Timeless (18/?) by Elisa P. Black Nat sighed. She was going to have to say something soon. If she didn't, then anything she said later would sound just that much more suspicious. Scully still stared impassively at her. Oh, well, she thought, this is it. Taking a deep breath, she began. "I really don't know that much about them. They are definitely powerful, *very* powerful... I've seen things, Dana. Things that can't really be explained by science... There's no other way that I can explain them except for magic... or perhaps vampirism." There she'd said it. Now she wondered what was going on behind Scully's enigmatic gaze. The silence stretched endlessly. Scully pursed her lips, her stare penetrating deeply into Natalie. Nat tried to appear calm under the scrutiny. After all, she hadn't really been lying, she'd just hedged around the truth. She hoped that her friend couldn't tell. Then her friend's eyes looked down just a bit. "There's no such thing as vampires... And there was no flying. We were both hypnotized by that man Shane. There was no flying, the other one -- LaCroix -- did not fly in through the window, those other people did not appear out of thin air. I know that much. But what do you and Nick have to do with these people? I do know that I heard them mention both of you with familiarity." Natalie could hear hesitation creeping into her friend's voice. Scully really wasn't sure what had happened, especially with the hypnosis. Shane's attempt must have worked on Scully to some degree, or at least led her to believe that she had been hypnotized. Maybe Nat could convince her friend that she had imagined the connection between the vampires, Nick and herself. She took a look at Scully who stood with a grim look of determination. Maybe not. After all, Nat had already as much as admitted some sort of connection. "Yes, Nick and I know about these people, and they definitely know about us. We aren't associated with them. It's just... we know what some of them do, but we can never pin anything on them. There's no viable evidence." Well, it was true, in a way, Nat told herself. Scully pursed her lips before speaking. "Why haven't you told anyone else about them? No one should be above the law. Perhaps a full investigation could be set up--" Nat interrupted. "The department doesn't have the resources for an investigation of these people. They are very dangerous and powerful. It's enough that they know about Nick and myself, know that we know of them. No one else should have to be endangered for no reason. Since we can't catch them, there's no reason for anyone else's involvement." Scully looked down for a moment, and when she looked back up again, her face was weary. "It's getting late; we should get back. We'll talk tomorrow. Now where are we?" Nat let out an inward sigh of relief. Scanning their surroundings, she noted the desolate, abandoned air of the industrial buildings. "This looks like the outskirts of the city, although how we got out here so quickly, I don't know. We're too far away to walk back; I'm not sure exactly where we are anyway. We'll have to call a cab, or call Nick." She dug into her coat pockets. No cell phone. Didn't she have it with her earlier? She could have sworn she did. "I don't seem to have my cell phone on me, although I thought I had it with me tonight. Do you have yours?" Scully rummaged in her own pockets but came up emptyhanded. "No, I don't. I thought I had mine with me earlier, too. Maybe both of our cell phones were taken. Or maybe they got dropped back at the warehouse. We should go check." "No!" cried Nat in alarm. "They might still be in there." Scully considered for a moment. "Well, would there be any phones we could use around here?" Nat took another good look at their surroundings. The place was so abandoned, she could almost swear she heard every little critter within a square mile moving around. So abandoned that there wouldn't be any phone, electric, water, or other service in the area. "Um, I don't think so." Scully pulled out her gun. "Then we should go check. Or rather, I should. You stay here." Nat started to complain when they heard an anguished and frustrated roar. The inhumanness of the the cry sent shivers down the two women's backs. There was something familiar about the voice behind the cry, and Nat realized with a start that it was Nick. Scully had already started racing towards the warehouse where the roar had seemed to originate. Nat followed close on her friend's heels, her heart and mind screaming in fear for Nick. If somehow those other vampires had gotten a hold of him... They charged in. And found Nick sulking alone in a corner with the walls and ceiling ripped apart and debris lying all around him. His head shot up in shock as he heard them enter. "Nat?" He sounded unsure, his gaze was full of wonder. Nat ran to him, her eyes sweeping quickly over him, making sure that he was okay. "What happened, Nick? Where --?" Nick smothered her in a bear hug. "Natalie! Is it really you?" "Yes, it's me, Nick. Are you alright?" "Now that you're safe. Are you okay?" "Yes, Nick, I'm fine. Did you see the other people who were here?" Nick tightened his grip on her. "LaCroix was here." Her breath caught in her throat. How could she tell him that LaCroix had been their "savior?" She wasn't even sure herself what that meant, what LaCroix might expect in the future. She didn't want Nick to start beating himself up again for things that weren't his fault. "There were others." She heard Scully approaching from somewhere behind them; the FBI agent had