Juliana had been intending to visit her family after school had ended, so she might still be gone doing that. Since it was a weekend, she would probably be staying the night there. As she had every weekend since school started.
Shalise had nowhere else to be as far as Eva could tell. She couldn’t think of anywhere Shalise might have gone unless she had gone to seek help from Zoe in some matter or other. Whatever the case, Eva couldn’t see her anywhere nearby through her sense of blood.
Slightly concerning, but Shalise knew how to handle herself.
Somewhat.
Eva bit a lip. Shalise knew better than anyone the dangers of demons. She had shared her mind with one for months. But actually handling herself? Probably not.
At least she wasn’t downstairs with the demons. Eva could see most of them with her sense of blood.
Which was almost worse. At least the demons were a known quantity. If she was off with demon hunters…
Well, hopefully they wouldn’t kidnap some random student. Though all were in a human guise, none of the demons were trying very hard to hide. The way they moved as they got off the bus was enough to know that those weren’t regular school children.
Regular school children couldn’t phase through walls, jump high enough to clear the bus’ roof, and didn’t possess wings to allow them to fly through said roof.
That one might not be hiding her inhumanity quite as well as the others.
Eva sent a quick text message off to Zoe and Juliana, asking if either of them knew where Shalise was. At the same time, she started heading downstairs along with Arachne.
The demon who had spoken with them earlier started moving. As Eva reached the second floor, he reached it as well from a different staircase. Eva stopped just off the stairwell and waited, watching as the otherwise unassuming boy walked up to her.
Neither spoke. They stood and stared, eying each other. Arachne was all but forgotten behind Eva.
“Are you ready to begin?”
Eva blinked with a frown. “Why don’t we talk for a moment first.”
“What could we have to discuss?”
“You,” Eva said simply. She didn’t like this demon already. Every word lacked inflection. His eyes were too still and he didn’t seem to breathe or even move. His heart was beating beneath his chest, carrying blood around his body, but he was otherwise still. Serena was more alive than this demon.
And she still didn’t know his name.
“Your goals,” Eva added. “What you hope to achieve by… helping me.”
“Was there a misunderstanding? I aim to achieve your goals. That is what helping you means, is it not? I apologize for any confusion in my language.”
Behind Eva, Arachne’s arms dropped to her sides. Her hands clenched before releasing into open claws. She let out a small growl as she bared her teeth.
The demon took no notice. He kept his overlarge eyes glued to Eva.
“Look,” Eva said, rubbing her forehead. “Why don’t we start with your name.”
“I have been called Vektul.”
“Great. Now we’re getting somewhere.”
Vektul glanced around. His face was as expressionless as ever, but there was something off about how he looked. Almost as if he was confused.
Eva sighed. “It is just an expression, an idiom. We’re not physically moving anywhere.”
“I assumed as such.”
Rolling her eyes, Eva shook her head. If he really was here to help pull Void into the mortal realm, couldn’t Void have sent someone else? Anyone else, really. Catherine was normalish. Ylva as well, even if Ylva was somewhat obtuse in her speech and mannerisms.
Even Zagan would be better than this Vektul person. And Zagan had a habit of forcing everything onto Eva and not doing anything himself.
“Second question: What kind of demon are you?”
“I do not believe that one of my kind has been summoned before. We have been given no names by mortals.”
“And you don’t call yourselves something?”
“We are, simply, demons.”
“Alright. Fair enough. Do you always look like this?” Eva waved a hand towards him. “Or is this a disguise?”
He glanced around, looking up at the ceiling before shaking his head. “I’ve been told not to damage the facilities or the students here.”
Eva had to suppress taking a step back. If his real form was dangerous enough that simply changing into it could violate his contract, she wasn’t sure how close to him she wanted to be. Though it was good to note at least a few elements of his contract. Eva assumed that all the demons had been given the same contract.
Thinking of the other demons brought a new question to mind. “Are any of the other demons here aware of what you’re doing?”
He opened his mouth, but Eva held up a hand.
“Let me rephrase.” Based on her conversation with him so far, he would say something like ‘no, none of the demons know I’m on the second floor of this building talking to you.’ Or maybe, ‘yes, you and Arachne are aware.’ Some literal and technically correct answer that told Eva nothing in the end.
“You’re here to help me. With what, we’ll determine in a minute. But first, are any of the other demons here to help me in the same way that you mean?”
Unlike every other question Eva had asked, Vektul did not respond instantly. He took a moment to think and consider with the occasional glance towards the rooms other demons were staying in, as if he were looking straight at his kin.
“Not to my knowledge,” he eventually said.
“Are any here to hinder me, acting against your help?”
“Not to my knowledge.”
Eva moved slightly, going to lean against the wall of the hallway. Standing in one spot was somewhat tedious. More importantly, it blocked off the stairwell. Eva moved to the side just in time for the door leading to the staircase to open.
A girl, younger but unfamiliar to Eva, stepped out. She spotted Eva first, but her eyes only lingered for a moment. Arachne stole her attention right out.
She stopped and stared.
Eva was about to ask if she was alright before the girl’s eyes rolled back in her head.
Blinking behind the girl, Eva managed to catch her before she fell all the way to the ground.
“Great,” Eva groaned, slowly lowering the girl to the ground. “Now what?”
“It isn’t dead,” Vektul said.
Eva shook her head with another mental sigh. “Obviously.”
“Poison?”
“Fainting. She’s just unconscious. In fact…”
Eva gently used the back of her hand to pat against the girl’s face. Really, she shouldn’t be doing this. If she did rouse the girl, the first thing that she would see would be Eva’s eyes. Or her hands. Or even Arachne standing over Eva’s shoulder. She would just pass out again.
Or worse, start screaming.
But before Eva could reconsider her actions, the girl’s eyes fluttered open.
The girl blinked twice and stiffened like a board. For a moment, Eva thought that she was going to scream. She didn’t.
She did start shaking.
“Don’t worry. We’re not going to hurt you.”
“You’re those demons,” she said in a voice that, though shaky, was definitely trying to be light-hearted, “aren’t you?” A tilt of her head punctuated her question. Her eyes darted towards Vektul and some of the fear waned as she narrowed her eyes in confusion.
“We are,” Eva said, bringing the girl’s attention back to her. “And we’re not going to hurt you. Now, let’s get you up.”
She was still stiff and a little shaky, but Eva managed to get her to her feet.
Now that she had a better look at the girl, Eva found herself frowning. Last year’s new students had resided in the Gillet and this year’s first years and sixth years both lived on the second floor of the Rickenbacker so that nobody would be on the same floor as the demons.