memento vivere - supernatural & criminal minds

chapter 30

Chapter 30 
Hell Followed With Him

The genial atmosphere in the conference room was unusual. They were teetering on a knife's edge, waiting for JJ to enter with details from their latest case. She had gotten the call while the team - sans Gideon, who went to the Smithsonian - was at a bar for the Super Bowl. They looked out of place around the table in their casual attire, clutching mugs of coffee when JJ entered the room.

"The call came from Georgia," she began, turning on the TV. "The Kyles, Dennis and Lacy, were murdered an hour ago in their suburban Atlanta home." They were a young couple, beaming in each other's arms on the screen.

"Only an hour ago?" Jude asked. She snuggled deeper into the brown zip-up hoodie she'd thrown over her outfit. It was in the back of her car and she was fairly certain it was Sam's. How she'd acquired it, she had no idea.

"Police were on the scene unusually fast. One of the unsubs called from inside the house and told them that the other was about to commit murder. According to the dispatcher, the first male sounded terrified and begged them to get there because the other, whom they both identified as Raphael, was about to kill the sinners that lived there."

"Sinners?" Hotch repeated.

"Raphael is a biblical name," Jude chimed in. "He's one of the seven archangels. In the Book of Enoch, his job is to heal the earth that the fallen angels defiled."

"Jot that down with anything else you think might be relevant." Hotch slid her a notepad and she obliged as the conversation continued. "How fast was the police response time?"

"Four minutes and twenty-six seconds. During which time, Raphael managed to do this." The Kyles' pristine white carpet was drenched in blood. Crimson footprints circled their exsanguinated bodies. "Mr. Kyle is a dot-com millionaire. His company is one of the largest employers in the community. There's gonna be media coverage." 

JJ clicked to a page torn from the Bible. Blood speckled the paper. Jude leaned forward, seeing that a passage was highlighted. "That's Revelations. 'And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell Followed with him.'"

***

Jude's notepad was full halfway through their flight. It felt odd to be taking notes about celestial beings on the jet. These were things she would find on Bobby's bookshelves, not in a case file. From Morgan's computer, Penelope chirped that she'd gotten the recording of the call from the Georgia state police.

"911, what's your emergency? / I'm at 1547 Chestnut Drive. / I know where you're calling from, sir. What's the emergency? / He thinks they're greedy." JJ had been right. The caller spoke in a harried whisper. "They have too much. / Too much what? / Stuff. Possessions, things they don't need. Hurry! / You're calling because these people have too much stuff? / No, I'm calling because Raphael-" A hand slammed on the caller's line and a new voice replaced the harried man. He sounded calmer, more authoritative. "That's enough. He's calling because Raphael is going to kill the sinners that live here."

"Unsub one definitely sounds frightened," Prentiss started. "Maybe he's doing this against his will?"

Gideon shook his head. "I doubt it. He whispered. He could've called out to save them instead of calling 911."

"Not if he had a gun to his head," Morgan parried. 

"If he had a gun to his head, why would he have dialed 911?"

"The call could be part of their M.O.," Jude offered. "If they're mission-based killers, they would want their message to be clear."

"The second unsub said Raphael was going to kill someone. Is there a third?" JJ asked.