Demon Master (Demonsense series Book 2) (27 page)

"Yes, but..."

Dion held up a placating hand “Look, to be honest, I don’t know the full story on this one. I’ve got to assume people have tried various ways to hide Demon Master and Binder talent from the authorities. There may be lore about this the Ecclesias has that I know nothing about. I do know that hunting down and monitoring Demon Masters and Binders is part of what the Ecclesias does, and it’s something that needs doing. Surely you can see that.”

Grudgingly, Bree nodded. “I do see that. It’s just that I know Daniel. This isn’t just some random person I’m being asked to testify about. I don’t want to see him hurt anymore.”

Dion regarded her closely. “So, you are in love with him?”

Bree’s hand stopped its automatic petting of Hanroi. She didn’t know what to say. Was she in love with Daniel? Stupid for the question to shock her. Hadn't she just been feeling it a moment ago when she wanted so badly to defend him? But every time she got there emotionally, something he did gave her pause or just outright terrified her. And Gelsenim’s recent revelation about Daniel’s dark energy left her feeling more conflicted than ever. Yet here she was, defending him instinctively, as if she deep down really believed in him.
 

“You don’t know, do you?” Dion said with a little laugh. “God, I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes on this one. He’s charismatic as all get out, and you’ve both clearly got a thing for each other. But I’m not sure you should get involved with him.”

“Thus says the man who brought Daniel to my house when I specifically told him to stay away.”
     

“I was right that time, and you know it. You needed his help to snap out of the fog you were in after that Keltoi guy died.”

“You mean after I killed him.”

Dion sighed in frustration. “Let’s not go around about that again. I just think that until he’s cleared by the Ecclesias, you ought to think twice about hanging around him. If you’re seen as associating with him, as defending him, and he’s convicted, they’re going to be looking pretty closely at you.”

Bree felt a chill at that. What if she really was developing Demon Master talent? And what if one of the Readers on the Ecclesias could tell? Daniel wasn’t the only one facing neutering of powers, and the very real possibility of death as a result. But neither could she see herself just letting Daniel deal with all this alone. She regarded Dion with some disfavor. “I suppose that means you aren’t going to do jack shit to defend him. That would screw up your precious political career.”
 

“That was a little harsh,” he said quietly.

Bree put a hand to her forehead. It had been too harsh. “God I know, I'm sorry. I guess I'm just upset that Daniel has to go through all this again, and I wish someone could prevent it. I know it's unreasonable to think you could."

Dion took a deep breath and let it out slow. "Apology accepted. Look, the most likely outcome is that he won't be found guilty. As far as I know, there's never been a Keeper convicted of being a Demon Master. They're all subjected to an energy read by a high power Reader. He's hot shit, but what are the chances he's the first person to figure out how to hide the forbidden talents?"

Bree looked down at that cat to avoid her expression giving anything away.

There was the sound of a car honking out front. “My ride’s here,” Dion said. He gave her legs a final pat, then moved them off his lap so he could stand up. “No rest for the weary,” he intoned lugubriously. “I’ve got a late shift. I’ll meet with you and Daniel before the meeting once it gets on the schedule, coach you a little about dealing with the Ecclesias.”
 

“Thanks for everything Dion. I mean it.”

He leaned over to kiss her on the cheek. "Take some more ibuprofen before you get in bed."

Hanroi followed him to the door, and failing in his escape attempt, came and climbed back up onto Bree’s lap, and half-closed his eyes bliss as she scratched his cheek. When he was like this, it was easy to forget what a little shit he was. She wasn’t about to admit it to anyone, but she had, quite in spite of herself, grown fond of the little beast. And she probably hadn’t given the Cat Master thing anything like a real try yet. She’d had too much else to focus on.
 

She jumped hard when a tree branch from outside tapped against the side of her house in a gust of wind, and she swore, loudly. Hanroi dug his claws into her in protest.
 
