Prologue
The tires were squealing with protest, as the car went sideways. The last thing I heard was Mom’s voice yelling over the sound, telling Abbey and I to hold on.
The windows broke, spraying glass over everyone. My head became a ping pong ball, bouncing off of the seats and the car window, shattering it. I watched my sister’s head go through her car window and hit the tree trunk, and her body go limp, that was when I blacked out, tears of pain, and sorrow in my eyes.
A while later, I regained consciousness, I did a self assessment. My ribs must have been broken, because it hurt to breathe, I was bleeding somewhere because I was covered in blood. I could feel the hot sensation of where the seatbelt cut into me. I looked to my left, and my heart shattered. My little sister was covered in blood, and was barely breathing. I unbuckled, and slid over to her, not paying attention to the shards of glass that was now stabbing me everywhere, and pulled her to me, and wept. She was only nine years old, hasn’t even lived her life yet. It wasn’t right for her to die, especially this way. I was startled when her hand closed around mine. She asked what happened, and if mom, dad and I were ok.
I started to answer her, but I noticed the rather big hole in her skull, and she was bleeding profusely. She was going to die, right there in my arms. I told her a story of when we were both younger, happy memories. I was on my third story when she completely stopped breathing, my little sister was dead. I was the only one left alive, my mother, my father, my little sister, was all dead, yet I survived.
Chapter 1
~Seven years later~
Anna, my social worker, was driving her nice new sedan to my new ‘home’. Another family that will try to replace my real family, but that was just it, no other family could be as good, and natural as mine. This would be my fourth foster home since the death of my family. Each foster family I had was the same; a family that would go out of their way to make me feel welcome, and would end up dead within a year or so after getting me. The cops would find their deaths accidental, with each ‘accident’ occurring in the winter time. I knew better, It couldn’t have been just a coincidence that each family I was with ended up dead on the same Ivory road as my parents.
Anna, pulled into my new home, and I wiped the tears away. I looked up at Anna, my social worker, “Are you ready?” I looked in her deep brown eyes, “No, not really. I don’t want to be here, but I really don’t get a choice in this do I?” I laughed at her sad expression, “it’s alright. I am sure that this one will be different. So, are you going to come visit me?” I have known Anna since my family’s death seven years ago, and I will happily admit that I had gotten close to her over the years of death and sorrow. I was just glad that I had her to lean on after each accident. My ‘family’ started filing out of the house, so I got out of the car and grabbed my three giant mobile bags. As I watched the family come out of the house, I almost laughed. They were Christians; I had no doubt about that. The mother and father were wearing bright colors and all, and then I saw the son. He looked like a teenager; he looked to be about seventeen or so. I smiled, we would get along great. We were both wearing dark clothes from head to toe. I had an Alice and Wonderland hat, blue and red fake highlights clipped into my hair, which were blowing in my face because of the wind. I was also wearing a nice fishnet shirt, with a black tank top underneath, and skinny jeans that had some chains hanging off of them. He was wearing a black tank top, which showed off his muscles, and blue and black chained pants. He smiled at me, after he checked me out, and I smiled right back. That was when I saw her. She was a little girl; probably around ten years old. She had short curly brown hair, and bright green eyes. Her frilly white dress that went down to her knees and had thin straps swirled around her as she caught up to her parents who were walking towards me. Tears sprang to my eyes; she looked just like Abbey, except Abbey would never wear that dress. Abbey loved the darkness; she loved everything that children her age should be afraid of.
“Are you Ok, Taya?” Anna asked as she grabbed my shoulder, and I tore my eyes away from the girls face. “She…she looks just like Abbey. I will be fine, don’t worry about me.” Just then the three strangers approached. “We are so happy to have you here, Taya. My name is Kim. This is my husband Jim, our son Damien and our daughter Katie.” I nodded to each of them, “Well you already know my name, its Taya Siros. Thank you for taking me in, I know it mustn’t have been an easy decision.” Damien nodded at me, and went into the house. The father, Jim, immediately apologized for Damien’s hasty exit. I smiled and held up my hand to silence him. “Please, I been through four foster homes, I am used to reactions like that. So may I see my room?” Katie ran up to me, and grabbed one of my lightest bags, and she took me up to my room.
When Katie opened the door, I almost cried. This room would make a princess room look like a closet. It was a huge room; the bed looked really comfortable, despite all of the pink. Katie showed me where the plug-ins was, and told me that there were other blankets in the closet that I could choose from. Katie set down the bag that she grabbed down on the pink bed just as I jumped on it. The bag went flying and landed across the room, Katie and I laughed. “So Katie, how old are you?” She looked at me, “I am ten, going on eleven in a few months. How old are you?” I laughed, “Much older than you. I am nineteen.” Katie’s face made me laugh, “What’s that look for?” She looked away, “You are a year older than Damien. No wonder he doesn’t like you.” A moment of silence passed, so she continued. “He wants to grow up faster. He hates being young and having to obey others. Oh, by the way, my mom wants you to come down after you get settled in, she wants to bore you with the rules.” I nodded, and she left after throwing a pillow at my head. She giggled when I retaliated, but missed entirely. I needed to work on my aim.
I went through my bags, and started to unpack a little bit at a time, spreading my things around the room. I stopped when I picked up the only family portrait that I could save from the house before I was swept away to my first foster home. I was so occupied in my thoughts that I didn’t even hear the door open and close. “Who is that?” His voice, Damien’s, scared me so much that I actually dropped my picture. Without even thinking I brought my leg up and caught it like a hack sack. It was perfectly balanced on my foot, I laughed and It fell on the floor, but not hard enough to break. I picked it up, and looked at him. “I’m sorry I didn’t hear you come in. What did you ask?” He smiled and took the picture from my hands, and pointed at the picture. “Who are they?” I smiled, “Don’t you recognize me?” He shook his head, “It’s ok, I was only eleven when this was taken. It’s a picture of my family, before the accident. I am sitting closest to my mother, and my little sister is near my father.” He looked from my eyes to the picture.”This is your sister?” I nodded, “She looks just like Katie.” I nodded again. “They are quite alike, their eyes …its hard to look at her.” Damien nodded, “So why are you in foster care?” I took the picture frame back and put it on my dresser, and sat on my bed. “Right to the point, I like that. I am in foster care because my family was killed, but I survived. None of my relatives wanted me, thinking I was a bad omen or something like that, so I was put into foster care at age eleven.”
