r8-Nicole-p2

Cape Fear
Spender Plantation
Wednesday, August 18,
9:00 p.m.

Mulder's eyes flickered one last time toward the dubious comfort of the car in which Krycek still sat. The front door opened slowly and he clenched his fists, paused for a moment before he strode in. At least if Fox was not going to take over and make Mulder act the willing whore he could act with some dignity. He felt the hurt those thoughts had inflicted on the young presence hiding deep within him. He sighed. Fox had loved Alexander, for him this was a nightmare as well. For all Mulder's own horror he couldn't bring himself to blame the young man. For Fox Spender this was at once the past and a confusing future. Mulder spied Alexander sitting in a high-backed chair his face held in his hands, the perfect picture of remorse. The bastard!

"I'm here. Rape me, beat me…just get it over with," Mulder spat.

Alexander raised his eyes slowly, the resemblance to Krycek amazing. It was as if it *were* Krycek. "Beloved, I can't tell you how sorry I am. You know that I have always loved…"

"Fox isn't here, so you can save the pretty speeches." Mulder looked around the room, set in candlelit seduction. For once he was perfectly clear, there were no ghostly memories and he could see the room with clarity. If he could just be allowed to explore unmolested.

"I don't want to argue, Fox, I just want to hold you. As I used to hold you, long into the night," the whisper was soft, the eyes so beautiful. "I am haunted by myself, beloved. I frighten myself. That I hurt you…please come to me so that we might…talk."

Mulder knew the words were not for him, but an attempt to cajole the young Fox out of hiding. Alexander must be missing the eager run to his side, the passionate kisses his other would have rained upon the beautiful face. He took off his shirt, deliberately ignoring the plea. "Aren't I supposed to crawl to you on my hands and knees? Isn't that what you crave?"

Alexander's eyes flickered dangerously. "I will not be spoken to in that way, Fox." The words alone made Mulder furious.

"You aren't my father…though I must admit, you sound just like him!"

Alexander abandoned his contrite pose and rushed Mulder, grabbing him in a tight grip. He shook him furiously. "Don't *dare* to compare me to that bastard! Don't dare, for as much as I love you, little agent, I will punish you for that."

"I spoke of my father! Not your lover's. I told you, Fox is not here. He wants nothing to do with this charade anymore."

Alexander glowered, but quickly hid his fury. He caressed the pretty, furious face before him and stared into the lovely hazel. "Beloved, I am not angry with you. Can't you see that it is the agent that I am angry with? I would never have hurt you. Never. Haven't I always protected you, loved you?"

Mulder felt Fox respond in some small way and he clenched his teeth. "By taking me down to the place where you used to make love and whipping me? You knew Fox was the one you punished! And so does he." Mulder felt so strange talking about himself as two people. "Ungrateful bitch. Weak. Cowardly. These are the words you used to describe your beloved! How you could ever profess to love someone that you thought so little of is beyond…"

"Mulder, you will stop. I love you, but you will stop."

Fox surged to the fore, this time furious himself. The strength of his fury eclipsing even Mulder's and he shoved Alexander away. "Love? I think you never loved me. I was just a little, rich whore to you! Someone to toy with, to prove to yourself that you could have whatever you wanted."

Alexander shook his head. Confused. Images assailed him, images of Fox running from him, playfully, laughing as he was caught and rolled in fragrant grass so like his gentle eyes. Images of Fox crying in his arms after they had first made love, so happy to be held tenderly for the first time in his young life. Images of Fox in a mud fight with Alexander's son. "No, Fox, I loved you more than life itself. I still love you that way. No matter my actions…I want only to hold you for eternity…as we promised."

Fox shook his head. He didn't fully understand what was happening, was still caught somewhere between cognizance and frightening awareness. "Do you think that I would have ever wanted this? Do you think that I would ever have plotted your murder? Even if it meant I could be with you? I loved you, but I would never have done any of what…"

"Because you are weak!" Alexander roared. "Because you went, meekly away as bidden. You came back only to die. I killed your bastard father and still you stayed away!"

