Chapter 10

He was sixteen years old and already Silent for more than a decade. Today another special lesson with his teacher was due. The knowledge that what had happened in those lessons was wrong, was evil, came not from compassion or conscience. He did no longer have them at the time. It just existed on a level that went beyond emotion, beyond the reach of Silence. It rested in the very core of his being. And the more he was aware of it the harder it pulled on his control. The only way to survive at all had been to shut off all the emotions of fear, anger, disgust and even pity for the women. He had become perfect in it over the years, absolutely Silent at an age that was considered to be too young for the Protocol to stick permanently and resulting in unparalleled control over his abilities.

Still he knew that this was wrong and it was leading him down a path from which there was no return. He had sworn never to become what Santano Enrique had become. Maybe it was the one thing that was left of the boy he had been, when he first fell into the claws of the sociopathic Councilor.

And now there would be only one more. He'd have to watch only one more girl die and then he'd be free. He'd make it through this and one day he'd find a way to bring the man down.

"So Kaleb, this is your last lesson. It won't be like the others. Take this one as your final exam. You will get the chance to do the real work at last." Santano's voice was mockingly solemn while he pointed at the shaking, frightened girl that was tied to the sterile hospital bed at the opposite wall, obviously too scared to make any sound. She was a changeling, one of the Councilors favorite species for his experiments. "You may have noticed I tried not to damage her too bad during the last week. I did it so you can do some experimenting of your own today. She's a Swan, a very interesting species – and not as strong-spirited as the bears. Nevertheless, don't be as hesitant as that one time." The last words were accompanied by a short look at Kaleb's right forearm. As if it was necessary to remind him of the event that had gotten him the burn scar.

Kaleb only answered with a nod.

"She's all yours now. I'll leave you alone for a while. Let's say I'll be back in five hours and see how you're doing. Unfortunately we haven't got much more time today. But if you need a little more just 'path me. I don't want to hurry you."

With that he teleported out leaving Kaleb alone with a fragile looking girl that was trembling with fear. The moment Santano had left the scene, she started crying and begging him to let her go. Obviously he was by far not as scary as the older man. This was worse than he had imagined. But he should have known better. The psychopathic Councilor wasn't going to let him out of this until he was just as evil as himself.

He needed to find a way out of this. He needed to satisfy Santano Enrique to be able to get away from him at last. But to do as he asked would be one step too far down that road of darkness he had led him on.

It wasn't as hard as it had once been to suppress the shock and any emotional reaction to this new turn of events. Still he found it hard to think clear with the pleading, whimpering girl in the room but he didn't dare to leave. He was sure the Councilor couldn't monitor him telepathically without his detection. But he might know when he left the room. So he did the one thing that would silence her without too much cruelty. He broke into her mind with careful control. It wouldn't hurt her. Her shields had been broken days ago, her innermost secrets laid open. But he wasn't looking for those. Instead he filed through her mind for every memory she had that would qualify as pleasant. Then he focused a part of his mind on letting her relive every single one of them, while he was thinking frantically how he could evade becoming a murderer like the man who had been his trainer for almost all his life. There must be a solution.

He found none.

When the five hours were drawing to a close, he still had not a single idea, and worse he hadn't done the slightest harm to his supposed victim. He telepathed to Santano that he was absorbed in an interesting experiment, but needed more quiet and time to finish it.

Alright you have two more hours. Unfortunately I can give you no more today, but I am sure we will find another subject you can take more time with.

For another half hour he played through every scenario he could think of again and again. But Santano would know all his tricks. He had taught them to him after all. One day he would be far stronger than his trainer, but right now he lacked the experience and resources to openly oppose him. Worse, if the sociopath ever learned Kaleb was not his perfect 'creature', a mirror of his own evil mind, he probably wouldn't last long. For a Councilor there were always ways to get rid of people, he perceived to be a liability or even a threat. And it would be too late if he didn't act soon.

So he picked one more happy moment out of the girls head and played it through her mind. Then he retracted the telepathic influence for a moment, although he couldn't say why he pulled her out of the blissful state he'd kept her in so far. There was just this need to talk to her, to explain, to apologize. But she wouldn't listen.

"Please! Don't kill me!" A hopeless whimper. "I know you are not like that other man. You can let me go and I promise I won't tell…" He tuned her out. There was nothing he could do for her.

"I don't have a choice." His voice was flat and toneless.

