PS03 - Tall, Dark & Heartless (6 page)

Curious, he looked down at the thick chain and wasn't too surprised to discover that it was made of titanium, one of the

very few metals he couldn't break. He scanned the ceiling and nearly growled when he spotted the cameras planted just out of

his reach.

He flipped off the cameras as he scanned the room again, hoping he'd missed something. But after a minute, it became

obviously that the door held their only escape. He looked down at his ankle, absently noting that whoever had chained him up

had also stripped, cleaned, and dressed him. He was now only wearing a pair of gray boxer briefs. Caine focused his attention

on the cuff, looking for a way to pry it open.

After a few minutes he gave up and focused his energy on trying to pull the chain out of the wall where it was secured,

only ending up more pissed off. Whoever had planned this had done their homework.

The sound of several locks clicking drew his attention back to the door. Caine smelled the asshole seconds before he

stepped into the room.

"Well, well, look who's awake," Greg mused as he stepped to the side, allowing a vampire carrying a medium sized red

cooler to step into the room. The vampire shot him a nervous glance before his eyes landed on Danni and stayed there.

Caine felt his eyes begin to burn as the man licked his lips hungrily. The scent of his arousal drifted towards Caine. A low

menacing growl erupted from his throat, echoing loudly in the room, startling the man, but not enough to make him look away

from Danni.

"Leave," Greg demanded, sounding oddly smug.

Caine watched as the vampire scurried out of the room before he shifted his attention back on Greg to find the man holding

what appeared to be a remote.

"Do you know what this is?" Greg asked, holding the remote up higher so Caine could make out a green and red button.

"The battery charger for your vibrator?" Caine drawled.

Greg took a threatening step towards him before coming to a sudden halt and stepping back, further pissing Caine off. A

few more inches and Caine was sure he would have been able to reach him and tear his throat out.

"How about a demonstration?" Greg suggested tightly, as he pressed the green button.

Caine heard the sizzle of electricity flowing seconds before Danni screamed in her sleep. His eyes shot over to Danni. He

watched helplessly as her body arched off the bed, hands fisted in the sheet, eyes squeezed tightly shut as an agonizing scream

escaped her. He forced himself to stand there, knowing the little shit was hoping for a reaction from him.

It was one of the most difficult things he'd ever done, but somehow he forced himself to look away from her and look back

at the asshole he was going to kill.

Very soon.

"Do I have your attention now?" Greg asked, smirking. He reluctantly removed his finger from the button, but Caine could

tell man was dying to hit it again.

"What do you want?" Caine asked, forcing himself to ignore Danni's gasps.

Greg shrugged, leaning back against the wall as his thumb lazily traced circles around the remote's buttons. For the first

time since he walked into the room Caine noted the Sentinel black fatigues were gone, replaced by a silk shirt and tailored

black pants. Although Sentinels weren't hurting for money they usually didn't wear anything fashionable. They were usually

more concerned with the job than needless comfort and that habit was usually followed by their human children since they

would likely be taunted and teased for being pussies.

"First, I think we should cover the rules, don't you?" Greg asked, smiling when Caine only glared at him. "There are four

of these lovely little devices," Greg said, holding up the remote. "If you try to escape or attack any of my men I'll push the red

button, which as I'm sure you've guessed will kill the little bitch."

Caine swallowed hard as dread filled him. "If you try to remove the device from her leg or the wall I'll push the red

button, but for all those other little things that simply piss me off I'll push the green button and as you can see," Greg said,

jutting his chin out in Danni's direction, "she probably won't enjoy that."

"What makes you think that I care?" Caine asked, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned back against the wall.

"Then I guess you won't mind if I do this again," Greg said, not bothering to hide his grin as he hit the green button. Caine

refused to look at Danni.

"You son of a bitch!" Danni screamed, at him or the douche bag, he wasn't sure. It didn't matter at the moment. The only

thing that mattered was getting the message across that he couldn't care less about her, because when it came down to it he

really didn't. He cared about the little girl that she had once been, but nobody else.

"No, not really," he said in a bored tone, shrugging. "The only thing I care about is why I'm here."

"I suppose we could get down to business," Greg said, reluctantly removing his finger from the button. He nodded in

Danni's direction. "We want you to change her."

Caine chuckled darkly. "Not fucking happening."

"Why not?" Greg asked, cocking a brow. "We both know that you haven't used your one turn yet."

No, he hadn't and he never planned to use it. It didn't matter that the Sentinel council had threatened to encase his ass in

cement and drop him in the deepest part of the ocean where he'd spend eternity wishing for a death that he knew would never

come. He would never give anyone the life he hated.

When he was younger and new to his immortal life, he thought it was fucking great. To go from nothing to being fast,

strong and unstoppable had been such a fucking rush and he'd enjoyed every goddamn minute of it. By today's standards he

probably would been labeled a playboy at the time. He took what he wanted, fucked whomever he wanted and never gave a

damn about anyone or anything because he thought he was a god.

It wasn't until he'd fucked the wrong woman that he got a dose of reality and learned real fast what the drawbacks were to

being unable to die. If he hadn't been so damn full of himself he never would have been caught. Instead of getting out of the

woman's bed like any man with common sense would have done, especially since he knew the woman's husband would most

likely discover him, he'd rolled over and fell asleep, arrogant in his abilities to destroy any man that challenged him.

He'd been so damn foolish.

