Demonsense: Demon Master Part 32

"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 G.o.d. 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 a.s.s. 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 difficult 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 a.s.suming 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 h.e.l.l 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 rea.s.sured 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 c.o.c.ked 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 rehea.r.s.e 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 f.u.c.king 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. G.o.d d.a.m.n 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 Sat.u.r.day 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, the 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 gla.s.s 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, gra.s.sy meadows surrounded by stands of trees. An elegant turn of the century gla.s.s 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.

Finally, Varga and Franchesca started heading towards the cars. Bree raised her binoculars again. The deep teal blue of Franchesca's gown was visible under the lights, and her hair was up in some kind of elaborate bun. She looked gorgeous, Bree thought sourly. Varga was dressed in a tux.

She turned her sights towards the conservatory, swept the binoculars back and forth along the sidewalk in front of where the cars were parked. There, finally, movement in the trees near the conservatory. Bree tried to pull her energy in even closer to her body, though she was pretty sure she'd retracted it as far as humanly possible. She'd waited until she thought Daniel would be done sweeping the park and was holed up in the thicker trees near the conservatory before sneaking up to her post. Thus far, it appeared he hadn't spotted her.

Daniel walked toward Varga and Franchesca, moving confidently, not hurrying. Bree scanned back toward Varga and Franchesca and spotted the moment Franchesca saw Daniel. Her back stiffened, and she raised her chin at a haughty angle. Marton looked at Franchesca, then followed her gaze to Daniel. Bree couldn't see any reaction at all from Varga. Both he and Franchesca were in profile, and it made it harder for her to read their expressions.

Daniel came up to them and started talking. Franchesca spoke first in response, but Daniel didn't look at her. His eyes were glued to Varga, who was shaking his head. Daniel spoke again, and pointed off behind him, in the direction of the spot Bree had guessed he would set the duel. Franchesca said something to Daniel again, and his glance flicked toward her, then back to Varga. He spoke again and Varga gave a little nod. All three of them headed towards the conservatory.

Bree waited, almost breathless with the tension that had spiked when she first spotted Daniel. She didn't want to lose sight of him and the others but had to take care to stay out of the range of Daniel's Reader sense. She hoped to follow slow enough to arrive after the duel started so Daniel's attention would be taken up with the duel, but not so late that she couldn't offer any help if needed.

She forced herself to wait for several minutes after they had disappeared under the trees, then moved to follow. Her worries multiplied until they became an incomprehensible blur of anguish. What if Daniel was already dead by the time she got to there? What if Daniel perceived her and she distracted him in some fatal fas.h.i.+on? What if the whole park was swimming with Keltoi? She was tempted to call Gelsenim, longed for the boost in confidence he would give her, but she resisted the impulse. It was too soon.

She headed into the trees at the edge of the meadow behind the big donut-shaped sculpture that faced out over the beautiful nighttime view of downtown. Her eyes strained for any sign of movement ahead, and listened for any sound ahead or behind. She couldn't hear anything. Not that she expected to hear the duel. There would be a sound stop spell up to avoid attracting the attention of any normals. Her nerves started to seriously fray. What if she stumbled straight onto Leander, or some group of Keltoi Varga had put in place in advance?

But none of that happened. As she finally got all the way around the west side of the meadow and was coming up on what she thought was the dueling spot, Bree allowed the merest trickle of Reader sense to advance ahead. She imagined a thread-thin tendril ghosting forward, alert to the smallest sign of magical energy. And she found it. She moved forward even more cautiously, hoping to get close enough to see but not be seen. She had to strain to keep her Reader sense narrowed to a tiny filament of awareness.

There was a sudden surge in energy, and it raced into her awareness like a small, razor-sharp zap of electricity. It was starting. She started to sprint, then slowed down again. She had to keep her head. As she moved forward into a thicker stand of trees and shrubs, she felt a sudden urge to stop and turn around. It was so late, and she was so incredibly tired. It was past time to head home and get to bed.

