As soon as Eva teleported in, she could feel every single one of them. None had wandered off anywhere. She could tell through subtle movements in their positions that every single demon noticed her arrival as well. Some stilled. Others moved ever so slightly in her direction.
“I still don’t like them doing this,” Eva said as Arachne grew back to her normal size. “This treating me with reverence.”
“They would do it to Zagan.”
“I am
“No. And if they sensed him next to you, I doubt that they would react as they do. At the moment, you and Ylva are the most powerful things they’ve ever sensed. Don’t throw away that fear and respect.”
“Not planning on it. I have to say, being able to sense them is handy. Even if you weren’t here, I would be able to pick out which room that demon was in.”
Before she left, Eva took a look around the dormitory room. “Where are Shalise and Juliana though?”
After watching Catherine lead off the demons, Juliana, Irene, and Eva had all finished skipping alchemy before heading on to their next class. None of them had wanted to barge into Wayne’s class partway through even though they hadn’t spent as much time with the demons as Eva had been expecting.
Juliana had been intending to visit her family after school had ended, so she might still be gone doing that. Since it was a weekend, she would probably be staying the night there. As she had every weekend since school started.
Shalise had nowhere else to be as far as Eva could tell. She couldn’t think of anywhere Shalise might have gone unless she had gone to seek help from Zoe in some matter or other. Whatever the case, Eva couldn’t see her anywhere nearby through her sense of blood.
Slightly concerning, but Shalise knew how to handle herself.
Somewhat.
Eva bit a lip. Shalise knew better than anyone the dangers of demons. She had shared her mind with one for months. But actually handling herself? Probably not.
At least she wasn’t downstairs
Which was almost worse. At least the demons were a known quantity. If she was off with demon
Well, hopefully they wouldn’t kidnap some random student. Though all were in a human guise, none of the demons were trying very hard to hide. The way they moved as they got off the bus was enough to know that those weren’t regular school children.
Regular school children couldn’t phase through walls, jump high enough to clear the bus’ roof, and didn’t possess wings to allow them to fly through said roof.
That one might not be hiding her inhumanity quite as well as the others.
Eva sent a quick text message off to Zoe and Juliana, asking if either of them knew where Shalise was. At the same time, she started heading downstairs along with Arachne.
The demon who had spoken with them earlier started moving. As Eva reached the second floor, he reached it as well from a different staircase. Eva stopped just off the stairwell and waited, watching as the otherwise unassuming boy walked up to her.
Neither spoke. They stood and stared, eying each other. Arachne was all but forgotten behind Eva.
“Are you ready to begin?”
Eva blinked with a frown. “Why don’t we talk for a moment first.”
“What could we have to discuss?”
“You,” Eva said simply. She didn’t like this demon already. Every word lacked inflection. His eyes were too still and he didn’t seem to breathe or even move. His heart was beating beneath his chest, carrying blood around his body, but he was otherwise still. Serena was more
And she still didn’t know his name.
“Your goals,” Eva added. “What you hope to achieve by…
“Was there a misunderstanding? I aim to achieve your goals. That is what helping you means, is it not? I apologize for any confusion in my language.”
Behind Eva, Arachne’s arms dropped to her sides. Her hands clenched before releasing into open claws. She let out a small growl as she bared her teeth.
The demon took no notice. He kept his overlarge eyes glued to Eva.
“Look,” Eva said, rubbing her forehead. “Why don’t we start with your name.”
“I have been called Vektul.”
“Great. Now we’re getting somewhere.”
Vektul glanced around. His face was as expressionless as ever, but there was something off about how he looked. Almost as if he was confused.
Eva sighed. “It is just an expression, an idiom. We’re not physically moving anywhere.”
“I assumed as such.”
Rolling her eyes, Eva shook her head. If he really was here to help pull Void into the mortal realm, couldn’t Void have sent someone else? Anyone else, really. Catherine was normalish. Ylva as well, even if Ylva was somewhat obtuse in her speech and mannerisms.
Even Zagan would be better than this Vektul person. And Zagan had a habit of forcing everything onto Eva and not doing anything himself.
“Second question: What kind of demon are you?”
“I do not believe that one of my kind has been summoned before. We have been given no names by mortals.”
“And you don’t call yourselves something?”
