With a tap of her thumb, Eva sent the text out to Zoe.
It would solve at least one problem. Namely, who their pursuer was. If Nel could continue watching them until they went back to wherever they had made their base, it would be possible to turn the tables. They could be more offensive.
Unfortunately, Zoe would be wondering what Eva and three demons were doing out in the middle of nowhere. She would have to explain that later on. Maybe the truth, maybe some excuse. That could be decided whenever she had to explain. Hopefully she would go on and ask Nel with haste and without complaint.
The return message came almost instantly with a light beep on Eva’s phone.
Please tell me that you aren’t out looking for demon hunters.
Well, that’s an easy enough request.
I am not out looking for demon hunters. Nel?
Setting up her altar. Also not happy about being woken up.
“Well tough for her,” Eva said aloud. She didn’t bother replying, though she kept her phone out and in her hands just in case Zoe sent a reply. “Any change in their distance, Srey?”
“No change in the last few minutes,” he said, glancing off in the direction of their watchers. “I don’t like this. What are they waiting for? We’re doing nothing interesting and they’re still watching us.”
Eva glanced over towards Arachne and Vektul. Arachne stood as a silent aegis over her, ready to protect Eva if need be. Her eyes were glued on the horizon of the rolling hilltops as if daring the hunters to crest the top. Hands curled at her sides, Arachne stood slightly hunched. Just enough to easily leap into motion at the first sign of trouble.
Vektul, on the other hand, stood far more lackadaisically. Like a bored student. Not a single muscle in his body was tense.
Though he was staring up at the sky with some intensity.
Following his gaze, Eva found herself frowning at the clear night sky. The sun had finally fallen below the horizon not long ago—just before they had started running—and the stars had come out in force. With no nearby lights of any kind and the moon a mere crescent, Eva could even see the milky arm of her galaxy against the stars.
But nothing more interesting than that.
“Something up there?” she couldn’t help but ask.
“It might not be a good idea to stand still,” he said without a hint of fear in his voice.
But something sent a chill up Eva’s spine. She glanced towards the sky again, staring at one particularly bright star directly overhead.
Something clicked. Eva didn’t argue with Vektul.
She immediately turned and blinked in the direction away from the observers. Arachne caught on quick, actually lifting Vektul off the ground and carrying him over her shoulder. Srey turned to mist and whisked off ahead of even Eva.
They cleared the area just in time for a white beam of magical light to crash down right where they had been standing. The cold of the night was chased away by the blistering heat of the beam.
“It’s that thing from the Elysium Order,” Eva hissed.
Not the most articulate response Eva could have come up with. Nobody else present had even been around for the inquisition’s attack on the prison. She had told Arachne in the time since, but Arachne hadn’t been nearby.
At the moment, she was too busy running away to explain more.
This was bad. The nuns hadn’t used the device—Nel had called it cracking the sky, if Eva remembered accurately—while Eva had been indoors. They didn’t have shelter out here. Nothing but fields, hills, and occasional trees. Nothing that would stop a magical weapon of that magnitude.
Eva’s cellphone started going crazy. A constant stream of beeps indicating messages gave way to an incoming call ring.
She slapped the phone to her ear without stopping running. “Zoe? Little busy here.”
“I-it’s Nel! There’s an armored man following you. I think he is reading out your location over a phone.”
“Right. Thanks.” Nothing unexpected there. She had assumed that whoever was observing her was in contact with others. It was good to know that it was the armored man again. She wasn’t entirely sure how that helped at this exact moment, but so long as they got out of there, it could come in handy.
“There was another observer,” Eva said into the phone. “One that hasn’t been following us. If you look between us and the prison, there should be a large patch of scorched earth. Keep following it back towards the prison and you might see that observer, if they haven’t moved that is.”
In the mean time, Eva had to get her group out of here.
Preferably without revealing too many abilities, but with that sky cracking thing, Eva wasn’t about to discount anything.
“Vektul,” she said as they ran, holding the phone a short way away from her ear. Still close enough to hear if Nel had anything important to say. “Your portals. Can other people pass through them?”
She hadn’t wanted to ask while her pursuers could hear. With that Elysium Order beam, she didn’t have much of a choice.
“I suppose so,” he said, voice vibrating slightly with each of Arachne’s footsteps. “As long as I kept it open for others.”
Eva turned directions without responding. The others would follow her lead. Probably. If they kept running in a straight line, the hunters would be able to target them by just casting the sky cracking spell some distance ahead of them.
“Excellent. Open–”
“Eva,” Nel’s voice half-shouted over the phone.
Eva moved it closer to her ear before responding. “I’m here. What is it?”
“There’s some woman in a wheelchair. She’s sitting in front of… it’s like some sort of mockery of the Elysium Order’s idol. Twisted and evil. You must destroy it!”
“That’s nice Nel,” Eva said. “Tell me, does this woman have an eye patch? How about a few holes in her back?”
“Eye patch, yes. But she’s wearing clothes. Would the holes be in her clothes as well? I don’t see any.”
“Thanks Nel.” Eva disconnected the call. If something really important came up, she was sure that someone would call back soon.
New mission: Survive. That was always a priority, really. However, Eva really did not want to allow her enemies to possess a sky cracking idol.
“Vektul, can you portal us back to the field?”
“That might be too far away.”
“As close as you can then.”
Just as had happened back at the prison, a dark portal opened in the air in front of them. It started small before widening to a proper size.
Eva didn’t break her stride. She charged right into the portal and out the other side. Whether through clever portal placement by Vektul or simple luck, the ground was at the perfect height and incline to keep her from stumbling.
Less lucky was the addition of a new humanoid in range of her blood sense. Her demonic companions emerged from the portal behind her one by one. None of them concerned her.
Ahead and to the side, Eva found herself close enough to see one of their pursuers.
Not the woman.
A man clad in shiny metal armor stood at the crest of a hill only a quick blink away. The same man who had defeated Zagan at the start of summer.
Notably, his armor was not the same. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that large portions were missing. His arms and boots were clad in metal. One of his legs as well. His other leg and chest just had some kind of padded undergarment.
There was no surprise or shock in his posture. His heart rate remained steady as he drew his sword. A long, curved sword.
The same one that had torn up Zagan.
The vials of demon blood beneath Eva’s cloak exploded, releasing the liquid into the air. Two orbs formed into rings, flying off towards the hunter. Another two orbs formed up into a shield around Eva.
Her shield solidified just in time. The knight dashed forwards in the blink of an eye. His sword came down on the shield.