Monster Baiter (An Obscure Magic Book 6) (2 page)

A troll bride walked to Sophora. “He is being cursed by those he called monster. What do you think?”

She smiled weakly at the beauty in front of her, knowing that the wrong answer would end in death. “I think that he needs any clarity you can provide.”

“Excellent, niece. He is being given the ability to see monsters truly so that he will know what to kill.”

Sophora inclined her head. “Thank you, Auntie.”

“For you, you saw the monster but did not know what to do, so through his blood, we curse you to see what needs to be done, and you will have the magic to do it.”

Esteban was screaming as the magic nested in him before blooming.

“His blood, Auntie?”

“Do not worry, child. We will not kill him.”

The troll bride stood next to Sophora, her face and body from the front beautiful to behold, and the back of her a mass of tangled twigs and branches. Her calm in the face of Esteban’s agony had a deep satisfaction to it.

Her mother had been such a woman. Esteban had taken her for her magic and the money of her family’s territories. She left when Sophora was five. No longer could she be a wife to a man who saw her as a monster.

When he was exhausted and the magic users had parted ways, Sophora got off her horse, found his and helped her father back into the saddle. The magical creatures in the woods watched her as she helped her father straighten up, but they made no move to stop her.

She led him toward home. Two days after they had left the troll village, they stopped by a calm stream, and Esteban saw his own reflection. She had no chance to speak when he lifted his dagger to his neck and cut his own throat.

His whispered gurgle was his last word. “Monster.”

Sophora used the money to buy the Killian manuscript, and when the previous owner delivered it, she smiled at the half-elven mage, and he smiled back. She saw no monsters in his eyes.

They were married in the spring, and she began to tour in search of true monsters after her first-born daughter was in her arms.

Sapphire deMonstre was the next line of monster hunters. It was in her blood.

Sophia sighed and put her hands on her hips. Her car was steaming and billowing something that was nearly smoke but mostly vapour.

She flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder and stomped her foot. “Dammit!”

She heard the low growl from the forest surrounding the road and carefully bent low over the engine, wiggling her butt in the air. The skirt flipped around and ruffled in the evening breeze.

“I guess I am going to have to call a tow.” She stood straight and sashayed around to the passenger side of the car, opening the passenger door.

She bent forward, and the growl sounded again; arms gripped her, hauling her back into the woods.

She screamed long and loud, a blood-curdling shriek that made her captor press his hand over her mouth, smothering her until she passed out.

Her last thought was that phase one was complete.

She woke, tied to a bed, in what appeared to be a basement or bomb shelter. The smell of concrete was strong.

“You aren’t from around here.” The beast growled at her.

She took in the aspects of his appearance, breaking down the possible origins of each of the components. Her eyes flicked closed, and when she opened them, she could see the glow of emotional magic.

Of course. This was a spell of insecurity. Fear cascaded into power, and the result was standing in front of her.

She struggled to sit up, but she was firmly fastened to a pipe as well as the base of the bed. She grunted. She needed to find the charm that was turning him from human into the beast in front of her.

Sophia looked at the creature and tried to put on a mask of fear. She let herself think of visiting her great aunt on the weekend, and the scent of fear filled the air.

He nodded, and a vicious grin filled his features, exposing the tusk-like lower teeth.

“You are in my power. What school do you go to? I don’t recognize the uniform.” His voice was garbled because of the teeth, but he had had enough time to practice his speech.

It would be hard to threaten a woman if he couldn’t speak to her.

“Gunning College. I was in town looking to transfer, and my car exploded.”

He grinned and stepped toward her. “Lucky me.”

She leaned back. “What are you? You aren’t any extranatural I have ever seen before.”

He chuckled and glanced toward a horn on a shelf. Of course. It was usually a horn that got their attention.

She focused on the object as he approached her, and the light wrapped around the horn, lifting it and snapping it to her fingers.

