Blood Past

chapter Sixteen

The first Cut is the Deepest

It didn’t matter how distracted a person was, when Cyrus used that tone of voice you snapped to attention. Eden shook off the weekend and began listening as Cyrus and Noah demonstrated fighting with the Kopis. It was a frantic, close quarter fight and for a moment Eden was lost in the grace of their movements. Cyrus instructed as they fought, swinging the Kopis in a semi-loop around his head so that it came down towards Noah with the full force of his upper body strength. Noah countered the move, and soon began a hissing of metal on metal as they fought one another off in a flash of figure of eight movements. After each demonstration, Eden took a turn, starting off tentative until she felt comfortable in her own skin with the sword. Cyrus said many of the Neith began their sword training with wooden swords but he didn’t believe that was necessary for her. It put the pressure on but Eden was determined, and like all things that involved fighting and self-defence, she picked it up like she had been doing it for years. Soon, they moved from the weightier Kopis to the Lakonian and Persian short swords, from those to the Katana (Samurai), from the Katana to the Broadsword, from the Broadsword to the Longsword.

Despite the whole powerful, immortal thing, four hours in and Eden’s shoulder was on fire. With a grunt she dropped the hefty Longsword that had been clasped in her sweaty palms. Great, she winced. Now her other shoulder was killing her because of that damn thing. She looked at it in disgust.

“You might want to be careful with that, it wasn’t cheap,” Noah said as he picked it up. He threw Cyrus a look as he placed his sword and hers back up on the wall mounts. “I think someone needs a break.”

She curled her lip at him, noticing he had barely broken a sweat. “I’m fine.”

“You are using muscles you have never used before,” Cyrus assured her. “And we have been going strong for a few hours.”

“Did I miss anything?” Val sauntered into the room, shutting the door quietly behind her. She had been on patrol that morning.

“Any news?” Cyrus asked quietly.

She shook her head and turned to Eden with a smirk. “You look a little worn out.” Jeez, it wasn’t like she was panting on the floor dying or anything, Eden rolled her eyes. “I’m fine.

I just hate the damn Longsword.”

“Well, you don’t have to fight with the Longsword. I don’t know any who do; it’s just useful to know that you can if you ever have to.”

“Yeah, real useful.” Eden grimaced, rolling her left shoulder.

Val grinned at her and strolled over to the weapons. Reaching up, she pulled down one of the Persian short swords; it was more like a long dagger with a sharp curved tip than an actual sword.

“The Acinaces.” Val grinned, slicing it through the air with expertise. “My favourite.”

“Darius’ also.” Cyrus nodded, studying her movements. “He taught you well, Valeria.” The Ankh shared a quick knowing look with Eden and Eden felt that pang in her chest again for her mentor. She cleared her throat, “Uh, well I have to go with the Katana.” Noah smiled cheekily at Cyrus. “I think you owe me twenty bucks, Princeps.” Eden watched, brow furrowed as Cyrus wearily handed over the cash. “Did I miss something?”

“Noah bet you would 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 off again, annoyed now that he had to pick up the money. Another thing that had changed since his dad had died… having to turn to Uncle Neil for financial support. His mum hated being beholden to anyone but with only one income coming in (and his mum refused to let him drop out of school so he could help) they were struggling to make ends meet. So began the monthly cheque from Uncle Neil to tide things over. He felt a horrible tightness in his gut at the thought of collecting it. It wasn’t like he’d ever really liked his uncle. The Councilman was a harsh taskmaster with little or no sense of humour. His own dad had been his greatest friend before that one soul eater had come and stolen him from him. But his cousins, James and Ryan, always seemed scared of their dad. They’d seemed more comfortable around Cameron’s father and had stopped hanging around Cameron so much when his dad had been murdered two years ago.

Brooding a little, Cameron took the steps up to the McLeish home slowly and quietly. As a member of the family he’d always just walked in, and as he stepped inside he was surprised by how quiet the place was. He stood for a minute, feeling a weird chill in the air, and then he froze at the sound of hurried whispering. For some reason his heart began to pound. His intuition told him something wasn’t right, and Mum always said to follow his intuition. Creeping silently down the hallway, Cameron trailed the whispering to the kitchen and pressed against the wall as he heard Eden’s name. Peering quickly around the doorframe, he saw his Uncle Neil on his mobile, his face tight with anxiety.

“Has Cosmina been reached?” he asked coldly.

Cameron shook his head and sprung back before he could be seen. His heart was thudding out of all control now as the implications of that question tormented him.

“Well I want to know when,” Uncle Neil continued. “Once it’s done, I can make a move.” Crap. Struggling to keep his breathing low and even, Cameron decided it was time to get out of there. He tiptoed back the way he had come and slipped out of the house, exhaling loudly. Trembling a little, he glanced along the gardens to the Douglas house, his jaw clenched in anger. Cameron wasn’t clueless. Noah had mentioned something about a Cosmina person going after Eden. She was some Neith with issues about Eden’s heritage. Feeling sick at the thought of the conversation he’d overheard, Cameron stumbled down the steps and began heading reluctantly towards Tobe’s house.

What the hell was he supposed to do? If he told Cyrus about his uncle, his uncle would face serious consequences, and he might not like the guy but he was the only family he and his mum had left. But if he didn’t tell Cyrus was he leaving Eden in possible danger? He didn’t care what anyone else said, or what anyone who knew about her true heritage thought, Eden was a great girl. More than that he’d never seen Tobe take to someone the way she’d taken to Eden. Tobe would never forgive him if he let something happen to her.

