“Well, that’s interesting.”
Arachne, on her feet and pacing around the room, turned to Eva. “Should we be on guard or not?”
“Probably. Just to be safe.”
“You know who is after us?”
“The Keeper’s doll. I think. Could be wrong. Irene was somewhat unclear.” She didn’t panic as easily as Shalise used to, but when she did get worked up, she could be hard to understand.
Arachne froze in her pacing, staring at Eva. The carapace that made up her lips curled downwards into a frown as she let out a low growl.
Compared to her somewhat subdued reaction, Srey was on his feet and at the windows almost immediately. His eyes darted back and forth while his body lost most of its solidity. After a moment, there was nothing in front of the window but an outline of the gaseous demon.
A bit of an extreme reaction, in Eva’s opinion.
“Srey,” she said. “You and the other demons were all summoned properly, right?”
“As far as I know,” he said. His voice had the air of an echo about it.
Genoa came back around the counter, casually sipping at the water in her hand. “Eva doesn’t seem worried.”
“From what was explained to me, they’re sort of like prison wardens. Unless one of us has done something worthy of demon prison, nothing to worry about.” Eva glanced between Arachne and Srey. “Right?”
“If a doll is running around the mortal realm, who knows what minor offenses— little things that are normally overlooked—that doll might notice and decide to act on. Why would it be here? Did a human break a contract? They almost never come to the mortal realm for demons. They’ll wait for a demon to die or be banished.”
Reassuring himself a little bit, Srey managed to pull himself together. He returned to his human form, stepping away from the window partially.
“We just need to make sure we don’t do anything,” he said after a deep breath. “Play it cool. Don’t draw attention.”
“Are they really so dangerous?” Genoa asked. “I can personally attest to Arachne’s strength. Eva’s blood magic is fairly formidable. I don’t know about you,” she said with a nod towards Srey, “but you are a demon. You weren’t half as worried about actual demon hunters a moment ago.”
“I’ve seen one fight,” Juliana said from within a full suit of armor. “Only for a short time as we were escaping from the prison. So fast. And its sword cut straight through everything that it came into contact with. The way it moved was… monstrous.”
“That’s because they are monsters. Shells of humans, hollowed out and filled with unnatural machinery of the Keeper’s design. They’re his hobby. Emulating Void by creating his own beings. Worse, magic fails against them. A hundred could be watching us right now with the intention of killing us in five minutes and I wouldn’t be able to sense them in the slightest.”
Eva hummed. Her brief encounter with the doll fit with that. She hadn’t been able to sense it with blood. Though she had apparently tricked it into thinking that she could sense it.
Frowning, Eva looked around with narrowed eyes. Was it already watching them? Just standing out of sight somewhere?
“Monstrous or not, you said that we shouldn’t need to worry.”
“Not unless someone has violated the terms of their contract. Or something else idiotic.”
“Arachne,” Eva said, “you don’t have a contract.”
The spider-demon’s lip curled. “Shouldn’t be a problem. Contracts are not required. They’re merely there to protect both the demon and the summoner. If a demon escapes confinement and kills the summoner before a contract is made, they can freely rampage across the Earth if they want.”
“But you weren’t summoned properly either.”
Arachne snorted. Not a sound she made often. “Void himself sent me here. If the doll is here to drag me back because of that, I can only imagine how Void might dismantle it upon its return.”
“I see,” Eva said, turning towards the doorway that led to the rest of the house. “Then why is the doll sitting around spying on us?”
Everyone in the room, despite their reassurances that there was nothing to worry about mere seconds ago, spun to face the door. Genoa had a dagger out and in her hands in seconds, pointing towards the entryway. Srey was back to his gaseous form, backing away.
Arachne flexed all of her extra legs, moving around to block Eva’s view of the doorway as she stood protectively over Eva.
A moment of tense silence passed. Everyone wondering if they should flee or launch attacks against the walls just in case.
For Eva, she was just hoping that someone would come around the corner. Anyone, really. Saying something similar had worked back in Prax’s domain. If it had failed then, nobody would have been around to call her out. Now she had caused all this commotion in hopes that it would work again.
Given how hard Genoa’s heart was beating, Eva was regretting it. The woman had been acting tired. This was just unneeded stress.
Of course, if she wanted no stress, she shouldn’t have come back to Brakket.
“Sorry,” Eva said, breaking the tense silence.
Her voice was enough to make Juliana jump. She spun around with a sword pointing out towards Eva.
Arachne knocked it away with one of her legs. Eva immediately reached forward to grab her hand before she could do anything more.
“I wasn’t going to attack,” Arachne said, barely glancing over her shoulder towards Eva. Turning to face Juliana, she continued. “Do not point swords at Eva.”
Genoa had her own focus pointed at Arachne’s back, only lowering it as the tension bled off.
“Look,” Eva said before the woman could say anything. “Let’s just all just calm down for a moment. Take a deep breath and remember that we’re all allies.”
“Eva,” Genoa said, turning her attention back to the doorway. “Did you see something or not?”
“I… thought I did.”
With all the commotion she had caused, she couldn’t admit that she was just guessing that someone was there.
Genoa sighed, leaning against the counter.
Arachne prowled around the room, head swiveling around as she tried to keep an eye on everything at once. She made her way to the doorway, stopping just outside it. Before entering, she stayed outside, listening. After another moment, she started sniffing.
Seemingly satisfied that there was nothing around, she peeked her head around the corner. All of her legs were raised protectively around her head. She walked in, made her way around the front entrance and living room before coming back to the kitchen.
“No sign of anyone. Door still locked. Windows are unbroken. There are marks on the floors, but I assume that is from regular wear and use.”
“Thank you Arachne. I guess I was wrong.”
Srey whirled on Eva. “You guess? How could you assume someone was there? We just said that magic doesn’t work on them. Including my detection magic.”
“I’m relatively certain that I’ve met this doll before. Then, I was able to detect her. Not through sensing demons or even my ability to sense blood. It was just a feeling that I got. It was correct then.” Eva turned around to face the kitchen windows that looked out over the back yard of the home. “And I still feel something.”
If the doll was still watching and just from someplace else, she wanted it to know that she knew.
Even though she didn’t.
“A sort of instinct in your gut?” Genoa asked. She was leaning against the counter with her daughter at her side, using Juliana’s shoulder as a sort of crutch. She took in a deep breath, looking around the room. “I have the same feeling.”
Eva raised an eyebrow in Genoa’s direction. “Yeah, something like that,” she lied.
But if Genoa was feeling something off, perhaps there was some truth to the matter.
“Let’s search a bit more,” Eva said. “Arachne, with me. Genoa and Juliana, if you want to sit–”