eden o'connor had the biggest crush of her life on her neighbour. what it was about him that had her so smitten she had no idea, but she'd told her friends about the neighbour that had her struggling for words whenever she saw him, she felt like a high school girl, the quiet one, head in a book, falling for the popular guy. destined to never be brave enough to make more than small talk. that's who she'd been in high school, the quiet one, the shy one that never manged to say hi, so she was doing something about it now. that's why she was stood in front of her door, staring at it and building the courage to lift her hand up, tighten her knuckles and rasp them against his door.

that was when her heart started to race, for a moment she felt a bit of panic of it and then the door cracked and that was it. her mind went completely blank and she stood there, a nervous smile starting to form, along with heat in her cheeks but... even just standing there, her heart calmed. "hi-" she managed that, the first word, after moments of her trying to form the damn word at all. maybe he'd think her insane, plain, boring, any of that but at least she'd be able to say that he at the very least, knew her. "hi, i'm.. well you know i'm your neighbour but my name is eden and umm.." if she wasn't holding a paper bag up to him, she'd have been tying her fingers together, knotting them in worry. "well i noticed you got home late and i own a bakery so i always have bits extra that i bring home i thought, maybe you might be hungry? i didn't mean to pry or anything at all! just figured that maybe you'd have a long day too and.." she pressed her lips together, lifting up the paper bag, filled with little treats, some homemade bread, all wrapped individually and all time she'd spent wondering what might be his favourite flavours. "this is for you, it's not a problem i really have way more than i could ever eat alone." her giglge, though it scrunched her nose, was soft and airy, got he made her melt and the butterflies she had in the pit of her stomach made her feel all the more foolish. maybe he had a girlfriend, someone more confident and daring. maybe he didn't see her or notice her, at all.

where:  haven  health

The  lights  buzzed  softly  overhead—typical  clinic  noise,  barely  noticeable  now.  Eden  Santos  stood  at  the  nurses’  station,  white  coat  unbuttoned,  tablet  in  hand,  pen  behind  her  ear  like  always.

Three  patients  down.  One  coffee.  Zero  patience  left.

“Room  three  needs  a  CBC  panel  and  a  follow-up  in  two  weeks,”  she  said  without  looking  up.  “If  they  skip  again,  I’m  showing  up  at  their  house  with  a  blood  pressure  cuff  and  a  guilt  trip.”

That  got  a  laugh,  which  was  the  point.  Humor  kept  people  comfortable.  Easier  than  admitting  she  didn’t  let go  of  things—not  patients,  not  memories,  not  him.

She  paused  for  half  a  second,  something  flickering  behind  her  eyes,  then  pushed  it  down  and  turned  toward  the  waiting  room.

@devilsdecade said:  ​❝ it’s chilly out here, you need a coat. take mine. ❞ From Wyatt to Eden

     It was roughly around eleven at night when she finally got off her double shift and began her lonely walk home. While she did own a car it was currently in the shop, having repairs done that would certainly wipe out her savings yet again. But she didn’t let that get her down or even let it worry her. As long as she could get by she was happy and if she skipped a few meals she should come out in the clear. On a brighter note, she only lived a few blocks away and had spoken a prayer before heading out to keep her protected. She was half way home a hooded figure reached out and attempted to snatch her purse from off her shoulder, holding a knife to her. 

     Had he asked she would’ve spared some money from the tips she had earned by the sudden jerk caused her to instantly hold onto the strap as fear paralyzed her. Her eyes fell on the glint of the knife as the man said something she didn’t quite comprehend. She had frozen like a deer in head lights and before she knew what happened the hooded man had been assaulted by someone else, sending him scampering back into the alley he had emerged from. Eden blinked a few times as she came to, looking to her savior. 

          “O-Oh!” She continued to blink, clutching her purse to her chest before sliding a strand of hair behind her ear. “T-Thank you....it is a bit cold,” she heard her voice crack and realized how foreign it sounded to her. “I...I can’t believe I just froze. Thank you....for helping me and for the jacket,” she felt him place the jacket over her shoulders, the heat from his body having warmed the inside enough to mimic a comforting hug. 

