At
George Washington University, a group of artists sketch a nude male model. However, one of the artists, John Mostow (Levani Outchaneichvili), draws a demonic creature in the model's place. While using a utility knife to sharpen his pencil, he cuts his hand and smears his blood on the drawing. When the model reaches his car after the session, he is attacked and killed by an obscured assailant. The following morning, Mostow is arrested in his apartment by an
FBI task force led by
Special Agent Bill Patterson (
Kurtwood Smith), who finds the
utility knife used in the murder covered in blood. Mostow, an immigrant from
Uzbekistan with a history of
involuntary commitment, is charged with killing seven men by mutilating their faces. Special Agents
Fox Mulder (
David Duchovny) and
Dana Scully (
Gillian Anderson) become involved in the investigation when Mostow insists that he was possessed during the killings; his claims are given credence when another murder occurs after his arrest. Mostow draws a
gargoyle and claims it made him kill. The agents meet with Patterson, who has spent three years working the case. Mulder knows Patterson from his time in the Investigative Support Unit at
Quantico. Their relationship is tense, and Patterson is skeptical of Mulder's theories. Mulder and Scully go to Mostow's studio and discover a hidden room full of gargoyle sculptures, finding corpses within them. A
glassblower is attacked and hospitalized. Special Agent Nemhauser (Greg Thirloway), Patterson's partner, tells Scully that Patterson was responsible for getting Mulder assigned to the investigation and may admire him after all. Patterson finds Mulder in the library studying gargoyles and expresses disappointment in him. Scully goes to Mulder's apartment and finds it covered with gargoyle drawings. Mulder, having sculpted a gargoyle himself in Mostow's studio before falling asleep, awakens to find a figure with a gargoyle-like face standing over him; he gives chase but is attacked, his face slashed with a utility knife. Mulder refuses to explain to Scully why he was in the studio. Scully confronts Patterson, who tells her not to try and stop Mulder from doing what he's doing. Mulder again goes to see Mostow, who refuses to divulge how to find the creature that attacked him. Scully finds a disassembled utility knife at the latest crime scene with Mulder's prints on it and discovers that the murder weapon is missing from the evidence room. She meets with
Assistant Director Walter Skinner (
Mitch Pileggi), who is also worried about Mulder's behavior. Mulder has a nightmare about being attacked by a gargoyle that is really himself. He goes to Mostow's studio again, finding a severed arm. Scully gets a message to call Nemhauser, but his phone is answered by Mulder, who denies taking the knife. He searches Mostow's studio and finds Nemhauser's body inside a new sculpture. Mulder is then confronted by Patterson, who is unaware of how he arrived at the studio. Mulder then deduces that Patterson is the killer, based on his three-year obsession with Mostow and his request for Mulder to investigate the case. Mulder confronts him, but Patterson flees when Scully arrives. Mulder pursues him and they fight, but Mulder perceives Patterson as a demonic gargoyle creature. Patterson is shot and apprehended. In the last scene, Patterson is pressed against the bars of his cell, screaming and pleading that he is innocent, while the camera focuses on a gargoyle drawn in blood on the wall of his cell. Earlier in the episode, Mulder told Scully that he and Patterson disagreed on the best way to investigate
serial murders: Patterson always tried to empathize with the suspect, imagining himself in the killer's place. Mulder's closing narration concludes that it was this that eventually drove Patterson insane, but Mulder cannot account for what he saw while fighting Patterson. == Production ==