Demons

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Demons | JAMIE CAMPBELL

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Epilogue

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Demons

  JAMIE CAMPBELL

  Chapter 1

  How can I tell if the academy’s principal is insane or telling me the truth? I have no idea. She is handcuffed before me and swears her story is true.

  “So let me get this straight,” I begin, “The devil sent demons to our school disguised as soldiers from the Angel Army?”

  “Yes. And we have to stop them before they destroy everyone and everything,” Guardian Tremain says with urgency. “We need to get out of here. Help me with these cuffs so we can leave.”

  She holds her bound wrists up to me. I don’t have a key for the cuffs, nor anything to actually cut through them. If we’re going, she’s leaving with them still attached.

  Jesse stops pacing next to me and looks at her square in the eyes. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, I’m sure!” she screeches. “I demand you help me get out of these restraints before a demon pokes his head in here and asks what all the commotion is about.”

  It’s difficult staying neutral. Since I arrived at the Angel Academy of Excellence, I’ve learned to respect and fear Guardian Tremain. Everything in me screams to do as she tells me. But there is another part of me that has developed lately—the need to question absolutely everything.

  I ignore her plea for now. “I’ve searched this entire campus and there is nobody left here. You and Jesse are the only angels I’ve seen for ages. Besides the soldiers, anyway.”

  Tremain levels me with a steely glare. “You don’t know where to look for them.”

  “I’ve been on both sides of the campus. And in the main building,” I point out. That is everywhere. Unless they are invisible, they are not here.

  “Have you been to the emergency evacuation center?”

  “The one underneath the cafeteria? It collapsed ages ago. There’s no way anyone could evacuate there.”

  “That’s not the one I was talking about,” Tremain says with irritation. “We’re wasting time. Help me out of here now. Or there will be consequences, Miss Maxwell. I haven’t forgotten about your first strike.”

  I glance at Jesse just as he looks at me. We have a conversation entirely with our facial expressions. Neither of us know whether we can trust her. We trust one another and that’s all we know right now.

  “Miss Maxwell!” Tremain hisses.

  I pray I’m about to do the right thing. Stepping closer, I kneel down. “We should be able to get your feet free. We can deal with your hands later. We might get lucky and find some bolt cutters or something.”

  Jesse helps me with her shackles. They are fairly loose and rusted. If we apply enough pressure, I think we can lever them open. Or at least free them from the floor. Tremain might have to run with them still attached to her ankles.

  “Look for a tool,” I instruct. We are in the janitor’s barn. Surely there must be some kind of device in here we can use.

  Jesse starts rifling through the cupboards while I work on the opposite side of the room. Most of the things in here are for yard work. I find a hoe and shovel, both appear to be pretty sturdy.

  “What about these?” I hold them up for Jesse to see. He’s found a chisel which he also shows me. “One of these might work.”

  “We can give it a try,” Jesse replies.

  He takes the shovel and holds it high to bash it upon the metal shackles. “Stop!” I cry at the last minute. “It’s going to be really noisy.”

  He nods and takes the hoe. We both kneel down and try to use it as a lever. If we find the right angle, it might just work.

  It takes us a few times but we find purchase and apply pressure to the weakest point in the shackles—the chain. It breaks with a satisfying snap.

  “Finally,” Tremain sighs. She still has iron around her ankles but she will be able to walk with them attached. We will deal with them again later.

  When we’re free.

  The only way out of the barn is the same way we came in—through the window. Jesse helps us both out before climbing through himself.

  Snow falls around us outside. The cold wind hits me like I’ve been slapped with an ice block. I pull my coat tighter and wish it was thicker. If I survive this ordeal, I’ll make sure to buy one.

  The same soldier is still standing guard outside the barn. He stares across the grounds and doesn’t move. Hopefully, that means he won’t see us as we dash across the side of the open area.

  “I’ll go first,” Jesse says. “Wait to see if I make it. If so, then follow as quickly as you can.”

  We nod our heads and wait. My heart lurches as he runs through the snow to the back of the girls’ dormitories. He doesn’t look around before he lunges for the side of the building.

  The guard didn’t see him.

  “We go together,” I decide. Guardian Tremain doesn’t argue so we countdown to one and charge across the ground.

  My heart pounds at a million miles an hour before we’re reunited with Jesse. We press ourselves against the wall and do all we can to merge into the background. It feels like we are so exposed here. Just one glance from a roving soldier’s eye and it will be all over.

  “Where is the evacuation center?” I ask.

  “Follow me,” Tremain answers and stalks off down the path.

  We stay behind her in a single file. I hope we are right to trust her.

  It’s difficult seeing the soldiers in the distance and thinking of them as demons in disguise. They’ve been on our campus for weeks. How were they able to hide in plain sight for so long?

  I’ve always been told the devil is a tricky fiend. To dance with the devil is to dance with your eyes closed. Now I can see what they meant by that. The devil is very real and he will do whatever it takes to win.

