by Casey Bond
Later that day, Mary once again came to my rescue, helping me dress after the water in the tub Asa ordered for me had gone cold. My tech suit warmed the bottom half of my body beneath the fine gown he lent me. Dark red. The same color his brother loved to see me wear.
I gritted my teeth as my fingers ran down the smooth fabric of the embarrassingly voluminous skirt. The shoes he’d sent fit perfectly. So did the gown, so I knew where they’d come from. I wondered if my clone noticed they were missing from her room yet.
The fabric of this gown was ridiculously loud and swishy. Every step screamed down the empty hallway. I had planned to try to find my stakes, but every bedroom was occupied by one of Asa’s soldiers, and I didn’t think any of them had what I was looking for.
Titus’s room was located on the third floor. He snored loudly inside his room. I wondered if Asa would see fit to wake him, or if the smells of the food being prepared would rouse him instead. When he woke up he would be starving, and as far as I knew, he landed in the chicken coop and hadn’t eaten since we left Enoch’s ship in seventeen-seventeen.
Mary waited at the bottom of the steps with a strange look on her face. She hooked her thumb over her shoulder. “I thought I just saw you in the kitchens…”
“I had to run back up here for something,” I lied, walking down to meet her.
She gave me a look that said she didn’t believe me and then waved me forward. “Captain Asa would like a word with you before dinner. He’s in his study.”
She led me down the hall and pushed open a heavy wooden door. Inside, Asa sat behind a large desk. He laid down his quill and stood, watching me enter. Mary snickered from behind as she shut the door and me in the room with him.
“You wanted to talk?”
“I tire of hearing the patter of your footsteps as you poke your nose where it doesn’t belong. It’s a wonder you didn’t see more than you should have while doing so,” he hinted with a snide smile, plucking something from his desk drawer.
I walked toward him, but my eyes caught on my holster and stakes that he held up like he would freely give them to me. I wasn’t sure he would, so I didn’t reach for them.
“This is what you’ve been looking for, is it not?” he asked.
His study was dark, as there was no window in the room and the only light came from three candles placed on his desk. Their flames flickered, casting shadows over the walls and his face. “Why did you take them from me if you were just going to give them back?”
“Would you have attempted to use one on me?”
“It would’ve been tempting,” I answered truthfully. After all, he had ordered guards to surround me and aim their weapons at my head.
Asa smiled. “Then you have your answer as to why I took them.”
“Giving them back won’t make the temptation go away, Asa. If you give me any reason to use them, I won’t hesitate if I have my stakes.”
Asa’s features grew serious. He stepped out from behind his desk and closed the distance between us. “My brother tells me I can trust you. I’m not convinced that’s the case.”
“I don’t trust you either,” I volleyed.
“Then we have that one thing in common.”
I huffed, “Why did you bring me here? Why not let me find Enoch on my own?”
“You never would have found him, unaided. Enoch is currently delivering intelligence to the most important man in the Continental Army. He travels fast, and he travels alone. The only thing you would have found in the country, if I’d left you there, was Redcoats and death. My brother would never forgive me if I left you behind when I could have taken you to safety.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, distrustful of his motives. “When did you start seeking Enoch’s approval?”
“Perhaps you’re right. Perhaps I have more selfish reasons for saving your skin.”
“Such as?”
As his eyes raked down my gown, I snatched my holster from his hand. “Don’t look at me like that,” I snapped.
His irises darkened, as if they rejected the flickering light and swallowed it up instead. “I can’t help it. I know what lurks beneath the layers of that fine garment.”
I swallowed my anger. “You might be marrying my clone and she may resemble me, but she isn’t and never will be me. There are obvious differences between the two of us.”
“Such as?” he led.
“I assume that if she’s willing to bind herself to you for the rest of her life, she probably worships the ground you walk on. Me? I’d be just as happy to bury a stake in your black heart.”
Asa took a quick step toward me. I pulled a stake out and clutched it in my fist, thrusting it forward and slicing toward his chest as promised.
He stopped just shy of my strike so that the sharp point of the stake skimmed his breast bone. His breath rushed out of his lungs. “At least you aren’t a liar,” he announced in a strange voice before baring his fangs. “Strike out at me again, and I’ll sire you. You will be bound to me, destined to do my bidding, and I will forever keep you from my brother.”
“I’d rather die.”
Asa stepped around me, pausing at my side. “A wish I would be most happy to deny you for an eternity.”
“What is it you need from me, Asa? I assume you didn’t call me in here just to give back my stakes.”
“Indeed, I haven’t. I need your help.”
“With?”
“Your double.”
“Let me guess… People are noticing.”
“Mary won’t voice what she’s seen to anyone but me or you. She trusts me implicitly, and though I’m not sure why, she trusts you, too.” His eyes met mine. “Maybe my brother is right about you. Mary is a great discerner of character. In the meantime, I’ll see to your double.”
I felt queasy with the prospect of what ‘seeing to my double’ would entail. Would he kill her? Lock her away? Send her somewhere?
