Despite his attitude, the carnivean calmed down. She actually appeared to be considering his offer.
“You want something for it.”
“Course I do. It isn’t much. Just a sample of your blood every few months and your cooperation. Two years of that and I’ll perform your little ritual.”
“My blood,” the carnivean said, voice flat.
“Not for anything nefarious. I’ll destroy any excess under your supervision if you insist.”
“Two years?” She shook her head. “Too long.”
“And you think you’ll find someone else to summon the fae for you?”
The carnivean shrugged. She paced around the summoning circle twice before stopping at the far side. Leaning against the invisible barrier provided by the shackles, she said, “perhaps I will. There’s always the necromancer. Or the little girl who follows him around.”
Devon’s smile grew to be downright predatory. “After failing him twice, you think he will summon you back? To torture you, I could believe that. Or to turn you into one of his creations. To give you what you want?” He shook his head. “Not a chance.”
“Someone else then,” she shouted, swinging her fist into the shackles at her back.
“I offer a two-year guarantee. Fulfill my tasks and I’ll summon your fae. It will be a full contract. Forged with blood rather than mere words, if you need the extra reassurance. But if you continue to be difficult, I’ve other demons to make the offer with. You have one minute to decide.”
With that said, Devon moved away from the carnivean. He went back to the circle he had been drawing and started checking it over against a little notebook.
Though she hadn’t stopped during their conversation, Zoe renewed her efforts at making the child as comfortable as possible. There really wasn’t much more she could do. Even if she brought him to a proper healer, they wouldn’t be able to help him. Some types of cancer could be cured by cutting off parts of the offending organ and regrowing it entirely.
Unfortunately, Simon was very obviously in the final stages of whatever his specific illness was. Cancer would have spread all over his body. And if it was in his brain…
Zoe wondered just how Devon’s miracle cure could possibly pull him back from this late stage. Her mind started wandering, considering the possibility of reworking his ritual for a cure without whatever side-effects his experiment was sure to have.
After what was probably just over a minute, Devon snapped his book shut. He wandered back to the summoning circle.
“Time is up and time to send you back.”
“Wait.”
Devon crocked his head to one side. “Waiting.”
“Two years? No loopholes? No wordplay?”
“If you want it all in writing–”
“I do.” The carnivean nodded, a shallow smile appearing on her face. “Writing. Blood contract. And I get to go over the entire thing before either of us seal the deal.”
“Excellent,” Devon said as he rubbed his hands together. “Assistant,” he called out, “drop the kid off on the left side circle–the one closest to the door.”
Zoe blinked. It took a moment to realize just who he was addressing.
“The contract details won’t take long. I just hope that kid doesn’t kick it in the middle of the ritual.”
Discussions and Waiting
Eva watched as Zoe left with the body of Simon. Somehow, Eva was hoping that she wasn’t about to return the body to the hospital. Its condition was far from pristine. Seeing it would probably cause a lot of grief if he had anyone that cared about him.
Perhaps returning his ashes would be the best course of action.
Brushing his hands together to get rid of chalk dust, Devon stood from the circle. “Everything is drawn correctly,” he said. “Seems a sick kid won’t do. At least, not one that sick.” With a casual shrug, he went to collect his little notebook and promptly started writing something down. “Still, might be able to improve the efficiency despite that failure.”
“What about me?”
Devon paused his writing to look up over the edge of his notebook.
A fairly lethargic-looking carnivean leaned against a chair, eyes half-lidded. Whatever this new process was, it sure took its toll on the demon. Arachne never looked half as bad after Eva’s treatments. The carnivean–Qrycx, she had called herself–looked more like Eva tended to feel.
Though Eva’s analogue in this ritual had died, so at least nothing quite that bad had happened to her.
“Ah, you,” Devon said. He waved his hand off towards the summoning circle. “Begone with you. I’ll call upon you after I find a new subject.”
“And our contract?”
From the chair that Eva was sitting in, she could see a shadow of a smile cross Devon’s features.
“Still on, of course.” That shadow darkened ever so slightly. “Of course, the terms dictate two years donation towards a single subject, so we’ll have to start the timer back at zero when next I summon you.”
In spite of her obvious fatigue, the carnivean’s eyes narrowed to thin slits. “That wasn’t in our contract.”
