One Part Human Read online

  She cleared her throat. “Really?”

  “Yes, the expert refused to meet with the day shift, so we are on our way there. He is located on Anchor Lane, so I thought we could pick you up this evening.”

  She looked toward her house. “Um, sure, when will you be here?”

  “We are just pulling onto Anchor Lane.”

  “See you.”

  She dropped her phone and quickly drove forward to park her car. She threw her bag with her soiled clothing into the house and took the duffel that Jessamine had prepared for her. A moment later, she was waiting for them as they pulled into her drive.

  She hopped into the car. They all looked a little the worse for wear. “Where are we going?”

  “Thirteen Anchor Lane. Your neighbour. Apparently Dr. Emile is the local expert on demonology.”

  She fought the urge to cover her eyes. “Yes, I have heard that.”

  They drove to her family home, and she got out of the car with them. The agents put themselves between her and the unknown. How sweet.

  Argyle knocked on the door, and Benny watched her mother open it.

  “Good evening, madam. We are here to speak with Dr. Emile. We are agents with the XIA.”

  Her mother spotted her. “Beneficia dear, go make some tea. I will show them into the library.”

  “I will make the tea after they meet Dad.” Benny weaseled between them and beckoned them inside. “Please come in.”

  Once everyone was inside the foyer, Benny made the introductions. “Agents Tremble, Argyle and Smith, this is my mother, Lenora Ganger. Dr. Lenora Ganger, master magus.”

  The men greeted her mother, but they were looking at her like she had grown another head.

  Benny led them to the library, and she paused to let them take in her father’s emerald skin, the wide curving horns, slit pupils in his amber eyes and the claw-like nails at the end of his fingertips.

  “Agents Tremble, Argyle and Smith, this is my father, Dr. Harcourt Emile Ganger.”

  Tremble looked at her. “Your father was human.”

  She rocked her hand. “He was. Sort of. It is a long story. I will go and make the tea.”

  Benny escaped the library with a whoosh of relief.

  Her mom was nearby. “You did well. Very professional. They had no idea?”

  “They might have. Two out of three have tasted my blood.” She blinked, shook her head and made her way to the kitchen.

  The water boiled in two minutes, and she carried the tray of steeping tea into the library. Her mom brought another tray of sandwiches.

  The agents were still standing at a distance from her father. She set the tray down on the table and went to hug her dad. He held her carefully as he always did. “Do you need anything, Benny?”

  “Just a hug. I was so busy before I didn’t hug you hello.”

  “Missed you, too, Benny.”

  When Benny turned, the agents had relaxed, and she gestured to the tray. “We found out why he did what he did. The ritual requires some explanation. Have a seat.”

  Confronted by her family, they sat.

  The agents were silent. All three stared at her father as if he was a spectre.

  Benny rubbed her forehead. She looked at her dad and he nodded. “Gentlemen, do you want me to explain?”

  Argyle nodded. “Please.”

  Her dad picked up one of the tomes and kept flipping through the pages so they could stare at him without feeling awkward.

  “Fine. My great grandmother was a succubus summoned to bear the heir of a wizard. That would be my grandfather. Once she had completed her contracted obligation to bear a human-looking heir, she returned to the demon zone. My grandfather grew up, married a werewolf and had a son. He became a professor of arcane studies, and at the turn of the last century, he met my mom.”

  Her mother went over and wrapped her arms around her emerald mate. “It was love at first sight on my part, but his nose was so stuck in his books, I had to peel down to my corset and chemise before he would look my way.”

  Her father laughed. “And at that point, I could not look away.”

  Benny rolled her eyes and continued. “They got married and lived happily with my father and mother sharing their lives and their interest in magic. Mom aged slowly and her pregnancy with me took six years. She says it was worth it for the stares alone. Anyway, when I was ten, my mother got cancer. She was dying and she was doing it quickly.”

  Benny watched her dad put his arm around his wife protectively. She cleared her throat to get rid of the emotional wobble and sighed. “He waited until the moment she died, and he healed her body then transferred his human soul into her before she could completely pass on. They now share the one soul, but it was all that was keeping my father’s parentage from being really obvious.”

  Smith cocked his head. “So that makes you part demon?”

  Benny wrinkled her nose. “Well, not that it matters, but given my parentage and ancestors, I am really only one part human. The rest is a much longer story, and we have a killer to catch.”

  Her father slammed the tome shut and nodded. “Now that introductions and explanations have been made, let’s get to work. This is time sensitive.”

  Chapter Nine

  Tremble was staring at her with intense focus. “You are not human?”

  She lifted the book with the initial explanation of the ritual and opened it to the ritual. “No. I look human, but that is a trick of my genes. If you look at my mom’s ears, you can see the point and a slight ridge from a siren ancestor; there are signs of troll and fey around her. I think there is even some shifter in there.”

  Argyle wandered over and looked at the books. “I can’t read that.”

  She pinched the bridge of her nose. “You can’t. There are reasons that few people are capable of being demonology experts. Demon blood is a requisite for being able to read the script. I will translate if you like, or my dad can do it.”