To pass the time, I made Damien help me put up all of my posters; even had him help me set up my knickknacks, and other photos. After that was done, Damien and I just sat on my bed and talked about music, hobbies, and other things as well. He was surprisingly like me. We were both into the same type of music, and clothing stores; Hot Topic and Spencers. A few minutes passed, and I noticed that we were getting closer to each other. I swore silently when I realized that he was going to lean in a kiss. I got hurt plenty of times in my life to know that getting involved with Damien would be a train wreck. I argued with myself a few seconds on rather or not to let him kiss me. Before I could even chose to lean in, or back away, his lips were on mine. His kisses started off gentle and then became more demanding, I felt him gently push me down onto the bed.
My mind was racing. He shouldn’t be doing this, we shouldn’t be doing this. I am his foster sister; we shouldn’t be touching each other this way. I broke the kiss the instant I felt his hand start to pull my shirt up. I pushed him off of me with some force. When I looked at him, I saw that his eyes were glazed over and I knew that it wasn’t his fault. “You should go. I have to meet your mother.” Damien nodded with a hurt expression and got up. My eyes never left him as he walked out the door. Once he was gone I groaned, dang, he was a great kisser! I definitely had to be on my guard when I was alone with Damien that was for sure. I straightened my clothes, brushed my hair, and then went down the stairs to Kim.

Chapter 2
I found Kim at the dining table, reading a book. She has probably been reading the book while waiting for me to come down the stairs. A blush climbed to my face when I thought of what was keeping me. When she saw me she smiled and put down her book. “Hello Taya, do you like your room?” I nodded and sat down, “It’s definitely bigger than my other rooms”. The next like half an hour was boring; Kim just droning on and on about the rules in the household, and such. When she was done, and I was excused I remember my cigarettes upstairs. “Kim, would it offend you, or Jim, if I smoked while on your property? It will only be cigarettes.” She looked at me with a smile, “Oh dear, it is quite alright. Damien smokes as well, although I feel otherwise. I hold on to his however, because he has school, and smoking isn’t allowed on school property.” She looked the clock behind me, “Sorry, Taya. That took longer than it should have. Go on up to your room now, Dinner is going t be soon.” I nodded and headed for the stairs, but I stopped when I heard the door bell.
I figured since I was the closest I should get it. I turned around and opened the door. There was a nice looking young man, around the same age as Damien, standing before me. We stood there for a moment just checking each other out. I spoke first, “May I help you?”He met my gaze, “Lady, there are a lot of things you can help me with…That is for sure.” I smiled and put my hand on my hip, “That is such a lame pickup line. So what or who are you here for?” Just as he opened his mouth to answer, I heard Damien’s voice behind me. “Sam, you’re late.” I looked at Sam, and caught him checking me out. He ignored Damien and looked at me, “Not bad, not bad at all. So what are you doing later?” I noticed Damien’s hand close into a fist as Sam grabbed my hand and kissed the back of it. I couldn’t hide my blush. Our gazes locked, and I realized what I was doing and took my hand back. “Not you.” I turned around and kissed Damien. I knew I caught him off guard with the kiss because he tensed for a moment. I broke off the kiss and turned back to Sam, “My name is Taya, and you’re not worth my time.” With that I turned and left.
Dinner time rolled around quicker than I anticipated. By then Sam had already left, so dinner wasn’t that awkward. We mainly talked about me, and school. My schedule for my last year would be fairly easy, mostly art classes and government and economics. They asked what I was into, my past; I barely answered any questions in that category, so it was a pretty quiet dinner.
Chapter 3
The next day at school, I was being followed by a line of hot guys; the downside was that they were all younger than me therefore off limits. It sucks being nineteen, almost everyone around me was younger than me, and I preferred older guys. Around my last period I couldn’t stand the lack of nicotine in my system, so I skipped my study hall and went underneath the bleaches to light up a cigarette. I heard someone approaching and quickly put out my cigarette and I turned and was almost nose to nose with Damien. “You scared the shit out of me!” I shrieked, grabbing my chest. Damien just looked at me, “Why don’t you date younger guys? You know that I am interested in you right?” I smiled, “I am not interested in going out with you because I live with you. Every other guy here likes me just for my looks, nothing more. That’s what all young guys care about the curves on a girl, nothing more-“ I was interrupted by Damien’s kiss. I didn’t stop the kiss, because I wanted to kiss him so badly. I wrapped my arms around his neck, and deepened our kiss. I nipped his bottom lip with my teeth and giggled when I heard him growl low in his throat. Then I heard someone else approaching, and pulled away from him.
Damien looked at me with questioned expression. I just gestured toward the shadow of a person getting closer, while I was trying to control my breathing. Someone banged on the bleacher, and Damien smiled and repeated the beats. I looked at Damien, “Sam?” Damien nodded and I fixed my clothes and hair. Sam appeared, “Moving kind of fast even for you, aren’t you Damien?” I laughed, “Jealous that I blew you off?” His glare told me that was a ‘yes’. I looked at him, “Sam, why wouldn’t I want to hang out with Damien? He is more of a man than you will ever be.” To my surprise him, he started calling me a slut among other names. I cocked back my arm and let it fly. The next moment Sam was on the ground holding his broken nose.
I crouched down, “Hold your head back, and hold this to your nose.” I handed him some tissues. “Now I am going to reset your nose, it’s going to hurt like a bitch.” He nodded; I grabbed his nose, and cracked them back into place. He grunted and tears sprang to his eyes. “That was a warning Sam. Next time I won’t hold myself back from beating your ass to a pulp.” With that I stood up, kissed Damien’s cheek and left for the busses.
