Though far from my first writing effort, this IS my first attempt at
X-Files fan fiction. PLEASE, please, please send me your responses to
this.  Comments, criticisms, flames and David Duchovny's home address
accepted. Though I reserve the right to ignore the flames.<G>
     This work is PG-13, due to violence and mild expletives. There is NO
M&S romance, and no UST either.  This is simply an X-File.

   DISCLAIMER: Fox Mulder, Dana Scully and all characters associated with
the X-Files are the property of Chris Carter and Ten Thirteen productions.
 I took them off the shelf, I played with them for a while then I put them
back right where I found them.  Please don't sue me for using them as all
I own is this Computer and my Dog.  Without my computer I can't read every
one elses' fan fiction.  However timesharing arrangements on the dog can
be arranged.


                The Hunt
                 By Rhondda Lake


2 miles North of Woading, Arkansas
Just over the Missouri state line
October 3
7:30 pm

     The sunset was not entirely invisible in the wood.  It painted
everything with a soft umber glow so that the just-turning leaves seemed
more into the end of their autumn splendor.  Patrick always loved the wood
at this time.  He whistled softly and Gump bounded at him from the right,
his paws making swooshing sounds as he moved through the underbrush and
sparse fallen leaves.  The beagle jumped up and steadied himself with one
paw on Patrick's leg, whining softly in the back of his throat.
     "What's wrong Gump?  Get a whiff a' coon?"  Patrick bent slightly to
scratch the dog affectionately, shifting his rifle  slightly on his
shoulder as he did so.
     It wasn't hunting season yet, according to state law, but that never
bothered Patrick Murphy before.  He'd been hunting these woods since he
was twelve. Rumors of a pack of wolves roaming the area didn't scare him
none either. Four men dead... that made any wolves fair game didn't it?
And if anyone knew where to take pelts to be sold it was Patrick. He knew
every market for wild game meat and hides that was.  So far today however
he had only managed to bag two squirrels and a rabbit. A piss poor haul
for a day's work.
     Patrick continued walking, his earlier whistle for Gump sliding into
a flat randition of a country reel. Gump never minded, he was tone def
anyway.
     Gump didn't stop his whining as they moved and Patrick frowned with
annoyance, looking back at his four footed companion.  He stopped
whistling.  "Don't go telling me you turned into one of them music
ee-fish-ee-an-nodos." 
     Gump didn't mind his master.  The dog kept looking back the way they
had come, head down, tail tucked and hackles raised in the waning light.
     Pat unslung his rifle  and brought it to the ready, sighting down the
deer path.  "You see somethin' boy? Maybe make this day worth while after
all?"
     Gump was shaking now, and Patrick  looked to his faithful friend with
worry.  Hell, nothing scared ol' Gump, not even that Grizzly they'd faced
down two years ago.  What the Hell...
     Then he saw them.  At first only the faint red glowing spots. odd
little fire flies moving low to the ground.  The legendary will-o-wisps. 
Then his mind clicked on what they were.  EYES!  A dozen pair of glowing
red eyes bounding through the trees.
     "Sweet Mary mother of God!" Patrick hissed half as plea half as
prayer.  He took aim between two of the bounding eyes and fired.  None of
them even slowed down.  Then he could see them more clearly in the
gathering gloom.  Dogs, huge... or Wolves.  But they made no sound. No
baying at the scent, no whining, not even the comforting shooshing Gump
had made through the underbrush.  Something hissed by Patrick's ear and he
turned to see an arrow embedded in the tree next to him.
     "Oh SHIT! Gump RUN!" Patrick Murphy clutched his rifle before him as
a talisman as he ran.  For the hounds of Hell were on his trail...



J. Edger Hoover Building
Washington. D.C.
October 5
8:05 am

     Special Agent Dana Scully managed to open the door to the basement
office in a masterful stroke of coordination.  It was truly a feat as she
was balancing an armload of paperwork in one arm,  three books in the
other,  her briefcase and a white paper bag in her hand, and a paper cup
of coffee held by the rim in her teeth.  She managed to get inside and
plot the papers, books and briefcase on the desk before transferring the
coffee to a safer place... her hand.
     "Ever think of taking that act on the road Scully?"
     She glared at her partner across the desk.  Fox mulder was smiling
insolently at her from his seat, the only thing in his hands were his
reading glasses, which he must have just removed judging by the open file
before him.
     "Well I didn't see you getting up to help Mulder."
     "You seemed to be doing quite well on your own.  I don't want you
saying I'm some sort of sexist who won't let a liberated woman handle her
own problems.  Besides... I was enjoying the show." He kept that annoying
lopsided grin pasted to his face.
     Scully didn't even bother to glare.  She simply sat down, opened the
paper bag and revealed a croissant, it's fresh baked aroma filling the
room even over the scent of old paper, discarded sunflower seed shells and
much staler coffee then her own.  She waved it in front of Mulder before
taking a big bite and closing her eyes in enjoyment.
     "I had bought two to share." She mumbled around a mouth full of
pastry, "Mmmm... raspberry jelly filling." She swallowed and flashed a
mischievous smile at the man across from her. "But now I think I'll keep
them both." She took another bite with great relish.
     Mulder licked his lips. "Would it help if I apologized profusely and
promised to carry your book after class?" Humor danced in his eyes.
     "No... but you can buy me a sandwich for lunch." She tossed the bag
at him.
     He scooped it out of mid air and tore into it, coming up with the
second croissant.  After taking a bite he passed the file he had been
reading over to her.
     "State police in Arkansas and Missouri called us on this one.  Five
dead so far.  The first four in Arkansas but the last one, while a
resident of thriving Woading Arkansas was killed and found not far over
the Missouri state line, making it federal."
     Dana briefly scanned the reports. "Each victim appeared to be savaged
by some sort of animal, feral dogs or wolves most likely.  Mulder isn't
this a problem for the States Games Commissions or Animal Control? It's
hardly an X-File."
     "Read over the files on victims two and five." He stated patiently as
he picked up her coffee and sipped at it, wincing at the cream in it.
     She smiled but refrained from saying aloud 'that will teach you'
before reading on.
     "Both victims were shot in the heart with arrows." A little crease
formed between her eyebrows.
     "Someone's been having archery practice with live targets." 
     She frowned more as she went on. "Both arrows are identical... Mulder
why would they have silver barbs? That doesn't make any sense, unless
someone out there is hunting werewolves or vampires." She gave him a look
that as clear as words pleaded 'Please tell me that's not what you're
thinking.'
     "No... from the condition of these bodies I'd say these men were the
Victims of Werewolves or vampires." He deadpaned.  "There have also been
numerous reports of fox fire in the area.  RED fox fire.  The locals call
the sightings will-o-wisps."
     "That's impossible.  Fox fire is a natural chemical reaction that
occurs when swamp gasses ignite.  The flames are usually greenish or blue,
NOT red.  And I don't see any mention of a swamp in these reports."
      Mulder had his grin back as he finished off his Croissant. "That's
because there isn't any swamps in the Ozarks. Just lots of forests. My
interest, Scully, is piqued.""
     Scully sighed and finished her breakfast. "You wouldn't be showing me
all this unless it's cleared Skinner. What time does our flight leave?"
     "Why Scully, I thought you'd never ask."

===========================================================================

Woading, Arkansas
October 5
5pm

     Sheriff Tomas Green eyed the agents before him carefully. Hell even
before they'd introduced themselves and flashed their IDs he could smell
G-men on them.
      The man was a tall one, athletic looking.  His dark hair was short
and combed neatly other then a shock of hair that fell over the middle of
his forehead, and his green eyes met the Sheriff's unwaveringly.  His suit
looked like it was issued off a government rack somewhere... except for
his tie.  That was definitely NOT standard issue, and Tom Green smiled to
himself, there was a streak of rebel in any man who would wear a purple
tie covered in yellow polka dots.
      The woman was a tiny thing, and pretty as a May morning with red
hair and pale skin that would let her blend in with the folk around here
with no problem if she were not also in a suit.  Not that he thought for
one minute that she was some pretty little ornament though, she looked
sharper then the proverbial tack, and she had a no nonsense look about her
that made Tom wonder how these two got hooked up as partners.  They seemed
opposites in more then height and sex... and Tom Green, who was no man's
fool, figured THAT was why they were partners.  What one missed the other
wouldn't.  He was impressed.
     Well there isn't much I can tell you besides what was in my reports. 
I put everything down, no matter how silly it seemed at the time." He
coughed into his hand.
     "Like reports of Fox Fire in the area." The woman, Agent Scully,
smiled slightly.
     "Yah, well Mrs. Kelly keeps sayin' the wee folk are behind the
killings.  I DIDN'T put that down.  The Fox Fire I added because we have
five reliable witnesses to it besides Mrs. Kelly."
     The man, Mulder, actually grinned. "Someone thinks leprechauns with
an attitude did this? Gee Scully, and you thought *I* watched too many B
movies."
     Scully shot Mulder a look that Tom Green rightly assumed he must get
a lot of.
     "Can I examine the body of the last victim?" The woman's request
surprised Tom a bit but he hid it and shrugged. 
     "Sure thing.  His momma won't be burying him till Saturday so he's in
the morgue.  Not much the funeral director can do with him, so it has to
be closed casket. Do you want to see the dog too?"
     "The report said the dog was found a half mile from the man's body. 
I was meaning to ask... why do you think the killer would go after the
dog? It wasn't like it could be a witness." Agent Mulder phrased the
question cautiously and seemed truly interested in Green's answer.
     "They didn't. No arrow in the dog.  The other dogs got Gump.  I'd a
said they were scavengers who came along after poor Patrick was killed...
but Jake... the coroner, said he was still kickin' when the dogs tore into
'em.  If some crazy is usin a pack a' dogs to hunt people, which is my
personal suspicion here, then this nut's dogs got carried away in the
excitement and went after Gump even after they brought down Pat." The
Sheriff pulled on a corduroy jacket and motioned for the door.
     "You folks got a place to stay?"
     "Not yet.  We wanted to check in with you first then find a hotel,"
Mulder announced.  Tom noticed his partner wince slightly and managed to
choke back a chuckle.  He could tell by her reaction that this Mulder guy
had a penchant for picking bad lodgings.
     "Well there's a Motel 6 on the edge of town... but you'd be better
off at Maddie's.  Maddie's Bed and Breakfast is just as reasonable and has
a better atmosphere if you know what I mean."
     Before Mulder could say anything Scully chimed in.  "That sounds
wonderful, if it's not booked up."
     "Mam," Tom took off his wide brimed sheriff's hat to run a hand over
his bald pate before replacing it, "this here is Woading, Arkansas.  Have
you ever even HEARD of Woading Arkansas before this little mess got
dropped into your lap?" He shook his head a grinned, "I'd be more
surprised if you two weren't the only guests at Maddie's."

     The sheriff led them to a quaint little victorian house with only a
small wooden signpost out front to declare: "Maddie's Bed and Breakfast."
     Once inside it was plain why Tomas Green had recommended the place. 
Oh it was homey alright, and clean and not at all like a sterile hotel...
but that was not the reason.  Maddie came to greet them when they walked
in to the jingling of the bell attached to the inside of the door.  She
was wiping her hands on an old fashioned apron that she wore over jeans
and a sweat shirt.  She was a slightly younger, more feminine version of
the Sheriff.  Scully had to bite her lip to keep from laughing.  They had
been neatly maneuvered... and not for the kick back she had originally
suspected.
   
     "Hello there." The tall woman was in her mid forties and her brown
hair was liberally streaked with grey, but the effect did not age her so
much as lend her a certain dignity. "I'm Maddie Green." She offered her
now dry hand to Scully first.
     "I guessed that the minute I saw you."  Scully shook the offered
hand. "I'm Special Agent Dana Scully."
     "Agent Mulder." Mulder shook her hand in turn.
     "Maddie honey, these folks are here need some rooms."
     "Here to try and catch the ones who killed those people? Well then,
I'll make sure I don't disturb you.  Rate is thirty dollars a night per
bed.  Breakfast is included and it is NOT buffet, you pick what you'd like
from the menu before turning in and I'll have it for you by 8 in the
morning."
     "That will be fine." Mulder smiled. "Just show us to our rooms and we
can get to work."

     In less then half an hour they were standing in the cinder block
building that housed the morgue of Woading.  The town itself was small,
with a population of about six hundred or so and it had a populace that
was almost cliched Ozark. The coroner, however, was not cliched.
     Jake Masterson was a heavy set black man who greeted them with a hand
shake and an unlit cigar clamped in his teeth. He led them to the wall
lined with ten metal doors, each leading to  a freezer compartment.  He
chose the center one in the second row and pulled it out.  The body was
covered with the standard pristine white sheet.  He pulled it down to
reveal a ghastly amount of damage.  The late Patrick Murphy barely had a
face left and some animal had definitely been gnawing on him, everywhere.
     "I read your autopsy report Dr. Masterson, would you mind if I had a
look anyway?" Scully bent too examine the ragged mess that had once been
the man's throat.
     "No skin off my nose. Have fun.  I didn't. Maybe you could make some
sense out of the second perforation found here." He pointed to the area
over the man's heart where two neat holes stood out against the pale
flesh.  The one puncturing the right ventricle was the arrow.  The police
have that in their evidence locker." He nodded to Sheriff Green. "But this
one is NOT the same.  It wasn't an arrow, or a tooth.  Something man made
and precise I'd say.  No knife either, more like a spike.  That one is
clear into the left ventricle."
     Mulder watched Scully examine the wound in question with interest.
"Were there similar wounds on the other victims?" He asked.
     "On Jack O'Shay there was. I have the coroners report out and ready
for you. It's all documented.  After him we started checking all the
mauling victims.  All had it.  That's when we exhumed the body of Thom
Gallagher, the first victim. My predecessor passed that one over as a
tooth puncture though.  It was there alright.  But a dog's tooth can't
puncture like that... not without leaving marks from it's other teeth
around it as well, and never straight down like that."
     "So I see." Scully had pulled on a pair of rubber surgical gloves and
now poked at the puncture. "This is close to the sternum and at a slight
angle to the right.  Not only would a tooth mark have left other marks but
at that angle the dog would have been biting from the right side of the
prone body.  It would either have done more damage ripping back out or
gotten caught on the bone.  The only way it wouldn't rip is if the tooth
were pulled loose, yet you found no evidence of that."

===========================================================================


     "Well Scully, I'll let you have your fun here.  Sheriff Green... I
wouldn't mind talking to this Mrs. Kelly you mentioned." Mulder's gaze on
Green was steady.
     The Sheriff shrugged. "Sure thing. Just keep in mind Agnes Kelly is
eighty four and was raised on her own granny's stories.  I don't see where
talkin to her will get you anywhere."
     "She's on the list of people who saw the Fox Fire phenomenon." Mulder
pointed out.
     "A laser scope." Scully looked up from the body. "Could the killer
have used a laser scope hooked to his bow?"
     "Possible... but it would have to be pretty damn bright.  I thought
those things had a tight focused beam, pinpoint like. The witnesses all
mentioned seeing at least a dozen balls of Fox Fire... so it would take
this from a lone killer to a cult or something if it IS laser scopes." The
Sheriff pulled at his bottom lip, worry on his face.

