The clone drank in the tension between the men while I watched her. She wore a simple, high-collared dress spun with dark blue cotton. The hem was dirty and torn in a few places, and her tech suit’s neck was concealed. She looked healthy. Enoch must have turned her very recently. The thought made goosebumps pop up all over my arms. Her skin hadn’t mottled or turned gray, and even though she was technically dead, her tech was alive, casting its signature blue-green glow in the small cage she occupied. She gripped the bars tightly. I could see the edges of a dark tattoo on the inside of her wrist.
“We should send her back,” I announced.
“Yes, you should,” the clone agreed, her eyes glittering with malicious promise. “Send me back.”
Enoch turned from Edward to me. “I’m not sure that’s wise.”
“Why not? I’ve already sent a couple clones back. If they don’t get Victor’s attention, the turned clone certainly would,” I declared, nodding toward the vampire variation of me.
“Set me free,” the clone asserted. “Set me free and I will be indebted to you, Enoch. When you call for me, I will come. I’ll fight for you when you need it.”
A vampire army made up of my clones. Victor wouldn’t see that coming, and Enoch knew it. He took his time considering the clone’s vow. “I will think on the matter,” he promised before turning his attention back to Edward, who finally held out his wrists and allowed Enoch to shackle them.
The metallic clicks sent a spike of pain rushing through my head. I closed my eyes for a long moment. When I opened them, the clone was staring, her head ticked slightly to the side. The woven metal that held her was no more than a box. A cage.
A cage she should be able to tear apart easily…
There is a cage of glass with a stainless-steel frame, lit at every edge with bright white light. I walk beside Kael down a long corridor. As I look further down the hall, I see that there isn’t just one cage. There are rows of identical cages lining both sides of the hallway, most of them empty.
Kael’s hands are folded behind him and he holds up his head proudly as we approach the occupied cells. My steps slow as I take in a small boy who sits on the floor. His body is curled into a tight ball, and he rhythmically rocks back and forth with his hands holding tight to his spindly legs. Faster than I can comprehend, he leaps to his feet and climbs up the cell wall.
His feet never slip on the transparent walls, and he pushes himself higher until his fingers make contact with the top panel. He eases onto the ceiling and stares at the pair of us for a moment. Then he screams, bobbing and rocking side to side. His teeth are sharp and badly decayed.
I glance further down the row, but Kael is transfixed on the feral boy. “He’s magnificent, is he not?”
No, he isn’t. There’s no spark in his eyes. No humanity left in him. There is just an animalistic response that, frankly, would scare the hell out of me even if he couldn’t defy the laws of gravity.
“Has he influenced an upgrade?” I fish, hoping and praying he hasn’t.
“No, unfortunately,” Kael admits. “He was the first to receive this particular genetic manipulation, but as you can see, the sequence we used damaged those around it; genes he needed unmarred in order to retain his human cognition and features.”
The boy lets out a shrill scream and jumps down, turning in midair and landing nimbly on his feet.
“I’ve learned unequivocally that no amount of meaningful change can take place without first making errors, and then learning from them. Sometimes you can learn more from what goes awry, than you can from what goes exactly as planned.”
“Why do you keep him here?”
Kael smiles. “Because I made him.”
I feel the blood drain from my face as Kael waves me forward. “Shall we continue?”
Enoch placed his hand on my arm. “Eve?”
“Yeah,” I answered, shaking my head. The memory faded away, but there was a nagging feeling that lingered. Like I needed to remember what came next… But I couldn’t. I couldn’t see past that cell and the feral boy held by nothing more than see-through walls.
“We need to talk,” Enoch hinted.
I nodded and followed him out of the hull and back onto deck where the rain wasn’t simply falling, it was being driven over the boat, the land, and anyone crazy or stupid enough to be out in it. We ducked into Enoch’s cabin again, water dripping from our soaked hair and clothes. He pushed the doors shut behind me and took a deep breath.
I needed one, too, but couldn’t relax enough to take it. My mind was racing as I mentally ticked off my to-do list. We needed to find Abram, we needed to figure out a way to land a couple days before we left, and we needed to stop Victor and Kael from slaughtering Enoch’s people.
Enoch turned around slowly. Water separated strands of his hair. I was suddenly struck by the desire to cross the room and throw my arms around his neck. I wanted to cry, if I was being honest.
Instead, I bit the inside of my lip and waited for him to speak.
“This is difficult for me,” he admitted. “So I can’t imagine how you must feel.”
“I didn’t know about the clones, Enoch, or the attack. But if we can just figure out how to get home a few days before we traveled, Titus and I can stop Victor. The attack on your people won’t happen. We’ll stop the clones from traveling and prevent this entire mess.”
He shook his head. “Therein lies the problem. Can you travel back to a specific time? Are you sure it’s even possible? The three of you landed here unexpectedly.”
“I don’t know,” I answered truthfully, “but we have to try. If we don’t, we’ve already failed. And I can’t live with that.”
Enoch pinched his bottom lip and then released it. His lashes fluttered, making my stomach do the same. “I’ve wanted to strangle you for so long, it’s strange to suddenly feel the need to hold you in my arms.”
“I wouldn’t complain.” It came out as a half-laugh, half-sob.
I thought he’d keep me at arm’s length, but Enoch was always able to surprise me. He strode across the room and pulled me in, wrapping me in strength and comfort while I melted into him. Tears fell from my eyes, mingling with the rainwater on his skin.
His words were muffled against my ear. “I can’t believe it’s really you.” I clung to his shirt, afraid to let loose. “I am so sorry I thought you capable of such things.”
I squeezed him tight, wishing that what I was about to say wasn’t true. That I hadn’t wanted to be the monster I became. That I hadn’t fought to be the one to stake him. “I was capable of those things, Enoch. Probably worse before I met you.”
“But that was before…” he led.
“Yes, that was before. I would never hurt you on purpose.”
With every word of his reply, his chin bumped the top of my head. “I know that now.”
“I hate that you hated me all these years.” He was silent. It wasn’t his fault for feeling the way he did, any more than it was mine for Victor’s plan. “You were going to rip out my throat,” I sniffled, pulling away so I could see his eyes.
“I thought you were just another one of them.” Enoch looked down at the space forming between us, the space that was growing with each second.