by Sara DeHaven
Bree shuddered as Kevin’s voice emerged demon tainted. “I do, my Master. The man was well warded, but not enough for a demon of my class. What is your bidding?”
“You will go to your host’s home,” Franchesca said crisply. “You will retrieve his son. We will be waiting outside the house. You will hand over his son to us.”
“What about his, you know, partner,” Scanlon enquired. He had retreated until his back was against the front door of the office as the possession had transferred. Bree noted that he looked afraid and was trying to hide it.
Franchesca glanced at Scanlon with some annoyance, and then turned back to Kevin. “Take care to hide your presence from the partner. I want you to stay in this host for a time.”
“It will take much energy to keep control of this one. He is a strong Warder. I will need to feed,” the demon answered in Kevin’s voice. The scratchy tone of the demon was less evident.
“You may feed from your host. In fact, I invite you to feed from him until he's dead, once I let you know we're done with him. I never liked him anyway. When you're finished with this assignment, return to me and I will provide you with a new host, one more suited to your nature. Go now.”
“As you command, Master,” the demon replied. Kevin straightened his glasses with a gesture Bree knew well, and the familiarity of it was somehow more disturbing than if Kevin had done something uncanny and unlike him. He turned and walked toward the office door.
Bree looked anxiously at Daniel, and saw with relief that his eyes were opening. But before he could do more than glance around the room, Kevin was gone. Bree’s Demonsense finally started to calm, but she felt no relief. She was too distraught to feel relief.
Franchesca turned to Bree and said musingly, “Now, what to do with you.” She walked forward until she stood in front of Bree and looked down at her. “My, you are a mess.” Bree was careful not to look at Daniel, but she knew that Scanlon probably was watching him again and any surprise move on his part was likely to be foiled. If Daniel even had a surprise move left in him. He was strong, but no one's power could last forever, and he'd abused it multiple times tonight already.
Bree had experienced many kinds of fear in the last few hours, but apart from when she was first grabbed, she hadn’t truly been in fear for her life. She had quickly figured out that Franchesca wanted something, and had assumed, maybe just out of a sense of denial, that Franchesca wouldn’t kill her until she got what she wanted. But there was something in the cold way Franchesca was regarding her now that caused Bree to rethink that assumption. If she succeeded in getting Hunter, she would no longer need Bree to control Daniel.
Scanlon seemed to come to the same conclusion, because he said, “I don’t think we should kill her here. Too traceable.”
“I am not a complete amateur,” Franchesca said dismissively. To Bree’s surprise, she leaned over and yanked the tape from Bree’s mouth. The pain was intense, given Bree’s cut lip, and she couldn’t control a pained gasp. Her mouth was dry and sticky, and she ran her tongue around it trying to generate some moisture so she could speak. Not that she knew what she wanted to say. She realized that taking the tape off meant Franchesca felt Bree was no threat magically. Either she was operating instinctively or sometime tonight had read Bree on an energetic level. Somehow, Bree thought it was the former. She got the impression that Franchesca operated by instinct more than by logic.
“I might let you live if you give me the right information,” Franchesca said, straightening up again.
“ ‘Might’ is not much of an incentive,” Bree replied hoarsely.
“It’s all the incentive you get,” Franchesca answered. “Do you know Daniel’s hiding spell? Did he show it to you?”
Bree hesitated. She had read something of the spell with Daniel’s permission during his stay at her house, but she couldn’t claim to have mastered it to the extent that she could teach it to someone else. But should she pretend to know it? Would that buy her time for Daniel to recover and maybe help her?
“I guess he must trust me more than he trusts you,” she replied after a brief pause. Franchesca’s face flushed red with rage, and Bree felt a fierce satisfaction as her thrust went home. She had only an instant to enjoy it as Franchesca slapped her hard across the face, pushing the agonizing throbbing in Bree’s cheek and mouth over the edge into viciously sharp pain again.
“He may want to sleep with you, but he doesn’t love you,” Franchesca said hotly, eyes boring into Bree's.
