Authors Note: That's right, another AU from me lol. I've been writing this one for while and Halloween seemed the perfect time to post a vampire AU, so here it is.

Warning: It is a vampire AU so biting and blood sucking will feature highly.

Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate Atlantis or any of its characters.

Crimson Night

Chapter 1

Dark clouds filled the night sky blocking the view of the stars and releasing a downpour of torrential rain onto the streets of Atlantis. At this hour most of the cities residents were tucked away in their beds. The only sounds that could be heard were the pattering of rain on the various surfaces and the cars that would occasionally drive by. A lone figure walked along the street, her dark brown hair completely drenched by the rain fell to either side of her face reaching to just below her shoulders. Her green eyes scanned her surroundings as she watched for any sign of danger. It was not uncommon for people to go missing in Atlantis.

Elizabeth Weir attempted to brush her soaking wet hair away from her face and walked faster toward her apartment. She had to work late every night of the week, it was nothing new to her but tonight she had been forced to stay way beyond her usual hours. Pegasus was a beautiful restaurant and not a bad place to work but it was not where she wanted to spend the rest of her life. When she finally figured out what it was she wanted to do with her life she'd be out of there as fast as she could. Until then however it paid the bills and she would just have to deal with the ridiculous hours.

Due to it's popularity the place stayed open until midnight and even then they were having to kick people out. Tomorrow they had an inspector coming to check up on the place and so it had been all hands on deck to make sure everything was ready. It was for this reason she found herself walking home at 1.30 AM. Usually one of her colleagues who was heading in the same direction as her would drive her home but he had been off sick today. She'd been asked several times by other colleagues if she'd had another way home and she had told them all she did. Why did she have to be so stubborn and independent?

She was still five minutes from her home when she suddenly got the feeling she was being watched. She turned around but there was only the empty street behind her and she picked up her pace in an effort to reach the safety of her home faster. The feeling wouldn't go away and she continually glanced behind her to find no one there. Out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of a movement but once again when she span around there was nothing. For a moment she thought she was simply being paranoid but when it happened again she decided there was definitely someone there.

She clutched the strap of her bag tightly in her right hand as she broke into a run determined to get away from whoever was following her. She glanced behind her and this time she saw the silhouette of a man walking in her direction. She ran faster as she turned around the corner but her speed coupled with the slippery ground caused her to lose her balance and fall over. She hit the ground with a thud and felt the small stones that had been there dig into the skin of her hands. She stood back up quickly leaving her bag and its spilled contents on the floor.

Before she could go anywhere she felt a strong arm wrap around her waist from behind and she knew she had been caught. The man moved his free hand to grip her arm as he pulled her back against him.

"I win," he whispered against her ear obviously referring to their chase. Elizabeth braced herself for whatever fate this man had in mind for her prepared to run again if the opportunity presented itself. The mans lips drifted down to her neck brushing against her skin and she suddenly felt a sharp, agonising pain where his teeth sank into her skin. The pain increased causing her to cry out and she felt as though the life was being drained out of her body. The edges of her vision went dark and the pain was overtaken by the fog that began clouding her mind. She was so dizzy that if the man hadn't been holding onto her she would have fallen to the ground again. As the darkness began to spread through her vision she felt her eyes begin to droop and then she knew nothing else.

- - -

The shrill ringing of her alarm clock provided an unwelcome intrusion into Teyla's sleep and she reached out to silence the loathed piece of technology. Her hand fumbled around on it for a moment before she was forced to reluctantly open her eyes to locate the 'off' button. Once the room was quiet again she forced her legs off the edge of the bed and dragged her body out from under the covers.

She stood up immediately not giving herself time to change her mind and go back to sleep. She glanced at the clock as she stretched out her tired body and sighed when she saw the time. It was 7AM meaning she had only got five hours of sleep that night having not arrived home until almost 2AM. She and many of her colleagues who had been working the evening shift last night had been forced to stay late to prepare for the inspector that would be arriving sometime this morning. Unfortunately she had managed to land not only the evening shift yesterday but the day shift today. However she was not the only one so she would not be suffering alone.

She went into the bathroom and switched on the shower allowing the water a few moments to heat up whilst she removed the baby blue pyjamas she was wearing. She didn't take long to shower and walked back into her bedroom with a towel wrapped securely around her. Locating her uniform she got dressed and quickly pinned her hair back away from her face. The uniform was fairly simple and not a typical waitress outfit for which Teyla was grateful. The black skirt and white shirt gave her sophisticated look which she supposed came with working for a classy restaurant like Pegasus.

