Blood Past - By Samantha Young Page 0,40
if he were a friend would certainly do that. As for Noah, Eden wasn’t sure what his deal was. On the one hand he’d diligently avoided physical contact with her since their ‘mat’
moment but on the other she got the feeling her politeness was driving him nuts. She didn’t mean to drive him nuts. She just… jeez, thinking about Noah would give her a headache if Ankh were capable of the affliction.
So focusing on her training not only felt great, but it took her mind off things. Eden had mastered combat and was eager to go on her first hunt. Cyrus and McLeish were positive that there was a group of soul eaters in the city. There had been two murder cases in the last few days and in each case the family members had stated that the accused had been acting very uncharacteristically for days before the attack. They spoke of two women who had been easy going, run-of-the-mill nice, and how they had suddenly undergone some extreme behavioural changes. That and an apparent sighting by one of the Neith was enough for them to go on. However, the den, if there was one, wasn’t above the club in New Town. Cyrus and Val had been out with the Neith hunting and investigating, scouring the entire city for any new leads on where the soul eaters could possibly be holing themselves up. The fact that there had been no word made them suspect the den had moved to a private residence. With Val and Cyrus out hunting that left Noah back at the house to babysit her.
She’d tried to say she was perfectly OK with Mhairi and the rest of the Douglas’ but Cyrus was adamant Eden remain in the company of an Ankh at all times. She could tell being left out of the hunt was chafing Noah. She could tell because it was beginning to chafe her. Ten days she had been in Edinburgh. Ten days that might as well have been ten years she felt so different. She was changed.
She was strong. Powerful. Capable. She was ready to be redeemed. Pity Cyrus was erring on the side of caution with her. She was so ready to pick up a sword and learn how to use one of those bad boys.
Despite her impatience, Eden wouldn’t take back one day of training. Sparring with Cameron and Tobe with Noah coaching had been a lot of fun. They got her sense of humour and it helped that Tobe’s was as equally as biting as her own. Sometimes other Neith had joined them. Two in particular had shown up a few times, a couple of college kids called Mark and Shona. Eden couldn’t stand the girl. Shona reminded her so much of the girls she’d left behind at South Salton High. Snide and superior. What Eden found particularly irritating was Shona’s attitude towards Tobe. She was constantly sniping at the younger Neith and although Tobe was pretty good at handling herself, it was driving Eden nuts. Whatever the girl had against October, Eden was getting plenty fed up of her and had to keep reminding herself that Cyrus wanted her to make as best an impression as possible on the Scots so that her heritage wasn’t drawn into question by an already wary McLeish. It helped that Shona’s boyfriend Mark was an actually pretty OK guy. Eden wondered what in hell he saw in the blonde though. Unfortunately, despite the other Neith quite happily taking turns to spar with Eden, Shona hadn’t volunteered, disappointing her greatly. She was pretty sure a hefty smackdown would have eased her irritation somewhat.
Friday night had come around all too quickly and Eden hadn’t been looking forward to being cooped up again. So it was a pleasant surprise when Noah said he’d gotten permission to escort Eden, October and Cameron out for the night. They were going out for dinner and then onto a movie. It was all so normal.
Eden loved Edinburgh at night. There was so much light despite the darkness, so much energy and life. They jumped on a bus that dropped them off on Princes Street, and Eden soaked up the sight of the castle looming in the distance. Her breath still caught every time she looked up at it. October nudged her forward and she followed her companions, watching lots of men in sharp shirts and cologne, women all dressed up in their high heels and dresses, clack back and forth