Title:
Power
Play
Rating:
R
Fandom:
Criminal
Minds
Universe:
Creatures
of the Night (Part 1)
Pairing:
Morgan/Prentiss;
JJ/Hotch
Genre:
Supernatural/Drama
Summary:
Tensions
are running high when a vampire joins the BAU, but all differences
must be put aside as the team investigate a series of suspicious
werewolf murders. AU.
Author's
Notes: Betaed
by Windy City Dreamer.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Emily's feeling a little apprehensive as they approach the residence of the Prentiss clan. It's a castle, really, but she doesn't like to call it that, because it brings back some pretty unwelcome memories.
Apprehensive is a bit of an understatement, she thinks, upon consideration of the matter. In actual fact, she's as nervous as hell. If her heart beat the way it's supposed to, it'd be pounding away like a jackhammer. As it stands, though, some elements of vampire physiology are a bit of a mystery, and have been the subject of many a Ph. D thesis. No-one claims to even come close to fully understanding it. Not even the vampires.
She's breathing deeply, trying to relax herself. It's not working. She's not entirely sure she isn't going to end up dead tonight. Or worse than dead – kept alive as a spectacle. As a warning for other vampires that might choose to stray from the path.
'Nothing's going to happen,' says Rossi evenly from the driver's seat. She's not even going to ask how he knows – it's painfully obvious. 'We're going on a legally sanctioned interview. Paperwork has been filed. People know where we are. They aren't going to run the risk of losing their neutral status.'
Emily doesn't feel the urge to bring up the fact that the same thing had happened just months ago, and Hotch had ended up in ICU. It doesn't matter who knows where they are. If the power's in the right place, her mother can get away with almost anything.
It is not a comforting thought.
The thought of being armed doesn't seem to help. She has the gun strapped to her hip, but the bullets won't do more than slow a vampire down, and even then, she's only got one clip. Hotch has the stake gun, and JJ's got the tranq darts, and that's mostly due to the fact that no-one quite trusts Morgan with a weapon that's capable of killing the people they're trying to investigate. No-one will admit that that is the reason, though.
'My mother killed my father,' she reveals suddenly. In the back seat, Morgan makes the smallest sound of surprise. 'He was a sorcerer, before she turned him. She didn't know the consequences of her actions – didn't know that a hybrid could never truly be one or the other. He couldn't be the vampire she wanted him to be.'
'And you're the only part of him left,' concludes Rossi.
'Not only that…I have the part of him that couldn't stop being human. An aberration in all senses of the word.'
She doesn't know why she's telling them this. She's only known them for a little over twenty-four hours, and she isn't the most trusting person by any means, but she feels that there's something deeper at play. That these people are more than just temporary fixtures in her life. She's never felt this before, and it's highly disconcerting.
Emily steps out of the SUV, taking in the view of the castle. In the time that she's lived in this city, she's tried to stay as far away as possible. Now she's walking straight into it. A moth to the flame.
Hotch takes the lead, solidifying his status as the team leader. They're parked on the street, not wanting the vehicles to be trapped behind the twenty foot stone walls should things go south.
There are three men standing at the gate; two of them are guards, and the third is wearing a dark suit. He introduces himself as Diego, the clan liaison. Emily's never met him, but she has no doubt that he's been briefed of her existence. Sure enough, he casts a glance over the group, his eyes locking with hers for just one second.
The success of the visit is based on the assumption that there's going to be a policy of mutual denial. Her mother is going to deny her presence, going to deny that she had attempted to kill Aaron Hotchner, and similarly, the team is going to deny that there's anything at all wrong, aside from the fourteen werewolves whose deaths they're investigating. Emily thinks it should work – that's how her mother plays the game, after all. Publicly polite, privately ruthless.
It's a hell of an assumption, but they're not going to get their information any other way.
They're led through the gate, and towards the doors of the castle. Not all of the clan live here; it's usually just the clan leader, the most highly regarded associates, and the serving staff. In any case, they're required by law to ask the clan leader's permission before interviewing any witnesses. With LaMontagne, it had been different; he had been engaged in the committing of crimes, and thus had waived those particular legal rights.
They're led through the doors, into a sitting room of sorts. It's big, and decorative, and from the way JJ's clenching her fist, Emily knows that this is where she and Hotch had been attacked the last time around.
There's a woman sitting on the sofa – a woman who is not Elizabeth Prentiss.
'We requested to speak with the clan leader,' Hotch told the liaison, his eyes narrowing into a glare.
'I regret that the Lady Elizabeth is otherwise engaged,' he says, his own gaze locking with Hotch's.
'The Lady Elizabeth,' seethes Hotch, 'is wanted for questioning in relation to the deaths of fourteen werewolves. We've announced our presence; she is required by law to be present, if only to request our departure.'
'Our lawyers will contest that,' announces the woman on the sofa; her physiological symptoms are characteristic of someone who's had a little too much blood. If things reach breaking point, they'll have a hell of a fight on their hands.
Thirty seconds later, Emily finds herself talking, and she has no idea why. 'Tell the Lady Elizabeth that her daughter wants to see her,' she says, and she sees the look on Hotch's face, and wonders if she's just screwed things up for all of them.