Demonsense: Demon Master Part 12

"If you're sure," he said reluctantly as they moved toward the door and he held it open for her.

"I'm sure," she replied.

Leander turned to face her out on the sidewalk. "Well, Bree, thanks so much for coming to hang out with me. I really had a good time talking to you. I'm wondering if you might be willing to get together again sometime?"

"Sure, um yeah, I'd love to," Bree stuttered. He was standing rather close to her, and for a fleeting moment, she thought he was going to kiss her. Then he did, on the cheek, lingeringly. What the h.e.l.l was that supposed to mean?

"Gotta run. I'll give you a call soon," Leander said, backing away a couple of steps, smiling all the while, then he turned and walked off down the street, red hair swinging against his shoulders. Bree couldn't help but admire his quite nice a.s.s from this angle. She sighed. That man could be a handful, she just knew it. She couldn't tell if she were more intimidated or intrigued by the fact that she couldn't read him.

As she started walking in the opposite direction towards her car, hands in pockets, she considered whether or not Leander had been telling the truth when he said he was born with some kind of talent that prevented others from reading him. After all, Daniel had a spell that was capable of completely hiding his Demon Master and Binder talents from even Ecclesias examination. It could be some kind of spell. But somehow, she didn't think so.

She was so lost in thought that she failed to really register the group of young men coming toward her down the sidewalk. She had just turned up Jefferson Street, toward the light rail tunnel entrance.

Then it hit her. Her Demonsense flared to life. Three of the boys were possessed.

She concentrated on striding confidently, and reached into her purse for her keys. Most likely, the boys would pa.s.s her by, but she wanted something sharp to hand if they tried anything.

One of them wolf whistled at her. There were five of them, young men, maybe late teens or early twenties. She looked quickly around, and didn't see anyone else on the street around them. Her Reader sense flared painfully into existence, prompted by the rush of adrenaline she felt when she registered that she was alone. It wasn't so late that other people were unlikely to be on the streets nearby, she rea.s.sured herself. Unfortunately, that sense of rea.s.surance faded fast as she picked up a powered energy signature from the young men. They were laughing as they approached her, one still whistling, another saying, "Hey, pretty lady, want some company?"

"No thanks," she said shortly, putting her head down and trying to walk confidently as she pa.s.sed them. One of them seized her by the arm as she went by. She'd never had anyone grab her on the street before, and although a part of her had been expecting it, given most of them were possessed, it still shocked her somehow.

She tried to jerk her arm out of the guy's hold, glaring up at him as she did so. He was the biggest of the group, football player size. He had a round face, dyed black hair, and he was wearing a sloppy, mean smile that told her he was drunk. "Don't be in such a hurry," he told her, holding onto her harder. Another of the young men, this one a carrot top redhead with small blue eyes, slid up beside her and took her other arm. Her Demonsense howled in protest the instant he touched her. She quickly scanned the others, two nearly indistinguishable medium sized boys with long brown hair, and a tall thin sandy blonde haired one with a tattoo of a scorpion showing on his neck. The blonde and one of the twins were possessed as well. She dug in her feet and opened her mouth to scream when the big one s.h.i.+fted his grip and put a hand hard over her mouth. He and Carrot Top picked her up and dragged her into the alley she'd just pa.s.sed, the other three following. She fought them all she could and got nowhere, nowhere at all. She was so scared now that her brain wasn't working. All she could think was that she should have let Leander walk her to her car.

Leander was nearly home before he knew it, having walked the whole way lost in thought. He wasn't sure if he'd played things right there at the end. On impulse, he scooped up one of the pigeons strutting along beside him, brought it up to his face and whispered a spell over its head. He turned and threw it up in the air, towards Bree's retreating back. He just wanted a look at her face, wanted a better gauge of her reactions.

