Heart's desire 4
Adam Longfort slowly realized that his grandfather was aware of him, was in fact, staring at him expectantly. "Grandfather? Are you all right?"
The old man chuckled and rose. "Douse the fire, grandson. It is time to go to the two. The ancient enemy has begun an attack of a different nature and we must be there to see that he does not succeed."
"Grandfather, it is snowing," Adam cautiously informed the old man as he picked up a bucket of water to douse the flames.
"Yes, I am not so old that I cannot fathom what those white things that fall from the heavens are."
Adam looked at his feet, the hiss of the fire dying, drowning, covering his small sound of frustration. "It is too cold for you to go about in a snow mobile. With all due respect, grandfather, you aren't a young warrior anymore."
His grandfather looked at him and for one moment those black eyes burned with the fire of youth, a strange dichotomy in the ancient face. "Saying the words, 'all due respect,' is not the same as showing respect, grandson. Words are like things, solid, once spoken they cannot be taken back." His own words were gentle, instructive rather than reproving.
"Yes, grandfather," Adam sighed. "I just worry that is all."
"Then help me get to the town, or worrying will be as fruitful as spitting into the wind."
Adam followed his grandfather up the ladder and thought the snow wasn't as fierce as it had been the wind groaned and threatened to bring on torrents of the killing cold. They bundled up and mounted one of the snowmobiles. When they were ready Adam faced the direction of town and with a small prayer he started them on their journey. One he was afraid would be too much for his grandfather.
***
Skinner eyed the sheriff. The man was pompous even for a small town officer. Big fish in a little pond, he thought. A frozen, little pond, he sighed.
"Being who you are, powerful, that must be a wonderful feeling," the sheriff purred.
Skinner raised a brow. "I wouldn't describe myself as powerful. Just an officer of the law, just like you. The only difference is who our bosses are."
The sheriff grinned. "Modest too."
Skinner had a headache, a pounding behind the eyes that could be attributed to one rogue agent. A Mulder-ache would be the best title for his pain. Why he tolerated the escapades of that man, he would never know. No, that was a lie, he respected him, respected his fight. That was the reason. That he had seen some strange look on Mulder's face when he had hovered over that bastard, Krycek, made him pause. It had seemed strangely tender. He'd seen that look on the faces of men before. He had never, himself, been attracted to a man physically, never would, but it had never bothered him. The idea that maybe Mulder had feelings of some kind for another man in itself was just another twist to Mulder's constant ability to push Skinner off his rocker, but that he might have feelings for that rat bastard was the cause of his current throbbing headache. God, what a mess! And no Scully to reign Mulder in. Heaven sent Scully. Without her Mulder would be uncontrollable...or dead. Yes, definitely dead. Tiny, competent, fierce Scully, an antidote to any man's headache. He realized that the sheriff had said something else but he was too tired to converse any longer. He politely informed the man that he had some calls to make. It seemed like the sheriff was about to refuse to leave. In fact all of Skinner's instincts warned him of something coiling within the other man, something poised to strike. He drew himself to his full height and towered over the smaller man, a big man was the sheriff, but not one he couldn't handle if it came to that.
Osebo wanted the big man, his position, his physical strength would be so lovely. But, the man was no soft touch. He had seemed to know when Osebo was about to hurl himself upon him, had tensed up like a raging bull, all but stomping his feet in challenge. He would have to wait, he couldn't risk that this one would be too strong to take easily. Not yet. He had to see his prey again...he would lure him out with more lies and more promises, lies and promises that had thus far half-convinced the pretty man that he was in no mortal danger. He smiled to himself and left the big man, Skinner, to his calls.
***
"You really picked the wrong career, Alex," Fox sighed, luxuriating in Alex's ministrations.
I chuckled at that. "Are you suggesting I might have done better to be a boy-toy than a bad boy assassin?"
Fox reached back and slapped my ass. It stung, but I grinned anyway, biting him in revenge. His little moan got me chuckling again. "I think you are the boy-toy, Fox."
Predictably Mulder shifted from under me, but the smile on his face wasn't what I expected. I let him get up and rolled onto my back staring at him. He really was beautiful. And mine.
"Okay, enough play, boy-toy or no, we still have a situation. I think we should be around people...keep ourselves safe in a crowd."
"Brilliant as usual," I yawned. Stretching a bit. "A crowd of people? Where will we ever find one in this mess? If you haven' noticed, it's a bit foul out for people to be doing the hokey pokey down at the local pub."
He shook his head. "That's just where they'd be...where else would they go?"
"I don't know, huddled at home by the fire. Or," I paused, smiling wickedly, "curled up in bed, getting a blow job."
He flushed. "It's not just about sex, Alex. This isn't. Not for me."
I sat up, almost contrite. "I know. I was trying to seduce you, knuckle-head." I saw the tender look on his face for a brief moment before he was all business again.
"Yes, well, fine. But we have the rest of our lives to seduce each other. Right now I want to keep you alive."
"I already told you, Osebo won't hurt me, and do we? Have the rest of our lives?" It was important that. I was trembling then and with a small sound of ire I stood. I wasn't exactly the trembling type.
"Yes, I think we do. And as to Osebo wanting to keep you as his pet...having your prosthetic try to strangle you wasn't exactly a gesture of good-will."
I frowned. That was true. "Maybe he is just kinky," I added with less conviction than before.
"Maybe he is a demon that will lie to suit his purpose. Jesus, Alex, aren't you smart enough to figure that out? And let me tell you, I am not sure that there really are two presences."
I frowned then. "I saw what I saw, Mulder. Tamaya is real."
"She may *have* been real," Mulder acquiesced.
"But, you don't think she still exists?"
"I wonder if she isn't some part of a whole. Maybe this Osebo absorbs his victims...all of them...bring into play different personalities...different knowledge gained from centuries of victims to make him fit in any given situation."
I remained silent and watched Mulder's formidable mind at work. This kind of thing was his forte, not mine, not by a long shot.
"Suppose when we first released him, he had only the minds and resources of people, animals even from centuries ago...when he took me over, he probably was able to glean some small understanding of the modern world. Maybe not as much as if he had been able to keep me permanently, but enough to know what type of person he would want to take over."
"You mean he jumps from person to person?" I asked, unsure.
