Demonsense (Demonsense series Book 1)

by Sara DeHaven

  “Keep going south,” Daniel murmured, eyes still closed. After about five blocks, he said, “Take a left, take a left!”

  Steve swerved recklessly left, between a grungy carpet outlet store and a nameless warehouse with a smattering of trucks and vans out front. Then he jammed on the brakes as a huge pothole appeared in front of the car. They lurched in and out of it, then went another block more slowly until Daniel said, “Good, pull over when you can.”

  Steve sidled the Prius up to the side of a weathered wooden building with peeling green paint, and parked behind an older model Buick. Daniel kept his eyes closed as Kevin unbuckled his seat belt and slewed around to look into the back seat. “Well?” he asked impatiently. “Are we close?”

  “Sshh,” Daniel replied. His eyes moved behind his closed eyelids as if he were dreaming. Bree’s whole body was tensed and ready to leap out of the car in whatever direction he indicated, in spite of knowing that the plan did not include her racing into some Keltoi stronghold to personally liberate Hunter. Minutes ticked by, the only sound that of the occasional car going down the main street two blocks behind them.

  The silence was broken by the opening blast of the Star Wars theme music. Everyone in the car jumped like cats sprayed with water. “Holy crap!” Steve exclaimed, clutching his heart as Kevin frantically dug in his coat pocket and pulled out his cell phone, looked at the screen, then tapped the answer button, cutting off the music. “Javier, what is it?”

  Kevin listened in silence for some time, then said, “Hold on a minute,” and put the phone up against his chest. His face was flushed. “It’s Javier. They were trying to go ahead with setting up an exchange without you, Daniel, in hopes of getting Franchesca to show up with Hunter, but she demanded to speak with you. When Javier said no, she said the whole deal was off.”

  “Tell Javier I have a very near locate with a finder spell and tell him where we are. Tell him I’ll try to nail it down while he gets a team here, and we won’t go in without the them,” Daniel instructed tersely. He still looked tired to Bree’s eyes, but the fragile look was gone. He seemed energized and in charge, and she felt more hope than fear for Hunter for the first time since he was taken. For all Daniel’s instability, there was a charisma about him when he was like this that made her feel like he could move mountains.

  There was a rather long silence on Kevin’s end, then he turned to Daniel and said, “He wants to talk to you.”

  “Tell him I really need to focus on the spell or I’ll lose it.”

  Javier seemed to accept it, because Kevin ended the call quickly after giving Javier their location.

  “Okay, every body quiet,” Daniel said, eyes closed again. His hands tightened in his lap, and his brow furrowed. Another few agonizing minutes ticked by. "God damn it," Daniel whispered, and opened his eyes. "The finder spell gave out. I lost him."

  Chapter 25

  Justice made a quick swipe at his sweating forehead with his jacket cuff with one hand while he raised the other and prepared a ward. It must be possession sickness that had him reacting so strongly to the presence of a demon. It had short horns, spikes in a kind of ruff around its face, and was a dull green with red at its hands, feet and head. And it was looking right at Hunter. It was probably attracted to the kid because he'd been possessed so recently, even more recently than Justice himself.

  "Destry, call Broud," Carson ordered. "Tell him we've got a demon that needs mastering." He already had a ward up. Scanlon had apparently managed to freeze Franchesca, or maybe he'd just hit her hard enough to knock her out, because she was sprawled on the floor, unmoving. It felt like Scanlon had a ward up between himself, Franchesca and the demon.

  The demon turned away from Hunter and looked at Carson. "You seem to be most powerful here. I will take you."

  Carson glanced at Justice and said, "Get ready. I can hold this ward for some time, but I'm going to need you to spell me."

  Destry had her phone out and was talking into it. After a moment, she said, "Broud is in Tacoma, sir, so he's at least forty minutes out. Shall I try Kensington?"

  The air wavered as the devil pounded against the ward with its fists.

  "Kensington, Peng, Lowry, I don't care who the fuck you call, just get me a Demon Master or an Exorcist. Scanlon, get ready to back up Justice."

  The devil growled, "You cannot hold me for long. Either I will possess you or the master who called me through."