Fox touched his lover's face, gently, sadly. "You could have been with me then, but your vengeance has kept us apart. Your vengeance keeps us apart for eternity, for I will never love you again."

Alexander pulled Fox to him and buried his face in the soft hair, "You will, you are mine. Beloved, I will never let you go." With something akin to regret he pulled back and looked into the eyes that haunted him. "You will be with me, forever. After the ceremony, we will be bound together…forever."

Fox faded away and Alexander closed his eyes as the gentleness faded, leaving only the sharp look of his lovely agent. He knew he had wounded Fox, but he just didn't understand…he couldn't. "I know you are afraid now, my love, but it will all be over in a week," he promised huskily.

"Oh, yes. I get to be the special guest at the ceremony where I am to be slaughtered." Mulder stared into the green eyes. "Tell me, *beloved,* will you be the one to rip me apart? Or do you just get to watch?"

Tired of talking when Fox would not understand until after they were joined. "The pain will be as nothing after all this time. Come, let me love you," he breathed, rubbing his erection against Fox's crotch. "I crave you so."

Mulder pushed Alexander away. "I would rather that you horsewhip me again!"

Alexander's eyes glittered furious fire, but he refused to rise to the bait. He could force Fox to remember the past, could force desire by the simple act of making Fox forget the present.

Mulder backed away, suspicious as Alexander smiled smugly. He heard laughter, genteel, feminine laughter and he felt that odd expanding feeling once more, dislocation. He shook his head to deny what the sensation presaged. Though Fox had faded back, away from Alexander he was being drawn forward into the past.

Leather, freshly oiled and supple under his stroking hand. Fresh, sweet hay and the stomp of hoofs. Fox was confused for a moment until he realized that he was standing in his father's stable. What odd things he had been thinking. As if he had stood by his horse, Necromancer, for an eternity. Strange thoughts of his new love. Why had he thought the things he had? He had yet to give himself to Alexander and yet he felt a sense of unease about him. Even now the strange thoughts were fading, dreams only. He was simply feeling guilt for his unnatural desire for a man, he reasoned finally. What had he been thinking? That he was afraid of Alexander? A guilty flush stained his face as the stable master walked by. He knows what I am about to do, Fox knew. He knows what I want to do. He hid his face in Necromancer's glossy, black neck and the horse turned its graceful head to nudge at him, eager for the ride to come. Fox masked a groan of his own eagerness and stepped into the stirrup, straddling the horse and leading him from the stable. He wondered if Alexander knew that he intended to seduce the beautiful gypsy.

***

Alexander stroked Mulder's face as the agent relaxed his body, lost in thoughts that were at once his own and another's. He kissed the long throat as he led him to the stairs. He guided his love up the stairs slowly, giving him time to become fully engulfed in the memories. He couldn't join him there, he wished he could. They could make new memories together. He knew what his lover would remember. He had willed it, and though Fox wasn't really seeing him here, now, he could still enjoy his body. It was like walking a beautiful mannequin to the bedroom, Fox's consciousness and that of the deliciously spirited agent far away from this place. He felt the familiar stirrings of love be swept away by the more powerful force of his lust, the sense of power over this body that had no will in it at all. Almost roughly he pulled the clothes from Fox and pushed him on the bed. Fox lay there, not moving, ready to be put into whatever position Alexander wanted him. He fell on him and began to kiss every inch of the long, lean body, parting Fox's legs wide and fisting the sweet cock. He lifted one leg of bite at the tender flesh of Fox's instep and sighed with pleasure at the sweet musk of Fox's body. He traced a hand over Fox's belly and plucked at the erect flesh of one rosy nipple.

***

Alexander was smiling at him, such a devastating smile. White teeth against darkly tanned skin. They sat beside the river on a large rock overlooking the swirl of deceptively calm water. Fox was stilled flushed by the kiss, a light buss on his lips, that Alexander had given him as he had slid off Necromancer's back. Now that smile, somehow secretive and immeasurably pleased. Fox cleared his throat and plotted the seduction. Maybe he would just throw himself on the bigger man. Take him unawares. He cleared his throat once more and made his move.

