Chapter 205

"What the fuck just happened?" Morbus asked, staring at Brie.

Her eyes were cold as she looked him in the face.  "What do you mean?"  Her voice was distant.

"Did you just shoot your own cousin in cold blood?"

"She's a traitor.  A traitor to her country, a traitor to her family, and most especially a traitor to me.  In that uniform, she's not my cousin.  She's the enemy.  She needed to die."

David came up behind his wife, moving wide so that in case she decided to turn that 9mm in her hand on him, he could duck.  "Brie, baby, give me the gun", he said calmly.  It was hanging in her hand at her side.

She took the barrel in her free hand and held it out to him.  "Here you go."  She turned to look at him.

David choked on his pulse.  The look in his wife's eyes was one he'd never seen her have before.  He'd seen her angry.  He'd seen her sad.  He'd seen her in pain.  He'd seen her joyful.  But THIS look, it was lost on him.  Her eyes were cold and empty.  Her face looked like it was made of stone.  He reached out carefully and took the pistol from her hand then gave it to Danny, who locked it away in the gun safe for the moment.  "Brie, I need you to talk to me.  Where's your head at?  What are you thinking right now?"

"That Calista deserved to die.  She betrayed me and everything my father's family stood for.  Traitors die the death of traitors.  It's that simple."

Shit, even her voice was empty.  She was gone.  She was almost lost to him.  He was afraid that her sanity might have actually broken because she just killed a member of her family.  "Ok, I'm going to ask you a few general questions.  Give me the first answer that pops into you head."

"No, David.  There's no need.  I'll be fine in a moment."

He looked at the blood that spattered her face and clothes, as well as the floor and wall behind her and Morbus's arm.  "Honey, I think you need to go take a shower and get into a better frame of mind.  You're actually frightening me, and you know I don't frighten easily."

She blinked at him rapidly, then looked at her arms and hands.  "David, what just happened?"

"Baby, you just shot and killed your cousin Calista in cold blood.  I think you're in shock."

She retched, then turned, running for the nearest bathroom.

--------------

David walked into the bathroom to see his wife on her knees bent over the toilet.  He knelt beside her and pulled her brown curls out of her face.  "Are you okay?"  She shook her head no and continued to throw up.  He knelt beside her and held her hair back out of her face while uselessly rubbing those allegedly comforting circles into her back.

Finally, she was doing nothing but dry heaving.  She took several deep breathes before turning to look at him.  "You were saying before I ran in here to lose my lunch?"

He looked at her rather confused.  "You just killed your cousin in cold blood.  Did that upset your stomach?"

She looked at him sternly.  "No.  The fact that I have her brain matter all over me is what made me toss my cookies, honey.  You and I both know I have no problem killing.  It's the white and gray shit all over me that made me throw up."

This confused him.  "You can kill without a second thought, but brain matter makes you sick?  Why?  Because it's up close and personal?"

She nodded.  "Yeah.  Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to take a shower and get this shit off of me as quickly as possible and throw these clothes in the trash."  She stood and walked out of the room.

David continued to kneel on the cold tile floor.  What the hell just happened here?  Did she seriously just walk out of the room like what she just did was no big deal?  He shook away the thought.  Don't go there, David.  It will only end in disaster.