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VIOLENT DELIGHTS
000. PROLOGUE
set before season one of criminal minds
BOSTON, 1985
THE REAPER CASE STOLE DAVID ROSSI'S SLEEP. The lack of consistency on the M.O. drove him insane and made profiling practically impossible. There was no specific victimology - he attacked men, and women, of all ages, all races, and all social-economical backgrounds - and no specific weapon of choice. The only reason the police was able to the tie the murders to the same UNSUB was his signature - the Eye of Providence and the word "fate" written in the victim's blood.
He and his team had been working the case for over a week and the only profile they had so far was that he was highly intelligent, disciplined, and a sadistic killer. The only solid victimology he had was that Boston Reaper would stab his younger female victims repeatedly; the younger they were, the more time he would take since the stabbing was a substitute for sexual penetration.
He was already in the car with two other members of his team when the call came, saying they might have another victim. Not even the first responders had arrived, when he, Jason, and the youngest member of their team, Aaron, pulled up to the house on one of the quiet streets of Boston.
Aaron was working his first case in the BAU, and even he could feel the tension in the air, a heavy stillness that seemed to hang over everything. The sun had set hours ago, leaving behind a blanket of darkness and eerie shadows that stretched across the lawn.
Rossi could hear the ambulance and the police cars in the distance. He knew they were supposed to wait for his team, but they had to get in. On the small chance that one of the victims was still alive, every second mattered. David motioned for them to move forward, and they stepped inside cautiously. He was the first to enter.
The house was silent, but there was a feeling of dread that hung over everything, a feeling that he could sense more than he could see. He saw the bodies first. Two parents and two teenage kids, butchered. The floor was covered in blood, and pieces of flesh and bone were scattered about. On the chest of the father the Eye of Providence was carved. The daughter, who couldn't have been older than fifteen, seemed to have been stabbed multiple times, as he predicted on the profile.
The three BAU agents found themselves frozen in their places. Rossi was the veteran of the three, and not even he had seen a scene so brutal. He and Gideon glanced around the room, taking in the details as quickly as they could.
Aaron, the youngest, felt dizzy, and giving the other two a rushed explanation, he moved towards the hallway, trying to stay as far away as possible from the bodies. He carefully made his way around them and into the hallway as he saw a trail of bloody footprints. He followed the rouge path to the end of the hallway, finally hearing a child's cry.
Aaron moved towards the last of the door, where he found the nursery. He pushed the door open, and his heart sank as he saw what was inside. There was a pre-pubescent boy, not older than twelve, covered in blood, crying as he held tightly to two other children. The middle child was a girl, probably seven or six years old, holding onto the youngest, a tiny three-year-old boy. They looked up at him, their eyes wide with fear as Aaron shouted. "Rossi! Gideon!"
As he waited for the other two, he knelt down in front of the three kids and gently touched the eldest shoulder. They were a tangled, bloody mess of limbs, but still, the boy looked up at him with wide, scared eyes, and Aaron could see the pain and fear in them. "It's okay. I'm here to help. You're safe now."
The boy shook his head slightly. "Are you hurt?" Aaron asked.
"N-no," he managed to croak out. "I got home from soccer and saw my-" his eyes began to tear up, and Aaron's heart broke even further.
"Are you a superhero?" the girl asked with big wide eyes, getting away from her brothers. She tugged Aaron's shirt and asked. "Can you help my mommy?"
Aaron didn't know how to answer that question as his heart broke even further. Thankfully, Rossi, who had just walked in with Gideon, knelt by his side. He held out his hand and spoke softly to the two boys. "My name is David, I'm with the FBI. We are here to help all of you."
The eldest boy slowly reached out and took David's hand, and David pulled him into a gentle hug. He could feel the boy's tiny body trembling against him, and he tightly held him until his shaking subsided. Meanwhile, Gideon had taken the youngest into his arms, and Hotch was holding the small girl in a tight embrace. He could feel the girl's hot tears against his neck, but as he held her, the crying slowed down, each of them seemingly calming the other down.
After a few moments, the paramedics came. The three agents carefully carried the children out of the room, covering their eyes as they walked past the living room. As they sat the children on the gurney, Rossi realized he didn't want to take his eyes off the three children who would forever be a part of his life. He could see their innocent faces, the trust, and hope that even after being exposed to such cruelty, was still reflected in their eyes. He wanted to put them in the back of his car and leave, drive somewhere far away from such evil. He wanted to protect them from every monster in the world and keep them safe.
Little did he know, that was exactly what he would be doing for the rest of his life.
