Void Domain, Book 07 полностью

The devil was meditating. Or, he had his eyes closed and his hands resting in his lap. An apparently meditating Zagan was one of the strangest things that Eva had seen in a long time. Worse, he was still naked; he apparently hadn’t bothered to put on his clothes again.

Neither had the carnivean. She had an unwavering glare fixed on Zagan. If looks could kill…

Well, Zagan would probably survive.

Catherine—now in her full demon form, wings, tail, and all—hadn’t bothered to gather up her clothes either, but Eva had somewhat expected that. The succubus didn’t like clothes at the best of times and had even less shame than Eva. She was pacing around in the grass to the side of the cement and had been at pacing for a while if the shallow trench was any indication.

Glancing down at herself, Eva realized that she was still naked as well. The only ones with any clothes on were Serena and Lucy, though Serena had doffed her heavy winter clothing now that night had fallen.

The two clothed people were talking to each other at the far end of the court, too quiet to be heard.

It didn’t really matter. None of the demons would care about nudity. Devon didn’t care. Eva doubted that he actually saw people as people, let alone women as women or men as men. To say nothing of how he felt about actual demons.

Serena had whistled at both Zagan and Catherine, but she probably didn’t really care either, being dead and all. If she did, oh well.

Eva was curious about what Serena and Lucy were talking about. Unfortunately, she didn’t get a chance to go find out.

The moment Catherine noticed Eva’s presence, the succubus flapped her wings twice. That carried her just high enough over the ground for her to glide over and swoop down in front of Eva.

“I want to use another favor,” she said before her feet had even settled on the ground. “Make that man listen to me.”

Eva thought back to her thoughts on Devon and frowned. “Are you sure you want to waste a whole favor on Devon? He isn’t that good-looking. Surely you have higher standards than him.”

Catherine blinked. Her eye twitched as she shot Eva a glare. “Make him put me in the center of that circle.”

“You,” Eva started after a moment of silence. “I don’t… I mean, you’re already a demon.”

“Every few months, you would show up stronger than you were the day before. I knew something unnatural was going on, but I couldn’t figure out what.”

Somehow, Eva doubted that Catherine had tried very hard to figure it out. She hadn’t even asked. Though Eva was trying to keep her treatment a secret from most mortals, she would probably have told Catherine. Maybe. It was a prospect that had been more likely over the last semester, after Eva had a chance to get to know the succubus better during the diablery class.

“When I first met you, you were barely a blip on my mini-map. Now…” The succubus took in a deep breath. “I want in on it. I finally know what was being done to you and I want it.”

“Well, I don’t have a problem with it,” Eva started. A slight glint over Catherine’s shoulder caught her attention.

Zagan, still in his meditative pose, had opened his eyes. His gaze met with Eva’s for just a moment. The corners of his lips curled upwards just a hair.

He knew. Somehow, some way, he knew what Catherine would ask. And he planned for it.

Eva broke her staring contest with the devil to glance at Lucy. She had wondered—had assumed that he had asked to bring Lucy along in case he decided to skip out. But no. Now Eva could see it. Lucy was here to be a third demon for Catherine. Zagan and Qrycx being the first and second. It was why he was still hanging around and likely why Qrycx was glaring at him. He must have ordered the carnivean to stay.

Obviously, Qrycx hadn’t wanted to die again so she had complied.

He knew, Eva thought again as she turned her eyes back to Zagan. Whether through some demonic ability or just through reading her personality, he had expected her to ask about being involved in the ritual.

And he had called it an experiment.

Frowning, Eva again met with Catherine’s eyes. Having recalled that last little tidbit, she was actually worried about Catherine. Being involved in something that Zagan called an experiment couldn’t be good for her health.

“Will it even work for you though?” Eva asked, mostly as a way to delay as she continued to think. “It was meant to turn me into a demon, not turn a demon into a stronger demon.”

“It will take modification, but that shouldn’t take long. I understand ritual circles, a former master ensured I had a background in basic mortal magics. While I could modify it myself, double checking with the creator will help remove any unforeseen problems that I might miss on my own.”

Eva raked her claws through her hair, sweeping it all back behind her head. “I guess it couldn’t hurt to ask him. About talking about it, at least.” She fixed Catherine with a glare. “Be careful, be sure if and when you actually do the ritual.”