The Old Ones (Buffy/X-Files)
The Old Ones
by Benji The Vampire Confuser
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.
Author’s Note: I wrote this many years ago. It may not be quite up to par with some of my later fics, but I like it anyway.
The Bronze
Sunnydale, California
Thursday, March 13 1997
10:02 p.m.
Luke held the bouncer in his arms, draining him of his blood, and life energy. The majority of the former revelers were standing in shock, hoping, praying they would not be next on the menu, and trying to make sense of what was going on. Fortunately for all, help was on the way.
But Martin did not know that. Martin was certain that he was going to die that night, but he had to make sure that someone on the outside knew what was going on. Martin was considered a bit of an oddball at school. He dressed in black no matter the temperature outside, and wore shades even at night. But even more strange according to Miss Bitch '97 Cordelia Chase, was that he believed.
Aliens, werewolves, witches, ghosts, goblins, demons, bigfoot, government conspiracies, he believed in them all. Most of all he believed in vampires.
Quietly, he sidled away from the crowd, being sure not to attract the attention of the vampires in the club. He silently opened the door to one of the phone booths. None of them had clear doors, or windows so he was secure of his safety.
He dropped a quarter in the slot and dialed a number he'd called just
yesterday when he'd seen the state of the body in the locker room. Martin was on the mailing list of the Lone Gunmen, and when he'd told them some of his beliefs, they'd put him in touch with another man on the list. Special Agent Fox Mulder of the FBI It was this man he called now.
* * * *
Outside the phone booth, the action stopped suddenly as a vampire fell from the rafters, screaming. Luke looked up, and saw the girl who had humiliated him the other night. "Kill her!" he cried.
Martin could tell that something was happening outside. When the head vampire had shouted, "Kill her!" His spirits rose. Perhaps he'd live after all. He hung up quietly.
He gingerly opened the door just in time to see the head vampire killed by the new girl, Buffy. "Hmm," he thought. "Something to e-mail to Agent Mulder."
But better than that, here was something interesting in this otherwise boring town.
* * * *
FBI Headquarters
Washington DC
Friday, March 28 1997
11:12 a.m.
From: Martin Skorse
To: fmulder@fbi.gov
Subject: I believe.
It has been brought to my attention by some mutual friends of ours that you believe in aliens and the like. My question to you is, how far does your belief extend? I myself believe in it all, so I guess a better question is, What do you not believe in? But I'm getting ahead of myself. My name is Martin Skorse, I'm a receiver of the Lone Gunman, as are you I'm told. I've chatted with the Lone Gunmen themselves, and when I mentioned some of my beliefs, such as Aliens and Government conspiracies, they told me about you, and gave me your e-mail address.
I hope you don't mind, they said they'd tell you about me as well, so you'd at least have some idea of who I am. I'd love to chat with you sometime, just so as to talk about stuff that anyone else would have me committed for.
Sincerely,
Martin "Van Helsing" Skorse
"Listen to them. The children of the night, what music they make."
-Count Dracula
"Dracula"
Scully finished the e-mail and looked quizzically at her partner. "You're showing me fan mail Mulder?" she asked.
Mulder smiled slightly at the dig. "They've got a weekly news letter and everything Scully. They call themselves X-Philes."
Scully groaned at the pun. "Why are you showing this to me Mulder? It's just some lonely kid who wants to talk to somebody who believes."
"Sounds like me Scully." Mulder smiled. Then he held up a tape recorder. "I showed you that so that you wouldn't be confused when you heard this."
Mulder pushed play, and an excited teenage voice began speaking, no not excited, Scully realized, frightened.
"Agent Mulder, it's me Martin, the guy who sent you that e-mail. Um, I know that this is gonna sound crazy...I didn't know who else to call, uh, oh god. Vamp, Agent Mulder, vampires have trapped me, and god knows how many people in the local nightclub. The leader, he's, oh Jesus, he's killing people, draining their blood, making us watch. I managed to sneak into a phone booth, I needed to make sure someone would know. The leader, he's talking about something called the harvest, like they've got some sort of invasion planned. I...get hold of my mom, tell her I love her."
All through the recording, Scully could plainly hear someone saying something in the background, and people screaming.
"My God Mulder," Scully said incredulously. "How drunk was that kid?"
Mulder looked disappointed. "Scully that kid was scared. I don't think he was that drunk."
"But Mulder, Vampires? Give me a break."
"Scully, vampires or no vampires, something was going on there."
"How can you be sure Mulder?"
"Because of this Scully." Mulder pulled open his drawer and removed a file. Scully sighed and took it.
The folder was filled with newspaper clippings, and police reports.
The first clipping was about several missing teenagers, all of whom disappeared within several days of each other. The next was about a body found in the local high school.
According to the news clipping, and the police and coroner's reports; the boy was Marcus Campbell, a former student, but drop out. His body had been stuffed inside a locker in the girl's locker room, and found when one of the girls opened her locker to change for gym.
"Geeze, that poor girl." Scully thought. Then her eyes caught the coroner's report. The boy's body had been completely drained of blood, and two puncture wounds were found on his neck.
Then came the clincher. Scully looked at the report for the night club scene. "Mulder when did you get that message?"
"The 13th."
"So there was something going on." she said under her breath. "But still that doesn't mean there were vampires Mulder. He's a kid right? And if he was in a night club, he'd probably had a lot to drink. Somehow he concocted this vampire story in a drunken stupor." Scully held the file in her hand and pointed to it. "According to this, the attack was part of some gang fight or something, and the victims were just caught in a crossfire."
"Scully, do rival gangs drain people of their blood with two puncture wounds in the neck, without putting a stain on the floor?" Mulder pressed her.
Scully sighed. "Well your contact isn't listed among the dead, so I'd guess he made it out."
"Indeed he did Scully." Mulder said. "In fact, here." He called up another e-mail.
From: Martin Skorse
To: fmulder@fbi.gov
Subject: I'm Aliiiive!
