Think Again

I poured the coffee into a travel cup when I was joined by Garcia. She leaned against the counter, blocking my way out of the small kitchenette. I looked at her while I sipped from my coffee, then asked, "Yes?"

"What happened in there," she asked, "That was way beyond weird behavior."

I sighed, "Yeah... it was, wasn't it. I'm sorry."

"Anything you want to talk about? I'm a great listener."

I shrugged, "I just... didn't have the best childhood experience growing up. I was depressed."

Garcia frowned, "How depressed are we talking?"

I blushed from embarrassment as I looked down from her face, "Suicidal, near the end of my junior year."

She gasped, "Oh Kels, I'm so sorry."

I held up my hand, "It's okay, though. I'm okay though. I got over it, and now I can look back at it and feel stronger about myself."

"If you don't mind me asking... how did you pass your psych eval?"

"I told them what happened, and they asked their questions."

"What happened to you?"

Now it was my turn to frown, "That's a story for a different day."

She nodded, "Okay."

"Um, hey, Garcia, do you mind not telling anyone? I don't want them to think I can't do my job."

She cringed.

"What?"

"Um... well, on the plane, I um... sort of did a search on you... and it pulled up a newspaper article saying you were kidnapped... and raped."

I felt my jaw open, and the burn of the coffee as it fell from my hand and landed on my foot. The sting as it singed my skin brought me back to myself, and I quickly got paper towels to mop up the mess.

Garcia bent down and took the supplies from me, saying, "Oh, I'm so sorry, Kelsie. I was just curious, and I didn't mean to-"

"What's going on in here," asked Hotchner appearing in the small space, "Kelsie, what's wrong."

Standing up I shook my head at him, "N-nothing's wrong, sir, I um... just dropped my coffee."

"Why are you crying?"

"What?" Touching my face, I could feel how wet my cheeks were. Whipping the water away I replied, "I'm sorry sir."

"Kelsie, if you are unable to do this job-"

"It's nothing, sir." I said, my voice thankfully firm. Taking the paper towels from Garcia, who sat on her knees stunned, I whipped at my pants to remove some of the liquid, then poured myself another drink before sliding past Hotchner and hurrying into the bathroom. Making sure that no one was in the stalls, I locked the door and splashed water on my face, letting myself calm down. Taking paper towels I dried my face, took a deep gulp of my coffee, and went back into the conference room only to find the entire team. All looked cautiously at me, apparently someone told them about what happened.

I held my head up and acted like nothing had happened as I smiled at them. Taking a seat next to Garcia I asked, "So what did Captain Yorkman have to say about the vampire theory?"

Everyone was shocked, obviously not expecting that out of me. Hotchner looked at Rossi for a moment before saying "He knew of a group that fit the bill, but didn't think any of them could do something like this."

"It usually takes only one person to convince the group. Do you have names of the members? I would like to talk to them, maybe run the theory by them. If that's alright with you."

"Do you feel up to it," asked Rossi, expecting tears and a blubbery response.

Refusing to give that to him I smiled and said, "Yeah, of course I am."

He exchanged a glance with Hotchner before saying, "Alright, Reid and Morgan will go with you."

I didn't let my smile falter, instead I made it bigger, "Fantastic."

The three of us stood and I grabbed my bag and coffee. Together we left the building and went to one of the local high schools which was still in session. Getting out of the car, we went in an spoke to the principal, Mrs. Winkler.

"I just can't believe that one of our students did this," she said.

"We aren't saying it's one of your kids," I said, "But it might be someone they know."

She nodded and let us use an old conference room that had morphed into a storage closet. She allowed us time to set up, which I used to fill them in on what we were looking for, talking to the team back at the station via speaker phone.

"We're looking for a coven, or a family if you will," we were currently removing boxes from the table, "The group will be very tight. They are not a cult, but they can come off as one, using certain words or a common language that will confuse outsiders.

"There are three tiers of vampire. The first is what is called psychic vampires, they feed off of the psychic energy field of others. They do wear vampire fangs, but not all of the time, only when they are performing their rituals. The second tier of vampires are the ones that step it up and drink animal blood. Few call themselves Renfield after Stoker's character. They wear fangs, but only when feeding on the blood, much like the first tier. The third, are the real vampires. They are the ones who drink both human and animal blood, which they get from hunting down the animals or by robbing hospitals and blood banks. They are the ones that leave their teeth in all of the time, usually getting them permanently implanted.

"We are looking for the third tier of vampires, they will act like rock stars, seeing all those who are not like them as lesser beings, or not on their level. Depending on what kind of relationship they have, there might or mightn't be a leader. If there is, we need to find him or her fast."

"Why," asked Hotch over the phone.

"The leader of the coven has to take care of the others. Think of him as a lioness. They are the ones that go out and hunt for their family. Traditionally, that means going to a blood bank or killing animals. This one, obviously, is different.

"We're looking for someone who thinks they are a real vampire. Any vampire on any tier will acknowledge their own mortality, but this one will deny it. They won't be reckless, per say, but they will do things others won't if they have to."

"Okay, we'll tell the police here," said Hotch, "Good luck, guys."

"Thanks man." said Derek, hanging up.

I sat at the table and took a long sip from my coffee, allowing it to burn a little as it went down. Setting it down, the two boys watched me, looking for a sign of another break. I made eye contact with them, and just smiled.

"Are you sure you can handle this," asked Derek.

"Yes."

"If you need a moment just let us know and-"

"Derek, I'm fine."

"No one is fine after crying like that."

I frowned at him, "Then they aren't strong enough to handle this job."

"What happened with Garcia?" asked Spencer.

I sighed, "She told me about what happened while I was sleeping. I was horrified that you guys knew - well sort of knew - what had happened to me, and I was unprepared for it. So really, it's nothing to worry about."

"What do you mean 'sort of' know?" asked Derek.

"Wow. This really isn't the time or the place to have this conversation. Thanks for your prying concern, but if you don't mind, I would like to interview some students."

Was that too defensive?
Maybe.
Needed?
Yes.

I waited as the principal called for Alex White to come to the office. She lead him in and I saw what he looked like. Anyone familiar with Goths would have thought that he over did it. But he was spot on. He wore a pair of black pants that flared at the bottom which covered black dress shoes. His shirt had ruffles on both the neck line and the sleeves, the shirt style was similar to a poet shirt. His skin was almost as white as his shirt. His nails, eyelids, and hair were black. He gave us a smile and I saw the fake fangs.

"Hello Alex," I said, "Please have a seat."

He did and slouched, resting his feet on the table. "What?"

"We're with the-"

"FBI, yes. Here to investigate the killing of humans. But what do you want here?"

"Your coven isn't doing this?"

He scoffed, "Coven. My coven doesn't drink human blood."

"But you leave your teeth in?"

His eyes widened, but then his mouth curled into a half smile. His attitude reminded me of an Anne Rice character. "You have an understanding of our life."

"Yes."

"How?"

"My friends are first tiers."

He scoffed again, "Well, I am afraid I can not help you."

"Has anyone questioned your way? Tried to move you up?"

"No."

"Has anyone suddenly left?"

His mouth moved to say 'no' again, but he stopped. Taking a moment he said, "I am not at liberty to say."

"Can't or won't Alex... which is it?"

He looked at me with dead eyes and answered, "Won't."

I nodded, "Thank you, we're finished."

"You would make a good vampire," he said, standing, "You have a demon inside you, holding your heart in it's hand."

"Quite observant."

"I can see it in your eyes."

And with that, he left. If the rest of the list was going to be like that, it was going to be a long day.