PS03 - Tall, Dark & Heartless (18 page)

It wasn't too surprising. Thanks to her migraines, lights and often smells overpowered her senses, making the pain in her

head worse. As hungry as she was, and God was she hungry, she decided that she'd rather empty her full bladder and get in a

quick shower before she was hit with a migraine and knocked on her ass. She slowly got to her feet as her eyes landed on

Caine. He stood against the section of wall facing the door that she thought of as his spot while he watched her through

narrowed eyes.

Great, she thought dryly, he was pissed at her again. Whatever. She was too hungry and annoyed with the loud sounds and

overpowering smells to really care. She didn't know why he was so pissed. She was the one that got her ass fried, not him, so

she really couldn't fathom why he was in such a pissy mood.

They might have punished him too by taking away his blood, but one look at the cooler by his side let her know that wasn't

the case. Whatever had his panties in twist would have to wait because she didn't have the patience at the moment for any

nonsense. She walked over to the toilet and shot Caine a glance, but thankfully he looked the other way.

As soon as she was finished she unbuttoned her shirt and dropped it to the ground, well away from the shower. She turned

on the water and made quick work of scrubbing herself from head to toe. Once she was finished she was a little surprised that

the migraine she knew was coming hadn't made an appearance yet. It was odd, but she wasn't going to bitch about it.

That was one of the worst things about having less than a year to live. The damn migraines robbed her of precious time,

knocking her on her ass and leaving her helpless as she watched time pass her by. All too soon she knew that she wouldn't

know anything but pain and misery and she'd be begging for a quick death, but not yet. As long as she was able to, she was

going to fight.

"Notice anything odd yet?" Caine asked, drawing her attention.

She looked over her right shoulder to find him leaning against the wall less than five feet away from her as he ran his eyes

over her. It was a little unnerving to have Caine looking at her like that, but not as frightening as her body's reaction to him. An

odd, yet sweet odor in the room teased her nostrils and made her stomach coil in anticipation. When she felt herself become

wet she had to bite back a curse, knowing that Caine would smell it.

When his eyes flashed red seconds later and a soft growl filled the room she knew he smelled her arousal. Since there

was nothing she could do to hide her reaction to him she decided that she would simply ignore it. She frowned as his words

weaved their way through her mind. She looked around the room, noting the small plastic crate half-filled with food that oddly

didn't tempt her ravenous stomach. Her eyes moved to the left and widened in surprise when she spotted the long black cable

that should be attached to her ankle coiled into a loose pile in the corner of the room.

Her eyes shot down to her ankle as she tried to remember when it had come off. The last thing she remembered was

watching Caine float to the ceiling and then pain, intense pain like nothing she'd ever known before her world went black. She

looked up to find Caine still studying her and knew that he'd been responsible for removing the wire.

"Thank you for saving my life," she forced herself to say even as she turned her face away from him and squeezed her eyes

shut, wishing like hell that he hadn't interfered.

If he hadn't interfered her death would have been painful, but quick. She almost wished that he had just left her to die. It

wasn't as if she was in a rush to get it over with, but she knew what was waiting for her and soon. She'd waited too long to go

see her doctor about her migraines and general weakness and now she was paying the price. She had brain cancer with mets,

cancerous tissue, running down her spine and around her heart. It wouldn't be too long until the pain became too much and she

wouldn't be able to get out of bed. As much as she wanted to get out of here and keep fighting she didn't want to face that future.

She would die in a bed in a Sentinel sickroom by herself. The few friends that she had would probably visit, but in the

end she had no one. Her parents were long dead, they hadn't had any other children and all their family had long ago died. She

didn't want to die alone. At least if he had allowed her to die she would have died with him by her side. She could have found

comfort in having the only person that ever meant anything to her by her side when she drew her last breath.

Oh, God.....

Her chest heaved almost painfully as she tried to draw a breath, but couldn't. The grief that had threatened to overtake her

since she heard the faithful words uttered from the doctor's mouth broke free. Before she knew it a loud agonizing sob broke

free and she was helpless to stop it. The last person she wanted to see her like this was Caine. He'd be disappointed that she

wasn't strong. She needed to be strong. She needed-

"Shhh," Caine whispered in her ear as his arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her back against him. "It's okay,

Danni."

"I'm just tired," she lied, humiliated that he was seeing her like this. She didn't want him to think that she was weak. She

wasn't. There was nothing weak about her and she would face this like she faced any mission, head on and with no regrets.

"Why didn't you tell me that you were dying, Danni?" he asked quietly, but there was no mistaking the rage in his tone.

She bit her lip as she struggled against the urge to turn in his arms and cry against his chest the way she did when she was

a child and her whole world seemed to be falling apart around her. But she wasn't a child anymore and more importantly, she

could no longer seek shelter in his arms.

"There's nothing to tell, Caine. I don't have much time left," she said with a casualness she didn't feel as more tears

streamed down her face.

"You should have told me, Goddammit!" he practically roared as he turned her in his arms and pressed her back against

the cool tile wall.

"It had nothing to do with you!" she cried.

"Bullshit!" he said, giving her a little shake. "I could have gotten you help! I could have found someone to make you

better!"

"It was already too late by the time I went to the doctor," she said hollowly, giving him a sad smile and a shrug.

