Lib Novel Page 31
“Because the three of us made a pact not to harm any of you if you showed up again – in any time.”
There it was. I was breathing right now because Enoch made them promise not to hurt me. I wondered how many promises the siblings had made to one another over the eons, and then broken.
“Well, you haven’t tried to kill me. I can’t say the same for Terah.”
“She claims she only wanted to talk to you.”
“She could have talked to me from where she was hiding in the corner of the room. She wasn’t interested in conversing, Asa.”
He nodded. “Still, if she wanted to attack, she could have,” he said, letting the words linger for a moment. “She won’t bother you again.”
“Again, you can’t promise that; but I’ll promise you one thing: I will defend myself the next time she, or any of you, slinks into my room in the middle of the night.”
“This is my house,” he warned.
“Titus and I will leave if we aren’t welcome – and not just because Enoch made you promise not to kill us. If you’d rather we were dead, there’s no point in staying here – not that we’ll be here long, anyway.”
“You’ll leap ahead?”
“As soon as we can, yes.”
He pursed his lips together and his brows drew in.
“What?” I asked, exasperated. “Don’t you want us to leave?”
“No, it’s not that.”
“Well, what is it?”
“I heard something. Stay here.”
He was sitting in front of me one minute and gone with a whisper the next. The front door wobbled on its hinges. I ran to the door, surprised to see Titus jogging down the main staircase to meet me, groggy, but with a stake clenched in his hand. “What is it?”
“I don’t know,” I answered warily.
A dusty trail was approaching and I zeroed in on the rider whose horse was making it. “Captain Asa!” a woman screamed. “They’re firing our houses one by one! They’ve already burned five. Enoch’s was the last. They’ll come for you next!”
“Who?” Asa demanded as Mary slowed her horse and he lifted her from the saddle. “Who, Mary?”
“Redcoats.”
“We’ve fought them before,” he scoffed. “Just drain them and be done with it.”
“Can’t,” she panted. “They’re vampires.”
Chapter Eight
Abram
The soldiers I’d sired were thirsty for much more than blood. They craved revenge for their fallen compatriots, for the years of their lives they’d forfeited to come here and fight, only to be met by cowards who refused to fight like gentlemen.
Therefore, they were more than pleased to bring the fight, and the fire, to their enemies’ doorstep. We made our way through the countryside, dressed in common clothes. We carried no muskets, brandished no swords or knives. Our bodies were God’s weapons.
The farm was quiet, for the most part. A few still toiled in the fields and in the kitchens behind the house. The house was made of brick, but the inside was filled with furniture and trinkets, things that loved to burn. However, before we lit anything, we needed to find Eve and Enoch.
I wanted to grip Eve’s hair and drag her kicking and screaming from the house. I wanted my men to hold Enoch by the arms while I drove a stake through his heart as she watched, powerless to help, and then I wanted to drive the same stake through hers.
And Titus? If he was with them? He would die, too.