High Society - Page 73

Titus offered his hand. I slid mine into his.

“I need you!” Enoch yelled. “Don’t leave me.”

“I have to,” I answered brokenly, hoping he would understand that I needed to jump for both our sakes. Fearful thoughts ricocheted through my head.

What if I don’t survive this? What if I do? What will Victor and Kael do to us when we get home?

“I don’t think I can do this,” I whispered, tears filling my eyes. I looked down at Enoch, my love, and then looked at the face of my friend.

“Then I’ll do it for us,” Titus declared. Without thinking, he jumped and pulled me with him. We plummeted quickly, pushed toward the path where Enoch stood. I closed my eyes, ready for the impact. It wasn’t high enough! The feel of grass tickling my nose registered just before every molecule in my body was shredded.

Chapter Seventeen

Maru

I was worried Enoch would somehow be able to read my mind and see what I was planning to do. Worried he might sense the tech Yarrow had stolen and was about to implant in the back of my hand. See my nerves in the drumming of my fingers on my leg, but if he saw anything he felt was unusual, he didn’t mention it.

Enoch gave us the fast pass through processing. We had to register a name and give our former positions under Victor’s rule, but our persons and things were not searched. Thank God. Because Enoch would’ve known exactly what we were about to do.

After being processed, Enoch said we could claim a house – or houses, depending on our relationship – among the Delta Unit if we’d like, or he could take us somewhere quiet. Yarrow was quick to claim the latter.

Enoch took us to a street labeled Brookside and promised he would speak to us in the morning. He told us to get some rest, because we had a lot to discuss.

“This whole thing is surreal,” I confessed to Yarrow as we climbed the steps of a modest two-story house. The siding was pale yellow, trimmed in white. “One minute, I think I’m going to find Eve and bring her back to the Compound so I can chew her out for not getting back sooner. The next, you crack an encryption that reveals layers of lies, and the vampire I’ve been training Eve to stake for years, leads us to safety and gives us a house.”

“There must be strings attached,” Yarrow warned as she stepped into the empty home. It was dark, but there was a small pile of unused candles and a lighter on the kitchen counter. I lit the wicks one by one as she continued to sort her thoughts. “They still have to feed.”

“Have you seen any other vampires besides Enoch since we got here?”

“Not one,” she answered. “But it doesn’t make any sense. I could see how Victor might fake a few propaganda videos, but most of the attacks filmed were real, Maru. You have to know that.”

“I do, I just don’t know whose vampires they are. They could be Enoch’s, Asa’s, or Terah’s, but after learning what I have, I wouldn’t put it past Victor or Kael to make their own, to capture vamps and build an army. Victor’s units have caught plenty for us to practice killing over the years.” I sighed and looked around at the dim interior, seeing basic furniture and supplies, enough for the two of us.

“I wonder what he’ll tell us in the morning.”

“It just doesn’t add up – if you take what you found, along with something I’ve seen.”

“What?” she asked. Her brown eyes shimmered in the firelight. God, she was beautiful.

“Do you remember when I paid Kael a visit in his lab?” When she nodded, I continued, “He had a wall of monitors that showed live feeds of different cells within the lab. I saw an army of clones contained in those cells. From the video you showed me, he had already sent an army back in time, and then sent trios of clones to specific years in the past. That means that what I saw on that screen was a separate army.”

“If he already has an army at his disposal, why doesn’t he use them against the vampires?” she asked, lips parted.

“That was my next question,” I answered grimly. “What’s he planning to use them for?”

A determined sparkle made its way into Yarrow’s eyes. “I’ll see if I can do some more digging. Before I left, I copied the encrypted data onto an untraceable computer.”

I ticked my head back, surprised. “All of it?”

“All of it,” she confirmed.

I knew Yarrow was smart, but I was still impressed by her ingenuity. “Can you hack into Kael’s lab and figure out what he’s doing down there?”

She shook her head. “The last time I tried, my attempt was intercepted, so I stopped pushing. But now that I’m here and safe, I’ll push until I demolish his electronic wall, Maru.”

“I’m worried about leaving you here alone.”

She waved me off. “I’m not alone. I have the Delta Unit here with me – my people,” she laughed. “Besides, I have my work cut out for me and it will keep me plenty busy.”