44. Perilous.

"What’s going on here?" asked Theodore, looking back and forth at the two people facing each other.

"More than I thought." said Eva, "I came here looking for you, to get back that rock you stole. Now it seems something else than just petty theft is going on."

"Not petty." said Paxton, "That thing is worth more than you could imagine. And we have it now."

"We?" said Theodore.

"That makes sense." said Eva. "The jewel was just there out in the open for you to find. That doesn’t make any sense if it is as powerful a piece as everyone seems to think."

"Come to think of it, it was pretty obvious when I passed by." said Theodore.

"And what were you doing there anyway." asked Eva, never taking her eyes of Paxton, "Do you usually wander into Gods’s bedrooms?"

Theodore seemed to be thinking about it.

"I was heading to the kitchen, not really looking where I was going. I know the kitchen like the back of my paw. Next thing I know I look up and there I am in the bedroom and that jewel is just calling out to me."

His eyes started to glaze over again.

Eva shook him.

"Stay with us." she said.

He shook his head.

"Sorry." he said, "But you are right. I didn’t head there, but I ended up there."

"Someone of a higher power made sure that everything was in place." she told him. "Right down to having you run into this guy, to make sure you were well enough hidden until it was safe to retrieve their prize."

"Good thing you won’t be able to let anyone know." said Paxton.

He raised the crossbow.

"You weren’t supposed to get involved." he said, "You should have stayed out if it."

"You could say it is a fault of mine to help out those who get in over their heads." she said.

"Too bad."

He fired the bolt.

Eva dropped Theodore and dove out of the way trying to create a portal out of here.

It never appeared.

The bolt pierced her chest and punctured her right lung.

Pain spread throughout her entire body as she cried out and collapsed to the floor.

Paxton was a good shot. If she hadn’t moved, the bolt would have pierced her heart.

As it was, she was still alive, but she could feel her lung filling with blood.

She coughed and tasted blood in her mouth.

She reached up with her hand to try and pull the bolt out.

Smoke rose from her hand as the silver burnt her flesh, but she couldn’t get enough grip on it.

Blood was dripping off the bolt as well, making it impossible for her to get a grip.

She finally removed her hand with a cry that was a mixture of pain and frustration.

She could see the burn marks where her hands had touched the bolt.

A fit of coughing raked her body.

She spit blood from her mouth.

She fell back onto her back, and looked up to see Paxton standing over her with another bolt placed in the crossbow.

"Did I forget to tell you?" he said, "You can’t create portals here. I had a spell put on the shop. We can’t have anyone just waltz right in here passed locked doors and take what they want."

"Why?" was all she could say.

Her breathing was becoming harder. She could hear the bubbling of the blood every time she took a breath. It would not be long before the blood spilled over into the other lung.

"I am getting a lot of money, just to hide it here." he said, "And I think I will be getting something from Weivo, as he has a grudge against you, I believe."

"You knew who I was."

It was more a statement than a question.

"The minute you walked in." he said, "I had been informed you were investigating. I must say I did not expect you to find him, but when you walked in her I knew I had to do something."

there was another fit of coughing.

The pain was worse now. She couldn’t suppress it enough to even try to move. She cursed the existence of silver in all it’s forms.

"Don’t worry." said Paxton. "It won’t hurt for much longer."

He raised the crossbow.

Eva thought she saw the stack of boxes behind Paxton swaying. Then they tumbled down on top of the surprised shop owner.

He cried out, dropping his crossbow and trying to shield himself from them.

The crossbow hit the ground and discharged the bolt.

It hit Eva’s thigh in her left leg.

She swore out in every language she knew.

Her vision was beginning to blur as she spotted Theodore coming out from behind where the boxes were and over to her.

"Quickly." she said, "Get these things out of me."

Theodore stood on her chest and gripped the bolt with his paws.

He kept slipping off.

"It’s too slippery." he said, "Wait."

"Not like I have a lot of choice." she told him through gritted teeth..

He ran back into the hole he had been hiding in and came back out rubbing dirt into his paws.

He came back and tried again.

This time the bolt moved but he had to wiggle it every once in a while.

She almost passed out from the pain.

"Got it!" he cried out when it came free.

Relief washed over Eva.

She could feel her body already trying to repair itself.

Unfortunately wounds from silver took much longer to heal than regular wounds. She was going to be out of commission for a while longer.

Theodore removed the other bolt.

"What do we do now?" asked Theodore.

"I can’t stay here." she said, "I am in no shape to fight Paxton when he wakes up. Or any one of his accomplices if any should come here to check on him. I can barely move without hurting."

"I don’t think we have to worry about Paxton." said Theodore in a quiet voice.

He was staring at Paxton while talking to her.

She turned her head to look.

Paxton’s eyes stared back at her, but they were empty. His head was lying in a pool of blood.

"They must have been heavier than I had thought." said Theodore, "I just wanted to knock him out. I’ve never killed anyone before."

"Everything changes after your first kill." said Eva, remembering the first man she had killed while trying to save her village, "But you were only protecting me, and you were not malicious in your intent. Don’t worry too much about it. He took his chances in dealing with Gods and he paid a high price."

She could not tell if her words had any affect on him, but now they had bigger worries.

"We still can’t stay here." she said. "His friends could arrive any minute."

That seemed to snap him out of his reverie. He turned back to her.

"What should we do?"

"Wait." she said.

"I don’t understand?" he said.

"You will."

There was a flash of light and Death stood in the middle of the room.

She took Paxton’s soul and then addressed her sister.

"You look awful."

"I feel awful. Do you think I might impose upon you for a lift for me and my friend here?"

Death looked at Theodore, who seemed to be trying to make himself as small as possible.

"All right." she said.

"Theodore." said Eva, "Get the jewel."

He ran into the whole and emerged with a packet in his hands.

"Something doesn’t make sense." he said settling onto Death’s shoulder as she held her sister in her arms, "How come you can get in here when no one else can?"

"Privileges of being me." said Death. "Many spells don’t work against me."

"But some do?" asked Theodore.

Death’s face became grim.

"Yes." she said, "But we don’t talk about that."

Theodore shut up and held on as Death brought her sister home.