Three Parts Fey (12 page)

He grinned
against her neck. “You will always be my favourite steed.”

Her giggle
rippled through the forest, and she heard a laughing answer in the
trees.

“Uh oh.”

He raised his
head. “What?”

“Why did you
pick the forest?”

He frowned. “It
was close.”

“Was it, or did
something call you?”

She unlocked
her legs and tried to slide down his body, but he caught her before
she could touch the mossy ground. A silken robe wrapped around him
and hers reformed to cover her.

Tremble held
her against him so that her feet still didn’t touch the ground.
“Why are you worried?”

“I think we may
be waking something. The whispers in the woods are turning into
laughter. Something in there is excited.”

He smiled and
stroked her cheek. “I think that was us.”

She frowned and
smacked his arm. “Something else. I can hear it.”

He nuzzled her
cheek. “I can hear it as well. Don’t worry about it. It isn’t
harmful. The woods here have just gotten old enough to have a
dryad. The forest here is in labour. It needs more power to bring
her out.”

“Uh, how long
is that going to take?”

“A few
decades.”

Benny raised
her head. “What?”

“What we just
did was an early contraction. The labour is just starting.”

“Do you know
which tree it is?”

He grinned.
“Not yet. We will all be invited when it is time.”

“So, I am
guessing that we are now tied to the land.”

He swung her
fully into his arms and carried her across the meadow. “You
manifest as a forest lord in your demon form and you are only now
accepting your tie to the land? I thought you were smarter than
that.”

She smacked his
chest, and he chuckled all the way to the house. The sounds of
clanking weights told her what the other two were up to. While
Tremble had worked his invigoration off with her, they had chosen
the ancient method of physical exertion.

Tremble carried
her up the stairs and cuddled with her in the bizarrely large bed.
It was still going to take some getting used to, but when he curled
around her and held her against him, she was willing to try.

A few hours
later, hands on her body and a blindfold over her eyes wakened her.
She tried to determine who was touching her by the temperature of
their skin. After a few minutes, she gave up trying to figure out
what was who, and she simply enjoyed it.

If this was
what suspension had in store for her, she hoped that her parents
took up a life of petty crime after the inquest.

“Harcourt Emile Ganger,
we are here to determine whether charges should be laid on you for
the soul interference with eight infants thirty years ago.”

The occupants
of the chamber murmured, but Benny sat with her partners in
silence. Her mother was sitting in the row ahead of her, and her
father was in a separate section, under guard.

The judge
finished the explanation of why everyone was there and sat back.
“Prosecution, proceed to make your case.”

The prosecution
stood up and outlined the case. Benny had been born and her parents
had been worried about her. Her father had crept to the nursery and
copied her aura and soul on to the other baby girls.

It was that
selfish act to defend his own daughter that had led Harcourt Emile
Ganger into the path of endangering the newborns that were next to
her. That danger had come to roost in the last two years, resulting
in seven deaths.

The use of
demonic energy in the alteration of the life patterns of eight
babies was the charge. Using them as bait carried a relatively
minor sentence, but the soul tampering was the major
infraction.

Jennifer was
called as a witness to the assault due to her imprint of Benny’s
patterns.

“He grabbed me
and I don’t remember much after that. The energy felt weird and
greasy. I vaguely heard shouting, but I didn’t wake until I was in
hospital. I had no idea why I had been marked for death until I was
briefed by my parents’ counsel.” Jennifer looked more rested than
she had the last time they ran into each other.

The prosecutor
nodded. “What did you think about what had been done to you?”

“I was shocked.
I have always enjoyed a normal if oddly successful life. To hear
that the way I think was a copy of someone else...it was a shock.”
Jennifer swallowed.

The prosecutor
nodded sympathetically. “Understandable. Has it impacted your
life?”

“Before, I
don’t know. But after the imprint was removed, I definitely felt
different. My brain has changed.”

“So, the trauma
has sent you into a downward spiral?”

Jennifer sat up
and blinked. “No. It just changed my direction. I am doing much
better now.”

Benny tried not
to crack a smile, but she felt her lips twitch. Her smirk faded as
the prosecutor listed the names of the dead women.

Each of the
women had lived full and vibrant lives. None had a husband or child
and all were at the top of their field.

Finally, the
prosecutor pointed out that even Harcourt’s wife was willing to
speak against him. He couldn’t bring up the demon issue as Benny’s
dad was firmly in control of his human form once again.

The prosecutor
rested their petition.

“I now call the
defense to make the case to deny a court date.” The judge
nodded.

The defense
counsel got to his feet and cleared his throat. “I call Beneficia
Ganger to the stand, as per my client’s request.”

Benny got up
and sat in the witness box, facing the families of the deceased and
her parents. Her mom smiled weakly and waved briefly. Benny
inclined her head.

“Beneficia
Ganger, do you swear to tell the truth in this matter?” The
gargoyle snapped his wings, and she focused on him.

“I do so
swear.”

The counsel
brought out a glowing orb. “Do you agree to hold this orb for the
entire portion of questioning?”

She knew that
orb. It would sting like hell if she lied. “I do.”

The orb was
placed in her palms, and she balanced her hands on the edge of the
box in front of her.

“What is your
relation to this case?”

Benny blinked.
“Oh, I am Beneficia Ganger, the daughter of Harcourt and Lenora
Ganger. I was the baby that they made the copy of.”

The orb
tingled.

“That they
copied the signature of.”

“Why did they
do this?”

She inhaled and
exhaled before stating it for the record. “I come from a family
with demon bloodlines, and my mother’s bloodline had its own power.
My parents wanted to protect me, so since they couldn’t hide my
birth, they hid my location.”

The gargoyle
smiled. “Your father doesn’t seem like a demon.”

