by Sara DeHaven
“He did,” Bree replied, nodding at Daniel.
“I should be appalled at your lack of discretion, but I’m not,” Kevin admitted. “It’s getting pretty out of control here.”
“Well, then, back into the fray,” Daniel responded, heading back towards the crowd.
Kevin came up to walk beside Bree. “He’s enjoying this,” Kevin muttered.
“I know, that’s what I said!” Bree responded.
They wove through the crowd, and it didn’t take long to find more trouble. Bree felt the demonic energy signature up ahead, a whole cluster, and had to swallow hard to push down the resulting nausea. She could will it away if she concentrated, but she had too much else to focus on.
At first, all she could see was a group of boys jumping up and down. There was a boom box rumbling out a persistent bass line, and she thought maybe the boys were dancing. But as they pushed closer, she could feel the combination of aggressive and sexual energy, wound about with a miasma of demonic energy, and she knew in her gut that something worse than dancing was going on.
She and Kevin followed in Daniel’s path as he deftly pushed his way to the center with little surges of telekinetic and warding energy to clear the way. In the middle of the crowd of shouting boys were two girls, neither of whom looked a day over thirteen, dancing with their tops off, small breasts bared to the cold night, their faces distant and glazed. Both were possessed, smaller demons, but obviously large enough to take control. Daniel strode without hesitation into the middle of the circle. He bent down as he went, scooping up the tops and coats the girls had dropped to the ground. The girls looked slack jawed and startled as he shoved the bundled clothes at their chests. They both grabbed the bundles reflexively. There was a howl of outrage from the watching boys, and Bree felt the hot swell of Kevin gather his warding energy, ready to employ it if necessary.
Bree got her dizziness spell ready. Freeze was a better spell, but she wasn’t always consistent with it. She could see Daniel’s lips moving as he spoke with the girls. She felt a brief surge of Demon Master energy, and both girls stumbled as the demons left their bodies. The demons must not have been too big, because both girls were still upright, if a little unsteady. He put a hand lightly on each of the shoulders, got them facing the same direction, and started marching them out of the center of the circle. The watching boys shouted their disapproval and surged forward. Daniel whirled around to face them, and was immediately lost to Bree’s sight. She tried to push towards him, as did Kevin. Kevin raised a physical ward close around them both, and while it buffered them from the pushing and shoving, it didn’t help them get closer to Daniel.
Almost immediately, they were pushed forcefully backward as whatever Daniel was doing to defend himself caused the people in front of them to stagger and fall. Kevin had a hand on her arm to help her stay upright. Bree was frantic to get to Daniel, but while they tried, she and Kevin couldn’t find a way through the crowd. And while the ward was protecting them from harm, she couldn’t cast through one that strong.
“Maybe we should retreat and try to find a better angle in,” she shouted in Kevin’s ear. He nodded, pulled her around and bulled his way through the edges of the crowd.
They emerged near one of the bonfires. She was just starting to feel able to breath again when her Demonsense sent a wash of sick alarm through her. She risked closing her eyes to narrow her focus, and felt a locking in sensation as she pinpointed the possessed kid. She opened her eyes to see a mixed race boy, perhaps eighteen, with close cut, dark curly hair, and he had another boy down on the ground and was punching him in the face, a terrible grimace of pleasure on his face.
Bree was struck from behind, and went down herself. Someone half fell on top of her, then bounced off. She heard a terrible scream, and turned to see a girl get pushed into the fire.
She frantically tried to shove herself to her feet to go to the girl’s rescue, but two boys got there first. They hauled the girl out, but her clothes and hair were on fire. “Dump her in the water!” she heard someone screaming.
Before Bree could do anything more, she was knocked over again. She’d already been tense, but now she was feeling truly panicked. Her thoughts were racing so fast that she could barely register one before the next rushed in. What if someone didn’t think to dump the girl in the sand to put out the flames? Where was Daniel? And where was Kevin? They’d gotten separated in all the pushing and shoving. She realized she didn't feel his ward around her any more. She wasn’t going to be able to physically remove the possessed boy on her own.
