FBI Headquarters
Washington D.C.
Down in his basement office of the FBI headquarters, Special Agent Fox Mulder sat reclined in his chair, feet propped up on a cluttered desk. His office was unusually messy, even for him, but he didn't seem to care. All of his attention was directed in reading the folder he held in his hand.
He looked up only as he heard the door open. His partner, Dana Scully, stepped into his office. She looked around the office for a moment, then turned to him. "Mulder? What happened here?" she asked as she tried to get to his desk without stepping on anything.
He grinned. "Spring cleaning."
"It's the middle of October, Mulder."
"Better late than never." He set his feet on the floor and leaned forward. "Take a look at this, Scully."
She took the folder, giving him a suspicious glance, the opened it up. There were pictures of a crime scene and a police report. She looked back up at Mulder, who was shifting through the files on his desk. "What is this?"
"A murder that happened five days ago in a place called Devenworth. The victim's name is Dameon Williams, aged 27. He was found dead in a motel a few miles from his home." He stood up and pointed to a picture. "Police found human bite marks and needle punctures on the exterior jugular and median cubital veins."
Scully flipped a few pages. "I can see that Mulder. But why are you so interested in it?"
"Every mirror in the house was broken," Mulder said, seeming to ignore her question. "And there were writings on the wall in his blood."
Scully flipped a page to a photo of a bloody wall. "John 52:54. What is that?"
"He who eats of my flesh and drinks of my blood shall have eternal life and I will raise then up on the last day." Mulder recited.
Scully smiled. "At least you know your scripture. But I still don't see why you want me to look at this."
"There were a few cases like this earlier in the 90's. Six people died; three in Portland and three others in Memphis. And there were two in Los Angeles in 1994. I went to investigate the first murder; a man named Garret Lorre. This case right here of Dameon Williams is identical to that of Garret Lorre and seven others."
"Serial murderers?"
"In a way."
"Why do I get the feeling that you think there is something more to this?" Scully asked him as she set the folder down.
Mulder grinned. "You just know me all too well, Scully." He sat back in his chair. "When I was investigating the case of Garret Lorre, I started by looking up local blood banks. It seemed that whoever did this was taking the blood and storing it for later 'use'. We took a man into custody, a night guardsmen at a blood bank. He was put into an interrogation room, but he wouldn't answer our questions. He cried out in the light and said we were killing him."
"I finally got him to talk. He called himself 'the son'. Claimed that he could never die. But he wouldn't tell me who he was working with in the murders, so to play along with his beliefs, I stuck in a cell with windows that the sun would shine through."
He handed Scully a file. She opened it and looked at the pictures. "Death scene of a John Doe." She looked up at Mulder quizzically.
He leaned back in his chair. "What do you think that man died of?"
She studied the picture for a moment. "Looks like burns from long exposure to extreme temperatures. And that's what it says here on the file too. Mulder-"
"That man was in the sun for about fifteen seconds before he became like that." Scully looked up him. Mulder had the most serious expression on his face.
"Mulder, that's impossible. No one can end up like that after only a few seconds in the sun."
"He did."
Scully set down the folder. "I don't understand why you're telling me all this, Mulder. It just doesn't make any sense."
"Think about it Scully. What can't stand the sunlight, drinks blood, and gets its life from it?"
Scully thought for a moment, then scoffed. "Mulder, you can't be thinking that vampires did this. They don't even exist."
"But they do. I've talked to them. That man in that picture is what I believe to be a vampire."
"This man is dead. I thought vampires didn't die unless you...you put a stake through their heart or something."
"He's not dead, Scully. That's the thing. I saw that man after he 'died'. I saw him and was attacked by him. He's alive, Scully. And he's most likely at it again. Him and the others."
"Others?"
" 'The father, the son, and the unholy spirit'."
"I still don't understand completely. You think that this dead man is a vampire and is not really dead? He's still out there, drinking blood and killing people?"
"In a way, yes."
Scully turned away. "And just how are you going to get Skinner to give you this case? You can't tell him your little theory."
"He's already given it to me." Mulder reached into his pocket and pulled something out. He handed it to Scully. It was an airplane ticket, leaving that night for Raleigh, Scully looked back up at Mulder.
He grinned. "Hope you didn't make any plans for this weekend."
Hours later found Mulder and Scully stuck in a plane bound for Raleigh. Scully leaned her head against the window and was on the verge of falling asleep when she heard a crunching sound. She looked over a Mulder and wasn't surprised to see that he had stashed a bag of sunflower seeds onto the plane. He took the shell out of his mouth and began searching for somewhere to put it. Finally he settled for sticking them in the airsickness bag in the pouch in front of him. Scully watched him and smiled to herself.
Mulder caught her gaze. "What? You want some?"
"No, Mulder. I was just wondering how it is that I keep getting dragged all over the U.S. with you."
"That's what you get when you join the FBI, Scully."
"What? Traveling all the time?"
"That and no family, no personal time, and no real chance of a relationship."
"Is that why you have that collection of videos in your office?"
"Hey, whatever you find in that office is confidential. And they're not mine."
Scully smiled and turned her attention back to the window. After a while the only things she really noticed were the clouds going by and the constant crunching of Mulder's sunflower seeds. There was something about all that that made her comfortable. She couldn't explain.