A/N: Sorry for the delay, but this chapter is a bit longer than the last one, so I hope you don't mind. Okay, Horatio is investigating supernatural things…will there be a new case with a new victim or will the team be able to stop the perp? Read and find out. Thank you for your reviews.

Chapter 4

When Horatio slipped out of his Hummer a few days later, he was literally holding his breath about what he had to expect. Was it another victim of the vampire? Would they once again see this gruesome sight of a young, beautiful woman being defaced by some undead creature? How long was he able to keep the secret about it?

His team hadn't asked yet, because there was no reason for them to do so, since they'd never seen the photograph Alexx had shown him, but he definitely noticed the slight changes of their behaviors. Their skins were thin and one wrong word could lead into a heated argument, without any obvious reasons. Hopefully this would be a normal case, without any supernatural interruptions.

"Frank, please tell me that this is not the work of our serial killer," he approached the detective.

"Nope, not this time, H. Victim is male and," he looked around, "since this isn't the beach, it's quite safe to say, that he had nothing to with it."

Horatio let out his breath and smiled at Frank. "Finally some good news," he said and turned his head to observe the area around them. They were far away from the city, in the glades and practically in the middle of nowhere. There was no way that a vampire would bring his victim here, except for the reason that he lived here; which was pretty much unlikely. "So the victim?" he turned his attention back to Frank.

"Victim is white, male, about 35-40 years old and was shot in his chest," Frank read out his notes and looked up from his pad when he heard the other cars approaching.

"Alexx is already there?" Horatio asked and greeted his team.

"Yes, she is," Frank confirmed.

"Good. Speed you'll have a look at the victim. And take pictures. Eric, I've noticed some treadmarks dead ahead; seems like they lead to our victim."

"I'm on my way," Eric walked back to the Hummer to get the necessary gadgets.

"I'll chat with Alexx and see if she's already found something out," Speed said and made his way to the victim.

"You do that," H nodded and turned to his bullet girl. "The victim has been shot, so there is a possibility that the bullet or the cartouche is still here."

"Finally a case after my liking," Calleigh smiled at him and grabbed her kit.

"I knew you'd say that, Cal," Horatio smirked and winked at her.

"You know me too well Handsome," she countered back. "Maybe the metal detector will help."

"It's definitely worth a try," Horatio commented and watched her walking back to the Hummer.

"You're quite a lucky guy, you know that?"

"Who? Me?" He looked at Frank, who shot him an amused glance.

"Sure. I know a lot of guys who would murder to get some attention from our southern belle, and you do nothing…and have it."

Horatio furrowed his brows in confusion. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Sure, just keep on acting like you have no idea, but everyone knows that she worships the ground you're walking on. Hell, even I noticed the looks she's giving you, when she thinks that no one is watching," Frank rolled his eyes.

"You're seeing things, Frank," Horatio said in the typical tone that indicated that this subject was closed.

"Oh yeah…I see a lot of…things," Frank said anyway, but decided to drop the subject. For now.

It was some time later, when there was suddenly commotion coming from the direction where the body was. Horatio immediately looked up from the cigarette butt he had found and noticed that an agitated Eric was running towards him. "Eric, what's wrong?" he said louder and stood up from his crouching position.

Eric was bit out of breath and did his best to talk and breath the same time. "Snake…body…Alexx," he panted.

"What?" Horatio asked alarmed. "What do you mean? The victim was bitten by a snake?" he tried to make sense of the fragments.

"No," the younger man shook his head. "Alexx was bitten. She had rolled the body on its side and suddenly a snake came out of nowhere."

"Damn it," Horatio growled and he felt the panic risen in his chest. "You go to the hummer and call the paramedics, tell them that they have to be here as soon as possible, you got that? As soon as possible, every second counts," he talked insistently to his colleague. "Our cells don't have connections here, so use the radio," he instructed him.

"Understood," Eric nodded and pressed a tissue against his nose which had started to bleed.

"Good," Horatio nodded and made his way to Alexx. When he saw Calleigh coming towards him he stopped her immediately. "You go and look after Eric, I don't want him to faint."

"But…"

"No but, Calleigh. We don't know where the snake is so please go to the Hummer and Eric," he told her more sternly and didn't want to hear any arguments.

Calleigh didn't like that at all, but obeyed to his order.

