Blood Will Tell (Warriors of Ankh #1) (15 page)

Chapter Nineteen

Me, Myself & I

Eden, we have to get out of here. Can’t you hear the heartbeats all around, the heartbeats of such delicious pure
souls
? Oh Eden, Eden, get us out of here. We need to
feed
, Eden. Let’s take them, Eden. They deserve it, Eden. For Stellan. They took him from us, Paradise. They cut him apart and snuffed out his life without caring. Why should we care if we do the same to one of them? Get the blonde, the one who killed Stellan.

The hunger shredded her insides with its vicious claws.

Hmm, yes. The blonde. Smell the souls, Eden. We want them. Need them.
Need
.
Need
. Take.
Take
. Stellan. No.
Souls
.
Souls
. Pure. Stellan.
Need
. Want. Give in. Forget. Stellan. Hungry, Eden.
Hungry
. Take.
Take
.

Eden screamed, pulling at her hair, yanking strands of it from her scalp in her desperation. Her chest was burning with agony from the hunger, her heart weeping in pain from the grief and her mind wrestling with the sanity to deal with both together. Her nerves felt fried, as if there was too much blood and muscle and veins for her skin to contain. Her entire being bubbled beneath the surface, desperate to break apart, free.

She began to hyperventilate.

Sometime later, Eden awoke, her body aching from having passed out on the lumpy mattress in the basement Cyrus had put her in. He hadn’t wanted to. Or so he had said. And despite Eden wanting to trust him – no,
needing
to trust him - she couldn’t. She couldn’t trust anyone anymore. As the blurriness of unconsciousness faded, Eden struggled to sit up. She felt mildly better, although she could sense the hunger beginning to awake along with the rest of her body. She’d really thought she was going crazy before she collapsed. Maybe she already was crazy.

I wonder how long he’ll keep me here.

Eden gazed around at her dismal setting. At least Cyrus hadn’t chained her up.

And that will be his first and last mistake.
As soon as someone came into the basement, Eden was getting out of there. Even if she died trying.

Unfortunately she had to wait a while, and the longer she waited the hungrier and angrier she grew. Her grief for Stellan remained despite her reasoning that he probably had known the truth about who she was. It didn’t matter. She had known he had loved her. Would have died for her. And he had. He was gone because of her. Because of Romany. The grief was easier to handle when she contemplated revenge. So that’s what she did: she thought on the revenge she would one day exact. She didn’t care how long it took her, she would hunt Romany down and kill her exactly the same way the Neith had murdered Stellan.

Anticipation zinged in Eden’s blood giving her an energy she lacked from being hungry both for a soul and for actual food. When the lock on the basement door clicked and an unfamiliar warrior walked in with a plate of food and a glass of water, Eden was ready. She clocked the dagger in the pouch strapped around the hips of the female Neith/Ankh? Eden didn’t care which. She just took the opportunity. She didn’t know if they’d been watching, or what. Had they been expecting her to be so tired they didn’t worry about the chances of her getting past a warrior?

It was disgustingly easy.

She flew at the warrior, a blur of movement across the basement, her hand ripping the dagger from the warrior, whose reflexes were good enough to whip out of Eden’s path, but not good enough to retain the dagger. Eden slashed at the air in front of the warrior, who jumped back, the tray of food clattering to the ground, the glass smashing into pieces.

“
I don’t want to fight, Eden.” The woman held her hands up in the air defensively. She looked vaguely familiar with her auburn hair and cobalt eyes. “I’m Noah’s mother, Emma. We don’t want to hurt you.”

At the mention of Noah’s name, Eden’s eyes narrowed, not even bothering to be surprised that, like Alain, Emma looked barely ten years older than her son. How would Noah feel if she killed his mother, huh? Would he understand then? The unbearable guilt and emptiness. Would he get it then?!

She shook with indecision as Emma turned her kind eyes on her. They befuddled her. “Just hand me back the weapon and we’ll wait for Cyrus, and we can talk. Let’s just… all talk. I won’t hurt you, sweetheart.”

A pang of bitterness swelled in Eden’s chest at the endearment. No one had ever called her sweetheart before.

No.

She wouldn’t kill Emma. This wasn’t her fault.

Eden nodded, as if she were agreeing, and lowered the dagger. Emma’s shoulders seemed to sag a little in relief. Eden kicked out her leg, thinking the warrior duped. Two seconds later she was shocked to find herself flat on her back on the floor of the basement, Emma straddling her, holding her down with an amazing strength that belied her small stature. Wow, she’d underestimated the power of the Ankh.

Despite Eden’s attack, Emma’s eyes remained kind. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

The pressure on her wrists and body clamping her to the ground was immovable. There was no way she was getting out of here. Crap. What now?

