by Viola Grace
She scooped up some green beans and winked. “This isn’t the first meal I have been late for, and it isn’t the last. When you get into a spell, you can’t stop just because dinner is ready. Well, you can, but it blows up in your face and one of your eyes glow.” She chuckled.
Lenora laughed and rubbed Benny’s shoulder. “It was terrible and funny at the same time. She nearly blew half her head off and her hair was standing straight up. It was a good thing that demons heal fast. In about an hour, she was fine except for the eye. She got control over it about a month later. It showed up on picture day.”
Smith was amused. “How old were you?”
“Nine. I was trying to make a potion to make my spell book glow in the dark so I could work past my bedtime.”
Tremble stared. “And you blew your head up?”
“I wanted to peek into the cauldron even though it said it needed to be covered for an hour. Apparently, the part that made it glow was also explosive.” She shrugged and finished grabbing for food.
Benny ate with a ferocious appetite, and the guys looked at her uneasily. She chuckled and sipped at her water glass. “You have seen me eat tacos. How is this different?”
Argyle pointed out, “You bit down so hard, you bent your cutlery.”
She set down the fork, and she didn’t see anything. With a blush, she grabbed the knife and straightened it. “Sorry. I really like meatloaf.”
Lenora smiled. “I know, punkin.”
Benny finished her food and sighed. She sipped at her water and looked at her mates. “What would you like to do this evening?”
Argyle looked at her with a smile. “I would like to see the portrait gallery. You apparently have some ancestors I have only heard of in myth and legend.”
She looked at her mom. “Do you want help washing the dishes?”
Her dad winked. “I will help her.”
There was going to be more than dishes worked on in the kitchen, so Benny bolted to her feet. “Portrait gallery. Right. Come with me, guys.”
They were just about around the corner when her mother moaned.
Benny blushed and kept moving. “Damn. Not fast enough.”
Chapter Twelve
The double doors pulled open easily, and she stepped forward, triggering the lights.
Argyle was standing next to her, and he stared at the endless line of portraits with wide eyes. “How long does this go back?”
“We start with the most recent and then head back at least five generations. There are more after that, but most of them have passed on.”
Smith stared at her. “Most of them? There are some still alive?”
She nodded. “Oh, yeah. I have some going back far past the first wave.”
The men looked at her, and she sighed. “What?”
Smith cleared his throat. “We are just wondering what we add to the union. You have an extremely impressive bloodline.”
Benny pinched the bridge of her nose. “I am not my parents, my grandparents or my great grandparents. Extrapolate that as far back as you like. I am me, and my instincts told me that you guys are the ones for me. I know the plural is a little off putting, but I know what I need, and I need you, all of you.”
She was engulfed in a group hug, and instead of it being smothering, they surrounded her so that she was in the centre of the triangle.
It was the best place she could have thought to be, and she hadn’t even known it existed seconds before.
When they let her out, she kissed each of them softly, and then, she inhaled. “Right. Well, you have met my parents. This is the after picture.”
She pointed at the image of her father standing behind and holding her mother, all green with his head spikes. The precious nature of their connection was shown in her hands over his and the gentle manner in which he cradled her.
Benny sniffled. “This one always gets me. It is so sweet.”
Argyle put his arm around her shoulders, and Smith’s was around her waist. Tremble produced a handkerchief.
She blotted at her eyes and smiled. “Right. Sorry. The rest don’t make me so weepy.”
She stepped with her group to the next picture. “This is them before the change. Oh and that is me.”
Smith whispered, “How old were you?”
“I was six when this was done. Mom and Dad had to hold me in that position, but you can tell I wanted to be somewhere else.” She looked at little Benny and the hands on her shoulders. One elegant and feminine, one heavier with ink stains.
Tremble smiled. “You were adorable. I have a niece that glares at the camera like that.”
Benny filed that away. “I hadn’t thought to ask. What will your families think about this?”
Argyle shrugged. “My family is no longer speaking to me, though they do still exist. My clan will eagerly embrace a relationship with your family.”
Smith nodded. “I feel certain that my pride will as well. I have three sisters, one of whom is married to the alpha.”
Benny blinked. “Oh. Nieces or nephews?”
“Two of each.” He grinned. “Hey, you are an aunty.”
Benny swayed. She had never considered that she was gaining family aside from the guys.
She looked to Tremble. “You?”
“One sister, one brother. My sister has a daughter and that is the niece I was referring to.”
She exhaled. “I am going to need birthdays and preferences for gifts.”
They all grinned at her.
She asked, “What?”
Smith chuckled. “You treat family very seriously.”
“Of course I do.” She straightened her shoulders and turned to the next portrait.
“This is my grandfather Zephyr with his wife, Lettice. Zephyr was half demon, but he could flick back and forth fairly easily. And that is my wee little dad standing there with the serious face. Grandpa is a scholar demon, like you were, Tremble.”
The men paused, and she kept going. “Lettice was born a wolf shifter, which was weird because neither of her parents were wolves, but we will get to them later.”
