Blood Will Tell (Warriors of Ankh #1) (6 page)

She waited as the student peed and then washed her hands, slamming out of the bathroom.

Then reality sunk in.

She had set out to take a soul.

I set out to kill.

She was just so angry. So angry at everything and everyone.

“
Crap.” Eden began to hyperventilate, covering her mouth with her hand as her body began to sob involuntarily. She wheezed, trying to draw breath.

I almost killed her. I almost killed her.

“
I have to…” she blinked past the blur of tears in her eyes and numbly reached for her backpack. She had to get out of there.

“
Eden, what on earth are you doing home?” Celine came out of one of the sitting rooms just as Eden’s foot hit the first step on the staircase.

She didn’t even spare her a glance. “Like you give a shit.”

Ignoring her mother’s outraged yelling, Eden flew up the stairs to her bedroom. In three steps, she slammed her door, turned her iDock on full blast and flopped onto her bed. Contemplating the ceiling didn’t help her work through how out of control she had just gotten. She’d almost killed a student. That was taking anger management issues to a new level. Afraid of herself, Eden sucked back tears.

Not much time past before her bedroom door blew open and the hurricane itself strolled in. Ryan was an intimidating figure in his three thousand dollar suit. He was just one of those ‘men’ who reeked of money and elegance. Of power. Of danger. It was that perverted violence simmering under his surface.

“
Your mother called me at work.” He sat down on the edge of her bed, his hands clasped together between his knees. He didn’t look at her. “You want to tell me why I’ve had to come home from work to deal with my truant daughter?”

Eden snorted. “I’m kind of surprised you bothered your ass.”

Ryan’s head snapped around at her and Eden flinched back into the bed at the lethal look in his eye. “Don’t speak to me that way, young lady. Your mother might put up with that language but I certainly won’t. Now what the hell are you doing home from school?”

Without knowing what possessed her to, Eden found herself telling him about Lucy, although she cut out the stuff about Amber and just said the girl was trying to bully her. To her utter surprise, Ryan was smiling when she finished.

“
It’s only natural.”

Eden grimaced. “To nearly kill a girl at school?!”

Her father grinned even more wickedly, the dimple in his cheek flashing just like Eden’s did when she was in a good mood. “No. To lose control, to feel irrational anger. You’re ready for the Awakening Ceremony, Eden. Your body knows that, it’s trying to tell you that, and you have to do something before you lose control over it.”

Maybe that’s why she’d told him. Because she needed someone to confirm what she really didn’t want to know. “OK,” she whispered.

His face brightened. “Really. You’re agreeing to it?”

“
I don’t want to kill anyone.”

“
Well you’re going to have to kill someone, Eden,” his voice hardened.

She shivered, knowing he spoke the truth. “I know. I mean I don’t want to lose control.”

He nodded. “For once you sound like my daughter.”

Eden threw him a disgusted look and he laughed. “You can hate me all you want. I never asked for your love. I do ask for you loyalty, however, and doing this Awakening Ceremony will prove that to me.” He heaved a sigh and pinned her to the bed with a demanding look. “I also ask discretion from you. What happened today cannot happen again.”

“
I compelled her to forget.”

“
Yes. But someone could have happened upon you attacking that girl. And there are people… who would realise what you are.”

Eden frowned, pulling herself up into a sitting position. “What do you mean?”

Ryan nodded, as if he were coming to a decision. “I never told you before because there was no need, but there are a group of people, humans, who hunt our kind.”

Suddenly her heart was begging to jump out of her chest. “What? Wh… how…?”

“
These humans call themselves the Warriors of Neith. Their sole duty in life is to kill off the Blessed. They call us soul eaters,” he spat out the phrase. “Filthy. They have no understanding of us, no respect. They think themselves superior to us and they stop at nothing in their mission to wipe us out.”

Eden couldn’t believe what she was hearing. How was it even possible she had gone seventeen years not knowing there were warriors out there who would kill her in a second? “Does Stellan know? Should I take this seriously? Can they hurt us?”

“
Yes. Yes. And yes.” Ryan nodded, his expression severe. “I’m telling you about these men and women now because if we are not circumspect, they will find us, and they will hunt us, and they are strong enough to do damage.”

Realisation suddenly dawned. “The goons? The bodyguards… you sent them after me because of these Neith guys, right?”

Ryan nodded and stood up. “You now need to be aware of them, Eden. I hope now that you are, you will be more careful.”

She jerked her head in a vague affirmative, still too numb from the shock of discovering there were people out there who thought the Blessed so evil they actually killed them for a living. “Wait…” She glanced up at Ryan, a flare of panic in her chest. “Warriors of Neith? As in the goddess?”

His jaw clenched tightly. “Yes.”

“
As in… created by her?”

“
Yes.”

Clutching her stomach to hold down the nausea, Eden looked away from Ryan. God, they were so evil a goddess had created a race of humans to take them out.
Awesome.

“
Eden?”

“
What?”

