One Part Human Read online

  She could see the twenty-foot circle around him.

  Benny quickly extended her arms to either side. “Bite me.”

  The dark figure laughed, but Argyle and Smith followed her orders. She winced as the teeth went in and each man took in her blood. She turned her head to Tremble and whispered, “Kiss me.”

  He took in the hint and threaded his fingers through her hair, pulling her head back and kissing her.

  She exhaled her power, and Tremble’s kiss became possessive. As Argyle and Smith released her, she had to press her hands to the elf’s to get him to let her go.

  When Tremble staggered back, his eyes were glowing. Argyle and Smith were doing the same.

  Benny chuckled. “Now, gentlemen. Please come with me.”

  The shadow man had watched with amusement, but when all four of them passed the edge of his circle, he freaked.

  “Not possible! Only demon energy can pass that circle.” He brandished a rod, and it glowed bright.

  She recognised the symbol branded into the first woman and Jennifer.

  She didn’t bother explaining blood and power transfers. He didn’t need to know.

  He lunged at her, and Tremble moved between them. When the man raised his rod and attacked, the elf nimbly danced to one side, bringing both blades down into the back of the shadow’s wrist.

  The scream shook the trees. The branding rod rolled across the grass. The agents surrounded the shadow and went after him, pummelling and slashing at him. Benny went for the branding iron.

  She tore off her sleeve and wrapped it around the handle. She didn’t want to touch it if she didn’t have to.

  The shadow was still fighting, but it was slowing.

  “Can you hold his head?”

  They shifted, and she moved behind the shadow man, pressing the glowing glyph to the back of his head. He screamed and began to float. Well, he tried to float. The agents still had control of him.

  Benny whispered, “Let him go. I have marked him with his owner’s sign. He is about to be reclaimed.”

  The agents stumbled back just as backup arrived. The man soared up, and shadows emerged from around him, taking his body apart inch by inch.

  Benny pulled out the nullifier from between her breasts, and she poured it over the branding iron from the still-smouldering head to the handle. She coated it and watched it writhe and twist on the ground as the enchantment that it held crumbled to dust.

  She staggered out of the circle with the agents and collapsed on the ground.

  A vampire XIA agent walked up to her and said, “Beneficia Ganger?”

  She nodded. She knew what was coming. “I am.”

  “You are under arrest for twisting the loyalties of the XIA agents assigned to your ride-along.”

  She held out her wrists, and the cuffs went on. At least she could get some sleep in a nice safe cell. “Take me away.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Benny sat in processing while they tried to cleanse Smith, Argyle and Tremble of her influence.

  She was fingerprinted, had ocular scans run and had to provide a blood sample. “This is a little involved, isn’t it?”

  The woman doing the processing sneered. “Demon spawn need to be watched at all times. We need to know what you are and where you are at every moment of the day so that you won’t spread your influence.”

  Benny sighed. “Of course not.”

  “Why did you physically contaminate the agents?”

  “So that they could make it through the protective circle this time. The first time we tracked the killer, they were blocked by the spell.”

  “How was it that you were able to make it through?” Officer Rorik sneered at her.

  “It was keyed for demon frequencies.”

  “How did you know that?”

  Benny snorted. “I didn’t. I thought that the agents would get there before I did. I am not a hero.”

  “Of course you aren’t.”

  Benny pinched the bridge of her nose. “I am a journalist, and I write recipes for a blog. That is it. I don’t have any weapons or attack training. I don’t know what to do when someone takes a swing at me. I avoid confrontation at all costs.”

  “So, how did someone as cowardly as you come to be ripping apart a demon’s avatar?”

  Benny blinked. “Is that what that was? I thought it was a seduced soul being used. It was an actual projection?”

  “Answer the question.”

  “I simply did to the shadow man what he did to the victims. I thought it would create a hole by which the soul would be pulled to the one yanking on his strings.”

  “Because you thought that it was a projected soul and not the actual demon.”

  “Correct.” Benny lifted both hands and drank some truly horrible coffee. Her cuffs clanked as she moved.

  “Why didn’t you resist arrest?”

  “I knew you were coming. Sort of. I knew that one way or another, the demons would move to put me in custody.”

  Officer Rorik stared at her with wide eyes. “What?”

  “Out of the last nine generations, I am only one part human, two parts demon and the rest is something else. The demons are pernicious, but they are part of me. I can’t do anything about that, but I can keep that part of me under control. Every. Day. Of. My. Life.”

  The officer was staring at her, mouth open.

  Benny flexed her wrists but didn’t try to release herself.

  The officer got to her feet. “Just a moment.”

  Benny waited with her senses banked and her mind quiet. The agents would be fine the moment that her blood left their systems after a good meal. Tremble just had to exhale near a tree and he would be clear. She hadn’t harmed anyone and there wasn’t really anything to charge her with other than unlawful seduction. The last time she checked, seducing a man without sleeping with him wasn’t a crime if she didn’t use magic. It wasn’t even a crime if she did use magic. This was racism pure and simple.

  After twenty minutes of quiet, the door opened and Captain Matheson and the XIA attorney, Ms. Wingart, came through the open doorway.

