Then she saw it.
The flash of color in the trees up to her right.
“Shit!” she yelped in fright, slamming the car back into gear as movement exploded out of the trees. The car whined as she spun it into reverse.
Glass exploded, shards screaming in her ear as stinging bites attacked her body, the car rushing forward, green and darkness engulfing her as she was rocked and bumped.
Finally the car grew still and Eden blinked. A jagged hole was smashed in the windscreen, a huge rock on the passenger seat. Tree branches stuck in through the hole. Eden realized she’d careened off the road.
The realization had barely dawned when her car door was wrenched open. Eden skirted back from the large masculine hands that delved in to attack her, her legs flying out, sending the attacker crashing backwards into the trees. Scrambling over shards of glass that bit into her flesh, Eden fell from the car and rolled, drawing up onto her feet in one smooth motion. Five humans stood before her. Three men, two women. All armed. Daggers and swords. Like something out of Shonen Jump.
Is that a Samurai sword? Her eyes widened momentarily on one of the girl’s weapons.
Eden quickly checked her surroundings for other attackers. There was none. Just these five with their cocky, vicious smiles. Ryan’s words suddenly swam through her brain. These humans call themselves the Warriors of Neith. Their sole duty in life is to kill off the Blessed. “I know who you are,” she told them quietly, already calculating how the hell she was going to get past them to the mansion.
“Good.” One of the older guys nodded calmly. He was the only one not smiling. “Then you know why we’re here.”
Before she could even respond, one of the women shot a dagger at her. Eden dropped to the forest floor, hearing the hiss of the blade propel past her. She snapped to her feet in time to deflect the woman’s attack, her fist flying toward Eden’s face at amazing speed for a human.
A calm fell over Eden. Her reassuring body told her it would take care of everything. And it did. In one movement, she jerked back from the fist, grabbed a hold of the woman’s wrist with both hands and twisted her arm back and up, the snap of bone followed closely by the woman’s shrieking. Eden’s leg came up, her foot connecting with the base of the woman’s spine, her preternatural strength shooting through her muscles so that, with little effort, the female warrior flew through the air, past her fellow fighters.
Eden barely had time to question her body’s knowledge of self-defense when two more of the warriors attacked. She ducked and punched, her knee connecting with a stomach, her elbow with a nose. Blood slicked her knuckles, the sting of a blade sliced her upper arm. The two men were barely down when she caught sight of the samurai girl hurrying towards her. She spun out from the spot and ran at a thick tree trunk, her feet gripping the bark with ease before she used it to push off, her leg snapping out from the knee, her foot connecting with the girl’s head with a sickening thud.
Eden landed on her feet with no sound. Her breathing had hardly increased, although her heart was racing like a cheetah after a gazelle. Her eyes took in the warriors, three of them heaving to their feet.
Holy moly, Eden tensed. These guys were strong for humans.
Her eyes rested on the warrior girl she’d knocked unconscious and her hunger roared from within. It would be so easy to take her. So easy…
The screech of tires from the road was quickly followed by doors slamming. Caught off guard, the warriors turned warily, spotting Ryan’s goons scrambling down the embankment towards them. A look passed between two of the men and one of them turned tail and ran, flashing in and out of the trees like a viper. He was gone in an instant.
Ryan’s goons charged at the warriors who remained. The Neith abandoned Eden in the face of bigger opponents. She staggered back, watching the fight, watching the goons. They fought well but relied heavily on their strength rather than finesse. She glanced at her hands, covered in blood, remembering how she’d fought. She’d fought like those warriors. With grace and strategy. It made no sense. Eden shivered, biting back nausea. The crack of bones signaled the warriors’ demise.
“You OK?” One of the goons strode towards her, stepping over the body of the female warrior she’d kicked in the head.
Eden nodded numbly.
The goon grinned. “You can take care of yourself, kid. You killed two of them.”
Her heart stopped. “What?” Her lips felt numb.
The idiot kept grinning, his grey eyes bright with violence. “You killed the two women.” He pointed at the samurai girl. “See. Neck’s broken. Hey!” He laughed up at the other goon as he reached down for the girl’s sword. “Jenkins, this is real.” He lifted it up, angling it into the light that filtered through the trees. “I’m keeping this bad boy.”
“Come on.” Jenkins huffed towards them. “Ms. Winslow, get in the car. We’ll need to inform Mr. Winslow and have a clean-up crew head over here right away.” He tutted at the sight of her car. “That’s a goner for a while.”
Eden wanted to scream at them. They were acting so casually! She’d just killed two people! Didn’t they care?!
No. They don’t. They’re Blessed. No. What was it Ryan said the Neith called them? Soul eaters. Yeah. That’s it. They’re soul eaters.
Numbly, Eden ignored them and trudged up the embankment to their car.
Ryan was incensed by the news of the attack. He could barely look at her and was rushing around, ordering people about. From what Eden could tell they’d have the mess cleaned up in under half an hour. Teagan stood in the corner of the sitting room, grinning at her the whole time, his eyes devouring her. For once she was too numb to care. Celine and Stellan were out but Ryan had called them both to come back to the mansion. Eden wished Stellan would hurry.
“You fought them off, Eden?” Teagan asked with a smile in his voice.
She shrugged. No way was she telling them about the weird fighting skills in the woods. It was not like she trusted them or anything.
“This is a disaster,” Ryan muttered and then snapped his cell open as it buzzed. “Yeah? OK. Good.” He snapped it shut and pinned her to the sofa with his eyes. “They’ve cleaned it up and the car has been towed. I’ve got Jenkins picking up a rental for you.”