Demon Master (Demonsense series Book 2) (2 page)

The demon shrugged. “There is a great range. Daniel, for example, does fairly well after a possession. Some die. To do as well as you did, though, is unprecedented.”

Not at all what Bree wanted to hear. She crossed her arms in front of her. “I guess you did tell me that we were uniquely compatible.”

Gelsenim took a step closer to her, and Daniel did the same, a beat behind. Gelsenim’s civil façade cracked as he looked over at Daniel. His face went cold as he said, “I am not happy with you, Daniel, not happy at all. You have kept her from me.”

“At her request,” Daniel answered evenly.

“It’s true,” she put in, drawing the demon’s attention back to her. “I did ask him to prevent you contacting me. I did take damage that day, though not from you, and it took me some time to heal. I wasn’t ready to take this on.”

“And you are ready now?” Gelsenim took another step toward her, face lighting up in pleasure.
 

Such swift changes of mood were part of what made him unnerving to her. “I’m ready to talk, and that’s it.”

“But you could have so much more,” the demon whispered. He raised a hand toward her and she felt an intensely sensuous shiver move through her at the energetic contact. Apparently that could get through the ward, just like smells and some measure of heat and repulsive energy could.
 

There was a mixture of hope and intensity on Gelsenim’s face, an expression strangely like that she often saw on Daniel’s, and she got a flash of insight that Gelsenim was copying Daniel. He’d had an interesting relationship with Daniel for some years before Bree came on the scene, and had apparently molded himself after Daniel. Well, that expression was certainly custom made to reach her, but she wasn’t going to get sucked in by it, or by the erotic nervous system goodies the demon was clearly offering. “Yes, but at what cost?” she asked tersely. “I might feel better than most people do after a possession, but that’s no guarantee I’m not getting hurt by it.”

“Why would I wish to hurt you? You are my ideal host. I would naturally want the association to last as long as possible,” the demon answered, dropping his hand.
 

Bree exhaled in relief at the cessation of intimate energetic contact. “I’m not exactly ready to sign on for some kind of permanent possession. You were a great help in a crisis, and I admit that I could easily be tempted to call on you again in like circumstances. And I’m sure I could learn something of your kind if I allowed you more possession time. The trouble is, I can’t trust you not to take over once you’re inside me, and I certainly can’t trust you to leave when I ask. I hate to think what you would make me do if you ever got the upper hand. Surely you realize that what you do to appease your hunger makes normal humans sick.”

“What you don’t know, my host, is that I did not feel hunger when we were joined,” Gelsenim said simply.

That knocked Bree back on her heels. All demons ever seemed to think of was their unending hunger. It was an aspect of demon kind no one had ever been able to fully explain. “I’ve got to say, the idea that I’m some sort of perfect demon food is pretty damned freaky.”

Gelsenim smiled, and it was not a nice smile. Strangely, it only served to remind Bree how docile the demon had seemed most of the time he had possessed her, up until the point she had asked him to leave. She'd seen him possess Daniel before, and he'd been far different, seemingly ready to commit murder and rape and to enjoy the prospect. In other words, typical demon kind. “Why were you so cooperative with me when you possessed me? You didn’t seem like, well, like yourself. Like a demon.”

Gelsenim's head cocked to one side. Holtis, who had waited quietly all this while, shuffled his feet and squeaked, “Lord, I am hungry! Can we not possess these?”
Gelsenim glanced at the lesser demon, then at Daniel. His handsome face darkened with anger as his gaze locked with Daniel’s. “I would let you have that one gladly, but he will not allow it.”
 

She checked on Daniel as well, reading for his energy level, and it was dropping, more quickly than when she had last looked. He was a strong Warder, but Gelsenim was one hell of a strong demon, the strongest Bree had ever met. She had to end this fast, but she wanted an answer to her question. “Gelsenim, why? Why were you so different with me?”

The demon’s attention returned to her, and his expression morphed from hostile straight into confused. “I…
 
I am not certain,” he finally admitted. “Perhaps if you were to allow me in again, we could discover the answer.”
 

