Broken Hearts: Kaleigh's Revenge (Broken Wings Series) (6 page)

“Kaleigh, I am so sorry I listened to my parents. I’m the worst person in the world. You needed me when Kale broke your heart. You needed a friend and I just left you. I understand if you never forgive me.”

“Bridget, you will always be my best friend. Kale is a douche, and I plan to stick his wings down his throat. Do you know he had the nerve to show up at my house, kissing on me and telling me he loves me just to turn around and be on Amelia’s side? He’s probably up there having sex with her and making mutant babies.”

“Funny Kaleigh, but I don’t think you need to be thinking about that right now,” Gabe said, coming up behind me. “We need to save Dean’s daughter.” He heard that. What a great way to start a relationship. I was kissing Kale one night and turned around to kiss his cousin the next. I looked at him and was about to explain, but he stormed off
..

“Go, Kaleigh. I can see you have something for this boy,” Bridget said.

I stood, but hesitated when I saw Lerza sitting there. He looked so bad—like he didn’t have long to live. I was conflicted on what I should do, because Gabe was important to me, but Lerza was technically one of my superiors.

“Kaleigh dear, go after him. I will be just fine.”

I nodded and got up to run after Gabe. When I found him, he was sitting by an old weeping willow tree. I slowly walked to him and sat beside him.

“So, you kissed Kale recently?”

“Yes, I did. He came to me and started talking about how when Cordelia takes over the country we could be together. Yes, I believed him. But I soon found out that he was nothing but a liar. Gabe, you need to understand: I. Hate. Him. I want to kill him; he needs to learn his lesson. Please look at me,” I begged. When he did, I continued. “I’m starting to develop feelings for you. Yes I know that sounds crazy, but I am.”

He looked into my eyes, making me feel safe, wanted. “Kay, just hearing that he kissed you made me jealous. I’ve never been the jealous type, but you brought it out in me.”

He stroked his hand on my face. I closed my eyes and enjoyed his touch. Then a scream rang out and we both jumped up and ran toward the statue. The sight that met us made bile rise in my throat. One of the creatures was biting and spitting hunks of body parts off Lerza. I reacted with my gut and not my head and ran toward the creature and slammed into it. In retaliation, the creature grabbed hold of my leg and bit it. I screamed bloody murder. Damn, that was painful! Then the creature was on top of me, trying to bite my neck. I kicked and screamed for help. The creature’s breath smelled so horrid I felt like throwing up. Just when I was going to give in to the nausea, the creature fell limp on me; his body extremely heavy against me.

“A little help, guys,” I yelled to the others. Gabe kicked the creature off me and continued to kick it in the head.

I struggled to get up and limp over to him to get him to stop. “Gabe.”

He yanked his arm away from me and continued to kick. He was really starting to scare me, but I got up and limped my way to
Lerza. I saw Bridget and Cam sitting next to him, crying. I collapsed onto the ground next to them and looked up at thd statue. I’d heard the stories about thd evil being from my mother. “My dear—dear children, don’t cry. I knew I was going to die. That’s why I asked to you to bring me here. Death is the circle of life. I will be celebrating it when I’m in the afterlife, because my love, Betrica, is there waiting to take me into her arms. Now, promise me that you will stop Amelia. She is nothing but pure evil, and Ithaca’s fate depends on her demise.”

I took his bloody hand and I held it. We had a song in Ithaca that we sung when someone was dying. I’d never sung it, but I knew the words. I looked over at Bridget and Cam and nodded. We all began to sing the song of death. The song was peaceful and it helped the person dying enter the afterlife to accept their fate. Gabe walked over and joined hands with the rest of us and began to sing.

It’s time for you to move on; we will never forget that you’re gone.

Remember us when you’re in that place, always have a smile on your face.

Death is not a punishment; it is a way for you to forget.

All the awful things that have happened, just know you will never be forgotten.

