Chapter 22

The team entered quietly into the apartment, surprised but grateful that the door was unlocked. As they walked past the kitchen they froze as they heard Hotch's shout coming from the living room up ahead.

"SCREAM!"

They froze for a split second, then Morgan looked at Reid and motioned towards the hallway.

Find Jack. He mouthed.

Reid nodded and quietly made his way down the hallway.

The others moved forward, guns held high as they entered the living room; their minds stumbling at the sight in front of them. Jessica lay on the floor next to the couch, Hotch was straddling her, both of them bloodied.

Hotch was holding…

…it looked like…

Their eyes widened.

Skin.

Hotch was facing in their direction, but his face, a mass of confusion and anger was looking down at Jessica, his bloodied hands holding the skin in one hand the blood stained knife in the other.

"Why won't you scream?" his voice was pained, low.

"Hotch?" whispered Morgan, aghast at what he was seeing.

Hotch's head snapped up to see who had spoken, then with a low growl he dropped the skin and grabbed Jessica by the hair pulling her towards him, he twisted her around as they both fell against the wall next to the couch, so she was in front of him, her back to his chest, both their legs sprawled out in front of them on the floor.

"Agent Morgan." she cried softly, her relief, tangible.

The team had come.

Morgan glanced over at Prentiss and Rossi, they both looked as astonished as he did.

"Hotch!" Morgan repeated a little louder, the grip on his gun tightening.

Prentiss followed suit, but Rossi just stared at Hotch who had pulled Jessica back against him, his leg overlapping hers and locking them around his, the knife he was holding tight against her neck.

"Coming to take her away?" hissed Hotch, his face scrunched in pain. His mind was all jumbled, he just wanted his control back and these people were here to take it from him.

Rossi looked at his unraveled friend and his heart ached. If he hadn't already killed Mason he would have taken pleasure in ripping him apart for what he had done to his friend….his son.

Rossi slowly put his gun down on the nearby desk. He held a hand up to Morgan motioning for him to back away, he did the same to Prentiss.

"Rossi..." Morgan shook his head.

The elder agent gave him a look and Morgan grimaced but slowly moved back, he nodded at Prentiss to do the same, but they stopped just short of leaving the room altogether.

Rossi looked at them and nodded then turned back to Hotch, whose brows were furrowed as he held onto Jessica, the knife dangerously pressed to her neck.

Rossi heavily eyed, the wound on Jessica's torso and remembered what Hotch had shouted.

He had wanted her to scream.

He took a step forward and crouched so he was at eye level with Hotch and Jessica. Shaking, she stared directly at him then her eyes flicked in the direction of the hallway, then back to him again.

Rossi nodded his understanding.

His eyes warming to a silent… Don't worry.

Then he turned back to his friend. "You never told us your name."

Hotch's eyes were mere slits now, the pain in his head ripping him apart. Images of dead faces, images of himself holding a gun.

Why would he be holding a gun? Knives were the true weapon of choice, Mason said so.

Hotch groaned as the images continued like a whirlwind.

"Stop...s-stop..." he muttered, knocking the back of his head softly against the wall.

"Hey."

Hotch blinked coming back to himself to find Rossi a few inches closer to him and Jessica.

Hotch grunted and grabbed Jessica tighter, the knife tight across her neck now drawing blood.

"Rossi!" hissed Morgan from somewhere behind him.

Rossi turned his head shaking it slightly, then turned back to Hotch; Rossi's brows furrowed watching Jessica, bloody, eyes wide, desperate as she used her hands to press down on her wound while keeping her head back, straining away from the blade; he sighed heavily then turned his eyes back to Hotch.

"Tell us who you are." he ordered Hotch.

"You know who I am." Hotch grunted.

"Maybe you're unsure...maybe you don't really know ..." said Rossi, shrugging his shoulders slightly.

Hotch paused for a moment, a strange look of pride slipping over his face.

"I'm Cullen Ezral...Mason's older brother, his protector."

Rossi's eyes never left Hotch's face, he nodded slowly.

"Well Cullen...I'm the one who killed your brother."

Reid moved quietly down the hallway; he quickly checked the bathroom and Jessica's bedroom for hiding places, with no luck he moved over to Jack's bedroom, flicking on the light and scanning the small space.

"Jack?" he whispered.

No response.

He turned to the closet; if Jack and Alice were not in there he wasn't sure where they would be.

As his hand reached for the knob, the door suddenly flew open banging against the adjacent wall, a small woman stood there, her arm held high holding a Transformer toy like a weapon.

"No!" she shouted her voice guttural, protective.

Reid stepped back and raised one of his hands, the other subconsciously touching his waist where his holster used to be.

It was Alice, he had found her.

He stepped forward, "Alice my name is Spencer and I'm here with my team, with Agent Rossi."

"...Rossi?" Alice sighed and dropped the toy leaning heavily against the side of the doorway as she grabbed onto her hip.

"Thank, God." she whispered.

"Alice, where's Jack?"

The older woman nodded, eyes wide and turned around moving aside a pile of clothes. Jack was curled up under the clothes on the floor, thumb in mouth a lost look on his young face.

The woman whispered to Reid. "He woke up not too long ago, he thought he heard his Daddy's voice, but I told him he was wrong and that we had to stay here and hide, because a bad man was in the apartment." Alice grabbed Reid's arm.

"Is Jack's Daddy a bad man, Spencer?"

Reid opened his mouth to speak, but didn't know how to answer that question so turned to Jack.

"Hey Jack, do you remember me? Uncle Spencer?"

