The man who let them in was an older black man with salt and pepper hair and a moustache. He was wearing a plaid bathrobe and old blue slippers. Chen introduced him as Joe Blanchard, and told them he was a retired Keeper. Joe said little as he led them each to a bedroom in the upstairs of the house. Daniel stumbled on the stairs, twice, and Joe managed to steady him both times. Whatever had kept Daniel upright so far seemed to have left him, and it was even clearer now that Javier was right. Daniel was dangerously depleted.
Bree dragged herself up the stairs by pulling on the handrail, and every step hurt like hell. Just as she reached the top, Joe came out of the bathroom with a bottle of Ibuprofen and a cup of water, which he handed to Bree without comment. Daniel practically fell into the room Joe indicated was his, and he shut the door without saying a word. Joe bid Bree good night, and shuffled off back downstairs, where presumably there was another bedroom where he slept.
The sun was well up by the time she awoke, sneaking in past closed blinds to stripe the light blue walls of the room in which she had slept. The first thing that occurred to her was that hours had gone by, and there was at least some chance the Keepers had already found Hunter. She wanted to believe it, was almost afraid to wake all the way up and find out it wasn't true.
Her second thought was that she hadn’t had any nightmares. That was unexpected. She'd been so sure that another exorcism would start the whole cycle again. Not to mention the lingering horror over that poor Keeper's death. Her body jerked as the memory of the dead Keeper flashed through her consciousness. She shook her head, trying to banish the image. She couldn't think about that right now.
She sat up, stretched carefully, and began to register her surroundings more fully than she had last night. She was in a twin bed in what appeared to have last seen service as a teenaged boy’s room. There were a couple of baseball trophies on a shelf next to an autographed baseball under a dusty half dome of glass, as well as some little league and high school team photographs. If the kid had been Joe’s, he was long gone by now, given her impression that Joe was at least in his late sixties. She was just about to stand up when the door opened and Daniel slipped into the room. His hair was sticking up, and beard stubble darkened his cheeks. "Joe's fixing breakfast. Come on, we both need to eat if we're to get our power back up."
"Any news on Hunter?" she asked.
Daniel shook his head, and the hope Bree had woken up with collapsed. "I'm just going to take a quick shower first," she told him. Daniel just stood there, and for a minute, she thought he was going to argue with her, but then he nodded and left. Bree understood why Daniel was in such a hurry. Like her, he likely wanted to be up and involved somehow in the search for Hunter.
After her shower, she ruefully inspected her black eye, puffy split lip, and the shallow cut and bruise on her swollen cheek. Though she was longing to don her oldest, softest sweats, she had no choice but to get stiffly back into her dress from last night. She found she was sore in surprising places, not just where she’d been hit. She had likely strained her muscles in her efforts to get out of her bonds last night.
She made her way downstairs, where she found Joe and Daniel sitting over cups of coffee in the kitchen. They were at an octagonal wood table with a smoked glass top that was probably as old as the house. The brief sunshine had gone behind the clouds again, and the close cover of nearby trees leant a greenish tone to what natural light was coming in the windows.
Joe set a plate of scrambled eggs in front of her, poured her some coffee and put two slices of bread in the toaster for her. Daniel was silent but fidgety, jiggling his foot and turning his coffee cup around and around.
Joe left the room for a moment, then came back with the bottle of Ibuprofen, which he set down in front of Bree. "I'm going to go out and do a sweep of the property, make sure no Keltoi picked up your location." He retreated from the room, seeming to sense that she and Daniel needed to talk. She tentatively opened up her Demonsense to check on the taint, and to her surprise, it was gone.
Daniel had been watching her as she sat across from him, and he must have seen some sign of surprise on her face because he said, “Joe cleared the taint for me this morning before you woke up. Apparently that was one of his specialties as Keeper, and he said he didn’t want it stinking up his house all day.”
It was a line Daniel would usually have delivered with a smile, and its absence was telling. Bree looked at him more closely, and saw that he looked far from rested. Of course, having taint cleared tended to be draining, not to mention the possession from last night, but she suspected she was right and he hadn’t slept well. She could see tiredness, worry, and the remains of anger, and there was a cant to his shoulders that read as guilt. She experienced a jolt of discomfort as she remembered how his face looked last night when he was possessed. But she was worried enough about the aftereffects of the possession that she opened up her Reader sense further.
