Tall, Dark & Lonely (Pyte/Sentinel #1)(88)

“Imagine my relief,” the bitch said acidly.

“How did Madison wreck your plans?” Chris asked. Madison took his hand into hers.

Bitch gestured towards her. “She’s carrying his child. The child I want. Granted it cuts some time off my plans, but now he won’t come. He knows I won’t hurt her until the baby comes and you are too valuable to me to hurt.”

“So, you don’t think he’ll come?” Chris asked, relief colored his tone.

Bitch kicked a solid oak end table clear across the room, smashing it into the stone wall. “Of course he won’t come. Not until the baby comes. That was the only thing I could use to get him to even consider my plan before. Now he has one on the way. He doesn’t love women, he uses them. The bastard’s cold. Nothing and no one means anything to him.”

“Then why did you think kidnapping us would bring him here?” Chris asked.

“I didn’t want you. My slaves f**ked up if you must know, but I am rather happy now. It’s not every day that I get an untrained Sentinel as a gift.” She didn’t know Ephraim had been training him and by Chris’ amused expression he was slowly realizing what Ephraim did. His lips tugged up into a smile, but quickly disappeared, hiding his reaction.

“Fuck!” She kicked the matching table and sent it flying across the room crashing with a loud bang. “There’s no way that bastard doesn’t know she’s pregnant. He has the strongest senses of anyone I’ve ever met. He probably knew the second it happened.”

“So, he was using me?” Madison didn’t believe it, but she might.

She laughed a cold superior laugh and leaned down, resting her hands on her knees. “Oh, did you think you were special? That he was ever going to love you? Oh, that is rich.”

She straightened up and paced again, shaking her head in disbelief. “I’ll admit that I wasn’t sure what his plan was with you. He usually uses a woman and tosses her aside. Then it dawned on me that he was finally going to try and sire a child.”

Her hands came together with a loud clap. “And now that baby will be mine.”
She looked lost in thought. A feeling of dread came over Madison.

“And you think he’ll want you? That he’ll stay with you?” Madison asked slowly.

“Of course he will,” she spat out. “Did you think he’d stay with you? You’re aging even as we speak. Did you really think he was going to climb between your legs in fifty years and suck on your flattened tits?” She laughed. “No, he won’t. Trust me. Ephraim is a cold bastard. He’ll stop f**king you the second he loses interest.”
“Is that what he did to you?” Madison snapped. Her anger overrode her fears for the baby, Chris and Ephraim. For the last few months she forced herself to enjoy the moment and forget about the future. She knew she would age and that he wouldn’t. Knowing this woman could offer him something that she couldn’t was the final straw.

“You bitch!” She stalked forward with her hand raised, ready to slap Madison. Chris moved in front of Madison, blocking her. Caroline growled and backed off. “Fuck this, cover them just in case.”

Two of the men who kidnapped them stepped away from the bottom basement door. Each man positioned himself on either side of Chris and Madison, pulling out a gun and aiming it at their heads.

“Hey! I thought you said you needed us!”

“Oh, I do. There is something you should know. Ephraim is the coldest bastard I’ve ever met, but I’m the coldest bitch you’ll ever meet. If I don’t get what I want from him, if he comes I’ll shoot you first, boy, then the bitch.”

“What about the baby? If you kill her you’ll kill the baby!” Chris pulled Madison closer, trying to get her away from the gun.

She shrugged. “He’ll never die and he likes to f**k. I’m sure he’ll knock someone else up soon enough. Of course it won’t matter if he finally gives me what I want.”

“What’s that?” Madison asked.

“Why what every vampire wants of course, to walk in the sun and live forever.” She giggled.

“If I had to deal with a bitch like you day and night I’d turn g*y,” Ephraim’s voice drawled.

Everyone turned to see him stroll casually into the room and plop down in an oversized chair facing them. He leaned back, his eyes never leaving Caroline.

“How are you, Caroline? It’s been ages,” Ephraim said casually as if he was running into an old friend at the market.

“How did you get past my security?” Caroline demanded.

“Oh.” He looked over his shoulder and waved his hand lazily in the air. “Killed them, you know how it goes,” he said with a shrug.

“You killed my vampires and slaves?”

“Yup, well the ones who didn’t run off anyway. I have to tell you, Caroline, I am a bit disappointed in your selection. They hardly fought back.”

“Holy shit!” Chris gasped.

Ephraim shrugged unconcerned. “They were standing between me and my property.”

“Property?” Madison’s voice sounded hollow even to her.

He ignored her. “So, what is it going to be, Caroline? Are you still hell bent on your petty revenge, is that it?”

“It’s not petty.”