Yes Agent Mulder, I made it out of there in one piece, and not a quart low. How you may ask? Well I'll tell you (if I seem a trifle pretentious, it's because I'm still reeling from escaping what seemed at the time to be certain, unholy death):
It seems that I'm not the only one in town who believes in vampires. In fact there are several somebodies. One is a new girl in school, named Buffy (why anyone would name their child Buffy is beyond me, though I hear she's from LA) Summers. The others are, our school's new librarian Rupert Giles, and the other two are Buffy's friends, Xander Harris and Willow Rosenburg.
Buffy almost single handedly killed the invading vampires, with a little help from her friends. I feel safe in saying there's something special about her, her strength, speed and skill, it's almost as if she's genetically different or something.
Anyhow, it seems that for now our sleepy little town of Sunnydale is safe from the hounds of hell as it were. I will keep you posted.
Sincerely,
Martin "Van Helsing" Skorse
"Nosferatu!
Gesundteight."
-Anonymous
Scully turned from the e-mail with a sigh. "Well whatever else he is he's creative. He's got a good future as a horror writer ahead of him.
Mulder smiled. "Hmmmm, `Buffy the Vampire Slayer'. Has a nice ring to it doesn't it?" Encouraging her, he pointed to the file. "Keep looking at that file Scully, the town's almost an X-File in itself."
"There's only three more reports in here Mulder how strange could they be?" Scully skimmed thorough the reports and gaped. "Spontaneous Human Combustion? Unexplained, complete blindness? A girl's mouth suddenly covered by a mass of tissue? My God Mulder have you told Skinner about this?"
"Oh he knows Scully. He's just trying to arrange an investigation. But Scully there's one more thing, I won't bore you with the e-mail, but old `Van Helsing' says that witchcraft was involved."
"Mulder, Spontaneous Combustion is rare but not impossible. There's nothing magical about it."
"What about a girl suddenly and quickly going blind without any apparent damage to her retina, and just as quickly recovering her sight? Or a girl growing a seamless mass of tissue over her mouth in a matter of seconds, and equally as quickly having it disappear without a trace?"
Scully sighed in submission. "I don't know Mulder."
* * * *
Sunnydale High School
Sunnydale, California
Monday, March 31 1997
11:30 a.m.
Martin didn't pretend to know exactly what was going on in Sunnydale. First, the vampires, then, the apparent witchcraft, and now, his biology teacher's headless body being found in the school cafeteria's freezer. The tiny town was definitely becoming a lot more interesting to live in. He’d begun to carry a few stakes and a bottle of holy water with him where ever he went at night.
Today Martin was a man on a mission. He didn't know what was going on, but he knew who probably did. And he intended to find out. Ahead of him, he saw one of the people he was looking for.
"You're in my way." Cordelia said rudely.
Willow started, and began to move aside.
"Cordelia," Martin said. "There's this new fad out now called manners. You might want to check it out." Willow smiled at this.
"I don't recall giving you permission to speak to me." Cordelia retorted.
"Don't lose your head." Martin said meaningfully. Cordelia blanched at the memory he'd brought to the surface with that remark and hurried away without a word.
"Wow," Willow said. "Not bad." Willow was amazed. Martin was usually a very shy person, much like her actually, only she was not as weird. Sure he stood up to people who were rude to him or tried to push him around, but he'd never been known to come to anyone's rescue before.
"Thanks." Martin said. "I've been practicing." Then, his shyness came through as he posed his question. "Um, I was wondering..."
"Yes?" Willow could tell that he was battling his shyness, he was blushing.
"Would you like to eat lunch with me today?"
Once again Willow was surprised. Martin was practically asking her out!
A warm glow filled her. Not because Martin was asking her, she'd much rather have Xander ask her out. But because anyone was asking.
"Um, well," Now Willow found herself battling with her own shyness. "I was gonna eat lunch with Buffy and Xander, but you're welcome to join us."
Martin smiled gratefully. "Cool, thanks." Inside, Martin felt dirty. He felt as if he were just using her to get information. Firmly, he vowed that he would not betray any trust that Willow or her friends chose to bestow on him.
"Hey Willow," Xander said, catching up to them. He looked at Martin for a moment. "I know you." he said. "You're Martin Skorse aren't you."
"I hope so," Martin said. "I'm wearing his underwear. God, I've always wanted to say that."
"Uh, yeah." Willow said. "He'd fit in quite well with the rest of us." she thought. "Or at least our lifestyle."
"Martin's eating lunch with us today Xander." she said. Secretly, she wondered if Xander would get jealous.
"Cool." Xander replied. "Well there goes that topic of conversation." he thought.
Martin watched Xander and Willow as they approached Buffy's locker. He didn't know exactly what he was looking for, some secret look to pass between them maybe. So intent on his scrutiny was he, that he didn't see Buffy open her locker till it was too late.
Buffy started at the sudden impact on her locker door. She turned just in time to see Martin reel back from impact and fall on his back.
"Ouch." he said, holding his head.
Buffy tried hard not to laugh, that was the old Buffy, the pre-slayer Buffy and despite her attempts to recapture some of that, the personality was not something she was proud of. In fact, Cordelia reminded her of herself back in LA.
"Are you okay?" she asked. Grasping his hand, she hauled him to his feet.
"Yeah," Martin said, embarrassed. "Hope I didn't damage your locker."
Buffy smiled. Then she looked more closely. "I don't know you do I." she asked.
"Uh," Xander said. "This is Martin Skorse. The weirdo that Cordelia probably would have gotten around to warning you about. If, that is, you had kept hanging out with her." Suddenly he realized what he had called Martin. "Not that being a weirdo is a bad thing." he said quickly. "Some of my best friends are weirdoes-" Then he realized what he had implied. "I mean, I, uh, I'm not helping am I?"
"So," Martin said. "You would be Buffy."
"Yes I would." she said. She shot a quick questioning look to Willow and Xander.
"Martin's eating lunch with us." Willow said.
Buffy was filled with the familiar rush of good feelings that she always got when one of her friends in LA had gotten a guy. And since Willow was shyer than all her friends in LA, her pride was double the usual.
