Maura opened the room door and greeted the room service attendant that stood there. The smells were wonderful and she found her stomach growling embarrassingly. Maura smiled sweetly.

"I guess I must be hungrier than I thought…" Maura said to the man who was smitten with her. She moved aside and allowed him to enter. Jane was on the phone talking to another member of the team about the findings within the photos that Maura had looked at. "Just put it by the end of the bed," she said to the attendant as she went to her bag and pulled out a twenty. As she turned around to hand him the tip, he was already behind her and it caused her to startled. "Oh! I did not see you," she said and looked up into the face of the very handsome young man. Maura cleared her throat and handed him the twenty to which he graciously took. She thanked him and let him out. The attendant paused as the door was shut behind him and he stared back at the closed door.

Two doors down, another lay dead just inside a room. Blood pool at the body's head. The attendant's eyes glistened with nasty thoughts of what he could do to the woman he had just met. His mouth watered and he licked his lips. -Soon- he thought- soon-.

"Great! Dinner, I am starved!" Jane said as she hung up the phone. Tonight was their stake out, while Maura and she looked at evidence and photos.

"I know, my piriform sac was already growling as I answered the door. It was just embarrassing."

"Excuse me?" Jane said and blinked at her friend. "Geesus Maura sometimes I just don't understand you…"

"What I just said was my stomach was growling…"

"Oh was that it?" Jane countered sarcastically and chuckled. "You really are strange…"

"Thank you…"

"Haha… Let's eat!"

"YOU GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HER YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Jane yelled as she bolted toward the figure and Maura. The figure jerked and looked up just as he was tackled. Jane instantly began to beat his face in. Behind her, Maura tried to focus, but she knew she had lost more blood than would allow for it.

"WHO ARE YOU? WHO ARE YOU…ANSWER ME!" Jane continued to yell, but got nothing but a stare in return for words. She snarled. "Maura," she called back to her friend, "you still with me?"

"Yes…but I need to get to…a…hospital…so…soon."

Beneath her, the man took the beating. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth as Jane looked down at him. She showed no sympathy. After Maura spoke, Jane looked back to her and Maura saw the concern over Jane's face. -I know Maura-Jane thought. The man began to move underneath Jane's grasp and brought her attention back. "What to do with you…huh?" She said through gritted teeth. She did not want to take her hands off of him, but she needed to help Maura. Jane thought for a beat and then she removed her belt. A moment later she had the man's wrists tied behind his back. She could do nothing about his ankles so she threatened him to move a muscle.

Outside sirens could be heard and Jane breathed a sigh of relief. She pulled a small gun from her ankle holster and aimed it at him, once she removed her grasp from him. "You move, you end up with a few more holes in that head of yours." She walked backward to Maura and kneeled while still facing the man with her eyes and firearm. "Hey there…" she said softly and reached gently over to brush some hair away from Maura's forehead. "You still with me?"

Maura's words were weaker than before. "Yeah…"

"Just hang in there…they are coming. Ok…Hey! Just make it easy for me pal," she called over to the man who had moved his leg. "Please make it easy for me…" Jane's eyes held a fury that only showed when someone messed with those that she cared about. She was still breathing hard when flash lights caught in the corner of her eye from the emergency crew.

"Sooooo gooood," Jane mumbled with a mouthful of food.

"That really is disgusting, Jane," Maura said as she wiped her mouth free from any crumbs. "Could you be anymore like a man?"

"I could try, but…"Jane replied and burped lightly into her hand while reaching for a beer. "I won't…excuse me…"

Maura shook her head. "So, I think I have determined that all the victims were related in some way. The blood samples you provided from the lab helped to determine that. What I still have yet to understand is why. Why they are being targeted. What makes them special…"

"The killer has to see something in them. Something that he desires…"

"What good facial features…because that is what I see."

"No…something desired in a sense, something that he lacks…"

Maura picked up two of the photos and stared that them. Jane's words echoed in her mind. "Something he lacks…" she mirrored.

The predator licked his fingers clean of blood and sighed in bliss. The image of the woman smiling in the doorway and then how he had caused her to jump was pulling at all the real emotions that he had left. He reached down and felt his member already growing hard. Who was she? What could he do…how could he have her…His mind raced with thoughts of her blood covering his hands and body. He imagined her fear…her face in horror and the lovely sounds of her screams as he took the life from her. It would be very soon now…he knew that…He looked back at the bed that had been cleaned from his last victim and smiled as the vision of Maura in death became visible. He breathed heavily now. "Very soon…"

A few hours later, Maura waved, "Night Jane…" and shut her friend's hotel room door behind her. She walked across to her door and yawned. She unlocked it with her room key and once inside with the door shut and locked, stretched and yawned again. She rubbed her tired eyes and then yelped as someone came lunging toward her. Her body was slammed against the door and her air was restricted by two very powerful hands. Maura panicked and attempted to get the hands removed from her throat, but to no avail. Across the hall, Jane slipped into the shower and let the warm waters caress her tired body.

"You scream…you die faster," the figure said to Maura. Then he leaned closer to her and sniffed. Her fear was intoxicating. He smiled and Maura shivered.

"What do you want…" she barely was able to say. He saw the fear in her eyes and could not have been more pleased with his choice. She would do nicely.

"…You…"he said back to her and smiled darkly. He removed from hand from her throat, but kept the other firmly in place. He reached up and stroked a finger down her jaw line and then along the bridge of her nose. Maura's eyes widened in final realization.

-Oh god…it's him…-

To be continued…