     Sheriff Green sat on an old grey sofa with a cup of tea in one hand
as he watched Mulder Interview Agnes Kelly.  Mrs. Kelly's living room was
cluttered with a lifetime's collection of knick-knacks and antiques.  Mrs.
Kelly herself was something of an antique as well... but not one of those
fragile things one is afraid to touch.  No Mrs. Kelly looked like she
could handle anything life tossed at her. Earthy, it was the only word for
her.  She looked every one of her eighty four years though.  Her face was
a wrinkled and as welcoming as an old apple, steel grey hair drawn back in
a loose bun, her bright blue eyes dancing in merriment at the prospects of
guests... and an audience.  She wore a loose black dress that called to
mind a stereotypical italian grandmother... which was silly as Mrs. Kelly
was as Irish as the Blarney Stone. She bustled about with a quickness that
belied her years, and she refused to speak until both 'boys' were seated
and had some hot tea.
     Mulder had weathered Mrs. Kelly's grandmotherly charm quite well.  He
even sipped at the tea in the ridiculous bone china cup she'd givin him.
Green gave him points for that.  Mulder didn't look like the Herb tea
type.
     "Mrs. Kelly I'm here to ask you about the lights you saw on November
twentieth." Agent Mulder put his tea down and leaned forward in the
antique winged chair he was perched in, his arms resting on his knees ,
all his attention plainly centered on the old woman before him.
     "The Will-O-Wisps you mean." She smiled and her face puckered up
delightfully around the expression. "I know HE think's I'm crazy." She
pointed an accusing finger at the Sheriff. "But I have the Sight you know.
I see something of the open minded in you boy. That's good.  Don't loose
that.  Possibilities are endless for those who don't go through life with
blinders on. Once those blinders are up though... what you don't see can
kill ya." She nodded.
      "The Sight... you mean you are psychic?" Mulder looked like he was
soaking this up.  Green just shook his head and sipped some more mint tea.
     "Naaa boy.  I can't see the future, or bend spoons, or read you mind
or none of that stuff... though there are those who can. I just SEE more
then most people." She winked at Mulder and Green stifled another chuckle.
     "I saw the Will-O-Wisps when I was coming home from the market.  My
joints were hurting that night and I'd run out of my muscle rub. Damn, but
Meghan's ointment worked mighty fine too." She shook her head.
     "Meghan Thomas, the third victim?" Mulder connected. "The
herbologist?"
     Mrs. Kelly nodded. "She studied the old ways. She knew her way around
the plants and the healin. I'll miss her. She's with God now... but she
was taken too young... and too violent.  I want you to try and stop the
one who did this."
     "I intend to try mam.  About the lights..." Mulder gestured for her
to continue.
     "Well I was coming home with some store bought muscle rub when I
looked down the end of North street. It's a dead end that buts right up to
the wood. An I seen em. I took real careful count too. Eleven. There were
eleven balls of red floating light. They just bobbed around, like they was
waitin for something. I knew what they was waitin for... so I moved home
as fast as these old legs can take me."
     "And what were they waiting for?" Mulder smiled at her, but it was
not in the least condescending.
     "The Hunter.  Some damn fools gone and called up the Hunt. Probably
for revenge.  But ya cant just call up the Wild Hunt, let them taste blood
and ask them to go back. No. The Hunter and his Pack like the taste of
blood. Like human prey. We fear the best you know. And there is no
better... no smarter game then humans."
     "Are you saying someone tried to raise a demon?"
     "No Boy! Not a Demon.  The Pack and the Hunter are of the Tuatha de
Dannan. They are not truly evil, they just ARE.  They are a force of
nature.  Our ancestors used to worship them, when the hunt went badly they
would offer a sacrifice to the Hunter.  Every culture has a variation of
him... it's just that here... with all the Irish, Welsh and Scots about...
the Celtic version got called on."
     "How many people in Woading would you say know these stories?" Mulder
persisted.
     "I'd say seven out of ten.  We're close to our roots here.  Walk into
any pub on a Saturday night and you'll hear the old tunes... on the
dulcimer, or the harp... or even on those electric gee-tars. I think
that's part of what ties them here, and what made calling them so easy."
     Mulder gave her a lopsided smile meant to charm. "And what would go
into calling them?"
     Green almost choked on his tea, but Mulder held up a hand to silence
him. Mrs. Kelly shot the Sheriff a dirty look but turned to Mulder to
return the smile. "A vessel for the Huntsman, leaves from the trees here
abouts mixed with earth made to mud by the caster's blood and a pair of
antlers from a stag found dead by natures own hand. That and an
incantation... but I'm a lorekeeper, not a witch, so I don't know the
words."
     "Ok, a vessel for the Huntsman... what would that be?"
     "A person of course... a body for the Huntsman to reside in when he
is on the Hunt."

===========================================================================


     Mulder opened a file he'd had tucked by his side throughout the
interview. "Mrs. Kelly, I want to show you a picture of the body of Jack
O'Shay, the second victim, as he was found. It's not pretty, but something
about it bothers me and I think you might be able to clear it up for me. 
Would you be willing to take a look?"
     Mrs. Kelly frowned and put down her own tea cup. He slowly held out a
hand lined with age and showing swollen joints. Mulder passed her the
photo.
     Agnes paled visably at the sight.  Even the black and white bleaching
the scene of the horror of color did not disguise the gruesome nature of
his death.
     "Mrs. Kelly... Mr. O'Shay's jacket is turned inside out and worn
backwards.  Do you know why this was done?"
    The old woman nodded, shaken. "To ward off the Tuatha du Dannan, the
Telwyth Tig, the Fair folk by whatever name ya give em. To wear your coat
inside out is supposed to confuse them.  He was tryin to protect himself
from what he saw commin."
     Mrs. Kelly handed the picture back and stood up. She moved around her
chair to a roll top desk and pulled out a side drawer. Taking something
out she came back to stand before Mulder holding her hand out. "Take this
boy.  It will make an old woman feel better if ya have it."
     Mulder held out his hand with a puzzled look that did not entirely
clear when she dropped three heavy metallic rocks in his hand.
     "Raw iron. Right from the earth. Unforged by man in any way.  They
can't abide it. It burns them, kills em' if their hit hard enough with it.
 It might ward them off, it might. Anyway... if you plan on goin up
against the Wild Hunt... just you keep that on you to humor me." She
smiled again, and Mulder smiled pack.
     "I will, thanks."

     "You don't BELIEVE all that folk tale mumbo jumbo do you?" Sheriff
Green practically exploded when they were safely in the confines of the
squad car.
     "Not necessarily... but it's possible that someone believes.  Say
someone grew up on these stories, like Mrs. Kelly," he held up a hand
before Green could explode again, "I'm not saying it was her. I saw her
hands.  She couldn't open a child proof pill bottle let alone draw a bow. 
But someone LIKE her, heard all the old legends.  Now suppose this person
believes, believes enough to try to call up this Huntsman myth.  Then they
become convinced that they ARE the Huntsman."
     "A class A Psycho. Ok I can see where you are goin with this." green
pulled at his bottom lip. "But what about the dogs?  The meanest dog we
have in town is Mr. Davis' doberman.  I checked on him right off. 
Neighbors swear along with him that Toby was chained out where he always
is during the times of the murders, an I checked after each one.  The
second meanest dog os Ms. McGowan's chihuohua, and you are not about to
convince me that five people were torn apart by an enraged chihuahua.  The
rest are all nice calm dogs.  Bark at strangers. but never bite.  And Jake
guarantees there was more then one dog involved here.  At least five
different jaw patterns."

     By the time they returned to the Morgue the body had been returned to
the drawer and Scully was pouring over a pile of Autopsy reports.  She
looked up when they walked in.
     "Those unusual heart punctures... I'm pretty sure  four of the five
victims were still alive when they were made."  She pinched the bridge of
her nose between thumb and forefinger then went on, "Jack O'Shay, victim
number two, he had the puncture, but the edges of the wound make Dr.
Masterson think he was already dead when  penetration occurred.  I agree. 
And get this... I think whatever made those wounds was hollow.  There was
an eighth inch circle of loose myocardium in the wound, perfectly
circular."
     "Well Mrs. Kelly proved interesting." Mulder crossed the room to
stand by his partner. "She thinks and Archetypical Hunter Mythos was
involved.  She didn't strike me as the type to read Jung either. Either
that or we're looking for someone with a call to the spirit world on the
phone bill."
     Jake Masterson had entered the room from a side door a pile of 
folders in his hand. He gave a hardy laugh. "Where do you think Jung  got
his ideas about archetypes?  Best bet is through a study of legends of
folklore.  And no one around here is more up to date on THAT then Agnes
Kelly."
     "Sheriff I'd like to see where the bodies were found." Mulder
fingered through the photos attached to each autopsy report.
     "Tomorrow, Agent Mulder.  It's going to be dark soon and besides the
fact that you won't see squat in the dark, whatever or whoever killed
these people always strikes after dark." Sheriff green grinned. "Do you
have any idea the amount of paperwork I'd be buried in if a couple a feds
got eaten by wild dogs in my back yard?"
     "Then we can start going down the list of relatives." Scully stood
and restacked the files neatly.
     Jake handed her the identical stack in his own hand. "Here are the
copies you wanted."
     "Thanks." They exchanged files and Scully looked expectantly at
Mulder. "Well lunch was airplane mystery food, you still owe me for
breakfast." She looked at Sheriff Green. "Got any relatives in the
restaurant business?"
     Jake gave a belly laugh at Green's blush. "No mam.  The only place in
town however is Karen's Diner unless you want pizza and pretzels at any of
the pubs."
     "The diner will be fine.  We still have work to do and I'm not sure I
could pass up a cold beer right now if we went to a pub." As they moved to
the door, Mulder placed a guiding hand at the small of Scully's back as he
bent down to whisper, "How come I get the feeling you made out on this
deal?  Dinner for a croissant?"
     "Who are you kidding Mulder?" she shot back, "You'll just be putting
it down on our expense account anyway." She smiled up at him.

===========================================================================


     The Diner was just that... an old Silver Diner that took Scully back
to her childhood.  They sat in a booth with a little personal jukebox at
the end of the table against the wall.  All the booths were similarly
equipped.  Mulder flipped idly through the selection of oldies, country
and folk music by turning a knob on the side.
     Scully managed to hold her tounge when Mulder ordered a jumbo burger
with the works and a chocolate shake.  She settled for broiled fish and a
soda.
     She looked up when she heard a quarter drop into the little jukebox
at their table and winced when "Flying Purple People Eater" played softly.
     "You are twisted Mulder."
     He gave her his usual lopsided grin. "I'm glad someone appreciates
me." His eyes tracked out the window into the gathering darkness.  The
Diner was at the edge of town, and directly across what the locals called
'the highway' and Scully called ' the road' the forest pressed it's
presence on them.
     "I don't think the ghosties and goblins are going to make an
appearance just for your benefit." She sighed and tapped the linoleum
tabletop with a fingernail directly in front of his hand to get his
attention. "So what did you find out?"
     Mulder shrugged. "That mint tea isn't all that bad." He turned his
attention back to her. "Mrs. Kelly thinks someone tried to call up some
Hunter mythological figure.  She is also convinced this person or persons
unknown has succeeded."
     "And you?" She eyed him wearily, fully expecting some Mulderish
reasoning of the weird and fantastic.
     "I think she is on to something." She smiled, practically reading his
partner's thoughts by her expression alone.  "But I think it's a case of
someone with a strong belief in those legends suffering an episode of
psychosis and taking the Hunter persona on to themselves."
     Scully sighed with relief. "That I can deal with." She unconsciously
echoed Sheriff Green's earlier words. "Ok so what about the Fox Fire
Phenomenon?"
     "That's the part I haven't figured out yet.  But I intend to.  What's
wrong Scully, getting tired of chasing little grey men, voodoo priests,
cannibals and Ghosts?"
     "What? And give up all my fun?" 
     Scully fell silent as their food was delivered and while she watched
Mulder drown his burger in an obscene amount of ketchup.
     "So far what I have on the victims is only that they were attacked in
the same way.  All but the fourth were locals.  Ian Jones was a vagrant
and got identified only because he had an out of date Tennessee drivers
licence and a record for petty theft and drunk and disorderly.  The only
female among them was Meghan Thomas a local Hemopath and something of an
herbal doctor who was caught out to late collecting mushrooms of all
things." She tried to avoid watching Mulder eat that excuse for food, but
couldn't force herself to look away.  It was rather like prodding at a
sore tooth, an irresistible pull.  Considering the content of the burger
he was scrupulously neat, no ketchup dripped onto his plate.  Amazing.
     He swallowed and sipped his shake seemingly oblivious of his
partner's amazed scrutiny. "Well Patrick Murphy was a poacher, locals knew
about it but he was careful and never actually got caught with anything
Sheriff Green could PROVE.  The interesting thing about Murphy is not only
was he an experienced hunter but he was carrying a rifle at the time.  The
rifle was found in his hand and he appeared to have been using it as a
club.  It was jammed.  Sheriff Green thinks he must have been mighty
scared to keep shoving cartridges in his gun like he had.  The gun HAD
been fired, but there was no evidence he hit anything,, not even a tree."
     "Well considering that there had been four previous victims it only
stands to reason that when he saw a pack of dogs coming for him he
panicked."
     "Have we determined it was dogs?"
     Scully nodded as she picked at her food. "Not only from the tooth
patterns but the photos of the few tracks found at the scenes  don't match
wolf prints.  Besides wolves aside from being rare are usually weary of
people and avoid them if they can.  Fairy tales aside, the reports of
wolves attacking humans are rare.  Feral dogs, however, may have lost
their fear of humans and are much more dangerous."
     "But can someone train and use truly feral dogs? If someone is
stabbing the victims in the heart while they are still alive they must be
able to get in among these animals during a blood frenzy.  That doesn't
make any sense." He pointed at her with a french fry.
     "Since when did something we investigated make sense?" 
     He just grinned and chomped the fry. "And just where are these dogs
being kept when they aren't making kibble out of the locals?  They only
attack at night so far, which suggests that they are locked up somewhere
during the day."
     "There are hundreds of miles of forest out there Mulder, they could
be hidden anywhere if they are being hidden at all.  They may simply be
nocturnal."

===========================================================================


     After dinner they Mulder drove the rental car to the first address on
the list of the victim's next of kin.  On the very edge of town a somewhat
ramshackle house, it's color indistinguishable in the dark, was lit from
inside indicating that someone was home.  Scully knocked on the door, as
there was no bell.
     A boy opened the door.  He was perhaps seventeen or eighteen with the
round plump face and slightly drooping eyes that marked Downs Syndrome
under a shock of pale blond hair.  He blinked at the agents through a pair
of thick glasses, a beatific smile on his face.
     "Who is it Michael?" Almost immediately an attractive woman in her
early thirties appeared behind the boy, her hair a matching shade of gold.
     "Uh... I'm Special Agent Mulder, this is my partner Dana Scully."
They held out their badges and the woman peered at them as if she were
having trouble focusing. Small wonder as the distinct smell of hops teased
Mulder's nose. "We are here to ask some questions concerning your father's
death."
     The woman nodded and, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder, pulled
him away from the door, gesturing them inside.
     Michael Gallagher thrust out one blunt fingered hand with exuberance.
"Hello, I'm Michael."
     "I'm Dana." Scully felt her hand caught and pumped up and down with
enthusiasm.
     "I'm Mulder." Mulder rescued his partner with some amusement and was
surprised by the strength in the boy's grip as he was just as hardy in
shaking Mulder's hand as he was with Scully's.
     A large dog padded into the room, a husky/shepherd mix by the look of
it, and without even bothering to sniff at the intruders he promptly
rolled onto his back offering his belly up for a rub.
     Michael wend to his knees and rubbed the dog who wriggled with
enjoyment.  Scully laughed and bent to rub at it's furry chest as well.
The dog sighed contentedly.
     "Remind me to try doing that some time if that's the reaction I'd
get." Mulder grinned down at Scully who abruptly stood again and gave him
patented Look number three.
     "Don't be afraid." Michael misinterpreted her reaction. "Puck won't
bite. He's a good dog. He doesn't bite."
     "Michael why don't you take Puck upstairs to play with his chew toy
in your room?" The woman, Maire Gallagher did not matched the agent's
amused smiles.
     "But mom, the little hand is only on the nine. You said I don't have
to go up until it's on the ten."
     "Michael PLEASE!""
     The boy sighed dramatically and nudged the dog in the side lightly.
"Come on Puck, we have to play upstairs so the grown ups can say grown up
things."
     They tromped up the stairs to the left and Ms. Gallagher waved Scully
and Mulder into the well worn living room. It was neat but spoke plainly
of financial difficulty.  One over stuffed chair had a block of wood for a
leg, and the afghan thrown over the back of the couch did not quite cover
the place where the upholstery had rubbed thin.
     Mulder and Scully sat on the couch while Maire Gallagher grabbed a
half full bottle of beer off the coffee table littered with seven empty
versions of the same. They stood out in the tidy surroundings like a
beacon. Scully shot Mulder a meaningful look as Maire took a long pull
from the bottle.
     "Mrs. Gallagher..." Mulder started.
     Her harsh laugh interrupted him. "No way Mr. FBI. No friggin way.
Just Ms." She pronounced the prefix with an exaggerated z sound. "Or Maire
for you if you're nice." She grinned over her beer bottle. "Never married
and never hope to."
     "Ms. Gallagher if this is a bad time..." 
     She cut Scully off this time. "It's fine. Time doesn't get any
better."
     "Alright, Ms. Gallagher, can you tell us what your father was doing
in the woods on the night he was killed?" Mulder asked the question but
Scully pulled out a notebook.  He didn't need one.
     "Probably wondered off the road on his way back from Talisan's pub to
take a leak. My father, " she raised an unsteady eyebrow, 'was a bit of a
tippler.  Seems to have rubbed off lately." She stared at the now empty
bottle in her hand accusingly.
     "Did your father have any enemies?" Scully looked at the woman, her
disapproval well masked but for the stiffness of her back.
     "Everyone loved daddy dearest.  He was the town mascot don't ya know.
 The merry widower.  He would always buy a round for the pub. Huh."
     "It says here your father used to work with Jack O'Shay... did he
know any of the other victims?" 
     Maire nodded at Scully. "Sure. This is a small town.  Most everyone
knows most everyone else at least in passing." She sighed and put the
bottle down making no move to obtain another. "Dad and Jack O'Shay used to
run what they called Woading Cordwood. It turned out that chopping
deadwood for firewood was too much like work for Dad. He quit after a
month. They were not exactly friends..."  Maire rubbed her temples gently.
"He knew of Meghan Thomas, thought she was a fruit cake. But he only knew
her by reputation and passing her on the street, or riding on the same bus
as her. I don't think he knew that vagrant guy though.  But Pat Murphy he
knew.  He bought bootleg Moonshine from him."
     "Moonshine?" Scully actually looked surprised.
     "Yah, 100 proof rott gut.  God alone knows what Pat made it from but
it could strip the finish off a table better then Formbey's.  It was
nasty.  It also did NOT make for a cheerful drunk."
     Mulder frowned, "He was violent?"
     Maire snorted then laughed, "Oh yah, he could get real mean when he
tied one on.  Mostly I just locked me and Michael in my room till he
either sobered up or passed out."
     Mulder and Scully looked at one another and a wave of silent
communication passed between them.
     "Ms. Gallagher, this report has your son listed as seventeen but
doesn't list his father.  Would Michael's father have any reason to want
your father dead?" Scully looked up from the file she had peeked at to
notice Maire Gallagher go pale.
     "No.  Michael's father didn't want anything to do with him.  But you
could say he and my dad got along real well." She stood up rather abruptly
and swayed for a moment before regaining her balance.  "I can't help you
with anything else, and it's getting late.  I'd like to see that my son
gets to bed proper. He tends to forget things... I'll see you to the
door."
     Neither agent could ignore such an obvious dismissal.
     Once outside and heading back to the car Scully shook her head. 
"Something is definitely going on there."
     "Yep, makes me want to look at the local birth records in the
morning." 
      "It's too late to check on Jack O'Shay's widow. What do you say we
call it a night?" Scully stretched  and felt the satisfying pop of a kink
in her back coming loose.

