Date: Fri, 27 Oct 1995 16:44:27 GMT-400 From: POWERS D Subject: "Conquest" (1/1) Hope no one minds but all disclaimer will follow our little ode to some great works of fiction. My friend suggested that this little ditty needed to be rated. It rates somewhere between a G and a PG. If you don't like this story you have two choices: 1. Stop reading at first available moment. 2. Flame Me! Anyway, on with the show... "Conquests" by D. L. Powers r1ys@unb.ca It was Nick who had made the final arrest. Schanke was in the background, covering his partner. Of course, Nick wasn't where Schanke thought he was. He was making the arrest, instead of being hidden from sight, off to the right. Fortunately, the suspect was a lousy aim. At least that was what Schanke thought. Nick covered up the bullet hole in his shirt with his jacket, after his partner came out. "Geez, Nick, you are very lucky," Schanke ranted, as the suspect was taken away in handcuffs. "You are lucky, aren't you?" He tried to examine his partner a little more closely, but Nick sidestepped him. "I guess I am." He replied, quickly, and efficiently. They both followed the procession out of the warehouse. "Well," Schanke began in his usual loudmouthed tone, "Cohen will be happy to get rid of this one. Good thing he's not Canadian." "Why's that?" "Then we'd have to use our taxpayer's dollars to send him to trial. Let the Americans pay." "Nice, Schank." Nick slammed his car door shut. "Hey, Knight," Schanke stopped him from driving away, "When are those federal agents coming for this guy?" "Tomorrow night, at least, that's what Cohen said." Nick drove away, while still looking at Schanke. Nick drove home directly from the warehouse. It was late, for him. Five o'clock was really cutting it close. But life isn't worth living without the risks. God knows Nick has taken his share of risks. Nick wasn't seen again until the next night at about nine- thirty. Schanke screeched his car up behind Nick's caddy. Guiltily checking the inch and a half between them, Don Schanke hopped that Nick wouldn't notice. Then he noticed that Nick was still in his caddy. He noticed. But he didn't say anything. That was the type of guy Nick was. "Hey are those FBI agents here yet?" Schanke anxiously asked, as he strode past the front desk with Nick trailing two steps behind. No one answered him. Cohen's door was closed, and two figures were sitting in front of her desk, their faces masked behind the blinds. "Maybe that's them, there," Nick said softly, walking past Schanke to his own desk. As if on cue, Cohen opened her door, and pointed curtly to Nick and Schanke, and beckoned them in. "Detectives," she began, sitting down, "These are special agents Mulder and Scully...Detectives Knight, and Schanke." The introductions were short and to the point, few words, and even less verbs. Something clicked inside Nick's head when he saw the two of them. It was a vague click, and he wasn't sure if it was a click at all, but they did seem familiar to him somehow. He pushed it out of his mind. For now. "I read your report, Detective Knight," Agent Mulder said, "I'm impressed. The way you single handedly arrested Mel Grete. He can be pretty slippery. We've had our share of run-ins with him and it usually took a dozen or so to corner him. And even then..." "I just saw the opportunity, and took it." If it had been anyone else, Schanke would have thought they were trying to be modest, (and probably would have kicked them in the shin for it) but with Nick, he actually meant it. "Oh, come on, Nick, it was a brilliant plan, the way you...what did you do anyway?" Schanke pulled the report off the desk and glanced at it, while the conversation continued between Nick and the agents. "It's a wonder he didn't fire at you," Scully pointed out. "Oh, he did," Schanke said absently, still reading, "but he missed." Nick noticed the surprised glances exchanged between Scully and Mulder. It was these that pushed the click over into the realm of flashback. The memory was so old, Nick hadn't thought about it since...a long time ago. The three vampires paced in the tiny cottage, waiting for the sun to go down. The younger ones were eager for the hunt, and the older one was starving. In just a few minutes, the sun would set and they would be free to roam among the mortals to find victims. "You were right, Nicolas," LaCroix growled sarcastically, "Coming to this god-forsaken island was the best thing in the world we could have done." Nicolas didn't respond. He only sat down, and impatiently plucked