by Viola Grace
She nodded and stayed in the dark of the SUV.
The XIA agents went into the club, and it was six silent minutes before the doors burst open and Smith tumbled out with what she hoped was their target.
The lion shifter was beating the undead into the pavement, and Argyle and Tremble came out after them.
She saw Tremble calling in a pickup, and then, she turned her attention back to the zombie giving as good as he was getting.
There was snarling and gnashing of teeth on both parts. Two minutes later, the hauler arrived, and Tremble stepped forward, wrapping the zombie in bands of fey magic. Argyle stepped in and loaded the zombie into the storage case that had been brought out for him. He would remain boxed up until he calmed down. That would probably be sometime after Friday night. Zombies were notoriously vulnerable to alcohol and caffeine.
Argyle held him in the case while Tremble locked him down. To Benny’s surprise, they were wearing black gloves that they stripped off and dumped in the biohazard container inside the transport vehicle. Even Smith was wearing the gloves, and he peeled them off, tossing them with distaste.
The drivers of the pickup vehicle handed Smith some wipes, and he rubbed every part of himself with them to remove the zombie smell.
Benny hid her smirk as they joined her again. At least they got to get physical on their shift. She had the feeling that she was holding them back a bit.
It was the last bit of excitement on her first night.
Two more hours of hashing the events of the evening for her article and she was ready to go home. They pulled into the XIA lot, and the moment they were parked, she hopped out of their vehicle.
After the zombie fight, the air had been a little thick in the SUV, so breathing fresh air became a luxury.
She stepped away from the vehicle and made sure she had her notes and her purse.
Tremble leaned against their SUV. “So, Miss Benny, same time tomorrow?”
She chuckled. “You mean later today? Yes. I will be here. Four more shifts with you guys before the anniversary. I have more research to do.”
Smith looked at her with concern. “Are you all right to drive home?”
“Aw, how sweet. Yes, of course I am. All I have done tonight is hang out in the car.”
Argyle inclined his head. “It was an entertaining first evening.”
She bowed to them all. “Thank you for improving my education.”
With her shoulders back, she headed to her car, starting it up with a flick of her keychain.
She opened the door and chucked her purse into the passenger seat. She slid behind the wheel, and the car roared with excitement before she even put the key in.
“Down boy. We are going.” She stroked her dashboard and checked the mirrors. Everything was clear, so she got underway to get herself home.
Driving an enchanted car was not for everyone, but Benny was confident enough in the car to take it anywhere and let it take over if it needed to. She called it Pooky, but it used to be a Pukha.
The earliest touches of dawn were sparking, threatening to bloom. Benny drove back to her home and sighed happily when she parked next to the dower house.
She dragged herself and her stuff into the house. “Morning, Jessamine.”
The house’s ghost smiled and whispered. “How did it go?”
“I need a shower and sleep. The agents were fine.”
“Just fine? That isn’t the chatter in the spectrum. I have heard that the agent teams are fine physical specimens.”
“They are, and I will talk to you about them when I wake up.”
“Fair enough. Your room is ready.”
Benny removed her jacket and hung it up. Her shoes went flying, and she peeled off her clothing on the way to her shower. Jessamine was her housekeeper and companion, and she liked the cleaning. Benny was in no mood to stop her.
Half an hour later, she was wrapped in a towel with another on her head, flipping through her notes and transcribing them onto her computer in a rough outline.
Jessamine blacked out the coming dawn and edged the computer away from her until Benny caught the hint. “Good night, Jess.”
“Good morning, Benny. Have a nice rest.”
The room was dim and quiet. Benny leaned back and pulled the sheets over her, trying to rest before she had to go back.
The moment she closed her eyes, images of her agents danced through her mind. Their dancing eventually slowed, and her mind slowed enough to sleep.
Benny glared at the sunset and checked her phone. “Jess, did you change my wallpaper again?”
Jessamine floated over. “No. Why do you ask?”
Benny turned it to face her. “Because I have never seen a picture of a kitten in a sailor suit on my phone before now.”
“Maybe he just crawled in there.” Jessamine smiled.
“I doubt it. It isn’t Fleet Week. No sailors should be creeping around in my phone.” She tapped the back of her phone with her finger. “Put the starscape back.”
“I don’t have time. Your parents would like to see you at the big house.”
“When?”
“As soon as you woke up?” Jessamine wrinkled her nose. “Sorry. I forgot.”
“Damn, damn, damn.” She raced to her room and put on her clothing for the evening of sitting in a car.
The black button-down shirt would hide any stains if anything happened to smack into her. She didn’t know if they were hitting Dem-rah’s joint again, but she was willing to take that chance.
Her bag, phone, wallet and notebook were with her as she got into her car and blazed a path the two kilometres to her parents’ very large abode.
Gravel flew as she braked and threw her car into park. She grabbed her bag and headed into the place she had grown up.
