Teagan grinned at her and sat up, tossing the only teddy bear she owned between his hands. It was a panda bear. She’d had a little of obsession for them when she was eight and Stellan had surprised her one day with the bear. Her parents had not been amused, but Stellan hadn’t cared about their opinion and that had meant a lot to her. She’d kept the bear in pristine condition ever since. Seeing it in Teagan’s hands made her want to rip his throat out. But then… everything he did made her want to rip his throat out.
“Hello to you too, Babe.” He winked at her.
“Ugh. Don’t call me babe. And get out.” She crossed her arms over her chest and willed him to leave with the power of her glare.
Teagan stood up and instinctively Eden wanted to step back. He was about Noah’s height, a little shorter than Stellan, but just as broad. His pale eyes ran the length of her body, slowly, measuring, trying to own her somehow just with that look. She shivered and he smirked. “Ryan sent me to talk to you about the Awakening Ceremony.”
Eden scoffed, “He actually thought you’d be the one to convince me to do it?”
“Eden, Babe, you gotta do it sometime.” He bit his lower lip and narrowed his eyes. It was a practiced expression that Eden knew worked on all those girls he destroyed. Sure Teagan was good looking, but Eden reckoned you only needed a little bit of intuition to know there was something off about the guy. Seriously off. “I mean what’s the hold up? Are you worrying about killing someone, because I can assure you that you’ll feel better once it’s over?”
“Oh yeah, like you ever felt bad about killing someone.”
This time when he stepped towards her, Eden did take a step back. She knew Teagan had been using the basement for his own perversions for the last few years. He was as sick in the head as Ryan. Eden thanked God Stellan denied that repulsive side of his nature.
“No. I haven’t.” Teagan smiled. “But then that doesn’t make me the freak here, Eden. No that would be you. Look… your daddy is getting a little impatient.” He stopped now, inches from her, her eyes level with his throat. “You know Ryan listens to me,” he reminded her of her father’s favoritism as he brushed a hand down her cheek. Eden flinched back and Teagan snarled, gripping tight to her chin and jerking her head back, forcing her to meet his eyes. “You play nice and I might buy you a little time.”
She felt the bile rise in the back of her throat. The disgust must have read on her face because his grip tightened. “Play nice?”
His eyes flashed, the way they did during a feeding, and he slid the pad of his thumb down her cheek and to her mouth. It felt like little bugs crawling all over her flesh. “A little appetizer before the main course perhaps…?”
Teagan was referring to the insane fact that her father had promised Eden to Teagan when she turned eighteen. Never mind the fact that they were first cousins or that it was you know… the twenty first frickin’ century! She had no say in the matter apparently.
Well, she had some say…
Eden bit down on his thumb, piercing through flesh. She tasted the coppery bitterness of his blood as he cried out and pulled back. “Over my dead body,” she hissed, wiping at her mouth.
There was no surprise when Teagan reached for her, viciously tearing the collar of her shirt as he tried to haul her towards him. The surprise came when Eden exploded in impotent rage. She kicked up between his legs, inciting a loud bellow of pain from him, and then she shoved him with all her might. Teagan shouldn’t have budged, let alone careen across her huge bedroom and collide with the wall with enough impact to crack the plasterwork.
Her mouth fell open in astonishment as Teagan’s wide eyes met hers from his spot, slumped on the floor. Teagan was all the way one of the Blessed. He fed on souls a lot… he killed and took entire souls into him. Like Ryan, his strength was unparalleled among their kind. So how could Eden, who had never tasted a soul in her life, propel him across the room like that?
“What the…”
“Eden!”
She whirled around as Stellan came rushing into the room, Ryan and Celine at his back. Her brother took one look at her torn collar and flew at Teagan. He got in a few brutal punches before Ryan hauled him off. Stellan staggered back, his knuckles slick with Teagan’s blood. Her cousin got to his feet unsteadily, his broken nose already snapping back into place. He wiped at the blood on his face and glared at Stellan.
“What the hell happened?” Stellan strode over to her, taking a hold of her chin gently and tilting her face up to examine it. His concern washed over her in comforting waves, and she fought the urge to hug him right there and then. At six-four, with the build of a linebacker, Stellan was intimidating. But then he’d smile that goofy smile of his and all your fears just melted away. He was able to feed no problem. People instinctively trusted him. And if you were anyone but a human, you could trust him.
“Teagan just doesn’t understand the word no, that’s all.” Eden shrugged, trying to not make it into a big deal when it was.
“Son of-”
“You,” Ryan interrupted Stellan, his eyes boring into his nephew. “I told you to keep your distance until her eighteenth birthday.”
“I was just-”
“Shut up,” Ryan snapped, his handsome face contorting into the face of a monster as he gripped his nephew’s shirt to pull him towards him menacingly. “You touch her again before it’s time and I’ll castrate you myself.”
Teagan gulped and nodded, his olive skin paling. They all knew Ryan wasn’t kidding.
“Well,” Celine’s clear-glass voice cut through the room. Eden glared in distaste at her mother as she narrowed her eyes on Ryan and Teagan. “I told you this is what comes with spoiling the little shit.” Celine wasn’t exactly a fan of Teagan either.
Eden barely listened as Celine and Ryan argued back and forth for a moment. She leaned against Stellan, feeling absolutely drained. To the outside, they probably looked like a handsome, wealthy family just having a regular old dispute. But no. Her parents weren’t arguing over Teagan’s wilfulness. They were arguing over the fact that Teagan wasn’t as careful as Ryan when he kidnapped, tortured, raped and killed young men and women. Ryan was a wealthy businessman, with a lot of contacts, and a powerful ability to compel people to believe anything. The disappearances never trailed back to him. But Teagan was getting lazy.
“I’ve told you to do something about it! He never listens to anybody!” Celine screamed, her face growing red with her anger, her pale blonde hair shining like a halo around her face. Eden felt Stellan squeeze her arm and she looked up at him gratefully. She seriously didn’t think she could make it without him. Or Noah now for that matter. Her brother grinned at her and she noticed his own pale blonde hair was brushed for once. He was wearing a nice shirt and pants too.
“Got a date?” she whispered.