Timeless (17/?) - X-Files/Forever Knight Crossover by Elisa P. Black "Why?" The question stopped Natalie in her tracks. She had been afraid of that question, of what answers she might or might not have to give. Scully had a right to know about what had just put both their lives in danger. However, it didn't mean that she should tell Scully everything. "Why what?" "Why are you and Detective Knight involved with these people? Who are they?" Natalie knew that she could only skirt the issue for so long, but she had to try. "I don't know them." Scully shot her a suspicious look but it *was* the truth. She didn't know anything about Shane or the last four vampires. And she really didn't *know* LaCroix. "Natalie, please, I need to know. They're involved in the serial exsanguination murders, aren't they? Who are they?" Scully could see that her friend wasn't about to answer those questions, so she tried another one. "Well, maybe you don't know exactly who they are. Personally, anyway. But you definitely know what they are, what they can do, how dangerous they can be. Lives are at stake here. Please tell me about them." Nat sighed. It would be a bad idea to tell Scully too much, especially since her friend worked on these "X-Files," investigating supernatural phenomena. Granted, she didn't much like the idea of vampires running around killing people, but not all of them were bad. Nick wasn't bad, no matter what he thought of himself. She understood his needs, worked with him towards a cure,... cared deeply for him. There was no way she could endanger him. Even if it meant lying to her friend, endangering her career, obstructing an investigation, and protecting the bad along with the good. She sighed again. She didn't know what to do. Caught between duty, friendship, loyalty, and fear, she wasn't sure which one had the strongest hold on her. The best thing she could think to do now was to keep an eye on what Scully and Mulder did during their stay in Toronto. Give them just enough information to keep them satisfied and looking elsewhere, stop them from finding out everything about Nick. But there was one other problem, what exactly could she tell Scully? Her friend had looked at the evidence of vampirism, seen the teeth, the eyes, Shane draining the desk clerk. But she wasn't so much worried how to explain about the vampires as vampires. Rather, she was worried that Scully would think her to be insane, or worse, desperately lying. She knew her friend, and believed that Scully could still be skeptical of the existence of vampires. By telling her friend that those people were vampires, she would make Scully think that she was just doing a poor job of lying to protect herself and Nick. On the other hand, there was no other way to explain the things they had both just witnessed as anything other than vampires. Or at least she couldn't think of any other way right now. Scully just stood silently and stared into her. What could she tell her friend? Nick was nearing the end of the trail; he could smell it in the trace of vampire ash and blood he was tracking. Wincing once again at how strong the smell had become, he spied a large, abandoned factory on a dark empty street. That had to be it, it had to be the place where the vampire had taken Nat and Scully. As he flew cautiously down for a look, something flying away from the building caught his eye. It was LaCroix. His heart and stomach took a tumble. Of course, it would have to be LaCroix who took them. He braced himself and hurried towards his father. But LaCroix was too far away and much more powerful. His father spied him and zoomed out of sight with an irritating grin. There was no way he could catch up. Could LaCroix have left them in the building? Were they dead? He landed and rushed in the front door. The first thing he noticed was the chilling silence. The silence of death? He quickly scanned the area, his heart tripping loudly in his ears. A sea of shiny objects caught his eye. It was broken glass. His eyes traced it to the shattered window above as he tried not to think about what one could do with sharp glass edges. Damnit, where were they? He carefully searched the main floor area, then behind each pillar, in every nook and cranny. They weren't there. He considered ripping the place apart. And so he did. He battered each wall, the floor, everywhere, until the building was an empty shell of exposed beams. There was no trace of them in the abandoned building. End of Part 17