She made a note to mention it to her master later.
Still, the room was devoid of any masters and the adjacent room had no lights on.
Arachne grumbled, making her way to the roof.
Where could her master have gone. Arachne looked around the landscape. She didn’t know the direction of her master’s school. She could find someone and ask them, but then she would have to deal people seeing her. Getting blood on her dust-covered self didn’t sound like a good thing.
While trying to decide on a course of action, a flicker caught her attention. A second figure flickered on a rooftop closer than the first.
A grin spread across her face as the figure flickered once again. Her Eva was stepping back towards Arachne.
Eva noticed Arachne on the roof and stepped straight in front of her.
Arachne leapt forward and clasped her claws and her four extra legs around her Eva.
Her new master stiffened the moment her limbs wrapped around the young girl. It hurt that she reacted that way, but she relaxed as Arachne ran her sharp fingers through her long, straight hair. Arachne restrained herself to the point where her fingers ran lightly enough to not damage her skin. Damaging her Eva would be… bad.
“I was worried something happened to you.” Arachne quickly tried to explain why she left the lobby. “I peeked in and I couldn’t find you and I didn’t know where you had gone–”
“I’m sorry Arachne.” She returned the stroking motion in Arachne’s own spindly tendril like hair. “I forgot. I– You don’t smell like human blood.”
Arachne sniffed herself. “No. Should I? I can fix that.”
“No. No. It is fine, I just was expecting… well, never mind.”
“Are you sure? I’m sure I could find someone around here to–”
“Arachne.” Her Eva gave one of those glares.
“It was just a joke,” Arachne lied.
“I know,” her Eva said. She patted Arachne’s back just lightly enough to send chills down her carapace. “Come on. We need to have a little talk if you’re going to be going to that school with me. I trust you finished filling those vials?”
Arachne nodded.
“Lets get you keyed and then have our talk.”
Arachne scooped up her new master and held her tight against her chest. She ignored her master’s feeble attempts at escaping and leapt off the roof. Arachne knew her Eva could move about easier with stepping, and knew she didn’t like being held. Arachne ignored that. She liked doing the holding. Unless her master gave explicit orders not to, she would do as she liked.
Even if she did order it, Arachne might forget on occasion.
Eva took the vials and went up to the second floor.
Left on her own, Arachne fidgeted. Without the distractions of searching for her master or holding her Eva, the itchiness of the dust came back. She had agitated it with moving so much.
Cleaning herself wouldn’t be a fun experience.
A moment after she went up, Eva came back down.
“You’re keyed in, but there is black blood splattered around the staircase. Something you want to tell me?”
“You didn’t come down and I was worried,” Arachne said miming the human shrug expression. “On the plus side, your wards work very well against demons. So, congratulations.”
An expression of sadness fell over her Eva’s face. “I’m sorry,” she said, “I should have keyed you in last night. Or just not forgotten. I panicked this morning and–are you okay? You’re not hurt badly are you?”
Arachne had conflicted feelings. On one claw, she was happy her master was showing such concern. On the other, she didn’t like her being sad or weak. Arachne smiled a wide grin to try to dissuade her worries. “Already healed,” she said, flexing her still extended extra legs.
In truth, her damaged limb hadn’t healed yet. Something with her Eva’s blood wards had slowed her healing. It was healing, just slower than expected. She would probably be done healing by morning. Still, the power of her master’s blood… As expected of one she called her master.
Once again, Arachne walked up the stairs. The tingling pain was, thankfully, absent this time.
Eva led her down the short corridor to her room.
Arachne paused outside the room and glanced into the summoning room. “That skull,” Arachne said, “what is it?”
Eva walked back out of her room. “That was a ‘gift’ from a hel named Ylva.”
“I don’t like it. It was staring at me earlier.” Arachne walked around the room, careful to not get near the shackles around the summoning circle. The skull just sat, staring blankly at the wall. Arachne frowned and looked back to Eva. “I was climbing around the windows while trying to find you. When I passed this room, its gaze followed me.”
Eva did the shrug thing with her shoulders. “She said it wouldn’t hurt me and while I am not about to take the words of a demon at face value, I did give her quite the gift in return, apparently.”
Arachne frowned again, but didn’t say anything. She allowed Eva to lead her out of the room by her claw, but kept her eyes on the skull until Eva’s room door shut. It never once turned away from the wall.
Now in her new master’s room, Arachne took a look around. She wanted to skitter around and touch every little thing, but she was still dirty. Eva was sure to get mad at dirt in her bed. “Do you have a bath?”
“Oh.” Eva’s eyes ran down and back up Arachne’s body. She took Arachne’s claw in her own hand again and led her into the small adjacent room. “If you turn the shower head a quarter turn clockwise, hot water will come out.”
Eva left the room, shutting the door behind her, before Arachne could ask if she wanted to shower too. Her new master was looking more grimy than she normally did.
Arachne stepped into the shower and carefully placed her fingers around the shower head. Taking great care to not squeeze too hard, Arachne slowly twisted until water fell out.
It wasn’t as good as a bath might have been, but at least she didn’t soak in dust filled water. Arachne ran her sharp fingers between every nook and joint of her body. She started with her finger joints, then wrists, then arms, and so on.
Once satisfied, Arachne carefully turned off the water. Her armored carapace was once again a smooth and shiny black. While her skin didn’t trap near as much water as human skin, she was still wet. Not wanting to get Eva’s living place wet, Arachne looked around the small room.
A single towel hung over a rack. Her Eva’s towel.
Arachne grabbed it as delicately as she could. She hugged it to her body, taking a long smell.
Arachne frowned. It didn’t smell much of Eva. Was it fresh or did showers wash away too much scent to really stick to the towel?
Sighing, she dried herself off.
Arachne stepped back into the bedroom.
Eva sat on the edge of her bed, reading one of the books on hel. She looked up at Arachne’s entrance. The teeth in her smile had just a hint of the sharpness present in Arachne’s own. Her eyes, once hazel several years ago, now held a small glimmer of red.
“Do you need a shower as well, Eva?” Arachne asked with a smile of her own.
Eva pulled at the top of her shirt and leaned her head down for a smell. She pulled back with a slight grimace. “I didn’t take one last night and missed this morning as well. But talk first,” she said, patting a spot on the bed next to her.
Arachne accepted the invitation without protest. She nustled up right next to her Eva.
“Now,” Eva said, “we are leaving, via an airplane, for Montana the day after tomorrow. Tomorrow we will check in with master, and a few other people, and pack. Do you have anything you need to bring?”
Arachne shook her head. Apart from her master, she had nothing in this world to call her own.
“Okay. There is a problem, however.”
Arachne frowned, but said nothing.
“I may not know much about magical society, but I doubt demons are going to be widely accepted. If you’re not hunted down immediately.”