I do not, though I wish I did, own any of the characters from the Criminal Minds TV show. I love the show and am a huge fan, that being said, I would LOVE feedback on this story. This is set current date, if you remember season one episode 18-the one with the steamy scene with Reid and Lila Archer in the pool, I hope you like that I am bringing them back together again!
The killer circled the fire, breathing in the exquisite perfume of burning flesh. Savoring the warmth that could be gained from getting close to it without being burnt. Fire is such a beautiful thing.
Fire cleanses, fire heals. Makes everything better again, removes stains, and evidence. Slowly the killer circled its latest victim. He had been a fighter, a big strong man, who like the one before him was now nothing but a shriveled husk, with flames dancing about it. The killer made one last circuit around the fire before squatting next to it for just one last look. Definitely dead, the killer decided. Smiling at success, the killer walked away, the job here was done, nothing more to do, except plan the next murder. The streets were not safe, not until every last one of them was dead and flamed. That was, after all, the only way to kill a vampire.
Reid glared at the computer screen, computer chess wasn't as much fun as real chess, but at least he could beat the computer. However at the moment he was backed into a corner with only a bishop and a pawn to defend his king, maybe he hadn't been ready for this setting. Frowning he tried to find a way though his opponents defenses, but could see nothing but well placed pieces all against him.
"Do you always concentrate that hard, or is it just when your opponent cant see you?" Morgan asked as he set a cup of coffee next to Reid, who reached for it without looking away from the screen.
"If he made that face while playing a human it wouldn't matter who won, it would just turn into a contest of who can keep from laughing the hardest." Prentice said as she took a cup of coffee from the carrier Morgan held, she sniffed appraisingly and smiled at him, "you are a wonderful man."
With a charming smile Morgan gave her a mock bow, "you don't know the half of it."
"And I will never know the half of it!" She said as she leaned over Reid's shoulder, "move your bishop over here" she tapped the screen, " it's the only move you have where you can take out one of the computers pieces."
"Since when are you the chess pro?" Reid grumbled.
"Since she actually beat Gideon." Morgan said before taking a sip of his own coffee.
The look Reid gave Prentice was accusatory.
"It was only once, and he let me win, he had to." She held up both hands before her as if to fend off an attack. The moment Reid's eyes were back on the screen she gave Morgan a mock punch in his deltoid. Morgan laughed off the attack and settled himself on the edge of her desk.
Above them on the catwalk JJ walked into Hotch's office and closed the door behind her, "we have a case."
Without looking up from the file he was reading he held out his hand for her. Crossing the office she handed him the case file, "have the team ready in 15 minuets?" was all Hotch said as she left the office.
The first image that appeared on the screen was mild compared to those that followed. From the first image you couldn't tell that the burnt bulk had once been human, then the film got closer, and the details could be seen.
"So our victims was burned alive?" Rossi said as he flipped through his file.
"Both of our victims so far have been burned alive." JJ said as she flipped through the film, finally ending with two photos of normal looking men, who looked nothing alike. One was blond with blue eyes; the other was of African American decent.
Prentice flipped the pages and froze, "both men had the same first and last name, that cant be a coincidence."
"As far as the police have gotten, so far that is the only thing that they had in common, one was nurse, the other was business man. They lived over fifty miles apart." JJ explained.
"How did they get a positive ID, dental?" Reid asked as he studied the photo, there was nothing discernable about the victim that he could see.
JJ clicked to another photo, it was a wallet left open with the drivers license visible, "The un-sub is nice enough to leave the wallet behind, cash and credit cards included. But there was a dental identification done just to be through, no other means of identification would work."
Hotch caught Garcia's eye, "I want you to do a background on both of them see if they crossed paths with one another in anything, same gym, same coffee shop, anything that can connect them other then just the same name."
"What is the time pattern so far?" Reid asked, his file closed before him, having read it already.
JJ pointed to the man on the right, blond haired, "He was killed five days ago, the killer made no point to try to hide the body in any way," the curser slid to the other man, "and he was killed three days ago."
"Two day cool off period that's not a very long one," Prentice shifted in her chair, closing her own file and crossing her arms.
"Any chance that there is a third body out there waiting to be found?" Morgan asked.
"Any thing is possible, the LAPD called us in as soon as they did a search on how many men are out there with the same name, its over 400 just in LA alone. The LAPD have already begun contacting them." JJ said.
Hotch let out a long breath, "Over 400 and every one of them is a potential victim. Wheels up in 30."
Before they made it to the plane JJ received a phone call from the LAPD, victim number three had been found same method of murder, and same name.
Surf, Sand and hotties greeted the team as they set down to summer at Los Angeles. The sun was out, and it was a beautiful 90 degrees. But instead of heading to the beach like most visitors to beautiful so cal, they headed to a crime scene.
Hotch donned his blue gloves and booties before setting foot in the roped off area quickly followed by Rossi. "The killer has to either knock them out, or have them tied up or both, otherwise why would the victim stay still and be burned to death alive." Rossi said as he circled the burnt corpse.
"What about drugging them?" Morgan asked as he walked the perimeter. This body had been burned under an overpass, not very private, but in a quiet enough area that there was nothing around but industrial buildings.
"The medical examiners reports for the first two murders had a negative tox screen." Prentice said as she moved around the overpass on the opposite side as Morgan.