Despite how she appeared, this room felt.. daunting to her. She was stood at the side, her clutch bag in hand, fretting. What if Angelo didn't turn up tonight? What if she embarrassed herself by thinking she'd win anything at all? What if she did, then how was she meant to accept an award? All of it felt like pressure.. until she saw him. It'd been so long now.. and yet her heart still leaped at the sight of him. She'd never stop adoring him, she'd never not love him and the only way she'd stayed away was by working hard, repeatedly. Work was her distraction from wanting him. The thing is, she'd never done events like this without him and he made this room feel like it was breathable. He made it feel easy.

Eden was timid in her approach but when she knew his eyes had found her, she smiled so brightly. "I have something to show you!" excitement suddenly filed her as she took out her phone and went to her gallery. There were so many photos, but the one she chose to show Angelo was the first, when she was just a couple days old. She waited, gave them chance to adjust but Eden had been so excited to meet Alma. "She's called Alma, isn't that lovely?" in the photo she was holding her, swaddled, so sweetly nestled and asleep, tiny in her arms that'd cradled that baby girl. She swiped to show him another, Alma fast asleep on her whilst they'd all watched a movie.

"I thought you might want to see, I've so many more and she's such a lovely baby, I think she'll really get her giggle soon! I'm hoping they let me babysit her overnight next weekend so I can steal all the cuddles." she laughed, god she laughed.. and nothing had ever sounded so sweet.

You'd never think at the end of the world, when it'd all gone bad.. that a baker could be so valuable but Eden had a rare knowledge on how to make food go further, what would last, what was and wasn't safe and it was a great skill to have. She'd started writing it down for the community Ben set up. When it all started going bad she rounded the local shopkeepers and Ben arranged it all, the means of securing an area, putting up barriers that they'd further solidified as time went on, blocking of certain roads, making a safe space and then that was their community. Their community that needed food, medical supplies, clothing... and that'd quickly meant venturing out and in that came territory. They weren't the only people smart enough to make safe zones but not everyone was good.

There were a few kids in their community so when she'd come into an old book shop she hadn't expected to hear a soft crying when she looked through some colouring books, noting the crayons rolling on the floor. She leaned down, picking up some of the crayons. "Are these yours?" she spoke in a hushed tone, one hand on her knife, the other holding out crayons to the front desk, where the little noise came from. The last thing she'd thought would peek out was a little girl, she couldn't have been much more than three years old. "Are you hungry, sweetheart?" Eden had a gentle voice, her hand slid from her knife to find a trail mix she'd brought with her and offered that out too. Slowly the girl came forward and reached for the items, she wasn't bitten and she didn't seem hurt. "Have you lost your mummy? Your daddy?" she didn't speak back, just nodded but right as she was about to try and talk more to her, she heard talking in the distant and rushed them both behind that counter. "Here- here. Shhh." she lifted a finger over her lips. "You understand me, right?" the girl nodded so Eden continued. She was sliding her jacket off, a rough military canvas and pulling it round her shoulders. "This will keep you warm and, in here? Snacks, water but you stay here and you stay quiet unless you see two men, one with curly hair, Ben and another, tough guy, he's tall he's called Cade. They'll come looking, they'll help you, okay? I have to go see who is out there so if I don't come back, you wait for them, okay sweetheart?" Eden was making sure her jacket was tucked nice and tightly around the little girl who nodded to every word she'd said.

Eden wasn't about to let Santino's thugs find that girl, which is why she made such a loud commotion of pretending to stumble out of a different store, a pharmacy, they wouldn't even bother looking in the bookshop that way. "Well well, what do we have here." Eden didn't realise a gun was held at her until she looked up but her hands quickly held up defencelessly. There were two of them and the free handed one reached to take her knife from her belt, running the top of it teasingly through a few fallen strands of her hair. "Well if she won't talk, then she doesn't need her tongue does she." the threat rolled lowly from his tongue and she quickly spluttered her name out. "Your boss, whoever he is, won't be happy if you cause a whole war by killing me in the street." Eden quipped and despite the laughter they did flash each other a concerned look. "He wouldn't give a fuck who you are-" they started but she made sure to interrupt quickly. "Eden O'Connor." They knew who Ben was, that much she knew.. but up until now, they hadn't known about her. She was his weakness.

