Page 51 of High Stakes

“That’s the thing, Eve. We don’t know enough about either one of them to make this kind of judgment call. I realized it this morning after I helped Heather back to her room. She was so damned pale, Eve. If she dies, it’s on me. I could’ve stopped Terah.”

“What if we could convince them never to make a vampire? What if we could do that without staking them?”

He put his hands on his hips and shook his head. “I don’t believe this. You really do like him.”

Feeling oddly defensive, I stated, “He isn’t the monster we were led to believe he was.”

“He isn’t that monster yet,” he enunciated. Titus pinched the bridge of his nose. “If we could somehow make sure they couldn’t or wouldn’t sire vampires, your and Enoch’s plans for peace just might work. But there are two things you aren’t accounting for, Eve: Terah and Asa. They might not be as willing as Enoch to prevent the future we live in. Don’t get me wrong, it would be awesome if we could stop them before they started siring. It would be a miracle. One that I’d be happy to help you take credit for.”

Titus flashed his signature grin and pointed to the tower situated at the corner of the castle. “But, if it looks like we’re fighting an uphill battle, you and I strike first and together. Then we run like hell to the tallest room up there and jump.”

We would go back to the original plan, then. He squinted his eyes against the bright sky. The castle turrets seemed about as tall as the compound’s roof. In any event, they were the tallest structures around, and our only chance of going home.

“And hey – if it looks like we’re going to lose, we run like hell anyway and jump together. We go home as losers who survived when the oldest vampires in existence were hot on their trails.”

“I didn’t think the L-word was in your vocabulary,” I taunted.

“I had my ass kicked by Abram a few days ago. Pretty sure I learned it that day.”

“Oh, come on. You won most of the sparring matches between the two of you.”

“Yeah, but that one bruised the ego. I should’ve had him. I can’t believe I let him wear me out and didn’t even realize it was happening. I was trying too hard to impress Victor,” he admitted.

“And now that you know what sort of man Victor really is?”

“I really want to go home and teach him a few well-deserved lessons.”

Chapter Twenty

True to his word, Enoch brought the letter he’d penned for his brother outside for me and Titus to both approve. It was simple and undetailed, explaining that there was a pertinent matter the two needed to discuss, and implored him to come to the castle post haste.

Enoch sealed the letter with dark burgundy wax, pressed his seal into it, and then handed the parchment to his rider, an older man with salt and pepper colored hair who knew his way around a horse. The rider mounted a black stallion and guided the horse to the gate that had been ordered closed such a short time ago, and was now being opened for him. He ducked beneath it and kicked the horse’s stomach, urging him forward, fast.

It was crazy to think that Enoch now saw Assets as a bigger threat than the plague itself. My heart was fighting a battle with my mind. I knew what Enoch was back home. He was an arrogant, blood-thirsty leader who saw no value in human life, except that it provided a vital food source for him and his kind.

But the man standing beside us, watching a human he trusted implicitly ride over the rolling hills past the castle, was not like the one who would later ravage our country. That man, that Enoch, I’d gladly stake. And maybe that was what I needed to tell Titus.

If they didn’t deserve it yet, then now wasn’t the right time to kill them. But if we somehow managed to return home and hunted them down in our time when they did deserve death... that I could do—with or without Victor’s knowledge, orders, or blessing. Maybe we should just go home and fight in our own time, in our own country, and for our own people.

Titus turned to Enoch and watched his reaction as he spoke. “Since you already know more than you should, there’s no harm in telling you that our counterpart, who is targeting your brother, isn’t like us. He won’t make any bargains, and he sure as hell won’t see you for what you are now, just what you’ll become.”

“Then he and Asa are properly matched. I can see this Victor person has learned us well.”

“You are easy to learn in our day. Things are different then,” I explained.

Enoch glanced at the tech mounted in Titus’s hand and mine. “I can see that.”

“You should also know that if you or any of your siblings kills our friend,” he gritted the term, “you will kill us all. We’re linked through the tech in our arm.” Titus was good at lying. He definitely needed to handle the lies from now on. He stared Enoch down with a ferocity I hadn’t seen before.

We were linked, but if Abram was killed, we wouldn’t die with him. His connection to us would be severed and it would just be me and Titus left to drag one another home – if that was even possible. I still wasn’t sure I believed it would work.

“The magic connects us,” I clarified when Enoch’s brow rose and he looked to me for further explanation. “So if one of us dies, we all die.”

He ran a frustrated hand through his dark, curled hair. “I’m afraid I can neither control my siblings’ feelings nor their actions, but I promise to try and protect you both for as long as you are my guests.”

“What about after that, Enoch? What about after we leave? You just going to hunt her down and rip out her throat?” Titus challenged, ticking his head at me.

The Nephilim’s eyes caught on the vein pulsing at the side of my neck before flicking up to meet mine. “I couldn’t do that,” he conceded quietly.

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