Eva set to work on her idea.
Using one of her pointed fingers, she punctured her upper arm. She brought her bloodied finger to the back of her left claw. Keeping her arm as steady as she could, Eva started a circle on the back of her claw.
She found it far easier to move her whole arm, keeping her needle-like finger stiff. Trying to bend the joints felt awkward. It was a far more precise circle than she felt she could draw otherwise.
Slowly, Eva pulled out six spokes and drew an outer circle. The base design was complete. Eva wasn’t finished. Arachne followed her orders perfectly, none of the creatures were getting hear her.
Three tear shaped droplets dripped down from the main circle. A single line crested the top of the circle. Eva added several small marks from the line, stretching out to her fingers.
That would do for now.
Eva walked–waddled–to the nearest downed golem. It wasn’t moving, but its heart beat. That was all she needed.
She dug into the bag of flesh where its heart was located. Her marked hand pressed up against the beating heart.
I hope this is a human heart.
Eva channeled her magic into it.
The heart twisted in on itself, pulling and rending the flesh it was attached to. It compressed until a small glowing sphere appeared in Eva’s vision. As blood collected against the sphere, Eva could tell it still had flaws. Far less flaws than the woman from the abattoir, but it was more porous than a proper bloodstone should be.
A wave of her hand caused the entirety of the creature’s blood to tear out of its corpse. She kept a small amount wrapped around the bloodstone to keep it floating around her.
The rest formed large marbles and shot off towards the heart of every flesh golem Eva could detect. Once they were splattered with her controlled blood, Eva snapped her fingers.
Nothing happened.
Eva snapped her fingers.
She looked down and repeated the motion. She couldn’t see more than the insides, but Eva had her guesses. The smooth chitin rubbed uselessly against each other in the clumsiest way she ever saw someone try to snap.
“Arachne,” Eva yelled, “I can’t snap your stupid fingers.”
The demon didn’t respond, opting instead to skewer another two golems.
Eva sighed and clapped.
At once, all the flesh golems’ hearts exploded in their chests.
As they tumbled Eva could only lament the potency of the blood. It was far better than hers.
At the moment, she reassured herself.
She sent the bloodstone off to collect more blood. Not too much, Eva didn’t want to wear down the new stone too quickly.
“Sawyer,” Eva called as she looked around for the man. “Sawyer, where are you?”
Her calls were just for fun. He sat back behind the line of fallen golems, apparently having fallen backwards when the golems died. His grin was still plastered on his face. She wondered for a moment if it was just stuck like that.
Eva focused on him. All her rage, all her anger. If it wasn’t for him…
She grit her teeth. As carefully as she could, Eva marched up to him. The ground was slick enough with blood for her to see every nook and cranny.
“Ah-ah, my sweetie.” He ticked his finger back and forth. “I should mention this: killing me won’t make it stop.”
Eva tilted her head to the side. “What are yo–”
A brief flash of movement was the only warning she got.
Eva dived to the side, tumbling out of the path of the attack.
“It took all five specters and she is fighting every step.” Eva watched as the meat in his tongue slipped over empty space. His teeth. “I love the feisty ones. She’s a much better fighter than you.”
Arachne lurched forwards. Her steps were unsteady, more like a zombie than some of the actual zombies she’d seen. Another step almost sent her to the ground; one of her legs stretched forward to catch her.
Eva didn’t waste a second of time. Her blood spread forward, wrapping around each of Arachne’s legs at the base of her back. She doubled and tripled up the rings of blood. Arachne was a demon and her carapace was strong.
Eva clapped.
Not strong enough. Six legs violently exploded off the back of the arachnid. Arachne fell on her face a moment later. Eva couldn’t tell for sure, but an arrow sticking out of her chest might have been pushed all the way through. The legs squirmed and writhed on the ground before they went still.
“Heartless,” Sawyer quipped as he looked down at the lamely flopping Arachne.
The stubs on her hands didn’t seem to offer enough grip to prop herself back up. That or Arachne was fighting every movement.
Eva hoped it was the second.
Eva shrugged. “She’ll regenerate. You,” Eva couldn’t help but grin at the man before her, “will not.”
“I had my doubts about you being a demon. I suppose my doubts were unfounded.”
“Arachne,” Eva said as she walked over to Sawyer, “you have until I finish sorting our friend’s organs from smallest to largest to fight off those ghosts. If you fail, I’ll banish you until we find a solution.”
“Smallest to largest?” Sawyer said with mock confidence. “Why not alphabetical? It just seems so plebeian, otherwise. Or,” he gasped, bringing a hand to his mouth, “are you a simpleton who doesn’t even know the names of half the body’s organs?”
“Really, the only organ that matters to me is the heart.” Eva knelt down near the grinning man. “I could coat you in blood and clap my hands. I could, it would be so easy. I could have done it instead of the golems or Arachne.”
Her fingers clicked as they tapped against each other. “I think it would be much more cathartic to do this by hand,” she wiggled her needle-like fingers, clacking them together more, “or claw, as the case may be.”
Sawyer offered nothing but his wide grin. His heart rate increased. Not by a little bit. It hammered in his chest almost as hard as Eva’s own heart.
“Shall we start here?” Eva gripped his little toe, or tried to. The man was wearing a shoe that Eva couldn’t see. Eva pinched, intending to only cut through the shoe. She misjudged her hand’s strength. Her sharp fingers pierced straight through his toe.
He didn’t scream. He didn’t even slip in his smile. His heart beat faster.
“Sorry,” Eva said. “I don’t have much experience with these hands. Something we can explore together. You still have nine toes and plenty more after that.”
Eva reached into the small opening in his shoe. The next toe, Eva rolled back and forth in her fingers. Bone snapped beneath her fingers before she squeezed it off. “Eight now, Sawyer. Any comments?”
“Just one,” he said with a laugh that sounded far less forced than it should have sounded, “I’m glad I took your eyes.”
Eva frowned at that. She reached for his third–
Hot pain pierced her side. Eva gripped her side as something kicked the side of her head.
“Trouble with two naked whores, Sawyer? I am disappointed.”
“Weilks, good to see you.”
Eva couldn’t breathe, not well at least. She could see exactly what happened, at least to her blood vessels. Something pierced her lung. She set to healing as much as she could. Her bloodstone flew into the cut, giving her more control over her own blood. Lungs were far more complicated than skin; as long as it matched the opposite side, it should be fine. Her blood magic could keep her from drowning in her own blood as well.
“The Elysium Sluts are on the move. Now would be the perfect time to find the augur. Except,” the larger man made a show of looking around the chamber, “is this our entire army?”
“A third.”
“Sawyer,” Weilks said warningly.
Eva gripped the thing piercing her side and pulled it slowly out, healing as she went. The blood sticking to the blade made a familiar pattern.
This was her dagger. Her dagger. The bloodstone was missing. It was her bloodstone. The best one she’d ever made. The fat man must have it.