Date: 7 Oct 1998 18:37:45 GMT
From: Dana1muldr <dana1muldr@aol.com>
Subject: NEW! Subjugare Exsanguine part 9/10!!!


Summary & Disclaimer in Parts 1-7

Subjugare Exsanguine Part 9/10
By E. Ripley
Rated nc17 for mature sexual content (near-rape) & strong language
Feedback eagerly sucked dry at dana1muldr@aol.com

Once Lucius was completely out of sight, Dana sighed.  Between researching a
cure and spending so much time with the good sheriff, she was beginning to
doubt
herself.  Her loyalties.  Alone at last, she finally had time to re-examine her
situation with a clear head.  Was Lucius really offering her the chance to
become one of them? To live for hundreds of years? The words of Clyde Bruckman
came back to haunt her.  He seemed genuinely able to divine a person's death
merely by touch. Still, she had been skeptical. But when she asked him how she
would die, his message was cryptic.  "You don't" he had said.  
No explanation. 
Could this be what he had meant?  
Was this her destiny, pre-ordained?

< I don't believe in destiny,> she chided herself, < or fate. >
Too many thoughts buzzing around in her head, Scully got up and stretched.
She considered going back inside but changed her mind.  Mina might still be 
sleeping, and she didn't want to wake her.  It was pleasant enough outside,
so she sat back down to consider her predicament.

The mere fact that she was even considering Lucius' gift was worrisome.  He
wasn't
here with her now, so she couldn't place blame on the glamour.   Were there
so many issues unresolved in her own life that such a drastic change might not
be unwelcome??  Scully shook her head.
< Get a grip,> she thought. 
For a moment she wished Mulder was there to discuss it.  But it only 
took a second's thought of him to make her understand that Mulder's point 
of view on the issue would be crystal clear, unwavering, resolute.  She
wondered, if, given the chance to meet Mina and spend time with the others,
her partner could see the beauty and honor of these people that she now saw.
She almost laughed.  How ironic that whenever she was drawn into a case, away 
from the role of skeptic and into her partner's role as a believer, that Mulder

seemed intent on switching with her.  As if it were cosmically impossible that 
they could find themselves in total agreement over a case. 
That somehow the delicate balance would slip, and their partnership, their
lives would be thrown into some tumultuous disarray.  

Lost in thought, the wind shifted and Scully shivered as a cool breeze blew 
across her face.  They must be further up north than she had suspected.
Weary of the conflict in her mind, she decided to go back into the lab. Work
had 
always provided a soothing outlet for frustrations in the past. She could slip 
quietly inside and go over her notes before meeting the Gunmen in the IRC when
Mina awoke.   As she reached for the door handle to go inside, she halted as
she
felt a sudden onset of dizziness.  Grabbing the railing for support, she 
instinctively drew a hand to her nose, waiting for the inevitable trickle of
blood. 
It never came.
What came was an almost smothering, overwhelming awareness of another's 
presence.    Blanketing her, enfolding her.  Her body was bathed in heat. 
Similar to the glamour effect but vastly different-stifling.
It was as if she had to focus every thought and concentrate - just to breathe. 
Almost like an out of body experience.  She was there, inside herself, yet
not in control. Instead of going inside as she intended, she turned around 
and headed slowly down the steps.  As she neared the bottom step, she focused
all her energy on grabbing hold of the railing.  The sensation-the voice spoke
to her, told her to let go, but she held fast, concentrating with every fiber
of her being.  
Sweat began to break out on her brow.
Her knuckles turned white as she gripped the railing.  
Summoning up her will, she redirected her energy on calling for help.
Mistake.
At the very moment she was ready to cry out, she lost hold of the control which

kept her hand holing fast to the railing.
"Come"
The voice was soft, cold and completely unyielding.
As Scully moved closer to the darkness of the woods, her body fairly shook with
her attempts to fight back the overwhelming force.  She understood how Mulder
must 
have felt facing Modell.  Aware of his actions yet powerless to stop them.  
She bit down on her lower lip, drawing blood.  
At the moment she tasted it, the voice clenched her mind in a tight grip
and she fell into blackness.

Nicky whistled for the others to join him.  He moved quickly to the still form
of the redheaded doctor lying on the ground.  His eyes grew luminescent as
he sank to his knees before her.  She had incredible strength.  Not that he had
much practice in using the glamour lately.  He traced the curves of her face
gently, each breath growing deeper and more ragged.  He paused at the base of 
her neckline, felt the flow of blood pulsing beneath the skin, and his 
breathing quickened.  He inhaled deeply, taking in the scent of her sweat, her
skin,
her hair.  An almost unfamiliar ache tugged at his loins. 
It had been years since he had hungered for a woman in this way.
His hand traveled further, past her neck to the swell of her left breast.  
Emboldened, he cupped it gently in one hand, squeezing softly as he leaned in 
and placed a moist kiss upon her neck.   He drew away,  instructing the others 
to lift her gently.  He checked his watch.  No telling how long their little 
diversion would keep Lance & Lucius away.  He had too many plans for the soft, 
warm FBI Agent to risk discovery now. 
There was no turning back.


Dana was drunk.  Or at least felt like it.  She was disoriented, lightheaded
and 
completely unaware of her surroundings.  Where she was, or how she got there.
It was still dark. 
She was leaning up against something rough, hugging it for support.
She was cold. She moved to wrap her hands about her and discovered she was
not holding onto something but in fact, tied up against it.
She moved her head a little, inhaling sharply as her face scraped against the 
rough surface.
A tree?  How had she come to be here?
Her mind reeled in confusion as though in a dense fog.
She heard music.
And voices.
Several different ones, all unfamiliar.
One of them rather agitated.

"So now what?"

"I'll take care of that, you two go stand watch for me."

"What about us? You promised that we could..."

"Look, you haven't even been turned yet. If you expect me to do it, then 
you have to do this for me.  Besides, you go home with the scent of blood
on you and your parents will know immediately. Consider this a demonstration.
You'll get a chance later on, she won't be going anywhere.
But for tonight she's mine.  Got that?"

"Wha..what about the Sheriff?"

"Even if  grampa manages to find us, he won't stand a chance.  What you have to

understand is that after feeding from a live human, our strength almost
triples.
After a steady diet of that artificial plasma crap, Hartwell doesn't stand a
chance 
against me!  If he somehow managed to find us, I'd kick his ass!"
Scully heard the words, but they made little sense to her.  Instead she tried
to concentrate on freeing her arms, which were falling asleep. Her motions
drew the attention of the leader to her.

"Hmmm, so you're awake?"

Dana winced as another rush of dizziness passed over her, groaning softly.
The stranger misinterpreted the sound as one of pleasure.

"You like that, huh?....Good."

It happened again.  Scully's head spun madly. 

"I haven't had much practice with this around here-not since we had to
leave Texas.  But you would know all about that, wouldn't you?"

Scully realized the waves of dizziness were caused by his attempts at using the

glamour on her.  It was totally different from her experience with Lucius.

The soft spoken stranger came up behind her, brushing her hair back and off 
of her neck.  His hand lingered at the curve where her neck and shoulder met.
His touch was unbearably soft and she cringed away from it.
"You see, ole Lucius wasn't totally honest with you.  Those of us who know how
can
completely overpower a mortal.  But he's too much of a pussy to use it as it
was
intended."  The young man turned towards her.  "I'm something of a natural.  I
can 
get you to do whatever I like, even make you think you want it!"
At this, his fingers fluttered down her back and up to her face, cupping her
chin, turning her towards him.
"By the way," he breathed huskily, "we haven't been properly introduced."
"My name's Nicky...and you must be Doctor Scully, I presume??"
He chuckled menacingly and slowly tightened his grip on her face, pulling
her mouth towards his.  He brushed his mouth against her lips, flicking at them
with his tongue.

Scully stiffened up a little bit, despite the glamour effect.  She knew enough
to feel fear and disgust, no matter how quickly he tried to overpower such
thoughts.
His eyes were practically glowing as he spoke, and he noticed the shift in her 
mood and recognized her apprehension.

"Easy there 'red, easy."   He stroked her hair softly, twining the strands
between his fingers and inhaling deeply.
"Mmmm, nice," he murmured, "I don't want you fighting me.  That's not my
style."
He grinned, and reached into his pocket.  Scully caught a flash of metal in his
hand
before he forced her gaze to  return to his eyes. "That's right, look at me.
I prefer that you to give yourself to me.  But if necessary, I will take what I
want."
Scully felt his presence invade her thoughts.  She tried again to fight, 
but the force of his glamour was too strong.  She was trapped in a world 
devoid of coherent thought, left to the devices of an adolescent vampire.

"What I lack in style I make up for in strength," he whispered softly into her
ear.
He pressed himself up against her, his breathing heavy and thick in her ear.
With one hand up against the tree, he cradled her head against it  as he idly 
ran the cold metal object against the outer length of her thigh.

With a start she realized she was now clad only in Mina's sweater. 
The fleeting impulse to strike at her aggressor was quickly replaced with the
command to lean her head back. 

"Mmmm..."  he breathed into her hair, "that's better, much better..." 
His tongue ran circles around the rim of her ear, and nibbled at the base
of her neck.  Scully began to tremble.  Her body was responding against her
will,
and what remained of her will was disappearing fast.  She whimpered softly.
"Shhhh, he breathed softly, his honeyed words sending goosebumps up and down 
her spine. 
"Keep your eyes open. 
I don't have to hurt you.
I'm not going to kill you.  
You have something I need."

At his last words, a million alarms went off in Scully's mind. 
That phrase! Leonard Betts!
The terrifying visage of Betts' advancing on her broke Nicky's hold on her 
for just a moment.  She tried to cry out but was silenced quickly with a wash 
of glamour.  Nonetheless, Nicky appeared somewhat surprised, and backed away.  

His two companions exchanged disgusted glances.
Nicky was as bad as Ronnie when it came to taking action.
One too many movies, and he fancied himself the Don Juan de Marco of vampires.
As if he wasn't already too sure of himself.
And a mistake right now was a luxury neither could afford.

Relieved that the intrusion of Betts' image into her thoughts had distracted 
the man behind her, Scully tugged tentatively at the ropes which bound
her to the tree.  Despite the chill, her hands were somewhat sweaty, and she 
thought with a little more time she might slip free.

Nicky's shock at how easily the glamour was broken turned to anger.
He read the urgency in Scully's mind as she moved to free her hands.

"Not just yet, my dear Agent," he snarled. "I warned you that I was more than
capable of taking what I want if you refused to cooperate."
This time he pressed himself against her roughly, and she sucked in her breath 
as her legs scraped up against the rough bark of the tree.  He forced her legs 
apart with his knee, and bit savagely at the back of her neck.
With Nicky's body forcing her even harder against the tree, Scully tried
to ignore the labored breathing and evidence of his arousal against her.
When he forced his mouth upon hers, roughly grabbing her head in his hands
to turn her towards him, Scully met his triumphant gaze with a scowl.
He ceased trying to use the glamour to force acquiescence but still used it 
to silence her cries.  
She fought back the urge to gag as his tongue explored her mouth hungrily.
His cruel hand relinquished it's bruising hold on her jaw as Nicky
ended his kisses.  He pulled Scully up against him from the hips,
grinding his pelvis against her, groaning with pleasure as he rubbed himself 
into the small of her back.
Scully concentrated her thoughts away from her body and tried to focus on
the rope which seemed even looser than before.
Her concentration was broken as Nicky ran his hands over her, squeezing her 
roughly and then running them freely up the front of her sweater, underneath
her bra.
He rolled her nipples between his fingers, pinching and pulling on them
harshly.
Furious at such an intrusion, she did what every law enforcement officer in 
the country knew to be the wrong thing to do in a situation like this.
She fought back.
With his hands still grabbing at the tender flesh of her breasts, she pulled
herself as forcefully as possible against the bark of the tree, using the 
rope for balance smashing his hands against the tree.  
It worked.
Nicky cried out-less from pain and more from surprise, as the rough bark
of the tree dug into the back of his hands.
With her captor caught off guard, Scully threw her head back, the force of
which
caught Nicky totally off guard and squarely in the nose.
This time he retreated with a yelp of pain.
Scully couldn't see behind her, (at that point she was seeing stars herself,)
but
smiled with grim satisfaction as she'd heard the crunch of his nose breaking.
She strained to catch a glimpse of the surroundings behind her, of the state
of her would-be rapist's condition.

"Nicky, you want some help there?"

Scully whirled her head round.  In the heat of the fray, overcome by the
glamour,  she had forgotten that there were others.  Now regretting her
actions, she cursed silently. < How many more? >
Against one she had a chance, but bound like this? Not against two or more. 
She craned her head around listening intently for any clues as to the
whereabouts of the other unknown assailants.
She heard a twig snap to her right and instinctively turned towards it.
She steeled herself, preparing for the inevitable blow.

"No man, I don't need any help. Not now."  His voice was strange, gurgling,
like the sound of an injured animal.

Scully leaned her head back as she heard the metal click of something which
sounded strangely like the lid of a lighter being flipped open.
The sound was vaguely familiar.  With a start, Scully recognized the object
as Nicky brandished it before her, teasing her as he waved it back & forth.
It was a silver amulet like Mina's necklace, but with 2 razor tips to her one.

"I'm still not going to kill you, Agent Scully," he whispered in a mocking, 
singsong voice... "it's in my interests to keep you around for some time..."
Scully shivered as the cold metallic edge was brushed across her cheeks.
"but this is going to be much more unpleasant than it had to be.  Remember 
that the next time I ask you to cooperate and it will be pleasureable for us
both."

"Go to hell" she managed to choke out.

Nicky growled angrily.  The petite woman was stronger then he'd expected.
She didn't respond to the glamour as he intended and to make matters worse,
it turned him on.  She was a challenge.   His excitement only contributed to 
his loss of control.  But it was time to end the game for now.
Scully felt Nicky's weight shift as he prepared to make his move.  
Nicky grabbed a handful of her hair in his hand, pulling her head down and to 
the left.   Before she had a chance to cry out, she felt a sudden rush of air
and 
reeled as the sharp points pierced the skin of her neck. She let out a gasp of
air
and tried to scream but had no voice.  Nicky pushed the burning metal
tips deeper into the flesh of her neck, hitting home as they pierced an artery.

Her head swam as she felt a sudden gush of blood begin to flow.
Nicky yanked the amulet out and let the device fall to the ground as he 
sank his mouth upon her open wound and drank.

Scully's body stiffened as she tasted her own blood and fought to breathe.
Nicky's left hand held her head back and away while his right hand returned to 
knead at her breast as he hungrily bit and suckled on her neck.  She managed to
moan out loud for a second, but he only bit down further, tightening his hold
on her head and chest like a predator guarding its kill from another.  He 
pulled her closer against him, the noise of his feeding like a roar in Scully's
ears, the sickly sweet nuzzle of his mouth on her an abomination.

He continued to paw her as his feeding slowed gradually.  He pressed himself
against her, noises of arousal growing more insistent as her life's blood
was drained away.  She felt herself grow faint, cold, incredibly tired.
He was still running his free hand over her wantonly, but she had long
since ceased to care.  She was going to die now and she knew that.  
The blood loss was too great and shock was already setting in.  
Besides, there was nothing he could do to her that could be worse than the 
knowledge that she was leaving Mulder behind.

Voices, urgent and afraid hissed into her ear from the side.

"Nicky!! Nicky, damn it, stop!!  You're going to kill her!"

