WARNING: PLEASE READ BEFORE STARTING THE CHAPTER!

This chapter may trigger people who have suffered abuse. Most specifically sexual abuse.

As the taxi turned onto the street the dojo was located on, Bri saw a large black van turn in the opposite direction, passing them by. The driver, she noticed in the half a second of time, wore a wide, laughing grin.

"We're here," Andre's voice pulled her attention back toward the front.

Turning her head, she gathered her purse closer to her, feeling awkward with Andre so close to her. The taxi slowed to a stop and she rushed to open her door, having to wait for another car to pass them by before she could get out. Andre handled the fare and was getting out himself by the time she got around to the sidewalk. Not bothering to pause for him, wanting to rush this as much as possible, she hurried to the front door of the dojo. It was already almost ten at night, about fifteen till. Bri was pretty sure Willow would still be up though. She was three feet from the door when something caught her attention. Slowing, she cocked her head to the side slightly, squinting to get a better look. Pulling out her phone, she turned on the screen to give herself a better light source than the street light which threw this part of the street into shadow.

Sure enough...Andre, stay behind me, she tossed at him in her mind. Putting away her phone, she bent down to pull out the very thin, concealed blade she kept tucked against the side of her ankle. Blade in hand, she shifted to a defensive stance, Kazuo's instructions drumming through the back of her head. The man had been the one to teach her how to fight, as he'd taught Willow. Reaching out, she slowly pushed the door open, not bothering with the knob. It had been broken off, evidence that someone not invited had come inside.

Behind her, she could hear Andre moving quietly as well, catching the door to make sure it didn't slam. Moving further into the entrance, she found the lights on. Frowning, she pressed herself against the back of the nearest door into the living room, which was wide open as well. Listening, she could hear the living room TV was on, playing something. But waiting a few more seconds, holding her breath, all she could hear was the TV.

"I don't hear any other minds besides ours," Andre whispered close to her ear. Nodding her head in thanks, she cautiously moved around the corner of the door, blade at the ready to counter a sneak attack.

The first thing she noticed was the faint scent of blood. The second was that the dinning room table and some of the chairs looked askew. The third was a man's body lying on the floor on the far side of the living room about fifteen feet from where she was. Going slow, she crept closer. But when she was about seven feet away, she recognized Andrew and then she saw the bullet hole in his forehead. "Shit!" she cursed in shock.

Half a second behind her, catching her thoughts before seeing himself, Andre let out a low sound of disbelief. "No..."

"I'm sorry," Bri sighed heavily. She didn't bother checking Andrew's pulse, but she did move closer and touch his arm. "...He's still a little warm," she murmured.

"Which means whoever did this left not long ago," Andre finished her thoughts aloud.

Rising to her feet from where she'd been crouching beside Andrew, she glanced around the living room. "I'm going to check the rest of the place. Maybe Willow's upstairs?" she tried, though part of her already knew it wasn't true. Even so...

Upstairs on the third floor, Bri found the lights on and two half-empty water bottles against the far wall of one of the smaller practice rooms. As well, two wooden swords were lying on the ground, left out instead of put away. Heading back downstairs, she noticed one of the extra bedroom doors on the second floor was open. Glancing inside, she saw two travel bags sitting on the large bed. Ruffling through them, she found boys' clothes, the type that looked about the right size for either teenagers or young men. Frowning, she left the room, returning to the living room.

Andre was messing around with a phone in his hands, face pale as he glanced up upon hearing her mind. "I think I have an idea what happened here..." he greeted her with this news.

Propping her hand on one hip, she eyed him. "Yeah? What you got?"

"Remember the crazy family that tried to kill me as a teenager I told you about?"

"Um...yeah?" she chuckled nervously.

"I think they may have come here and found Willow," he swallowed.

Frowning even more, Bri shook her head in confusion. "Why would they want Willow?"

"She's the little girl I told you about...The family raised her as a sex slave, as a baby farm for money by selling the children on the black market." He swallowed again, the color draining from his face. "I don't know how, but she got away...And I guess Andrew led them right to her."

Bri was speechless for nearly half a minute. When she finally found her voice, it was laced with steel. "We're getting Willow back and I will personally cut off the balls of any man that touched her."

