Here it is, my first multi-chapter Drake & Josh fic, and my first multi-chapter fic in like two years maybe tbh. I have no idea how often I'm going to be able to update this, since a full time job and an infant take up most of my time, but I wanted to put out the first little chapter, since it feels separate, narratively speaking, than the rest of the fic will feel.

This fic is going to get dark, but not as dark as you might think if you've read any of my super dark fics for other fandoms. But it will still get dark, and relevant warnings will be given as they become relevant. That being said, I'm me, therefore, I can guarantee you a happy ending - at least, as hopeful and good ending.

This fic will be filling several of my Bad Things Happen Bingo squares as well.

Enjoy!


"In other news, another body has been discovered in the Anza-Borrego Desert. The San Diego County Sheriff's Office has yet to confirm, but our sources say that it is another victim of the San Diego Snatcher. The victim's identity has not been made public, but we can confirm that it is a young man in his early twenties, which falls in line with the Snatcher's other victims. This brings the total number of Snatcher victims up to at least seven-."

With the push of a button, Miguel Castillo turned off the news report and turned on a heavy rock station. He glanced over at his partner, James Albert, and smiled. James smiled back with a chuckle. If they only knew.

The two kept driving down the dark, desolate road, making their way back towards the city, where hunting was easier. The streetlights were few and far between, and other cars on the road were even fewer and farther. Light shined down from the stars far above, their cold shine doing nothing to assuage the chill from the cool fall night.

Motion ahead caught Miguel's eye. Their headlights illuminated two young boys standing in the road, waving them down. The boys couldn't have been older than seventeen, and both were clad in full suits, but one was missing the jacket. Miguel looked over at James, whose mouth was practically watering at the sight of them. It was too soon, and there were two boys instead of one, but there wasn't any harm in pulling over and just having a look at them.

Miguel pulled off to the edge of the road, turned off the radio, and hopped out of the car, while James did the same. The men took a few long strides towards the boys, and damn, maybe they really shouldn't have stopped at all, because these boys were almost too pretty to resist. Window shopping was fun, but it was a dangerous game to play.

"Hey," the smaller boy with auburn hair said as Miguel and James approached. Along with his traditional black suit and bowtie, he wore a very pretty smile.

"Thank you so much for stopping," the taller, dark haired boy said, a look of relief on his face. His vest and tie were bright blue, accentuating the beautiful light blue of his eyes.

"No problem," Miguel answered them, keeping his face neutral with ease. This was far from his first rodeo.

"Where are you guys headed?" James asked with just as much practiced ease, having been doing this just as long as Miguel.

"To our aunt Katherine's wedding-," the taller boy started, before being interrupted by the smaller one.

"But we gotta be there in less than half an hour-."

"Yeah, with that cake-," he interrupted right back, before being interrupted once again as he pointed behind him to a large wedding cake in the back of the El Camino.

"Or we'll be in big trouble," the smaller boy finished. Neither boy looked particularly displeased at being interrupted by the other. Either it was just so common an occurrence, or they were simply so close that they frequently finished each other's sentences.

"Well, did you call for help?" Miguel asked, crossing his arms over his chest. It didn't matter, because they were only window shopping, but he couldn't resist asking and getting more information, if only for his fantasies later.

"No, we don't have cell phones," the darker haired boy replied with a small shrug.

"But if you drive us to the nearest payphone, I'll give you seventy-five bucks," the shorter one added. Miguel smiled. There was something else he'd rather get in return, but the boy wasn't offering that just yet.

"Oh wait," the other boy said, rifling through his pockets and procuring a wallet. He dug through it for a moment before pulling out a few other bills. "I've got an extra forty," he said with a grin.

"Great, that's almost a hundred bucks," the smaller one said, completely serious as he kept that bright smile aimed at Miguel and James. Miguel bit his lip as the taller boy looked at his friend - were they just friends, or something else? - in exasperation. Technically, the boy wasn't wrong, but he wasn't as right as he seemed to think he was. Maybe the boy just wasn't very smart, maybe he was naïve, which was so endearing. Miguel loved it when the boys were just so innocent.

"Will you please drive us?" the taller boy asked instead of addressing the arithmetic discrepancy. He looked desperate. Miguel loved it when they were desperate. This was all adding up to be way too good to be true.

"Wait, so you guys are stranded out here-," Miguel started, only to be interrupted by James the same way that the boys had been interrupting each other.

"Flagging down strangers-."

"With no cell phones-."

"And it's just the two of you?"

"Alone?" Miguel unnecessarily finished, getting the last word.

"Yeah," the boys answered simultaneously, looking up at them hopefully.

Miguel and James looked at each other. Each had the same look in their eye, the same feeling that they shouldn't do it, but couldn't resist such a perfect opportunity. These two boys had fallen so perfectly into their laps. What else were they supposed to do?

"James, you take a look at the engine with them, I'll go grab our toolkit," Miguel said with a grin only James understood the true meaning of.

