"What's going on upstairs?" Angela demanded as Rotan looked over his tools of torture, carefully trying to decide which to use for round three of his play with the fat woman.

"Nothing for you to concern yourself with. At times, my father likes to have his slaves fight one another and provide him with entertainment." Rotan said looking uninterested in the noise above them. "Though he has bloodlust, he lacks the killer instinct when sex is not involved. I however do not lack that instinct." Rotan added as he grabbed what looked like a giant fish hook from the wall.

"Please, don't." Angela pleaded helplessly as he walked toward her with the hook. He smiled coldly as he ran the sharp, serrated tip over his lip and licked the droplets of blood that sprang up.

Angela thought of Jake and then suddenly the link was there. She could feel his rage and anger and she knew he was close. She tried to call out for him telepathically but could not. That wall was still there between them.

"That's not your father playing." Angela said, feeling some of her spirit come back now that she knew Jake had come for her.

"Then what is it, puppet?" Rotan asked distractedly as he laid the hook against the smooth, pale skin of her upper arm.

"It's all six feet five inches of my heavily muscled, trained to kill, pissed off werewolf, you perverted little psychopath. And I have a feeling he's coming to kill you."

"Wishful thinking." Rotan said coldly. "Just accept the fact that this is your life from now on, puppet." He slid the hook along her arm, leaving a line of blood that welled from her skin and dripped onto the stone table below and she cried out with pain.

The roar from above them, in response to her cry, could not be mistaken. Angela would recognize that roar anywhere, it was Jake. Rotan looked alarmed and quickly took the hook away from her arm and looked up at the ceiling as a loud crashing sound filled the air and the stones about three feet from the table Angela lay on cracked, and dust filled the air. There was a slight pause and then another thud and the ceiling crumbled. Two bodies fell to the ground beside them. One was a giant sub demon, clearly dead and the other was a growling, dark shadow, surrounded by dust.

The dust began to clear and Angela saw Jake's face. He looked angrier than she had ever seen him. There was a cold blooded, murderous look in his eyes that made a chill run down even her spine. He was crouched on the ground, with one hand on the crumbled stones at his feet bracing himself as he glared at Rotan, his golden eyes flashing and his black hair falling across his face.

"Jake!" Angela cried out with relief. She wasn't afraid for Jake's life. She knew that Rotan would be no match against him.

"Jake Collins, we've never had the pleasure of meeting. My name is Rotan and I've had the pleasure of your mates company the last few hours. I must say she's a fun one."

"I'm glad you had fun." Jake growled as he walked toward Angela and placed his body between hers and Rotan's. "Because you're going to die very soon." Before Rotan could reply, a yell filled the air and another body fell through the hole in the ceiling.

"Watch out, that first steps a doozy." Lane said from where he lay with his head bleeding on the crumbled stones. "I've come to rescue you, little sister. Just as soon as my head stops spinning." Lane pulled himself to his feet and Rotan, realizing he was outnumbered, ran for the door.

"Grab him!" Jake ordered and Lane jumped forward quickly and grabbed Rotan, yelling in pain when Rotan sunk the hook he'd been holding deep into his arm.

"You son of a..." Lane hissed as he tackled Rotan's skinny body to the ground and held him down by sitting on his back. "That fucking hurt." Lane said and he grabbed the hook from Rotan's hand and stuck it into the demon's ass cheek, causing him to let out a painful snarl.

"Look Jake, I'm finally as big of a pain in the ass as you've always said I am." Lane said with a grin. Jake was too angry to deal with his brothers immature humor as he turned and looked down at Angela lying on the table. He wasted no time before breaking the chains holding her ankles and wrists and he grabbed her arm and helped her sit up.

"Jake, how did you find me?" Angela gasped as she threw her arms around his neck and clung to him. She felt suddenly cold as he pulled away from her without a word and looked down at her stomach and the tangle of ugly, pale scars covering it.

Jake turned quickly and stalked across the room, grabbing Rotan by his greasy hair and jerking him to his feet. Lane barely managed to jump up in time to save himself from being tossed across the room.

"What are you going to do?" Rotan sneered. "The damage has been done to your mate... Enjoy looking at that for the rest of eternity." Angela covered her stomach the best she could by wrapping her arms around herself. Jake growled low in his throat and looked over at Lane.

"Take her home." he said. Lane nodded and walked over to Angela, who was too weak to stand on her own. He lifted her into his arms.