We all watched
Lerza close his eyes and take his last breath. I put my face in my hands and cried. He was such a good king. He didn’t deserve to die such a horrible death. This just pissed me off more and I stood up to walk toward the castle. It was time for me to end this nonsense.

Gabe pulled me back again. “Kaleigh, she will kill you on the spot. What happened to
Lerza was horrible, but you need to stop and think. Your head is full of revenge, and that will only get you killed. I’m not ready to say goodbye to you, so please think before you react.”

I turned and saw tears streaming down his cheeks. Cam and Bridget are crying as well. “
Lerza was a good person; he didn’t deserve that. He was the kindest creature here, and now look at him. You can’t even tell it’s him.  Why, just why?” Gabe grabbed me into a hug and allowed me to cry on his shoulder.

Cameron cleared his throat. “Sorry to interrupt, but we need to bury him. I found a shovel behind the statue. I think he would like to be buried beside it.”

I pulled from Gabe’s arm to nod at Cameron. “Kay, I will help Cam do it. You just sit here with Bridget.”

He walked with Cam around to the back of the statue and I sat next to Bridget, who was sobbing loud. I wrapped my arms around her and held her while we both cried.

She finally spoke up. “Kale killed my brother Eddie. He came into our home and just brutally killed him. He had no reason to do it. That was his best friend and he murdered him. Now this happening with Lerza—I don’t know how much I can take before I go insane.”

“Hey… Do you remember when we were nine and we tried to steal flowers from
Lerza’s yard? He came out and yelled at us. But not even five minutes later, he said we could take as many as we wanted.”

She looked at me and we both laughed. “Yes I do. I was so afraid he was going to turn us into fairy dust.”

“I remember you freaking out,” I said with a nod. “But, see, I got you to laugh. We need to remember our love ones during happy times. Your brother is watching over you right now, he is going to protect you, just as my parents are protecting Cam and I.  So let’s stop thinking about death and think about life, because we still have a long road ahead of us. We need to find and save Cordelia. Can you do that?”

She nodded as we watched Cam and Gabe carry
Lerza’s body. About 10 minutes later they came back and told us it was done.

“So, do you all think we should wait here for Dean and Daniel? They should be here shortly.”

We all agreed to sit and wait for them. I let them all get some sleep behind the trees while I looked out for any intruders. Seeing what those mutant creatures could do frightened me, but if we all used our powers and protected each other, we could win. We needed to win. We needed to survive.

Chapter Ten

Dean

On our way to the castle, Daniel and I witnessed more deaths. We saw a pack of wolves demolish a clan of fallen angels. Even though I wanted to help, drive the blade of my sword into the dogs’ skin, I knew that it would only get me killed and Cordelia needed me—I couldn’t die yet. We hid behind a tree and watched the massacre play out. The group was laughing and having a good time together, despite the war that was going on around them. They weren’t welcome on either side, so they weren’t part of the battle; which was why I was confused as the wolves leaped out of the bushes. Why did Amelia want to hurt them? They weren’t fighting her.

I could hardly blink before the wolves attacked, ripping the fallen ones limb from limb. They hadn’t seen it coming and had absolutely no chance to defend themselves.

I couldn’t take it anymore. I looked away from the gruesome scene and listened to the mix of screams and growls.

When the wolves were gone and the air grew silent, I took a deep breath as Daniel and I peered around the tree. I hung my head at the sight. Heads, arms, legs, feet, and organs were strewn about the ground. After a moment of silence, where I prayed that an Earth Fairy would come upon the dead bodies and make them one with the Earth so they did not die in vain, Daniel put his hand on my shoulder and we continued our journey.

“Dean, are you sure you want to do this; just storm into the castle?”

“Yes, I do. I don’t want any more deaths on my hands. This is what I have to do, even if it will be the death of me.” The closer we became to the castle, the angrier I got as I saw even more mayhem and destruction.

“You know, sometimes I wish you didn’t try and be the hero. It kind of get on my nerves.”

We both laughed, but then I sobered. “If I die, I want you to help Cordelia rule this country.”

