Chapter 13

Madden hung out in his car on the outskirts of the smallest parking lot, tucked behind the Vail University art department. It was close enough to the medical department that he felt the need to remain in hiding, waiting for the man on the other end of his multi-slate to give him the all clear.

“Remind me why I’m stalking the Butcher and more than likely putting my life at risk by doing so?” Ledger’s droll tone came through the line. He was another member of the Retinue, and the first person Madden had thought of when he’d decided on this plan.

“I just need to make sure he stays off campus for a bit,” Madden replied. “Where is he?”

“Walking into the Velvet Brew around the corner from Vail.”

“Alone?”

“He’s meeting someone.”

“Who?”

“Looks like Nate Narek.” Ledger blew out an annoyed breath. “Seriously, dude, what’s up? If word gets out you’re secretly keeping tabs on a Satellite member, there could be problems.”

“That’s why it’s not going to get out.” Reassured that he wouldn’t run into Berga now that the Butcher was away, Madden stepped out of his car and started for the office buildings.

“Yeah, as long as you keep your promise,” Ledger said.

“Which reminds me,” Madden drawled, “who’s this guy you’re suddenly willing to put in all this effort for?”

“What effort? You and I are friends. Friends do each other favors. So make sure you follow through on your end.”

“What’s this guy's name?”

“Nikita Vizant.”

“Why don’t you go to Kelevra and have him use his influence to pull some strings?”

“Because I don’t want to bother him with something like this, and you’re the one who came to me first, remember?” Ledger said. “Or should I just go and leave you hanging on the Butcher’s whereabouts?”

“Chill out,” Madden ignored the looks he got as he entered one of the main parts of campus, “I’ll have your guy enrolled by next week, the latest.”

“Thanks.”

Madden spotted the person he’d come all this way for stepping out of the cafeteria with a student and quickened his pace. “Text me when Berga leaves the café.”

“Will do.”

“Bay,” Madden called out to the Criminal Psychology professor, waving in an overly friendly manner once he had his attention.

For what it was worth, Bay didn’t seem nearly as surprised to see him as Madden felt like he would be. Instead, he glanced around and then met him halfway, until the two of them were standing at the top of the outdoor stairs between the cafeteria building and the one that would lead them to the man’s office.

The student followed closely behind, eyeing Madden all the while.

“Sila,” Madden greeted him just to be polite. He’d seen the other guy at the Docks, knew he and Bay were in a relationship, but wasn’t really close with either of them.

“What can I help you with?” Bay asked politely, his professor mode activated even though they were fairly alone at the moment.

“I have some questions about your friend,” Madden jumped right in, not wanting to waste any time. “I’d ask Nate, but I figured you’d be the more knowledgeable of the two for this.”

“Let me guess, it’s about Berga?”

He cocked his head. “Yeah, how’d you know?”

“He was in my office earlier ranting about all the ways he was going to kill you.”

“Should you be telling him this?” Sila slid his hands into his front pockets.

“Yes,” Bay stated confidentially. “All right, Madden. What are your questions?”

Sila snorted. “He wants to know what’s wrong with him.”

“There’s nothing wrong with him,” Madden corrected, then to Bay added, “But yes, basically.”

“Doctor-patient confidentiality is a thing on this planet,” Bay said.

“He’s not your patient, he’s your friend.” Madden had witnessed how the two interacted whenever Berga met Bay at the Docks after one of his races. Those were the only times the Butcher even bothered to be there, and it wasn’t for the hoverbikes.

“More of a reason he probably doesn’t want to tell you anything,” Sila stated. “Who wants their friend getting in bed with a Devil?”

“Kind of the pot calling the kettle black, don’t you think?” Madden challenged. This wasn’t what he was here for. “Look, I need to know what’s going on with him in order to—”

“Help him?” Bay cut him off. “Or control him? ”

Both, actually, but Madden smartly kept his mouth shut.

Eventually, Bay caved. “Berga’s case is…complicated. While he does show some signs of psychopathy, he doesn’t check off enough of the boxes to be given an actual diagnosis of it. He’s got a need for stimulation and is prone to boredom, has a detachment toward people and things that he hasn’t developed a personal relationship to.”

“He doesn’t empathize,” Madden stated, only for Sila to shake his head.

