Hopefully the nuns will be here soon, Nel thought as she eyed the zombie shambling towards her. As much as she did not wish to die, a lightning bolt to the brain sure beat out being eaten to death.
It was that stupid girl with the stitches. It was all her fault. She left the door open on purpose. Nel being captive was Des’ fault. If she hadn’t started that stupid attack on the school…
Watching the little girl’s torture session under her father had provided a few delightful moments of catharsis.
Until he had stitched up her mouth and turned his attentions to Nel, that is.
With a sigh, Nel shut her eyes. It was the only control still afforded to her. She wasn’t about to watch the zombie start eating her.
Her eyes snapped open at the sucking noise just in front of her–not unlike the sound of boots being pulled free of mud.
The zombie had five black needles poking through its face. The entire body was thrown against one wall. Blood splattered out as the wall cracked from the force of the impact.
A figure stood, shadowed in the darkness where the zombie had been. Limbs twitched and jittered behind it, looking like skeletal wings of an angel. Eight glowing eyes stared down at her.
Arachne.
Relief flooded through Nel. She would have sunk into her chair had the restraints been looser.
Her relief turned sour as Arachne just stood there. She wasn’t moving.
Just staring.
In the blink of an eye, Arachne had her face half an inch away from Nel’s own. Her white teeth stood out in a very unfriendly smile.
“If you do not save my Eva, everything you have experienced here will look like a vacation to paradise. Nothing Ylva says or does will save you. Do you understand?”
That sinking feeling in the pit of Nel’s stomach grew. Other than being stabbed with Sawyer’s dagger, she had no idea what happened to Eva or why Arachne thought she could fix anything. For a moment, Nel almost wished that the necromancer would come back.
She nodded anyway. Or tried to–the restraints were too tight. Hopefully rapid blinks would suffice.
Arachne’s limbs snapped forward, severing her bonds all at once.
Nel tried to stand. Her good arm shook as she tried to pull herself out of the chair.
She made it, only to have her legs give out from under her. Nel collapsed, grasping at Arachne’s knees.
The demon took a step backwards. “You’re disgusting.”
Nel opened her mouth in an attempt to say, ‘I know.’ Nothing but coughs came out.
How long had it been since she had last spoken, or gotten proper food and water. The gruel she had been fed through a tube in her restraints had been nothing but putrid muck.
A week at least. Two? The days blurred together after a while.
And in all that time, she hadn’t once stood on her own two feet.
Sharp claws reached down, uncaring as to whether or not they scraped against one of her eyes. She was hoisted up and over Arachne so that her stomach was on one of the demon’s shoulders.
Arachne turned to leave the room and bumped into Genoa and someone who looked vaguely familiar. The man held a ball of flames in his hand, lighting up the room.
Both of whom took one glance at Nel and wrinkled their noses.
“Is she alive?” the man asked.
Nel would have shrunk in on herself had she the energy to care. She couldn’t look that bad, could she?
Genoa took one glance around the room. “Where’s Zoe?”
“We decided splitting up would be prudent given the situation. I showed up just in time too. Dear old Ylva’s slave was about to be a zombie snack,” Arachne said with a gesture towards the splattered remains on the wall. “If you didn’t find her, she’s probably still making her way up here.”
Frowning, Genoa nodded slowly. “Let’s go pick them up and get out of here.”
Nel forced her shaking arm in the direction of the bubbling lump of eye-infested flesh. “My eyes,” she coughed out. “I need them.”
All three turned toward the corner of the room. Everyone winced away.
“I already have one disgusting sack of flesh. Someone else can take the other.”
Genoa and the man shared a glance before the man sighed. He took off his suit jacket and wrapped up Nel’s eyes. Tying the sleeves together, he picked it up and held it as far from his body as he could manage.
As they started hustling down the hallway, jolting Nel up and down, Genoa half turned her head. “Did you find the necromancer?”
“He escaped. Mortals like to go hunting, correct?” Arachne leaned her head to one side–away from Nel. Her hair tendril things brushed against Nel’s skin, some poking her in her eyes.
Probably on purpose.
“I think Eva will enjoy a nice and relaxing hunting trip once she gets back on her feet.”
“My daughter–”
“Yes, yes,” Arachne said as they entered the stairwell. Nel could almost feel her rolling her eyes and Nel wasn’t certain that they could actually roll. As it was, her claws just dug further into Nel’s backside. “I am certain that Eva will want to rescue the mortal children as well.”
“That’s very–”
A deep, rumbling voice interrupted Genoa. “What do we have here?”
The voice came from a little eight-year-old with a head full of tentacles. Zoe Baxter stood across the landing from the tentacle girl with her dagger out in a fighting stance.
Devon Foster lay on the floor, face down.
“I’ve been looking for you, Arachne.”
Again, Arachne cocked her head to one side. Again, Arachne poked her stiff hair tendrils into Nel’s eyes. “Have we met?”
“You stole my eyes. And then killed me. After you said you would let me go, you lying bit–”
“Oh. Sorry. I don’t really keep track of pathetic demons like you. Still, that was what, two or three months ago? You got out of the void quick.”
“Naturally.”
Her voice unnerved Nel. Something about the deep bass coming from what looked like a child sent her hairs on end.
“One such as I,” the tentacle girl continued, “is far more powerfu–”
“How often do you die to be so experienced in escaping the void?”
“Stop interru–”
“I suppose acquiring that experience is laudable, though.” The disdain was absolutely dripping from every word out of Arachne’s grinning mouth. If nothing else, she was enjoying herself. “Get good enough at coming back and you might return before your opponent has a chance to heal. Of course, your eyes are still missing and one of your tentacles is shriveled. Maybe you should work on healing a–”
“I’ll tear out your spine or whatever passes for it.”
The tentacle demon jumped up the stairs at them, flailing her tentacles around her.
Nel tried to scream. Her hoarse voice wouldn’t allow it.
Arachne didn’t even move.
The tentacle demon was struck simultaneously by lightning, fire, and about a hundred silver spikes. The fire and lightning blasted her into a wall while the spikes nailed her down. She struggled for a moment before hanging there, limply.
“I beat you on my own. And now you think to attack me while I’m surrounded by my master’s allies?”
Arachne casually walked up to the pinned demon. Her hand thrust through the demon’s face.
A purple void opened on the wall behind the tentacle demon and she was dragged in by a few dark tendrils.
Before the portal shut, Arachne called out. “Maybe next time you should consider who your betters are. Then again, I could always use a servant of my own.”
Arachne turned to face the rest of the group. Zoe flicked her dagger towards Devon, lifting him up in the air along with a small black book. The other two looked at each other with the man eventually giving a shrug.
“Demons,” he said as if that explained everything.
Genoa returned his shrug. “Any reason to stay?”
“Let’s get the nun back to my Eva,” Arachne said, absolutely bouncing on her heels.