AUTHOR'S NOTES: A toughie to write this one. It's always hard introducing original characters, let alone a gang of them. I hope it isn't too confusing. :)

"Will you walk into my parlor?" said the spider to the fly;
"'Tis the prettiest little parlor that ever you may spy.
The way into my parlor is up a winding stair, And I have many curious things to show when you are there."
"Oh no, no," said the little fly; "to ask me is in vain,
For who goes up your winding stair can ne'er come down again."

- Mary Howitt; The Spider and the Fly

Chapter 5- The Spider and the Fly

"Oh my GOD Ben! What did you do that for?" The mousy guy, Sam, shouted. He'd only intended to scare the homeless man off with the knife and the idiot had to go shoot him in the back of the head. Ben had been really unhinged lately, and Zack, their leader, seemed to be the only one able to keep him in line. Sure Zack had killed someone too, but it was necessary at the time. This… was just plain murder.

Ben tucked his .22 cal back in his jacket and shrugged as if killing a man in cold blood was just 'same shit, different day.' Three other men ran around the corner, wondering what the gunfire was about. They flanked Ben and looked at the body.

Carlos, Zack's second in command stepped forward with his hands on his head. "What did you do?!" He took in Shawn's appearance. He looked like a street guy but the outer clothes were a bit too clean for him to be homeless. "He could be a cop!"

"It was just a bum. He could've ratted us out." Ben kicked at the body. Blood was starting to form a large pool by his head.

When no one moved Zack stepped forward and took charge. He'd have to punish Ben for this, but right now they needed to get out of sight. "Someone could have heard that. Pick him up and bring him in."

The largest member, a red haired man named Adam, lifted Shawn's body and started to move him, making the sign of the cross for the poor sap that just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"WAIT!" Zack held up his hands for him to stop as soon as Shawn's face was off the ground. He leaned in closer noticing the straps and pulled off the fake beard and ratty hat. The man looked fairly clean shaven and certainly wasn't just a street bum. "This could be bad." He stated while holding up the beard.

Carlos groaned. He hated being right all the time. "I told you he was a cop! You killed a cop man!" He lunched at Ben, fully intending to kick the other man's ass. "You idiot!"

Zack held Carlos back and nodded at Adam who obediently punched Ben in the face. "Shit!" Ben screamed and held his broken nose .

"Serves you right asshole." Adam growled.

As the gang's leader, Zack had to keep the others in their place. They weren't a large group, but each had their role to play and so far, they'd been unstoppable and untraceable. Ben however, was quickly becoming a liability. He was their wild card, but it was like training a dog. The only thing a man without a conscience understands is pain. So Zack had to dish it out whenever their resident sociopath needed a lesson.

He led the way back into the storage facility where they were keeping their unsold stash. It wasn't huge by any means and had been a fish sorting plant back in the day. That kind of smell never gets out of a place, but it was practically their home.

Different variations of their signature spider dotted the walls randomly. Zack was a hell of an artist, but even perfection needs practice. They'd originally had eight members back in San Antonio. That's why they chose a spider. Eight people, eight legs. The other three got caught before they had to make a run for it a couple months ago. From then on, the remaining five had been careful. Leaving no trace. No trace. No arrest. It had worked out well so far.

Zack pointed to a clear spot in the floor. "Set him down." He watched as Adam set the body down and looked disapprovingly at the trail of blood leading from outside. That would need to get taken care of too. "Sam, grab some ammonia and clean up the blood."

"Aw man no…" Sam complained. They had made him dig out bullets and now this? He'd be damned if he was digging the bullet out of that guy's head too. The look Zack gave him was enough to stop any more whining and he went to go get the gloves and rags.

Zack circled Shawn's body before reaching down to search his pockets, trying to find some identification. He pulled out a regular wallet and a green cased I-Phone that would probably go for a couple hundred easy. "This guy isn't a cop. No badge." He waved the wallet at the group and looked through it. There wasn't much; just a couple twenties, a coupon for Jappa Dogs that expired four months before, a driver's license with the name Shawn Spencer, and a few business cards with the Psych logo and a phone number.

