“Let me get a good look at you,” she said. She looked Juliana up and down, carefully inspecting her hands and face. She walked around until she was satisfied. “Alright. Wayne and I can’t leave this sitting, but I will be right back as soon as we look around. We’ll have a talk then.”
Mrs. Baxter stepped away, pulling her dagger out once again.
“Wait,” Juliana said, “both the creatures were on the second floor. One in the hall and one in the master bedroom. The door was shut but I destroyed the handle for a weapon,” Juliana said as she lifted the metal still swirling around her left arm.
Mrs. Baxter nodded. “You did good. I’ll be back in half an hour.” And she vanished.
Juliana took off her clothes on the way to the shower. Eva was still gone and even if she wasn’t, it wasn’t like the girl cared about modesty anyway. And right now, Juliana didn’t care either.
She sat and let the hot water wash over her body. She took deep breaths of the hot, humid air.
Juliana finally had an exciting story. She just wasn’t sure she wanted to tell it.
— — —
Devon threw a glance over his shoulder at the smoky figure standing in the shadows. Red eyes gleaming in the shadows narrowed sharply at his glance. He almost got whiplash turning back to his work.
At least whatever she said to it didn’t result in Devon waking up with his limbs spread across the room. It just wasn’t fair. He was supposed to be the demon summoner and she was supposed to be the blood mage. Yet she had the service of a haunter.
She had been far too unstable before she ran off with Eva. It was getting to be a menace. If he didn’t need her, he would have banished and forgotten her long ago.
For a moment he wondered if being alone with Eva for a few months improved her personality at all. The haunter in the corner of his eye banished all such thoughts. This seemed like her idea of a joke.
He dropped the last notebook into his suitcase and double checked the workshop. Everything he needed was accounted for.
Devon turned to the haunter, keeping his gaze on the floor, and walked towards the shadows. Slowly. He took a deep breath and stepped into the shadow.
A claw gripped his arm. He suppressed a cry as his shoulder popped out of its socket. The claw tightened, puncturing his arm at no less than four points.
He landed hard, hoping he hadn’t just injured his still tender leg. Devon stumbled forward not even half a step before his nose cracked against a wall.
The haunter released its grip and half spun Devon around in the pitch darkness.
“Thank you Ivonis, that will be all.” Eva’s voice came muffled through a wall.
Still, the demon’s presence vanished from Devon’s side.
“Are you insane, girl? Sending a haunter after me?”
His voice echoed strangely around him. He felt out the room to find it incredibly tiny. Only a few square feet of floor space and the entire room felt like cement except for one metal panel.
A small flap opened up in the metal panel, flooding the tiny room with light. A number of red eyes peeked through.
“He has already been paid in full,” Arachne said.
“You’ll forgive me if I don’t trust a traitor’s words.”
The red eyes narrowed. The flap slammed shut sending painful echoes through the tiny chamber.
The entire wall pulled away a moment later. Eva stood in the opening. “You’re being far too melodramatic, master.”
“Yes, well, let’s see how you react when you wake up to a damn haunter leering over your bed.”
“He did his job and you are,” her eyes flicked to the blood dripping down his arm, “mostly unharmed.”
Devon scoffed. “Mostly.” He slammed his arm against the wall, suppressing another cry. It wasn’t the first dislocated shoulder he’d had, and he doubted it would be the last.
“Well, if you would have shown up or simply sent a letter, we wouldn’t have to resort to these measures. Didn’t you read the note?”
“Note?” Devon thought for a moment. “That chicken scratch? Did
Eva gave an uncertain glance towards a grinning Arachne. “No,” she said. “But there were pamphlets there too. That should have been plenty of information.”
“Yeah, plenty of information on how amazing this school your going to is. And then you just up and left me with a damn cat to heal me? I’m surprised you still call me master.”
“Arthfael did that as a personal favor. I hope you gave him plenty of fish.”
“Well,” Devon slumped slightly, “yeah. But at least he stuck with me.”
