn and Alex Raven, two formidable warrior women born in different tribes from Celtic Britain and yet so very alike. Both had been adopted daughters of Kells and students of hers. Both clad in leather looking like nothing could touch their hearts and yet, so vulnerable inside, so loving to their own foster children and students. Right now, they were all fury and swords, cleaving and ripping their way through Kin Spark's army.

Keren-Happuch, assassin more ancient than dust who had been taught the last lesson of her life two thousand years ago when Kellistra buried her alive after she killed her husband when he came home drunk one night. When she got out of her grave, Keren was a changed woman. And that's good for us mortals, when we see her, eight foot tall, her eyes flashing a ferocity only matched by the Kurgan's.

Matthew McCormick. Ruby Proudfoot. Ekaterini. Siah-Seck. Zuwarah. All fighters, spraying blood in their wake.

Koji and Kokuten Tadokoro, the Ninja brothers, found themselves in front of a dilemna : could they really fight and kill their mortal brothers when themselves would raise from the dead ? They asked themselves the same question each time they had to face other Ninjas. But given the urgency of the situation - one hundred against sixteen, six opponents for each of them - they quickly started throwing shurinkens, as Nonuse practicioners worth their salt. Stealth and skill. Chigiriki and darts. Naginata and jutte. Bo staffs. Simple weapons, yet efficient and deadly.

Elijah of Pompadour, usually in fear of armed opponents, felt the thrill of battle emitted by his family and went after the ninjas, one after the other, stabbing, biting fuiously, draining blood. The usual calm, cultured vampire showed his bothers and sisters, who despised him, that he certainly wasn't afraid of shedding his own blood in battle.

The Von Arlon children –Beatrix, Benedikt, Clemens, Franz and Isolde, born in rural Germany, had died at a very early age during the Great Plague and stayed in the company of their mother during one decade before they were competent enough to fend for themselves in the vast world. They used the same tricks : they rushed together against the Ninjas and took several of them down, grappling them, before putting them to the sword. It was their pride : puny and small as they were, their mother's blood still ran in their veins.

Those who didn't fight were unsuited for battle : they were either untrained for battle or plained hated violence – the Rochia Sisters, for instance, were natural-born pacifists. As the fighters were wiping the floor with Ninjas, the Pontic Viper stood in deep thoughts : this was not their fight. It was unfair to put her children on the first line when the whole conflict was started by her and for revenge's sake only. When the dust settled, only one opponent remained : the much-chagrined Lucy Sparks who stood in front of thirty-one angry immortals.

"Sparks. What is it you were saying earlier ?" Asked Kellistra.

Lucy Sparks remained silent. She knew the battle was lost and that she was dead. Grimly, she unsheathed her katana with the hand she had left, readying herself.

"This is suicide, Lucy. Why don't you walk away ?"

"Because you already killed me when you took off my arm, Black Pontic Bitch !"

With that, the foolish young girl charged yelling until her blade was blocked by Kellistra's Chaos Fire sword.

"It will never be finished, Kellistra. The Headhunting Immortals Serpent Squad is like the hydra : the heads you cut will grow back. One day, we will kill you. And we will kill your children, one by one and our Queen will savor each and every one of your darling's Quickenings !"

Kellistra paled and gave up the idea of sparing her opponent’s head. One stroke of her sword, and the fury of the Quickening engulfed her while her blood-spattered children watched. Then, exhausted, she spoke to them.

" My children, dear students, I am proud of the way you behaved yourselves and I thank you for sparing me the trouble of having to dispose of those Ninjas. Now that another one of my enemies is dead, I would like you to do one more thing to me. Go home. And listen well before you start interrupting me, even if you know better than this," added Kellistra with a smile. "As I saw you fighting I reflected that this battle isn't yours. It is mine. I am doing this for revenge and to put an end to an old story.

I treasure each and everyone of you because you are the best thing I ever did in my long, wicked life. I am the best assassin to walk the earth, and yet I succeeded in bringing life into this world. I am not a perfect mother, nor am I a perfect teacher. I might have wronged you in the past and for this, I am sorry.

What really matters to me is that you are happy and that you keep your heads on your shoulders. And given who I am fighting, I am not sure all of you will be alive when that tale of revenge reaches its climax. “

Kellistra paused, her children listening silently.

“So, here is the one thing you can do for me. Keeping in mind the threats Lucy Sparks issued before she died, you are all going to go home. Keep watch of each others and keep carrying weapons at all times. I want the more defenseless among you to spend a few days with the fighters, you know who you are. Get it ? It will be a few more days before I'm done with Helen King. I'd rather die myself before seeing one of you losing his or her head. So now, JUST GO HOME !!"

And with that, Kellistra turned her back on them and went her merry way in her blood-red 4X4 with her army of thirty children and students dispersing to the four corners of the world.

The Ninjas, the Vampire of Romania, the Vigilante of Watts, the Six of Vinland.

The warrior, the pacifist, the assassin, the writer.

The genius, the idiot, the old man and the child.

In the movie-inspired, dramatic epic called Deadly Venom vol 2, there is one chapter that should stand apart from the others. The one in which Kellistra, the Black Pontic Viper, goes looking for information about the Serpent Squad. And when an immortal like Kellistra needs information in a hurry, what does she do? She hooks on the immortal grapevine and goes looking for the best-informed Watcher she can find.

One week after killing Kin Oriyama and Lucy Sparks, Kellistra made her way to the American Pacific Northwest, more specifically to the city of Seattle WA. She went to a place you'd never thought she'd visit: Joe's Blues Bar, a place belonging to the most famous Watcher of the 1990's, one who wasn't afraid to create a complicated friendship with Duncan MacLeod, the Highlander. What she was doing here was looking for the kind of information only a field Watcher (or a retired one, for that matter) could give to her.

It was Monday, late in the evening, and the clientele was sparse. The only person serving drinks was Joe Dawson. Joe looked at the young woman who had entered his beloved bar... and froze. Even retired, a Watcher cannot help himself spotting the immortals crossing his way, particularly famous ones. And this one, she is mythology incarnate! A woman who rode with the Four Horsemen, who had mothered the Kurgan, who could heal instantly from any wound and who presented absolutely maximum good looks ! Kellistra is well-known in Watcher circles and is among the Top Ten immortals most likely to win the Prize. Rumors have it made that she is highly placed in the Watcher Doomsday Book, that book listing every immortal who ever lived. And here she was, flamboyant in the dim-lighted pub called Joe's Blue Bar. The clients present didn't dare approach her, or even send her drinks. She sauntered over to Joe who was safely tucked behind his counter, looking at her while wiping out empty glasses.

"How may I serve you?" asked Joe.

"Nagasaki Airburst. Plenty of fallout."

"I don't know that drink, I am sorry."

"It's tequila on the rocks. With pepper. A friend created it."

"A friend? I would love to meet that friend of yours."

"You couldn't meet him. He died two years ago. From metal poisoning, if you catch my drift," answered Kellistra, winking.

"I think I know what you mean."

The remaining patrons were feeling nervous; they paid for their drinks and left in a hurry. Like birds afraid of a tiger loose in the garden. But Joe knew he needn't be afraid of her, as she never killed mortals for thrills.

"We're alone," remarked Kellistra, "unless there's anyone in the toilets?"

"No. We're the only two left."

"I know who you are, Mister Dawson, I guess you are aware of my identity and of my nature."

Sighing, Joe stopped all pretence of being the humble proprietor of an out-of the way pub in Seattle. He went to the entrance door with a "Sorry, we are closed" sticker and came back to the counter. "Oh yes, I know who you are, Kellistra of the Northern Winds, if that's really your name. I know who your first teacher was, who your first student was. I could even name some of the people you've loved. But that's not important: what's important is your lust for killing and the fact that you don't hurt mortals unnecessarily."

Kellistra made a light laugh.

"You got me all figured out, right? You Watchers are so ignorant! You think you know the "truth" about the immortals although your Chronicles are all pretentious twaddle! You are one of the rarest of your kind, a Watcher who befriended an immortal. Duncan MacLeod, no less! I met him in Paris, he fights very well. Maybe he will live through the new millennium."

"Are you here for information about him? Because if you intend to hurt him ..."

Reassuringly, Kellistra smiled at the old man.