She was obviously still unnerved from her earlier experience. Even thinking that much caused a disturbing image to intrude into her mind, the one of the blonde guy trying to get her pants off. Tears started into her eyes, and before she knew what hit her, she was crying. She knew it was perfectly natural after what she'd just been through, but she resented it. She resented it like hell. She wiped angrily at her tears. She was so fucking tired of being hurt, of being afraid. And now she had this to deal with, nearly being raped.
 

She reminded herself that since she’d met Daniel, she’d been feeling for the first time in her life that maybe she was equal to dealing with what came her way. Part of it was learning more casting from him, especially the battle spells. There was no doubt that was empowering. But part of it was his faith in her. He didn’t see her as weak or fragile, the way she was used to seeing herself, at least in terms of her ability to cope with exorcisms and demon kind. She’d always found those experiences intensely disturbing and, especially after Seth died, as something she wasn’t good at handling. Daniel just saw her as needing more skills, more practice.
 

And God knew she’d been getting a lot of practice lately. She was damned lucky she knew some Healers, or she’d be in far worse shape than she was. If she were honest with herself, she had to admit that a part of her had liked helping out the Keepers last night. She’d had to think on her feet, and she’d done better as at casting than she’d ever thought she’d be capable of. “I can cast. I can fight,” she said softly, trying out the idea.
 
Was she, on some level, capable of being a fighter? The kind of person who overcame their fear and fought back? It wasn’t that she thought she was some kind of total weakling. But she wasn’t used to seeing herself as someone truly able to defend herself, let alone others. “I can fight,” she said again, louder, and found she liked the sound of that.
 

She'd been thinking ever since she was in the shower at Leander's about why she hadn't called Gelsenim tonight when those Keltoi boys were assaulting her. She wasn't entirely sure, although her most convincing theory was that so many of her previous interactions with Gelsenim had involved him threatening sexual violence, especially the time he'd possessed Daniel. Likely she had instinctively not trusted him in that kind of situation. She had to admit that she was, in the end, glad of her choice even if it hadn't been the most intelligent one. Leander was right, she'd gotten herself out of that situation with her own abilities.

Unfortunately, hot on the heels of that pleasant feeling came the thought that maybe she'd finally developed her casting skills only to lose them. And that was the least of what she'd have to face if the Ecclesias asked her point blank if Daniel was a Demon Master or a Binder. Or if they asked her if she was a Demon Master. And what would she say? Daniel kept telling her she didn't really read like a Demon Master, but she could call demons. Controlling them was clearly another matter.
 

At the end of the day, she'd been willing to risk her sanity, and even Daniel's, to continue the demon research, knowing the demon contact could only hasten the day they both succumbed to Demon Master instability. But she had never thought it would be this soon. Even if what was happening to Daniel wasn't exactly the usual Demon Master instability, it sounded from what Gelsenim had said that it could be even worse.

She felt the urge to pull the covers over her head, both literally and figuratively, but resisted it. She had fought tonight, had fought at the Alki riot. And she knew she was a very long way from being done fighting, so she had better buck up.

Bree
made herself go to work the next day since she knew she had only three massage clients, though she knew she wouldn’t be at her best. She was still sore, even after Dion’s healing, and she had to be extra careful with her posture as she worked. She was too hot in the scarf she’d put on to hide the bruises that were still on her throat, and she had to work harder than usual at focusing on her work. She was grateful to end her day with one of her regulars, a longshoreman with a bad back who loved to regale her with stories of his grandchildren’s wondrous feats of intelligence and humor, sparing her the need to make conversation of her own.
 

After finishing with that last client, she was more centered. That was the gift in doing the work she did. The office itself was soothing, and having to be so fully in the present, feeling the structure of the muscles and tendons under her hands, reading tells to give her an extra level of insight into where tension was being held in the body, all this served to slow her down, bring her into a sense of peace.
 

