Story I – Chapter 6
Hotch took a deep breath and looked at Kahlan and smiled. "Well, I don't think I'm a mummy." He held out his arms which were exposed from the elbows down because his sleeves were pushed up. "I don't look like a grape that has sat in the sun for a year," he joked.
She shook her head. "No, you're not a mummy."
Rossi snickered and elbowed Hotch in the ribs playfully. "Nor are you wrapped in bandages."
Kahlan rolled her eyes. "You're not helping, Dave."
Hotch stood up and looked at her. "Ok, then what's next on your list?"
"Werewolf?" Rossi put in quickly.
Hotch and Kahlan both looked at him. Kahlan shook her head. "The moon's nowhere near full."
"Maybe he'll turn once it is and this is the way he will be when he's not a wolf," Rossi suggested.
Hotch couldn't tell if he was joking or not.
"From what I understand about werewolves, though. . ." Kahlan started.
"I would have had to have been bitten, right?" Hotch jumped in.
"And whoever does the biting has to be in wolf form, thus still needing a full moon," Kahlan added.
Rossi nodded and took a drink of his coffee.
Hotch looked at him for a minute. "Wait, what about the case? Who is handling that?"
Rossi smiled. Now he was sure it was Hotch he was sitting next to. "The locals actually picked up Zimmerman yesterday while we were all at the hospital. They are holding him and when I went to go get coffee, I stopped by and talked to Morgan. He and the rest of the team are going in to handle the interview and such. JJ suggested I stay with Kahlan, so it's all good."
Hotch nodded. "Well, at least that's something."
Kahlan studied them both. "Do you think Zimmerman could have something to do with this?"
Hotch frowned and then shared a look with Rossi. Rossi shrugged. "I don't think we'll be able to figure out who is behind it until we figure out what 'it' is."
Kahlan went back and sat at the table and ran a hand down her face.
Hotch's chest tightened to see her distressed, so he got up, went to her, and placed a hand on her shoulder. She reached up and covered his hand with her own. He leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "I'm sorry, Babe. I wish I knew what was going on, but I have to admit that I'm actually glad to not be dead. Whatever all this turns out to be, I thank God I was at least given some more time with you."
Tears trailed down the front of her cheeks to her lips as she turned, stood up, and pulled him into a hug. "Me, too, Hun. Me, too."
Rossi wiped his face as he stared at them wrapped in each other's arms. This can't be a bad thing. Once he gave them a few moments to comfort each other, he cleared his throat. "I don't mean to interrupt, but I think the quicker we get this figured out, the better."
Kahlan took a deep breath and pulled back and looked Hotch in the eyes. "He's right."
Hotch nodded. "What's next on the list?"
Her mouth quirked as she thought about it. "Well, Dave bringing up werewolves made me go down the path to other classics. Vampire?"
He balked. "No."
Her brows furrowed. "Why not?"
He laughed. "It's simple," he started and then smiled enough to show all of his teeth. "No fangs," he told her as he ran a finger along the bottom of his top teeth.
Her eyes narrowed. "And what if they only emerge when you want them to?"
He sighed. "I'm not a vampire, Kahlan."
"You don't breathe, your heart isn't beating, you don't like the taste of coffee, your body is immaculate. . ."
He took a deep breath. "You have a test you want to perform."
She nodded. "Yeah. There're a couple."
"I had a reflection in the mirror," he pointed out quickly with a grin.
She shook her head and went to the window and pulled the curtain back to reveal a beautifully sunny day. Hotch winced as he looked at it. She turned to him and studied him. "You don't like the sun?"
He huffed and started towards it, but he paused just out of its reach. "If I am a vampire, I guess I'll burst into flames, huh?"
She winced. "Maybe."
He chewed on his lower lip. "I bet that will hurt like hell."
"But vampires heal quickly, and I'll shut the curtain if you do," she quickly told him. "There's mixed lore on that aspect."
Rossi stood up. "Well, nothing says you have to step into it fully! Just put your damn hand in it or something." He couldn't stand the thought of the man he loved being hurt right in front of his eyes no matter what he was.
Hotch looked at him and then nodded and slowly sidestepped the rays of sun until he was close to the window. After sharing a look with his wife, he tentatively put his hand into the warm rays as he bit his lip trying to steal himself against possible pain. He moved his fingers around in the light and after a few seconds he looked at Kahlan. "Satisfied?"
She huffed. "You felt something."
He pulled his hand back. "I didn't burst into flames," he tried but then wilted a little at the look she gave him. "Alright. It felt like that time I got that bad sunburn when I feel asleep on the beach in Ocean City. My skin did get tight and it stung a little but nothing too bad."
She took a deep breath. "Like I said, the lore is mixed on that part."
"So that was inconclusive," Rossi offered and shut the curtain. When he saw Hotch relax when the semidarkness descended again, he mentally winced.
Kahlan pulled out the knife from the small of her back.
Hotch's eyes shot open. "Whoa! I don't think you need to go to that extreme!" he yelled as he held his hands up and stepped back from her.
She rolled her eyes. "Really, Aaron? You really think I'd stab you?"
He studied her and then looked at her knife knowing it was one of the sharpest in the country. "Maybe if you truly thought I was a monster," he offered weakly as he moved further away from her and closer to Rossi obviously seeking protection.
She huffed. "Give me your damn arm!" she instructed as she advanced to him.
Hotch's eyes locked with Rossi's and Hotch's pleaded for help. Rossi held up a hand. "And what exactly are you going to do to him with that?"
"I'm just going to cut him a little. Vampires heal quickly, so if he does, then. . ."
