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. I wasn’t afraid— fear had left me long ago. The only thing I feared now was for Ruby’s safety, and I knew through my bond to her that she was afraid. Maybe the Unfortunates knew she was different. Maybe she was in danger. The thought that she might be having to deal with someone like Horus terrified me. Though Ruby was not bonded to me and couldn’t hear me, I reached out to her anyways.
If you’re out there Faith, know I will do my best to escape this mess and help you. Or die trying.
FIVE: RUBY
Guy’s lips brushed against mine and he spoke against them. “I love you, Ruby.” His breath warmed my face and his fingers grazed my back, drawing burning lines across my flesh. I shivered with warmth and contentment, my lashes fluttering open to see his stormy eyes directly in front of mine.
I was no longer wary of the rugged soldier who’d saved me from the wrath of the battle between humans and Unfortunates, knowing I could fully trust him now. I reached up and touched the fine scruff on his face, a face hardened by the woes of battle, but soft and flawless with the element of youth. He cupped my hand with his and deepened the kiss. My skin prickled.
“Let’s run away,” I whispered against his lips. “We can be together.”
His grey gaze took me in, his lashes tickling my forehead when he blinked. I wanted to be with him and he wanted to be with me, but it could never be. Why? I mused. Why couldn’t we just be together?
“Time’s up,” he said, and I drew my brows together in confusion, wondering what he meant.
“The legion wants to see you now,” he said, but his lips did not move and perplexity rolled over me. Just like that, Guy’s presence faded and the world came crashing into my brain like a piano dropped from the top of a six-story building— the damp chill of the cell, the smell of vampire and werewolf, and the light of a burning torch hot on my face. It took me a few moments to realize where I was and that Guy had only been a dream.
I sat up, reluctantly opening my eyes, not wanting to wake up and face my cold reality. I dreaded having to go in front of the legion so they could judge whether I would live or die, and instead wanted to sink back into the dream where I laid in Guy’s arms, safe and warm. I blinked, seeing a candlelit silhouette standing outside of my cell.
“My name’s Cloe.” The female vampire with the small nose and brown hair slid open the bars and stepped forward. She smiled, and I stared at her, stunned. Oh, so now she decided to talk to me.
Cloe, as she had now finally, and so graciously, named herself after days of silence, was the one who’d fetched me from the gates that first night I arrived in Tombstone. She’d tricked me with her sweet smile and then locked me behind bars. For many days since then, I’d been imprisoned, and she’d been the one to bring me blood every night, turning a deaf ear to my countless pleas. I wanted to be mad at her and shake her for what she’d done to me. I wanted to yell and scream and throw her in the jail cell to give her a taste of her own medicine. But I couldn’t. Her kind eyes looked frightened as though she were only acting under orders, as though she might be in trouble if she did not obey.
“C’mon.” She gestured to the exit with her chin.
“So I guess this means we’re on speaking terms now?” I stood and smoothed out the wrinkles from my jeans. She smiled, but immediately broke eye contact.
“I’m sorry about before. I’m not allowed to speak to prisoners,” she said, leading me down the hall toward the exit of the Courthouse.
I stretched my arms to my sides, relieved to be free from that musty shoebox. “Are you saying I’m no longer a prisoner?”
She opened the tall door leading us outside, but gave no reply. Whatever. Not like I wasn’t used to the silent treatment by now. I stepped out into the night air and released a gasp at the status of the small town. I’d only seen a glimpse of Tombstone the first night I’d arrived and, considering I was too busy being rushed off to jail, hadn’t noticed any of the details. But now that I had a chance to survey the area, words escaped me.
The stone stairs below us, which led from the three-story Courthouse down to the street, had collapsed. The tired building slumped forward like an off-centered ice cream cone, threatening to topple at any moment, landing with a splat on the pavement. A huge gash ran up the length of the road as far as the eye could see, taking chunks of pavement and store fronts within its chasm, the old buildings crumbling, some having cracked completely in half. All of the windows were boarded up with slats of rotting wood, and the doors hung loosely on rusty hinges.
From what I could tell, the town was definitely living up to its condemned status, and I thought back to what I’d learned about the great Tombstone cave-in at school. It happened many years ago before I was ever born, but I still recalled the story clearly and what a tragedy it had been. Basically, hundreds of miles of mining tunnels beneath the town had surrendered and given way, sinking most of the city into the depths of the earth. But what still stood was jaw-dropping, in the way an old artifact in ancient Egypt would be. I could literally feel hundreds of years of history surrounding me, thick in the air.
And though the street ahead of us appeared dark and vacant, I knew I was about to see more. I sensed a commotion of sorts, a bustling, and felt an operative force of beings working together, intermingling within the city walls. I smelled other people, er, vampires within the town, and more so than I’d ever expected. Fear gushed through me like a rushing river.
“Come on, Ruby. We mustn’t make the legion wait.”
