Beset by Demons

By Kaje Harper

~ They'll take a leap into the unknown to protect the world. ~

There's something seriously wrong with Earth's magic. A demon has appeared unsummoned out of thin air, familiars can't return Home, and as Grim points out, rats smell like summer in the middle of winter.

Grim and Pip can deal with rats; Silas can banish one wayward demon. But soon there are other demons, more each day, and Silas's old mansion is full of mysteries. He and Darien will need their familiars, their friends, plus a whole lot of luck, as they search beyond Earth for the forces that have changed their world. And to have any chance of getting safely home, Silas will have to confront a past he's avoided for ten long years.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kaje Harper
• Release date: Feb 22, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005809942

Kaje Harper

I get asked about my name a lot. It's not something exotic, though. “Kaje” is pronounced just like “cage” – it’s an old nickname, and my pronouns are she/her/hers.I was born in Montreal but I've lived for 30 years in Minnesota, where the two seasons are Snow-removal and Road-repair, where the mosquito is the state bird, and where winter can be breathtakingly beautiful. Minnesota’s a kind, quiet (if sometimes chilly) place and it’s home.I’ve been writing far longer than I care to admit (*whispers – forty years*), mostly for my own entertainment, usually M/M romance (with added mystery, fantasy, historical, SciFi...) I also have a few Young Adult stories (some released under the pen name Kira Harp.)My husband finally convinced me that after all the years of writing for fun, I really should submit something, somewhere. My first professionally published book, Life Lessons, came out from MLR Press in May 2011. I have a weakness for closeted cops with honest hearts, and teachers who speak their minds, and I had fun writing four novels and three freebie short stories in that series. I was delighted and encouraged by the reception Mac and Tony received.I now have a good-sized backlist in ebooks and print, both free and professionally published, including Amazon bestseller "The Rebuilding Year" and Rainbow Award Best Mystery-Thriller "Tracefinder: Contact." A complete list with links can be found on my website "Books" page at https://kajeharper.wordpress.com/books/.I'm always pleased to have readers find me online at:Website: https://kajeharper.wordpress.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KajeHarperGoodreads Author page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4769304.Kaje_Harper

Book preview

Chapter 1

A loud snort from across the table made Darien Green look up from his breakfast. He kicked Silas lightly on the ankle. Something funny?

The opposite. Silas slid the letter he was reading over to Darien. Seattle’s Guild council has singularly failed to catch any of their dark sorcerers. They’ve discovered three who clearly were part of the kidnapping plot against you and Jasper. All of them are now on the loose.

Grim leaped from the floor to the table, his twenty-pound tabby body landing with a thump that rattled their forks on their plates. "They didn’t catch any of the others who shot Pip and slaughtered that bastard Hank? His tone was cold as ice. Do we have to do everything ourselves?" With one curved claw he punched a hole in the corner of the letter.

Darien pulled the page off Grim’s claw. The account began by naming two men and a woman, one of the men a necromancer. Only one name rang any bells. Looks like one is Toberman, the other editor of that journal Jasper sent his paper off to. Plus a woman sorcerer and a necromancer.

Silas said, The necromancer’s not anyone I’ve heard of. Hopefully that means he’s not a powerhouse.

Darien cleared his suddenly dry throat, staring down at those three names. The words blurred as the page fluttered in his grip. Too damned many people want to catch us, use us, give us to demons. That’s something, I guess. What about Toberman?

From the kitchen doorway, Jasper Jones said, What about him? The lanky, middle-aged sorcerer came over to them, rubbing his eyes. Did they locate him?

Sadly, no. Silas took the letter back from Darien. Seattle has discovered he was involved in the kidnapping plot, but he’s on the loose and in hiding. They promise to send us photos and information on him and his confederates.

Jasper made a face. That’s disappointing. About Toberman, I mean. His journal made so many valuable contributions to thaumaturgical science. This may poison the whole idea of sharing our knowledge in that way. Darien wasn’t surprised that Jasper’s first concern was the state of magical science, and that it took a moment before he asked, "Why are they sending us pictures? Surely, the gang has no reason to come after us again? Whatever they’re planning next shouldn’t need my special talents."

Yeah. About that. Darien leaned toward Silas. Did the clowns on the west coast at least figure out what the whole plot was about?

Silas shook his head. Apparently, the bad guys had enough of a head start, after getting rid of Hank, to clear out their private papers before they ran. He turned the letter over and coughed. If it’s any satisfaction, Toberman apparently burned so many papers in his fireplace that he set his house on fire.

A pity he wasn’t in it, Grim muttered.

Darien clenched his teeth against a curse of agreement. Turns out being drugged, kidnapped, trussed up, deprived of your magic, punched, chased— all of that left a guy with a bit of a hankering for revenge.

