A/N: Thank you for the reads and reviews! I honestly thought people didn't read this fic but it turned out otherwise!
Horatio, Mac and their respective CSIs (c) CBS, Daikonran and Secondet (c) my sister
17, Savagery
Death is a funny thing. Horatio thought as he waited for Speed to finish cleaning himself. It also taught him invaluable lessons about people, even more so when they just came back. Horatio learned not to cheat death, unlike his brother Raymond. With Speedle as proof, he could easily find Yelina and tell her that 'death do us part' was obsolete. No, this is an exception; no way in hell did Caine want a zombie brother and father to Ray.
"You ok in there?"
A pleasant yes boomed in the showers and Horatio decided to inspect Tim's clothes. It took some digging and somewhat ninjutsu skills to avoid Alexx's impeding scold to find Speed's case box with his last clothes on that sad day on Earth but the lieutenant located them nonetheless. His face saddened as a finger poked through the bullet hole that killed the CSI.
"Is that how I died?" Tim asked, snapping Horatio out of his trip down memory lane. He nodded and handed the garments to the dripping wet man. As he dressed, Speed felt much more at ease with himself; he knew in the back of his mind that this was how he was supposed to look like. A couple of names came up and he couldn't resist the chance to ask the lieutenant. "There is a Calleigh here, right? Or a Delko?"
Horatio lit up and responded, "Yes. Calleigh's upstairs and Delko, his first name is Eric by the way, is in the interrogation room with Frank Tripp."
"Damn, I'm remembering a lot faster than I thought." Speed remarked, now hopeful that more would come along. "I want to meet them when you have the chance."
"As soon as we wrap this case, I'll make up an excuse to get us all in the same room and I'll present them to you." Caine promised. "But for the time being, try to stay out of trouble."
"Will do, sir."
Frank was positive the evidence would provoke a more sentimental reaction from Thompson but all he and Eric got was an ironic chuckle. "What's so funny?"
"Detective Tripp, do you have children?" Walter inquired rather unscrupulously. The detective suddenly had the urge to beat the crap out of the man but refrained from doing so. The lab had enough issues, supernatural or not.
"Yeah, two."
Walter slanted to the back of the chair and proceeded. "And do you love them?"
"Of course." Eric could guess where the conversation was leading up to and knew better than come between them.
"Would you care for them when they're sick? Help them when they're troubled?" A short, dramatic pause and the suspect continued. "Would you give up an arm for them?"
"Where are you heading with this?" Frank interrupted, exasperated by the theatrics.
"Would you put them out of their misery if a situation called for it? Take their lives just to make the pain and suffering stop?" Walter then looked straight into Tripp's eyes. "If I am guilty of anything, it should be for loving my daughter."
"You had your chance when she was alive." Eric retaliated, his anger mounting against the man. "Yet the babysitter claimed you and your wife ignored Felicity. She was invisible."
"My mistake was choosing the food I put on the table than the person I was doing it for, I'll admit it. But when I saw her with Glencoe, it was as if God had given me a second chance to redeem myself." Walter slammed his fist onto the Plexi-glass table. "When I learned she was prostituting herself, I wanted to bid the highest price, even if it meant selling the refinery. I put $ 4.5 million for Felicity and what do I get? Some oil tycoon from Austin ponies up $ 10 million up front in cash. I couldn't compete with that."
"So you went to get her yourself. After extorting Ferrer Glencoe for information, you headed for the St. Lucia as soon as night fell, so you would have an alibi. You spotted Felicity and decided it was time. You didn't notice that Tyler Perry was there as a go-between so you attempted to subdue him once you found him. I still can't see why you killed Felicity though." Eric explained, leaving his doubt to tantalize Thompson.
"She didn't recognize me when I met with her, she blew me off when I reached out for her. That thing wasn't my Felicity; she was an outright disgrace. I lost control and tried to slap some sense into her but she put up a fight." Walter chuckled again. "She tripped on something and fell into the hole, holding out her arms as if I'd save her. I wouldn't save that monstrosity even if my wife pleaded."
The mental reel of Felicity's innate struggle cut through both men's hearts. "Monstrosity or not, that was still a little girl." Eric spat out. "Dolls don't have memories of who they were, they just follow orders. Felicity was being obedient as she was when she was alive."
"And that makes this a hate crime and second degree murder." Frank added. Now it was his turn to berate Thompson. "God gave you another chance and you wasted just because your precious little girl wasn't perfect. You're pathetic."
