Daniel fell forward, taking Franchesca down with him. Franchesca pushed him off, rolling him onto his back. As she lurched to her feet, Bree heard Daniel say in Gelsenim’s voice, “You will die for that. You will both die.”
Scanlon kicked Daniel hard in the side, then jerked and flew back into the air, slamming against the waiting room door.
Daniel must have been enough in charge to unleash one hell of a defensive spell. His body went limp for a moment, then his eyes opened again, and orange light flickered in the depths.
“Do something!” Scanlon addressed Franchesca, voice rising as he scrambled to his feet. “That demon's going to kick our asses if he doesn’t kill us first!”
“Get Justice and get out,” she said tersely. “I can hold him, but not for long.”
Scanlon flipped on the safety and shoved the gun into his pocket, then hauled the limp and stumbling Justice to his feet, moving him toward the door.
Franchesca raised her arms in front of her, over Daniel and intoned, “Gelsenim, I call you! Gelsenim, I command you!”
Daniel, or rather Gelsenim, responded breathlessly, “You cannot command me. Only Thorvaldson may command me.” Daniel rolled onto his knees, and got to his feet, much more slowly this time.
Franchesca balled both hands into fists in a commanding gesture and screamed, “Stop!” Daniel paused, halfway to standing upright. He was breathing hard.
Bree shouted, “Daniel, don’t let it control you! Don’t let
her
control you!”
Franchesca didn’t spare her even a glance. “If you wish to keep Daniel’s body, listen to me!” Franchesca hissed.
“How?” Gelsenim’s voice answered. “How may I keep his body?”
“It’s guilt that drives him. Guilt and self-hatred. Those are his weak points. Do you see it?”
There was a pause as Gelsenim considered, and Bree uselessly called out to Daniel again.
“I see it,” he answered finally.
“Feed those, and you have a chance,” Franchesca insisted, her dark eyes intent. “If you win that battle, come to me, and I will show you more.”
“You want something from this host,” Gelsenim rumbled.
“You are correct. If you bring him to me, under your control, and he gives me the information I want, I will show you how to keep him.”
“Show me now!” Gelsenim roared, and Franchesca brought her two fists together. Daniel dropped back to his knees.
“I am a Demon Master. You may not command me,” Franchesca returned. She backed toward the door and unclenched one fist long enough to reach behind her for the doorknob. “Tirakku will know how to find me,” she finished, and darted quickly outside.
Slowly, as if a great and terrible weight were upon him, Daniel got back to his feet. Bree watched as he swayed, half facing her. He was holding his body all wrong.
She knew by now how he stood, how he moved, and that Daniel was far away. She had to bring him back.
“Daniel,” she tried again, more gently. “Daniel, please listen. I know you can control him. You’ve always done it before.”
He turned to face her fully. “You are not so fine as before, but I think I will enjoy you nonetheless,” Gelsenim said with Daniel's voice.
Bree’s heart tried to hurl itself out of her chest as Gelsenim moved toward her in Daniel’s body. She struggled against her bonds in a useless panic. Daniel's hand shot out and began kneading one of her breasts roughly, painfully. His eyes bored into hers, and tears brimmed over as she said piteously, “Daniel, please!”
But she saw no sign of Daniel. His hand left her breast, and went to the hem of her dress, watching her face for her reaction as he pushed it up her thighs. His face moved closer to hers, lips lifting in a filthy smile. She steeled herself to keep his gaze and desperately, she said, “Daniel, nothing you’ve ever done will leave you with the guilt you’ll have to live with if you let Gelsenim rape me.”
He stopped advancing, and something in his eyes shifted. Yes, that was it! Franchesca had given her the key. She could hook Daniel with guilt, but she also had to help him fight it. That was the weak point Gelsenim was working. “Whatever it is you’ve done,” she continued quickly, “we can talk about it. Whatever it is, I forgive you.”
Daniel's whole body shuddered as he straightened up again. The conviction that she was onto something filled her. “I forgive you,” she said again more strongly.
Daniel’s eyes rolled back in his head, and his body shivered. “I forgive you!” she cried. “I forgive you, Daniel! I forgive you!”
