by Bond, Casey
I rushed to meet him, pushing through the assemblage of pompous guests, still calmly sipping their wine as if the scene playing out was some form of planned entertainment. He was already upstairs, laying her on her bed when I caught up with him.
“She’s been poisoned,” Enoch announced grimly. His fingers shook as he ran his hand through his hair. “Stay with her. I’ll get someone who can help.”
I wasn’t going to tell him that her suit would heal her. The two had gotten awfully close this evening. Too close, if you asked me.
“Stay with me, Eve. Your suit should help soon.”
Enoch’s return was heralded by Asa being thrown into the room. Both bared their fangs at one another. “Did you do this?” Enoch accused, stabbing a finger at Eve.
Asa studied Eve with a bored expression. “What’s the matter with her?”
“Oleander, I believe,” Enoch spat. “You have it growing in your garden.”
Asa rolled his eyes. “I didn’t poison her, Enoch. If I wanted her dead, I would have killed her the same way you killed Rebekah.”
“Don’t compare Eve to that serpent.”
Asa inhaled sharply and lunged at Enoch, wrestling him to the ground. “How dare you speak of her that way! I loved her!” he roared.
“She did not love you in return!” Enoch yelled.
“Stop fighting and help Eve,” I butted in.
Enoch leveled a glare at Asa. “Where is Mary? She’ll know what to do to help her.”
“Mary is not at your beck and call, Enoch. And neither am I.” With those words, Asa turned to leave, but Enoch wasn’t having it.
“If her suit doesn’t kick in or if you don’t find a way to help, I’m jumping,” I interrupted calmly.
Enoch stiffened, turning away from Asa.
“Her suit should already have started healing her, but for some reason, it’s not working properly. We can figure out who’s to blame later, but right now, you need to focus on finding something to counteract the effects.”
“You can’t jump yet,” Enoch said desperately. “What can nullify oleander’s effect, brother?”
“How would I know?” Asa spat. “I’ll ask Mary to help, just to prove I had no part in this,” he announced before storming off.
Enoch sat on the other side of the bed and held Eve’s hand, staring intently at her face as if trying to memorize every contour. Her pupils were dilated, the large black saucers edging out any trace of her irises. Her heart rate began to stutter and slow.
“What’s happening to me? I can’t feel my arms,” she mumbled.
Bewildered, I snapped, “Why isn’t her suit working?”
“Because it’s only half on,” answered a sassy female voice. “Out with you all. I need a minute to help her.”
Mary strode into the room and waited, tapping her foot until we left. I could hear her from outside the door, helping Eve out of the dress and fully into the tech suit. It was trying to save her, but the poison must have been too potent to be reversed by half a suit.
“I didn’t do this,” Asa promised Enoch.
“Then who did?” he asked.
“Terah,” they answered in unison.
Asa stared Enoch down. “Eve shouldn’t have attacked her.”
“It was a blow Terah deserved,” Enoch countered.
“Well, look what it got her in return!” Asa shouted.
I was about to intervene again when a familiar laugh came from downstairs. “Abram!” I gasped.
The three of us edged back downstairs and tracked his scent, but the only thing I could catch sight of was a sudden flash of his dark hair. He wore a Continental army uniform, allowing him to effectively blend in with all of Asa’s guests – which were still scattered everywhere throughout the manor.
It must have been Abram who poisoned Eve! I cursed inwardly at my lack of focus. I hadn’t even seen him at the party.
Just then, a scream from a room close by shattered the conviviality of music and chatter. Enoch and Asa raced in a blur to the dining room, and I arrived a few seconds later. Chaos ensued. Vampires, no doubt Abram’s latest sires, were already feeding on soldiers. One had cornered Robert Benjamin and was closing in, so I grabbed my stakes to intervene on his behalf. It turned out that we didn’t even have to fight them. Enoch released the order for all vampires to stop feeding, and then we dragged them outside and I helped Enoch and Asa kill every last one of them.
After the last one was staked, my stomach sank as I heard Mary’s cry from upstairs. “Asa! Asa, help!”
