I think I'm evil. I hope I'm not evil to all of you. Except with the fact I tossed Ryan into a portal with Stetler… Many thanks to Guardian.Ghost, Shadowstorm92, Queen Sunstar, Rebellwithoutacause, speedfanatic05, daxy, kitsune!!, dana flame princess, Le Pecore Nere, Compleatly Random Dissorder, Scifirogue Kane, and StoryDreamer for reviewing! On a side note, "Heroes" was nominated in the CSI FanFic Awards for Best AU and Best Fantasy! That's just cool!


4. Spasms of the Elemental Kind

Ryan moaned, blinking his eyes and glancing around at the area he ever-so-recklessly jumped into after Stetler. He rubbed his head and slowly sat up, taking in his surroundings. There was evidence of a murder a couple of weeks ago as he noticed whitish cream blood staining the carpet around him. A dim light was filling the room as book shelves lines the room from one end to the other. Demons began to formulate around him, growling and sniffing him. Ryan pulled away in disgust and summoned his spears, standing up wearily and rubbing his back. He glared at the creature, preparing to try and attack when they disappeared. Blinking, he warily began to walk about the room. "Something tells me that wasn't a good thing," he muttered.

"Good. At least you're in tune with your senses," a snide voice replied, coming out from the shadows.

Stetler appeared from behind one of the shelves, holding his sword and giving Ryan a strange gaze. "So you're the one who decided to come after me, huh? I must say, this is quite a surprise from the Ryan Wolfe I know once as a normal CSI."

The master of air clenched up, his spears teetering dangerously on the edge of lashing out. "Keep your comments to yourself, Rick. No one needs to be under your influence, much less Horatio Caine!" He waved his hand, a spear striking the male on the cheek and brought his hands towards the ground, a whip creating a gash into Stetler's arm.

The darkness merely smiled. "If only you knew."

Ryan was just about to slam him with another whiplash but stopped, confused. "What?"

"So many things you CSIs don't know about," he replied lazily, flipping his katana ever-so-casually. "Like, how Calleigh nearly died by another hand, the fact that you could bring her back to life, or Horatio's nephew, or…"

Ryan held up a hand. "Back up," he ordered, looking nearly cross-eyed. "Horatio… his nephew, Ray?!"

Stetler shrugged. "More or less." He held the sword, pointing it at Ryan, who poised for battle. "But that's not really important now, is it?"

The CSI growled softly. "You haven't."

"I have."

Ryan threw his fist for the Internal Affairs demon and connected with his nose. There was a nasty crack as Stetler's nose nearly shattered, a black sort of goo beginning to run down his face. He stepped back, stunned, and felt his face where his nose should have been. Ryan was breathing heavily and glaring at him. "You turned the kid into a demon."

Stetler coughed lightly. "More or less, in a sense. Doesn't even know right from wrong anymore." His lips morphed into a weak sort of grin. "And neither does Horatio."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Horatio grabbed the chair, his nails digging into the leather and feeling the soft cotton. "Its name is Rizora," he muttered nearly inaudibly, the second tail spewing out of his end. "He's my internal demon that wants to take over me. I think Stetler got him out, but I…" He kneeled over, throwing up. Eric winced and turned away from the sight.

Alexx frowned and pushed back some of her hair and glancing at Natalia, who was clutching her arm. "You think, Horatio? There's the slim possibility that he didn't?"

He shook his head, gasping. "Alexx, it's complicated. He wants me to join him, but I told him I wouldn't. He's forcing me to become the very thing I am fighting to save this city from, but I can't help but wonder… is it really worth it all to go through this much pain?"

Natalia furrowed her brow. "I've heard of a lot of complicated stories, all of them involving cases of severe depression and other crap like that, but this…" She shook her head. "This is ridiculous."

Alexx glanced at Natalia's hand covering her arm. "Sweetie, you've been grabbing your arm like men grab other places. What's wrong?"

The young CSI winced. "I don't… I don't know. It keeps acting up, like it's trying to unleash something upon me, but I'm almost resisting it." She clenched her teeth. "It keeps stinging me."

Horatio screamed once more, the tail growing larger. Alexx bit her lip. "We better figure this out and fast."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"Speed, are you getting a cough?" Caroline Caine demanded, watching the deceased CSI cover his mouth once again and attempt to hide his sickness.

He shook his head, coughing and sneezing yet again. "Look, Caroline, it's nothing. Just let me go and get some cough drops if you're that worried."

"Well, you can curse me into eternal damnation!" she growled, whapping him with a dish towel. "Get over here."

A blonde-haired woman with the color of light laughed and shook her head, walking over to a messy brown haired male with green eyes, sitting at the table. "Hey, John."

John Hagen's eyes lit up. "Miss Calleigh Duquesne."

"John!" Marisol Delko-Caine called warningly from the living room. "Don't go hitting on her!"

He laughed lightly and pulled in next to the angel of light. "Remember how I said I would ell you the new element, Calleigh?"

She nodded.

"You have water, fire, earth, air, light and darkness. But we needed something more to complete the circle. The seventh element.

"The element of life."

Her eyes widened. "Alexx has the power over LIFE?"

"And death," he admitted, a strange grimace working on his face. "It's eerie. She can't take life away, but she can give it to other people."

Calleigh blinked. "Explain."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

The demons began to advance with the figure in the night. It smiled and held out its hand- black mist swirled around and a large staff appeared, a strange pair of wings forming at the top. The figure pointed the weapon to the crime lab and nodded. "Og ylkciuq," it whispered, the person's hair shining in the moonlight.

It turned around, moaning. Clutching its head, it let out an ear-piercing scream of a woman and sank to the ground sobbing. "Why? Why is he doing this to me? What do I have to do to save him?!"

Another shriek escaped her lips, this time as words.

"Horatio, please! Help us! Help us all!"


Hoo-boy. A lot of info, some action, and a lot more info. This person shrieking… -ponders- Thanks for reading, and please review! It's the magic touch of life in a writer's life!