Void Domain, Book 06 полностью

“Might be accurate to a degree,” Eva said. “We’ve learned that they originate from another plane of existence. What Power calls it their domain, we still don’t know, but invading Hell doesn’t seem too far-fetched.”

Weakening Void to help pull it to the mortal realm? Hard to say without knowing exactly how Void was being brought there.

More of a problem for Zoe, Ylva, and Zagan–if he cared enough to investigate. For now, Eva had more immediate worries.

“Have any made it inside?”

Shalise shook her head. “None. What you did to the windows holds up long enough for Lynn to lightning them up.”

Eva nodded an acknowledgment. That was good, but it didn’t appear sustainable. Given how Sister Cross looked, it was doubtful that she would be able to maintain her defense much longer without help.

“How–” “Have–”

Both Eva and Shalise stopped talking at the same time. Eva gestured for Shalise to go first.

“Have you made any progress in finding a way out for me?”

“Actually,” Eva said, “that’s one of the reasons I’m here, other than to check up on you. I have a couple of questions that may seem strange, but they could be extremely important.

“Have either of you noticed any odd happenings? Nothing related to the enigmas. More like lights flickering and going dark, maybe the walls seeming especially oppressive and dripping blood. Inability to move or speak, difficulty breathing. Anything like that?”

The two glanced at one another. Sister Cross actually managed to peel her head off the pillow. That effort was quickly used to shoot a glare in Eva’s direction.

“Am I going to have to deal with freezing up in the middle of a fight?”

“No! I mean, I hope not.” Eva waved her hands in front of her, attempting to placate the angry woman. “But neither of you experienced any of those things?”

“I think I would have noticed the walls dripping with blood.”

Shalise shook her head. “Haven’t seen anything either.”

Eva sighed with a frown. “Oh.”

“What’s with that reaction? Is the walls dripping with blood supposed to be a good thing?”

“Well, it would be a thing. Maybe a thing that would help with something else, but no matter.” Eva shook her head. “How long has it been since the last attack?”

Shalise tilted her head to one side as if listening. She tapped her finger against her head a few times before shooting a frowning glance at the face-down Sister Cross. “I don’t think it will be long before the next one. They aren’t entirely regular, but it has been a while.”

“Alright,” Eva said. “Sister Cross, get some sleep. I’ll handle this next attack. Before and after that,” Eva turned to Shalise, “we should probably build up some better defense and dispose of the bodies. They don’t die entirely, so as long as they’re here, they might join in a fight.”

“I can–” Sister Cross started. She was pushing herself up off the bed.

Shalise snapped to her feet and pulled Sister Cross’ arms out from under her, sending her crashing back to the soft embrace of the bed.

“You can get rest for when Eva can’t be here. I’m not helpless and she less so.”

Smiling at the great Sister Cross getting a talking down by her daughter, Eva stepped out of the room before any arguments could start.

She had work to do.

And something of an idea of what to do.

The enigmas that had been struck by the white lightning were a whole lot more dead than the ones that had merely been spiked to ‘death.’ If she could somehow incorporate that into any traps she created, and maybe the doors and windows, the burden on Sister Cross should decrease by a fairly dramatic amount.

Eva wasn’t sure that she could replicate what was undoubtedly Death magic. For all Eva knew, it was completely untouchable without a boon of one kind or another from Death Himself. The eyes served as that for the nuns, Eva was fairly certain of that. But Zoe had failed while trying to cure Eva and magical theory was her specialty.

Zoe lacked one thing that Eva had.

A domain. A domain that could do all kinds of impossible things.

Eva had seen the lighting in action. She had even felt its effects on multiple occasions. While it was true that she hadn’t ever casted it, she had never built a prison either. Her domain was perfectly capable of recreating that.

A light cough behind her pulled Eva out of her musings. She turned to find Shalise shutting the door to the bedroom.

After taking one look around the debris-filled common room, Shalise shook her head. “Went overboard much?”

Eva could see herself dawn a light blush. “I just don’t know my own strength.”

“Clearly,” Shalise said, voice flat. “Did your domain help you out? Or could you do the same thing in the real world?”

“That’s…” Eva frowned, “a good question. I can’t say I’ve tried creating an explosion of this magnitude on the mortal plane. However, if my domain was helping me, it’s a jerk. It should have just opened the door like I had originally wanted.”

Shalise fell silent, her gaze drifting towards her feet. “I was wondering… I mean, not that this place hasn’t protected us, but shouldn’t we move?”