Chapter 1: Written in the Stars
It was cold; Prentiss knew that because she could feel her whole body shiver and convulse against the hypothermia inducing wind. Prentiss awoke with a start, she was trembling uncontrollably and she desperately wanted to gain control of her body. Without receiving a command from her brain her pale arms lifted from the rough, jagged pavement she was above, and wrapped protectively around her bare shoulders and chest. She was trapped in a daydreamers' state, so she didn't notice that she was rocking back and forth until her whole being was racked with sobs. Big, fat, hot tears slowly formed in her wolfish eyes and stung her face torturously like wasps' stings, leaving a trail of self-pity in their wake. No, these tears weren't of self-pity, they were too furious, too much like a roaring, raging waterfall to be of self-pity. Her tears were of anger and frustration- seething, boiling anger- at herself and at the uncatchable UnSub that had managed to evade the BAU-her team- for almost two generations. What really made her blood boil was that he had managed to capture her inside one of the most high security federal places and in broad daylight. Anyone actually pulling a stunt like that and surviving was unheard of. Then a wonderful thought swam up emerging from the school of evil, unwanted thoughts that Prentiss compared to ticks for they stayed embedded in her mind. She sat thinking maybe now that she was his captive she could find out why he was deemed "uncatchable" by law enforcement, the FBI, and the media. She also wondered if her team was doing anything to find her and the UnSub. She started to hope that her team would find them both soon. She knew her team had too, before it was too late. The UnSub's case was one that mixed the most horrid, gruesome serial killers' MO and that had made him the most feared, prolific, sadistic serial killer to date in U.S. history. Most notably since the only things they had been able to recover from his dump sites were the mangled beyond recognition, dead, ghostly white parts-more like pieces-of his unsuspecting, unfortunate victims' corpses. He had a system-a list- of things that he needed to do to his "experiments" before they could be labeled as "disposable". Prentiss had started thinking about that and suddenly stopped when realization dawned on her that since she was his newest victim that his "list" would be used on her. Prentiss hugged her knees towards her and bit her chapped bottom lip to keep from panicking when she heard the soft sound of shuffling and movement outside the old, bloodstained, moldy wall she was facing. She could hear her heartbeat accelerate as she watched wide-eyed as the wall slowly scrapped the pavement to reveal a wood door that unbolted revealing warm, summer sunlight. Prentiss basked in the smell of fresh air and in the warmth that engulfed her for a moment and exhaled. She blinked twice adjusting to the light and came face to shadow with the figure of a man.
"Hello, my darling Prentiss, my sweet Emily." The man said as he crouched so that he was eye level with her and slowly, almost lovingly brought his strong, calloused hand to her face. He brushed a strand of hair that had fallen into her eyes back behind her ear.
"What…what do you want?" she whispered to him.
"I want you Emily and I want us to be together forever." He said as he leaned closer to her ear so she could feel the heat of his breath.
"Really is that so? Well I for one would sure like to identify the person I'm supposed to spend forever with."
She said in as almost a seductive manner as he. His eyes glistened with what seemed like hope. She then brought her hands forward, placed them on his warm cheeks, leaned towards his lips and brought her knee up in a swift motion. He screamed and started to curse while he held his nose tightly trying to slow- if not stop- the blood oozing from the wound she had inflicted with her knee. Prentiss spit in his face and had started to smirk but her emotions changed to show surprise when the man started to laugh.
"Oh Princess, you really haven't changed a bit have you? Same temper and fiery independent attitude I see." He told her as he started to get back to his feet. Prentiss flinched and turned her face away instinctively expecting to be struck as had been the case in her past abductions.
"How do you know who I am? Who are you? And do I know you?" She asked getting a little of her courage back, but he just laughed and asked her a question.
"Come on Princess, you're really telling me you haven't figured it out yet? That you really need me to tell you? I can't believe Pope Giovanni and the Sisters said you were the smart one."
By this time Prentiss had reclined against the bloodstained wall and ran her pale fingers through her unkempt hair thinking about her past, but mostly of Rome and of her two inseperable companions- Matthew and the one who had been her first John. She remembered all the times late at night on the roof and they had just lain there, him always calling her "Princess" in every sentence how it annoyed her slightly but she loved it, how he told her that special night he'd be her teacher and show her something she knew she'd never let anyone else teach her, and finally that tear-filled day she had told him that she was carrying his baby and had to leave Rome and how he had promised her one day he'd come find them so they could be together, how he'd said "Forever". It was then that she knew, it felt like the truth had been used to slap her across her face.