Demonsense (Demonsense series Book 1) (23 page)

“If that shit it was doing pleases you, I’m going to have to worry about you, my man,” Bruce said, only half joking.

Daniel waved off Bruce's comment. “Not most of what it said, of course. But the fact that he'll talk to me. The fact that he's beginning to take the form I prefer. I really have begun to wonder how far that could go.”

Bree sat up as a thought struck her. “The way it liked its human form. Do you remember? I got the impression it may have initially taken it from some image in your mind, but it was getting used to the form.”

“Yeah, Daniel, what’s up with that?” Kevin asked, looking across the table at Daniel. “You think demons look like some gorgeous F. Scott Fitzgerald character?”

Daniel smiled slightly. “If he took it from me, I’m not sure how,” he admitted. “Some movie I saw somewhere? Some book I read?”

Bree felt a chill, and her arms broke out in goose bumps. “That thing is
not
handsome,” she said sternly. “And I worry about you calling it ‘he.’ You have to keep your emotional distance from it.”

Daniel shrugged. “It’s always taken an overtly male form with me, so I think of it as ‘he.’ Really, you don’t have to worry. I’m in no danger of liking him. Or it.”

“So, what else did we learn?” Sophie prompted.

“That I’m responsible for demons being able to do a hiding spell. That all the Keepers and Exorcists that have been hurt or killed as a result of misreading the power of a demon can be laid at my door,” Daniel said evenly.

Silence fell on the room like a stifling, wet shroud. Everyone glanced down at their plates, unwilling to see Daniel laid so bare.
 

Everyone except Bree. Was it possible he was responsible in some way for Seth’s death? Had Seth misread the demon because it was engaged in a hiding spell, or because of Seth’s own error? The anger that had been simmering under the surface surged up in Bree so hard and fast that she nearly choked on it. Some part of her had already reached the same conclusion Daniel had, but she hadn't wanted to admit it to herself.
 

The others made some response, but Bree's brain couldn't seem to process the noise into language. Unbidden, the image of Seth burning in the demon's fire intruded. Her hands fisted, and she forced herself to breath slowly.
That is the past, it's over, it's too late to do anything about it
, she told herself sternly. She looked at Daniel, and while his expression showed only a solemn reserve, Bree read misery in the cant of his shoulders, the unevenness of his breath. A part of her was wild to launch herself at him anyway, but as the image of Seth's death faded, some logic began trickling back into her. She didn't know for a fact that Seth's death was caused by misreading the strength of the demon. Seth hadn't been the most skilled Exorcist out there. In fact, she had surpassed him in ability at least two years before his death. But he had still insisted on taking primary whenever they encountered a larger demon. And she had let him, partly to protect his ego, and partly because she rather enjoyed that he was being protective of her. That was one of the things she couldn't forgive herself for.

She had made mistakes, and quite likely Seth had as well. It wasn't fair for her to dump all the blame on Daniel's shoulders. Clearly, if it was somehow Daniel's fault, it was nothing he'd meant to happen.
 

Having worked her way through that morass of feelings, she was able to tune back into the conversation. Daniel was just saying, "It's something I'm just going to have to take responsibility for."

Bree waded back in, hoping it wasn't too obvious how tuned out she'd been. “Maybe, Daniel. But keep in mind it's possible that the demon said all that to hurt you.”
 

“And yet it rings true,” he replied softly.
 

“But from what you’ve told me, the demons can only partly hide what they are, what level of power they have,” Kevin speculated, pushing his plate away and leaning back on his hands. “Whereas you can completely hide aspects of your power. How can that be the same thing?”

Daniel wiped his hands on a napkin and shook his head. “Powered magic doesn’t translate directly into something demons can use. Even if they learn a spell while possessing someone, they can’t necessarily use it, even when possessing someone powered. They lack fine control. When they're disembodied, like Gelsenim was today, they can have a lot of raw power, especially the bigger demons. That’s why they’re dangerous in that form. But they can usually only use spells in a crude way, if at all. And they can’t pass on a spell they’ve learned previously directly to a new host, at least that I’ve ever heard. In other words, some demons might be able to manage some rough version of my hiding spell without their host being aware of it.”

