Title: Imperfect Evidence
By: Macx (with Lara Bee)

It was dark.

What a cliché.

It was dark and he was running, trying to reach a door.

Doorway. Opening. Entrance point to... to where? A gate to pass to... to send a message... yes, send a message.

There was someone after him.

Panting breaths.

Curses.

He reached for the door and almost fell over his own feet as he stumbled into the room. Suddenly the barrier was gone, the door was gone, and he had passed into the next... plane... level... room. Yes, the room.

There was a telephone.

It was plain for all the world to see, sitting in the middle of the emptiness. Dark emptiness. Just nothing but the phone.

The message. He had to send the message.

To whom?

He didn't know who to reach, who was close.

He picked up the receiver and it dialed.

There was a crackling noise.

"I need help!" a voice called and it wasn't his own. "Anyone! Please! He's killed three people already! Anyone!"

He looked around. Suddenly the feeling of being followed was gone. Suddenly he was watching. He looked at the phone and discovered someone else standing there, reaching for it, trying to place a call.

But to whom?

Who should he call? Who was close? Who could help.

Random connection.

Then there was nothing but darkness.

"Anyone!" the voice called. "Help!"

The door seemed to melt into the darkness, the telephone disappeared and he was alone.

But the presence was still there, reaching out for him, looking, seeking...
 
 

He woke with a little start. Blinking into the twilight of the bedroom, Conrad Ecklie wondered what the heck had woken him. His alarm showed him that he had two more hours till he needed to be up, and the sun was just rising anyway.

Rolling onto his side, sighing into the emptiness of the bed, he went back to sleep.

The disjointed dream was fading.

The memories turned to darkness.

* * *

Gil Grissom watched the sunlight play over the tanned skin of lover as Nick moved lazily in the rumpled sheets of their bed. It was early morning, the sun had risen about an hour ago, but there was no hurry.

It was their day off.

Gil leaned over the prone man and placed a kiss between the shoulder blades. It drew a soft murmur and muscles flexed. He ran a hand over the warm side, felt more movement and suddenly Nick's so very dark brown eyes blinked open. A slow smile curved the lips upwards.

"Morning," Nick murmured.

"Good morning."

And Grissom caught the lips in a kiss, meeting a slow, tender tongue that readily invited him back inside. Nick rolled onto his back completely and pulled his lover on top, wrapping his arms around him.

"Mhmmm, I love work free days," he whispered, opening his legs to accommodate the other man.

"So do I."

"Hope you got no plans."

Gil smiled. "But I do."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"They involve me to a degree?"

He felt a awakening hardness between them, felt his own reaction to the arousal. Grissom kissed his partner deeply.

"They involve you completely, Nicky. Only you."

"Wonderful plans..."

And Nick pushed up against him, making Gil groan. He slipped a hand between them, rubbing against sensitive parts and Grissom gave a little growl.

The last two weeks had been stressful. Theirs shifts normally over-lapped, but cases had made sure than while that was still the fact, the free time had been reduced to almost nil. Nick was home when Gil was working, and when Grissom finally made it home, his partner was already at work. They had seen each other at work, in the break room, or in the parking lot, but nowhere very private.

That day off would be used to get reacquainted - intimately. Very, very intimately.

Nick gasped into his mouth as Grissom became more active, explored the texture of his lover's skin, bit and licked and caressed until he had a moaning bundle of nerves.

There was no time for finesse right now. They both wanted the other, they wanted him now, and an edge had to be taken off.

It was.

Not much later.

Nick arched into his hand and Grissom shuddered with the cry and the release of his younger lover, feeling his own.

Heated, brown eyes met equally hot blue ones.

"Shower," Gil growled, still stroking the now no longer so firm length of his lover.

Nick writhed a little, sensitive and highly receptive for every little touch. "Gil..."

He nipped at the squarish jaw, still teasing, still moving his hand.

"Come," he whispered hoarsely and rose, trailing his fingers, wet and sticky, down the length.

The expression in those liquid brown eyes was far from sated. Nick moved with the grace of a cat, and Grissom felt his own lust double at the sight of the slender form walking ahead of him to the shower.

Nick was sex on legs. Provocative in the way he moved, and Grissom wrapped his arm around the slender waist, pulling his naked lover to him before they could enter the shower stall. Eager lips sought his, nipped and bit and licked at his own, and Grissom's hands grabbed the muscular behind, pulling the younger man tightly against him.

"Gil..." Nick whispered pleadingly.

"We have time," he murmured.

It drew a shiver.

This was their day.

The phone was plugged into the answering machine, the cells were on emergency calls only, and the door bell had been deactivated.

Not that anyone voluntarily drove all the way out here.

Grissom gasped as Nick's fingers slipped into the cleft and teased him.

"Don't bite off more than you can chew," he muttered.

Nick answered the tease with a twitch of his hips, making Gil very much aware of the newly awakened arousal.

"Want you," Nick whispered, his fingers leaving the sensitive area and coming to massage Grissom's still hard length.

It had been a while since they had last made love under the shower.

It was time to renew the experience.

* * *

It had been another normal day. A normal shift with normal people and normal cases. David Hodges left the North Las Vegas PD, squinting into the light of the sun. It was just past four and he had gone off his shift on time. He actually got to see the sun, he mused with a faint smirk. Usually he worked the late shifts. He preferred the nights to days. Less hubbub, more quiet, more peace - unless you had criminalists breathing down your neck, thinking their presence could speed up the machines that worked at their own pace.

His smirk grew.

Idiots.

Passing by some of the people now going to work, Hodges pushed his sunglasses higher up his nose. He had traded shifts with a colleague from days. It had been about a girl and the guy had traded all kinds of shifts to be with her when she wanted him to be.

Hodges shook his head. More idiots. Women either adapted to him or not at all. It might account for his relationships - or lack thereof. At 5'11" he wasn't too tall or too short, but he also wasn't a wet dream either. With a receding hairline and the rather non-descript hair color, he wasn't drop dead gorgeous. He knew his face showed lines that didn't fit his age, but he had had girl-friends. Well, those had never lasted longer than three weeks, a month tops. They had trouble with his late shifts, the shift changes, the overtime, and his interest in his work. Despite all outside behavior, David Hodges liked his work as a lab technician. Las Vegas was an interesting place and he had had several challenges.

He would never let on how often he had felt his brain fire up at a particular puzzle. It wouldn't do to look like an over-eager puppy. Greg Sanders was the prime example for that particular problem. The boy had no idea what he gave up by leaving the lab and going out into the field. Sure, it was interesting, but the lab was safer.

A lot safer.

Hodges trudged across the car park and headed for his vehicle. Out of the corner of his eyes he registered another presence close by. Hodges usually parked at the far end of the lot to keep out of the way of his coworkers, but this morning had been packed and his usual places had already been filled. Luck had him be there when a night shift guy had pulled out and he had parked in his spot.

With a bit of surprise he saw that the other man was Conrad Ecklie, the recently promoted dayshift supervisor. Hodges was about to pass him with a greeting when something else registered.

Ecklie was standing like frozen to the spot.

"Sir?" he asked, approaching.

There was a distinct lack of reaction.

"Mr. Ecklie?"

His boss was standing in front of his car, ready to jump in and drive away, but frozen to the spot. His hand was on the door handle, about to pull it open, and the other was holding his briefcase.

"Mr. Ecklie, sir?"

No reaction at all. Not even the bat of an eye lid. Ecklie might be made of stone for all the life he showed.

Something cold coiled in his stomach, a feeling of utter wrongness he absolutely disliked. Hesitantly he stepped around his car, coming to stand in front of Ecklie, whose face appeared to be a total blank, and the eyes - Hodges sucked in a deeply shocked breath at the sight of the brown eyes, the irises almost totally constricted. He looked like a drug addict on a high, but his skin showed no sweat, he wasn't shaking, breathing hard... anything like that. He was just... standing there.

"Mr. Ecklie...?"

Reaching out he wanted to touch his boss, but suddenly there were other hands curling around Ecklie's upper arms in a protective gesture.

"Oh no, not again... thank you, I'll take it from here," the blond man said, worried eyes resting on his still unresponsive boss.

"What ...?" Hodges stuttered.

"He had them before. There's no need to worry," was the quick answer. "You work here?"

"Yes, but..."

Hodges took in the tall, slender man with the dark blond hair. The longish strands were wavy, with a few highlighted wisps that seemed to gleam in the sun. Pale, as if he always stayed inside, with shocking gray eyes, the man was about his size. Dressed in a dark suit that spoke of a business position, tie open - evidence that he had also just gotten off work - the man didn't seem familiar.

"Franklin?"

Ecklie jerked and the somehow disturbing gray eyes turned to the AD, fingers curling a little tighter.

"Hey. You had a little... episode here."

"Oh." Ecklie blinked. He seemed to be a bit disoriented.

"Let's get you home. I'll drive."

The blond maneuvered Ecklie into the car onto the passenger seat, slipped behind the steering wheel, and then they were gone.

Hodges stared after the car, a picture of the protective action still before his inner eye.

Protective... or possessive?

Not to mention the fact that the guy had appeared out of nowhere... quite fast.

Too fast.

He hadn't been in the lot when Hodges had entered. He hadn't been anywhere. No one had been around.

So where had he come from?

And so fast.

Hodges sat in his own car, mind whirling. The gray eyes, so intense, came back. Intense and powerful and somewhat disturbing. A pale face, the almost hypnotic voice... and the speed.

Hodges groaned when realization hit.

Shit.

He knew what he had to do... should do - and damn, he really didn't need that now.

His head sank onto the steering wheel and he groaned again.

Double shit.

* * *

Franklin sat cross-legged next to his lover on the wide bed, worried gray eyes taking in the prone figure. Ecklie had taken two strong painkillers and had retired to bed, dropping off almost immediately. Now, after an hour of dozing, he was waking up. His heart beat and breathing pattern was changing and finally the eyes blinked open.

"Hey," Franklin said softly.

"Hey. You been here all the time?"

A nod.

"Idiot," the shaman chastised him gently.

Franklin shrugged and lay down next to his lover, wrapping an arm around the slender waist. He buried his face in the rumpled shirt and closed his eyes, inhaling his lover's scent. Conrad's hands stroked over his hair, his neck, his shoulders.

"You okay?" he wanted to know.

Franklin sighed. "I was about to ask you that. What happened?"

Ecklie never stopped the caress. "I'm not sure. I had a few bad nights lately."

Gray eyes glanced up and Ecklie smiled reassuringly. Franklin had been absent the last week because the hotel had sent him on a seminar. The vampire had tried to circumvent it, but Ecklie had finally told him not to fuss and just go.

That his lover's absence had coincided with a few nights of weird dreams... he hadn't made a connection, especially since he had had the same freaky dream the night Franklin had come back. After having hot sex that had worn him out and usually sent him straight into a deep, refreshing sleep. Not this time, though.

"What dreams?" Franklin asked, snuggling close again. His head rested on Ecklie's chest and he lay between his lover's spread legs.

"I'm not sure what they mean. They are a bit disjointed. Whatever it is, it happens every night and today... I think it was like a day dream. Like... a vision, you know." Conrad hesitated, then sighed deeply. "Nandi has started to train me how to use the spirit plane, and if I have to relate the feeling of the dream to anything, it's entering that place. Weird... freaky... shaman stuff, you know."

Franklin gave a little snort of laughter. "What do you see in that vision?"

"I wish I could remember, Franklin. It's like an urgent need to go somewhere, that someone wants help, is calling. That's all."

"You should talk to Nandi."

"Yeah."

The vampire hugged him more tightly. "I was worried," he murmured.

Conrad was silent.

"You didn't move, your heartbeat was... so slow, and you didn't really breathe, Conrad."

"When did you start monitoring my life signs?" he asked softly.

Franklin gave a little laugh. "I've always been very much aware of you beside me, with me." A hand rubbed over Ecklie's side. "It's... reassuring, you know. Very reassuring."

The shaman was stunned and looked at the blond head resting on his chest. "Franklin..."

And the vampire's lips closed over his, catching the word and delving into his mouth. Ecklie didn't need more prompting. He pulled his lover close, answered the needy kiss, and he let the nimble fingers undress him.

"Love you," Franklin whispered as his mouth mapped a path down his neck. "Love you, love you..."

* * *

It wasn't exactly a dark and stormy night - not in Las Vegas it wasn't - but it was the proverbial dark and shady alley. Hodges sighed. Why the hell did it always have to be this stereotypical stuff? Meetings in the middle of the night he could understand but at the outskirts of town? Dark alleys?

He hated his job...

"David."

Hodges jumped back at the voice behind him, whirling around in alarm. Ice blue eyes glowed at him for a second and he breathed in deeply.

"Give me a heart attack, why don't you?" he muttered at the slowly approaching vampire.

Max definitely watched too many mystery series for his liking.

"What's the matter? You sounded worried on the phone," the vampire asked, stepping closer.

In the soft illumination from the main street Hodges could now make out the familiar features of his contact. He rarely used Max; close to never, actually. Once or twice in the last year.

