Like Father,Like Daughter - Hugs.And.Kisses (best novel books to read TXT) 📗

and a bolt of lightning destroyed the throne. I smiled, a sense of repulsing satisfaction, until I heard a laugh from in the smoke.

"Nice try, Jack, but you missed." I rolled to the side as a pillar of flame consumed the spot I'd previously been standing in. A hand wrapped around my neck and lifted me up. "Normally, simply snap your neck, but I'm enjoying this far too much."

"Enjoy this!" I hauled my arm back and punched him in the face. I felt another revolting wave of satisfaction as I felt the bone crunch under my fist. He dropped me, clutching his nose.

He sneered at me from the ground, blood leaking from between his fingers. "How eager to fight are you? Eager enough to risk the life of your wife and unborn children?"

I froze. "What have you done to Sally?" Raphael laughed. I ran over and pulled him up by the front of his shirt. "What did you do, Raphael?"

"Nothing." A female voice behind me drawled. "Yet. Long time no see Jacky." I turned around to see Cay hopping off Jacob's shoulder.

"Jack." I growled. My eyes traveled to the giant's fist to see MY Sally, unconscious. "Sally! Put her down, Jacob!"

Jacob shook slightly, glancing at Cay for support. "You don't have to do anything Pumpkin Head says, Jakie." She soothed, managing to cast a glare in my direction.

"Still making all his decisions for him Cay?" I asked spitefully.

She glared at me, full-on this time. "Thanks to your dearest mummy's spell, Jacob permanently lost his ability to say anything and his brain is almost gone. He's like a toddler again." I heard a twinge of sorrow in her voice.

"I'm sorry Cay." I muttered. "I never wanted you two dragged into this mess."

She glared at me. "Well we were!" She wrapped her arms around herself. "Do you have any idea what it was like down there? Hell couldn't have been so bad."

I winced. "Cay…"

"Don't try to butter me up now, Jack. You're about twenty-five years too late." Cay growled. "Now surrender or I'll have Jacob tear Sally into pieces and kill your kids."

I sighed, defeated. I didn't have any choice now. I glared at Raphael, a broken shell. "You win."

Raphael grinned, moving his hands from his now healed nose. The dried blood did nothing for helping him look sane. "You have NO idea how long I've waited to hear you say that. Cay, take Sally down to the dungeon. I'll deal with Jack myself." Raphael snapped his fingers and thick stone chains shot out of the wall behind me, pulling me back and holding me tightly against the stone.

I glared at him. "If you hurt her-"

His expression grew serious. "I give you my word that Sally will not be harmed." Jacob and Cay walked out, but not before I saw Cay take Sally from Jacob and carry her much more safely. I let out a sigh of relief. As long as Sally was okay…

Raph walked over, the insane grin back. He raised a hand up to my arm and grasped my wrist. "You know, Aubrey is such a marvelous girl. She's really grown up." I winced as he pulled my entire left arm off; it didn't really hurt, considering I had no nerve endings, but it still creeped me out that he had just purposely pulled off my arm. "So… powerful. And her soul really turned out beautifully. An angel." He smiled lovingly, like he actually meant what he was saying. But if I knew Raph as well as I thought I did, he had an ulterior motive. "It's such a shame that I have to remove the key for my plan to work."

My eyes widened. "Raphael, you can't take the key from Aubrey. She'll die!"

He paused in his dismantling of my arm to look up at me. "You think I don't know that? In fact, Jacky," He grinned, "That's what I'm counting on."

xXx

Vanessa growled. "Marvelous? Powerful? She's nothing compared to me!" She took on a deeper voice, imitating her father. "'Her soul turned out so beautifully. An angel.'" She paused, and a grin formed on her face. "Lock, you wait up in my room. I'll be there soon." She kissed his cheek and walked off toward the dungeons.

xXx

"Barrel will you stop pulling on those chains? They aren't going to come loose." Shock sighed.

Barrel gave her a dry stare. "Well I don't see you coming up with any ideas."

Shock sighed again. "That's because I don't have any." She looked towards the arched doorway. "Someone's coming."

"Oh, brilliant deduction." Vanessa drawled, clapping sarcastically as she walked in. "Don't worry; I'm not here for you two." She walked over to Aubrey, glaring up at her. "You think you're so fucking special, don't you? Let's see how 'special' daddy thinks his little angel is when she loses her wings." Vanessa's fingers curled around the handle of the dagger protruding from her twin's stomach and pulled it out. Aubrey flinched and gave a moan.

