Broken Read Online Free Page A

‘ass’ out of ‘u’ and ‘me.’ ” Obviously, he was so old he didn’t have any new jokes.
    “Besides, if you’re depending upon a work of fiction—one that’s been said to not be based on Vlad Tepes at all, in spite of all the speculation—you’re even more pitiful than I suspected.” Claudius sucked in a breath as a random Friend took exception to that and pushed the blanket around his neck against the healing wounds.
    Dawn watched her fellow hunters, even though she couldn’t see them. Did any of them want her to whip out her mental persuasion tools right about now?
    But she wouldn’t do it. She could be just like the other members of the team, who’d been recruited because of a true-blue streak of justice that Dawn had always doubted she possessed, too. Yet, she did have it, didn’t she? She wanted more than anything to get Costin’s soul back for him.
    Wasn’t that kind of a noble cause?
    The thought weighed on her, because sometimes she wondered if she did it all for him or because it was the only way she’d ever feel redeemed for turning him into a vampire.
    “Okay then,” Dawn said. “Looks like we’re done here. I’ll just wait for Costin to roll out of bed again. He’ll know how to get the dragon factoids out of you.”
    Claudius just smiled enigmatically, reminding Dawn of a sphinx.
    But Dawn didn’t leave just yet. She moseyed toward the vampire. “Too bad you can’t call anyone else to your aid. Costin’s only going to get more and more persuasive.”
    The creature swallowed beneath the blanket, not knowing that Dawn was only being optimistic about the extent of Costin’s remaining powers.
    “Those shadow things?” she said. “Guards? Whatever they are? Why aren’t they here to help you?”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    Hah. Dawn gestured toward the fridge/freezer, where the team had stored the corpse of a young man. A little over a week ago, they’d encountered him lurking around a vampire remains burial site, and he’d fallen from a building to his death before they’d even been able to question him. They hadn’t known who or what he was until the other night when Dawn had encountered a female dressed in all black techno ninja-type gear, just as he’d been.
    Shadow things, Dawn had been calling them. And the team didn’t know whether the things were tracking vampires or if they were barring intruders from finding the Underground . . . or anything the vampires might be hiding down there.
    Like the dragon.
    Just as Dawn was about to pursue the subject, Claudius sat up straight in his chair, then bolted backward, as if mentally attacked. But Dawn hadn’t done anything—hadn’t thrown any mind punches or pushes.
    His gaze had frozen on something behind her, and before she even turned around, she knew who’d entered.

THREE
    THE BOSS
    SHE pivoted to find Costin standing at the foot of the stairs that led to the main rooms, and her pulse caught in her throat, in her veins. She was his master, and they were connected in so many ways when they were open to each other: mentally, physically through the blood he thrived on when he sipped from her.
    But, again, that was only when they were open to each other, which hadn’t really been the case lately.
    Her heart twisted in her chest as he glanced at her, but when she discerned the blue in his eyes—not the topaz color that denoted Costin’s dominance in the body he shared with Jonah—she knew that the other entity was in charge right now.
    Jonah grinned at her in his cocky, American-guy way, confirming her guess. But then again, maybe she should’ve known from the way his dark hair was ruffled carelessly. Costin’s style would’ve been neater. And their lean body would’ve been postured like a soldier’s rather than a cowboy’s if Costin had been here instead of Jonah.
    He was wearing a long-sleeved black shirt untucked from dark trousers, heavy black boots that nicked the floor with every fluid