As she finished cleaning up her office, it occurred to her that she needed to talk to Daniel. In spite of all that had happened to her yesterday, she'd been worried about him. She'd woken that morning to find Kevin had left her a message last night letting her know he'd spoken with Daniel, that he was shaken, but stable. Still, she wanted to hear his voice, to see him so she could judge for herself. As she pulled out her phone, she paused, considering whether going to see him alone was safe. She decided she trusted his ability to self assess on it to some degree and trusted her own ability to read from his energy and tells even more.
 

And given what Dion had said about being called up by the Ecclesias, she thought she'd better call him sooner rather than later. She dialed his number. Might as well get this over with. His phone rang long enough that her worry spiked. Just as she was composing a voice mail message in her head, he finally answered, sounding a little breathless. “Hello?”

“Daniel, it’s Bree. Listen, I just got off work, and since I’m nearby, I thought I’d call and see if you might be available to talk. I mean, that is, if you're up for it."
 

There was a long silence before he said, "I think that'd be okay. Okay as in safe. Have you had dinner yet?”

“I had a break before my last client and ate something then, so I’m good,” she answered.

“Come on over then. I’ll put on some tea. What kind would you like?”

Daniel had a thing for tea, so she knew she had a lot of options. Although having something with caffeine was tempting, given her nagging feeling of tiredness, she didn’t want anything that might make her more hyped up after she had finally gotten calm.
 
“How about some of that flower tea, whatever you call it. The stuff that tastes like peaches.”

“The Peach Momotaro. Yeah, I have some of that left.”

“Okay, I’ll be there in about ten.”

Daniel’s place was only a few blocks away, but it was raining softly, and she didn’t feel like a walk, so she drove over. She spent the brief drive telling herself Daniel wouldn't have let her come over if there was any immediate danger. He'd sounded perfectly normal, and besides, she'd promised him when they started up the demon research again that she'd monitor him for demon burn, and she needed to see him to do that.
 

He seemed calm to her as he greeted her at the door and took her wet coat. Given how freaked out he was when she’d last seen him, she found his demeanor surprising, in spite of how he'd sounded on the phone. She'd been braced to find him looking grim.
 

She followed him back to his kitchen and settled into one of the chairs at the round wood table while he poured out the tea. She appreciatively inhaled the delicate, fruity aroma as she held the cup in both hands, enjoying the warmth, and took a careful first sip. “Wow,” she sighed, “I love this stuff. Where do you get it?”

“There’s a tea store in Ballard I go to,” Daniel answered. “I’ll pick you up some next time I go if you like.”
 

“That’d be great,” Bree replied. She watched him surreptitiously as he took a drink from his own cup. He looked good. His hair was damp from a recent shower, and it looked like he'd just shaved. He was lacking the edgy sense to his energy that he sometimes got when things weren't good between them, and he read in control, if a little nervous.
It’s the good twin,
she told herself wryly. This was the guy she pretty damn crazy for. She took another sip of her tea and reflected wistfully that it would be nice to be able to just sit here with Daniel and have a normal conversation. But that’s not what she was here for.

"You seem good. I was worried after yesterday. You were going to meditate..." she trailed off helplessly. How did one tactfully say, 'So, have you lost your mind and turned evil since we last met'?

He gave her a wry look over the top of his cup as he took a sip, as if he'd read her mind. "No crazy people here today. No promises about tomorrow though."

She couldn't help but smile a little at that.
 

"No, seriously, it took awhile, but the meditation really helped me pull it together. I slept well, and I felt surprisingly normal when I woke up." Some tea sloshed out of his cup as put it down, and he wiped at the spill with the arm of his shirt. "I got a call from an Ecclesias representative. She asked me quite a few questions about the riot, and that seemed to go okay. The good news is they didn't set a date for a hearing yet. The guy that called didn't say as much, but I suspect that the riot the other night has gone a ways towards convincing them this may be a demon war, which means the Ecclesias will be very busy making plans and marshaling resources."

Bree huffed out a sigh of relief. "Well, thank heaven for small favors. Any further thoughts about how on earth I'm going to get away with lying to an Ecclesias Reader?"