Unless…

Eden’s eyes narrowed in thought. Did the compulsion work against the Ankh? She didn’t know. But it was worth a try right? She locked eyes with Emma. “No, you’re not going to hurt me.”

Emma’s face slackened but her eyes widened. She trembled as if she were fighting with herself. “I’m not going to hurt you,” she replied in the flat voice of one under compulsion.

“
Let me go, Emma.”

It took a minute, and Emma’s eyes seemed to shine with tears of disbelief, but she let go and stood up robotically. Eden jumped to her feet, still clasping the dagger in her hand. She gazed quizzically at the Ankh. If she didn’t know any better she’d say the compulsion worked but Emma was aware of it happening to her. “You’re going to let me go and not follow me.”

“
I’m going to let you go and not follow you.”

Not taking any chances, Eden patted Emma’s pockets and pulled out the key to the basement door. She felt a wallet and stepped around the warrior to stare down into her eyes. “You’re going to give me any money you have on you.”

Emma blinked and reached into her back pocket, pulling out a girly pink leather wallet that seemed at odds with the warrior. She rifled through it and pulled out a wad of cash. Eden took it, her eyes widening as she counted it. There was at least two hundred bucks there.

“
Thanks,” she replied and handed the empty wallet back. As she did, her eyes touched on the cool dagger pouch around Emma’s hips. She untied it, still amazed that the warrior didn’t even move, and strapped it around her own hips, sliding the dagger back into the pouch. Just in case. Eden took a step towards the door and then glanced down at her feet. Damn. She sighed and walked back around to stare into Emma’s eyes. “Take off your shoes.”

The half-boots were a little too small but Eden shoved her feet into them anyway.

She slammed the door shut behind her and locked Noah’s mother inside.

One down.

Stealth after that wasn’t really her top priority. She just wanted out of there. Eden raced up the basement stairs and out into a narrow hallway, the front door visible at the other end. She strode along it quietly, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

“
Hey!”

Eden whirled around to face a warrior she hadn’t met. She kicked out at him with her right leg and he wrapped his hands around her foot, twisting her towards him. Her body responded fluidly, her torso pushing up so her left leg flew at his head, her foot cracking against his skull. Her body turned through the air and she landed on the ground with the grace of a cat. She’d dazed the warrior but not enough. She never saw his fist move but she felt the impact of it connecting with her gut, the breath whooshing out of her as if she’d fallen from three storeys onto her back. The hunger roared at Eden to take him but she shook it off. She didn’t have time. She doubled over, as if she were in agony, and felt the warrior step closer. Her right hand flew up without even looking at him and her knuckles stung as they connected with his jaw. He stumbled and Eden straightened and delivered an uppercut with her left fist. The warrior’s grunt was followed by his knee slamming into her gut as he regained his balance.

She barely felt the impact of the blow this time, realising this man wasn’t nearly as powerful as Emma.

He was Neith.

For some reason that knowledge gave her confidence and strength.

She threw him a feral grin and lunged at him, using his own knee as a platform to spring up on, to deliver a deafening crack to his face with her left knee cap.

Eden jumped off of him just as he collapsed on the ground with a thud.

Barely out of breath, she turned and ran down the corridor. She was almost there. Almost there.

And then he appeared.

Sliding to a stop, Eden’s whole being flinched at the sight of Noah guarding the door. Her hunger screamed.

“
Eden.” He held up his hands just as his mother had. “Stop.”

“
I locked your mother in the basement,” she told him coldly, her fingers sliding down and brushing the handle of the dagger. Noah’s eyes flared at the sight of his mother’s weapon on her and she saw the brief flicker of panic in them. She snorted. “Don’t worry, she’s fine. I compelled her to let me go.”

Noah’s jaw dropped; an expression unfamiliar with his face. “You what?”

She shifted uneasily. “I compelled her.”

He shook his head. “Not possible.”

She shrugged, ignoring the disquiet that settled around her at the awed and slightly wary look he was now giving her. “What can I tell you.”

Immediately, Noah’s gaze drifted down so their eyes weren’t locked. Smart boy. Eden growled, “Let me go, Noah.”

Instead of acquiescing he walked slowly towards her. Eden refused to back up. “I can’t, Eden. Please just take a minute and think. You know we’re not trying to hurt you.”

A bitter scoff huffed out of her. “Oh yeah, I really got that when you murdered Stellan.”

“
Romany is being punished for that. Everyone had direct orders not to hurt Stellan, Eden. It was never supposed to happen.”

“
I don’t believe you.”

