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
