Consume Me Like a Fire

“Men are so simple and yield so readily to the desires of the moment that he who will trick will always find another who will suffer to be tricked.” - Niccolo Machiavelli

“Oh my God! Are you bleeding?!” Shiloh practically screamed and ran over to her friend. Katie stood at the end of the hall covered in blood. She finally looked at Shiloh when she reached her.

“I told you I would be back later. Why did you come here?” she asked softly. Shiloh’s eyes widened.

“What’re you talking about?! Spencer said someone got stabbed and I came to bring you back before you got hurt too. Are you bleeding? Is this your blood?” she asked reaching out to touch Katie.

“Don’t touch me!” she yelled slapping Shiloh’s hands away. It was then that Shiloh noticed the glistening knife in Katie’s hand. It was covered in and dripping blood onto the tile floor.

“Oh God… Katie, what did you do?” she whispered feeling tears prickle in her eyes.

“Who’s Spencer?” Katie asked ignoring her friend’s question.

“He’s uh an FBI agent. Never mind him, answer me. What did you do, Katie?” she asked again slowly. Katie looked down at the knife and lifted it up to show Shiloh the still fresh blood.

“Just what needed to be done…”

“Katie, please don’t tell me you were the one who stabbed that student a few minutes ago…” Shiloh pleaded holding back her tears. One of the worst things that could have happened did happen. Her friend hurt someone and killed others…

“Are you talking about Damien? He had one coming,” Katie mumbled smearing the blood on her knife with her finger. Shiloh turned away and leaned against the wall beside her. She felt like throwing up but managed to hold it back. Damien… He sits next to her in Psychology… She saw him that morning during Spencer’s safety speech. He even asked her to be his buddy.

“Why?” her voice cracked, but Shiloh pushed away from the wall to face Katie again.

“He—“

“FBI! Put the knife down and put your hands up!”Shiloh turned around to see Derek leading his teammates down the hall, all of which had their guns raised.

“Derek, wait! Katie—“

“Shiloh, slowing back away from her. She’s dangerous!” Derek never took his eyes off Katie, but Shiloh understood and began backing away from her friend.

“Shiloh.” The girl stopped and looked at Katie. They were still close enough to touch.

“Katie, drop the knife and step away from Shiloh,” Derek demanded.

“Listen to him!” Spencer called from beside Derek. Shiloh glanced at them and then back to Katie.

“It’s all for your own good,” Katie said and lifted her bloody fingers to run them down Shiloh’s face. Katie let go of the knife and Derek tackled her. Shiloh was frozen in place; she could feel the sticky blood on her cheek. Katie’s words echoed in her head, but she didn’t understand them.

“—Loh! Shiloh! Snap out of it. Let’s get you out of here,” Spencer snapped his fingers in front of her face. Shiloh looked at him and suddenly the dam holding her emotions back burst. Tears ran down her eyes and she latched onto the man in front of her. Spencer was taken aback by the sudden attack, but he wrapped his arms around her and led her out of the dorm building.

The party had been cleared away and now there was trash and red cups littered everywhere. Spencer took Shiloh outside and they sat down on a bench near the fountain they were at earlier. Her tears had stopped, but she still held onto him.

“It’s over now, we have the unsub. She won’t be able to hurt you,” he whispered in her ear and rubbed her back gently.

“She wasn’t going to hurt me. She said it was for my own good. What the hell does that even mean?!” she choked out thinking about how her best friend was going to be behind bars for murder. Spencer sighed and gently wiped the blood off her face with the cuff of his sleeve.

“I’m sorry Shiloh, but Katie needs helps.” Shiloh nodded and wiped her eyes.

“Sorry for soaking your shirt,” she mumbled with a forced laugh. Spencer looked at her concerned before helping her up. The police were going to want to as k her a few questions.

“Don’t worry about it. Are you ready to head back inside?” he asked softly studying her features. She nodded slowly, but still held onto his arm as they walked back into the building. Katie was handcuffed and being led outside by a few police officers.

“I did this for you Shiloh! Those idiots never should have messed with you! Now you don’t have to worry anymore!” she yelled as the men in blue forced her into the police car. Shiloh closed her eyes and tried not to look back at her. Spencer’s mind was racing. Everything was clicking into place; Shiloh knew all the victims and Katie was the one trying to protect her friend… But why did Katie get caught so easily when she had flawlessly clean crime scenes before? He would bring it up with Hotch after he took care of Shiloh.

