Author's Note: This story is based on a novel I plan to write in the future. I say future because it's the fourth series of books I have planned. The first is Moonlight Chronicles, then Sunlight Chronicles, next Oblivion Chronicles, and then the prequel to them all – which this fanfic is based on – Sacrifice Chronicles. There's also a collection of short stories I'm going to write that goes along with them called the Meteor Files, but that's another story. It's complicated, trust me. ^^ Anyway, this fanfic is based on what I have planned for the Sacrifice Chronicles. After thinking about it and getting into watching Criminal Minds, I realized something; it fit perfectly! In some ways it was like watching what I had planned for the book on screen, only with a different storyline. Creepy similarities. O.o Well then, let's keep going. I did change quite a few things from the original concept, so yeah…
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Criminal Minds nor the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit… I merely wish to be part of the Unit someday. All I own is my own characters, the aforementioned Chronicles and Files, and the plot. Nothing more.
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Prologue
There's Always a Reason
'We cannot change our past. We cannot change that people act a in certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude.'
– Charles R. Swindoll
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I should have known. I should have at least suspected.
It was the BAU after all. On this day, I should have suspected no less from them. They had done it every year since as far back as I could remember.
So why then? Why hadn't I seen this coming?
An audible sigh escaped me as I looked down at the mess of flame and frosting. The answer was right in front of me; of course I couldn't see it. Of all places to ambush me with a surprise party, I had not suspected my own apartment.
My first hint should have been the lack of 'Happy Birthday's as I walked through the halls of the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit. Usually there was a cake waiting on my desk with that obscene hat Morgan forced on me every year. There was nothing. I had actually dared to hope that they had forgotten. The last thing I needed was a party. I do not like parties. So I went about my day, careful not to breathe a word about what day it was, lest I be accosted with a cake and presents. Once work was over I was so sure that they had all forgotten that I foolishly went home, intent on spending the day reviewing lectures and watching reruns of Star Trek. There wasn't a case yet; I had to enjoy my time home while I could.
I had been so foolish.
Now here I was, stuck between a grinning Garcia and a laughing Morgan. A surprise party. I had been surprised alright… surprised enough that my gun as out of it's holster before they had even finished 'SURPRISE!' Alright, so pulling a gun on my friends – my family – does seem a little paranoid and skiddish… but after Georgia, who could blame me?
It was then and there I realized what I had missed. Morgan and J.J. ducking out of work a couple minutes early. Garcia giggling with Emily as I walked by her office. Even Hotchner and Rossi were in on it. At times like this I really wish that I did know everything, as Morgan insisted. However, I digress…
"You guys… shouldn't have. I mean you really shouldn't have…" I said quietly, looking down at the candles. If they were trick candles again, so help me…
Garcia's smile widened and she bumped by shoulder a bit, "Come on, hun… it's not that bad! Just blow 'em out and we can get to cake and presents!"
"And stories of our young Doctor Reid's even younger days!" Morgan smiled somewhat slyly. I gave him a look like I had no idea what he was talking about. I did, of course… eidetic memory and all. "Don't look at me like that, Reid," Morgan said, "You lost fair and square. Who knew a genius would be so bad at Call of Duty 4?"
"I don't like mindless shooter games, Morgan."
"Mindless?! It's pure awesome–"
Emily pushed Morgan's head forward, then pulled him back by the back of his T-shirt to stop him from plowing into the frosted monstrosity before me, "Enough, Derek." Garcia chuckled and patted my shoulder, "It's okay, hun. No bad questions, I promise. Now makes a wish and blow out your candles."
I sighed and thought 'Might as well get this over with'. With as large an intake of air as I could, I made my first attempt to blow out the mass of fire. My brow furrowed; I only managed to snuff half of them. At least they did not reignite themselves as last year. So, ignoring the laughs and giggles of those around me, I breathed in once more to blow out the rest of them. The girls and Morgan clapped while Rossi smirked and Hotch crossed his arms, the ghost of a smile on his face.
"Did you make a wish, sweetie?" Garcia asked.