"Jake, please just kill him and come with me. I want to be with you." Angela pleaded. Jake refused to look at her as he shook his head.

"Get her out of here, Lane. I don't want to look at her right now." Lane understood Jakes mood. He understood that Jake was in his 'dark place' as Lane had always called it. Death and killing were the only things occupying Jakes thoughts.

Angela however did not understand this and she felt hot tears of shame at what she considered to be Jake's sudden disgust in her. She buried her face in Lane's chest, wishing it was Jake's warm, hard arms wrapped around her instead and Lane quickly climbed on top of the pile of rubble and jumped up onto the floor above.

Jake slammed a struggling Rotan down on a second stone table that was in the room and chained his wrists and ankles.

"What are you going to do?" Rotan asked with, an eager smile that showed his sharp, pointed teeth. "Torture me?"

"Yes. That makes you happy?" Jake asked as he pulled his knife from the holster on his leg.

"I love pain." Rotan replied. "Your mate sure didn't. You should have heard her scream." His words did not affect Jake because Jake had turned his emotions off once he had gotten down here and seen the shape his Angela was in. The sight of her strapped to that table, covered in blood and scars, looking tired, weak and scared had filled him with so much sadness, rage and guilt that he would have been worthless in a fight.

Now he had slipped back into his hunting mode. The same as he always had each time he and his father had taken a rogue prisoner and it had been Jake's job to get as much information from them as he could before finally ending their lives.

"I've known a few like you." Jake said as he ran the blade of his knife down Rotan's chest, careful not to break the skin. He saw a bulge form in the front of Rotan's leather pants and raised a brow. "Maybe not quite as pathetic as you though." he added.

"Pain is how I find my pleasure." Rotan replied.

"No. Causing pain is how you find your pleasure. You're about to find out that when someone else is causing the pain, it isn't nearly as much fun." Jake stuck the blade deeper, drawing a gasp of pain and a stream of blood to come from Rotan as he traced the intricate tattoos on the demons stomach.

Rotan struggled to get away as his pants quickly deflated and he yelled in pain. Jake growled as Rotan's skinny knees caught in him the arm. Jake pulled the knife away and laid it on the table before reaching into the bag, tied around his waist, and pulling out two of the throwing crucifixes.

"Hold still." he said and he shoved the crucifixes through Rotan's knee caps and lodged them into the stone table below. Rotan screamed in pain as his thin muscles bulged and his veins became black as they swelled beneath his skin. Smoke billowed from his knees and Jake smiled as he picked the knife back up.

"You made a mistake when you touched my mate Rotan. She is my life. She is my breath. My entire world revolves around her and I would kill anyone and I do mean anyone who dared to touch her. Your death could have been quick but now I think a quick death would be far too good for you. Don't you agree?" Rotan's nostrils flared as he whimpered and Jake ran the bloody knife blade down his cheek. Jake reached in his pocket and pulled out the vial of holy water. He pulled the cork from the top and held the vial above Rotan's forehead.

"What are you doing!" Rotan demanded. "Just kill me! I made her scream, you stupid wolf! She screamed and she screamed and she cried! She cried for you and I told you would never come as I rammed my knife inside of her!" Rotan had been hoping that his words would anger the big wolf badly enough that he would just kill him. Rotan had come to terms with the fact that he was going to die. He had known the moment that Jake had fallen through the ceiling that he was a goner, but his father had always talked about Jake and Charles Collins as if they were soft and merciful killers. There was nothing either soft or merciful about the man currently standing over him.

Rotan saw Jake's jaw tense and a muscle began to tick in his cheek but instead of delivering a death blow Jake tipped the vial and Rotan went cross-eyed as he looked up at the vial and focused on the droplet of water hanging off the rim.

The droplet hung there and then, as if in slow motion, it dropped from the rim and landed with a sizzling plop on Rotan's forehead, drawing out a hiss of pain from the demon's lips. Rotan suddenly realized he had found someone who seemed to enjoy torture more than him as Jake smiled at his hiss of pain and let another small droplet gather on the rim.

888

Hunter had been waiting at the top of the hole for Lane, Jake and Angela and he frowned when only Lane jumped out with Angela cradled in his arms as she sobbed into his shirt.

"Where's Jake and is she okay?" he asked. Lane shook his head.