"You don't know that!" he said, looking pained. "I could have found someone to take care of you, Danni. I could have

made damn sure that you beat this thing. You didn't have to go through this alone!"

She shoved him back, but he wouldn't budge. "I am alone, Caine. I've been that way for more than ten years now. Did you

think finding out that I had less than six months to live would change that? It doesn't. Whether it's here or on a stretcher at the

compound I'm going to die soon and there's nothing anyone can do about it. So just let it go and forget about it so that we can

focus on getting the hell out of here."

Instead of moving away from her like she'd hoped he would he came closer, cupping her face in his large hands. "Do you

have any idea what they would have done to you if they'd found out that you were dying, Danni? Hmmm?"

"Killed me or let Greg torture me," she drawled, trying not to let him know how terrified she was of the latter.

His eyes glowed a more intense red and his jaw clenched as he stared down at her. "Do you think this is funny? Do you

have any idea how much pain and damage he could have done to you before he decided to end it, Danni?"

"I would have pissed him off enough to end it quickly," she admitted, but instead of appeasing him that only pissed him off

more.

"We'll never know now, will we?" he demanded, confusing the heck out of her.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"You got your cure, Danni. You're not going to die," he bit out coldly.

"I-I don't understand," she said as her eyes tingled uncomfortably and the lighting in the room suddenly turned, tinting

everything in shades of red.

"Don't you?" he asked with a cold chuckle that sent shivers up her spine.

She could only stare at him and shake her head.

"Congratulations, Danni, you have true immortality now," he said dryly.

Chapter 15

"What the hell did you just say?" Danni demanded as he walked away from her, but he didn't bother to answer her. There

was nothing to say.

He'd fucked up.

In a moment of weakness he'd panicked and did the one thing he swore that he'd never do, he changed her. When her heart

stopped beating all he could think about was the misery and pain he would feel from not being able to see her everyday and

know that she was okay. Saving her life had nothing to do with her and everything to do with him.

He hadn't been ready to let her go. In forty or fifty years he might be ready, but not now. When her heart stopped beating

he'd done his best to get it started up again by performing CPR, something the Sentinel Council demanded all their employees

learn. When that hadn't worked he did the only thing that he could think of without really thinking about it.

Before his panicked mind could comprehend exactly what he was doing he bit into his wrist and pressed it against her lips

as he sank his fangs into her neck. When he tasted the cancer in her blood he nearly choked, but somehow managed to ignore

the acid taste of the poison that was quickly killing her, and drank her blood. When a minute passed and he still didn't taste his

own he pressed the heal of his free hand back on her chest and continued to do compressions, forcing her blood to pump

through her body and mix with his.

Just as he was about to give up, he tasted his blood and knew that there was nothing else he could do. When her heart

began beating on its own again a minute later, a selfish part of him was glad. He would never have to witness her death or live

in a world where she didn't exist, but then the part that still cared for the little girl that she once was realized the hell he'd just

put her in.

He'd given her the life that he hated and now she had a future filled with pain and misery awaiting her. Instead of letting

nature take its course he'd intervened and given the only person who'd ever meant anything to him a life of hell.

"You know what I said," he said softly, mindful of the vampires stationed on the other side of the door.

"No, I don't. So why don't you explain it to me," she demanded and he knew without looking back that she was moving to

cross the room to get in his face and lay into him for what he'd done, but he couldn't allow that to happen. Before she could

move so much as a foot he was back in the shower, pressing her against the wall and placing his lips near her ear.

"I think it would be for the best if they didn't know that you've been changed, don't you?" he asked in a cold whisper as his

grip tightened around her slender biceps, noting the lean muscle. "Unless you want them to come in here right now and shoot

you in the head and tie you down so that they could try getting the baby that I refuse to give them."

"Oh my god," she murmured and he knew she understood exactly what awaited her if they discovered that he'd turned her.

If she was lucky all they'd do was incapacitate her by shooting her in the head or the heart and raping her until she gave

them what they needed. But he knew they'd be too greedy to wait the sixteen years needed for her child to make its

transformation into immortality so that it could give them what they wanted. They'd torture and starve her until she created an

army of stronger vampires. They'd probably keep her chained up and only bring her out when they needed more vampires

created. They wouldn't be able to go out in the sunlight, but the vampires Pytes could create would be a lot stronger than

normal vampires and would be able to take down their enemies faster.

He watched as her beautiful violet eyes turned back to a fiery red and knew that it wouldn't be long before they figured out

that Danni hadn't just been ill this past week. She'd been going through her transformation. It took longer than he thought, but

then again her body had a lot of damage to repair. He'd been forced to feed her from his wrist, nearly making her choke on it as

he rushed to get the blood down her throat before any of the guards thought to open the door and check on them. To make them

think that she was still eating human food he dumped a portion of the food they gave her into the toilet three times a day. In fact,

he'd just finished dumping her lunch portion down the toilet when she woke up. They had to hide her change if they had any

chance of keeping her safe and judging by the horrified expression on her face she understood that.

"They'll do something horrible to you," she said, sounding close to tears as a tremor shot through her body. "They can't

find out what you did, Caine."

Of course she didn't really get it, he thought dryly. He was worried about her and she was afraid for him when right now

all she should care about was getting the hell out of here before they figured it out, but she couldn't. She was newly turned and

didn't have control of all her abilities yet. She was also weak since the transformation took everything she had and he'd barely