by Ben Church
The Old Ones
Mulder and Scully are the property of Ten Thirteen Productions.
Buffy and friends belong to The WB. Characters are used without
permission, but since I'm broke, and not making any money off this, It
would be pointless to sue me.
For Buffy fans, this takes place before "Never Kill a Boy on
the First Date". For X-Files fans, this takes place at no particular
time. For X-Files fans who have no idea about what's going on, check
out the web page at www.ultimatetv.com/wb/buffy for info.
Skorse Residence
3:30 p.m.
Martin sat in his room, puzzling over a particularly nasty bit
of math homework. Suddenly he smiled. "I bet Willow would be able to
help me with this." he thought. Pushing his chair away from his desk
he rolled over to the bookcase. He rummaged a bit before finding the
school directory.
He heard the doorbell ring, but ignored it. His mother was
downstairs. Sure enough he heard the door open.
"May I help you?" Martin's mother asked the two people standing
on her front stoop. "If their Jehovah's Witnesses I swear I'll slam
the door." she thought. She was an atheist. She didn't discourage
other people's beliefs, especially Martin's. But she would be damned
if she would let anybody convert her.
"Ms. Skorse?" The tall man said.
"Yes?"
"I'm Special Agent Mulder with the FBI This is my partner,
Special Agent Scully."
"Oh," Martin's mother suddenly felt afraid. What could the FBI
want with her?
"Is your son at home?" Scully asked.
"Yes." she said cautiously.
"May we see him please?"
"Is he in trouble?" Ms. Skorse asked fearfully.
"No maam." Mulder said hurriedly. "We just need to ask him a
few questions about the incident at the Bronze several weeks ago."
"Oh." she sighed with relief. "Well he's up in his room, I'll
go get him."
"Thank you maam." Scully said.
Ms. Skorse took two steps towards the stairs, and then stopped
suddenly. "Oh! Excuse me, come in please."
Mulder smiled. "Thank you." He and Scully entered the house.
"Martin?" Ms. Skorse called up the stairs.
"Yeah mom?" a teenage voice answered. Both Scully and Mulder
recognized it as the voice from the frantic phone message.
"Could you come down for a minute? There's...someone here to
see you."
"Sure mom!"
In his room, Martin put down the phone he was about to call
Willow on. As he descended the stairs he wondered who it was who was
here to see him. From the tone of his mother's voice, it was probably
some people from child services here to check up on him. Sure enough,
two authoritative looking people sat in the living room.
"Martin Skorse?" Mulder asked.
"That's me." Martin said.
"I'm Agent Mulder of the FBI" Mulder said. "This is my
partner, Scully."
Scully saw the boy's eyes light up with recognition.
"Why don't I get you some drinks?" Ms. Skorse asked.
"No thank you." Mulder and Scully said simultaneously.
"I believe I'll have one." Ms. Skorse said, and left the room.
As soon as she was gone, Martin said; "Agent Mulder, it's a
pleasure to finally meet you in person."
"Likewise." Mulder smiled. "It's good to see you've survived
the rigors of living in this town."
"Have there been any more unusual events after the last one?"
Scully asked.
"That depends." Martin said. "What was the last one you heard
about?"
"That would be the headless bio teacher." Mulder said.
"Hmmm, then I guess not."
"In that case," Mulder suggested. "Why don't you give us a run
down on what's been happening."
"From the beginning." Scully added.
Martin proceeded to tell them all that had happened in
Sunnydale from the disappearances of several local teens, to the body
of the bio teacher being found in the cafeteria freezer.
"One more question before we go." Mulder said. He looked at
Martin sympathetically. "How did your parents die?"
Martin started visibly. "My parents?" Martin sighed, and told
the story for the second time that day.
As they left the house, Scully said; "Well that was certainly
productive Mulder. He didn't tell us anything we didn't already know."
"Yes he did Scully." Mulder disagreed. "He told us how he
survived his parent's murder."
"That has no bearing on this case Mulder."
"I'm not so sure Scully. Martin did say there was something
different about Buffy."
"You have a theory Mulder?"
"Nothing concrete enough to go on yet Scully." Mulder said.
"I'll let you know."
The Bronze
8:00 p.m.
Buffy sat in the Bronze with Xander and Willow, discussing what
Martin had told Willow that day.
