"Please."
"Never." His grip lessened a little and a sort of sanity began to return with his touch.
Like before, she felt a slow, warmth building inside of her, a measure of control gained by his nearness. They gazed at one another for a long time, Eden huddled in his arms on the floor. She wasn"t aware of anyone else. Her eyes closed as he brushed her hair from her face. An affectionate gesture. Not something someone who was trying to kil her would do.
Unless they were s.a.d.i.s.tic like Teagan. G.o.d, Teagan. She hadn"t even thought about her cousin. She didn"t know if he was alive or dead or...
"Eden?" Cyrus spoke again.
Her eyes opened and the connection she felt to him slammed through her. Perhaps it was because of who he had been to her real mother, but al Eden wanted to do was let herself be enfolded in his arms, to let herself hide. But she could stil feel the soul behind her, slowly disappearing as the girl lay dying. She stil wanted that soul. She choked.
"Just let me go."
"No. I can help you, Eden." He shook her, as if trying to shake the words inside so they would gain meaning for her.
The tears wouldn"t stop now. They brimmed over her lids and soaked her cheeks, salty tears fal ing into her lips and rol ing off her chin. "No one can. I"m a monster, OK. I want her soul. I want to take her soul, Cyrus. If you don"t kil me, I"m gonna do it. I"m gonna take it."
"You just need to hold on, Eden," he begged, pul ing her closer, even as she tried to press away from him. She was too weak and he was too strong. He looked up behind her and Eden froze. She had forgotten they weren"t alone.
Cyrus felt her tense and leaned forward. She was shocked and amazed by the kiss he pressed to her forehead, her eyes bewildered when he pul ed back. "I can save you from this. You don"t have to be a soul eater anymore."
You don"t have to be a soul eater anymore.
You don"t have to be a soul eater anymore.
The words seemed to echo around the old warehouse, ringing in her ears over and over. Eden"s heart began to pound as she questioned what he could possibly mean by that statement. Did he mean he was going to kil her? He didn"t look like someone contemplating kil ing her...
"What... what do you mean?" She whispered hoa.r.s.ely, afraid to believe he actual y meant there was a way out of this that didn"t involve someone dying.
"There is a cure."
"There is a cure."
Eden burst out into huge, wracking sobs and he hushed her, pul ing her ful y into his arms, so her tears soaked his chest. She couldn"t calm down. She felt like she was hyperventilating. There was a cure. He said there was a cure. G.o.d, she so needed to believe that. Trying to grasp onto some control, Eden forced her sobs to subside so she could hear what this strange but familiar man had to say.
"I knew of two cases such as yours, Eden," he began quietly, stil rocking her like a child. "One was centuries ago.
A boy was born as one of the Unforeseen. Despite his guardian"s attempts, they couldn"t find a cure for the boy"s hunger and he took a soul and became a soul eater. A very powerful soul eater. It took many years but my brethren and I managed to hunt him down and kil him. It was the hardest kil I"d ever known for I knew his guardian wel . His guardian"s name was Darius, the oldest of our kind. There was much discussion on what would have likely cured the young man. Darius refused to let go of the matter and whenever he could, he researched, spoke with people, theorised with the brightest minds of our time. It was during an a.s.signment in Egypt that he spoke with a voodoo priestess. She told him she believed that blood was the key. The blood of someone from the child"s human bloodline would have saved him had he took it into his body. She theorised that he would have been reborn an Ankh." He sighed and looked past her again and this time Eden fol owed his gaze. The woman who had fought with him kneeled beside them. "Another child was born many years later. The child of a female Ankh, raped by a soul years later.
The child of a female Ankh, raped by a soul eater. Unfortunately the child"s mother was kil ed in battle when the child was a year old. But Darius and I stepped in and reared the child.
We spent years tracking down the Ankh"s human bloodline. The child was fifteen by the time we managed it. It was a miracle that we ever did. By then the child was craving souls, being driven mad by her need.
