PS03 - Tall, Dark & Heartless (58 page)

deep, but not deep enough to need stitches, which was a good thing because she'd never stitched up someone this young before.

The drying blood on the girl's scalp was a bit frightening, but she knew from experience that head wounds always looked

nastier than they really were.

"Please help her," the Sentinel said, his jaw set in a grim line as he looked down at his sobbing mate.

"Fine," Kale said, getting to his feet, "but I'm not leaving Izzy."

"I just need you to hold her so that I can help her," Danni said, passing the baby over to large man who took the baby and

held her as if she were the most precious thing in the world.

She walked over to the screaming woman and prepared herself for anything, but she hadn't been prepared for this. If she

didn't lose her leg this woman would probably never be able to walk again. They were going to have to get her to a Sentinel

doctor and soon.

"I'm going to have to close up that wound to slow the bleeding down and I'm going to need some of your blood," she said

to the Sentinel, who looked like he could use a doctor as well, but this woman came first.

"You know what you're doing?" Chris asked as he pushed damp hair out of his mate's face.

"Yes," she said with absolutely no hesitation. She wasn't a doctor, but she had trained as a medic so that she could go out

on more patrols with the Sentinels.

"Then save my mate and child," he said, looking very much like a man who would die without them and she didn't want to

be the one to deliver the blow.

Chapter 49

Several days later.........

"Don't do this, Master," Lucan ground out as his bound arms were given a vicious yank, further straining his muscles. A

few feet away in the same position, Greg continued to cry even as he pissed himself.

"G-give me another chance!" Greg pleaded as the Master walked around him.

"I can't even begin to tell you how disappointed I am in you, Gregory. First, you screw up my plans for the Pyte and I

would have probably been able to forgive that if you weren't such a lousy fuck," the Master said, chuckling as several minions

and vampires joined in.

Greg opened his mouth, probably to promise to blow the Master, but the Master being the Master had already grown

bored with the male. After his men found the human trying to sneak back into town they grabbed him and brought him here

where the Master did things that turned even Lucan's stomach. He'd been about to walk out of the room when the human spilled

the news that the Pyte was now in the hands of the Sentinels once again and the Master turned his fury on Lucan.

Lucan forced himself to watch as the Master reached out and gripped the human's jaw and with a powerful yank, snapping

the human's neck, killing him almost instantly. When the lifeless body slumped sideways the Master kicked him out of the way

and with a heartfelt sigh walked over to where more than a dozen vampires held Lucan down on his knees.

"It looks like my
dog
is finally out of tricks," the Master mused as he stopped in front of him.

Lucan trembled with his own rage as he forced himself to remain kneeling. He would not dishonor his mother's memory

by striking out against his Master, but the moment he earned his freedom he would kill the crazed vampire before him who'd

relished in allowing each of his men to take turns torturing him.

They whipped him, stabbed him, threw holy water on his back to make sure that his back healed slowly, broke his hands

and feet only to force blood down his throat so that he would heal and they could do it all over again only the next time around

they made damn sure that they got more creative. His hands and feet were smashed with a sledgehammer, his back whipped

with a whip dipped in holy water until he could barely hold back his screams, his throat slit, and he'd been stabbed over a

hundred times, each stab carefully placed so that his heart was left undamaged, but this time they hadn't given him any blood to

sustain him. This time they were preparing him for the agonizing death that the Master would deliver.

"It's like déjà vu, isn't it, dog?" the Master asked with a smile as he looked down at Lucan and he couldn't help but dart his

eyes away. Even when he knew death was imminent he couldn't force himself to break the habit.

"I can't say that I regret saving you all those years ago since you've been quite useful to me, but I guess that usefulness has

come to an end."

"My freedom?" Lucan asked, keeping his eyes locked on the floor as he ground his broken jaw until he thought it would

snap again.

"Is it important to you?" the Master asked in a taunting voice.

He didn't answer. He would not beg for the freedom he earned. He'd served his Master well in this life and in the last and

he would have it before he took his last breath.

"That's what I thought," the Master said, sounding amused as he turned to walk away. "Have fun, boys."

********

"They're here," Ephraim said quietly as he cradled the sleeping baby boy in his arms.

Caine nodded once as he watched the long line of cars, vans and SUVs drive up the long driveway. "Hopefully they can

fix Izzy's leg," he said just as softly as his heart sped up with fear.

Three days was a long time to wait for the sentence that he knew was coming. Facing eternity trapped at the bottom ocean

was nothing compared to an eternity without Danni. He loved her more than anything and would happily take this punishment if

it meant that she was going to be taken care of.

"I know you said that you wouldn't, but if you decided to-"

"I'm not going to run," Caine said, cutting the other Pyte off while he watched the cars turn off to park on the side of the

driveway. "If I run, Danni will follow me and she's too sick to make it on her own right now. I don't know why the cancer won't

die out, but maybe they can figure it out and give her the life that she deserves."

He moved to step away from the window and the man that he envied, a man who could freely hold his mate and cherish

her whenever he pleased, only to pause. "While I'm gone will you-"

"I'll watch over her as if she were my own," Ephraim promised.

"I'm going to go say goodbye," he said, heading for the double parlor doors.

"Last time I looked she was still trying to beat the hell out of my son," Ephraim said on a light chuckle that made him

smile.

