Chapter One

Repairs had been made. Shattered glass had been replaced, splinters had been swept up in the kitchen and chairs had been righted but there was nothing that could be swept or replaced to hide the change that had occurred in the Trager household.

They all knew and understood that their lives would be changed dramatically forever. When they had all rushed into the kitchen that fateful day, they had all witnessed Kyle finally snapping transforming into a man who would protect his family at all costs. And a week later the Trager were still trying to come to terms with last weeks events. In the quite of the night as each of them lay in their beds they all reflect back to that fateful day when everything changed….

"You're my brother!" choked Cassidy.

His words sounding distant to Kyle as he was consumed with rage leaving no room for his pacifist attitude or for Cassidy's surprising yet desperate revelation. All Kyle could think of was the fact that he had come after his loved ones again and the fact that he had brutally murdered Jessi's mother, Sarah. He had taken away Jessi's chance of a normal family, putting her through hell thinking that her mother had abandoned her, like Emily and Brian Taylor. All who had professed to care for and love her but had ultimately used her for their own purposes, working for Latnok he had made her think that her mother was the same, made her think that her mother had carelessly tossed her aside not loving her enough to stay or take her with her and for that he would pay!!

The rage that Kyle felt was unlike anything he felt before; he had in his short life never experienced such an intense negative emotion. He could feel his powers surging in response to his emotions, they were a breath away from unleashing pouring all of his anger and frustration on Latnok's puppet Cassidy, a second before Kyle's powers were unleashed Kyle heard the front door bang open and the sound of running feet. Tightening his hold on Cassidy Kyle turned his head towards the kitchen door and waited for his family to come into view, he was surprised when Amanda was the first one he saw step through where she was closely followed by Jessi and the Tragers.

"Kyle!!" gasped Nicole as she took in the scene before her, she could hardly process that her gentle loving son had Cassidy, his enemy, by the throat 5 feet off the floor. Steven burst forth simultaneously shouting "What the hell is going on here, what happened….Kyle!!!"

"I found him here when I got home." Kyle growled "He said that he found out we had tricked him and faked Jessi's death and that now he was going to make me pay, and then he attacked me using Adam's ring."

Cassidy at this point had started to struggle in earnest with the hopes that with his family present Kyle would either become distracted or they would persuade him to let go. Using all his strength Cassidy tried to remove Kyle's hand from around his throat, but Cassidy was no match for 781227 as Kyle is strong then the normal person and Cassidy had been steadily losing oxygen for the last few minutes. His attempt to remove Kyle's hand felt like butterfly kisses to Kyle as a result Kyle didn't bother to even turn back to look at Cassidy all that was required was for Kyle to tighten his hand momentarily stopping Cassidy from getting any oxygen showing him that his attempts were futile.

"He attacked me, gloating that he had my family and he was going to do what he had done to Sarah to you guys. I…I had to stop him, something snapped. He's going to pay for what he did."

At Kyle's words the Tragers realised that Cassidy was responsible for Sarah leaving Jessi; they realised that Sarah had not left willingly and that Cassidy had some how forced her to leave. Forced to leave the daughter that she had come out of hiding for, the daughter that she was willing to change her life for. Images running through their minds on creating horrifying scenarios on the things done to Sarah to leave Jessi it dawned on the Tragers what their kids and siblings had to contend with and the depth of evil that was Latnok. The length that Latnok would go to left Nicole and Steven breathless and extremely frightened about the safety if their family as Latnok was using more dangerous methods of persuasion on Kyle whilst displaying a callous and ambivalent attitude towards Jessi.

A soft voice drifted through the rage and the horror experienced by Kyle and the Tragers, trying to instil calm and reason into the atmosphere. Amanda tentatively stepped forward approaching, Kyle whispering "Kyle please! Kyle this is not the way. This is not you." Taking another step towards Kyle Amanda looked beseechingly at Kyle putting her hand on the arm that was strangling Cassidy, "let the police handle him, come away Kyle."

The Tragers watched as Amanda attempted to reason with Kyle, praying that she would get through to him and that the pure and kind hearted son and brother they knew would come back to them. However Amanda's words fell flat on Kyle. He ignored her and looked over her shoulder Kyle was looking into Jessi's eyes. Remembering her pain, her tear soaked face as she cried out her heat whilst recalling the night Sarah was murdered, the sound of Sarah's heat failing would forever be etched in Kyle's memory haunting Jessi's dreams forever. Her desolation at the lost of a family was shared through their link, her pain so devastating that her pain became his pain too; activating his need to protect her from any more pain and the only way was to keep her safe from Cassidy and Latnok. Shrugging off Amanda's arm he murmured "that won't stop them, they won't stop, I have to stop them."

Collectively the Tragers sagged as all of them thought that if Amanda could not get through to Kyle then nobody could, it had them all wondering just how much was Kyle changing that he ignored Amanda, his first love, before their very eyes they all saw a different Kyle, a Kyle who had been tainted with violence and rage. Stillness permeated the kitchen as everyone considered options that would get Kyle to calm down and free Cassidy, blinding them to the fact that Jessi stepped forward and took up the batten.