"Oh no. I mind him no harm. I'm just a good old girl looking for some specific information. And I thought I could pay a visit to a Watcher known for breaking the rules of non-interference."

"We observe and record. But we don't interfere," Joe calmly helped himself to a glass of scotch.

"You interfere all the time," retorted Kellistra somberly, "how many of you Watchers have been judging and killing immortals dubbed "evil" over the centuries? Your Hunters killed a man I respected. Darius should have been among the ones left for the Gathering!"

Joe looked at Kelistra, sadly shaking his head.

"We loved Darius. The men who killed him paid for their crimes."

"I certainly hope so ! Now, listen to me carefully. I want you to go into your Watcher Database and tell me everything there is to know about the organization called Headhunting Immortals Serpent Squad. Who its members are, who works for them, what are their whereabouts. And particularly the current identity of their leader, known as the Black Serpent Queen."

Joe looked at her, smiling.

"And why should I give you all that information?"

"Because given the damage you Watchers caused with your interferences, I think the least you can do is help us immortals in times of need! And since your friend MacLeod killed one of those so-called Serpents, you would also do him a favor by helping me. Don't you agree, Mister Dawson?"

Joe stayed silent. Then he asked, "And when you find HISS, what will you do?"

"Destroy the Black Serpent Queen."

The old Watcher reflected, studying what he was about to do.

"It will take me three hours to break into the Watcher Database. I'll be back with the information you need. Meanwhile, you'll find beer in the fridge and fresh coffee in the percolator. Try not to make a mess of the place."

And that was it. Joe broke his oath for the umpteenth time and gave Kellistra the documentation she needed on a silvery cd-rom.

"Four years ago, I swore an oath when I retired from the Watchers. That I would never give confidential Watcher data to an immortal again. Even MacLeod's stopped asking information from me. And you are the one about to make me break that oath. On this cd you have copies of the files we gathered on the Serpent Squad over the years. But before you look at it ..."

Joe looked at her, silent. Kellistra's face turned somber. "What?"

"Reagan Cole, your daughter and student. She became involved with the Squad and it seems their leader killed her. In cold blood."

Kellistra turned pale. "Why do you think I am headhunting?"

"Ride, raven-haired warrior, but try not to take it out on the Seattle immortals."

In a second, Kellistra was gone with a "thanks", ready for the quest awaiting her.

There is a legend in a tiny village of Kenya, about a bride who became the third wife of the village's chief, five hundred years ago. The chief's first wife became jealous of the young girl and had her poisoned. It is also told the bride came back from the dead and scared the first wife so much that she died.

This legend is based on the story of Mossane Gasira Nkobe who re-awakened an immortal. Mossane was cast out from her village, but not put to death since her husband had really loved her. She wandered for days until she could reach the village she originated from, unfortunately word had reach the place that her ghost was now haunting the area and she had to flee again. She was then pursued by the immortal Assane Ouadraogo who thought her an easy kill; Sunda Kastagir proved him wrong when he took his head and taught the ways of the Game to the young immortal girl. Mossane became an angel of vengeance punishing mortals and immortals who hurt the innocent, making a name for herself though the centuries: by the end of the 17th century she had become one of the best assassins on the continent; by the end of the 19th century she had spread tales of terror in the western world about a mysterious black woman who had more lives than seven cats. And when the 20th century reached its end, she became one of the snake-named immortal members of the Headhunting Immortals Serpent Squad. On this occasion, she made one mistake : she took part in the brutal death of one of her associates in the Squad, Isadora of Wynterthur, daughter of Kellistra, the deadliest immortal woman alive.

Kellistra already went for Kin Oriyama, killing her, but today she is going after the second name on her death list : Gasira the copperhead and her quartet of students, four young men and women, all immortals and hailing from the African continent:

- Abeni whose name means "we asked for her, and, behold, we got her" hails from the Yoruba people, a culture set in Nigeria and colonized by the British in 1901. A victim of British soldiers, Abeni took brutal revenge on her tormentors after Gasira welcomed the young woman from the land of the dead and taught her of the Game and immortality. She is the oldest of the squad, the wisest and the most violent, mirroring her teacher in that matter. She calls herself "Forest Cobra".

- Sefu, born Bantu in the 1920's, his name means "sword" in Swahili. He chose the name "Night Adder" for himself and is a calmer snake than Gasira's other students. A night adder is the viper that brought immortality to him, in an unfortunate accident as he was visiting a girl from his hometown during the night. When he came back from the dead, he was cast out, only to be adopted by the village's healer, Gasira herself. A sweet child at fifteen, Sefu had to grow up quickly to survive.

- Haidar the lion, born Egyptian and strong as an ox, his adopted family originally moved from Cairo to Algiers in 1942. He was killed during a boxing tournament by an enraged opponent. Haidar spent two long years alone in the desert, hiding from predatory immortals, before Gasira rescued him and told him of his nature. Gasira kicked his misogynist temperament out of him several times before helping him reach his potential: he is a gifted student. Ambitious, he would like to be the leader of the pack when Gasira is away. But Abeni won't let him do that. Among the Water-Snakes, his codename is "Desert Black Snake"

- Keturah : When Gasira met Keturah twenty years ago, she was living from her body in a vermin-infested bordello. Gasira violently showed the Bordello manager his own pancreas and liver before putting him to the sword and ridding Abidjan from one of its most sinster inhabitants. Then she freed the women living there and took Keturah in. Keturah doesn't care about people, other than the Water-Snakes and their mistress. Gasira gave Keturaha self-confidence and turned her into a skilled assassin. Among the Snakes, Keturah is "Green Mamba".

Cairo, Egypt. Four days after Kin Oriyama lost her head.

Kellistra was enjoying the smells of Cairo's market place, looking at the torrent of smells and sights displayed there; she purchased for herself a bottle of amber-colored perfume, a red dress and a beautiful cutlass before deciding to go back to her hotel. As she was making her way through a covered alley, she sensed the presence of five immortals. In front of her were Mossane and her Four Water-Snakes.

Kellistra slowly got her sword out of her backpack. "Gasira. I was looking for you,"

“You are the Black Pontic Viper”

“I see that my reputation precedes me. I haven’t been called like that for two thousand years.”

“Whatever we did to you, I guess it’s a little late for an apology.”

“You are guessing correctly.”

“So that’s it. You go around the world and splatter blood, not caring about who gets in your way !”

“I am on the warpath. You need to be destroyed.”

"Arrogant fool! You don't impress us. You killed closes associates of mine and crippled the Serpent Squad. For this, you must die." Looking at Abeni

"Flay her alive !"

"Yaaaaaiiih," yelled Abeni, rushing toward Kellistra, with a spear longer than her arm in hand.

Kellistra smiled and quickly took a small knife from one of her pockets, throwing it at Abeni who collapsed on the ground. The small knife was firmly stuck between her eyes. Abeni's cohorts looked at her aghast. She had trained so hard, was the best of them all and she didn't last ten seconds!

"Water-Snakes, attack!" screamed Mossane, despising Kellistra for not even giving a fight to her prize pupil. Haidar, Sefu and Keturah did all manners of screams and kung-fu moves, learnt from David Carradine movies, in front of the petite-looking woman who looked at them, amused. Then she quickly drew her sword, turned Haidar's strength against him and slit his throat with a movement of her wrist. That left Sefu and Keturah who fought with chains and shurikens.

Some of Keturah's weapons cut her arms and chest. "Yum, shurikens." Her self-healing power had done its work even before Keturah and Sefu were down.

"Shurikens and chains for those two, a broadsword and spear for the others. How imaginative. Mossane, I'm getting bored. Any other students for me? Or maybe you will give me a real challenge?"

"They needed the lesson," was her flat answer. The two women began circling around each other, the alley was now deserted after people, housewives, old men and merchants, had fled in panic.

“Kellistra, I know we did unspeakable harm to you with the death of Isadora; believe me, I know how you feel. But I am begging you. Spare my students, they are not bad kids. Unless you want to get even with me ?”

Kells answered with a snort. “It is not my intention to murder your so-called children, but if those kids cross my way another time, they will die.”

