I swiped a single tear from my cheek, adopting a strong façade. But even though I seemed strong on the outside, I was weak and defeated on the inside. I might as well just give in. I might as well face the fact nothing good will ever come of my attempts, and all I do is hurt people.
My body withered beneath me, dropping me to my knees. I began to scrub the floor, thinking that yet again, the blood of someone I cared about was on my hands.
TWENTY-NINE: CLOE
I sat on a chair in the dark corner of the infirmary and watched Orie from the shadows. He approached my bed where I’d stuffed pillows under the blanket to create a lumpy form.
“Cloe.” He whispered softly to the lump.
I stifled a giggle, amused that my trick was working.
Though still extremely weak and fatigued, I felt a lot better. And though Morin and the witches didn’t like me up and about, I’d been moving from the bed to the chair and back. I was growing restless and didn’t care much for their administrations. I’d been out cold for who knows how long and I was going stir crazy. I needed something to do.
“Cloe,” he whispered again, and I held back another laugh. Just as he reached out to touch the blanket I hopped up and grabbed him by the shoulders.
“Boo!”
Orie yelped and spun around, his face draining of color, looking like someone seeing a ghost. I laughed at Orie’s surprise, but stumbled backwards on wobbly legs.
He grabbed me around the waist and pulled me against him to keep me from falling. “What in the world are you doing?” He led me back to the bed and sat me down. “You’re not strong enough yet.”
“I’m fine.” I waved an unconcerned hand. “I just wanted to have a little fun. I’m so bored lying around here all the time.”
Orie sat next to me and his frown turned into a smile at his realization. He hadn’t seen me talk or move yet. His face radiated joy.
“You’re talking… and…and walking!”
“And scaring the wits out of you!” I laughed.
“God, Cloe.” Orie breathed out as he touched my face with soft finger tips. “I’m so glad you’re okay. I was so worried…”
I looked down at my lap, blushing at his intense gaze. “I missed you too, you silly wolf.”
We sat in silence and studied each other, in awe over my miraculous recovery. It was all due to Orie feeding me his blood. But Horus didn’t want me to heal quickly. He wanted me to pay for my insubordination. And when he had come to check on me the night before, seeing I was healing faster than the suppressant allowed, he grew furious and stormed out. He’d made the connection.
I voiced my concern to Orie. In response, he told me how Ruby covered for him in front of Horus and how her name was on the tip of every werewolf’s tongue. A combination of surprise and happiness overcame me. I couldn’t believe my friend would go to such lengths to help us. But it seemed a habit of hers; helping others.
Orie went on and told me about the lockdown drill and the outcome of the vote for the blood slaves. Normally I could’ve cared less about the humans, but since Ruby had come into my life, she’d opened my eyes to things long forgotten in my immortality. I started to remember the humanity I once embodied. I remembered things like compassion and sympathy and the sweet satisfaction of helping others.
Orie finished his story about the vote and I felt the edges of my mouth turn down. Not so much for the humans, but more so for my friend. She’d worked so hard in trying to make things better for them and now her efforts were for nothing. I knew she would be crushed and I felt a deep pull of sadness for her.
Orie took my hands in his and continued telling me of the current events. He rambled on about security and scouting missions and some of the close calls they’d had on their outings. I really didn’t care much for security details but I let him talk on, finding myself getting lost in his deep golden eyes. I wished so much that Orie and I could be together, and I could truly return his love for me. I imagined for this one moment in time, we were a happy couple chatting over dinner, and not in an infirmary hiding away from my maker.
For the first time in so long I felt safe. I never wanted that moment to end. I melted into my strong werewolf’s arms, but suddenly pulled away. Something he’d said struck me odd.
“Wait… what did you say?”
“You mean about the prank we played on Tony by hiding his underwear in the ice bucket?” Orie smiled boyishly.
“No. Before that. You said something about the jail?”
Orie tapped a finger to his chin. “Oh yeah. I said security has been rotated again. I’m posted at the jail tonight.”
