Assuming any demons could even be summoned. Nobody had gotten anything but enigmas since early in the summer as far as Juliana was aware. Her demons had tried to kill her, but they could usually be argued with for a few minutes before they did so. The enigmas would just kill her, eat her, maybe become her? Eva had explained something about vampire enigmas, but she really didn’t get it. And then they would try to tear holes in reality to bring Hell through.
A great way to make a bad situation worse.
Not something that seemed like a good idea at the present time.
But the idea of demons wasn’t wholly without merit. They could sense Eva to some degree, most had ways of getting around quickly—either through super strength, flight, or outright teleportation—and perhaps best of all, one was standing right in front of her. No summoning required.
“Saija,” Juliana said, interrupting her continued diatribe about how innocent she was and how terrible Eva was for nearly killing her, “your wings are lovely.”
The comment stopped Saija’s comments in their tracks. She drew herself up to her full height, puffed out her chest, tilted her chin upwards with only a shadow of a smile showing on her face, and spread out her wings. The action knocked Irene off to the side, prompting a short grunt from her as she recovered her footing, but Saija didn’t even blink.
In a most humble tone of voice, Saija said, “Thanks.”
“They’re real right? I mean, they let you fly?”
“Of course. I wouldn’t just show them off for
“Wonderful,” Juliana said, clapping a few times. “But I suppose they’re too small to carry much more than yourself. Maybe a few small packages.”
“Nonsense. Just today I offered to carry Irene around,” she said, wrapping one arm and one wing around Irene.
Still partially recovering from being shoved aside, Irene might have fallen again as Saija dragged her back had Saija not wrapped her up in a hug.
Juliana had to admit to herself that she felt a bit bad for the girl. Saija didn’t have any friends as far as Juliana could tell. Everyone who hung out with her fit more in the category of admirer. By the looks of things, Irene didn’t quite fit into that category.
She was more of a plaything.
“Really?” Juliana said, not letting her thoughts appear on her face. “That’s pretty impressive. I wonder if you might be willing to offer me a quick ride?”
“Right now?”
“I’m not that heavy,” Juliana lied. Her armor didn’t double her weight, but it was a significant extra. Were she just going for a ride, she would probably shed it. However, she was going to fight. There wasn’t a chance she would be shedding it for any reason.
Though, if she was going to get carried by Saija, she should push any of the demon-harming metal deep inside her armor, covered by regular metal and her clothes.
“But if you’re worried, I understand. They’re very pretty, just not very functional.”
Saija narrowed her eyes. She parted her lips in something of a sneer, enough to show off her sharp teeth. “I could carry ten of you,” she said.
Which made Juliana feel much better about her armor.
“It’s just a bit… hectic outside.”
“Ah,” Juliana said with a knowing nod of her head. “You’re scared.”
Saija actually let out a low, guttural noise from the back of her throat.
“But,” Juliana continued before Saija could say something about how she definitely wasn’t scared and just didn’t want to scratch her nails or whatever, “I’m a little scared too. So why don’t we fly away from the battle, towards the city. We can get a nice bird’s-eye view of the fight while keeping nice and safe.”
And if Juliana was lucky, she wouldn’t have to ask Saija to sense Eva. The succubus didn’t seem to like her too much, so she might be more cooperative if she didn’t mention her goal. Nel had mentioned that the other hunter was on a roof in the city. Flying overhead might let her spot them much easier.
Juliana waited with bated breath as Saija seemed to consider the proposition. She had wanted to watch the a fight between the doll and Eva earlier, so mentioning being able to watch the fight could help sweeten the deal.
Saija hummed, eying Juliana. Almost as if she didn’t trust Juliana’s intentions.
Sweat dripped down Juliana neck. Here she was, trying to manipulate a demon that probably had centuries more experience than her in
