Page 16 of High Stakes

A derisive chortle escaped my lips. “I highly doubt that. So... it’s a no from me.”

He gave me a lop-sided grin, undeterred. “You’ll come around.”

I placed my palm on the sensor and felt the warm beam scan over my skin. The door slid open.

“See you at dinner,” Titus yelled as the door closed.

My screen selector sat on the edge of the small, white leather couch. I took the black plastic rectangle and activated my wall screen, images scrolling as it flickered to life. I selected the still image of Enoch I’d saved from his message threatening Victor, staring at it for several long moments. I hoped he enjoyed his life, all the damage he’d done, all the people he ruined. Because it was all about to end.

Tomorrow morning, I was going to ram a stake into his heart.

* * *

Titus and Abram were seated across from me at a rectangular table. Victor sat at the head, to my left. Kael sat on my right-hand side. All the men were clad in pressed, dark suits and I wore a floor-length, strapless gown encrusted with black sequins. I wore the pair of dark pearl earrings Victor had given me when he accepted me as one of the top three Assets. Titus and Abram wore pearl cuff links to match.

We couldn’t have better coordinated our attire if we tried.

An intricate candelabra sat in the center of the table with white tapered candles flickering around it, casting warm light across the room and dancing shadows against the pale gray walls behind us. I picked at my salad while the others talked about the live slayings, Victor bragging on the skill and teamwork Titus and Abram exhibited.

“I’ve never seen the pair of you work so well together,” he complimented. Then he turned to me. I steeled my face, trying to keep the burning warmth from my cheeks. “And then there was your performance.”

“You can hardly call that a performance,” Abram muttered under his breath.

“Pardon me?” Victor asked, sitting back in his seat and giving Abram his full attention.

Abram very carefully placed his fork onto the plate and prepared to argue his viewpoint. “The female would have been an easy kill for anyone. Even a new recruit could have taken her out. And the second vamp was new, so he barely counted,” he elaborated. “She exploited his emotion. It wasn’t a fight at all, not to mention the fact that it was borderline obscene.”

Victor gave a tight smile and folded his hands over his middle, elbows braced on the chair’s wooden arms. “Have you ever faced a newly turned vampire, Abram?” he asked.

Abram’s mouth opened and closed comically. “No, but –”

Victor interrupted, “They are unpredictable, ravenous, vicious creatures, but they have a weakness; a singular weakness that Eve was not only aware of, but used to her advantage. Newly turned vampires cannot focus on more than one thing at a time. That’s why Asset Eve’s distractions worked so well. I’ve killed more vampires than could fill this compound while working my way up through the ranks, and I can tell you that new vamps are strong. They have heightened senses, so sharp they can be driven to madness.”

Looking at each of us in turn, Victor continued, “They’re angry as hell at having been turned into their worst nightmares, but worse than that, they’re starving, because when a vampire is created, the body is drained of blood. They are forced to fill it up and keep it filled to the brim, just to keep from feeling like the world isn’t caving in on them. They’re frightened and hungry, and sometimes they do get aroused. Eve was not wrong in sneaking up behind the woman any more than she was wrong about using the male’s weakness as her strength. Isn’t that what Maru taught you to do, Eve?”

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. Maru uttered those same words to me a thousand times. He’d shouted them, and then he’d whispered them each time I lost a sparring match to one of my teammates, telling me I’d get the upper hand next time. Next fight. The next day. Though the words were never intended to be confidential, having Victor use them felt like a violation of Maru’s and my privacy. Clearing my throat, I managed to speak. “Yes, that’s what he taught me.”

“And let’s not forget that Eve did best you yesterday, Abram,” Victor needled.

Abram’s voice raised indignantly. “I have fought her and won many times before. She’s barely human anyway,” he sneered, his lips quivering with barely controlled rage as he gripped the table edge.

Kael, who usually quietly observed our conversations, was the one who corrected him. “She is as human as either of you. You all have altered genomes,” he chided. “And it doesn’t really matter what you think of her, Asset Abram. She has her own mission, just as you have yours. Asa is the only target on which you should be focused.”

Awkwardness filled the room as Abram silently fumed. The only sounds were the scraping of silverware on china plates.

“You have to be more than the stake. If something goes wrong, if your target knocks the stake out of your hand, for instance,” Victor hinted slyly, sliding his eyes to me, “you’ll have to think on your feet. There won’t be anyone there to save your neck.”

My face heated, the lettuce wilting in my mouth. I managed to choke down the bite.

“Do you have any questions about travelling?” Kael asked. Victor turned his attention to the scientist. “I know we’ve discussed it at length, but I’ve found that people tend to process information in stages, so if there’s anything you’d like for me to answer or repeat, please ask or bring it up now. I want you to feel comfortable with the concept.”

“Not sure I’ll ever feel comfortable jumping off a building,” Titus said as if he were joking. I knew better. None of us felt good about that part.

“Unfortunately, there’s nothing I can do to comfort you in that regard,” Kael countered.

“These discs aren’t dangerous to us?” Titus asked warily, looking down at the back of his hand.

Kael nodded thoughtfully, seeming to anticipate the question. “Plutonium is a radioactive substance, but it has been encased in a stronger material – one that will not allow the breakdown of the radioisotope, and will simultaneously protect you from being contaminated and affected by the disc. In short, the radiation chambers are impenetrable. They will contain the reaction and energy required to travel, while posing absolutely no threat to your health.”

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