Bree felt a momentary, intense emotional pain surge up in the center of her chest at that until she realized it might not be true. She shouldn’t care if it were true anyway, she told herself harshly. "That doesn’t change what I just said,” Bree returned, voice strengthening. “Obviously he never trusted you with the spell. I don’t like to think what he would do to me if I just handed it to you.”
Franchesca gestured impatiently as she stood up straight again. “He won’t hurt you, if that’s what you’re afraid of. I, on the other hand, have hurt you. And I will kill you with pleasure if you don’t prove useful to me.”
“You’ll kill me anyway. So why should I help you?”
“Because killing people is far more inconvenient than any of you straight powered think. Both normal law enforcement and Keepers do tend to get involved. Whereas if you give me the information I want, I can have you and Daniel held until the job I’m working is complete. At that point, I can release you both in such a way that I’ll be long gone before you can get organized to come after me.”
“And how would you ever be able to hold Daniel for that long?” Bree couldn’t help asking.
“By keeping him drugged, of course. Don’t worry, I’ll let you tend to him. You won’t be kept tied up the whole time.”
For a moment, Bree considered the idea. If she cooperated, or pretended to cooperate, maybe there would be some opening to get her and Daniel free, hopefully before Scanlon got too far away with Hunter. She looked up into Franchesca’s face and forced her Reader sense to tune in. It was fiendishly difficult with the amount of pain she was in. She examined Franchesca closely, especially the muscles around her eyes and mouth, which were always most revealing, then her posture. With a sinking feeling, she was almost sure she read that Franchesca planned to kill her anyway.
She saw Franchesca’s eyes widen as she realized Bree was reading her. Then she turned away and addressed Scanlon. “This is no use. She won’t cooperate. I’m sure you have a place where your clan takes people that need eliminating. Take care of it.”
Bree felt hysteria rise up in her where she wanted courage to be. She couldn’t help it. As Scanlon walked toward her, a grim look on his face, she jerked uselessly against the tape holding her to the chair. She knew she was acting like a dumb animal in a trap, but her brain had stopped working. She was totally unprepared when Daniel’s voice roared out, “Gelsenim, I call you! Gelsenim, I command you!”
Chapter 14
Heat and a ball of red-orange light rushed into the room. Franchesca whirled to face Daniel. Before Gelsenim could take shape, Daniel shouted, eyes wide open, “Gelsenim, possess me!”
Franchesca backed away, stumbling on her high heels. Daniel’s back arched up off the ground, neck muscles tensed and face contorted as Gelsenim entered him in a rush of orange smoke. "I, I command you!" Daniel gasped, and as he spoke, demonic fire flickered at his lips. His body jerked hard, and a haze of heat rose and shimmered all around him. He was weakened and losing control of the demon.
Bree's mind went numb with the horror of it. He was going to burn, just like Seth. She shook her head, hard, fighting off the dissociation. She grasped for options, for ways to help him, and came up with nothing. There was no time. "Daniel, fight him!" she shouted. "You can do this!"
Almost as soon as the words left her mouth, Franchesca shrieked, "Gelsenim, I command you as your Master!"
Daniel writhed and shuddered, and the heat haze began to clear. He jerked a few more t
imes, then stilled, eyes closed. Bree had no idea who was in control at this point: Daniel, Gelsenim or Franchesca. Before she could think how to find out, Daniel rolled to his side, and his shoulders and arms strained against his bonds. The tape tore and parted with an audible rip. He sprang to his feet in a move too fast to be real. He advanced on Franchesca, a growl emerging from his throat.
"Gelsenim, I command you!" Franchesca screamed as Daniel grabbed her by the arms and threw her across the room. She landed against the arm of the waiting room couch, then bounced off, onto the floor. She scrambled to her hands and knees, but before she could get to her feet, Daniel pulled her up by one arm and slapped her so hard that she collapsed onto the floor again.
Franchesca raised her reddened face and whimpered, "Daniel, please, it's me, Chesca!"
Daniel bent raised his hand for another slap, then froze. Slowly, he straightened, then his eyes rolled back in his head and he swayed on his feet.
