Timeless (25/27) by Elisa P. Black When Mulder came back to his senses, he got the nagging feeling that he was missing something. He glanced about at the softly glowing equipment as if he could find it there, but nothing came to mind. Perhaps it had something to do with the NightCrawler, LaCroix...? That was it! He remembered now. Scully had mentioned the name before. LaCroix was the vampire who had "rescued" Scully and Dr. Lambert from the other vampire Shane. But why had the NightCrawler done it, and what was up with this nighttime radio show? A thorough search of the studio revealed nothing. The only signs of LaCroix in the place were tapes of old shows. Maybe he'd just take one to analyze later... His cell phone rang. It was Scully telling him to get to the hospital right away. She gave no explanation, but the tone of her voice sent him sailing out the door, and speeding over. He was just a few blocks away from the hospital when he heard a scream. Slamming on the brakes, he jumped out quickly, gun in hand. He ran towards the source of the sound, somewhere in a nearby alley. There he saw the silhouettes of a large, familiar form leaning over a small female. The large one was the Bounty Hunter. "Hey! Back away from the girl!" The Hunter paid him no attention. Pulling out a sharp object, the alien stabbed it into the female's chest. She shrieked in pain. "Hey, stop!" Mulder fired off a few shots at the Hunter. Then, to his amazement, the girl crumbled to dust. She must have been a vampire. First driving off the vampire in Scully's room at the hotel, now killing this one; what was the Bounty Hunter's stake in all this? The alien was walking away now, He ran out of the alley after it, but the street was empty. He searched all over, but the Bounty Hunter had completely disappeared. Returning to the alley, he took a sample of the ash. There was no wooden stake around so the Hunter must have left with it. Some debris suddenly fell nearby. He looked up and spotted someone on the fire escape three stories up. It was LaCroix. The vampire looked at him coolly for a second before disappearing in a blur. Seeing nothing more of interest, he continued on to the hospital. Outside Scully's room, he found a lot of police milling around, including Detectives Knight and Schanke. The pair was speaking with two cops who looked the worse for wear. Further down the hall, Scully sat in a wheelchair with an IV pole, and Dr. Lambert, beside her. He rushed over to his partner. "Scully, are you OK? What happened?" "I *saw* things, Mulder." He crouched down before her. "What did you see?" At that moment, Nat interrupted. "We can discuss this later. Right now, I want to know what Nick and Schanke found out from those officers." There was a hint of warning in her voice. Mulder figured that it had to do with Schanke, who looked hyper and tense. Knight was trying to calm his partner down. "Schanke, I don't really think this break-in has anything to do with Myra being here." "She's here, the creature came here; maybe it stopped at Agent Scully's room first, but it could have gone for Myra next!" "Schanke," Nat cut in, "why don't you go spend some time with your wife while you're here? I'll bet you haven't got much time to visit her yet. And I'm sure she'd love it." "There's more than enough people to handle things here," Knight added. "Uh, yeah, that's a good idea." The portly detective headed down the hall. Knight motioned over the two injured cops. "I'd like to speak with each of you separately about what you saw. Barnett, you first." The tall, grizzled cop followed Knight into an empty room. Mulder came in after them. From the annoyed look on Knight's face, Mulder could tell that the vampire did not want him there. Ignoring it, he settled himself in a chair near Barnett, and asked the first question. "Can you tell us what happened, from the beginning?" "Well, sir, my partner Jones and I got a call about someone in the window in the room next to Agent Scully's. As we were taking a statement from that patient about some monster, Agent Scully called for help. Jones and I rushed into her room, but the creature jumped us. We were pretty well-dazed by his attack so we didn't really see what happened next." "And this creature, what did it look like?" "It was a short stocky guy whose face kept changing, but he always had these glowing green eyes and large fangs." "Are you sure that's what you saw?" asked Knight, looking the cop straight in the eye. "Yes--" Knight interrupted with a compelling growl in his voice. "It might have been the light, don't you think?" "Actually, yeah, it