Demon Master (Demonsense series Book 2) Read Free Page B

we?”
    Gelsenim regarded her solemnly for a moment, then his expression smoothed, and he gave her a courtly little bow. “As you desire, my host.” Then his form swirled into a hot, damp cloud that imploded and vanished.  
    For a moment, Bree was frozen with surprise. She quested out with her Demonsense and confirmed Gelsenim was gone, and the doorway to the other world was closed. Daniel heaved a great sigh as he dropped the remaining ward.  
    Her knees finally gave out, and she folded down onto the floor hard enough to hurt her butt. Daniel strode quickly over and crouched down in front of her, concern on his face. “Are you okay?” he asked.
    A hysterical little laugh started to burble up in her throat, but she managed to confine it to a nervous smile. “Yeah, I’m okay,” she responded faintly. “I guess I’m just worn out.”
    “I’m feeling it too,” he answered ruefully as he settled down more carefully onto the floor across from her. He put his elbows on his knees and ran his hands forcefully through his dark, dense hair, making it stand up in messy clumps, then he rubbed his hands over his face briskly in what looked like an attempt at reviving himself.  
    “So how close was that?” Bree asked, more than a little afraid of the answer.
    “Way more close than it ought to have been,” Daniel replied, dropping his hands from his face. “And I’m not really sure why. As long as I’m not overly tired, I usually have no trouble banishing Gelsenim.”
    “I’ve seen you handle five demons at the same time before, when you were in a lot worse shape. Why do you suppose it was so hard this time? Was Holtis a higher level demon than we thought?”
    “It definitely wasn’t Holtis. He wasn’t making things any easier, but he was just a minor distraction. If I weren’t trying to hold together so many pieces of magic at the same time, I would have slapped him down a lot quicker. No, it was Gelsenim. He seemed to go to a whole new level of power this time around. It’s obvious he was feeling desperate to stay, but frankly, I didn’t know he was capable of that level of power. I didn’t know any demon was. And besides, at first I didn't think the stakes weren't that high. I need that to boost my power levels.”
    “So when you say it was close,” Bree began hesitantly.
    “I mean he almost got away from me, yes.” Daniel answered her unspoken question. He looked away from her, and she realized he was embarrassed.  
    “Were you, ah, low on energy?” Bree asked carefully. She knew she was heading into tricky territory with the question, given his history of becoming emotionally unstable with too much demon contact. It had come between them before, left her uneasy with him, and it was something he was ashamed of. The shuttered look that came over his face let her know that her cautious wording hadn’t fooled him for a minute.
    “I was getting tired, but no way near tapped out. And no, I wasn’t feeling demon burned either. I’m fine.” That last was said with particular emphasis. Whatever he saw in her expression brought a look of frustrated anger to his face, and he began pulling off his grey sweater then the white t-shirt under it. He flung the tangled mess down beside him. “Go ahead,” he challenged. “I want you to do a deep read. That way, we’ll both be sure.”
    Bree was caught off guard. She'd done only two deep reads of Daniel since they restarted their demon research. He'd agreed to allow them so she could monitor for signs of demon burn, and for any increase in the mysterious dark energy he'd developed, but they had both avoided doing it too often as it was a very intimate process. One thing that made her hesitate was that she’d have to touch him for a deep read. Not that she didn’t want to lay her hands on his pleasingly well defined chest. In fact, she wanted to far more than was good for her.  
    On the other hand, what he was offering made sense. Their original deal with