Tremble asked, “Pardon me, but did you say I was a scholar demon?”
She stepped to the next portrait. “Yup. You were a scholar, Smith was an incubus and Argyle was a warrior. The horns I was wearing marked me as a high king if I went to the trouble of killing Yomra.”
Tremble smiled. “You may have gotten those from Welgainer. I have heard he has an incredible rack of horns when he chooses to show them.”
“Funny you should mention him.” She pointed to the portrait. “Welgainer and his lovely wife, the dhampir, Beneficia.”
Argyle went up to it and looked from Benny to the portrait and back again. “You have her eyes.”
“So I have been told. The next portrait has my mom as a little girl.”
The men were startled into laughing when they saw Lenora sitting in the antlers of her father’s head looking every inch the forest god with a little girl perched on his head.
Beneficia was holding her husband’s arm, and they were all laughing. Benny was a little sad that grandmother was wearing deadly weapons, even in the family moment. No wonder she was so stressed out.
“Did she always wear the silver blades?” Argyle asked with genuine curiosity.
“Yeah. She still does. She is not a lady you want to startle.” Benny chuckled. “She still looks like that, by the way. She hasn’t aged.”
He blinked. “I look forward to meeting her one day.”
“You will. We have regular family gatherings and even aim for a variety of holidays. Most of the parties are held here at the manor, but if there are too many attendees, we rent out Ritual Space.”
Tremble asked, “Is that place still around?”
Benny nodded and moved down the gallery. “It is. Neadra Baxter is still the proprietor, and she gives our family preferential treatment. We put in way more magic than we take
.”
She paused in front of her father’s grandparents. “This is Alberta and Andrew Norington. She had no powers, and he was a mage multi-shifter. She was my true one part human. Her and Haggard Mills.” She wrinkled her nose. “He is down there a little further.”
Tremble raised an eyebrow, “You only have the two humans?”
“Powerless ones, yes. The rest are all mages.”
She smiled at her great grandparents. “They were Lettice’s parents. Both have passed on, without remaining behind. They left the world together.”
The guys were silent as she walked to the next portrait. They looked at the image of Kyria and her mate with surprise.
Smith asked, “Why is she here?”
“She is my great grandparent and my dad’s grandmother. Of course she is here.”
“She tried to strip you of your soul,” He was obviously struggling to understand it.
“But she was a good woman while I was growing up and that was what helped shape me into the very accepting soul that I am today. She taught me about what love could withstand and how there comes a time to surrender to fate.” Benny smiled fondly at her mirror image.
She cleared her throat. “Kyria’s mate, Milton Ganger, was a mage and alchemist. He lived to the old age of ninety-eight. She was forced to return to the demon zone when he died, but she kept in contact with her son and his son as much as she could. She couldn’t stay in the human world if she wasn’t bound to a mage.”
She twisted her lips. “We don’t have a portrait of her parents. I have no idea who produced her, aside from the obvious.”
They continued through the portraits that included a pixie, a frost giant, Sabina the vampire with her husband the mage.
Tremble asked, “These go back centuries. How did you get them all?”
Benny smiled. “A spirit painter. This is my gallery. My parents each have their own. They thought it was important to know what I had come from and how blended my history was. There are books that are filled with stories that my parents had a soul copyist create. The history of everything in my veins is in this room.”
Tremble cocked his head. “Where are the books?”
She laughed. “In the shadows near the door. They build up with my own activities, so you had better watch the dates on the books.”
They finished with the portraits and entered the statue gallery.
Smith smiled at the woman sporting stripes in the arms of a man covered with designs etched into his skin.
“Why did they become statues?”
“They go back over a thousand years. Their names are etched in the base of the statuary. Their blood may be in my veins, but they don’t come when we call. They still deserve to be acknowledged.” She shrugged.
Argyle looked through the statues and came to a halt. “I know this woman.”
Benny followed him through the statues and paused in front of the statue. “Ah, her. She is my godmother, Giltine. Lithuanian snake goddess of death, mistress of the poison of the dead.”
Smith cocked his head. “Minerva gave you a scrap of Giltine’s gown.”
“She did. It opened the doors in the demon zone. Only something that was ancient power could work in the zone. Giltine has been generous with her assistance before. I can only imagine that Minerva got the scrap via polite and honourable means.”
She bowed to the statue with her hand over her heart. “Her gift saved seven lives that will eventually come into her embrace.”
The stone glowed softly in acknowledgement. Benny sighed in relief. She had called upon her godmother before on a day she didn’t like to think about, but it was not something she would ever take for granted. Goddesses did not like to be taken for granted.
The men must have caught onto her mood, because they completed their examination of the statues and then requested that they return to the daylight.
Benny knew a good idea when she heard it, and they walked back past all the generations that led up to her existence and out the doors.
The moment they exited the gallery, her phone rang and she dug it out of her pocket.
