Demonsense (Demonsense series Book 1) (49 page)

"Go back, go back!" Kevin demanded, pounding the dash.

"All right!" Steve executed a three-point turn and went back the way they came. "Now go left?"

"Yes," Daniel replied. "Then go two blocks. Keep a lookout for Keltoi."

Bree held onto Daniel's hand. It was worth it. All the craziness with him was worth it. They were going to get Hunter. Her joy broke some kind of dam inside her, and a heady feeling rushed through her. Maybe she and Daniel would find some way to work things out. If they slowed things down, maybe he wouldn't get so unstable. Maybe he could stave off demon burn long enough for them to solve the entire demon puzzle.

Her giddy thoughts were interrupted when Daniel's hand spasmed in hers. "What is it?"

"Oh Jesus, oh no," he whispered.

"What is it?" Bree repeated, forcing herself not to shout at him.

"Hunter's hurt. Steve, stop the car. I need to focus."

"How can you tell he's hurt?" Kevin demanded.
 

"The amulet spell opened a channel between us. I can feel his presence through it, but strong feelings can come through as well."

"Do you know how badly he's hurt?" Bree asked.

Daniel shook his head, let go of her hand and closed his eyes.

"What'd he say?" Steve whispered.

"He doesn't know how badly Hunter's hurt," Bree whispered. "Now stop talking."

Daniel sucked in a loud breath, and his eyes flew open. "He's possessed. Someone put a demon in him."

"I'm going to kill that bitch!" Kevin cried, fisting his hands in his hair. Steve leaned his forehead onto the backs of his hands where they clutched the wheel.

Bree flung her Demonsense out, hoping for some hint of Hunter, some clue as to whether he'd survived the possession. Daniel slumped back against the car seat, and the movement snapped her out of it. He was looking at her, and the look on his face immediately brought tears to her eyes. "I don't feel him anymore," he said.

Steve sat up and wiped at his face. "That doesn't necessarily mean he's dead, does it?"

"Not necessarily," Daniel replied cautiously.
 

Again, the half-lie in his voice. Something about what he'd sensed made him doubt Hunter had survived. "We still have to try,” Bree said, meeting Daniel’s eyes, and a moment of perfect understanding passed between them.

“Yes, we have to try,” he said softly, more to her than to Kevin or Steve. Then he leaned forward, and instructed, “Steve, go up a block and take a right. Kevin, check your GPS, then call Javier with our location. Tell him Hunter's being held in a warehouse a block to the west of us.”

"We can't wait for Javier, you know we can't," Bree insisted.

"If, if Hunter's not dead," Kevin stammered, "why wouldn't we wait for Javier's team? What chance would just the four of us have against a bunch of Keltoi?"

Daniel shook his head. "I recognized the signature of the demon possessing Hunter. It's the same one that possessed you."

"That one's huge," Kevin said through clenched teeth.

"What does that mean?" Steve asked, voice rising.

"It means if Hunter did survive, he won't last long with that strong a demon inside him," Bree answered for Daniel.

Kevin threw open the car door. "So we go now," he snarled.

Chapter 26

Hunter
woke up. He looked down at himself, puzzled. He felt really strange, but he looked the same. And his stomach didn't feel sick anymore. There was something sticky on the side of his head where it hurt. He put his fingers up there, and they came away bloody.
 

"See, the boy is fine," Franchesca snapped.

"I can't believe you just did that!" Jim shouted. "I thought you said Hunter was the only way to be sure of drawing Daniel!"
 

"The demon wants what it wants," Franchesca said, voice sounding thin. Hunter saw Jim and Justice look at each other. She ignored them, running fingers through her hair to straighten it. “We have to get out of here. We don’t know how close Daniel is, how long it will take him to get here. I’m not ready for him yet.”

“What about Carson and Destry?” Justice asked. He was still keeping his distance from Franchesca.

“Oh hell, we’ll have to take them with us. Scanlon, you and Justice take Carson. I’m going to have to re-freeze Destry until I can get her restrained and have a talk with her.”

“Not until you send the demon out of Hunter,” Jim said, his face red.

"I don't want out yet," Hunter heard his own voice say. He felt dizzy, like he was floating away somewhere.

Franchesca turned to Jim and frowned. "I'm not taking the demon out because it has to be done carefully, or Hunter will die. And I don't have time for that now."
 

