Bloodlines by Melissa Rivers TITLE: Bloodlines AUTHOR: Melissa Rivers EMAIL: missy@lexicon.net WEBSITE: http://www.geocities.com/missyliannem CATEGORY: Case file SPOILERS: No specific spoilers. RATING: Not sure, but I think I'll make it an MA (mature audience) for the violence it portrays SUMMARY: A serial killer is stalking Las Vegas and a personal crisis for one of the CSI's causes the case to haunt them all. STATUS: WIP ARCHIVING: CSI Fanfic Archive; CSI Grissom/Sara Archive. Otherwise, not without permission. DISCLAIMER: CSI:Crime Scene Investigation and its characters are the property of Anthony Zuiker, Alliance Atlantis & CBS Production Company. I have written this story for entertainment purposes only and no money whatsoever has exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. AUTHOR NOTES: Okay... first, this story may seem cliche to start off with. I acknowledge it, but it is designed that way for a reason. You'll find out soon enough. Just give it a chance. :) FEEDBACK: On or off-list is fine, but please let me know what you think. If there are any glaring errors, please let me know as I'd like to correct any before it is put on my website. PROLOGUE The night air was warm, the humidity which had filled the day lingering in the air. Clouds filled the sky, darkening the artificially lit landscape and creating shadows. Shadows which hid the eyes that searched through the darkness, searching for something... someone. A faint breeze carried with it a blend of odours from the nearby restaurants into the back alley. The alleys were his protection, his domain. It was where he ruled and no one challenged. Nobody noticed as he moved stealthily through the shadows. They continued about their business, ignorant of the eyes following their every move, their laughter and falseness, oblivious of power he wielded over them. He watched and waited, eyes piercing through the heart of each, searching for the perfect match. Patience and preciseness were the key to success. Time had taught him to cherish them both, nurture them and the rewards would be reaped from its discipline. He breathed in the heady night air, sniffing it as he caught a smell; a fragrance. Moving his eyes to the left, he realised that he had found what he was searching for. This was the one. Chapter 1: "What?" Sara exclaimed quietly in shock. Her hand shook as it held her cell phone to her ear. She gripped it tightly, trying to quell the fear that flooded through her. "Are you sure? There's been no mistake?" She stared blindly at the computer screen in front of her, the facts and figures which she had been working on moments before turning into a meaningless jumble. "Yeah. Bye." It was difficult to formulate any sort of meaningful conversation right now. Hitting the end button, she put the phone down on the desk, resting her head in her hands. Tears filled her eyes as she realised that her worst fears had come to fruition. Sara bit down on her bottom lip to stop it from quivering. "Hey, Sara. How're you going on those figures?" Nick asked, sweeping into the small computer room. "Um, I may have something. Check it out." Sara said, quickly wiping at her eyes to remove any signs of her tears. She pushed back her seat, stood up and moved out of Nick's way, so he could get a closer look at the screen. Watching him silently read the information she had put together, her mind kept returning to the telephone call. Making a quick decision, she muttered "I've gotta go." "Ah, Sara..." Nick called out, her words taking a moment to sink in. His dark eyes watched her figure disappear quickly down the hallway, his forehead furrowing in confusion. Turning back to the computer he gave up scrolling through the twelve pages of fine print. Nick printed out the results that Sara had been working on intently over the past two days. She'd been holed up in this room, taking time out only to go home and sleep, not always making it that far. Much the same could be said for the rest of the graveyard shift. Another serial killer had hit the streets of Las Vegas. As far as they could tell, there was no consistency in age, sex or nationality. Yet, there was nearly always something that motivated a person to kill. Sara had been trying to find it in the background of each of the victims, which now numbered three. Nick pulled the sheets from the printer, trying to find the connection that Sara thought that she had found. Nothing stood out to him from the pages. Everything was methodically listed and easily cross-referenced. The amount of information that Sara had accumulated within such a short time span bespoke of her zealous and ordered way of working. Setting the pages side by side for each of the victims, Nick first looked at the obvious before checking out the obscure. It was there that the first common denominator managed to elicit the first genuine smile he'd given since the discovery of the third ravaged victim two days ago. "Way to go, Sara." End Part 1/?