Monster Baiter (An Obscure Magic Book 6) (6 page)

Benny had taught Sophy so much about identifying power signatures when her father was refusing to help with the training. When her aunt was injured, he changed his mind, and fortunately, her training had occurred without him agreeing to it. Everyone around her had helped her become capable and ready.

The Gangers were like her aunt and uncle. The fact that their home was the largest extranatural research library on the coast made visiting them just a little bit more fun than normal.

“You are familiar with the Gangers?” Magnus sounded surprised.

“Sure. I was at their daughter’s wedding a short time ago.”

Magnus asked politely, “Will you take me in with you?”

She blinked. “Um, sure. Why?”

“I would like to speak to the current head of the family.”

Sophy quirked her lips. “Technically that is Benny, but she is out of town.”

“If I may, I would like to speak to the current eldest family member in residence.”

“Oh, sure. That is Harcourt Emile. I am not sure which he prefers to go by right now.”

“Please allow me to talk with him.”

“Well, his wife is also a Ph.D. You might be better off talking to both.”

Magnus paused. “Thank you. I will.”

Sophy didn’t ask why. She didn’t need to know.

The drive was completed in silence, and when she left the car, she had her phone in her purse and the box in her arms.

The doorbell rang with an even chime, and Lenora opened the door with a smile. “Sophy, I am so glad you came by. We hardly had a chance to talk at the wedding.”

Sophy hugged Lenora and was embraced in return. The box only got in the way a little bit.

“So, what do you have with you?”

Sophia sighed and looked down. “Have you ever heard of demon magic embedding in an object to create curse after curse? This is a curse manufacturer, and I have never seen one before.”

Lenora leaned back. “Bring it inside. This is going to take some research. Would you like some cookies?”

Sophy grinned. “Always.”

She stepped inside, and the feel of the house wrapped around her. It welcomed her in a way that only the Ganger home did.

“Harcourt is in the library. I will be in in a minute.” Lenora smiled.

Sophy headed for the library and opened the heavy oak doors carved with enough containment glyphs to hide an army.

“Good afternoon, Sophy. You are looking as delightfully young as always.” Harcourt glanced up from the tome in front of him, and he grinned at her.

It was weird to see him out of his demon form. His human seeming was handsome, eternally youthful and gave off an attractive aura that was designed to draw men and women in. His incubus form was a little jarring but far more honest in Sophia’s opinion.

“You are looking a little pale, Mr. Ganger. It will take some getting used to.”

“We have had this discussion. Call me Harcourt.” He smiled, and his green and horned form took over. “Thanks for preferring this. The human form is still a little on the difficult side to master.”

She knew he was exaggerating and wearing the demon form for her comfort, but she appreciated it.

“Well, funny you should be in demon form. I have come across a curse-manufacturing article, and it is stamped with demon magic from top to bottom.”

He extended his hand. “May I?”

“Of course.” She held out the box, and he took it in his elegantly scaled hand.

Lenora came in and grinned. “Thank goodness. He was having a problem holding it today. Benny is on an assignment involving radio silence, and he is worried.”

Sophia smiled. “I am no seer, but I think Benny will be fine.”

Lenora put down a tray of cookies, and a pitcher of milk was next to it.

“What does it look like, dear?” Lenora walked up to it, her hand extended to caress the wood.

Harcourt jerked it away from her. “Don’t touch it, darling. It has a powerful attraction charm on it. This is impressive work. Sophia. Have you tried to break it down?”

“No. I wanted to know what it was first. I tend not to disenchant things unless I am sure of the initial charms.”

He smiled. “Smart. This is the work of layers of spells. A millefiori of enticement and evil.”

He muttered, “I need to check something.”

He held up a hand and whistled sharply. A book whizzed through the air and smacked into his palm. He repeated the gesture again and again until there was a stack next to him. With a low hum, he started to filter through books written in demon languages that Sophia couldn’t even see properly. The words blurred and shifted as she observed.