I searched his face, my conscience nudging me, but I didn’t know what it was trying to say. “You’re on guard at the jail tonight?”
Orie creased his dubious brows together. “Yes. That’s what I said.”
I narrowed my eyes, something curious tickling my senses. But I couldn’t put a finger on it just yet. “Is there still only one guard on duty at a time down at the Courthouse?”
“Yes…” Orie shifted in his seat, the candle light dancing across his strong features. A cross hung behind him on the wall. And then lightning struck my brain, everything falling into place.
“Ruby!”
Orie’s ears perked up like a wolf’s. “Ruby? What about Ruby?”
My throat became dangerously dry as I remembered Ruby telling me about someone she cared for, an enemy. She’d asked for my help. I also now remembered putting all the pieces together. The man she spoke of, the one she loved, was the FUSE Captain being held prisoner, Guy Stone. I remembered the last time I fed him, thinking he didn’t have much time left.
I wasn’t exactly sure how much I could help Ruby with her situation, but I had an idea. If anything, I would do her this one small favor.
I suddenly looked up at Orie. “Would you help me with something?”
Orie smiled. “Of course. Anything.”
“Even if it was dangerous and risky?”
He frowned. “Yes of course but—”
“Great.” I slid closer to the edge of the bed. “I have an idea.”
“Wait, Cloe. What are you talking about?” Orie raised his wrist to my forehead. “Are you feeling okay? You should lie down.”
I avoided his touch and looked down at the pillow on the floor. “I’m fine. Hand me those.”
“Why? Cloe, what is going on?”
“Just give me the pillows and I’ll tell you in a little while. First I need you to sneak me out of here.”
Orie’s brows reached for the ceiling, the shock on his face highlighted by the candle light. “No! Are you kidding? The witches say you have at least another week of recovery before you should be up and walking around.”
I smiled deviously. “And that is why this is perfect. No one will suspect I’m anywhere but here.”
I defiantly reached down to grab the pillows, but nearly fell over. Orie huffed and reluctantly gave them to me. I stuffed them back under the blanket like I did earlier to trick Orie.
“What— Cloe, what are you doing?”
“Am I that tall? I don’t think I’m that tall.” I rearranged the pillows and patted them down. “Perfect.”
“Are you kidding me? That old trick? They’ll never believe it.”
“You did,” I smiled.
“Yeah but… only for a minute,” Orie replied sheepishly. “When they find out you are gone…”
“Don’t worry about that. Right now we need to help our friend Ruby just like she’s helped us.”
“What are you talking about Cloe? I don’t understand.”
“You will soon enough. I promise.”
I eyed him up and down, wondering how I would get out of the infirmary unnoticed. I took note of his long black duster.
“Take off your coat.”
Orie smirked strangely but did as I said.
“Now let me on your back and put your coat back on. I’m small and it should cover me just fine.”
Orie looke
d at me like I’d gone mad, but after a moment of consideration, he bent down to let me on his back.
Maybe he was right and I had gone mad, but if this was madness, then call me bat-shit crazy, because I’d never felt so alive in the past twenty years as I did in that moment. My friend needed help and that’s exactly what I was going to do; help her.
THIRTY:GUY
My eyes peeled open, unseeing in the darkness. I tried to shift my legs but the chains pulled tight to the wall. I could tell I still remained weak, but my body was slowly healing from Ruby’s blood.
If only I would’ve been conscious when she’d fed me I would’ve warned her. I would’ve tried to convince her to leave me alone— though I wasn’t sure it would’ve worked. She was a stubborn little vampire, and when she set her mind on something, she didn’t back down.
But the thought of her getting caught while aiding me was intolerable. After all I’d done to keep her safe and protect her would be for nothing if she were found out. Her willful manner infuriated me, but at the same time warmed me. I couldn’t blame her. If our positions were switched I would do the same for her.
