Geometry

Chapter 21

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Methos stared down at the bed, long fingers ruffling the soft fur behind Dief's ear thoughtfully. Fraser and Kowalski were wrapped tightly around Marina, their joined hands resting on her bare shoulder. He and Duncan had often slept the same way, with Marina tucked between them. She adored it; loved the security of being surrounded by the ones she loved. Duncan was of the firm opinion it was the only time she ever let her guard down completely -even in sleep- but Methos, who had access to her Watcher files, knew it to be so, even if he never informed Duncan. Mina had a right to her privacy... even if such a right did not apply to him. Methos laughed a bit inside at his own sophistry and wondered at his fledgling's taking up with this odd trio.

Granted, Marina had lived, quite happily, in a ménage a trios situation twice now. Threesomes were a familiar, if somewhat outré, lifestyle choice for Mina. It was her soul-bond with Diefenbaker that was utterly unprecedented. Even he, Methos, who had seen so much in his lifetime, was shocked silly when he realized such an ancient rapport had been resurrected in the modern age.

Still, even for an Immortal, notoriously solitary folk, Marina's liaisons were rare. Friends she had in plenty, human, Immortal, witch, demon and others -Methos still had no idea how to classify Abe Sapien, for instance- but long-term lovers... no. But, Methos reflected, both those two previous relationships had been trios, so maybe Mina just liked threesomes. After all, she and Duncan had dragged him into their bed -protesting very little, truth be told- and likewise into their lives, without a qualm. Granted, without asking, either.

And there was that strange situation during World War II... when Mina had taken up with a pair of vampires forcibly recruited by the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense to fight for the Allies. Despite their vampire curse, she grew to love Angelus and William the Bloody- and they had fallen for her just as hard. Unlike Marina, they hadn't been given a choice.

The Head of the nascent Bureau, Professor Trevor Bruttenholm, had wisely not trusted the vampires to adhere to their bargain to help the Allies in exchange for their freedom at the War's end and bound them by geas to the one Bureau operative capable of riding herd on a pair of vampires- Agent Marina MacLeod, an Immortal not vulnerable to a vampire's bite. While a vampire could drink an Immortal's blood -it was actually much better nourishment than human or animal blood- draining an Immortal to death accomplished nothing save insuring there was one very pissed-off Immortal upon wakening.

But to everyone's surprise, Bruttenholm's most of all, the geas had taken a very strange shape. Angelus and William had fallen in love with Marina- spellbound love, to be sure, but with no less impact for its supernatural origin. Angelus, cursed with a soul, and William, whose poet's soul had never completely been eradicated by his vampire change, were utterly defenseless against the geas-borne power of love. They adored her, would have died for her gladly. Even knowing its origin, Marina's reserve crumbled under their constant tender assault on her heart, and she had -albeit reluctantly, knowing their love would end when the geas did- learned to love them both back.

Their relationship was short-lived but fiercely passionate, ending as the War did, when Professor Bruttenholm kept his word and freed the vampires as payment for their services against the Axis. Angelus and William spent one last night with Marina after Bruttenholm broke the geas binding them, proving however magic-induced their feelings had begun, they had grown into something more; then both disappeared separately into the underworld.

They still lived; Methos knew the B.P.R.D. kept tabs on both Angelus and William -or Angel and Spike, as they were known now- as did the other Watcher Council, the one that watched over the Slayers, the humans who hunted vampires and demons as Immortals hunted among their own kind. He periodically hacked the Slayer Watcher's Council database to keep abreast of the current situation on that front; but Angel and Spike were embroiled with their own concerns at the moment and could provide no help for Marina now- their experiences with her left them vulnerable to love's power and both were currently obsessed with this generation's Slayer, a shallow, spoilt, self-centered brat who apparently did her best work on her back instead of her feet.