In reply, Stellan gripped Lana’s chin lightly and held her gaze. Her body slackened immediately, entranced by him. “Eden’s going to hang out with us for a while, and you’re not going to talk.”
“Eden’s going to hang out with us for a while, and I’m not going to talk,” Lana repeated.
The sight of the girl completely defenseless made Eden slightly uncomfortable. This was the side of her brother she liked to pretend did not exist. “Stellan,” she said hesitantly, trembling against the doorframe as the hunger grinned from within.
He clucked at her wary tone and stood up from the bed. “Eden.” He gave her a patient smile. “You promised you’d let me try and convince you.”
She nodded numbly, glancing at the girl again, who sat frozen. She almost didn’t look real. Weirdly it made Eden feel a little better.
“I’m not asking you to feed.” Stellan shook his head reassuringly, and a little of her unease dissipated. “You know I can’t. But watching might change your mind… plus, you should know what to do for your Awakening Ceremony. I promise you’ll want this, Paradise. When I’m done, you’ll need this.” He sounded so reasonable. So loving.
She shivered, eyes locked on Lana who gazed up at Stellan like he was the second coming. Eden’s hunger scratched at her, like a dog at the door begging to be let in.
Stellan followed her gaze and smiled. “Watch and learn.” Slowly, he lowered himself back to the bed. “Come closer, Eden.” He threw out at her without taking his eyes off Lana.
The sickening, cowardly urge to turn and run back to her room fought with the need to please Stellan. To please the hunger. Shuffling forward, Eden obeyed them both.
Smiling softly, Stellan leaned forward to press what, in any other circumstances, would have been an incredibly romantic kiss on Lana’s lips. The girl sighed into him and reached up to clasp his head to kiss him harder. Eden felt her cheeks heat and lowered her gaze. A husky chuckle rumbled up from the back of Stellan’s throat. “Easy, Lana.” He pulled back. “Eden.”
Her gaze flew back up to meet his eyes. “I’m still here.”
“Keep watching,” he insisted. “You grab their head,” he instructed, clasping Lana’s head between his two hands. The girl buckled into him. “Now when I’m done, Eden, I’m going to have to compel her. To compel someone, you merely lock your eyes on theirs and command them. Easy as-”
“I know how to compel someone,” Eden interrupted.
He grinned at her in surprise. “Oh really?”
“French teacher,” she mumbled.
His eyebrow quirked and he threw her a dopey, knowing smile.
Eden shrugged. “OK, math teacher too.”
Laughing, Stellan nodded. “So you know how to compel. Good.” He turned back to the freshman. “Lana,” Stellan whispered like a lover. Eden felt a frisson of excitement rush through her as he tipped her chin and leaned over, his lips inches above the girl’s. At the hitch in his breath his grip tightened and his grey eyes bled of their color to a terrifying white. Only the disturbing black of his pupil remained. The temperature in the room dropped as Eden’s heartbeat increased; need, thrill and revulsion pulsing through her veins like cowardly confused worms. Her brother’s face grew taut, hardening over like marble, and as he began to suck Eden thought she would die with shame. Lana’s eyes flashed wide in terror and pain, her mouth falling open in silent screams as pieces of her soul were drawn out of her and into Stellan in tendrils of a blue smoke-like property. Veins popped up all over Lana’s face, her skin as transparent as tracing paper.
Slowly the grey returned to Stellan’s eyes and his skin began to soften to normal. Abruptly he stopped, throwing Lana away from him, and the girl lay back on the bed, eyes still slammed open, mouth still shrieking no sound as her skin gradually returned to normal. It was a horrifying sight. Eden began to fight the hunger, the lust for the soul feeding trumped by her disgust now that it was over and this girl…
“Stop her,” Eden demanded hoarsely, reaching forward and then drawing back. Stellan heaved again, his hands trembling as he tried to compose himself. “Stop her,” she said a little louder, dying to scream. He made no move. “Stop her!” she cried, fighting back tears. Finally processing how upset Eden was, Stellan cursed and leaned over Lana, pulling her to him. As soon as he focused on her eyes, Lana fell limp.
“You’re OK, Lana. You didn’t feel a thing.”
“I’m OK. I didn’t feel a thing.”
“You’re going to get into your car and go home. You were never with me today. You’ve been at the library, studying for the American Literature final.”
“I’m going to get into my car and go home. I was never with you today. I’ve been at the library, studying for the American Literature final.”
Eden stared at her as she stood up, smoothing down her dress as if nothing had happened. She strode towards Eden, and just before she brushed past her, Lana turned her head a little to look up at her blankly. Eden stifled a gasp, her fingers curling into fists. A darkness flickered in the depths of Lana’s eyes like a black flame, cruel and useless in light places. As the girl left them, the sound of her heels clacking against the polished stairwell and foyer, followed by the click of the door shutting softly behind her, Eden began to shake, thinking on how confused Lana’s family and friends would grow over the coming days when they realized the girl they knew had changed irrevocably.
“Paradise.” She felt Stellan’s hand on her shoulder and flinched away from him, glaring. His eyes widened in hurt. “Eden, don’t. This is what we are.”
Demons. Evil. Soul sucking bastards who took a piece of someone from them forever and left a little monster behind in them. They were cowards. Eden shook, a hot anger flushing across her skin. She was a coward. A coward who stood by and watched her family do it. Her brother, whom she loved. How could she love someone who could do this?
“I’d die, Eden,” Stellan choked hoarsely, as if he’d read her mind. “First, I’d go insane, and then I’d die. Would you want that?”
She raised her head slowly and their eyes locked. His shone with tears and love… for her. Like always. How many times had he hugged her close when Ryan had been especially cruel? How many times had he blown off something with his friends just so she wouldn’t be alone on a Saturday night? How many times had he told her he loved her, and protected her from Teagan, from their parents finding out the truth about her? She was the one that wasn’t normal here, not Stellan. And still he loved her.
When he put his arms around her, she fell into them, the fear and guilt over what had just happened churned in her chest like too much oxygen.