PS03 - Tall, Dark & Heartless (9 page)

compound to see if anyone cared or even noticed. They didn't and soon she stopped caring whether anyone else cared. They

didn't so she decided to do whatever the hell she wanted. She moved out of her parent's compound suite and took a set of

rooms in the basement with the rest of the single adults. She quit school, had Roger in IT create fake IDs for her.

While most teenagers probably would have rebelled by acting up, drinking, doing drugs and having sex, she spent most of

her time learning new fighting techniques. She may have been born human, but she'd always known working along the Sentinels

would be her destiny and duty. The fact that she was human made her push herself harder and when her parents were murdered

she pushed everything else out of her life and focused solely on the job. When she got the news that changed everything less

than six months ago she stepped up her game, knowing she couldn't go out without making a difference.

She walked over to the bathing area and turned the shower on to create some extra noise. After throwing one last look at

Caine she relieved herself, glad that he refused to look at her. Although she wasn't exactly shy that didn't mean she felt

comfortable peeing in front of him. After she was done she washed her hands using the shower, wishing he hadn't broken the

damn hot knob off and proceeded to drink as much water as her weak stomach could tolerate. Once she felt full she looked

around the mostly bare room, looking, once again, for the best way to either get the hell out of here or to find something to put

her out of her misery.

For probably the hundredth time since she woke up in this nightmare she realized there was nothing. There were no

windows to crawl out. The air duct was too small, even if it wasn't it was too high for her to reach. The door was locked from

the outside so there would be no picking the lock and escaping. Even if that had been a possibility, she still had to deal with the

camera watching them every minute of the day.

Must be morning, she mused when she heard the locks click open. Twice a day the door opened and a cooler of blood

was shoved inside. It was the only way she knew how to gauge how much time had gone by. Wondering if she could use this

little routine to her advantage, she grabbed her toothbrush and toothpaste from the small plastic basket and began to brush her

teeth.

Instead of the door slamming shut after the cooler was shoved inside it was thrown wide open and Greg came sauntering

into the room, grinning from ear to ear as his eyes landed on her. Even as dread filled her, she forced herself not to give him the

satisfaction to know that he got to her. No matter what the bastard did to her, she would not react. He might be able to make her

life a living hell, but he would never know that.

"I've got a surprise for you, Danni," he announced with relish. "One I think you'll truly enjoy."

Chapter 7

"Are you going to fuck her?" Greg asked with a sneer as he turned his attention on the Pyte. Caine saw Danni tense up

when the crude words were spoken.

"No," Caine said flatly, as he leaned his head back against the cool tile.

He had no plans to fuck her, talk to her, or even acknowledge her in any way. She didn't matter to him and the sooner these

dumb fucks figured that out the sooner she would be taken out of here. The very minute that she was out of the cell and no

longer his responsibility, he was going to get the hell out of here and punish this whole fucking nest. Then he was going to cut

all his ties with the Sentinels and live out the rest of eternity doing something else, something with a whole hell of a lot less

bullshit than this.

Greg shrugged. "Then I guess you won't mind if we have a little fun with Danni while you make up your mind?" he asked

casually as he watched him from the corner of his eye, probably hoping for a reaction.

He wouldn't get one.

"Do whatever you want," he said, closing his eyes and settling in for a nap. He hated sleeping with the light on, but he

didn't have much of a choice since these bastards refused to shut them off. When he got out of here he was buying a place with

metal shutters for his windows so that he could block all light out of his room.

He hadn't always been this way, but living in his subbasement Sentinel quarters for the last twenty-five years had spoiled

him. He liked waking up without the sun blinding him. It didn't matter if it was day or night he could always see everything

clearly so the last thing he needed in the morning was sunlight damn near blinding him. Maybe he'd get a place in the

mountains, near a town of course. He wasn't about to go fucking nuts and live off of squirrel blood, but he wouldn't mind a little

privacy and the shade the trees could provide. It would be nice to finally-

"You don't care what we do to your precious little Danni?" Greg asked in a taunting tone.

Caine sighed heavily, but didn't open his eyes. He really could care less. "Do whatever the hell you want, just be quiet

about it. I'm trying to sleep."

A moment of stunned silence followed and he couldn't help but feel a little offended. Did the dumb bastard really think he

was going to break him by torturing Danni? That was just fucking sad.

They could do whatever the hell they wanted to her and he wouldn't break. Not only had she been raised knowing that one

day she could be captured and tortured, but he also knew they wouldn't do anything too horrible to her.

Maiming and killing her wouldn't exactly aide their little cause so he knew that they'd probably rough her up a little bit. It

wouldn't be anything that she couldn't handle. He'd trained her at an early age and taught her the importance of pushing through

the pain. She was probably the best human soldier he'd seen working for the Sentinels and there was a good reason for that, the

job was her life.

If she wasn't training, she was reading up about training, watching others train, and doing everything she could to make

sure her job went smoothly. A few times over the years he'd fought back the urge to take her aside and have a word with her

about wasting her life, but it hadn't been his place. He also hadn't wanted to make her think that there was a place for her in his

life.

Because there wasn't.

He might watch her from a distance and do whatever he could to limit the bullshit in her life, but that didn't mean he

wanted her to be a part of his life. Having her around would be a complication he didn't need or want. He'd made a mistake all

those years ago when he took her under his wing and although there was nothing he could do about it now, that didn't mean he

would make it worse.

