"Heat's coming on now," Kevin rea.s.sured them from the front seat. "Hopefully you'll start to feel it back there in a minute."

Gradually, Bree's shivering became less intense, and reduced to periodic waves. Her legs were still cold, but she started to feel warmth sinking into her from Daniel's body. She was enjoying the contact with him. She'd had a hard night, and it felt like an unbelievable luxury to be held close. It had been a very, very long time since someone had held her. A big sigh escaped her, and she felt herself relaxing into him further. "There you go," he murmured, "that's it." The thought that she and Daniel were supposed to be on the outs floated past her mind like a lazily swimming fish, but she couldn't seem to worry about that right now. She was starting to feel very pleasantly cozy and drifty when Kevin said, "I'm sorry I lost you in the crowd, Bree. I found I was able to do the most good by just putting on the parent voice and telling kids to break it up and go home. I think I ran into a couple of the possessed ones, they were impossible to reach, and I got punched a couple of times, but I came out of it okay, apart from being a little freaked out at some of the disturbing things I saw. I don't think I've ever seen that much physical violence before, not in person."

Bree tensed again as a vision of the girl with her hair on fire intruded. Daniel squeezed her shoulder as he said, "I don't think I have either. I'm very much afraid that some kids got seriously hurt, in spite of our efforts. The influence of that many demons in one place is incredibly destabilizing."

"I wouldn't be surprised if some kids got killed," Kevin answered grimly. "But I've got to say, in spite of how awful it was, I'm glad I got called in on this. It felt to me like one of those situations where every little bit helps. If I managed to prevent even one kid from getting hurt, then it was worth it."

"Now you know why I liked being a Keeper," Daniel replied, voice almost too soft to hear.

"Bree was amazing," Kevin babbled on. "She managed an exorcism without a second, and I saw her pull of some offensive spells as well."

"Yeah, about that," Daniel said speculatively.

"I had to call him, that first possessed kid was strangling me," Bree protested.

"Did you call that demon? Without any back up?" Kevin asked, voice rising.

Bree started shivering a little again at Kevin's tone. She wasn't all the way warm yet. "Kevin, it was that or be killed. And besides, Gelsenim was good as gold. He did nothing but help me. Not that he didn't have a few unsavory suggestions, but he never tried to take over at all. And he left when I asked him, although..."

"Although what?" Daniel prompted.

"Although I had to promise him I'd call him again to get him to leave when Javier and Dion showed up."

"That's less than ideal. You don't want him to start dictating terms."

"Do you think Javier sensed that you were possessed?" Kevin asked.

"I don't think so. There was so much demonic energy flying around, I doubt he could tell at that distance, and besides, Gelsenim got out fast, as soon as I saw Javier. But I'm worried that he saw Daniel master a demon."

Kevin groaned. "d.a.m.n it, I knew that would happen, I just knew it!"

"Well, I could hardly let that possessed girl shoot Bree, could I?" Daniel rejoined.

"I still don't understand why she didn't manage to shoot you," Bree put in. "She was pointing the gun right at you when I heard it go off."

"Just a combination of bad aim and good luck on my part. I didn't have time to ward."

"Did Javier see anything?" Kevin asked anxiously.

Daniel didn't answer, so Bree said, "He implied that he did. Daniel played it off as a sloppy exorcism, done on the fly."

"I don't think he was close enough to be sure, but it's pretty clear he has his suspicions. You know he had me checked out last year. He has to know I've been called up on suspicion of Demon Master talent before." Daniel shifted slightly, trying to get a bit more comfortable, and Bree shifted with him.

"Well, you managed to pa.s.s with the Ecclesias in Boston, didn't you?" she asked.

"My hiding spell was equal to the Readers they had. If Javier does take this to the Ecclesias, as long as they just call me, I don't think there will be a problem."

Bree started to relax when the full import of what he'd just said struck her. "Oh no. You think they might call me."

"And you won't be able to get away with lying to a high power Reader," Kevin said bleakly. "Not like Daniel can with his hiding spell."

"Back in Boston, no one knew I was a Demon Master or Binder," Daniel said. "And none of the Keepers they called in to testify could definitely confirm I'd used one of the forbidden gifts. There was plenty of circ.u.mstantial evidence, but nothing they could make stick. I held out for another six months after that, but the atmosphere of suspicion wasn't doing my team any good, or me either. I finally had to throw in the towel." Daniel's voice hardened. "I never should have told you. Told any of you. If the Ecclesias thinks you knew and didn't report me, there will be consequences."