Silas said, No doubt they were seeking demons as a route to wealth and power, even if the details are unclear. Those who turn to dark sorcery are damnably consistent. Seattle’s council is at least fairly certain they’ve found everyone involved on their end. They invoked truth spells on nearly a dozen others of Nikotorian and Zaruda’s friends and supporters, and everyone who wasn’t missing passed with flying colors.

I’m glad for Fisher’s sake, Jasper said.

Yeah, Fisher’s good people, Darien agreed. The Seattle sorcerer who’d helped them had been genuinely shaken by finding evil among folk he knew and trusted. I bet he’s pissed off they didn’t catch the last three.

An approaching clatter of canine toenails out in the hall heralded Darien’s favorite person in the world. Well, maybe after Silas. He allowed himself one fond look at his lover’s frowning face, then turned to the doorway. Pip?

His rat terrier familiar skidded on the floor, making the turn into the kitchen, and jumbled his words together. GrimDarienSilas! It’s glowing a lot.

Grim jumped off the table and stalked toward the pup. Explain yourself. Clearly.

The map thing. In the basement. I went down to take a look— you said we should keep an eye on it— and it’s glowy.

Silas shoved his chair back and jumped to his feet. Darien was left flat-footed as Silas and Grim both hurried out the doorway and down the hall with Pip scampering beside them, saying, I’ll show you.

Map thing? Jasper asked.

Silas’s demon detector, I assume. Darien knew he should be running after them, but his feet dragged like he was stuck in molasses. His runework down in the cellar.

Oh, yes, of course. Jasper turned to go, then glanced over his shoulder at Darien. Are we going to follow them?

Into the valley of death— He was being ridiculous, but he’d really hoped they were done with demons for a while, and could go back to Silas snacking on ghosts and Jasper crafting interesting spells. Apparently not. Yes, of course. I’m coming.

When they reached the bottom of the cellar stairs, Silas, Grim, and Pip were lined up on the edge of the shimmering map of chalk lines and symbols laid out on the floor. Darien could see two different locations on the map throbbing with a deep red glow, an ember sunk in darkness. Those are demons, right? he said, his voice echoing too loudly in that stone-walled space.

Silas glanced back at him, brows drawn down. Yes.

Two of them.

I can count. Silas sighed. Sorry. On the plus side, they don’t feel all that strong.

On the minus side, Grim said, they weren’t there when I checked the map last night. And they’re in two different locations. Who’s out there calling demons like a two-for-one special? And why?

You don’t think that Seattle necromancer actually came after us, do you? Darien ran a hand down his face. None of this made sense. We’re not even done with breakfast.

Before he could flush at that ridiculous statement, Silas barked a laugh and turned to nudge him lightly on the shoulder. The essentials. Good man. We’ll eat and figure out what to do about this. He pointed at the smaller spot of glowing darkness. That’s a weaker trace, hopefully not more than a two-syllable demon. I could ask Worthington or Johanna Spry to take care of it.

Delegating, Grim said, turning toward the stairs. Will wonders never cease.

What? Silas managed to sound hurt. I know what delegating is.

But you never do it. Grim bounded up the steps. I agree with Darien, though. A nice bowl of cream and some bacon would go well, to help my thinking. Come along, necromancer, breakfast.

Butler to a cat, Silas muttered. Learn magic, they said. It’s so glamorous, they said.

His unimpressed words let Darien breathe easier and even give Silas a hip bump as he walked past. You can make me more bacon while you’re at it.

Silas caught his chin in long fingers. It’s a good thing you’re pretty. His eyes cut to Jasper, and he flushed and let go, but the warmth of his touch lingered on Darien’s skin.

Pip bounced beside Darien. Do you think we’ll have to hunt demons again? I want to help.

I’m sure you will. Darien trailed Silas up the stairs. Haven’t there been rather a lot of demons lately? he asked as they returned to the kitchen. I thought you told me they were uncommon, and most of your work was ghosts. But this makes what… at least six in the last three months? Not even counting the new ones. Memories of red eyes and gleeful whispers chased shivers up and down his spine.

It is unusual, Silas agreed, opening the fridge for Grim’s cream and more bacon. I deal with two, maybe three demons in a typical year.

Nothing about this year has been typical, Grim said. I want three slices of bacon.

Sure. Pip, you want some?

"Of course he does. Four slices," Darien said, pleased to get a little sniff from Grim. As long as Grim let himself be tweaked in small ways, life wasn’t too atypical yet. You don’t think the hellbeast plague is from something we did? From that book demon in the Veil, maybe? Wouldn’t that be just my luck with magic, somehow filling the world with demons?

Don’t flatter yourself, boy. Grim head-bumped his shin. You may be powerful, but unless you’re performing summonings in your sleep, you’re not to blame.

