Smelling a trap, Consone and Grayson galloped away from the meeting site. Unknown to them, eyes in the dark watched them leave. When they were well away, they pulled up their horses and let them rest. "I don't know about you," Grayson said, "but I don't have any wish to but myself under the control of Kronos again."

"I agree with you, my friend," said Consone. "Should we wait and follow them to this 'Edan'?"

Grayson smiled evilly. "We were told not to take heads in Sadaam. We wouldn't be held to that in Edan." He thought for a moment, and then said, "Duncan MacLeod is in Edan. He is, however, your quest, not mine. I am wondering if Darius is here, and off Holy Ground. Is he in Edan? Or perhaps somewhere else?"

Consone shrugged. "As much as I enjoy a good quickening, there is more to life than that. I am a gentleman of privilege, used to living as such. I do not think that would be possible in either Sadaam or Edan. Perhaps there is another place on this world that would welcome our presence?" As he spoke the words, a shadowy figure stepped out from the trees.

The night did have eyes, as was previously stated. The eerie feeling that had made the two men leave Kristen alone now became quite solid and real, though no one could have called him Human. "Good evening," said a velvet voice. "My name is Lucien LeCroix. I could not help but overhear . . ."

The two immortals exchanges glances but held their ground. "Do you know of a place where we would be welcomed?" Grayson asked. "I am a businessman, not a marauder. At least, not now."

LeCroix nodded suavely. "Just over there is a city by the name of Esperanza."

"Hope," said Consone.

"Very good. Yes. Hope. It is not the . . . paradise of Edan, but neither it is it the decadence of Sadaam."

"Sounds like our kind of place then," Grayson chuckled.

* * * *

Life on the street was the pits, but it was the only one that 17 year old Candi Thomas knew. Even though she had to sell the use of her body several times a week to keep from starving, she prided herself in managing to keep herself off of drugs. So far, she had even been able to keep out of the clutches of a pimp, even though there had been a few close calls that had made her almost wish she had had one to protect her.

She lived in a one-room shack along with several other girls. Her stomach was growling, and the cupboards were bare. Without even checking, she knew that she only had a couple of dimes to her name. So, with a deep sigh, she hit the streets, hoping to pick up a john willing to pay for a meal as well as a trick.

Wearing a short leather skirt that barely covered the curves of her shapely bottom and a skimpy tank top, she staked out a corner well away from the other girls who would view the pretty teen as a threat to their own income.

When the guy wearing nice clothes and driving a fancy convertible came by, she thought her problem was solved. He said that he needed a girl for a private party for him and a couple of business associates. Although she didn’t really care for the gang bang scene, she didn’t really have a choice.

"Sure thing, sugar," she said as she climbed into his car. That was a mistake. A fatal one actually. What she thought would be a relatively harmless night going down on a bunch of middle aged business men quickly turned into an agony filled nightmare when they tied her to a hook suspended from the ceiling and then proceeded to torture her with whips and knives as they raped her over and over.

The last thing she remembered as life faded from her was the leering faces of her torturers and the feeling of a knife sliding between her ribs. The next thing she knew was gasping for breath, her whole body filled with incredible pain. But as the pain faded, she sat up, realizing she was alone and naked in the middle of a dense wooded area. Her body was covered with her blood, but the horrible knife wound that had taken her life was fading to nothingness before her eyes.

"What the hell?" she whispered as the last vestige of pain faded into nothing but a bad memory. "Where am I? What is going on here?" But the only answer she got was the soft croaking of frogs and the chirps of some crickets.

"Helloooo! Is anyone here?" she yelled out, her voice echoing off into the darkness of the night. "Where is everybody?" But no one answered her cry. Hugging her knees to her chest, Candi Thomas broke down and wept.

When dawn came, Candi got up and started wandering through the woods. She found a stream and bathed in it, scrubbing her skin viciously to rid herself of any trace of the men that had abused her so.

Once she thought she was clean enough, she started down the faint trail she had found again, stopping to grab some berries and crab apple type of fruit from bushes that she passed. There were mushrooms too, but not knowing if they were good or not, she passed them by.

Suddenly, a wave of nausea overcame her and she fell to her knees. Something in her screamed a cry of alarm, that it was time to fight or flee, but doubled over the way she was, she could do neither. When a dark shadow fell over her naked body, she was almost too terrified to look up.

"What a pretty lady," said a distinctly Irish brogue. "And smelling of sex, as well."

Keenly aware of how vulnerable she was, she looked up, her chin quivering. "Please don't hurt me," she begged. "I'll do anything you ask, just don't hurt me."

