Page 44 of High Stakes

Chapter Eighteen

Titus was asleep in Enoch’s seat when the morning light woke me. As soon as I sat up, he startled awake, breathing hard and scuttling away from me in alarm.

“Hey. You okay?” I asked.

“Yeah... it’s nothing.” He gave a forced smile and calmed his breathing. “Bad dream.”

“Want to talk about it?”

He gripped the arms of the chair he sat in and pushed himself up, pacing the floor beside the bed. He turned to me and revealed, “I dreamed that you and I were the first vampires they made.”

Every muscle in my body tensed. “That would be poetic... and awful.”

“It would.”

I pointed to my ear and then the door, and he shook his head in response to let me know we could be overheard. “Terah came to get Enoch early. They went outside, but I don’t know where or why. He woke me up and asked me to come over here and watch over you,” he whispered.

That was thoughtful and sweet. And confusing as hell.

“Did you figure out where Asa is?”

He shook his head. “No idea.” Leaning forward, balancing his elbows on his knees, he stared at me. “What the hell were they thinking? This isn’t right. There are no vampires here. I snuck out last night and looked around. If there were any, they wouldn’t have stayed hidden after dark.” He cursed. “And you know as well as I do that Victor knew that before he sent us.”

“Of course they did,” I scoffed. “They sent us here to stop it before it begins. They would argue it’s justified, because of what’s happening in our time.”

Titus shook his head. “But if we stake them now... it’s murder. That’s different than defense, Eve.”

“You think I don’t know that?”

He raked his hand through his hair. “What’s worse is that they’re decent. They’re nice. Even Terah, as annoying as she is… is kind. I just can’t reconcile this side of them with what I know from the broadcasts back home.”

“Me either.” I couldn’t imagine this version of Enoch siring a single vampire, let alone an army of them, but then again, it would only take one. One vampire who was determined enough to make his own army. One vamp could sire thousands, and those vampires could sire others. It wouldn’t take long for their numbers to multiply, snowballing to the numbers we saw in our time.

Titus leaned forward in the chair. “What could have happened to compel them to start creating monsters?”

I shrugged. I had no idea, but wished I knew. That was the point in time when we should’ve been sent. To stop them from making the first monster. To give them a choice. If they made the wrong one, then we could strike, but if they made the right one, we had no right to.

“I have to tell you something,” I whispered. He moved closer. “Maru hid a note in one of my stakes, and Enoch found it.”

His eyes widened. “What’d it say?”

“It said Victor was sending an army.”

“To this time?” he asked, surprised.

“He didn’t specify, but I don’t think so. I think he’s going to send more Assets to different times to try to kill the Triad. If he sends enough, the odds of someone staking at least one of them would be in his favor. Sort of like he’s hedging his bets.”

Titus argued, “But the other Assets aren’t ready. They’re too young, and they haven’t trained as long as we have.”

I picked at the plush blanket covering my lap. “I don’t think he cares about them any more than he cares about us.”

He leaned forward, suspicious. “What do you mean?”

I exhaled. “Victor said that if I couldn’t kill Enoch, I shouldn’t bother coming home.”

A muscle ticked in his jaw. He gave a harsh laugh. “That son of a bitch.”

The sound of soft footsteps came from the hallway. Titus raised a finger to his lips and leaned back in his chair. “We’ll talk later.”

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