One Part Human Read online

A man wearing a shadowed cloak was hunched over the floating body of his victim.

  Smith sleeked into an attack mode and charged the man.

  Energy sparked as the pentacle halted Smith’s advance.

  Benny stumbled through the energy field and fought for air as she said, “Get away from her.”

  Confronting someone was not normally in her nature, but she could feel the pressure he was putting on her shields, and it was not comfortable. If she left him alone, he would crack through it and that would be the end of the woman in front of her.

  The cowled head turned toward her. “Stay out of this, mage. You don’t know what you are dealing with.”

  The agents were up against the warding and shouting at the attacker.

  Benny stood straight and hit him with attacks spells she hadn’t used in a decade. With her hands held a foot apart, she pelted him with balls of burning moonlight. The first few had no effect, but as she increased her speed, she knocked him away from Jennifer.

  She kept firing at him, pushing him back toward the edge of his circle. If she could get him past it, the agents could get him.

  Thud, thud, thud. The energy balls struck over and over until it was a solid stream of power that edged his foot into the circle.

  The agents stumbled in, and the mage looked at her in shocked horror. “Bitch!”

  A swirl of dark power wrapped him, and he disappeared.

  Benny stumbled and shook her hands as the power had nowhere to go. It was time to put the soul back in the body.

  Argyle looked at Benny. “What is wrong with her?”

  She blinked, lifted her hands and grabbed the protective orb that she had cast. “Her soul is here, but she needs a healing before I put it back. Her body has been primed for blood loss. If I put her back in before the healers get here, she’s dead.”

  Tremble was speaking on his phone, and he finished the call. “I called them when we first hit the barrier. They are driving in across the green.”

  He wasn’t wrong. Benny could hear the approaching sirens and see the lights.

  Smith came up behind her and supported her. She hadn’t realised that she had been swaying. His lion form smelled of sunshine and musk. “Thanks, Smith.”

  He grunted and remained behind her while they waited for the healers to stabilise the victim.

  Tremble marked out the transport site that the attacker had used. Argyle asked her, “Did you get a look at him?”

  She nodded. “He was completely average with the exception of the twisted expression of greed and panic on his features.”

  “Could you describe him to an artist?”

  Benny held out her hand, put an orb of energy into it and she printed the face from her mind onto the energy. “Here. Put this on some twigs and leaves and you can take a photo of it.”

  Tremble went to the shrubs and broke off a branch, bringing it back to carry the fey globe. “So, fey blood, too?”

  “After this is over, I will invite you guys over and take you through the portrait gallery. The only thing I don’t really have in me is a lot of normal human.” She shrugged and eased the orb onto the leaves that would support it and give it energy for a few hours.

  The medics started to load Jennifer onto a gurney.

  Benny moved around Tremble. “Is she stable?”

  “Non-responsive. We stopped the haemorrhaging. We will be able to treat her at hospital.”

  Benny nodded, grabbed the soul and she pushed it back into Jennifer’s body without the mirroring of her own.

  Jennifer started moaning and shifting, and the medics got into high gear.

  Benny staggered backward, and Smith was there to support her.

  Argyle caught her elbow and he frowned. “Are you all right?”

  “I have just cast more magic in ten minutes than I have in ten years. I had forgotten what kind of an energy rush it is.” She rubbed her forehead.

  Tremble handed the orb over to some uniformed officers, and they carefully carried it to their vehicle before they taped off the scene.

  Benny sighed. “What happens now?”

  Argyle cocked his head. “You are interviewed, and we have to begin looking for the mage who was draining the victim.”

  She yawned and leaned against Smith, lounging on him as she lost focus. “Whomever is going to interview me had better work fast.”

  Another XIA vehicle pulled up, parking on the grass. The trio emerged up and stalked toward their team.

  Argyle muttered, “I should get the SUV.”

  She reached out and grabbed his arm. “Not until I am sure that they are not going to arrest me.”

  He chuckled. “Right.”

  The three agents were cordial enough to her team, but Smith got a little bit of ribbing for his current shape.

  The elf of their team, named Frond, brought out a notepad and smiled at Benny. “Now, can you tell us what you saw once you entered the circle?”

  She explained the levitation, the man trying to drain the woman of her soul and his escape when she attacked.

  “Are you a registered mage?” He raised a brow.

  She blushed. “No. I am afraid I am home schooled. I am a registered mage guide, but that is about it.”

  He nodded. “You are that journalist that the XIA was asked to host.”

  “Correct. Benny Ganger.”

  He grinned. “I love your recipes.”

  “Thank you.”

  “What spells did you use to repel the assailant?”

  “I used a moonlight repulsion spell in the form of rapid snowballs, and to protect Jennifer, I encased her psyche in a heavy warding with a starlight base and used my own body as a power source to maintain it.”

  He made frantic notes. “All mage-based?”

  “Um, no. The light attack was fey. The protection was part mage and part fey.” She smiled, and Smith rumbled behind her.

  She took his sound to mean she should shut up.

  “How can you master fey magic?” Frond raised his pale green brows.