Chapter 4
That night in my room, I kept seeing the same car go by and guys hanging outside the windows with flashlights aimed at the house, specifically my room. The moonlight was shining off f the car, and I instantly thought of the car I saw the night before each of the accidents. It got to the point where my heart was beating so bad that I actually went next door to Damien’s room. I walked in, and Damien was shirtless, and on his bed snoring. I smiled, he looked so comfy. I walked over to his bed, and I bent down and kissed his lips, his cheek, his neck, he started waking up, and I took the chance to bite his neck. I can’t deny that I wanted to do more than that, but I knew I shouldn’t. He looked up at me, and smiled. “Am I still dreaming, or are you actually here?” I laughed and got on him, we started kissing, and I forgot all about the car. I got distracted from kissing him by a flash of light distracted me for a moment, long enough to remember the reason why I came into his room. I sat up, still straddling him. “Damien the reason why I came in here is because someone has been checking out the house.” The flashlight shown through again, I looked down at him, knowing that he saw it too. “I think I am starting to like you Damien.” I said as I arched up, making him moan. I laughed, and then all hell broke loose.
The front door slammed open, and Katie screamed for Kim, something smashed. Damien and I looked at each other, with fear in our eyes, we started to get up, then noticed that his door was slowly started to opening. I saw a gun, and I grabbed Damien and pulled him off his bed with me, just as it went off. Damien was hit. I turned him over and saw a dart in his back, not a bullet hole. I sighed with relief then looked up at the guy who held the gun. There was something about his eyes that looked so familiar, but before I could even speak I was hit with a similar dart.
Chapter 5
I woke up on Damien’s bed, groggy as all hell. I looked around the room, and there was a guy sitting in Damien’s computer chair, just staring at me. I pulled Damien’s blanket closer to me, too afraid to speak. The guy’s stare was sending chills down my spine. He seemed familiar to me, but I couldn’t place it. A few moments passed and I was getting sick of the guy staring.”W-Where is Damien? And what the fuck did you shoot us with? Why are you staring at me like that?” I was still wearing my sports bra and short shorts, there was enough skin showing t make any straight guy stare, but this guy wasn’t looking at my body; he was looking at my face. I eventually got enough courage to stand up. I realized to soon that I stood up too fast and was too dizzy to stand up, and ended up falling back into Damien’s bed. The guy smiled, “I shot you both with a tranquilizer, it made it a lot easier and safer to get that boy away from you without harming either of you.” He came and sat on the far corner of the bed. “As for where he is, he is safe as well as his other family members.” He tried getting closer to me, but I scooted further away from him. “Who are you anyway? And what do you want?” He smiled, “My name is Michael, and I want you.” I was shocked, why did he tell me his name? “Why do you want me? I am nothing special.” Michael made a face, “You-“He stopped mid-sentence, and walked out the door. I was alone again, and my mind was racing with worry for my family, but mainly for Katie and Damien.
I woke up to the door opening, and Michael came in. Instantly I was alert. “Are you the one that killed my family? Did you kill all those foster families?” I feared his answer, but I had to ask. If he did kill all of those innocent people, then I would be more terrified, fearing for my life. Michael looked at me, and shook his head. “I am not the one that killed your family, or your foster families, but I do know who did. Those killings Is why I am here now. I am also surprised that you haven’t figured out who I am yet, or who the real killer is.” He took my hand, “Taya, do you really not recognize me? My Yaya, how can you not remember?” I shook my head, “how do you know me? How do you know my nickname?” he sighed, “I know you were young, but still. I guess I will have to be patient with your poor memory.” He got up, “Do you want something to eat, or drink?” I nodded, just as my stomach growled, and he laughed. I was starting to remember him! I jumped up from the bed, making the connection. Only three people called me Yaya. And they were all dead. My mother, my father, and Mikey, were all dead. ”N-N-NO!” I shouted, and ran to the window, “You’re dead! You can’t be here!” I felt hot tears running down my face.
Chapter 6
Michael Rawlins, the only friend that I had when I was growing up, and he died. I lived in the city as a kid, and there were occasional gunfights on the street. On my way home from school, he walked with me, but only I made it home. He got shot, and was bleeding so bad. I called for help, and while we were waiting I told him how I felt about him; that I loved him. He was always there for me. He treated me like a princess and he was taken out of my hands by the paramedics, and they wouldn’t let me ride with him. I was only ten, my eleventh birthday was in a few days, and he was thirteen. My only friend was dead, because I wanted to tell him my feelings. But he wasn’t dead; he was sitting on Damien’s bed. I got up from the bed, and walked over to the window. I looked at him and I started sobbing so bad that my stomach started hurting.
He came over to me, and hugged me. “I knew you would remember me eventually.” He kissed my forehead. “Why didn’t you let me know you were ok?” I asked, the sobbing slowly coming to stop. He held me away from him, and dried my tears with the pad of his thumb. “I tried, but my father wouldn’t let me out of the house for the longest time, he even took the phone away. By the time I got free from my dad you were taken out of town, and was put in a foster home. I been trying to find you ever since.” I looked at him, “Why?” he looked down at me, “So I can do this.” With that he kissed me. Without really thinking, I got closer to him, and deepened our kiss. Then I felt the handle of his gun and pulled away.
“So what do you want with me?” I said as I took a step away from him. He cleared his throat, “I want to take you with me.” I laughed, “I barely know you anymore, I mean you’re like twenty-two. We were so young.” I shook my head, “Why am I being nice to you, I don’t even know if my foster family is alive.” He sighed and touched my face. “Do you want to see them?” I nodded, “Yes, but after I change.”
Five minutes later, he took me to Kim’s room. He put on a ski mask that was in his back pocket, and opened the door. Kim, Jim, and Katie were all in the bed hugging, Damien was pacing back and forth. I looked at Michael, and whispered, “Can I see them alone I will knock on the door when I am done.” He nodded stiffly and went out the door. The door clicked shut and locked, Damien waited for the door to be locked before he rushed over to me. “Are you ok? I didn’t know what they had done to you, if you were even still alive, if he killed you. I was worried sick, and then Katie started balling her eyes out.” He ran his hands through his hair, “What are they planning on doing with us, with you?” I looked from his family, back to him. “They want me. You and your family will be fine, he just wants me.” I walked over to the bed and took Katie in my arms. I tried to sooth her sobs by whispering comforting words. Her sobs stopped not too long after that, and then I started to say my goodbyes, and Katie started crying again, even Damien looked like he was going to cry.