"Are you sure he was on the level?" Buffy asked.
"Positive." Willow answered. "You just had to look in his eyes
to know that."
"Okay so he believed his parents were killed by a vampire."
Xander said.
Willow looked at him in surprise. "You're hardly one to be a
skeptic." she said.
"Yeah, but c'mon, he was four years old. When I was four I
thought my coat-rack was a vampire."
Willow smiled. "So you're saying his parents were killed by a
coat-rack?"
Buffy was looking at Xander strangely.
"What?" he asked.
"You had a coat-rack?" Before Xander could answer, Willow saw
Giles enter the club.
"Uh oh guys." she said. "Giles is here."
"Why is that an uh oh?" Xander asked. "We like Giles. Giles
good."
"Because," Buffy said. "Giles wouldn't come _here_ unless
something very big were about to happen."
Xander thought about that for a moment. The last time Giles
had been in the Bronze was when Jesse had been killed. "Okay then,
I'll second that uh oh, and move to adjourn."
"Ah good," Giles said as he came up to their table. "I'm glad
I found you all." He cleared his throat and pushed his glasses up on
his nose. "I have two things to tell you, one is very important, the
other is not so important. Which would you prefer?"
"Weeeell," Buffy said. "Let's go in increasing order."
"Very well then," Giles said. "Buffy there is something about
the duty of a watcher that I neglected to tell you."
"You, haven't been watching Buffy when you shouldn't have been
have you?" Xander asked.
"No, it's simply that, Watchers don't just watch and train, we
also record. And when one watcher passes on, his recordings are passed
on to the next. It's sort of like a diary of sorts."
"A Watcher's diary huh?" Xander mused. "Doesn't quite have the
same ring to it as Watcher's Chronicle."
Giles raised an eyebrow, eyeing him quizzically.
Xander sank down in his seat. "Okay, so I'm still the only one
around here who watches Highlander."
"Anyway," Giles said. "What Willow told us today struck me as
familiar, so I looked in the chronicles of the previous watcher."
Buffy felt a pang of sadness at that. The previous watcher, Merrick,
had died after training her in LA "I found that, there were indeed
Vampires in West Virginia at the time of the boy's parents' murders.
In fact, I believe I have found the exact instance right here." He
showed them the book.
"July 25-" Buffy read aloud. "Sarah's first kill tonight.
Though she was successful in saving the life of a four year old boy, we
arrived too late to save his parents. Sarah's taking it rather hard, I
hope she is able to pull herself together." Buffy looked up from the
book in astonishment. Merrick had never mentioned any of the other
slayers he'd trained. Other than that he'd trained them.
"Wow." she said.
The table was silent for a while. Then softly Willow said;
"What's the more important thing?"
"Oh," Giles said, snapping out of his reverie. "This
afternoon, as I was preparing to leave for home, I was visited by two
agents from the FBI"
Willow gasped. "What did they want?"
"They wanted to know, if I was here, on the evening of the 13th
of March."
"The Harvest." Buffy said quietly.
"What did you tell them?" Willow asked.
"I told them I wouldn't come here if my life depended on it. I
don't think they believed me however. At least the tall one didn't."
"Bacon my powder?" Xander asked.
"Well one of them was a rather diminutive woman named Scully.
The other was a tall gentleman by the name of Mulder. When I asked
them why they were asking me, the tall man said the most peculiar
thing."
"What?"
"He said that they had an eye witness to the incident who had
placed me, and the three of you here. Intervening on the attack. And,
at this last, the woman seemed rather put out, he said that their
witness says that the attack was being perpetrated by vampires."
"Some one was there who didn't try to rationalize what they
saw." Buffy said.
"Someone who probably already believed in vampires." Willow
said softly.
"Hey guys!" Martin said, pulling up a chair. "What's up?" He
noticed that everyone was staring at him. "What?"
"So," Xander said to Giles. "Think it's absolutely necessary
yet?"
Summers Residence
8:30 p.m.
Mulder knocked on the door of Buffy's house. Scully had gone
to talk to the coroner. The door opened, revealing a wary woman in her
late thirties.
"Yes?" she asked.
"Hello," Mulder said. "I'm special agent Mulder of the FBI"
"What has Buffy done now?" she asked suddenly.
