Demonsense (Demonsense series Book 1) (48 page)

The whole building shook as the force of Carson's spell met that of Franchesca's. Sparks shot all the way up to the ceiling along the arc where the spells clashed.

Justice tried to tense his muscles, tried to move. All he managed was a twitch of his hands. There was silence, punctuated only by gasps and grunts of effort. Carson and Franchesca were casting silently now, hands dancing before them. Franchesca staggered, fell to one knee, hand against the floor. Carson smiled, but Franchesca chopped at the air, and both Carson and Destry slammed to the floor. Franchesca extended her hand and called "Freeze!" The spell missed Carson, but caught Destry.

Carson said, "Shield!" He backed up a few steps, hands raised palms out.
 

"An impressive casting of shield, I'll admit," Franchesca said, getting all the way to her feet. "Nicely attuned, but I think I can work around it." She walked up to him and stopped. "You're no match for me possessed. Now, I might still let you live. After all, I don't relish having the entire Seattle clan after me. And my chief might be a little unhappy if I killed you. All I'm asking for is that we stick to the original deal. Tell me you'll get Daniel for me."

"I can hardly promise you..." Carson started to say.

"Tell me you'll get Daniel for me!" Franchesca shrieked.
 

Carson held up a hand. "Your demon is taking over. Just release it, and we can talk."

"Bre'ekim has other ideas." Franchesca snarled. "Down shield!" Her hair flew back with the force of breaking the shield spell. She took two short steps toward Carson and reached for his arm. Carson tried to dodge sideways, but she grabbed his coat with one hand, and put the other on his chest. Carson’s whole body jerked, and he fell to his knees. Franchesca pushed against Carson's shoulder, and he fell over onto his back. He waved a hand in the air, but Franchesca slapped it aside. She went down on her knees in front of him, put her hand on his chest again and said, eyes very wide, "Tell me you will get Daniel for me!"
 

"I, I.." Carson gasped.

"You were going to cut me out! You were going to take him from me!"

"I promise, I promise..." Carson got out, but Franchesca kept talking, her voice rising. "They said I should stop allowing possessions. Can you believe that? My chief's been edging me out. That's why he sent me here!"

"That's the demon talking," Carson choked out. His whole body jerked again. Jesus Christ, she was going to kill him. The crazy bitch was going to kill him. Justice gathered himself and tried again to move. This time, his feet and his arms twitched.

"I'm more powerful than all of you, that's why you're keeping my demons from me! You want to fuck me over, just like men have all my life. And I'm not going to allow it anymore, do you hear me?" Franchesca pushed her hand down onto Carson's chest, and his whole body arched up off the ground. Then his eyes rolled back in his head and he went limp.
 

Franchesca bowed her head over Carson, hair sliding down to cover her face. God, if only he could move now, it'd be the perfect time to strike.

Franchesca slowly straightened, and said, in what sounded more like her normal voice, "I know you all can hear me, and your freeze spells will be wearing off soon. I can kill you all right now, and I can assure you, my demon would like that very much."
 

She licked her lips, then continued. "But consider for a moment what I can do for you."

Finally, Justice felt his body respond to his attempts to move. He had a spell clear in his mind. He raised his arm to provide a conduit for the spell. Franchesca must have heard something, because she whirled around to face Justice. He froze, and not because she'd put another spell on him. Her voice might have less of the demon in it, but her could see it on her face. The demon was right there, right on the edge of a killing spree. Not only would he, Scanlon, and Destry buy it, she'd probably murder that poor kid too. Justice lowered his hand and let go of the spell.
 

Franchesca's eyes narrowed. “You might want to consider just whose side you’d rather be on right now. I can get you another demon, right here, right now.”

“I need a minute to think about that,” Justice replied.
God, no!
was his first thought. Being this close to someone possessed with such a powerful demon made him feel ill. It was like his body remembered it, even though he had lost so many memories from the time he'd been possessed.
 

“Think about this,” Franchesca replied, walking closer to him. “If we get the hiding spell out of Daniel, we'll have the leverage to buy our way into any Keltoi clan, anywhere. Don’t you want in on that?"

