The screech of tyres from the road was quickly followed by doors slamming. Caught off guard, the warriors turned warily, spotting Ryan’s goons scrambling down the embankment towards them. A look passed between two of the men and one of them turned tail and ran, flashing in and out of the trees like a viper. He was gone in an instant.
Ryan’s goons charged at the warriors who remained. The Neith abandoned Eden in the face of bigger opponents. She staggered back, watching the fight, watching the goons. They fought well but relied heavily on their strength rather than finesse. She glanced at her hands, covered in blood, remembering how she’d fought. She’d fought like those warriors. With grace and strategy. It made no sense. Eden shivered, biting back nausea. The crack of bones signalled the warriors’ demise.
“You OK?” One of the goons strode towards her, stepping over the body of the female warrior she’d kicked in the head.
Eden nodded numbly.
The goon grinned. “You can take care of yourself, kid. You killed two of them.”
Her heart stopped. “What?” Her lips felt numb.
The idiot kept grinning, his grey eyes bright with violence. “You killed the two women.” He pointed at the samurai girl. “See. Neck’s broken. Hey!” He laughed up at the other goon as he reached down for the girl’s sword. “Jenkins, this is real.” He lifted it up, angling it into the light that filtered through the trees. “I’m keeping this bad boy.”
“Come on.” Jenkins huffed towards them. “Ms Winslow, get in the car. We’ll need to inform Mr Winslow and have a clean-up crew head over here right away.” He tutted at the sight of her car. “That’s a goner for a while.”
Eden wanted to scream at them. They were acting so casually! She’d just killed two people! Didn’t they care?!
No. They don’t. They’re Blessed. No. What was it Ryan said the Neith called them? Soul eaters. Yeah. That’s it. They’re soul eaters.
Numbly, Eden ignored them and trudged up the embankment to their car.
***
Ryan was incensed by the news of the attack. He could barely look at her and was rushing around, ordering people about. From what Eden could tell they’d have the mess cleaned up in under half an hour. Teagan stood in the corner of the sitting room, grinning at her the whole time, his eyes devouring her. For once she was too numb to notice. Celine and Stellan were out but Ryan had called them both to come back to the mansion. Eden wished Stellan would hurry.
“You fought them off, Eden?” Teagan asked with a smile in his voice.
She shrugged. No way was she telling them about the weird fighting skills in the woods. It was not like she trusted them or anything.
“This is a disaster,” Ryan muttered and then snapped his cell open as it buzzed. “Yeah? OK. Good.” He snapped it shut and pinned her to the sofa with his eyes. “They’ve cleaned it up and the car has been towed. I’ve got Jenkins picking up a rental for you.”
At least she wouldn’t have to endure school runs with Celine.
The front door blew open and the familiar footsteps pounding across the foyer to the sitting room made her feel a little better. Stellan burst into the room, his eyes blazing with fury. And then they settled on her and his whole body slumped towards her.
“Jesus!” he cried, reaching for her, his hands cupping her face. “What the hell?” His eyes roamed over her features, a glower darkening his complexion.
Eden blinked. “What?”
“It will heal.” Ryan shrugged
“What will heal?” She asked frowning.
Stellan looked so worried. “Paradise, have you looked in the mirror?”
She shook her head.
Stellan threw Ryan a disgusted look. “You could have at least helped clean her up.”
Their father’s mouth twisted into a look of mockery. “Why would I bother when I knew her knight in shining armour was only minutes away?”
Ignoring him, Stellan slid his hands under her, heaving her up easily into his arms. Eden didn’t argue as he strode out of the room, carrying her up the stairs and into her bedroom, straight through into her en-suite. Gently, he settled her on the edge of her bath and her image reflected back at her from the mirror on the opposite wall.
“Wh-” She reached for her face. It was covered in lots of tiny nicks from the glass from the windscreen, some still bleeding, some already healing over. There was a larger slash across her left cheekbone, however, gross and disgusting as it slowly healed over.
“It will heal,” Stellan promised, catching her horrified expression. “You just take a little longer because you haven’t fed yet.”
“I can’t go to school looking like this.”
Stellan shook his head. “You should be all healed up by tomorrow morning.”
Eden watched him carefully as he set about running her a hot bath, pouring in oils and girly stuff she didn’t normally bother with. “It doesn’t even hurt,” she told him quietly.
He grinned at her. “It probably should a little because you’re not completely Blessed yet but…” His smile dropped. “You’re probably still in shock.”
Her eyes suddenly filled with tears. “I killed two people, Stel.” She’d killed two people and although she felt sick with it now, in the moment… she’d enjoyed the fight. She’d felt… alive… in a way she had never felt before.
Her brother’s face hardened and he crossed the room to close the door. Quickly, he returned to her, bending down to take her hands in his. Gently he took a wash cloth and began cleaning the blood off her knuckles. “You listen to me, OK. It was self-defence, Paradise. Self-defence. Those Neith were there to kill you, and you did what you had to do.”
“It’s not that simple.”
He tugged hard on her hands, drawing her gaze so that their eyes locked. “You’re the gentlest one of our kind I’ve ever known, Eden. You’re the last Blessed on this earth those bastards should have come after. They deserved what they got.”
They deserved what they got.
Did Lana? Did the red-headed woman in the basement, or those blonde twins from Ohio?
Where was the line?
“There’s no line, Stel,” she whispered.
Chapter Eleven. Love or Something like it
Over the next few weeks it felt like she gave up a little. Gave in, maybe. It was not like it mattered here anyway. Ryan had decided that they were moving after Eden’s Awakening Ceremony. The Neith knew where they were now and it was just too risky. So they were leaving. Leaving home. Leaving Salton. Leaving… leaving Noah. But she didn’t care… right?
Eden walked the halls of South Salton delivering death looks at anybody who bumped into her or dared to meet her gaze.
Didn’t they know she was a killer now?
“Oh look, it’s freak show without her freak mate.” Lucy Stevens smirked at her as she past her in the hall. That was the one drawback from the compulsion. The idiot no longer remembered to fear her. Eden curled her lip up in a snarl just as Lucy’s friend, Shawna Beaumont swatted at Lucy, a little frown furrowing her perfect eyebrows.
“Don’t be mean, Luce,” Shawna admonished, her lip-glossed mouth quirking up into a smile of apology to Eden. “Sorry.”
Eden looked her up and down, cataloguing the cheerleading uniform and the Gucci bag. “Did I ask for an apology?” She snipped. “Go suffocate yourself inside your Gucci, Barbie.”
Shawna flinched back like she’d been slapped and had to hold Lucy back from attacking Eden. Eden chuckled, feeling mean and bitter.
She turned and walked smack bang into a solid chest. His familiar citrusy scent teased the hunger.