(Chapter 2)
Neal woke up feeling warm and comfortable. He opened his eyes slowly, taking in his surroundings. The room was nicely furnished in familiar earth tones and he realized after a moment where he was. Neal pushed himself up onto his elbows and looked around stiffly feeling as if he had been sleeping for a few days. He turned at the sound of a soft snore in the corner and noticed a figure on a comfy armchair. It was Peter, the older man slumped in the chair, feet up on a small ottoman. Someone had attempted to make him comfortable, a small throw over the agent. Neal smiled at the sight of the agent looking so relaxed.
It took a bit of effort but the young man pushed the covers aside and swung his feet around quietly to the side of the bed and stood up. He actually felt pretty good as if a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He limped towards the sleeping figure and stood over them, reaching down after a moment and touching their shoulder. Peter woke up with a start, eyes still mostly closed as he fumbled around sleepily.
"El...Oh..." He looked up and saw Neal standing there. Neal smiled down at him.
"Neal, you're awake. How are you feeling?" Neal shrugged but then smiled.
"Actually pretty good." He sat down on the ottoman when Peter removed his feet and stared at his friend curiously.
"I don't remember much but... why am I in your guestroom?" He saw Peter look at him with a strange expression.
"Uhm... you don't remember anything?" Neal shook his head at the Fed, feeling strangely calm despite thinking he had lost something. He continued to smile, a lightness of spirit making him think he didn't need to know what he had lost. He saw Peter look at him again, rubbing his chin.
"I actually feel pretty good. How long did I sleep? I don't even remember coming here. I guess I showed up after my walk?" Neal was smiling but he noticed a strange look on the agent's face.
"Uhm... yeah... your walk. And you've been asleep for two days." Neal's jaw dropped as he heard that and blinked.
"Two days? I don't remember..." He was trying to think back but his memory was fuzzy and all he could feel was a strange happiness that made him not care too much. It bothered him but not enough to think about it much. He still had Kate to think about.
"Neal, we can discuss this later if you want. Why don't we go down and have some lunch. It's nearly..." He glanced at the clock. "...eleven." Peter stood up and stretched sleepily, looking at the young man. Neal looked kind of happy considering how he had been. It was almost unnerving.
"Food sounds good." Neal smiled regardless of the past year and seemed to be back to his old self. Peter reached up and felt the young man's forehead. Neal looked at him curiously.
"So what's your prognosis, Dr. Quack?" Peter smirked at the young man's comment, removing his hand.
"That you must be doing better if you can make jokes to a man who carries a gun." Neal held up a hand in mock fear.
"Oh right... you're a Federal agent. I keep forgetting that." Neal winked at the agent, making a kind of flourish towards the door. Peter mumbled something under his breath, opening up the guestroom door and they both exited.
Downstairs, Elizabeth was fiddling around in the kitchen. On the table sat a plate of sandwiches. Neal followed Peter into the room through the swinging doors. Both men sat down when El pointed at the table and walked over to the fridge, pulling out a pitcher of what appeared to be lemonade. Neal smiled up at her and reached for a sandwich as she filled a glass near him.
"Thanks El... Hmmm..." Neal looked down at the sandwich he took a bit out of and then over at Peter.
"Uhm, I think this sandwich was meant for you." He cut off the part he had bitten and handed it to Peter who stared at him oddly.
"For me? Why would you say that." Peter sniffed at the sandwich and grinned suddenly.
"Oh right, Deviled Ham. I forgot you love this stuff." He smirked at the young man and took a bite of the sandwich heartily. Neal made a face, holding his nose and looking back at the plate of sandwiches. Elizabeth pulled one out of the pile and placed it on his plate.
"I think you'll like this one, Neal. It's chicken salad." Neal nodded with a smile and took a big bite out of it.
"This is good. Did you put egg in it?" She nodded, sitting across from him and smiling as she pulled a sandwich of her own from the pile.
"And some other ingredients that are my own secret recipe." She winked at him and took a sip of her lemonade. Neal grinned.
"Hmmm, I may have to charm that information out of you one of these days." Peter looked up at the two and made a face.
"Please refrain from flirting with my wife at the dinner table when I'm present, Neal." Elizabeth giggled swatting her husband on the arm playfully.
(what dreams may come)
After lunch, Peter and Neal were shooed out of the kitchen despite Neal's request to help. Elizabeth refused and told them to go play nicely in the den. Both men were sitting on the couch, Peter had turned on the tv and was watching a game, when Neal stood up and walked over to the door. Peter gave him a curious look.