He waited a moment, then closed his eyes, triggered the spell, and was suddenly flying, seeing the world from the bird's eye view. The pigeon flew on ahead of Bree, then settled onto a low window edge. Leander was able to focus in on Bree's face through the bird's eyes. He wasn't thrilled with what he saw there. She looked serious, thoughtful. He was shooting for bemused and a little turned on. He'd thought he'd captured her interest more than that. In fact, he'd wondered if it might have played to take her back to his place. She had seemed keyed up, like she might be easy to talk into something fairly outrageous. But there was a rather serious essence to her, Leander had seen that at the party, read it again when she was talking about her husband, and about the riot last night. This wasn't a woman p.r.o.ne to casual affairs, he was sure of it. He was going to have to work harder at gaining her trust if he couldn't do it through s.e.x. Not that he was willing yet to give up on s.e.x with Bree. He actually found her rather attractive. Her eyes were remarkable, a gorgeous mix of brown, gold and green, framed by thick, dark lashes. And there was a certain elegance to her features, with her straight jaw line and long, straight nose. The light sprinkling of freckles across her nose and cheeks kept her from looking too severe. And she had a nice body. She clearly took care of herself. She was the kind of woman he would enjoy bringing out of herself. He knew he was good in bed. His Reader sense was a definite a.s.set there. He could feel fire under all that serious earnestness in Bree, and it could be fun to make her burn.

She pa.s.sed his pigeon, and he sent the bird on ahead again. His second look at her face was a little more rea.s.suring. She was smiling softly. That was more like it. Leander was so involved in trying to see Bree's expression that he didn't see the gang of young men approaching her. It took only an instant for them to get hold of her and start dragging her off into the alley.

Leander froze in indecision. He had the impulse to go after Bree, to save her. But he hadn't packed a gun. And while he was high power at Casting, he seldom had occasion to use offensive spells. Him against five were not good odds. He sent the pigeon after them into the alley, and focused his will more strongly on the bird, trying to see what he could of the situation. Were they just going to rob her? Or were they going to rape her?

What he read gave him serious pause. He could just barely pick it up, but there was a distortion to the movements of three of the young men that spoke strongly of demon possession. That settled it. He was not going in alone against three possessed. A number that high spoke to him of Keltoi. That meant at least some of the young men were powered as well.

Leander was surprised at how upset that made him. He would have liked to go to Bree's rescue. It would have taken him miles towards his goal of gaining her trust. And he found that he didn't really want her to be hurt. Which led him straight into another dilemma. He needed her for his mission. He wasn't going to get to Thorvaldson without her. He couldn't afford for her to be killed. "s.h.i.+t!" he snarled under his breath, and took off at a run for his apartment, and the weapons he had stored there.

Bree was about to be raped, she knew it. She tried to remember what she'd heard about self defense in these situations and made a fruitless attempt to stomp on the instep of the big one. She got his toes and he only huffed in annoyance. She opened her mouth to try to bite his hand, but he felt her do it, and ground his hand harder against her, making it impossible to get a grip with her teeth. She had a feeling these boys were Keltoi, maybe the children of Keltoi, though maybe old enough to formally join the business side themselves.

"Just think how much you're going to enjoy this, b.i.t.c.h," the blonde said, leaning over her as the one of the twins took over from the big one in holding her arm. She felt the hand over her mouth loosen and drew breath to scream, but before she could get out a sound, a piece of cloth was shoved into her mouth. She tried to spit it out, but before she could make any headway, it was tied into place with a bandana. She'd never tried to raise power for an exorcism without invoking the prayers and spells out loud. And she didn't have a ghost of a chance of exorcising three demons, even if she could speak. She'd managed to do an exorcism by force once, but it had killed the subject, something she still felt a great deal of shame about, although she hadn't intended it The blonde one was pulling at the b.u.t.ton on her pants. She tried to kick him, but the other two had her up against the wall of the building now, and she couldn't get her leg back far enough to get any force behind it. She connected, though, and the blonde paused in his a.s.sault on her pants long enough to slap her viciously across the face. "Stop it, b.i.t.c.h," he growled.

It hurt like h.e.l.l, but it also made her angry. G.o.d d.a.m.n it, she was not going to let herself be raped by a herd of Keltoi boys. It finally, belatedly, occurred to her that she was not without offensive magic, thanks to Daniel's teaching. He'd made her learn it without any verbal invocation. That was the upside. The downside was that she hadn't yet managed any telekinetic spells, as least without Gelsenim's help. Daniel was convinced she could do it, had told her at this point it was more that she didn't believe she could do it.

