I gasped as images began to flash through my mind. Freedom. Acceptance. Meaning. All the things I’d dreamed of…
“No!” I screeched. “I don’t believe you!”
“All you have to do is let go. Let go and you can have everything you have ever wanted.”
The Balan was torn away from me, the connection between our minds severed. I roared as his barbs dragged through my psyche, but I was free.
I opened my eyes to find a familiar form standing over me. Elijah.
“What are you doing?” I dragged myself to my knees, my broken leg dangling uselessly. “You can’t be here!”
He shoved me aside as he passed, not even looking at me. His hand brushed against my bare skin and I froze as cold Darkness rushed through our connection. Everything that made him human was gone.
I cried out as I felt the link between us sever. “Elijah, no…”
But he wasn’t paying any attention to me. His gaze was focused solely on the Balan. What could he possibly do to the demon who had bound his soul? Nothing, unless he didn’t have one.
No… The gravity of what he’d just done slammed into me and I almost collapsed. Elijah had severed the connection with his soul and now he was one hundred percent Dark—he’d given up his freedom to save me.
His voice echoed across the hillside. “Ikakantor, your time has come.”
The Balan demon roared and fell to his knees as if an invisible force pushed him.
Ikakantor? It must be his true name. Elijah had just levelled the playing field.
“You have no power over me anymore,” he said as he stood over the demon.
“You waited this long to play your hand?” Ikakantor asked with a sneer. “What is it about her?”
Silver glinted in Elijah’s hand—my arondight hilt. “I guess you’ll never know.”
Electric sparks showered across the trail as the blade erupted, links of cold iron clicking together as he swung.
The blade sliced through the Balan’s neck, severing his head from his shoulders. A black, inky cloud poured out of the hacked flesh, rushing into the air. It pooled in the sky like an angry storm cloud, crackling with menacing Darkness.
The empty body slumped to the ground and exploded into flame, the fireball consuming flesh until there was nothing left but a scorch mark on the grass.
The Balan was an inky mass of swirling energy raging above us. Without another body to possess, it was powerless against us. It began to rise, flying away from us and Camelot until it disappeared into the night.
Elijah let my sword retract and knelt beside me.
“My sword. How…?”
“Shh,” he murmured, evading my question yet again. “I’ve got to set your leg. I doubt your fancy doctor could set a break like that without causing some damage.”
“And you can?”
“Let’s find out.” He smirked and set the hilt beside me. “I will need two hands for this.”
“What—”
He pressed down on my shin and I screamed a perverse curse as the bone crunched back into place.
“Seriously?” I exclaimed, punching him in the arm.
“I think the words you’re looking for are ‘thank you’.” Looking at the wound in my leg, he added, “Give it a minute and you’ll be fine.”
“I think I’ll need a lot longer than that.”
“I doubt it.” He winked. “You’ve got the best of both worlds now.”
I grasped his wrist. “Did you have to?”
“It was clear you were losing,” he replied. “It wasn’t a clean kill, but at least you’re free.”
“You gave up the last connection to your soul to save my life. Why?”
He lowered his gaze, hiding their silver sheen from me. “Don’t read too much into it.”
Leaving me, Elijah walked over to the scorched ground where Ikakantor had made his last stand and scuffed his toe across the soot. The Balan’s body was gone, but I knew he had more hanging in his meat closet—unless the team of Naturals the Regula had sent had evicted him from Ben Nevis. Even so, the Balan would be back but not any time soon. A small win, but I would take whatever I could get.
I sat, the pain in my leg subsiding to a dull throb and picked up my arondight blade. More questions and even fewer answers. Elijah could wield my sword, yet he wasn’t a Natural. That only left one thing he could be, but even if I asked, he’d never admit to it. His people had left after the cataclysm over eight hundred years ago and none remained. If I was right, it also meant he’d walked the Earth for far longer than any creature, besides the immortal greater demons.
He could avoid my questioning all he wanted, but I would continue to believe that Elijah was once a Druid.
What that meant for his cure now that he’d given up his soul was anyone’s guess.
When I rose, it surprised me to find he was right about my body’s accelerated healing. Apart from the blood and the tear in my jeggings, it was as if I had never broken my leg.
Yet another mystery.
I stood before him, knowing his demon side was in control. His lip curved upwards and I knew I was about to cop a mouthful of curse-laden sass. The sweet Elijah who’d given me my first kiss and tried to convince me to run away with him was dormant. The longer I studied the silver eyes staring down at me, the more I understood that I might not see that part of him again.
“Ikakantor?” I asked, tilting my head to the side.
“Names have power,” he replied with a smirk. “If you know a demon’s true name, you can bring it to its knees.” I had to remember that for when he came back.
“I assume Elijah isn’t yours anymore.”
“Elijah’s still here,” he told me, fostering a small spark of hope. “And we have the same agenda…for now.”
“And that is?”
“Freedom,” he replied simply. “What’s the one thing stopping the Dark from regaining a foothold in this world?”
