by Sara DeHaven
“So here’s the deal,” Bree told him as they went. “I’ve been practicing my casting, and I can do quite a few offensive spells now, even a telekinetic spell, though that one’s new. I can cast dizziness, muscle weakness, muscle freeze, re-direction of attention, and blindness. I’ve figured out how to read crowd flow, so I might be able to spot where trouble is happening. I've got some warding spells down, but only the kind that stop magic, nothing that can stop physical contact. I’ve got Demonsense, and I’m an Exorcist. I’ve been carrying an abbreviated Exorcist kit around with me, so I’m prepared. There will be possessed, though if this is anything like last time, there mostly won’t be time to do exorcisms. What have you got?”
Leander was honestly impressed with her recital. He hadn’t known she had quite so many battle spells. Perhaps more than that, he was impressed with her focus. He could see she was tense, but she was thinking ahead, strategizing. He had to make a quick decision about how much to tell her about his abilities. “I’m good at re-direction wards and general re-direction spells. I’m a high power Warder, though I admit I don’t have that much call to use it. I can put up a physical ward for short periods of time, but I’m better with wards that deflect spells.”
“That will be useful,” Bree replied. “Any offensive spells?”
“Again, not much call to use them, but I know how to do dizziness and muscle weakness. No telekinesis though. And I’m not an Exorcist.”
“There will be at least one other Exorcist there that I know of. He’s a Keeper, a friend of my husband’s named Javier Ortiz. And there will probably be others. If we’re going to work together on this, I’d suggest you focus on warding us and deflecting any spells, not to mention keeping people off us physically. You are bigger than I am.” She sounded chagrined, as if she didn’t want to have to admit that, to rely on him for protection.
Absurdly, Leander found his male ego swelling up at that. He wanted to protest that he was quite capable of preventing harm from coming to her, but the reality was, he couldn’t be sure of that. Who knew what they were about to get in to? And besides, it sounded like she was at least as good a Caster as he was. He was underplaying his abilities some, as he didn’t want her to see him as having a lot of battle experience. That didn’t go with his cover. If he kept to that, chances were that at some point, she’d be protecting him.
“One thing Kevin and I found the last time we did this was that at a certain point, the best tactic was just to try to clear the kids out, basically bully them right out of the situation.”
“I’m not sure these will necessarily be kids, Bree. I heard that’s what went down at that riot on Alki Beach, but I’m guessing we might be dealing with an older crowd. For one thing, unless they have fake IDs, they’re at least twenty-one, since it's going to be the bar crowd on the square on a Saturday night.”
“Well, we can hope that means some of them have some sense.”
“Which might work if demons weren’t involved,” Leander said darkly. He did not care for demons. He'd been possessed before, at Marton’s tutelage, and while he’d experienced the rush everyone talked about, he hated the idea of something else being in even partial control of him. He'd gotten through life by making sure he was the one in control, wherever possible and in whatever way possible. Not to mention the fact that they were just plain creepy. He had Demonsense although it was, thank God, low level rather than high. He could feel them when they were close enough, but it didn’t flood his system like he heard it did for those with high power Demonsense. And he was quite sure that described Bree. He’d have to watch out for her with that. Although it appeared she was a seasoned Exorcist and had some battle experience, if there truly were a large number of demons, as Marton and his people had planned for, things might become very difficult for her.
They began to see and hear signs of trouble a block away. There was a club near the corner of the square where people were spilling out onto the sidewalk, and there were sounds of shouting. There was already some police presence as well. Two squad cars were pulled up, though their lights weren’t flashing.
“I’m supposed to look for Javier or one of the other Keepers I know,” Bree told him. She sounded much less self-assured than she had on the walk.
Leander took her hand and put it in the crook of his elbow. “Once more into the breach, dear friend,” he told her, producing a good approximation of confidence that he did not actually feel.
Bree slowed when they were half a block away. She leaned toward him and said into his ear, “I feel serious amounts of demons over there. I can’t begin to guess how many, but to feel this much at this distance does not bode well.” As they got close enough to see in more detail what was happening, they stopped to let her peruse the crowd for her Keeper friends. They were not the only onlookers. People couldn’t resist watching a fight, and a fight was definitely going on. There looked to be a number of brawls, small and large, in the crowd milling in front of the club. Leander saw that the metal tables and chairs out front that were probably used for summer outdoor seating were strewn about and causing problems as combatants tripped on them.
As he watched, one young man with the look of a college frat boy picked up a chair and brought it down on the back of another man, who collapsed onto the ground. The police were in evidence trying to break up the fights on the perimeter, with one officer attempting to direct the crowd of onlookers away, but they weren’t out in enough force to contain much of the mayhem. Leander couldn’t even begin to imagine how he was supposed to be of help in the situation. If he waded in and tried to use spells to divert the brawlers, wouldn’t they just get up again and go at each other? And it wasn’t like the crowd was big enough at this point for his efforts to go unnoticed. Bree, fortunately, seemed to have a better idea than he did what to do.
