Consume Me Like a Fire

“If a warrior is to succeed at anything, the success must come gently, with a great deal of effort but with no stress or obsession.” -- Carlos Castaneda

The bright lights illuminated the dark room around Katie as she slowly tried to keep from falling asleep. The police put her in this room a few hours ago and now it was sometime past 1 in the morning. Finally, the door opened and Officer McDaniel walked in with a file in his hand. He placed it down in front of Katie and opened it so she could see the pictures of the dead students.

“Damien died of blood loss because you cut his tongue out. Brandon died of blood loss because you cut his penis and testicles off. Melissa, Claire and Olivia died of blood loss because you cut their hearts out,” he stated, but Katie shook her head slowly.

“No, I didn’t kill Brandon or Melissa…” Roy raised an eyebrow.

“Katie, they were killed the same way you killed the others expect for the body part you cut off. Where are the body parts?” he asked.

“I don’t know; I gave them to him. He said he wanted them—“

“Katie, I know you killed them. You had the murder weapon on you with the victim’s blood on it. It’s too late to try to pin the blame on someone else. Where are the body parts?” he asked again slowly.

“I said I don’t have them. I gave them to him,” she said glaring at the officer. Roy sighed and sat down across from her at the table.

“Okay, why did you give them to him?” he asked going along with her little story.

“Because he said he wanted to keep them; they were his souvenirs or something. He said he wanted to remember why each of them died… I gave them to him so I don’t have them,” she explained with hate on her face. Roy leaned forward a little and tried to see if the girl was lying or not.

“And why would he want to remember why the students died?”

“He told me that they were hurting Shiloh’s feelings and that they needed to be punished. They didn’t deserve to live if they put Shiloh in pain. He asked me to help him because I’m her best friend. Who wants to see their best friend go through pain? I did what was best for Shiloh!” she said sounding more panicked.

“Katie, calm down. Who is he?” Roy asked. He still wasn’t sure whether or not to believe her, but it wouldn’t hurt to ask.

“I can't tell you that…” she mumbled looking at the ground.

“Katie, if you don’t, you’ll go to jail and take all the blame. Shiloh won’t be happy if she finds out about that…” Roy said trying to make her feel more guilty. Katie looked up at him with sad eyes.

“But he said that if Shiloh knew what he was doing then she would be sad… I don’t want to make Shiloh sad; she’s my best friend!” Roy rubbed his temples and then knew that he wouldn’t be going home tonight…

~*~

Shiloh woke up early the next morning and looked over to see Katie’s bed empty. Her heart clenched in sadness; she pushed it aside and got dressed to go out, but a knock on her door stopped her. She quickly buttoned her jeans and answered it.

“Shiloh Montgomery?” the man asked. There were 3 officers standing outside her door.

“Yes?”

“We’re going to ask you to leave this room for the next few hours. We’re here to pick up Katie’s belongings as evidence,” he informed her. Shiloh swallowed the lump in her throat and grabbed her jacket.

“Most of Katie’s things are on the right. We had the room split pretty evenly,” she added not wanting them to take her things too. The man nodded and stepped inside once she was out the door. Still feeling tired, Shiloh decided to go down to the coffee shop to grab a coffee.

That thought was out the door as soon as she saw the swarm of news vans and reporters by the student living area of the campus. She turned to leave, but a reporter saw her.

“Shiloh! You are Shiloh Montgomery, right?” she called after her. The blonde stopped walking and turned around. The other reporters heard and starting going towards her.

“Is it true that the killer was obsessed with you?”

“What was your connection to the campus murders?”

“Is it true that the killer was your roommate?”

“Why did Katie kill those students?”

Shiloh felt overwhelmed and her breathing became short and erratic. She didn’t want to answer any questions or talk about Katie! A hand was placed on her shoulder and it pulled her into someone’s chest so that her face was covered.

“Shiloh won’t be answering anymore questions.” Shiloh looked up from the person’s chest and saw Mr. Fritz glaring at the reporters.

“You’re Matthew Fritz, the teacher of one of the victims. What can you say about the case?”

“I said no more questions,” he snapped and led Shiloh away from the mob of flashing lights and microphones. She felt like crying but held it back in front of her teacher. Once they were safe in one of the school buildings he released her shoulder.

“Sorry for dragging you, but it looked like you could have used some help,” Mr. Fritz said with a gentle smile. Shiloh tried to return it, but it felt like more of a grimace.

