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

by R. L. Mathewson

  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 escape plan.

  The one thing that gave her peace was knowing they couldn't simply steal his blood and create another Pyte or an army of stronger vampires. When she was thirteen, she pestered Caine for weeks with questions about his abilities until he finally gave up and answered all of her questions. From what he told her, she knew that his blood would only be able to create a potent enough mix one time in order to create another Pyte. The key was to feed at the same time and keep feeding until he tasted his own blood in the person's blood otherwise that person would die a very painful death. The same process could be used for creating stronger vampires, but his blood would be considerably weakened af
ter his first change.

  Caine would never change anyone. Ever. She found that out when she asked him to change her when she was fourteen because she didn't want to grow boobs, because they would get in the way of playing basketball. After all the color returned to his face and he could sort of meet her eyes again he explained that he would never change anyone and that she'd just have to learn to live with boobs. Of course she accepted his explanation calmly before she kicked him in his shin and stormed off.

  Out of the corner of her eye she could see Caine leaning back against the wall, looking pretty bored. She ignored him and focused on the asshole glaring at her. As the pain started to subside she became aware of her surroundings and the fact that she was wearing a man's shirt and nothing else.

  "It's pretty sad that the only way you could get me out of my panties was to wait until I was unconscious," she said, forcing herself to get to her feet and praying that her shaky limbs wouldn't give her away. At least her headache was gone, she noted wryly.

  "Don't flatter yourself, Danni. We both know I never wanted any of that," Greg said, smiling smugly. "Didn't you ever wonder why I never pushed for anything more than a few lousy kisses?"

  She had wondered about that, especially knowing his reputation for pretty much fucking anything with tits. From the start of their relationship he'd been very hands off only showing her affection whenever she started to pull away from the relationship. At the time she'd been happy that she didn't have to come up with an excuse to turn him down, but now she knew it had all been part of his plan.

  "I just figured you couldn't get it up without picturing some guy's tight ass," she said, earning a chuckle from Caine, who otherwise said and did nothing.

  She prepared herself for the end as she saw his finger slide closer to the red button and nearly sighed with disappointment as he moved his finger away and ground his jaw.

  "Since you're awake I might as well clue you into the plan. I think it will make everything so much easier if you both know what's expected of you."

  "Oh joy," Caine said flatly. "I can hardly wait."

  Greg threw him a killing glare as he took a step in his direction only to suddenly pause and step back, probably realizing Caine would rip him apart even if it meant her death. For that it would be well worth it.

  "This is how it's going to play out, so listen up," he said in the same tone of faux authority he tried using on the more gullible humans in their unit. "The two of you are stuck in this room until you give the Master what he wants."

  "Oh? And what would your Master like?" Danni asked mockingly.

  "Shut up, bitch, and I'll tell you," he said, throwing her another glare before focusing all his attention on Caine. "If you want to leave, you have a few choices here. You can either turn her into a Pyte or fuck her and get her pregnant so in nine months we can have our very own Pyte from scratch. Of course she'll never survive the delivery if you don't change her," he said with a shrug before continuing, "The choice that will work best in her favor of course is to change her and get her knocked up so we get two for one."

  Caine chuckled without humor. "Never fucking happening so you might as well get on with your next plan."

  "You mean kill her?" Greg asked.

  Caine shrugged. "Whatever it is, get on with it. You're boring the shit out of me."

  "Just so you know if she dies we'll just keep bringing in women until you either get bored and give us what we want or we find something that you like."

  "Give it up. It's never going to happen. Better men then you have tried to get me to turn humans and they all failed. Just like you will," Caine said evenly.

  Greg smiled, shaking his head ruefully. "That's because they all took the wrong approach. They either tortured you or starved you. We don't plan on doing either. Instead we're going to focus all of our attention on Danni here until you either fuck her or turn her. Again, we actually prefer that you do both."

  "Not interested," Danni said, crossing her arms over her chest. There was no way she was going to be part of his plans, especially if they planned on trying to bring an innocent child into this.

  "Once you change her or knock her up," Greg continued as if she hadn't spoken. "We'll release you."

  "You're full of shit," Caine said and Danni had to agree. There was no way they were going to let him go after taking him captive and pissing him off.

