When we returned to the Jaguar, I’d barely closed the door when Elijah stepped on the accelerator. I didn’t have it in me to chew him out over it—not after I had witnessed his fighting style.
The car tore off down the lonely road, back on its path south.
* * *
We arrived at Camelot just after sunset.
Road-tripping with a demon-hybrid hadn’t been on the top of my bucket list, but all things considered, eight hours in a stolen car with Elijah wasn’t that bad.
As we left the road behind and climbed the hill, I thought over my predicament. Bound to a demon-hybrid, hunted by a Balan, and still harbouring my mutation. That wasn’t even counting the precarious ground I stood on with the Regula.
I had to help Elijah. As long as I was bound to him, he’d protect me from the Balan, and searching for his cure might help with ridding me of my own internal issues. What other choice did I have?
Reaching the rise, we looked down at Camelot and I shivered. The lights of base camp filtered through the veil, warm and inviting after being stuffed in a cage.
“How does this link work?” I asked.
Elijah seemed to hesitate beside me, his expression troubled. He probably thought I was going to screw him over, though he’d all but insured I wouldn’t. Revealing his existence would reveal mine.
He glanced at me. “The farther apart we are, the less physical control I’m able to exert.”
“That’s reassuring.”
“But I’ll always know where you are.”
I sighed. “And that’s less reassuring.”
“They can’t know about me,” he said. “If your people find me…” he trailed off, but I understood his meaning. The Dark was using him, but the Light would want to cut him apart and figure out how he worked.
“They would help you,” I started slowly. “Ramona is an excellent doctor. She stopped my mutation from progressing after Scarlett brought back my soul. Hey, maybe Arondight could help you? And Jackson is developing technology to—”
“You’re one of them, Madeleine,” Elijah interrupted. “They’d help you, regardless.”
“But you’re an innocent.”
He shook his head. “You better go.”
I nodded and began to make my way down the hill. I felt his gaze on my back, burning into my flesh. He was just letting me go? Surely there was a failsafe in his plan other than letting his demon side hunt me down. What was the catch?
Maybe he saw something in me I didn’t. I had an overwhelming urge to run back up the hill to persuade him to come with me.
But when I turned for one last glimpse, Elijah was already gone.
8
I strode through base camp and ignored the stunned looks as I walked towards the security tent.
“We’ve searched every inch of these bloody hills and there’s no sign of her.” Thompson’s voice filtered through the gap and I paused.
“She can’t have just disappeared into thin air.” Aiden.
“Those demons took her. I saw it with my own eyes.” Trent’s voice joined the argument. “They were just like the creatures Scarlett said she fought when she went back in time. They were much smaller, but I could hardly stand against one, let alone two. Madeleine had three on her.”
“She’s been gone three days,” Thompson said. “She could be anywhere by now. We have to face facts.”
“Face facts?” Trent shouted. “You’re giving up on her?”
“No one’s giving up on anybody,” Aiden replied calmly. “We need to contact the field offices in Edinburgh and Cardiff. We’ll have to inform the London Sanctum. Her parents—”
“Are on a deep cover operation,” Thompson snapped. “Madeleine has trained for this…we all have. She’s on her own.”
I scoffed. Seriously? Thompson was giving up on me after three days? That was hardly anything, but he was right—I trained for this. But if it hadn’t been for Elijah, I wasn’t sure I would’ve been able to get out of that cage on my own. At least not right away. You keep telling yourself that, Madeleine.
I lifted my hand and went to push the flap aside and make my grand entrance, but I hesitated. Did I belong here? It didn’t matter. Elijah needed a cure and I was stuck to him like superglue.
I gritted my teeth and stormed into the tent. All eyes turned towards my abrupt entrance and I scowled at Thompson. “She’s on her own?”
“Madeleine!” Trent exclaimed.
“You better thank the bloody Light I got out of that stinking cage, Thompson, otherwise—”
Trent threw his arms around my neck, cutting off my tirade before I could insult my superior officer further. “I thought they’d killed you. When you fell—”
“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