Alexander smiled again as Fox slid one hand into Alexander's. He was trembling, looking at the water as his hand gripped Alexander's.

Fox felt the heat of the sun burning in his cheeks and moved one finger slowly back and forth on Alexander's palm. He was trying to breathe normally but all he could think of was the strong legs tight against his own, black leather pants, hand-sewn and butter soft. He might have to be bolder as Alexander was simply sitting there, smiling. He shifted on the hard surface of the massive rock and lowered their hands to rest on Alexander's thigh. His breath caught as he felt the hard muscle beneath that leather. Oh how he wanted to lay his face down beside his hand. He felt ashamed of what he wanted, but God knew how much he wanted it. How many nights had he dreamed of laying his head down in Alexander's lap and…and kissing him…there. He closed his eyes, the long sweep of lashes tickling his cheeks as he moaned.

"Is there something wrong, Fox?" Alexander teased.

Fox opened his eyes and his mouth opened then closed. He tried to speak again and then shook his head. "No, no, Alexander, I was just thinking of…of…how high we are."

"Really?"

"Yes, we better not fall," Fox gasped as Alexander moved his thigh, his hand pressing Fox's harder against the hard muscle, and…oh God…closer to his crotch.

"I'll never let you fall, Fox. I'll hold on tight to you," Alexander whispered, his lips so close to Fox's ear. When Fox sat motionless, Alexander pulled his hand up until it rested hotly on the bulge of Alexander's crotch. Fox's gasp was heartfelt, filled with lust and shame. His hand jerked as if to avoid the heat it rested on, but then it returned and he bowed his head as he squeezed gently.

"Alex…oh…I don't know what to…"

"Do?"

"Yes," Fox hissed.

"Whatever you want to do," Alexander assured shakily.

"I…I love you. I know it's wrong, but…"

"Hush, there is nothing wrong with loving me."

Fox stared up into the most beautiful eyes he would ever see. "There isn't? You're a man! I'm a man."

"And I am so glad you are. Have you ever felt this way before?" Alexander's gaze was suddenly so tender, all teasing gone.

"No. I want to…I want to do things to you that would probably shock you," Fox admitted. His gaze flickered to the pink lips. "They shock me."

Alex bent and kissed Fox again, such a soft touch and then the tip of his tongue came out and licked at Fox's lower lip. It was the most erotic thing that had ever happened to Fox. Alexander's words quickly topped the movement of his hot tongue. "Oh, Fox, the things I want to do to you. I want to kiss every inch of you, want to watch you as you take me in your mouth, want to spread your legs and make love to you," he groaned, his tongue moving round and round Fox's gasping mouth. "Do you know what I mean when I say that I want to make love to you, Fox?"

Fox trembled and nodded, he knew. He had heard of the perverse acts, but he had never dreamed that Alexander would want to do those things to him. It made him harder than he had ever been in his young life.

"But, I would never," Alexander placed his hand under Fox's chin and lifted his eyes to meet his earnest gaze, "never do anything that you didn't want me to do. If I could just hold you, I would stay on this rock for an eternity. I love you too, little Fox. I have never seen anyone as beautiful, nor known anyone as kind."

Fox squeezed again at the bulge he longed to free from its leather confines. "You love me?" He was more surprised that he was loved than that this exotic beauty loved him. "Me?"

Alexander's expression was dark for a moment. "You should be loved by so many, you should not be surprised to be loved," his voice was bitter.

Fox knew Alexander hated his father. Fox was beginning to hate him too. Being treated so well by Alexander's family had illuminated the dismal way his father treated him.

"Will you let me love you?"

"Oh yes, oh yes!"