“Berga can feel empathy,” he disagreed. “I’ve seen it.”

“He’s capable of forming deep attachments,” Bay clarified. “Like with Flix and myself. He cares about us and worries for us, the same way anyone else would for their friends or family. He doesn’t like to lie and is in fact fairly blunt. Usually.”

“The guy doesn’t have a manipulative bone in his body,” Sila confirmed. “Boring.”

Bay sent him a warning look that Madden couldn’t fully decipher the meaning of. “He can be crafty when he wants something.”

Couldn’t everyone?

“He once created a toxin that strips off layers of a person’s skin one at a time,” Madden said. “If that’s not psychopathic…”

“That’s just it,” Bay nodded, “He still fits the bill in many ways. When you and I make decisions, for example, emotion is only part of the equation. For psychopaths, emotion is the equation. Berga doesn’t consider the potential ramifications for his creations. He merely acts on his impulse to see what might come of them.”

“So he doesn’t feel remorse.” All of those people he’d killed over the years, or all the ones who would probably die at the hands of one of his inventions, didn’t seem to weigh on Berga’s mind.

“He has,” Bay stated cryptically, “once.”

Madden frowned, but before he could ask more about that, the professor carried on.

“Psychopathy is the least of Berga’s concerns anyway. He’s got an intense fear of blood on his person, but he isn’t afraid of blood, so hemophobia is out. There is a set of rituals he must complete before certain acts, like bathing before bed and covering his shoes with plastic slips before entering a lab or the hospital. We call these things Contamination OCD. But,” Bay sighed, “he doesn’t have mysophobia either. Germs don’t worry him.”

“Can you repeat all of that in layman's terms?” Madden was smart, but it sounded like a whole lot of jumbled shit together and he was struggling to paint a clear picture.

“The crux of it all?” Bay said. “Berga really has a fear of abandonment.”

“What?” that didn’t sound right, no matter which way Madden spun it.

“It’s presented itself as a sort of mysophobia, wherein he fears getting blood on him will instantly make him undesirable and lead to rejection. His Contamination OCD is a result of this. Up until this morning, other bodily fluids,” he cleared his throat pointedly, “were also on the list, but it seems like he may have made some progress there. That’s thanks to you, Madden.”

“Me?” They were talking about come, obviously. “Is it because I told him he looked hot?”

“Probably,” Bay shrugged. “One can never be positive about these things, but considering that’s the only variable that’s different in Berga’s otherwise regular routine, I’d say it’s more than safe to assume.”

Okay, psychopathy didn’t seem like an important part of the equation here, so Madden removed it, thinking over the rest of the information he’d just been given. A person was born with psychopathic tendencies, but the rest of it…All of that was usually trauma-based.

“What happened to him that he developed a fear of abandonment?” As far as he knew, Berga’s parents were both alive, together, and lived in the city. He’d seen them at events in the past since they were both respected members of society. They’d mentioned their son in passing before, and it’d never sounded like there was any animosity between them.

If not his parents, though, who?

They could be faking, keeping up appearances for the public…Madden’s own parents did that. Whenever they were displeased with him, they kept their disappointment contained until they were behind closed doors away from prying eyes and go ssiping mouths.

“I can’t say,” Bay replied coolly.

“Can’t, or won’t?”

“It’s not my place.”

“Seriously?” He recalled what Berga had said in the Academy. “It was a female, wasn’t it? When did he develop these problems?”

“He was around six years old.”

So, not an ex-lover then…

“Tell me how to get him to trust me.” If Bay wouldn’t reveal all of Berga’s secrets, then Madden was going to have to get them himself, but to do that, he needed to break through this fear of abandonment issue. “He won’t let me close to him.”

“He doesn’t let anyone close to him,” Sila stated. “Pity really. We’d have so much fun checking people’s insides together.”

“Varun,” Bay warned, and Sila actually grinned behind him as though finding the chiding tone endearing.

“Madden already knows what I am,” Sila reassured. “I’ve been to the Docks enough times by now. An observant person like him would have picked up on it.”

“Didn’t take you coming to the Docks,” Madden found himself saying. “You visited your brother at the Academy before. I’ve seen you together.”