Morgan found the photo ID first, and bagged it. "Another Nathan Williams."
"What is it about the name that sounds familiar?" Prentice asked frowning.
"Could it be that this is the third one that we have dead, and no other connections to one another?" Morgan asked with his usual sarcasm.
"No Prentice is right, the name sounds familiar. Just cant think of where, you don't know it do you Reid?" JJ shot a look at the boy genius.
Reid looked up from where he was squatting next to the corpse, "cant say that I have."
"This is something new," Prentice said as she carefully lifted a book off of a sofa someone had dumped under the overpass. The book looked brand new, and there was a folded piece of paper marking one of the pages. Carefully She placed the book into an evidence bag. "Shadowed Dawn," she read off the cover of the novel, "that's where I know the name, Nathan William is one of the main characters of this series."
"Shadowed Dawn, never heard of it." Reid said with a shake of his head.
"It's the newest vampire series out, supposed to be the best so far. My cousin read it, so did her aunt, they both said it's amazing." JJ crossed to Prentice and examined the book through the evidence bag.
Hotch frowned at Rossi, "have you ever read a vampire novel?"
"No but it looks like we are all about to," Rossi said with a frown at the book.
"The only thing we have connecting all the victims together is the name, and now we know where the killer got the name." Hotch summed up as the team met back at the station. The LAPD had set them up an a recently cleared office, and been kind enough to stock it with a coffee pot and as many white boards as could be comfortable stuffed into the room. The office looked out onto a crowded street, complete with honking horns and shouted curses. The coffee was terrible, and the table in the middle of the room needed a new coat of polish, but it was home for now.
Morgan shook his head, "you really think that the killer would pick his victim from a book?"
"You would be amazed my lovely how powerful that book is, it has already sold over 125 million copies, most of which went to the crazy teen girls of the world. None the less it is about to be made into a major motion picture." Garcia's said from the safety of her lap top screen.
"You wouldn't have happened to be one of that 125 million people to have bought copy would you Garcia?" Morgan asked.
Garcia gave a delicate snort before answering, "Of coarse not sugar, why buy in hard back what you can down load, I got one of those new I-pads, totally love it, totally recommend it, its amazing."
On the end of a long sigh Rossi asked, "About the book Garcia, can you tell us anything?"
"It was amazing, so much better then anything else out there right now in the vampire world. Almost like vampires meet Romeo and Juliet. Julie, the human falls in love with a vampire who is terrified to hurt her, and to admit that he has been in love with her since he set eyes on her, well you can imagine how things go, and believe me they do go there! Chapter 22 I very much recommend it."
"Keep going Garcia," Hotch wasn't in the mood for games.
"Any who, when Nathan finally agrees to turn Julia into a vampire it is to late, she had a form of terminal cancer, but was to proud to tell him about it, and she dies when he is on the way to make her his forever, he finds her dead," Garcia was sniffling, " and he cant cope with it so he kills himself the only way that a vampire can die, he burns himself alive."
That statement was met with silence.
"So that's why the killer is burning his victims." Hotch said.
"He thinks they are vampires." Rossi answered.
Prentice frowned, "what was on the folded sheet of paper in the book?"
Reid opened the folder that was sitting before him and read out loud, "the only way to kill them was by fire, don't try to stop me, she wont be safe until every last one of them is burned alive."
"Who wont be safe?" JJ asked, her long blond hair fell around her as she leaned over Reid's shoulder to look at the copy of the paper, it had been typed, no fingerprints.
From the computer screen Garcia cleared her throat, "what page was the not left on?"
"Page 438, does that mater?" JJ asked.
Garcia gulped loudly. "That's in chapter 16, Nathan tries to convince Julia that she is better off without him, and almost kills her on accident. He doesn't mean to, it is an accident."
"But our killer thinks that Julia wont be safe unless Nathan is dead? Who is the Julia?" Prentice asked before taking a sip of coffee.
"She is never given a last name, the book is told from her point of view until she dies, the last chapter is from Nathan's point of view, and even then he never says her last name." Garcia said in a rush.
Leaning back in his chair Morgan let out a gusty sigh, "so we know who the victims are, we just don't know who the un-sub is trying to protect.
Reid frowned, "I think we do, Garcia, didn't you say that the book was about to be turned into a movie?"
"Rightie-O boy wonder, the actor who will be playing Nathan Williams is Zack Sarah, and his co-star is, none other then Lila Archer."
Reid felt his face flush, and knew that Morgan was looking at him, he refused to look up. It had been nearly 5 years since he had seen Lila, there was no way that she would remember him. Not that he could ever forget her, or the time they had shared in the pool. But all that was behind him, Morgan had been right it was to hard to keep a relationship going with the job the had, especially when the other person lived on the opposite side of the country.
"If the person that the un-sub is trying to protect is Lila, then why isn't he going after the other actor Zack Sarah?" Prentice asked.
Reid crossed his legs, Morgan smiled. "I don't know, but lets get someone down to the set, make sure that Miss Archer has enough security detail." Hotch eyed Morgan and Reid, "why don't you two head there first thing in the morning. JJ I wanted to commend you for your work with the press so far, lets try to keep the lid on this as tight as we can. The last thing we need is attention."
Sooo, questions comments or concerns? This went a little faster off the start then I was expecting, but I didn't want to load it down with to many details, let me know what you think!