"Cool." she said, smiling meaningfully at Willow. As they headed outside, Buffy sidled up to Willow. "Good for you." she whispered enthusiastically. "And this time it's not a Vampire! But what's this about him being a weirdo?"
"Oh that's just Cordelia. I really don't know him well enough to form any sort of opinion. What I do know is that he's really interested in anything that has to with unexplained phenomena."
"Well," Buffy said. "He should fit in just fine."
* * * *
FBI Headquarters
Washington DC
Monday, April 7 1997
10:22 a.m.
"Agent Mulder, Agent Scully, you two are to catch the next flight to California." Skinner said. "I imagine that by now you know what this is about."
"Yes sir." they said. Mulder was careful to hide his pleasure at finally being given the assignment.
"Agent Mulder." Skinner said. Mulder sighed inwardly. He'd learned to know when the scoldings were coming.
"Yes sir."
"I wish to point out to you, to remind you, that you are going out there to catch a serial killer. Not Vampires. Or witches. Is that understood?"
"Yes sir." Mulder said. "But what happens sir, if that's exactly what we find?"
Skinner looked at Mulder unblinkingly for a moment. "You're dismissed." he said at last.
In the hallway, Scully hurried to catch up to Mulder. "Mulder do you actually think you're going to find supernatural forces at work there?" she asked incredulously.
"I don't know what we'll find Scully." Mulder said. "But our contact thinks that there's something rotten in the state of Denmark."
"Mulder _your_ `contact' subscribes to the Lone Gunman."
"What's your point Scully?"
"That was my point."
Mulder merely smiled. "I'll meet you at the airport Scully."
"Where are you going?" she asked.
"I have a stop to make."
* * * *
Headquarters of the Lone Gunmen
11:00 a.m.
Langley sat perched on the edge of his desk while Byers typed away at the computer screen.
"So what have you guys got for me on Sunnydale?" Mulder asked.
"You mean besides the fact that they've got the hottest babes in the country?" Frohike asked.
"I don't even want to know why you know that Frohike." Mulder said.
"Actually it's a pretty interesting area." Langley said. "Do you know what the Spanish settlers used to call it?"
"No." Mulder said indulgently, expecting some useless trivia, which usually preceded the good stuff. "What did the Spanish settlers used to call it?"
"Boca Del Infierno." Langley said.
"Which means?"
"Hellmouth." Byers interjected. "The entire area in and around the town is believed to be one of the seven gates of hell. A place where the boundary between Earth and the Underworld is very thin."
Mulder thought about this. "That is interesting. Tell me more."
"Not much else to tell actually." Byers said. "The Indians shunned it, but the Spaniards built Sunnydale there anyway."
"Makes sense to me." Frohike broke in. "They probably wouldn't have any problems with Indian attacks."
"Things were peaceful until about 1937, sixty years ago. There was a sudden rash of murders, all involving bodies drained of blood. Then couple of weeks later, there was a big earthquake and the killings suddenly stopped. Until now."
"Is that all you have?" Mulder asked, checking his watch. He still had plenty of time before he had to get to the airport.
"On Sunnydale, yes." Byers said.
"But," Langley picked up. "We also checked up on the people Martin named."
"What do you got on them?"
"Rupert Giles is the librarian of Sunnydale High School. Before that he was a curator at some museum in England. There's nothing really interesting about him. His a Brit., you know how they can be." Langley said.
"Langley, obviously you've never seen British humor." Mulder said.
"As for Alexander Harris and Willow Rosenberg, your typical sophomore high school students, though Willow's grades are better than Alex's."
"And then we come to Buffy." Langley said.
"We found a picture of her in her cheerleader uniform." Frohike smiled. "I have a new poster up on my wall."
"At first, your average valley girl." Langley said.
"Passing grades, no more than the average unexcused absences." Frohike picked up the story. "But beginning her sophomore year, this is while she lived in LA by the way, her attendance record dropped, and at a dance, she burned down the gym."
"Nice girl." Mulder smiled.
"Yeah well here's the weird part." Frohike said. "In the weeks of her decline, there were a lot of murders."
"Let me guess the rest." Mulder said. "All the bodies were drained of their blood and when the gym burned down, they stopped."
"Exactly." Langley said. "Buffy was kicked out of school, and she and her mother moved to Sunnydale."
"Where the murders started up again." Mulder murmured. "What about Martin himself?" he asked.
"An orphan. He lives with a foster family. His parents were killed when he was four." Langley paused for effect. "They were drained of all their blood. Had two puncture wounds in their necks. Happened right in front of him."
"How did he get away?" Mulder asked.
"Don't know. The police reports say he was hysterical, they couldn't make any sense out of what he was saying."
"Thanks for your help guys." Mulder said, leaving. "You've given me a lot to think about."
"Should we tell Martin you and Scully are coming?" Byers asked him.
"Nah. Let it be a surprise."
* * * *
Wolf Gap Campground
West Virginia
Monday, July 25, 1985
8:30 p.m.
Four year old Martin Skorse could not be any more excited. Here he was on his first camping trip. And with his three favorite people. His mommy and daddy, and his teddy bear Skip.
They were sitting around a campfire, he and his mommy were toasting "marchmellows" as he called them, and singing along with his daddy who was accompanying on guitar.
"Oh you can't get to heaven," his father sang.
"Oh you can't get to heaven," he and his mommy repeated.
"In a red canoe,"
"In a red canoe,"
"'Cause the Lord's favorite color,"
"'Cause the Lord's favorite color,"
"Is navy blue!" a voice shouted from the woods.
Martin jumped at the unexpected noise and accidentally shook his marchmellow of his stick and into the fire. But Martin didn't notice. There was someone in the woods. A _stranger_. But he wasn't worried. After all, what could harm him when he had his mommy and daddy to take care of him? It was only when he was alone that he had to worry. His daddy would get rid of the stranger and all would be right with the world once more.
"Hello?" his daddy stopped playing the guitar and set it down.
"Who's out there?"
