Valentía (Spencer Reid Slow Burn)

Blood Hungry

Summary: The team go to Tennessee to find out who is butchering people and stealing their organs.

Warning: Violent deaths, Neglect, Emotional Abuse, Blood, Cain Noble, Hints of Abuse, Bipolar, Schizophrenia, References to a dishonorable discharge, Toxic Parenting, Mentions of Abusive Parenting, Suicide Attempt

"Family is supposed to be our safe haven. Very often, it's the place where we find the deepest heartache."

December 13, 2005

The team was called into the round room and Hotch greeted them, standing next to the screen with a white suburban house on it while the table was scattered with brutal crime scene pictures. "I hope everyone had a restful weekend."

"That sounds ominous." Zoe deadpanned.

"Harringtonville, Tennessee. Population five-thousand." JJ said, clicking the screen. "Sixty-four years since they had a homicide. They've had two in the past forty-eight hours."

"First victim, fifty-seven-year-old widower, and grandfather, Paul Thompson. Ambushed in his yard. Eighteen stab wounds to his chest and his neck. No forced entry into his house and the only item taken was a shotgun." Hotch said.

"Last night, Annie Stuart, thirty-nine, was also ambushed and, it appears, bludgeoned to death in her home with Thompson's stolen shotgun. In this case the UnSub apparently stole CDs, DVDs, and a little jewelry." JJ said.

"This is a little extreme for a burglary." Morgan commented.

"That's an understatement." Elle said as Gideon opened the door.

"And as you can see, Annie Stuart was eviscerated." Hotch said.

"Yet the first victim wasn't eviscerated, and the UnSub seems to have used a different weapon at each crime scene." Spencer observed.

"Two different MOs." Hotch said.

"Two different killers?" Elle suggested.

"Or one very psychotic individual." Gideon said and they looked at him to see he was on crutches.

"What happened to you?" Hotch asked.

"Oh, I got a list of things I want to try before it's too late."

"And orthopedic surgery's one of them?" Zoe deadpanned.

"Nope, skydiving. Apparently, it's all about the landing."

"What, are you nuts, you don't get enough danger on this job?" Alexander asked.

"How long on the crutches?"

"Oh, just a couple days."

"If you're willing to deal with them long enough." Zoe said, Zoe bet he'd discard them by the end of the fifteenth.

"So, you can't go out in the field?" Elle said.

"Nope." Zoe said.

Gideon looked through the photos, still standing with his crutches.

"Oh, don't worry. I'll find a way to be helpful here. Got a blitz attack. No effort to remove the body, clean up evidence."

"With organized killers we see a pattern and we're able to predict their behavior, but with psychotic killers they're guided by a given delusion." Hotch said.

"Okay. So, until we understand the nature of the delusion, we can't predict his next move." Morgan said.

"And that's nearly impossible to do." Hotch added.