The BAU
"What have we got Garcia?" Hotch asked, as the team assembled in the round table room.
"Crime scene one; the Archer family, couple Marc and Helen, along with their daughter Morgan, found by their son, who had stayed at a friend's the night before, in the morning when he returned home. Their bodies were seemingly left in the places they were killed, cause of death yet to be determined"
"When was this Garcia?" asked Rossi
"Tuesday morning sir, the 911 call came in at 8:32 am"
The team looked at each other with raised eyebrows, before Reid had the chance to speak up,
"That is highly unusual, it's been three days and the ME still hasn't identified a COD?"
"That is correct, my fact-spouting golden boy, and it's the same with the other two crime scenes. Family two; Alan and Grace Pritchard and their twin sons Gordon and Gavin, found by a housekeeper at approximately 9 am, and Family three; Sophie and Henry Taylor, newly married couple, found yesterday morning by a neighbour."
"Any bodies found today Garcia?"
"Not yet sir"
"JJ, contact the press and keep the details of this case under wraps, Garcia, research any similar deaths in the past, Rossi and Reid, go to the ME, and Prentiss and Morgan, come with me to the latest crime" Hotch declared, picking up the file for the team's newest case and heading out the door to call Haley and break the news that he probably wouldn't be able to take Jack this weekend.
The case was a confusing one, 9 people killed in their homes, with no obvious cause of death, and no obvious point of entry to the houses. Three houses hit in the past three nights, the unsub had a fast and merciless time frame, and the team had come to the worrying decision that these were either completely random attacks, or the unsub already had their next target.
The team had also agreed that it was likely that another family had been killed last night, only no bodies had been found yet, although they all hoped to be incorrect. It was only a 30 minute drive from Quantico to the latest crime scene, and the agents arrived quickly, and began to work. Whilst Hotch and Prentiss examined the crime scene for any evidence the local PD had missed, Morgan went around the neighbourhood asking neighbours if they had seen any suspicious activity on the night the Taylors were murdered.
Reid and Rossi arrived at the ME, and were greeted by a Dr. Thomas, who then showed them to the victims' bodies and described all of the tests he had done.
"...and that's why I cannot explain it agents, I have done every test I can think of and they all come back that these people are all perfectly healthy"
"Forgive me doctor" began Rossi, with a hint of irony to his tone "But these people are dead, they are clearly not "perfectly healthy" as you seem to think"
Reid then took this opportunity to look up from where he had been reading the diagnostic reports of all 9 victims (in under 3 minutes, in typical Reid fashion) and inject his opinion into the conversation.
"Actually Rossi, the doctor is not entirely incorrect, all of these tests show that none of the victims have any physical wounds, blood loss or organ damage, nor do their toxicology reports show anything remotely unusual"
Just as Rossi was about to inquire as to how that was physically possible, his phone rang. He stepped into the corridor to answer, and came back not 30 seconds later, grim faced and sullen.
"It was Hotch, they found another set of bodies".
The team familiarised themselves with the limited details of the newest set of murders whilst driving to the crime scene. Both cars arrived at nearly exactly the same time, and as the team members exited the vehicles, they began to discuss what had been learned.
"The only thing of interest I found out, is that several neighbours at the previous crime scene spotted a young man with black hair snooping around on the night of the murder" explained Morgan "Which isn't much t-"
"Wait!" shouted Reid, sticking his finger in the air as he did so, and beginning to fidget excitedly, "There was something similar in the police reports, almost all of them listed sightings from neighbours, or the first responders of a pale young man with dark hair and glasses, often accompanied by a blonde man, and several accounts describe the men wearing odd cloaks"
"Could this maybe be a ritual killing?" began Rossi "It's uncommon, but with the odd clothing choices…" Rossi's musings stopped abruptly, as Emily tapped him lightly on the shoulder, and pointed to their left. They all followed the direction of her finger, and lo and behold, their collective gaze fell upon a man with dark hair, glasses and seemingly holding a thin weapon of some sort, talking to a blonde man secretively, both of them heavily clad in what looked to be, from a distance, long red coats, or maybe dresses? Then the blonde "person of interest" gestured towards the slightly stunned BAU team (because really, how often do suspects just happen to show up, matching the exact description they had been given?) and then both of them turned and began to run, the BAU quickly following after them.
"FBI, stay where you are!" shouted Morgan, only to be completely ignored by both parties, who merely ran faster (and damn, that dark haired guy was quick) until they had both disappeared round the corner of a building, and two loud cracks could be heard, one shortly after the other. Immediately jumping to conclusions, albeit the most logical one for an unsuspecting muggle, he called out to the rest of the team, and the police currently processing the murder scene,
"Shots fired!", only to round the corner to see… Absolutely nothing of interest, whatsoever. No dress wearing mad men, no sign of a smoking gun or even so much as a bullet, or a bullet hole for that matter. All that could be seen was another street, with neat houses lined up along each side of the road. It was as if their two suspects had disappeared into thin air, which was of course impossible, wasn't it?
"Where'd they go?" asked Prentiss, as the team caught up with Morgan, "They were barely ahead of you"
"I don't know, I heard some sort of gun shots, and then I came around and they were gone"
The bewildered team turned to their leader for guidance, and thus, he spoke "We need to head back to Quantico, it's time to deliver the profile".