Shiloh… Just looking at her pained expression caused his heart to ache. He knew he shouldn’t feel this way, but it was hard not to. She was an amazing person and then got pulled into this horrible series of events…

“Reid, there you are. Officer McDaniel needs to ask Shiloh a few questions,” Hotch said coming up to them. Shiloh looked uneasily between the two men, but when Spencer gave her a small nod, she walked over to the police chief.

“Garcia just called,” Hotch said quietly next to Spencer.

“What did she say?”

“The Damien kid that was stabbed died a few minutes ago from blood loss. Katie cut his tongue out and he ended up choking on the blood…” Hotch said grimly.

“That doesn’t really match her MO. Have we found the tongue or any of the other organs?” Spencer asked facing his boss.

“I thought that too, but we have our killer, Reid. And not everything goes along with the textbook. She might have already disposed of the organs… We’re leaving in an hour. Make sure you finish everything you need to,” he said, but Spencer heard the double meaning. It was an order to say goodbye to Shiloh…

“Uh, yeah. I-I will,” he mumbled and excused himself. Was it wrong to not want to say goodbye to Shiloh? Yes, he’s crossed the line before with Lila, but what he feels for Shiloh is nowhere near what he felt back then. He didn’t want to leave her, but Hotch gave him an order and it was his job to fulfill it.

Spencer looked around for Shiloh and saw that she was still talking to Officer McDaniel. He leaned against a nearby wall and waited for her to finish up.

“Waiting for your girl, Boy Wonder?” Derek asked coming to lean next to him. Spencer glanced at him before focusing on Shiloh again.

“She’s not my girl and Hotch just told me to say goodbye to her. We’re leaving soon,” he mumbled. Derek raised his eyebrows and smirked a little before it fell.

“I don’t feel comfortable leaving yet,” Derek replied softly.

“I don’t either. We’re missing something, but Hotch said we’re done so there’s nothing else we can do here. We caught the killer,” Spencer said.

“…He’s the boss. Don’t forget to tell her you’ll miss her,” Derek smirked again and patted Spencer on the shoulder before walking away. Spencer held back a blush and coughed into his fist.

“Are you okay?” Shiloh asked. Spencer coughed more, surprised because he hadn’t realized she was done being questioned.

“Uh, yeah sorry. Something was in my throat. Are you done?” he asked clearing his throat one last time. She nodded.

“Spencer, can you walk me back to my dorm?” she asked quietly.

“Of course.” Shiloh held onto his arm again as they walked toward the girls’ dorm.

“Now that everything is done, my team is leaving soon,” Spencer started. Shiloh looked up at him with sad eyes and nodded.

“When? Tomorrow?”

“Actually in 40 minutes,” he said. Shiloh stopped walking and looked at him.

“So soon? I thought I would have more time to thank you,” she said, her voice cracking. Spencer panicked and cupped her face.

“Hey, don’t be sad. You’ve already thanked me enough. This is my job,” he said trying to make her feel better.

“Honestly, I don’t want you to go. I’m scared, but when you’re here, I feel so much better,” she mumbled and hugged him, resting her head on his chest. Warmth filled Spencer, and he wrapped his arms around her, but in the back of his mind, this was goodbye.

“You don’t need to be scared anymore. No one will hurt you anymore,” he said pulling away. He let her hold his arm again and they walked into the girls’ dorm. Shiloh led him to her room and stopped at the door.

“Thank you for walking me back,” she whispered.

“No problem. Get some rest and you’ll feel better in the morning.”

“Promise?” she asked with a small smile. It nearly took Spencer's breath away.

“Promise,” he breathed with a smile of his own. Shiloh opened her door to walk in, but stopped and turned back again.

“Hopefully, we’ll see each other in the future. Goodnight, Spencer,” she said and stood up on her toes to kiss him quickly on the lips. Before Spencer’s genius brain could comprehend what just happened, Shiloh was already closing her door and locking it. Spencer’s heart was pounding in his ears and his lips tingled.

“What just…?” he couldn’t finish his train of thought. The phone in his pocket started ringing and finally broke him out of his trance.

“Reid, where are you? We’re loading up,” Derek said on the other end.

“Sorry, I’ll be there soon,” he said hanging up and jogging down the hall. Once he got to the end of the hall, he couldn’t help but look back at her door for a second before leaving the dorm.