Page 25 of High Noon

“I accept your offer, Titus,” Asa said loudly. “And I call in the favor you owe me, sister. You will not harm or kill Titus.”

She shook her head, grinding her teeth together loudly. “Fine. But the favor does not extend to Eve.”

Asa tipped his hat to her. “I can live with that.”

“I can’t,” I blurted. “Extend it to her, too!”

Asa offered a smug smile. “I’m afraid the deal has been struck and can no longer be amended.”

A second later, faster than my eyes could track, Terah was gone, the saloon doors swinging in her wake.

“What the hell? Why didn’t you say she couldn’t harm or kill Eve?”

“Because I think we have bigger problems, and because this country is unforgiving, even for us. Terah would never be able to track her. The area is too vast, and Terah enjoys the comforts only a town with an ever-changing population of humans can provide.”

No one would notice or care about those who went missing, huh? Nice. So, she has free rein to drain whomever she wants. I’m sure the coyotes or wolves drag off and devour any evidence she leaves behind. But nevermind Terah. I have to find Eve.

“What if Eve is already here?”

“At the post?” He laughed. “She isn’t.”

“If you don’t know where Abram is, how do you know Eve’s not here?”

Asa grinned. “Because I do know where Abram is, and where Enoch is not.”

The admission hit me in the gut. “Why did you lie to Terah about Abram, then?”

"For several reasons, none of which I feel the need to impart to you." He pushed on the swinging doors as he stepped outside.

I looked around at the room before I followed him. The saloon was trashed. Between the dead pianist, shattered glass, broken chairs and overturned tables, I wasn't sure how long it would take to repair the damage.

Abram was such an idiot. He was indiscriminately siring people left and right, and it only took one to spread the venom like a plague. In Nassau, the entire population was either killed or turned in no time at all. And that was on a large island with a colorful, dense pirate presence. A small place like this wouldn't stand a chance against a few hungry vampires. I wondered if it would even survive Abram.

"Where is he?" I asked, stepping out into the cool, dark night with a creature I once thought thrived in it.

"Follow me and see for yourself," Asa challenged.

He led me down a dusty, wide road, past trading stands, a few meager buildings, and other structures in various stages of being built. We walked past parked wagons, whose owners peeked out to see who was leaving the saloon alive, and across a grassy plain.

"Why is he out in the middle of nowhere?"

"He isn't."

"Where is he, then?" I asked, growing impatient and tired of Asa’s lack of communication.

"He's in my cabin," Asa answered. "It’s not far, but if you need to stop and rest…"

Was he serious? Of course I was strong enough! I just wanted to know where ‘there’ was. Following Asa was weird enough as it was. Stranger still was trusting him, and I wasn't sure I was making the right decision to do so. Not after all the crap he pulled in seventeen seventy-seven. In that time, he’d managed to burrow into Eve’s mind like a tick, gorging on her misery.

If he had actually captured Abram and somehow managed to restrain him, this little hike would be worth it. I just wish I had something better than stakes strapped to my side. He could be planning to kill two Assets with one stone. "Do you happen to have a pistol I can borrow?"

Asa laughed. "Plenty of them. At the cabin."

"I don't even know why you have them, because you certainly don’t need a gun to kill someone, but I'm glad all the same."

"The guns are those I’ve confiscated."

"From whom?"

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