"Daniel, don't forget, she's going after Hunter!" Bree countered frantically.
Daniel's hands clenched and he trembled. As he fought for control, Franchesca got to her feet. Fear and calculation chased each other across her face, then her expression resolved and she moved toward Daniel. A sensuous flush mounted her cheeks, and she twined an arm around Daniel’s neck. She crushed her mouth to Daniel’s, and writhed her body against his. He froze, then pulled her against him roughly and kissed her back. One hand moved down to her ass and kneaded it as he thrust his pelvis hard against her.
Bree watched for a moment, sickened, waiting to see if this was just a move on Daniel’s part to catch Franchesca off guard. As the embrace lengthened, the hope she had dissolved. She turned her head away, then caught a movement out of the corner of her eye. Scanlon strode up behind Daniel, the muzzle of Franchesca's gun in his hand, and hit Daniel hard on the back of the head with the grip.
Daniel fell forward, taking Franchesca down with him. Franchesca pushed him off, rolling him onto his back. As she lurched to her feet, Bree heard Daniel say in Gelsenim’s voice, “You will die for that. You will both die.”
Scanlon kicked Daniel hard in the side, then jerked and flew back into the air, slamming against the waiting room door.
Daniel must have been enough in charge to unleash one hell of a defensive spell. His body went limp for a moment, then his eyes opened again, and orange light flickered in the depths.
“Do something!” Scanlon addressed Franchesca, voice rising as he scrambled to his feet. “That demon's going to kick our asses if he doesn’t kill us first!”
“Get Justice and get out,” she said tersely. “I can hold him, but not for long.”
Scanlon flipped on the safety and shoved the gun into his pocket, then hauled the limp and stumbling Justice to his feet, moving him toward the door.
Franchesca raised her arms in front of her, over Daniel and intoned, “Gelsenim, I call you! Gelsenim, I command you!”
Daniel, or rather Gelsenim, responded breathlessly, “You cannot command me. Only Thorvaldson may command me.” Daniel rolled onto his knees, and got to his feet, much more slowly this time.
Franchesca balled both hands into fists in a commanding gesture and screamed, “Stop!” Daniel paused, halfway to standing upright. He was breathing hard.
Bree shouted, “Daniel, don’t let it control you! Don’t let her control you!”
Franchesca didn’t spare her even a glance. “If you wish to keep Daniel’s body, listen to me!” Franchesca hissed.
“How?” Gelsenim’s voice answered. “How may I keep his body?”
“It’s guilt that drives him. Guilt and self-hatred. Those are his weak points. Do you see it?”
There was a pause as Gelsenim considered, and Bree uselessly called out to Daniel again.
“I see it,” he answered finally.
“Feed those, and you have a chance,” Franchesca insisted, her dark eyes intent. “If you win that battle, come to me, and I will show you more.”
“You want something from this host,” Gelsenim rumbled.
“You are correct. If you bring him to me, under your control, and he gives me the information I want, I will show you how to keep him.”
“Show me now!” Gelsenim roared, and Franchesca brought her two fists together. Daniel dropped back to his knees.
“I am a Demon Master. You may not command me,” Franchesca returned. She backed toward the door and unclenched one fist long enough to reach behind her for the doorknob. “Tirakku will know how to find me,” she finished, and darted quickly outside.
Slowly, as if a great and terrible weight were upon him, Daniel got back to his feet. Bree watched as he swayed, half facing her. He was holding his body all wrong. She knew by now how he stood, how he moved, and that Daniel was far away. She had to bring him back.
“Daniel,” she tried again, more gently. “Daniel, please listen. I know you can control him. You’ve always done it before.”
He turned to face her fully. “You are not so fine as before, but I think I will enjoy you nonetheless,” Gelsenim said with Daniel's voice.
Bree’s heart tried to hurl itself out of her chest as Gelsenim moved toward her in Daniel’s body. She struggled against her bonds in a useless panic. Daniel's hand shot out and began kneading one of her breasts roughly, painfully. His eyes bored into hers, and tears brimmed over as she said piteously, “Daniel, please!”
