i stood in the kitchen, eating my vietnamese breakfast my grandmother had sent me from new york. i watched as spencer poured almost an entire pound of sugar into his coffee.

"you alright, spence?" i asked, picking at my food with chopsticks.

he looked up at me, his lips pursed,"is that phở?"

i looked down at the bowl and nodded,"my grandmother, who i call bà ngoại, sent it to me from new york."

"so you're vietnamese?" he questioned, the pouring of his sugar still going strong.

i nodded slowly, watching as his hand shifted and he was now pouring sugar on the counter, "half. the 'tran' part. harris is all white. just like that sugar you're pouring all over the counter."

he looked with wide eyes, setting down the jar of sugar and swiping the counter-sugar into a nearby trash can.

"hey, easy there, tough guy," derek walked by as he saw reid pick up the sugar jar again,"have a little coffee with your sugar."

"i need something to wake me up." spencer muttered, annoyed at how tired he was.

i guess i had noticed the purple bags under his slightly bloodshot eyes. it just didn't register with me, because i was too concerned he was going to go into a diabetic episode at only twenty four.

derek smirked,"ooh, late night, huh?"

"very." spencer admitted, not realizing derek's insinuation.

"my man." he smirked and held his hand out for reid to high five.

i would be jealous if i hadn't know that reid was completely oblivious to undertones and most likely had no idea what derek had meant when he asked that question.

"not that kind of late night." spencer sighed, taking a sip of his coffee.

"what's wrong then?" i asked, slurping down some noodles.

morgan looked at me with confusion and distaste,"i can smell that stuff from here, what is that?"

i scoffed, a little offended by how disgusted he looked,"it's phở, my bà ngoại made it for me."

"well, it smells weird, take it away." he frowned.

i shook my head facetiously,"xenophobia, we hate to see it."

derek chuckled, rolling his eyes,"lainey, i didn't mean it like-"

"you're creating a hostile work environment, i'm gonna have to report you to human resources." i shrugged, setting my bowl down and getting ready to walk.

but i stopped when spencer abruptly interrupted my joke, with a serious question, "do you guys ever have nightmares?"

i shrugged. of course i did, i have to identify the bodies of my dead younger siblings. i have a nightmare at least once a week, but this wasn't about me.

"is that what's been keeping you up?" i asked, abandoning my joke completely.

he looked at me with sunken eyes,"i used to get them occasionally. but lately it's like i have them every night."

"what are they about?" morgan asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"this," spencer gestured to the bullpen,"what we do. do you have nightmares?" he looked straight at me.

i breathed in, not sure how to explain that i have them all the time. my siblings, lying in a pool of their own blood, holding hands, screaming, crying. a masked man taking them away from me, their dead bodies pulling towards me and there's nothing i can do to get away.

i tried to divert the attention away from me,"um, you should talk to gideon about this."

"hey," elle walked up to us,"hotch wants everyone on the plane in twenty."

•

i sat on the plane, playing with a deck of cards that i had found in my bag. i wasn't playing anything in particular, just shuffling them or laying them all out. which i was only doing because jj still hadn't told us where or why we were going.

"where are we going?" derek asked jj from his seat.

"mcallister, it's a western slope of the massanuttan mountain in virginia," jj stood up, handing us files,"two bodies were found in the woods, both with apparent blunt trauma to the head."

i opened the file, discarding the cards in my bag.

"what is wrong with you? those cards are gonna be all over your bag, why didn't you just put the rubber band around them?" reid asked me, looking horrified at what i had done.

i rolled my eyes,"spencer, is this twenty one questions or are we trying to solve a murder?"

spencer shook his head, going back to the case as he asked jj,"were they skeletons?"

"one of them," she answered,"the other was killed just this morning."

"how do we know there's a connection?" elle tapped her fingers on the desk.

hotch spoke up,"they were found seventy five feet apart with nearly identical head wounds."

"where's the rest of the file?" i asked. there wasn't nearly enough information.

"there isn't one," jj sat back in her seat,"the sheriffs are on the scene waiting for us. there's evidence that could possibly cause an uproar for the public."

i knit my eyebrows. almost every murder string causes an uproar. what was different about this one that made it so concerning?

"a satanic cult." gideon muttered, making my eyes widen.

•

i walked out of the car, my shoes sinking slightly in the mud. it wasn't too bad, i had worn platform doc martens. i couldn't imagine if i had decided to wear heels. i would be knee deep in mud.

now, wearing a skirt, that might have been a mistake. but i was wearing spandex under to avoid embarrassment just in case.

i walked to the crime scene, ducking under police tape.

the sheriff had already introduced himself to gideon and hotch who had arrived moments before us.

he turned to me and smiled politely,"sheriff john bridges."

i returned the smile and shook his hand,"agent laine harris-tran."