But she didn't think she had the focus right now to try something that difficult. She'd have to work with the spells she did have, those that subtly affected an opponent's mind and body. She closed her eyes as the blonde one pulled at her zipper and visualized his fingers stiffening and turning to ice, and sent a channel of power into the image. The guy stopped working at her b.u.t.ton and swore in annoyance. She s.h.i.+fted focus to the hands of the two holding her arms, imagined the strength draining out of them like water, and threw the spell. Then she jerked with all her might forward and to one side, trying to break free without having to bowl over the guy in front of her. It almost worked. She got her arms free for a moment, and the blonde staggered as she plowed into his side, but he managed to body check her with his shoulder, and Carrot Top and Twin One managed to get hold of her again.

"I think the b.i.t.c.h is powered," Carrot Top spat out.

"Not powered enough," Blondie snarled. He slapped her again, and her head was ringing, but Bree forced herself to focus. She was going to have to use more power, go for some stronger spells. That meant she'd have limited chances to get away. The more a spell affected the physical world, the more energy it took. And there was always a limit to a powered person's energy.

She pushed all that aside and visualized all the muscles in Carrot Top and Twin One going weak. She pushed the casting into their bodies with as much force as she could muster. Then she did the same to Blondie. She made the same move she had before, and this time it worked. She broke free and knocked over Blondie. Unfortunately, that left Big Boy and Twin Two. She managed to duck Big Boy's grab at her, but Twin Two was faster. He hooked an arm around her waist as she tried to get by, and as he touched her, all the force went out of her muscles and she collapsed onto the ground. He'd used the same muscle weakening spell on her. He let her fall and moved to stand over her, grinning a hateful grin at her, the demon in him clear in his expression.

Her Demonsense was beating danger, danger, danger into her, and she struggled to block it out. She couldn't use her hand to focus her cast, but she mentally threw a dizziness spell at Twin Two, and he swayed, then staggered, bracing himself on the wall of one of the buildings lining the alley. It was enough to break his concentration, and Bree felt the strength return to her body. She pushed off hard with one hand on the wet, gritty pavement of the alley, but before she could lever herself all the way up, Big Boy kicked her in the side, rolling her over onto her stomach.

In a panic, not at all sure it would work, she formulated a blindness spell and cast it wide, trying to get all five of them at once. It must have worked, because she heard several cries of protest, and she didn't get another kick. She got up on her hands and knees, much more slowly than she would have liked, and levered herself onto her feet. She started running without even looking to see where her opponents were. It cost her. She was tackled from behind, went down so fast she could barely register what was happening. She heard Blondie's voice in her ear. "Got you now, b.i.t.c.h."

Leander's hands were actually shaking as he tried to get the key into the lock of his apartment building. Jesus, what was wrong with him, he was totally losing his cool. He sprinted up the stairs, wrestled with his keys one more time, and dashed into the bedroom, digging into his night table drawer for his gun, a Walther P99. He checked to be sure it was in double action mode, then slid it into his coat pocket. Then he dug his switchblade out of the top dresser drawer and put that in the other pocket. He paused then, focusing on the spelled bird. He saw one of the guys a.s.saulting Bree suddenly stagger. Aha, the woman had some offensive spells. Good girl! he thought fiercely. With any luck, she might get away without him having to risk battle. He left his apartment at a run without locking it, then nearly went back to do so, swore, and continued on out the door.

Bree was face down in the alley. Blondie had a hand on the back of her neck, and was pulling at her pants with the other hand. She was finding it hard to breathe with the gag in her mouth and was starting to feel light headed. She tried to call Gelsenim, but just as she focused on the summons, one of the boys kicked her in the head. The whole world spun, then went black. She was still conscious, but barely. She couldn't seem to put any thoughts together. For a moment, all she could register was pain and nausea.

Blondie was having a hard time with her pants. They fit pretty snugly, and he couldn't get them off without dealing with the b.u.t.ton and zipper. Bree's vision began to clear, and now she could hear what her a.s.sailants were saying. The other four were gathered around, egging Blondie on as he let go of her neck so he could flip her over. She reflexively kicked at him, without conscious thought or planning. She connected, but then he managed to grab one of her legs, and Big Boy and Carrot Top moved in to help. The Twins got behind her and got hold of her wrists. She should try again to call Gelsenim, or try a telekinetic spell on her own.

