Finally, Stellan grinned down at her. “This is no way to celebrate your birthday. Come on.” He settled her on her feet, grabbing her hand. Gently he began dragging her downstairs. Stellan took her through the back rooms and out onto the huge balcony that descended into twin stairs, leading out onto their land at the back of the house. By the time he had chased her through the gardens he had her laughing and giggling again. He swung her up into his arms as he caught her at the end, near their mother, Celine’s, prized fountain and turned her to where her gift awaited.
“Happy Birthday, Paradise.”
At the sight of the pony, she squealed in childish delight.
The nightmares that began that night lasted longer than the pony.
Chapter One
Not Your Average ‘Nobody’
Salton, Michigan
Her English teacher droned on in the background but Eden Winslow wasn’t really paying attention. She was gazing in frustration out of the classroom window, out through the school parking lot, past the front gates and at the library across the street. Two guys in sunglasses sat on the steps, one reading a newspaper, the other sipping coffee. Their faces were totally familiar.
Her dad really thought she was stupid. He was sooo paranoid.
She nearly snorted out loud as she watched the two men trying to look inconspicuous. It was a dull, cloudy day outside… maybe they should have reconsidered the sunglasses. Morons. Jeez, her dad actually thought she had no idea he had bodyguards tailing her back and forth from school and wherever else she went.
Noah thought she should talk to him about it. Get him to stop.
Noah didn’t know Ryan.
Mmm. Noah. She felt her chest constrict with the hunger.
“… career week in a few weeks and it has inspired me.” Miss Travis grinned excitedly at the class. Eden groaned, even though she was kind of glad Travis had distracted her. Still it never boded well when Miss Travis got inspired. And to be inspired by the upcoming, dismal career week? Joy. “I want all of you to write a short, autobiographical piece about your lives, as though you’re eighty years old and have already lived it. What will stand out about your life when you’re old and wrinkly and have time to contemplate it?”
The screams, Eden thought, a cold sweat breaking out across the top of her skin.
“Well, we all know how Andie’s going to end up.” Maria Roth smirked at the shy girl across the aisle from her. Andie immediately turned bright red, her eyes widening with panic as everyone turned to stare. “In some freakshow for mutes.”
The class tittered at the dig until Miss Travis hushed them. Eden barely registered her admonishing the girl. She was too busy shooting daggers at Maria. Everyone picked on Andie because she was painfully shy. Sure, Eden reckoned the girl should probably, like, talk to a therapist about her problem, but still… bullying someone with a crippling fear of being the center of attention was just sick. And Eden knew a lot about sick and twisted.
“Well.” Eden shifted in her seat, her strange, pale grey eyes slanted narrowly on Maria. “With your family’s history it’s safe to say we know how your biography is gonna go… something about drug abuse, becoming a crack-whore, breaking a record for most accumulated sexually transmitted diseases, and either OD’ing under some fat, rutting, married taxi driver, or from tetanus poisoning from the ‘I ain’t a bore, I’m a whore’ tattoo you had slapped on your ass – you know, to improve the view for the clients.”
And that was the reason Noah was her only friend.
Maria lunged at her and Eden braced herself for attack. She and Maria were both about five feet eight, but Maria was solid while Eden… wasn’t. It wouldn’t matter. Eden had her mom and dad’s genes, and thus their preternatural strength.
Miss Travis dived in between them before Maria could get to Eden’s hair. She’d seen Maria in fights before and the bitch always went for the hair. As Miss Travis pushed Maria back into her seat, Eden reached up to pat her head instinctively. She didn’t think much of herself but her hair she liked. It was thick and black as tar, and fell to her waist in a shiny silk curtain that other girls gazed at enviously. No bitch was touching her hair.
“Miss Winslow!” Miss Travis spun on her, her eyes sparking furiously. “You will report to this classroom after school!”
Sure, Maria makes a jab and gets told to shut up; I make one little crack-whore joke and I get detention.
Another reason she didn’t have any friends. People just didn’t like her.
It was probably the whole ‘Blessed’ thing. She gave off vibes.
Yup, it was true. No matter how much Eden tried to get her head around it, she couldn’t quite believe she was one of the bad guys.
Eden had been aware of the screaming that came up from the basement of her parent’s mansion for as long as she could remember. It only ever happened when someone opened the huge iron door to her father’s private room. The terrified, exhausted cries for help would rip out through the open door to haunt Eden. It had fallen to her brother, Stellan, to explain. She had been six years old, he only nine, as he held her close and told her a story of the gods of ancient Egypt. It was a story he’d had to tell a couple of times more later on because she hadn’t fully grasped it then. Now she knew that because some Pharaoh’s wife, Merneith, had manipulated the goddess Bat into helping her take revenge against the man she loved (the Pharaoh - her brother, ugh!) and the mistress he loved, the Blessed had been born. And Eden was one of them.
“When the hunger awakens in us, Eden, we’ll have to do what mom and dad do and feed off human souls. It’ll make us even stronger than we already are, and we’ll never get sick.”
It had never occurred to her then to ask about the screaming – what exactly did it mean? She’d assumed it was a part of the soul-taking. There was so much more to it than that in her house, as she came to realize on her ninth birthday. Her parents had never exactly been the loving kind. Celine, although always careful of her, was just… indifferent. Ryan was overprotective (hmmph, that didn’t even cover it) and he had a temper. But he liked to be kept updated on Eden’s life. It wasn’t love, not like Stellan (who always had time for her), but it was something. Her parents were usually too wrapped up in one another - they loved one another with a violent, jealous intensity, and there just wasn’t enough room to love their kids. Having Ryan show a little interest now and again was something Eden clung to. For instance, he never missed a birthday. So when Celine told Eden on the morning of her ninth birthday that Ryan had a business meeting, Eden had been so disappointed she’d turned around and headed back to her room. That’s when she’d heard the screaming from below...
…She remembered how the nightmares had come that night, of the woman begging her for help, her father’s vicious face screaming into her own, dripping blood and gore. Nothing but Stellan could keep the nightmares at bay, which he did, rushing to her room to shush her so her parents wouldn’t hear how traumatized she had been by her findings in the basement. She was one of the Blessed. The torture and killing of a human shouldn’t affect her as much as it did. But Stellan protected her, keeping it from their parents. And now… no matter how much she wanted to fight it… she was getting hungry.