Tall, Dark & Heartless: A Pyte/Sentinel Series Novel Read online

  "You want to tell me what you're doing?" she asked when the boy's eyes landed on her and widened. "Or should I just go get my mate and have him handle this......again?"

  Even as Seth shook his head, almost frantically, his friends took off at a dead run. They might all feel tough picking on an eleven year old kid who wouldn't fight back, but none of them wanted to deal with Chris. Chris scared the hell out of them and for good reason, he never made a promise he didn't intend to keep. The last time he found them picking on Marc he promised to hang them upside down in the great hall downstairs.

  "Let me go! We were just kidding," Seth cried out.

  "Don't do it again," she said, releasing his fist, but not before Marc stepped up to him and decked the much larger kid, sending him flying backwards and falling on his ass.

  "The next time you take a swing at my sister I'm going to knock all your teeth out," Marc promised evenly as he took her hand in his and led her towards the elevators. The boy simply nodded as he cupped his face and tried to stop the flow of blood from his nose.

  Isabella had to bite back a smile as Marc entered the code for the elevator. Marc might not lift a finger to defend himself against human boys, but he was a lot like his brother when it came to the people he loved, he would beat the hell out of anyone who hurt his family. Without a word, she handed his game back to him. He placed it in his back pocket, but didn't say anything as they rode the elevator down to the lockup unit.

  When the elevator doors opened, the Sentinel on duty looked up and acknowledged them with a nod before returning his attention to the small television on his desk. They walked past Logan's glass cell and weren't too surprised to find the man sleeping. Since they'd taken him into custody several months ago he tended to sleep during the day and save his energy for nighttime when Chris' sister, Jill would visit.

  Not that Chris or anyone else for that matter was aware of the little late night visits. She hadn't told anyone because she hadn't felt it was her place. Besides, the man was locked up and she doubted he could do any harm. She also liked the man, she didn't trust him, but she liked him. He was cranky in an adorable way.

  "I'm going to visit Joshua," Marc mumbled, releasing her hand and headed towards Joshua's cell at the end of the hallway.

  "Okay," she said, knowing he'd sit there as long as it didn't bother Joshua. She walked past Joshua's cell and felt her heart break as she caught sight of the man who was once her best friend. He'd been such a sweet man before the incident and well on his way to becoming a great doctor, but now he simply sat in his cell all day. He never spoke. The only time he moved was to eat, drink blood or pace his cell when he became agitated. She hated seeing him like this and wished there was something she could do to help him.

  "Izzy, you need to see this," Kale said, drawing her attention to the large break room the man claimed as his own.

  Frowning, she walked into the room and stopped when she spotted the man on the screen floating off the ground. If there was any doubt in her mind before that the man was a Pyte it was gone now. She nearly groaned in frustration as she watched him destroy the camera and the signal.

  "The signal died a half hour ago," Kale said, sighing heavily as he leaned back against the couch. "There's no way to find them now."

  Yes, there was. It was normally something she used only as a last resort because the program had the tendency of going overboard and she was still trying to restrict the program, but what other choice did she have?

  None.

  "It's time to use Tattletale."

  Chapter 14

  One week later.......

  "You're not to bring him anymore blood until I tell you to," Greg ordered the two vampires Lucan had sent to deliver a cooler full of blood.

  Lucan bit back the urge to rip the little bastard's throat out for probably the hundredth time that week. It had been seven days since the human tried to kill the woman and the Master refused to allow him to dispose of the man. If Gregory had been a vampire the Master would have ordered the execution immediately upon finding out what the asshole did, but unfortunately for him, Greg was still very much human and the Master was thinking with his dick.

  He just prayed that the Master showed up soon. The sooner he fucked Greg and got it out of his system, the faster they could get rid of the annoying little prick and focus on fixing the problem he'd created.

  They had a seriously pissed off Pyte who wouldn't let anyone in the room except to bring the woman food and coolers of blood for him. Actually, the Pyte demanded a week ago that they double the amount of blood. His reason was valid. According to the Pyte he was close to bloodlust. For every vampire here, who knew just how bad bloodlust could get, that was more than enough reason to comply. The little prick of course tried to interfere with the blood and food deliveries.

  When the Pyte had taken out the cameras, Lucan had been out of the building looking into another matter. By the time he'd been notified he'd been sure that it was too late and that they were not only going to have to find a new female, but they were also going to have to deal with a seriously pissed off Pyte. He'd made it to their cell just as Greg ordered a small group of vampires to enter the room and retrieve the body. The man had looked damn near giddy at the possibility of seeing the woman's dead body.

  The men didn't get five feet into the room before the screams of terror began. He shoved Greg out of the way and walked into the room only to come to a halt as he watched the Pyte tear into the throats of his men and take his fill. Even as the Pyte fed he made damn sure that no one got near the body on the mattress. Lucan took one look at the man's feral expression and knew he'd hit bloodlust so he ordered his remaining men back, knowing it would be pointless to stay in the room. Just as he was about to step out of the room he heard it.

