do this. I can do it for you. With pleasure.”
“What do you mean the old bitch is dead?!” Teagan spat, his eyes flaring as they washed over Eden. “You should be changing! Why the hell aren’t you changing?”
“Because,” Darius omniscient voice echoed behind them, “you read the scripture wrong. All of the immediate bloodline must die in order to reverse Eden’s transition.” As relief poured through her, Teagan launched at them.
“Noah!” she shouted, stepping back and giving him the go-ahead.
At the change in Noah’s demeanour – Eden could see it took everything he had to pull his energy together to face her cousin - wariness entered Teagan’s grey eyes and he stepped back, readying himself. Noah nodded at him, his silent words telling him that this was how it was always going to end between them. Teagan’s jaw clenched as it did when he disagreed with someone, a creature blinded by his obsession.
Teagan slid back from Noah’s swings but Noah kept on him, cutting the sword through the air near her cousin’s flesh until he had him backed into a corner. At one last attempt to save himself, Teagan threw his body at Noah. Noah dropped to the floor and Teagan stumbled past him, coming up to turn to face him and finding the edge of his blade instead. Relief washed over Eden, perhaps even some satisfaction. But as she’d come to realise only moments before, there was no pleasure.
Teagan’s headless body had barely hit the floor before Noah dropped to the ground, the sword clattering out of his hands. Eden hurried over to him, falling to her knees before him, cradling his face in her trembling hands. “You’re OK?” she whispered.
He nodded, his eyes washing over her face. “I couldn’t save her.” Blinking back tears at the thought Mhairi’s demise and the awful task that lay before her of informing Tobe and her parents, Eden shook her head. “Don’t. Not your fault.” His bitter smile told her he felt differently.
Choking on tears Eden stood to her feet, dragging Noah to his and holding on to him. She turned to face the ancient Ankh who stood hovering over Cyrus and Val’s unconscious forms, a carnage of gory, bloody, pulpy, grisly unreality all around them. Limbs and heads and inside and entrails spilled across the floor and walls and Eden found herself swallowing back vomit. She focused her eyes on the warrior who had created the carnage, desperate to get the imagery out of her head. “We better get out of here. The Tribunal might be on their way.”
Darius actually nodded in agreement. “I suspect you might be right. I will help you get Cyrus and Valeria out of here before I leave.”
She nodded, unsure of how to speak to this man, this… whatever he was… “I’d appreciate it.
Could you… we need to return Mhairi’s body to her family.” Darius nodded. “I will take care of it, rest assured.”
As they hefted Cyrus and Valeria up off the floor in the foyer Eden could tell even Noah was shocked by the scene. He met Eden’s eyes with a hollowness she’d never seen before. She shook her head, too afraid of Darius to make a comment.
“There,” Darius huffed, throwing Cyrus none too gently into the back seat with Val. “Will you two be alright from here without me?”
“Um…”
The ancient warrior jerked a hand back to the house. “I have a little cleaning up to do.” He winked at her. He actually frickin’ winked at her!
“Sure,” Eden agreed quickly, helping Noah into the passenger seat. “I can take it from here.” Gravel shot up and cracked against Cyrus’ paintwork as Eden sped out of the driveway but she didn’t give a rat’s ass. At this point, she wasn’t sure who she was more afraid of. The Tribunal.
Or Cyrus’ best friend.
Chapter Twenty Seven
Recovery Time
A confident knock on the lounge door lifted the three of them out of the silent fog they had been sharing. “Come in,” Cyrus commanded, jerking Eden to attention.
She sat curled up on one of the couches, Val at the other end, Cyrus sitting up at the mini-bar with a glass of untouched scotch. So much had happened in the last twenty-four hours and for once in her life Eden hadn’t wanted to be alone to deal with it. Val and Cyrus may not have been the most talkative people on the planet but sitting with them in silence beat sitting alone in silence. The intrusion of two of Cyrus’ security men,