"I don't know. Maybe he stays inside the perfect choice for as long as possible...like the slave he came to America in. Someone strong, physically, maybe mentally too. Maybe the real...essence...the real entity is just a mindless thing...one that uses the information it gains simply to enable it to feed."
"Feed?"
Mulder ran a hand through his hair. "I felt weak after...not horribly so, but weak. Maybe it feeds off of a person's energy...like a vampire only there is no Bram Stoker's elegant Count. Just a being that is utterly inhuman."
"Why would it want me? Why, if it wants me, did it take you over instead?"
"It must have learned about...about sex somewhere along the line...maybe it likes it. It certainly puts on a good show if it doesn't. But, Alex, don't make the mistake of thinking that it is rational...no matter how many lives it's learned from...if it is anything like what I described...it would be like teaching an ape to sign."
"Huh?"
"It might understand the words, but not the human implications behind them...not the true depths of the meaning of the words, 'I love you' or 'death' or anything else that we feel deeply about. It might not even have as much understanding as that ape would have. Maybe it is just a damned good mimic."
"But if that's the case, then why does it like sex? I mean...isn't that the same thing...the feeling..."
"No, that is physical sensation...it could understand that, but maybe even that is different for it. I don't think that it is simply what I've described...I think it is also inherently evil...everything is perverted, twisted. It didn't want me to make love to you, it wanted me to *rape* you to make you bleed, to hurt..."
I flinched and saw that Mulder was shaking.
"It was horrible...like being inside the mind of a lunatic. I'm so sorry, Alex," he whispered. "It...he doesn't love you...doesn't want to cuddle you. It wants to tear into you...I felt it."
I felt sick and without thinking I went to him, seeking solace in his arms. "So, what do we do?" I asked. "Do the hokey pokey?"
He chuckled and I was glad to hear that...it lightened my heart somewhat.
"I can't exactly put my left arm in, or my left arm out, but..."
"Don't," he whispered.
"Don't what?" I asked.
"Don't make fun of yourself...I don't like it," he murmured into my neck, soft lips making light passes over the highly sensitized skin.
"I am what I am, Mulder, and nothing will change that...not even a lack of humor."
He looked into my eyes and shook his head. "You are impossible, you know that?" He was grinning.
"I know. Impossible, boy-toy for hire," I quipped. He slapped my ass again and I growled. I could do some ass-slapping too. He was going to find out very soon that this wasn't a "Alex is strictly a bottom" type relationship. I grinned, looking forward to reaming him out in the very near future.
"You aren't for hire, I don't share," he growled and it made me want to kiss him, just take those puffy lips and kiss him until he couldn't breathe. I was seriously considering ways to do a refined version of the hokey pokey in the bed with him when there was a knock on the door. He went to answer it and I went for my gun.
Sheriff Macallsiter was there and before Mulder could say a word I pointed the gun straight at the man's face. "I guess you don't know it, but I never miss. You'll be dead before you even hear the shot...before you begin to fall," I said more calmly than I felt. Death was something that was easy for me to dole out. The instinct that made me wary of the sheriff was more powerful than Mulder's irate, "Alex!"
"Move away from the door, Mulder. Now." He knew I was dead serious and did as I had bidden. The sheriff frowned, but he saw it in my eyes too. I meant what I said, he would die. Whether I was right or I was wrong, the man left in a hurry.
"Alex?"
"It was him. I know it," I ground out.
Mulder looked at the empty doorway and nodded in acceptance. "If it was, he'll change soon. If you know who to look out for, he won't be successful."
I nodded. "Yeah well I got news for him. No one is getting close to me that I don't know."
Mulder's face grew tight. "Skinner. He'll go for Skinner."
I knew the truth of his words and had time to open my mouth to agree before I was forced to run after him. When we reached Skinner's room there was already the sounds of a scuffle. Mulder barreled through the door and tackled the sheriff who had surprised Skinner and had him momentarily pinned. I didn't want Mulder touching him...not knowing how easy it was for Osebo to slip from one living creature to the next. I was about to join in the fray, but Skinner, quick as any cat, tossed the sheriff off of Mulder and began to bellow.
"What in the hell is going on?" he demanded.
Mulder stepped toward the sheriff and I quickly moved to stop him. The sheriff's eyes blazed yellow for an instant before he turned and jumped through the window. Falling three stories into the snow. Mulder rushed to the window, all of us gasping at the sudden cold in the room. Shattered glass was on the snow below, some blood, but the sheriff was gone.
***
"Explain this to me one more time," Skinner sighed. We were all sitting in the local bar and I reluctantly had to admit that Mulder was right. There were several people there, drinking the storm away. It was agreed that the people in the bar already were probably okay, but any new comers were suspect. I added to my own list, anyone that left alone and came back. I had checked the restrooms to be sure the windows were all secured. Every so often I would check them to assure myself that the windows were still secure, that no one had broken in and claimed some unlucky drunk. There was no kitchen, only an office behind the bar. I'd checked that too, when the barkeep wasn't looking. No windows, no outside access. We were safe for now. Every time the door opened I added the newcomer to my suspect list. It consisted of two people, an old man with a cane...too old to be of much use in a fight, and a younger man, short, willowy even. Nothing I couldn't handle. But above all else I didn't sense anything in them. I think I would.
Mulder was explaining his theory one more time to Skinner when the door opened and Adam Longfort entered, too big, too strong and too damned handsome for me to relax. Even if he hadn't been jumped by that perverted demon, Fox had seemed a bit too interested in him. Maybe I would just have to shoot him between the eyes. I felt a bit guilty, the man had rescued us, after all. But like Fox said, I don't share. Not a bit. And especially not my Fox. An old man followed him in. Old, hell he was ancient! They came straight toward us, obviously cold.
Fox jumped up to meet them. "Adam! How did you get here?"
I didn't like the way Fox said his name. One touch, buddy and 'bam', lights out.
"I came on one of the mobiles. This is my grandfather, he knows everything. Please listen to him," Adam said.
Those damn, doe eyes looking for all the world like Fox was a tasty treat. My gun was the only hard thing he would get close to, I vowed.
The old man waited until Skinner stood and offered him a seat, before sitting down gingerly. He removed his fur cap and took a long, shuddering breath. I was surprised when he turned his eyes to me. "Don't be deceived young one. There is only one...many in one, but only one in the end."
