They were quiet a moment and Darwin turned back to look through the glass. Alison Douglas didn’t look good. She’d gotten an infection in one of her injuries and, despite her Neith gift for regeneration, she was taking longer than he would like to heal. Disgusting creature. But he needed her healthy. “Before you send out a surveillance team, find someone to check that infection.” He pointed to the bruising around the healed wound of her upper arm. “The Neith bitch doesn’t look too good.”
“Why do you think she’s not healing?”
“Probably because we haven’t fed or watered them.”
“Shouldn’t we then…”
Darwin nodded jerkily. “Yes. Do what you can to fix her. The last thing we need is her dying before we can negotiate with the Ankh.”
“You sure you’re alright?” Val asked for the fifteenth time.
Tobe sighed, her broken arm, now unbroken, itching and irritated but a hell of a lot less painful. “I’m fine,” she replied, her voice hoarse from exhaustion. “I just need to sleep.”
“Well… my room is right down the hall if you need me.”
She managed a grateful smile as Val closed the door. Tobe didn’t want to be unpleasant to the people that were helping her but holy hell was she glad for the peace and quiet. She sank down onto the bed in the vanilla room that was way bigger than her bedroom back in Edinburgh. With a grunt and a lot of effort she kicked off her boots and curled up on the bed, pulling the comforter over her and snuggling into the pillow. The pulse of her heart pushed against her shirt and she took a deep breath trying to control the crazy fluttering of the organ. With her mum and dad missing it was a wasted effort. Panic suffused her as it always did when she let herself remember, and quick, quiet tears rolled from beneath her lashes, soaking the pillow underneath her with their warm saltiness. Tobe had never felt so alone. Her parents were gone, her Nana was dead, and Cameron was no longer… Cameron… and Eden..? Gods when she’d seen Eden standing in that warehouse, so capable, strong, fierce, she’d reminded her of how she’d felt about her. Tobe had admired her from the moment she’d met her; the way she commanded a room without a saying word, her loyalty, protectiveness, her bad-ass fighting skills and quick, biting attitude. Tobe had looked up to her, had wanted to fight side by side with her, had known that here was someone who could take on anyone and win.
But that hadn’t been true.
Tobe had trusted her to save her Nana.
And Eden had failed. She’d let her down.
So now… she didn’t even have Eden. Was she supposed to depend upon her to bring her parents back?
How had this happened? How had she been left here all alone?
She needed to get her parents back. She needed to get Cameron’s soul back. She needed everything to go back to the way it had been only 48 hours before.
Tobe had been hanging around Cameron a lot lately because he was going through such a hard time living with Councilman McLeish. He was angry all the time because McLeish wouldn’t let him see his mum, Mary. So Tobe was there for him. And, perhaps selfishly, she’d used their time together to slip into conversation what Shona had said Cameron had said about how kissing Tobe was like kissing his cousin. Cam was ragin’. He never said anything of the kind.
So they talked. Smoothed out their misunderstanding. Kissed a lot… before McLeish had kicked her out.
He was such an old-fashioned fart.
And then that morning… gods she was desperate to go back to that morning. To have known, to have protected, to have fought back…
…“You sure your mum’s alright about me being up here?” Cameron asked softly, his fingers stroking her short dark hair back from her face. He was stretched out beside her on her bed and Tobe could barely concentrate on what he was saying. She was feverish and delighted. Was Cameron hers again?
“Mum’s not like McLeish. She doesn’t do chastity belts and curfews and leashes.”
Cameron snorted, his eyes growing dark with bitterness at the thought of his uncle. Tobe reached up, her small hand stroking his cheek comfortingly. He nuzzled into it, pressing a soft kiss to the inside of her palm.
After she’d told her mum about her and Cameron and how she wanted to talk to him about their possible relationship, Alison had jumped onboard, happy to see a spark in Tobe’s eyes again after all that had happened. The house seemed so empty without Mhairi in it. Tobe wouldn’t even go into her room but threw a tantrum anytime Alison suggested they give some of her Nana’s things away. So Tobe knew her mum would do anything to keep the peace and she’d suggested inviting Cameron over for breakfast so he and Tobe could chat about things later on in her room. She had a seriously cool mum. Either that or Alison was the most naïve parent to walk the planet. Probably a bit of both.