But we got the blood from her bloodline and we forced her it into her. It wasn"t pleasant; we had to make a crude syringe from reeds and beeswax to ensure the blood went into a vein."
"What happened?" Eden whispered, a kernel of something unfolding in her chest, light and painful y warm.
Cyrus gazed back at the woman and Eden"s gaze fol owed him. She was beautiful with rich dark hair and almond shaped eyes. "She took some kind of seizure and fel unconscious. We waited. She awoke some twenty four hours later." He looked down at Eden and brushed a thumb across her cheekbone. "Her eyes were no longer pale grey, but dark brown. Almost black."
She jerked and stared over at the woman with the dark eyes.
"Eden, this is Valeria," Cyrus introduced them as if they were at a formal dinner party. "Valeria was the child I spoke of."
"Oh my G.o.d," the words tumbled out of her mouth as she stared at this stunning and strong and healthy Ankh who had once been a soul eater. Like her.
"No one else knows this except a few of The Circle, our trusted kinsmen. Neith and soul eaters aware of the trusted kinsmen. Neith and soul eaters aware of the legends believe the Unforeseen who became Ankh died in battle. It would be dangerous for them to know the truth of Valeria; as it is dangerous that they know of you. Ryan Winslow was one such Neith who knew of the legends. He wanted a child who would bear a race of extraordinary soul eaters."
She felt sick at the mention of her father.
"I spent seventeen years looking for you. I am not giving up until you are saved." He stood up now, tugging her weak body to her feet. She swayed and both Valeria and he reached for her. Her eyes locked with Valeria"s. They were kind and understanding.
Kindred. "I found your bloodline, Eden. I found Merrit"s human bloodline and I"m going to take you to them. We"l make this right." His eyes shone now with tears as he cupped her face in his huge palms.
"You look so much like your mother."
She laughed; a hoa.r.s.e strange sob/laugh and fel into his safe arms.
Epilogue.
This Battle has Just Begun Eden stared wearily at the suitcase in front of her. Valeria was packing clothes Eden hadn"t worn yet into it. Clothes Valeria had chosen and Cyrus had bought. Clothes that probably cost a smal fortune. Although Cyrus had administered a drug to her that helped abate the hunger and made her feel somewhat normal again (at least not crazy anyway), Eden stil didn"t want to leave the house and none of the Ankh thought it was a good idea.
Cyrus" home was amazing anyway. It was huge. There was a swimming pool, a bowling al ey, tennis courts, a games room. A lot of things to help keep her mind off Stel an. Of course the first day she had slept and then the second day she had taken the drug for the first time and had slept some more. The third day she felt good enough to go for a swim and this was the fourth. Valeria had returned three hours ago with al these clothes. And now they were packing.
Her real mom"s human bloodline was a family who belonged to a group of Neith in Scotland. They were flying to Edinburgh in one day.
"So, how does this work again?" Eden asked softly, folding a real y cool t-shirt with The Clash on it into the suitcase. Valeria had great taste in clothes.
"How does what work?" the Ankh asked, ripping tags off a pair of black jeans.
"You should wear these on the plane."
She held them out to her. Eden took them somewhat bemused. She was glad Val was around. After what Cyrus told her she felt a little clingy of Val, needing to be close to someone who had gone through what she had. She was stil cagey of them al , despite how connected she felt to Cyrus, and she wasn"t sure she trusted any of them completely. But Val told her that al the paranoia and anger would go away when she completed the transition to ful - blooded Ankh.
"Wel do we have to tel these people about what"s wrong with me?" she grumbled, embarra.s.sed at strangers knowing her weird, repulsive and macabre personal business.
"Can"t we just like s.n.a.t.c.h one of them, stick a needle in them and take some blood?" Val snorted. "That"s your soul eater side talking."
Eden rol ed her eyes. "How do you know? I mean, how do we even know I have an Ankh side?"
"Because," Cyrus" familiar rich voice warmed Eden as he strol ed into the huge bedroom he"d given her. "You"ve demonstrated its presence."
