Chapter 53
Jamison Schewel looked at his grandson. "Jimmy, why don't you take Agent Hotchner over to see Heather? I know she wants to thank him personally."
Jimmy smiled. "Certainly, Tutu," he obeyed and gestured for Hotch to head down the path leading behind the main house. "Mandy's house is over by the groves, but it won't take us long to get there."
The gentleman in Hotch wouldn't let him refuse, so he looked at Rossi and then to Jamison. "I'll be back. Are you going to be alright?"
"Take your time," Rossi told him and waved him away as he followed Jamison to the rocking chairs facing the yard and both older men sat down.
Hotch frowned, but followed Jimmy without a word.
Once he thought Hotch was far enough away, Jamison stood up and looked at Rossi. "Follow me, please."
Rossi's brows furrowed, but he stood up.
"I have something, and I want you to decide what to do with it."
"Ok," Rossi drew out as he followed the old man down to the barn.
XXXXX
Hotch looked at Jimmy as they walked the lighted path and he cleared his throat. "Can you answer a few shapeshifter questions for me?"
Jimmy nodded. "Of course."
"You need to clear up something I don't understand, first."
"I'll try."
Hotch looked at him. "Shifters get a person's thoughts and such when they touch them, that's what makes them so good at impersonating people." Jimmy nodded, and Hotch stopped and turned questioning eyes on the man. "So why didn't you know I was a vampire? You had already gained JJ's thoughts, and then mine, too."
Jimmy smiled. "It's a nonhuman thing." When it was obvious Hotch didn't understand, he continued. "We only get things from the human side, if you would. I got nothing about you being a vampire because that has nothing to do with being human. I don't know why, but that's the way it is."
Hotch sighed as he started walking again. "So is that just because I'm a vampire?"
Jimmy shook his head. "No. I touch and changed into this lady one time. She had been nosing around and trying to figure out what we were and I wanted to know what she knew, but she turned on me and kicked my ass."
Hotch's brows rose as he waited for him to continue.
"She was a fairy, but I had no clue. Apparently, shifters can't pick up on anything supernatural."
"Oh," Hotch offered as he thought about it. He bit back the multitude of questions about fairies and such that came to mind because he didn't want Jimmy to know how much he didn't know about nonhumans and decided to stick to questions about shapeshifters. "So what happens to the shifter if something happens to the form it has shifted into?"
Confused eyes looked at Hotch. "What do you mean?"
Hotch licked his lips. "For instance, when I got back to the vehicle from our search through the woods, a grizzly came out onto the road."
"A grizzly?! That was definitely it!"
"I understand that, and my first instinct was to shoot it, but I wasn't sure what that would do to the shifter."
"Oh." Jimmy took a deep breath. "The only way to kill a shifter is to pierce its heart with silver." Hotch nodded his understanding, so Jimmy went on. "But the pain from getting shot, whether it was a kill shot or not, would force it back into its human form. If the shot was bad enough, it could possibly cause it to not be able to shift again until it healed."
Hotch inhaled slowly as he thought about it. "So while conventional weapons can't kill it, they can slow it down."
"Sort of," Jimmy offered. "Shifting takes a lot, and pain, if it's bad enough, may stop a shifter's ability to shift, but it will still be a shifter. It will still be stronger than any human," he clarified and then led Hotch up to his sister's front door. "And a shifter under the effects of bloodlust is even stronger. It may even still be able to shift even in extreme pain. I don't know for sure. I'm sorry, but I have never seen any of this with my own eyes. Tutu could probably answer you better."
Hotch took a deep breath. "I understand."
XXXXX
Jamison leaned down to a massive, antique looking trunk and pulled it opened. Rossi's eyes grew wide as he looked at the contents and then he looked at the old shifter and frowned. "And exactly what is all this?"
Jamison huffed as his hand gestured to the trunk. "This was the hunters' arsenals," he said simply and reached down and picked up a wooden stake and held it in front of Rossi. "They have several specialty weapons for each of the species they hunt."
Rossi bit back the growl that wanted to force its way to his lips. "A few choice words come to mind, but I'll be polite and keep them to myself."
Jamison huffed and threw the stake back into the trunk. "I'll say it: they're bastards!"
Rossi nodded and then looked at the wrinkled man. "And you want me to decide what to do with it?"
Jamison nodded. "I thought you might have need of this stuff," he told him blatantly and then picked up an iron, fireplace poker and moved some things around in the trunk to reveal a silver spear. "If I'm any judge of character, you will know exactly what to do with that."
Rossi's eyes snapped to his and he mentally huffed. What the hell is it about me that makes everyone think I can kill others so easily? I'm just a big teddy bear. An Italian teddy bear at that!
Jamison smiled as he put the poker back into the trunk. "You know your Aaron will not want to kill this monster, and yet you know it must be done." When Rossi went to speak, Jamison quickly cut back in. "I would do it, but I can't even touch that damn spear!"
Rossi sighed. "So you want me to take the spear?"
The old man nodded and then shut the trunk. "You can have the lot. We don't need it, and you may have need of some of the other things later in life."
Rossi flattened his goatee with his fingers as he considered it.
"Hell, there may even be silver bullets in there," Jamison added. "I wouldn't let any of my family go through the stuff, so I have no idea what all it contains."
"Silver bullets?" Rossi asked his as his brows rose. "Shifters can be killed like that?"
Jamison winced. "Yes, but the aim must be perfect. Although, I can see were that wouldn't be a problem for you all." He studied Rossi for a minute. "You act like silver bullets shocked you."