I swear Penelope Garcia was sometimes too much of a mother to the rest of us, "No. Was I supposed to?" I had heard that some people made wishes while they blew out birthday candles; it just seemed childish to me. Morgan and Garcia just sighed and began plucking candles from the cake. I just sat there, wondering if this was all over now; if they could just go home and I could spend the rest of my evening in the company of by books.
After a short while, the two of them had finished picking out the candles and J.J. took it to the kitchen after of my apartment (it wasn't separate; my apartment was small.) to cut it. William followed her soon after to get out the ice cream that they had stashed in my freezer. Everything was quiet for exactly nine seconds before I found a rather large package being unceremoniously dumped on my lap. I looked up to see that Emily had dropped the brightly-wrapped package from behind me, "It's from me; go ahead and open it." I nodded quickly and turned to the box, tilting it to the side in order to see the end of it. From there I began to carefully take off the tape and unwrap the gift until Morgan grunted. Her reached over and – with both hands – tore the paper off at the middle. There was a brown packing box inside.
"Seriously man, just tear the stuff open. The paper's not gonna eat you."
I nodded, not really paying attention to him, and looked up at Emily, "Um… thanks?" Why had she gotten me a brown packing box?
"Open the box, Spencer," Emily chuckled.
"Oh…" Okay, now I felt stupid. I asked Garcia for a key and when she gave me one, I slid it down the taped edge of the box and it sprang open. My head immediately shot up to Emily, eyes wide.
"It's enough coffee to last even you a good few months. And enough sugar to last you a couple days with the rate you've been going," Emily leaned over, opening the box wider to that the others could get a good look at it.
"Damn, Prentiss, is that a new chrome coffee maker?" Morgan whistled.
"Th-thanks, Emily…" I stuttered, my face reddening ever so slightly. Garcia plucked the package – coffee and all – off of me and set down another, one that was an obnoxious color of yellow. I winced and the brightness and opened it carefully, much to Morgan's chagrin. Inside was a book, 'Getting Dates for Dummies'.
"That's from me too Reid," Morgan leaned over and smiled.
My face had turned beet red. Of course a book like this had something to do with Morgan; who else besides him and Garcia would buy something like this for me, no matter how many times I had told them that I wasn't interested right now. A sigh escaped me and I shook my head a bit.
It went on like that for a while. Hotchner got me a new chess set; it reminded me of Gideon, which sent a pang of sadness through my body. It had been a few months since he had left the BAU. No matter how long it was, there was no way I would forget finding that letter. From Rossi I got a cleaning kit for my gun. J.J., Will, and their little baby Henry got me some more books. I didn't have the heart to tell them that out of the ten they'd gotten, I already owned five and head read seven. Once the gift-giving was over, I hoped that they would finally all leave; that was, of course, far too much to ask. I could understand Morgan and Garcia, maybe even the others, staying to pester me, but even Hotchner stayed.
"Okay, what…?" I asked slowly, only mildly curious as to why the team remained in my cramped apartment.
"We made a bet at my last birthday party that whoever lost the worst at Call of Duty would have to answer one question," Morgan's smile grew, "I've been harboring this until the time was right… so Reid, time to pay up."
I knew I shouldn't have agreed to his terms before. Then again, knowing Morgan, it would be something about past relationships. All I would probably have to say was 'no' and be done with it. Then, probably just to dash my hopes, Morgan added, "I've already talked to the others just to make sure that this question would be as good as I thought it would. So it's nothing about women, don't worry." All that did was make me worry more. Especially with the collective smiles spreading across the room. I wasn't one prone to cussing, but at that moment all I could think was 'Oh shit'.
"Stop teasing him Morgan and just ask," Emily rolled her eyes.
Morgan's smile faltered for only a moment. Emily was ruining his fun, for which I was glad. But that did not deter him in the least.
"Doctor Spencer Reid… why did you join the Behavioral Analysis Unit if the FBI?"
I blinked multiple times and just stared stupidly at the man. Of all questions to ask, I had not expected this one, "Excuse me, what?"
"You could've been anything, honey," Garcia said from my right, "With you're brain, you could probably have a Nobel Prize for discovering the cure to cancer if you wanted to! We just want to know why the BAU? You could have done anything with you life, so why here?"