Maybe he had heard wrong or was making more of it than he should. Maybe he should talk to his mum first.

Nah. That would only put his mum in the same difficult position he was in. Cameron couldn’t do that to her. He was the man of the house now. He had to handle this.

He screwed up his face, staring up at the house. He was supposed to spend the night hanging out with Eden and Tobe. Could he really pretend as if he hadn’t heard anything?

Aye, you can, he growled at himself, don’t say anything on such little evidence.

It wasn’t like Eden was in dire danger anyway, she had three other Ankh with her including all of the Neith.

Cameron sighed heavily, rubbing his hands over his face in frustration. “Bugger.”

***

Even Zach Galifiankis’ hilarious encounter with a tiger couldn’t stop Eden from feeling bummed that Noah had finally gone with Cyrus on patrol with Christopher and a few other Neith. She sat curled up next to Tobe while Cameron sat on an armchair with a faraway look on his face. Mhairi sat on the other armchair cackling away at the comedy on TV. Val had opted to stay behind and was upstairs reading some non-fiction novel that made Eden’s eyes cross over with boredom. She was getting kind of fed up of having to be babysat by the Ankh all the time. The only one she didn’t mind hanging around watching over her was Noah. God, she wished she was out there hunting with him. She felt so wired. So restless, despite her intense day of sword training. Once she got used to the burning in her shoulder muscles and joints, she really began to love the thrill of metal clashing and hissing against metal, the footwork, the co-ordination, the focus.

After another laugh-out-loud moment in the movie passed by without so much as a smirk from Cameron, Eden began to worry about him. He was acting really weird. As if sensing her frowning gaze, Cameron looked up at her. Something swam in his blue eyes, something dark and anxious, but before she could say anything he shot to his feet.

“You know I’m not feeling great,” he said, looking down at Tobe. “I’ll catch you later.”

“Eh wa-” Tobe cut off as her front door slammed and Cameron was gone. Eden watched her crestfallen gaze and nudged her.

“You OK?”

She nodded glumly. “I’m going to get a glass of water. You want one?”

“Yeah, sure,” Eden replied, wondering what the hell was going on. She turned to Mhairi as Tobe fled to the kitchen. “What was that?”

Tobe’s grandmother smirked. “Trouble in paradise perhaps?”

“I don’t think those two have got close enough to paradise yet for there to be trouble.”

“Well.” Mhairi stood to her feet. “I’ll watch the rest o’ the film later. I think I’ll retire to my bed early tonight, give you some time to do some digging and report back to me in the morning.” Eden laughed at the old woman’s nosiness. “Will do.”

A few minutes later Tobe came back in, still looking sour and annoyed. “Where’s Nana?”

“She went to bed.”

“Great, even the elderly are bored by me.”

The forlorn look on October’s face prompted Eden to ask, “OK, what the hell is going on with you and Cameron?”

Tobe’s eyes widened. “Nothing.”

“Yeah, I’m not believing that anymore.”

Making an exasperated sound, Tobe threw herself on the sofa and slapped a cushion impatiently.

“Believe me, there is absolutely nothing going on between me and Cameron.”

“Yeah but you clearly want there to be.”

“Like you and Noah perhaps.”

Eden glared at her. “We’re not talking about me, we’re talking about you, stop deflecting.” Eden had to hand it to her, Tobe managed to sit in silence for five whole minutes as Eden stared at her, waiting. “Oh for Christ sakes OK!” Tobe threw her hands up. “I lied before.”

“Aaboouuutt?

“Me and Cameron,” she mumbled, flicking at the tassels on the cushion, refusing to look up at her.

“I did like him. Really liked him. And I thought everything was going really well between us but then Shona told me that Mark had told her that Cameron had told him that he thought kissing me was like kissing his cousin, and that he was thinking of dumping me. I was completely crushed,” she whispered. “I thought we were good and things were pretty hot and heavy… we even slept together.

Hmmph. So I decided to dump him first and he agreed with me… so Shona had been right.”

“Oh my God,” Eden snapped at her. “Why in hell were you listening to Shona? She is the spawn of frickin’ Satan. A total trouble maker.”

“But she was right.”

“No, she really wasn’t. She was clearly lying to cause trouble. Have you seen the way Cameron looks at you? And why would the dude sleep with you if he thought kissing you was weird? You’re too close to the situation to see it but even Noah can see Cameron wants to be with you.” Tobe’s eyes widened at the remark and Eden didn’t think she’d ever seen such girlish hopefulness in their oceanic depths before. “Really? I don’t know.” She shook her head, the hope dimming just as quickly as it had appeared. “But something is definitely up with him.”

“Well while you’re asking him what that is, you could casually slip in something about him telling Mark that it was weird making out with you and… see what he says.” After dispensing the advice Eden frowned, sitting back against the couch. Since when did she give love advice? She pressed a hand to her forehead. Weird.

“I’ll think about it,” Tobe relented.

For the rest of the night Eden didn’t mention Cameron. She’d said what she wanted to say just like Mhairi had wanted her to and let Tobe mull it over. They finished watching a couple of more movies and were just about to head up to bed when Noah and Cyrus came in the front door with Christopher.

Eden squinted, catching sight of a very small blood smear across Noah’s chin.

Her heart thudded. “What happened?”

“We caught one,” Cyrus said, shrugging out of his jacket. “Noah killed it.” Noah’s light eyes were glittering, his whole body seeming to vibrate with the satisfaction of the hunt. Eden smiled; the buzz he was emitting contagious.

She couldn’t wait for her first hunt.