I thought about my situation, having realized the beatings only came every other night. Horus would come and bring his female vampire with him and that was the only time they’d unchain my legs. Horus would ask a question and, at my silence, would nod, indicating his female vampire go to work. Though she eyed my blood, Horus instructed her not to drink it. This would go on for hours. And once I grew too weak to speak, much less sit up straight, they would leave me, giving me another day to recuperate. I also realized Cloe had either stopped coming or I was too out of it to notice her here.
I flinched at the metallic clang of my cell door being unlocked, knowing what was coming. It followed their pattern.
“Captain Stone,” Horus said, his dark hair slicked back neatly. His long black duster hung clean and pressed, his boots shining beneath. The female vampire, dressed lavishly as usual, followed him in. Her curly hair was pinned perfectly to her head and the collar of her dress fanned out and framed her long face. She fixed a blazing torch on the wall and smiled when she saw me.
I did not know the female’s name as the two never addressed each other in front of me, though in my head I called her The Torturer. I wouldn’t have known Horus’ name had I not gleaned it out of Cloe. I held that information to myself until the time was right.
The female came to me, unlocked the chains from my legs, and sat me up straight on the bench. She backed away, her eyes taking in the length of me deviously. Horus lit a cigarette and took a long draw, the smoke spilling from his mouth as he paced back and forth in front of me. That was how it always began.
“You know, Captain Stone,” he started, his voice level and calm. “I’ve come to realize a couple of things in our time together.”
I raised a brow, curious at this different approach he was taking. Usually there was no small talk, only questions.
Horus cleared his throat. “You are stronger than I estimated. I was sure you would break within the first few days.”
His black gaze gleamed in the lamp light and he eyed me as if expecting a response, but I kept my lips pressed firmly together. He knew me better than that by now, fully aware I would not give him the satisfaction of a reply. After a moment, he sighed, going on about his pacing.
“It has been weeks, and you have yet to give us even a splinter of information. That leads me to believe I have you all wrong, and that I’ve been asking the wrong questions.”
I breathed in deeply, readying myself for what was to come. I’d learned to retreat into my mind during the beatings, a meditation of sorts that would get me through, and Ruby was always there helping me keep it together. Horus blew a smoke ring that curled into the air.
“It is strange that a soldier such as yourself shows up just outside of our town without his brothers in tow. All alone. And when taken into custody, no one comes to his aid.” He paused, turning his attention to me. “If you are truly such a high ranking captain of FUSE, Tombstone would’ve been ambushed by now. Why is it that our scouts have found no trace of FUSE anywhere in our general vicinity? We’ve traveled miles in search of your soldiers and found nothing. Why is that Captain Stone?”
Again I held my silence at his question, though my nerves were on high alert. Horus was smarter than he led on and I knew he was getting closer to the truth. He was also right that I would never be on a reconnaissance mission alone, always having backup. Plus, if I had been so close to the largest vampire hub in the southwest with my soldiers, they would’ve already planned an attack. Weeks had passed with no sign of intelligence from them, no sign of rescue, and I could tell Horus was onto me.
As if on cue, he stopped in front of me, cocking his head like a strange-looking bird and I half expected him to sprout wings and sail away. An ember popped from the torch on the wall, landing to burn out on the floor.
“And then I wonder about another new face we have around here,” the vampire continued, now fully gaining my attention. “One that came calling so very close to the time you arrived. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that now, would you?”
I swallowed hard but kept my confidence, hoping he was not talking about Faith. Horus continued pacing, sucking long pulls from the end of his glowing cigarette.
“Because if that’s the case, then it would make sense why no one has come to retrieve you, why no one has shown any interest in our infamous Captain Stone, and why, most of all, you were out on that old highway all alone where I found you in the first place. Maybe it’s because you weren’t alone after all?”
My heart hammered in my chest and dread flowed through me, but I kept still and stoic, knowing I was very good at displaying my poker face.
“Maybe,” he rasped, “Just maybe… you were in league with a pretty young vampire. One with purple eyes and hair as white as the clouds?”