O O O

Marcus woke up from a sleep brought on by the weakness the bracelet around his arm sent rushing throughout his system. Shaking his head a little to clear it, he took in his surroundings. He was inside a room, which was completely bare of any furniture. Taking stock of his body, he wasn't chained. But even so, the weakness the bracelet brought on was as effective of a chain as an actual one. He felt like he had barely enough energy to move his head to take in his surroundings. Plus, it was taking a lot of energy to concentrate enough to recognize things around him.

"You awake too?"

Malik's groggy voice came from close by, to his left. Turning his head slowly in that direction, he blinked blearily several times. His eyes focused and he could make out his brother's pale expression. Malik was leaning against the wall, almost a mirror of Marcus himself, head seeming to half loll lifelessly to the side. Licking his lips, Marcus nodded his head a tiny bit. "Y-yeah..."

"I'm so sorry!" A broken, sobbing voice further away broke through the haze of Marcus' mind. "I couldn't...I failed at protecting you two..."

Turning his head again, Marcus had to squint a little to make out another form, directly across from them. Another moment passed before his brain pulled up who it was that had spoken. "W-Willow?" he rasped uncertainly. "W-what's going on?"

"He found me..." her half-terrified voice choked out. She was lying on the floor, on her side. It took a few more blinks before Marcus could make much more out. She was still wearing her sleep top and pants, but the pants were half-ripped at and dark bruises littered her arms where the sleeves didn't cover. "Oh, God, he found me..."

"Hey..." Malik groaned. "Please don't cry...You honestly did a lot more than we did...W-we didn't even get a punch in."

Mind racing, remembering all that had happened, Marcus let out a long breath. "Is it true...? A-are we...?"

Willow's mind was hazy and sluggish. Marcus' questions helped to focus her thoughts. She'd talked to Mrs. Harris and gotten the Welson boys' story. Orphans from parents who had had trouble conceiving, tossed from foster home to foster home because none had known or been unable to handle the very nature of these two. In her mind, with the knowledge she knew, it wasn't hard to figure out what must have happened fourteen years ago.

The Welson's-Malik and Marcus' "parents"-must not have been able to have kids. Instead they bought two baby boys off of the MBM. They bought incubi and raised the boys as twin brothers. When the Welson's died, the twins were then put into the Human foster care system. After some years, they eventually arrived by fate at Mrs. Harris' home.

Marcus was her and Nick's blood son. It was obvious, seeing him with the two of them before. Malik, on the other hand, was not. In fact, he was completely unrelated by blood to his "brother". It was only by chance that the baby boys the Welson's bought really did look alike.

But even with this knowledge, Willow didn't want to completely tear the boys' world apart. They'd already lost one set of parents and it was obvious just by seeing how they interacted with each other how much they supported one another. She couldn't, in all honesty, tell them the truth and say that she was only Marcus' mother and Malik had no blood relations to them at all. She couldn't destroy what little the two had left. Having people you loved and trusted, and more importantly, who loved you back just as much was something everyone needed.

I can't tell them that they aren't brothers, she thought in pain. But a few seconds later, something her father had always told her came bubbling up to the forefront of her mind.

Family isn't about blood. Family is about who you love, who you care for, and what that person or people means to you. Blood should always come third or fourth down your list of priorities.

In a very quiet voice, she began to speak, forcing herself to get her voice under control. "All of it's true, Marcus," she told him in as firm a voice as she could manage in that moment.

"What? No...it's just a story you came up with," Malik let out a soft, nervous breath of laughter.

"I saw the vision clearly," Marcus told him quietly. "I saw Willow and that Nick guy. I saw a baby get taken away and she was sobbing. Y-you were so young, just a little kid though," he whispered in confusion. "Why did you have a baby?"

"I was raised as a slave," Willow explained in a flat voice. "Since I was a succubus, the human Foli family used me for the main purpose of my abilities." Marcus and Malik both paled, eyes wide in shock and disgust. "When I was eight, I was forced to 'marry' Nick. After two years, I gave birth to a baby boy...Your older brother, actually," she lied smoothly, voice tinged with a layer of pain.

"A few months later...Nick went more than a little crazy. He b-beat me...within a inch of my life. By some miracle, I dragged myself away and out of the house after he left...I was picked up by people who took me to a hospital and it took a long time for me to recover. During that time, it became evident that I was pregnant. Pregnant with twin boys," she closed her eyes tightly. "A-and because I was so young, the adults around me made the executive decision to put you two up for adoption. I wasn't..."