“So it’s just you and me. Fine !” spat the African immortal. Mossane attacked Kellistra, like a fury, drawing her scorpion sword, a real wonder of a weapon: black, curved, vicious. And that's how she fights her battles: like a snake attacking an enraged bull. The two women fought like cats in a back alley, yelling, screaming, kicking, head-butting, cutting themselves to shreds with the power of their Quickenings repairing each wound. Cursing, throwing things at each other. All this in front of the Water-Snakes, standing watch, powerless.

"Give up, Mossane! You can't win!"

As they stood one against the other, blade against blade, Kellistra just plucked Mossane's eye out, before slicing her belly with her sword. The immortal fell to the ground, screaming at the top of her lungs, her hands protecting her belly.

"I am sorry, Copperhead. You shouldn’t have taken part in the murder of Isadora. Oh Metopholus, turn my heart into stone!! Kronos!! Watch me and be proud!"

She took Mossane's head with a stroke of her sword. And the Quickening engulfed her soul and body. Minutes later, before leaving the place, she adressed to the four recovering children. “Kids, you are way too young to die. In a few centuries, if you still feel raw about your mentor’s death, know I’ll be waiting”.

And then she was gone.

From the records of the Tribunal

Thursday April 6th 2002 :

The following conversation, recorded O4.03, clued us in the origins of the elusive Chang who we discovered to be the adopted son of Ursula Katz, aka Kellistra.

Cell phone ringing.

"Hello"

"Chang, please--?"

"Yes, this is Chang. Who..."

"Ah, my little one. How swiftly some forget."

"Oh, hi Mother."

"......" (Undecipherable)

"Yes, Mother--"

"--and how are you, sweetheart?"

"I am fine."

"I've work for you."

"What ?"

"You want me to (ancient Chinese dialect)...no, no...I'm hunting the Anatellon brothers, now...(Chinese dialect) .......(Undecipherable) I really can't now, you should understand..."

"Chang, stop playing around and listen, I'm fast at losing patience. Or do you remember how it felt to have the flat of my hand come down on your--"

(Irritated) " Oh sure... please, Mother, I'm a grown man !"

"Not too old for me to tan your bottom, little boy."

" I'm sorry !!" (Tiny voice, Chinese dialect).

"You'd better be."

" Please, forgive me."

"Good. Now, listen. San Francisco. This Saturday, the Imperial Palace, presidential suite. Meet me there. By six in the evening, mind you. I've got errands for you to run.

Oh, and can you bring me some dim sum from Wang Huang's ? The good shrimp ho tak ... you can't get decent Chinese anywhere in this city these days."

(Subdued) "Yes, I'll come to San Francisco Saturday. It's not very far from San Diego."

"Excellent! And mind your back, I don't want to have to deal with a passel of idiot Watchers and last time I visited you, you had seven of them assigned to you."

(Angrily) "Watchers ? Someone is Watching me ?!"

"You mean you haven't noticed? Oh my poor blind darling."

(Speaks loudly in Chinese dialect). "OK, ok."

"And shake those Watchers."

<Heavy sigh> "If I find him, I'll..."

"Them."

"Oh, yes !"

"And by the time I see your face, beloved, it had better have more respect on it than I hear now in your voice. Capisce ?"

(Tiny voice) "Yes, Mother."

"San Francisco. Saturday. Six p.m. Don't go to the wrong hotel this time."

"No, I won't forget."

"Better not."

"Goodbye."

"And bring the ho tak!"

(Hangs his cell phone).

The conversation was found on tape, in the backpack belonging to Tangerine Lee, Chang's Watcher who was found dead last night in a San Diego motel. She had been killed with a sharp object, a note was found in her breast pocket reading : "no more Watchers, please". A team of experienced Watchers will be located in San Francisco next Saturday, waiting for the meeting between Ursula Katz and Chang. We can only warn this team of the dangerous nature of those two immortals and wish them a safe assignment.

That was last year. Three days after the death of Gasira of Cairo at the hands of Kellistra, Chang's new Watcher observed an agitated encounter between Kellistra and her son. The following story has been reported to us by Jefferson Keane, assigned to Chang immediately after the death of Tangerine Lee.

From Jefferson Keane

To: US Southwest Watcher Bureau

Date : 28.06.2004

Among the assassins of the immortal world, Chang ranks among the best. Although younger than his peers, barely two hundred years old, Chang already put his mark on the world. No one scoffs at his ignorance anymore, no one dares make fun of him. Not after killing the King of Skin in Las Vegas, not after slaughtering the Anatellon Brothers and certainly not after being one of the rare students of Mad Mitsuhiro Ito to end his training with his limbs firmly attached to his body. He turned his weaknesses, bad sight requesting the use of spectacles and politeness bordering to shyness, into advantages: who was going to be wary of a bespectacled, shy, skinny immortal? Ha! Chang is full of surprises. To the point of being hired by no less than Helen King, as member of the HISS operation. As a first assignment, to prove himself, Chang was sent to Japan to kill swordmaster Matsuhiro Kanagawa, a student of Hattori Hanzo and attorney to Boss Matsumoto, the cruelest Yakusa boss in Tokyo; since Matsumoto had himself a contract on his head, Chang took on himself to murder the Yakusa boss too. Helen King must have been proud of her investment. This morning, Chang received a visit from Helen King in his Nevada homebase. Since I couldn't plant a bug in Chang's camping trailer (he seems to have a sixth sense when it comes to breaking and entering), I had to listen from afar, and heard only parts of the conversation.

- Chang: She killed Gasira but spared the Water-Snakes ?

- King: So they could tell the tale, certainly. (Undecipherable) She's coming, not only after me, but after the lot of us.

- Chang: I'm her son. She won't hurt me.

- King: (undecipherable) You took part in the murder of Reagan, your sister.

- Chang : Three hundred years removed. I didn’t like her. Nor did she like me.

- King: (undecipherable)

- Chang: Probably. I am tired of being the ever-loving (undecipherable)

- King: I understand that.

- Chang: You accepted me among the Snakes, I proved myself.

- King: Chang, I am giving you fair warning. Please, return to the fold ! We have better chances of surviving this if we face her together... don’t you remember what happened to the Kurgan ? To Jack the Ripper ? To Kriss of Valnor ? And people call me manipulative !

- Chang: I won’t run from the punishment. But I won’t let her spank me. (Takes a sip from his bottle). No sirree.

- King: You are young, but she is wrong about you. She should see the master assassin you have become. You know, I always thought that (undecipherable)

- Chang: I swore a blood oath, but why is she so bent on (undecipherable).

- King: (undecipherable) complicated old story of biblical proportions. You have to accept our help, you can't do this alone.

- Chang: I have a plan, and it's a good one.

- King: I know that you are quite capable, but this is not a Tarantino movie.

- Chang: (undecipherable)

- King: (Sigh) Okay. (Undecipherable)

- Chang: Likewise. You know were to find me.

- King: Good luck to you.

And that was it. Helen left Chang's trailer and was gone in a whirlwind of wind and dust, her silvery Lamborghini vanishing to the horizon. I didn't hear much, obviously. An afternoon came and went. Then, as the sun was preparing itself to reach the other side of the globe, a red-as-blood 4X4 appeared brutally like a fury. The woman driving it was Kellistra: young-looking, of dark complexion, radiating an aura of power as if the world belonged to her and no one could say a damn thing about it. From the trailer, I heard Johnny Cash's "A Satisfied Man" stop playing. Kellistra reached the door and--

BANG!

Kellistra was hit in the chest and sent flying through the air backward, landing hard on her back in the dirt. Chang stood in the doorway, shotgun in hand, smiling.

"Hi, mother."

He walked calmly up to her, a smug grin on his face, looked down at her and put a bullet through her brain. I guess Kells didn't expect that from someone as polite as Chang. Anyway, the Chinese immortal quickly tied her up with some rope, got two chairs out of the trailer and comfortably sat his mother in one, waiting for her to come back from the dead. Chang lighted a cigarette, waiting for the woman who had raised him to come back to life, silently reflecting on the impact she has had on his life.

In Chinese culture, the mother is all-powerful, asking complete love and respect from her children, even when they have reached adulthood. The major disciplinary methods they use are persuasion and withdrawal of affection. One suppose Chang must have loved and respected his mother, until some point in the past. I strongly suspect Helen King has had some bad influence on the man from Shanghai.

