FicWad

Title: Incarnations of Immortality
Author: TheBear!
Crossover: XF/HL/FK
Pairings: M/S N/N T/V
161,428 words
15-Apr-02

Disclaimer—I don’t own any of it.

=====

Chapter 13

The Corbeau

1 a.m.

MacLeod entered the club and stopped for a moment. He was struck by déjà vu. He knew he had never been to this place before, but something about it seemed very familiar. He just looked around for several minutes before moving toward the bar. It didn’t look like anyplace he could remember, but it still…

“What can I get for you?” the bartender asked, jarring him out of his thoughts.

“Springbank, neat; if you have it.” Mac answered, expecting a look of confusion, followed by ‘What?’

“12 or 18 year old?” the bartender asked without missing a beat.

“18, of course.” MacLeod answered, keeping the surprise (mostly) off of his face.

As the bartender handed him his snifter and a small stopper bottle of water MacLeod smiled. “I could get to like this place,” he said to himself and turned to watch the dancers on the floor- his eyes roving around to see if he could spot the girl he had met earlier.

===== X-FILES ===== FOREVER KNIGHT ===== HIGHLANDER =====

Janette watched the crowd from her table in the shadows of the back of the club. It afforded her a measure of privacy while allowing her to keep abreast of the comings and goings into her club. Surprisingly the crowd was mostly human tonight. There were only half a dozen vampires in the place; none of them over a century old. The Buffalo community was a relatively young group, with no real gathering place until she arrived. She hadn’t really thought about starting another club so soon after the fiasco in Toronto, but she found herself without a good place to spend her time. She didn’t want to stay in the same city as Nicolas, but she didn’t want to go too far either.

Her brief stint as a mortal hadn’t seemed to lessen her powers as a vampire, she was certainly no fledgling, but she wasn’t comfortable with the thought of exploring her new relationship with her former sibling and now master. “It is ridiculous to have a master who is younger than I am!” she thought.

Not that Nicolas would ever act like her master, she knew. He brought her back out of his own selfish desire to ‘save’ her. Ironic that he would want to save her from the very fate he himself had longed for, and had been trying to attain for nearly two centuries.

She had been relieved that Nicolas had not tried to contact her. Even now, wasn’t sure she was ready to see him. It hadn’t even been two years yet. Such a short span of time in her long life, yet it felt much longer. She had not taken another lover since her beloved Robert had been killed. Nor had she taken another life since she avenged his. The events of her leaving and then re-entering immortality had changed her in many ways. She did not suffer the self-hatred that her now master had felt for so long; neither did she revel in the vampire as she did prior to Robert.

Robert McDonagh. She still missed him, but the pain was finally subsiding. Despite her love for Robert she was glad that she was once again immortal. It really was her forte. “I don’t do ‘mortal’ very well,” she thought. Even if she could have Robert back, she would want him to be immortal like herself, never to face old age or death. Having watched him die, she knew she could never face truly falling in love again with a mortal, unless she intended to bring him across to be with her forever.

Unfortunately, few mortals had the depth of character that it takes to live forever. She had seen many a vampire that didn’t survive their first century. They couldn’t handle the change- seeing loved ones age and die, moving on every few decades to avoid detection; they weren’t able to sever their mortal ties.

No, immortality was not for the weak willed. The catch, of course, was that such personal strength took a long time to develop. Consequently, few mortals ever attained it, and those who did were usually old and gray by the time they did. It was harder to attain it after the crossover. Vampires tended to remain as they were at conversion; emotionally as well as physically.

She realized that these thoughts were stemming from her encounter earlier at Hénri’s. That man she had briefly met, “Duncan MacLeod,” she whispered to herself. He was very beautiful. And, while she had seen definite attraction in his eyes when he looked upon her, his eyes had remained on hers, not raking up and down her body as so many of those pawing, grasping boys who fancied themselves to be men were apt to do. She had the feeling that when he looked at her, he was wholly focused on her, not her body. She felt a slight tingle at the thought. She had barely met him, but she knew instantly that he would be an attentive lover. He had a look of sensuality about him that caused her millennia’s old body react like a virgin bride going to her wedding bed. “It was well that I left,” she told herself. “Such a man would be distracting. I would be unable to stop myself in time, I think,” she tried to convince herself. Unfortunately, her argument seemed less than compelling, as she spent another evening sitting in the back of her club, alone.

She sat back in her chair with a soft sigh and began to once again scan the crowd. Looking for something to divert her from such melancholy rumination. Her eyes roamed over the dancers and then swept along the bar when she saw him. “Oh no,” was all she said.

===== X-FILES ===== FOREVER KNIGHT ===== HIGHLANDER =====

The Raven

12 a.m.

Nick and Scully decided to see LaCroix after the encounter at the Dirty Mick. Scully was both pleased and angry about the experience. Pleased that she could handle herself without loosing control, but she still felt residual anger at that pig. The thought that kept floating into the periphery of her mind was, “I should have killed him.” Rationalizations kept popping up in her head, ‘What if he rapes someone else and I could have stopped him?’ ‘He is an animal; I would have been doing society a service!’ She knew that it would have been wrong to kill him. Vigilantism was not the answer to crime, she knew.

“This is normal, Dana,” Nick told her. “The vampire wants to kill. If you give in to rationalization, you will find yourself on a path to self-destruction. I spent a century hunting only the ‘guilty.’ I rationalized it in my mind as being different than hunting innocents.” Nick looked haunted for a moment. “It isn’t. Murder is Murder. Who am I to judge guilt or innocence?”

Scully laid her hand on the arm of her master, “I know, Nick. I won’t give in to the darkness. I’ve always felt this way when I dealt with evil. I never gave in to it, and I’m not planning to start now.”

They landed outside the alley entrance and went in. The music was like a wall of noise they had to fight through to get to the offices at the front. They found LaCroix waiting for them in his office.

“Good evening Nicolas,” LaCroix said. “Granddaughter, tell me how your education is progressing.”

Scully spared a glance at Nick as they both sat down. “I think it has gone very well. Nick is a good teacher,” she said, wondering where he was going with this.

LaCroix raised and eyebrow at that, but refrained from comment.

