AUTHOR'S NOTE: I deeply apologize for the delay in posting, but my laptop grew legs and since I'm poor, it took a while to get back up and running. Thank goodness I keep
my stories and notes on a thumb drive and my system was locked! I detest thieves. :/ Anyway, I'm back and here is the next chapter. I hope you enjoy! My Muse has stumbled in, drunk and ornery, and is currently chained to a chair and sulking, but I'm whipping her back into shape. :) I hope this chapter isn't too short or too bad. Anyhow, I'm typing in the next chapter now. :) Please let me know if the lyrics stink, I'm trying my hand at them, but I'm pretty new at lyrical writing. :/ Please review! They keep me happily writing away! ;)
Have a great week! :)
Shadewynde
WARNING: Major villains are introduced, and the description and dialogue may make your skin crawl. Beware! I'm really concerned about the baddies and how they come
across, please let me know in any reviews. :/
LOST SON OF AVALON
Chapter Thirty-Eight: Stand Together, Or Fall Apart
Everywhere I'm looking now
I'm surrounded by your embrace
Baby I can see your halo
You know you're my saving grace...
"Halo" - Beyonce
When Calleigh opened her eyes, the glowing beacon of the clock was the first thing she saw.
2am.
Then the memories of hours before blazed joyously through her mind, and she reached out, her hand touching arms wrapped gently around her, hearing the reassuring beat of a heart.
Horatio. The name sparked brilliantly in her heart, and she luxuriated in the warmth of his body, enjoying the touch of her skin against his.
Closing her eyes, she could see the awesome sight of countless crystals, each refracting the whole spectrum of light through the faintest silvery-blue.
Every moment, their placement flowed into different formations, each individual, each brushing against one another in silent unity.
She felt as if she was floating, but with a distinct grounding that welcomed her with brilliant incandescence.
Inhaling contentedly, she caught that unique, intoxicating scent that was so distinctively Horatio.
His arms tightened protectively around her, a warm security blanket fair skin and red hair.
Nestling back down against the soft beat of his heart under her ear, Calleigh saw/felt/knew those softly shifting crystals, the dancing flickers of light flickering warmly in her mind.
She could sense some kind of constantly shifting pattern that was so warm and safe that the young woman would have happily wrapped herself in them and never let go.
Because the dancing shimmers of light meant something...
Something she knew, in a way that defied words.
So new, yet so deeply familiar.
Something that she belonged to, as it belonged with her.
Horatio.
All disciplined strength, gentle grace, and deep warmth.
And that hidden beauty lulled her, those dancing lights reflecting every color, light that could shame a rainbow, soothing and warm, eased her back into sleep.
Ryan was eating a truly awful tunafish sandwich - at least he hoped it was tunafish, the gooey mess and nearly-stale bread was one of his two options from the machine - and drinking a cup of coffee, enjoying the bite.
His mind had finally calmed a little from the wild storm of activities that had rampaged through the Lab in the last five days, and he was concerned that if he let himself stop and relax, he would probably fall asleep.
Meeting and getting to know the Night Shift, in more than just passing, had been an unexpected side-effect of the events of the case - cases? - and he and Zach seemed well on the way to what was likely a lasting friendship.
From talking as they worked, he had discovered that Zach was five years his junior, and almost painfully eager to prove himself.
Even when it was obvious he didn't really need to.
Ryan found himself leaning toward thinking of the shy albino as a kid brother.
Max seemed a bit rough around the edges, but he clearly possessed a high level of both competence and loyalty.
And Larry almost seemed - comic.
He was clearly an intelligent man, but he appeared to be more the type to be holed up somewhere in front a fire, reading.
The absent-minded professor type.
And he was gay.
Ryan shifted folders around on the table and thought about that.
Does that bother me? He wondered. Should it?
A picture caught his eye, and he used his free hand to maneuver it closer.
Now that they had access to the Interpol files on Peter Andozza, they were making better progress.
And then there were the "temps".
Ian was pretty - well, off-the-grid.
Birth certificate, degrees, ranks going through Scotland Yard then Interpol - his record was good enough to prove competence and ability, but not enough to draw attention.
Nothing else.
Jason, on the other hand - nothing.
A call from the Pentagon acknowledging his credentials and a freshly-printed and confirmed military ID with no rank listed?