===========================================================================


     It was five minutes after ten before they came through the door of
Maddie's, the bell inside the door jangled softly into the room.
     Maddie herself was seated on the couch in the living room watching a
sit com when she looked up to see them enter.  She turned off the tv and
rose.
     "Evenin. Anythin I can get you folks? I've water on for a late night
cup of tea... and I can make coffee easy enough if you would like some. I
also have some home made poppy seed roll, on the house."
     Mulder's eyes lit up. "I'll have some coffee and some of that roll if
it isn't really any trouble."
     "Course it isn't, or I wouldn't have offered. How bout you dear?"
Maddie's eyes fell on Scully.
     "Tea sounds lovely. Thank you." When Maddie disappeared into the
kitchen Scully looked to Mulder, "Do you want to hash what we have out
down here or in one of the bedrooms?"
     "Remember what Maire Gallagher said... it's a small town and everyone
knows most everyone else.  I think this B&B might be a bargain in more
ways then one.  Want to pick Ms. Green's brains for some local gossip?"
     "It certainly can't hurt. If Ms. Green doesn't mind."
     "Doesn't mind what?" Maddie Green came back into the room balancing a
silver tray with three cups, a tea pot and a coffee pot plus a tray of
sliced poppy seed roll with pats of butter and a butter knife to the side.
 She settled her burden on the coffee table in front of the couch.
     "If we pick your brains for local gossip." Scully provided.
     "Oh of course I don't.  But I don't know how much good it will do
you." 
     Scully took off her suit jacket and hung it on the coat rack behind
the door.  Mulder followed her lead. Scully took up the single stuffed
chair leaving Mulder to share the couch with Maddie Green.
     "So what can you tell us about the local wild life?" Mulder took the
cup of black coffee and sipped at it without adding anything to it.
     "I'm assuming you mean in the forest and not the local juvenile
delinquents." Maddie smiled. "If you mean canine enough to do the damage
we have coyote and both red and grey fox. But they didn't do what Tom
described to me. People whisper wolves behind their hands, but Red wolves
range further south... and I have never heard of any in this area before,
and the closest grey wolves are in Texas."
     "Other then that we got squirrels, rabbit, raccoons, deer and such."
     "So you think it was dogs as well?" Mulder finished off a slice of
poppy seed roll and licked the butter from his fingers.
     "Not any local dogs," Maddie insisted, "but it is the most logical
assumption. Now... do you want to hear the juice on the victims?"
     Scully smiled, "Why Maddie, I hadn't pegged you for a gossip maven."
     "Honey, in this town you hear it all if you look for it or not. I
don't look but I get most of it repeated to me. I can't vouch for accuracy
on most things... so I'll only give you things I have observed myself, or
from sources I trust to be honest." Maddie cleared her throat a bit then
went on. "Thom Gallagher was a ne'r do well, that I can tell you plain. He
was mostly friendly to folks, but he had a mean temper under it all. I saw
that girl of his walking around with her share of bruises as a child, and
she was NOT a klutz. Tom drank heavy and often, and it is no secret that
he got his money from not only the Welfare but from some underhanded
means. I don't know what exactly... but he always had the money to booze
with, and as often as not he'd have cash to spare.  Never heard about bill
collectors botherin him either. 
     Jack O'Shay was a good man from all I know. I knew him.  He worked at
the Hardware store and he was always friendly and helpful.  He worked
after hours gathering firewood even after his brief association with Tom
Gallagher in that field failed. His wife is expectin, and he was trying to
get together the money to move out of their little apartment and into a
larger house. He would go out of his way to help people.
    Meghan Thomas was a sweet child.  She studied herbalism from her late
granny, and she was the 'wise woman' to half the town."  Maddie smiled at
the agents, "I don't suppose you believe in herbalism... but Meghan was as
good as any doctor, and she NEVER treated anything more hazardous then the
flue. Those truly ill she told to get their butts to a doctor, and she'd
see what she could do to help with the symptoms after the doctor saw to
them."
    The fourth victim was found by hikers. No one knew him. They figure he
was living in one of the little caves that litter the forest. Can't tell
you much there. 
     "Pat Murphy was as bad as Tom Gallagher. He was underhanded, sneaky
and generally unlikable. The only real friend he had in this world was his
dog. He'd have sold his own mother for enough money, and she knew it. Poor
Trudy tried her best by that boy... but even she got fed up and threw him
out two years ago. I can think of a lot of people who are NOT sad to see
him gone, but none who'd find it worth their trouble to do him in
themselves."
     "What can you tell us about Michael Gallagher? His mother got very
upset when we mentioned his father." Scully sipped her tea carefully. The
water was too hot and she almost scalded her tongue at her first attempt.
     "No one knows who his father is.  Maire never said.  Can't remember
her dating anyone though. She was a real homebody, and quiet like. She
didn't even have poor Michael in the hospital. She went into labor at home
and... you know what..." Maddie frowned, her brow furrowed in thought.  "I
believe Meghan's grandmother delivered the boy.  Both she and Meghan were
state licenced mid wives. Yes... I recall at the time people thought it
odd that ol' Jilly Davis was midwiving for Maire... as Thom Gallagher was
so stuck up about herbalism and so keen on modern medicine."
     "So no one knew Michael's father, he never came to town to claim the
boy, or tried to bribe the family?" As he asked Scully looked at her
partner. She could almost see his amazing mind working furiously at
something. But what? She just could tell that there was more to the
question then he was letting on.
     "No. Not that I can recall. And Michael... he's such a sweet angel. I
mean it breaks my heart when the other kids tease him... but he is so mild
and honest.  They say it's a trait common to those children born like
him... with the Downs Syndrome... but I can tell you there is no more
likeable child in this whole town."

===========================================================================


     Mulder ran his hand through his hair and sat on the bed.  Maddie
Green had retired around eleven, and he and Scully had stayed up until two
going over details.  Scully plainly wanted to know his suspicions about
Michael Gallagher's father... but he couldn't voice them.  Not yet.  There
was no proof, only a nagging suspicion...
     He sighed and pulled on the Martin Martian tee shirt he'd packed to
sleep in with his sweat pants. He was bothered by something else.  What
connection did out of place Fox Fire have with these murders?   There HAD
to be one, after all the sightings only started after the first murder.
     By the time uneasy sleep took him the answer still had not presented
itself to him.


     Jimmy McGowan popped another NO DOZE tablet into his mouth and
swallowed it dry.  He hated the night shift, but since the killings
Sheriff Green had assigned him to work from ten till seven... a ten hour
shift.  Sure he could use the overtime, but driving around all night
patrolling Woading was by far one of the most boring things on Earth.  His
night patrol had done nothing to stop the killer either.  After all both
the vagrant and Pat Murphy had been killed after Jimmy's night time rides
had begun, and there was just no way they could patrol the forest itself. 
All Sheriff Green could hope for was to keep the killer from getting up
the balls to come into town.
     Jimmy yawned and pulled his car around to the Highway.  He would just
drive down past Karen's Diner and start at the other end of town again
before working his way back. He patted the thermos next to him. Later...
later he'd need the coffee Claire'd made him to make it past the three am
mark. Claire... now there was something he'd rather be doing at two in the
morning.  Of course the overtime was gonna help pay for the honeymoon,
maybe they'd make it to Disney World after all.
      The Deputy's reverie was jarred when something flickered just at the
edge of his high beams.  It had looked vaguely familiar to his tired mind.
 Someone running across the street up there...
     He stopped the car and leaned across the seat to roll down the
passenger window. Through the open window he ran his small flashlight
along the trees.   What the... 
     There it was again... movement. Jimmy moved to the CB.  They didn't
have a dispatch, instead Sheriff Green kept another unit next to his bed,
trusting Jimmy not to get on the air unless it was important.  But... was
it important or had he just seen a deer?
     He flashed the light around some more.
     "Hey! Anybody out there?"
     Then he saw them... the Will-O-Wisps. Eleven large floating balls of
glowing red. Jimmy stared, speechless at the sight.  It was incredible. 
Sure he'd HEARD about them... but they were real.  They were beautiful...
they were amazing.
     A twelfth glowing ball floated over from the left, and then they all
dimmed. They dimmed and then each light separated into two tiny spots of
light, each pair of lights winking at Jimmy as he finally snapped out of
his sense of wonder and reached for the CB. His shaking hand dropped the
mike and before he could dive for it a vision of snarling grey fur and
sharp teeth launched through the passenger window, red eyes glowing.
     Jimmy screamed and brought up his arm in a defensive gesture, in
shock he barely felt the teeth tear through his flesh, sink to bone.  He
didn't even see the windshield spider web as the arrow passed through it,
or feel the missile sink into his chest.  He did see the other dogs...
glowing eyes like windows to Hell as they pushed through the broken
windshield...


     Dana Scully woke up to the pounding on her door. She stumbled out of
bed and straightened her pajama top before opening the door to find Mulder
there, already dressed and tieing on another of his ugly ties... where did
he FIND them anyway?
     "Come on, get dressed.  Green's Deputy was killed last night across
from the Diner. We have to get out there now. Be prepared to help
Masterson with the autopsy."
     Dana rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and nodded before closing the
door. God, what a way to start a day. 


     The Highway was blocked off by volunteers and two cops wearing the
badges of nearby Mammoth Springs.  It seemed Green and his Deputy were the
only local police, and so he had to draft some friends to keep the morbid
curiosity seekers away.  Mulder and Scully got past after showing their
badges.
     The patrol car was off to the side of the road. No skid marks, the
driver had stopped it himself. The windshield was smashed in and broken
glass all over the hood and road sparkled in the morning sun.
     The Forensics team and photographer on site were from Mammoth Springs
as well and they circled the car carefully.  Jake Masterson was leaning in
the driver's door of the car. 
     Tom Green was seated in his own car, parked right in front of the
matching police vehicle.  The lawman was watching the others with a far
away look. The hand that gripped the steering wheel was white knuckled.
     Scully moved to assist Masterson while Mulder went to lean against
the Sheriff's car.
     "Sheriff Green... are you going to be alright?"
     The Sheriff looked out the door at Mulder, his eyes bright with
unshed tears.  "Would you be?" His voice was tight... strained. "I'm the
one who put him on night patrol.  Damnit I knew this sicko only struck at
night so far... it should have been me.  Jimmy was twenty four years old
Agent Mulder... he was just a kid.  I'm just as responsible for that boy's
bein dead as the killer is."
     Mulder shook his head. "I know it doesn't help right now, but you
have to know that that isn't true.  The killer never struck in town
before. You had no reason to suspect that he ever would, and every reason
to believe a night patrol would keep it from happening."
     The Sheriff nodded absently, but Mulder was unsure if his words had
sunk in. 
     "I have to go tell Claire. Oh God... They were gonna get married next
month.  Part of the reason I put him on nights is it paid better... so he
could take her someplace nice for their honeymoon.  Now I have to face
that girl and tell her that Jimmy's dead."
     "Would you like me to go with you?" Mulder offered, sympathy in his
eyes.
     "No... No it's my place.  You, your a stranger.  Stay here and see
what you can find to make this bastard pay... "
     Green pulled his car door closed and started the engine.  Mulder
moved away from the car as it pushed through the on lookers and the people
holding them back.

===========================================================================


     Mulder walked over to the police cruiser that had centered all the
attention. He managed to look inside over some shoulder and cooley walked
back a little to get out of the way.  While he remained outwardly
indifferent the scene in the car was enough to turn even his stomach.  Fox
Mulder had seen more then his share of violent death, much of it just as
gruesome as what was inside the car, but to be completely unaffected by it
was to lose some humanity. 
     The slight roiling of his stomach reminded him that they hadn't had
breakfast in their hurry to get out here.  Of course that was all to the
good, as he didn't have to fight to keep it down if there was nothing
there... but a completely empty stomach could make the nauseous feeling
worse. He reached into his over coat pocket and produced a small bag of
sunflower seeds.  Closing his eyes he popped one into his mouth and let
the saltiness take over his concentration for a few moments, just
concentrating on cracking the shell between teeth, sucking out the meat
and disposing of the shell.  A familiar ritual that both calmed and helped
to clear the thought process.
     "Mulder?" He opened his eyes to look down at Scully.  She was peeling
off a pair of latex gloves in an efficient manner that managed to turn
them inside out and into one another to keep the flakes and clots of dried
and drying blood inside.
     At the car two men were carefully removing the body and sealing it in
a zippered shroud. 
     "It's the same killer. The arrow is being rushed to Mammoth Spring's
forensics... but it is most likely just as clean as the others.   The
boy's shirt had been opened above the arrow wound and the second puncture
was present. It's going to be difficult considering the mess but I'd
really like to know if any of the victim's blood is missing."
     "Scully - some of the BODY is missing."
     "Yes, which just compounds the problem of getting a measure of the
blood."
     "Don't tell me YOU think a vampire did this?" He managed to bring up
an amused smile. "I may be rubbing off on you."
     "Then remind me to take another shower." She shook her head. "No, I
don't mean a vampire. Your theory about the killer having a psychosis
convincing him he was a mythological figure is actually behind this.  If I
remember any of the old tales my grandmother used to tell me when I was a
child then blood rituals were common in ancient Celtic and Druidic
ceremonies.  This puncture with a hollow instrument is always to the
heart, and mostly when the victim is still alive.  That would make a nice
little spurt. Perhaps the killer is harvesting some of the blood for
ritual reasons."
     "Your grandmother must have liked giving you nightmares. What ever
happened to Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty?"
      Scully managed a faint hint of a smile. "Modern interpretation
declare they lived happily ever after." 
      "Yah, well James McGowan didn't." He looked over just as the doors
of the coroner's van slammed shut.
     "At least we have some leads now.  All those bloody paw prints on the
hood should be worth something. PLUS, we managed to find some dog hairs.
It might give us a break." Scully hoped the news would lighten his mood,
especially if the murder scene had affected him as much as it had her.
     
     

     Agnes Kelly opened the door only to stop the incessant pounding. It
was way to early for visitors, no matter how much she usually enjoyed
company.  She was taken somewhat aback by the sight that greeted her on
the other side however.
     "Agnes... oh Lord and Lady... it's happened again!" The pitiful wail
reached to the old woman's heart, and a glimmer of understanding came to
her mind. 
     "You?" 
     "I didn't mean it... not like this... you have to help me.  But... on
your word as lorekeeper... not a word to any, especially to the
outsiders."
     Agnes sighed. Fools, young fools, lady bright protect me from them,
and protect them from themselves.
     "Do you truly have any idea what you have done?" Her old lined hand
moved to cover a younger, trembling one.
     "Not before... but I am beginning to understand."
     "Child... that is nothing compared to what must be done to undo it. 
In the end you may be unwilling to pay the price."

     
     It was no surprise that Sheriff Green did not show up for the
autopsy.  Mulder didn't stick around either, opting to do something USEFUL
instead of hovering around the morgue waiting for an official report. He
went to the next name on the list of the previous victims next of kin.
Terry O'Shay, widow of the second victim.
     Terry O'Shay was more than willing to answer all of Mulder's
questions, but she was clearly still distraught over her husband's death.
She was now residing with her mother.  Mulder learned that she'd been
unable to keep up rent payments on their apartment after covering funeral
expenses, and with the baby on the way... Mrs. O'Shay unconsciously kept
rubbing her swollen abdomen, taking comfort from what she had left of her
late husband.
     All he had managed to learn at the interview was that while they were
just making it by they had no outstanding debts. Mrs. O'Shay confirmed the
brief business venture her husband had joined Thom Gallagher in, but said
that the two were never good friends. 
     Jack O'Shay also knew Meghan Thomas.  He DID believe in her herbs and
ointments, and had purchased some from her on occasion. They had also gone
to school together. She was closer to him then Thom Gallagher, but still
not really a close friend
     When he left he knew the autopsy would not be over yet.. so he swung
by the small local library and headed for the reference section. In
minutes he was sitting at a worn table skimming through a pile of books on
Celtic Mythology.

