Psychopathy

Chapter 53- Into The Forest, Part One

The devil had his hand around Isabel's throat. He'd caught her sending her message and this time, he said he was going to kill her. He didn't know what would happen when he did, but he was eager to find out. She grabbed at his hands, trying to claw them away, but his grip was stronger than hers. But Isabel knew what she had to do. Something that she hadn't done before out of fear for her life. She brought her knee up, hitting him in the spot he'd used to hurt her so many times.

His hands left her throat and she took off running. She ran towards the lake, never once looking back. If she looked back, she would hesitate, and if she hesitated, she would die. She made it to the lake just as the water started to part. She stopped at the shore, wondering what was going to come out of the water. There was always something.

A hole appeared in the bottom of the lake, and before Isabel's eyes, a group of people started to climb out of the hole. Isabel gasped, and then let out some mixture of a laugh and a cry. It was her team. Her team was coming up through that hole, coming to save her. They ran up the path that the lake had cleared for them, and Isabel ran to them. The teammate that she'd been missing the most took the lead, and when they met in the middle, she practically threw herself into his open arms.

"Are ye real this time?" she asked, and he laughed softly, tightening his embrace.

"Yes. I'm real. Now, let's get you out of here." Isabel nodded and stepped out of his embrace, ready to leave that horrible place. But before anyone could, a horrible shriek pierced the air. They followed the sound and saw that about twenty feet away, the devil stood with a small army of demons backing him up.

"If you want her, you're going to have to fight for her," the devil said, and without warning, the demons started to attack. Everyone on her team pulled out their guns, and Isabel looked around, not sure what she could use as a weapon. She heard the water swirling beside her, and when she looked, she saw the lake offering her a sword. She pulled it out of the water just as she heard the first gunshot. She gripped the sword tightly and ran into the fray.

Just as she had smote the first demon, something hard hit her back, and then she knew nothing at all.

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"We're landing in five minutes." Reid waited a moment before repeating his statement to Teresa. Teresa didn't respond. She just kept staring out of the window, her head propped on her fist, "Hello? Teresa?"

"Huh?" Teresa turned towards him, her eyes slowly coming back into focus. "What did you say?"

"I said we're landing in five minutes. Are you okay?" he asked, and Teresa sighed. Reid slipped into the seat across from her. "It's going to be okay. We're going to get Ciara back, and we're going to arrest James and Ty. This is all going to be over."

"I know. That's not what's bothering me."

"Then what is bothering you?"

"I never thought I'd be going back to that house," Teresa answered. She put her face in her hands, before running her fingers through her hair, taking a deep breath. "Not like this."

"What do you mean?" Reid asked, and Teresa looked down at the table.

"When Ciara and I were kids, that house was our solitude. Every time we went there, things were better. We would play in the forest all day, just her and I. If Simon and/or Kasey were in a bad mood, we would go hide in the trees until they calmed down. That house... it was good. And now that's gone," Teresa explained. Reid sighed and put his hand over Teresa's.

"I understand. It's always soul-crushing when something good is taken from us," Reid replied, and Teresa nodded. The plane started to descend, and Teresa breathed in deeply, steeling her face. "But something good is about to return to us. In two hours, Ciara is going to be back in our lives."