Abram succeeded in distracting us from Eve, and we walked right into his trap.
* * *
Abram
The woman helping Eve took one look at me and yelled for Asa. “You’re not gonna hurt her. I won’t let you!” she declared bravely, baring her fangs.
“I wasn’t asking for your permission,” I replied calmly as I entered the room, closing the door and toppling a wardrobe. No one was going out, and no one would be coming in easily.
“Asa! The door is blocked!” the young woman cried out.
Behind me, Asa’s arm broke through, splintering the door. He kept splitting the wood, trying to claw his way inside, but I turned back around and ignored him.
I realized that I’d seen the woman before. It took me a moment to remember where, and then it dawned on me – she was the rider who fled from Enoch’s barn the day we lit it on fire, and she was Asa’s sire, from what I could tell. She called for him, not Enoch, to help.
I took a step closer, the woman sticking her hands out to stop my advance. “I’ll kill you,” she warned. “I’m a trained soldier.”
“So am I,” I replied with a smile.
The wall beside me burst open. The wall’s inner wooden slats split loudly as Enoch entered the room in one fluid movement, grabbed me by the back of my shirt and jacket, and roared in my face.
“I didn’t touch her!” I blurted out, flicking my eyes to Eve. “I just wanted her to unlink us.”
“Don’t,” Eve rasped from the bed. “Don’t unlink us. Don’t kill him.”
Eve tried to sit up in the bed but fell over, however, the motion drew Enoch’s attention. I took advantage of his momentary distraction to jerk away from him, putting distance between us and creeping closer to the window. I decided I would jump from it just like Eve had done. Then Titus stepped into the room.
Given the deadly stare he aimed at me, he recalled the wound I’d given him in Enoch’s turret tower. I scoffed inwardly. I’m sure the injury was painful, but I knew he would heal from it. I was careful to avoid his organs. I just wanted to separate myself from Eve, and he was determined to see her home.
“I wasn’t trying to kill you, Titus. I just needed you to stop and listen.”
“That’s all I want, too, buddy,” Titus answered sarcastically. “Come on over and we’ll have a nice, friendly chat.”
“Eve is a traitor,” I told him as he stalked forward like we were in the sparring ring.
“What about you?” Titus asked with a cocky smirk. “You’ve sired more vampires in this time than these assholes have.” He glanced at Enoch. “No offense.”
Asa stepped into the room. “Did you set fire to my house?” he asked quietly.
“Unfortunately, no. I was busy killing Enoch’s people,” I replied with a feral grin.
Irritated, I noticed the color coming back into Eve’s cheeks, courtesy of the healing properties of the tech suit she wore. It lit up the space around her like a bright, white beacon. A second later, she managed to sit up with very little assistance from her helper. “Don’t kill him,” she said again, her voice strengthening.
Why is she coming to my defense?
Eve stood up weakly, her eyes wide. “You knew about the clone army, didn’t you?”
“I knew we were being cloned, but I didn’t know what they planned to do with them,” I was quick to correct. Hatred blazed in the Nephilim’s eyes. Enoch and Asa began to close in. “They lied t
o me, too!” I exclaimed. “In fact, I think Kael misled Victor about his true plans. Even Victor thought we were being sent to the gala. It was all he talked about. The positioning of the vampires. Exits. Whether we’d be able to escape. He spent day and night running through every possible scenario for weeks. He wouldn’t have wasted time on studying the event so thoroughly if he didn’t believe that was the target landing zone.”
Titus’s mouth gaped open stupidly, and Eve’s eyes were wide. “Do you mean to tell me Kael is outmaneuvering Victor?” she asked.
“It appears so. Wouldn’t you agree?”
“No one would expect it,” Titus marveled.
“Just unlink us,” I pleaded.