But she saw no sign of Daniel. His hand left her breast, and went to the hem of her dress, watching her face for her reaction as he pushed it up her thighs. His face moved closer to hers, lips lifting in a filthy smile. She steeled herself to keep his gaze and desperately, she said, “Daniel, nothing you’ve ever done will leave you with the guilt you’ll have to live with if you let Gelsenim rape me.”
He stopped advancing, and something in his eyes shifted. Yes, that was it! Franchesca had given her the key. She could hook Daniel with guilt, but she also had to help him fight it. That was the weak point Gelsenim was working. “Whatever it is you’ve done,” she continued quickly, “we can talk about it. Whatever it is, I forgive you.”
Daniel's whole body shuddered as he straightened up again. The conviction that she was onto something filled her. “I forgive you,” she said again more strongly.
Daniel’s eyes rolled back in his head, and his body shivered. “I forgive you!” she cried. “I forgive you, Daniel! I forgive you!”
His body shook so hard that he fell back onto the floor. He jerked and trembled like an epileptic, and terrible squealing and grunting noises came out between his clenched teeth. Finally, his movements slowed, then stopped. Ever so slowly, orange smoke trickled out of his opening mouth, then came out in a great cloud. It swirled and started to form into a human shape, but before the demon could complete its transformation, Daniel ground out, “Gelsenim, I command you! Leave my body and leave this place. Do not return until you are called!”
An unearthly howl filled the room, and the demon imploded and vanished.
Bree was too drained to cry with relief. Only a few quiet tears continued to leak out. Her chin dropped to her chest, and her hair swung forward, nearly covering her face. She knew she should be trying to read Daniel, to see how he was, but she needed to gather herself. Her blood still sang madly through her veins from the adrenaline, but she felt like a limp, dirty rag.
She heard a rustle as Daniel started moving, and it took a ridiculous amount of effort to lift her head and look at him. He shuffled forward on his knees until he was right in front of her. Tears were tracking down his cheeks in reaction to the de-possession. His eyes met hers briefly, then shied away and focused on working at the tape holding her to the arms of the chair. His hands were shaking, which made the task hard, and he kept stopping to rub at his tears with his shirtsleeve. He finally worked one arm free, and she stretched it out and rotated her wrist in relief as he worked on the other. When both were free, he rested his hands on the arms of the chair and dragged his gaze from her knees back up t
o her eyes. “I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for what I did when Gelsenim had me. Are you okay?” he asked softly. His tears had finally stopped.
Bree felt her stomach clench as his gaze met hers. She couldn’t help but see traces of the demon in his face. It was enough to make her feel afraid of him in a way she never had before. “I’ll live.”
He closed his eyes for a moment with a look of pain. He had just opened his mouth to say something when they both heard the squeal of a car coming to a quick stop outside.
“Javier and his team,” Daniel said, and pushed back onto his heels, then stood up. He swayed, stumbled, and nearly went down.
Javier was the first man in, gun drawn. He gestured for the four Keepers behind him to check out the offices as Daniel said, “They’re all gone. Keltoi, three of them, one high power and a Demon Master.”
“Where’s Kevin?” Javier asked. He lowered his gun, but didn't put it away. He had a dark five o’clock shadow, and his tie was uncharacteristically crooked.
“Possessed,” Daniel answered shortly as he moved to prop himself up against the back of a chair. “We need to call Steve right away, tell him to take Hunter and get out of the house. They’re after Hunter."
Javier gave Daniel an inscrutable look, then pulled out his phone. “What’s the number?”
Javier dialed, and they all waited while the phone rang on the other end. The rest of Javier’s team, two men and two women, reappeared. They held their guns down, but at the ready as they waited for further instructions. One of the men had his eyes closed, and Bree figured he was using his Demonsense. She got carefully to her feet as Javier finally hung up. “No answer,” he said. “My team and I will start on over. I’ll try again on the way.”
"I'm coming with you," Daniel said, straightening up.
