This is an idea that I came up with a while back and it just stuck with me. It is dark so please take note of the rating. There will violence, strong language, and consensual sexual content in this story. Of course, like my other works, there will be a few comedic scenes as well.

There are going to be two cases in this story, the first of which is partially inspired by the amazing show True Detective, which will help introduce our new OC. The other one, well, that's a surprise.

This takes place post-Doyle in early to mid-season 7. Even though there is romance this definitely isn't going to be a sappy Emily Prentiss love story, she's pretty badass in it. As always I own nothing, I borrow.

For any wondering the title refers to an old Irish toast, "May your glass be ever full. May the roof over your head be always strong. And may you be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows you're dead."

7 Years Prior

"You need to understand something, all that I have, all of it was earned. It was paid for with blood, sweat, and tears."

"Not your blood."

"Or my tears."

"But it was our sweat."

"You okay with that?"

"I'm not okay with wasting it."

"Neither am I. You know, some people, they call me a fucking egomaniac with a God complex. I call it the truth, a man creates his own God. You don't want to waste that sweat, then you do what is needed to protect it. Protect what I built. Protect what will be yours...Become your own God. It's time Jackie."

"I can't."

"Can't or won't?"

"When it comes to pulling the trigger, what's the difference?"

"Everything."

"Okay my pretties we are headed to the land of the pelicans" Garcia began as she projected of several photos of swampy wetlands on the large screen in the BAU conference room.

"Louisiana" Reid spoke up as he scrolled through the new case files on his FBI issued iPad.

"New Orleans?" JJ asked hopefully.

"Sorry pumpkin, we are headed to the southern, and I mean very south area of Louisiana. In Vermilion Parish, Troop I of the Louisiana State Police have nine bodies on their hands and a possible eighteen murders. We are headed to Abbeville where their police precinct is located."

Morgan sighed as he rubbed his head in frustration. This was an aggravating pattern with local police, "Eighteen murders? This is fucking ridiculous. Why did they wait so long?"

"Well the problem is they technically only have nine bodies. The others are missing persons that fit the M.O., also the bodies they did find were dumped across the swamp lands so alligators…'

"Oh" Emily cringed.

"Yeah, and there was also an issue with decomposition and staging of the bodies because of when they were found. Since the area is such a large area for police to patrol, it took forever for someone to find the bodies and by the time they did a lot of the evidence was washed away. Anywhoozle, it was hard to connect the murders together. And on top of all of that, the victims are prostitutes and drug addicts so they either weren't reported as missing to begin with or taken seriously when reported as missing because the victim type is so transient."

"Fuck" Morgan groaned. He knew this was not going to be an easy case.

Rossi inhaled sharply as he continued to read the M.E. reports the local detective had sent over. "It's a miracle they could link these bodies together in the first place."

"That's what I was thinking. Three bodies that were found were intricately staged, Garcia" Hotch hinted as Garcia pulled up the photos on to the screen. "As you can see the women were neatly laid out, fully clothed and all bruises were covered with concealer. This is the body of Kara Ellis aged 18, and the bodies of Noël Harris aged 20, and Claudia Hunter aged 22, were also found posed like this. "

"Fingernails were taken, post-mortem?" Emily asked hopefully as Garcia shook her head 'no.'

"According to the M.E. they were taken during sometime before they were killed."

"They're his souvenirs" Rossi grimly commented as the team collectively sighed in reply "Those poor girls had been tortured before they were killed."

"So if we're lucky and we find our unsub, we're going to find a collection of fingernails?" JJ asked, wondering how she could still be horrified after almost a decade on the job. But she guessed that you just never get used to cases like these, and that was a good thing. It was a good thing to not be numb to the evil in front of them.

"Who was the first victim?" Emily asked as she zoomed in on the picture of Ellis' body.

"First victim found was Ellis."

"Hmm."

"You have something Prentiss?" Morgan asked Emily, who looked to be deep in thought.

"I just wonder when he started building up to this. I don't know, maybe it'll be in missing person reports. What is that in the victim's hands? Is that a prayer-book?"

"Yes, and the pages were found shoved in the victim's mouth and some were pushed down as far as the diaphragm" Hotch answered.

"It would explain the prayer hands pose" Reid added as he also zoomed in on the image of the small book.

"Very pious. Could that be why there was concealer on the bodies?" Emily inquired as she pinned a strand of hair behind her ear. "Maybe he was cleansing them of their defilements, their imperfections."

