Categories > TV > X-Files > Incarnations of Immortality
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 17
Nick’s Loft
6pm Saturday December 16th
By the time Mulder had returned, Scully was feeling very out of sorts. Mulder had been picking up on that feeling during his drive back and ended up nearly hitting the garage door as he slid to a stop outside the loft. He jumped out of his car and practically ran into the elevator.
Nick and Natalie were watching Scully with some concern. Ever since they had gotten up that evening and come down stairs, she had been pacing back and forth in front of the door to the elevator.
“Dana, what’s wrong?” Natalie asked the pacing redhead.
Scully looked up, surprised, at the question, “Nothing’s wrong, Nat. Why do you ask?” she said with confusion in her voice.
Her pacing continued unchecked.
Nick and Nat shared a glance, the shared question resonating across their link.
“Well, I was just concerned that you might actually wear a trench in the concrete…” Nick said, pointedly glancing at the floor underneath Scully’s pacing feet.
“What are you talking…” Scully began, following his gaze to her feet; which she just realized were furiously pacing back and forth in front of the elevator door. She realized that she had been ignoring their attempts to engage her in conversation for over 30 minutes. She looked back up at her master and his mate- her sister- and apologized sheepishly, “Sorry Nick. Sorry Nat, I’m just waiting for Mulder to get here.”
“Speaking of Mulder, Where is he?” Natalie voiced the question she had been trying to have Scully answer for the last half-hour.
Scully slowly made her way over to the now-grinning pair. It was almost as if she could feel her body’s resistance to leaving the elevator. She had been entirely focused on Mulder, watching his trip through his eyes, silently urging him to hurry. She absentmindedly replied to Natalie’s question- her mind wandering back to the front seat of Mulder’s car as he sped back to the loft- “Oh, he went out for breakfast.”
Nick and Nat both noted Scully’s thoughts wandering away again and shared another look of concern. Her body was standing right in front of them, but her mind was obviously with her lover.
Just then they heard the sound of car tires screeching to a halt just outside the loft. They saw awareness snap back into Scully’s gaze. They watched in amusement as Scully returned to the elevator and begin pacing even more furiously in front of the door while the elevator slowly made its way up to the loft.
Mulder was feeling even more frantic as he impatiently waited for the elevator to reach its destination. He barely had his hand on the door when it violently slid open and he was flung to the back of the car. Scully was wrapped around him, her teeth buried in his throat.
She had no rational thought- as soon as the car reached the floor of the loft; she was tearing at the door to get to him. She barely even saw him before she was on him. She didn’t know what she was feeling until she touched him, then the hunger rolled over her, and she knew instinctively that only his blood would quell the pangs she was feeling. She felt his teeth tear into her shoulder before their intertwined bodies hit the back of the elevator car.
Neither would later be able to recall which one of them initiated the flight to the bedroom, or even the flight itself. All they knew was that they needed to bury themselves in one another with all due haste.
Nick and Nat stood, jaws agape, as the two flashed out of the elevator car, fangs still locked into each other’s flesh, bits of fabric falling away from the flying couple as they tore each others clothes off in an effort to get skin on skin. The lust they felt through the master-childé link, combined with the pheromones saturating the air, was too much for them to take, and Natalie quickly pounced on Nick, tearing at his clothing and latching onto his shoulder, as he was quicker and already had his teeth sunk into her throat.
Had there been anyone left to witness it, a second mass of fabric-flinging, snarling vampire flesh would have been seen flying up into one of the bedrooms.
===== X-FILES ===== FOREVER KNIGHT ===== HIGHLANDER =====
Tracy Vetter’s Apartment
7pm Saturday
Tracy had wanted to get some of her things to move to the church immediately, as well as to give notice to her landlord. Vachon went to get a few cases of ‘provisions’ and said he would meet her at her apartment in a couple of hours or less. She had to drive, so that she would have someplace to put things, and so it was that she saw her father’s jaguar parked in the lot outside her building.
“This had to happen sooner or later,” she thought to herself with a sigh. “I was just hoping for later.”
She noticed with some annoyance that his car was empty, meaning that he had obviously decided to let himself into her apartment to wait for her. He would no doubt be angry and just waiting to attack her the moment she walked through the door. She decided to speak to her landlord first, so that she could spend as little time in his presence as possible
A week ago she would have been afraid of facing his anger. Now she was only afraid that she would give in to the desire to kill him.
Commissioner Vetter was extremely angry with his daughter. He had been waiting at her apartment for hours, waiting for her to get back. He had worked his way through most of the bottle of bourbon she kept around for his infrequent visits, and was fully primed for confrontation when he finally heard the key in the lock to the front door.
“Where the hell have you been?!” he roared as soon as she walked in the door. “Do you have any idea how long I have been waiting for you? Why haven’t you returned my calls?” he began his tirade. He expected to see guilty embarrassment on her face, to hear some pathetic excuse come forth and was prepared to cut her off mid sentence. What he got was so far outside of his expectations that he was rendered temporarily mute.
All he saw was annoyance. All he heard was, “None of your business; No; and I didn’t want to speak to you.”
Tracy was secretly amused by the response she got from him. He looked like a fish out of water, his mouth opening and closing, but no sound emerging. She faced him fully, hands on hips, and wearily asked, “What do you want?”
When he didn’t respond, she continued into the apartment, walking toward her bedroom to pack.
He followed her into the bedroom and watched her begin packing her clothes and other personal items into several boxes. “What the hell are you doing?” he demanded.
Tracy almost laughed in his face. “I can’t believe I used to fear this man,” she thought. Out loud she answered, “Packing. I’m moving out.”
“Where? What the hell is going on?” he shouted, flustered and confused, and enraged.
He really was a tiresome little man, she observed. “That also is none of your business,” she answered. “Now, if you will excuse me…” she said as she walked past him with two boxes stacked in her arms.
He had never been this angry before in his life. He reached out and grabbed her arm, meaning to spill the boxes from her hands and spin her to face him. He might as well have grabbed onto a passing truck. Her momentum was slowed not one bit, and he was yanked forward, face first onto the floor. Tracy continued unchecked and set the boxes down on the floor by the door. She unhurriedly returned to the bedroom where her pathetic excuse for a father was just getting up off of the floor.
Tracy looked directly into his eyes and said, “Don’t ever touch me again.”
He felt a chill of fear run up his spine at the tone of her voice and the coldness in her eyes. He made one last half-hearted attempt to intimidate her. “I am your father, Tracy! You will…” he began.
Tracy cut him off, “Except for sperm donor, there is not one positive definition of ‘father’ to which you can lay claim.” She continued in the same menacing tone, “If you feel the need to communicate with me in the future, I suggest you go through the chain of command, commissioner.” As an afterthought she added, “Oh, leave the door key on the counter on your way out. The landlord will be wanting it back when I move.” She then turned her back on him and began loading some more boxes.
Stunned at her dismissal, He silently turned and left the apartment, slapping the key down loudly on the counter and slamming the door as he exited.
===== X-FILES ===== FOREVER KNIGHT ===== HIGHLANDER =====
Nick’s Loft
7pm Saturday
It was a very sheepish Mulder and Scully that made their way down the stairs to where Nick and Natalie were waiting- their faces a combination of curiosity, concern, and smirking.
“And just what was that all about?” Nick asked his daughter.
Scully looked to the kitchen, where Natalie was unceremoniously downing a bottle of blood; Nick was at least using a glass, but he too appeared to have consumed most of a bottle. She glanced at Mulder and thought, [you’re not helping, here!] as she saw that he was barely suppressing a leer.
[Sorry, Scully. But, it’s a good question!] he replied silently. [Mind you, I’m all for a good ravishing, but I’ve never seriously considered doing it in front of our friends.] Now the leer was no longer hidden.
Nick watched this interplay for a moment before asserting a little authority, “Daughter, I asked you a question!” he said both aloud and through the link to Scully.
“I don’t know, Nick!” Scully almost whined. “I… I've never… I don’t know! When I woke up and he wasn’t there, I felt… I don’t know, antsy I guess,” she said with a sigh. “We usually… well you know. When we first wake up, I mean,” she said, embarrassed to be discussing this topic.
Nick smiled at his childé’s discomfiture. “Dana, vampires are very sensual creatures. When they live as a pair, it is entirely normal for them to have sex at least daily.”
Everyone chuckled when Natalie muttered, “Thank God!” Now it was her turn to be self-conscious, as she hadn’t meant to say that out loud.
Scully was still concerned, though. “Yes, but… well it was more than just desire, Nick,” she said quietly. “The past couple of days, it was like… I can’t come up with a good analogy,” she muttered. Suddenly one occurred to her, “It was like heartburn- where it feels like your insides are on fire; and Mulder’s blood was like antacid putting out the flames. Except, the burning was throughout my whole body.” She looked up at Nick; his face was showing surprise and concern. She sighed again and walked with Mulder over to the couch where he sat in the corner and she draped herself over him like a cat. Neither had to consult the other, they just automatically arranged themselves like that.
Nick and Nat traded glances before assuming similar positions in the chair facing them. “You were literally experiencing physical pain?” Natalie asked.
“Until this afternoon, it was more like mild discomfort. I didn’t really pay attention to it- like when you are a little hungry and grab a snack, or feel an itch and you casually scratch it without investing a great deal of thought.” She turned to Mulder and stroked his cheek as she said, “I needed you. You were there, and I took what I needed.”
[So I’m just your boy-toy now, Scully?] Mulder thought to her with a grin.
[I was thinking more along the lines of sex-slave, Mulder,] she replied, smiling broadly and leaning in for a gentle kiss.
Nick and Nat shared a look at this blatant PDA and simultaneously cleared their throats loudly.
Mulder smirked at them as Scully pulled away. “Sorry guys, Scully had an itch,” he joked.
Scully lightly slapped him on the chest, saying, “You are evil, Fox Mulder!”
Natalie’s medical curiosity was re-awakening and she made an observation, “Today was different, though?”
Scully sighed again and answered, “When I woke up, it felt like it has been- I didn’t really even notice it at that point.” She turned back to Mulder and continued, “If you had been here, I probably would never have noticed it. We would have sated that need and moved on as normal- or what passes for normal these days, anyway.”
Natalie prompted her to continue, “But he wasn’t there.”
“Right. It got worse and worse until I felt like… I don’t know- ‘yawning chasm of emptiness’ seems so trite- but I don’t quite know how else to describe it. I just know I needed him desperately.” She looked shamefaced at describing this out loud. “So, after breakfast, I focused on him and asked him where he was. I told him to get back here…”
“And when he got here you jumped him,” Natalie said with a grin. “Not only that, but you were broadcasting so strongly on the lust station that you inspired me to attack Nick as well.”
“Sorry about that” Scully said, clearly embarrassed.
Nick was a little worried at Scully’s description of how she felt, it reminded him of the way opium addicts described withdrawal symptoms.
