One Night at the Moonlight Shadow
By Gunnery Sergeant
A/N: the title is homage to Mike Oldfield's 1983 hit because it was watching the video of this wonderful song on YouTube that I got the inspiration for this story.
For those familiar with my "Reconnection" universe, this story has many points in common with it, but the plot is completely different. When I wrote the various versions of "Reconnection", I toyed with the idea of writing a Gabby one too, but then I thought it would have been too much given that there were already three versions of that story.
However, I've always wished to write a Gabby tale with the same theme…so here you go!
As a final note, I've not seen nor read Anne Rice's books, Twilight saga, True Blood, Angel or any of the many vampire-themed books, movies, TV series out there, except for Bram Stoker's novel. So any similarity between my story and the published/released works cited above is purely coincidental.
This story is dedicated to Finlaure, a Gabby fan and my wonderful beta reader.
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The Moonlight Shadow was one of D.C.'s most popular clubs, both among the Goth community and those who simply liked to dress up and wear costumes.
The club consisted of two main areas. The big hall was where the dancing platform was, and a smaller place in the back where the bar was located. There was no music there and patrons could talk without needing to shout while sitting at one of the many available booths.
The whole place had been decorated to look like the interior of a medieval castle. The walls looked like they were made of solid stone and there were torch-like lamps hanging from them. There were also real candles scattered in places where they wouldn't be dangerous, and the smell of burning wax was quite heavy if one stepped close to them.
This unusual means of illumination made sure the whole place was enveloped by half darkness and shadows, which gave the club a very suggestive atmosphere.
Abigail Scuito, simply Abby for most, visited the place quite often, because she and her friends enjoyed the place and the fact that, inside the Moonlight Shadow, it was always Halloween. Being masked was mandatory to access the club, but if someone arrived at the entry without being appropriately dressed, the bouncers handed out plastic vampire fangs that the newcomers had to wear if they wanted to go inside.
That evening the club wasn't as crowned as usual, but Abby was having a very good time, as many people had stopped her to compliment her for her costume. It was the same costume Director Vance had forbidden her to wear at Halloween, and the more she got complimented, the more Abby wished she could have seen what effect her attire would have had on Gibbs, Tony and Tim.
She was dressed as a French courtesan from Louis XIV age, with a white, elaborate dress full of frills and a generous cleavage, a silken with-golden mask covering her face and a dangerously high blond wig on her head. The only things not in theme were her comfortable black boots, because after spending a whole day standing up at work, she had thought her poor feet didn't deserved to be cloistered inside the high-heeled white shoes that went with the dress.
It was while she was taking a pause from her dancing that Abby saw a flash of silver with the corner of her eye.
During her days at work, a flash of silver usually meant Gibbs was in the same room with her and Abby had an instinctive reaction to it: turn her head to observe her Silver Haired Fox, fascinated as she was by everything he did.
The impulse to turn around was so ingrained that even knowing the flash of silver couldn't possibly be Gibbs, Abby couldn't resist it. She turned her head and her mouth fell open when she realized that the silver she had seen was indeed Gibbs' hair.
Gibbs inside the Moonlight Shadow! Abby couldn't believe it and she pinched her bare arm just to be sure she wasn't dreaming.
What was he doing there? And since he was dressed with his usual work clothes, was he wearing the plastic fangs as required from those patrons without a costume?
Unable to curb her curiosity, Abby left the dance floor and followed Gibbs out of the main hall and into the much quieter bar. She saw him walk straight toward a man who was standing by the counter. It was a guy in his thirties, with sandy hair, round, gold-rimmed glasses and an expression that reminded her of a young Ducky. This guy was wearing the plastic fangs, but they didn't look out of place on his face or with his very sedate look.
Abby watched as the two men shook hands and then walked toward an empty booth. Her jaw hit the floor for the second time in five minutes when she caught a glimpse of white against Gibbs' closed lips and she realized her no-nonsense boss was wearing the fangs too! Oh my gosh! She would have given her monthly paycheck to have her cell phone with her and be able to take a picture! But the damn thing had died on her during her car trip to the club.
