"Vampire's Kiss"(2/2)

Date: 6 Jul 1995

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"Vampire's Kiss"(2/2)
An X-files Story
by Jennifer Lyon
Jenni10647@aol.com
JennyAnn@ix.netcom.com
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----
Disclaimer: The X-Files are the property of FOX network, Ten
Thirteen Productions and Chris Carter. The remainder of this
story is mine.
Author's Note: This story is a sequel to my previous story
"Promises to Keep," in which I introduce the character of Jason.
Contact me if you need a copy of that story. Also note that this
story will contain references to adult sexual activity, and assumes
that a love/sexual relationship between Mulder and Scully exists.
But this story is definitely PG-13 with some sugestive nature -
use YOUR imagination!
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Part Five

Mulder parked haphazardly on the curb, the rear-end of
the car sticking out into the road. Their minds focused elsewhere,
neither Jason not Scully bothered to say a word. Jason got out of
the car silently, striding purposefully towards the heavy wooden
door of the small apartment building, its aged brick front dark
and dingy in the shadows. A small street lamp provided a thin
stream of light across the car, just enough to allow Mulder to
catch a glimpse of Scully's face.
"You OK, Scully?"
"Yes, I'm fine, Mulder," she replied automatically, then
regretted the words as soon as they were out of her mouth.
Mulder eyed her critically, not sure whether he should
push the point or not. They had decided to let Jason talk to the
other vampires alone, while they waited in the car. Mulder hadn't
liked it much, but he had had to admit that Jason was more likely
to gain the other's confidence if he didn't have the two humans
listening.
Scully took a deep breath, then released it slowly. "I'm
just a little tired, Mulder. I feel a little like I've been on a
rollercoaster-ride the last few days."
Mulder agreed. "I know what you mean." He yawned
and ran a hand through his hair. "I was really looking forward to
spending a day or two with you just relaxing. But we have to
help Jason, I figure we owe him that much."
Scully nodded. "I'd want to help him anyway. He's a
good person. A little distant and sad, but I like him." A small
voice in her mind jeered, 'like? Is that all?' She silently told it to
shut up, then nearly gasped as she caught Mulder's gaze. He had
a startling way of seeming to see right through her, making her
feel both understood and exposed at once.
"I like him too," Mulder said quietly. He felt for the
locket still around his throat and lifted it up to study it closer.
"That was quite a story he told."
"Yes it was," Scully reached out to touch the locket, her
fingers brushing over Mulder's. He let go of the locket and seized
her hand, holding her fingers gently, but firmly, then lifting them
up to his mouth. Scully's breath caught in her throat when he
kissed them, the heat of his breath making her skin tingle.
Instinctively she leaned in closer to him.
He took in the taste of her skin, then reluctantly let her
go. "Dana, I know that..."
"Mulder." She pressed her fingers up against his mouth,
shaking her head. "I LOVE you." She had to fight for the words,
expressing her feeling aloud was not always easy, especially when
words did not seem to do them justice. "You and I - we complete
each other, you make me feel whole."
He tried to speak again, but she silenced him. "Let me
finish. Mulder, nothing, no one will ever mean to me what you
do. Jason - yes, he attracts me." She nibbled at her bottom lip, a
study in concentration. "Perhaps 'fascinates' is a better word. I
want to know more about him, I want to know him. But I'd never
let anything come between you and me." There, she'd gotten it
out. It wasn't close to what she wanted to say, but it was a start.
Steeling herself, she looked into Mulder's eyes.
Mulder felt like his chest would burst. His mouth
trembled, unable to form words. He tried again, but nothing but a
breathless "Dana..." escaped. Again the effort to focus, and he
got out a rough, "I love you." It was enough. Her blue eyes
seemed to light up, and then she was in his arms.
He crushed her against him, burrowing his face in her
sweet-smelling hair. "Dana, Dana, Dana," he murmured between
the kisses he planted on the crown of her head. She pressed her
face into his chest and closed her eyes, this was the one place she
could stay forever. His arms were like satin-sheathed steel around
her, and she rested in them contentedly.
They stayed entwined for several long minutes, then
Mulder leaned down to lift her face up towards his. She bent her
neck up willingly, lifting one hand up to play with his hair. He
grinned at her, then his expression sobered. Now it was his turn.
"Dana, I feel it too. I've never felt the slightest interest in
another man, but Jason? I think you were right, 'fascination' is the
right word. Maybe its the way he looks at me, like I'm everything
in the world to him. Like he's afraid that I'll be taken away at any
second. I know that feeling, I feel that way sometimes when I
remember Samantha, and I KNOW I feel that way about you."
He brushed her forehead with his lips. "I realize now that he cares
because of her, because of Maria, but its hard not to respond
personally. No one has ever felt that way about me, wanted ME
that badly."
He forestalled her comments with a wry smile. "Our
love is special, Dana, and I have no doubts of it or of you. I thank
God everyday for you, love, and I couldn't imagine life without
you. But you are stronger, you don't lose yourself in your
feelings, in me. Dana Scully is too vital a person." He smiled.
"One of the many things I love about you." She found herself
returning his smile, as strange a compliment as it was, she both
understood and appreciated it.
"I'm just not sure how to respond to him," Mulder
continued, hugging her close as he turned his eyes onto the
building into which Jason had gone. "I do care about him, am
even attracted to him in a weird kind of way, but I'm just not his
Maria."
"I think he knows that," Scully replied. "Its just that you
bring the memories back so strongly. I think he relives it all every
time he looks at you." Her voice was filled with sadness and
sympathy.
Mulder sighed. "Yeah. I guess that's why he left so
quickly last time. Though I could feel him watching sometimes.
I'm not sure how I knew, but I could sense him there in the
shadows watching over me. Not always, just occasionally." A
shadow of a smile uplifted the corners of his mouth. "Though, I
think he likes you too, Scully. And not just as a reminder of a lost
love."
"I don't know, Mulder. He's so distant, so polite."
"A true gentleman."
"Something you could do well to emulate, Mulder."
Scully couldn't help teasing him. She gained a full smile in
response.
"Me? I'm always a gentleman," he replied, laughter in his
voice.
"Well, maybe not 'always' Mulder...but sometimes..."
Suddenly his eyes weren't on her anymore, but focused out into
the night.
"What?" she asked, turning in his embrace to follow his
eyes. Jason had left the building and was returning to the car.
Mulder and Scully separated slowly, reluctantly, and not fast
enough to escape Jason's night-adapted eyes, though he got into
the car without comment.
"What did they say?" Scully asked.
"Not much," Jason answered with characteristic
terseness. "But I did get a last name on Gerain's girlfriend. It was
Killiard. Cynthia Killiard. She was a student at Georgetown. And
apparently she disappeared a couple days before Gerain."
"Before!" Mulder paused in turning the key in the
ignition, looking back at Jason. The pale vampire gave a cat-like
smile.
"Gerain was quite worried apparently. He had converted
her so recently that he was afraid she'd gone on a binge.
Sometimes the blood lust runs too high in newborns when they
have not yet learned to control it."
Mulder and Scully both winced, they had had experience
with one crazed vampire already. They did not like the idea of
another on the loose. "Do you think that she could be responsible
for what happened to Gerain and the others?" Scully had to ask,
even thought she was poking holes in the idea as soon as she
verbalized it.
"No," Jason replied thoughtfully. "Gerain was too old,
too strong. And she was his child. He'd have more influence over
her than anyone else."
"Then not her, perhaps someone close to her." Mulder
interjected. "Did they tell you anything about her family? Or a
jilted boyfriend perhaps?" Putting the car into drive, he pulled
away from the curb and guided the small car down the empty
street.
"No, Mulder." Scully contradicted. "If it was someone
seeking simple revenge, then why keep Gerain alive? If Jason's
contact with him is to be believed, then he is being held by more
than an angry ex-boyfriend."
Mulder had to agree. "But I still think she's the key
somehow. Tomorrow we should try to track her down, or at least
her family and friends. See if anyone knows what happened to
her. Someone must have missed her."
"We ought be able to find out if someone filed a missing
persons on her easily enough. And Georgetown should have
records on her." Scully added.
"Sounds like a plan." Mulder glanced at the dashboard
clock and frowned. "But first we'd better get back to my
apartment. Its nearly dawn."
- - - - -

Stifling a yawn, Mulder leaned back in his chair and
rubbed the back of his neck. Pulling his glasses of his nose, he
looked up as the office door opened to admit his partner.
"Hey Scully," he said quietly. "Got anything?"
She draped her jacket over the back of her chair, then
walked around the desk to stand beside him. "No missing persons
reports on a Cynthia Killiard, in fact no police records at all.
She's clean, and whatever happened to her, no one bothered to
report it to the police." She leaned back against the desk, using
her hands to support herself. Mulder gazed at her with
appreciation, tired as she was, she maintained her poise and her
elegance.
"Did you find anything?" she asked.
"Yeah, it took a while to convince Georgetown to
release the information, but I finally got a home address and a
look at her class records. Pretty good student, 3.4 grade-point-
average, majoring in history. Nothing too remarkable, but no
trouble either - the Dean didn't recognize her name. She wasn't
living on campus, apparently she stayed at home with her father.
According to the Dean, she dropped out about half-way through
last semester due to illness. They are holding her place open for
next semester, in case she recovers."
"Did they say what kind of illness?"
Mulder shook his head. "The Dean didn't know. Her
father is a doctor so they simply accepted his word for it."
"That's a bit strange. It must have been something
serious for her to lose a whole semester, you'd think she'd have
another doctor. Is her father in general practice?"
"No - and this is the interesting part, Scully - he's
actually a researcher. A geneticist, specializing in developing
vaccines for respiratory viruses such as influenza. He does have
an M.D., but hasn't practiced for years." Mulder dropped his
glasses into his pocket, and reached for the open file on the desk
in front of him. "He was running a lab at Georgetown, but went
on sabbatical recently."
"How recently?" Scully moved to look over his
shoulder.
Mulder grinned, leaning his head back to meet her eyes.
"Just about the same time his daughter got 'sick.'"
Scully's eyes widened, but her mouth pursed. "So you
think that her father, Dr. Killiard, might be responsible for the
kidnappings?"
Mulder shrugged. "Its certainly possible. He has the
technical expertise. Perhaps he thinks he is saving his daughter.
Trying to find a cure for vampirism."
"Maybe," Scully replied skeptically. "But even if he has
the training to examine the condition biomedically, there is still
the question of where he is doing the work, and how he is
funding it. That kind of research takes properly designed space
and a lot of very expensive equipment. It's not something you
could do in your basement - at least not without a lot of
remodeling and a ton of money."
Mulder frowned. She had a point. He paged through the
data he had gathered on Dr. Killiard. No evidence of that kind of
money. The doctor was making a good salary, but nothing
outrageous. "Well, maybe he got support from somewhere else.
Georgetown apparently isn't paying it."
"Did the university tell you what he is supposed to be
doing on his sabbatical?"
"Mmmm, yeah - he's writing a book on the immunology
of infectious diseases. Or so they said," Mulder answered
doubtfully. Then he turned around to meet Scully's eyes. "I think
the Killiards are at the center of this, but there's got to be more.
Jason talked about men, in the plural. I'd be surprised if Killiard
was able to rope too many others into this, unless..." He broke
off, his eyes losing their focus on her face.
"Mulder?" Scully prodded, with a sinking feeling the pit
of her stomach. She *knew* that look.
His eyes came back into focus. "Unless he was able to
convince someone that they could profit from his work." Excited,
he leapt to his feet and began to prowl the room. "Imagine what
this could mean, Scully. If what you suggested is true, and
vampirism is caused by some kind of virus, then it could be
studied and controlled. Vampires live for hundreds of years
without aging. They seem immune to most kinds of death. The
ability to reproduce such a condition would be worth a fortune.
Not to mention the military applications."
"Mulder!" Scully sighed, brushing loose strands of hair
out of her eyes. "This is all guesswork. All we really have in the
way of evidence is four missing persons and Jason's statement
that he had a psychic contact with this Gerain. That's pretty thin
data on which to be hypothesizing that some company or the
government is kidnapping vampires so that Dr. Killiard can
experiment on them."
"Scully," Mulder responded with frustration. "Jason is a
vampire, you can't deny that. And I don't see that it is such a big
leap from accepting what he is, to believing him when he says he
can contact others of his kind psychically."
"Not necessarily, Mulder." Scully argued. "OK, I have
to admit Jason is what we would term a 'vampire.' I'll accept that
since I have to. But it is a big leap from there to assuming that his
admittedly fleeting and confused mental contact with Gerain is
real. Or that he really understood what he was sensing. And even
if we accept that, it's even more of a leap to accuse Dr. Killiard of
mass kidnapping, including his own daughter."
"Do you have a better explanation, Scully?" Mulder
challenged, one eyebrow inching up his forehead. He leaned back
against a file cabinet and folded his arms across his chest. As
frustrating as her stubborn skepticism could be, he always got a
kick out of these exchanges. Especially when he was sure he was
right. Though he didn't mind being proved wrong occasionally;
one way or the another, Scully would push him towards the truth.
Scully didn't have a better explanation, she knew it, and
she knew he knew it too. With a breath of a sigh, she admitted as
much. "But that doesn't mean there isn't another more plausible
explanation, Mulder."
"Sure," he replied with an utterly annoying grin. "In the
meantime, I think its about time to pay the good Doctor a visit."
- - - - -

<KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK> Mulder pounded on the
door to the Killiard house. Set slightly back from the road on a
quiet block of Chevy Chase, Maryland, the old, white three-story
home had a large front porch and tree-lined yard. It looked
peaceful and ordinary, but empty.
Mulder banged on the door again, then rubbed his
knuckles in annoyance. Scully wandered down the length of the
porch, gazing into the brown-shuttered windows at thick curtains
and shadows. "There doesn't seem to be anyone at home," she
told Mulder.
"Damn!" he swore, checking his watch. "Its almost
sunset, I had hoped to get a chance to talk to Killiard before we
go back to Jason. We have so little to tell him."
"I know," Scully said, feeling his frustration mirror her
own. "But there's no sign of light inside, and no car in the
driveway. He's not home, and unfortunately we have no way of
knowing where he might have gone."
Mulder didn't bother to respond to the obvious. Running
a weary hand through his tousled dark hair, he walked to the
steps and stared out at the darkening sky. The sun was setting in
a blaze of red, orange, and yellow light on the horizon. "I think
I'm going to stick around in case he comes back. Why don't you
go pick up Jason and bring him back here? I'll call you on your
cellular is anything happens."
"Mulder, I don't like the idea of leaving you here alone.
If Killiard is involved in this, he could be dangerous." Scully gave
him a worried look.
"I'll be fine, Scully. If it makes you feel better, I'll try to
stay out of sight until you and Jason catch up with me. I just
don't want to take a chance on missing him."
Scully eyed him suspiciously. He was giving her his
sincere look, the one that always made her feel like the mother of
a teenage boy. However, he was right. Someone did need to stay
and keep watch. "Okay," she gave in grudgingly. "Just be careful,
Mulder - please!"
"I'll be fine," he grinned at her, leaning down to give her
a quick kiss. "Go on, the traffic is likely to be awful and I don't
want Jason to worry about us."
"Mulder, if I take the car, you'll be stranded." He looked
startled for a moment, then flashed a toothy grin. "Always
practical, my love." He gazed around the empty street for a
moment, considering, then his eyes brightened. "You'd better
leave me the car in case Dr. Killiard decides to come and go.
There's a metro stop a couple blocks down..." He pointed
randomly off the left.
"Its more like four blocks, and in that direction..." She
gestured at right angles to his arm. He shrugged, then gave her a
slow warm smile that crept up over his face like a spring dawn.
"Be careful, Dana. I'll call you if anything happens, or if I end up
on the move."
"OK," she said, wishing they weren't separating.
Something bad always happened when they did, but then again,
bad things seemed to happen around him regardless. She lingered
a moment close to him, savoring his presence, then hurried down
the steps and past the waiting car. Crossing the street, she
glanced around to catch a glimpse of his profile as he began to
circle the house. Be careful, she thought to him urgently. Please.
- - - - -

Jason stirred, and opened his eyes. The room was
unfamiliar, the shapes of the furniture menacing in the shadows.
He felt a sudden sense of unease, then a rush of relief as he
remembered where he was. Sitting up in bed, he pushed his hand
through his hair, shoving the long, fair bangs back behind his
ears. He needed another hair-cut, but it was the least of his
concerns at the moment. He appeared to be alone.
"Mulder? Dana?" he called out, the sound of his voice
abrupt in the empty room. Sliding off the pull-out bed, he used
the nearest couch arm as a guide as he got to his feet. But his
eyes were quick to adjust to the darkness, the pupils gleaming
yellow-white in the dark. Shapes resolved into objects, and the
light streaming under the closed door to the hall threw a bright
yellow triangle on the floor.
Moving with silent ease, he wandered through the small
apartment, confirming the absence of his friends. They knew he
would be awakening, so where were they? Fear seized at his
stomach, tying it up in a convoluted knot. Thinking that they
might have left him a note, Jason walked back towards the living
room, then reached for the lamp on the table beside the sofa-bed.
A small smile lit his grave features as he remembered the state of
the bed and Dana's reaction to it. Her nose had wriggled
delightfully, Jason had wanted to kiss it - and he'd seen the
feeling mirrored on Mulder's mobile features.
Just as his fingers closed on the switch on the base of
the lamp, the sound of footsteps in the hall caught his attention.
He froze in place, waiting in breathless quiet as they stopped just
outside the door, followed by a metallic clink. Instantly, he was
across the apartment, standing just beside the door. It opened
slowly, and a small figure stepped into it, the flood of light
momentarily blinding Jason's sensitive eyes.
Leaping out of the shadows, he grabbed the intruder
around the waist and spun...her to face him. With a gasp, she
struggled wildly, purse and keys falling to the floor as her hands
came up between them defensively.
"Jason!"
"Dana!" They spoke in unison. With a sigh of relief,
Scully slumped into the waiting strength of his arms. He
tightened his grip around her, drawing her close. The small
vampire was not much taller than she was, so that her head fit
comfortably onto his shoulder, instead of the middle of his chest,
as it did with Mulder.
Dana closed her eyes, her pulse racing. She was simply
reacting to her accumulating exhaustion, and his sudden attack.
That was all, she told herself, not really believing it.
Jason held her close, his chest unmoving, though his
mind was racing. She smelled of life itself, warm and sweet,
tinted by the lingering spice of her perfume. Her hair was like silk
against his chin, and her breath warmed the skin of his shoulder
through Mulder's thin tee-shirt. Desire whirled through him, it
had been too long since he had held a woman he truly cared for.
Moving one hand slowly up her back, he cupped the back of her
skull ever so gently, then tilted her head towards his.
The stroke of his hand up her spine sent shivers of
delight through her body. She found herself resting her head back
into the palm of his hand, letting him support her as he slowly
lifted her face towards his. The brush of his lips on hers was no
more than a whisper of a breeze, but it turned her knees to jelly.
"Jason," she murmured, as his fingers brushed her
cheek, his eyes pinning hers.
"My lady," he responded, his voice a soft caress. She
closed her eyes, ready for a deeper kiss, when another face swam
behind her eyelids, another voice whispered in her mind.
"No...no...no," she pushed him away, and stumbled
further into the apartment.
Jason stood where she left him, then silently closed the door.
She stood by the desk, resting her hands on the smooth
wooden surface, drawing in deep ragged breaths. He walked up
behind her, tapped her shoulder lightly, then stood back and
waited.
When she spoke, her voice was taut with emotion,
regret and determination, anguish and sincerity. "I love Mulder,
Jason. I love him."
"I love him, too." His voice rang with truth, and a touch
of resignation.
She abruptly spun to face him. "You mean you love
Maria, and he reminds you of her."
"No...Yes...No," Jason shook his head, blond strands of
hair sliding over his shoulders. When he looked at her his eyes
were gleaming a clear gray-green. "He does remind me of Maria,
and I will always love her the way I'll never love anyone again.
But I love him, too. For him." He left her to go sit on the edge of
the bed. "Yes, it is the characteristics that he shares with her that
first drew me to him. But he isn't her - oh so much like her - but
not totally. They are like... brother and sister, twins - alike and
different. Each a distinct personality, yet each a mirror of the
other."
Scully's breath caught in her throat when he said
"brother - sister." She had seen that possibility in the picture
Mulder religiously wore around his neck, and knew that Mulder
had seen it too. She hadn't pushed him on it, but she knew that he
had had some faint hope that the woman might be his sister. It
was too farfetched a thought to have been spoken, but one of
Mulder's strongest characteristics was his child-like faith. He was
capable of an easy acceptance of the extraordinary that made any
fantasy possible, and any dream a potential reality. That part of
him sometimes ran counter to the skepticism and cynicism that all
law-enforcement officers tended to develop, especially the ones
who dealt with violent crimes. A fatalistic understanding of the
worst of human nature came with the territory, and Mulder was
no stranger to it. He lived a balancing act between the two
emotions, sliding from belief to disbelief with remarkable ease.
And she envied him that capability.
Jason caught the edges of her turbulent emotions, and
he instinctively reached out to reassure her. "I would never do
anything to hurt him," he told her with deep sincerity. "Or you. I
promise I will do nothing without your permission."
"Jason?" The sound of his voice brought her back to the
situation at hand, though she did not quite catch his words. But
despite the darkness, she could read his intention, his attitude
screamed sincerity and understanding, as well as a depth of inner
torment she had only seen before in Mulder. And that touched
her more deeply than anything he could possibly have said.
"Jason," she repeated, stepping up close to him. Placing
her hands on his shoulders, she leaned up to kiss him gently. "I
don't quite know what is happening here, but I do trust you.
Maybe even more than I trust myself. Mulder and I, somehow we
have managed to find something special between us. I can't, I
won't risk that. I couldn't imagine living without him."
Jason felt, more than heard her words. He was assaulted
by his memories, by the intensity of his love for Maria and the
pain of his loss. He understood Dana's feelings all too well, for he
had seen the depth of their love for each other. But he knew his
feelings for Mulder had grown into more than a simple reflection
of his love for Maria. "I love him too," was all that Jason could
offer.
And this time - Scully believed.
- - - - -

=====================================================================
======

From: jennyann@ix.netcom.com (Jennifer Lyon)
Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative
Subject: NEW:"Vampire's Kiss" 6/10
Date: 6 Jul 1995 23:21:16 GMT

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
----
"Vampire's Kiss"
An X-files Story
by Jennifer Lyon
Jenni10647@aol.com
JennyAnn@ix.netcom.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Disclaimer: The X-Files are the property of FOX network, Ten
Thirteen Productions and Chris Carter. The remainder of this
story is mine.
Author's Note: This story is a sequel to my previous story
"Promises to Keep," in which I introduce the character of Jason.
Contact me if you need a copy of that story. Also note that this
story will contain references to adult sexual activity, and assumes
that a love/sexual relationship between Mulder and Scully exists.
But this story is definitely PG-13 with some sugestive nature -
use YOUR imagination!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
----

Part Six

Mulder had circled the house twice before settling down
in the shadows to wait. He had long-since taught himself to
handle this kind of waiting with a minimum of frustration, though
he couldn't help wishing for a bag of sunflower seeds. Scully's
absence bit at him, leaving him feeling all the more alone. He'd
been on thousands of stake-outs, alone and with others, but her
presence always made it easier. Even when they simply sat in
silence, the passing time seemed almost a blessing as long as she
was there by his side.
Hoping that she had made it back to the apartment and
to Jason safely, his attention was jolted by the sound of a car
coming up the road. He watched carefully, but not tensely, since
the likelihood was that it would simply drive by. However, this
time, his vigilance was finally rewarded. The small green car
turned into the driveway and came to a halt beside the house.
Crawling against the edge of the house, using the bushes
as cover, Mulder edged over to get a closer look at the man
exiting the car. The small outside light above the side door
illuminated a thick, haggard face with deep-set eyes under bushy
eyebrows. Heavy dark areas underlined the eyes, giving the
appearance of shiners around both, and the mouth was drawn
tight below a large, craggy nose. The glimpse was over quickly,
as the man deftly twisted a key in the lock and went inside, but it
was enough.
Watching as the lights came on in the house, Mulder
reached into his pocket for his cellular phone.
- - - - -

<BREEP BREEP BREEP> "Damn!" Scully swore
under her breath as she dumped the contents of her purse into the
table, searching for the phone which was, inevitably, on the
bottom. Her eyes watered in the sudden glare as Jason helpfully
turned on the lights. Grabbing the incessantly ringing object,
Scully pressed the receive button and pressed it to her ear.
"Scully."
"It's me." Mulder's voice was velvet in her ear, closing
the distance between them instantly.
"Mulder," she responded aloud for Jason's benefit. The
vampire came to stand beside her, his face calm and expectant.
"Where are you?" Mulder asked.
"At your apartment," she replied.
"Good. Dr. Killiard just came home." Mulder crept up
to a window, seeking a glimpse inside. All he saw was an empty
bedroom, but the window was slightly open in the warm June
weather, letting the sound of running water flow out into the
night. "I'd guess he's taking a shower." He sniffed the air. "And
from the smell of it, making dinner as well." His stomach growled
with a sudden reminder that it had been a while since he had
eaten.
"Anyway, you and Jason had better get over here. Is he
awake yet?"
"Yes, he's right here. We'll leave immediately. Don't do
anything until we get there." Scully told him, hoping he would
have the patience to wait.
"OK Scully - but..." She steeled herself for his argument.
"Stop and pick me up a burger or something, would you." His
voice became plaintive. "I'm starving!"
- - - - -

Dr. Patrick Killiard tended to his physical needs with
barely withheld frustration. As comfortable as a shower and clean
clothes were, his mind kept racing back to the lab. There was
nothing more he could do there, the experiments were in the
incubation phase, one of the long periods in which he was forced
to sit back and wait for the cells to grow, the PCR machine to
complete its cycles, the reactions to proceed. Research was often
an exercise in patience, but his was running thin. Standing over
the incubator wasn't going to make anything happen faster, but he
still hated being away. Even to put food in his mouth or sleep.
The microwave bell rang, reminding him of the frozen
lasagna he had thrown in. The smell wafted through the house as
he drew it out and wolfed it down, hardly noticing the pain as the
hot cheese burnt the roof of his mouth. His mind was focused on
the next steps awaiting him, and on the coming of the night.
Since his Cynthia had been corrupted by that vile
creature, he had come to revel in the sunlight. He kept the lights
on high in his lab, the windows wide open in the daylight. He
didn't exactly fear the night, the sensation was closer to one of
disgust. His enemy was a creature of the night, so he made
himself into a creature of the day.
Tossing the empty cardboard box into the trash, he
grabbed his coat and keys. Flicking off the lights, he hurried out
of the house and into his car. Just as he was about to close the
car door, his eyes focused on a flash of movement in the shadows
along the edge of the house. He stilled instantly, every sense
coming alert as he peered into the rear-view mirror. Then inch-
by-inch, he closed the car door and started the engine, his eyes
searching the reflected image for more signs of motion.
There! A brief rustle of the bushes, and the faint edge of
a thin figure. And with it, the sudden itch along his
shoulderblades that defined the sensation of being watched.
Someone, something, was there in the darkness, its eyes intent on
him. Putting the car in gear, he slid it out of the driveway, eyes
darting around. As the car turned, the headlights captured a flash
of a face, burned into Killiard's retina in one breathless instant.
No more than the edge of a cheekbone, the corner of a mouth,
and one dark, gleaming eye. But enough to graft itself into
Killiard's memory.
- - - - -

