“Well,” Shalise said after a moment of humming in thought, “it is okay I guess. I don’t know that I like having the center bed, but I can’t complain too much.”
In a slightly more serious tone, Shalise said, “if you are talking about Arachne… she was scary at first, but not so much anymore.” Arachne’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly at the girl. “She mostly keeps to Eva’s side of the room and barely talks to me. Of course, it is probably safer with her around what with how often our room gets broken into.”
Carlos slowly nodded. “Genoa almost had a heart attack when she heard a bunch of necromancers let loose zombies and again when Juliana was attacked.” He let out a soft sigh. “I digress. The real question is whether or not you have any problems with being so close to a demon.”
“Not at all.”
His eyebrows jumped up his forehead an inch or so. Probably in surprise at her sudden response.
Surprise welled up in Eva as well. Shalise didn’t even take a moment to think. That was even despite the nervous glances that Eva
“She and Eva saved my life. I would be a zombie if it weren’t for the two of them.”
“I see. And Juli?”
Juliana shifted a bit beside her father before answering. “No problem here. I can’t say she saved my life, but she’s lived with us for over a year. It’d be somewhat hypocritical to object now.”
“Very well,” he said with a soft sigh. “And Eva? You don’t have any objections to living with her I take it?”
“Of course not. I’d have banished her if I did.”
“And Arachne?” Eva raised an eyebrow, she hadn’t expected him to question her. The thought made Eva a little scared at what Arachne might say in response. “Any objections to living with my daughter and Shalise?”
Her eight eyes glared at Carlos for a moment. Slowly, her head shifted towards Juliana and Shalise before returning to Carlos. “I don’t care. So long as they don’t hurt Eva.”
Eva let out a small sigh. There were probably worse answers to that question.
Carlos stared back at the demon. His eyes crawled over Arachne. Looking for deception, probably.
After a five-minute long staring contest, Carlos finally nodded. “You all know each other better than I do. I doubt a single night of conversation will change much.” He glanced down at his daughter. “Your mother is going to have a fit when she finds out.”
Juliana gave a small shiver. “But you’ll help calm her down. Right?”
Carlos chuckled. “I don’t think I have that much influence over an enraged Genoa, but I’ll try. For now…” He reached into his pockets and pulled out a small notebook and a pen. “Let’s get to the fun part.”
His gave Arachne a hungry look. “How do you reproduce? Can you reproduce? Are there more like you? What temperatures do you find most comfortable? What is Hell like? How much do you sleep at one time? How often? Do you even sleep? What about food and eating ha–”
Eva held up a gloved hand. She could see Arachne’s ire grow with every question. If he continued, she’d very likely tear out his tongue.
Not to mention the holes her claws were putting in the brand new couch.
“Before we do anything else, there’s one more thing.” Without waiting for any questions, Eva pulled off her gloves. She flexed out and fully extended her needle-like fingers.
Carlos sat and stared, his mouth fully agape. As soon as he recovered, he reached forward and gripped Eva’s hand in his own. He quickly set to work prodding, pinching, squeezing, flexing, folding, feeling, and generally making a nuisance of himself.
“May I?” He said with a glance towards Arachne.
Arachne shrugged–only after receiving a nod from Eva–and offered him a hand.
A hand he started inspecting just as closely as Eva’s own.
“You gave her your hands?” Carlos said, mostly to himself.
“The necromancers disagreed with several parts of my anatomy.”
“And they attached without issue? And grew back on Arachne without even a seam where the cut should be?”
“Demon,” was Arachne’s sole response.
He started mumbling to himself as he made a few notes in his notebook. One particular statement caught Eva’s ears. “They’re smaller on Eva.”
“What?” Eva quickly moved one of her arms over Arachne’s. Sure enough, her hands were far slimmer than Arachne’s hands. It wasn’t just a minor thing either. Looking side by side was very noticeable. “Have you been putting on weight?”
“Of course not,” said a quite affronted Arachne.
Shalise leaned forwards, looking over Carlos’ shoulder along with Juliana. “Perhaps shrinking to fit the rest of your body better?”
Eva’s stomach sank as she realized that was probably true. “Does this mean I’m going to shrink back to my old size?”
“I hope so,” Juliana said with a disturbingly wide smile. “You’re too tall right now.”
“Shrink?”
Eva cut open her pants with a few quick swipes of her fingers. They were an old pair that she’d worn specifically to cut away. Before long, the carapace on her legs was showing.
