Broken Souls Read Online Free Page A

sounded, I could feel myself regaining
a little bit of strength from finally having some nourishment.
    The kind vampire looked at me dubiously. “You are a captain
in the FUSE army and were found only miles from the Tombstone gates. They see
you as their enemy.”
    I knew from the night before, they accused me of being a
spy. And I was okay with that. I’d rather them think me a spy than linking my
arrival to Ruby’s. If that ever happened, Ruby would be dead and I along with
her.
    But I would never cave. They would never pry an ounce of
information from me as long as I lived. Though I now questioned my lifelong ambitions
after meeting Ruby, I was still a sworn member of FUSE and they held my
loyalty. As did Ruby. I would never betray their trust.
    “I will never speak,” I said to her before draining the last
swallow of broth in my mug.
    “Then I’m afraid you will not have it easy,” she sighed.
    I released a wry laugh, remembering being mauled by the
Victorian-clad vampiress when I refused to speak. The male vampire laughed as I
bled. I couldn’t imagine it getting much worse.
    “What is your name?” I asked her. Something about her
reminded me of Ruby. She had a kindness about her that was unlike most vampires
I’d met.
    She averted her eyes but whispered, “Cloe.”
    “Is that where I am, Cloe?” I asked. “Tombstone?”
    I’d blacked out after the vampire attacked me on the highway
and was unaware of where I’d been taken. But because I sensed Ruby close by, I
suspected I was in Tombstone. And if that was the case, I was terrified she
would see me and get herself into trouble, the headstrong girl that she was.
    Cloe opened her mouth, but closed it again and sighed. “I am
not to speak to prisoners,” she murmured. “My job is to make sure you don’t die
before they get information.”
    “Well then I suspect you will be tending to my corpse soon
enough.”
    I searched the walls of the dark jail cell. They were made of
red brick and mortar crumbling with age and I saw a stain in the ceiling above
me. I sat upon a splintery wooden bench that chaffed my backside. When I went
to move my legs, the shackles holding them to the wall rattled. I gazed through
the metal bars to the hall outside.
    “Please don’t say that,” Cloe murmured. “If you cooperate
just a little they may show you some mercy.”
    “Mercy?” I croaked, remembering the “mercy” they’d shown me
the night before. “I know their kind. They have no mercy.”
    One thing I knew about vampires was their age. The younger
ones had brighter, more colorful eyes. The older ones, pitch black. The older a
vampire became, the darker their irises were, not to mention their temperament.
It was as if the humanity they once held slowly bled out of them over time. I’d
only heard of a few vampires older than my friend Wilson and from what I knew they
were all hard-core killers with pitch black eyes.
    “I know how terrible Horus can be,” Cloe said, a hint of
fear showing on her face. We both froze at the use of the vampire’s name, Cloe
realizing the mistake she’d made in saying it. Horus. I gained hope at the bit
of information I now had. Knowledge is power and I now —if only a little— had
some.
    I looked upon the female vampire sadly, wondering if she was
treated badly by this voracious Horus. I saw her fear.
    “I must leave now,” she stood and took the mug with her.
“They will be here soon for more questioning.”
    “Wait,” I said, straightening myself on the bench. “You’re
not like them, I can see it in your eyes. You don’t have to let this happen.
You can help me. We can help each other.”
    Cloe turned slowly and stared at me for one long moment as
though pondering my words. And just when I thought she might say something,
anything to help my situation, she turned away and exited the cell door. She
locked the gate behind her.
    I sighed and sat up straight, waiting for my impending meeting
with Horus and his lackey.