“Okay, okay," Jim said, backing away, hands up in surrender. He came over to Hunter and put a hand on his shoulder, but immediately took it off again. "Just stay put for now, Hunter."

"Tirakku, you must practice restraint," Franchesca said, looking at Hunter. "I order you not to drain the boy to the point of death. I will provide a more powerful host soon."

"Yes, master," Hunter said. He looked all around the office, and all the colors looked brighter. He looked over at Carson's body, and felt a kind of hunger reach out of him, felt it touch Carson, then pull back in. He felt disappointed.
 

Jim and Justice went over to Carson and picked him up, Justice carrying his shoulders, and Jim his feet. Justice waved the door spell down, and he and Jim disappeared with Carson down the stairs.
 

Francesca leaned over Destry and touched her on the shoulder, then stood up, gathered up the things from her purse that were still on the floor, and went into the bathroom.
 

Destry still didn’t move. Her eyes were open. Her skin was such a pretty brown. Hunter went over to Destry and squatted down. He stroked her cheek. "So warm, so pretty," Hunter crooned. He patted her short, springy hair, then put a wandering finger into the hole of her ear. Destry started breathing fast, and that interested Hunter. He tried running his finger along Destry's neck, and down along the edge of her white shirt toward her breasts.
 

She breathed even faster. He felt that hungry feeling reach out of him again, out of his body and towards Destry's stomach. He made a sipping motion with his mouth, because that's what it felt like. He wanted to sip her up, like pulling juice through a straw. A warm feeling rolled through him, thrilling him. He wanted more. He ran his finger down her neck and pursed his lips to drink again. But then Jim was there, slapping his hand away. "What are you doing?"

"I'm hungry!" Hunter cried, and this time, it was him talking, at least in a way. Maybe him and the devil together.
 

Jim jerked him up by his arm. "I just gave you a hamburger."

"I'm not hungry for that." Hunter twisted in Jim's grip.
 

"Jesus, Franchesca, would you order your damned demon away from Destry?"

"Tirakku, behave," Franchesca said as she came out of the bathroom. It looked like she'd fixed herself up. Her hair was combed, her eyes circled with smoky grey stripes, and she'd put on dark pink lipstick. Hunter's gaze fastened on her lips. He wanted to bite them.
 

"Tirakku, make the boy sit until we're ready for him."

Hunter yearned toward Franchesca's pretty lips, but his body went and sat down on the couch.

Jim and Justice carried Destry out of the room. When they came back, Jim said, “We’ve put them behind the crates nearest the door so that if any of the clan comes in the next couple of minutes they won’t be visible.”

“Do you have the keys to the SUV? That should be big enough that we can put them in the back. Get a couple of blankets or something to cover them,” Franchesca replied. She was pacing, like she’d been the whole time the two men were gone. Her eyes kept moving around, and she touched everything she passed, like someone trying to feel their way in the dark.

Jim went into Carson's office and returned in just a minute. "Got 'em," he said, holding up some keys and jingling them.
 

Franchesca led the way down the stairs after telling Hunter to follow. Down below was a giant room filled with boxes and crates. It was cold and dark in the corners, lit only by lights far overhead. There was a big open area around the door to the outside and leading up to the stairs.
 

Hunter had just gotten to the bottom of the steps when Franchesca said, “With all the wards on this place, I can’t read shit about what’s out there. What a crappy spell design. I’m going to have to open the damned door to get a read.” She waved a hand in the air, then opened the door to the outside, just cracking it slightly. She froze with her hand on the knob. “No, it’s not possible, not so soon,” she said angrily, then shut the door and turned to face the rest of them. “Daniel's coming. He’s nearly here, and he has at least two powered with him.”

Something inside Hunter stirred with happiness. Daniel was coming! It had worked, the locator amulet had worked! The excitement made him feel more normal again. The hungry feeling faded.
 

Franchesca tilted her head for a minute, then said, “Bre’ekim is right. We must call more demons.”

“Hey, wait a minute, I didn’t say I was ready to be possessed again,” Justice blurted out.

“Keep them out if you can,” Franchesca replied, and raised her arms. “Shel'ekku, I call you! Habakku, I call you! Porekku, I call you! Foreta, I call you! Veranam, I call you! Calim, I call you!”