"dr. spencer reid." spencer appeared next to me, shaking his hand as well.

i walked over to hotch and gideon who were investigating the skeleton. on the tree behind him, red letters stated: satan lives lod. i had no idea what lod stood for, it was probably local.

under the tree, hidden by bushes that had been moved, laid a rotting skeleton. the skeleton had turned brown from dirt and decomposition, i'm guessing this person had been dead for at least a year.

"well, it certainly is interesting." reid commented as i squatted down to get a better look.

"you guys must get a lot of this, huh? satanic stuff?" bridges asked casually, reid leaning over me.

i felt his body heat radiating off of him, which did oddly make me feel more comfortable, as we looked at the skeleton.

"not really," hotch answered,"who found the body?"

"hiker found the first one at the trail, and deputies located this one while searching for evidence. don't even know if it's a man or a woman." bridges admitted, a fact that saddened me.

there was no way to even identify who this was. this person had an entire life that no one had any idea about. and now they're dead, and whoever knows them has no idea.

"it's a man," spencer told him. i looked up at him with a confused glance, but he started explaining once he saw me,"the male pelvis is more narrow and the opening at the bottom is heart-shaped, as opposed to oval."

i nodded slowly, reaching to touch the red stuff that coated the skeleton,"is this candle wax?"

•

reid and i hopped out of the car that had driven us to the police station. it was a tight space, the better part of the ride involving reid's elbow digging into my hip. the worse part was his pointy shoe cutting into my leg, but i would gripe about that later.

time was of the essence, because we had found out at the scene that a girl named cherish is missing.

jj, sheriff bridges, reid, and i started to walk to the entrance, only to be stopped by a middle aged man, who evidently had been waiting for us to arrive.

"what happened, john?" he asked, clasping his hands together nervously.

"reverend paul burke, this is," bridges stopped, turning to us apologetically,"i'm sorry i forgot your names."

i nodded understandingly,"i'm agent harris-tran. these are agents jareau and reid."

"they're with the fbi." the sheriff explained, causing the reverend to gasp.

"so it's true then?" he asked, shocked and saddened by the realization,"adam's dead?"

"cherish hanson's missing too." i informed him.

he sighed, stricken by the words,"is there anything i can do?"

"actually, yes. we're putting together a search party. can you call the congregation?" bridges asked.

"of course. i'll go make some calls."

with that they parted ways, us making our way inside the station. the sheriff wasn't aware that the search party was so we could profile who showed up. we knew the unsub would try and insert himself into the investigation, but if bridges knew our ulterior motive, he would most likely call off the search. and we couldn't let that happen.

when we got inside, nothing exactly amazed me. it was pretty standard, some desks, a receptionist desk, some phones and computers, with an office at the back.

"you can use any phone you want, doctor," sheriff told spencer,"just dial nine to get an outside line."

he and jj walked into his office to organize the search party, reid and i walking to an unoccupied desk to make a call.

i leaned against the desk, staring at the cork board that was filled with high school football memorabilia. newspaper articles, jerseys, team pictures.

spencer followed my eye line, and stared in wonder at the board,"i've never understood why everyone loves high school football so much."

i nodded, for once agreeing with one of his opinions,"yeah, me either, but my high school didn't have football."

spencer gave me a confused look,"well then, what was the pecking order?"

i chuckled, his wording amusing me,"drama kids at the top, art kids at the bottom, dance and music kids in the middle."

spencer raised his eyebrows, surprised by my answer. he didn't respond, we just continued to stare at the board, until a kid appeared behind us,"did you play?"

i turned to see him staring straight at spencer, who laughed and shook his head,"no."

"yeah, i probably wouldn't have either if it weren't for my father." the teenage boy answered. his stature was similar to reid's, his varsity jacket swallowing him,"i'm corey." he extended his hand to the young doctor.

spencer shook his hand politely,"spencer reid. this is laine harris-tran."

"hey." i smiled lightly at the boy.

reid's eyes wandered to the book in the kid's hands,"who's that, nietzsche? 'thus spake zarathustra' was rather antagonistic of the judeo-christian world view for this town, isn't it?"

i shook my head, my eyes widening. he had lost me in this conversation.

corey smiled, glad that someone recognized his chosen literature,"i don't think many people here would have bothered to read it. if they did, they wouldn't understand it," he then made an analogy only spencer would get,"might has well have been a hawking essay on quark theory."

spencer laughed, understanding the reference.

"so, what brings you to the station, corey?" i asked, trying to get back to a language i could understand.

he turned to me, looking like he had forgotten i was there,"my father's the sheriff. is he around?"