===========================================================================


     When Mulder at last returned to the morgue Scully was just removing
her scrubs.
     "Impeccable timing as always." She tossed the garments in a laundry
bag off to the side.
     "Find anything new?" Mulder leaned against a wall as Scully put her
suit jacket on.
     "Not really. This victim was like the others, the only difference
being he was attacked inside a vehicle not out in the woods."
      "Well Mrs. O'Shay couldn't offer us much either.  Other then that
Jack O'Shay and Meghan Thomas went to school together. I was just going to
go speak with Enid Thomas. Care to join me?"
      "Well I certainly don't want any lunch right now." Scully shook her
head. "Alright, after that we can see how Sheriff Green is doing... maybe
get him to take us to the other  murder sites."

     Enid Thomas' home was a victorian reminiscent of the Bed and
Breakfast.  It's yard kept neat, and small well tended herb gardens tucked
away in corners some of the plants still green despite the early autumn
season.  As they waled up the fieldstone walkway Mulder stopped and
pointed to the left.  Scully frowned but followed him as he left the path
to stand beneath a Ash tree in the side yard.  Right at his feet was a
perfectly circular formation of mushrooms about five feet in diameter.
     Scully smiled. "A Fairie ring."
     Mulder looked at her, surprise on his face.
     "I TOLD you my grandmother used to tell us stories.  You can't grow
up in an Irish family and not hear about Fairie Rings Mulder."
     "So you think the Thomas sisters used to dance out here with an
unearthly host?" Mulder looked amused.
     "Meghan was an herbalist, you said Mrs. Kelly told you she studied
the old ways.  This was probably planted as a lark."
     "Actually it wasn't planted." The sound of the new voice made both
agents turn.  A lithe, young woman was coming up the walk, a large dog was
straining at the leash in her hand. ""I'm Enid Thomas, can I help you?"
     "We're with the FBI. We were coming to talk to you about your
sister." Mulder showed the woman his badge.
     "Then come on in. You're lucky you caught me. I was out on an
errand." She tugged on the dog's leash. "Other then making sure Hela here
get's his exercise."
     Scully openly admired the large dog. "Irish wolfhound isn't he?"
     Enid's smile lit up her heart shaped face. "Yes, pure pedigree. If
you are afraid of him I can tie him out back while we talk, but I assure
you he is quite well behaved."
     "I'm not afraid. Mulder?" Scully's look was practically challenging.
     "As long as he doesn't take me for a well dressed chew toy I have no
problem."
     "Don't worry, he's good. I'm just glad dog's are color blind....
other wise he might try taking you down just for your taste in neckwear."
Enid's laugh was husky.
     "She has you there." Scully smiled and shook her head.
     "Hey, it's a fashion statement," was the only defense he could offer.
     Once inside the house reminded him of Agnes Kelly's. Fewer knick
knacks, but similar tastes. 
     "You said that ring out there wasn't planted?" Mulder spoke while
removing his over coat. 
     "Yes. We were so charmed when it popped up.  Meghan and I were
careful not to disturb it. It can be a real trial to keep the grass
trimmed around it though. But to be so favored by the Telwyth Teg... it's
worth the effort."
     It was Scully's turn to look surprised. "You don't mean you believe
in Fairies?"
     "Why not? 'There is more in heaven and in Earth' and all that." Enid
waved her hand as she took a seat in a high backed chair.  The wolfhound
sat at her feet.
     "Do you think Meghan was killed by the Wild Hunt?" Mulder sat
opposite the girl, his eyes meeting hers.
     "Absolutely. She probably thought that being so favored as to have a
Fairie Ring in our yard was protection enough for her. I really don't
think she meant to stay out so late that night, but once she got to
gathering her herbs and mushrooms she tended to phase out the real world,
working wrapped in rituals and little prayers... I sometimes thought that
while she was busy she was almost outside of time." Enid's dark eyes took
on a far away look. "She was special, so wrapped into the great mystery
that surrounds us she sometimes seemed not to be of this world at all. I
think.... if she had lived... that she would have replaced Agnes Kelly as
the local Lorekeeper."
     Scully felt a shiver go up her spine. Both this woman and her words
about her sister brought Milissa to mind. They would have had a lot in
common. "What about you? You seem to be involved with these... beliefs as
well." 
     Enid shook her head. "I am no Lorekeeper. The old tales fascinate
me.. and the stories... I'm willing to think there is some truth to them.
But I'm more a doer then an observer. I'm much more active minded and to
tell you the truth the processes that went into all my sister's herbals
and simples were flat out boring to me."
     "Meghan went to school with Jack O'Shay. Was she connected to any of
the other victims?" 
     Enid looked at Mulder and frowned as she thought. "No more the the
usual contact in a small town. She did talk to Jack once in a while... he
was one of her customers and he respected her. But I don't think she had
any real contact with any of the others."
     "Did you know that there has been another killing? Last night."
Scully watched the young woman's reaction. She paled but nodded. "Yah. 
News travels fast.  Deputy McGowen."
     "Did he have any connection to Meghan?" 
     Enid shook her head. "None that I know of."
     The spoke for a while more without learning anything new. As Mulder
and Scully made to leave Mulder asked a final question. "Ms. Thomas, do
you know why someone would try to call the Wild Hunt?"
    "Revenge." The woman answered flatly. "A deep anger, enough to want
someone dead. I don't think the person who called the Hunt knew what they
were really doing, unless they are mad. The Hunt... it can't be
controlled." She shivered slightly.
     "Thank you for your time Ms. Thomas." Enid Thomas nodded, and she and
Hela seeing them to the door.
     When the agents left Enid closed the door and leaned against it,
absently stroking Hela's great, furry head. "Lord protect them. They don't
know... don't believe." Enid walked across the room to a book case filled
with an odd assortment of daggers and crystals, books and a wide range  of
different morter and pestles.  She fingered a clay goblet, stained dark so
that the intricate design of old knotwork etched into it was barely
visible. "They have no real idea..."

===========================================================================


     "She certainly seemed to be handling her sister's death well." Scully
observed as they got in the car.
     "Maybe she sees it as part of the Wheel of Life." 
     Scully sighed, "If you're going to break into song..."
     "Anyone ever tell you you have an unhealthy Disney fixation?" Mulder
grinned. "Anyway that's 'Circle of Life', the Wheel of life is part of the
ancient Druidic belief..."
     "That the soul moves on and is sometimes reborn. Almost like the
Hindus. But I noticed among the other things cluttering Ms. Thomas' house
a Bible on the coffee table and a Crucifix on the wall.  I hardly think
they are the earmarks of a Druid."
      "Ah but Mrs. Kelly also mentioned that Meghan Thomas was with God
now. So perhaps for all the talk of Celtic Mythos they retain the
Christian belief in the afterlife... thus making death a bit easier to
accept." 
     Scully squirmed in her seat a bit. This conversation was getting
distinctly uncomfortable. It hit too close to home in many ways. Missy's
death had hit her hard... especially so close after Ahab's.  Yet Dana
remembered bits and pieces of her own near death experience... and she did
not really fear Death itself.  She had even said as much to Mulder once.
It was true... she was feeling their loss for herself... not for them. 
Did that make Enid Thomas a better person then... to be able to let go of
the personal pain?
     "It looks like Sheriff Green is back." She turned the subject at
seeing the patrol car outside the police station.
     Mulder took her cue and let it drop. He could tell by Scully's
fidgeting the conversation had made her uncomfortable. 
     
     Sheriff Green was indeed back. He nodded at them when they came in.
"I just got off the phone with Mammoth Springs... told them to move their
asses on the lab work. Damn I hate waiting." 
     Tom Green was mad, and was struggling to keep it in check. "You two
want to go see the other murder sites now I guess. I'll meet ya at
Maddie's. You're gonna need some hiking clothes. No offence but those
suits won't hold up to a hike in the wood. I want to make some more calls
here." 
     Mulder noted that Sheriff Green was already in jeans and hiking
boots, his corduroy jacket over a denim shirt the only attempt to dress
himself up, and the wide brimmed hat on his hairless head the only sign of
his office other than the gun and handcuffs on his belt.
     "Fine, just give us a half hour." Mulder nodded and led Scully back
out the way they had just come.  Sheriff Green obviously still needed some
time alone. 
 
     When Mulder came back downstairs Sheriff Green was already there and
in the kitchen. 
     "Come on Tom, have dinner here with me tonight.  You shouldn't be
alone tonight." Maddie's voice filtered into the living room from the
kitchen as Mulder pulled on a leather jacket and peeked around the door
frame.
     "I'll think about it." Green looked up and saw Mulder managing a
small smile. "Well, lookee here... it's a person, not a clone out of the
government cookie press." 
     Mulder answered the smile with one of his own. "Sorry, the clones
look older, shorter and have a bigger body type."
     Scully joined them at that. "Can it Mulder.. he'd never believe you
anyway." She had changed into jeans and an oversized sweatshirt under her
usual trench coat. 
     "Well you three remember to be back before dark or you'll be sure to
kill me with worry. I don't want to hear any of that safety in numbers
crap either. Pat Murphy was armed to the teeth as well, and it did him no
good, so don't try to make me feel better by showing me yer guns either."
Maddie eyed them all. "And you may be the big brother Tomas James Green,
but *I'M* telling you you will have dinner with me tonight. I'm sure Ms
Scully and Mr. Mulder are planning on going over all you show them during
THEIR dinner. You will talk to ME over ours." 
     With that last command Maddie Green pushed them all out the door.
"Now shoo... the faster you get out there the faster you can be back where
it's safe.
     "Wasn't safe for Jimmy." Green muttered under his breath as they
headed out.

     The first murder site was the closest to town before Jimmy McGowen's
murder last night.  Thom Gallagher had been killed about twenty feet into
the woods on the edge of town. The area was cordoned off with bright
yellow tape but there wasn't much to see.  The police had cleaned up
everything that had anything to do with the crime.  


===========================================================================



     "No arrow found on Gallagher right?" Mulder squatted near to the
ground, examining the ground covered in old leaves.
     "Nope, no sign of one used on him either. Just the odd puncture."
Scully confirmed and Green only nodded. Mulder stood up and motioned for
Green to lead on.
     The trek to the place where Jack O'Shay had been killed took a good
half hour.  On the way the woods were actually rather peaceful, birdsong
filling the air above, the soft rustle of leaves underfoot were the only
sounds as they went... the silence between the three not really
uncomfortable. 
     "Wait a minute Sheriff Green, what's that?" Mulder left the faint
path they had been following and moved down a slight decline. Scully
frowned and followed, to hear the Sheriff close behind.
     At the bottom of the decline Scully saw Mulder standing over the
decomposing corpse of a deer.
     "It's a deer Mulder. You know, Bambi. And in a pretty advanced stage
of decomposition." Scully shook her head.
      "Yah... but look." He pointed to the head.  The deer had been a
buck, it's antler's were missing, shorn off with something sharp. "How
much you want to bet this animal died of natural causes?" Mulder met
Green's eyes.
     "Mrs. Kelly." Green Sighed. " Ok we got part one of that little spell
thing. The rest wouldn't have been that hard to come by." 
     They left the deer and made it to the site of Jack O'Shay's murder
without any further revelations.
     It was as clean as the first site. The Yellow tape the only thing to
differentiate this patch of wood from any other. 
     "He had been chopping wood over there. He died with his axe in his
hand... yet we couldn't see where he'd hit anything living with it. I mean
he would have at least tried to defend himself right?" Green pulled at his
bottom lip as the Agents looked around desperately for something the
authorities would have missed. 
     "The only tracks were the Victims, and one or two paw prints in the
immediate area in all cases. That doesn't make sense." Scully was thinking
of all the ways it could have been pulled off. "Unless he's sweeping away
the tracks and somehow not obscuring the victims."
     She moved away from the taped area and scanned the wood, walking in
larger circles moving outward. Mulder was looking at a small cut in a tree
trunk.
     "Could his axe have done this?" He pointed it out to Green. 
     "Yah. It's possible."
     Mulder stood away from the tree, facing the way the victim's tracks
had come from by all reports. He held his right hand in a fist and swung
in an imitation of someone swinging a club, or an axe. The imaginary axe
head would have landed a few inches higher then the mark on the tree.
"O'Shay was shorter then me. I'd say he was trying to defend himself...
but missed."
     "Mulder!" Scully's shout brought him running, pulling his gun from
it's shoulder holster, Green on his heels.
     Scully had moved just out of their line of sight. She was standing
about fifty meters from the murder site, pointing to the forest floor.
    Mulder saw no immediate threat and looked down. A ring of mushrooms
about five foot in diameter decorated the ground. He reholstered his gun
and reached down to touch one of the fungi. He plucked it.
     "Is there any way we can find out what kind of mushroom this is?"
     "I'd say ask Agnes Kelly... or Enid Thomas... she might still have
some of Meghan's books if you don't want to send it out to Mammoth Springs
lab." Green shrugged.
     "Mulder this is wierd." Scully squatted beside him but didn't touch
anything.
     "So what else is new?"
    
     The other sites gave them nothing new. They made it back to town just
as dusk began to gather. Green felt a wave of relief when they hit the
familiar streets again. He rationalized it as only logical and reasonable
fear of the unknown involved here. 
     He drove the agents back to Maddie's to their rental car while he
went inside to indulge in his sister's cosseting.
     Mulder and Scully ate at Karen's Diner again, but without any musical
selection this time. The conversation was flat, each lost in developing
their own theories. Mulder toyed with the mushroom he'd placed in an
evidence baggie as he thought of Agnes Kelly's words.

     In the forest eleven orbs of red light glowed. Scent. Prey.  They had
new prey... not accidental like most of the rest. The scent of the
defiler... the one who breeched the gate between the worlds was strong to
them.  As soon as They came... the Master and the Alpha... then the hunt
would be on again. They could barely contain their excitement.


===========================================================================


     "OK, what are you thinking?" Scully finished her soda and pierced
Mulder with a stare that threatened bodily harm if he didn't talk.
     "I'm thinking that maybe I was wrong.  That maybe this isn't just the
violent culmination of someone's delusions." Mulder examined the mushroom
in the bag yet again.
     "You think the little folk are teleporting between the Thomas' yard
and the murder site by way of magic mushrooms?" She wasn't smiling. She
was looking tired and annoyed.
     "I don't know what I think. I do think Enid Thomas may be involved
somehow... but we can't bring her in for questioning because she's growing
mushrooms. Sweeping away the tracks in the woods would leave some sign,
scraping... something.  The tracks simply are not there. How? And that
ring does make me wonder... I don't believe in coincidence."
     Scully sighed. "The only magic in those mushrooms is if they are a
hallucinogen.  Which might just explain a lot of things.  Think about it
Mulder. If those mushrooms are a drug... then this whole thing can be tied
to a kind of drug war.  The victims killed because they either stumbled
onto the cache or because they wanted a bigger cut."
     "Come on Scully, we are not talking cocaine here. But I'll concede
you might have a point. We'll send this to Mammoth Springs lab in the
morning. I don't want Enid Thomas to know we are asking questions."
     "If this is the reason behind everything... then she's growing them
in her side yard." Scully raised an eyebrow.

     They returned to the B&B just as Sheriff Green was leaving.
     He tipped his hat to them as they came in the door. "Evnin'. If
you'll excuse me folks, I have to get back to work. I'll see you folks in
the morning."
     When he left Maddie sighed from the kitchen doorway. "He's insistin
on taking half the night shift now.  He's gona wear himself ragged until
this is over and done with." She tossed down her dishrag and shook her
head. "I think I'm gonna turn in early, watch some TV in my room. The
house is yours. If you're allowed I have small stash of drinks in the
cupboard over there, and some cold beer in the fridge." She retreated up
the stairs muttering something about the stupidity of brothers.
     "Why didn't you give the sample to Sheriff Green?" Scully hung her
coat on the coat rack while awaiting Mulder's reply.
     "Because he has enough on his mind, and if this is related to some
sort of drug ring we can't know how far it goes."
      "Come on... you don't really think that Green..."
      "No... but by now you should know we can't be too careful."
Mulder ran a hand through his hair and looked at the stairs. "I'm going to
go up. It isn't often we get to turn in early." 
       
       Mulder was seated on the bed pulling off his hiking boots when
something outside his bedroom window drew his attention. He walked over to
the window and pulled aside the curtain. Down below... there, lights.
Bobbing balls of red light.
       Mulder quickly retied his shoe and grabbed his gun. He left his
room and banged on Scully's door as he moved quickly past it.  She opened
it to see him already half way down the stairs.
      "Scully, fox fire, outside... now."
      Without thinking she grabbed her own gun and followed after him,
each grabbing their coats at the door.
      "I just knew an early night was too much to hope for. She muttered.
      Mulder circled to the side of the house, but the apparitions were
gone.
     "Damn!" He looked frantically around, then spotted a glowing bob
moving through the yards behind the house, heading for the woods.
     "Mulder WAIT!" Scully grabbed his arm. "It's dark, they are heading
for the woods." 
     "Hey, I got my lucky charms." He held up a rock for her to see before
taking off in the direction the lights had gone.
     Rolling her eyes Scully followed.

