Tall, Dark & Heartless

Somehow she managed to sneak into the large room and hide behind an overturned vending machine. At the time she'd assumed it was her incredible skills that allowed her to hide, but now she realized that she'd only managed to get in unobserved because everyone had been too busy to notice her. While they fought, she scanned the room looking for the biggest, toughest vampire that she could find, figuring that one would be the Master.

She wasn't sure if the vampire she decided on was actually the Master, but she went for him just the same. As quietly and quickly as she could, she moved out from behind the vending machine and went after her prey. Unfortunately she never got near the man. Before she knew what was happening, another vampire grabbed her and yanked her back against his chest. She didn't get a chance to put up a fight before he struck.

Just the thought of those fangs slicing through her skin still had the power to make her ill. She let out a blood curdling scream, not sure if she screamed Caine's name or not, but within seconds she was falling to the ground. She landed hard and tried to crawl away only to find herself kicked and stepped on as the fighting shifted closer.

Somehow she managed to crawl to one of the cracked and decaying walls. She huddled against it as she watched in horrified fascination as Caine made the vampire scream and beg for his life before Caine ripped out his throat. Most vampires and Sentinels didn't know that Pytes could drink the blood of vampires, demons, shifters as well as humans. It was something Caine had told her, but up until that moment she'd never seen him drink anything more than bagged blood heated up in the microwave.

She knew the minute his glowing red eyes landed on her and by the way he tilted his head back and sniffed the air that there was something off about him. When he started attacking anything in his path, not caring whether it was a vampire or a Sentinel she thought he was worried about her and wanted to check on her. It wasn't until he went to lunge for her and several Sentinels and the shifters in his group grabbed him and held him back that she realized he meant to finish what the vampire had started.

When she slapped a hand to her wound he went wild in their arms, snarling and growling as he fought to get to her. The survivors of the nest took advantage of the situation and ran, leaving the Sentinels to deal with Caine. She stood up on trembling legs and moved to go to him only to get a good look at the monster he truly was. The moment she looked into his eyes she knew that her friend Caine wasn't there. She also knew that it wouldn't be long before he freed himself and came after her.

She sent him one last look, hoping to see her friend, but he wasn't there. Mumbling an apology she took off running, hoping he'd calm down if she wasn't in the room. She heard some of the men yell after her to run faster and she did the best she could. She ran out of the building, down the street and down the stairs to the subway, praying the entire way that the scents of the trains, dirt and humans would confuse him and that she made it to a train before he found her.

Just as she made it to the bottom step she heard the unholy roar that caused her heart to skip a beat and sent her running even faster. She jumped the token gate, ignored the booth worker demanding that she come back, and kept running until she made it down to the tracks just in time to see a train pull away. Not knowing what else to do, she jumped the tracks and took off running into the pitch black tunnel, praying he'd just assumed that she jumped on the train and left.

When she heard the growl echo in the tunnel she knew that he was still following her. Seconds later she tripped on the tracks and went flying, landing hard on the tracks. Remembering the small space that she usually watched mice run out of, she crawled towards her right, praying that she fit in there. She did, but it was a tight fit.

She moved until her shoulder came up against the rough cement wall and was forced to turn her head all the way to the side to fit. She prayed that she'd be able to go deep enough so that he couldn't reach her. When she saw the small bright red lights she bit her lip hard enough to keep from screaming. It was stupid, but she didn't want him to think that she was a coward. She knew that if he got his hands on her that she'd fight him until the end.

As his hand closed tightly around her arm she knew it would all be over soon even as she fought desperately to free her arm and grab onto something to keep herself from being dragged out. It was only thanks to one of the Sentinels that managed to follow him that she was still alive today. When she heard the gunshot and felt his hand go lax on her arm she sighed with relief and crawled out to check on Caine and to face her punishment.

Thankfully they shot him in the heart instead of the head. She wasn't sure she'd be able to handle seeing that. She wasn't worried that he'd die. He'd explained all of that years ago. So while several Sentinels yelled at her and threatened to take her over their knees and give her the ass whooping that she deserved she sat by Caine's side and held his hand.

Thanks to her he had to recover that night in one of the cells with bagged blood practically shoved down his throat and she was put under in-house arrest for three months. After they released him he hunted her down, but he didn't say anything to her. He just watched her for a moment before he turned around and walked away.

For the entire three month punishment he refused to speak to her, but he was never far away. He walked her to school. Was there waiting for her at the curb when school let out. He walked her home and straight to her bedroom where she was expected to stay all night. Before he went out on patrol he brought her dinner from the cafeteria, no dessert, and sat with her. She also knew that he checked on her while she slept, but never once spoke to her during those three months.

The day her confinement ended he picked her up from school like any other day, but this time instead of walking with her to her room, he led her to one of the workout rooms and had one of the Sentinels who'd been injured that day, thanks to her, spar with her. When he was done wiping the floor with her, which sadly hadn't taken more than a minute, she realized that she had no business going on patrol.

As she lay on the ground, hugging her arm to her chest and panting, she nodded in understanding. Caine let out a little grunt of acceptance as he reached down and picked her up and of course called her a "Dumbass" for good measure.

"You're done," Caine said, grabbing her attention back to the present "You are so f**king done," he said in that guttural voice that she knew so well from the nightmares that still plagued her from that night. "That life is over for you," he snarled.

Reluctantly she nodded, knowing that it was true. The life she'd known was over, but not for the reason he thought. The reason why her life was over chose that moment to make an appearance.

Chapter 13

Her gasp of pain drew him out of the beginning stages of bloodlust faster than should have been possible. Up until a few seconds ago he'd been struggling against the urge to finally give in after all these years of hell and rip into her throat. He'd been close, so damn close to losing control when she grabbed her head.

Before he realized what he was doing, he was in front of her, taking her into his arms. He looked down at her and noted her pale complexion, her eyes squeezed tightly shut and her normally beautiful full lips drawn into a thin line.

"Danni,-" he started to ask her what was wrong, but her cry of pain gave him the clue he needed. She had another migraine, one of many lately. A few months ago he spotted her sitting with her head in her hands in one of the back stairwells at the compound. He hadn't been sure what was wrong and he hadn't asked her since that meant getting involved. Since that day he'd seen her popping aspirin several times a day.