"Uh, when?"
"Wel , the night of the Ceremony- She winced, not caring for the reminder of Stel an"s death. The pain of that wasn"t going to disappear with the transition that was for G.o.dd.a.m.n sure.
-you were in shock and yet your nature, your Ankh nature, compel ed you to tel me there was a human girl imprisoned in the bas.e.m.e.nt. Through al that you thought to save her."
Eden frowned. She had forgotten about that.
"Your fighting ability is more evidence. You fight natural y.
Of course you wil need training but the raw material is there." Eden grew excited at the mention of training. Cyrus told her there was so much she didn"t know about soul eaters; the truth about their mortality (what the hel did that mean?!), how to kil them etc. And so much to learn about being an Ankh. Eden was impatient to find out al Ryan had kept from her, and impatient to turn herself into a warrior who could take care of herself without help from anybody else. But Cyrus was adamant they get her through this first hurdle before he disclosed al the facts. She wasn"t happy about that, and a part of her questioned her tenuous trust in him, but in the end she needed to see this through.
"And then there is Noah"s account of things. He tel s me you often used your aggression to intimidate bul ies at school."
Eden grunted at Noah"s name. He was stil not forgiven.
He"d been hanging around because Cyrus insisted on it, but she stil wasn"t speaking to him and avoided him whenever he walked into a room. Every time she snuck a glance at him, the heartbreak she felt over losing his friendship, their bond, ripped through her like grief. She had enough of that to deal with. And she was stil pretty sure she"d kil his s.k.a.n.ky girlfriend if she ever got the chance, soul eater or no soul eater. Stel an was stil with her through al this. He always would be. She felt he deserved some kind of vengeance for what happened. To make matters harder to swal ow, while her loving brother had died, Cyrus told her, her vile cousin, Teagan, had gotten away. No one could find him. Fate was a heartless b.i.t.c.h sometimes.
We"d get on well, Eden thought wryly as Cyrus threw her a reproving look at her reaction to Noah"s name.
"You have to forgive him sometime." He gave her one of his serious, fatherly looks.
She had a feeling Cyrus was going to become pretty overbearing and over protective in the coming months. In a way it was nice.
But not when he was standing up for Noah.
Before she could reply, Valeria shook her head. "She does not need to do anything of the kind. If being angry at Noah is what she needs right now, then so be it. For now, al Eden needs to concentrate on is getting to Edinburgh and getting through the transition. We stil have a faction of Neith after her, remember."
Cyrus scowled but nodded. "Of course."
At the mention of the Neith, Eden"s hand trembled as she stuffed socks into a zipped compartment of the suitcase.
This Cosmina Arcos person, or whoever she was, apparently wasn"t giving up. It seemed she didn"t care how many Neith it took to kil Eden, she was determined to see it through. And there appeared to be enough Neith that agreed with her a.s.sessment of Eden"s existence to carry on the hunt indefinitely. They would have to be careful on this trip to Scotland, and be ready at a moment"s notice to defend themselves against attack. Word was also out that The Tribunal were hunting Eden and Teagen after discovering the mess at the Winslow home. According to Cyrus, the soul eaters had disposed of al incriminating evidence of their existence, including what they had discovered in the bas.e.m.e.nt. Now they were looking for someone to punish for the Winslow"s obvious crimes, and since Eden and Teagan were the only two left, they were the targets.
Just the thought of that and jet lag exhausted Eden.
A knock at the door stil ed them in their conversation.
Noah"s mom, Emma, came in carrying a tray of food and the drug Eden was taking.
Somehow she had managed to apologise to Emma for what she had done to her. They were al under strict command from Cyrus never to mention the compulsion again because it would make things worse for Eden with all Neith if word got out. Stil , she had felt she needed to say something. And Emma had been incredibly cool about the whole thing, including the two hundred bucks she"d stolen from her. In fact Emma was the only thing Eden liked about Noah. His dad Alain was a grumpy old man trapped in a young twenty something"s body, and he clearly didn"t trust her one iota (OK, so maybe she didn"t blame him for that). And of course Noah, himself, was of questionable character.
