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 Twelve
It's after dark when Morgan, Hotch and JJ make their way back to the FBI headquarters. Traffic's almost at a standstill; some people coming him from work, some just starting. Most vamps usually prefer to work the night shift, which means that the beginning of their work day always seems to clash with the end of everyone else's.
As if he knows that they'll be spending the night working this case anyway, Hotch puts a call through to the local Chinese restaurant – a place they get takeout from so frequently that Morgan's sure the cooks have their order memorized. It's a little different today, in order to account for the newest member of the team. The detours and the double rush hour ensure that it's after seven when they step into the conference room, the smell of dinner wafting across the bullpen. It mingles with a variety of other scents; the dinners of everyone else that had decided to stay at work just a little bit longer.
Emily looks up from the file she's perusing as they step inside. Reid and Rossi are at the whiteboard, its surface covered in red and black scrawls that were often mistaken for Reid's handwriting. It doesn't take long for Morgan to notice the fourth occupant of the room; the enthusiastic fairy that's zipping between the row of laptops that is lined along the table. Garcia works in close proximity to the team when she can; apparently, it helps her "get her jiggy on."
The rest of their interviews hadn't been particularly productive. They had been given the Life and Times of Michael Joseph Conrad, but nothing that would outright explain why he had been murdered.
Morgan doles out seven bowls of steamed rice, Mongolian beef and cashew chicken. Technically speaking, he's serving out six regular sized bowls, and one bottle-capful of finely diced cuisine. Garcia plants a tiny kiss on his neck in thanks; it's fairly difficult to digest human sized food, and while there are some restaurants that do meals for the smaller species, the surcharge is outrageous.
Emily gives him a small smile as she takes the proffered bowl. It's a gesture he accepts with some wariness. She has a long way to go before she makes it into his circle of trust. As it stands, she hasn't even made it past the first barrier.
She does love her Chinese food, though – he'll give her that. A lot of vamps lose the taste for real food, the sensation faded away after years of excessive blood consumption. From the way she's attacking this meal with gusto, he knows that it isn't the case.
'Alright,' says Hotch, when the last team member has finally put down their chopsticks. 'What do we have?'
The answer is "Not a whole lot."
'No death threats have been made,' JJ starts, and Reid fervently puts pen to whiteboard. 'He hasn't been acting particularly unusual, except…'
'Except for leaving work early every Friday for the past six weeks,' concludes Morgan. 'But no-one knows why.'
'I did a search; medical history, financials. For those six weeks, he's been getting a weekly payment of two grand. I checked with the other victims. They, too, had brief missing periods and were receiving vast sums of inexplicable dough before their untimely deaths. Apart from that, and the fact that they're all dead 'wolves, I can't see any connection. Different jobs, different lifestyles.'
Rossi takes over. 'From what we can tell, he hasn't had any strange experiences with a supernatural creature, but that doesn't rule out the fact that someone – or something – might have been stalking him. A vampire might have been able to punch a hole in the wall, and subdue the victim without effort, but that doesn't account for the lack of smell at the scene.'
'They couldn't have gotten rid of the smell somehow?' Morgan asks, not willing to let go of the idea that a vampire is involved somehow. It's not prejudice that's driving him, it's instinct.
'With a spell, maybe. Probably, considering there was magic in the air,' provides Emily. 'But there aren't that many vamp sorcerers. Some of the older ones can mask their smell from non-vampires, but we're talking thousand-year old vamps here. There aren't many of them left.'
'The Fallen?' asks Reid, and in reply, Emily gives a gesture that is half-way between a shrug and a nod.
'Then we thought that it could be just a sorcerer. Explains the magic, the hole in the fence. Autopsy results will show if anyone used a compliance spell on him.'
'It could also be a team,' says Reid. 'If they're killing 'wolves for a reason, then they'd want to make sure they could overpower him.'
Ideas are tossed back and forth until well after midnight, by which time the less empowered members of the team are beginning to feel the fatigue.
'Go home,' Hotch tells them. 'Get some rest. We'll come back and look at this fresh in the morning.'
Morgan is almost about to protest, when he realizes that it doesn't really matter, considering he's not going home anyway.