She looked exactly like Eve. My friend.
During our last jump, Abram had sired a vampire from one of my clones. I remembered my vampire clone in Asa’s yard, backing up his sire Abram as he tried to take control of something uncontrollable. I remembered that while my clone resembled me, there were subtle differences. In the style of our hair, in the scars he bore on his hands and arms, and even in his clothes.
This clone of Eve’s had been careful to avoid anything that set her apart from the original. Which made her smart and very dangerous.
In the distance, at the farthest end of the row of trees leading to the house, came the thundering sound of galloping hooves. The billowing dust cloud left in their wake obscured the riders. The bulk of the group split from a single rider and turned toward the barn, while the lone horse trotted toward the house. On the horse’s back was Asa, and sitting on Asa’s lap, was another Eve.
How many had he collected? Why her? And why was Eve 1776 trying to target Asa instead of Enoch?
The Eve in Asa’s lap elbowed him hard and jumped from the horse. “What the hell is this, Asa?” she yelled.
That was my friend! Thank God she was okay.
“This,” Asa drawled, “is my fiancée, Eve 1776.” He looked at Eve’s double. “Darling, go inside and fetch me something cool to drink.”
The clone gritted her teeth as she smiled at him. “Of course.”
I wiggled my fingers at her as she yanked on the door handle and let it slam closed behind her.
The real Eve grabbed her skirts and ran up the steps to me. She threw her arms around my neck and squeezed hard. “Is it really you?” she breathed.
“Yes. And you know what I’ve been thinking?”
“What?” she asked, letting go of me and taking a deep breath.
“If we ever see Victor or Kael again, I’m going to make them pay for this whole clone thing.”
“Did you really think that clone was me?”
“When I first walked up,” I admitted, “but then she opened her mouth. Even though her voice is yours, it became abundantly clear that she wasn’t.”
“I’m glad you know me well enough to tell the difference. And yes, when we get home, we will see that they pay for what they’ve done.”
“Unless they succeed in their plans,” I added. “If they manage to take the three of them out, no one will care how they did it. It’ll all be justified, and the two of them will be worshipped until the end of time.”
I groaned because he was right.
Asa swung down from his saddle and handed his horse off to a woman who led it away toward the barn where the others were dismounting in the grass and shade. A few men began filling troughs with water and oats, while others worked to unsaddle their horses.
A few pairs of fangs glinted in the sun as humans complained about the long ride and the vampires accompanying them teased them for being so weak. “Some of them are vamps,” I gasped.
Eve nodded. “I know.”
“Where’d you land?”
She glanced from Asa and back to me, but Asa answered for her. “In the middle of a battlefield full of nothing but smoke, the dead, and the scavengers that feed on them.”
Eve tensed as the memory washed over her features.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. I didn’t care that Asa was listening, but I wanted her to hear I meant it.
She set her jaw. “I’m okay.”
I didn’t think any of us were truly okay. Every time we bumped through the past, we were less and less okay. And I was absolutely losing my mind thinking we never would be.
Eve
Titus worried his lip between his teeth. “Where’s Enoch?” he asked. There was a strain, a nervousness in his voice that wasn’t normally there.
“Not here,” Asa interjected.
“And Abram?” he asked, keeping his eyes trained on mine.
Asa answered before I could tell him. “I’ve sent men to capture him.”
“Are you saying he’s out of control?” Titus asked, finally looking at Asa.
“He’s never been in control, and never will be,” Asa drawled.
“Wait,” Titus laughed. “Isn’t Enoch the one who controls him? You talk like you’re the one who sired him, like you’re in charge, but that’s not really the case, is it?”
Asa’s smug grin fell away and he closed his eyes. The fog the sun hadn’t burned away began to gather and thicken, drifting ominously toward the house, shrouding our feet before rising to our legs, waist, and chest. Before it covered our heads, Asa opened his eyes and stared at Titus for a long moment. Titus, watching the fog commanded by the Nephilim standing before him, stared with bulging eyes and a gaping mouth.
“Whomever sent the three of you did you a great disservice. They lied to you,” Asa alleged. “They filled you with a false sense of security and no sense whatsoever of self-preservation. You speak of control as if you have a speck of it, when in fact, you have none. You’d do well to remember that.”
The fog disappeared as he ended his sentence, the cold tendrils evaporating as quickly as his words. Asa stepped between me and Titus and opened the door to the house, holding it for us and gesturing for us to step in first. Titus and I exchanged a wary glance and he nodded for me to lead the way, firmly placing himself between me and Asa.
The house was immaculate. Light and airy, the white walls boasted tall windows that beckoned in the sunshine. I could almost hear it stretching across the warm, wood-planked floor. I paused in the entry and Titus stopped next to me, our arms bumping together.
“Welcome to my home,” Asa invited from behind.
“Your home?” I couldn’t help but ask.
“Yes, Eve. My home. My brother has his own farm, his own land. But do not fret, it is close by. If your people have succeeded in anything, it is that you’ve brought my siblings and I closer together.”
“Enoch…” I paused to choose my words carefully. “I was under the impression that you and Enoch weren’t on the best of terms. In thirteen-forty-eight, you were estranged. In seventeen-seventeen, there was certainly no love lost between you.”
“Time and necessity influence change,” he answered, infuriatingly vague. “Speaking of change… I suppose the two of you will want some time alone to recover from your travels. My brother has confided in me about the whole of your very brief and inconsequential interruption in his life.”
I turned to find Asa’s glittering dark eyes watching me. Did Enoch really tell him everything that passed between us? It felt like a betrayal. It stung like a cheek that had been slapped.
“Those are your words, not his,” I replied.
“Perhaps they are. Perhaps they aren’t,” he replied cryptically. I hated the mind games he loved playing.
“I wouldn’t bother listening to his lies, Eve,” Titus inserted, nodding toward Asa.
Just then, a woman approached from a side room and Asa asked her to show us to our rooms.
Sleeping under the same roof as him wouldn’t be easy without my stakes. I’d have to borrow one from Titus until I found mine and took them back.
Halfway up the staircase, the world began to spin. I clutched the railing and closed my eyes, but that didn’t help. Slumping onto my hip, I listened as my blood whooshed loudly through my ears.