Tall, Dark & Tempted

The Pyte/Sentinel Series

A Fire & Brimstone Novel

Chapter 1

To-Do List:

Buy nail polish remover

Double-A batteries for “BOB”

Vodka

Jell-O

Bitch-slap skank vampire

Buy a new pair of binoculars to spy on human male

Kaya sighed as she looked over her to-do list only to wince when she came to the last two items. She may have done a little more than bitch-slap the leech that had been following her human around for the past week. Not that she did anything that the bitch didn’t deserve, not unless you counted shoving the makeshift stake that she made from an old bike through the bitch’s chest because Kaya certainly didn’t. 

Granted, the bitch’s nest might see it differently, but what was she supposed to do when the leech wouldn’t back off? She’d refused to listen even after Kaya calmly explained that the human male was under her protection. When the leech refused to listen to reason, Kaya calmly shoved her head through a cinderblock wall. 

That was Monday.

Then on Thursday, Kaya was forced to once again explain that she didn’t appreciate her human being pursued by a leech. Again, the bitch laughed like she was joking. She hadn’t been. That was right around the time when Kaya’s hand “accidentally” slipped and sent the leech flying through a window into the sunlight. That was three days ago and should have kept the leech busy healing for another week, but unfortunately for her, the leech gorged on blood so that she could heal quicker and return to stalking Kaya’s human.

Tonight was the last straw.

While she’d been minding her own business, perched on the edge of the roof that just happened to be across from where the human male liked to play basketball, Kaya spotted the leech through a pair of military binoculars going after her human.

A little over a year ago, she’d realized that fate had screwed her over when she discovered that the mate she’d been waiting for over two hundred years for was human. After all that time, only to discover that her mate could never claim her. It really was a shame, Kaya thought with a heartfelt sigh. Her male was perfect with piercing green eyes that appeared to shimmer in the right light and short, black hair that she would love to run her fingers through. He was also tall, tan, and had an incredible body for a human. She even loved his name.

Trajan. 

Of course, her housemates liked to call him Trojan. For the past ten months, she’d been forced to dodge Trojan condoms being thrown at her from windows, hallways, doorways, and passing cars. She found condoms on her shower head, her hairbrush, comb, beer bottles, and she even woke up one morning with condoms placed over her small horns. She’d get them back eventually, she always did, but right now she was a tad busy with her obsession. 

It really was too bad that Trajan wasn’t a demon. He would have been perfect for her. Granted, she could have allowed the leech to change him, but then she would have been forced to kill him. So, the only logical course was to allow the human to age naturally and settle for stalking him for the next sixty years. She’d figure out the rest later. Right now, she didn’t want to think about a life without a mate or children of her own. 

Not just yet.

As she pulled onto the long, brick driveway, “I touch myself” began playing. She really needed to figure out how Xan kept changing her ringtone, Kaya thought as she glanced down at her cellphone only to sigh with relief when she saw who was calling. 

“What’s up?” Zoey asked as soon as she answered the phone.

“I need a favor,” Kaya blurted out only to immediately wince when she realized that she’d screwed up. Everyone knew the trick with Zoey was to make her think that you were doing her a favor. Still, Zoey surprised her.

“Does this have to do with your Trojan man?”  Zoey asked pleasantly.

Kaya’s eyes darted left to the large male passed out in the passenger seat of her SUV. She winced at the sight of the blood dripping down his neck from the head wound that, when all was said and done, was the leech’s fault. When Kaya came down to remind the leech to keep her hands off her property, Trajan made the mistake of getting between them right around the time when Kaya decided to slam a pipe into the bitch’s head. 

It may have, um, missed its mark.

“How did you know?” 

“I know everything,” Zoey said in an ominous tone, sending shivers down Kaya’s spine. In a brighter tone, Zoey continued, “Plus, I’m in your room right now looking out the window. I see you killed your human.” She tsked Kaya. “Now, Kaya, you know that you have to treat your toys better if you want them to last.”

“Yeah, I’ll keep that in mind,” Kaya said dryly. “Do you think you can heal him?”

“Hmm, I’ve never done a human before. But really, how much harder could it be than a dog?”

“Ummm, you’re not going to neuter him like you did Patches, are you?” Kaya asked as she glanced at the large male next to her. Even if she couldn’t partake of what he had to offer, she didn’t like the idea of him being…altered.

“Fine! But you have to admit that Patches has been happier since he lost his balls.” 

Kaya prayed for patience. “I just need him the way he was before.”

“Killjoy. Fine. Bring him into the living room,” Zoe said, making her wince as she glanced back at the man next to her.

Clearing her throat, Kaya said, “I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”

“It’s empty,” Zoe said, taking her by surprise.

“Where is everyone?” she asked, knowing that the living room should be filled with half-drunk demons critiquing serial killer documentaries tonight.

“Oh, in your room raiding your wardrobe. Where else?” Zoey asked in a tone that told her that it should have been more than obvious. Kaya groaned, realizing that she forgot to double-lock her bedroom door last night.