"Where do you think you're going?" Neal paused and turned around, grabbing his jacket from the coat rack. He pulled it on and started to button it up when Peter stood up and walked over. He placed a hand on the young man's shoulder.
"I'm ok, Peter. Really. I just... I'm going to take a taxi back to June's. Tell El I said thanks." Peter seemed to be trying to read something into the young man's actions but shrugged, grabbing his own jacket and pulling it on.
"Give me five minutes, I'll take you myself. Least I can do." Neal blinked but nodded watching the agent go back to the kitchen and disappear inside the swinging door. Neal went back inside the den and sat on the sofa.
"Neal..." The young man turned at the sound of his name and saw Kate standing by the door. He fought the urge to say anything, turning back to see if Peter was coming back.
"Kate... how?" He stood up and walked over to her and they hugged. She smelled the way he remembered her and he wondered if he was dreaming. He felt her lips on his cheek and then on his neck, her teeth cutting at his skin and that cold familiar feeling he had forgotten for the other night overcoming him. His mind went hazy, eyes rolling back briefly before he felt her pulling at his arm. He saw the door was open and she was leading him outside. He didn't turn around but just followed her, the door closing quietly behind them.
(disappearance)
Peter walked into the kitchen and hugged his wife from behind as she finished cleaning up. He helped her put a few of the dishes away and smiled.
"Neal wants to go home. I'm going to drop him off. I'll be back in a few." He kissed her on the cheek and she hugged him tight.
"Oh... give him these." She took a few of the sandwiches from the table and placed them in a small box.
"Chicken salad. His favorite." Peter smiled at her and she kissed him on the lips.
"Will do. Be back soon." He gave her one last hug, picked up the box and exited the kitchen.
Outside, Peter walked around to the door and looked confused. Neal was nowhere to be seen and his coat wasn't on the rack. Peter put the box on the coffee table and ran up stairs. He looked in the guestroom and bathroom... no Neal. He trotted back downstairs to see Elizabeth looking curiously at him.
"Honey, what's wrong?" She saw the look of confusion on his face as he looked around.
"Neal... he's not here." He glanced around then his face perked up as he looked at the front door. He walked over and noticed it was unlocked and not quite closed all the way. Peter opened the door and stepped outside. The afternoon sunlight was soft through a partially cloudy sky but there was no sign of Neal anywhere. The agent was about to go back in when he saw something on the door frame. He saw his wife looking at him curiously as he pulled the item off and held it up to the light. It was a long dark hair, sable in color and rather thick. Lucky for him it still had the root on it so forensics would be able to get something out of it.
"What is that, Peter?" He looked at his wife and then back outside before he turned and hugged her.
"Evidence. To what, I'm not sure yet." He turned to leave, kissing his wife quickly and then walked to his car.
(heaven?)
Neal didn't remember anything about leaving the Burke's house. He had a vague memory of seeing Kate and then he found himself in strange surroundings. He lay on a huge king-sized, four-poster bed enclosed with large red velvet curtains that hid the surrounding room. Braided tassels in gold hues hung down delicately from the sides, the ceiling hidden from view. Neal pushed himself up and realized he was only wearing his tee and boxers when he pulled the white satin sheets away from him. He felt confused and somewhat curious as to where he was.
After a moment, Neal felt around the curtains and found the opening, pushing them aside and slipping out of the bed. His bare feet touched a luxuriously soft carpeting that his toes practically sank into. It matched the red of the curtains he noticed as he looked around at the rest of the room. The walls were a soft velvety pink that was slightly lighter than the curtains and carpeting with a Doric design running the length of the ceiling edge around the room. He saw a robe set out on a nearby armchair in a small sitting area and pulled it on.
The room itself was sparsely furnished with a small night stand on either side of the bed of a rich cherry. A matching wardrobe and dresser sat off to the far left of the bed by a full length window covered in the same velvet material as the four poster bed. A full length mirror took one small wall near the entrance to what appeared to be a bathroom only this was like no bathroom Neal had ever seen. It was something out of a designer's magazine with a walk-in shower tiled immaculately with colored stones that seemed to glow from within. A large sink in a similar design stood across from the shower with a wall length mirror. A simple white bathtub, the only thing that struck him as oddly out of place sat off to the far side in a small alcove. He walked around the huge space thinking how half of his apartment would fit in this one room when he heard the sound of soft footsteps behind him.
"I see you're awake." He turned and saw Kate standing there in nothing than a short kimono style robe. She looked beautiful, her hair fixed up in a messy bun. Neal just looked at her a moment, drinking her in with his eyes and feeling like he had come home. He took a few steps towards her and hugged her close.