The information was very brief - US citizen, brief physical description- and has experience enough to jump right into CSI?
He knew that the other CSIs were as puzzled and curious as he was, but they had somehow - accepted them.
Ryan sighed.
One thing he did know: Ian was Horatio's father.
The man had all but bent over backwards to find and obviously protect Horatio Caine.
Ian Caine. Jason Savage. Who ARE you?
When Calleigh woke again, it was the middle of the afternoon.
Then the sound of music flowed around her, notes blending and merging, wordless but ablaze with meaning.
Something made her smile - sounds that spoke and sang with only itself as a voice,
The music told of emotion, brilliant and clear.
Hope.
Peace.
Life.
Light.
Love.
Very softly, a voice wove through the almost purring music, filling the light dance of a stringed instrument - a guitar?
Forever and eternity
Eternal as the light
But all I know is everything's going to be alright
Dance in the fire
No one to tell us no
Forever and eternity
I love you more than I have ever found a way to say
You are the place in me I hold
Dearest to forever stay
Because you are the dream I hid away
And I can't help falling in love with you
You are the rainbow shattering the dark held sway
In my heart shall you always stay
Forever and eternity
Every time I see your eyes it shakes me to the core
Your trust is more than I deserve
My heart lies open, you have opened up the door
Forever and eternity
It starts today with you...
Calleigh realized she was staring at Horatio's graceful, sensitive hands, aware of the ease and mastery of the guitar, a sight she never could have imagined until less than a week ago.
Only a little while, and it feels like a year has past. Even since the moment I saw him dance. She frowned to herself, suddenly wondering why she - they - hadn't imagined it.
His warmth and gentle empathy went far to deep to be - stifled - by science, his mind too active for only a lab and duty and the solving of cases.
It was a simple fact, and the young blonde understood now.
She realized her mouth was hanging slightly open at the soft voice that glided like silk over and through the words.
The music stopped as sapphire blue eyes met her's.
It felt like a kind of almost-shock as she felt a sense of wistful aching at the sudden silence.
"I didn't mean to wake you." His head tilted in that charming mannerism she loved so much.
"It was a great way to wake up." she replied, sitting up and smiling at her - lover, her heart sang - then meeting those hypnotic eyes. "Beautiful."
She wasn't just referring to the music, though it was incredible.
Her appreciative eyes scanned his body, eyeing the sleep-pants he was wearing and the loose white t-shirt that looked at least a size too large.
He shifted slightly in the chair, almost appearing - what?
Uncomfortable? Ashamed?
What happened to you that could possibly make you feel ashamed, Handsome?
What happened to you?
"I...often play in the morning." Horatio's tones were quiet, almost an admission.. "I'm glad you enjoyed it. It isn't quite right, yet,." A faint, tender smile that made Calleigh's heart melt. "There're more important things to pay attention to."
Calliegh grinned brilliantly at the redhead, a part of her noting with disappointment that he was already up and dressed.
Still floating in a joyous euphoria, she commented playfully, "I wasn't just talking about the music." Her eyes darkened suggestively.
Horatio gifted her with one of his rare, heart-stopping smiles.
"Neither was I."
Eric came down the hallway, mind in that state all law enforcement knew - mind too active to sleep, body wired with sharp attention, even though likely he would be asleep the moment his head hit any convenient pillow.
Ian was in the Trace Lab, fingertips lightly tapping the table, attention on a book in his hands, while Jason bounced with boundless energy from station to station.
Dropping bonelessly into the chair he glanced around the room, then asked tiredly, "Where's everyone else?"
"Nappin' - they've earned it." The blonde man replied, placing a slide in the microscope without breaking stride. "Walter's in yer Atrium on onea the couches, Nat's inna Lab on a couch, Speed's checkin' out that car that when boom, an' Max and Zach are searchin' databases."
Something in the young Cuban's mind clicked. "How'd you know about that case?' He looked over at Ian, who was still reading - but Eric was sure somehow that the raven-haired man was very aware of everything going on around him. "Is that related to what happened to H?'
"Very likely, ." Though calm and quiet, there was a danger that threaded through Ian's voice, a coldness that - despite his training, despite seeing every kind of crime - sent a shiver of cold unease up Eric's spine.
"How?" The young CSI didn't back down, though his cop instincts warned him to tread softly.
He realized then that underneath the calm lurked a very , very dangerous man - especially if Horatio was in danger.