"Apparently this guy was a psychic detective." Zack chuckled. People will believe anything nowadays.

"He shoulda seen that coming then." Ben smirked.

Carlos looked apprehensive, "If he was a detective he'd have someone looking for him soon, we need to get this body out of here now!"

Zack would have had Adam punch Carlos if he was anyone else, but every good leader needs a wingman who isn't afraid to voice his own opinions. Especially when those other opinions usually end up being right. He nodded his consent. "Adam, get some plastic and get him to the car. We'll dump him in the lagoon."

Adam gave a single nod and picked Shawn up again so they could slide the plastic under him. A small metallic *tink* sound caught everyone's attention. The four men looked down and saw a small, bloody .22 caliber bullet lying on the ground.

Carlos bent over and examined it. "What the hell?" He'd heard scalp wounds bleed a lot but there was no way this didn't lodge all the way in the man's head. I can't believe I'm about to do this. "Put him down a sec."

Curious at what his second was doing, Zack stepped forward and watched as he put two fingers to Shawn's neck. Shawn let out a small moan and went still again. Carlos stepped back with a gasp of, "Dios mio! The guy is alive!"

"There's no way." Ben strode forward and checked himself. A cold look crossed his features and he pulled out his knife. "Not for long anyway." He was just about to slash Shawn's throat when Zack stopped him.

"Don't even think about it." Zack glared at Ben till he put the knife away.

"That's right. We need to get this guy to a hospital." Adam pitched in.

Zack looked at Adam sharply. That kind of thinking would get them arrested. "No. That's not what I meant."

"No? What do you mean no? The guy could be dying. We aren't murderers!" Carlos saw the cold stare and knew there was no changing Zack's mind.

Zack turned his gaze to Adam. "Get a chair." He turned to Ben, "Get some of that wire rigging that's lying around, and you," He turned to Carlos, "help me lift him. If he's alive then he can talk. We need to know how much he knows, and how many are after us."

Carlos nodded sadly. He hated that Zack was right. They needed to know whether they needed to beat feet or not. If they left, it meant leaving the stash. There was no way they were going to get everything loaded up tonight, and there was a lot of money sitting in this place. He'd do what Zack said, but it didn't mean he had to like it. "Fine."

As they were bending over to lift Shawn, Sam came back in with a hand full of rags and a bottle of chemicals. He glanced at the scene of his crew mates tying a supposed dead man to a chair. "Okay, what'd I miss?"

"Gus!" Coraline called him over to one of the booths in the corner. She saw him smile and he headed towards her. They usually met for coffee once a week but Coraline just happened to stay in town last night and wanted to meet again. She did enjoy the company. He was smart and handsome. Two qualities she loved in a man.

"Sorry I'm late."

"It's okay. I was just going over some notes." As Gus came closer, Coraline could tell something was off. He didn't smell right. It was hard to tell through the lavender he wore all the time, but he definitely smell stress. "What's wrong?"

Gus frowned as he slid into the booth facing Coraline. Of course she'd know there was something wrong. He wondered what emotions smelled like. He'd been fuming at himself all afternoon for the slip up with Shawn and didn't want Coraline to think he had anything against her either. Maybe she could give me some advice. He wondered and decided to spill the beans. "I messed up with Shawn. He was pulling his usual snarky stunts, saying we're going out and I told him that we are working on a cure so I can get my friend back." Gus stared down at his hands, ashamed.

Coraline was quiet for a minute. She understood, having seen that humanity was the gift, not vampirism. It's why she started trying to find the cure in the first place. Reaching across the table, she put her hand on Gus'. He flinched away, not out of fear, but because her hands were a bit cold. "Did things go well with his mother?" She'd heard he was going to tell her, even though she didn't agree with it. Anyone who knew about vampires was a liability and could potentially give away their secret.

Gus thought about it. "Shawn didn't say much. It seems like things went okay. He was in a good mood before my comment."

"He's probably just hurt then. He'll cool off."

"No," Gus shook his head, "You don't know Shawn. I haven't seen him that angry."

She realized something and sighed. "Remember what I told you about Shawn's line being empathetic?"