Swallowing, she opened her eyes, staring at the two with all the pain she felt at having her baby taken away years ago. "I wasn't even allowed to know anything about you two. I wasn't allowed to know who adopted you or if you two were kept together. I...eventually, I locked it away and tried to forget about it. I've always wanted to find you two, but I was afraid. If you were happy with the people who had taken you, who had actually raised you...I didn't want to ruin your lives by letting you know you two were a result of such tragic circumstances. But even so...I never thought I'd see you again," she let out a hiccup of sorrow. "I can't believe I was so lucky...so fortunate..."

Shock and disbelief rocked through both boys. "Holy shit," Malik breathed out. He didn't want to believe it...But the pain and longing evident on Willow's face, you couldn't fake that.

Closing his eyes, slumping back against the wall, Marcus sucked in a deep breath. "So it really is true then. I look e-exactly like that...that guy!" He felt panic try to rise up.

"Marcus, you listen to me!" Willow's sharp voice made both boys jerk, staring at her. Her voice was stern but compassionate as well. She smiled, just a little, in reassurance. "Don't you ever compare yourself to that man. He isn't your father. Malik, you listen to me too. Your father is the man who raised you, who loved you. And your m-mother," she paused, eyes closing in pain. Tears were streaming silently down her cheeks, but she continued on. "S-she's the woman who was there for every nightmare, every illness, every bad day of school. She's the one who always put you two first and who's whole world revolved around the both of you." Her hands were shaking and she clenched them tightly to her chest. "Don't you two ever forget that, forget them. They loved you. That's not something you just shake a stick at and forget. It's something that stays with you for the rest of your life."

She flashed them a shaky, watery smile. "By those standards, I'm just a nobody in your lives...I'd love to be somebody to you two someday. But that's up to the both of you. I won't force you to pursue a relationship with me. I was an absentee in your lives and I understand if it's too late for anything to come of it...For now though, we have to focus on surviving and getting out of here. I need you two to keep up the facade that we started with Nick earlier...Remember," she chuckled weakly, "Oscar-worthy performances."

Before either of the twins could say anything in response, the door to the room slowly opened. Peeking around the doorway was a young girl, about preteen age. She was tan, looking either Hispanic or maybe Indonesian, with black hair and dark hazel eyes. In her hands was a tray with three bowls and three cups of what looked like water. The girl hesitantly entered and it quickly became evident to the other three that this little girl was a Other as well...

"N-no..." Willow whispered through numb lips. "Please..."

Glancing at Willow uncertainly, Malik decided to be the first to speak. Trying to keep his voice gentle, he shot the girl a soft smile. "Hey there. My name's Malik...What's yours?"

The girl jerked, startled, before glancing at the two boys nervously. "G-Girl," she answered meekly.

Both boys frowned in confusion, but Willow's voice made them fall quiet. "Girl, can you please come inside? I'd love to talk to you about some things." She struggled to push herself up to a sitting position.

Not wanting to get in trouble or be punished, Girl nodded quickly. She stepped inside, automatically moving to serve the boys before returning to Willow, who was closer to the door. "H-here," she mumbled.

"Thank you very much, sweetie," Willow said sincerely as she took a few much-needed swallows of the cool water. Once her throat no longer felt parched, she lowered the cup down beside her before patting the ground on her other side. "Why don't you sit down here beside me?"

Girl looked very hesitant. "Father says I shouldn't..."

"Don't worry," Willow smiled easily in reassurance. "I just want to talk is all," she promised.

Both boys were dying with questions, but they decided it would be better if they remained quiet. Instead they began eating the bowl of chicken noodle soup the girl had brought. It was surprisingly really good and the twins realized they were starving in that moment.

Slowly, Girl lowered down to sit beside Willow. She had to cup her butt so that her lace-covered white dress wouldn't choke her as she did. Her gaze flickering between the three, she licked her lips before speaking. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Well, I wanted to introduce myself to you. My name is Willow and the other boy over there who's stayed quiet is Marcus. I'd like to know your name," she pressed.

Girl stared at her and Willow recognized a carefully blank expression when she saw it. "My name is Girl," Girl repeated.

