Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated or connected with the creator, writers, producers of The X-Files. This is a Fan Story and I am making no profit from it in any way.

PLEASE READ WITH CAUTION- This story contains elements of violence and contains references to murder, rape and serial killing. I in no way condone or encourage these events, as they are a work of fiction. Any similarity to events or people, whether living or dead, is purely coincidental. This is strictly for mature readers.

Prologue

Sunday, April 23, 1995
Santa Ana California 10:24 PM.

A small diner on the outskirts of town. Inside is very quiet, but normal at this time of night. Normally you would see many people during the day, but at this time of night there is only about a dozen, just people eating a little snack or a dinner before they have to go home. The talk around the different tables are of complaints of waking up on Monday for the start of their week, to the date a girl had with some guy the night before, to getting kids to their dentist appointment on time, or what was on the local news tonight.

Even with the light crowd, a man sitting alone at the end of the counter wouldn't take notice, which is how he prefers it. A man in his 50's, he's just sits picking away at his Chicken sandwich, mulling over his thoughts. The waitress Janet, who's just working comfortably, glad of the calm night, walks up to the man.

"Any more coffee Phil?" she asks.

The man casually lifts his head with a kind grin, "No thanks Janet" he says.

As he returns to his sandwich, so does his thoughts... His failed marriage, loneliness, passing thoughts of sadness, and of a regret of something he can't remember. All he can remember was it all started with a dre...

"Hi" said a unfamiliar voice suddenly. The man was startled when he turned to see a young woman sitting beside him. She was very young, almost a teenager, small shorts, loose t-shirt, pretty eyes and the most beautiful red hair he's seen on a woman in a long time. He was taken a gasped by her, thinking she mistook him for someone else.

"I'm sorry, I... I think you got the wrong guy" he said politely.

"It's okay" she said, "I was just hoping you can help me with something."

He stared at her again, just as confused. "With what?" he asked.

She gave him a cute smile. "A ride" she said.

10:46 PM.

The front door opened inside of the mans house, one light already left on. The man laughing with the young woman wrapped around him, wanting to kiss him. He closed & locked the door before turning towards her for more. She threw her arms around him, almost climbing on him as he held her close. She then let herself off of him while giggling "Where's the bathroom?" she asked.

"Right thru the bedroom, you can't miss it" he replied with a smile.

She raised her eyebrows, "ooh" she said as she grabbed her backpack and walked ahead of him.

As he follows her, he passes his collection of Civil War memorabilia, telling himself that he needs to return to his ex wife's house to collect the rest he left behind. But for now, he has something else in his mind.

As she entered the bathroom, he stands in front of his dresser mirror, taking off his shirt. He stares at himself in the mirror, thinking to himself just what kind of lucky son of a gun he is right now. He takes a towel from atop the dresser as he tries to clean himself off. He then reaches for some cologne to put around, while he's looking himself over to make sure that he's ready.

Well doing so, he takes a glance at his right arm to glance at his Crescent Moon-like birthmark. It's an unusual shape, with a reminder that it was part of his sadness over the years. But he scoffed it off, thinking of the good time he's about to have.

As he's finishing up, he sees the light turn off in the bathroom and hears the girl walking up behind him. As he smiles and turns towards her, he suddenly feels sharp pain into his neck. He wants to scream but he makes no sound. The pain gets worse as an object is pulled from his throat. Suddley another sharp pain strikes him across his chest, then another, then another. He falls to the ground holding his arms up where he sees the girl attacking him with a knife, though it is hard to see because of the darkness around him. He tries to hold her back, but she's so strong and he's week from his pain. The girl continues to attack him with the knife over and over, even as he turns aside trying to escape. The last few moments he has are of the repeated pain of a knife being plunged into his body, all the while he asks himself "Why?", which was the last thoughts he had while taking his last breath.

The light in the bathroom turns on as the girl stands in front of the mirror over the sink. She's covered in blood over her face, arms and clothing, yet is very calm, like nothing happened. As she turns on the water, she removes her shirt then reaches for a bath towel to begin cleaning herself off. After washing her face, she begins wiping off the blood from around her. Then, as she's glancing at herself in the mirror, she can't help but scratch her birthmark above her left breast. An odd Crescent Moon-shaped birthmark staring back at her in the mirror. It's something she's hated for awhile now, a reminder of a pain that'll never go away.

Chapter 1

Monday, April 24, 1995
Santa Ana, California 7:03AM

Agent Scully had been driving for several hours, trying to hold back a yawn while not thinking of the phone call that awoke her before sunrise. A road map still unfolded on the seat next to her, she still had to glance it over to find out where she was going this early in the morning. It wasn't long before she saw a crowd gathered outside of a small home surrounded by police.

As she comes to a stop outside the yellow tape, she steps out of the car to look around. Although she's frustrated for having driven for hours, she still demonstrates a level of professionalism as she reaches into the car to grab her coat. Although in the back of her mind she wanted to kill her partner, she knows there has to be a reason he asked her to be here, otherwise she'd be on the first flight back to Washington. While still not trying to yawn in front of anyone, she notices a tall, dark brown haired man walking towards her, wearing a FBI badge on his belt.

"Hello I'm Agent Chad Bailes, LA branch, you from Washington?" he asks.

"Yes, I'm Agent Dana Scully" she replies as she shows her ID.

"Well, I just received word that your partner just arrived at John Wayne Airport awhile ago" he says. "My people are bringing him in, should be here anytime now. Right this way please."

As he directs the officers to move the yellow tape, he guides Scully towards the house.

"Have you been told more about the situation?" He asks.

"Actually I know nothing about this case" replies Scully. "I was in San Diego at a forensics conference when I was called up early this morning to come here. I'll need to be briefed."