A part of her wanted to try it, to end the suspense, just get it over with, but after a moment’s thought, she rejected the idea. She was concerned about Daniel's energy level, and she needed to be better prepared, more clear on what kind of experiments she wanted to try. And it would be wise to have another powered person besides Daniel as back up, maybe Kevin to provide some heavy duty warding, given how strong Gelsenim was. “Perhaps another time. Let me think about it.”

Gelsenim’s orange eyes flared brighter, and his face elongated and sharpened, features becoming more predatory. “But I am hungry now,” he said, voice rising.
Bree glanced nervously at Daniel. He gave a tiny nod, and drew in breath to banish both demons.
 

Before he could speak, Gelsenim charged the ward. A thick wall of air shoved against both Bree and Daniel, hard enough to make them stumble to keep their balance. Holtis joined in with a shriek of glee, and both demons together slammed against the ward again and again.
 

“Gelsenim, this is not endearing you to me at all! I command you and Holtis to leave,” Bree shouted.

Gelsenim ignored her, and his form changed again, jaw stretching, muscles bulging, skin darkening towards red. Bree staggered as another wave of force slammed the ward, and with it came a wave of heat. That was bad news. The ward was weakening. She looked again at Daniel and saw with relief that he was raising his hands in fists, the gesture he used when he was bringing up his Demon Master talent.
 

“Gelsenim, I command you!” Daniel’s voice rang out.

“No, I will not obey!” Gelsenim screeched in response, all human tones gone from his voice. Bree felt another crash against the ward. Its outer edge slammed into her, and she fell to the ground. The windows rattled in their frames, two of Daniel's African masks came off the wall, and she heard something made of glass in the room die a loud, inglorious death. For the first time, she began to be seriously terrified, the in fear of your life kind of afraid. She'd never seen Gelsenim successfully resist Daniel’s command, but it looked like he might manage it this time. The look of calm left Daniel’s face, replaced by anger. Both his fists clenched hard as he focused his will energy on the demon. “You must obey, I command you!”
 

“You cannot keep me from her, she is mine!” the demon roared back, and the inner ward blew.

Bree was sent sliding across the floor into the table, and Daniel down into a heap against the wall, where a painting fell on top of him. Gelsenim's form morphed completely back to the demonic, less large than his first appearance, but no less frightening for that. He stepped toward Bree, and a wave of heat preceded him, heat Bree knew could turn into fire in the demon's disembodied state. "And now, my host, it is time for us to join, as it is meant to be."

Bree held her hands, palm out, towards the demon. The wards against possession she'd drawn on her hands earlier heated up, and flared briefly with light. That quickly, Gelsenim's energy burned through her personal wards. They were never enough to manage a demon as powerful as Gelsenim, but they should at least have slowed him down.
 

Holtis bolted all around the edges of the outer ward, smacking into it at intervals like a frantic housefly. He was nowhere near Gelsenim’s level in power, but there was no doubt he was helping to put strain on the outer ward. If the demons broke that, they'd be free to seek someone to possess.

Daniel sprang to his feet, face a mask of fury. “Holtis, depart! Gelsenim, depart!” he shouted, and Bree felt the air throb with magic so strong that it caused her heart to literally stop before it resumed its beat with a painful lurch. With a high cry of dismay, Holtis was sucked into the doorway between the worlds and vanished. Gelsenim threw his head back and howled, “No!” His form wavered and was drawn towards the opening as well.
 

The demon changed back to his human guise, though this time he was partially transparent. An electric shock ran through Bree as the demon’s eyes met hers, in a sensation part pain, part pleasure. His form began to solidify, and he stopped moving towards the exit.
 

“Bree, please!” the Gelsenim pleaded, voice perfectly mimicking the strangled, desperate tones of a young man begging for his life very much against his pride. His hands were outstretched towards her, and the simulation was so real, so nuanced, that she was moved in spite of her growing panic. “Daniel, wait,” she found herself saying, and she avoided looking at what she was sure must be Daniel’s incredulous face. To her surprise, he listened to her. Gelsenim’s form solidified and he lost his desperate look.
 