Sila made a humming sound of approval. “I could tell you were smarter than you let on.” He considered something privately a moment and then rested a hand on Bay’s shoulder. “If you don’t leave now, you’ll be late for class, Professor. I’ll take it from here.”

Bay hesitated, glancing between the two of them.

“My professor is too close to this,” Sila told Madden. “He wants to help, but he cares too much about Berga to tell you what you really need to do next. I don’t have the same problem.”

“Because you’re an actual psychopath?” Madden challenged.

Sila’s grin returned tenfold, the glint in his eyes similar to the one Berga got whenever he talked about one of his experiments. “I am what I am. The need for control can’t always stem from being a spoiled Royal.”

“Don’t insult him.” Bay pinched the bridge of his nose and then nodded to himself. “All right. I’ll get going now, Madden. Sila,” he turned toward the student and held up a finger, “if you’re more than five minutes late to class, I’m locking the door and failing you for the day.”

“Sure thing, Kitten.” Sila winked.

“Not on campus,” Bay hissed and then left the two of them without wasting another second.

Sila waited until he was sure the professor was out of earshot before beginning with, “Make him.”

Madden frowned. “What?”

“You want him to trust you? Make him,” he shrugged a single shoulder. “Make him depend on you for one thing or another. Better if it’s for everything. If he can’t function without you, he can’t push you away. It’s not that difficult, especially not for someone like you. Don’t lie and tell me they didn’t teach you any manipulation tactics at the Academy. I know better. And don’t say something stupid like, ‘You shouldn’t manipulate the ones you love.’. Neither of us are good people, and neither of us have ever cared to be.”

Madden made a mental note to pay more attention to Sila Varun. The man hadn’t really been on his radar until he’d started dating Bay, but he was getting the distinct impression that wasn’t the case in reverse. Sila knew more about him than he was comfortable with someone with his mentality knowing.

Still, he was on to something. Hadn’t that been Madden’s exact thought last night? If he wanted Berga, he had to get the guy to think about him.

“Berga has a possessive personality,” Sila said. “No doubt bolstered by that pesky fear of loss that’s constantly dragging him down. If you want him, you have to trick him into thinking it’s his idea to want you back. Turn yourself into one of his possessions. Or,” he cocked his head, “is that going to bruise your pride?”

“Do I look like Kazimir Ambrose to you?”

Sila chuckled. “Not in the slightest. He opted for physical force to get his man. You and I both know that’s not going to be enough to catch someone like Berga. But, I’m just saying what you’ve already figured out on your own. You set the beginnings of the trap this morning, didn’t you?”

Madden lifted a brow. “Bay tell you about his talk with Berga or something?”

“Over lunch,” he shamelessly confirmed. “We tell each other everything.”

“So that means you know what happened to Berga to make him like this.”

“I tell everything to my boyfriend, Madden,” Sila stated. “The only thing connecting the two of us,” he motioned between them, “is the fact Bay likes you. The second that changes…”

“Are you threatening me right now?” Bold of him. Madden was actually impressed.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

“Do psychopaths dream?”

Sila laughed. “Go ask Berga.”

“I can’t,” Madden smirked. “That would ruin the trap.”

He’d left early this morning, careful not to wake the Butcher. It’d been before he’d known about the abandonment issues, of course, but knowing only made him more confident in his plan. The fact that the first thing Berga had done was run to Bay to complain also pointed in that direction.

As if reading his mind, Madden’s multi-slate chimed, and when he checked the caller ID, his smile broadened.

Then he hit ignore.

“Berga is going to hate that you did that,” Sila said, but he was smiling as well.

“Thanks.” Madden wasn’t the type to hold grudges, and no matter what else might have been said, Sila had been very helpful just now. “Let me know the next time you’re at the Docks. I’ll toss you a beer.”

“Aw, are we becoming friends now?” he teased.

Madden rolled his eyes and headed back toward the parking lot. It was clear he’d gathered all of the information he could here. Time to move on to the next avenue of insight. He popped out the earbud attached to his device and pushed it into his right ear before he hit number two on his speed dial.

“What’s up, little brother?” Rebecca’s singsong voice flowed through the line after only a couple of rings, followed closely by the popping of her gum.

“Nurse Odell,” he greeted, “tell me everything you know about Fear of Abandonment.”