Pushing herself off the table again—and away from Juliana—Genoa shook her head. “No. This is our home and my daughter. I’ll not sit idly while danger lurks.”
Eva let out a small sigh. She knew this would happen. Even if it wasn’t the demon hunters, she had still brought danger to Genoa’s doorstep.
“Alright,” Eva said with a light sigh. Not that she really had a choice in the matter. She wasn’t Genoa’s minder. “But don’t attack if this doll doesn’t look violent. Last time, the doll wasn’t hostile. It would be better if we didn’t have to fight.”
“I agree.” Juliana moved up to her mother. Not as a crutch, but ready if Genoa needed help. “The dolls… they didn’t help us escape the prison, but they didn’t get in the way either.”
Eva blinked then frowned as something clicked. They let Juliana and Shalise escape. Nothing was wrong with that… except Prax had been inside Shalise. Or had been in control of her. Eva was a little unclear on when exactly that had happened. Her concentration had been entirely on Genoa.
But if they had let Prax escape, would they really be here for him? Moreover, would the doll have been after him even back when Eva had first encountered it inside Prax’s domain?
She had said that cells needed to be refilled, and Prax was an escapee. But if the doll hadn’t been after Prax and Shalise, then the whole ordeal with the Elysium Order’s cathedral had been for nothing.
Well, not quite nothing, Eva thought after a moment. I’m sure Shalise appreciated my efforts.
So not a complete waste. In fact, that alone probably made it worth everything.
If this truly was a doll, she needed to find out why it was here. The simplest method was to find and ask it. If it was here to find Prax or something else that Eva really didn’t care about, its presence wasn’t a concern.
“Srey, if you stay here and just keep a cellphone handy. Any sort of watching you sense needs to be messaged to us immediately.”
“I don’t have–”
Juliana pulled out her own cellphone and handed it over. “Both my mom’s number and Eva’s are in the contacts list. You know how to use it right?”
Srey ran his thumb over the screen, pausing for a few moments as he examined the icons.
“This one,” Juliana said, pointing.
It took another minute of coaching, but he managed to send out a group text in the end.
“Right. So we split up. I’ll be with Arachne, you two check upstairs.”
“The house isn’t that big.”
“I’d rather it not slip by us. Arachne can skitter around in the crawl space as well.”
“You really think that this thing would be lurking down there?”
“If it is watching us and doesn’t want to be discovered, possibly.”
Eva glanced around. Not really to look for something, but just to make an idle action as she considered her words.
“I haven’t asked about him… but we’re not going to run into Carlos, are we?”
“When you called, I sent him away. He should be minding himself at the cafe where you and I first met.”
“Is that really safe? I mean, with all the demons and demon hunters, he is all alone and without a guard.”
“Carlos can take care of himself,” Genoa said with a soft smile. She stared off into space for a moment before shaking her head. “Juliana isn’t the only one who I’ve trained, though she has taken to the lessons with far more enthusiasm.”
“If you’re sure…” Eva trailed off, waiting for some disagreement from Genoa. When none came, she shook her head. “Alright. Let’s get moving.”
Chapter 017
Irene stared at her phone. She had been all worried for Eva and yet Eva just hung up like it was nothing. With a joke about succubi, no less.
“Last time I worry about her.”
“See,” Saija said with a wide grin, “I told you it was nothing.”
“Well, not nothing. She said it was some doll that she knew. Doll,” Irene scoffed. “And she has the gall to tease me about…” she trailed off with a slight cough. There was no need to mention what Eva had been teasing her about in front of Saija. Who knew how the succubus might react. It would be just her luck for Saija to take the teasing as a challenge.
She might be alright to talk to while Drew and her other followers were gone, but she did not need anything more than talking.
Especially with the way Saija had followed her up to her room when she ran to collect her cellphone. Shelby wasn’t in at the moment, leaving the two of them all alone.
Though, now that she was glancing up at Saija, she realized that the succubus had gone very still.
“Saija?”
She jumped, causing a few creaks in the third and normally unoccupied bed. “Sorry,” she said. “A doll, was it?”
“Eva mumbled something about a doll. Maybe I misheard. Droll? How droll? Does that make sense? It was very quiet.”
“Doll makes more sense,” she said, standing. “I should go and make sure the others know a doll is out of Hell.”
Irene blinked, watching in confusion as Saija walked to the door and left the dorm room. She considered letting the demon go. Something was obviously up. Likely nothing she wanted anything to do with.
She stood anyway and chased after Saija.
“Wait. Hold on. I thought it was nothing!”
Saija didn’t stop. If anything, she sped up. Though she did glance over her shoulder to give Irene a wan smile. “Still probably nothing,” she said. “I mean, I haven’t done anything wrong. But there are eleven other demons around here. Odds aren’t with them.”
Apparently seeing Irene’s confusion, she explained a little farther. “Think of dolls like police officers. They come after people who break their contracts.” She paused, narrowing her eyes at nothing in particular. “Have any of us made proper contracts yet?”
It wasn’t a question Irene could answer. Luckily, Saija didn’t seem to expect one of her. She shook her head and continued onwards, down the staircase.
Following along, Irene moved up right next to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Just tell it to me straight, should I be panicking right now or not?”
Saija chuckled. Not a very mirthful chuckle. Almost a sad laugh. “You haven’t made any contracts have you? Then no,” she said as Irene shook her head. “You’ve got nothing to worry about.”
“I think I’ve heard that before,” Irene said, voice flat.
Despite her misgivings, she followed along behind Saija as the demon ran around knocking on the doors on the first floor of the dormitory building.
Irene stayed behind Saija and tried hard to be as uninteresting as possible. She had enough demons—and people—interested in her as it was.
But she did watch their interactions.
Saija knocked on the first door. It took a moment, but a demon answered with relative promptness. Some demon stood in the doorway with glassy eyes. One Irene hadn’t spoken to before.
Irene hadn’t spoken to most of the demons, now that she considered the thought.
“Something you need?”
“Just thought you ought to know that a doll is running around the mortal realm for some reason. That’s all. Ta~ta!”
With a half-skip and a wave, Saija left the room and moved on to the next one.
The glassy-eyed demon froze much as Saija had when Irene first mentioned the doll, but didn’t ask for any clarification. He eyed Irene for one moment before slamming the door shut.
And then Saija repeated herself at the next room. She never stayed for long to speak with the other demons. Only long enough to tell them that a doll was in the area. She spoke lightly yet dispassionately, using the exact same tones and inflections as she had for the first demon. And, as with the first, none of the demons asked questions.
Almost as if she didn’t actually care whether or not the demons knew. It was like she was telling them out of mere obligation.