Scully suddenly remembered where Mulder was, and what he was doing when she recalled him. “Oh God, Mulder. I made you leave him when we could have had him.” She closed her eyes and ducked her head in shame, “He was right there, and I told you to let him go.” [I’m so sorry, Mulder.]
Before Nick or Nat could ask the obvious question, Mulder jumped in, “Shh, Scully. It wasn’t just you. I obviously felt it too, or I would never have acceded.” He gently stroked her cheek, down to her chin, and lifter her face to meet his gaze, “We don’t know what would have happened if I hadn’t come back. Besides, I’m sure he’ll show up for the challenge.”
Nick and Nat both spoke at once, “Who?!” Nick continued with, “Who did you let go, Mulder? What are you talking about?”
I was having breakfast when our friend from the other night dropped by,” Mulder answered.
“You saw Froag? And you let him get away?” Nick nearly shouted.
Scully ducked her head again and Mulder answered, “Don’t worry, Nick. I told him to meet me tomorrow afternoon. He’ll show, I’m sure of it. That’s supposedly the way it is between immortals.”
Nick wasn’t entirely placated. “And what do you plan to do with him if he does show up?” he asked.
Mulder answered, “Nothing.” At Nick’s glare, he continued, “We’re going to pay a visit to our friendly multi-millennial man, and see if he wants to take care of it. I think he should have first shot, don’t you?”
Nick snapped, “Since when does the FBI condone vengeance?!”
Mulder was stunned by Nick’s outburst, as were Scully and Natalie.
“Nick, that’s hardly fair…” Natalie began.
Nick abruptly stood up, catching Natalie in his arms and setting her into the chair. He began pacing, saying, “I know, I know. Immortals and Vampires are outside the jurisdiction. I know it, but I don’t like it. It’s wrong; it makes me feel like a hypocrite. It’s my job to catch killers and incarcerate them so that the court can mete out justice as defined by the law! I hate it when I have to cover up murders because ‘The Community’ is above the law. I know it’s necessary, I just don’t like it.”
“And now you have to do the same for Immortals,” Mulder added, sympathetically. “Believe me when I tell you that I understand. I know Scully does too. I have lived for nothing more than trying to expose conspiracies and cover-ups for the last 7 years.”
“Exposing vampires would only lead to more death and destruction, Mulder,” Natalie said sorrowfully. “I imagine that the revelation of a race of immortals would create chaos as well,” she added.
“I imagine it sounds like a thin rationalization, but I think Nick was right when he said ‘Immortals and Vampires are outside the jurisdiction,” Scully began. “These people are not going unpunished- they are being dealt with by the communities to which they belong.”
“That rationalization might work with your community, Scully,” Mulder began. “But, it doesn’t sound like immortals have enforcers or a council to ‘uphold the code’ as it were.”
“You don’t know that, Mulder,” Natalie said. “You should ask Adam; if he is older than LaCroix, surely he has been around long enough to know.”
“Even if there is such a group, it is obvious that they don’t stop us from killing each other- any more than your enforcers stop you from hunting humans. They only intervene if you endanger the ‘community’s’ secret, right?” At Nick’s solemn nod, he continued, “So only the sloppy ones are dealt with. It’s ok to kill humans, so long as you are neat and tidy about it.”
“I don’t like it either!” Nick shouted. “What am I supposed to do about it?” he said wearily as he sat down on the arm of the chair, next to Natalie.
Mulder hugged Scully tightly to his chest. Scully answered for him, feeling his pain through the bond. “We are all of us killers, Nick.” She turned to Natalie and said, “You will have to kill one day as well, Natalie. To protect yourself, Nick, or even to uphold the Code. If you live long enough you too will be a killer.”
Mulder added, “We will try to protect the good guys, catch the bad guys, and deal with the moral quandary of those in between as best we can, Nick. That’s all we can do.” Mulder sighed resignedly, “Sometimes we might even accomplish some good- save some lives, stop some evil; but we won’t always win.”
Scully caressed her lover’s hair and said, “We have been losing the fight against evil ever since we were partnered together, Mulder.” She smiled brightly and added, “Frankly, I’m looking forward to winning a few now. I almost pity Alex Krycheck the next time we encounter him.”
Mulder’s sour mood evaporated in an instant. “Oh yeah, not to mention that black-lunged son-of-a-bitch Spender!” he said with a chuckle and a gleam in his eye as he pictured the event.
Natalie decided to play hostess. She got up and went to the kitchen, returning with two bottles and four glasses. She poured the bloodwine for everybody and then returned to Nick’s lap in the chair, saying, “So Mulder, tell us about your little adventure today.” She leaned forward with a big smile on her face and whispered excitedly, “You went out into the sunlight! Tell me everything! How did it feel? Did you use any of your new abilities? How did the daylight affect them?”
Her child-like questioning caused Mulder to laugh. “Alright, Natalie. I’ll tell you all about it.
===== X-FILES ===== FOREVER KNIGHT ===== HIGHLANDER =====
The Raven
7pm Saturday
LaCroix was waiting. It wasn’t something he did with much forbearance. He was accustomed to demanding immediate obedience and attendance. This one, however, would not respond well to such treatment. Johannes was not as old as himself- nearly five hundred years his junior- but he was stubborn and hard headed. If LaCroix wanted any cooperation from him, he would have to be civil; verging on respectful.
He had met Johannes several centuries ago, and had not been particularly impressed. A vampire who dedicated his life to historical research and study was not the type with whom LaCroix tended to socialize. However, if anyone in the community knew about immortals, or watchers, he would be the one.
Of course LaCroix had to entice him, somehow, to fly to Toronto from his home in Luxembourg. It wasn’t that Johannes was unwilling to travel, but to demand his presence on such short notice, without explaining his reasons… well, some sort of compensation had to be made. Money was not a concern for Johannes; his interests were for things of historical significance. LaCroix had had to offer him one of his personal journals from his campaign in Gaul, as well as a promise to spend a day at his home in Luxembourg discussing the journal once he had had time to study it. The latter was, of course, dependant upon the Vampire Scholar’s ability to assist LaCroix with the information he desired.
LaCroix was especially intrigued when Johannes had indicated the time frame of his campaign in which he was most interested; as it corresponded almost exactly to his experience with the tribe Mr. Pierson had led. Never one to believe in coincidence, his attention was quickened by the thought that Johannes might be interested in information about a particular immortal. If necessary, he could use that as a wedge to pry an admission of knowledge about immortals.
Finally LaCroix felt Miklos approach his office escorting the Historian. “Show him in, Miklos,” he said before the bartender could knock. He stood and donned a mask of conviviality.
“Johannes, welcome to the Raven. Please sit,” he said, indicating the chair before the desk. Turning to dismiss Miklos he said, “Thank you Miklos, you may return to the club.”
Johannes took the proffered seat and waited for the door to close before he said a word. Accepting the silent offer of bloodwine from his host he spoke, “Well, LaCroix. What is it you want to know so badly that you were willing to part with one of your personal journals to bring me here?”
LaCroix almost smiled. “Right down to it, very well. I am interested in an individual I encountered several days ago. He was very old for someone who is able to walk in the daylight,” he said, watching closely for Johannes’ reaction.
Johannes remained impassive, “Why ask me? How is it that you think I might know of this ‘old man’?”
“You are renowned among the community for your knowledge of the historically arcane Johannes. This was not an old man in the sense of aged, but rather in the sense of… not mortal.”
“Are you saying he was a vampire that walks in the sun? There is no such thing, to my knowledge LaCroix.”
“He was no vampire. His heart beat like a mortal, but he recovered from a fatal assault within seconds. And, I had met him before. Long enough ago that no mortal would have survived it, let alone without aging.” Seeing Johannes wanted to protest, he added, “In addition, my son had two rather unusual encounters this week with a different individual who also seemed rather… not mortal.”
The Historian could tell that LaCroix had more information than he was giving; that he knew some of the answers already to the questions he was asking. He seemed to be more interested in finding out whether he himself was privy to the knowledge, than in seeking answers to his questions. “Unusual in what way?” he asked simply.
LaCroix knew that Johannes believed that he was giving away nothing with his answers, but already he had determined that the Scholar knew of immortals. Now he would see if he knew anything about these ‘watchers’. “He also recovered from fatal injury. Twice before my son’s own eyes. Then there is the beheading and subsequent, shall we say ‘shocking’ occurrence.” Oh yes, he definitely knew about immortals. “Then there is the group that, observes these immortals…” “Ahh, that struck a nerve, he actually almost flinched,” LaCroix thought to himself. “Observes… and hunts them.”
The moment he bristled, ever so slightly, at that comment, Johannes knew he was lost. He knew LaCroix had seen it and interpreted it correctly. “Fortunately he is not so ungracious as to smile at it,” he thought to himself angrily. “Well, at least I will get the journal with the Methos information; though it would be better if I didn’t hold him to his obligation to come to Luxembourg to discuss it with me.”
Seeing and feeling the self-flagellation, followed by the acquiescent anticipation, LaCroix knew that he had been correct in his estimation of Johannes’ interest in his journal. He would leave that revelation for later, if at all. “So then, Historian, tell me the history of the Immortals and the Watchers,” he said; shocking his guest with the depth of his knowledge. “…And I will tell you about the Hunters.”
===== X-FILES ===== FOREVER KNIGHT ===== HIGHLANDER =====
Nick’s Loft
9pm Saturday
Mulder hadn’t been sure how to present the events of the afternoon- not because of anything he did, but rather because he was concerned about Nick. He was worried that Nick would be jealous or angry because Mulder seemed to be getting the best of both worlds- all the powers of the vampire, with none of the weaknesses. Nevertheless, he detailed the events of the afternoon. At one point he almost laughed- realizing that Nick had paid rapt attention to the recounting of driving in the daylight, eating a steak and drinking a beer, whereas the ladies didn’t bat an eye at that and only wanted to hear about Froag. “What a difference eight centuries makes,” he thought.
[What do you mean by that?] Scully asked silently.
[Nick seemed almost excited about the story until I started talking about Froag. Whereas that’s when you and Nat got interested,] Mulder explained. [Being confronted with violent death from a psychopathic headhunter is far less out of the ordinary than sunlight, food and beer when you’ve been a vampire for the better part of the millennia, I guess.]
Nick was sitting back with his hands steepled before him, index fingers gently tapping his lower lip. Natalie was off his lap and standing behind the chair, her hands absent-mindedly toying with his hair. Nick was thinking about how Mulder fit into the community and the code. He was not a mortal, but not a vampire either. Any vampire who saw him would assume he was mortal, and mortals weren’t allowed to know about vampires. “What would an enforcer do?” he wondered. “Do they know about immortals already? Why would they keep it a secret?”
Mulder and Scully were both startled when Nick asked, “What does Dana get out of it?”
“What do you mean by that?” Scully asked, somewhat sharply.
