The days of rest for Rana and Will had come to pass faster than any of them expected them, with even Hannibal returning in taking patients once again. On their first day back, all was peaceful and Will could focus on his lectures while Rana helped Jack with some paperwork.

It was not uncommon for her to help file properly some cases, consider them closed or ensure all the papers were present. She knew better than anyone else how everything worked as if she was running the HQ herself.

Jimmy had joked often that she was becoming Jack more and more as if she was secretly fighting to take his place. While a joke, it put her in thought for she never truly saw herself rising to such a position; not when her calling was mostly in the field.

She didn't ponder much about it and focused on the task at hand, for the next day would be the beginning of a long week.


It all started one morning when she got a call from Jack about a new victim or better say; victims. His description was scruff and she had to come to the scene to see it for herself. Before she knew it, she was in Grafton, West Virginia and was busy walking along with Will across a chilly winter beach.

The two of them coincidentally arrived at the same time and they decided to walk together towards the crime scene. Seeing her badge around her neck, the local police lifted off the tape and allowed them to walk deeper into the crime scene; Jack and the scientific trio had already been there before them.

Everyone was looking up at a grotesque totem pole, a crazily artistic vertical display made up of human body parts. Dried dead faces marked it at regular intervals getting fresher and fresher as they reached the top. The headpiece was the brutalized body of a recently murdered man, his pieces being among the freshest.

His bones and joints had been broken, so that his legs could spread out from either side like wings. His head and torso leaned forward like a hawk, ready to pounce with dead eyes full of pain and fear.

Around the totem, they could see seven recently dug shallow graves, like dark earthen wounds in the sand. There were blood splatter marks on the base of the totem to finish off this odd and slightly horrifying show.

Rana had seen her fair share of twisted, gruesome and sickening things both in her time before the FBI and during but what was towering above her easily made it to the very top of her long list.

A part of her mind had so many questions, another was simply trying to count the bodies and simply ending up with a migraine. The stench of old and fresh bodies was mixed with the smell of the sea nearby, creating a very upsetting combination.

She wrapped her brown coat a little closer to her body as Will pulled two aspirins from his pocket and chewed two, knowing very well that this one would ruin him.

Beverly started to circle the totem, counting body parts. "I got ten heads and counting... "

Brian looked at it and decided to comment as per usual. "The world's sickest jigsaw puzzle"

Jimmy, followed soon after with his twisted humour. "Where are the corners?" he asked, making everyone in the team look at him. "My mom always said start a jigsaw with the corners..."

"I guess the heads are the corners?"

" We've got too many corners" Beverly commented and Rana pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Can we stop calling them that? Any average idea of how many bodies? Because those heads look way more than seven, unlike our graves" she said, one hand placed on her waist and her comment making the trio stop talking and start working.

"It's a totem pole." Will pointed out, leaving a shaky breath.

"The headpiece is the only recent victim. The others are years, even decades old. At least seven of them were buried on the beach, which would explain why we have more heads than graves" Jack stated.

"Whoever dug them up knew exactly where they were buried."

"Killing them once wasn't enough. He came back to defile his victims." Jack accused, quickly rushing to conclusions.

"I don't think that's the case, Jack. I can't say for sure but this doesn't feel like defiling them after all those years. I mean, why bury them in the first place?" Rana asked, making her former mentor stay silent and think.

Will gave a small nod of his head. "These graves weren't desecrated, Jack. They were exposed." He added and then turned to Rana. "Wire me up?" he asked, his voice tired.

The female looked at him with empathy and some apology in her eyes, seeing just how tired he was. She did not say anything and gently guided him away from the field, to a slightly more secluded space so she could attach the microphone before he did his things.

"Are you sure you are ok with this, Will? I mean, we can find the solution without you going deep" she said, trying to change his mind.

Will stood like a statue as she worked, his eyes almost hollow. "Perhaps you won't or perhaps more people will be killed by the time you do. I can help with that"

She finished and looked at him, her hand offering some comfort as she placed it across his shoulder. "And who is going to help you?" she asked but he did not reply, glancing slightly down to avoid her eye contact. She squeezed his shoulder a little more. "Will, I am here for you. I gave you my promise and I intend to keep it. Just say the word and I will stop Jack, I can help you get a break and I promise you; that innocents won't die if you step down once in a while"

Will did not say anything but he had heard her loud and clear. A part of him shouted rather loudly to open his mouth and ask her that favour, ask her to help him get away but his lips never moved to voice out those words.

