The distant sound of screaming pierced the darkness first followed by the sensation of Heat and the smell of burning flesh. Eyes blinked and the first thing that they saw were Chuck Taylor's, looking up and Naruto was there smiling, while Nobu yelled as he thrashed on the meat hook while burning, "Godbrand. Been a while."
Godbrand's eyes widened seeing his co-conspirators strung up all with stakes in their chests as Nobu stopped moving as he succumbed to the flames, as a 15-year-old red-haired girl walked up behind Naruto, "Dad that's everyone."
"Thank you Alexis." Naruto said looking at his God-daughter who he cared for after her father was murdered in the 90s, she was like his real daughter and no one could tell him differently,
Looking at Godbrand who hissed at him, Naruto leaned forward, "How'd you find me?" Godbrand asked
"I'm an old vampire in good standing with witches. You really think I don't have ways of tracking vampires I have issues with? All I needed to know was that you were in my city. The whole world and you want to take what I've built."
"No other place is as organized as this one. Your control goes straight to the top even the government recognizes the city as yours. We just want to make this city better." Godbrand said
"You mean vampire only. All humans treated like cattle, witches enslaved and wolves exterminated."
"Heaven." Godbrand said smirking
Naruto scoffed before he looked over as Lanie walked over, "Ready?" He asked
"Yes." Lanie smirked
Naruto stood up, "Have fun." He said before they shared a kiss and he wrapped an arm around Alexis' shoulder and they walked off as more witches entered and crowded around Godbrand before chanting was heard before the door closed sealing all sound.
"So how's your mom?" Naruto asked Alexis
"The same as she's always been. I finally got her to let up on these routine trips to LA." Alexis said, causing Naruto to scoff, "What have you been up to?"
"I've been working with NYPD recently." Naruto said
"Why?" Alexis asked causing Naruto to smile at her
Morning
Naruto was at a crime scene when Beckett and Esposito walked up and looked surprised at the frozen corpse of a woman who was melting, "She's frozen solid. What was the temperature last night?"
"46." Naruto said
"It wasn't exposure." Lanie said
"Site's active. Boys tell me there's no way she was here last night." Esposito added
Kate stepped closer and noticed the corpse was dripping, "She's melting."
"There are pieces of plastic on her body from the garment bag. So she was inside the bag. Other than that, it's gonna take a while for her to thaw. I can tell you she hasn't been here long. Maybe a couple of hours." Lanie said
"What about security?" Kate asked
"Chain link. A pair of bolt cutters took care of that. Looks like our guy was hoping she'd disappear into the concrete pour." Esposito said
"This is weird." Naruto said
"You think?" Kate asked
"Someone took the trouble to freeze her. Why decide to dump her? A killer who freezes a body is a keeper. But a guy who dumps a body Doesn't want to be reminded of the crime." Naruto said
The cops looked thoughtful before Esposito spoke, "All right, I'm gonna go check out the fence."
Beckett looked at the CSI taking photos, "Get a close-up of her face. I want to run her through Missing Persons."
Naruto looked at the woman before he followed the cops
Later,
Missing Persons was hundreds of files on New Yorkers who had gone missing, luckily before they had to spend hours looking through the files, Lanie got an ID, so Naruto and Kate left Ryan and Esposito to put the files up,
"Melanie Cavanagh, 34 at time of death. Turns out COD was blunt force trauma to her head."
"How'd you get her ID?" Kate asked
"Her fingerprints were in the system." Lanie said
"For?" Naruto asked
"Misdemeanor drug possession," Lanie said causing the two to raise an eyebrow
"She doesn't look like a junkie."
"No. She's in pretty good shape, considering. But judging the lack of frost and tissue degeneration, I'd say wherever she was stored, the temperature rarely varied."
"Like a freezer." Naruto said
"Freezer would do the job." Lanie nodded
"How long has she been dead?" Kate asked
"Well, considering how long she's been like this, factoring decomposition, I'd say she probably was frozen within 24 hours of being killed."
"What do you mean, "How long she's been like this?" Naruto asked
"According to the records I pulled, this woman's been missing for over five years." Lanie said
Naruto and Kate shared a look before they looked at the corpse,
Later,
Kate looked over the victim's file as Naruto walked over and sat down, "She had a troubled childhood, drug problems in her teens and 20s."
"I know." Naruto said opening a bag of chips
Kate looked at him confused, "How do you know?"
"I read the case file. She kicked the habit. Met and married Samuel Cavanagh. She worked in a restaurant. He managed a bank. They had two kids." Naruto said
"When did you read the case file?" Kate asked, reaching into his bag of chips and taking some
"When you were in the little girls' room." Naruto said unbothered
"I was gone for like a minute."
"It's what I do." Naruto smiled before she went to continue reading, "Would you like the CliffsNotes?"
