A/N: I'm currently working without a beta, so this might be a little rough in patches, but I'll fix it more as I can. I have yet to decide how much of this story will end up getting posted. Read and Review and let me know what you think, also because it'll make my day much better. (And I have cookies...)

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds does not belong to me. I do not own JJ, Emily, Reid, Morgan, etc. (Though I do enjoy taking them out for a spin once in a while) Sam does belong to me however.

I.

The streets were dark, the night was black. Midnight black, a form of darkness that echoed the depths of Lucifer's soul. In this time, in this place, light did not exist. It was in this darkness, in a forgotten town, in a less important state, that evil played and preyed upon the world. Darkness, with a splatter of red.

II.

Five hundred miles away Emily Prentiss was almost ready to bang her head against a wall. All she'd wanted when she came into work that morning was to spend some time doing paperwork, take a chance to calm down after the case they'd just gotten back from, and perhaps sneak a few secretive glances towards a certain blonde press liaison. Instead, she'd been stuck listening to Morgan and Reid discussing the inconsistencies and flaws in procedural cop dramas on TV.

"All I'm saying Reid, is that if we were writing those stories, it'd be a lot more realistic."

The younger man perked up with an idea, "Well we could write the stories. There's this aspect of fiction called fanfiction. Where normal citizens, and well fans of the shows, take the characters and rewrite episodes, or even write their own complete stories revolving around the characters and what happens, or what doesn't happen in the show. It's actually become pretty popular. There are websites and forums and entire internet communities dedicated to the writing of fanfiction. The communities have their own languages, terms, slang, lingo. The whole idea is especially popular with writers who have pairings," looking up at Morgan, "like couples, who aren't canon in the show, or series, and who think they should be. This tends to lead to a population of slash and femslash. "again Reid paused and looked at Morgan, "Slash being male/male pairings, and femslash being female/fem-"

'I get it Reid."

"The point is, we could write them ourselves. We have experience with crime and criminals."

Emily groaned, thunking her head against her desk, "You know Reid, if someone were to write a story about what happens around here, you and Morgan would end up paired together."

Reid looked up at Emily, his mouth falling open, then looked at Morgan, and back at Emily, his jaw flapping open, uncharacteristically like a fish out of water.

JJ walked into the room and looked at the two men, before catching Emily's eyes and smiling. Emily, for her part, was doing her very best to keep from checking JJ out too obviously. JJ crossed the room and stood beside Emily, resting her hand on the brunettes shoulder lightly, "Em? Did you break him?"

"Apparently."

JJ's thumb traced circles lightly across Emily's shoulder, occasionally brushing the skin of her neck, both women lost themselves in the slight contact while watching Reid sputter. After a few more moments of comfortable silence, JJ sighed softly, "Anyway, we've got a case guys."

III.

The team was gathered around the conference room table, exchanging tired glances, they'd just flown back from Las Vegas. It'd been a tough case, they spent a week and a half on the trail of a sexual sadist with a penchant for young boys and asphyxiation. The case had been difficult. And now, less than 12 hours after arriving back home, they were needed again.

"Here is what we know," JJ began, "In the village of Yellow Springs, Ohio, there have been a series of five power outages over the last six months…"

"And that is our problem how?" Morgan had a knack for interrupting just before JJ started the sentence that would actually answer his question.

"During each of these outages, the longest of which was three hours, someone has been killing citizens of the village." JJ flicked an image onto the screen, "This is the first victim, Michael Kent, 26, worked at the local comic shop," In the photo Kent had been strapped, spread eagle, to the hood of a police car, and skinned. Another photo replaced the first, "Amber Washington, the second victim, 34, worked at the village book store." The body, naked and tied upside down to a telephone pole was slit at the throat and along the major arteries.

