She knew that they were probably going to find out at some point. Either she would tell them or they would find out on their own. But Eva was somewhat hoping that they wouldn’t find out until everything was past the point of no return.
If they found out earlier, Eva would have some explaining to do. She did not want to have to think up what to say to them.
But, for the moment at least, she could put that off.
“I recommend you leave,” Eva said.
“Leave?” the vampire said with a dark chuckle. “You drag me all the way out here and expect me to leave empty-handed? I don’t think so.”
Eva opened her mouth.
She didn’t get a chance to say anything. The vampire vanished.
Behind her, Arachne took a hit to her stomach. She went flying through the air until gravity remembered it existed. Crashing into the ground, she tumbled through an already completed section of the ritual circle.
Eva turned with a snarl.
Only to find the vampire missing once again. Cold fingers clamped down on her. One hand on her shoulder and the other on the side of her head.
Before the vampire behind her could wrench her head to the side and bite down, Eva burst into flames.
Her hair was already short and ruined from the hunters’ idol. A little singe around her neckline wouldn’t be that noticeable. The rest of her head could stay extinguished. That was really all she cared about. Her clothes were easily replaceable. Modesty? Worthless. Her skin… well, she was a demon. She should be able to hold up to a few minutes of sustained flames.
On the other hand, a vampire had several very well known weaknesses. Sunlight for one. Beheading and stakes to the heart as well. Garlic, Eva was less certain about and she doubted that flowing water would give a vampire pause unless they stopped to weigh the consequences of getting their clothes wet.
Fire was one of the weakness that she rated fairly high. Right up there with sunlight. Perhaps higher even, given her lack of ability in making the sun suddenly rise.
The vampire yelped, releasing her at once. Eva did not hesitate to slam her flaming elbow back and into his stomach. At the same time, she stomped on his foot. Her leg forced her foot
He jumped back, stumbling as he landed. Before he even regained his proper balance, he started patting out the flames on his chest.
Eva spun, blinking straight behind him. She barely kept the presence of mind to keep a closed fist as she punched him in the back of the head.
He went face first straight to the ground.
Eva planted a foot on his back even as the earth wrapped up around his limbs, holding him to the ground
She didn’t turn to thank Juliana. Any calm she had regained since being called a snack vanished the moment he attacked. Looking up at them, she wasn’t sure what her face would look like.
But she didn’t want to scare Juliana and Srey any further than they already were.
Instead, she focused all of her anger on the vampire beneath her foot. Her flaming foot that was digging into the squirming vampire’s backside. Murder was a definite temptation at the moment. As was torture. Maybe both, though in the reverse order. Torture then murder made much more sense than the reverse.
Sawyer’s torture session hadn’t gone over so well. Perhaps it would be best to skip over it. Maybe tying him to a tree for the sun to have would count as torture.
But he was still a student. The same arguments against killing him still applied. Although now she could legitimately claim self-defense, she would have to explain why she had been out in the Infinite Courtyard. Saying that she was out looking for event clues might work.
She would have to drag him away from the ritual circle first. Or kill him then drag his body away. Either way might leave trails leading back, revealing the circle when people undoubtedly investigated his death.
No. It would be best to either kill him later or find some way of controlling him. Even just something to keep him away from her would be enough.
Arachne was already crawling back on six legs—the two that had been severed closer to the base still hadn’t fully grown back—face twisted in a snarl. She might be a bit overeager.
Eva took a deep, calming breath as she extinguished her flames. To her great delight, her skin was only mildly raw from the heat. Something that should go away soon enough.
“Arachne,” Eva said.
That one hard word stopped the spider-demon cold. A slight shake of Eva’s head only further served to calm Arachne.
No longer squirming from the flames at his back, the vampire turned his head to the side. He took a moment to spit out a great deal of dirt. “Alright, we’ll call it a draw.”
Eva curled her lips into a sneer, not removing her foot from his back.
“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t just tear your head off and be rid of you.”
“Today wouldn’t be the first day that I caught your sent out here. You travel here enough that I’m surprised mortals can’t smell that sweet scent.”
