“So, what are you doing here?”
“Hopefully keeping Zoe and Wayne from getting themselves killed.”
“Ah. Yeah, they do seem to have a habit of attracting trouble, don’t they.”
“I doubt they’re the only ones,” Serena said with a pointed look. “What are you doing out in the forest in the dead of night anyway?”
“Trying to stop the rain and snow.”
Serena glanced up to the cloudless night sky before looking back to Eva, giving her a thumbs up. “Good job.”
Eva just rolled her eyes. “I don’t suppose you know anything about weather wards?”
“Not a thing. I might be able to trick someone into thinking it wasn’t raining…”
“Unless you can trick the ground, it isn’t very useful.”
“Ah,” she said with a hum, nodding in understanding. “You’re doing a ritual of some sort and need the elements kept out. A large one too, or you would just do it inside one of your prison buildings.”
“That’s… accurate.” Eva might have to be careful about how she explained her wards in the future. And to who. If Serena figured out what the ritual was for, it probably wouldn’t be the end of the world. Other people might not be so understanding.
“So what is it for? Giving yourself even sharper teeth?”
Best to be somewhat vague even if Serena was on-board to summon a Power.
“I’m hoping it is going to solve one or two problems without creating any of its own.”
Serena just stared, lightly tapping her foot against the cement pathway as she waited for Eva to explain more.
She would be waiting a long while.
“Burr,” Eva said. She rubbed a hand over her arm as she faked a shiver. “Sure is cold out here. We really should be getting back to the dormitory about now.” Her words came out stiff and awkward, but that didn’t really matter. She knew she wasn’t fooling Serena.
Hopefully the vampire would pick up the hint and not press more.
Serena continued her stare, narrowing her eyes ever so slightly. After letting Eva sweat for a moment, she finally sighed. “Maybe I’ll come spy on you one of these nights.”
“Hate to disappoint you, but there won’t be much to see even if you do. Can’t work on the circle until I figure out this weather thing. The winters here are not kind in the amount of snow they normally dump on us.”
“Well, I’ll figure it out sooner or later. But, since you mentioned the dorms, I wonder…” She paused, looking almost bashful as she clasped her hands behind her back. Her cheeks didn’t light up with a blush, but she was a vampire. Not really possible for her. “Do you happen to know anyone who might be willing to part with a pint or two of blood?”
Eva blinked and started to shake her head, but stopped as she remembered a few of the edgier students in her diablery class. “There might be one or two,” she admitted. “I’m surprised you’re not begging me.”
Serena sniffed at the air once or twice. Not quite wrinkling her nose, but not looking quite as enamored as Eva remembered.
“I’d say your blood has a cup of sugar or two too much, if you’ll recall my past analogy.”
That… actually made Eva feel a little bad. She had given Serena her blood, but never in a situation where the vampire could enjoy it. Now it was too late. Unless Devon went and found another valid test subject, Serena would never be able to have something like that again.
Despite her somewhat morose thoughts, Serena grinned. She stepped up and linked arms with Eva—on the side that Arachne hadn’t claimed—and leaned against her.
“So,” Serena said, “I don’t suppose you’ll lead me to these one or two people? I’ve been here for a few days now and haven’t had a good drink in forever.”
Eva just sighed. “Let’s go introduce you.”
Chapter 003
No one could say that Brakket Academy wasn’t welcoming towards its guests. Anderson had pulled out all the stops to make them feel as comfortable as possible even with all the demons wandering around. Though with his order for the demons to remain hidden, the only obvious demonic beings were Arachne and Eva.
After having her inhuman hands revealed in public, Eva had gotten her fair share of stares. Getting a few more was nothing special. And the meal was doing a decent job of distracting everyone.
A feast had been laid out for everyone. In typical Brakket Academy fashion, Eva couldn’t tell what most of it was. The mashed potatoes and roast were obvious. That is where the food she was familiar with ended.
An orange soup that smelled of lilacs seemed to be favored by one of the schools, though nobody Eva was sitting with had touched it. Perhaps it was a local delicacy of some sort. There was a thick, almost honey-like drink for everyone to partake of. Though it wasn’t sweet like honey. Rather, it had a taste not unlike that of lightly salted butter.
Eva had taken a single sip and decided that between the thickness and taste, that one sip had been more than enough for the rest of her life. Which, assuming all went well, would be practically forever. Luckily the feast had water available as well. Something Eva was much happier with.
Still, the students from another school were guzzling it down by the glass, making Eva wonder if it hadn’t been laid out specifically for them. Each school seemed to have some odd food that they favored over the others.
The thought had Eva’s mind running off on a tangent. She had never actually met the cooks at the school. With all the weird stuff they served for lunches, Eva wondered if they were even human.
But, that was just a tangent. She shook her head and went back to inspecting the new arrivals.
They were staring at her. She would stare right back.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t stare at one of them for even half as long as they stared at her. Luckily, she didn’t have to. As soon as her eyes met with someone else’s, they would always look away first. Usually in the first second and with a slight jump of shock.
Once or twice, when faced with a student who didn’t look away fast enough, she would even smile at them.
While amusing herself with making everyone uncomfortable, there wasn’t all that much to look at. Not everyone was human, but none particularly stood out to Eva as they ate. Well, except for the woman apparently made of wood and leaves over at one of the tables. So far, that woman hadn’t even looked to Eva. Aside from that, small talk was made, often with points or gestures in her direction. In fact, few people actually seemed to be eating, focusing more on the talking.
Not really surprising.
Well, almost nobody stood out. There were a few she was suspicious about. A group of twenty students from one of the schools in particular.
There were only supposed to be ten contenders, but apparently the other schools had been welcome to bring friends or family. Or maybe just spectators that had wanted to come.
Eva didn’t really care. She hadn’t paid any attention when the schools were being announced. Her interest in the event amounted to how much she could avoid participating while still participating enough.
Not paying attention was coming back to bite her at the moment. Two members of that school had something unusual about them. Each had an eye-like object implanted right around their sternum.
Leaning over past Shelby, she tapped Jordan on the shoulder. “Which school was that group from?” she asked with a nod of her head in the direction. He should know, he was the dean’s son after all.
“Isomer Holy Academy. A school for thaumaturgy from where the Elysium Order gets most of their recruits.”
Eva slowly nodded as she glanced back to the two girls a table and a half away.
The two immediately locked eyes with her, not flinching away in the slightest.
“They’re nuns in training,” Eva murmured with a groan. She really did not want to deal with some half-baked nuns out for revenge because of her various humiliations of the Elysium Order.