Alex kissed him then, a kiss that made him feel as if orgasm was rushing up to overtake him. Alexander's tongue was in his mouth, the sounds of passion that escaped from his throat, his dark lashes hiding the brilliant gems of his eyes. Alexander helped Fox unbutton the little buttons keeping the leather pants closed until Fox could touch the large shaft. Fox pulled away from the searing kiss to look down on the captivating flesh and he groaned with lust.

"Kiss me there, Fox. I've wanted your lips on me since I first saw you. Such beautiful lips," Alexander breathed.

Fox bent over Alexander's lap and touched the very tip with his lips. He tasted the fluid that gathered there and he whimpered hungrily. He kissed it lightly, reverently, and then he opened his mouth to take the large head in. Alexander's hands came up to tangle in Fox's hair, one sliding down to rub his thumb over Fox's stretched lips.

"God yes, that feels so good."

Fox was emboldened by that praise and he took more of the cock in his mouth, his moans of pleasure sending delicious vibrations down Alexander's shaft. Too soon Alexander pulled Fox back and claimed the wet lips in a wild kiss. He pushed Fox back and covered him. His hands touched Fox everywhere with shaking intensity.

When he slid Fox's shirt off and bent to kiss one nipple Fox moaned, his body arching into the searing heat of Alexander's mouth. He barely felt the slide of his trousers as they were taken from him. He cried out as his rigid cock touched Alexander's and he bucked his hips wildly, trying to feel more of that delicious friction.

"Oh, Alexander, that feels so good. You feel so good," he whispered.

"Spread your legs, Fox," Alexander husked. The jade of his eyes burned as Fox eagerly spread his legs, plump cock exposed, the cool breeze tickling him in areas that had never felt a caress. "Oh, beloved, you are such a vision," Alexander intoned.

Fox bit his lower lip as Alexander bent to take his cock in his mouth. Fox screamed as the velvet, wet warmth surrounded him. His body jerked as orgasm came immediately filling Alexander's mouth with seed. Fox watched as some of the hot liquid trickled down Alexander's face and he cried out with the indecency, the wonderful indecency of it. Alexander proved he wasn't nearly finished playing Fox's body as he bent even further and began to lick at the cleft of Fox's ass. When his tongue found Fox's anus and gently probed there, Fox spread his legs even further, wantonly abandoning himself to the sensation. When his legs were slowly pushed up and Alexander's tongue grew bolder, deeper, Fox's cock rose again, wet and throbbing.

"I'm going to make you feel so good, Fox," Alexander whispered mostly against Fox's twitching body.

Fox tossed his head, lost to all intelligible response and made inarticulate sounds of lust, open-mouthed, gasping. He watched as Alexander coated his own erection with Fox's semen and looked into the jade eyes as Alexander positioned himself above him. That first penetration, that tight sting of pain caused Fox to gasp and try to draw back. Alexander stopped and kissed Fox so thoroughly until Fox relaxed once more. Alexander took his time, stroking Fox's erection and nibbling on his lips, sucking on his tongue until slowly he began to push in once more.

"Oh god, oh God, that hurts, but…oh…d-don't s-St-stop," Fox begged.

"Shh, baby, it'll only hurt for a moment. Then you will feel such pleasure. I know what to do, trust me," Alexander groaned.

"I trust you…oh!" Fox's eyes went wide as Alexander's cock touched some part of him inside that made him want to scream, and the head was past it going deeper. He squirmed as Alexander smiled down at him.

"That felt good didn't it?"

Fox nodded and could only pant as Alexander slid out once more. When he slid in again he hit the spot again and Fox began to buck up to meet him.

"Slow, baby, take it slow," Alexander urged, his own breath coming in hard gasps now.

Alexander was making love to him…outside under the brilliant blue sky. The slide of his flesh, the prick of his taut nipples on Fox's chest as he slid back and forth…and that place inside him that throbbed and pulsed with every sliding motion. He had never felt so alive. He begged silently for more and Alexander gave it to him, sliding in and out deeper and faster, every movement designed to please...to enslave with passion. Fox wanted it harder, deeper, faster, and he screamed out his wants. Alexander lifted Fox briefly to place their clothes under Fox's body. Once Fox was protected from the hard scraping rock he pressed Fox's legs up hard to his chest and began to pound into him with such intensity that Fox screamed again. The press of Alexander's belly on Fox's cock and the sensation of being filled quickly drove Fox to another orgasm, but still Alexander moved within him.