Gus nodded. The older lines each seemed to have some extra "gift." Shawn's was feeling their fledgling's pain and emotions, as well as feeling strong emotions of those around him. "He's never mentioned it though."

Coraline shrugged, "He probably doesn't even know he's doing it. It takes time and practice and is a lot more subtle than Carlton's emotions. He was probably picking up on your frustration, plus we're very emotional creatures to begin with. That's why it's important for us to learn control."

"You sound like Vulcans."

Coraline laughed hard. She liked Gus' sense of humor. "I guess so."

Gus smiled. "So, you said you came up with something new?" He sipped at his coffee.

"I found a flower." Gus' eyes lit up. They had been searching for similar plants to the one that the temporary cure compound was similar to. It was incredibly rare and presumed extinct. Her plan before had been to introduce the properties of the temporary cure into another flower. The permanent cure they had developed from it was used up on Coraline's brother Lance and was therefore lost. Coraline had to start over from scratch and her saying she found anything to help was a huge step.

"Great! What is it?"

"It has some of the same properties as the flower for the compound, but in a lot lower doses. I need to see what I can do with it but I figured you would be interested to know, since you've been a huge help." Gus' input on the different immune boosting drug properties and general pharmaceutical knowledge had helped her get this far.

Gus opened his mouth to say he'd have to tell Shawn, but he would be surprised if his friend was speaking to him this soon. He figured it would be at least a day or so before he'd speak to him.

Coraline didn't miss the dejected look. "Did you want me to talk to him for you?"

"I don't know." Shawn was nice to Coraline when he saw her, but from everything his friend had heard about her from Mick, his view of her was pretty skewed.

She frowned. "I get it, it's okay. Just let me know if I can help."

"Thanks."

An hour later, Gus and Coraline parted ways with her kissing him on the cheek. It was unexpected and left him standing there with a shocked expression and his hand on his cheek where her lips had been. He shook himself from his paralysis and watched her leave. She was a hard one to understand.

He looked at his phone and frowned. There were no messages. It wasn't too late and he probably would have had time to go on the stake-out with Shawn. Now he'd have to spend the rest of the night watching wrestling without his buddy, who would hopefully forgive him soon.

"Mmmmggg..." Juliet groaned as she woke up. It was getting harder and harder to move each morning and muster up the energy to get out of her comfy bed. It took a moment to register that the sun was out and that Shawn hadn't woken her when he got home. Sitting up and looking around she noticed the closet door was closed. Shawn usually kept it open when he slept.

Juliet hopped out of bed and opened the doors. It was empty. Did Shawn even come home last night? She went over to the night stand and looked at her phone. No messages. The last thing she knew he was supposed to meet with his mom and spend some time working on stuff at Psych. She hoped things went well with his mom.

After calling Shawn's phone twice and getting no answer, she called Henry.

"Spencer here."

"Hi, it's Juliet. I'm probably freaking out about nothing right now but Shawn didn't come home after meeting with his mom last night and I was wondering how things went."

"What are you talking about? Shawn never saw his mom. I told him she still needed some time and to call back today."

"So things didn't go well..." Juliet bit her lip. She should have gone with her gut that something was wrong when Shawn came into the station.

"He hung up on me and accused me of wanting to spend time with her myself." Henry grumbled, obviously upset.

"Well thanks. I'll try Gus. Maybe they spent the night watching movies at his apartment." Shawn had his own ways of dealing with stress. All night movie binges were one of them.

"Let me know if you get a hold of him. We need to talk."

"Okay, I will. Give Madeline my best." She hung up and immediately dialed Gus who answered in a very sleepy voice. Apparently he'd had a late night.

"Burton Guster."

"Gus it's me... I was wondering if Shawn spent the night over there. He didn't come home and isn't answering his phone."

"Shawn didn't come home?" His worried tone didn't help Juliet's already anxious mood. "When did you last see him?"

"He came to the station after you guys went to investigate the store. He said you had stuff to do and couldn't come. He lied to me about going to see his mom. Henry said she hadn't cooled down enough to see him yet."

"What? Shawn made is sound like things went well with his mom. He never acted like anything was wrong. Oh my God, this is all my fault."