His body shook so hard that he fell back onto the floor. He jerked and trembled like an epileptic, and terrible squealing and grunting noises came out between his clenched teeth. Finally, his movements slowed, then stopped. Ever so slowly, orange smoke trickled out of his opening mouth, then came out in a great cloud. It swirled and started to form into a human shape, but before the demon could complete its transformation, Daniel ground out, “Gelsenim, I command you! Leave my body and leave this place. Do not return until you are called!”
An unearthly howl filled the room, and the demon imploded and vanished.
Bree was too drained to cry with relief. Only a few quiet tears continued to leak out. Her chin dropped to her chest, and her hair swung forward, nearly covering her face. She knew she should be trying to read Daniel, to see how he was, but she needed to gather herself. Her blood still sang madly through her veins from the adrenaline, but she felt like a limp, dirty rag.
She heard a rustle as Daniel started moving, and it took a ridiculous amount of effort to lift her head and look at him. He shuffled forward on his knees until he was right in front of her. Tears were tracking down his cheeks in reaction to the de-possession. His eyes met hers briefly, then shied away and focused on working at the tape holding her to the arms of the chair. His hands were shaking, which made the task hard, and he kept stopping to rub at his tears with his shirtsleeve. He finally worked one arm free, and she stretched it out and rotated her wrist in relief as he worked on the other. When both were free, he rested his hands on the arms of the chair and dragged his gaze from her knees back up to her eyes. “I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for what I did when Gelsenim had me. Are you okay?” he asked softly. His tears had finally stopped.
Bree felt her stomach clench as his gaze met hers. She couldn’t help but see traces of the demon in his face. It was enough to make her feel afraid of him in a way she never had before. “I’ll live.”
He closed his eyes for a moment with a look of pain. He had just opened his mouth to say something when they both heard the squeal of a car coming to a quick stop outside.
“Javier and his team,” Daniel said, and pushed back onto his heels, then stood up.
He swayed, stumbled, and nearly went down.
Javier was the first man in, gun drawn. He gestured for the four Keepers behind him to check out the offices as Daniel said, “They’re all gone. Keltoi, three of them, one high power and a Demon Master.”
“Where’s Kevin?” Javier asked. He lowered his gun, but didn't put it away. He had a dark five o’clock shadow, and his tie was uncharacteristically crooked.
“Possessed,” Daniel answered shortly as he moved to prop himself up against the back of a chair. “We need to call Steve right away, tell him to take Hunter and get out of the house. They’re after Hunter."
Javier gave Daniel an inscrutable look, then pulled out his phone. “What’s the number?”
Javier dialed, and they all waited while the phone rang on the other end. The rest of Javier’s team, two men and two women, reappeared. They held their guns down, but at the ready as they waited for further instructions. One of the men had his eyes closed, and Bree figured he was using his Demonsense. She got carefully to her feet as Javier finally hung up. “No answer,” he said. “My team and I will start on over. I’ll try again on the way.”
"I'm coming with you," Daniel said, straightening up.
"You look like death warmed over, Thorvaldson. You should be home in bed, getting over that stab wound."
"I'm no good to you in battle, but I can ID the kidnappers," Daniel returned.
Javier's eyes narrowed as he considered, then he nodded. He looked over at Bree and asked, “Do you have someone who can come get you? You clearly need medical attention."
“I’m fine. I’m coming with you too,” she said as she reached behind her, pulling her hair into a rough braid. The motion hurt like hell. Just about every part of her hurt like hell.
“Bree, are you sure you…”
“We’re wasting time. I know my limits, I won’t get in the way. But I know what these people look like too.”
“I've got Daniel for that.”
“Yeah, well now you have both of us for that. Can we please just get going?”
Javier’s lips tightened in disapproval, but he gave the signal to move out.
Hunter was lying awake in bed with Steve beside him. He hadn’t been able to sleep and had nagged Papa into lying down with him. Papa had told him one of his stories, then told Hunter to lie still and listen to his breathing. Papa had fallen asleep right after that, but Hunter hadn’t. He heard the phone ring out in the kitchen several times, but Papa was fast asleep and didn’t wake up.