"I'm not ever going to stop," Alexander swore, whispering into Fox's ear. "I am going to be inside you like this forever, making you scream and shake. Oh God, Fox…uhh…F-fox!" Alexander strained his neck upward as orgasm sought and found him as well. His thrusts became erratic and Fox watched his face as he came. He had never seen anything as wonderfully lovely.

They lay there for a long time, basking in the sun and delighting in their nakedness. When Alexander led Fox off the rock and into the shallow waters at the bank of the river, Fox couldn't stop smiling. He had made love. He had made love to a man, a man he loved more than life itself. Nothing would ever keep him from Alexander. Silently he began to plan a way to stay with Alexander forever.

***

Cape Fear
Wednesday, August 18,
11:00 p.m.

Spender looked out the darkened window on the passengerside of the black Mercedes. It slowed to a crawl as they approached the darkened Spender Plantation. Smoke curled up from his cigarette and he held up his hand. The driver immediately stopped the car.

"This is far enough," he rasped. The plantation house looked like a house with a secret. Windows dark save for the faint flicker of candles. He turned slightly to look at the two men in the backseat. "Go, and no sound gentlemen, this is unlike any job you've done before."

The men slid out soundlessly and disappeared. Twenty minuets later they returned as silently as they had gone.

The car reversed slowly, the driver carefully guiding it away from the plantation. "The timers are set?"

"Yes, sir," one of the dark-clad men answered.

"The whole house must burn," Spender insisted.

"There is enough to burn three houses," the second man said, his voice barely above a whisper.

Spender lapsed into thoughtful silence. It was important that everything go smoothly. The witch had proved useful only in her knowledge of the curse rather than her ability to end it. The body of Alexander was somewhere in the house. His spirit was forced to remain close to the remains, if those remains could be destroyed then Alexander would have no refuge, no place to rest. He planned to set the explosions off on the night of the ceremony. He didn't want to risk Alexander somehow stopping the flames from destroying the house. During the ceremony Alexander would be so consumed that Spender hoped he wouldn't be aware of it until it was too late. The part that concerned him was getting Fox out of the cursed town, alive. That Fox would be forced to play his role in the ceremony was a necessary evil. He took a deep drag of his cigarette and smiled slowly. Necessary evils were things that he was quite comfortable with. He held the small, digital tape in his hand and thought about Skinner's reaction to it when he viewed it. Pictures of Mulder, wounded, being tended by Alex Krycek of all people. He smiled again. The A.D. would be on the next flight. He would have to send the disk to Skinner at the perfect time to assure that he would be there to *rescue* his lover. The rescue would, of course, be carefully orchestrated. To that end he would ensure too that the lovely Dana Scully would be no where near Cape Fear until such time as she could be made useful. The trick was in timing. Everything was timing.

***

Cape Fear
Thursday, August 19,
7:30:00 a.m.

Morning light woke Mulder and he groaned. His body ached in a hundred places, but not with true pain. He stared at the ceiling and thought back to the visions…memories of the night before. He had felt such love, such tenderness. Alexander and Fox had consummated their love on the very rock from which Fox would later end his life. Alexander had been so incredibly gentle, so passionate. Mulder could understand better, Fox Spender's confusion. The man he had loved was perfect in all ways. Beautiful, loving and fiercely protective. Such gentle hands even when he was deep inside Fox's body and desperate to come. That he had become a monster over the centuries made Mulder want to weep. He could not reconcile the two men, one in life so wonderful and in death, frightening. Alexabder had cursed himself, Mulder realized. For the man that he had been would have sooner slit his own throat than to harm his lover in any way.