I stared at him, dread rising in my gut. “The Twin Flames.”
Elijah nodded and looked towards Camelot. “I don’t know what they’re looking for, but now we know for sure it’s in the city. Warn them if you can.”
“If they take me back.”
“Of course, they will. After what you did for them, they’d be stupid not to.”
“You mean after what you did.”
Elijah grinned and winked. “I won’t tell if you don’t.”
I reached out and took his hand. Maybe I could bring him back…
“That won’t work anymore,” he told me.
“It was worth a try.”
“You’ve seen too much, you know.”
“If I could rub bleach into my eyes to get the stain out, I would,” I said with a snort. “Meat closets, self-mutilation, and bug-eyed zombies are enough to turn anyone off. Besides, killing me won’t help you.”
“I’m not sure I can kill you.”
“That too.”
“You’re like me,” he said as he fingered a strand of my hair. “But you’re also like them.”
“I could go either way, you know.”
“You feel too much to become Dark,” he told me. “No… I think your truth isn’t as clear as that.”
I felt the ghost of his kiss on my lips, his assessment revealing the reality of his choice. “You can’t love anymore, can you?”
He shrugged, indifferent. “I have a human-ish heart. What I can do with it remains to be seen.”
I lowered my gaze, feeling the loss of our bond deeper than I thought I would.
“Don’t be disappointed. He did this for you,” he told me.
“Knowing doesn’t make it any easier. I would’ve liked to have you with me for this next part. I’ll have to go down that hill and explain myself.”
Elijah studied me, his gaze cold. If I didn’t know the truth of what he was, I would have pulled away…but I didn’t.
“Who do you choose, Madeleine?” His voice was hushed, though the wind carried it
towards me.
“This goes beyond good and evil—Light and Dark,” I replied. “I choose neither. I’m declaring for life.”
His lips curved into a lopsided grin. “Pretty Spectre.”
“Did you just make that up?”
“Clever, aren’t I?”
“Careful, your demon is showing.”
Elijah laughed and turned towards Camelot. He and I knew this was just the beginning of something far greater than he and I had already faced.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t help you find your cure,” I said softly.
“It’s okay,” he told me. “I made peace with who I’d become a long time ago.”
“And now you’re leaving.”
“I have to. After all…I’m the enemy.”
“Dammit, and I was just beginning to like you,” I said, tilting my head to the side.
His lips quirked. “Don’t lie. We both know you liked me from the beginning.”
“How are you so sure?”
“Every time you thought about me—”
“You felt a little tug.” I smirked and shook my head. “Men are all the same.”
He tilted his head to the side. “Are they?” He tucked my hair behind my ear, his fingers brushing against my cheek.
My heart did a backflip. “Will I ever see you again?”
“Maybe,” he replied. “You walk in both worlds now.”
“Can you stay a while longer?”
His lips curved and he nodded. “Maybe just for a moment.”
Together, we watched the sun rise over the ruined parapets of Camelot, the cusp of a new future laid before us. After last night, the world had changed irrevocably. The cataclysm, the eight hundred year war, the Dark Night, the final battle to close the rift…all of it had led to this moment. Now the Dark’s last stand was upon us.
I just hoped I had the strength to face it.
20
Dawn still hadn’t reached within Camelot’s walls by the time I made it back to the city.
The Naturals had made their way back to base camp, shuffling through the after-effects of their zombified states. No one noticed me as I walked through the tents, searching for a familiar and friendly face. They were all too dazed to notice a wanted fugitive.
I spotted Trent and Maisy by the bonfire. They were covered with dirt and grime and talked intently to one another. The glow of the fire radiated behind them, staving off the chill.
What was I supposed to say to them? An apology wasn’t going to be enough to fix the trouble I’d caused.
Sensing my presence, they looked up.
“Madeleine!” Maisy rose to her feet in shock and Trent’s dazed expression turned to a serious frown.
I stopped a few paces away, unsure.
Maisy ran at me and threw her arms around my neck. “When Trent told me you’d… I didn’t believe it.”
Heaving a sigh of relief, I glanced at Trent over her shoulder and he shrugged.
“There was a Balan demon on the hill,” I explained. “The same one who took me.”
Trent’s frown deepened.
“He was controlling everyone with some weird sigil carved into his chest,” I went on. “I had to kill him to sever the connection.”
Trent shook his head and grinned. “I knew I was right about you.”
Maisy pulled back and stared at me like the sun shone out of my rear end. “Wait… You killed a greater demon?”
“Just his body,” I said, the lie weighing heavily on my heart. “He’ll be back.”
“Still, that’s some serious shite, Mads,” Trent told me.
I let Maisy go and wiped away her tears. “I need to find Aiden and do some explaining. Have you seen him?”
“I heard he was at the castle looking for the Inquisitor,” she told me.
I frowned, another wave of dread rising. And here I was thinking it was all over. “Wilder still hasn’t come back?”
“No one’s seen him since he spoke to you,” Trent confirmed. “He went up to the castle and never came back.”
“Shite.” I turned towards Camelot.
