Leaving the succubus, Eva tore off her clothes and crawled into bed. She had promised herself that she wouldn’t ‘play the victim’ after killing Martina. Not even within the confines of her own mind. Self-pity, especially over something she did intentionally and with full knowledge of what she was doing, did not become her.
And yet, she had never killed anyone she had known before. Sawyer not withstanding. Technically, he had killed himself. Or just died on his own. No one she had spoken to for more than a few instants. No one she cared about—even as little as she cared for Martina.
It left a weight in her chest. One she had trouble discerning the true cause of.
Eva found herself not getting her usual amount of sleep.
Power Overwhelming
Eva snapped her eyes open. She took a deep breath, glancing around as she took in her surroundings.
She was on her back, staring up at the starry sky. Arachne, Catherine, and Qrycx the carnivean all stood around her with Arachne being the closest. Hovering over her with occasional glares at the other demons, Arachne had a protective air about her.
It couldn’t have been too long since the end of the ritual. Pre-ritual, everything had gone roughly the same as last time. Obviously Zagan wasn’t around and Arachne had taken his place, Serena wasn’t around, and Lucy was missing. None of that had actually changed the ritual itself.
Last time, however, she had been unconscious for such a long time after the ritual that Devon had moved her back into the women’s ward. That she was still lying in the center meant that so much time couldn’t have passed.
Or Arachne hadn’t let anyone approach her. Eva wouldn’t put that past the spider-demon. That theory didn’t explain why Catherine and Qrycx would have stuck around. Catherine had work to do to prepare for her own ritual while Qrycx hated everyone and would not stick around for no reason.
The strangest thing was the lack of Devon. Every time she had woken up after every other treatment, he had been hovering over her, bombarding her with questions or tugging at her tongue. Eva couldn’t even see him in range of her blood sight.
Realizing that he was missing sent a chill down Eva’s spine.
She patted herself down, feeling her skin and her body, checking her insides with assistance of her blood sight, and ensuring that nothing had gone wrong. Something going wrong with the ritual was the only reason that Eva could see why he wouldn’t be feeding her incessant questions.
There were two nubs on her forehead, just above her hairline. The beginnings of horns? A huge number of demons had horns. Eva having them wasn’t all that surprising. Doubly so if her shadow had any truth to it.
While cleansing Shalise of Prax, Shalise’s shadow had been an image of Prax. Or a muscular version of Shalise with horns and hooves. But it was probably safe to assume that it had been of Prax. Neither Zoe nor Lynn had shadows at all. Not human in appearance or demon.
Eva had cast a shadow. One with wings that dripped as if they had been made of liquid. Blood, Eva had guessed based on her magical preference. Along with those wings had been horns. Not gigantic ones like Zagan or even the moderately sized horns on Catherine’s succubus form. Eva’s shadow had just a few inches worth of horns.
But in real life, Eva could only feel a slight bump. Like a knuckle. Not even a half-inch. Interestingly, the skin on her forehead felt like it ended right around the horns. So she definitely had something poking out.
She would have to look in a mirror later on to get a better grasp of what she looked like. Just from the feel, her hair should be able to adequately hide them. So long as they didn’t grow, that was.
Another thing that Eva noticed were the bumps on her back. Unlike her forehead, the skin wasn’t broken. In fact, it might be nothing at all. Eva didn’t often feel up her backside and doing so was awkward. For all she knew, she might just be feeling her shoulder blades. The only reason she had checked in the first place was because of that shadow.
Finding nothing else abnormal or immediately alarming, Eva glanced up to Arachne. “What happened?”
“Your ritual was interrupted.”
Eva blinked, turning towards Catherine. “Interrupted? How?”
“A Void portal opened beneath your body just as the ritual was finishing.”
“Well,” Eva said, patting the ground. “I’m not in Hell.” The cement platform that the ritual circle had been drawn on was just as solid as it ever was. No sign of any portals around her at the moment.
“We thought you had died in the middle and were being drawn in. Tendrils came out, holding you in place rather than pulling you down. One touched your forehead before the entire thing vanished.”
Eva frowned. Rubbing at her forehead, she couldn’t feel anything off aside from the horns. Her fingers came away clean. No goop or muck. She didn’t think that she was thinking differently, but then, would she know if she was?