Her mother greeted her in the hallway. “Oh, sweetie. You didn’t brush your hair.”
Benny muttered a quick spell, and her hair sorted and tidied itself, wrapping up into a professional bun.
“Much better, darling. He has been waiting all day. There was an omen yesterday, and he has been eager to speak with you.”
Benny hugged her mother and headed to the study. The door opened and closed silently as she entered the largest collection of magical books in the state, possibly the country.
Her father was leaning over his work desk and eyeing a vial of blue liquid.
He looked up and smiled. “Ah, Beneficia. I am glad that you made it before heading out tonight. Drink this.”
She took it and tossed it back. “What was that?” The taste left on her tongue was hot strawberries and fungus.
Benny handed him the vial, and he tucked it onto a rack next to four other doses of the same liquid.
“It is a protection and concealment spell. I also want you to take the charm that your uncle Magnus left you.”
She winced. “It is so heavy.”
“There was an omen last night. Something is stirring around you, Beneficia. Your safety might be in the hands of the XIA, but they do not know what you are. They can’t guess at how valuable you could be in the wrong hands.”
Benny sighed, and she went to her section of the library. The shelves were filled with some of the most powerful charms ever crafted, and they were all hers. Each one was given to her on a birthday or graduation. The charm that her uncle Magnus had given her was the size of her open hand, but at least it was flat. The weight she hated was actually the magical protection that coated her skin.
She found the case and opened it, sighing as she draped the chain around her neck and settled it under her shirt.
“There we go, Dad. Happy?”
He smiled, his bright eyes tired. “I will be happier when I know that you are safe.”
“Would you feel better if I didn’t go on this assignment?”
“No, it has nothing to do with where you are. Something is coming for you, and it doesn’t matter where you are or
who you are with. Some events cannot be avoided.”
Benny blinked at the sober look on his face. “You are really worried.”
He came over and stroked her cheek. The magic of her defenses crackled.
“I am very worried. I have been fielding calls all day. All of your aunts and uncles with a bit of precognition are worried about you.”
She blinked. That was a lot of magical academics. Her childhood had been filled with folk she called aunt or uncle who were unrelated to her. Her family consisted of a long line of only children.
“I will be extra careful. I promise. You know me; I am not going to do anything stupid.”
He smiled. “I know that you are careful, but when this kind of darkness pursues you, you have to meet it head on with as much armament as you can muster. Once we know what we are up against, we can create a battle plan.”
“Like at Easter?” The long-standing making of maps of the grounds and segmenting the areas for maximum egg retrieval never failed to frustrate her mother’s attempts to make it challenging.
Her father laughed. “Exactly like Easter. Now, your mother has some dinner for us. Let’s go.”
He offered her his arm, and she took it out of long habit. They left the library and followed the scent of one of her mother’s dinners. Benny wished that she had inherited the cooking gene, but she would have to be content with the ability to find food.
Before they tucked into the meal, she asked her dad, “Why do I still taste strawberries?”
Her mother portioned out the mashed potatoes. “It is to cover up the taste of troll, Beneficia. It was one of the strongest flavours we could find.”
Benny swallowed and reached for her glass of juice. She gulped it and put it down. “For future reference, nothing covers up the taste of troll.”
Her mother chuckled and her father grinned. It was a normal family dinner at the Ganger house.
She pulled Pooky into the parking lot and locked it behind her while she hustled to the vehicle where her team was waiting for her. “Sorry. Am I late?”
They stood in their dark uniforms and badges, smiling.
Tremble chuckled. “We were afraid we had scared you off yesterday.”
Argyle smiled slowly. “If you are ready, we will go.”
Smith moved around and opened her door for her. “I have been ready to go for an hour.”
Benny rolled her eyes and settled into the SUV with her notepad and pen at the ready.
They climbed in with Smith at the wheel and Argyle on the computer. They really did take turns.
Tremble was next to her, and they left the parking lot with a smooth glide of the wheels.
Day two was underway.
Chapter Five
Breaking up bar fights was not normally an XIA duty, but when it was a newly transformed stone giant causing the fuss, it definitely called for additional help for the bouncers.
Benny stared at the familiar logo of Syren’s Karaoke Club. It was not the sort of place that she had ever seen a giant before.
“Stay in the car, Benny.” Tremble muttered it on his way out.
“No. Witnessing this is within my agreement. I just have to stay out of the danger zone, which is about twenty feet for a giant. I won’t get that close, but I need to see how you guys handle these situations.”
“Twenty feet?”
“Yes. Twenty feet away.” She smiled.
He watched the flow of traffic out of the club and jerked his head. “Stay safe.”
She followed him into the club and stuck to the wall. This was her hangout on weekends with Freddy and a few other friends.
When she eased into the main room, she could see the problem. The giant had a group of partiers pinned up against the stage, and the XIA agents were joining another team in surrounding him.
