Unexpected Bonds

Part 1

Aaron Hotchner stared out the window of his study broodingly.

Here he was a 700 year old vampire and he had yet to to find his mate. He had been reasonably happy in his work with the behavioral analyst unit of the FBI, but still being satisfied with the work that you did in tracking down criminals of one sort or another was a different kettle of fish to being happy in your personal life.

He and the other members of the team worked astonishingly well together, because while they knew what he was, they didn't mind like so many mortal people did. The world was well aware of the existence of vampires, but also shapeshifters and the FBI was also well aware of what he was.

One of the main reasons that vampires were accepted to work in any government position and not just hunted down was because of the artificial blood had been created over a hundred years ago now. So as long as every vampire stuck to that and didn't drink human blood then they wouldn't be hunted down and killed. Of course, there was the occasional rogue that believed they could kill humans just to get their substance and get away with it and those rogues were hunted down and put to death as no prison would hold a vampire and so this was the only solution.

Hotch was well aware that it helped that some of his teammates were also supernatural creatures, although he was the only vampire. Really the team was a pretty good mixture of human and others, because even though he was the only vampire, Spencer Reid and Derek Morgan were shifters, Morgan a tiger and Reid a wolf. Jason Gideon and Jennifer Jareau or JJ as she was affectionately known were human and Penelope Garcia was a magic user, or witch, but still basically considered human, just one with extra abilities.

His old mentor David Rossi had also been a vampire of extremely ancient lineage, much older than he was as he was around 1500 or so, but he had decided to retire over a decade ago. To someone as old as David Rossi chronologically he was a mere babe in the woods.

Hotch was very happy in his work with the BAU, well, except for the paperwork and he was even happier that the rest of the team had accepted him right away, but still, even though he had never admitted this out loud he was lonely. While his work for the BAU was fulfilling he hadn't had a date in longer than he cared to remember and one night stands in order to relieve his sexual tension just weren't cutting it anymore and neither was masturbating.

Unfortunately, due to the fact that vampires were basically immortal their libidos never really calmed down, although the more they matured the easier they were to control. In other words vampires were sexual creatures for the most part, so never got tired of having sex with someone specifically their mate if they found them.

Hotch admitted if only to himself that he had been lonely for decades now, but hadn't really noticed until recently, as he interviewed couples who would been devastated, because their child had either been kidnapped or found dead, even if that child was over 18.

Hotch knew that you never stopped loving your children no matter how old they got and it was mostly humans with an occasional shifter thrown in for good measure that wound up dead, if only because vampires or vampire children for that matter were nearly indestructible and not easy to kidnap and even harder to kill

Hotch raised the glass of blood to his lips and took a sip and sighed. Unfortunately, he didn't have the ability to actually sleep and so there was no escape from his rather melancholy thoughts. He truly wished that he had a partner to share his life with and he didn't particularly care if they were male or female just someone to spend those dark hours while the rest of the world slept so he wasn't so lonely. As old as he was, he had seen too many things in his long life to be disgusted with other people liking their own sex and although he knew both his parents would disapprove, probably violently he didn't particularly care if his mate was same-sex he was. What he really wanted though, was a few children, but he'd always prevented any female he had sex with from getting pregnant by using a condom as he had no intention of fathering any children until and unless he found his mate, if he ever did.

You might ask how a vampire who was immortal and technically one of the undead could father children and the answer was fairly simple they were just like any other sentient species and could have children if they so desired, no matter what books and movies portrayed them as. Books and movies portrayed them as soulless, bloodsucking leeches who didn't care about anybody, but themselves, which Hotch admit was very true for some of his kind, but then they were no different from humans who killed someone, just because that person had something they wanted, even if a lot of people, humans in particular would disagree it was still true nonetheless.

Hotch thought about the meeting he had tomorrow bright and early with a new recruit for the BAU which the team needed desperately, but he as one of the co-leaders he would not just accept anybody, as they had to be just right for the unit. Other agents had applied in the past and had either quit when they found out that their boss was a vampire or weren't suitable for the unit for one reason or another, whether that was due to arrogance, their demands, trying to take over or the fact that they couldn't work harmoniously with the rest of the team. There had even been one that had tried to push Reid out, just because he was the youngest and supposedly member. How the man that had been on probation had thought that he had the right to bully Reid out of the unit believing he didn't belong just because of his youth and his quiet personality he didn't have a clue. The agent in question had been disabused of that notion and had been forced to transfer out shortly afterwards, because there was no way that he Aaron Hotchner was going to put up with some upstart trying to bully a member of his team and Reid had earned his place years ago while that agent had been on probation, which Hotch had made sure to make clear to him with malicious satisfaction. The man had left quaking in fear, which had satisfied, his inner vampire immensely.

Oh, well, that was in the past and didn't really matter, not anymore at any rate, although Reid's self confidence had certainly taken a massive hit, before he was gone.