"Shit, Nicky, come on--you said you were going to make her a thrall, not 
drain her- You kill an FBI Agent & we'll have to up & move again.....c'mon 
man, she looks really bad!" 

"Nicky! Shit!  OK, that does it, we're outta here-you're crazier than Ronnie."

Scully thought she made out the faint sounds of rustling as the pair of boys
took
off through the woods.  Coherent thought fading, she murmured a silent apology
before blacking out at last, her partner's name a whisper on her lips.

Nicky stopped to look up when he heard the sound of a scuffle and a loud 
crack from the direction his friends had just taken. He looked around
furtively, 
sniffing like an animal. A twig snapped behind him.
His eyes scanned the darkness, pupils dilated like a cat.  His grip on Scully's

now-still form remained strong.
The rustling of leaves came from behind the tree which the agent was
tied to.  Nicky whirled his head round, nervously calling to his friends.

"Danny?  Sean?? Is that you?"

A lone figure emerged from the darkness before him.
"Not by a long shot, son."

Nicky stepped back as Lance emerged from the shadows.
He feigned a weak smile as the pudgy detective strode towards him.
He tried to stall a little, 
"Uh, so where's Lucius?  I thought you cops always traveled in pairs..."

In answer, Lance just smirked.

"We do" he replied, as Sheriff Hartwell's fist collided with the side of
Nicky's
head with more force than he would have thought Lucius capable of.
Knocked to the ground, he looked up as Lucius towered over him, and managed
a bloody smile.  Lucius had caught him offguard, but with his heightened power
from feeding off of the FBI Agent, he would soon teach the Sheriff a lesson.

"Well, well well," he began, "if it isn't good ole grampa Lucius off to rescue
his..."

As soon as Nicky smiled, Lucius lost what little self control remained.
Before Nicky could finish his sentence, Hartwell was upon him in a flash.  He
yanked Nicky up by the collar, and slammed him against the back of a tree.

He turned towards his friend. "Lance check on Dana-cut her down..."

Lucius stopped mid sentence as Nicky slammed his fist solidly into the side
of his face.  He only reeled slightly, spat out a bit of blood before turning
his attention back to the source of his anger.  
Nicky's eyes were wide as saucers.  "How could you..."

"I warned you Nicky, you little piece of shit.."

He slammed Nicky back against the tree once more.

"For Mina's sake I've looked the other way for far too long."

He drew his arm back and dealt a staggering uppercut to Nicky's gut.
The force of his blow made Nicky fold over in pain, gasping for breath.

"I told you to keep clean and to stay away from her..."

He grabbed onto the young man's shoulders and swiftly brought his knee to
meet with Nicky's chin.  The force of the blow made a savage "crack" as
Nicky's jawbone shattered.

"So help me God Nicky, if you've gone too far, if she dies, the pain you feel 
right now is just the beginning of a lifetime's torture, you hear me?"

Nicky slumped to the ground, writhing in agony.  Through bloodied lids, he
looked up at Hartwell in amazement.

He managed to barely gurgle out a sentence.
"I should've been stronger, I fed on human blood....I don't understand...?"

Lucius tossed several empty plasma packets onto the ground in front of Nicky.

"Not all the plasma we have is artificial," he spat out.  He made as
if to kick Nicky, who flinched, before rushing to where Lance had 
gently lain Scully on the ground.

Lance looked up to his friend and shook his head sadly.
"I don't think she can make it, Lucius.  That idiot Nicky didn't kill her
outright
but I can't see her surviving this kind of blood loss in the time it'll take
to get her to the hospice."

Nodding wordlessly, Lucius knelt down before her, and took her hand in his.  
It was cool to the touch, and her skin was almost ashen.  He could still feel 
the slightest pulse beneath the skin, weak, unsteady.  He smiled
in spite of himself.  The tiny redhead clung tenaciously to life, unconcerned 
by the odds stacked against her. 

He allowed himself a fleeting moment to cradle her in his arms, a quick
embrace,
before slipping the glamour gently into her mind, further than he'd ever
dared to with anyone else.  He closed his eyes as her thoughts became known to 
him.  He was gladdened to see she still carried the vision of them together.
He swallowed hard though at the floodgate of emotions which released themselves
as the image of her partner came into focus.  Too many images, so much history.
Conflicting emotions and an overwhelming love, a singular trust, her greatest
regret lay at the feet of this man.  
A solitary tear formed itself in his eye and was brushed away.

< The lucky s.o.b. ...does he even know? Does he have any idea? >

A tremor overtook the pale agent as he held her, and Lucius knew what must be
done.  "Lance, get over here, I need your help."

Having cuffed Nicky securely, Lance rushed over to his friend in time to see
him draw the blade of his pocket knife across his wrist.  His eyes grew wide.

"You...you're gonna turn her??"

Lucius closed his eyes.
"No, she doesn't want that.  Not now anyway.  There isn't room in her life for
me...us right now.  I'm just going to feed her enough to help restore her body,
stabilize her until we can get to Mina and start a transfusion."

His friend looked dubious, but held the Agent delicately, tipping her head
back as Hartwell opened her mouth and allowed the blood to drip from his wrist 
into it.  As it pooled in her mouth, reflex took over and she swallowed, 
coughing at first, then with eager gulps.

Lucius clenched his eyes shut as Dana's soft lips closed around his wrist.
He shuddered slightly.  It was the most sensual experience he had known in 
years.   And it was to be the last for a long time.

His brief reverie was interrupted as Lance tapped him gingerly.
"Lucius?...Lucius?...if this is going to be temporary, shouldn't you be
stopping now?"

Hesitantly, Lucius pulled his wrist away from her mouth, and the feeding which 
had seemed more like a caress ended too abruptly.  Dana began to whimper 
and her body started to twitch as her breathing became steadier and her pulse
grew stronger.

"We better get her to Mina before the changes begin in earnest," Lance
murmured to his companion.  

Lucius mutely agreed, lifting her with ease.
"What about him?" Lance queried, nodding to the scowling form of Nicky, 
handcuffed around a tree in much the fashion in which Dana had been tied.

"Leave him." Lucius answered, emotionless.

Both Nicky & Lance seemed stunned by his response.
"But dawn..." Lance began quietly.

"If Mina still wants to save him after all this, she can send for his buddies. 
If not,
well, it's one less punk to screw things up for everybody else."

As Lucius and his companion walked off towards the makeshift clinic, Nicky
began shouting epithets at them, begging and calling out for help.

Lucius turned for a moment, and the murderous look he fixed on the young
man silenced him immediately.

They continued on this time, Lucius walking so quickly that his shorter friend
had to practically run to keep up.

To be concluded in Chapter 10

Title: Subjugare Exsanguine Part 10
Author: E. Ripley
Email: Feedback sucked dry at dana1muldr@aol.com

Mulder paced nervously, grumbling as he thought to himself.
He strode back to the console where Langly and Byers peered nervously over
Frohike's shoulder at a monitor.  "Tell her...tell her we won't forward any
information until 
I see something on the screen to indicate Scully is there and all right."

He shifted on his feet as he watched  Frohike type the words then hit return,
sending them
into the private chat room.

A few seconds passed before the reply appeared.

"Shit" Mulder exclaimed, "She went out? What the hell is that supposed to
mean?"

"Maybe she just went out?" Langly suggested.

Both Mulder and the other two Gunmen shot him disapproving glances.
Silenced, he returned to the terminal and continued his efforts at tracing the
origin of the system that the other occupant of the chat room had logged onto.

Mulder continued to pace, shaking his head.  "I don't like it, something's
wrong.
If she'd spent the last few days working on this, Scully wouldn't just go out
now."
He stroked his chin thoughtfully.  "All right, just do it.  Tell her I'm here
now,
reading this bullshit, and if she wants the research, I want the truth."

Frohike sat, tapping at the keyboard almost as quickly as Mulder spoke.
A few more seconds passed this time before the reply appeared on screen.

>>I thought you were there, Agent Mulder. From Scully's description, your 
hacker friends didn't seem much like the type to play hardball...<<

>>I'm sorry we won't have the opportunity to meet.  Dana's told me a lot about
you.<<

Mulder made a strange noise and elbowed in to the keyboard.
"I've had enough of this shit," he muttered, typing furiously.

>>Can the small talk, where the hell is Scully??<<

He stood there, glaring at the screen. 

>>I'm sorry Agent Mulder. The truth is, right now, I just don't know.  My
father,
Lucius, went out after her as soon as we realized she was gone.<<

Mulder leaned in to begin typing again when Frohike got up from his chair, 
gesturing for Mulder to take it.  Byers raised his eyebrows as Frohike stood
behind Mulder, but Frohike just shrugged his shoulders and turned his attention
back to the screen.

>>So she escaped?<<  Mulder typed.

>>I really don't think so, Mina replied, In the short time we have had 
together, I have come to greatly respect your partner.  I truly believe she is 
committed to helping us, to seeing this through.<<

As he read the words, Mulder's angry labored breathing softened somewhat.
Leaning his head into his hands, he paused to think.  While he didn't like it,
he knew what Mina had said was probably true.  Scully was not the type
to run off on somebody who needed her help.  It was a trait he normally
admired.
One tiny piece of the complicated puzzle he knew as his partner.  A puzzle
which,
after so many years, he had started to think was nearing completion. There were
several pieces yet to be fit, and he had foolishly managed to trick himself
into believing he had unlimited time to complete the puzzle.  That she was his
to complete.

"Mulder?"
Byers gentle interjection roused Mulder from his contemplation.  He resumed
typing.

>>So if she didn't run away, then where is she? Is she in danger??<<

The response this time was quicker, as if Mina had anticipated the question.

>>Again, truthfully, I do not know.  I wouldn't think so, Agent Scully is,
that is, my father made it clear that she was protected.  No harm should come
to her.<<

Mulder snorted angrily.
>>Forgive me if the notion of your father's protection leaves me cold.
If it weren't for him, Scully would be safe at home right now.<<

The response again was quick.
>>I'm sorry Agent Mulder that we had to do things this way.  Again, nobody
wishes
for any harm to come to your partner.  But we need her help.  I need her
help.  And I'm sure she is safe.  But there is something else I want you to
know.<<

Mulder had already begun to type a response to Mina's concept of harm when
a slight intake of breath from Frohike behind him caused him to glance up 
at the screen.

He swore softly to himself, then pushed the chair away from the desk and got
up, pacing once more, and cursing louder.

Langly watched him with a measure of confusion, then catching the eyes of his 
companions made his way to the screen to read whatever had upset Mulder.
It wasn't much, really. A few little words.  The briefest sentence.
But as he read them on the screen, knowing Scully was out there somewhere,
lost to them, Langly's blood ran cold.  

>>He loves her, Agent Mulder, I'm sure of it.<<


Byers, Langly and Frohike exchanged wordless glances.  The implication that
Scully's kidnapping was motivated by something more than a need for her
expertise was now impossible to ignore.  Which made the disturbing question of
Scully's return even more so, and still unanswered.

Mulder spun around.  "Send them the research results."

All three Gunmen appeared equally surprised.
"What?" questioned Frohike.

"Just do it," he responded angrily. "The sooner we give them what they want the
sooner
Scully comes back."

Byers cleared his throat before speaking up.
"I know he said he'd release her, Agent Mulder, but do we trust them?"

Mulder turned to Langly, nodding to the station where he had been laboring to
trace
the other user in the chatroom.  "Have you been able to find anything?"

Shaking his head slowly, Langly furrowed his brow.  
"Nothing.  Whoever she is, she knows what she's doing & covered her tracks."

Mulder returned his attention to Byers.
"OK then, we have no choice but to trust them.  I have no choice.  Send it."

"Mulder-" Frohike began, but before he could speak, Mulder was behind him,
reading
the screen himself.  He cursed again, loudly this time, a string of expletives
which
would have made a sailor cringe.

>>I'm sorry, but I must go.  My father found Agent Scully, and she needs my
help.  Please send the information to the email box quickly, it's important.  I
know she's very important to you, so again, please, do this.<<

Without waiting for a response, she had signed out of the chat room.

They were left alone in the IRC, the cursor blinking.
Three pairs of eyes turned to Mulder for direction.
But he was in a hell of his own at that moment and too preoccupied to be a 
source of comfort for his eccentric companions.

"What?" he exclaimed angrily to the trio of faces mirroring his concern.

"Just..just send the file already."  He let out an exasperated breath and
ran a hand through his hair, which already looked bad, betraying the fact that
he hadn't slept much in the previous days.

While Mulder stood off in the corner, Langly murmured softly to his friends.
"Look, we can go ahead and send the file to Scully's email server, but what if
we add in a mail retrieval flag?  The user won't be able to identify it and if
the file is opened while the user is online we might be able to get a traceable

link to where the system originated from."

Frohike gave his friend an approving, impressed smile and set to the task.

Byers and Langly turned and observed Mulder's ritualistic self castigation.
When it involved his partner's welfare there was little point in trying to
allay his fears and comfort him.  There was only person in the world up to task
for that particular job, and she was far away that night.  Farther perhaps, 
than she had ever been before.

Farther in fact, than any one of them realized, and the distance was growing
with each passing second.



"Oh my god," Mina gasped, when Lance burst open through the door, holding it
open as Lucius strode through, Agent Scully lying pale and limp in his arms.
Lance set to work clearing an area towards the back of the tiny facility as
Lucius set Scully gently onto a vacant bed.
"What happened?" she exclaimed, wasting no time in assisting her father as
he rolled the bed towards the rear of the building.  The overwhelming scent of 
blood was rich and unmistakable. Already heads and eyes 
were turning towards them as the other patients' curiosity began to take hold.

Lucius remained silent.  As he looked down into Mina's eyes, his expression
spoke volumes.  Glancing quickly back at Scully, Mina reached to her throat
to feel for a pulse, shocked by how weak it was.  She gently turned Dana's
head to the side, surveying the damage done to her neck.
"Nicky?" she whispered breathlessly.  
Her father nodded curtly, confirming Mina's suspicions. 

"She's lost too much blood, we need to transfuse her immediately.  By all
rights,
she should be dead now."  Lucius tone was cool and even.

"Well then why isn't she...?"  Mina's eyes widened and she paused in mid
sentence.
The warning glance in her father's eyes was matched with a dismayed expression
in Lance's face as he averted her questioning look.


"It was the only way," Lucius added softly, "the only way."

"But how you could you just...I mean...did you ask her...did she even
consent..?" Mina stuttered and stumbled over the words, disbelief and dismay
taking hold.

"How could I??? How could I not?" Lucius retorted, his voice raising slightly. 
"She's here because of me!  She stayed to help because of me!  I'm not about to
let her
die because of me!"

"And besides," he added softly "I'm not going to finish it, I'm not going to
turn
her.  Once the transfusion is complete and she's stabilized, that's it."

"What?" It was Mina's turn to raise her voice, surprising even herself.
She returned to a hushed tone.  "How could you put her through that?"
"The reversal is worse than the bloody change!!"

Lucius caught the angry glare of his daughter and met it with a look of total
control, completely unwavering.
"Dana's not like most people, Mina, I'm surprised you don't already see that.
I know it'll be hard on her, but not as hard as being turned against her will,
and better than the other alternative.  I won't see her changed the way Nicky
was
changed.  It was wrong.  And now she's here, paying the price for our mistake."

