A/N: This chapter is disturbing. I think this might be the last disturbing one…but don’t quote me on that. It has some graphic words and uncomfortable subject matter. It also uses different POV’s which are clearly indicated with the name of the character in bold followed by a colon.

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Vince:

Her eyes were blazing with anger and fury now. They had been shining with tears. She had little clear patches on her skin from the tears washing away the dirt on her cheeks. The duct tape around her mouth had to be itching, pulling at her skin. She struggled against it, but I had wrapped it almost entirely around her head. Getting it off without hands was going to be about impossible. Her hands were bound in front of her. I took her hair out of the bun and fixed it the way my mother used to. I even had an old pair of her glasses that I stuck on her head. The resemblance was just uncanny.

I chuckled as I watched her glare daggers in my direction.

“You know, I bet you’re wishing right now that you had never tried to seduce me. If you hadn’t done that…I never would have paid you any attention,” I closed the gap between us and stroked her cheek, “you just look so much like her. You like how she should have looked…before the madness took hold. Who, you ask? My mother. My dear mother, Charlie. I love you…and I hate you.”

As I let go of her, she scrambled away to a corner of the room I was keeping her in. I kept her legs unbound. I had taken her to the warehouse and put her in the room inside the wall. Even if the police somehow traced her here…they still wouldn’t find her. I had cleared out the room and had a nice bed put in, a wash basin, a mirror and anything else I could think of that would make Camille feel at home.

I had told Angela that I was going on a business trip and had spent untold days with Camille here. I was going to break her, like I had broken her sister. The only problem was that Camille was a great deal stronger in spirit than Angela. When I first came into the room she threw herself on top of me and tried to subdue me. Given that I have a good deal of height and weight on her and that I have spent years honing my athleticism, I was easily able to subdue her. That little outburst led to her being bound. When I tried to stroke her cheek and she bit me, that led to her being gagged with duct tape.

She was resisting me, but it was only a matter of time.

“You know…I bet you’re just kicking yourself. The funny thing is…your brother let you do this! Your silly, stupid brother…he think he’s a real man. He thinks he’s going to defeat me. He has no idea what he’s doing. He’s a little boy. You think I don’t know about your family history? Ha! Your brother had to become the man of the house at a tender young age. Oh, boohoo! You people…you stupid green Moss people…you have no fucking clue what pain is.”

I got down on my knees and right up in her face as I started to scream.

“My father never even saw me until they came to took her away. My father left my trainwreck mother when he had the first oppotunity! SHE LOVED ME AT LEAST! Why do you look like her? WHY DO YOU LOOK LIKE HER? STOP IT! STOP LOOKING LIKE HER! You don’t get to do that. You don’t deserve it! STOP TRYING TO BE MY MOTHER!’

I breathed in an out for a moment before pulling her to her feet. I pulled her close to me and kissed her lips through the duct tape before pushing her back down to the floor.

* * *

Angela:


Do you have any idea what it is like, knowing that a person you loved more than anything else in the world is somehow a monster? Who the hell did I marry? I replay the first time I met Vince over and over again in my head…and each time I feel like I can see more and more of the monster peaking through.

I looked at myself in the mirror for the first time in years today…I mean really looked. I didn’t recognize myself. These stupid fake nails, the barely there nude make up, the long hair hanging down…the drab black, white and grey clothes. Who am I? What did he do to me?

I loved him, I can still remember it. He was so charming and so perfect. Maybe that was the problem…he was too perfect. I’m sure that is what Seeley saw. I had pushed away his ideas about my husband…how wrong was I?

There was that picture, the one Seeley showed me. It showed a man wearing a mask on a bed with a scantily clad lady. It was grainy and in black and white…but I knew. I’ve been married to him for years now and been pregnant twice…trust me when I say that I would know the body of my husband anywhere. It was him. Mask or no mask, that was my husband…and that led to so many more questions. Excluding the questions of fidelity…why was he wearing a burglar’s mask? When was this taken? Who is the woman?

After seeing that picture, it made me think. I spent the rest of the day barely able to focus on the kids because I was thinking so hard. I was still pregnant then, my little girls hadn’t been born yet. I couldn’t stop seeing the image in my head, it was as though it had been burned into my brain. I had just about convinced myself that it was not real. It was an old, old picture from when Vince was young.

When he got home, he seemed a little nervous about something. He relaxed after he spoke to me, and touched my shoulder. His hand felt heavier than it had before, but that had to be just because I had been so upset this afternoon.

