Willing sacrifice?

[MD2, 12:45AM, Buena Vista Motel]

>He decided to save the messages to disk, and thought >he'd peek into the hall to see if Zenya's light was on. >It was so he put on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and >went over with the disconnected laptop and knocked. >Zenya came to the door, a little surprised at his dress.

>"What can I do for you, Jim?" She looked at the laptop >and said "Come to play computer games?" with a smile.

>"I thought you'd better have a look at these, since you're >doing the profile. I think they're bulletin board messages >posted by our guy."

Having long since given up on the very idea of sleep, Zenya had determined to at least assemble a coherent report to present to the team in the morning. Well, as coherent as possible on no sleep. As such, she was mildly annoyed at the interruption, but at the same time grateful for some company. The more she thought about it, the more the events of the evening reminded her of other events in her life, and even immersing herself in her work didn't help, because it all seemed to come back to the same ideas.

"Well, then, you'd better come in and show me what you've got," Zenya said, stepping aside to let Jim pass. "Sit down, if you can find a place."

Jim looked around at the books and papers that were covering nearly every surface. There seemed to be some method to the arrangement of the clutter, but whatever it was, it wasn't readily apparent. He set the computer on a clear corner of the table and moved a book aside so he could sit down in the chair. "Looks like you've been busy," he commented.

Zenya nodded. "I've come up with some very interesting information on an ancient cult of Kali. I've just been organizing my notes." She pointed to the notepad on which Jim was resting his elbow. "And I have a fairly solid idea of the sort of person we're looking for, unless whatever you've come up with alters it."

Jim picked up the notepad and glanced at it with the intention of comparing his own impressions of the killer to Zenya's. "I hope that 'organizing' includes translating," he said.

"I only write in English when absolutely necessary," she said with a laugh. "I find it to be a little bit imprecise. Too poetic. Now, let's see these messages." She turned the computer so she could see the screen and began to read the messages from 'Mr. Ted.'

><> >Hello again,

>Mr. Ted's back. Hello especially to all you bitches >online. I have been thinking about you. I have been >thinking about you teasing men and about you >moaning when they screw you. I am going to pluck >your fucking hearts out...
><>

Zenya raised an eyebrow and nodded. "He certainly has a way with words, doesn't he," she said. "Not particularly shocking, though. This would be an outlet for his particular pathology, a means of release between victims."

"And a place where he can say the things he wouldn't dare say anywhere else," Jim suggested.

Zenya nodded. "It's all about control. He wants to maneuver others into a position of total submission. He's very good at that, and he knows it, but there's an underlying insecurity. He needs to prove it to himself time and again. And once he has achieved complete domination over the victim, he kills because he no longer has any use for them, and moves on to someone else."

"That's a typical pattern," Jim noted, nodding.

"With one major exception, I think. When we were talking earlier about the painting on the victims' backs, I started thinking. The images were clear enough to indicate that there wasn't much of a struggle."

"They might have been drugged," Jim said. "There was no indication of that in the autopsies of the Denver victims, but forensic testing has come a long way in twenty years."

"Possible," Zenya said. "But he knew the victims, apparently had intimate relationships with them. I think they were with him willingly. And I think they knew exactly what he was going to do to them."

Jim's eyes widened at that comment. "You think they knew that he was going to kill them," he asked, clearly a bit shocked at the idea.

"Actually, I'm glad I have a chance to run this by someone before I present it to the whole group," Zenya said. "I mentioned that I'd found information about a cult of Kali. It was active for a short time in northern India. There isn't a lot of information about it, except that their beliefs were based on a certain myth, and that they practiced human sacrifice - which wasn't all that uncommon at the time," she added. "This all took place two thousand years ago. They considered it an abomination to the goddess to sacrifice an unwilling victim. Which was not a problem, apparently, because the group's doctrine taught it was the greatest honor to be selected for sacrifice."

Jim frowned, nodding slightly. "I can see the possibility, but where's the connection? Kali is a major figure in the Hindu religion. There have probably been a lot of cults and groups that worshipped her in particular."

"There is a connection, in Mary Ritchie's diary. She quotes almost directly from the myth that this cult was based on. She wrote, 'I have dreamed of the one I worship, and I will be glad to surrender myself to his hands, knowing that I will be worshipped and remembered by those who come after.'"

After Jim left, Zenya picked up the book that contained the information on the cult, and the myth. Rereading it for perhaps the tenth time since she found it, she was more certain than ever that the connection was there. And, she had to admit, she was a little curious about the sort of person who could exert that much control over another individual.

-----

Sydnie Kathryn MacElroy

SA1 Kate Calloway, X-Files, DELTA
SA2 Zenya Gorky, X-Files, ZULU
Fianna Nikal, Kal-Dixas Spaceport

Linguae quae genera distincta non habent inuriam faciunt feminis.

"It may not be apparent, but I am often amused with human behavior."

                       Voyager - Seven of Nine