Bree got her feet under her and stood up. Her knees were shaking and she had an almost irresistible impulse to sit back down in a heap. She took a deep breath and willed strength to her knees and her spine. “Gelsenim, you can’t fight us like this. I'll never be able to trust you as long as you behave this way. If I can’t be sure you’ll leave on command, I can never let you possess me again.”
 

“I am so hungry, my host,” the demon whispered raggedly. “And you are so near. You have no idea how difficult that is.”

It was a fine performance, and there was probably truth to it, but they were only moments away from Gelsenim’s clear attempt to possess her by force, so she wasn’t feeling that vulnerable to her all too easily triggered Reader empathy. “I’m sure it is difficult. Keep in mind that it’s difficult for me to tolerate your presence at all. Every instinct tells me to keep away from you, that you’re the ultimate evil. Anyone with Demonsense feels that way in your presence. If we have any hope of meeting halfway so that we can understand each other, you have to show me you can leave if I ask.”

“Daniel has kept you from me for so long. How do I know you will ever call me again? How do I know this is not my last chance at our union?” the demon asked, one hand running through his shining hair as his posture slowly straightened from the half crouch it had been in when he transformed.

Bree looked over at Daniel then, feeling uncertain of the path that was opening up before her, but she didn't want to discuss her options out loud in front of Gelsenim. The strain of holding the demon in place was evident in Daniel's dipping will energy level. She had better come to some decision quickly. “I would like to discuss this further with Daniel, but I think I might be willing to call you in another week or so and discuss terms for a trial possession. In the meantime, I want you to stop trying to get to me by force. And I want you to prove you will leave on my request, and not because Daniel makes you.”

“You ask me to go against my nature,” the demon complained.

“And you ask me to go against mine,” Bree retorted with heat. “Look, do we have a deal, or don’t we?”

Gelsenim regarded her solemnly for a moment, then his expression smoothed, and he gave her a courtly little bow. “As you desire, my host.” Then his form swirled into a hot, damp cloud that imploded and vanished.
 

For a moment, Bree was frozen with surprise. She quested out with her Demonsense and confirmed Gelsenim was gone, and the doorway to the other world was closed. Daniel heaved a great sigh as he dropped the remaining ward.
 

Her knees finally gave out, and she folded down onto the floor hard enough to hurt her butt. Daniel strode quickly over and crouched down in front of her, concern on his face. “Are you okay?” he asked.

A hysterical little laugh started to burble up in her throat, but she managed to confine it to a nervous smile. “Yeah, I’m okay,” she responded faintly. “I guess I’m just worn out.”

“I’m feeling it too,” he answered ruefully as he settled down more carefully onto the floor across from her. He put his elbows on his knees and ran his hands forcefully through his dark, dense hair, making it stand up in messy clumps, then he rubbed his hands over his face briskly in what looked like an attempt at reviving himself.
 

“So how close was that?” Bree asked, more than a little afraid of the answer.

“Way more close than it ought to have been,” Daniel replied, dropping his hands from his face. “And I’m not really sure why. As long as I’m not overly tired, I usually have no trouble banishing Gelsenim.”

“I’ve seen you handle five demons at the same time before, when you were in a lot worse shape. Why do you suppose it was so hard this time? Was Holtis a higher level demon than we thought?”

“It definitely wasn’t Holtis. He wasn’t making things any easier, but he was just a minor distraction. If I weren’t trying to hold together so many pieces of magic at the same time, I would have slapped him down a lot quicker. No, it was Gelsenim. He seemed to go to a whole new level of power this time around. It’s obvious he was feeling desperate to stay, but frankly, I didn’t know he was capable of that level of power. I didn’t know any demon was. And besides, at first I didn't think the stakes weren't that high. I need that to boost my power levels.”

“So when you say it was close,” Bree began hesitantly.

“I mean he almost got away from me, yes.” Daniel answered her unspoken question. He looked away from her, and she realized he was embarrassed.
 

“Were you, ah, low on energy?” Bree asked carefully. She knew she was heading into tricky territory with the question, given his history of becoming emotionally unstable with too much demon contact. It had come between them before, left her uneasy with him, and it was something he was ashamed of. The shuttered look that came over his face let her know that her cautious wording hadn’t fooled him for a minute.