Lenora smiled. “He will be busy for hours. You have something else you wished to discuss?”

“Well, not me precisely.”

Lenora raised her elegant brows. “Really? Who precisely?”

Sophia fished her phone out of her purse and put it on the table. “The Mage Guild gave me a liaison in the form of a consciousness named Magnus. When he learned I was coming here, he wanted to speak with you.”

Lenora took the phone with a grin. “Hello, Magnus. I am Lenora Ganger. Pleased to meet your acquaintance.”

“I am delighted to be in your company, Lady Ganger. I have a query to put to you, and I would like you to answer me out of Sophia’s hearing. Would you remove me, please?”

Sophia was curious, but she told Lenora, “He has to be within ten feet of me. I will take the cookies behind the study door.”

“No, that is too far. I will just put up a shield of silence.”

Sophia nodded and smiled. “Or I can just put in my headphones and some music.”

Lenora winked. “That works too.”

Sophia sat with her headphones in, music playing, eating cookies and drinking milk while the Gangers worked on her project and her partner.

Lenora did make damn fine cookies.

Harcourt got her attention with a smile on his demonically handsome face.

Sophia pulled out her earphones. “Did you find something?”

“I found the architect.” There was a definite smug air to him.

Sophy could hear the other two conversing a few yards away, but she focused on the book that he was pointing to. A scholar demon was featured in the image, but the lettering wavered and danced.

“I can’t read it.”

He smiled. “May I touch you?”

“Certainly, just keep it above the equator.” She winked, and he touched her hand, holding it in his as he lifted it and pressed it to the page.

She shivered as the words in demon script wavered and became clear.

Arion, the architect of chaos, prince of the demon zone, son of Orbithon the wild king of the outlands.

Arion is an elder prince who gains his power by pulling energy from humans via the curses he has crafted and spread across the earth.

A master of creating debilitating spells and curses, Arion has not been seen since the sixteen hundreds. His touch continues to be felt on the earth in the humans that fall to his curses and surrender to chaos in exchange for power.

Any of his objects should be considered extremely dangerous and not be handled without protection. The enchantments he used are insidious and can even affect a demon of any bloodline.

She continued to read minor details about his use of humans for sex in exchange for cutting them free of his charm. He rarely obliged, keeping them in his thrall for years or until they expired.

“That is one creepy son of a bitch.”

“I would have to agree. This is his father.” He lifted her hand from the page and pulled another book onto the first.

When her hand hit the page, the image of the deep blue demon with a huge rack of stag horns with yellow eyes was glaring at her from a page made of some kind of skin.

“Orbithon is an ancient demon king who wandered into the wilds of the demon zone, appearing periodically to procreate and consume the magic of humans. His lust for power and flesh knew no bounds, and he was shunned by his own kind.”

Harcourt continued, “He walked with the undead and consumed the souls of all that crossed his path. When he withdrew from view four hundred years ago, he swore to return when his sons had accumulated enough power to drive his control over humanity and subdue the extranatural community.”

“Where did he go?” She glanced at the box on the table.

“The wilds of the demon zone. It is where most of my kind are banished. If he retreated willingly, he had a plan, and a demon with a plan is the most terrifying of its kind.”

He released her hand, and the demon disappeared from the page.

“Well, that’s terrifying. It has been a few years since I tangled with demon energy.”

“Lenora can walk you through it. Your curse will take over once you are given the wherefores of how to tear demon magic apart.”

She blinked. “Seriously?”

“Of course. She has known for years how to take demon energy apart. However, as she is now powered by it, I would beg you to be very careful where you aim your spell work.”

She nodded. “Of course. I will be careful. I won’t even do the work in the house. I just need to see the theory.”

He smiled and she swayed back. Wow, the incubus attraction was quite strong.

Harcourt frowned and shifted back to human. “Apologies. Are you finally mature?”

She blinked. “Yeah. I have been for nearly twenty years.”

