Tall, Dark & Furious (A Pyte/Sentinel Novel Book 6) Read online

  Tall, Dark & Furious

  A Pyte/Sentinel Novel

  by

  R.L. Mathewson

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations and events described in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Tall, Dark, & Furious © Rerum Carta Industries, Inc. 2018. All rights reserved.

  http://www.rlmathewson.com

  Edited by R.L. Mathewson & Casey Alexander-Cramp

  eBook:

  ISBN- 978-0-9986017-4-8

  Dedication Page

  As always, this book is dedicated to my children, Kayley and Shane, who put up with me, hook me up with plenty of Coke to keep me going and make me smile every day.

  Special thank you to Miriam Rivera, Laura Rose, Kirstie Grundy, Shannon D. Rutherford, and Connie Seawright.

  Thank you for purchasing this book and for being there for us every step of the way.

  For the latest news, giveaways, and information, please sign up for my newsletter or follow me online:

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  Table of Contents

  Dear Reader

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Epilogue

  Sneak Peek at Unstoppable

  Sneak Peek at Irresistible

  Other Books

  Follow Me

  About the Author

  Dear Reader,

  Welcome back!

  I can’t believe it’s been four years since Fated was published. I’d actually planned on publishing the next Pyte/Sentinel novel long before this, but life, responsibilities and all that fun that gives us an unhealthy dependence on caffeine got in the way.

  Now, after planning, plotting, and obsessing over storylines, characters, etc. I am very excited to introduce you to the next novel in this series. I played around with a few ideas, considered my choices for the next book, but I realized that Trace’s book needed to be next in order for the incredibly complicated storyline that I am playing with to have a chance.

  With that being said, Trace is a brand-new character to the series. His father is Ethan, a vampire that you very briefly met in Tall, Dark & Heartless. Trace’s book shows you a different downside to being a Pyte and hopefully makes you smile and fall in love.

  About this book, you’ll notice that I did not obsess about things like speech, details from his point of view, and comparisons simply because this is supposed to be an enjoyable book and I didn’t want to hammer you down with details, disrupt the flow of the book, or lose focus. I wanted you to be able to sit back and enjoy this book without having to stop to work out the details in your head before you could move on.

  Now, I’m not a big fan of cliffhangers and I don’t believe there are any in this book, however, any questions that you have will be answered in Kale’s book, which is set for a 2020 release.

  I hope you enjoy Trace and Samantha’s book!

  R.L.

  Pytes live in a world where their immortality, strength, speed and ability to withstand the sun should make them gods on earth. Instead, they are forced to live in fear. Their ability to create a stronger more powerful army of vampires has Masters all over the world waging wars to find them and Sentinels determined to get to them first.

  Even as they fight for their freedom, they know that one day they’ll have to choose a side….

  Prologue

  Massachusetts Bay Colony - Maine Territory

  1665

  “Where are you going, Trace?”

  Trying not to panic, Trace shut the door before any sunlight could spill inside the small cottage. Licking his suddenly dry lips, he turned around and held up the small leather-bound book his father had given him this morning after he’d returned from his trip into town.

  “I was hoping to go down to the river to read, Father,” Trace said, forcing a smile that he hoped would convince his father that everything was fine.

  Ethan sighed heavily as he sat up on the small cot they shared and ran his fingers through his unruly shoulder-length hair. “Why don’t you stay here and read instead?”

  “I don’t want to disturb you, Father,” Trace said, wishing he’d lit a candle since he couldn’t tell from the light the small fire in the hearth was giving off if his father was still angry.

  “Trace, tell me that you’re not going to see her after what happened yesterday.”

  “No, Father,” he said, lying to his father for the first time in his life, but he didn’t have a choice. If he’d listened to her in the first place, no one would have found out that they’d been spending time together. He’d been too stubborn to listen and now, thanks to him, she was in real trouble.

  “Why do I have a feeling that you’re lying to me?” his father asked, sighing wearily as he pulled his breeches on.

  “I’m not,” Trace said weakly, shifting his gaze to the dirt floor, because looking his father in his eye while he lied to him made him feel sick to his stomach.

  “We need to talk,” his father announced after a short pause, making Trace’s eyes shoot up at the all too familiar announcement.

  “But we’ve only been here four weeks, Father. You promised we’d be able to stay longer this time,” he pointed out almost desperately because he didn’t want to leave the only friend he’d ever had.

  While living with his father was wonderful, it was also very lonely. For the first fourteen years of his life, his father had taken him all over Europe, desperate to keep him safe as they’d searched for answers. When Trace was six years old, weak, sick, and barely bigger than a toddler, his father became desperate to save the child that his wife had so desperately wanted and did something no other vampire would have dared.