Then he applied a well-dosed whip of Tk and snapped her neck. She was dead before the pain could reach her consciousness. At least that he had spared her. But the picture of her eyes, when the life left them burned into his mind.

He would never forget that moment. It had changed something deep inside of him forever. Now there was nothing good left in him. He had become the creature his teacher always wanted him to be. He could already hear the monster whisper inside his head, drinking in the silence of her death. But it was trapped, not only behind the icicle bars of Silence but in a vault he'd started to build when he was a child, when he'd first heard that gruesome little rhyme reverberate inside his skull.

Stop the blood. Stop the heart.

Or just tear them apart.

Make them…

He silenced it using the well-trained control over his mental functions and focused on the task at hand with cold expedience.

He took most of the remaining time to telekinetically break every bone in the girls body exactly in half. He had learned that accurateness was something that was required of a proper serial killer. While he did it, he kept pushing at her heart too to pump the blood through her veins so there would be enough bruising to make it look as if he'd caused the injuries, while she was still alive. The hormonal response in her brain would be wrong, but that was a risk he could take, if the body looked properly mistreated otherwise.

He was ready fifteen minutes early, so he checked the whole scene for signs that would betray he hadn't done exactly what was expected from him. When he found none, he telepathed to Santano again.

I'm done. You can check my work.

The next moment the Councilor stood next to him in the room, taking in the picture of the corpse on the bed.

"No blood –." He raised an eyebrow and stepped closer examining the broken body. Even fully Silent, Kaleb had to force himself not to look away as the other man twisted and pulled at her broken limbs as if she'd never been a sentient being. "Ah I see… This is very good. You have an interesting style." Santano Enrique was content. His protégé had turned out just fine. He was his creation. A truly Silent Psy. Free from all the conventions and morals that still had influence on some of his race. Free from conscience. "I can provide you with another soon if you like."

"I appreciate the offer, but I think my next one won't be a changeling. I will try something different." Very much so. His next kill would not be an innocent. He'd bring down every single one who supported a system that allowed killers like Santano Enrique to roam freely. And one day he'd get to the sociopathic Councilor himself. This would be his reason for living. There was no other justification left for his continuing existence.

"Alright, get rid of her in a decent way. I will see you in the regular training." And with that he was gone again and Kaleb was alone with the dead swan girl once more.

He couldn't logically explain what he did next. He needed something to remind him of what he had become today and what he needed to do as a consequence. So he stepped closer to carefully remove the necklace she wore. The pendant was a simple perfect platinum star. He dropped it into his pants pocket.

Then he teleported the dead body right inside the closest garbage incinerator.

He was supposed to leave her corpse somewhere close to her family. But he had gone far enough tonight. He'd say that he suspected Santano to have left DNA traces during his inspection. A perfect justification that underlined his loyalty to his teacher. He took one last look at the now empty scene before he teleported back to his room in the facility where he had his regular training. There he lay down on the simple gray covers of his bed and stared at the ceiling for hours.

He wouldn't have killed her had he felt. But that would have been illogical and it wouldn't have mattered either. Santano Enrique would have done it the moment he found out his student – his long term experiment – had failed. Only the other man would have ensured she suffered as much as possible. And Kaleb's punishment would have been severe, probably cutting him off any possible chance to ever escape the hands of the sociopath.

The logic didn't help. Killing her had been wrong. Logical, but wrong – just like Silence. But he found out different that same night: Yes, Silence was probably wrong for his entire race – except for monsters like him.

Kaleb played the small platinum charm through his fingers now. It was no longer only a reminder of the innocent girl that had lost her life at his hands. With the time it had become a symbol of everything that mattered in his life: The cold quest for revenge for the other innocent women he had watched die, the need to bring down the Council to free his race, as well as the crack in his sanity that could only be sealed by the everlasting chill of Silence.

And by a sick twist of his mind it had also fused with the picture of that sun-like mind he had been searching for every day for over seven years. He had often wondered what She would look like. But he had never known anyone who had any of the goodness he'd seen in Her golden star. No one except the innocent girl he'd killed. And as if to torture him further his psyche had decided to give Her the face of that girl. The two women had become one symbol of the last scrap of humanity he held on to, the last thing worth protecting. He had failed one. He wouldn't fail the other. He would do whatever it took to find Her.

But not now. He was completely worn out and as drained of power as a cardinal could possibly get. He needed sleep and nutrition and – maybe there was something else he could do…