Then, Kellistra woke up, lightnings flickering in her eyes, angrily looking at her son and growling like an ill-tempered she-wolf. She untied herself like a speeding bullet.

"I respected Houdini's talent. You are no Houdini."

She slapped Chang in the face, sending the astonished man backward.

"How did you DARE TREAT YOUR MOTHER LIKE THIS!!!"

Chang raised himself from the ground, defiantly staring at her.

"Mother. It is high time you stop treating me like a child. I am a master assassin, member of one of the most..."

"You are a child! I ought to kill you on the spot and bury you alive to teach you a lesson! Goddamn, I didn't spend time teaching you proper manners so you would end looking like Bloody Jack or the Kurgan!"

"I'm not the Ripper, nor am I the Kurgan. I'm not as foolish as they were, and..."

Kellistra slapped him again, again sending him to the ground. She walked to him, putting one of her boots to his throat.

"Listen you fool. First, I'm never going to forget how you treated me tonight. You deserve to be punished for what you did to Reagan Cole and by Kronos you will take your punishment like a man !! Second thing, you are the only survivor of the Chang triplets, and that's not a thing I'm willing to overlook. Which might explain why I am so over-protective of you. Third thing, you engaged yourself into a game that's too deep for you. You might be a fearless hitman and an excellent hunter, but you have NO IDEA of who this woman is.

Removing her boot from his neck, Kellistra sat down next to her son who was massaging his throat.

"Mother. I never cared about Isadora, and I am not the one who killed her. Helen King offered me a chance to belong to an immortal society, and I feel good about it. So please, don’t destroy what I have !

Kellistra rose. Her face unreadable.

“My boy, you have nothing. Soon, the Headhunting Serpent Squad will be gone and you... will have time to think about what you have done.”

Suddenly, in a dash, Kells launched a knife against Chang who fell dead to the ground. She picked up her son’s body and put him in her truck, a grim expression in her eyes. She drove away from the trailer; I followed, concerned, what was Kellistra up to ? And what was her business with the Kurgan and Jack the Ripper ? Were they her children ? Then this tells wonders about the impact she and her progeny have had on the world over the centuries.

A little while later, we arrived to Seven Troughs Cemetery, Pershing County Nevada. Seven Troughs used to be a booming mining town in the early 20^th Century, but today no commercial mining is to be found. Sure, there are a few buildings standing but no more than a dozen people must live here. And only during summer months. There are only eight graves in the cemetery : eight people killed during the mining flood of 1912.

Kellistra went to a halt. Got out of her car and stood there, silently reflecting.

“Needs must when the devil drives”, she said. Then she got a shovel and a rope from the trunk of her car and started digging, digging the lonely grave of Perry Gillespie. I watched from afar, intrigued. Then I realised. Holy Christ, was she going to bury her son here ? Maybe take his head and bury him here ? I didn’t understand... Kellistra cares so much about her children, at least, according to the files we have on her.

How can she ?

After hours of digging, the woman who rode with Kronos got out of the grave, attached firmly the rope to Gillespie’s coffin and started pulling, pulling with all the might from her arms. Eventually, the coffin was out. Time for a break, I guess, with Chang’s body still in the back seat of her car. That’s what I hate about immortals : they can be so removed from humanity that you get to understand why a man like Horton would seek to destroy them.

After a sandwich and coffee, she got Chang out the car, handcuffed him quickly and removed the knife from his chest. She kneeled in front of him, waiting. The bespectacled immortal revived suddenly, screaming in pain.

“Mother, what have you done ?” (Then, confused) Where are we ?”

“A place where you can reflect and repent. I don’t mind that you are an assassin, you are my progeny and I myself did unspeakable hurt to mortals, so I am not above reproach. But one thing you should never do is strike one of your blood-brothers and sisters. I taught it to each and every one of you, this is a social taboo in our family.”

“(Undecipherable, some ancient Chinese dialect)”

“(Undecipherable) You always were careless, is it any wonder that you are the last of the Chang family ? Your brothers were like you. (Sigh). Listen, I won’t take your head, since it is not in my habit to kill my wayward children myself.

“So what are you gonna do ?”

“Bury you in that lonely grave. A few decades. Keep you out of the Game and out of mortals affairs during... how about one century ?”

Kellistra got a look of horror from her son. I couldn’t believe it too.

The Thessaloniki Adder struck again today, completing another assignment on behalf of the Headhunting Immortals Serpent Squad; her latest lover/quarry was Socrate Koronades, self-made billionaire living on the island of Kyrinos. Nor the best bodyguard, nor his millions, could have protected him from the deadly fangs of Kyra. For the one-hundredth time since I've been Watching her, Kyra slithered her way in her victim's life before killing him. I am sure her boss must have asked her if she intended to sleep with all her assignments, to which she may have sarcastically answered "only with those I like." I have to admit Koronades didn't fit the archetype of the old billionaire: fat, balding, stinking cigar in hand with a skinny blonde near him. The man was muscular, had all his hair and was faithful to his wife. Unfortunately for him, the wife wanted him dead. And that's why she went on a cruise while the Thessaloniki Adder was busy ridding her of her husband. Once the deed done, Kyra discreetly borrowed a little boat by night, and fled from Kyrinos en route to Athens' airport.

There is a tradition among several immortals that make them take their mentor's name. Not only to honor them, but also through sheer opportunity: Ibn al'Xu Ffasch murdered his teacher, a crusading knight, and became Xavier St. Cloud, his student Morgan d'Estaing also took his name as a means of honoring his memory. Isabel of Navarre took to calling herself Isabel Villalobos Ramirez after she heard her master had fallen to the Kurgan's sword. Marie de Valicourt always kept the name of her foster parents, two aristocrats whose love and commitment to each other is the stuff of legends; this, until she was killed by a plane crash during the Word Trade Center attack of September 2001. This tradition is starting to look deadly on paper !

Two thousand years ago, when the young assassin named Athanasia perished in Athens during Sulla's sack of the city, she was on a mission for the ruler of Macedonia but wasn't able to perform her duty. Athanasia was found by a woman in soldier's garb by name of Kyra who taught her of the Game. Athanasia was so admiring of Kyra that she took her name and made a reputation for herself with a technique she learnt from Shang-Shi, master of Kung Fu: the Secret of the Flying Daggers, and she became known as "Kyra of the Flying Daggers." Yet, "Kyra II" is nothing like her first teacher: she is a sadistic woman with a heart of stone, known for killing children in their mothers' wombs. She is cold, ruthless, and doesn't care about justice of honor. But she is among the best in her profession, so is it any wonder if the Black Serpent Queen chose her for her court of vipers ?

To better describe the personality of Kyra, here is a story about one of her kills.

Once upon a time, in the land of Florin - it would have been around the year of 1101 - there was a prince whose source of amusement was to have a young woman from the village near his castle kidnaped and brought to him every full moon. The Prince's name was Blackheart and one can imagine what a prince bearing such a name would do to young women brought to him for amusement. Indeed, the following day, the body of the kidnaped girl would be found in the woods, violated and mutilated, her throat slit. After one year of this, the families of the twelve murdered young women gathered and invoked the spirits of vengeance, pleading that an assassin or a mercenary rid them of this most cruel prince.

One day before the next full moon rose, an assassin rode into the village on a pale horse, clad in armour and carrying an assortment of vicious weapons. The blonde assassin asked the villagers who her next quarry would be and, when informed, asked that all the gold and valuables possessed by the villagers be given to her upon completion of her task. The villagers agreed to the deal, wondering if they hadn't exchanged one evil against another one even worse. The the following evening, at sunset, Kyra entered the castle, asking to be received by the King, whose name was King Thorn. In front of the King, the Queen, the Prince and of the court, she asked that Prince Blackheart's head be delivered to her for the wrongs he had done to the villagers. Unfortunately, the King remained deaf to her demand and ordered the woman to be locked up in his dungeon. And this is how began the Massacre at King Thorn's Castle. When the sun rose over the village, no one living in the small clutter of houses had been able to sleep: the entire night having been filled with the sounds of battle and screams coming from the castle. When Kyra came back, she had in her hand the head of Prince Blackheart and the hearts of King Thorn and Queen Belladonna who had perished in defense of their son. And only after presenting her gifts to the villagers did Kyra ask for her payment. The payment came in the shape of one small pouch of gold and two jewels. However, to Kyra, this wasn't enough: she had saved the village, and the next generations of their daughters from the threat of King Thorn's family, she expected more. The village's chief tried his best to console Kyra. Unfortunately, Kyra remained inconsolable. And this day, the villagers understood the mistake they had made when Kyra began torching and sacking the entire village, even going so far as to kill the remaining teenaged girls.

