Page 9 of High Stakes

“I’ll never let it happen again,” I vowed.

Victor slid his eyes to Maru. “Do you stand behind her?”

“I do,” he answered without pause.

“What did the vampire say to her?”

Hello, I’m right here.

“The vilest thing I’d ever heard, and no doubt the most terrible thing Eve ever heard.”

Victor snorted. “You can’t let words distract you. Do that, and you’re dead.” He snapped his fingers. “Like that. That fast, Eve.”

“I know. I won’t be disarmed again.”

Victor shook his head and laughed. “Oh, I know you won’t. Give me your hand and your stake.” He raised his brows and stuck his palm out.

I glanced at Maru, whose countenance darkened, but placed my stake in Victor’s hand. He took a small tube from his pocket, twisted the lid open with his teeth, and squirted a glob of clear, tacky glue into my hand. He slapped the stake into my palm.

“Clench it,” he instructed.

I tightened my fist around the stake. The glue cured with my body heat, adhering the stake to my skin. “If you turn off your pain receptors to remove it, I’ll be alerted immediately and you will not travel. You’re to carry it for the rest of the day. Sleep with it glued to your hand, and do not remove it until morning. Every single time you knock it against something, or can’t do something with that hand, remember what I told you.”

The glue burned into my skin. I gritted my teeth, but gave no answer other than a curt nod.

“Dismissed,” he clipped. His eyes dared me to open my mouth, and I had to bite my tongue to keep from saying something I would regret.

I followed Maru out of the Situation Room and into the hall. He silently fumed all the way to the elevator and then all the way to my room. I lingered outside my door while he paced, expecting another lecture.

“He had no right to do that to you,” he finally growled.

My skin pulled as I tried to adjust my cramping hand. “It’s fine.”

“No, it isn’t.”

“It’s not so bad. Instead of just gluing my hand, he could’ve pulled me from the program.”

Maru shook his head. “No, he couldn’t have. He knows he wouldn’t be able to train anyone fast enough to get to the level you’re on before the travel date. Aside from that, no one knows more about Enoch than you. And no one is more dedicated.”

“Thanks,” I mumbled, meaning it.

He looked to the stake glued to my skin and muttered a curse in his native tongue.

Willing Maru to drop it, I offered, “I’ll remove it in the morning and my suit will accelerate its healing.” I moved to place my palm on the panel to unlock my door when I realized I couldn’t. Not with a stake in it. My left hand wasn’t configured to the panel, which meant it had to be my right palm.

“Move over,” Maru huffed. He pressed his palm to the glowing panel and my door slid open. “Get some rest. You’ll need it for tomorrow.”

He glanced at my palm once more and shook his head before walking away.

* * *

Maru led me unerringly through the compound, strands of his dark hair waving in the strong breeze from the air vents. I breathed in. I breathed out. Controlling my heart rate, keeping my perspiration at a minimum. My suit comfortably cooled my skin.

Stomping feet vibrated the walls and floor. Even before we entered the arena, the cheers were deafening.

Abram and Titus were paired up and would fight back-to-back against the two vamps the military ‘collected’ for the occasion. To our brothers and sisters in arms this was entertainment, a long overdue morale boost, and proof that Victor was living up to his promises to end the vampire race. To us, it was a final training session.

“Please tell me that’s a closed-circuit feed, and that he’s not broadcasting our faces to the masses,” I begged Maru, taking in the cameras focusing in on Victor. His face filled the giant screens hanging in every cardinal direction from the center of the arena ceiling.

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