Any time Nel showed it off–something she had been doing with a disturbing regularity–Eva got a sick feeling in her stomach. It brought back memories of her own time under Sawyer’s knife. Eva was beyond grateful that she only had two eyes to take.
“I want to be right there with you when the light in his eyes fades.” The woman spoke with righteous anger. Her hand, still pressed against the altar, trembled in obvious vexation. “He may have learned a lot from me, but he can’t hide forever. I’ll find him with or without your help.”
“It isn’t that,” Eva said, pointing at the withered husk that once was Sawyer’s fingers. “When I pulled every drop of usable blood from those things, I wasn’t just doing it for fun. I’ve started researching blood rituals.
“I know a few, of course. Mostly ones that I’ve used on myself in the past. Blood cleansing, the ritual that granted me the ability to heal small cuts, and one or two others. Unfortunately, I’ve never needed to locate myself using my own blood and the resources are not cheap. It might not work, whatever he did that is hiding himself from you might protect him from any ritual I find. We’ll have to wait and see.”
The resources were the real problem. One ritual she had found that might work to locate Sawyer required a bloodstone to be consumed.
She was currently the proud owner of four bloodstones. One made from the necromancer Weilks during her first year. It was not in the best of conditions. The only reason it was still functional was thanks to her only having used it twice. Once when she first made it and again, for a very limited amount of time, when Sawyer and the inquisitors had attacked.
Using it in the ritual would probably screw something up. It really should be destroyed just to prevent any accidents with it suddenly disintegrating.
The other three were all from the museum. It seemed so long ago now. Yet despite near constant use, the stone within the dagger’s hilt hadn’t decayed in the slightest. Considering its age, that was beyond impressive. She kept intending to research exactly why it had held up so well, but things kept getting in the way. Things like Sawyer.
Maybe it was made out of dragon hearts. Or some other extremely long-lived creature.
Unfortunately, she would likely end up consuming one of the gems embedded within the hilt. Unless she found a donor somewhere.
Things used to be much easier. There were plenty of scumbags lurking in the alleys of Florida. People that society really should be thanking her for getting rid of. Devon never looked down on her nor commented on where she got her bloodstones.
Eva had a feeling that Zoe and her friends might not act the same.
Which just made it all the more important to ensure that the ritual was completed to perfection the first time she tried it. Less wasted resources.
“But,” Eva said, “if you can find him first, I wouldn’t mind one bit.” It would save a bloodstone.
Her words seemed to mollify Nel. For the moment at least. The former nun nodded, letting her sleeve fall back over her arm. “I will. But first,” she said as she looked down at herself. Her nose wrinkled in disgust. “I need a break. And a bath.”
Eva happened to agree with that notion. At one point in time, she had thought that frankincense smelt good. A nice citrus scent mixed with wood.
Since handing over the remains of Sawyer’s hand to Nel, the woman had spent almost all of her time at the altar. She carried the unmistakable musk of frankincense on her clothes and her person wherever she went. The smell quickly became old. The few times Eva had been around Nel outside the altar chamber, she had practically had to hold her breath.
It was worse inside the room, but there wasn’t much Eva could do about that.
“Good idea,” Eva said, turning to leave.
Nel stopped her with a half-mumbled, “um.”
“Was there something else?”
“You haven’t seen Alicia around, have you?”
“Nope. Ylva was out on her throne with no Alicia around the last I saw. I came directly here from the entrance, so I don’t know if she is around.”
Nel’s shoulders slumped. “Oh,” was all she said.
“Miss her?” Eva asked with an eyebrow raised.
“The opposite, really. She always seems to know when I’m bathing. And she always shows up, ruining an otherwise peaceful moment of relaxation.”
“You don’t like her.”
“I–” She cut herself off, glaring at Eva. “I didn’t say that. I would just prefer if she weren’t…”
“Around?”
Nel glanced off to one side, rubbing her elbow with her good hand. Her voice dropped to a whisper. “She scares me. The way she looks at me, it’s like she wants to kill me sometimes.”
“Have you spoken with Ylva?”
Nel shook her head side to side, sending black hair scattering over her shoulders.
“Given that she owns you both, maybe you should bring it up with her? I don’t know what you expect me to do about it.”
