Claims disclaimed
Summaries summed
Ratings, you get the picture

Valentine's Day, part 6
by
Tamani R. Green

Chicago Field Office
8:00 a.m.

    The office was in an uproar when Mulder and Scully told everyone 
that Amy had been taken. What was not asked, strangely, was where the
two agents had been when it happened. At least they had some prints
from the two notes.
    The results came up from the NCIC database. They turned up a match
on a Peter Mackenzie, age 28. He had been arrested on a DUI a couple
of years ago. The sentence had been suspended.
    The man was a violinist for a small chamber orchestra. He sometimes
did stints with the CSO. That explained the music Amy heard in her 
trance.
    "Well, he'll playing 'Jailhouse Rock' soon enough. Let's round him
up." Mulder said. They headed on out to Orchestra Hall.

8:15 a.m.

    Mulder and Scully spoke with the conductor. He described Peter as 
a very moody guy. Passionate about his music. The conductor said that
Peter was well on his way to being a wonderful violinist. Peter hadn't
shown up for last night's performance or this morning's practice, which
was totally out of character for him.
    The two agents thanked the man for his time and were heading back 
to the car when Mulder's cell phone rang. It was the AIC. He told them
that Peter had been spotted over at Bricktown Mall ten minutes ago. Law
enforcement were converging on the spot as they spoke. Mulder and 
Scully were on their way.

Bricktown Mall
9:00 a.m.
    
    "You know you'll never get away with this." Amy told Peter.
    "Shut up you little bitch!" he backhanded her.
    Amy spat out a mouthfull of blood and turned an undefeated grin on
him. "Oh, Pete." She cooed at him sarcastically. "You're such a man. 
Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"
    "My dear, you're more than a match for me. Come on. Unleash some
of that power on me. I can take it."
    "No. You know what'll happen if I do that."
    "Yep. That's why I'm going to kill you now. To get that power."
    "You don't have the guts."
    "Really now?" He smiled a reptillian grin and plunged a knife into
her chest.
    Amy was too stunned to do anything more than gasp. Gaining obvious
pleasure from her pain, he twisted the knife. Amy writhed in agony.
Blood ran in a river from her wound. Peter cupped his hands and caught
some of the blood and drank.
    Amy, still alive and half-conscious by some miracle, looked at him
with an expression of revulsion. Suddenly Peter looked at her stunned.
He caught the fading train of thought in her mind. He looked like a 
deer in the headlights. He recovered quickly.
    "Well, they're here. You're done for my love, so I'll just leave 
you here for them to find." The psycho began to change into a fresh
pair of clothes. Just before he left, he gave Amy's cold, lips a peck.
"Ah. What we could've been my sweet."
    Peter left the bathroom and set off into the main concourse. His 
senses were attenuated. He was conscious of the task force and a very
specific red-haired agent keeping close tabs on him. Peter quickly 
ducked into a corner and waited.
    Mulder and Scully arrived at the mall and sent the task force out.
They themselves moved throught the concourse as if they were normal 
shoppers. The agents split up and soon Scully found Amy. She called
Mulder and he when he got there and saw the wreckage, he looked as if
he were going to cry or vomit or both.
    Amy dangled by her wrists, which were tied with a piece of violin
string, from a light fixture. Little cuts had been opened all over her,
so that she was a bloody mess from head to toe. The knife still 
protruded from her chest. Blood pooled at her feet. Her brown eyes were
open, silently accusing them from beyond the grave.
    Mulder cut her down from with a Swiss Army Knife he carried in his
pocket. He and Scully laid her out on the floor. Scully cried, her 
salty teardrops hitting Amy's smooth brown cheeks. Scully closed those
brown eyes. Mulder had to turn away. The paramedics came. Mulder pulled
Scully away from the corpse. He spoke to her softly.
    "Are you gonna be ok?"
    "How could he do such a thing to an innocent girl?"
    "He's a sick bastard and he's gonna pay. He couldn't have gone far;
her body's still warm. We're gonna catch him."
    "Damn straight we are."
    They left the scene and went in pursuit. Mulder headed to the upper
concourse to look. Scully stayed downstairs. They kept in each other's
sight as they moved through the crowded mall.
    Peter, who had been hiding in his corner, got a sudden glimpse of
a small redhead in his mind's eye. Scully saw the elusive Peter in 
her's. Peter sensed the emotions rolling off of her like a slap to the
face. Her presence became an affront to him as his was to her. She
moved closer to him, not knowing exactly where he could be, but knowing
he was close. Peter took the extra knife he had hidden from a sheath
on his ankle. He lunged out and grabbed her, pressing the blade to her
neck, just below her left ear.
    Scully screamed when he grabbed her. Mulder turned around and 
looked down at the lower level. It was a replay of that moment in the
concert hall with John Barnett. He was struck by how ordinary the 
killer looked. Sandy brown hair, brown eyes, clean shaven, Peter
resembled nothing so much as a little brown sparrow. Mulder was filled
with rage and fear in equal parts. He saw the terror in Scully's eyes.
The crowd in the mall had grown deathly silent.

