Timeless (10/?)
by Elisa P. Black

  In the darkness of an abandoned building slept a young woman.  Her 
pretty face seemed so innocent in slumber, her porcelain skin aglow.  
The big man who watched her knew better though.
  His big, angular face was set impasively as he stalked closer to the
still form.  Raising his arm high, he brought the stake down with brutal
force.  For a split second, the woman's eyes popped open, shining amber,
and slender fangs emerged from her mouth.  She hissed... and then
disintegrated.  He put the stake back into his pocket, unmoved, and
walked quickly away from the ashes. 
  He still had much work to do. 

  Schanke had left the room to find a working phone.  He was going to 
call some friends to take care of Jenny while Myra was in the hospital 
and he was at work.  Mulder pulled Jenny aside.
  "Detective Knight, he's one, isn't he?" he whispered.
  Jenny looked at him in confusion, as did Scully.  Was that what Mulder 
had come to the hospital for?  To ask Jenny about Nick?
  "You know what I mean," he continued.  "I saw the look on your face 
last night.  You think he's one of them."
  The confusion disappeared from the girl's face.  If she had understood
what Mulder was asking, Scully couldn't tell.  At that moment, Schanke 
came back in the room and Mulder backed away.
  Scully figured that Mulder thought he'd gotten the answer he wanted. 
He really thought that Nick was a vampire.  What was he planning to do
about it? 

  Nick spun around to see two life-sized toy soldiers pointing rifles at 
Natalie and the Schankes'.  A shot was fired.  Myra fell.
  "No!  I will not stand for this!  How could you do this?  How could you 
be allowed to do this?"
  LaCroix and his chair floated even closer.  "Ah, but I am judge, jury, 
and executioner.  However, since you are family, I'll give you *one* more 
chance.  *Try* to do some good with it.  So, what do you plead?"
  The crowd booed and hissed.  Nick was torn.  He turned back towards his 
friends, trying to decide.  He had to save them, but it hadn't been his 
fault, had it?  Myra lay dying with the others kneeling around her.  All 
four turned to him with grim accusation on their faces.  Jenny's eyes, 
especially, burned into his.
  "I know what you are," she whispered.
  "Well?" demanded LaCroix, his face only centimeters from Nick's.
  "You... did... this," whispered Nick, pronouncing each word carefully.
  "Wrong... answer," responded LaCroix in kind.  "Guilt did this."
  "You mean mine?"
  LaCroix smiled mysteriously as his chair moved up and back, 
disappearing into the darkness behind him.  "It's not what you think."
  Suddenly, Nick found himself in a very familiar position, lying on his 
back on Nat's autopsy table.  He blinked in the bright light, trying to 
focus on the two figures standing above him.  They were Scully and 
Mulder.  She wore scrubs and held a scalpel.  They didn't seem to notice 
that he was conscious, much less alive.
  "What do you think it is?" asked Scully.
  And Mulder responded, "Whatever it is, it's not what you think."

	End Part 10