I glanced over at Cloe, still getting used to her having a voice. She hurtled the large span over the crumbling stairs and landed down to one side of the crack, graceful like a domestic feline. I followed suit, my heart racing in apprehension over what was to come. Upon stumbling to the ground— very much unlike Cloe’s grace— I glanced at the female vampire again, thanking my lucky stars she’d been the one to fetch me and not the black-eyed vampire named Horus. Shivers traveled my spine at just the thought of his name.
“I think we’ll take the scenic route,” she mused. “That way you can see part of the town.” Cloe’s gentle profile adopted a soft glow from the few kerosene lamps dotting the street, their flames flickering warmly among the dystopian roadway.
“It’s very primitive here,” she explained, noticing my curiosity. “There are no modern technologies. No electricity, phones, or computers. Everything is run from natural resources. And the few things that aren’t, have generators. That’s the way the Patriarch wants it, to keep us off the grid.”
I nodded, wondering who the Patriarch was, but decided against asking, instead letting the silence of the street calm my nerves. I gazed at my surroundings in awe. There were no words to explain the sad beauty of the ruined city.
“That makes sense,” I said, finally breaking the silence. “It explains how this has been kept a secret for so long.”
Cloe nodded. “We have taken many precautions. We also have caretakers that keep us nearly invisible.”
I wrinkled my brows. “Caretakers?”
Where Cloe stepped delicately over a pile of bricks, I scrambled awkwardly, feeling very out of practice in my vampire body after being locked away for so long. But she kept her eyes straight ahead, either not noticing, or not caring about my clums
iness. “Though you may never meet them, our people are everywhere in disguise. In the police force. State officials. The government. Even air traffic control. They work hard to keep us safe.”
We made a left turn onto Third Street. I focused on moving my legs as slow as Cloe’s did. Unlike me, she’d long since mastered control over her vampire body.
“Plus,” she continued. “There is a strict curfew. No one goes outside from sunrise to sunset. Even the werewolves and witches abide by it, except for a few night guards. It is seemingly a ghost town during the day. Again, that’s the way the Patriarch wants it.”
Curiosity got the better of me. “Who’s the Patriarch?”
Cloe looked sideways warily. “He’s the father of the underworld. I’ve personally never seen him before. Not many have. But he rules above everyone, only making contact when absolutely necessary.”
We passed by an old ice cream parlor, the glass window shattered and the paint peeling from its front. The sign hung crooked by one nail and swung, creaking in the night breeze.
“It’s like the way humans organize their governmental systems. It’s similar to a democracy here. There’s the Patriarch, and then there’s the legion leaders— one for the witches, one for the werewolves, and one for the vampires.”
“Horus,” I said with disdain, remembering his death breath on my face. He’d told me he was a legion leader, and I couldn’t help but notice his desire to be the sole chieftain in control, even though there were two others. Cloe visibly shuddered at the mention of the cruel vampire’s name. She wrung her hands together.
“We’d better pick up the pace a bit. They’ll be wondering where we are.”
I heard the bustling of bodies as we approached the next corner. The faded wooden sign ahead said Allen Street, and though I sensed the town was heavily populated, nothing could prepare me for what I saw next.
We rounded the corner to see that the broken city thought to be abandoned was hardly abandoned at all. It was not the fossilized ghost town like it’d been painted, but more of a thriving old-west metropolis, bodies crowding the pock-marked streets. Shopkeepers called out their wares and dogs ran free in the road. I stopped in complete shock at the sight, thinking I must’ve stepped straight into some sort of time warp.
Though strangely dressed in an old-timey Victorian fashion of bustles, bowties, and leather-buckle suspenders, the town’s inhabitants looked like normal people. But I knew better. I could smell them. Not only were there vampires— lots of vampires— but there were werewolves, and what I assumed to be witches too.
“This is Allen Street,” Cloe said. “Basically the life of the city. It suffered the least amount of destruction during the cave-in.”
A loud roaring buzz whizzed by us. Startled, I turned to watch a large white van and half a dozen motorcycles fly by.
“I thought you said there weren’t any modern technologies here,” I said, placing a hand to my chest, catching my breath.
Cloe shrugged. “Oh, except for those. They must’ve just gotten back from a mission. Those are scouts. They need transportation to go into surrounding towns and get supplies and also make sure things are safe.” I glanced back to the street, shaking my head in wonder. At this point, nothing ceased to amaze me.
Forgetting about the obscurity of the out-of-place vehicles, we continued on as the growling sounds of the engines faded in the distance. I turned my attention to the various groups of Unfortunate Souls who lingered about the streets.
“Have vampires always been here?” I queried, still trying to wrap my mind around this whole concept. “Or was it after the cave-in this place came to be?”
“As far as I know, only human’s lived here before the cave-in,” Cloe answered, her boots crunching across the dirt ground. “Once it was evacuated, a few rogue vampires found this place and word of a safe haven traveled fast through the underworld community. Most of them came from smaller covens and packs, having been hidden away from the world and surviving like ruthless hunters in the night. But when they came here it was different. It was like having a whole new life. They no longer had to hide in the shadows, and could walk freely through the streets with each other.”
I remained in awe at how populated the city had become in just the past few decades. “Wow. That must’ve been a dream come true for them.”
