High Society (The High Stakes Saga #3)

Page 28



“Fine,” he complained with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “I guess I’ll let you.”

Titus moved to the desk and arranged what looked like thirty candles in an arch, placing the clone’s hand tech in the center. “I need to steal the lamp from the hall. I’ll be right back.”

I couldn’t relax until he was back inside. He sat the lamp down and locked the door, then scooted a wooden chest in front of it. “There. We’ll definitely hear someone trying to come in now.”

He sat at the desk, working on removing tiny screws with the sharp tip of a too-large knife. “Stop watching me and sleep,” he chastised. “Think of Enoch. He’ll be here soon.”

I closed my eyes and listened. I thought of Enoch and wished he would burst through the door and rush upstairs and into my room. I’d throw my arms around him and inhale the scent that was purely Enoch. What did he look like in this time? Asa still had long hair. Would Enoch? I wanted to run my fingers through it. I wanted to hear all that he’d done in the last almost-century.

I listened and thought for hours until I felt like I was in the ocean again, weightless but falling deeper into the water…

Chapter Seven

Abram

Victor once told me that he was a self-made man. That his diligence, work ethic, valor, and strength was what propelled him to the top. He, a simple member of the military, eventually became its commander. Those who used to give him orders now took orders from him. He described the battle of human versus vampire as an intricate game of strategy, one in which he declared himself the most proficient.

From what I’d learned, I was now in seventeen-seventy-seven, a little more than a year after America had declared its independence from Britain. Even though independence had been claimed, the war still raged heedlessly. Most of the fighting was happening in the north, but lesser battles were being waged throughout our fledgling nation. I’d been following a British regiment as they made their way north in an attempt to close in around the Continental Army. There were so many men milling about that when a few went missing, no one took notice. It made feeding convenient.

But there was another reason I stayed close. The men were scared, and frightened men babble. In the last several hours, I’d overheard a group of them speak of vampires, in particular about a company of them led by a captain named Asa. Asa, according to these men, never lost a battle. Asa was fast becoming a legend, a terrifying myth these men did not want to face.

If Asa and his company were tracking this regiment, I might quickly find their trail. And if we met on a battlefield, it could give me the chance I needed to end him. To these soldiers who have lived in fear of my target for so long, I could give them the victory they craved and prove Asa was not the mythical being they fantasized him to be. Part of me wondered if I would be remiss in helping the Redcoats win any battle against the men fighting for independence; but was my job not to oppose Asa at every turn? My mission was and still is to end him. Unlike my errant counterparts, I had not forgotten the vow I made to end my target.

I slipped into camp wearing the jacket of a man I just drained. Some of his blood soaked into the vibrant red fabric, but no human could detect it. The coat was worn at the elbows and along the edges, but it fit well enough. Three men sat around a fire, all of them young. They’d been told to keep watch, and as I trampled the hayfield making my way out of the wood line, one of them heard the swish of the tall grass, grabbed his musket, and stood. With his back to the fire, he faced the darkness. When his vision adjusted, he trained his gun on me.

“Who goes there?” he challenged.

“It seems I was lost, but now am found,” I joked, holding my hands out so he could see I was unarmed, and affecting a helpless posture.

The barrel of the gun slowly drooped. “You’re fortunate to have caught up to us without being eaten,” one of them joked.

The soldier lowered his gun and seated himself in front of the fire once again, reaching his hands out to warm them. His friends waved me over and invited me to sit with them. I accepted their offer gratefully, sitting cross-legged in front of the small inferno.

“Tell us,” one young man began, “did you see any vampires?”

I raked my tongue across my fang, considering his question. “I didn’t, but there were strange noises in the wood.”

The men were silent for a few moments, staring at the fire solemnly and passing around a bottle of spirits. The night was already cooler to them than they were comfortable with, and the alcohol would warm them from the inside until their bodies burnt it off.

“Being on the edge of the encampment is an unfortunate position to be in, given the circumstances,” one of the other men commented.

The young man who’d trained his gun on me earlier spoke up. “I haven’t seen anything yet, but can almost feel their eyes on me.”

I stared at him. His eyes darted in the direction of every noise emanating from the darkness over my shoulder. “Have you met vampires in battle?” I asked casually, lounging back against a dead tree trunk.

The men paled, and then each of them began to recount tales of what they’d seen, heard, and felt in the wilderness. They described Asa as tall, with dark hair and eyes. They described him as merciless. Infallible. They chattered about what they’d seen Asa do to those he captured.

“Nothing as scary as Enoch, though,” one said quietly. The others quickly nodded and muttered their agreement.

“Asa’s an efficient killer. He enjoys it, even. But Enoch is terrifying. He tore one man’s throat in two and laughed as the blood spurted him in the face. It was like he was possessed. He laughed and threw the man’s body down, then kept tearing through person after person.”

All the escalating talk about blood began to make my head feel light. My mouth watered at the sound of the pulse that raced beneath each man’s skin. If Asa and Enoch could revel in the brutality of battle, then so could I.

“What if I told you there was a way to protect yourself from Asa and his company?” I offered.

The three men’s attention locked onto me, eagerly awaiting my next words.

“How would we do that?” one asked.


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