Chapter Four
Titus
I woke up hungry, rolling from my back to my side, promptly falling off the child-sized mattress in the room Asa had assigned me in what amounted to a reclaimed attic. The ceiling was sloped so steeply, I hit my head each time I forgot to stoop. I rubbed my forehead. The tiny window showed a darkening sky.
My stomach churned. I had a dream. Some of it I couldn’t make sense of, but there was one part that seemed more memory than dream. I needed to talk to Eve. Alone.
I pinched the bridge of my nose and looked up to see a ridiculous set of clothes. There was no way I was wearing any of it. I stomped across the room and wrenched open the door to find Asa standing on the other side.
“I was about to wake you for dinner. Eve said you’d likely be sleeping. She knows you very well, it seems.”
His gaze flicked to the left side of my head. I reached up to find my hair standing on end. Clearing my throat, I straightened my spine to at least look a little taller. Not that Asa didn’t tower over me anyway, but it made me feel better for a second.
I ignored his insinuation. “What’s for dinner?”
“Nothing, if you do not dress like a gentleman. I’ve provided you with proper clothing. Do not insult me in my own home by refusing to wear it.”
“I don’t even know how to wear it,” I answered sheepishly, hoping to smooth things over. Asa wasn’t Enoch. I had to remember that.
“You’ve figured out how to travel through the ages; surely, you can manage a pair of breeches and a shirt, waistcoat, and cravat.”
I think he underestimated my cravating ability, but who was I to argue with someone intent on eating me? Asa hated us. Though I didn’t know what his current game was, he was our opponent. Asa stared for a long moment before turning on his heel and walking away.
I closed the door and turned to face the ugly-ass clothing punctuated by the cravat. Why did such a long, thin piece of bland material scare me worse than Asa? I had no idea.
Muttering a string of curses just because I knew Asa would hear, I
begrudgingly pulled on the shirt and breeches, securing them over my tech suit. No way would I take it off when Asa was around. And don’t even get me started on the mess that was Terah.
She could sashay around in fancy gowns all she wanted, but I knew what she was like in the shadows of the past. Her nature hadn’t changed, and I doubted she had the fortune of a willing group to feed her in this day. Eve and I would certainly find out tonight.
My stomach growled as I fastened the buttons of what I assumed was a waistcoat, otherwise known as a coarse, burnt-orange vest made of fabric too thick for summer, even at night.
I grabbed the cravat and started winding it around my neck. Asa’s looked neat and proper. Mine was a mess but it covered the high neck of my suit, so in the end, the cravat and I came to an understanding.
On the ground floor, past the empty sitting rooms, was a large room with a single table long enough to be ten tables. Terah, with her fancy curled hair and dress that matched my waistcoat, sat at one end while Asa occupied the other. Eve was at his right hand, and she didn’t look particularly happy. The pair of them matched as well. I puked a little in my mouth at the thought of the pairs of us matching like cute little couples. Things like this, these little pokes, made me want to stab Asa’s eyes out before I staked his heart.
The seat to the left of Asa was empty, so I made my way around the assembled vamps and humans and took that seat. Eve pinned me with a wide look.
“You look beautiful,” I told her. She wore a red dress and her hair was twisted into a sophisticated knot.
“Thanks,” she replied in a low tone.
Glancing down the table, I saw there was a pattern. Plates heaped with steaming food sat in front of the humans who wolfed it down, while the vamps only had cups in front of them. It didn’t take a genius to know what was in them.
Even if I didn’t know what they were, the scent of blood hung like a cloying fog in the air. Maybe Asa was manipulating the scent of the blood like he did the mists outside.
Asa sawed away at a piece of meat, pausing when finished to point the sharp blade at a pile of steaks, greens, and freshly sliced bread. Tantalizing steam wafted up from all of it. “Feel free to take what you’d like, Titus.”
I chose a piece of meat, piled the greens high, and grabbed a few wide slices of bread. I was hungry, but more than that, I didn’t know when my next meal might be. Traveling was hard on a body. I needed to fuel up and keep it that way.
“Darling, would you like another drink?” Asa offered graciously. I paused to see who he had spoken to. No one was behind him.
Finally, Eve turned to him. “That would be lovely, thank you.” She gave him a grin that was equal parts sugar and poison, but Asa rose from his chair, took her cup, and walked away without hesitation.
“What did I just see and hear?” I asked incredulously.
She swallowed. “Just my fiancé seeing to my thirst.”
My brows rose. Fiancé?
I couldn’t help but stifle a laugh. When Enoch got here, Asa was going to pay for the ruse he was playing. Enoch didn’t even like me joking around with Eve, but pretending she was going to marry him? Enoch might kill Asa and save Abram the trouble. Not that his vampish ass would be able to do the job.
Or would he? Maybe being turned made him strong enough to fight them…
Asa sat Eve’s cup down in front of her and scooted his seat forward as he sat back down.
She took a dainty sip from her cup and then Eve’s caramel eyes narrowed at him. “This isn’t water.”
“Neither is it blood.”
“I don’t drink alcohol.”
“It’s wine, and watered-down, at that. A single glass won’t hurt you,” he promised.
She pushed the cup away from her. “I won’t drink it.”
“Suit yourself,” he replied with a shrug, taking a long gulp from his own glass.