"There are another nine victims," JJ continued, "the Unsub averages two victims per blackout. Kent was the only victim the first night. Washington and one other fell victim the second night. The third and fourth nights the Unsub claimed two more apiece. Last night, he got four." A final image flicked up on the screen, JJ did her best to avoid looking at the photo on the screen as she continued, "Sally Karnes, 17, Stephen Arrows, 16, Lucas Farmer, 12 and Mary Putnam, 8." On the screen the four victims had been crucified on a series of makeshift crosses on the lawn outside a public elementary school. The crucifixions were complete with pierced sides, broken legs, and a crown of thorns.

No one said anything when Garcia left the room, fighting to breathe. JJ sighed before continuing, "All four were students in the local school system. The Yellow Springs Police Department has asked for our help. Until now they've been receiving help from other departments in the area, but after last night… well they need our help."

"What can you tell us about the rest of the victims JJ?" JJ glanced up from where she had been attempting to avoid the photos, letting her eyes rest on Emily and her most recent question.

"Eleven victims, all natives of the area. All killed in a different manner, aside from the last four. All the bodies are displayed publicly. None of the victims were reported missing prior to the black out. No evidence has been found at any of the scenes. No fingerprints, no DNA, nothing so much as a scrap of paper or a shred of cloth. The victims range in age from 8 to 54, both genders, multiple ethnicities. Aside from their origin, they appear to have nothing in common among the victims. But with a population of just under 4000 most citizens of the village are familiar with each other."

Reid asked the next question, "What about memberships? Political affiliations, church memberships? Book clubs? Any social event or gathering linking the victims?"

"Nothing that was included in the original file," JJ paused, "but that could be something no one has thought to look for. Any other questions?"

Hotch looked around the room, eyeing his team as they shook their heads no, "Wheels up in 30." With that the team left the room, making quick preparations for their newest mission.

IV.

The flight to Ohio was tense. No one knew what to think of the Unsub. Everything they knew so far seemed to be so disconnected and disjointed. Beyond that, everyone was already bone tired from their trip to Vegas. On top of their current exhaustion, was the frustrating lack of hotel accommodations in the small village. JJ was more than thrilled to hear that Garcia had managed to find a small Bed and Breakfast that had rooms available for the agents. From what Garcia had told her, the place was nicer than what they were actually used to, not to mention that the village was paying for their stay, a form of a thank you for their assistance on the case. The only problem with the B&B was a slight flaw in the room assignments. The B&B only had five rooms, and with Emily and JJ being the token women, it was an almost automatic that JJ and Emily would be bunking together.

V.

"Chief Jacobs?" JJ greeted the head of the Yellow Springs Police Department, "I'm Agent Jareau, we spoke on the phone?"

"Thank you for coming Agent Jareau," the chief looked tired and worn, as if a multitude of years had all just been piled upon his head at once.

"Please, call me JJ. We're glad to be able to help. Let me introduce our team SSAs Hotchner, Gideon, Morgan, Prentiss and Dr. Reid."

"Really, again, thank you all for coming. I'm sorry that we don't have a lot of room here. It's a small department and we're low on staff, but we've got a conference room available for your use. Let me first introduce you to all the others around here," Chief Jacobs gestured to each individual as he began his introductions, "Not all of these guys are mine. Deputy Jeff Greene here is on loan from the Green County Sheriff's Department. Detective Allie Wilson came to us from the Springfield City Police Department. Officers Mason Woods and Eric Salkin are two of our own," Jacobs was interrupted by a young woman in dark jeans and a dark blue button up shirt pushing her way into the precinct, her face was reddened from the wind outside and her blonde hair a bit ruffled, Jacobs just looked at her and smiled, "last but not least, our late arrival, Detective Samantha Stewart, one of Yellow Springs own."

VI.

For JJ it was as if all the air had been sucked out of the room. All she could see was this diminutive woman with striking green eyes. It literally took all of JJ's control not to waltz across the room and pull the shorter blonde to the side, and possibly out of sight, just to get to know her a little better.

