Title:  Believing
Author:  Grey
E-mail:  Grey853@aol.com
Rating:  NC-17
Category:  SA
Spoilers:  "Folie a Duex", "The End", and anything about "Black Cancer"
Keywords:  Mulder/Skinner , slash, vampire

Summary:  Mulder has a hard time getting Scully and Skinner to believe the
truth about his new existence as a vampire.

Warning:  This story has explicit sex between two fellows, so beware or be
delighted, your choice.

Okay to Archive:  MSSS or any place where my name remains attached.

Disclaimer:  Yeah, yeah, Chris is the man, like we all don't get that big fat
hairy detail yet.

Author's Notes:  Some folks don't think I have a sense of humor, but I really
do.  Honest.

Believing
by Grey

Night held him tighter than any steel chain, tighter than any human bond ever
forged.  Shit.  Mulder stood at the edge of the rooftop, foot raised and
resting, bloodthirst gnawing at his gut.  His throat itched from the ache of
starving and his damn fangs hurt.  Scanning the city below him he surveyed the
menu, scant pickings for a week night.  Even Scully would be hard pressed to
find even one decent corpse, but he didn't need a dead body.  He needed warm
blood, warm flesh to thaw the eternal cold that permeated his every ounce of
skin.  Immortality was a bitch.  He'd decided.

"Hey, Mulder, what are you doing up here?  It's freezing."  Scully's concern
touched him.  Scully outsmarted demons and generals, but defined self-deception
when it came to him.  Go figure.  She still couldn't see the darkness in front
of her.  

"I'm cool, Scully.  Didn't you know that?"

"Funny, Mulder.  You'll be laughing out your ass if I have to make any more
excuses to Skinner about why you've been avoiding him the last two weeks."

Mulder turned, taking in the rays of body heat skimming like floating ribbons
from the steam of her skin.  The rush of blood through veins sang to him.  The
hunger nearly crippled him sometimes, but he'd cut out his own heart if he ever
touched his partner.  Skinner, on the other hand, would satisfy bloodlust in a
big way.  Pushing the thought into a tighter cage, he raised a thin hand to his
face to wipe away the slick layer of moisture collecting on his unnaturally
cool cheek.  He frowned a little in sadness at his touch to smooth skin,
missing the growth of new beard.

"What'd he say when you told him I'd been ill?"  

Scully came closer, checking out his pupils reaching for his wrist.  He stepped
back.  "I told you not to do that, Scully.  Please."  Need raced a snake
through his gut as her spicy scent spiked and teased at his enhanced sense of
smell.  

"Mulder, you are ill.  That's no lie.  He's worried like I am.  He's out
looking for you.  What's going on?  Why won't you let me touch you?  What are
you hiding?"  She put her hands on her slender hips, looking all the more like
a miniature version of her old self, the cancer washed from her body.  God, how
he'd missed that spunk.  

"I told you before, there's nothing to do for it, Scully."  He smiled a crooked
grin, tilting his head as he spoke softly.  "Once again, you won't believe
what's before your very eyes."

"Mulder, please.  They strapped you down and sedated you once before for
delusions.  Did you like that so much you want to do it again?"

"It had it's moments."  He never told her about Skinner's full body straining
against his before they moved him off in that damn stretcher, his frustrating
erection painfully unrelieved.  

"Come on, Mulder.  You were drugged to the gills."

"True.  But I was right about Pinkus."

"So?  It was still crazy.   How can you seriously expect me to believe you're a
vampire unless you shoot me up with drugs first?  I mean really, Mulder, this
is getting to be an obsession with you.  What is it with you and vampires
anyway?"

Mulder breathed deeply and immediately regretted it.  Somewhere nearby, someone
drew blood.  The clawing raged deeper in his stomach.  His whole body ached to
be fed.  Once more he turned his mind to another matter.  He wasn't sure how
much longer he could hold out.  

"Scully, I'm not kidding here.  I told you what happened.  Why won't you
believe me, my Ms. One in Five Billion?"

"Mulder, it's crazy.  You're crazy."

"Don't be wishy washy, Scully.  Tell me how you feel."

"Mulder, I know you're sick.  I don't have to be a doctor to see that.  You're
way too pale and there's something wrong with your eyes."