I had only told Gideon the true answer to that question. Swallowing hard, I looked down at my hands, playing with my fingers. William handed me a piece of cake while J.J. picked up a sleeping Henry off a chair to lay him in his stroller. I set the cake down, suddenly loosing my appetite, "I would rather not–"
"You're not getting out of this one Reid!" Morgan insisted, "Come on, it can't be that bad!"
I sighed and closed my eyes, head still bent down. Images flashed in front of my eyes in rapid succession. I never forgot the things I saw. Ever.
"I never had many friends when I was younger. Only a few I would meet that would be put off almost immediately when they found out about my intellect. Or those who simply used me to shirk their homework by copying mine. But…" This was going to be hard, I could tell. They all knew I didn't like to talk about myself and tend to ramble when I get nervous. The sweaty palms I was getting told me I was leaning towards the latter, "… I did have a very good friend when I was twelve. We had known each other for a few years and neither she nor her parents–"
"She?"
"Morgan!" Emily hit the offender over the head.
"– were put off by my freakish IQ, the 20,000 words a minute, or anything else. Her name was Nephilim, and we had met on one of the few occasions her parents allowed her to play in the park. We played chess, and she… well, I beat her pretty badly."
"Why wouldn't her parents let her out?" J.J. asked, still leaning over Henry to make sure he was comfortable.
"Nephilim never had a very strong immune system. She got sick a lot, and that was all compounded by the fact that she was an albino," I opened my eyes halfway to stare at my hands.
Morgan looked confused, "Albino? Like white hair, white skin, red eyes kinda stuff?"
"Yeah," I nodded slowly, "A lot of the time I would visit her at home, when I wasn't studying or taking care of mom. She was… unique," A smile crept along my features and I tilted my head a bit, thinking. It got silent as everyone just watched me. After a minute I sighed, my smile falling, "It happened about a month before I left for college, a few days after my thirteenth birthday. She was ten, turning eleven in January. I went over to her house with some medicine I had seen at the store; Nephilim's health had been getting worse lately. That day… thanks to my memory, I remember it all."
I shivered, more images coming to my head. It had gotten oddly quite; I think they were beginning to realize that this was the wrong question to ask. "I found them; her parents. They were both tied to a giant, makeshift cross in the living room. Nailed at the wrists, ankles, and heart. Their arms and legs were severed from the torso and blood was… blood was everywhere," I shook again, my eyebrows pulling together. The words were just coming out know; as I said, the only one I had told was Gideon. I guess that I just needed to get it out, "There was writing all over the wall. Different biblical sayings in multiple different hands. Nephilim was nowhere to be found, though I found out much later that her… her…" I squeezed my eyes shut, hands clenched into tight fists, "… her blood was found her bedroom upstairs, mixed with… with semen and… there was evidence of a struggle. Someone had set up her bedroom like some sort of cultist ritual had taken place there…
Through all of it, and through the investigation, no one ever found Nephilim's body or caught the killers. She couldn't survive without her medication for very long, so eventually everyone assumed she had died. At first, I had planned to become a detective with the Special Victims Unit in Las Vegas, but then I met Gideon and… well, you know the rest. I wanted the ability to stop things like what happened to Nephilim and her family from happening to anyone else."
They were silent after I had finished speaking. It was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop; even if the apartment was carpeted. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of hoping that my team would stop staring, Morgan stood up, "Well, damn kid. You sure are messed up, aren't you?" He smiled – somewhat forcefully, I noted – and leaned over to give me a one-armed hug. After that, the silence was broken. I sighed and nodded, forcing on a smile that fooled no one as Emily helped J.J. get out the rest of the cake and ice cream. Why we were getting dessert first I would never know.
But that night, I couldn't stop thinking about the past.
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Author's Note: Read and review before I have to beg and bite your head off! Or I could sick Reid and Morgan on you~ Also, be nice; this is my first EVER published fanfic. Next part out after a few reviews~
CHAPTER ONE SPOILER
"… It took thirteen years for all these murders to be connected? Why?"
"They were spread out all over the country; it isn't until lately that they've begun to be centralized. And after the local police began to notice a connection, forensic testing found something else."
"What?"
"All the victims were found about nine months from each other, give or take a week or so. They all… had the same mother, but no two had the same father."
"Oh my… oh my god!"