Broken Souls Read Online Free

on.
Wake up.”
     Someone lightly shoved my body, pain shooting through me,
and I was suddenly aware that I’d been dreaming.
    I groaned and rolled over, my eyes peeling open. A small
woman with a round nose and long brown hair knelt by my side, holding a
steaming mug. I knew in that moment she was a vampire.
    “Soup.” She gestured with the mug. “You need to drink up.”
    And then it all came back to me in a flash— the explosions,
the escape, the car chase. I saw Ruby at the gates of Tombstone, our painful
separation crushing my heart. I saw the vampire with the black eyes materialize
into my truck and attack me. I saw the jail cell in which I was being held. And
I felt the torture, horrible and relentless.
    I shifted my hip to sit, but the effort struck too painful
on my battered body, every inch of my skin burning and singeing.
    Not only did my body complain of agony, but my mind felt
detached and strange. At first, just after being attacked in my truck, I’d
thought I would be turned into a vampire. I’d thought the bastard vamp who’d
assaulted me had injected his venom into my neck. But as my mind cleared after
being thrown into this cell, I’d realized he’d bitten me just to stun me for an
easier capture and, possibly he wanted a little snack.
    But either way, I still remained human, and the strangeness
in my mind I attributed to my bond with Ruby. Ever since the night she fed me
her blood, I was connected to her, an unexplainably intense connection. And wherever
she was now, fear beheld her. I could practically feel her hands shaking and to
say that I felt what she felt was an understatement. If I didn’t know any better,
I’d say she was sitting right next to me in the jail cell, the aura of her
presence so thick it was unreal. My heart ached for her, to be with her and
protect her.
    “Come on.” The girl coaxed me, placing a soft hand behind my
back to help me rise to sitting.
    I opened my dry mouth to speak, but my words came out as a
croak. I licked my cracked lips, tasting metallic blood on my tongue.
    “Drink.” She pushed the warm mug into my hands.
    I glanced into her eyes, kind eyes. Eyes different from the
ones my torturer had. Those eyes were black as night, devoid of any and all
mercy.
    I slid her one last glance before sucking down the soup in
large mouthfuls, the welcomed liquid warming my insides. I coughed and
sputtered before the woman took away my mug.
    “Slowly.” She smiled, wiping the dribbles from my mouth with
a cloth napkin. She handed back my mug. This time I took small sips.
    “You need to start answering their questions,” she
whispered, and swiveled her head around as though afraid someone might be
listening. “If you keep withholding information, it will only get worse.”
    “Worse…” I repeated.
    How could it get any worse? I recalled the scenario from a
few nights before. I’d left Ruby at the Tombstone gates and was on my way back
to headquarters when I was attacked by a vampire. He’d materialized in my
truck, causing me to swerve off the road, and I remember nothing after that
except awakening here in this cell.
    I was then questioned relentlessly and, for every silent
response I gave, a torturous punishment was served. The male vampire with the
black eyes was in charge, and he just stood by while a female vampire thrashed
me to pieces with her sharp nails and fangs. She was robed in the stately
1800’s fashion, wearing a maroon Victorian bustle dress with black lace and
buttons. If I hadn’t known any better I’d have said I was taken back in time.
But her actions betrayed her appearance, for she was anything but stately. She
was pure destruction and chaos, her eyes burning wildly as she tortured me for
my silence.
    I looked down at my arm, the gashes and teeth marks I
remembered being there were now bandaged, though the pain still throbbed.
    “I’ve done nothing wrong,” I said, my voice sounding far
away, not my own. But regardless of how I