A/N: Hope you all had a good start into the new year.

Chapter 14

"I can honestly say that I've never ever been to such a club in my life before," Eric told the others and opened the small, private fridge in Horatio's office. Speed and the two girls were waiting for their leader who'd been cornered by Frank a few minutes before and now he was entertaining the ladies with some details of the night before.

"So how was it?" Alexx asked curiously and accepted the drink.

"With one word? Spooky."

"Yeah," Eric nodded at Speed's statement. "It was really weird, but also…interesting. It's hard to explain actually."

"There are no windows, just dim light, music I've never heard before…"

"And very pretty girls," Eric smirked.

"Now why doesn't it surprise me that this was interesting for you?" Calleigh smiled at her friend. She hadn't talked to Horatio about last night. She hadn't heard him coming into bed last night and in the morning he had told her that he wanted to discuss it at work. So she knew nothing about it.

"But he's right," Speed supported his friend. "They really are and they know exactly what they want and how to get it, if you know what I mean."

"Oh yes, especially this Sophia," Eric smirked, but lost it when he saw Calleigh's face. "I didn't mean it that way, Cal. Don't worry. She didn't flirt with him…or..well..he didn't flirt with her anyway." He still wasn't quite sure about Sophia's little game last night.

"That's true, she even called him her little one," Speed laughed. "Wonder why that is."

"It's because I'm the youngest of her vampire children," Horatio's voice filled the room. "And it's nice to see that you two are already filling in the ladies," he reproached them. "So what did they talk about?"

"Beautiful girls," Calleigh summed it up and looked at Horatio expectantly.

"Ah, the important facts I see," he nodded and said down on the edge of his desk. "Well if the guys say that there were some then they're probably right."

"Ha you said that yourself, especially about So-"

Accidentally, Speed rammed his elbow into Eric's side.

"What's wrong with you?" Eric hissed in pain.

"It should rather be, what's wrong with you, Delko," Speed rolled his eyes at his friend. Sometimes Delko acted like a bull in a china shop.

Alexx just pressed her lips together, counted till ten and then asked, "Why don't you tell us about your conversation with Sophia? I think that's the reason why you were there anyway, right?" This wasn't the time to talk about beautiful women in front of Horatio's girlfriend, who could be a very stubborn southern woman.

"Right," H nodded and gave her a thankful smile. "The thing is, we pretty much didn't get any information from her. All we know is that he's in Miami, but that's all. She told me to find him by myself and with the help of my friends. I'm not allowed to kill him, but have to bring him to her."

Furrowing her brows, Alexx said, "I don't see the point in that. Why can't you kill him when he kills innocent women?"

"I have to agree with Alexx here," Cal chimed in. This sounded suspicious. She'd never met that woman, but she didn't like her; and this wasn't only because of the connection she had to Horatio, though this surely had a part in it.

"You see, a vampire can't just kill another vampire. Just like a human can't kill another human. We also have laws, different from yours, but still laws. Sophia is the leader of this society and her word is law. When I bring him to her it's definitely possible that she'll kill him, but she won't allow me to do that on my own."

"So even though she won't help you and risks that even more women will get hurt, you obey her?" Cal raised her brows and wasn't sure if she'd heard correctly. This was certainly not the Horatio Caine she knew.

"I have to, she's my mentor," he nodded. "I'm sure we can find him on our own."

"I'm not sure H, we haven't found him in all those months yet, why should we now?" Speed asked.

Not having a real answer to that question, Horatio just sighed. "I just know."

"Great," Cal groaned. "Your so-called mentor won't help us and we have no lead. This is just wonderful."

"I also expected a different outcome from this evening, okay?" Horatio snapped at her and quickly closed his mouth when he realised that. "I'm sorry Cal, but believe me when I say that I'm as frustrated as you are. Maybe even more because I've been waiting for this opportunity for 160 years."

"I think we all need to calm down. There's no need to get on each others throats. If she doesn't want to help us, okay fine, we've always found a way, haven't we?" Alexx talked insistently to them. "I'm sure that he'll make a mistake. Sooner or later he will make a mistake and that's when our time comes."

"Why don't we review all the evidence we have on him again?" Speed proposed. "Maybe we overlooked something." Just like Alexx, he didn't want to see anyone fighting, especially not Horatio and Calleigh. They only worked well together, when they were on good terms.

Even Eric realized that his babbling about Sophia hadn't been perfectly timed. "I think that's a good idea. I also think that we should start now." With that he stood up and looked at the others.

Alexx and Speed stood up as well. "I'll have another look at the autopsy reports," Alexx announced, while Horatio and Calleigh stayed where they were.

"Eric and will look at the traces," Speed said and just waited for Horatio's nod so that they could start working.

"Do that, I'll join you in a moment."

After the three had left, Horatio rubbed his forehead. He hated this case more and more. He felt useless and now he was arguing with his girlfriend as well. Sometimes he really wondered what he did to deserve that.