  He’d kidnapped a priest who’d sworn allegiance to the Sentinels, the group of altered humans placed on earth to keep humans safe from vampires, demons, and shifters. With one move, his father had signed his own death warrant, but he hadn’t cared. The only thing that mattered to Ethan was keeping the promise he’d made to his wife and protecting their child.

  For three weeks, he’d kept the priest prisoner in a cave a mile away from the little tavern where he’d left Trace in the care of a local whore. H
is father had paid her to ignore her customers and focus on his son with the promise of an excruciating death if she’d failed him in any way. Night and day, his father questioned the priest, careful to keep Trace’s existence a secret.

  The priest refused to answer. At first, his father had been patient with the old man, hoping to coax the holy man out of the answers he desperately needed. It wasn’t until the whore stumbled into the cave, carrying Trace who’d taken a turn for the worse that his father had lost control. He’d attacked the priest and threatened to turn him if he didn’t tell him what he needed to know so that he could save his son.

  The threat worked. The priest quickly explained that children like Trace were not human, something his father had feared since his birth. He’d also explained that Trace was a Pyte, the unnatural product between a vampire and a human woman. He’d explained that a Pyte would remain weak unless he was fed blood along with a human diet and if he ever reached his sixteenth year, he would go into a deep sleep and wake up changed into a true immortal with absolutely no way to kill him. The priest had refused to tell Ethan anything else. Instead, he’d pleaded with Ethan to kill Trace before it was too late.

  As Ethan struggled with what the priest told him, the terrified whore pulled out a small dagger from between her breasts and tried to stab Trace through his heart. She would have succeeded if the priest hadn’t screamed for her to do it when she’d hesitated. Ethan lunged for her, taking the dagger in his shoulder and before she could scream for help, he’d ripped her throat out.

  Using the dead whore’s dagger, he’d slit her wrist and carefully fed her blood to Trace, praying the priest hadn’t lied to him. For two days straight, his father held vigil over him while the priest prayed for his death. Once Trace managed to open his eyes, his father had been determined to do whatever it took to keep him safe until the day that he would no longer need to worry about him.

  Ethan had kept his word to the priest even though he knew by doing so that he was unleashing a world of hell on the two of them, but he hadn’t been able to bring himself to hurt a man of God no matter the reason. He’d made the priest promise to give them a day’s start before he alerted the Sentinels. Once the promise had been given, he’d freed the priest, grabbed Trace, and fled. They’d barely made it out of the village before the Sentinels came for them.

  From that point on, his father kept Trace hidden from everyone, too afraid that someone would figure out that Trace was the small boy the Sentinel Council was looking for. They’d moved frequently, searching for others like Trace and finding nothing more than rumors and old ghost stories meant to frighten small children into behaving.

  No matter how many nests they found, Ethan couldn’t find anyone that had come across another Pyte before. They’d stayed as long as they could, but once a Master caught wind of Trace’s existence, they were forced to run, again. Most Masters viewed him as a potential threat and wanted to kill him, but others wanted to keep him to find out what he could do for them once he hit his immortality.

  Once they’d outstayed their welcome in Europe, his father purchased passage for the two of them to the colonies. They’d both instantly fallen in love with New England. Although it was already a well-loved area for many demons and shifters, vampires were reluctant to settle in the colonies since it would have been more difficult to hide what they were. It would have been safer for them to stay in Europe where they could move more freely, but his father hadn’t wanted to take any more chances.

  For the past two years, they’d enjoyed a sense of freedom they hadn’t known in Europe. They mostly stayed in small villages, which Trace preferred. When they were in towns like Boston, Trace hadn’t been allowed to leave their room, but here he could go wherever he wanted, whenever he wanted as long as he avoided the Packs that sometimes crossed the area.

  He’d made a point of going outside every day, enjoying the sunlight on his skin while he still could. In a matter of days, weeks, or months he was supposed to make his transition and then the sun would be lost to him forever. It was the same reason that his father had settled them here even though it meant that he had to travel most of the night to the nearest town to feed.

  For years, Trace had been counting down the days until his sixteenth birthday. Once he hit his immortality, which according to that priest should be soon, his father would no longer have to worry about him and could return to Europe where life would be easier for him.

  Trace had already decided that he wouldn’t be returning to Europe with his father, not after the warning the priest had given them. Once he underwent his transformation, he was going to move away from everyone and everything. He’d feed on rats if that’s what it took because he refused to be the monster that he was destined to become.