Max was a young vampire, barely fifty, and he had hung around Los Angeles for a while. It was where they had first met. When Hodges had transferred to Las Vegas he had been surprised to find the young man here, but also relieved because even as an ally who worked rarely, he needed a contact. And announcing his presence in Las Vegas ran counter to his idea of keeping a low profile.

"Do you know a vampire named Franklin?"  he asked.

Max thought about it for a second. "Could be. What about him?"

"I need to know if he's a good guy or a rogue."

That got him a rather startled look. "Rogue? A rogue here? Man, if he is, he's got balls. What makes you think he's one, Dave?"

Now that he was asked, maybe it was nothing, Hodges thought. But if his instinct was right, he had to deal with the situation.

"I'm not sure. He just... struck me wrong, Max. He appeared at our office in broad daylight, in the parking lot. Usually you guys don't venture outside in the sun if you don't have a damn good reason."

Max nodded his agreement.

"And he knows my boss. He knows him well enough to drive him home."

"So?" Max shrugged. "Your boss an ally?"

"No. My boss is the head of the Las Vegas Crime Lab. He's not an ally, Max. Not to my knowledge. And he seemed very friendly with this Franklin guy." Hodges hesitated. "And to be honest, the vampire gave me the creeps."

Max's eyebrows rose. "Okay, I understand. But he could just be a worried friend."

Hodges shook his head. "I don't think so."

"Spider sense going off?" the young vampire teased.

He grimaced. Way too much television for sure. Hodges knew that for an ally who rarely got involved, he was leaning out of the window, but something about the whole thing struck him as wrong.

Conrad Ecklie wouldn't have a vampire as a friend or a colleague. Franklin was getting something out of this. Something bad.

"Okay, David. Let's say you're right. Describe this Franklin to me. I'll dig into it."

So Hodges did.

Maybe it was nothing.

Maybe it was something.

But he knew whatever it was, he was doing the right thing.

* * *
Franklin hadn't forgotten about David Hodges. He hadn't forgotten about the man who had tried to help his boss and who had shot the vampire a very strange look. A knowing look. A look of realization.

He knew.

Franklin was sure he did.

Finding out the name of the stranger hadn't been hard. His lover had given it to him in an almost passing comment. Franklin felt bad about manipulating Conrad like this, not telling him about his suspicions. Right now, he just wanted to make sure that what he thought was not just due to his over-protective nature.
So he investigated into a lab technician of the Las Vegas Crime Lab, and he found out a few very interesting things.

Very.

Extremely.

David Hodges was an ally.

Surprising and astonishing as it was, he was an ally and he knew about the paranormal world. He didn't necessarily know about Ecklie, Grissom and Nick, or even Sanders, but he wasn't some innocent stranger who had stumbled over something weird.

Franklin dug deeper, wondering why the man hadn't popped up on their radar, why no one had never mentioned him. It was throughout that investigation that he became aware of something else: an investigation into him. A vampire had been trying to find out more about him and Franklin's alarm bells started to ring.

So he took counter-measures.

And he found the man behind the questions.

* * *

The call came a day after he had talked to Max, and the young vampire sounded downright... disturbed. Hodges didn't know what could rattle a vampire, but he agreed to a meeting.

When he laid eyes on Max, he almost stumbled back in shock. He had never seen a vampire so pale or so frightened - close to terrified -- but this one was. And deeply so.

"Man, I don't know what wasp nest you reached into, but someone is after you as well," Max whispered, looking over his shoulder.

"What? What do you mean?" Hodges blurted.

"That Franklin guy, he's bad news. Very bad."

Again a look over his shoulder. Max was highly strung, on absolute alert, and his eyes flashed. Hodges couldn't remember ever seeing a vampire this upset.

"And he's a rogue all right. He's old, about two hundred, and he was a big shot in Frisco once, but he fell. Man, did he fall deep. Lost all his children as one of 'em turned nutty, killed all her siblings 'cept one. Franklin never was listed as rogue, but he damn near created one; turned the guy and left him without prop. Guy made it, grew to be head honcho in Salt Lake - sheer stinking luck, if you ask me -  but when it got out ... let's just say, he could have called for his 'sire's' head, literally. As it was, Franklin just became persona non grata in Salt Lake, stripped of all rank and position. Standish has his hands over Vegas now, so if Franklin is here ... who knows what he's after."

Max shook his head, hugging himself as he scanned the street. Hodges couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Someone is digging into your file right now, and if it's this Franklin ... sorry, man, but I have to lay low for a while, flying under the radar, if you get my drift. If you need to contact the community, here's a number. You won't reach me for a while... nothing personal, man."

Hodges stared at the scrap of paper Max had pushed into his hand. It had a hastily scrawled name and phone number on it, had been ripped out of a note pad. When he looked up he was alone.

His stomach clenched painfully.

Oh god... what sleeping dog had he just woken up?  Better yet, what kind of predator had he brought onto his trail?

He hurried home and locked the door, inhaling sharply. A little shiver raced up his spine.

Franklin was a rogue.

He knew Ecklie... apparently well enough to know where he lived, who he was, and enough that Ecklie trusted him.

And Hodges was alone. Max had deserted him. He knew no one else in this town he trusted, and if the rogue heard about his inquiries...

Hell...

* * *

He had slept a night over the matter. Badly. Very, very badly.

Franklin was a rogue. He was in Las Vegas, and Vegas was Standish's turf. Standish was Franklin's Child and he would rip the older vampire apart should he get to him. So why had Franklin come to a community that would kill him without hesitation?

It could only mean that he was looking for someone or something, or he was challenging Standish. Not on Standish's home ground, but in a community that was by now closely tied to Salt Lake.

A challenge.

Hodges shivered.

He had to call someone from the Las Vegas community and let them know that he had spotted a rogue, he had to contain the damage as quickly as possible. Max had probably gone into hiding the moment he had caught scent of Franklin and he wouldn't go to anyone higher up to relay the important news. It was up to Hodges.

He groaned and buried his head in his hands, a day's growth scraping over his palms.

He had no one to contact. No one knew him as an ally. He had made sure never to be known, except to Max.

Hodges dug into his pants and shakily pulled out the crumbled piece of paper. Max had left him a name and a number.

Elena.

Probably a vampire, too. It was a community contact.

But if he called her...

Paranoia screeched once more.

If he called her and she was under Franklin's control.... Then what? Franklin moved freely in Vegas, which meant the rogue had friends. And he knew Ecklie. What did he want with a mere human?

Political influence? Did he try to get to someone within the lab? Or the PD?

Hodges mind was close a melt-down and he felt sick to the stomach. He had never been a hero, but he also wasn't a coward. He was just a survivor and he looked after himself. If he called Elena, he made himself known. If he didn't, if Franklin took out someone important, if he started a war... it would be his fault.

David Hodges curled up and screwed his eyes shut.

What should he do?

* * *

Hodges was bending over his microscope, looking at a spec of colorful material that he was supposed to trace back to the manufacturer. It was easy, actually, not a real challenge, but he would never say that out loud. Trace was his world, it was his lab, and no one, absolutely no one, was better than him. He knew he was bumping against a lot of egos here, rubbed people the wrong way, set them off in tiny ways, but look if he cared. He did his job, he did it perfectly well, and that was it.

He hadn't come to Las Vegas to make friends.

When the door opened, he didn't even glance at his visitor. It could only be one of three groups of people: criminalists, co-workers or the boss. If it was a criminalist, he would have to wait for the results like anyone else. If it was a co-worker, so be it. He wasn't fraternizing and he had turned down all offers for outside get-togethers. If it was the boss he would already have announced himself.

The moment the door closed and the blinds were suddenly turned to darken the room, an inner alarm went off inside the technician.

Hodges looked up and froze.

His breath lodged in his throat, his heart missed a beat, and he knew he was paling dramatically.

There, standing leisurely against the now closed door, was a vampire. Tall, blond, gray eyes hard and unyielding, the narrow face cast in twilight. But Hodges saw those eyes, could detect a faint glimmer, and his body reacted to the threat.

Oh god... ran through his mind. Oh god... He's here.

And it was the middle of the day! The sun was still up!

"Mr. Hodges," the vampire said pleasantly.

"What do you want?" he whispered, fingers digging into the table where he was clutching it.

Franklin, pushed away from the door, but Hodges had no illusions that he could reach the safety of the corridor without the predator now stalking him overpowering him. He was only human. Franklin was a two centuries old creature of the night, a hunter. And he was hunting him.

Oh god...

A rogue, bound by no law...

Hodges swallowed.

He should have made that call. But work had interrupted. He had been interrupted. Twice he had thought about it, twice he had picked up the phone, and twice someone had needed his expertise.

Now he paid for it.

The rogue was here.

"You've been investigating me," Franklin remarked almost casually. He stopped in front of the lab table, leaning forward, his hands resting on the smooth table top.
"Why?"

Hodges tried not to wet his pants, staring into those cold eyes. "It's what I do," he managed roughly.

"Why?"

"I'm an ally. You should know that. You investigated me in turn."

Was that him speaking? Hell, he was having a death wish! Hodges started to tremble, stunned by his own courage to face off this man like that.

Franklin smiled, but it was without humor. "Yes, I did. I don't like other people inquiring about me. I think you understand that. So why investigate me?"

Hodges' fingers dug harder into the table, his knuckles a bloodless white. He prayed for someone - anyone - to come into the lab and save him. As it was, there was no timely interruption. He was alone with Franklin, and he knew he was about to die.

"It's my job," he stuttered.

"Your job is to make sure that the world of the paranormal is safe. It's not your job to ask questions about members of the community."

"You're not a member of the Las Vegas community!" Hodges snarled, again surprised by his bravery and the fervor with which the words had been spoken.

Franklin looked surprised. "I'm not?" he inquired almost innocently. "Then what am I?"

A rogue, part of Hodges' mind screamed, but those words wouldn't leave his mouth.

"You're not a very highly placed ally, Mr. Hodges," the vampire went on. "You witnessed something in that parking lot that got you interested..."

He tensed. Yes, he had witnessed something, but he had no idea what.

"Leave it be," Franklin whispered, leaning forward.

Now the gleam was a soft glow.

A threat.

Hodges felt his whole being whimper in fright.

"Hey, Hodges! Do you have my..."

The voice cut into the moment and Franklin drew back as the door opened. Hodges was close to sinking down onto the ground with a relieved cry, but he forced himself to stand his ground. He almost desperately turned to the now open door where Nick Stokes stood, one hand still on the door knob, brows drawn together.

"Am I interrupting something?" he inquired.

Franklin, who hadn't looked away, straightened, smiling almost charmingly. "No, not at all."

He turned and walked past Nick, who looked rather confused.

"Hodges?" he asked.

"Your... your results are over there," the technician managed, feeling his whole body starting to shake with the reaction. He gestured toward a file on the other table. "I need a break," he whispered and quickly pushed past the criminalist, fleeing his lab toward the men's room.

The moment the door closed after him, he sank down the wall of the stall and gave a hiccupping whimper.

Oh gawd... he was dead. He was so dead...

* * *

Nick had been surprised to find the door to Hodges' Trace lab closed, the blinds down, but maybe the lab technician was running some kind of experiment that required it. You never knew. Since there was no warning sign prohibiting people to enter because of aforementioned possible experiment or test, he had simply walked inside.

And he had walked into Franklin.

Franklin. Vampire. Ecklie's life partner.

In the lab?

And with Hodges?

Nick had taken one look at the scene and his alarms had gone off. Franklin had been positively cornering the man, hands on the lab table, towering over Hodges. Hodges in turn had been pale as a sheet, eyes wide, pupils dilated.

A criminalist noticed such things.

Nick had noticed it.

Franklin hadn't so much as acknowledged him, had simply shot Hodges a look that had the tech run out of the lab with a stammered excuse, and Nick's hairs rose.

What was going on here?

Turning on his heels he stalked after the blond and caught up with him as Franklin entered the office of Conrad Ecklie. Not caring if anyone saw him, Nick followed and closed the door.

"What the fuck was that?" he demanded.

Franklin shot him a surprised look, which was mirrored by their resident AD, who had risen from his chair as the two men had entered.

"What did you do in Trace?" Nick clarified, voice low and dangerous. "You scared the bejeezus out of Hodges!"

Ecklie frowned. "Franklin?" he queried.

The vampire crossed his arms in front of his chest, looking defiant. "I was just talking to him."

Nick laughed darkly. "Talking? You threatened him Franklin! He was close to keeling over in terror! You went vampire on him!"

Ecklie walked around the desk and stepped between the men, staring into the gray eyes of his partner, his whole stance rigid.

"What happened here?" he demanded, voice even but very much filled with a warning.

Franklin shook his head. "I just wanted to know why he was investigating me."

"What?" Nick exclaimed.

"He knows who I am," Franklin snapped.

"The car park," Ecklie murmured and sank onto the edge of the desk. "Damn." Then his eyes narrowed. "Wait a minute... he investigated you?"

