PS03 - Tall, Dark & Heartless (13 page)

employer and that the man he'd known as his father was just her bitter husband. It wasn't until much later that he discovered that

his mother's master had been a vampire. The bastard could have saved her life if he'd simply changed her just before he was

born.

After he went through his transformation he went back to the city where his mother had worked, but no one had seen the

Lord since his mother passed away. He searched for a few more years, but it had been pointless. The man had vanished into

thin air and Caine had grown tired of looking for him. In the end it hadn't mattered anyway. He'd gotten his answers and even

discovered there were others like him. If rumor was true, there were some that even worked for the Sentinels like him and from

what he heard, were happy.

It didn't matter to him that other Pytes learned to accept what they were since he knew exactly how quickly happiness

could end. He also wasn't stupid enough to change someone who was already a prisoner. They'd keep her weak, but make sure

that she was fed just enough to do as they asked. Then again this was Danni and he knew the stubborn woman would fight them

every inch of the way and develop memories that would haunt her centuries later. He'd been there and done that and didn't want

that for her.

If he couldn't get her the hell out of here then he'd have no choice, but to sit back and watch her die. It was better than

having no escape and being trapped in a never ending hell.

"This should make you feel better, Danni," the vampire said as men walked into the room, keeping as far away from him

as possible, as they carried in fresh towels, soaps, a first aid kit, a small red cooler, a clean shirt, a blanket and what appeared

to be a small plastic crate overfilled with prepackaged food and bottled water.

"If you need anything else, please don't hesitate to ask," the vampire said, sounding more like a concierge than a captor.

"You may ask for me if you need anything else. My name is Lucan."

"Lucan?" he said.

"Yes?" Lucan said, arching a brow.

"You can tell the little asshole that works for you that the next time he comes near her, he'll be missing more than just an

arm."

With a simple nod in acknowledgement he left as quietly as he came, leaving him to wonder what the hell he was going to

do now.

*******

With an aggravated sigh, Caine pulled her up into a sitting position and held her there by her arm as he once again held the

saltine cracker to her lips.

"Eat," he said in a tone that told her that if she didn't do exactly what he wanted and soon, she'd probably find herself

pinned to the bed and force fed.

Glaring, she took the cracker with a shaky hand and stuffed it in her mouth. Her stomach growled viciously in demand for

its share when the salt hit her tongue. Before she realized what she was doing she grabbed the sleeve of saltine crackers from

Caine and started to devour them.

"Slow down," he said, gently prying the crackers away from her. "Take a small sip," he said, holding a bottle of water in

front of her.

Knowing she had no other choice she accepted the water and sipped it slowly. When he took the water away she held her

hand out in silent demand. With an arched brow he pulled another small stack of crackers out and placed them in her hand. She

wasted no time in shoving one of them in her mouth.

When she tried to put another one in her mouth he sent her a look of warning that she decided not to ignore. With a small

groan of aggravation, she slowed down. To help keep her mind off her stomach's demand to shove all the crackers in her

mouth, she studied Caine as he searched through the small plastic crate filled with food.

She watched as he studied each item, sniffed it, probably making sure that it wasn't tampered with, before returning the

item to the crate and moving onto the next one. While he was occupied she allowed her eyes to run over him, noting the dried

blood covering his arms, chest and the side of his face. She wondered if he'd been injured, but knew it was pointless to look

since any injuries he had would be healed by now.

"You need to shower," he said, voicing her thoughts.

When she looked up and met his eyes he frowned and looked down at himself. "I guess you're not the only one," he said,

not sounding too happy about that fact.

She had a feeling he didn't want to shower in front of her, which was kind of ridiculous given their situation, but he hadn't

showered or used the toilet in front of her once since they found themselves in this situation. She assumed that he was taking

care of his needs while she was sleeping. Since she doubted that he was shy, she assumed that he still saw her as that little girl

that used to wait for him to come home from patrol at four in the morning and demand that he go kick the monster in her closet's

ass so she could go back to sleep.

It was probably for the same reason he hadn't allowed her to die. Somewhere inside of him he had a soft spot for the girl

that she'd once been and couldn't stand around to watch her die. As much as she appreciated him saving her life and the fact that

he was acknowledging her existence at the moment, he needed to realize that she wasn't that little girl anymore if they were

going to figure out how to get out of here.

He sighed heavily as he grabbed her by her arms and stood, dragging her up onto her unsteady legs.

"Only one what?" she asked, trying to stuff another cracker in her mouth.

"That needs a shower."

With a frown he grabbed her crackers and tossed them into the crate, earning a killing glare from her. He simply ignored

the glare and her useless attempts to pull away from him so she could go back to her food. He half-dragged/half-carried her to

the shower. Without a word he leaned her against the wall as he grabbed the toothbrush that she'd been using and loaded it up

with toothpaste and shoved it in her direction.

Knowing when to take a hint and barely fighting back the urge to check her breath, she started brushing her teeth,

wondering what the hell they were going to do now. The good news, as far as she could tell, was that Caine was going to work

with her to figure out an escape plan, well, that's what she hoped at least.

She doubted the man acknowledged her existence simply because he was bored. He didn't have any friends and didn't

bother making idle chit chat during missions when most people did anything to keep their minds off the boredom that came with

long waits. Hell, even she couldn't just sit on her ass waiting, but he could.

