PS01 - Tall, Dark & Lonely (45 page)

his mate never mind tomorrow morning.”

She clapped her hands together. “Now, I believe Chris has a take to tell us.”

From above them Ephraim’s voice echoed throughout the room. “Oh, I believe I’m more qualified to tell that tale, wouldn't you

agree?”

Everyone looked up and gasped.

Chapter 30

Madison was surprised to see Ephraim lying across the ceiling with his hands folded behind his head and his ankles crossed.

The perfect picture of leisure, if one did that sort of thing on the ceiling of course. She had to remember to ask him to show her

how to do it.

She dropped her gaze to take in everyone else’s expression. Caroline looked torn between anger at not knowing he was there

and excitement that he was. Her men looked nervous and awed. She knew what they were all thinking. Caroline no doubt

promised to have them changed and they all thought they were looking at their future.

Candy cowered back even more. Madison saw Candy’s eyes take in everyone’s distractions. She inched away quickly while

she could. Madison didn’t say anything. If Candy managed it good for her, otherwise drawing attention to her right now would

set off guns in their direction. If Candy was going to get herself shot she would rather she did it away from the kids.

No one else seemed to notice that Candy was no longer part of their group. Caroline kept her eyes on Ephraim, expecting her

men to watch the small group. Of course they weren’t.

Ephraim watched Candy sneak away out of the corner of his eye. She didn’t even look over her shoulder again to give her kids

on last look never mind taking them out of here to safety. If Chris was well he could count on the boy to take the younger

children to the training room where they would remain safe until help arrived.

Chris looked relieved to see him. Eleanor looked relieved as well as she tightened her grip around Chris and reached out to

take Joshua’s hand in hers. Joshua beamed up at him. He winked at the little boy. Jill just looked astonished. She didn’t look

frightened just surprised.

Candy was just making it past the stairs when Caroline’s gaze dropped to her.

“Kill her.”

Everyone in the group except for Madison and Chris whimpered and ducked down, trying to cover each other. Madison threw a

pleading look at Candy. “Get back here before they kill you!”

Candy hesitated at the stairs and looked back. She was deathly pale. “No, I’m not dying for anyone.” She turned to run. “I’m not

going to die!”

The man guarding her chased after her. Madison was frozen on the spot. She couldn’t risk running after Candy to help her and

give herself away. She had to stay and protect the children. She knew that instinctively just like she knew that if she ran

Ephraim would stop her.

Ephraim watched Candy run. One look at Caroline let him know if he went after the woman she would kill everyone. If it had

been anyone else he may have risked it, but Candy wasn’t worth it. She just abandoned her own children to certain death.

A few moments later they heard several gunshots. The kids and Eleanor jumped. Chris swore. Madison wiped away a single

tear. He knew it was the hardest thing she’d ever done, sacrificing her birth mother to save her family, but he was glad. He

couldn’t lose any of his children or Eleanor.

The guard walked back and nodded. Caroline looked pleased. “Next time any of you fail to do your job I will personally rip

your throats out.” The guards backed up a bit and refocused on the group.

“Why don’t you come down here, Ephraim, and tell your story. Or we could just shoot the little boy. Both would be

entertaining.”

Joshua swallowed loudly and cowered. With grace a dancer would be jealous of, Ephraim fell to the ground, landing on his

feet without a noise. Caroline smiled wolfishly. “Oh, how I look forward to being able to do that.”

“I bet,” Ephraim said smoothly. He stepped in front of the group. He stood no more than an inch away from them, blocking

Caroline and the front two men’s view of the group. His legs were less than an inch apart further blocking their view.

“You three cover their backs. I don’t trust him,” she said to the other three guards.

“I want you to take off your vest and remove your weapons slowly and turn around or I tell those three to start shooting.”

Caroline ordered. Her eyes were fixed on Ephraim’s every move.