"Nobody here but us bats." the voice rasped.
"What do you want?"
Suddenly, the owner of the voice crashed out of the woods into the circle of light provided by the fire. "To feed!" he yelled and grabbed his dad.
Martin felt the first stab of fear as the man grabbed his daddy's head, and bit his neck.
Martin's mommy screamed, which sent another dagger into him.
Then his father's scream ripped through the night. Martin fell into
the deep chasm of terror. His high pitched scream diverted the man's attention, and it threw the lifeless husk of his daddy to the side, and smiled at him. It was a hideous face, one rank with evil. It was a face Martin had seen many times. In the closet and under the bed, before his daddy came and drove it away with his presence.
The man's attention was once again diverted. But this time it was by his mommy's outraged shout.
"Don't you dare hurt my son!" she cried, and brought a huge stick down on it's head.
The man laughed and grabbed her. He twisted her arm behind her back and grabbed her hair, pulling her head back. She screamed in pain as he sunk his teeth into her jugular. By the time he was done feeding, Martin had exhausted his screams. He merely cowered on the edge of the firelight, sobbing and clutching Skip.
"You're a cute one." the man said. "I think I'll change you."
"And I think you won't!" a feminine voice called. The man whirled in the direction of the voice but was caught off guard when a young woman launched herself at him.
In one hand, the girl held a sharpened piece of wood.
With one swift thrust, she drove it through the bad man's chest, and he vanished.
* * * *
Sunnydale California
Tuesday, April 8 1997
7:00 a.m.
Martin awoke with a start, stifling a scream. He hadn't had that nightmare for years. But the coming of the vampires had started them up again. In one hand he clutched the cross he always wore around his neck. In the other he clutched his old rumpled Skip. His eyes lit on his father's guitar, sitting in the corner. Suddenly, he had an overpowering urge to play it. He wondered if Willow sang.
* * * *
Sunnydale High School
11:30 a.m.
It seemed natural to Willow that Martin be drawn to her and her friends. Buffy and Xander and Willow were pretty much outsiders who had banded together. As far as anyone outside the circle knew, Xander and Willow had banded together because of that, and Buffy liked outsiders. In that case Martin seemed the next logical choice for their little consortium.
But what no one did know was that they had banded together primarily for a different reason. True, they did have lots in common, and that was a large part of it. But the biggest part was the secret.
It was this that Willow thought about now. Xander and Willow, and Jesse; "God rest his soul." she thought automatically and sadly. Had a secret that must never be told.
Willow wanted to be friends with Martin, as did Buffy and Xander. He was easy to get along with, funny, always had a snappy comeback to Cordelia. And he believed. In Willow's mind that was the biggest reason to bring him in on the secret. But Giles had insisted otherwise. He'd said that Martin should only be told if absolutely necessary. I.E. if he was attacked by a vampire.
Willow got her lunch and headed for the quad. It was a nice day and she wanted to be outside. She figured the others would find her eventually. She emerged into the warm sunshine and stood for a moment, letting it heat up her body, chilled from the air conditioning. As she stood with her eyes closed, it seemed she could hear guitar music to her left.
"Wake up loser." Cordelia snapped, cutting around her. "You're holding up traffic." Cordelia continued on her way, passing the guitar player.
"Cordelia," the player said, and Willow realized it was Martin.
"What?" Cordelia asked impatiently.
"I liked your old nose better." Martin smiled. Cordelia sputtered for a moment, but Martin didn't give her any time to respond. He began playing louder, and ignored her. Willow didn't recognize the song, but it sounded sad.
"Take this hammer," Martin sang. "Take it to the captain. Take this hammer, take it to the captain. Take this hammer, take it to the captain, tell him I'm gone. Tell him I'm gone."
Willow sat next to him, and listened to the rest of the song. "That was beautiful." she said when the song ended. "Where'd you learn that?"
"My father used to sing it to me when I was little." he said softly.
"Does he play guitar too?" she asked. Suddenly she noticed the beginnings of tears in his eyes and immediately regretted it.
"He did. My parents were killed when I was four years old."
Morbid curiosity made her ask; "How did it happen?"
Martin hesitated. "You won't believe me."
Willow smiled at that. There was very little she wouldn't believe at this point. "Tell me anyway."
"My parents," Martin told her. "Were killed by a vampire."
* * * *
Willow finally managed to track down Xander, Buffy and Giles in the library. "I really think we should tell Martin." she said.
"We went over this before." Giles said. "To tell anyone, no matter that they believe or not, unless absolutely necessary, could be
dangerous to us and them."
Willow didn't bother to argue. "Martin told me his parents were killed by a vampire when he was four years old."
Giles was stunned. "Are you sure about that?" he asked.
"Well I suppose I may have heard him wrong." Willow said. "How many words sound like vampire?"
"Did he tell you anything else?" Buffy asked. "Like how he managed to get away?"
"He told me a girl came and killed it." she answered.
"Where did this happen?" Giles asked suddenly.
"In the quad."
"No, no." Giles said. "I mean where were his parents killed?"
"Oh, in West Virginia."
"Hmm." Giles looked thoughtful. Just then the bell rang. "You'd better get to class." Giles said absently.
* * * *
Sunnydale Police Station,
3:00 p.m.
"So where to now Mulder?" Scully asked as they exited the police station. After they had gotten into town, their first stop had been the police station to talk to the sheriff.
There had been no more murders since the ones on the report, but Sheriff Simmons had promised them complete cooperation with their investigation and had welcomed them.
"Well," Mulder said, thinking. "The first thing I'm going to do is go talk to Martin."
"Any particular reason?" Scully asked.
"Regardless of his far fetched story," Mulder said, conceding to Scully's opinion. "He's still an eyewitness to the incident at the Bronze."
"And after that?"
"After that, I think we should question the people he mentioned in his e-mail."
"You're putting a lot of faith in the e-mails of one lone teenager Mulder."
"It's a place to start Scully. The coroner won't be available until tonight and besides, all the bodies are already buried."