Calleigh hated fighting with him as much as he did, but she was frustrated and, if she had to admit to herself, a little insecure. What could she offer Horatio? She wasn't a vampire, she was surely not as beautiful as this other woman and Horatio had known this woman for God only knew how many years. Not to forget that they seemed to have a very close relationship as well. Sighing she shook her head. She shouldn't think like this, but she couldn't help it. "Horatio?"

"Mhm?" he mumbled and massaged his temples.

"What is she like?"

He gave her a curious look. "Who?"

"Sophia."

Did they really have to talk about this right now? Seemingly yes, because Cal was looking expectantly at him. But not only that, she also looked afraid. Afraid of his answer? He wasn't sure. "She is…hard to describe." He tried to put his thoughts into words. "Special, in her own way, you know?"

"To be honest, no, I don't know," she answered him truthfully.

"Cal," he gave her a small smile and hopped from his desk. "She's a special woman in my life, because I owe her my life." He slowly walked to the couch and sat down next to her. "She has a great impact on my life, but she doesn't rule it. It's not like I'd jump from a house, because she wants me to. True, that wouldn't be a difficult thing to do," he joked, "but I wouldn't."

Nodding, she accepted this explanation. "The boys were quite taken with her, babbling and awing; even Speed and this means a lot."

"Let's just say that she knows how to wrap men around her finger. It's very easy to be enthralled by her charm, if you don't know her, that is."

"So is she that beautiful?" she asked, hoping that the answer would reassure her.

"I promised you to be honest with you, so all I can say is, yes, she is beautiful." Before she could say something though, he continued. "But not as beautiful as you are. She is a cold beauty, you know? Living for almost 800 years makes you cold, especially if you stop living in the human world. You, however, are a caring and lovely woman. You don't enjoy playing mind games, you give me an answer straight ahead. Heck, you even slapped me," he laughed. "There are not a lot of people who'd dare to do that."

Blushing, she looked down. "I never apologized for that."

"You don't have to," he stroked her cheek. "You brought me back and I needed that." He gently put his finger under her chin, so she'd look at him. "There's no need to worry, Cal. I neither love her, nor am I in love with her. She's my mentor, my teacher. She helped me through some rough times. She's something like a friend, but I can't really find a word for it. That's what I mean with "she's special"."

"The only time when we acted as man and woman is almost 60 years ago. I knew I couldn't turn to someone else. I was so beside myself that I was afraid to hurt someone and she knew that as well. She may be a woman, but she's stronger as I am and I felt safe due to that. I knew that I could let myself go and that I didn't have to worry about her. After that one night, we never repeated it again and I don't want to. I'm happy with my life right now, thanks to you. There's no way that I'd let her come between us. So please believe me when I say that I love you."

Calleigh was pretty much overwhelmed by his confession. She was quite sure that none of her former boyfriends had ever spoken so honest to her about past girlfriends/encounters and she loved him for that. He was telling her the truth, she could see that in his eyes and this reassured her fragile heart immensely. "Oh Horatio," she sighed and gave him a small smile.

Returning the smile, he leaned in and kissed her. "You're mine Calleigh and I intend to keep you. So don't worry about other women, they're the past; you're my present and hopefully my future. If you still want to that is."

"Of course I do, Silly," she grinned and gave him another kiss. "Sorry for being insecure, but hearing her name and how beautiful she is, just hit the wrong spot."

"I understand that," he nodded. There was no need to hold that against her. She had apologized and they were on good terms again. Now he just needed to find his nemesis and everything would be perfect.

Taking a deep breath, she sat up again. "This is probably a weird moment, but I totally forgot to tell you that I'm meeting my dad tonight, so I won't come over. Is that okay for you?"

"Of course this is okay for me," he reassured her. "We don't have to see each other every day." Laughing at her scandalized face, he shook his head. "Don't get me wrong, I love it when you're close to me, but we still have our own lives. I'm probably here for most of the evening and night anyway, so have a great time with your father. How's he holding up anyway?"

"Pretty good; that's what we're going to celebrate tonight."

"That's great to hear, Sweetheart. I hope he'll stay on this road."

"Me too," she nodded and got up from the couch. "I better take a look at the evidence as well, I'm sure we'll find something."

"I'll be down in a moment, there's just one more thing I have to sign." With that he got up as well and walked to his desk

"Perfect." She walked to the door, opened it and then turned to him with a smile again. "Oh and Handsome?"

"Yeah?" he looked up from the file.

"I love you too."

Smiling, he winked at her and reached for a pen to sign the file. He really hoped that they would find something, so this nightmare would come to an end. The case was taking a toll on his team and this needed to stop. He didn't want to have anymore victims thanks to this poor excuse of a vampire. He'd sworn himself to catch this guy 160 years ago and he'd do anything to stop him.

tbc