Title: Fear of the Unknown

Author: IrishDachsie

Rating: R

Disclaimer: Other than Peter and Susanne Marsden, I do not own these characters. I also do not own anything having to do with CSI. Dammit. I'm also not making any profit from this story.

Fear of the Unknown

Chapter One

Grissom held up the yellow crime scene tape and ducked under it, followed closely by Nick. They entered the seemingly innocent-looking duplex in silence and walked down the hall.

Making a left turn into the kitchen, Grissom was greeted by a small smile from Sara as she looked up from her camera. "Hey..."

"Hey...cause of death?"

"Gunshot to the face."

Nick came to a stop beside of Grissom and glanced at the body before looking around the kitchen doused in blood. "Well...this doesn't look nice..."

Grissom gave him a cursory glance. "Death seldom does, Nick. Process the kitchen." Turning, he made his way further down the hall towards the living room.

His eyes focused on the wall and he studied his surroundings. "Sara!"

She quickly made her way to the living room and stood beside him, her mouth hanging open slightly. "Dear God..."

The room was covered in blood, on the far wall the word "Freak" had been scrawled in what appeared to be blood as well. "Has the vic been id'd?"

"Yeah...Peter Marsden, age 24...he lived here with his sister, Susanne."

"Well...I'm thinking someone didn't care too much for Peter."

"You think?"

They both turned around to see Brass standing behind them. "The 'freak's' sister is outside...she just got off work, and is demanding to see little brother."

"Sara..."

"Pictures...got it..."

He smiled at her, still amazed that she always knew what he was going to say. "I'm going to talk with Ms. Marsden..."

As Grissom and Brass made their way back down the hall, Nick called out to him. "Hey Griss? Can you take a look at this?"

Grissom carefully stepped into the kitchen and walked to the counter where Nick was staring at a shot glass. "What do you have, Nick?"

He gingerly picked up the glass and held it under the light. "Looks a little thick to be wine, doesn't it?"


Grissom eyed the liquid carefully before smelling it. "Blood. Animal or human?"

"Getting ready to find out."

"Let me know. I'm going out to talk to the sister."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Grissom cautiously approached the young woman, obviously in distress over her brother. He watched her for a brief moment as she paced back and forth on the lawn. "Ms. Marsden?"

She spun around quickly and stepped towards him. "Tell me Peter's okay!"

"Ms. Marsden, my name is Gil Grissom. I'm with the Las Vegas Crime Lab."

"I'm sorry Mr. Gri..whoever...I'm not really concerned with who you are. I just need to know that my brother is going to be okay."

Taking a deep breath, and gently taking her arm, he led her to the brick wall surrounding the duplex. "Ms. Marsden, I'm sorry. But...I can't tell you that your brother is okay."

She leaned heavily against the wall and stared at him, her eyes filling with emotion. "What...what happened?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out."

"How?"

"Excuse me?"

"How did he...die?"

"Ma'am..."

"Tell me...was it...did he...suffer?"

Grissom sighed heavily. How am I supposed to answer this? I have no idea if he was tortured before or... "I don't believe so, Ms. Marsden."

He waited a few moments to allow Susanne to regain some composure before continuing. If anything, his time that he had been spending with Sara had taught him more about being openly compassionate. And...at this moment, he was grateful for that.

"Ms. Marsden, did Peter have any enemies that you know of?"

She wiped the tears from her face and sighed heavily. "He mentioned that some people were giving him some problems, but he thought it would just blow over..."

"Did he mention any names, or describe their appearances?"


She shook her head slowly. "He said it wasn't important...that...it would just go away in time..."

Nick walked up and whispered something into Grissom's ear. Grissom looked back at Susanne. "Would you excuse me for one moment?"

Nodding her head, she allowed her tears to flow once more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What is it, Nick?"

"Tested the blood..."

"And?"

"Human...and...it's not the vic's..."

"Blood...in a shot glass, and it's not Peter Marsden's?"

Nick nodded his head. "Freaky, huh?"

Grissom narrowed his eyes at the younger man before walking back towards Susanne. Curious as to where this was going, Nick followed.

"Ms. Marsden?"

She looked up from the ground, her eyes swollen and red from her tears. "Yes?"

"Was Peter involved in any Satanic rituals or anything of that sort?"

She shook her head violently. "No. God, no. Why?"

Nick picked this opportunity to speak up. "Ms. Marsden, my name is Nick Stokes. And, we found a shot glass about half full of blood. And it wasn't Peter's blood."

"No...it was my blood..."

Grissom tilted his head slightly and studied the young woman in front of him. "Why was your blood in a shot glass on the kitchen counter?"

"I'm his donor."

"Donor?" The confusion could almost be heard in Nick's voice.

Susanne nodded slowly. "Yes. Peter is a vampire."

Grissom continued to study her, watching her body movements, listening to the tone of her voice. He kept his silence as Nick continued to speak.


"A vampire? Ms. Marsden...we didn't find any bite marks or anything resembling vampirism on Peter's body."

Susanne glared at Nick for a moment before opening her mouth to speak. "Well, Mr. Stokes...you either read too much or watch far too many movies. And, judging by the smugness in your tone, I'm guessing the latter."

She hesitated only a second before continuing. "Vampires do not go around sucking the life from people. They're not afraid of crucifixes. They are not repelled by garlic. They can see their reflections. They can be in the sunlight. They do not sleep in coffins. They are just like you and me and everyone else, except for the fact that they need to feed on blood once in a while in order to keep their energy levels intact. Peter was a good person. He held down a job. He loved his family. He was a loyal friend. But, a few of the people who knew about his vampirism thought of him as a..." She halted. Unable to get the words out any longer.

Grissom took a deep breath and looked at her. "A freak?"

Her eyes shot to him and locked with his. "Yes..." Her voice was barely above a whisper.

Grissom nodded and gestured for Brass to stay with her. Slowly, he walked back towards the house...with Nick right on his heels.

"Griss...tell me you don't honestly believe this..."

"I'll believe what the evidence will tell us, Nick. Test the blood in the glass against the sister's. We'll start there."

"Grissom...vampires? Come on. That's nothing but a myth. Something for Hollywood to make money off of..."

Grissom stopped walking and glared at him. "Kind of like scuba divers in trees, Nick?"

"Hey...that's different...that's plausible..."

"And...this could be too...process the evidence, Nick."

Nick watched Grissom walk into the house and shook his head. "God, I feel like I just stepped into the X-Files..."

Headlights pulling into the driveway caught his attention, and he smiled as Warrick and Catherine walked towards him. "Hey...Mulder, Scully...Skinner's inside...I think he's looking for you..."

Catherine turned to Warrick with a puzzled look on her face. "What the hell?"

He shrugged his shoulders and chuckled. "Sounds like he turned in Animal Planet for the Sci-Fi channel to me...let's go see what we've got..."