But that look he’d given her. The disdain. The disappointment. She hadn’t imagined that.
Who was she kidding? If Noah ever found out the truth about her, she’d be dead to him. And that was the one thing she didn’t think she could make it through.
Slanting him a glare from the corner of her eye, Eden tried to concentrate on her breathing exercises. Damn this human who had come into her life and made himself so important to her, had made coming to terms with her inner monster that much more difficult to bear.
“Let’s go back.” She sighed, not daring to look at him.
He watched as Romany slowly stirred, sliding her hand along the sheets, searching for him. Noah knew she was awake as soon her hand came away empty. She grunted and brushed her hair off her face, her eyes sweeping the room until they found him sitting on the sofa across from the bed. Romany groaned and shuffled up into a sitting position, holding the sheet over her.
“What’s wrong?” she murmured, her sleepy eyes adjusting to the light, as dim as it was.
“Couldn’t sleep.”
“Tell me,” she prompted quietly and Noah sighed, relaxing back into the sofa.
He hadn’t been happy when she’d turned up at his door again last night. It had been a long week, and Eden and his relationship had grown quickly estranged again. He had been waiting for his moment to tell her the truth, but he’d messed up that day in the car and now he couldn’t get her alone at school and she refused to meet him outside school again.
Romany helped him relax for a while. She was good at that.
Like Alain, Noah had always taken himself a little too seriously. It was hard to see unless you knew him really well because he was the youngest of the Ankh and was determined to remain so. He kept up with pop culture better than any of them and he enjoyed the freedom of his youthful looks. But when it came to assignments… Noah was tough and unwavering and often hard on himself.
He’d met Romany three years ago when she was eighteen. There was a particularly brutal soul eater terrorizing downtown Chicago and Noah had been sent after it when a group of Neith had failed to destroy it. Romany, a member of that group, refused to be thrown off the hunt. This soul eater had killed her father and she wanted its blood. So Noah had let her tag along and had discovered she was tough, funny and… hot for him. As soon as the soul eater was taken out, they had started their relationship. It was casual and they’d agreed it wouldn’t be monogamous because Noah had never really wanted anything else but their casual relationship was the longest one Noah had ever had. Romany was straightforward and easy to talk to. However, he had the feeling this assignment with Eden was bothering her. She’d never turned up when he was on assignment before. Let alone twice.
“Eden’s pulling away again,” he told her quietly. “I haven’t had time to explain to her… well about everything. I need to explain so Cyrus can make his move. But I’m worried that we’re going to be too late.”
Romany leaned forward, her dark eyes pinning him to his seat with intent. “You need to remember who you are, Noah. What your duty is. If you are too late, and there is a possibility you’ll be too late, you have to do what you were born to do. You have to take her out, and with her the repulsive son-of –a-bitch who sired her. Remember who you are. And remember what she is.”
Noah glowered and looked down at his feet, searching for the answer.
Boston, Massachusetts 1947
“Mother, why am I so different?” Noah Valois asked softly, as she tucked him into bed. With a child’s uncanny intuition, even at seven years old Noah felt something within himself - within his parents - that was unlike everyone else. Not to mention the strange friends mother and papa received at the house at least once a week. Or the odd manner his parents would hurriedly arrange a sitter for him before disappearing for entire days at a time. Yes, indeed, the Valois’ were not like other people.
Emmaline Stewart Valois gazed somberly at her son. His huge violet eyes stared back, clear and expressive, and brimming with more intelligence and awareness than a seven year olds should.
It was time.
She nodded at him, and then motioned for him to budge over. Lithely, she settled beside him on his bed and tucked him into the side of her body.
“Shall I tell you a story, Noah?”
“Will it answer my question?” he insisted, and Emma fought hard to keep from smiling. Her Noah was such a precocious little thing. She just knew the older he got the more of a handful he was going to be.
“It will,” she promised gravely.
Seeming satisfied with her answer he flicked his wrist regally, indicating she should go ahead with her tale. A throaty chuckle sounded from the doorway and Emma glanced up to see her husband leaning against the doorframe of their son’s room, his large, intimidating figure a reassuring presence. Alain Valois. Her beloved. A force to be reckoned with. Her dark eyes questioned him. Should I tell him? they asked. Alain nodded.
“Papa.” Noah straightened up. “Have you come to listen to mother’s story?”
“Non.” Alain shook his head ruefully. “I came to bid my son goodnight.” Like a cat, he sleekly crossed the room and placed a gentle kiss on Noah’s forehead, all the while brushing a loving hand down Emma’s arm.
“Bonne nuit, Papa,” Noah replied softly, a contentedness entering his voice that was solely for his father.
Once Alain left, Emma settled Noah back into the crook of her arm. “Alright, where were we?”
“We hadn’t started yet.”
“Ah, I see. Well let’s begin, shall we. This story begins many years ago, thousands of years ago in the sun-drenched, dry lands of the Egyptian Pharaohs-”