Meanwhile...

    The paramedics were getting ready to load Amy's body into a bag.
They were pulling the knife from her chest. As it came free, the 
chalkiness began to fade from her lips and her cheeks started to regain
a bit of their color. Her previously lifeless body began to stir. The
EMT's nearly died from shock themselves when her eyes flew open and she
took a deep breath. They fell back when Amy sat up and looked around.
She got up without a word and entered the shopping concourse.

    *Mackenzie, let her go!* Amy shouted.
    "Mackenzie, let her go!" Mulder shouted.
    "Why should I?" 
    "Because it's wrong."
    "Wrong? I'm not bound by rules, man."
    "Everyone's bound by rules."
    *Everyone's bound by rules.*
    "Where is that voice coming from?!!" Peter screamed. "If you don't
stop messin' with my mind, I'll do it! I swear to God I'll do it! I'll
cut her damn head off!"
    "Now, we wouldn't want that, would we?" A familiar voice sounded in
the silence. All heads turned to look at the newcomer.
    Amy stood in a pool of light. She looked like she had been through
a war zone, but her face was filled with something fierce and radiant.
    "Hey, lover." She sneered with a savage smile.
    "Hey."
    "Peter, there's nowhere for you to go. You're surrounded by the 
law. So why don't you let the woman go?"
    "If I can't escape, then there's nothing for me to lose." he jerked
the knife and it slid with sickening ease into the soft skin of 
Scully's neck. She gasped and slid to the floor when Peter let her go.
    "NO!!!" Mulder yelled. He flew down the nearest set of stairs and
ran to Scully. The paramedics who were working on Amy came to the scene
and carried Scully away. Mulder watched the drama unfold in shock.
    "That's the last time you harm an innocent woman, you dick."
    "My dear, you were hardly innocent." Peter sneered at Amy.
    "Why don't we finish this once and for all?"
    "My pleasure," he answered.
    They stood facing each other with savage joy written on their faces.
The ground began to shake. A fierce rumbling sound was heard. A furious
wind began to blow from out of nowhere. The people in the mall ran to 
take cover and yet the two fighters stood their ground. The lights
flickered and died. In their place a curious luminescence shined. 
Mulder looked at Amy. She was covered in a glorious blue-silver light.
Although the girl had never been beautiful, she was suddenly the most
lovely creature he had ever seen. Nothing in her features changed but
for once she looked - extraordinary. Peter was shining with a similar
glow. He, too, had been transformed. But his beauty was that of a 
corrupt thing. As a snake is seductively beautiful, but deadly, so was
he beautiful. Flashes of lightning flew about the place. The two
combatants were locked in their stances - neither moved the slightest
inch. Though not a blow had been struck, not a drop shed, Mulder knew
an incredible fight raged on.
    The light flared sun-bright for one second and then both gleams
winked out, plunging the place into total darkness. The building lights
came back on suddenly and Mulder saw that only one person was left 
standing. Amy. She looked horrible and beautiful all at once. Peter
lay on the ground, eyes open, an expression of pure terror in them.
There appeared to be not a mark on him. Amy's eyes focused, lit on
Mulder and she smiled.