Title: Club Descent: Taken (1/13)

Author: Aeon Cole

Beta: sharpiesgal/Dino

Rating: FRAO

Genre: AU

Warnings: This story is slash and contains graphic depictions of violence, abuse, bondage, and rape. If you are bothered by any of these things then please don't read this.

Fandom: CSI Miami

Pairing: Horatio/Speed

Challenge: 50 Dark Fics

Prompt: #6 Claws

Word Count: 1850

Summary: Tim's past comes back to haunt him.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Author's Note: This is the second part of the Club Descent series. Read the first part for this one to make sense.

ooo

Monday, April 5, 2004 (early morning)

Horatio parked his Hummer in front of a small house off of Coral Way in Sweetwater. Eric Delko was already on the scene along with Frank Tripp, Alexx Woods, and a small army of uniformed officers. The area in front of the house looked like the parking lot at MDPD. He made his way through the sea of blue and red lights and under the crime scene tape then stepped just inside the front entrance and stopped to survey the area. The house was a small, single story, cape style, typical for the usually quiet suburban neighborhood. The only difference between it and its neighbors was the presence of a dead body in the living room. Alexx was hunched over the remains of a young man, doing a preliminary examination. She looked up when Horatio approached her.

"What have we got, Alexx?" he asked, fingering the sunglasses he held in his hands.

"Well, I'm no CSI, Horatio, but I'd say this is the same guy," she answered.

Horatio had feared, when he'd gotten the call, that they had another victim of their serial killer. This made the fourth body in as many days.

"Time of death, Alexx?" he asked glancing around the room, his mind already taking in various details of his surroundings.

"Couple of weeks, based on decomp. Won't know for sure 'til I get him back for the post. We might need the forensic entomologist for an exact timeline."

"Couple of weeks," Horatio concurred. "So this one died before the others."

"So it would seem," Alexx said.

"So it would seem," he repeated somewhat distracted. He turned to his CSI who was already processing the surrounding area. "Eric, what have you found?"

Eric shrugged. "Not much," he said. "Looks like the area's been wiped clean just like the other sites. There were a few hairs and fibers on the body. I'm gonna get them back to trace. I did find some prints this time."

"How did we find out about this one?" Horatio asked, already thinking he knew the answer.

"Another anonymous phone call to dispatch," Eric replied.

Horatio gave him a quick nod. It was as he'd expected. "So he's playing with us, leading us around from body to body." He paused and thought for a moment. "But why leave this one until now if he was killed earlier?"

"I wish I knew," Eric replied.

Horatio gave him his most encouraging look. "We will, Eric. We will know. Do we have IDs on any of the other victims yet?"

"Not yet H, Calleigh's working on that back at the lab."

"Okay." Horatio gestured toward the body. "This guy just moved to the head of the class. There's a reason our killer saved this one for us. He's too meticulous for this to have been an oversight," Horatio said. "We need to find out this man's identity. He may be the key to catching this guy."

ooo

Horatio was walking down the hallway of CSI toward the computer room when he felt a buzzing in the pocket of his jacket. He reached in a pulled out his cell phone.

"Horatio," he answered.

"Hey, missed you this morning," Tim said, still a bit sleepy. "Where'd you disappear to?"

Horatio's face broke into a gentle smile. "Got an early call from dispatch. I didn't want to wake you."

"Same case?" Tim asked and he heard Horatio sigh.

"Unfortunately, yes. We have another one."

"I'm sorry. I know how much you want to get this guy," Tim said. "Do you think you'll be home for dinner?"

Horatio continued to walk as he talked and stopped just outside the door of the computer room. "Barring any major breakthroughs, I expect so. What did you have in mind?"

"I'll pick something up after class. Then I was thinking I could maybe come up with an idea of something to distract you from your current troubles."

He could almost hear Tim's smirk in his reply and chuckled. "I like the way your mind works. I'll see you later."

"Okay. Love you." Tim said.

"Love you too. Stay safe," Horatio replied before he flipped his phone shut.

He walked into the room and Calleigh smiled at him. "Tim?" she asked. Horatio nodded. "How's he doing?"

"Good," Horatio answered. "He's doing good."

He had been worried, in the beginning, when it became obvious that they weren't going to catch Simon. But Tim had managed to keep things together. He returned to work, continued with his research, and continued to teach. Their relationship had had its ups and downs. Tim tended to be a bit moody and at times would close himself in the study wanting to be left alone. But Horatio had given him his space and things had settled into a happy little routine.

"What have you got, Calleigh?" Horatio asked.