“Katie, I will be fine. Please don’t worry about me, OK? I know him, they won’t hurt me. We will see each other again, baby girl.” I kissed her forehead. Then I went to Kim. I thanked her, and Jim for letting me stay with her and told them that I know the people that was holding all of us, and that they won’t hurt them, or me. I even told them that the only reason why they used force was to ensure no resistance. I gave her a hug, I finally went to Damien. I gave him a hug, and kissed him, and ignored Kim’s gasp.“I will miss you, but I am glad that I am not dating you.” He asked why, “Because this would be so much harder than it already is.” I gave him a smile and kissed his cheek, “Goodbye for now Damien. You are a great guy you know. Any girl your age would be lucky to have you.” I knocked on the door and Michael pulled me threw just as Damien charged at the door.
He locked the door again and started walking away. Damien was begging me to not do this, and banging on the door. In ten minutes, Damien’s shouts stopped, and in twenty minutes, I was done packing, and Michael and I were getting ready to leave. Michael left me alone with one of his men while he went to unlock their door, and then we went outside, off their property to wait for our ride. It was still dark outside, this whole thing felt so wrong to me.
Chapter 7
Michael and I sat in silence, waiting for the car. When I got so sick of hearing frogs and annoying crickets, I spoke. “So why did you come for me? And where did you know where to find me?”Michael looked at me, “I came to save you and your foster family from the person who is responsible for all of those killings. As for your other question I hacked into your record.” I smiled and looked down at my lap, “All of that trouble for a childhood friend?” Michael gently forced my head to look up to him, “For a childhood crush,” he corrected. I laughed, and playfully hit his shoulder. A few moments passed and we just started kissing.
We were on the side of the road, not even a half mile away from Damien’s house. I almost laughed at the irony knowing that Damien wouldn’t let me go, and I was right under his nose. I grabbed Michael’s black shirt and tugged him toward me as I slowly laid down in the leaves and grass. He got on top of me; his lips never left my skin. He nipped my bottom lip, my ear, and bit my neck, sending shivers all the way down to my toes. I had to admit he was an amazing kisser. I also had to admit that I did feel like a slut, I was falling for two different guys. Damien which was all about the physical relationship, and then Michael who knew more about me than anyone else could. My heart was stuck in the middle of two amazing hot guys.

I knew what I was doing; I was testing the power I had over him. I wanted to see how far he would let me go, and to see my effect I had over him. I wrapped my legs around his waist, and raked my nails against his back. I arched up and smiled when I felt the bulge in his pants. I uncurled my legs and pulled away from him. “Tease,” he said, as he ran his hand through his hair. I laughed, “I am not going there with the guy who picked on me for every little thing I said or did. Besides, you are supposed to be dead.” He laughed, “That was a long time ago, Yaya. We aren’t those little kids anymore, and I am not dead. You should be able to tell that I am quite alive. Do I look like the undead?” I shook my head, “Yeah, I guess we aren’t those little kids anymore, because you surely didn’t have those arms when you were thirteen.” I held my hand up and lightly touched his muscles. A car pulled up, and we got up. The driver got out and started whispering to Mike, we got in and drove off. The windows of the van were all black, maybe so I wouldn’t or couldn’t see where we were going. It didn’t matter anyway because my thoughts were focused on Damien. I wanted, and needed to make sure that he was alright, that Katie was alright. I had this sickening feeling that something bad was going to happen and I just hoped that it wasn’t going to be them who got hurt.
Mikey told me to put a hat on. The hat that he handed me was too big for me and towered over my eyes, and hid my face. It was just what they wanted. Michael gently grabbed my elbow and led me to the room. He took off the hat, and kissed me. When he stepped away from me I took in my surroundings.
The room was a standard hotel room, two beds perfectly made, a television set, a few lamps, and a bathroom. At least this one had paintings overhead. I secretly wondered what floor we were on, and if it was a long drop down to safety. I felt Michael’s eyes on me. I brought my gaze up to his, and almost gasped. His eyes were shining with desire. It was my only playing card left, and I was going to play it hard.
I stood on my tiptoes and wrapped my arms around his neck. He pulled me closer to him, and deepened the kiss. I broke away from his mouth long enough to take one last look into his deep gaze. I kissed him again, and then backed away slowly undoing my shirt buttons. I walked over to one of the beds, and took off my shirt. Mikey was still right in the doorway. I gestured him to come closer to me, and he did. His eyes never left me. I undid my jeans, and slid out of them and got on the bed, Mickey followed me onto the bed. He kissed my neck, “Are you sure, Yaya?” He asked while absent mindedly rubbing my leg. I nodded, and he kissed me urgently. He unsnapped my bra, and peeled it off of my shoulders. I smiled at his expression, and wrapped my legs around his waist, and pulled him towards me.
Chapter 8
~Damien~
I was pacing, furious. Taya came into my room scared. I thought that I could protect her from anything while she was in my arms. Of course I never said this to her because it might have scared her off. She seemed utterly content while in my arms, but these men interrupted us, and shot us both with knock out darts. I looked over at my parent’s bed. My baby sister was sitting in between our parents crying. She was so frightened by the men, and what they could do to Taya. She was probably being forced to do unnamable things for the other men, as well as their leader. My heart clenched as my thoughts got more morbid.
I heard footsteps approaching, but said nothing to my family. They were better off on the other side of the bed. The door unlocked and the masked man, the leader, came inside. He looked from my face to people on the bed, then he went back through the door. The door was still opened, but I doubted that it was for our exit. A shadow proved me right, another person was coming in. I held my breath. I was silently praying that he was letting Taya in here with us.
I knew it was her, I knew it the instant I saw her shoes. Still I didn’t move. I looked into her eyes, and saw no signs of torture. I didn’t buy into it, he hurt her. By the way they barged into their home just to get her, they must have done something to her.