Scully nodded, conceding his point.
To be continued...
by Benji The Vampire Confuser
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.
Author’s Note: I wrote this many years ago. It may not be quite up to par with some of my later fics, but I like it anyway.
The Bronze
Sunnydale, California
Thursday, March 13 1997
10:02 p.m.
Luke held the bouncer in his arms, draining him of his blood, and life energy. The majority of the former revelers were standing in shock, hoping, praying they would not be next on the menu, and trying to make sense of what was going on. Fortunately for all, help was on the way.
But Martin did not know that. Martin was certain that he was going to die that night, but he had to make sure that someone on the outside knew what was going on. Martin was considered a bit of an oddball at school. He dressed in black no matter the temperature outside, and wore shades even at night. But even more strange according to Miss Bitch '97 Cordelia Chase, was that he believed.
Aliens, werewolves, witches, ghosts, goblins, demons, bigfoot, government conspiracies, he believed in them all. Most of all he believed in vampires.
Quietly, he sidled away from the crowd, being sure not to attract the attention of the vampires in the club. He silently opened the door to one of the phone booths. None of them had clear doors, or windows so he was secure of his safety.
He dropped a quarter in the slot and dialed a number he'd called just
yesterday when he'd seen the state of the body in the locker room. Martin was on the mailing list of the Lone Gunmen, and when he'd told them some of his beliefs, they'd put him in touch with another man on the list. Special Agent Fox Mulder of the FBI It was this man he called now.
* * * *
Outside the phone booth, the action stopped suddenly as a vampire fell from the rafters, screaming. Luke looked up, and saw the girl who had humiliated him the other night. "Kill her!" he cried.
Martin could tell that something was happening outside. When the head vampire had shouted, "Kill her!" His spirits rose. Perhaps he'd live after all. He hung up quietly.
He gingerly opened the door just in time to see the head vampire killed by the new girl, Buffy. "Hmm," he thought. "Something to e-mail to Agent Mulder."
But better than that, here was something interesting in this otherwise boring town.
* * * *
FBI Headquarters
Washington DC
Friday, March 28 1997
11:12 a.m.
From: Martin Skorse
To: fmulder@fbi.gov
Subject: I believe.
It has been brought to my attention by some mutual friends of ours that you believe in aliens and the like. My question to you is, how far does your belief extend? I myself believe in it all, so I guess a better question is, What do you not believe in? But I'm getting ahead of myself. My name is Martin Skorse, I'm a receiver of the Lone Gunman, as are you I'm told. I've chatted with the Lone Gunmen themselves, and when I mentioned some of my beliefs, such as Aliens and Government conspiracies, they told me about you, and gave me your e-mail address.
I hope you don't mind, they said they'd tell you about me as well, so you'd at least have some idea of who I am. I'd love to chat with you sometime, just so as to talk about stuff that anyone else would have me committed for.
Sincerely,
Martin "Van Helsing" Skorse
"Listen to them. The children of the night, what music they make."
-Count Dracula
"Dracula"
Scully finished the e-mail and looked quizzically at her partner. "You're showing me fan mail Mulder?" she asked.
Mulder smiled slightly at the dig. "They've got a weekly news letter and everything Scully. They call themselves X-Philes."
Scully groaned at the pun. "Why are you showing this to me Mulder? It's just some lonely kid who wants to talk to somebody who believes."
"Sounds like me Scully." Mulder smiled. Then he held up a tape recorder. "I showed you that so that you wouldn't be confused when you heard this."
Mulder pushed play, and an excited teenage voice began speaking, no not excited, Scully realized, frightened.
"Agent Mulder, it's me Martin, the guy who sent you that e-mail. Um, I know that this is gonna sound crazy...I didn't know who else to call, uh, oh god. Vamp, Agent Mulder, vampires have trapped me, and god knows how many people in the local nightclub. The leader, he's, oh Jesus, he's killing people, draining their blood, making us watch. I managed to sneak into a phone booth, I needed to make sure someone would know. The leader, he's talking about something called the harvest, like they've got some sort of invasion planned. I...get hold of my mom, tell her I love her."
All through the recording, Scully could plainly hear someone saying something in the background, and people screaming.
"My God Mulder," Scully said incredulously. "How drunk was that kid?"
Mulder looked disappointed. "Scully that kid was scared. I don't think he was that drunk."
"But Mulder, Vampires? Give me a break."
"Scully, vampires or no vampires, something was going on there."
"How can you be sure Mulder?"
"Because of this Scully." Mulder pulled open his drawer and removed a file. Scully sighed and took it.
The folder was filled with newspaper clippings, and police reports.
The first clipping was about several missing teenagers, all of whom disappeared within several days of each other. The next was about a body found in the local high school.
According to the news clipping, and the police and coroner's reports; the boy was Marcus Campbell, a former student, but drop out. His body had been stuffed inside a locker in the girl's locker room, and found when one of the girls opened her locker to change for gym.
"Geeze, that poor girl." Scully thought. Then her eyes caught the coroner's report. The boy's body had been completely drained of blood, and two puncture wounds were found on his neck.
Then came the clincher. Scully looked at the report for the night club scene. "Mulder when did you get that message?"
"The 13th."
"So there was something going on." she said under her breath. "But still that doesn't mean there were vampires Mulder. He's a kid right? And if he was in a night club, he'd probably had a lot to drink. Somehow he concocted this vampire story in a drunken stupor." Scully held the file in her hand and pointed to it. "According to this, the attack was part of some gang fight or something, and the victims were just caught in a crossfire."
"Scully, do rival gangs drain people of their blood with two puncture wounds in the neck, without putting a stain on the floor?" Mulder pressed her.
Scully sighed. "Well your contact isn't listed among the dead, so I'd guess he made it out."
"Indeed he did Scully." Mulder said. "In fact, here." He called up another e-mail.
From: Martin Skorse
To: fmulder@fbi.gov
Subject: I'm Aliiiive!