The vampire nodded grimly. "He's an ally, Conrad."

Nick knew he was staring, jaw hanging open, and his eyes were wide. "Hodges?" he breathed. "He's an ally?"

"Yes. Apparently no one else knows."

"Oh man..."

Ecklie straightened. "I want to know all the details," he ordered. "And why the heck didn't you let me know sooner?!"

Franklin shrugged. "I wasn't sure in the beginning. And when I was... I reacted on automatic."

"Apparently. Now talk!"

* * *

It took him a while to make it back to the lab, and he knew from the looks he got from his coworkers that he didn't really look all that good. Then again, he couldn't care less what anyone thought at the moment.

As he rounded a corner he saw the vampire again - coming out of the office of Assistant Director Conrad Ecklie. Ecklie was at his side, they were talking, and it looked like a very friendly moment. But then Franklin turned briefly and those cold, gray eyes were on Hodges.

He fled into his lab, closing the door, mind racing.

The rogue was after him.

He had to get out of here.

The rogue knew Ecklie and whatever was going on... it was bad. He needed help, big help, and he needed to be away from here.
 
 

An hour later he had his case files cleared up, his request for personal leave written up and was on his way to Grissom's office. The night shift supervisor and his boss was mildly surprised to see him, but he signed the request, though the inquisitive frown stayed.

Hodges didn't go into an explanation. He just bailed out of the PD and made sure he was with people all the time until he reached his car. The sun was still out and he was moderately safe, though Franklin was old enough to have developed a sun light resistance. He had seen him in broad daylight in the middle of the parking lot the first time. The vampire could walk throughout days without collapsing after a few paces.

His car started thankfully immediately and he was tailing it out of the lot, onto the road, and headed straight home.

* * *

Grissom gazed at the request for personal leave in mild fascination. It wasn't so much the paper as such but the man who had applied for it.

David Hodges.

The man had looked positively rattled when he had presented him with the request, and he had appeared like he wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. Grissom had signed the request because there was no reason not to.

Now he puzzled over it.

He was drawn out of his musings when the door was opened and Ecklie appeared in his office. The expression in the AD's face was like a thunderstorm about to let lose.

"My office. Now," he just snapped and turned on his heels, startling two technicians, who gave him confused looks.

The same confusion was on Grissom's face, but he replied to the request, though at his own speed. No sense in appearing worried or harassed. They had a cover to maintain.

What had him frown when he walked into the office was the fact that they weren't alone. Franklin was perched on the desk, looking downright chastised, and Nick was leaning against the wall, his own expression grim.

"Close the door," Ecklie just instructed gruffly.

The moment they had their privacy, the mask dropped and Conrad Ecklie looked weary and tired.

"What happened?" Grissom just wanted to know.

"Shit hit the fan," Nick sighed.

Ecklie grimaced. "Appropriate description."

The nightshift supervisor cocked an eyebrow at them both.

Ecklie sank into his chair, sighing tiredly. "I had an episode in the car park two days ago. A paranormal episode. Something hit me on the spirit plane level and apparently I froze completely while unlocking the car."

Grissom listened, worry niggling at him. Conrad Ecklie had just started his shamanic training and something hitting him that hard had to be... exceptional.

"Whatever it was, it's not important right now. What is important is that David Hodges was there at the time and thought I had an attack or something. He came to my aid... which was when Franklin did the same..."

Franklin's eyes flared a little. "I was worried!"

"Yes, I know. I appreciate the concern," Conrad said softly, soothing ruffled feathers. "But you didn't have to do it using your abilities."

"What abilities?" Grissom asked.

"Speed."

"Ah."

"And Hodges saw you?"

A nod.

"I see."

Nick still leaned against the wall, exchanging brief looks with his lover. Grissom knew the younger man was slightly disturbed by whatever he knew that Grissom still had to be told.

"What happened then?" Grissom continued his 'investigation'.

Ecklie sighed and ran a hand over his thinning hair. "Franklin took it upon himself to investigate into Mr. Hodges. He's an ally, Gil."

That had Grissom stop short. Hodges? An ally? Why had no one at the lab known?

Ecklie smiled humorlessly as he interpreted the facial expression. "I asked myself the same thing. It turns out that Mr. Hodges is an ally who likes to keep out of the active life of allies altogether. I don't know why he chose to investigate into Franklin's true nature, but he did."

"He called his only paranormal contact in Las Vegas," Franklin said softly. "A low level vampire by the name of Max. Max balked when he found out who I am and who I was in San Francisco. He tried to lay low, but I found him anyway and we talked." He chewed on his lower lip. "Max's information on me are both outdated and outrageous. He thinks I'm a rogue and Ezra's after my head, which would make my presence in Las Vegas a dangerous, highly explosive situation."

"And Hodges saw you and Conrad together," Grissom concluded.

A nod.

"Not only that," Ecklie added. "Franklin couldn't just leave it at a inquiry and tell me about it, he went to see Mr. Hodges a few hours ago in the lab."

Grissom's eyebrows dipped in a plain frown of criticism at the move. Franklin sighed.

"I made a mistake."

Ecklie's brown eyes were cold. "Yes," he said sharply. "You threatened one of my people, Franklin. For no apparent other reason than an ally doing his work."

"He was getting the wrong information!"

"Which you only managed to verify in his mind. I appreciate your protective nature, but you went too far. You should have talked to me first, not after the fact."

"Hodges requested personal leave just an hour ago," Grissom calmly interrupted the argument.

Ecklie's expression grew even darker. "Wonderful!"

Franklin scrubbed a hand over his face. "Shit."

Nick just remained where he was, his face openly showing his worry. "We need to find him, talk to him," the young CSI stated.

"Yes, we do," Gil agreed. "He's an ally. He has no other contacts but a scared vampire who won't help him. And he thinks a rogue is after him."

It summed up everything that had happened. Franklin seemed to sink even deeper into himself.

"I'll find out his address and talk to him," Nick offered.

Grissom nodded. "I have it. And I think I should be the one to be there, too."

"No problem." Nick gave him a small smile. "But your shift just started. You have cases to assign, so leave it to me. I'll call."

"Wait," Ecklie stopped them. "Give him the night," he advised. "Hodges is scared. Having one of us come after him might just make it worse at this point. He just requested personal leave. What would it look like if the supervisor of the night shift or a criminalist turned up on his door step mere hours later?"

Nick was about to protest, but Grissom nodded. "Agreed. First thing tomorrow morning when I get off shift we go and talk to him."

Nick sighed deeply. "Hell of a mess," he only said.

"We'll get out of it."

The two criminalists left the office, pulling the door shut, and walked down the corridor. Grissom was aware that the night shift had already started and he had assignment slips to hand out.

"See you," Nick just said, smiling.

He nodded at him.

Grissom watched his lover leave for the parking lot and tried to assign his mind to the task of this night's shift. He had a job to do, a façade to uphold, but Hodges face kept swimming into his mind's eye's view. A Hodges who looked positively rattled, pale, and beside himself.

He should have caught on to that sooner.

But he had never been good with people.

* * *

Ecklie massaged his eyes with a thumb and a forefinger, feeling tired without being so.

Hell...

Positively hell.

They really didn't need this!

"I'm sorry," Franklin's voice drew him out of those thoughts.

He opened his eyes and met the sea gray eyes of his lover who looked like a beaten puppy. How a dangerous predator who had survived close to two centuries could look like that, it was beyond him.

He wanted to tell Franklin that this wasn't his fault, but it was. The vampire was fiercely protective of Ecklie, had become even more so after nearly losing him lately.
Standing, Conrad walked around the desk and stopped in front of the man perched on it. He cupped his neck and captured the full lips in a gentle kiss.

"Yes, it is," he whispered. "But I know why. I know you didn't do it out of malicious intent. You were protecting me. Thank you."

Strong arms came around his waist and Franklin hugged him close, resting his head against his chest. Listening to his heart beat. Ecklie rested his chin on the blond hair, sighing.

"We should go home," he finally said.

"What about Hodges?"

"Nick will call. Until then I want you to be home. It was a long day."

Franklin nodded slightly. "Sorry," he murmured again.

Conrad smiled and stepped back a little to look into the gray eyes he loved so much. "We'll find a way to manage this. Just... next time... talk to me first before you go all alpha male on me, okay?"

Franklin smiled, but it looked far from his usual cocky grin. "Sorry."

"Stop that."

"But I am."

"I know." Ecklie kissed him, long and tender, then caressed the pale face. "Let's go home."

They left the PD not much later.

The drive home was silent, no words were lost. Franklin just stared out of the window, deep in thought, and Ecklie was concentrating on his driving.

When they were finally home the sun was just setting and both men walked into the semi-dark house. The moment the door close, Franklin wrapped his arms around his partner from behind and rested his head against one shoulder. Conrad leaned back a little, felt the other man take his weight, and laid a hand onto the one on his stomach.

"It's okay, Franklin," he said softly.

"No, it's not. I messed up."

Yes, he had. But not because of malicious intent. Not because he was a mean-spirited creature. Franklin had wanted to protect him.

And now he felt bad.

Conrad knew his lover, knew that the vampire was sensitive in those matters, especially those matters. Conrad Ecklie meant the world to him and Franklin reacted accordingly. Being life partners had its complications, he mused with a faint smile. But he had never regretted meeting this very special person.

"Want to stay home for dinner or go out?" he asked softly.

The grip tightened. "Home."

A smile. "Okay. Would you let me get changed, Franklin?" he prodded gently.

The vampire gave a little laugh and loosened the embrace. Ecklie placed a little kiss onto his lips and went to change his outfit. He tried not to think of where David
Hodges might be now, what he was thinking. But he failed.

The lab tech was one of his men.

And he worried.

* * *

Hodges hadn't slept at all the whole night. Sitting in his apartment, the doors and windows locked and barred - not that it would prevent a vampire from coming inside -  his mind had gone through all kinds of scenarios. He knew he was in terrible danger from the rogue, and he had no one to turn to. He knew he was on the bottom of the ally chain of command, and it was what he had always preferred.

Hodges had been born and raised in L.A. He had known about the world of the paranormal ever since he could walk, well, actually even earlier.

Because of his mother.

Because she... she was one of them.

Even now, after over three decades, it still hurt to think of what she had done, what decision she had made, and, come to think of that, why he had been born.
Still, he loved her. She was his mother, whatever else she was aside from that.

Susan Hodges had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis early on in her life. A daughter of two allies, she had had the necessary contacts to people she had turned to to ask for help. Not witches or wizard, not even a shaman - of which Hodges wasn't even sure they really existed; they sounded too much like myths. No, she had turned to the local vampire community.

And she had found a potential sire.

Raymond.

Hodges smiled bitterly.

Raymond was responsible for his mother, was her Sire, and he was still watching over her. Vampires needed close to three decades to become independent, and even after that the bond between Sire and Child was strong.

Instead of just getting turned, Susan had had one last wish - a child. She wanted to have a baby, and since vampires were sterile, she had to have it before turning. And she had. From someone David Hodges had never met. He had been raised by his mother; no father had ever been mentioned and Raymond had just been a family friend.

Looking at his shaking hands, Hodges wondered when his life had turned. He had never wanted to be involved in the world of the paranormal. Sure, he was an ally, but he had always made sure that he only had one contact in the town he lived in, was never called for the big stuff, and generally kept a low profile.

Then something had happened in L.A. and he had left. He had become too involved.

Las Vegas had been his choice because the crime lab was ranking number two in the US, and because Dr. Gil Grissom was a renowned criminalist. Hodges hadn't thought he would ever get involved into any kind of ally business ever again.

Fool, he scolded himself. Why didn't you just walk away? Why did you inquire into the vampire?

Because even trying not to be an ally, he still was one. It was in his blood, so to speak. His reactions had been... instinctual. He had simply done what any ally would have.

And he had exposed himself.

To a rogue.

And he had no back-up.

It was in the early morning hours that he picked up the phone and placed a long distance call to L.A.
 
 

An hour later he left his apartment, carrying a bag with the bare necessities.

* * *

Grissom had gone off shift as punctual as he had ever been. Nick had slept a little and had been there, waiting, smirking to himself as his lover had left the PD, right on the clock.

He toiled the Tahoe out of the parking lot and onto the road, heading for the address Grissom had had in his file.

They arrived half an hour later, parking the car and looking for the apartment number.

Nick rung the bell for the third time, then knocked on the door.

It opened with a soft click.

Someone had just pulled it shut.

Frowning, glancing at his partner, Nick pushed the door open with a finger. It swung noiselessly open.

"Hodges?" he called. "It's me, Nick Stokes. You in there?"

Silence greeted his call.

"Hodges?"

Still nothing.

Grissom was looking at the door lock, then at the frame. "No sign of breaking and entering," he remarked.

"No sign of him being home," Nick added.

They exchanged a silent look, then Grissom smiled a little. "After you."

And they stepped inside.

