Thanks for the motivation and support Holly!
Disclaimer=sadly I own nothing but the storyline and my original characters.
The man ran the knife along the sharpening board, blood dripping onto the termite infested floor from his bloody hands from one of his several killings that day. He showed no remorse as he took the time to wipe the blood off his hands onto his already bloody apron, stained with victims of the past.
His face was neutral as he finished sharpening the knife, which had an intricate design on the handle of a decapitated wolf and a hunter standing over it.
Walking over to a table that had a large assortment of other weapons that ranged from guns to crossbows, he wiped the knife on his apron before laying the deadly weapon with its other deadly brothers. A bubbling concoction hanging over an open fire was the color of silver and smelled of rancid vegetables, but the chef didn't seem to mind the smell. He was more use to it from creating it so many times.
A timer went off and the man walked over to the bubbling concoction with an oven mitt in hand he picked the cauldron like container up, and carried it away from the licking flames of the fire. He set the container down on an old wooden table that had various scratches and nicks from knifes and other weapons hard at work on various tasks.
Picking up a bullet mold for one of his various guns, he picked up a ladle and poured the solution into the mold for six bullets then closed the molding case and walked over to the fire. With a special spick he connected the end of the spick to the container and held the mold over the fire for 2 seconds before he carried the extremely hot mold to a bucket of ice water. He held the mold down in the water for 2 seconds, watching as it steamed and sizzled up from the water. He then took the steaming mold back over to the old wooden table and released the mold on to a protected surface.
Taking the oven mitts off the man pulled on another pair of gloves and pried the lid off the mold, reaching inside the mold to pick up one of the bullets. He brought the gleaming bullet up to eyelevel, which sparkled from the firelight, causing a crooked smile to erupt from his lips.
"I'm coming back!" He said to an invisible audience.
The mist that was clouding Greg's eyes seeped back into his irises as he gasped. He fell out of the chair he was sitting in, landing with a hard 'thud' on the lab floor, earning him stares from the other lab rats. The papers he had been going through fluttered to the ground next to him. He ran a shaking hand through his untamable spiky blond hair and took in deep ragged breaths, trying to get his heart rate back to normal.
When his heart rate was at a safe level, he shakily began gathering the papers up, setting them back in a neat pile on his desk. Once all the papers were picked up, he pushed himself up from the floor, his vision swayed and he was light headed from getting up too fast. Steadying his stance by planting his hands on his desk and craning his head down with his eyes closed breathing in through his nose.
"No, no, no, no, no you can't be back. It's too soon." He shook his head then opened his eyes and reached into his jean's pocket for his phone. Going straight through his contacts, he chose #1 and brought the phone to his ear.
"Stokes."
"Get back to the lab, now." Greg said huskily, wiping the sweat away from his brow before it fell into his eyes.
Before Nick had a chance to ask why, Greg hung up on him and dropped the phone on his desk, collapsing in his chair. He brought his hands up to his face and dragged them down his terrified face. He looked up at the ceiling and spoke. "Why now?"
Nick lowered the phone away from his ear and stared at the device, perplexed and worried about what had just occurred.
Sara stopped collecting the samples of blood from the lampshade when she saw Nick's perplexed expression and his clenched jaw; a thing he did when he was deep in thought.
"Nick?" She asked, standing upright.
Nick was startled by the sudden noise and looked over at her, pocketing his phone.
"Sara, do you think you can finish up here? I have to get back to the lab." He said in a daze, already having his keys out.
"Sure...what's going on?" she asked, walking towards him.
"Greg just called and said I needed to get back to the lab. I don't know why but he sounded...off and I just..." Nick couldn't explain it, but he felt like he needed to be close to Greg or something bad was going to happen.
"You don't need to explain Nick; I'll see you back at the lab. Find out what's going on, I'll finish up here." Sara gave him a tight smile then turned and got back to work.
"Thanks Sara." He turned and walked over to the door, opening the door he walked out and nodded to one of the deputies who nodded back.
Hurrying over to his car he ducked under the police tape and stashed his field kit in the back then walked around the car and got in the driver's seat. As calmly as possible he pulled away from the crime scene and drove back to the lab.
Greg got up from his desk and walked down to the break room to get his bottle of water out of the community fridge. Entering the room he saw Archie sitting at the table tapping away on his computer, most likely working on security footage from the bar where a woman was killed. He didn't know much about the case because it was Ecklie's case and he was as open about his cases as nightshift was, and he also just really didn't like Greg, probably because he was friends with everyone on nightshift and was also dating the nightshift's golden boy, Nick Stokes.
"Hey man." Greg said, walking over to the fridge and got out his bottle of water, uncapping it and taking a large gulp.
"Hey. Water huh? I thought you would be downing the rest of your coffee?" Archie asked curiously, looking up from his laptop.
"I haven't been feeling too good and the coffee hasn't been agreeing with me lately." Greg sat down across from Archie and took another drink of his water before capping the bottle, setting it down in front of him.
"Do you think you need to go to the doctor?" Archie asked, genuinely concerned about his friend's health.
"Nah, it's probably just a bug that's going around." Greg licked his lips and turned his head to look at the door, tapping his foot on the floor in anticipation of Nick's arrival. The truth was Greg had been waking up in the middle of the night and puking his guts out; thankfully Nick was such a heavy sleeper that he didn't even hear Greg whip out of bed or the flushing of the toilet. He had a pretty good idea of what was going on, but he couldn't go to a regular doctor, and the doctor he needed to see was all the way out in the desert and he didn't want Nick to know until he was sure, so going to the doctor was out of the question.
Archie picked up on his friend's anxiety and spoke his thoughts aloud.
"Something going on?" he asked, closing his laptop.
Greg turned back to him and gave Archie a shaky smile.
