“How did you get the haunter on your side?”
Eva half turned with a bit of a wince. “There are fifty dead cows, buffalo, goats, horses, and sheep inside cell house two.”
“Forty-six,” Arachne corrected.
“Right. Ivonis left two sheep and two cows. It doesn’t smell very pleasant in there at the moment. We’re headed to the opposite end of the compound, so don’t worry about that.”
Devon didn’t like the sound of that. It was less morally reprehensible than five humans, he supposed, but if the animals had been stolen off a farm… fifty animals was a lot to lose no matter if they planned to eat or sell them. They might as well have just killed the farmer and his family. It’d be a quicker death than starving, in any case.
Eva brought the group to a stop outside a small gate set in a nicer looking wall.
“I’ll need a bit of your blood,” she said as she withdrew a dagger. She smiled. “Unless you want to experience my wards first hand.”
Devon held out his already injured arm without a word.
Eva frowned at the droplets of blood already dripping off his fingertips. “Arachne,” she said, “could you grab a few potions to handle these cuts?” She looked back to Devon and said, “I’ll still need to make a fresh cut with the dagger.”
Eva leaned close and drew a small orb of blood into the air. Devon grabbed her shoulder as soon as the demon had disappeared into the building titled ‘WOMENS WARD’.
“You trust that thing far too much,” Devon said. “It is not human and it is not your friend. Demons should be tools and nothing more.”
Eva blinked twice. “Do they teach you that in demonology school? I’ve found being polite and treating demons like people seems to work alright.”
“You’re going to get yourself killed, girl. And take seven years of experiments down the drain with you.”
“I’m so touched you are worried about my health, master. As for Arachne…” she trailed off for a moment, thinking. She shrugged. “I like her. She is surprisingly thoughtful at times, if a tad protective. Without her,” she waved a finger around the air, “none of this would be possible. She found this place, spent a month cleaning it up, and has generally been good help.”
Devon frowned and released Eva as the demon in question emerged from the building. It walked down the short path to the gate and handed Devon a light blue vial and a yellow vial.
Eva walked just inside the gate with the small orb of blood floating above her hand. She snapped her fingers and the blood marble vanished. “Alright,” she said, “you should be able to come in now. You’re not keyed into my room, so don’t try it.”
Despite grumbling at her use of the word ‘should,’ Devon walked through the gate. Nothing bad happened as he walked up the path to the single story building.
The main room had some nice looking chairs and tables shoved off to the side. In the center of the room, two old-fashioned looking barber chairs had been set up in the center of a partially drawn ritual circle.
Devon pulled his notebook and flipped to the page with a copy of the circle. He had the entire thing completely memorized, of course. But it always paid to be careful. He wasn’t about to risk all the time and effort he’d spent on Eva, not to mention the wrath he’d undoubtedly get from Arachne, on a malformed ritual circle. He pulled out a stick of chalk and set to work.
“So,” he said, thinking it was about time for more pleasant topics. Despite his chewing her out, he wasn’t unfond of the girl. “Have you been learning much at this school?”
“No,” came her quick reply. “School hasn’t actually started yet, so I still have hope.”
“It hasn’t started yet? Why did you leave so damn early?”
Eva shrugged. “‘To settle in and attend seminars’ were the reasons given to me. Settling in took less than a day and none of the seminars are designed for students that haven’t even had a year of schooling. Although the seminar with my advisor is at least interesting. It is basically combat training. My adviser is apparently a highly rated combatant. Speaking of,” she smiled a smile Devon didn’t much like, “she wants to meet with you.”
“You told her about me?”
“Didn’t have much option. I implied your name was Randolph Carter, so you don’t have to use Devon if you do meet her. She knew I was at the museum thanks to my runes and wanted to know what dangerous object we stole that had the nun’s habits in a bunch. I told her a phylactery that was destroyed and not to worry.”
Devon groaned. “Don’t even remind me.”
“How is your leg?”
“Better,” Devon snapped. And it was. Mostly.
That killed the conversation. Devon quietly finished the circle.
Eva already stripped down and took a seat in one of the chairs. Arachne took the other. He set to hooking the two up. Tubes connected various points on their bodies together. Magic kept them all going one way, from Arachne to Eva. He dropped a warded jar near Eva and attached a tube from her into it. She liked to keep the filtered human blood she shed for whatever blood magics she used.
Devon stripped and sat in a small circle within the larger ritual circle. Without even waiting to ask if they were ready, Devon let his magic flow.
Immediately the two subjects slumped in their chairs. Black blood flowed down the tubes from Arachne to Eva. A light pattering of bright red blood hitting the bottom of the warded jar filled the air.
Once the ritual began, Devon was no longer needed. He stood up, dressed, and moved to examine his research subjects.
He pulled one of Eva’s eyelids open and shone a light over her eyes. The wide pupils constricted immediately. Her pupils had developed tiny nubs at the top and bottom, and they were becoming less circular. No one would notice unless she got an eye exam, but in a few more months, maybe even by the time of her next treatment, people who paid close attention might start noticing. In a year’s time she wouldn’t be able to hide it without cosmetic contacts.
Though her irises might need contacts sooner. The red displaced the brown-hazel of her original eye color around the edges. Now that they’d crossed the half way point, the changes would only accelerate.
Devon flipped through the Subject Eva notebook. He made a detailed sketch of how her pupils looked while constricted along with some notes.
Devon set the notebook down and wrenched open her jaw. He ran a finger over her teeth. They were changing at a far slower rate. Her eyes were more of a side effect, the cells being replaced during normal body operations. The sharpening of her teeth was purely magic. They were already barely noticeable and hadn’t changed enough since their May session.
Her tongue might have been slightly elongated and thin, but that could just be her tongue. Unless more drastic changes happened, he’d note it as normal for a human.
Eva’s mouth was a healthy red and her saliva clear and smelled normal. He wasn’t about to taste it. Many demons had toxic saliva and he wasn’t about to take a chance. Of course, she could have developed separate venom glands, especially considering who the blood donor was, but there was no evidence of that.
Her skin color was normal. As was her hair, even at the roots. That was one of the things that surprised Devon the most. He expected some change, especially her skin, but it was the exact same as when she was six years old. Perhaps now that they’d crossed the fifty percent mark something would happen in the next few months or years.
Her muscles and body were developing well. She didn’t appear weak or fatigued earlier, though Devon made a note to ask about any strange feelings when the girl woke up.
All in all, Eva seemed healthy. Far healthier than expected, if Devon was being honest. His research had him laughed out of demonology circles for being too dangerous. Though they might have meant the result would be dangerous, not the process itself.