A Pirated Heart

Her Family and Betrayal

“What are you doing here?” An impressive man stood in the middle of a ring of people with a gun aimed at someone. Kaden’s heart stopped when he looked around the man and found Arabella. He wanted to curse the woman for managing to piss off anyone she came into contact with.

“It was not by choice, believe me,” Arabella hissed as she glared down the barrel of the pistol aimed at her.

“Father, stop!” Damien shouted when he caught up to Kaden and pushed his way into the circle. The man was larger than his son and easily towered over his daughter. He looked distinguished with his short dark hair and his chiseled jaw. His uniform was fine and decorated. Kaden’s eyes widened when he noticed an emblem hanging off of the man’s chest; this man was a Navy admiral.

“Stay out of this boy!” Admiral Cartridge growled as he ignored his son. His brown eyes were pinned on his daughter who met his glare with one of her own. She seemed unperturbed by the loaded gun pointed at her head and the thought irked him.

“I told you never to return!”           

“And I told you I wasn’t here by choice!” Arabella yelled as she watched her father’s jaw tick.

Kaden fought the urge to move and defend Arabella. It took every bit of self-control not to pull out his own pistol and shoot the man for even looking at her the way he was. He glanced behind Arabella and found Jarrus and few other crewmembers prepared to fight if necessary. Jarrus met Kaden’s gaze and they seemed to share the same thought.

If harm comes to Arabella, we kill him.

“Father, don’t!” Damien demanded as he moved to stand in front of his sister.

“She is not your sister anymore. Now move, boy,” the admiral growled as he moved to push Damien out of the way. Arabella’s eyes flashed and before she could stop herself, she grabbed her father’s pistol and broke it in half. The crowd gasped and stared at her in shock as the admiral froze.

“You did this!” Arabella hissed as she threw the destroyed weapon to the ground. She pushed past Damien’s frozen body and shoved her father back. The large man landed on the ground roughly. Arabella stood over him; her face was contorted in a look of pure fury.

“You did this to me! You pretend it was my fault, but we both know that it was you and mother that did this. You sold me to that witch for him!” Arabella pointed her finger at Damien who stared at her in stunned silence. Kaden could only watch this tempest sweep through Arabella as her words processed slowly.

“Did you even tell him? Should I? How you and mother bargained my heart so you could have a son when I was nothing but a toddler? What did you tell him when I disappeared that night, father? That pirates kidnapped me?”

“Bella, stop,” Damien shook himself of his shock as he approached Arabella like he would a wild animal: slow and purposefully.

“Bella?” Damien asked as Arabella looked over at him.

“Bella, I don’t care. You are my sister and I know you loved me.”

“Damien, they…”

“What they did was wrong. It was so wrong, Bella. But you don’t want to kill him,” Damien pleaded as he held his hands up and continued to walk toward his sister and his fallen sire.

“Kill him? I don’t want to kill him. I’d get no satisfaction from it now. No. When I get my heart back, I will come back and gut them. That way I can enjoy it,” Arabella growled as her eyes glowed. Kaden and Damien’s eyes widened at her gruesome threat. Admiral Cartridge only stared up at his daughter.

“Bella, you don’t mean that,”

“Oh, but I do, baby brother. When I get my heart back, I am going to rip theirs out of their chests. It’s the least they deserve for giving me to her!” Arabella yelled as Damien frowned.

“Kill her.” Admiral Cartridge’s words rang out in the air as Damien turned around and found six naval officers with their guns aimed at Arabella’s form. Kaden and Jarrus barely had time to pull out their own weapons before shots filled the space. Damien fell to his knees as Arabella crumpled to the ground, riddled with bullet wounds. Kaden felt his world shift and disappear from beneath his feet as he attempted to stumble to her side. The admiral climbed to his feet and dusted off the dirt. He glared down at the motionless body of his own flesh and blood.

“She was nothing but a rabid animal,” he growled as Damien stared at his sister’s ashen face. Jarrus didn’t move; nor did the rest of the crew that stood behind him. It was the first time they had ever seen the young woman fall in battle.

“Bella,” Kaden muttered lowly as he sank down beside her.

“Get it out of my sight,” the admiral ordered and before Kaden or Damien could stop them, the same soldiers that shot her pushed them away and began to drag her body away. Kaden roared and jumped to his feet. He turned and slammed his fist into the Admiral’s face.

“Lockes!” Jarrus shouted as the Admiral easily returned a similar blow to Kaden’s face. The soldiers dropped Arabella and turned to assist their leader but something stopped them. A cold chill ran down the back of every spectator and soldier in the crowd. A sound froze each of them dead in their tracks.

Bone-chilling laughter. Hauntingly empty laughter filled the air as Damien’s head snapped up in the direction it came from. His eyes widened when he saw her. Jarrus and the others followed his line of sight and stood stunned. Arabella rose to her feet, brushing the dirt off of her clothes. Bullet holes riddled her shirt and pants but the skin beneath the tears was smooth. 

“You tried to kill me. Kudos to you. I’ve never tried firing squad before,” Arabella remarked as she swept her hand out in front of her. The soldiers that stood there was slung into the air and landed hundreds of feet away, unconscious. Kaden turned to face her slowly, afraid he was going crazy. Damien hurried to his feet and moved to pull Kaden out of the way. The Admiral stood frozen in horror.

“How are you…”

“When the witch took my heart, she cursed me. Not only can I not feel emotions like love or happiness, I can’t die. So all you did back there was piss me off,” Arabella hissed as she stopped in front of her father. She grabbed his collar in her fist and easily lifted the large man off of the ground.

“I should kill you. Damien probably wouldn’t object to it now,” Arabella remarked as her eyes slipped from the Admiral to one of the women standing in the crowd holding her hand to her chest. Her green eyes matched Arabella’s in their emerald hue but instead of rage, they were filled with fear.

“However, like I said before, I won’t gain any satisfaction from it. For now, I’ll let you and mother wallow in the fact that now the entire village, not to mention your platoon, knows that you sold your only daughter’s heart to a witch and then tried to kill her,” Arabella remarked as she dropped her father to the ground. Before he could move another inch, she slammed her closed fist into the side of his head.

“And that was for touching Lockes.” She finished as she turned to face her stunned brother, captain and crew.

“We should go,” She ordered as she started to walk past Kaden. The crowd separated for her as she stomped toward the docks. Jarrus was the first to recover and he grabbed Kaden’s arm and pulled the man behind him. The rest of the crew followed automatically. Damien looked from his father, who sat nursing a bleeding skull, and his mother, who was crouched next to him shaking, to his sister.

“Damien, don’t,” Alana Cartridge pleaded as she watched her son strip off his captain pin and other naval decorations. Damien glared at her.

“You betrayed both of us,” he growled before he jogged after the pirates.