Author's note: So, what with AP tests and finals coming up, I'm about to become ridiculously busy. I thought I'd get another chapter up quickly before my life goes to hell. But my question to you is, are longer chapters something to continue? I'm not that prolific in nature, and they'll certainly take longer to get up, but let me know in comments. After all, I write for you. Best wishes!

There was blood everywhere. Running in her eyes, dripping down her body. She blinked, willing the scarlet ribbons trailing through her vision to go away.

"Please," she shrieked. "Just leave me alone!"

The wind whistled unseen, whipping through her hair. It sent chills down her spine. She couldn't see anything but the red. She stood there shaking, blood dripping into her mouth. It pooled in her lungs. She started choking, coughing, retching. She fell to her knees desperate to get the blood out of her. She coughed up pure blackness, a putrefied ooze that pooled on the floor, tinged red by the blood raining from the sky.

She was completely naked, wearing only the stained cloak of red from the falling liquid. Her hair was matted down the length of her back. She stood. Her fingers were stained, her feet shaking under the sea of blood that was slowly rising. It had reached her calves, the slurping pulsing liquid coursing and whipping around her legs. She screamed out in agony, there wasn't anything she could do but scream. She couldn't move her legs; she could barely twitch her hands. She was crying, tears mixing with the blood raining from the sky.

What had previously been only blackness tinged with red was now lit by a sun, a gleaming orb in the distance. It was shining and glinting, reminiscent of everything happy and good. She reached out towards it, desperate for any hint of a savior. The sun turned blood red, then dipped below the horizon. Screaming out, she crumpled to her knees. She started coughing up the blackness again. All she could see was the falling scarlet.

She cried and screamed, pulling at her hair. She could move her arms, but her legs were frozen in place. She found that she couldn't stand up. The blood was up to her chest, tearing at her own skin. It cut at her arms and legs, slicing her stomach. She felt her own blood running into the blood falling from the sky. It was up to her shoulders now. She couldn't stand up. She pulled and tore at herself, urging her body to stand. She was still choking, coughing, black ooze spluttering from her lungs and dripping out of her nose. She couldn't breathe.

The blood was licking at her chin, teasing her. Taunting her. Her dark hair floated behind her, twirling and twisting in the blood. Her entire body was stained red. She cried out, screaming for help, begging for mercy. But she couldn't move, and nobody came.

The blood came into her mouth, filled her mind with the metallic taste of death. She knew this feeling, the choking caused by death, the grasping for life. The tears poured down her face, but she couldn't scream anymore. It had come up to her nose, taking away any chance of survival. She saw a hand reaching out towards her, trying to save her. But the hand was too far away. She cried. The blood obscured her vision, covering her head. She tried to hold her breath, but she couldn't. She was still coughing, black sludge oozing from her mouth as she drowned in a sea of red. She wished she could reach her arm out and grab to hand outstretched to her. But it wouldn't reach her, it never did.

Her eyes flew open, body starting from the knock on the door. Lizzy rubbed her eyes, reaffirming herself to the land of the terrestrials. She looked down. There she was, lovely and flesh colored, wearing a pair of boxers and a tank top. She sighed audibly, happy to be out of the nightmare that had plagued her for months. She walked to the door of her apartment to answer the knock. She opened it, revealing a somewhat hastily clothed Darcy.

"Look, I'm sorry to bother you but…"

"What time is it?"

"About seven, why?"

"Nothing, I'm just." She yawned.

"Well, look, we have everything uploaded and rendered at the lab, I was thinking maybe we should go. It's been about two weeks, I'm ready to get somewhere."