They needed to learn real fast that hurting her wouldn't change anything. She was just another human who would die one

day, leaving him behind. In a hundred years from now, he'd probably forget all about her. Hell, give him a month away from

her and he'd probably forget what she looked like.

"Hold her down," he heard Greg order, but he was too bored with the whole thing to even bother opening his eyes. He

knew she could take whatever they dished out and then some. She was a tough girl, had to be the way she was raised.

A surge of anger shot through him before he could stop it. Even after all these years, regardless of the fact they'd died

years ago, he still couldn't forgive Aaron and Susan for the way they'd treated Danni. While Danni had been growing up he had

to stop himself time and time again from throttling the oblivious Sentinel couple.

Most Sentinel parents would have dropped everything and come running back the moment they heard their young child

was caught in the middle of a standoff between a Sentinel army and a Pyte, not Aaron and Susan. They hadn't rushed home. In

fact, it was a good two months before he actually met them and when he did, the need to rip their throats out had almost been

too much to ignore, but he managed.

For Danni.

She'd been such a cute, sweet, funny as hell little kid that entertained him on so many levels. She was the one that made

him smile and laugh for the first time in centuries. She was one of the very few people who didn't kiss his ass out of fear or

greed. He couldn't understand how her parents could ignore her or forget about her, but they did, often.

He lost track of how many times over the years they simply took off without a word, leaving Danni to fend for herself.

Each and every time he'd been pissed, but Danni simply shrugged it off like it was no big deal. Maybe he'd been spoiled by

having his aunt raise him. She hadn't been an affectionate woman, but she'd made damn sure that she took care of him and her

ten children.

Danni's parents couldn't be bothered with simple things like meals, baths, bedtimes, or to even know where their small

child was. With Danni's tendency to wander off for adventures they should have made it a point to know where she was or at

the very least, slap a GPS unit on her ass. He didn't even want to think about what could have happened those hundred or so

times she'd wandered off into the woods or away from her school.

Just thinking about the time she left her school group in New York City when she was ten years old and on a field trip had

the power to make him break out in a cold sweat. Six hours the police searched for her before someone from the compound

found out that she'd gone missing.

Every Sentinel available, except for Aaron and Susan of course, because they weren't in the country at the time, headed

for New York City. Some by vehicle while others like him grabbed a ride in one of the half dozen helicopters the compound

had. An hour later, he was at the museum searching for the scent that was too damn enticing among the thousands of scents that

saturated the human filled museum.

It took him a few minutes, but once he latched onto her scent he followed it, moving as fast as his Pyte abilities allowed.

He made his way out of the museum, down streets, through alleyways, barely noting the humans he'd pushed out of his way.

Twenty minutes later relief like nothing he'd ever known before surged through him when he found her dirty, grubby and

grinning like a little fool as she played with a box of abandoned kittens down by the water.

She'd been excited to see him, because she wanted to show her best friend, him at the time and for many years, her new

friends. Knowing she was only a child and that the adults entrusted with her care should have taken better care of her, he bit

back his temper and allowed her to introduce him to the kittens. The only problem he had with her was when it was time to go

home.

He asked one of the Sentinels to bring the cats to a shelter, but refused to let her keep one. The adults may have been

responsible, but she knew better than to wander off. When she put up a fight to get to the cats he'd been left with very little

choice but to carry her back to the helicopter by her ankles.

As much as he'd love to say that she never scared him again after that, he couldn't. Until the day he decided it was time to

step away from her, she'd had a tendency of scaring the hell out of him. The only thing that saved his sanity over the years was

the fact that he didn't see her as a child, his child. Most adults probably would have felt fatherly to the girl, but he hadn't. He'd

always had a special bond with her, but it had been one of friendship.

That is until it was time to cut her out of his life. It had been a necessity to keep her safe, alive, but he now realized that

he'd fucked that up. Just cutting her out of his life hadn't been enough when her mouthwatering scent haunted him day and night.

When he'd realized how close he was to giving into his desire to have her blood he should have done them all a favor and left.

If he had they wouldn't be in this bullshit situation right now.

Greg probably would still have tried to kill her, but he would have failed simply because the man was weak. Now he had

a Master and a nest of vampires ready to do his bidding in the hopes that Caine either changed her or created a Pyte child with

her. Since neither was going to happen, Danni was going to have to suck up whatever they dished out and hope she survived. If

she didn't.......

Well, he'd mourn the loss of the child who used to make him smile, but that was all. Although, he wouldn't do anything

like try to escape or attack one of the men to rush her fate, he also wouldn't lose any sleep over her loss. She was just another

human.

As the scent of more vampires and water teased his nose he felt himself drift off, knowing that she'd either deal with

whatever Greg threw her way today or he'd be escaping soon, very soon.

********

"Looks like you're all on your own," Greg said smugly as she struggled against the two vampires holding her.

She didn't know what he had planned for her, but she refused to go into this meekly. No matter what they did to her, she

fully planned on fighting back. Her only hope was that she did enough damage to hurt the bastard and make his men think twice

about approaching her.

"Since it's obvious that I can't take you to the special room the Master has set up for occasions such as this, I've decided to

accommodate your circumstances," he drawled out as he looked pointedly between the wire attached to her leg and the small