High Society (The High Stakes Saga Book 3)

by Casey Bond

  I stayed and watched until the roof collapsed with a crash. The rest of the house groaned as the fire roared and crackled, consuming everything in its path.

  Maru

  It was almost dawn, and the military shifts would be changing within the hour. Night soldiers would return to the Compound to be replaced by those on day shift. I wondered what had become of the clandestine meeting General Ticher had ordered at four A.M. Waiting by the apartment window, I watched for any signs of human life.

  The street was empty, other than a few rusty motor vehicle shells that littered either side of the road. They were stripped of parts years ago. The only sign of life was a black and white cat that padded across the street on muffled paws. It was quiet, too quiet. Or maybe I was just paranoid. If I planned to make my move today, it either had to be now or at dusk, and I wasn’t thrilled about the prospect of running into vamps. Just then, the sleek black device Enoch gave me began to vibrate against my thigh. I plucked it from my pocket to find a message from Yarrow.

  Are you safe?

  For now, I think so, I replied.

  Are you sitting down? she typed. Without waiting for my reply, a video began to play. From the point of view the film provided, I could tell the camera was mounted in the corner in a meeting room, where a large table flanked by twenty chairs only hosted two men.

  “Is she dead?” Victor asked.

  Kael swallowed. “I’ll admit the tech isn’t perfect, but it should register basic vital signs. I haven’t seen anything more than a flicker in three days.”

  Victor challenged, “Would it flicker if she were dead? What if the tech is simply damaged? What about Titus and Abram? Do you show vitals on them?”

  Kael pinched his screen and scrolled over a cache of data. “Both are alive,” he answered tentatively.

  “There’s no way to tell what shape they’re in, though?” Victor pressed.

  “I’m afraid not.”

  Victor cursed, and then he stood and began to pace. “Are you sure they landed? Because we know by now that they sure as hell didn’t land at the gala as planned. Footage from that night has conveniently disappeared, but my eyes on the venue say that none of our Assets landed where you assured me they would.”

  “I know, sir –” Kael blubbered.

  “I trusted you to ensure they would travel to the precise moment I chose, yet they did not arrive.”

  “Yes, but –”

  “So why should I believe you now?” Victor continued unabated. “When you say Eve is most likely dead, and Titus and Abram are probably alive, why should I trust what you’re saying?” Victor stopped pacing and stared at Kael with his brows raised.

  “Something must have gone wrong,” Kael supplied weakly.

  A loud ping came from Kael’s tablet, followed by a rhythmic beeping noise. “What was that?” Victor asked.

  “It’s…Eve.”

  “The same Eve you presumed dead only seconds ago? That Eve?”

  “She isn’t dead, after all. Her vitals are registering now, and they’re strong. She’s alive.”

  Victor was about to explode. “Where is she?”

  “They – I don’t know, sir. I can’t trace them.”

  “Kael,” Victor said calmly. “Find my Assets and deploy the clones.”

  “I think sending the clones now would be a mistake, Victor.”

  Victor gave him a placating smile and then asked, “Remind me…Who is the commander of our military, Kael?”

  “You are,” he gritted.

  “Who do the clones answer to?”

  “They answer to you,” Kael said, straightening his thick glasses.

  “And to whom do you answer?” Victor asked.

  Kael pinched his lips before saying, “I answer to you, sir.”

  “Good. Now deploy the damned clones.”

  “All of them?”

  Victor braced his hands against the table. “All of them. And you’d better follow my instructions to the letter this time. They better land when and where we discussed. And if I find out they didn’t…”

  Kael picked up his tablet and pushed back his chair. “You’ll what? You can’t do any of this without me. Maybe you should remember that.”

  My brows rose right along with Victor’s as Kael stormed from the room.

  That was two days after they jumped. Now, check this out… Yarrow typed.