I gasped. How had he known? "But, she was so real," I sputtered.
"You must be prepared for his lies. His strength is in his lies." He turned then to Mulder. "You have some understanding of him now, don't you?"
Mulder nodded, for once speechless. It would have been a priceless, Kodak moment, if it weren't so deadly serious.
Again those ancient eyes turned to me. "The vision you see, are part truth, part lies. It is its way. To confuse you, to tempt you, to lull you into a false sense of security. It is not your body it wants, not ultimately. It is your soul that it feeds on. The woman was human...what you would call a witch, powerful yes, beautiful yes...a vessel for the demon for so long that she is part of it. But there is only one."
I shook my head. What I had seen...the two of them...separate. It was so real.
Skinner spoke then and his words utterly surprised me. "If what you say, and what these two say," he motioned to Mulder and I, "then it makes sense for it to project this vision of a beautiful woman. What man could resist being wanted by a woman like Alex describes?"
Adam looked longingly at Mulder and I knew what he was thinking. He could resist that woman. For the moment I ignored him. I shifted closer to Mulder, proprietarily closer, but I ignored him. "So, what do we do now?" I asked the old man.
***
There was a moment of complete silence as all focussed on the wizened old man but those deep brown eyes kept an unbreakable hold on mine, never wavering to left or right. A look of sorrow crossed his face momentarily before he pulled back, releasing me from his hold. That look sent a chill coursing through to my very soul and the words of some movie trailer came back to haunt me.
'Be afraid. Be very afraid.'
The old indian's voice showed none of the frailty of his body.
"This creature is not a physical being. It does not walk this Earth. It cannot be defeated in this world..."
"We managed to throw it off several times..."
The old man raised his hand to halt the flow of words, turning his ancient frame to face Fox Mulder... my lover.
My lover. Strange what a difference a few days could make. Yes, he *was* mine... and he wanted me for more than an interlude; he wanted me for the rest of our lives. I nearly missed the old man's next words as a warm sensation coiled through my body from deep inside.
"It was weak from centuries trapped within the great tree. Now it has fed, it has become more powerful... too powerful."
"Then how was it defeated before?"
The old man smiled, his frail, brown hand with skin stretched parchment thin patted Mulder's.
"Defeated. Yes. It was snared like an animal in a trap. Made impotent but it could not be destroyed. That can only be done on the spirit plain by a warrior possessing great power."
I saw Skinner's eyebrows raise a little in disbelief and felt something akin to sympathy for him. Had I not seen and felt the presence of this creature... this Osebo... Tamaya... whatever, I would have laughed in the old man's face. The fact that Skinner *didn't* laugh made me feel a lot more at ease with the guy and it occurred to me that he had good reason to hate me and yet, here he was, willing to help fight off some demon-from-Hell to save me.
I looked away from his enquiring glance suddenly feeling ashamed of the way I had treated him in the past. I remembered the way I had sucker-punched him on the stairway at the hospital, taking out all the frustration of a botched assignment on him. At the time it had felt so good hitting him, using him as a punch bag...pretending those punches were connecting with Luis Cardinale instead. That stupid fuck had panicked; killed Scully's sister.
Oh Sweet Jesus. What the fuck was I thinking? There wasn't gonna be any 'rest of our lives'... unless my life ended in this dead-
end town. Sooner or later Mulder was gonna wake up and remember all the things I had done. All the lives I had ruined. It didn't matter the why's and wherefore's. I couldn't turn back time and undo the past.
Suddenly I needed to get away. I needed to think. I gulped down the remainder of the beer that had been placed in front of me and stood.
"I need to go to the bathroom."
Mulder looked up, the disorientation in his oh, so expressive face proof that he had been in deep conversation discussing this entity with the others.
"You can't go alone..."
"I'll go with him."
I barely held a snarl in check as Adam Longfort offered to accompany me. He was the last person on this Earth that I wanted hanging around... the way he kept training those puppy eyes on Mulder; sniffing around him like a randy dog after a bitch in heat. If he so much as laid one finger on Mulder, I swear I was gonna...
It occurred to me then that having *Deputy Longfort* with me was a far better option than leaving him 'alone' with Mulder. I nodded my agreement tersely and strode to the door of the washroom, sensing his presence like a malignancy behind me.
********************
"How would you fight this creature on the Spirit plain... would you need some sort of incantation, a spell... or mental armour?"
"This creature feeds on negative emotions." Mulder stared at Skinner, reminding him of his remark about the beautiful woman. "It uses sex and power to lure it's victims. Forbidden desire, torture... rape."
The deep brown eyes narrowed as a blush crept up Mulder's face. Skinner wondered the relevance of that embarrassment. Mulder cleared his throat before continuing.
"So it's the antithesis of these. Positive emotions are the weapons we need."
"Love."
Both Mulder and Skinner turned when this one powerful word was uttered by the ancient indian. The old man's expression was open... and deadly serious. Mulder glanced at Skinner, wanting to guage his reaction. The AD's face showed confusion but, even as he watched he saw some undefined emotion flit across the dark eyes before they bore down on him in a strange mixture of anger and disbelief. Mulder turned away, unwilling to face the truth even though it had been staring him in the face. The old man believed; had placed all his faith on this intangible emotion that bonded two people together. No. Not just two people; him and Alex. Fear clouded his eyes. Did he love Alex? They had talked of seduction... of spending a lifetime perfecting that art together but was it love he was after? And was Alex after the same thing too?
The hand had reached out once more to lay atop his own, the voice soft and reassuring.
"He is your strength. He is your reason for being... he is your heart's desire."
"I..."
The sound of breaking glass filtered through the quiet bar and all heads turned towards the washroom.
"Alex."
Mulder leapt to his feet, the chair dropping to the ground behind him, as he pounded towards the men's washroom, shoving open the door. Behind him, Skinner came running, gun levelled. Mulder stared down at the prone body of Adam Longfort.
"Alex?"
He licked at the door to each stall but all were empty. His gaze went to the small window where the freezing night air blew through the broken glass. It was barely big enough for a man to crawl through and yet... He reached up and pulled a blood-stained piece of denim from a shard of glass, hauled himself up to the level of the window and yelled into the storm.
"Alex!"