She managed to get back to her feet, and almost as soon as she did so, she locked eyes with the possessed boy. His mouth was bloody, and he smiled at her, a flicker of orange demon light in his eyes. Some demons could perceive powered even if they weren’t good at reading the energy signature in any detail, and the demon possessing the boy had clearly picked her out of the crowd. A memory flashed across her mind of Gelsenim telling her that demons were likely to be more attracted to her now that she’d been such a compatible host to him. Not to mention stories she’d heard of Demon Masters attracting demons. She might not have to seek out possessed in this crowd. They’d be drawn to her.
The possessed boy moved toward her, making a quick gesture across his chest with one hand. Before Bree could even consciously think it through, she had a defensive shield up and was deflecting the energy of the spell.
Unfortunately, it was redirected onto the person standing next to her, who flew backwards, landing perilously close to the fire. The possessed Caster across from her looked momentarily disappointed, and Bree scrambled to her left, away from the fire. Another boy was pushed briefly between her and her opponent, and Bree took that opportunity to prepare an offensive spell of her own. With a bowling motion, she sent it toward the possessed boy once she had a clear shot again and saw with satisfaction that he was unprepared. It was a muscle weakening spell, and he slid bonelessly to his knees.
Bree moved quickly toward him, meaning to hit him with the freeze spell she’d been working on with Daniel, but he recovered faster than she would have believed possible. He lunged up at her, grappling with her.
Bree was thrown off her balance, and in a moment she was down, the boy straddling her with his hands around her throat. Her mind frantically tried to think of a spell to throw him off of her, but she couldn’t seem to focus. She scrabbled uselessly at his wrists and bucked against him. The boy's mouth was dripping blood onto her face, and his teeth were red with it. Bree started to feel faint. Her eyes darted around, looking for Kevin, Daniel, a cop, any kind of help, and there was no one to be found. Everywhere around her, people were fighting, swearing, screaming.
Just as she started to really think the words, I’m dying, she suddenly remembered she had help, if she would only ask for it. Trouble was, she couldn’t speak. Doing her best to shut out the pain, the panic, she focused all her will energy and called, in her mind, Gelsenim, I call you! Gelsenim, I command you!
It took a moment, but faster than she had hoped, she saw the demon take shape in his human form right behind her attacker. She couldn’t get the air to say it, but she consciously dropped her personal wards and formed the words with her lips. “Possess me.”
In a flash, the demon was inside her, filling her body with a sense of heat and sparkling power. Allow me to help you, my host. You need a telekinetic spell.
Instantly, the spell appeared in her mind, and focusing the last of her fading will, she formed it, invested it with her base energy, stronger by many magnitudes now that she was possessed, and flung it straight at the chest of the boy strangling her.
The boy simply flew off of her and slammed into a boy and a girl wrestling on the ground behind him. Bree desperately pulled air into her straining lungs.
Up on your feet, my host, Gelsenim’s voice chided in her mind. Your opponent is down but not defeated.
Bree did as she was told. The possessed boy was getting up as well, a look of rage
on his face. Bree was terrified of closing with the boy again. She had more confidence she could cast a paralyzing spell with Gelsenim’s help, but she’d have to touch the boy to do it, given how unskilled she was still. Yes, I can help you with that, Gelsenim whispered. You have the form of it, I will boost the power. You must try to get behind him where he can’t get hold of you.
“Good idea,” Bree said aloud. She feinted to her right as the boy approached, tried to dodge left, felt her foot slip on the sand, and at the last minute, before the boy could reach her, threw herself as hard as she could right again. She slipped again, but the boy just missed her, and she managed to get a hand on his arm as she went down into the sand. She threw the spell into him as hard as she could. There was a palpable sense of power in it, and it felt good.
The boy stiffened and went down. He nearly got his face stepped on as a fight careened past, and Bree winced. Just as she managed to crawl over to him, Kevin appeared. His jacket was pulled half off one shoulder, and his nose was bleeding, but otherwise, he looked all right.
“My god, it’s a full out riot,” he panted.
“I know,” Bree replied, voice coming out in something of a croak due to her abused throat. “Help me pull this kid out of here.”
