Demonsense (Demonsense series Book 1)

by Sara DeHaven

  And there, finally, was Hunter. Scanlon had his hand on Hunter's shoulder. Hunter's eyes widened when he saw her and Daniel. "Daniel, Bree!" he cried. He started forward, but Scanlon pulled him back.

  Bree had to control the nearly overpowering impulse to run to Hunter. She could blow the whole thing by acting too soon. The plan was to wait until Hunter was handed over to make a move. "We're going to get you back!" Bree called out to him. Tears poured down Hunter's face, and Daniel's grip on her arm tightened, warning her to stay still.

  "Now, I need to see if you’re serious about offering yourself for the child before he comes any closer." Franchesca continued.

  “Of course I am,” Daniel said evenly.

  Franchesca eyed him for a moment, clearly reading, then nodded. “Yes, I see that you are. Come with me, and we can make the exchange.”

  "If you want me, you'll have to Scanlon bring Hunter to me instead," Daniel said, crossing his arms. "When he's handed Hunter over to Bree, I'll go with you."

  “Oh, I do want you Daniel, I really do,” Franchesca replied huskily. She reached up and pushed her mask up on top of her head, and took another step toward Daniel, lips parted. Bree immediately stepped forward.

  “Possessive are we, little rabbit?” Franchesca asked. She glared across at Bree, the soulful look on her face transformed instantly into one of anger.

  “Enough games,” Bree said briskly. “Stop your pathetic little seduction routine and tell that guy to bring Hunter over."

  Rage flushed Franchesca’s face, and her hand reared back to slap Bree, but faster than Bree’s eyes could follow, Daniel grabbed Franchesca’s wrist. For a moment, they were locked together, like two opponents arm wrestling, faces close together. Bree heard Franchesca whisper, “I will get Hunter for you, but you must help me get free of the Keltoi. They forced me to possess Hunter. Help me get free, Daniel, please!”

  They broke apart as a group of young men stumbled in the middle of them, flinging their limbs around frantically to the music, galloping like horses through the crowd. Bree glanced around, and saw a couple writhing together, clothes half off, one of the devil shapes dancing behind them. She saw a young woman with bent fairy wings stagger by, hand held to her bleeding face. Another devil was in the midst of a brawl that had broken out, fists flying. The dancers were caroming off each other, and one of them went down and got stepped on. The energy of the demons was urging people toward an unhealthy state of arousal, both violent and darker sexual feelings coming to the surface. Bree saw one of the Keepers trying to break up a fight, and knew instantly that the point of bringing so many possessed was to provide just this kind of distraction so they could try to take Daniel without giving up Hunter.

  “I can have the father bring him to us,” Franchesca was saying a little breathlessly, “but how can I trust that you'll truly come with me without a fight?"

  Daniel pulled his mask off, and his voice softened. “Franchesca, I think you know that I’m not the one here with a history of breaking trust.”

  “You turned me in!” Franchesca said, voice breaking, and Bree saw the first genuine emotion from Franchesca she had seen all night

  “I was trying to help you!” Daniel replied roughly. “I didn’t want to see you come to this. There’s almost nothing of you left, Chesca. Don’t you see that?”

  Franchesca shook her head. There was something off in the gesture, Bree was sure of it. It didn't go with the emotion she'd shown just a moment before. Bree didn't hear Franchesca's reply. She was too busy trying to figure out what Franchesca might be up to. Hunter and Scanlon were still there, and Franchesca hadn't moved. Finally, Bree glanced at the Keltoi in the gangster outfit, just as he pulled a syringe out of his pocket. "Daniel, the gangster, look out!" she cried.

  Daniel took a step back, but he didn't move fast enough. The gangster pulled the cap off the syringe and lunged at Daniel. Without conscious thought, Bree's hand lashed out, striking at the gangster's arm. She connected just enough to disrupt his aim. He missed Daniel by inches.

  Franchesca's eyes rolled back, and her hands raised, fists clenched before her. “Now!” she shouted.