"Nothing maam." He'd been prepared for this, after learning of
Buffy's record. "I'm investigating the incident at the Bronze several
weeks ago."
"Yes I heard about it." she said. "But Buffy wasn't there.
She was grounded that night. She was in her room all night."
Mulder mulled this over. "I don't know how to tell you this
maam," he said. "But I have an eyewitness who claims to have seen her
there that night."
"Are you sure it was her?" she asked hopefully. "Not just
someone who looked like her?"
"'Fraid not maam." Mulder answered. "He named her
specifically."
Ms. Summers lowered her head to her hand, in frustration.
"Maam," Mulder said. "Could I talk to your daughter?"
"She's not here." she said softly. "She went to a club. It
might have been the Bronze."
Mulder felt rather uncomfortable. He had not meant to cause
anyone any trouble, all he wanted was the truth. And if his theory was
even halfway correct, this girl Buffy certainly didn't deserve or need
the aggravation of a mother who couldn't trust her. "It may help you
to know," he said. "That my witness' account does not fit at all with
the accounts of every other witness."
The woman looked at him in confusion. "Then why investigate
it?"
Mulder smiled wryly. "That's my job. Thank you for your time
Ms. Summers."
The Bronze
Martin sat in his chair, totally blown away by what he had just
been told. He rubbed his mouth, letting it play around in his head, it
actually explained so much, the girl who had saved him when he was
four, why Buffy had been kicked out of her old school, everything.
"Oh shit." he muttered. He looked at the four faces looking at
him. "You all must be pretty pissed." he said.
"What?" Buffy asked. "Why?"
"I brought them here." Martin said.
"The vampires?" Xander asked.
"Yes Xander." Martin said. "I brought the vampires. Sunnydale
was just so dull I couldn't stand it so I brought the undead to liven
the place up. I brought those two FBI agents."
"What do you mean you brought them here?" Giles asked.
"I'm the one who told Mulder about what happened at the Bronze.
That's what they're investigating. Among other things."
"Define, among other things." Xander said.
"I told them everything." Martin then told them the whole
story of his correspondence with Mulder, including his interview with
the two agents earlier.
"You didn't mean any harm." Willow said. "I'll admit we were
surprised, but you didn't do anything wrong really. You did what you
thought was right. In my shoes, I'd want to find out what was going on
too."
"Yeah but you wouldn't pretend to be someone's friend just to
get that information would you." Martin said with intense self
recrimination.
"Were you pretending?" Willow asked softly.
Martin looked directly at her for the first time that evening.
"No." he said. "When I started out, all I wanted was the truth. But
that changed after that first lunch. I really do want to be your
friend. That goes for the rest of you too." he added hastily. They
smiled. He'd fooled no one.
"Well," Giles said. "I guess the only thing left to be said
is-"
"You should be at the cemetery." Angel said to Buffy.
Everyone at the table jumped, they hadn't heard him come up.
"Actually," Giles said. "I was going to say `Welcome to the
circle'. But that will do."
"Why?" Buffy asked. "What's going on?"
"What's ever going on when he shows up?" Xander said.
"Oh, yeah." Buffy said, getting up. "See you guys tomorrow."
She left with Angel.
Martin looked at the people still at the table. "Aren't we
going to help her?" he asked.
"Yes," Giles said. "We are. By deciding what to do about the
two FBI agents."
Sunnydale Funeral Home,
Scully looked at the coroner in shock. "You didn't perform any
autopsies?" she asked incredulously. In her hand she held the combined
files of all the "Vampire" victims.
"What would have been the point?" the coroner asked. "It was
obvious what had killed them."
"You can't be serious." Scully said. "There was hardly any
sign of a struggle, it says so right here, so they must have been
drugged prior to the draining of the blood. And yet you didn't so much
as check for any evidence of such. You didn't do a thing except tag
them and stick them in the ground. You may have seriously put a crimp
in any investigation because of this. Surely you're not going to tell
me you believe that vampires killed these kids."
"Please Agent Scully," the coroner said derisively. "I'm a
fully licensed medical practitioner. I don't believe in Vampires any
more than you do."
"All right," Scully sighed. "First thing in the morning I want
those bodies exhumed."
"But-"
"Do you want to know what happened to those kids? Do you want
this killer found?"
