*A look into the very worst of what could have happened while Vincent locked himself into that cage. Rated R for violence.
**Author's Note: I'm not sure if Vincent's hearing is actually as good as I've made it in this story, just go with it. ;-)
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Cat rolled onto her stomach at 3:01am, searching her nightstand aimlessly in the dark for her incessantly buzzing cellphone. Sleep hadn't come easily that night. She'd left the warehouse earlier that day with a heavy heart for Vincent's situation. The thought of him in self-exile tore at her very spirit, especially considering it looked like she was to blame. She had only managed to calm her racing thoughts and find some rest an hour or so before. The flashing of Tess's face on her screen meant a new case had likely fallen into their laps. With a groan, Cat went to answer it. Sleep would elude her for now.
"Chandler."
"Hey bud, sorry for the early wake-up call. Listen, a body dropped and we're up in the rotation."
In spite of herself, Cat smiled at the sound of Tess's friendly voice. After the last day she had, she would happily welcome her partner's presence.
"No worries, I couldn't sleep anyway. Where do I need to go?"
Tess exited her apartment building and headed toward her NYPD-issued Dodge Charger. "It's in Hell's Kitchen. I'm going in your direction, how about I just pick you up on the way?"
"Sounds good, see you in a few."
Cat hopped out of bed and grabbed a pair of jeans and an off-white thermal long-sleeved shirt. A pair of boots completed the ensemble. In a few moments, she was ready to roll. With a glance toward the fire escape and a heavy sigh, she took her gun and badge and hurried out of her apartment.
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Vincent sat alone in the darkness, contemplating what had gotten him there. It seemed so cruel that fate would make the cure to his sadness, the balm for his humanity, also the cause for his recent blackouts. Muirfield never stopped taking from him.
J.T., after some coaxing from Vincent, went out on a date with one of his colleagues, leaving Vincent with nothing but his thoughts. He felt it was better that way, though. He probably wouldn't make the best company right now. So there he sat, while his depression sank in. But he couldn't keep his highly evolved ears from turning toward Catherine every now and then. The sound of her voice, her breathing, her heartbeat brought him a sense of peace. At least he had that.
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20 minutes later, Cat and Tess pulled up to the crime scene. Before Cat could open the door, Tess gently grabbed her arm.
"Hey, are you okay? I don't think I've ever seen you look this down before." She questioned, concern evident in her gape.
Cat offered her a weak smile. "I'm fine, just a small case of the blues I guess. Nothing I can't handle."
That seemed to appease Tess for the moment. "Alright, but if you ever want to talk about it, I got you."
The two of them got out of the car and walked toward Evan. There was only one other squad car on the scene aside from his Medical Examiner Van.
"Took you two long enough to get here, most everyone's already gone back to the precinct." Evan said with a smirk.
Tess rolled her eyes. "Whatever dude, you try getting across town in under thirty minutes, I don't care what time it is."
While Cat usually enjoyed their banter, sleep was calling her name. "Back to your corners, guys. What've we got?" She asked while kneeling to pull back the sheet covering up the victim.
"Call came in for gunshots about an hour ago, however no witnesses stuck around long enough to make a statement. This man, who, according to his identification goes by the name Joseph Baumann, died of ten GSW's to the chest, arms and legs."
Tess's brows shot up. "Well they were definitely thorough. Do you think it was a gang hit?"
Catherine dropped the sheet and shook her head in disgust. No matter how long she'd been with the force, she still found it difficult to swallow the senseless violence that existed in the world.
She reached for the I.D. still in Evan's hand. "Could be. His address isn't too far from here, why don't we go and find the family. Maybe they can answer some of our questions."
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They made their way toward the residence in relative silence, Cat writing some info down while Tess drove. When they hopped out, Tess, having felt a nagging suspicion about their location, spoke up.
"Hey, you go talk to the family, I'm gonna have a look around the perimeter."