That was also the first time he'd woken up chained. Instead of focusing on freeing himself he'd taunted and ridiculed his

captor, arrogant in his belief that he could free himself whenever he pleased and that he had nothing to fear from a bunch of

humans. He'd paid dearly for that mistake. When ten men wielding swords closed in on him he'd laughed, believing they'd do

very little damage before he broke free and drained them dry. It wasn't until the first sword sliced through him that his smile

faltered.

Within a matter of minutes he lay in a pool of his own blood, begging for death as the soldiers methodically sliced through

his body. Intense pain unlike any he'd ever known tore through his body as fingers, limbs and even his head were chopped off

countless times only to instantly reattach itself, ready for more damage.

It didn't take long for the men to declare him a demon. For hours they tried to kill him only to realize that he couldn't die

by their swords so they moved on to other methods such as fire, drowning, and every other way they could think to kill a man.

The first attack had robbed him of too much blood, leaving him weak and helpless against mere humans. As his body

begged for it all to end his mind went into a haze as the need for blood and revenge filled him, turning him into a savage

animal, snarling, growling and doing his damndest to attack anything and everything nearby, desperate for blood. He soon

became a joke to the soldiers as they tortured him. They'd made sure to humiliate him as much as possible as they had their fun.

When they carted him to the town square and chained him down for all to see he lost any semblance of humanity he had

left. While he lay there seething, women he'd bedded, men he'd bested and children who should have feared him laughed at him

as they threw rocks, garbage and other things he still refused to think about. Without any blood to drink he was left helpless.

His body slowly healed itself, but without blood he was too weak to defend himself.

For days he lay there unable to move as the townspeople had their fun. They wanted to see who could kill him and made it

into a game with a small purse of copper coins as the prize. It didn't matter what time of day it was there was always someone

doing their best to win the prize. If it hadn't been for a group of rowdy young men determined to win the prize he would have

probably been there for years.

They'd been so eager to win the prize and prove themselves that they'd ignored the soldiers' warning and unchained him.

He continued to lay there, taking their abuse for several minutes, waiting for them to come closer and when they did he

attacked. He'd ripped into the smallest of the men's throats, drinking greedily as he did his best to hold on and ignore his

victim's friends frantic attempts to pull him off. With every drop he felt his body strengthen and his wounds begin to heal. By

the time he released the first body he was back at half strength and easily able to take down the other men.

When the last body hit the ground Caine went into hiding, but he didn't leave the city. He refused to leave the city until

every single person who'd taunted him, humiliated him and attacked him was dead. Instead of burning the city down and killing

everyone like he wanted, needed to, he forced himself to be patient.

For five years he was a ghost, the local nightmare parents used to scare their children into being good as he had his

revenge. He forced himself to stretch it out as long as possible, knowing the wait was almost as bad as what he had planned for

each and every one of them. Everyone lived in fear of the invisible monster that lived among them. They never knew when he

would strike next. Sometimes he'd take his revenge several nights in row, loving the scent of fear the town gave off, craving it

and sometimes he'd allow days, weeks, even months go by before he struck again.

If any of his tormentors dared to leave the town before he could have his revenge he hunted them down. Before they made

it to the town border he took his revenge on them and made an example out of them. He saved the woman's husband for last,

making him live in a town full of corpses and taunting him as he hunted him. He stretched out the man's death for days before he

finally ended it.

But that didn't take away his anger. If anything it only pissed him off more to no longer have a target for all his anger so he

took it out on anyone who dared to cross him. He became the demon he'd been accused of being, attacking and killing without

warning. He'd hated the world, but mostly himself for what he was.

For so long he'd wished he'd died the instant that first sword sliced through his ribcage and into his heart, freeing him

from this existence. He was tired of constantly looking over his shoulder, wondering who would try and turn him into their

lapdog or take up the challenge the villagers had failed so many years ago. It was something he would never wish upon anyone,

especially the little girl who used to make him smile.

"I'm not turning her," Caine said firmly, meeting his eyes so there was no confusion in the matter.

"What if I told you that if you didn't turn her then I would kill her?" Greg asked with that damn smug tone again.

Caine simply shrugged. "Then kill her."

Chapter 5

"Then kill her," Caine said as if she was nothing and although she agreed with his answer his could-give-a-shit attitude

still hurt like hell.

Sometimes it was really hard to believe that she used to think the world of him. But maybe it was for the best that he didn't

give a damn whether she lived or died since it would probably save her from weeks, if not months of torture and unbearable

pain.

"What do you think about that, Danni?" Greg asked, sounding amused. No doubt he thought she was going to beg for her

life. The idea was actually laughable, not that anyone here would get the joke, but her.

"I think you should really stop trying to compensate for that small dick you've been given. It's getting kind of sad," she

said, not bothering to move off the bed she found herself on since she knew what was coming.

He didn't disappoint. Within seconds electricity was shooting up her leg and throughout her body as she did her best not to

scream. She wouldn't give him that pleasure again. She knew the key was to piss him off enough that he'd kill her, but to make

sure he didn't know how much it hurt. Otherwise he'd probably prolong the inevitable.

When the last surge of electricity faded away she took a deep breath and forced herself to throw her legs over the edge of

the mattress and sit up even as her body protested in agony. It was the only way she could guarantee their plans didn't work, not

that she doubted they'd just drag another woman in here for their sick plans, but it would give Caine a chance to figure out an