Huldra
AN: Hello, this is the first chapter fic of my Hand of the Fates series. I deeply enjoy mythology so a lot of my UnSubs and the cases themselves will revolve around mythology and the supernatural. *nerd sign lights up above head* Ah-hem… anyway, thank you for taking interest in the story enough to read this far! I hope you enjoy it! This is way WAY early, but I just couldn't wait! :) Inspiration hit and I had to write.
Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds, these characters belong to CBS, and I am merely showing my appreciation for their stories.
Warnings: Swearing as well as graphic descriptions of sexuality and gore will be found in this story. There will also be slight OOC from the characters. You have been warned.
Picasso once said, "It is your work in life that is the ultimate seduction."
The motel room was cold. The window on the far side of the room would not shut no matter what he did, so he just left it there and rubbed his arms trying to keep the goose-bumps from showing on his pale skin. The young man was dressed in a loose leather jacket that did not quite hide his bony shoulders; underneath the black leather was a bright red wife-beater. The shade of red was the same as the color of blood, eye-catching, what he wanted. He wanted to lure them in with that color; red was always the color of romance, of lust. Lust was his specialty...
James Barks was a prostitute, and most of the Johns and Janes he dealt with called him "J". He didn't mind, and most of the time, he felt that he didn't have to worry. He dealt strictly with high end clients; it was safer then walking the streets. Though, this current 'meeting' had been planned while he was walking the street, he was going to head towards one of the high class sections of the city. Maybe that place on 23rd where you could see the mansions? But, as he was walking along, a limo pulled up alongside of him. He could see his reflection in the shimmery black surface and the farthest back window rolled down. There was a woman sitting in the back and even though she was wearing a scarf that covered her hair and some of her face he could tell that she was gorgeous. 'Time to work your magic J!' He had thought excitedly to himself.
"Can I help you with anything milady?" He positively purred. The term of respect brought a soft giggle from the woman's lips, he had been right to go for something respectful; she seemed like that kind of woman.
"Well... I'm horribly lonely... think you could keep my company? It's my first time here in Portland." A shiver ran down his spine, what was it about this woman? Just the sound of her voice and he was already getting a hard on. Maybe he was just desperate for a fuck and some cash? It was a big, big plus that this woman was pretty to boot.
"Welcome to the west coast." J said smiling as the woman opened the door to the limo as it coasted to a stop against the sidewalk. He climbed in and they drove off into the night...
A soft noise, the sound of a door sliding over the scratchy carpet beneath his feet made him turn. And the sight before him made his jaw drop open. The woman who he had picked up that night was standing in the doorway to the bathroom.
Behind her, in the bathroom the light was on, causing its glow to surround her like a halo. Light bounced off of her long golden hair, making it shimmer and shine. Her cream colored skin was flawless, to the eye. And her eyes were bright, bright blue. The kind of blue that kids loved to gobble off of their ice cream cake. She smiled, revealing a neat row of white teeth, "I'm sorry that we couldn't go to a grander place... but I just couldn't wait to have you to get back to the hotel I'm booked at. I hope you don't mind?"
She finished off her words with a small pout and a quick bat of those long dark eyelashes. J walked over to her, "I don't mind..."
There was a sudden flash in her eyes and the pretty smile became something almost feral, "Perfect."
She practically threw him onto the bed and fell on top of him...
The morning sun was shining coldly down on the little street. People walked along the sidewalk, rushing to and fro, not noticing the little cafe tucked between two flashier stores. A man was sitting at a table by the window, sunlight falling through the pane and illuminating his chocolate colored hair. Spencer Reid looked over at the counter, where a woman was watching the barista pour vanilla flavored syrup into her cup of coffee.
"Can you put in the whole bottle Lisa?" Rachel asked, staring at the cup with a faint trace of distaste on her face. The barista laughed a little and handed her the cup, "Anymore and it will be more syrup than coffee."