could have been the light..." "Thank you, that's all." Knight's voice was pleasant again. When the cop had left, Mulder turned to the detective. "Why did you have to do *that*?" "Letting him continue to believe would be too risky. Better that I do it than the Enforcers." Mulder didn't like it, but there was nothing he could really do about it. Knight made quick work of Jones in the same manner, and then they brought in Scully and Dr. Lambert for a private conference. Scully told them about what she'd seen, and Mulder told of his recent encounter with the Bounty Hunter, minus the NightCrawler part. Nat then told of the attempt on her life made earlier that day. "When I looked for the assassin, all I found was a cigarette butt," added Knight. "What kind? Do you have it now?" Knight handed it over, confusion on his face. There wasn't a brand name on the little stub, but Mulder *knew*; he could see and smell it. It had to be Morley's and Cancerman. "I think that Cancerman and his cronies are interested in Toronto's vampires for whatever reason. These recent exsanguinations must have thrown them off course, so they sent the Bounty Hunter to fix things. We must be very close to something that they don't want us to know. This intruder, this being, I think it's really some combination of vampire and alien. It can't be killed by the normal methods." "So how *do* we stop it?" asked Nat. "How indeed," came a voice from the doorway. "LaCroix, what are you doing here?!" Knight immediately stepped between the other vampire and everyone else. "Please, Nicholas, I am not here to quibble with you. There is much more at stake." "Leave now!" "Agent Mulder, perhaps *you'd* like to hear my story." "Sure, pull up a chair." The NightCrawler settled himself gracefully in a chair beside Mulder. Everyone watched the master vampire warily as they waited. "Once upon a time," LaCroix began, a tone of mocking in his voice," a *very* long time ago, lived a simple man. He had a lady, whom he loved very much, and who loved him. She was beautiful, with fair skin, and fiery red hair." LaCroix stopped for a moment to look pointedly at Scully. "One day he was attacked and made into a vampire. Later, he discovered his attackers lurking nearby and feared that they might hurt his love as well. He pondered whether or not he should speak to her, or even make her a vampire to join him. Yet in horror and fear, he hid, not daring to approach his love, afraid of her reaction or that *he* might hurt her. But he waited too long and they fell on her, drank of her, but did not give back the blood to make her a creature of the night. She died, and he grieved, far too late... "He sought out the murderers and destroyed them. In his rage, he found *all* of the vampires and killed them. Then he tried to kill himself,... but he couldn't. The vampire survival instinct was too strong in him. Again and again he tried, and failed. "One night, however, a victim of his was able to overpower him, and drink of his blood. This newborn vampire was insane, and therefore, cunning and powerful. It eluded all attempts to capture and kill it. And in its madness, it brought many others over to the darkness. "Many generations later, those many others have populated all over the world. That reluctant father... *He is our father*. Every vampire in existence now descends from him. He still feels the guilt -- that he did not save her, and that he created us. And he is still trying to escape it, here in Toronto." "Escape how?" asked Mulder. "Why here?" asked Nat. "The guilt. He felt a kinship with someone here, the second guiltiest person in the world: Nicholas. He looks for understanding. Or perhaps his killer." "It was agony for him, not to join his beloved in death, or to have her by his side. He felt immensely guilty that he had not saved her, had not offered her eternity, the only chance for them to be together forever... Now all he had was time, alone; endless empty time. "For a long time, he has been the most powerful being on earth. Yet he cannot do what he wants the most: to kill himself. He needs someone else to do it for him, and has come to his last resort. He must make himself atrocious enough that someone will risk all, will be outraged enough, to finally kill him. The green blood from the hunter has weakened him; the time is now." "Where did you get this story?" asked Nick suspiciously. "I've never heard anything about it before." "My dear Nicholas, only the old ones among us know it." "Why have you told us?" asked Mulder. LaCroix fixed his gaze on Scully. "Because I need your help." End of Part 25