"Well. . ."
"It is the only way to kill a werewolf after all. Don't you humans read anymore?"
Rossi's training helped keep the shock off of his face at finding out yet another classic horror movie monster was real, and he mentally sighed. "Yes. I read. I just wasn't thinking about them. I do have a little on my mind with Aaron and this shifter, so cut me some slack."
Jamison huffed as he started back out of the barn clearly not believing him. "I'll have the boys load it into your vehicle. You all can go through it at your leisure and keep what you want."
XXX
Once Rossi and Hotch were on their way back, Hotch looked at the older man. "You and Mr. Schewel have a good discussion?"
Rossi nodded. "Yep. You and Jimmy have a good one?"
Hotch nodded. "Yep. I found out a few more things that might help me when I finally get close to this thing."
Rossi smiled. "Me, too."
Hotch's right brow rose as he glanced at the man. "Are you going to share?"
Rossi chuckled. "You first."
XXX
After breakfast the next morning, the whole team was gathered in Hotch's room and they were all flabbergasted as they went through the trunk Mr. Schewel had given to Rossi. "Some of this stuff is really old," Garcia put in as she inspected a knife with a handle made out of bone.
"Yes. I would say that's a few hundred years old, and just so you know, that is half of a human femur," Reid pointed out as he looked up at her for a second and then went back to the book in his hand.
"Eww!" Garcia screamed and then dropped the knife back into the trunk and turned and wiped her hand on Morgan's shirt.
Morgan laughed as he picked up an old, little wooden box and then whistled when he opened it. "I believe we have werewolf killers here," he offered with a grin and then showed the box's contents to the rest of the team; it was velvet lined and held several shiny, silver bullets.
Rossi's jaw clenched. "How do you know that?"
Morgan looked hurt. "Hey! I watch movies!"
That made Rossi laugh but he held out his hand for the box. After inspecting the round, he bit his lip. "It's a forty-five caliber."
"And?" JJ asked as she inspected a sawed-off shot gun.
"A shifter can be killed by piercing its heart with silver, and a well-aimed shot with a silver bullet would do just that," Rossi told her and then looked at Hotch.
Hotch shook his head, though. "We are not going to kill. . ."
"It would work as a last resort!" Rossi insisted before Hotch could finish.
Hotch huffed. "Not that it matters, none of us carry a forty-five," he pointed out as he reached for a glass flask.
Mack's hand shot out and grabbed it before Hotch could. "That's holy water! Don't touch it!"
Hotch pulled his hand back and then frowned. "And you know that, how?"
She turned the flask over and the cross embossed on the glass made it obvious.
"Oh," Hotch offered and decided to get really interested in the poker. "What the hell good would this do them?" he asked as he held it up.
"Maybe they like to cook out and use it for the fire," Garcia offered trying to be optimistic.
Reid smirked. "Apparently iron is a weakness to several things."
JJ frowned. "So it's not what type of weapon it is so much as what it's made out of that's important?"
Reid put the finished book down and started in on another. "Exactly. All of this is very interesting." He looked around at the team. "And I would have all of you read them, but most of this stuff's in Latin."
Mack rolled her eyes. "Yeah, you go ahead and have fun with that." And almost all of them laughed.
Morgan picked up a mason jar, opened it, shut it, and then looked at Hotch. "Hey, Hotch." Hotch looked at him. "You don't have to pack your lunch today; it's already packed," he offered with a grin as he threw the glass to him.
Hotch frowned as he caught it and then unscrewed the lid. As soon as he got a whiff of what was in it, his face scrunched up as he turned his head to the side and he made a noise that made everyone think he was about to throw up.
"What the hell?!" Rossi demanded as he went towards him but not until after he shot Morgan a hard look.
Hotch quickly put the lid back on and held it at arm's length. "If that's blood, there is something really, really wrong with it," he told them as he cringed and then swallowed.
"Give it to me!" Rossi demanded as he snatched it away from him and turned back to Morgan. "Real smart! We have no idea what the hell this shit is! You could have. . ."
Morgan held up his hands as his face showed his regret. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean. . ."
"It could have hurt him. It could have. . ."
Hotch put his hand on Rossi's shoulder to halt his tirade. "It's alright, Dave. Derek would never do anything to purposely hurt me."
Rossi exhaled through his nose as his eyes still tore into Morgan.
JJ took the jar, held it up to the light, and then swirled it around. It looked like blood to her, too, but she turned to Reid who had stopped reading at see what was going on. "Anything in those books about this?"
Reid bit his lip and shook his head. "Nothing yet."
Before Morgan could apologize again, Hotch's phone vibrated. He took it out and then winced. "We've got another body."
They all put everything down as they stood up.
"Go, be safe, and watch each other's backs," Garcia told them as she leaned in and gave Morgan's cheek a kiss. "And let me know as soon as you need anything." Most of them followed Hotch out the door, but Rossi hung back just long enough to pocket several of the silver bullets. Garcia's brows rose as she watched him.
He smiled. "There's bound to be a gun store on one of these damn islands."
She smiled. "I'll find you the closest one."
He chuckled and leaned in and gave her cheek a kiss. "That would be perfect, Kitten."
She giggled and shoved him towards the door.
He stopped, though, and gave her a serious look. "We can keep this just. . ."
"Between you and me, of course, My Primo of Pasta," she finished for him as she pushed him out the door with a grin and then shut it behind him.