Cloe pushed her hair back from her face. “Yes. But I never knew anything other than Tombstone in my vampire life. I was reborn here.”
I glanced over at my guide. She walked more briskly now and I rushed to keep up pace. “If you don’t mind me asking, how old are you?”
Cloe wrinkled her nose. “Older than I look, that’s for sure. But I am considered quite young in the vampire community. I was reborn at the age of seventeen right after the vampires took over the city. It has been twenty years since then.” I nearly stopped in wonder at how young Cloe looked when she gave my arm a light tug to keep me moving, and I followed her onto the sidewalk.
The aroma of food wafted through the streets and if I had been human, it would’ve made my mouth water. Yet instead of triggering hunger, the savory scent affected me in the way a nearly-forgotten memory would, like an old child-hood blanket, pleasant but unnecessary.
The cool breeze hit my skin, lifting wisps of hair from my face, and the combination of noisy music and chattering resonated through the streets. Our feet click-clacked on wooden-slatted sidewalks as we whisked along the store fronts. We passed a group of vampires who huddled together, talking in hushed tones. They glanced up and my skin crawled as their eyes followed us.
“Soon you’ll understand the way things work here.” Cloe pointed ahead. “For instance, just up the street there on the right is the Big Nose Kate’s Saloon. The witches run it and make all of the meals for the food-eating inhabitants here. And across from that is the Crystal Palace where the werewolves congregate. They keep it fully stocked with liquor and there is almost always a game of poker going on. It gets pretty rowdy in there.”
I nodded, making note to steer clear of the Crystal Palace in my time here.
“Where do the vampires hang out?” I asked, my eyes flickering from building to building, undecided on what to focus on.
Cloe laughed. “Everywhere. The vampire population highly outweighs that of any other group here in Tombstone. There are so many inns and saloons here that I’ve lost count, though I guess Vampire Hall and The Birdcage Theatre are a couple of vampire favorites. Don’t worry, you’ll get to know the town. It will just take time.”
If I had time to get to know the town, I thought wryly. As far as Horus was concerned, I should be dead already. I kneaded my fingers together, trying not to let my nerves get the better of me. I watched as people drifted in and out of the buildings up ahead, their old-fashioned clothes dusty from the miles and miles of dirt road, and I couldn’t help but notice their eyes quickly shooting my way. We stepped around a crowd of men who argued notably about something I didn’t understand, but they stopped as we passed, their gazes boring into me.
“Is it just me or is everyone staring at me?” I asked in a nervous whisper.
“I think it’s because you smell different,” Cloe mused, gently taking me by the arm and crossing Fourth Street. I slyly peered into Big Nose Kate’s Saloon as we passed by, noting the live music and bodies crowded inside.
“What do I smell like?” I asked, ignoring the instinct to sniff myself, thinking it would look kinda weird if I lifted up my arm to sneak a whiff.
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s because you’re a Newborn, but you smell… different.”
Again, fear threatened to take over me at the notion that I was different, and Wilson’s caution to keep my hybrid anomaly a secret flashed through my brain. But even though they’d sensed my difference, neither Horus nor Cloe had puzzled out the reason behind it so far. I just prayed it stayed that way, because as my mentor had warned, anyone knowing about my being a hybrid could mean my death. I almost laughed, thinking I might be wal
king straight to my death now anyway, if the legion deemed it so.
We continued past the Saloon and on to the next block on Allen Street. The scent of vampires became more distinct, as though we were walking right into a nest of them.
“Where are we going?” My voice broke nervously.
“The Birdcage Theatre,” Cloe said. “It’s just up here on the right.”
Directly past the theatre stood the grand wall surrounding the city that kept trespassers out of Tombstone, and upon seeing it I realized we’d reached the end of the town. I gazed past the wall to the dark desert sky beyond, thinking it looked as dark and as empty as my heart felt. The closer we got to our destination, the more melancholy I became.
Ever since Guy had left me here I couldn’t seem to shake my sorrow and fear, feeling like something was eminently wrong in the grand scheme of things. I had an odd sense of foreboding and ached for Guy’s presence, wanting to feel safe in his arms again. The vivid dream of him still clung to me like Saran wrap on a cold cornbread casserole and I couldn’t help but wonder what Guy was doing at this very moment. I wondered if he’d made it back safe to his FUSE headquarters. But I took comfort in Guy’s promise to me that he’d take care of Frank. I may have never met my biological father —my maker— but I still didn’t want him to suffer.
Yet reflections of Guy and Frank fled as we stopped to let a group of women pass. They held overflowing crates of glass vials and bottles that clinked together as they walked. Witches, I guessed. I knew by their smell, which was similar to a human’s but, yet, slightly different. They chattered together like little song birds as they hurried across the street. Cloe latched onto my arm pulling me forward. Like the witches, she was also in a hurry.
I glanced to my side at the girl vampire, her wide eyes scanning the streets cautiously. I wondered about all the vampires who lived here. How were they made? Were they brought here as humans like Cloe and recruited to become a part of this society? Or had they been dead long ago and made the journey here to join the others? Curiosity overtook me.
Broken Souls Page 3