The guy shut the door, leaving Taya in the room with us. The moment the door shut and locked, I went to her.
She said that she knew him; the leader, and that we would be fine if we let her go. For some reason my mind never left the image of the man in charge was lodged in my brain. The man in charge was taller than me, and I was about six feet! He also had some major arm muscles that could not go unnoticed by another guy. I knew how Taya likes the older guys, and muscles, so I really didn’t want to think on what that guy and her were doing. It would hurt too much, thinking about her being with someone else. I just watched Taya as she calmed Katie, and dimmed my mother’s worries in a short amount of time. Then she came up to me. After kissing me, and telling me how great of a guy I am, I realized what she was doing. She was saying goodbye.
She went through the door, and I realized that I couldn’t and wouldn’t let her go. As the door locked into place I realized that I loved her. I yelled, and begged for her not to leave, to not give in to these mad men. I was ignored.
A few minutes passed, and I heard nothing through the house. I heard no footsteps, or talking, I heard nothing but the slow ticking of the clocks. I tried to the door knob. To my surprise, the door opened.
We all filed out, taking great care to listen very carefully for any signs from the intruders. The house was deserted. In a half hour, we all took showers, and mom called the police. Mom called my name and I left Taya’s room, and went downstairs. The cops were here, and were asking me questions on what happened. I told them the truth, that she went willingly and that she knew them. I also told them that her other foster families’ deaths was not accidents but murder. The cops jotted down my statement and then left after saying a few more things to my dad. I couldn’t go to sleep; I was too worried about her to fall asleep. It felt like my heart was getting ripped apart. I loved her. I loved her, and I knew that she loved me, and my family. If she didn’t then she wouldn’t have done what she did. My thoughts were still circling around her when sleep claimed me.
The next day, mom let Katie and I stay home from school, and the next. When we had to go back to school, all my friends had already heard what had happened. Even Sam was upset, well, he was upset because she was gone and he couldn’t get in her pants. I can’t lie and say that Sam’s reaction didn’t’ piss me ff. It took all I had not to beat Sam to nothing. However, I knew that getting in a fight with Sam wouldn’t help me find Taya. Now that the cops were called it shouldn’t be long, I even gave them the latest picture of her. I wanted to go and find her by myself and challenge the bastard who took the girl that I loved, but I had no way to find her. I just couldn’t get her out of my mind. It was going to drive me insane. Memories of Taya swarmed my brain. The first time I saw her, the first time we kissed, her laugh. I missed and loved her more than any other girl I knew. The phone rang, taking me out of my daze.
Chapter 9
~Taya~
I woke up naked in Michael’s arms. I smiled, as I recalled what happened last night. It definitely made the top three favorite nights I had ever experienced, that was for sure. I had an overwhelming urge to call Damien. I suppressed it long enough to get free of Michael’s grasp, and off the bed. I even took a nice long hot shower. But he was still on my mind. I went to the hotel phone, and stared at the phone. I remembered their number by heart. I could picture myself actually calling him, hearing his voice. The thoughts of talking to Damien only got sweeter and sweeter the longer that I thought about it.
I started dialing his number. I just hoped he was alright. It rang a few times then I heard his voice.
“Hello?” He said gruffly.
“Damien?” I whispered.
I didn’t want to wake Michael. He would have a fit if he knew I was calling them. Damien asked where I was, what was going on, and some other questions. I ignored his questions.
“Damien, I miss you. Are you all alright?” I whispered, carefully watching Michael’s breathing pattern.
“We are worried out of our minds! Where are you? I haven’t been able to get you off of my mind. I miss you too, and Taya?” He really missed me, it startled me.
“Yeah?” I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what was on his mind at this moment.
“I love you.” It took a moment for those three words to sink in. When they did I wanted to jump in happiness. I loved Damien the first time he kissed me. I was just denying myself what I wanted because I feared for his death.
Michael stirred, “Listen Damien, I am fine I just wanted you to know. And, I love you too, but I got to go. I miss you and Katie, but you are better off without me living there. Bye for now.” I hung up. I got up and walked to the other side of the bed and started kissing his neck, cheek, and lips. He started to wake up more. He opened his eyes and smiled when he saw me. Thirty minutes later, we were all back on the road.
Something was wrong. He wasn’t talking to me. I felt like I was invisible. I tapped his shoulder and he just shrugged my hand away. I feared that he found out that I called Damien. Eventually, we stopped. I looked out the window, we were at a gas station, and we all took a few minutes to go to the restrooms. I was being watched like a hawk; Michael had made some of his guys wait directly outside the women’s restroom. I didn’t care. I was going to cooperate with them at all. After what happened last night at the hotel room and how I was being treated now, Michael would be lucky if I even looked at him for the next few days. Let alone do what he asks.
When I was done with my business, Michael actually spoke to me for the first time in like three hours. It was only if I wanted something to eat, but it was words that were directed to me. I wanted to answer him, I wanted to kiss him, and many other things, but I had more pride and honor to do that. Therefore, I didn’t answer him. He asked a few times, and I ignored him. I checked out my ruined manicure, and just shrugged away when he tried to touch me. He got frustrated and waved Ethan over. Ethan asked me the same question, and I answered him. Michael looked at me, with anger in his eyes.
“Taya, what would you like to eat?” he asked, his gaze narrowing. I knew he demanded an answer, but I couldn’t give that to him. If he was going to ignore me for three hours, I can do just the same to him.
My response was walking over to Ethan and looping our arms. “Hey Ethan, what can I have to munch and drink?” Ethan looked from me to Michael, with a frightened glance. I saw his worried expression and dismissed Michael. “Oh, don’t worry about him. I am through with him, rather he likes it or not. So what can I get?” Ethan looked at Michael, and Michael shrugged. Ethan escorted me into the store. Once Michael was out of earshot, he turned on me.
“What was that all about? Do you want Michael to kill me? He has killed for a lot less!”He said, his anger taking over me.