  “I never said I was a master; I said I was home schooled in magic. My parents are both academics. The books were all there.”

  He nodded and continued to make notes.

  He opened his mouth to ask another question, but Smith shifted his position and pushed Benny away from the elf with his huge paw. He huffed and moved his head.

  “You are kidding.”

  He made the motion again, and she boosted herself onto his back. Lion riding was not comfortable; they were made entirely of shoulder blade.

  Her XIA team made their way back to their vehicle in silence. They all had been interviewed before being released.

  At the SUV, Tremble helped Benny off her mount.

  “Thanks, Smith.”

  He huffed and wandered around the vehicle before shifting back to human.

  Argyle tucked her into the SUV and buckled her in place. “Call your parents. I managed to grab a soil sample for analysis. That power wasn’t human, so it might give us a clue.”

  Benny sent her mother a text before she listed to one side as they started moving. Smith still tucking in his shirt. Tremble moved next to her and put his arm around her. “You did well, Benny. You saved a life tonight.”

  She gave a weak thumbs-up and drifted into a daze as they headed to her parents’ home.

  When they arrived, Argyle carried her out and into her family home.

  Lenora came out and asked, “What is wrong with her?”

  “She used a lot of energy tonight, and she has been weak since.”

  Her mother touched her cheek and looked Benny in the eye. With a rueful sigh, she touched Benny’s neck and then jerked her hand sharply. “Rule one of spell casting, Benny?”

  Benny felt her strength return in a rush. “Remove all protections and dampeners. Argyle, you can put me down now. I am an idiot.”

  Argyle held on to her for a few more momen
ts until her father growled in the background.

  Smith grinned. “You forgot to remove a dampener?”

  She shrugged. “I wear one most of the time. I don’t do magic in public, so it never occurred to me.”

  He chuckled. “Same reason I remove all the clothing. I can still shift, but it gets in the way.”

  Benny giggled and rubbed her arm against his in camaraderie.

  Argyle took her left side and Tremble guarded her back.

  “Mom, we got a soil sample from a transport site. It is less than an hour old, so there should still be something traceable.”

  Argyle handed the sample to her mother, and her father took it with a sharp plucking of his clawed fingers.

  Benny’s stomach growled. “Come on. While he works on that, I will make something to eat. You are still entitled to meals.”

  Her mother nodded with a smile and went into the lab with her father.

  Benny led the other three to the kitchen and the huge butcher-block table. “Have a seat. Do you want something hot or cold?”

  “Hot.”

  “Hot.”

  “Hot.”

  She chuckled and started a pot of water. “Soup it is.”

  They looked a little doubtful, but they remained quiet until the ingredients started to line the table while the water began to bubble. Their expressions turned to happy anticipation when she got the stock heating and the smell filled the kitchen. Her mother might do most of the cooking, but Benny was pretty fair when it came to feeding family and friends. She glanced at the attentive agents who were watching her with hope every time she touched ingredients. Yeah, they counted as friends.

  Chapter Eleven

  They blinked at her as she set the huge empty bowls in front of them. Argyle looked a little nervous.

  “Don’t worry. My mom keeps a fully stocked pantry. Demon diets vary greatly depending on their exertions and the time of year.”

  Smith looked impressed.

  The noodles were done and drained, so she divided the tangle into four large bowls and two clamp jars. The meat went on in layers, the vegetables went on next, herbs and finally the broth was ready to add to the bowls.

  She kept Argyle’s bowl to the side. It had the regular mix of meats plus some blood sausage. She went to the fridge and got the ceramic pitcher of blood, pouring a dollop into the bowl. Once that was done, she parcelled out the broth in the bowls and set out the chopsticks and spoons. The un-brothed clamp jars were tucked into the fridge for later.

  A final touch was the selection of sauces, and she settled at the table with them. “Have at it.”

  She dug in and slurped at the noodles.

  After a few seconds of hesitation, they all followed suit.

  The slurping and flicking of broth was tremendous.

  Smith blinked. “This is nice. Really nice. I watched everything, and I still don’t know what you all put into it.”

  Argyle was smiling happily. “It is settling nicely. You have cooked for vampires before?”

  Benny slurped. “Yes. For the given, not the taken.”

  He paused. “You really do have a complete education.”

  Tremble snorted. “You are just cluing into that now?”

  Smith wasn’t speaking, he was just slogging through his bowl as if afraid that the soup would disappear if he stopped touching it.

  For Benny, it was a recipe that her great aunt had taught her on her seventeenth birthday. Since she wasn’t really allowed to go out, it was a better idea to make her friends and family comfortable and happy. It was an old-fashioned idea, but her aunt was an old-fashioned woman. Three hundred years old and no relation to her at all.

  Most of her relations were no relations. It was a fact of life that when you came from a line with this much power that you either spread your family wide or it boiled down to a single line. Each generation on either side had one child and that line culminated in Beneficia.

  When Smith finished his meal, he picked up the dishes and washed them, putting them on the draining board with efficiency.

  “So, Benny, what kind of shifters are in your bloodline?”