“She has a very good grasp of the basics, Father. She can control her bloodlust, even in the heat of attack. She is far more advanced than her age would dictate,” Nick said, proud of his childé. “Feel her, Father. She doesn’t even feel like a fledgling.”

LaCroix leaned back in his chair with his fingers steepled in front of his mouth and reached out with his senses. He was surprised at what he felt. She didn’t feel at all like a fledgling. He had known vampires in their second century with less presence. “This is unprecedented in my experience. How is this possible?” he asked, concerned.

“We don’t know with any certainty, but I think that her consumption of immortal blood has caused rapid advancement. She shares a link with Mulder that is more complete even than our link together,” Nick said. At the deepening of concern that he felt from his master he quickly added, “I have been able to block it during our training however.”

“Describe this link,” LaCroix instructed Scully.

“It is as though we were still in a bloodkiss. When Nick isn’t blocking, I can see with Mulder’s eyes- I sense what he senses. We are like one being in two places.” Scully answered.

Nick leaned forward slightly in his chair, excited by the possibilities, “She even caught the quickening earlier this evening. I came down the stairs and she was wrapped in a blue electric glow and it was like she was on fire, mentally and physically.” He shook his head at the memory. “Mulder has undergone some changes as well. Did you see the body? Did he tell you what happened?”

“No. I had Miklos take care of it. I was taping my show for this evening. Why?” LaCroix asked, leaning forward and carefully considering his son.

Nick deferred to Scully, even though she was obviously less than comfortable with this discussion. She hemmed and hawed for a moment when LaCroix asked her a question.

“You were in this link with him at the time?”

“Yes,” she answered.

LaCroix stood up and held his hand out to her. “Show me,” he commanded.

Scully silently looked at Nick, unsure of what to do. She was hesitant about sharing this intimacy with a man she hardly knew.

Nick was surprised that LaCroix would want to share with one so young who wasn’t his own. “It’s alright, Dana. Go ahead.” He told her.

With some hesitancy she took LaCroix’s hand and stood up. He drew her to him and bent down to her neck. He gently sank his fangs into a vein and silently encouraged her to do the same.

Scully felt the mild erotic rush from being bitten, and then complied with his unspoken command. As she bit she was assaulted with two millennia of memories. It was far too much to process at once and she was swept up into the maelstrom, helpless to do more than hang on for the ride.

After a moment that seemed like an hour, it was over. Scully dropped back down into her chair, bewildered by the experience. LaCroix merely stood there considering this newest member of his immediate family.

“Fascinating. Utterly unprecedented.” He said at last. “I am sure that nothing like this has ever happened before in our history,” he said while returning to his own seat. “I shall want to see both of you periodically to see where this progresses. Nicolas, have you given consideration as to what this might mean to you and Natalie?”

“I think we will find out very soon how this might impact us,” Nick replied.

“Yes? You plan to go ahead with Natalie’s conversion then?” LaCroix asked.

“Tomorrow night,” Nick said. “At the latest,” he added, thinking that he might not be able to wait that long.

“Why don’t you invite the others to join us here, Nicolas?” LaCroix asked. “I should like for you and I to spend a moment with Agent Mulder and perhaps determine what effect this has had on him.”

“Of course, father,” Nick said, getting up and walking away from the desk to use his cell phone.

Scully looked at LaCroix for a moment. She was worried about this thing that was happening to her and Mulder, but she didn’t know what to say or ask. Finally she said, “Thank you, Lucien.”

“For what, my dear?” he asked.

“For taking care of Mulder’s mess earlier this evening. I don’t know what we would have done if we had to deal with a homicide investigation on top of everything else going on right now.” She replied.

“As you move through the centuries you will find that I always take care of my family, Dana.” LaCroix responded. “Always.”

===== X-FILES ===== FOREVER KNIGHT ===== HIGHLANDER =====

It was almost 1 am by the time Mulder and Natalie got there. They had gotten hungry again and had been at another little hole-in-the-wall diner when Nick had called. Fortunately, this time they left without incident.

Scully could feel Mulder as they got closer. She knew it the moment that he and Natalie entered the club. She couldn’t really touch him through the link; Nick was still blocking it, but his presence was leaking through as their physical proximity closed. She got an enormous grin on her face and said “Mulder’s here!” in a breathlessly excited voice.

LaCroix frowned slightly at his son, “You said that you were blocking them.”

“I am!” Nick said, surprised that she could get through his block.

“A can’t sense him like that,” she said. “It’s not like before… I… I’m just aware that he’s here!” she said, standing up and turning toward the door just as it opened.

Mulder followed Natalie into LaCroix’s office and was immediately assaulted by a short redheaded monster that immediately began kissing him with abandon. He was startled by his own reaction- not the kissing part, or the raging hard-on part; those he understood just fine- but the part where he was feeling like he had lost her and just now found her after being apart for ages. That part he didn’t understand at all. “God I missed you!” he said.

Scully was feeling a bit confused herself, “Me too!” she said, but her brow was furrowed and it came out almost like a question. “Mulder, it’s been less than a day since we saw each-other. Why do I miss you so much?” she asked.

Mulder just smiled. “I don’t know Scully. But, I feel exactly the same way,” he answered.

Meanwhile, Nick and Natalie had kissed their hello’s for several seconds.

LaCroix looked at this group as though they were mad, “Enough!” he said loudly. They all snapped their heads toward him, looking like children with their hands caught in the cookie jar. “I will thank you to save your sexual exuberance for a place other than my office!” he mock growled.

The couples each broke apart slightly, “Sorry,” they each mumbled, not looking at all contrite.

LaCroix singled out Mulder and Nick with his withering glare, “I can see that I will not be able to keep your attention for very long this evening.” He stood up from his chair and very slightly adjusted the drape of his jet-black Armani suit coat, “I would like to try and determine what is happening to you Agent Mulder. You and Nick shall accompany me.” He regarded Scully and Natalie, “The two of you may wait in the club. We shouldn’t be long.” He silenced their protests before they even began with one raised eyebrow. After waiting half a beat, he strode purposefully out the door and up the stairs to his apartments, not even looking back to see if everyone was following his instructions.

Mulder gently squeezed Scully’s hand and whispered to her, “I miss you already.” He kissed her hand and walked after the master vampire.