been checking the place out, making sure that the coast was clear. Now was not the time to talk with Nick about the others. She whispered in his ear. "We'll talk later." They separated to find Scully studying them. "Where's Mulder? He didn't come with you?" "Um, no, I came alone," Nick replied with a distinct sense of being caught in some headlights. "Well, did you come here in your car?" He felt a serious sense of uh-oh now. "Uh, no, I-, my car wouldn't start. I, um, caught a cab." Scully raised an eyebrow but didn't pursue it. "Is it still here?" "No, it left after dropping me off." Nat decided to jump in and help him out. "Do you have your cell phone so we can call another cab? Dana and I seem to have lost ours somehow." "Um, yeah," he pulled it out and called a cab. Back at the hotel, everything had calmed down. Or at least everything except Mulder and Schanke. The two were storming around frantically, considering what course of action to take. When Scully, Nick, and Nat walked in, they did a double-take. "Where have you been? Geez, are you okay?" Schanke spluttered. "Dana and I were taken to an abandoned warehouse and Nick found us there," Nat replied. "Abandoned warehouse? Where?" "On the outskirts of town around an old business district." "Wow, that's really far out there." Schanke turned to Nick. "You musta been drivin' like the devil to get there and back so fast. But why the hell did you go without me? I mean, I'm your partner and you can't ever tell me what's going on. You just have to rush in half-cocked without backup..." Scully smirked at Mulder. "He's not the only one who runs off like that. I know someone else who does that same thing." Her partner put on an innocent expression. "Who? Moi?" He quickly changed the subject. "So, Nick, why didn't you take your car over to the warehouse? How did you get out there?" "It wouldn't start. I had to take a cab." "Really?" The word didn't sound like a question but measured suspicion. Mulder's tone and stare unnerved Nick. Scully knew that something deeper had to be going on here. However, it truly disturbed her to think that Natalie, a professional and competent woman, could be involved in anything underhanded. Especially anything that could compromise Nat's integrity and work. She didn't want to believe that what Mulder had suggested could be true. Would Natalie really cover up autopsy results and why? She wasn't ready to deal with that just yet. But even more, she couldn't deal with the idea that she had been hypnotized, and dare she even think it, that she been led to experience something like human flight. She knew that it had to be an illusion, or perhaps a hallucination, but it could definitely not have been real. Vampires just did NOT exist. Why would someone so practical as Nat even suggest it? There would be another time to inquire about these matters, but right now, she was too tired and confused. She wanted to sleep on it, and hopefully gain a clearer perspective in the morning. "Let's go, Mulder." Her partner raised an eyebrow but didn't comment. She turned and headed for the door, Mulder following behind in silence. They made into their rental car and began driving off before he spoke. "What happened?" Scully turned a questioning gaze towards him. "Hmm?" "What happened to you and Dr. Lambert? What is it that's bothering you so much?" She pursed her lips and considered for a minute. "Well, I'm not exactly sure what happened. I believe that Natalie and I may have been hypnotized." "And?" he prompted. "And I think that we saw someone attacking the desk clerk. He appeared to be biting into the clerk's neck, and when he looked up, his eyes were glowing and he had fangs. He attacked me, hypnotized Natalie and myself, then took us in the elevator up to the roof. And then..." Mulder took his eyes off the road to give her a brief encouraging nod. "And then?" She frowned. "And then, umm, he seemed to pick us up and he flew us to the abandoned warehouse." Mulder's eyes opened wide in a half-pleased surprise. "Oh???" "We were hypnotized," Scully offered weakly. "Yes, but only after you saw him attack the desk clerk and saw his 'glowing eyes and fangs.' Come on, Scully, what do you think that could have been?" She turned give him a patented 'Scully look' as her confidence returned for a moment. "A trick. It was a trick. Some make-up perhaps, or even just the subconcious suggestion of what you told me earlier. "Anyway, when we arrived at the warehouse, the man tied us up. Later, about five other people showed up, and we were let go. Then Detective Knight found us." "So why did they let you go?" "Something was mentioned about the difficulty involved in disappearing a coroner and an FBI agent, I think." Mulder nodded, his eyes still on the road. "Okay, so why did the guy take you in the first place? Wouldn't it have been better to just leave instead? That way, he wouldn't have had to get so close to you and Dr. Lambert, and there would be less chance for the two of you to identify him." "Well, one of the people who arrived later seemed to consider him to be... an idiot." "Oh," Mulder kept nodding as if everything were perfectly reasonable. He pulled the car into the parking lot of the hotel where they were staying. Stepping out, he turned to face her. The look on his face changed from aloofness to concern. "You look like you could use some sleep. We can talk more in the morning. G'night, Scully." With that, he himself yawned and headed off into the building. She was left wondering what could possibly be going through his mind. - End of Part 18 -