"How do you know you didn't miss something important?" Kate asked
"Like, after Melanie disappeared, her husband waited a day before he called the cops?" Naruto asked
"A day? That doesn't make any sense."
"Until you get to the third paragraph. Before Melanie was married, she was what is now referred to as a runaway bride. According to her husband, she ran away a whole two weeks before their wedding day. And then she came back. After three years of happily ever after, she disappears again. Comes back. Lather-rinse-repeat three times. No indication of where she went." Naruto said
"Well, she must have had a reason for running away." Kate said
"Too bad, we can't talk to the husband with him being dead and all." Naruto said
"Wait huh? Dead?"
"Yea." Naruto said picking up a folder off her desk and placing it before her, "Shot dead a year ago in a mugging, apparently." Kate looked at Naruto and picked up the folder, "Face it, sweetheart, far as partners go you hit the jackpot. Want to go talk to her parents who got legal custody of the kids?"
Naruto got up and walked away as Kate smiled looking at him making his way to the elevator and she put on her gloves and quickly put his glass with his fingerprints in a bag and put it in her drawer before getting up and following him.
White Plains, New York
An old man chased after two girls with a slight limp and yelled causing the girls to scream and laugh, "Did I scare you" He asked his grandkids
"Mr. Davidson?" Kate asked walking up
"Yes, ma'am, that's me."
"I'm Detective Kate Beckett. Is there somewhere we could talk?"
"Yes. Why don't we go inside? Girls, don't play in the street, okay? All right, Grandpa will be out in a minute."
Moments Later
After the old man invited them into his home Naruto was sitting with Beckett across from the victim's parents, "I… I think we've both known for a while now that Melanie was not going to come home."
"What do you remember about the days leading up to her disappearance?" Naruto asked
"Well, we talked to her a couple days before. My wife did, I mean." Mr. Davidson
"Everything seemed fine." Mrs. Davidson said
"She didn't indicate in any way that she was leaving?" Kate asked
"No."
"We're aware your daughter had some issues." Naruto said
"That had nothing to do with what happened here." Mr. Davidson said annoyed
"The more we know about her past. The good, the bad, and the ugly give us a better chance at putting together the clues and letting us help you and those girls get closure." Naruto said pointing to the children outside playing, The parents sighed and looked at each other, "We're not judging her. Reports said she had a boyfriend in Philadelphia is that where she would run to?"
Mr. Davidson nodded, "Kevin Henson."
Kate's phone rang, "Beckett?"
Hour Later
Naruto and Beckett walked up to Ryan and Esposito, "You okay?" He asked causing her to look at him
"Yea why?"
"You seem kinda stressed, like this case has a personal attachment to you." Naruto said
"I'm good." Kate said looking at him causing Naruto to nod,
"Okay." Naruto looked to Esposito and Ryan
"You find a witness?" Kate asked
"Yeah. Homeless guy. A couple of bucks jogged his memory. Said he saw a dented yellow truck pull up to the site. Heavyset guy pulls a large bag out of the back. When he comes out, he doesn't have the bag anymore." Ryan said
"How'd you find this place?" Kate asked
"Guy also remembered the word "storage" written on the side of the truck. We searched all the storage places on the West Side, found out this one uses yellow trucks." Esposito said as he and Ryan dapped each other up,
"So who owns the trucks?"
"According to the DMV, Albert Bolland." Ryan said
The two went inside and found Albert and told him why they were there, "What body? I don't know what you're talking about."
"A witness saw someone driving one of your yellow trucks and dumping the body." Kate said
"You're lying. No one saw." Albert said turning to them
"Wow. Maybe you should have tried denying it first." Naruto said as Albert realized what he said and looked at Kate who glared at him
"Let me help you. Melanie Cavanagh, mother of two. Wife of Sam Cavanagh."
"Okay, look. I dumped her. But I swear, I…"
"You didn't kill her, right?" Kate asked interrupting him
"That's right. I found her. I never even knew she was here." Albert confessed
"What do you mean, "here"?" Kate asked
"Sixth floor. Renters were in arrears. We usually give them three months, and then we cut the locks and we sell the belongings. Only this time, all I find is a freezer plugged into a light outlet, which, by the way, is totally illegal." Albert said
"You didn't think it was illegal to store a dead body in a freezer?" Kate asked
"You think I knew? When I opened it up, I nearly had a heart attack." Albert said
"You could have called the cops."
"So I could make the front page of the Ledger? Yeah, that's good for business. What if it's a mob hit? I mean, I got a family."
"So did she." Kate snapped stepping forward aggressively before Naruto grabbed her hand and pulled her back,
"So you find her. Next logical step, dump her at a construction site?" Naruto asked
"I know a guy who works over there. So when I find the body, I figure that's the place, right?" Albert asked
"Show us where you found her."
