"So how upset is Angela?" Vanessa asked as she walked into the kitchen, finally getting home from her morning shift. Kayleb stood quickly from the table and wrapped his arm around her waist while Jake looked up from the spoonful of pureed peas he was sticking in his sons mouth and over at her with confusion.

"What do you mean? Why would Angela be upset?" he asked. Vanessa hung her purse on the hook by the door and frowned.

"Doesn't she love that old truck of hers?"

"Heck yeah she loves that truck. I've been begging her for over twenty years to just let the thing die but she talks me into fixing it every time." Evan replied.

"Well I saw that she crashed it. It's crumpled up against the cliff on the road to the house." Jake and Damien both jumped to their feet just as Rebecca came back into the kitchen with Angelica. The two of them had been looking through quilting books in the living room.

"What's going on?" Rebecca asked. Vanessa raised her brow at the sight of Angelica before replying.

"I saw Angela's truck wrecked on the road. Where is she?"

"Her, Kaylee and Faith went to town together." Kayleb replied as his arms tightened around her.

"Faith?" Vanessa asked feeling dread creeping into her. "Where are they now?" Jake and Damien both tried to contact or feel their mates but neither could.

"What the hell is going on!" Jake growled and before anyone could respond Frances's scent came to them as he walked into the house with Faith and Kimberly both held in his arms. Faith jumped from his arms and ran to Vanessa who scooped her up and held her tight.

"What the hell are you doing here Frances? And why was Faith with you? Where's my sister and Angela?" Kayleb demanded. Frances sat Kimberly down and moved several steps away from her so that she would be out of harms way when the wolves attacked him.

"I brought Faith back to you but I gave Angela and Kaylee to Victor and Rotan." he said, holding his head up high and refusing to let any fear show on his face. Before anyone could respond, Jake's growl filled the kitchen with so much force that it shook the windows and he leapt across the room.

He slammed against Frances and rammed the skinny vampire against the wall while Kimberly screamed with fear and Rebecca and Laney screamed at him to stop.

Frances had underestimated Jake's strength and he quickly found that fighting against the man was useless as Jake held him down and brought his fist into his face several times.

"You gave him my mate! You worthless cowardly son of a bitch! I'll kill you!"

"I had to Jake!" Frances exclaimed. "They had Kimberly, I had no choice."

"And I have no choice but to kill you." Jake replied and he grabbed Frances's hair but before he could rip the vampires head off, a body slammed into him and knocked him away. Jake saw Hunter standing between him and Frances and growled low in his throat.

"Back off, Hunter. Frances is going to die."

"No." Hunter said shaking his head. "His daughter is standing right here and besides he didn't have a choice, Jake. He says they had his daughter. You would have done the same thing if they had your daughter." Everyone in the room backed away from the intense rage on Jake's face and the fire in his golden eyes.

"No, I wouldn't have done the same thing." Jake growled as Frances pulled himself to his feet. Kimberly tried to run to him but Rebecca grabbed the girl by her shoulders and held her back.

"Stay here, baby girl." Rebecca whispered. Jake's jaw was so tense that his face seemed to be made of stone as he continued.

"I would not have sacrificed two women and handed them over to a couple of demons to save my daughter like some spineless coward. I would have run in there and saved my daughter with my own bare hands while making those damn demons wish they had never been spawned by the devil in the first place."

"I did what I had to do, Jake. I saved the girl and clearly your mates are still alive because you both are standing here." Jake growled and tried to step forward but Damien got in his way.

"I will talk to him. You are too angry." he said calmly. Jake glared at him, his golden eyes looking more like molten lava.

"You aren't angry? He gave them your mate too."

"Yes I am angry." Damien said, his voice cold and even. "And once I have my mate safely back in my arms I might kill Frances myself but until then I need him to tell me some things."

"You won't have to kill him." Evan said as he moved to stand beside Jake and crossed his arms over his chest. "That is my daughter you gave them."

"And my sister." Kayleb added. Damien turned back to Frances.

"The castle is big. Do you know where they are inside?"

"Obviously not precisely at this moment since I am not there. I can however, tell you that when I left, Kaylee was chained up in your fathers chambers and Rotan had Angela chained up in the basement."

Jake roared again and lunged at Frances and Frances backed away until his back was pushed against the wall and Jake was glaring at him, his body tense with anger and rage.

"Dad, calm down." Laney exclaimed. "Mom's alive.. He hasn't killed her."

"He'll do worse than kill her." Angelica whispered from where she was hiding behind Rebecca. "Victor is bad but Rotan is pure evil. He gave me these." she added pointing at her face and this did nothing to improve Jake's mood.

"Leave, Frances. I don't have time to kill you right now but you better run and you better hide somewhere that I can't find you because if I ever see you again, I will drive a stake through your heart and smile while I do it." Frances nodded and reached his hand out for Kimberly, who ran to him quickly. The two of them walked outside, under the cover of the thick clouds and disappeared.

"Take me there, Damien." Jake growled. "It's time for your brother to die."

888

Kaylee was fighting to hold onto consciousness. The smell of death and blood still hung heavy in the air even though the mortal woman's body and the gore covered sheets had been disposed of. She was alone in the room and had been for what felt like hours.