"Oh, I'm not going t'hurt you, lovely lass. I'm going to use you. You see, you have something to sell. And I . . . well, I'm going to sell it."

"I don't need no damn pimp!" she yelled, jumping to her feet. But before she could run away, he had grabbed her by her hair and had roughly pinned her up against the nearest tree.

"Do you have any idea where you are? What you are?" he hissed in her ear. "No, you don't do you?"

"Leave me alone!" she screamed. "I don't know what you are talking about! Let me go," she whimpered, fear and confusion in her eyes. "Please? If you want me to pleasure you, I can do that."

"Oh, you will," he hissed, then, pulling her close, he stabbed her in the back.

Her eyes opened wide in shock, and for the second time in less than one day, she died.

But of course, she didn't stay that way. The blonde young man was sitting there, casually picking at his nails with the dagger he'd used to kill her. "See?" he asked cheerfully. "Not a clue."

As the pain gradually faded, Candi fought against the tears that threatened to overwhelm her. "I..., I don't understand," she whispered. "How can this be?"

"That's why you should listen to me." He paused after the "you," dragging it out.

He emphasized what he was saying by grabbing her breast with his free hand, his other one dragging the blade of his knife over her bare breast, easily slicing through her tender skin with it's sharp edge. Candi hissed in pained but then watched in morbid fascination as the wound closed and disappeared before her very eyes. "I'm listening," she said, her body trembling in his grasp.

"You're immortal, but you can die. If I cut off your head, you will die forever. But if you stay with me, and do as I say, I will teach you how to protect yourself. And we'll make a jolly lot of money as well."

"Okay," she said, knowing she really didn't have any other choice. "My name is Candi by the way."

"Lucas. Lucas Kagan. Nice to meet you, Candi," he stressed her name like it was pornographic. "Now, let's see if we can sell your wares, and get us some food."

He pulled Candi to her feet, and not even bothering to give her any of his clothing to cover her nakedness, pushed her down the trail she had been following. They were close to Esperanza. When the sign came into view, Kagan laughed. "Now, there's a place to set up shop, isn't there?"

"I guess so," she said, wondering if he was going to make her stand out on the street the way she was or if he was planning on having her work out of a house. "It's kinda Spanish sounding, isn't it? Where are we anyway? Last I knew I was in LA."

"We're not there," he said. "I haven't the foggiest idea where we are, though I know there is a town down there," he pointed to the southeast, "called Sadaam. If I took you there, I'd lose you to a hoard of men who would screw the life out of you. I don't think we'll go there."

"Thanks," she said with a sigh of relief. At least he wouldn't sell her to someone like the last group of men she had been with if he had that attitude. They were on the outskirts of a town, but it seemed deathly quiet. "Where is everyone?" she asked, secretly glad no one was around to see her wares so openly paraded out in broad daylight.

"Beats the hell out of me. Maybe they're all asleep?" He looked around. "Must be a partying town. Like Las Vegas!"

"Maybe," she said. Suddenly that strange nauseous feeling hit her again, and she stumbled, clutching her stomach. Walking out from a nearby building came two men, one tall and blond, the other short and dark. Both were carrying swords in hand.

"Wait a minute, guys," Kagan said. "She's brand spankin' new. I haven't had a chance to teach her anything! But she does know a few things I haven't had a chance to teach her, eh? I got separated from all the others when those guys with Methos blindsided us and I found her in the woods. She’s mine!"

Grayson just smiled. "A little on the skinny side, but not too bad," he said, sheathing his sword. "How old are you kid?"

"Eighteen," she lied. Consone chuckled and rattled something off in Spanish. She didn't understand much of it except for the word for whore. That one she knew all too well.

"Hey, y'can't say she isn't worth it, though," Lucas said.

Grayson shrugged. "Maybe the vamps will want her. They are the ones who run this place."

"Vamps? Why do I get the feeling he doesn't mean more whores?" Kagan said. But then he nodded. "If that's who run the place, then that's where we need to go."

Grayson shook his head in amusement, and then smiled. "Not till after sunset. In the meantime, how about finding something to cover up your merchandise with? No sense giving every one an eyeful for free."

Candi blushed under his steady appraisal, then glanced nervously at the dark haired one who had spoken in Spanish. "I'm hungry," she mumbled, keenly aware that except for a few berries, it had been a couple of days since she had last eaten anything.

"There's plenty to eat," Grayson said. "Right on the trees. Or on the hoof. Just catch yourself a rabbit." And he and Consone walked off, unconcerned.

"Now what?" she asked Lucas. The sun was starting to set over the horizon and the temperature was starting to drop. Candi shivered as she remembered the comment about the vamps. What were they talking about?