"Is this where they've been keeping you?" He was glad to know she atleast was well after so much time apart. She nodded softly against his shoulder and he felt her nestle close to him. Her perfume was intoxicating and her kisses more so as she gently bit at his neck again. That cold feeling came over him but this time he felt more conscious of the fact. She pulled away and took his hand leading him to the small sitting area and a love seat there. They sat down and she stared deeply into his eyes, the blue seemed so much deeper than before he thought.
"Neal, do you love me? I mean... do you REALLY love me?" He pulled her into his lap and kissed her.
"Yes. You know I'd do anything for you. I... the music box. I'm close. Very close." He kept kissing her, breathing in her scent and feeling that cold escape as she kissed at his neck. He suddenly noticed how much sharper her teeth seemed but it didn't seem to matter to him. She was here and he was glad after so long to see her. She played with his hair and brushed it from his face.
"The music box. Yes... You can bring it to me?" He stared into her eyes, his pupils somewhat dilated and nodded vaguely. She smiled back and caressed his cheek gently.
"Good. I knew I could believe in you, Neal."
(the search)
Peter sat in his office waiting for the report from forensics on the hair he had brought in. It didn't belong to Alex he knew. Her hair was a bit thinner but it was definitely female and he wondered what it was doing on his door frame when his wife's hair didn't match. He chewed on his lip and wondered where Neal was. He had tried to call the young man but his cell kept going to voice mail. Something wasn't right here. He turned as the phone rang and picked up the receiver.
"Burke." He listened to the person on the other end and nodded.
"Yes, I remember you. You have information on the John Doe?" He nodded into the phone and then whistled.
"Thanks... I appreciate you calling me back." Peter hung up the phone and wrote some stuff down quickly on a nearby legal pad then started typing it into the computer. His face was lit up by the faint glow of the LCD screen he was reading when he heard someone knock.
"Peter?" Burke looked up absently to see Jones standing in his doorway. The young agent held a manila folder.
"Is that from forensics?" Jones nodded and closed the door as he walked in and passed the folder to his boss. Peter opened it up and looked the contents over while he young agent sat across from him and gave a short rundown.
"The hair belongs to a renown antiquities thief by the name of "Monika Vladislav." She's a hard woman to capture and always manages to escape when she has been caught. The woman is a ghost." Jones pointed at a set of pictures inside the folder.
"She's left a few interesting things at her crime scenes. Note the marks on this guard's neck." Peter peered at the picture and had a flashback to the night he and Neal had seen the man in the alleyway. He made a loud intake of breath.
"Nosferatu... Vladislav... it makes sense now." Jones looked at his boss curiously and Peter explained.
"The man who Neal found was bleeding heavily from the neck and coughed out "Nosferatu" before he died. I just found out he was a thief aswell. Looked him up online. Monica's so called partner." He paused and continued.
"I didn't see the wound but I did see something like it forming on Neal's neck the night we found the victim. I think Miss Vladislav is stalking him from the scene. Trying to get rid of a witness although he never mentioned seeing any actual assailant..." He paused and then looked further into the file. His face went grim suddenly.
"Am I reading this right, Clinton? She actually pretends to be a vampire and drugs her victims that way to do her bidding? These toxicology reports... Neal's in real danger!" He cursed silently to himself and closed the file, standing up.
"Get me the data for Neal's anklet. I haven't gotten any calls that it's offline but we could try and see if it's available." Jones nodded and they left the office for the computer downstairs.
"This makes no sense!" Peter slammed his hand on the table in frustration. According to the tracking site, Neal Caffrey was still at the Burke home but when he called his wife, she said she hadn't seen him since they'd eaten lunch. Peter hung up feeling more concerned than ever. This woman was a murderer as well as a thief and she had Neal wrapped around her finger somewhere. It made sense now. Whatever drug it was she was feeding the young man, it had changed him enough to forget the past few days if not more. Neal had seemed happier but it was because of the after effects of the substance she injected into him.
"Boss, do you think Fowler could be behind this?" The agent drew Peter's attention from the screen.
"Fowler? No... this is too smart for him. Maybe the highers up. Dammit! I don't know what to do or even where to start looking." Peter stood and paced around the desk, trying to get any ideas to where Neal could have been taken and why. He came up with a blank and turned to Jones.
"Keep digging up info on Vladislav. There has to be a clue to where she took Neal." Jones nodded and Peter walked back to his office.