Hotch took another sip of his drink, sighed and having nothing better to do he continued to brood and stared out the window until dawn finally started to lighten the horizon.

~~~Unexpected Bonds~~~

Hotch and Prentiss stared at each other in astonishment.

Hotch had been all prepared to tell Emily Prentiss that she did not have a place in his unit, as he had figured that her mother Elizabeth Prentiss who was an ambassador had gotten her the job, but as soon as they had set eyes on each other they both knew that they were meant to be, simply because they were both vampires, so both felt the connection.

"Well, this is rather unexpected," Emily said being the first to speak after some minutes of silence.

"You're telling me," Hotch said the humor clear in his voice. "We need to talk, but we both know it will have to wait until after work as this is not the place for such a private conversation, even if the rest of the team knows what we are."

"Yes, yes, I agree," Emily said with a nod, although all she really wanted to do was pounce on Aaron Hotchner rip his clothes off and fuck him senseless for days and she knew that her new boss wanted to do the same to her, since he was a vampire as well.

"I admit it's going to be hard to resist that urge I know you are feeling as I'm having trouble myself, but we'll talk tonight so long as we aren't flying to some distant city," Hotch said, as calmly as possible, although he had trouble to prevent his fangs from dropping.

"Let's hope not," Emily said fervently.

"Oh, we'd still be talking after we were done for the day as it's not like we need to sleep after all," Hotch smirked. "The rest of the team needs to waste six to eight hours every night getting their rest, while we don't. I admit however, that sometimes they don't get much sleep while on a case depending on the situation, so it is understandable."

"I'm looking forward to that talk, because we both know that we are mates and that we can't really deny our connection, at least not for very long, without very bad side effects," Emily said.

"Believe me, I am aware," Hotch promised her. "I have no intention of denying the connection that is between us, but we need to have a conversation before we consummate it."

"So long as that conversation takes place soon then I don't have a problem with that," said Emily, her tone eager.

"Yes, I agree," Hotch said solemnly with a nod. "So if you don't mind I'll just ask you some general questions right now and your welcome to do the same. We'll likely be learning things about each other for the next hundred years, but we have to start somewhere."

"Ask away," Emily suggested with a smile.

"How old are you?" asked Hotch.

"In vampire years? Or how old most people believe me to be, well those that don't know what I am?" asked Emily immediately.

"Well, I say you look around 30 to 35 in human years," Hotch said, "so how old are you in vampires years."

"577," Emily answered immediately.

"Well, you're not that much younger than me, at least in vampire years as I'm 700 and I look around your age, which is 30 to 35, even though the team knows that I'm technically much older," Hotch said.

"Well, vampires don't age past a certain point and some look older or younger of course," Emily said.

"True enough," Hotch admitted with a smile thinking that his life was about to go from very staid and lonely to something else entirely, something exciting and new, which was really saying something considering how old he was. "Alright, next question do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"No, as my mother didn't really want me if you want the truth of the matter, but she decided not to get an abortion when she found out she was pregnant and we both know how hard it is to abort a vampire child anyway, but possible, so long as it happens within a week of conception," Emily answered. "Besides, abortions were illegal so far back, but that wouldn't have mattered to my mother if she had decided to do so."

Hotch actually shivered in horror at that possibility, because he knew it was only due to the fact that Emily's mother Elizabeth Prentiss hadn't had an abortion that his mate hadn't died before she had even been born. It was nearly impossible to abort a vampire baby past a certain point, though in the first week it was very possible, but after that, it wasn't possible to get rid of one of their kind as the baby had grown too much.

"So you and your mother don't get along?" asked Hotch.

"That would be the understatement of the decade, probably the century," Emily snorted. "We at the very least intensely dislike, if not outright hate each other."

Normally, there was no way that Emily would be telling a total stranger these things, but when two vampires were mates it was a totally different situation and she knew it, so she allowed herself to be honest.

Hotch then knew that there was no way that Emily's mother had pulled strings to get her into the BAU and he was ashamed that he had been unwilling to give Emily a chance to prove herself until he had found out they were mates, but now he had no intention of being parted from her so working together was icing on the cake.

"Ever been married?" Hotch asked next.

"No, although my mother did try to arrange something for me with this family that she knew," Emily said. "I was much younger back then less than a 100, around 77 or 78 if I'm remembering correctly. I had been out of my own for years, so why she believed that I would go along and get married to some total stranger, just to make her happy is beyond me, consider we've never been very close. I've been to college several times over the last few hundred years to keep up with the advancing world and criminology is a relatively new field. I went back about 25 years ago and found out that criminology really fascinated me as I took a couple introductory courses."

Hotch nodded for he had done the same just to keep up to date with the advancing modern world. "Yes, I've done the same thing and been to college several times over the last few hundred years, when I'm in between careers. So are you fully vampire or partly human or shifter or magical too?"

Hybrids were extremely rare ones that were half vampire and half human or even half shifter, but they did occur occasionally, as sometimes vampires had mates that weren't vampires themselves and were human or shifter or even a magical.