Yes Agent Mulder, I made it out of there in one piece, and not a quart low. How you may ask? Well I'll tell you (if I seem a trifle pretentious, it's because I'm still reeling from escaping what seemed at the time to be certain, unholy death):
It seems that I'm not the only one in town who believes in vampires. In fact there are several somebodies. One is a new girl in school, named Buffy (why anyone would name their child Buffy is beyond me, though I hear she's from LA) Summers. The others are, our school's new librarian Rupert Giles, and the other two are Buffy's friends, Xander Harris and Willow Rosenburg.
Buffy almost single handedly killed the invading vampires, with a little help from her friends. I feel safe in saying there's something special about her, her strength, speed and skill, it's almost as if she's genetically different or something.
Anyhow, it seems that for now our sleepy little town of Sunnydale is safe from the hounds of hell as it were. I will keep you posted.
Sincerely,
Martin "Van Helsing" Skorse
"Nosferatu!
Gesundteight."
-Anonymous
Scully turned from the e-mail with a sigh. "Well whatever else he is he's creative. He's got a good future as a horror writer ahead of him.
Mulder smiled. "Hmmmm, `Buffy the Vampire Slayer'. Has a nice ring to it doesn't it?" Encouraging her, he pointed to the file. "Keep looking at that file Scully, the town's almost an X-File in itself."
"There's only three more reports in here Mulder how strange could they be?" Scully skimmed thorough the reports and gaped. "Spontaneous Human Combustion? Unexplained, complete blindness? A girl's mouth suddenly covered by a mass of tissue? My God Mulder have you told Skinner about this?"
"Oh he knows Scully. He's just trying to arrange an investigation. But Scully there's one more thing, I won't bore you with the e-mail, but old `Van Helsing' says that witchcraft was involved."
"Mulder, Spontaneous Combustion is rare but not impossible. There's nothing magical about it."
"What about a girl suddenly and quickly going blind without any apparent damage to her retina, and just as quickly recovering her sight? Or a girl growing a seamless mass of tissue over her mouth in a matter of seconds, and equally as quickly having it disappear without a trace?"
Scully sighed in submission. "I don't know Mulder."
* * * *
Sunnydale High School
Sunnydale, California
Monday, March 31 1997
11:30 a.m.
Martin didn't pretend to know exactly what was going on in Sunnydale. First, the vampires, then, the apparent witchcraft, and now, his biology teacher's headless body being found in the school cafeteria's freezer. The tiny town was definitely becoming a lot more interesting to live in. He’d begun to carry a few stakes and a bottle of holy water with him where ever he went at night.
Today Martin was a man on a mission. He didn't know what was going on, but he knew who probably did. And he intended to find out. Ahead of him, he saw one of the people he was looking for.
"You're in my way." Cordelia said rudely.
Willow started, and began to move aside.
"Cordelia," Martin said. "There's this new fad out now called manners. You might want to check it out." Willow smiled at this.
"I don't recall giving you permission to speak to me." Cordelia retorted.
"Don't lose your head." Martin said meaningfully. Cordelia blanched at the memory he'd brought to the surface with that remark and hurried away without a word.
"Wow," Willow said. "Not bad." Willow was amazed. Martin was usually a very shy person, much like her actually, only she was not as weird. Sure he stood up to people who were rude to him or tried to push him around, but he'd never been known to come to anyone's rescue before.
"Thanks." Martin said. "I've been practicing." Then, his shyness came through as he posed his question. "Um, I was wondering..."
"Yes?" Willow could tell that he was battling his shyness, he was blushing.
"Would you like to eat lunch with me today?"
Once again Willow was surprised. Martin was practically asking her out!
A warm glow filled her. Not because Martin was asking her, she'd much rather have Xander ask her out. But because anyone was asking.
"Um, well," Now Willow found herself battling with her own shyness. "I was gonna eat lunch with Buffy and Xander, but you're welcome to join us."
Martin smiled gratefully. "Cool, thanks." Inside, Martin felt dirty. He felt as if he were just using her to get information. Firmly, he vowed that he would not betray any trust that Willow or her friends chose to bestow on him.
"Hey Willow," Xander said, catching up to them. He looked at Martin for a moment. "I know you." he said. "You're Martin Skorse aren't you."
"I hope so," Martin said. "I'm wearing his underwear. God, I've always wanted to say that."
"Uh, yeah." Willow said. "He'd fit in quite well with the rest of us." she thought. "Or at least our lifestyle."
"Martin's eating lunch with us today Xander." she said. Secretly, she wondered if Xander would get jealous.
"Cool." Xander replied. "Well there goes that topic of conversation." he thought.
Martin watched Xander and Willow as they approached Buffy's locker. He didn't know exactly what he was looking for, some secret look to pass between them maybe. So intent on his scrutiny was he, that he didn't see Buffy open her locker till it was too late.
Buffy started at the sudden impact on her locker door. She turned just in time to see Martin reel back from impact and fall on his back.
"Ouch." he said, holding his head.
Buffy tried hard not to laugh, that was the old Buffy, the pre-slayer Buffy and despite her attempts to recapture some of that, the personality was not something she was proud of. In fact, Cordelia reminded her of herself back in LA.
"Are you okay?" she asked. Grasping his hand, she hauled him to his feet.
"Yeah," Martin said, embarrassed. "Hope I didn't damage your locker."
Buffy smiled. Then she looked more closely. "I don't know you do I." she asked.
"Uh," Xander said. "This is Martin Skorse. The weirdo that Cordelia probably would have gotten around to warning you about. If, that is, you had kept hanging out with her." Suddenly he realized what he had called Martin. "Not that being a weirdo is a bad thing." he said quickly. "Some of my best friends are weirdoes-" Then he realized what he had implied. "I mean, I, uh, I'm not helping am I?"
"So," Martin said. "You would be Buffy."
"Yes I would." she said. She shot a quick questioning look to Willow and Xander.
"Martin's eating lunch with us." Willow said.
Buffy was filled with the familiar rush of good feelings that she always got when one of her friends in LA had gotten a guy. And since Willow was shyer than all her friends in LA, her pride was double the usual.