No matter the situation, Caine was always cool, calm and collected. He never let anything get to him and could wait any

situation out patiently. She'd never seen anyone like him. Then again, for a Pyte, time probably didn't mean much in the long

run. When she was a child she used to take it as a challenge to see how long it would take her to make him respond. It didn't

matter what effect she elicited from him, she just liked to make him react.

She used to spend hours following him around, waiting for the perfect moment to scare him. Each and every time she went

to jump out and scare him he turned the tables on her and somehow scared her, making her scream and laugh until he was

forced to put her down before she puked. She could never figure it out. Then of course when she was nine, one of the Sentinels

let it slip about his enhanced hearing and speed.

After finding out that useful piece of information she marched right up to him while he was sparring with two Sentinels,

uncaring that they were practicing with knives and demanded to know if it was true. When he confirmed it, she called him a big

cheater and stormed off only to turn around so she could stomp on his foot.

For the next few years she focused her efforts to see if she could make him laugh or angry enough so he'd lose his calm

facade and react in some way. Although she did manage to make him laugh countless times she didn't have much luck making

him mad. Well, not intentionally anyway. She seemed to have a knack for pissing him off without trying though, she thought

with a sad smile as she focused on the here and now.

When she finished brushing her teeth she rinsed her toothbrush off and moved to push away from the wall so that she could

put it back, but Caine saved her the trouble. He dropped her toothbrush back in the small tote and turned the shower on. She

prepared herself for cold water to shoot past her, but instead felt heat as the water flowed out of the showerhead. Frowning,

she looked over and spotted the hot water knob attached at an awkward angle. She threw him a questioning look, which he

simply ignored.

"Take your shirt off," he said as he bent over and pushed his boxers down. When they reached his feet he shoved them

several feet down his chain, no doubt to keep them dry, she mused as she felt her eyebrows arch clear to her hairline.

Well, it seemed Caine stopped thinking of her as a little girl, she noted as he grabbed a bar of soap. Her eyes dropped

down to his bare bottom before she could stop herself and she damn near groaned.

His ass was perfect.

It was round, tight and smooth and she'd bet every cent she had that she could bounce a quarter off that thing. She'd always

known that he had a great body. Like the rest of the men, he often trained without a shirt and of course, she caught sight of him

after his night obsession with swimming laps a few times over the years so she'd already known he had a great body. She never

imagined he would-

"Are you quite done yet?" he demanded when he turned around, unfortunately before she could look away from his ass so

she ended up getting a view she never expected.

She swallowed hard as her eyes landed on the hint of silver poking from behind the tip of his uncircumcised penis. Caine

pierced his penis? That was something she'd never expected, she mused. Her focus moved up to the very large, thick soft shaft

and she felt a moment of sympathy for any woman that had been split in two by the damn thing while moving her focus up to the

root of his sex surrounded by dark hair.

Well, that answered that about where the tattoo ended, she supposed as she looked up and met his glare. "Nice tattoo," she

said, unable to bite back her smile when a muscle in his jaw began to throb and his eyes shifted red.

Chapter 11

As he rounded the corner and spotted all the men that belonged in the security room standing outside in the hallway he

couldn't help but wonder how much more bullshit he was expected to handle.

Playing babysitter to a minion he fully planned on killing wasn't exactly his idea of an appropriate task for a man of his

skills, but the Master needed him here, so here he stayed. The only thing he didn't understand or appreciate for that matter, was

allowing the minion to live now that his usefulness had come to an end. It was more than obvious that the man would only

hinder their progress from this point on.

One good thing that had come of the man's barbaric tactics was proof that the girl meant something to the Pyte. When the

Master first brought the human into their fold, he hadn't trusted him and had actually considered snapping his neck several times

during their short meeting so he wouldn't be forced to listen to the man's incessant whining.

He was willing to admit that the man had chosen well. The Pyte obviously cared about the young woman. That much was

clear by the way the Pyte guarded her. Lucan had understood the unspoken threat quite well. If he had moved so much as an

inch towards the girl, his heart would have been ripped from his chest. The threat both amused and intrigued him.

What was so special about the woman that he was willing to risk his blood supply? He knew all too well what it felt like

to go through bloodlust and from what he heard it was much worse for Pytes. He couldn't imagine voluntarily suffering any type

of discomfort over a woman, but this man, this
Pyte
had been willing to kill him and the annoying minion even though he knew

he would be dooming himself to a lonely existence filled with an unquenchable thirst.

The minion told the Pyte if he tried anything that they'd kill the girl and leave him to rot for years, but the truth was, it

made the girl more valuable in his eyes. As long as the Pyte continued to show preference for the girl he would keep her alive.

"The Master demanded privacy to speak with Gregory," a vampire explained before he could ask why the vampire had

abandoned his post in the security room.

He arched a brow at that, but said nothing as he opened the door to the security room and stepped inside. He ignored the

glare Gregory sent his way and stepped in front of the large flat screen monitor bolted to the wall which he'd set up to handle

the video conference calls. His Master watched his approach through the cameras aimed on him.

"Master," he said, inclining his head in respect as he looked up and met the eyes of the man who had changed his life

forever.

"Gregory has been sharing some rather disturbing news with me," the Master began. His pale baby blue eyes shifted to

Greg, who was no doubt gloating behind him before landing back on him. "He's claiming that you are interfering with my