She quickly put on what little amount of make up she needed to make herself look less like she'd barely slept in two days before pinning her name badge to her uniform. It took her less than half an hour to get ready for work and she finally made her way into the kitchen where she set about the task of getting her first cup of coffee into her. She left the apartment just after 8.00 and located her car exactly where she had left it the night before, parked across the street. The drive to Pegasus took only fifteen minutes and once there the coffee had kicked in and she was ready to face another day of difficult and demanding customers.

Entering through the employee entrance she headed immediately to her locker smiling her greeting to her colleagues as she passed them. She threw her coat and bag into the small space before closing and locking it.

"Teyla," she heard a familiar voice call and she turned to see Laura Cadman heading in her direction. Teyla got along with everyone she worked with but there were very few of them she would actually call friends and Laura was one of the few. Even among her friends though there was only one person she was really close to and that was Elizabeth.

"Hey Laura," Teyla greeted and the blonde woman smiled as she came to a stop in front of her.

"I can't believe we're back here already, we only left a few hours ago," Laura stated though she definitely seemed more energetic than her statement would suggest. Teyla guessed she had already downed several cups of coffee and knowing her friend there were probably a few chocolate bars involved.

"We always seem to get the good shifts don't we?" Teyla questioned rhetorically "Is Elizabeth here yet?"

"Not yet but Damien's here and he's already driving everyone insane, more so than usual, you should see him he's so nervous," Laura informed her and Teyla nodded her head in understanding. Damien James was the owner of Pegasus, it had been his dream to own a restaurant and he had been way more than successful, Pegasus was one of the most popular restaurants in Atlantis.

"This inspection is important, if it doesn't go well it could ruin the restaurants reputation," Teyla explained as the two women headed toward the front of the restaurant to where Damien was frantically handing out orders.

"Teyla, Laura, the candle on table 17 needs replacing and the window over there could do with cleaning," Damien instructed them and two thoughts came to mind. The first being that neither the candle or the window needed altering in anyway and the second being that if Damien didn't calm down he was going to make himself pass out long before the inspector arrived.

"Damien, everything is fine, we made sure of that last night," Teyla reassured him and Damien stared at her for a moment before sighing.

"I just want this to go well," he told her.

"And it will," she replied with an encouraging smile "Now why don't you go relax and we'll finish opening up."

Damien wordlessly left the room she assumed to do what she had suggested and she watched him go. Everyone in the room seemed relieved when he left and one of the other waitresses walked up to her with a worn looking cloth in her hand. "Thank God, I was gonna hit him if he made me clean that vase one more time," she said with a smile which Teyla returned in amusement. They all liked Damien but when it came to his restaurant he was stressful to be around.

"Okay everyone," Teyla called "It's 9 o clock, lets open up and watch out for the inspector, we don't know what time he's coming so let's be sure to make a good impression."

There were several murmurs of agreement as one of the waiters went to unlock the doors. Teyla looked around the room noticing Elizabeth was not there yet which had Teyla concerned, Elizabeth was never late. Within a few minutes the restaurant was filling up with people most of whom had reservations and all of them wanting to be served breakfast. It was almost 10.30 when Laura walked over to her clearly restraining herself from running.

"He's here," was all Laura said and Teyla knew exactly what she was talking about.

"Where?" Teyla questioned and Laura pointed to a smartly dressed man sitting patiently at one of the tables. "How do you know?"

"You can just tell," Laura said with a slight shrug of her shoulder and Teyla rolled her eyes. "He's already ordered his meal."

Teyla nodded her head, they knew how these things worked they had done it enough times. He would order his meal and if all went well he would then reveal he was the inspector and be allowed to inspect the premises. Laura wondered off again to tend to her customers and Teyla did the same keeping an eye on the man they believed to be the inspector.

The rest of the morning passed as more of a blur, Laura had indeed identified the inspector correctly and both his meal and the tour of the building had gone smoothly. He had left telling them they had done a good job and had nothing to worry about which had served to calm Damien down. It was about 1 o clock when Damien called her into his office, his expression and voice had told her something was wrong and she had exchanged a brief glance with Laura before following him.

A man and a woman were waiting in the office and she could see the badges attached to their belts that indicated they were part of the Atlantis Police. "Teyla, please sit down," Damien suggested. "This is Detective Adams and Peterson."