"Cool." she said, smiling meaningfully at Willow. As they headed outside, Buffy sidled up to Willow. "Good for you." she whispered enthusiastically. "And this time it's not a Vampire! But what's this about him being a weirdo?"
"Oh that's just Cordelia. I really don't know him well enough to form any sort of opinion. What I do know is that he's really interested in anything that has to with unexplained phenomena."
"Well," Buffy said. "He should fit in just fine."
* * * *
FBI Headquarters
Washington DC
Monday, April 7 1997
10:22 a.m.
"Agent Mulder, Agent Scully, you two are to catch the next flight to California." Skinner said. "I imagine that by now you know what this is about."
"Yes sir." they said. Mulder was careful to hide his pleasure at finally being given the assignment.
"Agent Mulder." Skinner said. Mulder sighed inwardly. He'd learned to know when the scoldings were coming.
"Yes sir."
"I wish to point out to you, to remind you, that you are going out there to catch a serial killer. Not Vampires. Or witches. Is that understood?"
"Yes sir." Mulder said. "But what happens sir, if that's exactly what we find?"
Skinner looked at Mulder unblinkingly for a moment. "You're dismissed." he said at last.
In the hallway, Scully hurried to catch up to Mulder. "Mulder do you actually think you're going to find supernatural forces at work there?" she asked incredulously.
"I don't know what we'll find Scully." Mulder said. "But our contact thinks that there's something rotten in the state of Denmark."
"Mulder _your_ `contact' subscribes to the Lone Gunman."
"What's your point Scully?"
"That was my point."
Mulder merely smiled. "I'll meet you at the airport Scully."
"Where are you going?" she asked.
"I have a stop to make."
* * * *
Headquarters of the Lone Gunmen
11:00 a.m.
Langley sat perched on the edge of his desk while Byers typed away at the computer screen.
"So what have you guys got for me on Sunnydale?" Mulder asked.
"You mean besides the fact that they've got the hottest babes in the country?" Frohike asked.
"I don't even want to know why you know that Frohike." Mulder said.
"Actually it's a pretty interesting area." Langley said. "Do you know what the Spanish settlers used to call it?"
"No." Mulder said indulgently, expecting some useless trivia, which usually preceded the good stuff. "What did the Spanish settlers used to call it?"
"Boca Del Infierno." Langley said.
"Which means?"
"Hellmouth." Byers interjected. "The entire area in and around the town is believed to be one of the seven gates of hell. A place where the boundary between Earth and the Underworld is very thin."
Mulder thought about this. "That is interesting. Tell me more."
"Not much else to tell actually." Byers said. "The Indians shunned it, but the Spaniards built Sunnydale there anyway."
"Makes sense to me." Frohike broke in. "They probably wouldn't have any problems with Indian attacks."
"Things were peaceful until about 1937, sixty years ago. There was a sudden rash of murders, all involving bodies drained of blood. Then couple of weeks later, there was a big earthquake and the killings suddenly stopped. Until now."
"Is that all you have?" Mulder asked, checking his watch. He still had plenty of time before he had to get to the airport.
"On Sunnydale, yes." Byers said.
"But," Langley picked up. "We also checked up on the people Martin named."
"What do you got on them?"
"Rupert Giles is the librarian of Sunnydale High School. Before that he was a curator at some museum in England. There's nothing really interesting about him. His a Brit., you know how they can be." Langley said.
"Langley, obviously you've never seen British humor." Mulder said.
"As for Alexander Harris and Willow Rosenberg, your typical sophomore high school students, though Willow's grades are better than Alex's."
"And then we come to Buffy." Langley said.
"We found a picture of her in her cheerleader uniform." Frohike smiled. "I have a new poster up on my wall."
"At first, your average valley girl." Langley said.
"Passing grades, no more than the average unexcused absences." Frohike picked up the story. "But beginning her sophomore year, this is while she lived in LA by the way, her attendance record dropped, and at a dance, she burned down the gym."
"Nice girl." Mulder smiled.
"Yeah well here's the weird part." Frohike said. "In the weeks of her decline, there were a lot of murders."
"Let me guess the rest." Mulder said. "All the bodies were drained of their blood and when the gym burned down, they stopped."
"Exactly." Langley said. "Buffy was kicked out of school, and she and her mother moved to Sunnydale."
"Where the murders started up again." Mulder murmured. "What about Martin himself?" he asked.
"An orphan. He lives with a foster family. His parents were killed when he was four." Langley paused for effect. "They were drained of all their blood. Had two puncture wounds in their necks. Happened right in front of him."
"How did he get away?" Mulder asked.
"Don't know. The police reports say he was hysterical, they couldn't make any sense out of what he was saying."
"Thanks for your help guys." Mulder said, leaving. "You've given me a lot to think about."
"Should we tell Martin you and Scully are coming?" Byers asked him.
"Nah. Let it be a surprise."
* * * *
Wolf Gap Campground
West Virginia
Monday, July 25, 1985
8:30 p.m.
Four year old Martin Skorse could not be any more excited. Here he was on his first camping trip. And with his three favorite people. His mommy and daddy, and his teddy bear Skip.
They were sitting around a campfire, he and his mommy were toasting "marchmellows" as he called them, and singing along with his daddy who was accompanying on guitar.
"Oh you can't get to heaven," his father sang.
"Oh you can't get to heaven," he and his mommy repeated.
"In a red canoe,"
"In a red canoe,"
"'Cause the Lord's favorite color,"
"'Cause the Lord's favorite color,"
"Is navy blue!" a voice shouted from the woods.
Martin jumped at the unexpected noise and accidentally shook his marchmellow of his stick and into the fire. But Martin didn't notice. There was someone in the woods. A _stranger_. But he wasn't worried. After all, what could harm him when he had his mommy and daddy to take care of him? It was only when he was alone that he had to worry. His daddy would get rid of the stranger and all would be right with the world once more.
"Hello?" his daddy stopped playing the guitar and set it down.
"Who's out there?"
"Nobody here but us bats." the voice rasped.