  “Ms. Ganger, can you please come with us?” The captain was serious.

  She lifted her hands and the chains clanged. “I would love to, but I need a little help.”

  Ms. Wingart turned to the officer. “Chains off. Now.”

  Officer Rorik paused, “But she is a demon.”

  “Chains. Now.”

  The officer walked over and slowly unlocked the cuffs. She was glaring at Benny the entire time.

  Benny rubbed her wrists and got to her feet. She knew she was hardly intimidating, but the woman flinched away.

  Benny looked at the captain. “Be honest. It is the eye, isn’t it?”

  The captain chuckled. “Of course. Please come with us. We have a proposal for you.”

  The lawyer took her by the arm and walked out with her as friendly as could be. She was escorted out of the Magic Enforcement Unit and down the underground tunnel to the XIA.

  Ms. Wingart said, “You have to pardon the ME Unit. They suffer from a lack of imagination and even less humour.”

  “I am aware of it. I didn’t want to undo the cuffs and break her sense of security, but their spell work is exceptionally sloppy.”

  The lawyer laughed. “I know. I think they like to attack our kind when they run. I have no idea why you were there to begin with.”

  Benny shrugged. “I am not a shifter and I look human. I was exhausted after a very trying few days.”

  Captain Matheson smiled. “I have read the reports. Despite what the ME Unit would have you believe, our agents were keeping us informed of their growing attachment to you. I have spoken with your parents, and the spectrum of attraction has now been explained to my satisfaction.”

  The lawyer cleared her throat. “We will continue this discussion in our offices.”

  The rest of their walk wa
s silent. When they got to the scanner, Benny walked through it without any trouble. Her demon side was well and truly tamped down.

  The captain raised his eyebrows, but didn’t say a word until they got to his office.

  He held a chair for her, and she dropped into the comfortable leather with a groan. Ms. Wingart got her some water and a pastry from a sideboard and put them on the desk within easy reach.

  “Smith, Tremble and Argyle have been given clean bills of health on all scores. They are still infatuated by you and that brings me to the reason you are here.”

  Benny leaned back with the pastry cradled in her palms. “What?”

  “I want you to take agent training and join their team as a magical specialist. The agents speak highly of your skills with spell casting and your ability to think on your feet.”

  She nodded and worked through the Danish. “Wha abou duh demong fing?”

  Ms. Wingart chuckled. “For the days when you slip up, we will get you a special pass. We think you would be a valued member of our team, and we are willing to back you in whatever court proceedings are going to shake loose from this.”

  Benny knew what she meant. “Jennifer.”

  “Correct. There is no suit pending, but there is the potential for one. It all depends on her.”

  Benny blinked. “I would like to speak with her. I have to explain what happened to her.”

  “That is not advisable.”

  She finished her pastry and grabbed for the water. “If I had been cursed my entire life, and then, it had been lifted, leaving me floating around with no clue as to what I really was, I would really like to know it.”

  The captain nodded. “We will investigate her state of mind. If she is considered stable, you will be allowed to meet with her with legal representation present.”

  Benny yawned. “Can I think about the offer?”

  Ms. Wingart nodded, but she produced a simple contract. “Here is the offer to train you as an agent with a probationary period of six months beginning after your two weeks of protocol briefing.”

  Benny scanned the contract and blinked. “There is a provision in here allowing me to date members of my team in direct contradiction of the standard agent regulations.”

  Ms. Wingart nodded, and her head shifted into that of an eagle before returning to human. “We thought it would ease tensions if you could act on your impulses.”

  She had a brief image of the agents naked and quickly shook her head. “I do not feel that it is a good idea.”

  Ms. Wingart smiled and got her briefcase. “Fine. Stroke out the clause.”

  She left the room, and Benny and the captain were on their own.

  Captain Matheson smiled. “If I were in Smith’s pride, I would have ordered him to court you. I am not. If I were in Tremble’s clan, I would have ordered the same. In Argyle’s case, I would have talked to Mathias and gotten him to tell Argyle to take his head out of his ass. The problem lies in that I can’t encourage one without encouraging all three. It would be bad for morale.”

  Benny blinked. “All three? I am supposed to take all three?”

  Matheson blushed. “Not at the same time, but I believe that each of them offers you something unique. Two can even act as your mate if you want to start a family. I normally don’t butt into the affairs of my people, but this is an exceptional situation and you are all exceptional beings.”

  Benny held up her hand. “Spare me. My ancestors have been down this road before. I don’t have lions in my bloodline, so Smith is viable. All of my fey ancestors are powerful, but lower grade, so a high-grade fey is desirable. This is a conversation my family has been throwing my way for a decade. Are we related?”

  He chuckled. “No, but I know your aunt, Reedana. She is a persuasive woman.”

  Her aunt Reedana was more siren than woman, but she did have a powerful way of speaking. If she wanted something, she could argue until you simply surrendered. The woman had stamina.

  “Are you dating her?”

  He laughed. “I am not that stupid. She is a friend of my wife’s.”