“Ethan, calm down. He won’t do anything to you. He will most likely strangle me, and accuse you of sleeping with me. Even though that’s not logically possible since I haven’t been left alone with you. Even now, we aren’t left alone. Nate is in the corner of the store, and Frank is in the front of the store.” Ethan nodded, and then looked out the window at Michael. “So why are you doing this?” I smiled and walked down the chips aisle. I picked out some Salt and Vinegar chips before answering him. “He is ignoring me, and I hate being ignored. Do you know why he is acting like this?” I went to the fridges, he followed close on my heels, I stopped in front of one of them and grabbed a cola.
“He got information from a contact. Apparently that kid at the house really likes you. He told the police everything, including the old stories about your childhood, which automatically linked Mickey to you. Now the police did some digging up information on him. His dad found out and, well, his dad was upset that he talked to you.” I gaped, “The cops talked to Charlie?” He nodded. “No wonder he is pissed.” Ethan looked confused so I explained further. “His dad hates me with a passion. I never knew why.” I shrugged and we both headed for the cashier.
Chapter 10
Back in the van, Michael was starting to talk to me again. He was requesting information on Damien, which I wouldn’t give. He got frustrated and gave up for a few minutes than went at it by a different angle. He tried to get me talking about the other family members, but I still wouldn’t budge. I wouldn’t speak, wouldn’t look at him, I even leaned away when he tried to touch me. I just kept my head down, and quieted my mind. They were persistent I had to give them that. They didn’t give up for what seemed to be an hour. Someone even tried tickling me, but I was too far gone in my thoughts.
In my mind, I was back at my real home; with Abbey, mom and dad. I was back to the times when I was actually happy. I thought of my last Christmas with them. I was forced awake by Abbey’s fists on my door, like an annoying alarm clock that didn’t have a snooze button. I woke up smiling, and went downstairs. I got what I wanted; a camera, one of the professional ones, and Katie got her dolls. The picture in my mind changed from that Christmas, to the accident. I felt like someone punched me in the stomach, I felt my warm tears running from my eyes.
I snapped back into present time, just to see Michael close to my face, with a concerned expression. I wiped away my tears, and shifted away from him. I huddled myself in the corner of the van; distancing myself from the guys, and cried out my pain from losing Abbey, and my parents. It felt like I lost her all over again. I sat in the corner, quietly cried until we reached anther hotel.
I clung to Ethan, trying desperately to stay away from Michael. He was my only link to my past. If he was gone, my memories would quit haunting me. That was just a theory. Michael let me sleep in Ethan’s hotel room, because every time that he made an effort to reach for me I would cry out and hid behind Ethan. He met my gaze, and I guess that he saw the raw pain, and suffering that I felt on the inside, because he stopped reaching for me.
Once Ethan and I were in the hotel room, I ran for the bathroom. I took a nice hot shower, and cried the entire time. When I started to get dizzy from all of the steam, I got out.
I hated this whole situation, I hated the pain, I hated the guys who kept me here, when all I wanted to do was run from it all. Ethan was on the bed, spread out, and his eyes were closed. I walked over to the other bed and sat down. Ethan looked over, “So, why did you want to stay with me?” I looked him, his green eyes shining bright. “Michael brings back hard memories. I don’t want to face them right now.” With that I gave him my back, and slept.
I dreamed of Abbey. Her eyes shining, her laughter, her smile, was all taunting me. I sat upright, someone was touching me.
Chapter 11
I bolted upright, only to find that Ethan was looming over me. I looked at him, his eyes were distant. “Ethan?” He shook his head, and sat down next to me. He didn’t speak to me, he just looked at me. “Ethan?” I tried to get him to snap out of what he was thinking about, and to focus on me. I reached out and gently touched his face. He blinked repeatedly, and looked at me.
“Taya? I think that it’s time that you go to Michael’s room. “ I nodded, and kissed his cheek. I really didn’t want to go to Michael’s room, I didn’t want to deal with him, but Ethan was creeping me out. I was still mad at Michael for ignoring me earlier, but I can’t stay mad at him forever. Ethan walked me over to Michael’s room and stood in front of me, making sure that Michael only saw him. I heard his footsteps approaching the door, and then Michael unlocking the door.
He was still as gorgeous as ever. He answered the door, basically naked. He was bare-chested, and had a towel wrapped around his lower half. I gasped, and couldn’t take my eyes off of his stomach. I noticed his lips twitching; he wanted to smile at me gawking at him. Michael nodded at Ethan and I and opened up the door further, letting us by.
It was a hotel room, similar to Ethan’s, except Michael’s was a little messier. I giggled when I watched Michael try to clean up a bit, and his towel fell. Ethan blocked his eyes with his arm, and tried to block my view of Michael’s butt. I leaned away from his hand, and checked out his ass some more. Michael caught the towel before he turned, and saw my smile. He walked to the bathroom, and shut the door.
“So, why are you two here in my hotel room?” He asked through the bathroom door. I looked at Ethan, and sighed. “I missed you.” I said. Michael opened up the door an inch or two and looked at me. “What was that?” He asked looking deep into my eyes. I sighed again and got closer to him. “I said, I missed you so, I bugged Ethan to bring me back.” He looked at Ethan and Ethan just shrugged, “She hasn’t stopped talking about you since we got into the hotel room.” Shock swept over his face, and his gaze settled on mine. “Really?’ I got even closer to the door, and kissed him eagerly on the lips. I forgot about poor Ethan who was standing behind me, and kissed him. He kissed back, but his mind was trying to keep the door from opening any farther; his towel was gone.
I broke off the kiss, and stepped away from the door. “So, can I stay here for tonight?” He chuckled, “Of course you can. Ethan you can go.” Michael shut the door, which left Ethan and I alone, but in Michael’s hearing range. “Are you going to fine here?” Ethan asked. I nodded, and walked him to the door.
Something unexpected happened right then; blue and red lights were shining through the windows, and we could hear the sirens. Michael must have heard then as well because he came out of the bathroom in just his boxers. He went to the window, and cursed. A big spot light was aimed at the hotel; the cops were here for Michael and the guys, for me.