"What do you want?"
Suddenly, the owner of the voice crashed out of the woods into the circle of light provided by the fire. "To feed!" he yelled and grabbed his dad.
Martin felt the first stab of fear as the man grabbed his daddy's head, and bit his neck.
Martin's mommy screamed, which sent another dagger into him.
Then his father's scream ripped through the night. Martin fell into
the deep chasm of terror. His high pitched scream diverted the man's attention, and it threw the lifeless husk of his daddy to the side, and smiled at him. It was a hideous face, one rank with evil. It was a face Martin had seen many times. In the closet and under the bed, before his daddy came and drove it away with his presence.
The man's attention was once again diverted. But this time it was by his mommy's outraged shout.
"Don't you dare hurt my son!" she cried, and brought a huge stick down on it's head.
The man laughed and grabbed her. He twisted her arm behind her back and grabbed her hair, pulling her head back. She screamed in pain as he sunk his teeth into her jugular. By the time he was done feeding, Martin had exhausted his screams. He merely cowered on the edge of the firelight, sobbing and clutching Skip.
"You're a cute one." the man said. "I think I'll change you."
"And I think you won't!" a feminine voice called. The man whirled in the direction of the voice but was caught off guard when a young woman launched herself at him.
In one hand, the girl held a sharpened piece of wood.
With one swift thrust, she drove it through the bad man's chest, and he vanished.
* * * *
Sunnydale California
Tuesday, April 8 1997
7:00 a.m.
Martin awoke with a start, stifling a scream. He hadn't had that nightmare for years. But the coming of the vampires had started them up again. In one hand he clutched the cross he always wore around his neck. In the other he clutched his old rumpled Skip. His eyes lit on his father's guitar, sitting in the corner. Suddenly, he had an overpowering urge to play it. He wondered if Willow sang.
* * * *
Sunnydale High School
11:30 a.m.
It seemed natural to Willow that Martin be drawn to her and her friends. Buffy and Xander and Willow were pretty much outsiders who had banded together. As far as anyone outside the circle knew, Xander and Willow had banded together because of that, and Buffy liked outsiders. In that case Martin seemed the next logical choice for their little consortium.
But what no one did know was that they had banded together primarily for a different reason. True, they did have lots in common, and that was a large part of it. But the biggest part was the secret.
It was this that Willow thought about now. Xander and Willow, and Jesse; "God rest his soul." she thought automatically and sadly. Had a secret that must never be told.
Willow wanted to be friends with Martin, as did Buffy and Xander. He was easy to get along with, funny, always had a snappy comeback to Cordelia. And he believed. In Willow's mind that was the biggest reason to bring him in on the secret. But Giles had insisted otherwise. He'd said that Martin should only be told if absolutely necessary. I.E. if he was attacked by a vampire.
Willow got her lunch and headed for the quad. It was a nice day and she wanted to be outside. She figured the others would find her eventually. She emerged into the warm sunshine and stood for a moment, letting it heat up her body, chilled from the air conditioning. As she stood with her eyes closed, it seemed she could hear guitar music to her left.
"Wake up loser." Cordelia snapped, cutting around her. "You're holding up traffic." Cordelia continued on her way, passing the guitar player.
"Cordelia," the player said, and Willow realized it was Martin.
"What?" Cordelia asked impatiently.
"I liked your old nose better." Martin smiled. Cordelia sputtered for a moment, but Martin didn't give her any time to respond. He began playing louder, and ignored her. Willow didn't recognize the song, but it sounded sad.
"Take this hammer," Martin sang. "Take it to the captain. Take this hammer, take it to the captain. Take this hammer, take it to the captain, tell him I'm gone. Tell him I'm gone."
Willow sat next to him, and listened to the rest of the song. "That was beautiful." she said when the song ended. "Where'd you learn that?"
"My father used to sing it to me when I was little." he said softly.
"Does he play guitar too?" she asked. Suddenly she noticed the beginnings of tears in his eyes and immediately regretted it.
"He did. My parents were killed when I was four years old."
Morbid curiosity made her ask; "How did it happen?"
Martin hesitated. "You won't believe me."
Willow smiled at that. There was very little she wouldn't believe at this point. "Tell me anyway."
"My parents," Martin told her. "Were killed by a vampire."
* * * *
Willow finally managed to track down Xander, Buffy and Giles in the library. "I really think we should tell Martin." she said.
"We went over this before." Giles said. "To tell anyone, no matter that they believe or not, unless absolutely necessary, could be
dangerous to us and them."
Willow didn't bother to argue. "Martin told me his parents were killed by a vampire when he was four years old."
Giles was stunned. "Are you sure about that?" he asked.
"Well I suppose I may have heard him wrong." Willow said. "How many words sound like vampire?"
"Did he tell you anything else?" Buffy asked. "Like how he managed to get away?"
"He told me a girl came and killed it." she answered.
"Where did this happen?" Giles asked suddenly.
"In the quad."
"No, no." Giles said. "I mean where were his parents killed?"
"Oh, in West Virginia."
"Hmm." Giles looked thoughtful. Just then the bell rang. "You'd better get to class." Giles said absently.
* * * *
Sunnydale Police Station,
3:00 p.m.
"So where to now Mulder?" Scully asked as they exited the police station. After they had gotten into town, their first stop had been the police station to talk to the sheriff.
There had been no more murders since the ones on the report, but Sheriff Simmons had promised them complete cooperation with their investigation and had welcomed them.
"Well," Mulder said, thinking. "The first thing I'm going to do is go talk to Martin."
"Any particular reason?" Scully asked.
"Regardless of his far fetched story," Mulder said, conceding to Scully's opinion. "He's still an eyewitness to the incident at the Bronze."
"And after that?"
"After that, I think we should question the people he mentioned in his e-mail."
"You're putting a lot of faith in the e-mails of one lone teenager Mulder."
"It's a place to start Scully. The coroner won't be available until tonight and besides, all the bodies are already buried."
Scully nodded, conceding his point.
To be continued...