High Society (The High Stakes Saga #3)

“Eve.”

“Yeah, and you’re Titus 1777.”

The realization finally dawned that this wasn’t my Eve.

With a sly grin, she shook her head and stepped close, whispering into my ear. “I’ve been working for over a year to get close to them, and you’re not going to ruin this for me,” she quietly seethed. “Now, I want you to go. I’m about to be the first to complete our mission. My name and number will go down in history as the one who outsmarted the Triad and saved humanity. Not yours. If you get in my way, I’ll stake you instead of them.”

Triad. It’s what Victor and Kael called the three Nephilim.

“Leave,” Eve’s clone hissed again. “What part of what I said do you not understand?”

She looked exactly like Eve. My friend.

During our last jump, Abram had sired a vampire from one of my clones. I remembered my vampire clone in Asa’s yard, backing up his sire Abram as he tried to take control of something uncontrollable. I remembered that while my clone resembled me, there were subtle differences. In the style of our hair, in the scars he bore on his hands and arms, and even in his clothes.

This clone of Eve’s had been careful to avoid anything that set her apart from the original. Which made her smart and very dangerous.

In the distance, at the farthest end of the row of trees leading to the house, came the thundering sound of galloping hooves. The billowing dust cloud left in their wake obscured the riders. The bulk of the group split from a single rider and turned toward the barn, while the lone horse trotted toward the house. On the horse’s back was Asa, and sitting on Asa’s lap, was another Eve.

How many had he collected? Why her? And why was Eve 1776 trying to target Asa instead of Enoch?

The Eve in Asa’s lap elbowed him hard and jumped from the horse. “What the hell is this, Asa?” she yelled.

That was my friend! Thank God she was okay.

“This,” Asa drawled, “is my fiancée, Eve 1776.” He looked at Eve’s double. “Darling, go inside and fetch me something cool to drink.”

The clone gritted her teeth as she smiled at him. “Of course.”

I wiggled my fingers at her as she yanked on the door handle and let it slam closed behind her.

The real Eve grabbed her skirts and ran up the steps to me. She threw her arms around my neck and squeezed hard. “Is it really you?” she breathed.

“Yes. And you know what I’ve been thinking?”

“What?” she asked, letting go of me and taking a deep breath.

“If we ever see Victor or Kael again, I’m going to make them pay for this whole clone thing.”

“Did you really think that clone was me?”

“When I first walked up,” I admitted, “but then she opened her mouth. Even though her voice is yours, it became abundantly clear that she wasn’t.”

“I’m glad you know me well enough to tell the difference. And yes, when we get home, we will see that they pay for what they’ve done.”

“Unless they succeed in their plans,” I added. “If they manage to take the three of them out, no one will care how they did it. It’ll all be justified, and the two of them will be worshipped until the end of time.”

I groaned because he was right.

Asa swung down from his saddle and handed his horse off to a woman who led it away toward the barn where the others were dismounting in the grass and shade. A few men began filling troughs with water and oats, while others worked to unsaddle their horses.

A few pairs of fangs glinted in the sun as humans complained about the long ride and the vampires accompanying them teased them for being so weak. “Some of them are vamps,” I gasped.

Eve nodded. “I know.”

“Where’d you land?”

She glanced from Asa and back to me, but Asa answered for her. “In the middle of a battlefield full of nothing but smoke, the dead, and the scavengers that feed on them.”