She didn’t even spare her a glance. “Like you give a shit.”
Ignoring her mother’s outraged yelling, Eden flew up the stairs to her bedroom. In three steps, she slammed her door, turned her iDock on full blast and flopped onto her bed. Contemplating the ceiling didn’t help her work through how out of control she had just gotten. She’d almost killed a student. That was taking anger management issues to a new level. Afraid of herself, Eden sucked back tears.
Not much time past before her bedroom door blew open and the hurricane itself strolled in. Ryan was an intimidating figure in his three thousand dollar suit. He was just one of those ‘men’ who reeked of money and elegance. Of power. Of danger. It was that perverted violence simmering under his surface.
“Your mother called me at work.” He sat down on the edge of her bed, his hands clasped together between his knees. He didn’t look at her. “You want to tell me why I’ve had to come home from work to deal with my truant daughter?”
Eden snorted. “I’m kind of surprised you bothered your ass.”
Ryan’s head snapped around at her and Eden flinched back into the bed at the lethal look in his eye. “Don’t speak to me that way, young lady. Your mother might put up with that language but I certainly won’t. Now what the hell are you doing home from school?”
Without knowing what possessed her to, Eden found herself telling him about Lucy, although she cut out the stuff about Amber and just said the girl was trying to bully her. To her utter surprise, Ryan was smiling when she finished.
“It’s only natural.”
Eden grimaced. “To nearly kill a girl at school?!”
Her father grinned even more wickedly, the dimple in his cheek flashing just like Eden’s did when she was in a good mood. “No. To lose control, to feel irrational anger. You’re ready for the Awakening Ceremony, Eden. Your body knows that, it’s trying to tell you that, and you have to do something before you lose control over it.”
Maybe that’s why she’d told him. Because she needed someone to confirm what she really didn’t want to know. “OK,” she whispered.
His face brightened. “Really. You’re agreeing to it?”
“I don’t want to kill anyone.”
“Well you’re going to have to kill someone, Eden,” his voice hardened.
She shivered, knowing he spoke the truth. “I know. I mean I don’t want to lose control.”
He nodded. “For once you sound like my daughter.”
Eden threw him a disgusted look and he laughed. “You can hate me all you want. I never asked for your love. I do ask for you loyalty, however, and doing this Awakening Ceremony will prove that to me.” He heaved a sigh and pinned her to the bed with a demanding look. “I also ask discretion from you. What happened today cannot happen again.”
“I compelled her to forget.”
“Yes. But someone could have happened upon you attacking that girl. And there are people… who would realize what you are.”
Eden frowned, pulling herself up into a sitting position. “What do you mean?”
Ryan nodded, as if he were coming to a decision. “I never told you before because there was no need, but there are a group of people, humans, who hunt our kind.”
Suddenly her heart was begging to jump out of her chest. “What? Wh… how…?”
“These humans call themselves the Warriors of Neith. Their sole duty in life is to kill off the Blessed. They call us soul eaters,” he spat out the phrase. “Filthy. They have no understanding of us, no respect. They think themselves superior to us and they stop at nothing in their mission to wipe us out.”
Eden couldn’t believe what she was hearing. How was it even possible she had gone seventeen years not knowing there were warriors out there who would kill her in a second? “Does Stellan know? Should I take this seriously? Can they hurt us?”
“Yes. Yes. And yes.” Ryan nodded, his expression severe. “I’m telling you about these men and women now because if we are not circumspect, they will find us, and they will hunt us, and they are strong enough to do damage.”
Realization suddenly dawned. “The goons? The bodyguards… you sent them after me because of these Neith guys, right?”
Ryan nodded and stood up. “You need to be aware of them, Eden. I hope now that you are, you will be more careful.”
She jerked her head in a vague affirmative, numb from the shock of discovering that there were people out there who thought the Blessed so evil they actually killed them for a living. “Wait…” She glanced up at Ryan, a flare of panic in her chest. “Warriors of Neith? As in the goddess?”
His jaw clenched tightly. “Yes.”
“As in… created by her?”