     Coming... flush and run, all part of the Hunt... the Chase. The prey
was easy to find.. the smell of his defilement carried with him. Soon...
soon the taste of the blood, of the Hunt... 
     In the woods the others waited.


===========================================================================



     Maddie heard them leave, looked outside to see them run off behind
the house, weapons drawn.  She shivered and ran to turn on the small CB
she kept in her room to monitor Tom. 
     "Tom! Tom come in... the FBI people just ran out of here like they
were after something.  They had their guns.  Tom they are headed for
Eighth street running through the yards behind my place. Do you read?"
     There was a burst of static then her brother's voice"...ck,
godamnitall, why the HELL couldn't they call me for backup? I'm on my way
Maddie. I'll try to meet up with them or head them off."
     Having done all she could Maddie let the mike fall from her fingers
as she wilted into the wooden chair next to the radio table. She began to
pray.

     Mulder was getting too far ahead.  Scully cursed and stumbled on
something in the dark.  She went down in a semi-controlled roll regaining
her feet quickly, ignoring the slight pain of bruised knees and elbows.
Now he was out of sight... swallowed up by the darkness. Damn his long
legs anyway.
     "MULDER!" She wasn't sure how she managed to shout when she was
running out of air.  She was usually able to pace herself for a long run
but not this time.  Not if she wanted to keep up with her partner at all.
     "COME ON SCULLY THIS WAY!" His voice called from the left.  Whatever
he was chasing must have moved off that way.  Thank God... they were
heading back into town, no longer going for the forest only three blocks
away.  She took off again in the direction of his voice.

     It was ahead of him, keeping the same distance between them.  Mulder
slowed, it slowed.  Damn.. it was leading him.  He clicked the safety off
his Smith and Wesson. Something was wrong here. Yah right like chasing a
ball of red light is normal, he thought to himself, but then who ever
accused me of being normal?
     He looked behind him but caught no sight of Scully in the faint light
of the street lamps.
     "SCULLY!" He called back to her and was answered only by silence. Up
ahead the orb of light was beginning to dim.  He watched, fascinated, as
it dimmed to a third of it's previous luminance then split into two
pinpoints.
     The two distant spots headed back towards him.  It registered. Eyes.
It was somehow one of the dogs.  He stood his ground automatically
assuming the shooter's stance, feet slightly apart as the world shrunk to
the point just beyond his gun's crosshair. He aimed directly between the
oncoming points of red light. He saw it as it ran beneath a street light.
Grey, large, no breed he recognized.  He squeezed the trigger gently. The
loud crack of the shot filled the night.  The dog did not even slow.  He
got off two more rounds to no avail.  He knew he hadn't missed.  A sudden
vision of the bodies of Patrick Murphy and Jimmy McGowen blossomed in his
mind and he felt a chill that went to his bones.  With a muffled curse Fox
Mulder turned and began to run, the glowing eyes of the hound behind him
slowly gaining ground.

     Scully made it to a side street and looked up and down the road.  No
sign of him.  What the Hell?
     "MULDER WHERE ARE YOU?!" There was no answer.  Then she heard,
faintly, the sound of gunfire. Once, then twice more in rapid succession.
It was off the way she had originally be heading.  Confused but far too
worried about Mulder's safety to bother thinking about it now, she headed
back in the direction of the shots.

     His heart felt as if it would pound right through his rib cage, and
his legs were beginning to burn from the exertion... but a quick look back
told him that not only had he not lost the huge tooth and fur pursuer, but
other's had joined it. Over the pounding of his own shoes on the pavement
and his heart in his ears he could hear the clicking of their claws.  He
could barely breathe. He did NOT want to die being torn apart by a pack of
dogs.  After everything else I've lived through, he thought as he ran -
forcing the fear down before it turned to blind panic, ending my days as
an Alpo substitute is gonna be a big let down.
     Out of nowhere blinding light shone into Mulder's eyes and he cried
out at the ear piercing squeal of tires and protesting breaks.  The police
cruiser swerved around him and spun to block the road between Mulder and
the dogs.
     "Git yer skinny ass in here boy!" Green's voice called from the car.
     Mulder turned and ripped open the rear driver's side door, throwing
himself inside even as the car began moving again.  Green backed up, over
the curb, into someone's lawn, then aimed  his car right at the pack of
dogs as they skidded to a confused halt.
     "Hold on ta yer hat!" The Sheriff floored it.  A shower of dirt and
grass fanned out from beneath the rear tires and the car took off. 
     There was a satisfying thud as something connected with the front of
the car, accentuated by the jarring bump as the wheels ran over whatever
was hit.
     "Scully! Where's Scully?" Mulder looked out the rear window and then
leaned forward to grab Green's shoulder. "LOOK!"
     The car's sudden stop threw them forward a bit.  green looked in his
rear view mirror, then turned around, his eyes wide with a touch of fear.
"Mother of God..."
     The road behind them was empty.  No dogs... no remains of whatever
had been hit. Nothing
     A block back, at a crossroad, the corner street light shone on a
shock of coppery hair.  Scully came into view.
     "Go back, pick her up." Mulder was almost frantic.  They had to still
be out there, yet there was no sign of them as they stopped for the petite
redhead to get in the passenger side door.
     She was gasping for breath and the look she gave Mulder was
withering. "Don't you EVER do that to me again!"

===========================================================================


     Green drove, not to the B&B but to the house of Agnes Kelly.  He
briefly radioed Maddie and told her he'd found Mulder and Scully and that
they would not be back tonight, adding that she should make sure all her
doors and windows were locked up tight.
     He parked outside Mrs. Kelly's home and as they got out of the car he
took a look at the trunk and cursed.  Thus was the attention of both
agents drawn to the arrow protruding through the fiberglass trunk door.
     They moved swiftly to the house and the door flew open before they
reached the top porch step.  Agnes Kelly motioned them to get inside
quickly.
     "What are we doing HERE?" Scully finally asked as Green closed and
locked the door behind them.
     Mrs. Kelly took Scully's hand and patted it as if she were a young
child.  "You are here because I know the old ways... I know how to ward
you."
     Mulder and Green both looked at the old woman with shock. "Wait a
minute... you knew we were comin? How the..." Green sputtered.
     "I got the feelin I was needed.  Maybe there's more of the psychic in
me then I thought." She winked at them. "But time's a wastin.  I don't
know if the rule about bein invited in applies here... so take this and
pour some on all the upstairs window sills and in each doorway. I'll take
the downstairs." Mrs. Kelly pressed a round container of Morton's Salt
into Mulder's hand.  "Just do it. Humor an old woman boy. Then we can
talk."
     "This is insane." Scully  stood in the middle of the living room, not
moving as Mulder went upstairs with the salt and Mrs. Kelly poured a line
of white granules across the base of the front door.
     Just as Mulder came back to the first floor an eerie chorus of howls
sounded from outside, raising the hairs on the back of the necks of
everyone inside the house.
     "Humph. They're cryin their frustration. You are safe for now." Agnes
leaned heavily on a cane made of twisted wood. Mulder was struck by the
amusing image of this woman as Yoda in Star Wars.
     "Alright everybody, sit. Talk. I'll get some tea."
     Mrs. Kelly's tone brooked no argument and the three took seats.
     "What the Hell went on out there?" Scully's gaze shifted from one man
to the other, directing her question at both.
     "I don't think I want to know." Green shivered and the burly Sheriff
wrapped his arms around himself. He looked pale and defeated.
     "I think the Wild Hunt was after us Scully." Mulder peeled off his
jacket.  He had regained his breath but he was still overwarm from the
exercise of the night.
     "You were chased by dogs?" She frowned, he had obviously been through
something tonight. Something that disturbed not only him, but the Sheriff
as well.
     "I followed the Fox Fire... I thought you were right behind me. It
kept a pace just that much faster than me so I was never any closer to it.
 When I had to slow down because I was winded it slowed down too.  That
set off my Spidey Alarms." Mulder leaned forward with his elbows on his
knees as he ran his hands through his hair before looking Scully straight
in the eye.  "The Fox Fire became one of the dogs. I *watched* it dim,
then the light turned into eyes.  Even I'm having a hard time believing
it... but I know what I saw.  I shot at it when it started to come after
me. No way I missed three shots, but it didn't even phase it.  I was
running for cover when Sheriff Green came across me."
     "Mam, I wouldn't have believed it myself if I hadn't seen it. When I
rounded the corner to Ninth I saw Mr. Mulder here running at me Hell bent
for leather and the red, glowin eyes of a good dozen dog's hot on his
heels." Green related what had transpired - a haunted look in his eyes.
"No body... no pack... just you roundin the corner." He finished.
     Scully stood and crossed to the window.  Pulling back the drape she
peered outside and gasped.
     "They're out there." Her words were barely more then a whisper but
Mulder and Green were instantly behind her.
     "I thought that was my line." Mulder quipped before he looked
outside.
     One dog was standing on the roof of the cruiser, it's eyes glowing
horribly as it stared through the distance and the glass... right at them.
Other's moved about the house, padding around the yard sniffing at their
scent.  Every once in a while one would follow the scent as far as the
porch steps then rise it's hackles to growel, sharp, white teeth seeming
to glow red as much as the eyes before it moved back to rejoin the rest of
the prowling pack.
     "I'm callin for backup." Green went to Mrs. Kelly's antique French
phone.  After picking up the receiver he dialed, then began clicking the
cradle. "Godamn phone is dead," he glared, "aint no pack of dogs did
that."
     Scully reached into her coat for her cellular phone, only to remember
she'd left it next to her bed at the Bed and Breakfast when she ran out
after Mulder. She looked at him but her partner shook his head. Great, his
was left behind too. Fat lot of good they were doing back there.
     Hunter did it." Mrs. Kelly re-entered the room bearing a teetering
tray of teacups unsteadily. She dropped it rather heavily on the coffee
table before collapsing into her own chair. "Camomile, it'll help yer
nerves. You two git away from that window, you'll only rile them up more."

     "Look," She settled herself into the chair, almost becoming a part of
the old piece of furniture, "the Pack never sets off on a Hunt without the
Hunter. He's out there as well, you just can't see him, cause he is good
at keepin hidden. He cut the phone, probably with nothin more magical then
a pair of wire cutters. Now... as long as you stay inside this house you
are safe.  Come mornin they'll be gone. The Wild Hunt can't stand the
light of day.  You may as well sit down and make yerselves as comfortable
as ya can."

===========================================================================


     "Oh he's out there alright.  He put one of his fancy arrows in my
car." Green flopped onto the other chair leaving the couch for Mulder and
Scully.  "So he's managed to cut us off and terrorize us.  Now I'm startin
to get pissed again."
     "Nothin you can do till mornin Sheriff.  Bullets won't stop 'em.  You
should know that by now.  The iron in the shells has been forged." She
looked at Mulder then, "You still got the iron I gave you? Good. Keep it
in yer pockets."
     "So how DO we stop them?" Mulder took a seat on the couch.
     "I don't know." She wouldn't meet his eyes now, and Mulder could tell
she was lying. She wasn't very good at it, so why was she doing it?
     He was tired, emotionally wrung out and frustrated at the who
situation. "Tell us." He practically hissed.
     Mrs. Kelly stiffened, then looked him in the eyes. Her dark brown
gaze cutting through his hazel one. "I'll tell ya what I can then boy...
for all the good it will do. The one who did the callin.  They are the
anchor to this world.  The blood that went into the summoning was theirs,
only their blood can undo it. But it must be shed willingly... and
totally."
     "So we have to convince this Hunter person to commit suicide?" Scully
threw her empty hand up in the air in disgust. She still held her gun.
"That's VERY helpful."
     "Look, the glowing eyes are easily explained.  The street lights and
the head lights reflected at an angle.  It's the same effect you get in
snapshots known as red eye."
     "Look out the window Scully... they're still red... and red eye
reflection doesn't cause that glow. They are too bright for that." Mulder
shook his head but he spoke gently.  The familiar ritual of debating the
rational and the irrational with her helping to wipe away the fear of
earlier.
     "Yah, and how did they disappear in less then two seconds after I ran
through 'em?" Green looked hard at Scully.
     "They move quickly. It isn't unheard of. Perhaps they are part
greyhound.  You obviously didn't kill the one you hit... probably just
grazed it and in the excitement you *thought* you did more damage." Scully
rationalized.
     "So how did the Fox Fire become a dog right before my eyes?" Mulder
crossed his arms and looked at her, daring her to come up with an
explanation to that one.
     "Hallucination aided by the darkness. The mushroom you've been
handling all night. If it's a hallucinogen then perhaps you absorbed some
osmatically through your hand when you picked it."
     Mulder shook his head again. "Hallucinogenic mushrooms have to be
ingested. It doesn't wash."
     "Neither does balls of light becoming the Hound of the Baskervilles.
Neither does the fact that we have a pack of feral dogs... albeit odd
ones, and a serial killer lurking outside this house and you are gathering
around a cup of tea and a glorified story teller feeling all safe and cozy
because you put SALT at the doors."
     "They can't enter now child.  They are bound by laws of their own,
and that is one of them." Mrs. Kelly didn't look at all offended. "But if
you feel better to pace my house with your gun... feel free. Just don't
shoot any of us by mistake."
     "We'll keep a watch." Mulder touched Scully's arm. "I don't think
anyone is going to get much sleep anyway."
     "Do you seriously think that they are going to just go away come
sunrise?" She stared at him. "And how do we know that they aren't going to
attack any of the other townspeople? Just sitting here might be
endangering lives."
    "If we can see them in the yard then they aren't off terrorizing
anyone else." He gave her one of his lopsided grins. "And if they are
still there in the morning we can get better shots instead of wasting
bullets in the dark."
     "Fine." She pressed her full lips together in a tight line. "I'll
take first watch." She went to the window to watch the pacing Pack.
     "What happened to you Scully?" Mulder's breath was warm on her cheek
as he whispered next to her. She started a little as she had not heard him
approach. She didn't turn from the window but her gaze shifted to look at
his reflection in the glass. 
     "I fell over something.  When I called you- you answered and I
followed your voice.  There must have been a wierd echo effect or
something because I thought you'd gone in a different direction." Their
each met the other's eyes in the reflections of the glass.
     "I never heard you call me.  It wasn't me who answered you. He
intentionally split us up." Mulder shivered a little. They had fallen for
the trick... one arrow out of the darkness... or if the pack had gone
after her instead... he didn't want to think about it. He'd come so close
to loosing her before.
     Scully saw his shiver but pretended not to. "He's got a future in
impressions then. He has you down pat." She drawled to lighten the mood, a
half smile playing at her lips before fading into a worried expression
that was almost a match of Mulder's. "You know what that means don't you?
He was after YOU. You specifically. The dogs went for you, while I was
left stumbling around in the dark."
     "It's tough being popular." He grinned, turning her ploy back on her.
"Maybe I should stop wearing the Purina logo on my clothes."
     She gave another brief smile then settled down to watch the restless
pack outside. Shadow on shadow now, their terrible eyes the only thing
betraying them. "Don't you think the neighbors would call for help? I mean
this can't be the norm around here." She gestured out the window.
     "Who are they going to call? The Sheriff is in here and the Deputy's
dead. After a few months of dog savaged bodies turning up I wouldn't count
on anyone charging to the rescue." Mulder moved away, back to Green and
Mrs. Kelly. He brought out the evidence bag and began to question Mrs.
Green on mushrooms.

===========================================================================


     Mrs. Kelly frowned at the withered mushroom she was shown. "And you
say this came from a ring? Lad, you have got to be one of either the
stupidest or the most suicidal people I know. Don't you know you never
take from a ring unless you are sure you destroy the whole thing? If you
touch a ring without askin permission of the Fair Folk you risk their
wrath. No wonder The Hunt went after ya. The only way to keep safe is to
ask that permission or to completely destroy the ring so they can not
trace the defilement back to you." She shook her grey head, "I guess I
should be glad you didn't stand in the center of it during the full o' the
moon. Then you'd be lost for sure."
     "Well I certainly didn't hear music while we were out there." Mulder
smiled gently. 
     "Good thing too." Mrs. Kelly snapped. "Well," She took the bag and
turned it over and over in her hands, "it's no kind I've seen before. Most
rings are formed by what is actually known as Fairy Ring Mushrooms. They
are even edible." She sniffed. "But this... I've never seen it's like
locally."
     Mulder thanked her and looked over at Green."How are you holding up?"
     "Pretty damn good considerin." Green looked over to Scully, then back
to Mulder. "She makes a good case though don't she?  I tell ya my brain
want's to go along with everythin she said, evidence to the otherwise or
no. But my gut..."
     "We both saw them disappear... she didn't.  Besides it's her JOB to
come up with nice logical explanations for the unexplainable.  She's good
at it."
     "And what's your job agent Mulder?" Green tried to get the measure of
the man before him.  It seemed he wasn't as cut and dried as Green's first
impression. 
     "To get to the Truth, no matter what it may be. Even if it isn't
logical."
     "You chase after boogie men." It wasn't a question.
     "I've learned... we've learned," He looked briefly at Scully's back,
"that some boogie men are real."
     "Mister, if you told me any of that yesterday when we met... I'd have
written you off as a nut case."
     Mulder nodded, it was expected. "But not now." He smiled.
     "Yah, well, tonight I saw more then a plain man should.  Maybe by the
end of the week I'll convince myself that the little lady is right and
this whole nightmare was the result of stress and coincidence... but right
now I'll make sure there's salt at the door."
     Mrs. Kelly chuckled, reminding them suddenly that she was there.
"Lads, that's all that can be asked of ya."

