Demonsense (Demonsense series Book 1)

by Sara DeHaven

  “Did you get its name?”

  “Yeah. Its name was Habakku.”

  “Not one I know.”

  “Me neither. And frankly, I didn’t try to find out more. We had a time of it exorcising the thing. I resigned pretty soon after that, let Bailey close up the case, and started making plans to move.”

  She had watched him relax further as he spoke, focused on his memory and on the problem. His body still seemed to hold itself a little too ready for trouble at his core, but he seemed to be opening up. “So, was it hard to put down?” Bree asked, partly because she was on a roll with trying to figure this thing out, partly to see if Daniel would tell her.

  “Yes, it was hard to put down,” he replied, and she saw the guardedness snap back into place.

  “I guess I mean harder than usual,” she clarified. “Did anyone get hurt?”

  “The husband got burned, but nothing major. Bailey got a little scorched. I think you’re asking how ugly it was. It was way up there. Probably in my top five,” Daniel said. “So… you’re thinking we misread it like we both misread the taint, or whatever it was I had?”

  “Basically, yeah. So, personal question. How good is your Demonsense, usually? And Bailey’s? How likely was a misread?”

  “Mine’s generally very good. I have misread how big one is, but not by much. You know that's not the hardest part of an exorcism. It was never enough to matter in getting rid of the demon, so never enough to pose any danger. And Bailey’s Demonsense is nearly as strong as mine.”

  Bree felt a certain satisfaction as pieces fell into place for her, even though she didn’t like the conclusion. “I think what you had was some unusual type of taint from an unusual type of demon, with some kind of warding or masking properties. A much better than average ability to hide itself inside a host. And I think the taint was big enough to have nearly morphed into sentience. But not quite, because I was able to earth it, and if it was truly sentient, that wouldn’t have been enough. Have you ever heard of anything like that?”

  He thought about it in silence for a moment. “No,” he replied at last. “I can’t remember anything specific. And this still doesn’t quite make sense. Something as big as you say it was should have shown itself more in my actions, not just my mood. I wasn’t acting darkish, if you know what I mean,” Daniel said with a touch of humor. “So even if it could hide to some degree from Demonsense, how could it not affect me more?”

  Bree was tiring as they spoke. The adrenaline of the encounter with the taint was wearing off rapidly now, and tea and cookies weren’t enough to really feed her base energy. And she didn’t like the direction their conclusions were tending. Demons or taint that could truly hide would be a very bad thing. Of course, just because neither of them had heard of such a thing didn’t mean it wasn’t known somewhere. Even a Keeper might not be up on every scrap of demon lore. “I think maybe we should take this to the Ecclesias,” she said hesitantly.

  Daniel leaned forward quickly and said softly, but intently, “Please, can we hold off on that? Can we maybe try to handle this more informally? Maybe run it by Kevin, and see if he knows a local Keeper we could bring it to?”

  He looked so earnest, was making good eye contact, and sounded so reasonable, and yet she felt a little mole of suspicion crawling to the surface of her consciousness. She probed her Reader sense, but couldn’t locate any specific tells that were triggering the suspicion. She wondered if he had some particular reason for not wanting to go to the Ecclesias. Not that she could, in all honestly, blame him if he didn’t want to go. She wouldn’t enjoy drawing such official attention either. But there was something else, something she could almost taste…

  “In any case,” he continued, “we’re both exhausted, and the taint or whatever it was is banished, so there’s really nothing that has to be done right now. I’m willing to hit the books a bit to see if I can find anything that sounds like this, and maybe we can set a date with Kevin in the next couple of days, see what he thinks. He’s got a lot of lore in that brain of his, and he’s pretty well connected with the powered community out here. Shall I call and see when we can get together?”

  “It would have to be Sunday night or later in the evening next week. I’ve got plans for tonight and Saturday, and clients most week nights until about seven.”

  “So, clients like in the law? Or therapy?”