"Thanks." Eden smiled as Emma lay the tray down.
"You"re welcome. Nearly al packed?" She asked, gazing at the clothes strewn across the bed.
"I do not think this much clothing is necessary." Cyrus rubbed his jaw, looking it al over.
"How long are we going to be there?" Eden asked.
He shrugged. "I am unsure."
Emma grinned at that and began to leave. She threw over her shoulder as she opened the door, "Then maybe you"l need more clothes." Val smiled at the thought (the woman loved clothes) but Cyrus groaned. Eden found herself chuckling and was surprised by the sound. She stopped and gazed at her hands.
"It is alright to smile, Eden." Val reached over and squeezed her hand.
She looked at up at these two powerful warriors who had designated themselves her guardians. "Maybe I"l feel that way too sometime."
Cyrus raised his eyebrows, appraising the clothes. "I am confused. I thought al these clothes would bring a smile to your face but it seems I have been misinformed about teenage girls."
"Oh no." Eden pul ed the t-shirt he held out of his hands.
"These rate a smirk of pleasure."
"Ah good." He grinned now, something he didn"t do often.
It lit up his whole face. He was so handsome. She could see why her mom would have fal en for him. "I am worried that the jet wil not fly with the weight though." Yup. He had said "jet". The jet. Eden stil couldn"t get over how loaded Cyrus was.
They were flying into Scotland on his private jet. How surreal was that? He said it was for security purposes, and from al the talking on his cel he was doing, Eden gathered he had people in high places misdirecting where his jet was taking off for so that if anyone (Cosmina, Neith, or Tribunal) did successful y break anyone (Cosmina, Neith, or Tribunal) did successful y break through Cyrus" security, then they would end up heading for the wrong country. She was pretty sure she"d heard the word "Minsk" a couple of times.
She snorted at his joke and reached over for the drug on the tray Emma had left.
Unabashedly, Eden rol ed up her sleeve and administered it herself, the p.r.i.c.k of the needle barely registering. She felt her hunger whine inside her chest at the injustice. Sighing at its l.u.s.tful and stil very strong fight, Eden"s eyes flew between Val and Cyrus, thinking about al those human souls she was soon going to have to deal with. It was bad enough being trapped in a house with the delicious Michelin star souls of the Ankh, but she had a connection to them now and didn"t want to hurt them. She didn"t know any Scottish people from Adam.
Those were some seriously in danger foreign souls.
She sighed, exhausted just thinking about the struggle she was about to undergo.
"You think Scottish people are less tasty... "cause that would real y help me out." The End Read on for a sneak preview of Blood Past, book two in the Warriors of Ankh series...
Warriors of Ankh series...
Chapter One.
Divine Approval They were inside the non-descript rented Volvo barely two minutes, pul ing away from the Leuchar"s airfield in the tourist town of St. Andrews, when Cyrus" cel rang. He flipped it open and answered immediately, pul ing the car over to the side of the road. Eden absently took in the open country around them. She"d been instantly enamoured by the crisp fresh air of Scotland, and already used to the sometimes cold springs in Detroit, wasn"t bothered by the cool, grey day, or the threat of showers in the gradual y fil ing stomachs of the clouds above. Behind them, she heard the gravel shift as Valeria pul ed the Volvo she was driving in behind them. Glancing in the wing mirror, Eden saw both Noah and Val frowning.
It was then she realised she"d never heard Cyrus sound so reverent on the phone before. Who was he talking to?
"I do appreciate you coming," he said in a low voice and Eden p.r.i.c.ked her sensitive ears, hoping to catch the other side of the conversation. As if he knew, Cyrus leaned away from her, throwing her a look out of the corner of his eye.
"Yes." He nodded. "Alright. Where? No, that is fine, I have sat nav. Yes. Alright.
Thirty minutes." He snapped the cel shut and glanced at her with a thoughtful look.
"Who was that?"