Instead, his body walked on its own like a robot as he returned to the Human Totem and do his things; knowing it would help those dead people find justice and some comfort once their killer will have been caught.


The very next day, Rana was in the recordings room and she was listening to Will's monologue as he went into the killer's mind. After he had done that, yesterday, he then had stood up and left without much of another word.

She had told him to go home and rest and he barely responded to her, acting more like a zombie than a functioning human being. It had concerned her but she did not pressure him with any calls; afraid that she would end up pushing him further away if she did so.

Instead, she spent the majority of the day helping move the bodies into the morgue and then listening to the recordings; while making down key notes on a notepad. She would discuss them with Jack, combine them with whatever evidence would be found by the bodies and maybe ask Alana's or Hannibal's help if it became too complicated.

She was mid-recording for the second time, rechecking to ensure she didn't miss a point; when there was a knock on the door. She stopped the recording and looked ahead as the door was gently pushed open and a tired Will stood at the entrance.

"Rana...I am sorry. Am I interrupting?" he asked, glancing at the recording machine on the little desk in front of her.

She took the headphones off and placed them on the table as she offered him a comforting smile. "Of course not, Will. How are you feeling? You seemed pretty shaken yesterday" she confessed.

Will closed the door behind him, taking a moment to take in the scents in this new room. He had never been there before and only came now because he tracked her scent. The only thing that Will had started to notice, was the fact that his senses had been becoming sharper and stronger.

One would think that they would help more to focus him on the present and lose track of time or hallucinate but no; they seem to make everything even more reliable. It was confusing him and he had so many questions but how could he ask them without raising suspicions?

"Yesterday...was I normal? I mean, I didn't act up or anything, did I?" he asked, making her lift an eyebrow.

"You were simply very distant and silent. When I took the microphone off, I told you to go home and rest. You didn't truly answer and before I knew it, you were in your car and driving away" she explained as she stood up and walked around the desk. "Why you ask? Where did you go yesterday, Will?" she asked him as she now stood in front of her desk, a small distance between them.

Will kept looking at anything but her, his face a little lowered and his body feeling so tired. He had tried to approach Jack first but he received the same interrogating tone and look, even worse than hers. Perhaps it was a bad idea to approach her but to whom else could he really confide?

He did expose things to Hannibal but he was his psychiatrist and could help him. Rana wanted to do the same but sometimes he found her overprotectiveness or her position under Jack was complicating everything.

"I am sorry, for my behaviour" he said, truly meaning it even though he could not remember any of the things he did.

Rana folded her hands in front of her chest and while there was strictness in her voice, her eyes carried worry. "You didn't answer me, Will. Where did you go yesterday?"

Will leaves out a sigh and passes a hand through his oily and unwashed hair. "I...I found myself driving to Hannibal. I had a session with him either way... it's just the case took a toll on me"

Rana remained quiet for a moment longer than Will liked before he heard her sigh. He stole glances at her body, seeing the stiff and tight muscles around her neck and shoulders. She was under stress herself and he was not helping with his situation or his cryptic talk.

She looked around the small room, thinking. It was clear that Will was slowly slipping or at least was more affected than he let others know. If he indeed went to Hannibal, perhaps she should have a talk with him and find out more; before she would present her case to Jack.

"Okay" was all she said, not having much to comment on that.

While going to Hannibal was a good sign, for he opened up to him; it was also a bad feeling for her. Hannibal was an Alpha but not his Alpha and Will knew it. If somehow his mind and instincts led him towards him first and then her, it meant trouble.

She started to suspect that Hannibal's influence on Will was growing and a part of her other self felt threatened, for she had taken Will into her pack before he had joined. While the two of them could co-lead it, she was not willing to take that extra step yet.

She watched him, seeing him shift his weight from one leg to another and his heartbeat was slightly more increased than normal. "Is there something wrong that you would like to ask me?" she asked, although she knew that he wanted but he was obviously hesitating.

"I..." Will cleared his throat. "My senses...they seem to be...sharper than they used to be. Sometimes, some things are clearer or brighter or too distracting" he explained.

Rana pushed herself off the desk she was leaning on and stopped in front of him. "Look at me, Will," she said, her voice stable and with a passive command in it.