“
Eden-”

“
STOP SAYING MY NAME!” She screamed. It was a mistake. She heard the sounds of footsteps from upstairs and from the back of the house. She panicked.

One minute the dagger was in the pouch, the next it was in Noah’s stomach. He bowed a little as the weapon plunged into his belly, his eyes flaring in shock as they collided with Eden’s. The violet in them darkened to purple with disbelief.

Eden felt his warm blood trickle onto her hand and she gazed into his eyes with horror. What had she done
? Oh my God, what did I do?
She choked on a sob as she tugged the blade back out, the dagger slipping from her hands to the floor. It seemed to last forever that moment with Noah in the hallway. Two friends turned betrayers.

It was only seconds.

“
I’m a monster, Noah,” she whispered.

Seeing his shock dissipate and his strength return, Eden knew she couldn’t hang around any longer.

He was just reaching for her with bloody fingers when she blew right past him and out of the door.

Chapter Twenty

Running From You… or Me?

Eden was faster than even she had realised. She successfully escaped the rented house, running around the neighbourhood in circles for a while to throw off the warriors who had taken off after her. She wasn’t familiar with the town but she saw a sign that said
Denton
and knew it was just a town over from Salton. Surmising that the warriors would head over to the bus depot first to check on her, Eden decided to use the energy she had left and follow the highway back to Salton. She wasn’t going home. They would be watching. Anyway she didn’t think she could bear to look at the place where Stellan’s life had been taken.

Running through the woods was therapeutic in a way. Each pound of her foot and tremor through her leg somehow stomped the guilt, the grief and her hunger into the background. Her muscles were burning, like a screw that had been turned too tight, but she relished it. She even relished the swelling agony of Emma’s too small boots.

By the time Eden made it back to Salton and into town, she was sweating more than she had ever sweated in her life. She also looked insane in the pyjama bottoms and t-shirt. Ignoring the bewildered stares from passers-by, Eden headed to
Charlotte’s
, a thrift store Celine had refused to let her go into. It was bad enough Eden was obsessed with black, but at least it was designer black. It killed Celine if Eden bought something that cost less than a hundred bucks. She hated it when Eden wore t-shirts she got online for cheap.

Eden winced.

What an ode to her mother and father’s parenting skills that she felt nothing at their loss.

Then again, according to Cyrus, Celine wasn’t her mother and her father had raped her real mother just so he…

Eden squeezed her eyes shut. Actually, Cyrus hadn’t gotten around to the reason why Ryan had deliberately raped an Ankh. To be honest, she no longer cared. She flexed the hand that had wounded Noah. She was desensitized to horror.

Limbs shaking, Eden strolled into
Charlotte’s
and began raking through the racks. Quickly she picked out a t-shirt, sweater, jeans, socks, sneakers and a raincoat. The t-shirt and jeans were kind of cool but everything else was a little blah. Not like it mattered. She hurried over to the counter where Charlotte, a thirty-something single mother sat in a stool reading Stephen King’s
Misery
.

“
That’s my favourite,” Eden told her quietly, pointing at the book as Charlotte glanced up.

Charlotte smiled, putting it down. “Gosh, I didn’t hear anyone come in I was so engrossed.”

“
The movie’s good too.”

“
Yeah?” Charlotte’s smile grew. “I’ll have to check that out. Well, what have we here?” She began ringing the clothes through and suddenly clocked what Eden was wearing. “Honey, you OK?” she asked quietly, her eyebrows coming together in concern at the sight of Eden in her pyjamas.

“
I’m fine,” Eden tried not to snap. “How much?”

“
Hmm. OK, that’s thirty eight dollars.”

“
Wow.” Eden smirked and handed over forty dollars. Talk about a bargain.

Charlotte’s fingers brushed hers as she took the money, the warmth shooting like an arrowhead of fire into Eden’s chest and setting the hunger ablaze. A growl erupted out of Eden as she snatched mindlessly for Charlotte’s wrist.

“
Hey!” The shop owner shouted in fright, trying to tug out of her grasp. “What’s your problem?!”

The struggle only taunted the hunger and Eden laughed; a throaty sick laugh that didn’t seem to belong to her. As her left hand wrapped around Charlotte’s throat and pulled her towards Eden, her torso collapsed over the counter and her face a breath from Eden’s, Eden felt as if she were watching it play out from a great distance. As if she wasn’t really a part of the attack.

Charlotte choked, her face turning a reddish-purple colour, and Eden fought with the hunger to relax its grip on her throat.

“
Please,” Charlotte croaked.

Stop it!
Eden screamed at herself, struggling with this need that had grown so powerful and out of control.

You’ll feel better. You’ll be stronger. You won’t feel so crazy anymore.