Albert took them to the storage unit and opened it showing them a freezer. The two walked over to the freezer and Naruto opened it and raised an eyebrow at the long clumps of hair stuck to the wall,, "Five years in there. Nobody deserves that. How'd they make payments for the unit? Check? Credit card?"
"Cash, every six months. But like I said, they were three months overdue."
"Puts the last payment at two months after her husband was killed. Hard to make payments when you're dead."
"Who was the unit registered to?" Naruto asked watching as Albert looked at his clipboard,
"Charles Wryler."
"Her husband's best friend." Naruto said
Beckett Apartment
Beckett sat before the murder board looking at all the evidence while waiting for files on Charles Wryler for hours. As she tried to make sense of everything she found herself getting frustrated and focused on something else,
Beckett was home on her computer, using her access as a cop she had begun looking into Naruto's family and found old newspapers, and news clips that hadn't been digitized until she had someone in IT do it for her,
Grabbing a slice of pizza she pressed play,
"This is Franklin Stark reporting to you from Brooklyn, New York, where a brutal attack has ended in tragedy. OK, they're bringing out the bodies. See if you can get closer."
Kate stopped eating, watching as 4 dead bodies covered in sheets were wheeled from the apartment complex, "Is that the witness?"
The camera panned up to a bay window and a figure could be seen, and quickly Kate zoomed in while going back a few seconds she watched the witness come into focus and she saw Naruto, and her eyes widened watching him walk away from the window,
Naruto's Home
The lights were off as Alexis was wearing laser tag gear with a gun in hand. Naruto wearing similar gear with red lights instead of the blue that Alexis had narrowed his eyes, as he peeked from behind a wall and saw Alexis dart across the foyer and flip over the couch hiding behind a banister, "Run rebel." Naruto said dramatically before he ran and slid, behind a sofa chair as Alexis shot at him,
"Death to Voltar! Death to the Voltarians!"
Naruto sat behind the sofa chair looking for a better vantage point he could get to as Alexis had him pinned down, "I sense fear in you."
"You sense nothing!" Alexis said before they both turned into the open and began shooting at one another while moving their position before Naruto's vest lit up blue signaling he was dead,
"Man." Naruto said laying back as Alexis laughed
Naruto smiled as he and Alexis had been playing laser tag since she was five, he taught her a lot so she could handle herself in any situation,
"Pay up." Alexis said with her hand out smiling
Naruto got up and handed Alexis 10k from the table, "Don't spend it all in one place."
Alexis smiled counting the money when the doorbell rang, the two looked over and headed to the door before Naruto opened it and fired the laser tag gun at Kate, who had her weapon aimed at him, "What are you?" Kate asked
"Dad?" Alexis asked behind Naruto and Kate put the gun down as Alexis came over
"Dt. Beckett my daughter Alexis. Alexis this is Kate Beckett."
"Nice to meet you." Alexis smiled
"Same." Kate said
"Come in." Naruto waved her inside turning and walking away while taking off his gear,
"Dad, while you are busy. Can I go see Jess."
"Sure, but you have school in the morning so be back soon." Naruto said
"Got it." Alexis said taking off the laser tag gear and rushing out the door to Jessica's apartment,
The door closed and Naruto looked at Kate who held her weapon tight, "What are you?" She asked again
Naruto smirked, "Now why would you ask me that?" He asked
"There's an old news clip of you from 1953. Same age, just with a different hairstyle. I'll ask one more time." Kate said cocking her gun. "What are you?"
"I'm a vampire." Naruto said, Kate looked wide-eyed, "Want a drink?"
Kate watched him turn away and go to his bar and she began to try and ease out the door before she turned but shouted in surprise as he was there, "Can't leave just yet we have to talk." He said
Kate shot Naruto but he leaned to the side dodging the bullet and snatched her gun and looked her in the eyes wordlessly compelling her before he motioned to the couch and she sat down
"Let's please not do this drawn-out thing. If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead." Naruto said walking back to the bar
"How is this possible?"
"A witch married to an abusive Viking wanting to save their children from werewolves," Naruto said
"What?"
"Yes, and your family is tied to that family on the account of you being a Petrova doppelganger." Naruto said
"Petrova doppelganger? My family doesn't-
"I'm not an expert on your family but I know a doppelganger when I see one considering I've run into a few in my lifetime." Naruto interrupted
"And how long is that?"
"I was turned in 1003." Naruto said handing her a vodka martini
"1003 your-"
"Very old."Naruto said flopping back on the couch
"I don't get it. Vampires can't-"
"Mirrors, garlic, holy water all bullshit."
"Sunlight?"
"Some have daylight rings to protect us."
"Not you?"
"Never was a ring person, so I went with a tattoo." Naruto said with a shrug.