Will tried to refuse, to fight the urge but he felt that his control was even less than it used to be. The need to obey her was stronger than his own Will at that moment and he braced himself for what would come next.

When their eyes met, the powerful and bloody red irises looked at him with an intensity that made him feel worried. His own eyes were glowing a bright yellow, a natural response to her presence.

She was silent for a moment, studying him in silence with a face he had never seen from her. He felt the need to look down but he could not and he ended up just staring at her. To his surprise, at that moment, his mind went completely blank.

Whatever noise or thought he had, whatever pain and annoyance; all was gone. He honestly could not remember the last time he had felt this sense of peace, of freedom.

Eventually, she took a step back as her eyes returned to normal. His followed soon after and the small moment of silence was quickly broken by the chaos existing in his mind. He lowered his head faintly, his attention more on her neck and collarbone than her face.

"Our senses are meant to be sharp, Will. Because you suppressed your nature for so long, it is logical that they now start to resurface and act" she explained, which offered some comfort in him.

However, there was another part that she did not add in her sentence; not wishing to scare him off.

You suppressed your senses willingly to feel more human. If you cannot do that anymore means you either accept your nature or you are losing control over them, she added in her mind but voiced nothing else.

As much as she hated it, there was only one person she could ever confide in such revelation...Hannibal.

However, she chose not to do it yet. She had to test Will a little more and also Hannibal, to see just how much his influence has grown. For she might react to his strong presence more than she wished but she was not going to let him become a threat to her and her pack by submitting control to him.

No, she was not one to do that and she was not going to start anytime soon.


After that small talk, Will and Rana walked together to the morgue. Upon entering, they were greeted by the sight of the Totem Pole bodies and their pieces, spread across numerous tables; some corpses having actually been reassembled.

There was a large blow-up photo of the Totem Pole Crime Scene, where spaces were marked for each victim's ID and corresponding to tags on the body parts.

"How many bodies so far?" Rana asked as they came to a halt a little away from the trio, giving them their space to work.

"We got seventeen in total," Brian said as he pulled a corpse drawer, where the freshest pieces from the top of the totem were placed, limbs twisted in inhumane ways.

Jimmy approached it. "Freshest one is Joel Summers. Forty years old, runs a cell phone store in Knoxville, Tennessee. Or did. Been missing for three days." He explained as Rana wrote it down on her notepad, making a mental note to pull up his full folder later on.

"Single stab wound to the heart. All the other injuries are post-mortem. Bones broken, hips and shoulders dislocated."

Will thought for a moment. "He was special to him somehow. He held a place of honour." He explained, making the female by his side look at him.

"Is this why he was placed at the top of the totem? And why his 'design' was so different from the others?" she asked and he gave a nod.

Jimmy decided to add more information to the whole case. "Seven bodies from unmarked graves at the crime scene - earth on the body parts match the grave site."

And as per usual, Brian was ready to continue where Jimmy left it. "Blunt force trauma, stabbings, strangulations. Wrongful deaths."

Rana wrote it all down before looking at them. "What about the rest? We have 17 bodies and only 7 graves"

Beverly heard her from the other side of the room. "There are at least eight other bodies that a43 recent grave robbings from all across West Virginia. No crimes were attributed to any of them. Accidental deaths."

Rana stopped writing and blinked. "So, we have some that were murdered and some that were accidental? That doesn't sound like a stable MO for our killer to pick their victims"

The trio exchanged a look but shrugged.

It was Beverly, who chose to speak up again. "That's what the evidence suggests," she said but Will did not seem to agree.

He shook his head since Rana made a subtle connection that he followed as well. "Rana is right...They were all murders."


Their research and investigation were slow but progressive. However, all it was about to change very soon.

For while Rana was looking through the folders of the identified victims and pinning them to the board, her phone rang. She excused herself to Jack and picked it up, before exiting his office.

"Stones," she said as she started to walk but came to a firm halt as the person on the other side started to speak.

It was one of the ladies at the front desk of Abigail's Hospital, who informed her of the latest visitor. The name alone made her skin crawl and Rana was glad she was alone in the corridor, for her eyes flashed red.

Upon terminating the call, she pressed one number and sped-dialled the only other person that should be aware of it...Hannibal.

A small talk, briefly informing was enough to make him understand. He would come with his car to pick her up and he suggested bringing in Will as well, since this informed all of them.