“Yeah, yeah,” I said, awkwardly brushing him away.
“Madeleine, thank the Light,” Aiden said as he grasped my arm. “What happened to you?”
“Where do you want me to start?” I asked. “There’s the bit where I was locked in a cage at the back of a greater demon’s meat closet. They took my Light and busted me up real good. Oh, and there was the bit where they tried to mentally torture me with visions of high school bullying. Then there was the hidden compound in a cave system underneath Ben Nevis. I had to climb down the side of the bloody mountain in the dark, I’ll have you know. I’m so not a mountaineer.” They stared at me with wide eyes as I blurted out a severely lacking version of my ordeal. It had all the key points, though. “But thanks for giving up on me, Thompson. Real cute.”
His eyes narrowed, not liking my challenge. “You know the protocol for these situations, Madeline.”
My little internal friend flared and now that I was aware of it, I wondered if it was responsible for my bitchy attitude. Wouldn’t that be a copout? “When I became a warrior, I wanted to be part of something greater than myself, but no one told me it meant I’d be demoted to just a number.”
“Madeleine—”
“Caleb,” Aiden interrupted, “there’s a time and place for this. And it is not now.” He turned to me, his expression kind. Out of the two brothers, I knew which I preferred. “We best get you some clean clothes and a warm bed.”
“They’re organising themselves,” I said, glaring at the arsehole brother. “They’re coming together and creating a community. I saw it. The creatures who escaped Camelot are being led by a greater demon—a Balan. They’re moving away from their need to consume…it’s like they’re evolving into a new species to survive.”
The men stared at me for a moment, not knowing what to say. Trent coughed, looking worried.
“This is bad,” Aiden said quietly after a moment of internal deliberation. “If the Dark is congregating and evolving without the One, then another war could erupt.”
The last gasp. I’d told Trent about it, and no one else seem concerned. Without a master, the Naturals had believed the demons would scatter and eventually die out, but I’d seen otherwise.
“But why Madeline?” Thompson mused. “Why take her and not Trent?”
I coughed, almost choking on my spit. “Camelot,” I blurted. “They’re interested in Camelot.”
“What on Earth could they want here?” Aiden mused. “There are no energy signatures or hidden pockets of time, and the rift is sealed. That entire area is dead.”
I shrugged. “I suggest you keep digging, then.”
An awkward silence fell on the tent. After a long moment, Aiden coughed and gestured at me. “Let’s get you to the infirmary. Ramona will want to check you out herself.”
My heart leapt. “Ramona’s here?”
“She arrived yesterday,” Aiden explained, then to Trent, he said, “Can you escort Madeleine?”
They most likely wanted to talk about my revelations. I bristled, not enjoying being left out.
“C’mon,” Trent said, urging me towards the door, “you kinda stink.”
“Wow,” I drawled. “Welcome home.”
He chuckled and held open the tent flap for me. The moment it fell back into place, I could hear the Thompsons start to argue. They really needed to check their volume.
* * *
The infirmary was empty when we arrived. Given the late hour, and it was past dinnertime, everyone was elsewhere doing whatever archaeology nerds did for fun.
Ramona was bent over a workstation, her auburn hair pulled back into a severe braid. She was in her late thirties, intelligent, bordering on six foot tall, and had been the head of the medical and science team at the London Sanctum for almost ten years. She was a notorious raging workaholic, so it didn’t surprise me to see her taking over for the poor soul who had been rostered on for emergency duty that night.
Ramona was also the only person who could successfully pull me up on my bullshit, which made my current situation kind of awkward.
She looked up upon our entrance. “Madeline!” She dropped what she was doing and crossed the tent, drawing me in for a hug despite Trent’s earlier stench assessment. “When did you—”
“She just burst in out of nowhere,” Trent told her. “Handling shite on her own, just like she always does.”
I sighed, inhaling the lemony fresh scent of her oversized black sweater. “I don’t know whether to be insulted or not.”
Ramona drew back and clucked her tongue at him before shooing him away. “Off with you, Trent. Leave us women in peace.”
I gave him a look and all he could do was shrug as he scurried away. He knew what was good for him.
“So, I gather you don’t want to talk about it?” Ramona asked as she forced me to sit on the end of an empty bed.
“You gather right.” I looked around the tent. It was immaculate, having only seen the odd bump and bruise from Naturals on the dig site. “What are you doing at Camelot? It doesn’t seem like the hive of activity you’d be interested in.”
She snorted and began her examination, checking my eyes before moving to make sure I had no gaping wounds or broken bones my Light should’ve healed. Thankfully, I’d been right about the last bruises healing before Elijah dropped me off.
“Things are quiet,” she replied. “Esme has things handled, and Jackson is busy in his laboratory these days. I figured I’d come see the famous Camelot myself.”
“And what’s the verdict?”
She clucked her tongue. “I didn’t think it’d be this chaotic.”
I smirked. “You’re welcome.”
I fell silent, letting Ramona go through the motions. It was more for her benefit than mine—I felt completely fine, though my mind was pulled in all kinds of directions. I already felt a change inside me. I didn’t know what it was—a chemical imbalance, a revelation, a spiritual alignment—but something was going on and I was convinced it had to do with a certain arsehole.