  Her father grinned, flashing his deadly and shark-like teeth.

  Smith nodded. “We trust your translation, Benny. Please proceed.”

  She squinched her eyes shut for a moment and then began. “All right. Well, the suspect is looking for a demon, a very specific demon.”

  Argyle was suddenly all business. “What demon?”

  “A demon with a soul. The question is why that woman?”

  Smith lifted his head. “She isn’t the first. She is the seventh woman born on the same day to be killed in that particular way. The others were out of our jurisdiction, so it took most of the day to find them. The ladies were all the same age, within one week.”

  Benny whirled when she heard her father growl. “No.”

  Her mother placed her hand on his, but he continued to flex his muscles in agitation and the fan-like crest rose out of his dark hair.

  Tremble whispered, “What is he doing?”

  Benny scowled. “He is angry, but I don’t know why.”

  Through clenched teeth, her father asked, “All born here thirty years ago in the ninth month on the twenty-third day, give or take?”

  Her mother gasped. “Harcourt, you didn’t!”

  He nodded grimly. “I did. I mirrored Benny’s soul on the other eight girls in the nursery.”

  Benny felt sick. “You have to be kidding.”

  Her father came to her and held her tight. “I wanted to protect you and that was the only way I knew how. Your power signature was distinctive, even when you were a baby.”

  Smith asked, “You are thirty? You don’t look thirty.”

  The sound he made immediately afterward indicated one of the others had struck him.

  “Why not just a shield?” She mumbled it against his chest.

  “Magic is too noticeable. The other girls were all healthy with young parents, so the likelihood of them moving was strong.”

  “They died because of me.”

  His hand stroke
d her hair, and he murmured to her as he had when she was a teenager. “No. They died because someone is trying to kill you, or at least part you from what is rightfully yours.”

  “Ripping a soul from a demon. Why would someone do that?” She let him continue to hold her. It was for his need and not hers. He could not defend her in the wide world, but he could offer her comfort here.

  He sighed. “I do not know about other demons, but if they took your soul, you would have to attach yourself to a more powerful demon of the zone for protection. You would become a slave.”

  “We will not let that happen.” Tremble’s voice was determined.

  Argyle pitched in. “Do you know who the other woman is?”

  Benny eased away from her father. He shook his head.

  She swallowed. “I can find her. If she is carrying a mirror of my soul, I can get a location.”

  Her mother nodded and got a map. She flipped it out on one of the long tables and moved around the room collecting scrying equipment.

  Smith asked softly. “What is she doing?”

  “She is setting up a search map.”

  Her mother laid out the tools and beckoned for her to come close. “All right, sweetie. First, you know what to do.”

  Sighing, Benny took the bucket that her mother handed her and walked away from the crowd. Throwing up before working was an important part of scrying. She literally had to be hungry in order to track her prey. Her mother’s bloodline had some creepy hunters in it, and her talent for all magic came from the maternal side of the family. Raw energy and power came from her dad’s ancestors.

  Once she had completed her purge, she rinsed out her mouth, washed her hands and face, and she glared at herself in the mirror before coming to a conclusion. This was going to take a lot of power, so she was going to have to drop a minor bit of glamour that she had been using since she was in kindergarten.

  It took more effort to pull the glamour off than it did to keep it in place, but she needed every bit of access to her soul in able to create the template to search for.

  Her left eye glowed slightly and she sighed. The cat was out of the bag, the agents were going to see her as she was. Here was hoping that it didn’t wreck the friendships she had been starting.

  Benny kept her head high, but she was watching carefully for any signs of disturbance in the agents. There was a mild bit of blinking, but nothing major.

  Smith quirked his lips. “You look a little pale.”

  She snorted. “Right. You see how you look when you have to puke on behalf of a tracking spell.”

  Tremble nodded as if he had figured it out, and Argyle sat still as stone.

  Her mother had assembled all the implements, and she stood aside as Benny approached.

  Benny closed her eyes and moved her hands over the assembled objects. Two items jumped into her hand. A heavy charm embossed with serpents and books joined a long black crystal bound with silver. Benny transferred them both to the same hand at the same distance from her palm and she exhaled slowly.

  The map was of the entire continent, and she would work in narrowing areas until she pinpointed the target.

  She held the pendants out and watched them pull from one side to the other as she focussed on herself. Both located her hometown, so Lenora moved the large map aside and pulled out one with local streets and surrounding areas.

  When the pendants pulled toward her home, she blocked that and continued to move her hand until there was a second indicator. She followed the new location to a charming suburb.

  Her mother subbed out the maps again for a satellite view, and Benny focussed and indicated a house on the left side of a cul-de-sac.

  “Bowl and knife.” Benny kept her focus, and when her mother put the small bowl on top of the house image, Benny cut her finger and dripped six drops into the bowl. The blood swirled and took form.

  “Jennifer Langstrom. Nineteen Yarrow Path.” Benny staggered back, and her father helped with the first aid.

