Blood Will Tell

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 small 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 still 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 alley, tennis courts, a games room. A lot of things to help keep her mind off Stellan. 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 all 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 really 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 still cagey of them all, despite how connected she felt to Cyrus, and she wasn’t sure she trusted any of them completely. But Val told her that all the paranoia and anger would go away when she completed the transition to full-blooded Ankh.

“Well do we have to tell these people about what’s wrong with me?” she grumbled, embarrassed at strangers knowing her weird, repulsive and macabre personal business. “Can’t we just like snatch one of them, stick a needle in them and take some blood?”

Val snorted. “That’s your soul eater side talking.”

Eden rolled 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 strolled into the huge bedroom he’d given her. “You’ve demonstrated its presence.”

“Uh, when?”

“Well, the night of the Ceremony—

She winced, not caring for the reminder of Stellan’s death. The pain of that wasn’t going to disappear with the transition that was for goddamn sure.

— you were in shock and yet your nature, your Ankh nature, compelled you to tell me there was a human girl imprisoned in the basement. Through all that you thought to save her.”

Eden frowned. She had forgotten about that.

“Your fighting ability is more evidence. You fight naturally. Of course you will 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 hell did that mean?!), how to kill them etc. And so much to learn about being an Ankh. Eden was impatient to find out all 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 all 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 tells me you often used your aggression to intimidate bullies at school.”

Eden grunted at Noah’s name. He was still not forgiven. He’d been hanging around because Cyrus insisted on it, but she still 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 still pretty sure she’d kill his skanky girlfriend if she ever got the chance, soul eater or no soul eater. Stellan was still with her through all this. He always would be. She felt he deserved some kind of vengeance for what happened. To make matters harder to swallow, 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 bitch 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, all Eden needs to concentrate on is getting to Edinburgh and getting through the transition. We still 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 kill Eden, she was determined to see it through. And there appeared to be enough Neith that agreed with her assessment 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 all incriminating evidence of their existence, including what they had discovered in the basement. 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 stilled 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 all 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. Still, 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 all 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 all 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’ll 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’ll feel that way too sometime.”

Cyrus raised his eyebrows, appraising the clothes. “I am confused. I thought all these clothes would bring a smile to your face but it seems I have been misinformed about teenage girls.”

“Oh no.” Eden pulled 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 fallen for him. “I am worried that the jet will not fly with the weight though.”

Yup. He had said ‘jet’. The jet. Eden still 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 all the talking on his cell 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 successfully 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 rolled up her sleeve and administered it herself, the prick of the needle barely registering. She felt her hunger whine inside her chest at the injustice. Sighing at its lustful and still very strong fight, Eden’s eyes flew between Val and Cyrus, thinking about all 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 really help me out.”

The End