Jasper mused, I do wonder if Nikotorian’s gang isn’t somehow responsible for the increase in demon activity. That book of Thoth’s we destroyed was supposed to be full of spells for using and controlling demons. Maybe they found other information about how to summon more of them. Could be why they were so desperately looking for information on control, if they’re accumulating demons.

Risky, Darien said between clenched teeth. "Zaruda found out how not safe it is to play with a demon." So did Lucinda, when I helped kill her. The demon had taken over their powers and their minds, well before their bodies died. Zaruda might’ve made that fatal choice voluntarily, but Darien had delivered Lucinda up on a platter.

Well, power-mad people aren’t good judges of risk, Jasper pointed out. Especially if they can make the risk someone else’s, like Nikotorian did with Zaruda. No skin off his nose if the demon consumed Zaruda, as long as Nikotorian still controlled the demon.

It’s all speculation right now. Silas slapped the strips of bacon in the pan like they’d offended him. First, we need to deal with these new demons. Then I want to find out if this influx is only happening around us or is more widespread.

Good plan, Grim agreed. But your actual first is cooking that bacon the way I like it. And you should eat some too, necromancer. Don’t want you going out on a job underfed. He paced over to head-bump Silas’s shin too. Silas pretended to stagger, but Darien saw the frown wrinkles in his forehead ease a bit.

Darien dropped back in his chair. Yeah, chef guy. More bacon. Bring on the meat.

Silas flashed him a look, gray eyes bright. Darien bit his lower lip and yeah, Silas’s attention dipped to his mouth for a moment. Then Silas flushed and focused carefully on the pan.

Darien enjoyed a moment of satisfaction, though he hid it. He loved being able to make Silas lighten up, even when new problems were looming. But as they settled in to finish the interrupted meal, the letter on the table caught the corner of his gaze, and he wished that his days with Silas didn’t also come with a helping of bad guys and hellborn predators.

***

Silas Thornwood forced himself to finish the last bites of his toast and sip the dregs of his coffee slowly. His body thrummed with the tension of seeing two new demon-signs lighting up his detection spell, but he was hopefully old enough and wise enough not to go haring off half-cocked anymore. A quick rub up his shin from Darien, playing footsie under the table, made him think, No, I definitely get off full-cocked these days. He cleared his throat and banished the inappropriate image, moving his leg away from Darien’s.

We need a plan, he said firmly. And more information. I’m going to call Spry and Worthington, see what they know and can do to help out.

Will Worthington listen to you? Darien cocked his head.

Their recent experiences with the local council necromancer hadn’t been salubrious, but Silas was pretty sure Worthington respected their abilities, at least. I think he will. Whether he’ll take on one of the new demons remains to be seen. Worthington had been a powerhouse during his raise to the council, but in the last few years he’d somehow been unavailable whenever the occasional demon made itself known. Silas wasn’t sure if that was laziness, a preference for sacrificing others, or a diminishing of the man’s power. We may be about to find out.

He stood, pulled his address book out of its drawer, and dialed Worthington’s number. After half a dozen rings, Worthington’s gruff voice rumbled, Who’s calling me at this hour?

Silas blinked and looked at the clock. Eight-fifteen is hardly the crack of dawn. Still, he kept his tone deferential. Sorry, sir, it’s Thornwood. I have a situation that I’d like to solicit your opinion on.

You would, huh? Worthington cleared his throat a couple of times. Well, you’re not a hysteric like some of them. What’s going on?

As you know, I have a fairly elaborate detection spell established, keeping a passive watch for the active use of hellborn magics. This morning, I have two new alerts of different magnitudes from two different locations.

"You what? Surely that must be an error. Your spellwork’s faulty."

Perhaps. But it’s been reliable over the last five years, as the council is aware. He’d used his map to detect and dispatch half a dozen demons before the council even got wind of them from other sources, and he’d reported back his successes. Worthington hadn’t always been pleased with being consulted only after the fact, but he’d been satisfied with the results.

Hmph. Worth following up, I guess. Report back to the council when you’re done—

Wait! Silas interrupted, hearing the impending hanging-up and washing-hands-of-it coming. With two of them, separated by many miles, I thought this might demand more than just my involvement. One of them is either a small spellworking or a weak demon. It would be a snap for you to deal with.

Ah. Silence echoed down the line for several seconds. I have several duties that will occupy me for the rest of the day, but tomorrow, if you find these are out of your capability, you could call on me.

I see.

I’d be happy to do my part then, of course. If it’s too much for you.

Trying to insult me into doing your job as well as mine? Pushing Worthington wouldn’t make him more inclined to cooperate, though. Very well. I can propose it to Joanna Spry instead. It should be within her abilities.

Hmph. Yes. Do that. You keep claiming the woman’s competent. This will be a good time for her to prove it.

One more thing, sir. Would you please check with the other US councils? Ask if they’re seeing a rise in demons recently? Two appearing at the same time is unprecedented, and recent months have seemed unusually demon-filled. I’d like to know if the increase is just here or more wide-spread.