“
I’m glad you’ve agreed to the Ceremony. Trust me… when it’s over… this… whatever this bizarre human thing you’re going through is… it will disappear forever. All this… unnecessary pain you’re feeling… you won’t have to deal with it anymore.”

She watched as he turned on his heel and left the room. That had almost been an actual conversation. A very sick and twisted conversation, but one nonetheless.

Her phone buzzed.

Where are you? Everything OK? N.

Hot tears brimmed over her eyelids. She’d agreed to the Ceremony. Which meant…

No more Noah.

Chapter Seven

You and Me, Dude

“
It has been a few days now,” Cyrus sighed down the other end of the phone line.

Noah winced at the reproach in his sigh. “It’s not like I’m not trying, Cyrus, but if I push her now, I might not get her back.”

“
If you
do not
push her now,
we
might not get her back.”

Noah exhaled heavily. It was Friday tomorrow and still Eden was avoiding him like the plague. In any other hunt it wouldn’t have been a problem. He’d have gone in aggressive and had a hold of his prey in record time. But with Eden he felt he needed to tread carefully. She was going through a traumatic time right now, and pushing her to talk to him when she was so clearly afraid, might ruin their friendship forever.

“
You are becoming too involved, Noah,” Cyrus softened, his understanding worse than the recrimination.

You’re one to talk.
“I’m not too involved. I’m just trying to be careful.”

“
No. You are concerned about losing her trust. Well that is something that will probably occur, so it is best you resolve yourself to that outcome. Right now, I am concerned about losing
her
. If she has broken away from you, Noah, it can only mean she has decided to go ahead with the Awakening Ceremony. We cannot let that happen. Do what you must to get through to her.”

Noah groaned inwardly as he flopped back on his bed. Cyrus was right. He’d effed this one up. Got too close. Too attached. “Of course, Princeps. I’ll fix this.”

“
Good. Alain would like to speak with you.”

He brightened a little. He hadn’t spoken with his parents in a few weeks except for a couple of text messages from his mom.

“
Noah,” his father’s heavily accented voice murmured in his ear and his whole body relaxed.

“
Hey, dad. How are you? How’s mom?”

“
Good. Missing you. We did not think this assignment would take so long.”

“
I know. I had to take my time. Build trust.”

The line was quiet for a moment and Noah could hear his father moving, a door closing in the background. Finally Alain sighed, sounding as weary as Noah felt. “Cyrus has been keeping me updated on your progress.”

Noah didn’t like his tone. That tone had always signalled a lecture. A lecture that somehow managed to make him feel seventeen instead of seventy. “Yeah?”

“
I was never keen on this, Noah. I wanted what was best for Cyrus, what would make him happy, but I’ve never been sure of this creature, this girl-”

Noah flinched at the disdain in Alain’s voice and unexpectedly found his hands curling into angry fists.

“
-but for Cyrus I would agree to almost anything. He’s a good man. But now my son is caught up in this girl’s life; acting like a friend, tip-toeing around her feelings. I’m worried you grow too attached to something that you shouldn’t.”

His cheeks felt flush with anger.
‘something’?
“Dad, don’t you trust me?”

“
Of course, but you are still young, Noah. Still easily-”

“
No. Think on Valeria. Cyrus was right. He’s seen this before. I can back up his claims now, OK. I’m not duped by a clever soul eater. Eden is a messed up, confused kid who deserves a chance to get the hell out of a world she should never have been born to.”

His father remained silent for a while. “She’s still one of them, Noah.”

“
Not if I can help it.”

Noah heard the familiar sound of his father growling unhappily. “Fine,” he snapped.

“
Does mom feel this way too?” Noah squeezed his eyes shut, pressing his fingers into the sockets as if to stem an imaginary headache. Ankh didn’t get headaches. But they got pissed off pretty easily.

“
No,” Alain bit out. “Emma thinks we should trust your instincts but I’m still-”

“
Maybe you should listen to mom.”

“
Maybe you should remember it is rude to interrupt. I swear every time you go on assignment as a teenager you turn into one.”

Noah snorted. “That’s kind of the point, dad.”

He grumbled. “Alright. I better go. But be careful, son.”

“
Always am.”

But as Noah ended the call, he gazed at himself in the mirror, a look of mockery curling his upper lip. How could he guarantee anything to anybody in this situation? Nothing had gone to plan so far. Eden had turned everything upside down. And then there was the added pressure of how important this was to Cyrus.

OK. Cyrus was right. He had to get his game face on.

***

It was sneaky and underhand but Noah couldn’t think of another way. He stood with the door to the janitor’s closet open a crack, waiting on his plan unfolding. As he waited, a fake note from the principal’s office had found its way to Mrs Sorenson’s Business Studies class. Eden Winslow would then be told the principal wished to see her. She’d have to walk this corridor to get to the school office.

There she was.