Within five minutes of being bound, Elijah had challenged me like no one else had. He forced me to think, to push my boundaries, and—dare I say it—to grow up.
I also knew nothing about him. Where he’d come from, what he’d done, who he was working for, what his motives were, and how long he’d been a demon-hybrid…but despite all the alarm bells, I wanted to help him. Not because he’d bound himself to me, but because when I looked at him, I saw myself.
I shook my head, ridding myself of my irrational thoughts. Maybe I was a stupid little girl.
“Well, your Light seems to have returned and done my job for me,” Ramona said. I felt her power brush against mine as she checked for other symptoms and jerked away. “Madeleine?”
“Sorry,” I replied.
She frowned but didn’t probe any further. “You’re not tired?”
I shook my head. “I feel fine.”
“Physically, you appear to be completely healthy…”
I narrowed my eyes. “But?”
“Are you sure nothing else happened out there?” she asked quietly as she looked me over. “Because you know you can tell me, Madeleine. We’ve been through worse than this.”
I couldn’t tell her about the mutation. If I did, I’d be sent to a lab and put under quarantine. After losing my post at the London Sanctum, I wasn’t about to jeopardise my last chance at Camelot. It wasn’t like I was going to put anyone in danger and go full Dark again.
But Elijah… I felt his presence tug at me and wondered where he was.
“Did you ever find a way to completely reverse the effects of Human Convergence?” I asked.
Ramona looked thoughtful for a moment. “What sparked this?”
“I, uh… The demon got into my head,” I told her. “He made me believe…”
“That your mutation was back?”
“I can’t be sure what was real and what was an illusion.” I felt a pang as the lie passed my lips.
“Madeleine, you’ve nothing to worry about,” she reassured me. “When Scarlett and Wilder—”
“I know.” Except it wasn’t gone. “But did you?”
Her frown deepened. “We never had to. When Mordred died—”
I nodded. “I know.” But that didn’t help Elijah…or me.
Ramona sighed and sat beside me. “You went through a traumatic experience, Madeleine. Anyone would experience echoes after the battering your mind took.” She tapped on her tablet and added to my patient notes. “Don’t be alarmed, though. We can manage the symptoms.”
“Symptoms?”
“It will take a few days for things to settle down. You might experience mild hallucinations, dreams, and other phenomena.”
“Hallucinations?” I swallowed hard, suddenly questioning everything that’d happened since the Balan drilled into my mind
Her hand pressed against my shoulder. “Don’t worry, we can manage it.”
“How much more of this do I have to take?” I whispered. The ex-demon everyone blamed for almost destroying the Academy, captured by demons. It didn’t look so good now that I thought about it.
Ramona set the tablet down, hiding her expression before turning towards me. “Madeleine, you’re one of the strongest Naturals I’ve ever known, but you have to give yourself some time.”
“For what?”
“To reconcile.”
“Screw that. They’ll think I’ve been compromised,” I told her. “I’ve always been on the outer, but now—” My voice broke.
“Madeleine,” she placed her hands on my shoulders, “it’s not about everyone else. It’s about how you choose to react to it.”
Or how I chose to handle the thing inside me. I wanted to trust her, but I didn’t know what to do about Elijah and his stupid binding. I had to tread carefully, at least for now.
I looked up at Ramona. “I haven’t been doing a good job, have I?”
“You’re young,” she replied, though not unkindly. “And everyone’s path is different. But it’s up to you where you put your feet.”
I lowered my gaze, unsure what to say.
“But enough about that.” Ramona patted her hand on the set of clean clothes on the bed. “Let’s get you warmed up, huh?”
* * *
I was ordered to spend the night in the infirmary.
Naturally, I wasn’t happy about it. It was draughty, creepy, and anyone who walked by looked at me like I was a drain on society. It wasn’t any better than the barracks, so I wasn’t sure what I was complaining about.
After showering, I slid into bed and stared at the comings and goings outside the clear plastic window. I didn’t know how Elijah expected me to find a cure for something I didn’t understand, all while keeping it from everyone in Camelot.
“Hey.”
I looked up at the sound of Trent’s voice. “Hey…” He moved and sat on the end of the bed. “I’ve got something for you.”
“Should I be worried?”
“Not in the slightest.” He reached inside his jacket and took out my arondight blade.
“You found it?” I snatched the hilt from his grasp and held it against my chest, the cool metal comforting. “I thought it was gone for good.”
“I went back and looked for it,” he explained. “I know how much it means to you.”
He was right. Arondight blades were a personal thing. When we’d graduated from the Academy, we were all given the opportunity to choose our own hilts, though most of the time they chose us. Some were new, some were family heirlooms, and some were the weapons of fallen Naturals. The heirlooms chose by blood of course, but for those who didn’t have that link, sometimes the blade they ended up with was a surprise.
My sword had been in the armoury for a long time. Several generations had gone by and no one had taken it up…until I’d walked in. Elizabeth Clare had been a decorated, yet troubled, warrior in the mid-eighteenth century. Stationed in Paris during the revolution, she’d seen some gruesome battles and had famously gone undercover with a demonic cult to root out a greater demon. It seemed fitting that her blade had chosen me.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Trent asked, breaking through my daydream.