********************
Adam Longfort moaned softly. Above him he could hear angry voices and bald accusations aimed at his Grandfather. He tried to focus on the words.
"You knew it was here! You *let* that creature take Alex."
"Yes. It could not deceive me although it thought it had. Allowing it to capture your mate was the only way. Now, we can fight it."
"What-what happened?"
Longfort felt Skinner's strong arms pull him into an upright seated position, supporting his weight against his broad chest.
"I was hoping you could tell me."
He blinked hard until he could focus on hazel eyes that burned with anger and fear.
"Sheriff McCallister... I remember he grabbed me... kissed me... then..." Longfort frowned. "It's all so hazy like walking through a dream. No. Not a dream, a nightmare. Terrible thoughts and images..."
"Deputy Longfort!" A man burst into the bar followed by a flurry of ice and snow. "The Sheriff's dead. Marling just found him down the street aways... frozen stiff like a block of ice."
Mulder turned to the old man, anger warring with need.
"So what do we do now?"
"*You* must go on a vision quest. Seek your mate. Call him to you. The other will follow."
"And then?"
"And then you must destroy the beast."
"No. He can't have gotten far... not in this storm."
"What storm?"
Mulder paused, eyes widening as he listened to the sound of silence. The wind had dropped almost as suddenly as it had begun all those hours before. He gritted his teeth and went to grab his jacket.
"He *can't* have gotten far. If we leave now we could pick up his trail..."
"And do what? Osebo has fed well. He will not give up your mate without a fight. A fight you cannot hope to win in this world. Osebo *wants* you to go after him. He wants to take your soul... and revel in the pleasure of sharing your death with Alex."
"They trapped him before. You said so yourself..."
"My ancestors caught the *body* inhabited by this creature. They tortured the shell for many days until the evil spirit was forced to escape. It had nowhere to go but into the great tree. A binding spell trapped it there."
"Your grandson is still alive... *I'm* still alive. It can be forced out without killing the host."
The old man's voice softened as if he were talking to a small child.
"Osebo was not forced out; it left of it's own accord. The spirit will not give up your Alex just as it refused to give up the body of Osebo."
Mulder sank to the chair behind him, eyes closing in despair. The old man was right. Even if he found Alex he would not be able to free him.
"What must I do? How do I reach this spirit plain? How do I kill it?"
"We must return to the Lodge to prepare you."
Mulder hesitated, caught in the dilemma. If he left now then he ran the chance of losing Alex's trail but, conversely, if he chose to follow Alex then he might lose his lover altogether. He bit hard into his lower lip, not noticing the ferric tang of blood until Skinner grabbed him by the shoulders.
//How long was I lost in thought?//
Mulder noticed Adam Longfort had been helped up onto a seat, his head pillowed on his arms upon the table top. A shake brought his focus back on Skinner.
"Mulder. I don't pretend to understand what the hell is going on here but *I* can start a search for Krycek. Go with the Old Man. Do what you have to do."
Skinner turned away in embarrassment from the undisguised gratitude in the chameleon eyes and headed off. When he reached the door he noticed that even the soft fall of snow had ended. Skinner smiled. Finally, some good luck. He turned back to face the three men who had started to follow him to the door.
"I'll order the helicopter pilot to drop you three off first and then he can return to aid in the search."
********************
Osebo stretched out in the new body. It was not as powerful as his last, being more slightly built but it was certainly more beautiful. He gazed into the rear-view mirror, looking deep into the forest-green eyes then deeper still until he could almost see the real Alexei Krycek hidden within the depths. He laughed, revelling in the clarity of the voice then dropped it to a huskiness that would be as alluring as the ivory skin, rich mahogany hair and those incredible eyes. This was a body made for sex... and for power. Inside he could feel its owner beating against him, could read the cunning and guile finely honed over a lifetime of learning how to survive. He saw the connections Alex had made, the powerful Consortium he had dealt with and knew that, this time, little Alexei would be no minion to be used and abused.
"Shit!"
Wrestling with the wheel after it hit a patch of ice took all the strength of his single arm but he brought the car back under control. Osebo pulled over to the side of the road leaving the engine running to keep the heat pumping into the car. He was breathing hard, angry at the distraction that might have ended all his plans before they had even been set in motion. He smiled as the answer revealed itself. It would take only a minimal amount of his strength but the return would be a thousand times greater.
"There was one promise I made to you, Alexei, that I *do* intend to keep."
Osebo concentrated hard, pulling all his formidable power to mind. A tingling sensation crept over the scarred flesh of what remained of Krycek's left arm. The tingling grew stronger, deeper, as muscle and bone reacted to the energy flowing through to the butchered ends. The bones began to lengthen, pushing grotesquely through the scarred tissue. Veins and muscle rippled forward in its wake. The tingling became a burning, the intensity of the pain washing over Osebo who absorbed it with pleasure as the being inside him screamed out in agony.
"No gain without pain, Alexei."
Bone and sinew rippled onward, muscle reattaching itself as it followed the directions laid down in the DNA strands, commanded by this evil force of nature. The elbow formed then the wrist. Osebo watched in fascination as smaller bones leapt forward, spanning out in five separate directions. Bands of muscle wrapped around each one and then, slowly, a covering formed over the gory mess. Layer upon layer of skin building until...
Osebo laughed at the sobs welling up from deep inside.
"Look what I have done for us, Alexei."
He wiggled the newly formed fingers and thumb in front of the tear-stained eyes, pleased with his handiwork.
"See? Good as new." Osebo smiled. "A demonstration? Yes, of course... a demonstration."
Osebo unzipped the heavy coat he had taken from the former driver of this vehicle, reaching inside to pinch one nipple between the right thumb and index finger through the thin T-shirt. He squeezed hard bringing a gasp to his own lips as the nipple peaked. A lick of energy flowed downwards, starting a slow burning flame in his groin. He carried on the assault on the single nipple, sighing as pleasure and pain intermingled.
"Aaahhh... so sensitive. Do you like this, Alexei? Of course you do. I feel... I see... Oh yes. Oh Fox, those luscious lips
sucking hard, biting and licking... teasing. Finger nails scratching across... such pain, such pleasure."