Mulder faced what he had never admitted to himself. All his life he had been searching for the kind of love he had known so long ago. He had always believed in past life experiences, had even been involved in a case in which he had faced one of his other past lives. To be held with such tenderness, to know that his lover would die to protect him, and that he would gratefully die himself to save the one he loved had eluded him, tormented him...until Walter. Walter was so like Alexander. Both playful, lustful, tender and strong. Both men had made him feel like something special, as if in all the world nothing was so dear as he. Thoughts of Walter restored him, restored his determination to survive so that he might once again feel those arms about him. He closed his eyes and imagined he was in Walter's arms, his face pressed to the muscular chest as Walter teased him about some silly thing. He and Walter laughed all the time, laughed and argued and touched constantly. He thought of the morning in Walter's office. The last morning in bed, Walter's huge, utterly incredible cock, those passionate brown eyes, and he moaned. "I will come home to you, baby," he whispered.

***

Cape Fear
Moon Dust Motel
Thursday, August 19,
8:30:00 a.m.

Reluctantly, Mulder entered his motel room and resolutely picked up his case file. He straightened it neatly and then set it aside. He stared out the window and pursed his lips thoughtfully. Somehow he had to figure out a way to stop what the whole town plotted. He knew he was missing something…some way to destroy Alexander. When he had left the plantation house he had felt that Fox was trying to tell him something, something about Alexander, but his voice had seemed far away. Mulder suspected that Alexander had had a hand in that. Despite his frustration, Mulder was glad to be alone in his thoughts. Fox was gone for the moment and Mulder could think clearly for the first time in so long. There had been something about remains…Alexander's remains that Fox had whispered frantically. Perhaps Alexander's remains were in the house somewhere. Once Mulder had read of a haunting in England that had been particularly virulent, which had ended abruptly when a skeleton, entombed in a wall had been found and buried. Perhaps if Alexander's remains were found or destroyed, Alexander would cease to exist. His pulse thrummed with excitement. Could he find the remains? Would Alexander be so careless as to let him?

"Fox?"

Mulder spun about, his hand reaching for his gun before he realized he didn't have it on him. He came face to face with Krycek, standing in his room as if he had every right to be there.

"Dammit, Krycek, don't sneak up on me like that!"

"I wanted to see you, to make sure you are…all right," Krycek growled, an angry light in his fantastic eyes.

"Well, I am. Thank you for taking care of me, Krycek, but I am under no illusions that you did so because you suddenly had a change of heart. You are as ruthless as he is," Fox said tiredly. There was no need to explain who the *he* was, they both knew.

Krycek glowered at him. "I may be as ruthless, Fox, but I am alive! Not some fucking spook!"

"And that makes you better? At least it took centuries to make Alexander what he is. What is your excuse?"

"I make no excuses. I am what I am. And you can't stand that you want me," Alex purred. He smiled a little then, his pretty lips so pink, an innocent color for a dangerous man.

"I want you? I don't think so. I wanted who I thought was a good man, Krycek. I already know who I love, and trust me you don't measure up. In more ways than one!"

Krycek narrowed his eyes angrily. "You won't always be so quick with the insults, Fox. When this is over I have every intention of reminding you who you belong to. That bastard Skinner isn't who you need."

Mulder shook his head. "Get out, Krycek. I don't need or *want* your help."

"Yes you do. In case you haven't gotten it, this whole town wants you dead. I am the only one who wants to keep you warm and in one piece."

Mulder shivered, it was true. He was alone here. Scully was gone. It made him happy that she was safe, but he would love to hear her voice at that moment. To see her march about frightening people into compliance with one look from her cerulean eyes.

"What is your plan, Fox, 'cause I am damned if I know what to do," Alex stated. "I will help you, but you gotta let me. Alexander hasn't touched me yet, and I think we both know that he would have killed anyone else who got so close to you." He smiled then, a secret smile. "Especially when I bathed…uh...certain well-used parts of you after Alexander's attack."

Mulder flushed bright red. "You bastard!" he hissed.