With a split second to decide, she opted for the later. She put all of her anger and outrage into the spell, and pushed with all her energetic might at Blondie's chest. To her immense satisfaction, he flew back away from her, hard, sailed six feet and slammed head first into the wall of the building behind him. Feeling giddy with power, she did the same to Carrot Top and Big Boy, and they went flying as well. With a guttural snarl, she threw the last of her quickly fading energy and the two holding her arms. She couldn't see what happened, but she felt them let go. She scrambled to her feet and started running back toward the street, stripping off the bandana and pulling the other fabric out of her mouth as she went. She heard swearing behind her, and she risked a quick glance back. All five of the young men were nearly on their feet. Bree tried to put on a burst of speed, and ran straight into Leander.

Bree came out of the alley at a run. She was looking back over her shoulder, and didn't see Leander, so she plowed right into him. He managed to catch her without going down. She gave a little scream before she registered that it was him.

"Run!" she gasped.

He grabbed her by the arm and hauled her with him back down hill, down towards Yesler where there was sure to be some traffic, some people around. They didn't try to speak as they ran. Leander could hear the sound of pursuit at first, but once they hit Yesler, it stopped. For good measure, they kept running until they got all the way down to First and around the corner. Bree stumbled to a halt, clutching her side, and Leander got his first good look at her. Her lip was bleeding where it had split and one whole side of her face looked red. Her clothes were wet and filthy, and her face was tense with pain. "Were you a.s.saulted? Are you hurt? Should I take you to the hospital?" he asked her.

"I don't know. My head and my side hurts where they kicked me, and I got hit a few times, but I can breathe. I can walk. I guess I don't need the hospital. A friend of mine is an paramedic. If I could call him..."

"Look, my place is just a couple of blocks away. I'd like to get you off the street, and we can check you out for injuries, decide what to do next."

"Okay," Bree said faintly. Leander took her by the hand and led her at a walk down the street two more blocks, then just around the corner to his building entrance on Jackson. He got her up the two flights of stairs, and opened the door for her into his loft. Bree got a couple of steps into the living room, then stood uncertainly, a blank look on her face. She was probably in shock. Leander considered her dirty clothes, and steered her to the steel and vinyl chairs around his small dining room table. He pulled one out for her, and she sat down gingerly. He crouched down in front of her and looked closely at her eyes, checking to see that her pupils were evenly dilated, and they were. "Can I?" he inquired, holding his hands over her head, asking permission to examine her. She nodded numbly, and he gently ran his hands over her head, through her hair, checking for any major b.u.mps. There was a small one of the left side. "Well, you've got a knot there, but it's not too big so far," he murmured. He looked more closely at her face. It was swelling up all along the right side. Whoever had hit her had been left handed. The side of her chin was sc.r.a.ped on that side too. She still had a hand pressed to her ribs, and that concerned him.

"Let's try to get your coat off and have a look at your side," he told her. She let him move around behind her and ease her coat down off her shoulders. She hissed in pain as she had to raise her right arm to get the sleeve off. Carefully, he lifted up her s.h.i.+rt, all the way up to the bra line, and saw a big bruise was already starting. Gently, he ran his fingers along the ribs there. Bree flinched away from him involuntarily. "Sorry," he said. "I think your ribs may be injured. I don't feel anything obviously sticking out, so hopefully they're not broken, but I'm no expert."

"Dion will know," Bree said. "I need to call him."

"Where's your phone?"

Bree looked around her in confusion. "Where's my purse?"

"I don't think you had it when I ran into you."

"It's probably still in the alley."

"Here's my phone, use this," Leander replied. It was in the same pocket as his knife, and he had to be careful when pulling it out not to bring the knife with it. Fortunately, Bree was so out of it, she didn't notice the bit of fumbling that involved. She took the phone from him, dialed the number, and had a brief conversation with her friend. She paused to ask Leander for his address. Leander noticed Bree told her friend that she'd been mugged. She did not mention that she'd nearly been raped. He imagined it might be too awful for Bree to say out loud. She shut the phone and handed it back to him, seeming to really see him for the first time. "What were you doing there anyway? How did you know I needed help?" she asked.