Osebo arched upwards, luxuriating in the renewed balance; in the physical perfection. Clever new fingers dipped lower to release the burgeoning erection from its tight prison of denim as those on the right hand continued playing with the sore and stiffened nub. He stroked from base to tip, dipping one finger under the foreskin to tease the sensitive head, smearing the precum across the velvet soft skin. Sensations began to build demanding stronger caresses. Osebo fisted the hard cock pushing slowly upwards to the head then pulling downward, dragging the foreskin back to increase the sensitivity. He angled the fist to bring more friction upon the highly erogenous tip, his head tilting backwards as a warmth radiated out from his groin sending licks of fire along the oversensitised nerve endings. He came with a cry; semen slicked fingers gradually slowing to a gentle caress as he smeared the rapidly cooling fluid over the softening organ.
With a deep sigh of satisfaction he released the now flaccid cock and brought the fingers up to his lips. Osebo smiled into the mirror before suckling on each fingertip in turn, revelling in the horror of the reluctant participant; relishing the taste of the bitter-sweet ejaculate as if it were the sweetest nectar.
"See, my Alexei? As promised... as good as new."
Uncaring of the wet, sticky semen adhering to the thin T-shirt, Osebo quickly zipped up both jeans and jacket; he put the car in gear and moved off at a steady pace.
Half an hour later, as he reached the interstate, Osebo heard the wail of despair and anger from his latest victim.
"Don't worry, Alex. I haven't forgotten our sweet Foxling. He will come to *us*... and then we will taste the delights of both his body and his soul."
********************
I felt like I was walking through a nightmare. Crazy images assaulted me from all sides; thousands of people, wailing,
gibbering, screaming in horror. Some voices were almost sane, pleading for release, some muted by terror but then there were the others, exuding a strong presence that was almost as malignant as the creature itself. Tamaya, the witch, with her sadistic streak and alluring body, tongue teasing along kiss- ripened lips, dark-nippled breasts cupped in delicate hands as her hips swayed insiduously like a snake mesmerising its prey in a dance of death. Osebo, tall and handsome with eyes and skin the colour of dark molasses, teeth whiter than fresh snow as he beckons me to him, the long, thick cock standing proud against the muscles rippling across the flat stomach... and still others; strong-minded individuals exuding power and bloodlust... and sex.
They circled around me, hands trailing over my imperfect body. Sweet promises were whispered into my ears, teasing fingers whispered against my skin... and then all were gone.
I saw *it* then, felt it slither through my memories, pleased with what it found. It wrapped itself around me, drawing me forward and whispered malignantly.
"Our first kill, Alexei."
The man had taken pity on me.. on *us*, had stopped to offer a lift on this cold night. I-we sank into the passenger seat, my hand reaching out after a moment to lie upon the man's thigh. I could feel the trembling of muscles beneath my fingers, could see the eyes that darted towards mine, the thick pink tongue that licked across suddenly dry lips. My hand began to move, slipping down the inner thigh to stroke across the rapidly growing bulge at his groin. With a sudden wrench of the wheel he pulled over to the side of the road. He was gonna throw us out... I was so sure but, no, he turned in his seat and grabbed my face between his cold hands, ramming his thick slug of a tongue into my mouth,
down my throat. He moaned deeply, one hand plunging down to rub against my crotch as the other entangled itself in my hair, holding me tightly against his slobbering mouth. I-we pulled back momentarily and I could see, suddenly, the confusion in those blue eyes just before a veil of renewed lust fell over them.
Until that moment I had hated him but now I realised that he had no control over what he was doing, was as trapped in this web as I.
My hand had reached into his trousers, had pulled out the hardened flesh; was pumping him in time to the thrusts of his
tongue in my mouth. As he came, he cried out, the sound muffled within our clamped lips... and then he died, his soul devoured like the mate of a black widow spider.
We-it-I... No, it wasn't me... or *we*. *It* went round to the driver's side, pulled the dead husk from the car, pushing it over a slight embankment where it would probably remain hidden until the thaw then stepped into the driver's seat.
Oh Christ! What was I to do? I pushed against the thickening presence that smothered me, cried out, shouted, screamed... cajoled and begged. It laughed at me with Osebo's deep rumbling voice then forced me to look through my own eyes, to see the coldness reflected back at me from its inhuman presence. Once more it plunged through my memories, dragging up the dirty secrets, making plans...
Oh Mulder! Where are you? You were right... you were right. This thing controlling me feels only those base emotions. It understands nothing except the pain and despair that feeds it.
The pain of my arm's re-creation was worse than the pain of its loss; the knife slicing through skin, carving through bone nothing in comparison to the searing white heat of this regeneration.
'No pain wthout gain'. It had whispered into my mind.
It's cruelty knew no bounds... it could not feel pain as we do. Could not understand sex as an act of love, feeding instead on guilt, lust, anger and the horror of its tortured and agony-filled victims.
I tried to hide from it, tried to distance myself from my own rape but it, Osebo, followed me down, dragged me back kicking and screaming as he used and abused my body.
I have never felt so degraded in all my life as it sifted through all those beautiful moments we shared, revelling in the strength of my desire for you.
Mulder... if you can hear this... please, please don't follow me. Let me go. Stay away from me... from it. I couldn't bear to see you suffer and die at my own hand.
********************
It was no use. No matter how much he tried, it was like hitting a wall of shining glass that barred the way. He couldn't get past it no matter how hard he tried. It left him a prisoner inside his own mind, helpless to act.
It was worse than that. Like a bug in a jar, he was subject to the occasional gleeful scrutiny of his captor. He knew that if he should once anger Osebo, he would suffer horribly and that his pain and terror would be savoured by the evil one. But it wasn't his own fate that caused him such anguish, it was the possibility of his own hands being used to harm his Fox.
He had no control at all over his own body.
He had tried so hard to fight against the usurper. But thus far, he couldn't even twitch one finger by the tiniest degree.
Inevitably his struggles drew Osebo's attention towards him, so in the end, he found it wisest to wait and watch. Alex Krycek was a natural survivor, and he would do whatever he had to, to defeat Osebo. Huddled, if that was the word, in the furthest, deepest recesses of his own mind, he tried to erect a barrier between the evil one and himself. A place for him to hide and plot and try to find a way to fight back.....
To resist or serve? No real choice at all.