Mina was silenced.  Generously, her father had referred to Nicky as "their"
mistake.
But in her heart, Mina knew she carried full blame for the situation, and
recognized
the painful wisdom in Lucius' words.  No, Dana's life would not made forfeit as
a result of her folly this day. She set to preparing Dana to receive the
transfusion.
With the plasma units in place, she swabbed Scully's arm, seeking the best
possible
vein for the procedure.  For a fleeting millisecond, she felt herself
considering
the faint pulse beneath the pallid skin, felt the momentary tinge of hunger,
her
senses reacting to the lure of the lifeblood which pulsed through those veins.

"Mina?"  Her father's warning look startled her, and Mina continued with the 
procedure, determined, reinvested.  The needle went in cleanly.  
Scully had barely moved during the entire proceeding and even now, lay
motionless.  
Her shallow breathing was interrupted briefly with a series of whimpers and
gasps.  
Her fingers twitched of their own accord and Mina turned towards her father.

"The plasma will stabilize her system, restore the blood flow to her body, but
I have no way of knowing what damage has already been done.  I know
the...feeding
helped to keep her alive till now, but there are still other possibilities.
Shock..other complications.  She's not out of the woods yet."

As if to emphasize her point, Scully chose that moment to seize into a fit, 
as tremors rocked through her limbs and she made a terrible gasping sound.

"What are you suggesting," Lucius inquired, "that I take the feeding
even further?"  His tone was one of complete disbelief.

Mina turned away from him, to Dana, and regarded her tenderly, brushing
hair from her face, caressing her hand gently, & smoothing down the blanket.
Her response was spoken in barely more than a whisper.

"If you're certain she could survive the reversal, then another feeding,
a smaller one, wouldn't hurt her.  It would only help in her current state."

"I don't like it, Mina," he responded. "This is starting to sound way too much
like the situation with Nicky.  I won't have that happen to her, you
understand?"

Mina turned to him.  "You think I want that either??  That I can think of
anything
right now besides how much of this is my fault? My doing?  We've set a course
now,
I just want to make sure that it wasn't in vain. That she lives even if it
means
losing her."

Lucius considered her words.  There was an urgency behind them he recognized.
Mina truly liked the redheaded agent.  And while he knew she'd been hoping 
Dana would choose to stay, he knew that her motive in this case did not 
stem from that hope.

"All right," he conceded.  "But I want you to leave us.  Don't go far, mind
you, but I want to be alone with her.  It's difficult enough as it is."

Nodding her assent, Mina pulled a screen across the area, effectively blocking 
Dana from view of the rest of the hospice.  Seeing that Lance had busied
himself
attending to the other patients, Mina followed suit, leaving her father alone
with 
the remarkable woman who had come into their lives unwittingly, then agreed to 
stay and see it through, and whose very life now depended on 
their ability to help her.

Scully's slight frame was racked once more by a savage convulsion.
Gently, Lucius steadied her until the spasms subsided.
He took a deep breath as he gazed upon the features of the woman
whose impact on his life had come as such an unexpected surprise.  
He smiled softly,recalling the first time he had occasion to speak with her. 
Her dry wit 
and inhuman tolerance of her insufferable partner had struck him immediately.
Almost as immediate as their mutual attraction.  He let out a long breath, slow
and heavy.  Now was not the time for distractions, he had to remain focused.

With wonder, he found that during his musings Scully's hand
had made it's way into his. He held her hand gently, firmly, their fingers
intertwined.  Reluctantly, he eased his hand away from her and with a steady
motion, opened the wound from which Scully's future might flow.
Once again, she took to the feeding almost instantly.  Stifling the shudder
of pleasure it afforded him, Hartwell marveled that her feeding could be so
eager 
and yet so so painfully gentle at the same time. 
 
Again, the contact of her warm wet mouth on his wrist felt more erotic than 
anything else.  He felt the tingling warmth of desire flooding through
him.  It would be so easy to let her drink her fill. To have her wake in time 
with new appetites. To teach her their ways in an eternity of night.
She would stay with him there, and they could live out their days togeth-

"Lucius.."  As before, the voice of his longtime friend interrupted his
reverie.

Tactfully, Mina had seen fit to send Lance in to check on him, granting him
some semblance of privacy.

Without drawing his hand away from the excruciating pleasures of Scully's
lips, Lucius regarded his friend with a guilty, pleading stare.

"Lucius, you said it yourself. You don't want her this way.  Lucius, you have
to stop the feeding now, or you'll hate yourself for it.  She might hate you
for 
it.  Are you willing to take that chance?"

Almost as if in a trance, Hartwell regarded Lance with a confused face.
Turning back to examine the source of his exquisite agony, his words seemed
to slowly sink in.  Sighing softly, Lucius drew his hand away from Dana's
mouth.
Her lips still moist with his blood, Scully voiced her displeasure, whimpering 
softly, straining against the unseen forces interrupting her repast.

After tending briefly to his hand Lucius straightened himself somewhat, turning
towards Lance with a somewhat sullen stare.  Ralizing that his audience had 
come to an end, Lance exited quickly, giving Lucius a moment with the still
protesting form on the bed.

His breathing growing heavy, his eyes glassy, Lucius took a final lingering
sweep of the glamour and settled himself into the workings of her mind.
Sensing nothing of her partner in her thoughts at that moment he leaned in
softly, placing his lips against hers, still sticky sweet with his blood.
Her mouth recieved him hungrily, and he quenched her ardor with a need of 
his own.  Minutes passed thusly with Lucius content to drink deeply from
the glorious fountain of her lips.  The apparent pleasure with which she 
received his kisses was a thing of beauty and Lucius felt himself growing
giddy with delight.  At this moment Dana Scully was a creature of sensation,
one he would happily spend a lifetime exploring and discovering.  

The rapture was interrupted as she slowly became aware, and her thoughts,
exquisite, intensely erotic ones, grew stronger.  Breaking from the kiss, 
Lucius regarded Dana as her eyelids fluttered open slowly, revealing her eyes. 

Azure pools widened and received him with a warm recognition.  Her
lips parted softly, her face slightly flush as she spoke huskily.

"More."

No further urging was required.  Permission granted, Lucius leaned in closer
and once more, lost himself in her drunken kisses.  Hands flew
quickly and impatiently over unknown delights, seeking and finding other
outlets for their mutual appetite.  Scully let out an involuntary gasp of
pleasure
as his fingers brushed the top of her skin at the waistline of her
jeans.  He paused hesitantly, but Scully took his hand and urged him forward 

Panting heavily, Lucius drew his hand away suddenly.
"This is wrong, Dana, this isn't right...not like this"

Recovering momentarily from the unwelcome absence of his touch, Scully
sat up a little.  A moment passed between them before she spoke, her
own breathing heavy.
"What's wrong?  We both want this, don't we?  It feels right to me."

Inhaling deeply, Lucius took stock of Dana's appearance.  Her hair was in a
spectacular state of disarray and her lips were full and crimson from the
effects of their kissing.  But her eyes were wild and a little too glassy.

< It's the effect of the feeding talking, > he tried to remind himself.
< It's not her...this isn't *your* Dana right now. >
He stood up as if to go, and Scully nearly jumped up in protest, crying
out as the needle from the transfusion moved in the process.

"I'll have Mina come and check that for you..." he managed, before retreating
quickly towards the front of the hospice.

Scully could hear the click of the handle as he shut the door behind him.
Incredibly, she realized, she could hear a great many things.  
Despite her attempts to step softly, Scully was aware of Mina's presence before
she moved the blind aside.

"Are you feeling all right?" she questioned.

Dana smiled reassuringly.  "Actually, I'm feeling pretty incredible.
Considering
what I think just happened, I feel amazing."  She indicated the empty unit of
plasma.  "Is this the artificial plasma?"

"Yeah," Mina replied warily, "but I still think it's a little early for you to
be
up and around after the attack.  Your body needs time to recover, and frankly,
I'm a little concerned for your state of mind as well."

Scully tried to offer her most convincing smile, raising her eyebrows at the
same time.  "Which of us here is the Doctor, Mina? I'm fine."

Mina eyed her skeptically. "So you say, but I still have a bit more experience 
in this area, and I really want you to take it easy. The effects of the change
can be pretty overwhelming for a ..."

Dana cut her off.  "What do you mean by 'the change'?"

Mina gulped slightly. "You're not up and running because of the artificial
plasma,
Dana.  You were drained far past the point of normal resuscitation.  The only
way we could..my father could save you, was by a feeding.  And after feeding,
your body is, that is to say, you start the change."

Scully took the news surprisingly well, but not without skepticism.
"He turned me? I'm a vampire now?"

Mina chuckled somewhat at Scully's expression and matter of factness.
"No, Dana, you're not a vampire, not yet."  When she saw the reaction that 
garnered, she quickly added, "And you won't be.  My father--Lucius doesn't want
to
turn you--he wouldn't do that.  But what you're experiencing right now are the
heightened senses that those of us who are turned have. It's only temporary, it
will pass in little more than a day."

"And then I'll be human again?"  Scully couldn't help but feel overwhelmed.

Mina shook her head in mock disgust. "Agent Scully, Dana- you're human now."
You have heightened abilities that you wouldn't have normally, but you are
still very much a human.  And yes, in about 24 hours, you will essentially
be back to normal."  Mina looked down to the floor, avoiding Scully's eyes.

"Essentially?" Scully sensed that there was something Mina left out..

Mina groaned softly. "Well, there is one other thing, Dana.  As the effects
of the change begin to wear off, your body will go through a sort
of..withdrawal."

"Withdrawal?" Scully dragged the word out into a question.  

Mina's face gave her the answer.

"Pretty bad, huh?"

Mina nodded softly, and Scully settled back into the bed for a minute. 
Mina set to removing the transfusion materials, but made no effort to bandage
the entry point.  Scully cleared her throat, then called out with a hint
of irritation, "Mina?  The needle mark?  Shouldn't we bandage this?"

Mina turned towards her, the slightest trace of a smile upon her lips.
She shook her head. "Not really, Dana, it shouldn't be necessary."

Stunned and about to protest, Scully took a quick assessment of her arm.
The puncture mark was plainly visible, but the wound had already closed
and begun to scab over.  She turned towards Mina, mouth agape.

"Call it a benefit," Mina admonished her, "increased healing ability."

Almost as an afterthought, Scully reached a hand to her neck, feeling for the
puncture wound inflicted on her earlier.  With a light gasp, she brought her
hand away, a trace of blood on her fingertips. 
"What about this then?" she inquired, confused.


"That one will take a bit more time to heal properly, I'm afraid.  Nicky used
an "esanguinaria", a special bloodletting device.  For reasons I can't pretend
to 
understand, the wounds it causes take a great deal longer to heal."

Whether real or imagined, Scully could almost feel the increase of Mina's
heartbeat.

Mina continued.  "Only the elder ones had them, they are artifacts you might
say, of the older times.  When it was advantageous to have a thrall."

The word seemed vaguely familiar to her, and Scully shivered involuntarily.

"A very long time ago, before me-even before Lucius, there were humans kept
alive
to do the bidding of their vampire masters.  They were kept as sustenance, some
as 
courtesans, others performed labors.  Little more than slaves, it was a
terrible
existence.  In my opinion, death would have been preferable."

Scully remained silent, as the subject was obviously a difficult one for Mina.

"Lucius explained this past to me so that I would know, and never forget.  We
are all equally capable of horror, there are monsters among your kind as well.
I am grateful to Lucius for saving me.  I don't regret it for a moment, it was 
necessary for my survival.  But I have never forgotten,nor ever will forget the
human monsters who made what he had to do necessary."
Mina held up her arm for emphasis, the numeric tattoo evident from where she
stood.

Scully opened her mouth to speak, then thought the better of it.
There was no possible frame of reference, no acceptable comparison to be made 
to the suffering Mina had endured in her years.

"The reason I tell you this, Dana, is so that later on, you might remember too.
Remember us and who we are.  That where we have come from, however dark,
is not who we are now.  No matter what others may think.  We love and suffer,
just as you do, just as we did before the change. We do not lose our humanity."

An uncomfortable silence passed between them, and Mina spoke again, this time
with a slightly more upbeat tone.
"Anyway, I think it would be good if you just rested for a while.  I'm going to
go log on to the system, I'm afraid I left your friends in something of a
hurry.  Take your time and get your bearings, then maybe join me in a little
bit."

With a start, Scully remembered her purpose in being there.  That only recently
she was to have made contact with the Gunmen, and doubtlessly, Mulder.
Mulder. The clarity she had experienced only hours ago seemed distant, hazy. 
She felt hesitant to rejoin her partner now.  The somber mood her discussion 
with Mina had taken was buoyed away by a heady rush of energy. She felt alert,
vital.  Despite the rather unpleasant turn of events which she had been
subjected
to at the hands of Mina's erstwhile offspring, Dana felt compelled to seek
Lucius out,
to join him and explore the forest night.  
A tinge of guilt forced it's way into her speeding thoughts.
She had a responsibility to her partner. She made out the tapping sounds as
Mina's
fingered whizzed abot the keyboard.  She got up, expecting to feel the pull and
ache of injured tissue, but was astonished to feel more limber and energetic
than she had in years.

Gazing over Mina's shoulder to the monitor, her suspicions were confirmed. 
Mina was in an IRC chatroom-the same one they had appointed earlier.  

"Who are you talking to?" she queeried of Mina. The other occupant was
identified only by a series of numbers and letters.  

"Actually, Dana, I was hoping you would take over for a minute.  I downloaded
the information from your email server-I hope you don't mind, and I want to run
a few checks against what I found. They still seem pretty hopped up about
talking to you, although I tried to convince them you are doing fine, they
don't want to take my word for it."
She glanced back at the screen, clucking sympathetically.
"It doesn't look like they even left."

Nodding quietly, Scully sank into the chair. Studying the brief conversation on
the screen.

Definitely not Frohike, too bland and methodical.  Most likely Byers.  She
grinned, as a vision of the bearded soft spoken Gunman at the keyboard in his
robe & slippers appeared.

She began to type.
< How are you doing JF?? >
Barely a second passed before the response appeared.
< Scully, is that really you?? >

This wasn't so difficult she decided.
< Yes I'm fine. What happened to not using our real names??  You guys must be 
really slacking off while I'm away. >

< Sorry, > came the reply. <  It's just that we've been very...concerned.
Certain individuals have taken the matter very personally. >

Mulder.  Scully sighed.  Back in Gunmen mode, it was still very easy to get
the gist of Byers cryptic messages.  

< Tell him... > she began to type, then paused. (Tell him what?)   < Tell him
I'm fine. 
Really.  Actually I have never felt better in my life. >

The cursor continued to blink as the screen remained bare.  Seconds passed, and
Scully grew impatient.

< JF?? What's up? >

< Greetings, > came the reply at last. <  Is this the lovely Doctor? >

Scully forced a grin.  
< Hi F she typed. >

Another few seconds passed slower than Scully liked before the response came
through.
It felt suspiciously like they were keeping her on line intentionally.  Mina
had assured her that a trace was simply not possible.  But with the trio she
knew,
"not possible"  was more of a challenge than anything else.

Scully began to get edgy.  Her entire body was prickling with energy and she
wanted more than anything to go outside. ( Find Lucius )  But she wanted to
make
reassurances to the Gunmen, so that they in turn could reassure Mulder, but
this
matter was going far too slowly.

She tapped her finger on the space bar impatiently.

< Guys?  If you don't have any questions, might I suggest we adjourn for the
evening? >

She began to type in an explanation which included the further research
required 
when a tone alerted her to the addition of a new presence in the chat room.  
She glanced up, trembling slightly as she recognized the user name.

