He coughed, his brow creasing as he held onto his pain. “Admit it. You’ve got the hots for me.”
“In your dreams. You bound me to you, remember?” I hesitated. “What will happen to me if…”
“Nothing,” he told me. “If I die, you’ll be free.”
I didn’t understand. He was lying there, vulnerable, and he’d just told me how to free myself from his tether. There was nothing stopping me from taking his life and leaving him here to rot.
“Why would you tell me that?” I demanded.
He grasped my wrist and pulled me close. “There are shades of grey in this world, Madeleine. It’s not all Darkness.” My breath caught. “They took my colours, you know.”
I didn’t have any idea what he was talking about. Pressing my palm against his forehead, I felt the heat radiate off him. Not only were his wounds not healing, they were showing signs of infection. That meant I wasn’t going to get many coherent answers tonight.
“Shh,” I murmured, “you need your rest.”
“You could free yourself right now,” he raved. “I wouldn’t blame you if you did. Go into hiding and save yourself. Go.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” I wet another washcloth and dabbed it against his forehead. “Despite my better judgement, you’re stuck with me.”
He studied me for a long time. When it was getting unbearable, he said, “The Balan wants something in Camelot.”
“I already know that.”
“I think he’s using us to get to it. If you take me there…”
“The world will not implode if we go to Camelot, Elijah. It will suck for us, but the Earth will continue to spin.”
“It won’t…” he whispered. “Lately, I feel drawn there.”
Dread began to rise inside me. The mysterious room Aiden uncovered…
“One last chance,” I said, taking his hands in mine. “Whose side are you on, Elijah?”
His gaze met mine, and for the first time it was clear. “Yours,” he said. “I want to be on yours.”
13
The long fingers of dawn stretched across the cottage and filtered through the window.
I jerked awake, my eyes gritty with sleep. The armchair was hard against my back, the awkward position tensed up my muscles. Combing my fingers through my hair, I peered outside, my nerves on edge.
My predicament hadn’t sunk all the way in yet, and the harsh light of a new day laid everything bare.
Betrayal. Darkness. Hate. Loneliness.
I hadn’t thought twice about leaving or giving in to the Darkness hiding within. I’d lived up to all the years of rumours and gossip, and it was a bitter pill to swallow.
Who was I without my arondight blade? I still had it, but I’d never weld it against the Dark in the same way ever again.
Madeleine Greenbriar had died last night, and a stranger was born in her place.
I rubbed my eyes and rose, shoving away the unwelcome thoughts. Me spiralling into depression was the last thing we needed right now.
I sat beside Elijah on the bed, careful not to disturb his sleep. His wounds had scabbed over, but they were still red and angry, and heat radiated off him like a furnace. Frowning, I replaced the washcloth with a new one, hoping to ease even a small amount of his fever.
The coolness stirred him and his eyes opened.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you,” I murmured, dabbing his brow. The old Madeleine would’ve shied away from the intimate touch, but the new one didn’t break stride.
“Why did you come for me?” he whispered, half asleep.
“I guess you’re the last person alive that’s like me. You understand.”
“Liar.”
I laid the cloth across his forehead and scoffed, “Isn’t that your speciality?”
“You’re like me, remember?”
“Smart arse.”
He chuckled softly.
“I understand now. Well, at least a little.” I lowered my gaze. “When I tapped into my mutation, it was like…”
“You were another person?”
I lifted my head. “Yeah. I was all…cold, ruthless. The chaos…t excited me.”
“You’re lucky,” he said. “Your Light contains it.”
“Maybe, but the mere existence of it makes me a threat,” I murmured. “They’ll never take me back and if they do, I’ll never belong.”
“You never did anyway.”
I grunted and looked through the window at the overgrown garden outside. “It doesn’t matter anymore. That part of my life is over.”
“Because of me.”
“You saved my life twice. I could hardly leave you out there.”
“I had nothing to lose.”
I glanced at his chest. “Except your life.”
His fingers brushed against my leg. “I saw a pretty Natural in a nightclub. Can you blame me?”
I raised my eyebrows. “Pretty?”
“Beautiful.”
No one had ever called me pretty before, let alone beautiful. A flush crept onto my cheeks and I tried to hide behind a curtain of inky black hair.
“Don’t,” Elijah whispered. “You don’t have to hide from me.”
My throat tightened and I forced my gaze to meet his.
“No one’s ever wanted to help me,” something unspoken passed between us, “until you.”
My heart leapt and I drew in a shaky breath. My emotions took hold and I leaned down, pressing my lips against his.
For a fraction of a second, I thought I’d read him wrong, but as he returned my kiss, a trillion tiny fireworks exploded across my skin. I recklessly deepened our embrace and lost myself in his taste.
It was true no one had ever called me beautiful, but no one had ever kissed me, either. A demon had the pleasure and for once in my damned life, I didn’t care.
I drew back, allowing myself to study his features. Tracing the curve of his jaw with shaking fingers, I relished the feel of his stubble and the rise and fall of his lips.
“We can go anywhere,” he whispered. “We can leave them all behind and live.”