  The small, weak sound of her heartbeat, but it was enough. She was alive and he knew it would be foolish to try to take the woman out of the room or even attempt to reattach the barbaric device to her ankle since the Pyte would probably kill anyone that went near her. Deciding it was time to retreat, he sent in two large coolers of blood, hoping the Pyte would overindulge in the cold liquid and leave the woman alone. She was the key to their plans and they couldn't afford to lose her.

  Not now.

  It had been a week since the asshole almost killed her and he was starting to worry. As far as he knew she hadn't woken up yet. She just laid there. The only thing that kept him from storming the room and taking her out, well, besides the Pyte that would rip his throat out, was that her heartbeat was strong. Somehow the Pyte was managing to get the food that he sent, into the woman and she was slowly recovering. He hoped the Pyte was in a better mood today because they needed to talk.

  "I'll take that," he said, taking the large cooler out of the vampire's hands and heading for the room only to have Greg step smoothly in his way and try to block him. He didn't even blink as he shoved the human out of his way and entered the room. When the stubborn man tried to follow him, he slammed the door in his face.

  He shot a look over at the still figure on the mattress and wasn't too surprised to find the Pyte crouching in front of her, ready to tear his heart out. The good news was the Pyte had definitely staked a claim on the woman. If they played their cards right and kept that asshole Greg away from the couple, they might just end up getting that Pyte child sooner than he'd hoped. The bad news, the Pyte had staked a claim on the woman and was too damn focused on protecting her to allow any of Lucan's men to check on her so they could try to get her better faster. They needed these two to produce a Pyte.

  True, it would be sixteen years according to what they'd learned before the child came into his powers and a few days or months shouldn't matter in the scheme of things, but they did. They needed the army the Pyte could create. They were desperate for the Pyte the child would be able to create once he went through his change. It would be much better if the Pyte in front of him turned the woman into so they could take her under their control and get that army
he needed for his Master that much faster.

  "Get out," the Pyte practically snarled.

  Lucan cocked his head curiously to the side, but didn't say anything as he placed the cooler on the ground and kicked it in the direction of the Pyte. The man was too close to the edge, at the moment, to be of much help with their problem. The Pyte needed to calm down and the only way to do that was for Lucan to leave the room so the Pyte could relax and tend to his female. He shot a look towards the sleeping woman and felt himself relax when she mumbled something and turned onto her side. The Pyte kept his eyes locked on him, but Lucan could tell that the man wanted to go to the woman, but refused to as long as there was a threat in the room. With a nod, Lucan left the room, hoping the woman was recovered enough to move onto the next phase of the plan. Even if she wasn't, they couldn't wait any longer. He didn't want to, but it looked like he was going to have to help this plan along before Greg convinced the Master to kill her and start all over again.

  ********

  Why the hell was she so hungry? Danni wondered as her stomach rumbled almost viciously. She grabbed her stomach as she rolled over onto her back, ignoring her sore muscles as she slowly opened her eyes.

  The sound of the toilet flushing sent shockwaves through her skull, causing her to cringe as she squeezed her eyes shut. It looked like she hadn't slept through her migraine. Although it didn't exactly hurt, it didn't feel great either. Why was everything so painfully loud, she wondered as she listened to the almost deafening sounds of Caine's chains being dragged across the tile floor as he walked closer to her.

  She turned onto her side, deciding that she'd better get to the toilet before her migraine came back. As she sat up she caught a whiff of herself and nearly groaned. She smelled of old sweat and about a hundred other things that she didn't want to think about. In fact, the whole room was full of odors that were attacking her poor nose.

  It wasn't too surprising. Thanks to her migraines, lights and often smells overpowered her senses, making the pain in her head worse. As hungry as she was, and God was she hungry, she decided that she'd rather empty her full bladder and get in a quick shower before she was hit with a migraine and knocked on her ass. She slowly got to her feet as her eyes landed on Caine. He stood against the section of wall facing the door that she thought of as his spot while he watched her through narrowed eyes.

  Great, she thought dryly, he was pissed at her again. Whatever. She was too hungry and annoyed with the loud sounds and overpowering smells to really care. She didn't know why he was so pissed. She was the one that got her ass fried, not him, so she really couldn't fathom why he was in such a pissy mood.

  They might have punished him too by taking away his blood, but one look at the cooler by his side let her know that wasn't the case. Whatever had his panties in twist would have to wait because she didn't have the patience at the moment for any nonsense. She walked over to the toilet and shot Caine a glance, but thankfully he looked the other way.

  As soon as she was finished she unbuttoned her shirt and dropped it to the ground, well away from the shower. She turned on the water and made quick work of scrubbing herself from head to toe. Once she was finished she was a little surprised that the migraine she knew was coming hadn't made an appearance yet. It was odd, but she wasn't going to bitch about it.