Bree wriggled away from him a bit so she could look up at him. "Daniel, that's ridiculous. You didn't tell me, I figured it out. And besides, what about our research?"

"I could have continued on doing it alone, as I've always done."

"Yeah, and you could have continued on getting demon burned," Bree retorted. "Look, we all knew we were taking a chance working with you on this. You think Bruce and Sophie and Kevin and I haven't thought about this? We obviously all concluded that you were right in wanting to understand the demons more and that we could trust you not to use your power in a bad way."

"So you thought you could trust me," Daniel replied, voice low and ironic.

Bree felt tired and defeated. She didn't have the energy to deal with Daniel's hurt feelings, and she didn't know what to say to him in any case. The whole issue of trust with him was so insanely multi-layered and complicated that she couldn't begin to sort it all out tonight.

Fortunately, Kevin saved her from having to make up some sort of response by bringing up an excellent point. "So is there any kind of spell you know that could help in the event that Bree or I do get called in to the Ecclesias to testify? Anything that could fool a high power Reader?"

Bree felt the change in Daniel's body as he considered. He'd gone rigid a moment ago, but she felt the tension gradually leave his muscles as his mind focused on the dilemma. He was silent a long time, and even began to absentmindedly rub her shoulder again. Bree closed her eyes and let herself relax into him.

"Maybe," Daniel finally said aloud. "I may have something that could work. I've done some experiments related to adapting my hiding spell for that purpose. But I've never had a chance to test them out in any serious way."

"Well, you better work on it fast. Who knows how quickly Javier will move on this. Of course, if we're lucky, he'll have too much fallout from the riot and whatever else comes next to worry about it."

"You don't know Javier if you think that," Bree said reluctantly. She hated to say anything that would worry all of them more than they already were, but she had to be realistic. "He's very serious about the law and order thing, and he's the kind of guy who's a bulldog about it. He won't let it go until he's satisfied one way or the other."

"But Kevin may be right that we have a little time to work with. If all that's been happening is the start of a war, everyone in the powered community will be preoccupied for some time to come."

"What p.i.s.ses me off is that investigating you again would be a distraction from the larger problem," Kevin said. "Surely they have better things to do than to go after a guy who's done nothing but good with his power."

Daniel was silent in response, and Bree thought he was caught up in mentally reviewing the ways he had not always used his power for the best. Bree had seen a few occasions of that herself. Under the right kind of stress, he could crack, had cracked. He'd even used his Binder power on her. Though it did seem important that he hadn't cracked tonight. So many demons, so much stress, and he hadn't cracked. Maybe something about being in his old Keeper role steadied him.

There was silence in the car for the rest of the drive to Bree's as each of them was tired and lost in their own thoughts. Kevin pulled up to her house, and Bree reluctantly untangled herself from Daniel and sat up. Daniel went to get her wet things from the trunk, then walked her to her door. She unwarded it, and he insisted on going in before her to make sure everything was safe. She appreciated it even though she had no rational reason to expect trouble. If she was honest with herself, she knew she was still shaken up from the events of the night and a part of her was wishing Daniel would stay with her, preferably in her bed, in spite of all that was raw and unresolved between them. But he didn't offer, and she didn't ask. To her surprise, he turned toward her at the door as he was leaving and gave her a long, gentle hug goodbye, kissed her on the forehead, then left without speaking.

CHAPTER EIGHT.

Bree slept in the next morning and was still feeling a little hazy when Kevin called to ask if she still wanted to get together at Daniel's for the trial possession.

She was achy all over, and her throat in particular hurt, but on consideration, her energy levels weren't bad. And truth to tell, after Gelsenim had been so helpful and cooperative last night, she was dreading the idea less than she had been. Not to mention that Daniel hadn't seemed negatively affected by all the demon contact during the riot. She still felt some caution about him, but she was starting to think the incident at the exorcism had been some kind of fluke. Putting all that together, she decided it still seemed worth the risk. "Let's go ahead, if everyone else is willing," she told him.

"Well, I ate like a horse last night and again this morning, and I'm actually feeling pretty good," Kevin told her. "I'll call the others to be sure, and let you know."

He let her go, and she got carefully to her feet from where she'd been sitting at her dining room table. She'd just finished a rather substantial breakfast herself of eggs scrambled up with some red pepper and garlic, some soy sausage, and two pieces of toast. As she was carrying her plate back to the kitchen, Hanroi leapt out at her and attacked her calves with his paws. It startled her, causing her to tip her plate and drop fork, knife and the crumbs onto the floor. "Hanroi, d.a.m.n it!" Bree exclaimed.