I trembled at the thought. “What about your cure?”
“We can look for it elsewhere. The Naturals will never help us.”
I wanted to say yes, but too many doubts held me back. He couldn’t take away a lifetime of training and dismiss the mystery of his past with one kiss. Now I understood how people made rash decisions under the influence of lust—it was more addictive than anything I’d ever felt.
“I know it’s hard,” he went on. “Being a Natural is all you’ve ever known, but there’s an entire world out there, Madeleine, and we can be in it.”
“Shh…” I murmured, “you’re delirious.”
“I’ve never been clearer. My demon side…” he coughed, grimacing at the movement, “is busy right now.”
I shook my head. “I barely know you.”
His fingers stroked through the curtain of my inky black hair. “You know more than you realise.”
“You keep saying that, but I’ve yet to see it.”
“You will…”
Sighing, I looked around the cottage. I needed to breathe.
I fell back to my training and realised we’d need supplies if we were going to stay here for another day or two. I’d checked all the cupboards last night, and apart from some odd pieces of linen and dishes over the sink, there was no food. Elijah needed to keep up his strength if he had any chance of fighting off his infection. As soon as he was able—and when the search had died down—we’d leave.
“I’m going out to find us some food,” I told him.
“You can’t,” he said, his eyes flashing. “The hills will be crawling with Naturals.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’ll be fine. If you hadn’t noticed, your Darkness is barely keeping your fever down. You need to eat. Besides, we need bandages and antiseptic.”
He snorted, unimpressed.
“I’ll be back soon, okay?”
/> “You’re always so much fun,” he said, his eyes drooping as his fever drew him back to sleep.
“Yeah…” I murmured, brushing my hand over his brow, “I hear I’m a real riot.”
* * *
I eyed the small Off-Licence in the centre of the village. I knelt behind a garbage bin and a shrub, my nose itching from the stench of rotten rubbish. A life of excitement and adventure, huh?
The village was a sleepy little hamlet and nothing much stirred it from its slumber besides the odd passing car. At least there was nothing supernatural lurking—a small win.
I checked my cloak, knowing it’d conceal me from human eyes. It was firmly in place, but it wouldn’t help me one iota if I stumbled across a Natural. The Light and Dark could see through the flimsy illusion, though it was essential for keeping our comings and goings from the outside world.
I’d be lying if I said Elijah’s human side didn’t excite me. He’d put forth a tantalising dream, but once his mutation returned to regular airtime, the bubble would burst. I didn’t have many other choices and the ones I did sucked.
I watched a human man walk down the footpath towards the Off-Licence. When it was clear he was going inside, I shot out from behind the bin and darted across the street. I slipped through the door behind him like a devious fox, careful not to step on his heels.
A man was behind the counter, reading a newspaper and lifted his head.
“Good morning,” he said to the customer I’d ghosted behind.
“Hiya, Albert.”
I ignored their conversation and ducked into one of three narrow aisles, thankful for my cloak. No one else was in the store, otherwise I’d be inside the world’s most irritating obstacle course.
“Frank said he saw a creature up on the hill the other night,” the shopkeeper said to the customer. “A big slimy thing, he said.”
“Frank is a closet alcoholic,” the man said dismissively. “He’d see a sheep in the dark and think it was Big Foot.”
“People have said they’ve seen UFOs around here.”
“Albert, you can’t be serious! UFOs?”
That was one thing that amused me about making myself invisible. Overhearing human conversations was…enlightening. The big slimy creature was worrying, though. If humans were seeing demons around Camelot—
I shook my head. It wasn’t my concern anymore.
Tuning out their conversation, I snatched up a reusable shopping bag and began to fill it, watching the shopkeeper and his friend as they debated the possibilities of extra-terrestrial life. Shoplifting seemed the lesser of the evils I’d committed, so I didn’t bat an eyelid as I pinched a variety of crackers, rice cakes, long life milk, powdered soup, and instant noodles.
Finally, I stopped by the medicine and looked for some ointment and bandages—anything that could help Elijah. Double-checking the two men at the counter, I pilfered some antiseptic, gauze, and a few packets of ibuprofen.
I waited at the front of the store until a woman opened the door. She stepped inside and I ducked through the gap unseen, guilt over my haul following me outside.
A dark figure loomed across the street and my senses went haywire. Ducking behind the bushes beside the store, I stared through the illusion as a second figure joined the first.
Trent.
He sensed me, our familiarity drawing his gaze. We stared at one another for a long moment before he turned to his partner—a Natural who’d stood behind Rhys and joined in on his disgusting chant.
“Take the north side,” Trent told him. “I’ll check the south and meet you back here in fifteen.”
“You got it.” The Natural moved down the lane between the café and the grocer. Once Trent was alone, he strode across the street, a look of pure anger on his face.
When he was in range, he grabbed my arm and jerked me behind the bush and out of sight. I dropped my stolen bag of groceries and wrenched away.
“What the hell are you playing at?” he demanded. “The entire camp is searching for you. It was all Aiden could do to stop his brother from putting out a kill order.”
“Hello to you, too,” I drawled.
