“No appreciation for literal interpretations,” he sighed. “You should work on that if you ever want to make something of yourself.” At Eva’s continued glare, he sighed again and said, “my
Arachne called Eva her master maybe three times since the most recent June. All three times it had been spoken as a term of endearment. Affectionately.
His use of the term dripped with vitriol and hate. Eva could taste the absolute detestation. Still, his smile remained spread across his face.
“That doesn’t explain what you want with me.”
A wide grin curved across his face. “I want to
That was enough for Eva. Two marbles of blood launched towards the devil. Her shield sprung to life around her. She spun around.
Both of her hands plunged into the wire frame ball of blood hovering in the air.
Two claws materialized around the devil. Both clamped down, puncturing his shoulders. With a twist and a pull, Eva disarmed him.
Before the blood claws ran out of energy, Eva punched both into his chest. He went flying.
A thick tree all but exploded as he crashed into and through it.
Eva didn’t wait around to see if he’d get up. She shut off her shield and started hobbling away, keeping Arachne pinned to her chest as she walked. All of her ambient blood went into searching out the forest floor. Tripping over a branch was not something she needed.
She ran as best as she could, following her trail of blood back towards the pathway.
Before she could teleport away, her face scraped against a tree. Eva’s shoulder hit it a second later and she went tumbling to the ground.
That tree wasn’t in her way before she ran into it. She tried to pick herself off the ground.
Long nails dug into Eva’s shoulders as hands clamped around her. They hoisted her into the air. One hand reached into Eva’s chest and gripped Arachne. With barely a look over his shoulder, the devil flung the little spider out of Eva’s vision range.
“I tore your arms off,” Eva spat at the devil.
He didn’t appear angry. A calm smile with lightly raised eyebrows was his only expression.
“Off, on. Detached, attached.” His hot breath caressed her face. “It is all the same to me.”
Tension grew in one of her arms. She watched as her blood vessels stretched and pulled before they snapped. Blood erupted from her shoulder as the demon carelessly tossed her arm to one side.
“Detached.”
The pain ceased before Eva even had the mental acuity to cry out. Her arm was no longer on the ground. All the blood returned to its proper place as the vessels stitched back together.
“Attached.”
He pulled at her other arm. Like the first, it easily tore off under his strength. Unlike the first, he didn’t reattach it. He dropped Eva on the ground seemingly without another thought.
The demon pressed the bloodied end of her arm right against his nose and drew in a loud, deep breath. He tossed the arm at her.
It vanished on its way and reappeared, fully connected, where it belonged. The blood around his nose stayed where it was.
“Yes. That is the smell. It is thick in this school. Some of the students smell stronger than others. It smells,” he took another long breath of the air before releasing it with a small sigh, “corrupt.”
Eva repressed a sardonic laugh. “I don’t doubt it. Come back in a few years. I’m sure it will only get better.”
“I will.”
Eva bit her lip. She should have kept her mouth shut. No movement was made on Eva’s part as the devil indulged himself in the scent. Whatever he wanted, it didn’t seem to be to hurt her, despite his earlier words.
Tearing off her arms only caused a brief flash of pain before that vanished. Even with her sight confirming they were attached and properly so at that, it was hard to believe. Eva flexed and relaxed her claws. She tapped them against her legs just to feel the sensation of them moving.
“What are your goals?”
Eva blinked at him.
“Your desires? Your purpose?”
“I–”
“Is it knowledge you seek? Power? Pleasure? Or do you have greater designs than mere base impulses?” He leaned over and cast Eva into his shadow, if the sudden lack of warmth from the sun was any indication.
“While I would–”
“A tremor tore through the Void recently. Something changed.” He drew in a deep breath and let out a hot wave of brimstone tinged air. “Nothing changes in the Void. Yet something did. I can’t help but wonder if you are the cause or an effect.”
Eva sat on the cold ground. She waited for him to continue. He didn’t. He just glared at her. “Whate–”
“You could be entirely unrelated. Still, I was drawn here. I pulled myself through an aeons old beacon into this plane of existence to find out for sure, yeah?”
Crossing her arms, Eva gave the devil a pointed look. She opened her mouth but allowed no sound out.
The devil stared at her, quirking his head to one side.
