Tall, Dark & Heartless

He knew his father wouldn't be able to leave Joshua behind not only because it was his son, but because his father took one hundred percent of the blame on his shoulders for something that when all was said and done was really Chris' fault. Joshua was his little brother and he should have protected him, kept him safe instead of allowing him to be taken hostage and pulled out of the compound.

For a while he blamed Kale, but he realized that the man was just doing his job, a f**ked up job, but his job nonetheless. The shifter also earned his forgiveness by doing everything he could to save Joshua. He'd given him his blood and saved him and Marc by shoving them back inside the tunnel. He was the one that f**ked up, not the shifter, not his father, it was him.

And now he was going to abandon his brother to save his family. It made him feel like an ass**le, but he didn't have any choice. He was getting his mate and child out of here as well as his little brother and Madison. His father could stay and that would be fine with him. He'd look after Madison and his brothers. He hoped Jill came with them. They would need the help.

But it would have to wait until he could devise a plan to get them out of here without the shifters and demons that watched the compound day and night finding out. He hoped to get them out of here before his brothers were born, but that didn't look like it was going to happen. There was a Pyte, make that two Pytes, out there that needed to be brought in before they did something f**ked up like make an army of vampires for the Master hell-bent on getting them.

If they didn't get out of here before the babies were born he was afraid that they were going to be stuck here for another month and then of course his son would be born so they wouldn't be able to leave for a few months after that. His only hope was that Madison could hold on long enough for them to do what they needed to before she had the babies otherwise it would be out of his hands.

"Fucking hell," the driver said, sighing heavily with annoyance. "Looks like we'll have to go the back way."

"Why?" he asked as his father cocked his head to the side and scented the air.

"The front's jammed packed with everything from vampires to demons," he said, already turning the van around to go the back way which would add another ten minutes to his wait.

"Fuck that," Chris said, getting to his feet and moving towards the back of the moving van.

He didn't have to look back to know that his father was right behind him.

"What the hell are you doing?" one of the Sentinels pulling his legs out of the way asked.

"Going trick or treating. What the f**k does it look like I'm doing?" he said as he hit the lock release above his head and threw the door open.

He jumped out of the moving van and hit the ground with a smooth roll. Within seconds he was on his feet and moving towards the bastards keeping his family in this f**ked up situation. He spotted an arbean demon, a nasty race of rage demons that looked angelic, but were sick f**ks that got off on killing children.

"Come here, ass**le," Chris said, gesturing for the demon to come closer. Arbean demons only got involved if there was a chance to kill a child, which meant the sick f**k knew about his daughter. "Yeah, you, ass**le," Chris said when the demon looked around, probably thinking that he blended right in with the pedestrians moving along the walkways.

"Just remember to get your ass inside before the cops show up," his father said, zeroing in on a group of shifters making their way towards them.

"No problem," he said, pulling out his knife and going for the bastard as humans all around them either screamed or made a run for it. A few of them already had their phones out and were dialing 911.

That was one of the major problems with having a compound within city limits, it made it difficult to protect the compound without drawing attention from the humans. Once a week, usually around three in the morning, they sent a patrol out to clear the shifters, demons and vampires that were waiting for their chance to get their hands on Izzy out of here, but tonight it was just him and his father and he wouldn't have it any other way. He was sick of this bullshit and he was going to make damn sure to send a warning to the next group that came looking for his mate.

Chris took the demon on, gutting him before he slashed his neck open and shoved him aside so he could go after the vampire trying to make a run for it. Before he could make it around the corner he was dust and Chris was already chasing another demon and then another as he took his anger and frustration out on them.

"Chris!" his father snapped as he grabbed Chris by the arm and yanked him away from the dying demon. "The cops are coming. Get the hell inside, now!"

Reluctantly he left, wishing like hell that this had done more than just piss him off more. He wanted to tear them apart for scaring his mate and family and keeping them locked up like f**king criminals.

He jogged up the steps of the brownstone that looked like every other brownstone that lined the street on both sides, but in reality was just the facade for the three level compound that occupied every building on this street, and waited to be let in. He didn't have to wait long. Before his father had a chance to step in behind him he was running.

One look at his watch let him know exactly where his little munchkin was. Normally at two in the morning she'd be upstairs in their suite watching a movie and pigging out on junk food while she waited for him to return, but whenever Eric or Kale was in residence she felt it was her duty to kick their asses at whatever video game that currently held her attention.

He took the secured elevators to the lower level. "Come on, come on," he muttered, anxious to pull his mate in his arms and know that she was okay, that she was safe.

Finally after what seemed like hours the elevator came to a stop and the doors slid open. Sighing with relief he stepped out of the elevator only to come to an abrupt stop when his brain registered what he was seeing.

In the next second he had his gun drawn and aimed at the bastard that he was going to kill.

"Get the f**k away from my sister," he said evenly as he leveled his gun at the leech's throat. It wouldn't kill the vampire, but then again he didn't want to kill the bastard, at least not yet. He'd happily take his time with this leech.

"It's not what it looks like!" Jill said as she rushed to pull her shirt back on when the leech sitting beside her on the cell's cot shot him a wink.

"Oh f**k this," he said, holstering his weapon, knowing that his father would kill him if he fired a shot this close to his sister. He was just going to have to settle for ripping the ass**le apart with his bare hands.

********

"Is that all?" Caine asked, chuckling as he picked up one of the bags of blood off the counter.

"Is that all?" she repeated in disbelief. "Isn't that enough? I can't feed, Caine. I call that a pretty big goddamn problem, wouldn't you?" she snapped, knowing she was acting like a bitch and not really being able to help it at the moment.

Right now she was scared out of her mind that she'd never learn to control this thing inside of her. If she couldn't feed she'd go into bloodlust again and that was one thing she definitely never wanted to experience again.

She'd never experienced anything like it, not the pain, the hollow emptiness as her reality became a black smothering void. It had been so confusing, so frightening to be aware of muffled sounds, scents and needs, but to have absolutely no ability to form a conscious thought or to control her own actions. It was something that she never wanted to experience again. Coming to and realizing that she'd killed someone was another thing she didn't want to experience and if she couldn't get this under control, she was afraid of the monster inside of her taking over and doing just that.