Psychopathy

Chapter 32- Aftermath

Isabel lay on the shore, soaked and exhausted. She had to come up with a plan. Would she wander around, hiding everywhere from the devil, hoping he wouldn't find her? Hoping she could find a way to escape in her wanderings? Would the devil sense her return and find her anyway? And if he did find her, what was she to do?

She balled her hands into fists, realizing with a start that her claws were no longer digging into her palms. She opened her eyes and looked at her hands, startled when she realized she longer had her claws. She grabbed a lock of her hair and brought it to her face. It was brown again. And upon her head, she could no longer feel her horns. It seemed that her time in the lake had restored her to what she had been before she had signed that contract.

She laid her head back down, knowing she needed to rest before she came up with a plan. Strange how she had slept for so long inside of the lake and she was still tired. She flinched when the thunder crashed dangerously close to her, but she trusted the lake to keep her safe. It had done so so far. It was only when a voice spoke near her that she considered that she might be wrong.

"I was wondering where you had run off to." Isabel looked up to see the devil standing only a few paces away from her.

*************

Reid stared, frozen, at the tablet that had now gone dark with the end of the livestream. He stood there, unable to process what had just happened. That bastard had mutilated Ciara, removing three of her fingers. And then she had, once again, made a deal with him just to keep herself safe and alive.

Reid had felt sick when that cleaver had come down. But he knew he wasn't the only one. He had turned, for just one second, to look at Morgan, to see his reaction. When the cleaver had come down, he had paled, his eyes going wide and his entire body freezing. Reid couldn't read minds, but at that second, he had thought he could. It didn't take a profiler to understand that under the shock, guilt and anger at himself had been ravaging his mind.

Now that the livestream was over, six days early, Reid couldn't stand to be in that room anymore. He couldn't stand to be with his team, the team that had refused to listen when he had requested that he be left alone with Ciara. And he especially couldn't be in the same room as Morgan.

What had he been thinking? Did he really think that taunting and challenging the Unsub was going to work? After all they had seen? It had been stupid, and dangerous, and it had gotten Ciara hurt. Now, that being said, Reid knew that Ciara probably would have been hurt anyway. But now along with the physical pain and the loss of something she couldn't get back, she had to be feeling betrayed. That whisper she had uttered right after had been filled with the shock, anger, and sadness that came after a betrayal.

Reid wasn't sure if his anger was correctly placed. He knew to be angry with Morgan was probably foolish and counterproductive, but at the moment, he needed someone to be angry at. He needed someone to blame. Sure, he could- and should- put his blame and anger on the Unsub. And to an extent, he did. After all, he had been the one to bring the cleaver down and remove Ciara's fingers. But it had been through Morgan's egregious profiling that he had been pushed to do so.

When he left Garcia's office, he wasn't sure where he was going to go. He knew he would go to the bullpen and collect his satchel, but after that, he wasn't sure. All he knew was that while he may be punished for leaving in the middle of the day, he couldn't stand to be in that building anymore. But he also wasn't sure that he could stand going to his apartment where he had nothing to do but sit and think about what had just happened.

Maybe it wasn't worth it to leave the BAU. As he reached the bullpen and crossed to his desk, he had a feeling that no matter where he went, he'd be plagued with thoughts of Ciara. All he would be able to see were places they had been, places Reid had wished to take her. He wondered about contacting Teresa to see if he could swing by, but how would seeing Ciara's sister make him feel anything but worse? Besides, she was probably busy. Even if the babies were laying down for a midday nap, they'd probably be awake by the time Reid arrived.