The mages’ home was deafening. The sound of ambient magical energy bounced off the walls but she couldn’t tell where it was coming from. It smelled of working bodies crammed into too- tight living quarters and the stench of stale damp air.
This place was packed full of humans, humans who gasped and whispered as she was herded through echoing hallways as though she couldn’t hear them.
Hatred, confusion, fear; their words weren’t shocking nor unjustified, but they still stung.
A circle of guards packed closely near her, but did little to shield her from their view.
Though she wished she could say something to ease their fear, she kept her mouth shut. She sensed if she so much as uttered a syllable, these halls would fill with every combat spell this frightful guard detail around her could muster.
Eventually the journey of ignominy ended in a room far more quiet than the ambience of the halls. Though the space still carried the echoes of magic.
Her blindfold and binding were not removed; the guards still lingered.
“I don’t suppose you would give us your name, Demon?” The voice of the imposing woman finally spoke.
After a pause she finally tested her voice in a low murmur, “You can call me Cora.”
“Hmm,” the woman mused. “Not your real name of course.”
“No,” she replied, keeping her voice just above a whisper. “That was the name a friend called me, not my masters.”
“Well, Cora, if that is the case you may refer to me as Ella.”
“It's nice to meet you, Ella.”
The woman chuckled, “Such formalities have been all but lost in recent years, I suppose it’s nice that the Fae still teach manners. Many of my people would think your kind to be too barbaric for pleasantries."
“I thought the same thing when I was human,” She admitted, her words barely heard above the echoes.
“You mean to tell me you remember your human life?” Accusation dripped from Ella’s words like venom.
Why would she believe her?
“Yes,” Corabelle took a breath. “As I had begun to tell the man who brought me here, I was created by another demon, one who was my friend. He didn’t take my memories. If I’m safe here, if they can’t find you through me, I have no intention of lying to you. I will tell you everything you want to know. Loyalty to the Fae was forced on me. I would never have chosen it.”
The woman remained silent for a long while, though Corabelle could still feel her standing before her, “Demons can make new demons.”
It wasn't a question as the man’s had been nor was her disbelief as heavy, instead it was a deep despondency. This woman understood, more than the man had, what this really meant for their war effort.
Corabelle still replied, “I became friends with a Faedemon… then I died. He found out he could bring me back as a Faedemon belonging to him. He hid what he did from the Fae as long as he could, but when they found out, they also learned I could be controlled through him. They found out they can control an army by controlling a handful of their own Faedemons,” her voice shook. “I truly wish he’d never brought me back. Things…Things wouldn’t have gone this poorly… for any of us.”
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“He doesn’t sound like a friend,” The woman replied coldly.
“He was alone.” It wasn’t a real justification, Corabelle knew that. Everything that had happened because of that one decision could never be forgiven, but the words still escaped her lips.
“So he made himself a pretty little slave to keep him company,” Every word was a dagger.
Corabell’s voice raised, echoing itself off the walls around them, disobeying her will to stay as unthreatening as possible “He never treated me as the Fae did, never tried to control me. Yes, I wish things had gone differently, but he was never my Master.”
The woman stayed silent, allowing Corabelle’s anger to dissipate from the room, “Alright,” She finally spoke. “So, your Faedemon made you out of the goodness of his heart then?” Her tone gave away nothing. Corabelle couldn’t tell if this was meant to mock her or it was a genuine question.
“He cared about me,” She replied, forcing her voice back to murmurs, though the bitterness still oozed from her words.
“Hmm,” the woman acknowledged. “So, he was never given the orders to research this? He did this independently?”
“Yes,” Corabelle’s anger finally cooled as the subject matter returned to the clinical. “He was a researcher. He wanted to know how he was created and in doing so he figured out how to create others.”
“And his masters accepted this?”
A harsh laugh escaped her, “Of course not. We were both almost killed before they realized we could be useful to them. I’m sure you know at this point independence is highly frowned upon.”
“I suppose that would be true, wouldn’t it,” There was an air of humor to her voice. “Now you have me curious, what did happen to this Faedemon of yours?”
“We were separated by his masters as the war broke out. He was killed,” she voice dried up. “After a while he was brought back to control me, but I haven’t seen him since. A year ago, the orders stopped. The Fae know my name now.”
“I’m sorry,” She almost seemed genuine. It was a long moment before she spoke again, “Can I be perfectly honest with you for a moment?”
“Of course,” Corabelle replied, confused by the sudden change in tone.
The woman cleared her throat, “I’m not entirely sure what to do with you.”
Corabelle didn’t know how to respond, so she stayed silent.
“I didn’t expect you to ever be brought here,” She finally added. “Much less did I expect you to be so… cooperative.” There was dry amusement in her voice, as though Corabelle was a novelty.
Corabelle filled the silence this time as it began to envelop the room, “I never wanted to be a Faedemon. The only thing special about me is that I'm fortunate enough to still remember that.”
The woman released a slow breath, “You have to understand, all of this, it’s beyond unprecedented. I can’t trust you. You know that right?”
“I understand that.”
“But,” she added. “I am entirely perplexed. If you actually came here to expose this place to your masters or kill us all, you could have done so easily. We both know that little piece of twine wouldn’t hold you. So I have to assume your reasoning is more sophisticated.” Her voice grew cold once again.
“All I want is freedom,” Corabelle felt as though she’d repeated this point a dozen times, but stressed it all the same.
“That’s the story you’ve told me, yes.”
“It’s the truth even if you don’t believe it,” She said simply.
“You don’t understand how much I want to believe it,” She claimed “I want to have hope that we could have allies in this, but I can’t.”
“So what are you going to do with me then?” Corabelle finally asked. They couldn’t release her safely and they couldn’t trust her, so what did they intend to do?
Her question was not answered, Instead she was met with a resigned, “We’ll see.”
Then she was gone, leaving only the guard detail to hover, ready to snap at the single ill movement.
Someone suggested a Graphic Novel version of Book 1 released in an episodic/manga style format. Good Idea?