He chuckled and shook his head. “Not that. I mean are you finally of breeding inclination.”

Sophia blushed but answered him frankly. “I have been thinking about it lately.”

He sighed. “You grew up so quickly. It seems that just yesterday you were with Benny and playing chess in the corner.”

She smiled. “I was older than Benny, and we weren’t playing chess; she was showing me defensive potions and describing how they were made and where to purchase them.”

“I know, but I told your father you were playing chess.”

She laughed. “Right. Do you think they are finished?”

He glanced over at Lenora. “You mean my wife and your phone? They look like they are winding up, though she has a stack of books that would choke a horse.”

Sophy smiled. “Right. Well, I am going to go break it up. I need her expertise.”

“She will be happy to help, but take some cookies, because I am going to eat the rest.” He winked.

She grabbed three more cookies and her glass of milk before she headed over to Lenora’s desk. “Excuse me, may I cut in?”

Magnus chuckled. “Yes, though it seems odd to be on the other side of that query.”

“Welcome to the modern age. Speaking of, I need to charge the phone or your little jaunt will come to an end.”

She grabbed the power bank from her purse and aligned the plug, setting the connection in place.

Magnus rumbled. “That feels oddly intimate.”

Sophy blushed. “Don’t be like that or I won’t charge you in public anymore.”

She triggered the power bank, and the lights told her that it was working.

She looked at Lenora, who had watched the whole conversation with a smile. “I need to ask you about working with demon magic.”

“You don’t work with it; you avoid it.”

Sophy sighed. “I know, but I need to peel off the layers of magic and destroy the enchantment on that box. I will do it away from here, but I need to know how to crack that first layer.”

“I can help with that. Do you know what kind of demon cast the spell?”

“I do.”

“Excellent.” She raised her hand, and a book four inches thick thudded into her palm. “The answer is in here. Either you can study the tome here, or you can take it home. The choice is yours.”

Sophy drummed her fingers on the journal, getting a feel for the book. “If it is safe for me to remove from the library, I will take it.”

“It is fine. Only a mage can read it, and only one with elf blood can make sense of it. You will be fine.”

“That is strangely specific.”

“It was written by your ancestress, Sapphire deMonstre. You are definitely the audience that she had in mind.”

Sophy looked at the book under her hands and opened the first page. The family crest and ancient spelling was central and glowing in illuminated script. She smiled at the slight change in the family name that meant so much to the modern world. It messed up online searches for one thing. She smirked and kept stroking the page.

“How did you get this?”

“Your father brought it here for safekeeping when you were two. If he died in the line of duty, he wanted someone to protect that bit of family history and give it to you when you came looking for some of the information that the modern age may have lost. Whatever you need to know, the book can tell you.”

Sophia ran her hands over the pages as she turned them, reading the words written in a feminine hand. She teared up a little as she read the forward of the first woman to be born a Cursed One.

The pages in this volume contain the knowledge that I have gleaned through years of study. As I approach my two hundredth year, I hope to have time to contain all that I have learned and practiced for generations to come.

I am my mother’s daughter, but the skills with magic that have been gifted to me far outstrip her power. It is my observation that the following generations get stronger as we go. My granddaughter is stronger than her mother and myself, and so, I feel that in a few hundred years, the deMonstre line will be one of the most powerful in the world of mages.

The thought of my daughters reaching into the future is my one remaining joy.

The signature was proud.
Sapphire deMonstre Kairo.

Sophy touched the signature and felt a tingle of power going up her arm from the letters on the page.

“Wow. This is... thank you, Lenora.”

“It is my pleasure to give you what is yours. Can you scan the library for any cursed objects?”

“Aside from the usuals?” Sophy smiled.

Lenora blinked. “We have usuals?”

“Sure. Three books on the top shelf. The dagger on the stand in the corner. That wooden bookstand, and...”she pursed her lips as she turned around. “That bell on the third shelf next to the door.”

Harcourt lifted his head from the book on demons. “Really?”