Prologue

The sound of the television blares in the other room, my child consuming the mindless content. I sit at the table in the kitchen, the pale walls and chipped paint surrounding the aged table, I've made a mistake, the irs, seeking me out, this damned child born useless. Unlike my brother who was blessed with luck his child was born with mind control, he created a gold mine and doesn't have to worry about the fucking irs. If only this child was never born, I might have been able to get away, to escape to another country, if that bitch didn't kill her mother, things might have been okay. I feel a brush up against my leg, I look down. The puppy, an Austrian sheepdog, the brats, the school gave it to her. Another thing tying me down to this wretched place. If only I could rid of these two leaches. What am I thinking, of course I can get rid of them, a powerless brat and a mutt can't stop me. I should eliminate them and flee, I can always make another brat if need be. A knock at the door interrupts my thoughts, I walk to the door and look out the smudged peephole. I see a man and woman outside holding briefcases and wearing very clean and very uniform white suits. The feds are at my door. They knock again.

"Mister Strega answer the door, we know you are here." A very cold and monotone feminine voice comes from the other side of the door. I open the door after a few seconds of hesitation, the smell of wet carpet and heavy perfume assaults my nostrils.

"H-" I cough as my scratchy rough voice barely makes it out of my cracked lips. "Ehem. Excuse me, how can I help you officers?" I clear my throat, I don't speak much.

"We are coming to talk to you about your… Documents." Her voice seems to become a razors edge held right to my throat on that last word, I have a mild headache and begin to sweat.

"W-what do you mean ma'am?" I feel cold steel press further into my Adam's apple, sending a cold shiver down my spine. Tonality, the ability to use tones as a weapon or item.

"Your taxes are due sir, the gods have blessed you, you must pay the due." As her last word is said I feel a slight feeling of dampness trickle down the front of my neck and chest.

"Y-yes ma'am. Please just wait here I shall go retrieve them." I feel the feeling of cold steel disappear from my neck. The lady nods, I'm lucky the law prohibits them from entering as long as I cooperate, I must take care of the brat and flee as soon as possible. I walk back to the family room, the little girl sitting on the floor, the worn clothing barely holding together on her frail body. She looks up at me, a strange look in her eyes, usually she looks at me with indifferent eyes, but they look a bit diffrent, a bit warm as she gazes at me, it's sad, maybe if her mother survived it wouldn't have come to this. However it's too late to go back. I kneel down next to my daughter. No, this child, this animal I must eliminate to escape. I hold out my hand to her, she looks at my hand and then at me, her gaze seems to burn a hole into me, my hands feel a little clammy. Why am I getting cold feet now, this brat is a murderer she killed my wife, she killed Clara! I feel a bit warmer than normal as if my blood were heating up. Then a small, frail voice rings out, seeming way too loud in my ears.

"Father what are those?" The child, the brat points at to the scars on my hand and arm that seems to extend out from the centre of my palm. This brat!

"It's just a scar from my ability Clara, they are called lichtenburg figures, it's what happens when lightning corses through skin. Would you like to touch em?" She comes in a bit closer, almost, she is seconds away from being eliminated! In an instant just before it happens I feel a sharp pain in my leg. "OW, YOU STUPID FUCKING," I reach around to electrocute what it was that hurt my leg, the lump of brown fur is attached to my leg a red liquid pouring out from the wound, in the heat of the moment I grabbed that mutt and gave it what for. The smell of burnt fur and cooked flesh permeates the air, the mass of what used to be fur collapses on the ground a final whine is let out as it breathes its last,

"Damnit! Now I gotta rush!"

I swung around to the brat, tears in her eye as she stares as the mass on the ground. I lunge at the child, the brat will die here, I let out as much electricity as I can, a pop is heard, I look away from the child as they should be just a burnt corpse.

Wait.

Wait.

W ait.

Wáit.

Somthing is wrong. It's hot, so hot, it's burning, my skin it's burning.

"A-AHHHHHHH, NO, no hel-help me! It's burning!" I collapse on the floor the heat permeates throught my skin, but no, that shouldn't be happening, no! The smell of char and burning flesh seems to be coming from me! My bones, they are so hot! My muscles, I let out a gutteral scream.

I gaze upon the mass of burned flesh, who was this again? It doesn't matter, they were trying to hurt me, father and bosco must be in the other room, they are always in the other room. It hurts.

I walk over the mass of meat on the floor, it smells retched, maybe father will clean it up, he always hates bad smells. It hurts.

A rush of heat assaults my body as soon as I exit my room. why is it so hot? It hurts so much.

I look at my arms, wounds, lines of burned flesh in a strange pattern, going all the way up my arms. Must have been from the bad man, he tried to hurt me, no one hurts me. It hurts.

it hurts. it hurts. It hurts. why does my chest hurt, why is my face leaking, where is dad?

I open my mouth to call out for father, but it doesn't happen, nothing comes out. My mouth seems dry.

There is a knock at the door, it might be more intruding bad guys, kill them, it hurts.

I should find daddy, he can take care of them, he will protect me, as he always had! Lies

I open my mouth again and once again nothing comes out. It hurts

The knock comes again kill them, it's quite loud. They must really want in.

I must find daddy he can help me! LIES!

A splintering sound is heard, they must have, kill them, gotten in!

I try to back further into the room but suddenly a woman in a black suit is standing in front of me, a cold look in her eye. kill her. it hurts.

I have to get away, daddy must be here somewhere. you killed him.

No you lie! he is dead and you did it, just like mommy.

"YOU LIE!" I feel an impact on the back of my head and it goes black.

"Wow, this is so gross." A very deep voice comes from the other room, the one with the corpses. The smell of burned hair reeks in this place.

"The father must have tried to get rid of the cause of tax." I say, refraining from using my words against this man. "And it backfired on him somehow." I shake my head at the mess in the other room. "The kid seems highly unstable in both mind and body, it might be better to case her," the man shivers.

"I feel bad for the lass having to go to a place like that so young, but you might be right." The man looks around the apartment. "This place is a mess."

"Indeed it is. This must be a family of electromancers, the scars on the child the corpses and how this place is just screams it be so." I sigh. "We should refrain from touching the child, there might be residuals on her yet." The man shrugs.

"Just call the scrubs they will take her there and take care of the scene. Come on, before we can't wash out the smell of burnt human." Me and the man exit the apartment and tape off the door. I pull out my phone and make a call.