Chapter 79

By the time Kahlan and them got back to the alley, most of her team had shown up and they were blocking the alley off and not letting anyone into it as they waited for the Crime Scene Unit to processed it. She winced when she saw Sebastian standing off to the side watching everything and discussing it with an older man with shaggy hair and a beard whom she would guess was Christian, Sebastian's even older vampire friend. She figured the ancient vampire hadn't approached the scene with not recognizing anyone there.

As she walked towards the men, her eyes quickly assessed the stranger and while she was only getting worry from him, she wasn't sure if she would be able to get a true reading of him since he wasn't human. What if they were jealous of Aaron? What if they saw him as a threat? What if. . . She mentally shook her head. Stop it, Woman! You know damn well that Aaron would not have spent another night with them if he had sensed anything bad from them.

She took a deep breath and made her way over to the vampires all the while searching for any of the others.

When Sabastian saw her, he straightened as a grimace formed on his face. "While it's nice to see you again, Kahlan, it wasn't supposed to be under these circumstances."

Her brows furrowed. "You know what's happened?"

He shook his head. "No, but it's obvious that something has."

Her eyes narrowed as she studied him, and Rossi came up to them and fixed the detective with serious eyes. "Can you tell where Aaron is?" The man he loved was missing, so he couldn't waste any time with any pleasantries.

Sebastian sighed. "No, and I tried to sense him the whole way over, and we even took the long way."

"How far of a radius does this connection you have with him go?" Rossi pressed.

Sebastian licked his lips and then shrugged. "It depends on how many people are around. In a town this size, I would sense him if he were still here."

The sigh that left Kahlan signaled just how much she didn't like that news.

"Maybe if you let us look over everything we might be able to discern what has happened," Christian suggested and both Kahlan and Rossi turned to look at the stranger.

"Kahlan, David, this is Christian, my oldest and dearest friend," Sebastian introduced him and then gestured to the humans. "This is Kahlan, Aaron's wife and David, Aaron's. . ."

"Oldest and dearest friend, coworker, and honorary father," Rossi finished for him.

Kahlan groaned her impatience. "How can you help with the scene?" she cut in before any of them could continue with their male posturing.

Sebastian gave her a look. "We might be able to pick up on things that you all can't."

Kahlan looked toward Rossi for his opinion.

"I am a detective; therefore, I have been trained on how to handle crime scenes," Sebastian pushed. "I promise not to mess anything up."

Rossi shrugged. "It couldn't hurt."

Kahlan nodded and then gestured toward the alley. "You can do whatever you're going to before the CSU shows up."

Sabastian nodded and started out, but he turned to look at her. "It might go a little quicker if the alley were free of any outsiders, if you would."

"Got it," she agreed and then lengthened her stride knowing that he was referring to the members of her team who were not privy to the supernatural components of their lives.

As the men waited, Rossi told them everything he knew and suspected. Once he was done, he looked at the vampires. "Did anything out of the ordinary happen tonight while he was out with you all?"

Christian inhaled deeply. "I guess it would all depend on what how you would define 'ordinary'."

Sabastian gave him a stern look. "While none of it would be ordinary to you, David, I can assure you nothing happened tonight with us that may have led to Aaron disappearing."

Rossi ran a hand down his goatee as he studied the men. "Exactly where did you all take him?"

"We were DC the whole time."

"Did anyone outside of your little family take notice of him?" Rossi pushed knowing that even Sebastian had been worried about how other vampires would perceive Hotch.

Both vampires started shaking their heads. "No, and one of us were with him the whole time. No one paid any attention to him," Christian assured him.

"We were all keeping our eyes open, David," Sebastian stuck in.

Rossi's eyes studied the two men and then he nodded slowly. "I guess I was hoping that something happened last night that could be solved easily."

Sebastian reached out and gripped the older agent's shoulder. "Hopefully this doesn't have anything to do with Aaron's new life, but if it does, we will do our best to help resolve it."

They turned as Kahlan came up behind them. "It's clear."