“Oh my God!” Bree exclaimed, eyes going wide. “That’s it! That’s why the Keltoi want you, Daniel. Some demon told them about the hiding spell. Or a Demon Master got wind of it and forced the information from a demon. But the demon can’t explain clearly how to do it. They can only say they got it from Gelsenim, who may have told one of them he got it from you." She turned to Daniel. "Wouldn’t that be bad, seriously bad, if the Keltoi had a good hiding spell for their darker powers? Wouldn’t that tip the balance in their favor? It would make it so much harder for Keepers to track them!”

Daniel slumped and ran a hand roughly through his hair. “I couldn’t see it,” he muttered. “All I could think of was all the Keltoi I pissed off as a Keeper who might carry a big enough grudge to come after me. That has to be it,” he continued more strongly, looking around the room at each of them. “Why didn’t I think of that? It’s not like negative applications of the hiding spell haven’t occurred to me before. My father and I used to discuss it when we were working on it.”

“You’ve just lived with it so long, you don’t really think about it any more,” Kevin offered, voice sympathetic.
 

“Or I don’t
want
to think about it,” Daniel replied.
 

“So aren’t you basically screwed if the Keltoi want you for something that big?” Bruce asked.

Daniel laughed shortly. “Yeah, I’m basically screwed.”

“There has to be some way to resolve this,” Bree said fiercely. “There just has to be.”

Sophie entered the debate tentatively. “If by some miracle we succeed if figuring something out that makes the demons go away, wouldn’t that tip the balance back in favor of us good guys? Then maybe it wouldn’t be as big a deal if the Keltoi had the hiding spell.”

“I was hoping we could tip the balance in our favor and keep it there,” Daniel admitted.

“Wait a minute,” Bree interjected. “This hiding spell of yours. It’s pretty hard to do, right?”

Daniel nodded. “Very hard, actually. It takes a complex series of castings to set it all up, and it’s not easy to maintain either.”

“Would it take an exceptionally powered person to use it?”

Daniel regarded her thoughtfully. “Certainly someone high powered. It may not tip the balance to that great a degree, if we consider that it might not be usable by your average rank and file Keltoi. But the most damage the Keltoi do is typically done by Binders and Demon Masters along with their demons. I’m talking about the really big political stuff. Terrorist organizations, arms running, big drug producers and sellers, that sort of thing. Those are precisely the kind of people the Keepers need to be able to track.”
 

“Maybe someone in particular wants the hiding spell then, for some big deal they’re planning,” Sophie said, starting to gather up plates and silverware.

“Whoa, scary thought,” Bruce replied as he leaned forward to help her.

“If that’s the case,” Bree considered, “and if we figure out who it is and bust them, maybe the pressure will be off Daniel. And what if not very many people in the Keltoi know about it? I mean, maybe I’ve just seen ‘The Godfather’ too many times, but isn’t there infighting in these big crime organizations? Wouldn’t there be some reason for the people who know about it to keep it to themselves?”

“That’s a point,” Daniel conceded. He glanced over at Bree, and their eyes met, and held.

"What is it?" Bruce asked, picking up on their body language.

"I'm just thinking it's worth checking into it," Bree replied. "It's going to make it hard to focus on the demon research if we have to worry about Daniel being chased down by the Keltoi."

"I was thinking pretty much the same thing," Daniel admitted. "But I don't see this as something you all should have to take on. It's basically Keeper work, and at least that's something I know how to do. It's enough that you're willing to help with the demon research. That is, if you are all still willing?" His eyebrows rose in question as he looked around the group.

"I'm in," Kevin replied stoutly.
 

Sophie and Bruce looked at each other, then Sophie nodded. "If you keep to your promise, Daniel, and if you'll wait until your knife wound is healed, then I'll give it another go."

"What she said," Bruce rumbled.

Daniel looked at Bree, and a jackhammer started up in her chest as their eyes met. It made her want to bang her head against a wall just about as much as it made her want to get her hands on him. Just when she thought things couldn't be more complicated, she had to find out about the hiding spell issue. Yet something inside her continued to respond to Daniel, even with this new wrinkle. At least the flush on his cheeks told her she wasn't entirely alone in her feelings. It was clear he was hanging on her answer, as much as he was trying to hide it.