Leander shrugged. "Would you believe me if I said I had a feeling? I got halfway home and decided it was stupid not to insist I walk you back to your car. But you hadn't told me where you were parked, so I just started heading in the direction I'd last see you moving, heading south from Rolly's. I was just telling myself I was an idiot, that you were probably long gone, when you ran into me." He took care to read her as he spoke. She seemed to believe him, though she might question his story when she was less overwhelmed. She had started to shake, no doubt a belated reaction, or maybe just shock. He went to his bedroom and brought back a blanket, and arranged it around her. Then he pulled up another chair across from her. What he was about to say was risky, but it was in character for him to say it, so he did. "I think I should call the police. It might not be too late for those guys to be apprehended."

Bree nodded, and Leander's heart sank. It was important for him to avoid getting on any official map. The more invisible his presence here in this city, the better. He'd have to go on record as a witness, have his ident.i.ty on record. He considered whether to do a binding on Bree to convince her not to call the police. He was only a low power Binder, but it might take only a subtle spell to get her cooperation. On the other hand, she might be able to tell that she was being bound. As he hesitated, Bree suddenly said, "Wait, no. No, don't call the police. Leander, those boys were Keltoi, and three of them were possessed. If I go to the police and accuse them of a.s.sault and they know I'm the accuser, then I get known by the Keltoi. I've managed to stay mostly off their radar so far, and I can't afford to get on it. You know normal law enforcement wouldn't have a hope of protecting me from them if they wanted payback. Which they would."

"Well, that really bites," Leander replied, hiding his relief.

"It's not fair, is it?" she responded, her voice going shaky. "They get to do that to me, and they get no consequences. It makes me so angry." Tears spilled down her cheeks. Leander's nearly atrophied empathy gave an unexpected stir. He tried to repress it, but then it triggered a series of memories, memories he'd worked hard to keep out of consciousness. He knew what it was like to be s.e.xually a.s.saulted. He'd been on the streets from the age of thirteen, and a pretty boy like him had not had an easy time of it. He shuddered involuntarily, his stomach twisting in revulsion.

He got up on the excuse of getting them both some water and tried to get a grip on himself. He felt a flash of resentment that he was being forced to relive those memories. At the same time, he really was experiencing some fellow feeling with Bree. She didn't deserve that to happen to her, any more than he had, at least as a kid. He'd done things since to deserve worse, he reflected darkly, but pushed that thought aside as well. He had work to do here. He needed to focus on Bree, on helping her. This was his chance to get an in with her.

She'd gotten the tears back under control when he handed her the water. She took several deep sips, then put the gla.s.s down and asked him, eyes dark and tired, "Can I take a shower?"

He crouched down in front of her again and regarded her solemnly. "Bree, did those guys rape you?" he asked as gently as he knew how.

She shook her head, but tears filled her eyes again. "They tried," she whispered. "They tried, but I stopped them."

He patted her knee. "That you did, and don't you forget it. I didn't do a d.a.m.n thing to help, you got yourself out of there on your own. Which is impressive, by the way. I a.s.sume you were able to do some casting."

"Some," she said, then her voice got stronger. "Quite a lot, actually, more than I knew I could do. I managed my first telekinetic spell, which surprised the h.e.l.l out of me."

"It probably surprised the h.e.l.l out of them too," he said with a fierce smile.

Bree smiled back, and her whole expression lightened. Leander felt good about that. He'd gotten her to admit the worst of what happened, got her to focus on the fact that she had rescued herself. It was the right card to play, but more, it was clearly actually helping her. That was an almost completely unfamiliar sensation. He kind of felt like the good guy for a change.

He got to his feet and put out a hand to help her to hers. "The bathroom's down the hall to your left, at the end, past the bedroom," he told her. "I'll try to dig up something clean you can wear when you get out."

She turned to go, then paused and faced him, concern on her face. "Don't you have some kind of teleconference you were supposed to be doing?"

