The female was the easiest to look at. Although whatever she was made from was inhuman, nothing about her triggered any sort of negative response. Nel tried to avoid her anyway. From the vague explanation of that demon’s power, it would be nearly impossible to avoid her eyes.
A hazy figure moving
It wasn’t a ghost. It was too real to be a ghost. Her regular eyes couldn’t see a thing, but it was there all the same. The false-ghost moved up to stand next to the masked demon. A few stood around him and several more were scattered around the room.
As far as Nel could tell, neither Eva nor Devon noticed even when the ghosts moved through them.
A small seizure racked Nel’s body again. Just thinking about the first two had her subconsciously send her eyes to look at the third. That one was where all her problems started.
She could see–through her normal eyes no less–a fang filled maw, hard skin coated with black tar, leathery wings, a tail tipped with spikes, lizard-like legs, its beating heart, lungs, the insides of its stomach, and plenty more.
It wasn’t transparent. Nel could simply see the entire thing, inside and outside, at once. And any time an eye that wasn’t on her face saw it, something broke in her mind.
The demons were on her side–until Eva and Devon deemed her not worth the trouble–but that gave her no solace. She didn’t need them to be killing her. Her augur condition felt like it was actively trying to drive her insane.
“Alright,” Devon said.
“Demons are covering us. We get the nun to Ylva’s domain. Once she is safe, we can move to rout the inquisition.”
That was a good plan. Amazing even. It would have been a better plan if she’d never have had to leave, but Nel valued her spine’s current location enough to not complain about that.
“The Lord of Slaves will put itself between us and the Elysium Order. His minions will be our escort.”
At his words, the masked demon reached out and tapped the nearest three ghosts on their shoulders. The wispy forms solidified into people from the point of contact.
One looked like the stereotypical knight in shining armor–if such stereotypical knights wore rusted iron that had been battered out of shape.
The second wouldn’t have looked out of place in a civil war reenactment troupe. He carried an old-fashioned rifle and had a slightly curved sword attached to his side. His uniform was marred by several holes that were still bleeding.
The final ghost wore burlap clothing and a straw hat. His hand gripped a flaming torch that gave off no smoke and no light. Blood dripped from one of his temples.
Devon didn’t react to the sudden materialization of the ghosts. He simply looked them over before giving a reluctant nod.
Eva launched herself away from the ghosts. The two orbs of blood darted around wildly as if she were trying to decide which to attack. Only when none of them made any movement did she calm down.
“You need to stop springing things on me. Something is going to end up dead that we don’t want dead.”
Devon gave her an almost mocking smile. “In addition to not shaking its hand, don’t die around a Lord of Slaves. You’re less useful, but bodies can still serve.” His smile slipped into a frown. “Though, I suppose if you died, you might not care what happens to your body.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
The three slaves moved as one towards the exit to Devon’s cell house. Nel watched as they walked past, carefully keeping her eyes on them and them alone.
They appeared undead. How much good they would do against any members of the Elysium Order was somewhat suspect. The order’s primary abilities were tailored specifically to fight undead. But there was something odd about them. They might be more akin to golems or some other construct.
Connecting to the source would tell her, but she wasn’t
The knight exited first, moving with his shield up and his head low. The other two followed behind him. Nel started to follow, but stopped as she realized she was alone.
No one else moved. Not the demons, nor Devon and Eva.
Nel shifted her weight from foot to foot and back again.
Neither had glassy eyes or any other sign of mental manipulation. At least no sign that Nel was aware of.
“Shouldn’t we be moving?”
“The slaves are moving to engage and distract. Eva’s wards are still active. With their interference, they may just stay up.”
Nel frowned. There were thirty members of the inquisitorial team. What were three ghosts supposed to do?