When Sam saw Emily and JJ standing together inside the police station she suddenly understood every single cliché about love at first sight. Time stood still and she couldn't breathe, she felt like a moth drawn to a flame, a flame that existed in the light of the eyes of Emily and JJ.

Emily's response to the green-eyed blonde was more physical. She had this sudden desire to touch and feel the other woman. JJ was the only one close enough to hear the low growl that escaped Emily.

At almost the same moment all the women realized where they were and what there were supposed to be doing, a train of thought that snapped all three out of their trance like states. A state that had gone unnoticed by the others while the Chief rambled on about the website developed to help villagers prepare for dangerous situations.

Well, it went mostly unnoticed- they were in a room with some of the top profilers in the country after all. Luckily, for Morgan and Reid anyway, Emily, JJ and Sam didn't noticed the whispering and exchanging of money as bets were made by the two men.

The next few moments were spent shaking hands and making polite conversation. After a few minutes Jacobs looked towards the blonde detective," Sam – why don't you lead the agents to the conference room and show them what we've got so far?"

"Sure thing Chief," the detective nodded at JJ and the others, "if you'd like to follow me?" JJ and Emily fell into step with the detective, while Hotch and the rest of the team tried to get a feel for the department and the work being done on the case, "Like the Chief said," Sam began, "we really appreciate you all coming out here. We know we're not a big town and we know there are a lot of people out there who need your help. But we're just really out of our depth here."

Emily nodded at the young woman, "We understand and we're going to do our best to help catch this Unsub." JJ nodded her head in agreement.

Sam just smiled," Thanks," she turned a corner, "the conference room is right here," she opened the door for the two agents, "All the files we have on the case are in here, including everything we have on the victims. As you can see we set up a couple of computers in here and a few phone lines. I set it up this morning to make sure you had anything you need. There's a coffee maker in the back corner," at this Sam grinned mischievously, "There's a mini-fridge built into the cabinet below the coffee maker – you'll find a pound of one of the best coffees I've ever had in there. Thought you might need it."

Emily couldn't help but laugh when JJ perked up at the mention of coffee. "That's great, thanks."

Sam joined in the laughter and moved across the room to start a pot of coffee, "Is there anything else I can get you, Agents?"

JJ almost moaned as the scent of coffee, good - not the typical police department swill – coffee filled the area, "If that tastes anywhere as good as it smells, then feel free to call me JJ, Detective."

"Only if you call me Sam."

"And it's just Emily for me," Emily paused for a moment, losing herself in her thoughts before jumping back into the case, "Not to switch topics so suddenly, but I'm wondering what you can tell me about the first victim? And the blackouts?"

"And what you can tell us about the village itself?" The three women looked towards the door at the sound of Hotchner's voice, while the rest of the team finally made it into the conference room.

"Sure," Sam moved to take a seat at the table, searching through a stack of files, while everyone else made for the coffee and then settled down to hear the information. Sam glanced up, waiting on everything to settle in and noticed Emily was still standing, getting the last cup of coffee before resetting the coffee maker, "Emily… can you grab me a Mountain Dew from the fridge? I think I'm going to need it." Emily nodded and carried the can over to Sam, in the movement their hands brushed against each other and both women felt a spark at the contact. Sam and Emily locked eyes for a brief moment before Emily took the last open seat, right next to Sam.

"Yellow Springs is quite obviously a small village. We've got a collection of small locally owned shops and businesses. We get a decent amount of tourist activity on the weekends and during the spring and summer months. We're close to several state parks and with the bike path running through town we tend to be a fairly popular destination for local Ohioans. We had a college in town until a few years ago, when it shut down due to financial issues. There's still a branch of a larger university here in town, McGregor, it mostly services working adults who are going back to school for degrees. It's a small school, with many students coming from out of town to attend. The population of the village tends to be excessively liberal. And according to a friend of mine, it's where Charles Manson would like to live if he ever got out of jail."

"Well that's a positive thought."