TrustNo1  < Scully?  Is that you?  >

End Part 10

Chapter 11 (of maybe 13 now)

She began to type in an explanation which included the further research
required 
when a tone alerted her to the addition of a new presence in the chat room.  
She glanced up, trembling slightly as she recognized the user name.

TrstNo1: Scully? Is that you?

JMR1121: Our work here is done.  Good night Agents.

(JMR1121 has left the Chat)

Scully sat there, frozen.  She felt like a teenager caught smoking.

TrstNo1:  Scully?

The pounding of her heart filled her ears.

TrstNo1: I just need to know that you're all right.

TrstNo1: If you're there, if it's really you, please say something.

Scully let out a long slow breath.
"I'm fine, Mulder" she typed.

TrstNo1: Aha, it IS you.

TrstNo1: When are you coming home?

Home. The word seemed strangely foreign to her.

"I don't know, she typed.  There's still work to be completed. We have the 
information now, but we need to establish how to best apply it."

TrstNo1: Langly said the girl there has already worked a lot of it out.

Scully turned around to catch Mina as she turned quickly away and busied
herself 
about some bloodwork.  

"I don't know about that Mulder, I'd have to check with her first."

TrstNo1: Scully what happened? They said you were gone.

"We just-I ran into a little trouble, but I'm all right now."

TrstNo1: Langly said you were attacked, Scully-how can you be all right?

"Lucius saved me."  She smiled ruefully then added, "like I do you all the
time."

TrstNo1: Very funny.   Scully I want you to come home now.  They'll let you
go, 
         they said they would.

"Mulder they aren't keeping me here, I'm staying of my own free will."

TrstNo1: Scully how can you do that?  Don't you know what this is doing to me?

"Mulder this isn't about you. I can't talk about it like this."

TrstNo1: "Is this about Lucius?"
She sighed.  There was no point in admitting that.  "Mulder this is about
something 
else. Peoples lives. Saving lives.  I was a doctor long before I was an FBI
Agent 
and I need to do this."

TrstNo1: Why? Why now?

"Because I can."

She paused, then typed again before he could reply.

"Because I want to."

TrstNo1: Scully answer the phone.

"What are you talking about?"

TrstNo1: You can't hear it?  I'm ringing your cellular.

"Mulder I can't hear it, it's not here.  And I told you, I can't do this right
now.  I won't.

TrstNo1: Scully I don't like this.  What have they done to you?

Chin trembling, Scully began to type a reply then drew her hand back, fingers
clenched into 
tiny fists.

TrstNo1: Scully? Answer me-they did something, didn't they?

TrstNo1: Scully?

TrstNo1: You're scaring me Scully, what happened? What? Did he bite you or 
something?  Did he make you do things??

TrstNo1: Dammit, you need help Scully! Get out of there!

The words on the screen had begun to fade into a blurry mass. Sweat broke out
on Scully's brow as the pounding in her ears increased.  Her mind turned 
somersaults with the realization that the heart beat she heard was in a 
different rhythm than her own.  It was someone else's and she could hear it. 
Stumbling, she pushed herself away from the desk and
rose out of her chair, walking slowly methodically out the front door, 
almost as if in a trance.  As the door closed softly behind her, Mina 
padded over to the computer where the screen continued to flicker with 
the addition of new messages from the sole occupant of the IRC.

She leaned over and punched in a quick reply.
"Agent Mulder, I'm afraid your partner has up and left, I'm sorry. 

TrstNo1: What the hell is that supposed to mean? She was attacked & you just 
let her walk out?

"She's safe now, Agent Mulder, no one will bother her, Lucius has seen to
that."

TrstNo1: Where did she go?

"To see my father. To decide.  I can't explain, but she needs him right now."
"He's the only one who can help her at this point."

TrstNo1: I don't know who the hell you are but I promise you if he touches
her,
If he does anything even remotely close to hurting her...

"Agent Mulder my father saved her life.  Like it or not you're gonna have 
to face that. You may not like the after effects, but if it weren't for him, 
she'd be dead."

TrstNo1: If it weren't for him, she'd be home. Safe. Where she belongs.

Mina sighed. Her father was right.  This man was maddeningly single minded 
where Scully was concerned.  He was starting to upset her, and she didn't like
the way it made her feel.  Possessive.

"Agent Mulder, right now your partner is as much at home here as there.
I know that must hurt you but you're going to have to confront it 
sooner or later.  She belongs here now, she's one of us.

TrstNo1: What the hell does that mean??  Did he bite her? Change her?
Mortals.  Arrgh.  

"This isn't a Bela Lugosi movie, Agent, he saved her life the only way he
could.
And no she isn't permanently changed. She smiled wickedly. Not yet.  That is
her
decision to make, but I think she's already chosen to stay.  I'm sorry."

TrstNo1:  I don't know what you have done to her to make you believe that load
of crap.  But you will be sorry when I find you. Scully doesn't belong with
you.
She belongs here with her friends and family.  Real family.  And me.

Mina raised her eyebrows slightly. Her suspicions had been correct.
So it was jealousy then.  While she felt sorry for Mulder it only 
furthered the swell of possessiveness she felt towards Dana.  She so obviously
belonged there with her father.  She made Lucius so happy.
And Mulder seemed like, well, such a jerk!

"More threats Agent Mulder?  No wonder my father finds you so tiresome.  I 
appreciate your pain, but I assure you that we do nothing to sway her
decision.  But I think you should get used to her absence.  She wants to stay.
I can feel it."

Scanning through the next barrage of expletives and threats Mina groaned 
softly.  She typed in a curt thank you and farewell before exiting the chat
room.  
Obviously there was nothing further to be gained from the conversation.
The man was completely closed off to the idea of acceptance.  
Ah well, he would learn in time to get over it.

Mina returned to her work on the serum.  The results which Dana's friends had
sent
in were incredible.  The solution seemed so painfully obvious there in black
and 
white and momentarily, she felt foolish for not seeing it earlier.  Basic
enzyme
therapy for those afflicted. Some minor tweaking of the artificial plasma's
compound matrix with the addition of human enzymes from hemoglobin infused 
into the AP would recreate an almost perfect replication of human blood.

She smiled.
Doctor Cronenberg was going to be floored.  Heck the advances might even 
prove to be an improvement for the human plasma recipients as well.


Once again, Mulder found himself facing a blank computer screen, cursing.
A sense of frustration magnified by his ire with the woman called Mina.
Her smug words were of little comfort and even less help.
He felt powerless, and the situation was totally out of control.
Speaking briefly with Scully in the IRC had produced more questions than 
answers.  Like giving a starving man a spoonful of food to subsist on.

Skinner had very emphatically insisted he remain in Washington, to field any 
further possible contact while various field offices continued the search.

He got up, retreated to his couch, and pondered the coming dawn.
Sleep was a long time coming tonight and it was too soon to return to the
empty 
basement office, to continue the facade of a diligent agent.
There were greater demons to be dealt with tonight.

The largest, most distressing one revolved around the doubt and fear that 
there could be some shade of truth to Mina's  assertions regarding Lucius 
and his partner.
For the first time in a long time, Mulder felt utterly and completely alone.

The night was alive with a million noises.  Scully wandered through the 
strange woods tentatively but unafraid.  Except for the minor palpitations and
sweating, she felt incredible.  She was reminded of Missy's thoughts regarding
the
Buddhist concept of Nirvana-a state of perfect bliss, oneness with the
universe.

She felt as if she was a part of the earth, a living breathing thing in a 
link with every other living breathing thing in the forest. 

Save one.

And as she continued to move swiftly through the darkened wooded floor in
search
of that one, her bliss with interrupted with the fleeting anxiety that she
might 
not find him.  
That somehow, Lucius didn't want to be found.


"I'm telling you, Mina, this is the only way."
"But why? She's so close now?"

Lucius rubbed his chin.  His personal hopes in conflict with a strong held 
belief, he was to the point where he wanted to scream in abandon and give
himself completely to the desire which was almost a tangible physical force.
And the fact that his daughter had completely switched her viewpoint on
Dana being "turned" well that only served to stiffen his resolve.

"Because she didn't *choose* to be this close Mina, and any choice she might
make
now wouldn't really be hers.  It would be the effects of the feeding."
Lucius sighed, and placed a hand upon her shoulder.
"Mina, I don't want her to leave any more than you do.  But for her to stay,
now, after that has happened, I don't think I could resist."
"And after everything that has happened after Nicky--I can't do that to her. 
I won't.  Maybe later she might change her mind.
But I won't force her hand."

Mina nodded silently, her eyes dark with understanding.
"Well you don't have much time then.  What are you going to do?"

Lucius reached into the cabinet behind her and pulled from it a small
glass vial.

"The only thing I can do.  The right thing.  Take her home."

At that particular moment, Scully burst through the door, eyes glazed.
It only took a moment for Mina to recognize the desperate look-the hunger 
in Scully's eyes.  Instantly she felt ashamed for her selfish inclinations
towards Dana.  The feeding's effect on her was blatantly obvious.

The Dana Scully in the doorway was a creature of need, a far cry from the
soul Mina had come to admire. She gave her father's hand a reassuring squeeze.
"Let me say goodbye?" she whispered.

He nodded, and Mina came over to the Scully who stood watching them through
glassy eyes. She was breathing heavily, a fine sheen of sweat covering her
flesh.
"Dana" she enthused lightly.  "There you are! Lucius has been looking for
you!"

Scully's eyed widened and she turned towards Lucius with a hopeful, predatory
look.  "I've been looking for you too," she murmured in a hushed whisper.

Lucius knees nearly buckled as the throaty song of her voice made it's way
into his head.  He had seen this reaction before but had never experienced
it.  The hunger before a final feeding took a markedly sexual air. 
He swallowed, his throat suddenly dry.

"Well, uh," his voice cracked "here I am." he offered somewhat uneasily.

Dana fairly glided over to him, her eyes never leaving his.  When she was
about
a meter away, she paused, fixing him with a hungry look as she licked her
lips.
"Can we go someplace, to talk?  I really want to...talk."

Mina turned away for a moment, embarrassed.  Dana's words said one thing, but
her
body language and inflection screamed another.

She spoke, although Scully made no indication that she was even aware of
Mina's
continued presence.

"Actually, Dana, we were just preparing to toast your success.  The results
we got from your friends, well they were amazingly simple.  Something I never 
could have seen on my own, with our limited resources."
She gave her father an emphatic, urging look.

His eyes registered confusion for a moment then he caught her meaning.
"Yeah, Dana, why don't you drink with us?  We've accomplished the impossible
with your help, and now everyone is going to be fine. You saved them."

One word and one word alone registered.

"Drink?" she queried softly, leaning in closer to Lucius.

"Yes," chimed in Mina, pulling softly on Dana's hand. "Here, let my dad get it
for us, and then you two can go...talk."

Reluctantly, Scully allowed herself to be pulled towards the corner table
where 
she sat, turned, and observed Lucius' every move.
He reached under a cabinet and brought out a small silver decanter.

"Unfortunately, we don't have any decent toasting glasses, but these will have
to do," he mentioned, revealing several styrofoam coffee cups.

Oh that's OK dad," Mina replied, "isn't it Dana?"
She pronounced the last word louder, emphasizing Scully's name.
Dana turned towards Mina, a puzzled look upon her face.  Glancing quickly at
her
father, Mina clasped both of Scully's hands across the table. They were hot
and
sweaty.

"I don't know how to thank you," she told her softly.  "If it weren't for
you, in a few weeks I would have been confined to bed like the others.
And then, I don't know what would have become of us."

Scully seemed somewhat disoriented, but kept Mina's gaze.

Lucius appeared from behind her,  producing 3 styrofoam cups filled with a
rich 
smelling burgundy liquid.  He gave Mina a knowing glance before setting one
down
in front of agent Scully.

Scully looked up at him with heavy lidded eyes. Her face was riddled with
desire.

"It's a very old wine, even by our standards," he admitted softly.

Dana glanced at the cup which he had set before her. Slowly she reached for
it,
looking to Lucius and Mina for her cue.

Lucius shot her an intense wistful stare before speaking.
"Here's to you, Dana.  We owe you a debt we can never repay."

Mina echoed his sentiments, "to you Dana," she murmured, "thank you."

After Mina and Lucius drank from their glasses, Scully brought the
cup to her own lips.  She breathed in the heady, fruity aroma of the
wine.  It was a pale second to the dark communion she craved, but
Scully hoped to soon be alone with Lucius, and partake of that very essence.  
The salty scarlet elixir with which he had saved her life.  A service 
she yearned to repay in a most intimate way. 

Downing the drink thirstily, Scully savored the slick burn of the alcohol
as it's warmth began to flood her system.  Her eyes never left Lucius', and
he met her hungry gaze with one of his own.  He got up slowly from his chair,
moving very deliberately towards Scully.  
She licked her lips slowly, relishing the lingering traces of wine.

"Mina, I'm going to walk Dana home," he announced, reaching a hand to
Scully, and helping her up.

Scully gave him an appreciative smile and made her way toward the door, her
hand still linked in Lucius', practically dragging him along with her.
She turned to give a cursory wave to Mina. With a quick grin, she tugged at 
Lucius, stepping out the door, missing the silent exchange between him & Mina.

She took a deep breath of the cool evening air.  Scully felt incredibly alert,
giddy with the scents of the forest, aware of every nuance. The sensation was
making her feel even more aroused, if that was possible.  She turned towards
her
tall companion who was watching her with a guarded expression.

"Lucius?"

"Mmm-hmm..."

"What is it? You're so quiet..."

"Well Agent Scully..."

"Dana," she corrected him softly.

"OK then, Dana," he began again.  "I was just watching you. Thinking. About
how
happy you seem right now, how happy you've made me just by being here, how
sorry 
I am that we'll have to say goodbye."

Scully paused and looked at him with a measure of confusion.  There was a 
considerable tinge of sadness in his voice.  Almost as if she were already
gone.  
Scully thought he understood things had changed for her.  The feeding had
given her
clarity.  She didn't want to go, not yet.  Maybe not ever.  What she needed at
that moment was right there, and par for her course, apparently blind to that
fact.

Still holding hands, she tried to give him a reassuring squeeze before telling
him what she felt.  Oddly enough her hand felt slightly tingly and numb.

< No doubt a side effect of what I'm feeling right now, > she thought.

"It's not that," Lucius replied.

<Did I just say that aloud? > Scully wondered.
Lucius now took the opportunity to give her hand a comforting squeeze.
"I don't read thoughts, Dana, remember?  But I can sense them, now even
more clearly than normal thanks to our...link.  But that will pass, too.
I'm sorry for so many things.  What Nicky did to you, and what I did to save
you.
What you're going to be going through.  But you have to know, Dana, no matter
how
badly I want you, I want you on your terms, not mine.  That's why it had to
be like this."

"Like this?"  Scully was even more confused than before.  
And add to that a growing dizziness.

"Lucius, I feel...strange...cold..." she began to protest, "what do you mean,
...like this?"

He stroked her hair, then pulled her gently against him.  Scully's earlier 
more carnal intentions were swept aside by the all encompassing nearness of 
him-the warmth and security of his embrace.  She sighed softly, tilting her 
head up to him with a sleepy smile.  He leaned down towards her and Scully
felt 
the dizzy rush of realization as their lips met, mouths mingling in a 
passionate kiss.