"Maybe there is a religious element, but I don't want to get into that too soon" Hotch established before he continued on. "All the recovered bodies were essentially homeless prostitutes with drug addictions. Additionally, all were beaten, raped and then strangled to death. What looks to be an upside down capital 'L' was also carved on their chest."

"He branded their heart" Reid remarked as the team all looked over to Emily, ensuring that she was okay.

Emily wasn't sure if it was solely for her own good, or to reassure themselves as well, needing to know she was doing well. She smiled at JJ and Garcia before speaking up again, "But why the letter 'L?'"

"Maybe it's an initial" Morgan offered with a shrug.

"Something about it is bothering me…" Emily trailed off, nodding at Hotch to go on, which he did.

"At the crime scene there were branches laid out to create a halo over the victim's head. Six other bodies were found in the same thirty mile radius that fit the victim types, but by the time they were found the staging had already began to decompose. The victims were Lynn Baker, aged 24, Jordin Cole aged 26, Crystal Cooper aged 21, Tamara Singer aged 20, Marie Goetz aged 32 and Ree Kelly aged 19."

"So he seemed to stick to a type of caucasian women, but other than it it's all over the map" Morgan deduced as he looked at the victim's mug shots on the screen. "The victims all have varying ages, hair color, and eye color."

Hotch nodded as he gave a the remaining information he had been sent, "The other nine missing women have yet to be found, dead or alive. We probably won't know for sure until we get a confession. Two women were presumed dead in the Katrina floods seven years ago, but since the first missing woman who fit the profile disappeared in 2003, it is entirely possible that those two women were also victims…"

"Do we have her picture?" Emily asked as she leaned forward in her chair.

"Her body was never recovered."

"Whose body was first recovered, staging or no staging?"

"Lynn Baker."

"Thanks" Emily replied absent-mindedly as she scrolled through her iPad to find the autopsy photos, which to her dismay didn't include photographs of Baker's hands.

"Lead detective Alonzo Gates is waiting for us. He said that when we land he'll hand over the files on our other nine missing women. We have no idea how often this unsub is killing so we need to get to work. Garcia you're coming with us this time. Wheels up in 20" Hotch ordered as the team dispersed.

The team departed the plane at around 2pm into the sticky Louisiana humidity that signified that it was indeed summer.

"Oh my god I'm going to melt" Garcia whined as the team was met by an African-American man in his late 50's with a shaved head, goatee, and his short-sleeved dress shirt drenched in sweat.

"Detective Alonzo Gates" he introduced himself as he stretched out his hand to Hotch.

"Thank you for meeting us detective, I'm Supervisory Special Agent Hotchner and this is SSA Prentiss, Rossi, Morgan, Jareau, Dr. Reid, and our technical analyst Penelope Garcia. If you'd like to head to the precinct now we can get started on the case."

"Follow me then" Gates replied as Morgan, Emily, Garcia, and JJ hopped into one SVU and Rossi, Hotch, and Reid got into the other with Gates.

"What you thinking Prentiss?" Morgan asked as he followed Gates' car, noting that Emily was abnormally quiet as she gazed out the car window.

"This case, it doesn't make sense. The women who were victimized were prostitutes and drug addicts who were raped and tortured by our unsub, but the way he stages the dump site, it's pious. The bodies are staged with care, it shows remorse. They were humiliated when they were raped and branded, but then he tries to save them their dignity by making sure their bodies are found clothed and almost angelic? There is obviously remorse, but I don't see how the unsub who committed this level of torture could be capable of remorse."

"What are you saying?" JJ asked as she tugged on her seatbelt so she could move forward to hear Emily better.

"I think there is more than one unsub."

"Come on Prentiss."

"Morgan look at the disconnect between the crimes and where the bodies were found."

"I don't know" Morgan said skeptical of the new theory. "It is rare."

"Well to be fair to gumdrop, so is everything else about this case" Garcia stated with a sigh. She was dreading the technical deficiencies the small town station was going to have.

"It's just a hunch" Emily admitted as she stared out at the lush Louisiana landscape, adjusting the car vents so the air conditioning would hit her better. "I fucking hate it here" Emily mumbled as the rest of the car chuckled. This was going to be a difficult case, and it was just about to get more interesting.

As always reviews let me know that people are interested in reading this. So if you want me to continue please tell me otherwise I'll just delete it.

Thanks for reading and reviewing.