Title:
Power
Play
Rating:
R
Fandom:
Criminal
Minds
Universe:
Creatures
of the Night (Part 1)
Pairing:
Morgan/Prentiss;
JJ/Hotch
Genre:
Supernatural/Drama
Summary:
Tensions
are running high when a vampire joins the BAU, but all differences
must be put aside as the team investigate a series of suspicious
werewolf murders. AU.
Author's
Notes: Betaed
by Windy City Dreamer. Some guest beta work from Yellow Smurf.
Chapter Thirty-One
The rest of the team is in a cell not far from where they are. There's a quick scuffle as the guards are dispatched, and Emily can feel her heart beating unnaturally fast, even though she hasn't really done anything particularly strenuous. The guards had been a cakewalk, which in itself is strange. It's been so long since she's had human blood that she can't even remember how she's supposed to be feeling. All she remembers is the consequences.
JJ and Hotch are out first, while Rossi tries to coax Reid from his corner of the cell. She feels a burst of sympathy. She knows what it's like trying to be something you're not, only in her case, it's intentional. Judging by the near catatonic state of Reid, he's taking the news exceptionally hard.
'I don't want to go with you!' he yells, and Emily notices JJ looking down the dark hallway nervously, as if someone might have heard the noise. 'You lied to me.'
'Reid.' Rossi kneels beside him, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder. His voice is soft. Comforting. 'Reid, listen to me. I don't have the answers you're looking for. But once we get out of here, I will do my very best to make sure that you find out what you need to know. But for now, we need to get out of here.'
There's a few seconds of pained silence before Reid nods slowly and gets to his feet. JJ breathes a small sigh of relief.
'So how are we getting out of here?' asks Morgan in a pained voice. Emily finds her grip on him slipping. There's adrenaline pumping through her system. Far too much adrenaline. She's never felt this alert, and quite frankly, it's kind of terrifying. She tries to push it away, but instead, it only grows stronger.
'Emily?'
She shakes her head, though what she's shaking her head to, she isn't quite sure. 'I can't,' she breathes. Then, a little louder. 'I can't.'
Hotch catches Morgan as he falls from her, and she finds herself trying to find purchase on the wall, fingernails digging into the rough bricks. She feels like she's about to explode.
Wolves and vampires don't mix. It's not just cultural, it's biological. She's got wolf in her system, and her body just doesn't know how to deal with it. It's compensating.
'How much did you drink?'
She can't quite tell who's talking. Things are starting go blurry, and she's seconds away from breaking through the barriers, and letting the aggression out. She wants to fight. To kill. And she doesn't know why.
'Please…' she manages, vaguely aware of the fact that she's started to cry. Why, she's not sure. She isn't sad, isn't in pain, as such. It could be that biology thing again, but she just doesn't know.
She fights the confusion. Clears her mind. 'We need to get out of here,' says Rossi urgently. 'We're dead if they find out we've escaped.'
Emily wants to agree, but her mind can't form the words. She concentrates on breathing, on staying stable. On not losing control. She's had some practice at it, after all. Whether it's because of this concentration, or because of something else, she doesn't know, but her body seems to grant her a brief reprieve.
She watches with interest as JJ – with some hesitation – probes the mind of the unconscious guards. It's possible that they might know some alternate way out of the castle; a secret passage in case of attack, or a servant's entrance. It's a fairly old building.
Evidently, the psychic does find something, because she leads them down the hallway, away from the main castle.
They traverse the dark passageway, Emily occasionally gripping Rossi's arm to stop herself from falling. In more ways than one.
The tunnel isn't a long one, but it's long enough. Emily has enough of her senses intact to know that they're going south, which will probably put them outside the boundaries of the city, into the surrounding woodland. Woodland that's filled with rogue wolves. There're probably barriers in place that are keeping the wolves at bay, so to speak, but once they pass those barriers, then they'll have to be on the lookout.
The good news, though, is that once outside those boundaries, Morgan will start to heal. The bad news is, by the same principles, Emily'll probably lose control ten times faster. She's not exactly looking forward to that.
They know what they have to do.
For a group of people that are as wary of vampires as them, it shouldn't be too hard to kill her.