"Oh come off it. It's not like I haven't seen it before…usually well fucked then too. Besides, you were bleeding, I was just doing my Dr. Kildare thing. You should be grateful."

"Grateful you didn't take advantage of the situation you mean," Mulder bit out.

"Yeah, well I don't like sloppy seconds."

"Oh, fuck you, Krycek!"

"You first, baby."

"I want you to leave…"

"What is your plan? You can argue with me later…if you live that is." Krycek moved closer to Mulder and looked about his room.

Mulder took a calming breath. There was something to what the rat bastard was saying. Vanity clearly kept Alexander from killing his double. Maybe Krycek could help him search the house. "All right, Krycek, I do have a plan."

"Well tell me outside, "Krycek warned, pointing to the mirror. Though the mirror reflected nothing but the room, Krycek didn't trust that the spirit of his ancestor wouldn't be listening.

Mulder nodded and the two men left the room together.

***

Cape Fear
Sheriff's Office
Sunday, August 22,
12:30:00 p.m.

Dmitry Kriuchek sat in his office absently playing with a pen, twirling it in the fingers of one hand as he watched night fall. For several days now Fox Mulder and that bastard cousin of his had gone to the plantation together. They were obviously up to something, but every night the delicious agent had gone to the plantation alone. Dmitry shivered as he recalled the night before. He had sneaked to the plantation and watched through a window as Alexander had taken the pretty agent, standing. The agent's eyes had been unfocused, vacant, as Alexander plowed in and out, kissing the long neck and whispered words of lust and love. He had fled back to his cold, lonely bed when the glowing eyes of the spirit had found him at he window. What disturbed Dmitry more and more was the fact that his cousin had been unmolested even when it was obvious that he wanted Fox for himself. What was Alexander thinking? Would he choose Alex as the one to kill Fox? That was *his* role. He was the leader of the family, it was his right. The elders had refused to speak with anyone. It had been so long for them and now the time of their own deaths was at hand. They looked forward to their deaths. Dmitry suspected that they had been alive as long as the curse and that like the curse, their forced existence would end when Alexander was reunited with his lover.

He startled as the phone rang with sudden persistence. "Yes?" he growled into the phone.

"Sheriff Kriuchek?"

"Yes, who is this?"

"Please hold, sir, Assistant Director Skinner wishes to speak to you." The woman spoke briskly as if well-used to people hearing the name Skinner and growing nervous. "I'm putting him through now," she finished

"Kriuchek?"

The voice on the other end of the line was deep and filled with irresistible authority. "Yes, this is he."

"This is Assistant Director Skinner. I trust you know who I am."

Dmitry swallowed nervously. "Yes, yes of course I do."

"I haven't been able to contact one of my agents. Special Agent Fox Mulder has not contacted his partner in over three days."

"Oh, I wouldn't worry, sir, in fact if I were you…"

"You aren't me, Sheriff. If you don't find Agent Mulder and drag his ass back to your little office and get him on the phone in exactly one hour, I am going to come down there personally. And trust me you don't want that. Am I making myself clear, Kriuchek?"

Dmitry stood up quickly. "Sir, you have nothing to worry about. I saw Agent Mulder myself not two hours ago. He's busily trying to solve this case. A great agent!"

"Cut the crap. You have fifty-nine minutes, I suggest you use them well. I am a heartbeat away from taking over this case and if there has been any irregularities, trust me, *you* will be the first person I look to for answers."

The line went dead and Dmitry shakily set the phone down. Even were he not involved in the plot to kill a federal agent he wouldn't want an Assistant Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations breathing down his neck. Though ostensibly Skinner had no jurisdiction over Cape Fear, the Federal boys didn't always play by the rules. And with only one person higher than Skinner, he would have a direct line to the Attorney General who was the highest law enforcement official in the country save for the President himself. With that kind of power no civil law enforcement official would dare disobey him. He quickly left his little office and went in search of Agent Mulder.

***

Eli's turn