“Of course I will, but you will not die anytime soon. I won’t have that.”

We walked in silence, and then I started to feel very sleepy. Before I knew what was happening, I blacked out; Daniel’s shocked face being the last thing I saw.             

“Dad, wake up. We don’t have much time.”

I sat up to see I was looking at my beautiful daughter. “Cordelia, what are you doing here? Where am I?” I smiled, realizing what she’d just said. “Did you just call me Dad?”

She giggled lightly. “Yes, Daddy. I’m in your dreams. I needed to talk to you before you stormed the castle. I need to warn you of what’s going on.”

I grabbed her up into my arms and practically sang inside my head: my daughter is alive! “Are you okay? Has she hurt you?”

“I’m okay, Dad. I’m just a bit beat up and strapped to a table. Zane and True come in to bite me occasionally; they said something about turning me into a vampire. But I don’t think it’s working, even though it hurt really
bad.”             

I was growing angrier by the second. “They will pay for that,” I seethed. “I wish I didn’t give you away, Angel, but you see why I did it.”

“Great choice on the wife, Dad,” she quipped. “Your parents must have been proud of you.”

“Hey now, she wasn’t always evil. Believe it or not, she was shy once.”
             

“What happened to make her the way she is?”

“She was bullied at school, just like you were. The kids would put gum in her hair, trip her, and even dumped ice water on her. I think it scared her for life.”

She had tears in her eyes. “Dad, what if I turn out like that—evil and power hungry?”

“You’re way stronger than your mother. I don’t think you could hurt a fly.”

She nodded. “She knows I’ve visited people in their dreams, so I need to be quick. She has sent wolves, vampires, and even Kale and Anna out to capture you all. I do know Cam escaped, because she took it out on me. They are not going to kill you, but they are to kill everyone else. Her plan is that she needs your wings for the ritual. That’s the last ingredient she needs for the spell. Then after the ritual, she will have all my powers, Dad.” I looked at her in shock as her words sunk in. She chuckled. “Yes, I have your powers as well. If that happens, I’ll never be able to defeat her and save Ithaca. So please, I beg you, stay away from the castle until the blood moon passes in 12 hours. If she cannot perform the ritual, she will have to wait 13 years for the next blood moon. Then we will have time to take her down. Please, Dad, just
find everyone, hide out, and wait. I don’t want to lose you either. I love you.”

I squeezed her tight; I didn’t want to let her go. “Okay, I will do as you wish. I will stay away. I will go find Kaleigh and the gang, and we will lay low.” She looked up into my eyes and I wanted to cry because I knew my baby girl was getting hurt because of me. “I love you, too, sweet girl.”

“Dean! Come on, Brother. You need to wake the hell up.”

I woke up as I felt Daniel’s palm connect with my face in a hard slap. “Dude, I was talking to my daughter. She came to me in my dreams and told me to stay away from the castle—that my wing is the last ingredient Amelia needs for the ritual. We have 12 hours, or so, and the blood moon will be gone. Once it’s over, Amelia can’t do the ritual for 13 more years.”

“Dean, I know she is your daughter, but are you sure this isn’t a trick?”

I was taken aback by what my brother just said. “Yes. I believe my daughter. She is up in that damn castle, being used as a toy in my wife’s games. So,
yes
, I will believe what she says to me. If that bothers you, then leave and don’t come back.”

“Whoa! I didn’t mean to get you upset. At this point, I’m having a hard time believing anyone. Tell me what we need to do.”

We started to walk to where I told Kaleigh to meet us and explained to him that we needed to find them and hide for 12 hours or more. Then we would storm the castle and fight. I just wanted to keep us all safe and I hoped everyone was okay. On the way there, we ran into Arabella walking on a path. She explained to us that death was all around us. Angels had their wings torn out. Fairies had practically been obliterated. Witches had been disintegrated by lightning bolts. Even some of the gnome servants, who were employed by some of the higher beings to care for their homes had been killed.