"I know."  Sadly, he turned away, the glow in his eyes still stinging.  "I've
tried to tell you.  I can see things you can't.  I can tell what people are
thinking.  You know, Scully, it's not nice to think of guys like Krycek in the
nude like that."

"Shit.  Stop it.  I was NOT thinking of Krycek naked until you said that."

A wicked grin graced his lips.  "Yeah, I know.  But you sure are now. What a
evil mind you have, Scully.  Damn, I can't believe you think he's that
well-hung.  I'm really jealous.  You don't see me that way."

Her blush flamed in the dark, while the image of a well-endowed Russian Agent
pressing between her legs still lingered.  "Damn it, Mulder.  Stop playing
games.  What's going on here?"

"Well, other than me being the dickless wonder of your dreams, not much.  I
tried to tell you about transformation, but you wouldn't listen.  Apparently
the vaccine for the black cancer has a few side effects no one bothered to
mention.  Of course, it could be that it only happens to a lucky few.  That'd
be my luck, don't you think?"

Scully sat down on the raised edge of the roof, pulling her coat closer to her.
 The wind blew her red hair all around as she struggled to figure out what to
say.  "Mulder, you really think you've been changed into some kind of vampire?"

"Yeah, Scully, I do."

She finally nodded.  "Okay, suppose this is true?"

"It is."

"Then what are we going to do about it?"  

"Well, unless Skinner wants to let me work night shift, there's not a lot to
do, Scully."

"No, I mean, we can fight this thing.  If it is a physical transformation, we
need to get you to a hospital.   We can run tests and find some way to reverse
this thing whatever it is."  The strength of conviction in her voice always
amazed him. 

"That sounds great, Scully.  Sure, Spooky Mulder's going to check in to have
blood drawn to prove he's a creature of the night.  Come on.  Let's be real."

"Well, that would be a first."

"Listen, I'm having enough trouble adjusting to this.  I need you to just
accept it."  He stepped closer, his voice more steady.  "I want you to hear
what I'm saying, Scully.  Just accept that I'm okay.  No more trying to save
me.  Go on with your life."  The hypnotic tone of voice soothed the lines from
her face.  

She nodded and quietly answered.  "Okay, Mulder." 

"Now, I want you to leave, Scully.  Go home, go to sleep and be rested.  Forget
you saw me here.  I just ditched you again, and that's okay.  Go be happy."

Standing slowly, a blank expression replaced the usual intensity of his
partner's face.  "Okay, Mulder." 

Watching her leave, a part of him connected with Robert Modell.  Pushing one's
will came easy, but it didn't mean he had to like pushing his friends away. 
He'd been alone before, but now after Scully and Skinner, it wouldn't be the
same.  A taste of loyalty and having someone to talk with had spoiled him for
the lonely existence he'd lived before.  

Now, he had one more important visit to make and he'd leave Washington, go to
Europe, maybe visit the old country.  He suddenly had an unexplained passion to
seek out his roots.  

But, first he'd have a little late supper and then fly off to deal with
Skinner, the one man who could claim his unstaked heart.  

**********

Walter Skinner stepped into his apartment disappointed.  He'd spent days trying
to track down his wayward Special Agent.  Calling in markers all over
Washington, he'd still found nothing.  Fox Mulder might as well have been a
phantom of his twisted imagination.  God, he missed him.  Swift visions of a
mouth from heaven sucking all things good flooded through his groin.  Still
pissed and worried, he slammed the door and locked it behind him.  

He went to the liquor cabinet, picked up a bottle of scotch and a glass before
returning to the couch.  Sagging there, he poured himself a full portion to
help dose himself into oblivion.  What idiot would fall in love with a man who
believed in aliens for christsakes?  Taking a deep swallow, he poured another
and raised it to his lips.

"Walter, you drink too much."

Choking brought on a dangerous round of coughing as he gagged on the burning
liquid scalding his throat.  Long arms wrapped around him, calming his body's
struggles to breathe oxygen instead of alcohol.  Finally, his air reclaimed, he
growled.  "Jesus, Mulder.  How the hell did you get in here?"

Very softly, Mulder whispered, his cool breath tickling tired skin.  "I flew."

"Funny, Mulder.  Don't fuck with me.  I'm not in the mood."

"Well, that's a damn shame, because I am."

Dark brown eyes narrowed in on Mulder's lush face.  A long, graceful finger
traced along his slightly bearded jaw.  Breathing faltered.  "Jesus, Mulder. 
Where the hell have you been?"