Jack pulled his thumb out of his mouth and slowly sat up, squinting slightly from the bedroom's light.

He looked at Reid, then Alice, then back to Reid.

"Uncle Spencer, I heard my daddy, but Auntie Alice told me a bad man was here and we had to hide."

The look of fear on Jack's face broke Reid's heart. Reid helped him up.

"I'm going to get you and Alice to a safe place now, okay?"

Jack nodded and took Reid's offered hand. Reid nodded at Alice telling them both to be as quiet as possible and they headed towards the bedroom door. Suddenly Alice collapsed and Reid quickly let go of Jack's hand to grab her before she hit the floor.

"I'm sorry, it's my hip." she whispered through gritted teeth. "It's locked up from the cramped quarters." she nodded at the closet.

As Reid helped her to her feet, neither of them noticed Jack shuffling towards the open bedroom door, his small face intent on the voices coming from in the apartment, he heard Uncle Derek's and Uncle Dave's voices; they were his Daddy's friends, so if they were here with Uncle Spencer, maybe, just maybe...

Hotch's loud voice echoed through the apartment.

Jack gasped, his eyes lighting up.

It was Daddy! He is home!Thought Jack and ran towards the living room as fast as his legs would allow him, a huge smile on his face.

"Well...Cullen, I'm the one who killed your brother."

Rossi's words had frozen the very air, he could feel Prentiss' and Morgan's tension like a block of ice against his back, but no one moved. In front of him Hotch and Jessica both stared at him like mannequins posed in a macabre scene of blood and anguish.

Rossi took in Hotch's deadly glare and shifted his feet slightly then continued.

"Why would you want her, when you can have the man who killed your so called brother? Rossi raised his arms wide, I'm unarmed and she, is just a poor substitute." he stated, nodding at Jessica who suddenly seemed to reanimate, her legs unconsciously knocking against Hotch's clamped legs, one hand weakly pulling at Hotch's knife arm, the other clasping painfully at the wound on her stomach.

Hotch blinked slowly, Rossi's words unfreezing him, then he glanced at the struggling woman in his arms. Silent for a moment more, remembering the last image he saw of his brother, grey skin, bullet holes next to the autopsy stitching where they had cut him open.

Cold disdain dripped from Hotch's face as he unlocked his legs from Jessica's and with his free hand grabbed her tightly around the waist, then using the wall behind him, pressed against it and slowly inched his way up , pulling a pale bloodied Jessica up in front of him to a standing position, all the while staring at Rossi.

"You could have blown my head off just now, save your friend here." he motioned with his chin at Jessica.

"My weapon is on the desk, Aaron."

"Cullen." corrected Hotch. "And theirs aren't." he glanced at Prentiss and Morgan, his gaze returning to Rossi. "Why? Why'd you kill him?"

"He was going to kill one us," Rossi motioned slightly in Morgan's direction. "And to be honest? I'd do it again if I had the chance, for taking you away from us...for hurting you the way he did."

"Hurting me?" Hotch snorted. He looked down at Jessica. "When I'm done with it, here," he hefted her up some; "And I leave this place, you'll find me at your door one night, then I'll show you what true hurting is."

Ignoring Hotch's threat, Rossi slowly stood up. "Cullen..." he needed to ask the question the team all needed the answer to.

"Did you kill those women?"

Hotch tilted his head slightly, eyes flashing almost manic.

"Which women?"

Rossi just stared at him, waiting patiently.

After a moment, Hotch twitched then sneered and grabbed Jessica tighter.

"No, how could I, after what you people did to me? I wasn't complete yet, but...I helped catch them, I helped my brother, just like he was helping me."

Prentiss felt her heart breaking and stepped forward.

"Hotch, please...we want to help you."

The echo of a smile that slipped over Hotch's face held a sudden dread for the others.

"I don't want your help." he glanced down at Jessica as he held the knife tighter and moved it down to her back, remembering in his mind the first time his brother had showed him what their purpose was.

A sudden influx of thoughts jarred him...

Don't

Don't do it.

This is right! Mason showed me what to do.

Wait, just listen to them!

They're stalling for time.

She didn't scream.

Skip to the blood.

But it's not complete, I won't be complete!

Skip to the blood.

Skip.

To.

The.

Blood!

"Jessica is not an "it", Cullen." pressed Rossi, noticing Hotch's movement.

Morgan stepped forward, lowering his weapon. "Hotch, she's a woman, a human being, you know her, please we're trying to help you...lower the knife, let her...!"

"IT DIDN'T SCREAM!" Hotch shouted, causing the team to flinch.

Hotch shook his head slightly, they just weren't getting it. "I have to skip to the blood." he said factually. "You can have it when I'm through." Hotch pressed the tip of the knife against Jessica's lower back...and pushed.

The team saw Jessica's eyes widen in pain.

"Cullen!" shouted Rossi. "Hotch! No!"

Morgan raised his gun and surged forward, Prentiss following suit.

"Hotch! STOP!" Morgan shouted, his finger on the trigger of his gun; he could only get a head shot, Jessica was blocking the rest of Hotch's body; the cold horror of what he was about to do washed over Morgan.

And then...

Jessica finally...screamed.

And everything slowed in that split second. Prentiss and Rossi's eyes wide in disbelief at what they were witnessing and Morgan feeling the cold slickness of the trigger as his finger pulled back on it.

Then suddenly, Jessica's scream was joined by a smaller one, but no less loud from a little child, whose scream held such a mixture of fright and longing that even time itself could not help but stop and listen.

"DADDY!" screamed Jack.

-TBC-