“I don’t see any of the Keepers, so I’m afraid we’re just going to have to make our best guess on how to help right now. Last time, we focused on seeking out the possessed ones and interfering with their actions as much as possible. That could mean dealing with possessed powered, so be prepared.”
She looked up at him, and there was an intensity to her look that told him she was trying to read him. Doubtless the proximity of danger had her Reader sense up and running. The uncertain look on her face didn’t tell him much about what she’d been able to read, if anything, but her words indicated she had good intuition if nothing else. “I know we may not be able to do much, but it’s better than nothing, don’t you think?”
Leander did not think. What he thought was that he liked his original plan better, the one involving drinks and dancing and sex. But he had to fake it, so he replied with a smile, “Definitely better than nothing.”
Bree turned and watched the crowd, perhaps using her Demonsense, or maybe just her Reader ability to see where the worst trouble was. After a brief moment, she tugged him towards the left. There was another bar down that way, and he could see that people were pouring out of it, coming their way. There were a whole slew of bars and clubs in this neighborhood, and if they all emptied out to check out the fight, the numbers were going to increase rapidly. That meant far more danger, but it also meant they would be lost in the crowd, and use of magic would be less obvious.
He saw the nexus of trouble Bree was heading for shortly before they got there. A group of people circled one of the fights, most egging the contestants on. They looked like college kids to him, their clothes too nice and teeth too straight to be a more low rent kind of crowd. Their faces were distorted with a wild, tribal aggression and an avid curiosity. He was close enough now that he felt the queasiness of his Demonsense reacting to the presence of demons. He couldn’t really pinpoint that to any particular person, but Bree could.
“The four guys fighting in the middle, every one of them is possessed,” Bree said, again trying to speak into his ear. “If we can work our way closer through these spectators, I’ll try some spells to break up the fight. You watch my back.”
The fight was a fierce, chaotic brawl. Two of the young men were rolling around on the ground, throwing wild punches at each other’s bodies, pulling at hair, and swearing. Two more were grappling upright, like clenched boxers, focusing on body shots. One of the guys on the ground reached out as he rolled past and grabbed the ankle of one of the standing ones, causing him to lose his balance. The other boxer overbalanced him, and they both went crashing down. Each one of them was bleeding from earlier head shots. At that point, two of the onlookers joined the fray, grabbing at the men on the ground and trying to pull them upright. One of them, a young man with long red hair much like Leander's own, reached into his coat and his hand came out holding a gun.
“Drop the ward!” Bree shouted.
She must have sensed the power blocking element, and knew if she was going to cast, she needed the energy to be able to get out. Leander reached deep, found the focus point, and dropped the ward. Because he had to work so fast, he wasn’t able to drop only part of it. Bree was apparently able to get a cast off because the man with the gun dropped it. Bree darted forward, apparently intent on trying to retrieve the gun. Leander’s adrenaline spiked as the redhead recovered from the muscle weakness cast and kicked Bree just as she was bending over for the weapon.
Without conscious thought, Leander leaped forward and threw a punch at the man’s face, connecting well enough to hurt the hell out of his hand. The man staggered back, away from Bree, who had been knocked to the ground. One of the onlookers, a slight Asian guy, was bending over her, and the expression on his face was furious.
Should he protect Bree or go for the gun? Bree was closer, and with a growl of frustration, he went for her. The Asian guy had Bree by her braid now, and his hand had drawn back to strike her. Leander’s foot shot out in a well aimed kick to the man’s chest. He fell back into the crowd behind him, which roared with some primitive reaction.
Leander reached down for Bree and pulled her to her feet. The shocked look on her face told him she hadn’t expected him to be so skilled at hand to hand combat. He realized that in the heat of the moment, he’d forgotten the role he was trying to maintain. That he shouldn’t have been so good at it. Well, he’d have to weave some tale about his youth on the streets. In truth, Marton had sent him to study Tai Kwon Do while he was living with him. Leander hadn’t kept up with it, but apparently, his body remembered what to do.
Too late, he remembered the gun. The sound of a shot going off in close quarters caused both he and Bree to startle. They whirled around in unison and saw one of the young men, a blonde kid, down on the ground, clutching bloody hands to his chest, mouth widened in a howl of pain and surprise.
Leander felt a burning desire to run. He looked around frantically, trying to locate the shooter. The crowd was in total chaos now, some trying to get away, some pushing forward to look. There was a pall of negative energy over the whole scene, perceptible to his Demonsense. Leander could begin to feel it working on him. He was growing more angry than afraid, even though the deteriorating circumstances called for good old fashioned, self- preserving cowardice.
Bree’s voice was tight as she shouted at him, “We need to find the guy with the gun. Can you pull up a physical ward?”
He felt some of the demonic influence lessen as he glanced down at her. She was obviously terrified but resolute, and he had the surprising thought that if he didn’t live up to her courage, he’d be ashamed of himself. He pulled himself together, felt for his base energy and will energy, and drew on both, hard. Physical wards were very difficult. The law of physics resented being bent to such a great degree, and it took a lot of energy to maintain them. The ward came to his call, but it took all his concentration to keep it in place. “I’ve got it. You lead the way, and make it fast, I can only hold this for a couple of minutes.” Bree took him by the hand. Her hand was cold, which surprised him. He felt sweaty and hot with stress.