She left only one survivor to tell the tale, not having noticed the Watcher symbol round his neck. And this is how the story of Kyra came to the Watchers.

The 1rst of July, Kellistra was driving in her blood red 4X4, the trademark of any 2,800 years old immortal headhunter worth her salt. She was en route for Thessaloniki, Greece, for an encounter with Kyra of the Flying Daggers.

Thessaloniki, the second largest city in Greece with a population of 1,000,000 inhabitants, is one of the oldest cities in Europe. It was founded about 315 B.C. by Cassander, King of Macedonia, and was named after his wife, Thessaloniki, sister of Alexander the Great. Usually, this city was swarming with immortal activity, ancient and young people doing the things immortals do: trading, swapping old stories, living peacefully or plotting and scheming, and naturally headhunting for reasons as simple as unpaid debts, blood oaths or the Game itself.

The former King of Macedonia is now the protector of the city, in the same way Duncan MacLeod and Ceirdwyn protect Seattle and Paris from headhunters. But on the 26th of November, Cassander knew (and we knew too) something was amiss as 90% of the Thessaloniki immortals had left the city in a hurry like birds sensing an impending earthquake, except for the ones foolish enough to stay. Kellistra was coming, ready to paint the town red.

On the outskirts of Thessaloniki, by the sea, is a villa. It is a beautiful house owned by one of the richest assassins of the world and is guarded by a pack of rottweiler dogs who where bred by Peter Kanis and given to Athanasia, his former teacher.

From: Zoe Bell (Temp Assignment : Kellistra)

To: Eastern Europe Bureau

Date : 01.07.2004

By sunset, Kellistra drove past the house and parked her car on a small out-of-the way road, hidden by trees and plants. Silently, like a viper, she made her way to Villa Quatro, expecting to sense the presence of her enemy. Why would she feel the need to wipe the entire Serpent Squad out is an enigma, and only Kellistra knows the answer. I was watching her from afar with a pair of binoculars, afraid of the consequences if she spotted me. The Watchers assigned to her have a tendency to resign without notice, or to disappear without trace. I was lucky so far, she never spotted me. Sliding into the Villa garden, Kellistra was welcomed by the pack of rottweilers who suddenly came after her, furiously barking and foaming at the mouth. They were animals, but Kellistra was a headhunter who knew how to put animals to their place: she coldly stared at them, growled and let her psychic aura engulf them. The dogs, knowing what was good for them, fled into the night, no doubt to later receive a scolding from their mistress. Kellistra smiled, she didn't even have to unsheathe her sword. As she went tense, the look on her face was unmistakable: she sensed the presence of an immortal. Her Chaos Fire sword was ready in her hand when...

That was a cowardly attack, if I ever saw one. Kellistra was ambushed by four shadowy forms using spears and all manners of shotguns to bring the woman down. Then they slowly approached, and under the full moon I saw their faces: Green Mamba. Desert Black Snake. Forest Cobra. Night Adder. Gasira's pack of students who made their way from Egypt to Greece, looking for revenge. Then, the girl calling herself Forest Cobra put a bullet through Kellistra' head and with her associates, ensnared the woman with enough chains to immobilize a raging bull.

Lights out! A projector casts full light on the scene, as a wooden cross had been installed on the garden. Next to the cross, several spikes. The person who turned the projector on was Kyra II, she approached her chained adversary and contemptuously picked up her sword, studying it.

"So, this is a Chaos Fire sword."

"Yes, Kyra," answered Forest Cobra.

" Not too heavy, you can hide it in a bag, it's sharp and looks threatening enough. A weapon worthy of you, dear Pontic Viper. Water-Snakes, chain her up to the cross while I go fetch some drinks. The party is only beginning!"

So they did, chaining Kellistra to the cross where she stood there, suddenly waking from her bullet-induced nap, gasping. As she realized what had happened to her, she looked at the four immortals surrounding her.

"You again! The sodding lot of you is going to wish your daddies pulled out early, I can tell you that for nothing !"

"Threats from you don't impress us, Pontic Viper!" yelled Forest Cobra, "you killed Gasira and for this, you are going to pay..."

"Children, you deserve the flat of my hand on your butts. It won't hurt much. Before I divorce your bodies from your insolent heads!"

The Water-Snakes weren't very impressed, or were they so stupid that they didn't realise the mess they put themselves in ? Already, Kellistra was preparing to rid herself of those chains. Concentrating. I was warned about her, that woman could put Harry Houdini himself to shame. Athanasia came back with a pack of beer, handing cans to her newfound cohorts. Kellistra coldly stared at her.

"Now, Black Pontic Viper. You cannot cripple a well-organized society like HISS and not expect retaliation, can you? Who do you think you are?"

Athanasia talked like a principal addressing to a school kid, calmly with a severe expression on her face.

"And all this for what? Petty revenge?"

Kellistra had been combing the four corners of the world and now she was about to be crucified in a Thessaloniki villa. And that's what happened when the smiling, whistling Water-Snakes, taking the spikes and hammers at their disposal, proceeded to nail the poor woman to the cross. One might be an ancient immortal, but pain is pain, particularly with iron spikes piercing the flesh of your hands and foot: Kellistra was soon yelling her lungs out ... After endless torture, she was left hanging, stripped of her chains and her clothing, bleeding. Her eyes spewing out hate at her five tormentors.

"Tomorrow, your torment will end. I will present the Black Serpent Queen with four new recruits to the Serpent Squad and your head on a silver platter," gloated Kyra.

"She will kill you for killing me like this. You don't know her!"

Kyra looked at her, saying nothing.

"Come, children! Let's leave the blind fool to her misery!"

And so they left. I guessed that was it for the revenge of the Water-Snakes, since the woman who killed their teacher was going to die tomorrow. They must have been very pleased with themselves. Under the moon, the bleeding immortal was left on her cross, enduring pain beyond my imagination. But aside from sweat, she showed nothing on her face. And then, came the unexpected.

"Well, Watcher girl ! Why don't you come and give me a hand, uh? Crucifixion hurts like a bitch, ya know!"

And here I though she had never noticed me! Unless she had and was keeping me for Plan B? If that was her reason, it worked. Because there was no way I was going to let a woman, even one as terrifying as her, hang on a cross for hours. I presumed that helping her wouldn't be called "interfering in the Game" since Kellistra wasn't playing the Game presently. So here I was, like the mouse helping the lion ensnared in a fishnet. Removing the spikes was hard, it took time. There was pain and blood. But in the end, "Ursula Katz" was on the ground, gentle lightnings mending her wounds.

"What's you name, Watcher?"

"Zoe Bell. I was assigned to you on temporary assignment right before you met up with Kin Oriyama."

"Courageous of you to follow your bureau's orders."

"I go where my duty commands. I am a Watcher."

"I don't mind. For now. I owe you consideration for helping me in that ordeal. Although, I guarantee you, Kyra's torture pales in comparison to what Caspian used to do!"

"Caspian? One of the Horsemen?"

"And a sadistic one, to boot. Let's go to my car, I parked it not too far away, as you are aware of. For rest, fresh clothing and a story."

"What kind of story?"

"You will see."

Kellistra and I went away from the Villa, with Kyra and the Snakes unsuspecting of what was happening. If Kyra had left a guard, I don't know how I could have helped their captive. But Kyra hadn't. And so we found ourselves in the 4X4, sitting next to each other. Kellistra kept her promise and told me the story of how she first met her mentors and the man who taught her pain and the art of killing.

From: Zoe Bell (Temp Assignment : Kellistra)

To: Eastern Europe Bureau

Date : 01.07.2004

Subject : The Origin of Kellistra

Transcript from a story told by Kellistra:

The world in which I was born three thousand years ago was nothing like today's world: no electricity, no planes, no internet, no cars, not a single luxury. The fastest mean of transportation was your horse, the only way you could provide food for yourself or your family was through hunting and farming. Cities were few and far between, the oldest was Sumer, built around 3,000 BC. Life in the Bronze Age was like life in the American far-west: no one to create laws, no one to enforce them, with the exceptions of big cities like Sumer, Serinda or Babylon.