"Of course I do-"
"Then don't argue, just arrange it." Scully stormed out of the
office, silently cursing the man's incompetence. She decided her next
step would be to visit the hospital and see what she could discover
about the other instances. Then suddenly she stopped, and headed back
to the coroner's office.
The coroner stared hard at the closed door. "Oh I'll arrange
it all right." he whispered. Then Scully came back in.
"You come to bawl me out again?" he asked.
"Hardly." she said. "Where's the file on that Biology
teacher?"
"Right here." he said, handing it to her.
Scully took it and read it quickly. "Cause of death, severe
lacerations to the chest and groin area. Decapitation performed post
mortum." she read. "That's strange," she thought. "Why would he do an
autopsy on a headless corpse, but not the others?" Shrugging, she
exited once again.
"What a strange person." the coroner thought.
Sunnydale Memorial Hospital
Scully scanned through the files that Dr. Bernard had pulled
for her. As a welcome change, these reports were thorough and
complete.
She took Cordelia Chase's x-rays to the light board and looked
at them for a moment. Sure enough, there was no discernible damage
done to her retina. And the report from Dr. Bernard about his
interview with Cordelia confirmed that all she had experienced was a
swift, but gradual fading of her eyesight, until she was completely
blind. And then, without warning her eyesight had returned. Not a
gradual returning, but all at once, she could see again. The doctors
were baffled, and Scully couldn't think of a single thing to remedy
that.
Next she checked the file of the girl who'd grown the tissue
over her mouth. It was equally baffling. She didn't bother to check
the file on the spontaneous combustion incident. Scully was loath to
even consider Martin Skorse's theory that Witchcraft was involved.
Even if witchcraft existed, which she firmly did not believe, what self
respecting witch would be so petty as to use her skills to become a
cheerleader? "But what other explanation is there?" as Mulder would
say.
It was at that moment, that her cell phone rang. "Scully." she
answered.
Memorial Avenue, beside the cemetery.
Mulder drove down the empty streets of Sunnydale, heading in
what he hoped was the direction of the Bronze. As he was passing the
cemetery he saw something far more urgent than his previous plans. He
stopped the car and grabbed his cellular phone.
"Scully," she answered on the second ring.
"Scully get an ambulance to the cemetery now." he said.
"What's going on Mulder, I thought you were going clubbing."
"I think we've got our man Scully." Mulder knew that if this
was indeed, a Vampire attack then there would probably be more where it
came from, but he didn't tell Scully that. He only said; "Possible
Vampire attack." Before Scully could scoff, he hung up and jumped out
of the car, drawing his gun with his right hand, and pulling a stake
and a flashlight from his pocket with his left.
Buffy flipped over the vampire's clumsy lunge. "Must be new."
she thought. "It hasn't gotten used to it's power yet." She didn't
allow herself to think about the fact that she'd been too late to save
the person who'd been attacked, she just did what she did. But what
she did didn't usually involve having her fight interrupted by a
flashlight shining at her and the shout;
"Freeze! Federal Agent!" but that's exactly what happened.
Buffy took advantage of the vampire's distraction and staked it. Then
she took off running.
Mulder swore under his breath and took off after the girl, he
could hear the ambulance coming up the street. He knew they'd find the
scene without trouble, besides, he had a suspect to catch.
Scully was the first out of the ambulance when it stopped. She
saw Mulder's car, and dimly saw two figures fleeing the scene. She
figured one was Mulder, probably in pursuit of their suspect. She ran
to the body lying on the ground, and felt for a pulse. There was none,
and a second later she knew why. There were two puncture wounds on his
neck. Dr. Bernard hurried up to her.
"Is he-?"
"He's dead." Scully said. "Let's get him back to the lab, I'll
want to do an autopsy as soon as possible."
"I'll contact his family." Dr. Bernard said. "Should be able
to arrange for one by tomorrow night."
"Good." Scully said. "Hopefully my partner will be able to
catch whoever it was he was chasing."
"No such luck Scully." Mulder said, returning slightly winded.
"You lost the suspect?" Scully asked, disappointed.
"'Fraid so Scully." he answered. "But if it's who I think it
is, I know where to find her."
The Bronze
"Are you sure Buffy will be all right?" Martin asked Willow as
they left the Bronze with Giles and Xander.
"She knows what she's doing." Xander assured him.