"I've been scouring missing persons cases but so far I haven't come across any of our victims. I've expanded the search to surrounding states. You never know."

"Good thinking, Cal. Keep trying," he said staring at the computer screen. "What's this?"

"Oh, not related. I just came across it while I was searching. Goes to show you just how twisted some people can be. A family in Waleska, Georgia reported their sixteen-year-old son missing a couple of months ago. He's got an IQ of around 50. They think his nanny took him."

Horatio shook his head. "I just don't understand some people." He turned to leave the room. "Let me know if you turn something up. I'll be in autopsy."

ooo

Horatio opened the door to the autopsy theater and wrinkled his nose slightly at the odor of decomp coming from the room.

"Horatio," Alexx greeted.

"Alexx, what can you tell me?" he asked.

"This is definitely the same guy," she said as she looked over at him. "Or a very good copycat." She rolled the body onto its side. "Check this out. It's a bit hard to see with the level of decomposition but…"

She gestured to a series of deep cuts along the victim's back. The pattern would normally be indicative of animal activity, given the length and spread, like claw marks. But the cuts were made with surgical precision. There was no tearing around the wounds.

Horatio nodded. "Just like the others." Alexx nodded. "COD?" he asked.

"Hard to tell for certain but it looks like he was stabbed. There is a wound over his heart but it's too decayed to be certain. I did find some small pieces of paper in his pockets. They are soaked through with body fluids but maybe QD can get something once they are dried out."

Horatio took the plastic bag with the papers from Alexx. "Thanks Alexx. Let me know what else you turn up," he said on his way out the door.

ooo

Horatio handed the plastic bag over to the documents tech. She opened it before he could warn her. "Uh!" she exclaimed as the smell hit her then she quickly closed the bag again. "No offence Lieutenant, but you could've warned me."

"Never open before asking," he advised. "These were recovered from the dead body we found this morning. I need to know what's on them as soon as possible."

The tech examined the papers through the plastic. "Well, they're about the size of business cards. I'll have to dry them out first then separate them. It will take a little while but I should have something for you by morning."

Horatio smiled. "Thanks," he said. Then he leaned in close to her and said, "Use a mask."

As he walked out she muttered, "Yeah, I'll do that."

ooo

Tim spent his morning doing some housework. His first class wasn't until eleven-thirty and Jess had the lab covered. He cleaned up from breakfast, vacuumed, and collected Horatio's dirty suits and piled them by the front door so he wouldn't forget to take them to the dry cleaner's. As he placed the suits on the table he glanced at his left hand and the gold band around his ring finger. Horatio had given it to him only two days ago after a romantic night out as a symbol that their relationship had reached a new stage, one that he'd hoped would last a lifetime. He flushed slightly as he remembered what took place after they had arrived home that night. He was even more pleased to see Horatio wearing the matching band the next morning when he awoke. He knew it was as close to marriage as they would ever be able to get. He shook his head at how sappy he'd become. He still had more to do this morning.

Before he left the house he went into the study and booted the computer up so he could check his email. He worked his way through his student's emails with last minute questions before the exam he was giving them that afternoon. Down toward the bottom of the list he saw an email from an address he'd come to recognize. He deleted it without reading it this time. He wasn't in the mood to deal with Simon today.

He received regular emails from his psycho ex that he hadn't told anyone about, not even Horatio. Most of them were taunts hurled at him for making it so he had to leave Miami, veiled threats to return and seek revenge. Every one of them ended with Simon promising that Tim would be his again. The emails always put him in a bad mood when he read them. Sometimes he couldn't help himself and he would open them, read them, and get scared that Simon would actually carry out his threats. But after six months he'd reached a point where he was beginning to see them as empty threats. After all, the longest Simon had ever left him for was seven weeks without reappearing in his life. His greatest hope was that by killing Rosie, Simon had finally done himself in. He must know that to return to Miami now would only bring about his arrest, or worse.

Tim shook himself out of his thoughts and went to get ready for work. Remembering at the last minute as he was leaving the house he closed and lock the sliding glass door that lead down to the beach. Horatio didn't like it that he kept that door open when he was home alone. He worried that if Simon returned he would be able to get into the house and hurt Tim. But Tim felt safe there and he hated being cooped up in a stuffy house with no open windows.

Once he was certain that the house was secure, he headed out to run some errands then to the university. He took his car since he would need to stop at the grocery store on his way home to pick up something for dinner. As he drove down the quiet suburban streets heading for the city, he was unaware of the car that matched his every turn, following him through his routine.

TBC