Damn! Mulder swore under his breath. One minute the
doctor was eating his dinner, the next he was out the door and
starting his car. Without warning, Mulder could only dive for
cover, then half-crawl, half-run for his own car parked several
feet down the road. He fumbled with the keys, finally hearing the
engine burble into life as Killiard's small green car disappeared
around the corner.
The Taurus' engine roared as Mulder floored the gas
pedal. He took the corner at breakneck speed, then slammed on
the brake as he caught sight of Killiard's car moving at a sedate
pace less than a block ahead. Slowing down to a matching pace,
Mulder followed at a discreet distance, his almost clairvoyant
intuition chiming its excitement. The case was about to break.
Killiard was in the middle of the mystery, and he was leading
Mulder straight to the answer. Reaching into his pocket, Mulder
found his cellular phone and hit the re-dial button.
- - - - -

Dr. Killiard was leading his pursuer straight into a trap.
Certain that he had another of the infected creatures on his tail,
he had called ahead to the lab to alert security. A gruff, but calm
voice told him to continue all the way to the company as though
he had noticed nothing. He should pull through the gates, and get
into the building in all haste. They would be ready to pick up the
man in the blue car when he arrived.
- - - - -

"Mulder!" Scully began to protest, but Mulder was
already speaking again. "He's making another turn onto High
Point Drive. I'm going to slow down a bit, there's very little
traffic, and this is a dead end. He's got to be headed for either
IntelliGene or PharmCo. There's nothing else here. And they're
both on our list of possibles. Get here as soon as you can,
Scully." His voice rose with anticipation. "I'm sure this is it!"
Then he was gone, the phone falling into dead silence.
"Mulder... Mulder!" Scully yelled into the receiver
impotently, then slammed it shut. Jason's eyes darted from the
road towards her, meeting her eyes in a gesture of shared worry
and frustration. Then he concentrated on his driving, causing the
tires to screech as he pushed the car as fast as he dared.
- - - - -

Mulder pulled the car up to the side of the road and
parked. Close by was the long, angular PharmCo building, lights
still burning in its large glass-paned windows. Figures still moved
around inside, light reflecting of the white of their lab coats,
starkly obvious to the observer in the external darkness.
The IntelliGene building was a hulking shadow in the
distance, its heavy concrete solidity standing in sharp contrast to
the airy lightness of PharmCo's glass-covered form. IG rose high,
a single dark tower squatting above a long one-story extension.
Mulder couldn't resist the phallic analogy that rose unbidden in
his mind, and he filed it for further amusement. It wasn't the same
without Scully's arched eyebrow and disdainful stare.
But the thought was still enough to put a smile on
Mulder's face as he moved cautiously down the empty, tree-lined
street, avoiding the pools of light beneath the carefully-spaced
streetlights. A few feet down the road, he dipped into the bushes,
forcing his way towards the fence surrounding PharmCo's
parking lot. It was brightly lit, allowing him to see the cars easily,
but there was no sign of the one he watching for. Abandoning
PharmCo, he turned his attention back to the IG building.
There was an open grass area between the two lots,
surrounding a small pool and fountain. A couple benches were
scattered on the lawn, mixed with bushes and flower beds.
Mulder kept under cover as best he could, coming ever closer to
his goal. So intent was he on the looming building, that he didn't
notice the fence until he nearly crashed into it. A small
indentation in the ground caught his feet, and he tumbled to the
ground, his face inches from the wire fence, the unused flashlight
tumbling from his hand to hit the bottom of the barrier.
<FLASH> Sparks flew in a small explosion, jolts of
electricity coursing through the metallic object. Mulder buried his
head in his arms, drawing back in self-defense as the warped
flashlight crashed to the ground, sending up the scent of burnt
metal.
"Over eighty thousand volts are running through those
wires. I'd be a bit more careful if I was you," the words were
spoken flatly, though flavored with both amusement and menace.
Keeping a careful distance between himself and the fence, Mulder
slowly turned over to confront the source of that voice. And
came face to face with the muzzle of a gun.
- - - - -

Come on, Mulder, answer!!!!! Scully let the phone ring
and ring, refusing to give up on her partner. If had simply gone
off and left his phone in the car, she was going to strangle him!
But she knew better, her constricting heart was already warning
her that he was in trouble. All of her instincts were screaming at
once. Gripping the still-buzzing phone in a white-knuckled hand,
she glanced over at Jason's profile.
He didn't turn to face her, simply tightened his hands on
the wheel and took the next corner without touching the brake.
She wasn't expecting the sudden change of direction, and she was
tossed sideways, slamming against the door. Her gasp of surprise
was accompanied by the crash of the phone against the
dashboard. It collided, then flew back to hit her in the chin.
"Ouch!" she muttered, more in annoyance than pain,
though she felt the jolt along the entire length of her jaw. She
didn't bother telling Jason to slow down, he wouldn't, and she
didn't want him to anyway.
Straightening herself out, she finally spoke the obvious.
"Mulder's not answering his phone. Which probably means he's in
trouble." She was amazed how composed her voice was, her
emotions were raging.
Jason nodded barely perceptibly, his eyes never leaving
the road that was rushing by them. He had no doubts Mulder was
in danger, all of his senses confirmed it. He couldn't contact
Mulder at a distance the way he could other vampires, but he had
developed enough of a sense for this highly-perceptive human to
feel the edge of his fear. Forcing down the rage that burned like
wild-fire in his belly, Jason bit off his practical reply. "It will
probably take us another half-hour to get there."
"I wish we had more information." Scully's voice was
thick with her frustration. "We don't even know for sure where
he is."
"We go to his last location, and search from there. If I
get close enough, I may be able to sense him." Jason offered,
feeling the spark of hope his words lit in her heart. "We'll find
him, Dana." This time he spoke with absolute certainty, resolute
and unshakable. He would allow nothing less. But Scully knew
full well that sometimes all the determination in the world was
not enough. She'd been on the other end one time too many, and
though her memory of that terrible time was gone, she'd shared
enough of Mulder's to know the full anguish of it. However,
those memories were too painful to deal with right now, first she
had to do everything she could for Mulder. That small spark of
hope reminded her that they didn't yet know for sure that he was
in danger, but the rest of her mind shouted its certainty.
"I wish I could call for back-up," Scully said, refusing to
let her feelings interfere with the job at hand. "But without more
evidence..." She left the rest of it unsaid. The Bureau would
never provide them with more agents on this, even if it had been
an official case - which it wasn't. They had never filed any
paperwork, so this would be seen as another instance of 'Spooky'
Mulder sticking his nose in where it didn't belong, and there were
plenty of people in the FBI who would love to see it get bitten
off.
Jason didn't waste any time making his decision. He'd go
in alone if he had to, no one was going to hurt Fox Mulder while
Jason was still able to walk, or even crawl, to his aid. He knew
Scully felt the same way, she'd walk into hell itself for her partner
and lover, no questions asked. That feeling bound them together,
it was an intimacy that made the previous blood sharing, even
their recent kiss, pale by comparison. Nonetheless, some
additional help would be useful, extra pairs of eyes to search and
hands to fight. Jason demanded the phone from Scully.
She handed it over immediately, her eyes framing the
question that her lips didn't ask. Her silent inquiry was answered
bare moments later, as Jason shouted into the receiver, "Hank,
this is Jason Cavillo. I need to speak to Charlotta Gurin at once.
It's an emergency."
- - - - -

Mulder hated being handcuffed. When your hands are
tied behind you, there is simply no comfortable position possible.
His wrists were already rubbed raw and his shoulders felt like
they were being slowly pulled out of their sockets. The muscles
of his arms and back ached in protest. He stretched and wriggled,
trying to move the cuffs off a particularly sore spot developing on
his right wrist. Then he lifted his head to study the room in which
he was confined.
He was sitting on a small hospital bed in the middle of a
narrow, rectangular cell. The walls were made of white concrete,
devoid of any decorations. The door was painted white, a small
shuttered window in the middle. Bright florescent light
shimmered down from the ceiling panels, forcing the irises of his
eyes to dilate fully. He stumbled to his feet and began to pace
back and forth like a caged panther, his shoulders bunching and
relaxing in an effort to relieve the developing cramps.
After what seemed an eternity, the door finally opened.
He spun to face the three men entering the room, his eyes
glittering like diamonds.
"What the hell is going on here!?" he challenged,
deliberately taking the offensive.
"Shut up," one of the men, dressed in a gray uniform
grabbed him by the arm, wrenching his shoulder painfully. Mulder
bit off his gasp, instinctively preparing for the impact as he hit the
bed with a stinging jolt. Rolling back to his feet, he gave them a
burning glare, but held his tongue.
"That's enough Wefton," said the other stranger, a thin,
slender man in a black suit and gray tie. Mulder filed both faces
and names in his perfect memory, then focused on the one
familiar face.
"Dr. Killiard, I hope you realize that kidnapping is a
serious offense, and that kidnapping a federal agent will put you
under federal jurisdiction. Do you want to spend the rest of your
life in a federal prison?"
Killiard reacted with surprise to the sound of his name.
Narrowing his eyes under bushy white-speckled eyebrows, he
stepped forward, demanding, "Who are you and why were you
following me?"
"Special Agent Fox Mulder, Federal Bureau of
Investigation." Mulder did not fail to notice the flash of
recognition on the black-suited man's face, however quickly it
was hidden. Mulder offered an amused smile. "I'd show you my
badge, but I can't quite reach it at the moment."
"FBI!" Killiard's breathing sped up. This was turning
into a fiasco, and a frustrating waste of his precious time. He
desperately wanted to get back into his lab. He had been upset at
being followed, convinced that it was another of the creatures,
which would at least have been useful. But this man was human
and obviously uninfected. They had subjected him to the
wavelengths of light that would have caused instantaneous burns
in someone carrying the vampire-virus, but he hadn't missed a
step.
"Why were you following me?" Killiard repeated.
Mulder perched on the edge of the bed, debating for a
second how much to tell them and whether he could get away
with insisting that they uncuffed him first. He decided to wait,
perhaps they would reveal more if it seemed he was less of a
threat.
"I'm investigating a series of missing person reports that
may involve foul play. One of the alleged victims knew your
daughter, Cynthia, and she seems to have dropped out of sight as
well. I came to your house in the hope that either you or she
might provide me with some information."
"Cynthia has not disappeared. She is presently under
medical care," Killiard spoke rapidly. He gave Mulder a
suspicious look. "And I know nothing of any missing people."
"Did your daughter introduce you to a man named
Gerain St. Corvaux?" Mulder's voice smoothed out into gentle
rhythm, his eyes wide and open. But Killiard was not about to be
lulled.
"NO." Killiard said bluntly. He paused. "I know nothing
of this Gerain," he added with emphasis. But Mulder had already
seen the flare of recognition in the other man's eyes, and knew
instantly that he was lying. Without betraying that knowledge, he
continued quietly. "Have you ever met Marcus Waters or Louisa
Tirent?"
"No, no, I told you I know nothing of these people.
They have nothing to do with me or my daughter."
Mulder's eyes narrowed under heavy eyelids, the doctor
was lying. He was sure of that. However, Killiard didn't seem to
realize that Mulder knew.
The agent considered his captors. The guard was
watching with a bored, impatient look on his face and Mulder
recognized the type, more brawn than brains, and a penchant for
violence. As long as the others kept him on a tight leash, he could
be dismissed. The doctor gave his full attention only at the
mention of his daughter, making Mulder wonder if the doctor
even knew half of what was happening. Killiard might be a
problem if directly challenged, but he was definitely not in control
here. Mulder quickly decided that it was the wary, silent man in
black who would pose the greatest danger. He had to make them
think he knew less than he did, and much less than he suspected.
Assuming a look of utter disappointment, Mulder asked
Killiard again, "Are you sure?" He leaned forward and fixed his
wide hazel gaze on the doctor's face. "Think carefully. Cynthia
might have mentioned them in passing. Or maybe you saw them,
without learning their names. I have sketches of them in my car."
He angled his head towards one of the walls at random, his voice
rising hopefully.
"I told you, I don't know them, and my daughter doesn't
either." Killiard slammed shut again, his mouth tightening in
emphasis.
Mulder shook his head. "I have witnesses that saw your
daughter with Gerain St. Corvaux before he disappeared."
Mulder sighed, "Perhaps she just didn't mention him to you." His
face brightened. "I'd like to see her, if it is possible. She may be
able to give me some useful information if you can't."
"NO!" Killiard shouted, then pulled back visibly as
Mulder gave him a look full of questioning concern. "She is too
sick to be questioned. I'm sorry we can't be of more help."
Killiard almost felt guilty at the frustration on the federal agent's
face, then he shook it off, his suspicions flaring up. How much
did the agent know? Did he realize what Gerain and the others
were?
"Who are these people you are looking for?" Killiard
asked, holding his breath tightly as he examined Mulder's face
intently. Mulder was an expert at controlling his features, and his
handsome face settled easily into a calm professional mask under
the doctor's scrutiny.
Mulder shrugged, wincing openly at the pain in his arms,
using it as a cover while he thought. "St. Corvaux was an artist,
painter, I believe. Tirent was his model, Waters apparently was
her boyfriend. A friend reported them missing recently. Since all
three have disappeared within a short time of each other, and
they knew each other, the FBI was consulted on the possibility it
was a serial case." Mulder returned Killiard's gaze openly. "When
we found that your daughter had left school very suddenly, and
she knew all of them, well..."
"You think Cynthia had something to do with it?"
Killiard sounded angry.
Mulder gave him another wide-eyed innocent stare. "It
had to be investigated. If she is as ill as you say, then this is
simply a dead end. I am sorry for the misunderstanding, Doctor,
but I had to be sure whether she was involved or not." He winced
vividly. "Do you think we could remove these cuffs?" He
wriggled, a pained pout forming on his face. "My shoulder is
going to sleep."
Killiard thought for a moment, then shook his head. He
wanted to believe the agent was telling the truth, but he couldn't
take a chance on it. Not with his daughter's life at stake. Nothing
could be allowed to interrupt the work now. He didn't like the
idea of messing with the FBI, but for now this agent would
simply have to 'disappear' as well.
Mulder saw the decision on Killiard's face and felt a
familiar rage rising within him. He was thinking less of himself
than of Scully and Jason. This would be rough on them both, and
he knew they would come after him. Nothing would stop either
of them from trying, and he was afraid they would be walking
into a trap. All he could do was to make sure that no one knew
they were coming. At least he could make sure they had the
advantage of surprise on their side. If anything happened to either
of them because of him, he would never forgive himself or any of
these men.
Mulder let his darkening eyes move over to the man in
black who was gazing at him with unconcealed amusement.
Using his anger as a shield, he leapt to his feet and charged
forward, catching them all by surprise.
Mulder hit the small man in the chest with the top of his
skull, slamming him back against the half-open door. The dark-
suited man cried out in shock, the sound trailing off as his head
hit the corner of the door and he crumbled to the ground. Mulder
stumbled over him, crashing to his knees. Before he could get up,
he was seized from behind and slammed into the wall. A hard fist
pummeled his kidneys, and he went down, gasping in agony. A
booted foot hit him in the ribs and he collapsed into
unconsciousness, with a slight sense of accomplishment
alleviating the pain. He wouldn't be answering any questions
now. - - - - -

