Who would have guessed.
Eva tripped. Her face became intimately introduced to the carpet. Eva groaned as she pushed herself up to her knees. Rubbing the rug burn off her cheek, Eva glanced around.
She had never fallen before. Not without intending to at least. That change alone welled up excitement in her chest.
A lip of carpet. That was what had caused her to trip.
Frowning, Eva used her sharp claws to tear away at the carpet.
Nothing. No trap door. No secret tunnel. Clawing at the wood did nothing–it never had in the past either.
Sighing, Eva got to her feet. She froze half way there.
Before, it always looked like the hallway continued into eternity. Now there was a white light obscuring one end of the hallway. Turning around, Eva saw black shadows eclipsing the opposite end.
That’s not ominous at all, Eva thought. She stood in indecision, glancing back and forth. Neither had particularly good connotations.
The white light at the end of the tunnel was always where dead people went. But black had its own connections with Death. Namely reaper’s traditional attire.
With a shrug of her shoulders–anywhere was better than the endless hallway–Eva turned and started running.
The carpet beneath her feet bunched up behind her as each step moved the carpet backwards. Like the floor was a giant treadmill.
As soon as the carpet ran out, Eva’s feet hit hardwood. The walls started to bend and sway as the hardwood wrapped up as the cloth carpet had.
No matter how hard she ran, she stayed in the same position. The hallway moved, but she did not.
Even though she was making no progress, the black shadows at the end of the hall moved closer. Her shiny black legs hammered against the floor.
Until the mouth of the hallway opened up around her.
Eva’s foot came down, hitting nothing but air. She fell forward, tumbling end over end into a black emptiness. A white box with an opening into the hallway, not any larger than a single cell within her prison, shrunk into the distance as she fell.
The white box became nothing more than a pinpoint in the sky. A few more tumbles and the tiny star winked out, encompassed by pitch black. Dark enough that Eva couldn’t see her own hand in front of her eyes.
After a thought, Eva looked at herself again using her sense of blood. That was working at the very least, though it wasn’t all that helpful. She was the only thing in range.
There was no wind screaming past her face and no feelings of gravity acting against her. Her hair was straight and flat against her back. The star was her singular point of reference. Without it, she couldn’t even tell if she was still tumbling.
Her first thought was Void.
When demons died, Void snatched them from whatever plane of existence they found themselves on and brought them into Himself. From Arachne, Eva knew that demons then had to ‘claw their way back to their domains or risk insanity and oblivion within Him.’
None of that was particularly helpful now.
Devon would be pleased to know that she was demon enough to be claimed by Void. If she managed to escape before he died of old age.
The time to escape varied depending on power. Eva had a strong suspicion that she was not among the ranks of the more powerful demons.
Waving her claws around did not accomplish anything apparent. The only reason she could tell that her arms were moving was because she could still feel herself. A quick swipe of her index finger told her that yes, pain was very much a thing here.
…oving…strain her…
Eva blinked, for all the good that did. She opened her mouth in an attempt to call out at whatever voice that had been. Though she could feel the vibrations in her throat, not a decibel of sound reached her ears.
Then the pain started.
It started in the small of her back. Ten thousand razor-sharp needles, heated on the surface of the sun. They poked.
They moved up her back, rolling across her arms and neck and head. She could feel them pinging off of her hands, wrists, and legs. It didn’t take long for the pings to pierce her exoskeleton.
Eva writhed. Her own claws joined the needles in raking across her body. Whatever flesh she herself flayed paled in comparison to the needles.
And the entire time, not a peep of her own screams could be heard.
All of it stopped as suddenly as it had started. Though the pain lingered on, no new needles poked in and out of her body.
It took hours for her brain to reboot enough that a thought unrelated to the pain entered her mind.
If this is Void, I am sorry I didn’t pick the white light.
…ucky…ur head…
There was that voice again. It was familiar somehow. Comforting. Something that would wrap around her and keep the needles away.
…ow…truistic…
Another voice. More standoffish, but still familiar.
Good voices.
As the pain further receded, Eva came to her senses enough to take stock of her situation.
It hadn’t changed much. She still couldn’t see. Her voice stayed in her throat.
None of the needles had left any marks in her flesh according to her blood sight. That wasn’t the case with her own claws. She had cuts everywhere, though most centered on her back where she had attempted to reach around and protect herself.
With a thought, Eva set about healing.
As soon as she started, Eva hit something.
Something dug into her back.
Something entered her back exactly in the location Sawyer had stabbed her.
Inaudibly growling, Eva reached back and attempted to remove the offending implement.
Her fingers grasped nothing but empty air. With some exploration, she managed to find the hole.
She had healed that forever ago.
There was a tingle of pain as she set about mending herself, again.
Blinking her eyes, Eva almost yelled out in surprise.
Eight glowing red eyes and a shark-toothed grin filled her vision.
“Arachne?” Her voice came out soft and weak, but it definitely came out.
“Eva. You’re awake.”
For a moment, Eva just stared into the demon’s red eyes. Ensuring to herself that she wasn’t hallucinating. Seeing someone, anyone, was such a welcome relief compared to the isolation within the hallway.
And it was Arachne. Of course it was Arachne. Her first friend probably hadn’t so much as left her side since she first passed out. At least, assuming she wasn’t off in Hell. In that case, Arachne would have been waiting in Eva’s domain.
After drinking in her fill, Eva said the first thing that came to mind. “I think I’d like to kiss you right now.”
Arachne’s grin widened, bringing a small smile to Eva’s face.
“Let’s see how you feel after you see the get well present I’ve got for you.”
Someone cleared their throat. Loudly.
Arachne’s grin slipped slightly. She slid off to one side and wrapped her arms and legs around Eva, being careful not to jolt her.
Eva closed her eyes. She counted to ten. When she opened her eyes, Arachne was still at her side. And, unless she was very much mistaken, the ceiling of her own women’s ward common room was above her head.
Someone moved close, obstructing her view.
“Zoe Baxter,” Eva said.
“How are you feeling?”
“Like a vampire dropped a road-roller–covered in sewing needles–on my back and then proceeded to punch it a few hundred times.”
Zoe gave a weak smile. “That was probably us removing your curse. We were getting worried. That was almost three hours ago. The rats woke up almost immediately.”
At the mention of others, Eva attempted to lift her head and look around. She didn’t get very far. The pain in her back spiked, though not nearly to the same degree as earlier.
Undaunted, Eva used her blood sense in place of her eyes. Arachne cuddled at her side while Zoe looked down from a few feet away. Carlos, unless Eva was much mistaken, stood alongside Ylva near the entryway. Someone else knelt just behind Ylva. Eva guessed it was a nun based on the eye implanted in her chest.