Things in the Dark

Rosemary Woodhouse: What have you done to him?

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is not mine.

Floyd felt Aaron move and try to sit up.

"What's that?"

Floyd kept an arm hooked around the agent.

"I have no idea."

It sounded like someone was being attacked. No it sounded like more than one person. Ear piercing screams. No words – just the sound of fear.

"Let me sit up." Trying to push Floyd's arm off him.

"You have your gun?" Floyd moved his arm off Aaron and pushed himself up onto his elbows.

Aaron mirrored the movements pushing himself to sit. He felt Floyd move again and step over them both moving towards the fire.

The screaming continued. Not getting closer, not fading, but now it sounded like only one person. Hotch watched as Floyd kicked earth over the fire to put it out and then move back. He sat down in front of the still sleeping Spencer.

Aaron pulled Reid closer he whimpered something unintelligible but still didn't wake; and then he pulled his gun out of the deep pockets of the jacket he had been using as a pillow.

With one last gut clenching blood curdling howl the noise stopped. The whole forest was in complete silence. Two sat protecting their treasure as he carried on sleeping and murmuring, his body limp and unresponsive as Aaron stroked his hair and Floyd reached around and grabbed one of his hands.

And now a new noise. A long way off, but getting closer. Moving. Something slithering, crawling, sliding, flying, running, swarming, quickly, with a speed they couldn't begin to calculate it was moving towards them. Aaron pushed Spencer off his lap and crouched down next to him shaking him with his free hand.

"Spencer wake up."

Nothing.

They could hear a slithering wet sound getting closer. A sound of heavy breathing, sucking the oxygen from the air. Floyd made a deep down growling sound and sat back on his haunches.

The sounds of movement slowed. Whatever it was out there was slowly moving in a different direction. Aaron followed the sound with the gun he had clasped in his hand Floyd moved slowly around.

It was moving behind them. They moved to face the other way, Spencer still laying asleep between them. Now Flanders shook him – knowing he wouldn't wake – but trying anyway.

A smell that both Aaron and Floyd recognised wafted across the small clearing they had made camp in. A smell of decomposition mixed in with the smell of blood. Fresh blood.

"What the hell is it?" Hotch whispered.

Floyd didn't answer, he just grabbed Spencer under the arms and pulled him to his lap "Waking up around now would be helpful babes." He held him tightly and kissed the top of his head. "Spence if you are in there somewhere and you can hear me – time to come back."

The feeling of the air being sucked away continued. Hotch was feeling light headed and he knew his hands were shaking. Not through fear but through lack of oxygen getting to his brain. He took in long deep breaths to try to stop the dizziness.

Flanders could also feel his head spinning and his eyes beginning to lose focus on what little he could see in the darkness. The noises became muffled and he felt a tingling in his fingers and feet, and an odd twitching around his eyes. He looked down to see Spencer sliding from his grip. "Hotchner." He managed to mumble as he slid sideways to join Spencer on the forest floor.

Aaron's hands were shaking and sweating. He could feel moisture being sucked out of his skin and dripping down his face and wetting his back and he could hear movement again. Sliding, shuffling – and noises snorting and ripping, gradually moving away. He put the safety back on the weapon and put it on the forest floor next to him.

He swivelled around to see Floyd moaning and trying to get up again, Spencer laying on his back eyes open staring up at the darkness.

"Flanders – are you alright?"

A muttering as he pulled him self back up and sat with his legs crossed peering past Aaron out into the darkness. "Shit." Was his only reply. He moved his hands forward and grabbed Spencer pulling him to his lap holding him protectively. Hotch moved back so he was sitting next to Floyd and ran a soothing hand over Reid.

Neither man said anything but each held and protected Reid from what was out there.

Hotch knew he would have to talk to Spencer about this. This was dangerous. He would end up killing himself. How many of those damned drugs had he taken to be in this state now?

"It's the only way he can sleep." Floyd answered Aaron's silent questions. "No nightmares. Just a big lot of nothing."