Natalie forestalled any protest from Nick by saying, “The sooner you get this started, the sooner we can go home.” Then she kissed him softly and turned to collect Scully. “Come on, Dana. Let’s get a drink.” She gently dragged Scully by the hand into the club.

===== X-FILES ===== FOREVER KNIGHT ===== HIGHLANDER =====

“Nicolas, you are still blocking their connection?” LaCroix asked as they reached his rooms above the club.

“Yes,” he replied.

Turning to Mulder, LaCroix asked, “Can you sense your partner at all?”

Mulder was still somewhat struck by the sense of longing he felt. He reached out through their link and said, “Barely. It feels the same as it has since Nick started blocking us.” He suddenly realized something, “You know, we haven’t actually been in the same room together since this… since we…”

“Since the link was established,” Nick finished for him. He turned to LaCroix and said, “That’s true, Father. Natalie and Mulder left the loft before Dana woke up this afternoon, and they haven’t been in physical contact until just now- and I was blocking them then.”

“Maybe that’s why I feel like this,” Mulder whispered.

“Feel like what?” LaCroix asked.

“I miss her terribly,” he replied. “I feel like we have been separated for months…” it hit him just then that he had felt exactly like this once before. “Actually, it feels exactly like when she was abducted, and I couldn’t find her, and I didn’t know what was happening to her, and I didn’t know if I would ever see her again.”

Suddenly Mulder started smiling, but at the same time, his eyes welled up and tears began running down his face.

“What’s wrong Mulder?” Nick asked.

Mulder looked a Nick with confusion evident on his face, “What do you mean?”

Nick glanced at LaCroix as if to confirm that he was seeing what he thought he was seeing. He said, “Uh, Mulder- you’re crying.”

Mulder reached up to touch his face and was surprised to find wetness there.

LaCroix broke in, “It is obvious that they are influencing one another even with your block, Nicolas.” He turned to Mulder Let us see if we can determine anything from your blood.” He held out his hand, clearly expecting Mulder to acquiesce.

Mulder decided that anything he could do to get this over with more quickly, and get back to Scully, would be worth it. He wordlessly held out his wrist.

LaCroix took Mulder’s hand and brought it to his mouth. He hesitated a moment, realizing that this would be his first experience with immortal blood. Experiencing something entirely new after two millennia of life was not to be taken lightly. Nevertheless, this was about family. “I always protect my family,” he thought.

Mulder gasped a little at the sensation and then was assaulted by the overwhelming experience of sharing with such a powerful vampire. It was vast, dark, and frightening. This was one vampire who never felt any regret for his violent past.

“Regret is a waste of time, Mulder,” LaCroix said as he pulled back from the link. “The past is unchangeable and not worth concern. As for the present, I must say that I have never tasted anything like that before.” He watched with fascination as the bite sparked with blue energy and healed before his eyes.

“Is he changing?” Nick asked.

“There is very little of the vampire in his blood, but it is there,” LaCroix answered his son. Turning to Mulder, who was rubbing lightly at the area where LaCroix had bit his wrist, LaCroix continued, “Not enough, however, to explain what Dana showed me about your encounter with the other immortal today.”

“What do you think it was then?” Mulder asked. He was mildly curious about this, though it ranked very low on the concerns he had right now. Primarily, he wanted to go find Scully and bury himself in her, mentally, emotionally, and physically.

“I imagine your link with Dana operates on more than just a mental level- spilling over into the physical, as with this afternoon’s quickening, and the emotional, considering your tears a few moments ago.” LaCroix answered. “It should be interesting to see where the two of you go with this. You have shared blood only once so far, I take it?”

“Yeah. Wow it’s only been about 20 hours ago,” Mulder said, surprised as he looked at his watch. “Hey, Nick- do you think you could… you know…”

Nick smiled knowingly. “Could I stop blocking you and Dana? Is that what you’re asking?” he said teasingly.

“Yeah.” Mulder said sheepishly.

Both LaCroix and Nick watched with interest as Mulder’s eyes unfocused and his face grew serene. He closed his eyes for a moment and then reopened them, focusing on Nick.

“Thanks, Nick,” he said with such relief in his voice that one might have thought he were a drug addict getting his ‘fix’.

Nick felt for his daughter through their link and found her emanating blissful satisfaction as well. He shook his head slightly and wondered what it was going to be like between Natalie and himself. “Mulder sure looks happy, though,” he thought.

LaCroix was amused at Mulder, and at the feelings he was getting from his son- some concern, a little envy, and a lot of avid anticipation. He turned to Mulder with a smirk and said, “All better now?”

Mulder did feel better; so much so that LaCroix’s cut didn’t embarrass him in the slightest. “Yes, sir. I feel much better now!” His feeling of missing Scully was gone, erased as though it had never existed. After commenting on one thing she had said, he retreated, letting the two ladies have an enjoyable ‘get-to-know-you’ conversation. “She and Natalie are chatting. I think they’re going to be really good friends, Nick,” he said, smiling.

Nick smiled in response, “If all goes well, by this time tomorrow, they will be sisters.”

===== X-FILES ===== FOREVER KNIGHT ===== HIGHLANDER =====

Scully was sitting in the booth, moping. It was silly, but since she had seen him in LaCroix’s office, she really missed Mulder. She noticed herself repeatedly reaching through their link to reassure herself that he was still there. Of course that didn’t work, because Nick was blocking them. She couldn’t restrain herself from whining to Nick through their link, “Hurry up, Nick. I need him!” But Nick was ignoring her.

Scully snapped herself out of her self pity long enough to notice that Natalie was behaving just like she was. Morose. “What’s she got to be down about?” Scully thought.

“What’s the matter, Natalie?” Scully asked, raising her brow at the almost pensive look on Natalie’s face as she cast sidelong glances at Scully.

“I don’t know, Dana. I… I don’t know how to explain how I feel,” Natalie began. “Everything is a whirlwind.” She shook her head as if trying to clear it, “Did you know that less than 1 week ago I was still trying to help Nick ‘cure’ his vampirism. I despaired of his ever loving me… I couldn’t imagine how I was going to go on without him if he left.” Natalie hugged herself, bewildered at the tears she felt threaten to well up in her eyes. Sometimes that seems like a lifetime ago- time so distant that I can’t even remember it clearly. But I still wake up in the middle of the day and feel alone. Then I roll over and see Nick sleeping next to me and it feels like a vise loosening from my heart. And, I didn’t even know it was squeezing the life out of me until it was removed.”

