She probably hadn’t. Arachne never appeared tired. Even in November after she lost all her limbs, Arachne still carried Eva around with no issue and no complaints.
“I can walk. I’d rather rest.”
“We understand.”
Eva wasn’t so sure she did. Either way, Eva didn’t argue.
Arachne returned with the golden dagger. The three bloodstones gleamed in Eva’s vision. She tried to offer it to Eva. Eva shook her off and gestured towards Ylva.
If Arachne could, Eva felt certain she would be rolling her eyes. She had the unmistakable air of annoyance around her. Still, she walked over and handed the dagger to the hel. Arachne avoided touching the hel even though Eva was almost certain that she could control her death touch.
Prudent, Eva supposed. She certainly did not want to take chances.
Ylva accepted the dagger. She unsheathed it and turned it over in her hands. Her inspection seemed thorough. The still blood in her fingertips traced over the fine engravings on both the dagger and the sheath.
“These are the implements you wish to be turned into void metal?”
“They are,” Eva nodded.
“Tell me, why did you not have your familiar do so?”
Arachne’s face twisted into a sneer. Her claws flexed outwards. For a moment, Eva thought she was going to strike the hel. The moment passed and Arachne seemed to calm down.
After a glance at Eva, she turned her gaze towards Ylva. “I am not her familiar.”
Arachne’s voice was soft. It lacked the usual harsh edge so common in her daily speech. Something to ask about later.
“We assumed. You follow her orders without question.”
“It is the nature of our contract.”
“Does your contract prevent you from forming void metal?”
Arachne’s teeth ground into each other and her fingers clenched again. The harsh grating in her voice returned full force when she spoke. “I can’t make void metal.”
“No?” Ylva’s head tilted up. There might have been a hint of a smile on her face. “We could teach. For a price.”
A low growl emerged from Arachne’s throat.
“Five hundred years of service to Ourself.”
“Not a chance.”
“It is a fair deal. You will be hard pressed to find a better one. We would not mistreat Our property so long as our property does not become dead weight.”
“I’ve gotten along for ten thousand years. I’m sure I’ll be fine for another ten.”
“Our offer stands in the future.” There was the lightest of shrugs before her head tilted back towards Eva. “We will perform this task after We have observed your… treatment.”
“I have no problem with that.”
Ylva nodded. With all the grace of a queen, she moved to the corner of the room. She didn’t move a muscle once she settled in. The way her blood didn’t flow made her look somewhat like a statue.
Eva slouched in the barber chair. Being able to see her own face at any time made it far easier to keep her emotions from showing so plainly. She exercised this ability to its fullest extent as she thought.
Arachne still glared at the hel even as she moved to her own chair. Eva didn’t miss the occasional half-snarl on the spider-demon’s mouth. Her fingers drummed on the armrest, poking small holes into the worn leather.
The fact that being called a familiar rattled Arachne so much was worrying. Did she think Eva wasn’t aware of the concept? Her master might not have a familiar, but he would probably tear off his other arm before he bound himself to a demon.
Speak of the devil, Eva thought.
A one-armed man strode up to her home. He marched straight past the still Ylva and up to Eva. Without asking, Devon grabbed her arm and plunged a needle into her skin. It stuck her just above the black curls of her exoskeleton meshing with her skin.
Blood flowed into the syringe as her master pulled back the plunger.
“I could just give you a sample with my daggers, you know.”
“I’d rather not contaminate the sample with more magic.”
Eva shrugged her free shoulder.
The needle left a tiny droplet of blood on her skin as Devon finished filling the syringe. Eva healed it near instantly.
He tapped out a small blob onto a square of paper. It must have had some sort of diagnostic ritual circle on it because Devon stared intently at the paper.
One soft sigh later and her master nodded to himself. “Alright. Your blood doesn’t show any increase in demonic influence. At least not any increase that is unexpected.”
He turned and paced back and forth across the short room. “That could be because there was no ritual going on. There is a lot more to this experiment than a simple blood transfusion.
“The ritual is designed to cause your body to integrate with the demonic blood rather than simply use and replace it with your own. With those hands, there may be unintended side effects during or immediately after the ritual if your body tries to further integrate the hands.”
He stopped pacing, facing away from a barely paying attention Eva. He sometimes went off like this. Demonology was his field, not hers.
“Given your experiences in Hell, I do not believe the addition of Arachne’s hands will invalidate my research even if something does happen because of them. I might need to find another person who isn’t tainted to act as a–”
He paused, frozen. At least, his body was frozen. His heart hammered.
“Eva,” he growled. “What is that?”
His only index finger rose to point at one corner of the room.
“Ylva,” Eva said, “agreed to perform a favor for me in return for being allowed to watch. Don’t worry, part of the agreement was her not interfering.”
The demon in the corner gave a light nod, her head still posed high.
Devon whirled on Eva. His face inches from her own.
Eva took a quick gasp of air and held her breath.
“You didn’t think to ask me before bringing some demon to watch.”
Hot air washed over Eva’s face. Even with her breath held, her master’s breath had a pungent odor she could never place. It wasn’t pleasant.
“I had a favor to ask, she had a favor to ask. It won’t hurt the experiment at all.” She tried to speak so her breath cleared the air. Eva took another breath of partially clear air before his hot breath pushed up her nose again.
Except it never came.
Devon whirled back to Ylva. He glared. His teeth ground together.
For a moment, Eva thought he might try to banish the hel.
He spun back to Eva and whispered into her ear. “You don’t know what you’re getting into, girl. I warned you about getting close to demons.”
“I’m not close to her,” Eva hissed back. “It was a simple request on both of our parts. Nothing more.”
His teeth grit in her ear. She worried he might crack his teeth.
“Fine.” He stood up. “Fine. You want to turn this into a playground for your little demon friends, I don’t care. So long as it doesn’t hinder my experiment.”
Eva sighed. She almost argued, but decided against it. The ritual would put her to sleep and maybe it would be a good nap. Of course, waking up never felt good after treatment, but that couldn’t be helped.
Devon pulled out the tubes and needles and started hooking her up to Arachne.
After double checking their connection, her master stripped down and stood in the circle’s smaller ring. There was a flare of pain and Eva’s vision went dark.
Extra 003
Zoe Baxter glanced over her fourth year theory class. Despair touched her heart as she scanned the vacant faces. Only two students looked happy to be in class. Most showed up out of routine or obligation.
At some point over the years, all the wonder of learning faded. The students found other things more important. Relationships, job searches, pressures from peers and parents, all contributed to the dampening of their yearning to learn.