"Don't worry about it," Leander replied smoothly. "I'll give them a call and reschedule. This is much more important." She gave him another tremulous smile in response and headed for the bathroom.

While Bree was in the shower, he got his weapons back into their original places. He was relieved he hadn't had to use them. He'd genuinely wanted to help Bree, but wasn't truly willing to risk his own life to do it. Which meant, of course, that in spite of that heart warming little interlude, he was not the good guy in this story. He deliberately reminded himself that Scanlon might yet order him to kill Bree. He couldn't afford to get attached to her. But at the same time, it helped him play his role if he could find something to like in the people he was conning. He had to make some kind of real connection for it to work. He just couldn't let the connection go deep. He'd learned that lesson long ago.

He dug out a pair of sweat pants, a t-s.h.i.+rt and a sweater and put them in front of the bathroom door. He took a moment back in the kitchen to wet down a kitchen towel and wipe off some of the sweat from around his neck and his chest. The run to his place, then back to where Bree was being a.s.saulted had left him sweaty. And, he had to admit, some of it was from the jolt of those ugly old memories that had come over him.

He tossed the towel into the laundry room off the kitchen, then busied himself with making tea and laying out some sandwich fixings. He was hungry, and Bree was likely to be too after all that use of power. She finally came out into the kitchen, rolling up the sleeves of his sweater as she went. She was moving slow, but she already looked better. Her hair was still wet, and without any makeup, and in the too big clothes, she looked younger. Again, Leander felt feelings for her stirring. This time, he let it happen, waiting to see, with some curiosity, what would come up. She gave him a shy smile, and he found himself smiling back. d.a.m.ned if he didn't feel a little giddy.

"Thanks for the clothes," she said softly. Without thinking it through, almost on impulse really, Leander put down the loaf of bread he was holding, stepped up to her, and folded her gently into his arms. She heaved a big sigh and let him hold her. Her skin was warm from the shower, her damp hair cool against his hands. She was huddled against him, unable to raise her arms because of her injured ribs. It felt like holding one of his birds. She seemed so slight, so fragile in his arms. And yet she had fought off five Keltoi, three of them possessed, which meant she was a lot stronger than she looked. It made him respect her. He examined his feelings as he held her. Yes, he felt protective towards her, at least in this moment. And he liked how she felt against his body. It wasn't a s.e.xual feeling, maybe more of a sensual one. She smelled clean. He would have liked to keep holding her, but she started to pull away a little, and he let her. "You just sit down now, I'm getting us something to eat while we wait for your friend. Now, what do you like on your sandwich?"

She examined the offerings he had laid out, and said, "Just cheese, please, with some mayo."

"Are you a vegetarian?"

"Yep."

"Got it," Leander replied. He directed her to sit down while he put together sandwiches, roast beef and cheddar for him, cheese only for her. He had some jalapeno potato chips on hand, and he tossed the bag on the table as well. They ate mostly in silence, and Bree's friend arrived just as they were finis.h.i.+ng. Bree introduced the tall, good looking black guy as Dion Evans. He was carrying a satchel of first aid supplies, and after a brief greeting to Leander, disappeared with Bree back into the bedroom to examine her.

They came out together ten minutes later. Bree was looking pale, but her face was significantly less swollen. Evans must have some Healer ability to pull that off. "My ribs are probably just bruised, not broken," Bree announced.

"Well, that's good," Leander replied. "Bree and I were just having something to eat. Can I get you a sandwich?"

Evans shook his head. "I'd just finished dinner when Bree called. I had my friend Henry drop me off so I could drive her home."

"Yes, right, I'm sure you just want to be in your own house right now," Leander told Bree. "Let me give you both a lift to Bree's car. I don't want her to have to walk."

Leander left quickly to fetch his car, and met Bree and Evans out in front of his apartment building. Evans managed to fold himself into Leander's small back seat, and Bree climbed painfully into the front.

Leander quizzed Evans a little on his work as a paramedic, making small talk as he drove the few blocks to Bree's car. It was almost seven o'clock, and he was able to pull right in behind her car as there was a yellow marked loading zone there. The three took a minute to go back the alley where Bree had been a.s.saulted. They found her purse on the ground, and strangely, there was nothing missing from it.