James nodded and walked with the teenagers to the open hood of the El Camino. He towered over both of them, especially the smaller boy. He could probably get the boys into their car without the chloroform, but Miguel didn't want to risk it. Besides, it wasn't time to hurt them yet. That time would come later.

Miguel turned towards the back of his own vehicle and pulled the latch, opening up the back space. It was perfectly clean back there, as it always was after someone had been in it. Miguel lifted the lid of the compartment and pulled out two rags, and quickly doused both with the chloroform that he also kept there. He worked quickly, listening as the boys - brothers? - rambled on about the wedding they were supposed to be going to and how if they missed it, they would never inherit their aunt's beach house. Miguel chuckled. The boys were right. They wouldn't be inheriting that beach house after all.

Turning on his heel, Miguel walked back towards James and the boys. Upon hearing him approach, James turned towards him with a smile and took one of the rags from him. Their prey then turned around, and looks of confusion fell onto their pretty little faces.

"Where's the toolbox?" the smaller one asked, like he honestly still believed that Miguel and James were there to help. His naivety was adorable. Miguel was going to enjoy making him see the dark realities of life, before life itself was taken from him.

"What's going on?" the taller boy asked. He seemed to be smarter, seemed to have realized that all was not as he thought it should be, and that Miguel and James were not going to help them fix their car. The taller boy held his arm out slightly in front of the smaller boy, something protective in his eyes that practically made Miguel's mouth water. It was the same feeling in his gut that he got when the taller boy had grabbed the shorter one and pulled him bodily out of the roadway when Miguel and James had first approached. It would be fun to see what that boy would do when he couldn't protect the smaller one. Taking two instead of one could be fun.

Miguel and James shared another glance, then, in perfect synchronization, they pounced, Miguel onto the smaller boy, and James onto the taller one. Miguel forced the doused rag over the pretty boy's face, bending him backwards over the exposed car engine. The boy fell hard onto the engine, being short enough that his feet left the ground at the impact. His beautiful brown eyes widened in terror as he kicked and flailed and bucked against Miguel. He screamed, but it was muffled against the rag. That was okay. Miguel would get to hear him scream again later.

The boy's flickered over to the other boy as he struggled, and a certain grief and hopelessness entered them upon seeing his friend - cousin? - in the same predicament, struggling just as fiercely, just as uselessly. Miguel just held him down tighter.

"You're okay, you're okay," Miguel soothed as the boy's thrashes became sluggish and his cries quieted. The boy was reaching out towards his friend - boyfriend? - but the taller boy was unable to help him, as he too slowed and quieted, and finally, stopped moving entirely.

Miguel lessened his force for a moment, just to be sure that the boy truly was unconscious, before relaxing and picking the boy up in his arms, letting the rag fall to the ground. He glanced down at the boy's lax face. The boy was truly beautiful, with a spattering of barely there freckles across his face, and soft brown hair with an auburn gleam. Surely he was the prettiest prey Miguel and James had had yet.

Miguel glanced over at James and the other boy, watching as James picked the boy up over his shoulder, then gently set him down in the back of the Hummer. The boy's thick, dark hair curled just slightly, and his skin was clear and smooth and soft. They truly had found a beautiful pair.

He carried the boy over to the open back of his Hummer H3 and set him down more carefully than most people would've guessed. Miguel needed the boy to be perfect and untainted before he tore him apart. He went back to grab the fallen rag as James admired the boys.

With the boys now both in the back of the Hummer, Miguel and James got to work. They took the rope out of the compartment and made quick work of their wrists and ankles before tying the rags to cover their mouths. It was unlikely that either boy would wake until they had reached their final destination, but Miguel and James couldn't be too careful. They hadn't gotten this far by being sloppy - and yet, were they being sloppy now?

Closing the back of the Hummer, Miguel was stopped by a pointed look from James, clearly thinking the same thing that Miguel was.

"Oh come on, how were we supposed to resist that?" Miguel asked with a scoff. "They were quite literally begging us. No one knows where they are, so no one will even know they're gone until it's too late. These boys are a gift to us, and you know it. They're special."

"We've never taken two at a time before," James pointed out, but it seemed like he was only putting up a token argument. "Or taken anyone right after dumping the last one."

"We've also never had an opportunity land in our laps just like this," Miguel offered in rebuttal. "Come on, you know just as well as I do that if we didn't do this, we'd regret it. We'd imagine what those boys could be like, but now we don't have to. We can find out for ourselves, when the time comes."

"When the time comes," James quietly echoed with a sigh and a nod. He held up his hands in defeat as he made his way back to the passenger seat. Miguel followed.

James was right, Miguel thought as they pulled back onto the road, leaving the El Camino behind, hood still up and wedding cake still in the back. They had never taken two boys at the same time before, but maybe this wasn't a mistake. Maybe this was their best decision yet.