Absorption.

Sean clenched his hands into fists, if only he was stronger, at least as a dad, he would not give up just like that. But now, all that was left for him was to submit to the will of this person. The boy went ahead and opened the door of his bedroom, Marcus followed the child, and as soon as he slammed the door, the whole room turned gray.

"I put a protective barrier around this room so that no one will see and hear us, so you can not even try to fool me. I have lived enough years in this world, and I can clearly see all your thoughts, Sean."

The child felt his knees tremble a little, the aura of this man was too terrible and absorbing for his little life experience. "What do you want?"

"Just to chat with you, but if your answers satisfy me, I will teach you something interesting," Marcus narrowed his eyes, but his goodwill did not increase. "So, please tell me, did you happen to see your mom wearing a pendant like this one?"

The man turned his hand, the image of the pendant materialized in the air, which was on the neck of Amelia, depicted in the picture in the gallery.

"N-no, I have never seen my mom wearing that thing," Sean answered in a low voice, the boy was amazed at the abilities of this man.

"Hmm, it's a pity," the man closed his hand, and the image of the pendant evaporated. If Elena had it, then this would have been a big problem for Marcus, the girl should not have known that this was not a simple decoration. But when he last saw Amelia, she no longer had a pendant. Then where did she hide it?

'Okay, I will deal with this issue later.' Now he was going to do what he came here for.

"Well, if you can repeat what I'll show now, I'll leave and will not touch anyone, but if you can't do it... I think you better not know what will happen in such a case." Marcus stood in the center of the room and turned his palm around again, "Focus your attention at one point and mentally imagine that the heat of your body begins to accumulate in this spot. Let the energy go up and let it take shape in the flame."

"I-I can't, I don't have such powers," Sean answered timidly, only he knew the reason why all his abilities experienced a sharp decline.

"You have no choice. Either you do as I said, or I'll kill everyone who is in this house right now," Marcus threatened.

"N-no, you won't do it," horror gripped the child's body, but the expression with which the man looked at him made no doubt that this person was capable of such a thing.

"Do you want to check it?" Marcus suggested, to which Sean immediately shook his head, telling him not to do it.

The boy raised his hands and concentrated on his palms, the heat in their center became hotter and hotter, until a small, barely noticeable, yellow light formed on the surface.

His hands were trembling with anxiety; he did not know if that was enough. But the words of Marcus made him worry even more, "Not enough! Show me the fire!" the man shouted.

"But... but I can't take it anymore," the boy stammered, and tears appeared in his eyes.

"I will count to three, and if you do not show me the fire... One..."

Sean rubbed his palms together and focused his attention again.

"Two... Stronger!" Marcus shouted even louder when small flames of flame appeared on the boy's arms.

"Three... I SAID STRONGER!"

Sean closed his eyes and took a deep breath. At that very moment, huge flames of fire burst out from his palms, the fire gained strength and grew higher and larger, but the child did not seem to notice it.

He lowered his head down and stood motionless.

"Oh, yes, ahaha, what energy, what power! I was not mistaken about you," Marcus's face shone with genuine satisfaction, he wanted to check the level of abilities of this child, but did not expect that it would be so high.

"I suppose you will be a worthy exhibit in my collection, Sean."

The boy's body twitched when he heard his name, the child raised his head and looked at Marcus.

"W-what the hell?" The man frowned, the child's eyes turned black like a deep night.

Sean tilted his head to the side and grinned.

A wave of fire in the form of a huge whip hit Marcus, forcing the man to jump to the side. He changed his position to defend himself and strike back, as the second chain of fire shackled his legs and body, paralyzed all limbs.

"Agggh," the man shouted in pain as the fiery ropes squeezed his body, leaving a red mark on his skin. His clothes were only slightly scorched, unlike his skin, which began to melt under the heat of burning bonds.

Sean waved his hand and a second rope wrapped around the man's neck, he fell to his knees in front of the boy.

The child put his hand forward and touched the man's forehead, and then Marcus realized that the situation was extremely crappy. A trembling passed through his body as if life in each cell froze, and then began to move towards his head.

Marcus knew exactly what it was. Absorption.

"Hah, you want to kill me, depriving me of all my vitality? I suppose that's how you almost killed your mother when she first gave birth to you, right, Sean?" Marcus croaked, dying at the hands of a five-year-old boy was not his plan.

The boy's hand shook, but at the same time the fire chain on the man's neck became stronger, the flame pierced his skin like hot metal.

"Yes, come on, get rid of the bad uncle, absorb all my energy, as you did with your mom, sending her to a coma for two weeks. Do you think she will praise you for this? And what will your dad say when he finds out about what you have done?" Marcus grinned and moved forward.

The boy shook his head and backed away. The chains of fire weakened and fell to the floor, after which they dissolved in the air.

Sean covered his ears with his hands, his eyes were closed, "No, I won't, I will never do it again, just don't hate me," the child cried out and fell unconscious onto the floor.

"Whew, that was dangerous," Marcus exhaled and stood up, burn marks were still on his skin. He walked slowly to the child, sat on his knees next to him and took his hand.

"Damn it!" The man swore loudly and grabbed the boy in his arms, "Silly, how could you spend almost all your energy if you don't know how to accumulate it?!" Sean's pulse was practically absent.

Marcus lifted the boy's shirt and laid his palm on his chest, directing his life force into Sean's body.

The boy's pulse began to recover gradually until it returned to normal. The man put the child on the bed, straightened his clothes and covered with a blanket, gently tucking the edges. Then he removed the protective barrier from the room and went to the mirror.

"Hmm, boy, I didn't know that you were so gluttonous," Marcus smirked and looked at the sleeping child with a smile. On the man himself, there was practically no skin under his clothes, as a result of the fact that he gave Sean most of his energy.

He stepped away from the mirror and sat on the bed next to the boy, under the dim light of the night lamp standing on a table next to the bed, the child looked like a real angel.

The phone in man's pocket vibrated, and he picked up the phone, "I'm listening," Marcus answered in a cold voice, straightening Sean's bangs on the boy's forehead at the same time.

"Sir, I'm calling for the detention of David Anderson. We are having problems. Some guy came up, acting as his lawyer. It seems he is his older brother. He's a hard nut to crack, the inspector has no good reason to keep Anderson in the police department," Simon reported.

"Got it. Tell him to keep Anderson there until morning, and then let him go. I already have someone who will deal with this further," Marcus said and hung up.

The man put the phone back in his pocket and looked at the sleeping child, "Well, little boy, and your help in my business will be very welcome." Marcus raised his palms to Sean's temples, the boy frowned without opening his eyes, and then relaxed again, without noticing anything.

Marcus straightened his blanket once more, turned off the night light, and left the room.

The man walked slowly down the stairs, examining the interior of the house. The living room on the ground floor was bright and airy.

Sleeping Corey was lying on the sofa, Marcus leaned over and looked at the girl, "Hmm, you really look good."

He looked around the room, over an artificial fireplace in the corner of the hall there was a row of family photographs. He went to the fireplace and began to examine the photos. Most of them were Sean, Elena, and David, but Corey with Ashley and Daniel were also present.

Marcus picked up one of the frames, the laughing faces of Elena and Sean were looking at him from the photo as if they were alive.

The man put the frame back on the fireplace and then disappeared into the air.