  "It's a chance you'll have to take," Greg said, shrugging as he turned his attention back to her. "Until he either fucks you or changes you, you get to have the pleasure of starving, but don't worry you'll have plenty of water," he said, grinning as he gestured to the shower and toilet set up in the far corner.

  That was fine with her. It would give her time to either figure out a way to escape, if that wasn't possible she'd find a way to take her own life and wreck their plans. It wasn't her first choice, but she'd do what she had to do in order to make sure they failed. Too many lives were at stake here. Her eyes darted to Caine, maybe she could ask him to-

  "Oh, I wouldn't even think about asking Caine to end your suffering." When she glared at Greg he smiled smugly. "Something you should know," he said, shoving the small red cooler with his foot towards Caine. "We plan on keeping him well fed so he doesn't rip into you out of hunger, but if you should die then he'll remain in this room for a couple of years without a single drop of blood."

  She didn't need to look at Caine to know that last bit of information had his attention. Going without blood for him was physically painful and would leave him in agony. Since she knew that he wouldn't willingly hurt himself for her, she also knew that her plans had just changed. Just because he came for her when Greg took her didn't mean that he would do anything for her. It surprised her that he did at least that much for her, but she wasn't going to be foolish enough to think that it was anything more than a mistake on his part. Now she would either have to find a way to escape or wait until she starved to death and hoped it would be quick.

  "Do we understand the rules or do I need to go over them again?" Greg asked. When neither of them answered he sighed contentedly. "Then my work here is done for the moment." He turned to leave only to pause at the door, giving her a look she knew wouldn't bode well for her. "Ah, what the hell," he said, shrugging as he raised the remote and pressed the green button.

  "You son of a-" her words choked off on a loud gasp as electricity shot through her leg, dropping her to the ground. She bit back a scream as she watched the smug bastard leave.

  The door slammed shut behind him with an ominous bang. She continued to glare at the door as she waited for the last surge of electricity to leave her body, fighting back the urge to give into her shaky body's demands and close her eyes. Everything hurt so damn much, but she forced herself to ignore it. If they had any chance of escape they had to take it now before she was too weak to be of any use.

  "I'm not going to fuck you, and I'm sure as hell not going to change you," Caine's cold voice suddenly announced.

  "That's great. Thanks for taking the time to state the obvious," she said, not bothering to glance his way as she dragged herself up onto her trembling legs.

  "Nothing is going to change my mind," he said firmly.

  She rolled her eyes as she reached out to press her hand against the wall to steady herself. "Yeah, I get it. I won't be having sex again before I die. Good to know," she said, walking slowly along the wall as she took in the barren room, trying to ignore the sounds of the thick wire attached to her as it slid over the floor. "Now, if you're done professing your undying love for me, do you think you can help me find a way out of here?"

  Caine's long drawn out sigh irritated her already fraying nerves, but she kept her mouth shut. She had more important things to worry about at the moment than how pissed off she was that the man had allowed himself to get caught. Of all the stupid things to let hap-

  "You really fucked up tonight," Caine announced, sounding pissed off as well, which only pissed her off more.

  She sho
t him a glare and wasn't at all surprised to find him sitting against the wall, looking bored. No doubt being captured was no big deal to him, at least not at the moment when it seemed all the attention would be given to her.

  "I can't believe you've forgotten everything I've taught you," he bit out coldly, glaring at her now through the fiery red eyes that everyone else feared, but she always thought were cool, even when they flashed red because he was pissed, kind of like now. "You should have never allowed yourself to be captured."

  "I don't know if you've noticed, but I didn't exactly have much of a choice in the matter," she noted dryly as she eyed the camera placed high on the ceiling and no doubt out of reach of Caine. She shot a look back over to Caine to find him still glaring at her as if this was somehow all her fault. Ignoring him the way she'd done for years now, she dropped her eyes to the heavy metal cuff around his ankle and followed it to the wall where it disappeared behind what was obviously a fresh tile job.

  No doubt whoever had overseen this project had been forced to do some last minute renovations for this little plan. She idly wondered what they placed behind the wall to keep him from breaking free. Of course, she also wondered where that spiral Celtic tattoo that ran down the right side of Caine's stomach and under the grey boxer briefs he was wearing ended.