Nick hadn’t necessarily meant to verbalize that thought, but he clarified, “I was just wondering what you get out of this bond with Mulder.” When he saw her ‘are you an idiot?’ look he hastened to explain, “I don’t mean personally, Dana. I was referring to the changes Mulder is undergoing- all of them positive, so far.”
Natalie caught Nick’s train of thought and continued, “And, you don’t seem to be lacking anything, so we can tentatively rule out a parasitic effect, but are you changing at all, Dana?”
Scully thought about the question for a moment as a large grin stole across her face. She began to chuckle softly and then louder. Mulder could hear her thoughts as she wondered how her family, acquaintances and co-workers would answer that question if they could see her now. Soon Mulder was laughing along with her as she imagined Skinner with smoke pouring from his ears when he walked in to their office and found Scully planted in Mulder’s lap, whispering sweet nothings in his ear and nibbling on his throat.
Finally she answered the question as Mulder wiped the blood tears from her face and idly licked them from his fingers. “Nick, if you knew me before I came to Toronto, you wouldn’t know where to begin listing the changes I have gone through,” she said incredulously. “No more ‘Ice Queen,’ that’s for certain.”
Both Nick and Nat showed identically quizzical eyebrow lifts, causing Mulder to snicker as Scully clarified, “I’m not especially known for displaying emotion on the job.”
[That’s not true Scully- you never hid your annoyance, frustration, exasperation, irritation…] Mulder began when Scully cut him off with a slap on his chest.
“Enough from the peanut gallery!” she said aloud. Turning back to Nick she said, “Seriously, Nick there have been so many changes… I have no idea what changes are because Mulder and I finally admitted our feelings; or because I finally learned that at least some of the, heretofore paranormal, is real; or because I became a vampire; let alone if they are because I am drinking immortal blood.”
“We will just have to deal with anything as it comes- after all, we aren’t going to stop doing it,” Mulder said.
Scully growled at the thought, “You’ve got that right!”
Natalie was concerned about the feeling of disquiet that she was sensing in her master. “What is it, Nick? You seem more than just curious,” she said, combing her fingers down through his hair.
Nick looked up at his lover and smiled softly at her look of concern. “Nothing important, at least not yet. Just thinking aloud.” He reached up and pulled her hands around to his mouth and kissed each palm before returning his attention to his other daughter. Changing the subject entirely, he asked, “Have you and Mulder made any plans about your immediate future?”
Mulder smiled and said, “Trying to get rid of us already, Nick?” while nuzzling his lover’s face with his cheek.
Scully was starting to become slightly distracted by Mulder’s attentions- not enough that she was even aware of it yet, but desire was once again beginning to build in the back of her mind. She had missed Nick’s question, but heard Mulder’s answer, and caught the gist of it. “We’ve pretty much ruled out staying in the FBI- at least in any full-time capacity,” she said.
“We thought we might be able to consult on occasion,” Mulder added.
“We definitely need to go back to Washington to get things settled before deciding where to go from there,” Scully said as she unconsciously began stroking Mulder’s chest; the fragrance of his blood beginning to register on her senses. “We’ll have to deal with our resignations…”
Mulder continued the line of thought, “…Our apartments and such…”
Catching Mulder’s gaze, Scully resumed “We’ll have to deal with the boys…”
“And your mother,” Mulder finished.
“God, yes. That’s going to be an interesting conversation!” Scully commented.
Mulder grimaced and said, “I just hope your brother Bill is out to sea, and not home for the holidays.”
Scully stopped rubbing his chest and laughed out loud. “He’ll probably burst a vessel, seeing us together.”
“No ‘probably’ about it. I just hope he doesn’t piss you off too much. I don’t think your mother would approve of you draining your brother for Christmas dinner.”
Scully stiffened slightly and said in a haughty voice, “I have more self control than that, Mulder. Besides he’d probably taste funny.” Scully paused in surprise, and then commented, “I can’t believe I even joked about that.”
Nick added, “Just so long as it’s a joke, Dana.” He sighed somewhat dramatically, and then leaned forward in his chair. “I hate to be the obdurate one here, but I have to remind you that you cannot share your new status with mortals. Not even your family. Especially not your family. You would be putting them and yourselves at risk of your lives.”
“I know, Nick. Having the enforcers pay a visit on my mother is the last thing I want to have happen. We will find a way to be careful. If something slips, I’ll just have to make sure she doesn’t remember it.” She said resignedly.
Nick muttered, “Just hope she isn’t a resistor.”
Natalie decided to lighten the subject, “Will you two be able to come to our wedding?”
Scully and Mulder both recognized the change of subject for what it was and smiled gratefully at Nat. “That’s two weeks, right?” Scully said. Turning to Mulder she raised an eyebrow in question.
Mulder said, “If we leave Monday, take a week to put affairs in order, spend Christmas with your mother… We could be back up here in time for the wedding.” It’s where we go and what we do after that that is still in question.”
“Why Monday, Mulder?” Scully asked. “We could probably catch a plane tomorrow…”
“I still want to meet up with MacLeod tomorrow night,” Mulder explained. We need to decide whether or not I will take him up on his offer.”
That surprised Natalie. “Why train?” she asked. “Surely you don’t need it now…” she began.
It was Nick who answered. “If Mulder wants to hide what he has become from the watchers, he would do well to train in the ‘normal’ fighting styles; using his ‘extra abilities’ only as a last resort.” Though he was answering Natalie’s question, he was clearly making a strong recommendation to Mulder as well.
“I hear you, Nick. I think I would want to anyway. If it is going to be such a large part of my life, it would behoove me to become more skilled.” He then smiled widely. Besides, I studied fencing at Oxford, and I really enjoyed it. It should be even more enjoyable now.” Seeing raised eyebrows all around, Mulder clarified, “I mean the study, not the application. Besides, Pierson said MacLeod could take him, and he is at least two thousand years old. MacLeod must be really good. Plus, he can tell me all about being an immortal.” Looking into Scully’s eyes for any sign of dissension, he continued, “The more I consider it, the more I think that I should train with him.”
Natalie asked, “Does that mean you will move to Seattle?”
Scully remembered, “He said something about not having lived in Toronto before… Maybe he was thinking of moving here?”
“If it is only six months or a year, I guess it doesn’t really matter where it is. That isn’t a great length of time even for a mortal. It will give us time to plan the next decade or two. Where we will go, and what we will do,” Mulder said.
Nick commented, “Remind me to give you Aristotle’s contact information before you go.” At the look on Mulder’s face he elucidated, “No not the Aristotle. He provides a service to the community. He arranges new identities- absolutely ironclad. Much better than the stuff you see from government agencies.”
Scully smiled and changed the subject back to the wedding. “Will you really be able to put together a wedding in two weeks?”
Natalie laughed, remembering what Nick and LaCroix had both said to her concerns in that very area. “When I asked Nick that question he said that I shouldn’t worry about it. He said, ‘Anything is possible when you say the magic words.’”
Mulder looked at Nick, who was avoiding anyone’s direct gaze. “What are the magic words?”
Natalie laughed again when Nick ducked his head in obvious embarrassment. “Money is no object,” she answered for him.
“Ah. How will you explain that on a detective’s salary?” Mulder asked.
Natalie’s smug grin threatened to split her face wide open as she whispered in a mock-conspiratorial tone, “He’s going to acknowledge LaCroix as his father. I can’t wait to see the looks on everyone’s faces.”
“You don’t have to sound so gleeful, Nat,” Nick groused, crossing his arms and huffing like a little boy.
“And you don’t have to be so glum! The gossip and stares will die away… eventually,” she finished with a snicker.
“I can hardly wait,” Nick grumbled.
===== X-FILES ===== FOREVER KNIGHT ===== HIGHLANDER =====
Tracy Vetter’s Apartment
9pm Saturday
When Vachon arrived at Tracy’s she was clearly furious. He had felt the progression from annoyance to the present state begin almost from the moment she had gotten to the apartment. He could tell that she had had an unpleasant confrontation, but he didn’t know with whom. It hadn’t occurred to him that her father might be waiting for her there. In Vachon’s mind, a reasonable person would have seen that Tracy wasn’t home, and tried again later, let alone that the person would not only wait for hours, but then blame the absent person for not being there to greet unexpected visitors. He didn’t know Richard Vetter well enough to guess that he would be so entirely unreasonable, despite Tracy’s description. By the time he got to her door he could feel the barely restrained violence roiling off of his childé in pulsating waves. He broadcast love and reassurance as forcefully as he could before he walked into the apartment.
He was almost startled by her appearance when he walked in the door. She was fully vamped out and her fingers were flexing like an eagles talons as it rived the flesh from its prey. “Trace, what happened?”
“He was waiting for me, like a mugger. An emotional mugger, waiting to assault me as soon as I opened the door,” she seethed, fingers still flexing, body vibrating as she restrained herself.
“Who, Tracy?”
Vachon could hear her teeth grind as she growled out the reply, “That rat-bastard ex-father of mine.” In spite of the fact that she didn’t need to breathe at all, her breath was coming like a bellows between each word as she continued, “He… makes… me… so…ANGRY!”
“Tracy, I…” Vachon started
Tracy interrupted as she began to slowly stalk across the room towards him, “I want to lift his body up over me; tear his head off and bathe in his blood!”
“That wouldn’t be a good…” he tried to get a word in edgewise, but she interrupted again.
“Vachon, I need you. I need you to take me, possess me; ravage me and remind me that I belong to you alone,” she whispered loudly. “I need you to pound into me until I am insensate; until there is nothing of him left in me. Until you are the only thought in my mind.” Her voice took on a pleading note, “I need you Javier. Please?”
Through the anger and lust he could sense her desperation. She needed to be the center of someone’s attention; to be valued and desired and cherished. He knew that she wanted him to be rough and domineering, but he could tell that, in the end, she would need him to finish with tenderness and compassion. As he grabbed her by the back of her hair and dragged her throat to his awaiting fangs, he was already looking forward to both.
===== X-FILES ===== FOREVER KNIGHT ===== HIGHLANDER =====
It was just past 1am as Vachon pulled the exhausted body of his childé into his arms on the floor in front of the fireplace. He had done everything in his power to wear her out. Every trick and technique he had learned in five centuries of sexual experimentation had been brought to bear, and still it had almost been himself that had succumbed first to the need for respite. She amazed him with her ability to take everything he had, everything he did, without missing a beat. Things he knew she had never even thought of doing before, and she willingly did it all. He had ruthlessly possessed her, using her body in ways she had never imagined. She gave as good as she got, though. He had lost count of the number of times she had brought him to peak, and he had been careful to make sure she had at least two for every one of his. Even with vampiric healing, they were likely to be sore when they woke up.
