Title: Power Play
Rating: R
Fandom: Criminal Minds
Universe: Creatures of the Night (Part 1)
Pairing: Morgan/Prentiss; JJ/Hotch
Genre: Supernatural/Drama
Summary: Tensions are running high when a vampire joins the BAU, but all differences must be put aside as the team investigate a series of suspicious werewolf murders. AU.
Author's Notes: Betaed by Windy City Dreamer.

Chapter Three

He stares down at the body; Michael Conrad, werewolf.

He sees bodies every day; people who were raped to death, tortured to death, burned to death in a fiery blaze. This body isn't like any of those bodies. Death isn't always a peaceful process, especially when murder is involved.

To Morgan, the body looks familiar. After all, he knows this man. Acquaintance is all he can claim though – they weren't friends, simply members of the same pack. Hell, Morgan couldn't really claim friendship to any member of the pack. He runs with them the night of the full moon, and that's about it.

He's a lone wolf.

The only reason he's here today is in the capacity of a law enforcement official. The pack isn't big – barely fifty odd wolves and other lycanthropes – and Morgan is the only one with a badge to his name.

Morgan turns his gaze to Andy – Andrew Lyman – the alpha of the pack, with whom he has a professional rapport. It was an understanding, a respect for each other's positions. In some lights, it almost could have been mistaken for friendship.

'He wasn't supposed to be here?' Morgan asks.

Andy shakes his head. 'The last time I saw him was the day after the full moon. He grabbed his clothes and went on his merry way.'

Morgan nods. He had been there, albeit a little removed from the pack.

'How did he get in?'

'Looked like someone blew a hole through the fence. Didn't look as though any 'shifter did it.' Andy's frowning. Whichever way you look at it, this isn't good news for the pack.

'Well he wasn't here alone.' Morgan's staring at the body again. More specifically, he's staring at the silver knife embedded in Michael Conrad's chest. It didn't get there by accident. Someone put it there, and whoever that someone was managed to lure Conrad along, break into the Sanctuary, and then make him stand still while they plunged the knife into his heart.

To Morgan, that sounds like a vampire; super-strength, super-speed, super-suggestibility. A quick sniff of the air doesn't reveal the distinctive scent of a vamp. That doesn't mean anything though, not really. Some of the older vamps can mask their scents, can even make him forget that he ever smelled a vampire. Skills like that shouldn't go unchecked.

'I'll talk to my boss,' he tells Andy. 'No promises, though. We generally investigate serial cases, rather than singular incidents.' At the same time, though, he knows that this is not going to be an isolated occurrence.

This is going to be something big.

***

The moment JJ enters Penelope Garcia's lair, she is overwhelmed by a white blur that zips around her upper body. In spite of the day's goings on, she smiles as the fairy lands on her shoulder.

'Hey JJ,' the effervescent Garcia greets her friend.

'Hey Garcia.'

'So is it true? Is there really a vampire joining the team?'

Unable to keep still, the hyperactive technical analyst flies back to her array of screens, followed by a slightly less enthusiastic JJ. JJ smirks.

'Yeah, it's true,' she says with a sigh. 'And on that note…'

'You want me to check her out? See if she's going to snap, and kill us all in our sleep?'

JJ freezes. Sometimes, her tiny compatriot lacks tact.

There's a moment of silence as Garcia realizes what she has just said. It is mercifully broken, however, when the phone rings. She presses the speakerphone button with the tip of her toes.

'Heya, gorgeous.'

'Morgan!' Garcia squeals. 'How is my favorite wolf buddy? Why are you calling? Can't you just come on down to the fairy's batcave.'

'I'm not in the office right now, baby girl,' he replies, evidently amused. 'I need you to look up something for me, though.'

"Don't tell him," JJ mouths, and Garcia's head bobs down, and then up again. This news is something they're going to have to break to Morgan gently.

'A 'wolf was murdered in the Sanctuary today. I need you to see if there are any similar cases, or if this is an isolated incident.'

'A 'wolf murdered in the Sanctuary? That's new. I'll try and have something by the time you get back. You are coming back, aren't you hot stuff?'

'I'll be back soon,' he promises with a short laugh.

JJ and Garcia share a glance.

He's not going to be laughing for much longer.

***

Morgan ends the call to Garcia, taking his eyes off the road momentarily to find the next contact in his phone book.

'Hey, buddy, it's Derek. How're you doin'?' The question is more a formality than anything; the only relationship he shares with the person on the other end of the phone is a professional one. It's a recurring theme in Derek Morgan's life. It's almost ironic that the only people he can truly call friends are the ones he actually works with.

'Listen, a 'wolf was killed in the Sanctuary today. Name of Michael Joseph Conrad. C-O-N- yeah…can you keep an ear to the ground for me? Shake some branches? Andy wants this thing nipped in the bud. 'A'ight. Thanks, man.'

He snaps the phone shut, tossing it onto the passenger's seat without looking. His gaze is now focused on the road ahead. Skyscrapers take up the majority of this part of town, colossal structures that seem to shrink the world into a tiny, claustrophobic box. The Sanctuary is located just beyond the edge of the town. Far enough out that none visit it unless it's the night of the full moon. For the other rest of the month, most lycanthropes are confined to this progressive society. Wolves in pressed suits.

Morgan doesn't mind. He grew up in a city just like this. He'd like to think that the only thing that's changed about his life is that he gets a little furry once a month, but he knows that's not true. It's a curse, living inside of him. He can't do jack about it, so he may as well live with it.

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom always to tell the difference.

That's the way the world works. Only Morgan's not so sure how he feels about God, these days. Having seen the things he's seen, he's not so sure he can believe that everything happens for a reason.

After all, a lot of crap has happened in his life that hasn't really amounted to anything.