Scully watched as the tears that were filling Natalie’s eyes finally welled over and rolled down her cheeks. Really, she had just met this woman a handful of days ago- how could she feel such empathy for her? She knew the answer was a combination of her blood link with Nick, and her own frighteningly similar experience with Mulder.

Natalie had stopped talking and was just sitting there, staring off into space, not even noticing the tears trailing down. She started suddenly at the feel of Scully’s cool hand cupping her cheek, her thumb gently wiping away the tears. She looked into the eyes of this woman- this vampire, the childé of her lover, closer to him than she herself in some ways. She saw the blood tears welling in Scully’s eyes and realized, “She knows exactly how I feel.”

Scully’s words echoed Natalie's thoughts. “I understand,” was all she said, but the look on her face and the tears in her eyes spoke volumes.

Scully was surprised when Natalie copied her own gesture. She felt the warm palm and thumb wipe away tears she hadn’t even realized were falling. “So much, so quickly, after sitting in neutral for years,” she said as she pressed her cheek into Natalie’s palm, luxuriating in the warmth of contact with a like soul. “I haven’t felt like this since Missy died,” she thought. Out loud she said, “So much pain for so long that I had forgotten how it felt to be without it. It’s like my heart was numb and now the return of sensation is almost painful in its intensity.”

Natalie found her head nodding in unconscious agreement, “Like pins and needles. But, I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” she said with a genuine smile.

Scully’s eyes suddenly lost focus in that way that Natalie was beginning to realize indicated her silent communication with Mulder. Scully laughed and said, “Nick wants to know what we are doing.”

Natalie was taken aback slightly, “Why?”

“Mulder is crying and has a ‘ridiculous smile’ on his face, as Grandpa puts it,” Scully replied.

Natalie laughed heartily at both the image of Mulder as described, and her own imagination of the look on LaCroix’s face at the sight. Then the thought of his reaction to hearing Scully call him ‘grandpa’ made her laugh even harder.

They both calmed down slowly, dropping their hands, but each realizing the closeness they felt toward each other was another welcome change. Natalie said, “I didn’t have a sister or girlfriend in my life growing up, but I think it would have been like this.”

Scully was so happy that the memory of Melissa didn’t even sting like it usually did. “I had a sister. We were close, but not like this. I feel like you’re a best friend I have known for years, but I don’t know that much about you. Even though I have shared Nick’s memories of you.”

Natalie looked slightly confused.

Scully grimaced, “I’m not saying this very well… It’s like I know you very well, but I don’t know things about your life.” She paused and tilted her head slightly, “Does that make any sense?”

Natalie got it then. “Nick and I didn’t really ever talk about either of our pasts. Before the blood link I knew very little about his life before Toronto. I think he would say the same. I was never very talkative about my own past.”

Scully was shaking her head.

“What?” Natalie asked.

“That’s one area where Mulder and I are different. I know almost everything about Mulder’s past. Much of the last seven years of our lives has been spent trying to find answers about Mulder’s past, especially his sister. In the process I think I have learned most of Mulder’s life… the events anyway.” Scully pondered for a moment, digging in to her link with her lover. “Actually, I think I didn’t know him at all. Not really- I knew the events, but only as biographical details. Before the link, I didn’t really know how those events really impacted him. Not the full extent anyway.”

Natalie asked, “How do you mean?”

“You would never know it to meet him or talk to him. Or even to work with him; but he is a very tortured soul. It wasn’t until I had witnessed some of his recurring nightmares that I even got a glimpse of how the horrible events in his life have affected him.” Scully’s eyes lost focus again. “I can’t understand how he didn’t snap,” she said softly, as if to herself. “I think I would have had to be institutionalized if I had gone through that as a child.”

[Now you know why it was so easy for me to profile all of those psychotic serial killers and mass murders] Mulder thought to her. [I was one step from joining them. If it hadn’t been for you, I probably would have.]

[Oh, Mulder.] She thought back to him with a smile. [Don’t be so melodramatic.]

She and Natalie fell into comfortable conversation, getting to know one another’s past experiences as they already knew their present personalities.

===== X-FILES ===== FOREVER KNIGHT ===== HIGHLANDER =====

Terminal 3

Lester B Pearson International Airport

3:08 a.m. Friday December 15th.

Methos caught up to Ken Baker as he was waiting for a red-eye flight back to the states. He introduced himself and began asking questions, giving Baker the impression that he was on official Chapterhouse business, investigating the possibility of a new player in the game. After Baker made some statements that contradicted key areas of his report, Methos began to press him for the truth.

Feeling the relentless pressure of questioning by this Pearson fellow, finally Ken was at his wit’s end, “I couldn’t report what I saw! I had to be seeing things, it isn’t possible!”

Methos recognized that Baker was about to lose it, so the toned it down, “Its ok, Ken. Just tell me what it looked like to you.”

“No! Its crazy, you’ll think I’m mad!” Baker moaned, face buried in his hands.

Methos put his hand on Ken’s shoulder and reassured him, “Ken. You spend your days chasing immortals around the globe, watching them chop off each other’s heads in order to take their quickening. Why would I think you’re mad?”

Baker chuckled slightly at that. “Alright. I’ll tell you, but remember- you made me tell you. I still think I must have been hallucinating.” He furtively checked the surrounding area for anyone who might be listening, then leaned in close to Methos and began speaking.

“I was following Willy when he suddenly veered into this parking lot. I knew from experience that this usually meant that he had felt a quickening. I pulled over across the street from the diner and started watching. A man and a woman exited the diner and I could see the man begin to look around himself- he was the immortal and he was trying to figure out where the quickening was coming from. He spotted Willy who was walking very rapidly toward them. He sent the woman away just as Willy drew his sword.” Baker shook his head again, “I waited for him to draw his sword, but he just stood there. I got a sick feeling in my stomach- I mean, its not that I really like seeing anyone get their head cut off, but at least there is usually a fair fight first. Both individuals enter into combat knowingly and the best fighter wins.” His voice took on a hollow, haunted quality, “I was about to watch Willy walk up to an unarmed man and chop his head off. I knew he was a real bastard, but I never thought… I guess I didn’t know what to think.”

