Daemons Are Forever

“That’s it?” said the Blue Fairy after a moment.

“Yes,” I said. “I don’t have the energy to be mad at you. But if you stay, and fight alongside us in the war that’s coming, you could win acceptance. And a place here. Friends can be a kind of family.”

“You shame me with your generous spirit,” said the Blue Fairy. “I’ll stay, and I’ll fight. Now, if you’ll excuse me…”

I nodded to Molly, and she stepped aside from the door to let him leave. She waited until the door was firmly closed behind him, and then looked at me.

“Are you crazy? You can’t trust him! He’s half elf.”

“I know,” I said. “That’s why I want to keep him close, where I can keep an eye on him.”

“You humans, with your subtleties,” said Strange. “You’re far more frightening than I could ever be.”

Next, Molly and I went to visit the isolation wards in the infirmary, in the north wing. Neither of us wanted to, but we had to see how the infected Loathly One drones were doing. Twenty-eight now, including Sebastian. Twenty-nine, including Molly. I was ready to go on my own, but Molly insisted on accompanying me, and I couldn’t say no. Not when she was fighting so hard to hang on to her humanity.

The family has always trained its own doctors and nurses, to staff its own hospital. Partly because we don’t want the world to know that Droods can be hurt, even with their marvellous torcs, and partly because only we are equipped to deal with the kind of problems faced by Droods, in and out of the field. Our doctors have to be able to diagnose and treat all kinds of physical, spiritual, and u

Our infirmary equipment is extremely up to date, and sometimes even a bit beyond, but the place itself is still the traditional pale, paste-coloured walls, snotty matrons, and the faint but pervasive smell of boiled vegetables. Molly and I strode quickly through the wards, nodding briskly to the staff on duty. A few looked like they would have liked to object to our presence, but we were come and gone before they could put their objections into words. Most of the ward beds were occupied, far more than normal. Some were clearly dying, despite all the doctors could do for them. A small, cold part of me was glad to see that Harry had been as bad a leader as me, but I pushed the thought aside.

The isolation wards are tucked away in their own private a

Molly and I moved slowly down the row of isolation tanks, nodding to the armed guards at each air lock door. Some of the drones came forward to beat on the heavy steelglass with their fists. Their voices came clearly to us through the built-on speakers, saying they were i

In the very last tank, Sebastian Drood came forward to stare mockingly at us as we stopped before the air lock. As the most dangerous, he had a cell all to himself. He looked normal enough now, though there was something wrong with his face, as though he’d forgotten how to look human. Or perhaps he just didn’t feel the need to bother any more. He nodded politely to me, and smiled at Molly. “Dear Molly,” he said. “How does it feel, to be one of us?”

“I’ll never be one of you,” she said steadily. “Whatever it takes.”

“Ah,” he said, shrugging easily. “You say that now…but we all start out feeling that way. We don’t turn ourselves in, like we know we should, because we’re different. We’re strong, we can beat this. We’ll never give in; no, not us. But after a time…you won’t want to fight it. In fact, you’ll embrace it. Because being human is such a small thing to leave behind.” He turned abruptly to look at me. “You haven’t told anybody about her, have you, Eddie? I counted on that. And by the time you realise how hopeless it is, it’ll be too late. Is that why you’re here, Eddie? To kill me before I can tell anyone what I did to dear Molly? Am I to be destroyed while trying to escape?”

“Say what you like,” I said. “No one will believe you. A drone would say anything, tell any lie, to try and undermine the family.”

“Then why are you here?” said Sebastian. “Hoping for a cure, perhaps? Don’t waste your time and mine. There isn’t one. Once someone is one of us, they’re one of us forever.”

“You could do yourself some good,” I said. “Win yourself some better treatment by agreeing to answer a few questions.”

“And don’t waste any time on lies,” said Molly. “I’d know.”

“Yes,” said Sebastian. “You would. Very well, ask your questions.”

“Who was the original traitor?” I said. “Who worked to persuade the family to bring the Loathly Ones back, in 1941?”

“Haven’t a clue,” Sebastian said cheerfully, leaning on the steelglass with his arms folded. “And in case you were thinking of threatening me with truth spells or cattle prods or whatever we use for interrogation these days, yes, I know we’re a hive mind, but we’re kept strictly compartmentalised. Each drone only knows what it needs to know, when it needs to know it. Basic security. I might have known who the traitor was once, but I am currently cut off from that area of knowledge. Or indeed any area that might help you. Same with all the drones here.”

“There are ways of digging out the truth,” I said. “Old ways. Of course, they can be very destructive, to the body and the mind…”

“Dear me,” said Sebastian, smiling widely. “Threats of death and torture, to a helpless prisoner? What are the Droods coming to?”

“The safety of the world has to come first,” I said.

“Oh it does, it does. But can you save the world by damning yourselves? Can you fight monsters by becoming monsters?” Sebastian’s tone was openly mocking now, though his face was utterly expressionless, not even trying to seem human anymore. “The Hungry Gods are coming, Eddie, and there’s not a damned thing you can do to stop us. No one’s ever stopped us. Hello, Freddie.”

Molly and I looked around sharply as Freddie came uncertainly forward to join us. He nodded briefly to Molly and me, but his attention was fixed on Sebastian. I hardly recognised Freddie. All his usual glamour and flamboyance were gone, stripped away by events. He looked smaller, diminished, staring at Sebastian with an awful fascination.

“Hello, Seb,” he said finally. “Are you still Seb? Do you remember me? Do you remember being my friend?”

“Of course I remember you, Freddie. I haven’t changed, not really. I’m just being more honest about what I am. I remember our friendship, all the good times we had together; I just don’t care any more. Never did, really. All part of the job. You were just a means to an end, I’m afraid, a plausible way of gaining entry to the Hall. I knew it would go easier if I had you there to vouch for me. Eddie might have called all the rogues home, but he had good reason not to trust me.”

“Were you infected, even back then?” I said.

“I’m not going to tell you. Now hush, I’m talking to Freddie. I couldn’t believe it when you just went dashing off again, Freddie, right after I’d brought you here. I needed you, and your extreme personality, to distract people from me. That’s why I made such a point of calling you back here, to be one of Harry’s advisors. You never had a useful thought inside that pretty head of yours in your entire life. But I made a point of seducing you, to make sure you’d stay this time. You’re so larger than life that no one ever looked at me when you were around.”