It was during the last bout that she had finally broken, emotionally. As he had predicted, she needed it rough in the beginning to assuage her rage; however, it was the loving tenderness and gentle affection of the final coupling that tore down the walls of bitter resentment and anguish that her erstwhile father had spent her lifetime constructing. Her last orgasm had left her tremulous and sobbing in his arms as almost thirty years worth of tears were shed in the space of ten minutes.
Finally she had cried herself out and was now sleeping in his arms. He was exhausted, but sleep eluded him. He had lived for roughly five centuries as a vampire, but fewer than three decades as a mortal. In all that time, he had never felt anything, good or bad, as deeply as the emotions his childé had been going through while she cried. He felt the deeply bitter resentment and sense of betrayal that she suffered as a result of her father. He discovered that before meeting him, Tracy had defined her existence by the approval of her mortal father. Approval that he never fully gave, withholding it as a tool to bend this intelligent, vivacious young woman to his will. It took the shedding of her mortality to break away from the emotional shackles with which he had bound her. In the end her father had sentenced her to life imprisonment- she had to die to be freed.
The feelings that were pounding through his veins were more intense and profoundly momentous than he had ever experienced. His head and heart were seething with intense and conflicting emotions; heart-rending compassion for his childé’s anguish and stomach-wrenching fury for her father’s abuse. He was torn between the desire to wrap her in his arms and never let her go, and the desire to find that man and inflict the most horrifying demise conceivable upon him.
In the end his rage dissipated somewhat, as the sorrow he felt for Tracy overwhelmed him. Soon his face was wet with bloodtears as he cried for the innocent child that had been so viciously abused. Though Richard Vetter had never physically harmed his daughter, his mental cruelty had almost broken her spirit. Vachon could hardly imagine what Tracy might have been capable of if she had grown up in a loving and supportive home. Selfishly, he was glad that she had not. He wanted nothing but the best for her, but he also knew that it was unlikely that he would ever have met her in the first place under such circumstances, let alone ended up her sire. He was so amazingly joyful to have her in his life that the though of never meeting her in the first place was like a stake in his chest. His own past seemed like an insubstantial dream and he was somewhat discomfited to realize that he had lived for so long with so little impact on the world or the people in it. Other than killing a lot of them, of course. He had flowed through his existence with no real purpose or meaning. Avoiding the responsibility placed on him by his own sire, fleeing his brother in darkness who wanted him to accept that responsibility. His brother, the Inca, who had himself died upholding their master’s charge- to prevent senseless violence and death. His shame for his behavior was new to him- do doubt elicited by his childé’s ingrained sense of right and wrong- of duty and responsibility.
Regardless of whatever events in both their lives had occurred to bring them to this point, he was grateful that they were both here. Vachon didn’t know how his life was going to change now that he had a conscience, but he knew that it would. He laughed when he remembered that Disney movie where the puppet wanted to become human, and the powers gave him a guide to show him right and wrong- “something cricket… Jimmy… Jamie… something like that,” he thought. He knew he would never call Tracy ‘Button’ again, but maybe a new Nickname was in order.
The last thought on Vachon’s mind as he finally succumbed to sleep was, “Goodnight, Cricket.”
===== X-FILES ===== FOREVER KNIGHT ===== HIGHLANDER =====
The Raven
12:30am Sunday
Johannes had spoken almost without pause for nearly three hours before finishing his overview of the history of the watchers, and what was known of immortals.
LaCroix pondered the information silently for several minutes while Johannes refreshed himself with several glasses of bloodwine. Finally he spoke. “Who else among us knows about this?”
Johannes seemed almost taken aback by the question. “Why, I haven’t the faintest idea, LaCroix. I have never discussed the subject with anyone outside of the watchers.”
“And there are no other vampires among these ‘watchers?’” LaCroix asked. “That seems unlikely, doesn’t it?”
“I don’t know with any certainty; however, I have never seen or heard of any of us among the watchers,” Johannes answered. “However, vampires in general aren’t particularly avid historians, to my knowledge. It is not inconceivable that I am, or was, the only one with this knowledge. You have lived longer than I and yet you were ignorant of their existence until very recently, were you not?” At LaCroix’s acknowledging frown he pressed on, “Now, LaCroix. You intimated that the watchers are hunters of immortals. I can assure you that that is not the case. Perhaps you will explain to me why you have drawn this conclusion.”
“To your knowledge, watchers have never hunted their charges?” LaCroix asked.
Johannes shook his head and vehemently denied it, “I have been involved with this group for four centuries, LaCroix. I have access to every record they have written- there is not even a hint that this has ever happened before.”
LaCroix leaned back in his chair and looked down his nose at the historian. “Then this development is either very new, or you and your ‘brethren’ are blind to the possibility. I suspect the truth lies somewhere closer to the latter.”
He went on to tell him of the events leading to the deaths of the watchers who had captured Mulder. He left Mulder’s immortality out of the tale, allowing Johannes to believe that he was merely a mortal toy of his granddaughter’s. He also left out the age of the immortal that the watchers were hunting- and the fact that it was the same man referenced in the journal in which Johannes was so interested.
Johannes was shocked. He wanted to deny that it was possible, but of course that was shortsighted. LaCroix would not have dragged him all the way to Canada just to provide him with false information regarding the watchers, a group of which he shouldn’t even be aware. “You said one of them was called Perone?” At LaCroix’s nod he frowned. “I am not familiar with that name. I will have to look into this carefully.” He stood up abruptly, “If there is nothing else?” he asked, waiting for LaCroix to give him the journal they had discussed.
LaCroix made no expression has he opened the center drawer on his desk and removed an ancient, leather-bound book. He handed it over to Johannes without a word.
“I will contact you when I am ready to discuss this,” Johannes said, indicating the journal.
“Of course,” LaCroix said smoothly, rising from his seat. “I always keep my obligations.” Pausing for a moment he added as nonchalantly as possible, “Perhaps you would inform me of your findings on these hunters?” At Johannes’ raised eyebrows he explained, “As I now have an acquaintance among the Immortals.”
Johannes stiffened, “I must caution you, Immortals are not to know about the watchers- it would make our task immeasurably difficult if they knew of us.”
LaCroix smiled pleasantly, though his eyes more resembled a snake poised to strike, “I can certainly understand why you would wish to keep such information in confidence.”
Johannes, recognizing the precarious nature of the situation he was in, capitulated without protest, “I will certainly keep you informed of my findings.” At LaCroix’s minute bow, he said, “Then I will bid you good night, yes?”
LaCroix answered in kind and opened the office door for him. After he left, LaCroix returned to his chair and sat back, sipping his bloodwine, as he contemplated the encounter.
===== X-FILES ===== FOREVER KNIGHT ===== HIGHLANDER =====
3232 Tableau Ave., Apartment C
2:30 a.m. Sunday
Methos was walking up the street, back to his apartment after another fruitless game of ‘find Froag.’ “Lousy bugger is not following his normal pattern,” he thought, frustrated. The watchers still hadn’t found him either and Methos was beginning to get the idea that he must have left the city. “Which, again, one wouldn’t expect, seeing as how he had missed out on Mulder’s quickening,” he thought with annoyance.
He was muttering to himself as he walked when he felt it. He was about two houses away from his apartment when the quickening impinged upon his grumbling. He immediately stopped and did a slow 360-degree turn. He then stopped moving and listened- but nothing. He kept one hand in his jacket on the hilt of his sword as he resumed walking toward his temporary home.
When he approached the door to unlock it he was surprised when the knob turned freely. Now he drew his sword, less concerned with any nosy neighbors than he was with being unprepared for an attack. He knew Mac was still in buffalo, because he had called and asked to be picked up at the airport tomorrow evening. It was unlikely that he could be lucky enough to find Froag waiting for him- he shouldn’t even be aware that Methos was in town. That left the newly immortal Mulder as the most likely candidate. However, Methos had not lived five millennia by assuming the best. “Besides, why would Mulder be sitting in my apartment, in the dark?” he mumbled softly to himself as he opened the door.
Both Mulder and Scully heard the mumbled question and were chagrined to realize that they had forgotten to turn on the lights, no doubt leading Mr. Pierson to his somewhat cautious entry. They had wondered what he was waiting for, standing outside the door for a length of time. In an effort to allay his fears, Mulder softly called out, “It’s agents Mulder and Scully, Mr. Pierson.”
Methos reached in and turned on the lights, looking about the room to verify that the two Americans were alone before lowering his sword and fully entering the apartment. “Why are you sitting in the dark?” he asked, still not comfortable with the situation.
Mulder gave his best disarming smile. “We got tired of waiting outside, so we came in,” he said, ignoring the real question.
Methos remained where he was just inside the door, still not happy with finding these two in his place in the dark. “Yes, but why didn’t you turn on the lights?”
Scully chided him, “To see what? The Mattress? The Chair? As diverting as those were, we covered them pretty quickly.”
Mulder continued with, “We had to find other things to occupy our time while we waited.”
At Methos’ somewhat bemused look Scully said, “You’re asking the wrong questions, Mr. Pierson.”
Mulder was enjoying the tag-team effect and followed up with, “What you want to know is why we came here at all.” [This is fun, Scully!] he thought.
[You are such a little boy sometimes,] Scully thought back, but she didn’t quit. “Isn’t it?”
Now Methos was quite thrown- aggravated with his fruitless search and the annoying way these two were talking to him, like a bad Gilbert and Sullivan comedy. He walked over to the chair and sat in it, elbows on knees and face buried in his hands he sighed out, “Yes, very well. Why are you here?” trying to convey his annoyance while sounding like the soul of longsuffering patience nearing the end of its rope.
Mulder smiled and said, “Would you feel better if we told you that we know where Froag’s staying?” Seeing Pierson perk up he couldn’t help but add, “Unfortunately, we don’t.”
Seeing Pierson’s near-homicidal glare, she quashed Mulder’s joke. “We do, however know where he will be tomorrow evening.”
Mulder whined, [Spoilsport!]
Scully replied, [What are you, five years old? Just give him the address.]
Mulder pouted a little but rattled off the address to Pierson, adding, “It used to be an auto parts warehouse. Now it seems to be abandoned.”
“Seems to be?” Methos asked.
“Well, there were some people using it last week, but they are gone now.” Mulder said, braving Scully’s wide-eyed glare.
Methos asked, “Are you certain that they…”
Scully interrupted. “Quite certain,” she said flatly.
Methos raised his brows in question, but Scully ignored him. “Come on, Mulder. Lets get out of here, I’m hungry,” she said as she dragged him towards the door.
Methos remembered something suddenly and said, “Agent Mulder, could I impose on you to pick up MacLeod at the airport tomorrow, as it seems I will be otherwise occupied?”
“What time?” he asked.
“Their flight is due in at 6pm; Preston Commuter Air flight 63 at Gate 36c” Methos said.
Mulder answered, “Sure. We’ll see you at the Raven tomorrow night?”
“Yes, I’ll be there,” he said as they walked out. “Providing I’m still alive,” he added as he shut the door.