  “Massage therapy. That’s my day job.” Bree winced inwardly as the “day job” comment slipped out. It was the kind of thing powered said when they considered their power work their real job, their real life. She hadn’t been doing power work since Seth died a year and a half ago, and she tried not to use that language. She really must be tired. “You know,” she continued, “I’m open to talking to Kevin about this, but I don’t really see why we don’t take it to the Ecclesias as well. If what we just experienced is some new demon talent emerging, they need to know about it.”

  “I’m not saying they don’t need to know, I’m just suggesting that we go through channels. I’ve got to tell you, in my experience, you don’t really want to draw the interest of the Ecclesias. They tend to be a paranoid lot, and the ‘innocent until proven guilty’ maxim is not where they’re coming from.”

  Bree 's uneasiness grew at Daniel’s words. She realized she truly didn’t want to go to the Ecclesias herself. Her exorcism work had always been done on the fringes of official powered society, usually arranged by Dion as part of the Seattle council of powered, or by Father Steuban at her church rather than by the Ecclesias itself. She could imagine the pressure to do more exorcisms she’d be in for if she got on the Ecclesias radar.

  At the same time, her intuition was telling her there was something fishy with Daniel’s wanting to avoid the Ecclesias. But was that really any of her business? If they took the information to a Keeper, who then passed it off to the Ecclesias, wouldn’t her responsibility in the situation be met, perhaps without having to deal with the Ecclesias herself?

  “All right,” she conceded, “I guess you would know better than I the best way to handle this. Let’s do the meet with Kevin.”

  She got up and unwrapped herself from Daniel’s blanket, made polite departing small talk, including an agreement to try for the meeting with Kevin on Sunday, and headed for the door, putting on her coat as she went. As she said goodbye and turned to leave, she felt a brief touch on her hand, and turned back. Her stomach fluttered as he said quite seriously and with definite warmth in his eyes, “Thank you Bree, for the working.”

  “Right, you’re welcome,” she answered a little breathlessly, and left.

  As she walked out to her car, under rain that had backed off again to a light mist, she was assailed by doubt. She should know by now to trust her intuition when it was tugging at her that hard, but she’d been intimidated by Daniel having been a Keeper and, if she were honest with herself, a little by his high power status. She had the sense she’d been handily manipulated, and she didn’t like it. Now that she was out of the aura of attraction, she was able to reflect further on that strange, dark flavor to Daniel’s energy. He might not be truly dark powered, but there was definitely something amiss there. Bree firmly resolved to be wary and on alert when they met together with Kevin.

  Chapter 3

  Kevin and his partner Steve lived in the sort of contemporary house that was in almost every way what Bree did not like in a house, though she would never tell Steve that, as he was the architect. She'd been good friends with the couple since before they'd built the place, and she'd managed to keep her mouth shut during the whole building and planning process about how little it was to her taste. While the spaces were well designed and full of lovely materials, there were too many windows, which made her feel vulnerable, the furniture was modern, sparse and square, and there was far too much grey and black in the color scheme. But the views of Lake Washington from the windows were fantastic, some wonderful color photos of the couple’s many travels provided some relief from the neutral c
olor scheme, and best of all, the house had Hunter.

  Hunter was six, and he was talking a mile a minute as soon as Bree walked in the door. “I want to show you my train. I made a train track, and some trees and houses. And a gate. The cars have to stop at the gate so the train doesn’t smash them to bits ‘cause the train is way heavier.” He pulled insistently on her hand as Bree greeted Kevin with a one armed hug. “Steve’s just finishing the dishes, and Daniel’s not here yet,” he said when Hunter paused to take a breath.

  “Daddy, I want to show her my train!” Hunter complained.

  “It’s okay kiddo, I’m coming. We’ll check out the train first,” Bree reassured him.

  Kevin smiled and waved Bree toward the hall and Hunter’s room, and followed them in. He sat on the bed while Bree settled on the floor with Hunter, admiring his train set up. After Hunter had described it all with exhaustive detail, he settled down to play. Bree seized the moment of quiet to question Kevin about how he knew Daniel.