Were Nephilim affected by alcohol? Or was he drinking blood? And where had they gotten so much of it?
A loud thump and screech came from under the floor. The humans still chatted, oblivious to the noise, while those with advanced hearing – myself and Eve, as well as the vampires – listened intently. Another bump came, followed by a bang.
“Vermin issues, Asa?” Eve asked conversationally.
“Exactly that. But don’t fret, love. I will keep you safe from the things that go bump in the night.”
“Have you received word from Enoch, Asa?” a vampire halfway down the table asked. He was older, but his eyes were sharp as he swirled the blood in his cup, waiting for a reply.
“I expect he should arrive within the next few days. I will tell him of your concern for his wellbeing, John,” Asa replied, promptly ending the conversation. An awkward silence stretched over the room, but as it evaporated, chatter began again.
I mouthed the words A few days to Eve, who nodded.
“Have the two of you settled on a wedding date?” Terah asked loudly from across the room. Everyone went silent again as they waited for Asa to answer.
“Indeed,” he replied, grabbing Eve’s hand. She tried to pull away, but he held tight. “We no longer want to wait. In times like these, it’s better to move forward with life instead of continually delaying it. After all, we’ve declared our independence from England. It’s time to begin anew. Don’t you agree, Eve?”
Eve’s face turned red. “Yes,” she finally gritted out.
She looked to me for help, but I didn’t know how to help her out of this sticky situation. I thought landing in a pile of rotting, plague-ridden bodies was bad, but landing between two feuding Nephilim brothers might be even worse.
Enoch
There was an uneasiness in my gut that told me I needed to go home. Something felt off, and I couldn’t shake the feeling no matter what I tried to distract myself with or how far or fast I rode. The bulk of the Brits and Hessians were far north of here, but small regiments had broken off and come south. Too close to home.
They weren’t afraid to burn the houses of anyone supporting the Continental Army or even remaining neutral on the matter. If you weren’t thoroughly in support of Britain, they considered you against them and therefore, an enemy of the crown.
So help me, if they fired my house, I’ll make every last one of them wish they’d never set foot on American soil.
I dismounted as a tow-headed boy emerged from one of the nearby houses. “I’ll tend your horse, see that she’s fed, and fetch her some fresh water, Sir.”
“That would be most helpful. Thank you.” I smiled, sliding a few coins into his excited hands. The shiny metal led his attention away from my fangs. His face lit up before he ran away to tackle the chores he’d promised.
I made my way toward the church at the end of the muddy street, pausing just outside the yard. It wasn’t like I’d burn up if I stepped on holy soil, but I wasn’t welcome on it. I couldn’t enter the church and didn’t want to offend the man with whom I’d come to speak.
When the boy finished his chores, he saw me standing alone and rushed toward me. “Is there anything else I can do for you, Sir?”
“Indeed you can,” I answered, crouching down. “Do you know the pastor?”
“Of course I do,” he replied, nodding emphatically.
I pulled another coin from my pocket. “Run and fetch him for me?”
“I’ll be right back!” he exclaimed, pumping his arms and legs as he ran across the yard and up the church’s steps. He pushed open the doors and rushed inside, toeing the line between running and walking. Inside, he knocked on another door, then he and the pastor briefly spoke. The boy ran back outside to me. “He’s on his way. Anything else, Sir?”
“How about keeping my horse company?” I asked, holding another coin.
He held out his palm. “Absolutely. What’s her name?”
“Eve.”
“I’ll take good care of Eve.”
I smiled at him. “See that you do.”
The pastor emerged, hi
s head balder than the last time we’d spoken. What hair clung to the sides of his head had turned from gray to stark white. War could make a man weary, and he was no exception. His three sons were in the Pennsylvania colony fighting for the Continental Army.
I’ve only asked for his help a few times out of necessity. I hated to do it. It put him at risk, as well as everyone else in this town. But the feeling stirring in my stomach told me to make my way to him instead of traveling farther north on my own.
Pastor Brown was well-connected and never failed to deliver a missive that I sent. The few times it had been necessary, he led the townsmen in a makeshift militia not entirely unlike mine and Asa’s. He was a man I could trust, and I hoped he felt the same about me.
“Have you any news from your boys?” I asked.
He shook his head, worrying his hands. “None, I’m afraid.”
“Sometimes that’s a good thing, Pastor.”
He swallowed thickly. “I take it you have intelligence to share.”
“We took out a company of British soldiers far too close to home for comfort.”
His brows rose. “How large a company?”
“Large enough to paint many acres red with blood,” I answered.
“Why were they this far south? Most of the British occupy the north.”
“Most, but not all, apparently. I followed those who retreated. There are more companies camping near the Savannah River. Not a battalion, and probably misdirected and heading north to join up with their other regiments, but a danger to everyone between them and Cornwallis. Unless he’s building a force here slowly, purposefully.”
“God help us,” the pastor breathed. “Surely the war won’t stretch so far south.”
“I doubt there is a land it won’t touch before the British realize they’ve lost.”
The pastor’s lips tightened into a thin line. “Thank you for the information, Enoch. I’ll pass it along the proper channels.”
