Max POV

I heard a gasp, then a loud thud as the phone hit the floor, followed by sounds of movement. Then silence. I screamed Angelica's name down the phone repeatedly, hearing not a single sound for what seemed to be the longest time before it cuts out. Gazzy is pulling on my arm, shaking me for answers to his little sister. I didn't know what to tell him. Or anyone else who was gawking wide eyed at me at that moment. I stared down at my shaking hand, gripping my phone as though my life depended on it, unsure of what to make out of what Angelica had told me. I knew two things for sure. Firstly, Angelica was in trouble. Not just from me, but from someone else who may have seriously hurt her, or worse. Secondly, she mentioned a name, a name of someone who I presumed to be dead for about 21 years, who she says is alive.

Angel had a twin. Only when I gave birth, Angelica had told me he hadn't survived. We presumed from the below freezing weather I had so unfortunately gave birth to him in that he hadn't survived, or perhaps there was a complication from having twins. Especially two boys who always seemed to be fighting inside of me. Of course we didn't really know what to expect at the time. It was the first time an avian hybrid had given birth, so for all we knew they could have popped out with green scales and a pair of horns! Angel had survived, being immune to the cold and it's effects but our first born apparently didn't. He didn't have a name and seeing as it was Valentines Day, Angelica decided to just call him Valentine. I held him for a while, his pale tiny body rigid in my arms. I was devastated. Dylan held Angel, wrapping him up and cleaning him off best he could. He seemed perfectly fine. I didn't want to stop holding my lifeless son, hoping any warmth coming off my body would somehow revive him and make him start crying. In the end, we had a proper burial for him. A nice spot on a hill a few miles away from the birthing site. We even gave him his own plaque with an epitaph in his memory. It was the perfect spot. Leaving him there was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do in my entire life. Only now do I find out he's alive. She lied to me.

I looked towards the others, Gazzy, Fang, Dylan and Nudge looking at me like I was an imposter. I could see tears forming in Gazzy's tired, worried eyes and from the look in mine he could tell something had happened to his sister.

"Angelica's in trouble. I need to go." I said bluntly almost pushing past Gazzy to grab my coat. He followed me like pup, mouth opening several times to speak but no words came out.

"What's happened? Is Angelica alright? What did she say? Where is she?" Nudge asked frantic. I didn't have any time to waste, I had to go and search for her. She couldn't have gone too far. I hope. As I ignored Nudge's questions, Hope and Angel came through wondering what the commotion was about.

"Where are you going?" Angel asked eyeing me intently.

"Angelica is in trouble. I need to find her." I told him heading for the door. He insisted he came with me and Gazzy too of course. Everyone else stayed behind, except Dylan who soon after followed behind us. I swear to whatever God is out there, she better be alive and okay, just so I can kick her scrawny butt from here to Canada and then back again so I can cut off all of her stupid yellow hair! She will wish she was never born when I'm done with her..

The worst part about all this was where the hell could she be? I needed answers and she could be absolutely anywhere! We started checking every building we came across, every park and every alley way for about an hour. She'd only been gone three hours so she couldn't be too far, could she?

"Tell me what she said to you on the phone." Dylan whispered to me so the others couldn't hear. I stumbled on my words, wondering how and if I should tell him the words that Angelica had told me. I needed answers from her first. Perhaps she was drugged and made to tell me my first born is alive. I shouldn't get myself too worked up until I know for sure she was telling the truth.

"She was stuttering her words a lot, I couldn't make out much of what she was saying." I lied. Sure she was a little hard to understand, but I heard enough to know what she was trying to tell me.

"You're a liar!" Gazzy suddenly screamed over the whistling sounds of the wind. "I saw the look on your face, she said something to you and it spooked you! You don't shake for no reason.." Gazzy finished, turning his gaze away from me and down towards the ground. He was mad at me. I guess he had every right to be. Angel said nothing, flying at the back keeping watch down below. But Dylan looked at me and I think he sensed that Gazzy was right, something had spooked me. Of course if someone told you your son was actually alive and didn't die 21 years ago like you thought I would imagine you would be pretty spooked too. I tried to hide that anything was wrong for the time being. We needed to find her and sort this whole mess out. If we could find her that is.

About an hour and a half from home, we swooped down and searched an abandoned gas station, calling out her name and checking every crevice we could find.

"Leave no stone unturned!" Gazzy barked, stomping back outside to search for clues to his sister.

"She's not here." Angel told us bluntly, taking to the air.

"How do you know that. She could be stuck behind something and can't get out, she could be unconscious and.." Gazzy began getting more and more worked up.

"I can't sense her here." Angel yelled from above us and Gazzy sighed in defeat. It wasn't long once we were back in the air that we started to smell smoke. Sure enough in the far distance we could see a small building on fire. As we got closer we saw it had been an old food house, obviously abandoned and from the looks of things burned down a long time ago. So why was it on fire now? Curiosity got the better of us and we rushed down towards the flames.

"She has to be here!" Gazzy cried out, starting to shout his sisters name over the roaring flames. We all joined in but there was no way to know if she was here for sure with all these flames.

"Can you do anything about this?" I asked Angel who seemed to already be figuring out what angle to tackle the flames at. His telekinesis powers probably wouldn't do much good against fire, but he did have other tricks up his sleeve. The reason he doesn't get effected by the cold is probably because of his power over ice. He rarely uses it, sticking mainly to his other power, but in this case it could just well come in handy.

Angel made fast work of the flames, giving us just enough room to carefully climb in through a burned out window and look inside. Nothing but burnt rubble. Could it have just been kids that started the fire? It seemed unlikely as we were out in the middle of no where. I looked to Angel and he nodded. She was here.