Ian's fingers stilled.
"The pieces are interlaced. A man dies in automobile explosion. Singularly, perhaps not of great note, However, he apparently was fleeing something or someone he greatly feared.. Why? " A pause. "That same day, my son is kidnapped and tortured." A flicker of electricity danced dangerously in Ian's eyes. "Shortly afterwards, your team discovers the existence of a pseudo-religious cult. Unrelated? I think not."
Eric's brain clicked into high gear as the pieces started fitting together - with far too many still missing. "So this Order wants you for something?"
"They also believe their whacko bunch does the Christian God's will. It'd be more likely ta see alla Christian saints doin' a naked line dance down the streets of Miami." Jason interjected, comparing slides, hands almost a blur.
"What are they after H and you for?"
Straight answers - at last. Eric thought vaguely.
"The answer to that question is deceptively simple."
The younger man met the other's gaze. "Why?"
Ian leaned slightly back in his chair, expression calm but eyes a cat-danger emerald.
"Because we exist."
Speed paused as the fingerprinting-scanning software binged a conformation.
Sliding the mouse over, he saved the data, then looked it over with a practiced eyes.
One of the new CSIs poked her head in the door, with a, "How's it coming?'
Natalia Boa Vista, The dark-haired "temporary" CSI recalled.
He tapped his pen against the tabletop, and replied, "Seems our officer in the box is named Norman Gregson, not the birth certificate he applied to the Academy with."
Natalia scrubbed her face with one hand.
"How is that even possible?" she asked. "Security about applicants is damn tight!"
Speed looked up at the CSI.
"One thing stays true in this mess - money takes you a damn far way."
The creature known as Fleshcrawler made her way easily to the corrupted area of the Everglades her pack had claimed, hoping to encounter one of the Albion Shade pack.
Oh, to enjoy one of them!
Her hidden claws itched to cut and tear, to coax one of the other pack's cubs into the joy of pain!
First, she told herself, tossing off the pink coat and slinging it over one shoulder, she breathed deeply of her pack's glade.
Under the blasted and twisted trees, amusingly bulging with foully warped creatures and slithering things, and she reached out and snatched a terrified rabbit, biting it open eagerly and tossing the twitching, pitiful little corpse aside.
Though she heard the faintest hisses and gnashes, the female knew that not even the crocodiles would come in this area.
Crooning to the male watching ominously from the muddy, chemical-ridden puddle that vaguely approached the idea of a lake, saying, "Now, now, my gentle friends, there shall be a fall into your home soon enough." A cackle. "Mayhaps with red hair and tasty skin for ye. Heehee! After we play with the boy a bit, he'll not need nor want it! He!" She didn't bother to Shift, but dropped to all fours and scampered past the stained and dripping Bloodsplatter, who grumbled predictably about having nothing to tear and kill.
Though he was larger than her and much more muscled than she, even his faint little mind, he knew better than to turn his back on the mad thing.
She moved forward, aware of the presences of the five other members of the pack.
But she could smell the most powerful of them, and stopped in front of his shadow.
"He! I greet the mighty Crour of the Tearing Eyes pack! I bring news of blood and the taste of fire! Heeheehee! Yes, I do!"
Fleshcrawler grinned, eager saliva dripping down her chin.
The creature that emerged from the shadow only barely identifiable as a wolf.
A huge monstrosity, the silhouette one of a huge timber wolf.
Blood-black eyes regarded her, on a scarred wolfen face with mismatched teeth that were sharp as daggers.
His fur was mottled green-yellow-dark, body marked with whispering wounds filled with vile infection that oozed into the matts of his fur, a crawling things that had once been parasites, but now served the monster they burrowed into.
Fleshcrawler inhaled the scent of rot and death and and grinned, giggling at the old beautiful thing.
Speak. The twisted communication wriggled like corrupted maggots into the mad creature's mind.
"Oh, this new one! Heehee! Even blinder than his ancestors! Hee! Wants our help, he does. An alliance. I bargained for the boy, the redhead. In exchange, my Cruor! Hee!"
The thing simply regarded her coldly a moment, eyes seeming to shift like newly-formed clots of blood.
"That little king, he would coat himself with ice and clothe himself with blood - he may yet serve." A shrug of a stooped, bony shoulder. "Not as that lad years ago, but serve! Heeheee!"