Chapter 12
My heart was racing as I made the connection. I must have done this, brought this onto Michael, because of that one phone call to Damien. If he ever found out he would surely hate me. I looked at Michael, “They found us.” Michael nodded and he griped the bridge of his nose. “My only question is how they found us? We changed hotels every night and, no one used the hotel phones.” I grimaced on the inside, and he continued. “We didn’t harm anyone. We left your foster family without a hair out of place. Why are they coming after us?” An officer grabbed a loud speaker, “Come out Mr. Santiago, we know you are in there. Come out with your hands up. You should have known we were going to find you, leaving a stream of dead bodies the whole way here.” I looked at Michael shocked. “You killed people?”Michael shook his head, “I would never, and you know that.” He paused a moment; assessing our situation. “Maybe, by a slim chance, they are talking about my father, and not me.” My eyes immediately sought his face, “Your father? Why would he be here?” He just looked at me, and got his pants on. “He wants you, more than anything. He wants you dead, because you are the only living proof of all of the murders he committed.
I gasped, “he wants me dead, after all of these years he still wants me dead.” Michael nodded, “he wants to tie up some loose ends. You were the only one that ever got away from him out of the twenty killings that he has done and only you survived.” I shook my head, “there haven’t been twenty murders. There was only my family, along with three other ones. Not twenty.” Michael put on a shirt, and sat down on the bed to get his shoes on. “He killed twenty people, including the four that you know of. The other ones were people you were close to over the years. The most recent one-“ He looked at me, “you should sit down for this Yaya. I looked from him to Ethan and back again, and shook my head. “Who, who else has he taken from me?” Michael looked at me, sadness covering his face. “He killed Anna.” Hearing those three words felt like a bullet puncturing my skin. No, it couldn’t have been Anna. Not sweet, gentle, caring Anna, I thought to myself. I shook my head, “there has to be some mistake.” Michael was shaking his head before I even finished my sentence. I saw her dead body myself. The sick bastard took pictures of her and sent them to my phone. It was her, Taya.” I fell onto the bed in silence.
At that moment, I vowed to myself that I would never get close to anyone again. I let Anna in when I was only eleven years old. She stood by me when I needed her the most. She helped me weasel out of suspension and expulsion at my schools, she got me into really nice homes in great towns where she believed that I would better myself and get over the deaths of so many people that I let into my heart. I knew that I couldn’t take anymore heart aches. I knew at that moment that I could never fall in love with anyone because they would all get taken from me until Michael’s father was long dead and gone. With a new broken heart I realized that I couldn’t love Damien or even Michael until then. My heart was shattering into a million pieces as, I made these realizations.
Michael and Ethan reached for me at the exact same time, and Ethan pulled back as Michael gave him a death glare. He touched me lightly on the shoulder and said how sorry he was, and I just laughed. I laughed and cried, surprising both of them. I stood up and faced them head on. “You two are so pathetic.” I shouted, not caring if the cops below heard my blow up. “Trying to move in on a young girl that is going through so much, the death of her parents, innocents, and above it all, the only person other than her little sister that she truly ever loved. How dare you, stand in front of me saying you’re sorry! You have no right! You don’t have a clue as to what I went through over the years, the amount of blood and gore that I had to witness because of your father.” I said pointing at Michael. They took a step back away from me, but I wasn’t even close to being done.
“And you,” I said pointing at Ethan, “making moves on a nineteen year old girl, who has two boyfriends, while she is sleeping. How low can you get?” Ethan sent a frightened glance at Michael who turned his head so slowly at Ethan as his mind processed what I had just said. “You made moves onto my girlfriend?” Ethan without missing a beat, held up his hands as Michael got ready to hit Ethan hard in the face. “She obviously didn’t care that much about you or me. If you heard her correctly she did just say that she has two boyfriends, not just one.” Michael lowered his fist and turned towards me. “Two boyfriends?” I nodded, “what you didn’t honestly think that you weren’t the only guy that I had been screwing? You stole me away from my first boyfriend and I needed to get laid and you were here willing enough.” He looked like I just smacked him, I smiled. “To be honest, my actual boyfriend does it better than you.” I said while inspecting my nails. Michael’s face was red from anger, I laughed. “Look at you, getting all upset. You held me prisoner for almost two or three weeks! Do you think that I would fall in love with you just because you screwed me?” Michael opened up his mouth to speak, but silenced himself when he heard approaching footsteps.
I heard three rhythmic beats that were similar to the ones Sam and Damien did to warn each other of their approaching. I smiled, and went to the door. I repeated the beats, and looked through the eyehole. There was Damien, standing in front of multiple cops. I sighed, then I felt rough hands grab my waist and pull me back. I got tense when I saw a knife. “If I cant have you, Yaya no one can. I hope he knows how you feel about him, because you are not going to get the chance to say goodbye to him.” He brought the knife closer to my neck, ready to pull it across my throat and send me back into the arms of my deceased family.
He held the knife so the blade was barely digging into my neck. “Any last words, slut?” I smiled grimly, “Thank you.” He hesitated a moment, then moved the knife from my throat only to stab it in my shoulder. I screamed in pain, I saw the sparkly lights behind my eyelids. In the distance of my now ringing ears, I heard the cops try to break down the door. Michael signaled to Ethan to get the guns. To my surprise he did, he just followed Michael’s orders. I shook my head gently, trying to clear my vision, it only made my headache hurt so much worse. I felt myself drifting away blackness was taking over my vision, then nothing.
Chapter 13
I woke up with a jump, I had a dream that Michael stabbed me. My shoulder was killing me, it hurt so bad, I tried to twist my head around to look at it. Big mistake. My shoulder was covered in my blood, all dried now, and there was a diagonal slit going into my shoulder. It wasn’t a dream, Michael had stabbed me. I smiled; I didn’t think that he had the guts to hurt me, let alone anyone else. I looked around the room, and found that we were in a van, not in the hotel room, or surrounded by cops. When my vision cleared and things weren’t so blurry I took another look around. I saw Michael. He was still wearing his short sleeved blue shirt, and his long blue jeans, but his hair was all messy, like he was stressing out and pulling out his hair. I coughed, my mouth all of a sudden dry. Michael heard me and looked at me.
