Page 37 of High Stakes

“Is he your husband?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest with an unreadable expression on his face.

“I am not married.”

“Widowed?”

He was insufferable. “No! How about you answer a few questions for me?” I demanded. “How many humans are within your walls?”

“Over three hundred. I don’t know the exact count,” he admitted.

“How many vampires?”

“What is a vampire?” he asked, his brows furrowed. I searched his eyes for any sign he was putting me on, but found none. My heart thundered. Is it possible he hasn’t made one yet?

“If Terah is here, where is Asa?”

“How do you know of me and my siblings?” His countenance darkened as the sun and all its light sank below the rolling western hills. It felt like all the warmth had been sucked out of the world, leaving nothing but cold death.

“You said you’d take me to my friend if I took a walk with you,” I reminded.

Enoch stepped closer, putting his face in mine and looking at me with heavy-lidded eyes. His scent washed over me again, clean and masculine. I backed up a step, but he followed. “You ask too many questions, and you know far too much. I want to know what you are.”

“I’m human. Surely you can smell my blood.” I pushed my scent out to him.

In an instant, his fangs were at my neck. And though I knew my suit protected me from a vampire bite, this was Enoch. The first. The deadliest. His fangs were longer than any I’d seen. They looked longer than they did on the broadcasts, and were far longer than those of the vamps we practiced our skills on. I held my breath, trying to calm my racing heart.

“Stop toying with me, Eve,” he purred. “I’ve asked nicely, and I would like answers.” With every word, his lips brushed the sensitive shell of my ear.

I pressed my eyes closed, enjoying the feel of him so close to me. He wasn’t warm like a human male would be. Enoch was cool and towered deliciously over me. “Your scent is intoxicating,” he whispered.

Maru had told me not to lose myself, to remember why I was there and what I fought for. I couldn’t forget my entire past just because a sexy vampire breathed in my ear, no matter how much I liked it. With practiced ease, I silently removed a stake from my holster. “You really want to know?” I murmured seductively, turning my head toward him and brushing his bottom lip with mine. His hand tensed on my waist.

“Yes,” he breathed.

Leveraging every skill and instinct I’d honed over the years, I wrenched a hand around his neck and jerked his head back, bringing my stake down hard. He moved impossibly fast, covering his heart with his hand and throwing me against the wall in one solid move. I hit the stones with a loud smack and sank to the ground bonelessly.

I looked up at him, dazed, as he held up his hand, staring at the sharp tip of my stake where it had gone through the back of his hand and was lodged in the center of his palm. Then he gaped at me like he couldn’t believe I’d actually done it.

“That hurt,” he said slowly.

Enoch pulled the stake from his hand and held it up, and then we both watched as his body quickly knit back together. With a grimace of distaste, he snapped the stake in two with his enormous hand. At the same time, a hidden vial from inside the stake shattered and the liquid boiled his flesh where it landed, instantly causing blisters to form. “Holy water?” he hissed.

Maru was a genius. I’d forgotten all about what he’d hidden inside them.

Enoch bared his fangs, crying out in pain. Then he stalked toward me, exposing his fangs.

I held my hands up in defense. “You promised you wouldn’t feed from me!” I shrieked.

“Keep quiet, woman,” he growled, grabbing me unceremoniously by the elbow. “I wouldn’t feed from you unless you offered.”

Unless I offered? He squeezed my skin tight. “I am a man of my word, but hear me when I say that even I have limits. If you attempt to kill me again, I will end you. And if you douse me with holy water again–”

“I didn’t douse you. That was your doing,” I interrupted hotly. “It was hidden inside the stake. I didn’t break it. You did.”

He took in a deep, aggravated breath. “Fair enough.”

I looked down at his hand to see red splotches with white blisters all over. “Better cover that up before your people think you have the plague,” I stated flatly.

He scoffed, “The boils are not black.”

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