  Carson said, "Justice, raise your ward. Scanlon, let me know when you're tied in as back up, and I'll drop mine and recast freeze."

  The devil started howling, and Carson raised his voice to be heard. "We should have no problem holding the ward so long as we..."

  Scanlon stumbled and crashed into a chair, overturning it. He'd lost his hold on the ward as Franchesca's telekinetic spell hit him. She sat up and shouted out, “Bre’ekim, possess me!”

  As the demon melted into Franchesca, Justice felt a sick kind of relief. He'd both dreaded and wanted the demon to possess him. He ought to be freaked out that Franchesca was possessed, given the power boost that'd give her, but he had confidence in his clan chief. The fact that Carson hadn't gone after the possession himself meant that he thought he could take Franchesca without it.

  Almost as soon as Justice had the thought, Carson dropped his ward and cast a telekinetic spell that put to shame the one Franchesca had cast at Scanlon. She was lifted off the ground, through the air, and landed head first into the TV. She hit it so hard that she rebounded onto her back onto the coffee table. The glass of the TV screen shattered and fell all over her and the floor. He'd done it, Carson had killed her with one, swift, deadly spell.

  "Justice, check to make sure she's dead." Carson still had his eyes on Franchesca, but his posture had relaxed, though Justice had been around the chief enough to know the blank look to his face meant he was furious.

  Justice approached Franchesca cautiously, sparing a quick glance at Scanlon on his way over. Scanlon's eyes were open, and his face grimaced in pain as he arched up to put a hand on his back.

  Franchesca's face was covered with her dark hair, and her sweater was rucked up, revealing a band of flesh. He looked closely, but couldn't see her breathing. There was a cut on the back of her hand that trailed blood down her fingers. He bent and extended a hand to feel for the pulse in her neck.

  With swift turn of the head, she lunged at his hand and bit it, hard. Electricity surged up his arm and into his head, a line of fire that exploded. He was blacking out.

  He felt Franchesca release her teeth from his hand and, at the same moment, Justice felt another spell sweep by him. Before he'd hit the ground, he heard Carson grunt and Destry swear.

  He landed on his side, head buzzing, fighting to stay conscious, stunned that Franchesca could be alive and still fighting after the blow to the head she'd taken. Her neck ought to be broken.

  Magic flew through the air, and Justice felt the backwash of it as he rolled over onto his hands and knees. By the time his vision started to clear, it had stopped. He risked a quick look over at Hunter. Through his swimming vision, he saw he'd retreated to the corner. Smart kid.

  Franchesca said, "My god, but men are so predictable. You were so certain I'd be that easy to kill, weren't you Carson? Your error was in sending me so far with your spell. I had just enough time to construct a warding spell for my head before I struck the TV. I dropped it before you could even register I cast it."

  The blurriness fully cleared and Justice saw Carson and Destry were backed up into the kitchen area, a ward in front of them. Scanlon was still on his back, but he had the stillness and wide-eyed look of someone hit by a freeze spell. So it was up to Justice to provide a distraction.

  He strangled a grunt of effort as forced himself all the way up to his knees and steadied himself with a hand on the coffee table. His mind raced through spell options. He wasn't a strong enough Caster to send a freeze spell all the way across the room to where Franchesca stood. A dizziness spell
might go that far, and it could be enough to distract her. He'd have to trust that Carson would be ready to take advantage of that distraction. He reached for the necessary concentration and felt it slide away from his mental grasp like a greased pig.

  "Perhaps I underestimated you, Franchesca," Carson replied, his voice schooled again to neutrality. "I knew you were a strong Caster, but I'll admit you're better in battle than I expected."

  "Just because I'm attractive doesn't mean I can't fight dirty," Franchesca replied.

  "I think we need to start over," Carson said. “This whole conflict was triggered when I spoke of making a negative report to your chief. Surely you understand that a chief can't allow anyone to challenge his authority as directly as you challenged mine. Would your clan chief have allowed you to dictate plans like that, in front of other clan members?"