"That's my point." Rachel protested as the cup was pushed into her hand.
"Oh go join the handsome doctor." Lisa scolded before turning to the next customer. Sighing, the young woman went to join the FBI agent at the table.
"I don't see why I had to wait to get this over with until the next time we got together." She grumbled, looking down at the cup in her hand.
"Well, if I had waited, you probably would have been tempted to cheat and merely tell me you had drunk a cup of coffee." Reid replied, staring down at his cup with a similar expression to that of his dialogue partner. Rachel had told him that black tea, mixed with milk and sugar was as close to coffee as he was going to get, so he'd taken the offer. The trade-off was that Linddell was allowed to mix a flavor into her coffee.
"You wound me…" Rachel scoffed before lifting the cup to her lips and taking a sip under the profiler's watchful gaze. Ugh… the syrup took the edge off of the drink, but it still had the biter after-taste that could only be made by coffee. Lowering the cup she sighed, "Just as bad as I remembered it."
Spencer took a sip and found that the drink was just sweet enough that he could ignore the after taste it left in his mouth. Still, it couldn't hold a candle, or even a match to his drink of choice, "… Well, I guess this is bearable."
"You two are like a couple of children!" Lisa scolded, rolling her eyes as she handed Ruby, one of the owners of the neighboring boutique, change.
"Sorry Lisa!" Rachel called, waving off the comment with twist of her left hand before turning back to Reid, "So, solve any cases this week Mr. Profiler?"
Reid turned the cup in his hands, "We didn't have any new cases this week… it was mostly paper work."
"Ouch."
"How are things at your work place?" Reid asked, taking another sip.
"Still unemployed." She replied with a shrug of her shoulders.
"I thought you were going for that job at Heritage?" Spencer prompted, remembering the phone conversation they had held a few days ago, when they had finally decided on a day to settle their coffee vs. tea debate.
"The guy in charge was… a complete arse." Rachel said, frowning down at her cup. The federal agent didn't miss the way her fingers tightened on her coffee for a moment or the way the emotion in her eyes flashed. But, before he could ask her, a sudden ringing from his pocket made the both of them twitch.
"Hello?" He asked, opening the device and lifting it to his ear.
"Reid?" Called a deeply familiar female voice.
"Hey JJ." He said, nodding once as Rachel mouthed 'work?' from a crossed the table.
"We have a new case. How soon can you get over here? Hotch, Rossi and I are already here, we are waiting on Morgan and Prentiss."
"I'm not far I can be there in… ten minutes, thirteen depending on traffic." Reid said, pulling on his coat and grabbing his messenger bag.
"Great. See you in a bit." JJ said, "Bye."
"Bye." Reid replied, hanging up. "I have to go, new case." He said quickly. Rachel just smiled and lifted her hand, waving good-bye. As she did, the sleeve of her right arm slipped down just a little, revealing a tattoo on the inside of her wrist.
It was small, wide enough to just fit inside of her wrist and about an inch and a half in length. It looked like a cat or some sort of small animal wrapped in a Celtic chain. The cat's eyes were filled in with solid black, though the rest of the tattoo remained simple line work. But, just as quickly as he registered the mark Rachel had lowered her arm again, "See you around?"
"Yeah…" Reid said, blinking once to dispel the image form his mind before walking out the door, "Bye."
On the bus ride to the BAU he sketch the image of the tattoo, there was something familiar about it. Why couldn't he remember? He had an eidetic memory; it really bothered him when he couldn't remember something properly. Perhaps he had heard someone talk about the tattoo before? He would have to ask Garcia when he had the chance…
The team was waiting for him as he walked quickly into the board room and sat down in a chair. "You're late pretty boy!" Derek teased before tossing him a folder.
"Let's get started." Hotch said, nodding at JJ to start bringing up the pictures. JJ returned the nod before turning on the screen with the click of a remote: "Portland Oregon has been facing a sudden up-rising in male prostitutes being murdered in the last month. A dozen are noted here in the case files and one more was just found this morning..."
