Shades of Blood (14 page)

The color of blurry flesh flashed before her eyes and pain exploded across her face from her nose. The room tilted and her breath whooshed out of her as her back slammed against the mat. The back of her head smacked against the ground and bounced up. Her eyes watered as she tried to focus, warm liquid dribbling out of her nose. She blinked and looked up at Tobe. Tobe who
’
d laid her out with one punch. Eden groaned and wiped the blood from her nose, wincing as the broken bone began to knit itself back together. She cracked it back in place to move the process along, hissing at the blast of stinging, sickening pain that shot up her face and into her sinuses. She gasped and pushed herself up on her elbows. Tobe looked down at her triumphantly. As the nausea subsided, Eden noticed the softening around Tobe
’
s eyes. She eyed the Neith sardonically. “Feel better?”

Tobe nodded and reached a hand out to help her up. “Actually yes.” And then she made a face. “Plus, it
’
s harder to be mad at you when you
’
re in my face.” She flexed her hand. “Or my fist rather.”

Eden rolled her eyes, letting her haul her to her feet.  She pulled up the hem of her shirt, using it to clean the blood off her face. “Did I get it all?” she wrinkled her healing nose.

Tobe nodded. “Yeah. T-shirt
’
s ruined though.”

Eden waved her off. “I have a million of them.”

With a yawn, Tobe headed over to one of the benches to sit down and Eden followed her.

They were silent a moment.

“I really am sorry, you know.”

“I know.” Tobe shook her head, tears pricking her eyes. “I just needed someone to be angry with.”

“I get that.”

“I guess I only have myself to be angry with for letting Mum and Dad be taken though.”

“You didn
’
t let them get taken. And you saved Cam
’
s life.”

Tobe grunted. “What
’
s left of him.”

“We
’
ll get his soul back.”

“Another promise?” Tobe asked bitterly.

Eden winced.

“Sorry,” Tobe whispered. “That was a crappy thing to say.”

“Cyrus is working really hard to find them.”

“I know.”

They were silent again and then Tobe cleared her throat, turning to her now with a sad smile. “You and Noah seem really close now.”

Eden shrugged, trying to be all nonchalant when in fact her insides had turned to mush just thinking about him. “We are.”

“Does that mean you traded in the old v-card then?”

Groaning, she shook her head at her. “You
’
re as dirty as he is.”

Tobe chuckled, a low sound that warmed Eden. “I
’
ll take that as yes.”

“You do that.”

She snorted and then threw her a wicked half-smile. “Is he as good as he looks?”

Eden slapped her arm and Tobe laughed, brushing her off. Just when Eden was sure she wasn
’
t going to dignify that question with an answer, she found herself wetting her lips in memory. “Ooh yeah.”

Tobe smirked. “There
’
s a surprise.”

“Yeah, I know, I know, he used to be a manwhore so he should be good right.”

“You said it.”

“Whatever. He
’
s a reformed manwhore.”

“That he is. Every time I see you two together in the hallways he
’
s got his hands on you. It
’
s kind of sickening actually.”

“Oh yuck it up. You
’
re just jealous.”

“I am,” Tobe admitted, the levity in her voice giving way to sorrow. “My boyfriend only
remembers
that he
’
s supposed to care about me.”

Horror flooded Eden and she glanced at Tobe out of the corner of her eye, understanding washing over her. “You and Cameron? You
’
re together again?” Last time she checked Tobe and Cameron were secretly pining after one another. They had dated before Eden had even known them but had broken up when Tobe had heard through the grapevine that Cameron supposedly thought it was like dating family to be with her since they
’
d known one another for so long. When Eden discovered the person who
’
d told Tobe Cam said that, her suspicions had started to grow, especially watching the way Cameron
’
s eyes followed October
’
s every movement. That person had been one of the bitchiest, annoying irritants Eden had ever had the displeasure of meeting - Shona. And Shona had had it in for Tobe, convincing Eden even more that Cam and Tobe had been split up by a devious little shrew.

“Yup. Took your advice, asked him about what Shona said. You were right, it was all BS. We were together and happy until all hell broke loose.”

Eden nodded. “I get that.”

“Do you?” Tobe wondered, incredulity in her voice.

Needing someone to upload on, to turn to, to finally talk about what was really going on, Eden cleared her throat, her heart pounding just at the thought of saying it out loud. “Do you remember me telling you about the girl, Romany, that killed Stellan?”