  Benny chuckled, and she continued looking over the contract. Aside from the free rein to date her coworkers, there was nothing objectionable in the document.

  She looked up at the captain and debated her options. In the end, there was only one.

  “Can I have a pen?”

  He handed it over to her with a flourish. When she signed her name, he did the same and grinned. “Welcome to the team, Agent-in-Training Ganger.”

  Benny smiled. “It sounds weird, but I have been called worse.”

  “That’s the spirit. Now, let’s get you a uniform.” He rose to his feet and offered her his hand when he was next to her.

  With a sense of finality, she put her hand in his and let him guide her through the halls and down to get an ID badge created with a demon-scan override. It was a solid start.

  Chapter Sixteen

  With her ID, uniform, bag and orientation textbooks, Benny stumbled into the parking lot outside XIA headquarters.

  Pooky was waiting for her with his motor running. Freddy was in the passenger’s seat.

  Benny put her stuff in the trunk, and Pooky opened the driver’s door for her. Grinning at her friend, she first greeted the car. “Thanks for the lift, Pooky.”

  Freddy was trying to look perturbed and failing miserably. “Well, since you won’t come to the mountain, my wonderful self came to you.”

  “Hiya, Freddy. I would hug you, but Pooky is trying to look like a car.” She reached out and squeezed her friend’s hand.

  “So, you have had a helluva week.”

  Benny began to giggle and then howl at the understatement. “I am nearly done with the article for Julian. It should be ready to upload in about an hour.”

  “He will be delighted, but he really wants to ask you to write a column about XIA training.”

  “Sorry. I just signed a confidentiality agreement.”

  Freddy laughed. “Damn.”

  “I can hear your disappointment.”

  Pooky drove them safely and sedately back to the Ganger house. Benny just enjoyed hanging onto her friend as a solid link to normality.

  It was funny what a few days with the XIA made her think of as normal.

  Her homecoming was warm, full of friends, food and drink. Her mother had called in all of her relatives, and they were there to greet Benny when she returned from her adventures.

  When Benny got her parents alone, she asked softly. “So what did you do with her?”

  Lenora smiled. “We mailed her back home. She will have to explain her failure to her father and her proposed mate. We can only hope they were not one and the same.”

  Benny shuddered, and her father squeezed her shoulders. “Bleah.”

  “I have felt a greatly reduced pressure on my own demonic tendencies, so I believe she has been trying to urge me into some sort of action in order to endanger you.” Harcourt was solemn.

  Benny nodded. “It is possible. I know that you two are going to have difficulty dealing with my news.”

  Lenora smiled. “What news?”

  “I have been invited to train as an agent with the XIA. I have accepted.”

  The hands on her shoulders tightened, but then relaxed. “It is the right thing for you, Benny. Even I can sense it, and I have little to no empathy.”

  Lenora chuckled. “I am pleased for you. It is the first decision you have made for yourself to propel your skills forward. I am just surprised it took this long.”

  She shared a moment with her parents before the cheerful chatter of the party went quiet.

  Benny looked toward the door where the three agents were standing with nervous determination. She went forward to make the introductions, but Freddy got there before her.

  “Everybody, these are Benny’s XIA agents. She will be working with them. Be nice.”

  Benny grinned and made t
he introduction that mattered. “Smith, Argyle and Tremble, this is Freddy. Freddy and I have been friends since we were children.”

  Freddy preened. “Play your cards right and I know all her secrets. I am amenable to bribery.”

  Argyle smiled, Smith chuckled and Tremble kissed Freddy’s hand.

  The tension was broken, and the party returned to its happy chatter.

  Smith looked around the room, and he whistled softly. “I recognise a lot of the faces here. Is that a dragon?”

  Benny smiled and hauled them through the party and out onto the balcony. She pulled up an aura of silence around them and sighed. “Thank you for coming, but why are you here?”

  Smith chuckled. “Well, after the day we spent in bed together...”

  She gave him a droll look. “Oh, shut up. Now, there are a lot of people inside that you will recognise from television and movies, as well as activists and academics. Be nice and remember you are not on duty. That said, thank you for coming.”

  She went up on her toes and kissed Smith softly. Benny stepped away and kissed Tremble, sliding her hand up behind his head and pulling him down to her. Tremble held her gently as if he was afraid he would spook her.

  She smiled at him as she drew back.

  Argyle didn’t wait. The moment she turned to him, he wrapped his arms around her, dipped her and pressed his lips to hers.

  Benny caught a glimpse of the crowd staring at them through the windows. Freddy flared up and shooed them away, shot her a thumbs-up and kept guard.

  Argyle’s skin was cool, but it warmed rapidly where she touched him. When he set her back on her feet, her senses were spinning.

  “Wow. Um, okay. I was just welcoming you to the gathering, but that took it to a whole new level.” She patted her hair and the agents were laughing at her.

  Smith smiled. “Well, now that we have been officially welcomed, I saw a delightful buffet inside and I really want to meet that dragon.”

  Benny patted his arm. “Stay away from Zora. Regick is really protective of her right now.”

  Argyle looked toward the room. “I saw a gargoyle in there, and I have always wanted to meet one.”