Images of bodies appeared on the screen, all men of different colors and sizes. The only thing they had similar were that they were all young, the oldest appearing to be in his early thirties to late twenties. They were also all shirtless and...
"There must be significance for the mutilations on their bodies." Reid mused, looking at the screen, "What is the meaning of the word failure?"
"The UnSub could be targeting prostitutes because they view them as failures? Someone who wants to 'clean up the streets'?" Emily suggested.
"I'm not sure if that is the reason she is killing." Reid replied, looking down at the papers in front of him, "This attack, other than the mutilation is not aggressive. They all had their throats slit; neat, organized... they were also all wearing condoms."
"And they are moving quickly," Rossi said, "Over a dozen victims in a month. What took them so long to contact us?"
"The new head of the Portland police is very headstrong I hear." JJ said, finished with the images she clicked off the screen, "But he can't ignore this. The jet will be ready to leave in an hour."
"Let's get ready then." Derek said. The group got up and trooped into the hallway. Reid lagged behind a bit and made a turn and walked into Garcia's office.
"What's up Boy Wonder?" Penelope smiled, swiveling around in her chair to look up at him.
"Hey Garcia, umm... I know you probably have a lot of stuff to do... but if you have time..." Reid paused before showing her his sketch, "Think you could look up what this means... if it means anything."
"Sure thing." Penelope said, taking the paper, "Umm... though I am going to ask, why?"
"I was just curious... and I can't remember what it means, though I think I've heard about it somewhere before... it's a tattoo."
"No problem, buttercup! I'll call you if I dig up anything. You guys heading out soon?"
"Yeah, I better get going." Reid said, turning to go, only to yelp and scuttle away, spinning sharply as Garcia smacked his ass, "Wh-what?"
"Good luck out there boy genius... oh, and are you ever going to ask me to look up the lady you're meeting secretly?" Penelope smirked.
"Meeting?" Reid sputtered, eyebrows furrowing, "What are you talking about?"
"When are you going to realize that I know everything?" She smiled, turning back to her computers, "What's her name?"
"... Rachel." Spencer said, straightening his coat, "And we aren't' together."
"Sure." Garcia said, waving him out of her office, "Go get em', tiger!" Reid scoffed before heading out and catching up with the others.
Just as he sat down in the jet his phone rang again, this time the name Rachel flashed a crossed the screen. Reid stood and walked off to the back of the plane before answering, "Rachel?"
"Hey, just calling to ask if the case is taking you away."
"It is... why?" The profiler said, brushing his hair back with the and not holding the phone. "Well, I never did see you finish that tea. And... Since I can't really take your word for it..."
"Guess we'll have to try again when I get back." Reid finished, smiling a little.
"Great! That means I can throw this disgusting thing out!" In the background he could hear the sound of something falling into a canister. "See you when you get back Doctor."
Reid chuckled before saying good-bye and hanging up. "On the phone with your girlfriend?" Morgan called from his seat a little further back in the plane.
"It's about time!" Emily piped up, looking up from her case file. Rossi just rolled his eyes and Reid sputtered for a moment before saying, "Look, she's just a friend."
"A friend who can make you put down your precious coffee." Morgan said, pointing to the tag of the tea brand visible over the lip of his cup. Reid chucked the drink in the garbage can before pouring himself a fresh cup of coffee, "Its a little debate we have going on."
"Sure..." The other man said, but let the subject drop as they settled in for the cross country flight.
AN: Thank you so much for reading this first chapter! I hope everyone liked it. Please write a review, favorite or alert; this will be a chapter story! Well... obviously! Constructive criticism is allowed as well, but out-right flames will be ignored.
Next Time: The team has to struggle with tracking down male prostitutes to interview under a moving in rain storm. Later, Reid runs into an unexpected face... and the UnSub finds a new victim.