She held it, and while he lunged for her, she muttered in mage languages until she felt the horn unlock. The magic unravelled, and the beast became a man again.

Well, man was a bit of an overstatement. The boy in front of her was a lean seventeen if he was a day. He was also very naked.

Sophia held onto the horn and snapped the binding on her wrists and jerked her legs free. The lad was shocked.

“What... how...” The brunette looked down and ran for a set of sweatpants.

Sophia fished her phone out of her cleavage and made a call. “Captain Miskin? I have the highway stalker in my custody, he has been neutralized, and I am asking you to trace my phone and come and collect him.”

“
Who am I talking to?
”

“Sophia DeMonstre.”

She could almost hear him sitting up on the other end of the line. “Trace is happening and we are on our way.”

She left the line open and faced the kidnapper.

The teen slumped on a chair, and he was still wondering what had happened. “I don’t understand.”

“Which part? You grabbing the horn and unleashing your rage or turning back into yourself? Pick one and I will explain it.”

Sophia cocked her head and nodded to his clothing. “Get dressed. I will wait.”

He swallowed. “You said you were in college.”

“Yes.”

“How old are you? You talk a lot older.”

He got up and pulled on his sweatshirt and sneakers.

She grinned. “Oh, you don’t need to know that. Imagine that I am the same age I look. It will make you feel better.”

They sat in silence until they heard the approach of the officers.

“Who is coming for me?”

“Mage Guild. The officers will take you into custody and charge you with misuse of magic. The horn has been made useless, and once it is used in your investigation, it will be destroyed.”

He jolted. “You can’t.”

“Oh. I can. In fact, I am one of the only ones who can.” She walked him out to the mages, and they took over. The looks she got in her cheerleader outfit were close to leers, but when she pinned them with her gaze, they looked respectfully away.

She put the horn in an evidence case and took their card so she could fill out the report and send it to them in the morning.

“Ms. DeMonstre, is that your car in the road?”

“Yup.” She walked with them back to the highway with a spring in her step.

“Can we help you get it started?”

Sophia chortled and walked to her hood, removing the support rod and lowering it with a click. She tapped the hood twice, and the car roared to life.

“I have it under control, Officers, but thanks for the offer.” She climbed into her car, waved them goodnight and headed back to the office in Redbird City. She really hated commuting, but when humans became monsters, she was the DeMonstre on duty.

Her parents looked at her and laughed. Her father grinned. “The cheerleader again?”

“It rarely fails and has a wide age range for attractions. Thanks to this curse of ours, I won’t ever look my age, so why not?” She walked through the entryway and toward her change room. The sheer amount of fantasy costumes that she had sometimes embarrassed her, but the weird part was that she could wear the same ones her mother had, and her mom wasn’t born a DeMonstre.

While the family name was passed from daughter to daughter, her father, Gerard, was the rare DeMonstre male. He still looked to be twenty-five, and his elegant demeanour gave him a European flare.

She grabbed some normal clothing and stepped behind the changing screen. Her instinct was confirmed a moment later when her parents knocked on her door.

“Come in.” She pried the top off and slipped her comfy shirt over her torso.

“How did it go, Sophy?”

“It went fine, Dad. It was a little bit of
oh no my car broke down
followed by
whatever will I do
and a lot of waving my ass in the air, but he took the bait.”

Her father was eager. “What was the enchantment?”

“It was a simple rage-to-animal focus. The guy was definitely socially awkward and desperate for female attention. The manifestation was boar, bear, a touch of wolf and some fox. The trigger was a standard cow horn that would have had no place in the forest. It would have stood out to even the blindest of seekers.”

“What about his lair?”

“Bomb shelter under a cottage in the woods.”

Gerard made a frustrated growl.

“Relax, Dad. I know that if you could be out there, you would be. There just aren’t as many female monsters seeking men as there used to be. Don’t worry. You still look pretty.”

Her mother chimed in. “I keep telling him that he should take up acting or, at least, running around naked, but he refuses. He misses being the Cursed One.”