It wasn’t that I wanted to stay in this God-forsaken time, and I wasn’t afraid of Kael or Victor if I returned. I knew they would welcome me back with open arms once they heard my side of the story. No, the reason I wanted to be unlinked is because I wanted to beat Eve back, or prevent her from ever returning. Kael told me that each of us had a kill switch coded into our tech. One that only he could access, but that would terminate us instantly. After I’d overheard that the clones sent to each time were supposed to be bitten and return home so Kael could extract the venom, I knew I needed to be the first one back.
If I went back with what Kael needed most, I’d be the hero. Not Eve.
I could tell them all the ways she’d neglected her mission, and then watch as they pushed the button to terminate her.
“Titus, unlink him,” Asa urged with a hate-filled smile. “Set him free and let’s have some fun. See how far you can run without me tearing you limb from limb. No one sets fire to my things.”
“I didn’t set the fire!” I exploded. “Maybe you should ask Terah what she smeared on the wall behind Eve’s door the night before she lit it. That corner suffered more damage than the others for a reason. Then you can ask her what she poured into the wine bottle Eve was standing next to. She was at the table when Eve approached.”
It was true that I didn’t set the fire, but under the guise of a Continental soldier I’d had the perfect opportunity to slip upstairs unnoticed and survey what they hadn’t been able to repair. An accelerant had been used, given the burn pattern. Over the past few days I’d been watching them enough to know what Terah was up to. It was obvious to anyone who looked closely enough. She was itching for a way to get rid of Eve – a way to kill her so her brothers wouldn’t tie her to Eve’s death. I think she finally realized the depth of Enoch’s infatuation with Eve and wanted to put a stop to it.
“Let me guess… right now, Terah is downstairs trying to calm the Brigadier General and the remainder of his men, but she hasn’t come to check on Eve. Isn’t that strange?” I gloated. “Pretending to be innocent. Isn’t that what she does? She kills and then blames her nature, garners guilt, and plays the victim? She doesn’t want you to know she was the one who started the fire, or that she slipped poison into the only wine bottle on the table Eve was near. It would be the easiest drink for Eve to pour, and who cared if someone else was poisoned as well? Terah would have the perfect alibi, and wouldn’t need to cross the room again.”
“You drank from the same bottle,” Eve reminded Asa.
He nodded. “Yes, but poison doesn’t affect me.”
“Couldn’t you taste it?” she asked suspiciously.
He leveled her with a glare. “I didn’t even take a sip before someone called me over to include me in a conversation I wanted nothing to do with. Stop insinuating I had anything to do with my sister’s ploy – if she is guilty.”
Titus rolled up his sleeve. “You want me to unlink us, Abram?” he asked, brows raised in a challenge. “Fine. I’ll unlink us. Then I want to watch while they hunt you down and tear you apart.”
I eased toward the window. Only one more step and I’ll…
“Abram, you keep forgetting that you are my sire,” Enoch warned. “Do not jump out that window. In fact, you are to remain still.”
* * *
Eve
Asa asked Mary to run to the barn to retrieve some rope. She was back so fast, we barely missed her. He thanked her and tightly bound Abram’s hands and feet together. Through it all, Abram wouldn’t shut up, cursing and threatening to kill us all. When Enoch finally had enough, he ordered him to keep quiet.
“Where will you put him?” I asked.
“The cellar,” Asa ordered.
“I’ll make sure he can’t leave,” Enoch promised. “And then we have a bigger issue to deal with.”
Asa inclined his head in agreement.
“Could we have a few moments?” Enoch asked.
Titus gave me a look that promised he wouldn’t be far. I gave him a nod and watched him step out through the Enoch-sized hole in the wall. Asa tossed the wardrobe away from the door as easily as one would flick away a gnat and escorted Abram from the room.
Mary looked at me. “Are you feelin’ better, Miss Eve? I can make you some tea if you’d like.”
“That would be great, actually.” Whether I needed it or not, I wasn’t about to turn down the offer. Her tea was delicious.
She left the room, leaving me and Enoch alone.
“I feel a lot better now,” I said with a slight smile.
“You shouldn’t have to feel better,” he scoffed. “My sister should leave you alone. She shouldn’t have attacked you, or set fire to your room, or poisoned you.” He clutched my upper arms. “I am so sorry I couldn’t keep you safe.”