Noah’s heart picked up at the sight of her and he deftly ignored his reaction to her. Her eyebrows were furrowed in a frown of consternation, clearly wondering why the hell she’d been called out of class. He held his breath, waiting for her to come closer, to nearly pass. He studied her for a moment. She was looking a little thinner, easily noticeable on her tall frame and with her hair pulled back tight off her face in a long ponytail. Noah smiled as his eyes wandered downwards. Over a long-sleeved black shirt, Eden was wearing the
Killers
t-shirt he’d shrunk in the wash. Stupid, but it gave him hope that this would go his way. He couldn’t lose her.

Just as she past the door he snapped the door open, shot his hand out and wrenched her into the closet, closing the door with a quiet click. All in seconds.

“
What the hell? Noah, you scared the crap out of me!” Eden hissed, her warm breath tickling his throat. It took a moment but his eyes adjusted to the dark and he began to make out the shape of her, trapped inches from him in the tiny closet.

“
Sorry, but it seemed to be the only way I could have an actual conversation with you.”

She gasped into the dark. “You wrote the note?”

He grinned. “Yup.”

He winced as she slapped his arm in retaliation. “Dude, I was freaking out wondering what the hell I had done.”

For once Noah was glad to hear her call him ‘dude’. “Well if you wouldn’t turn tail and run every time you see me I wouldn’t have to resort to such measures.”

“
Whatever.”

Drawing on his skills of manipulation, Noah pushed anxiety and hurt into his words. “No, no whatever. OK. Eden, come on, what did I do?”

He saw her head drop, her eyes trained on the floor. “You didn’t do anything,” she replied quietly. “It’s me. I’m just… going through a rough time. And Ryan doesn’t really want us hanging out anymore.”

Noah wasn’t sure he believed that or not. He was kind of under the impression Ryan would like Noah to push Eden over the edge with her need, with her hunger for him. Then again if Ryan had grown suspicious of him he
would
ban Eden from seeing him. Noah didn’t like that possibility one iota. If Ryan knew who he was, they’d have to move fast.

He took a moment, his arms crossing over his chest, brushing Eden’s skin. A frisson of tingles and heady heat was quickly ignored.

Nah, if Ryan knew there was an Ankh in town he’d have the whole Winslow family on the move.

“
I thought you didn’t give a crap what your dad thinks?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know anymore.”

Oh no. oh no no no no no. Noah shook his head. No way was he losing her. He grabbed a hold of her arms, jerking her closer so her head shot up. In the dim light he could make out those pale eyes, staring straight up into his. “Eden, we’re friends. OK. We survive whatever crap is thrown at us here because we have each other. Whatever you’re going through, don’t shut me out. Life would kind of suck without…” He shrugged, trying to appear like a bumbling embarrassed teenage boy. “Well without you. So… I dunno… if you don’t want to hang out, you gotta tell me,” he snorted, like he knew he was making an ass of himself.

It worked.

He felt Eden’s hand wrap around his wrist; felt the tension in her body. “It’s not that. You’re my friend, Noah. You and Stellan. You’re my only friends.”

Noah winced at the mention of Stellan, the other huge complication in this. If he had it his way, Eden would hate all her family and would happily choose Noah and Cyrus. But the situation was not that straightforward. There was Stellan, Eden’s big brother. Eden loved him completely. And from what Eden had told Noah, Stellan adored Eden. That was a problem. That was a huge problem.

He shrugged it off. He could only deal with one thing at a time.

“
So, can we start hanging out again, or am I going to have to drum up weird and wonderful ways to make you stop avoiding me?”

Eden took measured breaths like Celine had shown her last night. After nearly taking out Lucy in the library, Ryan had ordered Eden to sit with Celine an hour or two every night to learn some mental and breathing exercises that would help her fight the hunger until the Awakening Ceremony. Stuck in such close proximity to Noah was torture but the exercises helped a little. As did his charmingly awkward attempt to tell her, her friendship meant a lot to him. Eden had felt this awful pang in her chest at the words, mentally berating herself for being so callous with his feelings. Noah always came off so cool, like nothing could touch him. She’d thought he might be bothered by her avoiding him but that he would eventually just give up. Even though she knew that it would have been so much easier on them all if he
had
just given up, Eden couldn’t help but feel a little psyched that he’d gone to so much effort just to get her to talk to him.

She bit her lip, thinking it over. Her heart fluttered as his scent flooded her insides, making the hunger yawn and bat at it, like a kitten at a mouse. She closed her eyes, pushing his scent back out of her. After a moment the trembling in her hands ceased.

Still, she felt the familiar heat of his presence, could make out his expectant wicked smile. God, she missed him. She missed how easy it was to be with him; how sitting in total silence with Noah was the only time she didn’t feel alone.

Maybe I can keep seeing him. I just have to be strong for the next few weeks. After the ceremony I’ll be able to be around him no problem. And it’s not like he knows what I am. It’s not like he can condemn me for my nature.

No. She would do enough of that for the both of them.

“
OK,” she breathed, feeling the sadness drain out of her with the words. “But for now, we can only hang out at school.”

Eden saw the outline of his smile. “Sounds good to me.”