Blood Will Tell

Chapter Eight. Unquiet Misdeeds

Despite everything, Eden couldn’t help but feel relieved over her decision to remain friends with Noah. They’d hung out in the cafeteria again and he’d given her a playlist of all the new bands he’d been listening to. Like old times they joked and kidded around, and Eden felt that weirdness again… other people called it contentment.

It was a good idea to keep it secret for now.

Eden had headed home after class, singing along to the radio and her secret music crush Lady Antebellum. Eden had been OK with hanging out alone in her room but Stellan had cornered her and pulled her back downstairs to play the Wii. Feeling nostalgic, they were playing tennis.

“You really suck at this, Eden,” Stellan laughed.

She huffed, shaking her wrist out. “You chose tennis because you know you can beat me. This would be a different story if we were boxing.”

“We can switch.” He puffed up his chest at the accusation. “I’m willing to prove you wrong. I’m just vastly superior at this game.”

Sighing, Eden flopped down on the sofa. “Change it. I forgot how much it blows.”

Stellan chuckled and put in a disc. Mario Kart flashed on the screen. A wide grin replaced Eden’s scowl. Her brother winked at her and Eden nodded gratefully. She rocked at Mario Kart.

For a while, as she always did when she and Stellan hang out like this, Eden forgot about her troubles. They were just a brother and sister, hanging out, teasing one another, having fun. Their parents hadn’t bothered them all evening which only made it even better. Eden glanced at the clock. She frowned.

“Stel, it’s a Friday night. Why aren’t you out with your friends?”

He shrugged. “Sometimes it’s more fun kicking back here with you.”

She glared at him. “Is this a pity hang?”

Stellan grunted, not taking his eyes off the screen. “No. Although I gotta say I am glad you’re not hanging out with that Noah kid anymore. Guy was a freak.”

Noah was a freak? Eden snorted. They were the ones sucking souls out of people but oh no… Noah was the freak. She shook her head and returned to the game.

“Hey kiddies, what’s happening?”

She immediately tensed at her cousin’s voice behind her. Stellan had gone all stiff too but he shrugged it off and overtook her on the track. Eden bit her lip, trying to ignore Teagan as he moved further into the room.

“How sweet, Stellan, hanging out with little sis.”

She shivered. He somehow managed to make everything sound perverted.

“Of course.” He drew to a stop between them, and she felt his eyes bore into her. She refused to look at him. “That’s not exactly a hardship.” His hand slid down her back and Eden jerked away from him before it could slide any further downwards.

Stellan’s hand whipped out and he slapped Teagan across the back of the head pretty hard. Teagan winced and glared at his cousin, while Eden smirked.

“I told you to back off,” Stellan warned.

Teagan held his hands up a surrender gesture. “Hey, I wasn’t doing anything. I-”

“NOOO! STOP! NOOO!!” A man’s terrified scream rent the air, cutting off Teagan. The blood drained from Eden’s face as her eyes automatically sought the exit.

“Oops.” Teagan grinned wickedly, sidling back to the doorway. “Did I forget to shut the basement door again?”

They both knew he had done it on purpose. Eden’s heart was pounding in her chest as she tried desperately to forget the scream. Stop thinking about it, she demanded inwardly, fighting back a swell of nausea. She looked up at Stellan for comfort… and wished she’d never done so. Her brother was frozen solid, glaring at Teagan. But there was something there. Something sick. Something envious of Teagan. Did Stellan want to be down in the basement? Did he want to inflict pain and shame on someone? He must have felt her staring, his eyes flicking to her. Her expression gave her away, and Stellan cast his gaze down to the floor, colour flooding his cheeks.

Teagan began to chuckle at the interplay between them, but before he could mock them Celine came hurrying past the door to the parlour. “Teagan, shut that door right now!” She screeched at him. “I’ll be speaking to Ryan about this.”

Her cousin licked his lips. “Uncle Ryan might not be up for a while. He had a twin brother and sister brought in from Ohio. Delicious. Blonde.” He winked and set off across the foyer towards the basement.

Eden was shaking from head to foot. She felt so much. So much anger, frustration, disgust, shame. Too much. Too much to handle. And Stellan… Eden felt his eyes on her, pleading with her. But she couldn’t look at him. She dropped the game controller and walked out of the room, her arms wrapped around herself as if she could somehow contain all her feelings.

Once inside her room, she shut the door quietly and leaned back on it, staring around at the large bedroom with its canopied bed and en-suite bathroom. It looked like a normal teen bedroom. Posters of bands on the wall. Hot guys. Art work by Michael Parkes she found beautiful and twisted and ethereal all at the same time.

But her bedroom wasn’t normal.

It existed in a house with a basement where unquiet misdeeds occurred.

And that was putting it politely.

It was a house of horrors. And she was part of it.

Her eyes blurred with tears. Every time she’d thought she’d come to terms with it… a scream would rent the air and kill her determination.

She wondered what it would be like to be normal.

The pocket of her jeans buzzed and Eden wiped at her tears, as she dug in for her phone.

You were right. Twinkies. I don’t get them either. N.

Eden burst out into tearful laughter, thanking whatever fate had uprooted Noah Valois and landed him at South Salton.