Title: Dead Skin

Author: Officer BudBabe

Summary: Angel/CSI Crossover. Kate Lockley needed a new life. She needed to shed her dead skin and become human again. Somewhere where nobody would know her… where she could just start again. But the past never stays in the past.

Genre: Angst/Romance/Mystery

Rating: K+

Disclaimer: This story has been written for entertainment purposes only and no Profit has been made on the Author's part. Really. I just like watching George Eads… Grin

Chapter Three –Tears all over Town

XXXX

As she stood in the morgue Kate felt an overwhelming sense of dread seize her. She felt like the world was spinning on so fast it was leaving her behind and she was helpless to what was about to happen.

"Hi, I'm Doctor Albert Robbins. Most people call me Al. You must be Kate. I must say I've never seen someone so eager to see the post mortem." Al was a stout, friendly looking man who leaned heavily on a crutch. Kate dredged up a smile.

"Well, I've got to say I've always found bite marks a bit of a phenomenon." She managed to choke out.

As Al set up Kate focused her line of vision on Carl Jacoby's eyes, watching for any flicker of life… or unlife.

'I'm in way too deep here. I need help. I can't call Angel… but what else can I do?' Kate began taking deep breaths to calm herself.

"What happens to the vital organs?" She asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

"They will all be removed and weighed."

"It says on a card in his wallet that he's an organ donor. Is there anything about his cause of death that could stop these organs from being donated?"

"There are two types of donation: organ donation and tissue donation. Organs that can be donated are the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, pancreas and small intestine. These can only be taken while the heart is still beating and after the donor is "brain dead". So unfortunately, this man has been dead too long to be considered eligible to donate his organs. Judging by the pattern of Rigor Mortis, I would say he's been dead as little as five hours."

Kate looked at the clock. Two Am. Counting back five hours she calculated that Carl Jacoby died at approximately Ten Pm the night before. After sunset.

Kate watched the Post mortem with a small amount of interest, taking a few notes and becoming faintly amused when Al discovered that the entire body had been sucked dry of all its blood. Finally he was able to find a few dregs and swabbed them for Kate.

"Fascinating. I've never seen this before. All of the blood has been sucked out through the holes in their neck. There is no other way it could have been drained. Do you think it's a fetish killing?"

'I wish.' Kate thought grimly, but to Al she shrugged "I'm not sure. Judging by the location of the body I would assume that someone wanted it to be found, but we won't be truly sure until the results of the swab from the victim's mouth come back."

Two hours later, Al finished up the post mortem, confirming that the victim had been alive when the blood had been put into their mouth as there were large amounts in the digestive tract. All the organs had been removed and weighed, but Kate still wasn't sure that this would stop Carl Jacoby rising again, if indeed that's what was going to happen.

"Do you know how long it will be before they pick him up to go to the funeral home?" Kate asked. Al looked at his watch.

"Someone should be by in about an hour. Why do you ask?"

Kate racked her brain for an excuse 'Dammit.' "I just wondered." 'Great Kate. Well done.'

XXXX

For the next hour Kate was never far from the morgue. She had to figure out a way to be there when they cremated the body, or her mind wouldn't rest. She was in way over her head.

'But I can't call Angel.' That was the one thing she had been completely sure of the whole time. It would just create problems.

She had been stupid to think that there would only be vampires in Los Angeles. Las Vegas had seemed a good prospect for un-supernatural activity because there were so much human evil there. In an ironic twist of fate, that was why she'd picked it.

Suddenly, her pager bleeped. Nick was summoning her to the DNA lab. Taking one last half hearted stare through the morgue window at the motionless body lying on the table, Kate thanked god that Al had gone to get a cup of coffee, leaving the morgue locked and empty.

Rushing along the hallways, desperate to get back to the morgue as quickly as possible, Kate almost bowled into Brass, who called after her, asking how her night was going. Kate shouted a garbled reply and carried on down the hallway, skidding into the lab and coming to a halt in front of Nick and Greg.

Greg held up the swab that Kate had taken from the victim's mouth "It's not the Victim's. The blood sample you sent over an hour ago wasn't his either. I ran it through CODIS and it turns out that its blood, but there's no DNA to be found. I've never seen this before."

Kate's blood froze. This confirmed her suspicions. This wasn't just some psycho who had seen Dracula a few too many times. This was real. There were real vampires in Vegas.

"Are there any other cases fitting these descriptions?" She asked faintly. Greg thought.

"There might be a few. You want me to pull them up for you?" Kate nodded

Nick frowned "What good will that do? We've got barely anything to go on."

"It might help us establish a link between them and hopefully give us some information on what we're looking for." Nick studied the way in which Kate spoke. Her voice wavered a little every now and again. Like she was hiding something. Her left leg was jigging about uncontrollably and she kept checking her watch.

"Look I've got to get back to the morgue. The guy from the funeral home will be here to pick up the body in a little while and I want to test a theory."

Nick's eyebrows went into his hairline "What theory?"

But Kate was already on her way out of the door "I'll tell you when I get back."

XXXX

The man who came to pick the body up was tall and well built. He wheeled the body out of his van with ease, but gave a small frown when Kate asked to go with him.

"Do you make a habit out of being there for all the victims, detective?"