Sam smiles at the other blonde, "I know JJ, let's hope I never have to face that man as a citizen. Emily… you asked about the power outages… They've been village wide, stretching out into the surrounding county. We have no idea what's causing them. Maintenance workers have checked all the equipment, all the power stations, nothing has been found. And when a black out does occur, it seems to fix itself for no apparent reason. We can find no reason for the beginning or the end of the outages. Beyond that, there are several stores and buildings in the area that have back up generators. Whenever one of these outages occurs, the generators don't kick in, despite being set to automatically back up the power. But, here's the other thing, when the power goes out from something else, like the storm we had roll through here last month, the generators come on with no problems. Not to mention that obviously no one died." Sam looked around the room for a moment, catching a few sets of eyes before continuing, "as best as I can figure out the Unsub has hacked into the village systems and the power grids, or something of the sort. Beyond that, I'm clueless on how he's doing this, and how he's knocking out the generators.'

Morgan spoke up, "If Garcia can get into the systems she might be able to find something…"

Emily leaned over to Sam, "Penelope Garcia, our resident Tech Analyst and supreme Goddess of information."

"Good to know – think she can ruin my ex's credit for me?" Aside from Gideon and Hotch the rest of the team couldn't help but chuckle at the hopeful look on Sam's face.

Morgan flipped open his phone and dialed Garcia, putting the phone on speaker he waited for the familiar voice of the tech analyst to answer the phone.

"Hello tall, dark and delicious – you've reached the office of supreme technical genius and brightly colored pens."

"Hey baby girl – you're on speaker, and there's a local listening in."

Sam grinned, "Now don't behave yourselves just on account of me."

"Oooh, this one's feisty, who is she? And can we keep her?"

Morgan nodded at Sam, "I'm Detective Samantha Stewart, though I hear I'm talking to a walking, talking Goddess, so Sam works just fine."

"Well nice to meet you sugar. But I'm guessing this isn't just a social call, and is instead related to something big, mean and nasty?"

Morgan jumped back in," Sorry about that girl, we need you to connect to the electric and power systems over here. See if you can find any way someone could have taken control of the city power remotely? Or if there are any traces behind of that happening?"

"Can do my lovely, hot, steaming, cup of chocolate. Anything else?"

"Not at the moment baby girl, we'll let you know if anything comes up."

Morgan ended the call and settled back in his seat, just smiling when he caught Sam's raised eyebrow.

Sam took a swig of her Mountain Dew and frowned when she realized it was empty, she moved to get another one while beginning the next part of the conversation, "So that leaves us with what we know about the first victim – Michael Kent…" She paused… settling back in her seat and playing with her can for a moment before continuing," Mike was only 26 when he died six months ago."

Emily looked at Sam, "You knew him?"

Sam nodded, "Mike was one of the first people I met when I moved into town. He worked at the comic shop and I used to stop by there all the time. Side effect of my nerd like tendencies I suppose. But Mike and I got to know each other pretty well. He was a good man, a good friend. I even managed to forgive him for voting republican." Sam smiled half heartedly, "I can tell you it was a hell of shock when I found him that morning. With the first outage we didn't realize anything was out of the ordinary until the next morning. The power was out from 9 pm until midnight. I was the first one due into the office the following morning, I'm usually here first anyway, no one else can be trusted to make decent coffee. The squad car we found him on had been moved to face the entrance of the parking lot. Mike…" Sam had to pause for a moment… "The body was strapped face up and spread eagle to the hood of the car. There wasn't any skin left. All that we could see were muscle and bone. There wasn't even any blood, which I remember as being really strange. We didn't even find out it was Mike for another 3 days. His sister reported him missing, and then we finally had someone we could match dentals to. That's all we have on his murder."

Sam continued to walk the team through the rest of the murders, one by one. The only connections that could be found were in the lack of evidence, the publicly displayed bodies, the power outages, and the extreme manners of death. None of the victims were known to be missing before the outages started.