Sebastian nodded and he and Christian started walking as Kahlan got in beside Rossi. "Anything?" she asked.

Rossi shook his head. "Nope."

She snorted and quickened her pace so she could watch the ancient vampires.

They stopped at the alley's entrance and Sebastian's eyes roamed over everything slowly while Christian inhaled through his nose deeply. Sabastian's eyes cut to his friend, and the frown on Christian's face made Sabastian inhale and then he huffed as he looked at Kahlan. "Did you all find blood?"

Kahlan's wince gave him his answer, so he reached out and took her hand. "It's not Aaron's."

"You can tell that from here?" Chuck asked him with eyes full of shock.

When Christian shared a look with Sebastian, Rossi's stomach clenched and he fixed the Detective with his best version of the Hotch Stare. "If it's not his, why are you so concerned?"

"You know whose it is?" Kahlan asked as she looked back and forth between them.

"Not technically," Christian offered with a small grin.

"Sabastian?!" Kahlan demanded and her stare topped Rossi's.

Sebastian took a deep breath. "I don't know whose it is, but I know it's not from a human."

Rossi cringed with the news. "So it's definitely supernatural related, then?"

"It would seem so," Sabastian offered as he went further into the alley.

"And you're sure it's not Hotch's?" Chuck asked them.

"It's not a vampire's," Christian told them as he went straight to the blood on the pavement. He squatted down to examined it even closer.

Rossi watched Sebastian and then decided to go to scarf wearing vampire. "I guess it's a good thing you all showed up when you did."

"Meaning?" Christian asked as he looked up at him.

"I wouldn't even want to guess what the tech would have thought when they tried to type that," Rossi offered with a grin to try and lessen the tension growing in the alley.

Christian shook his head and then ran a finger through the thickest spot of blood. It was still wet and when he raised his finger to his mouth, Kahlan's face scrunched up showing her disgust.

"He's not actually going to. . ." Chuck started and then turned his head the other way when it was obvious that the vampire was indeed intent on sampling the blood. "Tell me when it's over."

Christian licked the end of his finger, made a revolting noise, and then spit.

Rossi flinched when Sebastian suddenly appeared at his side. "What is it?"

Christian stood up and cleaned his finger off on his pants. "Akka."

"Gesundheit," Chuck offered with a grin.

Kahlan backhanded him on the chest. "Now is not the time, Chuck!"

"What's an Akka?" Rossi asked the men and the uneasy look that clouded their eyes had his stomach tightening.

"An akka is a minor goddess from the underworld who appears human," Christian told them.

"And what would this akka thing have to do with Aaron?" Kahlan asked. "Would she have gotten into with him?"

"You think they got into a fight?" Chuck asked as his hand absently went to the holster riding low on his thigh.

"Not necessarily," Sabastian told them.

"Then why is her blood on the ground?"

"She might have been the. . ." Christian started but halted.

"Any number of things might have happened," Sebastian butted in and he tried to hide the wince that crossed his face by turning away from the worried humans and going further into the alley.

The ancient vampire might have thought no one saw the wince or the faster than-the-eye jab that he had given his friend to cut him off, but he was wrong. Rossi had seen the material of Christian's shirt shift ever so slightly, and he had seen the wince. He was a profiler and a damn good one at that. He reached out and grabbed Sebastian's shoulder and spun him back around. "What didn't you want him to tell us?"

Sebastian's eyes roamed over the humans and he could tell they were not going to let it go, so he sighed. "Christian seems to think that the akka may have been used to lure Aaron into the alley."

Kahlan's eyes darted back and forth between the two vampires. "Why would she do that?"

Sebastian wilted a little and then took a deep breath. "They're known for attacking men."

Kahlan's eyes narrowed. "But it's her blood on the damn ground, so what does that mean? If she's attacked Aaron, and he did enough to wound or even kill her, where the hell is he?"

"Possibly trying to outrun her sisters," Christian told her. "If he did this," he started as he gestured to the blood, "then they are probably angry and are after him."