The cold air heated up suddenly and dramatically, and the room filled with steam as one after another, demons appeared. One looked like another horned devil, one like some kind of ugly, scary octopus, all writhing tentacles of orange, red and fiery gold. Another looked like a dragon, but not the cool kind that Hunter always pictured riding. This one had great big pointed teeth, and mean eyes that looked right at Hunter. Still another looked like a giant black bug crossed with a person, with ugly pincers curving out from its jaw. The last two looked like twins, both monsters with pock marked skin, spikes all over their bodies, and burning orange eyes. Each demon seemed more terrifying than the last. Hunter went rigid with fear, but then he felt like he was floating again, somewhere in the back of his head, and the fear faded.

“Holy shit,” Jim said under his breath, and then turned and bent down to Hunter. “You need to hide, Hunter. Quickly!”

“Oh no you don’t, said Franchesca, advancing on Hunter. Jim stepped in front of Hunter, and she pushed him aside, sent him sprawling with far more strength than she should have had. She picked up Hunter, and laughed into his face, a strange, awful laugh. Her fingernails dug into his arms, even through his shirt and sweater. Then she turned him around roughly and set him on the ground in front of her, one hand around his throat, holding it tight. "Hold still, Tirakku."
 

The demons were flying through the air, and Hunter saw Justice crouch down on the ground, one arm over his head. Jim had backed into a crate, and the biggest of the demons, the devil one, hovered over him, putting out one red finger and running it along his cheek.
 

“No, Calim, you may not possess any here,” Franchesca commanded. “Bre'ekim must be the only Erekim in possession of a host. Another demon can take him.”
 

The big demon hesitated, and Franchesca turned to face it. She was sweating, and as she clenched her fists before her, her arms were shaking. "Calim, back off, and I may give you a very strong powered to possess. Can you feel him near?"
 

The demon looked at her and growled, but he moved away from Jim. One of the pocked marked monsters quickly took its place. Hunter watched in a mixture of excitement and horror as the demon went into Jim. Jim shook all over, but he didn’t fall down. Then the shaking stopped, and he had those orange lights in his eyes. He raised one of his hands before him and said, “Wow, I feel strong. In fact, I feel great!” His voice was different, and Hunter knew the demon was in him. And he knew that now Jim was going to be mean, just like Franchesca. Hopeless tears leaked out of his eyes even while the demon inside him made him laugh. Daniel was coming, but what could Daniel do against all these awful demons?

Bree stood behind Daniel near the corner of the warehouse building, Kevin and Steve crowding in behind her. She was trying to nail down the location of Hunter's energy signature.

"The door ward just went down," Kevin whispered.

And then it hit her. Demon sign, like lightening against her Demonsense. She jerked as first one, then another, then another demon came into being, then two more, the last one huge, an Erekim at least. "Dear God," she breathed.
 

Kevin put a hand on her arm. "Is it Hunter?"

"Demons, six more. Whoever is in there just called six more demons."

Kevin's face went pale. "Six demons? My God, who's crazy enough to call six demons? No one can master that many!"
 

Bree stepped closer to Daniel. "Is there any chance at all you could master all of them?”

“Wait,” Steve interrupted. “You can Master demons? Doesn’t that make you…”
“Later, Steve, I’ll explain it later,” Kevin said.
 

"I've never tried," Daniel answered Bree. His expression went from hopeless to resolved in an instant. "But I'm going to have to. Being possessed won't necessarily protect Hunter from those demons. They'll be running mad in there." He pushed back from her and made eye contact with Steve. “Steve, I’ll want you in reserve, out of the direct action. Look for a chance to lay hands on Hunter. One of us will try to get him loose and get him to you. Then you run with him, back to the car, and get him out of here. Don't wait for the rest of us.”

Steve swallowed nervously, gave Kevin a pained and anxious glance, then nodded at the hard look in Kevin’s eyes.

“Kevin, you're going to have to throw up the best ward of your life. Disembodied demons can burn you to death, and they might get angry enough to try if they can't get to any of us to possess us. They'll be fighting over me, since I'm the strongest magically. I'll master as many as I can. If the Keltoi or the demons get the upper hand, I’ll offer myself for Hunter. I know,” he went on, looking directly at Bree, “that Franchesca's got my number. She’s good at manipulating me. But I’ve got her number too. I think I have a good chance of getting away from her if she takes me.”