The rows of blinking lights weren’t too surprising. The human body maintained some level of activity for a handful of minutes after death. There were more lights blinking than normal for a human brain five minutes postmortem, but that didn’t mean anything. This wasn’t a human brain. They had no benchmark for creatures like this.
As she was watching the blinking lights, her father grabbed a scalpel, spun it between his fingers a few times, and jammed it straight into the severed heart.
Des’ eyes widened of their own accord. A spike of red lights lit up the entire panel.
“Not only is the creature still alive–even demons die upon removing their hearts and brains–but it still feels pain. It is still connected.” He waved his hands around the heart, as if double checking that there weren’t any strands of flesh connecting the organ to the brain.
Satisfied with whatever he found, he turned again to face Des.
“And then it starts healing itself. Slowly, perhaps not as fast as the healing ability most demons possess, but steadily.”
Her father’s eyes caught a glint of the operating theater’s lights, giving them a sinister look. Her father’s too-wide grin widened further as he looked down at her bare, stitch-covered chest.
Des’ heart sank as she watched him lift up his scalpel.
“Time for another installation, honey.”
She had the strangest feeling that her heart wouldn’t be hers for much longer.
Chapter 020
Eva’s first thoughts upon landing on the sandy beach could be summed up in three simple words: What a mess.
She glanced around her domain with a sinking feeling in her stomach. That unpleasant feeling that she had felt while enigmas were still ‘alive’ permeated the place.
It didn’t take long to figure out why. As Eva moved up the beach to the entrance to the alternate women’s ward, she stopped and froze with a gaping mouth.
Mess was putting it lightly. Just about every one of the trap doors had been opened. Enigmas filled the holes to the brim. Many not injured enough by the spikes to have ceased moving. They would be the primary source of the feeling.
Assuming there weren’t living enigmas inside the building.
Eva took her steps gingerly.
Unfortunately for her, there weren’t all that many safe areas to walk. The courtyard between the walls and the building had been designed to be intentionally treacherous to cross while the trap doors were open. Spikes alone wouldn’t have been a problem. The carapace coating her legs was plenty strong to avoid injury from spikes.
The problem was the enigmas. Before, an enigma had taken off her foot without all that much effort. She was in no rush to repeat the experience.
Eva kicked at the few that dared to snap at her feet. Not many were in the shape to try. All the enigmas looked intimidating, but Eva made it to the doors without any real resistance.
A good number of enigmas had actually piled up in mounds within the trapdoors just outside the entrance. The good news was that these ones appeared more dead than the ones farther out. Singed as well. Eva could clearly see spots on some of them where lightning had hit.
She recognized the scorch pattern well enough.
Eva spent a good five minutes just clearing the corpses away from the door.
Then came the next issue. The door was deformed beyond her ability to push open. Eva shoved her shoulder against the heavy iron to no avail.
Really, Eva thought, can’t my domain just allow me through? She had seen open doors before, on occasion. But willing the door before her open did nothing.
Eva tried slamming her shoulder into the door again, only to have to leap back, almost falling into one of the pits of enigmas.
White lightning crackled across the surface of the rusted iron.
Well, that’s a good sign. At least they’re still alive.
“It’s just me,” Eva shouted. No need keeping them wondering if another attack had come.
All she heard in response was something of a cross between a groan and a sigh, muffled by the door.
Eva had to admit, she wasn’t expecting an attack of this magnitude. Ylva hadn’t had a problem with enigmas aside from that one time after Nel used her augur abilities on the other Power. But Eva wouldn’t put it past the hel to figure out a way of warding away the enigmas.
Something to ask when she got back. Regardless of whether or not Ylva could block the enigmas, extra defenses and wards would be absolutely vital.
For now, Eva had to find a way into her own home.
A more complex task than it felt like it should be. Had Juliana been with her, ferrokinesis could have easily solved the problem just by melting the door. Her own strides in earth magic were barely at the level of being able to brush some dirt around the ground.
Something that she should be working on more. Tests were coming up in March and Eva was scarcely prepared. Almost all of her studying time had gone towards research, typically into blood magic.
But Juliana was not with her. That was another mess and she still wasn’t sure what had happened. Devon had a theory that it was due to the weakening walls between Earth and Hell. She had imposed her will on reality though her domain’s magics.
Unfortunately, it appeared as if Eva had become a persona non grata to the Rivas family. When she had arrived at their hotel room to ask if Juliana wanted to accompany her to visit Shalise, Erich hadn’t hesitated for a moment in slamming the door in her face.
That sparked off an argument on the other side of the door. Eva hadn’t caught all of it, but Juliana did not sound like she was winning.
She would try visiting again later.
While thinking about Juliana, Eva had decided to try melting the door anyway. Not through ferrokinesis, but through pure pyrokinesis. Despite focusing all of her effort on it, she couldn’t get her flames hot enough to even cause a moderate glow from the metal.
Spotting a small bend in the metal that created a space between the outward-opening door and the frame, Eva had an idea.
“You might want to move to one of the side rooms,” Eva shouted.
She didn’t wait for a response before starting. This would take a little time. Plenty of time to move.
She brought forth fire from nothing, continuously fueling a small marble forming at the tip of one of her fingers. More and more flames belched forth from her opposite hand, twisting and compressing into the small space.
Keeping the ball of fire contained was a chore. Sweat dripped from her brow. One wrong move and she might be missing her entire top half.
It was the same technique she had used when her foot got caught in the enigma’s mouth, just ramped up to eleven. Flesh tended to be weaker than metal and stone, after all.
The flames bubbled on the marble. Eva almost lost it. She decided that its current compression would have to be enough. Any more would be too dangerous.
Shoving her flame-tipped finger into the gap in the door frame, Eva gave one last warning. “Stand clear of the door.”
She ran. Leaving the flame ball in the gap, Eva hopped over the enigma pits as fast as she could manage without falling in.
Eva dived around the corner just as the thin shell of stable flames gave way to the chaos underneath.
A veritable earthquake shook powdered rock from the walls of the alternate women’s ward. Eva waited for just a moment to ensure that everything was stable before peeking back around the corner.
Eva couldn’t help but to let a small whistle escape her lips.
The entire front of the common room was missing. The door was in two separate pieces out in the trap-filled courtyard, both absolutely covered in purple viscera from where they skimmed across the tops of the pits.