"He's waiting for you, you can go straight in," Holly told Mulder with a smile, as he entered the office annex on his way to see Skinner. Mulder returned the smile as he walked past her on his way into Skinner's office; he liked Holly a lot, she had been close to Scully ever since the incident with Robert Modell.
Holly had been very shaken up by what had happened, especially so soon after being mugged. The way Modell had impaired her judgment had affected her confidence, and word had reached Scully that Holly was even considering resigning. Scully had taken her out for a few drinks that Friday night and related some of her personal tales from working on the X-Files, including the times she had been fooled by various shape shifters pretending to be Mulder. That Scully could also be taken in by some of the people she had met through the years had reassured Holly that she wasn't the only one, that she wasn't somehow weak, and she had returned to work for Skinner with her confidence levels mostly restored the following Monday.
Since that time, the two women had become friends and although they never really did much together, Mulder often found Scully chatting away to Holly in the office annex whenever she had a spare moment. It had made him happy to see Scully fostering a friendship having always felt responsible for the lack of friends in her life. Holly had then gradually introduced Scully to a few other agents and admins who had, up until then, been unsure about striking up a conversation with her, considering her somewhat weird for choosing to spend her days with "spooky" Mulder. These new acquaintances and the opportunity to enjoy more normal conversations than the ones she endured with Mulder had made her happier and more relaxed in the last year or so of her life. In Mulder's mind they had also made her happy enough to open up more to him and given her the confidence to move her relationship with him on to the next level. For that fact alone, Mulder would always be grateful to Holly.
"Sit down Mulder," Skinner told him without looking up from the document that he was reading. Mulder made his way across the room and took his usual seat, somehow now he was so engrossed in this new case he barely even noticed the vacant chair beside him. Skinner looked up.
"Alex Krycek is dead," he said simply.
"What? Are you sure?" Mulder coughed out, taken aback by the news.
"I identified the body myself to be certain. The cause of death is the same as Dr Scanlon, with the same lack of evidence at the crime scene. We have nothing on the security cameras, no blood, prints or fibers in the apartment. It would appear we have a serial killer on the loose"
"I disagree with that assessment Sir," Mulder interrupted, "the details of their murders rule out a human killer." Skinner rolled his eyes but Mulder continued. "Exsanguination is an extremely uncommon cause of death, and it is notoriously messy when it is used. The results of the black light sweep of Dr Scanlon's apartment found no trace of blood so it hadn't been cleaned therefore suggesting that there was no blood spilled at any point during the murder. I believe that a vampire has to be responsible for these deaths. It's the only logical explanation."
"Are you seriously suggesting that Dr Scanlon and Alex Krycek were murdered by a vampire Agent Mulder?" demanded Skinner. "You realise I have people at the highest levels of government demanding answers on this and you expect me to go to them and say that I believe their people have been murdered by a mythical creature? Do you have any evidence to back this up?"
"The lack of evidence is my evidence," Mulder replied.
"Dammit Mulder!" Skinner half shouted, standing up and pounding his fist down onto the desk, "I gave you this case because I believed you would want to find out the truth. These people were connected to Agent Scully's illness, if we can find out who killed them, then maybe we can find out some answers. Instead you want to talk about vampires and forget about finding the human killer responsible for this." The two men glared silently at one another.
"I need to see Krycek's apartment," Mulder said. Skinner breathed out heavily and sat down.
"Fine, his body has already been removed and an autopsy is scheduled for this afternoon. I will have the results sent to you once they reach me." Mulder nodded and stood up, heading for the door. "Agent Mulder?" Skinner called after him, "find the killer, you might find something to help Scully's memory rest a little more peacefully." Mulder didn't say anything but just walked out of the door and closed it behind him a little more firmly than he had intended.