The dizziness and cold forgotten, Scully relaxed completely into him.
Ignorant of his arms around her as he gently lifted her up and carried her
off.
She didn't hear the slam of the SUV door or feel the rumble of the engine as
it 
roared to life.  She was awash in a comfortable, all consuming slumber.

For about the fifth time that Friday, Mulder glanced at his watch then checked
it against the clock on his desk.  His desk, Scully's clock, he realized
glumly.
He took another half hearted glance at the files on his desk.  None of them 
would have piqued his interest even if Scully were there.  
For some odd reason, he had climbed over the fence which divided them, 
over to the unfamiliar side of skeptic.  The first 3 cases were blatant hoaxes
and the other two he suspected to have originated in the tortured minds of 
some obviously insane individuals.
 
He glanced at his watch once more.  1:00.  Four more hours to go.  Skinner's
indulgence in this case was both a blessing and a curse.  He had allowed
Mulder
free rein to conduct investigations from his basement office without requiring
him to continue any further casework.  However he was adamant in his
instructions 
that Mulder remain in the DC Office.  The Florida man-hunt had been a complete
fiasco and Mulder had managed to garner himself yet another reputation within
the
outlying Law Enforcement Communities.  

OK--so he had kind of lost it, so what?  
She was his partner of six years, wasn't she??  Wasn't something of
an emotional outburst to be expected in a situation like that??  Karen Kosseff
had
seen things his way, although her cloying psychiatric clichs irritated him.
She seemed to forget psychology was his trade and specialty.

The ringing of his office phone interrupted his train of thought.
"Mulder" he intoned dryly.
The voice on the other end then completely derailed it.
Smooth.
Smug.
But somehow, not as self assured as before.
There was something weird in Hartwell's request that he remain there in his
office.
That he should expect another phone call very soon.  
It made him nervous.

So nervous in fact that Mulder decided not to give the Texas Sheriff the usual
detailed description of his suspected parentage or a personal invitation that 
Hartwell engage in a very painful and unpleasant act of bodily contortion.

Nonetheless the thought was in Mulder's mind.

He had more important tasks to attend to.  
That Lucius was actually foolish enough to call him at the Bureau made him
grin.  
That he could possibly be stupid enough to warn him to expect another call was
a 
gift horse Mulder had every intention of looking in the mouth.

He dialed a familiar number and got the switchboard immediately.

After providing his badge number and security code, Mulder hung up with a 
satisfied smirk.  Given warning, they could set up their most sophisticated
trace.
Knowing what an idiot Hartwell was, he could probably get a bead on his
location 
in no time.  With luck, he might have Scully home safely that very night.

Mulder's heart raced as he considered the first possible good news he'd had in
what
felt like weeks.  The next hours might pass slowly, but with a fix on a
potential
lead, a possible solution to his and Scully's mutual dilemma, he felt a surge
of optimism.


Almost 3 hours later, as 5:00 came and went, Mulder began to despair a little.
What the hell did 'soon' mean to a vampire, anyway?
Though he would gladly remain in the basement for the entire weekend if
necessary, he was suddenly struck by a nagging fear.  
< What if Hartwell was yanking his chain? >
He wouldn't put it past the bloodsucker to have a mean streak in him, dumb 
hick or no.  The idea of Hartwell, laughing his ass off somewhere with Scully 
drugged or hurt and in his clutches was difficult to ignore.

He almost jumped out of his chair when the phone rang again.

"Mulder," he responded, trying his best to sound casual.
He grimaced as the switchboard operator's voice became clear.
"Yes, I still want the tap in place," he scowled. 
"All night if necessary, until I instruct otherwise, is that clear?"
He hung up the phone in disgust, then rose to get another cup of coffee.
The phone rang again almost instantly, and Mulder felt his anger rising.
"What now?" he began, then froze as once more, the voice of Lucius Hartwell
crooned softly into his ear.

"Why Agent Mulder, just when I was beginning to think you'd learned yourself
some manners," Lucius drawled.

Mulder grinned wickedly. If manners were what it took to keep this redneck
bastard on the line he determined to kill the sonofabitch with kindness.
He glanced at his watch.  That operator had damn well better have the trace
going.  

"Well I'm sorry about that, Sheriff," Mulder deadpanned graciously.
"I, uh, thought you were somebody else."

The other end remained quiet, and for a heartbeat Mulder feared he'd hung up.

"No problem, Agent Mulder.  I'm sure you must have to deal with a lot of
unsavory characters in your line of work and all."

Mulder bit the response from his tongue, murmuring a restrained agreement.

"So don't you want to know why I'm calling, or are you so caught up in
watching 
the clock that you aren't interested?"

Sweat broke out on Mulder's brow.

"Come on now Agent Mulder, just because you're the one working for the
"Guv'nment"
that don't make the rest of us idiots, now does it?"

Mulder ignored the bait.

"What, something like another 30 seconds before you get a solid bead on this?"

"Or does the FBI have more sophisticated equipment than that?"

"No," Mulder, responded crisply, "30 seconds is about right."

"Well Agent Mulder, I was going to save you the trouble when it occurred to me
you might not be inclined to take me at my word.  But let me tell you a few
things 
first.  Number one, no matter how it seems, I care about Dana."

<<Mulder bristled, but remained silent>> 

"She'll be all right, it'll take time, but she'll need your help to get
through it."

"Get through what?" Mulder retorted angrily.

"It won't be easy, you'll understand when you see her.  She might even be able
to tell you.  I don't know yet.  And I recommend you avoid any hospitals, it
would
only bring...unwanted attention to her...condition."

<<Mulder looked at his watch-10 seconds...>>

"Oh, and Agent Mulder? Bring your handcuffs, you'll need them."

Mulder felt the closure in his voice. He knew. He had planned the entire call
to disconnect before the trace could be completed...

"Agent Mulder?  Farewell, and Good Luck.  Take care of her."

Mulder's heart sank as he heard the hiss of air, and prepared for the
inevitable
dial tone.  But he heard footsteps and a door slam.  Hartwell had set the
cradle
down rather than hang it up.
<<But why?>>

He hung up the line quickly, and before he could dial the switchboard, the
phone rang again.

"Agent Mulder?  I think there's some kind of confusion here with the lines.  
We traced the last phone call per your request, but it is coming up as an
address 
here in Washington, in Georgetown.  An apartment on Blessing Way registered to
your partner, Agent Scully..."

Mulder nearly dropped the phone.

<<Shit>>

"No, that's right, no mistake, no problem. Thank you very much."

The operator began to ask him another question when Mulder hung up the
phone and sprinted out of the office to the garage.  Lucius' cryptic last
words ringing in his mind, he headed out of the garage, speeding towards
Georgetown. 

Subject: Subjugare Exsanguine Part 12

The operator began to ask him another question when Mulder hung up the
phone and sprinted out of the office to the garage.  Lucius' cryptic last
words ringing in his mind, he headed out of the garage, speeding towards
Georgetown. 

A wave of nausea began to hit Scully, then subsided quickly as Lucius leaned
in
towards her.  

"Shhh," he breathed softly, brushing her lips with his. "It'll be ok soon..."

Scully felt the wave of glamour pass into her, and embraced it eagerly as she
sank into a fitful slumber.
She was hungry but his touch had reassured her.
"Soon," he had promised.
Soon the thirst would subside.
She licked her dry lips and surrendered her consciousness to the dreaming.

Until her world began to shake.
Scully felt the nausea again, and a cold emptiness.
She didn't like this dream, here Lucius was nowhere to be found.
She started to call to him and the shaking grew worse.
Almost from outside the dream Scully felt a faint voice calling to her.
Pulled to it as she was, the pull of her dreaming was stronger, and she did
not wish to leave it.

A sharp pain washed over her, and she opened her eyes to see the concerned,
fearful eyes of her partner gazing into her.

"Mulder?" she said, though sluggish lids.  It took a considerable effort on
her part to keep her eyes open.  The vision of her partner, while not an
unwelcome one, was most unexpected and she didn't know what to make of him.

"Scully!" he exclaimed.

Unable to resist the dreaming's lure and the hope of finding Lucius within it,
Scully closed her heavy eyes.

The flash of pain hit her once more as a stinging heat flooded her cheek.
Opening her eyes wider this time, she met his gaze with one of anger as she
fully understood the source of pain.

"Mulder!" she howled indignantly, "you hit me!"

His fearful expression melted into something of an apologetic relief.
"Scully!" he breathed, "I-you-I was worried-you were so out of it and -"

She rubbed her cheek ruefully. "I am a Mulder, Doctor..I mean, a Doctor,
Mulder.  I have smelling salts, you know."

Mulder's face softened.
"Scully!" he enthused, blanketing her in a big bear hug.

Instead of feeling comforted, Scully was overwhelmed by his sudden embrace.

"Mulderrr," she grumbled, pushing him away.  She realized that she was in her
own apartment, in her bed.  Lucius had been there, she could smell his very
essence in her apartment, on her.
She looked down. 

Clasped tightly in her other hand was a delicate single yellow rose.
Her head swam a little, and she steadied herself.
She tried to remember but couldn't quite understand how she had gone from the
forest with Lucius to her apartment in DC.
Fragments of her memory-moments were dancing about her head, but disconnected
from reality.  She saw Lucius, she saw the rose, felt a kiss upon her lips...

"How did I get here?" she complained, irritated by her growing thirst and
Lucius' absence.  Mulder's uncharacteristic display of affection only served
to worsen things.

"Where's Lucius?" she asked with an accusing stare.

The change in Mulder's joyful expression was immediate.
With a dour look, he got up and retreated somewhat, giving her space.

"I don't know," he replied, looking at a spot on the wall behind her before
fixing his gaze down on the floor.  "He called me at the office and just left
you, I guess. You don't remember being brought here?"

Scully responded with a look that told him he should have known better than to
ask a stupid question. Instead she remained silent and let out a snort of
disgust.

She inhaled deeply, taking comfort in the lingering traces of Lucius' scent.
She tried to let her mind open up-to try and feel him-or the glamour.
She felt that he was near but couldn't be sure.
Like an itch that you can't reach.

Slowly, she released her grip on the rose.
With mild surprise she saw that she had clutched it so tightly the thorns had
pierced the meat of her palm and fingers.
She concentrated and focused on every nerve in her hand, reveling in the sting
she felt in the tiny lacerations caused by the thorns.
It made her feel alive, helped her to refocus away from the thirst which had
begun to consume her mind.
Gently, she set the tiny bud down upon her coffee table, checking her hand
with clinical detachment.  Sure enough, the wounds were already beginning to
heal.

She set to try and ease the source of a more persistent pain.
Clumsily, she got up and began to move about the apartment rather frantically.
"Lucius," she called anxiously.

Mulder got up and followed her, almost banging into her as she turned around
to head back towards the bedroom.

"Jesus, Mulder, do you mind?"

"Sorry Scully."

"Dammit" she muttered under her breath.  "Where is he, Mulder, what did you
do?
Did you scare him off or what?"

"I don't know, Scully, and I don't care. It's not important. What matters is
that you're back.  You have to calm down and relax for a minute.
You've been through alot and you need..."

"Been through, Mulder?" she cried, cutting him off.  "How would you have any
idea what I have *been through*??"
"Or what I need?" she added derisively, as she continued to roam about the
room,
pacing like a caged tiger, sniffing and moving things around somewhat shakily.

"Scully what are you doing?" Mulder asked her angrily, "sit down for a second
and 
talk to me.  You're making me nervous here."

She flashed him an icy glare before continuing and headed out into the living
room.  "I'm looking for Lucius--he's still here.  I need him."

It tore Mulder apart inside to see his Scully acting this way.
She was here with him but it was like there was somebody else inhabiting her
body.  An angry unreasonable somebody.

"He's not here, Scully, he's gone.  And you're right, I don't understand.
Help me to understand what you need, or why you need *him*. Why he called me.
Told me to come and help you.  Why he said that you needed me."

Scully narrowed her eyes as she reached for the handle of her front door.
"Since when do you listen to anyone, Mulder?  I don't *need* your help."

Realizing she was about to head out the door, Mulder threw his weight against
it, slamming it and effectively blocking her way.
"Scully hang on a minute" he said, beginning to get more than a little
irritated.

"Listen to yourself.  Your acting irrationally. You're not yourself. Did they
do something to you?  Drug you?  Let me see your neck..."
He began to reach towards her and Scully lashed out, nearly knocking him down.

"Mulder stop it!  Just get away from me.  There's nothing wrong with me that I
can't handle, I just have to find Lucius. I'm telling you, he's near.  I can
feel it..."
She backed away from him, eyes darting nervously around the room.

With a sinking feeling, Mulder realized she was looking for a way to escape
him.
Like a crazed animal, cornered and seeking an escape.
He reached into his coat pocket, feeling for the handcuffs he'd brought at
Hartwell's request.  Frankly, he'd had every intention on using them on
Hartwell.
But with the wild unfocused look in his partner's eyes, Mulder began to
appreciate
the Sheriff's warning.  He also realized it would require a bit of deception
to get 
close enough to her to be able to use them.

"Scully, look.  Just relax and talk to me for a minute, please?  You've been
gone for so long, I just need to know that you're OK."  He tried a pleading
sorrowful look, which she caught and if only for a fleeting second, Scully's
expression changed somewhat.  He thought he saw a trace of the real Scully
behind her eyes before she spoke.

"Will..will you help me find him?"

He tried not to react to the words twisting in his gut like a knife.
Mulder gulped a little.
"Sure," he offered, hoping to sound sincere. "If you can convince me it's what
YOU really want, if you will just talk to me calmly."

It wasn't a complete lie then, because nothing she could say would convince
him that Scully would willingly choose to be with Hartwell.  Not his Scully.
But this person in front of him was not quite his Scully.
In body perhaps but not in mind, in spirit.

Mulder wasn't sure what had happened to her, although he had a pretty good
idea.
An idea he would confirm if he could just get a look at her neck.

Mulder needed to find something to cuff her to without arousing suspicion.  It
was his turn to gaze nervously about the room, searching for something viable.
He mused over using one of her dining room chairs, but they would be too
easily smashed, and far too moveable.
He considered the refrigerator door, then decided it was a bad idea.
The safest suggestion he could come up with was the pipe in her bathroom.
It ran from the old fashioned tub to the ceiling.
He shuddered a little.
The same pipe he had cuffed Eugene Victor Tooms to after his attempt to turn
Scully into a final prehibernation snack.

< But how to get her in there? >

More deception?
He stole a look at her.
She looked pale and nervous, like a junkie.
She was shaking almost imperceptibly, her eyes refusing to remain focused on a
single item for very long.  She kept flicking her tongue across her lips, an
apparently involuntary action which was decidedly distracting and disturbing.

"Scully?"

"Yeah?"  She caught his gaze for a heartbeat before looking away.

"I'm feeling really...strange, I need to use your bathroom for a moment, I
don't feel...too good.  Can you wait for me a second?"
For one quick moment he saw another flash of his partner in her eyes as he
spoke.
He saw concern, and the appraising look of a doctor in her eyes.  
It gave him hope, and the courage to see his course of action through.

"OK Mulder," she began, "Are you all right?  You do look kindof...bad."

< Scully you have no idea... > he thought.
"I think I will be," he said instead, "I just feel a bit nauseous."

Quickly he retreated into the bathroom, closing the door behind him, then
listened intently--silence.  Good.  At least she hadn't immediately bolted out
the door.

