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

by R. L. Mathewson

  Must be morning, she mused when she heard the locks click open. Twice a day the door opened and a cooler of blood was shoved inside. It was the only way she knew how to gauge how much time had gone by. Wondering if she could use this little routine to her advantage, she grabbed her toothbrush and toothpaste from the small plastic basket and began to brush her teeth.

  Instead of the door slamming shut after the cooler was shoved inside it was thrown wide open and Greg came sauntering into the room, grinning from ear to ear as his eyes landed on her. Even as dread filled her, she forced herself not to give him the satisfaction to know that he got to her. No matter what the bastard did to her, she would not react. He might be able to make her life a living hell, but he would never know that.

  "I've got a surprise for you, Danni," he announced with relish. "One I think you'll truly enjoy."

  Chapter 7

  "Are you going to fuck her?" Greg asked with a sneer as he turned his attention on the Pyte. Caine saw Danni tense up when the crude words were spoken.

  "No," Caine said flatly, as he leaned his head back against the cool tile.

  He had no plans to fuck her, talk to her, or even acknowledge her in any way. She didn't matter to him and the sooner these dumb fucks figured that out the sooner she would be taken out of here. The very minute that she was out of the cell and no longer his responsibility, he was going to get the hell out of here and punish this whole fucking nest. Then he was going to cut all his ties with the Sentinels and live out the rest of eternity doing something else, something with a whole hell of a lot less bullshit than this.

  Greg shrugged. "Then I guess you won't mind if we have a little fun with Danni while you make up your mind?" he asked casually as he watched him from the corner of his eye, probably hoping for a reaction.

  He wouldn't get one.

  "Do whatever you want," he said, closing his eyes and settling in for a nap. He hated sleeping with the light on, but he didn't have much of a choice since these bastards refused to shut them off. When he got out of here he was buying a place with metal shutters for his windows so that he could block all light out of his room.

  He hadn't always been this way, but living in his subbasement Sentinel quarters for the last twenty-five years had spoiled him. He liked waking up without the sun blinding him. It didn't matter if it was day or night he could always see everything clearly so the last thing he needed in the morning was sunlight damn near blinding him. Maybe he'd get a place in the mountains, near a town of course. He wasn't about to go fucking nuts and live off of squirrel blood, but he wouldn't mind a little privacy and the shade the trees could provide. It would be nice to finally-

  "You don't care what we do to your precious little Danni?" Greg asked in a taunting tone.

  Caine sighed heavily, but didn't open his eyes. He really could care less. "Do whatever the hell you want, just be quiet about it. I'm trying to sleep."

  A moment of stunned silence followed and he couldn't help but feel a little offended. Did the dumb bastard really think he was going to break him by torturing Danni? That was just fucking sad.

  They could do whatever the hell they wanted to her and he wouldn't break. Not only had she been raised knowing that one day she could be captured and tortured, but he also knew they wouldn't do anything too horrible to her.

  Maiming and killing her wouldn't exactly aide their little cause so he knew that they'd probably rough her up a little bit. It wouldn't be anything that she couldn't handle. He'd trained her at an early age and taught her the importance of pushing through the pain. She was probably the best human soldier he'd seen working for the Sentinels and there was a good reason for that, the job was her life.

  If she wasn't training, she was reading up about training, watching others train, and doing everything she could to make sure her job went smoothly. A few times over the years he'd fought back the urge to take her aside and have a word with her about wasting her life, but it hadn't been his place. He also hadn't wanted to make her think that there was a place for her in his life.

  Because there wasn't.

  He might watch her from a distance and do whatever he could to limit the bullshit in her life, but that didn't mean he wanted her to be a part of his life. Having her around would be a complication he didn't need or want. He'd made a mistake all those years ago when he took her under his wing and although there was nothing he could do about it now, that didn't mean he would make it worse.

  They needed to learn real fast that hurting her wouldn't change anything. She was just another human who would die one day, leaving him behind. In a hundred years from now, he'd probably forget all about her. Hell, give him a month away from her and he'd probably forget what she looked like.

  "Hold her down," he heard Greg order, but he was too bored with the whole thing to even bother opening his eyes. He knew she could take whatever they dished out and then some. She was a tough girl, had to be the way she was raised.

  A surge of anger shot through him before he could stop it. Even after all these years, regardless of the fact they'd died years ago, he still couldn't forgive Aaron and Susan for the way they'd treated Danni. While Danni had been growing up he had to stop himself time and time again from throttling the oblivious Sentinel couple.

  Most Sentinel parents would have dropped everything and come running back the moment they heard their young child was caught in the middle of a standoff between a Sentinel army and a Pyte, not Aaron and Susan. They hadn't rushed home. In fact, it was a good two months before he actually met them and when he did, the need to rip their throats out had almost been too much to ignore, but he managed.