  Almost before the word left her lips, Daniel’s arm shot out and encircled Bree’s waist. He pivoted on his heels and threw her away from him, out of the line of fire of any spells coming his way. She stumbled and fell, her mask knocked askew. By the time she had ripped it from her face, the rabbit ears along with it, battle was in full swing. The big man in the gangster outfit staggered back from Daniel. On the other side of Daniel, Javier fought off one of the devils, and Chen gestured madly at one of the ghosts, who fell to the ground. Bree looked frantically for Hunter. He wasn't where he'd been before.

  In that fleeting moment when she took in the chaos of the crowd, a pattern fell into place. Some part of her Reader sense came online in a way it never had before, showing her clear patterns in the movements of the crowd. The Keltoi were all moving toward Daniel, the Keepers were trying to keep them away and get to Hunter.

  Franchesca backed away from Daniel. Her face was flushed, and her lips moved. She was directing the possessed in some way. Two of the devils broke through the crowd and came running toward Daniel. With a grace usually lacking in his movements, Daniel formed and threw spell after spell. One of the devils stiffened and slowly tipped backward, like a felled tree. The gangster hunched over like he’d been hit in the gut, though he hadn’t been touched. Daniel made an underhanded throwing motion toward the other devil, who dodged the spell, then was hit by a second. The devil clutched at his throat, then collapsed onto his knees.

  Bree scrambled to her feet and started moving in the direction she'd last seen Hunter and Scanlon, shoving her way through the crowd until she finally caught a glimpse of them. They were heading downhill, towards the water. Just as the way before her cleared enough for her to break into a sprint, one of the ghosts intercepted Scanlon. He took Scanlon's arm and dragged him toward an idling car where another ghost sat the wheel.

  Hunter pulled against Scanlon's hold and kicked at his legs. For a split second, he broke free of Scanlon's grasp, and Bree's heart leapt with hope. But Scanlon only had to take a few short steps to intercept him. He picked Hunter up by the waist and carried him to the car. Bree caught Hunter's eye just as Scanlon dumped him into the back seat. They were getting away! She was already running full out, and she wasn't going to make it.

  Scanlon climbed into the seat next to Hunter, and the car peeled out before he could finish closing the car door. Bree came nearly up to the car, and she reached out a hand, as if she could stop the car by getting hold of it. The tips of her fingers just grazed the taillight. She caught a glimpse of the back of Hunter's head as the car sped off down the street. It swerved briefly to avoid a partygoer, then made a right at the corner.

  Bree staggered to a stop, and put her hands on her knees, breathing hard. That quickly, it was over. Scanlon must have decided the exchange deal was called off when the fighting started. God, what was she going to tell Kevin and Steve? Her eyes welled up with tears, but she dashed them away fiercely. Getting Hunter tonight was clearly a lost cause, but there was still a chance Franchesca could be prevented from getting Daniel. He was the only leverage they had for getting Hunter back.

  Bree stood up and forced herself to jog back up hill, toward the crowd. She made it to the edge and raised up onto her toes, trying to get a glimpse of Daniel. There was a nexus of movement ahead. She pushed forward, and was starting to make some headway when someone slammed into her from the side. She staggered, and just as she straightened up, one of the ghosts came at her and whipped off a roundhouse kick at her midsection. She had enough time to skitter backwards, deflecting some of the force, but the kick still connected enough to send her sailing back into the people behind her. They all went down in a sprawl of limbs.

  Bree clutched at her middle. For a minute, she couldn't breathe, couldn't move.

  The people she'd landed on top of shoved her aside and ma
naged to crawl away. When she was able to breathe, she clambered to her feet as quickly as she could, and looked around for Daniel, one hand clutching her abused stomach.

  She couldn't see him in the milling, flailing crowd. Just ahead, the Keeper in the pirate costume went down under one of the ghosts. She sprinted over, braced herself, and planted a vicious kick in the ghost’s ribs. It knocked the ghost off the Keeper. She shouted, “Shield!” and deployed her defensive spell over herself and the downed Keeper. The ghost got back to her feet and made a run at them, leapt into some kind of fancy marital arts kick, crashed into the invisible barrier and went down.