“You have.”
“Says the woman who was just poisoned. I didn’t even recognize the taste until it was almost too late.”
“Enoch, it isn’t like you sip poison for fun. And you can’t hold yourself responsible for anyone else’s actions.”
“You do,” he said, pulling me in. My chest rose and fell against his. “You consider yourself to blame for everything Victor and Kael have done to us.”
“That’s different,” I argued.
“But it’s not,” he stressed. “Don’t you see? It isn’t different at all.”
“Then let’s both agree to stop.”
He closed his eyes. “I’m not sure how.”
“Me either.”
“All I know is that I love you. I want to be with you, to protect you. To love you. And I know you want the same. It just seems that the universe conspires against everything we want. How do we fight something so determined to thwart us?”
“I don’t know,” I whispered. “But we’ll figure it out. Together.”
He hesitated before nodding, and then placed a tender kiss at the corner of my lips. “Are you really okay?”
“I’m fine now,” I promised.
“I… if anything ever happened to you,” he said, his voice breaking.
I fought past the knot in my throat to reply, “Nothing will happen.” We both knew it was a lie. I could feel it seep in and form tension in the muscles along his back.
“Shouldn’t you check on Abram?” I asked.
He nodded, distaste curling his lips. “I should.”
“I know. I don’t want you to go either.”
“Come with me?” he asked.
I shook my head. “I don’t want to see him right now.” Or ever again. “Just don’t kill him, okay?”
Have you ever seen a rope that was frayed so that only one strand remained to hold two thicker ends together? That was what Enoch looked like. Like he was barely in control. In seventeen-seventeen, agony was his anchor. In seventeen-seventy-seven, he had none but me.
I knew I couldn’t stay here forever. The steady throbbing of my head continued a staccato rhythm behind my eyes. It wasn’t an effect of the oleander; Kael’s poison was a thousand times more potent.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Enoch promised.
I pulled away, squeezing his hand. “I’ll be here.”
* * *
Titus slipped inside when Enoch was gone.
He shook his head in amazement. “I’ve been
thinking maybe we should unlink him. If I can figure out how to only cut him out, that is.”
“The way he wants it so badly reminds me of how desperate 1776 was. He’s been turned, which means if he makes it back home, Kael will have Enoch’s venom.”
Titus cursed. “We can’t let him go back.”
I walked over to the window and looked down as Enoch paced below, tearing at his hair. The sight broke my heart. Asa stood a few feet away, arms crossed over his chest.
One of Benjamin’s men walked by and faster than a viper, Enoch grabbed hold of him, sank his fangs in, and drank. After a few kicks of his legs, the man slumped bonelessly to the ground. If Asa hadn’t stopped Enoch, he would’ve killed him. Or turned him. I wasn’t sure one was better than the other.
Titus stepped up beside me and watched. “He’s losing it,” he observed. “Every year we jump to, he’s a little less stable than the last.”
“I don’t know how to help him,” I admitted, the terrible feelings of helplessness resurfacing with a vengeance. But this time, it wasn’t sparked by the anticipation of jumping or a fear of the painful ‘landing’.
“Yes, you do,” Titus replied, standing straighter beside me.
Enoch hadn’t been himself since Abram and his sires set fire to everything he held dear. He tried to hide his torment from me the same way I’d been trying to conceal the pain and weakness seeping into my body. This was what despair looked like. The beautiful, ethereal man below me was broken.
My brain felt like it was being cleaved in two.
I pinched my eyes shut. And just like it had on the staircase, the world spun.
“Oh shit,” Titus whispered.
Terah approached her brothers. Hesitation weighed down her steps. Enoch caught sight of her and like a dog raises its hackles, he froze in place. Then he blurred to her and grabbed her by the throat, slamming her against the ground and roaring in her face.
Terah’s eyes bulged. Her face turned purple. She gasped, clawing at his hand. Asa pulled Enoch’s arm backward, trying to free Terah.