"Speed," Horatio called when he saw the other man sitting next to Alexx, who was holding her neck. "Alexx, what happened?" he asked softly and kneeled down next to her.

"We wanted to see if there were any traces underneath the body, so I asked Alexx to turn it," Speed replied and it was obvious that he was in shock. "Then out of sudden, there was this snake, striking and hitting Alexx in the neck."

"Do you know what kind of snake it was?" Horatio asked, because this was very important.

"It rattled," Speed said and looked at his surrogate mom.

"It did," Alexx agreed and did her best to stay calm, which was anything but easy.

"Okay, so it was a rattlesnake. Probably a diamond rattlesnake," Horatio concluded. This wasn't good at all. The rattlesnake's venom was one of the most dangerous ones in North America and the fact that it had bitten Alexx in the neck was even worse. "Show me where the bite is," he demanded.

"It's right here," Speed said and Alexx lifted her hand away.

"Okay, I'm gonna suck the venom out," Horatio declared, but was stopped by Tim.

"That's too dangerous, H. If you have only the slightest wound in your mouth, the venom can get into your system," he warned the red head. "We should wait for the ambulance. As long as Alexx won't move, there's a big chance that the venom won't spread all over the body."

Horatio knew about the risks, but he didn't care. They were in the middle of nowhere and the next hospital was far away. "We have to try," he stated and ignored Tim's ranting about the risks. "You go to the others and tell them what kind of snake it was, so they can tell the paramedics. Without the correct antiserum, we won't have any chance."

"Horatio, don't do it. They will come with a helicopter," Speed argued back, not wanting his boss to take this risk.

"This wasn't a request, Speed. It was an order and now get your ass to the others." He hated talking like this to one of his closest friends, but he didn't want to lose any more time than he already had.

For a moment it seemed like Speed wanted to argue back, but in the end he hoped that Alexx would talk Horatio out of this crazy idea and ran to the others.

"He's right you know," Alexx said softly. "It's a great risk."

"Shh, don't talk, it'll only strain you," Horatio smiled at her.

"No, really, Horatio," Alexx continued. "What if the venom gets into your body? We should wait for the ambulance."

"We don't have time for that," he said and rested his fingers against the wound. Carefully he let his fingertips travel over her neck and nodded to himself. "The venom is already spreading due to your quick pulse."

"You can feel that?" she asked him in awe. Horatio was always good for a surprise.

"Yeah," he nodded. "It's warmer," he explained and stopped in his movements.

"But still, if it gets into your body," Alexx repeated her worries, but was interrupted by Horatio.

"It's not like it could kill me, huh?" he grinned at her and his eyes looked suddenly crystal blue. "And now don't move and let me do the work," he commanded in a deep voice and carefully put one hand on her shoulder while the other held her head.

"Horatio..," Alexx tried it one last time, but was once again interrupted by him.

"Too late," he growled, showed his fangs and bit her in the neck.

Alexx whimpered when his teeth bore into her skin, but then all she felt was a calm feeling spreading inside of her. She couldn't even explain how it felt, but it didn't hurt at all.

Horatio meanwhile was busy running his fingers over Alexx' skin, in order to find out if he was really catching all the venom in her system or not. He increased his sucking when he felt that the venom was still spreading and after a few moments he stopped it completely. Slowly he let go of her shoulder and gave her a devilish smile. "Better stay like this, I took about a pint," he told her and with that he stood up again. With relish he ran his tongue over his fangs and lips, turned around and looked into the shocked faces of his team. "Oops."

Actually the team had wanted to stop Horatio from his plan and therefore decided to go to him and Alexx, but what they'd witnessed when they'd come closer had shocked and deeply disturbed them the same time.

Eric and Calleigh had leveled their guns at him and looked determined to shoot him in case he made the wrong move. "Stay where you are," they shouted in almost perfect unison, the disbelief clear in their voices.

Amused, Horatio lifted his arms. "You don't want to shoot me, right?"

"I wouldn't try it out if I were you," Eric said and couldn't believe his eyes. His boss a vampire? Vampires didn't even exist.

Slowly, Alexx sat up with a grown and in an instant Speed was by her side.

"Alexx, are you okay? What has he done to you?" he quickly asked, his eyes glued to the big bite marks.

"Nothing," she shook her head and felt dizzy.