Then, Vince tripped over one of Nines’ toys and fell to the ground. My mind flashed back immediately to the time Vince tripped over the laundry. Everything felt like it was moving in slow motion. It was frightening, my heart burst with fear for my son. I could only watch in horror as Vince opened his mouth and began to scream out our oldest child.

“Leaving your toys all over the floor, huh? You little shit! Damn it, Angela! Keep these little bastards’ room clean!”

Something inside my heart stirred. It was a feeling, a presence that I hadn’t felt for a long time. I felt warmth, instead of cold for the first time in years. My heart felt like it was aflame. I heard a voice in my head, one I hadn’t heard in years.

You are Angela Moss. When are you going to wake up and fight?

I stared at Vince, my heart still blazing with anger. I had never been an angry person. I had never been an extremely passionate person…not like Tempe. I had my passion for art…but I’d always been the quiet one. When I saw Vince screaming at my son, my precious little Nines…I had reached my limit.

I scooped down and picked up Nines, holding him close to my chest. Vince stared at me. I met his eye and stared at him right back.

I’m finished with you, Vince.


Then my precious twins were born. Oh, my beautiful little girls; but, poor Therese. Her father didn’t like the fact that she was born with pointed ears like mine. They ran in my family, it was part of that race of people that we are descended from…Elinthas they’re called. Tempe and Seeley are both more Elinthas than myself, though I have the ears to prove my heritage. Therese was the only one of the kids to show any real signs of being Elinthas. Vince wanted her beautiful ears removed. He said that when babies are born with birth defects, they should be fixed. He didn’t seem to be able to differentiate a cleft palette from the shape of a baby’s ears. I was so completely relieved when the Doctor said that not even the biggest quack surgeon in the world would perform the surgery to change her ears. He even made a comment that the ears are only trimmed on dogs, but it only fell on Vince’s deaf ears.

Therese was beautiful to me.

As each day passed, and as my children got bigger and bigger I began to resent Vince more and more. I didn’t love him anymore. He was a monster.

I couldn’t just divorce him. I know, I know what everyone would be screaming at me to do. They all want me to take my kids and run, run as far away as I can. There’s two problems with that. I know that there’s something else going on. Call it Woman’s Intuition, Mother’s Instinct or just a gut feeling…but my husband is involved with something major. I have to find out what. If I have been a patsy to some sort of illegal activity for all these years…I deserve to know what they are. Plus…I’m a single and uneducated woman with five babies. How can I possibly keep our family supported? My babies deserved better than welfare and section 8 housing. I needed time to figure out how to keep my family afloat. I knew deep in my heart that Vince would never physically harmed us.

In his own…sick way, I know he loves me.

* * *

Vince:


Every night, I crawl into bed next to Camille. I pulled her warm body against mine and kiss her neck.  I run my hands up and down her body, feeling its warmth…its smoothness. Her body is soft and supple and inviting. I had to wonder why she wasn’t married – at least she wasn’t to my knowledge – she would be a godsend for most any man. I caress her body softly, carefully. I don’t hurt her, I don’t molest her and I haven’t raped her. I’m not some common criminal who can’t control himself. No, I’m a man who knows what he wants. I’m willing to work and wait for what I want. I want Camille to give herself to me. I could take her. It would be so easy…no, it’s a gift to be given.

She’d gotten a lot quieter than when she first got here…what has it been…three, four days? We’re in a windowless room, there’s no way of telling. I whisper in her ear how much I want her. I tell her that she’ll be mine, one day. There will come a day when she will give herself to me. Her lack of hostility is a good sign. Her resolve is weakening, another day or two and I’ll be able to remove her gag.

At the risk of sounding like a second-rate comic book villain…resistance is futile.

* * *

Angela:

Local Scientist Missing – Search Ongoing

A local scientist, Camille Moss (daughter of hero firefighters Zoe and Bradley Moss), has been declared a missing person. Moss’ car was found in the parking lot at the local science center, where she is currently employed. The keys were found still in the lock and there were signs of a struggle. Police have been searching for Moss for three days and remain optimistic about finding her. The family is asking for anyone with any information to please come forward. They have also recently issued a plea for the assailant to return Moss to them.

I stopped reading the article. I didn’t want to think the events were related…but Vince went out of town the same day that Camille went missing. I felt angry and I felt hurt that my siblings never told me about Camille disappearing. Had I really been pulled so far out of the family? That changes now. My little sister needed me. It was time I started acting like a big sister.

I picked up the phone dialed Seeley’s number. It rang three times before the line clicked and Molly picked up the phone.

“Hey, Molly, its Ange. Let me talk to Seeley.”