Leaning in, Mulder captured the older man's lips.  A strangely familiar  wash
of copper flooded Walter's throat.  For a rash moment he struggled, but stopped
with the cupping palm at the back of his head pulling him closer.  He opened
wider, the forceful tongue pushing harder, an eerie chill expanding unchecked
inside him.  Mind swirling spun the world around as a hand worked its way past
popped buttons.  Once dulled nipples sparked to life as fingers squeezed and
stroked them to attention.  His cock twitched violently, the painfully quick
erection begging to be freed, a flood of pre-cum already streaming.  

Allowed to pull back for just a moment to breathe, Walter stared at Mulder's
eyes.  "Shit.  What's going on, Mulder?"

"What?  You don't like the new look?"

Raising a hand, Walter tried to push away, but found a steel grip holding him
still.  Despite his larger size, nothing helped.  "Mulder, let me go."

"Not yet."  His eyes glowed stronger, the yellow light illuminating his pale
face.  "I need you, Walter.  I won't hurt you.  I'm losing everything because
of this, but I won't lose you.  I just can't."

"Mulder, what's happened?  What have they done to you?"  The original pang of
terror gone, Walter touched Mulder's face lightly.  An electric power surged
between them as the younger man jerked with the energy.

"Walter, I know that Scully told you."

Shaking his head, still stroking his lover's lovely smooth cheek, trailing
hungry fingers down his throat, he whispered.  "You're not a vampire, Mulder. 
They don't exist.  You're just upset about the fire."

"Hell, yeah, the fire pissed me off, Walter, but it's more than that.  The
black cancer has a cure, but the price is too high.  I'm going to lose you
because I can't take you with me without adjustments."

"Where are you going?"  Walter pulled Mulder closer, the cool body resting
against his.  He dreamed of flooding heat across every inch.  

"I have to leave, but I wanted to see you first to explain.  I can't stay. 
It's too risky.  I can't always control the hunger."

Hugging Mulder even closer, he languished in the rush of fire up his thigh deep
into his belly as Mulder massaged his cock through the thin layers of his
pants.  "What does Scully think?"

"I took the memory from her.  She thinks I ditched her, but she'll be okay."

"What do you mean?  You wiped her memory?"  The words found it hard to form
when all the blood drained from tongue to groin.

"Just what I said.  I can do that, just like Modell did, but what I push stays
there."

Walter tried to focus, but found a dizzy fog swirling in his head.  His cock
strained and his ass cheeks spasmed as Mulder unzipped him and quickly freed
his erection from all restraint except the grip of the younger man's pumping
fist.  He forgot the important questions he needed to ask.  His mind, totally
unfocused, swam in the pulsating pressure building from belly, to chest, to
throat, to the very center of his brain.  Grinding his hips upward, he arched
with paralysis as napalm blasts streaked fire trails behind his scorched and
charred lids.  Blast zones shook and blocked out his hearing.  Biting his
tongue bloody, his very bones twisted with straining to hold muscles from being
ripped to shreds.  

At the very edge of awareness, a spiked pain pierced his throat just as shots
of ultimate agony mated to ecstasy, each pulsing fluid draining to the world
growing cold around him.  Vibrations of thunder rocked his body as flashes
scorched him, singed witness to the branding of Walter Skinner into Mulder's
hands.  

"Oh, god," groaned between them.

Mulder leaned in, his face filling Walter's fading vision.  "I'm sorry,
Walter."  Licking his cheek, the younger man then traced a bloody tongue across
the bluish lips of his lover, the man he could never leave behind, the man who
would now rule his night forever.

"Mulder, what have you done?"

"Finding out that a vampire in love is too damn dangerous to trust." 
 
Letting his head fall back, Walter focused on the weight as Mulder rested his
hypersensitive ear over his failing heartbeat.  "I swear, if this kills me, I'm
coming back to haunt you, you asshole."

No longer starving, Mulder smiled.  "You better.  Fucking the dead just isn't
my style."

Barely breathing, his lover coughed, "Damn you, Mulder.  Feels like you better
get used to it."  Cold iced every tissue, thoughts froze mid-spark.  Spinning
down into darkness, Walter wanted more than life to believe.  

And believe he would.

********
The End, but not really