Eden frowned. She was familiar with the south, where she worked and hung out the most. That area has Chinatown and most of the Asian population: the Rat’s, the Dragon’s, and the Snake’s. Why would the Core’s Overcraft go there the most often?
“What about the other territories?”
“It went to all of them, at least twice. My territory is the one it came to the most after the three Asian ones, it seems.”
Eden frowned. What does it mean...? She had a bad feeling about this, but she knew there was no way the nine other Zodiacs hadn’t noticed too. They were all watching their territories for external attacks; it would have been crazy for no one to notice a strange Overcraft flying over their heads in the middle of the night. The only thing they had in common was that they couldn’t attack. Even the Zodiacs weren’t crazy enough to risk killing a citizen of the Core and facing retribution. Not only for them, but each Zodiac had thousands of lives under their responsibility. It would have been too risky...
In silence, Dante and Eden watched the Overcraft do a few more stops, each time in a different block, and leave. It quietly went back to the Core, and Dante turned the TV off too. Everything went back to silence in the room. Eden turned to him.
“...Is that why you need me? You wanted a hacker to investigate what the Core is... doing here?”
Dante tilted his head, his cunning smile coming back.
“That’s one of the reasons I wanted you, yes. I do have a lot of work for you as a Dive Hacker.”
Eden slowly nodded. She was curious now too. She knew Loir would find it strange and help her investigate. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t tickled the Core before. The System hated her, as she was a big threat, but Eden had visited that System a few times before. It was no easy trip, but if Loir could get her deep enough into it, then she could… Dante gently grabbed her chin again, taking her out of her reflections. The bubble of thoughts in Eden’s head popped as she was suddenly faced with those dangerous golden eyes of his... again.
“...Someone’s already thinking too much,” he chuckled. “My new Dive Hacker needs a night of rest if she wants to be at her best for the jobs I have for her tomorrow... For you. Now it’s late, and time for you to go to sleep, Eden... with me.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Locked up in the bathroom, Eden kept glaring at her reflection, mad at herself.
Why had she said yes to this? Now that she was by herself, it really felt like she had been crazy. Bewitched, drugged, or something. Why? Why in the world would she have agreed to this? What was wrong with her? She let out a long sigh, probably the tenth one in the past few minutes. Eden knew she hadn’t been drugged, and she knew she was under no spell, except maybe for Dante’s charms. Those cursed golden eyes of his… so alluring. She took several deep breaths.
She could hear one of her pups whining outside the door, waiting for her. The other one was perhaps asleep already. The past few minutes had happened like a dream. To her surprise, she and Dante had gone back to the very same room she had been given, the large suite. Was he fine changing rooms like that? She had thought the place he had been cooking in was his private apartment. Maybe there wasn’t a bedroom there? Or was he unwilling to bring her there? Or maybe he simply didn’t care where he slept. Eden brushed her hair with her fingers and scratched her head, too many questions popping up annoyingly in her mind.
She was annoyed that she just couldn’t read his intentions clearly; she could not predict his next move. Was it ever going to be clear at all? What did he really mean by just... sleeping with her? Maybe it would have been easier if he had just asked for sex. At least she could have put her feelings aside and done it mechanically… perhaps. No, even then, she wasn’t sure she could control her feelings. What feelings? Eden wasn’t sure herself. Dante was waking up things in her she couldn’t remember feeling in... a very long time.
Angrily, she brushed her teeth and washed her face, using every single piece of luxury that was offered to her. She brushed her long, blonde curls for a while too, although it was just to win herself some time to think. Her heart was beating like crazy just from thinking about going back there and sleeping in the same bed as him...
However, Eden knew she couldn’t stay locked up in the bathroom forever, no matter how luxurious it was. She had cleaned and cut her nails, and taken some of the brand-new and expensive skin products left there for her. She wondered who had prepared this room. Maybe it was custom for all of his “partners” to get this? Maybe it was like in those fancy hotels: they had stocks of beauty products ready to be changed when the boss’ new mistress came in... Eden tried to chase all those dark thoughts from her mind. She should just enjoy this while it lasts before he gets her killed or throws her back in the streets.
At least the pajamas she was in didn’t feel too sexy or anything. It was a gray ensemble in silk and the bottoms were shorts, but she certainly didn’t care about showing off her prosthetic legs...
After taking a deep breath, she finally came out of the bathroom. Bullet immediately jumped on her feet, whining again, but with his tail wagging. With the perfect excuse given by the pup to take it slow again, Eden crouched down to play with him. Her hazel eyes glanced sideways to see what Dante was doing.
He was already in bed, not paying attention to her. Well, that was what it looked like from a quick glance. He was reading something on a tablet, frowning, his hand behind his head. Eden wanted to roll her eyes. He wasn’t wearing anything on top, once again showing off his muscles and that tiger tattoo... That posture was even flexing all his abs. She wondered if he was doing this on purpose.
“If I had known you liked being in the bathroom so much, I would have gotten you a spa...”
Eden glared his way. She didn’t stay inside because of the products... After that sentence, Dante didn’t add a word, still deeply absorbed in whatever he was reading. Eden had a hard time walking to the bed, though. She tried playing with Bullet a bit longer but even the pup was getting tired. Hadn’t those two slept enough earlier? She looked around for Beer and to her surprise the pup was already on the bed, lying on his back and sleeping without a care in the world. Had Dante put him there? The bed was definitely too high for the pups to climb up.
After a while, when it was clear Bullet was too tired to play anymore, she hugged the pup and walked to the bed, trying to ignore Dante with all her might. Maybe he was pretending to read, but he didn’t move when she climbed on the bed and put Bullet down. Eden sat on the edge of the bed with her back turned to him, but she immediately realized it was almost worse to not see him. It was too late for regrets; she took a deep breath and looked down at her legs.
“SIN, camouflage off.”
Her fake skin disappeared, revealing the dark metal. Eden frowned and inspected her legs. They had been through quite a lot recently... but aside from a few superficial scratches, they didn’t seem too damaged.
“We can have them checked for you if you need.”
Eden was about to refuse, but she hesitated; having Parts revised was usually extremely expensive. Even while saving up all she could, Eden could only afford to have them revised once in a while. Which wasn’t nearly enough considering how much she used them, especially for fighting. She constantly feared they’d break down or something...
“...Or get you new ones.”
“I like this model,” she immediately answered.
She had picked this model out of all the others because it wasn’t too expensive. It was suited for fighting and most importantly, it couldn’t be hacked without hacking her SIN first. The newest models were defaulted to have their own systems, which could be hacked themselves. This one only worked in symbiosis with her SIN and nothing else.