"Hey, I've found something!" Gazzy called out, pointing towards a door. He rushed ahead grabbing the door handle and swinging the door carelessly open, revealing some wooden stairs to a basement.

"Careful, Gazzy. You don't know what could be down there." I tell him but he ignores me and is out of sight in a shot.

"Don't know what could be down there?" Dylan asks with one eyebrow raised as though he thought I was expecting The Bogey Man. I guess anything's possible, right? Following Gazzy's trail, we head down to the basement, a musky smell mixed with men's deodorant and lavender hit my senses making me twitch my nose. Then the smell of something else lingered in the air, sweat and...?

"She's here. Oh my God..." Gazzy whimpered from the corner of the room, standing near a wooden table above what looked like a body. As I drew nearer I could see she was sprawled out in a uncomfortable position on the cold concrete floor, naked and bloody. I didn't want Gazzy to see such a sight but it was already too late, he was taking in every detail of her injuries not even stopping at the mess between her legs.

"Who would do this to her?!" Gazzy cried not knowing what to do with his hands. I grabbed a blanket from the sofa nearby and covered her, lifting up her head and placing it down on my lap. She was out cold.

"Looks like someone smashed her phone and kicked it across the room." Angel said pointing to the pieces of metal scattered across the floor. Who did this to you? Gazzy lifted her up in his arms with the blanket wrapped around her and placed her on the sofa. He moved her hair away from her face as Dylan came through with a damp cloth to wipe the blood from her nose.

"When she wakes up she can tell us who did this to her." Gazzy stated boldly, with anger flaring in his eyes.

"We should get her back home. I'm sure she wouldn't want to wake up here." Dylan suggested but Gazzy didn't seem to be listening.

"If we stay, the person who did this may come back. Looks like someone lives here after all, and when he returns I'll kill him." Gazzy told us sounding very unlike himself. Right now we were torn between staying here and letting Angelica rest in hopes that the monster who did this would returned so we can kick his butt, or take her back home and wait for her to spill some answers.

Lightening POV

I don't know what had happened earlier, but Nudge seemed distant and worried and my dad wouldn't tell me a thing. I knew it had something to do with Angelica, but I hoped it wasn't serious. We waited around for a few hours for Max, Dylan, Gazzy and Angel to come back. After a couple of hours of waiting we decided to carry on instead of sitting around thinking the worst. I was about to leave the kitchen when I saw something through the window out the corner of my eye. I assumed it had been a bird or something until the sound of heavy footsteps sounded from outside. I called out to Hope in the next room just as a figure emerged in front of the back door. Someone appeared wounded.

"Is there anyone there? Help me please!" A man's voice pleaded from the other side of the door. Someone needed help, but was it wise to trust a stranger? Hope came through and spotted the strange man begging at the door. I gave him a cautious stare and he slowly moved, bravely opening the door slightly, ready for battle. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" Hope asked with a deep and fearful tone, trying to sound more scarier than he actually was.

"Please! I need help! I'm wounded.." The man replied hunching over and grabbing his arm. We could tell he was seriously hurt, a massive gash on his arm was bleeding heavily. We had to help him.

Hope helped him through and sat him down on a chair. We finally got a good look at our wounded visitor, only it could have easily been Angel sitting in that chair. He looked a lot like him. Same eyes, hair, wings, build... Hope took a look at his arm and quickly healed him in no time.

"How did you do that? Amazing." The stranger asked looking amazed. He smiled a friendly, welcoming smile and I found myself staring, unable to keep my eyes away. This guy was gorgeous! Like looking at a more friendlier and happier version of Angel.

"Oh it was nothing." Hope told him modestly flashing him a generous grin. He introduced himself as 'V', told us he had been attacked by some strange flying creature and managed to get away taking a nasty scratch with him. His story seemed believable from the way he was telling it, plus he had wings, he was one of us. He grabbed an apple from the fruit basket on the table and began eating cosily. Even the way he ate had me gawking at him unable to tear my eyes away.

"Well, you're welcome to stay here for a while if you would like? It's always nice to see a fellow avian." Hope said invitingly. I guess it wouldn't be so bad having someone else around the house. Especially someone so good looking and friendly.

"Thank you I really appreciate all your help." V grinned joyfully, finishing off his apple.

"Excuse me for a second." Hope said leaving the room. Now I'm alone with him? What will I say? But the silence wasn't awkward for long before he spoke.

"I was lucky you guys were here. I wasn't expecting to find such lovely people." He mouthed, giving me a wink. I felt my heart flutter in my chest and my cheeks become red. Why did he have to be so hot! He got up from his seat, put the apple remains in the bin next to him and stood behind me. I felt him look me up and down from behind and then as I turned to face him, he looked me up and down once more, as though studying me.

"You sure are a beautiful young woman." He told me and my face flashed bright red. He combed my hair with his fingers and then placed his huge hands on my sides, trailing them up and down. He did the same with every part of me, my face, breasts, sides, ass... It was odd, but my heart was racing. He inhaled my scent, sniffing my hair and my neck and fondling with the feathers on my wings. He was really checking me out.

"What are you doing exactly?" I mustered up the courage to ask him. He was silent for a few moments, still feeling my body with his hands, squeezing certain areas.

"You're perfect." He whispered in my ear, sending a sudden chill down my spine. Next thing I know, a strange feeling comes over me and I feel dizzy and energy less. I struggle to keep my eyes open and lose my balance, tumbling to the floor. Although I didn't hit the floor, I fell into a pair of strong muscular arms cradling me and a soft whisper in my ear saying 'You're all mine now.' Then I was picked up and carried away.