When Daddy had left tonight, something was wrong. Hunter tried to tell Papa after Daddy had left, but Papa had just told him everything was fine, Daddy was just going to dinner with Bree and Daniel at Sophie and Bruce’s. Hunter had been mad at first, because he liked all those people and he wanted to go. Papa had told him it was grown up time.
With Papa asleep, he felt restless and lonely. He felt for the amulet around his neck and held it in his hand. At first, it had bothered his neck, but he was used to it now, and he liked the idea that Daniel could find him if he ever got lost. That was because Daniel used to be a Keeper, which was like a policeman for powered people. He put the amulet down, then whispered the spell to himself. “By Wind, by Will, I call Daniel Thorvaldson.” Daniel had told him as long as he wasn’t touching the amulet when he said the spell, it wouldn’t call him. Hunter just liked saying it.
He was still awake twenty minutes later when he heard the sound of the front door opening. He got carefully out of bed without waking Papa, and padded out into the hall. It was still dark, but Hunter saw the shape of his Daddy at the end.
“Good, you’re awake,” Daddy whispered. “I have a surprise for you. Get dressed as quick as you can, and don’t bother Papa.”
Hunter went back into his room, intrigued and excited. Daddy had never done something like this before. What was the surprise? Was he going to get to go somewhere special? Was it something just for powered people?
He wanted the surprise to be special, just him and Daddy, so he was quiet as could be opening his drawer for some pants and a sweater. He was proud to have thought of the sweater, in case they were going somewhere outside. He hoped they were. He sat on his floor in the dark and put on his socks and shoes. Then he got up and bent over Papa, checking to see if he was still asleep. Papa turned over just as Hunter got there, and he waited to see if that meant he was waking up, but Papa's eyes were still closed.
He went back out into the hall, where Daddy still waited for him. As he came up, Daddy held out his hand, and Hunter took it. Daddy’s hand was all sweaty.
“Eeuw, Daddy, you’re wet.”
Daddy’s hand squeezed his harder, then too hard.
“Ow!” Hunter exclaimed, still trying to keep his voice quiet. He started to pull his hand out of Daddy’s, but Daddy didn’t let go. Hunter looked up at him, and there was something about the way Daddy looked back at him that made him go all cold inside. Daddy let his hand go, and Hunter said, “What’s wrong, Daddy? Am I in trouble?”
Daddy didn’t say anything at first, and that was weird too. Hunter took a cautious step forward and looked hard at Kevin. There was only the light from the porch lamp coming in from the window beside the front door. All he knew for sure was that Daddy wasn't smiling.
“No, you’re not in trouble,” Daddy whispered, and something about his voice sounded funny. It wasn’t just that he was whispering, either.
“Are you sick, Daddy?” Hunter asked. Daddy had told him once about when he got sick and acted all funny because he had a high fever.
“I’m not sick. I’m just a little tired. But not too tired to show you your surprise.” Daddy turned and opened the door, and waved his hand to tell Hunter to go outside.
Hunter didn’t want to. “I’m tired too, Daddy. I think I’ll have my surprise in the morning.”
“The morning will be too late,” Daddy said. This time his voice was a little louder, and Hunter definitely knew something was wrong. It was Daddy's voice, but it didn’t sound like him. Daddy held out his hand again, and Hunter slowly put his hand in Daddy’s. He didn’t really want to go, but he couldn’t figure out how to tell Daddy that. Maybe Daddy was sick, and didn’t know it because his stomach hadn’t started hurting yet.
Almost as soon as Hunter had that thought, he felt a pang in his own stomach, almost like he was going to throw up. Daddy led him outside and up the walk. It was cold out, but not rainy. They walked up the three stairs together to the gate, and Daddy let go of Hunter’s hand to open the gate. Hunter wanted to run back into the house while Daddy was busy with the gate, but he didn’t. He wasn’t sure what Daddy would do. He thought he would be mad.
Daddy told him to go through the gate. There was more light out here on the street because there was a streetlight by his house. A lady leaned up against car, someone he didn't know. She was taller than Daddy, and had on fancy shoes.