I think that Robert also realized in that moment that he'd thrown away his only
chance to defuse the situation by choosing to disarm James instead of shooting
him.  He couldn't harm the father of the woman he loved.  I know I realized
pretty much the same thing.  I'd let the initiative be stolen from me because
I'd hesitated to shoot.  No more!  James couldn't be allowed to win this one.

My hands were like lightning then. Well, maybe not like lightning.  That brings
to mind a quickening, but I definitely moved quicker than thought.  You can't
stop to think in a life or death situation.  Remember that, Amy.  All I know is
that one moment I was aiming the gun and in the next James was dead.  I'd
called him brother once, and I'd killed him.  I wanted to weep.  My gun slid
out of my hands.

A police siren could be heard in the distance. Someone on the street must have
heard the shot and reported it.  The remaining renegade Watchers ran out the
church door and scattered.

Darius gathered up the sword, the chronicle and my fallen gun handing them all
to me.

"My thanks to you both, but you must go," he said to Robert and me.  "Use the
rear door, so you aren't seen."

"How will you explain the corpse, Father Darius?" I asked with concern.

"I will say that I shot him myself in self-defense."

"You?  The Apostle of Peace?"

Darius had actually been given that title in the Parisian press.

"If you are my Watcher, you know that I wasn't always so peaceful," Darius
responded drily.  "The news that I am capable of violence will damage my
reputation in the mortal world, but it will blow over in time.  Of course no
Immortal will ever believe that I killed on holy ground."

"I have a better idea.  The dead man was defending you from intruders.  He died
a hero," I said with fierce emphasis.  Let that stand as James Horton's public
legacy.  It was a fitting tribute to the man who had once been my friend.  He
truly had been a hero in 'Nam.  "Robert, promise me that this is the story that
Lynn hears.  Her father sacrificed his life protecting a priest.  I want her to
be able to honor his memory."

"I promise, Joe," Robert said solemnly.  "She'll never know the truth about
what happened here."

To Be Continued...