  Franchesca didn't answer right away. Justice still felt fuzzy. He tried again to form the dizziness spell in his mind, and it swirled away into nothing the moment he had it clear. He couldn't afford to wait any longer to act. He was going to have to try to rush her physically. Even if he didn't make it all the way to her before she could react, that alone might be enough of a distraction to allow Carson and Destry to take her down. Justice got both of his feet under him and calculated the quickest route to Franchesca's back.

  "My clan chief wouldn't ignore my input the way you did. He knows my value. And he wants that hiding spell. How many times do I have to tell you that?"

  Justice surged up and sprinted towards Franchesca. She didn't so much as turn her head toward the sound of his steps, and he knew why when he bounced off her ward. The only good news was that he hit it hands first instead of face first. Immediately, he moved forward again, pressed his hands to the ward and leaned all his weight against it. The more pressure he applied to the ward, the more energy it would take Franchesca to hold it.

  "Really, your people keep forgetting my abilities," Franchesca replied to Carson. She cast a quick glance back at Justice, which told him she was already feeling some strain on the ward. It had to have shaken her up to be thrown across the room like that, even if it hadn't killed her.

  "Scanlon got the drop on you," Justice said. "Too bad he didn't strangle you when he got the chance."

  "Justice, enough. Let up on her ward," Carson said. Justice reluctantly obeyed. He was still pissed at the way she'd nearly electrocuted him.

  Carson nodded at Destry, and it looked to Justice like Carson handed off the ward to her. He spread his hands. "You've made your point. Let's sit down and talk over your ideas for going after Thorvaldson tonight."

  Franchesca shifted her weight on her feet. Justice was behind her and couldn't see her expression, but the fact that she hadn't made a sarcastic come back told him she was at least thinking about what Carson had said.

  He was taken by surprise just as much as Franchesca when Scanlon struck at the back of Franchesca's ward hard enough to make it drop. He was on his knees, and had apparently managed to crawl closer after the freeze spell he'd been under faded. "Freeze!" he shouted, and a half second later, Franchesca made a half turn, and shouted "Freeze!" as well. It was Scanlon who froze. He collapsed over onto his side. Another instant later, Justice heard her say, "Freeze," again, more softly, and the chill of the spell struck him. Like Scanlon, he'd been a little off balance when she'd cast the spell, and he toppled to the ground, landing on his shoulder. It hurt like hell. At least he'd come down facing the action. Franchesca had to be tiring. Maybe the freeze spell on him wasn't very strong.

  The fact that Carson didn't seize that moment to go after Franchesca meant he thought he'd succeeded in talking her down. Franchesca turned back to Carson and slowly, deliberately, raised a ward again. "I'd like to trust you, Jeff, and I'm pleased you didn't attack me just now. But I have the strangest feeling that I'm going to need some insurance."

  Justice could hear the sound of the demon in her voice. He knew that sound. The demon was moving to the front of her mind, trying to take over.

  Franchesca strolled over to Scanlon, a hand extended behind her, pulling the ward along with her. She dropped and reformed her ward in an instant, allowing her to put Scanlon inside of it with her. Destry made a movement toward Franchesca, but Carson put a hand on her arm to stop her.

  Franchesca used a foot to turn Scanlon onto his back. She clenched her fist in the air over Scanlon's chest. "Shall I kill him?" Franchesca asked, turning back to Carson. "Anyone stupid enough to try a freeze spell on someone possessed by an Erekim deserves to die." She squeezed her fist, and Scanlon didn't move, but he groaned. It was hard to make a sound when frozen, and Justice didn't like to think about the pain that could force the necessary air out of Scanlon.

  "Perhaps you'd like to rethink your plan to tell my chief you won't work with me." Franchesca's eyes were bright. She was enjoying this. Justice wished he could check on Hunter again. Poor kid might have to see his father die if Carson wasn't willing to negotiate for Scanlon's life.

  "As much as Scanlon's death would be inconvenient, it's not enough to motivate me to make a deal with you. I'd rather we come to an agreement based on mutual benefit." Carson nodded at Destry and walked toward Franchesca, stopping just outside of her ward. "You should start with letting go of my people and dismissing your demon. That would go a long way toward convincing me you aren't demon burned."