Killiard left the unconscious federal agent in a heap on
the floor, propelling the brutish guard out the door. "That's
enough." he said sternly. "We simply want him held until the
work is done, not killed. The last thing we need is a dead FBI
agent on our hands."
The guard grumbled, but subsided under a pointed
admonishment from the man in black, who was leaning against
the wall of the hallway, regaining his breath from Mulder's
sudden attack. Dismissed, the guard stalked away.
"Mulder is going to be trouble," the dark-suited man
told Killiard.
"You know him?" Killiard asked angrily.
"I know OF him. He's given our people headaches
before; he likes to stick his nose where it doesn't belong, and he
never gives up." The man in black frowned. "But it is too
dangerous to kill him. It will attract too much attention. Besides
we don't know how much he already knows or who knows he is
here"
"We can't let him go!" Killiard responded. "Nothing
must interfere with my work!"
"We may have to move to another installation. Mulder
can be drugged and released once we are gone. Then he can
make all the wild accusations he wishes, and no one will believe
him. "
Killiard didn't return the other man's smile. "Moving will
slow me down considerably. I don't like this. The vampires hardly
exist in society at all. How could they get to the attention of the
police, much less the FBI? I don't believe someone filed an
ordinary missing persons report on them."
"I don't know, but we can check on that. See if the case
was authorized. It may not have been. Mulder has a reputation
for going off on his own, and that should play into our hands.
The Bureau might not even know what he was doing."
Killiard grimaced. He was still upset, but felt a driving
need to get back to his work. He rubbed at the tense muscles in
his neck. "Do what you have to do, just make it fast. I have to
get back to the lab." He turned away and strode down the hall,
his mind already shutting the incident away. Nothing mattered
but finding a cure for Cynthia.
The man in black stood alone in the empty hall for a
moment. Killiard was not a problem, he was too obsessed with
his search for a treatment for his daughter's condition. He'd work
in a cave if he was given the right equipment. The only problem
was the man on the other side of the nearby door. How much did
Mulder know and who had he told?
- - - - -

=====================================================================
======

From: jennyann@ix.netcom.com (Jennifer Lyon)
Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative
Subject: NEW:"Vampire's Kiss" 7/10
Date: 6 Jul 1995 23:22:47 GMT

Part Seven

Curled up into a small ball of misery on the bed, Gerain's
sluggish senses began to stir. Shielding his burning eyes with a
thin arm, he turned over, lifting his nose into the air in the manner
of a sniffing dog. Rocking up onto his knees, he snarled at the
locked door. The touch might be faint, but it was there. Distant,
but closing fast. Fighting the desire to drift back downwards into
the release of slumber, he gathered the remnants of his strength
and threw out a silent scream. Echoing out from his tortured
mind, it carried both a warning and a plea for help.
- - - - -

Jason and Scully crept through the darkness together,
Jason leading, Scully close behind. He moved like a shadow,
blending in so well with the darkness that only the glimmer of the
moonlight on his protruding fangs and the red glow of his eyes
betrayed his location. Scully kept her head down, her small
flashlight throwing a pencil-thin beam of light across the grass.
They had circuited the now-dim PharmCo building, its glass-
paned surface reflecting the light of the moon and stars in an
ever-repeating pattern, without finding a clue to Mulder's
whereabouts.
Jason paused as he rounded the final corner, gazing
around him intently, his face turned into the breeze. That Mulder
had been close by, of that he was sure. He could feel the traces of
the man's presence n the air. But not in the big glass building. It
didn't feel right. Jason turned and stared across the dark rippling
surface of the pond at the stark ugly building beyond, and
staggered as his mind was hit with a wave of fear and anger.
"Jason?" Scully whispered urgently. She took hold of his
arm, steadying him. He shook his head, then pulled free of her
grasp, racing across the grass. Scully took off after him, her heart
pounding in her chest.
The small vampire covered the ground easily, reaching
the high-voltage fence that surrounded the IG complex in
seconds. Running as fast as she could, Scully was still long
minutes behind, and when she finally located Jason crouched
beside the high, wire barrier, her breath was coming in short
quick gasps. "Ja-son?" she asked again, falling to her knees
beside him.
He angled his head up towards her, the beam of her
flashlight falling sideways across his cheekbones and jaw, causing
the fangs to glisten brightly against the redness of his lips. She
drew in another deep breath as a stab of incoherent, instinctive
fear clutched at her. She clamped down on that irrational
emotion, even as he moved closer. This was Jason, she reminded
herself, letting the trust and affection she felt for him soothe the
innate primitive reaction to the dangerous predator so close to
her.
Jason sensed the burst of fear, and part of him
responded eagerly to it. The hunger had awakened making the
blood that raced through her veins nearly irresistible. The
memory of her taste was so clear in his mouth that it made his
teeth ache. Suddenly the image of Mulder's face flashed in front
of his eyes, and he focused on it, somehow finding the will-power
to force the hunger down. But it still coiled within his belly,
waiting and insistent.
His voice was ragged as he proffered the object clasped
in his right hand to the woman kneeling by his side. "I found
this."
Scully absentmindedly tucked a wing of hair behind one
ear as she aimed her flashlight at the blackened object - a warped
twin to the one grasped tightly in her hand. "Mulder's flashlight!"
Jason nodded. "He was here. My guess is that he got
captured and taken inside. The grass looks like he lay flat on it,
and there are heavy indentations on the grass from a man's
boots." He frowned, as his eyes scanned the area. "Must have
been a rather big man by the look of it."
Even with the aid of the flashlight, Scully couldn't see
much of anything, but she was willing to accept Jason's
interpretation. His eyes were more effective in the darkness than
most people's eyes were in the full light of day. She rose to her
feet and stared at the hulking building towering over them. "It is
not going to be easy to get in there."
"We'll find a way."
- - - - -

Scully shivered as the cold fingers of the breeze brushed
her cheeks and ruffled her hair. She was leaning on the hood of
Jason's car, waiting with growing impatience. He was standing
beside her, motionless, his face an ivory carving shimmering in
the moonlight. She shifted position wearily, yanking the wayward
strands of hair out of her eyes. The movement captured his eyes,
and he reached out to touch a coppery strand.
Their eyes met, red fire clashing with blue, and she let
herself relax against him. He caught and held her, his voice warm
against her skin. "We'll find him, Dana. I promise."
"Don't make promises you can't keep, Jason," she
replied, though the tenderness in her voice softened the words.
She gazed into his face, reaching up with one tentative hand to
touch the smooth enamel of his fang where it brushed his lower
lip. "You can never guarantee your own safety, much less
someone else's," she continued bitterly. "The best you can do is
be grateful for what you have, when you have it."
Her voice remained calm, the intensity of her fear
evident only in the trembling of her lower lip and the wideness of
her sapphire eyes. Jason touched that lip with a gentle finger. "He
is alive, My Lady. I can feel him in there. Just as I can sense
Gerain and Louisa." His face tightened in concentration, his eyes
clouding over. "Mark?" Jason shook his head. "He may not be
alive, or may simply be in too deep a sleep for me to reach his
mind. "But the others are there. In pain," His eyes refocused into
an angry red glare. "But not for long."
Scully could feel the intensity of his rage emanating
from him, forming a tight counterpart with her own. But before
she could find the words to express it, a sultry voice spoke from
behind her.
"Am I interrupting?"
"Chara," Jason lifted his head to peer over Scully's
shoulder, his arms still holding her tight. "You took your time."
"It wasn't easy rounding everyone up on such short
notice, Jason. This had better be good." Scully turned in Jason's
grasp to meet the dark, lovely vampire's amused eyes.
"We found them," the human woman spoke with calm
composure, refusing to be intimidated.
"Where!?"
"There." Jason pointed at the nearby IG tower. Chara
looked up at it, her eyes narrowing in concentration. Her exotic
features iced over instantly into a look of pure fury, as she
suddenly began to move towards the big building at extraordinary
speed.
"No, Chara!" Jason was just as quick, managing to get
in front of her. Released from his embrace so suddenly, Scully
staggered against the car, using it to keep herself upright.
Chara hissed at Jason, baring her fangs in an angry
grimace. He grabbed her arms and shook her, baring his fangs in
return. "Not yet," he insisted. "If we go in there without planning,
we'll end up like Gerain and the others. They have Mulder, too."
That caught Chara by surprise, enough to make her stop
fighting Jason. Her reply was grudging, the words lisped through
her teeth. "What are you planning?"
"How many were you able to bring?" he asked.
"Three others," she answered, inclining her head
towards the trees. Three figures stepped out into the road, two
men and one woman. The tallest man was nearly Mulder's height,
with sandy brown hair pinned back into a pony-tail, and the
gleam of a gold hoop in one ear. The smaller man looked like a
corpse prepared for burial, thin and cadaverous in a tuxedo and
bow-tie. The woman gleamed brightly between them, silver hair
framing an oval face above a child-like body. Only her eyes
betrayed her age; deep and violet, they spoke of experience,
horror and pleasure, love and hate, and memories long forgotten.
"Why do we wait, Jason?" The silver-haired vampire
spoke in a musical lilt, the menace all the more frightening
because it came mixed with such beauty.
"To make sure we get this right, Annyce." Jason replied.
He turned back to Scully, motioning for her to join them.
Gathering her courage, she stepped forward, feeling five pairs of
eyes on her every move. It was like walking into a tiger's cage
and she felt like she was about to become someone's lunch.
Pony-tail spoke her thought aloud. "Providing us with
dinner first, Jason?"
"No." Jason pulled Scully close to him, baring his fangs
as he spoke fiercely. "She is mine by BloodRight. Chara stands
witness." Chara nodded, then her face lit up in a brilliant smile.
"Sorry Miguel, but this one's off limits unless you want to fight
Jason and me. As good as she might taste, I think we have better
things to do right now." The smile widened. "There is plenty of
food waiting for us in there." She inclined her head towards the
waiting tower.
Annyce frowned, biting at her lower lip with one
delicate fang. "How are we supposed to fight them, if they know
how to capture and hold our kind. They will be ready for us."
"Ready in general, perhaps," Jason replied. "But they do
not know we are coming now. We must attack from all sides at
once. In pairs. And we have one more advantage they will not
expect." He turned his eyes to Scully.
Miguel frowned, eyeing the small, red-haired woman
with disdain. "Just how is she supposed to help?"
This made Scully angry enough to disregard the
consequences of enraging the vampire. "I am a trained federal
agent. In fact, I'm the only one here who has experience doing
this. Those bastards have my partner as well as your friends, and
I'm going to get him out." She glared at Annyce. "With - or
without - your help."
Her jaw jutted forward as the vampires began to laugh.
But before she could spit out another angry retort, Miguel
interrupted. "She's got spirit, this one. No wonder you claimed
her, Jason." He let his eyes travel up and down her body
languidly. "OK, little spit-fire. You stay with Jason. Unless you'd
rather come with me..."
"She stays with me," Jason said with a note of finality in
his voice. "We will go in the front. Her badge ought to put the
guard off balance for a moment. Besides, if, as we suspect, they
have learned to use light against us - it won't affect her."
Chara nodded, that made good sense. "Annyce and I
will go in the side. It shouldn't be too difficult to break a window.
Miguel, you take Johann and go around back. Knock out the
power lines. Darkness is our ally, not theirs." she gazed at him as
though he might find that simple task too difficult. He merely
bared his fangs in amusement.
"Done," he replied, tapping the remaining vampire on
the shoulder and turning to leave.
"WAIT!" Jason demanded.
"What?" Annyce responded with annoyance.
"There is another captive inside. Dana's partner. A man
named Fox Mulder. He is to be found and released - unharmed."
He pinned each of their eyes in turn. "I mean it - not so much as
one scratch."
"Getting a little greedy in your old age, are you, Jason?"
Johann spoke for the first time, his voice surprisingly deep.
"Dana and Fox are MINE," Jason repeated. "Do what
you like with any of the others in the building, but they are not to
be touched."
"And how are we supposed to know who this Fox of
yours is?" Annyce asked with amusement. "Think tall, dark
and handsome and you won't go wrong. He smells pretty good,
too." Chara grinned.
"Chara," Jason sighed with annoyance. She laughed and
turned to the others, her voice shifting into a stage-whisper.
"Jason's a bit sensitive about his first man. He'll get over it."
"Tall and dark and pretty doesn't help us all that much,"
Miguel pushed, while the others shared a laugh at Jason's
expense.
The blond vampire frowned at the others, anger rising
deeply in him, causing Scully to quickly proffer a more detailed
description. "Six-feet tall and slender with straight, short dark
hair and fair skin. Hazel eyes, mole on right cheek. Last seen
wearing a black suit, white shirt, black tie with red and yellow
dots on it."
That won a giggle from Annyce, who smoothed down
the lines of her perfectly-fitted navy-blue dress. "Red and yellow?
Dots? That shouldn't be hard to miss."
"It isn't," Scully answered, a rueful smile creeping up on
her lips. "His ties are usually noticeable."
Jason felt frustration rising. "We're wasting time!" he
reminded them tersely.
Sudden silence followed his words, then abrupt flashes
of motion. One moment, the four vampires were there, the next
instant they were gone, melting into the night.
Scully shivered despite herself, the stress of the meeting
catching up with her. Jason wrapped an arm around her in
support, then pulled away. "Are you ready?"
She undid the strap over her gun, carssing the cool
metal with her fingertips, then met his eyes and nodded.
"Let's go."
- - - - -