Ephraim slowly removed the vest, knowing how much Caroline appreciated a man’s chest. While he had her distracted he

pressed his left leg against Chris’s side, knowing the back of his lower legs and Chris’s hands would be blocked. A few

seconds later he felt his pant leg pushed up from the back and felt his gun removed, he'd left both guns unstrapped for this

reason. A few seconds later the second gun was gone. He heard Joshua and Jill’s small gasp of surprise and so did Caroline.

“What is it? Turn around now!”

He turned around, giving Caroline a view of his back. He saw Chris tuck the guns in the waist of his pants. He nodded firmly.

Ephraim winked at the kids as he tossed his bullet proof carelessly, but purposely, on Joshua. Eleanor released the boy’s hand

and with Jill’s help they quickly had the boy inside the vest as secretively as they could.

“Master, they’re putting the vest on the boy,” one of the men pointed out. Ephraim’s teeth lowered as he eyed the man. He

growled viciously towards him. The man took an unsteady step back.

Caroline laughed it off. “If he wants to give the boy false hopes let him.”

Ephraim heard Caroline approach. She removed the gun from the back of his pants and threw it back. It hit the wall before it

fell to the floor. Her fingernail traced lines on his back. No doubt she was cautious about touching his skin after the last time.

He knew what she was looking at.

“Hmm, I see you’ve turned into quite the passionate lover, Ephraim, if these scratches are any indication. That’s good to

know.”

“You’ll never know,” he said in a bored tone.

“His eyes,” Eleanor whispered.

He looked back down at her. “It’s okay. I promise.” She nodded slowly. Jill did as well. Joshua just grinned hugely.

“Cool!” the little boy said. Hope filled his eyes. Ephraim only hoped he wouldn’t let him down.

Caroline’s hand snaked around him, still careful not to touch him, and removed the second gun. She threw it across the room.

“We’re all waiting for an explanation, Ephraim.” She backed away, giving him room. Apparently she wasn’t completely

stupid. That was a bit of a surprise.

Ephraim walked around the room, careful not to go near the armed men. He didn’t want to make them anymore nervous than

they already were. He decided to buy some time by doing what she wanted, for now.

“What you need to know is that I would never hurt any of you. I was born this way. I was born in London, England during the

winter of 1803.” He paused to give them time to adjust to this knowledge. “My father was a vampire, my mother human. I don’t

know the details of their relationship. She was married to a Duke whom she already bore two sons for. I was very different,

small.”

“When I was sixteen I went into a coma and a month later I awoke like this. I will never die, but I can be hurt. I walk in the

daylight and I drink blood. I have killed, but only when needed and for good reason.”

“I was planning on telling you shortly. As you know, Chris is a Sentinel. We both work for a special council. Our job is to kill

violent vampires, demons and shifters. This house you are in is an incomplete Sentinel home. I say incomplete because the

Pope and the council have been working hard to set up a proper household for us. It’s taken a lot longer to do then it normally

should because of the baby.”

“Is the baby..” Eleanor’s voice trailed off.

He nodded. "The baby is like me. The Pope and Council want the baby safe and under the protection of Sentinels with the hope

that one day he will join their ranks as I have done.” He gestured to Caroline. “Masters like Caroline want the baby for

themselves to make as many powerful vampires as possible. She hopes to get her hands on the baby and turn him into her

servant.”

“You’re forgetting something, Ephraim. You will turn me or I will kill your family.”

“Ephraim, why can’t you kill her and them before they hurt us?” Jill asked.

“Because if he makes a move against me they’ll shoot you. He can’t save all of you and he knows it,” Caroline said smugly.

Jill bit her lip and nodded. Chris held his gaze for a moment and nodded. He slowly turned until he was propped up in

Eleanor’s lap while his legs spread out in front of Joshua and Madison.

If they were going to do something it had to be now. Chris was losing too much blood and was at risk of passing out. Ephraim

watched as Chris laid both of his hands in his lap. Moving the left one caused him pain, but he pushed through it.

