Tall, Dark & Heartless

"How did that aide in their escape?" the Master asked as he moved towards him and Lucan forced himself to relax and accept the blow that he knew was coming. It was a trick he'd learned as a child when his human master would "teach" him how to become a better servant.

"Their scent enticed most of the guards to leave their stations as well as the others," Lucan explained as the Master came to a stop in front of him. He was still furious with his men for not listening to him. He'd given them strict orders to ignore the scent, which really should not have been a problem since he had the drugged minions locked away in the lower level and away from his men. Their scent should never have reached his guards, but somehow it did.

"You're telling me that I lost my property because my men were f**king?" the Master roared as he grabbed Lucan by the throat and forced him to his knees, the one thing that the Master knew that he could not tolerate, but tolerate it he did even as a surge of memories shot through his mind, dropping him to his knees faster than the Master could.

Without needing to be told, Lucan dropped his gaze to the ground. Even after all these centuries he could not force himself to look up and meet his Master's eyes and he hated the Master for it.

"Where is my property now?"

"I don't know," Lucan said tightly even as he fought for control. At that moment he wanted nothing more than to tear his Master's throat out with his teeth, but somehow he forced himself to remain where he was, reminding himself that he had not earned his freedom yet. He refused to take it like some thief in the night. He'd worked for too long to simply take it. When he'd earned it the Master would give it to him.

"That's not good enough, dog," the Master spat, using the name his human Master had given him and further enraging Lucan. Still, he forced himself not to move even as the Master's hand tightened around his throat and he felt the Master's breath on his ear. "Is your usefulness at an end, dog? Hmmm? Should I give you the fate that your human master sought to give you?"

The Master chuckled when Lucan began to tremble, but not from fear as the Master intended, but from the struggle to stop himself from finishing this once and for all. He would earn his freedom. He would fulfill his promise to his mother and earn it. He would not allow anyone, especially this man, to force him to break his word. No matter how long it took, he would do it.

"I've taken care of it, Master," the last word strangled from his mouth as he closed his eyes and forced himself to reign in his temper.

"How?"

He opened his mouth to tell the Master that there were now two Pytes instead of one, but something made him hold back. Perhaps it was the knowledge that if they were unable to locate the male he would still have something to save himself from the misery he knew his Master would force on him if he failed. So instead, he gave the Master the only thing that would save him from tearing the Master apart and breaking his word at the moment.

"Kale Quinn."

********

"Oh my God! Stop!" Danni said, shoving Caine's roaming hand down her bare leg as she did her best to drive down the dark country road without careening the car into the woods on either side of the road.

"Can't. Need you," Caine somehow managed to get out as he continued to kiss her neck almost desperately.

"No, you don't, Caine. It's the drugs," she pointed out yet again with an annoyed sigh as his hand once again moved to slide between her legs and as much as she wanted it, needed it, she couldn't let him.

Having him suddenly cut her out of his life so long ago had been one of the most difficult things she'd ever survived, but she had barely survived the looks of indifference he gave her through the years. She refused to deal with looks of disgust after this. She would not allow him to claim that he'd had no choice because of the drugs and she sure as hell wouldn't be treated like some whore.

He'd made it painfully clear that he didn't want her when he rejected her when she needed him so badly. It was more than obvious that the very idea of touching her disgusted him. It didn't matter how turned on she was at the moment, she wasn't desperate enough to sleep with a guy that was drugged out of his mind and didn't know what the hell he was doing.

Her stomach growled viciously, reminding her that she needed to eat soon or she would lose control and go into bloodlust. The last thing either one of them needed at the moment was for her to lose control. The idea of not being able to stop herself from doing things she'd rather not do frightened her and she would do whatever it took to avoid doing those things. She was going to have to find someone to drink from. The idea of attacking some poor unsuspecting person didn't exactly appeal to her, but neither did acting like a rabid animal.

As she drove and shoved Caine's hands away she kept a lookout for a twenty-four hour diner or gas station. It should appall her that she planned on attacking some poor defenseless stranger, but at this point she was too hungry to care. She just hoped that she'd be able to stop before it was too late. It would destroy her to know that she killed someone innocent.

The sooner she got settled somewhere, the better. She needed to find a blood delivery system and soon. The stress from worrying if she'd overfeed was too much for her, she thought as she tried to shrug Caine off, but the bastard was determined. He teased her neck with the tips of his fangs, making her shiver as she did her best to ignore her body's reaction to him. It wasn't easy, but somehow she managed to keep going.

"Pull over," Caine demanded when she slapped his hand away, again.

"No!'" she snapped.

"I need to f**k you," he practically growled as he somehow snaked his hand beneath her shirt. Before she could stop him, he was palming her left breast and groaning in her ear. Her damn traitorous nipple hardened in welcome as she fought to control her breathing.

She couldn't do this. It was wrong. He was drugged and not thinking straight. When he worked the drugs out of his system he'd be mad, she reminded herself even as she tilted her head back slightly and to the left to give him more room to work. When he ripped her shirt open and latched onto her nipple she didn't bother biting back the loud moan. Instead, she put her directional signal on, slowed down and parked the car on the side of the road. Without taking his mouth away from her breast he reached over and put the car into park for her.

With a murmured "thank you" she sat there, panting hard as she tried to do the right thing. This was wrong, so very wrong, she thought as her eyes closed of their own accord and she licked her lips as he reached between her legs and traced her wet slit with the pad of his finger.

She was barely aware of her fangs sliding down or even the small tingle that accompanied her eyes shifting to red. All she could think about was the way Caine was driving her out of her mind and the fact that this was the very last thing that he wanted. Why did she have to have a conscience?

Danni took a deep fortifying breath and when that didn't give her the strength that she needed to stop him she took another one. The second one really didn't help, but she didn't have much of a choice in the matter. She needed to stop him before he did something he would regret. She knew that she wouldn't regret the act itself, but how he regarded her afterwards.

Sex was just sex. It was something she did when she was wound up tight or needed to burn excess energy, but even with that said, she'd never been one to sleep around. She needed to at least know the guy and have a certain level of trust and respect for him. That was the reason why she was never able to give herself to Greg, that and she wasn't attracted to the jerk. Caine on the other hand was a different story altogether.