  That was one of the worst things about having less than a year to live. The damn migraines robbed her of precious time, knocking her on her ass and leaving her helpless as she watched time pass her by. All too soon she knew that she wouldn't know anything but pain and misery and she'd be begging for a quick death, but not yet. As long as she was able to, she was going to fight.

  "Notice anything odd yet?" Caine asked, drawing her attention.

  She looked over her right shoulder to find him leaning against the wall less than five feet away from her as he ran his eyes over her. It was a little unnerving to have Caine looking at her like that, but not as frightening as her body's reaction to him. An odd, yet sweet odor in the room teased her nostrils and made her stomach coil in anticipation. When she felt herself become wet she had to bite back a curse, knowing that Caine would smell it.

  When his eyes flashed red seconds later and a soft growl filled the room she knew he smelled her arousal. Since there was nothing she could do to hide her reaction to him she decided that she would simply ignore it. She frowned as his words weaved their way through her mind. She looked around the room, noting the small plastic crate half-filled with food that oddly didn't tempt her ravenous stomach. Her eyes moved to the left and widened in surprise when she spotted the long black cable that should be attached to her ankle coiled into a loose pile in the corner of the room.

  Her eyes shot down to her ankle as she tried to remember when it had come off. The last thing she remembered was watching Caine float to the ceiling and then pain, intense pain like nothing she'd ever known before her world went black. She looked up to find Caine still studying her and knew that he'd been responsible for removing the wire.

  "Thank you for saving my life," she forced herself to say even as she turned her face away from him and squeezed her eyes shut, wishing like hell that he hadn't interfered.

  If he hadn't interfered her death would have been painful, but quick. She almost wished that he had just left her to die. It wasn't as if she was in a rush to get it over with, but she knew what was waiting for her and soon. She'd waited too long to go see her doctor about her migraines and general weakness and now she was paying the price. She had brain cancer with mets, cancerous tissue, running down her spine and around her heart. It wouldn't be too long until the pain became too much and she wouldn't be able to get out of bed. As much as she wanted to get out of here and keep fighting she didn't want to face that future.

  She would die in a bed in a Sentinel sickroom by herself. The few friends that she had would probably visit, but in the end she had no one. Her parents were long dead, they hadn't had any other children and all their family had long ago died. She didn't want to die alone. At least if he had allowed her to die she would have died with him by her side. She could have found comfort in having the only person that ever meant anything to her by her side when she drew her last breath.

  Oh, God.....

  Her chest heaved almost painfully as she tried to draw a breath, but couldn't. The grief that had threatened to overtake her since she heard the faithful words uttered from the doctor's mouth broke free. Before she knew it a loud agonizing sob broke free and she was helpless to stop it. The last person she wanted to see her like this was Caine. He'd be disappointed that she wasn't strong. She needed to be strong. She needed-

  "Shhh," Caine whispered in her ear as his arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her back against him. "It's okay, Danni."

  "I'm just tired," she lied, humiliated that he was seeing her like this. She didn't want him to think that she was weak. She wasn't. There was nothing weak about her and she would face this like she faced any mission, head on and with no regrets.

  "Why didn't you tell me that you were dying, Danni?" he asked quietly, but there was no mistaking the rage in his tone.

  She bit her lip as she struggled against the urge to turn in his arms and cry against his chest the way she did when she was a child and her whole world seemed to be falling apart around her. But she wasn't a child anymore and more importantly, she could no longer seek shelter in his arms.

  "There's nothing to tell, Caine. I don't have much time left," she said with a casualness she didn't feel as more tears streamed down her face.

  "You should have told me, Goddammit!" he practically roared as he turned her in his arms and pressed her back against the cool tile wall.

  "It had nothing to do with you!" she cried.

  "Bullshit!" he said, giving her a little shake. "I could have gotten you help! I could have found someone to make you better!"

  "It was already too late by the time I went to the doctor," she said hollowly, giving him a sad smile and a shrug.
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br />   "You don't know that!" he said, looking pained. "I could have found someone to take care of you, Danni. I could have made damn sure that you beat this thing. You didn't have to go through this alone!"

  She shoved him back, but he wouldn't budge. "I am alone, Caine. I've been that way for more than ten years now. Did you think finding out that I had less than six months to live would change that? It doesn't. Whether it's here or on a stretcher at the compound I'm going to die soon and there's nothing anyone can do about it. So just let it go and forget about it so that we can focus on getting the hell out of here."

  Instead of moving away from her like she'd hoped he would he came closer, cupping her face in his large hands. "Do you have any idea what they would have done to you if they'd found out that you were dying, Danni? Hmmm?"

  "Killed me or let Greg torture me," she drawled, trying not to let him know how terrified she was of the latter.

  His eyes glowed a more intense red and his jaw clenched as he stared down at her. "Do you think this is funny? Do you have any idea how much pain and damage he could have done to you before he decided to end it, Danni?"