  For Danni.

  She'd been such a cute, sweet, funny as hell little kid that entertained him on so many levels. She was the one that made him smile and laugh for the first time in centuries. She was one of the very few people who didn't kiss his ass out of fear or greed. He couldn't understand how her parents could ignore her or forget about her, but they did, often.

  He lost track of how many times over the years they simply took off without a word, leaving Danni to fend for herself. Each and every time he'd been pissed, but Danni simply shrugged it off like it was no big deal. Maybe he'd been spoiled by having his aunt raise him. She hadn't been an affectionate woman, but she'd made damn sure that she took care of him and her ten children.

  Danni's parents couldn't be bothered with simple things like meals, baths, bedtimes, or to even know where their small child was. With Danni's tendency to wander off for adventures they should have made it a point to know where she was or at the very least, slap a GPS unit on her ass. He didn't even want to think about what could have happened those hundred or so times she'd wandered off into the woods or away from her school.

  Just thinking about the time she left her school group in New York City when she was ten years old and on a field trip had the power to make him break out in a cold sweat. Six hours the police searched for her before someone from the compound found out that she'd gone missing.

  Every Sentinel available, except for Aaron and Susan of course, because they weren't in the country at the time, headed for New York City. Some by vehicle while others like him grabbed a ride in one of the half dozen helicopters the compound had. An hour later, he was at the museum searching for the scent that was too damn enticing among the thousands of scents that saturated the human filled museum.

  It took him a few minutes, but once he latched onto her scent he followed it, moving as fast as his Pyte abilities allowed. He made his way out of the museum, down streets, through alleyways, barely noting the humans he'd pushed out of his way. Twenty minutes later relief like nothing he'd ever known before surged through him when he found her dirty, grubby and grinning like a little fool as she played with a box of abandoned kittens down by the water.

  She'd been excited to see him, because she wanted to show her best friend, him at the time and for many years, her new friends. Knowing she was only a child and that the adults entrusted with
her care should have taken better care of her, he bit back his temper and allowed her to introduce him to the kittens. The only problem he had with her was when it was time to go home.

  He asked one of the Sentinels to bring the cats to a shelter, but refused to let her keep one. The adults may have been responsible, but she knew better than to wander off. When she put up a fight to get to the cats he'd been left with very little choice but to carry her back to the helicopter by her ankles.

  As much as he'd love to say that she never scared him again after that, he couldn't. Until the day he decided it was time to step away from her, she'd had a tendency of scaring the hell out of him. The only thing that saved his sanity over the years was the fact that he didn't see her as a child, his child. Most adults probably would have felt fatherly to the girl, but he hadn't. He'd always had a special bond with her, but it had been one of friendship.

  That is until it was time to cut her out of his life. It had been a necessity to keep her safe, alive, but he now realized that he'd fucked that up. Just cutting her out of his life hadn't been enough when her mouthwatering scent haunted him day and night. When he'd realized how close he was to giving into his desire to have her blood he should have done them all a favor and left. If he had they wouldn't be in this bullshit situation right now.

  Greg probably would still have tried to kill her, but he would have failed simply because the man was weak. Now he had a Master and a nest of vampires ready to do his bidding in the hopes that Caine either changed her or created a Pyte child with her. Since neither was going to happen, Danni was going to have to suck up whatever they dished out and hope she survived. If she didn't.......

  Well, he'd mourn the loss of the child who used to make him smile, but that was all. Although, he wouldn't do anything like try to escape or attack one of the men to rush her fate, he also wouldn't lose any sleep over her loss. She was just another human.

  As the scent of more vampires and water teased his nose he felt himself drift off, knowing that she'd either deal with whatever Greg threw her way today or he'd be escaping soon, very soon.

  ********

  "Looks like you're all on your own," Greg said smugly as she struggled against the two vampires holding her.

  She didn't know what he had planned for her, but she refused to go into this meekly. No matter what they did to her, she fully planned on fighting back. Her only hope was that she did enough damage to hurt the bastard and make his men think twice about approaching her.

  "Since it's obvious that I can't take you to the special room the Master has set up for occasions such as this, I've decided to accommodate your circumstances," he drawled out as he looked pointedly between the wire attached to her leg and the small remote in his hand.

  "No need. Take the anklet off and I'd be glad to go with you," she said tightly as she elbowed one of the men in the gut. He released her with a gasp. As she turned her attention on the other man holding her, new hands grabbed her.

  "Bind her hands," Greg said in a bored tone as he gestured towards her.

  Several pairs of hands clamped down on her biceps as an arm wound around her neck and yanked her back into a large cool body. Every time she tried to fight against their hold the arm around her neck tightened considerably until she was left with no choice but to stay still or pass out. Since there was no way that she was going to pass out and leave herself at the mercy of the asshole in front of her, she stopped struggling.