The apartment was on the second floor of a larger building, which appeared completely deserted this time of the day. There was hardly any noise from the other units and the car park was mostly empty. Only an old Ford Taurus and a more modern Pick-Up were down there. Nick took in the lay-out with a criminalist's eye. A small entrance hall led into a living room that had all the necessities. TV, DVD player, radio, couch, table, a few art prints. Nothing out of the ordinary or very expensive. All normal. Regular. Another corridor led to the bedroom at the end of it, housing the bed, the wardrobe, and a walk-in closet. A bathroom was adjoining it. There was a tiny kitchen to the left and a guest room that looked more like a storage cabinet.

Hodges wasn't home.

Grissom had stopped in front of the wardrobe. The doors were open and it looked like someone had hastily pulled out clothes. The toiletries in the bathroom were missing.

"He ran," Nick remarked quietly.

"Yes," came the slightly distant reply. Grissom was thinking, brows drawn down in a mild frown.

"It's not like I can blame him for it. Having a vampire breathing down your neck, thinking he's a rogue, hell, it would make me run. He has no friends here, no back-up, and the only paranormal he knows has his tail between his legs."

Grissom nodded. "The question is, where did he run to?"

*

They had handled it like a crime scene.

There was no body, no weapon, no blood or other fluids. There were no police lights flashing outside, no spectators, no yellow crime scene tape. There wasn't a detective interviewing witnesses, no coroner waiting for a body.

There was only the empty apartment of David Hodges, white male, mid-thirties, single.

No crime had been committed, but a very important person had gone missing.

An ally.

A terrified ally who was running.

"Where could he have gone?" Nick asked softly.

"Somewhere he feels safe."

Both men exchanged looks. That could be anywhere. He might even be leaving town.

Hodges was an ally who had received wrong information, Nick suddenly thought.

"He's an ally," he said out loud as they stood in the living room, light filtering through the curtains. "He has to have a contact here because he got the information about Franklin from somewhere."

Grissom looked at him, slightly dumbstruck. Then he wordlessly drew out his cell.

Nick smirked a little. So his lover hadn't thought of that. Well, it had hit just now, too.

If he had a contact, the contact would also be the one to help keep him safe. Or he could provide further information.

"Conrad? Grissom. Put Franklin on, please?"

Nick listened to the exchange, the questions, and he saw Grissom's faint frown. Finally his partner nodded and hung up.

"Franklin believes that Hodges' contact is  vampire named Max. He was the one who asked about Franklin in the first place."

"So we find Max and we find Hodges?"

"Possibly. First we need to get in contact with the right person. Danielle McPherson."

The leader of the vampire community of Las Vegas.

"You got her number?" Nick teased.

A typical Grissom smirk answered him. Stokes rolled his eyes. Of course he had.

*

Grissom's gaze swept over the woman meeting his inquiring eyes. She was about his height, maybe half a head smaller, with shoulder length, mouse brown hair, clear brown eyes, and the pale complexion associated with dayshift work that lasted from sun up to sun down - or vampirism. For Elena Baker it was the latter, but she also worked only nights and never came out throughout the day. She was a waitress at a local club.

Vampires weren't by nature rich, good-looking and in high positions. Many were everyday people, had normal jobs and aside from their different diet, they didn't lead a very abnormal life.

Elena was in her eighties, independent, and had moved to Vegas five years ago. She wasn't looking for any top dog position and happy to just drift along. As she had told the two criminalists interviewing her, she wanted to travel the world, which meant working up enough money to make it from one country to the next.

"So you know Max?" Nick interrupted her amiable chat about her next destination - South America.

Elena nodded. "Sure I know the kid. Nice guy. A bit of a drifter, really. Came from L.A. about the same time I arrived here. Cute when you can get past the Big Bad Wolf attitude. Which he isn't, believe me. He's just trying to. We get along well. He comes by at the Cockadoo Club now and then, has a beer, gets it on with one of the ladies looking for a night with a guy... He never had any complaints, really."

She smiled and Nick almost laughed.

"You are his contact then?" Grissom inquired.

"Sometimes. I haven't talked to him in ages. Haven't seen him either. Has something happened?"

Now she looked worried.

"We don't know. Max gave information to an ally he is in contact with, along with your name and number. I'd like to know if you had a call from a David Hodges lately."

Elena's forehead wrinkled in a thoughtful frown. "Not to my knowledge. No David called. Actually, I haven't talked an ally in a while. I never needed them before, you know."

Grissom nodded. "Thank you, Ms. Baker."

"Is Max okay?"

"We don't know.  We're looking for Mr. Hodges."

"Oh. Well... if I hear anything, I'll let you know." Elena sounded truly helpful and Gil just gave her a little nod.

When she had left, the two men exchanged glances.

"He never called her," Nick murmured. "Damn. That means he's running alone."

"I think it's time to bring out the big guns," Grissom only said.

* * *

Nandi Kidja Kunene, Las Vegas's resident shaman and also the manager of The Shaman Casino and Hotel, had been unable to believe her ears when Gil Grissom had called her. Not only had this group of the most outstanding paranormals managed to find another spot of trouble, no. It also involved two vampire communities and probably the Salt Lake one as well.

Great.

Ezra had called her already, demanding to know what the hell was going on, and that had been before she had talked to Grissom. Nandi had immediately informed her employer and friend in Salt Lake, calming the upset vampire, promising Ezra she would handle things.

To do that she had to find David Hodges and try to calm the man. He had to be terrified, running from a perceived rogue.

Rogue vampires were the worst for a community. They either stemmed from being turned but having no Sire to raise them, teach them the rules and tell them what they were. Or they were grown vampires who turned for one reason or another. Losing his standing in a community, being hunted by a vengeful Child, all that could account for one to become a rogue, so Hodges wasn't al that wrong with his line of thought.

He just didn't have the correct information.

Nandi sighed deeply as she used her contacts to locate the man. Hodges was running on instinct, but he wasn't stupid. He had withdrawn cash, a large amount of it, and had then paid for a room somewhere. So Nandi had set every available man or woman on his trail.

Shamans might not be well-known or even be perceived as myths, but Nandi Kidja Kunene was a powerful figure, and she knew the right people.

It was around noon that she received the correct information and confirmation that David Hodges had checked into a small off the Strip hotel. It wasn't one of the better ones, but it was clean and not a haven for drug addicts and worse.

Knowing she would find a scared to death young man, Nandi prepared herself for the encounter as she walked down the lively Strip, passing through the crowds. She went right and right again, then to the left until she was in a less touristy area. Motels and private homes, as well as office space lined the road. Entering the tiny hotel she didn't stop to ask for Hodges' room.

She knew where he was.

She knew he hadn't left.

Taking the elevator to the fifth floor she hoped things would go right.

* * *

It wasn't the Savoy or the Ritz. Hell, it wasn't even with three stars, but it served its purpose. Hodges had been able to pay cash, had entered a fake name, had even weaseled out of showing his ID, and he had chosen a room close to the emergency exit. The room contained a single bed, a table, a chair, had a large window through which the sun was trying to shine, encountering partially drawn curtains. In the twilight, he sat on the bed, wondering when his life had gone from bearable to worse.
Unable to sleep last night, the exhaustion of a whole week was trying to catch up, but he refused to let it. He had slept poorly ever since meeting the vampire, and he had slept not at all after the confrontation. As for eating... damn, what was that again? His body was weak from lack of real food and exhausted. His mind was foggy and he knew he needed to sleep.

Hodges smiled dimly.

Right. Sleep. That elusive sleep.

But if he closed his eyes he became vulnerable. The vampire could just find him, get him... even if he was here under a fake name.

So he stayed awake, his mind racing in all directions.

He had to leave Las Vegas. Run. Hide.

But where to?

L.A.? His mother would probably be worried by now. She had sounded deeply disturbed over the phone already.

No, not L.A. Too easy to find him.

Then another city. Or a small town. Maybe the country side.

Or leave the country altogether.

Canada.

Mexico.

Further.

A weak hiccup of a laugh left his pale lips.

Vampires were persistent and they had all the time in the world. Franklin would find him.

He was dead.

His misery was interrupted by a gentle knock on the door. Hodges flinched like he had been struck and wide-eyed he stared at the door.

"Mr. Hodges?"

It was a woman's voice.

He stayed silent.

"Mr. Hodges, I know you're in there."

No, I'm not.

Frantically Hodges looked for any kind of escape, but he was on the fifth floor... it was a long way down to jump.

Then again, it might be less painful than a vampire breaking his neck or every bone in his body before he showed him mercy.

There was a soft clicking noise and the door swung open.

She has a key! Oh my god...

Hodges scrambled off the bed and grabbed the syringe from the bedside table. It was the only weapon he had. The only effective weapon.

"My name is Nandi Kidja Kunene," the dark-skinned woman standing in front of the open door introduced herself.

Her voice was warm, soothing, wrapping itself around his frazzled nerves. Smooth and dark, the timbre just right to calm him from one second to the next.

"May I come in?"

Hodges stared at her, took in her discrete beauty, the expensive clothes, the simple jewelry, and he found himself about to nod, but then the defensive and instinctual paranoia set in.

"What do you want?" he demanded. "How did you get a key? How did you find me?"

His voice rose to an almost hysteric level.

"I was told you are here. We need to talk."

"Told by who?"

"Mr. Hodges, please. Can we talk about this inside?"

Hypnotic. So gentle and caring and trusting...

Hodges fought with himself, but finally he nodded, despite the fact that she could enter on her own free will if she chose to.  Vampires needing an invitation to enter a stranger's room was sheer myth. If she was a vampire and had just forced her way inside by influencing him he was dead anyway.

As if reading his mind, she walked over to the window and came to a stop in the middle of the sun shining into the room. Nandi briefly looked at the partially closed drapes and simply drew them open, bathing everything in daylight.

"I wasn't sent by the community," Nandi said with a fine smile, her eyes briefly scanning the room. "I'm not a vampire."

"If you say so," he said hoarsely. "I know old vampires can stand in the sun for a long time and not show effects."

She inclined her head in a nod. "Yes, true. But I'm not one of them." Her eyes fell on the syringe in his hands. "Hawthorne, right?"

He swallowed.

And then she was in front of him and Hodges was frozen to the spot, wide-eyed, staring at her. She was beautiful, part of his mind registered, but she was also dangerous, another added.

"May I?"

Slender fingers picked up the deadly drug - deadly for vampire.

"What...?" he stuttered, then gasped as she swiftly injected the Hawthorne into her thigh. "What are you doing?!" he blurted.

"I want you to trust me, David. I know you won't as long as you think I'm a vampire. I can feel your fear of me."

She still stood in the sun, looking so calm and composed and relaxed. The drug was coursing through her system, but she showed no ill effects.

"Hawthorne can be dangerous to humans as well, but vampires fear it for its deadliness and the pain it induces even in small dosages. The amount in the syringe wouldn't kill an old vampire right away, but even now I should be starting to feel the effect, the pain, the debilitating paralysis."

"You're not a vampire..."

"No." She smiled warmly, placing the syringe on the table.

"Who sent you?"

"Dr. Grissom."

Hodges stared again. "Why?"

"Because he's worried."

Exhaustion swept through him, made him tremble on his feet. Nandi approached him, her movements careful as if no to startle him; like a frightened animal, he mused faintly.

"I will explain everything to you, but not in your current condition. You need to sleep and to eat."

Her voice was hypnotic again and his messed up body and mind reacted. He wanted to sleep, to be safe, to get some rest.

"Who are you?" Hodges asked faintly.

Nandi smiled. "I'm here, protect you."

He laughed hollowly. "No one can protect me from a rogue."

Those dark eyes were compassionate, so deep and soothing and calming. "There are paranormals stronger than vampires, able to keep them at bay."

"Who are you?" he insisted.

"I am a shaman, David."

"They are a myth!" he blurted.

Nandi smiled patiently. "No, we aren't. I'm very much real."

Hodges felt his mind starting to melt from exhaustion and too much new information. "You're a real shaman?"

"As real as it gets." Nandi held out her hand, palm up. A gentle little sizzle flickered over her skin, turned into an ever growing bubble of energy, and Hodges stared. "You'll be safe. No one messes with a shaman, David. No one."

And he believed her. He so desperately wanted to be safe, to feel protected, that even the paranoia was drowned in those emotions. He gazed at the gentle face, swaying a little.

Nandi caressed his stubbly cheek. "Go sleep. I'll be here."

It wasn't an order, not even a suggestion. It was a gentle prod, a push toward the single bed. He crawled into his bed, curled up, and dropped off without much thought only minutes later.

Not even the paranoia was arguing with him.
 
 

Nandi watched the exhausted man sleeping deeply in the hotel bed, a sad expression in her eyes. David Hodges had run himself into the ground in his fear and terror, but she knew he had only done what every ally would have. Despite his claims to be a reluctant ally, someone to evade being known, someone who refused to really get into ally business, he had instinctively done what was right. If the threat had been real, he would have been commended for his actions.

As it was, he had worked with misinterpreted information.