In those times, raiders could pillage and rape their ways though entire countries without anyone to stop them. So, was it any surprise if four immortal horsemen had the idea to lay down their swords and unite their strength, to make a profit off any villages and caravans they met on their ways? When I met the Four Horsemen, they were three: Methos had left them on a permanent basis and Kronos was looking for a nice country to pillage so he could vent his frustrations. I guess he was happy to find the place in present day-Albania where I lived.

One thousand years before, Kronos had recruited his blood-brother Kolschoi, a dim-witted giant named Silas and a cannibal named Caspian to start his little band. They were a success in an ever-expanding enterprise of terror, spreading tales that would reflect themselves in the Bible itself. A few centuries later, Kronos went on a recruitment drive and enlisted a so-called god called Methos who brought his intelligence to the band and got the ideas for wild masks and fancy surnames: Kronos was called "Pestilence" because of his craft with poisons; Silas was "Death" because of his giant axe and his taste for battle; Caspian was "Famine" because of his unnatural hungers; Methos was "War" because of his cunning and talent for handling warfare. As for Kolschoi, he rebelled against Kronos when Methos was recruited and lost his head for it.

The adopted family who raised me didn't give me a happy childhood, and my fellow villagers weren't nice to me. I was treated like an outcast because I was adopted as foundling. After years of mistreatment from my foster family, I reached my angry adolescence rather quickly. When Kronos, Silas and reached my village, they were surprised to see me burning it to the ground, killing everyone in sight. Eventually, someone shot me in the back with an arrow and that's how I met my first death, roughly 2,800 years ago.

Kronos was the leader of the Four Horsemen, his heart was black as sin and I am sure he killed young immortal women who were far prettier than I was. The reason why he nursed me back to life and taught me about immortality was that he liked the fire of vitality burning in me, he also had the desire for an impressionable young student and needed a valuable addition to his quartet. Eventually, I became his Horsewoman of War. But before that, before I could create my own legend, I had to endure what I still call to this day "The Cruel Tutelage of Kronos."

My training with Kronos began on the shores of the Caspian sea where we had settled. A training that would last two years. The first thing I learnt about Kronos was: he was Nietzche personified. If he didn't kill you, he made you stronger. The second thing was: whatever - WHAT-EVER - Kronos said, I was to obey. If I gave him the slightest of defiant eye, he would pluck an eye out of me, or pierce my heart with a knife. And that was it.

The good side of Kronos, after training, was his amazing talent at telling stories around the campfire, entertaining me after a hard day of training while Silas and Caspian would go for the usual errands: food and fresh horses. I learnt a lot about the outside world during those evenings, the peasant girl I was, slowly evolving into prime Horsemen material. I was taught riding, how to wield a sword, hand-to-hand combat, how to kill an adversary with my bare hands in 18 different ways, including 17 very painful ones.

Now, the reason why I call my story "The Cruel Tutelage of Kronos" : see, if I had to become part of his Horseman quartet, my body had to become strong. He decided I should learn to punch through wood and though mortal bodies so I wouldn't have to rely so much on my sword. So he made me punch though wood and then broken stone, during months until I bled, until I sobbed. Against captives who he would have role-play as armed opponents. No swords. Just my fists.And it worked.

After two year of this, Kronos decided I was ready. He made me the Horsewoman of War and so I was during centuries until Kronos and I went to Thessaloniki in a vain attempt to induct Methos back into the Horsemen. Unfortunately, Methos showed some teeth, locking Kronos in a cave, leaving Silas, Caspian and I to our fates. We went our separate ways. Personally, I chose to return to the shores of the Caspian sea where I had been happy and befriended the tribe of fishermen living there. My first experiment as a mother occurred there when I adopted a young, scrawny boy who became a giant behemoth only to perish in battle. The giant behemoth became the last of the Kurgans and perished to Connor MacLeod's blade by the end of last century. As for me, I started the journey that would mark my name though history as "Kellistra of the Northern Winds, the bringer of death."

And that was the story Kellistra told me.

After telling me her origin, Kellistra ordered me to stay put while she would go after Kyraxanthos and her proteges. I didn't dare disobey her. I wouldn't have needed to follow her, anyway, because Kyra came right after her like the blonde fury she is ! Kellistra stood in the middle of the Villa Quatro's garden, waiting, she had in hand a beautiful double-edged samurai katana she kept in her 4X4 in case she lost her trademark Chaos Fire sword. Kellistra and Kyraxanthos faced each other.

"How did you escape?" asked Kyra.

"I got help," was Kells' answer.

"I wonder who. Not one of my snakes, I'm sure."

"They won't be yours for long, honey”, smiled Kellistra.

The two women look at each other, two warriors ready for battle.

"What's that weapon in your hand?" asked Kyra, looking at the katana.

"It is a Masamune samurai sword."

"Liar!" laughed Kyra, "there is only one on earth, it belongs to Connor MacLeod!"

"Believe me or not, it's still a Masamune."

"Kellistra?" asked Kyra, conversationally.

"Kyra?" answered Kells politely.

"What did the Serpent Queen do to you that could make you want to hunt for us?"

" I hate unfinished business and am not known to forgive past misdeeds."

"What past misdeed?"

" Have you forgotten Reagan Cole ? She was my daughter !"

“Do tell ? She was a whiny, clumsy, sorry excuse for an immortal ! Not even worthy of licking her master’s boots.” Kyra laughed at Kellistra’infuriated gaze.

In an instant, Kellistra turned into a cyclone, whipping her katana against Kyra's twin blades. She was like an enraged hound, going after a crazy leopard. The fight went on for a good ten minutes, an impressive sight indeed. Parry. Dodge. Parry. Dodge. Slice. Slice. Slice. The two women brutally stopped.

Kellistra stood there, with a defiant gaze and severe wounds in her stomach.

"If you can't fight like a samurai, Black Pontic Viper, you can die like a samurai."

Kellistra bared her teeth, lightnings mending her wounds at light speed.

"You were saying?"

"Nothing," said Kyra. The two women rushed at each other, each blade blocking the other, their throats separated only by their powerful weapons. Kyra brutally kicked Kellistra in the knee before rushing to the attack, but Kells blocked her sword and, in a blur, her Hanzo katana reached Kyra's throat.

The two women froze. Kyra turned pale as a ghost.

"By Artemis. It really was a Masamune katana."

Her throat smiled. A grin going from ear to ear before her head fell to the ground, joined by her body. The inferno of her Quickening took Kellistra's body, twisting the woman in and out while Kells kept yelling and laughing at the same time. When she was done drinking Kyra's life-force, Kellistra looked at the four Water-Snakes who had gathered and bore witness to the death of their ally. Silently, grim-faced, they prepared for their death. They didn't even have the time to raise their swords.

One slice. Two more. One last. Four heads fell.

"I gave you fair warning, children. If that may console you, know I will remember you, as I remember each and everyone of the immortals I've killed in my long life."

Four Quickenings erupted. Later, she turned to face me.

"Miles to go before I sleep, Watcher. Feel free to follow me. At your own risks."

"Revenge is water vessel with a hole. It carries nothing but the promise of emptiness. Repay injury with justice and forgiveness, but kindness always with kindness.'"

An ancient master taught me those words, his name was Master Po. He came from the outer limits of China and lived during one thousand years. He was the best kung-fu fighter who ever lived, he survived to countless encounters with bad-tempered mortals and immortals, never taking a life. His sole weakness was his absence of sight, but he was the most insightful immortal man I ever met in my life.

The lesson he taught me was the hardest I ever had to learn. Born in a savage world, raised by temperamental people and educated by the leader of the Four Horsemen, I had spent centuries rampaging across the world, leaving a trail of dead and mutilated bodies behing me. Travelling to China was an experience that forever changed my life. Although still the deadliest woman on earth, I would like to believe that Master Po taught me how to be a decent person.

At least, toward people I care about.