“Taya, I am so sorry. I just kind of freaked out when I heard the cops at the door. I didn’t mean to stab you. I am really sorry.” Despite the throbbing in my right shoulder, I pushed myself into a sitting position and looked directly at him. “Liar,” Michael shook his head. “You knew exactly what you were doing, and why you were doing it.” He shook his head again, and I continued. “You can’t stand the thought of sharing me with any other guy, but guess what honey. I been with lots of guys, I even slept in the same bed as your friend Ethan.” Michael’s eyes darkened, “see, that right there. You get upset by the thought of it.” His face was getting red again. “Calm down, I was just kidding about the whole Ethan thing.”I looked at the driver’s seat spotted Ethan. I looked back at Michael. “How did we get out?” I looked behind me, there was a moving heap of blankets. I stared at it for a moment, something drawing me to uncover it. Michael grew tense beside me as I reached to do just that. I saw the golden blonde curls and I jumped to the other side of the lump. It was Damien!
~Damien~
I was standing outside of the hotel room, anxious to see if Taya was actually inside. I tapped the door in my special code, hoping that she would get it. I waited for a long moment before I heard her mimic the pattern. I sighed a great deal of relief. She was still alive!!
The cop behind me asked if she was in there, and I nodded. The other officers got into position ready to knock down the door to retrieve Taya, and the criminals. We all stopped in our tracks when Taya screamed in pain. The cops instantly hurried to get the door knocked down, they would have used the key but the manager insisted that he didn’t have a copy or a master key. Taya’s scream stopped and was replaced by a single sob then nothing.
When the door was knocked down, a gun was fired from the inside. I was swept up and brought to the end of the hall by an officer, for safety. Then I watched in horror as one by one the officers fell, their lives being taken away by the bullets that were aimed for the kill. After the last officer went down, a guy from the inside looked out with the gun drawn, checking for other officers. He saw me, and motioned for me to come closer. I shook my head, I was frightened. He held the gun that brought down almost ten officers. He sighed and walked over to me, I cringed against the wall, then at the last moment I thought of Taya. I took a deep breath as the young guy approached. He got right in my face and raised the gun to my head. He just looked at me, stared into my eyes as he cocked the gun. When he was about to pull the trigger I reached up with my left hand and pushed the gun away from my head. The gun went off.
I blinked when the gun went off, but there was one thing I was sure of; I wasn’t hit. I looked down and laughed. The gunman shot himself in the foot! Before the guy could recover from the pain climbing up his leg I grabbed for the gun. Despite the hole through the guy’s foot, he still knocked me out cold when I reached for the gun. The last thing I remember was feeling the warm metal of the gun, and a blow to my head that sent my head reeling.
I was getting shaken, and I was glad. I wanted to be awake, I needed to be awake. I opened my eyes, and almost cried. There, right in front of me, sat Taya. She was still alive, but by the looks of her, not for very long. I opened my mouth to speak but my mouth was too dry. She looked down at me, tears filling her vision. “You came to rescue me didn’t you?” I nodded, still unable to speak. Then, to my amazement, she hit me. Hard. “You dummy!! You could have been killed! What in God’s name were you thinking?” I sat up, slowly. The pain in my ribs was making it hard for me to breath, but I tried not to let that show, there was no need to worry her more. “I wanted to have the chance to say that ‘I love you.’”
The second it was out, I regretted it. She shouted, “No!” and reached for me. She grabbed my shoulders and threw me like I was a ragdoll. When I hit the wall, I heard her scream in pain, I turned and looked at her. I shook with anger as my gaze fell on her leg. There was a knife sticking out of her leg, Michael’s hand still holding onto the handle, his eyes wide with shock.
“Taya, I am so sorry! That was not supposed to happen!” Tears were streaming down her face as she went to pull the knife out. I raced over to her side. “No, don’t pull it out. It may have nicked an artery.” She nodded, and I turned to the asshole. “She has to go to the hospital, she has too many stab wounds and she may have lost too much blood by the looks of her shoulder. Michael shook his head, “no hospitals.” I asked him why and I wanted to smack him. His answer was so selfish; it was basically that he didn’t want to get caught. I laughed, “Well you should have thought about that before your guy shot the cops dumbass! I was there to get Taya out safely, and you and you ‘helpers’ was only going to have to serve weekends for two months. Now, that they are all dead, you are screwed! So, why not just make sure that the woman we both love lives long enough to see the next sunrise?” Michael looked at Taya again, scanned over her bloodied form, and nodded.
Epilogue
~Taya~
A few days after Michael, Ethan, and his father were jailed for their crimes, was I treated for my stab wounds. I left immediately from the hospital and left for the wake. Anne was really dead. The only friend that I kept for more than a year was dead, because of me. I dressed in a strapless black dress that went to my ankles with a slit up my knees, my brown hair held up in a messy bun and flat shoes. I descended the hospital stairs, and was met at the doors by Damien. He looked so much better; the haunted expression from seeing so many officers being shot down by Ethan was slowly fading. Damien kissed my temple and grabbed my hand. Together we walked towards his mother’s car hand in hand looking for a better year than the one we just shared.
The wake was a tear fest. Everyone was crying, including me. Damien just came for me as a moral support, a shoulder to cry on so to speak. However, the people sharing happy memories of Anna were interrupted by an officer showing up. He looked around the room, and once he spotted me he walked towards me. I stood up, taking Damien with me.
“Taya Siros?” I nodded, not wanting to hear what came next. Judging by his face, this was not good news. “I am terribly sorry to be the one to tell you this, especially on such a hard time as this.” I nodded, “officer I would much appreciate it if you just told me out front instead of beating around the bush.”The officer nodded, and took a breath. “Michael and Charles Santiago, as well as Ethan Hopkins have escaped from their jail cells early this morning.” I grabbed a hold of Damien’s shoulder for support as he continued. “I was ordered here to be you guard for the time being until they are all apprehended.” I wasn’t looking at him. I wasn’t even looking at my beautiful, handsome boyfriend. I was looking out the window, and into the evil faces of Michael and Charles Santiago. They were here, and they were both determined to kill me.

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Tag der Veröffentlichung: 19.09.2010

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