High Society - Page 56

Which was strange… Her target would’ve been the same as mine. Unless her seduction of Asa was a ploy to get to Enoch in the end, through some sort of twisted game of reverse psychology.

“She snooped around the house and she followed him everywhere, even into battle. She was always watching. Always listening. Always looking for something. Aren’t you doing the same? I’ve heard you poking around her old room.”

“I was poking around her room, because I don’t understand what she was doing with Asa. Every other Eve has targeted Enoch, haven’t they?”

“Yes, and every Titus has met his end by targeting me,” she sniffed.

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. She hadn’t killed every Titus clone, but whatever.

Terah continued, “Regardless of the game she was playing at, she lost time and again. Asa is a masterful opponent. He pretended to play into her hands, pretended he was caught in her web and at her mercy, when he was anything but. She tried everything she could think of to get him to bite her; scandalous things. Things that would ruin a good woman’s reputation. Finally, he acted as if he would give in to her. He told her he would bite her only if she agreed to marry him, and only after they had exchanged vows. She pretended to be a giddy bride-to-be, but she wasn’t happy to be marrying my brother, she was happy because he was going to turn her. Or so she thought.”

“What does this have to do with me? I’m not her, Terah. My wrist isn’t marked. You know my scent. And the last time I checked, she’s dead, so you couldn’t have confused me for her.”

“How do we know you aren’t a new type of Eve? One with the original’s scent? How do we know you haven’t been given new orders, reassigned to Asa or me?”

Beyond exasperated, I huffed, “Because I haven’t. I just left Eve’s Curse. Only I would know about what happened on that ship.” I levelled her with a knowing glare.

Her nostrils flared just as she lunged, and I smashed the vial of holy water against her forehead. She screamed and raised her hands, fingers spread wide apart as her wailing rent the calm evening. “If you ever come at me again, it won’t be holy water I use on you,” I promised.

Asa and Enoch rushed to her side, but there was nothing they could do. They couldn’t touch her without also being burned. The flesh of Terah’s forehead was raw, blistered, and bubbling. The sound and smell of its sizzling should have bothered me, but it sounded sweet as birdsong; a warning temporarily carved in her flesh.

“You horrible bitch!” she screamed, lunging for me.

“You broke my arm! You could’ve killed me when you pushed me down the stairs. Now, we’re even,” I growled. Just then, Titus ran into the maze, standing defiantly at my back.

“Whoa,” he breathed. “You don’t waste time,” he said into my ear, pulling me backward and guiding me out of the maze. Terah continued to rant about how she’d kill me before morning, and for the first time, I wondered if Enoch might let her and then pity her after I was six feet under and pushing up daisies.

“Time is all I seem to have these days,” I said, a chill running up my spine, causing my teeth to chatter. The Nephilim exited the hedge maze, staring at the pair of us as if we were foreign and out of place. Guess what, geniuses? We are!

“Watch it, brother,” Terah fumed. “She’ll probably swoon and pretend to faint next, just so you’ll rush to her side and offer comfort. Meanwhile she’ll poison you, mind, body, and spirit.”

“I’m not the poisonous one, Terah, but I won’t let you push me around anymore. Every time you come at me, I’m gonna fight back.”

“Yes, but I will win,” she boasted.

“You didn’t tonight,” I taunted.

Titus chuckled but pulled me to the house faster. “You’re going to get us killed,” he noted through his teeth. My body began to tremble violently. I wasn’t sure if it was fro adrenaline, anger, or if I was getting sick again. “You okay?” Titus asked as we walked through the front door.

“I’m fine.”

“’Fine’ is never okay,” he said. “If a woman says she’s fine, something bad is about to happen. Women are never, ever fine.”

We walked up the stairs, and then I opened my bedroom door and slammed it behind me, leaving him in the hall. His voice filtered through the door. “Right, so I’ll just be next door…trying to sleep … again. And you’ll scream if you need me, but you’ll promise not to get into any more trouble while I’m resting.” The door opened and closed. Through the wall, he continued, “You should get some rest, too, by the way.”

He was insane if he thought I could sleep after what just happened. Clearly it didn’t bother him, because Titus was snoring before I could remove the God-awful boots I’d squeezed my feet into.

I ransacked my clone’s room, feeling angry, weak, and just aggravated in general. Not only at Terah, but at Enoch. I tore the clothes from the closet and tossed them carelessly on the bed, and sent her extravagant number of shoes sailing over my shoulders. Titus never woke, even when they thumped the wall between us. I wondered how he managed to wake up when Terah started screaming. Though she was loud…

The memory of her boiling flesh was oddly satisfying until it brought forth another memory. Of my flesh on fire, the smell of burnt hair and branded skin. The feeling of relief when my suit made the pain go away, and the feeling of terror when I realized Victor wasn’t finished.

“This will make you strong, but more importantly, you’ll remember who made you,” he said before he pushed the brand into my arm again.

I pushed the memory away, focusing on my fingers as they touched the bottom of the wardrobe. I hit it with my fist and a hollow sound hit my ear. I hit it again, and the front left corner of the wood popped up. Pushing against it with steady pressure, I got a finger under the panel and raised it up, realizing it was a false bottom.

The bedroom door opened and closed. Enoch stepped in and surveyed the chaos. “Before my house was built, Asa allowed me to stay here for a time. This was my room.”

“Did 1776 know that?”