Agent Bailes takes a quick glance at Scully, thoughts of how to begin to describe what took place inside the house. "Well, just to prepare you, it's looks like a massacre in there" he says. "Victim's name was Philip Carson, age 51, Caucasian, divorced, no children lives alone. Multiple stab wounds, both front and back torso. Some defensive wounds on both hands and arms, one fatal wound on his throat. The coroner left with the body about two hours ago, but the local CSU team photographed, tagged and preserved the crime scene for when you arrived."

The agent escorted Scully through the house, as she's looking around she notices many civil war memorabilia spread throughout parts of the house, but that wasn't why she was there. "Last night around 11:45" he said, "one of the neighbors who was about to walk his dog saw what looked like a young girl leaving Mr. Carson's home. They says it wasn't like him to bring anyone home with him. The neighbor couldn't give a description because it was dark, but she looked like she was in a hurry."

When they reached the bedroom, Scully couldn't hide her disturbed look. "Oh my God" she said.

Blood was scattered throughout the room. Walls, mirrors, floor, furniture, and a trail leading towards the bathroom. On the floor was a taped outline of where a body use to lay, the floor rug soaked in blood. Scully had to take a moment to realize what she was walking into. Her thoughts were then centered on one person... "Mulder, what the hell did you get me into this time?" she thought to herself.

"The neighbor decided to check on Mr. Carson" he continued, "but there was no answer at the door. And when he looked into the windows, he saw Mr. Carson laying on the floor of his bedroom, that's when he called police."

"They weren't able to resuscitate him?" asked Scully.

"By the time the paramedics arrived, they say that he had already been dead for at least an hour" said Bailes. "Almost like he was killed just after he got home and his killer took her time leaving when the neighbor saw her. "

Agent Bailes began to motion towards the restroom, where blood covered towels were thrown in the sink. "It looks like the killer tried to clean herself up before she left" he said. "Which would explain the time between the murder and the time she left."

Scully was kneeled down annualizing the area where the body was, then glanced up to look around... "It looks like most of the blood splatter originated from this area." she said, "Meaning the killer was swinging their arm wildly while thrusting the knife into the victim over & over again". She then stood up still looking around. "Whoever did this sure didn't want to hold back. How many stap wounds were on the body?"

Agent Bailes was quick to answer, "The coroner stopped at 18 before he noticed some markings you people were looking for" he said.

A confused frown grew on Scully's face, "What markings?" she asked.

"Well," he said, "it's some kind of tattoo on the right arm. The coroner noticed it, said to contact your Agent Mulder. Said it was part of a ongoing investigation. He made a call to us, he confirmed it, said we can move the body and process the scene for when you arrived."

"The thing is Agent Scully" said Bailes, "I wasn't aware of any ongoing investigation in this area."

"I wasn't aware of any investigation either" said Scully. "Just how exactly did your coroner hear about this?"

"Because I sent a memo to all coroners offices in this area two months ago just in case this would happen" said a sudden familiar voice coming from the doorway.

Scully and Bailes turn suddenly to see Mulder standing at the doorway with a carrying bag over his shoulder and a cup of coffee in one hand.

Scully was still irritated with Mulder, but in the years they've been partnered together she always kept a professional demeanor in front of others. And given the seriousness of the situation at hand, she could do no less.

"Agent Bailes" she says, "meet Special Agent Fox Mulder."

Agent Mulder moves closer to Agent Bailes to shake his hand. "My apologies for the sudden intrusion on your case Agent Bailes, however we must move quickly otherwise we'll lose our suspect. Have you put out a APB out yet? "

Agent Bales stared at Mulder with a confused look. "We don't even have a description of the suspect to put out an APB." he said.

"Female, approximately 17 years old, natural red hair, possibly a runaway so check with missing persons, may have gone to school not far from here so see if any students matching that description are missing, last seen in this vicinity, approach with extreme caution. " Said Mulder with a serious tone.

Scully stared at Mulder for a moment in amazement that he was fully aware of everything that was going on, which felt odd to her since Mulder usually fills her in on everything within a case.

"How did you get this information already?" asked Bailes.

Mulder simply replied "I could take the time to explain the details to you Agent Bailes, but unfortunately time is what we're loosing. The more we talk about this the further away our suspect gets. This girl has killed four men before this and she's already looking for her next victim. I will fill you in on all the details soon, but for now we need an APB out immediately. At the same time I need you to do a background check Mr. Carson, who he married, where he worked, went to school, any associates, whatever you can find."

Still not understanding, Bailes simply nods his head. "All right" he says as he leaves the room. Mulder turns to Scully, who's just staring at her partner with a look that he knows all too well.

"So Scully, how was the forensics conference?" he ask her with a small grin. "I hear they leave plenty of clues at the after parties."

Scully knows that was his way of apologizing, but she wasn't going to let it show she was amused. "First, I'm going to take this since I need it more then you" she said as she took the coffee from his hand. "Second, I was suppose to be on a flight back to D.C. after a long weekend. Skinner even gave me an extra day off. So my question is why am I not getting on a plane home when our local branch can handle this?"

"I'm sorry for not keeping you in the loop" he said, "but this happen suddenly. In fact I was hoping it wouldn't happen again. Phillip Carson makes this the fifth murder, and if I'm right, we won't have much time till the next one."

"Well if this is an ongoing investigation, why wasn't I told about it?" she asked.

"This investigation started long before you and I partnered up" he said. "and it went cold years ago. But I knew it was only a matter of time before the case wound reopen."

Scully's expression changed from bothered to curious. "So you sent out a memo two months ago just in case someone was killed that had a certain tattoo on their right arm?" Asked Scully.

"Actually" said Mulder, "it's a birthmark... in the shape of a Crescent Moon".