*******
Mulder stared morosely at the four grey walls that surrounded him as he sat in the hotel's poor excuse for a conference room. Skinner had tried to set it up as a base of operations, and now that the weather had improved so much, the full resources of the FBI could be brought to bear on their quest for Alex. A description f his lover had been sent to all of the law enforcement offices in the state, and Skinner had also requested that all unusual crimes, from murder cases to car thefts should be reported back to him. Which made for a whole lot of paperwork. Mulder, with his eye for detail and his profiler's insight, had been given the task of skimming through the piles of reports. This was his third day of searching for a clue, but so far, Alex seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth.
The door opened behind him, making him start. He was still on edge after his encounter with Osebo. But it was only Adam. The young man smiled shyly at him, and proffered a cup of coffee.
"I thought you could use this. You haven't had a break in hours."
Mulder nodded his thanks and put down the latest in a long line of useless reports. He tried to work the knots of tension out of his shoulders and leaned back in the chair with a sigh.
" I'm getting nowhere with this. I wish there was a way to narrow down our search......"
Adam looked thoughtful.
"Grandfather said we must be closer to your friend before we can fight the evil one, but he never said how we could find him. But I may know a way....."
He flushed. "There's a way that we could use to find out which direction he's in..... We could ask the spirits..... But you have to trust me, and you have to stay open minded."
He reached for a small pouch that hung round his neck. With a grace that left Mulder slightly open mouthed in admiration, he sank to his knees and emptied its contents onto he beechwood floor in front of him.
"Lock the door!" Adam murmured softly, "We need some privacy!"
Mulder flushed at the younger man's amused tone with its hint of playfulness.
"Kneel down in front of me," Adam said. "Close your eyes and concentrate on my voice......" He was holding some kind of carved wooden figure in his hand that looked incredibly old. Mulder did as he was told. What had he got to lose?
"We're going to try and contact your totem animal," Adam said. "It can guide you in the spirit world and help you to find what you seek. I want you to think of a warm and comfortable place where you feel safe......"
******
The old man smiled. At last their chance had come. Not perhaps the most opportune moment, but that was at the whim of the gods. He sank to his knees and took up his charms, beginning to chant.
******
As Adam's voice continued, the outside world had seemed to recede from Mulder, and he found himself drifting in a formless grey void. It wasn't an unpleasant place, in fact it was peaceful and quiet. There was no sense of danger. Adam's voice could still be heard at a distance.
"You must seek out a helpful spirit here. One who wishes to guide you through the other world. You will know him when you see him. There will be no doubt in your mind that he wishes to help you. Tell him what you wish, and he will lead you to that which will help you. But do not linger too long in the spirit world, for every moment that you spend there will drain the energy from your body. And remember, what happens there mirrors the real world, including life and death....."
Then, with no sense of transition, he was standing on a flat featureless plain, windswept and desolate, totally alone. He could no longer hear Adam or anyone. He forced back a shiver of fear. This must be the Otherworld Adam had spoken of. Many world cultures also maintained a similar tradition, which Mulder had never believed in, Until now. He wasn't sure exactly what he was doing here. Adam had said to look for an animal, so with a shrug, he set off in a jog toward the distant misty shadows on the horizon which he presumed were hills of some sort.
Wrong. As he drew closer, he realised that it was woodland that he saw. But not like any trees that were around today. These trees were tall and magnificent, like they must have been before the first humans came and cut down the forests with their axes and chainsaws. This was the raw, untamed face of nature that he was seeing. Beautiful, but slightly intimidating.
A rustling sound made him turn towards the thick brushwood, and then he saw it. With a curious sense of inevitability, he found himself staring at a big dog fox, bigger than any normal animal, with the most incredible green eyes that he had ever seen. Even ignorant as he was about Native American traditions, he knew the animal was special. The green eyes were filled with a startling, impossible intelligence. Wise and knowing, yet with a vulpine slyness that was somehow reassuring. What it would be to have this being on his side.......
"Are you my totem? I think you are!" That certainty that Adam had promised came to him. "Please help me. There's someone I love, and I need to find him!"
The brilliant green eyes watched him unblinking. Then the fox turned and ran through the woods towards the direction Mulder had arbitrarily designated as South. It paused on the edge of the clearing and turned to check on him. Mulder realised that he was expected to follow.
"Okay, lead on," he said. "Why does this feel like an episode of Lassie?" The green eyes somehow managed to convey a sense of reproach. "Sorry!" Mulder muttered.
*********
Osebo had killed again.
The first awareness Alex had that something was wrong, was an inexorable summoning force that had forced his mind out of its huddled refuge and into full consciousness. He had suddenly found himself looking out of his own eyes, like a passenger through a car window, while his body acted out Osebo's evil fantasies. As before, he was unable to affect his body in any way.
Osebo was smiling as he stared through the car windscreen at a pretty young woman who had caught his eye. He was stalking her with every intention of enjoying her pain and terror. Alex began to beg him with growing desperation not to hurt her. His sense of horror grew, as Osebo paused in his hunt and chuckled softly.
"Pretty Alex. Shall I show her a good time?" The images of blood that he sent to Alex left no doubt as to his intentions. Yet at the same time, he eagerly savoured Alex's revulsion.
"You decide how she dies, my sweet. Shall I make it quick? Or would you prefer something slow and special, with blood and the music of her screams? Shall we take her, my pretty Alex.....?"
"No.....!" Alex whispered. "Please....!"
"You will collaborate with me, Alex. Or it will be the slowest of possible deaths for her....."
"Never!" Alex whispered, with a sob. He felt Osebo use his body to direct the car towards the girl. And the surge of nauseating desire that flooded through his vile mind.
And yet, that hunger brought with it carelessness. Complacent and thinking Alex to be cowed, he let go his iron grip on the human's mind. For the briefest instant, as Osebo was distracted by the sudden hardness off his arousal, pawing at it, Alex was able to move his own body.
It was enough.
Alex stamped his foot down on the gas pedal, in a desperate act of rebellion. Osebo was almost instantly back in control. But too late. The car was moving too fast and caught a patch of ice on the road. It spun off the road, and crashed in a tangle of metal, into the nearest telegraph pole. Alex shrieked as he felt something snap in his leg. Then his face smacked into the dashboard and he was instantly unconscious.