Kate shook her head "Only the ones who die under suspicious circumstances."

The man stepped aside and let Kate get into the passenger seat of the van "My name's Jake Meers. I run the show for those who no longer need tickets."

Kate nodded "Kate Lockley."

XXXX

The funeral home was like something out of a movie, dark and eerie. Only the squeak of the trolley wheels and their steady footsteps could be heard as Jake pushed the newest arrival down the hallway with Kate in tow.

Stepping into the furnace room, Kate stayed back while Jake began to prep the body for cremation. She studied his face as his gaze met with Carl Jacoby's neck. Jake glanced at Kate, a look of mild surprise on his features "Don't see many of these anymore." As he leaned over the body a small wooden crucifix on a string around his neck fell from inside his shirt and dangled close to the body. Kate immediately knew that Jake was aware of more than he let on. He looked up at her, as if testing her to see if she believed him.

"Roughly how many do you get a year?" she asked, coming closer to the body.

Jake shrugged "One or two dead ones. Maybe four or five sired ones. They wake up once they're inside the furnace."

Kate frowned "And you say you get more sired ones than just dead ones?" Again, Jake nodded. Something was troubling Kate.

"When you said you don't see many of these anymore, what do you mean?"

Jake began to wheel the now prepped body over to the furnace "They're getting faster at waking up now. They're evolving. Usually they're up and about again before anyone can call emergency services."

'So why was this one just left? Surely they would have taken him with them?' Kate thought.

"Are you saying that this one's been sired?" She wondered aloud. Jake nodded dourly.

She watched the iron door to the furnace slam shut. Stepping as close as she dared she peered in through the window as the flames started up. Jake stood beside her.

"I knew the minute you asked to be witness to the cremation that you knew something." Kate kept her eyes trained on the flames that were licking at Carl Jacoby's body "Give it a few seconds, Detective Lockley."

"How do you know all of this?" Jake smiled a little.

"The first time I ever saw a Vampire was when one woke up on my prep table. Damn near took a chunk outta my arm too." Jake lifted his sleeve to show a jagged looking scar "I was so scared that I let it get away, but not without getting one look at its face. If it had been a more experienced vampire, I'm pretty sure it woulda killed me without a second thought. After that I did a lotta reading and started carrying this-" Jake lifted his crucifix to show Kate.

Suddenly a bloodcurdling scream came from inside the furnace "Well, I see our guest has woken up." Jake said grimly. Kate nodded, feeling slightly numb. Jake smiled kindly.

"I know. Las Vegas, the last place you'd look for vampires. But they're here." He said, heaving one of the levers on the control panel down "And if you want my tip off, I think they're preparing for something pretty big. We haven't had a properly dead one in a long time which means they're siring everything they find. If I were you I'd be getting my butt outta Vegas."

XXXX

Day was breaking by the time Kate got back to her apartment. Grissom had told her to clock out and get some sleep. The sun rose into a clear sky, shooing away the night.

Slipping inside her apartment, Kate collapsed on the sofa and into a deep sleep.

There she was again, in the Blue Bar. The same dress. The same look in her father's eyes.

'After mom died, you stopped, you know? It was like you couldn't stand the sight of me.'

She knew the speech off by heart. Repeating each word was like the stab of a needle each time. And then she was in her Father's apartment. The same bloodstain on the carpet. The same expression on Angel's face.

'I wanted to save him. He – he wouldn't let me - Look, he was involved in something, Kate, in something he couldn't have understood.'

The same tears. Night after night, the same tears.

Waking up later, Kate was astounded to find out that she had been asleep for nearly ten hours. Walking around her apartment in a daze she showered briefly and dressed for work. Making herself some coffee she turned on her computer and checked the exact time of sunset. 7.53 Pm. That gave her three quarters of an hour to get to work safely.

Going into the bedroom Kate opened the wardrobe. Pulling a black burlap sack from the top shelf she spread the contents out on the bed. Choosing two stakes and a crucifix Kate left the rest of it out and tucked the items she had chosen into her bag.

Stepping out of her apartment building Kate was met with an overwhelming sense of dread mingling with the cool evening air. What was she going to do? If Jake's prediction was right and the vampires of Las Vegas were building up their forces then what was she going to do about it? She was just one person.

She couldn't call Angel…. But she needed help.

Kate's inner turmoil berated her all the way to the Crime Lab. Clocking in she arrived in the locker room to be met by Greg, who was just arriving himself.

"Hey, Kate." Kate nodded to Greg as she went to put her bag in her locker, finding it slightly too bulky to slide straight in. She grappled with it a few seconds, and then lost her grip. The bag went tumbling to the floor, the contents spilling everywhere. Greg stooped to help her pick everything up. Kate scrabbled around, finding the crucifix and one of the stakes before Greg could see them, trying to act normal, but too little avail.

"Uh… Kate?" Greg held up one of the stakes questioningly. Kate's eyes widened and she stumbled over her words, trying to explain.

"Oh that? It's for self defense. They're all the rage in L.A." Grabbing the stake from him she stuffed it back into her bag "Uh… I gotta go, I'll see you later." Throwing her bag into the locker and slamming it shut, she bustled out of the locker room, leaving a stunned Greg behind.