"What? No, everything's great man, just waiting for Nick to come back. I have some results for him." Greg fibbed, hoping Archie would drop it. Thankfully Archie did just that and opened his laptop to go back to work.
Greg internally sighed in relief and went back to watching the door.
It wasn't five minutes later that Nick arrived, practically barreling down the hallway and in his haste to find his lover accidentally bumped into some people. When he didn't find Greg in his lab he assumed he was in the break room so that's where he was headed. He slowed down when he saw Greg sitting in the break room playing with his water bottle's cap and when he noticed Nick approaching he set the cap down and stood up from the table.
Nick entered the break room and walked right up to Greg. Concern evident in his eyes from the distressed message he had gotten from Greg.
"What's going on?" he asked, placing his hands on Greg's shoulder, looking deep into his eyes to make sure that Greg couldn't lie to him because when it came to lying Greg would always give himself away with his eyes.
"Let's talk in my lab." Greg whispered in Nick's ear, not wanting Archie to overhear who was very poorly hiding the fact that he was trying to listen in on their conversation.
Nick nodded and took his hands away from Greg's shoulders.
Greg took Nick's hand and led him out of the break room, down the hallway and back into his lab where he closed the door behind him. Turning to face Nick he walked over to him and planted his hands on the desk beside where Nick was leaning.
"He's back Nick, he's coming back and he's planning something, something big." Greg looked up at Nick and saw the horror shining in his eyes.
"The hunter." he whispered, as if it were the most vile explicit he ever uttered, which to their kind it was.
Nick ran a hand down his face and looked up at the ceiling.
"Did you see where he was at?" Nick asked, after a few minutes had gone by.
"It was some kind of cabin and from what I saw Nick, he's getting ready for a war." Greg answered, sitting down in his chair.
Nick got up from the table and started pacing the room, trying to come up with a way to keep Greg and him safe. The hunter hadn't been around for over a century, ever since he was fought off in the Nevada Desert half a century ago by their ancestors.
"We have to warn the others Nick. I know we didn't part with them on the best of terms but they need to know." Greg reasoned, knowing how seeing the pack again would affect his mate.
With a sigh Nick nodded his head and turned to face his mate.
"I'm going to go talk to Grissom, request some time off for the both of us. I'll tell him that...that...I'll think of something," and with that Nick cupped Greg's cheek, leaned in and kissed him then pulled away and walked out of the lab.
Greg got up from the chair and got his cell phone out of his desk. He stuck it in his pocket then left the lab as well. Walking down the hallway he turned the corner just in time to see Nick enter Grissom's office. Greg shook his head and scowled, angry at the hunter for choosing now to come back! He and Nick had been through so much this year with Nick's stalker and Greg being in the explosion, they deserved some happiness in their lives, not more sorrow and trouble!
Nick entered Grissom's office and cleared his throat to get his supervisor's attention. Grissom looked up from the case file and noticed Nick standing in the doorway, looking a little nervous.
"What is it Nick?" Grissom asked, setting his case file down and giving Nick his full attention.
"Grissom, Greg and I need to have some time off, you see my sister was in an accident and my family really needs me back home and I really need Greg down there with me so-" Nick was rambling now, and the way he was avoiding eye contact Grissom knew that he was lying.
"What's really going on Nick?" he asked patiently.
Nick swallowed and took a seat in the chair in front of him.
"Griss...something bad is going on with our families and we need to be there for them and if you say no then I'll remind you that Greg and I have at least three weeks of overtime combined and we want to use those days to spend with our families." Nick said, now staring full on at Grissom with dead seriousness in his eyes. Grissom was aware of the two men's overtime hours and he knew that he couldn't deny them their time off but he was curious as to why Nick wasn't giving him the direct answer as to why they needed the time off. And this troubled him.
Nick waited patiently for Grissom's response, wringing his hands in his lap nervously, desperately wanting to get out of this stuffy office and back to Greg. With the hunter coming back Nick was growing more anxious the longer he was away from his mate; he needed to get back to Greg, needed to protect him. That was his job.
Nick was taken out of his thoughts when Grissom spoke, having come to a decision.
"I'll give you and Greg the time off, but you have to tell me why you lied to me." Grissom bargained.
A bark of laughter filled with disbelief fell from Nick's mouth and he stared at his boss in disbelief.
"I'll see you in three weeks Griss." Nick stood up from the chair and walked out of the office, ignoring Grissom's calls for him to come back. He knew he would have to explain his actions when he got back but for the moment he needed to be near Greg.
Greg shut his locker and pulled on his jacket, buttoning up the buttons on his jacket subconsciously. He jumped when arms wrapped around his waist, but relaxed when he recognized the intoxicating smell of his mate and the silver ring, which was part of the story of why Nick was against seeing the pack again.
"C'mon let's get out of here, Grissom is probably looking for me and I wasn't exactly on my best behavior when we parted." Releasing Greg he took his hand and pulled Greg out of the locker room, not even bothering to open his own locker because he already had his own keys and wallet on him because he had been called in from their house and hadn't had the time to drop them off in his locker.
The two walked past the break room and didn't stop to talk to Warrick who was about to ask Nick a question, but they blew him off and continued walking towards the exit. Walking out of the building they entered the lab parking lot and head straight over to Nick's truck. Greg had driven in his own car because Nick was supposed to have the day off but had been called in. He would get his car when they returned to the lab.
"Are you ready for this?" Greg asked, as Nick started the engine.
"No, but then again I'll never be ready." Putting the truck in drive Nick pulled out of his parking spot and drove out of the lot into the busy road of Las Vegas.
A/N: There's the beginning. I hope you continue to read because I can assure you that much more is on the way. Please review, it inspires me to write faster and it will also help me not feel like I'm just writing for my beta and myself. Please review!