Shaking her head, Willow reached out and took hold of the girl's hand. Sucking in a deep breath, she forced herself to dive deep into memories she'd rather never revisit. She needed to convince this girl that she was the same, that she too had once held the title of 'Girl'. "I want to ask you a few more questions...Girl, have the men here ever touched you? Do they make you take your clothes off? Do they make you kiss them?"

Girl's face grew pale and the twins choked on their food, coughing to get their breath back. In a very quiet voice, Girl nodded her head. "N-not the first two, but I do have to kiss them sometimes."

"Does...does the youngest one, does Cavin have a wife yet, do you know? Has he had any sons?"

Slowly, frowning in thought, Girl shook her head. "I don't think so."

"Do you know about the Way? Do you...do you know about the Initiation?" Willow asked. In a very tight voice, she asked yet another sensitive question. "Honey...have you bleed from your private place ever?"

Girl's face paled again, but she quickly shook her head. Across from them, the twins felt disgust hitting them full-force, turning their stomachs. "N-no! I haven't bled...and I know the others. Father says he may make me go through my duty with C-Cavin, though...He says they need new blood, need more money..."

Raising a hand to her face, Willow let out a noise of pain. "Oh gods...Nick really isn't following the Way, is he?" Swallowing, she forced herself to keep going. "Do you know about the special tattoo you receive after the Initiation? Do you know about what happens during it?" The girl nodded, looking scared at just the thought. "Well, I'm the Mother," Willow continued to explain. "H-here, let me show you."

Struggling a little to get her weak body to move as much as she needed to, she tried to turn onto her side. Seeing what she was doing, Girl started to help her and the boys turned their heads away. "There, pull my pants down a little and-"

"T-that's Father's tattoo!" Girl exclaimed in shock. A few seconds later, after helping Willow return to a better position, she stared at the woman with a new expression. "You really are the Mother. So that means..." she trailed off, eyes wide in realization.

"The name that was given to me by Nick, by 'Father', is Melody. But my name is Willow. My dad, my real dad, the one who loves me, gave it to me...What's your name, sweetheart?"

Tears falling down her cheeks, the girl reached up to wipe at her eyes. "Isabella...B-Bella for short. My dad use to always call me that," Bella whispered in pain. "Were you stolen away too, Willow?"

Shaking her head, Willow answered truthfully. "No...I was raised in this place, among these men."

Bella let out a low cry of pain. "I'm so sorry. It was awful, wasn't it? I've only been here for a few years...They never let me leave. I haven't seen the sun in so long..." Her shoulders began to shake with her silent sobs.

"How old are you, Bella?" Willow asked gently.

"Eleven? I think so," she answered. "I lived somewhere else, before, with my family. But these people found out my family were Others. T-they came rushing into the house one day...We were neighbors and they said they were stopping by for a visit. My parents were nice, so they let them in...T-then everyone was screaming and blood was everywhere and my mama was begging them to stop. They...they killed my little brothers and made me and Mama w-watch," Bella sobbed. "Then they killed Mama and dragged me away..."

Reaching out, Willow pulled the girl close, into a tight hug. Running her hands down the girl's long hair and back, she tried to soothe her. "I'm sorry, Bella. I didn't mean to make you remember such painful memories. Shh, sweetie, shh."

"The hell is with all this noise?" A man's deep voice exploded from outside of the bedroom.

Bella instantly flinched, wiping at her tears and shoving out of Willow's arms. "Nothing, Father," she called out in as calm a voice as she could manage. Rising to her feet, it was obvious she was fighting to put on her mask of Girl once more.

Nick came into the room, dark eyes sweeping over his sons against the far wall, Girl standing a few feet away from the door, and then Melody. Seeing her, his gaze took in the way she'd changed. Her body was long past puberty. She was a little girl no longer, having grown into a beautiful woman. Staring her, he felt a heat fill him. Smiling, he stepped into the room.

Girl quickly got out of his way, skittishly moving further away, toward the boys. But that was okay. The only one Nick had eyes for was his wife. His wife he'd long since thought was dead. His wife he'd missed every night and day since he'd thought the fire that took his father and uncles had taken her as well. His wife who'd bore him two healthy, strong boys. His wife who'd forgotten all about him. His wife who'd slept with his cousin. His wife who'd whored herself out and slept with another man. His wife who'd born that man's child, his daughter...