They were buffeted about as Bree tried to penetrate the milling, brawling crowd. While no one could physically touch them with the ward up, it created a kind of semi-hard bubble around them, like a mostly blown up beach ball. When people bumped into the ward, it jarred them in a mushy kind of way.
They managed to keep to their feet. Bree’s head was tracking back and forth as she tried to locate the shooter. Perhaps a minute had passed when they heard another gun shot, off to their right. The crowd seemed endless at this point. It had clearly grown. Doubtless there were police somewhere in the mob trying to contain things, but none were in direct view.
He only knew they had reached their destination by the fact that Bree had stopped. He was near the end of his ability to hold the ward. With an effort, he tried to divide his attention so he could be more aware of his surroundings. He saw the redhead Bree had taken the gun from before. His features were twisted into an attitude of intense rage, and Leander could just make out the orange spark in his eyes that indicated the demon possessing him was in full control. There was a little space around where he was standing, people having backed off as he raised his arm to point his gun at a struggling group on the ground. “Drop the ward!” Bree shouted over her shoulder at him, then made a gesture with one hand, and the redhead dropped to his knees, then onto his side.
He was still clutching the gun, though. A young man and woman dashed at him, trying to wrest the gun away. It went off, and the young woman, a pretty girl with dyed blonde hair, spun away with the impact of the bullet.
He and Bree were struck so hard from behind that they were thrown to the ground. The ward Leander had managed to pull back up after Bree cast cushioned their fall, then vanished as Leander’s concentration broke. Bree landed mostly underneath him. He tried to move off of her, and was distracted by the pain of a kick to his hip, followed by a second higher up on his side. He tossed off dizziness spell, one of the easiest to cast, in the direction of his assailant. The kicking stopped, but then another body landed on top of him and Bree. He felt someone step on his calf, another trod on the tips of his fingers. He was very much afraid they were about to be trampled to death.
The noise of the crowd was awful. People were in a panic, fighting like animals. He heard another gunshot, further away, then a second, closer. He tried to focus on putting a physical ward back up, but a glancing kick to his head threw him off completely.
At first, he thought the sudden increase in nausea was due to the blow to his head. But then his Demonsense locked in, hard, and he realized he must be in very close proximity to a demon. Even as this registered, he was flipped off of Bree, the force of the telekinetic spell clearly coming from her. She staggered to her feet, and began casting immediately, hands weaving in an intricate dance. People all around them were staggering. Some collapsed to the ground, and some were thrown back by an invisible force. There were cries of anger and surprise punctuating the roar of the crowd, and the sound of sirens that had started up sometime in the last few minutes.
Leander could hardly believe what he was seeing as he watched Bree. He had seldom seen such a display of power. It was the kind of thing really high power Keepers were supposed to be capable of. He must have mis-read Bree’s power somehow, and the thought was disturbing.
At first, she seemed to be making good headway. The space around them widened initially, and Leander had time to get painfully to his feet. His head was throbbing, and he still felt sick. His other pains were a distant second in his awareness.
All around was chaos. He was tall enough to see over the heads of some of the crowd, and he could see it had grown, spilling out into the street, stopping traffic. He could just glimpse po
lice in riot gear beginning to assemble on the edge of things. His attention was drawn back closer in as he saw movement coming toward him in his peripheral vision. Several men were pushing through the crowd towards he and Bree, and in seconds, a group of seven had made it to the periphery of the little circle of open space Bree had freed up around them. If his Demonsense was serving him correctly, every one of the seven was possessed, and every one of them was powered. And that probably meant Keltoi.
He briefly considered abandoning Bree then and there. All his instincts were telling him that as amazingly good as Bree was at battle casting, there was no way she was going to best that many powered at once. Not all of them were necessarily Casters, but all they’d really have to do was rush her while some focused on casting, and she’d be overwhelmed quickly, and he with her. He had half turned away from Bree, caught in frantic calculation and indecision, when he was struck hard from behind, hard enough to throw him to the ground. It was all he could do to get his hands up in time to keep his face from smashing into the pavement. He got another kick to the side, and as he instinctively curled around the pain, he was able to glimpse Bree, arm outstretched, and heard her intoning, in a clearly demon possessed voice, “Demon, I command you! Out of your host!”
In stunned disbelief, the words formed in Leander’s mind. Bree Jenkins is a Demon Master.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
All of the possessed Keltoi were down. Bree was pretty sure she hadn’t killed any of them by de-possessing them so quickly, but she couldn’t be certain.
My host, this is our chance to make our escape. To the south, I feel no others of my kind, and the crowd is thinner there, Gelsenim prompted her. Bree turned to look south, and immediately saw what he meant. On every other side the crowd was thicker. She heard another gun go off, and there was a strange smell to the air. Tear gas?