Carefully pipetting the layer of infected white blood cells
off the top of the sticky mass of plasma and red cell debris,
Killiard transferred the creamy fluid to a fresh conical centrifuge
tube sitting on ice. As he picked up the ice bucket, a sudden
clatter behind him sent his heart beat racing. Pivoting around, the
green bucket clutched against his chest, he drew in a deep sigh of
relief. It was just the ice machine. As if in accord, the refrigerator
suddenly burst into loud activity, its buzz adding to the whirring
of the centrifuge and the constant humming of the freezers, to
create a soothing level of white noise.
Smiling at himself, he walked over to the sonicator and
placed the bucket underneath the long silver-colored rod.
Donning the heavy headset that would protect his eardrums, he
adjusted the controls until the sharp, high-pitched whine of the
sonicator filled the room. Then he lifted the entire ice-bucket
carefully, bringing the vibrating selenium tip down into the tube
of cells. Bringing the bucket up and down, he let the tube of cells
rest between ten second treatments with the sonicator, soon
breaking the thick cell solution into a clear fluid. Satisfied, he
turned off the machine and removed the headset. Lifting the tube,
he swirled it and smiled. A quick centrifugation to remove cell
debris and the lysate full of the viral proteins would be ready.
All he needed now was a test subject - and he had one
ready at hand. Certainly, it would be better experimental
procedure to have duplicates and controls, but he was short of
both time and available uninfected human subjects. As extensive
as his benefactors' resources seemed to be, he doubted they could
provide him with enough willing - or unwilling - humans for his
work. So he'd take what he could get - the intruding federal agent
would at least provide him with a good supply of human
antibodies to the viral proteins.
As he set the centrifuge in motion, he mused again
about the ability of the vampire virus to shut down antibody
production in the host's B cells. The cells were not killed, instead
they served as multiplication sites for the virus, as did the T cells
and other immune cells, including macrophages and NK cells.
But the effective functions of all the cells were significantly
altered. Not eliminated in the way that the HIV virus decimated T
cells, but changed. In fact, the infected cells appeared to be more
active, actually 'supercharged' in their reaction to other infectious
agents. But their ability to fight the vampire virus itself was
destroyed. Somehow, it managed to subvert the immune system
into seeing it as 'self,' and thus protected against the natural
immune response.
His thoughts circled and shifted, shooting back to
another interesting puzzle, and then another. Why and how the
virus-infected cells needed to cannibalize red blood cells,
devouring hemoglobin at incredible rates; how the virus caused
such a powerful increase in healing; how it defeated the natural
aging process... So many questions, and so few answers. But he
was finally making some progress.
The centrifuge buzzed as it came to a stop, and he drew
out the tube. Slowly, so that he would not waste a precious drop,
he transferred the cleared supernatant into a sterile, pre-labeled
tube. Placing it on ice, he went back over to his lab bench to pick
up a syringe and needle. Perhaps, his 'partners' in this venture
might not be too happy with his experimenting on their newest
captive, but Killiard did not care. And he doubted that they
would protest very much when he delivered the results.
As he walked purposefully down the hall, Killiard felt
rather like a child about to be taken out for ice cream. He knew
he would have to be patient, for the process of antibody
formation could take days or weeks, but in the meantime, there
would be the physical effects of the injections to monitor. That
data would be the icing on his cake.
- - - - -

Mulder groaned, rolled over onto his back, and
immediately regretted the movement. His weight came down on
his pinioned hands causing sharp lances of pain to shoot up his
arms. Biting down on a cry of pain, he pushed upwards, throwing
his head forward, fighting for a sitting position. It took two
attempts, but finally he came upright, sitting on the floor, his legs
stretched out in front of him.
Trying to ignore the burning agony in his wrists and the
numbness of his hands, he stared around him. Of course, nothing
had changed, but at least they did not appear to have moved him.
Or killed him - a fact for which he was dutifully grateful. How
much time had passed, he wondered. Then he shook the thought
aside. Jason and Scully would be doing everything they could to
find him, and he hadn't exactly made it easy for them. This is your
own fault, Fox Mulder, he told himself. You just couldn't wait for
back-up. That thought had a familiar Scully-ish ring to it, and the
memory of her voice chiding him with just such a comment,
brought an edgy smile to his lips.
Taking in a deep sigh, he tried to ignore the stab of pain
in his side. First things first - could he get to his feet? Slowly, he
drew his knees upward until his feet were flat on the floor. Then
he pushed himself backwards towards the wall, until his hands
and bottom were pressed up against the concrete surface.
Levering himself against the wall as much as he could, he tried to
force himself upward, a whistling sound escaping his throat as his
calves and thighs protested. But he kept pushing, and almost
made it. But without his arms free to provide requisite balance,
he soon found himself tottering, then tumbling, over to the side.
"Bloody Hell!" His right shoulder hit the tiled floor with
a loud crunch, and bounced. He rolled nearly a full one-eighty
and came up on his stomach, now laying parallel with the wall.
Closing his eyes he rested there for a moment, then gathering up
the remnants of his dignity and strength, he forced himself to try
again. Up to sitting position - yes, that came more easily this
time. Then he wriggled back to the wall. Taking stock of his
situation, he had a truly brilliant idea, and soon was scuttling
across the floor to the corner. Wedging his back into the crevice,
he started to push himself upwards again, - and FINALLY -
success. He was on his feet.
And then - the door opened.
- - - - -

Scully drove up to the gate, rolling down her window as
the armed guard approached her, hand resting on the butt of his
gun. Bending down towards her, he eyed her with obvious
suspicion.
"Special Agent Dana Scully, Federal Bureau of
Investigation," she told him, displaying her badge.
The guard frowned, his eyes narrowing as they moved
from her to the badge and back again.
"I'm here to see Doctor Patrick Killiard," she said
calmly.
"I wasn't informed of this." The guard hesitated.
Scully gave a polite smile. "That is because Dr. Killiard
doesn't know that I am coming." She assumed her best
professional manner. "I have some questions to ask him regarding
an investigation. If you would please inform the Doctor that I am
here to see him."
"Wait here." He replied tersely, stepping back towards
the gatehouse. She pocketed her badge, watching him carefully as
he shut the door behind him, then picked up the telephone and
began to talk. Just as he nodded and replaced the receiver, she
edged the car forward until the front bumper of the car was mere
inches from the heavy metal barrier.
By the time she turned her cool blue gaze back to the
gatehouse, the figure of the guard was slumped against the glass
of the window, his head twisted at an odd angle. Pressed against
the glass, his face held a peculiar mixture of shock and ecstasy,
the mouth cavorting in a silent scream, the eyes open and fixed, a
trickle of blood splashed across his chin.
The sound of the car door opening and closing, made
Scully jump. Jason gave her his predator's smile, then angled his
head towards the slowly opening automatic gate. Collecting
herself, she gunned the car forward.
- - - - -

The front doors to the IntelliGene building were made
of solid oak, but Jason pushed them aside as though they were
made of feathers. He burst into the lobby with Scully on his heels,
paused to let his eyes take in the room, then stalked towards the
security desk. As quick as he was, the two guards were on their
feet and reaching for the weapons by the time he came close
enough for them to see his eyes and mouth.
One shouted a cry of alarm, bringing his gun to bear on
Jason as the vampire lunged over the desk. The shot went wild,
the bullet whizzing through the lobby to hit the far wall, while the
guard screamed in agony. Jason had already wrenched the gun
out of his hand, the bones crunching in the vampire's iron grip.
Together, they tumbled backwards onto the chair, which spun
backwards on its wheels, spilling them to the floor. One more
strangled gasp escaped the guard's lips, then his head fell back
against the thick brown carpet, blood streaming out of the gaping
wound in his throat.
"Freeze," Scully's voice was icy as she aimed her gun at
the second guard. His shocked eyes darted from her to Jason's
bloody mouth, the fangs dripping gore, back the weapon pointed
steadily at his heart, then he stilled in place.
"Drop the gun," the red-haired agent instructed.
"Slowly..." she cautioned. He hesitated, she stepped closer. Jason
snarled and stood up, turning towards the second guard, his lips
drawn back from his teeth.
Trapped between them, the guard abruptly let the gun
clatter out of his hand, then turned on his heels and fled down the
hall. Scully's bullet struck the wall just off his left shoulder at
nearly the same instant that Jason struck him from behind. There
was one more strangled cry, and then another body lay twitching
on the floor.
Scully ran up beside Jason. He remained crouched over
the wounded guard, unaware of her presence until she put a
tentative hand on his shoulder. Then he leapt to his feet, his eyes
gleaming a bright senseless red. He moved towards her, and
though her first instinct was to run, the second to shoot, she
followed the third - and threw herself against him. He grasped
her, crushing her in his embrace so tightly she could barely
breath. She gasped roughly, then reached up to take his face in
her hands. "Jason, Jason, Jason..." she repeated his name over
and over. He shook his head back and forth, peering into her eyes
as though he was trying to see through a fog.
"JASON!" She cried, "I need you. Mulder needs you.
Please..." her voice dropped off to a pleading whisper.
"Dana...Mulder..." The green in his eyes reasserted itself
through the red as he finally focused upon her.
"Yes, Jason, Yes," she almost sobbed with relief. The
effort of bringing the bloodlust under control was visible in his
face and his body. His muscles were tense with strain, flexed tight
against the warmth of her body. His skin was a cold porcelain,
veins standing sharp within, as the fresh supply of blood filled
them with its heat.
"Jason!" she urged again. "We have to find Mulder."
Her eyes were insistent on his. He nodded in response, not yet
able to bring words out of his throat. Silently, he pivoted, his
hands still clamped on her arms, bringing her around with him.
He released her arms, and stepped over the unconscious guard,
face coming alert as he stared down the empty corridor.
Relief surged through Scully, her heart pounding in her
chest as though a sudden weight had been lifted from it. Pulling
her gun from its awkward position in the waistband of her skirt,
she warily followed the vampire down the hall.
- - - - -

=====================================================================
======

From: jennyann@ix.netcom.com (Jennifer Lyon)
Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative
Subject: NEW:"Vampire's Kiss" 8/10
Date: 6 Jul 1995 23:23:46 GMT