His expression and mood grew darker and darker the longer the thoughts churned inside his mind. Andrew had told him that the woman who'd rejected him and treated him like a piece of shit had a daughter by another man. Which meant Melody had cheated on him three times, at least. The first when he'd beat her, the second with Andrew, and the third with this other man...

Willow saw the dark, deadly light in Nick's eyes. She tried to speak, tried to find some words that would save her from the wrath she saw in those eyes...But she couldn't find any words. Suddenly, like she'd fallen into a time travel ship, she was back to all those years before. All her courage and will power fled in the face of the pain and violence to come.

"Melody...let's go talk in private," Nick rumbled in a low growl. Eyes wide, feeling as if she was stuck in some bad dream, she could only shake her head. "Melody!" Nick hissed in warning. "Melody, it's been fourteen years...You belong to me, damn you!" he snarled.

"Don't you dare protest! Did you protest when Andrew was with you? Did you protest when you were with him, with the man who's child you kept as well?! You know I'm going to Hunt them down, don't you? I'll snatch them up, bring them here, and make you watch as I take everything that isn't mine from your life!"

His voice was growing harsher, louder, more and more intense with each word. Shaking in fear, Bella moved even closer to the twins. Seeking comfort from the monster in the room with them, having never been exposed to a psychopath like this, the boys held Bella and each other close. Huddled in a pile, they watched the scene, unable to look away. It was like a car crash. Their eyes refused to close and all they could do was watch in horror.

"N-Nick," she tried to speak.

He cut her off, a wolfish grin spreading over his lips. "You may have forgotten, for a time...But I'm going to remind you. I'm going to burn it into your body once again. Only me, Melody. I'm the only man in the world allowed to have you, to be with you. I'm the only man you can ever want, ever need, ever love. Is that fucking clear?!" he shouted.

"Nick, please. I didn't remember..."

"They're dead to you. I'm going to kill them," Nick promised calmly. It was unsettling, with how he'd just been yelling. He switched up his behaviors so fast, it was impossible to keep up.

Rage and a mother's instinct of protection rushed through her veins. Like fire, it burned away all her fear, replacing it only with a hate-fueled rage. "Like hell you will, you bastard! You'll never hurt my family ever again! All you are is a piece of shit, born from a long line of the same."

A few seconds after the words left her lips, Willow realized her mistake. Her anger...her rage that he would dare...! Closing her eyes, she knew what was coming. Hadn't he already shown her once before?

Can I do nothing but fuck up? she thought in terrified regret.

Reaching down, Nick dragged her up by her throat. He was choking her, squeezing her windpipe, but his only expression was a wild madness. "Melody, dear, I do believe we need to have a renewal of our vows," he laughed. "After all, it has been such a long time. What do you think? Should we make the theme of our second wedding be red?" Turning, he dragged her out of the room.

Pausing, he locked the door to the bedroom from the outside. The windows had bars, so he knew the three kids inside would have no chance of escape. Laughing gaily, he dragged his estranged wife to his bedroom, which was across the hall. Shoving his way inside, he flung her onto the bed. Closing and locking the door behind him, he glanced back at her while she struggled to breathe. "Strip," he ordered in a cold voice.

Shaking her head, she could feel the angry red marks his rough treatment had brought. She fought to breathe through the coughing fit that came on. "N-no..." she rasped harshly.

"That wasn't a yes or no question, Melody. That was a demand," he murmured quietly as he began to take off his own clothes. "You've forgotten during your time away just who is the one in charge. You have no free will, Melody. You aren't even human. You're a monster, remember? My very own little monster wife whipped to obey my every command."

Clothes off, he pressed his knees against the bed, looming over her. When she tried to crawl away, he slapped her across the face, hard, stunning her. While her eyes sparked with dizzying lights, he held her jaw in place before roughly kissing her. His tongue forced her mouth open, gagging her with how deeply he penetrated.

"You know," he chuckled as he pulled back, running his tongue along her right cheek and the side of her face. "I heard you don't like to kiss. Is that really true, Melody?" he asked in a soft whisper. "You use to love it...You use to squirm and beg beneath me, grid your body against mine for more of my touch. You use to plead for me to never stop."

Her mind spinning between disgust, hate, terror, and desperation, she remembered. She had her magic! If she could just call upon it, she could suck the soul out of Nick. He's the one person I ever needed to kill with this curse.