  Kevin took off his glasses and wiped them on his shirttail as he considered where to start. He was a classic computer geek: brilliant, a little on the chubby side, receding brown hair, no great fashion sense, but unlike many other programmers Bree had known, he actually had some social skills, and when not working was very extroverted and people focused. He still had a trace of upper crust Boston in his voice, though he had lived in Seattle for many years. “I'm sure you've heard me mention him before, my Keeper friend in Boston. We've been friends for years."

  "I guess that does ring a bell," Bree admitted.

  "I knew Daniel as a kid,” he said as he put his glasses back on. “You’ve heard me talk about the powered side of the East Coast culture, very inbred, everybody knows everybody. I’d see him from time to time at the occasional big social event, but we never really connected. He was kind of a shy kid, and I was busy running around with my cousins. We went to the same powered boarding school for high school though, and we've been friends ever since. Though of course, I haven’t seen much of him since I moved out here. In fact, I think you and Seth were on your honeymoon the last time he came to town to town to visit me." Kevin slanted a quick look at Bree. Even after all this time, people were afraid to mention Seth to her. She fixed a look of polite interest on her face, and Kevin continued.

  "I do always spend time with him when I go home to visit family. He's one of those people I can talk to like we've never been apart every time we get together. As little as I get to see him, I consider him one of my closest friends."

  “He seemed like a pretty tightly wound guy to me,” Bree observed as she obeyed Hunter’s directive to move one of his trains down the track and over the bridge. “Nice enough, kind of sweet, but I think being a Keeper did a number on him.”

  “Oh, I’m sure it must have. But I wouldn’t say that’s the only thing that did a number on him. His father was a piece of work. Not a nice man.”

  “Dark powered?”

  “No, kind of the opposite really. Very righteous, very rigid about the law, served on the Northeast Ecclesias for a lot of years. Good case in point that just avoiding dark power doesn’t make you a nice person. And his mother was a very withdrawn, depressive sort, at least when I knew her. So Daniel has some issues apart from being a Keeper.” Kevin hesitated, and Bree saw him draw in his lips and slide his gaze to the floor in the way he did when he was feeling guilty about something. Really, Kevin was such an open book, you didn’t have to be a Reader to guess what he was feeling.

  “I guess that’s not my story to tell,” he said. “Anyway, when I got to really know him, he was so high power that it just blew me and everybody else away. You’d never have guessed it from what he was like as a kid. He wasn’t arrogant about it, or at least not much, but he just kicked ass on nearly every talent, even back then when they weren’t fully developed. Major Caster, good intuitive sense of spells and had the interest to really study the lore. Great Demonsense, and a really stellar Exorcist. He could do Divining, but it never really held his interest. He’s as good a Warder as I am, and he can do a little Healing too. Not much of a Reader in terms of tells, but he’s a high power Reader of energy. I think the only talent he doesn’t have at all is Animal Master.”

  “Lordy, I can see why he went for Keeper. But with that mix, wasn’t there ever concern he was a…” Bree hesitated, not wanting to say too much in front of Hunter. She silently mouthed the words Demon Master.

  Kevin got his guilty look again. “There were rumors, but there always are.”

  “Rumors about what?” Steve asked from the door. He came in, dropped a kiss on the top of Bree’s head, and sat down on the bed next to Kevin. He was more than a head taller, slender and blond, and they made a bit of a Mutt and Jeff picture when side by side.

  “About Daniel,” Bree answered.

  “Ah, the so interesting Mr. Thorvaldson,” Steve said archly. “I would love to hear some rumors.”

  “Well, I’m certainly not going to repeat any,’ Kevin said primly. “Stories, though, I’ve got. I was telling Bree about when Daniel and I were in school together. He was kind of the powered equivalent of a jock at school because of his abilities, and I was a nerd and a lowly, one-talent Warder. But Daniel took up with me. I think he basically didn’t like bullies, and I wasn’t being treated that well. I think he did it to be nice at first, but then we hit it off.”