Catherine gave her a curt nod and headed toward the door.
Tess walked slowly up the street, with a hand on her glock, keeping an eye out for any suspicious activity. After so many years as an officer, she'd learned to trust her gut, and right now it was telling her that something was up in this area. However, she wasn't cautious enough, because when she began to pass the entrance of the nearest alleyway, a strong arm pulled her into the darkness, and clamped a hand around her mouth to keep her from yelling out.
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After five solid minutes of banging on the door, Cat scrunched her forehead in frustration. They were either not home or choosing to ignore her. Without a warrant, there was little she could do about it.
It was then that Cat realized Tess should have been back by now.
With an icy feeling in the pit of her stomach, Cat gripped the gun on her hip and walked in the direction she'd last seen her partner. She didn't see the masked man that stepped out of the shadows from behind her. He followed from a distance on light feet.
As Cat neared the alleyway, she heard the signs of a struggle and stormed in, gun ready. There were two masked men, one holding Tess while the other looked in her direction, a smirk evident through the opening around his mouth.
"Nobody move! Put your hands up where I can see them—"
Before she could get the words out of her mouth, the third masked man jumped Cat from behind, slamming her as hard as he could into the nearest brick wall. She groaned in pain as her gun clattered to the ground.
But that was nothing compared to what she felt next. The assailant grabbed a four-inch blade from his belt and shoved it into her gut. She gasped at the white-hot searing pain.
"CAT!" Tess wailed, struggling against the guy holding her. He snickered at her efforts. Tess couldn't match his strength. All she could do was watch in horror as these men took her partner down.
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Vincent, who wasn't located that far from the crime scene, had been listening in on Catherine attentively since she got on the case. He could hear everything crystal clear from this close of a proximity. His ears perked up when he heard the combination of the scuffle, Catherine's gasp and Tess shouting her name.
He leapt to his feet and slammed himself against the bars of his prison. Vincent roared and his eyes glowed amber when they didn't budge. He pulled and pulled at them but they wouldn't give. The beast revealed itself and continued the effort with maximum strength. But no matter how hard he threw his fists and his body into the reinforced steel, it wouldn't move. His roar of agony made the floor tremble.
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Catherine sank to her knees, one hand clutching her stomach while the other reached for her gun. One guy kicked it out of her reach while the one who stabbed her rammed his fist into the right side of her face. He cut her eyebrow open with one of his rings, causing blood to spill down into her eye, limiting her vision. She threw her hands up in defense as best she could for the next assault, but a well-placed kick to her stomach sent her to the ground on all fours as she gritted her teeth in unbelievable pain.
Cat found Tess's eyes in the middle of it all. She'd never seen her partner cry before. But she didn't try to conceal her tears as they made trails down her cheeks. She strained in vain to pull away from her captor. Cat tried to offer her a smile, to show her that it was somehow going to be all right, but in the end her face contorted into a grimace.
One of the men wrapped his arm around Catherine's neck from behind and pulled her to her feet. The other one leaned into her ear and whispered, "This is what your get for messing around with that monster, you freak."
He grabbed his own blade and thrust it into the other side of Catherine's stomach. The feeling shocked the sound right out of her; it paralyzed her.
"STOP PLEASE! YOU'RE KILLING HER!"
The man holding her allowed Tess to fall to her knees, her hands still pinned behind her back. She trembled at the sight of her partner, her best friend, slipping away. "Oh my God, Oh my God…"
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Vincent's roars turned into shoulder-racking sobs. He'd heard everything with perfect clarity. He fisted his hair, rocking on his knees praying for a solution.
It was then that J.T.'s car pulled up the road. Vincent had to wait an agonizing handful of minutes for him to get through the door before he could get his attention.
"J.T.! OPEN THE DOOR! PLEASE J.T., HURRY!"
J.T.'s head shot up at the sound of Vincent's muffled voice. He raced toward the elevator shaft and threw it open.