"Slow down man. Just woke up. Jesus." She muttered the, putting on a feigned smile, declared that he might as well come in and have some coffee. He stepped into the room gingerly while she disappeared into the depths of the apartment. He chuckled briefly to himself before sitting down on an easy chair in what was most likely designed as a living room. The apartment was so quintessentially Lizzy. A kitchen took up most of the main area; he remembered how she loved to cook when she got the time. There was a small circular table next to some windows, a bowl of fruit perched lovingly by, most likely, her beloved sister Jane. She was the one with a knack for interior design. Most everything was in dark woods. The main pops of color came from the aforementioned bowl of fruit and the vast bookshelves that lined what seemed to be every wall of her apartment. He got up to peruse them; he knew he had a couple minutes left before she returned. He had just heard the shower turn off.

The books ranged every genre. There were the medical and scientific textbooks that her career necessitated; they took up a good three shelves. Then there were the science fiction novels, which rested next to fantasy. Poetry and non-fiction took up another shelf, while romance and comedy were on a top shelf that would have been hidden had it not been for Darcy's immense height. An entire case was dedicated to religious studies and language books, and magazines and loose papers were dispersed throughout the shelves. He pulled out a copy of The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy to wander through while he waited for her to appear. He opened the book, laughing. She had gone through with pen and marked in what she thought were the inaccuracies of space travel, inserting her better ideas for what should be done.

"What's so funny?" Lizzy appeared, running a towel through her messy, wet hair.

"Just your annotations. Have you seriously read all of these?"

"It's what happens when you don't own a TV". Darcy scoffed.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"Calm yourself". She grabbed the apple and yogurt that would suffice as breakfast. "I'm ready."

"It's about bloody time woman."

Lizzy groaned.

"You know Darcy, they invented this thing called a phone. It's quite magical really. You can actually talk to people without being in the same room as them. It's bloody brilliant."

"Yes, you're hysterical. Here, we'll take my car."

"I'd prefer to drive myself thank you." Darcy glared at her. "Ok, we'll take your car, Jesus. Now, why can't I drive myself?" They got into his car.

"I'm not sure if you're aware Elizabeth, but there's a serial killer out there, you see. And we, as law enforcement officials, are trying to catch him or her. But, as you should know by now, they also tend to know who you are." Lizzy humphed.

A while back, Lizzy couldn't exactly remember when, there had been a rapist and murderer out and about. He had taken a fancy to Lizzy once she had started working the case and he had begun to stalk her. One night, after a long day at the lab, she had come home to find this man in her apartment, wrench brandished and eyes leering. Fortunately, Lizzy's father had been adamant that the girls take self-defense classes at a very young age. She kicked the wrench from his hands and knocked him out. He was taken into custody and charged with the rape and murder of two girls. Lizzy had been shaken, but she had forgotten about it until this moment. Now that she was reminded of it, she thought it oddly strange that she had managed to forget what most would consider an incredibly life changing event. She shook the memory from her head, yawned, and turned toward Darcy.

"I can't believe you remember that."

"I have a good memory." They sat in silence for a minute.

"Are we friends now?" He looked at her, eyebrows arched in confusion.

"What?"

"Are we friends now? Do we hang out, are you going to insist on protecting me from evil people now?"

"Ha, think of it as friendly coworkers. And yes, I do insist upon protecting you."

"I can handle myself."

"I'm sure you can. But if your nightmares are as bad as mine, I think we could use each other. Think of it as me asking you to protect me but we use my car." He chuckled, but she stared out the window, a petulant child in the body of a well-rounded adult.

"How did you know about the nightmares?" Darcy looked at her.

"Frankly, I'd be surprised if you didn't get them. We've gone through a lot of similar trials in our time, we're more similar than we care to think."

"I guess you're right. It's weird that I'm protecting the FBI agent though." He bristled slightly, manhood mildly shaken.

"Well…you…um…you see" he scratched his head, she whacked his shoulder.

"Please," she said. "I understand."

They arrived at the lab. James walked out to greet them.

"I scanned in all of the pictures, as well as x-rays of the body. She's with Bill."