“Give me one reason I shouldn’t drag your arse back to Camelot.”
“I’m not going to betray the Light to the Dark,” I told him. “I had to leave. You know what would have happened to me.”
His frown deepened. “Exile.”
“I just want to disappear, Trent. I don’t belong with the Naturals anymore. I haven’t since—”
“You’re wrong.”
“It doesn’t matter now, does it?”
“Light help me.” He shook his head, enraged. “Madeleine… How did you get past Thompson’s Light? They’re saying you had help from…” He couldn’t say the word demon.
I ground my teeth together as my mutation struggled against my Light. I couldn’t make Trent an accomplice to my betrayal. Just telling him the truth would implicate him, because I knew he’d do whatever it took to protect me—that’s the kind of standup guy he was. I couldn’t let him screw up his life because of my stupidity.
“Tell Aiden I suspect the building he unearthed is important to the Dark.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I think the Balan captured me to get to it, or at least something inside Camelot. They’ll try again. Humans are already starting to notice.”
“Madel—”
Before he could get out another syllable, I struck him in the temple. The blow flattened him, and he crumpled to the ground in an unconscious heap. I hadn’t graduated top of our class for nothing.
I snatched up the bag of food and sprinted down the lane, then vaulted over the fence. I checked for a tail, but I was clear. Not taking my stroke of luck for granted, I didn’t stop running until I reached the cottage.
Pushing the front door open, I called for Elijah. “We need to move,” I said, dumping the bag onto the floor. “They’re in the village. It’s only a matter of time before they—”
I froze, my gaze falling on Elijah. His skin had a sickly grey sheen and the wounds in his chest looked red and angry as if they’d opened up again.
“Madeleine,” he rasped, “you need to leave me behind.”
“No…” I shook my head.
“Madeleine, I can smell the infection.”
I fell to my knees beside the bed, barely holding back my tears. “I can’t leave you behind. I won’t.”
“Please. I’ll be dead by nightfall.” He coughed, his eyes drooping. “Go before they capture you. Go…”
Unconsciousness took him and I grasped his hand. It was true I’d risked everything for him, but it wasn’t because of his stupid binding. He was just trying to become human again. And…
And I cared for him.
If I wanted to save his life, I had to do something now. This mess had grown beyond me and Elijah. Running away was a bad idea, even though the thought of exploring the world had excited me.
No matter how far we roamed, I couldn’t escape the fact that I owed everything to the Naturals. Arondight had saved my soul for Light’s sake and what had I done? I couldn’t leave knowing that the Dark was bearing down on Camelot. I had friends there, no matter how few they were.
And I couldn’t leave Elijah to die knowing I could have saved him.
So, I made the only choice I could.
It was my life or Elijah’s…
…and I chose his.
14
The outer wall of Camelot was alive with Light as we approached. I could see it rippling through the night like a sheen of oil floating on top of a puddle.
Elijah’s boots scraped against the trail, but he came without complaint—though he was too delirious not to.
I bit my bottom lip as I looked up at the barrier that surrounded base camp. This was new, thanks to me. There was no getting through unless I could repeat last night’s performance.
I’d patched Elijah up as best I could with the bandages I’d stolen from the
village, but my basic field training wouldn’t hold for long. It was enough to transport him, nothing more.
We had to get through the barrier, then through the camp to the infirmary . . . both without being seen. Once there, I’d convince Ramona to help.
Elijah’s only crime was being a demon and that had been forced on him. I’d convince Ramona that his intentions were pure. I’d convince them all, even if it meant my exile.
I drew him into my web as we huddled behind an outcropping of rock. The square edges gave away that it’d once been a part of the wall, the massive block flung here when the rift had torn apart the castle and the tremors rippled through the city.
I pressed my palm against Elijah’s forehead as I watched the rotation of guards on the perimeter. It felt like liquid fire was burning underneath his skin, and I knew we didn’t have much time.
Taking a chance, I hauled him across the open space between the block of stone and the barrier. I reached for my mutation, disregarding the fear I had of being seduced by the seductive nature of the Dark, and allowed it to cover us.
Elijah’s presence anchored me to reality and he stirred. “Madeleine?” he muttered. “Where…”
“Shh,” I murmured, “it will be over soon.”
Taking a deep breath, we stepped through the barrier. Light tickled my face, tendrils sticking to my skin like the gossamer of a delicate spider’s web. I blinked, dazed by the sight of the base camp before us. It was familiar, but alien all at the same time.
I slammed my Light down around my mutation, cutting it off before it could ruin my life with its sarcastic comebacks.
“Welcome to Camelot,” I muttered as Elijah slumped against me.
The infirmary was located three rows down and two tents across. I dragged Elijah into the shadows behind the first khaki-coloured monstrosity. From memory, it wasn’t occupied being on the outer edges.
Ahead, a male Natural dressed in head to toe black tactical gear rounded the corner. My eyes widened and I backed against the wall, my heart pounding. Elijah’s knees buckled as my gaze dropped to the arondight blade at the guy’s belt. If I was quick…
Demon Bound: The Camelot Archive - Book One Page 11