The last thing Juliet wanted to do was listen to one of Gus' melt downs but she had to know what he thought was his fault. She squinted her eyes suspiciously, "What do you mean this is all your fault?"

She could hear Gus hesitate, "It just slipped out Juliet..." Gus proceeded to tell Juliet what happened between the two of them and how angry Shawn was when he stormed off.

Juliet could see why Shawn had seemed off to her. His father and his best friend had spurned him within minutes of each other. "No wonder Carlton said someone was pissed. Between you and his dad he must have been furious." She wished she could kick herself hard for ignoring the signs. Even angry though, she didn't think Shawn wouldn't check in with her. He had promised to see her in the morning. "Did he say anything else? Anywhere he could have gone?"

"Oh no. He said he got something on where the thieves were hiding. He wanted me to go with but then... ya know."

Juliet put her hand to her mouth. He wouldn't go by himself would he? She already knew the answer to that though. He would go in a heartbeat, it was his nature. He was just to curious for his own good. "Okay, we're not going to panic. I'm going to call Henry and Carlton and have them meet us at the station and see if we're overreacting."

"Alright. I'll be there in a few."

Juliet hung up the phone and dropped down to sit on the bed. Why would Shawn lie about this? She tried his number a few more times, just in case. Still getting nothing, she resigned herself to call in the troops, praying to herself that they really were overreacting and her boyfriend was just fine.

The first thing Shawn thought as he regained consciousness was, "Ooooowwww!" The second thing that happened is he had a panic attack. The pain in his head coupled with the fact that he had no idea where he was, made it really really difficult not to vamp out.

He heard someone shout in surprise and apparently he hadn't exactly done the "Ow thing" as silent as he thought he did. Doing his best to calm himself and failing miserably, he opened up one eye, afraid of what he might see. Shawn noticed the sun was up and streaming through the high storage building windows. He turned his head and regretted it as something seemed to pop back into place sending a twinge of pain down his spine. All around him were stacks of organized loot that was probably worth thousands of dollars, and if he didn't know where he was before... the spider symbols all over the walls were a dead give away. Jules is going to kill me.

Two men were approaching him and arguing. One was the mousy man from before who pulled a knife on him. The other was a burly red head. They seemed concerned by the fact that he was alive, let alone conscious and moving around. "Sam, go get Zack. Tell him he's awake." The red haired one ordered.

Sam didn't argue, he sped off in the direction of an office.

While the red haired man watched Sam go, Shawn quickly tried to figure out his situation. Another turn of his head brought more stiffness though his headache seemed to be subsiding quickly. He felt the sticky but crusty feeling of blood around his neck area and lower back where it had dried. The bastards had shot him in the head. At least he knew now that he could survive that type of thing for the next time it happened, which Shawn hoped was never.

He tested his bonds. Hoping they used regular rope so he could just break out. No such luck. Whatever they tied him up with seemed to be strong, and they had his hands tied behind him on a metal folding chair. It was insanely uncomfortable.

"Don't try to move." The red haired man said and Shawn shot him a glare before realizing that the man was saying it with concern. He walked over to a cooler and took out a bottle of water.

Shawn almost laughed and tried to figure out the game these guys must be playing. He had never heard of gang members playing "Good cop, bad cop." Suddenly the water was in his face and he moved his head to get away from it, causing something else to pop. "OW... God!"

The man gave him a grumpy look and stepped back, "Suit yourself man, it's a miracle you're even alive."

Squinting, Shawn took in the man's appearance. Big guy, dirty hands, still had his blood on them. Probably from picking him up and moving him inside. Must be the muscle. Also, the man had a cross necklace. Shawn figured the guy might be religious and hoped he'd be able to use that to his advantage when they tried to kill him again, because they would try to kill him again. Unfortunately, like the last time they tried to kill him. It wouldn't work, and worse case scenario, they'd find out why. One thing was for sure, they weren't going to let him go.

Jules is really going to kill me.

END NOTES: When I was trying to figure out a title for the chapter, I remembered that poem and it really seemed to fit the tone of the chapter. They feel like Shawn is a fly, caught in their web, but maybe soon, they'll find out who really has the fangs in this situation. :D