He stopped in front of me again, glaring at me. He knew. Crap. He totally knew about Ruby and me coming here together. But I reassured myself that without my or Ruby’s confession, his suspicions were just that, suspicions. Horus glanced at me, a maniacal smile peeling at his thin lips.
“And maybe you cut yourself off from communication with your team so as not to be labeled a traitor? Maybe they have no idea your association with this vampire.” I kept my gaze locked on his, strong and unwavering. Horus did not scare me. Death did not scare me. But I had to admit, what did scare me was his nearness to the truth. The black-eyed vampire’s smile only grew wider.
“If I’m right in my assumption, then the town of Tombstone need not worry, for you are the only one knowing of our whereabouts. I’ve come to realize that our problem may not be with the FUSE army after all. Our conflict may lie right here in the midst of our own community.”
I wanted to come up with something fast to thwart his train of thought, get him away from the assumption Ruby had anything to do with me, my mind racing to find an answer. But I knew if I broke now, it would only confirm his suspicion. I thought of the old saying ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t,’ and thought I was pretty much damned every which way.
So instead of trying to come up with another plan, I kept the same straight face I was so accustomed to. I clenched my jaw, gritting my teeth to hold back my anger. Horus glanced from his female and back to me, his brows drawing a thin line across his forehead.
“As I told you before, I am a patient man, and in my patience with you, I’ve struck gold. And that gold, my friend, is the knowledge of your solitude.” He smiled wickedly, causing the hairs on my body to stand on end. “No one is coming for you, therefore, no one is coming for us. Our threat from FUSE is nothing more than a fleeting fear of the past. Obsolete. And that is what you are, Captain Stone. Obsolete. You are not needed anymore. Your life no longer matters to us.”
The female vampire slid toward me, her fangs bared. “Shall I?” she asked, her eyes flaring hungrily.
Horus held out
a flat palm. “No, my doll, not yet. We must have patience. I’ve given the Captain plenty to think about until we visit again.”
Horus dropped his cigarette to the ground and smashed it beneath his boot. He disappeared and then materialized in front of me, slamming me into the wall, his body pressed firmly into mine, his nose touching the tip of my nose. Pain blazed through me, but I would not relent. Horus could rot in his own coffin for all I cared.
“Your silence is bold, Captain Stone, but if you continue to be a martyr, your next visit will be your last. You will learn how it feels to become a human sacrifice. You will learn what it feels like to die.”
The female vampire stuck out a pouting lip as Horus turned to leave. But he stopped and nodded to her.
“Very well. Once more for old time’s sake.”
The vampire flashed toward me, her fingers curled and nails ready.
“Not too much my dear,” Horus called out, just before she struck me. “I want him to remember our little talk. Knowing he has only a couple of days left might motivate him to reveal one last nugget of gold. And I like my gold.”
THIRTY-ONE: RUBY
The reality that Earl was dead finally hit me hard, and I was barely able to hold myself together long enough to finish passing out the food to the humans. Once in the front room and out of view, I immediately collapsed to my knees, the shattered glass from the storefront cutting into my legs, but I didn’t care. My heart was shattering inside of me, taking a part of my humanity with it. Maybe this was just another taste of my transformation, indicating that I needed to finally accept the main course of my immortality and the side dish of darkness that came along with it. Regardless of the culinary higher powers that may be, my body rocked with sobs, my shoulders shook, and my chest burned with pent-up breath.
I exhaled, thinking there was no sense in fighting it anymore. Every time I tried to help someone, I only ended up hurting them in the end. I was darkness. I was destruction. I was dead inside.
Thoughts of Earl flooded my mind. I’d gotten to know the old man over the past few weeks and felt as deeply for him as I would my own grandfather. He’d told me about his children and grandchildren, speaking of them with such love and honor, reminding me of my own family back home. He’d spoken of his late wife, and how, when the time came, rather than being afraid of death he would gladly accept it with open arms so he might be with her once again.
Broken Souls Page 17