  As her hands were bound by rope she locked eyes on Greg, refusing to look away or allow him to intimidate her. No matter what he did to her, she would not react in any way. She sure as hell wouldn't scream for help from the bastard that made it more than obvious that he couldn't care less what happened to her.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as several vampires rolled a large clear rectangular box filled more than halfway with water and chunks of ice towards them. Knowing that he was watching her, she refused to react when it was rolled in front of her. It didn't take a genius to figure out what he had in mind.

  "Now, I know what you're thinking," Greg said, holding up the small remote.

  "That you're overcompensating?" she said innocently.

  Instead of zapping her like she'd expected he simply chuckled.

  "Ah, Danni, always a bitch," he sighed heavily. "I just wanted to let you know that you don't have to worry. Your cuff is completely water proof so the water won't short it out and I can zap you all I want without worrying about accidentally electrocuting you. Isn't that great?" he asked brightly.

  "Super," she said with forced cheerfulness and a huge taunting smile just to piss him off.

  It worked.

  His smug little grin was immediately replaced with a scowl in her direction as he gestured to the men holding her to place her in the tub. As she was raised into a lying position and held over the tub she tried to struggle, but it was no use. Taking several deep calming breaths she did her best to prepare herself for what lay ahead. Just when her breathing was even and she got some control over herself the bastard went and zapped her, distracting her so that when she was lowered into the ice cold water she wasn't prepared for it.

  Her scream of agony was quickly cut off by ice cold water. She swallowed a mouthful of water before she could stop herself. It caused her to gag and inadvertently swallow more water. Just as her lungs began to burn, she was pulled out of the water.

  She wasted no time in turning her head and coughing up the water she'd swallowed. Barely a second after she coughed up the last mouthful of water he zapped her again, but this time she somehow managed to bite back the scream of agony that threatened to be her downfall.

  When she was lowered into the water this time, she managed to hold her breath. She squeezed her eyes shut as she tried to focus on anything other than the cramps spreading throughout her chest. Just when she didn't think she could hold her breath any longer she was hauled out of the tub. She took a deep breath as she felt a surge of electricity shoot up her leg. She barely registered the men holding her suddenly letting her go as she dropped back down into the water.

  Somehow she managed not to scream as she ground her jaw shut and tried to relax against the surge of electricity that made her body go taut with pain. It hurt so much, so damn much and she wasn't sure how much more she could take before she broke down. Her only hope was that she'd pass out, but she doubted he'd allow even that. Before the last surge of electricity left her body, they grabbed her and pulled her out once again.

  Fingers gripped her chin, painfully, forcing her to open her eyes. "Scream for him, bitch. Scream for help and I'll stop," Greg snarled.

  "Go to....hell," she bit out as she fought to catch her breath while the pain intensified until it seemed to seep into her bones.

  "Thanks to you, I won't have to," he said coldly as he zapped her and she was once again shoved beneath the water and quickly released.

  When she was completely submerged in the water he zapped her again and again. With each shock water made its way down her throat and into her lungs. Her lungs began to burn as her head started to pound and her thoughts became fuzzy and frantic. She opened her eyes as she intensified her struggles, desperate for air as she was zapped again. Her movements became wild and ineffective as the pain worsened.

  Just when she didn't think she could take another second the water above her turned red and she let go.

  Chapter 8

  "I'm going to kill that bitch," Greg muttered as he gripped the prescription bottle between his knees and popped the top with his hand. He dropped his head back and dumped two pain killers into his mouth. He swallowed them dry as his eyes narrowed on the flat screen monitors.

  He watched as the bastard paced the long room, his eyes shooting from the unconscious woman lying on the bed to the locked door where his men made a hasty retreat over eighteen hours ago as they dragged him out of the room. From what his men told him, Caine had been pacing the room the entire time. His eyes remained a fiery red and his fangs
had yet to retract.

  Although it pleased him that the bastard reacted, he wasn't happy with the results. He looked down at his freshly wrapped stub where his left arm should be and ground his jaw. An eternity as a cripple, he thought bitterly. If the Master had changed him when he'd asked him to, he wouldn't have to worry about this. His arm would have grown back with rest and blood, but as a human he had no such hope. He'd been fortunate that one of the vampires here had been a doctor in his human life. The man was talented with a scalpel, but not talented enough, he thought bitterly.

  It was all that bitch's fault, he thought acidly as his eyes once again landed on her unconscious form. If she had screamed for help when he told her to, he wouldn't be facing a very long life without half his arm when he was turned. All she had to do was show a little weakness and make the Pyte protective of her, but the bitch fought him nearly to the end.