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Curse of Dark Shadows r2-p2-Tara
          by StarWindDancer

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Mulder gleefully flipped through the book a couple times, glancing at the pages filled with scrawling ink. He sat down at the library table and chose a page that had a flower pressed inside it to read.

Except that he couldn't read it. The writing on the page was smudged; like the book had been left out in the rain or maybe the flower's moister warped the ink.

Mulder turned to the next page, hoping that he could pick up what the page said by the context surrounding it. But that page was smeared as well and the page after that. In fact, most of the book was filled with smeared pages, like Spencer Collins wasn't careful to let the ink dry before turning to the next page, thus smearing it.

However, the first dozen or so pages were clear and easy to read. Mulder skimmed through, noting the loose, wandering style of Spencer Collin's narrative. The first part was filled with useless stories about how the cook smacked his hand for sticking his fingers in the melting chocolate for dessert and how he once played cricket through the rose garden with his friends.

In spite of this mundanely to the journal, the last clearly written page was quite informative.

"Father invited the seamstresses from town today. I am to have a new suit coat made," Mulder read aloud. "He says that it is time to involve myself in the family business and that I am to help him negotiate with the Du Pres family. The Du Pres's are a boring family who live near here and are quite full of themselves. It's rumored that they have winched every tavern wench on the east coast. If any of them messes with my sister Danielle, I will throw them off Widow's cliffs, that is if Danielle doesn't throw them off first."

If Mulder remembered the legend of Spencer Collins properly, it was the arrival of the Du Pres's that sparked off the tragedy. The Du Pres's brought with them Spencer Collin's secret lover as well as his eventual wife, Angelina.

There had to be more clues here. The ghost of Danielle wouldn't have led him here without reason. The journal must hold more clues for him to find.

* * *

Alex found Mulder like that hours later, ensconced in the library, flipping through another book he had pulled off the shelves. Piles of books surrounded him while the journal lay nearby on the seat of the next chair over.

"Find any witches, yet?" Alex asked, coming up behind the beautiful agent and circling his arms around him. Alex leaned over Mulder's shoulder to read over the page he was looking at.

"Actually, quite a few. The family was accused of witchcraft quite a few times. They had to endure many different witch trials, sometimes winning, sometimes loosing."

"Ok, we have screaming skull ghosts and witches. Any warlocks, vampires, were wolves?"

"You don't know much about the Collin's family, do you? They're the original X-Files. The local magistrates had to deal with vampires, were wolves, and even a Frankenstein like monster." Mulder turned around to kiss Alex lightly on the lips. "And they're not warlocks, they're male witches."

"Please don't tell me that you're going to tell me their history tonight. I don't want a bedtime story."

"Mmm," Mulder said, nuzzling Alex's neck, "I can think of better bedtime activities."

"Just so long as we don't break the bed. Then I would have to fix it!" Alex explained. "Come on, Virginia has dinner all ready. I told her we'd eat with her then clean it up ourselves."

"More time alone with me?"

"Of course," Alex said, sashaying his hips as he walked out the door.

Mulder followed eagerly.

Dinner could have been quiet. It probably would have been quiet if Mulder hadn't joined. He talked animatedly throughout dinner, waving and explaining how wonderful it was to be at Collinwood manner and the wonderful research he could get done. He skimmed over how he found it and moved on to what he had read and now understood about the fabulous house.

Virginia and Alex just smiled companionly over the table, waiting for Mulder to talk himself out. He was still talking when the others got their fill and Virginia begged her leave.

Alex mutely started clearing the table, smiling affectionately the whole time. No wonder Mulder was so oral; he exercised those muscles so much.

Alex took care of the big plates; the bowls of potatoes, the salad, and the main course of ham while Mulder took care of the drinks and condiments. He was putting away the horseradish sauce when he became very silent.

Worried, Alex hurried over to see what was the matter.

"Fox?"

Mulder smiled and pulled out the bottle of Hershey's syrup.

"Oooh, chocolate milk," Alex exclaimed, pulling out the milk and getting a glass.

"Um, actually, I was thinking that since we have a four poster bed and all..."

Alex's jaw dropped. "You want... you want to tie me up?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I want to tie you up and lick you all over," Mulder said with a gleam in his eye. He poured out a dollop of the sauce on his fingers and coated Alex's lips with it. He then was kissing his lover in earnest, making sure to lick all the chocolate off his lips and tonsils.

* * *

They both fell asleep after stripping the bed with linins. Alex had the slack jawed look of someone well fucked while Mulder had a smirk of someone who'd just gotten his cake and ate it too, which was quite accurate.

During the night, Mulder woke up for a while, appreciating the beauty that was his lover. It had been so cute to see Alex hesitate at not just being tied up but also of getting down and dirty on the sheets. Mulder had to promise to do the laundry himself tomorrow before he got his little rat subdued. It had been quite the banquette as Mulder had explored that wonderful body.

It was apparent to Mulder that Alex hadn't been made love to too much. He was a bit hesitant to explore Mulder's body and missed some obvious male hot spots. Alex seemed to go more towards the actual act or towards blowjobs, skipping the exciting foreplay. It had been a joy for Mulder to show him just how much secondary routes could be.

It made Mulder curious as to what else he could teach the other man.

Alex whined in his sleep, his face twisting in a grimace. He curled up a bit, as if protecting himself, causing Mulder to act without thought. He pulled his wonderful lover into his arms, running a soothing hand over that smooth and perfect backside.

In his sleep, Alex shrieked and batted at Mulder, like he was trying to push him away and pull him forward at the same time. He cried out one more time before flopping over on his other side and curling the other way, his head back, arms forward, and legs down.

