She was just so angry. So angry at everything and everyone.

"c.r.a.p." Eden began to hyperventilate, covering her mouth with her hand as her body began to sob involuntarily.

She wheezed, trying to draw breath.

I almost killed her. I almost killed her.

"I have to..." she blinked past the blur of tears in her eyes and numbly reached for her backpack. She had to get out of there.

"Eden, what on earth are you doing home?" Celine came out of one of the sitting rooms just as Eden's foot hit the first step on the staircase.

She didn't even spare her a glance. "Like you give a s.h.i.t." Ignoring her mother's outraged yel ing, Eden flew up the stairs to her bedroom. In three steps, she slammed her door, turned her iDock on ful blast and flopped onto her bed.

Contemplating the ceiling didn't help her work through how out of control she had just gotten. She'd almost kil ed a student. That was taking anger management issues to a new level. Afraid of herself, Eden sucked back tears.

Not much time past before her bedroom door blew open and the hurricane itself strol ed in. Ryan was an intimidating figure in his three thousand dol ar suit. He was just one of those 'men' who reeked of money and elegance. Of power.

those 'men' who reeked of money and elegance. Of power.

Of danger. It was that perverted violence simmering under his surface.

"Your mother cal ed me at work." He sat down on the edge of her bed, his hands clasped together between his knees. He didn't look at her. "You want to tel me why I've had to come home from work to deal with my truant daughter?" Eden snorted. "I'm kind of surprised you bothered your a.s.s." Ryan's head snapped around at her and Eden flinched back into the bed at the lethal look in his eye. "Don't speak to me that way, young lady. Your mother might put up with that language but I certainly won't. Now what the hel are you doing home from school?" Without knowing what possessed her to, Eden found herself tel ing him about Lucy, although she cut out the stuff about Amber and just said the girl was trying to bul y her. To her utter surprise, Ryan was smiling when she finished.

"It's only natural."

Eden grimaced. "To nearly kil a girl at school?!"

Her father grinned even more wickedly, the dimple in his cheek flashing just like Eden's did when she was in a good mood. "No. To lose control, to feel irrational anger.

You're ready for the Awakening Ceremony, Eden. Your body knows that, it's trying to tel you that, and you have to do something before you lose control over it." Maybe that's why she'd told him. Because she needed someone to confirm what she real y didn't want to know.

"OK," she whispered.

"OK," she whispered.

His face brightened. "Real y. You're agreeing to it?"

"I don't want to kil anyone."

"Wel you're going to have to kil someone, Eden," his voice hardened.

She shivered, knowing he spoke the truth. "I know. I mean I don't want to lose control."

He nodded. "For once you sound like my daughter."

Eden threw him a disgusted look and he laughed. "You can hate me al you want. I never asked for your love. I do ask for you loyalty, however, and doing this Awakening Ceremony wil prove that to me." He heaved a sigh and pinned her to the bed with a demanding look. "I also ask discretion from you. What happened today cannot happen again."

"I compel ed her to forget."

"Yes. But someone could have happened upon you attacking that girl. And there are people... who would realise what you are."

Eden frowned, pul ing herself up into a sitting position.

"What do you mean?"

Ryan nodded, as if he were coming to a decision. "I never told you before because there was no need, but there are a group of people, humans, who hunt our kind." Suddenly her heart was begging to jump out of her chest.

"What? Wh... how...?"

"These humans cal themselves the Warriors of Neith.

Their sole duty in life is to kil off the Blessed. They cal us soul eaters," he spat out the phrase. "Filthy. They have no understanding of us, no respect. They think themselves superior to us and they stop at nothing in their mission to wipe us out." Eden couldn't believe what she was hearing. How was it even possible she had gone seventeen years not knowing there were warriors out there who would kil her in a second? "Does Stel an know? Should I take this seriously?

Can they hurt us?"

"Yes. Yes. And yes." Ryan nodded, his expression severe. "I'm tel ing you about these men and women now because if we are not circ.u.mspect, they wil find us, and they wil hunt us, and they are strong enough to do damage." Realisation suddenly dawned. "The goons? The bodyguards... you sent them after me because of these Neith guys, right?"

Ryan nodded and stood up. "You now need to be aware of them, Eden. I hope now that you are, you wil be more careful."

She jerked her head in a vague affirmative, stil too numb from the shock of discovering there were people out there who thought the Blessed so evil they actual y kil ed them for a living. "Wait..." She glanced up at Ryan, a flare of panic in her chest. "Warriors of Neith? As in the G.o.ddess?"

His jaw clenched tightly. "Yes."

"As in... created by her?"

"Yes."

Clutching her stomach to hold down the nausea, Eden looked away from Ryan.

G.o.d, they were so evil a G.o.ddess had created a race of humans to take them out. Awesome.

had created a race of humans to take them out. Awesome.

"Eden?"

"What?"

"I'm glad you've agreed to the Ceremony. Trust me...

when it's over... this... whatever this bizarre human thing you're going through is... it wil disappear forever. Al this...

unnecessary pain you're feeling... you won't have to deal with it anymore." She watched as he turned on his heel and left the room.

That had almost been an actual conversation. A very sick and twisted conversation, but one nonetheless.

Her phone buzzed.

Where are you? Everything OK? N.

Hot tears brimmed over her eyelids. She'd agreed to the Ceremony. Which meant...

No more Noah.

Chapter Seven.

