The cats still lurked at the crime scene as the rest of the team arrived. Hotchner studied the animals. The dour profiler wasn't a pet person, but he didn't generally mind cats, they were self- sufficient, intelligent and fairly clean. But these cats were eerie, they didn't seem to acknowledge one another, occasionally one would let out a low threatening moan or growl, but the hostility wasn't directed at Hotchner or any of the personnel at the scene, or even the other cats. It was just a generalized ill temperament.

"Sheriff, the cats, is this normal behavior?" He asked as a forensics team finished their sweep. The corpse had been loaded up and taken the county medical examiner's office two hours earlier.

"No, not really, most folks here have a house cat or two, but I've never seen them congregate like this." The sheriff admitted.

Aaron's frown increased minutely and he pulled out his phone."Garcia? It's Hotchner, run a check on the files we have for the - right, the case you dug up. I want to find out if there are any reports of unusual animal behavior near the crime scenes. Yes, I know, there are cats at this scene and their behavior is bizarre – right." He checked his watch as he put his cell phone away.

"Sheriff, we'll need space at your station to work-"

"Not a problem Agent Hotchner, I'll take you myself."

"Thank you but that's not necessary, I'd prefer you stayed here and made sure the scene's integrity is intact."

"Good call, I'll call ahead, let my gal know you're coming." The sheriff grunted. The scene was clearly nearly wrapped up but Hotchner wanted to be confident there wouldn't be any potential foul ups, this killer or team, or dynasty had been at work for decades.

"Thank you." Hotchner said. His tone was the same level near-monotone as usual, although the sheriff thought he heard a note of exhaustion to it.

He'd met Agent Hotchner at a seminar at the local college on FBI profiling. It was designed to educate local law enforcement on what the FBI profilers could offer, both when it came to reviewing stalled, cold, or unusual cases and what criteria were required to call the BAU agents into an active case. The seminars also doubled as a nice recruitment tool for the FBI. The sheriff had approached Hotchner as soon as the seminar broke for coffee. After listening to the case and learning the body was still on site Hotchner left the seminar, his colleague Dr. Reid had remained behind.

"Reid, I'm coming to get you." Hotchner said and hung up.

"We're still waiting on COD, Morgan and Prentiss go to the coroner's and expedite the autopsy. Reid continue working on the geographic profile –"

"I don't really have enough information for that." Reid interjected.

"Do what you can then get with JJ on victimology."

"Any word on Rossi?" Prentiss asked.

"No, he's still on loan to the CIA."

"Someone had to take over the psych evaluations for Gideon." Reid said still studying his map.

"We'll be fine." Hotchner said firmly and the team split up.

Reid was staring at the stack of reports from Garcia. There had been almost forty murders with the same nonspecific cause of death over the last twenty years. It averaged to one every six months but in reality, there had been large gaps between several. He rubbed at his chin and concentrated.

He riffled through the files again and then started putting keywords on the cork board in front of him.

VICTIMOLOGY

Young teens

Socially awkward/unpopular

Conservative homes

Long haired brunettes

UNSUB

Poses as a new kid

Able to pass as a HS student

Registers at fake addresses or vacates before police arrive for interviews

CRIME SCENES

Victim usually posed as though sleeping

No apparent COD

Very rarely defensive wounds present

Cats present at almost all scenes including UNSUB's home of record

Conclusions

Reid stared at the last section. He wasn't sure what to conclude, logically there had to be more than one UNSUB or an UNSUB using young men to lure victims over a twenty-year period, he sighed and frowned at the board.

"Reid, what have you got?" Hotchner asked entering the small conference room.

Reid gestured at the board.

"Either the UNSUB is using young men to lure in the victims –"

"Or he's an immortal." Hotchner interrupted. Reid nodded.

"I-I don't see how it can be anything else. Either the UNSUB is an adult recruiting kids to his purpose or he isn't aging normally."

Hotchner was nodding.

"You gonna call him?" Prentiss asked. Neither of the men had noticed her entering.

Hotchner frowned.

"You know he'll freak out if we don't." Prentiss pushed.

"Keep working, figure out why he's using cats." Hotchner said finally and walked out of the room. He made the call standing a hallway.

"This is Agent Hotchner. I need your expertise. Please call me back on this number as soon as possible." He hung up with a frown. The affable immortal had assured Hotchner that particular number would always be in service and would be checked weekly at the latest.

"Hey Joe-"

"About damn time you called. You got a message." Joe grumbled tense affectionately. The musician didn't need to explain how the message had arrived there was only one-way Joe received messages intended for Methos, and if a call had come over that line then it was crucially important.

