He paused and studied me. “That was quite a transition, Eve. You just told me you’ve been tortured into remembering something that never happened, and now you’re all like… Help me with my clone.”
“Yeah.” I wanted him to stop pacing and focus on something else. Something other than the truth, because if they took me and tortured me, and then gave me a new name and history… they probably did the same to him.
“I need to know everything you can remember,” he stated. “You need to tell me about your mom and about your real past.”
Suddenly, my head felt like it was splitting in two. A sudden, intense pain began the moment I tried to sift through my memories. Did Victor and Kael implant something in our brains so that we suffered if we remembered?
I didn’t want Titus to know I was having any issues. He had enough to think about without me distracting him. “I promise to tell you everything when we have more time, but what I need from you can’t wait, Titus. I can’t do it without you, or without causing too much damage to be helpful.”
“What do you need me to do?” he asked, switching back to business in a flash.
“Cut the tech out of her hand.”
“Why?”
“We might need it. We might be able to use it to learn more about her.”
He pursed his lips together in disapproval, but in the end, reached for my hand. “You’re right. Let’s go.”
“We need a lantern.” I led him to the kitchens and found the one I’d used earlier sitting on a mantle.
The dark, damp cellar smelled of mildew, soil, and the garlands of garlic hanging in the corner nearest the door. “Where is she?” Titus asked.
“Farther in,” I answered, ducking down and leading him to her body, which was still tied to the chair. Her head hung down onto her chest. Trails of drying blood flowed from her neck on the right side.
“Shit,” Titus cursed. “She’s dead.”
“You already knew that.”
“Yeah, but I thought maybe he hadn’t completely drained her. I mean, how does a vamp even hold that much blood? It’s gross how they can just gorge themselves on it.”
“He didn’t kill her because he was hungry.” My heartbeat pounded in my ears. The coppery tang of blood drowned out the loamy scent of garlic and earth. “Asa thought she was too big a threat.”
Titus pinned me with a look of warning before removing a knife from his belt. I quirked a brow. I’d planned to look around the cellar for one, but he was steps ahead of me. “Took it at dinner and I’m not sorry.”
“I’m not judging,” I told him, waving him toward the 1776 model. I held the lantern up for him. It cast only a small light in such a dark place.
He knelt behind the clone’s chair and dragged the knife’s edge across her skin. A thin line of blood welled in its wake. “I hate dull knives,” he complained, sawing through skin and sinew until the containment cell was visible. He used the tip to gently pry it out before carefully disconnecting the circuitry beneath her skin. He shoved the tech into his pocket and stood up.
Blood dripped from her hand onto the dirt. I sat the lantern down near the puddle. “Titus, can the dead still bleed?”
His eyes fixed on the puddle forming on the ground in front of him. “She hasn’t been dead for long, so… maybe? I don’t hear a heartbeat.”
The clone’s finger flinched, then she raised her head and fixed her sharp eyes on me. She screeched, exposing her fangs. They were small, but already beginning to descend. “Titus, get back!” I lifted the hem of my skirt and took out a stake, running toward her.
Before he could process what was happening, she burst from the ropes and shoved my chest so hard, I flew across the length of the cellar and cracked my head against the wall near the door. She disappeared, using her suit to wink out of sight.
Titus cursed. “Watch yourself,” he warned. He spun in a slow circle, watching for her to reappear, his stake and the knife ready.
I stood up and waited. I knew she was coming for me.
Asa appeared on the stairs. “What’s the commotion?”
“You didn’t kill her!” I shrieked.
“I drained her.”
“No, you turned her! Can’t you tell when you’re doing it?” I yelled.
He furrowed his brow. “Not really, if you must know. I mean, if I only take a sip, I assume there isn’t enough time for the venom to be pushed into the one from which I’m feeding, but if I drink my fill, I suppose there’s time enough for it to affect them.”
“The three of you are reckless,” Titus fumed. You have no idea what you’re doing, which makes you even more dangerous. You’re not doing it intentionally, but you don’t have any control over it, either!”
Asa ignored him, but I knew he would make Titus regret running his mouth. Asa closed the door that led out of the cellar and walked back into the darkened space.
Titus started swiping the air all around him like a bee was attacking him, too small for him to actually strike. “What is it?” I called out, confused.
“She took one of my stakes!” he yelled.
“But she can’t make it disappear…” Asa finished.
The lantern had toppled over. Oil leaked onto the ground, and while it burned for a moment, it was dying. I heard the sharpened wood slice through the air the instant before I saw it. The stake barreled toward my heart and my clone appeared in front of me, a twisted look of rage on her face. I raised my forearm to block the blow, but she was faster than me. I braced for the pain, thinking of Enoch and how I’d never see him again. The stake found its mark with a crack and a squelch.
My eyes were pinched shut, but I didn’t feel anything. Nothing hurt. I opened them, expecting to see my own face staring back. Instead, I saw Asa’s back.
He saved me. He’d stepped in front of the stake.
“Ouch,” he growled, jerking it from his bicep. He grabbed the 1776 clone by the hair on the back of her head and brought the stake down and through her breastbone with a loud crack. Then, for added measure, he pushed it in further with the heel of his hand.
As she slowly began to wither and curl in on herself, Asa dropped her to the ground with a huff of disgust. She landed on her side, her mouth gaping open and shut like a fish out of water. He knelt and jerked the stake from her chest and tossed it across the room toward Titus. It landed in front of him, the dirt sticking to her blood.
One final exhale and she was gone, her eyes fixed on nothing. Her skin turned a mottled shade of gray and she suddenly looked just like the vampires I had staked during countless training sessions, both in and out of the arena.
She looked like me.
Asa stood and walked toward the steps, pushing the door open. “I’ll bury her,” he offered.
Titus picked up his stake and crossed the space to me. “Come on.” Though I heard his words, I couldn’t stop staring at her.
“Eve. That’s not you.”
A tear fell from my eye. She was me.
“Eve,” Asa said so softly, it woke me from the thoughts that had paralyzed me. He ticked his head toward the door. “Go.”
That was the only word Asa had for me.