High Society (The High Stakes Saga #3)

I challenged, “And you don’t see the distinction or take offense when someone crosses the line?”

Asa took a sip of water and sat his glass back on the table. “I suppose he and I see the world in a different light, and always have. Truthfully, that’s why we don’t get along. I take the view that the line between right and wrong isn’t distinct. It’s blurred at best, missing in spots, and sometimes you have to do what’s wrong to make things right.”

The eggs were divine. I took a few more bites chewing them while I thought of a retort. “Sometimes what we think is right is actually wrong.”

“And sometimes what we think is wrong is justified.” He lifted his glass and tipped it toward me. “You are the perfect example of that sentiment.”

“What are you saying?”

“Do you regret traveling through time? Do you regret the life you wasted hating the three of us? Enoch thought you were right in coming after us. You were willing to do anything to end our lives, and yet you found numerous things you were told about us that were wrong. Everything your leaders thought they knew about us was wrong.”

I swallowed thickly. He was right. Victor and Kael had been wrong about so many things, I couldn’t even begin to list them. If I tried it would just piss me off, so why bother?

“I believe that based on the information we had, our actions as far as traveling back in time were completely justified,” I chose my words carefully. “In the future, you and your siblings are scourges on mankind. The human population is shrinking at a rate you couldn’t even fathom, and at the fangs of those you three sired.”

“Then we could stop it,” he pushed.

I scooted my chair out a little, consumed by immediate, intense anger. “But you don’t, Asa. You don’t stop it. You don’t stop them. If anything, you encourage them.”

“Why would we do that? It makes no sense.”

“Where I come from, or I guess I should say when I come from, the three of you are power-hungry. All that seems to matter is how many followers you have, how many people you desire or how many desire you, and how many people you can terrorize. Now, I don’t claim to understand why. It was like vampires revealed themselves, overwhelmed the government, seized power and then fed, and fed, and fed, until all that was left were scraps like me.”

Tears flooded my eyes, but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing me cry.

“Eve,” he prodded quietly.

I gritted my teeth, staring at the napkin in my lap as my fingers wrung the fabric, straightened it and wrung it again.

“You are no scrap,” he bit out. “You are the most formidable opponent we could have.”

“Well, that’s clearly not true. I came to end Enoch, and couldn’t even raise a stake to him.”

“You impaled his hand.”

“I was supposed to strike his heart.”

“A vampire would die from such a blow, but a Nephilim would not, Eve. We are different.”

“I know. Enoch told me on his ship.”

“Eve’s Curse,” he added with a smirk.

I couldn’t help but smile at the memory of my namesake. “Eve’s Curse.”

Asa became thoughtful. “Do you believe that a person can change the core of who they are? Can they change their values, beliefs, and reactions? Who they truly are within, who they are when people aren’t watching?” he suddenly posed.

I thought about it for a few minutes before answering. I thought about those closest to me and how their personalities were consistent, regardless of age or circumstance. “No, I don’t believe people can change who they truly are. I think they can adjust their actions, and I think they can make different decisions, given experience and knowledge. But I don’t think that who we are deep down ever really changes. I feel the same now as I always have. My traits are the same. So, I think that while events can influence a person, I’m not sure they can actually alter that person.”

Asa leaned back in his chair and crossed his feet at the ankle. “I happen to agree with you.”

“Why do you ask?”

I wondered if he was about to explain his seemingly changed behavior. When I first met him, he made both the earth and my skin crawl. The last time I saw Asa, he told me he regretted not killing me the first time we met. Was he now trying to tell me he changed his mind? I couldn’t help but believe it was a trap. He just finished agreeing that a tiger couldn’t change its stripes. It certainly wouldn’t pluck out its own teeth – or in his case, fangs.

“My sister’s hatred of you won’t die. It will grow more intense every time she encounters you.”

“Well then, why didn’t she attack Titus when he fell into the chicken coop? Not to mention the fact that she could’ve attacked me last night. It was almost like she wanted to, but couldn’t bring herself to actually do it.” Maybe deep down, Terah saw me as the only legitimate threat.