Blood Will Tell (Warriors of Ankh #1) Read Free Page B

hungry more like it , she thought, her lip curling as she caught sight of Maria Roth across the cafeteria. Ever since her parents found out she had awoken, they had been on her case day and night to have the Ceremony. The Ceremony where she would take her first soul. And the first soul had to be a complete soul. It was the only time one of the Blessed was ‘allowed’ to kill someone. Eden didn’t think she’d be able to live with herself once it was over.
    Maria slapped her supposed best friend, Cassie Williams, across the head. Even from here, Eden could see the girl’s eyes water with the impact. OK. Maybe South Salton would be a better place without Roth in it.
    “ So what’s up?” Noah asked. “You know, you being so dazed you completely blanked on my articulate and epic review of The Suburbs ?”
    Eden sighed. “I got detention from Travis.”
    Noah frowned. “What for?”
    She glared over at Maria. “Sticking up for Andie Lee.”
    His eyebrow nearly hit his hairline.
    “ What?!” She kicked him under the table. “You don’t have to look so shocked. I hate Roth. She preys on the weak.” She growled and glared back over at Maria.
     
    *
     
    Noah knew that look. He hated that look. He dreaded that look. Eden’s eyes were narrowed on Maria Roth, the junior with no conscience. Her jaw was clenched and her fingers were trembling as she self-consciously tried to find something to do with them. Finally, Eden just lifted her sandwich, her fingers crushing the bread beneath the strength of the hunger. It was getting worse, he thought anxiously. Sometimes Noah caught that look directed at him, but just as quickly as it appeared Eden would pull away and make an excuse to get away from him. It gave him hope. It gave Cyrus hope. Still, her eyes were glued to Maria. Eden didn’t like Maria the way she liked him. In fact, Noah was pretty sure Eden hated Maria. Would the need to eat Maria’s soul overpower whatever it was that made Eden different? That made her semi-human?
    “ Dude, you went all pensive.” Eden suddenly looked back at him, her brow creased with concern. “Everything OK?”
    Noah grunted, deliberately relaxing his body. “Yeah, except that I keep telling you not to call me dude… and yet you keep calling me dude.”
    Eden chuckled, a throaty sound that warmed him. She had the alien pale grey eyes of a soul eater, but when she laughed like that, the dimple in her right cheek flashing in and out, her eyes would warm just a little and he’d forget to be freaked out by the fact that he was pretending to be a soul eater’s friend. “Aw come on, you know you look like a ‘dude’.”
    “ I’ve been surfing once and I sucked. Big time. I am not a dude. Repeat, not a dude.”
    She flashed him a wicked smile. “You have a choice here, Noah. I either call you dude, cos’ I like it, or I call you dick-”
    “ Why di-”
    “ Ah ah. It’s rude to interrupt. Your choices are simple. I can shout ‘hey, dude’ down the school halls or ‘hey, dick’.” She grinned unrepentantly. “What will it be?”
    He snorted and shook his head. “You are the weirdest girl I’ve ever met.”
    Eden rolled her eyes. “Established. So…?”
    He heaved a sighed. “Dude it is then.”
    “ I knew you’d choose wisely.”
    “ You need to stop watching Bill & Ted .” He pointed his apple at her, knowing full well why she’d started calling him dude. Stellan had watched the ‘90’s comedy at college and had given her the DVD and now this had happened.
    She frowned. “No way, dude.
    Noah swallowed his laughter in his Coke, a strange gnawing sensation niggling his ribs, near his heart. Maybe his friendship with Eden wasn’t pretend. She had a way of climbing under your skin and making you forget all the serious stuff. He now knew it was her way of trying to forget her own problems. Noah felt his heart thump a little harder. He wanted to move things along. With her hunger growing more obvious, maybe it was