“We have only
recently cut the ties that bind our family to the patriarch of our
bloodline. It has caused a ripple effect in all of us, but now, my
dad looks like he did when I was little.”

“What do you
mean? How did he change?”

Benny twisted
her lips. “Which time are you referring to? I want to be
precise.”

“The first
time. When did he change and why?”

Benny cleared
her throat. “He changed when my mother died. He had to take on his
demon form to bring her back. He didn’t regain a human form until
recently.”

The gargoyle
nodded, “So, the statement from the nurse that a male demon came
into the nursery and bewitched her could not have been an accurate
statement of events from three decades ago.”

Benny chuckled.
“No. He looked just like he does now. We have family pictures,
school pictures and articles from the universities where he used to
teach. His green and scaly form didn’t manifest until after my
mother’s illness.”

The judge was
making notes and he asked the prosecution, “How did the nurse
identify the defendant?”

The prosecutor
scowled. “From a lineup of demon photos.”

The judge
nodded. “Thank you.”

The defense
attorney nodded his head and asked, “You said you had demon blood.
How does it manifest for you?”

“I am strong,
fast and can access magic across all boundaries.”

“Do you have a
demon shape?”

“I got one
recently, yes.”

“May we see
it?”

“I do not see
how it is pertinent to what we are here for.”

The judge
nodded. “Please oblige.”

Benny shrugged
and she shifted. A few humans and mages recoiled, but far more
leaned forward, fascinated. There were not many chances to see a
demon in public.

“Now, can you
tell me what you did when you came upon the form of Jennifer
Langstrom?”

“After we drove
off the murderer, I removed the template on her mind. I had just
learned of the serial murders and had located Jennifer via my ride
along with the XIA.”

“Were you with
them when they figured out she was in danger?”

Benny bit her
lip. “I was the one who figured out what was going on once my
parents told me about the other babies. I told the XIA, and we all
worked to track and find the remaining woman. We found her just in
time.”

“Who was
hunting her?”

Benny had to be
honest. “No one. They were hunting me. My great-grandfather, the
demon king Yomra had manipulated a human into killing the women in
an effort to concentrate my power.”

The gargoyle
blinked. “What? What do you mean?”

“The spell that
was cast on the babies wasn’t a demon construct, it was a soul
split. The girls each became part of me, and when they died, those
parts came flooding back.”

“Didn’t you
notice?”

Benny blushed.
“I thought I had finally finished puberty.”

The courtroom
erupted in laughter and snickers. Even Harcourt laughed.

When the room
was quiet again, the gargoyle asked, “Your mother offered her
testimony against her husband in this case and received full
immunity for it. Do you know why that would be?”

“Because she
knows he didn’t do it.”

“How do you
know that?”

“Because I know
who did.”

The prosecutor
got to his feet. “Objection.”

The judge
tapped his desk. “This is an inquest, not a trial. Object all you
like, we are still hearing it.”

The gargoyle
smiled. “Now, Miss Ganger, who did this terrible deed?”

Benny looked at
her mom and smiled. “My mother.”

Lenora gave her
a thumbs-up.

The courtroom
was in an uproar again, and the gallery shifted restlessly. The
judge called a halt to the inquest, and a recess with the public
banned from the resumption of the proceedings. It didn’t sit well,
but the courtroom was cleared via a herding spell. She handed the
gargoyle the orb and returned to her people.

Benny was
wrapped in Tremble, Argyle and Smith as the crowd pushed in. She
belatedly shifted back to human and held onto Smith’s back as he
used his broad shoulders to keep them from the crowd.

Tremble
whispered, “How long have you known?”

“The binding
spell. My mom put a confession between the pages of her potion
book, thinking that she would be dead before I ever found it. Dad
never brews potions, so he wasn’t able to destroy it. When she came
back from hospital, she was missing a few months before her stay
there, so I am guessing she never knew that she confessed.”

The defense
counsel met them outside the doors and escorted them to a small
waiting room with guards to make sure that no one spoke to the
attorneys.

The break was
only fifteen minutes, but it was enough time for Benny to cuddle up
to each of her partners and relax in their embrace.

Argyle
whispered, “You are doing great, Benny.”

She smiled, and
when the bell chimed, they filed back to the courtroom, which was
now exceedingly empty.

The judge
gestured for Benny to retake the witness box, and the orb was back
in her hands.

The attorney
fluttered his wings and cleared his throat. “You had just stated
that your mother was the one who had cast the spell in the hospital
nursery.”

“I did.”

“Why should we
believe that you are not simply trying to save your father as you
share your demon nature with him?”

She held up the
orb. “This object was created to shock anyone who is telling what
their mind acknowledges as an untruth.”

“Demons
lie.”

She cocked her
head. “They don’t actually; they simply act in their own best
interests and pursue their own pleasure. They lack a conscience,
not common sense. And I am only partially demon. I have far more
fey in me than I do demon blood, but no one is commenting on the
rainbow eyes.”

“Why do you
think that your mother cast the spell?”

Benny quirked
her lips. “She wanted to hide me and to keep my power at a
reasonable level. The splitting of my power managed it. With only a
trickle of demon energy, all of those girls grew up with bright
minds and a drive to learn and succeed. It defied their upbringing
in several cases.”

“How are you so
aware of them?”

She blinked.
“After I learned they existed, I wanted to find their points of
commonality. I researched them after they had passed on. Jennifer
is the only one I have seen in person.”

He nodded and
checked his notes. “You mentioned that your mother had passed. Is
this your stepmother?”

“No. She is the
one who bore me, wiped my nose and applied first aid when I did
something stupid. That happened a lot.”

The orb
remained stubbornly quiet, and Benny settled in for a long
interrogation.

Benny filled in about
her parents and home life growing until the moment her mother got
ill.