Part eight

Killiard opened the door to find Mulder braced against
the corner of the room, his bound hands pressed into the crevice,
his feet braced against the floor. Blood trickled from a gash along
the hairline of his forehead, the wound mostly concealed by a
heavy swath of black hair, now damp with blood. His chest was
heaving with exertion, his eyes black with rage.
Deliberately ignoring the agent's angry glare, Killiard
shut the door behind him and walked forward to deposit the ice
bucket, syringe and needle onto the end of the bed. Mulder
watched silently as the white-coated researcher then unwrapped a
syringe, attached the needle, and drew up the whitish fluid,
waiting until Killiard looked at him to speak.
"They will never let you or your daughter go." Mulder
attacked, edging out of his corner. "You are working for very
dangerous people. Even if you were to find a cure for vampirism,
they'll never let you use it. They want to control vampirism, to
make better killers that they can manipulate." Mulder saw his
words hit home, Killiard's mouth opened in surprise, his eyes
finally focused fully on Mulder's face.
Mulder pressed his advantage. "They don't care about
your daughter or about you. Or about the cure. They want the
secret to vampirism, so that they can create more vampires, but
ones that are under their power. They are evil, Doctor Killiard.
You cannot give them such a powerful tool. Let me help. We can
expose them, stop them..."
"No!" Killiard shook his head, hand tightening on the
syringe. "The only evil here are the sick individuals you call
vampires. They know they are infected with a disease and they
deliberately spread it to innocents. My daughter was victimized
by that...man Gerain. He infected her. Turned her into a blood-
crazed killer!"
"It doesn't have to be that way. Vampires do not need to
kill to survive. There are other ways to give them the
nourishment they need. Blood can be donated. If Gerain is a
killer, then turn him over to the authorities!"
"Authorities?" Killiard sneered openly. "The police are
going to be able to arrest and hold a vampire?"
"Police or the FBI. I've dealt with maddened vampires
before, twice. And succeeded both times." Mulder swallowed the
facts that Kristen had died to stop the vampires the first time and
Jason had been responsible for killing the second vampire.
Instead, he tried to force his point home. "Cynthia can be taught
to handle her condition by those who live without killing, until
you can find a cure. But not like this. The people you are
working with are a thousand times worse than a blood- or age-
crazed vampire, they KNOW what they are doing. They hurt and
kill, lie and deceive deliberately, with full understanding. Don't
sell your soul to these monsters, Killiard. It's not worth it. There
are better ways to help Cynthia." Mulder's eyes blazed, as he
silently pleaded with Killiard to listen.
Mulder held his breath as he saw the other man's
expression waver. Then his heart sank as the resolve visibly
reformed in the craggy features. "No." Killiard denied. "You are
in with them, aren't you? You've been seduced by their hypnotic
eyes and drugged on the endorphins they pump into your
weakened veins while they drain you of your life's blood."
"No, no, no," Mulder shook his head. "It's not like that."
Killiard blazed with hatred. "They will be stopped. My
supporters will make sure of that. The vampire scourge will be
cleansed from the earth. I will save Cynthia, and the remainder of
the unclean will be destroyed."
"How?" Mulder asked, his voice thick with sarcasm.
"What?" Killiard was taken aback by the sharp question.
"How do they intend to destroy the vampires?" Mulder
asked again. "Vampires can only be killed by another vampire."
"What?" Killiard stared at him, eyes open wide under
the bushy eyebrows. "No, sunlight will kill them, and after my
studies are finished..."
"Maybe you will develop a way to kill them, I don't
know. But I saw a vampire supposedly dead from sun-exposure
come back alive. Perhaps if the sun is allowed to combust them
totally." Mulder shrugged. "Maybe a strong enough explosion
would do it also. I don't know. But I do know that it isn't right to
kill innocent people just because they have an unusual diet
requirement."
"Unusual diet requirement!?" Killiard shouted.
Mulder grinned. "Well, that's all it really comes down to
isn't it. The need to drink blood, and then the extended life, of
course. But that's not a crime. And the blood need can be met
without killing anyone, so most vampires don't kill because it is
both unnecessary and dangerous. If they are not killing or
harming anyone, then they are no legitimate danger to society."
Mulder continued to argue with cold logic. "As citizens who live
within the law, they deserve the same protections of that law as
you and me. Among those rights are the rights not to be
murdered - or kidnapped." He slammed that last word home.
"You are already facing serious criminal charges, Dr. Killiard.
Don't make things worse for yourself. You will be of no help to
your daughter if you are spending the rest of your life in a federal
prison."
Killiard struggled for a tense moment with Mulder's
argument, then he shook it aside. His obsession with curing his
daughter had combined with his intense scientific curiosity to
produce a blinding need - a focus that excluded all other
considerations. Mulder easily recognized the symptoms, it was a
condition he was all-too familiar with, having suffered from it
himself. Only Scully had ever been able to penetrate it, to force
him to step back and see his own actions from a more objective
position.
But without a "Scully" to balance his life, to give a
different kind of meaning to his existence - without that support,
Killiard was lost to his obsession.
"No," Killiard whispered the syllable. "No," he insisted,
more to himself than to Mulder. "My work is progressing well.
The people funding my work understand. They have been patient
and supportive. I'm so close to a cure. SO CLOSE...I just
need..." He finally remembered the liquid-filled syringe in his
hand, and his face hardened with determination.
Lifting the syringe, he advanced on Mulder. "And with
your help, I'll get the answers I need all the sooner."
Mulder backed up, eyes drawn inexorably to the small
syringe. "What is that?" He asked warily.
Killiard smiled. "A protein lysate from infected cells. I
need antibodies, you are going to provide them."
"Oh no, I'm not," Mulder replied angrily, dancing out of
Killiard's reach. "You can't do this."
Killiard sighed with exasperation. "Please don't make me
call the guards in to hold you down. This will be quick and easy if
you will just stand still."
"Go to Hell." Mulder weaved out of the way again,
working his way around to the opposite side of the room.
However, he had very little space to work with, the four walls
seeming to collapse around him. He struggled uselessly against
the cuffs binding his arms as he found himself backed up against
the end of the bed. With satisfaction, Killiard reached out to grab
him by the left arm, shoving him hard against the mattress.
"Aaaahhhn," Mulder fell flat backwards, his arms
trapped beneath him. He twisted and kicked up, trying to free
himself from Killiard's grip on his arm.
Killiard smoothly side-stepped the kick, coming at
Mulder from the side. One hand held the furious agent's arm, the
other aimed the needle of the syringe at his neck.
"NNNOOOO!" Mulder screamed.
The lights flickered and went out.
Alarms exploded.
Darkness surrounded them - not one thin ray of light
trickled under the door, not one blurry image could imprint itself
on their eyes. Nothing....but the whining screech of the alarm
bells filling the absence of light with a cacophony of sound.
Mulder jerked and twisted his body desperately, his
breath catching in his lungs as he braced himself for the sharp
plunge of the needle into his flesh.
<BANG> The door flew off its hinges and crashed to
the floor. Just Killiard felt the syringe hit something soft and
yielding under the pressure of his hand, a pair of powerful hands
seized him from behind and lifted him of his feet.
"Aaaccgggkkkkhhh," he cried out as he found himself
flying through the air. He struck something solid, the bone of his
skull cracking loudly, then he crumbled to the floor.
Mulder cried out inarticulately, fighting to get to his
feet.
At that very moment, the lights flickered and came on,
this time a low yellow glare, as the emergency generators clicked
into gear. Mulder's eyes blinked and watered, then focused on
one of the most beautiful sights he had ever seen.
Chara stood over him, her long black hair loose and
thick over her shoulders like a waterfall made of oil. She was clad
in matching black, the only color coming from the pale luminosity
of her skin and the glowing red of her eyes. Baring her fangs in a
predatory smile, she reached down to pick him up, sliding her
long-fingered hands under his arms, then lifting him as easily as a
mother would lift her child.
"Chhhaarraaa," he stammered as she deposited him
lengthwise on the bed, then got up beside him, resting on her
knees.
"You're hurt," she told him, reaching up to press one
finger into the blood-soaked hair on his forehead. He winced at
the shock of pain at her touch. "Easy," she murmured, brushing
the matted bangs aside to look at the gash across his temple.
Blood still oozed from the center of the wound, and it drew her
total attention.
Ignoring his gasp of pain, she touched the tender spot,
bringing her finger away coated with the bright red fluid. Feeling
his eyes intent on her, she smiled again, this time warmly,
sensually; slowly bringing that finger to her mouth. Mulder's eyes
never wavered from her as she sucked his blood off of her
fingertip, her tongue flicking out and along her full, red lips.
Then she lowered the hand back to his forehead,
sweeping the recalcitrant lock of hair away again. Leaning down
over him, her silk-clothed breasts pressed into his chin, causing
his pulse to race, his breath to hold and release in short gasps. He
felt her lips brush the sensitive skin near the wound, then the hot
flicker of her tongue, causing waves of pain and pleasure to crash
through his body.
"GET OFF HIM NOW!" Chara's weight was suddenly
removed from Mulder, and he shivered at the abrupt surcease of
her mouth on his skin. His eyes flickered open to see Jason
shoving Chara up against the wall, Killiard laying in a heap at
their feet.
"Never ever do that again," Jason's words were barely
audible, hissed through gritted teeth and bared fangs.
Chara simply leaned back against the wall and grinned at
her friend. "I was merely closing his wound, Jason." She let out a
bubbly laugh. "As sweet as he is, he's not worth the fight." She
licked her lips, then gazed hungrily over Jason's shoulder. "Well,
at least not NOW."
Jason gave her an angry look, then sighed and gave up.
Trying to argue with Chara was a losing proposition at any time.
He didn't know how, but he always came away feeling like he'd
missed something important, but couldn't recall what.
Chara saw the look of resignation on his face, and let
her grin slip into a soft smile. "Put me down, Jason. I think they
need you now." She looked over his shoulder towards the bed.

Scully had been right behind Jason when he burst into
the room and pulled Chara off Mulder. Her eyes focused only on
her partner, Scully ignored the heated conversation between the
two vampires. Rushing over to the bed, she scrambled up beside
Mulder.
"Are you okay?" she asked anxiously, repeating Chara's
motions, instinctively reaching for his blood-encrusted face.
Mulder winced, angling his head away from her probing
fingers. "I'm fine! OUCH!" He gave her a full-fledged wounded-
puppy-dog look, his eyes bright as he gazed up into her lovely
face.
"Thank God," she said devoutly, drinking in the
rumpled, dirty, but still-gorgeous sight of him. Then her eyes
narrowed.
"Uh oh," he thought, visibly cringing, as she began to
speak. "What the HELL did you think you were doing, Mulder? I
told you to wait until we got there. You know better than to go
in alone without back-up. Do you LIKE getting yourself hurt?
Do you have some kind of death-wish? Dammit, Mulder, you
scared me half-to-death."
"Scully, I... I'm sorry," he whispered, feeling his heart
sink as saw her bright blue eyes turn moist with unshed tears. His
tongue felt like it was made of cotton as he tried to reach for the
words that wouldn't come.
Jason's shadow fell over Scully's shoulder as his hand
closed on her shoulder. Scully leaned back against him, turning
her head to look up into his face. He tightened his grip on her,
then spoke calmly to Mulder. "Are you all right?"
Mulder nodded. "Yeah, just get me out of these damn
things!" He twisted to expose his metal-cuffed wrists.
Jason stretched one hand down and took hold of the
handcuff's chain. With one twist of his arm, he snapped it in two.
Scully stared up at Jason, knowing she shouldn't be
surprised at his strength, but not being able to help her
amazement. For his part, Mulder sighed with relief, groaning
under his breath as he pulled his arms around in front of him.
Then he grinned up at Jason. "Nice trick," he commented.
Jason silently returned the smile.
The moment was broken by loud noises behind them. A
voice screamed in anguish, followed by the sharp reports of
gunshots, echoing down the hall. Chara was first to the door,
peering out into the dimly-lit hallway.
Jason was beside her in an instant, Scully lingered to
help Mulder to his feet. But once standing, he was alert and
ready, moving up behind the two vampires. "What's happening?"
he asked.
"Trouble," Jason replied tersely.
"Annyce can handle them," Chara added. Another loud
cry of pain sounded, supporting her claim. Mulder opened his
mouth to ask who 'Annyce' was, but Chara beat him to it. "We'd
better get them out of here," she told Jason, turning her glowing
red eyes onto the two humans.
Jason agreed. "I'll go first, Mulder and Scully after me,
then you take the rear, Chara."
"Wait a minute..." Mulder and Scully spoke in unison,
then paused to stare at each other.
Jason's grim features were a study in impatience.
"Later," he urged, "We have to get out of here!"
"No," Mulder got in first this time. He gestured at
Killiard. "We have to take him with us."
"What?" Jason yelled. Then Scully broke in, "Mulder,
we don't have time."
"Then we'll make time!" Mulder insisted. "He has
information we need. We have to know what they are doing,
what they KNOW. And what we can do to stop them. Otherwise,
none of us are safe."
Jason made a quick decision. Trusting Mulder's instincts
he stepped back into the room, picked up Killiard and tossed him
over his shoulder. The unconscious scientist moaned and shifted,
then settled in the vampire's grasp.
"NOW, lets go!"
- - - - -

Sirens whined, lights flickered, feet pounded on tile as
they raced down white-walled halls. Scully and Chara led, the
vampire flitting from shadow to shadow, the flame-haired agent
stalking her ground, gun held outward with steady aim. Mulder
stayed close behind Scully, keeping his eyes alert for trouble from
behind, while Jason followed bearing his heavy burden.
"Scully!" Mulder yelled as two guards leaped out at
them from behind. She spun and fired, while Mulder pushed
Jason and Killiard against the wall, protecting them with his
body.
Shots rang out, bullets flying from three guns. "Umph!"
Scully hit the floor hard, gun clasped in both hands, arms
stretched outwards along the cold tile. Chara took a bullet in her
lower abdomen, doubling over in response, then straightening up
with a howl of rage. Blood oozed from her belly as she began to
walk towards the astonished guards, her eyes blazing fire.
They hit her again, she barely staggered. Again, and she
cried out, stumbling against a wall and clutching at her chest. But
still she kept moving. Scully frowned from her position on the
floor as Chara stepped between her and the guards.
"Chara!" Mulder shouted her name, but his voice was
drowned by the screech of the alarms. Blind to everything but her
prey, she closed in on them swiftly, reaching out to close her
hand over the muzzle of one of the guns even as the man holding
it fired. The bullet pierced her hand and hit the far wall with a
thud, but Chara merely smiled, baring her fangs in a wide
grimace. Tightening her grip, she wrenched the weapon from the
terrified guard and tossed it over her shoulder. Then her teeth
found his neck.
Mulder leapt for the gun, catching it in mid-air and
wrapping it into his chest as he somersaulted to the floor. Head
bent under, the back of his shoulders struck the floor first, then
the rest of his back followed, then his hips and legs tucked under.
He rolled over and up to his feet, bringing the gun out with
certain hands so that it pointed straight at the other guard who
was standing in frozen shock, his gun aimed at Chara with
trembling hands.
"Put it down." Mulder bit of the words as he inched
forward, his lungs working hard to recover his breath. Jason
came up beside him, having deposited Killiard on the floor.
Scully, too, scrambled to her feet and joined them, all converging
on the frightened guard. He took in their grim faces, lowered his
gun, turned around, and ran for his life.
Jason grabbed Chara's shoulders, yanking her off the
man she was feeding from. She struggled with him for a moment,
then gave in with a hiss of disappointment. Letting the guard fall
from her grasp she turned to stare at him, her tongue licking at
the blood staining her lips and chin.
Brushing past Mulder and Scully, Jason reached down
to take the moaning, semi-conscious Killiard by the arm and drag
him to his feet. Chara joined them leaving Scully and Mulder in
the rear. Again they hurried down the hall towards the front
lobby.
- - - - -

Annyce had gone in the other direction, hyped up on the
fresh blood. She could take all she wanted without fear of
discovery - and she was soon lost in the Hunger, reveling in the
flood of the precious liquid down her throat. Blinded by blood-
lust, she hardly noticed the two bullets that struck her, and the
strength to tear the doors off their hinges came without effort.
She had almost forgotten what she was looking for
when she finally tossed aside the door to Gerain's room. Her red-
hazed eyes focused on his face, then she was across the room to
his side in less than a second.
"Annyce..." his voice was a hoarse whisper, his eyes a
faded brown, skin chapped and sore.
"Gerain," she responded, her voice lilting with triumph.
"Come, come, with me. It is time to feed and then to leave this
accursed place."
Gerain felt some hope penetrate his fogged mind, and
the hunger rose sharply, insistent and demanding. Somehow he
got himself on his feet, then Annyce was there to support him. He
stumbled, his feet half-dragging, half-walking - but he made it.
Out into the hall and to the nearest body. Annyce lowered him to
it and stood watch as he tore into the flesh, burrowing his entire
face in the bloodstream, chugging the fluid down his throat.
Then, having given him as long as she dared, Annyce
tugged at his shoulder, speaking insistently. "We have to go,
Gerain. Quickly, we must leave!"
He took one more swallow, then another, but he also
felt the need to get out. The night called, the moon and the stars,
the feel of fresh air across his skin, and freedom. Above all,
freedom. But first, there was one last thing he had to do.
- - - - -

