Aidan woke up with a shake. His body twitched as he found himself restrained to a chair, tied at every extremity. In particular his hands and fingers were bound and covered, secured to the edge of the wooden armrests. The light of the candles in the room was dim, and there were no windows that he immediately saw. Before he could look around any more for clues, a pair of hands caressed, then gripped his shoulders.

“Good. You’re awake.”

He knew the voice before the face appeared, the soft footsteps padding on the stone floor as he came into view. Delvin stood over Aidan like a statue, his typical emotionless gaze now staring down at him with a hint of disgust that Aidan had never seen before. He wore the same clothes from earlier in the day when they’d met about the latest contract, a little wet from the rain, but otherwise the same dark aesthetic of one that works in the business of killing people in the dead of night. Aidan, secured to the chair, was only wearing his sleeping shirt, and couldn’t help but feel a little underdressed for the circumstance. “Del, what are you doing here? Why am I tied to this chair?” He struggled with his bonds, rattling the wood against the stone in an echo that filled the room. “Get me out of these damned ropes!”

“We need to talk, Aidan,” Delvin said with casual cadence.

“I don’t need to be tied up to talk, Delvin!” he shouted. “What possible reason do I need to be in this position for a conversation with one of my associates?”

“You’ll figure it out, I’m sure,” Delvin replied. He took a step back and leaned against the empty barrel beside the wall. “You’re a smart man, Aidan. Smart, but not talented.” Delvin pointed at his captive’s hands. “That’s why I secured your hands, but left your tongue. You’re not good enough to cast without your hands.” He smiled and snorted a breath. “The upside means we can talk about this contract.”

“What about it?” Aidan asked, still angry, but no longer shouting. “Did you do it or not?”

Delvin blinked in thought. He considered how much of this he could drag out, let Aidan sniff out on his own, but then he remembered why he was here in the first place. “To answer you, no, I did not do it.”

“And why not?”

“A child, Aidan. You sent me to kill a child.”

“And why exactly is that a reasonable excuse to leave it unfinished, Del? Did you think this business has place for limitations on who we execute? We–no, you–you are here to send a message with these activities. That’s why we took you in, for your ability and your enthusiasm for the work.”

Delvin didn’t flinch, he knew the truth of that statement and had recently come to deal with the reality of the sentiment. But a child was too far, even for him. “Then consider this as me quitting.”

“What do you mean, ‘quitting‘? You can’t just leave the Society. No one can just leave!”

“I’m well aware of that, Aidan. That’s why I need to send a message.” Delvin reached into his cloak behind him and produced a glass decanter, with a silver chain and jeweled accents. Looking down at it curiosity, Delvin said, “You remember this? You gave me this bottle after my first month. You told me what it could do. You showed me what it could do to a person.”

“Delvin, please, it’s just business!” Aidan yelped. He felt the impact before he realized what Delvin had tossed at him. A jingle of coins in a familiar purse rolled around in his lap. The payment for the today’s contract.

“I told you, Aidan, I quit.” Delvin stepped forward, dabbing his lips with a sweet smelling oil, whispering words as he went. Standing before the bound Aidan, he suggested, “Lift your head up. Open your mouth.”

In a moment of unusual obedience, Aidan complied, tilting his head back and parting his lips. Before he could snap his head back, Delvin had opened the decanter and forced the open end into his captive’s gaping mouth. Tears spilled from his eyes at the fear of what was to come, and Delvin held the bottle in place, making sure to keep the necessary pressure. “So much can happen in six seconds, Aidan. A life can change.” Holding the decanter in place, Delvin stepped around and behind Aidan, driving the spout further into his mouth, making his jaw stretch in pain. Aidan muffled some words as the tears continued streaming down his face, but his captor held fast. Taking the bottle with both hands to ensure it’s place, Delvin spoke a single word, “Stillare.”

The water gushed from the gaps between his lips as it forced its way into Aidan’s unwilling body. Six long, torturous seconds later, the gallon of water had stopped, and he coughed with effort, his body rejecting the fluid. “Not yet, old friend. Fluere.”

The water came again, more with higher pressure. Aidan couldn’t breathe, his body fighting with everything left to reject this invasion. Delvin held the decanter tight, the only resistance being Aidan’s own head, flailing about in protest to this horrid demise. Six seconds later, the five gallon flow had stopped. Aidan was barely conscious, his body still coughing up and forcing out the water. He was too weak to protest, and part of him was resigned to this. Death was their business, and it always ended the same for them all.

“Defiant to the end, as you always said.” Delvin leaned down to whisper into his victim’s ear. “Thirty gallons. Remember the first time you showed me?” Delvin changed his footing and braced himself against the chair back as he gripped the bottle. “Eruptio.”

Aidan couldn’t fight it, whether from weakness or resignation, but it didn’t matter. His end had come, and by the hand of his most skillful student.

After the deed was finished, Delvin left the flooded cellar, his mentor’s body still tied to the chair. He raided the cabinets and shelves for the useful things, and left the rest. As he left the inconspicuous building, the rain poured down on him, the clouds overhead blocking any moon or starlight. Any exterior torches and candles were snuffed from the wind and rain, and so his movements were well hidden from anyone watching. He knew he couldn’t come back, and, in fact, was planning on moving as far as he could from this place. The Society would hunt him. They would send their best, their most monstrous. He’ll fight them tooth and nail as long as they kept coming for him. If those monsters were hunting Delvin, they weren’t killing children. That was his atonement.