And All The Devils

Chapter Two

Yeva watched through the window with gritted teeth as Kolya ran for the house, away from the boy in the bush. She clenched her fist and tried to suppress the invariable hunger that caused her mouth to water. She could still see the boy hiding, nearly pissing himself with fear. He was so close to her, and yet...

And yet...

Yeva snarled in frustration and sent her right fist flying into the wall beside her. She focused on the pain that reverberated up her arm, letting it mask the insatiable hunger that was always there, clinging to her like a second skin.

Taking a deep breath, she went to the side table by the door and retrieved her gloves, pulling them on slowly and carefully. Then she went and picked out a book from the bookshelf (The Hermetic Museum, Volume II), drawing it close before she sat down in the recliner. It was there that Kolya found her, calmly waiting with her legs crossed and the book open on her lap. 

Kolya trotted over to her and dropped the parcel on the side table. Yeva merely turned the page of her book and pointedly ignored him. The dog took the hint, choosing to curl up by her feet in silence.

There was only the sound of pages being slowly turned, her gloves sliding across the paper. She paused at a picture of an old pair of boots, adorned with wings at the heel. The words trembled before her eyes; she could not concentrate. The hunger was becoming too much.

Yeva sighed over her book.

"The year is almost over," she said softly.

Kolya let out a defiant bark, not even bothering to lift his head from the ground.
"I mean it," she said, standing up and moving back to the bookshelf. "At this rate, I won't be able to collect a soul in time. You keep scaring them all away."

At this, Kolya raised his head and stared at Yeva in a stony silence. Yeva tried to maintain eye contact, tried not to be the first to break as she always was, but the damn dog never seemed to blink. She waited until her eyes began to tear, matching her still-watering mouth, before she turned back to the shelf. She ran her fingers along the spines of the books, letting them trail lovingly over the titles.

"I know I said no children. But they're the only ones foolish enough to come close to the house anymore. I'm running out of options."

She sighed and finally selected a novel (the Almagest), pulling it gently from the shelf and wiping the dust and ash from its cover.

"I can read the theories all day," she murmured to herself. "Magnus. Aristotle. Paracelsus. Newton."

Yeva plopped back down onto the recliner, ignoring the small cloud of dust that kicked up from beneath her. She still clutched the book tightly in her hand but did not open it, instead pulling her knees up to her chest and staring at the ceiling.

"Theories of so many great magicians and alchemists, philosophers and scientists..." she mused. "But all their theories are about trying to combine an ingredient or an essence. There is nothing out there that studies separation."

She stared at her right fist, hidden in the worn leather glove, and clenched it as tightly as possible. The leather made a soft squeak of protest and she relaxed her hand, flattening it against the cover of the book. Kolya let out a contented groan and she looked over to see him dozing off by the window, sprawled on his back with his legs up in the air. Her eyebrow twitched in mild annoyance.

"What would I do without our stimulating conversations?" she asked sarcastically.

The parcel on the table caught her eye and she went to pick it up, carefully untying the knot at the top. The cloth fell open to reveal a banana, two loaves of bread, and what she hoped was a bit of melted cheese. 

Yeva sniffed the food and gingerly lifted the banana to her mouth. Food like this could not truly satiate her hunger; nothing could do that except a fresh soul. But eating food helped to sedate the emptiness inside her, at least for a little while. So she wrinkled her nose and bit down on the banana, chewing as slowly as possible to draw out the satisfaction that came from devouring a thing completely.

A light snow had begun to fall. Yeva could see it through the parted curtains as she reached for a piece of bread. She had just raised it to her mouth when she hesitated, the crust hovering forgotten against her bottom lip, before she finally lowered it with a smile.

"Wake up, Kolya," she said, standing. Kolya rolled to his feet and looked up expectantly at her.

"We have guests," she continued, heading for the hallway. "Let's go say hello."