like the Samurai sword best.”
“Oh and how did Noah know that?” Eden made a face, totally fed up of being so transparent to this guy.
He shrugged. “The Katana has a nice weight and balance, not to mention it’s got a lethal cut.
Female warriors tend to like the Katana best.”
“Not all,” Val murmured, striking the air with the Acinaces before pulling it back and launching it with perfect aim into one of the training dummies that lined the room. Eden gazed at Val’s handiwork, afraid to look at Noah while her mind wandered into a dark, unforgiving place…
…A warrior with a swishing blonde ponytail, a girl perhaps a year older than she, took advantage of Stellan’s distraction.
“Eden!” He yelled, turning away from the warrior, to fight his way through the miniature war.
“Eden, no!” Noah tried to pull her back.
“Stellan!” She reached out for him, her eyes widening as the sword came towards the back of his head. “Stellan, noooo!” She screamed.
But it was too late.
The sword cut through him, a sweep of his blood swiping through the air along with the top half of his head…
…Romany carried a Katana.
Eden’s heart pounded as she imagined finding her, the two of them facing off with their Katanas, Eden’s slicing through the skin and muscle of her brother’s murderer. She felt sick and shaky at the thought.
“Eden?”
She blinked at the touch of Cyrus’ hand on her shoulder. He gazed down at her in concern. “What is wrong?”
“Memories,” she whispered, unable to lie.
He nodded. “I understand.”
Did he?
“Why don’t we let Eden have a shot at decapitating this guy?” Val said from over Cyrus’
shoulder. Bemused, they turned to see her wheeling a dummy over. The dummies were creepy. They were just this weird fleshy material, shaped like a head and torso, with no face. “This,” Val smacked her hand across it, “is Guido.”
Eden laughed. “Guido?”
“Yes. Guido the soul sucking worm is here to die today at your hands. Guido is made from special materials that simulate the skin, muscle and bone tissue that you’ll have to cut through.”
“Charming.”
Val winked at her. “A warrior’s life, sweetheart.”
“OK,” Eden sighed, holding out her hand to Noah. “Give me the Katana.” But cutting off Guido the soul sucking dummy’s head wasn’t as easy as Eden had thought. Her first try she didn’t put enough force into it and her blade just made a cut. The second time, it got stuck a quarter of the way in and the vibration of the impact of her sword made her feel vaguely queasy even though she was practicing on a dummy. The queasiness shot her nerves to hell so when she finally swung and took the head clean off, she felt less than triumphant.
“OK, even I know if that had been a real fight I’d be dead,” she grumbled stepping back.
“It’s not an easy thing to do, Eden,” Noah reassured her. “You just have to stop thinking about how real this will soon be. Just remember that Guido isn’t real so you can get the technique down.
You can worry about the realities after.”
The pep talk didn’t help. She was mad at herself. She wanted to hunt and soon but there was no way Cyrus would let her near a soul eater if she couldn’t do the one thing that would kill one. With a huge exhalation, Eden brushed past her three Ankh companions and placed the Katana back on its mount. “I’m hungry. Can we break for lunch?”
***
As Cameron strolled along Bruntsfield Road towards the Douglas house, his mobile rang in his pocket startling him and the woman passing him. He smiled apologetically as he pulled it out of his jeans, Silversun Pickups blaring before he pressed the answer call button.
“Mum, I just left the house ten minutes ago,” he grumbled. Ever since his dad had died his mother, Mary, had become overprotective and somewhat neurotic. It would have been bad enough for any teenage guy but for a Neith Warrior it was bloody irritating. He tried to understand. Oh how he tried.
“I know,” she sighed. “But I forgot to ask you to pop into your Uncle Neil’s for the monthly cheque.”
“OK.”
“OK. Thanks, darling, I appreciate it.”
“You know you have to speak to Uncle Neil sometime.”
“I do speak to your uncle.”
“You’ve been avoiding him, you know you have.”
Mary sighed again. “I’ll speak to him when he pulls the stick out of his arse, OK. Don’t be later than midnight. Bye.”
For a moment, Cameron just stared at his phone. With a huff he took