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 17
Nick’s Loft
6pm Saturday December 16th
By the time Mulder had returned, Scully was feeling very out of sorts. Mulder had been picking up on that feeling during his drive back and ended up nearly hitting the garage door as he slid to a stop outside the loft. He jumped out of his car and practically ran into the elevator.
Nick and Natalie were watching Scully with some concern. Ever since they had gotten up that evening and come down stairs, she had been pacing back and forth in front of the door to the elevator.
“Dana, what’s wrong?” Natalie asked the pacing redhead.
Scully looked up, surprised, at the question, “Nothing’s wrong, Nat. Why do you ask?” she said with confusion in her voice.
Her pacing continued unchecked.
Nick and Nat shared a glance, the shared question resonating across their link.
“Well, I was just concerned that you might actually wear a trench in the concrete…” Nick said, pointedly glancing at the floor underneath Scully’s pacing feet.
“What are you talking…” Scully began, following his gaze to her feet; which she just realized were furiously pacing back and forth in front of the elevator door. She realized that she had been ignoring their attempts to engage her in conversation for over 30 minutes. She looked back up at her master and his mate- her sister- and apologized sheepishly, “Sorry Nick. Sorry Nat, I’m just waiting for Mulder to get here.”
“Speaking of Mulder, Where is he?” Natalie voiced the question she had been trying to have Scully answer for the last half-hour.
Scully slowly made her way over to the now-grinning pair. It was almost as if she could feel her body’s resistance to leaving the elevator. She had been entirely focused on Mulder, watching his trip through his eyes, silently urging him to hurry. She absentmindedly replied to Natalie’s question- her mind wandering back to the front seat of Mulder’s car as he sped back to the loft- “Oh, he went out for breakfast.”
Nick and Nat both noted Scully’s thoughts wandering away again and shared another look of concern. Her body was standing right in front of them, but her mind was obviously with her lover.
Just then they heard the sound of car tires screeching to a halt just outside the loft. They saw awareness snap back into Scully’s gaze. They watched in amusement as Scully returned to the elevator and begin pacing even more furiously in front of the door while the elevator slowly made its way up to the loft.
Mulder was feeling even more frantic as he impatiently waited for the elevator to reach its destination. He barely had his hand on the door when it violently slid open and he was flung to the back of the car. Scully was wrapped around him, her teeth buried in his throat.
She had no rational thought- as soon as the car reached the floor of the loft; she was tearing at the door to get to him. She barely even saw him before she was on him. She didn’t know what she was feeling until she touched him, then the hunger rolled over her, and she knew instinctively that only his blood would quell the pangs she was feeling. She felt his teeth tear into her shoulder before their intertwined bodies hit the back of the elevator car.
Neither would later be able to recall which one of them initiated the flight to the bedroom, or even the flight itself. All they knew was that they needed to bury themselves in one another with all due haste.
Nick and Nat stood, jaws agape, as the two flashed out of the elevator car, fangs still locked into each other’s flesh, bits of fabric falling away from the flying couple as they tore each others clothes off in an effort to get skin on skin. The lust they felt through the master-childé link, combined with the pheromones saturating the air, was too much for them to take, and Natalie quickly pounced on Nick, tearing at his clothing and latching onto his shoulder, as he was quicker and already had his teeth sunk into her throat.
Had there been anyone left to witness it, a second mass of fabric-flinging, snarling vampire flesh would have been seen flying up into one of the bedrooms.
===== X-FILES ===== FOREVER KNIGHT ===== HIGHLANDER =====
Tracy Vetter’s Apartment
7pm Saturday
Tracy had wanted to get some of her things to move to the church immediately, as well as to give notice to her landlord. Vachon went to get a few cases of ‘provisions’ and said he would meet her at her apartment in a couple of hours or less. She had to drive, so that she would have someplace to put things, and so it was that she saw her father’s jaguar parked in the lot outside her building.
“This had to happen sooner or later,” she thought to herself with a sigh. “I was just hoping for later.”
She noticed with some annoyance that his car was empty, meaning that he had obviously decided to let himself into her apartment to wait for her. He would no doubt be angry and just waiting to attack her the moment she walked through the door. She decided to speak to her landlord first, so that she could spend as little time in his presence as possible
A week ago she would have been afraid of facing his anger. Now she was only afraid that she would give in to the desire to kill him.
Commissioner Vetter was extremely angry with his daughter. He had been waiting at her apartment for hours, waiting for her to get back. He had worked his way through most of the bottle of bourbon she kept around for his infrequent visits, and was fully primed for confrontation when he finally heard the key in the lock to the front door.
“Where the hell have you been?!” he roared as soon as she walked in the door. “Do you have any idea how long I have been waiting for you? Why haven’t you returned my calls?” he began his tirade. He expected to see guilty embarrassment on her face, to hear some pathetic excuse come forth and was prepared to cut her off mid sentence. What he got was so far outside of his expectations that he was rendered temporarily mute.
All he saw was annoyance. All he heard was, “None of your business; No; and I didn’t want to speak to you.”
Tracy was secretly amused by the response she got from him. He looked like a fish out of water, his mouth opening and closing, but no sound emerging. She faced him fully, hands on hips, and wearily asked, “What do you want?”
When he didn’t respond, she continued into the apartment, walking toward her bedroom to pack.
He followed her into the bedroom and watched her begin packing her clothes and other personal items into several boxes. “What the hell are you doing?” he demanded.
Tracy almost laughed in his face. “I can’t believe I used to fear this man,” she thought. Out loud she answered, “Packing. I’m moving out.”
“Where? What the hell is going on?” he shouted, flustered and confused, and enraged.
He really was a tiresome little man, she observed. “That also is none of your business,” she answered. “Now, if you will excuse me…” she said as she walked past him with two boxes stacked in her arms.
He had never been this angry before in his life. He reached out and grabbed her arm, meaning to spill the boxes from her hands and spin her to face him. He might as well have grabbed onto a passing truck. Her momentum was slowed not one bit, and he was yanked forward, face first onto the floor. Tracy continued unchecked and set the boxes down on the floor by the door. She unhurriedly returned to the bedroom where her pathetic excuse for a father was just getting up off of the floor.
Tracy looked directly into his eyes and said, “Don’t ever touch me again.”
He felt a chill of fear run up his spine at the tone of her voice and the coldness in her eyes. He made one last half-hearted attempt to intimidate her. “I am your father, Tracy! You will…” he began.
Tracy cut him off, “Except for sperm donor, there is not one positive definition of ‘father’ to which you can lay claim.” She continued in the same menacing tone, “If you feel the need to communicate with me in the future, I suggest you go through the chain of command, commissioner.” As an afterthought she added, “Oh, leave the door key on the counter on your way out. The landlord will be wanting it back when I move.” She then turned her back on him and began loading some more boxes.
Stunned at her dismissal, He silently turned and left the apartment, slapping the key down loudly on the counter and slamming the door as he exited.
===== X-FILES ===== FOREVER KNIGHT ===== HIGHLANDER =====
Nick’s Loft
7pm Saturday
It was a very sheepish Mulder and Scully that made their way down the stairs to where Nick and Natalie were waiting- their faces a combination of curiosity, concern, and smirking.
“And just what was that all about?” Nick asked his daughter.
Scully looked to the kitchen, where Natalie was unceremoniously downing a bottle of blood; Nick was at least using a glass, but he too appeared to have consumed most of a bottle. She glanced at Mulder and thought, [you’re not helping, here!] as she saw that he was barely suppressing a leer.
[Sorry, Scully. But, it’s a good question!] he replied silently. [Mind you, I’m all for a good ravishing, but I’ve never seriously considered doing it in front of our friends.] Now the leer was no longer hidden.
Nick watched this interplay for a moment before asserting a little authority, “Daughter, I asked you a question!” he said both aloud and through the link to Scully.
“I don’t know, Nick!” Scully almost whined. “I… I've never… I don’t know! When I woke up and he wasn’t there, I felt… I don’t know, antsy I guess,” she said with a sigh. “We usually… well you know. When we first wake up, I mean,” she said, embarrassed to be discussing this topic.
Nick smiled at his childé’s discomfiture. “Dana, vampires are very sensual creatures. When they live as a pair, it is entirely normal for them to have sex at least daily.”
Everyone chuckled when Natalie muttered, “Thank God!” Now it was her turn to be self-conscious, as she hadn’t meant to say that out loud.
Scully was still concerned, though. “Yes, but… well it was more than just desire, Nick,” she said quietly. “The past couple of days, it was like… I can’t come up with a good analogy,” she muttered. Suddenly one occurred to her, “It was like heartburn- where it feels like your insides are on fire; and Mulder’s blood was like antacid putting out the flames. Except, the burning was throughout my whole body.” She looked up at Nick; his face was showing surprise and concern. She sighed again and walked with Mulder over to the couch where he sat in the corner and she draped herself over him like a cat. Neither had to consult the other, they just automatically arranged themselves like that.
Nick and Nat traded glances before assuming similar positions in the chair facing them. “You were literally experiencing physical pain?” Natalie asked.
“Until this afternoon, it was more like mild discomfort. I didn’t really pay attention to it- like when you are a little hungry and grab a snack, or feel an itch and you casually scratch it without investing a great deal of thought.” She turned to Mulder and stroked his cheek as she said, “I needed you. You were there, and I took what I needed.”
[So I’m just your boy-toy now, Scully?] Mulder thought to her with a grin.
[I was thinking more along the lines of sex-slave, Mulder,] she replied, smiling broadly and leaning in for a gentle kiss.
Nick and Nat shared a look at this blatant PDA and simultaneously cleared their throats loudly.
Mulder smirked at them as Scully pulled away. “Sorry guys, Scully had an itch,” he joked.
Scully lightly slapped him on the chest, saying, “You are evil, Fox Mulder!”
Natalie’s medical curiosity was re-awakening and she made an observation, “Today was different, though?”
Scully sighed again and answered, “When I woke up, it felt like it has been- I didn’t really even notice it at that point.” She turned back to Mulder and continued, “If you had been here, I probably would never have noticed it. We would have sated that need and moved on as normal- or what passes for normal these days, anyway.”
Natalie prompted her to continue, “But he wasn’t there.”
“Right. It got worse and worse until I felt like… I don’t know- ‘yawning chasm of emptiness’ seems so trite- but I don’t quite know how else to describe it. I just know I needed him desperately.” She looked shamefaced at describing this out loud. “So, after breakfast, I focused on him and asked him where he was. I told him to get back here…”
“And when he got here you jumped him,” Natalie said with a grin. “Not only that, but you were broadcasting so strongly on the lust station that you inspired me to attack Nick as well.”
“Sorry about that” Scully said, clearly embarrassed.
Nick was a little worried at Scully’s description of how she felt, it reminded him of the way opium addicts described withdrawal symptoms.
