Work Text:
As the team sat down to brief on the latest case, they all noticed the absence of Dr. Spencer Reid.
"Hotch, where's the kid?" Derek Morgan asked.
"Reid is in Vegas with his mother, he has already been briefed on the case, especially since he's the one who discovered it in the first place. Garcia?" Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner said.
"Of course, sir. At 3:45 this morning, Las Vegas Police Department got a call reporting a fire, and it sounded like there was a person in the fire. When they got there 10 minutes later, the entire place was burned to the ground, and they managed to find a corpse in there. She was later identified as Harper Hillman, 35 years old. They found a note printed outside of the scene." Penelope Garcia said, as she clicked a button and the note came on the screen.
It read, "They all laughed as he turned around slowly, they said he ain't welcome around here anymore. You all said he might as well just go. He wiped the blood from his face as he made it to his knees, and he said he'd be back when you all expected it the least. And hell is coming with him, hell has come."
"Okay, so this unsub is getting revenge. It sounds like most likely this Hillman woman offended him, most likely beat him when he was younger. We're most likely looking for someone who just moved back to Vegas." David Rossi said, and the team nodded.
"About what area in Vegas did they find this fire and body?" Emily Prentiss asked, and Garcia popped up a picture of a map.
"There is a hill at the bottom of this valley. According to an old legend, that's where all the unhealthy go when they die. People here say if you listen close, you can hear them as if their ghosts saying you're never going to make it out alive." Spencer Reid said through the screen, as his video popped up in the corner. "Sorry, Mom was having one of her few good days and Hotch let me take time off." He apologized, and one of his best friends laughed.
"It's all good, Spence. What's that by the hill? It looks like a village?" Jennifer "JJ" Jareau said, and Reid shook his head.
"There's a small town at the bottom of the hill. They have a secret they keep held like a slave owner, they have a preacher who practices black magic apparently." He said, and JJ hissed.
"Okay, thank you, Reid. Guys, wheels up in 15." Hotch said, standing up with his file. Reid leaves the call and smiles.
You guys would do well to let me teach everyone here, you'll be heading up the hill to the grave. Reid thought sadly, as he remembered what had happened the night before he made the call.
"How will your soul ever recover from this, Spencer!?" Harper asked, and Reid laughed.
"It is well, with my soul. HIllman, you line your pockets full of money you stole from any poor people. While you're going down to hell, you might hear me ring a bell. I'd pay the devil twice as much just to keep your soul." He said, walking away and quickly grabbing his change of clothes a while out. He changed and called the police, fighting back a laugh when he realized who it was, one of the start Football players who tied him up as a child.
About an hour the team landed and quickly made it to the police station, fearing the worst. Especially Morgan, as he recognized the name Hillman from the story that Reid told him with the goalpost.
"Officer, this is SSA Morgan, SSA Jareau, SSA Prentiss, SSA Rossi, and I'm SSA Hotchner. You obviously know Dr. Reid." Hotch said, and the officer's eyes popped out.
"Dr. Reid? As in Spencer Reid? Oh God your a fed." The officer said, terrified at the realization.
"Hey, Carlton. I wouldn't recommend any goal posts, assault of a federal agent you know." Reid snarked, and Hotch glared at him.
"Reid, enough. I don't know what sort of backstory you and Officer Jackson have, but chill it out. Were there any witnesses, officer?" Hotch asked, and Jackson nodded.
"We have one person who swore they saw it happening. I am sorry, Spencer." Officer Jackson said, and Spencer glared at him.
"It's Dr. Reid, it might do you well to remember that. Hotch, do you want me to talk to the witness?" Reid asked, and Hotch shook his head.
"Not alone. Morgan, JJ, you two go with Reid and interview the witness."
When the three got to the witness, the witness was panicking.
"Hey, Mrs. Thomas, it's Spencer Reid." Reid said, sitting down besides Mrs. Thomas.
"Spencer? Are you working with the police?" She asked, and the other two agents lightly chuckled.
"Not exactly, ma'am. My name is SSA Derek Morgan, you can call me Derek, and the woman beside me is SSA Jareau. We're with the FBI, Reid there is one of our colleagues." Morgan said, nodding to Reid.
"Wow, I'm proud of you." She said, giving a timid smile to Reid.
"Mrs. Thomas, I have a question for you. The police said you watched the whole incident take place? Do you have any information on the person who did this?" JJ asked, and Mrs. Thomas shivered.
"You see, he was a drifter passing through the little valley, and he had once promised he'd come back to town. We don't know him by his face, or the gun he had on his waist, but he had laughed to Harper that he'd burn the town to the ground." Mrs. Thomas said, and the trio gave each other concerned looks.
"He had a gun around his waist?" Reid asked, and she gave him a worried look.
"First there was fire, then smoke. I was convinced I was dreaming, it wouldn't be the first time. When I heard on the news that this happened, I knew it was real." Mrs. Thomas said, and Reid set a hand carefully on her shoulder.
"Mrs. Thomas, I need to go report this to our boss. These other two agents will be here for you." Reid said, then went to go report to Hotch.
She almost saw me. Reid thought.
After a long day of focusing, Hotch sent the team to go to the hotel for the night, and Reid said he was going to go visit his mom.
So, as the team left to go there, Reid shook his head with a smile and went down to that little valley again. What the team hadn't figured out was that the black magic preacher he mentioned was really his father's best friend, one who supported William Reid abandoning his son.
Reid's phone started to ring as Hotch called him, as the team sped to his location. Reid heard someone talking to 911.
"T-That preacher man! He's hanging by a rope!" They cried, and Reid turned with his gun in his hand.
Everyone around fell to their knees and begged him, the drifter as they knew him, begged him please as he raised his gun before he spoke.
"I am the righteous hand of God, and I am the devil that you forgot. I told you one day you will see, that I'll be back I guarantee, and that hell's coming with me." Reid said, then heard a heartbroken gasp.
"Hell's coming?" JJ asked quietly, and Reid grinned.
"JJ, Hell, fucking Hell is coming with me." Reid said, and the team aimed their guns on Reid.
"You seem to think about Hell as if it's real. Reid, Spencer, please, think about what this will do to your soul." Rossi begged, and Reid lowered his gun.
"It is well with my soul. You all line your pockets full of money that you steal from the poor. While that bastard is on his way down to hell, he can hear me wring the bell, as I said, Hell's coming with me." He said, while the team quickly came to arrest him.
The one thing that Reid was glad of was that he could plead insanity and get to spend the rest of his life with his mom, and he knew that the everyone would remember the hell he brought.