Miguel and Johann had entered the building by a side
door after disabling the power lines feeding into the building.
They had taken out the telephone cables also, as an added
precaution. Once they were on the inside, they began to sweep
their way through the building, searching for prey. They found it
quickly, first a white-clad technician, then a tall, black-suited
man.
And then they found her, strapped to a bed, eyes wild
and starved, tossing like a boat caught in a hurricane upon the
crumpled sheets. Miguel freed her instantly, then easily held her
off as she lunged rabidly for his neck. He held her down with one
hand, she bit at his wrist, her small fangs distended and dripping
with saliva.
Laughing, Miguel scolded her lightly. "Child, child, I am
not your dinner. But come, we will feed you."
She growled at him, lost beyond comprehension. He
simply smiled and pulled her to her feet. Taking her hand, he
bared his own fangs at her. "Come and eat lovely child. Follow
me." Turning on his heels, he led her out of the room and into a
blood bath.
Several guards were waiting for them, but they were
barely enough to satisfy three hungry vampires.
- - - - -

Once Gerain started moving, it was all Annyce could do
to keep up with him. He raced through the maze of hallways with
ease, intent upon his destination. Annyce sensed the fierceness of
his resolve, accepting his choice, though soon growing impatient
when she found herself dragged from one room to another.
"Gerain?" she protested.
"There!" He pointed to a large red door with bright
yellow stickers on it, the international biohazard symbol drawn in
massive size.
"What is it?" Annyce questioned as he threw himself at
the door, sending the heavy sheet of metal crashing into the
room beyond. He didn't answer. Leaping over the fallen door, he
ran into the center of the brightly lit room and stared around him
with obvious hatred.
Annyce stepped in behind him, her eyes darting from
corner to corner, alert for any sign of danger. But Gerain was
already in motion, with a cry of rage he began smashing
everything in sight, violent waves of his arms smashing bottles
and flasks, sending machines and equipment thudding to the
floor. Seizing a rack of tubes, he threw it at the ceiling. Taking
hold of a bench-top centrifuge, he tossed it into the air, then
kicked it across the room. Opening a freezer, he took handfuls of
the contents and sent them flying over his shoulders.
Piece by piece, Killiard's research was smashed to bits.
- - - - -

Rounding the corner into the lobby, Jason suddenly
screamed and recoiled backwards into Chara, Killiard stumbling
out of his grasp.
Light, searing, deadly light. The vampires both fell
writhing to the floor, their skin instantly beginning to burn.
"Jason!" Mulder yelled, leaping forward in front of his
friend, one arm shielding his eyes, the other holding the gun. Not
bothering to aim, he started to shoot into the center of the light.
Scully followed suit, placing herself between Chara and the
blaring light, rapidly firing bullets into the midst of the glare.
<BANG BANG BANG BBBBAAAANNNNGGGG> -
<CCRRAASSHH> - Glass shattered and flew in every direction,
accompanied by loud cries of pain. A brilliant flash threw waves
of light outward, then faded into darkness. Mulder and Scully
fired for a moment longer, then cautiously unshielded their eyes.
A kaleidoscope of colors swam in front of over-taxed retinas,
then settled into a wavering image of bodies and broken glass.
Two large lights, much like those used on a movie or
theatre set lay broken and blackened on he floor, white-clad
bodies resting prone on either side, guns abandoned in unmoving
fingers. Tiny fragments of glass covered everything, like the
glimmering sheen of ice on tree branches in December.
Turning to help Jason and Chara to their feet, Mulder
and Scully sent the two weakened vampires out into the night.
Seizing Killiard between them, the two agents followed.
- - - - -

=====================================================================
======

From: jennyann@ix.netcom.com (Jennifer Lyon)
Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative
Subject: NEW:"Vampire's Kiss" 9/10
Date: 6 Jul 1995 23:24:57 GMT

Part Nine

Annyce stood like a stone statue in the midst of a
hurricane. Gerain spun around her, laughing roughly as he tossed
and smashed every loose object in the room. Using the remnants
of his vampiric strength, he took hold of a big yellow cabinet and
threw it over on to its side. Wrenching the door off its hinges, he
grabbed the bottles inside and sent them sailing towards the
opposite wall. Some made it across to splatter down the white
concrete, others landed haphazardly throughout the room.
"Gerain!" Annyce finally yelled in irritation, as one big
brown bottle nearly nailed the side of her head. "This is enough."
Growling, he ignored her protest, tossing two more
bottles over his shoulder. Pulling up out of his crouch, he went
for another bench top, tearing it apart. Underneath, he found a
big round cylinder, its nozzle hooked to plastic tubing and a small
metal cylinder attached to the bench top. Wrenching it free, he
hefted the entire cylinder and tossed it at the wrecked cabinet. It
came down hard, the nozzle breaking off, releasing the pungent
smell of gas into the room.
Annyce sniffed the air, her delicate features hardening
into a frown. "GERAIN!" she shouted, just as he attacked the
microwave.
"NO!" she shouted, lunging towards him as he banged
the small appliance against the wall, again and again.
Seizing him by his shoulders, she pulled him away.
"Stop it! Enough! We have to get out of here NOW!"
Lifting the appliance over his head, his hand bent into its
interior, he shook her off. She was insistent. "NOW Gerain."
Grabbing his right biceps with steel-like fingers, she dragged him
towards the door, his weakened condition making it difficult for
him to resist her.
As she pulled him out the door, he braced himself long
enough to send the appliance flying back into the room. It hit a
bench top, skidded, then collided with the damaged PCR
machine. The collision only created a small spark, but in the gas-
filled room it was enough.
<*BANG*> the air ignited into a firestorm, sending a
blast of heat and pressure outwards. The door blew off its hinges,
the windows shattered outwards, glass raining down onto the
grass below. Annyce and Gerain were picked up off their feet and
thrown along the length of the hall, landing in an undignified pile
several feet away.
But Annyce had not survived a couple of centuries in
order to be burned alive now. Getting to her feet, she shoved and
kicked at Gerain, screaming at him to move.
- - - - -

The building shook with the blast, the tremors
penetrating every inch of the structures. The blare of the fire
alarms were barely noticeable amidst the whine of the sirens
already splitting the air. But it did not take the additional sound
to warn Miguel and Johann that they had to get out soon.
Johann pivoted on his toes, as graceful as a ballet
dancer, and seized the girl-vampire, pulling her away from her
feast.
She struggled in his grasp, spitting angrily at him, but he
was adamant. "Later!" he told her sharply, the fastidious vampire
grimacing in disgust at her blood-splattered mouth and chin, the
bright red droplets staining the front of her shapeless hospital
gown.
"We need to find Mark and Louisa!" Miguel yelled over
the buzzing of the alarms. "They must be nearby, I can feel
them."
Johann nodded. He could as well. Turning his
aristocratic nose up into the air, he sniffed, then deepened his
frown. "We don't have much time to search." He looked down at
the young vampire wriggling in his grasp. Pinning her with his
cold black gaze, he demanded. "Do you know where the others
are?"
She looked blankly at him, her eyes red-hazed and
unfocused. He shook her firmly, yet gently. "Where are Mark and
Louisa?"
Comprehension dawned, and she smiled. Breaking free
of his hold, she took off down the hall, skidding around a corner.
Glancing at each other sharply, Miguel and Johann took off after
her, their movements facile and controlled.
She came up hard against an unmarked door, then began
raking her fingers along it, kicking at it with unshod feet. The
two older vampires caught up with her quickly. Johann picked
her up and swung her out of the way, while Miguel broke down
the door, slamming his body into the metal which came loose
with a grinding shriek.
Leaping over the twisted metal sheet that had been the
door, Miguel burst into the room only to be attacked from the
side as soon as he cleared the doorway. He went down under the
shadowy figure, fighting its claws away from his face and neck.
Knocking it over with one massive backhanded swipe, he leapt to
a crouch, reaching out to pull its face closer.
"MARK!" he yelled, taking hold of the thin, blood-
starved vampire. Gray eyes swam in a sea of red, then focused.
"Miguel?" The voice was no more than a thin whisper, but it was
enough. Miguel dragged him to his feet and thrust him out the
door at Johann, with the terse command. "Get him out of here."
Then Miguel turned towards the inside of the room, racing over
to the second bed.
Louisa was still strapped to her bed, wrists and ankles
bound in iron chains. Her head tossed and turned against the
mattress, her hair surrounding her in knots and tangles. Miguel
snapped the chains with quick flicks of his wrists, leaving the
fetters encasing her limbs. Taking her by her waist, he picked her
up into a fireman-carry, her head hanging down over his back,
then ran out into the hall.
"Come on!" Johann yelled, as he felt the floor begin to
heat up beneath his feet. The smell of smoke and burnt plastic
filled the air, while the temperature rose sharply. Miguel quickly
took the lead, Louisa's body a barely noticeable burden to the
large vampire. Johann herded the dazed Mark and the wayward
girl in front him, pushing and prodding at them.
Turning a corner, Miguel backed up suddenly, shielding
his eyes against Louisa. "Go back!" he screamed, as a tongue of
blazing fire shot around the corner, just barely missing Miguel.
Johann took his two charges by the arm and threw them back
down the hall. They stumbled, then recovered, the urgency of
their rescuers finally penetrating. And they ran. Heedlessly,
recklessly, feet catching and recovering, bouncing against the
walls, but always pushing forward.
"WAIT!" Johann screamed, pointing to his left. "THIS
WAY!" Miguel pivoted instantly, while Mark took hold of the
girl and led her back around. All five raced down the side
hallway, until they came up short at a dead end. A dead end -
with a window.
Dumping Louisa to the floor, Miguel stepped back, then
threw himself forward, his hands wrapped around his head to
protect it from the glass which shattered on impact. Then he was
out into the night, falling - falling - falling - then striking soft
damp grass with a thud. Rolling over, he stood up and waved his
hands up towards the window.
Johann saw him, and turned to the others. "Go! Go!" he
urged them, shoving the girl in the back as she ran by him first,
followed closely be Mark. Then Johann picked up the still-
unaware Louisa and tossed her body out the window. When he
saw her land half-on top of Mark, he grinned, then got up on the
window ledge. One last look behind him saw the fire blazing
closer, forcing him to crouch and leap with little aim. He hit the
ground hard, but painlessly, and was on his feet in seconds,
staring upwards as the red flames threw sparks out the window
he had only just come through.
- - - - -

"Are you ok?" Scully asked Jason anxiously as they
halted under the cover of the trees just beyond the gate.
"I'm fine," he responded brusquely, his mind elsewhere.
Scully studied him, both relieved and amazed to see that his
abnormally reddened skin was rapidly fading into its natural
pallor. Ignoring her reaction, Jason urgently shoved the two
humans deeper into the grove.
"Get them out of here," Jason ordered Chara, turning on
his heels back towards the building they had just escaped.
"No, Jason!" Mulder was quick to get between the
vampire and still-open gate. "You can't go back in there - not
alone."
Jason glared at the taller man. "I have to get the others
out!"
"If you have to go back in, fine - but I'm going with
you." Mulder was adamant.
So was Jason. "No you are not," he replied evenly. They
stared angrily at each other, neither willing to give an inch.
"We're wasting time," Scully broke into the silence. "If
you go back in, Jason, then we all do." She stepped up beside
Mulder, then started walking towards the faint glow of the open
doors in the distance.
"No!" Jason leapt to hold them back. "It's too
dangerous. I have to do this, you do not. Wait for me. By the
cars." His voice shifted from angry determination to a painful
whisper. "Please."
"Jason," Mulder felt his heart clutch with understanding.
He caught Scully gazing at him with a knowing expression on her
face. He met her eyes briefly, an instant of total communication,
then he faced Jason again, his hands waving helplessly in the air
as he strove for the words.
"I can't let you go back in there alone anymore than you
could let me. You can't always protect me, Jason. I'm not a child
to be kept from harm, and neither is Scully. You kept your
promise, Jason, now you have to accept me for ME." Mulder
flinched inwardly as he saw his words strike home. The flicker of
anguish on Jason's pale features was brief and contained within an
instant, but it had been as sharp as a knife's edge.
"Jason," Scully reached out to graze his arm with her
fingertips. "Mulder is right. When," she swallowed hard, then
forced the words out. "When I was hurt badly last year, Mulder
wanted to protect me, to keep me from any further harm. What
he had to learn then - and I'm not sure he has learned it yet, is
that he has to trust me to handle myself as his partner. He has to
respect my ability to take my share of the risk and the
responsibility. His running off alone is what got him into this
mess, and many before it." She threw him a sharp glance that told
him better than any words that he hadn't heard the last of it. He
bowed his head in silent apology. "Don't make that same
mistake, Jason. Mulder and I would rather be with you facing the
danger, than sitting out here worrying ourselves sick. You - we -
have a better chance if we work together and trust each other.
We have to trust each other."
"They are right, Jason," Chara finally entered the
conversation. "Take Mulder and go." She looked down with
disgust at Killiard who was watching them all with a look of
dazed confusion on his craggy face. "Scully and I will deal with
him, and watch for danger."
Scully opened her mouth to protest, but Mulder was
faster. "Good. Come on Jason," he began striding back towards
the building.
Jason still didn't like this at all, but he was hardly going
to let Mulder go on without him. With a sudden burst of motion,
he easily caught up with the already running agent, then passed
him.
But just as they reached the edge of the concrete
parking lot, a sudden blast shook the air. Glass and debris flew
out of a window on the second floor of the building. The air grew
still, then almost visibly rushed back in towards the source of the
explosion, then burst out again, this time red and burning with
bright flickers of flame.
"Mulder, Jason!!!!" Chara and Scully screamed at once,
as a silvery-black rain fell down upon the two figures standing
beneath the conflagration. One broke his position and dived for
the other, both tumbling to the pavement.
"Noooo," a strangled cry came from Killiard's lips as his
eyes reflected the glow of the fire. "Cynthia...my work..." He
tried to stand, making it to his knees, and began scrambling
towards the building. Chara took hold of him by the back collar
of his lab coat and lifted him easily off the ground. "This is your
fault," she hissed in his ear, then she sent him flying backwards to
strike a tree and fall to land in a heap upon the ground. He
moaned, then lay still.
Scully was already running towards Mulder and Jason,
shrugging her overcoat off her arms so that she could cover her
head with it. Chara caught up with her quickly, pacing with the
ease of a lioness on the hunt.
"Mulder, Jason?" Scully knelt down beside them,
winging out her arms and the coat they bore to create a make-
shift shelter from the burning ashes and sparks that drifted
downwards.
"Scully," Mulder groaned as he shifted beneath Jason's
weight. Jason picked his head up, then rolled off to the side,
letting out a cry of pain as his outflung arm was struck by a
heated piece of metal. Drawing the arm in to his side, he rocked
forward onto his knees. Chara was there to help him, her strong,
long-fingered hands drawing him to his feet.
Scully took hold of Mulder, pulling on him with
urgency. He needed little encouragement, once his feet were
underneath him, he wrapped his arm around her waist and they
hurried away from the explosion site.
None of them stopped until they had passed back
through the open gate and reached the shelter of the trees. Soon
they were grouped in a circle on the grass, Killiard laying a few
feet beyond. The humans were gasping for breath, their lungs
rasping with each gulp of air. The vampires were motionless
except for the flicker of their eyes, darting from each other to
their companions, to the blazing side of the building.
Finally it was Chara who spoke what everyone was
thinking. "Do you think they made it out?"
"The explosion was localized," Scully responded. "If
they weren't too close to it, they'd be okay." The others were
silent, knowing that if the vampires did live through the fire, they
would still suffer intense, excruciating pain.
"Can you sense them?" Mulder asked, looking from
Chara to Jason, worry mixed with the inevitable curiosity.
"Maybe," Jason closed his eyes for a moment, his gaunt
features stilling into an ivory mask. Chara's lovely features
calmed also, her blue eyes darkening into deep azure pools as her
mind turned first inward, then outward.
Mulder and Scully shared a glance, Mulder's taut with
excitement, Scully's drawn and concerned. They watched the
vampires concentrate for several long, tense minutes. Then,
finally, Chara spoke, her voice filled with triumph and relief.
"They are alive."
- - - - -