“Can you not do that right now?” Daniel said irritably while avoiding her gaze. “I just woke up from what little sleep I got, and I’m not in the mood to be under the microscope right this minute.”
Her Reader sense shut down with an uncomfortable snap. She was annoyed that her unconscious mind had moved to obey him before her conscious mind had decided how to respond.
“You look terrible, and I’m worried about you,” she responded more sharply than she meant to.
“You look terrible yourself.”
“Such chivalry, and first thing in the morning too.”
Daniel sighed and put his coffee cup down. He ran one hand through his hair in his habitual nervous gesture, then looked at her apologetically, the fire out of his eyes. “Okay, you’re right. I’m sorry I bit your head off. And frankly, I’m afraid to look too closely at you, because it’ll make me want to go kill the guy that hurt you. And I’m a little too close to that state of mind already.”
“Any news about Hunter?”
“No good news. They’re gradually ruling out some known Keltoi locations, but it all takes time.”
“Daniel, last night…” Bree began, then paused, not sure how to start on all the questions she had.
Daniel quickly passed his hands over his ears, and Bree felt a small surge of power as he set a sound stop spell around them. “Last night, I had to make a call,” he said leaning forward over his cup, face serious. “I knew you wouldn’t approve of my letting Gelsenim in, and I knew it was dangerous. I know Franchesca, and I don’t think she would kill me, but I’m afraid I was quite certain she was going to kill you. She’s been Keltoi and a Demon Master a long time now, so she's probably demon burned, and she always had a ruthless streak.”
“She said she was going to show Gelsenim how to keep control of your body. I’d certainly call that ruthless.”
“I doubt she was telling the truth on that,” he replied, leaning back in his chair again.
“You don’t think she knows how to do it, or you don’t think she would do it?”
Daniel hesitated, then said, “Both, I think. She and I have a history. It’s complicated, but I guess I just can’t believe she would really want to see me obliterated like that.”
“Yeah, well, I gathered the bit about having history,” Bree replied. “But I’m not sure I agree that she wouldn’t hurt you like that. She seemed pretty pissed off at you.”
“And I’m beyond furious at her. But I think she was telling the truth when she said she wanted out of the Keltoi.”
A denial sprang to Bree’s lips, but died there. If she was completely honest with herself, she had to admit her read had been that there was at least some small truth to Franchesca wanting out. She wanted to deny it, wanted to see Franchesca as wholly bad.
“Maybe some part of her does, Daniel,” she finally replied carefully. “But I don’t think it’s the greater part. She’s up to something, something involving a need for your hiding spell. I just don’t see how she would have said what she did in front of those other two if she really was trying to get out.”
He looked away at that, and she got the sense that he didn’t believe her. He wanted it to be true that Franchesca had some good left, and that he could help to save her by getting her out of the Keltoi. Surely he should know better, but this was probably an area where he couldn’t think clearly.
One thing she had gathered from last night’s encounter was the fact that Franchesca wasn’t only his best friend from childhood. Clearly they had been lovers. She felt sick to her stomach as the image of Daniel kissing Franchesca intruded into her thoughts. It may have been Gelsenim in control, but she’d still had to watch. She shook her head and made the decision to let it drop for now. She doubted she could persuade him of anything on that score anyway.
“Do you really think that man is Hunter’s biological father?” she asked.
“It’s certainly possible.” He sat back again and finished the last of his coffee. “My biggest fear is that he’ll take Hunter out of town, go underground with him. That could make him very hard to find. But somehow, I don’t think Franchesca will allow it.”
“Because of her secret heart of gold?” Bree asked caustically, in spite of herself.
“No, because she won’t want to let go of the advantage over me that Hunter gives her.” Irritability was creeping back into his voice.
“If that’s the case,” Bree replied, hope rising, “then maybe they’ll try to exchange Hunter for you. And if we’re prepared for it, surely we can find a way to get Hunter back without giving you up.”