"Kyle! Listen to me, you know how much I want to make Cassidy and Latnok pay for what they did to Sarah, and for all the pain they caused me more than anyone. You know I want him to suffer and pay for his crimes," her words received various reactions from the others in the room; Nicole and Lori gasped thinking Jessi was deliberately inciting Kyle into hurting Cassidy, whilst the hope was drained from Steven and Josh's faces at her words. Amanda was the only one who moved towards Jessi in an attempt to stop her disapprovingly said "Jessi, what are you doing, how can you say that to Kyle, stop it, how could you!!" moving in trying to insinuate herself between Kyle and Jessi providing a symbolic shield she stood with arms folded.

Jessi looked around the room giving the Tragers a looked that demand silence and co-operation, before finally turning to Amanda "Amanda, please stay out of this and let me talk to Kyle ok." Before anybody could respond, Jessi managed to manoeuvre Amanda out of the way to stand in front of Kyle again.

Staring deep into Kyle's eyes for several minutes- displaying their extraordinary connection to Amanda and the rest of the family - Jessi sent Kyle waves of reassurance to calm him down as she said softly "Kyle please let him go, for me, please let him go."

Everyone including Jessi held their breath as they waited to see what Kyle would do next. Would he listen to Jessi? What would they do if he didn't?

Continuing to stare into Jessi's eyes Kyle felt Jessi through their connection sending him all of her warmth and reassurance giving him the strength he need to put a lid on his rage, that Cassidy's boasts had caused. This allowed him to think more clearly and logically; he had never before used violence he had always gone out of his way not to use violence, he was stooping to their level, he was becoming like them taking matters into his own hands, he had to stop for his sake and for the sake of his family. Coming to this conclusion Kyle without looking at Cassidy slowly loosened his fingers from around Cassidy's throat and dropped him to the floor, and slowly backed away from him.

Once Kyle had released Cassidy Jessi moved into action. Walking past Kyle Jessi walked up to Cassidy and before anybody realised what she was up to Jessi punched Cassidy in the face rendering him unconscious and slumped over on the kitchen floor. Leaving the rest of the family to react, Jessi gripped Kyle's arm walking him over to the kitchen table to sit down. Then without taking her eyes off Kyle Jessi spoke to the others "Nicole could you please call Foss and ask him to come over as soon as possible please, Josh could you please call Declan and ask him to come over as well please. Steven could you call the police please and tell them that a man broke into the house and attacked your son and Lori can you get some rope to tie up Cassidy in case he wakes up before the police get here."

Holding Kyle's hand Jessi sat next to Kyle she couldn't help but think that this was all her fault. All her insecurities and problems had pushed Kyle to this; he had come so close to seriously harming Cassidy even killing him. They were all right – Brian, Latnok and Madicorp- she was damaged and they even right in predicting that she would bring about Kyle's down fall. And here she was right in the middle of everything. Oh she knew that it wasn't all about her, but Kyle would not have been pushed over the edge so quickly had they not found out about Sarah and decided to bring down Cassidy and Latnok for her murder. It would have been better if she had left when Sarah had wanted, then she would still have her mother and Kyle as her best friend from afar. He would still be the bright, pure and kind boy that everybody knew and loved but now he was tainted violence and hatred. Suddenly Jessi felt Kyle squeeze her hand causing her to turn to him with worry thinking something was wrong, only to find Kyle smiling reassuringly at her, like he knew that she need his reassurance now in her moment of insecurity.

Foss arrived before the police and ignoring everyone he went straight to Cassidy who was tied up but still unconscious where he searched him thoroughly for any incriminating evidence. Nicole having filled him in on the night's events knew that Cassidy must have had a back up plan and a weapon specifically for Kyle, found a Latnok taser but nothing else much to his relief. Confiscating the weapon Foss got up and walked towards Kyle.

"Kyle when the police get here tell them the truth but not mention the taser or your abilities so if they ask how Cassidy became unconscious just say you got a lucky punch in, do you understand me."

"Yeah ok" mumbled Kyle.

"And if they ask you why he attacked you in your home, tell them that he wanted you to work on money making projects off the books but you refused. He threatened your family and girlfriend and then he attacked you here when you got home after you refused again to help him with the schemes."

"Ok."

"Good cause we can't deny that you didn't know Cassidy cause there are a dozen or so witnesses who can put you at U.W."

Turning away from Kyle Foss took a seat opposite them at the kitchen table and waited with the Tragers for the police before remembering that the Tragers need to get there story straight as well. "You all need to have the same story on what you found when you got home. You should just say that you came home to find Cassidy on the floor unconscious as well as Kyle who was going into shock. Don't say anything about Kyle choking Cassidy as that will just make the police ask some dangerous questions that we can't afford to answer." Gaining nods from all those present Foss sat back and contemplated their next steps because he was 100% sure that this was not over and that Kyle would have to be ready.

Much to their relief everything went off without a hitch with the police who came and took Cassidy away as well as their statements. They left the family to clean up the mess and try and pick up the pieces of their family life.

A week later and little or no progress had been made by the Tragers to come to terms with those life changing events. It seemed to of been an unconscious consensus to act like nothing monumental had occurred in their lives causing them to go back to their normal daily routine. Nicole started to work again part time, Steven went on teaching at U.W. whilst the Kids tried to get back to their summer vacation. Little did they know that sweeping it all under the carpet would only cause their problems to rear there heads at the most inconvenient time; a mother would almost lose her son, a son would have to fight for his true love and danger would always be around the corner waiting for the silent command from their enemy to strike at the heart of their family.