Tall, Dark & Lonely (Pyte/Sentinel 1)

Now.

He focused on the sound and ignored her overwhelming scent. The damn music was coming from a box buried in the back. He moved quickly towards it, throwing boxes and bags roughly out of his way.

“Hey!”

He ignored her. He found a box with a large pink heart drawn on it. He ripped it open and found the offending object on top, a cell phone. “A ‘Carl’ is calling for you,” he said evenly.

For the moment she forgot that she was mad at him for throwing her things around and took the phone. “This isn’t my phone.”

“Don’t care. Tell Carl to f**k off or I will,” he snapped.

She seemed not to hear him or care what he said. “He’s a friend of Candy's.” Friend was putting it mildly. He was one of the guys her mother managed to screw in the short two weeks since she was home. He was in New Mexico and it was one in the morning there. More importantly it was Jill’s phone and Carl was thirty-five years old.

When Madison opened the phone her finger accidentally hit the speaker button. “About time you answered, baby.”

“Carl?” Madison answered, confused. “Why are you calling this phone?”

“Stop f**king around, baby. I’m horny. Come on over, I could go for one of your special blowjobs.”

Every muscle in Ephraim’s body froze. This woman was a virgin, he was sure of it. Some other unknown emotion ripped through him as well. It was weird. He wanted to reach through the phone and rip this guy’s head off. It unnerved him.

Madison’s jaw clenched. Was she embarrassed? “Carl, why are you calling this phone?”

“Jill baby, don’t f**k around. I’m coming to pick you up. Sneak out your window and meet me by the tree same as last week.”

She took a deep breath and spoke evenly. “Carl, listen to me very carefully and don’t hang up before I’m done or I will have the police at your door in fifteen minutes.”

“Oh shit…..Madison?”

“Yes, my sister is fifteen years old. Fifteen, do you understand what that makes you?”

“I..I…”

“You are a child molester.”

“Hey, whoa! She came onto me. It wasn’t my idea anyway. Your mother asked me to do her a favor. Your mother and Jill told me that she was eighteen. I swear to god I wouldn’t have touched her if I knew. I swear to god, Madison. I am so sorry…I…oh my god, she’s a kid…” They heard gagging sounds. “I’m going to be sick.” Vomiting sounds followed.

Ephraim snatched the phone from her hands. “Carl, surely you knew she was a kid. One look and you can’t miss.”

“I…they said she just looked young. I asked. They showed me an id. I swear. Please! It was in a pink wallet. They showed me!” he pleaded desperately.

Madison shoved Ephraim aside none too gently and made her way to the box. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, fighting for control. This woman, a tomboy from the looks of things, was going to be the end of him. If he didn’t leave this room soon he was going to drain her. He hadn’t drained anyone in nearly fifty years. He took only what he needed. There was no way he would be able to that with her. The smell of her blood was too powerful. His hands began to tremble.

“Got it!” Madison held up a pink woman’s wallet. She stumbled over a box while opening it. She found a school ID and a driver’s license hidden behind it. “That bitch,” she muttered.

“Let me see that,” Ephraim said through tight lips. His fangs were dropping. He forced them back with his tongue, but he didn’t want to take a chance that she would see them.

“Here.” She handed it to him without looking at him, completely oblivious that her life was on the line at the moment.

“Well?” Carl asked nervously.

“It’s fake, Carl.”

“Shit.” He started sobbing. “But see I didn’t know that. I really thought she was an adult. Madison, I’m so sorry!”

“Carl, don’t call again,” Madison said.

“I won’t I swear. Tell her to stay away from me.”

“It won’t be too hard, Carl,” she said, ending the phone call.

He tossed the ID onto the bed. “Looks like you need to have a little talk about the birds and the bees with your little sister,” he said a little harsher than he intended. He needed to get the hell out of here

Now.

Cold glimmering brown eyes narrowed on him. She nodded firmly and spoke evenly. “I’m sorry this woke you up. It won’t happen again. Now if you’ll excuse me I have something to do.”

As far as dismissals went this one was good. It had the opposite effect on him of course. He hated authority and hated being told what to do even more. Unfortunately for him his teeth were throbbing in his mouth. If he didn’t leave soon he was going to give himself away. So with a tight nod he turned and left, closing the door firmly behind him. Let the tomboy handle it. He didn’t want the drama and most certainly didn’t want to deal with a fifteen year old who couldn’t keep her legs closed.

Madison traced the pink heart with her finger. This was Jill’s box. She must have grabbed it by accident. She took a steadying breath before she dumped the contents of the box onto the bed.

Her hand shot to her mouth as she gasped. Who knew it only took two weeks to change a person this much? She froze on that thought. Did she change or maybe Madison missed something. She pushed the condoms, cigarettes and nips of alcohol to the side and sat down. She went over in her mind everything she could remember about Jill. There wasn’t that much since Madison had been busy with her new job and looking for a new place for them.

There had to be something she missed. If Jill was really the responsible level headed kid she thought she was then two weeks and Candy wouldn’t have been enough to change her. No, Madison failed. She missed something some time ago and Jill slipped. It took Candy for Jill to feel comfortable with acting out in front of Madison. Until then the behavior was hidden.

“Shit,” she mumbled.

She picked up the packs of condoms and grimaced. Part of her wanted to throw them away, thinking if Jill didn’t have them she wouldn’t have sex. That was stupid since she already knew Jill hated using them. Of course if she didn’t have them available when she was able to sneak away she would go ahead and have sex without them. Then there would be more problems than just a fifteen having sex. She could catch something or get pregnant. Jill was just like Candy now. She shouldn’t have a baby. No, there was no choice, she threw the condoms, clothes and phone back in the box and closed it.