  The pirate got up and nodded at Bree. She dropped the spell, and the Keeper went and sat on the ghost, punched her twice on the side of the head. Bree winced, feeling sick to her stomach. Granted, the woman was Keltoi, and making a run for Daniel, but the violence of it was disturbing. She looked around again, reading the flow of movement and energy around her, and didn’t like what she saw.

  There was absolute mayhem. The drums faltered as the fights between Keepers and Keltoi disrupted the dancing. There were cries of protest, then shrieks as more people were knocked down and trampled on. She caught a glimpse of Daniel, further away than she'd thought he would be, and he was still up and flinging spells. She ran toward him, and nearly tripped on a couple that fell to the ground in front of her. Just beyond them one of the devils humped a screaming teenaged Goth girl. Bree hesitated, wanting to get to Daniel, but she just couldn't leave the poor girl to the possessed Keltoi. She skipped over the downed couple and barreled into the devil, rolling him off the girl, and landed on top of him.

  Bree's Demonsense was like an aura of fire burning all around her body, screaming danger. She threw a wild, ineffectual punch at the man’s face, which barely turned his head.

  He grinned up at her, and she could see the demon was in full possession. She had only a brief moment to realize how stupid she’d been to get this close when the man grabbed the back of her neck, pulled her face roughly down to his, and ran his tongue across her lips, thrusting his pelvis up at her. She tried to rear back, tried to get purchase with her feet on the ground to push away, but she couldn’t break his hold. His thumbs reached around to the front of her throat and began to squeeze. She frantically pulled against his arms, trying to loosen his grip on her throat. The pain in her throat, and her rising terror made it impossible for her to formulate her shield spell. Desperately she tried, knowing there was no way to break free. The possessed man was far stronger than her. Her vision began to go dark.

  She felt rather than saw a blow to the devil’s arm. One hand was jarred free from her neck, and she threw her body’s weight with all her might against the other hand. She broke free and landed in a heap on her back. She saw a blur of motion, and turning her head, saw Javier land full on top of the Keltoi, elbow to the man’s temple, an avenging punk angel. She had never seen him looking so fierce, so elemental. His cool control was gone, the fastidious, righteous wanna-be saint replaced by a warrior.

  She had a split second to enjoy the sight, then a devil and a ghost were on him, the ghost grabbing him from behind, pulling him off the other Keltoi, the devil waving his hands in a spell. Bree was nearly stepped on as one of the revelers stumbled past her. She lurched to her feet, breathing hard, trying to think of some way to help Javier. The ghost collapsed behind Javier, victim of a spell, and the devil in front of him clutched at his eyes and reeled.

  That decided her. Javier could clearly defend himself. If the Keltoi had succeeded in drugging Daniel, he might not be able to. She scanned the crowd, and saw with alarm that there was a concentration of movement around Daniel’s last position. The crowd was thinning as partygoers ran away. The drumming had finally stopped. Another big gust of wind reared up, and she had to bend her knees and brace herself to keep from staggering. A storm was clearly on its way. She pushed through the panicked people, stepped over downed bodies until she could see the center of the action. Three devils and a ghost had hold of Daniel, one at each limb. He was writhing and fighting, his sweater rucked up, the half healed scar of his knife wound exposed. Three syringes were visible on the ground around him, all half crushed. She could only hope that they had been stepped on before, not after, putting some drug into Daniel.

  Franchesca loomed over the still fighting Daniel, a strange mix of grief and triumph in her face. She looked up and saw Bree, and her mouth stretched into a gloating smile. She turned and led the way out of the crowd, her minions pulling Daniel behind.

  Bree was paralyzed. There was nothing more she could do to stop them taking Daniel. She was no Caster, no Keeper skilled in offensive spells.

  One of the demon possessed holding Daniel caught her gaze as she stared after the retreating group, malevolence and glee clear on the man’s red and orange painted face. And like a lightening bolt, the memory of Daniel saying that being an Exorcist was very close to being a Demon Master hit her.

  With desperate determination, she ran after them, reaching for that place inside she called on when casting exorcism spells. They were halfway down the hill that ended at the water, the underside of the bridge rising above them like a four story tall cathedral. Franchesca was already climbing into a black SUV that must have been parked there early in the day so it would be ready as a get away car.