Her struggles to free herself from her chains had resulted in the silver cuffs cutting into her wrists and poisoning her blood stream and her wrists couldn't heal because the cuffs were embedded deep within them so the silver continued to take its toll.

She was worried about Angela. She had not seen her nor could she contact her because of the safe guards set up inside the castle. She had no way of knowing if her aunt was alive or dead. She wasn't sure which one would be worse. Damien had made it clear that Rotan was sick and twisted and poor Angela was his prisoner.

"You look tired, dear Kaylee." Victor said as he walked into the room and drew Kaylee out of her thoughts.

"You look heavenly." she replied, though even she could hear the weakness in her voice. Victor cocked his head to the side and twirled one of his large rings around his thin finger.

"Was that a joke?"

"You're a smart one." Kaylee said, her voice dripping with sarcasm even as her eyelids fought to close.

"I can see why my son was intrigued by you, though you are not nearly as beautiful as the other pets he has had, you do have um... Spunk, I believe is what they call it."

Other pets? Had Damien had other women that he had kept prisoner the way Victor was keeping her? No. She didn't believe that for a second. Damien was not that kind of man.

Victor seemed to notice then, that she was having trouble staying conscious and he walked over and kicked her sharply in the leg to get her attention.

"I have something for you." he said. "Our company should be arriving soon and I would like for you to look your best." Victor snapped his fingers and a sub demon came into the room. He wasn't like the subs that had grabbed Kaylee and Angela earlier. He was average and he was carrying a green satin gown in his hands that appeared to be from the Renaissance era. Despite the severity of the situation, Kaylee couldn't help but imagine just how her fashionista aunt Bethany would react to seeing a dress like that.

"I'm fine with what I've got on." Kaylee said, turning her nose up at the dress. Victor walked toward her and pulled an intricate metal key from his pocket.

"Now I am going to unhook you so we can change your clothes. Before you think about trying anything, I think I should remind you that I have Angela. You do not know where she is but Rotan does. If you harm me, he will know and I can promise you now that Angela will be the one to pay."

His words and her own weak state were enough to convince Kaylee that now was not the time to try to fight. According to Victor, Damien and her family were on their way and while it scared her to know that they would all be in danger, she knew that Victor and Rotan would be the ones that would die today.

Victor undid her chains and then closed his hand around her upper arm and lifted her to her feet. Kaylee's skin felt like ice as he pulled his hand away and she shivered. He removed the cuffs from her wrists and frowned at the cuts there.

"No wonder you are so tired, dear Kaylee." he said and then he slapped her face sharply. "Stop trying to end your own life and make this easier on yourself. I will not allow you to die until I kill you with my own hands."

Kaylee stood still as he unhooked her ankles and then he stood at his full height, which was easily six and a half feet like Damien, and looked down his nose at her.

"Take your clothes off." he sneered and Kaylee forced herself to stand proudly even as she undressed in front of him.

888

Angela was lying on the stone slab, shivering with fear and cold, all alone in the small stone room. Rotan had carved at her body with his knife for what felt like hours before finally saying he was finished and walking away. Angela could smell her own blood and for a long time she had heard tiny droplets of her blood rolling off the table and splashing on the hard floor.

She had not been brave enough to look down at her stomach but now that she knew it was healed she decided to take a look. She wanted to see her skin, smooth and healed to assure herself that she was still okay.

"Oh no!" she gasped and new tears, these cold and full of self pity, ran down her cheeks as she saw the tangle of raised scars covering her flesh. How had he scarred her? She was supposed to be immortal! Just then she heard the clicking of his boots coming toward the room. She knew it was him because he was whistling the same tune he had been whistling when he had left. She forced herself to stop crying and she laid her head back down just as he opened the metal door and then closed it behind him with a click.

"Hello puppet." he said coldly. "You're all better I see." Angela wanted to tell him off. She wanted to yell at him and tell him to go straight to hell but her fear of him and the knife he was holding in his thin hands kept her silent.

"I want to show you my new toy." Rotan said, his red eyes flashing with lust filled excitement. Angela watched him walk over to the wall and grab a weapon. It was a circular metal disk about as big around as a pop can and it had eight short, razor sharp blades sticking off of it.

"It looks kind of like a spider does it not?" he asked as he walked back over to her and laid the blades against her stomach, just above the waistband of her pants. Angela whimpered as new tears ran down her face.

"The ittsy bittsy spider went up the water spout..." Rotan sang as he moved the blades gently up her torso, stopping just below her breasts. "Down came the rain and washed the spiders out." Rotan stuck all eight blades deep into her skin and ripped down her belly, stopping at her jeans and Angela's screams filled the air.

"Jake!" she screamed, knowing that he wouldn't hear her but hoping that somehow he would. Rotan laughed.

"He's not coming, puppet. Just lay back and relax." he said, his voice gruff with lust as he bent and licked at the blood running down her sides. Angela sobbed with pain and hopelessness. Jake wasn't coming. She was going to be stuck here with this freak forever... Or at least until he got tired of torturing her and finally killed her. She prayed that he would get bored soon because she would much rather be dead than have to live through much more of this.

"The ittsy bittsy spider went up the water spout." Rotan sang again as once again he moved the blades gently up her stomach and Angela closed her eyes against the pain she knew was coming.