“Hey! I said I get the black top!” Zoey snapped at someone, followed by “Ow! Not the horns! Damn it, Zoey, I just grew those back!”

Sadly, she didn’t have time for this. 

“I’ll meet you inside,” Kaya said before she hung up and quickly climbed out of the car and made her way around the car, grabbed Trajan and pulled him out of the car and threw him over her shoulder. No response, not even a groan. Kaya bit her lip as she carried him inside. 

The hit had been meant to send the leech flying. It would have only dislocated the skank’s jaw and maybe taken off part of her head, nothing major. For a human, it had definitely been a killing blow. She was actually surprised the pipe didn’t split his head in two and end up somewhere in his stomach.

“Here we are,” Kaya said soothingly as she laid him down on the couch. With a snap of her fingers, all the lights in the living room turned on. Even the television turned on to the twenty-four-hour porn channel. With another snap, the television was off. It just didn’t feel like a pool boy marathon kind of moment.

“Please be okay,” Kaya mumbled as she reached over and checked his pulse.

Nothing. 

“Oh, God…” Kaya said, swallowing hard as she stood there, staring down at her mate as the realization that he was gone slammed into her.

She couldn’t believe this was happening. She’d waited so long for him and now, he was gone. She should have just killed the leech the first time that she saw her and walked away, leaving Trajan to live his life, marry a human woman, have children, grow old and die peacefully in his sleep. 

That was the plan, the same one that every demon made when they found out that they were mated to a human. It didn’t happen often, but when it did, there was no choice but to walk away. Demons could live in the human world, blend in, and thrive, but they could never truly be one of them. While they could potentially live for thousands of years, every human would one day end up being a distant memory.

If all she was going to have was sixty years with her mate, she would happily take it, but she knew that wasn’t a choice. She would never be able to let him know what she was or allow him into her world, knowing what would happen to him. He would never be able to claim her. They would never have children and she would never be able to do anything more than watch as he grew old, waiting for the moment when he took his last breath.

Now, she would never have even that, Kaya thought as she stood there, staring down at her mate, wondering how she was supposed to face the next two thousand years alone. She-

Couldn’t help but wonder why he was starting to heal.

Chapter 2

“Cut his head off!”

“Not yet!”

“It’s now or never, bitch! Do it before he kills us all!” came the hysterical demand as Trajan opened his eyes and found himself chained to a bed.

“Kick his ass!” a woman screamed, drawing his attention to find a beautiful brunette sitting on a couch, wearing a pink Hooters tee-shirt and sweatpants, frantically swinging a white game controller around.

“Come on, biotch, get into the game!” the pretty blond sitting next to her, wearing a Playboy tee-shirt screamed as she finished off her beer, crushed the can, and tossed it aside before focusing back on the game.

“I can’t find the key of Dementor! Oh, God, we’re gonna die!” the blonde screamed as Trajan tested the handcuffs only to realize that they were made of titanium.

Fuck!

“Stay focused! We can do this,” the brunette said, looking really fucking focused on the large flatscreen television across from him.

“Ah, ladies? If I could interrupt?” Trajan said only to watch both women go still as the words, “Game Over,” flashed across the screen.

“We lost,” the blonde muttered weakly, shaking her head in disbelief.

“You,” the brunette said as she narrowed her eyes on him, “spoke during a crucial moment. Are you insane?”

“Er…”

“Unbelievable!” the blonde snapped. “Two weeks to reach this dimension and Kaya’s pet gets us killed!”

“We’ll just have to start the dimension over again,” the brunette said with a heartfelt sigh as they started the game over and went back to ignoring him. When it became obvious that they weren’t going to answer his questions, Trajan decided to have a better look around only to end up frowning. 

Somehow, he’d ended up in the female version of Animal House. 

They were in a large basement bedroom, Trajan realized as he took in the small window above the couch before he took in the rest of the room, taking in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer posters, noting that all the vampires had black mustaches and glasses drawn on them. He ignored the posters of the half-naked male models and continued his survey of the room. The floor was covered in old pizza boxes, used cigars, Playgirl magazines, bongs, a fat dog passed out on the floor, beer cans, and a huge vibrator.

How in the hell did he end up here? Trajan found himself wondering. The last thing he remembered was playing basketball when that bitch that had been hounding him for the past two weeks showed up, trying to convince him to change her. That’s when she finally came out of the shadows.

For over a year, he’d been waiting for their game to end, and last night, it finally did. He’d been so focused on his little stalker that he forgot all about the leech.  He found himself moving closer to his little stalker, unable to help himself right before the leech pulled a silver dagger out of her back pocket and took a threatening step towards the small woman whose scent drove him fucking crazy only to have everything suddenly go black.

“Why am I chained to a bed?” Trajan demanded as he shifted his attention to the duo focused on a fucking video game. That seemed to be a topic they didn’t mind pausing their game for. They looked at him with innocent expressions that had his eyes narrowing dangerously on them.

“Well, we had to,” the brunette said with a helpless shrug.

“Why?” Trajan bit out between clenched teeth.

“What else were we supposed to do?”

“You just wouldn’t stop!” the blonde said only to add a well-timed sniffle at the end.

