Just as Eva was reaching out to pull the sword from Arachne’s stomach, she felt another blade against her neck.
“We have yet to resolve our dispute.”
Eva closed her eyes as she drew in a deep breath. She was really getting sick of having blades at her throat.
A Sixth Sense
With a long guttural noise from the back of her throat, Arachne tried to sit up.
Eva slammed her foot down on Arachne’s shoulder despite the sword at her neck. The sudden move shouldn’t alarm the doll too much. In fact, pretty much nothing alarmed the doll. Throughout that entire fight with the hunter, Eva hadn’t noticed a single recognizable emotion cross her face.
And even with a sword at her neck, Eva couldn’t allow Arachne to move. The sword had come perilously close to cutting straight through her heart tube. Of course, she probably shouldn’t have kicked her down so hard, but the sword didn’t cut anything vital.
So long as Arachne didn’t move more, everything would be fine.
To that end, Eva kept her foot firmly planted on Arachne’s chest.
“Look,” Eva said, turning her head slightly to address the doll, “I’m not going anywhere. No need to be so touchy.”
The doll said nothing. Only half looking at her, Eva couldn’t get a very good picture of what the doll was doing. Even if she could, she doubted she would gain any insight from looking at her face. The term ‘doll’ was quite apt in her case.
As the silence continued, Eva slowly raised a hand. She used just the very tip of one finger to slide the blade off her shoulder. When she failed to encounter any resistance, Eva grew a little confidence. As soon as the blade wasn’t touching her, she twisted around and stepped onto the other side of Arachne to face the doll.
Of course, she didn’t take her foot off Arachne as she moved.
“While running around, I had some time to think. I think I’ve come up with something that might convince you to not send me to Hell or the Keeper.”
The doll remained where she was. Now that Eva was actually facing her, Eva found herself somewhat disturbed.
Blood hadn’t bothered Eva in years. The sight of it didn’t elicit any real feelings. Nor did the smell. Not fresh blood at least. The memories of Sawyer’s autopsies while she had been in his head were about where she drew the line in terms of body decomposition.
So it wasn’t the blood alone that made Eva take in a sharp breath.
It was the doll and how she just stood there, covered in blood, as if she didn’t even realize it. Her whole face was stained red, losing the alabaster look. Her hair as well. And her eyes… she obviously had them open when Eva had clapped her hands together. Larger bits of flesh hung off her body as well. A chunk of skin clung to a matted strand of hair.
Perhaps she did realize it. Without it factoring into her current mission, she just didn’t care.
Eva grimaced, remembering that she had her back turned while the hunter was busy exploding. She had definitely felt some blood hit her—and now that she was looking at herself with her blood sight, her worries were confirmed.
She definitely needed a shower.
Shaking her head and clearing her throat in an attempt to take her mind off the matter, Eva moved on with her explanation.
“Ylva killed me.”
The doll just continued staring.
Perhaps it wasn’t the
Which was exactly why she had never told Arachne about that little incident. She knew that the demon would become agitated. Eva did
Eva lifted her foot and slammed it down. A few cracks spread through her carapace.
“After this incident you’re concerned about,” Eva said as Arachne settled down, “the one where I took a beacon from Hell, Ylva killed me. It was an experiment. One I was somewhat displeased to be the subject of. However, no portal to Hell opened to draw me back in. If I’m not demonic enough for Void to draw me in, I must not be demonic enough to have the Keeper’s laws applied to me.
“That combined with my earlier argument about realizing my mistake and destroying the beacon should be enough to absolve me.”
Or so Eva was hoping.
“She’s out in the city,” Eva added after a moment. “You can even ask her if you don’t believe me.”
Throughout the entire time Eva spoke, the doll had just stood there. Her sword was not up and at the ready, but hovering off to the side. Her facial expression never changed from her impassive stare.
So Eva held her breath, waiting and hoping that the doll judged her innocent.
Though she did have something of a backup plan. Unlike Eva, the black pool of blood they were all standing in did not avoid the doll’s feet. It was all still under her control. While it might not have seeped up into her boots, a great deal had splashed around the doll just from walking. Much of it had joined up with and been contaminated by the hunter’s blood, but plenty more was still pure enough to work with.