Baker paused for several moments, obviously reliving his feelings at that moment in time. Methos encouraged him to continue, “But that isn’t what happened, is it?”

“No. No, it isn’t. You could see that Willy expected an easy one because he just walked up to this guy and cocked his sword back behind his head like he was going to hit a home run or something,” Baker said.

“It’s like pulling bloody teeth!” Methos thought as Baker stopped again. “And then?” he said aloud.

“I’m sure this guy didn’t have a sword. His hands were empty, at his sides. I don’t know how he did it, but there’s Willy standing there in front of him, about to chop his freakin’ head off, and then…” He stopped and looked Methos right in the eye, “I didn’t see him move, man! I freakin’ blinked and when my eyes opened, this guy is standing behind Willy like he had walked past him. Willy is still standing there with his sword still cocked back, but his head is torn off.”

“Torn off? What do you mean?” Methos asked.

“I mean its not cut off, because it is still hanging down his back by a little piece of skin, but his neck is all torn up, like the guy just tore his head off with his bare hands. God, I puked my guts out when I saw his head hanging there like that.” Baker leaned back and slouched down in his chair. “Anyway, there was the quickening and then the woman pulls up in a green Cadillac- old one, early ‘60s maybe- and the guy grabs the body and the head- which must have come loose in the quickening- and throws it in the trunk of the car. Then he jumps in the passenger seat and they take off. End of story.”

Methos just sat there, absorbing this news.

“Now can you see why I couldn’t report this?” Baker whined.

Methos decided that he would have to get the rest of the story from Mulder himself. “Yes, you did the right thing, Ken. I suggest you keep this to yourself- it is pretty unbelievable.” He said to Baker. “Good luck,” he said as he stood up and walked away.

Baker decided that he would put in for a transfer to research when he got the states. “I’ll just pretend this whole thing never happened,” he decided.

===== X-FILES ===== FOREVER KNIGHT ===== HIGHLANDER =====

The Corbeau

2 a.m. Friday December 15th

Mac sat at the bar for an hour, nursing a couple of drinks. He thought he had spotted her at a table near the back of the club, but he had decided to wait a bit and see if she would make any move, either toward or away from him, before he approached her. Frankly, he had no idea why he felt like this. Certainly, she was lovely- young, charming, and aristocratic. He was intrigued that such a young girl would have an interest, and the money to exercise that interest, in fine antique jewelry. He was also intrigued that she owned this club; which- if a bit on the dark, gothic design- was quite elegant, without being stuffy. “She barely seems old enough to drink, let alone operate such an establishment,” he thought.

Mac looked around the club for a while longer, still struck by that nagging sense of déjà vu that he had felt upon entering. He couldn’t put his finger on it. He hadn’t been to this club before, it didn’t appear to be a chain, or copy of anyplace he could remember- yet it felt eerily familiar. The entire evening seemed to be a mystery- the girl he couldn’t remove from his thoughts, and the club. “I should just forget about this and leave,” he decided. He stood up to walk out, but found that his steps were taking him across the dance floor, directly towards her table.

===== X-FILES ===== FOREVER KNIGHT ===== HIGHLANDER =====

Janette knew that he had seen her. His gaze returned to her table again and again. For one brief moment their gazes had locked, and she thought her heart might have actually beat twice in succession. She wondered why he made no move towards her, at the same time dreading that he might do that very thing. She knew that she could leave, and he would undoubtedly get the message, “Maybe he is waiting to see if I will,” she thought. She rationalized that it was her club, and she would not allow some pathetic mortal, no matter how beguiling he might be, to drive her from it. It had nothing at all to do with her wanting him to come over to her table and join her. Absolutely nothing at all.

When he stood up, her heart fluttered again. She berated herself for acting like a child. If he did decide to walk over and join her, she would be calm. She would be cool. She would be… Janette; 1000 year-old vampire seductress.

“Oh, my,” she said as he began to cross the dance floor. He walked a perfectly straight line towards her. Dancers seemed to move out of his way inadvertently, as though the sheer presence of him was enough to part the sea of humanity before him. They closed behind him without missing a step, as though it had been carefully choreographed.

===== X-FILES ===== FOREVER KNIGHT ===== HIGHLANDER =====

MacLeod wasn’t entirely sure what he was doing. He really had meant to leave. Now was not the time for emotional entanglements. He had more important things to consider- Mulder, possibly Natalie as well. Even if he did not take them as his students, his own sense of honor would preclude him from simply abandoning them to their fate. He had never abandoned a new immortal when he found them. He would always arrange for their training if he were unable or unwilling to do it himself. That not all of them availed themselves of his largess was not his fault. He could no more force them to learn than he could turn back time itself.

All of these thoughts ran through his mind at once, encouraging him to turn away and leave now. His steps did not falter, however. He didn’t even notice the dancers parting before him; his attention was on her. Janette dúCharme. She alone held captive his attention at this moment. He tried to think of what he was going to say when he got to her table, but he found it hard to concentrate. Normally he had no trouble at all charming a lady- he had, after all, four centuries of practice. Tonight he felt a nervousness he didn’t remember having ever felt before. He stood in front of her, silent for a moment, overcome by something about her- though he couldn’t tell what.

Janette was fascinated by this man. She stared at him as he stood before her, silent and still. Finally she heard him say, “I was going to leave.” She felt an altogether unreasonable sense of loss hearing that. “But, you did not,” she replied, unable to think of anything other than the obvious.

Mac didn’t know where that came from. “I was going to leave?” he thought. “That probably wasn’t the smoothest line.” Her response, however, did nothing to discourage him. “I couldn’t,” he replied. Again honestly, if not elegantly put.

Now she was even more intrigued - he seemed as affected by her, as she was by him. “Why?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” he replied. “I got up to walk out the door, but I ended up here.”

“Do you want to leave?” she asked.

He shook his head slowly, never breaking eye contact.

Janette smiled warmly, truly pleased that she had this effect on him. He certainly was having a strong effect on her! She decided to ignore her earlier advice to herself, “Then let us throw caution to the wind. Sit down, Mr. MacLeod,” she invited.