The kitten danced around batting at the silverware and her hands as she cleaned up. For the hundredth time, Bree thought about finding another Cat Master in the city to teach her how to use her supposed Cat Master abilities. She was getting nowhere on her own with training Hanroi to stop these cat commando raids on her. Not that it wasn't a little bit cute, she admitted as he rolled onto his back and squirmed, pawing for the hand that was picking at the larger crumbs on the floor. She gave his head a rub, then forged on with her day.

After she'd showered and was facing her closet, she realized she felt drawn to clothes that felt bright and spring-like, the ant.i.thesis of demon kind. After dressing in a pair of light green cords and a coral shirt and sweater, she regarded herself in the full length mirror on the inside of her closet door. She looked fine except for the angry bruises on her throat, so she went back to her dresser and came up with a fringed cotton scarf to wrap around her neck. She fussed with it a bit until the bruises were covered, then glanced at the clock on her bedside table and saw that she was running late. She grabbed up her daypack from last night, which she'd never unpacked, and headed out the door, which involved some fancy footwork to keep the cat inside.

The others were sitting in Daniel's living room with cups of tea in their hands when she arrived. Daniel offered her some, but she declined, wanting to get down to work as soon as possible. Sophie moved towards Bruce on the couch to make room for her, and she sat down. Kevin was in the only other chair, so Daniel stood, arms crossed in front of him as he opened the discussion of what they had planned.

"So, we're planning a trial possession today. I think we all know our roles from when we worked together before on helping Bree learn to call smaller demons. In some ways, today will be less dangerous than that because Gelsenim will likely be very cooperative at first. Where we've sometimes run into trouble is getting him to leave. Bruce, Sophie, I'm not sure if you've heard what happened the last time Bree and I encountered him here. He tried to possess her by force, and somehow, came up with enough power that I had a hard time controlling him, a far harder time than I've had before."

Bruce nodded his head, and Sophie said, "We'd heard."

"On the other hand, when he possessed me last night, he left fairly readily," Bree offered.

"Yes, but he extracted a promise from you to call him again, which isn't exactly being fully cooperative," Daniel countered seriously.

Bree shrugged. "Let's face it, he's basically unpredictable. He's been cooperative and relatively meek and mild before, and he's been very threatening and confrontational and outright scary before. Right now, he seems to be trying to please me in an effort to convince me to allow him to possess me more. But I don't trust it. For one thing, what happens if I decide after a couple of trials that we've learned all we can from him and I don't want him to possess me again?"

"Scary thought," Kevin said, leaning back and lacing his hands over his belly.

"Frankly, I'd been hoping we could get you to the point where you could dismiss demons on your own before we allowed a trial possession," Daniel said, looking directly at Bree for the first time.

"We don't know if that's ever going to happen," she answered. "It may be that what I have isn't exactly Demon Master talent. Maybe it's more like what you thought before, a variation on Exorcist talent."

"I wasn't able to dismiss demons at first either," Daniel replied. "There's still hope you can learn to do it."

"We all take awhile to come into our talents, Cat Master," Bruce teased, leaning over to look at Bree.

"What I want to be clear on is what the main focus is for today," Sophie interjected. "What are we trying to learn?"

"Among other things, why Gelsenim isn't feeling hunger when he possesses Bree. If there were some way for the demons to be satisfied without inciting violence, maybe we could co-exist with them. And, as always, we're looking for some clue to how we can close the doorway between our worlds. If we knew more about where they come from, how they're getting through, maybe we'd discover a way to be quit of them once and for all."

"Amen," said Kevin with feeling.

"And there's, um, maybe one other thing," Bree said, looking at Daniel, eyebrows raised in question. They hadn't actually discussed how much to tell the others about his energy problem. She'd kept it to herself all these months, and didn't want to reveal it if he wasn't ready. She gave him a look, and said, "You know, that read thing."

Somewhat to her surprise, Daniel nodded at her to continue.

"When I do a deep read of Daniel, I keep coming up with this strange energy signature. It seems a lot like taint, in the sense that there's some echo of demonic energy to it, but my Demonsense says it's not taint. It's kind of like the energy reading you get with people using dark magic, but it's not quite like that. It doesn't quite feel like true demon burn either. And it seems to have something like a life of it's own. When we did the exorcism for Father Steuban, we're pretty sure this part triggered Daniel to drop his wards and allow a possession."

"So why are we not calling that taint?" Kevin asked. His demeanor told Bree Daniel had already told Kevin about the brief possession incident.