the embroidery off the cape of his last victim, which was lying on the chair. "Ireland isn't so bad," Janette said, demurely, swirling around to face the others. "I have made several challenging kills since coming here." "Oh, you're just drunk. They are practically poison to us, with all that damn alcohol they drink." "The sun is almost down," Nicolas said, "We can book passage back to France tonight." Mulder looked at Scully after hearing the perplexing news that their suspect had actually missed. Never before had he missed. Even Scully took a hit to the arm. He was aiming for her head, but Mulder got a shot off first and his dropped his arm enough. Scully had the same surprised look. When Mulder looked back at the detective, something hit him. It was like having a memory that wasn't his. Or like remembering a dream that he never knew he had. "Rain, are you going to sit in front of that fire all night? It's too hot." "No, Mother," Rain stood up, unhooking her legs from each other. They stuck together with sweat. "I'm going to go for a walk." "Alright dear, don't stay out too late." Rain O'Neal was named while her drunk father stood out in the pouring rain. Patricia, her mother sent him out when he drank a whole bottle of wine by himself, and promptly went into labour. He had never been drunk before, and never again. They named her Rain, so they would always remember. It was only three miles to Daniel O'Day's house. She would go there. Daniel O'Day was Rain's best friend. He had been ever since she was six, and he was ten. Rain just received news that her father, Grady, made a deal, and betrothed her to someone. He refused to give a name. That disturbed her, and Danny would be able to cheer her up. "Rain!" Danny was just coming up the hill to his door. "What are you doing here? It's late. Does your mother know you are here?" Danny wasn't much of a adventurer. He was the type to stay at home and be safe, rather than walk three miles to visit his best friend. "She has a pretty good idea." Rain, on the other hand, was the original adventurer. She got Danny into all sorts of trouble when they were kids. Danny was about to go on with his lecture, when he saw the sober look in her eyes. Rain was usually being flippant, making someone laugh, or such, but not at the moment. "Are you okay, Rain?" He put a hand on her shoulder. "No." She stated, with no further explanation. "What is it?" He was forced to ask when Rain didn't continue. "My father has bargained me away." "Really?" Danny rubbed his chin, and avoided direct eye contact with Rain. Danny knew who it was she was betrothed to. Grady had come to him, and his mother to give them another hundred and fifty acres of land as her dowry. Danny's mother agreed before she conferred with Danny. "I know him. Father's choice of men for me has always been lax. I'll bet he's some stuffed shirt or something." "He might be a nice guy..." "Not a chance. My father..." "I'll walk you home." Danny took her arm and started walking back. Rain looked at him strangely, but didn't resist. They walked in silence. Rain didn't say anything because she was thinking about all the possible choices her father could have made, not once considering that it might be Danny. Danny didn't say anything because he was thinking that Rain didn't want to marry him. Danny didn't really want to marry Rain either. She was like a sister to him. That relationship, they had nurtured since childhood, would be crushed on the day of their wedding. They made it to the beaten path though the woods and decided to take the shortcut though the willows. As it turned out, it wasn't a shortcut. It was the longest walk they had ever taken. They hadn't gotten to the next ridge before they met three strangers walking towards them. They all stopped to look at each other. "Are you lost?" Rain said, stepping forward. The strangers were silent. Danny had to wait a minute before he realized what Rain had done. "Rain," he hissed, trying to draw her away from them. "Can I help you in any way?" The strangers moved, but only to look at each other in confusion. One of the strangers was a young man, with light brown, almost blond hair, another was an older man, and the third was a woman, who stood tall, next to her companions. Rain looked at each one in turn, and they seemed surprised that she could be so forward. LaCroix stopped suddenly. Nicolas nearly ran into him, but Janette did it first. LaCroix only took a few seconds to glare at her. She had been acting a little tipsy ever since she fed from the man who