Scully suddenly remembered where Mulder was, and what he was doing when she recalled him. “Oh God, Mulder. I made you leave him when we could have had him.” She closed her eyes and ducked her head in shame, “He was right there, and I told you to let him go.” [I’m so sorry, Mulder.]
Before Nick or Nat could ask the obvious question, Mulder jumped in, “Shh, Scully. It wasn’t just you. I obviously felt it too, or I would never have acceded.” He gently stroked her cheek, down to her chin, and lifter her face to meet his gaze, “We don’t know what would have happened if I hadn’t come back. Besides, I’m sure he’ll show up for the challenge.”
Nick and Nat both spoke at once, “Who?!” Nick continued with, “Who did you let go, Mulder? What are you talking about?”
I was having breakfast when our friend from the other night dropped by,” Mulder answered.
“You saw Froag? And you let him get away?” Nick nearly shouted.
Scully ducked her head again and Mulder answered, “Don’t worry, Nick. I told him to meet me tomorrow afternoon. He’ll show, I’m sure of it. That’s supposedly the way it is between immortals.”
Nick wasn’t entirely placated. “And what do you plan to do with him if he does show up?” he asked.
Mulder answered, “Nothing.” At Nick’s glare, he continued, “We’re going to pay a visit to our friendly multi-millennial man, and see if he wants to take care of it. I think he should have first shot, don’t you?”
Nick snapped, “Since when does the FBI condone vengeance?!”
Mulder was stunned by Nick’s outburst, as were Scully and Natalie.
“Nick, that’s hardly fair…” Natalie began.
Nick abruptly stood up, catching Natalie in his arms and setting her into the chair. He began pacing, saying, “I know, I know. Immortals and Vampires are outside the jurisdiction. I know it, but I don’t like it. It’s wrong; it makes me feel like a hypocrite. It’s my job to catch killers and incarcerate them so that the court can mete out justice as defined by the law! I hate it when I have to cover up murders because ‘The Community’ is above the law. I know it’s necessary, I just don’t like it.”
“And now you have to do the same for Immortals,” Mulder added, sympathetically. “Believe me when I tell you that I understand. I know Scully does too. I have lived for nothing more than trying to expose conspiracies and cover-ups for the last 7 years.”
“Exposing vampires would only lead to more death and destruction, Mulder,” Natalie said sorrowfully. “I imagine that the revelation of a race of immortals would create chaos as well,” she added.
“I imagine it sounds like a thin rationalization, but I think Nick was right when he said ‘Immortals and Vampires are outside the jurisdiction,” Scully began. “These people are not going unpunished- they are being dealt with by the communities to which they belong.”
“That rationalization might work with your community, Scully,” Mulder began. “But, it doesn’t sound like immortals have enforcers or a council to ‘uphold the code’ as it were.”
“You don’t know that, Mulder,” Natalie said. “You should ask Adam; if he is older than LaCroix, surely he has been around long enough to know.”
“Even if there is such a group, it is obvious that they don’t stop us from killing each other- any more than your enforcers stop you from hunting humans. They only intervene if you endanger the ‘community’s’ secret, right?” At Nick’s solemn nod, he continued, “So only the sloppy ones are dealt with. It’s ok to kill humans, so long as you are neat and tidy about it.”
“I don’t like it either!” Nick shouted. “What am I supposed to do about it?” he said wearily as he sat down on the arm of the chair, next to Natalie.
Mulder hugged Scully tightly to his chest. Scully answered for him, feeling his pain through the bond. “We are all of us killers, Nick.” She turned to Natalie and said, “You will have to kill one day as well, Natalie. To protect yourself, Nick, or even to uphold the Code. If you live long enough you too will be a killer.”
Mulder added, “We will try to protect the good guys, catch the bad guys, and deal with the moral quandary of those in between as best we can, Nick. That’s all we can do.” Mulder sighed resignedly, “Sometimes we might even accomplish some good- save some lives, stop some evil; but we won’t always win.”
Scully caressed her lover’s hair and said, “We have been losing the fight against evil ever since we were partnered together, Mulder.” She smiled brightly and added, “Frankly, I’m looking forward to winning a few now. I almost pity Alex Krycheck the next time we encounter him.”
Mulder’s sour mood evaporated in an instant. “Oh yeah, not to mention that black-lunged son-of-a-bitch Spender!” he said with a chuckle and a gleam in his eye as he pictured the event.
Natalie decided to play hostess. She got up and went to the kitchen, returning with two bottles and four glasses. She poured the bloodwine for everybody and then returned to Nick’s lap in the chair, saying, “So Mulder, tell us about your little adventure today.” She leaned forward with a big smile on her face and whispered excitedly, “You went out into the sunlight! Tell me everything! How did it feel? Did you use any of your new abilities? How did the daylight affect them?”
Her child-like questioning caused Mulder to laugh. “Alright, Natalie. I’ll tell you all about it.
===== X-FILES ===== FOREVER KNIGHT ===== HIGHLANDER =====
The Raven
7pm Saturday
LaCroix was waiting. It wasn’t something he did with much forbearance. He was accustomed to demanding immediate obedience and attendance. This one, however, would not respond well to such treatment. Johannes was not as old as himself- nearly five hundred years his junior- but he was stubborn and hard headed. If LaCroix wanted any cooperation from him, he would have to be civil; verging on respectful.
He had met Johannes several centuries ago, and had not been particularly impressed. A vampire who dedicated his life to historical research and study was not the type with whom LaCroix tended to socialize. However, if anyone in the community knew about immortals, or watchers, he would be the one.
Of course LaCroix had to entice him, somehow, to fly to Toronto from his home in Luxembourg. It wasn’t that Johannes was unwilling to travel, but to demand his presence on such short notice, without explaining his reasons… well, some sort of compensation had to be made. Money was not a concern for Johannes; his interests were for things of historical significance. LaCroix had had to offer him one of his personal journals from his campaign in Gaul, as well as a promise to spend a day at his home in Luxembourg discussing the journal once he had had time to study it. The latter was, of course, dependant upon the Vampire Scholar’s ability to assist LaCroix with the information he desired.
LaCroix was especially intrigued when Johannes had indicated the time frame of his campaign in which he was most interested; as it corresponded almost exactly to his experience with the tribe Mr. Pierson had led. Never one to believe in coincidence, his attention was quickened by the thought that Johannes might be interested in information about a particular immortal. If necessary, he could use that as a wedge to pry an admission of knowledge about immortals.
Finally LaCroix felt Miklos approach his office escorting the Historian. “Show him in, Miklos,” he said before the bartender could knock. He stood and donned a mask of conviviality.
“Johannes, welcome to the Raven. Please sit,” he said, indicating the chair before the desk. Turning to dismiss Miklos he said, “Thank you Miklos, you may return to the club.”
Johannes took the proffered seat and waited for the door to close before he said a word. Accepting the silent offer of bloodwine from his host he spoke, “Well, LaCroix. What is it you want to know so badly that you were willing to part with one of your personal journals to bring me here?”
LaCroix almost smiled. “Right down to it, very well. I am interested in an individual I encountered several days ago. He was very old for someone who is able to walk in the daylight,” he said, watching closely for Johannes’ reaction.
Johannes remained impassive, “Why ask me? How is it that you think I might know of this ‘old man’?”
“You are renowned among the community for your knowledge of the historically arcane Johannes. This was not an old man in the sense of aged, but rather in the sense of… not mortal.”
“Are you saying he was a vampire that walks in the sun? There is no such thing, to my knowledge LaCroix.”
“He was no vampire. His heart beat like a mortal, but he recovered from a fatal assault within seconds. And, I had met him before. Long enough ago that no mortal would have survived it, let alone without aging.” Seeing Johannes wanted to protest, he added, “In addition, my son had two rather unusual encounters this week with a different individual who also seemed rather… not mortal.”
The Historian could tell that LaCroix had more information than he was giving; that he knew some of the answers already to the questions he was asking. He seemed to be more interested in finding out whether he himself was privy to the knowledge, than in seeking answers to his questions. “Unusual in what way?” he asked simply.
LaCroix knew that Johannes believed that he was giving away nothing with his answers, but already he had determined that the Scholar knew of immortals. Now he would see if he knew anything about these ‘watchers’. “He also recovered from fatal injury. Twice before my son’s own eyes. Then there is the beheading and subsequent, shall we say ‘shocking’ occurrence.” Oh yes, he definitely knew about immortals. “Then there is the group that, observes these immortals…” “Ahh, that struck a nerve, he actually almost flinched,” LaCroix thought to himself. “Observes… and hunts them.”
The moment he bristled, ever so slightly, at that comment, Johannes knew he was lost. He knew LaCroix had seen it and interpreted it correctly. “Fortunately he is not so ungracious as to smile at it,” he thought to himself angrily. “Well, at least I will get the journal with the Methos information; though it would be better if I didn’t hold him to his obligation to come to Luxembourg to discuss it with me.”
Seeing and feeling the self-flagellation, followed by the acquiescent anticipation, LaCroix knew that he had been correct in his estimation of Johannes’ interest in his journal. He would leave that revelation for later, if at all. “So then, Historian, tell me the history of the Immortals and the Watchers,” he said; shocking his guest with the depth of his knowledge. “…And I will tell you about the Hunters.”
===== X-FILES ===== FOREVER KNIGHT ===== HIGHLANDER =====
Nick’s Loft
9pm Saturday
Mulder hadn’t been sure how to present the events of the afternoon- not because of anything he did, but rather because he was concerned about Nick. He was worried that Nick would be jealous or angry because Mulder seemed to be getting the best of both worlds- all the powers of the vampire, with none of the weaknesses. Nevertheless, he detailed the events of the afternoon. At one point he almost laughed- realizing that Nick had paid rapt attention to the recounting of driving in the daylight, eating a steak and drinking a beer, whereas the ladies didn’t bat an eye at that and only wanted to hear about Froag. “What a difference eight centuries makes,” he thought.
[What do you mean by that?] Scully asked silently.
[Nick seemed almost excited about the story until I started talking about Froag. Whereas that’s when you and Nat got interested,] Mulder explained. [Being confronted with violent death from a psychopathic headhunter is far less out of the ordinary than sunlight, food and beer when you’ve been a vampire for the better part of the millennia, I guess.]
Nick was sitting back with his hands steepled before him, index fingers gently tapping his lower lip. Natalie was off his lap and standing behind the chair, her hands absent-mindedly toying with his hair. Nick was thinking about how Mulder fit into the community and the code. He was not a mortal, but not a vampire either. Any vampire who saw him would assume he was mortal, and mortals weren’t allowed to know about vampires. “What would an enforcer do?” he wondered. “Do they know about immortals already? Why would they keep it a secret?”
Mulder and Scully were both startled when Nick asked, “What does Dana get out of it?”
“What do you mean by that?” Scully asked, somewhat sharply.
