Scarlet Rose

5

Unable to get that message out of my head, I called the first person I thought of: Reid.

He picked up after the second ring and his sleep voice rang through. "Vanessa? It's 2AM. Why are you calling me this early? And why could you just walk to my door?"

"Can you come over? Like, now?"

Rustling could be heard on the other end and a loud thud came after. "What happened?"

"Probably just a prank text or something, but if it's not....can you come over?" I asked again.

"Yeah. Yeah. Just let me get dressed. On my way." he said and hung up, a rapid knocking coming on my door moments later.

I got up from my bed and unlocked the door, opening it and letting Reid through before closing the door.

"You okay? You sounded pretty rattled over the phone." he said, looking around the room for any open window.

"I'm fine. Just a little freaked. Which I shouldn't even be because these things shouldn't be able to rattle me. I mean, I've been through worse. I've done worse." I ranted, my voice on the edge of panic.

"Hey, hey, hey. It's okay to be scared once in a while. Especially when this is your line of work. It makes us all paranoid. We all have our enemies." he said, settling his hands on my shoulders to calm me down.

"But I am terrified now, Reid. I was a killer, yes, but that doesn't mean I'm not on tons of people's hit list! Do you know how many criminals want to be at the top of the food chain? Too many!" I said, panic finally settling in.

"Hey, calm down. Calm down." He said, calming me down with a soft voice. "I'll stay with you for as long as you need. Okay?"

I nodded. "Okay. Okay. Thanks."

"Of course." He said, "you want something to clear your head?"

"...no. I was up all night worrying about that text. Didn't get a chance to sleep." I said as I blinked sleep from my eyes.

"Then get some sleep. I'll be right here if you need me. I won't leave you alone. I promise." he said, walking me over to my bed and pulling back the covers for me to get in, pulling them around me.

"Thanks for being here, Reid." I murmured, my eyes closing.

"You're welcome, Vanessa." He replied, sitting on the edge of my bed and resting a hand on my arm.

Spencer's POV

I opened my eyes and was immediately alerted to what happened. I looked around and saw I was still in Vanessa's hotel room. I must have fallen asleep.

"Vanessa?" I called out once I saw she wasn't in her bed. Looking at the clock and seeing it was just past 5AM.

I got up and walked around, calling her name and knocking on the closed bathroom door. "Vanessa? You in there?"

It was silent on the other end. No Vanessa.

"Vanessa? Hey! Where are you?" I asked, starting to get worried now as I walked back into the main room, seeing a small note just outside in the window sill.

I walked over and opened the window a little bit so I could slide the note in, closing the windows once I got it; sitting on the bed and opening the letter, seeing a smeared handprint on it with the letters 'VL'. The metallic smell of blood filling my nose.

I got up quickly and threw open the door, running into Hotch as he came around the corner as well, carrying an envelope.

"Woah. Reid. What's wrong?" Hotch asked.