Her aunt’s number was displayed, and she blinked. “Excuse me while I take this call.”
“Hello? Aunty? Just a moment.”
Benny walked with her guys to the den and gestured for them to have a seat. She threw a silence spell around her and suddenly remembered why her aunt was calling. Oh, hell.
Chapter Thirteen
Benny had completely forgotten about the anniversary party until her aunt Sabina called her and warned her that arrangements were underway.
The ruby anniversary was a big one, and Benny couldn’t believe that it had slipped her mind.
“Benny, the entire family knows that you have been busy. This is the beginning of your life and the celebration of theirs. We will handle everything, and you just have to show up with those three agents of yours.”
Benny laughed. “Of course, Aunt Sabina. No sampling though. They are mine.”
“Ever since Edgar died, I have kept my sampling to the necessary.” Her aunt chuckled.
“Where are you now?”
“Over in Bright Larch, doing some clan business.”
Benny was flailing around for a notepad with one hand while pinning the phone to her ear with the other. “What kind of clan business?”
“Oh, just touching base with the local king. Gaining permission to pass through his lands. I should be there in a few days. The caterer is booked, music, flowers, wine, beer and all the alternative refreshments are arranged. You just need to keep the secret and prepare to sing.”
Benny blinked. “Sing?”
“We talked about this. You were going to sing a tribute to their relationship and their bond as a couple with you as part of their family.”
“Right. Right. I wrote the poem, I just haven’t set it to music yet. I have a few ideas and will get them hammered out by the party.”
Her aunt laughed in low and throaty tones. “You will do fine, Benny. Beneficia has even arranged leave to come in for the party. It is looking like the majority of your living family will be there.”
“Excellent. I look forward to seeing them all. Talking through the portraits just isn’t satisfying. I need hugs.” Benny grinned.
She had left a small detail out of her tour of the gallery. Talking to her ancestors who were willing to make the connection could most easily be accomplished via the portraits. A phone worked just as well for the living ones, but the dead ones were trickier.
She was delighted that Beneficia was coming to the party. Being the deadliest dhampir in existence, she required special writs to travel from one state to the next. An entire line of vampire kings had to sign off on her travel, and it took a bit of effort. That she was making the effort for her daughter was sweet. She was a loving mother, but she was also tremendously fun at parties.
“I will contact Neadra to confirm Ritual Space for the event.” Benny crossed her fingers.
“Good. Confirm the address with me, and I will have all the arrangements set. We are running out of time, child. Call Neadra and call me back. The sooner it is arranged, the sooner we can relax.”
“Yes, Aunty.” Benny blushed.
“So, when will I meet these young men of yours?”
“At the party, but I should warn you that we have already been bound together. Even if you are not a fan of them, I am keeping them all.”
Sabina paused. “I see. Well, when are you going to hold your reception?”
“Um, we are going to have to finalize it with all of their clans, prides and folk.”
“Fine, but the moment you have locked it all in, I want to hold a party for you. Set a date for the next full moon. Hang on.”
Benny heard pages flipping. Her great grandmother still liked the feel of paper.
“Aha! You have eight weeks. The next blue moon. I think it will be appropriate, and it will give you plenty of t
ime to get into your new job.”
“How did you know about that?”
“I talked to your mother a few days ago.” Sabina chuckled. “Okay, go make that call. I would do it, but Neadra doesn’t like vampires.”
“Right. I will call you soon, Aunty.”
She disconnected the call and waved off the wall of silence.
“Gentlemen, I am about to have my ass handed to me by my aunty.” She wrinkled her nose and headed over to the couch, settling between Smith and Tremble.
She scrolled through her contacts until she found the number she wanted. Wincing, she connected the call.
To her relief, the call was answered immediately. “Hello, Benny.”
“Neadra, I have an emergency and I need to rent some space.”
The low chuckle was extremely amused. “How much?”
“What do you have available for Saturday night?”
“Shockingly enough, it is wide open. You can have the whole place.”
Benny blinked. “I will take it. Do you need a deposit or are you content to take my word.”
“Do we need transport access available?”
“Please, beginning an hour before sundown until an hour after dawn. Caterers, tents and a sound license please.”
“Done. Call me with the details in the morning. I was just on my way to bed.”
“Thanks, Neadra, you are a life saver.”
“Enjoy it. You lucked out. I just had a rash of cancellations with non-refundable deposits. With your booking, I am in a delightful mood.”
Benny grinned. “Thanks again. I will get the details for the caterers and have it faxed to you in the morning.”
“Anything for your parents, dear. I know what time of year it is. Good night, Benny.”
The line went dead and Benny blinked at her phone for a moment before tucking it into her bra. “That turned out incredibly well.”
“You are planning a party?” Argyle was warming his hands by the fire.
“We are. My parents have been together for nearly fifty years. We normally have a party here for their anniversary, but now, we are going to head out to Ritual Space and run around for a night. We will have the entire place to ourselves, so all family is invited no matter how freaky.” She grinned.