He ran the taps in her sink to mask the noise as he attached one of the cuffs
to the main water pipe.  He grabbed a towel from the towel bar and draped it
over the cuffs.

Scully called him.  "Mulder, you OK?  Mulder, I really feel like I have to go.
I just, I need to find him,  I...I feel so strange.  Will you be all right?"
Her voice was strained, tinged with a sense of urgency and desperation

"Scully!" he nearly screamed, afraid his plan was about to disintegreate
before his eyes. He heard her footsteps and quickly slumped to the floor,
turning his face away.

"Mulder?" she rapped softly on the door, "Mulder are you OK in there?"

He remained silent.
He heard a slight gasp as the door opened and Scully raced to his side.

"Jesus Christ, Mulder!"

He tried to act as if he had lost his balance and grabbed her arm as if for
support.

"Scully..."

"Mulder, here, let me help you up..."

"Scully, no, wait..." he held fast to her arm, and grabbed the side of the tub
with his free hand.  He fumbled under the towel, felt the cool smoothness of
the cuff as he brushed it open.
"I'm sorry Scully..." he began.

"What?" she asked, with a mixture of confusion and concern.

He brought his weight forward, pulling her off balance until she too was
forced to grab the tub for support.  At the same moment he reached over and
grabbed her wrist, flicking the cuff closed neatly in one fluid movement.

Until she felt the snap of the cuff around her wrist, Scully had no idea what
he'd done.

When she understood, she went crazy and Mulder had to scramble back away from
her as she twisted and fought at the restraint, swearing and screeching at his
betrayal.

"I'm sorry Scully," he began.

"God DAMMIT Mulder, what the hell is wrong with you?!! Let me out of these
fucking handcuffs right now!"

She pulled at the cuffs so vehemently, that for a moment Mulder feared either
her wrist or the pipe might give way.

"Hang on now Scully, calm down before you hurt yourself.  Look at your wrist,
you're bleeding.."  He started to try and check her hand when she took a swipe
at him.

Luckily for him, she missed, the force of her swing nearly flipping her onto
the slick tile floor. She cursed again some more, then began to heave as her
body was racked with spasms.

Momentarily dazed, Mulder stood back and simply watched, afraid.
She was making an incredibly harsh keening sound he couldn't identify.
Suddenly, it hit him.
The strange noise was Scully crying. 
Crying like she had never cried before.  
With almost animalistic abandon she wailed loudly while pulling at the
manacles.

"Lucius!" She shrieked, "Please!  I know you can hear me, I can feel you!"

"Scully, please" Mulder began.

She whirled her head around and fixed him with an angry glare.
"Please?" she mocked him.  "Please?"
Tears continued to roll down her face.
"How about please take these GODDAMN handcuffs off, Mulder?"

Shocked by the ferocity of her anger, Mulder backed away.

Her expression changed slightly, softening quickly.
"Oh Mulder, I'm sorry.  iT'S JUST, I think I broke my wrist, Oh God, it hurts
so bad," she whimpered.  "Please Mulder," she begged, "please help me.."

His gut roiled as he took in the vision of HIS Scully lying there on the
floor, pleading with him.  He swallowed before fingering the key in his
pocket, and moved towards her slowly.

Her eyes lit up with recognition, as if she knew she was about to be released.
Her body tensed slightly and she licked her lips, turning her mouth up in a
sweetly seductive smile.

Mulder froze as an unbidden image engulfed his mind, coupled with a lingering
lightheadedness. A vision of he and Scully, limbs intertwined, locked in the
throes
of passion.  It was like a living dream inside his head, one he couldn't
control.

"Come on, Mulderr..." Scully purred, "let me loose and we can be together. We
never did finish that kiss, and I know you want to. I want to, too..."

He stumbled back.
<Jesus!>

"I don't know what you're doing to me, what he did to you Scully, but I won't
uncuff you till you're acting normal.  He warned me."

"LIAR she screamed at him, "Lucius wouldn't betray me!" He wants me, and I
WANT HIM!" 

She whirled her head around as if hearing footsteps behind her, and began
begging in a forced whisper to an unseen ally.

Lucius, tell me he's lying, tell me you didn't help him do this..."

Unable to believe the scene unfolding before his very eyes, Mulder tried once
more to intercede.
"Scully," he began, trying to speak softly, non-threatening.

"Mulder!" she hissed, advancing on him as far as her tethered hand permitted,
"LET....ME...GO!"

He closed the door behind him as she continued to scream and wail at him.
He made his way to the phone and called Skinner. 
It would not do to have the DC Police show up at Scully's door in the middle
of all this.  It was doubtful they would understand.  
Hell it was doubtful he would ever understand, either.       
But where Scully was concerned, he was prepared for a weekend of trying. 

After making the call, he sat down on the couch, pondering his next move.
Briefly he had entertained the notion of calling Mrs. Scully.
But quickly decided there was little to be gained from that.
When Scully did come round, (and she HAD to) she probably wouldn't appreciate
Mulder traumatizing her mom with the scene of her only remaining daughter
behaving like an animal.

He cocked an ear towards the bathroom and listened.  
Scully had grown quiet.
This made him feel both relieved and nervous at the same time.
He tried to recall Hartwell's exact words, hoping for some piece of
information
he could use to help Scully through this.    

His gaze wandered around the apartment untill with a start he noticed Scully's
computer was on.  The screen saver was active, and spaceships darted to and
fro 
across the screen.
Mulder smiled in spite of the circumstances.
Moving over to her desk, he hit the space bar on her keyboard and the aliens
vanished, to be replaced by an unsaved document.

"Shit" Mulder exclaimed.
It was a letter from Hartwell.

Agent Mulder:
I felt I should provide you some fair warning to assist in protecting Dana.

< "Dana?" Mulder seethed, Asshole. >

Dana will be violent and aggressive during the initial hours of her
withdrawal.
During this period she will behave erratically and out of character.
Do NOT allow her to persuade you in any way.
Shortly after that her body will reject that which remains in her system.
At that point she will become even sicker with wildly variable symptoms.
It is imperative that you monitor her closely during this time, and respond
immediately with conventional treatments.
If she does not improve in the subsequent 24 hours then you must take her to a
hospital.  If Dana does begin to improve then she will require a period of
substantial rest and nourishment.  I recommend you stock up on fluids and
foods with a high protein and carbohydrate content, she will appear both
dehydrated and anemic.

Good luck.         

Mulder scowled. He listened and heard Scully calling to both him and Lucius.  
She sounded worse.
She continued to moan loudly and call to him, demanding release.

Mulder went into the kitchen, searching for something Scully could eat.
As he wasn't much of a cook, there was not alot to choose from.  
He poured her a glass of juice and made some toast.
He knocked softly at the bathroom door before entering.
He heard a terrible gagging noise, and as he pushed the door open,
Mulder nearly dropped the tray in shock.

At first his vision clouded momentarily and he could have sworn Scully was not
alone in the bathroom. A quick glance about assured him she was.

"Scully?" he questioned.
She was hunched over the bathtub, heaving, making a terrible choking noise as
her stomach was emptied.  Cautiously, Mulder drew nearer, and to his horror
discovered that not only did Scully appear to be throwing up blood, but lots
of it.

"Jesus Christ!" he exclaimed, dropping the tray onto the sink.
"You're bleeding internally, Scully I have to get you to a hospital
immediately! 
I'm calling 911!"

"Mulder, wait," she begged softly, as blood dripped from her mouth, her body
trembling from the forcible evacuation of her stomach's contents. 
"Help me."

He turned, saw that she was not trying to trick him, and rushed to her side.
He dampened a towel and used it to gently clean off her face.
"I'll help you to bed, Scully, but then I'm calling the paramedics.
Hartwell didn't say anything about internal bleeding."
               
"Mulder," Scully breathed softly, "Mulder, it isn't my blood."

He searched her face questioningly, his eyes darkening.
"It's his," she whispered through exhausted eyes.

Disbelieving, he glanced into the tub.  The crimson blood Scully had retched
out of her system had changed.  It was black and almost tarlike.
He felt his own stomach shifting as he fully grasped the implication.
That his Scully could have been so tainted, infected by that bastard Hartwell
was unimaginable.

As he slipped the cuff off her wrist, he winced, preparing for the sight of
Scully's slender wrist torn up by her struggles against the cuff.
Astonishingly, it was in perfect condition, unharmed.
Slowly, he helped her to her feet, putting his arm around her shoulders for
support.
He had to know.

"Scully what do you mean it's *his*?  Did he force you to..."
Mulder halted mid sentence as Scully's legs gave way.  He caught her and kept
her from falling, then lifted her into his arms.

"Jesus, Scully," he murmured softly.  He knew his partner was a tiny woman
but it felt almost as if she weighed nothing at all.

As he carried Scully towards her bedroom, her head dipped slightly, granting
him a full view of her neck. 
Her beautiful porcelain skin.  
And two large purplish puncture marks high on her neckline. 
Where blood glistened wet, oozing slightly from still fresh wounds.

He barely concealed a stifled "Fuck" before cursing softly.
"Damn you, Hartwell!"

Scully moaned then mumbled.  "Mulder he--he didn't make me me do anything I
didn't want to do.  I was prepared to take it farther but Lucius wouldn't let
me.  He brought me here--home."  She coughed slightly and made a small
squeaking noise as she did so.

Tentatively, he brushed his fingers near the injured area of her neck.
Scully cringed slightly and he withdrew his hand.
She met his hurt, angry eyes at first with confusion then understanding as she
saw the tinge of blood on his fingertips.

"That wasn't him, Mulder, it was someone else..."

Scully shuddered as her body was racked by a fit of coughing.
"Lucius saved me, Mulder, don't you see why he had t..."
Again she was seized up with a violent cough.

Mulder waited till it subsided before speaking.
"Can you eat or drink, Scully? I think it would be good if you tried."

Her eyelids fluttered and she shook her head.
"N-n-no, not yet," she chattered, "too soon."
Mulder pulled the covers aside from her bed, and laid her gently down, tucking
the covers back around her.  

She gave him a grateful smile and he tried hard not to let the expression on
her face and the fact that he had just carried her into bed get to him.
Even in the midst of hideous misery, she radiated incredible sexual energy.
Guilt flooded him.
How many times in their partnership had he fantasized about this very moment?

As soon as he set Scully down she rolled over and pulled the covers up around
her, easing back onto her pillows.  With a loud sigh, Scully closed her eyes
and turned away from him.

"Scully?" 

Mulder walked to the other side of her bed and saw that she was already
asleep.
Or unconscious.
While she was still trembling, she seemed to be resting peacefully enough.
Mulder let out a soft sigh of relief. From the note Hartwell had left, he had
expected things to be vastly more difficult.
Quietly, he slipped out of the room, careful to leave the door open in case
she woke and called to him.

He dialed the familiar number of the Lone Gunmen, and stifled a self satisfied
grin when Frohike answered the phone.  If anyone could appreciate his relief
at this moment it was the bespectacled old hacker.

"Hey Melvin," Mulder enthused playfully, "would you mind running to the market
for me??"

"Mulder?" Frohike answered, confused and a little bit concerned that the Agent
had finally snapped in his partner's absence. "Mulder, are you all right??
Where are you?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Mulder replied. "For you, Heaven.
For me, Scully's apartment.  So you gonna help me or what? She doesn't have
squat around here to eat and when she wakes up, I think she'll be hungry."

Mulder could practically hear Frohike's frontal lobe pop over the phone line.

"Jesus, Mulder?!  She's back?? She's home? She's OK?? Thank god!"

Mulder smiled.  "Easy Frohike. Yes, yes and hopefully soon, yes.  She seems
to be going through some sort of...withdrawal symptoms, but I believe she'll
be fine after she rests a little.  But we need food!"

"Ok Ok," the older Gunman agreed, "tell me what you want, and I'll be over
with it pronto."

After hanging up with Frohike, Mulder took off his jacket and eased down onto
Scully's couch with a loud sigh.  He closed his eyes, thankful that the second
worst nightmare of his life was finally over.

Subjugare Exsanguine 13a/13
by e.ripley
feedback welcomed at dana1muldr@aol.com

After hanging up with Frohike, Mulder took off his jacket and eased down onto
Scully's couch with a loud sigh. He closed his eyes, thankful that the second
worst nightmare of his life was finally over.
Funny that after finding Samantha, he felt little sense of closure.
No doubt due to the estrangement they felt and the circumstances of her
reappearance, not to mention the uncertainty of her identity.
He remained hopeful but not entirely convinced she was really his sister.


But with that question at least partially answered, Mulder found his anxieties
transferred, rather than abated, to the welfare of his partner.

He shuddered briefly as the vision of her retching up Hartwell's black poison.
How on earth Scully could have allowed things to get that far was beyond him.
With a sigh, he acknowledged that there were certain facets of his partner's
life which seemed forever shrouded in mystery. 

The incident with the tattoo and the man who almost succeeded in killing her
had left him with a very bad taste in his mouth. "It's my life," she had told
him defensively when he questioned her involvement with Ed Jearse.
He had bitten back the reply he wanted so desperately to make.
He should have just told her.
There were so many questions he'd wanted to ask her. Questions he had no
logical right to know the answers to. But where his feelings for Scully were
concerned, logic seldom held much sway. So, he'd held his tongue.

And he felt so useless when he had been forced to sit by while Scully fought
her personal demons in San Diego over the short life and subsequent death of a
daughter she'd never even known had existed. 
He had some idea of the pain it caused her, but couldn't pretend to truly 
understand it. 

When Scully had tried to leave-to walk away from him, & quit the FBI
and the X-Files, he came right after her, told her how he felt--how he needed
her.
Look what had happened. 

And yet, even then, she remained bound and determined to stay with him. 
After years of shared horrors, unimaginable loss and hardship, she had 
chosen to continue. 

He thought he'd begun to see a clearer image of Scully then. Of who she 
was, what motivated her and what she wanted.

But was it all just what he'd only hoped she'd want? 
Was the clearer image only one of who he wanted her to be?

The situation with Hartwell had been a slap in the face from the beginning.
Perhaps Scully had needs beyond what he was capable of giving.
Capable of recognizing.

< But she's here with you now, > he tried to rationalize.

That she was there only as a result of Hartwell's doing presented itself
rather quickly. While it should have been a source of some comfort that the
Texan had finally seen reason in some form, the only fact which stood out with
any clarity was that Scully had not returned to him freely.

< She had a chance to run and stayed to help you, > His brain screamed.
He scoffed a little.
< Yeah and then you chained her to the goddamn bathtub, asshole. > 

He came to the conclusion that until Scully was freed of the effects which her
"feeding" induced, it was pointless to agonize over details. She *was* here
with him, free will or not. That was all that mattered for now.

A loud groan from the direction of the bedroom jolted him to his senses.

He paused at the doorway when he saw that Scully had thrown off all her
blankets and was curled up in a fetal position, shaking terribly.

He ran to her. 
Her clothes were almost soaked through. 
Scully's face was bathed in sweat and her skin had a markedly yellowish cast
to it.

He placed a hand on her forehead and nearly shrank back as he felt heat
radiate from her skin.

"Jesus, Scully, you're burning up."

She turned her head in a feeble attempt to make eye contact.

"Ssoo c-c-cold, Muldrrr," she rasped through chattering teeth, trying to
speak.

"Hang on Scully, I'm going to run you a bath. I have to bring your fever down,
fast!"