Justice said, “You make an interesting offer, but I can tell you, my clan is not going to take kindly to you offing Carson. Don’t think you’re going to have their support in this.”

“There's no reason they have to know about Carson right away. Just get me the personnel, and I can guarantee you that within the next week, we’ll have Daniel. If things go the way I’m planning, we’ll not only have the spell, we’ll have Daniel on our side. I’ve read him, and he’s close to coming over to the Keltoi."
 

Hunter crouched in the corner of the room, hand over his mouth to keep from throwing up. He'd instinctively closed his eyes when the devil appeared, hoping somehow if he couldn't see it, it couldn't see him.
 

There was shouting swearing, crashing, the sound of glass breaking. He felt surges of magic against his skin, like when Daddy raised wards around the house. Finally, every thing got quiet, and Hunter opened his eyes. The couch was overturned, the TV broken and hanging half off the wall. Destry was lying on her side, still as a statue, and Justice was flat on his face, on top of the broken coffee table.
 

And that's when his eyes fell on Franchesca's purse. It was lying atop the only chair in the room that was still upright. His amulet was in there, he just knew it. Shooting a fearful glance at Franchesca and Carson, he started crawling for the chair. It was all the way across the room, right near Franchesca. Franchesca was slumped over, hair falling onto Carson's chest, and she was breathing hard. Carson was very still.
 

Hunter crawled a little faster, but stopped again when Franchesca straightened up and brushed her hair back with her forearm. She stood up, and looked around the room. Just in time, Hunter fell onto his stomach behind one of the fallen chairs. Then she started talking again. The buzzing sound in her voice was so awful Hunter had to put his hands over his ears. He couldn't help it, it was worse than a fire truck siren.

After minute, he decided he had to start crawling again. He still felt sick to his stomach, and he really just wanted to hide, but he told himself he could be brave like Batman. He moved slowly, trying not to make any noise. He made it to the chair and had just put his hand in the purse when Franchesca stopped talking. He looked up to see what she was doing. Their eyes locked, and Hunter was so frightened, he thought he might pee his pants.
 

“You keep away from that!" Franchesca shouted.
 

Hunter broke her gaze, then picked up the purse, turned it upside down, and shook it hard. His amulet fell out, and he grabbed it up and yelled, “By wind and by will, I call Daniel Thorvaldson!”
 

Franchesca got to him and jerked the amulet out of his hands, but it was too late. He’d done it! He had just a moment of excited elation before Franchesca picked him up into the air and shook him. Her face was right next to his, and there were orange sparkles in her eyes.
 

"God, I'm sick of you, you little brat!" She threw him down onto the floor. Hunter bumped his head on the chair on the way down, and he started to cry.

"I wasn't ready for Daniel yet!" Franchesca screeched. She threw her arms wide, and shouted, "Tirakku, I call you! Tirakku, I command you."

"What are you doing?" Jim asked. Hunter looked over and saw Jim was swaying on his hands and knees. Justice had gotten up and was backed up against a wall.
 

Orange smoke poured into the room, and another devil appeared out of it. This one was green and orange, and it's long teeth protruded over its lips. "So glad you called, master," the devil said.

"Possess this child!"

"God damn it, no! That's too big a demon, it'll kill him!" Jim shouted. His arms buckled, and he fell on his face.

"Not necessarily," Franchesca said.

The devil hadn't moved. "A child won't feed me for long. Give me that one again," it said, pointing at Justice.

"He's not recovered from possession sickness. I commanded you, possess the child!"

"That one then," the demon replied, pointing now at Jim. "He wants to fuck the pretty woman on the floor. We will force her, and I will feed."

"The child!" Franchesca shouted, clenching her fists. The devil turned slowly back into smoke, and right then, Hunter remembered. He remembered the time before, when he woke up sick. He remembered Franchesca had put a devil in him.
 

