One Part Human (12 page)

The charm burst into flame, and it confirmed that there wasn’t simply benign tracking magic involved.

Never trust a charm you don’t make yourself.
Her mother had chanted it over and over. Benny never imagined that she wouldn’t be able to trust family.

With the new charm in her fist, she looked at the agents. “Do you want to call for backup?”

They looked at each other and shook their heads. Smith added, “Not unless we can’t handle what happens. We don’t want you exposed or endangered.”

She quirked her lips. “Gentlemen, the moment that we get a heading, I will want all the backup you can call. My life is immaterial, catching the man who would make a deal with a demon by killing eight women and attempting to kill a ninth, all for some power we don’t know about, is paramount.”

Benny opened her door in the SUV and looked at them. “What if the demon in question shows up?”

Argyle got behind the wheel, Smith at the computer and Tremble was in the back with her once again. Benny put the neutraliser spray down with the safety on and switched the charm to her right hand. From her seat, she leaned forward and sent power through the chain. The charm lifted and swung back toward the main road.

Argyle nodded and said, “Tremble, you keep on the directions. Watch the charm and tell me which way to go. Benny, stay buckled in and keep behind me.”

She chuckled. “To think, only a few days ago, we were after psychic hookers selling magical seduction, and today, we are trying to stop someone working for one of my relatives from ripping my guts out. Ah, evolution.”

Tremble raised his brows and chuckled. “I thought that I had problems with my family.”

Benny sighed. “The more races you add, the more possibilities for problems. This is just one part of my bloodline. The rest can be better or worse depending on where you are standing.”

Argyle smiled at her in the rear-view mirror. “That sounds like a series of stories.”

Night embraced the interior of the car, and Tremble’s low voice droned the directions.

“It is quite entertaining. Some species shouldn’t be in the same room together.” She chuckled.

They continued on their way until Tremble asked, “What does it mean when it is twirling?”

“We are here.”

They were next to a cemetery, and it was obvious where they needed to go.

Once outside the car, each of the agents got a weapon from the back of the vehicle. This was serious. They were not going in alone.

“Call for backup.” Benny insisted.

Smith sighed and reported that hostile figures had been sighted in the cemetery along with stray magic. Backup was nine minutes away.

Benny nodded. “Right. Now, we can do this.”

She lifted the charm, and it lifted straightforward, leading them to the gates. “Now or never.”

Tremble flicked two long butterfly knives open. “I vote never.”

Smith clenched his fists around the studded and bladed grips that covered his hands. “Voting never as well.”

Argyle shrugged. “I vote now so that Benny can get on with her life.”

Benny grinned. “And I vote now, and I get two votes because I am a woman.”

Smith looked like he wanted to argue, but Tremble put his hand on the lion’s shoulder. “Don’t contradict her.”

Snickering, Benny led the way.

The rich smell of loam mixed with the green scent of oaks and the tang of pine. There were no fresh graves in the cemetery, which was very odd given the amount of empty spaces available.

Benny watched as the crystal lead them right into one of those vacant expanses.

She held her hand up and the other three paused. “Something’s wrong.”

She put more power into the crystal, and shadows began to shift in the open space. The shadows collected and coalesced into a single figure. It was the man who had taken Jennifer.

“Finally, you have come to me.” He smiled, and it was not a good smile.

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.”

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 was 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.”