Her eyes focused on Charlotte’s mouth.
Maybe just a taste. I wouldn’t have to kill her.

Yeah. That would be OK.

Eden leaned forward, her lips grazing Charlotte’s as this pull ripped apart inside of her, this vortex of power, reaching up through her like fingers of sticky black tar; anything caught in its mass would be pulled back down inside of her.

This was it.

This was it.

The door to the shop chimed and she heard laughter. It took more strength than Eden knew she had to let go of the thing inside of her and shove it back down from whence it came. She shook uncontrollably as she relaxed her hold on Charlotte.

“
Nothing happened. I brought clothes over. Paid for them. I told you to keep the change.”

“
Nothing happened. You brought clothes over. Paid for them. You told me to keep the change.”

Eden let go just as a voice called behind. “Hey Charlotte, you OK?”

She turned to face the worried young guy and girl, who stood staring at Eden suspiciously. They were dressed in ragged t-shirts and jeans, their hair long and scruffy. Very clichéd thrift store shoppers.

“
Of course,” Charlotte replied brightly. “How are you guys?”

“
Good,” the guy replied, still eyeing Eden warily.

Eden gave him a blank look that seemed to make him uncomfortable. She turned to Charlotte and grabbed the paper bag of clothes she’d just bought. “Thanks.”

“
Oh, you’re welcome, honey.”

In store, all Eden felt was fury that she had been interrupted, that she hadn’t been able to finish what would end this feeling inside her. She was feeling like a frickin’ schizophrenic and was sick of it.

But as soon as she hit the bus depot and was inside the ladies bathroom changing into her clothes, reality came crashing back in. She sagged against the tiled wall and closed her eyes, breathing in and out to control the wave of nausea that hit her. She’d done it again. She had nearly killed someone. She imagined someone finding Charlotte’s dead body, the Stephen King novel she had been reading discarded, never to be finished by her. All the small things in life that made it what it was and Eden had nearly taken that from someone. Horrified, she struggled to breathe. This time it had been close.

Too close.

You’re going to have to do it sometime, Eden. Or you’ll die.

“
Then maybe I’ll die,” she said out loud. Like a crazy person.

The hunger laughed at her.
Easy to have those kind of convictions when you’re alone with no human
souls
tempting you.

Ignoring the monster within, Eden finished up in the bathroom and bought a bus ticket to Detroit. It was all she could really afford and at least in the city she could hide.

The bus ride itself was not fun. It wasn’t packed with people, but she ended up curling up into a ball in the back of the bus, taking as few breaths as possible and holding her hands over her ears so she couldn’t hear the humans. So they couldn’t tempt her.

In an effort to control the need, she resorted to masochism, calling on the image of her brother’s death, using the grief to numb her to everything else.

***

It was not like she knew Detroit well. She’d been there shopping with Celine a few times but since Eden didn’t have any friends it wasn’t like she’d had the chance to head into the city with a group of kids and hang out. She had been once with Stellan when he was checking out the University of Detroit. They had taken a walk up E Jefferson Avenue and then took a right to Rivertown, the Warehouse District. They had had lunch at pretty cool café. It had been a good day. Just the two of them hanging out.

The bus had dropped her off near Wayne Community College but she knew that was near Detroit University so she marched towards the University main campus and tried to retrace her steps. The Warehouse District was busier than she remembered, so Eden huddled into her raincoat and ducked her head, trying not to look at anybody or feel the blissful pull of their souls. Instead she kept walking towards the riverside. The wind had been blowing this crisp clean smell of the river over her but that soon began to fade to this metallic, industrial smell the further she walked. As an elderly woman, who smelled of lemons and molasses, passed her, Eden froze at the warm feel of her soul. Deciding it best to tune out her senses, Eden breathed through her mouth and continued on. She gazed around at her. None of this would work. It was too…nice. So she kept walking. She walked for a while, not knowing where she was really. But finally she found it. It stood alone on its block.

The building was perfect. An old red brick abandoned warehouse with broken windows and faded lettering along the top. She could just make out the word
Trading
.

Breaking in was easy. She snapped the padlock across the double doors near the back and pushed the solid iron door open. Her ears picked up the skittering of rats, as her foots echoed around the shell of a warehouse. Shattered glass, naked steel and waste decorated what was left of the place. It stank of rust and foul garbage… and old smoke. She wandered around it, staring up into the high rafters. There were holes. She’d have to watch when it rained. To her surprise she found a damp and worn sofa tucked behind one of the pillars. There was beer cans and cigarette stubs littered around it. She guessed someone had been using this place as a hangout before it had been locked up.

Eden heaved a sigh and sank down into the sofa, looking around.

It would do.