Hotch studied her. "Just a little cut?"
She nodded. "And we can see what you think of pain."
He licked his lips and then relented as he held out his right forearm. She moved to it and cut a gash about an inch wide and about a quarter of an inch deep as she studied his face. He winced as she slid the blade across him but that was the only reaction he gave. She pursed her lips and then looked at the cut. "You're not bleeding."
"He wouldn't, would he?" Rossi asked as he also looked at the cut. "Did that hurt?"
Hotch shrugged. "Not as much as it would have last week, that's for sure."
When the cut started to close before their eyes, Kahlan gasped. It only took a few moments for it to fully close and within another couple of seconds, there was no trace of it.
Rossi whistled. "I'd like to have that problem."
Hotch looked at him as if he was crazy. "You want to die to get there?"
Rossi winced. "That is a downside, that's for sure."
Kahlan shook her head.
Hotch looked at her. "You think this proves that I'm a vampire?"
Her eyes darted around as she considered it. "I think several things heal quickly, so we can't be sure by just that."
Hotch appraised her. "So you have another test?"
She nodded. "Yep," she offered as she moved to the nightstand by the bed. She pulled open the drawer, reached in, and turned to Hotch in a flash. "Catch," she offered as she threw the bible that was in there to him.
His hands reached out unconsciously to catch what had been thrown, but as soon as it landed in his hands, he yelped and dropped it. He looked at Kahlan. "What the hell, Babe?"
Her brows rose as she watched him rubbing his hands together. "Did that burn you?" she asked him quietly as she went to him, grabbed his hands, and inspected them.
Hotch saw that his hands didn't have a mark on them and smiled. "No, of course not," he tried innocently.
Her look told him she didn't believe him and she bent down and picked up the bible and held it out to him. "Then take this, Aaron."
He stepped back as he glanced at the bible and quickly looked away from it. "Come on, Babe."
Kahlan shot a look to Rossi and Rossi cringed. She stepped forward. "Take it, Hun."
"I just dropped it because I wasn't expecting you to throw it," he tried as he backed up a step.
"Then take it and don't drop it, Aaron," she insisted as she stepped forward again and held it out to him.
"But. . ." he started as he backed up another step.
Her eyes turned cold and she reached out and touched his arm with it. He cringed and held back a scream behind clenched teeth as smoke wafted off his skin from under the leather bound book. Kahlan pulled the bible back and her eyes filled as she took in the massive burn on his arm. When her eyes trialed up to his, he shook his head. "This doesn't mean anything!" he demanded.
Her arm fell limply to her side. "I think it means a lot, Aaron."
He glanced at the bible still in her hand and he wilted. "God. . ." he ran a hand down his face. "This means I'm evil, doesn't it?"
"No!" Rossi put in. "No it does not!"
"I can't touch a bible, Dave! I bet I can't touch a cross or go in a church or anything either!" Hotch insisted.
Kahlan put the bible back in the drawer and turned a serious look to Hotch. "Just because what you've become has done this to you doesn't mean you are evil, Aaron!"
He huffed and sank down into a chair. "If you look like a duck. . ."
Rossi shook his head. "My ass, Aaron! I don't care what you've become, there is no way you are evil!"
Hotch took a deep breath. "So I guess this tells you exactly what I am, huh?" he asked his wife.
She sighed. "Not one hundred percent, but I think I'm pretty sure."
"What?" Rossi asked not liking the way she was acting.
"I have one more test I'd like to perform," she said simply as she took her knife back out.
Hotch head snapped to her and his brows furrowed as he looked at her and her knife. "What are you going to do?" he asked as he stood up.
She took a deep breath and pulled the middle of the blade across the inside of her forearm.
"Kahlan!" Hotch yelled and rushed to her.
Bright red blood oozed from the three inch cut and dripped down her arm in rivulets. Hotch grabbed her wrist and moved to put a hand over the wound to put pressure on it, but froze as his heart started to pound in his ears. He squeezed his eyes shut. How can that. . . He looked back at his wife, though, and he realized with certainty, even though he didn't know how he knew for sure, that it was her heart he was hearing. He licked his lips and had to swallow when he realized his mouth had flooded with saliva. He took a jagged breath, released her, and took a step back.
"Aaron?" she asked as she studied him.
His stomach started aching with horrible hunger and his eyes were drawn to the wound again. Oh God, no! He took another step back. "Stop," he uttered and took another step back.
"What?" Rossi asked him as he placed a hand on Hotch's back which made him flinch. "Jesus, Aaron. Calm down!"
Hotch shook his head. "Make it stop!" he demanded and then groaned as he wrapped an arm around his midsection.
"Make what stop?" Kahlan asked as she stepped towards him. He yelled out in obvious pain and dropped to one knee, and Kahlan couldn't take it, she went to him and knelt down next to him. "Aaron! What's wrong?" she asked desperately.
When her fresh flowing blood caught his eyes again, he stifled another scream. "Get away!" he demanded as he curled in on himself.
"Aaron! Talk to me! What's wrong?" she cried as she tried to force his head up to make him look at her.
Once his face was even with hers, she froze, her heart skipping a beat as her eyes grew wide. His eyes weren't the beautiful soulful brown they usually were, they were yellow and rimmed thickly in red, and that in itself would have been scary enough, but two brilliantly white fangs hanging lower than the rest of his teeth in the canine position made it hard for her to breathe. "Oh no," she uttered.
His lip flared as his eyes traveled back down to her wound and then back up to her eyes. "Get back!" he cried and shoved her away from him and she went scooting across the floor.