Ephraim turned and punched a hole in the wall. Everyone jumped at the unexpected move. Chris took advantage of the

distraction and finished positioning himself.

“Fucking hell!” He pulled his hand out and stalked towards Caroline. “I’m sick of these fucking games, Caroline. This is

bullshit. If I had known you were going to stalk me for eternity I would have just given you my blood a century ago.”

“You’ll do it now?” she asked cautiously.

He looked like he was thinking it over as he looked back at the small group. He nodded hard. “Let’s just get this the fuck over

with. Are you going to want me to turn them into vamps?”

“Wait what does he mean by vamps? You promised we would be like him!” one of the men said.

“You will of course,” she purred. She threw Ephraim a warning glare. If he told them her plans she would kill them now.

Ephraim nodded.

“Let’s get this over with."

“Fine, now I know your blood will kill me so what do I have to do differently?”

“I have to feed from you first. It will mix with my blood. Then you can feed.” He lied. They had to feed at the same time and it

wouldn’t work even if they did. He’d already turned Madison. His body would safely take her blood as a meal. He could

easily feed off vampires, but preferred human. Caroline didn’t realize that his stomach would digest her blood, slowly. If they

were doing a dual exchange her blood would shoot through his system fast enough so it would mix with his and make her

stronger.

“If this doesn’t work kill them all,” she told the men. They all nodded as their eyes shot from them to the group.

“Turn around,” Ephraim said.

“No, I want you to feed from me while I’m in your arms,” she argued.

“No, it will be easier for me this way.” Before she could argue his hand shot out and yanked her to him. His fangs sank into her

neck. His eyes darted from Madison to Chris. Chris nodded. As soon as it was time he prayed Chris wouldn’t hesitate.

He pulled quickly on her neck, draining her. The more blood she lost the quicker her death would be when she took his. She

winced and groaned in his arms. “Enough!”

He ignored her and continued to feed. After a few minutes when he knew her body was all but drained and his stomach was

uncomfortably full he pulled back and offered his wrist. “Take your fill.” He had to make this convincing. “After this is done

stay the hell away from me. I don’t want to see you for the rest of eternity.”

She nodded her agreement as she pulled his wrist to her mouth. Caroline was too excited to make the moment last. She’d

waited so long for this. She sank her teeth in and swallowed as fast as she could. Some of his blood leaked from her mouth, but

she was unconcerned as she drank greedily.

After a minute he pulled his arm away. “That’s enough if you take any more I’ll end up having to drain those men before you get

your fill. You don’t want to go away hungry.”

She laughed triumphantly. “There’s more than enough here to meet my needs.”

“If you don’t mind…” He let his voice trail off while he cocked his head towards the men.

“Certainly.” She smiled, not knowing her blood had settled in his stomach and not his veins, leaving him too full to take even

one more drop of blood.

Ephraim walked over to the men. “Let’s get this over with. I want you all out of my house.”

The men looked at him nervously, but no one moved. Ephraim started with the one at the far left, the one covering Eleanor and

Chris. He needed to be taken out first. He had to move quickly.

“Put down your weapon. I’m not having you accidentally shoot while we do this.”

The man nodded and put the gun in his holster. The other men watched anxiously. Ephraim stepped up to the man. He took the

man’s head firmly in his hands. “Are you ready?” he asked loudly.

The man nodded, but it wasn’t him that Ephraim was asking. Madison watched as Chris reached down and pulled out two guns.

With his left elbow he shoved Eleanor down, causing her to fall backwards. With his left leg he knocked Joshua and Jill down.

It was easy with the way they were sitting. They all fell at once. Chris took aim as Madison covered the kids with her body.

“Now!” Ephraim yelled as Caroline screamed in pain. Madison looked over at the woman as she dropped to the ground. Her

body convulsed as smoke rose from her skin. The men shouted orders as Chris began shooting.