PS03 - Tall, Dark & Heartless (7 page)

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 after 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 shot 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.

When he growled a low warning at her obvious attention, she simply shrugged as if it were no big deal. She turned her

attention to her own leg bracelet, noting the thickness and the material that wouldn't be easily removed. It would probably fry

her ass if she tried to take it off or tamper with it in any way. Her eyes dropped to the thick black wire that ran from the bottom

of the electrode to the wall behind her.

Her only hope was to find something to cut through the long, thick wire, just enough to sever the wires inside and keep it

attached to her bracelet. When she made her move she didn't want them to know they couldn't control her. The problem was

there didn't seem to be anything in here that she could use to cut the wire.

There was a mattress, a sheet, a shower, toilet and a pile of what appeared to be basic toiletries, but no stall or curtain.

That last item caught her attention. She wondered if there was anything she could use to make into a weapon. She walked over

to the shower area on shaky legs and decided that a hot shower wouldn't exactly hurt at the moment. She knew someone had

wiped her down, but that knowledge only made her feel dirtier. She didn't like to think about being unconscious and vulnerable,

especially with Greg in the room.

No matter how hard she tried, she could never get comfortable with him. While his kisses were pleasant enough, they

were nothing to write home about. The thought of getting naked for him always left her feeling cold and uncomfortable. Even

though he never pushed for anything physical, and now she knew why, she thought dryly, she'd known without a doubt that she

would have ended things sooner if he had.

When she'd walked out the back entrance of the all night diner their group had hit after their patrol so she could have

privacy making a phone call, she hadn't expected to find Greg screwing their waitress against the wall. It had been both a relief

and an insult to her. She was relieved because she had a decent enough reason to dump him rather than feeling foolish because

of her hang-ups, but she'd also been insulted that he'd never even tried anything with her. She knew it was ridiculous to feel that

way over a man she never wanted to sleep with, but it had still hurt.

Something occurred to her, actually it had occurred to her about thirty seconds after she found Greg balls deep in the

waitress, but she'd been a little too pissed at the moment to ask and she knew Caine would just pretend that he hadn't heard her

or knew she existed if she'd approached him that night, but maybe under the current circumstances he might answer her.

"That night when I walked into the alley and caught Greg with the waitress," she began as she ran her eyes over the