“Please, call me Duncan, Mademoiselle dúCharme,” he replied as he accepted her offer.

“Certainly, Duncan. And please, Mademoiselle dúCharme is so formal; you must call me Janette,” she replied.

“Janette. Of course…” MacLeod paused again for a moment and considered the lovely girl before him. “I don’t want to give you the wrong impression, Janette. I don’t generally follow after young ladies whom I bump into accidentally,” he began.

“Non? This is not a habit of yours then?” she teased. “Should I consider myself special?” she said with a genuine smile. She could hear his heart racing, and his blood had a spicy, peppery smell to it, like a young American northwest pinot noir. More than the smell of his blood, however, his very presence was arousing her, not just the vampire but the woman as well.

Though MacLeod recognized the teasing tone and it would have been easy to fall into a light, flirtatious banter, he was unable to do so. In all seriousness he said, “I must say, Janette, that there is something very extraordinary about you. I find myself captivated. I don’t want to sound trite; we hardly know one another in the least. However, I would very much like to rectify that.”

“You do not sound at all trite, Duncan, though if anyone else had used such a line on me I would have been offended. However, you also have strangely intrigued me. I would not normally have allowed you to approach me at all, let alone so openly,” she said.

Normally MacLeod would have dismissed such a statement as empty bravado; however, he could feel from this little slip of a girl a sense of strength and power that belied her frail appearance. “I must be going mad,” he thought; he became more enchanted by this woman every moment he spent in her presence. He could not think of any woman in his past that had so fascinated him.

Janette was amazed. “I hope I can wait long enough to see if he is worth bringing across,” she thought; one last vestige of reason holding tenuously under the onslaught of her desire. Certainly this man must be a sorcerer to mesmerize her so quickly and so thoroughly.

MacLeod wanted to take her away from this place, he felt suddenly uncomfortable in the club- he felt as though they were being watched. “Would you come for a walk with me?” he asked. “It is quite noisy in here,” he added, trying to come up with a reasonable excuse to leave the club. He didn’t think ‘I’m jealous at the thought of anyone else even looking at you right now’ would cut it.

She thought that was an extremely apt suggestion. She felt an absurd compulsion to separate him from anyone’s presence, outside of her own. Rather than responding verbally, she merely stood up and took his arm, waiting for him to lead her out. Rather than going through the crowded dance floor she then suggested, “let us go out the back, yes?” indicating the direction with a nod of her head.

As MacLeod led her to the rear exit, he marveled at how right this felt, having this woman on his arm. He was intellectually aware that this entire situation was completely ridiculous- both of them were behaving precipitously at best, they really knew nothing about each other. He should have been concerned at her willingness to go along with such lunacy. There was no good reason for her to respond as she was unless she had an ulterior motive. Yet he could not bring himself to believe that this was the case.

“What is happening to me?” he wondered as they walked out into the night.

===== X-FILES ===== FOREVER KNIGHT ===== HIGHLANDER =====

Nick’s Loft

3:15 am

Nick and Nat rode the elevator up to the loft in silence. They were holding each other in their arms, kissing. Soft, languorous kissing, telling each other without words of their love and adoration for each other. Mulder and Dana had decided to go flying for a bit. Nick had sternly warned Dana about being in before dawn, and Mulder had quipped ‘I’ll be sure to have your daughter home at a reasonable hour, Mr. Knight’, annoying Nick, but causing Natalie to laugh. Dana had reassured him that she would be sure to be back in plenty of time.

Nick cupped Natalie’s face in his cool hands and broke the kiss, “Your eyes are red, Nat. Why were you crying?” he asked gently, stroking his thumbs across her cheekbones.

Natalie was slightly embarrassed, but it didn’t even occur to her to lie. “It’s hard to explain, Nick.” She took a deep breath as she paused to consider how to put into words the way she was feeling. The elevator stopped and she waited until Nick had opened the door. She took him by the hand and led him over to the couch. She sat him down and then cuddled up in his lap, resting her head on his chest.

“I’m so happy right now Nick. Sometimes I wake up and think its all been just a dream. I wake up in the middle of the day and I almost cry because I was so happy and it turns out it was just another in a long series of Nick and Natalie fantasy dreams. Then I realize where I am, and I roll over and see you sleeping next to me,” she stopped and pulled away from him slightly to look him in the eyes. “It’s like my heart was being squeezed in an enormous fist, and I never realized how much pain I was in until it let go. I get so overwhelmed with relief and love that it almost hurts.” She answered the unspoken confusion in Nick’s eyes, “Do you remember when you were mortal and you fell asleep on your arm, and when you woke up it felt like little pins and needles were jabbing your flesh as the arm as feeling returned?” At his nod of comprehension she continued, “It’s not pins and needles, but it is a pain that is accompanying the return of feeling to my heart.”

She reached out and ran her hands over his face. “A week ago I thought I had lost you forever. I was despondent. I cried myself to sleep almost every night. I felt like a teenage girl with a crush on the most popular boy in school. Oh God Nick, I was such an idiot.”

“No Natalie, you weren’t an idiot. If I had been more open…” Nick began.

“Shh, Nick. This isn’t about recriminations. Both of us were blind.” She laid her head back on his shoulder, pressing her forehead against his neck, “You barely spoke 3 words to any woman who was near you, and you were totally oblivious to the advances of some of the more aggressive ones. Yes you spent tons of time with me. You sought me out for no other reason than to talk to me, you invited me over to watch movies and let me fall asleep in your arms all the time. In retrospect, I was an idiot not to notice how much you wanted me.”

Nick smiled, “I even choked down those terrible concoctions you made for me.”

Natalie slapped him on the chest, “Hey! I was trying to help you! They weren’t supposed to taste great,” she complained.

“One of these days, after you come across, you’re going to have to try one of those, just so you can get the full effect.

Natalie sobered at that. “After I come across… Nick, what if I…”

It was Nick’s turn to interrupt, “Shh, Whatever happens, you and I will be together forever. Even if you don’t cross, we won’t be denied the important part- you and I can be linked together. I know you want to fly,” he had seen that in their sharing together, “and I want that too, but its more important that neither of us will grow old and leave the other behind.”

“What if someone wants my head?” she asked plaintively.