They'd reached an impasse as to what to do to get rid of Mulder
and Scully. Martin said that from what he knew of Mulder, he wouldn't
give up until he'd found the truth. He'd suggested telling Mulder. He
was pretty sure he could keep a secret.
Giles had vetoed that right away. At the same time he'd agreed
that they couldn't just ignore them and hope they'd go away.
"Maybe Buffy will have an idea." Willow said. At that moment,
Buffy ran up to them.
"What happened?" Willow asked.
"Yeah," Xander said. "I thought the Vampires were supposed to
run from you, not the other way around."
"I wasn't running from the Vampires." Buffy said.
"Good heavens," Giles said. "You've been running from the FBI
haven't you."
"Yup." Buffy said simply. "But I lost him pretty quick. I
guess they don't train them to chase Vampire Slayers on foot."
"Geez, now you're on the run from the FBI." Martin said. "Me
and my big virtual mouth."
"Hey don't worry about it." Buffy reassured him. "I don't
think he got a look at me. So what did you guys decide."
"Well actually," Willow started.
"We decided to sleep on it." Xander said.
"Ooo, good call." Buffy said. "I know I'll feel an awful lot
better after a good night's sleep."
"Yeah me too." Martin said. He started to walk off but then
stopped. "Um, this is gonna sound really stupid but,"
"We've accepted your apology several times already." Giles said
smiling. "It really isn't necessary."
"Well it isn't that," Martin said, blushing. "It's just that,
after all that's happened, I..."
"Would feel better walking in a group?" Willow said.
"Yeah." Martin said, thanking her with his eyes.
"Well I can do you one better," Giles said. "I'll drive you all home."
Summers Residence
Buffy unlocked the door and entered quietly, figuring her
mother would be asleep.
"Where have you been?" her mother asked from the couch.
"Oh!" Buffy started. "Hi mom. I was just at the Bronze with
my friends."
"Oh, I see." Her mother seemed to be troubled over something.
"Mom what's wrong." Buffy asked.
"I got a visit from an FBI agent tonight Buffy." her mother
said. "He told me a witness to the gang attack had said that you were
there."
"What?" Buffy was stunned. Now she had to lie to her mother
again, something she hated most in the world. "Mom, I was not there.
I was in my room the whole night."
"Were you?"
"Yes! My God, can't you trust me?"
"Who are your friends Buffy?" her mother asked suddenly.
"What?"
"Buffy," her mother said tiredly. "I know that you are a
sixteen year old girl, and that sixteen year old girls need to keep
secrets from their mothers. But I have to know, that you did not go to
the Bronze when you were grounded."
"Mom, I told you-"
"I need to know, that there will not be a repeat of what
happened in LA. I need to know, that your friends are not like that
boy Pike."
"Pike?" Buffy asked. "I cannot believe you brought him up Mom.
Pike and I are ancient history."
"History repeats itself. And now I will repeat myself. Who,
are, your, friends?"
Buffy sighed, her mother needed to know, and it was the only
way she could keep her mother's trust. "Willow and Xander mom. Willow
is on the honor roll, has been for years, and Xander is, well, he's not
Pike."
Her mother hugged Buffy. "Thank you." she said. "I know it's
hard, but every now and then, I need that reassurance. Now get to
bed."
"Mom?"
"It's okay Buffy. The Agent said that the witness' account
didn't hold up against anyone else's. I just had too be sure."
"I love you Mom." Buffy said, hugging her mother. "Please
don't make me lie to you again." she thought.
"I love you too dear. Now get to bed."
Sunnydale Cemetery,
Sunnydale California,
Wednesday, April 9
9:13 a.m.
Mulder stood next to Scully, watching the steamshovel dig up
the grave of the most recent victim of the "Vampire" killings. After
it had removed a sufficient amount of dirt, two men got into the now
open grave and began to uncover the coffin. Mulder was watching it all
intently. A fact that did not escape Scully's notice.
"What do you think we'll find Mulder?" she asked.
"Do you want an honest answer?" he smiled.
"No, but tell me anyway."
"I think we'll find an empty coffin."
"Mulder," Scully challenged. "If we find an empty coffin, I'll
let you go off and interview whoever you want, while I stay here and
supervise the exhumation of the bodies. But if we find a body in
there, you have to stay and help."
"You're on."
