She pulled her dagger out from its place on her back and glanced around the woods.
“No demon to watch your back tonight?”
Eva whirled, sending a splattering of blood in the direction of the voice.
A large flesh golem jumped in the way of the blood, shielding its masters.
She snapped her fingers and the blood flashed. The golem staggered and collapsed to the ground.
“I’m quite capable on my own,” Eva said with far more confidence than she felt. The golem fell due to luck, more than anything. Had that been Arachne’s blood, the golem would have vaporized.
And she still hadn’t gotten around to having Arachne refill the vials she’d used on Halloween.
The skinny figure behind the fallen flesh golem clapped his hands twice with a wide grin on his face. “I thought that was blood magic the other night. It was too dark to tell for sure.”
A spectral hound growled at Eva from between the two men standing before her. Ectoplasmic foam dripped from its mouth to the snow. Around ten flesh golems stood around the two men.
The wider man shot a glare at his companion. “We’re here for the book, not for compliments, Sawyer.”
“Book?” Eva said with false swagger. “Oh, you must mean the pile of ashes I scattered to the winds after Halloween.” She ticked her finger back and forth. “Shouldn’t have shown your hand. Especially to me.”
The large man started forwards. Three more flesh golems jumped forwards with his movement. Sawyer placed his hand on the larger man’s shoulder, but the golems didn’t stop.
Eva jammed her crystal dagger into her arm. She drew a thin thread of her dark blood into a razor wire in front of her.
With a snap of her finger, the wire whipped out from her. She slashed it across the nearest golem.
The golem staggered, but kept coming.
Eva thrust out, wrapping the whip around its neck. She snapped her fingers, decapitating it.
The other two barreled onto her. She stepped straight behind them, forming a small blood needle in each hand as she moved.
The golems each got a needle in their backs. With a snap of her finger, the needles exploded. They collapsed with damaged spinal cords.
Eva whirled on the remaining group. None of them had moved. “Come on,” Eva said, trying to contain her anger. “I’ll take on the rest of them and you.”
Revealing her stepping was not something she wanted to do. Especially without her wand in her hand. She tried very hard to make her finger ring more obvious.
Sawyer just laughed and clapped again. His grin never left his face.
“What a ferocious display.” He leaned over to his companion. “If that’s what they teach kids at that school, I might have to enroll my daughter.”
“Sawyer,” the man growled. “No jokes. If she destroyed the book…”
“It isn’t like the book was our main plan.” Sawyer paused and brought his finger to his chin. “It was expensive. We’ll have to gather just recompense from the young lady.”
A golden glint passed through his eyes as he spoke. It sent shivers up Eva’s spine. She quickly glanced around the woods. A number of flesh golems wandered up to form a loose circle around her. She almost stepped away when Sawyer’s companion spoke.
“I don’t care about the Elysium whores.” The word was all but spat out. “I want my book.”
None of the golems moved and their footsteps would crunch the show if they did. She’d have warning enough to step. Information might be more handy at the moment.
“What do you want with the Elysium Sisters?”
“Nothing much. Every chapter travels with an augur. We just want her skull polished and carved into a container. Her soul can stay inside until we tire of her blathering.”
“That doesn’t sound like something Death would like much.”
Sawyer shrugged without breaking eye contact. “It isn’t like we’re turning her into a lich. Did you even read those books you stole?”
Eva shifted uncomfortably.
His voice dropped to a low rumble. “Those who squander knowledge are the worst sorts of people.”
Eva opened her mouth to retort only for it to snap shut. A cold chill gripped her spine. The cold branched out to the tips of her fingers and the bottoms of her feet. Even the boiling runes in her shoes couldn’t fight off the cold.
She tried to step away. Even towards the necromancers when she couldn’t turn her head.
Instead, Eva teetered and fell into the snow.
“That took longer than expected,” Sawyer’s companion grumbled.
It took all her concentration to lift her head up. She struggled to look at the necromancers. Her head moved slowly, like she was in a pool of honey.
“Don’t fight the possession, my sweetie. You’ll just hurt yourself.”
Eva didn’t listen. She fought as hard as she could. Slowly she got to her feet.
It wasn’t her doing.
“Well?” Sawyer’s companion barked out.
“Something’s strange,” a voice said. “She’s strange,” Eva’s voice said. She lurched forwards. Her dagger tumbled out of her twitching fingers.
The large man walked up to Eva. He gingerly plucked the dagger out of the snow. Only his forefinger and thumb touched the hilt.
If only he accidentally cut himself.
He gripped Eva’s chin with a meaty hand and pinched her mouth open. A cold liquid flooded into her mouth.
“Make her swallow.”
Eva tried to spit. Tried to avoid swallowing. Cold tendrils snaked through the inside of her mouth. The potion was in her stomach soon enough.
If only she was further along in her treatments. The drowsiness wouldn’t have taken hold.
“Now,” Sawyer’s voice came through murky water, “what were we talking about?
“Ah yes, recompense.”
Chapter 024
Author’s Note: Chapter may contain disturbing elements. If you find yourself becoming uncomfortable during Eva’s POV section, skip down to “Her Eva was missing.” This bypasses the section.
There will be an Author’s Note summarizing Eva’s POV beneath the bottom chapter navigation.
“You knock on your own room?” Irene quirked an eyebrow in Juliana’s direction.
The two finished shopping in record time. The subpar selection offered by shops around Brakket certainly helped. Still, Juliana made out with a new uniform and plenty of everyday clothes. Her favorite purchase was a brand new winter coat. It was cut long with an outer layer of wool and fleece lining.
Her old coat wasn’t technically ruined due to being hung up near the door when the golems attacked. As long as Zoe lifted the limit on her miscellaneous spending, why not spend it.
“Eva tends to sleep naked. I like to give her some warning in case she’s already stripped down.” And to make sure Arachne wasn’t hanging around in her human form.
It had only been one day since Arachne came back to the dorms. Juliana spent most of that day at school. The night before and the morning, after their talks with Sister Cross and Zoe, Arachne spent the entire time as a human. Apparently she no longer felt the need to hide in her spider form. At least around Juliana.
Juliana expected her to take over the third bed in the room. Instead she cuddled up with Eva in her bed. They weren’t made for two people, barely made for one person, but Arachne didn’t care and Juliana heard no complaints from Eva.
In a way it was comforting to have her around. If the necromancers decided to send more golems to attack, Arachne should be able to deal with them without any trouble if her show at the club was any indicator.
“So, are we going in then?” Irene shifted the bag she was carrying to her other arm.
“There’s no answer. Maybe she’s out.”
Juliana slipped both of her bags onto one arm and pulled out her card. With a quick swipe, the latch clicked open.