A/N: Thank you for the hits and reviews!

This chapter deals with 9/11 so if you no like, turn away.

Just to be sure, I'll probably move it to the M category. Any problems or mistakes , notify me!

Horatio, Mac and their respective CSIs (c) CBS, Daikonran and Secondet (c) my sister

9, Deal

Horatio held fast onto Taylor's limp hand, dropping to the spot where he had landed. Two bullets had entered Mac's body, one through-and-through in the stomach and the other into his left eye. The assailant was unconscious as Mac bled profusely on the forgotten ground.

Mac Taylor ran to the scene where two towers now burned. The echoing screams of those trapped and those in terror motivated him to send out a rescue team to the North Tower. He did his best to maintain composure and lead on, but he knew Claire was in that inferno.

He couldn't remember exactly what he said in that moment but it had to do with getting everyone out before something worse would happen. Right then, the horrible booms of collapsing metal and concrete filled his ears…

As the debris storm settled, Taylor rushed to the center. The landmark buildings had disappeared from the skyline, taking his wife with them. In the state of shock however, he still noticed an individual run into the chaos. Mac tried to stop him but he quickly realized that the individual wasn't going into the disaster for all the right reasons. He grabbed his gun, removed the safety feature and followed the being into the now silent quarter.

After treading in the dangerous site for a while, Mac lost sight of his target and immediately began helping other survivors try to escape. As he helped a woman, the entity snuck up from behind. The female's screams were his only warning before suddenly being ambushed…

Now he was in a pool of his own blood, Horatio trying to contact any back up. The assailant groaned awake, the sounds fueling the lieutenant's rage. Horatio kicked the man's abdomen, flipping him over with a sickly sound escaping his mouth. Then he grabbed the shirt lapels and lifted his face to the available moonlight. When he saw the man's face, he dropped him, his expression fluctuating between fear and shock…

"Speed?"

The suspect quickly got up and sprinted away, leaving Horatio in the state of complete disclosure.

Mac felt around his face and found the empty socket where the optical organ should be. Somehow, he was missing his left eye, yanked out completely from the rest of his body. The pain then began to overflow his senses; it was unbearable and real. With his right eye, he could see the entity stare and mock him. In its hand, Taylor could see a small white orb with blood covering it; that bastard, whatever it was, had his eye. He could see how it licked and played with it.

He remembered screaming at the top of his lungs to get it back, only to provoke a laughing fit. He fired his gun and by completely missing the entity, worsened his situation. The creature then devoured the eye in one gulp. In his primal rage, Mac tackled the being to the ground, pinning him to the debris. The wrestle was a blur, all he knew was that he had to get back what he had lost at all costs.

Next thing Taylor knew, he was in the emergency room of the nearest state hospital. A tall man with straight black hair smiled at him earnestly, holding a file and a clipboard.

"How are you feeling, Mr. Taylor?" he asked innocently.

"Could be better." Mac recognized all of the emergencies in the ER area; they all came from the same place. He had lost Claire, his nation was in a state of panic and now he was blind by one eye.

"Mr. Taylor, the ER found this in your hand when they finally found you. Now, I don't mean to upset you or anything, given the circumstances, but I may help you with your present condition."

Mac groaned as he sat up, much to Horatio's surprise. This had to be the second time this had happened to him. He felt around his head, locating the regenerating wound. The stomach healed quite nicely as he stood up and walked over to a mirror.

"Damn, this is going to leave a scar."

"What the hell…" was all Horatio managed to say as he watched Mac poke his wound. "What…are you?"

The detective turned around to see his partner's reaction and momentarily smirked. "Sorry I didn't mention it earlier; it didn't seem relevant to the case."

He looked around and, after not finding the suspect, headed outside. "Come on, you knocked the guy senseless while I were out, he could still be in the area."

The servant had run away, not to go back to his master, instead in fear. How could the target have known him? All he was allowed to know was his loyalty to Marla and nothing else. Tormenting memories flashed through his eyes; random incidents like dialogues with people he didn't recognize and sentiments he couldn't understand flooded his perception.

Who the hell am I?!

The Hummer sped against the nightly traffic, breaking the 35 miles per hour limits. They had to head over to the Henderson residence before the hours of darkness ran out and the new shipment would arrive.

"Now tell me what the hell are you, because you just proved to me you're nowhere near human." Horatio commanded while making a sharp 45-angle turn into the causeways.

"Let's just say I made a deal I regret way back in 2001." Mac answered, reminiscing about that crucial decision.

"The thing you killed over when we found you was…I don't know how to put in a way you can understand, a powerful…" The doctor then finished the question in a very hushed tone. "…demon."

"And you think I'll believe that load of shit? I just lost my wife…" Mac snarled at the practitioner, his reply only a sigh.

"Believe what you will. But the truth is that in the process of you killing him, you forcibly removed its eye and shot him twice in the head. I can help you get your eyesight back with said organ." The doctor explained calmly.

Taylor paused to think; the eye would become infected if his body refused and he would lose his ability to see completely. On the other hand…

"What's the catch? There's always a catch." Mac asked under his breath.

"You lose half your humanity."

"You gave up your…" Horatio was terrified but he was interrupted with,

"Body. I decided that I'd like to go to heaven when I die."

"Why did you do it?"

Taylor chuckled, "I did for Claire, my wife. But enough about my demon status, we have a renegade zombie assassin and a dollhouse to stop."

For once in the entire case, Horatio Caine finally felt completely informed and capable of handling the situation. He grinned as he floored the accelerator and doubled the car's velocity.

"You gotta love these vacations."

A/N: So how was it? Reviews are always appreciated