Abby watched as Gibbs and his companion sat at a table and the younger guy opened his brief case and took out some folders. She strained her eyes from behind her mask and saw the words BALTIMORE PD printed on the covers of the folders.
Was the guy a cop? Was Gibbs investigating something outside the office? Knowing Gibbs' bad habit of going solo and not telling anyone, what he was up to? Abby decided she needed to know more; just to be sure he wouldn't end up in a dangerous situation.
So she ordered a Red Bull at the counter and calmly went to sit in the booth adjacent to the one where Gibbs and his companion were.
She slid on the bench all the way to the wall and put her ear close to the small empty space between the end of the wooden back of the booth and the wall itself. From this position, she could hear the two men well, even if they were talking softly.
"…and this was when it started?" Gibbs was saying.
"At least three months ago, Leroy," the other guy answered, making Abby's eyebrows almost disappear beneath the bangs of her wig.
Gibbs hated to be called Leroy and only his father used that name. So who was this guy to be allowed to call him so? She returned to listen, in the hope to solve the mystery.
"Ted Andrews is a ME in Fairfax and got suspicious when he discovered one of the bodies on his slab was completely bloodless. This man had been found in an alley with a slashed throat, but when Ted checked the photos taken by the police, he saw the quantity of blood on the scene wasn't consistent with the type of wound inflicted to the victim. Since the man had been homeless and the murder was ascribed as a fight ended badly, Ted wasn't requested to do an autopsy, but he still conducted some tests. He thus discovered the knife cut had been inflicted post-mortem, to mask a bite mark."
Abby's eyebrows climbed again, this time with interest. This sounded so hinky…
"Ted came to see you?" Gibbs asked.
"Yes. He told me of his concerns, so I contacted Matt Downing, who works for the Baltimore PD, and told him to check if there had been similar cases in the Washington-Baltimore Metropolitan area. You have no idea of how much I hoped Matt wouldn't find anything…"
"How many, Bill?" Gibbs cut him short.
"Eighteen."
"Eighteen?! And no one connected them?"
"No. Matt said all the victims were homeless, and all the murders were attributed to fights and robberies."
"This indicates that bastard is trying not to attract the attention of the police," Gibbs commented. "But how much longer it will work? A zealous cop or worse, a journalist can make everything come to the light in no time."
"I know, Leroy. That's why he – I refer to the killer as he because female hunters are very rare - must be stopped. Matt has managed to erase some of the case files he found, so it will give us a bit more time, but we must act soon."
Abby listened intently, wondering why Gibbs, this Bill guy and the others were so worried about the press discovering there was serial killer hitting on the homeless. Wouldn't it be best if the news was made public? This way the homeless would be more careful and would probably stay in groups, thus making the killer's task more difficult. And also, what was there in these murders that had made a cop commit a crime and delete case files?
"Any idea of who it could be?" Gibbs asked, recalling her attention to the conversation going on behind her.
"No, but I can vouch for all the local vampires, Leroy. It's not one of us."
Abby almost choked on her Red Bull at the word "vampires".
Had that guy really said it? Did he really believe vampires existed? Or had he meant something else with that word? And what did Gibbs think of it? Was he just indulging the fantasies of a very weird friend? Would he really do something like that?
Abby thought of how Gibbs had looked with the fangs on. Just like this Bill guy, he hadn't looked ridiculous as most of the other patrons did. His fangs, even if she had caught just a glimpse of them, had looked natural on him, as if he had been born with them on…
Abby shook her head. It wasn't possible! She was just letting her imagination run wild. Vampires didn't exist!
There must be another explanation as to Bill's words and if she just stopped having crazy ideas and behaved as the logical scientist she was, then she would discover it.
She returned to focus on the two men's conversation, just in time to hear Gibbs say, "I'll think of something, Bill."
"Thank you, Leroy. I knew you'd be able to help. Matt is a good guy, but he's little more than a clerk. He doesn't have the experience you have, both as a Marine and a federal agent, and I fear we'll need it- badly."
Gibbs didn't reply and silence fell on the booth near Abby's. She was about to stand up and go away, convinced they were about to leave, when Bill spoke again.
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