Read Online Heart of the Dead: Vampire Superheroes (Perpetual Creatures Book 1) by Gabriel Beyers - Free Book Online Page A

Bill’s basement seem tame by comparison.
    This was foolishness. Foster was eccentric, not dangerous, despite what Jerusa’s mother, her friends, and even Alicia thought. Jerusa twisted the knob. It turned freely in her hand. The door was made to swing outward. Jerusa tightened her grip and pulled.
    The door didn’t move.
    She twisted the knob the other direction, turning it as far as it would go, and then pulled again. The door remained firm in its jamb. She pushed the door just in case she had somehow misread the direction it opened, but it wouldn’t budge.
    Jerusa stepped back and examined the door. It was a thick-looking paneled door, stained dark, like the floor and woodwork. The pins of the matching pewter hinges were visible, meaning the door should, in fact, swing outward. There were no locks visible that would impede its opening. It must have been braced from within. But how did Foster manage to lock the door from within when there was no other way into the basement?
    Was someone else in the basement?
    Jerusa pressed her ear against the door, but the thick oak blotted out all sound. She reached for the knob again, but before she could touch the metal a hand spilled through the door, snatching at her wrist.
    Jerusa gave a startled cry and jumped backward. Alicia walked through the solid oak door as if it were not there.
    Alicia’s face was drawn tight, her eyes bulging and distant. Her complexion had the grayish-yellow hue of old newspaper. What horrible thing could there be hidden in the darkness below that could frighten the dead?
    Alicia turned her eyes on Jerusa, then backed up against the door with her arms spread wide. The message was clear enough: Don’t go to the basement.
    Foster hurried into the kitchen, a knapsack full of clothes hanging from his arm.
    “Is everything all right?” he asked. “I thought I heard you scream.”
    “I’m fine,” Jerusa said. “Alicia startled me, that’s all.”
    Foster dropped his shoulders in relief. “I thought she was the ghost that kept all the other ghosts from scaring you. Don’t tell me she’s picking up bad habits from the other spooks in your life.” There was no derision in his voice. He spoke it with the certainty of fact. Day follows night. Spring follows winter. Ghosts follow Jerusa.
    How could she not love and trust him?
    “What’s in the basement?” Jerusa asked, watching Foster’s face carefully.
    Foster’s eyes remained unblinking as they drifted from Jerusa to the door then back again.
    “Why is it locked from the inside? How is it locked from the inside?”
    Foster cleared his throat. “Did Alicia tell you what was down there?”
    “No. You know I can’t hear her. She’s just very adamant that I not go down there.”
    “She’s a wise ghost, little rooster,” he said, and the tone in his voice sent a chill spilling down Jerusa’s spine. “But neither of you need to worry. What’s down there is leaving with me. When you return to claim this house, the basement will be safe.”
    Jerusa could see by the look in his eyes that this was all the light Foster was going to shed on the mystery in the basement, so she nodded and said, “Thank you.”
    Foster’s cheery smile returned and he handed her the bag. “Give my regards to Silvanus of the Woods.” Then he took her in his arms and hugged her tight. “I will miss you.”
    “I’ll miss you, too.” The words opened a deep hole inside her such as she had never felt.
    Foster stepped back. “One more thing before you go. Stay inside tonight.” He read the quizzical look in her eyes and raised his hand, shushing her before she could ask. “I can’t tell you why. Just trust me. Be home before dusk and don’t go anywhere until dawn. Promise me.”
    Jerusa wanted nothing more than to explore the depths of Foster’s mysteries, to lock her feet to the floor and refuse to leave until he spilled every secret, but she knew it would make no difference. Foster was leaving and taking