  The soldiers look so much like regular people. There is not one feature about them that would give away their true nature. What kind of magic does the devil have if he can change the appearance of creatures?

  We make our way around the reaper side of the academy. I know this way very well now. Luca may have shown me some shortcuts but Guardian Tremain knows a lot more. We weave and duck and dodge until we reach the main building.

  “The door is locked,” I say from experience. “A window is broken at the front that we can use.” I’m not going to admit that I was half responsible for breaking it. That might be the second strike in her book.

  Tremain gestures for me to lead and I take them around the side of the stone building. The window is exactly how I left it—broken with the curtains billowing in the wind. We climb through.

  “Where to now?” Jesse asks.

  “My office,” Tremain replies. She charges off without a backward glance. We have to hurry to keep up with her. I wish she would slow down and be a bit more cautious. The soldiers are roaming everywhere, we could run straight into them in here.

  We follow her closely. Every second that passes makes me more anxious about being caught. She might feel comfortable here, but I certainly don’t.

  She barges into her office without even peeking inside first. Thankfully, it’s empty. She proceeds to walk directly toward one of the bookcases and tugs on a gold trophy on the top shelf.

  The bookcase starts moving to the side.

  I feel like I’m in a spy movie.

  Behind the fake shelves is a set of stairs. Cold air rushes out from somewhere below. The entrance has a shimmery, iridescent look to it. There’s nothing actually there but it looks like we’re peering through a waterfall of transparent colors.

  Tremain doesn’t hesitate in walking straight through the shimmer and down the stairs beyond. We hurry after her. When I step through the colors, it’s like I’m frozen for a few seconds. Everything stops while my skin breaks out in goosebumps.

  Just as quickly as I started to feel it, the coldness wears off and I continue through to the stairs. I have no idea what that shimmer is but I’m not too keen on stepping through it again.

  Wall lights illuminate as we head down the flight of stairs. We are surrounded by gray bricks on all sides. If I was claustrophobic I wouldn’t be too happy right now. Luckily, I actually don’t mind tight spaces.

  We step down for a very long time. When I look up, I can no longer see the entrance. When I look down, there are just more stairs. Where on earth does this place lead to?

  Down.

  Down.

  Down some more.

  Finally, we reach the bottom. A door blocks us from going any further. Guardian Tremain inserts her index finger into a reader. All the lights turn from red to green.

  “Here goes nothing,” she whispers underneath her breath.

  The door opens.

  Chapter 2

  The artificial lighting in the room beyond the staircase is bright and unforgiven. We all have a sickly yellow glow to our faces as we move through the corridor.

  Tremain leads us past a few closed doors before we turn a corner. At least she seems to know where we’re going. I guess as the academy’
s principal, she would have to know every inch of her school.

  “What is this place?” I ask. I can’t keep walking in silence. The suspense is killing me.

  “It’s insurance,” she replies curtly.

  “I don’t follow,” I reply, just as confused as to when I first asked the question.

  She sighs. “This is a secure bunker. A hidey-hole, you could call it.”

  So that means Angel Academy has not one, but two, bunkers on the property. I wonder why a place of academia needs shelters, but then I remember the demons and no longer have to ask. In the short time that I’ve attended the school, I’ve survived three demon attacks.

  We probably need more bunkers.

  “Is this one for the guardians?” I ask. The other bunker was underneath the reapers’ cafeteria—which is now just a destroyed mess.

  “It is for all students,” Tremain replies. “This one is only known by the faculty. It is therefore more secure than the others.”

  “Others?” Jesse asks.

  “We have three bunkers on campus.” She almost sounds proud of that fact. “I insisted on them being built upon my commencement at Angel Academy. The board thought they were unnecessary. I thought differently.”

  “I guess you were right,” Jesse says.

  Tremain arches an eyebrow but doesn’t respond. We walk again in silence. It feels like this corridor is miles long. It might snake around the entire campus.

  Eventually, we turn one more corner and the corridor opens up into a large room. Tables and chairs are neatly lined up in the expanse. It has to be as big as one full building block upstairs.

  And it’s not empty.

  Other students are seated at some of the tables. Teachers, too. I spot my mentor, Matt. He is speaking to a student and doesn’t look up as we approach. I wonder if he’s the guy’s mentor too.

  I’m so glad to see other survivors but not bolstered by their numbers. There is probably only a couple of dozen people here. Not the hundreds and hundreds that were attending Angel Academy.

  Hopefully, the others all made it off-campus in time. That has to be why there are so few people down here. Jesse did say the soldiers were escorting the guardians off the premises, didn’t he?

  A sick feeling hits me straight in the guts.

  It was the soldiers escorting them. The same soldiers we now know are demons. They wouldn’t have been taking them anywhere except to Hell. They could have killed them all and we wouldn’t be any the wiser.

  Why if they’re all dead?

