At the very least, she could hear him out.
“What do you want?”
“What do I want? A better question would be, what could you possibly do for me that I couldn’t do for myself?”
Eva narrowed her eyes. She had a feeling that she knew what he was talking about. A different answer came to mind after a moment more thought.
“I taught that diablery class in your place. Without me, you would have had to do it all yourself.”
Zagan stared for a moment before bursting out in raucous laughter. “That you did,” he said, slapping Eva on her shoulder.
Eva winced, but ignored the pain. If he was actually trying to hurt her, she would be writhing and screaming on the ground.
“You told me that teaching that class wasn’t worth getting Shalise out of Hell. Is it worth sitting around for a few minutes every few months?”
“It just might be,” he said, still chuckling.
Eva couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face. “So you’ll help out?”
“Saturday? I suppose I can clear my schedule.”
Devon is going to be pissed when he sees who shows up, Eva thought with a barely restrained giggle. And I don’t even care.
Zagan didn’t even ask for a favor. Not unless she counted the diablery class.
Eva didn’t.
It had been tedious, but relatively simple all things considered.
“Do me a favor,” he said.
Eva drew in a deep breath through her nose. She had thought too soon. What manner of horror was his favor going to involve?
“Bring along Lucy.”
And she let that breath back out again.
That wasn’t so bad.
“If you don’t mind my asking, why?”
“An experiment of my own. If I am right–” he gave a dark chuckle, “and I always am–I’d like for there to be four demons at your little birthday party.”
“Experiment?” Eva blinked in confusion. “Wait, no… Birthday?”
“My little embryonic one, do you not consider your treatments to be birthdays? Every one that passes brings you more strength, more power, and a step closer to a true rebirth.”
“Not really.” Eva frowned. It made sense. Kind of. “Wouldn’t the day I complete the treatment be more like a birthday than every single treatment? The day that I cease being an ’embryo’ to use your word.”
It was Zagan’s turn to frown.
They just stood for a moment, staring at each other with frowns on their faces.
“I like my interpretation better.”
“I suppose it doesn’t really matter,” Eva said with a shrug. “I barely celebrate my actual birthday now. I couldn’t imagine doing so at your age.”
Something about Zagan’s words sent her mind in a strange direction. “Do you still celebrate your birthdays? Or wait, were you even born? I was a little preoccupied at the time, but I distinctly recall you saying that you did not have a mother back in my domain.”
“That is true.” He shifted his lean against the air behind him and cracked his neck to one side with a few loud pops. “I suppose there is no harm in telling you.
“I am a Pillar of Hell. One of the seventy-two created by Void from nothing.”
Eva’s face twisted in confusion. “Aren’t most demons created by–”
Two fingers shot out and pinched her lips shut. “From and nothing are the key words there. And don’t interrupt me.”
He released Eva’s lips.
She nodded.
“After the seventy-two, demons were created from a sort of template. Every demon is based on one of us in some form or other. None as unique. None as powerful. None as handsome,” he said, stroking his chin.
When he winked, Eva just rolled her eyes.
“Others were born. Not all demons can get pregnant. Not all demons can sire children. Those that can will have demonic children. Too similar to their parents to be called unique. Often less powerful than their parents as well.
“So no. The answer to your question is that I was not born. I was created.”
“Alright,” Eva said with a nod as she digested the information. “But what about me? Arachne and Hel too?”
“Arachne?” He shrugged. “Lackluster. I am not impressed. The mages behind her transformation were amateurs in the most pathetic sense of the word. Hel may have been able to make something of herself. Death got his claws into her before she became a demon, unfortunately. If she truly can be considered a demon; she resides in Hell and even has her own domain, but there is just something off about her in comparison to the rest of us. You’ve noticed that with your friend, yeah?”
Eva frowned. She hadn’t really. Though, now that he mentioned it, Ylva had always been in a league of her own. More akin to Zagan than any other demon that she had met.
Zagan’s grin split across his face. “You, my dear embryonic one, have us all very excited. We expect great things of you. You weren’t born a demon. You’re not created from a template. Not even created by Void himself. What will become of you?”
“Does Arachne not count as a template?” Eva asked, latching on to the one thing he said that didn’t carry mind bending implications. “She’s been my partner in the treatment since the start. Wouldn’t such a ‘lackluster’ demon create a lackluster demon?”
“I would need to see the exact method of your ‘treatment’ to know for certain. However,” he took a deep breath before smiling at her. “You don’t smell like Arachne. I believe that she has given you a foundation. Your actions, desires, thoughts, and feelings will shape you into what you will become.”
“Let me get this straight,” Eva said after a moment. “I’m going to become a demon no matter what. So this treatment is unnecessary?”
“A building will topple without the proper foundation, yeah?”
“Then it is important.”
“Vitally so.”
Eva let out a long sigh. Their discussion felt heavy. Enough to physically exhaust her. She shot a brief glare at Zagan.
I wish I had an invisible wall to lean against.
But she didn’t.
Pressing her forehead against the relatively cool window worked well enough. Being summer time, it was hot outside. Eva liked the heat. The humidity in Florida had bothered her, but the heat had not.
The cold of the window served to shock Eva, in a manner of speaking. A quick jolt to clear her thoughts.
Zagan moved up to the window alongside Eva, staring out into the woods of the Infinite Courtyard. He didn’t speak.
Eva didn’t say anything either.
They just stood, staring outside in a peaceful silence.
It was strange. She hadn’t expected to meet with Zagan. At least not so soon. Neither had she expected him to agree to help her essentially without any kind of payment.
Least of all, she hadn’t even imagined herself having a cordial conversation with him. Yet they had a conversation. An informative conversation. One that didn’t even have veiled threats or him shoving off his responsibilities onto her.
He wasn’t even causing problems. At least, not at this particular moment. He hadn’t caused problems for a short while as well.
It was almost too good to be true.
The other shoe had to drop at some point.
A shiver ran up Eva’s spine. Or maybe it already had.
His earlier words ran through Eva’s mind. You have us all very excited.
Who was ‘us all’? The other pillars?
Did she have seventy-two of the most powerful beings in existence keeping an eye on her? They were excited about her. Worse, they had expectations of her.
You’re destined for far greater things than a puppet of the puppet-master. The words of Void, the Power. Words that she had assumed were out of boredom. Void spoke with her friends and other demons, so there was nothing strange about it.
At least, that was what she had thought. Now…