OK. You’re weirding me out. Just tell me what I did? N.
Eden didn’t think it was possible to feel any worse. Suffice to say she was in an awful mood, radiating ‘don’t talk to me or I’ll eat you’ vibes even in class. The teachers were smart enough to ignore her and most of the students were too.
Avoiding Noah at lunch, Eden had opted for the library this time. By now her skin was flush with angry heat and her patience? Non-existent. She did the unthinkable and headed towards the classics aisle, hoping a little Jane Austen would civilise her.
Mr Darcy was just in the middle of insulting Elizabeth (tolerable indeed!) when Eden heard the human snarl. Someone cried out, as if in pain. Frowning, Eden laid down the book and walked quietly to the end of the aisle. She peered around the corner into the dark cove of bookshelves at the back of library, the one that every library seemed to have. Her heart started to race a little at the scene in front of her. Lucy Stevens, hot senior and head cheerleader, had a grip of a sophomore’s shirt, holding her up so tight the girl’s feet nearly dangled off the floor. Eden had seen the sophomore around before. She was this petite, gorgeous red head with big sad green eyes. Eden was sure she was the youngest girl on the cheerleading squad. Right now her pretty face was screwed up in horror, rivulets of mascara staining her cheeks.
“This is me being merciful, Amber,” Lucy hissed into her face. “This is you’re last warning.”
“B-but I didn’t d-d-do anything,” Amber cried.
Eden winced at the crack of Lucy’s hand against Amber’s cheek, and the muffled sob from the victim. “You calling my boyfriend a liar, Amber?”
Amber shook her head, holding her right cheekbone.
“I didn’t think so. He’s mine, you little slut, you come onto him again and I’ll make your life here a living hell. Wouldn’t want everyone finding out that secret you told me right? How stepdaddy likes to touch you inappropriately?”
Amber’s eyes flared with terror and she broke into hysterical sobs, her head shaking frantically.
Lucy patted her cheek patronisingly. “Good girl.”
Sliding back out of sight, Eden struggled to draw breath, the scene playing over and over again in her head. She’d seen bullying going on at South Salton her entire time there; she’d even been a victim of that bullying, and probably the bully herself sometimes when she was in a bad mood. But what she had witnessed was worse than Maria Roth and herself. It had been sadistic and vicious, and born of petty jealousy. Eden knew Lucy’s boyfriend. Doug Brown. A senior. A jock. A sleaze bag. Although he’d rather die than admit it, he’d even come on to Eden once when she and Noah had stupidly crashed his birthday party. Eden could read between the lines. Doug had hit on Amber. Amber had turned him down. Doug had told Lucy that Amber was flirting with him. Lucy, who was apparently a psychotic bitch, had now found a new toy to play with; a toy that was clearly already broken by an abusive home life.
Eden knew what that was like.
The thought sent this crazy red haze sparkling across Eden’s eyes; her chest tight, her hunger howling at her as if she were insane to pass this up.
Yeah. Today she felt insane. And no Jane Austen was going to help.
She knew she was acting like a stalker.
Uh correction, like a serial killer.
But Eden couldn’t get Lucy and Amber out of her mind.
So here she was, standing outside Lucy’s class instead of sitting in her own. Watching and waiting… for what, she wasn’t quite sure.
When the classroom door opened and Lucy ducked out with a bathroom pass in her hand, Eden’s eyes widened.
See, her hunger whispered, it’s like the universe wants you to do it.
Stealthily she followed Lucy along the hall, keeping a distance, watching her disappear into the girls’ bathroom. She waited a beat and then swung open the door, shutting it quietly behind her. Eden ducked her head under the four stalls. They were alone.
She strode back to the door and turned the lock.
“Who the hell is there?” Lucy snapped from inside her stall.
Eden dropped her backpack, leaning against the sinks casually although her heart pounded so hard she swore her shirt was vibrating. “Why don’t you come out and see?”
She wasn’t afraid of Lucy Stevens.
She wouldn’t have been even if she wasn’t one of the Blessed.
“What the fuck is this?” Lucy huffed. Eden’s smile was one of twisted mockery at the sound of clothes rustling, and Lucy’s harried breath. She couldn’t have planned on catching the girl in a more undignified situation. The toilet flushed and the stall door banged open to reveal a pissed off Lucy Stevens in her cheerleading outfit. She grimaced. “You?” She rolled her eyes as if Eden were inconsequential and glided over to the sinks to wash her hands.
“Me.” Eden grinned at her and enjoyed the way Lucy flinched at the expression, like she could see there was something not quite right about her.
“What do you want, freak?”
Eden shrugged, crossing her arms over her chest. “I heard an interesting conversation today. No, sorry.” She shook her head. “Attack. An interesting attack.”
Lucy heaved a sigh and grabbed at paper towels. “Whatever, freak.” She made to leave and Eden stuck her leg out to block her path. The cheerleader narrowed her eyes on her. “You better move that skank.”
“Or what?” Eden taunted.
Lucy took two leggy steps towards her. She fluffed her golden hair over her shoulder and bit a couple of French manicured fingernails into Eden’s shoulder. “Or I’ll make your life a living hell, you goth bitch.”
“You’re kind of an ignoramus, you know that.”
“You’re making a mistake, Winslow,” Lucy promised with a cruel smirk on her pouty lips.
The hand that had been dangling innocently by Eden’s side shot out faster than a human could compute, and wrapped itself around Lucy’s throat, shoving her back into one of the stalls. The senior tripped, collapsing over a toilet seat as she clawed at Eden’s hand, her face growing redder before turning horribly purple.
“Sorry, princess, my life already is a living hell.” Eden squeezed tighter, getting a sick enjoyment out of terrifying this girl. “I saw you torturing Amber today, Luce. Not cool,” she whispered, breathing in the scent of Lucy’s soul, tainted as it may be. This was a girl who wouldn’t miss it… or if Eden went too far, wouldn’t be missed at all. “You make me sick, you know. You sadistic bitch.” She jerked Lucy’s head back and her eyes rolled. For a moment Eden frowned as she drew blood with her fingernails on Eden’s hand in an attempt to fight back. Releasing her hold on Lucy’s throat, she barely gave time for the girl to draw breath before she was holding her head in her hands and pushing her will onto her. Lucy stopped struggling, her lips parting.
The hunger licked its lips.
Eden froze. Like a statue. Her heart seemed to have stopped but the nausea hadn’t.
What are you waiting for? She deserves it.
She shifted her stance, trying to make herself more comfortable. She tilted Lucy’s head to angle it just right, almost like an awkward teenager going in for her first kiss.
Her legs began to tremble.
No. Don’t stop. Think about Amber. You’ll be helping her.
The bathroom door handle rattled. Eden’s head jerked up, breaking her gaze with Lucy’s.
“Hey! Why’s the door locked?!” A belligerent student yelled, banging on the door. “Open up or I’m telling somebody!”