Chapter Eleven – The Voice in the Ashes
1039 Words
The old church stood like a skeleton under the moonlight—its broken glass windows reflecting the cold stars above, its wooden beams groaning with every blow of the wind. Isaac Hale leaned against the stone wall, arms crossed, his black coat fluttering. His red eyes stared straight ahead, watching the shadow move closer.
Sabrina Cuevas.
She stepped into the open, her steps silent but firm. Blood still dried on her hands from the fight at the docks. Isaac could smell it. Wolf blood, not human. The enemy pack had finally caught on to her.
"You look like hell," Isaac muttered.
"Coming from a vampire," she shot back. "That's not saying much."
He cracked a small grin, but it faded quickly. "You led them straight to you."
"I wanted to," she said. “Let them come. Let them think I’m alone.”
"You’re not."
She blinked. Something about those two words pierced her deeper than she expected. She shook her head, walking past him, stepping into the shadows of the ruined church. Her heart ached. Not from fear. From something she didn’t want to name.
“I found something,” she said after a pause. “In the files. From the lab.”
Isaac turned to follow her inside. The scent of mold and old blood filled the air.
She dropped a folder on a broken pew. “They’ve been watching me since I was a child. Not just me. Other wolves, too. Children with... different minds.”
Isaac opened the folder. Pictures of kids with numbers tattooed on their necks. Notes in codes. Symbols he hadn’t seen in centuries.
“They ran experiments,” Sabrina whispered. “On emotions. Control. Fear. They tried to train us to feel nothing. But something went wrong.”
Isaac froze. One picture stood out. A small girl—bruised, eyes blank. Her name: Subject 09 — S. Cuevas.
“You were one of them?”
“I didn’t remember. Until now.”
Silence.
Isaac clenched his fists. "Who did this to you?"
Sabrina looked up, her voice hollow. “My mother signed the papers. My father didn’t even try to stop her. They sold me.”
Isaac’s fangs pushed against his gums. The vampire in him wanted revenge. The man in him just wanted to hold her.
But then—
A creak.
They turned.
A child stood at the back of the church. Pale skin. No scent. No sound.
Sabrina whispered, “It’s her again.”
Isaac narrowed his eyes. “The girl from the cemetery?”
She nodded.
The child smiled—but her eyes were wrong. Black. Empty.
"You left me," the girl said.
Sabrina stepped back. "You're not real."
The girl tilted her head. "Neither are you. Not anymore."
In a blink, the girl was gone.
Sabrina clutched her head, panting. "She keeps appearing. I don’t know if it’s in my mind or real. I don’t know what’s real anymore."
Isaac moved to her side, catching her before she collapsed. “It’s them. The people who used you. They left something in you, Sab. Something they could trigger.”
“I feel like I’m being watched... all the time,” she whispered. “Even when I’m alone.”
"You are." He looked at the folder again. “These aren’t just experiments. This is a map.”
He spread the papers out—drawings of tunnels under the city, secret labs, lists of names. And one name caught his eye:
Project Ashes – Isaac Hale.
He froze.
Sabrina saw it too. “You...?”
“I was part of it,” Isaac whispered. “Before I turned. Before I knew what they did. I was their spy.”
Her eyes darkened. “You knew?”
“I didn’t know it was you.” His voice cracked. “They erased my memories. Made me believe I was just watching targets. Not children. Not killers in training.”
A long silence passed between them.
“You lied to me,” she said quietly.
“I never meant to.”
Sabrina pulled away. “I trusted you, Isaac.”
“I still want to protect you.”
She shook her head. “What if I don’t want to be protected? What if I’m the danger?”
Outside, a rumble shook the ground.
Explosives.
Isaac looked at her. “They found us.”
“No,” Sabrina said. “I found them.”
She reached into her coat and pulled out a detonator.
“You led them here on purpose?”
She nodded. “They’ve been hiding too long. Using us. I’m tired of running.”
“You’ll kill yourself in the blast.”
“I’m not scared.”
Isaac stepped closer. “But I am.”
Her hands trembled.
“I’m not that little girl anymore,” she whispered. “But I’m still broken.”
“You’re not broken,” he said. “You’re burning. And I see your fire.”
Tears welled in her eyes.
Behind them, voices shouted.
Agents.
Hunters.
The enemy.
Sabrina stared at the detonator. Then at Isaac. “I need to finish this.”
“Then let me burn with you.”
She laughed bitterly. “You’d really die with me?”
He took her hand, steadying it. “No. I’d live. For you.”
And for a moment, the world stilled.
But the shadows didn’t wait. A bullet shattered the window. Another grazed Isaac’s arm.
Sabrina pushed him down, rolled to the side, and shot back. Her aim was perfect. Three men dropped.
Isaac covered her, baring his fangs, moving with deadly speed.
They fought together. Like fire and blood. Like shadow and light.
By the time it ended, the church was silent. Dead bodies on the floor. Smoke curling up to the rafters.
Sabrina stood, breathing hard. “It’s never over, is it?”
Isaac walked to her. “Not for people like us.”
She looked at the detonator. Then tossed it aside. “I don’t want to destroy everything anymore. Just the ones who made me this way.”
Isaac pulled her into a hug. “Then we’ll do it together.”
And somewhere in the dark, the little girl watched them.
Smiling.
- Writer
