Of course, Arachne didn’t see it that way. Arachne wanted to start up dance lessons as soon as her legs finished growing back in.
Eva slowed to a stop, using a tree to support her while she caught her breath. Despite her legs not aching in the slightest, she was panting for air. Sweat dripped off of her, out of her thoroughly soaked tee-shirt. Her heart hammered in her chest.
It couldn’t be healthy to keep up such a pace. Her core was still human, after all. Perhaps in a year or two as the treatment took hold more and more.
Arachne followed behind at a languid pace. Her body stayed just inside the bubble of Eva’s vision. She walked along with six of her spider legs due to her humanoid legs not being fully formed. It wasn’t that she couldn’t go faster if she needed to.
But she didn’t.
Clinging to Eva was her thing–physical contact and touching and all the closeness. All of it had vanished. She’d been standoffish as of late.
Eva frowned as the spider-woman slowly approached.
At first, she thought Arachne was upset or even angry about the legs. Her behavior changed the day after Eva got them. Eva dismissed that notion.
Arachne wasn’t upset or angry.
She was worried.
Fidgets, jitters, and general nervousness replaced all the physical affection she once showed. There were marks around her mouth as if she had been biting what passed for her lips.
Even now as she approached, she wrung her claws. Her gaze turned down to the ground and she had an open-mouthed frown on her face.
Six legs carried her forwards, but they slowed down more and more as she got closer and closer.
Arachne was worried and Eva had a feeling she knew what about.
Frankly, it was beginning to grind on Eva’s nerves.
At least the slothful demon had given Eva ample time to catch her breath. “Arachne,” Eva called out as she neared. “Let’s talk.”
There was just a slow nod from Arachne in return.
“What’s on your mind lately?”
Arachne’s sharp teeth clamped down on the hard chitin of her lips. The only real way Eva could tell was the little bit of blood she got on them when she cracked her carapace.
Eva smiled and waited patiently.
After what seemed like an hour, Arachne finally opened her mouth to speak. “I had plans,” she said. “Then the necromancers and your hands. After that, you didn’t let me out of the prison. We only saw each other on weekends,” she trailed off with a frown. “Even after I moved back to the dorm…”
“What plans?”
“I–Our contract ends soon.”
“Three weeks, if I remember right,” Eva said with a smile. Her feeling proved correct. “I don’t know about renewing it. You did bite my hands off, after all.”
“That’s–I–” Arachne glanced up at Eva. Her eight eyes didn’t have the same opening and closing methods that a human had. Even still, Eva was certain that the spider-woman’s eyes widened considerably. “I did what I thought was best. And I–”
“Don’t regret it,” Eva said with a smile. “I know.”
It might have been unnecessarily cruel, but Arachne did bite off her hands. Eva had come to see the usefulness of the claws. That did not make them comfortable to have in gloves.
That was deserving of at least a little punishment.
“You’re better this way, anyway,” Arachne said with a quick nod. She sat up straighter, as much as she could with only her six legs anyway.
“So you say,” Eva said. “You did give me hands and legs for free, something I understand is quite rare based on my master’s poor luck in finding a replacement arm. I will take that into consideration.”
“Free is definitely rare. Finding arms is not,” Arachne said. The small bit of composure she gained deflated and she returned to nervously flexing her claws. “But, the original plan was for something different once our contract ended.”
Eva blinked her eyes. Or she would have if she had any. “Something different?” She paused for just a second before she said, “oh. You’re wanting a contract that includes a little slice of our mortal realm to merge with your domain?” Eva’s slight smile turned to a frown. “Master wouldn’t be happy with that.”
Her eyes shot up to meet Eva’s face. The eye contact lasted only a few moments before her eyes shifted off to one side. “That would be nice. But, you’ve already got that hel residing at the prison.”
Eva sighed. She rubbed her forehead with the back of her clawed hand, well away from the sharp fingers. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“She is going to be attracting hunters enough on her own without my domain multiplying everything.”
“Arachne,” Eva said as she brushed a hand on the spider-woman’s shoulder. “That’s not something we can run away from. I am walking hunter draw all on my own. Maybe not at this moment, but in a year or two? I’ll need all the help I can get fending them off.”
“You’re not ready for that yet.”
“That’s why I’ve got you,” Eva said with a smile. “And I’m sure I could rope Ylva into defending the prison, at the very least, lest she lose her foothold here.
“For now,” Eva said, “let’s just renew our contract. We’ll talk with Devon later about the domain thing. We don’t want to tie ourselves down here if we have to run away in any case.”
Except for a handful of insects, birds, and other creatures of nature, silence descended upon them. It went on for several moments before Arachne looked up and gave a single, slight nod.
It was so unlike the usual Arachne. Eva decided that she didn’t much like depressed demons.
Eva gave her a smile and pulled her into a hug. She brushed her claws gently through Arachne’s hair tendrils.
Arachne stiffened at first, but soon enough returned the hug and mirrored the action with Eva’s own hair.
At least until Eva felt a tug.
Her head snapped back.
“Ah, tangled hair,” Eva rushed to say. She quickly disentangled herself, ignoring Arachne’s apologies. “I’ll let you brush it later when we hammer out the details for our contract. For now, quit moping about and let’s run!”
Eva took off before Arachne could protest.
The spider-demon’s less slothful speed as she followed put a smile on Eva’s face.
— — —
That is the fifth person I’ve passed by this morning who was out mowing their lawn, Zoe Baxter thought as she strolled down the sidewalk. Three others had been out trimming already immaculate hedges. Two were washing their cars and one simply sat on his roof with a pair of binoculars in hand.
Every one of them stared at Zoe as she walked past.
A small shiver ran up her spine. She was beginning to regret not taking Wayne up on his offer to accompany her.
It wasn’t just that everybody in the little suburb had apparently decided to go outside and do yard work at the same time.
More than once, Zoe spotted a curtain flutter behind one of the windows while she walked by. She never saw a single person despite her mildly enhanced eyesight. That didn’t mean they weren’t there.
The houses themselves were eerie without all the synchronized lawn work or spying neighbors. Each one was built exactly the same as the next, or close enough that Zoe couldn’t see much difference. The only thing that changed between them was the shade of pastel paint.
Only the house at the very end of the cul-de-sac lacked people outside. It, oddly enough, seemed to be the one most in need of lawn care. There was a great tree outside lacking even a single leaf, the grass had seen better days–several patches were nothing more than dirt, the rest had yellowed–and the flower garden appeared to be beyond dead.
Perhaps the owner was meant to be outside today, Zoe thought, and had to change their plans because of me. She sent notice of her visit a few days ago. It wasn’t inconceivable that they would put it off for later, if they didn’t start the yard work earlier.