“I don’t know about that. People have died in the past. Not a common thing, but it has happened. And Redford really doesn’t strike me as the most sane of event organizers,” Anise mused more to herself than anyone else. She didn’t miss the sharp breath from Emily, however, and quickly amended her statement. “But I’m sure we’ll be fine. They wouldn’t televise bloodsport.”
“Anyway,” Eva said as the violet light above them came to a stop.
They were—thankfully—nowhere near her ritual circle. Given how large the Infinite Courtyard was, even her gigantic ritual site was still just a dot on the map. But it had been a concern on her mind.
She held out a hand towards the others. A stone snake was wrapped around her wrist, but neither girl seemed to pay it much mind. “Truce?”
Emily took hold of her hand almost instantly, giving it a vigorous shake with a relief-filled smile.
After releasing her hand, Eva turned to fully offer it towards the nun.
Anise eyed the black claw. “Shaking hands with the devil,” she said in a low mumble.
“Religious theology has very little to do with real demons,” Eva said. “Trust me on that if nothing else.”
The nun harrumphed, still not reaching for Eva’s hand.
“Redford did say that we might be more successful if we work together. We should at least figure out what we are doing before mur–fighting each other.”
The nun did not miss Eva’s slip. Even so, she thrust out her hand with a sneer. Her grip tightened down as hard as her poor human muscles could go.
Eva didn’t feel a thing.
“I’ll be watching you.”
Two bright flashes above them pulled their attention up to the violet orb. And, consequently, the drone hovering just overhead.
Anise pulled her hand back with a groan. “I hope that camera isn’t recording. I’ll be excommunicated for sure.”
Eva smiled. “Come find me if you are. I know someone who might be willing to… employ ex-nuns.”
The not-yet-ex-nun shot Eva a glare before they all had to start moving. The violet light hovered forward at a languid pace.
Eva felt it immediately. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t noticed before. Redford mentioned a ward to keep them from accidentally wandering out of the event grounds. But to be standing right next to it and entirely miss it was something of a shock to Eva.
It made her all the more thankful that the demon hunters had been either nearly incompetent in ward construction or in too much of a rush in setting them up to have done a decent job. She could have easily wandered into one just as Juliana had if Redford had been the one to set them up.
Shaking off her shock, Eva had to move quickly to follow after the light before it got too far away. Thankfully, it stopped just inside the ward. She didn’t have far to go.
“Cold feet?” Anise said with a sneer.
“Just surprised at the ward. It was… strong. Like I was being crushed for a moment by nothing more than the air.”
Emily frowned, looking back to where they had just come from. “I didn’t notice anything.”
“Same.”
Eva shrugged. “Probably tuned differently for humans and non-humans. I doubt they want whatever monsters they filled this place with to escape.”
“Monsters. Right. You mentioned vampires earlier,” Emily said.
“A vampire. Singular. He’s actually a student.”
Anise curled her lips back into a sneer. Though it wasn’t that steady. Her heart started beating faster. After a moment, she let out a sigh and dropped the tough act just long enough to mumble out a few words. “I wish Chris were here.”
Her voice was just quiet enough that Eva wouldn’t have been able to hear from a step to the side. As it was, she decided to shrug her shoulders without comment. Chris was probably the other nun. So long as Anise could use the white Elysium Order magic, Eva really didn’t care which nun she got. While initially she had considered running off, in retrospect, she was lucky to have been in the same group as one.
It gave her the excuse of a truce to not attack and left open the possibility that Elysium Order magic would prove just slightly too deadly to the vampire.
Emily opened her mouth to comment more.
Another flash from the light overhead stopped her cold.
Three pulses. The light died off, fading to a bright spark before disappearing entirely.
Eva put up her guard immediately, keeping her back to the wardline as she stared at her two ‘companions.’ She was ready to move, attack, or flee depending on the situation.
The nun moved as well. White light burned in her eyes as she locked her gaze with Eva.
However, at the moment, Eva was slightly more concerned with the other girl.
She seemed the Shalise-type of girl. At least, Eva found herself reminded of Shalise. Timid, perhaps not very strong magically, yet earnest and willing to work hard if necessary. Her concerns about monsters, working together, and Eva’s slip about keeping Anise alive were all perfectly valid. Things she could imagine Shalise worrying about.
At the same time, Eva couldn’t imagine Shalise’s heart rate remaining relatively steady. Even while walking through the forest and discussing relatively uncomfortable topics such as ambushing one another, Eva couldn’t recall any change in Emily’s heart rate that couldn’t be attributed to the normal physical exertion of walking through a forest.
The moment the light disappeared, her wand slipped into her hand from somewhere up her sleeve. Her face hardened as she looked through narrowed eyes at both Eva and the nun.
But she didn’t attack.
The hairs on the back of Eva’s neck stood on end.
But neither of them attacked.
After standing perfectly still for upwards of five minutes, Eva broke first. They were wasting time. Good time. The vampire had undoubtedly eliminated his partner and would already be heading towards the goal.
“Well,” she said, dropping her guard almost entirely. She would still be able to blink away if either of them moved towards her. “We’re wasting time.”
“We could glare at each other until the event passed us by,” Emily said slowly.
Eva grinned. Probably not the best thing she could do given her teeth, but she did so anyway. “Right. And I’d like someone who isn’t the Nod Complex to win this thing.” She held out both hands, one to each of her temporary companions. “Truce? For real this time?”
“You mentioned something like that before,” Emily said. “What’s your deal with them?”
“Just a little bet. Well, that and a vehement dislike of their vampire.”
Anise only hesitated for a moment before reaching out to grasp Eva’s hand. “If you aren’t lying, I can definitely agree with that.”
“No lie. After the Nod Complex is removed from the playing field, we can fight all we want.”
“Fine with me,” Anise said. She tried to pull back her hand, but Eva held on.
Eva glanced towards Emily. She lifted her hand up ever so slightly, further offering it to the girl.
“Your hands are creepy.”
“Sharp too. Not the kind of claws you want on an enemy.”
Emily narrowed her eyes at the threat. Eva couldn’t bring herself to care. She already had the anti-vampire person on her side. If Emily continued to waste time, she would just pick up the girl and chuck her back towards the ward line. Leaving counted as disqualification, or so Redford had mentioned. Making someone leave probably worked just as well.
But the girl swapped her wand to her other hand, leaving her left hand free to grab hold of Eva’s claw.
“Excellent,” Eva said.
As she spoke, a drone dropped down, swooping around them in a full circle before flying back up overhead.
Anise tore her hand out of Eva’s grip, barely managing to avoid mangling herself, and buried her face in her hands.
“I am so going to be excommunicated.”