  A second video popped onto the screen. Thousands of Eve’s clones stood in formation in an endless sea of neat rows. Though they were clones, they didn’t appear robotic in the slightest. Each one looked like Eve on the outside, but to the careful observer, there were differences. Some looked angry, while others gave me the impression they were just doing what they needed to do to get by. Each held a wooden stake and went through defensive stances and drills, thrusting their stakes in wide arcs, then plunging it into the air in front of them. They repeated those motions over and over as sweat poured off their temples and soaked columns down the backs of their identical shirts.

  Out of sight of the camera, someone shouted commands into a microphone. I couldn’t place the voice, but then the video changed to a raw feed from the ground.

  “We have to get this shot right, or Victor will have our heads,” a male voice instructed. “Do it again. From the top.”

  A woman stippled gray powder onto the face of a male. When she was satisfied with the tone of his skin, he snapped a set of fake fangs onto his canines. “Do they look okay?” he asked the woman anxiously.

  “Ferocious,” she deadpanned, staring at the sky. “Can we hurry up? It’s almost dusk and the real vamps will be out soon. I don’t want to be on their menu.”

  The camera jostled in the videographer’s hand and then went still. It panned in on a seemingly-unsuspecting woman, sitting innocently on a park bench. She held a pink leather leash as her small brown dog sniffed something in the grass at her feet. Suddenly, the ‘vampire’ attacked. She screamed, pretending to fight him off and putting on a pretty good show, slumping down on the bench as he drained her. Her arm gradually went limp and the dog tugged his leash out of her hand and ran away as the vampire continued to feed. A swoosh sound was loud on the feed as a net landed on top of the fake vamp’s head. He struggled vainly to free himself, but of course he couldn’t. Just then, Victor’s soldiers appeared and pretended to stake the monster. One recovered the dog, petting him and telling him it would be okay. The dog leapt from the soldier’s hand and sniffed the feet of his owner, who stared up at the camera with sad, wide eyes.

  That was so fake, I inwardly scoffed.

  A new video emerged. This is real.

  I saw Asa’s face first. A vampire hive was attacking the occupants of an apartment building. I realized with a jolt that the video feed was from a camera across the street. The video was being recorded from within someone’s home, and by an amateur, given the way the person zoomed in and out with shaky hands. Asa ran into the building and dragged a vampire out, staking him as he pinned him to the street outside. Enoch emerged with another, holding him still while Asa staked the cursed creature.

  Wait – they’re helping the humans? Saving them? And slaying vampires?

  Is your mind blown? Because my mind is blown, she typed. Keep watching.

  Asa cupped his hands around his mouth, calling out, “Victor Dantone does not have your interests in mind. He sent these creatures to attack you tonight. We know the videos they show you. We’ve seen the propaganda. Victor is a liar and a murderer. Anyone who would like to truly be safe is free to join us. There is a safe haven for humans just beyond what you call the Dead Zone. We will provide food, shelter, and clothing to any who want to come, but you must go with us now.”

  The brothers waited in the street. Only two humans joined them, but neither Asa nor Enoch attacked them. Instead, Asa and Enoch led them down the road, into the Dead Zone and supposedly to safety.

  I rubbed at the scruff on my chin, unable to think of anything to say but, “Wow.”

/>   There’s more, M. A lot more than I can show you.

  I need to go back for her, I typed. What are the chances of getting tech?

  She remained silent for several minutes. Done, but when I leave here, I want to go to the Haven the vampires mentioned. I retraced their broadcast feed and hacked into their server. It’s real, M. Once we do this, it’s the safest place to be.

  The device held a single stored number. I clicked on it and typed a message to Enoch. I need help.

  He replied immediately. Name it.

  Titus

  “Whose house are they burning?” Eve asked when we reached Asa in the front yard.

  He turned to her with a stony face. “Enoch’s.”

  “Only because he’s not home,” Terah supplied from behind us, rubbing some sort of salve on her hands. “Any coward can burn a house down while there are few to fight the fire. Let them come here and find what flames truly feel like on tender flesh,” she growled.