  They got Luca too. They hauled him away when he stupidly gave himself up in Tremain’s office. I can’t imagine the demons would have kept him around for his sense of humor and good looks.

  My legs threaten to go from under me. I’m so tired and worried that I fear I’m going to shut down soon. If I could crawl into a nice warm bed and pretend all this wasn’t happening, I think I’d gladly do it.

  Unfortunately, I don’t see that happening any time soon. And I probably wouldn’t sleep anyway. As fatigued as I am, I know I’m one of the lucky ones. I need to make sure those who can still be rescued, are rescued.

  Several teachers welcome Tremain as she passes by. They follow along behind us until we are a group of ten. Like the pied piper, she takes us all into a meeting room at the far corner of the room.

  A large table occupies most of the space. There are enough seats for twelve and a whiteboard attached to one wall. Pens are clipped to the bottom, all ready for someone to write with.

  Everyone takes a seat except for Tremain. She stands at the end. Nobody has told us to leave, so Jesse and I sit down too. I desperately need to know how to help us survive the demons’ attack. I want to be in on this meeting.

  Matt gives me a wave across the table. I return it, grateful to have a friendly face here. I don’t know who the other teachers are. Maybe they are all from the guardians’ side of campus.

  Tremain pinches the skin between her eyes as she takes a few moments to think. Her hands are still bound together and her feet rattle with the chains still attached.

  She suddenly stands up straight and shakes her hands. “Can somebody please find me a tool to get these things off? They are driving me insane.”

  A male of similar age to our principal stands and hurries out. He leaves the door open so I can see him running through the large room beyond. Hopefully, there is a stash of tools somewhere down here.

  Hopefully, there is also a stash of food. My stomach rumbles with the thought. When was the last time I ate? I can’t even remember.

  Not a word is said until the man returns with some large bolt cutters. I don’t know why they would be down here, but I’m glad they are. He cuts Guardian Tremain free from all her shackles. She rubs at the red skin on her wrists.

  “Good, now,” she pauses. “The demons have full control of the academy. It’s fair to say we are largely outnumbered and must act quickly if we are to reclaim our school.”

  One of the female teachers interjects. “Has anyone contacted the council? Surely they are able to send us some help?”

  Tremain shakes her head. “All communication systems have been blocked. No phones work here anymore. That goes for cell phones and landlines too.”

  “What about the students that went home, won’t they be able to send help?” the same woman asks. She has dark circles under her eyes. She probably hasn’t slept for days like the rest of us.

  “At the time of their departure,” Tremain answers with forced patience, “there was no reason for them to question the army. They won’t have any idea of what we have devolved to.”

  Others start firing questions at her and she handles each one with the same level of patience. It’s obvious she’s tired and has thought of just about every scenario herself. Nobody else has any good suggestions.

  I put up my hand when there is a gap in the discussion. “What about if I sneak off campus? I can alert somebody. Just tell me who and I will find them.”

  Everyone looks at me and I try not to shrink back. I thought it would be good to make this suggestion. I feel the need to do something. Sitting here and talking about everything we can’t do is driving me insane.

  Luca is still up there somewhere, I will do whatever I can to get him out of the demons’ clutches. Sitting around talking isn’t going to do that. Now is the time for action.

  Tremain is the one who answers me. “I believe they’ve bound the walls. However, there may be a way around the enchantments. We should send somebody to test them. It may be a good way for us to leave.”

  I sit up a little straighter. “Let’s do it then. I can try right now. Just tell me how.”

  One of the oldest men in the room grumbles beside me. “It’s not a task for a child. Someone with actual skills should be sent.”

  “I’m not a child,” I reply curtly. Eighteen may seem young when you’re a hundred years old, but he doesn’t have to call me a child. “I can move quickly and I’ve done a good job staying undetected. I can do it.”

  Tremain’s gaze slides around the room. She looks at everyone present as she mulls it over in her mind. Nobody else raises their hand. I have no idea what she could be thinking. Hopefully, she’ll give me a chance. If I have to sit around here for too long I’m going to be driven insane.

  “I’ll go with her,” Jesse volunteers.

  I shoot him a look. I don’t want to get him into danger but I can’t tell him to stay here either. He’s his own person, he can make decisions for himself. I’m not going to tell him what to do.

  Tremain comes to a decision. “Very well. You can both attempt to leave the academy. Matt, will you be able to run through the ways we can breach the enchantment?”

  “I’d be happy to,” Matt replies. He shoots me a smile. At least he’s being positive. We could all do with some optimism right now.

  “We’ll do it first thing tomorrow,” Tremain says.

  “I’m happy to go now,” I instantly reply.

  “No. You’ll need your energy. Both of you are dismissed. Get some rest and Matt will speak with you in the morning.”

  She doesn’t leave room for us to argue. Pointing at the door, we know we’ve been given our orders. Jesse and I both stand and leave the meeting room. I suppose the teachers will discuss the situation more until they have a good plan.