As I boarded the plane that would take me to the place where lived my ennemy, the Black Serpent Queen, I reflected on Master Po’s words. "Helen King" owed satisfaction to me. But how was I to lay my vengeance upon her ? There would be justice, to be sure. In the name of my blonde-haired daughter. I would ask questions to Eleni, so I would understand why Isadora died. But kindness ? Toward who ? I didn't expect the answer that would come to me in the center of the labyrinth where Eleni laid her nest.

Rome. What was once the center of the civilized world, two thousand years ago, is still a pearl of the Mediterranean basin, although no longer the center of it. It is a walk through memory lane. I went to the Colyseum where the gladiators used to fight and where lions used to feast on christian flesh. Ah ! Such glorious times, with the thunder of war and the scent of fresh blood.

I crossed the populated piazza Navone, going to the hotel where I had a reservation; a discreet place where no one would notice a thousand years old girl like me. Suddenly, I sensed the song coming from an immortal presence. An ancient immortal whose presence flooded my senses. If it was a man, pity for him ! His Quickening would make a nice snack.

A woman - that would be different. There are so few among us, with the potential to bear immortal children. With a few exeptions - like Gasira or Kyra, for instance, I never took the head of an immortal woman.

Looking around me, I watched the mortals coming and going when... near the Fountain of the Moor ! A man, tall, thin, looking at me with a lopsided grin. I never expected to see him again after Paris, two years ago !

Methos. My old teacher. My mentor. And my ennemy. But I would never raise my sword against him, or maybe to show him the fire within me. Damn that old, pretentious fool ! He could be the greatest warrior that ever lived, but no ! He'd rather pose as a mild-mannered librarian, or Watcher, or whatever.

Still carrying my bag, I walked toward him. He took on a straight face. As if I didn't know how anxious he is to meet me again.

"Hello, Kellistra."

"Call me Kay. What are you doing in Rome ?"

"I expected you'd come here . When you travel to Italy, you always go to Rome first."

We walked, side by side, but always on our guards. The laughter of children and chatter of mortals surrounding us.

"Am I that transparent, Methos ? Shame on me."

"It's Benjamin Alexander, those days."

I laughed. "My, what an elusive person you are !"

For goodness' sake, couldn't he take a more original name like Armand Varajas, Darius Thayne or Horacio Aquiler ?! "Ben Alexander". I swear.

"The Vinland Clan told me you where looking for me, asking questions, as ever"

"You are well-informed. I knew your children made a kind of informations network for you. I used that network."

I stopped in my tracks, looking at him. "O Master in manipulations and trickery, didn't you get the message last time you went looking for me ?"

"Kay - all those people you killed - what it worth it ?"

What's that ? The Horseman of War questioning my little rampage ?

"This is nor the time, nor the place, "Benjamin". Beside, I'm tired. I want to go to my hotel, take a shower and then, finish that bloody tale of revenge !"

"But--"

But what ? The old man really wants to talk to me, after all. He must be desesperate if he follows the trail of blood I've left recently. Maybe I'll indulge him.

"Listen. I'm going to take a shower, get fresh clothing. Meet me two hours from now at Café Imperioli. "

"Kay--"

"You waited two thousand years ! You can wait two more hours !"

And with that, I vanished, leaving the self-deluded fool in the midle of the place.

Hotel Navone. Room 13. A quick shower, then a meal at the hotel's restaurant. With my sword safe in my denim jacket, I searched for the oldest of our kind. He was easy to find, waiting for me in a pub nearby.

I sat at Methos' table. Beer for him, Vertigo on the Rocks for me.

"Well, Methos ?"

"Kay. I couldn't help but notice that blood-splattering of yours. Kicking butts and taking names. Knowing you, it can only mean one thing. Are you in a family way ?"

It's so like him to inquire on my nesting habits. However, it is true that I always fill myself with plenty of immortals' energy before settling somewhere and starting to breed chidren.

"Not for now ! Athough I do have someone in mind to father my next "batch" of children; I'm doing this for revenge."

"Is this about Isadora ? Joe Dawson told me about your visit in Seattle."

"Methos, why are we here ? I have another fish to catch, ya know".

"That's exacly the purpose of the meeting", answered the old man. "I would like to understand why you are doing this".

"Do you remember what happened to you after the Vesuvius eruption ? It was hell on earth. You had just killed my daughter, herself killed by Devius. The Septserpentina sisters were dead. For thousands of mortals it was the end of the world in an inferno of lava and cinders. And it took you centuries to get your sanity and strenght back. Don't you understand ? The Vesuvius, my two daughter, you. I am doing this to settle old scores, to put the past behind us !"

"I understand. But it's like there is a story unfolding in front of our eyes through the Watcher reports, and there are those big plot holes laying for your audience to see !"

I couldn't believe what he was saying. "What plot holes ?"

"Your motives for killing Gasira, Kyraxanthos and Kin Oriyama : they were "holy flesh" - women ready to have children of their own".

"You can talk ! Silas was Holy Flesh and he was your friend, yet, you killed him ! And you aranged for the death of Caspian and Kronos too."

"We are not talking about me, Kay. We are talking about you. According to Chang’s Watcher, you buried him alive in the Nevada desert. Now that’s what I call rough punishment !"

I always though myself as a logical woman. During my adventure of rampage and revenge I always tried to keep my rationality. For me, it was obvious those three killers had to die for the part they took in the murder of Isadora. As for Kyra and Gasira being ready for motherhood - ah, that's less sociopathic immortals wandering the world and causing grief to mortals.

"Gasira and Kyra had to die. Chang... he is out of the Game, and out of the Serpent Squad. I always taught my children to never raise their swords against each others."

"Oh yes ? What about the hunt for Jack ? Didn't you enlist Korda, the Rochias and Matthew of Salisbury - between others - to hunt for their brother ?"

"With the instruction of bringing him in with his head on his shoulders !"

That one stung. I don't like to be reminded of the Hunt for Jack fiasco.

"You perfectly know how much I care about my kids ! When any one of them dies, it's like a part of myself is ripped apart ! They are all I have, don't you understand ?!"

I picked up my bag and prepared to leave.

"Kay ! How is it going to end ?"

"With the Serpent Queen losing her head ! If I don't have a right for revenge, then who has ?"

"No one has. There is only justice."

And on those final words, I left Rome, ready for the last part of my journey.

As I drove my car to Eleni's home, twenty kilometers away from Rome, I reflected to the purpose of my quest and to the conversation I had with Methos. My children are the only thing I care about and the only positive thing I ever did since I was born. They might have grown to become adults, they might have grown to make their own choices, commit their own mistakes but I owe it to myself to protect them, to avenge them.

At last, there I was. The Villa of Mysteries, named after Devius' old home.

A huge mansion, boarded by gates and probably electronically safeguarded against unwanted visitors. I expected a pack of dogs, maybe heavily-armed bodyguards, but saw none of this. Instead, a gigantic entrance door with an inscription "Welcome to the Seven Serpent's Nest. Enter At Your Own Risk"

Humpf ! A labyrinth, now there's an idea. Why didn't I think of it for my own home of Corsica, I wonder. I always was good with labyrinths : all you need to get out of one is logic. And you need to never encounter the beasts lurking in it, like the Minotaur. Come to think of it, who was the Minotaur ? A madman dressing like a bull, a student of Caspian or a past identity of the Kurgan ?

As I walked through the labyrinth, concentrating on the walls surrounding me and trying to sense the presence of my ennemy, like a bat scoping its environment, I slowly progressed toward the exit that would lead me to Eleni's front door. Finally, after much trials and tribulations, I found myself at the center of the labyrinth, in a large place decorated with trees and statues built in the image of ancient, forgotten Gods. The entire Greek pantheon was represented here. In the center of the place, stood a beautiful house, built like Devius' home. Unsheating my Chaos Fire sword I opened the door, came inside and--

"Bang Bang Bang !"

A little girl stood in front of me, holding a plastic gun in her hands, pretending to shoot me down. I recognized the child. Beatrix Greenwell, Isadora's adopted daughter, now four and one of the most adorable children I ever laid my eyes on. An adorable child who projected the unmistakable song coming from pre-immortals.

That was something else. Isadora's daughter was alive and she was pre-immortal; she looked at me, saying nothing, showing nothing but a timid smile. Beside her, stood my ennemy, the Black Serpent Queen, looking at me with amusement as she took the plastic gun off Beatrix' hands.

