Blood Past - By Samantha Young Page 0,14

burning began to throb into a manageable pain and she unclenched her hands and stopped writhing, drawing in huge gulps of air as slowly but surely a soothing balm spread through her, like a breeze blowing in from nowhere on an unbearably hot day. Her breathing slowed and she calmed, barely aware of the relieved tears that leaked out from her closed eyes and slid down her cheeks. She heard whispering but couldn’t make out the words.

Panic abruptly seized her.

Who am I?

She frowned into the dark of her mind, searching, searching; desperately seeking.

Who am I?

Where am I?

“Eden…” a soft voice whispered into the air around her.

Eden? Eden…

And then it all came flooding back with the impact of a massive tidal wave, rushing over her and pulling her under. She lost her breath as she remembered Ryan and Celine and Teagan. Stellan. A sharp pain sliced through her chest. Stellan. She’d lost Stellan. No. She didn’t want to relive that.

Grief gripped her nonetheless.

Noah. Beautiful Noah who had only pretended. More pain. Why did it feel like so much more. So much deeper.

“Eden?”

That voice. Cyrus. Cyrus! Her anchor. She had Cyrus. Her body calmed at the thought of him, at the thought of the man who would take care of everything. Hadn’t he already? What had he done?

Blood. Mhairi. Yes, Mhairi. Mhairi’s blood.

Soul eater.

She gasped. There was nothing. She searched deep inside herself, looking for the monster, for the hunger. It was gone.

The hunger was gone!

An intense, painful restlessness burst through her, like blood vessels popping one by one. The hunger was gone but in its place was something new.

Something unexplainable but true.

Something deep and knowing and unbreakable.

Something that felt like… destiny.

She had a destiny now. Her heart began to race as her mind grasped what her soul (her soul, her pure, pure soul that felt light and manageable) was telling her. She had a duty. To protect. To fight.

To hunt. Yes. She was a hunter. Her skin tingled.

I am Ankh.

With that knowledge, a kind of peace settled around her.

The war inside her was over.

*

Another tear escaped, and she felt the brush of a soft finger on her cheek.

“Eden? Can you open your eyes?”

Noah?

“Noah?” She croaked, her throat feeling dry and unused.

“Yes. You’re safe. You’re OK. Try opening your eyes.”

Easier said than done. Her eyes felt as though they had been glued shut. Tentatively, Eden tried, forcing the lids to rise. The light slid inside, blinding her, hurting her, and she made a soft noise, slamming them shut again.

“Eden.”

“Cyrus?”

“Yes. I am here. So is Valeria. Open your eyes, Eden. Open.” At the sound of his voice Eden smiled inside. She remembered how much she had wanted to trust this man before her transition to Ankh, how her paranoia held her back. That was gone now. There was only the connection to her Princeps and the utmost belief in his sincerity and the promise of safety in his very existence. Relaxing the trembling muscles in her body, Eden cracked her eyes open, letting them water as they adjusted to the light. At last she could make out the room she was in.

Lemon yellow walls, posters and photographs. Robert Pattinson. Wait. What?

A face swung above her drawing her focus away from the many images of the actor on the walls.

Pale violet eyes gazed down at her from a strong face. Beautiful eyes, bewitching even. Strong jaw.

Olive skin. A full lower lip that begged to be kissed. Eden felt a shudder in her chest as her brain caught up with her vision.

Noah.

His eyes were wide on her, his smile tentative. “Eden… Eden your eyes…” She lifted a hand to her face, but it felt heavy and limp. She let it flop back down again. “My eyes…?”

He smiled wider now, the left side of his mouth kicking up higher than the right. “Your eye colour… it’s changed.”

The breath whooshed out of her body. “What… colour?”

And then Cyrus and Valeria were there too. Val reached for her hand and squeezed. Cyrus stood back and she frowned. He seemed a little sad. “Blue-green,” her guardian replied. “Your eyes are blue-green… like your mother’s.”

***

The mirror hung above the bathroom sink, a magnet for her eyes. Eden squinted them and then widened them, turning her face this way and that, but never looking away from the reflection of her

‘new’ eyes.

Those aren’t my eyes.

Eden huffed for the seventh time and leaned in closer so that her nose touched the cool surface of the mirror. It was weird not seeing the unusual