Page 28 of High Noon

I took a small pearl-handled pistol off the wall, checked to make sure it was loaded as Asa had said, and fired a round into Abram’s right thigh. Then his left. I put one in his side, in the same location he ran me through. “That’s payback. Plus interest.”

Asa pursed his lips and regarded his gun in my hand.

Now that Abram was a vampire, he would heal himself. He didn’t even need his suit anymore. Soon, all the pain he felt would be erased, but for now? For now, it looked like it hurt like hell. He silently screamed and then began to pant, desperately trying not to make a peep because Enoch compelled him not to.

“You deserve far worse for what you’ve done, Abram,” I told him. “Much worse. You are the traitor. You shouldn’t even get the option to go home.”

Asa eased the gun from my hand as Enoch spoke up. “Then make sure he can’t.”

Abram’s suit made a whirring noise, like a machine running too hot. He shook his head furiously, silently begging me with his eyes not to do it.

But I had to.

“Don’t,” Abram gritted, the action of speaking through Enoch’s compulsion causing him further pain. He began thrashing against the silver that bound him. The tendons in his neck popped out under the stress, but he’d spoken. He’d spoken after Enoch had ordered him to be quiet.

Asa’s expression was darkness mixed with surprise.

“Do not speak,” Enoch told Abram.

Abram’s suit hummed louder, followed by another defiant shriek.

“They can fight it,” Asa marveled.

The gunshot wounds in Abram’s legs and side had already healed.

“It’s his suit,” I stammered. “It’s… it’s healing him against your commands, in a way. Healing his body where it can and resetting it. Maybe that’s why your order didn’t stick after we jumped. I need to remove his tech!” I blurted, shoving my way around Asa.

“No!” Abram yelled. “Don’t touch me!”

Breathing through clenched teeth, he watched as I approached. “I need a knife.”

Asa moved across the sparse room to the cold hearth, retrieving a knife from the mantle. He slapped the handle into my outstretched hand. “Don’t chop him to pieces,” he warned. I was about to ask why, but he added, “I don’t want the floor stained with his blood.”

“I could always take him outside.”

Enoch folded his arms over his chest. “That’s not happening.”

“Actually, it is,” Asa replied casually. “The chains will contain him.”

“I don’t have the same faith in them that you seem to,” Enoch volleyed. “My words have less power over him now than they did in past times.”

“I’m not sure your power over him is diminishing. Perhaps you never had as much as you thought.”

Enoch’s features darkened. “Then let’s find out how powerful my influence is. Give the knife to Abram,” he told me.

Shaking my head at their asinine antics, I scoffed, “Nah…ya know, I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”

“Give it to him,” Asa echoed, taking Enoch’s side.

Defeated, I answered, “Okay, but I’d like the record to show that I really, reallllly think this is a bad idea.”

“Noted,” the brothers said simultaneously.

I stepped forward and put the knife’s handle in Abram’s hand. He clenched it tight.

Enoch crouched down to be eye-level with Abram. “I’m going to release your arm, and you, Abram, will take the knife, slice into the skin on the back of your right hand, and remove the tech. Then, you will toss everything to the ground when you’ve finished.”

“Ahem,” Asa interrupted. “Blood on my floor.”

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