“Stop what?” Trajan demanded.

“You wouldn’t stop trying to touch our naughty spots,” the brunette whispered before releasing a shuddering sigh.

“I’ve never felt so dirty before in my life! Oh, God, the things you said about baby oil  and our feet!”

Trajan looked towards the ceiling for patience. He had no doubt they were lying. It had been a very, very long time since he’d shown any interest in a woman.

A really fucking long time.

He wasn’t sure he could even get it up again.

“I feel so dirty,” came the harsh whisper that drew his glare just as the brunette’s bottom lip started to tremble only to abruptly stop when she noted his glare.

“You’re no fun,” the brunette muttered with a long-suffering sigh.

“No, I’m not. What really happened?” Trajan said as he slowly took in their scent and found himself wondering why 

“Kaya and Zoey chained you up and told us to watch you,” the blonde said, shrugging it off as she focused on the game. “So, we’re watching you.”

“And doing a great job,” Trajan said dryly.

“We take our job seriously,” the blonde said, cracking open another beer with a satisfied sigh.

“No, he’s right. This isn’t the proper way to do this at all,” the brunette said with a heartfelt sigh and a sad shake of her head.

“You’re right. We’re better than this,” the blonde readily agreed with a solemn nod.

Before he could open his mouth to argue, they grabbed their beers and climbed onto the bed and dropped down on either side of him with satisfied sighs before returning their attention back to their game.

“Ah, ladies?”

“What?” the blonde girl mumbled distractedly.

His gaze dropped to his bare chest before making its way down to the sheet covering the bottom half of his body and found himself wondering about something. “Why am I naked?”

“You’re not naked,” the brunette mumbled absently as she frantically hit the buttons on her game controller.

Sighing heavily, Trajan shifted his hips and felt the soft cotton glide over his cock. “Sure feels like it.”

“No, you’re not,” the blonde said in an annoyed tone.

“I really am.”

“Do you really think we would be in bed with a naked man? What kind of women do you think we are?” the brunette demanded.

Trajan cocked an eyebrow and shot them a look that told them exactly what he thought about them. The blonde rolled her eyes as she dropped her game controller on the bed as she grabbed the sheet and raised it and- 

“Well, look at that, you are naked. Who’d have thought?” she murmured absently as she stared at his cock.

“Drop the sheet!” Trajan snapped.

“Fine,” she said with a heavy sigh only to send him a fucking wink as she released the sheet. Trajan dropped his head back on the pillow and wondered why two women were screwing with him.

“Can I ask you a question?” the blonde asked after a few moments.

“Why fucking not,” Trajan said, sighing heavily as he glared up at the ceiling.

“Did it hurt?” 

“Did what hurt?” Trajan asked as he debated his options, take his chances and drain them before he tore his hands off or try to reason with the women currently staring at his chest.

Unable to help but frown, Trajan followed her gaze to the intricate black tattoo that ran from his chest, over his shoulder, and down his arm. “My tattoo?”

The blonde rolled her eyes. “No, I was wondering if your peck implants hurt.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Trajan demanded as he looked down at his chest and frowned. “They’re real.”

“Sure, they are,” Brunette said with a pitying look that pissed him off.

“They are,” Trajan bit out.

“Fine, don’t tell us,” Blonde said, shrugging it off as she took a sip of her beer.

“Hold on, he might be right…let me…just…” the brunette said, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth as he ran her hand over his chest. “I don’t know. What do you think, Tanja?”

Making sure to look put out, Tanja reached over and began caressing his chest. “Hmmm, I’m not really sure,” she said, only to follow that up with a squeeze.

“Are you quite done yet?” Trajan asked, sighing heavily as he lay there, getting groped by two really fucking annoying women.

“No,” they said in unison before they took a swig from their beers. 

“What did we talk about?” came the bored question that drew Trajan’s gaze to the doorway and got his first real look at the woman who’d been stalking him for the last year.

He slowly ran his eyes over her and nearly fucking groaned as he took in her long black hair pulled up into a messy bun, the bluest eyes he’d ever seen, and the face of an angel. She was short, but that was fine, more than fine, Trajan thought as he ran his eyes over her, taking in every generous curve and-

“What the hell are you doing?” she demanded, making him frown until he remembered that he was currently being groped.

“He made us!” Tanja said.

“It’s true,” the brunette agreed, following that up with a sniffle.

“You really don’t think anyone’s going to buy that, do you?” Trajan asked, looking pointedly at his chained hands. The brunette answered him by discreetly pouring her beer over his lap, soaking him through the sheet.

“What the hell was that for?” Trajan snapped as he glared at her, because clearly, she was fucking insane.

“What?” she asked, blinking innocently.

“Oh, look at that, Kaya, he’s not potty trained yet.”

“You poured beer on me!” Trajan snapped.

“Looks like he’s a liar too,” she said, sighing heavily. “Pity.”

Trajan pulled against his restraints with a frustrated growl while the women on the bed acted like he wasn’t ready to fucking kill them.

“Does someone want to tell me what the fuck I did to piss off demons?”