"Hybrid," Emily admitted. "While my mother is indeed a vampire, she revealed to me that my father was not. She wasn't planning to, but then I started having these weird outbursts of magic when I was like a year old, although I looked about 4 or 5. We both know that vampire children grow incredibly fast and are mature in less than half the time as any other species, even a hybrid."

"So you can do magic then," Hotch summarized.

"I've learned to do a lot of things over the centuries with magic, although I've never had any formal training, but I had to learn to control my outbursts of accidental magic, which was one of the reasons why I was so happy to get away from home. My mother absolutely refused to hire anybody to help train my talent, which was incredibly shortsighted on her part, but you can't really argue with her when she's made her mind up."

"So you don't know who your father is then?" asked Hotch.

"No, although I'm sure he's dead by now, as a magical may live longer than humans, but not as long as vampires since we're basically immortal and extremely hard to kill," Emily said shaking her head

"Any children of your own?" asked Hotch. "If you do have any it's not exactly uncommon."

"Oh, quite a few, as there is really no way to prevent me from getting pregnant unless the man in question used a condom every single time and back centuries ago such things didn't exist anyway, as condoms have only been around since the 20th century."

"No, nothing has ever been invented back and stop a female vampire even a hybrid from getting pregnant," Hotch admitted. "Really the only way to prevent pregnancy for a vampire is to have herself fixed by a vampire doctor."

"And unfortunately, it doesn't last as long as you like as the womb eventually regrows even if that's not for a few years, so you have to end up doing it again," Emily said.

"Well, I personally, think it's better than having yourself permanently fixed," Hotch said, "as at least this way we don't have to worry about children when we don't want them, but we can still have them once your womb regrows."

"Yes, that's true and varies from woman to woman," Emily admitted, "and it's not like I don't have the money to have it done a thousand times considering that I've been making money since I was technically seven years old, even though I looked grown up."

"And seven years is nothing to our kind," Hotch said.

"Well, it's a good thing that our minds are ahead of our bodies since I was technically only seven. I only wish that there was a way to permanently stop the vampire female from having children since they never get too old to actually have them," Emily said.

"There is a way," Hotch mentioned and Emily nodded.

"I know and that's for you to have an operation and unlike with us females it doesn't grow back in a few years, but I would never ask that of you," Emily said.

"If we both agreed that we'd had enough children somewhere down the line then I'm more than willing to go through it," Hotch told her sincerely. "After all I'm never going to be having sex with anybody, but you and we'll be doing it a lot, since we are mates after all and we don't need to sleep. I'll be perfectly happy to get an operation that will prevent me from getting you pregnant when we decide that we are done having babies, which likely won't be for centuries even if we only have one every 50 years or so."

"Well, I didn't expect you to be so accommodating," Emily said with relieved smile. "Most vampire men I know would never have considered going through such operation, well, not unless it was their own idea."

"We are mates, it's a totally different situation," Hotch said and Emily finally nodded. "Those vampire men, well, they likely hadn't found their mates, as a mate's needs are important. I don't need to create babies with you to show how vital I am in the sexual arena unlike a lot of men, vampire or not, so when we decide together that we don't want anymore children even if that's 1000 years from now, only then will I go through that operation that prevents it."

It had never been discovered exactly why when a vampire woman had her womb removed it grew back after a certain number of years, while when the male went through an operation it was permanent. It just seemed to be part of their species.

"We can discuss that more in-depth at a later date, as I had better get back out to the bullpen, before the rest of the team gets curious," Emily said, "but just so you know I would love to have a few children with you, although not for awhile hopefully, since we really need time to get to know each other before we go that route."

"Yes, I totally agree," Hotch said with a nod thinking that Emily Prentiss was a very intelligent lady though that wasn't surprising, because there was no such thing as a stupid vampire, though quite a few of their race did lack commonsense, creativity and could often be extremely silly, as they did tend to get stuck mentally in a certain time periods. Vampires could change, as they got older, but it was often a slow process depending on the vampire in question and their life experiences. "We'll talk about this more at my house, tonight, provided we aren't on a plane to some city."

"And if we are, well, we can just sit somewhere and talk all night as we don't need to sleep," Emily suggested and Hotch nodded in agreement.

"Yes, we can and we will if that's what occurs. Now why don't I introduce you to the rest of the team?"

"Sounds good," Emily immediately agreed.

Hotch rose from behind his desk and escorted Emily to his office door taking her by the elbow gently. Just touching his mate gently on the elbow sent an electric surge through Hotch's entire body making his cock immediately respond.

"Whoah, I wasn't expecting that," Emily said sounding out of breath and Hotch summarized that the same electric surge had passed through his mate as well.

"Neither was I and I know that the first time we have sex will be mindblowing and after that we'll be fully connected, never to be parted," Hotch said.

"I'm looking forward to it," was all Emily had time to say before Hotch opened his office door and walked through it right behind his mate

"Everyone, I'd like to introduce you to Emily Prentiss who will be joining the team..." Hotch said beginning the introductions.

~~~Unexpected Bonds~~~