The men gave a shout when they found the coffin, and hoisted it
up out of the grave. Two more men stepped up with crowbars and opened
it. Scully's jaw dropped. The coffin was empty.
"Have fun Scully." Mulder whispered in her ear.
"Oh shut up."
Sunnydale High School,
10:10 a.m.
Buffy looked up from her classwork as one of the school
administrators entered the class room. The woman handed her teacher a
note and left.
"Buffy?" her teacher said.
Buffy sighed and headed for the front of the room.
"Uh oh," Cordelia said, smiling. "Somebody's in trouble."
Buffy reached the teacher's desk. "Mr. Flutie wants to see you
dear."
"Oh joy." she muttered and headed for the principal's office.
On her way, she pondered what it could be about. And then she knew.
"Oh great," she said. "Now I get to lie to the FBI."
As she entered the office, she saw at once that she had been
right. Standing in the office, next to the desk was the man that had
chased her last night.
"Buffy," Principal Flutie said. "Welcome, I'd like you to meet
Agent Mulder of the FBI. He'd like to ask you a few questions about
what happened at the Bronze."
"Sure." she said unenthusiastically.
"I'll be right outside." Flutie said to Mulder and Buffy.
For a moment, Buffy considered insisting that Flutie stay.
"Although," she thought looking at the F.B.I. agent. "I have to admit,
he's a hottie."
"So," she said. "Why do you want to ask me about something I
didn't even know about until the next day?"
"I have a witness who says otherwise." Mulder said.
"And you're taking his word over that of everyone else?"
"What makes you think my witness is male?"
Buffy felt like slapping herself. "Watch those little slips of
the tongue girl." she thought. "What are you talking about?" she
snapped. "You already got me into trouble with my mom, and now you're
questioning me, without the presence of my mother, a direct violation
of my rights."
"If you want your mom here, I can call her." Mulder said
calmly.
"Is it standard FBI policy to harass ordinary teenagers?"
Buffy was scared. Keeping a secret this big form her mom was one
thing. Keeping a secret from the FBI was quite another.
"Is that why you burned down the gym of your old school?"
"What?!" Buffy said. "Okay, check that," she was on the verge
of raising her voice. What would they do to her if they found out
about her powers? Dissect her? Study her, clone her so they could
have an army of superbeings? Apparently a bit of Martin was beginning
to rub off on her. "An ordinary teenager who's made a few mistakes in
life who's trying to start over! Do I have to keep paying for that
mistake my whole life?"
Principal Flutie burst into the room. He'd been alarmed by
Buffy's raised voice. "That will be quite enough Agent Mulder."
Mulder lowered his voice and said urgently to Buffy; "I'm not
here to hurt anyone Buffy, least of all you. I'm here to find the
truth, and stop a killer. And I think you can help me do that."
"What?" Buffy said, taken aback. "How could I possibly help
you do that?"
"Why did you burn down the gym of your old school?"
"I thought you were investigating the Bronze." Flutie said.
"I don't know why." She shot a glance at Flutie. "Sir, it's
okay, I just got carried away."
"Well," Flutie said. "If you're sure."
"Yes I'm sure."
"All right." Flutie left the room.
"I went through all that before." Buffy said. "I don't know
why I burned down the gym."
"Well I think I do." Mulder said. "In LA there was a string of
killings in which all the victims were drained of blood. The killings
stopped abruptly when you burned down the gym. There were vampires
there weren't there."
Buffy just looked at him in shock. She knew he knew about the
Bronze, Martin had told him that, but how'd he figured that out?
"Probably wasn't hard." she thought.
"You're insane." she said. "You think that what happened at
the Bronze and the killings here were done by Vampires?" she asked
incredulously. "That's it, I've had it. I'm out of here. Principal
Flutie," she called. "We're done."
Flutie came in, a decidedly distrustful look on his face.
"Well then, good day Agent Mulder." he said.
As Buffy got up, Mulder said; "Buffy wait,"
But Flutie stopped him. "Unless that girl is under arrest, she
can go." he said, Buffy didn't think she'd ever heard him angry before.
"And if she is, you don't talk to her until her mother is here."
"Buffy is not under any sort of suspicion sir." Mulder assured
him. "I'm only trying to find the truth."
"Well that's very nice but children don't learn well when
they're upset. Have a nice day."
Mulder sighed and left the office.
To be Continued...
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