"And Hotch being Hotch, he led them away from home and everyone else," Chuck put in.

Kahlan shared a look with Rossi, and then she started shaking her head. "Then why is Aaron's stuff here? If something or someone was after him, he wouldn't have taken the time to empty his fucking pockets."

"Nor would he have taken his watch off even after someone else took his phone." Rossi's inhale matched his worry – deep. "This looks like an abduction to me."

Kahlan nodded her agreement. "Would this akka thing have wanted to take Aaron?" she asked as visions of Green and her basement slammed into her mind and made her fists clench so tightly that her nails were digging into her palms.

Both vampires gasped and then looked at Kahlan. "Are you alright?" Sebastian asked with worry filled eyes.

Kahlan's frown told them she had no idea why he would even ask such a thing.

Sebastian shook his head and then grabbed her hand and forced her hand open. "You're bleeding."

"Shit, Kay! What th. . ." Chuck started he grabbed her hand to inspect it but she pulled it away.

"I'm fine!" she insisted and then fixed the vampires with a look as she stuffed her hands into her pockets. "Answer the damn question!"

He swallowed and then shrugged. "They're known for attacking men, not taking them hostage." He turned to his friend. "Have you ever heard of such a thing?"

His eyes signaled that he was working his way through his many memories and after a few moments, he shook his head. "No, and I have never heard of one attacking a vampire, either. It doesn't make sense to me." He licked his lips. "Men, yes, but not vampires."

Kahlan wilted. "Leave it to Aaron to be involved in something else that doesn't fit the norms," she muttered under her breath.

Chuck cleared his throat. "Well, since neither one of them are brave enough to ask, I guess I'll have to do it." He took a deep breath and looked Sebastian in the eyes. "What would happen to you if I killed you?"

Christian took a step back as he grabbed his friend's shoulder, but Sebastian waved him off with a chuckle. "He's not threatening us, Christian. I believe he wants to know what happens to our bodies once we die." He looked at Chuck. "Correct?"

Chuck nodded and then glanced back towards Hotch's stuff still on the ground. "If he'd been killed here, would we know it?"

Sebastian nodded. "His corpse would have been found," he assured them with a small smile but it turned into a grimace as he inhaled deeply. "And I would know if he'd been killed." With the way he'd said it, it was obvious that he had personal experience with that before.

Rossi glanced at Kahlan and then studied Sebastian with intent eyes. "So you know, for sure, that he's still alive?"

The ancient vampire started to nod again, but Kahlan took a step closer to him. "Even with him being out of range or whatever?" she pushed.

Rossi and Chuck shared a look. Neither one of them liked the way Kahlan seemed unsure of the connection she had always been so adamant about before Hotch's change, and it made Rossi's heart ache to see the doubt and desperation in her eyes and hear it echoed in her tone. He put his arm around her shoulder as they waited for the vampire's answer.

Sebastian stood up tall. "Yes. I would know even if he was halfway around the world."

The confidence in his tone made Rossi relax a little. He felt Kahlan tremble, though, so he gave her a squeeze. "See, Kiddo, that's just conformation of what you already knew."

She huffed and was about to say something else when Michaela called from the alley's entrance that the CS Unit had arrived.

Sebastian stepped close to Kahlan. "We will look into it, and we will let you know the minute we have any information."

Christian nodded his agreement. "And we have many contacts that you all do not, so try not to worry so much, my dear. We will find him."

She forced a smile for them. "Thank you. I have the feeling that Aaron needs all the help that he can get."

Sebastian gave her shoulder a squeeze and then he and Christian left to allow the human professionals to work the scene. As they walked, Christian looked at his friend. "With the conviction in her tone and eyes when she said made that statement. . ." He sighed and then stopped and faced his friend directly. "I get the feeling that she's more than just an average human."

Sebastian's brows rose as he looked back into the busy alley. "There's a lot more to her than what one can discern after a few brief meetings, that's for sure."