Nick hadn’t necessarily meant to verbalize that thought, but he clarified, “I was just wondering what you get out of this bond with Mulder.” When he saw her ‘are you an idiot?’ look he hastened to explain, “I don’t mean personally, Dana. I was referring to the changes Mulder is undergoing- all of them positive, so far.”
Natalie caught Nick’s train of thought and continued, “And, you don’t seem to be lacking anything, so we can tentatively rule out a parasitic effect, but are you changing at all, Dana?”
Scully thought about the question for a moment as a large grin stole across her face. She began to chuckle softly and then louder. Mulder could hear her thoughts as she wondered how her family, acquaintances and co-workers would answer that question if they could see her now. Soon Mulder was laughing along with her as she imagined Skinner with smoke pouring from his ears when he walked in to their office and found Scully planted in Mulder’s lap, whispering sweet nothings in his ear and nibbling on his throat.
Finally she answered the question as Mulder wiped the blood tears from her face and idly licked them from his fingers. “Nick, if you knew me before I came to Toronto, you wouldn’t know where to begin listing the changes I have gone through,” she said incredulously. “No more ‘Ice Queen,’ that’s for certain.”
Both Nick and Nat showed identically quizzical eyebrow lifts, causing Mulder to snicker as Scully clarified, “I’m not especially known for displaying emotion on the job.”
[That’s not true Scully- you never hid your annoyance, frustration, exasperation, irritation…] Mulder began when Scully cut him off with a slap on his chest.
“Enough from the peanut gallery!” she said aloud. Turning back to Nick she said, “Seriously, Nick there have been so many changes… I have no idea what changes are because Mulder and I finally admitted our feelings; or because I finally learned that at least some of the, heretofore paranormal, is real; or because I became a vampire; let alone if they are because I am drinking immortal blood.”
“We will just have to deal with anything as it comes- after all, we aren’t going to stop doing it,” Mulder said.
Scully growled at the thought, “You’ve got that right!”
Natalie was concerned about the feeling of disquiet that she was sensing in her master. “What is it, Nick? You seem more than just curious,” she said, combing her fingers down through his hair.
Nick looked up at his lover and smiled softly at her look of concern. “Nothing important, at least not yet. Just thinking aloud.” He reached up and pulled her hands around to his mouth and kissed each palm before returning his attention to his other daughter. Changing the subject entirely, he asked, “Have you and Mulder made any plans about your immediate future?”
Mulder smiled and said, “Trying to get rid of us already, Nick?” while nuzzling his lover’s face with his cheek.
Scully was starting to become slightly distracted by Mulder’s attentions- not enough that she was even aware of it yet, but desire was once again beginning to build in the back of her mind. She had missed Nick’s question, but heard Mulder’s answer, and caught the gist of it. “We’ve pretty much ruled out staying in the FBI- at least in any full-time capacity,” she said.
“We thought we might be able to consult on occasion,” Mulder added.
“We definitely need to go back to Washington to get things settled before deciding where to go from there,” Scully said as she unconsciously began stroking Mulder’s chest; the fragrance of his blood beginning to register on her senses. “We’ll have to deal with our resignations…”
Mulder continued the line of thought, “…Our apartments and such…”
Catching Mulder’s gaze, Scully resumed “We’ll have to deal with the boys…”
“And your mother,” Mulder finished.
“God, yes. That’s going to be an interesting conversation!” Scully commented.
Mulder grimaced and said, “I just hope your brother Bill is out to sea, and not home for the holidays.”
Scully stopped rubbing his chest and laughed out loud. “He’ll probably burst a vessel, seeing us together.”
“No ‘probably’ about it. I just hope he doesn’t piss you off too much. I don’t think your mother would approve of you draining your brother for Christmas dinner.”
Scully stiffened slightly and said in a haughty voice, “I have more self control than that, Mulder. Besides he’d probably taste funny.” Scully paused in surprise, and then commented, “I can’t believe I even joked about that.”
Nick added, “Just so long as it’s a joke, Dana.” He sighed somewhat dramatically, and then leaned forward in his chair. “I hate to be the obdurate one here, but I have to remind you that you cannot share your new status with mortals. Not even your family. Especially not your family. You would be putting them and yourselves at risk of your lives.”
“I know, Nick. Having the enforcers pay a visit on my mother is the last thing I want to have happen. We will find a way to be careful. If something slips, I’ll just have to make sure she doesn’t remember it.” She said resignedly.
Nick muttered, “Just hope she isn’t a resistor.”
Natalie decided to lighten the subject, “Will you two be able to come to our wedding?”
Scully and Mulder both recognized the change of subject for what it was and smiled gratefully at Nat. “That’s two weeks, right?” Scully said. Turning to Mulder she raised an eyebrow in question.
Mulder said, “If we leave Monday, take a week to put affairs in order, spend Christmas with your mother… We could be back up here in time for the wedding.” It’s where we go and what we do after that that is still in question.”
“Why Monday, Mulder?” Scully asked. “We could probably catch a plane tomorrow…”
“I still want to meet up with MacLeod tomorrow night,” Mulder explained. We need to decide whether or not I will take him up on his offer.”
That surprised Natalie. “Why train?” she asked. “Surely you don’t need it now…” she began.
It was Nick who answered. “If Mulder wants to hide what he has become from the watchers, he would do well to train in the ‘normal’ fighting styles; using his ‘extra abilities’ only as a last resort.” Though he was answering Natalie’s question, he was clearly making a strong recommendation to Mulder as well.
“I hear you, Nick. I think I would want to anyway. If it is going to be such a large part of my life, it would behoove me to become more skilled.” He then smiled widely. Besides, I studied fencing at Oxford, and I really enjoyed it. It should be even more enjoyable now.” Seeing raised eyebrows all around, Mulder clarified, “I mean the study, not the application. Besides, Pierson said MacLeod could take him, and he is at least two thousand years old. MacLeod must be really good. Plus, he can tell me all about being an immortal.” Looking into Scully’s eyes for any sign of dissension, he continued, “The more I consider it, the more I think that I should train with him.”
Natalie asked, “Does that mean you will move to Seattle?”
Scully remembered, “He said something about not having lived in Toronto before… Maybe he was thinking of moving here?”
“If it is only six months or a year, I guess it doesn’t really matter where it is. That isn’t a great length of time even for a mortal. It will give us time to plan the next decade or two. Where we will go, and what we will do,” Mulder said.
Nick commented, “Remind me to give you Aristotle’s contact information before you go.” At the look on Mulder’s face he elucidated, “No not the Aristotle. He provides a service to the community. He arranges new identities- absolutely ironclad. Much better than the stuff you see from government agencies.”
Scully smiled and changed the subject back to the wedding. “Will you really be able to put together a wedding in two weeks?”
Natalie laughed, remembering what Nick and LaCroix had both said to her concerns in that very area. “When I asked Nick that question he said that I shouldn’t worry about it. He said, ‘Anything is possible when you say the magic words.’”
Mulder looked at Nick, who was avoiding anyone’s direct gaze. “What are the magic words?”
Natalie laughed again when Nick ducked his head in obvious embarrassment. “Money is no object,” she answered for him.
“Ah. How will you explain that on a detective’s salary?” Mulder asked.
Natalie’s smug grin threatened to split her face wide open as she whispered in a mock-conspiratorial tone, “He’s going to acknowledge LaCroix as his father. I can’t wait to see the looks on everyone’s faces.”
“You don’t have to sound so gleeful, Nat,” Nick groused, crossing his arms and huffing like a little boy.
“And you don’t have to be so glum! The gossip and stares will die away… eventually,” she finished with a snicker.
“I can hardly wait,” Nick grumbled.
===== X-FILES ===== FOREVER KNIGHT ===== HIGHLANDER =====
Tracy Vetter’s Apartment
9pm Saturday
When Vachon arrived at Tracy’s she was clearly furious. He had felt the progression from annoyance to the present state begin almost from the moment she had gotten to the apartment. He could tell that she had had an unpleasant confrontation, but he didn’t know with whom. It hadn’t occurred to him that her father might be waiting for her there. In Vachon’s mind, a reasonable person would have seen that Tracy wasn’t home, and tried again later, let alone that the person would not only wait for hours, but then blame the absent person for not being there to greet unexpected visitors. He didn’t know Richard Vetter well enough to guess that he would be so entirely unreasonable, despite Tracy’s description. By the time he got to her door he could feel the barely restrained violence roiling off of his childé in pulsating waves. He broadcast love and reassurance as forcefully as he could before he walked into the apartment.
He was almost startled by her appearance when he walked in the door. She was fully vamped out and her fingers were flexing like an eagles talons as it rived the flesh from its prey. “Trace, what happened?”
“He was waiting for me, like a mugger. An emotional mugger, waiting to assault me as soon as I opened the door,” she seethed, fingers still flexing, body vibrating as she restrained herself.
“Who, Tracy?”
Vachon could hear her teeth grind as she growled out the reply, “That rat-bastard ex-father of mine.” In spite of the fact that she didn’t need to breathe at all, her breath was coming like a bellows between each word as she continued, “He… makes… me… so…ANGRY!”
“Tracy, I…” Vachon started
Tracy interrupted as she began to slowly stalk across the room towards him, “I want to lift his body up over me; tear his head off and bathe in his blood!”
“That wouldn’t be a good…” he tried to get a word in edgewise, but she interrupted again.
“Vachon, I need you. I need you to take me, possess me; ravage me and remind me that I belong to you alone,” she whispered loudly. “I need you to pound into me until I am insensate; until there is nothing of him left in me. Until you are the only thought in my mind.” Her voice took on a pleading note, “I need you Javier. Please?”
Through the anger and lust he could sense her desperation. She needed to be the center of someone’s attention; to be valued and desired and cherished. He knew that she wanted him to be rough and domineering, but he could tell that, in the end, she would need him to finish with tenderness and compassion. As he grabbed her by the back of her hair and dragged her throat to his awaiting fangs, he was already looking forward to both.
===== X-FILES ===== FOREVER KNIGHT ===== HIGHLANDER =====
It was just past 1am as Vachon pulled the exhausted body of his childé into his arms on the floor in front of the fireplace. He had done everything in his power to wear her out. Every trick and technique he had learned in five centuries of sexual experimentation had been brought to bear, and still it had almost been himself that had succumbed first to the need for respite. She amazed him with her ability to take everything he had, everything he did, without missing a beat. Things he knew she had never even thought of doing before, and she willingly did it all. He had ruthlessly possessed her, using her body in ways she had never imagined. She gave as good as she got, though. He had lost count of the number of times she had brought him to peak, and he had been careful to make sure she had at least two for every one of his. Even with vampiric healing, they were likely to be sore when they woke up.
