by Sara DeHaven
Gelsenim's features went through a rapid succession of expressions. Bree couldn't tell if it was because he was experiencing many different feelings or because he couldn't settle on an expression to show her. "You are set on this course of action, my host. I feel it. I feel your love for Daniel as you think of it. It is akin to what I feel for you. And it is strange. When you feel it this strongly, I feel it too. This hasn't happened before. I feel as if I, too, wish to protect Daniel. But at the same time, I am jealous of this feeling. I wish you to feel it for me. I do not understand it, not at all."
Bree shook her head. "It sucks, doesn't it? We call that 'mixed feelings.' If you can feel what I feel, you know I have some mixed feelings about Daniel. I didn't know I could love someone so much who also scares me to some degree."
"Then there is hope for me," Gelsenim said confidently, so much so that an involuntary laugh was wrung out of Bree.
"You're sure of that are you?"
"I am sure of it, my host."
Before she could reply, her phone rang, and she scrambled off the couch to answer.
"Bree? It's Leander. Listen, I've got some information for you on when and where your friend can meet my friend."
So this was it. Bree felt lightheaded. Gelsenim's voice manifested in her mind, though he was standing right next to her. What is it, my host? What upsets you?
Leander has a locate on Marton. He knows when and where Daniel can find him. "Okay," she answered Leander slowly. "What should I tell my friend?"
"My guy and his girlfriend are planning on going to some kind of charity ball at the Asian Art Museum in Volunteer Park tonight. They should be able to meet up after."
Tonight. My God, so soon!
Perhaps it is better this way, Gelsenim replied. It is uncertain how long Daniel will remain undivided.
"Will there be, ah, other people that want to meet up?"
"Not as far as I know. Bree, I've been thinking I ought to go with you."
A rush of relief was followed quickly with doubt. She’d been swamped with nervousness and guilt for telling Leander about Daniel's hiding spell, and about Daniel's conviction that Leander was still Keltoi. It made perfect sense, of course. Sending in someone who couldn't be read, someone charming enough to finagle his way into their social group. But she’d concluded that if he was a Keltoi spy, he’d already know they wanted Daniel’s hiding spell.
And yet she couldn't quite seem to doubt that Leander had feelings for her. Hell, she had a few for him as well. "If you're sure," she replied.
"As I can be." There was humor in his voice, and she could just imagine his rueful smile.
"When does the ball start?"
"At seven. Apparently, they moved the time up because of the midnight curfew.”
"Why don't you pick me up a seven? That would get us there by seven-thirty, which should be early enough if they decide to just make a quick appearance, then leave."
"I can do that. And Bree, you should bring along the present I gave you."
The gun. She'd already decided to bring it in spite of her reservations about the possibility that someone could too easily take it from her and use it against her. She had to use every advantage she could get. If something happened to Daniel, it could be her against Varga, Franchesca and any other Keltoi they managed to bring along.
"Will do. See you tonight. And thank you, thank you so much, Leander."
"You're welcome. See you later."
She ended the call, mind racing.
"You do not trust this Leander, do you?" Gelsenim said aloud.
"No, I don't. I can't afford to. He could be Varga's back up. He could well have more casting ability than he's been willing to show me so far, and if that's the case, maybe I can't take him."
"And yet you have invited him to come with you. You risk his turning on you."
"I've got a plan for how to deal with him."
Gelsenim regarded her, head tilted, then he smiled. "It is simple, but is likely to put him out of the way."
"Hopefully for long enough." She found Daniel on her contact list on her phone and called him. His voice was calm to the point of lifelessness. "I want your promise you aren't going to try to get in on this," he said once she had relayed the information. "I don't want the distraction of looking over my shoulder the whole time, wondering when you're going to show up."
Bree had prepared herself for this, practiced what she would say out loud in the shower, in her car, in bed at night until she felt she could deliver the truth in such a way that the lie behind it wasn't visible. "I don't like it, but I understand why you need it this way. I know you can't afford anything that would trigger your going divided. So okay, I get it." She had hoped to sound scared, had wanted how she felt about him to come across, and it had without her really trying.
Daniel let out a pent up sigh, the first sign of any emotion during the whole conversation, and just that small sound made her heart flutter. He had continued brisk and cool in his interactions with her during their two brief phone calls, and it warmed her to hear even a tiny hint that he was not completely shut down towards her. "Thank you Bree, I mean it."
He bought it, she could hear it in his voice. Thank God. She'd been so worried that he would bind her on this.
And then it occurred to her that this could be the last time she spoke to him. Somehow, in all her rehearsing of this conversation, she hadn't thought of that, hadn't, apparently, let herself think of it, and now that the moment was here, she didn't know what to say. If she told him again that she loved him, it might only upset him further. By the silence on the other end of the line, she figured Daniel must be as tongue tied as she. "Well, good luck then," Bree hazarded, and winced immediately. The words were so completely inadequate to how she was feeling.
"Thank you. Take care of yourself, Bree," Daniel replied, then cut the connection. Bree gulped back threatening sobs. No, she thought fiercely, I am not going to let him get himself killed.