He returned his lips to hers, cupping her face tightly to make sure she couldn't escape. Closing her eyes, Willow desperately tried to imagine that she liked this. She tried to invoke that feeling of enjoyment and the buzzing high that came with her magic filling her up...

...Only nothing happened. She didn't even feel a tiny spark of her magic. It was like...Like it was behind a steel wall and she couldn't access it at all!

"You know...with the bracelet I put on you, none of your sex magic will work," he whispered against her skin. His hands easily tore apart the thin material of her pajamas. As he exposed the skin at her collarbone and chest, his lips and tongue ran along it. He moaned in pleasure, breathing in the scent of her. Her sweat, the slight sour hint of her fear which was released through her pores, and that addicting scent that was his Melody's own unique fragrance. His lips pulled up into a satisfied smile. Here soon, he'd be adding his own scent and the smell of sex to mingle with everything. Even something as inconsequential as Melody's smell had to be his, had to exist along side his own.

Didn't she realized how much she mattered? How all these years, he regretted his actions? That he'd realized he shouldn't have beat her as badly as he had, that he shouldn't have hurt her like he had? That anything good or worthwhile about himself had vanished with the smoke in that fire? That all he'd longed for these years was her in his arms once more?

Of course she knew.

How could she not? Wasn't she still alive? Hadn't he protected her from the touch of other men, from his own family? And yet...

She'd gone out and sought the company of other men. She'd let them touch her! She'd enjoyed their touch! How could she have been such a bitch? She knew her noises she made in the throes of mad passion, the glimmers of heat in her eyes, the sight of her body twisting and begging for the touch of another..

All of it belonged to HIM!

Blinking, he felt the rage grow even higher, burn even hotter until all he was left with was a inferno. Her wide, black eyes stared up at him and he could see the panic and denial in them. But it didn't matter. None of it mattered. She was a witch!

A witch who had enchanted him and stolen his soul away years before. Now she was all he had left of anything close to emotions and enjoyment. Living completely dead and empty inside for the past fourteen years was beyond the ability of any sane man. And he'd lost his sanity when he'd taken her into his arms and marked her as his forever after.

Reaching down, he took hold of the top of her pants, roughly shoving them down. "That's okay, love. I've always wondered what it would be like to just have you. No magic. Just the two of us, moving together, becoming one person with nothing between us...Now we can find out, now we can experience that bliss together, love."

She clawed and scratched at his arms, his hands, his chest. Anywhere she could get a good enough hold. She screamed and cried as loudly as she could manage, struggling to land painful and effective blows against him. But the stupid, horrible bracelet quickly absorbed all her energy. Not more than three minutes later, she lay collapsed, panting to catch her breath.

She'd managed to get in a few scars and blows, but none of them had done any real damage to Nick. He had his head tilted to the side, dreads half falling into his face, covering one brown eye. "You know...You look like a baby bird," he smiled widely. After another second, his smile grew much more vicious, filled with predatory victory. "I'm the snake, here to devour you whole, my love," he laughed.

No, no, no, NO!

Across the hallway, Marcus pulled Bella close to try to offer comfort. The walls were thin...It was easy for the three of them to hear everything. And it was something almost impossible to block out. Especially Willow's cries, her pleas for him to stop. After a long time...Marcus had no idea how long, Willow let out a piercing scream of pain. A few seconds later, they could hear Nick begin to shout at her. There were several loud thumps and slams, followed by a sickening silence.

Malik had long since thrown up what little of his food he'd been able to eat earlier, but now he began to dry heave once again. A few minutes later, the sound of a door slamming closed proceeded the clang of the lock on the door being released. The door was slammed open and Nick walked in.

He had on a different pair of clothes and he was wearing a wide, satisfied grin. A light of pride and amusement was in his eyes as he took in the sight of the three kids huddled together on the other side of the room. "You getting a early start at it?" he chuckled. "Well, I'm sorry, but Girl is not for you two. She's on hold for Cavin's first born son, unless your mother has an acceptable girl babe." Wiping a hand down his face and mouth, he frowned at the girl, who looked like she'd been crying. "Girl, what's your problem? Mother's come home and you have two older brothers as well. How come you look so unhappy?"

Shooting stiffly to her feet and out of the circle of Marcus' arms, Girl shook her head quickly, swallowing. "N-no, Father. I'm happy...so happy!" she rushed to reassure him.