Two seconds later all she saw was a swift motion and a searing and sudden blow to her head, right above her eye on her front temple. Everything spun until it was.. nothing. Darkness. They'd used the gun to knock her unconscious and when she was coming round she was being pulled, being forced to put one foot in front of the other, each arm held, her hands bound at her front with a rope that cut into her wrists and though Eden couldn't see herself, she felt the blood that'd dried down the side of her face from the cut created above her brow. A tender bruise had started to form around her outer eye socket. There'd been no need for it, she would've gone willingly enough. God she hoped that little girl understood her, that she'd be safe and that Ben and Cade would find her. She must have been so frightened.

"Head up bitch, you're meeting the boss as you put it." They were squeezing her arms and all she wanted to say was that they were hurting her but Eden was practically half concussed. She'd heard enough about this man to know she didn't want to meet him, she didn't want to be here or be anywhere near them, she had people looking for her, waiting for her. Ben would be going out of his mind by now. All she knew was she'd lost time to being unconscious because it was later in the day, the sun setting, darkness was on the brink of taking over. Suddenly she seemed more alive, starting to pull and fight against the two men dragging her and it truly became a drag because she refused to walk.

cade was entirely distracted. sure he could still do his job on the door but he kept flashing his gaze across that bar from the door he stood on and finding her. he couldn't stop looking and by god he knew she wasn't a wolf, that didn't change anything, it's like he could feel the nymph's presence and he.. well he'd seen her before. he normally watched from a distance when she was in his forest, definitely his because as the alpha, he owned that forest. there wasn't a thing happening on his land that he didn't know about and yet, he watched at a distance to make sure she could be at ease, protected whilst she let that land he loved flourish under her touch. he thought that was beautiful, from the first time he'd seen her, a dark wolf watching her, he thought what she could do was so predominantly peaceful, the side of mystical creatures and beings that was genuinely magical.

he'd never approached, almost afraid to in truth. he was a huge wolf, not the typical size, over bearing and for him to approach well, that must be terrifying. that's why he hovered, it's why he hovered now, watching and hoping she was going to have a good night. if asher asked he'd state this was his job, he was on the door, he was also making sure people in the bar were safe when he had a spare minute.

"he must really like you." eden leaned in to whisper to aiyla and flick her eyes in the direction of the doorman and then back to her friend. "he keeps looking at you, not around the bar but you. he's nice, do you know him?" eden was fidgeting, tapping the edge of her glass, not that anyone would hear thanks to the lovely singing and guitar strumming in this bar. she didn't know if this felt safe, it had been so long since she'd dared to go into this type of environment and to her.. this was so busy. it was more supernatural than she was used to being around, but she was with aiyla, and being near another nymph made who and what she was far less noticeable, some of her overbearingly sweet scent melted into hers, dulled it, but there was no mistaking her long pointed ears, poking from behind her cropped waves of dark hair. the noise was something for her to get used to, every time someone laughed loudly, or a glass clinked, the pointed tips would twitch, far far more sensitive to sound than a nymph.

there was a little voice in her head, screaming that this was dangerous, that vampires were too close, too near to her, a childs voice terrified repeating that vampires would hurt her but each drink seemed to dull that voice down. "aiyla? am i doing okay at this?" she whispered. she'd found her new friend in the woods, a bunny that'd hidden in tall grass, that wasn't a bunny at all. she'd at first been so frozen in fear, scared of the confrontation... but aiyla was nice, she was calm, to eden she was peaceful and above all else, encouraging. she wouldn't be here without her. "oh- sorry, can i get a drink? something not... too str-" she froze, he was one of them. he was a vampire and she was staring at him, her green doe eyes, transfixed on him and slowly those ears started to dip down, to try and hide.