"There are other ways." Hotch watched Floyd's fingers running over the side of Reid's face. "You can stop abusing him for a start. I am sure that would go a long way to helping him recover."

"He loves it. He is a deviant. My little bit of filth." He looked at Hotch and pulled out something to smoke. A sigh of pleasure as he turned to Hotch and blew noxious poison in his face.

Aaron felt Floyd's arm go across his shoulder. "I would rather you kept your hands off me and the smoke out of my face."

"You didn't say that when I lay down with you earlier. You liked it then." A small cloud of smoke now surrounding them.

"I'm not in the mood for you games Floyd. We need to wake Spencer up and see what that was out there."

"No. We need to let Spence stay just as he is. At his finest. Not resisting me and not talking to me. Just there and we need to wait until the morning before we go out there with a half drugged – drugged – whatever he is – and see what in hells name that was."

"You are a complete bastard. You know that. I did once think there was hope for you. A while back. I thought with treatment and help you would actually be alright – but I was wrong." He felt Floyd pulling him closer.

"You love me really. I see the way you look at me Aaron. I felt the way you responded to my touches. You can't deny me anymore than Spence – dear sweet Spence – here can. You are just going to take a bit longer to get on side but you will."

Floyd moved his hand off Aaron's shoulder and placed it quite firmly upon the agents knee. He leant forwards and moved a tongue slowly over Spencer's mouth – watching Hotch out of the corner of his eye. He felt Spencer respond to him and as Floyd sucked gently on Reid's sore lip and as his tongue found its way by his slightly open mouth he dug his nails into Hotch's knee and felt a hand lay over his fingers entwining. 'Well done Hotch – Phase two complete.'

Hotch watched what Floyd was doing –

He had a smoke burning in one hand, Hotch's knee in the other, his mouth moving over Spencer's face kissing the end of his nose, nibbling gently on his ear, nipping along his jawline and Spencer's strange open staring eyes looking up into the night sky as his body began to writhe and his little moans became soft whimpers.

It was bugging Floyd. This man who had such a small intelligence compared to him and Spence, yet a will-power far greater than he had anticipated. Any other man would be on his hands and knees by now ripping Reid's clothes off, but Aaron was just watching and squeezing Floyd's hand. Maybe that was his thing; maybe he just liked to watch. Voyeuristic pleasures. He would have to change his plans slightly to allow for this but it would be easy and in the end would be more fun. It would mean he wouldn't have to share. Firstly he had to deal with other things.

"Wait here." Flanders gently moved away from Hotch and Spencer. He dropped the butt of the cigarette to the forest floor and watched as it lay smouldering, he didn't want it to set the place alight, but he didn't want to put it out. Not just yet.

On his hands and knees he slowly moved forwards. He made sure that in the darkness Hotch couldn't see what he was doing and a quick look back confirmed that Aaron was otherwise occupied. As he moved forwards he scooped up the gun Aaron had placed carefully down and continued forwards. He had absolutely zero intention of really going to see what had been out there. Some monstrously huge rabid bear – were his thoughts, and he didn't want to get too close to it – thank you very much, but he couldn't have this man walking around with a gun.

He slid the weapon under the leaves and into a patch of something which made his hand itch. "Wonderful!"

………………….

Hotch watched Floyd crawling away from them. He was quiet – you wouldn't have known he was there. He looked down at Spencer who was still whimpering and moaning and staring at the sky. He moved across to where Floyd had been sitting and gently ran his fingers through Reid's hair. He wished Floyd had told him about the painkillers. He could have done something about it, but out here in the middle of a forest with something not very nice prowling around there wasn't much he could do – except protect him.

He heard Floyd's exclamation and looked up, still running gentle fingers over Spencer's face and through his long wavy hair.

"What?"

"Nothing. Just put my hand somewhere not very nice. I can't see anything but I can sure as hell still smell it."

He stood and rubbed at his hand as he turned and saw Aaron touching HIS Spence a knot of anger tightened in his stomach.

………………….