Preparations complete, Eva turned to the window and blinked out onto a roof near her motel. A few quick blinks later and Eva found herself at her ultimate destination.
A hospital.
Not an extraordinary hospital by any means. Even for mages. With a simple red cross and large glass windows, Eva wouldn’t have been able to pick it out from a lineup of other hospitals.
The only thing that set this one apart was a certain patient on the third floor.
Having scoped out the building beforehand, Eva knew exactly which room to go to. Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to blink straight into the room. The curtains were closed. They had been earlier in the day as well. While she could blink into the hallway, that would be too revealing. Security cameras would suddenly see her. Even if she blinked to a blind spot, it would still be suspicious to show up on one camera but not the ones before. Not enough people could blink, doing so would narrow suspects.
So Eva walked in through a main door—not the front door, but not quite a side door either. There was a small lobby and it was still within visiting hours, so nothing should be too suspicious. Eva didn’t stop by the counter, but she did give a nod towards the attendant.
Nothing odd about that. People came in to visit all the time. So long as she acted like she knew where she was going and like she was supposed to be there, no one would look twice at her.
Even with her hideous face.
With her blood sight, Eva moved up towards the third floor without meeting anyone. It was easy to avoid them when she could see through walls.
She had to wait in the stairwell for a few moments before entering the third floor hallway. Just long enough to avoid someone walking from one of the rooms to the elevator.
She couldn’t avoid the security cameras, but no one would be staring at them until later.
If ever.
Hopefully.
Once the coast was clear, she headed into the hallway and made her way to the room.
“Hello, Martina Turner,” Eva said as she shut the door behind her.
The body of Martina Turner sat in her bed. Eyes closed, she gave no indication that she had heard anything. The only noise in the whole room was a steady beep of an electrocardiogram machine.
“I’d appreciate it if you’d respond. I truly don’t want to kill you.”
Eva walked over to the side of her bed, leaning against it. She had been hoping that there would be some reaction to her words. Even a slight heart rate increase. Something to indicate that someone was home.
“But from the looks of things,” Eva said as she pulled out her dagger, “you’re already dead. Your body just doesn’t know it yet.”
An incision of any size would be far too obvious. But all she needed was a pinprick. Removing the intravenous needle, Eva pressed her dagger to the tiny hole. She widened the hole as soon as the first bit of blood came under her control. Not much. Just enough to get a bit more blood under her spell.
As the blood coursed through the husk of Martina Turner, Eva replaced the needle. She took care to insert it exactly where it had come from.
The blood reached her heart and Eva froze it solid, blocking off a ventricle.
The electrocardiogram machine started beeping, making a great deal of noise. Eva took her leave immediately, not wanting to get caught behind.
She slipped into the stairwell just as the nurses and doctors raced down the hall towards Martina’s room.
Feeling somewhat disgusted with herself, Eva stayed behind just long enough to ensure that the doctors had stopped trying. Once they had, Eva turned the blood in Martina’s heart back to liquid before making her way out of the building.
A nearby alley had a duffel bag full of far more regular clothes. Eva removed her mask, stripped, changed, and placed her disguise clothing and wig into the shell of the mask.
With a clap of her hands, nothing was left. Wig, clothes, makeup, and duffel bag all vanished into oblivion.
Building up her magic, Eva teleported straight back to the women’s ward.
“It’s done,” Eva said, stepping into the common room.
Catherine looked up, eyes blazing red in her full demonic form. “I know. Thank you for that. I don’t pretend to care about whatever emotions you might have felt, but I know that our favors weren’t binding in the slightest. I appreciate you following through.”
“I don’t appreciate being asked.” Taking a deep breath, Eva shook her head. “But what is done is now done. What is next for you?”
“I think a position as the secretary for Brakket Academy has just opened up. I’ll be spending my time with Devon, researching. We’re so close. I can almost taste it.”
“Well, I hope that works out for you. You’re free to stay here if you want. Or pick a building. Plenty to go around. We don’t get electricity or internet out here though.”
“No time for games. Maybe after this ritual, there will be time for such things.”
“I’m looking forward to it. Both of our rituals, that is.” Forcing a yawn, Eva headed towards her room. “I’m going to turn in for the night.”
Leaving the succubus, Eva tore off her clothes and crawled into bed. She had promised herself that she wouldn’t ‘play the victim’ after killing Martina. Not even within the confines of her own mind. Self-pity, especially over something she did intentionally and with full knowledge of what she was doing, did not become her.
And yet, she had never killed anyone she had known before. Sawyer not withstanding. Technically, he had killed himself. Or just died on his own. No one she had spoken to for more than a few instants. No one she cared about—even as little as she cared for Martina.
It left a weight in her chest. One she had trouble discerning the true cause of.
Eva found herself not getting her usual amount of sleep.
Chapter 006
Eva snapped her eyes open. She took a deep breath, glancing around as she took in her surroundings.
She was on her back, staring up at the starry sky. Arachne, Catherine, and Qrycx the carnivean all stood around her with Arachne being the closest. Hovering over her with occasional glares at the other demons, Arachne had a protective air about her.
It couldn’t have been too long since the end of the ritual. Pre-ritual, everything had gone roughly the same as last time. Obviously Zagan wasn’t around and Arachne had taken his place, Serena wasn’t around, and Lucy was missing. None of that had actually changed the ritual itself.
Last time, however, she had been unconscious for such a long time after the ritual that Devon had moved her back into the women’s ward. That she was still lying in the center meant that so much time couldn’t have passed.
Or Arachne hadn’t let anyone approach her. Eva wouldn’t put that past the spider-demon. That theory didn’t explain why Catherine and Qrycx would have stuck around. Catherine had work to do to prepare for her own ritual while Qrycx hated everyone and would not stick around for no reason.
The strangest thing was the lack of Devon. Every time she had woken up after every other treatment, he had been hovering over her, bombarding her with questions or tugging at her tongue. Eva couldn’t even see him in range of her blood sight.
Realizing that he was missing sent a chill down Eva’s spine.
She patted herself down, feeling her skin and her body, checking her insides with assistance of her blood sight, and ensuring that nothing had gone wrong. Something going wrong with the ritual was the only reason that Eva could see why he wouldn’t be feeding her incessant questions.
There were two nubs on her forehead, just above her hairline. The beginnings of horns? A huge number of demons had horns. Eva having them wasn’t all that surprising. Doubly so if her shadow had any truth to it.
While cleansing Shalise of Prax, Shalise’s shadow had been an image of Prax. Or a muscular version of Shalise with horns and hooves. But it was probably safe to assume that it had been of Prax. Neither Zoe nor Lynn had shadows at all. Not human in appearance or demon.