She shook her head, hard. She'd been expecting this kind of ward, designed to turn normals away from the dueling site. She forced her way forward, and after a few yards, the sensation vanished. There was a gap in the trees ahead, and now she could see movement. She crept closer, in under the low slung branches of a cedar tree, which hung almost all the way to the ground, creating a little cave. She winced as she brushed against a branch, causing it to rustle. She froze, then inched closer to the gap and peered through the tree branches. And there they were, there was Daniel, still alive. She wasn't too late.

Marton Varga was across from him, staggering as he gestured toward the ground, then flung his arm up in a sharp motion. The ground beneath Daniel heaved up, throwing him off balance. It settled back with a low concussion Bree could feel in her feet. She looked around quickly for Franchesca, and for signs of anyone else. Franchesca was across from her and to her right, looking on avidly. She seemed to be glancing back and forth between Daniel and Varga equally. Bree wanted to open her Demonsense, cast it out to see if Franchesca was possessed, but she didn't dare, Franchesca might feel it.

Varga advanced on Daniel, but Daniel had regained his balance, and he flicked the fingers of his left hand against the palm of his right, if he were dislodging a bothersome bug. Varga flew up into the air and onto his back, ten feet away. The warding circle around them wavered, then broke, and suddenly Bree could hear.

"I told you he would be difficult to put down, but you wouldn't believe me," Franchesca was saying snidely. Bree couldn't tell who she was saying it to, because neither man replied. Varga swept a hand from his shoulder and out toward Daniel, who made a warding gesture, palm out. Daniel was pushed back several steps as he absorbed the force of Marton's spell. Bree had never seen so much telekinetic energy thrown around before, and it was all happening so fast.

Daniel was in a defensive posture long enough to allow Varga to regain his feet and cast again. He made a snapping motion with his hand, as if he were cracking a whip, and Bree heard a grunt of pain escape Daniel. It took her a moment in the dim light to see the dark line of blood across Daniel's right palm. Somehow, Varga had managed to hurt Daniel, to cut his skin, at a distance, strongly enough to get past Daniel's defenses.

Before she could register shock at the level of skill that implied, Daniel was casting back. Varga grimaced and put a hand to his throat, as if his breath was cut off. Daniel pressed forward several steps, clenching his bleeding hand into a fist, a look of intense concentration on his face. Bree had a minute then to wonder why Daniel hadn't just bound Varga. Maybe he had tried before she got there, maybe Varga had a way to defend against it. And clearly, Varga hadn't managed to bind Daniel either.

She abruptly remembered that she was supposed to be sparing most of her attention for Franchesca, and for scanning for other Keltoi. Franchesca was merely standing there, lips parted, eyes locked on Daniel now. Bree sent her Reader sense carefully out, scanning first the immediate vicinity, then casting a wider net. She kept sneaking glances at Daniel as she did so, hoping he wouldn't sense her working. He didn't appear to. She was just about to give it up, satisfied that no one was nearby, when she felt just a hint of energy, away to the south.

She narrowed her focus in that direction, and she had it. Someone was approaching. Someone powered.

Keeping half an eye on Franchesca, half an eye on the duel before her, she extended her Reader sense again. And this time she got five power signatures, the first, stronger one she'd initially felt, and four more. She had to repress the words Oh s.h.i.+t! which leaped immediately to her lips. Hurry, Daniel, she thought urgently, please hurry.

Leander was still fuming as he stalked towards the spot in the park Marton had thought Thorvaldson was most likely to choose for the duel. Bree had completely fooled him. He hadn't thought she was harboring that level of suspicion of him. Every bit of his Reader sense had told him Bree trusted him. She'd told him her secrets, and Thorvaldson's. He thought of that last, gentle kiss, and ground his teeth. It didn't mean anything, none of it meant anything.

There were only three cars left in the parking lot across from the museum. He'd been held up for almost two hours in a traffic jam caused by an accident coming back from Everett, and that was after it took an hour to get up there. He could just imagine how Marton would respond if he found out how readily Leander had been duped. He'd been so sure he was the one in control, so certain he had Bree doing exactly what he wanted. He had to find her before she had a chance to interfere in the duel. Marton had plans, and it would be on Leander's head if Bree f.u.c.ked it all up.