“Yeah, you’re a lifesaver. God, I hate this…” she mumbled. Mr. Fritz was about to say something else, but Shiloh’s phone rang and cut him off.

“Sorry, I need to take this. It’s Spencer.”

“That FBI agent?” Mr. Fritz asked with a sour look on his face.

“Yeah, he’s probably just checking in on me. He really helped me out. Thanks for saving me earlier,” she said with a fake smile before answering her phone and walking further down the hall.

“Hello?”

“Shiloh, It’s Reid er Spencer. How are you?” he stumbled. A small, genuine smile took over her lips without permission.

“I got bombarded by the press, but Mr. Fritz helped me out and I feel tired, but I think I’m doing better than I was last night. Thanks for asking,” she said.

“How was you drive back?” she asked.

“Well, it was only 10 minutes so it wasn’t too bad, but I did stay at the office until 2am doing paperwork,” he grumbled. Shiloh laughed a little and tried to imagine Spencer doing his reports.

“You secretly love it,” she teased. Spencer chuckled and it made her chest feel lighter. Talking to him in general made her forget about all the bad stuff going on around her. They talked for a little longer about anything they could think of.

“I need to get going. My next class is in a few minutes so I need to get past the cops in my room to get my books. Thanks for calling. You made me feel better,” she said softly with a small blush. She pushed her little crush she seemed to have on him away.

“No problem, Just call me whenever you need me. I’ll always answer.” The two said goodbye and Shiloh turned to head back to her dorm, but she jumped back when she almost ran into someone.

“Mr. Fritz, what are you still doing here?” she asked looking up at him. She thought he left a long time ago when she first answered Spencer’s call. He was just staring at her with a blank expression and it scared Shiloh.

“I don’t like you talking to that man,” he said taking a step forward. He struck a nerve in Shiloh and she felt herself get angry.

“I’m sorry Mr. Fritz, but it’s really none of your business who I talk to—“ He shoved her backwards and pinned her to the wall, covering her mouth with his hand.

“It’s my business when you’re mine. No other man should be talking to you when you have me here,” he growled and reached into his pocket. Shiloh’s eyes grew to the size of saucers and she started to panic. What the hell was happening?! Mr. Fritz pulled a piece of cloth out of his pocket and replaced it over her mouth where his hand just was.

Shiloh knew right away that there was chloroform on it, but she needed to breathe…

~*~

Spencer hung up with Shiloh and had a silly grin on his face that didn’t go unnoticed by Derek. He decided not to tease his teammate, but wouldn’t have had the chance to anyway. JJ ran out of her office and called an emergency meeting.

“JJ, what’s going on?” Hotch asked once everyone was seated.

“I just got off the phone with Officer McDaniel. Katie had a partner and they need our help. He sent us the recording of the interrogation,” she hit the play button and everyone watched the video start. Spencer studied her body language when she talked about him.

“Katie, listen to me. Shiloh will be more upset that you didn’t tell the truth than anything else. Do you want her to be that upset?” Roy asked in the video. Katie’s face was filled with indecision before she finally caved.

“Don’t tell him that I told you, but Mr. Fritz really likes Shiloh. He told me that a lot of people were making her unhappy and that I needed to help him make her happy again. He killed Brandon and Melissa, not me…” she trailed off before she started panicking again.

“I can't believe I told you?! No! He’ll be so mad! And Shiloh will be sad!” she cried.

“Katie, why will Shiloh be sad if we know that you helped him?” Roy asked gently.

“Because! He said that if the police knew I was helping him then Shiloh will get hurt really bad…” she mumbled and the video stopped.

“If they know that Matthew Fritz was behind it too, then why do they need us?” Derek asked.

“That’s the thing. When they went to arrest him, he wasn’t anywhere on campus or at his apartment. There was a sign on his classroom saying that the lecture that day was cancelled. And that’s not all. Officer McDaniel went to go get Shiloh as soon as they realized Matthew was missing, but they can't find her anywhere,” JJ explained.

“But I just talked to Shiloh on the phone before you called us in here. She said that Matthew got her away from the press that’s at the campus now. He just took her…” Spencer said that last part quieter. He tried to hide it, but fear was building up in his stomach and he was afraid that Shiloh might not make it back…

“Let’s get to the cars. We can brain storm during the drive.” Hotch demanded and everyone was out of their seats within seconds. They needed to get Shiloh back and fast before it’s too late.