by Casey Bond
“Not on your life.”
“Have you already eaten?” I asked.
“Sorry,” he winced. “You were doing the girly thing and taking forever, so I ate without you.” I elbowed him as we looked out over the crowd. “You still want to jump? We could go tonight.”
“Where would we jump from?” I asked conversationally.
“The ceilings on this floor and the second are higher than most, and the roof is pitched in places. I think if we got to the highest point, it would be high enough.”
“You think? If you’re wrong, we splatter onto the ground and don’t make it home… ever.”
“The suit would heal us, and then we could find someplace taller next time,” he disregarded my comment as if I were silly.
“Not sure I want to risk that,” I said. I honestly wasn’t sure if I’d survive another landing, let alone two. The pressure in my head continued to build to an excruciating level.
“These three seem to be important in every time,” Titus noted dryly. “They have their fingers on the pulse of the influential.”
“They’re rich, and that’s all influential people care about: money, favors, and what someone can do for them.”
Titus nodded in agreement. “Benjamin is a dick.”
“I know. He just slobbered all over my hand.”
Titus clutched his chest. “I’m offended. He only shook mine.”
I slapped him playfully.
The rays of warm sunlight evaporated as the sun sank below the horizon. Titus noticed the dimming in the room. “Where do you think Abram is?”
“I’m not sure. I hope he’s still running from the sires we didn’t stake.”
“He’s strong now, stronger than anyone he sires. I think every generation is weaker than the one before it. That’s why Mary can cover up and be in the sun, but the vamps in our time would burn to death, covered or not.” Titus’s eyes kept flicking to Terah.
“Do you think she’ll try something?” I asked.
“I know she will. I’m just not sure when she’ll do it.”
My stomach growled.
Titus laughed. “Go fill a plate. If you’re going to dance, you’ll need the energy boost.”
“Who said I’m dancing?” I challenged.
Titus gave a lop-sided grin. “Enoch.”
Point to Titus. I would definitely dance with Enoch. All evening if we could. I had a lot to apologize for. I’d been feeling out of sorts since landing here. The emotional toll of everything that had happened, coupled with my unending headache, the Terah situation, Abram… made me forget what was most important in every time: him.
I strode across the room to the banquet table where Terah lingered as she poured herself some wine, and began filling a plate with every sweet thing I could find, along with a sliver of roasted hog. She gave me an evil look and then strode back to her seat.
“Would you like a glass of wine?” Asa said from beside me. “I’m pouring one for myself, so…”
“Sure. Thanks.”
I watched him pour it and took the crystal goblet from him.
“How long will all these men stay here?”
He blew out a breath. “With Benjamin, you never know. He’s visited before on his way to some great duty and lingered a week.”
“Wow.” I couldn’t even stop the word from falling out.
“I agree. He’s… something.”
Asa stood beside me as the musicians tuned their instruments. Someone played a melody on the piano while another pulled a bow over his violin’s strings. “The Brigadier General is coming over. He’ll ask you for the first dance, making the assumption that he deserves the honor of it and your company.”
“Oh shit,” I said under my breath, wishing Enoch would intervene.
“Dance with me,” Asa blurted, sitting his goblet on the table.
What? I didn’t want to dance with him, but it was a better option than Benjamin – which said a lot.
I put down my mostly-empty plate and wine, placing my hand in his outstretched one. He pulled me towards the musicians and past the pompous General, who looked offended. I glanced around the room. Titus was smirking. Asshole. But where did Enoch go? He was no longer in the room.
Asa smiled. “I wanted to offer a piece of advice regarding my brother, who has conveniently left the room, it seems.”
“Oh? What advice is that?”
He held my right hand aloft in the air and his other hand fell at my back. I was unfamiliar with dancing and tried to concentrate on following his lead. Thankfully, we just stepped in a square for the most part, so I didn’t fall or make a fool out of us.
“The Enoch you know in your time is the same as he’s always been. A person does not change. Not fundamentally.”
“He’s different now,” I argued.
Asa laughed. “My brother is not the altruistic half-angel you believe him to be. The other half of him is demon. He craves power over all things, and he makes sure he always has the upper hand. Even over Terah and myself.”
“You’re telling me Enoch can control you?”
“I’m telling you that he does and always will, to the degree that we allow it. Enoch is the one you targeted, and you felt justified in traveling through time to carve out his heart. Do you think that heart is truly so different? I would say that it isn’t. Circumstances are different. The time is different. But Enoch is the same as he always has and always will be.”
I pursed my lips. There was no point arguing with him. Asa thought he was right, so no amount of persuading would change his mind. He was the one who wouldn’t change.
“Let me show you something,” he said abruptly, guiding me from the floor. We passed Titus. “Stay there,” Asa commanded. “This doesn’t involve you.”
“If it involves her, it involves me,” Titus snapped.
Asa led me to a back door and pointed at the garden. “There is your precious Enoch, seducing the Brigadier General’s only daughter.”
“He wouldn’t…”
“Are you sure of that?”