"It's really hard to put into words," Bree reflected. "But the idea Daniel and I had was for me to read Daniel during the possession and see what Gelsenim makes of it. We figure he's been around for millennia, maybe he's seen something like it before."

"I hate to be the naysayer here, but I didn't think demons were that smart. I mean, I know Gelsenim will talk and actually make a certain amount of sense, but I never got the impression that demons were some font of knowledge and wisdom," Bruce said, leaning back and crossing his ankle over his knee. He sounded calm, but Bree knew him well enough to know how uneasy he was.

"Gelsenim is somewhat unique in my experience," Daniel admitted. "He's the highest level of demon, and by his own report, he was once joined in some kind of symbiotic relationship with a species he refers to as the Seldenai. Supposedly, he and the other demons that old didn't require intense, negative emotional energy to live when that was the case. He's said that demons born out of taint in our world are lesser beings in some way. They don't seem to have the same level of intelligence and communication ability as the older demons, and they're generally not as powerful."

"I've never really been clear on the whole taint thing and how demons come from it. Isn't taint just the energy residue of a demon after a person has contact with one?" Sophie asked.

It was Kevin who answered that one. "Apparently, taint is essentially a part of a demon that can grow by feeding on human energy until it becomes sentient. That's how we think new demons are made. And once they're made, they seem to be basically immortal."

Daniel uncrossed his arms and moved to perch on the arm of Kevin's chair. "I'm guessing that new demons were made much the same way when the demons were joined with the Seldenai. But I suspect that on some basic energy level, we're not truly compatible with demons. That's why they're always hungry. Somehow our energy, even the intense emotional energy produced by fear and violence, is never quite enough."

"Except for me," Bree said in a small voice. "My energy is compatible with demons." Sophie gave her a compa.s.sionate look and reached over to take her hand. "Honey, there's nothing wrong with you, you're not secretly some kind of evil person. You don't have a mean bone in your body." Bruce snorted, and Sophie shot him a glare and amended, "Well, everybody loses their temper sometimes, but you're never cruel."

"I honestly don't think that Bree is compatible with Gelsenim because there's something wrong with her," Daniel said, although to Bree's ears, he might have sounded more certain than he did. "I think it's something of a fluke, but it may be the key to something important. Anyway, are we all on the same page here? Are we ready to go?"

They all agreed and moved upstairs to Daniel's workroom. Sophie was in charge of creating a ritual sacred s.p.a.ce. She and Bruce were Wiccans, and Sophie primarily invoked the G.o.ddess as she moved around in a circle with fire, water, and an athame, a ritual knife. There was something about sacred s.p.a.ce that helped to contain demons. The absolute ideal was to make a sacred s.p.a.ce outdoors, but in the rainy Pacific Northwest, that was not always practical. Kevin raised a ward outside the sacred circle. His job was to be the safety net, keeping the demon from leaving the room. Bruce was there primarily to help read Bree at the end of the experiment. He wasn't as strong a Reader as Daniel, but he'd known Bree longer and was more familiar with her energy. And besides, he had a steadiness, an unflappability that was essential for grounding the rest of them. Sophie had some modest Healer talent to add to Daniel's if anyone got hurt.

Once the circle and wards were ready, Kevin raised a second ward between the rest of them and Bree. This allowed Daniel to focus on questioning Gelsenim and forcing him to leave if that became necessary.

Bree stood alone in the center, feeling decidedly vulnerable. The others were patient as she took some time to center herself. She kept to a regular meditation practice, as did most powered. It took a great deal of mental focus to pull off magic of any kind, and meditation had the dual purposes of developing that focus and making the pract.i.tioner better able to enter a state of mental and emotional calm. Bree was not able to entirely still the nervous unease at the pit of her stomach, but she felt focused enough to begin fairly quickly. Resolutely, she focused her will energy on that wavelength that was possibly Demon Master talent, possibly something else, and intoned, "Gelsenim, I call you! Gelsenim, I command you!"

Bree felt a folding of the energy in the room to one side of her. She was starting to get familiar with the sensation of the doorway between the worlds opening, something she'd never really been able to sense, never tried to sense before. Gelsenim formed quickly before her, coalescing from an orange-red cloud of damp air into his human form. He was taller than she remembered him being before, though she supposed there was no reason for him to be consistent on that score. He had chosen to present himself in what her mind insisted on calling a tweed hunting outfit, though she had certainly never personally seen such a thing. There was a crispness to his form, a definition that had been lacking before, and his eyes were less unnerving than usual. He had managed to make them blue, though with an orange spark to them. And his energy in the room was far less nauseatingly negative than it usually was. He had clearly pulled out all the stops to try to come across as non-threatening as possible. He smiled a roguish smile at her and said, "You rang?"