"Okay." Methos said and was surprised at how dry his mouth was.

"Agent Hotchner called, needs your help." Joe sighed.

"Fuck." Methos groaned.

"I warned you not to get involved with fed-"

"When did he call?" Methos interrupted. He knew Joe was right, he also knew the retired Watcher was well aware of how dangerous a rogue that had made it onto the BAU's radar could be for their world.

"An hour ago. Lucky you. I'll forward the number to your cell."

"Yeah. Thanks Joe."

"Get a secretary you old coot." Joe sighed sounding more worried than teasing and hung up.

Methos took a moment to wrap his head around the situation and then called Hotchner back.

"Hotchner."

"It's me."

Long pause, Methos imagined he could hear Hotchner's sibilant controlled breathing over the mouthpiece.

"We might have a rogue." Hotchner said finally.

"Where are you?"

"Maine."

"What makes you think it's a rogue?"

"There are issues with the age of the UNSUB."

Methos studied the sheriff's office and thought about getting out of the car again. He dreaded meeting the profilers again, but if there were another rogue immortal then unfortunately, he had to deal with it. Much as he'd like to point Macleod at the problem and say go, the younger immortal was impetuous and could get himself killed. Until the next millennial champion was discovered they couldn't risk losing Mac. He swallowed and forced himself to open the rental car door.

Prentiss was standing on the sidewalk in front of the office, she looked upset; she stopped pacing when she saw Methos. He couldn't see her face clearly from the angle she was at, hair swept across her face and a row of parking meters half blocked her from him, but he thought he could read surprise and relief in her body language. He felt a lead weight in his gut. He wasn't sure if she or Morgan were really aware of just how close he'd come to a real death the last time they'd met. It didn't matter anyway, if this were a rogue he had to be involved.

"Emily." He said brusquely as he approached.

"Hey." She smiled at him, a genuine, warm smile.

He swallowed and nodded at the station. "Hotchner in there?"

"Yeah, I'll go in with you." She said and lead the way up the steps.

Hotchner was staring at the board Reid had peppered with notes. Reid was at his side.

"Where's Morgan?" Methos asked. He wanted to know where the big judo champion was. He didn't like the idea of any of the agents being unaccounted for, not with a possible rogue loose.

"Interviewing the victim's parents again." Hotchner said turning to face Methos and Prentiss.

"Thank you for coming." Hotchner said. The profilers politely ignored the fact that Methos was clearly on edge. Reid and Hotchner filled Methos in on the case while Prentiss called Morgan and then watched Methos' reaction to the information.

"It's not a rogue, I don't think it's human but it's certainly not a rogue." Methos said finally.

"Why so certain?" Hotchner asked. Methos cut a glance at the senior agent and walked up to the board. He pointed at the question marks around the card labeled COD?

"You say the cause of death is uncertain? Immortals aren't subtle when we kill, if it's not a beheading then it's strangulation, stabbing, something obvious. Occasionally it's poison. But something this hard to trace? No." Methos shook his head firmly and faced the board again, scanning it.

"Do you have any ideas about cause of death?" Reid asked, the lean agent sounded intrigued.

"What's with the cats?" Methos asked ignoring Reid's question.

"We're not certain, they appear near every crime scene and at times the UNSUB's dwelling." Prentiss answered.

"Fuck. I might know what's doing this. I thought they were extinct." Methos muttered, the profilers automatically noted Methos' sudden pallor, the way his stance shifted - feet a shoulder's width apart, hips settled and low slung, ready to run or fight.

"They?" Reid asked carefully. Hotchner quietly moved toward the door, ready to keep the spooked man from bolting or worse.

Methos sat down heavily and ran a hand over his face. He let out a slow breath and thought about how to phrase his next statement. The BAU knew about him and trusted him because Gideon had. So, they would probably take his word about the Sleepwalkers. Maybe. He was stalling, he had to tell them something. He dropped his hand and was relieved to hear Derek in the hallway outside the conference room talking to someone. He couldn't understand what Morgan was saying but recognized the rumble of his muffled voice. Sure, enough the doorknob twitched, and the door opened.

"Hey, victim's mother confirms the time she left to meet the UNSUB." Morgan said walking in. The astute agent's eyes ticked around the room, noting Hotchner's proximity to the door, Prentiss' standing close to Reid hand hovering at her hips, ready to go for her weapon. Reid was studying the board, eyes flickering over the data. Morgan eased in and carefully closed the door; he left his hand on the doorknob - close to his weapon.

"Good, you remember Ben?" Hotchner said, tone calm and regulated.