They gathered in the shelter of the trees near the
PharmCo Building, their cars lining the nearby road. The
IntelliGene building was a blazing inferno in the distance,
throwing a bright sheen of red light across the sky. Already, fire
trucks and ambulances were converging on the scene, rubber
coated men holding hoses and ladders, forcing streams of
shimmering water against the raging flames.
Not given to displays of emotion, the vampires
expressed their relief and satisfaction quietly, but the smiles were
genuine. Mulder and Scully hung back on the edge of the circle,
not sure of their place or their welcome. Jason, too held himself
back, standing poised between the two agents and the other
vampires.
Killiard had been carried and dumped with little concern
under a tree, and then forgotten. He came slowly to
consciousness, and his eyes lit up with panic when they finally
opened. Catching site of his daughter so close to the ragged
figure of the vampire who had stolen her from him, he forced his
feet under him, using the nearest tree as a support.
"Get away from her. Cynthia! Get away from them!" His
voice, nearly inaudible at first, rose up into a shriek. "Get away
from my daughter, you fiends!"
They all turned as one to face him, nine pairs of
reddened eyes glaring at him with undisguised hatred and
contempt. Gerain and Mark were the closest, and they stepped
toward him, baring their fangs.
"No!" Cynthia shouted, reaching out to grab their arms.
They parted to allow her to come between them. "He is mine,"
she told them bitterly. Her long brown hair whipping around her
elven-featured face, she turned merciless red eyes on her father's
face. "Mine."
All of the vampires backed away in silent accord,
spreading out into a circle surrounding father and daughter.
Mulder and Scully stepped forward towards Jason, coming to a
halt just behind him. He barely acknowledged their presence,
simply spreading his arms wider to hold them back.
"Cynthia," Killiard whispered. "You are ill. He, they
have infected you with this disease. But I can cure you. I am...
was... close to finding a cure. I know I can. Let me help you,
Cindy, love." He pleaded, stretching his arms wide to gather her
in.
She stepped closer, but her face showed no emotion.
"No, father," she said angrily. "I chose this. You had no right to
keep me prisoner, to kidnap my friends. You starved me, you let
me scream with hunger. You never cared about me, until I was a
case to study. All you care about is your work. But that is
finished now, and so are you." She closed in on him until only
inches separated them.
Then she bared her fangs. "No, Cynthia....No!" His
scream echoed out into the night, then gurgled to a stop as she
fell upon him. Forcing him to the ground, she tore into his neck,
her hair whipping around them as she bit deep and drank -
drawing the blood out of him in a fury of violent need.
"Stop her!" Scully yelled, pushing at Jason as he tried to
prevent her from interfering. Mulder tried to push past while
Jason held tightly to a struggling Scully, but Chara blocked his
way.
Her head only reaching to the top of his shoulder, she
was nonetheless formidable as she stared him down. "You must
not interfere."
"She's going to kill him," he protested, trying to push
her out of the way, but she was even stronger than he had
expected. Her hands were like steel on his arms as she lifted him
up off the ground.
"It is her right," she told him, even as she held him
suspended in the air.
"It's wrong," he insisted, refusing to let his fear show.
Mulder's jaw tightened and his eyes darkened as he glared down
at the vampire supporting him above the ground. "I can't allow
her to kill him." Realizing that she was hardly going to be swayed
by that, he tried another tack. "Chara, his work is destroyed
already, and we have him on several charges of kidnapping.
Scully and I can put him away for a long time where he will be of
no danger to any of you. If she kills him, we will have to arrest
her. You don't want that." His voice rose to a shout. "Let us take
him, and you are safe. Let her kill him, and the secret of what you
are will become public knowledge."
Chara hesitated at that, lowering him to the ground. He
took a deep breath in relief as his feet touched solid earth. "Listen
to me," he insisted. "We need to find out who in the government
knows about you! These men are dangerous, and Killiard is our
only link to them. We - YOU - need him alive!"
"Mulder's right," Scully supported, her eyes shooting
sparks at Jason, who was still holding her clasped against him.
"The lab here may be destroyed, but what if there are copies
elsewhere. What if they can replicate his work. We need more
answers."
Jason nodded, then turned to Chara. She frowned, but
gave her agreement. They stepped forward, but Gerain moved to
stop them. "He is too dangerous to us alive, and she has the right
to take his life. How do we know we can trust these humans?"
Jason angrily confronted the older vampire. "Without
them, you'd still be trapped in there. They are bloodsworn to me,
they will not betray me."
"You are blinded by lust and human emotions," Gerain
sneered. "You have always held too closely to your humanity."
His tone turned that into a dirty word. "He is Cynthia's rightful
prey. You will not interfere."
"Killiard was not alone in what he did. Do you want the
others to go free?" Chara's sculptured features were stark and
cold.
"No. We will find them." Gerain responded with equal
determination.
"How?" Jason asked. "Where would you even begin?"
"We..." Gerain shook his head, exhaustion and
starvation slowing down his mind. A part of him knew they were
right, but his anger towards the man who had tortured him would
not let go. He growled with impotent rage.
"Enough," Jason said grimly, forcing his way towards
Cynthia. But Annyce was there first, and she pulled Cynthia up
from her father's body, holding the girl tightly as she struggled to
go back to her feast. "Enough, child," the silver-haired vampire
said firmly. "You must learn control."
Jason knelt by Killiard, reaching out to examine the
oozing wound in his throat. His mouth tightened into a thin line
as he rose to his feet. Mulder and Scully pushed past Chara and
Gerain to join him, but he shook his head at them as they
approached.
Mulder stopped beside Jason while Scully fell to her
knees beside the scientist's body. It did not take long to confirm
Jason's diagnosis.
"He's dead," she said, turning angry blue eyes up at
Mulder and Jason. They turned their eyes onto Cynthia who was
now resting limp in Annyce's arms.
"You cannot arrest her." This statement came from
Chara as she came up beside Scully.
"Why not?" Scully asked boldly, standing up face to face
with the black-haired vampire. Chara gave her a smile that did
not touch more than the edges of her red lips. "How would your
system handle a real vampire? Would you turn her back over to
them?" She gestured at the burning building. "Because that is
what will happen, is it not?"
Scully grimaced, wishing she could say otherwise, but
she knew the truth of Chara's words. Arresting Cynthia would
assure that she ended up in the hands of men who would
experiment on her and that was too dangerous. But they also
couldn't let her go free.
"We can't release her either," Scully retorted. "She is far
too dangerous."
"We will take care of her," Annyce answered. "She is
young. The blood-lust is too new, she has not yet been taught
control. We can teach her."
"Yes, that is for the best," Miguel spoke for the first
time. "She will learn."
Scully didn't like this at all and said so stubbornly.
Mulder reached out for her. "I'm not happy about it
either, Scully. But I don't see a better alternative. We can't let
THEM have her, at least the other vampires will be able to keep
her under control until her mind recovers. Technically she's the
victim of her father's abuse. Put aside the vampire issue, and she'd
probably be released into psychiatric care. Perhaps this is the best
solution."
"Mulder," Scully protested. "She just murdered her
father!"
"I know, Scully. I know. But if we take her in, then
either the existence of vampires becomes public knowledge, or
she simply gets wisked away by the black ops people. Possibly
both. Either way, the bad guys get a vampire to experiment on
and the others get exposed. Do you want to put Jason in that
kind of risk?"
Scully eyed the fair vampire, her emotions in a now-
familiar tangle. As angry as she was with him at the moment, she
cared too much for him to want to see him in danger. Again, she
was trapped in a situation that her training and beliefs could not
help her resolve.
'Why me?' she thought bitterly, even as a hysterical
giggle rose in her throat. Only Mulder could get them into this
kind of mess. And she had to be foolish enough to love the man.
Why, oh why, couldn't she have fallen in love with some nice
surgeon or architect or someone nice and normal? Nope, she had
to fall head over heels for the one man on the whole planet who
could stand here surrounded by nine REAL vampires and look
totally at ease with it.
"Mulder," she shook her head, then looked over at
Jason. There was another problem. Admit it, Dana, she told
herself, your feelings for Jason may not equal those for Mulder,
but they were pretty damn strong.
Scully stared around her at the vampires who were
watching her with expressionless faces, their eyes lit with the
predatory red color. A new burst of fear hit her, but she refused
to bow to the feeling. Proudly, she straightened her back and held
her head high. "Okay," she said, inwardly amazed to hear her
voice sound so cool and natural. "If you think its the best
solution, then so be it." Brushing at her clothes, she calmly
walked past them towards the car, leaving both Mulder and Jason
staring after her in surprise.
- - - - -

=====================================================================
======

From: jennyann@ix.netcom.com (Jennifer Lyon)
Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative
Subject: NEW:"Vampire's Kiss" 10/10
Date: 6 Jul 1995 23:27:27 GMT

Part Ten

Three A.M. Mulder, Jason and Scully had returned to
Mulder's apartment out of pure habit. All three were in a slight
state of shock - or perhaps it was just pure exhaustion. Scully
couldn't tell, and didn't care. Perching herself on the edge of the
still-open sofa bed, she rubbed at the back of her neck.
Mulder paced the room like a caged panther, while
Jason stood like a statue beside the desk. The silence between
them was heavy with unspoken emotion, electricity sparking
between them when their eyes met.
"She'll be taken care of," Jason finally spoke, his mouth
barely moving with the words.
"The building was destroyed completely," Mulder
responded. Running his hands through his hair, he paused in mid-
stride. "We have no way of knowing what was gotten out, if
anything. Or who knows about the work."
"Or about us," Jason added. Mulder nodded. He bit at
his lower lip, his eyes focused at an empty spot of air in the
center of the room. "I don't think they'll come after you - after the
vampires - for a while. They will want time to evaluate the
situation. They could consider it too dangerous." Mulder's tone
was doubtful.
"We'll cope with it when - or if - it happens," Jason
replied. "We've been hunted before and survived." He smiled
bitterly. "We are experts at survival."
"You've never dealt with these people before," Mulder
argued tensely. He was coiled up like a tightly wound spring,
anxiety and frustration leaching from him in waves. He needed to
do something, but couldn't decide what.
Jason shrugged his shoulders lightly, spreading his hands
wide. He'd survived wars and crusades, witch-hunts and
inquisitions. He figured he'd survive this too, and if he didn't?
That hardly seemed to matter much either. He was suddenly very,
very tired.
Silence fell among them again, and stayed. Mulder
resumed his pacing, Scully sat wearily on the bed, her eyes
traveling from one to the other and back again. Jason stood
where he was, wondering if there was something he should say or
do. He knew Scully was still angry with him, he could feel the
heat of her eyes on him. And Mulder's words from before the
explosion kept haunting him. Perhaps the man was right, perhaps
Jason had been trying too hard to force him into being what
Jason needed him to be. Perhaps it was time for Jason to leave
these two humans to their mortal lives, and their love for each
other.
"I should go," he said, breaking the silence abruptly.
Mulder and Scully stared at him as he moved towards the door,
both lost in their own thoughts. Mulder was the first to respond,
racing after Jason, he caught the vampire as his pale hand closed
on the door knob.
"No," Mulder said. He paused as Jason turned piercing
green eyes on his face. Mulder's voice deepened into utter
sincerity. "Don't go."
Jason paused, one hand still on the door knob, while he
raised the other to touch Mulder's cheek. "It might be best," he
whispered.
"No." Neither man had noticed Scully's approach until
she spoke. Green and hazel gazes turned to fall upon her face as
she looked up at them. Placing one hand on each of their arms,
she smiled at them each in turn. She remembered her own words
to Jason, spoken earlier. She was still a little angry with both
men, and intended to give them each an earful later - Mulder for
going off alone, and Jason for his part in the vampire's vigilante-
style justice. But for now it was time to follow her own advice
and seize what happiness life could give them in these precious
pre-dawn hours. The decision lifted a weight off her chest,
bringing with it a sense of peace and certainty.
"Stay, Jason," she said, sliding her hand down his arm to
close upon his hand. "Stay with us." She took Mulder's hand also,
and tugged on them both.
"Dana?" Mulder turned her name into a question as she
led them both towards the bed.
Her smile deepened.

The End

-------------------
Note: Yes, Yes, I know... There WILL be another story. It will have to
wait while I struggle along with the sequel to Magician - but it will
happen. I hope! BTW: I"ll take a show of hands - how many people -
REALLY - want the erotica.