The two looked more than comfortable with one another. She giggled at something he said, and he flashed her a wide smile.
“He claims that everything he does is for you. You told him you lived in America, so he’s done everything in his power to make sure this fledgling country survives the continuous British attacks.”
Enoch caught my eye. He told the girl they would speak later and carved a path through the garden. My stomach hurt; conflicting emotions of betrayal and sadness warring through my midsection. Intent on avoiding him, I whirled on my heel and marched back through the clusters of men and into the dining room. Titus followed me.
“Don’t listen to any of Asa’s claims until you speak to Enoch,” Titus suggested. “Asa… well, he’s dark and weird, and probably trying to drive a wedge between the two of you just for kicks.”
“I know, it’s just… Enoch should have a life between the times I show up. It’s not fair to ask him not to, but the sight of him even laughing with that girl makes me sick because I know I can’t give him that. I can’t give him my time, and I can’t stay here and have an easy life with him. But he should have that. He should have it again and again. Love. Marriage. Children. All of it.” A tear squeezed from my eyes. “I can’t give him anything.”
Titus cleared his throat and looked over my shoulder, and I noticed Enoch standing behind me. Then my friend slipped away to give us some privacy.
“I was only being cordial to the girl, despite what Asa implied,” Enoch began. “Benjamin’s daughter is shy, probably because her father’s behavior is appalling, if not embarrassing at times. I was inviting her inside to eat and offered to dance with her so she might feel included – something Asa could not possibly care less about, despite the fact he is playing host to the Brigadier General and his traveling party.
“Eve, please don’t ever think that you have nothing to offer me. Since the first moment I passed you on the road in E
denshire, you’ve given me more joy than you can possibly imagine. You gave me hope – something I haven’t tasted in a thousand years; something more precious than a few lifetimes with women who are not, and will never be, the one I want… You.
“I will wait for you because I have nothing but time. When I finally find you in yours, I promise to spend every moment possible with you. I know you’re in pain, and because of it, I know you need to leave sooner than either of us would like. We never seem to have enough time together, but the truth is, there will never be enough. I will never tire of you. In your time, after you are well, we will have the rest of your life together. I promise to make it an adventure, and to finally give you the life you deserve.”
I swallowed. How did he know I was struggling? I thought I’d hidden my breakdowns well enough.
In answer to my unspoken questions, he replied, “I see the pain behind your eyes when you blink, and I heard your tears carve pathways down the flesh of your cheeks last night when you thought no one would know you were crying.”
“It’s not always because of the pain,” I argued, my voice coming out raspy.
“Perhaps not physical pain, but I think we both know that you experienced far worse emotional trauma during your younger years.”
“So have you,” I replied, thinking of the path of destruction left by the clones.
“Dance with me,” Enoch pleaded.
“Now?” The music from inside floated out to us.
“Now.” He gently clasped my hand in his and wrapped the other around me, pressing the small of my back. I rested my free hand on his shoulder.
The distance between us shrank and before I knew it, we couldn’t have fit even a sliver of paper between us. We swayed slowly, moving as one. He curled our hands at the wrists, holding them against his chest. When he placed a tender kiss on my knuckles, my knees went weak, but I tensed as I remembered how he’d almost bitten me earlier.
“I fed. I don’t even feel the draw to feed now,” he whispered.
I sighed and relaxed against him again.
“I wish we could stay right here and never allow time to move forward,” he said.
“Me too.”
He captured my lips in another kiss, and as we swayed and our lips met in the most delicious ways, for a moment, time did stop.
“I know this probably isn’t proper,” I began, “but would you sleep in my room tonight?”
Enoch’s green eyes flickered with flames I knew would burn me, yet in that moment, I wanted nothing more than to be scorched. There were glints of mischief and excitement in his crooked smile, his unspoken promise of what the night would hold.
“Just to sleep?” he asked, a challenge in his eyes.
“I thought Nephilim didn’t require it. If you’re too tired…”
He kissed my lips, a smile finally stretching across his face. Enoch pulled me through the garden, and when we were cloaked by tall hedges, he picked me up. My legs wrapped around his waist and I devoured him as much as he devoured me.
He pulled away, wiping his mouth. “Did I nick you?”
I licked my lips. The taste of blood wasn’t on my tongue. “I don’t think so.”
“Something tastes strange.”
I shook my head. “I’m fine. I don’t think you cut me.”
He let out a relieved breath and ran a hand through his hair, gently placing my feet back on the ground.
“Oh, I found something that might belong to you.” I turned and fished the pocket watch out of my cleavage. Dangling it in front of him, I watched as he recognized it.
“Where did you find it?”
“So, it’s yours?”
“Yes. I lost it years ago.”
“While you were living here and building your own home?”
A memory flitted in his eyes. “You found it in the wardrobe.”
“Yep.” I suddenly remembered the letter I’d written. I reached into the slit in my dress and withdrew it. “Would you promise to do something for me?”
“Anything,” he vowed.
“I need you to keep this for me. In the year twenty-one-fifty-seven, find Maru and give it to him. Don’t be nosey and read it. It’s his letter.”