Bloodcloak earned Name among Vilisune. The huge head turned, noting the positions of the lessers of his pack. Killed thousands, lessened Moonborn.
Low growls all around at that hated name.
The foul wolf snapped his fangs in warning, the his pack subsided instantly.
He had not given them permission to voice their opinions.
Again, he regarded the mad one.
Red Fall?
One of the others, Heartrender, almost slithered in front of the Cruor, showing his lower status to the larger creature,
A low whine indicated his desire to express himself, and the huge monstrosity growled assent.
Red's sire find. Alpha of Alphas know. Albion Shade know. One kin-blood in softroom place. Use bring down Red's pack? Blood on Red's den-floor. Lessers wounded, dying, dead...pain for Red.
A growl. No. Pack-around not matter. Only Red.
Six pairs of ears perked up eagerly.
Kill? A disorganized series of gleeful yips and snarls.
The evil, corrupted eyes regarded them all.
Break. Jaws spread in a vicious parody of a grin. Fall.
Bloodsplatter let out a whine of disappointment.
Fleshcrawler giggled. "The boy carries the stab-wounds of the dark and cold. Even now, shards pierce his heart. Hee! Strong boy, but - heehee - still a boy."
We work. Make Red use gifts. Let gifts hurt him. Then offer place among pack. Show him to use power, enjoy power.
Sounds of glee at the thought.
Find place safe among, place peace offer. Help Red Fall.
Fleshcrawler laughed. "Aye, lovely. But now...hee...surely you whelps saved old Fleshcrawler a snack, yes?"
Bloodsplatter eyed his Crour, received an earflick of permission.
A moment later there were the screams of a young child and the crunching of bone.
"Heee...heee...hee...!"
It had taken effort, but Calleigh had finally coaxed her lover back into bed, holding him gently, she took a few moments to run her fingers lightly through the silky red hair. And despite himself, he had started to drift off into light doze.
She wished he could relax into the restful sleep she had hoped for him, she was hopeful that he could at least catch a few more hours of slumber.
She took this time to indulge in one of her favorite activities - Horatio-watching.
After about an hour, his eyelashes fluttered and a low sound emerged from somewhere down in his chest.
Or more likely, his bruised and tender heart.
His voice was full of pain and horror as the words, "No! Leave me alone! NO!" were ripped from his lips.
It broke Calleigh's heart to watch the redhead struggle against something only he could see, his body half-rolling and half-off the bed, stumbling backwards, those blue eyes dark with a horror only he could see.
Carefully, she slid off the bed, hands out and open, and spoke with tender care.
"It's all right, Handsome. It's just us here. You're safe." she continued the litany as she approached the man, clearly caught in the taloned grip of a night terror.
Finally, her fingertips touched the inside of his forearm, making small little caressing movements and speaking soothingly until his eyes focused in on her, dark blue and clearly self-conscious.
"I..." he began, then shivered slightly, eyes closing and brow furrowing.
Calliegh slid down the wall, sitting next to him, still gently caressing his arm.
His chin was on his chest.
Very gently, she almost-asked, "Tell me."
"I feel...everything..."
She waited for him to continue, eyes loving.
For a moment, there was silence, but this time, a silence filled with love.
Finally, "I can feel your skin, the ridges of your fingerprints. I can hear the air moving against the fibers of the carpet I...see the air as it...moves." A deep breath, but he went on. "Everything, Calleigh. " His eyes closed. "Everything."
The blonde didn't release her tender grip, and the muscles beneath her had were looser than the tension gripping the rest of him, when that hypnotic voice paused.
He met her eyes, and her heart broke at the self-recrimination there.
You see, his tormented gaze told her. See how weak I really am?
So she told him the truth, how she felt, how she saw him.
"I love you, Handsome. Nothing will change that. Ever." She caressed him lightly, fingers gently circling his wrist. "You're the strongest person I've ever known, Horatio. Never forget that."
The redhead whispered in reply, "I'm not sure...what is happening to me...?'
He hadn't removed her hand, so she pressed her fingertips tenderly against the soft skin of his wrist.
"I'm not sure of everything. I'm not sure I understand it." She admitted, then a look of determination appeared in her green eyes. "But I need to make a call. To someone who does know..."
SONGS
"Calleigh's Waltz", by Shadewynde