A portal opened beneath the demon, drawing him while leaving the doll standing alone.
She brought her sword straight up in front of her before flicking it down to her side at an angle. Black tar flung off the blade, leaving its shine pristine. In the same smooth motion, she spun it around and sheathed it on the other side of her hip.
“Now you’ve got to admit, that was pretty neat.”
Irene shook her head. Her stomach was churning. It had been a relatively clean kill, all things considered. Nothing was even left of the demon. And she
The other people, both humans and demons, were panicking in various ways. Most of the humans were fleeing towards the dormitory buildings. The two demons were staring, clearly preparing to fight. One had lightning crackling between his fingertips while the other had fully reverted away from his human form, becoming a sort of music box with legs and a head. One arm poked out the side, winding a crank.
But the doll made no motion to attack. She merely glanced around the area, stopping briefly on each demon.
When she stopped on Saija, the succubus took a full step backwards. Irene could almost feel the air shaking around the demon.
As with the others, the doll eventually passed over Saija. She stared for a few seconds before turning away, facing out towards the city.
“Neat and a little scary,” Saija said, voice much quieter.
“I think I should call Eva again.”
Author’s Note: There is a new chapter over on the preview site. Not Analyst or Demi-God, something new tentatively titled Specter. Longer notes at the bottom of that chapter.
Indecision
“Well, that’s definitely the doll that I saw in Hell.”
Eva stepped away from the window, looking at the others. Irene and her succubus were standing towards the back of the stairwell. One was trying to look as small as possible while the other continually preened as soon as she thought someone was looking in her direction. Unfortunately for Saija, the doll standing out in the courtyard below was of far more interest to everyone.
Juliana and Genoa were both forward a bit more, both looking out the window. Even after her brief run around her house, Genoa wasn’t looking significantly worse off than she had during their earlier discussion. Still strained, but maybe even better. She didn’t look quite so out of breath as Eva would have expected. Getting out of the house and getting some fresh air might have done her a world of good.
Zoe rounded out their group for the moment. She wasn’t paying so much attention to the doll outside. Her focus was on her cellphone. She was coordinating with other members of Brakket staff to find any possible missing students. Saija’s warning about the recently deceased demon and how he had likely broken some part of their contract.
Given that she was looking much calmer than she had when Saija first mentioned the possibility, Eva was guessing that the headcount was going well.
Srey had gone to find out where Vektul was on Eva’s request. The demon was somewhat essential to Eva and somewhat absentminded. There needed to be some measures in place to ensure he didn’t go do something stupid.
Like run off and try to speak with the doll. For all Eva knew, the doll would strongly object to interacting. Srey had worried that any even extraordinarily minor breach in their contracts would set the doll off. Something that was only a breach because of some innocuous wording that nobody would have complained about under normal circumstances.
Eva didn’t have a contract. So she was feeling fairly safe around the doll at the moment. Neither did Arachne, but Arachne hadn’t been summoned in the usual manner. Eva wasn’t so sure how they might react if brought near each other.
Though, at the moment, Eva wasn’t sure that the doll was even alive anymore.
For the fifteen minutes Eva had been back at Brakket, and longer according to Irene, the doll hadn’t moved. No breathing, no fidgeting of the arms. The doll hadn’t even blinked, as far as she could tell.
Nobody had gone near it. Anderson had made an announcement over the Brakket speaker system warning against going outside. Genoa and Juliana, being unable to teleport long distances on their own, had to have Zoe bring them inside to avoid going too near the doll.
They might have been able to sneak in through one of the back doors, but it was best not to take any risks with someone who could apparently fall out of the sky to skewer people.
“Nobody missing,” Zoe said as she slipped her phone back into her pocket. “However, Cindy Lovechild’s roommate has been unable to wake her. Wayne took her to the school nurse.”
Saija stepped forward, making sure everybody noticed her before speaking. “If Timothy had enraptured someone in his delirium, they should recover soonish now that he’s gone.”