“It's possible that it would endanger Hunter to do anything but what they say. If they want to make the exchange, I may just have to go with them and see what I can do to get away later.”
Bree felt the impulse to argue with that, but she couldn’t, not really. She glanced across at him, to try to see how he was feeling about the prospect, and his grim, angry expression gave her stomach another twist. She couldn’t stop seeing the demon in his face. This was what she’d warned Steve against last night, why she didn’t want him to see Kevin possessed. She wondered how long it would go on like this, flashbacks to Daniel being possessed. She assumed that over time it would happen less, but for now, it was damned disturbing. It added another complicated layer to her already complex feelings about Daniel.
She thought about how frightened he’d looked last night when he came in after the exorcism, likely wondering if she’d survived, and how relieved he’d been when he caught sight of her. It had been the reaction of someone who cared, a lot. Not to mention that he’d risked himself in asking Gelsenim to possess him in order to save her. As all this flashed though her mind, she had to admit to herself that it mattered to her that he cared. She wasn’t convinced it was love, as Franchesca had said, but she was drawn to him, powerfully.
He got up to pour more coffee, doubtless in part to avoid her reading him. And just as quickly as her feelings had warmed to him, they cooled. She understood he was tired and unnerved, but was there some other reason he didn’t want her to read him? She sighed. She’d woken up at least a little refreshed, but that had melted away. Her own emotions were tiring her out already, and she’d been awake less than an hour.
Daniel sat down again and said abruptly, “I think I should call up Gelsenim and see if he knows something about where they took Hunter.”
“Oh, no
way
,” Bree responded instantly. “You are
not
risking another possession, do you hear me? My God, you just had taint cleared! You know that puts you at higher risk than usual for attracting a demon for at least another couple of days! Besides, what am I supposed to do if it does take you? I don’t have a second, I don’t have my exorcism kit…”
“Joe probably still has a kit. Besides, it wouldn’t take much to assemble one. And anyway, I really don’t think there’s that much risk you would have to use it. I was able to master him last night when I was under a lot more stress.”
“It’s not worth the risk!” Bree exclaimed in frustration.
I almost lost you once already
leaped out of her unconscious and nearly came out of her mouth, but she bit it back.
Daniel slammed his cup down, spilling some coffee onto the table. “Damn it, Bree, don’t you want to find Hunter?”
“Of course I want to find Hunter! I can’t even bear to think about how terrified he must be! But this is just crazy, after all the effort we went to last night to keep everyone safe, after you agreed to let me monitor you, how can you just…”
“If you would let me
finish
,” Daniel interrupted, voice tight with reined in anger, “I have the ability to make Gelsenim look for Hunter. There really is a chance it could help.”
“But at what cost?” Bree cried. “If you’re taken by Gelsenim, if another possession puts you over the edge, you won’t be in any condition to make the exchange if they are willing to trade you for Hunter!”
Daniel leaned back in his seat and said, “You’re just scared, aren’t you? You don’t want to have to face Gelsenim again.”
That brought Bree up short. She felt herself flushing, and not with anger. Dear Lord, there was some truth to it. She didn’t want to see Gelsenim, or feel his presence. She didn’t ever want to see Gelsenim looking out of Daniel’s eyes again. Her anger dropped right out of her, replaced by shame. So much had happened in such a short period of time that her usual defenses crumbled and the truth came pouring out, more truth than she liked to tell anyone.
“I’m
always
afraid,” she told Daniel, voice shaky with repressed, embarrassed tears. “I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t
afraid. Some of my earliest memories are of sensing demons and being scared out of my mind, and everyone around me acting like I was crazy. I
hate
having Demonsense. And I never wanted to be an Exorcist. After Seth died, I finally had an excuse to stop, one everyone would understand, instead of knowing me for the coward I am. But it didn’t work. Not using my power didn’t work either. I felt half dead, and I tried to convince myself it was all just the grief. But it wasn’t." She drew in a shuddering breath. "And last night, doing the exorcism, I really thought I was going to get burned, just like Seth. In fact, I still don’t know why I didn’t. That was the biggest demon I ever took on, and the exorcism spells were only half cast at that point, and not by me.” As she spoke, she found her shame receding as her confusion about last night stirred.