Mulder shushed him and fitted his body as best he could to Alex's distress one. It had the desired effect and Alex slipped off into a more peaceful sleep. After a while, Mulder was lulled to sleep himself by Alex's steady breath.

* * *

It was much later; in the early lights of dawn that Mulder woke a second time. The problem was, that this time he woke up to the absence of warmth besides him. The sheets were quite cold and most of them had been dragged off the bed and trailed onto the floor.

Worried, Mulder wrapped a sheet around him against the chill of the morning air and went in search of his lover.

He checked the bathroom first and then moved onto the kitchen. When no Alex was apparent, he looked quickly outside, poking his head out the door and yelling for Alex but when no answering cry came, he then moved onto the rest of the house.

He finally found Alex in the main living room at the front of the house. The room was freezing cold in spite of the roaring fire in the fireplace. The large glass doors had been left open and Mulder crossed the room to close them.

"Jesus, Alex, still used to Siberian winters?" Mulder joked as he turned around rubbing his arms. "I'm guessing the fire was for more aesthetic purposes then just that you were cold."

Alex didn't respond. He just continued to stare into the fireplace. In fact, his whole continence was off, now that Mulder looked. Alex didn't have any goose pimples, despite the cold in the room and other parts didn't shrink either. Mulder had thought nothing of Alex's nakedness but now that he was standing here examining the man, it did seem a bit odd. It wasn't that Alex was shy about his body, he was just cautious because he didn't want to flash Virginia or her nephew and would wear at least jeans or a sheet when leaving the bedroom.

"Alex, are you all right?" Mulder stepped forward into the other man's view.

When Alex didn't respond, Mulder reached out a hand to touch his shoulder.

The response was immediate. Alex's eyes snapped open widely then scanned the room. His arms also jerked up and he took half a step away from Mulder.

"Wha... huh...," Alex shook his head trying to clear it before taking in the room again. "Mulder, what's going on?"

"I don't know. I found you standing here a few minutes ago. I think you were sleep walking."

"I don't sleep walk." The tone he used was firm and would break no argument.

"Do you remember how you got here or when you built the fire or anything?" Mulder peered over Alex's shoulder, noting that the sheets had been pulled off the furniture and a couple piece had been moved. "Do you have any memories of anything at all?"

"No, I... no," Alex was clearly puzzled.

"Have you had any weird dreams lately or been under a lot of stress?"

"No. Yes. Arg, I've been having dreams about you and me lately. They're not bad," Alex smirked at Mulder. "But I keep calling you something else and you're dressed differently."

"How so?"

"Well, I keep calling you Jamison," Alex furrowed his brow, trying to recall all the details of his strange dreams. "And you call me your little cat, though I think you called me Spencer once or twice."

"I think I like that," Mulder said with a gleam in his eye. "Do you remember the dream you had tonight? A dream you had a few minutes ago? Some occasional sleepwalkers dream of some event or something and respond to it in their sleep. I've read a report of a woman nervous about her travel plans in the morning and find that she had repacked everything in her sleep. Another one I've read is a man in Kentucky who had a presentation about a building he designed and found that he had reconstructed the entire thing out of Popsicle sticks."

"No, I don't remember any dream but yeah, I think you're right, I was having a dream. I was dreaming about... I think it was about you but that's not right. You were in the dream but it was about... It was... I don't know. This is not good, Mulder."

"Well, I think it's a good thing that we have a four poster bed."

"Mulder, I'm being serious here."

"And you don't think I am? I think keeping you tied to that bed as my sex slave is a very good idea."

"Fox William Mulder, you are one exasperating man."

"Hmm," Mulder moved in to kiss the frustrated look off of Alex's face. "Do that again."

"What, kiss you?"

"No, say Fox, I want you to call me Fox. I think it's sexy."

"Sexy?!? I'll show you sexy," Alex moved in for the kill, throwing his arms around the older man and pressing deep kisses. Mulder was quickly overbalanced and fell to the floor, Alex straddling him.

"Ever done it naked by the light of a fire?" Alex whispered huskily in Mulder's ear as he nibbled on it.

Mulder cupped Alex's ass cheeks, squeezing them hard, hard enough to make Alex squeak.

"No, don't believe I have," Mulder easily lied.

Above them, the woman in the portrait frowned deeply. She did not want to see this.

* * *

Mulder sat down in the seat by the window in their shared bedroom. It was midmorning and he could hear Virginia vacuuming somewhere. Alex could clearly be seen through this window on the roof of the outdoor summer kitchen fixing it.

He thought that he could study the history of the family some more and had settled down in the chair for the afternoon. The room was quite bright and cheerful in the day. It made Old Lucy look mundane and plain, even if she was a human skull.

To his side on the table, he had a glass of tea with lemon slices in it and a pile of books he had brought down from the library. The first book he picked off the stack was Spencer Collin's journal. Maybe there were things he missed on his first reading.

Mulder read the journal slowly and in depth, turning over the information on the clearly written pages in his mind. There really didn't seem to be anything there. He read the part about the father summoning the seamstresses and about the Du Pres's coming. He turned the page to look at the unreadable pages.

Except that they were not unreadable anymore. He could clearly see the scrawling script talk about gossip the seamstresses had passed on. Excited, Mulder flipped a couple more pages, skimming them. Dozens more were clearly written, up until the time the Du Pres's actually arrived and had a formal dinner between the two families.

Mulder was overjoyed. There was more of the journal to read; maybe that was why Danielle directed him to the book. If he hadn't been so pig headed he would have thought of the fact that the library wasn't very well lit and that it would have been harder to read the journal. The light was quite bright by the window and he could read so much. Too bad the rest of the journal was slightly smudgy but maybe with time and patience, he could transcribe some of what Spencer Collins had written.

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And onto Demi-X