“Yeah. She was Noah
’
s ex-girlfriend, right?”

“Exactly. Well…” she blew out a breath, her hand sliding across her tummy unconsciously as butterflies awoke with a vengeance inside of her. “Cyrus has recruited her to help find the rebel Neith. She
’
s with your Councilman as we speak.”

Tobe was silent for so long Eden finally looked over at her. Her blue eyes were narrowed with confusion. “Why would he do that to you? Surely he knows you
’
ll kick her ass if you ever see her again?”

“If you could see Teagan again… wouldn
’
t you want to do more than kick his ass for what happened to Mhairi?”

“I
’
d want to kill him,” she clarified. And then her eyes widened at Eden
’
s implication. “Eden, you can
’
t. She
’
s Neith.”

“That
’
s what everyone keeps saying.”

“I can
’
t believe Cyrus is doing this to you. Tempting you like this.”

“I think it has more to do with Darius than Cyrus.”

Tobe
’
s eyes widened. “Jeezo. The big guns huh? Well… I get why you
’
d want to kill her but you can
’
t.”

Eden smirked at that. Tobe
–
ever so very straightforward. She
’
d missed her. “I
’
m glad you
’
re talking to me again.”

Tobe grunted. “You kill Romany and I might be the only one talking to you.”

A throat clearing had them twisting around to look behind them. Cyrus stood in the doorway, a frown wrinkling his forehead. Obviously he
’
d heard that last sentence.
Well… he can take that anyway he wants
, Eden thought bitterly.

“I came to tell you the news,” he said quietly.

Eden tensed and felt Tobe
’
s eyes on her, as if she knew too that Eden wasn
’
t going to like this news… whatever it was.

“McLeish and Romany are on their way to the mansion. Noah just picked them up from the airport.”

It was like a cannon ball had fired right through her knocking a massive hole in her gut. Her breath caught in her throat.

“Crap,” Tobe whispered hoarsely.

I
’
ll Always Have You

Everyone was already in the room with
her.
Eden could hear the rumble of Cyrus
’
rich, deep voice, McLeish
’
s distinctive Scottish brogue answering him. Adrenaline coursed through Eden and she glanced down at the dagger in her hand. When Cyrus had told her McLeish and Romany were on their way to the mansion, that
Noah
had been the one to pick them up, she
’
d felt something break inside. These people were supposed to care about her and yet they played nice with the person who had taken something so precious from her. The steel of the blade shone in the bright lights of the foyer, her thumb pressed against the now warm wooden handle. The knife was a punyal someone had left in the training room. Probably Emma. She had a thing for small daggers. Tobe had followed Cyrus out of the training room to join him waiting on her Councilman
’
s arrival and Eden had told them quietly that she
’
d be up in a minute. A minute had turned into forty minutes. Finally, pulling herself together, she
’
d moved to walk out of the training room. The punyal had caught her eye and without knowing what she had planned for it, Eden picked it up.

The sound of a familiar, hated voice caught hold of Eden and her chest constricted at the memories.

“Stellan!” She reached out for him, her eyes widening as the sword came towards the back of his head. “Stellan, noooo!” she screamed.

With only the memories controlling her, Eden yanked open the double doors to the main lounge, ignored the eyes that turned her way and searched the room for the owner of the voice. Like it was fated, Romany stood apart from everyone, her back pressed to the mini-bar. Eden flicked her wrist back, eyes blazing, and let loose the dagger. It spun with ferocious speed, whistling through the air, missing Romany by two inches before slicing through a bottle of scotch sitting on the shelves built into the walls behind her. The sound of breaking glass turned into yells and curses. Romany stood pale. But she hadn
’
t flinched.

Eden felt a tug on her upper arm and finally jerked her hate-filled eyes away from Romany to glare up into Cyrus
’
face.

His features with tight with controlled anger. “An inch closer and I might have thought you meant that,” he hissed.

She wished she
’
d had the balls to kill her in front of everyone but the fear of what Cyrus and Noah would think had stopped her. Instead Eden had opted for trying to scare the utter crap out of the evil skank.

“Two inches more and I would have,” Eden snapped back, tugging her arm from his hold.

“That was awesome.” Tobe laughed, a tight, hard laugh that had everyone but Eden spinning around to glare at her. She lifted her hands in mock defense. “What? It was!”