"he's in the office with another agent." i replied.

he knit his eyebrows,"agents? are you guys with the fbi?" we nodded and he only looked further confused,"what are you doing in mcallister?"

i sighed,"there's been a murder and a girl is missing."

"it's cherish, son." sheriff bridges said. he had left his office and gotten just within earshot.

corey went pale,"cherish hanson?"

•

we arrived back at the station, the search party had been unsuccessful. it was dark outside, and we had to call it when the sun had set. it was dangerous to let people out into the woods at night, especially with our unsub lurking around.

garcia had run every name on the sign up sheet through the system and came up blank. we were back at the start.

i popped my gum and pulled my blazer closer to my chest. i didn't expect it to be this cold, but we were near the mountains, which meant a higher elevation.

i watched as spencer stormed up to me angrily,"was it you who told hotch about my nightmares?"

i knit my eyebrows and looked at him with distaste. his tone was throwing me off, i couldn't stand when people started accusing me of things.

"what?" i questioned, not even sure what he was talking about.

he let out an exasperated breath,"we were talking this morning about them. was it you who told hotch?"

i scoffed, annoyed at him for thinking i was a snitch,"i didn't tell anyone anything, spencer. and frankly, i'm a little pissed off that you'd immediately accuse me of doing so."

his face fell, remorseful, probably because of how immediately annoyed i had gotten,"laine, i'm sorry, i was just-"

"and whoever did tell hotch was probably just trying to help you, so for the next guy you confront, i would maybe think about changing your tone." i cut him off.

i probably wouldn't have been so bothered, but it was late, and i was cold, and i can't stand being accused of things. i was okay with being asked if i did something, but being antagonized is not cool.

he started at me regretfully as i walked away to stand with gideon for the profile.

officer stood around, as did the sheriff and his son. i knit my eyebrows together. why was he here? it's possible his father asked him to stay, worried he would disappear as well.

either way, i made a mental note of it.

•

corey had led us to the lords of destruction, or lod. we had successfully managed to get mike zizzo, they're leader, into custody.

hotch and i has left with him for the interrogation, while spencer, morgan, and elle investigated the new crime scene.

i walked in first, seeing if i would be able to get something out of him.

he looked me up and down and smirked,"nice shoes."

i smiled. no one ever complimented my shoes,"oh thanks, i thought maybe they would look stupid with this skirt, but-"

"no, it suits you. you make it work." mike grinned at me.

i narrowed my eyes, realizing i probably shouldn't be bonding with a potential unsub. even though he was kind of attractive. in a 'i would never let you meet my dads' kind of way.

hotch and sheriff walked in, probably noticing that i hadn't even bothered to bring in the file. but, what can i say? it's been a long day.

they stood on either side of the table, their faces hard and serious. i did the same, changing my entire stature.

mike looked between us,"is anyone gonna tell me why i'm here or are you just gonna stare at me?"

hotch handed me the file, still letting me lead the investigation. i pulled out the bloody letter elle had found and slid it towards him,"this was found where cherish hanson went missing."

he grabbed the letter and scoffed,"no wonder everyone's freaked out. mcallister's debutante is missing."

"read the note." i instructed.

he picked it up and started to laugh as he got further towards the end.

"you think someone threatening to kill this girl is funny?" hotch asked.

mike looked up at him and sucked his teeth, "no, i think someone calling cherish hanson a virgin is funny."

i pressed my lips together to avoid chuckling. i obviously didn't know if he was right, but the quip was good.

"you're a satanist, mike?" sheriff asked, leaning against the table.

mike shrugged,"sure."

"and you worship the devil?"

mike knit his eyebrows together, annoyed at the question,"you know what satanism is?"

"educate us." hotch said calmly.

mike sighed, throwing his head back slightly,"the word satan comes from ancient hebrew. it just means opposer. satan opposes the hypocritical morals and dogmas of the so-called holy church and its followers," he glared at the sheriff,"if you grew up in this town with god shoved down your throat every day you'd oppose it, too. so basically, we're just atheists. aggressively atheist."

i narrowed my eyes, pulling out the pictures of the tree with the message and the skeleton. i placed them in front of him,"how aggressive?"

mike looked at the pictures with genuine shock,"what the hell is this?"

"why don't you tell us, mike." hotch replied, his voice collected, as always.

zizzo looked at him with surprise, and a little bit of anger at the accusation,"i've never seen this before."

"pentagram, body, candles, lod. lords of destruction. it looks to me like you signed this, mike." sheriff said frankly, not believing him at all.