"What's going on, man?" He asked while fumbling with the lock on the bars."
"There's no time, Catherine's in trouble." Vincent managed to get out, the anticipation of the door opening killing him. When it did, he became a blur as he raced toward the one who held his heart.
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Catherine dropped onto her stomach. She tried to push herself up, but just didn't have the strength. She was bleeding out onto the cement beneath her. The shoes on the masked men made a sickening, sloshing sound as they stepped in it. One of them pulled out a gun and aimed it at the back of her scull. He released the safety.
"Please, don't do this, please…" Tess pleaded.
"Sorry pretty lady, I've got a message to send."
He was just about to pull the trigger when out of nowhere the beast rammed into him and snapped his neck. Before his body hit the ground, Vincent was onto the next one.
The man holding onto Tess, who knew exactly what was going on, let her go and sprinted toward the back of the alley. Tess stumbled toward Cat, having little interest in the bodies dropping around her. All that mattered was her partner.
She gently rolled Cat onto her back and shrugged off her jacket, pushing it against Cat's wounds to stifle the blood loss. Cat was coming in and out of consciousness.
"Hang on Cat, just hang on. I'm gonna get you some help." Tess pulled her phone out of her pocket and called for an ambulance.
Catherine couldn't get her eyes to focus. The idea of resting them for a while was such an enticing thought. She was able to hold Tess's stare for a second, but then, with a painful cough, blood dribbled out of the corner of her mouth.
Tess's vision swam and heart dropped. "Oh God…"
Catherine managed to whisper one word before the darkness claimed her completely. "Vincent…" Her head lolled to the side and the night swallowed her up.
Vincent had just dealt with the last guy when his head whipped toward Catherine's voice. The beast retreated and he was at her side in an instant, grabbing her hand and clutching it to his chest. Tess was nearly knocked back off her feet at his sudden appearance.
"Who—what the hell are you?!" She reached for her gun and pointed it at his chest. "Keep your hands where I can see them and step back." She said through clenched teeth.
Vincent backed away slowly, giving Tess an earnest expression. "I know you're her partner Tess, but I'm here to help." He cast a quick glance at Catherine, who was losing more blood by the minute. "I'm a doctor, and more importantly, I love Catherine. And I don't want to lose her any more than you do." The words were out of his mouth before he even realized that he was saying it. But it was the truth and he didn't regret it for a second.
Tess cocked her head at him. "How do you know my name?"
"Please, Tess. I promise I'm one of the good guys. Just let me help."
They had a standoff, Tess looking back and forth from Cat to Vincent, him staring at her, pleading with his eyes.
"This is unreal." She murmured, holstering her gun and dropping back to her knees beside Catherine, taking one of her hands into her own.
Vincent sat on the opposite side of Catherine with his hands kept in plain sight. He placed them where she was bleeding out, using a great deal of pressure. He looked at the gashes on her face, and worked his way down to where her blood stained his hands. The sight left him breathless, knowing that Catherine's life was hanging precariously in the balance. His mind replayed the moment when one of the thugs mentioned her involvement with a beast. It had to be Muirfield's work.
"This is my fault." He whispered.
In the distance, the wailing of sirens could be heard. Vincent would have to leave soon. He would have to leave her fate in the hands of strangers. And as much as that troubled him, what could he do? This was the awful life he had signed up for. But his time on this Earth was tethered to Catherine's now. Her fate was his. He leaned down and placed a forbidden kiss on her lips.
The sirens drew nearer. It was time to go.
"I'm so sorry Catherine. Please fight. For Tess, for your sister and your dad. And fight for me."
As the ambulance rounded the corner, Vincent, with one last forlorn glance at Catherine, took off into the night, leaving behind a very confused Tess and the woman he loved and only wanted to protect.
A powerful roar rang through the city.
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Now, I could theoretically leave this as a one-shot. I'll leave that up to you guys. :-)