She sighed a little and checked the protective shield around the sleeping human. He was enveloped in calming threads of strong earth magic, grounding him, soothing frazzled nerves, and healing his soul and mind. Satisfied that the cocoon was okay, she pulled out her cell phone.

"Dr. Grissom? Nandi. I found him. He's as okay as he could be at the moment, and he's asleep. I'll stay with him as long as he recovers."

Grissom agreed and promised to inform the others, then she hung up. Settling back in her chair Nandi prepared herself for the waiting period.

Her eyes were on the pale, lined face of a man who looked like he was in his mid-thirties. Dark hair, receding hairline, slender, and too cynical and hard looking for such a young age. Her protectiveness rose a little more and she ran a caress over the exhausted man.

She would keep him safe.

It was her promise.

* * *

Conrad Ecklie sat on his couch, staring at the ceiling. Sunlight streamed through the open window and he listened to the sounds of the outside, trying not to think of work - which he had to be at in an hour - or David Hodges.

The man had run away because Franklin had scared him. His subordinate had seen them together, had recognized the vampire because he was an ally himself, and he had investigated into the whole thing.

Great. Just great.

Now Nandi was involved, and Ezra, and L.A. All because of a stupid misinformation floating around.

Wonderful.

"Conrad?"

The tentative question drew him out of his thoughts and he sighed again. Franklin still looked like a beaten puppy. The vampire was blaming himself and rightly so.

Ecklie erased that thought.

His partner was the instigator of this hunt, but he had meant well.

Rising from the couch he walked over to the slender blond and pulled him into a warm embrace. He found the eager lips and had them open under his insistent kiss. A groan left Franklin's mouth and Conrad found his blood heat up.

He had to go to work.

Damn.

Nimble fingers got under his shirt and he pushed harder into the lithe form grinding against him.

"I'm gonna be late," he whispered hoarsely.

"Yes," Franklin answered, and then that hand was down the front of his pants and Ecklie gave a cry of need.

Shit, shit shit.... Gawd!

His knees trembled and he placed his palms flat against the wall, his breath gusting from his mouth. Franklin had a lot of experience ... a whole lot...

And Conrad wanted it. He wanted it fast and hard, right here and now, and he wanted this man.

Franklin complied to his silent urges and it ended in a rather dirty little encounter that was brief but highly satisfying. It also warranted another shower and Ecklie was half an hour late for work.

He didn't care.

Right now he really didn't.
 
 

Work consumed him almost immediately, but his body reminded him how much he had enjoyed this, how badly he had needed it, and how much he responded to his undead partner. A little tingle rushed through him every time he thought of the hallway sex, and the meeting with the Director of the Crime Lab was almost pleasant.

Still, David Hodges was on his mind.

Nandi was keeping an eye on him at the moment and if all went well, they would talk to the man tonight.

Ecklie sighed.

What was it about them that attracted trouble like a magnet?

* * *

Greg had just finished writing up his latest case with the help of Sara and had fled into the locker room when his supervisor entered. Grissom's sharp blue eyes fell on him, looking at the young CSI over the rims of the glasses, and he just beckoned him to come with one finger.

Greg's eyebrows rose, but he slipped into his jacket and traipsed after the older man. Maybe something had come up. Maybe he was needed for another case. Maybe he had messed up. Oh well, he would find out in a minute.

Grissom didn't go into his office but stepped into one of the remote evidence rooms where there was a guarantee of no disturbance.

"Uh, Grissom?" he asked carefully.

Grissom closed the door and turned to look at him, face serious.

Okay, he had screwed something up. But why tell him here? Why not officially in the office.

"We have a problem."

And Greg's whole demeanor changed gears. Smoothly, efficiently, and without thinking twice. As if the words had triggered something inside him he knew that this wasn't about CSI or cases or the PD. This was something else.

"Did something happen?" he asked, very alert now.

He hadn't heard a peep from the community and he had his ears open. Ears, eyes, whatever else. Greg Sanders was always up to speed. Or had something happened to Ecklie? Their new shaman was still in hiding and pursuing his training in secret.

"Hodges is an ally."

Greg knew he was staring at Grissom like an idiot.

David Hodges?

Their Hodges from Trace?

"He's a what?" he blurted. "No way, man! I would have known!"

Greg's position in the world of the allies was high enough to inform him immediately of another ally coming to work at the lab.

Grissom smiled a little. "He is an ally, Greg. And he found out about a few things."

Greg still stared. No way, he kept thinking. No way Hodges was one of them. But if Grissom said so...

"He knows about you?"

"I'm not sure yet. He discovered who Franklin is, investigated into him because he saw Ecklie and Franklin together and became suspicious, and he got the wrong information."

Grissom proceeded to fill him in and Greg felt his head spin. Shit, shit, shit, ran through his mind.

"Nandi has found Hodges," the graveyard supervisor added. "She'll calm him down and we have to talk to him."

Greg ran a hand through his spiky hair. "He really laid low," he mumbled. "I never figured him to be one of us. He never so much as tried to contact anyone here."

"He didn't want to be known."

Greg shook his head. "Thanks for telling me."

Grissom smiled enigmatically. "You're our ally, Greg. You need to know."

"Hell, yeah," he muttered. "So... what do you want me to do when I meet him in the lab?"

"Right now you won't."

The young criminalist grimaced. "I'm talking about later, Gris."

"Just... be yourself."

And with that Grissom turned and left the room. Greg stared after him and shook his head.

Great. Be myself.

He left as well, hands stuffed into his pockets, deep in thought.

David Hodges was an ally.

Oh man... and pigs really did fly now...

* * *

Ever since coming to Las Vegas to live with his partner, Franklin had kept out of community matters. He had been a big shot in San Francisco before his fall, he had been powerful, but Franklin wasn't interested in any of that since coming here. He was a vampire, that was it. He didn't need a position or a responsibility because of his age.

Danielle, the leader of the Las Vegas vampires, knew about his presence, of course. It was mandatory to make himself known to the higher ups when coming to live in a new town. Franklin had paid the woman a visit, had told her quite clearly that he didn't expect anything from her, and that all he wanted was to be part of his lover's life. Conrad was who mattered; not the community.

Since then, over a year ago, things had worked quite well. He was left alone and he didn't require the community's help.

Until now.

Franklin looked at the slender young man who was trying to look as inconspicuous as humanly possible. He was terrified; the fear was there to feel and smell. A vampire of about forty-eight, Max Allan was young. And he was afraid of the older ones, the ones with power, or the ones he perceived to have power.

And he saw a rogue in Franklin.

"Franklin," Danielle greeted him pleasantly.

She was an impressive woman, with raven hair, intense eyes, and the responsibility of a damaged community on her shoulders. She had taken over from the former leader of Las Vegas, someone who had been executed by the council for his crimes against human children, who he had turned into vampire whores. Las Vegas had reeled from the impact of that crime of their highest placed vampire, and many had seen the community as good as dead status-wise. No one could come back from this in a few years.

Las Vegas had found an ally in the form of Ezra Standish, and in Salt Lake in turn. Ever since then the two communities were like one.

"Danielle," Franklin now replied.

His eyes fell on Max and the younger vampire winced away.

"This is Max," Danielle introduced him, almost unnecessarily.

Max became even smaller.

"We talked," she said. "I explained to him that his information on you was... outdated and slightly warped."

Franklin could now see the naked fear in the dark eyes. It hurt to have someone so terrified for now reason.

"Max."

Max's breath audibly caught in his throat.

"Where did you have the information from?"

"I... I asked around," was the shaky reply. "I'm sorry, sir. I never wanted that... I thought it was true... and I wanted to warn David..."

Franklin smiled, hoping it came across as reassuring. "You warned him. You did the right thing. You just never verified your information."

Max swallowed hard.

"He verified it now," Danielle added, but not unkindly. "With me. I apologize in turn, Franklin."

"No harm done. At least it revealed a new ally to us."

Max flinched. "But David... he never wanted to be... known..."

"He is now."

"Shit..." the younger man whispered softly. "He's gonna throw a fit."

"In a way he already has."

Dark eyes closed. "Shit."

"He'll need a friend now," Franklin told him gently. "You and him, you might want to talk."

"He'll kill me for creating this mess," Max moaned.

"Like him, you only worked with information you had, which you believed were real."

He swallowed a few times. "I... I apologize. I... whatever punishment you see fit, I'll take it."

Franklin shot the younger vampire a surprised look. "Punishment?" he echoed, glancing at Danielle.

"It was my fault," Max mumbled. "I deserve it."

And he was visibly still shaking in his boots. Franklin shook his head.

"There will be no punishment. It was an honest mistake and if all information had been true, you two would have prevented a lot of damage."

"But we did the damage!" Max argued in a spurt of bravery. "W-what if... if this damages your reputation? You're..."

Franklin smiled calmly. "I'm in no position to get damaged, Max. I'll never be again. This won't do me any harm."

Max looked unconvinced. Danielle nodded her agreement to the words and squeezed Max's shoulder.

"You did good, Max," she repeated. "There won't be repercussions. For either of the parties involved."

"Okay," the young man mumbled after a while. "Uh... if you see Dave... tell him I'm really sorry. And if he wants to ever talk to me again, he knows where to find me."

Franklin chuckled. "I will."

When the vampire was gone, almost running from the two very powerful figures, the leader of the Las Vegas community turned to Franklin.

"I didn't know such rumors were still circulating within out community."

Franklin shrugged. "I'm not really surprised."

She regarded him seriously. "If you were amore active part..."

"No, Danielle. No. I came here to be with Conrad and that's all there is. I thanked you for your offer before and I do it again. I'm not interested, thanks. I was where you are now. It was a long and hard fall. I don't care about it any more. I found what I need."

She smiled a little. "Yes, I know."

Of course she did. She would. She had to. Franklin made no secret of his relationship with Conrad and that the human was his life partner. That he was also a shaman was something different. Only a select few knew about that particular specialty.

"Don't be too hard on Max," Franklin said casually as he turned to go.

"He learned his lesson."

The blond smiled a little, then was on his way home.

Now they only had to solve the problem with David Hodges.

* * *

He woke from deep sleep and for a moment David Hodges had no idea where he was and what had happened.

That lasted for about a second.

Then it came back and his eyes shot open wide, his body tensed, and he sat up with a gasp. Immediately he became aware of the soothing warm vibes permeating his body, bringing him down before he even had a chance to panic. He groaned a little and buried his head in his hands, feeling spikes of hair sticking in all directions.

"Good morning, David," a soft, almost musical voice interrupted his thoughts.

He glanced up and wasn't surprised to find an impeccably looking Nandi meeting his eyes. She smiled at him.

"Hungry?"

Actually, he was. So he nodded.

"I'll order room service. If you want to, you can take a shower."

Shower. Sounded good.

Really good.

"I've taken the liberty of getting you new clothes, too," the shaman went on - and he still had a hard time thinking of her as one.

"Thanks," he murmured.

His mind started to rally again. So much had happened, so much was still happening.

Staring at the image in the bathroom mirror he was horrified by his pasty white skin color, the sunken eyes, and the lines that had, within a day, appeared. Stress was glaring back at him. Stress and fear and sleeplessness. David Hodges had never been a good-looking man in his own eyes; he was normal. Nothing to catch anyone's fancy. But right now he could run for street bum of the year.

The shower revived him a bit more, made it easier for him to think clearly, and by the time he came out of the bathroom, dressed, hair damp and still roguishly wild, he had calmed down somewhat.

Hodges was greeted by a small assortment of rolls, jam and cereal. He glanced toward the window and found the sun was already setting, which made this a very late and unusual breakfast. He was surprised to find any breakfast at all in this dump of a place.

Nandi smiled. "If you prefer a steak and eggs, feel free to call room service. I'm more of a fruit person myself."

"No," he murmured. "No, it's fine."

So this place really had room service?

He didn't even have an idea what he was hungry for. He only knew he had to eat before falling over from hunger.

Nandi regarded him quietly as he snatched a waffle and some fruit.

"How do you feel?"

Hodges met the deep brown eyes, part of his mind still highly fascinated by the very concept of her being a shaman. Shamans had always been myths for him. Like werewolves, though those beasties existed for real. There had been sightings. But shamans... no. Shamans weren't high profile paranormals. They were handled as myths and legends, and if they existed they hid well.

"I don't know," he answered and looked at his plate again, concentrating on his food.

"Understandable."

Silence descended and Hodges ate his waffle, then pushed the plate away, his stomach constricting all of a sudden.

"David?"

The soft voice was close to him once more and he felt Nandi's gentle aura caress him.

"Everything will be okay," she promised. "Everything will be explained. You're not in danger. No one is going to hurt you."

No one except a rogue vampire. No one but Franklin. His hands clenched into fists.

"David..."

It was like honey, smooth and golden and sweet, and it wrapped itself around him, holding him, seeping into his mind.

"I will protect you," Nandi promised.

She was a shaman. She would protect him. He closed his eyes and felt the tremors begin again.

"Will you trust me?"

Trust. Such a fragile gift to give. He had been so completely burned when he had last trusted someone, when he had opened up and allowed them to become friends; good friends.