  When Bree was ten feet away, she stopped, raised her hands into fists before her, and screamed, “Demons, I call you! Demons, I command you! Stop!” She put every bit of will and base energy she had into the call, into the picture in her mind of the demons holding Daniel freezing in place. The demon possessed staggered to a stop and all turned to look at her. She wasn’t sure if it was simple surprise, or if she had affected them in some way. She forged on, hoping for the latter. “By God the Father, I command you! By the light, I command you! Drop him! Drop him now!”

  To her shock, the three demon possessed dropped Daniel, all at once. He landed on his back on the ground, then quickly spun over onto his knees and surged to his feet.

  “By the Light, I command you!” Bree continued. “Get in the car and leave this place!” The three men hesitated, looking at Daniel with hungry eyes, but that hesitation was enough for Daniel to yank the tape off his mouth and retreat out of their reach. Daniel took over, raising his hands alongside Bree’s, and shouted, “Demons, you will leave this place!”

  Franchesca flung open the door to the SUV, got out and raised her arms. The three possessed Keltoi writhed in contradictory commands of two Demon Masters. Bree added her will to Daniel’s, hoping against hope it would make a difference as Franchesca clenched her hands and raised her voice in an attempt to counteract Daniel’s mastery.

  Bree shouted, “By the light of heaven, by the light of God, I command you to obey Daniel!”

  The possessed Keltoi turned and climbed into the vehicle. Franchesca slowly lowered her hands. She was silent, as was Daniel, only their eyes speaking some old, secret language to one another. Tears appeared in Franchesca’s eyes, and Bree was too strained and rattled to even try to read if they were genuine. Finally, Franchesca got into the SUV, and it pulled away.

  Chapter 20

  Daniel lowered his hands and stood breathing hard, staring at the ground. Then he turned and looked Bree up and down. “Are you hurt?"

  She regarded him with concern. “No, you? Did they manage to drug you?”

  “I got stuck once, but I must have pulled away before that Keltoi guy could push the plunger. I don't feel any different." He turned around toward the crowd uphill, face intent as he scanned the remaining action. "I don't think any of the Keepers saw that," he said, voice low and tense.

  "God, I hope not," Bree replied. She anxiously scanned for Keepers as well, but none seemed to be paying them any mind.

  "Let’s go see if we can help,” Daniel said, already moving forward.

  Beside the Troll, the party had broken up. Bree saw one of the devils disappearing up the side of the bridge. Another staggered
down the street, propping up one of the ghosts, who had blood all down the side of his face. The Keltoi were scattering, apparently having gotten the message that the action was over. Bree was happy to see Caleb Lane sitting up and looking around, bemused, his cowboy hat askew but still on his head. He appeared a little rattled but essentially unhurt. One of the ghosts near him unstuck from a freezing spell, and she took off downhill. There were both injured Keepers and normals on the ground.

  Javier came up to them and said, "Did the Keltoi not bring Hunter, or did we just fail to get him?"

  "They brought him, but we didn't get him." Daniel replied.

  Javier sighed, rubbing at one of his shoulders. "I am sorry. Listen, why don't you and Bree help with locating injured Keepers. We have to get them out of here before local law enforcement shows up. I'm sure I'm not the only one who called 911."

  Bree watched Javier's tells closely for signs that he or any of the other Keepers had seen Daniel using his Demon Master talent, but she could see none.

  "Stay alert, and stay together." Javier glanced around. "It looks like the Keltoi have bolted, but you never know. And don't leave until you check back in with me.”

  Bree and Daniel made their way through the remaining crowd. They located Keeper Chen sitting on one of the Troll's fingers. She was clutching her forearm to her chest.

  "Is it broken?" Daniel asked, squatting down in front of her.

  Chen grimaced. "I'm pretty sure it is. One of those ghost bastards got me." She glanced up at Bree. "Did we get the little boy?"

  Bree shook her head.

  "God damn it." Chen hissed in pain as Daniel gently ran his hands over her injured arm.

  “It’s broken all right,” Daniel said. "Do you think you can stand if Bree and I help you up?"