I can put out a feeler or two, yes. We have had rather an excess of… incidents this year. Worthington paused. One of those new demons didn’t happen to be out Fox Bluff’s way, did it?

Silas tried to recall where that was. Northeast? The stronger one is somewhere in that direction.

Huh. Well, if you find yourself near Fox Bluff, you might look up a sorcerer named Lori Hutchins. Hedge witch, really, no power to speak of. She called me this morning at a truly ungodly hour, to claim she’d seen a demon pop into being out of thin air. Nonsense, of course. Demons don’t appear without being summoned.

Lots of unheard-of things seemed to be happening, though. What did she say, exactly?

A bunch of hysterical drivel. But maybe there was a kernel of truth in it, after all. Wait a moment and I’ll get her address. I wrote it down, meant to drive out that way and look around at some point. Demons popping out of thin air. Hah. Hold on, Thornwood.

Silas found a pencil and notepad and was ready when Worthington got back on and gave him the address. Worthington hadn’t asked for her phone number, though odds were she’d be in the white pages.

And keep me informed, of course. Worthington hung up.

Silas said, Yes, of course, sir, to the dial tone and pushed down the cradle. Over his shoulder he said, Joanna Spry next.

She answered her phone immediately, sounding alert. When he explained the situation, she was also a lot more inclined to be helpful. Of course, I can take a first look for one of them. Can’t guarantee I can handle it if it’s anything bigger than a two-syllable demon though.

Play it safe, Silas agreed. See if you can locate it, figure out who summoned it and whether it has a current host or is in a sorcerer’s confinement, whatever information you can get for me. If it’s a pipsqueak, you can just take care of it. If not, the more details I have the better.

I’ll do what I can, Spry said. Where am I going?

The lower-powered sign had been southeast, close to the little town of Campersville. He gave her as much information as he had from the spell map. To make the map cover all of his part of the state, he’d had to go pretty large scale. I can’t tell if it’s in the town, or just outside it, and I don’t know any sorcerers in Campersville. If you find traces, it might be worth calling Locke and seeing who’s listed in the council records for that area. Someone had to summon it.

I can do that. She actually sounded cheerful. It’ll make a change from the local ghost population. I swear, half of this winter’s dead hung around as ghosts to make trouble.

More than usual? They’d seen that happen before— ghosts failing to cross over— with a ghoul involved. The last thing they needed was to add another of those.

It could just be the awful dreary weather this winter and the closing of the local mill. Economy’s bad, more desperation, more violence, folks are angry and depressed. Me too, I admit. A demon’s a change of pace.

Don’t get cocky, Silas ordered, regretting it a moment later. Sorry, not telling you how to do your job. But I’ve come up against demons lately that were five and six and seven syllables, one that might’ve been more.

Holy hells, Silas!

Yeah. It’s been an interesting few months. I appreciate you checking this out for me, but play it safe, all right?

I will. I have no desire to be demon fodder. You take care too.

Keep in touch. He hung up the phone and turned. And that leaves the other one for us.

A soft displacement of air heralded the swoop of Kii the hawk into the kitchen. She landed on the back of a chair and cocked her head at him. One what?

Pip stood on his hind legs to look up at her, tail wagging. We’re hunting a demon.

Again? The hawk swiveled her head to check out Darien, Jasper, and then focus back on Silas. What are you lot, demon magnets?

I don’t think so. Although isn’t that a disturbing thought? Could my magic combined with Darien’s somehow be attracting them? He needed more information about whether this was a local problem or a wider one. But the demons now on the ground came first. Either way, we need to find these two and deal with them.

I can help. Kii preened one long flight feather. Recognizing power is my talent. Human power, demon power, get me close and I can spot it.

Silas whistled softly. He still wasn’t sure he trusted the hawk, who just a couple of weeks ago had been accomplice to Darien’s kidnapping. Pip’s wagging tail wasn’t enough reassurance. The damned pup liked everybody. But when he glanced at Grim, his familiar lowered his head fractionally in a nod.

Yes, that could be useful, thank you.

Darien cleared the dishes into the sink, ran a little water on them, and turned. Okay, what do we do?

Silas met his eyes, trying to see how Darien felt about all this. So much had happened to that young man in the span of a few months, and it still showed up in restless sleep and nightmares. But Darien’s expression was bright and eager. We find the demon and send it back to hell. Simple. I hope.

Can I help? Jasper asked. If there’s anything I can do? I’ve developed rather a dislike of demons.

Silas could imagine how true that was. Sure.

An hour later found them and all three familiars in the Studebaker, driving down winding country roads that were taking them quite close to Fox Bluff. They’d discussed splitting up to search, but neither Jasper nor Darien had experience with detecting demon magic, and Silas didn’t