owned the brothel. LaCroix was tolerating it, but Nicolas was trying to keep her from irritating him too much. "What is it?" "I believe...lunch." LaCroix cautiously continued on down the path, to see the approaching victims. They stopped to face a young couple coming toward them. The all stopped, and stared for a long moment, at each other. The young woman came forward first. LaCroix was trying to look fierce, but the woman didn't appear to notice. The man did, he was trying to keep her back. LaCroix smiled and stepped nearer to her. "I believe you can help me," he touched her hair, as he forced her to look at his eyes. "Rain!" The other one stepped forward when he saw the danger she was in. Rain didn't notice herself. Janette looked up, thinking it was strange that he would say it was raining when there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Danny grabbed LaCroix by the wrist of the hand that held Rain. LaCroix removed his eyes from Rain and took Danny's other arm. They remained in a dead-lock with each other, for some time. Danny struggled hard, but LaCroix was only playing with him. Nicolas led Janette to a large root for her to sit on, while the struggle was going on. Janette only allowed him to do so because she was getting tired. Then Nicolas turned back to see what LaCroix was doing. LaCroix had Danny backed up to a tree and he was preparing to bite into his neck. However, at that time, Rain was coming out of her little reverie. She turned and saw that Danny was seconds from a strange and horrible death. Thinking or not, she rushed at LaCroix and tackled him from behind. She drew out her handkerchief and wrapped it around his neck and pulled as hard as she could. LaCroix wasn't choking, but it was rather annoying to have someone attached to his back. Fortunately for him, Nicolas was there to remove her. Rain kicked at him, but Nicolas was stronger. LaCroix held Danny down, while Nicolas allowed his young passion for blood to take over and bit into her neck. Rain reached out past Nicolas's head and tried to whisper Danny's name. Danny didn't see what Nicolas was doing to Rain, but he did see her limp body fall to the ground. He didn't understand what had happened to her until he felt the sharp teeth cut into his neck. Then there was complete darkness. Mulder jumped as he realized there were several people talking to him. The memory was gone, and he had no idea what it was he remembered. "Mulder, what are you doing?" Scully asked him. "What..." he croaked back at her. He found it hard to talk, and his throat was dry. Scully glanced sideways at the two detectives in front of them, as if she were embarrassed. "Are you choking?" Mulder then realized he had raised a hand to his throat. Now, himself embarrassed, he relaxed his grip. "Could I have some water, please?" He asked, barely above a whisper. "Sure," Detective Knight, who was closest to the door, turned quickly and departed. Detective Schanke followed him. "Are you all right, Agent Mulder?" Cohen asked. "Yeah, I guess it's just all the stress of the case. I'll be fine." Mulder directed the last bit to Scully, before he walked out of the office to get the water. "Nervous little guy, isn't he?" Schanke said, while Nick fetched the water. "Oh, I don't know..." Nick murmured, "It was a natural reaction." "To what?" Schanke's voice brought Nick back to the present. "Uh..." he thought quickly, "...Canadian air." Before Schanke could respond to that, Nick went over to where Mulder stood and gave him the water. "Thanks. I really don't know what came over me. For a minute there, you looked really familiar to me." "Yeah?" Schanke came from no where. "Maybe you knew each other in another life." "Yeah, Mulder," Scully came out of the office with Cohen, "Maybe you knew him in one of your nine lives." Mulder buckled under the pressure of Scully's teasing. He turned away from them, to sip his water thoughtfully. Glancing at the clock, he noticed they only had a half an hour to get the suspect to the airport where Skinner had arranged for high security to take him back to Washington. "Come on, Danny, we gotta..." "What did you call me?" Mulder paused. "Dana." Even still, Mulder thought that was weird. "No, you didn't, you called me Danny." "No, I didn't." "Yes, you did." Mulder looked at the Detectives. They both nodded. "Stress." He handed the cup back to Knight and went to arrange for a car to take Grete to the airport. Nick had a strange feeling about him ever since he saw him. But he couldn't have remembered that...could he?