Tall, Dark & Furious (Pyte/Sentinel 6)

“Is this a jest, wife?” Trace asked, walking over to-

“Trace?” the voice said, making everything in him go still because it couldn’t be…

“Father?” Trace said, even as he shook his head and moved to step away only to have his wife reach out and gently take his hand in hers.

“It’s a phone, Trace,” she said softly, as she held the black rectangle up. “It’s okay. I promise. I’ll figure out a way to explain this to you later, but for right now, just take the phone and talk to your father.”

She moved to hand the phone to him, but he could only stand there, staring down at it as he tried to figure out what he was going to say. He’d thought about what he was going to say to his father so many times and now that he had the chance…

He couldn’t do it.

“Okay,” Samantha said, nodding as she put the phone back against her ear. “I think he’s a little overwhelmed with everything.”

“What are you talking about?” his father demanded. “Put him on the phone.”

“This is all new to him and I would really rather not do anything to piss him off right now if that’s okay with you,” she said, giving his hand a reassuring squeeze as he stood there, trying to remember how to breathe.

This was…this was really happening, Trace realized as he released her hand and was forced to grab hold of the table as his vision started to go dim and the sounds of his heart pounding against his chest and his erratic breathing became distant and the darkness that had once terrified him swallowed him whole.

*-*-*-*

“What the hell’s going on?” Eth

an demanded, but since she was currently attempting to squeeze herself under the sink to get away from the man tearing her kitchen apart, Samantha felt that perhaps now was not the best time to talk.

“Oh, my god! Oh, my god! Oh, my god!” she mumbled somewhat hysterically, as she shoved an old box of mothballs out of the way and pushed herself back into the corner and pulled her legs in as far as her breasts would allow, which unfortunately, wasn’t very far.

“Sam, what the hell is going on?” the man that she really hoped knew how to fix this asked.

Never taking her eyes off the man that was now slowly crouching down in front of her as he released another one of those terrifying growls that had her struggling not to blackout, she licked her suddenly dry lips and said, “I think he’s gone rabid.”

“What is he doing?”

“Mostly he’s just glaring at me through bright red eyes and baring his fangs at me,” she said quietly as she wrapped her arm around her indrawn knees as she forced herself to look away.

“Can he talk to you?”

“He’s growling,” she whispered, really wishing that she wasn’t here right now.

“Shit,” Ethan said, sighing heavily. “I need you to remain calm. Keep your breathing normal and whatever you do, don’t scream.”

“I’m trying,” Samantha said as she was forced to press her forehead against her knees when her head began spinning.

“Where are you, Sam?”

“West…Westdrom, Maine,” she managed to get out.

“Stay with me, Sam. This is very important. Do they know that Trace is there?”

She nodded dumbly for a minute before she remembered that he couldn’t see her and said, “They dug him out of a stone wall.”

“He was in a wall?” came the quiet reply that sent a chill down her spine.

“Yes, in my basement. There were six of them, but they’re gone now,” she said, falling heavily against the side of the cabinet.

“We need to get you out of there, Sam.”

“Been working on it,” she said weakly, as she forced her eyes open and found herself staring at Charlie’s back as her brother’s dog took a protective stance in front of her and released a growl of his own.