“There’s no reason you have to fight if you don’t want to, Nat. You can run away, or I can help protect you until you’re strong enough to defend yourself. Plus, it’s not like you’re going to go out looking for a fight.” Nick stroked his fingers up, across her cheek and into her hair, “Whatever comes- you and I will face it together.”

They snuggled together for several minutes before Natalie's caresses became less soothing, and more arousing.

“Nick?”

“Yes, Love?”

“I don’t want to wait for tomorrow,” she whispered.

Nick’s senses were suddenly on overload as the vampire came out in full force. He yearned to drink her down to death, stimulating the rebirth of another daughter, this one to be both daughter and eternal mate. “Me neither!” he grunted out around his fully descended fangs. “Come on!” he said, getting up and leading her to the stairs.

Natalie’s heart was hammering in her chest. Hope and anticipation and fear and dread were warring inside her. She didn’t think she could wait another moment to do this. She wanted so badly to join Nick in his world, but even if she couldn’t, she knew they could be closer when she shed her mortality one way or the other.

Nick stopped them at the foot of the stairs, “Natalie, I wanted to make this special, for you to have a last meal with all of your favorites, for you to take one last walk in the sun…” he began.

Natalie interrupted, “I want my next meal to come from you Nick. I want my next walk to be a flight through the night sky with you.”

Nick just smiled at his beloved, more in love with her at that moment than he could have ever conceived of in his long life. He grabbed her and flew them up the stairs and into the bedroom.

===== X-FILES ===== FOREVER KNIGHT ===== HIGHLANDER =====

The CN Tower

3:15 am

Scully luxuriated in the strength her new incarnation afforded her. She flew herself and her lover to the one place she had secretly wanted to go since landing in Toronto almost a week ago; the CN Tower.

Standing atop tall structures always brought out the childlike joyfulness in her. When she was young, being able to look down from a great height allowed her to fantasize that she could fly. Now that she really could, the elation of standing on the edge was sharpened, rather than diminished. She leapt off of the edge a couple of times and flew back in, just for the sheer delight of it.

Mulder reveled in his lover’s joy. “God, this feels so amazing!” he said.

Scully threw herself into his arms, giggling like a little girl. “What does?” she asked, feeling his echo of her delight, but not catching his exact thoughts.

“This,” Mulder replied. “You, laughing in utter delight, the feel of flying and the feel of being carried in flight. Me, wrapping my arms around you and holding you tight. All of it- it feels so… so…”

“Right. It feels right. It feels like home, like belonging,” she finished for him. She felt his joy surge even more as she spoke.

“Yes. That’s exactly how it feels. I love you so much!” Mulder said.

Scully could feel the outpouring of love washing over her and flowing back from her into him. “Me too,” was all she got out before their lips met.

Their kiss was all encompassing, as their focus narrowed to the sensation of lips and tongue to the exclusion of everything else. Slowly their awareness expanded to include the whole of their bodies and they touched, stroked and undressed each other. Seemingly of their own volition, their bodies joined together as their mouths had. They breathed each other’s breath as they moved within and around one another. As they neared their climax, Scully sliced into her throat with one sharp fingernail and moved Mulder’s head to her neck to drink. She then bit into him and they simultaneously came. As with the last time the orgasm was amplified in a feedback loop until both passed out from the pure ecstasy.

Mulder died again after the sensation overload rendered them both unconscious. Even though Scully didn’t drain him entirely, it was enough to cause his heart to stop. Nevertheless, he recovered first, gasping back to life in what he was coming to determine was the ‘normal’ manner. He found himself propped up against the wall of the enclosure, a naked, boneless vampire sleeping in his arms. Her head was lolled back, and he could see the tips of her fangs through her slightly parted lips. He suddenly noticed the smell of her blood, still drizzling slowly out of the wound on her throat. “Scully, you smell like… strawberries?” Mulder rasped. He was suddenly compelled to lick the blood from her throat. “Oh my God!” he whispered. The taste was unlike anything he had ever had before. Both of the previous times he had tasted her blood, last night and just a few minuets ago, it had tasted like blood- slightly bitter and metallic. Now, it was sweet and rich, with hints of acidic tartness- like biting into a fresh, just ripened strawberry. And, it was definitely Scully. It tasted like her, as though- somehow- there was ‘essence of Scully’ mixed in with the berries. He would forever be able to identify that taste as ‘Scully’s Blood.’

He bent down for another taste, and suddenly he felt a tearing sensation in his gums. “Ouch!” he said, loudly enough to wake Scully from her stupor.

Scully came to, just in time to see Mulder staring at her with green eyes and fangs. To say she was startled was understating things rather a bit. “Mulder? Are you ok?”

“You tashte like shtrawberriesh, Shcully.” Mulder lisped through his new fangs in a husky, sex-roughened voice.

The combination of the desire evident in Mulder’s voice, his comment about the flavor of her blood, and the eyes and fangs was too much for Scully to bear. She felt her own fangs at full extension and couldn’t help but sink them in Mulder’s throat.

The sensation of being bitten, previously erotic but painful, was suddenly a discovery of a whole new erogenous zone. He felt a hard slap, as his erection grew rock hard with a single heartbeat. He drove himself into Scully at the same time he buried his new teeth into her neck at the shoulder. “Oh, dear God!” he thought. The flavor of Scully’s cool blood in his mouth was almost overpowering. [You taste so good, Scully!] he thought to her.

[Now you know why I can’t keep my fangs off of you, Mulder.] she replied. [You taste like cardamom- fragrant and overpowering and wonderful!] Suddenly the taste changed and she tasted strawberries.

Mulder also noticed the flavor shift to the cardamom Scully was describing, and they jointly realized that each was experiencing the sensation of the other, as though their minds had switched places. Before they could examine this new experience in any more detail, Mulder died again, dragging Scully back down into unconsciousness as he went.

===== X-FILES ===== FOREVER KNIGHT ===== HIGHLANDER =====

Nick’s Loft

3:55 am

Natalie never even felt the sting of Nick’s fangs in her throat. He had worked her to a fever pitch with his hands and mouth. He had started gently, slowly removing her clothes and laying her out on the bed- reverently kissing her everywhere on her body. Soon he had two fingers buried in her, stroking her g-spot while his lips and tongue worked her clitoris. As she crested over the top and came crashing down into her orgasm he slid up her body, still working her with his fingers, and buried his fangs into her throat.

