Blood and Battle | Criminal Minds (gxg)

Chapter 45

I knock on the apartment door, the dull sound echoing throughout the hallway. No answer. A group of four police officers stands behind me, guns at the ready. I step away from the door and nod to Davidson, the lead officer. I gesture with my hands to set up two men on each side of the door. They quickly comply. Once everyone is ready, I return my attention to the door. I lift my leg and kick the center. The doorframe splits as the deadbolt snaps through the wood. The door swings open and I run in first, my gun raised.

A man sits in the center of the empty room. His back is to the door as he faces the opposite wall.  He scribbles furiously in a notebook, crumpled pieces of paper around him on the floor. Among the notebook paper are polaroid photos of various people. On the wall across from the door hangs three polaroids with a large red line drawn across the image. His three victims.

Their bodies have been found but thankfully, the unsub hasn't hung another photo. He hasn't gotten the chance to kill his next target.

I creep into the room, my voice low and steady. "Wallace," I address the man.

He pauses his frantic writing and looks up at the wall in front of him for a moment. He looks back to the paper in his lap, the pencil resuming its scratch across the page.

I step around him carefully, keeping my gun trained on him and a few feet of space between us. I stop in front of him.

"Wallace," I say again. "Place the notebook on the floor and put both hands up." My voice is stern, cold. My tone catches his attention and he finally looks up at me.

His eyes are a startling blue below well-kept, dirty blonde hair. This unsub profiles as organized; he has good hygiene, keeps up with the investigation, carefully commits his crimes. He takes forensic countermeasures, managing to stay ahead of the local police for a month. That's when they called me.

Wallace does as he's told and puts the notepad and pencil on the floor in front of him. My eyes glance down to the page. Short strands of words fill the lines. Poetry.

My eyes dart back to his hands, watching as he puts them on either side of his head in surrender.

"Get onto your knees," I command. Again, he does as he's told.

Davidson comes up behind him, cuffing him roughly and pulling him to his feet. Another officer reads him his rights but Wallace interrupts.

"I confess. It was me. I was only trying to help these people. And I did."

The officers exchange nervous glances but I keep my gaze focused on Wallace. He profiles as an Angel of Death. He believes he's helping his victims, putting them out of their misery. He's proud to take responsibility for his actions.

The officers overcome their shock and continue with the process, leading him outside the apartment. Two officers remain inside with me, looking around.

"Go get the bags, we need to process all this," I order, gesturing around me. "There's plenty of evidence here to convict him."

They head out the door, leaving me alone in the apartment. Curious, I bend down to the notebook still on the floor in front of me, carefully turning it towards me with the toe of my boot.

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary...

Edgar Allen Poe, The Raven. A strange bird watches as a lonely man falls into madness, unable to decipher right from wrong.

I stand and look behind me at the faces crossed out. Falls into madness. Chills run down my spine and I find my hand instinctively gripping my sidearm.

For some reason, I think of Elle. I close my eyes and imagine her hand on my shoulder, grounding me amidst the uneasy feeling of the room. I consider calling her but decide against it. There's no point, really. It'd just be nice to hear her voice.

I'm pulled from my thoughts as the other agents return with what we need to close the scene. I sigh, opening my eyes and looking one last time at the poem at my feet.

"Alright. Let's get to work."

---

It was an easy, yet unsettling arrest. But at least Wallace's confession gave the families of the three victims some closure. I met with them at the local police department of the town in Virginia, happy to finally give these grieving families some real hope.

I took the trip alone, seeing as it was my case and I worked with local police instead of the team. The drive back was peaceful and it gave me some time to think. About everything. Cases, Elle, the holidays.

I know she usually sees her family for Christmas but I don't know if that means Christmas day. She might not even want to spend it with me. We've only been dating for about a month. I'm still going to get her something, I just don't know what yet.

And New Years. Obviously the team being there will make it harder. I need to find a way to get her alone right after midnight.

---

When I get back to the BAU it's nearly 6:00. I run back up to the office to grab some files I left on my desk. Elle and Morgan are still there, Hotch as well. But Elle packs up her things and I stop by her desk to wait for her. I notice my now empty coffee mug sitting there and pick it up with a smile, returning it to the back counter.

Once I get back to her desk she's ready to go and we head towards the elevator together. Neither of us say anything but I can feel the electricity in the air between us. My right hand taps at my gun while we wait for the elevator to arrive. She stands close, our shoulders brushing against each other. My skin itches to be reminded of her touch.

The elevator finally arrives and we step inside, my hand immediately pressing the button to close the doors. As soon as the elevator starts moving I reach out and pull the emergency stop lever. The lighting dims to a red emergency light and the elevator shudders as it's forced to a stop.

I turn to face Elle and she looks at me curiously.

I smile. "There's no security cameras in this elevator."

Her bag falls from her hands and she's on me in seconds. Her lips smash into mine and my back slams against the metal wall behind me, a dull sound ringing out. Her right hand pulls at my collar as her left wraps around the back of my neck. I can feel my heart beating faster in my chest as she kisses me harder. I grab her hips roughly, pulling her body into me as I push my tongue into her open mouth. I cross the now familiar territory with pleasure, my tongue swirling behind her teeth. My hands reach past her waist and down to her thighs as she grinds her hips against mine.

I have to pull away for air, my lips sucking on hers as we break apart. She immediately turns her attention to my neck, my cheek, and finally to my ear.

"We can't stay here long," she mutters. Her breath is warm and her lips brush my skin softly. I breathe out deeply as I melt at her touch.

"Come home with me," I whisper into her hair.

She responds by gently biting my earlobe and pulling the skin between her teeth. My head rocks forward and I moan softly into her ear. I feel her hands moving across my skin as she pulls away.

I resist the urge to pull her back into me, spinning her so she's trapped between my body and the wall of the elevator. But I have to remember where we are. One of her hands stays on my arm as I push the emergency stop lever back into the off position. The elevator jolts and then starts to move again, down to the parking garage.

When the doors open we're met with a rush of cold air, but it does little to affect me as my skin still burns from her touch.

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a/n
i'm not updating again til after Christmas so happy holidays to everyone!! tysm for all the love <3
and on a somewhat unrelated note i'm writing another story! general fiction, gxg, i'll probably publish the first two or three chapters soon, but lmk if you're interested (i don't wanna write it if no one wants it lol)
:)