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Tall Dark & Heartless, Page 28

R. L. Mathewson
Page 28

 

  Even as Seth shook his head, almost frantically, his friends took off at a dead run. They might all feel tough picking on an eleven year old kid who wouldn't fight back, but none of them wanted to deal with Chris. Chris scared the hell out of them and for good reason, he never made a promise he didn't intend to keep. The last time he found them picking on Marc he promised to hang them upside down in the great hall downstairs.

  "Let me go! We were just kidding," Seth cried out.

  "Don't do it again," she said, releasing his fist, but not before Marc stepped up to him and decked the much larger kid, sending him flying backwards and falling on his ass.

  "The next time you take a swing at my sister I'm going to knock all your teeth out," Marc promised evenly as he took her hand in his and led her towards the elevators. The boy simply nodded as he cupped his face and tried to stop the flow of blood from his nose.

  Isabella had to bite back a smile as Marc entered the code for the elevator. Marc might not lift a finger to defend himself against human boys, but he was a lot like his brother when it came to the people he loved, he would beat the hell out of anyone who hurt his family. Without a word, she handed his game back to him. He placed it in his back pocket, but didn't say anything as they rode the elevator down to the lockup unit.

  When the elevator doors opened, the Sentinel on duty looked up and acknowledged them with a nod before returning his attention to the small television on his desk. They walked past Logan's glass cell and weren't too surprised to find the man sleeping. Since they'd taken him into custody several months ago he tended to sleep during the day and save his energy for nighttime when Chris' sister, Jill would visit.

  Not that Chris or anyone else for that matter was aware of the little late night visits. She hadn't told anyone because she hadn't felt it was her place. Besides, the man was locked up and she doubted he could do any harm. She also liked the man, she didn't trust him, but she liked him. He was cranky in an adorable way.

  "I'm going to visit Joshua," Marc mumbled, releasing her hand and headed towards Joshua's cell at the end of the hallway.

  "Okay," she said, knowing he'd sit there as long as it didn't bother Joshua. She walked past Joshua's cell and felt her heart break as she caught sight of the man who was once her best friend. He'd been such a sweet man before the incident and well on his way to becoming a great doctor, but now he simply sat in his cell all day. He never spoke. The only time he moved was to eat, drink blood or pace his cell when he became agitated. She hated seeing him like this and wished there was something she could do to help him.

  "Izzy, you need to see this," Kale said, drawing her attention to the large break room the man claimed as his own.

  Frowning, she walked into the room and stopped when she spotted the man on the screen floating off the ground. If there was any doubt in her mind before that the man was a Pyte it was gone now. She nearly groaned in frustration as she watched him destroy the camera and the signal.

  "The signal died a half hour ago," Kale said, sighing heavily as he leaned back against the couch. "There's no way to find them now. "

  Yes, there was. It was normally something she used only as a last resort because the program had the tendency of going overboard and she was still trying to restrict the program, but what other choice did she have?

  None.

  "It's time to use Tattletale. "

  Chapter 14

  One week later. . . . . . .

  "You're not to bring him anymore blood until I tell you to," Greg ordered the two vampires Lucan had sent to deliver a cooler full of blood.

  Lucan bit back the urge to rip the little bastard's throat out for probably the hundredth time that week. It had been seven days since the human tried to kill the woman and the Master refused to allow him to dispose of the man. If Gregory had been a vampire the Master would have ordered the execution immediately upon finding out what the ass**le did, but unfortunately for him, Greg was still very much human and the Master was thinking with his dick.

  He just prayed that the Master showed up soon. The sooner he f**ked Greg and got it out of his system, the faster they could get rid of the annoying little prick and focus on fixing the problem he'd created.

  They had a seriously pissed off Pyte who wouldn't let anyone in the room except to bring the woman food and coolers of blood for him. Actually, the Pyte demanded a week ago that they double the amount of blood. His reason was valid. According to the Pyte he was close to bloodlust. For every vampire here, who knew just how bad bloodlust could get, that was more than enough reason to comply. The little prick of course tried to interfere with the blood and food deliveries.

  When the Pyte had taken out the cameras, Lucan had been out of the building looking into another matter. By the time he'd been notified he'd been sure that it was too late and that they were not only going to have to find a new female, but they were also going to have to deal with a seriously pissed off Pyte. He'd made it to their cell just as Greg ordered a small group of vampires to enter the room and retrieve the body. The man had looked damn near giddy at the possibility of seeing the woman's dead body.

  The men didn't get five feet into the room before the screams of terror began. He shoved Greg out of the way and walked into the room only to come to a halt as he watched the Pyte tear into the throats of his men and take his fill. Even as the Pyte fed he made damn sure that no one got near the body on the mattress. Lucan took one look at the man's feral expression and knew he'd hit bloodlust so he ordered his remaining men back, knowing it would be pointless to stay in the room. Just as he was about to step out of the room he heard it.

  The small, weak sound of her heartbeat, but it was enough. She was alive and he knew it would be foolish to try to take the woman out of the room or even attempt to reattach the barbaric device to her ankle since the Pyte would probably kill anyone that went near her. Deciding it was time to retreat, he sent in two large coolers of blood, hoping the Pyte would overindulge in the cold liquid and leave the woman alone. She was the key to their plans and they couldn't afford to lose her.

  Not now.

  It had been a week since the ass**le almost killed her and he was starting to worry. As far as he knew she hadn't woken up yet. She just laid there. The only thing that kept him from storming the room and taking her out, well, besides the Pyte that would rip his throat out, was that her heartbeat was strong. Somehow the Pyte was managing to get the food that he sent, into the woman and she was slowly recovering. He hoped the Pyte was in a better mood today because they needed to talk.

  "I'll take that," he said, taking the large cooler out of the vampire's hands and heading for the room only to have Greg step smoothly in his way and try to block him. He didn't even blink as he shoved the human out of his way and entered the room. When the stubborn man tried to follow him, he slammed the door in his face.

  He shot a look over at the still figure on the mattress and wasn't too surprised to find the Pyte crouching in front of her, ready to tear his heart out. The good news was the Pyte had definitely staked a claim on the woman. If they played their cards right and kept that ass**le Greg away from the couple, they might just end up getting that Pyte child sooner than he'd hoped. The bad news, the Pyte had staked a claim on the woman and was too damn focused on protecting her to allow any of Lucan's men to check on her so they could try to get her better faster. They needed these two to produce a Pyte.