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Chapter Three
"McGee, go interview the witness."
"Yes, Boss." Tim answered, stepping around the pool of drying blood, avoiding looking directly at the body of Anthony Fell, dodging both Tony and Ziva's watching eyes, and quelling the unnatural feelings of panic and uncertainty threatening to overwhelm him, all at the same time. Tim juggled them expertly. Throughout his…career, he had had a lot of time to practice multitasking.
His conversation with the witness, the woman who had discovered the body in the first place, was very short, and in the end, fruitless. She hadn't seen anything of importance. Tim sighed, and tucked his notebook safely away in his jacket pocket.
"Why don't you just tell them?"
Tim looked sharply up at the question that sounded way too ominous for a statement that simple.
"I'm sorry?" Tim's gaze fell upon a man casually watching the preceedings close by on Tim's right. He was lithe and well-dressed, very well-dressed, wearing a three piece suit seemingly made out liquid night, dark hair in the cut of a wealthy, corrupt businessman. "Sir, you shouldn't be here, this is a crime scene," He stopped as he spotted a police officer manning the small crowd that had gathered. "Hey! Hey, come here." The officer walked over. Tim placed a firm hand on the dark man's shoulder and then eyed the officer. "How did this man get in? You know the rules, no unrelated civilians under the tape. He could have tainted evidence!" The dark man gave the officer a coquettish wave.
The officer stared at the man. "I, Sir, I…don't…I, what man?" He sputtered, shutting his eyes tightly and then reopening them in complete incomprehension. "I don't know…I can't…I-" Color began to drain from the officer's features. His lips continued to move, though no more sound escaped. Tim leaned in closer to the officer, and realized.
"Let him go." Tim said slowly, as calmly as he could manage. The officer swayed and choked on his feet, lips gaining a blue tinge. No one seemed to notice, all heads turned just slightly away from them. Chatter had quieted to a murmur. The man watched all this with interest. Tim squeezed the man's shoulder with an inhuman force.
Release him.
The officer gave a tiny gasp, and began to breathe normally again, blue tinge fleeing from his lips. The dark man performed a fleeting, quite complicated, movement with his hand, a dismissal, and the officer, face oddly blank, tottered back to the edge of the tape. Conversations were allowed to grow organically again.
"I wasn't going to kill him you know."
"Really?"
The dark man winked at Tim. "Nah, man, I'm on sabattical. It's been a while since I visited. I'm on my vacation, enjoying the darkness of humanity." The man's eyes glinted in a way that caused Tim to take an even firmer hold on the man's shoulder. "They haven't needed our help in that aspect for a very long time. I'm just…enjoying the view." He said, looking both disgusted and delighted as he said this. It was a feat that this man pulled off effortlessly. Tim guided the dark man underneath the yellow tape, glanced back at Gibbs, and then ducked under it himself. He led the man out earshot and then released his shoulder, pushing him away. The man faced Tim, looking thoroughly unruffled despite the hostility in Tim's actions.
"What do you want?" Tim demanded.
The man tapped an expensive shoe on the sidewalk. "Same question as before, why don't you tell them? You, Az," The man prodded Tim in the chest. "Know who the killer is, what happened, and his exact location. Why don't you tell your little pets. Help 'em out." The man smiled razor blades.
Tim forced himself not to bristle at the word, 'pets'. "You know I can't."
"You can. You just choose not to. And here I was thinking you were fond of these meat sacks."
Tim felt anger crawl up his veins, and breathed out in a way that was entirely inhuman. Time went into gridlock, slowing to a crawl, and he allowed his mask of humanity to melt away. He loomed over the man, sucking all the air from the world. The temperature of the surrounding area dropped by several degrees.
Do not try to tempt me, Beelzebub. I am not some mortal to be drawn into one of your games.
The words blasted into being at a temperature close to absolute zero, and so firm they were solid. Every living thing within a two-hundred mile radius shivered without knowing why. The man, shockingly, smiled, a bit nervously, but still rather pleased. Though there was an undertone of unease in his posture.
He raised his hands up appealingly. "Whoa, calm down, Azrael. Old habits are hard to break, I guess." Beelzebub shrugged, the movement rippled unnaturally throughout his body.
The being slowly withdrew into itself, and Tim slipped over its skin again. He clenched his shaking hands and tried to still his heartbeat. That kind of thing did a number on his mortal form, but he filed that moment into the 'very worth it' drawer, Beelzebub had backed a step or two away from him, and seemed a bit more wary.
"Why are you here, Beelzebub? What's so important that a Duke of Hell is sent as a messenger boy to me?" Tim knew he was beginning to cross lines, but couldn't stop the words from slipping out. Too much time around Tony would help anyone develop a smart mouth though. Oh no. Was what Michael said true?
Beelzebub smiled coldly at the comment, there was a flash of raging fire and endless war in his eyes. "Word says you've gone native."
Tim stiffened.
"Says you're in danger of forgetting who you really are, and what your job description is." Beelzebub leered, enjoying Tim's reaction after the messenger boy comment. "Any fact in that, Az?"
There was a telling pause. Tim kept the uncertainty off his features the best he could (Which was pretty damn good) and stared right back at Beelzebub. The smile on Beelzebub's face had faded a little after the delay in an answer. There was a strain of worry there now.
"I think it's time for you to go, Beelzebub."
"Azrael-"
Go.
Beelzebub eyed Tim closely, the strain of worry spreading and mixing with disbelief, as well as uncertainty. It was a horrible combination on the demon's features. Without another word, Beelzebub melted through the pavement.
Tim watched the spot he had vanished, and then let go of time, which snapped back into place.
"McGee!" Tim turned sharply back toward the crime scene. Gibbs was staring at him from behind the tape. "The hell are you doing?"
Tim returned as quickly as he could, ducking under the tape and then facing Gibbs.
"I thought I…saw something, but it didn't turn out to be anything. Sorry." He gave Gibbs a sharp nod to accompany his words, as if to add more weight to them. It didn't seem to help, but Gibbs allowed it to pass without comment. For now. Tim crushed the slight relief under his toe, things were becoming too complicated.
"What do ya got?"
Tim swallowed, and then gave a weak smile that died as quickly as it had come. "Nothing, Boss. Absolutely nothing."