Grow back my eyes? Eva almost laughed at that. She wasn’t in the mood to laugh.
Maybe if she had been caught a few years from now. Somewhere in the final stages of her treatment.
As it was, Sawyer would just come back and see no progress in healing. She’d get her stomach cut open and everything valuable taken out.
She tried casting fireballs. The heat just fizzled out the moment they left her finger nubs. She tried another midway up her arm, right next to a restraint. There wasn’t even any heat with that.
Stepping didn’t work. Her blood wasn’t working. She could still see it. It was the only thing she could see, though it wasn’t true sight.
There wasn’t much to see. It was mostly a small section of the floor splattered in front of her, the ends of her feet and hands–and her face. Maybe some of the tools as well; they were too far away to do anything with even if she could move.
Demonology wouldn’t help either. She had no summoning circles nearby to call out to. No runes anywhere to charge. She hadn’t read the necromancy books, but she doubted they would–
Or would demonology help. Arachne was always pestering her about moving through Hell to reach their other home.
Infernal walks were dangerous for mortals. Even if Eva went, she assumed Arachne would be there to help.
Hell couldn’t be any more dangerous than waiting for Sawyer to return.
Eva concentrated. She would have closed her eyes but…
Eva didn’t shake her head. She tried, but failed.
Focusing, Eva channeled her magic into herself. Not elemental magic, not chaos magic. She channeled it into herself the same way she channeled magic to summon demons. Arachne hadn’t been clear on exactly what to do–the demon had never done it herself–but Eva got the gist that it was almost the same as summoning.
Except backwards.
Eva vanished from the room.
— — —
Her Eva was missing.
The stupid human returned without any real answers. She flopped down on her bed and shrugged it off saying Eva was ‘probably fine.’
Like Arachne would believe that. Necromancers running around and a missing Eva? ‘Probably fine’ her tuberous abdomen.
Juliana conceded to that. She’d gotten her teacher to teleport the two of them out to the prison.
Eva wouldn’t be there.
Her Eva wouldn’t just run off without her. She promised never to do that again.
She promised. Eva wouldn’t lie to Arachne.
Which meant she had been kidnapped. Her Eva was in trouble and Arachne had no idea what to do. She was still alive; Arachne could feel it through their contract. But where at.
Arachne had left the dorms through the window. She marched around the area looking for any clues.
There were none.
If the necromancers were so easy to find, the foolish nuns would have found them already.
Arachne got the jitters as she walked along the forest near the Academy. She had half a mind to go get herself banished with the help of a nun. Then she could claw her way back into the mortal realm wherever her Eva’s necklace was.
That held dangers of its own. Aside from Hell–dangerous enough on its own–there was also the location of Eva. If she wasn’t in trouble, Arachne very well might expose her Eva as a diabolist. Their contract might be another problem.
Its wording was loose and vague, mostly on purpose. When they had made it, Arachne mentioned not having to go back to Hell as part of the deal. She wasn’t sure if wanting to go back to Hell would break the contract. If it did, Arachne would be at fault. She could handle the punishment the Void would dole out.
The real problem was that she wasn’t sure Eva would want to reforge their contract.
Everything was going smoothly with her plan. Eva seemed to enjoy Arachne’s company. Her Eva no longer complained about Arachne carrying her places, or physical contact in general. If anything, she expected it. That was a good sign. The necromancers helped, oddly enough, boost Eva’s reliance on Arachne. They had a home that was mostly meant for just them.
Nevertheless, Arachne couldn’t help but feel it was too soon. If she did anything to jeopardize their contract, would Eva be the one to reestablish their connection?
Her Eva would.
Would Arachne want it? She had another plan for after their contract ended naturally. A plan it was far too soon to enact. But maybe, if Eva–
Something happened. She could feel it in her heart tube. The binding coils of their contract were still there, so Eva hadn’t died. Something had happened.
Something bad.
Eva felt far away. Distance meant nothing to the Void’s contracts in the mortal plane. Yet it was there. A distance between them.
An involuntary shiver ran up Arachne’s exoskeleton.
Her Eva was in trouble.
Arachne ran.
She couldn’t banish herself. Arachne only tried magic once well over ten thousand years ago. It was a tedious annoyance when her job usually consisted of crushing skulls.
The nearest summoning circle she knew of was in the prison. She could charge it and use it to traverse to Hell. That was more than an hour away. There were closer ways to get to Hell.
Arachne ran until she reached the school. There. A suitable target walked away from Arachne just outside the building.
A white-robed nun spun to face the approaching demon. It didn’t matter if she heard Arachne’s approach or if she felt the murderous rage pouring off the demon. She turned too slow.
Arachne had her sharp fingers gripped around the nun’s neck. “Banish me,” Arachne growled out.
The nun’s eyes flashed white, a burning glow coming from within. Lightning arced from her fingers into Arachne’s shoulder.
Almost involuntarily–almost–Arachne crushed the nun’s neck. She went limp and sank to the ground. It didn’t matter. Devon said they could feel each other die, or some nonsense. More would be here quickly enough.
Arachne thrust her hands inside the chest of the nun, piercing her with her needly fingers over and over again. It had been such a long time and Arachne couldn’t wait calmly.
By the time Arachne changed to pulling limbs off, two more nuns raced across the campus.
One immediately launched a lightning bolt towards Arachne. The mutilated remains of the first nun kindly blocked it.
The third nun began speaking as the other kept up her assault.
“Demon. Sathanus, subcategory: Lucifer. Designation: Arachne. Response: Banish.”
At least they had her name right this time, Arachne thought as she dodged another bolt of lightning. She didn’t know what the Sathanus and Lucifer nonsense was about, but she was Arachne.
A game. Arachne would make it a stress reducing game. Could the nun banish her before her companion was a pulpy mess.
Arachne intended to find out.
She launched up into the air, unfurling herself to her full glory. A lightning bolt lanced up into her abdomen before she landed. She shrugged it off. It wouldn’t be pleasant later but right now, Arachne just didn’t care.
The lightning nun rolled out of the way just as Arachne landed where she had been.
Arachne barreled forth, barely avoiding another lightning strike. A blue shield enveloped the nun, stopping her claws just inches from her body. As much as she hated to admit it, she would have been banished in that alley if Eva hadn’t helped break the shield.
This time, she had no help. Arachne could feel the Void opening up beneath her. She almost stopped and let it take her. Not before she gave the nun a last parting gift.
Arachne swung her bulbous abdomen around, the same move that had scattered a mass of bones five times the nun’s size. Even with the shield, the nun went flying. She crashed straight through the cinder block wall.
Empty tendrils grew out of the ground. They wrapped around Arachne and pulled her down into a large portal.
She gave the remaining nun a grin as the mortal realm vanished above her.