Psychopathy

Chapter 10- Strategic Retreat

The devil had a smile on his face as he brought Isabel to the burning lake, the heat searing her skin. He forced her down to her knees, and she looked down into the boiling red water. If there was something she was supposed to be seeing, she wasn't seeing it. It was impossible to see a reflection in boiling water, let alone red water. She looked up at the devil, and he gave her a smile, before waving his hand over the water, a small patch of water beginning to cool and clear. Isabel was impressed at first, but then she realized. This was his domain. Of course it would do whatever he commanded it to.

She looked back into the water, waiting to see what the devil wanted to show her. The moment she was waiting for the vision was undefinable, but that was how time worked around here. There was no way to tell time, and sometimes time seemed to speed up, while other times it seemed to slow to a crawl. Time meant absolutely nothing. But still, after that moment, the water began to swirl, and as it did so, an image began to form in the water. As it settled, the image came into focus, and Isabel's eyes widened, though she managed to hide her gasp.

In the water she saw her team sitting around their round table, looking solemnly down at the files in front of them. She reached out towards the water but brought her hand back before she could touch them. Just because the water didn't look hot, didn't mean it wasn't. She couldn't take that chance. She wasn't going to stupidly give him a chance to hurt her. She was smarter than that, especially now that she'd been there awhile. She had started to pick up on some of the rules and routines of that place.

She focused back on the water, and saw several members of the team sigh before they all began to close the files. Wait, what were they doing? One person put a box on the table, and soon, they all began to place the files in the box. Once all the files were in the box, they put the lid on it, and the leader of the team carried the box out of the room, and the rest of the members filed out after him. Isabel stared at the empty room before the image dissipated and all Isabel was left with was water that turned red and began to boil.

"You see? They've already moved on."

"No. Ye don't know that. Ye don't know those files were mine. Maybe it was another case."

"Don't be stupid. You know those were your files. They packed them up. They haven't found you yet, so obviously the only reason they'd be packing those files up is if they gave up on you. They don't care about you anymore."

"No, that's not true..."

"They left you behind. And you know what that means?" the devil asked, putting his hands on her shoulders and squeezing. "You're all mine now."

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

Two weeks. It had been two weeks. And they had nothing.

Reid rubbed his face and looked down at the file they had created. There wasn't much in it, because they didn't have much that transferred to paper. It was mostly just the file on Ciara that every agent came with, the lab results on the blood and fingerprints, and the original reports from the MPD and the CSI unit. And, of course, the profiles they had worked up for both the Unsub and the Partner.

The Unsub was sadistic. That much was apparent. He had very obviously enjoyed having his power and control over Ciara and bringing her pain. Whether he was a sexual sadist or just an ordinary sadist, they weren't sure. Whether he needed to bring her pain or if he just wanted to had yet to be determined. They'd need to see more of how he behaved, both with Ciara and without, to tell if the sadism was need-based or pleasure-based.

He was also a textbook anger-excitation rapist, a man who raped because he enjoyed the suffering his victims went through. He enjoyed bringing them pain, and he enjoyed having power and control over them. Often, anger-excitation behavior and sadism were considered one and the same and often went hand in hand. This case was no different. This man's sadism and anger-excitation behavior just fed one another. And it horrified Reid to think that Ciara was at the receiving end of it.