"No, no, no," Hunter whimpered through his tears. The orange smoke crept between his lips, burning. He opened his mouth to scream, and it poured into him, down his throat, choking him. He tried to stand up, tried to run, but he couldn't. His whole body shook so hard it made him bang his head against the floor. Pain exploded in his whole body. His eyes were open, but the light bled away from his vision until he couldn't see anything. The voices in the room faded, then there was nothing more.
 

"You lost him?" Steve cried. He and Kevin exchanged stricken looks.
 

"Bree and I still have our Reader sense, we'll search that way," Daniel replied, but he looked grim.
 

Bree said, "Where do we start?" She refused to panic. They were close to Hunter now, surely there was a way to find him.

Daniel turned his head slightly first in one direction, then another. “Take the next right. That's the last impression I got as to Hunter's direction.”
 

Steve started up the car again and made a right. "A bit slower, Steve," Daniel instructed. "Kevin, keep your eyes peeled. Look for anyone lounging outside a door or loading bay. And try to stay open to any hint of magic."

"God, I suck at reading," Kevin said as he shoved his glasses up his nose and looked out the window. They went a couple more blocks, then Daniel had Steve take a left and park again. Bree had been scanning for energy signatures of any kind, and she had her Demonsense open wide as well, but so far, nothing.

"I think we're close to where I last felt Hunter's signature," Daniel said. "The trick now is to drive around slowly, but not so slow that it looks suspicious."

"And how slow is that?" Steve asked with a nervous glance over his shoulder.
 

"About fifteen miles an hour," Daniel answered promptly. "I want you to take a spiral pattern. Go about six blocks, then make a right, six more, and make another, then another. Then go around in a five block radius."

"Won't
that
look suspicious?" Kevin asked.

Daniel ignored the question and closed his eyes.
 

 
Bree followed suit. She felt the motion of the car as they made the first right, then the car slowed way down as Steve eased it through another huge pothole. Her Reader sense kept fritzing out. She knew it was because she was so anxious. After a few discouraging minutes, she opened her eyes and turned toward Daniel. "Didn't you say they had all kinds of masking spells up? Will we be able to feel Hunter even if we get close?"

He opened his eyes as well, and his expression was strained. "It's a long shot," he admitted.

The car slowed. "You won't be able to feel him? At all?" Steve asked.
 

"The finder spell messed with their masking spell, and there's a chance its not sealed up yet."

A very small chance
, Bree corrected silently, hearing the almost-lie in Daniel's voice. Then she had a thought. "Look, won't it be easier to sense demon sign through a hole in a masking spell than Hunter's signature? Maybe we should just throw everything we have into our Demonsense."
 

"I switched over to Demonsense a few minutes ago. Nothing so far," Daniel replied.
 

"Then we keep driving." Kevin turned to look out the window again.
 

Bree forced herself to take a few centering breaths before bringing up her
 
Demonsense. She pushed it out as far as she could, then demanded it seek farther. It cut out, just like her Reader sense had, and she had to strangle a scream of frustration. She knew she was exhausted from lending power to Daniel, knew Daniel had to be in even worse shape.
Javier and the Keepers will be here soon
.
Surely with all of us seeking, we'll find Hunter soon,
she soothed herself, and opened wide again.
 

Silence dragged on as Steve made a careful circle of right turns and she and Daniel strained for any hint of demon sign. She nearly jumped out of her skin when Daniel abruptly drew in a sharp breath and jerked hard in his seat.
 

“What is it?” she demanded.

He faced her, expression electric “It’s Hunter, he just touched his amulet. I know exactly where he is."

"Thank God!" Bree breathed. Kevin and Steve whooped and pounded each other on the shoulders.
 

"Go back, Steve, go back about three blocks, then make a left." Daniel reached out and took Bree's hand, squeezing it.
 

She squeezed back. "You're a genius," she said.

"I'm never going to let you forget you said that," Daniel replied, then raised her hand and kissed it. "Wait, too far, go back about ten feet, then go left."

"I can't, there's no turn between here and the last block," Steve told him.

"Just go back like Daniel said," Kevin said.

"It'd be faster to go up to the next turn, and then go right."