MYTH

Phoebe, Warrick and Catherine did what they could at the creepy mansion in the darkness and headed back to the lab. David took the body to the morgue and passed it off to Doc Robbins for autopsy. Good thing was that, seeing as it was a relatively slow night, he to work on it right away.

Catherine went to inform Grissom of their progress while Warrick headed to the lab. Phoebe, with nothing immediate to take care of, went to get some coffee. In the break room she found Nick already making himself a drink.

He smiled at her as she came in. "Hey Pheebs." He said before going back to making his coffee. "Just made a fresh pot, you want some?"

"Yeah, thanks." Phoebe said, annoyed at the tightness in her voice. That stupid conversation she'd had with Warrick was going through her head. She made a mental note to beat him over the head later on. She tried her best to sound as normal as she could. "How's your case?" She asked, sitting down on the couch.

"Well, no longer a murder." Nick told her. He then told her about how the electrocuted man turned out to be a dummy and his whole accident seemed to be a distraction while robbers broke in and stole a whole bunch of expensive and rare Chinese antiques. "So we have to go about it at a different angle." Nick finished up.

"Well, obviously." Phoebe said with a smile.

"So, you feel like Buffy yet?" Nick asked, trying, but not too hard, to hide a smile.

"Hey, Catherine couldn't even come up with another reason why the Vic had bite marks on her neck." Phoebe said defensively. "Until she does-"

"Open mind?" Nick guessed.

Phoebe nodded. "Open mind."

xxx

Doc Robbins called Catherine, Warrick and Phoebe down to the morgue about an hour later saying he'd finished the autopsy so the three of them went down to meet him.

"David says you found evidence of vampires in North Las Vegas." The Doc said with a grin as the three of them entered.

"Well, let's just say evidence at the crime scene suggests occult, ritualistic activity." Warrick told him as they arrived beside the slab with their victim on it.

"That's Warrick's way of saying it could be a vampire." Phoebe told Robbins.

"We're not sure what we found." Catherine said, remaining neutral. "Did you ID the Vic?"

Robbins nodded. "Her name is Angela Sommerville, 20, from Henderson. License was in her pocket. Cause of death: Exsanguination."

"You check out her fangs?" Warrick said, glancing sideways to Phoebe.

"Well, her bark was worse than her bite." Doc Robbins replied. He opened the victim's mouth and removed her fangs from her teeth. "They're acrylic." Warrick nudged Phoebe. She made a face at him. "Check out her gum line." Doc Robbins continued. Catherine, Warrick and Phoebe all leaned in for a closer look. "Thin grooves carved into the canine's enamel. Fangs are clip-ons. Multiple bite marks on the tongue suggest she was still breaking them in.

"Warrick, the symbol on her ankle." Catherine pointed to a tattoo on the Vic's ankle. "It's similar to the one that was painted on the floor of the crime scene."

"The ankh. Egyptian symbol for eternal life." Phoebe told them all. "It's also the universal insignia for vampires." The others all looked at her oddly. "I told you; I know stuff."

Robbins shook his head. "Dracula didn't drink all her blood. I sent a sample to tox. I'm not sure if it's probative." He pointed to some markings on the victim's shoulders. "Multiple incised wounds on the anterior of both shoulders. Some are
fresh."

"Well, the shoulder area is rich in blood, right?" Warrick brought up. "Heals quickly?"

The Doc nodded. Now Catherine and Phoebe gave Warrick and odd look. Catherine shook her head. "Relevance?"

"I figure, if you're going to drink someone's blood, it's a good place to start." Warrick explained.

"Then why switch to the jugular?" Catherine asked.

xxx

Catherine sent Warrick back to the creepy mansion to see if anything showed up clearer in the light of day while she and Phoebe headed to Angela Somerville's home to speak with her parents. They had already been informed of their daughter's death and were as eager as CSI to figure out what had happened.

They took Phoebe and Catherine into Angela's room which was as dark and dreary as the mansion in which she'd been found in. There were symbols written all over the walls, black curtains and bedspread plus candles all over the place.

Angela was the sweetest child. She actually liked spending time with us." Mrs. Somerville told Phoebe and Catherine as they entered her daughter's room. "Her friends were always over here, and then...puberty hit and everything changed."

Catherine looked around the room and noticed a framed photo of Angela obviously on prom night.

"She shaved her head. Then she grew dreads." Mr. Somerville told them.

"It was like she couldn't get comfortable in her own skin." His wife added.

Phoebe glanced at the bedside table. Every inch of space was covered with a candle of some form.

Mrs. Somerville saw Phoebe looking. "About, um, six months ago, Angela went Goth." She explained. "Black clothing...she only went out at night..."

"We tried to support Angela the best we could." Mr. Somerville added. "We only wanted her to be happy."

Catherine discovered a black, leather bound book on Angela's bed and skimmed through it. "The Black Veil: 13 Rules of Community." She read aloud, glancing up at Phoebe.

"Guidelines for Vampires, I think." Phoebe told her.

"Yes, that's right." Mrs. Somerville said. "Angela wrote them down in there, along with all her thoughts."

"So you've read what's in here?" Catherine asked, looking at Mrs. Somerville. The woman nodded slightly in response. "Your daughter believed that she was a vampire?"

"She was 18." Mrs. Somerville started to explain. "She wanted to stand out, to be special. I tried not to judge her, but I also wanted to know what was going on in her head."

"She snooped." Mr. Somerville said plainly.

Mrs. Somerville sighed. "Each time Angela tried something new, I would take a crash
course." She continued.

Phoebe, who was skimming the bookshelf, pulled out a piece of stray paper. Looking at it, she could see that it was the results of an HIV test:

HIV TEST RESULTS
--NAME: ANGELA SOMMERVILLE
--ID: 3759060X
--AGE: 20
--SEX: F
--E ID NO: 6729-BAMI

--SESSION NO. 716885 20
--ER ID NO. 70722345

Phoebe showed the paper to Catherine. "Lab results." Both CSI's looked expectantly at the Somerville's.

"Angela's HIV test. It was negative." Mrs. Somerville said quickly. Phoebe went back to searching the room and headed to the cupboard. "That was the one thing we insisted upon...not that it matters now."

Opening the closet, Phoebe revealed what seemed to be an alter of sorts covered in more dark candles. The ankh was also drawn in several places on the shrine. In the centre of a bunch of candles was a black and white photo of a man. "Who's this guy?" Phoebe asked the Somerville's.

"Angela wouldn't say." Mrs. Somerville told her. "The statue's an incubus. According to the legend, incubi seduce young women while they sleep..."

"And drink their blood." Phoebe finished for her, glancing at Catherine.

"Well, your daughter was found in an abandoned house." Catherine told Mrs. Somerville. "And we believe that there was someone there with her. Do you have any idea who that might be?"

"Her court." Mrs. Somerville said simply. "I can give you their names."

Catherine raised her eyebrows. "Her court?"

"It's like a coven for vampires." Phoebe and Mrs. Somerville said in the same breath.

xxx