“We were being watched,” he said softly, though not so soft that Juliana couldn’t catch what he was saying. “They noticed that I noticed and quit.”
Saija groaned. “More demon hunters? How many do we have to kill before they get the hint? There are a dozen of us plus however many were already around. And that one…” She trailed off with a slight shudder. “They had better have brought an army this time.”
Juliana blinked before glancing around herself. She didn’t know what she expected to see. Nobody was around save for their group—how this club managed to stay in business was probably the same sorcery that let Brakket continue to operate. “If someone has been spying on us from afar, it might not have been demon hunters.”
“Oh hoh?” Saija said. Though she slipped into the bench opposite from Irene, she turned her head to look at Juliana. “And you would know more than Srey?”
Shalise retreated further back into the corner of their booth. She wasn’t able to go too far because of the wall, but she still slid away.
Juliana wasn’t quite sure why. The question didn’t come out hostile. More as a curiosity. She wasn’t glaring anymore either, apparently having forgotten the earlier slight about shaking hands.
“I might not in general,” Juliana said, “but I do know of someone who is able to spy on people from afar. A friend of ours.”
And Eva had been looking for Shalise earlier. Juliana replied to Eva’s message stating that Shalise was with her at her parents, but she might have still asked Nel to look for them. Somewhat annoying and kind of an invasion of privacy, but overall, Juliana would rather have someone worried about them and checking in than them being abandoned during a time of need.
If they disappeared and nobody noticed for a day, that would be too late.
“Ahh,” Saija said, “but Srey detects hostile intent. Unless your friends aren’t so friendly, we might have company.”
“Company?” Irene shouted as she jumped to her feet. She banged her knees on the table and sank back down with a groan. “Shouldn’t we alert the rest of the demons?”
Saija chuckled, shaking her head side to side. She reached over to the plate in front of Irene, took a potato chip and ate it. “If a fight starts, they’ll know. Besides, they stopped spying on us. Probably just gleaning information.”
Looking up towards Srey, she patted the seat next to her. “Come sit down. Enjoy yourself. How often do you get to interact with mortals?”
Srey harrumphed, but did as she said. Because Saija had taken the end seat opposite from Irene and didn’t appear to be moving anytime soon, he hopped over the back, putting his feet up on the middle section as he pressed his back into the wall on Shalise’s side of the table.
“Now, you two,” Saija said, pointing between Juliana and Shalise, “smell like home. My home, that is.”
Juliana exchanged a quick glance with Shalise before sighing. “It’s a long story.”
“We’ve got time. Do they serve beer here?”
— — —
When Vektul had said that they needed demons and mages, the first thing that had popped into Eva’s mind was related to human sacrifice. She wasn’t sure why. Perhaps because Void was a full Power that would need the ultimate sacrifice to draw into the real world.
After a moment of thought, she wondered why her mind had gone in that direction. Some demons had humans as their enticements. Though, not necessarily because they needed some mystical power inherent in mortals. Maybe they liked the taste, maybe they wanted a toy or companion.
Void wasn’t a necromancer. He wasn’t even related to one. Neither was Void related to blood magic. Two things that actually did require human sacrifices.
As such, there should be no real need for the sacrifice of humans in the summoning of Void.
To be fair, Eva wasn’t completely appalled at the thought. Which probably said something about how terrible of a person she was, but bloodstones came from human sacrifice. It wasn’t something she was diametrically opposed to. Plenty of people existed whose deaths would only improve the remainder of humanity.
“Six? Only six?”
“Of each,” Vektul said. “We can do more if you wish. Too many may cause instabilities with overpowering the ritual. The barriers between realities are already sundered. Six should suffice.”
Eva stared at Vektul. The demon had acquired a second apple from the fridge and was calmly eating it as they continued their discussion of the ritual.
“No. No more. I just figured that it would be six hundred sixty-six or something. At least thirteen. Some amount a bit more significant than six.”
Six was one less than the amount of people she had killed at the start of summer. Really a tiny amount in the grand scheme of things.
There had to be a trick to it. Some hidden payment. Like, all of them had to be newborn babies or virgins or something. Something where she couldn’t just go grab criminals from her minion down in Florida and not lose a bit of sleep over her choices.
“Any particularities about these people? States that they have to be in or specific qualities in the people?”
Maybe they didn’t even have to die. A drop of blood was technically a sacrifice. Typically, people only used the word sacrifice when talking about actually killing people. Vektul hadn’t displayed a great deal of competence in using typical human language though. Best to make sure that he spelled out everything as simply as he could.
And the word had only been going around Eva’s head. Vektul hadn’t actually said that they were sacrifices. Merely that they needed people and demons.
“Magically attuned humans–”
Arachne leaned forward, tapping a finger on the table before Vektul could continue.
“Stop.”
Vektul’s mouth snapped shut. He didn’t glare or even look offended at being interrupted.
Probably didn’t know how to be offended. Or perhaps didn’t know that he should be.
Eva looked towards Arachne with somewhat narrowed eyes. The idea that Arachne already knew aspects of this ritual and hadn’t told her was somewhat upsetting. She had said that she hadn’t known anything, but she kept making small comments that made Eva think otherwise.
But for the moment, Arachne ignored Eva’s glare.
“Void put part of the ritual in my head. Nothing about it required killing mortals.”
Eva blinked. Apparently Arachne had come to the same conclusion that Eva had.
“Killing mortals?” Vektul tilted his head. “There has been some confusion, why do we need to kill mortals?”
Eva sighed. She had been right. Well, she had been wrong first, then right. Sort of.
One thing was clear, Vektul needed to go take a lesson on how to properly interact with people.
“The mortals need to be capable of performing magic. They will be stationed around the primary ritual circle, feeding magic to further rip the fabric of reality apart.”
Pressing a hand to her forehead, Eva shook her head back and forth. Why did I instantly think sacrifices.
“The demons will be stationed within the circle. Then myself and Arachne will be at the north and south ends with you in the center.”
Eva shivered slightly. He had mentioned that before, her being needed. But being in the center? She was in the center of her treatment circle, but she knew exactly what that ritual was for.
Maybe she should bring in Catherine and have her go over everything.
“Why me?”
His head, still tilted to one side, swung over to the other side. He was getting a bit exaggerated with that particular expression, but Eva let it slide. Someone could tone that down once she found him a human mannerisms teacher.
“I can’t say for sure. Were I to guess, I would say that you represent a bridge between humans and demons. Mortals and Void.”
“Well, I suppose that makes sense.”
“I don’t like it,” Arachne said with a slight snarl. “We can find some other center point. Make Devon find another kid to start the treatment on and then use him.”