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 Ten

Morgan slides into the passenger's seat of the SUV, his mind brimming with questions; both with regard to Conrad's death, and the behavior of their newest agent. One of those topics, though, will have to wait for another time. As curious as he is, as suspicious as he is, he doesn't want it to interfere with the case at hand. That's probably the secondary reason that Hotch had assigned the vampire to tag along with Rossi and Reid; arguably the least judgmental members of the team. More accepting than himself and the Unit Chief, at least. He's not ashamed to admit that. That's about trust, though. Not intolerance. The main reason is for pragmaticism, rather than anyone's personal feelings. They have the most supernatural experience. The most likely to determine whatever manner of creature had lured Conrad to his death in the first place.

Their first stop is an apartment building a few miles south of the Sanctuary. The apartment building where Michael Joseph Conrad once lived with his wife, and eight month old daughter. Morgan's never met Conrad's family. Never met the family of any member of the pack. It's not an experience he thinks he'll relish. Hopefully, though, Hotch and JJ will do most of the talking.

She's a tall woman – maybe 5'10". Chestnut brown hair, green eyes. Kind of pretty, Morgan thinks. Her eyes are stained with tears.

'Sarah Conrad?' Hotch asks. 'We're with the FBI. My name is Agent Hotchner; this is Agent Jareau, and Agent Morgan.' She gives Morgan a long glance, as if she already knows what he is. It wouldn't surprise him. If you spend enough time around 'wolves, you learn to pick up the smell.

She steps back to let them in, saying nothing. It's a rather small apartment, the kitchen, dining and living area merged into one overcrowded room.

'Felicity's asleep,' she says, indicating the closed door that's just a few feet away from them. 'If you could talk softly…' She trails off, her own voice barely heard in the otherwise silent apartment. It's understandable, considering her husband has just died.

Morgan's squashed into the two-seater couch with JJ and Hotch when Sarah returns with a tray of coffee and muffins. The muffins are freshly made, and Morgan briefly wonders if she has spent the entire morning cooking. An interesting reaction to grief.

They're good muffins though, he reasons, taking in the first mouthful of apple and cinnamon.

'Can you think of anyone that might have wanted to kill your husband?' Hotch starts. It's the standard question for all interviewees. If they can establish someone with a motive, then they're one step closer to building their profile.

Sarah nods sadly. 'He had enemies before…before he turned, but ever since he dropped out of the political game…I don't know if it's relevant now, though…'

Morgan had glanced over Conrad's file in the hours since he learned of the 'wolf's death. Low level politician, bitten by a rogue wolf just months ago, after visiting family in the town of Romulus. As the name suggests, there are a lot of wolves in the area, both rogue and otherwise. Conrad had quit his job as soon as he had received the test results. If a human has trouble getting into politics, then a 'wolf's troubles are a thousand times worse. It's either quit, or get slaughtered on the playing field.

'No-one's made any threats?'

'No. None. We've been trying to save up enough to move to a more wolf-friendly city. Things have been…tough.'

Morgan silently agrees. At the time of his own turning, he had lived in a city that was rife with vampire/werewolf street wars. Not a very safe place to be, even for a 'wolf with no interest in the glorified ultra-violence that seems to define some members of the species.

'Did he say where he was going last night? Or who he was going with?'

Sarah wipes a stray tear from her eye. The coffee mug is still grasped in her hand, undrunk. 'He was supposed to be at work. He'd been taking shifts at a local diner. Washing dishes, mopping floors. Anything it takes.'

Her gaze wanders to the closed door. 'We can't afford child-care anymore. I can't work, because I'm too busy looking after Felicity. Maybe, if we'd just…gotten out of here…' She chokes back a sob, tears falling a little more freely. JJ tries in vain to comfort her.

The media liaison has been strangely quiet, most probably overwhelmed by the level of emotion that Sarah Conrad is displaying. If it's obvious to him, then it's a hundred times more obvious to a psychic.

It's a few moments before Sarah calms down, and Morgan can see the slightly pained look on Hotch's face as he asks the next question. 'Had Michael been acting strangely at all? Anything that might indicate possession, or a trance of some sort?'

'I don't know. I don't think so. He was just so…exhausted. The full moon drained him every month. We barely had any time together.' She sobs again, and to Morgan it looks as though she's about to have a nervous breakdown.

JJ gives Hotch a sideways glance. Anything more they ask is just going to upset Sarah Conrad. Morgan stands. Though he's concerned for the woman's wellbeing, at the same time, he's eager to leave. It's disconcerting, being in the home of a pack member, albeit a deceased pack member.

'Is there anyone we can call?' JJ asks softly. 'Anyone who can stay with you?'

Morgan's already standing by the door, but his hearing picks up Sarah's declaration that she can talk to her neighbor, a vampire that works the graveyard shift. The thought piques Morgan's curiosity; a vampire and a werewolf getting along. It's not so impossible a concept. There is animosity, but using the phrase mortal enemies is taking it a bit too far. It's not a centuries-long battle. If it were, the world would probably be a much darker place.

At the same time, he's not so sure he's willing to let go of his own doubts.