Danni was a stubborn woman and he was probably going to miss that about her most. She hadn't take her loss to the

Sentinel male well and for the last couple of days she'd been doing her damndest to kick Chris' ass, but so far there was no

clear winner. Chris seemed to welcome their matches. He was stressed out over his mate's condition and when he wasn't

fawning over her or taking care of his children he was looking to take his anger out on someone. He'd sparred with the Sentinel

twice already and he had to admit that the man's fighting skills were very impressive.

"You going to let them take you in?" Kale asked, drawing his attention to the shifter who stood, leaning lazily back against

the wall with his arms crossed over his chest as he watched him.

"Are you going to collect the bounty?" he asked, knowing the man's reputation.

Kale shifted his attention to the front door. "If you're stupid enough to turn yourself in I will."

"Then I guess you'll be collecting a bounty soon enough," he said, heading down the hall towards the sounds of grunts and

groans.

"Man up!" he heard Danni snap and couldn't help but smile as he remembered a time long ago when a six year old with

dazzling violet eyes and messy pigtails demanded the same of him as she jumped on his back and attempted to take him down to

the ground. He smiled then just as he smiled now.

"Puhlease, little girl," he heard Chris say as he rounded the corner and headed towards the large ballroom that had been

turned into a makeshift gym over the last couple of days, "we both know that I'm holding back."

"You could have fooled me with that weak little slap you just pulled," Danni said, taunting the man and he wasn't too

surprised when he heard her small little squeak and a startled gasp seconds later.

He stepped through the open double doors in time to see Chris effortlessly slam Danni on the matt. Even he had to admit

that the man was good, but of course his Danni was just as good since he'd been the one to train her. She wasn't on the ground

for more than three seconds before she turned the tables on Chris and took the large Sentinel down to the ground and had his

arm yanked behind his back.

"Hey, sweetie!" she said excitedly when she spotted him. "Do you want to see me make a Sentinel cry?"

Chris rolled his eyes even as he made a silly face to his giggling daughter and sleeping son, who were lounging on a thick

blanket in the corner that Chris had dubbed 'The baby training area' with a very somber little boy who hadn't so much as smiled

in the past three days. When little Jessica kicked out a foot, the boy dutifully picked her up and sat her in his lap. For the past

three days the boy hadn't been able to help Izzy enough. He helped with the kids, brought her chocolate, played video games

with her and did a hundred other things for her that were probably irritating the hell out of her, but she never once complained.

Everyone knew that the boy was struggling with the guilt of what happened to Izzy and no matter how many times Izzy told

him that it wasn't his fault, or anyone else's for that matter he just wouldn't listen. The blame rested solely with the bastard who

walked out on two women who needed his help and he callously injured Izzy. For the past two days Caine had searched the

area alongside Kale and Ephraim as they searched for the man, but so far they hadn't had any luck.

"Chris, I believe the doctors for Izzy are here," he said, forcing a light tone as he locked eyes with Danni. "I need to talk to

you," he said, but they both knew that he was saying goodbye.

"No," Danni said stubbornly as she released her hold on the Sentinel's arm.

"Don't make this harder for me than it has to be," he said, already wishing that he could make love to her one last time.

When he hadn't been patrolling, helping out with the babies and whatever else they needed help with around here he'd been

with her, talking with her, laughing with her, making love with her and just enjoying his time with her and making memories

that needed to last forever.

"Harder on you?" she demanded with a disbelieving snort. "How about me? You're planning on leaving me without a fight

and you think that's okay?"

Chris got to his feet and made his way over to the children. He picked up his son, the little boy was luckily fully

developed. No one could figure out how that happened, but he had a feeling that having the babies so close together had

triggered something in Izzy to help develop the baby faster. Since most Sentinel couples had their children decades apart it was

going to be difficult to prove. Then again he wouldn't be around to see if he was right so it really didn't matter.

"Don't do this, Danni," he said, ramming his hands in his pockets as he struggled against the urge to do just that, but she

needed more than he could give her and this was the only way to make sure that she got it.

"Good luck," Chris said as he carried his little boy out of the room with a somber looking Marc and a smiling Jessica

following closely behind him.

"Just say goodbye to me, Danni, so that I can go," he said, both wanting to get this over with and hold her in his arms one

last time before he was forced to let her go.

She stared at him for a moment, her beautiful violet eyes flickering before they settled on red and intensified as her

stubborn jaw set and he knew the damn woman was about to do something that they'd both regret.

"Fine," she spat out, shaking her head as she walked past him, "you're not willing to fight for us then I will."

"Why am I not surprised?" he said with a humorless laugh as he went after the woman so he could stop her from doing

something that she'd regret later.

"Danni, get back here!"

Her answer was a one finger salute over her shoulder without looking back, she stormed down the hallway towards the

cloying scent of Sentinels. That beautiful mouth of hers was going to get her in so much trouble. Ephraim better damn well keep

his promise and keep her safe, he thought as he quickened his pace to go after her, but of course the woman did the same.

"Don't do anything stupid, Danni. You need them."

"Bullshit!" she snapped, turning to face him and he felt his heart break as the first tear streamed down her cheek. "I need

you, Caine! Not them!"

"No, baby, you need them. I can't take care of you the way they can," he said, moving to pull her in his arms, but of course

she backed away from him.

"No," she said, shaking her head, "they can't take care of me the way you can, Caine."

"Danni,-"

"Are they going to be there for me? Take care of me? Hold me? Make love to me?" she demanded, getting into his face.

"They're going to take care of you," he gritted out between clenched teeth as he fought against the image of another man

touching her.

"So, what?" she asked, roughly wiping the tears away. "They'll feed me and I'll have to look elsewhere for a man to take