Warmth touched him. Safety.

Earth magic.

"David?"

"I..."

"I will protect you," Nandi repeated, crouching down in front of him, her slender hands on his knees. "Will you trust me enough to accompany me to a place where we can explain everything to you."

Paranoia screeched through him. It was immediately derailed by the gentle safety, evaporating completely.

"Where?"

"The home of Dr. Grissom."

Would he trust her?

He couldn't. Trust hurt. Trust could be broken. Friendship meant nothing.

But he wanted to be safe and Grissom... Grissom was his boss and there was no danger there, right?

Hodges' over-burdened mind finally surrendered to the gentle embrace of the shaman's powers and he nodded.

* * *

David Hodges had never been in this part of the city. It was a remote, out of the way suburbish area of Las Vegas, and only those with the need for peace and quiet came here. It was an expensive neighborhood to buy or rent; quiet with larger houses, clean streets and safe.

But Nandi didn't stop anywhere here, she drove on, leaving all the expensive homes behind them. They went off the main road and down an unpaved stretch with bushes and trees left and right. At the end of the road was a white stone building. It was set back from the street, had two tall trees up front, a double parking garage, and looked pretty nice.

Hodges curiously looked at the house, surprised. This was where Grissom lived? Out here?

They stopped in front of the garage and Nandi got out, smiling encouragingly at him. Hodges followed, still a bit confused. The door was opened before Nandi had a chance to ring and to Hodges' utter shock it was Nick Stokes who met them.

Not Grissom.

Stokes.

What the fuck...?

"Hey, guys. Come on in."

A gentle nudge made him walk on into the house, confusion mounting.

Nick led them through the entrance hall, past stairs that led to a second floor, and into a large living room. Hodges looked around, but he took in little. He was too stunned by it all.

"Want a beer or a soda?" Nick offered.

"Soda," he managed.

And Stokes was off toward the kitchen.

"Hello, David," a new voice greeted him and Hodges tried not to flinch.

Nandi was still very close by, her touch on his shoulder calming him immensely, and Hodges managed a brief hello.

"Let's sit down," Grissom decided and Hodges just followed the lead.

Grissom looked at him with those serene blue eyes, his face calm and deceptively smooth. As always, he appeared casual and professional in one, the boss of the night shift, the very person others worshipped for his sharp mind, his no-nonsense attitude, his political neutrality. Gil Grissom had done and still did what he thought was right, politics be damned, and Hodges admired him for it. And for many things more.

Now he sat in his boss's home, looking not only at him but also at Nick Stokes. Stokes, who was casually dressed, who appeared to be very much at home here, too, and Hodges tried to fight the inappropriate thoughts rising to the forefront. He lost that fight.

But he had never caught onto anything in the lab! he argued with himself. They were either good or he was too horribly confused to think straight.

He almost laughed at that.

"Why am I here?" he asked.

Grissom smiled a little, tilting his head. "Because you need an explanation. Because this has to stop. Because a lot of things have happened and two communities are currently creating quite an uproar."

Hodges blanched. "C-co-communities?" he stuttered.

No way... Grissom couldn't know about this. Not about the vampire communities!

Another one of those smiles. Angelic, innocent, but far from it. "Los Angeles and Las Vegas. And since Las Vegas is rippling, Salt Lake is looking into things."

Hodges swallowed. "You... you're an ally?"

Nick grinned, that boyish smile with the dimples that had Hodges in envy of the man. Nick Stokes, handsome, popular, criminalist, and people person. He had actually tried to become friends with the man, but his attempts had been misinterpreted.

"No, not really," Stokes said amiably. "But I think you should tell him from the start, Gil. Everything else is just confusing."

Grissom nodded. "Yes, you're right. It all started at a conference in Salt Lake City, where I was killed."

And Hodges world came to an abrupt stop. "What?" he squeaked.

"I witnessed something I wasn't supposed to see," the criminalist went on, almost casual about it. "I was stabbed and died, only to come back to life..."

And the whole story unfolded. Hodges wasn't aware of the exact moment when a glass of liquor was pressed into his hands, but he was entirely grateful for it, feeling his mind reel at the events.

Grissom was a Phoenix.

Nick was a Mimic.

He had heard about their existence, but only as vague rumors. Hodges had been too low in the chain of command to get more than a few wisps of information. And he hadn't really cared. Sure, part of him had been fascinated, but that part had been quickly told to shut up. Now he was looking them in the eyes.

And if the rumors were correct, the Phoenix and the Mimic were... in a relationship.

Ah hell, so much for that. These two were together and no one had seen it?

But what came even more as a shock were the ties. Those intricately woven connections, those powerful bonds to Salt Lake, the community there, and other paranormals. Hodges had heard of the Nexus as just another one of those myths and rumors, but now.. now it was real and he was right in the middle of it.
Names like Ezra Standish rang a bell. A very loud bell. Standish was power itself. He was the leader of the Salt Lake community, Las Vegas was strongly tied to him, and he was a Child of Franklin. His last surviving one.

"But he's a rogue," Hodges heard himself whisper, shaking his head.

"Your information was outdated," Grissom only said calmly. "It's true that Franklin lost his position in San Francisco, but he was never a rogue. Standish held a grudge against him for a while, but things have smoothed over."

"For a while now," a new voice added.

Hodges gave a cry of surprise and almost toppled over the chair as he instinctively sought safety.

Franklin leaned against the door jamb, holding up both hands in a calming gesture.

"Sorry," the vampire said. "I didn't mean to scare you."

His heart was racing and he was breathing hard. Hodges tried to pull himself together, but simply looking at the predator in their midst made him want to run.

"David," Nandi's soothing voice reached his mind, wrapping itself around the frightened man. "You're safe here. I told you I'd protect you."

He swallowed heavily. Nandi cast a reprimanding look at the blond and Franklin sighed.

"She's not the only one."

Hodges knew that he couldn't take much more when Conrad Ecklie joined them, shooting a dark look at Franklin.

"I never meant to scare him like that!" the vampire defended himself weakly.

"Well, you did. I appreciate the gesture, but scaring my personnel is still my prerogative."

Someone placed a hand on his shoulder and Hodges flinched. Nandi's slender figure was next to him, her dark eyes radiating calmness, and her strong fingers squeezed his shoulder gently.

"Come, sit."

He did. So did she. Next to him. Her hand curled around his wrist, exuding warmth, making him relax. It was as if her aura was now curled around him, protective, soothing, very much balm on his frazzled soul.

"David," Grissom caught his attention. "Franklin is very much part of the Nexus and he isn't a rogue. He left San Francisco and he came here. Ezra is aware of his presence and he approves of it."

"But..." he stuttered.

"Your contact had old information," the older man told him once more.

"You reacted commendably, though," Nandi smiled, squeezing his wrist. "You did what you had to do."

Grissom nodded his approval. "Yes, you did. But in the process you also slid right into the middle of things."

"I never meant to..."

"Probably, but you have ended up in the Nexus, David. I know from various sources that you are an ally, but you never got involved. You left L.A. for personal reasons, you laid low, but now you found us."

He bit his lip. Paranoia screamed at him. He had discovered the identity of very rare paranormals. He had stirred up a hornets nest. He had created a mess. His mother had created havoc in the L.A. community out of worry for him. Because he had falsely accused Franklin Las Vegas was now aware of him, as well as Salt Lake. A powerful vampire like Ezra Standish knew his name in a very unsavory connection.

"I," he started, then stopped, inhaling deeply. "You'll have my resignation by tomorrow, sir. I'll leave voluntarily."

Grissom's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Ecklie just frowned, arms crossed in front of his chest.

Hodges had no idea where to go, but he knew some lab would always be looking for a technician. He would get a new job - and lay very, very low this time.

"I'm not going to accept it," Grissom remarked.

Hodges steeled himself. "But..."

"If you think we're expecting you to leave," Ecklie now could be heard, "you're wrong."

"But..." Now confusion seeped in. "Sir?" he stuttered, seeking help from Ecklie.

He had admired the man as much as he admired Gil Grissom, though for different reasons. Ecklie had the bearings of a man who, though aware of his opposition every day, made his way and wasn't ashamed of how he did it.

"You're an ally, Mr. Hodges," his superior said calmly. "As such you are expected to act like one."

Who was Conrad Ecklie anyway? Hodges mused faintly. What was his relationship with the others?

He and Grissom were like oil and water, got along like a house on fire, and usually their 'conversations' ended in one or both looking like they had just bitten into a lemon. Right now, taking in the relaxed stance, there was nothing of the enmity even remotely visible. Ecklie was in Grissom's home and he looked... like he belonged her, too. Well, in a way. Not like Stokes. Stokes definitely belonged here.

Hodges felt his head starting to hurt.

Was Ecklie an ally?

"Why are you in on this?" he blurted.

Ecklie smiled. "It's a long story. Let's just say that I became involved as someone who found out about this paranormal twist to the world, but I'm no longer an ally."

Confusion turned to even greater confusion. "Sir?"

How could an ally not be an ally? Even Hodges, who was trying not to get involved, was one.

Ecklie glanced at Nandi and she nodded. "Tell him. He knows a lot already."

Fear coursed through him. He knew enough to be a danger? He knew too much? He would be silenced should he talk?
Nandi ran calming caresses over his arm. "It's okay, David."

"I... I don't need to know anything!" he whispered desperately. "I don't want to! I'll leave and you'll never hear from me again, okay?"

Ecklie sat down opposite, the dark eyes serious but also so strangely balanced.

"David," he said, using Hodges' first name in an almost intimate address. "I understand your fear. I was scared in the beginning, too. I found out that my previous lover had been a magic-user and had been killed because of it. I never knew back then. I also discovered a whole world out there that terrified me, that made me want to run, and I did. I left for San Francisco. It's where I met Franklin. That he turned out to be a vampire was another shock. I had many of them. I became an ally and lately, things changed once more. What you witnessed in the car park was part of that. I involuntarily inherited a dying shaman's powers, David. I am that shaman now."

The world slip-slid away from him and David felt his stomach constrict.

Ecklie was... a shaman? A real shaman?

Someone Hodges had always thought to be a myth? And now he had met two in a brief time.

"You... you're not going to make me disappear because of what I know?" he asked shakily.

Nick's eyes widened in shock, the expression mirrored by Grissom. "What?"

The graveyard supervisor just stared at Hodges like he had grown a second head. It was the sheer disbelief in the man's eyes that had Hodges calm down a notch. But only a notch.

 "No, David," Ecklie told him. "We would like you as our ally"

He swallowed.

Nick smiled. "You stepped in with both feet, Hodges. You're here to stay."

An ally to the Nexus. No way!

But only a groan came out.

* * *

Hodges stood outside in the dark garden, inhaling the dry, still warm air of the late evening, his eyes on the total darkness of the desert stretching out in front of him. Just past the desert trees and bushes that made up the garden of Grissom and Stokes's home, there was nothing but nature. No other houses, no highways, nothing. Just... landscape.

Leaning against a sturdy old tree, he tried to calm his racing thoughts, tried to make sense of it all. He knew everyone was still inside, probably talking about him. They always did. You didn't have to be paranoid to know that.

So Grissom and Nick were an item; a paranormal item.

Ecklie was a shaman and he had something going with a vampire.

And they were all part of the Nexus.

Shit. Shit, shit, shit!

There was a soft scraping noise and he whirled, almost crying out at the appearance of a second figure. Heart racing, blood pounding in his ears, Hodges stumbled away from the tree. His body was ready to either run or fight. Right now, he knew neither was a good decision.

"Please," the soft voice of Franklin could be heard and the vampire stepped into the circle of light from one of the lamps out here. "I didn't mean to scare you. I just wanted to talk to you."

Hodges tried to get his panting breaths under control. "About what?" he stuttered.

Franklin remained where he was and folded his arms tightly against his body. "Actually, it's more of an apology."

"You apologized already."

A small smile. "Yeah. I wanted to say it again, in private. I'm sorry, David. I never meant to frighten you. It was... it was just..." He stopped, fighting visibly for words, then shrugged. "Conrad and I went through a lot of shit lately, and I've become very protective of him."
Hodges had seen that, even when the two men were not standing close to each other. Franklin wasn't possessive - he was protective, keeping a careful eye on his partner.

"Yeah, well. Apology accepted," he murmured, just wishing the vampire would leave.

He had never been afraid of their kind. For the first time in his life now David Hodges feared what he had grown up with.
Gray eyes looked at him, and the whole man radiated misery. It was so strange. Was a two centuries old being supposed to be so... insecure in the matters of emotions? Why did Franklin even care? Why did he mind what his behavior did to people around him?

Sure, Raymond had cared about a young David back then. He had been like a father for the boy, had helped him as much as he could, but in his rebellious years David had lashed out at everyone. He had hated and despised the vampire who had, in his eyes, taken his mother from him.

Today their relationship was a friendly one. Puberty had passed.

Still, did he really know vampires? Just because his mother had become one, just because her Sire had been something like his step-father?

