Disclaimer: The following is a work of fan fiction based on the TV series, White Collar which belongs to Jeff Eastin and USA. It is in no way intended to infringe on the copyrights of Jeff Eastin and USA.

Dead Man's Hand

(An Old West prequel to "The Nature of the Beast")

Notes:

Supernaturals have been known since before the Civil War. Both the Union and the Confederacy used vampires and werewolves in their armies, but when the war ended, they faced persecution from "God-fearing" men who tried to burn them out when they tried to return to their lives and homes.

A large majority of them went underground, showing only their human side to the world, hoping to be forgotten. Others went rogue, cutting bloody swaths through the countryside, and had to be hunted down and destroyed. By the middle of the 20th Century they had once again become nothing but myths, largely forgotten, or just stories to frighten young children with at night.

That was until the Second World War, when to help fight a greater evil; they again came forward to stand side by side with their human brethren;. only this time, when the war ended, the supernaturals didn't go away.

Werewolves: The most powerful of the werewolves were the Grand Lupines or Great Wolves. Known as the Alphas they could assume three forms…that of a man, that of a wolf and that of a hybrid of man and wolf. There were only two ways to become a werewolf the first was to be bitten by a werewolf during the full moon the second was to be born into a werewolf family.

Vampires came in two species; The Dark Vampires which were immortal could change into wolves and slept through the day only rising at night and returning to their resting place at dawn. The other species, The Day Walkers could consume food and drink but needed a small amount of blood to survive as they took nourishment from the food they ate. They could walk in the sunlight but it took a lot of their energy so if they were denied blood they would…like their dark brethren…be consumed by the sunlight and burned to ash. Day walkers were mortal but just aged very slowly and were unable to change their form

Ghouls: are demons; they are grotesque looking, of similar size to an ape, but with large misshapen heads, red glowing eyes, and have powerful shoulders and haunches. They can run fast on all fours; their claws are thick and sharp, which allow them to dig up decaying corpses. These ghouls only live five years unless they can assume human form by drawing the life force of humans through the Blood Moon Ritual – the sacrificial massacre of humans and the consummation of their living flesh. If the Blood Moon fails, as dawn breaks the ghouls are destroyed by the first rays of light. A Ghoul Elder has the job of preparing the Blood Moon sacrifice; his or her duty is to stand by and not interfere, and the young ghouls must succeed or fail on their own. But sometime rules are forgotten when the threat to the young is too great.

Nisse; are from the same family as Gnomes though they are beardless. Skilled in illusions they are believed to be able to shape shift. Though protective and caring in nature they are capable of fearsome retribution if someone they hold dear is hurt or killed.

The Present

Mozzie stood outside of the Burke's house and clutched the messenger bag a little closer to his body. What he was about to do Neal might see as a betrayal, but he loved Neal like a brother, and would do anything to see him happy and contented.

Taking a deep breath, he started across the road and up the stairs to knock on the door.

0-0-0-0-0

Peter was hard at work; most people thought—because of TV series and films—that the life of an FBI agent was one of exciting car chases and elaborate sting operations; if only they knew that paperwork and more paperwork were the keystone of a good investigation, they would soon see it in a different light. He had tried to explain that to his brilliant, quirky, but impulsive partner and mate, Neal Caffrey. Not that it did much good.

The mortgage case he was working on was a prime example;, it wasn't exactly setting the night on fire and so when El answered the door and Mozzie came in, he was prepared to take a break. One look at the small mole-like man's face and he was on his feet, and the first words out of his mouth were, "Okay, what's he done this time?" knowing that only Neal could get Mozzie into this state.

But the smaller man shook his head. "It's not what he's done, Suit, it's what he needs; I think we need to talk."

Mozzie sat at the table, carefully placed the messenger bag in front of him, and removed an old cardboard box;. The scotch tape was brittle and cracked as he opened the lid and carefully peeled back the yellowing tissue paper. El and Peter leaned forward to see what was inside as Mozzie explained.

"Neal wouldn't be happy that I am showing you this, but it needs doing." He reached into the box and removed a photograph, and whatever Peter was going to add was forgotten as he saw the image on it.

There was Neal dressed in the style of an Old West gambler, with a frock coat, ruffled shirt, waistcoat, and a tied-down holster strapped to his leg;. He knew that Neal was a vampire, and the younger-looking man had spoken of—as a breathing man—surviving the Battle of Gettysburg. So Neal would have been around at that time,… but seeing this picture of Neal as a gambler was amazing: the dress and the profession fitted him perfectly—there had to be a story behind it, and he was interested to hear it. But before he could ask, Mozzie took another picture from the picture made Peter sit up straighter… because the man was the image of Peter took the picture from Mozzie, turning it for El to look at. Then he carefully examined it; the man was slightly thicker set, and was wearing the kind of mustache that Kurt Russell had worn in the film Tombstone. It had to be an ancestor of his; werewolves were not immortal—they just aged slower than normal mortals, but they still died. He knew his clan's history, so why hadn't he ever seen a picture of his man before? The man's hand was resting on the shoulder of a woman sitting by his side; she was young and attractive. She was looking up at the man, and for El the picture spoke volumes, because she had seen a similar look of love in her wedding photographs when she had looked at Peter; this couple was very much in love.

"If this is a joke or, heaven forbid, a con, Mozzie—" Peter began an incipient growl rumbled in his throat, as the alpha in him gave warning that he better not be lying.