Natalie awoke to find herself standing at the crossroads that Dana had described. She didn’t see a doorway, though. Dana had mentioned a doorway.

After a bit, she began to grow concerned. “Uh, Where’s the door,” she asked aloud hesitantly. “Hello!” she shouted a bit louder. “Anyone around?”

“You’re not supposed to be here!”

Natalie whirled around to face the speaker. When she thought about it later, she couldn’t remember anything about him/her/it. Whatever it was, it repeated its statement- “You are not supposed to be here! Your kind doesn’t come this way.”

“My kind?” Natalie asked.

“You have to go back now!” the figure said.

Natalie blinked, and when she opened her eyes, she found herself conscious again, sucking from Nick’s bloody wrist. Oh, it tasted so good; she couldn’t have imagined that anything- let alone blood- could taste this good. Not to mention the link that came with it. She could feel that Nick was happy and excited that she had crossed over to join him. She was happy too. Finally Nick pulled his arm away from her, when it was clear she wouldn’t be letting go on her own. She resisted, but she was too tired to put up more than a token struggle.

Nick’s heart was overflowing with pure, clear joy. “My daughter, my lover, my soul mate!” he exulted. “We will never be separated again!” He stroked her hair, savoring this moment. It was a moment he had secretly yearned for every minute of the last six years. He had hidden it from himself, disgusted with the idea of ‘dragging her into his own hell’ as he thought of it. Now that he had finally accepted that his misery was of his own making, and not inherent to his existence, he could rejoice in having his dearest love join with him in eternal night.

“Who needs sunlight when I have you, Natalie,” he reverently whispered.

He was feeling a bit light-headed from the blood Natalie had taken from him, and went down to get a snack, as well as stocking up so when she awoke, he would be ready for her.

As Nick drank his ‘snack’ he reached out for his other childé, concerned that she not find herself stuck outside the loft during the day, even though he knew Mulder would take care of her. He really liked Dana. He had brought her across out of a sense of responsibility, which he felt for her because she had been harmed while ‘under his protection,’ and out of sympathy for her and Mulder’s situation. If he had ever thought of bringing someone across, “Not counting Nat, of course,” it wouldn’t have been Dana Scully. Knowing her like he did now, he was glad he had been in the right place and time to sire a childé like her. Even though it had only been a short time since her transformation, he had the advantage of the deep link, and knew her better than anyone in her life ever had before, “Except for Mulder, now,” he thought. And Dana Scully was definitely the stuff a good vampire was made of, as he defined it anyway.

As he reached through their link, he found Dana and Mulder flying on their way back here. She expected they would be back around 5:30, giving them plenty of time before the sun rose.

Nick climbed the stairs back up to his room. He had 6 bottles, and usually four or five was enough, so he figured he was prepared. He set them on the nightstand on his side of the bed, and lay down next to her. She was still lying on top of the sheets, naked. Nick marveled at her form, visually caressing every inch of her voluptuous body. Her skin, already pale, had turned marble white, in stark contrast to her thick mass of brunette hair, and her lips, dark red like a vintage port.

“I love you so much, Natalie. I’m glad we can share it in the bloodkiss, because I could never find the words to tell you how much,” Nick whispered softly to his sleeping lover. Indeed he was himself amazed. Not at how much she deserved his love, but rather at his own capacity for love. He had been with Janette on and off for centuries, and he did love her, both then and now. He had once loved a mortal enough to marry her, and to try and bring her across to join him. When she had died, he had been despondent for months. He missed her terribly, and yearned for her greatly, but never once in that time of mourning, did he ever even consider ending his own life. He knew even the moment she had died in his arms that he would get over her eventually. He didn’t admit it at the time, of course. But, looking back, he could now see it.

There was no way he could ever go on without Natalie. He probably loved her more in the first year they had known each other than he had ever loved Janette or Alyssa. By the time 2 years had passed, he could no sooner have done without her than he could have done without his arms and legs. He was happy with everything in his life right now, even those things that didn’t directly involve Natalie; his relationship with LaCroix, his daughter Dana, just everything. But, he knew that if something were to take her away from him, he would be unable to go on. He couldn’t look into the future and not see Natalie there with him. Thank God, he wouldn’t have to face that.

===== X-FILES ===== FOREVER KNIGHT ===== HIGHLANDER =====

Quick-Mart

5:35 am

This time they had awoken together, Mulder’s fangs had retracted, and his thirst was not for blood, but for orange juice. Scully flew them down from the tower and directly to the closest 24-hr market they could find. Scully was torn between mortification and mirth as Mulder up-ended 3 gallons of orange juice, one after the other. She was embarrassed at her lack of control, draining the poor man twice in the space of ten minutes.

Even though she wasn’t thinking actual words at him, Mulder could tell she was upset about draining him twice in such a short space of time. “I told you Scully…” he paused to take another drink, “Don’t feel bad…” another drink, “I would take this thirst every day…” another drink, “ for the rest of my immortal life…” he finished the bottle, “to have you make me feel like that.”

She was still a little embarrassed by it, but she could feel the easy sincerity in his voice, as well as feel the deep sense of satisfaction that he felt. “I just need you so much Mulder, I feel a little, I don’t know, desperate I guess. Overly needy. Smothering.”

“You know that I feel the same way about you Scully. You can feel it in me, just like I feel it in you. Call me an enabler, but you’re welcome to bite whenever you feel the slightest urge,” he said with a broad grin, taking her in his arms and ravaging her mouth with his own.

Scully felt the vampire rising to the fore again, and forced herself to stop. “Mulder, stop it. We’ll never make it back to the loft at this rate.”

“And this is a bad thing because…?” he responded.

“We have the rest of our lives, Mulder. And, if we don’t get me inside in the next hour, the rest of my life will be measured in minutes, not centuries,” she said, mock-exasperated.

“Oh, yeah… That.” Mulder said thoughtfully. “I could probably wait long enough for us to make it to the loft before I have to rip your clothes off and ravish you again,” Mulder said with a deadpan look.

“I’ll hold you to that, Mulder,” Scully said; equally deadpan, as they took flight for the short trip back to the loft.