********
It seemed like Mulder had been following the fox for hours. The terrain was becoming rougher and several times he had lost sight of the animal for a few moments, as he trailed after it. They seemed to be heading higher up in the mountains, and Mulder could feel the burn of his calf muscles as he climbed, his body unused to such sustained uphill effort. Just as he was about to call a halt, unable too go any further and a little discouraged by now, the fox stopped. He saw it ahead of him, silhouetted against the sky as it paused atop a rock.
Then he saw its new companion. A smaller figure, sleek and graceful, darted out of the undergrowth and halted in front of the fox. Mulder saw it stop and extend its nose upwards towards the fox. Then Mulder had the disconcerting experience of two sets of inhumanly bright, emerald eyes turned towards him.
The fox's companion was the biggest rat he had ever seen. Yet he felt no sense of revulsion, as he might have for a normal rodent. The creature in front of him was far beyond that. It possessed the same wild and beautiful nature as his fox spirit.
With a startling insight, he realised who the rat reminded him of.
Alex! The rat was Alex's totem animal. And it had come to him too. He found himself on his knees before both of the spirit animals.
"Help me find him!" he begged. Their green eyes watched him in cool assessment, and he sensed that he was being judged. As if something more was needed from him. He poured his heart out to them, what had he got to lose?
"Please....... I love him! I'd do anything to help him. Do you hear me? Anything!"
The two spirit creature looked at each other. Then they came towards him and he found himself transfixed by their jade green eyes.
So intense..... So beautiful.......
It seemed that words formed in his mind.
*His body is hurt*
Mulder moaned in fear.
*There is a chance that you can free him from evil. Alex is in such pain that the dark one has lost his grip on Alex's mind. You must strengthen him, so that Osebo cannot claim him again. Go to him. Protect him. It will be your only chance!*
They showed him which direction he must travel in the spirit world.
*******
His surroundings in the spirit world changed. The landscape became darker, more chaotic, and soon, there were hints of vileness. As if some great evil had warped the landscape. Instinctively, he moved more cautiously.
********
Alex had found, to his horror, that there were things more terrible than his worst nightmares. When his body had been hurt, he had been swept into a dark place that seemed full of screaming figures, one of which was his tormentor. Then, in agony, he had found himself lying in a strange, haunted landscape. He was in a monstrous, windswept place, a land of warped senses and colours with an alienness that took his breath away. He was surrounded by vilely dripping vegetation and clinging, yellow vines, the plants had oddly malformed shapes that signalled nature gone mad. The thin air smelled musty and rotten, vaguely mouldy, and it was unexpectedly cold there, so that the young human immediately began to shiver. Strange animal noises sounded in the distance, howls and shrieks as if from hell.
He was still alive, against all expectations. Though he might beg for death soon enough. Dark figures rose from concealment nearby, and were advancing eagerly on their helpless prey. One of them as the beautiful woman he had seen earlier. Others were unfamiliar, but there was no sign of Osebo Alex whimpered, tried to shrink back uselessly. He had never in his life felt so powerless, but then, he had never been so badly hurt before. The pain and shock were taking their toll on his body, and he knew that he was going to be defenceless against them.
He sobbed softly as two of them came towards him. It didn't take them long to realise that he was no threat, then the two of them seized him, and he was pinned to the ground by the weight of their bodies. Their eyes were dark pits of shadow, swimming with blackness, and their avid expressions promised unspeakable torments.
The woman raised one hand to Alex's face and stroked away a thread of blood from a gash on his forehead. She voraciously sucked it off her fingers, and smiled in obscene pleasure.
"Please......," Alex begged.
His head was seized and slammed back against the rocky ground. With a throaty laugh, she lowered her head to lap at the fresh blood, as the male dropped his mouth to the semiconscious human's leg wound. As the two vampirically sucked their human captive's blood, Alex lost whatever hope of rescue he had and screamed in sheer, unmitigated horror.
**********
Mulder paused, face turned into the wind and frowned at the slightly bitter scent he detected again from over the ridge. He was beginning to suspect that there were more dangers in this place than he could cope with. He guessed that the odd animal sounds he heard in the distance belonged to something predatory and dangerous. There were signs though, that something big had passed this way, broken branches and a few spots of blood. The trail led upwards towards an area of high ground. He wasn't going to give up until he knew Alex's fate for certain.
He had come here unprepared. It was a possibility that Alex was dead or badly injured by the dark things that lurked here. The thought was like a stab of pain in his heart. Then he heard a cry rose from over the ridge, a long , forlorn scream of anguish and despair.
Mulder yelled in fury, and took off at a dead run, towards the sound, never stopping to wonder where his sense of protective fury came from. The cry rose again, weaker this time, a desperate, hopeless pleading. Scrambling to the top of the ridge, Mulder crouched in concealment and scanned the scene before him. What he saw made him grab hold of a nearby dead branch and heft it in his hand.
Alex lay on the ground, and was being brutally assaulted by two humans obviously corrupted by one of Osebo's blasphemous games. Mulder knew the dangers, but didn't pause. Alex was desperate, and his pathetic struggles argued that he was already gravely injured. Unhesitatingly, Mulder lunged towards him.
Alex screamed a third time, far weaker than before, a lost and plaintive sound as if he couldn't comprehend his terrible fate.
Mulder readied himself. He would never get a better opportunity. He hefted his makeshift weapon, and aimed at the stronger looking female.
Alex Krycek lay unmoving as the creature fed off his blood.
The branch moved in a perfect, arching trajectory and buried itself in the female's skull. She toppled over, dead, and the other one gave a screech of terror, and fled. Mulder ran towards the injured Alex.
*******
Alex was in a hell past comprehension. He had to be. With vile fiends that preyed on humans, and wanted to kill him. They had eagerly drank from him, with inhuman snarls, and he had been unable to fight them off. Several times, their renewed assaults had made him scream, as a fresh bite sent agony through his already injured body. There was a burning like acid in his lower leg, where his blood had been taken, and he felt feverish and light-headed.
There was a crashing sound nearby, and he saw a figure standing above him. Gradually, his wavering vision focused, and he realised who it was. Mulder reached towards him, then Alex's unresisting body was being lifted. The younger man found himself being carried by the man he loved, but the shock and the pain made him faint almost immediately.
