Blood Past - By Samantha Young Page 0,55

away with.

Chapter Nineteen

The Kiss of Death

Ricki was a thirty-something Neith with incredible power. He attacked Eden and she caught his wrist with both hands and twisted it like Noah had taught her. She forced the Neith to the ground and snapped his arm back to the point of breaking. Ricki slapped the mat and she let him up. He grinned and they stood to face each other again for another round.

Over the last few days Cyrus and the others had found the den of soul eaters and managed to kill a few of them. Two, however, had gotten away. McLeish had assumed they’d flee the city so he had alerted the rest of the Neith in the United Kingdom to the two soul eaters presence. But they weren’t so lucky. These soul eaters were cocky and apparently had decided to stick around. An armed robbery down in Leith had caught McLeish’s attention when he’d heard the family members of the accused discussing how changed he was, that their friend and family member had seemed to snap overnight. A little more investigation and McLeish was certain the soul eaters had stuck around.

Patrols had begun again and Cyrus had decided to stay until the problem was dealt with.

That meant Eden got to do more training and she was loving every minute of it. Noah no longer needed to shout encouragements from the sidelines and was matching her up with stronger and stronger opponents. Ricki was the strongest Neith so far. All it needed was her focus to slip and-

“Sss,” Eden hissed, whipping her head back, but it was too late. Pain had exploded up her left cheek as Ricki’s fist connected with her cheekbone.

“You OK?” he asked, stepping back.

She blinked, wiping a tear out of her eye. “I’m fine.”

“Eden.” Noah moved to step onto the mat but she waved him away. The pain was already dissipating and since she healed even faster as Ankh than she had as a soul eater, it wasn’t anything to get worked up about.

“I’m fine,” she reassured him. “My fault, I wasn’t paying attention.” He looked unconvinced so Eden adamantly turned and nodded at Ricki. “Let’s go again.” The Neith nodded. “Focus,” he ordered briskly.

She felt better ten minutes later with him sprawled on his back, his neck caught in her strong hands in a neck crank. In real life, one twist in the right direction and Ricki would be a goner.

He patted the mat and she let him up.

A while later as the Neith began filtering out of the training room for the day, Eden bent over to gather up her personal belongings, only to straighten up to be faced with a Noah wall.

“Whoa.” She staggered back a little, inhaling his yummy Noah scent.

Her eyes widened as he reached down to stroke the cheek Ricki had punched. “You OK?” Not with you brushing your fingers over my skin like that, no, I’m a little far from OK. Eden cleared her throat, “I’m fine.” She tilted her head away from his touch. “Healing already.”

“She is tough, Noah, no need to worry,” Cyrus’ voice reached out to them and they whirled around as he strolled towards them out of the shadows. Eden hadn’t even known he was in the training room.

“Princeps.” Noah acknowledged him.

Her guardian nodded back at them, his expression inscrutable until his eyes found hers and softened into something warm. “I have been watching today. You are ready.” Eden’s heart started to race at the abrupt pronouncement, her eyes widening in disbelief. “Really?

You’re letting me hunt?”

The look of pride and fear on his face made Eden feel safe and cared about; it was a feeling she was just starting to get used to. “Yes.”

Suddenly she felt a little sick. Of course, she was also excited. This was what she had been training intensely for over the last few weeks. But… she was also kind of… a lot… nervous.

Glancing up at Noah, Eden couldn’t keep the panic out of her eyes.

He gave her a brisk nod. “You’ll do fine.”

***

She was all jittery, her body jumping up and down inside itself as she followed Noah past the Omni Centre they’d had their little ‘double date’ in. After dinner, Cyrus had announced that Eden was going on patrol with them which sent October into a meltdown. Christopher wouldn’t budge. He wasn’t letting Tobe out on patrol until she turned eighteen and that was final. Eden had felt a little bad leaving Tobe at home to sulk but she was