PS03 - Tall, Dark & Heartless (57 page)

"Slow down, Marc," the Sentinel said calmly, but he knew from the scent the man was giving off that he was anything but

calm.

"It's too soon for Izzy," Kale mumbled to himself as he visibly paled. Ephraim nodded solemnly as he dropped his head

into his hands and took a deep breath.

"Does the Philadelphia compound have a helicopter?" Kale asked.

"Yeah, but no one to fly it at the moment. Chris called earlier to have someone come pick us up, but the guy was laid out

in the medical ward from a demon attack," Ephraim said, dropping his hands away, his eyes a fiery red as he noticeably tried

to stay in control.

"New York?" Kale asked, sounding slightly desperate.

Ephraim shook his head. "No, they're spread out looking for these two."

"We need to get there now!" Kale snapped.

"No shit!" Ephraim snapped back, looking seconds away from attacking the shifter who looked more than willing to throw

down.

"I can fly," Caine said, hoping to buy a few more minutes with his mate and shut these two up so that he could listen to

Danni's breathing and heart.

"You can fly?" Kale asked, eying him skeptically.

"Yeah," he said hollowly as Danni's heart skipped a beat. "Just find me a plane or helicopter and I can take you where you

need to go."

Chapter 48

Upstate New York

The new Williams' Family Mansion

"
Just calm down, little man
," Chris said again, but he couldn't.

He was barely eleven years old and his mother and sister-in-law were in labor and he didn't know what to do or where to

go. No one else was here. No one was supposed to be here because they weren't supposed to be here yet. Uncle Eric hadn't

assigned Sentinels to the Sentinel homes that surrounded the property. It was just him, a crying baby, two screaming women

and his brother who hadn't said a word or moved since their father chained him in one of the upstairs bedrooms that morning.

"Should I call 911?" Marc asked, already knowing it was a stupid idea, but he couldn't think of anything else to do.

Chris was silent for a moment before he said, "No, don't do that. If something happens and Izzy needs blood they'll give

her human blood and it will kill her," he said, sounding sadder than he'd ever heard him before and that actually scared him

even more. Chris was tough and could handle anything and he was....

Not.

He couldn't do this. What if something happened to his brothers or what if Izzy died or her baby died? It was too soon for

Izzy to have her baby. Sentinel females only carried their babies for four and half months and this was a month too soon. The

baby wasn't ready yet, but it was coming and he couldn't do anything for it. If his father or brother were here they'd know what

to do.

Even Kale would be better than nothing. Well, for Izzy. He knew the shifter would never hurt Izzy or her baby, but he

didn't trust the man with his brothers. The man hated Pytes and that meant he would hate his little brothers, too.

"Where's my baby girl?" Chris asked, his voice cracking and scaring him even more.

"She's lying on the floor," Marc said, throwing a concerned look at the little girl who hadn't stopped crying since she took

a tumble to the floor in Izzy's arms ten minutes ago.

Everything had been fine. The women were smiling and talking while they walked around when suddenly Izzy began

screaming and fell. Marc saw her try to protect the baby as she fell, but the baby still got hurt and Marc wasn't sure what to do.

He didn't want to upset his brother anymore than he was, but he was in over his head and didn't want the little girl to be hurt or

die, because he kind of liked having her around and it would kill his brother if something happened to her.

"I-I can't stop the bleeding," he said, shooting the little girl a nervous look as her cries intensified and felt his stomach

drop. The cut on her forehead wouldn't stop bleeding. He'd tried everything from band aids to ice like his Great Grandma

showed him, but she was still bleeding. He really wished she was here right now. He really wished Jill was here too. His

sister was smart, sweet and kind and he didn't care that she made friends with that vampire and he didn't know why everyone

was making a big deal about it. Jill was always kind and helpful to everyone.

"Why is she bleeding, Marc?" Chris asked, his voice steady, but he knew his brother well enough to know that he was

probably panicking.

"Izzy was carrying her when she fell and she hit her head, Chris. I'm trying to take care of her, but mom went into labor

when she tried to help and both women need help and...and....I don't know what to do!" he said, feeling close to crying, but he

held it back. He was the man of the family right now and he had to take care of everyone.

"
What the hell do you mean she's bleeding
?" he heard the shifter yell and had to take his ear away from the phone

because it was so loud.

"Marc, we're coming home and we'll be there as soon as we can. Just.....just make them comfortable," Chris said before

hanging up and leaving him all alone.

He took off his Yankees tee shirt, the one Chris got him last year when they went to Yankee Stadium and bundled it up

before he pressed it gently against Jessica's little head. As carefully as he could, he picked her up, but she wouldn't stop crying

and Izzy and his mom couldn't take care of her right now because they were both on the floor, holding their large stomachs and

screaming every couple of minutes, Izzy more so than his mom.

God, he was so scared. He didn't know what to do, but he couldn't leave them like this. He just couldn't. His eyes strayed

to the grand staircase and he knew that he shouldn't do this, but he didn't have any other choice. Joshua was supposed to be a

doctor. He was smart and would know how to handle this. No matter what anyone said he knew his brother loved them and

was still there. He'd let Joshua go and make him promise to help and he would and this would snap him out of his shock and

he'd have his brother back.

It would work out. Everything would be okay, he told himself as he held the baby tighter against him as he walked up the

stairs, careful not to go too fast and risk falling with the baby in his arms.

"Shhh, Jessica," he said, not knowing what else to do. "Everything will be okay."

On shaky legs he walked down the hall to the room they set up for Joshua. He shifted the crying baby in his arms and

grabbed the keys to unlock the door and set Joshua free. It took a few tries, but he managed to get the door unlocked and opened

it.