"We get some fruit off the trees. I can't hunt for shit. Then we hit the town and find some shelter."

Candi sighed, and followed him back out of town. Some pimp he was turning out to be. She was almost tempted to ask him to go ahead and take her head off if that was what it took to end it for good. Better than starving or freezing to death.

But they did find plenty of trees with fruit, not far from town, and when they had eaten their fill, they went back to town and found they had their choice, nearly, of empty buildings. The problem was clothing for Candi. The sun was setting; maybe a trip to the vamps would be okay.

As the sun dipped below the horizon, lights came on in what looked to be a nightclub of sorts. Steering Candi that way, Lucas paused at the door, and then took off his shirt. If they were going inside, his undershirt would be enough for him, and what Grayson had said about giving away glimpses of the merchandise for free had hit a nerve.

The nightclub was deserted. At least they thought it was. A minute or two later a silken male voice said, "Well, Jeanette, look what we have here."

Candi stepped back, and would have run if Kagan hadn't grabbed her by the arm. Something about this play set off every alarm bell in her head and all she wanted to do was flee.

"You're new in town, aren't you?" asked the woman. She was very pretty, and had a French accent. "And why are you wearing such clothes!"

"I don't have any," she said meekly. "He gave me his shirt at least." Candi was thankful that he had. The last thing she would have wanted was for this woman to see her buck naked. Candi tried to move away again, but Kagan had her arm in a death grip.

"Dear, dear. Well, we can do better than that! LaCroix, give the man a drink." And she moved the girl out of her pimp's grasp.

Kagan went, "Hey!" But then he looked into LaCroix' eyes. "Sure," he said. "Yeah. Whatever you want."

"Thanks," Candi whispered. "He found me out in the woods and has claimed me. Says he wants to sell my services for food or whatever."

Janette raised an eyebrow. "Do you want his help?"

Candi shrugged. "Never needed a pimp before. I've always made do." Just barely, but there was no need to tell her that. "My last trick turned sour though, and the last thing I remember was one of them shoving a knife into me. I woke up naked in the woods. Ain't no woods where I came from, that is for sure."

"No. We don't know why we come here," said Jeanette. She looked thoughtful. "But if what you say is true, you do need him, cheri."

Candi sighed. "He ain't much of a pimp. But then again, I ain't much of a whore. I guess he is all I deserve." The feeling of despair that had shadowed her ever since she had been forced to fend for herself on the streets of LA threatened to overwhelm her. "Hell, he paraded me around without a stitch of clothes on and the only guys we saw here in this dump of a town looked at me like a piece of garbage."

"You just need cleaning up, Oui? And a good meal. Sorry, that I cannot provide. I don't . . . eat what you do. But I can get you something to wear." They were in her apartment. Jeanette opened a closet for Candi to look over. "Tonight we host the nightly party. You will stay, yes? Perhaps we can get you and . . . your friend . . . settled in?"

"Sure," Candi said, eying the gorgeous silk dresses in the closet. She had never even been close to anything that fine in all her life! Jeanette picked out a royal blue one that complemented her blonde coloring well, and even gave her some fancy undergarments to go under it. After she was dressed, the woman skillfully applied some makeup and fixed up Candi's hair. After she was done, she stood before a mirror, amazed at the difference. Where a grubby looking kid had once stood, there was now a beautiful young woman.

"That's the name of the game, isn't it?" Candi said with a shrug of her shoulders. The gown was extremely low cut, and the bustier she had put on had pushed her small breasts up into inviting mounds. "Thanks. You made me look like one of them high-class whores that don't ever have to stand on no street corner. Kinda a nice change, if you ask me." She and Jeannette went back to the main room, where all eyes immediately went to her. Even Grayson and Consone, who were having a drink off to the side with Kagan raised their eyebrows in surprise.

Kagan was excited. "See, guys? We can market that!"

"Maybe," said Grayson. "Otavio, perhaps we should go into the bordello business after all."

"Does that mean you want her?" Kagan asked gleefully.

"I think she has possibilities," Grayson said, licking his lips as he watched her being introduced to the various people in the room. "With the proper training, she might bring in a great deal of money."

"But I come with her!" Kagan said earnestly. He was dead in the water if this smoothie took over.

"Perhaps we should send you back out to find more," Consone chuckled. "Of course, you can use anyone you find before you bring them to the house."

"And I'll have a place to stay? Food?"

"Of course," Grayson said. This one would come in handy for an *dirty work* that needed to be down. Kagan was definitely that type.

The young blond Irishman beamed with happiness. His troubles were all solved!