Kevin got hold of the boy’s shoulders and Bree picked up his feet. The demon inside the boy glared out of the boy’s eyes at her, but it was staying put inside the boy, which was the best case scenario at this point.
They managed to get him to a clear space past the edge of the crowd. As Bree straightened up, she could see the riot had spilled over from the beach onto the street. She heard the sound of glass shattering, but couldn’t see if it was one of the storefronts or a car that was being vandalized. The kids on the beach were in a whirl of motion, and the sounds of screams were frequent.
It was overwhelming. She quickly considered her options, and decided the most help she could be right now was to work on exorcising the demon in the boy, given she was unlikely to be much help in breaking up fights, even with Gelsenim’s help.
Gelsenim said in her mind, voice wry, Must we banish the poor demon? The food here tonight is rich. If you will but allow him to stay awhile longer, he will not feel hunger for many days.
“Too damned bad,” Bree snarled, and earned a confused look from Kevin. He didn’t have Demonsense, and had no idea that she was possessed. In case you hadn’t noticed, Bree continued mentally, things have gone to hell in a hand basket here. People are going to get killed, if they haven’t already. She slung her daypack off her back and began getting out her supplies. “Get a ward going around us,” she told Kevin as she pulled out a bottle of holy water and a vial of salt. She started to pull out her bible, but shoved it back into the pack. It would be faster to just use some simpler prayers for the exorcism, and anyway, the bible would look weird in this setting.
Why do you object so strongly to the death of these? Gelsenim went on as she worked. The existence of you humans is temporary. Their lives will end soon anyway.
I object because every life has value, no matter how short, Bree replied. Now, would you save the damned philosophical questions and let me work here?
Bree found it easy to engage the demon possessing the young man lying on the ground in front of her. It was already close to the surface, and it already knew she had recognized it.
Getting it to admit its existence wasn’t hard. Getting its name was. After about the fourth try, including the failure of contact with holy water to spur the demon toward cooperation, Gelsenim offered, My host, if you will allow, I can order this one to leave.
Bree was tired enough and worried enough to seriously consider it. She glanced around, looking to see if any other powered were nearby. She didn’t see anyone she knew, but she decided not to risk it. All she needed to make her life really wonderful was to be labeled a Demon Master. No, she told the demon, let me do this the old fashioned way.
It took another ten minutes, but she was finally successful in exorcising the demon. The boy was unconscious but breathing, and he looked much younger and much smaller than he had when he’d been strangling her. She and Kevin dragged him further down the beach and arranged him under a park bench in hopes of keeping him from being trampled if the crowed surged in that direction.
“Now what?” Bree said anxiously, looking back the way they’d come. There were flashing lights from police cruisers illuminating the scene and she could see some police officers in the crowd, and heard the muted sound in the distance of someone talking through a bullhorn.
“They have to be sending for tear gas or something,” Kevin said, pushing his glasses up his nose.
“Who knows how long that will take? I think our best bet is to keep locating the possessed and taking them out. But I’m worried about Daniel. I’d like to find him.”
“In all this?” Kevin gestured at the crowd ahead of them. He shook his head. “I doubt we could find him at this point if we wanted to. I suspect you’re right, and we’d be more use focusing on possessed. The conflict is likely to be most violent around them. Which raises the problem of how to do it without getting killed.”
“Are you up to another ward that will repel physical contact?” Bree asked.
“For short periods of time. I’ve been saving some energy back in case I have to do more of that.”
“Well, get ready, that might be what it takes to get us into position safely.”
As they set off back toward the milling crowd, Bree realized she was limping. She felt like she’d bruised her hip on a rock one of the times she’d been pushed to the ground, or maybe someone had kicked her, she couldn’t remember. Her throat was killing her, and she brushed a careful hand along it, feeling for the extent of the damage, but she couldn’t tell anything by feel.
My host, if I may make a suggestion, Gelsenim said diffidently.
Go ahead.
In the past, when I have possessed high power Readers, I’ve seen that some are able to read patterns in battle in such a way that they can avoid harm. Might you have that ability?