  Franchesca's expression turned furious, and her voice buzzed like a hive full of bees. "You should have bargained with me! Now you've pissed me off." She clawed her ward down, and magic concussed through the air, harder even than it had when Carson nearly killed Franchesca with the telekinetic spell. She waved her hands, face grimacing in effort as she cast strike after strike at Destry's ward. Carson backed up a few paces, then stopped, face set in concentration, likely preparing a spell.

  Justice shot a look at Destry. Even from here, he could see her shaking. She wasn't going to be able to hold the ward much longer.

  Carson must have thought so to, because he gave a sharp nod of his head, and Destry released the ward.

  The whole building shook as the force of Carson's spell met that of Franchesca's. Sparks shot all the way up to the ceiling along the arc where the spells clashed.

  Justice tried to tense his muscles, tried to move. All he managed was a twitch of his hands. There was silence, punctuated only by gasps and grunts of effort. Carson and Franchesca were casting silently now, hands dancing before them. Franchesca staggered, fell to one knee, hand against the floor. Carson smiled, but Franchesca chopped at the air, and both Carson and Destry slammed to the floor. Franchesca extended her hand and called "Freeze!" The spell missed Carson, but caught Destry.

  Carson said, "Shield!" He backed up a few steps, hands raised palms out.

  "An impressive casting of shield, I'll admit," Franchesca said, getting all the way to her feet. "Nicely attuned, but I think I can work around it." She walked up to him and stopped. "You're no match for me possessed. Now, I might still let you live. After all, I don't relish having the entire Seattle clan after me. And my chief might be a little unhappy if I killed you. All I'm asking for is that we stick to the original deal. Tell me you'll get Daniel for me."

  "I can hardly promise you..." Carson started to say.

  "Tell me you'll get Daniel for me!" Franchesca shrieked.

  Carson held up a hand. "Your demon is taking over. Just release it, and we can talk."

  "Bre'ekim has other ideas." Franchesca snarled. "Down shield!" Her hair flew back with the force of breaking the shield spell. She took two short steps toward Carson and reached for his arm. Carson tried to dodge sideways, but she grabbed his coat with one hand, and put the other on his chest. Carson’s whole body jerked, and he fell to his knees. Franchesca pushed against Carson's shoulder, and he fell over onto his back. He waved a hand in the air, but Franchesca slapped it aside. She went down on her knees in front of him, put her hand on his chest again and said, eyes very wide, "Tell me you will get Daniel for me!"<
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  "I, I.." Carson gasped.

  "You were going to cut me out! You were going to take him from me!"

  "I promise, I promise..." Carson got out, but Franchesca kept talking, her voice rising. "They said I should stop allowing possessions. Can you believe that? My chief's been edging me out. That's why he sent me here!"

  "That's the demon talking," Carson choked out. His whole body jerked again. Jesus Christ, she was going to kill him. The crazy bitch was going to kill him. Justice gathered himself and tried again to move. This time, his feet and his arms twitched.

  "I'm more powerful than all of you, that's why you're keeping my demons from me! You want to fuck me over, just like men have all my life. And I'm not going to allow it anymore, do you hear me?" Franchesca pushed her hand down onto Carson's chest, and his whole body arched up off the ground. Then his eyes rolled back in his head and he went limp.

  Franchesca bowed her head over Carson, hair sliding down to cover her face. God, if only he could move now, it'd be the perfect time to strike.

  Franchesca slowly straightened, and said, in what sounded more like her normal voice, "I know you all can hear me, and your freeze spells will be wearing off soon. I can kill you all right now, and I can assure you, my demon would like that very much."

  She licked her lips, then continued. "But consider for a moment what I can do for you."

  Finally, Justice felt his body respond to his attempts to move. He had a spell clear in his mind. He raised his arm to provide a conduit for the spell. Franchesca must have heard something, because she whirled around to face Justice. He froze, and not because she'd put another spell on him. Her voice might have less of the demon in it, but her could see it on her face. The demon was right there, right on the edge of a killing spree. Not only would he, Scanlon, and Destry buy it, she'd probably murder that poor kid too. Justice lowered his hand and let go of the spell.