Eden grinned. Yup. She was definitely going to like this girl. “Gotcha. I like your style, October.”
“Call me Tobe.”
“Tobe it is.”
“So since you've decided I'm not a complete idiot, will you trust me to take you shopping? You really do need some colour injection.”
Eden shrugged and looked at Cyrus. “We already bought clothes.” Valeria smiled. “You can buy more.”
Cyrus raised an eyebrow at that but seemed to decide not to argue.
“OK then,” Eden conceded. “But no pink.”
“Cool. No pink.” Tobe nodded. “Maybe we can go to the hairdressers when we're out. When you're training and fighting, long hair can be a pain in the arse. Plus you'd look good with it short.”
“No!” Noah bit out and everyone, including Eden, stared at Noah for the vehement outburst. He glared back at them all. “What? She's not cutting her hair.” Eden scowled at his propriety tone. “I'll cut my hair if I want.”
“So you're going to cut your hair?”
“If I want.”
“You're going to cut your hair? Your hair? You threatened to castrate Justin Snider when he shut the homeroom door on it.”
“It's my hair; you have no say in what I do with it.”
He sighed, throwing her a look that said ‘you're such a child'. He got up from the table and slapped his napkin down on his plate. “Thanks for breakfast, Alison, appreciate it.”
“You're welcome.”
Noah nodded and then pinned Eden down with one last look. “You're not cutting your damn hair.” She glared at him as he strode out of the dining room. The front door banged shut behind him as Eden wondered where on earth he was going.
“So?” Tobe drew her attention back to her, her eyes glittering with excitement. “Are we cutting your hair?”
Eden fingered the ends of her long dark hair and sighed glumly. “No.” Cyrus made a choking sound beside her and she glanced up to see him covering a smile.
“Traitor,” she mumbled, which only made him laugh.
At the warm sound Eden found herself melting as the room suddenly grew extremely peaceful.
Cyrus' laughter was rare and comforting. Val scrutinised him, her eyes slightly wide with what Eden could only assume was surprise and amazement. She turned those dark eyes of hers to Eden, a small smile drawing her lips apart.
Val looked grateful.
Eden flushed, observing Cyrus from the corner of her eye. So many unbelievable things had happened to her lately. But being the person that could bring a little laughter and happiness back into Cyrus' life was definitely the most astonishing.
Right then and there Eden promised herself she would try to live up to his expectations.
Chapter Eight
Obsession… for Evil:
The Eau de Toilette from Hell
Licking the girl's blood from his fingers Teagan looked down at the stillness of her body with a sense of satisfaction, the copper bitterness of her life force just a cherry on top to the pure soul that settled through his body like he**in in the bloodstream. It was a surreal feeling, like good food and sex wrapped up in a neat package that tempered the beast within. His body hummed with the euphoria of it all, and he smiled as he reached out to place two fingers against her neck. No pulse. She was still warm though. He ran his hands down her body one last time, a ringmaster memorising the latest addition to his dead menagerie.
Done with the nameless girl, Teagan slid off the bed in the hotel room and wandered into the bathroom. He took a quick shower, washing her off of him, and dressed in his usual black slacks and white shirt. After rolling up the sleeves, he searched the bedside cabinet for his cigarettes and wandered out onto the balcony to light up. He inhaled the tobacco and blew out a stream of smoke, staring out over the city of Detroit. Just as quickly as the euphoria had come, it began to disappear as his thoughts inevitably drew back to Eden.
It was a damn shame what had happened to his Uncle Ryan. If there was one person in this world he actually liked and respected it had been Ryan. He had taken Teagan in when five Neith had hunted and killed his parents; he had taught Teagan the kill, gloried in the overwhelming power that came with stripping one of those weak humans down and taking everything from them. Ryan had taught Teagan to treat a human like a three course meal. For starters you enjoyed terrifying them, hurting them, cutting them, inflicting pain. The main course was humiliating them. Stripping them bare, taking their innocence, making them vulnerable and causing them shame. Raping them was the most gratifying as it caused both physical and emotional hurt. And then there was dessert. The grand finale. Eating their souls. It was such a high. First the foreplay and then the sex. Beautiful. He might never have discovered the addiction of the ritual if hadn't been for Ryan. Yeah, his uncle had been a genius. He'd also taught him how to cover his tracks, play it safe. Although personally, Teagan thought Ryan took it all a bit too far considering all they had to do was compel someone to believe anything they wanted. For instance, Teagan would compel the hotel security to give him the tapes of him staying at this hotel and then he'd compel management to delete him from their booking system and their own memory. When they found the girl murdered in the hotel room they'd blame Detroit's new serial killer.