  The agents were staring at her. She stared back. With her eye unglamored, she could see them for what they were, and it was an interesting sight.

  Smith’s body had a healthy golden glow, his hair nearly waved in the energy he was putting out, Argyle’s eyes were sunken and his skin was chalky, but sparking with light from the inside out, and Tremble was a confusion of power and nature. His power was going in all directions all the time.

  Smith blinked slowly. “Is your eye going to stay like that?”

  She lifted her hand toward her face and could see the reflected light. “I am sorry, but it is. I can’t put it away and then whip it out when I need it.”

  Out of reflex, she lifted the scry bowl to her lips and drank the water and blood drops. Tremble made a face, but the other two watched the bowl like it contained a treat.

  Lenora tidied up. “Well, you have the address, you had better get going.”

  Smith paused. “Where did you get all those maps?”

  Benny chuckled. “I will explain the idea of having friends on the planning committee, as well as being an official city archive in the car.”

  Tremble stiffened. “You cannot come along.”

  Benny crossed her arms. “I have to. There is no one else who can stop the spell work. It is an easy fix, but no one can manage it unless they have mage training with demon control as a primary field of study.”

  Argyle smirked. “You have studied it?”

  Her father cleared his throat. “It was necessary. She had to use it for the first time when she was fifteen. She is very good at it.”

  The agents looked over at her father with his claws, bright eyes and evil fangs. They looked to her mother, and she merely smiled cheerfully.

  “Benny is very good at doing what she feels is necessary. She isn’t one to put herself in danger. She will keep herself as safe as she can.” Lenora finished putting the maps away and neatly tidied the tools that had been used in the scrying.

  Benny stood and drummed her fingers on her bicep with her arms crossed. “Jennifer is in danger right now. She was still at home, but I can track her if she is taken. Now that I know what I am looking for, she will leave a trail.”

  They nodded and took their leave of her parents. Benny was in the car and buckled up in under a minute and they were on their way to talk to Jennifer.

  She wished that there was less silence in the car, and suddenly, there was.

  “So, dating must have been awkward.” Argyle chuckled.

  Benny grinned. “You have no idea.”

  Smith chipped in, “Did you get asked out by normals?”

  She wrinkled her nose. “Yes. Their families encouraged them because my parents were and are on the boards of five local universities. A relationship with me meant an increase in their choices for a higher education.”

  Two dates. She had had two dates before her father fully turned into what he was now. After that, all introductions to her parents had been short and to the point, and heavily glamoured. Glamour was hard to stick on a demon, but as long as her father stayed calm, he looked just like he used to.

  Tremble cocked his head. “You introduced all of your prospective mates to your parents?”

  She looked at him and raised her eyebrows. “You have met my parents; do you think I had a choice?”

  The men in the car chuckled. Tremble grinned. “I suppose not. It must have made for a fascinating adolescence.”

  “That is one way of putting it. Mind you, in all those years of dating, I only had one bad experience.” She chuckled.

  Smith started to ask her about that one experience, but they arrived at Jennifer’s home.

  Tremble opened his door and looked at her.

  Benny held up her hands. “I know. Stay in the car.”

  The agents left, and Benny kept her senses wide and looking for any signs of trouble.

  Benny couldn’t sense anything and that was when she got agitated. Jen
nifer was gone, and there was only the slightest hint of where she had been.

  Chapter Ten

  The moment the agents returned to the SUV, she said, “Down the block to the left.”

  The night air was cool and bracing, but Benny was stuck next to a closed window. She had to settle for the view she was getting through her mage’s eye.

  They were at the turning point in under a minute, and she tried to focus. “Okay, I am not trying to be difficult, but I can’t sense her from inside the car.”

  Smith nodded. “Right. I am going to shift, and I will stay with you while you follow the trail.”

  They parked and left the vehicle. Tremble and Argyle were ready to move, but Smith had to strip.

  Benny blushed and focussed her vision and senses on the trail left by her mirror.

  The sound of flesh flexing, tendons snapping and claws scraping the pavement caused her to peek a little. Smith twisted and arched into his lion form, and he was huge.

  The actual full shift of a shifter was always something that creeped her out. She could face anyone in a body that didn’t conform to normal standards and see their true beauty, but the twist of a body from its natural state into another beast made her a little queasy. It was probably the snapping tendons and rippling flesh.

  The lion came up to her and sniffed her, chuffing softly.

  Argyle nodded. “He’s ready. You are consulting here, but you are also observing. Do not involve yourself directly.”

  Benny focussed, and she started to run. The men were behind her, and Smith was at her side.

  Jennifer was up ahead, and there was other magic, human magic, involved.

  The faster they moved, the further away the soul seemed. Benny growled and started to run faster. The moment she got within a hundred yards, she felt the separation of soul and body. She grunted and put her power around the soul.

  She staggered when something tried to crack through the protection. There was a shout of frustration, and heat was the next thing to strike her energy.

  Benny and her followers burst through the hedges, and a horrifying sight greeted them.