I've never been in the loop. How can I really know what is true and what's myth? I just found out that shamans are for real... and the Phoenix and the Mimic...
Hodges sighed.

"I'm not a rogue," Franklin said softly, suddenly closer than before.

"I know," Hodges replied, startled by the move of the blond.

He edged a little away, trying to find the courage to stand his ground, be he didn't. He was scared to death of the man. He was terrified of what he had stumbled into.

"I'm not your enemy. I would try and keep away, but I can't. Conrad is my partner and I visit him, pick him up after work... we're bound to run into each other. And... you're part of the Nexus now. I'm sorry, David, I really am."

Hodges closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. "I know all that."

But could he believe it? Could trust them?

Franklin gave him a tentative smile. "You're still wondering," he remarked, the smile now a bit wider, a bit more open.

"W-what?"

"About me and Conrad. How a human and a vampire can be together like we are."

Hodges felt embarrassment course through him. "I... I ..."

"You're our ally. You're allowed to ask questions."

"It's your private life," Hodges muttered.

"True, but it's also something many people have wondered. Conrad might be a shaman now, but he was human when we met."
"In San Francisco."

A nod. "Yes. Have you ever heard of the term life partners in connection to vampires?" Franklin asked casually.

He had. Once. He had almost laughed about it. It was a chance in a million...

Hodges' eyes widened and Franklin smiled a little, nodding. The lab technician almost gaped.

Life partners? Those two? And Ecklie had been a simple human being back then? Not a paranormal?

Ah hell!

"We should go back inside," Franklin just said. "Or I've at least one shaman on my tail."

Hodges followed him like in a dream.

*

Ecklie had watched his lover leave to talk to their new ally with a worried eye. He had seen and almost felt how much Hodges was terrified of the vampire. As the vampire's lover he knew that Franklin was a dangerous predator, but he also loved him and he had never been afraid of him. Still, taking a step back, looking at it from an outside view, he knew that being faced with Franklin in vampire mode would make anyone wet his pants.

"He's terrified," Grissom remarked, joining him in his contemplations of the night.

"Rightly so. He thought he was being pursued by a rogue. I don't have all information on Mr. Hodges, but he is an ally, he knows the ropes, and he doesn't get involved."

"Something made him become involved."

Ecklie chuckled. "Yes. Me."

"It could have been anyone, Conrad. He saw a human in danger and reacted accordingly."

"For an ally who hates to be involved he reacted commendably," the other man agreed.

He had been an ally, too. Still was, in a way. That he was now a paranormal didn't change anything. Ecklie had done what was in his considerable power to help the paranormal world, but Hodges had tried to dodge the bullet and be... anonymous.

"His mother is in L.A. His ties are there," Grissom went on, still thoughtful. "He left for a reason."

Ecklie cocked an eyebrow. "You should know. You employed him."

A fine smile answered that remark. "Yes, I should."

Two pairs of eyes met and Ecklie suddenly answered that smile.

"His reason is his own?" he hazarded a guess.

"Yes."

And he accepted the answer. Right now it wasn't important, but should it influence Las Vegas, Ecklie would ask again. And he would get an answer.

* * *

Nandi had driven him home. Hodges hadn't really said much, had just come along, and when he had walked into his apartment it had been like entering a new old world. Gone for a day and everything was alien to him.

But also home.

More of a home than the hotel room had been. More of a home than anything.

He didn't think much of the woman now going through his cupboards, the fridge and the freezer, checking for food. He didn't stop her from making coffee. David just took a shower and changed his clothes, staring at his reflection in the full length mirror.

God, he looked pale and tired. The cynical twist to his mouth was still there, but the exhaustion was covering it all like a heavy blanket. He was tired and his mind wanted to rest. To blank and think of nothing.

That was him.

Pale. Lifeless. Exhausted. Nobody special. Just like he had always wanted to be. Not special at all.

But he was part of the Nexus now, had been thrown into it because he hadn't been able to keep his ally senses in check.

"Idiot," he whispered and turned away from the mirror.

Dressing in a simple, gray shirt and black jogging pants Hodges went into the bedroom and collapsed onto the bed.

Idiot. Moron. Ape. Fool. Ass.

It kept repeating in his overtaxed mind.

You got caught in the Nexus, you brainless bastard. You stupid, stupid jerk!

He curled up, eyes screwed shut.

This would end badly, he just knew it. It ended badly every time he got too involved, opened up, made friends.

Just like the last time.

He simply knew it.

It took a long time for Hodges to fall asleep and even then it brought no rest.

*

Nandi had waited until David had truly fallen asleep, then she had briefly gone to the mini market at the corner and shopped to fill the fridge and the freezer. Hodges cooked for himself, but only for himself, and there was little she found really nourishing in those cupboards.

That done, she started to make some calls. The first went to her assistant manager, a man who worked miracles in her absence. His name was Leo Gospel and he was the complete opposite to what his name suggested. He was a tall, very blond man in his mid-thirties, with ice-green eyes, someone who rarely saw the outside before nightfall or after the sun came up, and he was, as he always told people, tone-deaf. Couldn't hold a tune. Gospel had come to work for Nandi a few years ago. He had been a lucky strike on her part.

First because he was an ally. He knew the paranormal world inside out. Second because he had been fresh off business school, knew what he was talking about, and managing was in his blood. She relied on him for filling her shoes in her absence whenever some emergency struck. He did so. Without questions, without complaints, without problem.

"Leo? Nandi here." She smiled as the baritone voice answered her. "I'll be away for a little longer. Something came up."

There was no hesitation in Leo's voice as he told her to take all the time she needed. She appreciated him even more for his easy attitude.

"Thanks, Leo. You're a treasure."

And she hung up.

Stretching, she checked David's sleep, found him resting, and decided to catch up on sleep as well. She had no idea what tomorrow would bring, but she knew it would be hard on the new active ally in the next room.

David Hodges was suddenly in a position he had always fought, had always tried not to be in - and he was preparing himself for a battle.

Well, so was she.

* * *

He woke from one second to the next. Well, there were a few moments of waking up involved, but to David Hodges it felt like there was no real passing of time. He was asleep, in darkness, no dreams; then he was awake.

A stabbing pain behind his eyes greeted his first attempts to look around, and he groaned softly, burying his head in his pillow.

The pain stayed. Dull, persistent, pulsing.

So he lay there, in his bed, his mind numbed by the pain, and he tried not to think. But thoughts came nevertheless. Thoughts and memories.

It took him a while to finally make it upright, despite the constant ache in his forehead, and luckily his bathroom cabinet held the answer to his pain - ibuprofen. He swallowed a heavy dosage of three pills and stumbled into the shower. The water helped a little and the painkillers kicked in, but he wasn't in blissful heaven yet.
Dressed in a shirt and old pants, Hodges walked into the living room and stopped dead, staring at the couch. There was a blanket there, bunched up, and pillows. Someone had slept on the couch. The smell of coffee that had woken him came from the kitchen and when Hodges looked into the small kitchen unit he almost froze.

"What...?" he stuttered.

Nandi, looking completely different from the business woman and shaman he had gotten to, smiled a greeting.

"Good morning, David. Coffee?"

He nodded almost automatically and clutched the mug of hot, black liquid. His eyes were on the woman. Jeans, a simple, dark green t-shirt, sneakers... the long, wavy hair bound back in a pony tail.

"What are you doing here?" he finally asked.

"I made breakfast."

"You slept here?" he squeaked.

Nandi nodded. "I hope you don't mind."

"But... why?"

She turned to face him fully and he almost got lost in that expression of warmth and compassion. "I gave you my word to protect you, David."

"But... it's over," Hodges stammered. "Franklin isn't still after me... right?" Fear rushed through him at the very thought.

Had they just played him last night? Was it a game? But he had never figured Grissom as cruel... then again, he had never thought of him as a paranormal either.

The fear multiplied and he moved away from her.

"No, he isn't," Nandi could be heard and her aura embraced him. He felt her warmth seep into his wired mind, soothe it so easily.  "You'll be fine, David. Would you like me to leave?"

He swallowed hard. Did he really want her to leave? Be alone in his home? As much he wanted to say yes, something inside of him balked at the very thought.

Nandi regarded him calmly, still smiling, then she made an inviting gesture toward the table. And he sat down, still clutching the mug, wondering when his world had been so completely altered that even he, as an ally, couldn't recognize it any more.

* * *

"Thank the powers you're all right!"

The voice at the other end of the phone sounded very, very relieved and Hodges had to smile.

"Yeah, I am. Sorry to worry you so much."

Susan Hodges blew out a breath. "Don't apologize, David. You did the right thing calling me."

"And you created an uproar in L.A."

His mother's smile was almost audible. "Better this way than letting it slide. I wouldn't want to get a call from Vegas, telling me you're in trouble." Or worse, was the unspoken addition.

He could have been killed, Hodges knew. Easily.

"I'm okay, Mom," he said quietly.

"I'm glad, David. Very glad." Susan hesitated a moment, then asked a question she hadn't asked for a long time, "Will you visit?"

Hodges hesitated. He hadn't looked back ever since leaving L.A., and he hadn't seen his mother in over three years.

"Mom, I... I don't think it would be a good idea now. I mean, the communities and all.."

She chuckled. "It was a little ripple in the fish tank, nothing major."

Hodges begged to differ. It had been more than a ripple. But he kept his mouth shut.

"I'll call again," he only said quietly.

And his mother accepted the decision.

It was how the call ended, and he felt bad about it. He loved his mother, despite everything he had ever thought about her, what he had told her. The teenage years were long past.

Still... right now he had to clear his own head, get his own emotions in order, before he could go back to a place where too many bad memories resided.

* * *

Personal leave had come and gone.  He hadn't realized the passage of time. Not really. Hodges had gone back to work and voila, he was in the middle of cases again. He tried to push away the knowledge he had gained in the last few days, but sometimes it was hard to do so.

Nick Stokes and Gil Grissom crossed his path on a regular basis. He wanted to act normally around them, but he failed. He knew what they were, that he was their ally, that they might call on him for help. They were in the Nexus and they were rare paranormals.

Not that it showed.

Then there was Ecklie. His superior's superior. A shaman. In a relationship with a vampire. And whenever he saw Ecklie, he tried not to think of that either.

He failed most of the time.

Hodges buried himself in work, but there was no escape.

At home, there was nothing to distract him. Nothing but the paper and the in-house journal. More often than not he found his eyes drifting to specific pages.

'Forensic Specialist' was the headline. 'The City of Concord (CA) is seeking applicants for the position of Forensic Specialist.'

Hodges stared at the letters, the words, the sentences, and he wondered.

'Crime Scene Technician.' This time they were looking for one in Fort Worth (TX).

There were positions, he had the qualifications...

Hodges pushed the journal away, feeling the familiar pain again.

He liked Las Vegas. He liked the lab. He liked the work. Going somewhere else was like being demoted. It felt... like deserting.

I'm not their ally! he thought desperately.

But he was. He was an ally to the community and to the paranormal world.

Changing the job would be running. Changing his apartment would be hiding. Not that they wouldn't be able to find him. Human Resources needed his address and Grissom would get it with ease.

David Hodges felt like he was in a free fall, and there was no one there to help him fly - or cushion his fall.

Greg knew about him now, but the former lab rat hadn't really done a lot to scare Hodges off yet. Hodges had expected Sanders to pester him, to be there, demand answers, but so far there had been only the offer to talk if he felt he needed to. Greg would listen.

It had stunned him.

He hadn't expected that, least of all from Sanders.
 
 

Leaving his apartment, hands stuffed in his pockets, David walked the streets, mind whirling. Part of him wanted to just run. Leave it all behind, forget about the special people working for the PD and the crime lab, forget about the Nexus. Another teased him with the fact that he just wouldn't be able to put it all behind him.

How could one forget the existence of shamans, a Phoenix and a Mimic? Hell, he knew so little about either of the three, but the few scraps he had picked up had him in awe.

Deep down inside Hodges wanted to be part of this.

But he had been burned before. He knew how such involvement on his part ended. Last time he had been able to extricate himself from the mess of getting too close, of having friends, and he had come from L.A. to Las Vegas.

What if things went out of control again?

What if he ended up like back then?

Would anyone even employ him any more?

It had been luck on his part that Grissom hadn't dug into the real reasons why his boss in L.A. had recommended him so highly. Any other man would have become suspicious. After getting to know Gil Grissom, Hodges knew that the supervisor was anything but sensitive to political games.

He wasn't really surprised to find himself in front of The Shaman after a while. Staring at the bright logo, watching people enter the casino, he contemplated his next move.

It was made for him by a tall blond man in a white suite. Peroxide blond, David thought faintly. Definitely not natural. Tall and good looking with sharp green eyes, the man smiled down at him.

"Hey. I'm Leo Gospel. You must be David. Nandi said I could find you here."

She did? She had? She knew he was standing in front of the main entrance?

Oh, he thought faintly. Probably shaman stuff.