She felt the touch of Gelsenim's hand on her shoulder, warmer than a real person's would be. She could feel the heat through her sweater. "My host, it is ill advised for you to try to intervene in this duel. While we are very strong together, I cannot be certain of protecting you if this Keltoi is as strong as is rumored."
"It's not like I'm planning on jumping right in the middle of it. In fact, I'm really hoping I won't be doing more than watch Daniel kick his ass. But it sounds like Franchesca will be there, at minimum, and someone has to be ready to counter her if she tries to interfere."
"But if you draw the Keltoi's attention, he will not hesitate to kill you."
"The way I figure it, he'll be too busy with Daniel to worry about me. I have a feeling he's not the kind of guy to protect Franchesca over himself."
"It is still a risk," the demon insisted.
"Of course it's a risk!" Bree exclaimed in rising frustration. They'd already discussed this, not long after she'd called him for the possession. "I've already told you, I won't be able to live with myself if I don't try to do something. Now, are you going to help me or not?"
Gelsenim's expression went petulant, veered rapidly into calculating, and ended rather stiff. "I will help you my host."
Bree nodded. "Now about tonight. I was thinking if I let you stay joined with me until right before we go, you should be about as well fed as you've ever been, right?"
"You are likely right, my host."
"So you'd probably still be pretty coherent and less likely to do something crazy like try to take me over."
Gelsenim frowned. "It seems sound reasoning. But as much as I would like to promise to obey you, I must be honest and say that with so much violence and power being wielded, there may be some instinctive reaction on my part to be drawn to it. If we were already joined, though, I think it would be much more likely to stay coherent."
But Bree was shaking her head. "Gelsenim, it's going to be hard enough to avoid Daniel's and Varga's detection as it is. It'll only be more diffic
ult if I have you on board. I know Daniel's Demonsense is exceptional, and given Varga is supposed to be a high power Demon Master, I'm assuming his is also very strong. And then there's Franchesca to worry about. No, my only hope is to be far enough away before it starts that they can't detect me, then move in closer once the action starts and they're not focusing their attention outward any more. Trust me, I'll call you if it comes down to me having to do battle. I don't have a chance in hell against these people without you."
"Yes, I recall the one you picture, this Franchesca. I see her in your mind. She is unstable, but in a different way than Daniel. I do not believe she is divided."
"Well, she's demon burned, which is a particular kind of dangerous crazy. Which means even if Varga instructs her to stay out of it, it's hard to tell what she'll do."
"It is she who shot at you with a gun," Gelsenim put in conversationally.
"What? What are you talking about? You mean the other night? Were you there?"
"No, I was not there. But I saw your memories of her in your mind just now. The form of the body is the same as the form of that one who shot at you. You thought of the shooter as well, because you were also just thinking of taking along the gun Leander gave you. This Leander. I see he desires you. Perhaps I should feel jealousy of him also?"
As always happened during her interactions with Gelsenim, Bree was feeling more and more out of her depth. How to explain such complex emotions to a demon? Could she expect him to understand? And just how dangerous was he going to be if he became jealous of her? It could be like having the worst crazy boyfriend on the planet. "Of course I find Leander attractive," she admitted. "I like him, and he's been kind to me. But it's hard for me that I can't read him. It makes it harder to trust him. And besides, he's a pretty damaged person in some ways. I saw something of his history the one time I was able to read him, and it was very harsh."
"Daniel is damaged, and yet you love him. Why would it be different with Leander?"
Bree didn't know how to tell the demon what she didn't know herself. "Maybe if I hadn't already fallen for Daniel, I'd give it a go with Leander. In fact, I probably couldn't resist being with him, in spite of my reservations. He's got a serious amount of charm, and in some ways, the fact that I can't read him is kind of intriguing. But there is Daniel."
"There might not be after tonight."
"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Bree asked, voice low.
Gelsenim did not answer right away. "If I allowed him to die, or caused him to through my own actions, I fear you would be very angry with me. You might resist our joining. Yet if he were to die, it would benefit me greatly. He keeps me from you, and he believes I mean you harm." He shrugged. "More of these mixed feelings."
While Bree was encouraged that Gelsenim appeared honest, she couldn't be much reassured by what he was saying. There was clearly a chance he might get carried away in the violent energies of the moment and end up doing more harm than good. But she might have no choice but to take the risk. Then it occurred to her to remember that Gelsenim could hear everything single thing she was thinking. "Can you?" she asked
"Can I what?"
"Can you hear absolutely everything I'm thinking?"
Gelsenim cocked his head, and brushed his hair back from his forehead with one hand. "I hear clearly those thoughts you direct to me specifically. The other thoughts and feelings vary greatly. It is like being in water with fish. When one swims close, I see it clearly. When it is farther away, I see its shape and can only guess at it's kind. When it is farther still, I can only sense the movement of it in the water. I do not know what makes some of your thoughts and memories clear and what makes others less so."
"Emotion maybe? Intensity of emotion?"
"Perhaps. It would make for an interesting experiment to determine in more detail how this mechanism works."
"Later, Gelsenim. Right now I need to rehearse some offensive and defensive spells with you. I want to be fresh for tonight."
