Damned and Cursed (Book 6): Broken Home by Glenn Bullion

gags, begging to be free.
    Janet tried to will herself to calm down as she cut their bonds.   The last thing she wanted was to accidentally cut one of them.   The process was agonizingly slow.   First the hands, then the feet, then move on to the next child.   The quiet in the room turned to hysterics as the children removed their own gags.
    Elizabeth threw her arms around her mother's neck as soon as she was able.
    "Mommy!" was all she could say, over and over.   "Mommy!   Mommy!"
    "I know, baby," Janet said, streams running down her own face.   "Give me a second, okay?   I have to cut this tape."
    "Did you kill him?" Sarah asked when she removed her gag.   She jumped down from the chair.   "Mom?   Did you?"
    Risking a look over her shoulder, she saw Byron was still where she left him.   He wasn't moving.   She tried the shake the thought from her mind.   "I…think so."   She finished cutting Mark's restraints.   "Come on.   We have to go to the police."
    "I want Daddy!" Elizabeth said.
    "Yeah.   Me, too.   Come on.   We'll go to Mark's house.   We'll call the police, borrow the car—"
    A hand grabbed the back of Janet's sweatpants.   She squealed in surprise as she was pulled down to the floor.   Craning her neck, she looked into the furious eyes of Byron.
    "That's a mean swing you got there, Janet."
    Elizabeth screamed first.   Sarah ran forward to help her mother, but Mark pulled on her arm, holding her back.
    "Go!" Janet shouted.   "Run!"
    "Let's go," Mark shouted.   "We'll go get my Mom!"
    Janet felt another hand grab the middle of her shirt.   Fear gripped her, but not at what Byron would do.   She was afraid for her children, who refused to move.   The indecision, the hesitance flashed across Sarah's face.   Elizabeth joined Mark in pulling on Sarah's wrist.
    "Sarah!" Elizabeth shouted.   "We can get help!"
    The children finally turned to run, and relief washed through Janet.   That sensation was short-lived when Byron wrapped a hand through her hair and pulled back hard.
    "I'm going to kill you," he said.   His voice was still calm, still even.   Janet thought she might have been going crazy, as he didn't gasp for breath, didn't show any signs of being attacked violently with a candlestick.   "I was on the fence, but now I've decided.   I will kill you.   I just don't know if I want you to watch your children die, or the other way around.   What would be more painful for you?"
    Byron grabbed Janet's waistband and roughly flipped her on her back.   Her head smacked the floor, knocking her senseless for a moment.   Still holding her hair, he brought his other fist back, ready to inflict pain.
    Janet eyed his wrist, just inches away.   She grabbed his arm and pulled herself forward, nearly ripping her own hair from the roots.   Opening her mouth as wide as she could, she sank her teeth into the flesh of Byron's arm.
    She'd never bitten anyone before.   She dug her teeth in as far as they would go.   The taste was salty, with a touch of sweat.   Byron howled as he released his hold on her hair.   He tried to pull his arm away, but Janet refused to let go.   It took two smacks from Byron with an open hand before she spat his wrist from her mouth.
    He cradled his wrist as he rested on his knees.   Janet tried to crawl away, to put any kind of distance between them.   A hand brushed against her butt, as Byron swiped for her and missed.   He did grab her ankle.   She flattened against the floor as he yanked on her leg.
    "So much fight," he said.   "I have to say, Janet, it's kind of—"
    His sentence was cut short when Janet kicked his chin with her free foot.   The heel caught him square, knocking him back slightly.   She kicked again, and again, the last time connecting directly on the nose.   His grip loosened as he fell backward, bracing himself on the floor with his hands.
    A growl escaped from Byron that chilled her to the bone.
    Janet slipped once climbing to her