Almost, she was amused. She firmly reminded herself that she was facing an ancient evil, and replied, "I see you're making an effort to be less offensive. I thank you for it."

The demon inclined his head. A lock of blond hair fell artfully across his brow as he did so, and he pushed it back with one hand. "I strive to please you, my host."

"You seem in an awfully good mood," Bree said suspiciously.

Gelsenim shrugged. "I fed well last night, when we were joined. It calms me. It gives me more control."

"Control of what?"

"My essence, what you call my energy. I am learning which parts distress you, and it is easier to hold those parts back when I am well fed."

"How long after you have, ah, fed, can you stay in control?"

"Not for very long. Perhaps two of your days? Three?"

Bree's heart sank. She'd had some kind of hope that feeding the demon by allowing it possession time would calm it far longer than that. She supposed she'd had a half-formed vision of infrequent donations, something like giving blood, that might keep demons quiescent. She certainly couldn't feature allowing herself to be possessed by a demon every two or three days. If she was a Demon Master, she wouldn't stay sane and in control long at that rate.

As she was reflecting on all this, Daniel spoke. He was standing across from her so they could signal each other easily. "Do you suppose a longer possession time would hold you longer?"

The demon moved slightly so he could see Daniel if he turned his head. His expression changed, in a very human-like manner, to one of caution. "A possession usually lasts days or weeks. It appeases the hunger for perhaps two days for every four or five days of possession time. With this host, with Bree, I am more satisfied. I don't know yet how much a longer possession time would hold me with her." He turned back to Bree. "But I would very much like to try and see," he concluded.

There was an almost s.e.xual overtone to his tone and look, and the energy in the room shifted, making Bree decidedly uneasy. "I'm willing to let you try. That's why we're here today. But I need to protect myself as well. I need to make sure I'm not harmed by the possession. Keep in mind that you have some influence over what happens here. If you stay cooperative like you were last night, I'll be more willing to allow you in again. But I can't allow you to stay melded with me for long this time. I'm not sure yet how long I can go until I do sustain some harm from it."

"I don't think it will harm you," Gelsenim replied. He took a step closer, and a look of longing came over his face. Bree regarded him steadily, forcing herself to really tune in to what she was seeing and feeling.

As she took careful inventory, she discovered that while Gelsenim in his human form was less overtly upsetting, there was also something disturbing in deliberately allowing him access to her most intimate thoughts and feelings, which he appeared able to tap into during the possession. Then a wry thought hit her. This must be how Daniel felt about allowing her to read him, especially the deep reads. Hoist with your own petard, she told herself. Just get on with it.

"Okay, I'm ready," she told Gelsenim. "Go ahead and meld with me." She deliberately chose not to use the words 'possess me.' It probably didn't matter what words she used, but it made her feel marginally better.

It happened more slowly this time than it had in the past. It was the first time she'd allowed it when she wasn't in the middle of a battle situation, and perhaps the demon felt the lack of urgency in her request. His form wavered, went back into the orangish mist he had arrived in, then moved toward her, entering her with a tingling sensation. I am here, my host, Gelsenim's voice whispered in her mind.

"Just give me a minute to see how that feels," she replied. She felt almost hot, not like a fever exactly, more like the feeling she got when she'd been out in the sun for awhile. A kind of solar powered feeling. It was energizing. She felt good, ready for action. She focused on vision next. She'd heard possession described as being a bit like being on hallucinogens, that there was a richness to one's perceptions that was pleasurable. She looked across at Daniel. The clouds outside had parted, and he was standing in a patch of sunlight coming in through the window. She could see the brown highlights in his black hair, the gold tips to his eyelashes as the sunlight struck them. His skin seemed to glow a little. In this light, his eyes were a deep, dark brown, not black. Her glance moved down his body, taking in how his chest and biceps filled out his shirt. He was basically a slender guy, but he'd been a rower since he was a teenager, and he had nice upper body definition. She knew he went out most mornings on Lake Union, even in the rain, in a solo sh.e.l.l.

You appreciate his form, Gelsenim said in her mind. He managed a fairly neutral tone, but Bree knew Daniel wasn't his favorite person right now.

Yeah, I do, she conceded. But the question is, am I appreciating it more than usual? She turned to look at Sophie to try to form a basis for comparison.