     The sun in his face woke Green up.  He blinked rapidly and looked out
the window he was seated before. They were gone. He mentally berated
himself up and down... he could not believe he fell asleep.
     Mrs. Kelly had gone to bed around midnight, completely confident that
all was as well as it could be. Ms. Scully had even let exhaustion over
take her around three ack emma and she'd curled up on the couch, her
partner seated in the chair next to her, his gun on the coffee table
prepared to snap to the defensive at any moment. 
     He wasn't in the chair now... and Green was pretty sure it was Mulder
he heard puttering around in Mrs. Kelly's kitchen.
     "They're gone." His simple statement woke Scully who uncurled herself
with a languorous stretch before getting up to stand by him to look at the
empty yard.
     "When?"
     Green brushed scarlet. "I don't know.  I must have dropped off for a
moment... when I opened my eyes they were gone."
     "They disappeared about five thirty, just when it started to get
light. One minute there... the next..." Mulder came in with three mugs
balanced in his hands filled with last night's tea, now steaming again.
"She's into old Celtic lore but she believes in all the modern
conveniences. She has a microwave." He handed them each a cup.
     "You let me sleep?" Green accused.
     Mulder rubbed the side of his nose with his thumb for a minute. "It
looked like you needed it. I was awake, so we were not completely
unguarded."
     "Do you think the killer's still out there?" Green asked.
     "We could always send Mulder out to check. He seemed to be the target
last night." Scully grinned.
    Mulder shrugged and put on his jacket while picking up his gun and
thumbing off the safety.
     "Mulder I wasn't serious." Scully set down the tea and grabbed his
arm.
     "I know, but someone has to do it."
     Scully grabbed her own coat and gun. "Then let's go." She raised an
eyebrow.
     There was nothing outside. They carefully combed the whole block,
searching every conceivable hiding place all the while feeling their
back's itch, waiting for the arrow that never came.  There was no sign of
the Hunter... or the dogs. 
     They were still on gaurd when they returned to the house, the lack of
any sign of him intensified their paranoia instead of allaying it.  They
didn't speak until they were back inside.
     "He even removed the arrow from the car." Scully was obviously
discouraged. "The hole is the only sign that it was ever existed. That and
the cut phone wire are all there is to prove last night happened at all."
     "Can I get you folks some breakfast?" Mrs. Kelly descended the
stairs. She wore a faded green terry robe and fuzzy slippers over
something high necked and flannel.
     "No thank you Mrs. Kelly. We have a lot to do.It seems we are in the
clear for now." Mulder surprised Scully by crossing to the woman and
bending to kiss her on the cheek. "Thank you for helping us last night."
     The old woman actually blushed. "I wish I could have done more ta
help." There was something sad but honest in her eyes. "I really do. But
you are welcome to what aid I could provide. And remember the salt. It's
not as good as cold Iron against the Fay, but good enough."
     Mulder nodded and they took their leave.
     Outside Sheriff Green walked around the front of his patrol car and
stopped dead. He beckoned both agents over and pointed. "So much for the
theory of just grazin one of the critters."
     The fender and grille were both heavily dented, but there was no sign
of blood or fur.


===========================================================================


     Green drove them back to Maddie's so they could get cleaned up and
eat. He himself did not escape the B&B until Maddie had seen for herself
that he was alright before she checked over both agents with the same
concern in her eyes.
     "Well gee mom, it was just a sleep over." Mulder grinned at the older
woman, touched by her concern.
      "Not much sleeping by the size of the luggage under your eyes." She
crossed her arms. "Next time ask permission before you leave or I'll
ground you." She managed to quip back.
     As they headed upstairs Mulder winked at Scully, "I think I like
her."
      Green took the mushroom sample with him. Mulder had decided he could
trust the man shortly after he'd come between Mulder and death. With luck
they might know what kind of fungi it was by evening. 
     
     Once clean and after a hasty meal of cold cereal, leaving Scully not
so much amazed that Mulder ate Cocoa Puffs so much as that Maddie HAD
them, they went back to the police station.
     Green was in his office and on the phone. He motioned them to have a
seat while he listened to whoever was on the line.
     "Is that all you can give me? Cheeerist... do you have any idea what
a situation we're having out here? Fine. I know... I'm just under a lot of
pressure, and I had one hell of a night Kenny. Yah, well... I guess it's
better then we had this mornin. Talk to ya later... Oh wait... I just sent
Carl Terrence out your way with a mushroom... I'd really appreciate it if
you could get me an analysis on it as soon as possible, it's related to
this case. Thanks buddy." Green looked for a moment like he was about to
slam the phone down, but he reigned in his temper and gently cradled the
receiver.
     "That was the lab. They sped things up giving us top priority.  The
dog hairs were from a Mutt, at least not from any breed they ever saw
before.  They assured me it wasn't a wolf... but we learned that fer sure
last night." Green ran a hand down his face. "The arrow was clean as a
whistle. Hand made, silver barb, oak shaft and the fletching was..."
     "Turkey.. wild turkey." Scully finished for him. It was identical to
the others.
     Green nodded. "I have two deputies from Mammoth Springs comin in to
help me out... til I can fill Jimmy's job." Green looked pained for a
second then shrugged it off. "That should keep us from another night like
last night. At least we'll have some back up around here." Green tugged at
his bottom lip when the phone rang. He picked up and after a few comments
turned to Mulder and Scully, his hand over the mouthpiece. "Been gettin
calls all mornin, people want ta know what was goin on last night. I think
I'll put it all on the answerin machine tape and save me some trouble." He
grumbled and made a face while giving brief reassurances to the caller
before cautioning them to stay inside at night.
     There was a knock at the door and Mulder sent a puzzled look to
Scully. A knock on the door of a police station? He shrugged, and since
Green was busy he went to answer it. Michael Gallagher was outside, Puck
sitting docilely at the end of a bright red leash whining in the back of
his throat. The boy shuffled his feet and his face was a mask of misery.
     "Come on in Michael. What's wrong?" Mulder put a hand on the kid's
trembling shoulder as he guided him into the station.
     "Momma won't wake up. She's breathin an everythin. I checked. I
watched Rescue 911. But I shook her and yelled an she won't move any.
Grampa used to get like that once in a while... but with HER like that I'm
all alone."
     Scully stood in the doorway to the Sheriff's office shaking her head.
"I'll come with you and check on her if you want Michael. I'm a doctor."
     The boy's round face brightened considerably, and there was a sparkle
of tears in the magnified image of his eyes through his glasses. "Would
ya? Thanks. I would have called an am-blance like they say to on 911...
but momma pulled the phone out and I didn't know how to make it work
again."
     "Why don't I come along and see if *I* can fix that." Mulder offered.
He wanted to get a better look at that house anyway...

     Michael was eating cereal in the kitchen, Puck laying at his feet
waiting for cheerios to drop and give him a treat when Scully called
Mulder upstairs. He stopped looking over the few scattered family photos
on a bookshelf and navigated the stairs.

     Scully stood in a doorway just a little down the hall. Inside Maire
Gallagher lay sprawled across a bed on her stomach. The smell of alcohol
was strong. Burbon... maybe some whiskey on top of the beer.
     "She's dead drunk alright, but I don't think she's in danger of an
alcoholic coma... yet. I wanted you to see this though." Scully pointed to
the unconscious woman's jeans and sneakers. There were burrs on her jeans,
and her sneakers were muddy. "Looks like she was doing some partying
outside last night."
     Mulder sighed. "I think we're gonna have to bring her in Scully."
     "May I ask your reasoning now?" Scully crossed her arms. 
     "I didn't want to mention it... but I think Thom Gallagher was more
then a drunk. I think he was Michael's father."
     Scully only raised an eyebrow, not saying anything.
     "Marie's reaction to any mention of Michael's father made me start to
consider the man a suspect... but it was Maddie who fit the peices
together. Thom Gallagher beat her... and she never dated, kept to the
house mostly... or wasn't allowed to leave. Classic scenario for child
sexual abuse. Then the fact that he brought in Meghan Thomas' grandmother
to deliver Michael instead of going to the hospital... it didn't make
sense unless he had something to hide."
     "So you think Maire Gallagher summoned the Wild Hunt to either avenge
herself on or to escape her father." Scully had to admit it made sense.
Maybe in her own drunkenness she suffered the delusions of being the
Hunter figure. A way to strike out at the world without the guilt.
     "Yes I do. He was the first victim. And I bet if we get a search
warrant and go through this place we'll find a bow and some arrows that
match those found in the victims."
     "Alright... I'll cuff her and try to bring her around enough to read
her her rights. But what do we do with Michael? I don't think this town is
big enough to have a local Social Services."
     Mulder gave her a lopsided grin, "I bet I know someone who'd just
LOVE to have someone to fuss over for a while."
     Scully matched his grin. "Maggie." She nodded. "Call Green. I don't
think it would be a good idea for Michael to see us taking his mother out
in cuffs. I just hope we can make this case hold with circumstantial
evidence and you doing a profile on her."

     Green was there in five minutes. He nodded to Mulder who was sitting
across the table from Michael, diverting the boy's attention with talk of
Basketball, a subject the boy knew a great deal about to Mulder's initial
surprise. Mulder pointed in the direction of the stairway and Green went
up to join Scully. 
     Maire Gallagher was conscious, but not at all coherent. Her speech
was slurred and rambling and she kept twisting in the cuffs.
     "What the Hell is going on here?" Green demanded. Scully began to
explain.
     It didn't take much to convince him. He just shook his head sadly.
"Damn... you know if I had even suspected any of this twenty year ago none
of this woulda happened... I'd a killed the bastard myself." He sighed.
"OK, will you two run Mike over to Maddie's? You're right, she'd love to
take him in. I'll take Maire in. I'll also make sure she understands her
rights when she's sober enough."
     He moved to half haul the inebriated woman to her feat, she didn't
protest. "One thing though Ms. Scully... What about the dogs? Puck hasn't
got a mean bone in his body... and there aint any other dogs here."
     Scully shook her head. "I don't know Sheriff. Mulder and I plan on
sticking around until Ms. Gallagher is sober enough to give us some
answers... that will definitely be on the list of questions."

===========================================================================


     Michael had been told that his mother was sick, and she was going to
get some help. It was the truth as far as both agents were concerned.
Scully didn't like it... but she felt Mulder was right. It twisted her up
inside to know that Maire Gallagher had been through so much... it was
almost understandable and forgivable that she go insane. If only so many
people hadn't died.
    Maggie had the boy installed in one of her guest rooms and set about
getting a rope run set up in her back yard for Puck by the time Mulder and
Scully left.
    "I wonder why she never got married? She's got all those mother genes
down pat." Mulder mused as Scully drove for once. 
    "Mother genes? I don't think there is a genetic code for mothering."
She shook her head and smiled. "But you are right... she is nice. She'd
drive me crazy in a month... but she's nice."
     
     Enid Thomas was painting in her upstairs studio when Hela began to
fidget downstairs. She heard him whining and pacing. Something was wrong. 
     She wiped her brushes and went down to check when she heard the
gentle rapping at her front door.
     Opening it she was confronted by the small figure of Agnes Kelly.
    "Enid, we need to talk. There's some major trouble."
     The young woman sighed and let Mrs. Kelly in. Somehow she didn't
think she was going to like this.

     Maire Gallagher had passed out again as soon as she was in a holding
cell. Green sighed and ran the idea of calling a public defender for her
against his general dislike of all lawyers. The lawyers lost. He hated
pitying the woman behind the bars. But if those FBI people were right...
damn it he could almost give her a clap on the back for gettin her own
back against her old man. If the killin had stopped there he'd probably
even do his best to support her. Temporary insanity and all that. But Jack
O'shay, Meghan Thomas, Ian Jones and Jimmy McGowan didn't deserve to die.
He made sure to leave Pat Murphy's name off the list though... good bye to
bad rubbish. 
     He was still looking in the cell, contemplating the whole mess of a
situation when Mulder and Scully came in.
     "She hasn't come round. I'm brewing up some coffee, but I doubt it
will do her any good. Time is all that will clear up that much booze. I've
locked up enough drunks to know that. She probably won't be able to talk
straight till she wakes up on her own. I'll call ya the minute that
happens. We might get more out of her if she's hung over and off gaurd."
     "What about the search warrant? We HAVE probable cause." Mulder
leaned against the cell bars.
     "I got a judge signin it right now in Mammoth Springs. I'll be
radioed the ok for an emergency search as the paperwork is brought here by
courier." 
      As if on cue the Radio in the Sheriff's office fell out of it's
usual staticy pattern.
     "This is Mammoth Springs Dispatch to Woading Law Enforcement come
in..." Green moved quickly into his office and picked up the Mike. 
     "This is Woading. Green here, give me some good news." 
     "It's all clear. Warrant is on it's way, you are clear for an
emergency search of 283 Williams Street. Repeat you are clear for an
emergency search of 283 Williams Street." The woman's voice over the CB
was completely neutral.
     "Clara honey, I could kiss you." Green grinned into the mike. 
     "Promises, Promises." The neutral voice faded into one filled with
humor. "I was expectin at least a marriage proposal though."
     "I would but you deserve better then me. I'm outta here."
     Green replaced the mike before gesturing to the door. "After you
folks. We got a house and grounds to search."

     "Agnes... are you sure? I mean..." Enid shook hear head then put her
face in her hands. 
     "Child, I am as sure as I ever have been. I saw them bring her in.
They drove right past my house."
     "This is so hard... I suppose if I'd done my job a little better none
of this would have happened." Enid began to cry and Agnes wrapped her arms
around the much younger woman, pulling her close and rocking her slightly.
     "It's no more your fault then mine. What's done is done. Now we got
to put it to rights. And don't you start blamin yerself for poor Meghan.
You've been doin good so far... I won't have ya fallin apart on me now.
Not when I need ya. Now... I need ya to get your things together and to
try to work another summoning. Lockin up poor Maire is a mistake, and I'm
afraid things are just gonna get worse for it. We may need to fight Fay
with Fay."
     Enid shook and straightened herself up. She looked straight into the
older woman's eyes. "Last time I tried to call on the Telwyth Teg..."
     "Was for selfish reasons. That's why it fell apart. Now ya got to do
it for others. Shove your fears aside girl... it won't do any good... and
if ya CAN help, and didn't... THEN's the time to be blamin yerself."

===========================================================================


     Just as Green was about to suggest the two agents go without him so
he could stay with the prisoner a Mammoth Springs cruiser pulled up
outside. Two uniformed officers got out and reported in. 
     "Good, I thought you boys wouldn't arrive in time." green clapped his
hands and rubbed them together. "These are agents Mulder and Scully of the
FBI, they've been helpin run this puppy.  I've got a suspect in there now
with only me an the janitor to stay here and watch her. One of you now has
that happy duty. She's sleeping off a drunk now, so she shouldn't be
trouble.  We also have an emergency warrant release to search the
suspect's house and grounds, the other of ya can come along and help with
that end."
     Both men nodded and after a quick discussion between themselves the
younger  of the two volunteered to stay at the station.
     "Sir, what are we looking for when we conduct our search?" The
officer who had volunteered to join them was in his mid thirties, short
but built like a wrestler.
     "Well Mark, we are lookin fer a bow and some hand made arrows with
silver tips.  We are also lookin fer a pair of deer antlers and maybe a
hollow spike of some sort.  Anythin at all that will help link our suspect
to the murders, includin an overlarge bill fer dog food."

     At the Gallagher place they decided to split up to cover the most
ground in the least time. Green headed for the upstairs while Officer Mark
Brody was taking the first floor.  Mulder volunteered to check the
basement with a lopsided grin. "I'm used to basements." Scully started
going over the acre and a half yard. It was still slow going.