Sophy finished smoothing her tights and tucking them into her knee-high boots. Her tunic fell to her knees and was slit up her thighs. She wrapped a wide belt around her waist and fluffed her hair out.

The cheerleader outfit went back on a hangar, and if she didn’t have to wear it for another decade, she would be fine.

She brought it out and added it to her costume library.

Her mother had brought in a tray with coffee and sandwiches. Soph sighed and sat at the small table and broke down the details of her evening.

“How did the car enchantment work?”

“Like a dream, Dad. There was smoke, noise and the scent of overheated metal. It worked like a charm.”

“Any idea how the charm found the monster to begin with?”

“Tracking spell to find an angry and disgruntled teenaged boy who wants to get laid is like shooting fish in a barrel.” Sophy leaned in and loaded a pile of teeny sandwiches onto a plate.

She sat back in her chair with one foot on the edge and stuffed her face.

Her mother took out a notepad and started to create the statement. “Which Mage Guild were you dealing with, dear?”

“Creath Township. Captain Miskin. He was there for the arrest.”

Her father gave her a calm look. “What do you think his sentence will be?”

Sophy mumbled around some sliced ham and cucumber, “It will be light. He didn’t actually do more than chase the first few girls. If I hadn’t come along, it would have been different, but as it is, his life may be fairly normal.”

Her father nodded. “Of course. No blood.”

It was amusing that he liked to reiterate what all DeMonstre’s knew. Blood locked the monsters. The more kills, the harder it was to break the enchantment without killing the charmed one. Sophy could still do it, but her target rarely survived.

Her mom got down to it and got the details from original call-out information to the names of the officers who took the horn into custody.

When her mom was done, Sophy just signed the document and smiled. “I am going to head home if you don’t mind.”

Her mother smiled and said. “One more cup of tea. You look pale, Soph.”

Sophy sat and drank another cup of the medicinal tea. When she was done, she left the family home and headed down the street to her small house.

Living away from home had been vitally important to her. With her features looking eternally youthful, it was imperative that she did things that suited her age. She had bought the house in her early twenties and had paid it off as soon as she could with her own funds.

Acting as a curse breaker didn’t pay the bills. She was an accountant, just as her mother and father were. Together, they managed a small empire of financial information.

She had work to do in the morning. It was tax season.

She opened her door with a small flick of magic and walked inside, locking the door behind her.

It felt so good to be in her own territory where every inch of the space gave off energy that she could read, touch and control.

She poured herself a glass of wine and went to run a bath. On the edge of her tub was a single glittering scale. “Delwin!”

Her roommate stumbled out of bed, and she heard him tracking his way to the bathroom. “Oh, you are home. How was the forest perv?”

“About how you would think. What did I say about you using my tub? There is a perfectly good tub in your en suite. Leave mine alone.”

She flicked his scale at him. He caught it and sighed. “I thought I got them all.”

“You didn’t. Is there a reason that you keep sticking yourself into my personal space?” She scowled at him.

He shrugged; his dark hair over his shoulder and his green-casted skin had a rich tone that meant he was blushing. “Your tub is bigger. I can stretch out my tail.”

She smacked him on the shoulder. “Then get your own place and you can have it all.”

He sighed. “I can’t afford one.”

“Get a job. I am really not in the mood to come home to an empty fridge and scales in my tub after every mission. I need controlled space where there aren’t any other energy patterns in the vicinity to come down.”

He blinked both sets of lids. “Sorry. Didn’t think of it that way.”

“Please do. You have been here for four months, ever since that freaking necklace backfired. Get on with your life in the deep and enjoy yourself.”

Delwin pouted. He did it very well. “I like it on land.”

“I am sure you do. There is probably another extranatural or human out there who would love to take you on and care for you. I have a life, as weird as it is.”

He smiled. “I know. It gives me plenty of time to research this realm.”