But the smaller man cut him off. "This is real, Suit; I was there when they took the pictures." Mozzie paused.

He was about to continue when Peter said, tapping the picture "We never pried into what you are, but I think we have to know now. We guessed you were a supernatural, and an old friend of Neal; these pictures show us you knew him in the late 1800's, so how long have you known him Mozzie?"

Mozzie looked thoughtful, and Peter wasn't sure if he was going to get a reply, the smaller man was paranoid and he wouldn't be surprised if Mozzie just cut him dead. But instead he said "In May of 1865, Confederate Captain Neal Caffrey was released from Camp Douglas a Union Army prison camp. Just like nearly 2000 other former Confederate soldiers he refused to take the Oath of Allegiance, so instead of getting transport home, which he would have got if he had taken the oath, he was left to make his own way. When I first met him he was sick, starving and dressed in the rags of his uniform and he was about to be hung for stealing food. I had money and paid them for what he had stolen, a couple of mouldy apples and quarter of a stale loaf of bread. You see it wasn't Neal it was the fact that he was just one of many beggars that had flooded their town, and he was the one that got caught and was going to pay for it as a warning for the rest of them."

Peter saw the silent tear the trickled down Mozzie's face as he continued "I paid them much more than it was worth, and had him bundled into my wagon, and we got out of there, Neal was too sick to do much more than hang on."Mozzie closed his eyes, as he shook his head, "Suit, he nearly died, it was only because of my knowledge knowledge of herbs and medicine that he lived. So yes when we met, Neal was mortal. He was my responsibility, and my biggest regret is that I was unable to stop the attack in New Orleans that changed him."

Peter could see the misery on Mozzie's face as he relived what had happened. For them it was history. For Mozzie it was a very real memory. "Neal told me he was turned in New Orleans, he joked that it was so very Anne Rice of him."

"He would Suit, but the honest truth is that the bitch that did it to him left Neal dying," Mozzie dashed the tears from his eyes, it was the first time that Peter heard real bitterness in the smaller man's voice "I couldn't turn him back to human ….he was too far gone, …but he was turned enough to become a day walker. You have to take what you can get in this life"

So if Neal's a vampire, what are you?" Peter asked his eyes never leaving Mozzie's face,. This had to be the smaller man's choice to answer; he had already talked more than he had ever done before. The smaller man took his glasses off and polished them in short jerking motions showing how agitated he was, then with a steading breath he put them back on.

"I am a Nisse. We are from the same family as Gnomes: we are not immortal, but like the day-walking Vampires we are long lived, and I would protect Neal as if he was my own offspring, Suit. That aside, back to what is important. You need to know that for Neal, what you three have together now is the most precious thing in the world to him. But Neal is frightened that it can't last and it's only a matter of time before you tire of him."

"That's never going to happen," Peter stated levelly.

"Who are they?" El asked no longer able to stem her curiosity.

"This is your Great Uncle and Aunt, Suit, six times over; Samuel Joseph Burke, and his wife Abigail Victoria Burke." He reached into the box and took another picture out.

This was one just of Samuel and Neal standing together. It was then Peter noticed the badge on his double's jacket. "A sheriff and a gambler; unusual," he remarked, looking at Mozzie.

"No different from an FBI agent and a con man, Suit," Mozzie replied. "They worked well together, and the town of Lucky Strike, New Mexico, saw good service from them. It was because of them ..." He tapped the picture. "... that Neal,… even when you were hunting him, tried to keep close to you. It was one of the things that Kate hated—Neal's need to be close to you."

"Why did you bring the pictures to us now?" El asked.

"Because you need to know that you can both so easily destroy him;. In loving you both, Neal has put all the power in your hands." He tapped the pictures. "When he left them, he found others that he thought could replace the love he had for them, only to find that those people just wanted immortality from him, and when he refused, they turned on him.

"Even his beloved Kate ..." The sarcasm in Mozzie's voice told Peter and El volumes of what he had thought of the woman that so nearly destroyed Neal. "... was just the last in a long line of them. But he could never see that." Mozzie shook his head ruefully, as if clearing away the memories.

Peter turned Mozzie's attention back to the pictures. "My family history as Alphas of our clan is well documented. There are no records of a Samuel Burke that I remember, and surely Neal Caffrey, a vampire, would have featured in our oral history?"

"That is what you would think, Suit, but it's never as straightforward as that. Samuel wasn't as yet an Alpha Werewolf, when he boarded the stagecoach with his wife that morning, on his way to Lucky Strike; he was as human as the next man."

"He was the oldest of five brothers, with the right of being the first to challenge his father when he came of age to become the new Alpha. But he didn't come into his powers. So Samuel became the pariah of his litter and was banned from his clan. He told me that during the Civil War he served in the Union Army and was wounded at the Battle of Shiloh. He met and married his nurse, Abigail Carter, a feisty, independent woman who was very much his equal." Mozzie's voice softened as he smiled. "I have never seen two people as bonded together as them…. until I saw you two."

"So what happened? How did the three of them meet up and what happened to them?" El asked as she reached for the picture showing the three of them together.

Mozzie looked down at the picture in the box of the four of them—the Burkes, Neal and himself—standing in the front of a saloon. " Well, it all started one dark and stormy day; don't all good horror stories start that way?"