Methos nodded at the attractive agent. One thing Methos could say for the BAU they had a talent for hiring beautiful smart agents. Attractive and intelligent agents that could read him like a book if he didn't watch it.

"He was just about to tell us who our UNSUB is." Reid prompted; his voice was oddly cheerful.

"Not who, what." Methos said standing. All eyes were on him. He swallowed hard and kept going.

"There's one case you're missing." He said and pointed at a blank section on the timeline of related killings on the board, "In 1992 a girl named Tanya Robertson was attacked by a young looking man calling himself Charles Brady. Brady…Brady wasn't human. I thought he was the last of his kind, he and his mother, evidently, I was wrong. I've only ever heard them referred to as Sleepwalkers." He lowered his hand and avoided meeting any of the agents' eyes, he knew how it sounded he didn't need to see it in their eyes, "They were rare when I was young and as time went on, they grew rarer. I honestly thought the Bradys were the last. Ms. Robertson killed them both and burned their home to the ground." He finished and raised his eyes to meet Hotchner's implacable gaze.

"What about the cats?" Prentiss prompted. She had relaxed slightly, just enough to encourage Morgan to move further into the room. None of the profilers were entirely conscious of their ballet. Morgan knew that Prentiss was on edge, ready for action but without taking the time to think about why he couldn't say off hand. Similarly, Prentiss felt Methos' nerves and evasion for what they were but added that to what she knew of his capabilities and past actions. She knew, that if he were cornered or pushed, he could and would resort to violence consequently she was prepared to take action.

"There's some kind of bizarre relationship between the 'walkers and cats, the 'walkers in their natural shape look a lot like skinned or burned humanoid felines. Cats despise 'walkers, hunt them instinctively, I guarantee you wherever the 'walker is, there are cats surrounding it." Methos sighed.

"Sleepwalkers? That's a pretty specific name." Morgan said.

"I don't know why they're called that." Methos snapped, Morgan was edging into threat territory in his book, "Look I'll tell you everything as I get to it." Methos sighed. The agents exchanged looks. Methos' temper frayed.

"Look you believed what I am, how is this that much different?" He demanded, he took a shaky breath and continued, "I met a 'walker in Egypt. I knew him for months before I realized something was wrong."

Abasi was glaring at Methos. Methos grinned at him and ordered more beer.

"Come on Abasi, Dendera will forgive you!" Methos laughed.

"Oh, that you should have such a mother as I Methos, you would not take her wrath so lightly." Abasi snorted.

"You make a good argument my friend, come I will walk with you to your home." Methos said. He was just drunk enough to be cheerful and still capable of functioning. They laughed as they walked through the quiet streets to Abasi's home. Sure, enough his shrew of a mother Dendera was waiting for him.

They spoke to one another in an Akkadian dialect. Methos had picked it up during his travels, it was a very very rare and, even then, ancient tongue. Methos had been surprised they knew it.

"Loving mother –"

"I am hungry Abasi! Why do you not feed me?" She replied harshly. Methos had never bothered to tell Abasi that he knew their language. It would only encourage questions. So, he listened drunkenly while feigning ignorance.

"There were no girls!"

"I am wasting away son of mine, child of mine, I am dying-"

"I will feed you mother, I will, tomorrow!"

Methos was quite drunk, but he clearly saw Abasi embrace his mother like a lover. He averted his eyes and feigned a drunken stumble to remind them he was there. Whatever occurred in their home was between them.

"They're incestuous?" Reid asked shocked but intrigued.

"I think they're normally in packs or herds, groups anyway, when they break up mothers and sons pair off. The mothers require a specific diet that only the sons can provide. I've never encountered a lone female or a lone male, I don't know how they procreate."

"What do they eat? If it's rare enough, we might be able to track it –" Reid started to ask.

"Reid." Morgan interrupted and nodded at the board where the photo of the latest victim was tacked. Reid frowned.

"They eat souls." Methos sighed.

"That's –" Prentiss breathed.

"Ridiculous." Reid snorted. Methos shot him a hard glare. Morgan moved protectively toward Reid. It was only a few inches just enough to get Methos to back off.

"Maybe it's not the soul, call it what you want but they consume the life force of a person, and they're very particular about whose they take. Brady and his mother liked virgin girls, looks like your guy does too."

"How do we stop them?" Morgan asked. The big man looked angry, tense. Methos focused on that anger, ordered himself to accept that it wasn't toward him but toward the 'walkers.

"The cats." Methos said quietly. He was standing, slightly hunched, arms crossed, chin jutting in a mixture of defiance and defense.