  We tore our gazes from the blazing inferno of Enoch’s home when someone screamed from inside Asa’s house. The upper floor window exploded and flames licked out, flicking toward the roof and feeding from the air. Fire sprouted in Eve’s room. Despite our enhanced speed, the curtains were gone before we reached the porch. The window in the room beside hers exploded, shards of glass raining down onto the grass below. Dark smoke billowed on black tendrils into the air.

  Fire roared and crackled contentedly as it consumed everything in its path. Asa pulled water from the well as fast as the chain allowed, while Terah ran to gather buckets from the cellar. As soon as two of them were full, Eve grabbed the handles and sprinted inside. She only made it halfway up the staircase before the intensity of the flames stopped her in her tracks. Throwing the water over the flames, I watched as the wood sizzled, already charred from the strength of the blaze. I was right on her heels as Eve turned and raced back to the well with her buckets. Terah charged inside right as we ran back out.

  Eve grabbed two more full buckets, but Asa stopped her. “I should be the one to go in. The fire won’t hurt me.”

  “No,” she panted. “You can pull water faster than we can. Get the water. It’s the only thing that’ll put it out.”

  Asa’s employees joined us, working through a chain of hands to carry the full buckets to the door so we didn’t have so far to run, and dousing all they could safely reach. Eve, Terah, and I charged closer to the inferno that was already beginning to engulf the rooms on the second floor. It was all we could do without hoses or fire extinguishing foam.

  We’d put out the staircase and part of the hall, but Eve’s bedroom and the one beside it were still ablaze. Eve ran into her room with a full bucket in each hand, and the door sucked closed with a slam, sealing her inside. She screamed as something loud popped.

  “Eve!” I shouted.

  I tried the door handle, but it was so hot the metal branded my hand. My suit flared to life, healing me quickly, but I couldn’t get in. I threw my shoulder into the door, but it wouldn’t budge. Terah was in another room down the hall; when she came out, I yelled at her. “Help me!”

  She paused and stared, unmoving.

  “Eve is in there. She’s trapped. Help her, Terah!”

  In reply, Terah turned her back and sprinted back down the stairs. I threw my shoulder into the door again and again until the wood splintered, but something large and heavy was blocking the door. “Asa!” I screamed, but he wasn’t the one who showed up.

  Enoch appeared out of nowhere. Instead of trying to push the burning door in, he jerked it off the hinges and walked into the flames like nothing in the world could harm him. Maybe nothing could.

  “Eve!” he roared.

  I was torn. I needed to grab more water, but I also needed to see that Eve was alive and would be okay.

  Enoch disappeared within the inferno, heat warbling the air. But when he emerged, he brought Eve with him. The fire hadn’t harmed her. In fact, she seemed to have become part of it, walking from the inferno beside Enoch as if she was his equal.

  Eve

  Titus and I worked together to draw water from the well while a steady line of humans passed buckets into the house for the three Nephilim to put out the remaining fire. Finally, the fire in the upper two bedrooms was extinguished and everyone took a deep breath. The Nephilim ran circles around the plantation to make sure there were no marauding vampires on the land. They found nothing.

  Titus and I waited in the garden out back, away from the other humans who knew me as Asa’s bride-to-be. I had an insatiable desire to see Enoch. I needed to hold him and hear his voice, but anyone who saw us would know I was his and he was mine.

  Enoch came to me as soon as he could, worrying over me, clutching my arms to see if I was okay. “It’s really you,” he breathed against my temple, holding me tightly in his arms.

  “How did you know I was here?”

  “I didn’t. I saw the fire and ran inside to help. But when I saw Titus and caught your scent, I knew. I could smell Titus’ fear as he rammed his shoulder into the door. I... I’m not sure I’ve ever been so afraid in all my life. I can’t lose you.”

  “You won’t,” I tried to reassure him.

  “Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” Asa interrupted. “Darling, have you told Enoch what’s become of his home?”

  “You no longer have to continue this pretense,” Enoch remarked coldly.

  “You do want to find the knave who stabbed Eve through the belly, do you not, brother? The would-be murderer is still out there, lurking. Unless you already know who he is?” Asa baited.

  Enoch blurred forward, stopping a hair’s breadth from Asa. “Are you accusing me of hurting her?”

