A Glimmer of Hope (The Avalon Chronicles #1)(42)
He checked Layla over, asking her a few questions about herself and how she was feeling. He appeared to be happy with the answers.
“Doctor?” Layla asked, as he was writing in a notebook.
He glanced up. “Yes?”
“What are you writing?”
The doctor smiled. “Your bullet wound is healed. The power inside of you will increase over the coming weeks and months. Less than two days after being shot and the scarring is all but gone. It’s impressive.”
“Thank you for being honest, Doctor . . .”
“Grayson. You can call me Doc, everyone else does.” Grayson had a trim white beard and bald head. He was a short man with pale skin and a wooden bracelet on one wrist, which had several marks carved into it. He wore a dark blue suit and carried himself with the kind of confidence you get when you know exactly who you are as a person.
“You work with Diana?”
“I work for Tommy, and with Diana when she manages to injure herself, which isn’t often.”
“Are you human?”
Grayson shook his head. “I’m something entirely different to you and Diana. Can’t tell you what, though . . . It’s complicated.”
Layla nodded an understanding, although in reality she had none. “Can I go home?”
Grayson placed the pen and paper on the table beside him. “Short answer: no. Not for a few more days. Long answer: no, because while you’re here we can monitor you and the spirits inside of you. We can monitor your power and how you cope. And we can monitor that demon and how well it tries to screw around in your head too. I know it doesn’t feel like it, but this is the safest place for you right now.”
“Why don’t I just accept the spirit and demon and be done with it?”
“From what I understand, it’s not that simple. I wish it was, for your sake.” He stood and picked up the notebook and put the pen inside his jacket pocket. “I’ll be back to see you tomorrow. In the meantime, sleep. You need as much rest as possible.”
Layla watched the doctor leave, before settling in to watch TV for a few hours. Eventually she drifted off to sleep, ready to face whatever came next.
16
Layla stared at the opulent palace in front of her: the tan painted bricks, the white columns, and perfectly manicured lawn. Birds chirped somewhere nearby, and there were several trees that sat alongside a twenty-foot gray stone wall behind her.
“This is where I worked,” a man said as he walked down the steps of the palace toward her. “My name is Servius Tullius.” Servius was a giant of a man. Over six feet tall, and as solid as an oak tree, he gave the impression that he was not to be trifled with. He had dark skin, short black hair, and was clean-shaven. His eyes were a mixture of brown and green, and a scar stretched from the right side of his top lip, curving under his nose and finishing just under his left eye.
“Spear deflected from my shield,” he said, touching the scar. “It’s the first thing people asked back then.”
“You’re a Roman?”
He nodded. “A praefectus legionis.”
Layla was about to ask what that meant, when the answer popped into her head. “You were an equestrian legionary commander?”
Servius nodded. “I was part of the army for twelve years, before Emperor Trajan rewarded me for saving the life of a son of a close friend on the battlefield. I was given the opportunity to become a guard here, at one of several residences that the emperors used. This one is in northern Italy. It’s officially a home belonging to one of the senators, but it’s used by the emperor as a getaway.”
“It’s stunning.”
“It’s a sad, lonely place. Mostly slaves and soldiers who have been rewarded with an easy life staff it. We’re rarely bothered by anyone, and the family who lived here—a mother, two daughters, and three sons—were all nice enough.”
“For slave owners.”
Servius nodded. “It was the way of the times. As far as slave owners went, these were kind and allowed their slaves a measure of freedom, but slavery isn’t something I remember with any fondness. It isn’t something I’ve ever been proud to say was a part of the world I lived in.”
The pair began walking around the gardens, and Layla looked at the statues depicting various Roman gods and goddesses in various states of undress, in amongst colorful flowers and a stream that appeared to run the length of the estate.
“So, when did you get the scroll?”
“I was given it by the emperor as a gift. I kept it for ten years, until raiders came to the estate. They came at night, killing most of the guards, murdering the mother and sons, before hunting for the daughters and anyone remaining in the property. I fought several of them and was badly wounded. It was dumb luck I placed a bloody hand on the scroll, and the rest is history.”
“You drove back the raiders?”
“I killed them all. I was confused; my emotions got the better of me and the demon was released. It was only for a matter of minutes, but it was long enough to kill every single person in this estate. Including anyone who wasn’t a raider.”
The image in front of them changed, became nighttime in an instant. Bodies littered the ground, and the screams could be heard inside the estate, before a creature that had once been Servius burst through the wall, grabbing hold of the nearest raider and tearing him in half. The slaughter of the remaining six men outside the palace was quick and brutal, drenching Servius in blood before he turned back into his human form.