Eva had to admit that they had their uses. The strength and overall finesse was nothing to be scoffed at. Still, trying to maintain a normal life with them wound up more frustrating than anything. Maybe if she’d revealed them as soon as she’d gotten them, the rest of the school would ignore it. They already did that with her eyes.
She sighed, twirling her finger around the little snake.
Eva pulled out her dagger. Her new, shiny black–even in her vision–dagger. With a quick swipe, she slid it down her arm. Just enough blood emerged to renew all the flecks before she healed it.
Normally, she’d have retreated to the bathroom to protect her roommate’s sensitive sensibilities. Neither Juliana nor Shalise were in at the moment and Eva didn’t feel like getting up.
She toyed with the dagger. Whipping it up and balancing it on a single finger. It had the same, impossibly heavy yet weightless feel that the skull had. Much lighter feeling than the gold. Her hands might be superhumanly strong, but that stopped at her elbows.
Devon actually seemed interested about the new dagger. Despite his protests to her watching, he watched closely as Ylva gripped the handle and the sheath. Eva couldn’t see the gold. The black of the void metal bled into her vision from Ylva’s hands. Almost like ink being poured over an invisible dagger.
The dagger had only been in her hand for an instant before Devon snatched it out. He started weighing, measuring, and writing down all kinds of notes. Eva shouted at him when he started trying to scrape the metal. Trying ended up being the key word. He couldn’t make a single mark on the smooth surface.
Her master seemed especially interested in Eva’s ability to perceive the metal without using blood. The skull was the same way. Ylva offered the knowledge for free. Eva was at least partially demonic and Ylva made both items for her. The void metal considered Eva its owner.
Eva didn’t feel that explained much, but Devon nodded along.
Just as she started to sheathe the dagger, a circulatory system appeared behind her. Its arm already raised to attack.
Eva dived out of her chair. Her desk flew across the room.
She didn’t bother to uncork one of her vials of Arachne’s blood. One broke as she landed. She quickly whipped the loose blood up into a shield just in time to get hit by another attack.
“Where is she?” the voice yelled. The person didn’t wait for an answer. Two more blasts hit Eva’s shield before she even had the next vial uncorked.
A ball of blood shot towards the woman. It splattered against something just inches from her body.
She poured another vial into her shield.
Another few attacks struck.
“Don’t play coy with me, Eva. I know you sent a demon to attack her.”
Her shield drained at an alarming rate. The woman wouldn’t let up. Attack after attack.
Eva punctured her wrist with her dagger. She poured her own blood into the shield while she worked on her big attack. With a swift motion, she sheathed the dagger on her back.
The two vials of Arachne’s blood twisted and pulled into a wire frame ball.
A massive construct of her hand materialized in the room. The claw launched at the woman. The needle-like fingers made of blood squeezed her.
Not her. The woman’s shield.
Eva felt it crack.
Almost there.
The pinky of her blood construct passed through a hole in the shield. Eva watched as it pierced her leg.
It wasn’t enough. The construct dissipated.
Not willing to give the woman the time to rebuild her shield or to attack, Eva stood up. Her own shield wouldn’t last long with just her weak blood powering it.
She still had her claws.
Eva dashed across the room.
She tried to.
The moment she started her run, Eva realized her mistake.
No toes supported her as she tipped forwards.
The hard dorm floor lifted up to meet her. She hit the ground and skidded forward.
Eva rushed to heal the minor scrapes she got on her cheek as she tried to regain her footing.
A crack in the air sounded just as pain jolted through her right shoulder. Eva’s arm spasmed and she hit the ground again.
Eva screamed. The scorching in her shoulder increased despite the attack ending. It spread through her chest.
The woman–Sister Cross gripped her hair and lifted her head. She slammed Eva’s face down against the ground.
“Eva. Where is she?”
Eva tried to claw at her. She stomped a booted foot down on Eva’s upper arm. Something cracked.
Eva screamed again.
“I will not ask again.”
“I didn’t touch Shalise,” Eva cried out. “I don’t know where she is.”
“What?” Sister Cross ground her heel into Eva’s arm. “What happened to Shalise.”
She roared.
“I don’t–”