She watched as one attempt from the other team failed. Claws didn’t work. Strength didn’t work and magic bounced off. Benny wondered how they were going to solve this and stayed as close to the wall as she could. When the giant spotted her, a light came to his eyes.
“Sing!”
Benny blinked. “What?”
“You! Sing!” He pointed right at her.
She squinted at his features and tried to see the human that had been inside him. “Holy shit.”
Her mind pasted a picture of a young, gangly man who participated in every week’s competitions and who enjoyed nothing more than to sit and listen to song after song warbled by other contestants.
He brought his fist down on a table shattering it to chunks. “Sing!”
Kobar was crouched near the precious equipment, and he waved at her. “What do you want, Benny?”
“Bring me life.”
Argyle nodded slightly, and Benny took that as permission. She stayed out of the smashing range and eased up onto the stage.
Kobar handed her the mic and brought up the music and display. She didn’t need it. She knew this one song backward and forward.
The lyrics began slowly as the song explained a normal human existence and the longing to be exceptional.
Benny watched, and the giant turned toward her, lumbering to the foot of the stage.
She sang about waking up in a body that wasn’t hers. Breaking her mirror because she had become something new, something dangerous that she couldn’t accept.
The agents got the hostages out.
The song changed to accepting the magic that had lodged inside and the new family, new friends and new life, which blossomed out of the change.
The giant looked at her dreamily, and Benny put as much of her inner siren as she could into that song.
Another officer rushed in on silent feet with headphones. Argyle and Tremble took the headset and eased up to the giant just as the song was ending. The man shook himself out of his stupor and yelled, “Sing.”
She turned to Kobar. “Bring me the power.”
He swiftly moved his hands over the keyboard and the song roared to life. Benny didn’t like singing it first, but it should to a good job of disguising what the officers were up to.
She was halfway through the first chorus when they got the headphones on him. Pure siren song locked him in his own mind, and he fell backward with a tremendous thud.
Benny waved at Kobar, and he cut the music. She put the mic down and crept out to the SUV while the others bodily hauled the giant out of the club.
Smith was the first one back to the car, and he handed her a bottle of water. “I think you need this. You did well. He might have hurt someone before the headset arrived if you hadn’t been there. How did he know you could sing?”
She sipped at the water. “Before his change, he was a regular at the club. He would sing and he had an okay voice, but he would listen to each and every performer. I hang out there on the weekends, and he recognised me.”
“And you recognised him.”
“It took some doing. He must have had a latent shift some time in the last month or so.” She remembered the look in his white eyes and shivered.
“His community officer will deal with him at the station. For now, we got him under control and no one got hurt.”
She looked at the heavily armoured collection van and the four men carrying the giant between them. “I am glad no one got hurt, but he is still trying to fit himself back into the human world. He is in for a rough time.”
The others returned to the vehicle, and Argyle’s fingers moved rapidly over the computer terminal while they all settled in.
Tremble smiled at her. “You have a good voice.”
She swallowed more water and nodded. She had pitched her voice to enthral the giant, an old siren’s trick that she had gotten from one of her great grandparents. Her dad was right; her life was suddenly getting dangerous.
Her blend of magic could be explained, but not all in the same body.
She sat back and quietly noted the next few stops. They checked on some apo
thecaries and then drove off to arrest an unlicensed precog who was selling slivers of the future.
The young man looked at the officers with contempt, right up until the point where Smith put the cuffs on him. Fear trickled through his expression.
That draining of colour got her attention. He didn’t seem inclined to share his information with Smith, but with her father’s warning in her mind, Benny wanted to know.
She angled to intercept him as he was led to the transport. “What did you just see?”
He leaned back and stared at her. He got a sly look in his eyes. “Why should I tell you?”
“Because I know something that you don’t about your skills.”
He snorted. “I can see the future.”
The officer holding him raised his eyebrows in an indication to make it fast.
“Tell me what you saw and I will tell you what might get you out by the end of the evening.”
The young man mulled it over for a second before leaning forward and whispering in her ear. Benny kept her face impassive, which turned into a grin when he touched his cheek to hers.
He blinked. “What the hell?”
She laughed. “I am warded against casual intrusion. Now, when you get to the agency, ask them to test you for seer focus. That is all you need to do.”
“What?”
“Your talent for foresight is directional. You have options for your vision, and you are choosing the most traumatic.”
He blinked. “How do you know that?”
“It is a natural instinct in your kind. You want to see the worst in order to prepare for it. Unfortunately, you charge people for what you see and that is what has gotten you into this situation.”
“My kind?” He looked both intrigued and offended.
“Human seers. So, ask them to test you for seer focus. It can’t hurt, and it might keep you from being arrested.” She waggled her eyebrows.
He frowned and headed to the transport with the officer behind him.
When Benny turned toward the SUV, her agents were all lined up and watching her. “What?”