Demonsense (Demonsense series Book 1) by Sara DeHaven Page B

sparse and square, and there was far too much grey and black in the color scheme. But the views of Lake Washington from the windows were fantastic, some wonderful color photos of the couple’s many travels provided some relief from the neutral color scheme, and best of all, the house had Hunter.
    Hunter was six, and he was talking a mile a minute as soon as Bree walked in the door. “I want to show you my train. I made a train track, and some trees and houses. And a gate. The cars have to stop at the gate so the train doesn’t smash them to bits ‘cause the train is way heavier.” He pulled insistently on her hand as Bree greeted Kevin with a one armed hug. “Steve’s just finishing the dishes, and Daniel’s not here yet,” he said when Hunter paused to take a breath.  
    “Daddy, I want to show her my train!” Hunter complained.  
    “It’s okay kiddo, I’m coming. We’ll check out the train first,” Bree reassured him.  
    Kevin smiled and waved Bree toward the hall and Hunter’s room, and followed them in. He sat on the bed while Bree settled on the floor with Hunter, admiring his train set up. After Hunter had described it all with exhaustive detail, he settled down to play. Bree seized the moment of quiet to question Kevin about how he knew Daniel.  
    Kevin took off his glasses and wiped them on his shirttail as he considered where to start. He was a classic computer geek: brilliant, a little on the chubby side, receding brown hair, no great fashion sense, but unlike many other programmers Bree had known, he actually had some social skills, and when not working was very extroverted and people focused. He still had a trace of upper crust Boston in his voice, though he had lived in Seattle for many years. “I'm sure you've heard me mention him before, my Keeper friend in Boston. We've been friends for years."
    "I guess that does ring a bell," Bree admitted.
    "I knew Daniel as a kid,” he said as he put his glasses back on. “You’ve heard me talk about the powered side of the East Coast culture, very inbred, everybody knows everybody. I’d see him from time to time at the occasional big social event, but we never really connected. He was kind of a shy kid, and I was busy running around with my cousins. We went to the same powered boarding school for high school though, and we've been friends ever since. Though of course, I haven’t seen much of him since I moved out here. In fact, I think you and Seth were on your honeymoon the last time he came to town to town to visit me." Kevin slanted a quick look at Bree. Even after all this time, people were afraid to mention Seth to her. She fixed a look of polite interest on her face, and Kevin continued.  
    "I do always spend time with him when I go home to visit family. He's one of those people I can talk to like we've never been apart every time we get together. As little as I get to see him, I consider him one of my closest friends."
    “He seemed like a pretty tightly wound guy to me,” Bree observed as she obeyed Hunter’s directive to move one of his trains down the track and over the bridge. “Nice enough, kind of sweet, but I think being a Keeper did a number on him.”
    “Oh, I’m sure it must have. But I wouldn’t say that’s the only thing that did a number on him. His father was a piece of work. Not a nice man.”
    “Dark powered?”
    “No, kind of the opposite really. Very righteous, very rigid about the law, served on the Northeast Ecclesias for a lot of years. Good case in point that just avoiding dark power doesn’t make you a nice person. And his mother was a very withdrawn, depressive sort, at least when I knew her. So Daniel has some issues apart from being a Keeper.” Kevin hesitated, and Bree saw him draw in his lips and slide his gaze to the floor in the way he did when he was feeling guilty about something. Really, Kevin was such an open book, you didn’t have to be a Reader to guess what he was feeling.
    “I guess