     Enid Thomas knelt just outside the ring of mushrooms in her side
yard.  Agnes Kelly sat in a wicker chair off behind and to the side of the
younger woman.  Agnes did not know how to do what Enid did, she didn't
have the gift, but she knew the gist of it.  She had told the truth
before... she was no witch.  That was Enid's forte.  Agnes smiled a little
at the thought.  Those nice FBI people would never believe that. 
Especially not this term for witch anyway. Enid was a witch born, then a
witch trained in a tradition older then those who now claimed the title of
witch. Enid's magic was orally passed down from teacher to student since
before the Romans conquered the Britons. Agnes shook her head as she
watched the young woman before her sway and chant as she arranged some of
the things she would need for this summoning.  There were damn few
teachings as old as those Enid followed and some would find the idea of
such an ancient tradition harder to believe in then the tue magic
involved.
     Enid set a small brass brazier within the fairie ring, a bundle of
dried herbs and powdered charcoal mixed with incense filled it's bowl. 
She lit them with a match and began to chant.  The words were not English,
nor were they Gaelic or Welsh... but a much older language.
     After the readying ritual Enid paused and looked over her shoulder at
Agnes. "I'm ready to start.  This is best done at night though...under the
moon and stars."
     "An yer most likely ta git yer throat ripped out tryin it at night
here and now aint ya?" Agnes shook her head. "There's no time, things are
gonna come to a head tonight.  If we want to try and stop more deaths...
it has to be now."
     "Alright. Just like the ritual to summon the Hunter whatever answers
my summons is going to need a vessel. It will most likely be me, as I am
doing the ritual, and all the old magics and those who dwell in the spirit
realm consider Names and blood important. I was named after one of the
Telwyth Teg from my mom's fairy stories, and my blood is almost pure
Welsh. Hopefully the one I was named for will be listening."
     With those words she began to chant again. She picked up a silver
dagger and after making intricate patterns in the air in front of her that
seemed to leave an after image of light, like writing with sparklers on a
fourth of July night. After the last symbol was traced she brought the
blade across her palm, cupping it to catch the blood, then allowing the
blood to trickle into the brazier. The smoke flowed upwards before
drifting away on the breeze. It seemed an eternity, but it was really no
more then an hour before Enid's constant chanting received an answer. At
first it seemed only an odd shimmer of sunlight, then the light gathered
into a floating ball of sapphire light. The light floated from the center
of the ring to Enid, stopping just before her before simply blinking out. 
     Enid collapsed with a groan. Agnes moved as quickly as she could to
the young woman's side. "Enid?" She brushed stray strands of dark hair
from the woman's face.
     Enid groaned and opened her eyes. "I was answered. It worked... but
it she didn't choose me. *I* would know if she chose to stay in my body
even if any other vessel would not. It was female... and at least as old
as the Hunter... but.... where did she go? Who did she choose? It could be
anyone, male or female so long as they are directly involved with the mess
the Wild Hunt has made of our world."
     Agnes Kelly frowned and helped the girl up, lost in thought. Then as
Enid regained her feet and her balance Agnes slowly smiled. "Oh... I think
I have an idea." The old woman winked. "Ya think too much of the Welsh
version of the tales, but yer Telwyth Teg are known by many names.
Faieries, The Sidhe, The little Folk, The Folk of the Air, the Spirits...
and the Tuatha de Dannan..." Agnes Kelly laughed at the sweet irony of
what she was guessing.
     "Agnes? Have you snapped? What is so funny?"
      "I'll tell ya inside child. It's chilly out here... and my bones are
aching."

===========================================================================


     Mulder was half way through the basement and had yet to find anything
more then dirt and dust. It looked like he was going to have to take
another shower after they were through here and he idly wondered if
Woading had a dry cleaner.  There was also a lovely mildew odor and he was
sure he was allergic to something down here because his sinuses had filled
up and his eyes were beginning to burn and itch.  Just great, he thought,
the Hounds of Hell miss me but I'm brought low by a basement... pun
intended, he smiled to himself, oh the indignity of it all.
     He was going through a filthy aluminum shelf filled with an odd
assortment of junk. Old toys -Hey a slinky, dusty puzzle boxes- nothing in
there but slightly molding cardboard pieces, an HO train set- got a whole
town in these boxes wonder if it has working lights, a box filled with
outdated hunting licenses and old pictures of past successes- hold on...
BINGO!
     Mulder brought the box closer to the bare overhead light bulb that
was his only source of illumination down here.  The licenses were for BOW
hunting.  The pictures were of Thomas Gallagher with different dead
animals before him.  The slight variation in hair styles and one try at a
mustache marked the progression of years.  He was a buck hunter.  There
was a picture taken in 1975, if the licence it was pinned to was any
indication. In it Thom Gallagher held up the head of an eight point
buck...He held a recurve bow in his free hand and Maire was present. God-
she couldn't have been more then fifteen, a skinny little kid with a
bruised cheek visibly attempting to edge away from her father in the
picture. Mulder's jaw clenched in anger. He stopped from grinding his
teeth to bite back a curse. In the picture young Maire Gallagher was
holding a bow of her own. OK, still circumstantial evidence and not overly
helpful... but it proved she knew how to use a bow. Three of the licenses
were for her, but there were no success pictures to go with them. The
licences with her name on them were from 74, 75 and 76. 
     He put the lid back on the cardboard box and tagged it as evidence. 
As he turned back to the shelves of junk he heard light footsteps on the
wooden stairs behind him. He turned around to greet Scully.
     "I take it you had no luck." 
      She shook her head. "Yard is clean. Even Puck's dog house is
clean... though smelly." She reached out and wiped a finger against
Mulder's cheek pulling it back so he could see the dirt smear on it.
"Looks like you've been having fun though. If you keep this up mom really
will ground you."
     Mulder grinned then sneezed. "Damn... I swear I'm allergic to
something down here." He handed her the shoe box full of licenses and
photos. "Take a look at this."
     She took the box and was about to open it when she went suddenly
pale. The box fell from her hands, scattering laminated licenses and faded
pictures over the dusty floor. She started to crumple.  Mulder caught her
and gently lowered her to the floor, kneeling with her a look of confusion
and distress on his face that she would have thought funny if she saw it.
     "Scully?" She seemed unconscious. What the Hell... "Green! Brody! I
need some help down here, Scully collapsed!"
     He heard the pounding of two sets of feet above him followed by those
same feet rushing down the basement stairs.  Both Lawman were by his side
in seconds. 
     "What the Hell happened, she hit her head?" Green took off his wide
brimmed hat and checked Scully's pulse.
     "No... she was fine then all of a sudden she collapsed." 
     Scully opened her eyes to see three concerned faces peering down at
her. "What happened? Mulder, why am I in your lap?"
     The concern in his eyes did not fade as he gave her a familiar
lopsided grin. "Guess you finally fell for me. Can I sweep a girl off her
feet or what?"
     "Even *I* have more of a life then THAT." Scully pushed at him and
sat up, one small hand fluttering up to touch her temple. "Seriously, what
happened? I remember you handing me a box... then... nothing."
     "You passed out. Maybe you need more sleep. Exhaustion can do that to
you." Mulder got to his feet and helped her stand genuine worry in his
voice.
     Scully shook her head. "No... I'm fine. I FEEL fine anyway. Maybe I'm
more allergic to something down here then you are." Scully brushed at her
clothes, embarrassed now at the whole incident. She was NOT the type to
pass out for no reason. "Sheriff Green, do you need some help going over
the upstairs?"
     Green continued to look worried. "If ya promise not to pass out on me
too."
     Scully actually felt herself blush, which added insult to injury. "I
don't usually," she assured him. "I guess there's a first time for
everything."
     Mulder watched her go making sure she was steady on her feet before
he bent to gather up the scattered contents of the shoe box.
     The house yeilded no further evidence or clues.  They did indeed find
deer antlers, four sets. Green declared all of them too old to be from the
deer carcass they'd seen in the woods. Most likely they had been hunting
trophies. If the murder weapons had ever been there they were not there
now. Not even Thom Gallagher's old hunting bow, or Maire's. It was
disappointing to say the least. By the time they left Scully really did
seem fine, if embarrassed enough that Mulder refrained from teasing her
about it. Green and officer Brody returned to the Station with the box
Mulder had found while Scully went with Mulder to the B&B so he could get
cleaned up.
     Michael was watching an old Road Runner cartoon when they came in. He
was so absorbed he didn't even notice them. Puck just looked up, his ears
perked before letting his furry head fall back to his paws with a muted
'whuff'. Maddie was less circumspect.  She took one look at Mulder and
made an attempt to stifle the purely girlish giggles that came bubbling up
making her seem younger then she was for a moment. 
     "You're a mess. What happen you loose a fight with a dust bunny?"
     "Hey that dust bunny had teeth." He started to shrug out of his suit
jacket but Maddie held up a hand. 
     "Not in MY living room bucko... upstairs in the bathroom or I'll have
to dust everything again today."
     As he ascended the stairs Scully met Maddie's eyes and both women
broke into unrestrained laughter.

===========================================================================



     A half an hour later Mulder was feeling much better as he fished the
bottle of iced tea out of Maddie's refrigerator. The shower had helped to
clear his sinuses and his itchy eyes, but for more permanent relief he
popped three antihistamine tablets in his mouth and drained a glass of
tea. 
     He looked up when Maddie's phone rang and when the lady herself swung
around the doorway into the kitchen to answer it. She spoke very briefly
before hanging up and looking at Mulder. 
     "Maire woke up five minutes ago.  Tom said to send you over right
away. He said she hasn't asked for a lawyer yet."

     It was getting late again.  Close to five when they went into the
Station.  There was no interrogation room, just the short little isle in
front of the cell. Maire Gallagher sat on the edge of a bare cot, holding
her head in her hands. A paper cup filled with steaming, black coffee sat
on the floor next to her, untouched.
     "Where were you last night Maire?" Green started as soon as Scully
and Mulder arrived. They thought it best that he start. He was the
familiar face here.
     "I was drunk... where do you think?"
     "Yah, but where were you drunk?" Mulder leaned back against the wall
across from the cell.  
     "I got wasted on my couch." Maire rubbed at her face, then pushed the
mass of her blonde hair over her shoulder. "What is this about? Why am I
here?" She was still bleary eyed, but at least she was thinking.
     "You were in your room when we found you with evidence that you had
been outside very recently." Scully crossed her arms.
     "Well then I don't know where I was. What is this about?" She
demanded a bit more harshly.
     "It's about the fact that there was an attempt on three lives last
night. Tell us about your daddy Maire." Green placed a hand on the bars,
almost coming between Maire and the agents.
     "What about him?"
     "He raped you didn't he? HE was Michael's father." Mulder this time,
but his tone was not harsh, was in fact sympathetic.  Maire paled, denial
on her lips... then she simply lay down and wept. After a full minute she
looked through puffy eyes at Mulder.
     "How did you know?" She sniffled.
     "There were a lot of signs. I've been trained to see them. Is that
why you set out to have him killed?" Mulder's gentle question brought out
another sob.
     "I used to be taught... old lady Llewellyn said I had had a gift...
anyway when she saw I wasn't payin much attention to the lessons I snuck
off to take she told me to come back when I had straightened myself out."
Maire gave a little hiccup, "I never did... but she had taught me enough."
     "What did she teach you?" Scully moved a little closer to the bars.
Maire looked up from her seat to meet her eyes, then she gasped and pulled
back slightly from the agent.
     "Maire, you were taught WHAT?" Green pushed.
      The woman seemed to sober up fast.  Her eyes never left Scully and
she was shaking again. "Old lady Llewellyn taught me the old magics till I
was twelve. By then I couldn't sneak away much... couldn't concentrate. 
I... I heard she'd taken another student before she passed on."
     "You expect us to believe you learned magic? Real magic?" Scully
shook her head and Maire looked terrified of the other woman's disbelief.
     "You tried to summon the Wild Hunt." That was from Mulder, who
frowned a little at Gallagher's reaction to Scully.
     Maire Gallagher nodded slowly, then grabbed her head with a wince. "I
did. It was stupid... but I had to get away.  He was starting to beat
Michael. Where is Mikey?" The woman started to look frantic.
     "He's safe Maire. Maddie's with him." Green shook his head sadly
"Maire... did you kill all those people?"
     Maire looked at each of the people outside the cell in turn, her gaze
lingering longest on Scully, before she dropped her eyes to stare at the
tops of her sneakers. She did not look up when she finally breathed the
word. "Yes."
     "Jesus H. Christ!" Green swore. "You did it didn't you? You actually
called up the Wild Hunt... and the Hunter went into you."
     The woman shuddered and wrapped her arms around herself. She still
did not look up. She looked defeated. "Yes. I did it. I did it ALL. I
didn't know what I was doing when I called them... then it was too late."
     "Maire..." Green closed his eyes and the hand he had wrapped around
the cell bar was white knuckled, "are you confessing?"
     "Yah.... I guess I am. What's gonna happen to Mikey?"
     "I'll make sure he's taken care of, I promise. I think I better get
this in writing then... do this by the book.  Do you want to call a
lawyer? You are entitled." Green pulled at his bottom lip.
     Maire looked at Green with tears in her eyes. "No. I'll sign your
confession."
     Mulder rubbed the side of his nose with his thumb. Something was NOT
right here, it just didn't fit...but he couldn't quite put his finger on
what.
     "Tell me Maire... after you shot them... why did you slit their
throats?" Mulder looked at her curiously and Scully frowned at him, her
eyes questioning.
     "I guess to make sure they were dead. To do it right." Maire sniffled
and hugged herself once more.
    Green's mouth hung open. Mulder nodded then placed a guiding hand at
the small of Scully's back and escorted them from the room.
     "She didn't do it." He said simply when the door closed behind them. 
     "So I gathered after that little curve ball of yours." Green looked
out the front door to the darkened street. "But why would she confess?"
     "I think she did try to summon the Wild Hunt... but she isn't the
killer... the Hunter.  She is trying to protect the one who is."
     "No Mulder... you don't seriously think..." Scully had by now learned
to follow some of her partner's lines of thinking.
     "Think WHAT?" Green spun to face them and growled through gritted
teeth.
     "The Hunter needed a vessel.  Maire isn't that strong, barely any
stamina... but Michael IS. And he doesn't have much of a will to stand in
the way of being possessed."
     The Sheriff's face turned grey. "Oh God... Maddie!"

===========================================================================


     They burst through the front door of the Bed and Breakfast, guns
drawn.  Green shoved past Mulder and Scully. 
     "MADDIE!" No answer. 
     The TV was on in the living room, old cartoons playing to an empty
room. Green took it all in with a growing sense of dread. "MADDIE ANSWER
ME!"
     Scully moved through the door of the kitchen her gun sweeping the
room before her. The kitchen itself was empty, but the back door hung
open, a cold wind coming in and the darkness outside seemed to press
inward, instead of the light spilling out. 
     Green bounded up the stairs while Mulder checked the closets. 
     Everyone was relieved when Green returned a moment later hauling his
sister down the stairs. Maddie Green was sopping wet and dressed in a huge
fleece robe. She'd obviously been hauled out of the shower and looked none
to happy about it.
     "Just what the Hell is goin on here Tom?" She glared.
     "Where is Michael?" The Sheriff gestured to the empty room.
     Maddie paled. "He... he was here when I went up... watching TV.  Oh
lord... if he went out..."
     Scully looked at Mulder and Green. "The back door was wide open. He
left."
     "Oh Lord, those dogs are still out there aren't they?" Maddie
clutched at her brother's arm.
     "I don't think Michael has anything to fear from those dogs." Green
sighed, frustration and anger at the whole bloody situation welling up.
"OK let's see if we can find him."

     Officer Harold Ridge sat back at the desk after answering natures
call and sipped at his coffee while listening to the radio playing softly
in the background. Reba was crooning "Does he love you?"  over the
airwaves and Ridge found himself humming along. He drained his cup and
went back for another. Despite the caffeine he was having a hard time
keeping his eyes open. He and Mark had been sent here because a serial
killer had murdered this little backwater town's deputy. It was so quiet
here it was hard to imagine a crazed killer out there on the empty
streets. Almost as hard to imagine the smallish woman in the cell in back
being that killer. 
     He sighed, hopefully Mark and him could go home soon. He liked
dealing with familiar people, familiar situations in Mammoth Springs. He
smiled to himself as his eyelids got heavy. Damn but he was tired. It had
been a two hour ride out here and now the most interesting thing to happen
was the paperwork on that search warrant arriving by courier and the
Sheriff and the FBI people takin off in a hurry. It was quiet...he was
alone... it wouldn't hurt to close his eyes for a minute would it? In no
time he was asleep.
     Enid Thomas slipped quietly through the front door. She went to the
coffee maker and dumped the used filter and wet grains into a baggie, then
she washed out the filter unit and dumped the pot, washing it out as well.
She moved over to the sleeping policeman and took his paper cup, dumping
that as well, and adding the cup to the mess in the baggie she slipped
into her purse. She then set the machine to make a fresh pot of coffee,
minus the powder from some of her sister's home made sleeping pills. 
     Enid took a shuddering breath and exhaled slowly. She couldn't
believe she'd let Agnes talk her into this. She quickly poured a half a
cup of the fresh coffee into a cup and added milk and sugar, sitting the
cup next to the sleeping cop she then took the keys off his belt. 
     Let's see, she thought as she went in the back to the single jail
cell, this is drugging a police officer - jailbreaking - aiding and
abetting... let's see if I can keep this to thing that will let me get out
in twenty years or less if I get caught.
     "Maire." She whispered into the cell as she found the key that
unlocked it.
     The woman in the cell had been curled up on the cot but at the sound
of her name she jumped up and looked at Enid in shock.
     "Come on Maire. Michael is out again tonight, and there is little
time. He has to be stopped tonight or never." Enid held the door open.
     "How did you... Michael? How did you get in here, how did you know
about Michael?"
     Enid grabbed the slightly older woman's arm and dragged her out of
the cell. "Because I'm the one Mrs, Llewellyn taught after you. We haven't
much time. The Hunter's been collecting blood from the victims. If he
kills again tonight he'll have blood from seven people. With that blood he
can make a new mask... can break the bonds that bind him to you. You never
learned that part did you?" Enid pushed Maire out the door and herded her
to the battered Volkswagon parked in a shaded corner of the station. "We
haven't got much time. I summoned help but that help can't send the Hunter
back, only protect the prey.  YOU have a job to do Maire." Enid's eyes
pierced the other woman pinning her for a moment before they both got into
the car. Maire nodded, resigned.
     "I think I saw your help." Maire sighed and began to weep again. "I
don't want Mikey hurt."
     "With luck you'll be able to prevent that." Enid started the car.