  “I know that I promised that we could stay here, but after yesterday you have to realize that’s no longer possible. It’s not safe here,” his father explained. “They’re shifters, Trace. You know how they feel about our kind.”

  “But, Father, Mary doesn’t care about any of that,” Trace said, and when his father opened his mouth to argue, he rushed on, “and they don’t know about you. They think I’m here by myself. As long as I stay away from the rest of her Pack and take the long way home through the swamp, we’ll be safe.”

  His father went still. “The Pack knows about you?”

  Trace reluctantly nodded, shifting anxiously as his father’s blue eyes flashed silver. Trace didn’t need any light to know that his father’s fangs had dropped as well.

  “You told me they didn’t see you!” his father snapped, coming to his feet.

  Trace stepped back from his father. He knew his father would never hurt him, but even knowing that didn’t stop him from stumbling back away from him when his father released a vicious growl. He’d seen what his father was capable of and knew that he never wanted to be on the receiving end of his father’s temper.

  He swallowed hard.

  “I-I t-think they spotted me when we were by the stream, Father. Mary told me to run, but I think it might have been too late and that’s why they struck her, but she didn’t tell them about me!” he promised.

  Ethan rubbed his hands over his face, muttering something that Trace couldn’t hear.

  “Father?” Trace said, taking a tentative step forward.

  “You fool!” Ethan roared, slamming his fist down on the small table and breaking it into a dozen pieces before he stormed towards Trace. Before Trace could back away, his father grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him.

  “Her loyalty belongs to her Pack. Not you! She’s already told them about you!” his father snapped, shaking him harder. “Do you have any idea what they’ll do to you once they get their hands on you?”

  “The full moon isn’t for another two weeks, Father! I’m safe!”

  He knew they’d have to leave before the next full moon when every shifter in the region would be able to turn and hunt them down. During those nights, they’d have to move to the city where it would be safer since shifters avoided humans on those nights to keep their existence hidden. But once it was over, they could come back and he could keep Mary safe.

  “You’re not safe,” his father bit out through clenched teeth. “Their Alpha can change at will. He can hunt you down when I’m not there to protect you!”

  His grip tightened on Trace’s shoulders as he closed his eyes, almost as if he was the one in pain. “Please tell me that you didn’t tell her what you are.”

  Trace winced as pain shot through his shoulders. “She promised not to tell,” he said softly.

  “You fool!” Ethan roared, slamming Trace into the door.

  “She’s my friend!”

  Ethan backhanded him, knocking him against the wall, and destroying what little hope that he’d had left that his father would understand, making him realize that he no longer had a choice. He had to save her before it was too late.

  “Oh, my god...” his father said, looking horrified as he moved towards h
im. “Trace, I’m sorry.”

  Trace shifted to his right, grabbed hold of the short rope attached to the door and yanked it, pulling the door open and flooding their small cottage with sunlight. His father hissed as he was forced to retreat to the far side of the cottage where the sun couldn’t reach him.

  “Don’t!” his father yelled.

  “I’m sorry, Father, but I have to make sure that she’s safe,” Trace said as he slammed the door shut behind him and took off for the woods.

  Trace could still hear his father screaming his name when he reached the woods. He looked up at the bright afternoon sun, noting that he would only have a few hours before his father would be able to leave the cottage and come for him. That was more than enough time to make sure that Mary was safe before he was forced to say good-bye. He needed to explain things to Mary and make sure that she knew that he’d be back for her once he reached his immortality so he could take care of her.

  Maybe she’d run away with him and his father, Trace thought as he navigated his way through the thick swamp. That way he wouldn’t have to wait until he reached his immortality. The more he thought about it, the more he liked this plan. He knew that his father wouldn’t be happy, but once he saw how sweet and gentle Mary was, he’d be more than happy to help keep her safe.

  This could really work, Trace thought with a surge of excitement, quickening his pace, eager to find Mary and tell her the good news. A half-hour later, he stumbled through the thick foliage, gasping for air and grinning hugely when he spotted Mary sitting by the stream.

  She looked up at him as he stepped out of the woods, making him frown when he realized that she wasn’t smiling. She’d always greeted him with a smile and a warm embrace, but now she looked nervous. He swore softly. Of course, she was nervous. Her Pack would punish her if they found them together again.

  “I’m so glad you came, Trace,” Mary said, brushing back those golden locks that he’d dreamed of running his fingers through.

  “Of course, I came,” Trace said, reaching for her only to find her stepping back out of his reach. “Mary, what’s wrong?” he asked, taking another step towards her.