It had taken a day or so for Abasi to realize Methos had seen more than he should have. Methos wasn't sure what had tipped him off, or maybe Abasi had realized that Methos wasn't fully human himself.

"Abasi my friend-" Abasi hit Methos in the face. The immortal was thoroughly stunned, he pinwheeled backwards, mind and body in shock.

Abasi followed through with a blow to Methos' abdomen further stunning the immortal. As Methos hit the ground Abasi knelt next to him. The Egyptian's form shimmered and twisted, and a hairless humanoid cat loomed over the immortal. Methos tried to scream but his breath was still short, diaphragm still partially paralyzed, so he lashed out and tried to knock Abasi– or what had been Abasi– away. He knocked the creature off balance and rolled away from it. It let out a scalded screech and scrambled after him. A cat appeared outside Abasi's home, it let out an ululating caterwaul that was answered by a half dozen other feline voices. Methos muttered a silent prayer to Bast for Her animals and struggled to get away from the beast attacking him.

Methos made it to the doorway before Dendera appeared, blocking the way. She shimmered and twisted and another creature stood in her place, she had grown taller and bulkier than her human self, tiny shriveled ears stood on her head, eyes narrowed and lengthened up the side of her head, mouth and face twisted and flattened, a muzzle replacing her mouth, sharp pointed fangs filling her mouth. Methos hissed in surprise and scuttled backwards. Pain seared through his legs as what had been Abasi sank claws into his leg and pulled him to the ground. As Abasi pulled Methos closer an ear-piercing scream ripped through the air. Methos reflexively glanced at the source of the noise.

Dendera was being attacked by a cat, the fierce little animal was clawing and biting at the creature, the creature's flesh was bubbling and smoking at the site of the injuries. Abasi screamed in rage and released Methos. Methos scuttled away from the strange creatures. They were both struggling to remove the single cat, it was badly injured, bleeding and broken but it fought on until Abasi finally pulled it free and broke its neck. His mother looked terrible. Her wounds were still smoking and hissing, the skin around them was sloughing off. She let out a piteous whine. Abasi embraced her tenderly and the two shimmered and faded from sight.

Methos was terrified he got to his feet and started to limp to the door, something crashed into his chest with the force of a horse's kick. He gasped and hit the ground, he felt bones in his chest or back shift and grind against one another. He opened his eyes to see Abasi, the creature had its foot on Methos' throat.

"Abasi-" The creature increased the pressure on Methos' throat cutting off his air supply completely. Methos thrashed and fought. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted two more cats, he struggled to stay conscious, as the edges of his vision started to gray out the cats sprang. Instantly the inexorable pressure on his throat and lungs was gone. Abasi was screaming and trying to pull off the cats. His injuries were reacting the same way his mother's had, hissing and bubbling, skin sloughing off. He dropped to his knees and the cats kept biting and clawing intent on their work. As soon as Abasi's eyes dulled and he stopped struggling Methos got up and ran. A loud noise drew his attention as he fled, he glanced over his shoulder and saw Abasi's body burst into flames.

"They're allergic to the cats?" Reid asked utterly fascinated.

"I don't know, I just know what I saw." Methos said and sat down. The room was filled with an awkward heavy silence.

"Wait, so what you're saying is some sort of supernatural Egyptian monster is eating virgin girls?" Morgan asked, his tone incredulous.

"You called me." Methos snapped. He'd had enough. Just being around this many mortals with guns and federal jobs made him nervous as hell but have them question him about it was maddening.

"Morgan, back off. Do you have any idea how we can track them?" Hotchner asked Methos while staring hard at Morgan. Morgan looked peeved but backed down.

"Honestly your best bet would be to call local shelters and animal control, see if anyone has called in a complaint about a gathering of cats." Methos said stiffly, he avoided looking at Morgan, found his eyes drifting across the room and meeting...Prentiss' gaze.

"Hotchner, you aren't buying this are you?" Morgan demanded. The rest of the team looked uncertain as well. Methos shook his head breaking eye contact with Prentiss.

"Look, it's absolutely not a rogue, now I have a vacation to get back to so please, lose my number unless you're sure it's a rogue." Methos snapped and moved to leave.

"Wait." Prentiss said getting in his way. He glared at her for a moment and then forced himself to calm down, adrenaline didn't necessarily lead to clear thinking. He would listen, he liked Prentiss, in a strange way she was the most passionate of the profilers.

"Look, you can probably understand why Morgan's skeptical right? I mean you shot yourself in DC to prove what you are and it's still hard to believe and now, well, now you're talking about giant cat people that can turn invisible and shape shift. It's pretty hard to believe." Prentiss said calmly.