Thompson glared; he wasn't going to come down his high horse just because some Hispanic cop gave him some facts and a moron just told him what he did was immoral. "You would've done the same if it were one of your kids."
"No, what I would've done is keep bidding and bidding until I had my child back, even if it cost me everything in this sorry excuse of the world." Frank responded as he slapped the cuffs on the man. "Even an arm or a leg, just to be sure."
Calleigh's nose wrinkled at the smell of days old meat but she promised Kino she'd help Ryan move the evidence to Alexx's post. "Where did you find these?"
"Let's leave it at that I might've ended up like them if I wasn't careful." Ryan relied, placing the dismembered hand in a container. The younger CSI caught on quickly and placed the torso in a cabinet all on it's own. When they finished, Duquesne grinned sweetly. "I know about the ham and eggs you sent for me over at the diner. Still hurting?"
Ryan laughed and pulled a slab of what once the thigh of the female corpse. "Hardly the time and place to discuss that but yeah. You knew I was a rookie and you took advantage of that."
"Hey, I was a rookie too! I deserve to get mileage from newbies like you and Natalia." Calleigh challenged, her smile now playful. "You'll get your chance and believe me, you'll enjoy it. "
"So what are you going to do with Boa Vista? Tell her that some serial killer beheaded his victims and then sold their heads as souvenirs?" Wolfe asked as he put away the evidence and closed that cabinet.
"Aww, you're no fun." The ballistics expert took her gloves off and tossed them into the biohazards container. Her cell phone chirped and with a quick check, she knew she had to go. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a Horatio Caine to report to and a Natalia Boa Vista to traumatize."
After dropping Speedle in his house, Horatio played back the interview he had with him. No inconsistency in his speech, no rehearsing noticeable or any red herring to distract him. With his testimony, Marla Ruez would be arrested on desecration, extortion, and conspiracy to commit murder. And where Marla was, Stuart was there with her. Stuart's psychological picture painted a leech; one that Caine was more than willing to kill. He missed his chance so long ago because he was dangling for his life, now he was an escaped Death Row and it was fair game.
All I need is a location and they're both finished.
As soon as he got out of his Hummer, Horatio suddenly coughed harshly, blood landing on the pavement. His vision became blurry but he tried to enter the lab without being perceived. At least this attack wasn't as dramatic as the last one; he took comfort in that fact. He arrived at his office with Calleigh waiting for him, files on hand. He had requested her via the phone to compile everything on Otis and Ruez in order to find common ground. They're not that different; both are predators and they need things from the outside.
The 9:00 am sun was sure to keep Marla away but he wasn't as certain with Otis. He could have been altered into one of Marla's kind, giving him more time but less opportunity to find him.
"Anything on the news?" Horatio asked as Calleigh spread the photos over the desktop.
"Tammy Henderson and a girl that was killed on the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Orlando." Duquesne replied, flipping on the television set. Horatio's interests switched and he neared the screen. In full glory of color, was Ruthy's tiny body being hauled off to the Orlando Homicide division. Her throat severed, she seemed more at peace than when he and Mac first apprehended her.
"…The medical examiner predicts that the time of death was at around 6:23 am just before dawn…there is no lead and an open investigation is being formed in order to solve this heinous crime." The brunette reporter stated, an obvious competitor to Erica Sykes, before signing off from the newscast. Calleigh noticed how Horatio's face hardened before he returned to his desk.
"Was she relevant to the case?"
"More than that; her untimely death just gave us a timeline and a possible area to look." Caine answered, dialing the Orlando County.
Otis' body convulsed violently as the color of his skin became white. The blue veins pulsated around his face while the rest of him shook on the ground. He had drunk the entire flask in a single sitting just two minutes prior, already killing him from cyanide poisoning. A normal person would take three days to change into a bloodsucker but Marla didn't have the patience for that.
A few moments later and Stuart sprang up, gasping for air. He then studied his new appearance, examining the glass nails and classic canines in his mouth. Ruez tossed him a plump white chicken. She watched gleefully as Stuart devoured the poultry, splashing his immediate surroundings with blood and white feathers. Now for the real test…
"You should rest now, the sun's our enemy and we wouldn't want to spoil our revenge on a certain cop now, do we?" Marla suggested in a motherly tone, cooing the newborn monster in her arms. "You keep eating until you're full, all right?"
In a sight that brought anyone nightmares, Stuart smiled and continued ravaging the rest of the stock while Marla took off the make-up and slipped into her own closed room. She may have been a vampire but she wasn't about to degrade herself into sleeping in a stuffy coffin.
A/N: Reviews are welcome!