I shook my head. “There isn’t anything to talk about.”
“They captured you.”
I stared at him. “And?”
“And are you dealing with all of it?” he asked. “I know you’re a private person, Mads, but even you have to admit that being tortured by a Balan demon had to suck.”
“He didn’t get very far,” I murmured, remembering being kicked unconscious. Strange how these things had slipped my mind. I was oddly detached from it all. “He only got into my head once. I escaped before he could try again.”
“What…what did you see?”
“The time Kayla used her Light to burn up my cheeks in the girls’ bathrooms.”
Trent hissed, “Shite. She did that?”
I shrugged. “It wasn’t bad. Just a few burns that healed straight away.”
“I didn’t realise how badly they bullied you…”
“Don’t get cut up about it, Trent,” I told him. “That was a long time ago. Besides, we all made up, remember?”
“It doesn’t—”
“Just stop,” I snapped, my inner demon flaring. “I just want to leave that shite in the past, okay?” I flinched as soon as the words left my lips. I noticed the Dark edge to my psyche more and more. Whatever those creatures had blasted me with on the hillside must have triggered the thing back to life.
Trent scowled at me and stood. “Whatever, Madeleine. I was just trying to help, but like always, you’re too stubborn to accept a simple gesture of kindness without it turning into a shite show.”
He took two furious steps across the infirmary before I called out, “Trent?”
He turned, bracing for the impact of whatever barb he thought I was going to throw at him.
“I’m sorry. You’re only trying to help me and…” Heat filled my cheeks. I didn’t even know how to apologise properly.
“It’s fine,” he said with a sigh. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”
Unbidden tears prickled my eyes and I smiled. “Thanks.”
His expression softened and he nodded. “Get some rest, okay?”
“Sure.”
I watched him leave then sank back against the pillows and bit my lip to stifle a frustrated groan.
I had to control this thing before it ruined my life.
9
I twisted through the air, my staff following my movements.
The yard was empty, surrounded by low walls, and I was thankful for the solitude. It was a large space—around twenty by twenty metres with a sheltered alcove at one end—which made it perfect for its new inhabitants. What it used to be was a mystery, but it was now repurposed as a training space for the security team.
I escaped the infirmary as soon as I woke. Sharpening my skills was my happy place and right now, I needed all the happy I could get.
The staff was tipped with cold iron on both ends and counter weighed by a light stainless-steel haft. Smack a demon in the face with one of these, and the cold iron would burn its flesh. Not as effective as an arondight blade but handy, nonetheless.
I slammed the tip against the rubber training dummy in the chest, then turned and rapped the haft against its side. It vibrated back and forth under my assault, remaining annoyingly intact.
You’re so worried about the things that you can’t do, you’re blind to the things you can.
Elijah’s words echoed in my mind and my Light began to simmer. My arondight blade was heavy against my hip, a reminder of everything I’d worked for.
Naturals had relied on their swords to vanquish demons for almost a thousand years, but what if we didn’t need them? Maybe with focused training, we could develop our powers into something more. Maybe…
I called on my Light, shaping it as it grew, and pushed it into
the staff. I struck the dummy, testing the limits of the energised weapon, but all it did was snap and pop against the ballistics rubber like it was a pathetic little bug zapper.
I was blind to the things I could do? I didn’t understand what Elijah meant.
I tried again, this time giving the staff a little more juice. Spinning, I arced the weapon around and slammed it into the dummy. The staff crackled and spluttered, and the little ball of demon inside me gurgled in response, almost like it was laughing at me.
Arsehole.
“What are you doing?”
I turned, closing my fist around my Light. Maisy stood a few paces away, watching me with a frown.
“Practising,” I replied as I set the staff against the wall.
She tucked her chestnut hair behind her ear. “How are you?”
“Fine.”
“Are you sure? I mean…” she stepped closer and lowered her voice, “the Dark captured you, Madeleine.”
“Maisy, they trained us to deal with those kinds of situations.” I looked her over and she flushed, more worried about it than I was—and I’d been the one locked in a cage. “Trent told you, didn’t he?”
“Don’t be mad at him, Madeline,” she replied. “He’s only trying to help.”
By telling her they tortured me with images of the bullying she’d been a part of? What part of ‘leave it in the past’ didn’t they understand?
Feeling a twist of anger rise inside me, I stilled and took a deep breath. “I wish you wouldn’t.”
“So you’d rather push everyone away and be alone than work through the things that are hurting you?”
I sighed, wondering what I’d done to get all the attention. “You’re not helping by dragging up the past. Do you think I want to be reminded of all the horrible things I went through? There’s working through stuff, and then there’s constant torture.”
“Madeleine—”
“Just stop,” I hissed. “If you’ve got something to say to me to ease your guilt, then just say it. Don’t make it your mission to fix my life—which is just fine, by the way—to make yourself feel better. It doesn’t work that way, Maisy.”
Demon Bound: The Camelot Archive - Book One Page 7