  She sighed. “I only had two. My grandmother was a wolf shifter, and her father was a human multi-shifter.”

  “And some demon, a bit of human. How much fey?” Tremble smiled.

  She shrugged. “They pop up now and then. Even some vampire makes itself known on my mother’s side.”

  Argyle perked up. “Given or taken?”

  “Given.”

  He looked relieved. “Do you know the sire?”

  She chuckled. “Rumour is that she was a true given. No one knows for sure. She rarely returns for a visit.”

  Smith scowled. “What?”

  Argyle looked at him. “Didn’t you ever take vampire studies?”

  Smith narrowed his eyes. “Pretend I didn’t and refresh me.”

  “Two types of vampires. Those who come from a line that took immortality by violence and those who had it given to them. It is a very long and sad story, but that is the basis of it. I am a given vampire. I was offered this as a choice, and it does not come with the territory bindings or hierarchy that the taken vampires love.”

  Tremble sighed. “Smith knows; he just likes to make Argyle explain things. It is his personal form of entertainment.”

  Smith grinned. “It really is. These two constantly remind me that I am the youngest, so I make them over-explain things. It amuses me and irritates them, so we all win.”

  Benny chuckled and finished her soup. “If anyone needs to freshen up, there is a restroom down the hall and to the left. My parents will be occupied for another twenty minutes, so I think I will work on dessert.”

  Tremble arched his brow. “How do you know that it will take them twenty minutes?”

  She looked at the clock. “It is time for them to have sex. My father’s exposed nature increased his sex drive, so they have sex at regular intervals throughout the day, which allows him to keep his focus and continue his research.”

  Argyle blinked. “Sex?”

  Benny pulled cupcakes out of the freezer and set them for a thaw cycle in the microwave. She fired up the coffee maker and got things underway. “Of course. My great grandmother was a succubus. The sex drive comes with the species.”

  The three agents looked at each other nervously.

  She snorted and pulled out ice cream and fruit. “You three shouldn’t look so shocked. There hasn’t been a shy and sheltered human in this house for the last twenty years.”

  They looked at each other and Smith nodded. “Since your mother got ill.”

  “Right. During her recovery and my father’s change, there was a house full of folk to protect me from my own parents as they adapted to their new status.” She peeled the paper cups off the cupcakes, set them in bowls and piled three different scoops of ice cream on each one before topping them with berries in sauce.

  She slid the bowls in front of her guests and got the coffee. “It has been a long night, drink up.”

  They sat in surprise and grabbed for the spoons she put in front of them. Her instincts for dessert had not abandoned her. She hoped to have hit every craving that the three had.

  Smith paused and mumbled around his treat. “So, right now, your parents are having sex?”

  “Yup. All the rooms are soundproofed, but it is pretty much guaranteed with the stress of the last few days.” She poked at her own cupcake.

  Tremble arched his eyebrows. “Stress?”

  He had a smear of blueberry on his cheek.

  Benny grinned. “Yes, stress. It is hard enough for my parents to have me living outside their home without knowing that I would be exposed to danger. They have hidden me from the world, and suddenly, I was getting into a car with the same men who are duty-bound to throw me in custody for my bloodline the moment that my control slips.”

  She reached out and rubbed the blueberry
off his cheek. She sucked the syrup off her thumb.

  Argyle was staring at her, and Smith swallowed hard. She gathered their dishes and quickly washed everything. “Why are you guys boring a hole in my spine with your eyes?”

  Tremble cleared his throat. “We have never arrested a demon blood before. I do not think that any of us put you in that category.”

  Benny kept washing and snorted. “You need to. It is what I am. With the mirror of my soul now off Jennifer, I am the last target. If I am attacked, my instincts will rise past my training and I will defend myself against the assault, no matter what you are doing.”

  When everything was on the draining board, she settled at the table and met their gazes, one by one. “So, which one of you likes to play with cuffs? I am pretty sure you are going to need them before this is over.”

  Lenora chuckled. “Benny, stop scaring them. None of them are used to aggression in females.”

  Her mother had a well-satisfied glow, and the agents suddenly didn’t know where to look.

  Her mother came up to her and kissed her forehead. “You told them.”

  Benny grinned. “Never be ashamed of what you are or how you were raised.”

  “Right. Well, your father is just about done on the sample. He has identified the classification of sponsoring demons, and with a little bit of help, you should be able to get a name.”

  The agents were on their feet in a heartbeat.

  Lenora looked into the pot on the stove. “Noodles?”

  “In the fridge.”

  “Thanks. I will make a tray for Harcourt. He has been worrying, and you know what that does for his appetites.”

  Benny nodded. “I know. I will distract him. The agents should do wonders.”

  Her mother’s laughter rippled after them as they left the kitchen and headed for the lab.

  “Your family seems peculiarly jovial given your circumstances.” Tremble muttered.

  “My mother and my father are bound for life, however long that is. The day that one dies, the other will pass so that neither will know the pain of living alone. I have grown up in that love as part of it. When they do pass, I may have preceded them or I may remain alone, but I will have the memory of their love around me. It is a pretty good feeling.”