"i've never seen this," mike reiterated, honestly getting a little frightened by the gravity of the situation,"look, we draw our stars upside-down, get drunk, and listen to metal. that's it. hey, we don't kill people."

i frowned. he had no idea what we were talking about. it wasn't him.

but sheriff still had more to say,"you can make this right, mike."

mike scoffed, pushing the pictures away,"you don't want to make it right. you wanna blame someone who doesn't conform to your view of how people should act and think."

gideon burst into the room, his breaths quick and short,"i need to talk to all of you, right now."

hotch and sheriff left the room, me trailing close behind.

i felt mike grab onto my wrist, his cold rings chilling my spine. i turned to him as he stared at me with desperate eyes.

"i didn't do this, okay? you have to believe me."

i looked at him, feeling sympathetic. he wanted to act all tough and aloof, but he was scared right now. i put my other hand on top of his and gave him a reassuring smile.

"i believe you. i'm gonna talk to gideon, yeah?" i answered, trying to comfort him.

he let out a breath and nodded, letting go of my wrist.

i walked out to meet the men inside of the sheriff's office.

"i've been with brandy dreifort. do you know her?" gideon asked the sheriff, who was standing at his desk.

hotch and i stood in the corner of the room, simply observing.

bridges nodded,"she's a friend of my son. and cherish too."

"well, they all knew about the skeleton." gideon said, causing my head to spin.

"you said what?" i asked, not sure i had heard him right.

"who knew?" bridges asked, not following gideon.

"footballs, cheerleaders, everyone. they watched this man decompose, like it was a game. for their own amusement." gideon said, clearly as shell shocked by the fact as the rest of us.

i put my hand over my mouth, feeling a little sick. the thought of a bunch of teens having fun  with a dead body disgusted me.

"what?" bridges asked in disbelief.

"as far as i can tell, the only kids who didn't know about the body were mike zizzo and the lod." gideon ran a hand through his hair. he had barely processed what he heard when he ran to tell us.

"that's ridiculous."

gideon nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly,"it's ridiculous. sounds impossible, it's unbelievable. she told me all about it. the guy was a hiker or something. probably have him listed, missing person somewhere."

"how do we know the lod wasn't involved?" hotch interjected.

gideon turned to him,"well, she said the pentagram and the candles they weren't there a few months ago. someone wanted us to believe there were satanists here."

bridges sighed, hanging his head,"you're talking about corey."

i nodded, the pieces in my head fitting perfectly, i walked up to speak,"well, it's pretty convenient isn't it? he matches the profile, he was the one who led us to zizzo, knew exactly where the lod was, a group of fringe kids he knew nobody would like."

"the best thing to do would be to get in front of this. before your son hurts himself or someone else. do you know where he is?" gideon asked.

"he went up to the kenson house to see if your guys found anything on cherish."

my blood went cold,"morgan and reid are there right now."

"hey, sheriff," a deputy poked his head in the door,"did you open the gun locker?"

"no."

"somebody did. there's a revolver missing." he informed us.

i turned to gideon sharply. corey had a gun. we needed to go immediately.

•

i stood outside the police station with zizzo, gideon, hotch, and the sheriff leaving to save morgan and reid. they had given me the honors of letting mike go.

"well, you're free to go back to partying with pentagrams or whatever." i smiled, gesturing at the open area.

he chuckled, looking down at me,"i'd rather party with you."

i rolled my eyes playfully, his line was so cheesy,"i don't know. fbi agent and satanist? sounds like a bad sitcom."

"yeah, well i'm sure we could find other things to talk about. for instance, our similar interests in footwear." he smiled sheepishly, gesturing to our doc martens.

i chuckled,"yeah, but i could only talk about docs for like three months tops."

he laughed,"well by then we could be into all other kinds of shoes."

i narrowed my eyes as i looked him up and down, seriously considering going there. i know i shouldn't, but i've always had a thing for guys who wear rings.

"we might be a little too different." i admitted, not to mention i would never live this down with the team.

mike shrugged, stating casually,"as robin thicke once said 'babygirl, you the shit. that makes you my equivalent'."

i snorted, the line throwing me off,"a satanist listening to robin thicke? i don't think that's part of the agenda."

"i'm a mysterious man, laine."

i sighed, knowing i wasn't able to actually do this. so instead i shot him another reference,"well, as gwen stefani said 'i ain't no hollaback girl.'"

he laughed,"what does that mean?"

"it's means: i'm not all talk, so i'm gonna be honest and let you down easy. you're cute and hot, in a 'my dads would kill me, if i went there' kind of way. but it just wouldn't work." i clapped my hand on his shoulder.

he hung his head, disappointed, but understanding,"i get it. but hey, we'll always have the interrogation room."

"romantic." i joked, causing him to smile.

he winked at me and started walking. i watched him walk away and it was then that i noticed spencer. he had been watching.

well, i'm fucked.