You and Me, Dude "It has been a few days now," Cyrus sighed down the other end of the phone line.

Noah winced at the reproach in his sigh. "It's not like I'm not trying, Cyrus, but if I push her now, I might not get her back."

"If you do not push her now, we might not get her back." Noah exhaled heavily. It was Friday tomorrow and stil Eden was avoiding him like the plague. In any other hunt it wouldn't have been a problem. He'd have gone in aggressive and had a hold of his prey in record time. But with Eden he felt he needed to tread careful y. She was going through a traumatic time right now, and pushing her to talk to him when she was so clearly afraid, might ruin their friendship forever.

"You are becoming too involved, Noah," Cyrus softened, his understanding worse than the recrimination.

You're one to talk. "I'm not too involved. I'm just trying to be careful."

"No. You are concerned about losing her trust. Wel that is something that wil probably occur, so it is best you resolve yourself to that outcome. Right now, I am concerned about losing her. If she has broken away from you, Noah, it can only mean she has decided to go ahead with the Awakening Ceremony. We cannot let that happen. Do what you must to get through to her."

Noah groaned inwardly as he flopped back on his bed.

Cyrus was right. He'd effed this one up. Got too close. Too attached. "Of course, Princeps. I'l fix this."

"Good. Alain would like to speak with you."

He brightened a little. He hadn't spoken with his parents in a few weeks except for a couple of text messages from his mom.

"Noah," his father's heavily accented voice murmured in his ear and his whole body relaxed.

"Hey, dad. How are you? How's mom?"

"Good. Missing you. We did not think this a.s.signment would take so long."

"I know. I had to take my time. Build trust."

The line was quiet for a moment and Noah could hear his father moving, a door closing in the background. Final y Alain sighed, sounding as weary as Noah felt. "Cyrus has been keeping me updated on your progress."

Noah didn't like his tone. That tone had always signal ed a lecture. A lecture that somehow managed to make him feel seventeen instead of seventy. "Yeah?"

"I was never keen on this, Noah. I wanted what was best for Cyrus, what would make him happy, but I've never been sure of this creature, this girl-" Noah flinched at the disdain in Alain's voice and unexpectedly found his hands curling into angry fists.

"-but for Cyrus I would agree to almost anything. He's a good man. But now my son is caught up in this girl's life; acting like a friend, tip-toeing around her feelings. I'm worried you grow too attached to something that you shouldn't." His cheeks felt flush with anger. 'something'? "Dad, don't you trust me?"

"Of course, but you are stil young, Noah. Stil easily-"

"No. Think on Valeria. Cyrus was right. He's seen this before. I can back up his claims now, OK. I'm not duped by a clever soul eater. Eden is a messed up, confused kid who deserves a chance to get the hel out of a world she should never have been born to." His father remained silent for a while. "She's stil one of them, Noah."

"Not if I can help it."

Noah heard the familiar sound of his father growling unhappily. "Fine," he snapped.

"Does mom feel this way too?" Noah squeezed his eyes shut, pressing his fingers into the sockets as if to stem an imaginary headache. Ankh didn't get headaches. But they got p.i.s.sed off pretty easily.

"No," Alain bit out. "Emma thinks we should trust your instincts but I'm stil -"

"Maybe you should listen to mom."

"Maybe you should remember it is rude to interrupt. I swear every time you go on a.s.signment as a teenager you turn into one."

Noah snorted. "That's kind of the point, dad."

He grumbled. "Alright. I better go. But be careful, son."

"Always am."

But as Noah ended the cal , he gazed at himself in the mirror, a look of mockery curling his upper lip. How could he guarantee anything to anybody in this situation?

Nothing had gone to plan so far. Eden had turned everything upside down. And then there was the added pressure of how important this was to Cyrus.

OK. Cyrus was right. He had to get his game face on.

It was sneaky and underhand but Noah couldn't think of another way. He stood with the door to the janitor's closet open a crack, waiting on his plan unfolding. As he waited, a fake note from the princ.i.p.al's office had found its way to Mrs Sorenson's Business Studies cla.s.s. Eden Winslow would then be told the princ.i.p.al wished to see her.

She'd have to walk this corridor to get to the school office.

There she was.

Noah's heart picked up at the sight of her and he deftly ignored his reaction to her.

Her eyebrows were furrowed in a frown of consternation, clearly wondering why the hel she'd been cal ed out of cla.s.s. He held his breath, waiting for her to come closer, to nearly pa.s.s. He studied her for a moment. She was looking a little thinner, easily noticeable on her tal frame and with her hair pul ed back tight off her face in a long ponytail. Noah smiled as his eyes wandered downwards. Over a long-sleeved black shirt, Eden was wearing the Killers t-shirt he'd shrunk in the wash. Stupid, but it gave him hope that this would go his way. He couldn't lose her.

Just as she past the door he snapped the door open, shot his hand out and wrenched her into the closet, closing the door with a quiet click. Al in seconds.

"What the hel ? Noah, you scared the c.r.a.p out of me!" Eden hissed, her warm breath tickling his throat. It took a moment but his eyes adjusted to the dark and he began to make out the shape of her, trapped inches from him in the tiny closet.

"Sorry, but it seemed to be the only way I could have an actual conversation with you."

She gasped into the dark. "You wrote the note?"

He grinned. "Yup."

He winced as she slapped his arm in retaliation. "Dude, I was freaking out wondering what the hel I had done."