Worried Horatio turned around and looked at her. "Alexx are you okay? Are you hurting?" he asked and wanted to kneel down next to her, but didn't have a chance, since Speed was literally in his face in an instant.

"Keep your hands off her," he growled and didn't care if this was his boss…or whatever this was anyway.

"You have no idea what's going on," Horatio growled in turn.

"Folks please," Alexx wanted to get their attention, but everyone was focused on Horatio.

"No, you have no idea what's going on," Calleigh said and felt like she had entered some twilight zone. This man, this…creature couldn't be her Horatio. No way, this couldn't be! "Touch her and we will shoot you."

Horatio was torn between helping Alexx, who looked really sick, and getting shot. He couldn't risk getting shot, because then he couldn't provide Alexx any help, but he also knew that they were losing precious time.

"Step away from her," Speed ordered him and tried to push him backwards. He wouldn't allow that he could hurt Alexx more than he obviously already did.

"Make me," Horatio snarled and when Speed pushed him a third and forth time, he lost his calm and showed him exactly what he was capable of. He didn't even use his full strength when he pushed Speed away, but suddenly the man was lying like a turtle on his back a few meters away from the rest.

That's when the shot rang out.

Time stood still and Horatio awaited the hot pain of a bullet entering his body, but much to his surprise nothing happened. Confused he turned around and saw Calleigh who was pointing her gun into the air.

"Please don't make me shoot you," she whispered, her eyes filled with unshed tears.

"Cal," he whispered, but this time it was him who was interrupted by Alexx.

"Stop this!" she demanded. "All of you! Let him do what he has to do and stop the fighting," she said and took a deep breath, because her lungs were hurting.

Horatio was by her side in an instant and searched for any remains of the venom in her body, but didn't feel any. "The venom must've already attacked your body," he told her softly. "But this shouldn't be a problem," he then smiled and reached for his pocket knife.

The others squalled but he didn't care. Instead he quickly slid his wrist and pressed it against Alexx' mouth. "You know the drill," he told her and rested one hand above her heart.

"What the hell are you doing?" Speed demanded who had overcome the first shock.

"Saving her life, what else?" Horatio just smirked in response and could feel that her heart was beating more and more regularly. "Good girl," he praised her and when he was satisfied with what he was feeling he took his wrist off her mouth. Casually he pressed his thumb on his wound and smiled at Alexx. "Better now?"

"Yes," she nodded in reply.

"Good."

"Oh my gosh, the bite marks are fading," Speed exclaimed and pointed at her neck.

Curiously, the others approached them and stood in awe when they saw how the marks disappeared more and more. Suddenly they heard the loud noises of a helicopter and Frank who was approaching them.

"What are you doing here the whole time?" he asked. "I was waiting for the helicopter and no one was coming."

"I sucked the venom out," Horatio explained and it wasn't even a lie.

"That's pretty senseless," Frank commented nonchalantly. He as a Texan knew his ways around snakes.

"Probably, but sometimes you don't have any other chance," Horatio shrugged.

"What about your wrist?" Frank asked and pointed towards it.

"It's fine, just a scratch," Horatio told him and showed him the wrist, where was indeed just a slight scratch any longer.

"I don't think that I need to go to the hospital any longer," Alexx declared when she saw the paramedics approaching.

"You bet!" Horatio turned around. "You still need to get checked out, I probably didn't get all of the venom out," Horatio played his role perfectly.

"You should better get examined too," Frank chimed in.

"No need, I'm feeling fine. There's a case to solve."

"Horatio, I mean really, a rattlesnake's venom is…"

"I said that I'm feeling fine," Horatio told him more seriously.

"I warned you," the Texan rolled his eyes, held up his hands and walked to his car.

Horatio was watching the paramedics intently and told them that he had sucked out the venom. Once again he ignored the scolding coming from the men and accompanied them till they lifted Alexx into the helicopter. He quickly stepped away from it when they started the rotors and then watched them fly away. He could feel the stares coming from his team mates, so he turned around and glared at them. "What are you waiting for? We have a case to solve."

Their jaws literally hit the ground. "Horatio..we..this…"

"This is nothing that should be talked about in public," he interrupted them before they could let out his secret. "Meet me tonight at my place and we can talk, but not here and not now."

Tbc if you like