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. Some guest beta work from Yellow Smurf

Chapter Forty-One

He calls Hotch while she drives them to the office. If he were paying attention, he would note that her driving is a little speedy, but it's a precise kind of speed.

'Hotch, it's Morgan,' he starts, and the Unit Chief cuts him off before he can speak any further.

'Did something happen?'

'No – we saw the headlines. Is Owens our guy?'

Hotch sighs, a sound distorted by the phone-line 'We did interview him. But he didn't do it.'

'I don't think the general public is going to care about that. The wolves want an enemy, and the media's provided one for them.'

'I know. JJ's called a press conference. Hopefully it should calm some things down, but we'll still have hundreds of angry 'wolves on our hands.'

Morgan nods. 'I'll call Andy – see if he can get the message out for everyone to remain calm. I'm not sure what good it'll do, though. When these guys get angry…'

After the briefest exchange of pleasantries, he hangs up. The phone's in his hand, but he doesn't call Andy just yet. His mind is moving a hundred miles a second, and yet all the thoughts are racing by too fast for him to grasp a hold of one.

'His approval ratings are going to plummet,' says Emily matter-of-factly, executing a sharp turn that has Morgan grabbing onto the door for purchase.

…

Approval ratings.

'You want to discredit a politician, what do you do?' he asks her.

She turns to look at him for the shortest of seconds, her eyes filled with understanding. 'You frame him for murder. Even if it's not true, the public will still lose faith in him.'

'Leaving the road clear for his opponent to take office.' He has his phone up again, quickly dialing Andrew Lyman's cell number. They need to stop this before the gang violence starts. Before more people start dying.

Emily shakes her head in disgust. 'Politics,' she mutters.

***

They rush into the bullpen, and Emily can't help but notice the looks the vampires on the floor are giving them. It's repulsion – not just at Morgan, at her, too. They can smell him on her. Sense the aftermath of her liaison. And they aren't the only ones.

JJ's hanging up her phone as they enter the conference room, and she takes one look at Emily, her eyes widening slightly. 'God, you move fast.'

Emily's brow furrows. She'd been blocking her thoughts, how had JJ managed to break through those barriers.

'This isn't a psychic thing, chica,' says Garcia, flying in to greet Morgan with affection. 'I can tell just by looking that you two got it on sometime in the last twenty-four hours. The way you're standing, the fact that she's wearing your clothes. The all-knowing Oracle doesn't need superpowers.'

Rossi clears his throat, and Garcia stops talking immediately. There are bigger things at stake right now, no pun intended.

Emily rolls her eyes. 'What do we have on the Owens front?'

'Gang violence in a dozen cities country-wide, death toll is at seven confirmed so far,' announces Reid, in a tone that seems slightly blank. 'Census data shows that all of the cities in question have both a strong vampire and shapeshifter presence.'

'Swing states,' Emily says, nodding. She turns to Morgan. 'Did you want to…?'

'I've got a theory,' he announces, taking the lead she passes on. 'The moment we connected the deaths, William LaMontagne shows up, pointing us right towards the Prentiss clan. It seems way too convenient, especially now that we've established that none of them were involved in the killings. What if someone wanted us to investigate them, specifically so they could discredit Owens?'

'But then why use us?' asks JJ, 'We're not simply going to let go of this. We know Owens didn't do this.'

'Even an accusation will shake the foundations,' Morgan insists.

'No, JJ's right,' argues Rossi. 'If they're going to go to the lengths of implicating Owens, then they aren't going to want the "finest minds in the FBI" on the case.'

'We weren't supposed to survive,' Emily says softly. 'They figured that if we investigated the Prentiss clan, we weren't going to make it out alive.'

'They couldn't have predicted that. Prentiss has toed the line in the past,' Rossi says.

There's a brief moment of silence, before Hotch speaks.

'Then you make sure you send in the one person you know she wants to kill.'

Emily's head jerks up.

'They couldn't have known Emily was going to be there.'

'They could,' whispers Emily. 'If they put me on the team just for that.'

It's the horrific thought that has never quite left her mind. She doesn't belong here. She doesn't belong anywhere.

'We can't know that,' says Morgan sharply, laying a hand on her arm.

She shakes her head, but doesn't respond to his statement. Instead, she turns to Hotch. 'Do we know who signed off on my transfer?' she asks.

'No. Section Chief Strauss told me that it came from above her, but she's not above deceit. Garcia, could you…'

'On it, bossman.' The fairy zips to the laptop that's sitting at the end of the table. After a few moments of tapping, she says, in a low tone, 'Oh my stars and garters.'

'Garcia…' says JJ.

'You're right,' the tech says with disbelief. 'Erin Strauss is not above deceit. Records tell me that she signed off on the transfer order of one Special Agent Emily Prentiss. Looks like the Section Chief really is an evil bitch after all.'