Methos took a deep breath and slowly let it out.

JJ poked her head in, "Hotchner, do you want a press release?" She asked. The room was awkwardly silent for a moment.

"No, I need you to contact animal control and any other organizations or city agencies that might receive nuisance calls about large gatherings of cats." Hotchner said staring at Methos.

"Cats?" JJ asked. Prentiss nodded at her, JJ shrugged and closed the door.

Morgan didn't apologize opting to stay silent. Reid looked awkward.

"Y'know it's interesting that you say you first encountered these creatures in Egypt. The Egyptians have a long history of –" Reid said attempting to thaw the room.

"Reid." Hotchner said quietly. Reid closed his mouth, he looked chagrined and almost hurt but stepped back to the board.

"Do you need me to stay?" Methos asked Hotchner.

"I would appreciate it." Hotchner said. Methos studied him, a true stoic if Methos had ever seen one. After finding out Hotchner's family had nearly been wiped out by a serial killer Methos could hardly believe Hotchner was holding together as well as he was, until he considered that Hotchner's other family surrounded him every day.

"Fine." Methos said quietly and sat at the only table in the room, back to the wall, far corner of the table and the room. Hotchner had earned his respect without realizing it. So Methos would stay. He would wait and see what, if anything, he could do for the agents.

"Reid, see if you can find any files on the Robertson assault and any similar attacks. Morgan you're with Ben, see what else he might be able to help us with, Prentiss get with JJ on those calls, let's make this fast."

Morgan stared at Methos then shook his head and took a seat across from him.

"Okay. I'll bite. What else can you tell us about the big kitties?" Morgan asked. His tone might have been intended to be playful, the sort of tone he would use with Reid or Garcia, really, any member of the team. Methos interpreted it as derision.

Methos swung at Morgan as hard as he could, Derek dodged most of the blow, Methos' knuckles scraped Morgan's face bruising both knuckles and skin. Morgan gripped Methos' wrist and jerked him forward slamming Methos' chest into the table. Methos used the extra momentum of the impact and slammed his right knee into the tabletop knocking the table upward into Derek's arm and elbow, breaking his grip on Methos' wrist. The altercation took about three seconds. Hotchner was reaching for Derek as Reid bravely attempted to grapple Methos, Prentiss' hand was half reaching for her weapon as she moved forward to intervene. Methos rose and kicked the table knocking it on its side, he snatched at Morgan's throat expecting the big man to attempt to arm lock him again, Derek did and Methos hit him in the face. Stunned, Derek staggered backwards, tripped on his chair and landed on the ground, Hotchner stepped between Methos and Morgan.

"STOP." Hotchner shouted, the uncharacteristic volume and anger in Hotchner's voice hit the profilers and Methos like the sound of a gunshot, they all froze. Derek's nose was bleeding. Reid was half blocking Methos' view of Morgan. Both Morgan and Methos' were tense and heaving ready to go again.

"What is wrong with you?" Hotchner asked quietly.

The will to fight immediately fled the big agent as he carefully got to his feet and wiped at his bleeding nose. Methos remained tensed, ready to react as Reid stepped away from him and Prentiss looked at Methos and Morgan with similar expressions of frustration and annoyance. Slowly Methos lowered his guard but stayed tense enough to react to another attack.

"Out." Hotchner snapped at Morgan. Methos relaxed completely as Morgan stepped out of the room and picked up the table.

"I understand that being here is hard for you and I know that Morgan provoked you-"

"I apologize Agent Hotchner. Sincerely. I know better than to let him get to me. It was unacceptable, immature." Methos interrupted.

Hotchner studied Methos for a moment, thought about saying more but simply nodded instead.

"Reid stay here please." He turned to Methos "If you wouldn't mind answering a few questions with Agent Prentiss?" Hotchner asked. Methos grunted and glanced at Prentiss. She looked irritated.

Hotchner nodded and went after Morgan.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Hotchner asked softly. It was worse than if he were yelling. Morgan swallowed hard.

"I-"

"Y'know what Morgan? Save it. I understand that you don't trust the team, for whatever reason, but he risks everything when he comes to help us. Do you understand that? He spends his whole life trying to avoid being noticed but he's willing to come from god only knows where to stand surrounded by people that could out him, so he can help us stop a killer. You don't make that sacrifice when you put on your gun and badge in the morning Agent. Do not antagonize him again; you're lucky you aren't being suspended."

"You think he trusts the team more than I do?" Morgan asked.

"Doesn't he?" Hotchner asked.