  “Her clone,” Asa corrected. “And yes, I am.”

  “We made a vow not to harm any of the three hunters,” Enoch volleyed.

  “But that vow did not include any of their doubles, now did it? Therefore, it could have been you who ran her through.”

  “Why do you even care?” I blurted. “It wasn’t like you loved her. You killed her and you showed no remorse after you did it.”

  Asa stepped away from his brother so he could see me more clearly. Beside me, Titus was as taut as a bow string. “She was a nice distraction at times,” he replied with a smirk. “And she wanted my venom so badly, I wanted to keep her around until she told me why. She was also a wealth of information about the three of you, the so-called ‘first hunters’.”

  “First of all, I wouldn’t trust much of the information she gave you about us. We never even knew the clones existed, and I doubt they know much relevant details about us at all. Secondly, about the distraction thing… gross. And thirdly, why are you pretending to worry about someone running me through? I don’t belong to you.”

  “No,” he answered coldly. “My love is dead.”

  His love. Not the woman he loved; not someone who meant the world to him. His capacity to feel love was dead. I wasn’t sure I believed that Enoch killed the woman Asa loved, or if Asa just wanted someone to blame for her death and his brother was a convenient target. I decided to ask Enoch about it when we were alone.

  “Besides,” Asa added, “I vowed not to harm you three unless you first attacked me – I never promised not to harm the doubles.”

  “Did Terah make the same vow?” Titus fumed. He stabbed his finger toward the house, adding, “Because if so, she just broke it.”

  “Terah promised the same,” Enoch answered matter-of-factly.

  Titus crossed his arms. “I would argue that she broke her vow inside the house just now.

  I told her Eve was trapped and asked for her help, and she turned around and left.”

  Asa laughed. “That does not mean Terah broke her vow. She didn’t harm Eve; she simply didn’t help her.”

  “Which caused her harm…” Titus argued.

  “She seems well enough to me.” Asa’s calculating eyes slid over my soot-infused suit.

  Enoch growled, a low
rumble resonating from his chest. He bared his fangs at Asa, who simply smiled back with narrowed eyes, feeding off Enoch’s anger and frustration. He loved to punish him, loved to see him anything but happy.

  Titus continued, “Terah also slipped into Eve’s room last night.”

  “To what end?” Asa challenged. “Eve was not harmed.”

  “Who does that, though? And how do you know what her intentions were?” I yelled, stepping forward. Titus put a restraining hand on my shoulder.

  “I would ask you the same. What proof do you have that her intentions were malicious?” Asa challenged.

  “You’ve been… normal, almost nice since we landed,” I scoffed. “What happened?”

  His eyes flicked to Enoch for a split second.

  Ah… so it was his brother, or rather his hatred for Enoch, that drove him to become a monumental asshole whenever he was around.

  "Why are we even talking about this? Your houses were just set on fire by Redcoat vampires, and you two are out here arguing about everything and nothing when you should be going after the bastards that lit your freaking houses on fire!" Men were so frustrating.

  Titus gave me a slow clap. "This is exactly why you're the top Asset, Eve. You never lose your focus on the biggest threat at any given moment."

  "Would you like to go hunting, brother?" Asa asked Enoch companionably. “Just like old times?”

  Titus rubbed his hands together rapidly. "I can't wait to stick my stake into the hearts of a few vampires." He was looking at Asa when he said it, and I knew what he really meant. "Ready, Eve?"

  "She is not going," Enoch proclaimed.

  "The hell I'm not! I told you the last time, on your ship, that you can’t keep me in a cage.”

  "Who will guard my home in my stead?" Asa asked, enjoying the spectacle of our argument.

  I smiled at him sweetly. "Let Terah stay behind." Titus nudged me and gave me a look that said he more than approved of my suggestion.

  “She won’t want to be left behind,” Enoch warned Asa.

  “But brother, I’m sure you can find a way to persuade her to see the logic in it.” Enoch stiffened. Asa, on the other hand, winked at me before turning and walking away.