“Madeleine?”
I hesitated at the sound of Maisy’s voice. “Yeah?”
“Are you back? I mean, are you…?”
“I’m not Dark,” I told them. “I’m…in between.”
There was nothing else I could explain, so I left them beside the warmth of the fire and returned to the city.
It was time to face the music.
* * *
I found Aiden inside the castle grounds. From here, I could see the rift in all its terrifying glory. The chasm opened before me, the pit so deep the bottom hid in shadow.
Camelot itself was a massive structure, its tallest tower maybe fifteen stories high, and the surrounding walls and grounds as large as the one-hundred-and-forty-hectare Hyde Park in London.
Once, it had likely been filled with lush gardens, pavilions, busy stables, bustling kitchens, and more. Now it was torn in half, its towers crumbling, its stone charred black, and dust and ash as far as the eye could see. Not even the passage of time had allowed nature to reclaim this place from the Dark.
Camelot was dead.
Turning my back on the chasm, I approached another pit. This one was fresher, having been dug during the night and all.
Aiden stood at the bottom, his hands pressed against the wall of a hidden structure just like the one he’d unearthed weeks before. From the wave of energy radiating from it, I assumed they were linked, except this time I didn’t feel sick. The energy seemed to harmonise within me, drawing me closer.
I skidded down the side of the hole and landed beside Aiden. He looked up at me, startled by my sudden appearance.
He blinked. “Madeleine?”
“Don’t look so surprised.” I held out my hand. “Let’s get you out of this hole, huh?”
Aiden coughed, dust and grit falling from his hair, and he grasped my hand. As our skin touched, his gaze flew to mine.
“Don’t give me that look,” I told him. “I’ll explain later.”
“What happened?”
“There was a greater demon controlling you,” I replied. “The same Balan who took me.”
“A Balan demon in Camelot?”
“I killed his body to sever the ritual. It was the only way to free you.”
“What a predicament.” He scratched his head. “Considering the chaos you’ve caused, I should probably arrest you or something.”
“I hope not,” I drawled. “I went to a lot of trouble to come back here.”
“Madeleine…you’re a hybrid now. That makes you unpredictable.”
“I’m only unpredictable because the Light doesn’t understand me, let alone how to control me with its list of Codex regulations.” I sighed and placed my hands on his shoulders. “You can feel what’s inside me, Aiden, and now I know who I’m supposed to be. I could have left and never returned, but here I am.”
“Light help me,” he muttered.
“Do you know that silver and red make pink?”
Aiden blinked in bewilderment. “Your Light is pink?”
“Kind of.” I made a face. “You know, I loathe pink.”
The air between us eased somewhat and I helped him scramble out of the hole he’d dug—pardon the pun.
“It was the strangest thing,” he murmured. “The last thing I remember was going to bed. Then I woke up in a ditch with a shovel in my hands.”
“Well, we knew the Dark was looking for something in Camelot.”
He tugged me towards another hole, this one closer to the rift. “I wonder…”
We stood on the edge of the crater, the wind whipping at our backs. The first rays of dawn had finally edged their way over the lip and fell upon the border of runes.
“It’s the entrance to an archive,” Aiden told me. “A repository of information and relics which date back thousands of years.”
My heart skipped a beat and I knew we’d just dodged a whole
spray of bullets. Aiden believed it held the culmination of Camelot’s power.
A set of large, metallic double doors were set into the wall, etched with elaborate carvings. Aiden had disturbed the ground where he’d pushed his way in, but the rest looked as if it had just seen the light of day for the first time in centuries.
“After I woke, I went inside,” Aiden continued, stating the obvious. “And from what I can tell, it remains untouched by the Dark.”
“You know what this means, right?” I asked. “What they want is probably in there.”
“Come inside and see for yourself.”
Aiden held up his hand and melded a spark of Light into a small, round ball. Letting it go, it hovered between us, lighting our path into the archive.
We ducked through the opening and descended a flight of stairs. Rows of shelving reaching to the ceiling were crammed into the first room. Books and scrolls lay everywhere, covered in dust and cobwebs. Doors opened into more rooms, each filled with ancient pottery, statues, talismans, weapons, and jewels. It was a treasure trove of lost knowledge.
“It’s huge,” I whispered, my voice echoing all around us.
“There are doors and passages that cut into the hillside,” Aiden said excitedly. “And stairs going farther down.”
I slapped my palm against my forehead. “Don’t tell me you already went down.”
“All the way to the bottom.”
“You want me to go down there with you, don’t you?”
“Uh-huh.”
I groaned.
“You said you could help us find Darkness here,” he said. “Can you?”
“I guess, but—”
“Great.” He grabbed my arm and dragged me through the mysterious archive, not in the least bit concerned about magical traps and other creepy crawlies that might lurk in the dark.
The air cooled as we worked our way into the earth, passing untold treasures. Aiden had found something at the end of the archive that worried him enough that he needed me to verify its origin.
Demon Bound: The Camelot Archive - Book One Page 16