The idea of wrestling an unpredictably irrational Scully into a bathtub of
cold water struck him as a particularly dangerous but necessary task.
He toyed with the idea of trying to stand with her in the shower, but the
chance that they might both fall and be injured in any possible struggle was
too high. 
As Mulder ran the icy bathwater he noticed a peach colored bottle in the
corner of her bath and poured a liberal amount into the water.

With luck the familiar aroma might be something of a comfort or distraction.
As fragrant bubbles began to fill the tub, it occurred to Mulder that they
would also provide Scully a measure of modesty by concealing her somewhat.

"Come on Scully," he called to her as he tried to lift her to a sitting
position.
"You've got to help me a little bit here. Don't make me strip you naked all on
my own, that takes the fun out of it."

The fact that she ignored his feeble attempt to cover up his own embarrassment
with humor concerned him more at this point than the temperature of her skin.

Scully mumbled something softly.

"What?" Mulder questioned her.

"Luuuushussss" she slurred.
Ignoring the ache her words caused him, Mulder spoke reassuringly to her.

"Hey, I'm here, Scully, it's OK, I'm gonna help you."

He leaned Scully onto the seat of the toilet while supporting her with one
hand, and began to peel the damp shirt from off of her body. With a sigh of
relief, Mulder discovered Scully was wearing an undershirt much like the ones
his father used to wear. 

Although the shirts his father wore never had the particular appeal this one
suddenly had, clinging tightly to his partner like a second skin.

"Jeez, Scully, I hope to God you don't remember this," he murmured.

Even softer, "Because I sure as hell won't be able to forget."

He paused to consider the best approach to take on her jeans. In their current
state, he had to be careful or they'd most likely bring any undergarments
along with them as they were removed.

Slowly, Mulder worked the buttons down.
Scully started to slip off to the side a little bit and he caught her with a
free hand.

"Come on, Scully, this is hard enough already."

Without warning, Scully raised her head and caught his gaze with a steady,
glowing one of her own. "Is it really," she murmured huskily, "Mulderrr?"

Mulder gaped as she reached both arms around his neck.
He was trapped by the searing heat of her hands against his skin.
He could feel her breath, hot on his neck, her mouth even hotter against his
skin.
He licked his lips slightly, and avoiding her gaze, looked down to where his
trembling hands continued to ease the damp levis down her hips.
Given Scully's recent adventure, he tensed up, preparing for the sudden
sensation of teeth biting into his throat. 
When it came he was completely unprepared.

Scully did not sink her teeth into him but instead nuzzled and suckled softly 
at the juncture of shoulder and neck.

It was exquisite.

It was torture.

It was wrong.

Pulling himself away from her was difficult, but somehow Mulder managed.
He spoke with a quiver in his voice, "I have to warn you Scully, Frohike's
coming over to bring you something to eat and you wouldn't want him to catch
us in the bath, now do you? That might kill him."

She didn't respond and Mulder felt her grip around his neck grow slack.

"Scully?"

Her head bobbed down, and after checking her pulse, which was steady, he
relaxed a little bit. If the alternative was Scully getting sultry on him it
was a great deal easier to deal with her while she was unconscious.

With a final tug, the jeans were freed from around her hips and Mulder eased
them down her legs and off. He had averted his gaze until now from where he
expected to see some type of skimpy women's' undergarments. 
It was a bit of a shock then, when he noticed she was in fact, clad in a pair
of men's boxers.

Ignoring the red flags set off regarding her underclothes, Mulder reached a
hand over to the tap and turned it off. The tub was almost filled and bubbles
were close to overflowing. Carefully, he lifted Scully's limp form up,
cradling her in his arms, and mouthed a silent prayer that she might remain
unconscious while the icy water brought her temperature down.

Not too surprisingly, though, as soon as he skin came into contact with the
cold bath, Scully woke abruptly and began to thrash wildly against him,
sputtering and cursing.

"Mulder, stop it, she screamed, railing against him as he tried to force her
back down into the freezing cold. "Are you trying to kill me?"

"I'm sorry Scully, but you're burning up."
Remembering a childhood experience, Mulder reached up and pulled a towel
across her in the bath.

"Here, try this, it might make you feel better."

The weight of the sopping wet towel served a dual purpose. It blanketed Scully
with it's weight, helping to still her movement while providing an illusion of
comfort, of cover.
Scully quieted somewhat but continued to eye him with an angry glare.

"Is that better?" he asked.

She nodded but refused to speak, turning her head away.

He decided to speak anyway.
"When I was a kid I got really sick once and my mom had to do the same thing,
Scully," Mulder started. "The towel helped. I'm sorry I had to do this, but it
is the only way to bring your fever down. You'd have done it to me.
"Come to think of it, you DID do it to me, Scully," he half joked.

She was unresponsive.
He cleared his throat, serious again.
"You felt like you were on fire, Scully," he said with an anxious voice.

Seeing that she was in no mood to speak, he decided discretion was the better
part of valor, and got up. "I'm gonna go get you some aspirin or something
Scully.
You need to stay in here for a while but I'll be right back.
Call for me if you need anything or if there's a problem."

Avoiding any eye contact, Scully stared at the wall until Mulder closed the
door behind him. After assuring herself he really had left, Scully pulled the
heavy wet towel further up against her, shivering so badly it was all she
could do to remain in the tub.

Oddly enough she did not feel hot, but could feel the heat of her skin in
contrast 
to the cold water surrounding her. She felt utterly miserable, confused and
alone.
Mulder had tricked her, handcuffed her to keep her there like a prisoner and
Lucius was nowhere to be found.

Almost as soon as the words formed in her head, she was overcome with a 
calming reassuring awareness of him. 

"Lucius" she called out weakly. She whimpered softly as he made his thoughts
known to her and comforted her with his unseen presence.
All at once, Scully relaxed and eased herself down into the cool water.
Thus soothed, she sank into a fevered slumber.

Subjugare Exsanguine 13b/13
by e.ripley
feedback welcomed at dana1muldr@aol.com

Mulder had torn through Scully's cabinets looking for a bottle of aspirin
without any success. He had even gone through her bedroom closet, seeking out
the small doctor's kit she often carried but his search turned up nothing of
use. He was about to give up looking when a rap at the front door halted his
search.

A cursory glimpse through the peephole confirmed his suspicions, and he
unhooked the latch on the door to let Frohike in.

"Well it's about time," he half teased, relieved to have another body on hand
to help him with Scully.

"Where is she?" Frohike breathed excitedly.

"Easy does it Romeo," Mulder admonished him. "She had a really high
temperature so I put her in a cold bath to bring the fever down."

"Do you think she needs any help?" asked Frohike.

"Not the kind that you're, uh, qualified to give," Mulder retorted quickly.

Rolling his eyes, Frohike ignored his comment and began to produce groceries
from a bag. "You might try this, Agent Mulder." he informed him as he pulled a
bottle of Tylenol from one of the bags. "more hospitals use Tylenol than any
other pain reliever and fever reducer combined."

Mulder shot his friend a playful grin.
"Frohike, I could kiss you."

"Why don't we leave that the lovely Agent Scully?" Frohike countered, "When
she's
feeling more up to it of course."

"You may have a long wait ahead of you, then," Mulder replied grinning.

He took the bottle his friend had offered then paused before knocking on the
bathroom door. He looked at his watch. Scully had been in there for almost
half an hour, assuming she'd actually remained in the bath. 

As she did not respond when he called to her, he opened the door, and smiled
as he caught sight of her fast asleep, her face framed with fragrant bubbles.

This was definitely NOT a job for the weak of heart. Which included Frohike.

"Hey Scully," he called to her "come on, wake up."

She didn't stir, so he called to her again, louder and more insistent.
"Come on Scully, don't be like that. Frohike brought you some Tylenol and
he's convinced that what you need to feel better is a full body massage."

He grinned a little at his joke.
"Come on, Scully, we don't want that now, do.....we??"
He trailed off as it became evident that Scully was not in a position to
answer or even notice his attempts at humor.

"Shit," he breathed as touch confirmed what a glance at her pale bluish lips
suggested. Scully's fever had not only broken, it had disappeared and in it's
stead, Scully's body temperature had dropped well below normal.
The cold bath was only serving to make matters worse.

Ignoring the shudder of cold assailing him, Mulder dipped into the bath,
removing Scully's prone form, dripping wet, and laid her on the floor.
He flicked the switch of the wall heater and used a towel to rub at Scully
vigorously, trying to infuse some measure of warmth into her body by sheer
friction.

"Frohike" he bellowed loudly, "help me!"
In a moment the door cracked open.
Frohike glanced in then down at his friend, his gaze lingering only
momentarily with the shock of seeing Dana Scully almost naked and soaked to
the skin.
It took only a heartbeat for the reflexive thoughts in his head to be erased
with concern.

"Frohike!" Mulder yelled louder, unaware he was already there.
He started a bit when the elder Gunman answered him.

"What can I do, Mulder?" he asked.

Get me another towel and find something warm for me to put on her.
"She's hypothermic, at least it looks that way."
Frustration was beginning to get the better of Mulder and he tried not to be
curt with his friend, who lingered at the door, his face frozen with
apprehension.

"Frohike, *now* might be a good time to do that. I need to get her into bed."

A few moments later Frohike materialized with an armful of towels and a pair
of sweats. He looked rather embarrassed as gingerly he produced a small pair
of pink cotton panties.

"Um, Mulder?" he began.

Grabbing the bundle from him , Mulder breathed a word of thanks.
"Maybe you can get something hot going on the stove," Mulder asked.
"Anything to warm her up."

Without hesitation, Frohike set to task.

By the time he reappeared at Scully's bedroom doorway, holding a steaming mug
of lemon tea, he saw that Mulder had managed to dry her off and slipped sweats
onto her. Frohike suppressed the urge to inquire about the panties.
Mulder was trying to bunch up the blankets around her, and smoothed her still
damp hair from her forehead very tenderly.

Feeling almost as if he was interrupting a private moment, Frohike cleared his
throat before speaking. "I looked around for an electric blanket, Mulder, but
I couldn't find anything. I made some hot tea, I figured anything else might
be too much on her stomach. It'll warm her up, at least."

Mulder smiled weakly at his friend when an idea hit him.
He snapped his fingers.
"Thermal blanket!"

"What?"

"I have a thermal blanket in my car, Frohike!" Mulder jumped up then turned 
towards him. "Frohike, watch her! Her pulse is weak and her breathing is
shallow. Don't let anything happen to her, I'll be right back!"

Quickly, Mulder tore off and out the door. 

Frohike came over and sat himself down in the spot Mulder just vacated.
He set the mug of tea on the nightstand and regarding the pale Agent before
him, sighed softly then spoke. "Agent Scully, I don't know if you can hear me
or not, but you're putting our friend there through a terrible time. Appealing
as that may seem in idea, in practice, I think maybe you should give us all a
break and try to get better."

She lay so still it unnerved him. 
Reverently, hesitantly, he laid a finger to the side of her neck, searching
out a pulse. Finding none, he gently eased her head over to the other side and
searched again, wincing as he came in contact with the purplish twin punctures
on her neck.

"Jesus," he exclaimed softly. "Mulder!" he yelled, "I don't feel a pulse."

He listened for her breathing, and hearing none, began to get frantic.

"MULDER!"


Almost as soon as he had made it to his car, Mulder began to curse. His keys 
were not in his coat pocket. Which meant he couldn't get into his trunk.
"Shit!" he exclaimed.
It also meant he couldn't get back into Scully's building if the door had
locked behind him. He raced back up the walkway and found to his disgust it
had closed. 
Angrily, he ran his hands through his hair then shook the door handle.
He didn't want Frohike to leave her alone but he had very little choice. 

He had been so delighted when Scully had moved from Annapolis to Georgetown. 
After the events following her abduction. 
And especially when she chose the apartment in a secured building on a floor 
well above ground level.

Now it was a problem. He paced around the building, seeking out Scully's
window, and shouting for Frohike to let him in.



Frohike could hear Mulder calling him, but was in no position to assist him.
At the moment he was frantically trying to administer CPR to the lifeless FBI
Agent he so desperately adored. And it wasn't working.
Christ, what the hell was Mulder doing, anyway??

He counted out the seconds between chest compressions before attempting
to breathe life into her body. He prayed silently that he was remembering his
Red Cross CPR training correctly, promising to finally take that refresher
course every 6 months if she would only live. 
Hell, he would give up hacking entirely if it meant Agent Scully would be all
right...



Lucius sighed from his hiding place. 
Mulder was more inept than he remembered from their brief partnership in
Chaney. 
He could hear him shouting and banging at the door while this...this
frightened man attempted to restore life to the precious woman on the bed. 
He shook his head.
Sighed again.
Using the glamour on a man was a task he did not relish. But to delay any
further would put Dana at risk, and besides it was time to go.

Quickly he veiled himself to the man on the bed, assured him that what Dana
needed more than CPR was another cup of tea. 
He took great pains to avoid the lingering images in the portly man's mind. 
Not surprising, Dana was featured rather prominently.

As the man took on a blank expression and hurried off into the kitchen, Lucius
slipped quickly to Scully's side. He laid a hand upon the side of her head,
marveling at the unearthly cool of her smooth skin. Concentrating so as not to
lose hold of the stranger in the kitchen, Lucius slipped into the void that
was Dana's unconscious mind. 
Gently, he lured her back with unspoken promises, sweet encouragement and
soothing images.

Almost instantly, Lucius saw the faint tinge of color returning.

Reverently, he leaned forward, brushing his lips against hers.

He lingered, taking great pains to mark the moment. 
He inventoried every curve, the soft swell of her mouth where her lower lip
met, in pale perfection the rest of her face. 
The velvet veil of her eyelids, accented by auburn lashes, and the tiny mole
proclaiming her distinctness, her unique perfection. 
He inhaled her hair, cataloguing the combination of aromas which belonged to
and were perfected in her. Fruited, strawberry, like a wine.
Cinnamon sweet with earthy undertones and a clean warmth that had no fitting
adjective to do it justice. It was *her*. Jasmine, clean, tangerine.
Everything he'd ever wanted, lost to him now.

Scully shifted almost imperceptibly into him, slowly coming to. 
Lucius knew his audience was over.

"See you around, Dana" he whispered, tipping his hat as he readjusted it on
his head. "I'm never far.  I'm a patient man, Dana, time is one thing on our
side."

He almost forgot the other man until the door burst open.
Leaning slightly back, the man brushed by him without so mush as a sidelong
glance.

Lucius grinned in spite of himself.

Scully would do fine with this surrogate mother hen keeping watch. 
There was something oddly endearing in his manner. 
It was clear he harbored deep feelings for the FBI Agent.
Feelings that surpassed his baser cravings.

He kept his vigil so intently, Lucius hardly had need of the glamour to exit.

Ambling down the stairwell he could hear Mulder rattling again at the front
door. Shuddering with distaste, he pushed his way into the mind of his rival,
convincing him that there was something worthy of his attention to the
immediate left of the entrance.

Effortlessly he slipped out the door past him, careful to leave the door ajar.
Mulder would soon realize something had happened but was far too preoccupied
with Dana to give it a second thought. As Lucius strolled out into the 
crisp evening air, he looked back towards the apartment building. At the top
of the 
balustrade Mulder had paused suddenly, turning to look towards the tall figure
striding down the street. 

As they made eye contact, Lucius just grinned, and casually continued on his
way.
Sure enough, Mulder had more important tasks to attend to. He sped on up to 
Scully's apartment, bursting through the unlocked door. Striding into the
bedroom
Mulder got the distinct feeling he had just missed something.