"You want to come in?" Gospel asked amiably.

Who was this man? A vampire? A magic user? Ally? Hodges was no longer sure about anything.

But he nodded.

And he followed the man.

It was how he ended up on the top floor, in a huge office that housed not only  a desk with a computer but also a conference table, a couch, several couch chairs, a mini-bar and whatnot.

Nandi's office.

He was impressed.

The shaman was dressed in her usual, very crisp and business-like outfit, being the representative she had to be. Stunning, beautiful... Hodges swallowed.

"David," she greeted him. "How are you?"

Confused, he thought. Terrified. Unable to go on like this.

Nothing made it over his lips. He just shrugged. "Fine."

Nandi's raven wing eyebrows dipped a little. The ice blond had left, Hodges noticed faintly. The office was silent, they were alone.

"David?" she inquired gently.

Why was he here? Why had he come to this place? Did he really trust her that much?

Yes, part of him cried.

She had protected him, had given him her word.

But the crisis was over and Nandi Kidja Kunene had better things to do than baby-sit some low-level, scaredy-cat ally.

Hodges clenched his hands into fists. "I should go," he said softly and turned.

"David," she called again. "Please stay."

"Why?"

"Why did you come here?"

He bit his lower lip. Yes, why?

"I don't want this," he whispered.

Nandi regarded him calmly. "What exactly? Being here with me? Or being an ally?"

He shot her a half-hearted glare. "I can't be but an ally! My parents made sure of it because they are allies."

Everyone who knew about the paranormal was an ally, so to speak. There were only differences in how involved one was. Hodges had made sure he wouldn't be involved very deeply or at all.

"Why do you despise helping us so much?"

Now it was a glare. "You have to ask?"

Nandi's calm expression didn't change. "Yes."

"You know my file already!" he accused. "Stop playing with me!"

And then he felt her gentle aura again, felt it brushing against his upset mind, and he hated her for it even more. But he also liked the contact; more than he would ever allow himself to feel.

"I'm not playing with you, David. I don't know your file. I only know what I've been told before meeting you, and that never involved your past." Nandi never lost her soothing nature. "If you don't want to talk about it I can accept it."

He deflated. Sinking onto the couch he buried his head in his hands, fingers digging into his scalp.

"I'm so screwed," he whispered.

"No, just hurt. And confused. It was a lot for you."

"And I never wanted it," he whispered. "Never."

There was no further prodding, but Hodges felt the need bubble up inside of him. The need to talk. To make someone understand because no one ever had.

"Mom was an ally. Don't know about my father; I never met him. And my grandparents were allies to, I guess. Never met them either. And then she turned vampire on me and everything went down the drain."

And Hodges told his listener about his life, about how his mother had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis before his birth, how she had desperately wanted to live a healthy life, and how Raymond had agreed to turn her. But not right away. It wasn't that easy. Vampires just didn't turn the next best victim who came to them. Raymond patiently talked to his mother, told Susan what to expect of a life as a vampire, what the drawbacks were compared to a close to immortal life.
"She agreed to it all," he whispered. "But she also wanted to have a baby and so I was born. Raymond was there throughout the pregnancy, the birth, everything. And he agreed when she wanted to wait before the last step, wait until the sickness was too debilitating to continue. Mom thought she had a few more years, to watch me grow, maybe have a second child."

Hodges stared at his hands.

"She didn't.  She had two more years. Intervals grew shorter, she was bed-ridden, suffering... and he turned her. I was three back then. And it was the end of my childhood. She was a new vampire and for the first months she had to learn to curb her instincts, and I was just in the way."

So he was left with aunts and uncles who weren't even related to him. They were all allies, knew what had happened, and they raised him. He had a lot of playmates his own age or older, but he had lost his mother.

Puberty hit then. Teenage years, growing into a young man, and defiance took over his mind. He wanted out. He wanted nothing to do with a world who had taken his mother away from him. David understood that MS would have taken his mother sooner or later, probably before his fifth birthday, but he didn't care back.

So he left when he was able to. He left for college, immersed himself in his studies, and broke off whatever connected him to the paranormal world. The vampire community had made sure he had a college place, an apartment, money, but he didn't care. He just didn't care.

He barely spoke to his mother and usually he started yelling at her.

"It only got better when I was out of college, had my degrees and started a job. I so badly wanted to be somewhere else but L.A., but it was the only job I could land." Hodges sighed softly. "Do you know how hard it is to see your mother, looking about thirty? I told all my friends back at school or in college that she is my older sister or my aunt. I could never tell anyone but allies the truth. I lived in two worlds, like all of us do, but I couldn't separate those lives. She wanted to be my mother, but she couldn't be outside the community. I missed her, Nandi. Often. I cried in my sleep, even back at college. I wanted her to be there, but she couldn't, because she couldn't be my Mom."

A warm hand touched his and he felt fingers interlace with his, curl around his.

"I'm sorry, David. I understand that it scarred you. It warped your perception of the paranormal."

He clung to that contact, to her voice and sympathy. He needed it, even if it was only pity. He had dealt with pity before. It wasn't so hard and there was only so much of his pride left.

"I swore myself never to get involved ever again. I didn't want all of this. I didn't want to be part of a world who had screwed up my life!" he whispered.

"But you are now. You're an ally, David, and we need you."

"Why me?" he demanded. "I'm no one!"

"You are our ally. You are David Hodges," Nandi told him, smiling gently. "We need you."

"Because Sanders left the lab!" he snarled.

"No, David. You're not a replacement."

"Then what am I?" he snapped. "I've never done real ally work before! I never cared! What do you expect me to do now? I can't do this, Nandi! I just can't!"

And then her arms were around him, holding him, and he clung to the slender but powerful frame of a woman he hadn't known until a  few days ago. No tears came, but his body was shaking.

"I can't," he whispered again and again.

A tender caress over his head made him want to hide, run and hide, be somewhere else.

"You can. You will." Her voice was a warm whisper. "I will help you, David."

"Why?"

She smiled. "Do you always need a reason?"

Hodges laughed darkly. "Kinda. I always had a reason in the past."

Nandi met the wavering gaze. "The reason is that we need allies. You know about us and you did good already. You have the right instincts. Your contact's information was a bit off, but you worked with is and drew the for you right conclusions. David, please... think about it."

"What if I can't? What if I say no?"

"Then no one will pressure you." She looked slightly sad. "But can you really walk away from this? From it all? From the knowledge?"

Hodges evaded the dark eyes. He didn't know. He had walked away in the past, but back then he had never had to deal with something as outstanding as this.

And if he walked away as an ally, he had to leave Las Vegas, too. He had to walk away from his job because two of his superiors were paranormals, not to mention that another criminalist was one too, and there was an ally among them.

It was too much at the moment.

Hodges became aware of Nandi's close proximity and jerked back, startled. A light blush of embarrassment touched his cheeks and he got up, pacing.

"I can't... deal with this right now," he whispered.

"You can have all the time you need."

"It might take a while."

The shaman met his gaze with such patience, Hodges wanted to run.

"Why do you care so much?" he whispered. "Why do you care about me? I'm not important!"

"Every single person is important. Life is precious. As a shaman I know that even more than anyone else," Nandi answered simply.

"But I'm not a high level ally!"

"No, you're our ally. I want you to be."

"Why?" he yelled desperately.

No one had ever wanted him to be anything like this. He had evaded the responsibility. Successfully. Now he had stumbled into the Nexus, face first, both feet in, and he couldn't get out.

And she was there again, her aura wrapped around him, and he yearned for that soft touch. So much that it scared him.

"Calm down," she murmured. "No one will force you. If you say no, we will accept it. No repercussions."

She would be disappointed.

"No, I won't be," Nandi answered. So he had said his thoughts out loud. "You're not doing this for anyone but yourself. Only yourself. You have to feel comfortable with it."

And I feel comfortable with you, Hodges thought, then clamped down on that thought.

Evading her eyes, he finally rose from the couch and paced a few feet, then stopped again.

"I'm sorry," he said softly. "I... need to leave. I..."

She nodded.

And he hated her understanding, her knowledge. Why couldn't she yell at him for being such a coward?

But that wasn't a shaman's way.
 
 

The way home was spent thinking, but David found no solution for his problem. And he doubted time would really tell.

* * *

Nandi had watched the inner struggle of the man she had come to know as David Hodges. There were so many layers to him, there was such a deep pain inside his soul, the shaman wanted to help. But Hodges refused to become involved in any way, though there were two minds struggling to be heard. She had seen his curiosity, his wonder, his need to be there - as an ally. But David was also scared of shedding the mantle of inactivity, to step out and be part of it. He feared not only Franklin still, he feared the Nexus.

It was nothing bad.

It was nothing evil.

It was just... too much.

Having heard his story, Nandi understood where he was coming from. As a teenager hitting puberty he had turned his back on a world who had, in his young eyes, taken his mother and his life from him, a world that he had been forced into. He had grown up with aunts and uncles instead of a mother and father.

But there was something else, something that deeply, that made David very jumpy, almost paranoid when it came to people getting to know him - wanting to be more than acquaintances.

He had been pushed head first into a shock that he was still trying to work through.

Nandi vowed to be there should he need her. She wouldn't leave him alone and she knew neither would the others. She was glad for Grissom and Ecklie's involvement, that they knew. David would have four people at work he could turn to, though that was also part of his problem.

And he was still scared of Franklin.

That wound would only heal in time. He didn't fear vampires as such; only Franklin.

Nandi sighed and straightened, then reached for her phone. In all the chaos and problems she had ignored something that as a shaman she should have latched onto right away - Conrad Ecklie's visions.

Because of David she had let it slide that a new shaman, who was shielded by her and didn't actively do vision quests or spirit plane walks, had been the receptive end of a call placed by an unknown party.

"Conrad? It's Nandi," she said when her call was answered. "We need to talk."

About visions and dreams and why he hadn't told her sooner.

* * *

It was late, even for Ezra Standish. The sun was about to rise in the city of Salt Lake, and he had just returned from a phone conference with a man by the name of Graham Bates. No one had disturbed the long call, Luther keeping whoever wanted to talk to him outside, and when he had finally left the office, his friend hadn't asked. A single raised eyebrow had been sent his way, and Ezra had just given him a grim look.

Graham Bates was none other than the head of the Los Angeles vampire community. Ezra had actually expected the call. He hadn't expected the outcome, though.
Closing the door of his home behind him, Ezra walked straight to the kitchen and grabbed not only a shake but also a cold beer.

"Long day?" a quiet voice asked.

He nodded, not even turning around. He was quite aware of his partner's presence. Chris had been standing there for a few seconds, had probably heard him come in, but Ezra was too tired to even turn.

Arms came around his waist and he leaned against the strong chest.

"Wanna talk?" Chris offered softly.

"Bates called."

Silence.

"He leads L.A."

"Ah."

"David Hodges, the Las Vegas ally? His mother is a vampire."

Chris was silent and Ezra could almost hear the wheels turning. He smiled a little.

"She turned vampire after her son's birth. Anyway, she was worried about him because of the possible rogue in Vegas."

"Franklin," Chris interjected.

"Yes, Franklin. She thought there was a war about to break lose, so she got the L.A. community going. Bates called Danielle, Danielle called me, I called Bates, and he called back again today."

"Uh-huh. So... trouble solved?"

Ezra nodded, eyes closed, just relaxing back into his lover. "Yes."

"But...?"

"Bates offered... relations."

"Come again?"

"Vampire communities work like independent states."

Chris nodded. He knew that.

"Vegas is connected to us because I stood by them, officially allied myself with a broken and very much damaged community. For the whole vampire world out there, Las Vegas is under my protection. Danielle isn't so much a leader but my assistant manager."

He smiled grimly.

Chris tugged them over to the couch and Ezra gratefully sank down onto the cushions. Chris immediately took him into a comfortable embrace.

"So for Bates to start relations...?" Larabee prodded.

"He's offering to officially work with us. He wants to support the Nexus."

Chris gave a soft whistle. "Wow..."

"Yes, wow. I had the same offer from San Francisco." Ezra shook his head. "Amber Surtakin is the leader there and she called me a while ago."

"So the communities are suddenly cooperating with each other?"

Ezra nodded. "Yes."

"And that's a bad thing?"

"It's a new thing. And they turn to us, look what we do, and keep a close eye on Salt Lake. Not just the Shamans, Chris. Other communities now, too. We're something special. And we keep growing."

Chris placed a little kiss on the chestnut hair. "What now?"

"I don't know," was the honest answer. "We wait and see."
 
 

to be continued in Evidence Provided...

• Main CSI page
• The new stories
• Gil/Greg stories
• Gil/Nick stories
• Gil/Warrick stories
• Nick/Greg stories
• Nick/Warrick stories
• Greg/Warrick stories
• Nick/Bobby stories
• Jim Brass stories
• David Hodges stories
• CSI: New York stories
• CSI: Miami stories
• Other pairings & threesomes
• Gen CSI stories
• C.S.I. Crime Scene Investigation: The Complete Ninth Season