"I'm in," she said softly, in spite of Daniel Thorvaldson, and because of him.

Chapter 12

“You
two go on ahead to my place,” Bree told Kevin and Daniel as they stood in Bruce and Sophie's living room preparing to leave. “I need to stop by my office and pick up my mail. I’m overdue for some insurance checks to show up.” While this was technically true, Bree didn't really need to go to the office tonight. In fact, she was so tired that the idea of running a late night errand made her want to cry. But she needed an excuse to avoid going home with Daniel. Her emotions about him were so conflicted right now she didn't trust herself alone with him. She felt right on the edge of losing her temper again, and at the same time, her attraction to him seemed very close to the surface. She could all too easily see them tumbling into bed together given both their defenses were low, and that was something she was determined to avoid.

 
She worked her house key off of her key chain and handed it to Daniel. “I know you're wiped, so don’t wait up,” she told him. He took the key, then surprised her with an awkward hug and a quiet, “Thanks for your help,” spoken into her ear. Kevin hugged her goodbye as well, and the two left, a gust of cold air blowing into the house in their wake.

“You know, that Daniel’s a pretty amazing dude, but he’s not quite right,” Bruce said into the silence of their departure.

“Understatement of the year,” Sophie said tiredly.

“Hey, I didn’t say I didn’t like him. He’s just a little, you know, obsessed. And spooky.”

“And over confident,” Bree added acerbically.

“You know, I'm still really pissed off at him, but..."

"But what, babe?" Bruce prompted when Sophie didn't continue.

"Well, it's just that I think he’s a lost soul,” Sophie said softly.

“Huh,” Bruce grunted. “Only you would see ‘lost soul’ in that performance. He’s a Demon Master, Sophie. And a Binder. I totally get what he’s trying to do, or I wouldn’t be helping. But if that guy snaps, I do not want to be around for it.”
 

“Me neither,” Sophie agreed. "But isn't that the risk we're taking if we agree to continue helping him with the demon research?"

Bree sank down tiredly on the arm of an over stuffed chair. “I think we saw tonight just how big a risk it is. And yet, we all agreed to continue."
 

“I do wonder just how long we let this ride,” Bruce mused. “Isn’t it pretty much inevitable that Daniel will lose it if he keeps up this Demon Master shit?”

Bree hugged herself and rubbed her arms. She couldn’t seem to get warm. “That’s what I’ve always been told,” she replied. "I only hope we can squeeze enough information out of Gelsenim or some other demon fast enough that Daniel doesn’t have to do this over and over. And yeah, I know I’m probably dreaming there, but you never know.”

“Let me get you your coat, honey, you’re cold,” Sophie said, moving away from Bruce. She was pulled up short as her hair had tangled in his watch. “Oh, damn, this always happens,” she said, voice a little shaky with exasperation and leftover stress.
 

“I’ll get my coat,” Bree replied, and did so while Bruce patiently unwound the long, wavy hairs from his watch.

“You guys were amazing tonight,” Bree said as she hugged them both goodbye. “I didn’t do half so well the first time I saw a demon. I was basically a gibbering heap.”

“Oh, I was a gibbering heap,” Sophie replied with a tremulous smile. “I was just hiding it the best I could.”

“Well, I’ll keep you posted,” Bree said as she made her way out the door.

It was a cold night, colder than it had been so far this fall. The stars were out, at least the few that you could see past the city glow. She paused to look up, searching for Orion, her favorite constellation, in the gap of sky ringed about with the dark shapes of fir and maple trees, but it wasn’t up yet. She shivered in her coat, and made her way to her car. The radio was on, and she quickly shut it off.
 

Driving toward her office made her think about work. She’d managed to get in some massage clients the last two days while Daniel was recuperating at her house. The attack on him had made them all relax about Hunter, and it had felt safe enough to go back. She'd liked the sense of normalcy that working brought. The calm atmosphere of the massage room, the focus on each muscle group, each stroke, reading for how her clients moved and reacted to touch, all of this was soothing for her. It was a way to use her Reader sense for something good without getting overloaded by emotional input. And of course, it was always a pleasure to know that she had eased people in some way.