There was an awkward moment as he and Bree said goodbye in front of her car. He wanted to hug her again, but had the feeling she didn't want him to do it in front of Evans. So he just promised to call tomorrow to see how she was doing and let her go. Evans shook his hand firmly, maybe trying to read him a little, but the contact was brief.

As they drove away, he considered the mixed feelings he'd experienced when Bree had failed to read him. He truly enjoyed being un-readable. It gave him a huge advantage in almost every aspect of powered life. But there was a little part of him that wanted there to be an exception, wanted someone to really be able to see him, to know him. He'd thought there was a chance Bree was that person. He'd read her at the party, and she was clearly a very high power Reader. Of course, she wasn't at her best right now. She might be able to read him when she was feeling better.

Not that that would truly be a good thing, he reflected as he made an illegal u-turn and started driving back towards his place. It would screw up the job he was doing, and besides, no doubt she'd stop liking him if she could read him. Deep in his gut, he felt a quiver of protest at that thought, but with long practiced skill, he repressed it.

CHAPTER TEN.

Dion settled on one end of Bree's light green velvet couch, and Bree sat sideways on the other end, carefully placing her feet in Dion's lap. She found the contact comforting.

"You know, I've always thought you should go out for Keeper," he said.

"No, really?" Bree said, drawing out the syllables sarcastically.

"Hey, let me finis.h.!.+" he protested. "What I'm trying to say is, I always thought you had the right abilities, the right temperament for it. And you did seriously kick some a.s.s with those Keltoi guys. But seeing you like this, all beat up..." He shook his head. "I'm not as big a fan of the idea as I used to be."

"Fine time to decide to go all protective, right when things are getting so out of control. We both know that's probably not the last time I'm going to have to do battle, not if a demon war is really starting." She gave a little huff of protest as Hanroi jumped up onto her lap, tromped up her chest and b.u.t.ted his little head into her chin.

"I think it has started. And I'm starting to think I know why."

"Politics. The elections in November," Bree put in, picking up the kitten and settling him down on her lap, away from her ribs.

Dion gave her a surprised look.

"I saw that guy on TV, what's his name, Senator Morton. He was going on and on about law and order."

"That's my read of it. In fact, I'd say it's come to be the consensus of the Ecclesias."

The mere mention of the Ecclesias was enough to raise Bree's blood pressure. She'd been so distracted with what had happened in the alley with the Keltoi, so much in shock, that she hadn't stopped to remember that she was supposed to be avoiding Dion until she could figure out what to say about Daniel. As if he were reading her mind, Dion said, "I was going to have to call you anyway. The Ecclesias wants to interview you and Daniel."

"Why in h.e.l.l would the Ecclesias want to interview me? And don't they have to have, I don't know, have a warrant or something?"

"Bree honey, when the Ecclesias tells you to show up, you show up. Think of it as jury duty. It's a pain, and you lose a day's pay, but it's your civic duty."

"Not a good a.n.a.logy," Bree insisted. "I'm the one on trial, right?"

"Not you, Daniel."

Bree's brain made a heroic effort to get in gear. This was a dangerous conversation to be having right now, when she was a little woozy from the pain meds Dion had given her, not to mention still feeling jangly from what had happened. Her first tactic was silence. Maybe Dion would drop it for now.

"Bree, you know what this is about, right? What happened there on the beach, it didn't look good. I was there. It definitely looked like Daniel was using Demon Master talent."

Yeah, like Dion ever dropped anything you wanted him to, Bree thought ruefully. She waited a beat for her mind to come up with some kind of intelligent response, and to her relief, something did occur to her. "Maybe you haven't been at too many exorcisms, but sometimes, you have to rush it at the end and hope for the best. Daniel was primary and had to risk blowing it because the possessed girl had a gun on me."

"Yeah I saw that. Honestly, Bree, it's more what I felt than what I saw. My Reader sense was open, and I didn't feel the kind of ritual magic that you get with exorcisms."

"I've got to a.s.sume you missed the part where both Daniel and I raised ritual energy." Bree felt she was scrambling to come up with words that weren't a lie. So far she'd managed it, but she was afraid if the conversation went on for too long, she wouldn't be able to keep it up.