  Hunter looked up, caught by something in Kevin's tone. He got up off the floor and clambered onto Kevin’s lap. “Don’t be sad, Daddy,” he said, giving Kevin a hug.

  Steve put an arm around Kevin’s shoulder, and looked down at Bree. “See now, I wouldn’t have caught sadness just from Kevin’s voice,” Steve remarked. “I assume you felt a little sad remembering being hassled in school?” he asked Kevin.

  Kevin nodded and told Hunter, “I’m not really that sad about it any more, pumpkin.”

  “Pardon the question from the clueless normal here, but could you do that at Hunter’s age?” Steve asked Bree.

  “Oh yeah,” Bree answered, still absent-mindedly playing with the train. “My parents thought I was just ‘too sensitive.’ Fortunately, Hunter will have more support and understanding than I had with my poor normal parents. Thank heavens it was you two who adopted him.”

  “I’m a Reader,” Hunter announced importantly.

  “Yes sweetie, we think you’re a Reader,” Bree replied.

  “And I’m an Animal Master. I’m Master of Tyrannosaurus Rex!” he said gleefully, and started to bounce up and down on Kevin’s lap.

  “I’m sure you would be if they weren’t extinct,” Steve laughed.

  The doorbell chimed, and Hunter leapt off Kevin’s lap and charged for the door. “You’d think he was a dog the way he rushes for the door whenever someone comes over,” Steve said as he bent over to help Bree straighten Hunter’s toys. Hunter, clearly having overheard the comment, began barking.

  Kevin went to get the door and a moment later, Hunter dragged Daniel in to join them. “And this is my train set,” he was saying. “I made the trees.” Daniel dutifully bent over to inspect the trees after a quick greeting to the others in the room. He was wearing all brown today, sweater and cords. So much for Bree’s theory that he was still holding onto being a Keeper by wearing blue.

  “Okay little man, time for your bath,” Steve announced in his no nonsense parent voice after giving Hunter a little time to tell Daniel all about his trains.

  “But Papa, Daniel didn’t get a chance to play with my train!” Hunter said, voice beginning to rise.

  “It’s okay, Hunter. I live in Seattle now, so I’ll get another chance to come and play with your train,” Daniel reassured him. Hunter looked stormy anyway, but Steve scooped him up and tickled him, then carried him out of the room.

  Bree, Kevin and Daniel adjourned to the living room. The dark expanse of the lake with the far necklace of lights on the opposite shore was visible out the window. It was a clear night. Bree made sure she sat where she had
a good view of Daniel’s face. She was still feeling uneasy about him, and she wanted to be able to read him if necessary. She hadn’t been able to let go of the suspicious vibe with which their last meeting had ended, when Daniel had wanted to avoid involving the Ecclesias. And somehow, her little talk just now with Kevin hadn’t eased things. As she gazed at him, she was forced to register that in spite of all that, she was getting butterflies in her stomach being around him again. It was hard for her to look him in the face.

  “Okay, so spill you two. What’s with the pow wow?” Kevin asked.

  “Bree ran into a little trouble at the working she did for me on Friday. We just wanted to run it by you, see if you have any ideas, maybe get your input on the next best step,” Daniel started. He described the encounter, with Bree chiming in with her description of the taint nearly getting away from her, and misjudging the size of the demon during the recent exorcism, and they both shared their speculations.

  “I’ve been thinking since then,” Daniel concluded, “what if this is really something new? A new talent in demons? Powered have certainly evolved over the years, why wouldn’t they?”

  “And yet by all the lore, they really have been pretty static,” Kevin replied thoughtfully. “Even to the point of using the same names, adhering to the same general types. Isn’t one of the theories that Hell is by nature an unchanging place, and that’s part of why it is Hell?”