Mulder was in luck. From the top of the ridge, he had seen some sort of overgrown structure nearby. Now he shouldered Alex's limp body and headed towards it. It proved to be an abandoned building of some sort, maybe a lodge of some kind, since he could see traces of artefacts and charms hanging round the door. He staggered inside, taking out the door with one explosive kick, and lowered Alex gently to the floor.
He spent precious moments searching the place and found that that it had in fact been built into the hillside. And as if waiting for him, a small pouch of leather, containing some sort of magical charm, and a number of packets of herbs.
He seemed to hear the distant sound of chanting, and even as he looked at them in wonder, two green eyed figures detached themselves from the gloom, came close to him and nudged at his fingers urgently. Suddenly, he knew what he had to do.
*******
Alex Krycek was naked. Naked and cocooned in blankets, a hand gently steadying the back of his neck as something vile and bitter in a cup was held to his lips. Automatically, he swallowed the acrid stuff, and immediately had a fit of coughing. He feebly tried to escape from the other's firm hold.
//No! Don't want any more.....//
There was no choice. It was drink or choke. With a moan, he submitted, gagging at the taste of the foul brew. Then his rescuer let him sag back onto the bed.
Alex felt cold. He couldn't seem to stop shivering, despite the warmth enfolding him. There was pain somewhere distant. But curiously anaesthetised. He guessed that the bitter stuff had been some kind of drug, and tried to focus his thoughts on his surroundings.
He was in a room with rocky walls, a cave maybe, somewhere underground and fairly warm. It had long since been abandoned and the rampant vegetation had begun to intrude even here. He could see his rescuer sitting close to him, brown hair half concealing his face. Fox Mulder.
Mulder had lit a small fire on the stones in the middle of the room and was heating something in a small pottery container that he had suspended over the fire. He drew off a little of the stuff into a cup, then gently knelt at Alex's side. A hand pressed against his burning forehead, and Alex saw his Fox frown
"Alex," Mulder said softly.
"Fox......." the younger man tried to speak.
"How do you feel?" Mulder approached and gently stroked strands of hair away from the younger man's fever-damp forehead.
"Sick..... so cold.......Where ......" His voice trailed off as a sudden shiver wracked his body.
Mulder's hand was somehow in his, gripping tightly, and Alex clung to it until the fever-symptom eased.
"We're safe for the moment," he said gently. "But I'm going to have to treat those bites on your leg. I think that's what's making you sick!"
Then he drew the blankets away from the young man's injured leg.
Alex whimpered as he saw how they had mauled him.
.
********
Mulder watched over his charge with a concern that he couldn't explain. It wasn't just that Alex and he were occasional sexual partners, it was more than that. There had always been something else between them that neither man had wanted to acknowledge, a wistful longing for a closer relationship. So now Mulder stayed close by Alex's side and held his hand, even when the other man seemed deeply unconscious. He knew now that he loved Alex with a passion that astonished him. Alex fought with an astonishing tenacity. But the evil would not give up easily. Mulder knew that this fight would be long and hard, and only the strongest spirit would survive.
********
Alex Krycek did indeed fight the fever. Fire and ice seemed to take possession of his body in alternate waves that swept over him. It was so hard to hold on to his thoughts, to stay in control of his sanity. Darkness seemed to batter at his semiconscious mind with untiring patience. Foreign thoughts that urged him to get away from this place. Calling him. Threatening him. Sliding tendrils of darkness into his brain.
He became delirious, and the hallucinatory quality of the world around him intensified. He felt so sick.
The need inside him crystallised into a single focus.
"Fox! Please..... help me! Don't leave me alone! I'm sorry I left you behind...." His desperate pleas eventually degenerated into hopeless sobs.
Mulder held the whimpering Alex and felt unexpected tenderness for him. Baines seemed to be calling out to him, Mulder realised, but the fever was likely to get much worse, and that at some point, a crisis point would be reached.
********
It came down, in the end, to how strong a mind Alex had, and his body's capacity for endurance. Mulder frowned as he sensed that his lover's' fever was beginning to peak. The younger man's skin was burning with heat and even the remarkable qualities of the medicine he had found seemed to have little effect. Alex no longer spoke coherently, muttering disjointed phrases, tossing his head from side to side.
********
The pain that seemed to have been a constant wearing ache, even through his fever, abruptly disappeared. Alex sighed in bliss, the relief was so great.
"Alex!" A soft, concerned voice. "Alex......Let me help you!"
Was it Fox?
"Yes......," he mumbled. "Please, ......."
"You have to come to me Alex! I can't help me until you come to me!" The voice patiently explained. "Come to me my love..... Let me hold you. I can stop the pain Alex. All you have to do is come to me....."
Alex struggled to rise, barely aware of his injuries. He fought against something that seemed to be blocking his way. He felt so hot, and he could sense a coolness nearby. Help was in the cool place, his lover calling him. Fox would help him. Fox would soothe away the sickness......
********
Mulder held tightly to the struggling man. Alex's eyes were bright with fever, and the delirious man fought to escape the restraint, desperately trying to get outside. He would quickly die if he managed it. A strange storm had blown up outside, and the temperature was rapidly falling. The sound of the wind was more like the screaming of a thousand tormented souls.
*******
The voices changed. Suddenly Alex could hear Fox pleading, begging him for help, his voice terror filled. Calling his lover's name. Screaming in pain, his voice becoming weaker and sounding so hurt and vulnerable.
"Alex! Help me. I'm hurt so bad..... If you don't help me, I'll die out here..... Please Alex, help me....."
Alex fought wildly, screaming Fox's name. Mulder found it desperately difficult to hold on to the struggling man, who didn't seem to hear him. Finally, he was forced to wrestle Alex to the ground and tie the younger man's hands and feet so that he couldn't move.
The fever was at its height now. The younger man stopped fighting and lay still, exhausted. In the next hour, it would become clear whether he lived or died. Mulder could do nothing more. Mulder wrapped his arms around the unconscious man and pulled him closer. If Alex were to die, he would not be alone. He enfolded the two of them in blankets and felt the slight shivers that wracked the other's body, and the harsh rasping sound of Alex's laboured breathing, as he lay still, unaware of his surroundings.
Would Osebo win him back? And would they be able to banish his evil spirit and escape from the spirit world?
********