Gibbs was quiet when he stepped out the elevator, his thoughts running wild with visions of vampires and werewolves. Could they possibly have a vampire on their hands?
Gibbs watched as Tony had his back to him, leaning over the miniature wall by Ziva's desk. "Of course vampires are real, Zi-va; don't you have Halloween in Israel?"
"Of course we have Halloween, Tony. But it's just little kids running around in stupid costumes."
"Did you ever celebrate Halloween, Probie?" Tony asked, turning his attention to McGee.
"I didn't. My sister did, though. The costumes of the bigger kids always scared me."
"What about you, Ziva?" Tony said, flicking his gaze towards her.
"I didn't need plastic masks and capes to scare me, Tony. And I don't see the fun in being scared."
"I was never scared," Tony said puffing his chest, "even when there was this one kid who…"
"Boo!" Gibbs said loudly from behind Tony. Tony went to jump forwards but was stopped by the miniature wall he was leaning on. Instead he ended up leaning over it, winding himself as he scrambled to right himself.
"Gibbs, I didn't know you were there," he said, rubbing his stomach.
"You weren't scared were you, DiNozzo?"
"Er, no. It takes a lot to scare Tony DiNozzo."
"What you got for me?" Gibbs said, sitting down at his desk.
The team stayed silent except for the sound of Tony forcing himself down heavily behind his desk.
"Nothing?" Gibbs said, eyebrows raised; usually they had at least something to tell him.
"Nothing," McGee repeated nervously, "we found nothing at the scene."
"And there were no witnesses," Ziva added.
"No security footage, no footprints or tracks, no nothing."
"You mean to tell me that my team has spent the last 4 hours of the day, finding nothing that helps with the case."
The three of them nodded slowly, unwilling to admit their failure. They were saved by the bell as the phone in front of Gibbs rang. Still staring at the rest of the team, he picked up the receiver and put it to his ear.
"Gibbs…ok…we'll be down now."
The team looked at Gibbs anxiously.
"Ducky's found something, let's go."
The team jumped up, eager to move on from the humiliation of their failure, and moved towards the exit of the bullpen. Just as Tony was about to move between the two miniature walls, Ziva jumped forwards, her face coming close to his.
"Boo!"
Tony stepped back, taken by surprise. Before scowling and following Ziva to the elevator. Ziva laughed loudly as she walked and McGee smiled from behind Tony.
"Ziva scared Tony," he said in a childish tone, enjoying the look on Tony's face.
"Did not."
"Did to."
"Did not."
"Did to."
"Did not."
"Did to."
SMACK
The doors of the elevator closed on a smiling Gibbs, standing behind his two male agents, each of them rubbing the backs of their heads; Ziva laughed loudly in the corner.
The team walked out onto the Autopsy floor expecting to see Ducky poured over the Petty Officer's body, but instead they were surprised by an empty room.
"Ducky?" Gibbs spoke into the odd silence.
"Over here, Jethro," came the reply from the corner of the room. The team looked over to where Ducky was sat at his computer staring at the flashing screen. They walked over and surrounded him as they took in what Ducky had on his computer screen.
"What you got for us, Duck?" Gibbs said.
"While you were away, I managed to find a small amount of skin under the Petty Officers nails. Not much, but enough to do a DNA trace. I sent Palmer up to Abby with it but he couldn't find her."
"Couldn't find her?" Gibbs repeated.
"No."
"Well, where is she?" Tony asked.
"I have absolutely no idea. Palmer was able to run the trace himself, with a bit of coaxing from me; he was a bit nervous about using Abby's equipment…"
"I don't want to be there when she finds out," Tony said, shuddering.
"Why?" Ziva asked. "Scared, Tony?"
"No, it's not that…it's just…Ow!"
"What did Palmer come up with?" Gibbs asked, lowering his palm from the back of Tony's head.
"He found a match to a young man called Matthew Peskins; just turned 17 last month. I've got his address here," Ducky added motioning towards the sheet of paper working its way out of the nearby printer.
"It's good to know that at least one of my team can come up with new leads," Gibbs said, taking the warm piece of paper with the address. The rest of the team followed him, subdued, as he exited the lab and made his way towards the elevator. Ziva pushed past Tony at the last second and jumped into the elevator before him, sticking out her tongue.
"Ziva, you're such a child," Tony said, turning his back to her as he got in the elevator and sidestepped, blocking McGee's way.
"Tony…"
"Am I in your way, Probie?" Tony asked innocently, moving to let him past, motioning passage with his arm.
"Thank you."
Gibbs muttered something about 'children' before the doors closed and they made their way towards the car lot.
"Looks like we're too late," Tony said, looking at the door swinging open at the front of the house.
"Ziva, McGee, you take the back. Tony and I will take the front."
Ziva and McGee obeyed orders, moving towards the back of the house. Tony and Gibbs raised their guns, stepping slowly through the open doorway.
"I don't like the look of this," Tony muttered. Gibbs stayed quiet, his hand steady on the gun. He twitched the gun, signing for Tony to take the left side of the door they were now facing. Tony moved quickly as Gibbs took the other side of the door. Gibbs nodded and the two of them burst through the door, guns drawn.
They jumped out into an abandoned kitchen, blood splattered across the room. The smell of iron reached their noses and Tony raised a sleeve to his face.
"Eurgh," he said through a wrinkled nose. Gibbs looked around and spotted the carcass on the island in the middle of the kitchen.
"What is that?" Tony asked disgusted, "lamb?"
"It's a dog," Gibbs said solemnly as he retreated from the room and met with Ziva and McGee.
"Everywhere's clear, Boss." McGee said, craning his neck to peer into the kitchen where Tony was still staring at the mutilated animal. "What the…?"
Gibbs nodded toward the stairs behind them and they turned and raised their guns. Tony joined them and, Gibbs leading, they moved up to the second floor. Gibbs reached the last step before he felt a sharp pain on the back of his neck and he fell to the ground. His vision blacked over and in the last seconds of consciousness he heard the cries of his teammates as they battled with their assailants.