“So… are we going to talk about things?” Tobe asked quietly, pulling her hand back.
Cameron caught it and pinned it above her head, shifting his hips against hers provocatively. “I thought things were fairly obvious.”
She quirked an eyebrow at him. “Oh they are, are they?”
His wicked smile tugged at something deep within her and she was pretty helpless to refuse when he kissed her. A soft kiss that grew desperate.
When they heard the crash and cries from downstairs their shirts were already off, the door was locked, and they had just been moving on to shimmying out of their jeans. Cameron pulled back, a sharp wariness flooding in and extinguishing the heat in his eyes. “What was that?”
Another muffled cry shocked them apart and the rushing stomps of aggressive feet up the staircase.
Intruders!
There was someone in her home.
Tobe dived for her t-shirt, her heart pounding in her chest. She had to get to mum and dad, she had to… She rushed for her bedroom door only to be yanked back by Cameron. “What the hell are you doing?” she cried, trying to pull out of his firm hold.
His eyes narrowed with determination. “Getting you out of here.” He dragged her towards her bedroom window, hauling it up. “Jump.”
The door knob rattled and a growl purred through the wood when the intruder discovered it was locked.
“What about mum and dad?” she felt tears prick her eyes.
“Tobe.” Cameron clasped her head between his two hands. “Your mum and dad would want me to protect you. Go!”
The wood paneling of the door splintered and an aggressive face appeared in the hole. Grey eyes glinted at them in hunger.
Soul eaters!
“Go!” Cameron shouted, pushing her now.
Adrenaline and fear spiked her muscles and Tobe found herself clambering out of the window onto the tiled roof, her boots heavy and destructive on them. She slid shakily towards the edge and was about to drop the twelve feet to the garden below when she turned to make sure Cameron was following her.
He wasn’t.
He was fighting off the soul eater, trying to buy her time.
She froze, watching the tall soul eater in his dark grey suit ricochet Cameron’s head off the window, the glass shattering out towards her. Cameron blinked, momentarily disoriented, a trickle of blood winding its way down his fa
ce from his eyebrow. The momentary distraction was all it took. The soul eater clasped his face in his hands and leaned into him, their mouths almost touching as if he were going in for a kiss.
NO!
Horror shot through her, absolute and clear, pushing her back up the roof. Slates slid under her feet determined to take her down with them, but the sight of a blue smoke-like property drawing out of Cameron and into the soul eater drove her on. She sprung forward like a gymnast, gripping the sides of the window to hold her upper body up as she swung her legs inwards, broken glass slicing through her jeans. She didn’t even feel it. But she did feel the vibration of her feet hitting the soul eater hard enough to knock him flying, and hard enough to rattle her teeth. The rest of her body followed her legs inside and she landed low to the ground. Without thought Tobe reached for a shard of glass. Gripping it in her hand the edges sliced through skin and the pain barely registered as warm blood trickled through her fingers. Tobe spun around and launched herself at the soul eater who moved slowly with surprise. She landed square on his chest, his distinguished face tight with indignation as she plunged the shard into his neck. His grey eyes flew wide and he gurgled, thick blood sputtering out between his lips.
Tobe didn’t stick around.
She quickened to her feet and drew towards a dazed Cameron.
Shit.
He looked at her blankly.
His soul!
“Cameron?” she whispered.
He didn’t say a word.
Tobe felt angry tears coming but shoved them back inside, her head snapping around to glare at the soul eater on the ground who was trying to pull the shard out. His fingers kept slipping on blood. She’d have to kill him. To get Cam’s soul back, she’d have to kill him.
“Darwin! You got her?!” someone shouted, footsteps clomping up the stairs following the question. “Did you get the girl?! Darwin?!”
Disbelief and impotence froze like ice water inside Tobe’s veins. They didn’t have time. They didn’t have time to get his soul back.