He knew her energy signature, and he brought up his Reader sense and started scanning once he thought she might be in range. He felt the outer ward on the dueling ground before he located any sense of her. The desire to throw in the towel on the whole thing came over him. He had some money stashed away in case he ever had to go on the run, and visions of the beach in Rio came to him, beautiful women in colorful bikinis as far as the eye could see. But it wasn't enough, he didn't have nearly enough to keep him from having to find some kind of job to support himself. Oh, doubtless he could come up with something, but the plan was to put enough away, and invest enough that he could leave on his own terms. No, he had to see this through, this job and quite a few more, before he could make the break from Marton.

With an effort, he pushed through the deflection ward, and in only a few more yards, he could feel magic in the air. There was Marton's signature, and Thorvaldson's, both flaring hotter the closer Leander got. And there, Franchesca's, seething with black pa.s.sion and the avid attention of a vulture waiting to feast on the remains of battle.

And there was Bree, just on the farthest edge of awareness, that sense of tender spring leaves, and coral light, and silver. He stopped and closed his eyes, pulse flaring and surging. He opened wider and located her, about twenty yards away, up under a tree on the eastern edge of the small clearing where the duel was being fought.

As quietly as he knew how, he walked wide around the stand of trees until he was coming up behind Bree. He could just register her shape in the darker shadows under a huge cedar tree whose lower branches swept nearly down to the ground. He stopped and held very still, energy pulled in, waiting for any sign that Bree had spotted him. She shouldn't be able to read his energy signature if she wasn't specifically looking for it, but she could see him if he wasn't careful. When she didn't turn toward him, he crept carefully closer. He'd gotten as far as the edge of the tree branches when he saw her head snap to the left, as if she'd heard or sensed something.

Leander pulled up his Reader sense, and swept it out in the direction Bree was facing. Soon enough, he sensed what she had. A group of powered moving toward them. It had to be Scanlon and his crew. Marton wasn't going to be happy with that. He hadn't wanted witnesses to the duel in case he had to cheat to take Thorvaldson. Maybe Thorvaldson had given out the location to Scanlon to keep things honest. Or maybe Scanlon had been keeping tabs on either Marton or Thorvaldson. Should he try to head off the Keltoi or keep an eye on Bree?

His lips pressed into a pained grimace as he made up his mind. He already knew the best use to make of Bree in this situation, and he'd better stick to his original plan.

The combatants were both half hunched over injuries now, Daniel clutching his waist where he'd been knifed last year, Varga with one hand against the side of his head, which was bleeding. There was a tree branch on the ground. Apparently, one of them had brought it down in an attack on the other, Bree wasn't sure if it had been Daniel or Varga, everything was moving too fast. And now more branches started raining down as both Daniel and Varga sought advantage with the new weapon.

Varga looked deadly cold and calculating. He'd taken his suit jacket off and the white s.h.i.+rt underneath was spattered with blood from his head wound. Daniel was in his jeans and his black leather jacket, angular face illuminated by the blue light of a s.h.i.+eld he had raised above his head. It was effectively warding off tree branches, but he couldn't cast through it. She saw him flinch with effort as a particularly big tree limb came down nearly on top of the s.h.i.+eld.

Franchesca was still frozen in place at the south edge of the clearing. Her fists were clenched at her sides, but Bree didn't see her lips moving or any other sign that she was doing any casting. She must be under firm orders from Varga not to interfere, at least at this point. Varga must value being able to say he beat Daniel fairly, but Bree didn't trust that Franchesca would hold back if it really became clear Daniel might kill Varga. And there, moving closer, those powered she'd sensed earlier. They had slowed, and even as she narrowed in on their energy signature, they stopped, likely at the edge of the deflection ward. She decided it was best to stay where she was. If the powered were Keltoi, which seemed almost certain, they might just be here to observe, whereas Franchesca could intervene at any moment.

Her attention s.h.i.+fted back to the duel, and it looked to her like Daniel was on the defensive. He seemed to have lost the upper hand somehow. Varga had moved several paces closer to Daniel, and he made a pulling gesture with his hands, tugging down the tree branches, one after another. Daniel was partially crouched down, bending under the weight of the s.h.i.+eld as if he might not be able to hold it for much longer.