"What's going on?" she questioned trying to keep the worry out of her voice as she sat down.

"It's Elizabeth," Damien informed her gravely and she felt a sudden wave of fear hit her. She'd known something was wrong when her friend hadn't shown up for work that morning.

"Her purse was found lying in the middle of the street this morning, we checked her apartment but there was no one there," the man, Detective Adams explained.

"Oh my God," Teyla breathed as realisation sunk in, something had happened to Elizabeth.

"It's too early to assume anything," Peterson stated but Teyla was now struggling to concentrate on what was being said. She vaguely heard them say something about an investigation but it wasn't until she heard her name that she realised they'd asked her a question.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" she asked.

"Can you think of anyone that would want to hurt Ms Weir?" Peterson repeated her question patiently.

"No, no one," Teyla replied and the detectives seemed to take pity on her, at least for now, and directed the rest of their questions to Damien. When they were done they left the room and Damien gave her moment to pull herself together before he spoke.

"Are you okay?" he questioned his concern for both her and Elizabeth obvious.

"No," she relied honestly with a slight shake of her head. "The others will want to know."

"I'll tell them. Why don't you take the rest of the day off," it was more of an instruction than a suggestion so Teyla simply stood up and left the office. She went immediately to her locker and took out her coat and bag before heading to her car and driving home. She acted on autopilot the entire time forcing herself to keep her emotions in check until she was in her apartment.

She sat down on the couch and pulled her legs up to her chest before wrapping her arms around them. It was only then that she realised she was shaking, whether or not she had been shaking since she'd spoken to the police or if it had started sometime after she didn't know. The police had said it was too early to assume anything but a nagging feeling inside her was telling her something had happened to Elizabeth.

- - -

Laura quickly took the customers order, scribbling it down on her pad of paper and smiling curtly before heading in the direction of the kitchen. She saw Damien walk into the room looking even more solemn than when he had called for Teyla. Teyla for her part was no where to be seen and it only made her more worried.

"Excuse me, can I see all my employees in the kitchen for a moment please," it was not a question or even suggestion, it was an order. Laura's worry increased ten fold, why the hell would he be pulling them all away from work at the same time?

"I apologise if this inconveniences anybody but my people will get back to work within a few minutes," he announced to the room. There were several whispers among the customers, some of them in acceptance others in annoyance. The staff were also whispering amongst themselves all of the confused and curious as to what was going on.

Laura followed the group through to the kitchen where Damien had already called a halt to the cooking. Everyone packed into the room taking up whatever space there was and stared at Damien expectantly. Laura was stood directly in front of him and he gave her a sad smile.

"I'm sure many of you have noticed that Elizabeth failed to show up for work this morning. I wanted to tell you all this now because I believe you have a right to know and I didn't want any rumours being spread. The police believe that Elizabeth is missing," Damien informed them and he paused when the room suddenly erupted into questions and conversations. Laura stood there silently unable to comprehend what she was hearing.

"Her purse was found in the middle of the street this morning and there was no sign of her at her home. They are beginning to investigate but hopefully she'll turn up safe and well. I know this is a lot to take in and if any of you feel the need to go home you can but I would very much appreciate it if you continued with your work."

Laura listened as Damien finished his speech and the room once again erupted in noise. Most people began to leave the room to go back to work and the chefs once again resumed cooking. Laura stood frozen in place as she tried to wrap her head around the situation. It explained why Teyla was called away and why she hadn't come back with Damien, she was closer to Elizabeth than any of them.

"Laura, are you okay?" Damien asked her placing a hand on her arm and drawing her back to reality with a crash.

"I'll be fine," she replied somewhat shakily.

"Do you want to go home?" he asked her obviously concerned.

"No, I want to go back to work, Elizabeth wouldn't want this to affect our work," she stated taking a deep breath to steady herself. "Is Teyla alright?"

"She was pretty shook up, I sent her home for the rest of the day and we'll have to see what happens but I'll probably give her some time off," he explained and Laura simply nodded.

"I'll go and check on her later," she said quietly before she left the kitchens and headed back out to the front of the restaurant. Everyone had got back to work but the atmosphere was considerably different. They all wore sad, fearful expressions and the customers had all seemed to notice the sudden change. She heard many of them whispering about it and speculating as to what exactly had happened.

TBC