"Jake is down there, being Jake." he replied. "And no, she is not okay. I'm going to take her outside and get her home since I can't dash her from in here." Hunter nodded.

"Alright, we got things here."

"Where's Damien?" Lane asked. He could see Evan fighting and looking a little worse for the wear and he was pretty sure he could see the top of Kent's head as he gave the subs hell as well. Lane decided that Kayleb was just as crazy as Jake, as he laughed and jumped from sub to sub, breaking necks. Joey's flaming red hair, made her stand out from the crowd as well and Lane smiled when she kicked out her combat boot clad foot and snapped a subs neck.

"He went upstairs to find Victor." Hunter replied and Lane nodded. He started toward Joey but then turned back to Hunter as the vampire threw a crucifix into a sub that was coming toward them and the sub burst into flames.

"They just keep coming." Hunter said warily as he ran his hand through his sweaty dark blond hair. "And I lost my damn hat." he added with a pout.

"I gotta get out of here but first I need to warn you." Lane said as he narrowed his eyes. "You will pay, you stinking blood sucking tick, for shoving me down in that hole earlier. I broke my head.....again."

"You'll be okay." Hunter promised. Lane muttered under his breath and made his way to Joey, with Hunter serving as a blocker to keep Angela safe since no one wanted to have to answer to Jake if any harm came to her while she was in their care.

"I gotta go, Joey, are you coming with me?" Lane asked once he got to her. Joey shook her head as she threw a crucifix and it lodged in a subs head before bursting the rotting creature into flames.

"No, I'm not leaving until I know that Damien has Kaylee safe." she replied. Lane was torn between Angela and his mate. He didn't want to leave Joey here alone but Angela needed to get home. Joey smiled as she pushed her glasses up on her nose and laid her hand on his arm.

"Go. Take Angela home where she'll be safe and stay with her. She'll need you."

"I don't want to leave you Joey." Lane replied.

"I'll be fine.... You're the one more likely to get hurt in a fight." she said with a teasing smile. "Besides, if I remember correctly, you told me when we first met that there would always be a woman before me, and right now she's crying in your arms, hurt and scared to death." Joey was actually alarmed to see Angela looking this way. Angela had always been the strong one. The tough one. The one who never broke no matter what situation you put her in.

"I love you." Lane said and Joey nodded as she delivered a back kick to a subs chest and the sound of cracking ribs came to Lane's ears.

"I love you too. Get her home safe and I'll be there just as soon as we're done having fun." Lane shook his head, his mate was just as crazy as his brother and his nephew, and then he quickly carried Angela back out into the cold and wind.

He dashed her home to her and Jake's bedroom so she wouldn't be bombarded by all the well-meaning but overwhelming women in his family.

(Angela and I are home. Everyone else is okay but still fighting. You all stay down there and leave Angela alone for a while, she's in rough shape.) Lane called to everyone he knew was in the house. Lane laid her in the bed and she sniffed as she curled up to her pillow.

"It was horrible Lane." she said, her voice hollow and empty. Lane nodded as he climbed in the bed and laid on his side beside her. She let him wrap his arms tight around her and buried her face in his chest as he rubbed her back comfortingly and kissed her hair.

"It's okay, little sister. You're home now and he won't touch you again."

"Neither will Jake." Angela whispered. Lane frowned.

"Why do you say that?" he asked.

"He wouldn't even look at me. He took one look at all of these ugly scars and it disgusted him. I don't' blame him..." she replied as fresh hot tears soaked through his shirt.

"Angela, Jakes loves you... he has this 'dark place' that he goes to when he gets like that. It had nothing to do with your scars." Lane promised. Angela shook her head but said nothing. Her body was exhausted but not nearly as exhausted as her mind and her heart was shattered. One thing she had always loved the most about Jake was the way his eyes had always looked at her with love no matter what kind of situation they were in. That love had not been there in the dungeon.

"Get some rest, Angela." Lane said and Angela shook her head.

"I don't think I'll ever sleep again. Every time I close my eyes I see those red eyes and I feel the knives."

"I'm here Angela. Everybody might like to say I'm no good in a fight, and most of the time I would agree, but when it comes to keeping you safe I can be just as badass as my big brother." And Lane had every intention of letting Jake know what an ass he was whenever Jake made it back. As far as Lane was concerned, anyone who made Angela cry deserved a swift kick in their ass.

"Sleep, little sister. I'm here and I won't let a thing happen to you