"oh no, no no no." she spoke, right as someone leaned on the wall beside her. "i can see how this is going to go, i really can. you're going to say you were totally captivated by my voice, then you're going to flatter me, offer me a drink but you've no idea what kind of drink i like, and hope that i'll go home with you tonight because that's how it goes every night, tell me i'm wrong." one brow quirked, a challenge to him whilst lists shone on her skin, made her appear luminescent but she was a tide pulling you under, deeper and deeper until she was all consuming. "tell me i'm wrong, stun me half to death and make out like i didn't just give away your game plan entirely."

all eden could do was fret, stress, let fear fill her bones. "silas?" she whispered, knowing that even in the pitch black space they'd been left in, he'd listen and hear her. "there's movement downstairs... kids? kids listen to me, you're going to be really brave okay? the moment that door opens and you see light, the opening we make, you run. you don't look back you run, and when you get out you look at this compass, you run north west. " eden had repeated this plan to them, a billion times. over and over. they knew they were in trouble but if they could get the children out... then at least they'd be safe. safer than they were here, waiting like pigs for slaughter and hadn't they taught them the rules? how to be safe out there, time and time again?

part of eden knew that silas had stayed for her. because she wouldn't have been able to make it out in time or get away quick enough. it'd been a quiet game of waiting, a devised plan and in the quietest moments, she thought of him. of how he'd handle it, two kids leaning to him and an absence of her. she wondered briefly if he'd be mad at her for not fighting harder, for not being quicker... then she remembered the way he'd hold his arms around her, let the worries melt away. how gentle he could be with her. he wouldn't be angry, not at her... but these people? they'd get what they deserved eventually. asher would see to that.

in the quiet of the hours they'd waited, she'd found silas.. and she'd said everytihng she needed to them. soft words of reassurance that he'd see eris, that she already knew that woman wasn't going to leave him behind and then came the softer words. 'if something happens to me, if they murder me, you and eris, stay with him. he's a good man, don't give up on him.' and then moments later she'd whispered the painful words, pleaded them. 'promise me if they murder me, you won't let him see me like that. don't let him see me like that.' you tell him that i love him, dearly, endlessly. that's how she should've finished it but what good would that be, if not from her own lips?

"ready?" she whispered to the kids, she'd moved behind the door, little bit.. eden could do her best, hands bound but her plan might work. the moment the light cracked into the room it was blinding, her own hands went up, bound wrists wrapping around the front of one of these peoples necks and promptly pulling back, hard and fast, essentially strangling them as they tried to manhandle someone in to the room. it was all commotion, all grunts and shouts. the person eden had backed up enough to ram her into the wall, she could feel the area's bruises would form but she kept her hold, let them struggle, give the kids more time. two, like she'd predicted. silas could handle the other, she just had to keep this one busy as long as possible. there'd be more downstairs, but they'd instructed the kids to go out of a window, to go.. she'd given them reassurances that they'd see her soon because she knew asher and eris would come back, yet part of her wanted him to be as safe as they'd be, away from here.

Her black hair swept back from one shoulder and falling forward in large waves on the other, her lips painted a red just two shades darker than her dress. She even wore heels and she hated heels but when Angelo said charity event, she knew the brief, she'd catered these things more than once. The reason she chose to meet him here though was down to the fact she didn't own a dress like this, she went panic shopping and.. spent more on it than she should have, dipped into the savings she'd been putting aside for him but it'd be worth it, to see the look on his face, right? She hoped. In truth she wanted him to feel on top of the world, with her on his arm but she'd walked in and every gaze fell to her. The sweetest part was she barely realised, she was just searching the crowd of people for him.

She swayed her hips as she walked, too many here would be hungry for a woman that looked as lovely as she did. A waiter stopped her to offer her a drink, even crouching slightly for her to take a champagne flute which she thanked him for and then when she spotted Angelo, she wore the widest smile. She truly did not realise how dangerous everyone int his room was. She was in a den of vipers. "I'm so sorry I'm late Angelo, it was a little further than I thought." she spoke softly as she approached, given she waited so she didn't interrupt his conversation. It took longer than she thought... she'd walked here. Not a date, she reminded herself, definitely not a date. "I'll warn you now, I'm not a very good dancer."

@wiinestories !