     Thick, blunt fingers brushed the protective leaf cover from the tools
of his trade. They glowed softly in the darkness. Lovingly he picked up
the mask.  The leaves formed a face. molded together with mud made from
the caster's blood. The stag's horns raising from the brow improved it.
All in all it was a poor piece of craftsmanship. When he made the next one
it would be better. 
     He placed the mask over his face.  Now he was complete.  The Green
Man, The Hunter.  Somewhere in the back of his mind the mortal boy slept,
unaware of the other who now shared his body.
     The Hunter took up his long bow, made from the bones and sinew of his
prey over the millennia, and his quiver.  The dog by his side growled with
anticipation.  The magic of the Hunt had transformed the overly docile pet
of the boy in more then temperament, it had transformed him physically so
he became a true Hound of the Pack.
     "We have to find the defiler." He whispered through his mask.  The
dog snorted once, it's glowing eyes registered understanding as it
summoned the rest of the Pack. Eleven balls of red light floated into the
clearing before dimming and transforming into the rest of the Pack.  It
was time for The Hunt to begin again.

===========================================================================


     They poured out the back door door of the Bed and Breakfast.  The
day's soft autumn breeze had changed into a real wind now and the
temperature had dropped.  Their breath misted for an eye blink before
their faces before the wind ripped it away. 
     "Alright he is on foot, and hasn't been gone that long. He can't have
gone far." Mulder took the flashlight Maddie passed him. She passed two
more to Scully and Green. 
     "He might be armed." Green groaned, "An those damned dogs..."
     "I don't think Michael knows what he's doing... try to go for a
disable if you are forced to shoot." Mulder headed in the direction he had
taken the night before. To the waiting woods three blocks away.

     Enid pulled the car over to the side of the road and both women got
out, their eyes frantically scanning the darkened forest. The wind forced
through the trees was producing an eerie moaning sound. Mire shivered and
felt Enid press something on her. An old dark sweatshirt. 
     "Try to talk to him, get Michael to come out and suppress the
Hunter." Enid pushed the dark strands of her wildly whipping hair out of
her face.
     Maire huddled in the oversized sweatshirt. She knew talking was not
going to help.  She was afraid down to her bones, more afraid then she'd
ever been of her bastard father. Michael... what had she done to the only
good thing ever to come in to her life? Her poor, darling baby boy, the
picture of an innocence she never remembered having. Was it worth it
Maire, she asked herself, your pa's gone, but was it at all worth all the
innocent lives.... worth turning Michael into a monster? No, she had to be
honest and face the truth that she'd taken to drinking to avoid, it was
not worth any of it. 
     "You ever make a mistake with the magic Enid?" Maire  looked at the
younger woman with an expression of resignation.
     "Yep. Before today I was terrified to try summonin the Folk of the
Air, because when I was seventeen, horny and full of myself I tried to
summon a Fairie lover. It exhausted me.... and the answer I got back was a
magical smack upside the brain that had me laid up with the worst headache
anyone can imagine for a whole week. I guess... I guess I got off light
huh?" Enid hugged Maire. "Agnes told me that the only time we really screw
up is when we don't learn, and when we don't face our responsibilities." 
     "And this is mine." Maire looked at Enid and tilted her head in the
direction of the car. "Go home Enid. You've done more then enough. 
Staying here'll just get ya killed. You know that as much as I do I guess.
There is too much happening to add one more body to the confusion. And
Enid..." Maire hugged the woman and pulled back, tears flowing down her
cheeks, "I am so sorry about Meghan."
     Enid just nodded and patted Maire's shoulder, then returned to the
car.  She hated leaving, it felt like an act of cowardice... but she knew
Maire was right. This was not her battle, she had done what she could.
Maire had started this alone, and now she had to finish it alone.
     Maire watched the battered Volkswagon pull away and get swallowed
into the night and repressed the urge to chase after it. Steeling her
nerve for what she knew she had to do she stepped into the moaning trees.

     Scully felt strange.  There was a pulling in her chest, drawing her
forward. She was barely aware she had sped up from a rapid walk to a jog,
moving past both Mulder and Green till her partner called her name.
     "This way." She pointed into the woods and to the left, utter
conviction in her voice.
     "Women's intuition?" She swung her flashlight around to see him
looking at her with an amused glint in his eye.
     "I... I don't know. I just know he is that way... waiting." She
frowned. Curiouser and curiouser.
     They did not split up. If they ran into those dogs again they knew
they would need each other. Green moved into step at Scully's left and
Mulder walked to her right.

     The Pack sniffed the air, they made no noise but looked to their
Master with questioning eyes. 
     "Yes, go my children. Avenge the insult dealt us."
     The dogs sped off into the night as the Hunter notched an arrow with
a predatory gleam in the eyes visible through the mask.

     "Holy shit!" Green gasped as they all spotted the oncoming glowing
eyes at the same moment.  They all raised their guns at once and started
shooting.
     When not a single dog went down in the gloom Mulder accepted that
bullets were really useless. With no other real option he pulled loose his
tie  and dug into his pocket, coming up with an iron nugget. Please let me
remember how to do this... he dropped the nugget into the middle of the
doubled tie and began whipping it in a circle over his head... and let
Agnes Kelly be right. He let loose with the improvised sling. He hadn't
used one since he was fifteen and shooting out bottles with rocks, but his
near perfect memory served him well. He heard a yelp of pain and one of
the dogs went down. He squelched the thrill of triumph though... he only
had two more nuggets.
     There was a hiss to his left and he looked just in time to see Green
go down with a cry of pain, an arrow seemed to have sprouted from his
shoulder.
     "MICHAEL!" Mulder cried hoping for some recognition from the hidden
boy.
     Then there was no time. The dogs were there. One leapt straight for
Mulder and he raised his arm in a futile effort to protect himself as his
other hand grasped a second iron nugget. It took him a second to realize
the dog had not connected and for the canine yelp of pain and surprise to
register. There was a flash of blue light and the dogs all stopped, the
one that had leapt for him had collapsed in a whimpering heap. The rest of
the demonic Pack backed up one step, two... They were not looking at
Mulder, or at Green who had managed to sit up to stare at them through
eyes glazed with pain, their focus was entirely on Scully. She stood with
her gun held limply at her side. She raised her other hand and a dome of
soft blue iridescent light surrounded the three of them. Mulder felt his
mind go numb... what the Hell was going on?

===========================================================================


     "Reveal yourself!" The voice was Scully's, but not. There was an odd
echo to it, a second reverberation as if two people spoke the words not
one. As she spoke the wind around them died.
     Mulder let his flashlight skim the woods. He was amazed the beam
penetrated the odd dome of light. Michael stepped forward into the beam of
the flashlight and Mulder held it there. He was wearing a mask of some
sort, it seemed to be be made of leaves... and the missing antlers. In his
left hand was a bow, it seemed a nightmare amalgamation of bleached bones
and twine.
     "You have interfered between me and my prey Dana." The voice was also
not Michael's, and the boy's eyes glowed the same hellish red as the dogs.
The infliction he gave Scully's name was wrong some how, not quite right. 
Mulder raised his gun again, aiming for the boy's shoulder.  He still did
not want to kill him if it could be helped.
     "You have broken the law of The Hunt my son. This prey escaped you
last darkness, eluded you and your Pack for a full night.  Thus are they
free of you for the span of their lives. You yourself made the rules, how
dare you now violate them so carelessly."
     Green was pale from loss of blood as he clutched at the arrow in his
shoulder, but he was looking at Scully as she spoke. "My God, look at her
eyes..."
     Mulder let his gaze flicker from the Hunter to his partner. Scully's
eyes glowed with a blue light that matched the brightness of the Hunter's.

     "Who are you?" He asked the familiar form next to him. His voice
filled with rage as he rasped, "what have you done with Scully?" For he
knew in the depths of his terror choked heart that the woman beside him
was NOT Dana Scully.
     A gentle smile curved Scully's lips. "I am the first Dana. From me
came all the Tuatha de Dannan.... the Children of Dana. Even the Hunter
must acknowledge me as mother figure. Your friend is unharmed mortal...
for I do not harm my vessels. She is sleeping right now within her own
mind. Completely unaware that I am here."
     The Hunter growled, "He violated the ring that served me, my gate. He
must pay." The Hunter/Michael pointed to Mulder, drawing their attention
back to him and the Pack gathered at his feet.
     "He did it unknowing. Return my child, this world holds no place for
us any longer. We are neither needed nor wanted here." The being within
Scully answered him.
     "Michael?" The plaintive voice came from behind the Hunter figure,
and he turned so all could see Maire Gallagher stumble into the darkened
clearing. "Michael stop this. Oh baby, it was never meant to be you. It
was supposed to be ME."
     "Woman, you called on forces you knew next to nothing about. It is up
to ME to choose. And now I choose to break that which binds me to you.
Leave this place, this is no longer your concern." The Hunter turned his
back on her.
     Mulder barely had time to wonder how Maire had gotten out of jail
before she gave out a wild cry, she held something in her hand as she
rushed at the Hunter's back. The dog closest him snarled and sprang. It's
weight bore Maire Gallagher down even as it buried it's muzzle in her
throat. She didn't even scream. 
     Mulder did. "NO!" Mulder dropped his gun and used the second nugget
in his improvised sling. It connected solidly with the head of the
attacking dog. The dog collapsed without a sound.
     All at once the other hounds vanished, simply blinked out of
existence as if they had never been, and Michael Gallagher slumped to the
ground to lay as unmoving as the dog and his mother. His bow and arrows
were gone.
     The blue dome of light that had surrounded Mulder, Green and Scully
dissolved around them and Scully walked calmly forward and bent over the
boy. Mulder looked from the wounded Sheriff to Scully and the Sheriff
waved him away. Mulder went to crouch over the other side of Michael.
     The being within Scully removed the mask from the boy's innocent,
round face. She traced a finger across his forehead trailing a faint blue
light that faded when she removed her hand. "Forget." She whispered.
     "What happened here?" He had a hard time meeting the strange glowing
eyes across from him, it rose his gorge. This thing inside Scully was a
violation, a rape of his partner's being. He wanted it OUT. But he also
wanted answers.
     "Maire Gallagher bound The Hunt here with her own blood in the spell
of calling. Unless the Hunter left voluntarily it was her blood more then
Michael's body that bound him here. He was collecting the blood of his
victims for once he had the blood of seven mortals he could make his own
mask, and break that blood bond. YOU were to be the seventh." Those
burning eyes pierced him. The being moved away from Michael's unconscious
form and led him to where Maire lay, the dog on top of her. Maire's throat
was gone. The Dog was Puck. Scully/Dana bent to pick the broken piece of
tree branch out of Maire's hand. "She knew what she was doing. She made it
appear she was attacking the Hunter to the Pack would have no choice but
to defend him. She shed the last of her blood willingly, thus breaking the
bond and sending the Hunter and his Pack back to the realm they belong
in." She bent to stroke Puck's fur. The dog's head was half caved in from
a wound that smoked and burned. "The poor beast was as overcome as his
master. The Pack Leader took him. It wasn't his fault. I wonder if some
small portion of his own mind remained when he attacked her... if he did
it to free his master..."
     The being within Scully moved away to approach Sheriff Green who
looked at her with awe and wonder. She smiled and touched the arrow in his
shoulder. It dissolved in a cloud of glowing dust and Green cried out. She
touched his shoulder and a faint blue light marked his wound. 
     "The bleeding is stopped. You will need aid though, as will the boy."
She turned to look at Mulder, "And when I leave your friend will be weak
and confused. I will make sure she remembers nothing. Farewell. I do not
think my kind will bother you again." 
     The light in Scully's eyes faded, and Scully crumpled to the ground.

===========================================================================


EPILOGUE:

Woading Arkansas
October 10th
4 pm

For the report of Special Agent Dana Scully:

           I AM STILL UNAWARE OF WHAT TRANSPIRED ON THE NIGHT
     OF OCTOBER 7TH.  MY MEMORY STOPS IMMEDIATELY AFTER WE ENTERED
     THE WOODS.  I MUST ACCEPT THAT SOMETHING REMARKABLE HAPPENED ON
     THE WORD OF AGENT MULDER AND SHERIFF GREEN, BUT THERE IS NO
     EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT THEIR OBSERVATIONS AND THEORIES.  I HAVE
     HAD A COMPLETE PHYSICAL AND A BATTERY OF TESTS ONLY TO FIND
     NOTHING UNUSUAL.
          THERE IS ALSO NO EXPLANATION OF HOW MAIRE GALLAGHER ESCAPED
     THE WOADING POLICE STATION WITHOUT OUTSIDE AID. OFFICER HAROLD 
     RIDGE HAS BEEN OFFICIALLY REPRIMANDED FOR FALLING ASLEEP ON DUTY
     AND SUSPENDED FOR TWO WEEKS FOR ALLOWING MS. GALLAGHER'S ESCAPE
     THUS LEADING TO HER DEATH. BUT HOW SHE MANAGED TO UNLOCK HER
     CELL AND GET TO THE WOODS REMAINS UNSOLVED.
          SHERIFF TOMAS GREEN WAS TREATED FOR HIS INJURY AND
     RELEASED. HE HAS ALREADY RETURNED TO PARTIAL ACTIVE DUTY AND HAS
     MADE AGENT MULDER PROUD BY SEEMINGLY OPENING UP TO EXTREME
     POSSIBILITIES.
          MICHAEL GALLAGHER HAS BEEN TAKEN TO MAMMOTH SPRINGS 
     PSYCHIATRIC CENTER.  DUE TO EXTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES AND LACK
     OF EVIDENCE HE IS NOT BEING CHARGED WITH THE MURDERS IN WOADING.
     AGENT MULDER AND SHERIFF GREEN ARE NOT ARGUING THE POINT.
          MADDIE GREEN HAS ALREADY FILED FOR TEMPORARY CUSTODY OF
     MICHAEL GALLAGHER PENDING ADOPTION UPON HIS RELEASE FROM THE
     PSYCHIATRIC CARE FACILITY. 
          THE MUSHROOM AGENT MULDER TOOK FROM THE SITE OF JACK
     O'SHAY'S MURDER WAS IDENTIFIED AS PSILOCYBE BAEOCYSTIS, A
     POWERFUL HALLUCINOGEN.  PSILOCYBE BAEOCYSTIS HAS NEVER BEFORE
     BEEN REPORTED TO GROW IN ARKANSAS DUE TO INHOSPITABLE
     CONDITIONS.  OFFICIALLY THIS CASE IS SUPPOSED TO HAVE CENTERED
     AROUND THE MARKETABILITY OF THIS DRUG.
          THE MUSHROOMS FOUND IN THE YARD OF ENID THOMAS WAS
     IDENTIFIED AS MARASMIUS OREADES, AN EDIBLE AND HARMLESS
     VARIETY.
          DUE TO THE LACK OF EVIDENCE THIS CASE WILL REMAIN OPEN AND
      UNSOLVED.

      Dana Scully pressed the enter with relief. It was not much, but it
was closure of a sort.
     Just then Mulder swept into the living room of Maddie's Bed and
Breakfast. He had something hidden under his overcoat and Scully gave him
a suspicious look. 
     "Mulder what are you hiding?"
     Mulder had that little boy grin on his face as he opened his coat to
reveal s squirming bundle of fur wearing a bright red ribbon. It was a
pure bred Husky puppy if she was any judge.
     "You didn't..."
     "I did." He grinned. "Maddie said it would be ok, and... I feel
responsible for Puck's demise. So... what do you think? Does she look like
a Dana to you?" He held the big eyed bundle of puppy out to her.
     "Mulder if you are calling me a..."
     "Never." He looked hurt. "It just seemed like the perfect name for
her after the past few days. Do you think Michael will like her?"
     Scully took the puppy and scratched it behind her ears. "I think
he'll love her. And don't worry... I won't tell a soul you have such a
soft spot."