At least she wouldn’t have to endure school runs with Celine.
The front door blew open and the familiar footsteps pounding across the foyer to the sitting room made her feel a little better. Stellan burst into the room, his eyes blazing with fury. And then they settled on her and his whole body slumped towards her.
“Jesus!” he cried, reaching for her, his hands cupping her face. “What the hell?” His eyes roamed over her features, a glower darkening his complexion.
Eden blinked. “What?”
“It will heal.” Ryan shrugged
“What will heal?” she asked frowning.
Stellan looked so worried. “Paradise, have you looked in the mirror?”
She shook her head.
Stellan threw Ryan a disgusted look. “You could have at least helped clean her up.”
Their father’s mouth twisted into a look of mockery. “Why would I bother when I knew her knight in shining armor was only minutes away?”
Ignoring him, Stellan slid his hands under her, heaving her up easily into his arms. Eden didn’t argue as he strode out of the room, carrying her up the stairs and into her bedroom, straight through into her en-suite. Gently, he settled her on the edge of her bath and her image reflected back at her from the mirror on the opposite wall.
“Wh-” She reached for her face. It was covered in lots of tiny nicks from the glass from the windscreen, some still bleeding, some already healing over. There was a larger slash across her left cheekbone, however, gross and disgusting as it slowly healed over.
“It will heal,” Stellan promised, catching her horrified expression. “You just take a little longer because you haven’t fed yet.”
“I can’t go to school looking like this.”
Stellan shook his head. “You should be all healed up by tomorrow morning.”
Eden watched him carefully as he set about running her a hot bath, pouring in oils and girly stuff she didn’t normally bother with. “It doesn’t even hurt,” she told him quietly.
He grinned at her. “It probably should a little because you’re not completely Blessed yet but…” His smile dropped. “You’re probably still in shock.”
Her eyes suddenly filled with tears. “I killed two people, Stel.” She’d killed two people and although she felt sick with it now, in the moment… she’d enjoyed the fight. She’d felt… alive… in a way she had never felt before.
Her brother’s face hardened and he crossed the room to close the door. Quickly, he returned to her, bending down to take her hands in his. Gently he took a wash cloth and began cleaning the blood off her knuckles. “You listen to me, OK. It was self-defense, Paradise. Self-defense. Those Neith were there to kill you, and you did what you had to do.”
“It’s not that simple.”
He tugged hard on her hands, drawing her gaze so that their eyes locked. “You’re the gentlest one of our kind I’ve ever known, Eden. You’re the last Blessed on this earth those bastards should have come after. They deserved what they got.”
They deserved what they got.
Did Lana? Did the red-headed woman in the basement, or those blonde twins from Ohio?
Where was the line?
“There’s no line, Stel,” she whispered.
Chapter Eleven
Love or Something like it
Over the next few weeks it felt like she gave up a little. Gave in, maybe. It wasn’t like it mattered here anyway. Ryan had decided they were moving after Eden’s Awakening Ceremony. The Neith knew where they were now and it was just too risky. So they were leaving. Leaving home. Leaving Salton. Leaving… leaving Noah. But she didn’t care… right?
Eden walked the halls of SSH delivering death looks at anybody who bumped into her or dared to meet her gaze.
Didn’t they know she was a killer now?