Joshua sat on the edge of the double bed, looking the same as he had in the Boston Compound cell. He just sat there, not

moving or saying anything, but Marc knew that he could hear everything that was going on. It was impossible to miss the

sounds of a screaming infant and two women.

"Joshua?" he said, trying not to sound too scared. "I know that you're not happy about what happened to you and I'm

sorry," because it was his fault, "but I need your help. Mom and Izzy are in labor and Jessica got hurt and I don't know what to

do so I'm," he took a deep breath, "I'm going to let you go and you're going to help them."

When Joshua didn't say anything or react in any way he decided to take that as an agreement. He carefully laid Jessica on

floor against the wall and removed his bloody tee shirt away from her face so that she wouldn't think that he just left her. Once

that was done he gripped the key tightly in his hand and approached Joshua, looking for any sign that his brother wasn't going to

help him. Joshua didn't say anything or even look at him so as fast as he could he unlocked his leg shackles and then the ones

attached to his arms. When the last one hit the floor he jumped back and nervously gestured for Joshua to go help.

"Okay, let's go," he said, trying to sound firm as he gestured again to the door.

Slowly, Joshua looked up at him through dull blue eyes that used to light up when he smiled or laughed. A pang of grief

shot through him at the loss of the man Joshua used to be. He really missed his brother, he thought as Joshua stood up without a

word and headed for the door.

"Wait!" he cried out as he ran over to the crying baby and picked her up. He rushed after his brother and knew that

everything was going to be okay. Joshua was going to take care of everything, he thought with a shaky sigh as he carefully

walked down the stairs.

He opened his mouth to tell his mother and Izzy that everything would be alright when Joshua walked past the women

without so much as a glance and kept going until he was ripping the large front door off its hinges and letting it fly back, not

caring where it landed. Seconds later it slammed Izzy in the hip, causing her to scream out in pain, before it slammed into the

wall and came to a halt.

"Oh, no," he muttered as he watched the man that used to be his brother walk off and he knew that he'd just made

everything worse.

*******

"Yes!" came the answer as scents and sounds finally managed to filter through her head as she struggled to open her eyes.

The scent of human, Sentinel and Pyte blood teased her senses as she opened her eyes and wondered if she was dreaming.

For a moment she simply lay there and watched as Caine and the other Pyte male crouched down near a beautiful woman, with

jet black hair and a flawless tan who was obviously pregnant and obviously in labor, scream as she gripped her stomach. She

allowed her eyes to move over to the Sentinel, who only managed to kick her ass because she'd been weak at the moment,

crouch by another, a much smaller, woman along with Kale Quinn, who looked ready to pull out his own hair as the small

blonde beauty screamed. A much different cry caught her attention and she looked over to find a little boy, maybe twelve years

old, holding a crying baby in his arms while he helplessly looked on.

One look around told her that they were in a very large, expensive home with the front door missing.

"I'm going to fucking kill him!" the Sentinel, was his name Chris? shouted as he looked over the blonde woman's side. She

didn't have to ask to know that the woman was a Sentinel and probably his mate or that she was bleeding pretty badly.

"It hurts!" the woman cried out and Danni had no doubt that it did. She was still very new at this, but she was pretty sure

that she could smell bone marrow. Something had done a lot of damage to the pregnant woman and judging by the look on

Chris' face that someone was going to die a horrific death very shortly.

"He's dead," Kale growled out as he peered over Chris' shoulder to see the damage. His eyes flashed an intense silver as

he forced a grim smile for the small woman and took her trembling hand into his.

"I'm sorry....I'm so sorry," the boy choked out as he held the crying baby against him.

Deciding that she'd lounged around for long enough, she gave her head a good shake and rolled over, surprised that

nothing hurt, but then again she could taste a faint taste of blood in her mouth and knew that Caine had fed her. That was good,

it meant that she had enough energy to get this situation under control.

She got to her feet as she kept her eyes on the chaos in front of her. Honestly, people really needed to have contingency

plans for this kind of thing, she thought as she stretched her back.

"Kid?" she said, startling the little boy, but thankfully getting his attention and giving him the distraction that he needed.

"Are there any beds set up yet?" she asked, already noting a lack of personal effects, which meant that they either weren't into

decor or they'd just moved in.

"Y-yes," he answered nervously, which was understandable since her shirt seemed to be covered in Caine's dried blood.

Speaking of Caine, she looked over and met his worried eyes. Before she did something stupid like run over to him and throw

herself into his arms and kiss him she focused her attention back on the boy who looked seconds away from crying.

"Good, you're my assistant," she said in a firm tone. "Give me the baby and go make sure there are clean sheets on the bed

and then find me a first aid kit, clean towels and some needle and thread. When he didn't make any moves to listen to her she

snapped at him. "Now!"

That got him moving. He nodded jerkily as he rushed over to her and placed the wailing child in her arms, looking

relieved. As soon as the baby was out of his arms he was running to hopefully go do what she asked. She turned her attention to

Caine and the other Pyte.

"Caine, the two of you need to take her to a bed and let her get comfortable. I'll be up in a minute to check on her," she

said, moving her attention to the woman sobbing softly on the ground.

"Let's go," she heard Caine say and knew that the other Pyte was in agreement. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the

two men carefully pick up the woman and in a second they had her flashed out of the room.

"If one of you gentlemen would be so kind as to hold this beautiful girl and maybe get her a bottle I'd be more than happy

to have a look at the Sentinel," she said, smiling down at the baby as she checked the little girl's wound. It was a small cut,