Eva hadn’t seen the vampire that had been in charge of the goblins since she initially took the goblins away. So she was probably dead or perhaps off fleeing.
Given that everyone else was dead, fleeing was probably the wise decision.
“Arachne,” Eva shouted at nowhere in particular. She raised a fist, shaking it at the empty sky. “You’ll pay for wha–”
Eva blinked.
Getting carried away?
“Yeah,” Eva mumbled, pinching the bridge of her nose.
Are the others all caught up in that nonsense too?
Silence answered her.
Eva looked out to the streets. She needed to get out of this domain. With Arachne, Juliana, and Genoa. If they
Stepping up to a nearby roof, Eva looked around.
First, she needed to find them.
Recovery
Zoe’s chest heaved as she took a deep breath of the crisp air within Ylva’s domain. She turned to Wayne, letting all the air out in one long sigh.
She gave off a half-smile, full of nervousness and worry. “Are we really doing this?”
Wayne gave a short grunt. “I’ve done a lot of crazy things in my life. Jumping head first into Hell will be a new one.”
“You don’t have to come with me.”
Wayne frowned. He opened his mouth, ready to berate her for saying that. After a moment of silence, he shook his head. “I’ve had a long life. You should be the one staying here.”
A flicker of movement caught Wayne’s eye. Zoe was idly rubbing the dark band around her ring finger. Again. Just her thumb reached under her fingers to caress the ring.
“Eva and Genoa are already there–”
“–and I can’t just leave them on their own. Shalise is on her own and shouldn’t be difficult to escape with.”
Wayne scoffed. “Minus the possibility of invisible enemies or the high likelihood of her being possessed.”
Zoe nodded. “I’ll be following Ylva’s advice and start with taking her to Eva’s domain.” The professor shook her head. “I still can’t believe… that despicable man.”
“He said it was willing,” Wayne said with a shrug.
“She was a child. She
“Still wasn’t complaining, last I heard. I imagine she would object if you intervened in her ‘treatments.'”
Pinching the bridge of her nose, Zoe shut her eyes. “You know, when I first learned about Eva’s involvement with demons, I assumed it was mostly Foster’s doing.”
Wayne did not miss her usage of the demonologist’s last name. Prior to their little briefing, Zoe had tended to use his first name.
“I figured that I could wean her away from diablery. Then I find out about her haemomancy and Arachne. Somehow she gets me reading books. I’m talking to demons on a daily basis. Living with them, even. Now we find out about this? And so off-handedly too. ‘Use Eva’s domain as a safe spot. Oh yeah,'” Zoe said, mimicking Foster’s more guttural voice, “‘did I mention she’s turning into a demon?”
Wayne stood still, trying to ignore the demon water seeping into his suit. He’d have to remember to burn it later. The liquid alone would ruin it, but that it was Hell water only made it that much worse.
As for Zoe…
He let out a sigh of his own. Situations like these were not his forte. One part of him wanted to place a hand on her shoulder and offer some consolatory words. What, exactly, those words were, he hadn’t the faintest clue.
But honesty was important. Words of comfort would end up being lies of one sort or another.
“She was a lost cause from the start,” Wayne said, trying to keep the ‘I told you so’ out of his voice. “Not something to beat yourself up over.”
Zoe laughed. The sound was mirthless and hollow. After a moment of silence, she spoke. “You know the worst part?”
Wayne shook his head.
“It is fascinating. It is fun.”
Quirking an eyebrow, Wayne prompted her to continue with a clipped grunt.
“Not right now, obviously,” she added quickly. “But when we get Shalise and Juliana home safe, and things calm down… I have
She pointedly glanced around the black ocean of water, sweeping an arm along with her gaze. “Would it be wrong to say that I am actually excited?”
Wayne followed her gaze for a moment.
“How many humans,” she said, “actually get to experience something like this? Of their own free will with a high probability of getting back alive and sound.”
“Few. There’s probably a good reason for that too.”