Both Frohike and Scully seemed startled to see him. Frohike was standing near
the bed and Scully was sitting up, avoiding eye contact. If Mulder didn't know
better, he might have guessed that they were both blushing.

"Uh, Hi Mulder.." Frohike stammered.

"Why the hell didn't you let me in?" Mulder asked, angrily, "I was locked out
and
banging on the door."

"UM, I think I'm going to go ahead and head on out now," Frohike stammered.
"I'll just leave you two to discuss matters. Agent Scully-always a pleasure to
be 
of, uh...service...Mulder.." he glowered a little. "See you later. Call us."

And in a flash, Frohike was gone.


"Mulder..."

Mulder focused his attention on the slightly hoarse but still silky soft voice
which belonged to his partner.

"Scully!" he exclaimed happily, as if it had only just now occurred to him
that she
was conscious.

"Mulder it sounds like maybe I had gone into some kind of respiratory arrest.
Frohike was administering CPR which is why he didn't stop to let you in."

Mulder tried not to let his eyes bug out too much but shot a suspicious glance
to the doorway through which Frohike had exited. (Frohike? CPR? On Scully?) 

Scully's voice broke through, a blessing which prevented further glimpses of
the mental image.

"So how *did* you manage to get back in, Mulder?" She groaned a little. 
"Please tell me you didn't shoot out the lock."

Mulder rolled his eyes heavenwards.
"Come on, Scully give me some credit!"

"Oh, you didn't have your gun."

He stifled a laugh, adopting a look of mock indignation, then got serious.
"Not that it matters, but no, I didn't." He remarked defensively.

Scully shook her head ruefully, but her eyes twinkled a little.

"What exactly happened here, Mulder? I can recall some things, but it's really
hazy, and what I do remember seems too bizarre. One moment I was with Lucius
and then I was here. But I remember being here with you-in the...bathroom?"

Mulder fidgeted nervously.
"Yeah you got pretty sick there, Scully. Hartwell left a note saying you were
going through some kind of withdrawal..."

Scully looked as if a light had suddenly gone on in her mind.

"Lucius," she murmured. "Do you have the note?"

Mulder's injured expression was brief and he replied nonchalantly,
"Yeah, it's on the computer. Nothing much really, just a warning about some
of your symptoms. Coward wouldn't even stick around long enough to make sure 
you were all right. If I ever lay eyes on him..."

Mulder decided to withhold the niggling suspicion that Hartwell had in fact
remained behind. He couldn't be certain, and so it wasn't a critical detail.

Scully sighed again.

"Mulder, did it occur to you that your reaction is the very reason he didn't
stay??"

"What?"

< This was just wrong. >
Mulder had just witnessed sides of Scully he had only dreamt about, only to
have them disappear out of his hands and into a hazy fever dream.
It wasn't fair.

And now Scully was actually defending the source of their troubles?

He turned away, chewing on his lower lip with agitation when it hit him.

Scully still wasn't completely healed.
She was showing symptoms of a very common albeit complicated affinity for her
kidnapper. It was a well documented psychological phenomenon amongst kidnap 
victims in situations of great stress and trauma.
Helsinki Syndrome.

Mulder smiled. They were in his territory now.
He knew now that Scully would be very defensive where Hartwell was involved, 
even to the point of justifying his actions. 
There was little point in arguing, it was best to gently remind her of facts.
It was a complicated disorder, where an almost co-dependent relationship was 
formed between the victim and the kidnapper. Recognition of the fact and 
counseling would bring Scully to her senses.

It might take a week or so, but by then, he would have Scully back to 
normal and they could get on with their lives.

Their work.

Without the buck toothed Sheriff of Vampire Gap.

"Mulder?"
The warning tone in Scully's voice alerted him to her displeasure.

Despite the serious expression she wore, Mulder had to smile.
"It's nothing, Scully. You need to rest, we can talk more later."
He patted her reassuringly, and got up.

"Can I get you anything? I'm gonna call Skinner, oh, and your mom too."

"Scully?"

She murmured something softly, her gaze focused outside, towards the window.

"Scully?" he questioned again.

"N-no, Mulder, thanks, Frohike made some tea."
She continued to face the window rather distractedly, fingering something.

Mulder came up behind her and saw nothing out the window. Some kind of SUV was
idling outside, in front of the apartment across the way.
"Scully?" he repeated once more, laying a hand upon her shoulder.

She startled when he touched her, stifling a sharp gasp.

"Mulder! I thought you left!"He frowned.
"Not yet, and when I do I'm only leaving to use the phone, Scully, you're
still recovering.  I don't think you should be alone."

She looked at him with a mixture of petulance and impatience.
"I'm fine Mulder."

When she saw him frown, her expression warmed a little. "Really, Mulder, I
just want a little privacy right now. You're right, I need rest. If you'd like
to stay, why don't you camp out on the couch--I'll call you if I need
anything, OK?"

This seemed to placate Mulder somewhat.

"OK " he agreed, shuffling back towards the door, "But call me if you need
anything, or if you feel even the slightest bit different."

Silently, Scully dismissed him with a wave, her eyes returning towards the
open window.

Disturbed, Mulder moved towards the living room, and parted the curtains to
surveille the street below. Almost as soon as he had done that, the SUV roared
to life and drove away.

Mulder frowned a little, then scratching his head, moved to settle down on the
couch. His focus returned to Scully, and taking the appropriate measures to
helping her through her crisis.

Helsinki Syndrome.

Yeah, that had to be it.

The best approach to take was a non-combative one. 
Without giving credence to the delusion, gently reinforce the facts. 

Remind her that she was abducted.

A victim.

Drugged.

That she was now home with the people who cared for her.

That it was ok, even natural to develop a connection-even a bond of sorts to
her
kidnapper. 

But emphasize kidnapper. 

That's all that he was.

Mulder glanced towards the phone.

The important thing was to establish a return to normalcy, to routine.

Help her readjust.

It was time to call in the cavalry.

With little hesitation he grabbed the receiver and punched in the familiar
number.
Just hearing her voice made Mulder sigh with relief.
Within a few minutes, Maggie Scully was on her way there.

He needn't have worried.

It was going to be all right.
Scully was going to be all right.
*They* were going to be all right.



After another week at home, Scully returned to the office, and things went
back to normal for the most part.

Mulder couldn't help but feel that there were still some issues troubling her,
but bringing it up or trying to force discussion only served to distance her
further.

Appreciating that she was strong, he resolved to give her the space and
support she so obviously needed.

A few weeks later, they returned from a particularly ugly case, involving what
they attributed to a type of psychokinetic murder. 

Mulder was at his desk typing up some of the requisite paperwork, and Scully
was busy checking email.

She groaned loudly.

Mulder turned towards her with a questioning look.

"Apparently from the memo here, we have been signed up for another one of
those
damn teamwork seminars." She rolled her eyes.

Mulder made a choking gasping noise and, clutching at his throat, dropped his
head to the desk.

"If you think dying would preclude you from attending with me, Mulder, you've 
got another thing coming. No way am I sitting through one of those on my own!"
Scully rolled her eyes again then grinned as she caught a wink from her
partner.

"Scully have you ever heard of suicide pacts?"

"Mulder...." she warned him teasingly.

"Really in a case like this it would be more of a Kevorkian mercy-type
killing."
"Kind of romantic..." he offered.

And the eyebrow went up....
"Since when has romance ever factored into out relationship, Mulder?"

He affected the look of a man deeply wounded.
"Scully!" he said with mock indignation. "When hasn't it?"

She shot him a killer glare before deadpanning, "Well, let's see. First there
was being cocooned by tiny prehistoric insects. Then almost having my liver
eaten
by a bile producing biological anomaly. Of course there was also the flukeman,
the conundrum, those volcanic spores that burst out of your throat..."

"OK, ok," Mulder chided her, "sheesh."

Triumphant, Scully flashed him a victory smile before returning her gaze to
the 
screen.

Mulder was debating on whether or not to say something about trying to throw
in 
some romance when a sharp intake of air from Scully gave him pause.
"Scully?"

She paled visibly, then looking guiltily over at him, quickly tapped something
into the keyboard. Before he made it over to her side, whatever she had been
reading was gone.

Mulder glanced down at her, searching her eyes for some clue as to her sudden
change of mood. Unwavering and blue, they offered him none.

They faced off like that, for a moment, until Scully finally looked away.

"Mulder, I'm gonna grab something to eat, ok?"

"This early?" He narrowed his gaze. "Scully you never eat this early, it's
only
10:30!"

Scully scowled a little. "Well today, Mulder, I'm hungry, OK??"

His eyes flickered for a moment before he grinned a winning smile.
"OK by me, sounds good. Besides, I skipped breakfast this morning."

Scully laid a hand softly on his arm.
"Mulder, I really just feel like, uh, eating alone today, OK?"

He tried to hide his wounded expression, but Scully caught it anyway.

She got up, her eyes still locked on his and offered him a half smile.
"I just want to work out some things, OK G-man?"

He nodded his assent before returning to desk and busying himself in his
paperwork. He tried not to notice as Scully donned her jacket and keys.
He heard the click of the door as it opened but willed himself not to look.

"See ya, Scully" he murmured, trying to sound casual and nonchalant.

"Hey Mulder!" she called to him.

He looked up in time to see her toss a bagful of sunflower seeds his way.
He caught it, and looking up, returned her warm smile.

"You shouldn't skip breakfast Mulder, it's the most important meal of the
day!"

With a motion, the door closed behind her and she was gone.
Smiling, Mulder examined the bag of seeds.
Hulled.

Maybe she was trying to tell him something after all.

He looked up to see her computer a few yards away.

Temptation got the better of him, and he strode over, settling himself at her
desk.
Or at least the table in the basement that passed for one.

He tapped his fingers nervously on the surface of the table. What he was
considering was tantamount to a breech of trust. He couldn't do that. 
He wouldn't.
Accidentally, his pinkie brushed the mouse which brought the screensaver to a
halt.
Scully had saved him the battle, whatever email she had been reading was
deleted.
The Ok to delete window was still open.

Underneath that, Mulder could make out the original "you have mail" field.
The highlighted email-the one she had deleted was from an email address he was
unfamiliar with, and titled, simply, March 4. He checked her calendar and saw
she had circled the date, yet there was nothing significant entered on March
4. 
Probably Bill's Birthday or her parent's anniversary.

The ringing of the telephone startled him.

He considered not answering it when he realized how stupid that would seem. He
let it ring again before picking it up and smiled, instantly recognizing the
voice
of his partner's mother.

"Hello, Fox" Maggie Scully enthused.

"Hello Mrs. Scully" he replied.

"Please Fox, it's either Mom or Maggie, Mrs. Scully was my husband's mother."

"OK, Mom-what can I do for you, if you're calling for Scully, she's taken an
early
lunch."

"That's odd, she replied. "I thought we had made plans to meet for lunch later
on,
I was just calling her to let her know I can't make it today."

"I don't know what to tell you, Mom," Fox apologized.

"Oh well, no harm done. Fox, tell her I called?"

"Sure thing. Hey wait a second-could you tell me if there is anything
significant about March 4?"

Mrs. Scully seemed puzzled. "No, Fox, not off-hand, let me check my calendar."
There was a brief pause and a shuffling noise before she spoke again.
"I'm still checking but nothing really comes to mind. It does sound vaguely
familiar though, -probably just a minor Catholic holiday, nothing memorable.
Why?"

Mulder felt both relieved and guilty.
"Ah, OK, nothing important. I uh, just saw it highlighted on Scully's calendar
and got worried that maybe I missed some important anniversary or something."

Maggie chuckled softly. "No, nothing for anyone in the Scully clan on that
day. Oh 
here it is. March 4. Odd, I don't recall Dana ever taking much of an interest 
in the feast of St. Lucius."

Mulder's heart stopped. "The feast of what??"

"Not what, Fox, who. St. Lucius was a Pope sometime around 254 AD. If my
memory serves, He was the son of a Roman named Porphyrius or something like
that. Very kind but misunderstood. Some say that he was beheaded and the Feast
of St. Lucius is a day set aside to honor him. Is that significant? I can ask
Dana, if you like?"

"No, no, Mrs. Scully-Mom, I don't want to pry. I'm sure it's nothing."

"Um, I need to go finish some paperwork, is there anything else you'd like me
to tell her?" His voice was strained

"No, Fox, just tell her I'm sorry we missed each other. She can call me at
home
later this afternoon if she likes. Fox are you sure you're ok?"

"Yeah," he mumbled, "thanks."

"Ok, Fox, good bye then."

"Bye." 
His heart raced.

< Cool it. > he admonished himself.   < It's probably unrelated. >

"Who am I kidding?" he spoke out loud, to nobody in particular.
"It's never unrelated."

Quelling the urge to go out looking for Scully, Mulder fidgeted the time away
until she returned. He examined her face closely, saw no sign of anything
to give him pause. 

Except that she carried a small yellow rose in her hand.

"Admirer?" Mulder inquired, trying to appear calm and reserved.

"Hmm?" Scully asked,distracted and momentarily thrown off by the remark.

Mulder gestured to her hand and she regarded the flower coolly. 
"Oh that," she murmured. 

And then, as if she had either disregarded or forgotten his question, she
spoke.

"Mulder are you afraid of dying?"

He furrowed his brow. "I hope that's not a warning Scully."

She smiled. "No, Mulder, it's just a question."

He looked thoughtful before speaking again. "I can't say that I'm ready to
keel over just yet, Scully, there's some *things* I'd like to do first, but
no, I suppose I'm not really afraid to die, if it's really my time I mean."

Scully folded her arms across her chest and rested against her desk,
the faintest trace of a smirk on her lips.

"So if you were offered the chance to live forever, or almost forever, you
wouldn't take it?"

His eyes darkened further. "I suppose it would depend on the conditions.
Who I could take with me, what I would have to do. Without the right person,
forever could be an awfully long time."

She nodded, raising her eyebrows slightly as if considering his response.
"I never really thought about it that way."

"I'm surprised to hear you even thought about it at all, Scully" Mulder
countered.
"Is everything OK?"

Scully gazed at her feet.
"Yeah, Mulder, everything's fine."

Scully saw his eyebrows arch slightly and she shook her head.

"I was just thinking about Mr. Bruckman, that's all. Did I ever tell you that
he said I wouldn't die? Silly, isn't it? Besides, who wants to live forever?"
She looked down.

Leering somewhat Mulder smiled. "I dunno, Scully, like I said, it just depends
on the company."

She looked up in time to catch the boyish grin and chuckled softly.

"Yes I suppose who you're with can make the all difference in the world."

"Like whether eternity feels like it is spent in paradise.."

"Or as if you were in line at the DMV?" Mulder interjected.

"Yeah, Mulder," she echoed, "just like that."

Scully began to gather her things up.
"Mulder I was thinking-it's been a long week, I'm gonna go home early."

"Playing hooky, so soon, Agent Scully?" he teased, "for shame."

"Well if we were to go over the case together, it wouldn't really be hooky,
would it?"

It took a few seconds for her words to sink in.

He looked up. Scully was waiting by the door, expectantly.

< Waiting! >

"Well?" she asked.

"You don't have to ask twice, G-woman," he muttered, grabbing his coat and 
making for the door.

Suddenly the prospect of forever held new meaning. 

Exeunt!

Thanks again for reading! Let me know what you thought!!
And thankx to Sarah for loan of "The Bucktoothed Sheriff of Vampire Gap"