No Peace for the Damned

telekinesis. Malcolm and Markus have both abilities, but to a much lesser degree.”
    “Why do your brothers have both telepathy and telekinesis when Senator Kelch and Magnus only have one or the other?” Jon asked.
    “What Malcolm and Markus can do is nothing compared to Father and Uncle Max. Yeah, they can get in your head a little, or turn on the lights without touching the switch—but Uncle Max can erase your perception of reality, leave you a vegetable. Father can tear your limbs from your body without ever touching you.”
    My responses were practiced, my tone removed. I’d done everything possible to distance myself from the information I was providing. No reason to make this more personal than necessary.
    Unfortunately, some things were just too close. There was no distance great enough to really remove myself from the brutality behind my family’s power.
    “She’s getting stronger.”
    Father’s voice echoed among the rafters. My heart sank to my feet. They hadn’t used this old barn in weeks—not since their last round of experiments had gone so terribly wrong. I hadn’t meant to shake the building’s foundations or take off that guard’s head when I reversed the motion on the chain saw. But I hadn’t stopped myself when the power flew out of me either. He was right. I was getting stronger
.
    Footsteps beat across the cement floor. I huddled deeper into the dark corner of the loft. If only I could turn invisible
.
    “Mmm, she is healing faster than before,” Uncle Max agreed. His loafers brushed the straw along the floor. I closed my eyes and made sure my mental blocks were cement against his intrusions.“She’ll be hitting puberty soon. I can’t wait to see what becomes of her then.” His sarcasm was thick and ignited father’s anger like a match on benzene
.
    “I’ve tried everything!” Father shouted. “There is absolutely no reason for her to regenerate as she does. Majid found nothing obscure in her blood, and her DNA makeup is nearly identical to the boys.”
    “Your
Doctor
Majid is a biochemist,” Uncle Max responded coolly. “His advances in chemical warfare may prove valuable when the time comes to negotiate that new plant in South America, but the pleb wouldn’t know a DNA obscurity if it sliced open his nostrils. Not a bad idea, actually, but not the point right now.”
    We could always eat her. That way if she grew back, then it would be inside of us. I could use another set of arms to help with the horses.
    Uncle Mallroy’s thoughts slipped through the minds of his brothers. I held back a shiver. Mallroy’s telepathy always came with a terrifying price: a glimpse inside the gray void that was his mind. And no matter how strong my mental blocks, that icy madness still brushed its way along my thoughts
.
    We tried to transfuse her blood into our systems when she was younger and it failed
. Father’s impatience clipped his silent words
. It would be wasted time to try anything similar.
    Uncle Max sighed, his feet still shuffling over the cement. “Your continued attempts on the girl’s life tire me.”
    My chest burned from lack of oxygen, but I refused to risk the whisper that a breath might make. I could mask my power from them a while longer, but their senses were too strong. I needed to concentrate. Something had happened
.
    Uncle Max’s voice was low. “What was the one contingency to your procreation, brother? The one absolute requirement behindMother’s allowing you to bring that whore into our home and breed our line?”
    A fissure rent the air. Power brushed against my skin. I focused all my might on my concrete mental walls
.
    “Control,” Uncle Max hissed. “And you cannot control your creation.”
    The power turned hot, and I slammed my eyes shut tight
.
    “Don’t you dare fucking mindsweep me, you son of a bitch!” Father’s voice boomed. Uncle Max’s power sizzled, and for a moment I couldn’t tell who would win out—Father’s telekinesis and physical strength or Uncle Max’s telepathic rape
.
    The low growl reverberated against the walls of the barn. “I can control her,” Father snarled. “Even now the child hides in fear of me! She may be powerful, but I am more. She is neither seen nor heard by anyone unless I…”
    A slam. The cracking sound of bone on cement. Then terrible monstrous gnashing. I gasped, then quickly covered my mouth, halting the breath in my throat once more
.
    “But someone
did
see her!” Uncle Max