"This seems a wise plan, my host. I do not wish you to come to any harm. I have plans for you, for us."
Bree felt a chill at the demon's words. If they survived the night, she had a very interesting, and perilous set of experiments and dilemmas waiting for her.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
"I can't believe this is happening," Bree said, voice rising in feigned panic. "The fucking check engine light has been on all week, but with everything that's been happening, I haven't had a chance to get in to my mechanic."
"Calm down, it's okay, I'll come and get you," Leander answered over the phone Bree had clutched in a sweaty grip.
"You don't understand, I'm almost all the way up to Everett! I wanted to get a gun from my friend Howard. God damn it, I should have tried to get one legally, like you told me to. But I couldn't decide, and then you called about Varga, and there wasn't time..."
"Just tell me where you are. I was already on my way, so it shouldn't take that long, traffic willing." Leander's voice held a definite hint of strain.
Bree gave him the address of a gas station she'd looked up online. "The gas station guy is still trying to work on it. I'll call you if by some miracle he gets it running and I'll meet you there, at the park."
"I'll get there as fast as I can." Leander ended the call, and Bree couldn't tell if he'd believed her. If he were with the Keltoi, he'd have reason to suspect she might want to ditch him. Well, it was the best she could do. If the Saturday night traffic was bad enough, going all the way up to Everett could delay Leander as much as forty-five minutes, maybe an hour, especially if he wasted some time trying to figure out if he was at the right place. And then he'd have to drive all the way back to Volunteer Park, and traffic heading into Seattle was certain to be heavy. If she was very lucky, he'd be delayed long enough to keep him out of the whole thing. It all depended on how long Varga and Franchesca spent at the ball, and how long the duel took.
Of course, at best, she'd taken only one Keltoi out of the situation. If Leander had warned Varga, Varga would have had plenty of time to come up with a plan if he decided he wanted to try to take Daniel instead of duel with him.
"It is done, my host," Gelsenim said from where he stood beside her, arms crossed, leaning against the wall by her front door. "You have done all you could to delay Leander."
"I know." She pulled her brown leather jacket off the hook in the hallway and put it on. Between that and her black jeans, she hoped to be hard to see. "Do you want to just go back inside me or ride in the car?"
"Definitely ride in the car," Gelsenim replied, straightening up. "I have never ridden in a car in this form. In fact, I would like to learn how to drive. If you are injured, that would allow me to get you to help."
"Well then, I hope you can learn by watching because I'm not letting you drive there."
"If I concentrate on your sensations, how it feels to you to drive, I believe I will be able to replicate your motions if needed."
Bree pushed aside how creeped out that made her. She'd been working really hard on thinking of Gelsenim as a person, at forgetting he was actually always in her head, or her body, or whatever. She pulled her keys out of her pocket and said, "Let's go, Gelsenim."
Bree had a good view of both Franchesca and Varga through the lenses of her binoculars. She was perched on a rise with her back to the round brick water tower at Volunteer park, in among the trees and bushes at its base. The choice of viewing spot had been a calculated risk. She'd had to make an educated guess about where Daniel would most likely position himself in order to place herself outside his Reader perceptive range, which Bree knew to be about a hundred yards. She had gambled that Daniel would be across the park, closer to the most likely dueling spot, which she had scouted by looking at online pictures and maps of the park.
Varga was shaking the hand of a stout bald man, Franchesca hanging off his arm. Bree looked for traces of Daniel in Varga's face, given they were cousins. Maybe there was something in the slant of the cheekbones, th
e shape of the eyes. She wondered how much harder the prospect of killing Varga was for Daniel given that they were related, albeit only distantly. She was quite sure that would make it harder if it were her.
The huge glass windows of the Art Deco building of the Asian Art museum where the ball was being held spilled warm light out onto the steps out front. Long golden banners with stylized black cranes on them were dramatically illuminated on either side of the entrance, and were gently rippling in the slight breeze. Varga and Franchesca had moved to one side, close to one of the reclining camel statues, as they continued to greet and talk to other guests from the event. It was getting close to ten. The bulk of the event attendees had already left by the time Varga and Franchesca came out.
Bree would have been tired if she weren't so keyed up. She was nearly as nervous about Daniel finding her as she was about catching the attention of Varga and Franchesca. There was still no sign of Leander, even though he’d texted that he was here. She’d been hoping the duel would’ve been over by now, had gambled on the charity dinner and ball letting out earlier given the pending curfew. That way, Leander would have been kept out of it if he was serving as Varga’s back up. Maybe he was planning on following Varga and finding her that way. Or he was placing himself where he could best serve Marton.
Well, that was all out of her hands now. Bree lowered the binoculars and swept her gaze all around her. It was a mostly cloudy night, a thin crescent of moon revealed periodically as the cloud cover was slowly pushed east. The glow of downtown Seattle lit the nighttime sky behind her, but it was quite dark under the trees. Still no sign of movement besides the departing guests.
Volunteer Park stood on a hill east of downtown, a collection of wide, grassy meadows surrounded by stands of trees. An elegant turn of the century glass conservatory was just visible from where she was lurking, at the north end of the park. She thought it likely Daniel was in the trees just short of the conservatory.