"You created New York and all those companies. It was you just under a different name?"
Naruto nodded
"That story about your family was bullshit." Kate frowned
"Not really. My mom and dad were killed when I was a child. My fiancee was burned at the stake by the church while I was trying to better myself for her, and I moved here to get away from it all." Naruto said
"Who all knows about this?"
"Mostly everyone. Vampires are all through the governments of the world. New York is my territory. Vampires, witches and wolves all live normal lives you wouldn't even be able to tell the difference unless you were actually looking for the supernatural. Even the law enforcement is filled with them."
"What?"
"Yea, Esposito, Ryan, the Mayor, few judges, even your Captain is a werewolf." Naruto said
Kate looked shocked, "They'd tell me." She said
"And I'm sure you'd have handled it better than showing up to their home with a gun." Naruto said causing Kate to sigh
"I'm sorry. It's just been a long day." Kate said sipping her drink having no idea that she had been compelled to be accepting of everything he said,
Kate left after Naruto compelled her again to reveal nothing about what she learn and destroy the tape she found,
Morning
Charles Wryler sat across from Beckett as Naruto stood in the back watching him, "We can trace the rental of the storage space to you, Mr. Wyler. If you want, I can bring the owner in to identify you."
"Look, I had nothing to do with what happened to Melanie." Charles said
"Sam did, right? I mean, she kept going back to her ex-boyfriend. Bet your buddy had a huge issue with that."
"He called me that night. He said he needed me to come over right away. When I got there, the kids were asleep and Melanie was in the tub. In a garment bag. He said she came at him, and he just snapped."
"Instead of killing her, why not just get a divorce?"
"You don't think I know how wrong this was?"
"Why did you take the risk?" Naruto asked
"Because he made a very bad mistake. And what about the kids? Their mom is dead. If he goes to prison…"
"They'd be safe with their grandparents. How'd you know he wouldn't snap with one of the kids and kill them?"
"He'd never do that."
"But he was clearly capable of murder." Naruto said
"It was a mistake!" Charles replied upset
"Why did you stop paying?"
"Look, I'm truly sorry about what happened to Melanie. But what was I supposed to do? Keep paying for the rest of my life?"
"The DA will make sure of that, Mr. Wyler." Kate said
"Dumbass." Naruto said heading out the door
Later
Naruto sat down as Beckett and Roy talked about the case, "Her body gets dumped because this guy Wyler didn't pay a bill? That's…"
"You can say it. Pretty cold. Ironic that such a selfish act ultimately revealed the truth." Naruto said
"Still, karma comes back and puts a cap in her husband's ass, so all is right with the world." Roy said walking off as Naruto smiled
"I'm gonna go talk to Melanie's parents, let them know how this all shook out. You want to come?" Beckett asked
"Nah, think I'm gonna go bug Alexis." Naruto said
Becket smiled before she turned away to leave but paused, and she turned around and looked at him, "We were supposed to go to dinner together, my mom, my dad and I, and she was gonna meet us at the restaurant. But she never showed." Beckett said causing Naruto to look at her, "Two hours later, we went home, and there was a detective waiting for us. Detective Raglin. They found her body. She had been stabbed."
"A robbery?" Naruto asked
"No. She still had her money and purse and jewelry. And it wasn't a sexual assault, either. They attributed it to gang violence. Random wayward event. So, just like in Melanie's case, they couldn't think outside the box. So they just tried to package it up nicely. And the killer was never caught." Kate said on the verge of tears
Naruto stood up and walked over to her, "I'll do everything in my power to make sure you get justice for your mother. In whatever capacity that means." He said
Kate nodded, "Thanks Naruto. I appreciate it." Wiping her tears away Kate left, as Naruto watched her go,
"Esposito." Naruto said walking over to the detective, "I need a favor."
"Anything sir." Javier said knowing what a favor meant with Naruto
Later
Trish was in her office as she filled out paperwork for a man before her, "And how long do you plan on staying?"
"Few months." the man said
"As a werewolf, you will have to check in with the pack master since you will be here through a few full moons. They will help you with accommodations for when you turn. Sign here, and prick all five fingers and placed your hand here." Trish said
The man wrote his name and using the pin stabbed each of his fingertips before placing his hand down, Mason Lockwood handed over the paper,
"Mr. Lockwood, you've been briefed on the rules of New York, please follow them to the letter. Our security system has been upgraded and you do not want us to be notified that you are in violation of our laws. Enjoy your time, and I hope you have a great visit." Trish said handing Mason a card that would act as proof that he was allowed in the city,
Mason walked out of the building and got into his car before he made a call, "I'm in."
"Okay, be careful and stick to the plan without drawing attention to yourself." the woman on the phone said
Mason hung up and drove off to find a place to lay his head, so that he wasnt sleeping in his jeep.