“Shal, you’ve been repeating the words of this… demon,” she spat the word with clear distaste. “Even as he intrudes on your mind, you defend his opinion. One that may wind up with us all dead. You don’t feel this way. You’ve seen this demon before and she scares you; you want to leave.
“So trust your instincts, Shalise. Listen to yourself, rather than him, and let us be gone from this place before it is too late.”
Shalise’s eyes flared. Not quite a demonic flash of red, but there was unmistakable anger behind her eyes. The muscles in her arm tensed.
Eva tensed up, waiting for Shalise to strike first. She could imagine the words Prax must be whispering in her ear.
She thinks you’re weak. But you don’t need to listen to her, Shalise. We have the power here. She hates you and fears you for having me in your head.
Or something along those lines, in any case.
Whatever his whisperings were, they weren’t enough. Tension drained from Shalise along with her muscles. She slumped into Lynn, nodding into her chest.
“You’re right. Let’s go.”
Eva watched as Shalise’s face winced. Probably at whatever Prax was saying now–insults, Eva was willing to bet.
Keeping herself tense, Eva stayed ready for any sign of trouble.
But nothing happened. No pits opening beneath them. No hot tar pouring off the battlements. No sign of any domain manipulation acting against them.
Either Prax was more subtle than Eva was giving him credit for or Shalise still had power. Or Prax had decided that insulting Shalise was enough, probably deciding that speaking with a mother that had recently had her skull crushed by him was a poor idea.
Eva was somewhat hoping for the latter option as it would prove that Prax was at least somewhat reasonable.
With Eva watching their backs and Lynn watching just about everywhere else, they made their way back across the bridge and to the waters of Hell.
“Remember,” Eva said, “you don’t want to get lost and wind up in some other demon’s domain. Think of me, repeating my name can’t hurt either.”
Eva stood back and watched as they, hand in hand, jumped into the water.
Unlike hers and Ylva’s domains, Prax had his waters looking almost more like a swimming pool than a beach. Obsidian bricks surrounded a pit of water. It wasn’t actually a swimming pool–it lacked walls and a floor within the basin, as it was all part of the ‘ocean’–but it gave off the appearance from above.
There were no ladders or steps to get in and out. The water level was a good body-length beneath the top of the bricks. Arachne could probably get out without much trouble, but a lot of demons would have problems climbing out.
That tied into his defenses for the area. The landing into his domain was immediately overhead. A cushioned platform that looked as if it could be opened into a trapdoor, dropping any unwanted guests straight back into the rest of Hell.
Eva wasn’t certain that it was possible to re-enter the same domain that she was leaving from–she had never tried–but if it was possible, they would just land back in the waters a second time.
Willie’s domain had been almost the exact opposite of Prax’s domain. His started out with a boat ride designed to disorient and confuse, ultimately making it incredibly difficult to actually leave. His guests would be trapped in with whatever amusements he concocted until he decided to release them.
Prax seemed intent on keeping unwanted demons out of his domain. The castle, the walls, the gate, the easily defensible bridge, and this. They all deterred invaders.
Probably something Eva should set up in her own domain. Even if someone just landed in a solitary confinement cell until Eva set them free, it would at least be a start.
And it might contain the enigmas for easier disposal. A much better plan than the current ‘allow them to run free on the beach’ method.
Stepping up to the edge of the pool, Eva stopped with both of her feet half over the edge.
She glanced around the room. There was some kind of uniform light throughout Prax’s domain. No light sources, but Eva could see.
And something was casting a shadow. Probably nothing. She couldn’t see anyone through her sense of blood. Eva guessed that it was a trick of the light and nothing more, but…
“How long are you going to skulk about? If you wish to speak, speak.”
If it was nothing, it might have been embarrassing. But no one else would be around to know, so the point was moot.
If it was something, then calling out was just one step on the path cultivating her own appearance as a mysterious and omniscient demon.
Waiting, Eva stared around the room. Her gaze slowly swept from one side to the other, sweating this possibly non-existent person out.
Eva sighed. Guess it was nothing after all, she thought.
A flash of movement had Eva’s head whipping around before she could step forward.
It was nowhere near the shadow on the wall.
Keeping her blood ready for a shield at a moment’s notice, Eva watched as a silver-haired woman stepped around a pillar on the opposite side of the room.
Eva only absently noted her long-coat and boots, choosing instead to focus on the sword attached to the woman’s hip.
It was, thankfully, sheathed.
And yet, somewhat concerning. Eva could not think of a single demon that used tools. Every one of them chose to fight with bare hands. That included Ylva, possibly the most civilized demon that Eva knew of.
“You knew I was here,” she said, voice coming out cold and hard, though still in a whisper.
Too busy fighting the surprise off of her face, Eva couldn’t even celebrate the success of her seeming-omniscient plan. The woman’s voice itself was almost as bad as the voice Ylva used while speaking from her throne.
Worse, if not for trusting her own sight, Eva wouldn’t be able to tell that this person was in the room at all. She had no blood. At least not that Eva could see. She had no presence or bearing.
She wasn’t even breathing.
Had she stood still on a pedestal, Eva was certain that she would pass her off as a particularly detailed statue.
Eva slid her feet slightly closer to the edge, ready to drop off. If the woman suddenly attacked, her own domain would be far more defensible.
“You were following us,” Eva said. Again, she was bluffing and possibly pushing her omniscience too far. For all Eva knew, the woman had just shown up. But it had worked well enough the first time around.
Besides, this didn’t look like someone she should show weakness to.
“Why?”
“The Keeper is displeased. Cells that were once full must be filled again.”
Eva almost leapt off into the pool at that. Her first thoughts were that this woman was here for Shalise. If so, Shalise needed to be warned.
They really needed to get her out of Hell.
But Eva stayed where she was. There was another, more likely reason why this woman was inside Prax’s domain.
“You’re here for the demon hiding here. That demon is hiding from you?”
The woman nodded, sending her ponytail up and down in a light bob.
“Hiding here? Why? This isn’t her domain. She has no advantage or power over this place. Her own–” Eva cut herself off. That was a stupid question. Obviously, she was hiding here because they would look for her in her domain.
But if she left a place she had total control over for a place inhabited by a possible enemy… “You did something to her domain, you broke it or somehow made it inhospitable, didn’t you?”
“Not I.”
“The Keeper then.”
The woman remained silent, neither affirming nor denying Eva’s suggestion.
Neither spoke for a time. Eva watched the woman like a hawk while she thought.
Really, it was a pretty stupid decision in Eva’s opinion, showing up at Prax’s domain even though he had also escaped from that prison. At least, that was Eva’s first thought. Given how Willie had treated her, perhaps going with a known quantity was always better than going to some random demon’s domain. Together, they might have been able to fend off assaults. That was what Prax’s domain had been designed for.