"Thanks James." Lizzy walked to the lab into the autopsy room, where both Caroline and Bill were waiting. Darcy walked a couple of steps behind her. When they reached the bodies, she looked back at him. He grimaced, but followed her. It was weird, the respect she now held for this man. She wasn't quite sure how to comprehend it. Alas, there was work to be done. She put on a pair of gloved and began to analyze the new body. There was almost less to go on this time around. The DNA results for the blood found on Bill hadn't run a match, and the blood found on Caroline was neither hers nor Bill's. The sample was running now, but Lizzy had a feeling there wasn't anything to find in the blood. She wasn't exactly happy about that, blood was her thing.

Lizzy was methodical about running through the evidence left on the body. She took sampled from the organs to check for poisons, even though she was quite sure that the cause of death had been strangulation, same as before. She pored over every inch of the body, looking for any sort of particulate that had been left behind. But this body was the same as the one before. There was absolutely nothing left to go on.

"Lizzy."

"Hello Darcy."

"Yes, well I just got a call saying that there's someone who want to talk to me about the death of their husband. A Charlotte Collins." Lizzy looked up,

"The file didn't say anything about a wife."

"That's why I'm leaving. Just thought I'd let you know." He made to leave.

"Wait!" she jumped up. "I want to come."

Darcy motioned to the body. "Don't you have things to do?"

"James can take care of this. I want to come. Besides, you made me leave my car at home."

"Fair enough. But hurry yourself up. And for God's sake take off those gloves. I don't need blood in my car." She took the gloves off.

Once in the car, Lizzy commenced questioning Darcy.

"So, is Bingley officially off of the case?"

"FBI protocol. Considering one of his family members was killed, it's a conflict of interest for him to continue working the case."

"So that's where Jane is. So what do we do now? Are we questioning her, do we get to go into the interrogation room?" Lizzy jumped up on her seat. "Are we going to arrest someone?"

"God Lizzy, no. We're just talking to her."

"Wow," Lizzy deadpanned, "your job is fun."

"Although frankly," Darcy continued, "it's odd. Perhaps we will get to go into the interrogation room after all."

Lizzy made a brief fist pump just before they arrived at the building. Darcy flashed a badge and walked with purpose while Lizzy made a show of all the attractive-looking people in suits.

"Lizzy, stop being ridiculous."

"But it's pretty. And it smells nice in here."

"Yes, that would be the lack of dead bodies." They reached his office, where a mousy-looking woman was waiting.

"Now listen Lizzy, I brought you because I'm just that glorious of a person. But you need to be quiet, this is my specialty here."

"Fine, fine." They walked into the room.

"Hello Mrs. Collins, how are you?"

"Where's my husband, I want to see my husband." She jumped up. "We need to give him a proper burial."

"I'm sorry, we can't release his body yet." Said Darcy. The woman slumped over.

"Mrs. Collins, can I talk to you about you and your husband's relationship?"

"Oh, Bill was the sweetest man. Why, he would never hurt a fly. I just can't believe he's dead." She wiped a tear from her eye, Darcy handed her a tissue box.

"See, Mrs. Collins, the only reason we ask is that there wasn't anything in Bill Collins' file that indicated he was married."

"Oh, that. Well, you see, he had just gotten divorced and he didn't want to get married again so soon. We were going to get married, but, well, it just didn't happen." She made a show of weeping softly into the tissue Darcy had provided her. Darcy glanced at Lizzy.

"Mrs. Collins, is there anyone who would want to hurt your husband, anything odd that happened recently, anything that could lead us to your husbands killer?"

"Oh no, like I said, he wouldn't hurt a fly." She stood up. "Look, I'm sorry Agent Darcy, but I have an appointment that I just have to get to. You understand."

"Of course madam. Thank you for your time."

"Of course." Mrs. Collins dipped quickly then left the room, leaving Lizzy and Darcy utterly confused.

"Well, she sure got out of here quickly." Said Darcy.

"That was…amazing. Where did you learn how to do that?"

"Please. I'm the one with people skills, remember?" He smiled, Lizzy scoffed.