It was during the last bout that she had finally broken, emotionally. As he had predicted, she needed it rough in the beginning to assuage her rage; however, it was the loving tenderness and gentle affection of the final coupling that tore down the walls of bitter resentment and anguish that her erstwhile father had spent her lifetime constructing. Her last orgasm had left her tremulous and sobbing in his arms as almost thirty years worth of tears were shed in the space of ten minutes.
Finally she had cried herself out and was now sleeping in his arms. He was exhausted, but sleep eluded him. He had lived for roughly five centuries as a vampire, but fewer than three decades as a mortal. In all that time, he had never felt anything, good or bad, as deeply as the emotions his childé had been going through while she cried. He felt the deeply bitter resentment and sense of betrayal that she suffered as a result of her father. He discovered that before meeting him, Tracy had defined her existence by the approval of her mortal father. Approval that he never fully gave, withholding it as a tool to bend this intelligent, vivacious young woman to his will. It took the shedding of her mortality to break away from the emotional shackles with which he had bound her. In the end her father had sentenced her to life imprisonment- she had to die to be freed.
The feelings that were pounding through his veins were more intense and profoundly momentous than he had ever experienced. His head and heart were seething with intense and conflicting emotions; heart-rending compassion for his childé’s anguish and stomach-wrenching fury for her father’s abuse. He was torn between the desire to wrap her in his arms and never let her go, and the desire to find that man and inflict the most horrifying demise conceivable upon him.
In the end his rage dissipated somewhat, as the sorrow he felt for Tracy overwhelmed him. Soon his face was wet with bloodtears as he cried for the innocent child that had been so viciously abused. Though Richard Vetter had never physically harmed his daughter, his mental cruelty had almost broken her spirit. Vachon could hardly imagine what Tracy might have been capable of if she had grown up in a loving and supportive home. Selfishly, he was glad that she had not. He wanted nothing but the best for her, but he also knew that it was unlikely that he would ever have met her in the first place under such circumstances, let alone ended up her sire. He was so amazingly joyful to have her in his life that the though of never meeting her in the first place was like a stake in his chest. His own past seemed like an insubstantial dream and he was somewhat discomfited to realize that he had lived for so long with so little impact on the world or the people in it. Other than killing a lot of them, of course. He had flowed through his existence with no real purpose or meaning. Avoiding the responsibility placed on him by his own sire, fleeing his brother in darkness who wanted him to accept that responsibility. His brother, the Inca, who had himself died upholding their master’s charge- to prevent senseless violence and death. His shame for his behavior was new to him- do doubt elicited by his childé’s ingrained sense of right and wrong- of duty and responsibility.
Regardless of whatever events in both their lives had occurred to bring them to this point, he was grateful that they were both here. Vachon didn’t know how his life was going to change now that he had a conscience, but he knew that it would. He laughed when he remembered that Disney movie where the puppet wanted to become human, and the powers gave him a guide to show him right and wrong- “something cricket… Jimmy… Jamie… something like that,” he thought. He knew he would never call Tracy ‘Button’ again, but maybe a new Nickname was in order.
The last thought on Vachon’s mind as he finally succumbed to sleep was, “Goodnight, Cricket.”
===== X-FILES ===== FOREVER KNIGHT ===== HIGHLANDER =====
The Raven
12:30am Sunday
Johannes had spoken almost without pause for nearly three hours before finishing his overview of the history of the watchers, and what was known of immortals.
LaCroix pondered the information silently for several minutes while Johannes refreshed himself with several glasses of bloodwine. Finally he spoke. “Who else among us knows about this?”
Johannes seemed almost taken aback by the question. “Why, I haven’t the faintest idea, LaCroix. I have never discussed the subject with anyone outside of the watchers.”
“And there are no other vampires among these ‘watchers?’” LaCroix asked. “That seems unlikely, doesn’t it?”
“I don’t know with any certainty; however, I have never seen or heard of any of us among the watchers,” Johannes answered. “However, vampires in general aren’t particularly avid historians, to my knowledge. It is not inconceivable that I am, or was, the only one with this knowledge. You have lived longer than I and yet you were ignorant of their existence until very recently, were you not?” At LaCroix’s acknowledging frown he pressed on, “Now, LaCroix. You intimated that the watchers are hunters of immortals. I can assure you that that is not the case. Perhaps you will explain to me why you have drawn this conclusion.”
“To your knowledge, watchers have never hunted their charges?” LaCroix asked.
Johannes shook his head and vehemently denied it, “I have been involved with this group for four centuries, LaCroix. I have access to every record they have written- there is not even a hint that this has ever happened before.”
LaCroix leaned back in his chair and looked down his nose at the historian. “Then this development is either very new, or you and your ‘brethren’ are blind to the possibility. I suspect the truth lies somewhere closer to the latter.”
He went on to tell him of the events leading to the deaths of the watchers who had captured Mulder. He left Mulder’s immortality out of the tale, allowing Johannes to believe that he was merely a mortal toy of his granddaughter’s. He also left out the age of the immortal that the watchers were hunting- and the fact that it was the same man referenced in the journal in which Johannes was so interested.
Johannes was shocked. He wanted to deny that it was possible, but of course that was shortsighted. LaCroix would not have dragged him all the way to Canada just to provide him with false information regarding the watchers, a group of which he shouldn’t even be aware. “You said one of them was called Perone?” At LaCroix’s nod he frowned. “I am not familiar with that name. I will have to look into this carefully.” He stood up abruptly, “If there is nothing else?” he asked, waiting for LaCroix to give him the journal they had discussed.
LaCroix made no expression has he opened the center drawer on his desk and removed an ancient, leather-bound book. He handed it over to Johannes without a word.
“I will contact you when I am ready to discuss this,” Johannes said, indicating the journal.
“Of course,” LaCroix said smoothly, rising from his seat. “I always keep my obligations.” Pausing for a moment he added as nonchalantly as possible, “Perhaps you would inform me of your findings on these hunters?” At Johannes’ raised eyebrows he explained, “As I now have an acquaintance among the Immortals.”
Johannes stiffened, “I must caution you, Immortals are not to know about the watchers- it would make our task immeasurably difficult if they knew of us.”
LaCroix smiled pleasantly, though his eyes more resembled a snake poised to strike, “I can certainly understand why you would wish to keep such information in confidence.”
Johannes, recognizing the precarious nature of the situation he was in, capitulated without protest, “I will certainly keep you informed of my findings.” At LaCroix’s minute bow, he said, “Then I will bid you good night, yes?”
LaCroix answered in kind and opened the office door for him. After he left, LaCroix returned to his chair and sat back, sipping his bloodwine, as he contemplated the encounter.
===== X-FILES ===== FOREVER KNIGHT ===== HIGHLANDER =====
3232 Tableau Ave., Apartment C
2:30 a.m. Sunday
Methos was walking up the street, back to his apartment after another fruitless game of ‘find Froag.’ “Lousy bugger is not following his normal pattern,” he thought, frustrated. The watchers still hadn’t found him either and Methos was beginning to get the idea that he must have left the city. “Which, again, one wouldn’t expect, seeing as how he had missed out on Mulder’s quickening,” he thought with annoyance.
He was muttering to himself as he walked when he felt it. He was about two houses away from his apartment when the quickening impinged upon his grumbling. He immediately stopped and did a slow 360-degree turn. He then stopped moving and listened- but nothing. He kept one hand in his jacket on the hilt of his sword as he resumed walking toward his temporary home.
When he approached the door to unlock it he was surprised when the knob turned freely. Now he drew his sword, less concerned with any nosy neighbors than he was with being unprepared for an attack. He knew Mac was still in buffalo, because he had called and asked to be picked up at the airport tomorrow evening. It was unlikely that he could be lucky enough to find Froag waiting for him- he shouldn’t even be aware that Methos was in town. That left the newly immortal Mulder as the most likely candidate. However, Methos had not lived five millennia by assuming the best. “Besides, why would Mulder be sitting in my apartment, in the dark?” he mumbled softly to himself as he opened the door.
Both Mulder and Scully heard the mumbled question and were chagrined to realize that they had forgotten to turn on the lights, no doubt leading Mr. Pierson to his somewhat cautious entry. They had wondered what he was waiting for, standing outside the door for a length of time. In an effort to allay his fears, Mulder softly called out, “It’s agents Mulder and Scully, Mr. Pierson.”
Methos reached in and turned on the lights, looking about the room to verify that the two Americans were alone before lowering his sword and fully entering the apartment. “Why are you sitting in the dark?” he asked, still not comfortable with the situation.
Mulder gave his best disarming smile. “We got tired of waiting outside, so we came in,” he said, ignoring the real question.
Methos remained where he was just inside the door, still not happy with finding these two in his place in the dark. “Yes, but why didn’t you turn on the lights?”
Scully chided him, “To see what? The Mattress? The Chair? As diverting as those were, we covered them pretty quickly.”
Mulder continued with, “We had to find other things to occupy our time while we waited.”
At Methos’ somewhat bemused look Scully said, “You’re asking the wrong questions, Mr. Pierson.”
Mulder was enjoying the tag-team effect and followed up with, “What you want to know is why we came here at all.” [This is fun, Scully!] he thought.
[You are such a little boy sometimes,] Scully thought back, but she didn’t quit. “Isn’t it?”
Now Methos was quite thrown- aggravated with his fruitless search and the annoying way these two were talking to him, like a bad Gilbert and Sullivan comedy. He walked over to the chair and sat in it, elbows on knees and face buried in his hands he sighed out, “Yes, very well. Why are you here?” trying to convey his annoyance while sounding like the soul of longsuffering patience nearing the end of its rope.
Mulder smiled and said, “Would you feel better if we told you that we know where Froag’s staying?” Seeing Pierson perk up he couldn’t help but add, “Unfortunately, we don’t.”
Seeing Pierson’s near-homicidal glare, she quashed Mulder’s joke. “We do, however know where he will be tomorrow evening.”
Mulder whined, [Spoilsport!]
Scully replied, [What are you, five years old? Just give him the address.]
Mulder pouted a little but rattled off the address to Pierson, adding, “It used to be an auto parts warehouse. Now it seems to be abandoned.”
“Seems to be?” Methos asked.
“Well, there were some people using it last week, but they are gone now.” Mulder said, braving Scully’s wide-eyed glare.
Methos asked, “Are you certain that they…”
Scully interrupted. “Quite certain,” she said flatly.
Methos raised his brows in question, but Scully ignored him. “Come on, Mulder. Lets get out of here, I’m hungry,” she said as she dragged him towards the door.
Methos remembered something suddenly and said, “Agent Mulder, could I impose on you to pick up MacLeod at the airport tomorrow, as it seems I will be otherwise occupied?”
“What time?” he asked.
“Their flight is due in at 6pm; Preston Commuter Air flight 63 at Gate 36c” Methos said.
Mulder answered, “Sure. We’ll see you at the Raven tomorrow night?”
“Yes, I’ll be there,” he said as they walked out. “Providing I’m still alive,” he added as he shut the door.
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