"She was waiting for you. I told her her aunt Abellona would someday pay her a visit and take her away from here."

Hello ? Is this the Twilight Zone ? Kellistra, my girl, time to wake up !

"I told Beatrix that her parents had gone to sleep forever and that her aunt would someday come find her to bring her home". As Elene explained this to me, she looked at Beatrix. "Bea, why don't you go give a hug to Abellona ? She's been looking forward to meet you."

By the Gods, Eleni, what have you done ? The shy kid came to me, smiling, and gave me a hug which I returned with a smile.

"Well, you are a a very beautiful kid, Princess. You really look like your mother."

"Auntie Elene told me you were people who lived forever and that you were going to take me to a magic kingdom ! I Is this true ? I would love so much to meet a knight and fairies and elves !"

Eleni, what is the game you are playing ?

"Well, darling, I guarantee nothing about knights and elves, but people living a long time do exist."

My eyes shot daggers to Eleni who stood in front of me, saying nothing, an ironic smile curving her lips. She offered a shower, clean clothing and diner to me before taking Beatrix by the hand and leading her to the kitchen. Well, why not ? I needed the R&R, anyway. So I let a servant show me to a nice room ipstairs where I found velvet clothes on the bed. I took a shower quickly and put the trousers and shirt on, hiding my blade in my back.

Later, Eleni, Beatrix and I found ourselves in a living room, with Beatrix eating her way through a big sandwich. I sat I front of Eleni, with Beatrix in the center. More madness was waiting for me.

"You know, our little princess here knew there was magic in me when she first saw me engulfed in a Quickening last month. Some fool who had crossed the labyrinth in the vain hope of killing me. Isn't that right, darling ?"

Beatrix nodded.

"I think that's how she discovered death. She came to me, crying, asking me if the lightings had hurt me and why the nasty man was lying on the floor, unmoving. So I explained to her" - speaking to Beatrix, "darling, what is it I told you that day ?"

Beatrix took a moment to recall the incident and said "the nasty man came to our house to take me away and to hurt you. So to defend us, you had to punish him and prevent him from hurting anyone forever and always !"

O Kronos, can you hear this ? The child is warped, now. She is not even immortal, she had all the time in the world to find about he Game ! I looked at Eleni, my eyes cold as my heart.

Eleni looked at me, hesitant, and adressed to Bea. "You know, darling, Aut Abellona is mad at me".

"Have you been bad ?" Asked the kid, innocently.

"Well. To tell the truth, I have done a terrible thing to her : I am responsible for your parents sleeping forever. And that's why she is so angry. In fact, I am no longer sure why I put your mom and dad to sleep, but what I know is how I felt after."

"How did you feel ?" asked the child, a puzzled look on her face, wondering why her favorite aunt would harm her mom and dad.

Elene answered "I felt very sad, and that's why I swore that no ill would ever happen to you, honey. But I knew however that your other aunt would come looking for you someday. And take you away from here to discover the vast world."

Gods, can you believe such garbage ? I think being entombed during centuries took its toll on the woman's mind. Beatrix looked at me, saying nothing, smiling. Poor kid. After Eleni sent Beatrix to bed, she came back to the living room where I waited. Now was the time when my questions would have answers.

Eleni went to the bar and prepared a glass of wine for herself. "So, my dear Sister, you have been doing a lot of headhunting, lately. All those people losing their heads just so you could reach me, was it worth it ?"

"Oh yes, it was !"

"So, before that tale of bloody revenge reaches its climax, I guess you have a few unanswered questions. Like : why did I kill Isadora, a woman I loved, or maybe why did I create a replica of the old Serpentina sisterhood."

"Those questions have crossed my mind."

"I met Isadora during the 1980’s. I was building my organisation and needed help in scoping out any immortal hunter and assassin ready to join the ranks of the Serpent Squad. I fell in love with Isadora the first time I met her and made her an offer she could not refuse; she became Diamondback, the first of my vipers. Together we recruited a handful of other immortals and started building HISS, earning our reputation through the world as fearless assassins and mercenaries. Our first years together were blissful, but Isa lacked something. A husband, children. A home. "

So that was just her being jealous ? Hm. "Go on."

Eleni paused. "Would you like some wine ?"

"No. Go on with your story."

"Five years ago, Isadora and I went together on an assignment in Japan against a gang of immortal samurais. A mission that went apeshit : we were outnumbered and Isa vanished, leaving some proof that she had been permanently killed. I spent three years mourning, thinking of Isadora as the second of my vipers who had died on me with Kinman killed by Duncan MacLeod. You know, Kells, making someone you love believe that you are dead is a most cruel thing to do", added Eleni, taking another sip of wine.

"Then you heard Isadora was alive after all, right ?"

"Yes. She was in New Orleans, about to get married to a mortal. My sweet lover was with someone else - a mortal ! - while I was mourning her death."

"So you gathered your pack of snakes, beat her within an inch of her life and murdered her with her husband."

"That's what happened. I guess I overreacted."

I couldn't believe my ears. "You overreacted ?!"

"Well, allow me to be litteral : I am a two-thousand years old murdering bitch, and breaking the heart of a murdering bitch like me doesn't go without consences.”

So that was it. My baby makes a mistake and loses her head for it.

"Why HISS ? It could never be the Serpentinas, and you know it."

"I hoped I could bring the old glory days back from the past. You know how it is, nostalgia." A lonely tear began sliding down her cheek. Miserable, self-deluded fool.

I rose out of the chair, walked, and stood behind Eleni.

"My last question : why lure Beatrix into your nest ?"

"After I killed her parents, Bea was all I had left. My chance to be a mother again. After Pompeii, I discovered I could never bear children again: I always miscarried. Another consequence of the Vesuvius disaster. All I had to do was a little brainwashing on the child. How was she going to survive in the world ? I was the only person she had who would care about her !"

My questions had been answered. And an innocent child would pay the price for her mother’s mistakes. And that's when I had an idea: I could show kindness, instead of revenge. Isadora was a victim, but so was Eleni: of Devius and his madness. So was Beatrix, an orphan. Kindness to Eleni, kindness to Beatrix. They didn’t need to suffer anymore. Yet, punishment also needed to be carried out. I haven't lived nearly three thousand years without learning to improvise, to do the unexpected.

"Eleni, for what you have done to my child, I ought to kill you. But you have been raising my grandchild so far and I see no reason to take you away from Beatrix. So hear my sentence : you are going to spend the rest of your life on those grounds, doing your best to raise this little girl as a decent person and a decent immortal. Come the day you are foolish enough to try to leave Pompeii, you will die. Understood?"

"Perfectly, Black Pontic Viper !"

And then, the Black Serpent Queen showed her fangs, whiping out a black-braid katana, striking at me, leaving me barely the time to breath. We fought together, one viper against another viper, Spartan snake against the viper from Pontius. At one point, I managed to disarm her and used against her a technique learnt from our old lover, the man who divided us during our Pompei days: Devius. That technique is called "the seven-finger heart-strike blow", seven stabs of my fingers at seven separate points of her chest. And it was over. Eleni looked at me, blood oozing from her mouth. Her bloodied katana slipped from her hand.

"Devius taught you the seven-finger heart-strike blow ?"

"Naturally he did, sister."

Eleni tried to walk away from me, taking one step, two, three, at five she collapsed on the ground, dead. When she came back to life, I walked to her prostrate form. Eleni looked at me, her eyes widening, as an aura of light began irradiating from me and lightings began bursting all over my skin. I took the one-eyed woman's hands in mine. And then, I did the unexpected as I slowly drank her Quickening with her head staying firmly attached to her body. That was a trick Master Pao taught me, a long time ago : how to drink your opponent's lifeforce without severing his head. We were only three to manage that feat: Master Pao, a priest who lost his head against Darius at the gates of Paris and me. I released Eleni's hands and the inferno of her Quickening engulfed me. When it was over, Eleni stayed prostrated on the floor.

"I haven't killed you, woman. You will live, you will grow old and you will die as mortals do. Consider it a gift from me, or a curse. Whichever you look at it, it's what mortals endure and it's what we envy them. Take good care of Beatrix."