Bree only had to consider a moment before she remembered experiencing something like that in the only full scale battle she’d been involved with. “Kevin, wait,” she said as she stopped in her tracks and tried to do as Gelsenim had suggested. She opened her Reader sense wide, and at first, all she got was chaos. The night was awhirl with energies of all kinds, confusing her senses.
But gradually, a pattern emerged. And once it occurred to her to think of it more in terms of tells, tells of the crowd, it all started to make sense to her. She could see a nexus of trouble, energetically and based on the flow of movement of the crowd, and she could see a relatively safe path to get there. “Okay, follow me, and be ready to ward us both,” Bree told Kevin.
It took some careful dodging, and some shoving on Kevin’s part, but they quickly got to the area she was shooting for, an island in all the physical conflict where a group of kids were standing around in a circle. There was a tall, gawky girl at the center of it, maybe college aged, with chin length dark hair curled up on the ends, in a short pink and green plaid jacket and low rider jeans. A boy was kneeling in the sand in front of her, shirtless, and the girl had a gun pressed into the boy’s forehead.
A jolt of terror went through Bree. Somehow, she hadn’t been expecting a gun. The girl was possessed, and this demon was a big one. And she hadn’t the slightest idea what to do to intervene. If she startled the girl, she might shoot. Of course, she might shoot anyway.
Kevin took a step forward, and said firmly, “Okay, that’s not funny. Put the gun down, you don’t want anyone to get hurt.”
“Oh, but I think I do!” the girl replied, eyes widening disturbingly.
Ideas, Gelsenim? Bree asked desperately.
A telekinetic spell, well aimed, could knock the gun out of the girl’s hand, the demon replied.
Even if you boosted my casting power, I don’t have the fine control. If I do it wrong, I could make the gun go
off.
Almost before the thought was complete, the gun jerked right out of the girl’s hand, high into the air and over the heads of the circle of young people. For a moment, Bree thought Gelsenim had done it somehow, through her, but then she saw Daniel walk into the circle, holding the gun.
“Did you lose something?” he asked the girl. Strangely, the boy kneeling in front of the girl hadn’t moved. He looked dazed and glassy eyed, and she wondered if he was on something or had been hit in the head at some point.
“Give me that!” the girl demanded, hand outstretched, with that irritating, nails-on-chalkboard tone that indicated the demon was in full control.
“If you want it, come and get it,” Daniel said with a taunting smile.
Well played, Gelsenim commented. He draws the girl away from the crowd.
It seemed Gelsenim was right. The demon possessed girl followed Daniel as he walked backwards. The kids in the crowd made way for him at the sight of him holding a gun.
Kevin took the opportunity to wade into the group of kids. “All right, you guys, look around you. People are getting hurt, things are out of control. If you have half a brain in your heads, you’ll get out of here as fast as you can.” He literally grabbed a couple of them, and began shoving them toward the more lightly populated end of the beach. He seemed to be having some effect, so Bree grabbed a few kids herself. The first three gave her a startled look, then obeyed, but the last one pulled away so hard he clipped Bree on the chin with an elbow. Her head jerked back, and she heard Gelsenim hiss inside her, Allow me to punish him, my host!
No, no, what are you talking about?
He harmed you! the demon protested.
It was an accident. Jeez, bloodthirsty much?
I will try not to be if it disturbs you, he replied with a sudden meekness Bree didn’t trust. She studied the crowd around her. Things were breaking up a bit on this end, but glancing behind, she saw the riot was still in full swing. Looking up towards the street, she could see the glass fronts of some of the stores had been broken, and looting was in progress. She heard sirens off in the distance. She’d lost sight of Kevin, but as she looked around, she saw Daniel. He had retreated close to the water, the girl following him. If the demon possessing the girl hadn’t felt so powerful to her, she would have left him to it. But if he was going to try to exorcise that thing without using his Demon Master abilities, she wanted to be there for back up, because she couldn’t help but remember what had happened to him during the last exorcism. So much for her idea that she wouldn't let him take primary. She was desperate enough that she had to trust Daniel to stay in control.