“Eve,” Enoch blurted, “I’ve overheard some of your conversations recently – not that I meant to or intentionally invaded your privacy.”
“What did you hear?”
“You aren’t… Your presence in my life is its biggest blessing. I have merely existed for thousands of years, but only started living when you waltzed through a plague-ridden town and into my life. There hasn’t been a second that I wasn’t glad you did.”
“I’m just worried that our mission to jump through the past is changing things, and maybe changing you, for the worst. If it wasn’t for us, all the bad things you’ve experienced never would have happened.”
“I wouldn’t have them any other way,” he said honestly. “You probably think I’m horrible for saying so, but I wouldn’t change a single thing about any of it. I would go through it again and again if it meant the path would lead to you.”
“Or, you could make different decisions from this point forward and prevent the future that hunts you.”
“You might not exist if I change the past.”
“It would be worth it for a better future,” I told him.
He shook his head. “Nothing would be worth you not existing, or even you not being you.”
I thought of all the memories that had surfaced recently, of the tactics Victor and Kael used to make us the strongest, the ones who would comply, the best soldiers in their armies and the most destructive weapons in their arsenal. Enoch thought going through that was worth finding me, but I feared the Eve who was shoved off the Compound’s roof wasn’t worth saving.
“I won’t know you in my time. I’ll be born, my mother will be killed, I’ll be taken into the Compound’s custody, and shoved into the Asset program. The reason I was placed there to begin with was because of something in my blood and DNA. Otherwise, I would’ve been forced into the military.”
Enoch furrowed his brow as he considered my words. “Why couldn’t you live outside? Why weren’t you free? Are all humans housed inside the Compound?”
“No, there are civilians outside because there’s not enough room for everyone inside. I assume they brought me in because I was a kid. I wouldn’t have survived the vampires on my own.”
I picked at a hedge leaf. Enoch reached up and took my hand in his. “I know a little about what happened to you. When you were sick with fever on my ship, I witnessed you reliving part of it and it made me want to tear the sky apart.”
“You could probably do that,” I laughed.
He shook his head, disgusted. “None of what you’ve experienced at their hands is funny. It’s astonishing to me that you can still find it within you to laugh.”
“It’s a defense mechanism,” I admitted. “Much like sarcasm, which I am fluent in, by the way.”
He shook his head, bemused.
For the first time all evening, the headache faded and my head felt light. My lips tingled, though not uncomfortably, which I attributed to the wine. I’d had almost an entire glass, but since it was the first time I’d drank alcohol before, it must have affected my motor skills.
“I don’t want to leave,” I declared, sloppily throwing my arms around his neck and breathing him in.
“I don’t want you to go.” The way he said the words tattooed them onto my heart.
“Maybe Titus can unlink us and I can stay here,” I suggested.
“Would you really consider it?” he asked, brows raised. His eyes searched mine for the answer I could tell he desperately wanted.
I kissed him. Of course I would consider it. What we needed was to quit doing what everyone else expected and do what we wanted for a change. I’d just make sure Titus was good to return on his own and then ask him to help me remove the tech.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and gi
ggled. My head felt like fizzy water; bubbles surged and popped and rushed to the tips of my toes and fingers.
I couldn’t feel them. They’d gone to sleep.
My lips were numb, too. Really numb. I reached up to feel them and couldn’t raise my hand high enough.
“Are you well?” Enoch asked suddenly, holding me by the elbows.
“My head feels weird.” I could hear myself say the words, but they sounded muffled, like my ears were underwater when I said them.
“Eve?” He gathered me into his chest, which was good, because my legs wouldn’t hold me up anymore. He licked his lips, his eyes widening. “The taste… I thought it was…” Then Enoch, who berated Titus for saying anything unseemly in front of me, cursed. “You’ve been poisoned.”
“Poisoned?” I asked, giggling.
“We have to get you back to the house. I think it’s oleander.”
He picked me up and whirred so fast towards the house, I couldn’t even catch my breath to laugh. And then things weren’t funny at all. My sight became blurry and fuzzy around the edges, and my heart galloped so quickly, I was afraid it would explode.
“What happened? Why are her pupils like that?” Titus yelled.
I tried to ask, “What’s wrong with my eyes?” but I was sleepy and it came out all wrong.
Chapter Sixteen
Titus
Gasps rolled through the crowd as Enoch burst through the back door, carrying Eve in his arms. Her extremities dangled and flopped like she had no control over them. But she was talking. She was alive.
I rushed to meet him, pushing through the assemblage of pompous guests, still calmly sipping their wine as if the scene playing out was some form of planned entertainment. He was already upstairs, laying her on her bed when I caught up with him.
“She’s been poisoned,” Enoch announced grimly. His fingers shook as he ran his hand through his hair. “Stay with her. I’ll get someone who can help.”
I wasn’t going to tell him that her suit would heal her. The two had gotten awfully close this evening. Too close, if you asked me.
“Stay with me, Eve. Your suit should help soon.”
