Convincing her to teleport out there and then return by car might be a good deal more difficult.
But that was a concern for at least a half hour from now.
Eva had an angry Devon to placate before then.
“You stole it in the first place, didn’t you?”
“That’s beside the point,” he snapped. “How am I supposed to cart things around without my truck?”
“Get a new one then. It can’t be that hard to steal another truck. Look how easy it was to steal yours.”
Behind Eva, Serena pressed a hand to her mouth as she started shaking in silent humor. The silent part did not last long, but Devon didn’t even move as the soft giggles filled the air.
Eva ignored the vampire. Serena was probably making herself invisible to his senses or some other thing that Eva wished she could do.
“And, it was for a good cause.”
“I am
“Sawyer is dead.”
There was a pause. Devon pulled back from his slightly threatening stance to stand straight up. For almost a full minute, he stared. His dark eyes bored into hers.
“I don’t even know who that is.”
Eva let out a long sigh, ignoring the vampire’s outburst of giggles. “He’s the necromancer. You know, the one that stabbed me in the back, cut off my fingers, and gouged out my eyes?”
Realization dawned across Devon’s lightly scarred face. “Ah. He had a name?”
“I can say with absolute certainty that I’ve told you before.”
Devon waved his tentacle off to one side. “Lots of people tell me lots of names. I can’t be bothered to remember them all.”
“Sawyer was kind of important.”
“To you.”
Eva glared. Sawyer had been a personal target for a number of reasons, but that didn’t mean that everyone else didn’t also benefit from his death. He wouldn’t attack Brakket Academy again, Devon wouldn’t have to worry about her getting a cursed dagger in her back, Nel was safe, and, most of all, he was no longer doing anything with enigmas. She might have gone to Hell a few times, but that was nothing compared to the number of enigmas that Sawyer had.
If Devon and Ylva’s theories were correct, that could only be a good thing.
But Eva didn’t give voice to her thoughts. Were she speaking to Zoe or Wayne, she would have. They might have listened and changed their opinion. She knew Devon too well. He wouldn’t care much about any of her reasonings. Brakket and Nel could burn for all he cared, Eva wouldn’t have to worry about being attacked if she didn’t stick her neck out, and… well, he might be concerned about Hell. At the moment, Eva couldn’t say whether he cared more about that or his truck.
With a exasperated sigh, Eva shook her head. “I don’t suppose you know if Zoe is back from her trip? She can help recover your truck.” Eva paused, waiting for an answer. A thought occurred to her before Devon could respond. “Zoe is a professor at Brakket Academy. She’s got brown hair down to the bottom of her chin, wears a suit most of the time, and spends a lot of time here–”
“I know who she is,” Devon snapped.
“Good! Is she back yet?”
“How should I know? I’m not her minder.” He turned away, sinking his hands—rather, his hand and his tentacle—into the pockets of his long coat. Eva followed him out into the common room with Serena at her back. “Though, someone was skulking about the place yesterday.”
“Who?”
He shrugged. “Didn’t go check. Someone you know. Unless your wards in this place have failed again.”
“They haven’t.” Eva could say that with certainty. Based on her own blood, the wards in the prison were essentially an extension of herself. She could feel them wrapping around her and everything else around.
So, perhaps Zoe had shown up. Who else would have visited her? Catherine, Ylva, Zagan, and everyone else that Eva could think up would have known that she was off on a road trip. Except Wayne.
He wouldn’t have been looking for Eva. Serena would have been his target.
But if they were back, that was good news. She would have to have Nel find Zoe.
When she had dropped Nel off at the gate within her
Going to Nel would cut down on a lot of intermediary nonsense. Then she could be off to grab Devon’s stupid truck and the rest of her things. Getting it out of the way would be for the best.
“Bring my damn truck back or I swear…” He trailed off with a sorry shake of his head. “Just bring it back. It’s a pain to move things around by hand.”
“What are you moving around?”
“Chalk, mostly. I’ve been going through a lot of it lately. Buying in bulk is much easier than small boxes of sticks.”
“For ritual circles?” Eva asked. Receiving a clipped nod in response, she let out a short hum. “Still working with Catherine?”
Devon narrowed his eyes. “Haven’t seen it in a day or so. Something going on at the city. But the succubus has the occasional decent idea and knows its way around a ritual circle.”