Nodding his head, he pointed with his thumb over his shoulder and to his bedroom. "Good, as you should be. Now, go take care of your mother. She's going to need your help. Get her a little cleaned up and in a bit I'll come in and carry her to the bathroom."

Bowing her head, Girl rushed to do so. She circled around him and under his arm which he had braced on the other side of the door jam. The sound of the door opening was closely followed by an alarmed and concerned squeak. "F-Father, is Mother supposed to be...?" the girl's voice faded off.

"Don't ask questions, just do what you're told!" he snapped.

"Yes, Father," she instantly acquiesced before closing the bedroom door behind her. From there, her voice was nothing more that a low murmur, too soft to make out her words.

Turning his gaze to his sons, Nick flexed his jaw. "So, that's how you treat a women, especially one who's wronged you," he instructed calmly. Marcus' black eyes were spitting fire of hate, as were Malik's. Nick observed this silently, shifting his feet slightly. "Don't tell me you two are really concerned for her? She's a succubus. Her whole existence is sex. It's what defines her, makes her who she is. She can't escape it anymore than you two can escape the fact that you're my sons. So hate me all you want, but my evil, twisted blood runs through your veins. It'll always be there, waiting for the day you let your guard down. And then you'll realize your just the same as me. Mad, violent, possessive, and apathetic."

He threw back his head to laugh heartily. "Both of you are just as bad. You can pretend it doesn't exist, that my words are a lie. You can tell yourself over and over that you'd never do something like me. You can fall asleep with your childish dreams that you're good, morally right men. But one day you'll meet someone who will take away what little "humanity" your mother gave you...And then you'll wake up elbows deep in their blood and realize the rush that comes from being with, claiming, and destroying the one thing that belongs completely to you. That heady buzz of an adrenaline-fueled high that shoots into your blood stream when you lay eyes on that person."

"You can call it whatever you like, but I like to think of it as love...As the ultimate devotion to another being." Turning away, he left his words for his sons to think upon. He had more important things to do. Like making sure Melody was cleaned up for round two...

A/N:

Alright, first off, I'm sorry this took so freaking long to get out. I'm personally basically no longer sick...but everyone else in my house is...So the time I normally have to try to get some writing in has mostly been busy playing nurse...

Fun times.

Second, there has apparently been a large amount of confusion (?) as to WTF is happening, I guess. I hope this chapter cleared it all up...But if not, here you go. This is the summarized version of what's going on and what's happened:

Willow, Malik, and Marcus have been kidnapped by Nick. Bri and Andre arrived just a few minutes too late to be able to help, unfortunately. Marcus is Willow and Nick's son that she had when she was ten and Nick sent off to be sold. Malik is another baby sent to the MBM for unknown reasons (who knows? Too many horrible possibilities). Malik is not related by blood at all to Willow, Nick, Marcus, or their adoptive parents the late Welsons.

Willow does not have any siblings, brother or sister. Cavin is Nick's youngest brother. It goes Nick, Darvey, and Cavin.

By the order of the Way, the oldest son (the Head), makes all decisions for the Family. His word is absolute and it is by his guidance that the family survives and continues to thrive and profit from the Way. The Head marries the Mother, who is the daughter of the last head and Mother that is married to the newest Head once he goes through the Initiation for the position. Any sons the Mother has are sold off. Any daughters are carefully weighed for how pure their Other blood is. If a new daughter is born with more Other than Human, any weaker daughters (no matter their current age), are sold off. Only females who once were/currently are the Mother are kept, as they are bound forever to the Head/previous Heads.

These women are even buried with their husbands, after the "official" funeral for these men has been held, killed in order to be with their husbands even in death.

The Second, or second son, is the doctor of the family. It is his job to ensure all pregnancies and births go smoothly, as well as the health of the Family is kept up.

The Third, or the third son, is the son who will create the new generation. If he conceives any daughters with his wife, the Second ensures that pregnancy is terminated. The Third is only allowed to have 3 sons. His oldest will be the Head, his second oldest the Second, and the youngest the Third.

So on and so on this cycle continues.

Okay...I hope this has helped to clear up any of your guys' confusion. I'm sure most of this you already knew and I'm just adding in a few details to help round stuff out. I like, legitimately, wrote any entire paper on the insane Foli family and the Way. It's crazy!