Vanessa backhanded her across the face. "Wakey, wakey! I want you conscious for this." Aubrey's eyes fluttered open and Vanessa smirked nastily. "Good." She walked around to Aubrey's left side and raised the dagger, bringing it down on the protrusion that connected the black feathered wing to Aubrey's back.

If Aubrey hadn't been awake before, she was now. She screamed as the steel cut through flesh and muscle and Vanessa began to saw through the bone. She thrashed as much as she could, which wasn't much, as the blade sawed through the marrow, finally coming out the other side. Tears poured down Aubrey's face and blood stained her back the same dark crimson as her stomach. Her muscles spasmed uncontrollably as Vanessa slowly walked around to her other side.

"N-no… please…" Aubrey managed to choke out through her pain.

Vanessa ignored her and made quick work of her remaining wing, and the unmistakable smell of blood that had filled the room strengthened. Shock and Barrel closed their eyes this time, turning their heads away but not able to block out their friend's screams of pain.

Finally, it was done. The black wings hung on the wall, no longer a part of the girl hanging in front of them. Aubrey could do nothing now but make small, whimpering noises and cry. Her body was convulsing in pain, and blood was now running down her wrists and ankles from where the shackles had cut them.

Vanessa twirled the knife in her hands, a contented smile on her face. Blood was spattered across her front and over her cheeks and forehead. As she looked over her work, her eyes fell on the crimson pendant hanging around Aubrey's neck and a sinister gleam took over her eyes. "Since you and Lock are no longer an item, dear sister," Vanessa reached around Aubrey and unhooked the necklace, and it fell to the floor, "You'll no longer need this." She bent down and picked it up before walking out, the bloody knife still in her grasp.

It was several minutes before Aubrey managed to stop the small, pathetic noises issuing from her and calm her quaking muscles somewhat. But the tears refused to stop flowing, much like the blood that was dripping from the two mutilated stumps resting on her shoulder blades and the newly reopened hole in her stomach. "Aubrey?" Barrel asked quietly. "God, I'm sorry."

She shook her head. "It… not your f-fault…" She gasped.

Shock growled. "That witch is gonna pay for this."


Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Reverie

-Aubrey's POV-

Speeding into the horizon

I was soaked to the bone, freezing cold, and tired. It had been hours since I'd ran from the house, and the sun not long after I'd gotten out of my neighborhood, bringing in a freezing rain, not icy enough to be considered sleet, but trying none the less.

Dreaming of the siren

Pain coursed through my burning leg muscles as I kept walking, no longer able to run. The only good thing about the sun setting was that it wasn't blinding me anymore. I had no idea where I was going. At first, I'd thought about going to The Towers and finding the tree, but then I remembered that it was gone. So I'd just been wandering stupidly for hours and hours.

Wishing for broken glass on the highway

My ears were sore and cold, and the ringing silence wasn't helping my headache any. I had long since realized I was lost, and had taken to following the highway, hiding behind something whenever a car would pass. But I hadn't seen one for hours. I glanced down at the glowing watch on my wrist. Eleven thirty-seven.

It could be so easy


Shivering, I looked up and down the road. What I wouldn't have given for a car. I would've rather been taken home and suffered there rather than suffering out in the cold and wet. With a sigh, I kept walking. Why I didn't just turn around and try and find my way back, I didn't know. It was like something was pulling me along, refusing to let me turn back. I stopped rubbing my arms to clutch the necklace that was trapped under my soaked shirt.

I don't know what made me think of Lock and made me pull the necklace out to stare at it, which I'd developed a habit of doing lately. 'I'm not going to see him again until I die.' If I wasn't afraid of them freezing, I would've let the tears stinging my eyes fall.

The rhythm

I turned around to see pinpricks of light so small that at first, I thought I was seeing things. Then I heard the low rumble of a car engine.

Rhythm of an engine

I climbed over the guardrail and felt the rough stones that lined the roadsides under my feet.

Always makes me empty

'I could flag them down.' I thought. 'Go home.'

I see the headlights coming at me

Then I felt the cold metal of the necklace in my hand, and I felt… empty. 'Or… or I could…' I looked at the oncoming headlights.

And I can't help but wonder

They were getting closer, and now I could see the outline of the car. I could hear the pounding base even through the windows. The tears poured freely down my face as my sense of reason battled with my heart. 'Lock wouldn't have wanted you to kill yourself.' I berated.

'But Lock isn't here, is he? Don't you want to see him again?'

"More than anything." I whispered to the air.

'Then run. NOW!' My feet took flight and the stones flew as I scrambled onto the hard pavement.

Flying